Hadley's first photo shoot

Yesterday we went over to our cousin Miranda's house to get Hadley's first photo shoot taken. I was so excited and I was sure she would sleep the whole time but I was mistaken, about the sleeping part! She was awake almost the whole time, she wasn't a fan of being naked at all. Miranda had this heater that Hadley really liked but she wasn't about to do any shots on anything hard. She peed twice, once all over me and once on Mir's stool, very nice!? I was worried what the pictures would look like because she had been awake so much but today Mir called me and said she had posted some of the pictures on her blog so I checked them out straight away and I was sooo excited, they were absolutely gorgeous! Thank you so much Miranda for taking these amazing pictures, you are so talented, I really love them, she's looks so beautiful! There are more pictures here http://sweetpea-photography.blogspot.com/

Big Brother

Spencer is so funny! He's such a good big brother and loves to hold his sister. Every time he holds her he always says, it's okay, I'm here or brother's here, don't worry. It's so cute to see him try and be so soft with her with his big boy hands. I was changing both their diapers the other day and it made him look so HUGE! Steve and I have both agreed that once I get back to normal I need to potty train him. It's crazy how big he is getting, he's such a lovely boy even though he is getting a little sassy! I don't know if that's the right word for a boy but he's getting a little cheeky but he's 2 1/2 so I don't know what else I would expect. I'm looking forward to being able to drive around again so I can take him on dates and spoil him a little so he doesn't feel left out seen as though the girls have started school and Hadley gets a lot of attention. I've always liked to take the youngest kids on dates while their siblings are at school, it's been lots of fun to spend that time with them.

Here are some pictures we took last night of Hadley, she's so cute, even though she likes to pee and poop everywhere. I was changing her on Monday night and she did one of those that kept going while I was in the middle of changing her. Well I thought she was done but I was wrong because when I went to put the other diaper under her she started to poo and pee everywhere so I tried to catch it but it still went everywhere. The kids thought that was pretty funny which it was really. Ahh, the fun of having a new born, it's GREAT!

Back Home

I got home on Saturday afternoon which was sooo nice! It was nice to be in the hospital so I could relax and get taken care of but by Saturday I was so ready to be back at home again. Before going home we picked up my prescription and then we were on our way. We went straight to Steve's parents house because all the kids were there. They were so happy that Hadley and I were home and so was I.

Everyone wanted to hold Hadley, Maddie wanted to hold her all the time but I had to keep telling her that she'll be able to hold her all the time so she needed to let other people hold her aswell. Grandma Pettingill even came over to see Hadley so that was really nice.

The kids were all playing nicely but all of a sudden we heard Spencer crying downstairs. It wasn't a normal cry, you could tell something was wrong. He came upstairs telling us that he was broken. Steve rushed over to get him, his finger looked all crazy. Spencer was just freaking out the whole time so we couldn't look at it. He finally fell asleep due to it being nap time and giving him some tylenol. It didn't look too good so we decided to take him in to get it looked at, we were worried maybe he had broken it. After being gone a while they came back and thankfully he hadn't broken his finger but it was pretty mashed up, poor little thing!

Sherisse's ward had a carnival that night so Steve took the kids while Hadley and I stayed at home. It was so nice to be back home again. I got some things organised and just relaxed. My neighbour Shera came over to see Hadley, she gave us these cute onesies and this lovely blanket which I've already being using (the gift was from her and my other friend Hilary).

Our first night back at home wasn't too bad apart from Hadley spitting up some blood. We got worried so we called the doctor but he wasn't there so we called Steve's parents as well. We think maybe it was from me but I don't know. She hasn't done that since so hopefully that's all it was, we'll be keeping an eye on that though. She's been eating about every 3 hours, sometimes almost 4 which has been nice. She eats really well too but she has a hard time burping sometimes so she gets sad about that.

Today Steve took the kids to church so they got baths, we also gave Hadley a little bath. She wasn't too thrilled about that but she looked lovely and clean afterwards. It's just so nice to have her here, the kids love her. This morning they were all surrounding her giving her kisses, it was so cute. Then as soon as they came home from church they were on the attack again, it's so funny. I'm sure more stories will come but for now enjoy the pictures!

Adding to the madness!

So one day after my Mom, Dad, sister in law Fay and niece Millie left our little baby decided to join us. I had told my Mom that once they left I would have the baby in the next couple of days and that is exactly what happened. They flew out on the Tuesday and I had her on Wednesday. We had tried lots of things to try and get her out while they were here but after they left I was kind of hoping she would wait until the weekend because I had so many things going on. I got a couple of those things done which I was glad about but I missed the girls first day at school, especially Syd’s first day of kindergarten so that was sad. They both had a great time starting school though and my mother in law and sister in law were so helpful while I was down and out!

On Wednesday 20th Aug I had a meeting for our upcoming RS Super Saturday, I was really excited about the meeting because we were picking all the fonts for the vinyl and I think that’s lots of fun. It didn’t turn out that fun for me though. We were there from 10am until around 1pm and I just kept feeling worse and worse. My stomach was hurting a bit and I was feeling some pain so I hoped I was going into labour but I didn’t know. Once I got home I got the kids lunch and I just took it easy and tried to pay attention to the timing of the pain and it was every 5 minutes. I was getting excited but at the same time I was worried it wasn’t the real thing because it felt so different to when I was in labour with the girls.

I went to the doctors and the PA checked me and I was 4cm, I had been 3cm on Monday so I had progressed a little bit. They sent me to the hospital and hooked me up and I was for sure having contractions so I was getting even more excited. After an hour they checked me again and I was 5cm so it was moving along. The doctor came and said we were for sure having a baby so he started getting everything organised for my lovely c-section. I wasn’t too thrilled about getting a c-section again but there was nothing I could do and as long as the baby was healthy I couldn't complain.

So back I went to get the c-section, it’s not my favourite thing because you just lay there and can’t see the baby afterwards which is sad. I guess the nice thing is that you don’t feel anything, well apart from feeling like you’re going to throw up which I did 3 times! It was so nice to finally find out if we had a little girl or a little boy. Steve saw and wouldn’t tell me and then I heard the doctor and nurses saying she and I was so excited. That part was out for a while but it took a minute to get her head out. Everything was out up until her nose, it was funny to listen to them trying to get the rest of her head out but finally she was out and they gave me a quick peek and off she went to checked out. She was born at 8.28pm, was 8lbs 11ozs and 21 inches long with cute chubby cheeks.

I was so glad to be able to see her properly once they got her all cleaned and even happier to hold her once I was all done being put back together. She started out looking like Spencer and Syd but she’s changing all the time. She has darker hair but I don’t think that will last but I guess we’ll see. We hadn’t decided on names, we had narrowed it down to Peyton or Hadley but while they were stitching me back up we both said we didn’t think she looked like a Peyton . It took us a bit longer to think of a middle name. I was trying to use one of my families names this time but none seemed to go. We had mentioned using mine but I wasn’t too sure about it but it seemed to go the best so finally we had a whole name, Hadley Jane Pettingill.

All in all it went great and I was so glad to be done. The only sad part was that my family left right before we had her. My Mom might come back with my brother this fall/winter but we’re not sure yet. Well we now have 4 children, how nuts! I was looking at a picture of all 4 of them last night and it kind of hit me more, wow, I have 4 kids!!! They’re all getting so big, Spencer seems huge now. It really is so great to be a Mom, I feel so blessed to be able to have such amazing kids and an amazing husband who takes care of all of us. He’s been so great helping me with everything and his family are amazing as well, what a great blessing to have such a wonderful family. I’m so happy to have our little Hadley here, she’s so beautiful and tiny. It’s going to be so much fun to watch her learn and grow and get attacked by her siblings! They just love her and love to give her kisses and hold her. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for letting me be a Mom, it’s the greatest and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, I’m so lucky!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Hadley Jane Pettingill was born yesterday August 20th at 8:30 PM. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 11 oz. and she was 21 inches long. Zoe ended up having a C-section. Both Zoe and Hadley are doing great. They should let them out of the hospital Saturday.

I am not very skilled in the art of blog making so I have added just a few pictures. Zoe can add lots more when she gets out of the hospital.

Still waiting!

So yesterday I was feeling so done with being pregnant, plus it was Steve's birthday so I thought it would be a great day to have the baby so I called my doctor to ask one more time if he could give me a c-section before my family left. He told me to meet him at the hospital and he would see how I was doing. I got on the monitors once again, I wasn't really having any contractions but he checked me and was about 3-4cms dilated so I was thinking, maybe! Well we stayed there for a while and I even was able to get an ultra sound so they could see how big the baby was and it looked big! The said it was about 8lbs 15ozs from their measurements but they can be off by 21ozs either way. He or she did look like they had pretty chubby cheeks though so it'll be interesting to see how big the baby will be when it decides to come out. Well the doctor checked me again but I was the same, I have changed since Tuesday when I was 2cm so that's good but because I still have 2 1/2 weeks left and I wasn't having contractions or progressing he couldn't do it. Well at least I gave it a try but now we'll just have to wait and see if the baby decides to come out or if we just have a scheduled c-section in about 11 days. I need to get walking around everywhere, we tried bowling yesterday but it didn't work this time but I did whoop on everyone so at least that was fun!

No such luck little but head!

Well we went to the doctors this evening, ready to get the baby turned but the little but head wouldn't move. The doctor tried 3 times to turn the baby but the bum was too wedged in so it wouldn't budge. (By the way it wasn't too painful but who knows what it would have felt like if the baby would have turned). So I will definitely be getting a c-section this time which I'm not way excited about but as long as the baby is healthy I can't complain. He said that he'll schedule the c-section for when I'm 39 weeks. The only other way I'll be earlier than that is if I go into labour or my water breaks so I say, bring it on! I'm so ready to be done, plus I'm really hoping we'll have this little one before my family leave so if you have any tricks to go into labour let me know because I'm willing to try everything and anything.

Turning the baby

Well I just got back from the doctors and of course he said the baby was still breach, not very surprising! Anyway tomorrow I get to the hospital to get the baby turned which I'm excited and nervous for. I've heard that it's okay and that it hurts so we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping it will make me go into labour, that would be wonderful! I was also 2cm dilated but really that doesn't mean much because you can be 2cm forever and not even go into labour. The baby does feel like it's getting lower though, especially these past few days. Well we'll see what happens tomorrow, hopefully the baby won't decide to flip right back but if so I guess it's meant to be. Hopefully the next time I have to go to the hospital after this will be to have the baby, I CAN'T WAIT!

Beautiful girls and the trip thus far

My Mom, Fay and Millie got here a week and a half ago and we've had so much fun together. We've been shopping all over the place so now I'm pretty shattered, especially because I'm still not totally over getting sick about 2 weeks ago. Anyway my Mom gave the girls these lovely dresses and Millie had one that matched aswell so they all wore them to church on Sunday. We took some pictures but all mine were a little crazy because they were all over the place so I decided I would just add the craziest one.
We've done so many fun things this past week and a half, lots of shopping like I said but besides that the kids have had water fights in the back garden, (they thought it was so fun to get Nanny). We went up to Rexburg to see the Temple and go to splash park. We went to some of Steve's family reunion which is always fun, especially Sunday dinner, it's SO delicious. We went down to Utah and let the kids all get some new clothes from Build a Bear and went to the cool discovery museum they have at the Gateway mall, the kids loved that. We went to Ikea which I loved, I wish we had one closer to us. We saw some old missionaires that used to serve in Harrogate, my Mom is such a missionary lover! My Dad flew in on Tuesday night so it was great to see him, even if he did tell me I looked really big. It's a good job I really don't care how big I am, I'm pregnant so if I'm hungry I'll eat!!!
I don't have lots of pictures from all these things so when I get more from Mom and Fay I'll add a slide show of their trip here. It's just been so nice to have them here, I really do hope this baby decides to come out before they leave, that would make it even better. Mom and Dad are still in Utah right now, I think they're coming back tonight or tomorrow morning so today I've been trying to get everything done and now I'm pretty wrecked. Anyway here's a little video clip of Spencer eating a lemon while we were eating out one night, it's pretty funny, he's so cute!

Baby names!

So the past few days we've been in Utah and I thought the trip down there would be the prime time to talk to Steve about baby names as we still haven't come up with anything. The talk on the way down didn't go too well, we're both so stubborn, he doesn't like my names and I don't like his so it's been interesting.

Anyway on the way home yesterday we started talking about it again but this time it went way better. I told him the two names I liked the most from his list were Austin and Owen. He then told me that he didn't like Owen that much anymore so we were stuck with only one name I liked. I told him that seen as though I had agreed on one of his names, he had to agree on one of mine and then we would decide between the two when the baby is born. So the name he said he liked from my list is Jackson but here's the funny part. When I had Madison, we decided her middle name would be Lee but I wanted to spell it like this 'Leigh.' Anyway he wouldn't let me because he said no weird spellings. The same thing happened with Sydney, I was thinking about spelling it a little different, maybe with two e's at the end or something but he wouldn't let me do that either. So, when he told me he liked Jackson he said he'd like to spell it like this 'Jaxon.' I thought that was hilarious because he would never let me spell names differently before, he's so funny.

For girls names we had always agreed on Peyton and that's what I thought we were going to go with so I was glad that we had one name at least. Well, I was wrong because a few weeks ago Steve realised that her initials would be PP and he didn't like that. So now we don't know what to do. I really like the name Hadley and so does he but his worry about that is we'll end up calling her Had and Haddie, just like the nick names we use for Madison, Mad and Maddie. So who knows what we're going to do there, either name has something we're not sure about but they're the two we like.

So, whenever this little one decides to pop out we at least have names, we're just not sure which we'll use. If we have a boy it'll be Austin or Jaxon and if we have a girl it will be Peyton or Hadley. I'm just so glad we both finally agreed on some names. Now all we have to do is wait until he or she is born and see what we think! I'm really hoping next Friday is the day, it's Steve's birthday and it would be so nice to have the baby before my family leave. The baby is still breach right now which I've been worried about because Spencer was too and because my water broke they couldn't turn him so I had to get a c-section, I really don't want one again but I guess we'll see.