Lily Joy Rhine!

 Rachel has always liked her princess slippers, but recently taken a liking to sleeping in them.

So here is the story of Lily's birth: I had my doctor's appointment on Thursday afternoon and was only about 1.5 to 2 cm dilated and didn't really expect much since I hadn't been having any regular contractions. Mom and I went for a walk that evening, but my contractions stopped when I sat down. So, around 12:30 am, I woke up having some contractions and decided to start timing them for a few hours. I decided to pack a bag and then woke Matt up to let him in on that. He was slightly confused and then kind of snapped to it. We dropped off Rachel with my parents and headed to the hospital. I was really hoping they weren't going to send me home and when I found out that I was up to 4 cm, I knew they would keep me. We headed over to labor and delivery around 4:30  and my contractions never really started hurting much. I was still at 4 cm hours later. My doctor broke my water and they started the pitocin rather strongly. It kicked in quickly and the painful contractions were coming strong. I soon wanted no visitors and my epidural immediately. Unfortunately, it took over an hour to come and then another 15 or so minutes to complete it. I couldn't wait for my immediate relief (like I had with Rachel) and was greatly disappointed when it didn't come. Fortunately, I dialated from 7 to 10 in a matter of minutes and my nurse gave me the good news that we could start pushing. We had no time to tell anyone that I had progressed to this point, so no one expected a baby so soon. I pushed for about 15 minutes. This was the only part of the labor and delievery that was mostly pain free because the epidural finally kicked in. Matt got to assist in the delievery and then cut the cord. We have no pictures of the delivery or right afterwards because our camera was in the car still and we hadn't had time to go out and get it between the contractions and quick moving labor. So, all of the pictures are of people who visited holding her. Sorry, I wish we had more. She was born at 11:13 am, 8 lb 2 oz, and 19 inches long. She looks a lot like Rachel with her dark hair, but not as much as Rachel. I am thankful that she was 8 days early and so happy to have her in our family!

 Rachel was very blessed to get many little gifts along with Lily. Thanks to everyone who visited and brought us things. We enjoy sharing Lily with our friends and family.

 

 Rachel taking a random nap  in a weird spot.

 Lily's first bottle. She took it well.

Girl Time at the Park!

 I had been telling Rachel that we would go to the park for the past few days and today I kept my word. We made a last minute call to Lauren and invited them too. The weather was beautiful and breezy and so we were out there for about 2.5 hours and even had a picnic lunch. The favorite of the older girls were the swings, but unfortunately, they all still need to be pushed and it was rather difficult for me to push all 3 of them while Lauren watched Reagan to make sure she didn't walk in front of the swings. So, they were forced to run around for most of the time.

 What cute pictures of Kate and Hannah!

 This was me trying to get Rachel to give me a decent smile. Then I asked her to smile better and I got the one below.

 Reagan had a lot of fun running around with the big kids too!

Boktoberfest!

 Mom, Dad, the 4 girls, and I went to Boktoberfest at Bok Tower this past Saturday. We went last year and had a good time, so we decided to bring the Lantz girls this year. They older 3 got their faces painted like butterflies, we ate some greasy food, fed the big fish, and rolled around in the grass.

 Hannah wouldn't stop looking in the mirror at her new face to stop for an individual picture.

 We were trying to get a picture of all 4 of them, but we had just gotten Reagan out of her stroller and she was having none of sitting still for any number of seconds.

We have been busy the past few weeks, but with nothing incredibly interesting or picture worthy. Our church has an annual Global Outreach Celebration where missionaries come in from all over the world for share about what they are doing. We housed one for about 5 days, but our Sunday School class was assigned a different one. Matt and I got to spend a good amount of time with him and hear about the work he does. We were both personally challenged to get out of our comfort zone and perhaps go places (short-term) that we wouldn't normally consider. It looks like I will get to go on my first missions trip in June 2013. And no, I am not going to Kentucky with Matt, but it will probably be the same week he does to build a church. The trip is only for about 4 days and is up in Michigan. Matt is possibly looking into going overseas for a 10 day trip, but we will see about what God has planned for our family this coming year.

My pregnancy is going well still. I am very ready for this baby to arrive, but am having no regular contractions. The baby is head down, so I am just trying to stay busy and active to pass the time. I have another appointment on Thursday and they are going to check me at this one, so perhaps I will have some good news to report.