Happy Mother's Day

Before the full update, no Amelia Jane yet. We are all still hanging in there.

Since the last post, many things have happened. Of course yesterday we found the little Stinker to be breech and they had to turn the baby. They started the induction at 9 and we had a night of intermittent sleep as Hill's contractions were getting stronger. She was started on Pitocin and the waiting game began. She slowly began to dilate, but then she just kinda hung out at 3 cm for a while. Early this afternoon, they decided to repeat the ultrasound just to make sure that Amelia was still head down. Well, she wasn't - this time she was transverse. They stopped the Pitocin and repeated the version. They got her head down, engaged it in the cervix, and broke her water. Everything going well... The next check, at 5 cm dilation, there was little Amelia's hand on top of her head. She just wanted to wave and say hi. So now they have to keep checking and pushing it back in. On the last check, at about 8:50 pm, she was dilated to 6-7 cm. Slowly buy surely.

Can you believe this little girl? First the Cholestasis, then the induction. Amelia is going to get a good stern talking to as soon as she gets here. We love her so much. We will post to the blog and to facebook as soon as we can after she is born. And if it isn't too late, we will text as many people as we can. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We have received great care from our doctors and nurses. We trust that Heavenly Father will continue to watch over and protect us. Keep checking back!!! Now a few pictures.




This is what Hill has looked like pretty much the whole day. Given her lack of sleep for the last couple months, combined with the pain medication and a well placed epidural, Hill has pretty much been out cold for a while.

Of course we had to include a picture with our anesthesiologist, Karen. She did an awesome job.

Of course, the best part of the day so far has been Claire's visit to the hospital. She looked so cute in her Mother's day dress. She has been such a good little girl for Grandma. Thanks Grandma, you are a life-saver.

No pictures of Amelia yet, so here are some more of Claire.

Claire found a great window to look out of.

Hello Claire! The staff here had a great time playing with her.

Claire, stop stealing mom's food!

Claire obviously enjoyed the jello.

This next series of pictures is awesome. Claire was standing on the heater and I told her to jump. The following endsued...

Nice Crouch

Good form

Nice explosion

Great Air

Good balance

Sticks the landing.

Of course, she already jumps higher than her dad. We love you Claire. Thank you for making us smile. She repeated over and over, "I'm jumpin!"

Induction Day!

Well, it has been an interesting day so far. Dad got up super early this morning to see his patients in order to be ready for the induction at 8 a.m.. Unfortunately, the Labor and Delivery floor was packed so they had us come in a few hours later. We got up there and the floor was still packed so we had to hang out for a while. Finally, they checked Amelia's head position and it turned out she was breech. After a few more hours of waiting until six hours had passed since Hill had passed, they performed an external cephalic version. Luckily things went well and she is now head-down! We were a little nervous, but our doctors were great.

Of note, the Anesthesiologist has just been in to meet us and Hill is looking forward to it.

It is now 9 p.m. and the induction is under way!!! We'll keep you updated.

Claire came by to visit. Luckily she has grandma to take such good care of her. She has been asking for mom all day. We have missed her so much today and pray she will do well with our new addition.

Here we are at the beginning of the induction.

Last night we had a great night with Claire. It was so weird to think that when we came home again there would be two Dahle girls. Mom and Claire are the best of friends. I guess they will have to make room for a third in their circle. Hill has just declared that she is the ringleader, and Claire will do what she says. Amelia will be the needy one for a while.

Dad, you will never believe what I just found in there. I wouldn't go in.

Quick Dad, run as fast as you can!

Yea! We escaped.

Nevermind. Gotta keep running!

Ta-da!

Just a few more pictures at home.

Claire kept saying, "Be careful. Don't fall."

We love you Claire. Thank you for being such a good little girl.

Lots of exciting things!!!!

Alot can happen in a month. Here are the highlights.

1) Hill is being induced on Saturday!!!! Can't believe it. She developed an itching fit (treatable only with four leaf clovers, rabbits feet, and calamine baths while watching "Little House on the Prairie") over the past month. It is actually a condition called Cholestasis of Pregnancy. We have renamed Hillory "Itchy, Itchy, Ichabod (those familiar with Dr. Suess' ABC book will know who that is)." Due to some risk for the baby, they have been monitoring closely and are inducing at 37 weeks. That means we will meet our little girl within the week (original due date May 30). It has been a little bit of a rough go, but Hill has been a CHAMP! We love you mom.

2) We moved. Down one floor. Yesterday. We have the most amazing friends. It was kind of a sudden move. We were expecting to move to a 3 bdrm apartment in June. An apartment opened up just below us and we moved in. Since it was very quickly, dad couldn't switch work and therefore missed all of the fun. Granted he was having his own fun putting in epidurals in laboring women. Dad made alot of "best friends" over the past month and he relieved alot of pain. Thank you so much to everyone who showed up to the move and took such good care of my girls. We are going to cook up something real nice to say thank you.

3) Dad loves Chocolate Chip and walnut cookies. He has the best recipe ever if you are interested (Claire also loves Cookies - shocking).

4) Hill's Brother Jake got his mission call to Houston, Texas - Spanish speaking. Hola Amigo!!! Felicidads (I learned congratulations while up on the OB floor this past month).

5) Last but not least, Claire is absolutely the best little girl in the whole world. This last week she learned about thunder. Now, she will at random, look to the side, cover up her mouth, and softly say, "Oh thunber, I scary." She also does it when she wakes up. Absolutely the cutest thing you have ever seen. She continues to be our little joy. We can't wait for her to meet her little sister and are praying she does well.

Here are some pictures that we hope you enjoy. Unfortunately I have been unable to rearrange the order of the pictures. Enjoy them as is.

A couple weeks ago the pool opened up. We had a couple days in the 90s and decided the pool was in order. It was FREEZING! Claire still loved it and she was never happy to leave.


Claire decides to make one last lunge for the wall. She hasn't quite figured out the whole going under water is not good at this stage of the game.


She always wants to jump. Whether on land or in water. I just had to chase her around the pool because she kept trying to jump in on her own.

You may not be able to tell, but Claire's lips are blue. Absolutely freezing. We love you mom.

3......2.........1 BLASTOFF!!!!! Claire loves that game. Try not to be blinded by the whiteness of my back.

We had a great easter this year. We still need to get some pictures of Claire in her easter dress. With early church, treats in nursery, lunch immediately after church followed by a nap, we missed out on the easter dress pictures. For dinner we went to our friends the Evans. What a great afternoon. Claire had a blast. Throughout these next pictures, keep your eye out for the tick that is crawling onto Claire. We found him the next day. Mom said, "ewe gross." Claire repeated that for the next few days. Thanks to Em for helping us to pull it off.

Claire is very focused on the egg. She had a great hunt. Loved the candy.

"Gotta get this one to the basket, ASAP!"

(This picture is supposed to be above the last one) "Got it mom!" Just before someone snatched it out from under me."

"Boy are these Easter egg hunts fun!"

"Mom, check it out. I am not sure, but I think there may be candy in these. I'll let you know"

There's mom! We sure love you mom. Thanks for making us so happy!

Off to hunt.

Happy Easter! We love you.

For those of you who stuck with us to the end of the post, here is a little tidbit of information. We plan to name our little girl Amelia Jane. We cannot wait to meet her. We are praying that Heavenly Father will send her to us safely. We will definitely update the blog as soon as she is born. I will have our camera and computer with us at the hospital.

A Post with no name...

It has been an interesting week here in Virginia. Dad is smack dab in the middle of a Staycation!!! And, "doo, doo, doo, doo, doooooo, I'm lovin' it." Every vacation over the past 3 years has involved some type of travel somewhere. Don't get me wrong - each of those vacations has been a wonderful time. It is just nice to be able to be at home, in my own bed, on my (and Hill's and Claire's) own time shedule - just relaxing. I have already been golfing and mountain biking and hope to do each again before the week is done. Just what I need before a busy 4 months starts (stay tuned for some announcements).

Claire is doing well. Very well. In fact, here are some brief updates.

1 - I started speaking to her in Italian again. The other morning she woke saying, "Ciao Winnie." We had recently received a Winnie the Pooh balloon. Another favorite is when she counts in Italian, she pronounces the number 4, which should be quattro, as "taco." It makes me laugh every time. My favorite is when she says "Ti amo." Most of the time she doesn't understand what I am saying, but I think she is learning.




Claire received this hat from Uncle Seth and Aunt Leeah. She loves to wear it and we finally had our camera out. Claire says diduch ("Thank you" in Claire's language)

Claire is always up for hugs and kisses. Everytime I ask she comes over and gives her daddy a hug, then a kiss, then an eskimo kiss, and then a butterfly kiss. We recently added the fish kiss.

The other day I was wearing my UTAH sweatshirt. She pointed to it and said, "Utah." I was so proud of her. She even points out the U and the T and the A. I immediately started working with her on "Utah Man."

Claire loves go to the lake to throw rocks. In fact she was recently voted "Most Improved Rock Thrower." She is hoping to compete in the "Best Overall" category later this year.

Claire is quite the singer and she loves her Disney songs. We have some CDs with a bunch of Disney songs and that is pretty much all we listen to in the car. I would like to both thank and curse Aunt Alyson for sending out those CDs. Claire just loves to listen to the music - Belle, Ariel,Jasmine, Rella. In fact she pretty much know all the words to "A whole new world." The problem is that so do I - and all the words to Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, and Little Mermaid. I pretty much have those songs stuck in my head all day every day. It drives me crazy. Although I have grown to enjoy some of the songs.

Claire is the best little girl in the whole world. She brings us so much happiness and joy. She listens to mom and dad. She lets us brush and floss her teeth. She goes to bed and sleeps through the night. She goes to nursery. She just makes us smile and melts our hearts. She is going to be a great big sister.

She even lets dad go camping with his scouts. I think she is just about to the point that she might enjoy camping. Of course, now that Hill is pregnant and getting uncomfortable, that is going to have to wait. This last campout would not have been a good one for her. Of course the day we left was the day it rained. But we had a great time - and the river/falls looked great. I did get a few good pictures, but my photography novice really showed itself on this trip. I hope to get back to the falls before the river goes down.

Hill likes this one.

I was pretty happy with this one.

We had a great time on the campout - in spite of the rain. Til' next time.

Outside go!!!

Recently we have had a few days of good weather and have used that opportunity to enjoy being out of the house. Claire is now obsessed with getting out of the house. Her first words upon waking from her nap this afternoon - "Outside go!" First words upon finishing breakfast - "Outside go!" Unfortunately, after a great day yesterday in the 70s, we were back in the 40s today. It made for a cold "Outside go!" Once outside, Claire just likes to wander around, pick up dirt, run down the hill, look for dogs, etc. We just love her!

Here is a follow-up from the Zoo.


There was a baby gorilla born about a month ago. It was so cool. It looked like a human with a bunch of hair. It just clung to the mom - even as mom jumped through the trees.

A couple months ago, grandma and grandpa Dahle came out for a quick visit. We took a trip down to Appomatox, Va which is the site of the surrender of the Confederate Army. Grandma and Grandpa can attest to the family that Claire is a much better traveler.


"That's a long road Claire. Come back soon."



"You are right dad - it is a long road."



The house where the surrender was signed.


A couple weeks ago we bought a pass to the local children's museum.

She loves playing with the ball contraption.

We finally ditched Claire for a night out on the town. We had a live band playing at the ward and we had a great time... without Claire. Claire promised a video. That will have to wait.

Suby, or not, Suby. That is the question. We suby. As we were pulling into the parking lot after the valentine's dance, we hit the big 100,000 miles (granted I had to drive around the parking lot a couple times to get there. I was going to be gone next day and I wanted to be there for the milestone). We are hoping for another 100,000 more.

Hi Claire. Love you.

Way too long...

I can't think of a decent reason for why it has taken us sooo long to post. Nate had a crazy schedule for the whole month of February and it seems like March hasn't been much better. So we apologize for the delay.

Moving on...we went up to D.C. for a quick trip toward the end of the month to visit my dad. We had a great time staying in Georgetown, visiting the zoo and attending the temple. Georgetown is so charming! I loved it...well, I loved most of it. I had to share a room with Claire and my feelings haven't changed from when she was only a few days old...we belong in separate rooms. She kept piping up all throughout the night about her numbers and "mommy, daddy, grandpa, daddy, grandpa, mommy..." on and on and on! Anyway, here are a few pics from the zoo.

Here I am looking tired and pregnant and from the looks of things Claire apparently didn't get enough sleep sharing her room either. We were about to enter the monkey house.

The elephants were amazing!! Even from behind.

This is Bonnie doing her Mission Impossible move...she spent most of her time trying to show off and I guess it paid off because we were definitely impressed.

Here's dad and Claire in front of the Lion's den. We didn't stay long because they started staring at us and licking their chops...

Stay tuned for our Valentines dance video and Nate's 100,000 mile marker in the Subaru!!