We're Moving. . .

to another blog site.

One that gives us a little more anonymity yet allows us to stay public.  Same ol' blog with a new address.

Follow us to:  http://amiandsmeems.blogspot.com/

Especially if you want to see more of this adorable mug.

Background on new blog name:
My mission companion Wheeler used to call me Ami (pronounced Ah-me) - based on my maiden name and the name kinda stuck. Lance's friends used to call him Smeems in high school.

I will eventually be deleting this site once people have realized we have moved.  So make sure you bookmark our new address and become a follower of our new blog.  We will see you there!

The Top Five

The top five things we have observed about our Little Man now that he is five plus months old:

1.  He frequently sucks in his lower lip and puffs out his cheeks like a chipmunk.  

Carsten with his chipmunk impression.

2.  He is so incredibly laid back.  He rolled from his back to his front and his front to his back when he was four months old and has only done it once or twice more since.  He is strong enough to do it.  It is almost as though he is saying to me "Meh.  I am fine where I am mom.  No pressure, please."

Wearing Ellie Bear's glasses the same way she wears them.

3.  He wakes up and sings to his doggy mobile.  Sometimes he is awake for a hour before we even realize it.

Watching early morning cartoons with the cousins who came to visit.

4.  He L-O-V-E-S our dog.  More than any member in our family (much to his mother's chagrin.)  He flaps his little arms and legs and squeals with delight when that mangy mutt comes near him.  Sofi apparently senses this love as she has started to sleep in his room during the night and takes her morning nap with him next to his crib.

Sofi snoozing next to her buddy.  Not the best picture but you get the picture.

5.  He is still the easiest, sweetest baby that ever walked the planet.  This kid is going to get whatever he wants - because his Mama can NOT resist his blue eyes, sweet laugh and cuddles.  Help me Rhonda!

The picture that causes my uterus want a dozen more of these.

A Running Fool

I used to think anyone who enjoyed running was a crazy fool. Why would anyone want to engage in such a monotonous sport that was so hard on your knees and feet and was basically torture?  Besides, I am flat-footed with shorter than average Achilles's tendons.  My body isn't 100% suited for running - or at least that is my cop-out for saying I am really an exercise wuss.

Then my SIL talked me into preparing to run a 5K with her.  I thought - why not?  I could add it to my "bucket list" of 2011.

I reluctantly started to run.  (Or I should say slog.)  Sometimes I hated it.  Occasionally I found it enjoyable.  More often than not I tolerated it  I was never ever able to make the whole 5K distance without walking. 

Me AFTER my first race. I am one HOT specimen of health, don't you think?

And then the day of the 5K arrived.  I thought of every excuse of how I could get out of it, especially since it meant I had to get up at 5:00 a.m.  But I went and RAN all 3.6 miles of my first race without stopping once.  The sense of accomplishment along with the adrenaline rush of running with others in a race has become addicting.

So I am adding "jogging" to my list of interests as I prepare for my next 5K.  I love when we sometimes surprise ourselves in life!

Thanks, Vickdid.  You are the sister I never had and I will either sing your praises or curse you as I continue to pound the pavement with my double stroller and beagle in tow.  Let's meet up in 2012 at some exotic location so we can run a 10K and then party it up with just us girls.

Vicki and I before the race. 

Living the Dream - An Announcement

In response to the polite phone conversation starter "So what are you up to?" my friend Amber, a busy SAHM with four beyond-cute kids who are active in (you name it), who also is in charge of primary(our ward's children's ministry) and does (who knows what else), replied "You know - living the dream." And even though we laughed, I really think she means it.

This is something that has been on my mind lately.  Living the dream.  What is my dream?  I am a mother of two who is constantly TOO busy with a husband who also works hard. I do contract instructional design work and get paid a not-at-all-too-shabby amount to do it.  I can set my hours, can work from home and do what I enjoy.  Perfect job, right?  And we don't even have to pay childcare because I watch my friend's little boy twice a week and she watches my kids twice a week.

Yet I am unable to give 100% to anything.  And that frustrates me.  I have wrestled with what to do about this for a few months.

Thus, I have decided to stop working and just be a stay at home mom for the time being once I finish out my contracts.  Maybe someday when my kids are older and the perfect job opportunity arises, I will reconsider.  But right now, they need their Mama at home and my husband needs someone to support him at this time in his life like he supported me while I went through school.  And, as much as I do not LOVE doing domestic chores, they have to get done, and there is something that can be said when a house has order and my baby doesn't have to live with dog hair in his diaper.  I worked way too hard to get my babies here in our family to not be there for as much of their lives as I can and provide a home for them that gives them a place to thrive.

Besides,  I want to have the time to do the other things that matter most to me - like helping others who need help, serving the Primary kids at church, attending the temple on a regular basis, staying in touch with my family, spending time with my friends, writing to my blog, scrapbooking, smocking, running, cooking healthy meals, etc.

I am grateful I earned my Master's and had the opportunity to work for the many years I did.  It was the right decision at the time. Now, this is the right time to scale back and hunker down in my nest and take care of my baby birds.

My friend Becky says to me quite often that "You can have it all, just not all right now."   And something about that saying solidifies the peaceful assurance that I am making the right decision.

Sweet Sixteen

Dear Carsten,

The bane of being the second child.  While your sister had posts on her growth almost immediately after her monthly milestones, yours are always a month or so late.  But, rest assured we don't love you any less.  In fact, I can't imagine loving a baby even more than I love you.  Here you are at 16 weeks donning the same flirtatious smile that melts my heart every day.  

16 weeks is such a sweet age for you.  Here is how you spend your days:  belly laughing, chatting in baby talk, screeching at your toys, searching with a smile for your sister when you hear her voice, napping three times a day, falling asleep on your own in your own crib,  sleeping through the night (started at 12 weeks or so), snuggling, sucking your thumb, drooling all over, and just relaxing.  

Lest you try to rub it into your sister's face on how you were perfect, there is one thing that makes you furious with me - tummy time.  You hate it.  And loathe me for forcing you to do it daily.  I never thought a baby could tell a parent off.  But you have done it.

I am not sure what I did to deserve such a well-mannered, mild, happy baby but I am running with it.  

Your stats:

Weight:  14 lbs 14 oz (50th percentile)

Height:  26 1/2 inches (95th percentile)

Still my long and semi-lean green bean.  Love you little man!

Mama

One Word Valentines

We hosted a dinner party with two other couples in which one of the attendees had these really interesting conversation prompts:  Such as "Besides your wife and kids, of what are you most proud?" and "If you could describe your spouse with one word what would it be?"  I thought the latter was very clever.  So here is one word descriptions of my Valentines this year.

My Valentine #1:  Lover

This boy is a lover and probably the most amiable and easy baby that has ever roamed the earth.  We say every day, multiple times "I love this baby."  He is so easy to love.
He already likes to flirt with grown women.  And I am already jealous.  Heaven help me for when he
eventually marries.  Because I love being the woman in his life.

My Valentine #2:  Determined

Is this happy, animated, friendly, kind, beautiful, emotional girl ever determined.  She is chattering and on the move from the moment she wakes up to the moment she crashes for nap. When she sets her mind to something she doesn't give up.  She's full of life and spunky.  And just like her Mama.
Start praying for us now that we survive the teenage years.

Valentine #3:  Genuine

This man has no pretense, always sees the good in others, loves to relax, is accepting of others,
and has a wicked sense of humor.  He is so good that sometimes I pick fights to try to get him to get mad and make me feel better about my faults.  Not surprisingly, he rarely is ruffled by this goading.  He does everything he can to make me happy and is desperately trying to teach me the art of Zen.  Keep hoping he doesn't wake up one day and ask himself "Why am I married to this crazy lady again??"  He's the glue that holds us together and his son takes after him.

On a lighter note

Streaming Netflix through my new birthday present has become a guilty pleasure for me the nights Lance works late.  I get to watch movies like this without Lance here to tell me that:
A.  The movie was something only teenagers would enjoy; or
B. The Rotten Tomatoes rating was -20% ; or
C.  It was the worst movie ever made.

Lance walked in the midst of this newest Miley Cyrus movie to see this:

Our conversation went something like this:

Lance:  What are you watching?
Kristi:  "The Last Song"
Lance (with the most serious look on his face):  Wow.  I looked just like that in high school.
Lance and Kristi:  ***Both completely silent for about 20 seconds
Lance and Kristi:  ****Both burst out laughing simultaneously

I will let you determine why we were laughing.  (And still are, for that matter.)

2010: A Blur

 I remember calling Lance from my usual all-day-long Saturday studying location as we were frantically trying to figure out how we were going to get everything done that weekend.  We needed 100 more hours than we had.  He needed to work all weekend on an important case at work.  I needed to make substantial progress on my graduate thesis if I wanted to graduate.  And our daughter needed us. We had a million things to do for our callings at church.  We both felt so alone and exhausted.  My first trimester was kicking me in the rear.  We needed help but really didn't have any family to rely on and already felt we had exhausted the kindness of our friends.  We both cried.  For a long time. (well, at least I was crying.  Lance probably just shed a tear or two.)  And then we wiped our eyes, made a plan for how we would proceed, said a little prayer, agreed this was the hardest thing we had ever gone through, and then hung up.  No use wasting more time on the phone when we already short so many hours.

This was 2010 for our family.  A blur of good memories and stressful times.  I didn't set any resolutions that year for a reason.  But we grew as a family and realized an important lesson.  Lance and I have each other.  And, with the help of the Lord, we have the strength to all things. 

Lance and Elisabeth attended RyGuy's and Britnee's wedding in Nebraska in March.

My brother Tommy came to visit for his annual visit.  We took a trip to Palm Springs and Disneyland.

I miraculously graduated with my Master's degree.  My Daddy'O came to witness this.

We celebrated 8 years of marital bliss with a three day get-a-way to Pismo Beach.
And awaited the birth of a baby boy.

We threw a HUGE graduation bash with my friend Katie Christenson at our home in June. 
Think we had about 100 guests attend.

Planned and attended the Smemoe/Richardson family reunion in August.

Attended Chris' and Princess Wendy's wedding in UT in August.

Welcomed the happiest and sweetest little boy, Carsten, to the world in October.
Natural childbirth was AWESOME.  Can't wait to do that again.

Hosted Chris, Loren and Dad Smemoe (and their spouses/families) for Thanksgiving weekend.
This is when we blessed the little man at church.

Spent a few days in the CHOC hospital after Carsten was diagnosed with RSV.

Happily Ever After

I lay in bed on New Year's Eve at the late hour of 9 p.m. reviewing my year in my head.  I remembered, for some reason, that 16 years ago I had attended a Sunday church service at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the first time in my life.  Funny enough, I was in Anaheim of all places when I did attend.  (Seeing as I am from Minnesota, attending church in SoCal for the first time is a little odd, is it not?) Our High School band took a trip to San Diego/Orange County to participate in the Holiday Bowl and do fun touristy things out here.  That was the beginning pages to the book titled My Life from Here.  Due to my parents dislike of the LDS church, I did not join it until I was 18 years old.  From 16 to 18 plus were dark times in my memory.  There was great turmoil at home with my family and within my heart and soul.  I couldn't see past the next month much less envision what my life would be like as a soon-to-be 32 year old.

I never foresaw me attending BYU or going on a mission to Finland.  I never imagined meeting my dear husband or marrying him in the temple.  I never saw my blond-haired, blue-eyed angel babies or seen myself trying to raise a family based on the teaching's of Jesus Christ.   I definitely never thought in my wildest dreams I would be living in Southern California - especially after hearing my mom tell me it was going to fall off into the ocean someday.  I never could imagine the blessings God had in store for me.

But here I am.  And I am the happiest I have ever been in my life.  Not the kind of happy where everything is perfect and exactly how you want it.  Because we are far from that type of bliss. Not the kind of happiness where there is an absence of heartbreak.  Because I have seen a good amount in the past 16 years and am sure I will see more in the years to come.  But the kind of happiness that fills your body full of peace and pours warmth out of your heart.  I feel like so many of my dreams have been fulfilled.  I followed my heart and joined a church that has taught me personally how to better follow our Savior.  I am married to a wonderful man.  I have two children whom I love more than anything.  I have both a bachelor's and master's degree.  I am surrounded by family and friends who are as close as family.  I am loved, I am safe, and I am healthy.

One of my favorite pictures from my wedding day almost 8 years ago.

Sometimes Happily Ever After does happen - even for a moment. 

Now to find another dream.

Believe

Thank you dear Santa.  My heart is so thrilled you granted my Christmas wish.

Otherwise I would have missed seeing my sweet girl play Mary and my little boy play baby Jesus in our first annual nativity.

Or seeing my chubby little babe cooing in front of the Christmas tree.

Or missed seeing the stockings you lovingly stuffed for my dear ones.

So grateful we are able to celebrate our own little miracle on the eve we celebrate the best miracle in the world - the birth of our Savior.

Merry Christmas to all.  And to all a good night.

A Christmas Wish

Dear Santa,
My Christmas wish is simple.  I just want to spend Christmas Eve at home, with my family.

(Which would mean my sweet baby would be on the mend and no longer struggling to breathe from RSV in a children's hospital and that I would get a full night's rest without nurses and doctors interrupting my slumber all night long.)

I have tried to be good.  I promise.

Love,
Kristi

Carsten chillin' in his crib at CHOC Mission Hospital.

He is a HUGE flirt with all the nurses here.  Even other 

nurses not assigned to us have come to meet Mr. Congeniality

and be awarded with his smile, belly laughs and coos.

Fall Behind

Fall has come and gone with relatively very little posts, few and far between.  We did, however, celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Here are some pictures to prove it.

We attended the Pumpkin patch as a family.  

Elisabeth and Papa attended her Halloween party at her preschool.

We spent Halloween day having dinner at Elisabeth's BFF's home.

The Smemoes & the Riecks

Carsten was our little pumpkin this year.

Lance and Kristi went to see Beauty and the Beast at the OCPAC and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Grandma Becky babysat one night.  Kristi's friend Heidi babysat the other.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house and had Lance's brothers' (Loren & Chris) families stay with us for four days.

Elisabeth especially loved playing with her cousins and Uncle Chris.

Elisabeth loved matching her girl cousin, Arianna

We blessed our son Carsten and gave him a name at Church.  (This occasion deserves its own post. More later)

The Smemoes that visited for Thankgiving and attended Carsten's blessing.

Letter to Mom: Christmas Edition

A bell I with my mom's name on it. So she can be
with us in spirit every Christmas.

Dear Mom,
I baked cut-out cookies with Elisabeth today. Just like how you used to bake cut-out cookies with me every Christmas from the time I can remember.  I found a little cookie sheet, toddler-sized and showed her how to roll out the cookie dough and how to jiggle the cookie cutters so the cookies would come out easily - just like you did with me. You would have been proud.  And loved to see the look of accomplishment on her chubby little face when the cookies were on her little cookie tray and in the oven.  And just like you, I forgot to document it with my camera.

This is the season where I miss you the most.  I miss baking with you.  I miss seeing your boxes of cards and hand written Christmas greetings cluttering up the living room.  I miss your decorating flare and how even the window sills were adorned with Christmas nick nacks you had accumulated over the years. I miss spending hours in the freezing basement, wrapping the multitudes of gifts you got for everyone.  I miss your oyster stew and the lutefisk you made every year for Dad.  I miss attending Christmas Eve Lutheran service with you and singing joyous songs about our Savior's birth together with the rest of the congregation.  You were the epitome of Christmas spirit.  And we all loved you more for it.  You made Christmas special for us.  So much that I still want to still believe in Santa Clause and want my children to see the spirit, magic and wonder of Christmas - the same why you did for us.

I am trying desperately to create the same spirit of Christmas here in our home with our wee ones.  From the nativity scene at the base of the Christmas tree to baking so many sweets we are bound to be diabetic, you live in my heart and are part of your grandchildren's Christmas each year.  We love and miss you.

Your daughter,
Kristi

Babysitting Co-op

Tonight we watched three other children that were not our own.  In our care were the following:  a 7 month old, a 13 month old, 2 two year olds and a 2 month old baby.  The night was utter chaos.  Between a teething baby who sobbed if he wasn't being held, crazy two year olds who are learning how to share and use the potty, a newborn that needs to eat every two hours and needs to be cuddled often and another little crawler who grabs and gets into everything, we barely survived.   At one point I was nursing Carsten and holding a sad baby in my lap at the same time.

As four children slumber peacefully upstairs and Lance snores in the Lazy Boy, I would consider the evening a success.  Despite having to get two babies down to bed at the same time, Elisabeth pooping in the bathtub while she was taking a bath with her best friend, and the 7 month old dumping a pitcher of water all over the table, herself and the floor during dinner time - yes, a success.  I still need to bleach my tub.  That will have to wait until tomorrow.


We are part of a babysitting co-op with three other families in our area.  Each couple picks a Saturday or Friday each month when they are available to watch the children of the other families.  If everyone participates on the given Saturday, there are 7 children total - two infants, one young toddler, three toddlers and one school-aged child.  The five hours we have these kids are probably the longest five hours in the month.

But having three date nights a month where we don't have to pay a babysitter - totally worth it.  The idea is actually ingenious.  Don't you think?
 

Lance amidst the chaos.

To Carsten With Love - 1 Month

Papa's favorite - copyright Beatta Bosworth

Dear Carsten,
I can't believe you are already a month old (and then some).  The last few weeks have been a blur, the days melding into one as I catch hours of sleep here and there.  However, I can't remember being happier.  You are such a snuggle bunny, always wanting to hunker down against the chest of whomever is holding you.  You have such a peaceful and calm spirit about you and usually only cry when you want to be held or fed.

Here were your 1 month stats:

Weight:  10 lbs - 50th percentile
Length:  24 inches - 90th percentile

Long and semi-lean, our little green bean.

What I love best about you are the sweet cooing sounds (which reminds me of a dove) you make when you return our smiles.  Elisabeth has been heard to say many an occasion "Look Mama!  He is smiling at me!  He likes me!"  That you do - just hearing her voice makes you smile.

Wishing I could freeze this time forever - when your sweet little spirit is so fresh from Heaven.  We are so glad you chose to come to our family.

With Love,
Mama

Carsten John - 2 weeks old.  copyright Beatta Bosworth

Smitten

I am absolutely smitten with these little ones.  The older one makes me smile every day with her cheerful and full-of-life personality and her constant chatter.  She may not always be obedient but she is quite happy and excited about life.  Her personality is contagious.

The little one is heaven-sent.  I don't ever want to put this snuggle bunny down.  And he knows it.  He protests quite strongly when I do.  He has such a calm presence about him.  Something tells me he will be the peacemaker of our family.

Can't help but want at least two or three more of these.

Carsten's Birth Story

I am not sure what it is, but us mothers always want to know the details of each others' births.  Maybe it can be compared to military veterans sharing their battle tales or returned missionaries sharing their mission stories.  I think it is because all of these things become a part of who we are and say something about our character.  Carsten's birth was an experience I will cherish forever.  And for those who want to know the details, I won't disappoint. This is the "unabridged" version of his birth.

***************************************************************

Preface:  We had decided about two months ago that I was going to do this birth naturally.  Not that I am against epidurals - In fact, there was about 15 minutes during my labor this time where I was begging for one.  However, I do believe birth is a natural process and that our bodies know what they should be doing.   I heard recovery was so much easier after a natural birth (and as my recovery with Elisabeth was quite difficult, this was appealing.)  But, most importantly something inside of me felt it was the right thing to do.  We have had so many medical interventions getting pregnant, having a natural birth was my way of reclaiming something we lost at conception.

We signed up for a 6 week Hynobabies class and spent time everyday preparing for Carsten to arrive by practicing relaxation, meditation, and positive affirmations.  You use a series of CDs that have tracks with relaxation music and a person speaking with a soothing voice along with scripts that Lance would read to me while I listened to music.  I will post more details about this childbirth program later.  I do have to say I know that it was because of the techniques I learned in this class I was able to have a natural birth. 

Wed., Oct. 6th - Pre-labor.  I had contractions on and off all day.  Sometimes they were close - like 7 minutes and other times they were a vast 20 minutes apart.  None of them were painful.  Lance stayed home from work and we spent the day with Elisabeth making rice krispy treats, baking brownies, taking walks and going to the park.   My contractions had slowed down so much that I encouraged Lance to attend a work dinner in Newport Beach that night.

I went to bed at 11 p.m., listening to one of my Hypnobabies CD's through the night.  I woke up about once an hour to a sharp contraction and then would go back to sleep.


Thursday, Oct. 7th - 2:00 a.m.  Woke up to really intense contractions that were close together.  After about 30 minutes of trying to cope with them on my own, I decided I needed Lance to wake up to help me.  We started timing them and they were 3 minutes apart and lasted 1 - 1 1/2 minutes long.

3:30 a.m. - I had wanted to labor at home as long as possible because I was most comfortable there.  However, Lance started to feel that it was "time" for us to go to the hospital since the contractions were so close together.  After making the necessary calls to our "middle of the night" sitter, our doula (my good friend Becky a.k.a. my surrogate mom) and the doctor, we were off to the hospital.   (Dr. K's words to Lance when he called "You need to come to the hospital.  NOW." )  I listened to a Hypnobabies track on the way to the hospital and I felt very relaxed and at peace. 

4:15 a.m. - We checked into the hospital.  We spent about 45 minutes in L&D triage where they had me change, go to the bathroom and then monitored my contractions and the baby's heart rate.  I was already dilated to 7 cm.  Whoohoo!  I continued to listen to one of my Hypnobabies track the whole time and found it invaluable to helping me stayed relaxed.  I don't remember feeling a lot of pain - just pressure.

5:00 a.m. - I was moved to our Labor and Delivery suite.  No sooner did I arrive than I started to enter transition.  Because the nurse wanted to monitor me closely, I had to stay close to the bed. This was NOT helpful as I couldn't get comfortable. My contractions were right on top of each other, without a break in between.  My state of relaxation quickly dissolved as I couldn't find a comfortable position to labor in.  (Not to mention the nurse kept pressing on my belly during every contraction.  Once again, NOT helpful.)

The point of no return:  I am embarrassed to admit that I completely lost it for about 15 minutes during my transition - I begged, cried, and pleaded with Lance to let me get the epidural.  I kept saying "I know you are disappointed in me but I really need it."  Both Lance and Becky kept trying to get me to relax and kept reminding me that since I was feeling I couldn't do it anymore, the baby was almost here.  The nurse offered to check to see how far along I was and then let us decide what we wanted to do.  She checked - and I was at 10 cm already.  The point of no return.  I started to sob, remembering Elisabeth's birth and how long I had to push with her.  And the nurse sweetly told me "Kristi, you are just going to have to use your techniques you have learned to get through this."  I prayed.  Really hard.  And then, knowing the only way was forward, I started to focus on using the Hypnobabies techniques again and could feel myself relaxing again.

Moving forward:  The time table for the rest of the birth is hazy.  My water finally broke a few minutes later and then my body just started to voluntarily push and my contractions slowed down.  This was the neatest experience for me - when I had Elisabeth, I was told when and how to push and pushing lasted for about 1 1/2 hours.  This time, I only focused on what Lance was saying to me as he read the Hypnobabies script, and I pushed the way my body told me to.  And I continually prayed.  Five or six contractions later, my little guy barreled into the world.

And then the pressure disappeared.  And my perfect little boy was there, crying his little heart out. I had done it.  And surprisingly, it felt wonderful - empowering.  The doctors and nurses were  impressed with his birth and they kept telling us so.  I don't remember much of what they said.  I just remember holding my wailing infant in my arms, free of pain, and feeling like he was a gift from heaven.

Epilogue:  As I tried to fall asleep the day Carsten was born, I was just overwhelmed with his whole birth and couldn't stop replaying it in my head.  I couldn't wait to write down my feelings.  Elisabeth's birth was a miracle but it was not one I wanted to repeat anytime soon.  It was long and exhausting.  Carsten's was so different.

Was a natural birth painful?  During transition I would have to honestly say YES.  Oh, YES.  Carsten came so quickly I didn't ever have time to adapt to the hospital environment or get into my deep relaxation "zone" I had practiced at home.  Would I do it again?  YES, YES, YES, YES, YES.  I don't think I will ever have an epidural again. 

I can't justify my feelings with words but the having Carsten naturally was one of the most amazing, spiritual experiences I have ever had in my life.  Being at a brink where I felt like I couldn't do it anymore and then overcoming that, working with my body to birth a child, and then having the instant relief of pain being replaced by pure joy with the new infant.    Priceless.  Something about the experience is empowering and made me feel closer to our Savior.  I couldn't have done it without Him. Nor could I have done it without Lance's calming demeanor, encouraging me along the whole time.  Nor could I have done it without Becky's helpful hand, doing whatever she could to support us.

Life is good.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! - Illustrated version

Carsten John - How can you not love this face?

Dr. Kaminskas, Kristi and Carsten (center).  Dr. Kaminskas kept telling us she was so "proud" and gave us all hugs.

Elisabeth's first words out of her mouth when she met Carsten were "I want to hold him!!!"

Carsten's going home outfit.  Notice the smocking :-)

Carsten is so long and wiry - quite different than his sister was!

 Head-to-toe shot

Mama and the rest of the family were so happy to see baby Carsten!