A few more pictures of Kendell...

A few more than a few and I'm sure they all look the same, but we just love our little Kendell...she has been a great baby so far! When she starts to cry at all one of the girls gets over there to rock her, touch her or sing to her....

Kendell Rebecca Niepraschk

Kendell was born on December 19th, 2010-a Sunday-at 12:59 pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs and 0.6 ounces and was 20 inches long. I went to the hospital to get induced that day. Murray and Melissa kept the girls over night Saturday, since we had to be at the hospital at 7 am. I got there and it took a while for them to get me checked in. Dr. Kelly Lennon, my OBGYN, was there and broke my water at about 8:40 and then the nurse started me on my pitocin around 9 am. I was already having a few contractions when I got to the hospital, so things moved pretty quickly. My first mistake was not getting my epidural soon enough. I asked for it around 11:30ish, but she has just started someone else, so it was closer to noon or a little after that I finally got mine. At that point, I was in more pain than I ever wanted to feel. I figure I have been through enough pain in my life with gymnastics that I don't need anymore from here on out! Regardless, they had to do the epidural three times!!! Most of the time I didn't feel them threading it in because I was having a contraction, which was way more painful than the epidural. They were making me shake and sweat! The epidural finally got in, but wasn't working very well on the left side, so she fiddled with tube a little and said she'd come back and check on me in about 15-20 min. At this point it was enough less pain that I was going to try and take a nap. Kurt did not want to leave, but I told him to go and grab some lunch so he didn't get sick...no big deal, I was going to sleep. About 15 minutes later, I was feeling some pressure and called my nurse. She came to check and me and as I suspected, I was ready to push Kendell out. I quickly called Kurt to tell him he was going to miss the delivery if he didn't hurry. He sprinted up from the cafeteria, told me he had to throw most of his lunch away, since he had just started eating! The doctor was there and 3-4 pushes later Kendell was out. Since I had only had my epidural for about 45 minutes, I wasn't all the way numbed up and felt the pushing....I now have an even bigger desire to NEVER go natural!! Kuddos to all those who do and think it's OK. Not for me!! She is my biggest baby yet and just as beautiful as the other three girls. She had a low blood sugar count after she came out, but that was resolved by the next afternoon, so no big deal. She has dark hair, despite the fact that Alyse was certain she'd have yellow hair:) She has super long toes and fingers - just like her mom! She really is just perfect...
The girls came that night to visit us in the hospital and they were so excited to meet her. They all wanted to hold her and then hold her again. I definitely have three very helpful holders, kissers, singers and huggers for Kendell.

Photo shoot....

I just quickly wanted to put up these pictures of Annie and Madelyn. We have found a great photographer who is completely affordable here and I just had to share. I normally would have taken Alyse's pictures too, but since I got a year package I didn't feel the need. She will actually have hers taken near her birthday, which may just well be a first!! Anyway, I was so pleased with how they turned out. We took some of Annie for her baptism day and then just 8 year old shots and Madelyn's 4 year old shots....enjoy!!! I also threw in my latest pregnancy pictures which I had Kurt take on Sunday.....36 weeks.....as of now I will be induced on December 19th, so 3 weeks and counting!!!

Halloween Galore...

It seems as though Halloween was a few day event around here...the school parties, then Trunk or treat at the church and then actual Halloween with my brother and their family. It was all so much fun. This was the first time I've had two kids in school, which was a little crazy, but not bad. I just spent 30 minutes in one class and 30 in the other. All seemed to be happy with that and Alyse was even nice enough to let Madelyn help her with a few of the crafts the class was doing. That night we finally got around to painting/carving pumpkins...they all did a great job. Annie would like to carve one next year though so that should be interesting!








Trunk or treat was fun...the girls knew exactly what they wanted to be. Annie was a vampire, which was apparently very popular this year...a few friends from CO and even a few friends around the country were vampires. Alyse originally wanted to be a fairy, but then changed her mind to be a witch. Annie was a witch last year and when we pulled out the costume, that's what Alyse wanted. She is always wanting to be like her sister! Unfortunately the costume was too big, so I headed to Target after her school party and got her one that fit better :) Madelyn was set on being Sleeping Beauty...perfect because she pulled the costume from the dress up chest. She was the funniest though. She was so worried because she thought Alyse was prettier than she was and Alyse was a witch and she was a princess-almost to the point of tears. She was also very concerned about this little boy Easton at church and what he would think of her costume...if she was pretty, would he like her curly hair, her finger nail polish, etc.








After church on Sunday we headed to my brothers for a short trick or treat stint and a fun Halloween dinner-Melissa always has fun stuff for the holidays-we had mummy hot dogs, Jack-O-Lantern pizzas, a super cute spider web seven layer dip, coffin cookies. The cousins get along really well, which makes for an easy night and they love being together...on occasion Madelyn and Jennifer will have it out, but not as often anymore! Madelyn also decided that her sleeping beauty costume was too itchy and decided to go with a witch like Alyse...luckily she was OK wearing Annie's from last year, even though it was a little big! The men took the kids trick or treating while Melissa and I hung out and talked. I decided that walking around for an hour was a bad idea considering it hurts to walk around the house some days:)





The candy haul and trading...it was so much fun to see them all trying to trade candy...Annie was loving milk duds this year, Alyse plain hershey bars and Madelyn did not want to trade at all:)