adeline's first birthday

One of the best things about having older kids is their excitement when it is someone's birthday. Of course Adeline had no idea what was happening, but she woke up extra happy in the morning when all her brothers were gathered around oohing and aahing, saying Happy Birthday, and just smothering her with loves.

We loved celebrating her all day. We went to church where she was acknowledged in Relief Society (she is like the mascot of the ward since she was born right when our new ward was organized). She fell asleep on the way home so we transferred her to her bed where she only slept for about 15 more minutes. Unfortunately, that caused for an emotional girl the rest of the day. (the million pictures ahead will show that)

We went to the store the day before with the intent of buying a couple of books for her gifts, but when we walked down the doll isle, we died. She was obsessed with all the babies and wanted to hug them all. Justin was blown away since he had never seen anything like it. So we bought her a doll. :) 

We had pumpkin cake, opened her presents, and loved and rocked her the rest of the day. We lover her so.

halloween costumes 2016

This years costumes were a success. We mostly didn't leave costumes to the very last second, everyone had their minds made up weeks in advance and no one changed their idea. 

I really wanted to do a Wizard of Oz theme this year, so I showed them the movie in September hoping that they would get on board with my idea. Nope. But Adeline and I had fun with it. Well, I guess I had fun with it. Adeline would get a little frustrated with her big poofy skirt. Woops. Justin was going to try being the tin man or the scarecrow, but somehow he must have forgotten :)

The pink, the tulle skirt, the crown and that poor ear, and the wand. This was definitely the costume I was most giddy about.

 1. We bought the facepaint kit for Corbin's face and when Rudger saw the sample of a person with a pumpkin face, that's all he wanted to be. He would carry around the package and stare at it for the longest time. And for Halloween night, he insisted on circle eyes with no nose and lines going down his face.
2. The werewolf mask made us both so happy. Levi was worried we would never get to his costume; so the afternoon we set aside to just focus on the mask, gloves, feet, and tail - he was so very happy!

 1. Taylor saw this skeleton costume at the store when the Halloween stuff first came out, I don't know why but we didn't buy it, probably the price tag. As Halloween got closer I started to panic a little so I ran to the store and there it was 40% off.
2. As a family, we loved watching Once Upon a Time. Corbin thought the idea of being Rumpelstiltskin would be awesome. I tried making a yarn wig, eh, but he was happy with it. But the face and hand expressions is totally what makes this costume.

 :: this picture totally cracks me up ::

adeline's birth story

Adeline has turned one! We still can't get over the fact that it has been one year. These pictures here will forever be treasured. Mandi dropped everything last minute to come and take them for me. I love her.

My contractions started late on a Thursday evening. I usually go slow at first, so we just put the boys to bed (warned Corbin that during the night we might have to leave), and I told Justin to go to sleep. I spent that time in the middle of the night trying to lay down and rest, cleaned the house, packed the last of my things, took a shower, painted my nails. By about 5:45 I told Justin it was probably time to go. We woke Corbin up to tell him we were ready and what he needed to do to get everyone ready for school. He had been so concerned about the contraction from the night before, so he asked me if this meant my contractions would be over. *happy tears* This kid seriously stepped it up. He was amazing and so reliable.

As we drove off, after letting family know we were heading to the hospital, I touched base with amazing friends who were so willing to help out with getting kids to school and take Rudger before Grandma could come. Then it sunk in for the millioneth time, we were having a baby. Our fifth baby. Our fifth baby would be a girl.

After getting to the hospital and settling into the birthing room, they prepped me for an epidural. I was definitely not in the mood to go natural this go around. They stuck the needle in, Justin passed out, the anesthetist cleaned up, Justin woke up. It was all very eventful.  

It never felt like the epidural was really working so I kept pushing the button every little bit, but still the contractions were felt strongly. Mandi got there snapped a couple of pictures of me on my side, then asked me to roll on my back for another angle. As I was rolling over they started to panic, Adeline's head was out. Her Head Was Out. I freaked out, but the nurses were AMAZING. They got me situated and Adeline just fell the rest of the way out :) (I guess that's what happens with the 5th baby)

I knew this would be an extra special delivery for a few reason, but I was not expecting the wave of emotions that would come over me. After calling out "is it a girl? is it really a girl?!", they handed her to me and the tears came. I felt so so very happy. Our family felt complete. And it has been one of the happiest years of my life.

^^ I loved this lady. I had several of the other nurses tell me how lucky I was to get her. The doctor never even made it in and she handled everything beautifully ^^