Abigail Lynn

Abigail Lynn Schad was born on January 14, 2016 at 7:39 AM.  She weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. 

The night before our scheduled csection my mom came up to spend the week.  I went to bed that night around midnight and woke up bright eyed at 3:30 AM—let’s do this!  But what do I do for the next 2 hours?  We didn’t need to be there until 5:30 AM.  And I couldn’t eat or drink.  It’s hard to kill time when you can’t eat or drink!  So I showered, blow dried my hair, curled my hair—I mean—have I EVER IN MY LIFE spent two hours getting ready??

Finally we left for the hospital at 5:15.  I was scared to have another csection because my first csection left me nauseous, anxious and out of it for the first few hours of Owen’s life.  But this csection was so unique!  Having worked at the hospital I not only knew everyone in the OR on a first name basis, my doctor is one of my closest friends in Quincy.  It was so fun that she was the one who announced “it’s a girl!”  The whole experience was so positive and actually fun! 

I still can’t believe we have a girl!

The day before the big day...coffee date with my "baby" for the last time.  He moved on to big brother status the next day!

Our nurse anesthetist took a bunch of pictures for us during the procedure.  She's over on the warmer for a minute to be sure all is alright before she comes over to me. 

My doctor advocated for me to have skin to skin immediately after the c-section, which isn't normal practice at our hospital.  It was such an amazing experience!  What a difference from my first c-section where Joey and Owen left immediately after he came out. 

First moments with our tiny girl!

Welcome to the world squishy face!

Abigail got to go out and meet Grandma while they finished with my stitches.  She worked her lungs for almost the whole first day of her life.  They were strong and healthy!  :)  She is cute even when she cries!

Our sweet tiny girl.

The newest addition to our family--we are so blessed to get to have this girl in our lives!

Meeting Katie and Sean for the first time!

Katie and Sean brought us a bottle of champagne to celebrate!

Tiny little foot!

Sweet Abby

Not loving that first bath!  :)

We couldn't wait for the boys to meet Abby!

Hi little sister!  Owen LOVED meeting her and couldn't wait to hold her when she came home!

Levi immediately looks beyond Abby and says--what's that??  It was two balloons.  And he was done with his sister and ready to move on to bigger and better things--balloons.

Owen LOVES his little sister!

Getting ready to head home.  All calm resting with Daddy. 

Owen and Levi made all of our names out of Jello!

Helping Grandma make popovers for Abby's first morning home.

Owen wakes up wanting to hold his baby sister!  He loves her so much and is so proud to be big enough to hold her.

Daddy's girl...

Grandma and Abby--watching the Australian Open.  When I had Levi we watched a lot of the French Open, and now Abby is an Australian Open baby.  :)

Banana splits to celebrate their baby sister!

We heard the boys playing in their room but since they were so excited to have their sister home we decided to let them play and figured they would eventually fall asleep.  When Joey and I went in to turn the light off this is what we found.  Both of them asleep in the same bed!  haha!

It took him a while to care, but sometimes even Levi wants to hold "baby Abby"

I couldn't wait to have our baby because I wanted to play with my camera and do a "newborn photo shoot" with her.  Oh my gosh--every picture turned out horrible!  This is my best shot--haha!  She wasn't having it and I had no idea how to photograph a newborn.  More practice and pictures to come...:)

Another photo I couldn't wait to capture--Abby with her brothers...haha!  Out of focus, screaming baby, concerned brothers.  I think I got it!

Levi Learns to Ski!

Yesterday we drove over to Northstar to take the boys skiing for a couple of hours.  It takes just under and hour and a half to drive over there and it is such a beautiful drive!  I also get to get a latte from one of my favorite coffee shops in Truckee so it is definitly worth the drive time for me!  :)  

It sure seems like it didn't take long to transition from Owen between Joey's legs learning how to ski to now Levi!  Is it sad that my 4 AND 2 year old are better skiers than I am?  :)  What a difference from three weeks ago when we were at Northstar and Levi refused to even put his skis on!  This time, after they made the first run, Levi was saying to Joey "let go of me Daddy, I do it!"  He caught on so quick once he gave it a try! 

Levi will always have the advantage of getting to watch Owen learn or know how to do something first.  I'm just hoping that will be the case when I attempt potty training!  :)  

We could NOT get Levi's ski boots on!  It was comical and also super annoying because we knew they fit but we just couldn't get them on!  Levi was no help and thought it was so funny!

Okay--ski gear on!  Time to wait for the ski "school" shuttle bus.  Is there any other kind of bus than a school bus?

I couldn't believe it when I made it to these guys (I have to go the back way up a different gondola) and Levi had his skis on and was loving it!

Owen was completely on his own this time!

"Come on guys!"  I can't believe Owen is leading the way!

This was cute but almost hard to watch--please don't slip out!

Finding his balance all on his own!

And this is why we can teach them so young-- Joey can ski and hold them both if needed.  :)

Go Owen!  Watch and learn Levi!

Levi all on his own!

Another beautiful day at Northstar!  I'm sure we are creating ski monsters that will want to go skiing every weekend.  All in Joey's plan I'm sure!  :)

Three days til baby!  Could barely see my snowshoes with that belly in the way!

 

Air Drop

Joey and I both have iPhones again (thank you God, that was a long two years) and we were playing with the whole Air Drop thing and he was sharing pictures with me that he had taken and I had never seen.  So I thought I'd do an Air Drop post and catch up on the last six months of pictures from Joey's phone.  :)  

Going for a hike in Big Sky with cousins Grant, Lily and Grace. 

The waterfall that they hiked to

When we went out to breakfast with Levi on his birthday

Playing with Daddy in the tunnel slide

Our friends Matt and Jodi, who live on the east coast, were driving around California and decided to stop by Quincy.  Such a fun visit!

Best buds in medical school, Joey took Matt down to his office to look around and these are the pictures that resulted

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings after our first long drive to Idaho on our way to Yellowstone.  So enjoyable to have a 4 and 2 year old at dinner.

We finally got out for a date night last fall for the first time in a long time.  This was in Graeagle at Longboards.  It was the only seat left that they had that night and they felt bad that we had to sit there...  We will take it!

No big deal just a baby deer to play with.

That may be the only time you get to give a baby deer a hug and a kiss.  This girl found the deer after its mom had been hit by a car and was raising it.  It actually would play hide and seek with the kids--it was so tame!

Our favorite gift from our amazing gardening friend!  We still have it hanging in our kitchen!

Backcountry Skiing

Joey got up this morning at 4:45 AM and he went skiing at Spanish Peak which is out toward Bucks Lake about 25 minutes.  He met up with our friend Ben at 5:30 AM and they skied for two hours before Ben had to be to work at 7:30.   They are nuts!  They hiked up about 1000 feet and then skied down and were back in time for Ben to be at work, and Joey and I to drop the kids off at Peggy's and go out to breakfast.  :)   

After living in Arizona for 6 years, followed by 3 years in Redding where he could have found snow but never had the time, Joey is now living the dream up here in Quincy.  Skiing before work?  He doesn't even start til 8:30--he could go every morning!  So he is going again tomorrow...

Barely light enough to see! 

What a beautiful start to the day!

Ben, loving life!  Ben likes to attack the day and sees no problem with getting up at 5AM to ski.  Who needs daylight?  It is fun to have a friend who pushes you to get out before the crack of dawn.  :)

Ben sent us pictures of Joey coming down the hill

Here he comes...

There he goes...