The tell all

So there I was... 5:30 in the morning thinking, "okay, I could try to go back to sleep, but then I have to wake up in 30 minutes." It's really a dumb way of doing it if you ask me. Making us call so early in the morning. So I called at 6:00 AM they said be in by 7:30 AM. That was good at least, but then here I was again thinking, "ok, I could try and fall back asleep for 45 minutes and then get up" but I ended up just getting out of bed, making a good breakfast and getting ready to go. We got there and they put us in the room and checked everything. I was no dilation and no effaced, so it was a start from scratch. We got going on the petocin and just hung out .... FOREVER. It was the longest labor, but I didn't mind for 2 reasons. One, I could just lay there uninterrupted and I wasn't in pain, so it wasn't a big deal for me. Brian sat there on the computer and played games all day, even when the nurse was talking to him. We rented 3 movies from the redbox, Iron Man 2, Letters from Juliette and Last Song and watched 2 of those. Time went by and finally around 5:40 PM they had me push through 2 contractions and she was here. Piece of cake!

 

We were in Labor and Delivery for about an hour and then they moved us up to Mother Baby and Brian ran home and grabbed Liz and Caroline to come see Charlotte. They were so excited. I think Caroline might have been more excited about my food though. She said hi to Charlotte then asked if she could eat my brownie and she wanted to sleep over because she could eat my food. I thought that was pretty funny. It was love at first sight for the girls. They just adore her.

They were there for about 20 minutes then Brian took them home (thanks to Jill for watching and taking care of our kids for us!!!) and then when he came back he walked in with my favorite, Sweet Cream with raspberries from Cold Stone.  Some women get flowers or balloons or trinkets, he brought me my favorite ice cream and he didn't even know that I was thinking about it all day since I couldn't eat all day. He knows me so well.

It was a good sleep that night. We had her in the nursery and then they brought her out every few hours for feedings. The next day Brian brought all the kids 'cause I thought it'd be great to get a picture with all of them and let Bella and Coop meet her, but after about 5 minutes I was ready for them to leave. Bella climbed up on the bed, smashed my stomach, almost ripped out my IV, Cooper was putting his shoes all over the bed, Liz and Caroline were wrestling on the couch, so needless to say, it was a short visit!

This was as good as it got to get a picture of all of them. Sad.

After he dropped them back off again he came back with some beautiful flowers and some chocolate.  So sweet.

I stayed again Saturday night, which was nice. Brian had to go home with the kids, so it was just me and it was a good night. Very peaceful and only minor interruptions. I came home Sunday morning and the kids just love her. Charlotte seems to be a good baby so far. Caught a quick smile this morning. I see a slight dimple similar to Isabelle's. It's amazing how much their faces change each day. She was born posterior so she has a bit of swelling and red marks, but each day her face changes. Here are a few pictures from today. We're so happy to have her in our home!

Charlotte

Just a few pictures of the bebe. More info and pics to come.

Bizabella

I've been dying to try and get out and get some pictures with our Virginia Creeper in the backyard. Brian tore down most of it, but he left a little section for me and the red has been absolutely beautiful. I knew today could be the last day since I'll be in the hospital for the next few days. So I grabbed Bella for 10 minutes before we had her Dr's appointment and ran outside to snap a few. I LOVE this one. Her eyes just grab me.

This one is Bella. This is how she is and you can see that beautiful red behind her.

Thought this one was cute.

She's been practicing trying to say "2" with her fingers for when we ask how old she is. She finally got it a few weeks ago and on both hands. I think she's pretty proud of it. I am. :)

I love when she makes this scrunched face. So cute. So there you have a few of Bella and our Virginia Creeper. I love fall colors.

Such a ham!

Here's Caroline...

Last one done. I had to get Caroline and it was a challenge. She's got a great smile, but trying to get her to give a natural smile and keep her eyes open and head down was work! She used to hardly smile and we'd just get those beautiful eyes, but I want some with her smiling so it takes a little more work, but I think we got a few. So now we just need some of the baby and we're good!

1 more to go

1 more to go, meaning one more kid to photograph, and one more week until this baby comes. We've got the delivery scheduled for next Friday, October 8th. I keep going back and forth about whether or not to be induced or just wait it out, but with Bri's work and finding someone to take the kids with how fast I deliver, it kind of freaks me out. I mean, if Bri's in the middle of a root canal, what's he supposed to do? "Uh sorry sir, but I have to leave your tooth open, my wife is having a baby." So, I figure it's just better to plan it and be sure all our bases are covered, besides the fact that hopefully skipping all the pain beforehand sounds pretty nice too. :) So here are a few of Coop. Caroline will have to happen next week.

2 down 3 to go!

I decided I needed to get started on getting updated pics of the kids to put up on the wall before the baby came. That way I only have to take a picture of her (the baby) to be done. I started with Isabelle the other day. She's never been that great for me at taking pictures, but I got these 2 that turned out pretty cute. The first one is probably the one I'll use since she's looking at me and smiling. That rarely happens when I have the camera.

Today I thought she just looked so cute, so I snapped a few when she was playing in the living room. I wanted to catch those beautiful blue eyes, and no... I didn't add color to them. :) She's started to look like such a little girl now and not so much a toddler. She was so fun today and just talking away and giving sweet hugs. I love this little girl!

But speaking of "little girls", Elizabeth looked so much older to me today too. She's such a good sport about taking pictures, always has been. She can smile on the spot. Today I'd have her ready and then have to change something and she'd stop smiling and grab her face and say, "Mom, can we be done. My cheeks are hurting." I just laughed. She really was working for me!                                                      

                                                    

 I mean, just look at those poses. What a trooper. I think she looks so much older and so stinkin' cute. Love this one too! Now I've got to get Caroline and Cooper. We'll see how that goes! 

Too long

I haven't done anything on here for a while. I've been tired and busy and tired of being busy! Just to fill in the last few weeks. My parents and sister came up to watch our kiddos while Brian and I went to Las Vegas for a "business" trip. Business for Bri, R&R for me! Before we took off though we went up to Bear Lake for a quick playtime.

In Vegas we stayed at the Caesar's Palace and it was pretty fancy. The thing that I was most surprised by was the tv in the bathroom mirror. The bathroom was beautiful!

 It was so nice to wake up and get out of bed when I wanted to, but that wasn't as great as going to the pool and reading and getting in when I wanted to without worrying that one of my kids was going to drown! On Thursday after Bri's courses we walked around a little and went to dinner, got some dessert and then fell asleep pretty early. Friday we were able to see our good friends the Heideman's and that was fun as always. We miss hanging out with them. Alicia and I hung out at the pool until the guys were done and then we went to dinner with them and then went for a little dip in the pool and hot tub. Good times!

Brian's been crazy busy taking care of all the yard work and demolition that we've needed. A few weeks ago Greg (the bro-in-law) came up with Mellie and the boys and Brian helped him put in our lighting in the kitchen. We had to get it done now because we're getting insulation in our attic and it was going to be way easier to do it now. Along with that, we had to get rid of the squirrels that were living up there too, so that seems to be out of the way. Anyway, they started on the project at about 10:30 and wouldn't you know, the first thing they did was discover that the ceiling was cracked under the fluorescent light, so they had to add in the project of cutting out the sheet rock and adding more in. Blah! Never as easy as it should be. Long story short, they finished around 2:00 A.M. That was a long long day! :) But we are really happy with how it turned out. Now...if I could get my whole kitchen clean at the same time I'd take a picture, but that seems to be a major challenge these days. I'll work on it.

This past weekend Greg (and crew) came up again and this time he was installing a electrical socket so we could use our dryer. There was a gas hook up here and we've been using it, but the dryer is majorly old and sounds like it's going to blow up, so Greg so kindly rearranged his schedule to come up and get that in for us. It was another lengthy project, but he got it done. Unfortunately, during the process he discovered mold in between the laundry and bathroom walls, so Brian has since ripped that out and there's a big hole in the bathroom downstairs. I pulled up the wallpaper (which came up so easy, like a stick on. I was amazed!) and behind that was more mold. Apparently it was just surface though, so hopefully that won't be an issue, but it's just another project to add to the list, and one that was way down on the the list!

We've had a dumpster again for a few weeks and Bri has filled it every night. I am so amazed and his work ethic and how he just gets out there and gets it done and so fast. He's amazing! This was how our backyard looked last week:

 There are a ton of currant and raspberry bushes and grape vines along the back mixed with Virginia creeper and night shade and it was really overtaking the yard. So to prepare the garden space for next year been ripping out grape vine trunks bigger than our tree trunks and making the space we need. Along the way he's been faces with barbed wire that was put behind the fence, apparently for safety precautions, and other bushes that make his arms look like he's walked through barbed wire! So here's what it looks like now:

Who knew there was a fence back there right? I was actually pretty bummed about it though 'cause I love seeing all those vines pouring over the fence and the privacy it gave, but Brian assured me he'd put more up there and train them this time, so I can let it go. :)

 Other than that we're just doing what we can around here and waiting for this baby to show up. I'm starting to get tired a lot earlier and just not having much patience or energy for doing much. This morning I was on the phone with my Mom and Bella came in just dumping juice all over our carpet and so I went in the kitchen and she had done it all in there. I finally got it cleaned, jumped in the shower and when I got out she came to me looking like this:

I know it doesn't look too awfully bad, but it's lipstick and it was all over her. I told her to make a grumpy face and this is what she did. I thought it was so funny.

Little rag-a-muffin! Yesterday her creativeness was dumping our cinnamon and sugar all over the carpet. Oh the joys! I've said it before, but I'm not sure which is worse, being pregnant or having the baby because at least I can contain the one in the belly! :) That's all for now.