holiday season madness!

fair warning....this is a HUGE blog post. it covers everything from when brooklyn was born to new years eve. pretty much just pictures though so enjoy and forgive any mistakes as i am sleep deprived and distracted :)

 

after my mom was here for a week to help with brooklyn, curtis' mom took a turn. she was a huge help and the kids had a blast and did a lot of different activities with her. one day the kids went to the zoo with grandma and dad so mom could rest at home with the baby. i think it was great for all of us :)

 

i love this picture of mason and sophie. mason has gotten into this phase where he makes mad faces or pirate faces or does random things in pictures. not only is he smiling in this one, they are BOTH smiling and looking in the direction of the camera.  

 

grandma took on the huge task of making sugar cookies and letting the kids decorate them.

 

after curtis' mom was here for a week, curtis' dad and brother also came down to celebrate thanksgiving with us.  casey was a great sport to play with the kids and they had a good time building a train track around the kitchen table.

 

these next two are just a couple shots i got of b. she is just so cute i cant stand it!

 

 after thanksgiving comes christmas tree decorating! letting the kiddies decorate the tree is a little hard for a perfectionist to sit back and watch but we got through it :)

 

we have heard stories of the ice storms they get down here but had yet to experience one until this year. i can remember seeing things on tv for people preparing for blizzards or other big storms and thinking how crazy that would be...whole cities shutting down and everyone hiding out in their houses...we never got one snow day growing up in utah! but a few weeks ago we got our first taste of a bad dallas winter storm. days before the storm arrived the news was warning everyone, recommending no travel if it wasn't absolutely necessary. offices and businesses shut down, all the schools were closed, and the nightly news pretty much was the weather report the whole time. shelves were empty at the stores and everyone was rushing to hardware stores for supplies to protect pipes and outdoor faucets. when we woke up the morning after the storm first hit, our poor tree in the front yard was bent over completely and touching the ground from the weight of the ice as were many of our neighbors. i got these next two pictures from our oak trees in the back yard. it took a very long time before things got back to normal! luckily we were at the edge of the storm and weren't affected too bad but north of us gas stations had no gas, shelves remained empty and christmas packages arrived late because trucks couldn't travel. it was crazy!

 

next up...christmas!! my favorite!!

christmas eve cooking making! gotta have something yummy for good old santa.

it wouldn't be christmas without new pajamas :)

can we say spoiled?!

 

 

last year mason asked for a drum. he didn't get it. this year he asked for drum. curtis wanted to get him a drum set....i don't think I'm quite ready for that but i did agree to this little one. he was super excited. my ears and sleeping baby....not quite as happy :)

 

 

mason got a bike last year for christmas and i think sophie rides it more than he does. betcha cant guess what she got....

 



 

here is sophie's loot,

 

here is mason's,

 

  here is Brooklyn's,

 

and here is mine and curtis'.

 

i am usually pretty on top of things but this christmas was filled with lots of procrastination. i have not taken brooklyn anywhere for 6 weeks except her well check visits and our good friends house to prevent getting any nasty germs and that made it a little hard to get things done. kinda glad this year is over with :) it was still a lot of fun and the holidays are so much more fun with little ones! i love the magic of the season and the joy and excitement it brings.

 

we were planning on blessing b the first week of january but then found out my family wanted to come down and visit so we asked the bishop if we could bless her the last sunday in december while they were here. it was a little depressing thinking we wouldn't have any family members to join us so i was so happy to hear that my dad and brother would be able to join in the circle! it was a wonderful blessing given by curtis and b look beautiful! i was nervous about taking her to church but i needed to get back to my calling as primary chorister so fingers crossed she doesn't catch something.

i have started venturing the wonderful world of making hair bows and head bands and this one she is wearing is one of my firsts...a little bigger than i wanted but it still turned out really cute.

 

my little family!

there is this cute idea of celebrating new years early in the evening for kids but my 4 year old can tell time so no tricking him. he really wanted to stay up until 12. we convinced him 9 was good enough after some popcorn and fireworks. 

 

 happy new year!!

 

 just a shot of grandpa reading bedtime stories.

 what a year it has been and it was a good one!! cant wait to see what the next year has in store for us!

 



little miss brooklyn

our baby Brooklyn is here and we are so happy!! the best part  is that everything went according to plan....well, almost anyway :) here is the story of our latest adventure.

 

even though things were progressing much better with this pregnancy than the last two, I still didn't go into labor on my own. we had to be at the hospital at 7:30 am on the 12th to induce so we said goodbye to the kiddies and my mom (who had flown in a few days prior) and spent the 30 minute drive anxious to see what would take place the next few hours. starting off I was dilated to a 2 and once they started the Pitocin my contractions felt just like the Braxton hicks I had be experiencing but much more consistent. I was allowed to get my epidural whenever I was ready so once I started feeling pain I gave them the go ahead. I was so worried that if I progressed as quickly as I did with sophie and chose to wait to long for the epidural I would be too late. after the anesthesiologist left I sat and waited for the numbness to kick in. my legs were a little numb but nothing like I remember with the other 2 kids...they started me on a low dose so I figured I just needed to give it more time. at this point I was to a 4 and my water hadn't broken yet so the doctor came in to do that. I remember thinking to myself that it shouldn't still hurt this bad...I shouldn't be able to feel any of this. same thing every time I was checked. so after a while I was still feeling my contractions and they were getting strong. I told the nurse what was going on and she went to find the anesthesiologist to have him figure out what was wrong. he was in a C-section but would come check as soon as he was done. this is when things started to become really miserable. I was to a 6 and still feeling everything. every time I felt a contraction coming I would start sobbing....it hurt so bad (kudos to moms who go natural...I am a whimp) and I was super frustrated that I was having to worry about something like this. what was the point of going through the process of an epidural if it wasn't working and I never had issues with mason or sophie. after a while the guy finally came in. he adjusted the catheter in my spine and gave me a fast acting solution that they give to emergency C-section patients. he said if that didn't work within the next 5 minutes or so that they would have to re-thread my epidural. not what I wanted to hear. I was already in so much pain that I did not want to have to sit up and re-do the whole thing. luckily it did take effect and my pain gradually went away. hallelujah!! we were back in business. I was to an 8 now and the nurse said I should be ready in no time. sure enough she came back in shortly after saying there was a slight change in baby's heart rate which usually means its time to deliver. after confirming I was to a 10 she left to call the doctor and we were ready to end this crazy day. 1 contraction and 3 pushes later I was holding my third child!

 

look at that hair! at one point when my nurse was checking me she mentioned she could feel lots of hair on baby's head and then brooklyn came out looking like this! I LOVE it!! :)

so brooklyn was born on 11/12/13! she weighed 6 lbs 8 oz (exact same as sophie) and was 20 inches long. just perfect!

mason is going to be such a great helper! so glad to have him as the older brother. he loves baby Brooklyn :)

 

sisters!! so crazy how different they look...one dark and one blonde.



 

family of 5!

so grateful that my mom was able to come down. we don't get to see her often and the kids have loved having her around. even though we have plenty of people who could have helped out with mason and sophie, it was a huge relief knowing they could be with their grandma while we were gone.

 

 

 seriously so pretty!!

even though labor and delivery went a little differently than we were expecting, everything still went smoothly without any complications and we have a beautiful and healthy baby girl. I am so happy and blessed! I have an AMAZING husband. he is always so supportive and such a huge help...he has even been taking shifts with Brooklyn at night so I can get a little sleep (that is if she doesn't need to eat of course :). at the hospital I would watch him with Brooklyn and feel my chest swell with joy because I know my kids have such a great dad to take care of them. he gets a week of paid paternity leave so I know between him and our moms I will be well taken care of :) I am so grateful for all of my kids. they are each so different but all 3 mean so much to me! I am so glad I get to spend the rest of my life with my wonderful family! 

that's all for now! i'm sure you will be hearing from us soon (or at least seeing lots of pictures anyway :)



Fun-tober!

forgive me for the picture overload, but we had a busy month and since I have been slacking in the camera department the past few months I made sure to get some shots of our latest activities!

these first few are just some pictures from around the house.

 

my kids love going to the zoo, especially with their friends and I really wanted to get one last trip in before the baby is born. this time we were able to feed some birds and it was a lot of fun...I'm so glad I remembered my camera this time! we had birds on our heads, arms and backs and the kids thought it was the coolest thing ever!

 

my kids had their 6 month dental check up last week so I thought it would be perfect to base my preschool lesson around teeth. these pictures are from an activity we did about brushing. I soaked hard boiled eggs in pepsi which stained the shell brown. the kids got to use toothbrushes and toothpaste to clean their "tooth". they had a blast and were amazed to see that brushing really did make their eggs clean.

 

Curtis has been working a 9-5 schedule lately and it has been awesome!! I love having him home in the evening. one day he was home earlier than usual to attend the doctor with me, so we took advantage of the extra time together and had a "party". we picked up some dinner, then the kids each decorated their own little pumpkin, Curtis carved our big pumpkin, and we had chocolate ice cream cones. the kids worked super hard on their pumpkins and I loved the results :)

 

the Saturday before Halloween was our ward trunk or treat and chili cook off. it was curtis' weekend to work but luckily he made it home just in time to join us. mason has been insisting on a ghost costume since Halloween ended last year. everyone kept telling me just to use a sheet and I was pretty reluctant at first...I didn't want it to look ghetto with just a plain sheet, I don't have a sewing machine, and I didn't want it to cover his face. turns out I had to make some adjustments to the sheet anyway and did it all by hand so thank goodness you can only see my handiwork up close :) I ripped up the bottom into strips and I must admit, I was really happy with how it turned out! we stuck to the ghost theme for sophie too. I just bought a cheap white shirt and painted on a face with fabric paint, added white tights and made a tutu out of a headband and tulle and ta-da! her costume was done simple as that! they were both super cheap and pretty darn cute!

 

this week mason attended a Halloween party that one of his friends had then we finished off the festivities with trick or treating. sophie had a blast for the first little bit...running full blast ahead of the boys from door to door. after about an hour all the little ones started to complain about one thing or another so we called it a night...less candy for me to have to monitor :) in the end we had a pretty fun Halloween!

 

in other news, the baby should be here soon!! I had my second to last doctor appointment yesterday and was quite happy with what he had to tell us! he could feel the baby's head, my cervix is very soft and I'm dilated to a 1. he said once my contractions start it shouldn't take long to finish the job! it might not sound like much but it is for me! I have never progressed this far on my own before. Guess all these crazy braxton hicks are paying off! it makes me super nervous that she might try to come earlier than I am prepared for. if she does decide to stay in the oven a little longer I will be getting induced the morning of November 12th...the date just so happens to be 11/12/13 :) Curtis and I had talked about how cool it would be if the baby came on November 9th (that's the day he proposed to me 7 years ago) or on 11/12/13 (just because its a cool date). when we were setting up a date with the doctor, the 12th happened to be his day on call at the hospital so that was the day I got scheduled. we are very excited!!!

 

that was our busy and super fun month! next up...BABY!!!