Ellie's First Haircut

At 2 1/2 years old, Ellie finally got her first haircut...unfortunately she did it herself. She is the first of our kids to take the scissors to their hair, but if anyone was going to break that streak it was going to be her. She actually did a pretty good job. So good that I didn't notice until I was putting her in bed that night! She gave herself some cute side swept bangs, but they were a little uneven. The rest of her hair was still thin and scraggly and pretty long, so I decided to take her in and see what could be done with her hair.

She was really excited about getting a hair cut until we got there. As soon as we walked in she got super nervous and was really quiet. She had her choice of cars to sit in. I was sure she would choose the Barbie Jeep, but Lightning McQueen won. The lady started combing and getting her hair wet and Ellie's lip started quivering. I don't think I have ever seen her so terrified in my life. They had a tv at each station, so we turned on Angelina Ballerina and that helped her calm down. But every few minutes her bottom lip would pop out and start quivering and she would look at me like I had betrayed her. It was so sad! 

Finally, the hair cut was done. She got to pick a flower clip for her hair, and life was good again. I think it turned out really cute.

The price of the haircut includes a manicure, which Ellie LOVED. She ended up with green and pink nails with a layer of glitter polish over them. On our way out they let her pick a lollipop, which sealed the deal for her. She's been asking almost every day to go get another haircut. I'd say it was a success!

Two Months

 At 2 months Alyssa is 10 lbs 11 oz and 22" long. She is awake a lot more, but still a good sleeper at night, and has started to make some really great faces. She is smiling a lot more, is ticklish all over, and has laughed the cutest little laugh a few times. 

We really have been so blessed with how easy going she is. She loves sitting and watching us or staring at the Christmas lights or the windows and she LOVES her baths. She rarely spits up and only poops once every few days (this is a first for our babies, but apparently it's totally normal). It's been awesome. :)  

We get told all the time that she looks just like Matthew, and while I believe that she probably does, I think she mostly just looks like herself. She also gets lots of compliments on her long eyelashes and thick, dark hair. I would love it if she kept the dark hair, but I'm pretty sure she'll go blonde like the other 3 kids have.

We love this little girl so much! She came as a big surprise and it took me a long time to come to terms with being pregnant when I was not at all ready for another baby. We've had our ups and downs, our good days and our rough days, but we can't imagine life without her now. 

All Emma Wants for Christmas...

is her two front teeth! She's been patiently waiting as all of her friends and then their younger siblings lost teeth. Now that she's almost 7 1/2 she finally lost her first tooth. The second one followed a couple weeks later.

First tooth November 3- She had a handkerchief in her mouth (WHY...I don't know!). Matthew pulled on it really hard and her tooth popped out. She was really surprised and was excited that it didn't hurt.

Second tooth  November 15- She was brushing her teeth and pushed on the tooth with her tongue. Out it came just like that.

A friend of Emma's told her that if you play a trick on the tooth fairy she'll give you $5. He specifically said that he put his tooth in a cup of warm water, so Emma wanted to do the same. Unfortunately our tooth fairy isn't as rich as her friend's. She did a leave a gold dollar for her though, which she was really excited about.

We got creative with her second tooth and put it in a balloon that we blew up and taped to her bed. The tooth fairy must have run out of gold dollars, which Emma was really bummed about, but she did get four quarters...way more than the 25 cents I got when I was a kid!

Baby Comparisons

I thought it would be fun to put the kids baby pictures side by side to compare. Can you tell who is who? And do you think any of them look alike?

 So you're not left hanging in suspense, here are the answers...

1st Set: Top Left-Matthew  Top Right- Ellie  Bottom Left- Emma  Bottom Right- Alyssa

2nd Set:  Top Left- Ellie  Top Right- Matthew  Bottom Left- Alyssa  Bottom Right- Emma

The First Month

It's hard to believe it's been over a month since Alyssa joined our family. A little over 5 weeks actually. It's hard to remember life without her!

We brought Alyssa home on Saturday night, the day after she was born. Jon had brought the kids to the hospital to visit and we were hoping to be able to go home that night. My nurse was so good and understanding about us wanting to leave and did everything she could to get us out of there as soon as she could. So, it was kind of a late night for the kids but we were all able to leave together. It was kind of neat to drive home as a whole family, to have everybody involved.

Jon stayed home from work the whole next week and was super dad. It was SO nice to be able to stay in bed in the mornings instead of dealing with the morning school rush. And he was (and still is) great about keeping up on the dishes and other cleaning and getting the kids in bed. This was the longest he's ever stayed home after I've had a baby and I really enjoyed having him here. Admittedly the stay at home parent routine wore him out and he was ready to go back to work the next week.  :)

The day Jon went back to work my mom flew in. She originally had bought her ticket for the next Monday since I was sure Alyssa would be born late. When Alyssa ended up coming early my mom very generously offered to change her ticket and come a week early and stay for 2 full weeks. She was amazing! I wish I could move her here and have her live with us for the next few years. For two weeks she took the kids to school, picked them up, took them to gymnastics, went to their school activities, cleaned, cooked dinner every night and made freezer meals, helped with sewing projects, and a million other things. I would have been a complete wreck without her! We also got to squeeze in some shopping, lots of chatting, and I introduced her to the show "Call the Midwife". We stayed up way too late most nights but I really enjoyed that time with her.

The last weekend my mom was here, my dad flew in so he could be here for Alyssa's baby blessing. At the last minute (like 2 weeks before) my sister Rachel ended up getting a plane ticket to come too. A friend of ours wanted family pictures and I really wanted some too, so between us we worked it all out to have her come do some photo shoots and as a bonus we got to have a quick visit. We decided to keep it a surprise from our parents, which was tough! My dad and Rachel flew in to the same airport at the same time. Our friend was picking up Rachel and I was picking up my dad. She had to hide from him in the airport and we hoped that we wouldn't cross paths outside of the airport. That night after Rachel did our friends photoshoot, they showed up at our house. It took a minute for my parents to realize Rachel was there too, but when they did it was hilarious! They were completely shocked. It was so fun to pull off that surprise.

We had a very full Saturday doing family pictures and getting the kids to their cousin's birthday party. That night we picked up some Chinese and had a low key movie night. On Sunday Jon blessed Alyssa in church. It was a beautiful blessing and the spirit was very strong. She is such a special girl.  I'm so grateful for the power of the Priesthood. And I'm grateful for the support of our  families. We were able to have my parents and Rachel, and Jon's brothers and two of his sisters there. We got together for dinner after church and then chatted, sang hymns, and celebrated his sister's birthday. It was the perfect evening. I wish we could do it every week!

Monday morning, bright and really early, we headed to the airport to drop my parents and Rachel off. I wish they could have stayed longer! It was so weird to come back home without them. The house felt just a little too empty. But I am so grateful to all of them for making the effort to come. It meant a lot to me.

After being spoiled with so much great help for 3 full weeks, it was hard to jump back into life by myself. But everything has been going as smoothly as I ever could have hoped. Maybe it's just because I've lowered my expectations over time.  :)  My house looks far from perfect, but everybody is fed and dressed and where they need to be on time and we're all alive, so I consider it a success.

Alyssa really has been a good baby. After sleeping the first few weeks away, she's been waking up a lot more the last week. She's really good about just hanging out in her bouncy chair and watching us, as long as she's fed and has a clean diaper. And even though she's awake a lot more during the day, she has thankfully continued to be a great sleeper at night. She consistently does a 5 hour stretch at the beginning of the night, and then does another 3+ hour stretch, and then goes back to sleep until we all get up for the morning.

All of the kids are still completely in love with her. They love holding her and watching her. Emma especially loves holding her. Matthew is so sweet and loves to sit and hold her hand while he tells her all about her world. It's mostly stuff like "That's a door Alyssa. You open it and close it. That's a couch. You sit on it. That's food. You can eat it when you get bigger." Melts my heart. And Ellie...oh Ellie! She does the cutest squeal every time she sees the baby. She loves to put books on Alyssa's lap when she's in her bouncy chair and then "read" them to her. She also loves decorating Alyssa with stickers. I love hearing her say her name "Baby Wissa". Though she also often calls her Baby Wiwy (Lily), which is the name of her friend's baby sister.

Alyssa had her one month check up today (though she's technically 5 1/2 weeks) and she weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs 5 oz and is 20 1/2" long. She's growing so fast! I weighed her at exactly 4 weeks and she was 8 lb 8 oz. She's got a cute chubby belly and is starting to get some awesome rolls on her thighs and arms. It's hard to imagine life without this sweet girl.

                                                At the pumpkin patch with Grandma Hiatt

Ellie's favorite thing to do with Alyssa- decorate her with stickers and then read her stories.

This picture is terrible quality but I just love it anyway...grandmas are the best snugglers.

My parents bought each of the kids new pajamas. They loved them. Ellie especially loved her new Princess Sofia nightgown.

This picture just makes me laugh every time I look at it

Me, Mom, and Rachel

Blessing day. Getting a decent family picture is basically impossible now.

Alyssa was blessed in the dress that I was blessed in. My mom made is an amazing seamstress and made it, along with Emma and Ellie's dresses. I'm so excited to get to pass it on to Alyssa.

I love this cute face!

So Back in September School Started...

This year Emma started 2nd grade and Matthew started Kindergarten. They were both really excited for school to start, though admittedly they were both most excited for recess and p.e.   Matthew was also really nervous about bigger kids being mean to him, so we had several talks about what things he could do if that ever happened.

The kids' school didn't start until September 11 this year, because they had been doing construction on the school over the summer. We were all SO ready for it to finally start.

Matthew's teacher is Mrs. Rothe. She was also Emma's kindergarten teacher and we absolutely love her, so we were really excited that he ended up in her class. His class is also a combined Kindergarten/1st grade class, which we were kind of worried about, but it has been fine so far. He is not the most academically inclined kid, but has been more willing to learn and do his work lately. Everybody that meets Matthew (the teachers, parents, and other kids) all love him. I have had countless people come up to me and tell me how cute and funny he is...and he really is. And he's also popular with the girls...every morning when he lines up, a group of his most adoring fans crowds around him, hugging him and patting his head. It is hilarious. Mrs. Rothe has also told me that the girls always want him on their team, and that even when they're playing girls against boys, the little girls still cheer for him. I honestly think they think he's cute because he's so small and is just a sweet kid, but regardless it is funny to watch their interactions.

Emma's teacher is Mrs. Ghassemzadeh, but she goes by Mrs. G.  :)  She is so sweet and such a great teacher...such a nice change from her teacher last year! She has several friends from Kindergarten and 1st grade and was so excited to see them all again. She has a great group of kids in her class and is doing really well. Mrs. G always tells me how pleasant she is and how much she loves having her in her class. 

I am so happy with how well everything is going with school, and I am especially happy that they both got great teachers. It makes such a difference!

They only let parents go to the kindergarten classrooms, so we didn't get any more pictures of Emma. But we did get to snap a quick picture of Matthew.

The self portraits they each made for back to school night.

I love that Emma made sure to draw lots and lots of freckles...she is really proud of them.

And Matthew has himself wearing his favorite Superman shirt...haha.

Alyssa Ann

Alyssa Ann Farrell was born October 11, 2013 at 3:13 pm. She was our biggest baby, at 6 lb 13 oz and 18 3/4" long. 

I started having contractions in the afternoon on the 10th, but they were really far apart so I didn't think anything of them. That night my water broke at 10:15, right after I had gone to bed. We stayed at home for a couple of hours hoping contractions would pick up, and finally went to the hospital around 1 am. After a long night and day of walking, walking, and more walking to keep contractions coming, Alyssa finally came! This was my second unmedicated labor, and was about as opposite from the last one as it could possibly be. Ellie's birth was fast and mostly painless (only about two hours of active labor). This one dragged on for 15 long hours and was much more painful, thanks to some horrible back labor. But it was all worth it in the end. I've had a smooth, easy recovery and feel pretty good. 

We have all been adjusting and things have been going about as smoothly as we could have hoped. Alyssa is such a sweet, quiet, calm baby. Even when she is really mad, which is only when she wants to eat, she just lets out the cutest little squawk…it can hardly be called a scream. The kids adore her and just wish she would wake up a little more so they could see her.

For anyone interested, the much longer, more detailed birth story is below the pictures.

One last picture before heading to the hospital

Meeting baby for the first time. I love the kids expressions here!

Grandma, Jenny, and Fij came to visit in the hospital

She always has to have her hands up by her face, just like our other kids. It's a Farrell thing!

Alyssa is sleeping in our room until after my mom's visit, so my mom can sleep in her room. So for now her bed is the doll cradle my dad made for me when I was a little girl. It fits her perfectly.

Ellie LOVES being a big sister and having a baby all her own. She is so sweet with Alyssa.

All ready for church

The Long Birth Story

I was due Sunday the 13th, but was telling everyone she wouldn't come till the 20th at the earliest. Jon was insistent though that she was going to come either the 10th or 11th. On the 10th I had a chiropractor appointment. I wanted one last adjustment before my due date to get things aligned and ready for birth. The adjustment was awesome and as soon as I stood up I felt baby drop really low. I headed home and by the time I got there I had started having contractions, stronger than the Braxton Hicks I'd been having. They continued all afternoon about 20-25 minutes apart, but I convinced myself that it meant absolutely nothing. This could go on for another 2 weeks. By dinner time the contractions were still coming. I had no appetite and at this point was feeling the very strong urge to keep walking, keep moving. I tidied up the house, went outside and played with my kids, anything to stay moving. Jon came home and I asked him to make quesadillas for dinner. I just could not think about food.

My kids didn't have school the next day (teacher work day), so we had planned to have a family movie night that night. We settled in with our movie and popcorn, but I just could not settle in! I was SO antsy. My body was screaming at me to get up and get walking. I didn't want to walk out on our family time and it was already dark so I knew I shouldn't go walk outside anyway. I tried to keep moving any way I could during the movie, but it was hard! FINALLY the movie ended. We got the kids in bed and started chatting about our days. I hadn't mentioned anything to Jon about the contractions because I didn't want to get his hopes up. I finally told him and his response was "I KNEW it!" He could tell something was off with me and figured that was the case.

Around 9:30 I hit a wall. I was suddenly exhausted. I told him I was going to bed, but first I just HAD to do one load of laundry and make sure all of my clothes were clean. He just laughed... :)  I got in bed and instantly fell asleep, only to wake up 30 minutes later to wetness. I knew immediately what it was but didn't want to get my hopes up. I went to the bathroom, cleaned up, headed back to bed, and repeated the whole cycle a couple more times before I finally went and told Jon that my water broke. Again, he wasn't surprised. 

I did not want to rush to the hospital because my contractions were still about 10-15 minutes apart. With Emma  I rushed to the hospital as soon as my water broke and they hooked me up to Pitocin as soon as I was checked in. I did NOT want that happening again. So, we waited it out. I hopped in the shower while Jon went to bed. He figured he’d get what sleep he could since it was obviously going to be a long night. I spent the next 2 hours getting ready, packing my hospital bag, eating one last small meal, getting my laundry finished, and WALKING. Contractions were still far apart and it was a little discouraging. Around midnight my water was still leaking and I was tired of the constant cleanup, so we decided to head in. I asked Jon to give me a blessing before we left. Among other things he said that I had prepared well and that everything would go smoothly. I could only hope that he was right! We called our neighbor to come over and stay with the kids, let the hospital know we were coming, and we were off. We were going to have a baby! It all felt so surreal!

Once we got to the hospital and got checked in we were left alone. They knew I wanted to go unmedicated and were respectful of that. Contractions were maybe 6-10 minutes apart at this point and I was only dilated to a 3, so I knew I had to keep walking. Every time I sat or laid down they would go back to 20 minutes apart. So I walked and walked and walked some more. After walking all night in circles in my room and up and down the same hallway, all I could think was that they should really think about putting treadmills in the rooms!

My doctor came to check on me around 8 am (10 hours after my water broke) and I was only 4 cm…super discouraging! So we kept walking. Contractions were not bad at all but I was getting exhausted and was wishing that I had just stayed home through the night. I wanted to eat something but was on a broth, jello, and apple juice diet there…I wanted to cry! The rest of the morning and early afternoon continued on the same…contractions far apart and progressing one cm every 2-3 hours. Around 1 pm my doctor came in to check on me again. Six centimeters. Progress, but I was so done at that point. I kept telling Jon that we should just ask for Pitocin and an epidural and be done with it, but deep down inside I knew I really didn’t want that. I’ve had 2 epidurals before and had terrible experiences with them. I REALLY wanted my unmedicated birth and I knew I would regret it if I gave in. My doctor said there was a forebag of waters that was probably keeping things from progressing, so she broke it and told me things should start happening fast. All I knew at that point was she better be right. I was SO exhausted I couldn’t focus. And that was hard. My last unmedicated birth had been SO fast and easy and I had loved my experience. This was about as opposite as it could be and I wasn’t prepared for that.

Thankfully things did start progressing. My contractions still stayed 4-6 minutes apart, but they were getting more intense. At this point I knew I needed to stay in my room. We put the bed in an upright sitting position and I knelt on it, leaning over the head of it while Jon pushed on my lower back. He was AWESOME. I don't think I could have done it without him! This is the first time I have experienced back labor and it was horrible! I knew I was close to being done at this point. My body was giving me all the signs of being in transition. I tried to relax, knowing that if I did it would be easier. I was able to breathe through a couple contractions and then I would give into the pain and start trying to push. I remember being really annoyed that the nurse hadn’t called the doctor at this point. There was so much pressure and I could feel that the baby was really low. I don’t think she thought I was as far as I was though, because I wasn’t screaming. Finally I heard her make the call and I was so relieved. The doctor came running in a few minutes later and had me turn and sit on the bed. I was trying to push slowly so I wouldn't tear, but the pressure was too much and I just needed her out! So I pushed and two minutes after the doctor got there we had our sweet baby girl.

They immediately placed her on my chest and I think I was in shock. My first thought was that this wasn’t my baby. She was purple…really really purple and it scared me. I commented on it and my doctor said something about her being a little more purple than they’d like. They took her away to take care of her. She had fluid in her lungs, so they cleaned her out and put her on oxygen. Thankfully I could hear her trying to cry or I would have been a wreck! They got baby stable, weighed and measured her, and brought her back to me.

It was all so surreal. The whole night and day of laboring. The actual birth. Sitting there holding this new baby, this baby that had just been kicking around inside of me. Nine months of anticipation had come to an end and we were starting the next chapter of lives. Even though this is our fourth time doing this, it is just as new and exciting each time.

 Jon went and got the kids and brought them to visit a couple hours after the baby was born. The kids' faces were priceless when they finally got to see her. It was better than Christmas morning!  We still didn’t have a name and didn’t end up picking one for another three days! We finally settled on our original choice, Alyssa Ann Farrell. We sure love this girl!