more from Becca!

my friend becca sent me a few more pictures. i decided just to post these two for now. they are my favorite out of the bunch. although there are some other really cute shots in the group.

look at those sweet toes!

and this...well this is just pure sweetness!

halloween fun

our church put on a fun Halloween party. they had games and fun things for things for the kids to do. they even had a cake walk. kael was the big winner from the family. he won a cup cake!! i was not able to go as i was still recovering from my surgery, but the kids and garran went with his mom. they said it was a fun evening. here are a few pictures that garran took. i thought i would post them, even though i was not there. so enjoy!!

 they look so excited to go, don't they?

 games.

 treats.

 more games.

 a spooky ghost sucker!

 pumpkin fishing.

 a little girl on a sugar high!

on their way home. so glad that garran and his mom were willing to take the kids. they had a good time and were able to get dressed up for a little while.

out.

asleep at the computer desk.

halloween.

well this year we decided that since Halloween fell on Sunday, and with everything that has been going on,  that we would try and do something fun Saturday night for the kids. so we decided to come up with a few fun games and a scavenger hunt so that the kids could still have fun and get some yummy treats. first we did a scavenger hunt. here are the kids at the door waiting for their first clue. don't you just love cullan's face? geez what am i going to do with this kid? ( now that i look, i guess Kael's is kind of crazy too!)

 we even decided to bring baby ayla along for the fun. by the way... i LOVE my moby wrap!!!

 

I guess garran does too for that matter! he said he thought it was pretty comfortable to wear.

so the kids went on the scavenger hunt and at the end they found a bag for each of them with fun Halloween things like a pumpkin flash light, candy necklace, ring pops and a few other fun things. 

then it was on to the games. we played  a game called trick or treat. i printed these cards of a great website http://preparednotscared.blogspot.com/. so basically if you get a treat card, then you get a treat, but if you get a trick card, then you have to do what ever the trick is on the card. for example, walk like a mummy or moan like a ghost! it was pretty fun. 

however the big hit of the night also came from this same website. 

"DON'T EAT FRANK!" 

oh my goodness. this was so fun to play with the kids and i think will definitely be a keeper. everyone agreed that it should be a new family tradition at Halloween to play this game. so this is what the board looks like for the game.

you get whatever small candy you like, we used m&m's. you place one on each square. then you send  one person out of the room. everyone else decides which character is going to be "frank". then the person comes back into the room. that person starts slowly eating the candy of each square. when they get to the square that has been designated as "frank", everyone yells "DON'T EAT FRANK"  and the person has to stop eating the candy. it might not sound like it would be fun, but it is. cullan went first and when we all yelled "DON'T EAT FRANK"we scared him so badly that he ran half way up the stairs. we were all dying laughing. the sister missionaries stopped by our house while we were playing and so we got them to play as well. one sister jumped back and screamed! it was really funny. 

hope everyone else has a happy Halloween and enjoys all their yummy treats!!

i'm behind.

well this post is late, but better late than never. the boys had their last night of karate the night before my c section. they did really well. they had to pass off on all the different moves that they had learned and they did wonderful. they each had a turn going up in front of the class and working with the instructor. cullan was a little shy at first, but once garran got there he did great. i guess sometimes it just helps if dad is there to give you a little encouragement. both boys advanced and got their white belts. here they are with their certificates!! we are so proud of them and are glad that they had such a good time with karate!

1 week

one week has gone so fast. I can not believe it. i want time to slow down. I am trying my hardest to enjoy every minute of this newborn phase. I love it.

sisterly love

sweet kisses!

ayla

a friend of mine that also enjoys photography came over today to take some pictures of ayla. this is one of the first she has sent me. look at that sweet little girl. i just love it. 

thanks becca! i can't wait to see the rest!

and then....

there were 4!

the ladies of the house

this was us after we got home from the hospital on Saturday. Yep we were all exhausted, so we all just crashed in the chair together. Garran decided to get a picture of it for me.

earrings

she is all girl and totally in love with these play earrings my parents brought for her. she puts them on and then walks around showing everyone. she is getting so big. they all grow up to FAST.

October 21 2010

well our day started bright and early. we had to be at the hospital at 5:30am. my c-section was scheduled for 7:30am. we got there and things went rather quickly. about 15 minutes before we went into the OR I asked Garran if he thought it was to late to run. I have to admit my nerves were getting the best of me.

here is a "lovely" picture of me waiting to be wheeled back to the OR.

Garran modeling his scrubs!

after we were ready they took us back, got my spinal stuff all done and then brought garran in. it was a very surreal experience. it was very strange to to think that just behind the curtain you were cut open and they were working on you. i don't know. if I wasn't having a baby, I don't think that I would want to be awake for surgery. I didn't enjoy all the noises and things like that. However it was very comforting having Garran there. I just kept looking at him and he would talk to me to keep me distracted. Before we knew it we heard a cry.

Here she is!!

Ayla Joan was born at 7:53 AM on October 21st.

She weighed 7lbs 5.8 ounces and was 20 inches long!

Garran and I just about both fell over. We could not believe how small she was. I kept looking at her and asking if she was ok. I had never had a baby that looked that little and I was worried that something might be wrong.

She was just fine. Healthy as ever. Her apgar scores were 9 and 10. she was so cute and sweet. Garran got to bring her over to me so I could at least look at her for a few minutes and then off to the nursery where they cleaned her all up and got her ready to meet me in my hospital room.

I have to admit that was my least favorite part. I really wanted to hold her right away like I had with my other babies but that just was not going to happen. It seemed like it took them forever to stitch me up. But finally I was on my way back to my room. I was so ready to hold her and find out all her info.

her we are...reunited finally!

the kids were so excited when they were finally able to come and visit. they all wanted to hold her and love her.

kael was very sweet with her and was giving her kisses!

cullan was also very sweet. when it was his turn he started to rock her and sing twinkle twinkle little star to her.

Briea was over the moon. It was like her own personal baby doll. She kept smiling and saying baby, baby!!

Her is our sweetest new addition!

Welcome to the family Ayla!!

I have a picture of each of our kids with Garran in a rocking chair, so I had to make sure to get one of this

My mom and George surprised us and showed up at the hospital. I had no clue they were coming, but I was so happy to see them. It was a great surprise!!

Thanks for every ones love and support.

My actual c section was not to bad, however I will say this. I would not recommend having one if you have a cough. I told my doctor about it, but they said we would go ahead. Coughing after having a c section is HORRIBLE!! It is very painful and is pretty miserable. I am hoping it will go away quickly so that I will be able to heal that much faster!
here we are, one happy bunch!! let the fun times begin ;0)

anxious...but not.

warning: after writing this, I realized it is a lot of rambling!

well i am starting to feel anxious....kind of... the only thing that i really feel anxious about is meeting our new baby and the unknown of having a c-section. i do not always like going into situations where i do not know what to expect. so even though my doctor has walked me through it and the surgical nurse gave me some info... i still am concerned. some people have told me the pain is completely manageable while others have said it is horrible. i have had major surgeries before and tolerated them pretty well (at least i think) but never a c-section. 

i have to admit that i am also sad that i will not get to hold my baby right away. with all of the other three, well i guess with the exception of cullan (that is a whole other story) i have been able to just hold my baby as soon as they were born. this baby i will not get to hold for a while. i try not to think about it to much. i know it is silly but the thought keeps popping in my head, what if the baby does not bond with me because i do not get to hold them right away. i know that is silly because i have lots of friends that have had c sections, and their children love them with all their hearts. it is just a silly thought that keeps popping in my head.

on the other end of the spectrum, the hours seem to be dragging by today. i feel like i keep looking at the clock and saying...really only 2..3...4 o clock. i am hoping that tomorrow goes faster than today. i have to be at the hospital early in the morning to do some pre-op blood work and have my last ultrasound. they want to check the size one more time and make sure the baby is still looking good.  then after that i will come home, make the kids lunch, finish cleaning upstairs and putting away laundry! (exciting..i know). then tomorrow, the boys have their last night of karate.  they are sad. garran and i have debated on whether or not to sign them up again for the next session. it starts right away and the boys have asked, but with the holidays coming and things like that, we always have to consider our budget. I am hoping we can figure something out so they can go. They really love it and it has been nice to have some thing for them to do to get some energy out and make some friends since neither one of them are doing preschool this year. 

(plus, i think cullan is not going to last much longer outside. he came inside today and said it was to cold to play outside. it is jacket weather for sure, but I had to laugh. i just thought poor kid...you are in for a rough winter if you think this is to cold to play outside in. ;0)

well i feel like I am rambling now!! I plan to post our traditional day before the baby is born picture tomorrow, even though I am dreading it and hate doing it. The kids always like to look at those sort of pictures so i figure I do it for them! One more day...and then it will be time to go!!

her approach

I think she has got it down. I like how she is eating her cake in one big bite!

5....5 whole years today!

we actually celebrated cullan's birthday yesterday. the boys had karate in the morning, and then Cullan got to pick whatever he wanted to have for lunch. he wanted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and chips. so that is what we had!!

 can you tell how excited garran and kael were!

 Cullan got to pick out his cake as well. he picked a scooby doo cake!!

 he wanted me to take a picture of his mystery machine. he did not want to put it on the cake, he just wanted to play with it. then it was time to open presents.

 this was cullan's new lighting mcqueen truck from grandma moe and grandpa george.

 he also got a lap top toy from grandpa jeff.

 then it was time for the mystery gift from mom, dad, kael, briea. wonder what it could be. i think garran and i were just as excited about him opening this gift as cullan was about opening it.

 it's a ...... doctor who tardis!! cullan started watching dr. who with garran, ever since then all we have heard about is a "tardis! i found this one online and knew it would be a hit.

can you tell he was excited. it lights up and makes noises. when you open the door there is a picture of dr. who and what the inside of the tardis should look like.

Happy Birthday Big Boy!! 

I can not believe five years have gone by so quickly. We sure love you and are so happy that you are part of our family. We hope this next year brings all kinds of fun and excitement your way!!
ps. i tried to upload a video of us singing happy birthday, but this crazy blogger would  not do it. oh well. i am sure you get the idea!

friends.

i just thought they were cute sitting out there coloring, so i decided to share!

pun-kins!

today was a super busy day. we celebrated cullan's birthday a day early. the boys had a makeup karate class this morning, we ran errands, and went to go pick out some pumpkins. (we also cleaned like crazy and are trying to get things ready for baby #4! It seems crazy that this was our last weekend as a family of 5!) We had originally planned on going to a big pumpkin patch, however due to time and other circumstances, we just stopped at a cute family pumpkin stand on the side of the road. the kids really enjoyed it. they had piles of pumpkins and gourds all around with wagons the kids could play with.

cullan found his pumpkin pretty quickly.

briea found a pumpkin about half her size that she really wanted, however we decided that it would be better if we found one that was more her size!

kael was doing some exercising....gourds works as good weights. ;0)

wagon time. the kids had fun pulling each other around and putting pumpkins in the wagons as well.

kael finally found the pumpkin that he wanted! he was so cute carrying it around.

briea found a winner as well!

Garran and I each picked a pumpkin and even picked a tiny one up for our newest family member! we had a nice time at the pumpkin stand and i look forward to decorating the pumpkins and putting them out front of our house! have i said how much i love fall and all that goes with that. it is DEFINITELY my favorite time of year!