Ten Days Ago...

My life was quite different ten days ago.  Back then, I only had three kids.  But now, I have FOUR!

On June 8, we welcomed Jade Xia Koberstein into our family!  She, like our other kids, is perfect in every way :) 

 Labor and delivery went very smoothly.  My water broke at 6:30pm on June 7, we got to the hospital around 8:00pm, and she was born at 2:13am. Our baby girl was pink and healthy and pouting as she came into the world.  I decided to go natural again with this birth, and I think it paid off for recovery.  Epidurals just don't agree with my body.

 I saw the team of midwives at Kaiser through this pregnancy.  I really enjoyed all of them, but we had the most chipper and upbeat of them all for our delivery!  Allison S. is the perfect midwife for a midnight labor!  She kept us laughing and excited through it all! Also, she let me eat whatever I wanted. Yay!

 My primary presidency girls got me a pedicure a couple weeks ago and it lasted really well!  Pretty toe nails are fun to have when you have to wear those "special" hospital clothes... 

 Nana and Papa Severson came as soon as I called them on Friday evening.  The kids spent the night at their house and came to see their new sister, who finally had a name, after lunch on Saturday.

 When I was calling Jon and mom and dad on Friday, when I just realized my water had broken, Xochitl, unprompted, began singing, "Happy Birthday, dear baby!" I don't give her enough credit!  She really internalizes everything going on around her!

 Larry was really excited to show a picture of "his" baby to his preschool class on Monday!

 Mom and Dad saying hi to their 29th grand baby.  Jade is the 14th Koberstein grand baby. Talk about lots of cousins!

 Dawna and Xochitl picked flowers from Nana's yard for baby Jade. They were very fragrant and made the hospital room very cheery!

 Nothing is sweeter than seeing my sweetheart hold our little baby! He is so amazing with all our kids!

 We got home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon.  We decided to stay two days.  It was almost like a vacation for me, with my older kids happily taken care of and food being brought to me on a tray  for every meal!

 Brooke came by to meet baby Jade. She stayed and told funny stories to Larry and gave me a great back massage!

 Xochitl, ever protective big sister!  She is my Number 1 helper with Jade!  She will get diapers, throw away diapers, give her a Binky, rock her in her bassinet... really do anything as long as it's for baby! Cutest thing ever (I have on video, and will try to post it later...): when asked what her name is, Xochitl says, "Jade Zebra." oops...

 Our first family outing with four kids!  We went to the Ohlone college pond.  We thought there might be ducks to feed... we were greeted by turtles and fish ready to eat bread! At one point, Jon and I counted 17 turtles!

 Our second family outing: to Antioch!  The apricot tree was ready to be harvested and Uncle Lynn said he wouldn't eat them all... so we brought home many bags and a bucket full of apricots! Jade got to meet Uncles Lynn and Weston!

 And daddy taking care of Jade: Crosswords on one hand, Binky finger on the other... so cute!

Dawna's Birthday Bash!

 Dawna was a very, very lucky birthday girl this year.  Her birthday celebrations started a week before her birthday.  I was not going to attempt going camping at 37 weeks pregnant, so Nana and Papa decided to take Dawna to Burney Falls as part of her birthday present.  She had four days of fun with no mom or dad to pester her! She fished, hiked, and played with cousins to her heart's contentment!

Of course Adele was there to share all the fun with!

Sunday fish Hatchery: the kids were spoiled with a whole bucket of food from the feeding truck! No nickles and dimes this time!  Dawna asked Adele to bring her skirt so they could match on Sunday. Now you can't even tell them apart :)

Fishing with Adele! Papa was kept busy putting worms on hooks for these girls!

Caught one!  On a Disney Princess fishing pole!  These poles are magic, I'm told!

Hiking with Aaron & Em and family: Dawna earned the Burney Falls patch! 

The Next weekend...

Saturday, Dawna's actual birthday, dawned with her up early to see what goodies awaited her... 

Daddy got up early and made Swedish Pancakes for everyone!  Then we opened up presents.

First up was a beautiful mirror which came all the way from Kumamoto Castle in Japan.  This present was wrapped in 4 layers, so it took a while to open, which I thought was great! 

 

After that came a barrage of "From My Childhood to Your Childhood" type of presents.  Dawna had recently read the American Girl Samantha series and really wanted a Samantha doll.  I was sad to learn that they have retired Samantha and no longer sell her.  But, with mom's magic, all things are possible :) I loved watching her adore Samantha all day long...

...reading stories to her... 

 ...coloring with her (the Spiderman velvet coloring pages were Larry's present to Dawna)... Dawna set up a little "bedroom" for Samantha in her closet, complete with a box bed and dresser. This was a very "Toy Story 3" moment for me, if you know what I mean :) 

Later, I told Dawna I was taking her and Samantha out to lunch.  For obvious reasons, I had not planned a big party for her this year, in case of last minute cancellation, so on Thursday I called her primary class friends and arranged a "Ladies Luncheon."  I made Dawna sit blindfolded in the car while we drove around and picked up her friends.  She didn't know at first that anyone was in the car, but little girls stay quiet for only so long...

We arrived at Nana's house.  Dawna guessed we were at Denny's or the Elephant Bar... nope! I did a good job driving her around and confusing her :) 

 Here's Kenna, Sara, Dawna, Hope, and Chloe, all dressed, with a little doll friend to enjoy a fancy lunch with!

 The Dolls had a little tea party while the girls all ate lunch: Chicken, watermelon, rolls, and sprite!

 We tried to make ice cream, just like Samantha would have, by rolling it in cans outside... the girls didn't last long enough to get it frozen, but Jon, stud muffin that he is, kept working at it for over an hour so we could all enjoy fresh ice cream with the "petit fours" that Dawna requested for her cake (if you've ever read "Happy Birthday Samantha" this should all sound pretty familiar).
 

And here's my embarrassing moment for the day: I totally put 6 candles on her cake! Luckily, Nana was paying attention and slipped one more candle on top before I took it out... I can't believe my baby is SEVEN! That's... such a big kid!

But... even her surprise luncheon was not the end of the fun... After the party, Daddy took her rock climbing and out to dinner... talk about a full day of birthday fun! The two of them were climbing for FIVE HOURS! Jon was worn out by Dawna.  

Whew... now all we have to do is have a baby... that should feel relaxing after all this!