My week at home!

I was able to spend this past week at home, basically taking care of the girls. It's been a tough week with Grandpa Bates passing 24 hours after Shawn Kristopher was born, but it has been a joyous week as well. The girls sure are a handful! I've always appreciated Rachel as a wife and mother, but after this week I value her skills as a stay at home mom so much more. It's been a lot of fun. The girls seem to learn something new every single day. They love to dance and read (not to mention the other 100 things they do each day). They are slowly adapting to their new little brother, but they try to "mother" him at every opportunity. Aliyah says "butha" and pats him on the tummy, while Kailee is more interested in chasing Scout down for a hug. The second Shawn cries, they both drop what they are doing and run to him. The next few months pose to be an interesting, challenging, and a wonderful learning experience for our entire family.....of course filled with some of the best moments of our lives.


by Shawn



p.s. Here are a few pictures from our week!

Aliyah eating a block of cheese

Kailee eating a block of cheese

A New Life Has Begun

Wednesday evening my grandfather had a stroke and was taken to Saint Francis Hospital. Thursday we asked our neighbors to watch the girls so Shawn and I could go visit him. Shortly after seeing him I started having contractions and was convinced by my family to go to the labor and delivery floor to get checked. Come to find out I was having contractions every two to five minutes. I was admitted to the hospital and had an IV put in. Nothing happened that night, they began inducing me Friday morning. Then came Shawn Kristopher Orth Jr. - born at 2:46 p.m. He weighed 9lbs and 8ozs and was 21 inches long. He was a very big baby! On Saturday my grandfather passed away at 2:40 p.m. in the same hospital. It's amazing how one life ends and one life begins in the same family in less than 24 hours.

-Rachel

Do you see his blonde hair?