SHE'S here!

Courtney Bryant was born December 3 @ 4:50 AM. She came before I was to call the hospital @ 6:00 AM to go get induced (hopefully, unless lots of mom's were there in labor). It was such a surprise to go into labor on my own (the first time!), it was super quick, and it was a girl. I was in definite shock.

My water had a slow leak @ 1:00 AM. . .so slow I wasn't sure if it was lack of bladder control since it was a small drop or 2. Then nothing happened until I started having contractions @ 2:00 AM and man they hurt! Every 5 minutes for the first 20-30 min then every 3 min so I called my mom. She came over and we got to the hospital around 3:15 AM.

After waiting for another mom to check in (who didn't even appear to be in any distress/pain. . .I couldn't even sit down on the bench because my contractions were even more painful and frequent and they brought me to tears). I got to my room by about 3:35 AM. Once the nurse checked me she was super surprised I was as far along as I was. I was 8+ dilated and fully effaced, my water had "broken" but only a small leak, thus a bulging bag with the head right there. She called for another nurse to help out since things were obviously progressing quickly. I even had time for an epidural (thankfully) which made the last 30+ min of labor/delivery more enjoyable. Then my Dr. came in and the rest is history!

Brock was the one who got to announce the sex, and man I was super excited and surprised. She weighed 8 lbs (right in the middle of Brady and Lauren's weight) and was 20 inches long. She came out screaming and is doing great other then the little mix up between days and nights and she sure is a little spitty.

Courtney is the best sleeping newborn during the day, but loves to cry usually hourly all night long (did I mention she is spitty/refluxing), and eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hrs at night! She is even awake for a stretch of time each night. I guess we have only been home for 2 nights now, so here's hoping the nights get better. . .soon??? I guess I forgot how it is to have a newborn again. I have been trying to get her to eat more often during the day, but she is a sound sleeper (like her dad) and really hard to wake up.

Because of the flu concerns this season, the kids couldn't come up to the hospital. Thanks to my mom and Brock's mom for watching them. Brock took a small video of their first meeting. I was so fun to see their reactions. They were both chomping at the bit to hold her. . .and that's still the case.

We all love Courtney to pieces and are so excited she made a safe arrival to our family.

Almost there. . .

Not much time left. . .I had my check up today and things are going good. I am already 2+ dilated and 70% effaced. . .ahead of schedule according to my doctor, and he could feel the head too! It could happen at anytime, but I still think the baby will come when I am induced in 2 weeks. . .I guess time will tell! I am super excited and can't wait to bend again. I think you must forget how such a simple task can be so difficult.

Update overload. . .Happy Halloween & lots more! (see below)

We had a fun night carving pumpkins, making homemade pizza's, trick or treating, and then sipping hot cider afterwards. Becah, Marc, and Riley came over for the fun festivities too. It was a busy night, but super fun:)

Preschool. . .Finally!

Brady started preschool @ the East High School Little Leopards Preschool this year. 1 week down, but I am really impressed with it. It is such a good deal too. We only had to get on the waiting list 2+ years in advance. He is so excited to go everyday and has a ton of fun. The kids are outnumbered by the 'teachers' so there is a lot of attention which is good for him. He painted a pumpkin, made a trick or treating bag, and went trick or treating just to name a few of the activities this week!

FHE

We made zombie eyeballs and spider cookies for our Halloween treat this year. Brady and Lauren made some cute cards and we delivered them to some of our family. They turned out pretty cute. Brady is learning to write a couple letters (M, B, O, and X) so it was fun to see him write them for the first time!

Sewing

I love having a sewing machine! I found a dress pattern on the Internet for free http://madebyrae.blogspot.com/ and made one for Lauren. I think it turned out pretty good for one of my first attempts. . .

Double Trouble

Here's what happens when you leave 2 little ones alone with scissors out on the desk. . .

I was so excited because I just bought my very first sewing machine for my upcoming birthday and I made a gift for my sister and one for myself (I'll have to post pics of them later, since I don't want to ruin the surprise). I called my mom up because I was so excited with how they turned out, while I was boiling some pasta for dinner. Not more then 10 minutes alone and I came downstairs to find Lauren's new shirt (worn only once) missing most of one arm and a piece off the other, a slit in her sweater, and a small chunk of hair missing. Brady had so much fun earlier while a sewed a little, by cutting the scraps of material I guess he thought he would cut some more. . .and Lauren cut her hair, thankfully it's hardly noticeable since it blends in on the side. Needless to say the scissors are in a high, out of sight place now!

Sneak Peak. . .

We had a fun Halloween dinner/party @ Grandma Jenny and Papa Greg's house tonight. Here's a sneak peak at Halloween costumes. Lauren of course is a princess, and she would wear the dress everyday, all day (if I only let her). You can't really see her crown because it sits too far back. . .I'll have to work on this Halloween. Brady is a firefighter and likes to tell you what they do. He had to wear the costume daily for the first week after we bought it. . .but then it lost the novelty. Riley was an adorable lion, Nick managed to put his tiger top on, and Avery was Wilma from the Flinstones (sad to say. . .probably her last year dressing up).

Soccer

Brady has been playing soccer for a couple weeks. . .or at least he is on a soccer team ;) It is pretty cute when he decides he will chase after the ball. It was an awesome deal, and it's good to have something for him to do while we wait for preschool to start at the end of this month.

Yay! It finally worked. . .pictures for the previous blog (see below)

Swimming & Grandma Jackie's 75th Surprise B-day Party

Well after some miscommunication, we are the only ones who came to swim. Who new this even existed just right down the street? It's a pretty cool pool, but really hot and smelly (chlorine). Lauren was SO daring, she usually doesn't even want to get in. She went in pretty far, which made me a little nervous since I wasn't dressed to swim (because I thought EVERYONE was going to be there;). Brady booked it to the slide one time and gave me a good scare. Luckily he didn't dare go down (it's a little deep where it comes out, and Lauren was in the water on the other end. . .needless to say, I was glad to leave). They had tons of fun though.

Grandma Jackie was completely surprised (good one Jenny)! It was a fun night seeing everyone from out of state, some of which I hadn't met in person before. Brady had fun playing with Taggart, they would be best buds. . .if only they lived local.

Trial Lake

I love going to Trial Lake every year. It is so nice and cool, relaxing, and fun (minus all the dirt and no shower, oh and the pit toilet. . .speaking of that Brady was deathly afraid at the beginning and didn't want to go #2 on the toilet, but needles to say when you have to go you have to go. No fun to clean up. Thankfully he got interested in how it worked and how it gets emptied. . .you know how inquisitive he is). Lauren loved throwing rocks and dirt, we just encouraged her to throw it into the lake. Brady had fun playing with his cousins and fishing. He caught dinner for us, and he even eat some of it!

Lauren's Birthday +

It's of course been a busy month. . .when is there ever a dull moment? I worked the 4th of July, went to a fun BBQ @ my mom's after, then fireworks @ Nick's house.

I thought I would try curlers in Lauren's hair. She has the most fine hair, plus no patience to wait until it was thoroughly dried. . .but it was still fun! Notice the nice blister, just ask Lauren. She shows everyone her "owie" everywhere we go. It was a pretty bad burn from touching the extremely hot muffler after doing many errands (OUCH!). And we had to snap a pic of Lauren falling asleep eating dinner one Sunday after church. She is the first of our kids to do that. It was hilarious. Brock even did a little video of it.

Lauren turned 2 last week and got a butterfly cake. It was harder to do something 'girly' but it looked decent. It was so fun to get her something girly to play with. She didn't really have much. She had a blast and especially loves all the fun stuff. Thanks to all our family that came and made the potluck BBQ a success!

And finally the biggest thing this week is we bought a minivan. . .the official mommy car. . .stormin' Mormon. . .you get the picture. I actually quite love it (afer 1 day) it has a tons more room then our Subaru. Now to just sell the Met.