Where did November go?!

November came and went so quickly! Our month began with us bringing Maddy home from the hospital and a visit from my mom. My mom came and stayed for a week to help me with Bay, SWBy, Maddy, keeping up my house and with meals. It was so nice to have her here. My kids got to do lots of things that week, which was nice so they didn't have to be shut in with me since it is now 30 degrees outside! They got to go shopping, to movies, a museum, and of course McDonald's (which they think is the greatest place ever). We got quite a few freezer meals thanks to mom! The week after mom left we had meals brought in every night that week. We really have a great ward here and lots of awesome friends, so much support! So lucky me, I didn't have to cook for about 3 weeks. We ate quite well!

Maddy and Spence! Spence always gets a nice nap when I ask him to hold our babies!
Sweet Maddy seems to change and get cuter everyday. She is such a nice baby. She sleeps and eats and is quite content. Couldn't miss this photo opp!
Bailey LOVES having a baby sister. She holds her any chance she can get!

My dad, stepmom and sister came to our house for Thanksgiving this year! It was so nice to have them and boy did we feast! Not a good time to try to lose the baby weight! We had so much good food! All I had to make were the green beans and sweet potatoes. They did everything else, it was great!

This year Dad and Jo got everyone a present for Thanksgiving. SWBy and Bay got light up Rudolph noses. SWBy wouldn't wear his so Spence did. Doesn't he look so handsome!

Crazy Grandma Jo and Bay took a walk around our block after dinner! It was freezing outside but they had a nice time!

My stepmom, Jo, has a tradition of making sugar cookies around this time every year. Bay got to be part of her tradition this year! She loved cutting out the cookies and frosting them with both grandmas. It was fun for me to see her have such a nice time!

Spencer's family was also up here for Thanksgiving with his sister. So we figured while we had everyone up here we would bless our sweet little Maddy. Here she is after the blessing. She had a bonnet on, but that didn't last long! Mom and Bay got her dress for her and I think they did a great job picking it out~she looked darling! The blessing was really nice, Spencer did a nice job and it was so nice to have so much family here for her blessing. I'm sad I didn't get a picture with everyone who was here and those that participated in her blessing. We had everyone but my brothers and Spencer's oldest sister and older brother and their families.

Jo helped me decorate for Christmas this year. It was really nice to have her here helping me! These 2 wreaths she totally re-did. I should have taken before pictures. She was a bit disturbed by the condition they were in before she gave them a makeover! Jo, my sister and I went to Tai Pan to get all the cute decorations to makeover my wreaths. It was fun spending some time with the 2 of them and who doesn't enjoy shopping at Tai Pan. I love how my wreaths turned out! They look awesome!

My mom and Jo actually did this one together. I'm kind of nerdy but I love to look at it!

So here are a few of our pathetic attempts to get a picture for our Christmas card. We couldn't keep Maddy awake and we couldn't keep SWBy smiling and in a good mood! Bay was a trooper! She was awesome! Our Christmas card picture attempts ended with Maddy finally waking up and SWBy throwing a tantrum. SWBy got sent to his room for a nap and woke up much happier.

Here in time for Halloween!!!

October has been another busy and fun, fun month. Mid October my friend Jessica and her kids and my friend Tangi came to visit us. It was so fun to have them here and visit with them. We always love to have visitors. We did lots of things while they were here, pictures are at the very bottom, but apparently I only took pictures for one day. Ooops! Then of course we got to celebrate Spencer's birthday. We went to Bucca di Beppo's with some friends, which was really fun and Sunday we celebrated his birthday with family. It was a really fun weekend! The following week my mom came up to take Bailey to AZ to see Beauty and the Beast at Gammage! Bailey LOVED it and had such a nice time. My mom got her a Belle dress to wear to the show which was perfect because that's what she was for Halloween as well! She was one cute Belle! She then spent about 10 days in AZ visiting between my mom and Spencer's sister. She had so much fun and didn't get homesick at all! She sure loved being in AZ! We then of course celebrated Halloween and the BEST part of October was the birth of our newest addition, Madalyn Marin! She is such a sweet baby and we are extremely excited to have her here.

My induction date was all set for November 2nd because I was pretty sure I wouldn't go into labor or dilate on my own. My last doctors appointment was October 28th and I told Spence I would still be at a 2, which is what I was the previous 2 weeks. That's how it was with Bay and SWB, I made no progress on my own. I asked Spence what he thought I would be dilated to and he said a 3 1/2, which I quickly refuted! Well when my doctor checked me he told me I was almost to a 4 and didn't think I'd make it to the 2nd. I was really shocked! So I jokingly asked if I could go to the hospital then and have Maddy because going into labor on my own freaks me out. It's kind of silly but I really like to have an epidural before my contractions start so I feel no pain! My doctor asked if I wanted to move my induction date up and I told him only if I could go in on the 29th (the following day). He called the hospital checked with them and my induction was rescheduled for the 29th. It was so great! We got to the hospital about 7 am and they started my antibiotics at about 8. At 9 when they started the pitocin I had dilated to a 5 on my own, which really surprised me. I asked for my epidural and then she was born at 12:37. I was very aware during this labor and delivery. I was quite out of it with Bay and SWB. Maddy's head popped out on the first set of pushes and she was out on the second set of pushes. It was so awesome! Maddy was 8 lbs 4 oz and 21 inches long.

After I got my epidural my blood pressure dropped significantly so I got an oxygen mask. So fun!
A few minutes after she was born.

Bay was so excited to see her and to hold her! She is an awesome big sister. She loves to watch her and read to her and talk to her. SWBy is pretty excited too, but I'm still not sure he understands what's going on. We've told him her name is Maddy, which he has a hard time saying so to SWBy she is Manny.
Bay, SWB, and Spence came to visit me at the hospital after their trick or treating adventures got rained out. They ended up staying the night with me in the hospital because SWB and Bay fell asleep and Spence didn't want to have to pack them up and take them home. I don't blame him!

Here she is with her eyes open, a rare occassion this week! She reminds me so much of Bailey that it's hard for me not to call her Bailey.Here she is after a bath and Bay has just combed her hair and but a bow in.

Here is Belle and our pirate. SWBy wouldn't wear his hat and wasn't crazy about make up on his face, but he did love his sword. Spence took our kids trick or treating with some friends in our ward. Apparently Bay was kind of in melt down mode the whole time becuase some of the houses had cats and/or dogs which terrify her to no end!

Here we are at our wards Halloween carnival. This was when Bay was in AZ so she missed it. The Young Women and Young Men in our ward put it on and it's always fun. Spencer was Frankenstein (the bolts we borrowed wouldn't stick to his neck so he's a boltless Frankenstein) and I was a big, pregnant witch! And SWBy is our little pirate!

Spencer's family came down to celebrate his birthday with us. Here they are singing Happy Birthday to him. It's always so fun to have them over and it's nice to have some family so close to us!

This is my friend Jessica and me right before she left to go home! It was so fun to have her!

Bay and Jessica's little girl Hannah. They are only 9 months apart and really seemed to enjoy each others company.

SWBy and Hannah riding the train at Black Island Farms. (A farm we took the kids to. We took a hay ride to pick some pumpkins and then the kids got to go play on all the fun stuff they have there. I think they enjoyed the slides the most.)

On the hay ride!

Bay turns 5 & other fun stuff!!!

Well, I figured with Halloween and new baby coming I better get Bay's birthday posted, since I like things done chronologically. Bay turned 5 in August and instead of doing a birthday party at our house this year we told Bailey she could choose a couple friends and we could go to the family fun center, which is one of Bay's favorite places to go! It was perfect! The kids had a really fun time and it was fun to watch them together. Here is SWBy, Ford, Lauren and Bay.

We first bowled a couple of games which was fun but I think 1 game would have been sufficient. Half way through the 2nd game the kids were pretty much done, which was great for SWBy because he got to have 4 turns. SWBy LOVED bowling!!!

The following day we had a family birthday party for Bailey and Spencer's sister and her family came down to our house to celebrate with us. Bay decided she wanted a large cookie instead of a cake this year. That worked out great for me, the cookie was much easier to make!

Bay and her cousin Talmage getting ready to open her presents.

SWBy with Bay's birthday hat.

Here Bay is playing mother to SWBy. They are so cute. If SWBy is in trouble or can't find me he'll seek comfort from Bailey. I'm not sure what I was doing but in the above picture I found SWBy laying on Bay's lap and she was just scratching his back for him.

Bailey, our drama queen, has allergies we found out this year and in the above picture apparently her eyes were hurting and she told us she needed ice on them. She fell asleep like this.

We signed Bay up for soccer this year and she seems to be enjoying it. She either loves it or is indifferent to it. She is just like me, very timid at sports. We're proud of her, she tries. I'm hoping she'll become more aggressive. Her last game I bribed her with donuts. I told her that if she kicked the ball, we could go get donuts. It worked. She played a little more aggressive and had more contact with the ball!

Bay loves throwing the ball back in after it's been kicked out of bounds!

SWBy is already a little soccer star! He wants to play so badly. I'm surprised how coordinated he is already.The stairs are one of our favorite places to sit in our house and the kids love to lay on them as well.

Poor SWBy fell off the roof of his little toy car and landed face first on the concrete. I couldn't even look at him at first, luckily Spencer was home to clean him up. I struggle with all things bloody!

My rocking, recliner is also a favorite place to sit. SWBy loves it!!! He gets so mad when I move him! Here he set up his bed in my chair!