Stratford-upon-Avon

  I got to pick our outing for my birthday, and being the literary nerd that I am, I chose Stratford-upon-Avon, home of William Shakespeare.  We picked up a map at the Visitor Information building and we were off!

We started at Shakespeare's birthplace- why not start at the beginning? It was neat to see where and how little William lived as a child.  The window that used to be in the room where he was born has since been removed and put on display in another room because it's been etched with the names of famous visitors to the house.  Outside in the gardens there were performers doing scenes from Shakespeare's plays.

Then we had a lovely pub lunch at The Windmill.

Next we went over to Shakespeare's New Place, which is the home William lived in as an adult (and where he died).  But the home itself is no longer there.  It was passed down to his daughter, then granddaughter, before it was replaced with a new house, which was also eventually demolished.  But the site and the gardens have been cared for and and an exhibit in the building which adjoins the property. There were some neat interactive exhibits here, including some that were especially great for the kids.

Our next stop was Hall's Croft, which was the home of Shakespeare's daughter and her husband until she inherited New Place and they moved back there.  It was a really interesting old house, but definitely more of a loose Shakespeare connection.

Our last stop before a leisurely river walk back to the car was, of course, the church where Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway are buried.  It's a beautiful old church and has quite a bit of information about the Shakespeare family hear the graves inside the chapel.

We saw lots of swans as we walked back along the river.  We also passed the Royal Shakespeare Company theatre and saw a boat going through a lock.  All in all a very successful day out!

David's Birth Story

Baby's due date was May 1.  Since Brandon came about a week early, I was hoping this baby would follow his lead (rather than Andrew's) and not make it to the due date.  In the weeks leading up to the due date I was having irregular and non-painful contractions (Braxton Hicks) so I wasn't sure what to expect, timing wise.

At my 38 week appointment with my midwife, she agreed to do a membrane sweep at my 40 week appointment if I hadn't had the baby yet by that point.  So I showed up on May 1st for my appointment (much to my disappointment, because I was REALLY feeling ready for him to come before then!) and got checked and got the membranes swept.  She confirmed that baby was lower than my at my last appointment and I was about 2 cm dilated.

Since Aaron had taken a half day to come to my appointment with me, we decided to go out for lunch while my mom stayed at home with Brandon (Andrew was at school).  I felt a few random contractions that afternoon but mostly things continued as normal.  

That evening after the kids went to bed, my mom, Aaron, and I played a board game (Payday).  Again, some random and irregular contractions but they were starting to get more intense.  It seemed clear that labor was coming, but the contractions were still far enough apart that we didn't know whether we would be heading to the hospital that night or in the morning.

We went to bed around 11:00pm.  Almost as soon as we went to bed the contractions started coming close enough together that I couldn't sleep between them or through them, and at around 12:15am I got out of bed and started wandering around the bedroom, stopping to lean over the bed and breathe through contractions.  They were coming anywhere from 2-6 minutes apart when we called the maternity triage line at 1:30am.  I talked to the midwife for less than 10 minutes and had 3 contractions during the call so she told me to go ahead and come in to the hospital.

We arrived at the delivery floor of the hospital around 2:15am and they got me into the triage room.  After checking me, the midwife said I was dilated to a 3 between contractions but a 5 during them.  She left triage to get a room ready for me and during my next contraction my water broke (2:30am).

We got into a delivery room and my midwife asked me what kind of pain management I wanted.  I told her I was leaning toward getting an epidural, since I had done it that way with my other two.  In the mean time she offered me gas and air, which I used for a while but didn't feel like it really helped with the pain at all.

Things were starting to get really intense so my midwife checked me again at 3:10am.  I was dilated to an 8 but she said she could stretch me to the full 10cm.  It was basically too late for an epidural- she said she could request one for me but wasn't sure they'd get there on time.  Soon after that I felt ready to push and David Joseph Kimbler was born at 3:36am on May 2!  He was put right on my chest and Aaron cut the cord once it stopped pulsing.

I continued to hold him while the placenta was delivered and my midwife stitched me up, then he was weighed and measured and given back to me to start breastfeeding.  Then Aaron finally got a chance to cuddle his new baby while I took a shower and put on some clean clothes.

Eventually we moved up to the maternity ward until we were discharged at around 2:15pm that same day, less than 12 hours after David's birth.

Andrew and Brandon were both super excited to meet their new baby brother!  They have been very sweet with him and are always very interested in what "Baby David" is doing.  Grandma (my mom) has been here and is helping out a lot, plus Aaron has been home from work, making the transition a lot easier.  I think we'll all feel the difference once Grandma is gone and Daddy's back at work!

Brandon is Three!

Brandon had a birthday last week! We kept it fairly low key, no party or anything, but I made him a cake and he got some presents that he loves.

It's been a big year of a few big changes for Brandon- obviously we had a big move, he's lost Andrew as a regular daytime playmate, and he's become a great little traveler!

He's just barely started potty training recently too, so that's exciting!

In the next year Brandon is looking forward to becoming a big brother, doing more traveling, and starting preschool.  It should be a fun year!

Andrew is Five!

Our big boy turned 5 in December!

He has had a really big year, including finishing preschool, going to AwesomeCon, moving to England, starting full-time school (and learning to read!), and visiting Paris and several cool sites in England.

According to Andrew:

• his favorite color is pink
• his favorite animal is a zebra and giraffe
• he wants to be an astronaut when he grows up

Andrew has done fabulously with starting school.  He looks adorable in his uniform and he is loving everything about his school experience.  He has picked up reading really quickly and is learning "joined up" writing (cursive, basically).  He's able to do some basic math in his head how, and he has started speaking with the cutest British accent.  He gets a hot lunch at school every day, which has expanded his tastes (they have fish n' chips every Friday, and curry is a regular menu item too).

Andrew is well on his way to being a world traveler, before this year he had only been to a few states and had never left the US.  He's now added 2 countries to his passport and he's looking forward to adding more this year.  His favorite trip was to Paris, where he and Brandon fell in love with the Eiffel Tower.

 We love you, Andrew, and we can't wait to see what you accomplish this year!