The Blood Blog: October 2026

4th of July & Baby Blessing

We blessed baby Heidi over the 4th of July weekend. That meant that we had two events to celebrate with extra family in town!

Grandma Blood came early and was here for her birthday on July 2. We took her to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate since it is across the street from See's Chocolates. Then we had to stop by Sprouts on the way home so that she could buy some chocolates she was willing to share with the grandkids since the See's are too precious for sharing.

The 4th of July started with a reading of the Declaration of Independence and breakfast at the Andersen's house. It was tough waking up for it, but I'm glad we went. It is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration, and it felt right to commemorate it.

We had a revolving group of people in the pool between Max & Morgan, Mary's family, and Stephen's family. I do love hanging out in the pool!

Annie talked Max into lifting and throwing her all over the place. Even better was that Morgan and Grumpa taught Felix how to cannonball!

He doesn't really know how to jump yet, so he would do this frantic foot stomping thing on the edge before falling into Grumpa's arms. He finished with a HUGE smile on his face and an immediate desire to do it again, even when he got his head dunked in the water.

The cousins brought over 4th of July body glitter

Could it possible for a lil face to have more joy?? This picture was right after he was handed a root beer float while snuggling with Breezy, and it's impossible not to want to squeeze him when looking at it.

We had a delicious burger and hot dog dinner. The cousins went to the town fireworks show, while the rest of us set some off in the driveway. Felix was cautious about the sparklers, but absolutely terrified when we set off the first actual firework. It was a small box one, but turned out to be super loud. Mimi and I tried to talk up how pretty the next one was, but he was beyond being able to calm down and far past his bedtime, so I took him and Heidi home early. I've never seen any of my kids that scared before- poor little guy!

A while after the firework show was finished, Mimi got a phone call from her neighbor who said she saw fire outside her house. Their trash can was on fire! They had doused all the empty firework shells with water before throwing them away, but apparently it wasn't enough. Fortunately, the trashcan was in the middle of the driveway, not close to anything else that could catch fire. It burned itself out and completely melted the trashcan into a lumpy plastic pancake.

The next morning we were up bright and early for 8:30am church and Heidi's baby blessing! Grumpa, Uncle Stephen, Uncle Michael, and Uncle Max were in the circle, and I held the microphone.

Aaron gave her a beautiful blessing.

Here's Aaron's notes from her blessing:

That you will be full of faith, with a deep and abiding trust in your Heavenly Father

A loving heart that will lead you to a life of service

Courage to stand up for what is right, even when it is hard

A curious mind that you may learn out of the best books and use that knowledge to better the world

A humble heart, that you may always come to our Father in heaven in prayer and repentance often

That you will find peace in the temple as you make everlasting covenants with God

A desire to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, that you may look to Him as your perfect example and to be a beacon of light to the world

Mimi hosted a big group lunch of fajitas later that day, then we hung out and played Hitster. I also made everyone go outside for a group picture that we didn't manage to take at the church before people scattered.

I love a good "gathering for the group pic" pic. I'd like to highlight Stephen and Aaron's symmetry, the centered gals touching teeth, and Felix soaring majestically above it all.

The real group, minus Mary who was feeling really bad

Now a cheesy "everybody look at Heidi" picture!

I can tell these two are going to get along great.

It was wonderful having a weekend of celebration!

Heidi is Born!

Heidi Ester Blood was born on June 12, 2026! The stats on her card may be a little inaccurate because they let me nurse her before weighing her, and she was born HUNGRY. But I'm getting ahead of myself!

I decided to have a very different birth experience after the thrill ride that was Felix's birth. First of all, I switched from my OBGYN to a midwife practice that I had heard great things about. The El Rio Midwives really were great! I recovered so quickly after Felix's birth that I decided to deliver with no epidural again, this time on purpose. The midwives partner with a birthing center attached to TMC where you can deliver naturally. I loved the idea of not being hooked up to an IV and being able to bounce around on a yoga ball or deliver in a tub- all while having medical staff on hand and being down the hall from normal labor and delivery wing if I needed emergency intervention. I was DETERMINED to make it to the birthing center and not have another baby in the car. This led us to a false alarm visit where we paced the TMC halls for an hour in the middle of the night. At least the art was great.

Since it was summer break, we planning on sending our kids to sleep over at Casa Johnson when we went to the hospital. The problem is that I always go into real labor in the middle of the night. Two days before Heidi was actually born, I was having more contractions that seemed to be kicking up in intensity, but I wasn't sure if it was the real deal yet. We dropped off the kids at Casa Johnson, and decided we might as well go in to get checked out because, again, I would never live it down if I had two babies delivered in the car. Unfortunately, the intense contractions from hallway power walking were unsuccessful in dilating me enough to be admitted. We went home exhausted and disheartened (on my end).

Two days later on Thursday night, the contractions seemed more like the real deal. We hadn't sent the kids for the planned sleepover because Mimi was hosting a RS activity and was also sick, so Grumpa came over in the middle of the night to sleep in our guest bedroom and take the kids back to his house in the morning. This time, I was admitted right away and got situated in the luxurious birthing center. I think there were two suites, but the other was empty so I had the whole place to myself and it was super quiet and laid back. I loved it. We had a queen sized bed, and the nurse was super nice and willing to coach me through it when the labor pain got worse. I got in the tub for a while, got out when I felt too wrinkly, then bounced on a yoga ball and walked around while chatting with Aaron and reading the Scarlet Pimpernel for 4 hours.

Close to 4am, things were getting really intense and I had to remind myself that I chose this whole no epidural plan. I got back in the tub and delivered Heidi there! It was very humbling- I realized that Felix was absolutely a fluke in how easy his birth was. Heidi's was way more intense and painful. I wouldn't choose to go this route again, but am glad that I went through the experience.

The first ever picture of our Heidi Bug! Aaron had a wild experience that night as well. Earlier on Thursday afternoon, Felix dropped his milk cup on Aaron's toe. It became swollen and hurt way more than a baby cup injury should be allowed to hurt. We worried it might be broken, and later it turned completely black and we still aren't sure if it is going to fall off or not. It hurt to the point where he couldn't fall asleep that night, so he was downstairs cleaning when I decided it was time to go to the hospital. It was convenient that he wasn't going to sleep anyway, and he said that watching me successfully made him forget about his toe for a while!

Here she is, fresh and still in the hospital! The adorable blanket and bow were a gift from Toyin.

We opted for early discharge, meaning we could leave the hospital 4 hours after Heidi was born. We headed over to Casa Johnson to introduce her to her family. This picture of Annie with her long-awaited sister just melts my heart. Annie has been the best big sister to this little girl. She loves picking out her outfits and holding her. We had a blast doing a newborn photoshoot together.

She's a perfect little baby doll

Felix was saying "Right dere" in response to us asking him where Heidi was.

Felix really loves holding, Heidi, which has proven to be a major issue for us. We have to keep her in a pack and play so that he doesn't try to pick her up on his own. We also had to move all chairs away from the pack and play after he climbed in with her.

Her cousin Bree was the one who came up with her name! Her and her siblings had been pitching names to us for a while, many of which were a bit ridiculous like "Sparkle Blood." One day at church, she came up to us in the church hallway and said, "You should name her Heidi." Aaron and I looked at each other and immediately sensed that this was the first brainstormed name that both of us liked. Before that, our list of baby girl names had 0% overlap. Heidi is adorable! I checked out the graphic novel adaptation of the classic Heidi story, and love that Heidi the character is a nature-loving, free spirit who is kind to everyone.

Heidi's middle name is Esther, after my Swedish great-grandma on Grumpa's side. She gave up a life of relative privilege in Stockholm to marry a missionary and move to Idaho. She lived through the great depression while living on a hard-hit potato farm. I love Grandma Esther's story, and hope for that level of resilience for my sweet little girl. I also love Esther the bible hero. This gal has a great name to live up to!

This girl was a talented eater and sleeper from day 1. She started sleeping through the night at 3 months, and takes most of her naps in the living room with her loud family living life around her.

I love our mirror smiles in this one! She was just a few days old here.

None of us were surprised to find out that Annie loves picking out her outfits.

A little Heidi Bug with some of her biggest fans

Heidi's first playgroup- complete with the chaos of a little Felix fist shoving a lego in Heidi's face.

There's really nothing better than the feeling of a little peaceful baby on my chest. I especially love morning sleepy snuggles with Heidi.

She started sucking her fingers like spiderman at around 2 months old.

Here's a video of some cute Heidi sounds at 2 months old.

Annie and Ellie made this whole scene for her.

Another Annie playdate idea was turning Heidi into a mermaid. The single strand of hair kills me every time.

A few weeks later, Annie and her friends turned her into a fairy. Heidi is a long-suffering subject.

Annie isn't the only one who dresses her up. This get-up was an Elliot creation. He also once put a sticker from his new memory foam shoes that said "squishy" on her.

At 3 months old, she started sitting in a bumbo and rolling over. She seems to be hitting the physical milestones a bit earlier than her siblings.

This may be my favorite outfit of hers

Heidi really is the perfect baby. She is SO chill all the time, but giggles delightedly with very minimal interaction with her. She laughs pretty much every time she gets her diaper changed. She's an amazing addition to our family.

Heidi's first swim! She tolerated it a lot better than baths, which she HATES. I think it is because she was held the whole time in the pool.

At 4 months old, she fills out this hat that was so big on her when she was first born. She's growing up too fast!

Elliot at Camp Geronimo

Elliot attended his first sleep away camp at Camp Geronimo! He reports that it was the best week of his life so far. He had an absolute blast working on his game design, chess, and cooking merit badges, and eating candles and all manner of treats. They did service projects, hunted crawdads, played gaga ball, built fires, and had a polar plunge.

A significant detail is that my due date was right after camp, so there was a decent chance that she would be born while he was away at camp. I asked him if he wanted us to call him if she was born, but he decided that he wanted it to be a surprise for him when he came home. Spoiler- she was born in the early hours of his last day at camp, so he came home to a new sister!