Zoo Day

For my last day of paternity leave, we all went to the zoo in Sacramento. It was lots of fun to go with all five of us. Anna slept most of the time but everyone else was nice and awake and we looked at all the animals.  We brought out lunch there too which was nice.  Enjoy the pictures!

It's Rachel and Joel

It's Rachel

It's Joel

You must be this tall to ride the roller coaster.

Rebekah matched the zebras.  Anna is hiding out in the stroller.

Scott likes giraffes so I was thinking about him.  I hope he sees this.

And this is the money shot!!! Not sure why, but she had a little smile just as I was getting out the camera and I got the shot.  Then the smile went away.

This was what we looked at while eating lunch.  Rachel even posed for me.

Joel still gets some Mommy time.

Anna slept almost the whole trip to the zoo.  She's good at sleeping.

2 Weeks Ago

I found some pictures that were 2 weeks old but they are fun so I'll share them.

She's so cute!  Don't you just want to take her home?  Don't you just want to watch her ALL DAY? (No guarantees that she will stay sleeping all day)

The crib seems so huge again doesn't it!

Anna is still in this picture.  But look how cute Joel is!

The ears on the hat are so cute.  It makes me wonder why all beanies don't have ears. They you all might want to look at pictures of me.

Rachel's Grand Parent's Birthday Party

Last night Grammy, Grandpa, Grandma, and Grandpa all came over to celebrate Rachel's sixth birthday.  According to Rachel, it took way to long to get to the present opening part.  The gifts from both sets of grand parents were hits.  But the real hit of the night (I thought) was the awesome birthday cake that Rebekah made for Rachel.

Please note that we got good smiles from Rachel in all of these pictures. Apparently the trick to get her to smile is to give her gifts and chocolate cake.

This is a chocolate princess castle cake with four turrets, two levels, and a peanut butter cream filling. It looked amazing!

Look! Rachel is smiling for a picture with her very cool cake!

Rachel got a very cool comforter and sheet set from Grandma and Grandpa Short. Here she is in front of the comforter.

Grammy and Grandpa got her a Lego Elves play set.  She has already built the dragon and has been working on building the castle.  Joel has played with the dragon for at least an hour already...  He may need his own dragon for Christmas.

Anna wanted her picture up here too.  It's hard to capture the essence of Anna right now since she squirms so much, but sometimes she looks awake and content at the same time.

Welcome to the World Anna Bjork!

Thursday afternoon when I was playing ping pong at work Rebekah called and said it was time to go to the hospital because they were going to induce her.  That night Anna was born. She was 8 lbs, 4 oz.

Rebekah and Anna got to come today from the Hospital after only 2 nights.  They let her walk out of the hospital!  I guess by the time you have your third baby they think you are a pro.

This is Anna getting weighed 1 hour after being born.

Rebekah looks great only hours after giving birth. Look at those fancy Jamberry nails!

Joel is a pro at holding his little sister.

Rachel loves holding Anna. She's held him several times already and has been getting better at holding her for long periods of time. She is a great big sister. After all, she's had practice for 3 years.

Anna joined us at the dinner table tonight and didn't fuss.  It was cool to have all five of us together for dinner.

Baby Bump Pictures

We did not take many pictures this pregnancy, but I felt inspired a couple weeks ago to do a little photo shoot in the back yard during the kiddos quiet time.

We are 39 weeks today.  I have very mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand I am tired of being huge and uncomfortable and dealing with the heat, but on the other hand I am trying to savor every moment and every kick.  Pregnancy while tough and long really is a blessing and miracle.

Back From Vacation!

We got back from our vacation today and we had a good time!

Wednesday afternoon we drove to Monterey and went to Dennis the Menace Park to play before dinner.  It was a fun park, and while everyone in Sacramento was enjoying over 100 degree weather, it was a very nice 68 and sunny at the park.

The next morning we got up and drove to Monterey Bay Aquarium to see the sea otters and the other fish there.  We flew through a quarter of the exhibits and then we got to the tide pools section where the kids could touch things.  Joel's attention span got much much larger and we stayed there for 30-40 minutes. He liked touching all of the types of sea weed.  But I was busy watching him so I didn't take any pictures right there. I did take several others though, and I finally got a good picture of a hammerhead shark.

We sure liked watching the fish!

They had a little play area with a slide, rocking sea horse, and a place for the kids to dress up.  It gave Rachel and Joel some time to be kids and be a little more wild.

 

The next day we packed up the van and went to the beach in hopes of finding some tide pools. The tide was fairly high at that time so we played at the sandy beach, and then we drove along the coast until we found some better rocks for tide pools.  While we were there I was telling Rachel how important it was to be careful about where you step because the rocks were hard and sharp. During that time I stepped on a sloped spot on the rock that had sand on it (which I couldn't see) and slipped myself and hurt my foot.  It didn't seem to be broken though so we finished looking at things and then went to McDonald's for ice cream cones for everyone. That night my foot hurt a lot but I could still walk so I decided to tough it out at Gilroy Gardens the next day. 

We walked around the sandy part of the beach and found several shells that Rachel collected. We told her that we weren't going to take them home but I took some pictures of them so she can remember them.

It was pretty foggy on the sandy part of the beach but that didn't stop the kids from having a great time.

At the tide pools we saw sea snails, hermit crabs that were walking, regular small sand crabs, chitans, and tons of sea weed.  It's hard tide pooling with small children though because Rebekah and I had to lift them up and over into places where they couldn't get up themselves. It was pretty cool though that they got to see places they couldn't walk themselves.

Gilroy Gardens turned out to be a lot of fun.  My foot got a lot better during the day and I was able to walk at almost full speed by the time we left.  Rebekah saw that they had some spray grounds there so we bought the kid's bathing suits with us.  They really enjoyed spending the last 30 minutes there running around in the water.

Most of the rides there weren't quite as good as Disney Land but the car ride was actually better.

This is one of the circus trees that live in Gilroy Gardens. Pretty cool huh?

After the spray ground, Joel and Rachel wanted to go on one more ride.

Vroom Vroom!

Just Jump

God has taught me a lot this past year.  You grow the most through tough times.

God used my first miscarriage to remind me that he is ultimately in control.  I can make plans, but sometimes there is very little I can do to make them happen.  Lets face it, I did everything right, but my baby still passed away.  Still, no matter what, God is good and he is in control.

A few months later we were expecting again, and God kept telling me not to be afraid, I would be okay.  It was devastating to see my lifeless baby on the ultrasound.  It is an image I would like to erase from my memory.  I cannot.  It will forever be a part of my story.  Through it all God kept whispering in His reassuring voice, "Lean on me.  I will carry you.  You will be okay."  So, I did.  Not because I am some amazing woman of God, but because I had nothing left.  I was heartbroken.  I had no desire to face the world, take care of my family, or fulfill my church and work obligations.  Curling up in a deep dark pit seemed like a better option.

We waited a few months before we decided to stop trying not to get pregnant and decided not to even think about it.  We got pregnant right away.  I did not talk about it to anyone for over two months other than Brian, and the extent of our conversation was, "I'm pregnant."  "I figured."  That was it.  No celebration.  It wasn't that I was afraid for people to know.  I was afraid to get attached to this baby.  I could only think in terms of when we loose this one.  My constant prayer was, "God help me to be okay  when this one joins its siblings in Heaven."

On the ultrasound everything looked okay, but the fear was still a constant sidekick.  It was all consuming.  I had to cancel my next appointment because of a sick kiddo, and I lost it.  It was as if that appointment was my lifeline, the thing that was going to keep this baby alive and remove all the worries.  In the midst of my angry tears, God gave me the image of skydiving with an instructor.  I was white knuckle clinging to him, my instructor, and the plane.  He knows what he is doing.  My only job was to let go and jump.  I had to let go of the fear.  He would take care of everything while I drank in the beauty and life he created.  That's it, just jump.  It was not and is not easy.  Every day I have to consciously let go.  I have to remind myself that it is okay to dream.  God is there.  I am still sad about the two little lives I never got to meet, and there is no guarantee this new little one will be okay.  I am learning to live with the uncertainty and letting God guide the journey.  No matter what happens God is in control, God will take care of me and my family, and I still have joy.