Owen Seth Kolb arrived this morning at 6:23 AM!  He weighed 8 lbs 14 oz and 21 1/4 inches long.

We arrived at the hospital Sunday night expecting to be induced. When they did a sonogram, they confirmed he was in fact still head down…but so was his shoulder and hand!  So we decided to go ahead and have a C-section Monday morning.

By the time we got to the OR he was breech once again and presented with feet first!  So it seems like a C-section was always inevitable.

Owen is healthy and doing great.  He has brown hair like his daddy!  The c-section was no fun but we are so happy to be done and now enjoying our baby. We are all recovering…and when I say all I include Seth because he was down and out for a few mins being revived with smelling salts.

Kristen is doing well, although definitely still recovering from her surgery.  We are looking forward to being home in the next couple of days and celebrating Christmas with family, especially Jackson.

Jackson begged to wear an apron like mommy for our cooking day! He helped stir the pumpkin pie and got to use the mixer for mashed potatoes. He felt very accomplished! And of course super cool in an apron!

our bird

Ready for dinner

Turkey cookies

the whole gang set up to skype my parents

saying good bye out the front window after a fun day!

We have really been enjoying the Fall weather here in Northern VA. As we drove through West Virginia on the way here we could tell that the leaves were gradually getting more and more colorful. The trees in our neighborhood have been gorgeous! We had a big rain last weekend and most of them are on the ground now but we still have a few sturdy trees that are holding on.The day after we arrived we went to the Cox Farm stand and got a few pumpkins, mums and apple cider. Seth has never lived anywhere with real Fall colors and tastes so we are enjoying!   Last week we made homemade applesauce and pumpkin spice muffins.

On Thursday we celebrated Jackson’s actual birthday and then yesterday we had a party with friends.

On Thursday, Seth got to take the day off using some comp time he had built up from the 4th of July  that he has to use before we leave so that was a HUGE treat. Jackson started his day by falling/jumping out of his crib.  I guess it was his first 2 yr milestone! For breakfast he got to open the birthday box and found a chocolate sprinkles doughnut from Dunkin Donuts!!

(the birthday box is a family tradition in our house where we put something special inside and the birthday person gets to open it at breakfast on their birthday)

The rest of the day we spent going to the doctor for Jackson’s well-check, we went to a neighbors pool to swim and Jackson got to open a few gifts from his cousins and from us!  Another highlight was talking to grandparents and cousins! It was so nice to see family. We especially miss our families when we are celebrating special family events from a distance! Skype helps! 

Jackson’s gift from us was a Fisher-Price boom box with a microphone. He jumped right in!

One tired birthday boy!!!

Yesterday we celebrated with friends! We had lots of yummy “American food” and Jackson enjoyed playing with his friends. All day when people would ask Jackson how old he was he kept saying 4! He knows he’s 2 so

I think he thought it was funny!

we filled Jackson’s water table with raw pasta, rice and beans and the kids dug for little farm animals.

for lunch we had sloppy joe’s , bakes beans, veggies and chips with dips and fruit salad. We had mini bagel pizzas for the kiddos! Since we can’t get baked beans here everyone congregated and tooked multiple helpings of baked beans!

Barnyard cake!

getting some help with blowing candle out!

Jackson did a great job saying thank you to his friends but after he opened his last gift I said, “Jackson, say thank you” and he looked at the gift giver and kind of growled and funny exasperated “thank you”

Happy Birthday, Jack! We love you tons!

(PS- we have decided on a name for our new little boy…..stay posted for pictures and for his name!!!)