Pistorius Family

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Brother and Sister t-shirt picture

Trying to get a good sibling picture is hard to do nowadays especially because three of our kids are age 3 and under but I try! I wanted to get a good shot of the kids in their sibling shirts my sister got them for the hospital when Dakota was born. Here is the best one:

and then here is evidence Drake was literally standing up and then jumping on his bottom on the couch. David caught him mid-air. Such a character that boy!!!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Happy New Year 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2013 is here and we rang it in in style! We made a spaghetti dinner complete with garlic bread and fancy plastic glasses from which the kids drank their milk out of. They loved saying "cheers!" and clinking their glasses with everyone at the table. We watched the movie, Enchanted, (thanks NBC!), and counted down the new year for the kids at 9 p.m. complete with accessories and all. We actually used the supplies we bought last year and even changed our sign that read 2012 to 2013 by using our creativity!

Dilan and Drew with their fancy glasses

CHEERS!

Dakota was less than impressed with our celebration

A sibling photo

Countdown to the new year!

Drew - we went around the dinner table and talked about what we are looking forward to in 2013. We all are looking most forward to our new house that will be finished soon but we are also looking forward to Drew being baptized this year!

Drake loved the party supplies and kept getting upset when his hat would slide off his head.

My beautiful princess

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Christmas 2012

A brief look into our Christmas...

The Pistorius Family Christmas where Dakota got to meet her great-grandmother, two of her aunts, and a multitude of cousins.

All of our kids and the cousins on my side (except Dakota and the newborn twins) got dreamlites from us. They loved them!

I actually got a picture of myself with the baby

We fed the reindeer food before Santa came

Santa definitely came! with bikes for the big kids, a scooter for Drake...

and I think Dakota liked her stash too, even though Santa kept it to clothes, a toy and a movie.

Our family picture in our pjs on Christmas morning

Dakota with her new twin cousins in their Santa gear

Before Christmas...

Too many happenings in December to post them separately so I decided to give a snapshot into what we were doing before Christmas... all the while having just come home from the hospital with our newest bundle.

Dilan had her dance recital where she was a candy cane and did a ballet routine to the nutcracker. She did very well and loved doing the twirls most of all!

an action shot with her up on her tip toes and closely resembling my sister when she was this age

Dilan's pose at the end of the routine

We attended Dilan's preschool Christmas program. They gave the three year-olds party accessories to sing Jesus, "Happy Birthday!"

David's mom came to meet Dakota (also her namesake) and help us out for a week. She was essential in sitting with the kids while I took Dakota to several doctor's appointments. Mimi was also able to attend Dilan's preschool program.

I was able to attend Drew's Christmas party at school. The students are given instructions to wear their very best to school on the day of the party and Drew had no problem picking out his shirt, Christmas tie, and coat. All of the teachers and parents mentioned how nice Drew looked! I also had the pleasure of actually staying and helping with the "Jingo" table (aka Bingo) and this is Drew at my table playing the game.

Me and Drew in his classroom for the party. Drew loved his yellow Santa hat!

The month of December also included lots of pictures with the baby!

and of course, we took our annual Santa Claus picture. We waited for 45 minutes in line but it was worth it. Next year, we will go earlier but this year, we had to wait for Dakota to make her debut and meet Santa for the first time. :)

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Dakota Colleen Pistorius

On Thursday, November 29, we welcomed our baby girl, Dakota Colleen Pistorius, into our family. She was named after Colleen, David's mother, as Dilan is named after my mom (Dilan Camille). We wanted both girls to be named after their grandmothers. :)
I went into the hospital Wednesday night to start the cervidil (because I don't dialate on my own very well) and they started the petocin at 4 a.m. Thursday morning. I progress slowly and usually have over 12 hr labors and this was just the same. I did dialate to a 6 and it was 2:30 before I got the epidural and then because I waited so long, it worked just enough. Dakota was born at 5:35 p.m. She had a bruised face just like my last two because they go through the birth canal so quickly but like Drake, she cleared up a lot by the following day.

Last shot of me being pregnant ever... yes, this baby is our last little one.

Me and David preparing for the long day ahead

David got a "coach" shirt this time around - they put Dakota's footprints on it as well

Face timing with my sister, Keely (she ended up having her twins 5 days after Dakota's birth)

She's here!

and she's a big one too! 9 lbs 2 oz. Our second biggest baby

(Drake was 9lbs 12.5 oz)

Daddy and Mommy holding Dakota for the first time

My Dad with me and the baby

My mom with me and Dakota

Our whole bunch at the hospital

Dilan was enamored with her baby sister

Drew loved holding Dakota too

David with all four of his kids

The kids enjoying the trains the baby gave them - this has been a tradition since Dilan was born and Drew got a train in the hospital from her. And of course, when Drake was born, he gave Drew and Dilan new trains in the hospital as well. So, we had to keep the tradition going and the kids loved it!