Rayna is born!

After a several weeks of heavy contractions, I went to bed early one night and was awoken abruptly at around 10 pm.  By 11:30 we had gotten to the hospital, and shortly after 1 am, little miss Rayna Blythe entered the world!  It was a whirlwind experience, and Pete and I spent a few hours in shock afterwards.

She was beautiful right from the beginning!

Strider was excited to come visit her in the hospital, thought she was pretty cool for a few minutes, and then went back to being fascinated with his crackers.

When we brought her home, he promptly knocked a heavy chair right over on top of her in her car-seat -- on the very first day -- but she was not harmed.  It was just her first glimpse of life with an older, rambunctious brother!

A few days later, when Rayna was lying in our bed, Strider came in and laid down next to her and said, "I love Rayna."  We were so thankful!

Pete's 30th birthday

I pulled off a big surprise party for Pete's 30th!  (And I was 37 weeks pregnant.)  Since he was leaving his 20's, I decided to go with a "Roaring 20's" theme -- which was a little challenging, but overall fun!  Everyone came dressed as flappers or dapper dudes from the 20's to our community center, and we played some lively music and played a few games.

Strider came to the party for a few minutes