The 3rd and 4th of July

The weekend of the 3rd and 4th was a very special weekend for our family. Adam and I have been richly blessed when it comes to our families. I have the best in laws and so does he. We had many of our family member come into town to help us celebrate Addison. On Sunday, July 3rd, we blessed sweet Addison and had a big family gathering after. It was such a special day, Addison hardly made a peep and our families helped us out so much, they made the day a success!

all of our family members that made it to the blessing

Our new family of FIVE!

some of the girl cousins...Elley, Molly, Addison, Briley, and Macey

my 3 girls...3 of the cutest girls I know!






The fourth of July found us with more family activities. That morning we made it down town to the parade...of course, we LOVE parades!! And, after the parade we had dinner with Adam's side with fireworks to follow.

cousins

Macey and Elley...don't they look festive?

my family

Brother Craig, Sister Kerilynn, Brother's wife Jordan, me and Adam

Gavin and Molly

Addison getting some love. Who wouldn't want to love that baby?

Aunt Maggie and her nieces doing pedicures, she sure knows how to be the favorite Aunt!

Molly and Sophie swinging away.

Elley

Addison Rae

Yes, we had our baby! It's been a CRAZY 2 weeks but we have been having so much fun. We've had lots of family coming and going. We celebrated the 4th, and even had Addison's baby blessing. It's so special having so many family members that love us and love Addison. I have lots of pictures to post but for now, it's all about her birth.

I feel like such a bad mom putting off blogging about our cute little peanut, but honestly, I have been choosing sleep or time with my family over my blog. I really do want to shout from the roof tops about Addison and how perfect she is. And I'm sure, with many, many more blog post coming, you'll get sick of hearing just how perfect she really is!

Monday, June 20th, my doctor wanted to gel my cervix. I hadn't dilated or thinned out at all. The gel didn't do a darn thing....like put me into labor! On Tuesday, the next day I was scheduled to be induced at noon. Tuesday morning I got a call from the hospital saying there was no way they could get me in that day. So, I was pushed back to Wednesday morning at 7:30am.

7:30am June 22nd, 40 weeks and 4 days!

YAY! Today was the day.

Getting things started, obviously the contractions aren't bad from the looks of this picture. I had been on pitocin for a few hours when I got up to use the bathroom. While in the bathroom my water broke. When I got back in bed my contractions were out of control. I have no idea how women give birth naturally. No really, I don't! My epidural could not have come faster, and it was the best thing ever. I was able to relax and even get a little sleep before I started to push.

After my water broke and my epidural was in place, it was only a matter of hours before it was time to meet our little Addison. Everything happened so fast. I pushed for about 15 minutes before the doctor came in, and then for another 15 until out came our little girl. My doctor laid her on my chest and there she stayed. It was one of the best experiences of my life.

Seeing my children for the first time is unforgettable.

The minute she was laid on my chest I knew she wasn't very big. I guess I was expecting a little bigger with her being 4 days late! She is just a little peanut!

This was another experience that I will never forget. Molly and Elley meeting Addison for the very first time. Elley walked into the hospital room and didn't even say hi to me. She said, "where's the baby?!" As you can tell from those great big smiles, they love their new sister! A few weeks later they still love her. Every morning they come into my room and without saying good morning to me they ask to hold Addison.

Addison meeting a few of her cousins. Louden, Macey, and Gavin

Macey is going to be the best cousin ever!

I just can't get enough of how happy Molly and Elley are to have a new little sister. Their smiles are just priceless!

Addison's first bath




After a quick overnight stay at the hospital, I was so ready to come home. I wanted my own bed, my own food, my house, and for my family to be all together!

We waited for what seemed like a long time for this little girl! She is all that I could of asked for and more. We love her more than words can express. She is just perfect in EVERY way!

A Few Things We LOVE

Waffles for one, who doesn't love waffles. We finally broke down and got ourselves a nice and big Belgin waffle iron

with strawberries and this YUMMY Vanilla syrup.

1cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup butter

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

Heat sugar, buttermilk, butter, and baking soda in a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Take off heat and add vanilla.

It would of been even better with whip cream on the top.

Another thing we love is putt putt golf...

daddy teaching Elley

mommy and daddy teaching Molly

Molly deciding that picking up the ball and just putting it in the whole, is a whole lot easier

Happy girl Molly

maybe shuffle board would be better?

we let them cheat, just a little!

daddy and his 2 girls

Elley and Daddy LOVE go-carts

waiting in line. First time rider Elley looks a little nervous, but everything is okay, as long as Daddy is around!

FUN, FUN, FUN!

And last, but not least.......we love parades!!!!! If you are a long time reader of this blog you would of already known this. Who wouldn't love a parade that handed out chocolate milk, string cheese, ice cream, and T-shirts. Oh, and lots, and lots of candy.

trying cotton candy for the first time. Elley kind of liked it, but Molly didn't like it at all. Too sticky, wrong texture.

waiting for the parade to start

got my chocolate milk (this one is for you Danielle) :)

Okay, so in this picture are my girls and one random guy who stood in front if me almost the entire time. All I wanted to do was sit in my chair and watch. Did he really not notice that I was a million months pregnant? And, he took a picture of every single thing that went by.....really? What are you going to do with all those pictures? I even had to ask him to move over at one point so I could at least keep an eye on the girls. I really love going to parades, so when people do this, it really makes me mad! Oh well, at least the girls had a good time.

Elley with her new shirt, and Molly with some candy!

****And here's a little update on the whole pregnancy. At my 39th week check up, I was 1 stinkin' cm. Come on body, you've done this before.....lets get a move on! Anyway, today as I type this I have watched my due date come and go. I am feeling really good though, it's a little weird. I really don't think I would mind if I went another week, but....that's not going to be the case. Tomorrow night, I will go down to L&D and have them gel my cervix. Doesn't that sound pleasant? I've never had this done before so I'm a little nervous. I've read about it a little online and have talked to a few friends, but still nervous of the unknown. If the gel doesn't work I will go in on Tuesday at noon for an induction. I'm still a little on the fence about this whole deal. Like I said, I'm feeling great. I wonder how many women call and cancel an induction? Probably not too many. Shes got less than 24 hours to do this on her own and if she wants to continue to be stubborn, we're comin' in after her!!!

Weekend Fun and 39 Weeks

This weekend was lots of fun. We are trying to get all the fun we can in before we welcome a new little addition to our family.

Friday night, some friends and I got a babysitter for our younger kids and took our older kids to Kung Fu Panda 2. It was such a cute movie and I think the kids liked it too. They got a little restless in places but I do think they enjoyed themselves. It's fun to see them get together and have fun. I also love to hear some of the things they talk about.

Carter, Elley, and Hunter right before we went into the movie.

On Saturday Molly, Elley and I decided to head to a local parade and carnival. We also invited our friends that came to the movie with us. All of our husbands were out of town or working so all the moms and kids were crazy and ventured out for the afternoon.

We got there a little early to make sure we got good seats, this parade tends to get a little busy.

Jill, Elley, Hailey, and Carter



All of the kids waiting for the parade to start. My friend Brittney was the most crazy one of them all. She had 3 extra kids this day.......5 kids total!!! She handled it like a pro and we are so glad they came.






Molly waving to the fire truck.

We sat in front of these cones and this is how Molly watch a good part of the parade. I think she might of felt safer behind it.

The first part of this parade is dry and the second half is wet. It's called the Wet and Wild parade. Usually everyone stays for the first half and who ever doesn't want to get wet leaves before the next half starts. We've never stayed for the second half but Elley wanted to get wet and so, being the cool mom that I am, we stayed. I really don't think Elley understood the magnitude of this decision.

Here is Elley being a great and protective big sister. Although, I think this is Elley grabbing Molly's shoulder thinking, "maybe we should rethink this one!"

It could of been much, much worse but I think those with the water took pity on the girls who didn't have any water to fight back with.

We then walked down to the carnival and saw at all there was too see. The girls really wanted cotton candy but after seeing the line they settled for a sno cone.




Also, this Saturday marked 39 weeks pregnant! WOW, I can't believe it......one week to go! I'm actually feeling very good....almost unbelievably good. Maybe it's just the clam before the storm. Don't get me wrong, I'm anxious to meet this little girl of ours, but content waiting until it's her time to come. I was talking to my dad this morning (who's birthday it is.....72 years old, way to go dad) and I was telling him about how I was feeling. He said, "she'll come when she's ready. Maybe Heavenly Father just needs a little more time with her." I love my dad, he really is the best! It's going to be hard not having him around for this one. It's so special to see him hold those babies when they are so little.

I took some pictures to document this day. Taking them myself was the best I could do since no one was around to help. Sorry you have to look at our bath tub behind me.