Happy Halloween

We headed over to the Calaways again this year for some trick or treating and goodies. The kids looked adorable and did a great job despite the cold night. Here are some highlights:

In case you can't tell, Ben is a ninja turtle. Sam is a dinosaur. Ellie is a ballerina--sort of. She has a home made tutu with a Halloween shirt given to her from a friend. Zach is wearing a monster outfit which was also a gift from a friend. Thanks to Becky and Debbie for the costume loans.

Zachary William

He is finally here. After 9months of disbelief, shock, panic, being scared, sick, exhausted, worried etc etc etc, he is here. Jon and I showed up at the hospital at 5:30am on Tuesday (10-18). I caught a cold (typical) so on top of everything else, I couldn't breathe. We got checked in, they did a non-stress test and got my IV going (after failing miserably once and left me looking like a druggie).

The surgery was pretty routine. It took about 1.5hrs from starting the spinal to getting us back to recovery. The only surprise was the barely 8lb baby we were supposed to have turned into an 8lb 12oz big boy! He was born at 8:02am and was 21in long.

He looks just like Sam. Same face, hair color (although Zach has slightly less hair) and expressions. Zach however, has huge feet and the longest toes I've ever seen on a baby. His toes were the first thing Jon commented on.

Zach

Sam

Overall he is healthy and perfect. We do have two issues we need to keep our eye on. 1. He lost a pound from his midnight weigh in on Tuesday to his 5am weight check this morning. He is eating a bit better than he was so they aren't worried, but we do need to take him back on Monday for a weight check. 2. He has a small issue with the roof of his mouth. The average person has a dome like roof. Zach's almost comes up to a point. The doctor thinks this has caused his top gums to get pushed forward. I don't think you can see it in the pictures, but most of the time his gum sticks out past his top lip. They are guessing this will just need more time to develop on its own. As long as he continues to eat well, we aren't going to worry. At some point we will probably take him to an ENT and/or a pediatric plastic surgeon just to have him checked and see if we might be in for any issues in the future if it doesn't correct itself.

The kids were excited to meet him and learn his name. We stuck with the plan of a Biblical name that can be shortened. He is not named after anyone. We just liked the name. My dad was William so he got his middle name from my side. Ellie has given him the evil eye a couple times, but I think she is slowly warming up to him.

We came home today. The first thing Ellie did was try to take his socks off (she has something against socks). Its a bit crazy right now. I'm slightly worried about how we are going to do this. I'm hoping things will come together once I get rid of some of this surgery soreness. I'm just really thankful I'll have Jon home with me for a while.

We are now a family of 6 and we are complete!

Adoption night

The Lakewood Department of Human Services/Division of Youth wanted to highlight adoption and foster care in the city of Lakewood. They gathered up families who qualified, bought them a ticket to the high school football game and let us walk out on the track after the first quarter. The kids got to throw mini footballs and candy into the stands and they loved it! I think they loved the pop corn and candy dad bought them a little more though. It was a fun night and I hope we were able to spark some interest in some local families.

Happy 3rd little man

Our baby boy turned three today. I still don't understand how this happened. Just yesterday he was doing the worm crawl across the floor and refusing to eat anything but bananas.

We started the day with a small party with family and friends. "Nap" time was spent playing with some of his new toys. We headed to Chick Fil A for dinner (per Sams request) and gladly let him run out all his energy in the play area. I think he had a great day, but I wouldn't mind if this next year slowed down just a little!

October 2008

October 2009

October 2010

October 2011

Sams chocolate cake with sprinkles.

Deep sleep

Jon and I usually check on the kids before we head up to bed. Last night, Jon walked in the boys room and immediately walked back out laughing. Heres why:

I don't know how he ended up that way and I don't know how that was comfortable. I picked him up and put him back in bed and he didn't flinch. We didn't hear a peep out of him till this morning.

Pregnancy brain

Yes, the pregnancy brain is in full swing and has been for a while. I just realized it is Thursday. I also just posted a Wordless Wednesday post. I think you can cut me some slack since I'm having a baby in 5 DAYS!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Blanket

It was worth the wait!

52 Pounds

No I have not gained 52lbs with this pregnancy. We went apple picking this morning and thats how many pounds of apples we came home with. We took the kids last year and they loved it. They also loved the apple sauce that we made for 2 weeks after. Last year we brought home 20ish pounds and thought it would take for ever to get through all of them. They were gone in 2 weeks. We'll see how long we can make this batch last.

Doctor day

Sam had his three year check up and Ellie had her 9month check up today. It was pretty painless. Sam is 34lbs (75%) and 36 1/4in (25%). That translates to short and chubby. His BMI backs that up which is over 90%. She is actually not worried about that. He does not look morbidly obese by any means. We just have to make sure he keeps up with his fruits and veggies. Everything else was completely normal.
Ellie is 15lbs 13oz (5%) and 26 1/2in (10%). I really thought she would have bumped her percentages up a little bit with the amount of food shes been eating recently. She is basically eating non stop. If we are at the table, she feels she needs to be eating the whole time. If anyone is eating, she should be eating too. If a commercial comes on that has food on it, she wants food. I don't know where she is putting all of it! Everything else is normal. She is standing more, doing the regular crawl more, she can now feed herself and most days her spitting up is better, but it still comes and goes. We've got a pretty healthy house full of kids.

I had my doctor appointment yesterday. I am still measuring at 37 weeks and am now 37weeks and 2 days. Yes, that means 12 days till baby. No chance this one is coming early even though all the discomfort, pain etc came extra early! She has revised her weight guess to under 8lbs, but got that after touching my stomach for all of 10seconds so I guess we'll see how accurate that method is. I go back for 1 more check next week then we head to the hospital on the 18th. We have a few more finishing touches to put on the house (when I say we, I really mean Jon. I've given him a decent to do list). Other than that, I'm ready to pop this boy out!

Chillin'

Hangin' with the boys!

The wedding

My youngest brother got married yesterday. The party (for us anyway) started at the rehearsal dinner Friday night. We took the kids to the dinner since we were leaving them home for the wedding and reception. My parents had some toys and kid friendly food waiting for them so they were actually pretty well behaved (even though they went to bed two hours after bed time) and seemed to have a good time. It was a nice dinner. The food was good and friends and family gave some very sweet speeches about the happy couple.

The outfits weren't complete with out the shades---even at 7pm!

Ellie meeting Marie for the first time.

Saturday was cold and rainy, but I don't think anything could have ruined the day. The ceremony was really nice. Tony and Marie looked so happy and in love. It was great to be a part of everything.

The reception site was beautiful and they added so many personal touches that made the evening even more special. My favorite was the flip flops to help ease sore feet--thank you for those! Instead of one large wedding cake, they had a mini cake for them and then each table got their own cake with everyones names written on the sides.

The other happy couple.

If you can't read the large napkin, it says "Don't even think about it!"

Marie is a Steelers fan (yes, we still love her) and apparently Tony found out she had a Steelers garter. After pulling it off her leg, he threw it away and pulled out a Browns garter from his pocket that was thrown to the single men.

The best part was probably the dancing. Maries family is Lebanese and HUGE! After the bridal dances, Marie and her mother started a dance and soon the floor was packed with her extended family. The video is a two for one deal so you get to see the chain starting then a break in the main dancing to high light Marie and Tony.

Unfortunately, my feet were killing me, I was exhausted and the baby was not cooperating so we left before it was over. We still had a great day. We are so proud of them and are so in love Marie. I am so proud to call her my sister!