Pictures Say a Thousand Words so I Don't Have Too!

Too much has happened to even begin writing but I thought a a lot of pictures would sum it best. Don't they say Pictures say a thousand words...without me having to type them. So here you go.


This was our first visit to see Santa but Abby had an explosion and we didn't buy any pictures. They sure were cute and hopefully Santa had a bad sense of smell. Stinky Girl!

Brett loving Abby. She was very comfortable but got a little heavy for him.

I made a fondant cake for Kara's baby shower. I wanted to have really cute bows standing up and when I had asked Ashlee how to make her bows stand up she said to spray them with starch. I clarified and wondered if she meant corn starch...not clothing starch. Nope...she meant clothing starch. So, the morning of the shower when I was decorating the cake I sprayed my fondant ribbons with starch. Needless to say, they were very stick and didn't stiffen up. When I called Ashlee to clarify cuz it wasn't working we realized I was talking about fondant bows and she was talking about hair bows. Oops. This was my alternative to posionous bows on my cake. It worked out well and I learned a thing or two.



Kara's baby shower

Christmas Parties for each boy.







Hello Blitzen and Donner!

Brett's idea of an appropriate and worthwhile picture to take with my camera. Reindeer Butt!


Hello Santa!

I hid their scarves for Christmas Eve in food boxes. They were very confused when they received Gripz, Wheat Thins, and Diaper Wipes. Hee hee.

Alex's birthday cake-1st try. I will post a picture of Brett's cake when we have his party. Try #2.

A Few of My Favorite Things

These are a few of my favorite things received. I can't believe how lucky I am. I am blessed to have so many kind and precious friends. It is so fun having a girl.
This is my blessing gown from when I was an infant...I can only imagine if I hadn't had a girl I would never have had a use for it.

I love dalmations and all things furry!


Have you ever seen anything cuter than a pink trenchcoat? Do they make those in my size?

Sleeping Beauty

Here is Abby at 7 weeks. I am excited to see how big she is next week.

First Stitches

Grandpa flew in last night and Greg and I were joking that Logan was in hyperdrive because of it. Logan was dancing in the second bathroom bathtub, slipped on the soap dish (it fell of the wall of the shower last week when Brett was "sitting" on it) and hit his mouth on the toilet. He chipped a tooth and split his lip open. We heard Brett and Alex screaming because their was blood everywhere. I took one look and knew we were headed for stitches. Fortunately for us there is an Acute Kids Urgent Care right by our house and we were in and out in about an hour. It was pretty gruesome to watch and the poor kid struggled but he now has two stitches and a very fat lip. He is a sport! Three boys later and we have still avoided the ER. Knock on Wood. Here are the before and afters.

Twilight and Hip Hip Hooray!

I was desperate to get out of the house and desperate to see Twilight. I am not an obsessed fan but I really did want to see it before all the hype died down. So, I left Abby with Greg and went with a friend. I thoroughly enjoyed it and Abby slept the whole time. To top it off, I came home at midnight, fed Abby, and she then slept all night in her own bed. She woke me up at 6:45. That's right!!! She slept all night! Whoo!

Slide show pictures

Well, since I still can't figure out the slide show thing I am just going to post these as they are. Enjoy the black and whites.





Thanks to Ashlee, my personal photographer.

Help

I am trying to add a slide show across the top under the header and I can't figure it out. I tried adding it in add gadget and it placed it only on the side bar and it wouldn't let me download any photos. Help!

Ambitious Experimenting

On Friday we celebrated Alex's kindergarten teachers birthday. I don't know why but I got the urge to go all out and try my hand at making a fondant cake. I will admit it I was copying Ashlee and having quite perfected the stiff bows but it was a fun attempt. Maybe now I should put as much effort into making some real meals for my family. :)

Fall Festival and Halloween

I spent the morning with Logan at his preschool's Fall Festival. He loved the bounce house obstacle course they set up in their chapel. Funny place for a bounce house don't you think?


Big brother babysitting for me. He adores Abby and sweetly refers to her as Agigil or sweetheart when she cries.


My little pumpkin in one of her few non-fussy moments. I did call her our Little Diva.

May the force be with you all this Halloween! Our classic moment for the night was when the boys told our Asian neighbor they didn't speak Spanish.

Rock on with my niece Ava! Love the Petty skirt. It was pretty funny watching her try not to trip.

Uncle Eric cuddling his niece. She loved the trick or treating and slept the entire time. I loved her being awake and fussy from 1:30-4:00 a.m.

My First Hairbow

This was Abby at two weeks old and a whopping 8 lbs. She and I celebrated by dressing up with our first hairbow.

She's Finally Here! (even though I am posting a month late)

After 36 long and arduous hours of labor, Abby decided to make her debut on October 6th at 2:08 pm. We were very lucky to have her come the same weekend as the shower so my mom was able to extend her trip to stay with the kids while I was in the hospital. I realized I was in labor sometime very early Sunday (Conference) morning and spent the day relaxing at home. Greg and I decided to go into the hospital that night about 10:00 because we did not want to risk my water breaking at home and racing to the hospital. When we arrived I was dilated 4 cm and they decided to admit me. I decided to play it safe that night and try to get some sleep (previously I had tried walking the hallways to amp my labor). By morning I was 6 cm and waiting for my doctor's partner to come and break my water. He came about 8:00 am and broke my water. According to previous history I would normally have the baby with in an hour. TWO HOURS LATER, I was still contracting slowly and not progressing (I had actually gone back to a 4). At that point they decided to add some pitocin to see if we could get my contractions to be more consistent and frequent. After ANOTHER TWO HOURS OF PITOCIN, I was in agony. My contractions still were not more frequent although they were the pain of my normal transition labor. I WAS STILL 4 CM. At 1:00 (after 35 hours of labor) I joined my fellow mothers with getting an epidural. I refused and refused with my others to get one but when they said it would still be another 3-4 more hours I couldn't do it any more. I was most concerned with how exhausted I was becoming after two sleepless nights. I got the epidural which was a strange experience in itself. It definately took most of the edge off, I could still feel the contractions on one side. They turned me over to that side to use gravity to numb it and suddenly I was very nauseous and very hot. Greg said that he and the nurse gave each other the uh oh look and realized I was completely dilated. That was 20 minutes from when they put the epidural in. The nurse anestatist was kind enough to dose me with some lidocaine beyond the pain meds in my epidural and I was numb for a good five hours. It was incredibly bizarre to tell my toes to wiggle and they would do it but I couldn't feel them do it. So, anyway, they told me not to push, called the doctor and he arrived 20 minutes later and I pushed three times and she came out. For being 3 weeks early, she was an amazing 7 lb 9.5 oz and 19 inches long. That is almost a full pound bigger than our biggest. Apparently, my babies are getting bigger and my deliveries are getting longer. We jokingly call Abby our Little Diva. She wanted to come when she wanted to and no way were we doing anything about it. I was glad she was early for the sake that she could have been much bigger if she had waited till the 25th. Here are some pictures of her first day and her first visitors. As you can see the boys are ecstatic to have her here. We had to play some juggling with Logan (the youngest) since he had croup the day she was born. Oh the joy of a large family. :)



Uncle Eric was making dinosaur faces at the boys. It made for a great picture.

Check out those cheeks and the double chin! She is beautiful and even has a little bit of fat on her legs. No chicken legs here! Can you see the mowahk of hair on the top of her head?

Baby Shower Surprise!

I was absolutely convinced that my mom was not coming for the baby shower. The ironic thing was I had commented to Greg a month earlier that it wouldn't surprise me if my mom surprised me at the baby shower. My next thought was "Well, now it wouldn't be a surprise." So, the planning began. My mom said she had to stay home to finish the kitchen remodel before the baby came and Ashlee told me that she had tried to get my mom and Courtney to come when she was visiting back in September but they couldn't with Erin's wedding and other things between now and then. So, I walked into the Rene's house and was just chatting away not realizing that my mom was standing behind me and the door. I can't even believe my reaction.

The quilt was a gift from my mom of all my baby clothes. My Aunt Cindy designed and created it with her new company http://www.storybookquilts.com/. Everybody check it out, she does beautiful work. I have the quilt hanging in Abby's room. The other special gift was my mother passed on my blessing dress so that I can use it for Abby's blessing. That was the second time I cried that evening.

I was so excited to have a cake designed and produced by Ashlee. Isn't she creative! Everybody was thoroughly impressed and it was fun to show off what a great family I have.

The Culprit of a Rude Awakening

We were rudely awakened at 5:45 this morning by a crashing sound followed by our house sirens. I made a beeline to the kids room and discovered the tin bus lunch box open on the floor with all of Logan's cars scattered. We came to the conclusion when we talked to the security company that it had fallen off the bed and set off our glass breakers. I guess it is reassuring that it works but what an adrenaline rush when you are not expecting it. I bet the security company probably thought it was going to be a much bigger deal than just a bunch of toys. So, lesson learned...make sure all toys are secured before going to bed.