Halloween

Oops, this got saved as a draft instead of published... It has been a busy few months :)

Before we get to Halloween, here are a few from the last week of October...

This is the luckiest little sister I know!

Celebrate Pink!!

The second grade classes performed a musical called Character Matters (fairy tales). She practiced hard on all the songs and she was chosen to be one of the magic mirrors. It was a great performance and she did wonderfully!

"Mirror, mirror on the wall"

Such a beauty!

Halloween!!!

Soccer player

Pig

Super Woman

Kitty

Cute baby!

Abigail and I had fun matching.

Savannah Grace

On October 21 we welcomed girl #5 to our family! This birth was long awaited, not only the regular 9 months, but an additional 12 long days after! Because this was a Vbac birth we had to wait until I was 2 weeks overdue to be induced. She came a day before the induction. I had been having irregular, painless contractions for several weeks before, but Mon and Tues they were becoming more regular. 

During the day on Tuesday it was about every 15-30 min, but still not painful so I wasn't sure if it meant anything. That night I went to bed with some discomfort thinking it might progress, but didn't want to get my hopes too high. I woke up a little after midnight and could tell that they were getting stronger. Unfortunately I wasn't able to sleep anymore so it made for quite a long night! We headed to the hospital around 3am and things continued to progress. She was born at 8:17 am weighing a surprising 11 pounds 9 ounces and was 21 inches long. We are so grateful that everything went smoothly and my recovery has gone very well. Even after seeing and holding her right after the birth, I was still shocked to hear her weight. Wow! Do babies really come that big? The newborn diapers were a joke so luckily the hospital also has size one.

Not only is it traumatic for the mother to have such a big baby, but it is also difficult for the baby. After she came out she still had a lot of fluid in her lungs and her oxygen level was lower than it should have been. They took her to the intermediate nursery to get all the gunk out and watch her breathing and oxygen level. Sometimes her breaths per minute were too high as well so they just wanted to make sure everything was ok. She was put on a little oxygen Wednesday afternoon until Thursday morning, but then was fine on her own. They still kept her in there until we left Friday afternoon to keep watch on her breathing, but it was fine. We were all excited to be coming home together. All the older sisters couldn't wait to have her home so they could hold, hug and kiss her!

minutes after she was born

We didn't get a picture of her initial weight, but this is with her diaper and hat on.

Proud daddy!

Happy and tired mommy!

The big sisters came Thursday afternoon and since Savannah was in the nursery, they each got one on one time with her.

With Savannah coming so late, grandma was sad to have little time with her. She came to the hospital on her own Wednesday and brought the girls on Thursday so we were glad she could see her a few times before heading home.

Our little pumpkin

Coming home!

Savannah's first bath... with lots of helpers!

"Good morning baby!"

Adriana made Savannah a new bracelet.

October

Before I go into the most exciting part of our month, the birth of our newest pumpkin, I'll tell about the first half of the month...

Big belly!

Watching General Conference from the tent

And bigger...

Family 'chalk' night

Mark and I celebrated our 9th anniversary! Because of the unpredictable nature of when the baby would come, we weren't able to plan too much, but Mark left some fun signs for me that morning. Another was writing on the bathroom mirror and a new screen saver. We all went out to dinner that night and Mark and I had a fun date a few days later.

On the 16th, the girls participated in a Mad Dash for the school to raise money. They each did a fabulous job running! Mark even ran with them. We were lucky to have grandma here to help cheer them on too!

That night at the fall festival the girls loved the petting zoo, and especially this rabbit.

The next day we went to a farm to enjoy their fall activities. Upon arriving we met Anna and Elsa, which was just amazing! Then we had fun going on a hayride, seeing the cows and other animals, playing on the bounce houses and in the corn pit, and the girls got to experience their own corn maze! Mark and I even did the intermediate one to see if the rough terrain would get my labor going, but it didn't work. The weather was perfect and we had a great time!

I love this picture because Christine was a little scared on the hayride so her sisters helped her by holding her hands. Aww, they are so cute!

Instead of carving pumpkins this year, we decided to paint them. The girls each had a few small pumpkins or gourds and had fun decorating them.

Fast asleep with her kitties

I didn't get a lot of pictures of the fun we had with my mom before the baby came, but it was nice to have a few shopping days, showing her Marietta Square, going to lunch with Mark, enjoying lots of Christine time and we even introduced her to all the Hunger Games movies. The girls also loved having some grandma time. She did so much for us even though the baby wasn't here yet. Our house has never looked better!