Have you HUGGED your Boppy today?

Christmas Cookies!!!!?????? (The Chef and the Gerber Baby)

let the baking begin....

meticulous decorating


eating

Getting Crowded

2 month appointment came and went. My little May-Berry was in the upper 80th Percentiles for both height and weight. And now she is crowding her sisters in the tub.

Wow WOW EVERYBODY!!

"I Support the Temple AND Pies" The city just voted in support of the LDS Temple Rezoning today!! Hubs went to the city council meeting (as you can see from the pink label) and represented our family, though we both wrote petitions to the city. I'm so excited to be living in the same district; its basically down the street!

The pie is the first PUMPKIN pie I've ever made. I'm a little behind the curve seeing that Thanksgiving was LAST Thursday. The face in the picture says better late than never. And I decided its a pie that needs to be made more than once a year

Thanksgiving was fun with Nana and Poppy here! They got to meet the babe who really liked resting with Nana any chance she got.

Nana and Poppy also introduced us to the Twilight Saga...I know, I know, where have we been living? Under a rock I guess. The movies are...interesting?...What do you think?

A Baby, For YOU!

Introducing the designated "baby burper." She does quite well! But pretty soon she will be too much baby too handle!

My chunka-monka at 6 weeks! She has her sister's chubby cheeks, she started smiling last week, and slept 5 hours in a row!!!!! We like her a lot!

"Geege & Gramp, WE MISS YOU!!!" Jumping in the wet sand, at the park, with matching white capris and solid colored Ts...can't you tell they love their grandma?
Isn't my mom the cutest EVER? We are truly missing my parents this week. The girls miss this stuff the most:

• Playing pretend with Geege
• Bike rides and walks with Gramps
• Shopping with Geege (especially when clothes, shoes, pjs, treats, or slippers are involved!)
• Grandpa's story telling
• Breakfasts together
• ICE CREAM!
• Bedtime books every night
• Morning books every morning (even when it was 5am sometimes)
• Riding in Gramp's BIG truck
• All the love, laughs and fun

I will miss all this stuff (...ok maybe not the ice cream) and a zillion other things they did for me while in town. I was completely taken care of. Thanks to them, I think I'm going to "make it" with 3 kids after all!

We love you!

Trick or Treat Me! If you can't tell...this is a Fairy Princess and Cinderella (on a really REALLY bad hair day)...it was a wig that fell all to pieces long ago and Cinderella demanded to wear it for trick or treating. We thought it was hilarious because the wig looks a whole lot like her sister's hair looks everyday.

Tiny doesn't look very happy about the fact that she had to be a cow when her sisters got to be frilly girly-girls

Our Baby Story...It all started at 6am on the morning of my induction. My medical induction was scheduled (because this was a VBAC) so I had not had even one contraction prior to checking in at the hospital.

After signing my life away, and initialling a huge stack of papers, my doctor came in to break my water. This was hilarious. He did this before my L&D nurse was ready apparently. (I don't think she was ready for how much water I had in me). Next, my nurse got me started with "the gel" at about 8am. Before anything started I was dilated to "almost 2" and was feeling comfortable.

Within 5 minutes of getting "the gel" and having my water broken, I was in the most discomfort. My nurse came in about 30 minutes later and asked how I was doing (and she was kind of laughing). I said my back was REALLY hurting. She said I was having huge contractions. Epidural PLEASE????!!!

But we had another little problem...she said the baby must have not liked getting all that water drained out on her (calling the babe "A Swimmer") because her heart rate was falling and my blood pressure was getting low too. I did feel close to passing out but thought that was just from all the hard contractions. So, the baby got more fluid pumped back in...and I got put on oxygen. It was really nice at first, then I was like, "can I take this thing off??" But the nurse meant for it to stay through the delivery. I kept taking breaks and putting the oxygen mask around my neck and then would get busted when the nurse would pop in to check on me. opps.

10am-ish I received an epidural and was dilated to almost 5. It was GREAT. for a little while. As I labored through an hour or two the drugs were wearing off fast.

The next few hours I was SO tired. When a contraction would come, I'd grab the edge of the bed. When it was over, I'd almost fall asleep (if it wasn't for my blood pressure being taken every 2.5 minutes I probably would have slept!)

By 1 or 2pm they proclaimed me "complete" and started breaking down the bed and turning on the fabulous hospital spotlights. My doctor came in around 2 or 2:30pm and after pushing for what seemed like a few minutes she was born at 2:44pm!

7lbs 4 oz

**Because I don't journal names and dates, if you'd like a birth announcement email me at maryndalee@hotmail.com

When I first held her I was so overcome with gratitude I can't describe it. I'm so happy she made it here safely and she's healthy! Another first thought was how beautiful she was even with all the gunk on her face. And those lips!

She is already such a huge blessing to our family, its hard to put in words how much we all love her. This has been a difficult year, and her birth has made all the trials seem like tiny grains of salt...just little grains that add flavor to our life. Thank you for coming to us.

Thanks also for all the thoughtful cards and gifts. (If you'd like to check out other stunning baby items like this quilt GO HERE )

adoring sisters

first bath

too cute

Fresh Out...

Overwhelmed with thanksgiving, we announce the homecoming of our 3rd pink bundle. We couldn't be more overjoyed. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

BABY SHOWER! Are these not the cutest girls in the world?? I love em! The Young Women of my ward threw me a surprise baby shower for mutual. Wish I had a picture of everyone; the other half of the girls opted NOT to shove a balloon under their shirt! Another fun surprise: I got to see some of my graduated laurels who have moved on to college. Our ward also has such amazing YW leaders; I felt super blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people. Thank you again.

We had a contest to see who could look the most like me. SO Scandalous!

Salon Conversations

Nail Technician: (in broken English) "Can I hep you?"

Me: Yes, I have a 2 o'clock appointment

Nail Technician: "HUH?"

Me: "Pedicure."

Nail Technician: "Oh, okay you sit down"

Random Customer: (sarcastically) "ya came to get your nails painted on your way to the hospital?"

Me: "Actually yes....I'm in labor and just really needed a pedicure."

Random Customer: (shocked) "when are you really due!??"

....

Even with the sarcasm, it was still worth it...these are the prettiest pink-painted vienna sausages I've ever seen.

What a Bob...
One full year ago my husband bought me a beat up guitar. He intended to take it completely apart, hand-make new components, fully restore it, and work diligently to make it a Christmas present for me! I anxiously awaited. Christmas came, Christmas went... it turned into a Birthday present...next...I waited some more. And now almost on the anniversary of buying the guitar...IT'S FINISHED! And I must say its the BEST present I have EVER received because I've watched the work, labor and love go into it. I documented the different phases (hoping it would speed the process :) ) You can check it out from start to finish. The ol' adage is true- Good things DO come to those who wait.

The Bob does have one disclaimer (that he declared upon finishing...and I quote)

"...Well, It's no Paul Wilde Original, that's for sure...But it does hold a tune!"