Cute kids

These are just a few pictures of our cute kids hanging out this summer.  They are pros at cuddling on the couch and I love it when Tori reads to the littler ones.

We love our sweet Henry.  He loves to sleep in the middle of all the chaos.  It's funny, if the noise stops, then he wakes up.

Ellie likes to wrap up her little stuffed penguin like I swaddle Henry and then she likes to hold and rock her penguin - she's so sweet and cute.

One of the things that Tori, James and Ellie love to do together this summer is build towers.  I love watching them work together and get really excited when it gets taller than them.

Drive Thru Zoo

We decided to explore a drive-thru zoo not too far from where we live.  It was a bit of a rainy day, but that worked out well for us, since you're suppose to stay in your car.  The kids did get to play a little bit on the playground there when there was a break in the rain.

When you enter the zoo they give you a bucket of feed for the animals and the animals are not shy at all about eating from you.  There were some really aggressive animals that I found quite frightening - especially the ostriches.  There was this one sort of horned animal that looked like the cross between a bull and a deer that looked hungry, so I told John to feed him.  That animal lost no time and violently took a hold of the bucket and forced it from John's hands.  It was pretty funny, but we lost all our animal feed.  We didn't feel too bad, since a lot of the animals would put their heads inside other cars, which I did not want them to do with ours. :)

They had some bigger animals behind fences, like giraffes and rhinos.  It was a pretty fun experience - we had never done anything like it before.

First Bath and a few other photos

Above is a picture of Henry taking his first bath at home.  He wasn't a huge fan, but he sure was cute.

I love this swing - I have so many pictures of all my babies taking wonderful naps in it.

James loves to push Henry in the swing.  I'm impressed at how gentle and careful he is.  I like this picture, because I have one of Tori doing the same thing to James when he was tiny.

John is a pro at capturing their little sleeping smiles on camera!

Below - Grandma can even make watching cartoons more fun - it's all abut the set-up.

Backyard fun and Putting on a Show

These are just a few pictures of the kids having fun playing with water in the back yard to beat the summer heat.

This summer Tori and James especially and sometimes Ellie, loved to put on shows usually using some type of musical instrument.  They were always very creative and fun. :)

Museum with Grandma

After baby Henry was born, Grandma and John took the kids to the Children's Museum to get some energy out. 

James loves the row boat.

All three kids love making doughnuts in the Krsipy Kreme area.  They usually set up a pretty efficient assembly line - it's pretty cute to watch.

Tori has always been good at posing for pictures from day one.

Henry comes home

Tori and James came with dad to bring little Henry home.  James had actually picked out the outfit Henry got to wear to leave the hospital. 

We all couldn't wait to get back home with our new little boy.

Little Henry day 2

Here is day two of our little Henry.  Most of the hospital stay was a bit of a blur, especially since here they kept bugging me at all hours of the day and night.  I couldn't wait to get home.  My recovery was a lot easier, though, since I didn't have time for an epidural. 



He's wearing the funny hat from the hospital since I forgot to pack a hat in my bag.  (I was packing my bag in the few minutes before we rushed off to the hospital the night before.)

Proud big, big, big sister (as she calls herself).

Ellie was not a big fan of the hospital and wasn't really interested in doing anything except cuddle with me on the bed.

Proud dad (he looks so tiny when John holds him).

Below, James is really thrilled to finally have his brother!!  The boys are happy to not be outnumbered anymore.

Welcome Henry Arthur!

Henry Arthur Clinger was born on July 16th around 10:30pm and he was 8lbs 14oz an 22.5in long.

This was our first time getting to experience rushing to the hospital in labor.  All our other kids were induced, so labor was a bit more calm.  Luckily Grandma was already in town and she had told us to go out for one last date before the baby came.  During dinner I started to have some contractions that were really uncomfortable and John started timing them for me.  Very soon after we came home the contractions were only 2 minutes apart and John was speeding to the hospital.  We were only at the hospital for about 20 minutes before Henry arrived. :) 

I don't think I've ever been more exhausted, but my beautiful little boy was worth it.

Below are a few little pictures of Henry's first bath at the hospital.  They came in to do it at 2am - I was very groggy, but quickly grabbed my phone to snap a few pictures before both of us went back to sleep.

He didn't mind the bath too, much, it was cute.