My first week with all 3 alone!

My first full week with the kids we enjoyed:

1. VBS

2. Playdates

3. Swim lessons

4. Splashed in puddles

5. stayed home= way too hot to be outside

6. All this fun made for great afternoon naps

Oakhills was the only VBS program that I found that took children 2 and up. It was only 3 days for 2 1/2 hours but it was a great break for me and the kids LOVED going.

Theme: Shine the Light

Annabel was thrilled to go!

Theme: Shine the Light
She seems to have matured over night! Each day I picked her up she had a huge smile on her face and would tell me "Mommy, no cry happy."

William was just as thrilled to go.

Showing off his name tag

Hot steamy afternoons were spent like this:

Friday:

Playdate with our friends Josh and Timothy

The kids were thrilled to wake up from their naps and find that it was raining.
So they put on their swim suits and rain gear and headed outside.
They were thrilled to splash in the puddles!
Mind you it was STILL hot outside- 98 and rain! YUCK!
It felt like walking into a steam room.
The week was a success and more fun is planned.

Happy Father's Day

Happy FATHER'S Day!
To the best Daddy my kids could ask for!

The kids were thrilled to help Daddy open his gifts complete with homemade wrapping paper.

William made a darling footprint out of sand with a poem

The evening concluded with s'mores with our special chocolate bars

Nothing like backyard s'mores on the BBQ

Then a little sprinkler fun to burn off some energy

How high

So high
We ALL ran through the sprinklers in our clothes!
Hope you felt well celebrated and loved!

Coleson Thomas

Coleson Thomas Banta

Our good friend Elizabeth @Snap Happy Portraits took many of these pictures of our sweet Coleson.

Our SWEET boy!

JUNE

As tradition has it, we headed to PF Chang's for dinner the night before what we thought was our due date.

We ordered the usual and asked for mild and HOT dipping sauces and waited...
for days!

Family of 4 soon to be 5

Still waiting... so we headed to the JW Marriott for Sunday Brunch.
What a beautiful spot.

Sweet William

Papa and Grammy
Annabel and William waiting for our table
We seem to be doing a lot of that.

Playing catch while we wait.
Is there a theme here?

The Birth Story
I was scheduled to be induced May 31.
However, the doctor advised us to wait. WHAT? I was SO done!
I was so ready to meet this little guy. I was told that I had not yet dilated. :(
If we went with the planned induction,
my doctor, Dr. Tammy Murdock, (whom we love) said my labor
could be long and hard AND the chances of a c-section go way up.
That was enough to have me wait. She predicted that I would go
into labor on my own over the weekend and she was "on call".
If I did not go into labor over the weekend, I was to report to the hospital
Monday, June 6 at 3:30 so they could start the process of "softening my cervix".
Well, the weekend came AND went. I was totally bummed when Monday
rolled around because my dad had to fly back home.
He was going to miss meeting his grandson.
Monday, June 6 at 3:30 came and Ryan and I
causally walked into LD to check in.
We were told that they were "waiting for us". Ha
I got checked in and settled into my room. The nurse wanted to hook up the IV line.
I told her that I have "tricky veins that do not cooperate".
So she got "the best nurse" to insert my IV.
Well, 4 nurses later, 3 pokes and bruised up and down both arms and hands they got the IV in. Can I say OUCH!
That was the most painful part of my whole labor.
I had dilated to a 3cm. WHOA!!
So the on call doctor (Dr. Murdock had the day off since she worked all weekend)
determined that we did not have to soft the cervix so they would start pitocin at midnight. Minutes later we were told that if they started it at midnight I would likely have a quick labor and deliver early in the morning.
(I guess even when we tried to plan his arrival we were
reminded we were not the ones in control.)
I really wanted Dr. Murdock to deliver so we opted to start pitocin at 5:30am.
I was then given the option to go home.
Seriously!
But the nurses thought it would be best if I stayed over
since they had such a difficult time inserting the IV.
So we got a bonus night in the hospital. The nurses were kind enough to leave us alone.
Tuesday, June 7
5:20- I woke up and quickly showered
5:45- pitocin started
7:10- Dr. Murdock came in to check my progress
I was having regular contractions and she broke my water

8:30- epideral
9:30- 7 cm

Ryan was driving me crazy with pacing the room, watching the screens

I told him he needed to go do something- call someone, grab a coffee
10:30- Ryan finally goes downstairs to grab a latte.
He was hardly gone when Dr. Murdock and nurses come in and say its time!
I quickly call Ryan and he comes rushing up!
10:45- its GO time

11:06 am COLESON THOMAS enters the world.

with only 4 pushes
This was the fastest and easiest labor

Coleson Thomas Banta
weighing in a 8 pounds 1 ounce
20 inches
We thought we would be BIG- well he is our smallest!

Proud Daddy

Our sweet Boy!

Our family is now COMPLETE!
HA

William and Annabel meeting Coleson
So PROUD!

This picture cracks us up!
Annabel is swatting at William saying
"NO my turn, NO my baby!"

Annabel is quick to wash her hands and
grab the pillow so she can hold Coleson

BIG brother
Don't judge me on what my children wear these days.
Since we stay home I let them dress themselves.

Annabel reminds me of "Sister Bear" from the Bernstein Bear

My mom-aka Grammy was here for just over 2 weeks to help out.

The first week we waited and waited.
She was such a HUGE help and loved having her here.

Pat- aka Grandma was here for a week to help after my mom.
We were blessed with 3 weeks of help from our wonderful moms!

The 3 kids

A BUNCH of Banta's

May Re-Cap

May was a HOT month!

We spent a lot of time inside playing games, reading books, dressing up and finding fun indoor activities to occupy our time and get us tired. On almost any given day,

if you asked how I was, my response was:

"I am hot, fat and slow!" I was so ready to meet this little guy.

I was counting down the days! May 31 could not come fast enough.
My nesting is in full force and the "to do list" is slowly coming to an end.

When Ryan got home you would find him and the kids

outside running, swinging and being silly. It was just too hot for this pregnant mamma to be outside. I was terrible about pulling

out the camera this month. But when I did,
our kids were almost always in mix matched clothes
and tussled hair from naps. But hey- I took pictures.

Swing time!
Pushing BIG brother
Annabel LOVES the swing and loves to go high!
Wee
More
More...Higher

Mother's Day:

You could say that we skipped it.

3 out of the 4 of us were cursed with the stomach bug. It was TERRIBLE!

William was the only one who did not catch it.

William was so bummed not to be able to make me breakfast in bed.

He really stepped up and showered us all with love and care.
He brought us water, crackers, unloading the dish washer and took wonderful care of his family!
He is getting so big and mature!

We were in BAD shape!

Somehow, we did not get the memo that Mom AND Dad

can not be sick at the same time. Seriously, it was terrible.

Let's put it this way, I did 17 loads of laundry once I was back on my feet.

Here were are watching TV on the pull out couch

End of the year with AWANAs

All of the AWANAs singing there songs

William receiving his award

William GRADUATES in Swimming

P3 to P4!William has worked so hard (and long) to graduate. He was so proud

Good Bye SubaruWith our growing family, we needed a car that fit 3 car seats!

HEllO mini van!

Good Bye School Hello SummerThanks Mrs. Swift and Ms. Audrie for a wonderful year!
Looking forward to holding our sweet baby boy any day now!
HAPPY SUMMER!