Finally here

I laugh a bit when I think back on how slow this past month has gone compared to how quickly the last few days have flown by. Little Man was set to arrive February 13th, but he was measuring early, all my kids have come early so I was thinking okay this guy is coming early. January 14th I had an appointment and I was dilated to a 3. With each of my other kids that meant in about 4 days I would have him, so I was excited and nervous but a week went by and no baby or many contractions. My next appointment I was at a 4, so I was sure that I would have him that next week. A few days after my appointment I was up for 5 hours in the night with pretty good contractions, they made my legs shake and I was nauseous so I knew these were the real deal. They were 7 minutes apart and so I was packing kids stuff waiting for things to get a little closer and then I was going to wake Daniel up and get going but around 4:30 am they slowed and I laid down and fell asleep, much to my chagrin I didn't have another contraction for an hour, and then they were about an hour to an hour and a half apart after that (despite my 3 mile walk, and zumba). This was disappointing, but I knew that things would get going soon, um I was wrong :) With little or no contractions I made it another week much to my and the doctors surprise.

The next appointment I was at a 5 and more than a little frustrated at how things were progressing. Don't get me wrong. I was excited to be so far dilated without too much pain, but felt like this was my first time again because nothing was like my other two. Also my mom wanted to be there but it was getting hard to plan (she had to get a sub at school, etc) So when my doctor said  do you want to schedule an induction Tuesday morning I said yes sir. He didn't think I'd make it to an induction, since it was a Thursday I had this appointment and we now had a definite date my Mom came Friday. It was fun to spend time with her and my kids and LaRae's definitely enjoyed having time with Grandma. But I was more frustrated and uncomfortable with every day and still nothing happening. I got a call Monday morning asking if I could come in (I guess we got the date confused) I jumped at the chance and 5.5 hours later I had my baby boy in my arms :)

Steele Miles Stout

Born Feb 6th

8.3 pounds

20.5 inches long

The whole thing went pretty well and this little boy was my biggest kid by a pound :)

I love how my hubby is so enthralled by babies, especially his own!

The actual delivery was less than 10 minutes so I was a happy girl!

I have been lucky enough to get to see 2 of my nephews born, it was such a beautiful experience for me that I have offered to several people to be able to come to a birth. My cousin Kara came for Liam and my friend Ace was there. But my Aunt Roma hasn't been to one ever so I told her I wanted her to come. It was special for me to get to have her there Addy is named after her and both Addy and Liam spent their first days living at Roma's house. She said it was pretty amazing so I think she enjoyed it.

kisses from Auntie Roma are the best :) 

My mom was there and she's getting soft in her old age :) because I saw some tears in her eyes when I looked up at her after Steele arrived.

We cannot believe he's here. We love him so much already

Addy is especially excited to help Mom. Liam just keeps saying "My brudder came out of your belly mom!"

 

 

 Daniel's Dad is holding his 71st grandchild!!!!

This baby has by far been my easiest adjustment. I am planning a post to talk about it because it's been pretty amazing to me. He's also pretty good, and every day is getting better and better for all of us.

We love you Steele and glad you've joined us here :)

November

So I am pretty much the biggest slacker ever. It's funny how the busiest times of the year full of fun things to write about are so hard to blog, and take pictures. This post is mostly pictureless. November came in a hurry and we had a few fun/exciting things to do the first couple weeks.
*Tippy's birthday party here in Hurricane
* Steph's birthday (dinner with friends)
* More BSU games to watch
* Took pics for the YW in my old ward
*Caleb left for 6 wks training for his new job in the Navy
*Tarek and Vaughn came for a visit

Then Steph and I started packing for our 2 week trip home. I was a big emotional mess leaving Daniel because we weren't even sure he'd be able to come up for Thanksgiving, but he managed to get 2 days off work so he could be there for 5 days and so I wasn't away from him too long.

The trip up was long but the kids were really good! We stopped in Centerville to let them play at a Carl's Junior and met up with our friend Sophie who had just moved :( it was good to see her and we had a fun time getting out of the car. We then got into Boise around 10:00 pm and I was picked up at Steph's dad's house by my brother Will. I hadn't seen him since he'd moved there so it was good to see him he took me to a meeting spot where we sat and waited for my mom to come get me. We got home and my Mom dropped me off at Ruth's house where I was staying.

The next few days were weird and fun while we waited for family to arrive. LaRae and Adam got there and a few days later Daniel did too. We had a birthday party at a jump house/ trampoline place for Tippy to go to the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The kids loved it and we saw Sophie and her husband TJ again (she's from Boise and was visiting family) I think Tippy loved her party a little too much and now Steph will have to let her down easy that this is not how her birthday will be every year :)

Thanksgiving morning we went into our cousin's house for the annual Turkey shoot (clay pigeon shooting, and homemade french fry eating) visited with family shot a few skeet and then went home. We had a good meal and relaxed/slept then the boys played basketball.

LaRae and Adam ended up leaving earlier than expected due to Tyson's asthma. Daniel and I went shopping and to a movie and to dinner for a real date on Friday while my family watched the kids. We also got to go to a friends (Ben Boster's) reception and it was so fun to see everyone. Daniel left Saturday night and I was bummed. Of course 2 am rolled around and Daniel called me and told me he'd just totaled our car when he hit a deer on the freeway while he was going 80 mph. I was grateful he was okay but a little sick about our car. Luckily Daniel's sweet sister Sondra was visiting in-laws about an 1 1/2 hour away and they picked Daniel up and took him to Draper area where he was able to get home with a borrowed car from there.

While home I did pretty good exercising and on good clear days I went running. I also had a Turbo Kick dvd I brought and did that a few times. The Wednesday after Thanksgiving my little sister Lillie came home from her mission in the Philippines it was good to see her and I probably had the best night that night because I straightened her hair while we had our sister Clara on the phone and it was just like when we were all in college and there was a lot of laughing :) I loved seeing Lillie and all my family but a few days later I was more than ready to be home 2 weeks is a long time and I missed the every day things that we do here. We got home and December was already in full swing!
HERE are pics from Lillie coming home.

slightly overcome with emotion :)

Welcome home beautiful girl!!!

(BTW you should have seen her hair, it's all twisted up but when I straightened it, it was almost to her bum!)

A Spooky good time

Okay I hope I can get this out before it's Monday in the Philippines so Lillie will get this.
Halloween was a much anticipated event for Addy and a better than can be expected event for Liam. He actually wore his costume, no tears involved!!! We've lived in 3 parts of town the last 3 Halloweens and we've perfected our trick or treating experience. First off we go to a very popular neighborhood. We use to live a road over from here and we've gotten our family pics taken on this road. Roberts Ranch is a street where there is big beautiful tree's not sure if they're maple, oak, or what but the produce huge leaves and line the entire street making it very attractive. There is no parking on the street and on Halloween night they even set up cones so people don't drive down the street. This is nice because the kids can walk from house to house and across the road without traffic. There are a lot of big beautiful homes right next to each other and the best part is that this neighborhood does the holidays right. Most decorate for Halloween and Christmas time it's so fun to drive down the street and see the fantastic lights. LOVE it.
So it's an obvious choice, and pretty much all we go to (but so does everyone else), what we've perfected is the timing. We get there early but not too early and get out right when the big crowds come in.

Okay so here is a few pics of some of my favorite decorated houses:

there was another one of these smoked filled hooded giants on the other side of the walk.

this hand looked so REAL...

Daniel had to touch it

 And to prove how dedicated these people were...it was their kid hiding in the trunk!!!!

We went with the Steele's

I was pretty proud of Tippy's peacock costume because I made it and did her make-up

Also a couple from our ward met us there. I wish I would have got a group photo of them because the mom was Cruella, the dad was one of the robbers/henchmen, and the sweet little girl was this cute little Dalmatian puppy

We also met up with my sister LaRae and her three boys and my brothers Tarek and Vaughn were visiting. Here's all the kiddo's

homeless Gage and frankenstein Tyson

Linky as BATMAN...

The cute little ducky Jason

Again Gage makes a good homeless man

Oh my sweet little Peter Pan

Tinkerbell's face says it all.

I love how my sweet Addy has been pretty protective of Liam and trying to mother him

I would find her trying to hold his hand lots of times.

The street was pretty long and Addy was tired of walking and Dad had Liam. I attempted to carry my sweet fairy but she was killing me. Luckily strong Uncle Vaughn was visiting and fresh from his military tour he not only had the strength to carry her the rest of the way, but also let her FLY from house to house. She would sing the song "you can fly, you can fly, you can fly" the entire time. Thanks Vaughn!!

 of course then Peter pan wanted to go flying too...

And to finish off my favorite part! The headless horseman who rides up and down the street!!!

LOVE it!!!

The kids had so much fun that we went to a few more houses in our neighborhood when we got done, between that and family and Roberts Ranch they sure brought in a haul but more importantly they had a magical night!

Here's a few pics of the night!!!

Neverland

Come with me where dreams are born & time is never planned.

Just think of happy things & your heart will fly on wings forever

in Never Never Land.

we went to do a pre-halloween shoot. Peter Pan was grumpy but still adorable. And Tink... well Tinkerbell was something else. My own beautiful girl makes me believe in Fairies. 

(enjoy the beautiful peter pan quotes:)

When a new baby laughs for the first time a new fairy is born, and as there are always new babies there are always new fairies.

I'll teach you to jump on the wind's back, and away we go.

When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.

"Pan, who and what art thou?" he [Hook] cried huskily.
"I'm youth, I'm joy," Peter answered at a venture, "I'm a little bird that has broken out of the egg."

(ok I love this next series...grumpy peter bawling and sweet motherly tink comes to comfort)

You know that place between sleep and awake, the place where you can still remember dreaming? That's where I'll always love you