Some Details

I cannot believe 4 weeks have gone by and I haven't even gotten a Jack picture up here yet. Crazy. So, without further adieu, here he is:

I wanted to share a little bit of the story of his entry into this world. First off, I will say that we had a miracle with this delivery. He was breech and it just looked like he was not going to turn to have a regular delivery. I was scheduled for a c-section on the Friday before my due date. Luckily, at my Tuesday appointment when I was 39 weeks along, we discovered that he had flipped and was in position! I was so happy to have my c-section appointment cancelled!

Then the waiting game began...This next part exactly mirrored my labor with both Allison and Gideon. When I went in for my appointment a few days before my due date, my doctor said I was dilated to a 6 and to head on over to the hospital. I wasn't even having any strong or regular contractions. I got an epidural right off, they gave me a little pitocin and broke my water, and soon after that I started pushing. We had checked in at about 12:30 pm and little Jack entered the scene around 5:30 pm. What a joy to finally meet him!

My mom had arrived the night before and she and my brother Brian brought the kids over a few hours later.

I love this shot that Brian got. Here's Jack being introduced to the kids:

Our FOUR kids! Gideon is officially not the baby anymore.

Uncle Brian meets Jack

Here's Grandma!

Isn't it so wonderful to have your Mom come and help out with a new baby?! Mom was here for 2 weeks to help us get settled into our new family life.

The first bath

Gideon made sure all 10 toes are there. So cute!

Big brother Jacob.

Allison made a crown for "Jack the Pumpkin King"

So this is what's been going on at our place lately. Good times, hard times, and lots of kisses for our darling baby Jack.

Our New Little Guy

He's here!

Jack Bradley Omer
born Aug 30, 7 lbs 2 oz, 20 in

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture to post right here, but believe me, he's a cutie! The delivery went so well and we are happy to have this little addition to our family!

Uncle Brian

We have been lucky to have a new addition to our household: Uncle Brian! He's my youngest brother, just graduated from the University of Michigan. He's staying at our place while he looks for a job--and to help me out as we get ready for our new baby :)

The kids love having him here. Among many other things, he's handy to have around when Mom doesn't know how to fix a flat bike tube:

To give private guitar lessons & fun concerts:

And to accompany us to the LA Zoo:

Tom was there too, but it was nice to have another set of muscles to push the stroller or round up kids. We had a pretty entertaining day at the zoo, with lots of animal activity. I loved watching these mountain goats balance on a cliff and then jump down.

A hippo out of the water? Fun to see him walk around and then glide on into the pool and blow bubbles.

I really like koalas.

Back to the original subject of Brian...it is so nice to have some family around again. We haven't seen him in quite a while and it is nice to have good quality time with him. He gets to see our daily life and we get to be entertained by his talents, hobbies and funny personality.

Where to begin?

I don't know why I haven't felt like posting anything for a while. Most likely it's because I'm overwhelmed by all we have done this summer, so where should I begin... I guess I'll start with the most recent stuff first and then see if I can work my way back. Get ready for pictures and caption style:

We've done a few fun field trips with First 5 this summer. Here's the Post Office:

Fun with a backyard pool

The Fire Station

This was cool--Venice, CA. Tom & I went there for our 8th Anniversary date. There are beautiful canals and bridges and lots of fun houses to examine. Not exactly the same as the real Venice, but very fun nonetheless. Especially on a date with Tom.

The duck park

A field trip to the karate studio. It was supposed to be for Allison & Jacob with Gideon watching, but Gideon wouldn't hear of it. He joined in and was actually a pretty good 2 year old karate student.

3 kids on 1 bike.

Lots of swimming. This kid is fearless. We have to make sure his floaties are on before we open the pool gate because he is all about jumping in over and over.

Swim lessons:

Gideon figured out his job at swim lessons: Towel Boy

It was fun to do swim lessons with friends

Beach day

And bowling with Dad during his lunch break.

Yeah for summer! It has flown by and has been quite fun. I for one am grateful for the mild temperatures so I could enjoy my last weeks of pregnancy more while doing all these activities. Here's to a fun last few days of summer!

4 to 2

Well, Allison and I are going to have to stick together because this family is becoming overrun with boys. Yep, this one's a little guy! Tom's first comment: "Yeah, I have my quartet!" My first thought: "Oh, does this mean we have to have another one to get Allison a sister?!" Hmm, we'll see. I've been thinking about having 3 missionaries to send off and that I'm lucky I only have to do one girl's hair. Anyway, we're excited around here!

Disappointing Results

Our whole family headed to my doctor this morning for the big ultrasound. Yeah! The kids have been so excited to see the baby "on TV." So, without delay, this is what we found out...nothing.

The technician is out of town and the doctor was stuck in an emergency surgery. We waited around for an hour because they thought he might be in, but after keeping the kids halfway entertained for that long hour, we were sent home. I'll go back tomorrow, but alone. Very anticlimactic, but it might be fun to be the only one who knows the gender until I choose to disclose it :)

Funny how with my previous pregnancy we wanted to wait to find out the gender at the delivery. Now we're bugged that we have to postpone knowing for one more day. So maybe I'll post the result tomorrow, if it all works out.

P.S. Speaking of doctors, congrats to my (as of today!) now doctor brother, Brian! Doctor of Music, to clarify.

Adventures in April

(Thought I'd follow the Magic Tree House format of titling my writing today)

Here are some random pictures to share:

Warm weather means pool parties! This was our first day at the pool this year. Gideon and his friend are seriously 2 little rascals when they get together. They are cute, but can get into some mischief when they get going.

Have you ever made homemade tootsie rolls? They are pretty good, fun and are a way to use powdered milk. They got pretty creative with their chocolate creations.

I have loved having one of these old-school watercoloring books for Allison. It's even Care Bears--takes me back to being a kid again.

A quick hike in Simi Valley. We were supposed to meet a group from Tom's work, but we were dreadfully late. But we saw a beautiful sunset.

On to Easter:

Easter was really low-key. The only egg hunt we did this year was at home. We did do two; one in the front and then a little one in the backyard when Gideon woke up. The kids had fun setting it up for him. They were supposed to just demonstrate to him how to hunt for eggs, but just ended up joining in for another shot at more eggs.

We watched General Conference with a couple from church and enjoyed an easy Easter dinner and of course a chess game for the guys. Good times.

Spring Break

So now that Jacob's in school, we had our first official "Spring Break" with him home for a week. We found some fun things to do including...

We headed with a group of friends to a bounce house party place and it was confirmed that Gideon really is a daredevil. He was climbing up all the highest walls and sliding down the scariest slides with all the big kids. They had a great time.

Allison & Jacob finishing a race through one of the inflatable obstacle courses.

The group.

One day I braved the LA Zoo alone with the kids. We found the neatest place there: the Children's Discovery Center, which is all about saving the condors. We spent a while there and then Jacob wanted to return there for more fun before we left. Allison & Gideon are cleaning up the beach sand...

Then there's this adorable operating room. The kids look at an x-ray of a condor's stomach and discover there's garbage inside. So, they begin operating and remove the metal pieces from inside the bird.

Gideon loved taking care of this baby condor.

And fighting the condor punching bags

The kids could climb on everything there. There were animals hidden all over and there was a hunt to find all of them. The best part about this place was that wasn't crowded at all; I don't think many people know about it. So while I want everyone to go check it out, don't be there when we go so we can have the place to ourselves again! :)

Thought I'd include a picture of myself. Maybe it's not the best idea when I'm pregnant, but here we are. Gideon's favorite animal is the 'mingos, so we were getting a better look at them and that's all he's been talking about. (Flamingos not pictured because our small photographer wasn't quite tall enough to get them in the picture.)

A fun and tiring day at the zoo. Spring Break was great, but I realized that I'm used to 2 kids during the day now. We'll have to learn how to welcome Jacob back into the mix come summertime! :)