Kendall Carolina Klinge

Carrie finally had her baby by c section on Thursday evening. It was tough on her--they tried to put another IV in (which is very difficult on Carrie), and during that 45 minutes process, Carrie started to have a siezure, and her BP went up to 180 over something! They rushed her to the OR, and about 20 minutes later, Kendall was born...8lbs. 7 oz. and I think just over 19". I actually had to leave shortly before the c section took place, butsome of Tim's family and my mom were still there. The baby was perfectly healthy, and Carrie survived thanks to the grace of God and modern medicine.

Here is daddy Tim with the new baby! I think she has Carrie's face but Tim's mouth.
Here I am holding her on Friday. I came to visit over my lunch break. Lynn and Mom were also there, and were fighting over who got to change her diaper...I let them duke it out. :)

Carrie had to be on Magnesium sulfate because of the preeclampsia and because she was so swollen. She was still on that all day Friday, and had massaging sleeves on her calves. She was also on painkillers for the c section. So, she laid on her back in the bed and couldn't move much. But, the baby did start nursing Friday with no problem, and Carrie got to hold her a little bit.

As of this evening, Carrie is off the magnesium, and was able to stand and hold kendall for short periods of time. She should be able to go home tomorrow, and we are praying for a quick recovery.

In other news, Scott and I had to go out and buy a new washing machine, as ours leaked so badly, last weekend Scott had to shop vac up water every 5 minutes. We went to the store and after looking at the options, we decided to buy a Frigidaire front loading washer/dryer set! It is being delivered and installed tomorrow, so look for pictures of that!

Incidentally, if you live anywhere near Pella, I recommend shopping at Bruxvoort's. We bought our sofa there earlier, and got the washer/dryer there also. They offer free delivery, free installation, they take away the old ones for free, and they even sent over an employee this afternoon (who lives near us) to check out our setup and see what equipment they will need to bring. And, they didn't make us pay the repair bill from our old washer!

A Baby!

My sister Carrie is very pregnant, and last week her baby was already over 8 lbs! Yesterday she went in for her appointment, and the doctors decided to induce her labor. She spent most of the day yesterday at Mercy hospital in Des Moines, had some contractions, but didn't really begin to dialate. My mom and I decided to come spend the night in Des Moines, so we had a nice dinner together, hung out in the hospital room with Tim and Carrie, then went to our hotel and went to bed.

They took her off the pitosin (the inducing drug iv) overnight, and inserted these little pills inside her that are supposed to help soften up the cervix and prepare it for birth. This morning they started the pitosin again, and also magnesia (Carrie has preeclampsia, and this helps with that). The doctor broker her water around 9:30am, and she has started dialating and having some contractions! So, Mom and I are sitting in the waiting room doing work on our laptops while we wait. They will be checking her often, and if she doesn't continue to dialate about 1 cm per hour, they will probably do a c section later today.

Tim seems a little nervous when he comes out to update us, and we haven't seen Carrie yet today. They did give her an epidural a bit ago, so she's probably feeling a little better now. :) We're hoping that baby comes soon! Tim is looking forward to running out into the waiting room with his hands in the air and yelling, "It's a _____!" (we don't know the gener yet). I'll be sure to post the news and some pictures after she has the baby, and after Tim and Carrie have a chance to spread the good news themselves.

This evening our kitchen is sparkling clean from top to bottom. I've rarely seen the counters so empty. Can you guess why?I'll give you a clue:
Yes, you are right, we have a mouse! This morning Scott was standing next to the sink and I was in the doorway, and suddenly a big, gray mouse skittered across the counter top, jumped off, and scampered over to hide behind the garbage can. Gross! We have cleaned the kitchen very thoroughly, and hope to catch that critter soon and get it OUT OF THE HOUSE!

Gravel!

Yesterday we had gravel delivered for the foundation for our shed. Scott ordered 4 tons, and they delivered 6.5 tons. Not even close! Our pile of gravel was much, much larger than needed for this job! Scott had to go to a work training session today, so I had the task of moving gravel, leveling it, and tamping it so that we can put up the shed next week. I borrowed a wheelbarrow (we don't have one because we don't have anywhere to keep it...yet!), and started moving gravel this morning after the rain stopped. Here is the pile:We figured we could use some of it on our parking driveway area. I ended up putting down fresh gravel the entire length of our lot, up to the middle of the puddle you see here, and also put some along the road on the other side of the house, where there was a bit of a drop off.
At lunch time I went inside and ate, and then ended up taking a little longer break, as it started raining. It was a shorter shower, and I was able to get back to work after about an hour. Early in the afternoon, Mom came over with Emily, Rhea, and Olivia to help. It didn't really speed up the process (as they are 9, 5, and 2), but it was nice to have company. And we finished!

I decided to expand our "foundation" so that our wood pile can be on it as well...especially since we definitely had enough gravel! Now we let it settle for a week, and next Saturday we will put up the shed! PS--if anyone is free next Saturday and wants to stop by, feel free! :)

I decided to cook lentils for supper. I have never made these before, but I bought a bad after watching an episode of "Good Eats" with Alton Brown. This was just sauted veggies and tomatoes with lentils. It was good, but got better after I added a bunch of italian seasoning.

Yard Work

Saturday morning we cleaned up in the yard a little bit. Scott raked up a bunch of the acorns...Our flower bed was mulched with wood chips, but now it's mulched with wood chips AND acorns.We still have not put up the shed...we have it on the calendar for a couple weekends from now! yesterday morning while Scott mowed the lawn, I moved the wood pile, as the shed will be located right where the pile was. I also sorted all the wood by size. I have plans to build a wood holder out of a couple pallets. You can still see the large pile of little brush...we left it there, and when we got home from the wedding, the brush pile and the large bag of acorns was gone! Thanks to whoever did that for us!

In the afternoon we went to our friend Justin's wedding to Christine. It was a nice wedding, with GREAT food (exact same meal as at our wedding!), and we got to see some friends that we haven't seen in a while.

nice shades, scott!

The bride is from Canada!
For sentimental reasons, I wore the same necklace I wore at my wedding.

Charleston, SC

Over Labor Day weekend we flew down to Charleston, SC, and met our friends Jacob and Travis. Jacob is in theArmy Reserves, and is currently stationed in Georgia, so he got to drive there, and Travis flew from Tulsa. It was fun to hang with the guys for the weekend.

When we got there, we drove to see the Angel Tree. It is a Live Oak tree, and is supposed to be the oldest living oak tree in America. A google search said it was 1500 years old, but the signs there said it was 400 years old. Either way, it's diameter is about 25 feet, and the branches are so big and heavy that they undulate along the ground.

Friday night we walked around historic downtown Charleston, then ordered some pizza and at at the Roach-tel...I mean hotel.

Saturday morning we went to Patriot's Point, which is a museum with an aircraft carrier (the USS Yorktown), a submarine (the USS Clagmare), the Medal of Honor museum, and a Vietnam naval base camp replica.

We also took the ferry to Fort Sumter, which is where the first shots of the Civil War were shot. Here i got 2 stamps in my national park passport...and got 2 more at Fort Moultrie, for a total of 4. Yeah!

Here are Travis, Jacob, and Scott on the ferry!

After we finished at Patriot's Point, we were really, really tired. Yet, we still found energy to go to the beach and swim in the ocean.

Jacob is on a mission to visit the gravesites of everyone that signed the Declaration of Independence. Edward Rutludge is buried in Charleston in the St. Philip's church cemetery, but we couldn't actually get in to the grave as the gates were locked. Ithink it counts because we were close! This sign was also in the graveyard:

On Sunday morning we went to Middleton Place Plantation (where another signer, Andrew Middleton, is buried).

Here is the spring house/slave chapel reflecting on the pond.

There is a statue on the ground called the wood nymph. The statue was buried on the grounds during the Civil War so that it wasn't destoryed, and found later and put back up. The story is that if you make a wish and rub the toe, your wishes will come true!