She's Here!!!

WARNING:

There are about a Billion pictures in this post!!!

Having said that;

WELCOME ASHLEY PEARL

At about 7:30am Wednesday morning I started having contractions. However, they were irregular and not lasting very long, plus Isaac had school pictures that day, so yes, I took Isaac to get his school pictures taken while I was in "labor"



This was the view from our delivery room!
Pretty awesome!

After returning from school pictures they were getting stronger and longer so I called the hospital and we were admitted around 11:30am. We walked around to get the contractions to be more consistent. The nurse we had was amazing! She gave us some good tips and advice to get the baby to drop (no she still hadn't dropped yet) and to get the contractions closer together.  She was also really good about leaving us alone to do our own thing.

I ended up getting my epidural, which slowed down my contractions so they hooked me up to some pitocin which got them stronger and closer together.

After 14 hrs of labor and 10 mins of pushing she made her grand entrance at 1:20am on December 1st weighing in at 9lbs 6oz and measuring 20.5 inches!

 

She is an amazing baby!! A great eater, super sleeper, and not fussy at all!!

The nice part was that since she is our 3rd and there were no complications they let us go home that evening.

Tiny Feet

Gary is totally in love with his baby sister. Always wanting to hold her and kiss her and hug her.

On our way home

Daddy's little girl!

Isaac is also loving having a baby sister. he is always making comments on how cute she is.

Day 2! She slept for 8 hrs straight!

Day 3. She's starting to open her eyes more.

Greg's Aunt and Uncle were kind enough to bring his Grandma up to meet her newest Great-Granddaughter.

Day 4. Ready for church!

Sunday nap time!
So in love with this little girl

Isaac is not as forward as Gary but you can tell he loves his baby sister

Gary is constantly asking to hold and love her

She's making the I love you sign.

I love this picture!

Greg trying out the sling

She loves cuddling with her daddy.

Such a daddy's girl already!

We are all head over heels for this little girl! We're so glad she has joined our family and we are loving every minute of it!



Prego in Pics

I was looking through my prego pics and found it amusing. Maybe because I long to be "that" size again. Maybe because I'm so done being pregnant that I have to remind my self that we're almost done. Maybe it's because I'm so tired that everything is funny to me at this point.

Anyway, here it is, My pregnancy in pictures.

6 weeks

12 weeks

15 weeks

20 week ultra sound

Then there was a HUGE gap in pics

6 months

39 weeks!

The Super soft, Super cute blanket our neighbor made for us.

So there you have it. It's Thursday November 17th and I'm due on the 20th.

You will be updated when the time is right!

Night of Nights

First of all I gots to send a shout out to my mom!

Happy Birthday to the bestest Mom and Nana in the whole world!!!!

We lucked out in the costume department this year in that we didn't have to buy any! As I was pulling out the Halloween decorations the boys got all excited when they saw their costumes! So since they still fit (they were pretty big last year)  we went with it!

A Gronckle, dragon, Gruffalo (depending on who you ask or talk to) and Buzz Lightyear

We went around our neighborhood and then due to lack of participation, went next door to the bigger neighborhood. We did not freeze and I survived all the walking! The boys did an AMAZING job staying safe in the dark among the bazillion kids. They had glow sticks around their necks and flashlights to see where they were going! They had a blast! Greg stayed home so that there would be someone to pass out candy at our house.

Only 20 days left!!!

So then we have the million dollar question. How do you distribute all that candy your wee ones have collected?!

Do you let them stay up all night and go to town?!  Our kids would be puking all night long if we did that.

Do you give them one every time they ask for it? Our kids would be puking all day and night for the next 2 days if we did that.

Do you divide it in half and "tax" your kids?! We had quite a bit left over.

Do you let them eat a few pieces every day?! That sounds like a good option.

Which is when Greg came up with a genius idea!!!

Our kids love to help out. They put their own clothes away. They pick up their dirty clothes. They will help fold the laundry ..... if we ask them to.

So he devised the "Good Job Jar" 

I found these cute little jars at the dollar store a couple weeks ago.

So last night after we inspected the candy, (would you believe that someone was handing out chocolate covered coffee beans?! And Rum flavored candy?!) they got to fill their jars with their favorite candy, and whatever didn't fit went into the candy bowl for everyone to share.

So now if they do something to help out without being asked they get to pick a piece of candy out of their good job jar!

So far this morning, Gary picked up the play room and Isaac put all the laundry away!

They picked up the shoes by the door and got all the dirty clothes in the right hampers!

They are loving the Good Job Jars and I am loving all the help!

We hope you had a fun and safe Halloween just like we did!!

From Tonka to Superheros!

This last weekend was the State Farm Halloween party!!

Greg and Gary with the scarecrow

we couldn't convince Isaac to go sit with him.

Candy dive. This was fun!

Ready, Set...

Go!

Isaac received some help

Gary dove right in!

The very much anticipated Fishing Game!!

Also. We are into a new craze at our house!

Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh BATMAN!!!!

Everything is;

"To the Batcave!!"  

"We haven't a moment to loose!" 

"Holy Catamoly Batman!"

"To the Batmobile!" 

And I am LOVING it!!!

Tech Free Weekend

Greg and I decided to go technology free this past weekend! Friday night we turned off/unplugged the computer, TV, phones and radio! Not because we were protesting or have anything against technology, but because it felt like a good idea!

So what does one do when they decide to go "tech free"?!

Well. When TV, phone, radio, and computer are not an option it gives you a lot of time to spend with your awesome family!!

Greg has been working with Isaac on riding his bike without training wheels, well. Mission accomplished

We also made "Buchanan family spiders"!

Greg got this idea from someone at work and decided it would make a cute addition to our Halloween decorations!

They are sooo cute I can't take it!

We had so much fun this weekend as a family! Greg and I try to find stuff to do as a family every weekend but this weekend was packed full of family fun time!  Saturday we went out to breakfast, played at the park, took the boys to ride bikes in our church parking lot, got the house and yard work done. Sunday wasn't a whole lot different than any other Sunday, we went to church came home, had dinner, made our family of spiders, hung out .... typical Sunday .... except for the spider thing, we don't do that every Sunday.  The biggest difference we could tell was, because we didn't watch TV everyone was in bed by 830! So we got a lot of sleep at night. It was a great weekend and we will go tech free again, just not sure when. I recommend at least trying it! It's amazing how much closer you feel as a family when you unplug your self!

Sholz Farm

Isaac had his first field trip with his preschool! We went to Sholz farm which is a pumpkin patch with animals and a greenhouse. It has a little corn maze and a  little shop to buy fresh veggies, and popcorn, pumpkins....really cool!  The nice part was that siblings were allowed to come with us so Gary got to go too!

Isaac's class at the beginning of the tour

Isaac and his teacher Mrs. Shawna

Chickens

The gourd shed. Our "tour guide" is teaching them how farmers would dry out the gourds and then use them for stuff like water bottles, spoons and bowls.

Cows

Isaac randomly thew out the fact that the more grass cows eat the more milk they make and the lady was so impressed that he knew that. Isaac then got embarrassed and gave her a hug, because that's what he does when he gets shy/embarrassed.

She is telling them that they need to be SUPER quiet because the sheep just had babies last night.

Twin lambs born around midnight!

Isaac (red hood) and Gary (green and blue hood)

Here she is teaching them about what it was like to be a farmers wife way back before electricity

Learning about the Greenhouse

Goats. She's telling them how goats like to climb on their tip toes which is why they have a huge tower in their little area

After the tour the kids got to pick out a pumpkin!

Class (plus some) after the tour

They had this play area for the kids to play in. Which consisted of a HUGE pile of sawdust and tractors, cars, a little playhouse a toddler friendly putt putt golf course...lots of fun

The "hay pile" was the biggest hit!

It was so fun to be able to go and to take Gary along! The boys did really well and everyone listened and I think learned at least 1 thing! 

Yay School!!