Introducing Ashton!

I know I've been pretty quiet on my blog about being pregnant.  I was pretty hesitant to post about it.  The reasons involve fertility treatments, thinking we wouldn't ever become pregnant again, and then actually becoming pregnant.  But that's not what this post is about.  This post is about our new, sweet baby Ashton!!!

I was due on November 29 which is this coming Thursday.  She arrived 10 days early, on November 19, for which I will forever be grateful.

I had a busy, uncomfortable weekend.  I was having irregular contractions that never turned in to anything.  They were anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes apart and not too strong.  I was incredibly uncomfortable.  I barely made it through the practice for our Primary Program at church and I thought I might go in to labor that night.  Saturday night I got between 2 and 2 1/2 hours of sleep.  I was happy that I was able to be at our Primary Program on Sunday.  My parents and grandma came down for the program and stayed for lunch.  The contractions started up again and my water broke around 11:15 pm before I had the chance to fall asleep.  The same thing happened with Lauren, so I had an idea of what I was in for.  I knew I was in for a long sleepless night and I was even more nervous about how tired I was going to be considering the amount of sleep I had the night before.

Eric's mom came over to spend the night with the girls and Eric and I left for the hospital.  

last pregnant picture of me

I'll spare you the gory details.  You're welcome.

Ashton was born at 1:36 pm.  She was perfect and healthy and I couldn't believe that she was here!

First picture of Ashton

She weighed in at 8 pounds 3 ounces.  The biggest of my babies by over a pound!  Yet another reason I was happy she was 10 days early.

After a few hours, we were ready for Kaylin and Lauren to come meet their sister.  It was love at first sight.  Lauren kept wanting to hold and kiss "her baby".

Our first family picture

Sweet baby Ashton

Halloween

I know I've been a blog-slacker lately.  Maybe I'll catch up some, maybe I won't.  For now, we'll get to the current events!  

We went to a pumpkin patch on my birthday.  The girls had fun finding their way to the different check points in the corn maze.  They also enjoyed all of the pumpkins and the hay ride.

The girls had a fun Halloween.  Lauren is almost 3, so she was really able to get into it this year.  It helped that she had a big sister to prep her for it too.

Lauren the butterfly and Kaylin the bunny

I thought Lauren would want to be a fairy, but when she put on the tutu and wings she declared she was a butterfly.  She had a butterfly shirt that matched and I made some pipe cleaner antennas on a headband.  She was thrilled.  Eric overheard her telling her baby that she can fly too if she wears a tutu and wings.

Kaylin is wearing the bunny costume my mom made for me when I was little!  She refused to wear the bow tie, but she loved the rest of it.  I wore it in first and second grade, Kaylin is in kindergarten and I highly doubt it will fit next year.  I was on the taller side, so that gives you an idea of tall she is.

Last weekend was our trunk-or-treat at church.  The girls had a great time playing all of the games and the craft table was a hit and kept them busy for quite awhile.

I don't know what I was thinking, but I didn't take any pictures of the most exciting part.  The fog machine in the spook alley set off the fire alarm and we had to evacuate.  Luckily, the activity had been going on for an hour and we were in the process of moving on to the trick-or-treat portion anyway.  It was pouring rain outside so the trick-or-treating went quickly.  The kids loved seeing the ambulance, fire truck, and the firemen.

I wasn't into carving pumpkins this year, so I let the girls paint the little pumpkins they got at the pumpkin patch.  They loved it and took it very seriously.  Kaylin entered her pumpkin into the school's contest.  She was very excited when she came home with a participation prize.

Dressed up again, we were ready to go trick-or-treating!

The girls had so much fun and did a great job of being polite :-).  They both have a bucketful of candy.  We're going to be in the "can I have more candy????" stage for quite awhile.

While the girls loved Halloween, Kaylin is already looking forward to what's next.  In her prayer last night she said, "we're excited for Christmas".