Turkey Day 2011

Amazingly enough, we decided to do a whole Thanksgiving meal this year (the early arrival of Charlotte made us think it was not going to happen). They boys got all dressed up with the appropriate bibs.

 They were do excited for Turkey.

 We tried to keep it simple, and made Turkey, dressing (which was absolutely fabulous, John), mashed potatoes and rolls (brought by Jane), Yams (of course, I would almost rather have yams than turkey) and then Jane brought pies for dessert. I was a little bummed at not being able to make a pie this year (let alone the regular six that I think I usually make!) But we needed to simplify and making pie didn't fit the bill.

 John's uncle Jim came over for a visit and got to enjoy all the food with us! We made so much food, but really, is there a way to make a small thanksgiving feast?

 Charlotte took a snooze while we ate.

 And that Turkey hit Lincoln hard! He didn't even get to finish his plate before he passed out!

We had a fabulous day with family. Hope you enjoyed your day of thanks! We are so immensely blessed in our lives. I love this time of year where we can focus on our family and celebrate the season. 

We Proudly Present...

Charlotte Anne!

Miss Charlotte decided to make an early debut and arrive on her Grandpa's birthday. She came 3 weeks and one day ahead of her due date and you wouldn't believe the difference in attention that you get based on that one day (Lincoln came three weeks exactly before his due date).

This is me, shocked that she is here so early. John and I were definitely not prepared. We were climbing in the attic and getting the infant seat down while we were waiting for Jane to come to watch the boys. I mean, seriously not ready.

 She was coated in the waxy vernix.

 She was 6 lbs, 11 oz. and 19 inches long.

 Getting her footprints taken.

 Every part of her is so tiny! And her name actually means petite and feminine.

 One of the nurses fashioned her first little bow for her.

 Jane brought the boys in for a visit. They couldn't have been more excited. Lincoln kept exclaiming, "Baby! Baby!" And they each just wanted to give her a million kisses. John and I had to be on the defense telling them to give her some space.

 Ethan holds her for the first time.

 Ma brought so many presents! She took the boys to get mommy some flowers and some new things for their new baby sister. So cute!

 Ethan was such a good big brother. He was being so gentle.

 He wanted to inspect her head to toe and see all her parts. Here he is counting hew toes.

 I can't believe I have three kids now! So crazy!

 So I was saying that we (more she than me) got a lot of extra attention because she was so early. They consider her a "late pre-term" and they had to keep testing her blood sugars to make sure that her blood sugars weren't too low. Poor baby had her foot pricked every hour. Because of that, they didn't want to give her her bath until her numbers were high enough (because at bath time, they get colder and will burn away the sugars a lot faster). So I actually got to see the bath this time. Usually it's always John that goes, so it was nice to be able to see it. Here she is sunbathing under the heat lamp.

 She was totally happy here. I would be too.

 Look how wrinkled her little foot is!

 They started by washing her hair and she totally loved it. She got the full spa treatment.

 She was wide awake after the bath. So nice to be clean!

 First picture of Daddy and our new baby girl!

 We can't get enough of her! 

 That and we have to strip her down so she'll wake up to eat. We have to be so mean to make her eat often enough. She is such a sleepy baby.

 She looks pretty big for a 6 pounder, doesn't she?

 So we were trying to decide who she looks like. When she was first born, I thought she looked just like Ethan. Then, the next day, John took this picture and I thought she looked just like Lincoln.

 So what is your vote? 

Lincoln:

 Or  Ethan?

Now she just looks familiar to me and I can't tell at all.

 She is such a little doll. We finally named her at about 11pm the night before we were going to leave. We were all set to go the next morning, then the pediatrician came in (the on-call one) and told us that we had to stay until she was 48 hours old. Ugh! Why didn't she mention that the day before when we talked about leaving the next morning?! She we took a lot more pictures and ended up having a relaxing day. Sure, we were bored, and we missed our boys, but we decided it was good to have a little extra time before getting back to reality.

 Charlotte wasn't too happy about getting into real clothes. I was just happy that I thought of grabbing some real clothes before we ran out the door! Welcome baby girl!

Halloween Night

We met up with several families to go trick-or-treating all together and it was a lot of fun! We went with the Osness, McKissick, Wiederhold, Linton, Garmon, Maravilla and Walker Families. Yeah, in Mormon world, that's a lot of kids.

 There were so many kids, I almost felt sorry for the houses we stopped by. The people would open their doors to about 20 plus kids and were probably a little overwhelmed. We even discussed handing back a bag of candy afterwards for depleting their entire supply!

Between houses we would have to convince the faster 3-5 year olds to slow it down and wait for the rest of the group. I think they only ate a total of about 5 pieces of candy between all the houses.

 Don't these boys look like they are on a sugar high? We had such a great time! And, as a bonus, no consistent contractions afterwards, so that's even better!

 Afterwards, John and I took the boys to a friends' house where they had really taken it over the top. I don't think there was a foot of space (both inside and outside) that wasn't decorated! 

Jane got Ethan some window markers for his birthday and I just wanted to document his fabulous handiwork to celebrate Halloween. It actually looks like a pumpkin! I won't brag that I also drew some pictures on our front windows for all to see, including some text that I had to write backwards (by not brag, I mean, not post a photo, of course).