H Family Visit - York

Dave, Enoch, Kari, Ed, Hazel and Ginger head in to York for a day out. Ginger plans the route and everyone enjoys the National Railway Museum, the York Minster and walking around York. Too bad the rest of us missed it.

H Family Visit - Whitby

One nice crisp spring day Dave, Enoch, Kari, Ed, Hazel and Ginger headed out to the seaside town of Whitby. It is on the Northeastern coast of England and about an hour and a half drive from our house. I have yet to be there, but Hilde has gone there with school and wants to go to the Seaside on her birthday. From the pictures below, you can see why it is so enticing. Enoch and Hazel played in the water for hours, and got in their exercise quotient for the week with all the running. Ginger gives some awesome attitude in her pictures and everyone looks like they had a great time.

H Family Visit - Betty's & Fountains Abbey

Today's catch up blog focuses on our visit to Betty's Tea Rooms and then Fountains Abbey. These are two stand bys we use for guests, but they never get old. I just love the look on the kids faces as they peer into the windowfront of Betty's. Such yumminess is hard to ignore, so we don't even try. It is nice that this place is within walking distance of our house. Delicious.

Fountains Abbey with the cousins was a lot of fun for our kids. Hilde and Enoch love going there, and to have someone their ages to share it with was fantastic. A lot of running, playing, and picture taking ensued.

H Family Visit - Skipton Castle

I am playing catch up on some serious fun we have had over the last few months. Here is the first in a series of posts documenting our time with Kari, Ed and family who visited in May. Below are pictures of our trip to Skipton Castle. Hazel and Hilde dressed up as princesses for the adventure and Enoch wore his Knight shirt although he had his coat on most of the time so you can't really see it. The kids, and adults, had a great time. We brought the swords and let them run and run and run, which wore us all out!
Our princesses above. Below, I love this shot of Kari with a blurry kid running in and out of photo.
We all took turns posing in this church. You can vote for your favorite pose.







We, the children, challenge Ed to a duel. Well, not really a duel, more like 4 vs. 1, but you get the general idea.


Ginger liked having a sword, but was less interested in the running around and fighting aspect of things.
I love the look of pure joy on Enoch's face below as he stabs uncle Ed in the heart.

And then there were 5....

Phineas Archer Younce

8 pounds 11 ounces

Monday, July 20, 2009

3:36 AM

Harrogate Hospital, North Yorkshire, England

A week ago today, little Phinn joined our family. Sunday I stayed home from Church, just plain tired of being pregnant and not wanting a million people to say - "you still here?". So I nested, cleaning and going up and down the stairs constantly. Part of it was nesting, but most of it was a desire to start labor. By night time I had noticed some positive changes and was pretty sure labor would start that night. I went to bed very hopeful and told Dave to be prepared. Dave came to bed a little before 1 and I told him to get some sleep while he could. At around 1:30 I woke up to a "get out of bed and go to the hospital" contraction. In fairness, those are the only contractions I get. So I woke Dave up and had him call our good friend Amanda. He asked her if she was on baby duty and asked if she and Isabel could come over. Then I called the hospital (they insist on talking to Mom). I told them I was in labor and would be coming in. They wanted me to stay at home for a while, but I told them my history of fairly fast labors and told them "I AM coming in." Good thing I did too. Amanda got to our house and I had had a couple more contractions. Then on the way to the hospital, which is 1 mile away, I had a couple more contractions and started vomiting. By the time I had walked the half mile to the maternity ward, the contractions were becoming faster and more furious. The midwife checked us into a labor and delivery room and checked me, I was already a 5. Then she started my antibiotics for group B strep. A completely harmless condition for me, but if passed in childbirth can make your baby very sick. Mom needs to get 4 hours of antibiotics in her during labor for the baby to be protected. By the time I was started on the antibiotics, I was screaming in pain and begging for pain relief of any kind. They gave me laughing gas (you read that correctly) through a tube I breathed in and out of during contractions. Then Dave hinted that maybe I was moving along pretty quickly so they checked me again and I was 8 centimeters. Then the midwife looked at me and said, "you don't have time for an epidural. If I break your waters now, you will have this baby in less than 30 minutes". I looked at the clock and it was a little after 3, we had only been at the hospital for a little less than an hour. She broke my water and less than 30 minutes later she was telling me to push. Now, something about laughing gas, it is just like you remember it from the dentist if you were unlucky enough to have cavities. It numbs the pain a little, but mostly it just takes your mind to a farther off place. The moment you stop breathing it you rush back to reality. So it was a little odd, and not really that much of a pain reliever. But at that point, every little bit help. It took two quick pushes and our little Phinn was here. The labor had been 2 hours from start to finish. I was completely relieved to see his little body and hear his baby screams. And a week later I am no less in awe of how perfect he is. Here are the first in what will be many posts going forward on our new family member.

Phinn and mom moments after birth. We are both glad the labor part is over.Most of Phinn's first week was spent at the hospital since I didn't get the antibiotics I needed to protect him from the Strep. We spent 4 days in the hospital while he got antibiotics through an IV and they monitored him very closely. Luckily, everyone went home healthy and happy on Thursday.

Guess if I am excited to not be pregnant anymore? And of course, to have Phineas.
The first time the kids met their little brother. Enoch couldn't help touching his little feet, he was fascinated by his small toes. And Hilde is such a mother hen, she wants to hold him all the time.

Daddy and Phinn enjoying some time together.
Phinn's arm has an IV in it and a sock and splint covering the IV, which is why you can't see his hand. We were glad to see that go.
So a week later, and everyone is adjusting nicely. Last night we actually got a decent night's sleep and we are having a few more awake moments just enjoying each others company. So far 5 is a great number.