13 days of Halloween...part 1

I was especially excited to do the "13 days of Halloween" this year because I wanted to make sure I made time for fun things with Zoey and Jackson so that they wouldn't feel "left out" of all the time I spend caring for their new brother Eli. This is what we have been up to this past week...just easy, short, fun activities to help them get excited for Halloween!  

Each day we take a tag off of our Halloween tree and get to do the activity attached to that day.

Day 1) Making Halloween sugar cookies at Grandma's house...more frosting than cookie.

Day 2) Paper bag monsters

Day 3) Cheesecloth Ghost

Day 4) Movie night with the kids (Toy Story 2)

 Day 5) Gray family Halloween party, the kids dressed up, we had the traditional Halloween meal (i made the veggie tray), pinata and lots of fun!

Day 6) Decorate mini Pumpkins

Day 7) Pumpkin and Ghost grilled cheese Sandwiches!

We'll keep you posted on what we're up to this last week of Halloween!

Newborn Pictures

A lot of pictures, very few words....

He's precious!

My sister-in-law Taraleigh helped with these fantastic shots.

While Nursing....

It's been over a week, and we are adjusting to our new family and new schedule pretty well. I have had a lot of help which has been priceless. However, Jackson has figured out that I am glued to my chair for half an hour while I nurse Eli throughout the day, and he chooses this time to reek havoc while dragging his little sister Zoey into the mix. When he is found after a nursing session his words are usually "Mommy, don't look" or "Zoey did it!"

Monday was one of those days that if I told all that had happened it would be hard to believe it was all in one day! It started off with me nursing Eli, Jackson finding a marker, and a wonderfully colored white down comforter on my bed, ruined baby announcements, and messes galor! I have had my cups used to transfer toilet water into the bathroom sinks and drench everything in between, storage boxes unloaded of all their fill, and "mystery soups" created in the kitchen sink with things that aren't supposed to get wet! All I can say is that I am glad I start my day with prayer because it's the only way to get me through these frustrating times when I feel pulled in all directions. By the end of the day (and I mean 7pm- no joke!) I feel worked into the ground trying to keep up with it all.

But I have to say that despite the chaotic moments, it is all worth it. The rewards of having Eli join our family are abundant. We have many sweet moments with the kids wanting to display their affection and talk to Eli and tell him all about their toys or their day. It's truly wonderful having him in our home!

Eli Fisher Beutler

Sunday, September 26th marked the exciting arrival of Eli Fisher Beutler. He was 8 lbs. 3 oz. and 20 inches long. It was so fun to wait until the delivery to find out we were going to be blessed with another boy! Jackson and Zoey love their new brother and Jackson isn't too upset that we didn't name him "John Deer" afterall (Jackson's fascination with tractors is evident in everything right now).

The delivery went really well. We got checked into the hospital around 5pm. Dr. Holmes broke my water at 5:30 pm. and Eli was born at 7:04. I decided to do it all naturally this time around. Many women may think I'm crazy, but it's just something I wanted to do. Luckily, my deliveries are short enough that it was doable, I don't know if I could handle anything longer! By the time I was dilated enough and ready to push, I began to question my strength and resolve to go through with it! But too late to make any changes at that point! One Contraction later, Eli was born and peeing all over the place! Brian got to make the announcement and it was just an exciting feeling in the room.

Tuesday afternoon we got to go home together as a family (I can't believe we are a party of 5 now), and that was also a wonderful feeling. I needed my rest and recovery at the hospital, but going home always feels so good. I'm glad to be on the recovering end (technically I'd still be pregnant today)! Leave it to the brutal honesty of a toddler though, Jackson asked me the day I got home from the hospital: "Mommy, why did you put that baby back in your tummy?" Even post-pardum hormones in tow, I found that one funny!

We are still adjusting to our new life and routine. I have had lots and lots of help the past few days which I really appreciate! It seems like the more children involved in the picture, the more help that is needed getting my feet back on the ground. Running errands, taking Jackson to pre-school, meals, laundry, watching the kids so I can sleep....it's all so appreciated. I'm looking forward to finding a new routine to slip into, but for now I feel so overwhelmed with the idea of having to do it all myself. Luckily I haven't had to yet, and I can slip into that new routine slowly. I feel so blessed to have so much help nearby.

Eli is changing so fast already. I love his little cheeks. At our last pre-natal visit, I asked to get another ultra sound so I could anticipate the size of the baby. Dr. Holmes snapped a shot of his face while he was in the uterus, and his cheeks were so prominant! He has long finger-like toes, long fingers and big hands, very little hair, and a very mellow personality so far. He loves being by people, being held and hearing a heartbeat next to him. It has taken a few days to get him to sleep in his crib. Until yesterday he would only sleep if he was being held...

He's so cute, so loved, and we are so blessed to have in in our home! I look at his tiny body in my arms while I'm nursing him and am amazed at his perfection. It amazes me that such a wonderful and complete being can grow inside of me. It's so wonderful to have the presence of someone so fresh from heaven in our home. Welcome Eli- we love you!

Yum! Apple Pie!

Brian and I have been watching a few episodes of "Master Chef"....for those of you not familiar with the series, amateur chefs receive challenges from master chefs/critics for elimination. The last episode gave a challenge of making apple pie...oh it looked so good! A day later, Brian came home from work and I mentioned I had been craving apple pie ever since we watched that episode. Guess what!? He got to it and baked me an apple pie! Talk about the best care a husband can give to a craving fanatical pregnant wife! Here are some pictures of him at work. The pie turned out delicious and we ate a quarter of it just between the two of us! It lasted only a day.

I was hoping it would be my 'last meal' but "alas" we are still waiting. UGH. The Doc says I'm dilated to a 4 and 80-90% effaced, so we're just waiting for contractions! But they don't come....not even after all the walking. I guess we'll just have to play the waiting game now. Cross your fingers for us!

Help!

Aggh! We've got a week or so left (maybe less- fingers crossed) and we can't decide on a baby boy name! We are set for a girl name, but we've been flip-flopping with boy names. If you have suggestions or favorites, please pass them our way (but don't feel bad if it's not chosen in the end). We've looked at hundreds of names....you would think we could settle on just ONE! Some from our list include: Simon, Mason, Sam, Eli, Austin, Crew, Aiden...oh we're so indecisive! What's your vote?

Things don't slow down

Last week, was our chance to take the Bell's kids for three days in fulfilment of our "kid swap". The cousins always have fun together, and honestly, they behaved better than my own. I tried to make sure we did something fun each day. We visited some parks, fed the ducks, made cookies and watched movies. It went by pretty fast. (Uncle) Brian kept saying, "see, we can handle 6 kids!" My kids kept calling Brian (their dad) "uncle Brian" for days even after they had gone home. We hope to be able to do this swap every year because it is soooo nice when it's your turn to have three days "off."

We had put in an order for fruit at the beginning of August, and now that it's mid September, we are reaping it all in! We canned 40 jars of pears last weekend, and our peaches are ready and waiting to be canned (we have three bushels). The only thing that is slowing us down is that we all got slammed with a wretched head cold! I haven't been so sick in such a long time and I am so tired I feel like I could sleep 12 hours only to wake up and feel like I could go back to bed! We have also bottled homegrown tomatoes and some soup base, but we also plan to do applesauce and are waiting for the grapes to come in for our homemade grape juice. I had forgotten how busy September is! I hope we can keep up!

Friday night was our 5th annual dutch oven cook-off. It was well-attended and the food was delicious. We are going to put together a dutch-oven cook book (after 5 years we have some AMAZING recipes to share). I'll post more about that event as I get pictures back from Danny.

On another note, I only have 2 more doctor appointments left until the baby comes! All have voted that it's a boy except for Annie and Danny....so we'll see!

Day Off

Not often are mothers blessed with a day off, paid vacation time, or sick leave. It's a 24 hours a day, 365 days a year type of a job.

But today, Brian was so nice to allow me some "me time"...a chance to indulge myself before the baby comes. I got my hair cut and colored, enjoyed a pedicure, hand massage, and head massage.... had a wonderful lunch all by myself... I got my wedding ring cleaned, some shopping done, and a lot of reading on Mockingjay (a book I've been waiting to dive into since January when I ordered it)! It was truly a nice day. A once in a blue moon event and I LOVED every minute. I came home feeling much more rejuvenated and ready to handle the changes that will happen in our family with having a newborn....knowing I'll have to be dedicated to this little person every three hours day and night for the next few months!

I've got three weeks to go! I'm so super excited. Time to cast votes! Boy or Girl? Let us know what you think!

And then there was Light!

Our entry chandelier fell around Easter time (about 6 months ago) and we have been without light in our entry, patio, stairs, and upstairs hallway until this weekend! We now have light--thanks to Brian!

An inconvenient and unexpected repair, but we are lucky it fell when it did and nobody was hurt. Since we needed to replace the entry chandelier, we ended up replacing the other hanging lights on the main floor so that they would all match (at last). That was part of the reason why we waited six month to do it! Brian spent the weekend putting on his "electrician hat" and getting the job done. He kept saying "I'm doing this because I love you..." and I kept thinking, "Just don't get paralysed!"

The entry light was the most difficult because of the height. It was hard to find a ladder that could reach to the height we needed, so Brian rigged up a pretty scary, but pretty good scenario. He had to strap the ladder to the front door (locked so nobody would open it unaware) and then strap himself to the ladder at the top. That way, he could reach out to the ceiling without his body weight causing him and the ladder to fall away from the wall. I was nervous watching!

He accomplished the task without too much complaint other than his arms falling asleep on him from working at that angle...until we went to put the light bulbs in! He had changed ladders to a smaller cherry picking ladder and just as he was screwing in the last bulb, the ladder collapsed on him and he fell from about 12 feet up! He rode the ladder down, but the ladder scraped up his shins pretty darn bad. I couldn't believe the damage. There isn't much skin on that part of the leg, and well, he doesn't have much left anymore! He's bruised about the worst I've seen...but he's handling it like a man! He played tag football with some boys last night, is floating the Provo river with the YM tonight, and going fishing in the Tetons this weekend, so I guess you could say not much will slow him down!

Other than that, I'm amazed it's September! We're hoping for the baby to be born towards the latter end of this month. I am getting especially anxious to find out what we're having! We're close to picking names: Paisley Sophia (or Paisley Jane) for a girl, and Eli Austin for a boy (or Austin Eli- haven't totally committed to either way yet). Of course it could change anytime between now and then!

First Day of School!

Jackson started preschool this year and we were all very excited about it. This is his official first day of school picture! His back pack is spiderman to match his bike...just like he wanted.

Jackson has been saying two things for the past month to any person we chanced to meet:

1) I can ride my bike with no training wheels and

2) I'm three years old and get to go to school this year, but not Zoey....

In fact, he'd sometimes ask me to let him run up to complete strangers so he could tell them these things. He's very proud of growing up.

We made the day very exciting for him by setting some back-to-school routines, one of which was giving him his first back-to-school blessing. Although it's only pre-school we figured there was no better time to start this tradition! It was a very neat experience. Jackson has been privileged to be around such experiences lately that involve priesthood blessings, and even recently mimicked giving Zoey's doll a "blessing" by laying his hands on its head to "heal her owie"...I count myself very lucky to have him around such great examples that he can know to a certain degree what a priesthood blessing is. It's a wonderful thing.

Brian went in to work a wee bit late so he could ride his bike with Jackson to school. It was a very exciting first day. He loved it and asked when he could go back...that is also a very wonderful thing!

Now, if only I could send Zoey to pre-school! ha ha. I thought it would be nice getting my errands done with only one child (and a half), but she proved to be more work than if I had three!