Halloween 2011

The holidays are upon us and starting them all out is Halloween. The girls have been waiting for Halloween for a long time, mainly because whenever we talked about Taryn coming it was always in reference to Halloween like "the baby will be here before Halloween." However being pregnant I never got around to sewing costumes which is my preferred method, so a couple weeks before Halloween and right before my due date, I decided to go online and find some costumes that would be easy yet still homemade. Here's what I found:

Abby was a Greek statue. We liked the grape crown and shoulder piece. Abby enjoyed telling people she was a Greek Goddess.

We made some adjustments to Tessa's costume. I used a pattern to turn the hat I found online into Toadette's hat from Mario Brothers. Tessa plays the Wii a lot so our family knows all the characters but many people did not know who she was supposed to be. We still thought it was pretty awesome.

Here's a picture so you can compare. We thought it turned out perfect and I was so happy that Tessa was excited to wear it even after it was complete and she saw how huge it was going to be on her head.

Aubrey was a mouse. She kept going back and forth between wanting to wear it and not, but luckily once it was complete, she was excited to dress up. And she loved that she had a tail!

Taryn didn't do any Halloween festivities being only 2 weeks and all, but I did dress her up in her most animal-like outfit. I thought she could have been a giraffe. Abby thought it looked more like cow print, but either way - she's cute.

Here are the girls at our Ward Trunk or Treat. They got lots of candy of course. Aubrey was very impressive; she was not afraid to walk right up to the cars and stick out her bucket and say "trick or treat." She knew she'd get candy so she's wasn't shy at all.

Abby was very excited to decorate the house this year, so the girls talked me into going to the dollar store where we found some decorations. They really wanted a huge spider but a small blowup one was all we could find.

The girls decided to pose as mummies in front of the mummy we got. (And Abby made those pumpkins and hung them herself.)

We also spent some time making ghosts from suckers and tissues and hanging them around the house. Here are a few where you can also see the witch we bought at the dollar store.

We spent a family home evening night carving pumpkins. Grandpa had to help clean out the pumpkin for Tessa because she thought it was too gross.

We found Disney stencils online so Tessa's pumpkin is Rapunzel from Tangled, Aubrey's is Tinkerbell, and Abby picked a witch from our carving kit.

On Halloween night, we decided to walk the mall and trick or treat at the stores instead of wandering around outside in neighborhoods we weren't familiar with. It was so fun because we saw more people and costumes that way.

And they had lots of decorations around to pose by that made for some really cute pictures.

Happy Halloween!!

Introducing Taryn Margaret

We finally have our baby! We have been waiting for so long. Here's our story of how Taryn finally came to be with our family.

I was expecting this baby to come at least a week earlier than her due date because each of my other girls have come progressively earlier and Aubrey was a full week early. Also, Aubrey came quickly. With her I started having contractions at 5:00 or so (just a couple hours after I had had an appointment); and we were headed to the hospital at 11:00 that night and she was born about 1 or so in the morning. I just assumed this baby would follow that pattern since it is my fourth kid and all.

So with my due date as October 15th, I had an appointment scheduled for October 6th and I thought this would be the day. I'd have my appointment, go home, contractions would start and I'd have her by that night or the next day. Well, she had her own plans. At my appointment my doctor said I was moving along and she even said maybe she'd see me in the next couple days. In my mind I was thinking, I'll see you tonight! So I went home and I did have some contractions but by that night they had become so sporadic I wasn't even trying to keep track of them. Friday came and that night I had about an hour or two of regular contractions but I ended up falling asleep and they weren't bad enough to keep me awake. Over the next couple days I would have random contractions but nothing regular. I would go to sleep hoping that that would be the night I wake up having full-out contractions. This was becoming more and more frustrating because it was nothing like any of my other kids. With all other three I would start having contractions and they would progressively get harder and faster and we would eventually go into the hospital and I'd have a baby!

By this point I was hoping for anything to move this labor along. I was looking forward to the weather front that passed through and then to the full moon that came, but still no baby. By Wednesday, October 12th, I was sadly convinced that I was headed to another doctor's appointment which was scheduled for Thursday. I at least had the reassurance that my doctor would give me some answers: either to tell me I was progressing well or to at least schedule an induction date. At my appointment, she did both. She said I was then dilated to a 4 (I was a 2-3 the previous week) and she said I would be favorable for an induction if needs be, so I was scheduled with the hospital to be induced Monday morning (at 4:30 am!!) if I didn't go into labor before then. I left super excited because I had an end in sight. I would have this baby no later than Monday morning, October 17th.

Luckily, my contractions after that appointment started up again and finally they didn't stop. By that evening, I was not able to sleep, and I was making Tyler time them for me. By 2 in the morning, they were pretty regular and at 2:30 we headed to the hospital. Unfortunately, the contractions were not as bad as I remember them being when we were headed to the hospital with Aubrey, and sure enough when they checked me at the hospital, I was still only a 4 and the nurse could tell my contractions weren't "too bad." The on-call doctor suggested that I walk the hospital for an hour to see if my condition changed, and I was a little saddened because that's what I had to do with Abby, my first, so I was feeling kind of let down, that I was a fourth time mom and I was being asked to walk like a first-time mom. But luckily during that hour my contractions got really bad so I was admitted to the hospital around 5 am after our hour was up; I got my epidural and I was ready to have this baby! My doctor was actually at the hospital during our hour walking, but to let us rest with the epidural, she didn't come to break my water until almost 9 am. And Taryn was born at 9:45 am on October 14th (only one day early). So without further ado, let me introduce Taryn Margaret!

She weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces (same as me when I was born) and was 20 inches long.

Our first picture with mom, dad, and Taryn.

The nurse made three extra copies of Taryn's footprints (as seen above her head). One for each of her big sisters to have as their own. We thought that was really sweet of her to do for them.

Before leaving the hospital, we took some pictures of Taryn at one of their photo kiosks and they turned out so cute!

Finally, a picture of Taryn without a hat so you can see all her dark hair - a feature all of my kids have had that I love.

The big sisters and daddy bought the stuffed giraffe for Taryn which they brought when they came to visit. I love having the picture to show a size reference so as she gets older and bigger we can remember she once was as small as her stuffed animal.

After she finally got her first bath, they brought her back wearing the standard hospital hat but with a cute bow.

The girls were visiting when Taryn got back from her bath. They all wanted to hold her. This is the first picture of our four girls together.

Abby has been an awesome helper and a great big sister.

Once at home, the girls still beg to hold her. Here's a favorite of mine because Taryn has her eyes open and because Tessa is so adorable.

Aubrey even loves to have her turn holding Taryn. When she does, she sits and stares at her and says over and over, "Hi, baby Taryn. Hi, baby Taryn."

This is how you can find Taryn most of the time - asleep. At least she likes the blanket I crocheted for her.

Tyler's parents drove out as soon as they heard Taryn was born, so they arrived the night after we returned home from the hospital. We loved having them here. The other girls REALLY loved having them here too.

I thought this picture was so funny because all three girls have their eyes closed. :)

Tyler has said that his favorite part of the newborn stage is having them curl up into a ball and sleep on his chest. I caught a picture of this and it's now one of my favorite pictures ever.

And I thought her outfit was too cute not to take a picture with her in this pose.

And finally a picture from today. She's 12 days old. Love this little bundle of joy. Welcome to our family, Taryn. We love you!

Catch Up Post Before the New Baby

So I've meant to blog every month but here it is October and I haven't blogged since the end of July. I'm (hopefully) days away from our new baby being born so I figured I'd better get one more post in to catch up the last couple months before the blog is dominated by new baby photos. So here's a random array of pictures from the past couple months:

Before the end of the school year last year, we went to the circus. The girls liked it (except for some loud noises which they still talk about), but these pictures were on my phone instead of my camera so they never got downloaded. Tessa wanted to ride a pony but once she was on she wasn't so sure about her decision.

I thought if Tessa had a hard time there's no way Aubrey would do well on the pony, but she begged to take a ride and she actually did well, riding by herself and everything and seeming to enjoy it.

I decided to have a pregnancy picture around 7 1/2 months. It's blurry since Tessa took it, but you get the gist. Aubrey had to be in the picture and show off her belly too.

Tessa started gymnastics class at the YMCA in September. She loves it! We had a hard time the first 10 minutes or so of her first class where she was too scared to participate; but once they were allowed to run and jump around, she decided it was going to be fun. She's been loving it ever since.

They do circuits on the mats, the balance beam, the bar, and Tessa's favorite the trampoline. She picks up new things quickly and is really having fun.

Over Labor Day weekend, we took a mini family vacation down to the Houston area to visit our friends the Bakers. Last time we lived near each other, they had two young kids and Tyler was still in Optometry school. Our families have definitely grown! It was so fun to catch up with them and the kids had a blast together.

We went to a fair they had in our town and surprised the girls without telling them we were going until we pulled into the parking lot. They were so excited. We only rode a couple rides, but the carousel was one of the favorites. I couldn't ride anything in my pregnant condition so Tyler got to be the designated adult since Tessa and Aubrey were too little to ride by themselves.

After Tessa got over her fear of the rides, they finally rode a motorcycle ride together and decided it was the best one.

This is Abby's first day of 1st grade. I only got a few pictures of her as she walked out the door and then they sat on the camera for weeks. She still loves school and doesn't even mind the fact that they have to wear uniforms.

Tessa and Aubrey are home with me all day. Luckily Aubrey is old enough now that the girls play together well. Dress up is still among the favorite things to do.

Grandma's house has the perfect ledge in front of the fireplace that the girls love to use as their stage. This particular day we had wardrobe changes so we had to get multiple pictures.

Finally, last weekend the Air Force Base in our town had a free air show so we took the girls for an afternoon. As we parked and walked to where everything was, we got to watch some of the airplanes doing tricks in the sky. The girls thought the trailing smoke shapes were pretty cool.

They had some pretty cool planes on the base where we got some good photos. The girls loved it all until the very end (see below).

They had lots of jump houses and other free activities for the kids among all the booths and vendors. We had to stop for a picture by the Geico gecko because he was so cool.

In doing so, they talked us into signing up to play their game for the girls to get a free item, and look who stopped by to be in a picture with the girls:

The real Geico gecko!

This was our last picture of the day, however, because about 5 seconds after this picture was taken, the first jet took off for the air show right next to where we were. It was just downhill from there because it was too loud for the girls. Tessa cried and had to be carried the rest of the time with her ears covered and her face firmly squished into Tyler's shoulder. Abby and Aubrey were luckily content with just covering their ears as the jet screamed past over and over. It was really cool to me and Tyler, but there was no more stopping or taking pictures after that. We just walked back to the car and finally got the girls to look one last time for the jet when we were far enough away that it wasn't so loud anymore. But overall it was a good activity and the girls talk about it fondly, so it was definitely worth the trip.

We've had a fun summer and beginning of the new school year. Now we're just anxiously awaiting this new baby girl to join our family. We'll keep you posted...

Summer Fun

I can't believe the summer is almost over. Just a couple more weeks and school starts again. We have stayed busy this summer mostly with swimming and fishing. Here are the highlights of our summer so far:

With a swimming pool in our backyard, we swim almost every day. The girls needed new swimsuits and how could we pass up matching swimsuits when they were only 5 bucks each?!?

We couldn't!

Tyler has gotten into fishing and has been multiple times this summer. A couple kid fishing rodeos got him and the girls started. Abby has enjoyed going with him once they found the right lakes and the right bait. Abby really likes catching fish, and luckily we all like eating it too.

Here's the haul after one of Tyler's fishing trips.

Tyler and Abby took a trip to Utah and fishing was one of the main events. Abby wanted to catch a rainbow trout and here she is with the one she caught!

We took a trip over the 4th of July weekend and went to Hurricane Harbor and a Ranger's Game. It was a long day but we had lots of fun. Once Aubrey got used to the little kid slides, we couldn't keep her off them.

Abby and Tessa preferred the bigger kid slides. Abby went on all four colored slides and loved them all.

Tessa only went on the first two, but after a bad experience on the yellow slide, she stuck with the blue one, even if the lifeguard had to help her out of the pool.

Being pregnant, there weren't a lot of rides I could do anyway, but having my parents and brother and sister-in-law with us gave Tyler some buddies to ride the big rides with. The girls and I hung around the kiddie areas and had a blast.

We went to a Ranger's game that same night and saw them win 15 to 5. The girls enjoyed it; at least they enjoyed all the food we could buy from the vendors walking up and down the aisles.

We also got to see a Fireworks show after the game. Tessa slept through the whole thing, but the rest of us thought it was so cool and well worth the wait.

The girl's love when Tyler gets to swim with us - especially because then they can do their fancy tricks. Only Dad knows how to throw them way up in the air just right.

Taking lessons and swimming practically every day has turned the girls into little fish. Abby loves to swim in the deep end complete with jumping in and doing cannonballs.

We love summertime and swimming!