Halloween 2012

We had a fabulously simple and fun Halloween this year!

We started off the day with Kevin making special waffles for the kids while Ryan and I met with the home health nurse who did a house call to give us a check up. We played, made cornbread, visited with a friend, and then Andrew went to school. After school we got ready for the Halloween festivities!!

We started the evening off with a Neighborhood Chili Potluck at my neighbor Kara's house and then  we went trick or treating around the neighborhood with some friends. Ryan chilled in the safety of the stroller and away from all the kids. We made it to about 10 houses and then called it a night before the kids melted down. Catie was a HUGE fan of going house to house to see doggies, check out lawn ornaments, and get candy after candy. Our neighborhood will never look the same to her.

I think our first outing as a family of five was successful!

Welcome Ryan!

Ryan Scott was born on Saturday, October 27th at 7:43pm

He was 7 lbs 2 ounces and 20 inches

Here are some of the pictures we took of his first day 

Posing with our doctor (there was really bad lighting in the delivery room if you can't tell)

Ryan and mom

Easiest delivery yet... we are going to be good friends.

Proud mom and dad

So nice to be well rested and not go into labor in the middle of the night

Conked out after his bath

We celebrated the delivery with take-out dinner from Mel's Diner in Walnut Creek. I was starving and it was delicious! They gave us a special free chocolate milkshake to celebrate since this is the 2nd time we've enjoyed their food after a delivery. :)

Quick summary of how things went down this weekend that led to Ryan's arrival...

On Friday night my dad arrived to stay with us for the weekend. I teased that now I could relax and have the baby since I knew someone would be around in the house at night if I were to go into labor. All Friday evening I had loads of contractions... I thought they were just braxton hicks ones. I stayed up late chatting with my dad and then slept in on Saturday morning until 9am. I felt amazing and while the kids, Kevin, and my dad went to McDonalds for breakfast, I went for a 40 minute run/walk around our neighborhood. Had more "braxton hicks" contractions and got ready for the day and we went to shoot rockets at a local park with everyone... including Scott and Cat who came over for the day. While at the park I noticed my contractions were getting closer and closer together and more intense. I still was in denial that they were real contractions. We got take out lunch from Chipotle, I made chili and cornbread for the ward trunk r treat, and then I went to the grocery store to get a few things... by that point I realized I was in labor and got some things I needed for the hospital. I called my doctor to double check when to actually go to the hospital. When I got back home I started packing my hospital bag... still thinking maybe the contractions would stop. About 20 minutes later my water broke and the contractions sped up and we got right into the car to go to the hospital. Catie and Andrew were left in great hands with my Dad, Scott, and Cat keeping them happy... and my mom got a flight to come out and arrive that night (she was in Arizona already). When I got to the hospital contractions got more severe, I got my epidural (love that thing, it worked perfectly!) and not long after they said the baby would be coming soon! Kevin and I watched the SF Giants baseball game while we waited for the doctor since I was ready to deliver. The doctor and pediatrician arrived right during the 7th inning stretch of the baseball game and that's when Ryan was born. It took less than 5 minutes. We even got to finish watching the baseball game while everyone cleared out and let us cuddle with the little man. The Giants won and Ryan Vogelsong was the winning pitcher. We already had the name Ryan on our list... but that solidified our name decision. :)

Scott is my favorite brother's name :) so it was the perfect choice for our sweet little guy's middle name. The two of them already had a lot of time to bond today while my brother got to change his first meconium baby diaper.

I am recovering well thanks to all the help from my parents, siblings, and Kevin. It has been so nice to relax at the hospital and nap while Kevin cuddles with the baby and my parents/siblings entertain the kiddos at home. Andrew and Catie are positively delighted about having a new baby brother. I can't wait to take Ryan home soon!

We feel so blessed to have this new little guy in our family! Thanks for all of your love, congratulations, and offers to help! We are blessed with such amazing friends and family!

Googleween 2012

This afternoon we trekked down to Googleween. After going for four years, we've figured a few things out... #1 arrive early and #2 be gone after an hour... it just gets more and more crowded and less fun the longer you stay.   

Our kids were stoked to be back in costume. I'm reviewing a few costumes for Party City for my Toddler Approved blog, so I got two ladybug costumes to try out... which meant Catie wore the first one this morning and the second one this afternoon. She loved the wand that went with this afternoon's costume!

We started off the party with some air cannon "pumpkin" shooting.

Had a little photo shoot... since we arrived about 15 minutes early.

Too much sun and too much going on... but they looked cute anyway

And then we got snacks and roamed around exploring. Pretzels, cookies, popcorn, and candy... totally our sort of party.

They had the most adorable pumpkin patch set up too.

This little one had a love/hate relationship with the petting zoo. She loved the animals when they would let her pet them... and was devastated when they ran away.

Meanwhile Andrew was most excited about the bag he got to carry around that random Google people dressed up in costume filled with candy for him. He got an entire box of Nerds (BIG box) and was in heaven... I will be confiscating it tomorrow.

We also watched the marionettes and a little bit of the show going on with a silly pharaoh...

and by then the kiddos had plenty of candy and didn't want to do anything else (they had balloon animals, face painting, and hay rides too)... so we headed out...

Catie probably liked climbing the stairs and swinging like a monkey almost as much as the party... toddlers are easy to please that way.

Such a fun afternoon together! We ended the night with a playdate with our friend Marie at Cuesta Park (while Kevin entertained a bunch of BYU students that my dad brought out to SF), a trip to In N Out for dinner, and then a very painful ride home in traffic with Catie bug. We love her, but hate driving in the car with her for longer than 20 minutes... next time I will be bringing earplugs.

Three parties down... a few more to go... and several more costumes to try out! Should be an exciting and exhausting week!

Boo Brunch

Andrew's friend Ben invited us to a special "Boo Brunch" this morning. Both kiddos were very excited to head to a party and get decked out in their costumes. I managed to snap a few photos of them before we left. Both can be somewhat bribed with chocolate right now... so that is useful.

Ben's mom, Julie, planned an adorable ghost themed brunch. I had fun snapping a few pictures during the short few seconds when my kids actually stayed put and ate some food. They are not fans of eating... especially at a new interesting place when there are balloons around... so they probably wasted more food than ate it, but it sure did look cute!

Andrew's costume came off about 3 minutes into the party and he rocked an out of this world hair style for the rest of the time. Someone needs to tell his mom that he needs a haircut... or at least a large amount of gel. ;) Poor kid!

Catie loved her buddy Jasmine's doggy costume... so she was very excited to go sit next to her for a picture :)

These two loved playing balloon volleyball at the party.

Catie was also in love with Julie's ghost decorations.

I loved all the cute garlands and decorations she had up displayed in her house too... totally pinterest worthy.

The kids decorated pumpkins and colored... Andrew loved sticking googly eyes and stitches all over his pumpkin while he chatted with buds

Both kids were a big fan of the Ghost Bowling too!

I loved the ghost bowling set Julie made! I think it was inspired by my friend Alie's blog post here and turned out so cute.

Midway through the party Catie went back to the brunch table once everyone had left to scavenge for candy corn and drink her "boo" milk.

What a fun way to kick off the upcoming week filled with loads of Halloween festivities!! 

Afterwards we headed home for some downtime and quick naps before trekking down to the South Bay for Googleween!