Halloween on Saturday

Saturday was busy but a lot of fun. We started out the day by running a few errands and ending up at Josh's grandma's house to visit his grandparents. While we were there I took the kids outside for a mini photo shoot so I can practice. Here's a few pics of them playing in the leaves:

Afterwards we rushed home so the kids could take their naps. We woke them up a little early, of course, right as it started raining. We quickly took them to a couple houses in our circle:

Then it was off to the Trimbles. Luckily the rain had stopped by the time we got there, so Jeff and Josh were able to take the kids around their neighborhood. Jaxon was Luigi and Claire was Princess Peach, although she didn't want her picture taken.

They had a lot of fun, eventhough it did get a little cold. We ordered pizza and hung out for the rest of the evening. At one point I couldn't hear Brooklyn so I went to find her. I found her at the front door picking out all of the suckers out of the bowl. She had already unwrapped two of them...little sneak!

Jeff's parents stopped by and brought swords for all the kids. Of course Brayden was in heaven:

Overall we had a wonderful day. Thanks Jeff and Amy for letting us come play!

Trunk-or-Treat

Friday night we went to our old ward's trunk-or-treat. It was a lot of fun to see our old neighbors and the kids had a blast seeing their friends. Here's our cute little pirates:

Little Brynlee slept in my arms the entire time. Here she is before we left:

 Playing with Boston:

 "Trick-or treat!" 

Afterwards we went with Nick and Kesha and their little boys Boston and Easton to IHOP for their free scary pancakes. We had a lot of fun hanging out with them and talking while the kids played in the restaurant.

Hanging Out

I forgot about this picture. This was taken when Brynlee was only 11 days old. Brayden was playing with my camera while I was playing the piano. So far, Brynlee loves to sit and listen to me play.

Brayden's Halloween Party

Brayden's preschool class had their Halloween Party on Friday. He's been talking about it for weeks! He got to dress up in his costume, a pirate, and although he didn't get to take his sword to school he was stoked. My brother-in-law Michael dropped him off since Josh had meetings all day. Parents were allowed to come the last 15 minutes to take pictures, so of course I jumped on that chance. Michael stayed at our house and watched the girls while I ran up to see Brayden. To my surprise, Josh's boss allowed him to miss some of the meeting to meet us there! Brayden was very excited to see us both. Here he is before he left:

 Each kid brought a treat for everybody. They took turns going into one of the classrooms with the teacher while the rest of the kids knocked on the door while trick-or-treating:

 Here's Brayden's turn passing out candy:

 So excited for his treats!

 Kinda hard to see (forgot to change the settings on my camera when we went outside) but here are the kids in his class:

 Cute boy!

 His class with his teacher:

First Bath

It is a tradition with my kids that my mom gets to come over and help give them their first bath at home. It's always a lot of fun. 

All clean! Thanks mom for such a wonderful evening!

First Walk

The nice weather we had last week really made me sad that it is ending. I finally have energy to take the kids outside and go on walks, and now we won't be able to. We did, however, make it out for one walk before it got cold. Here's Brynlee all snuggled up...of course she slept the entire time.

 The beginning of our walk:

 The end of our walk. Looks like I should've taken pictures in the shade since this is all I got:

Chillin' With Dad

Brynlee is the most chill baby I've ever seen. Both of our other kids had to be walked around the house or rocked whenever they were awake. I remember walking around with Brayden until 5am the first couple weeks after he was born. Brooklyn wasn't as bad, but still had to always be moving around (in hindsight they both ended up having really bad heartburn and reflux, so that could have something to do with it.) Brynlee is a completely different story. She doesn't make a sound, first of all. I don't think I've ever heard her cry. The first two nights she was up ALL night, but all I had to do was lay her next to me (I'm on a queen mattress by myself upstairs while Josh is downstairs with the 2 other kids). We just lay by each other and talk, look around, and she'll nurse. I drift in and out of sleep while she just hangs out wherever I put her - the bassinet, the bouncer, the swing...doesn't matter. I still can't believe how low-maintenance she is. I'm always putting her in her bassinet throughout the day thinking she's asleep, then I'll go check on her 20 minutes later and she's just looking around! Thank you Brynlee for being so stress free. We LOVE your sweet spirit in our home. Her she is chillin' with her daddy:

Gifts for the Kids

One thing that helped Brayden when we brought Brooklyn home from the hospital was the basketball hoop we had waiting for him when we got home. It was his first hoop and he has been obsessed ever since. So we've been planning on having special gifts for the kids at home when we brought Brynlee home. We got this cute little doll set for Brooklyn for her birthday 2 months ago, but kept it hidden until now. She loves it, and loves that she has her own baby to take care of while I'm taking care of Brynlee. Brayden even plays with it as much as she does. Here's Brooklyn playing with her baby:

For Brayden I've been wanting to get him a real basketball hoop for the driveway. I've looked on KSL and found plenty, but since we don't have a truck to go pick it up we've been out of luck. Well...the house 2 down from us is vacant and has been for sale ever since we moved in. Every time I drive past it I think to call the realtor and ask if the homeowners would sell us their portable basketball hoop that's in their driveway. I finally emailed the realtor and got no response. A few days before the baby was born I noticed a truck in their driveway so I stopped by and it happened to be the homeowner. I introduced myself as the new neighbor and we talked for a few minutes. I asked if we could buy their hoop, and he said we could just take it! I couldn't believe it! So after we dropped the kids off at the Ericson's the night before the baby was born, Josh and I walked down and rolled the hoop to our house. It's adjustable so we put it down to 7ft. When my mother-in-law brought the kids home a few hours after we got home from the hospital, it was the FIRST thing Brayden noticed before they even got to our house. He has been SO excited ever since. He loves shooting his hoops and is getting pretty good. I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but I will soon!

Coming Home

It's always SO hard for me to leave the hospital after having a baby. The 2 days in the hospital are really my only days off, so coming home is always bitter sweet. Here I am dressing Brynlee for the trip home:

 Such a sweet, peaceful little girl:

 Brayden is so in love with Brynlee. He is always wanting to hold her and snuggle with her:

 A few hours after we got home my brother and sister-in-law visited us and brought us dinner. It was fun to hang out with them for the evening before the Ericson's brought our kids back. Here's a picture of my neice Paige and their twins Meg and Ty with little Brynlee:

Brynlee - Day 2

The rest of the hospital stay went as planned. Josh had to do some work on Thursday, so Brynlee and I chilled together in the morning and afternoon. I brought a bunch of photography books, so I was reading them and practicing during the day. Here are some pictures I took while we were hanging out:

One of the chapters I read was on taking pictures of flowers. My mom brought me this beautiful rose, so I got to practice a little bit on the flower:

For dinner, the hospital provided a "couple's" meal. They brought in a cute little table all set up with flowers, a special dinner, and sparkling cider. It was really neat to have a little "date" together, since that isn't going to happen again for a while.

We had a few more visitors on Thursday evening.

The rest of the night Josh and I spent together with little Brynlee. After he helped me get ready for bed around midnight, he went home to get a good nights sleep. I am SO grateful for such a great husband that is also a wonderful father. Josh has been such a great support throughout the pregnancy and throughout this week. Thanks sweetie for everything! I really enjoyed the time we got to spend together at the hospital.

Brynlee Lynn Ericson - Day 1

She's here!!! I can't believe how quickly the past few days have flown by. We dropped the kids off at the Ericson's on Tuesday night so we could go to the hospital early Wednesday morning. Here I am on our way out:
We quickly got checked in and hooked up to everything. The doctor broke my water around 9:30 and I go the epideral around 11. Here I am just chillin':
Everything was going pretty steady and we thought we still had a few hours to go. I started feeling some pressure, so my doctor came in to check me. Still thinking we had time left, he checked me and said "Oh! Let's have a baby!" Apparently the head was already on it's way out. He quickly put his stuff on, sat down, and I started pushing on the next contraction. Half way through my first push, he told me to stop and start breathing. I thought I was getting ready to push again...um...nope! Her head was already out. He asked if I could see her head and I was able to look down and see her, then without any more pushing I watched her slide right out. It was one of the neates, most fascinating experiences to watch her come out as I felt her leave my body since I wasn't focused on pushing. By this time Josh was sitting in the chair because he almost passed out. He never had issues with the other kids, but because she came so fast he apparently couldn't handle it very well. He did manage to stand up to cut the cord. She weighed 6 lbs 6 oz and was 18.5 inches long born at 12:59pm. I still can't believe how easily it all happened. No tearing, cutting, or other major issues. We feel very blessed with how well it went and that she made it here safely and is as healthy as could be scoring a 9.9 on the Apgar scale.All the nurses quickly cleaned her up and did what they needed to with her, then Josh and I got to enjoy some time with our new little girl. After enjoying the afternoon together we were moved to our room and continued enjoying our new little miracle. Josh gave her a bath in our room so I got to watch. With our other 2 kids Josh gave them their first bath somewhere else, so I loved being able to watch this time. We had a lot of family and friends visit, and it was fun to have the energy to enjoy the evening with everyone.
The Ericson's brought the kids down for a couple of hours and it was fun to spend time together as a family of 5. Brayden has been extremely anxious and excited for the baby to come. So when he walked in he couldn't wait to see her and hold her:

Brooklyn, on the other hand, was a little more hesitant. She hasn't really understood that a baby was in my tummy and was going to come out. She didn't want to see her at first, but after a little bit she did sit with me and "hold" the baby and touch her toes:

Our family of 5! I still can't believe we have 3 kids! I still don't know how I'm going to manage hauling these 3 kids all around, but we're excited to add little Brynlee to our family: