The girls meet Julia!

Home From the Hospital!

After Zeb picked up Claire from school, he and the girls came to the hospital. The girls were SOOO excited. 

I love the grin on Hallie's face. You didn't even have to mention saying cheese. Although Audrey kept telling Julia to say cheese. ;)

Please note how cute the girls look. Zeb took the oldest 3 home last night and put them all to bed.  He got Claire off to school this morning, lunch and all. Then when they came to the hospital they all looked adorable. Way to go Zeb. You get the #1 Dad award! Oh and when I walked through the door when we got home there was folded laundry on the couch. He is the best.

And here is the little star, Julia! Her onesie says "Daddy loves me." Claire insisted Julia wear it. 

I love pictures of newborns in car seats. Even an eight pounder looks small inside. 

We are happy to be home, although I am of course tired. The pain meds this time made me really drowsy and loopy. I'm glad they take the pain away but the side effects are not so fun. 

I have 4 kids. Wow.

Stats!

I was induced yesterday morning at 6:15. Got an epidural at 7:15. The Dr. broke my water at 8:00 and at 12:10 I was complete. I started pushing at 12:17 and at 12:19 Julia May arrived! Talk about a great labor and delivery!

She weighed in at 8 pounds 10 ounces and is 21.5 inches. By far our biggest baby!

I just adore her and am savoring every moment with her. Gotta love those cheeks!

I had to take these pictures of Zeb and Julia taking a nap together. How sweet!

The girls came last night to see her. Audrey had fallen asleep in the car and was therefore having a melt down. Not quite what I was hoping for but the girls were still VERY excited to see her. We are so happy!

Leah

Julia May

Julia May has arrived!! We would have more pictures for you, but we forgot the cord for our camera so we can't download those pics yet. Don't worry we'll make it up to you by posting the video of the birth!!

Circus Fun!

Well, a friend told me to take advantage of these last few days with Zeb and the older girls while I can so when Claire came home with a free ticket to the circus I knew just what to do. When I realized we never cashed the check Angie and Justin gave us for Zeb's graduation I knew we had the funds to go. We took full advantage. We went to dinner first. 

Then we went to the circus tent and waited for it to start.

The girls were so excited.

As the night progressed  I realized Zeb never shaved his mustache. He wanted to know how long it would take for me to notice. And it actually took me a long time! Sadly, we saw some people we knew. To that Zeb said, I never thought anyone would actually see me with it! What a character he is.
Audrey's favorite part was the elephants.

They had so many cool things. We had never been to a circus and the girls LOVED it.
When the music came on Claire said, "It sounds like magic in here." How cute is that?
When I asked Claire and Hallie their favorite part they said "EVERYTHING!"
This boy was an amazing contortionist. 
The girls couldn't believe he fit in a box.
I loved that their eyes were glued!
We bought everything. A light up toy, cotton candy, peanuts, popcorn. The only downside was they didn't sell anything but coke so we were thirsty. Hallie informed me she was so thirsty she could drink her feet. Maybe she said that since they were ice cold because she had flip flops on and the temperature dropped to 46 degrees.

We had an absolute blast. I could barely breathe by the end since I couldn't use the rest room the whole time but it was worth it. Thanks Lacey for the advice to enjoy the girls and Zeb now. And thanks Angie and Justin for the money to do such a fun thing before Julia comes. We never would have spent 10 bucks on a light up toy...or gotten all the extras! It was fun to just go do something and not think about money!!! ;)

For the Record...

Yes, I am still pregnant.

...and my due date is tomorrow.

Yes, I was early with the last 2 babies.

...and am very anxious.

Yes, I am going to pop.

...yet seem to get bigger by the second.

Yes, I am ready for Julia to come

...and I will be eating an entire bag of Cadbury Mini eggs myself tonight.

Yes, this picture was taken when I was NOT expecting it.  Otherwise, I would have never taken a picture. 

...and yeah, you basically just feel like a whale at this point!

Our New Place

Since Julia isn't here yet I thought I would post the pictures of our rental house a lot of you have been asking for. We LOVE it!!

Front of our house.
This is what you see when you walk in. 
Our "office" and "scrapbooking" room. No other place to put all our stuff! Our bedroom is a lot smaller and we don't have 2 sets of couches so we turned the front living room into OUR spaces.
Here is Julia's room down the hall on the right. It is a work in progress as I cannot live with the wallpaper for a baby girl. But Zeb is busy sanding and repainting the bunk beds, so painting the room will have to wait.
Right now the 3 girls are sharing. When the bunk beds are finished the room will come together a bit more. ;)
On the left is the kitchen. I love having 2 islands. It rocks.

The kitchen overlooks the living room which I love.
Here is the living room.Out the back door by the table is the patio and grill. We grilled a few times this past week and it was fabulous. 
I love the deck and backyard.
Our bedroom is at the back of the living room. 
The dresser on the other side is boring so I thought I would post a picture of Julia's bassinet. ;) Thanks for letting us borrow it Carol! 
Here is my favorite room of the entire house. A sunroom where the girls play. It is SOOO nice to have all the toys in one room especially when that room is not used for sleeping. This room is genius! 

We love our new place!

Oh to have the Internet again!

Well, today was a great day. We now have the internet again. Let's all take a moment and get a good yell in. WAHOO!!!! These last few weeks have felt like years without access to email, blogs, facebook, and a way to check our BILLS. I could care less about the TV, but I NEED the internet!

We are LOVING our new place. I'll post pics soon. It is beyond awesome to have a backyard. The girls LOVE it and would sleep out there if they could. It is so nice to have more space in this rental than our last. 

Claire gets tired of just pushing Audrey and not swinging herself so she came up with a way for both of them to swing. I looked out the window and saw her on the back of the baby swing just pumping her little legs away! Of course Audrey is in heaven!

The ward is great. They had a welcoming shower for me and loaded me up with diapers and wipes. I was blown away with how kind and thoughtful they were. The girls are still making friends. Me too. I know when Zeb goes back to work I will suddenly be very lonely. 

I will also post pics of our going away party when I get those from Melanie. It was so great to have everyone come and visit and say goodbye. Although I refused to say Goodbye to anyone. I insisted on saying "See you later," instead. ;)

We are settled here and waiting for Julia to come. I am 39 weeks so she can come any day now. I finally got all the clothes washed and her crib ready. I am so excited to see her. 

So glad to be back! ;)

Well Under Way...

The big move is Saturday and our packing is well under way. We have gotten a ton done and boy is it nice to have my hubby around.  ;)

Battered?

Audrey's goose egg finally went down, and her bruise was barely visible in the middle of her forehead, when she fell climbing in the closet and did this little number:

Quite the shiner. 

Contrary to what you might believe from constant bruises, a broken arm, and stitches, Audrey is not a battered child. Just a 2 year old trying to keep up with her 2 older sisters!