The Country Mill apple picking excursion

Last September we heard about a great place called the Country Mill where you can go and pick apples right off of the trees! Not something you can do everywhere. So we went and it was so much fun! It was a bit chilly but we really enjoyed it. We also bought donuts and cider that were made on sight. They were very good. There were also animals to feed, and tractors to ride on. We had so much fun that we are hoping to do it again this year. Here are some of the pictures we took while we were there.

Nolan Asher Condie 6/8/2011

This is before all the drama.

The very last belly picture! :)

Boy do I look like I've been through heck! And I had!

Such a sweetie! 7 lb 8 oz, 20 inches long.

Everyone just adores him.

He is here! Much to my surprise he was born 5 days early! This was the first time I haven't had to watch the 40 week mark come and go. I must say that as much as I like that (my due date was today) the experience was not to my liking at all.

Here is the story: Tuesday night (6/7/11) Nate and I lay down to go to sleep around 11. Just as I was dozing off I feel this kind of gush, and I am wide awake. TMI ALERT: this post will be somewhat explicit so continue reading at your own risk :) So I get up and go into the bathroom to check my liner and it is full and pink. I start freaking out. Did my water just break??? I am in shock. I keep thinking I imagined it because I am only 39 weeks and 1 day. So I go back to bed thinking I will try and go to sleep and wait to see what happens. But of course my mind is racing and I can't sleep a wink. Finally I decide to wake Nate and see what he thinks we should do. I tell him that I think my water just broke and we both just stare at each other like "what do we do now???". So we discuss our options, stay at home and wait, or go to the hospital now. Knowing that my labors are usually short and a bit more gushing convinced us to call my dad to come over so we could go to the hospital.

So Nate packs the car and I get dressed. Luckily he has the presence of mind to put a towel in the car because by the time we get to the hospital I am drenched. So we get checked in, and get our room. I am still leaking a lot, but having short painless contractions. So we settle down to wait.

Side-note: I had earlier decided that I was going to do this delivery au naturale, because I barely got the epidural in time with Maddy and we were going to have to fork out 10% of the cost.

Ok, so I have these increasingly uncomfortable contractions from about 11:30-3:30 when I finally decide to wake Nate because I am getting to where I can't handle them anymore. As soon as I wake him and he joins me by the bed I start shaking uncontrollably. Not cold, just anxious I think. The contractions were very close together and getting unbearable. Nolan was face-up so I was having the most horrible back labor. Finally I ask him to tell the nurse I want an epidural. I felt like such a failure! I just couldn't take one more contraction. They were so hard and so close together that I could barely talk in between them. The Dr finally arrives and they get me to sit up. That was agony! I could barely sit, and I was shaking so bad I could hardly sit still enough to let him get the thing in. I kept telling myself, just one more, just one more. I wanted to be numb so bad! Let me just say that epidural took forever to kick in, and then it was only working on my right side, so I roll to my left to let gravity pull it down and true to form I feel the need to push. They checked me before the epidural and I was a 4, 30 minutes later, just after the epidural I was at a 10! That explained a lot. So they call the Dr. and then I start to feel better. When he arrives I am calm and can talk again. We start pushing and 13 minutes later Nolan arrives! :)

Sweet relief! There is no greater feeling than just after delivering a baby :) And I didn't even tear! He came out screaming his head off and with the crabbiest expression on his face. But none of that mattered to me. He was alive, and I was feeling great! I continued to shake for several hours after, weird. Nerves I think.

So this was the second time I barely got the epidural in time! I wonder if I can get it when I am only 3 cm next time??? This delivery left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Not at all what I was anticipating. And so much more painful than I remember! :( As of right now, 3 kids sounds perfect to me ;)

10 year reunion

It is hard to believe I am this old but I had my 10 year high school reunion. In true Keeley fashion I couldn't attend the reunion where I actually graduated. Oh no! After attending 3 different High Schools in 3 different states I decided the only reunion I wanted to attend was the school where I spent the most time and knew the people the best. So I went to New York! Go Blue Devils! It was great to see everyone, especially since I hadn't seen any of them since freshman year. It was amazing to see people who I remembered as little 14 yr olds who were now all adults. I had such a great time. I also had a great girl's weekend with two of my favorite girls in the world! My oldest and dearest friends: Aleta and Joleen! It was an amazing weekend, but I have had my fill of reunions. Wow! We are all grown up. What a great night!

This was my crush from 3rd-9th grade :) It was so funny to see him, and not awkward at all. It was great to catch up with everyone. (Can you tell it was seriously humid???)

Later we had a bonfire and smores. This happens to be an enormous strawberry flavored marshmallow.

Yum!!!! (I really like how my nails look here! Why can't they look that good all the time???)

There is nothing like a good bonfire. I was wishing my family was with me to enjoy it.

Nate's Birthday 2010

Nate turned 34 last year and we had a fun, small at home family gathering. He requested chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and strawberries on top. But the kids wanted them plain so I made some of each.

We always love a reason to have treats!

Look how happy he is to be 34! ;) Or maybe it is the yummy cupcakes?

Yep, must be the cupcakes.

We all enjoyed them.

The kids had fun choosing shirts for dad.

Can you guess who chose this one???

This one was pretty awesome too.

I bought him his favorite movies on DVD. It is about time!

He got some great workout clothes from my parents. He had a great birthday. I love you honey!

Summer fun!

So I am starting where I left off in January. Hopefully I can get all of last year done before teh baby comes, and then I can be current. So here are some posts for last summer.

Thanks to our friends the Crouch's my children were able to go on a tube ride for the first time ever! You can tell they are kind of nervous, but they eventually warmed up to it and loved it! I of course stayed safely in the boat away from the yucky lake water :)

Just look at how excited they are!

So much to CELEBRATE!!!

I am BACK! I took a little hiatus because school was seriously intense this semester (5 upper division classes, 14 books to read, many essays to write), but now it is ALL OVER. I almost can't believe it myself! I am a college graduate!!!!! I can't believe how long this journey has been, and how much I have grown in the process. It has been difficult for all four of us, but it was worth it.

I am so happy to be done. Every day I wake up and think "I could do anything today!". The only problem with that is that I am now 36 weeks pregnant and not as full of energy as I was. Not only that but this boy has dropped already, which makes it very hard to walk. So I am not quite as productive as I planned. Also, I need him to stay in there at least one more week so we won't have to worry about preemie troubles. I feel very content and proud of what I have done. And I am so excited to embark on the next phase of my life: mother of 3 here I come! :)

Graduation Dinner

Nathan graduated from internship over the summer and moved up to being a full-fledged resident! Let the countdown begin :) We had mexican and he got a sort of diploma. Then there was a dinner for the Residents who were graduating (Nate was not included) but it was fun to go and support them and have a nice dinner. The picture below is from the Resident dinner, luckily Nate and Ben Crouch are in the same program which is great because Ben and Sarah and some of our closest friends. We had a great dinner and a great time.