Happy Birthday, Forrest Wan!

 I’ll preface this whole birth story with a few things. First, since my labors with Kennedy and Adrienne were both quick (6.5 and 4.5 hours respectively), my doctor suggested heading to the hospital as soon as labor started this time. Second, it’s worth sharing that my OB had offered to sweep my membranes at any of my final appointments. I opted out at 37 weeks since the girls hadn’t gone back to school yet, but was contemplating if I would at the 38 week appointment on Wednesday, January 11. I was texting with Lindsay and a friend late afternoon and early evening on Sunday, January 8, to get feedback on what they thought. Ultimately, I decided not to do it. This was my final pregnancy so I was going to enjoy having baby brother to myself and feeling his movements, get a little further from the holidays, and who knows — maybe he’d be born on my birthday! I texted them around 7pm that I wouldn’t do it…. And then things happened on their own at 10pm. Typical third child behavior!

I’d been having Braxton Hicks pretty much daily for a while, often several times per day. Just this overall tightness on my whole belly, and I’d take friends’ hands and let them feel. It was starting to get painful just because it was so dang tight and my belly was feeling much bigger. Nelson and I were watching Sunday Night Football, and I was doing laundry and some other odds and ends. It was around 10pm. I felt a couple Braxton Hicks, but then realized they came right after each other, which wasn’t the norm. I decided to open a contraction timer app to see if there was any consistency to them. While I did that, I quickly finished getting things cleaned up and organized. Sure enough, there was a consistency to them: three minutes apart, lasting about a minute each. I didn’t want to say anything to Nelson yet (I don’t know why I always keep him in the dark haha), but he saw a grid open on my phone as I was unloading the dishwasher and gave me a super wide-eyed look. I told him I wasn’t sure if that’s what it was because it felt different this time. While I remember it feeling much like period cramps, at least with Kennedy, this really was just super tight. The only difference from Braxton Hicks was that it was very low on my belly. Nelson made a comment about, “I was just about to get ready for bed.” Because, you know, he’d be doing a lot of work. I burst into tears because I didn’t want to go into labor just yet. I had decided I wanted to stay pregnant longer, and I was taking Kennedy to an indoor play place with a friend the next day. I’d been a lot more emotional about spending quality time with the girls since I knew things would be harder once baby brother was born, so I was devastated to not be able to take her on this play date the following day. 

I decided to go ahead and call Lindsay (we talked about her being in the delivery room, again) to let her know. I called her at 10:55pm and asked if she was getting ready for bed. She said she was about to, so I told her to maybe hold off. I also started crying to her about the ruined plans with Kennedy the following day. She told me, “Holly, I don’t think Kennedy’s going to mind because she’ll be so excited about her new baby brother.” I told Lindsay I’d let her know when we were headed to the hospital so she could leave, too. I then called my mom and asked her if she’d packed that bag we had talked about yet. She said she hadn’t, but knew why I was asking and said she would be right over. While we waited, I put the final things in my bag and tidied up a few other things around the house. I called the emergency line for my OB’s office and let them know I was in labor. They told me the on-call OB, Dr. Gutierrez, would call me back. Nelson had decided he would stay at home with the girls overnight, so he had very little to pack. I was surprised how quickly my mom got there (she said she literally threw things in her bag, hangers still on and all), but unfortunately she forgot some of her medication so had to hurry home. Mind you I was still timing contractions and they were still three minutes apart, lasting about a minute. They weren’t super painful, but Nelson said at this point I was starting to wince. He was concerned about a car baby, so we went ahead and called our neighbor, Heidi, to come sit at the house until my mom got back. Her phone kept ringing and I was afraid she was sleeping, but her husband answered and said he’d let her know I was in labor. Evidently she was in the shower and he burst in the bathroom, “Get out! Holly’s in labor and you need to get over there!” Had I known I would’ve told her nevermind, but she got there quickly and Nelson and I pulled out!

Once again, we were on our way to the hospital to have a baby around 11:30pm (same as with Adrienne) so luckily there was no traffic. I could tell Nelson was flying and saw the speedometer read 85mph. Definitely unlike Nelson. I told him he didn’t have to go that fast, I felt fine, so he slowed down a bit so we didn’t die on our way to the hospital :) We pulled up shortly before midnight and took the obligatory last pictures outside with Lindsay, and then went inside to get checked in. Lindsay had to stay in the lobby until I was officially admitted, so Nelson and I went into the L&D unit and were directed to a triage room. I got into a gown and they strapped all of the monitors on me, and then checked me and I was 5cm (I was 3cm the previous Thursday at my appointment), so I was officially in labor and getting admitted. At one point, I got the return call from Dr. Gutierrez, but had to break it to her that I was already in triage, so she was just like, “Oh! I’ll see you soon then!” 

This will come up again later, but the triage nurse was going through her routine list of questions and asked, if I ended up needing a C-section, did I want my tubes tied? I answered, “No,” to which Nelson made a little noise. I told him I was done, this was our last baby, but I hadn’t thought about getting my tubes tied and that was a big decision. It kind of caught me off guard when she asked it, so I wasn’t ready to commit to that right then. The nurse just stood there while we sorted it out haha, and then resumed her questions. I then called Lindsay and let her know which room she could head to!

My L&D nurse, Hailey, was so nice. I really loved her. One of the first things she asked was if I wanted the epidural. I told her I did, but I still wasn’t in terrible pain yet and I worried that getting it too soon could cause labor to slow a bit, so wanted to hold off as long as possible. She said we should get everything done necessary in order to get it, and then once I’m ready, all she has to do is call the anesthesiologist. So we settled into room 15 for a long night and started to hang out. I felt bad that this was slower and it was already getting into the middle of the night, especially because Ben was going out of town at 6am so it was throwing a wrench into Lindsay’s schedule, but she reassured me that it was no big deal and she wasn’t going anywhere.

As the minutes and hours started to pass, we were all getting the giggles and slightly delirious (or maybe it was just me). I had to use the restroom several times, and at one point I told Lindsay and Nelson to let Hailey know I was in the restroom; I didn’t leave. And then I just started laughing so hard because I was like, “Where would I go???” I laughed until tears were running down my face. The contractions still weren’t terrible, so I started walking back and forth in the room to move. Sure enough, that started moving things along and it was getting more painful. But they were still only three minutes apart. I wasn’t sure if I was really ready for the epidural (could I withstand more?), so I kept asking Nelson and Lindsay what they thought. They always laughed and were like, “I don’t know, it’s your decision!” So it kind of became the running joke for the whole night that I would poll the audience and ask their opinion on things. We’d always start laughing and at one point I told Hailey, “I just want this to be entertaining for everybody involved.” She laughed and said it definitely was. 

I finally decided to get the epidural around 3am (I think?). I was concerned how it would feel because I wasn’t in terrible pain and there was still the time between contractions where I felt fine. With both girls, by the time I got the epidural, my contractions were back-to-back and I felt absolutely nothing happening behind me. And yeah, it wasn’t great this time around. When she put whatever goes into my back in, my left leg did a reflex twitch and it just felt off. I told her I wasn’t sure it was centered, and she said it did look centered, but she could try it again or we could move on and see if it numbs me evenly. Because it wasn’t comfortable going in and I didn’t want to feel that again, I said we could just move on. She put the bolus of the epidural in and then we waited for it to take full effect. I told her I could really feel it in my left leg, and I could feel it in the right, it just wasn’t as strong. She said she wasn’t worried about that so long as it worked in the belly correctly. The anesthesiologist stayed in my room the whole time and chatted and made sure everything was working properly before she left. And it was at the time! My belly was mostly numb and I felt good. After she left, Hailey checked me and I was 7cm, so she suggested putting the peanut ball between my legs and laying on each side for about an hour.

I started off laying on my right side, which was a big mistake. We all tried to get some rest (I couldn’t turn my mind off, but Lindsay and Nelson at least got some sleep) as I laid there for about 45 minutes before Hailey came and switched me to my left side. The reason starting on my right was a mistake was because being on my left side when I was further along in labor meant my epidural was draining more to the left side and not taking much effect on the right… when labor was getting more painful. I had clicked the little button the max number of times to give myself more of the epidural, and it wasn’t making a dent. When the time was up, around 5:30am, the right side of my belly was in SO much pain with each contraction. The one plus was that they were, you guessed it, three minutes apart, so I got a good break between each one. But I was having to really breathe through them and I remember my eyes tearing up at one point because of the pain. Hailey wanted to check me first and she believed I was at 10cm, but it was just hard to confirm because baby brother’s head was right there and also my water was bulging. She gave me two options: she could call Dr. Gutierrez and I could start pushing; or she could call the anesthesiologist to come back and fix the epidural. I opted for the latter.

The anesthesiologist came back and gave me another bolus of the medication, and then had me lay on my right side to make sure it really took effect on the side that was painful. And it totally worked! It was now roughly 6:15am. The downside was that I had so much medication in me, my left side was literally dead. It was the weirdest feeling, it was so heavy and numb and just wow. But my right was good to go, so Hailey gave me two options, again: she could call Dr. Gutierrez and I could start pushing; or she said my OB would be there around 7am if I wanted to wait for him. Dr. Cowan didn’t deliver either of the girls and we always joked about this being his last time, that I didn’t want him to be 0-3, so I decided to wait. After all, my epidural was working and we were just relaxing at this point. And baby brother was doing just fine and not in any distress, so they were more than comfortable letting me make these decisions (and I was very grateful for it!). She mentioned that some of the doctors keep their on-call phones on at all times, but Cowan didn’t. But they would get a message to him so he could come up as soon as he got to the office. It was around this time, while I was just hanging out on my right side, that I felt a weird popping sensation and my upper right leg felt a little warmer. I let Hailey know I thought my water broke and she peeked under the blanket and confirmed that, yes, it broke.

Another funny part: while we waited for Dr. Cowan, Hailey started reading through the legal stuff for delivery and had me initial some papers. At one point, she was talking about if I started bleeding and had to be taken to the OR and certain measures had to be taken, blah blah blah, including hysterectomy. Because of the conversation about not getting my tubes tied and Nelson’s reaction, I looked at him and went, “Heeeeey!!!” Lindsay started laughing and Hailey looked confused. I explained why I made that comment and Lindsay responded, “Holly, you realize that’s like if you’re dying and they need to save your life.” I’m telling you, I was so tired and delirious at that point.

Unfortunately the shift change was at 7am, so Hailey introduced me to Lauren, her replacement. I felt so bad that she had been with us for the whole night only to pass me off right before the fun began. But Lauren was also sweet (how could an L&D nurse not be?!) and ready to start her shift with a baby being born! Dr. Cowan got there around 7:15am and was excited this was happening and he was there for it. We were chatting about how the night went while he got all of his tools and everything set up, his gown on, and all prepared for a delivery. He instructed me to go ahead and get my legs up so we could take a look. I remember there was no way I could move by myself, so my nurse (and I think Nelson?) had to help move them into position. Dr. Cowan took one look and, I can’t remember exactly how he phrased it, said something to the effect of, “Oh, this won’t take long.” I wondered what he meant so quickly told Nelson to get the mirror. And let me tell you, having someone position the mirror so you can see what’s happening down there while not trying to see for themselves is very difficult haha. He said he saw Adrienne being born, he was fine not seeing another (insert eyeroll here). But WOW — baby brother’s head was right there.

Lindsay started by taking a picture and the timestamp reads 7:29am. She then overheard Dr. Cowan say something like, “Let’s go ahead and try a push,” so she quickly moved it to video mode and started filming. I’m not even sure I was having a contraction, but he told me to push so I did and then, all of a sudden, the head just popped out. The nurse was shocked and Dr. Cowan was so proud haha. And then, without pushing again, he just guided baby brother’s body out. It was a very weird sensation because I could feel it, but only internally, and I subconsciously made an audible sign / groan noise. The time was 7:29am, and Forrest Wan Chang was here. All 7lb 6oz and 20.5” of him. My longest labor, my easiest delivery.

Happy Birthday, Adrienne Lee!

Since Kennedy was born at 35 weeks 6 days, and both Jackson and Dean were born when Lindsay was 36 weeks, my doctor said there was a high chance I would also deliver early. I vowed to be ready this time, so bags were packed, clothes were washed, the car seat was installed, and we were ready when I hit 35 weeks! And then we waited... and waited... and waited.

At my 36 weeks appointment, Dr. Cowan checked my cervix and said that I was 2cm and he felt like her head was pretty low. He also let me know that I should head to the hospital when contractions were 10 minutes apart (versus the standard 5) as he believed it would go quick, if not more quickly, than before.

My 37 week appointment rolled around on Thursday, May 2, and I couldn't believe I was still pregnant. I told myself to soak up the alone time with Kennedy and cherish our final days together, but it was rough waiting when we'd been ready for so long. Dr. Cowan checked me, again, and said that I was 3cm, but he didn't think her head was as low as before. He also mentioned that, should I make it to 39 weeks, he would give me the option to induce. We chatted about it briefly, me saying that my body has done it before on its own, so why force her if she's not ready; him saying he didn't think it would end in c-section, and that I didn't have to decide that day. But the whole rest of the day, I kept wondering if I would do that or not.

But I was also feeling so much pressure the rest of the day... to the point where I felt like I needed to use the restroom, but I would just sit there and nothing happened. After putting Kennedy to bed, I was getting ready to take a shower while texting a neighbor and, upon mentioning that to her, she said her water broke a couple days after feeling that much pressure.

After our showers, Nelson and I settled down on the couch to continue catching up on Tosh.0 before tucking Kennedy in and calling it a night. Towards the end of an episode, I noticed a feeling in my lower belly. I'd been having Braxton Hicks the past several weeks, something I didn't experience with Kennedy, but this felt different. Whereas the BH would all of the sudden appear and be super tight, squeezing my bladder and making me need to pee, and then suddenly disappearing as quickly as it came, this feeling came on more slowly, was a little more irritable, and then faded out. After I'd had a couple, I also realized the BH would be one and done until later in the day or the next day, not back-to-back. So I started timing them around 10:00pm.

When we finished the episode and I'd been timing these "pains" for roughly 30 minutes, I noticed they were coming every 7 minutes. There goes the 10 minute suggestion! I asked Nelson if he wanted to watch one more episode. At this point, it was a little after 10:30pm, time for us to shut down for the night. Being very routine people, he looked at me questioningly and asked why. I finally decided to let him know I'd been feeling something and timing them, and I thought I should time them for a while longer to make it a full hour. He suggested we start prepping things in case we need to leave - a much more logical thing to do. I went ahead and called Lindsay, who I'd invited to be in the delivery room to take pictures, so that she could be on standby. I felt bad waking her up, and she said she thought about going back to sleep until she heard back from me, but that didn't happen for obvious reasons, so she got up and got dressed. Next I called my mom... which started with her answering the phone, "Can you call me back in 2 minutes?" The previous several weeks, everyone was on high alert. My mom would let me know where she was at all times in case we needed her; and the one time we did, she has me call back? When I finally called back, I let her know that we were going to see how things progressed, but to have a bag ready to come sleep at our house for the night so we didn't have to wake Kennedy.

While I was doing all of this, Nelson called the hospital to give them a heads up. They ended up putting the on-call doctor, Dr. Seeker, on the phone. I heard Nelson telling him it was our second, our first labor was about 6.5 hours, and contractions were 7 minutes apart for only 30 minutes. But he failed to tell him what my doctor suggested, so we were told to wait another hour and see what happens. Luckily we didn't take his advice.

I put some final things in my bag, helped Nelson get his together finally (#eyeroll), and gathered last minute things Kennedy would need at my mom's. Since we had both showered and were in our pajamas, we had to change clothes, and you know I blow dried my hair and put on some mascara, too. Since Lindsay would be taking pictures, I wanted to look as good as possible - ha!

It was just after 11:00pm and I was walking a lot around the house, continuing to time the contractions, which by this point had dropped to every 2-3 minutes and I was having to pause what I was doing to breathe through them. We decided to call my mom back and have her come over. Again, I was surprised when she asked if she could wait for her her laundry in the washing machine to finish so she could bring it to our house to dry, that it would only be another 10 minutes. I begrudgingly said ok.

While we waited, they continued to be close together and were getting more painful. I decided to take one final belly picture in the mirror to always remember what I looked like. Nelson was freaking out, asking where my mom was (with an extra word thrown in there), and wondering if we should call a neighbor to wait for her. But she finally arrived around 11:30pm and, after going through instructions for Kennedy, showing her where everything was, setting up her laundry in the dryer, and turning the car seat in her car to be rear-facing, we were off to the hospital. Lindsay was already on her way, too. Luckily it was so late and the streets were empty because Nelson ran every stop sign in the neighborhood and was definitely speeding. My contractions actually slowed in the car to about every 5 minutes, I guess because I was sitting down, causing me to wonder if this was a false alarm, and I felt bad for inconveniencing everyone if it was.

We got to hospital around midnight, getting there right after Lindsay. We took a few more pictures to commemorate the occasion, and then headed inside. I was glad to have a calm person with me because Nelson was starting to freak out, and she knew how to get in the door after hours - ha! We all went to the check-in desk and I busted out laughing when Nelson started out with, "Hi, we're here because we believe she's in labor." What? We believe? Ummm... ok. Poor Nelson.

Unfortunately only 1 person could go back in triage with me, so Lindsay went back to the waiting room. Kathy was my nurse, and she got me all set-up with a gown and the contraction belt. I had stopped timing them by this point, but they were getting painful; I just wasn't sure how far apart they were. She finally came back to see how dilated I was around 12:30am, and it was both exciting and frightening when she announced that we would be staying because I was 6cm! I texted the "fan club" at 12:35am that I was officially in labor and Baby Sister would be here soon! While we waited for everything that happens to be admitted, Nelson yawned and said, "Man, this is not an ideal time." You know, because he's going to be doing a lot.

When I finally got wheeled into a room, it was nearing 1:00am and Carlina would be my nurse. They asked if I would be wanting an epidural since I was far enough along to get it, and I actually thought about it. I mean, I'd made it so far with Kennedy before getting one since we didn't even get to the hospital until I was 8cm; should I just try it? I wasn't feeling too bad... yet. But Carlina said that it'd be about 45 minutes by the time I actually get it from when I ask, and I realized I could always just not give myself much of the medicine, so I said sure.

Thank goodness I did because things went fast - fast! Maybe because they'd hooked me up to fluids? I don't know, but it started to get rough. The contractions were getting severely painful and lasting longer with a much shorter break in-between. I laid in the bed and gripped the side rail as tightly as I could. I remember Lindsay and Nelson were just sitting on the little couch in the room, neither of them talking or doing anything. I honestly didn't think much of it, and Lindsay mentioned later that she wasn't sure what to do. Should she hold my hand? Talk me through them? But when Nelson asked quietly, "Do you need water or ice?" at one point, and I responded with, "Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up," she knew they were doing what I wanted. I actually don't even remember that - haha!

Between contractions, I tried to keep the room light and airy. We'd all make jokes when we could, but it was obvious things were getting pretty serious. I kept asking poor Carlina how much longer before I got my epidural, and she eventually told me that she had everything ready on her end, that she was just waiting to hear back from the lab on my blood work. She picked up the room phone and called down there, saying, "Hi Amy, it's Carlina, room 14 is ready.... (listening)... ok, thanks!" When she hung up, I asked what they said and she goes, "She said, 'Okey dokey.'" What does that mean?! I said, "Amy, that is not helpful!"

By this point, around 1:30am, they were back-to-back, meaning one contraction wasn't quite ending before it started to ramp back up for the next one. I started to tear up at one point because it just hurt so bad. Where was this dang anesthesiologist?! The nurses could tell I was probably getting close, so they mentioned that, should I feel the need to poop, don't go to the bathroom. It's more than likely the baby making her way down. I was able to breathe through them by inhaling and exhaling extremely loudly, so it almost distracted me from the pain because I was seeing how loud I could be. Hey, whatever helps, right? The nurses would tell me I was doing great, so go me!

FINALLY I was ready to get my epidural! When the guy that administered it walked in, I told him he was more beautiful than my baby.... I was that desperate! But I also looked at Carlina and told her I was feeling A LOT of pressure down there and wondered if it was too late. Luckily she knew how much I needed it, so she just said, "Hang on just 10 more minutes - you can do this!" I was contracting the entire time I was getting my epidural. It was so hard being still, but the worst part was the guy kept talking! He would not be quiet, and for some reason people talking when I'm in labor REALLY bothers me. It's not like he was making small talk, he was actually explaining what he was doing and going through the process, but I was really tempted to just tell him, "I don't care at all, just give it to me."

At one point, during a contraction, my body involuntarily pushed. It was like a reflex push from my stomach, kind of like when you gag and throw up. Except I pushed the other way, and immediately looked at Carlina and said, "I think I just peed." She told me that I probably didn't; it was most likely my water breaking (spoiler alert: I peed). The guy was finally done, and now we just had to sit back and let it take effect. With Kennedy, I was completely numb minus a pressure feeling on the right side of my belly during contractions. This time, I could wiggle my toes, move my legs, and still feel the contractions. The pain was simply dulled. But they tested the feeling by rubbing alcohol strips all up and down my body. It was a weird feeling when I could tell when it was cold versus when I could feel them touching me, but it didn't feel like anything.

When I was eventually numb enough, around 2:05am, Carlina decided to check me, again. Not only was my water still intact, meaning it did not break like she thought, she guessed I was about 9.5cm, so just a little bit left to go. But she didn't seem completely sure and wanted a second opinion, so she called Omega to come see what she thought. Poor Omega was just about to take her "lunch" break, but came in at 2:15am and ended up staying through the rest of the delivery! But that's probably because Omega determined I was 10cm and it would be soon, so she called Dr. Seeker. The baby's heart rate did start to drop a little bit with each contraction, so they ended up putting an oxygen mask on me while we waited. They weren't too concerned (to the point of any emergency actions) because they said it was because she was moving so far into the birth canal.

Dr. Seeker is a very popular doctor and has been doing this for many, many years. Women will wait 2-3 hours for appointments with him and I always thought that was nuts, but now I see why. He was such a sweet, wonderful, and gentle man and was very good at what he did. He broke my water and let me know it was time to push! I was confused because, after breaking my water, the doctor with Kennedy then left and came back later when she was about to come out. But Dr. Seeker stayed... but that could be because he also knew it wouldn't be long.

I suddenly remembered I wanted the mirror, so they had to go to another room and get it for me. When they set it up, I realized, "Woah, she's almost here." All we could see was this long, thick hair on the crown of her head. It was both amazing and kinda gross at the same time. While they were getting things set up, Dr. Seeker drizzled something on me. I asked him what it was: olive oil. Didn't have that before, either! We started pushing around 2:25am, and it only took 3 pushes for her head to come out. And then Dr. Seeker told me to stop pushing, and my body just naturally did the rest and she came right out.

They laid her precious body on my stomach to clean her off, get fluid out of her mouth, and get her Apgar scores (first time 8, second time 9). While she laid there, she pooped all over my leg. Sweet girl :) I had asked for delayed cord clamping, so when he noticed the umbilical cord had stopped pulsating and was ready to clamp, Dr. Seeker asked Nelson if he wanted to cut it. Nelson and I kinda laughed and said he wouldn't be doing that (I didn't care, but just knew Nelson is too squeamish), so then Dr. Seeker said, "Well sometimes sister just has to step up." Lindsay jumped at the opportunity.

After doing some skin-to-skin, Lindsay decided she should probably head home to get some sleep, so Nelson and I were left to spend some alone time with our new girl. We missed Kennedy so much and were both excited to introduce her, but we took advantage of the snuggles with our newest baby girl.

And with that, I gladly introduce you to Adrienne Lee Chang, born Friday, May 3, at 2:28am, weighing 6lb 9oz and measuring 19.5in long.

*Disclaimer* None of the video below contains any lady bits ;) But please pay attention to Nelson's facial expressions.

Happy birthday to you, Kennedy!

This past weekend, we celebrated Kennedy's birthday with all our family and friends! Nelson's parents and sister and my dad and Patty came in town to join us for the festivities. Because we have such a new house and Nelson's having a hard time coming to reality that it's going to get "broken in", we had her party outside of the house. And since you can't predict February weather in Texas, it was indoors at My Gym. We'd gone to a free class and gotten a Groupon, and it's a fun little place for kids of all ages. Kennedy seems to really like the classes, equipment, and playing with the other kids, so we were excited to have her party there.

Nelson also requested that she still not have anything sweet, so I found an online recipe that uses maple syrup and apple sauce instead of sugar. There was also a banana in it, so I figured Kennedy would think the cake was ok. The frosting was pure whipping cream and tasted terrible. My creation :)

The birthday girl!

Kennedy's little smash cake set-up:

The party itself was 12:30 - 2:00pm, with the first hour being games and playing, and the last 30 minutes being snacks, cake, and then more playing. The always start off with introducing yourselves, stretching, and a little song.

Then they brought a parachute out. All the kids sat in the middle and the adults held on to the handles, turning it in circles, going up and down, and giving the kids a fun ride inside. Jackson was such a sweet big cousin and made sure Kennedy was safe :)

 

 

 They're known for their zipline, and Kennedy got the first ride for being the birthday girl! She liked it, I promise.

They also brought out a little roller coaster and all the kids had fun with this one!

 

Then it was general playtime! They still set up various things for the kids to play with, but you got to go on the slides, play in the ball pit, jump on the trampolines, etc.

Next it was everyone's favorite - cake and snack time! Or maybe that's only mine.... Kennedy wasn't too sure what to think of the cake, and obviously didn't blow out her candles. She started to eat the frosting, but clearly didn't like it. So I scraped off most of it on top, and then she really dug in. Literally. She ate most of the inside, just dug a little hole in the middle. So that's a win! And she really didn't get too messy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finger lickin' good.

 

Success!

We did bring Kennedy a change of clothes, and thank goodness because she wanted to get back out there and play. They had a little "race track" with obstacles set-up, and she enjoyed pushing stuff around. There was a little puppet show that mostly just the little kids liked - ha! They also brought out a bubble machine, which was obviously a hit! They ended with a group photo so we could commemorate all of Kennedy's friends who love her so.

 

 

 

 

Getting all of the kids to sit and smile was quite the task. Left to right: Izzy Linley, Ellie Lindahl, Quinn Lindahl, Bella Vargas, Liv Lindahl, Cam Vargas, Jackson, Oli Tudor, Tamara Isen, and Dean (Not pictured, those who had to leave early for nap: Jackson Martinez and Donald Dillard)
 

We had the absolute best time celebrating our favorite girl. And, needless to say, she slept like a champ that night :) Thanks, everyone, for joining us! We couldn't have done it without you!