She made quite the dramatic entrance into the world. She was actually scheduled to be born via c-section at 9:30 in the morning on February 19th. Due to the circumstances and difficulties surrounding Allen’s birth, both we and my doctor felt it would be best to wait until her due date (which was February 18th) and if she had not come by then, proceed with the scheduled c-section. I was dreading the surgery, but wanted a healthy baby more than anything, so I agreed to it.

On Thursday, the 18th, I actually went in to labor, only I thought it was false labor because all of the symptoms pointed to that. I spent the whole night with awful contractions until Som convinced me we needed to get to the hospital. My mindset was, “Why go to the hospital now when it’s just false labor and they are going to send us back home, then we will have to come back again in the morning?” Well, it wasn’t false labor. We left for the hospital at 5:00 am, checked in at 5:25, and she was born at 6:10 am, about 3 hours before our scheduled c-section. Oh yeah, and I rode in an ambulance because I waited too long. Yes, I am brilliant.

We are so excited to have Preston join our family! She is so adorable and sleeps well. I think that is my favorite part so far–Allen never slept, so this is a welcome change!

Allen loves his baby sister! He is always asking to give her loves and smooches. And he thinks he is so cool when we let him hold her. I am so glad he has adjusted well to his new role.

Allen at our ward Christmas party with Santa. I thought he would be more wary of Santa, but he did fine. Probably because he saw there were gifts involved.

Vigorously decorating his Christmas cookies. The boy loves sprinkles!

Decorating a gingerbread house with his cousin Eloise.

Our gingerbread house was only good enough to win third place this year.

We took Allen sledding on Christmas Eve and he absolutely loved it!!! He would giggle all the way down.

Allen was actually excited to open his gifts from Santa (a Woody doll and Yo Gabba Gabba mega-bloks) and play with them. But he wanted nothing to do with the presents from Som and I. He was content to play with his blocks and kept saying no when we asked if he wanted to open more. I take that as a good sign–it means he’s not super-greedy, right?

Here they are Army crawling down the hill.

Poor Allen cried when I had to bring them back inside, but it was below freezing, so it’s not like they could stay out there all day.

He loves the water!!!!

We took a trip down to Utah in June for my brother’s wedding (which ended up being on the same weekend as Som’s brother’s wedding, so Som had to fly back early in order to make it to both). We spent most of the time in the Salt Lake and Cache Valley area, but we did take a drive to the exciting metropolis of Vernal, Utah, where his wife is from.

Allen’s favorite part of the reception was when we left and took him to Krispy Kreme and showed him the donuts. He couldn’t believe his eyes!!!

Soaking up the sun with his cousin Eloise at the Hyrum Dam.

Enjoying the afternoon with his cousins at my sister’s house in Hyrum.

Ready to jump into the pool at our hotel in Vernal–it was great because they had a kiddie pool that he could walk around in. He was in heaven!!!

Having a popsicle with his albino cousins.

Back in Alaska we took as many trips around the state that we had time for.

Hiking Byron’s Glacier. Of course Allen spent the whole time either throwing rocks into the water or trying to jump in himself.

My brother and his family came up to visit in June and Allen loved playing with his cousin Sea Bass (Sebastian, who had just turned one before they came up).

Giving Sea Bass a smooch overlooking the sea lions at the Sea Life Center.

On the beach in Seward. It was such a beautiful day!!!

Again, in the pool, this time with Sea Bass (yet another albino cousin–is everyone on my side of the family really that pale???)

Just had to throw this picture in because, really, how precious is he???

In July we took a trip down to Homer with some other members of the family. It remains our favorite place in Alaska.

Allen’s helping Aunt Mary do some clam digging.

Our little family outside the Salty Dawg Saloon on the Homer Spit. It is supposed to be world-famous, but I doubt anyone has heard of it unless he or she has actually been there (although, when we were in Utah, I did see someone with a Salty Dawg sweatshirt on, if that counts for anything). It is one of the nastiest establishments ever and I don’t recommend actually stepping foot inside, but it is an Alaskan landmark.

Playing on the beach during low tide.

In August we took Allen to the state fair. He is still too little to ride any of the rides, but he sure loved looking at all the animals.

He loved the petting zoo since he got to feed the animals right from his hand (and he snacked on the animal food a little, too).

His favorite part was the rainforest exhibit (particularly the turtles). It was great because they usually just have educational games in the kids’ exhibit, but this year they had it all decked out with actual rainforest animals. You could even get your picture taken holding an alligator or crocodile (no, thanks) or any other animal they had (including an albino boa constrictor–it was huge!).

I suppose the biggest news of the summer is that we are expecting our second baby in February.

Can’t you tell how excited Allen is about having another baby around???

Here he is right before we took the clippers to it. Poor, unsuspecting child.

All the hair. Kind of gross, I know, but I wanted to show how much came off.

Enduring the clippers. He actually did really well and just sat there most of the time.

The finished product. He was really itchy and didn’t want to sit and smile for the camera, obviously. I think he looks so much older now. People didn’t even recognize him. My dad had to look at him real close before he believed it was him (it probably didn’t help that my sister told him he was Allen’s cousin).

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Allen with the polar bears. They are so fun to watch!

The sad little eagles. They can’t fly (one of them only has one wing and has been at the zoo since 1973). It makes me sad to think they just have to sit there instead of being out flying.

The wolves were Allen’s favorite to watch. Laurie and Eloise ran up and down their fence, so all the wolves came over to play and ran along with them. Allen loved it.

The alpaca. They are such funny little creatures.

Allen helped dye the eggs….

…but what he really wanted was to drink the dye! He is always asking for food or drink–you’d think we starve the kid.

After all the excitement, Allen was too tired to do more than sleep on our Sunday walk.

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