The Knudsen Clan

Thanksgiving at the Knudsen's

You guys make me tired

Avery leaving a present in her pants as Stan laughs away.











Why are all these people taking pictures of me?


































Marcus hanging out with his new little cousin.

Rocket Poo!

It was a normal evening when out of nowhere our ears were defiled by a rumbling echo of no small accord. We found ourselves awaking to a vile stench that seemed to be localized to the depths of our little girl’s loin cloth. We quickly sprang into action to remedy the untimely situation by tag teaming the little rascal and her soiled pampers. I assumed the position of handling the legs, which gave Mindy the opportunity to freely mop up the hazardous waste. And then a most surprising thing happened. Our little girl gave a subtle smirk, crunched her belly and released. With that release came a little tiny mortar of liquid poo that went sailing through the air. We made a desperate attempt to flee the little daisy cutter, but to no avail. The damage was done with several casualties. The major areas impacted were Mindy’s pants and our bed. There was a clean up attempt of the aftermath and we believe that the bed may make a full recovery, but it’s looking rather grim for Mindy’s chinos. You may be asking, “what might I do to help this unfortunate Mindy and her pants?” Well I’m glad you asked. We are setting up a nonprofit fund in honor of Mindy’s slacks and others that have suffered from random rocket poo occurrences. Our goal is to bring about healing for these individuals by fostering a loving safe environment, providing funding for the rebuilding of house and home after disastrous rocket poo occurrences, and education and awareness about this increasingly common episode. Please consider donating to our wonderful cause because only you, through education and awareness, can prevent future incidences of this ever so growing epidemic.

Scene 1: Avery assumes the position for commencing burping
















Scene 2: BELCH!!!!!!!


















Scene 3: Aftermath

Avery Paige Knudsen

Avery Paige Knudsen

Our little girl decided to come a little early. Around 5:45 in the morning, as Nick was getting himself pretty for work, Avery gave a little Kung Fu chop to my amniotic sac and got the ball rolling.

Next thing I know, Nick, being the crazy man that he is, went running around the house trying to pack everything that may be of possible use during labor, which included tooth picks, beef jerky and my sewing kit in case his expertise was need for sewing up my incision. After slapping some sense into him, we rounded up the troops (Nick and I) and headed off to the baby mill to pick up ours.

We arrived at the Hospital shortly before 7:00 a.m. and were briskly taken in and shown to our room (pain and delivery suite 512) . I quickly pointed out many of the interior design flaws of our accommodations and was seriously considering vacating our room for greener pastures at another hospital when Nick talked some sense into me and I reluctantly decided to stay. We settled into our room and the next thing I know, I'm being gaffed by 10 gauge needles and hooked up to several black boxes that monitored the baby's heart rate and my contractions.

Upon arriving at the hospital, I was about 2cm dilated. Shortly after, I was hooked up to Pitocin and that's when the fun started. I would liken the experience to being shanked in the belly or listening to Nick sing in the shower-both are not what you would call a pleasant experience. After a few hours of these little unpleasantries, reaching 5cm and Nick being unable to handle my verbal abuse, an epidural was ordered which changed my life. Having the epidural inserted in to my back was less than uneventful. I believe they used a power drill to put that thing in, but after it was in, I was singing the praises of pain meds. and Nick started talking to me again.

Around 1:00 p.m., Dr. Maresh came in and checked me out at 8cm. Not more than 30 minutes later I was at 10cm and started pushing. Avery was born at 2:22 p.m., tipping the scales at 7lbs 1oz.

For the Record...

Probably not my most photogenic moment (my favorite part is the wreath behind my head), but in case I haven't seen you in a while, here are some photos of my belly at 37 1/2 weeks!

So Close!

I guess this phrase applies to several aspects of our lives right now! October's fires came so close to our home and burned so many in our neighborhood. We are so thankful to have been protected from them. Here are some photos of our evacuation. The winds were so intense, it is no wonder the fire spread so rapidly and haphazardly.





Returning home four days later. Difficult to tell from these photos, but those hillsides are all burned.




The view from our bedroom window. The fire came right up through the canyon behind our home. Many of you watched the apartment complex right across from our backyard burn on television. Thank goodness for the HOA maintained iceplant and the unknown heroes (cops, we believe) who used all of the neighborhood garden hoses to keep the flames away from our homes.



But, looking forward, we are so close to having this baby!!!! We can't believe that in a few short days the wait will be over and we'll be holding our precious daughter in our arms. We saw the doctor yesterday and according to him, she's dropping and I'm dilating- so we are on our way! Please pray for a smooth delivery without complication according to His perfect timing.
We see the doctor again Monday so we'll keep you posted!

Friends

A few work friends planned a little baby shower get together for me at Extraordinary Desserts in Little Italy. It was a great time and the desserts (mmmm) and the company were really extraordinary! Thanks Lyn, Kelley, Liana, Jess and Megan!