Welcome Home Rachel

We came home and are all happy, except in the middle of the night. Madeline was anxiously awaiting "baby sister" on the stairs. Michael & Kelly Pratt happened to pass by, so they saw everything live. Grandma Pratt was home taking care of the girls.

Baby Guess Challenge Results

And now the survey results you've all been waiting for . . .

RESULTS
Out of the 106 respondents to the Baby Guess Challenge, only 4 succeeded in guessing Rachel's birthday. Rachel Mae was born July 23 at 5:45 PM.

I realize that those that guessed after July 23rd might be complaining that the baby was induced and therefore throw off the natural results, well Jen says and I quote, "Boo-Hoo" to them.


Individual Winners
The four winners of the Baby Guess Challenge are below.

Person/Association/Current Location
Robert Squires / mission / OR
Mary Rohner / work/ ID
Isaac Christensen / stat major/ CT
Vinny Celinski / exchange student/ Ger

Group Winners
The winners are determined by the average amount of days off from the birthday (the absolute value was taken so guessing July 22 or July 24 would result in one day off).


Everybody
All 5.9 days off (106 people)

Friends vs Family
Friends 5.7 days off (60 people)
Family 6.1 days off (46 people)

Sub-Group Battle
Work 5.6 days off (24 people)
Friends 5.7 days off (36 people)
Pratt Family 6.0 days off (24 people)
Smith Family 6.3 days off (22 people)

Gender Battle
Males 5.3 days off (49 people)
Females 6.4 days off (57 people)


Facts:
The due date was July 18th
17 people predicted July 24th
The earliest prediction was Steven Dent for July 3rd
The 25th percentile was July 16th
The mean prediction was July 20th
The median prediction was July 21st
The 75th percentile was July 24th
The latest prediction was Michael Parker for August 13th

The Family

Well, it all started at 6:00 AM, when the doctor wanted to induce the baby. We sat in the hospital most the day, it was actually quite boring. Then at about 4:ooish the pain started and kept getting stronger for Jen. We did have a jacuzzi, which was nice. Well, back in bed, the labor pains kept getting stronger and Jen delivered the baby so fast that the doctor wasn't even there. So the nurse,
Carrie Peterson, delivered the baby by herself. Jen did it natural, without a epidural, and she doesn't know if she wants to do that again.

Well, The baby is healthy and weighed in at 6 lbs 4 oz. Her name is Rachel Pratt, and we've not finalized with the middle name yet. But we are very happy for the new arrival and thank God that everything went alright.

It's a Girl

Madeline Pours on Aliza

Today we worked hard then swam. No baby yet.

Just Hangin' Out

Well still no baby... I am going to be induced on Monday at 6:00 am if I haven't had her by then. Hopefully I'll go into labor on my own though. In the meantime we've just been hanging out having fun reading books and looking cute :) Madeline loves anything to do with winnie the pooh. She gets her stuffed animals first thing in the morning and brings them to my bed.

Weekend Fun

Aliza took her first step yesterday! It was kind of fun because both Jared and I were both there. We also slept outside in our backyard on Friday night. That is our version of camping right now because I don't want to have to go to the bathroom so often in the wilderness :) We put the girls in the play pen and we slept on the ground. It was very fun. We'll definitely do it again!

Still Pregnant

Well I'm still pregnant, so I thought I should let everyone know :) I really wanted the baby to be born on 7-7-7 so last Friday and Saturday I worked really hard to hopefully self-induce labor. It didn't work though... instead I was just super tired so I have decided I'll just let the baby come when she wants to come. The doctor did say at our appointment on Monday that if I haven't had the baby by the 23rd he will induce me. (My due date is July 18th). So it won't be too much longer until we have three little girls! Exciting! I have to say I'm excited not to be pregnant anymore too!

4th of July

We had a really nice Independence day. We went to our ward breakfast at 8:00 and then went home and all took naps. Later we went to a city about 20 minutes away where there was a little fair type thing. It reminded me of days when I was little and went to the fair days in Heber. After that we went to the snake river and had a lot of fun. Jared swam across the river and the girls played in the water and mud. Aliza started eating the mud!! I tried stopping her but it was pretty difficult, then I just decided she looked cute so I took some pictures and then washed her off. We just decided to stay home and watch fireworks from our backyard to avoid traffic and tired children. I was surprised at how many fireworks we were able to see! We had a really fun day! I really love the fourth of July. I think it is my favorite holiday. I am so thankful to live in the United States and to have our freedom. God Bless America!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Aliza!!!

Yesterday Aliza turned 1 year old!! What a fun day to celebrate... the birth of our daughter and Independence Day. I made Aliza a lady bug cake and we let her go at it herself. She mostly just ate the frosting. Just like Madeline. Madeline liked opening Aliza's presents more than Aliza... Madeline doesn't quite understand that the presents are for Aliza and not her. Luckily Aliza is young enough that she doesn't care. She even had fun just playing with the clothes she received! We love our little Aliza so much. She is such a sweet, easy going baby.

Aliza's First Haircut

On Saturday I decided to cut Aliza's hair for the first time. She was pretty wiggly so it made for an interesting adventure:) I think I cut off about 1/2 to 1 inch... pretty long for an almost 1 year old!!