It's A Girl!

Violet Leone Clendenen
Born Feb. 14th, 2009
9:53 p.m.
9 lbs., 2 oz.
21 1/2 "

Travis was here for the birth! Everyone is home and doing well.

More pictures to come...

Anticipation

I just heard from Travis and he has landed in Minneapolis! Woo hoo! He'll be in a few hours and I can't wait. I can't believe I didn't have the baby while he was gone. Seriously, folks, you should see me. I feel like I can hardly move. I am 40 weeks today (my due date). The baby has dropped and is apparently a VERY good listener/direction follower because she did indeed wait for her Papa to get home!

If I don't have her before Tuesday I will be induced. So we have a four day wait at the most. Can't wait!

More later,
Lori

Waiting for Papa

I am 39 weeks, 5 days pregnant and still no baby. There was a false alarm yesterday and I went to the hospital. The doctor and nurse told me they don't remember ever having a woman as far along as I am want to leave the hospital without a baby. They would have kept me if I wanted and induced me, but the baby and I are bound and determined to wait for Papa to get home. Travis is coming home a day and a half early and will be here Friday afternoon. (My due date) !!!!! I am hoping and praying he can be here for the birth. If not, at least it won't be long before he meets her.

Training is going well for Trav. He is learning a lot and making the most of the down time he has. He has even begun drawing again and painting some (watercolors for now) which is awesome. He hasn't had much time for that the last couple years! In a couple days he will be halfway through the program. Woo hoo! His "graduation" date is March 27th so the end is in sight.

My family and friends have been taking great care of us in his absence. I do not know what I would do without my parents and my sister here. I can't thank them enough for all their help!

I had a doctor appt. on Monday and the baby has dropped since them. I'm dilated to four (again, too much info?) and have been up at night with contractions. The girls are getting excited and loving all the cuddle time we've had reading books on the couch. I am really slowing down physically...it is just getting harder to do normal things with this giant belly in the way. ;)

We are excited to meet the baby and can't wait for her to join our family. Now if only Travis would get home so I can have this kid!

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support.

Baby Watch

I'm 38 weeks, 4 days and still no baby. Since she didn't arrive before Travis left on Saturday, I'm hoping she will wait to make her debut on Valentine's Day when he gets home! It's just a waiting game now. ;)

Travis is back in Portland for training. It was easier in some ways to say goodbye again (we know we will see him in two weeks) and harder (Madeline literally begged him to stay, I'll probably have the baby while he's gone) in others. At least we know what to expect this time.

He will come home Valentine's Day for a four day break. The training will be halfway done. Woo hoo!!!

He is more than likely going to do his second site training in Ventura. That means after the break he will stay here and work in Ventura for a week. Then back to Portland. It is so much easier to handle being apart for two weeks at a time than six weeks!

I had another doctor appointment yesterday. My doc said he would induce me today, but I want to have the baby closer to when T gets home. I am definitely slowing down and having to rest more. My last preggo pic was 33 weeks so I thought you might like to see how big I am now at 38 weeks. I've only gained 17 pounds but am still huge. ;)

Thanks again for all of your prayers.
More later,

Christmas Recap

Um, I do know Christmas was over a month ago, but I still wanted to post some pictures. With my computer being broken and Travis leaving for Oregon we had a pretty busy December!

Scroll down if you want to see more recent posts and bear with me as I play catch up on the blog!

We spent Christmas at home in Britt this year. Usually Christmas Eve is a very busy day for Travis at work, but since he had put in his two week notice, he worked "regular hours" and came home early in the afternoon. It was great to have him home and so relaxed. First we made snowman cookies for Santa. Then we opened presents late afternoon which was fun. Travis made the girls a Barbie house...that is what they had both been asking for for months. The look on their face (and Trav's!) was priceless. They have played non-stop with it since.

On Christmas Eve we went to church with my sister Karen, her husband Chris (aka Minnesota) and my niece Grace. They were in town too and came over after the Christmas Eve service to our house. We ate and opened a couple presents. The girls were pretty excited and it was fun to see them together.

They could hardly wait to get to bed so Santa could come!

On Christmas morning it was just us and the girls couldn't believe Santa ate the cookies they set out. Madeline decided it was because she was such a good cookie baker. We opened stockings and Santa gifts and they were in awe. It is so fun to watch kids open presents.

My parents had gone to my twin sis Lisa's house but came back in time for lunch on Christmas Day. We all ate fondue at mom and dad's house. It was very fun and relaxing.

We had an early Christmas with Trav's family, and celebrated with my family a couple weeks before so it was pretty laid back which was nice.

I hope you all had a great holiday season!

Zella is 2!

Zella turned 2 on December 28th. It's hard to believe two years have gone by! Zella is a very happy, vivacious little girl. She has a very big vocabulary and a tiny, soft speaking voice. The combination of the two usually gets people's attention. (Well, and her unusual name and the fact she wears glasses. She is hard to forget!)

She is now in her "big girl" toddler bed and wakes up every morning happy. She throws her arms in the air and announces, "I'm awake! I love you! Let's go downstairs and play!".

Zella loves to look at books and play with the Barbie house her Papa made for his girls. She also loves the trike and helmet she got for her birthday. She is not as cuddly as Madeline, and if you ask her whose girl she is, she answers, "I'm my OWN girl!". Very independent and full of it!

She is such a joy in our lives and a constant source of smiles. Travis and I usually just shake our heads and laugh at all the funny things she says. Zella loves to sing and make up songs in her high-pitched voice. I'll try to get some on video to share...you can't help but smile!

Zella also has entered her terrible twos. Just ask her cousin Grace (two months older than Z) who has to contend with Zella being a bully. She can tackle Madeline and knock her down. She is pretty tough!

Zella is very excited about being a big sister even though she is not 100 percent sure what that means. It has been fun watching her grow and we are so thankful that she is our daughter!

The pictures above are from Zella's birthday party. She wanted Elmo cupcakes and I tried my best. ;) She thought they looked like Elmo. Her favorite party was eating Elmo's gumdrop nose.

We had family who live in the area, plus Grandma "Marker" (Trav's mom) and Aunt Kate (so thankful they could make it!) for a small party at our house. It was fun to watch Zella open presents because she got so excited for each one. Her favorite thing to open were the clothes and she kept trying to strip down and try her new outfits on. Too cute!

Thanks to everyone for making Zella's birthday special.

In case you're wondering, Zella is wearing her old glasses in all these photos because I broke her new ones. First time that has happened! I stepped on them while trying to find them.

More later,

Pregnancy Update

Hello all. I will be 38 weeks preggo on Friday and am WILLING myself to have this baby before Travis leaves on Saturday! I had a doctor appointment yesterday and everything went well. I am dilated to 3 (too much information?) and my doctor thought it would be soon but you never really know.

I have been having a lot of contractions, especially in the evening when I'm tired. I can barely bend over (literally) and Madeline has taken pity on my and offered to pick things up off the ground when I need her too. ;)

I feel somewhat prepared for the baby, although I don't have anything hung up in her room yet. Clothes are washed, diapers are bought and a name is picked out. We are anxious to meet our girl!

If Travis isn't home when I go into labor, my mom is going to watch the girls and my brave sister Karen is going to fill in for Travis during the birth. Except she isn't as squeamish as Travis so I won't have to worry about her fainting (ha ha!). I am nervous about him not being here, but there is nothing I can do about it so I am trying not to worry. Mostly I feel sad that he won't get to see her right away. I think all of this will be harder on him than me because at least I will have the girls and my family here. So please pray for us!

(Almost) Four Weeks Down

Putting the blades on a wind turbine with a crane.


Travis 280 feet up in the air on a wind turbine.

I finally got my computer up and running again and wanted to update everyone. We made it through the first two weeks of Travis being gone for job training. It was a long couple weeks (especially for Madeline who cried every day for her Papa)! Thankfully my family kept us busy.

Luckily, Travis got to come home and do his first site training in Ventura. We are so thankful to have him home! I literally couldn't stop smiling for the first couple days and the girls were overjoyed!

He leaves on Saturday for another two weeks in Portland. Although it will be hard to say goodbye, we know he gets to come home Feb. 14th for a four day break in training. He might be coming back to Ventura for future site training, but we don't know yet. We are just so thankful that they made an exception for him and let him come home these last two weeks. They must have taken pity on an emotional 8 1/2 month pregnant woman! Thank goodness!

He learned a lot during his first two weeks in Portland. He is training with 15 other managers and they get along well which is nice. He was definitely getting tired of hotel living and eating out every day but enjoyed everything he was learning.

During his site training he has been job shadowing different people, including the lead technicians who actually go up in the wind turbines to fix them. Yesterday he climbed another wind turbine (as you can see from the pictures above).

We want to thank everyone for being so supportive! This 90 days of job training is obviously not at the best time for us with a new baby coming, and he really couldn't have accepted this position without the help of everyone. So thanks especially to my family and friends who have pitched in and helped me/us out. We are so thankful!

I'll try to update more!