There's A New Guy In Town

The New Guy with his proud brothers!

-and-

The New Guy with his delighted family just one day old!

Kase Logan Braaten

On the morning of the 25th, we welcomed little Kase Logan to our little family!

8 lbs 5.5 oz, 20.5 inches

7:12 am

It was a very long some 16 hours from when my water broke until I actually started productive labor, and then very intense labor from then till he was born. Thus, leaving mommy and dadd exhausted, and thus resulting in a very quick blog post...but here are a few pictures from the past day we want to share!

Very last belly picture. You can tell I was super tired here, and still had many (unbeknown to us then, thank goodness) long hours to go!

One of the nurses grabbed our camera just as he was being born and took some amazing pictures, most of them private and just for us, but I loved this one of daddy and his 3rd perfect son! The emotion of holding your brand new baby, the tiny miracle you helped create never loses any ounce of special-ness and pure joy, no matter how many times you've done it before!

Gramma Mary stayed with the boys, and stopped by quick on their way to meeting, getting to meet Kase when he was 2 hours old! Logan took a cute video of their first encounter with him :) They love him! They are always wondering where he is, or when he's crying Coy asks "what's he saying?" (this is cute because we don't know what he's saying either! LOL) Bentley always has an extra sassy in hand for Kase, and *gently* offers it to him if he's fussing. They need to watch each diaper change, and kindly hand us wipes. When Bentley finds a stray sock, he brings it over announcing it's "baby sock".

Last night, he slept for EIGHT hours straight!

So awesome for mommy and daddy, huh?

Here we are with our midwife, Jeanne, and a brand new baby! I cannot express enough thanks to her and her nurses for all the work they helped us through! 

So now, Im off to cuddle a sweet new baby while the house is still quiet :)

 (daddy and the big brothers are currently in town, monkeying around. heehee)

Broken

Broken...what's broken? My water?

Haha, nope. Wishful thinking :)

In that department, the count-down is down to 12 days. And the day's almost over....so I'll say 11 days because that sounds much better! lol.

It's the computer that's broken, thus no way to post pictures we've been taking these past few weeks. Logans got his work computer home and the boys are busy getting wound up before bed time, so this is the perfect time for me to sit here and get this job done :)

We've had a few fun outings...

We met Anna & her tots, Gramma Mary, and Olga & little Clara for a picnic and carousel ride.

All the Pheifer & Braaten kiddos!

(Ella, Jaci, Aaron, Bentley, Coy, Tessa)

Bentleys new thing is JUMPING! And BOUNCING! And SKIPPING! Everywhere! Logan and I had to laugh the other night as we were getting the kids ready for bed because B was bouncing off the walls (almost literally) and hopping everywhere. Hopping to go brush teeth. Galloping to get a book. Jumping to the bed. He's got jumping beans in his pants...I'm sure of it! And these little benches at the park were a bouncin boys' paradise!

Sweet little Clara!

Love Bentley's wrong-moment-to-take-pic face here :) We were riding the carousel, each surprisingly happy to be on the OWN horse! (Which is good for me, because I can hardly fit just myself on a toy horse!) Both the boys threw their hands up in the air and immedeatly started yelling "Rodeo! Rodeo!" when the thing started moving. I didn't tell Bentley his "rodeo" horse had pink ruffles on it....

This was Clara's first ride! She was a little skeptical at first, but ended up pretty smiley by the end.

Gosh, can you believe that this sweet little boy will be 3 in two weeks? Time is flying sooo fast I hate to think of how fast the next 15 years are going to go! He's doing great at potty training! For the first week at it, anyway :) He's got his big boy undies on when we're at home and not sleeping. He's got a good handle on running to the potty chair *just in time*, but have yet to have a sucessful dirty duty on the chair. He loves emptying the pot into the big potty and flushing it, washing hands, then running to the fridge where we keep his chart and stickers. And of course...where we keep the treats... ;)

He's usually a cowboy, but lately Coy's been a puppy. Almost like a real puppy in fact...piddling on the floor (accidents of course), begging for a bone, and BARKING! I finally told "the puppy" to stop barking and he's pretty obedient. But yesterday he asked permission to start barking. Pretty sure that's the most well behaved puppy ya ever did see!

Three little chums :)

We took the rail off of Bentleys crib and now he's in a toddler bed! Last night was the first night and he did really good! Except for the early morning wake-up we got.....two very giggly boys intruding our nice warm bed long before we were ready to get up! That's one major benefit to an encaging crib railing...they dont get out until you LET them out.....haha!

Here I am at 38 weeks pregnant! We are getting so excited about birth day! I had been too busy and tired to imagine what this little guys birth might be like, unlike with the others where I thought and dreamed about it months afore time. However, when downloading a relaxing album for labor, I started to dream of it.......and got scared! In a panic, I began thinking "I CAN'T DO THIS! It's going to hurt! I'm going to be too tired!!" I called Logan at work, crying and feeling overwhelmed....and Im so so so thankful my husband has faith in me and is so encouraging! NOW, I remember the strenght I got, power I felt, and how amazing it was to birth two children naturally before. And I CAN DO IT again! Im looking forward to it again now, with less anxiety.

Until labor starts...then I'll probably start to panic a little again. :)

These 3 boys make my life so complete...and fun....and interesting :)

And soon it will be 4 boys!

1st of September

Finally...it's due date month! :)

Here are a bunch of photos from the past few weeks of our little family! I was completely out with bronchitis & suspected pneumonia (couldnt get an xray to confirm though) for about...well, up until now! 3 weeks knocked a lot out of this pregnant mom, but I'm finally on the mend...but still waiting for my ribs to heal from all of the nasty coughing! Painful, I tell ya! :(

I am missing some pictures from Sarah & Chase's wedding reception in Bozeman last weekend, so I'll just tell you about it instead :) S & C and Mom & Dad took a *very* quick trip out to Bozeman so Montana friends could celebrate their marriage! Gramma Mary rode over there with us, and we got there a few hours early so we could hang out with my awesome family before the party was over! It was SO fun to see them again, even if it was just for a couple of hours! At the end of the evening, Mary and I rode back only as far as Adrian & Anna's, and spent the night with them! Again, short little trip, but fun!

And now...to look at the pictures...which is what you all come to see anyway, right? ;)

Our little Bentley is a total clown. He's always making us laugh with his silly little expressions, or by making monotenous, normal things goofy. He's being a ghost in this picture...running to hide, then a few second later re-appearing laughing because he thinks he's scaring the begeebies out of us.

Our back porch is good for lots of things! Mostly storage for dirty, unsightly yard toys, but don't let that fool you into thinking that it can't be cleared off enough for a good picnic once in a while!

Piano lessons?

Again, on the back porch. This little cowboy can't get enough length and strength to actually move this tractor with it's intended pedals, but he stays content and super quiet just sitting on it and hooking everything possible to the back of it. Is he not the happiest little farmer you've seen with a useless tractor?

Here is baby "K" at 35.5 weeks pregnant! The half of a week really shouldn't be that big of a deal, but when you're sooo anxious, it's a huge deal! Every day counts! Speaking of counting....YES, im COUNTING...only 29 days until due date! :D

Up until a couple weeks ago, I was so tired, and busy that I couldn't really focus on this baby. Rather, I was just pregnant. Pregnant. Pregnant....

But now, I am really enjoying thinking of this baby as a being...the little being that is going to be our 3rd son!

And we close with Bentley...saying "Too-da-loo" till next time!

xoxo

P.S Happy happy birthday to an awesome brother-in-law, Kelvin! You're gettin old man, but thank goodness you don't act it! ;) Love ya!