First Photoshoot

I had a great time taking pictures of this little guy. He did not like it at first, because he was hungry.  After I fed him, he was a little trooper and let me take more pictures.  I guess he better get used to it, because I am a little shutterfly.
We were trying to take them in natural light, next to a window.  It was a little bright for him and so his eyes are closed for many of them. I still love the pictures, since he is only two days old!

Michael is Born

Welcome to the world Michael!

This is Michael Allen Koyle. He was born January 21st, weiging 7 lbs 10 oz.  He is my biggest, by not so much.  All my babies were 7 pounders and all were short deliveries, but this was my shortest and it should have been even shorter.  I went into the hospital at a 6 dilated and after two hours of labor, they broke my water, I was almost ready within an hour, but the doctor wasn't in yet and so I decided to get an epidural.  I was thinking that if she took too long, then I couldn't last that long without an epidural.  So, after I was dialated to a 9, I got one.  The entire labor was 3.5 hours and would have been shorter if I hadn't gotten the epidural.  I really could have made it without, but I remember thinking, why not, they were made so we could have comfort and a better experience.  I will never get another epidural again.  For months following, It hurt in the location that I got the epidural everytime I stretched, arched or reached for anything.

Anyway, enough about that, here are some amazing pictures of his first few moments that Jared was able to capture and I will cherish always.

Here is our beautiful family finally meeting our Mikey.  To say they love him is an understatement.  Riley made up a new song about being welcome to the family.  Morgan kept calling him "Baby Ours." Eli kept asking why we didn't name him Ethan. He did love him no matter what he was named.

Here are some shots that I just took of my precious baby and a shot of Daddy and Micheal sleeping.  Also, the hospital provided a special celebratory meal for me and Jared.  It was amazing.

Morgan's Surgery

Morgan was born with her left eye slightly crossed. After a year of waiting to see if it would fix itself and going to specialist to monitor it, he advised us to have bilateral eye surgery.  He went in and nicked the muscles in each eye.  The prognosis is typically 70 percent because eye sight is very neurological.  Needless to say, we were nervous for her to go under the knife and so we prayed and asked family members to pray and fast also.  The surgery went exactly text book.  The results were even better.  The first day she was groggy and tired as expected. The second day, it was like she was twice the toddler.  Being 9 months pregenant and a BUSY toddler, I could not keep up with her.  Finally, she could see and it was like she had a whole new world. She was falling less, she was into everything, but the best party was looking into her beautiful eyes and knowing that she can see me.

Oh Christmas Tree... Bah Humbug!

Usually, I love putting up Christmas trees and for a few years I would put up ours and Grandma's tree. This year, within an hour of putting up our tree, Morgan grabbed it and pulled it down on herself.  It broke the tree stand and branches, ornaments, tinsel and lights were everywhere.  I went all over town, trying to find a stand that would be comparable.  I couldn't find one and so for a few weeks, the mess was still there.  After this ordeal, I didn't put up Grandma's tree and I don't want to put up a tree for a long time.
I was tempted to buy a new tree, but this tree has so much sentimental value.  We got this tree the first year we were married from my in-laws.  They didn't want it because it was too small.  The second year we were married, Eli was born right around our anniversary and Christmas.  We couldn't go out and celebrate our anniversary and so we stayed home, drank non-alcoholic bubbly and danced to music in the romantic glow of Christmas tree lights, until we heard the faint cry of a newborn.  It was my favorite anniversary because we didn't need anything fancy to celebrate it.  Here we are, ten years after we married and this time, I am pregnant with our fourth baby, a few sick kids and we can't go anywhere to celebrate.  We got take-out, watched a movie on Netflix and danced to music with the glow of Christmas lights, with non alcoholic bubbly.

Merry Christmas From the Koyle Family

I love to take Christmas photos of my kids and sometimes I will use those pictures to put in ornaments.  It is always hard to get them all smiling at the same time, so this one has Eli giving a beautiful face. Love these guys!

Morgan is a Funny Ham

When you are in a sad mood, Morgan is the one to have around.  One time, I was crying because I was pregnant and Morgan kept giving funny faces, jumping on me laughing and giggling at me.  Grandma Koyle asked me to take pictures of some of her funny faces.  Here are a couple of them.  She gives them to Grandpa Koyle too.

Are You Ready for Winter?

I am not, but my kids are!  On the first snowfall, it took an hour to get Eli to school.  The kids love the snow.  Riley wanted to help shovel snow and so she borrowed the neighbors shovel and started to help me shovel snow. Morgan is ready too, she loves the snow and it is pretty funny because she doesn't walk on it.  She doesn't know how and she always grabs my hand.  Too funny.