The Whitman's: 2012

Friday, November 16, 2012

Happy Halloween!

We missed our ward's trunk or treat while we were out of town at the BYU game and Andrew has class on Wednesdays (which is the night Halloween was on), so I thought we'd just skip Halloween altogether since the thought of taking all 3 girls trick or treating just didn't seem very appealing. LUCKILY Andrew's class got cancelled and he was able to join us for Halloween for the first time since we've had kids. It was so fun! Andrew practiced the whole "Trick or treat" script with the girls and they had it down until it was actually time to do it. They went to about 20 houses then came home and were so excited to tell me all about it and show me all their candy!

Strawberry Shortcake

Rapunzel

I'm so glad when daddy comes home...

I have so many blurry pictures because they were running around screaming "best day ever".

It's the go-to excitement phrase in our house, and even more fitting now that Eleanor was Rapunzel.

Wouldn't you want to give these little cutie pies some candy?

Go Cougars!

We were so excited to find out BYU would be playing Georgia Tech. Since it would be close enough for us to drive we bought tickets back in August for our anniversary present. Georgia Tech is in Atlanta so we made the 4 hour drive down in time for Andrew to attend the fireside that the football team puts on the night before they play.

On Saturday we got all dressed up in our BYU gear - my sister Amy was nice enough to send BYU shirts all the way from Provo so the girls would have proper attire. Then we took the MARTA (subway/train thing that runs through downtown ATL) to the football stadium.

Loyal strong and true, wear the white and blue...

Waiting to ride the MARTA down to the game

When we got to the stadium I was feeling a little nervous/embarrassed/anxious about having all three kids with us, including a 5 week old!
But as soon as we got to our seats in the BYU section we felt right at home, there were kids everywere. The lady sitting in front of us was even crazier than us, she had a 3 week old in her baby bjorn. Gotta love BYU fans.

There were a few times I didn't think we'd make it all the way through the whole game. Luckily popcorn and cotton candy make for good entertainment. Penelope fell asleep for the whole 3rd quarter so with her bestie unavailable Eleanor got a little antsy so we went and walked around for a little while. All in all I think we all had a really good time and best of all, we have some new cougar fans in the house!


Cougar claws!

Sleepy Penelope at half time.

Eleanor, running out of steam.

Game over, BYU wins

I couldn't help but dig up this old picture (and reminisce about how much skinnier and blonder I used to be). This was the last BYU game Andrew and I went to. It was in the fall of 2007. We used to be so footloose and fancy free back then :)

Crazy to think what a difference 5 years makes!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Birthday Girl

Like most birthdays, Eleanor's lasted pretty much the whole week. Her birthday was on a Wednesday but Andrew has class on Wednesdays and Thursdays and we were going out of town over the weekend so we celebrated as a family on Tuesday. Eleanor got to pick out a balloon (she chose a princess crown of course), she got to pick what we had for dinner (she chose pizza, my kind of girl!), we had cupcakes and opened presents. On her birthday we went to lunch at Chick-Fil-A, and the day after her birthday we had playgroup at our house, shared cupcakes with our friends and I told her it was her birthday party :)

She's picked up my bad habit of biting nails

Eleanor is so much fun to have around. She is so imaginative and moves from one idea to the next all day long. She is such a good helper and a great big sister. She genuinely wants to do what's right and she always helps remind Penelope what they're supposed to be doing. She always wants everything to be perfect though, which can lead to frustrations when she's working on writing letters or doing art projects/craft type things. She likes to do "gymnastics" and "play" soccer. I'm hoping we can actually put her in these activities next year so she can decide if she really likes to do them. She is also so good at playing games on the computer (she navigates websites like Disney Jr and Nick Jr like a pro). She has gotten really good at painting and will match the colors exactly to what they are "supposed" to be. She still loves to read books and now really likes to tell stories (like Goldilocks, 3 little pigs, and princess and the pea). She has also become very inquisitive and loves to ask questions. My favorite is when she comes into our room in the morning and asks, "mom, did you sleep good last night?" And speaking of mornings, she is definitely a morning person. She wakes up so pleasant and ready to start the day. This morning she came in telling me that it's ok if we don't get a dog right now, and that she'll be content with just a goldfish for now and she'll name it Alice in Wonderland. She also loves to hide from dad when we hear the garage door opening and then jump out and say surprise. She loves to "decorate" by arranging random things in random places. She also loves to pick out her own outfits and proclaims she is "fashion fantastic". Needless to say, she keeps us entertained.

She brings so much fun and laughter into our house. We are so glad she is in our family!

So crazy to think she is 4!

She got some princess paper dolls, a Barbie camera, and little figurines from Brave)

And birthday week continues with a package from my sister Jessica. The girls were just as excited about the box that the package came in as what was inside of it. They used this box and stuffed it with junk and sent each other pretend packages for a good week after we got this.

In the original package was a Halloween book for Eleanor and she also included a BEAUTIFUL quilt she made for Molly.

You can see the back of it here. Eleanor kind of thought it was for her and insisted on sleeping with it for a couple of nights. I was finally able to convince her it was for Molly! I tried to get some pictures of Molly laying on it but she was getting fussy, so I'll to try again soon.

I'm one lucky mama to have such sweet little girls.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Pumpkin Carving

Last weekend Andrew took Eleanor and Penelope to a pumpkin patch and let them pick out a pumpkin.
Eleanor also got to ride on a horse named Dakota and they have been talking about it ever since!

I can't take any credit for their fashion sense, this is all them!

Eleanor was so excited to ride Dakota!

For Family Home Evening last Monday we carved the pumpkin that they picked out. The girls were so excited about it.
Luckily Andrew had the patience to help them do it. If it was up to me we would have just drawn or painted on the pumpkins.

Penelope was excited to use the scooper until she saw what she'd be scooping!

First we picked out our stencil of a witch for one side, and a spooky face for the other side.

Then we traced the pictures onto the pumpkin. Eleanor was so enthralled with the whole process!

Finished product!

One Month

Well we made it one month with 3 little ones! When Molly was about 10 days old Andrew had to go out of town on a business trip for a week, so I got a crash course in taking care of three kids! It was SUPER exhausting but somehow we survived. My mom got in town the same night Andrew got home so I got some much needed help! The girls loved having Granny Nanny here, she was so good to them! She got up in the night with Molly, played with the girls, took them on outings, and made us lots of yummy meals! She was able to stay for about 5 days and we were so sad to see her go, but SO grateful for her help!

Here are some pictures of Miss Molly at one month old. She is such a cute little thing, and like all of my babies, I love to just stare at her! She has the cutest, sweetest, most perfect little face! I think she looks a lot like Eleanor did as a baby. She is pretty high maintenance during the day and likes to be held a lot. I think she is a little scared of her sisters. They are both very helpful though and love to be around her. Out of all my babies I think Molly has been our best night sleeper. She'll sleep for about 4 hours at a time at night, and has even gone 5 1/2 a few times! During the day her sleep is still pretty sporadic. She'll only sleep 30-45 minutes here and there with maybe one 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. For the first few weeks she HATED her carseat, which made going anywhere pretty tough. But now she tolerates it a bit more. She loves tummy time, and she is getting a lot more alert, looking all over the place. It even seems like she is itching to roll over. Why are my kids always so anxious to get moving?! Anyway, we think she is adorable and we love her a lot!!

And of course, I can't leave out her big sisters!

(Notice Penelope's haircut. I made the mistake of trying to take a nap and I woke up to Eleanor saying, "I'm sorry mom, I'm sorry mom, I'm sorry mom!" I ran upstairs to find a chunk of Penelope's hair on the bathroom floor. At least Eleanor only took one cut and knew to stop. And I shouldn't have left scissors where they could reach them. Anyway, I had to chop off a good bit of Penelope's hair to even it out. She's still pretty cute though!)

Friday, September 28, 2012

One Week {New} Old

Last week (which now that I think about it, seems like forever ago!) at my 40 week appointment the doctor scheduled an induction for Friday, September 21st at 7:30 in the morning. On Thursday I was feeling a little crampy but considering I felt that way for almost 2 weeks I didn't really think much of it. Around 10 p.m. I decided I'd better get to bed so I could have a good nights rest for my induction the next day. Well I was laying in bed and thinking that these "cramps" were pretty intense. Again, I just brushed them off and kept telling myself, no big deal, I'm getting induced in the morning so maybe this will just help things along. Around 10:30 I decided to time my contractions just out of curiosity. They were coming about 4 -6 minutes apart, so by this time Andrew convinced me to call the doctor's office. I talked to the midwife on call and she said we'd better come on down to the hospital. We got to the hospital right about midnight and were in our room by 12:15 a.m. (September 21st). The nurse was really insistent about getting all of her paperwork done. I had pre-registered, so it seems like that would have taken care of a lot of it, but I guess not. I asked her when the midwife or doctor would be in to check me and she just said oh, don't worry, we'll definitely admit you since you had a scheduled induction in the morning anyway. I think she thought we were trying to jumpstart our induction or something. Meanwhile, my contractions were REALLY picking up and I was shaking, which I'm sure was transition. I bet I was at a 6 or 7 when we got to the hospital. Next time I need to remember to have Andrew tell the nurses that even though I'm smiling and being polite, it's still possible I'm in a lot of pain!! Our nurse did not seem worried about my pain level at all and close to 1 a.m. she finally got my IV placed and started with fluids so I'd be able to get an epidural. A little after 1 a.m. the midwife came in and checked me and was surprised to see that I was already 9cm dilated! That is like my worst nightmare - getting to the hospital and being so far along I can't get an epidural!! They tried to "rush" my epidural but I knew there was no way I'd be able to stay still long enough to get one plus I was starting to feel like I needed to push anyway. Nurses kept coming in and out of the room "congratulating" me on being at 9 cm and finally after one lady said something I replied, "I really don't want to talk about it anymore!" haha. I guess I do have a point where I stop being polite :) Anyway, around 1:30 a.m. I was ready to push so we got all set up and after about 10 minutes of pushing our sweet baby girl arrived at 1:51 a.m. It was so painful!!! I don't know how women do that, or even want to do it natural, but more power to them! I just remember thinking the whole time I can't do this anymore! But there's really not a choice, you just have to keep going. I even thought several times I never wanted to do it again! But isn't it crazy how holding your little miracle and loving them instantly and feeling absolute joy about the chance you have to be a mother makes you forget all the pain? Obviously I'd prefer an epidural, but I'd do it all over again for our sweet little girl. Introducing Molly Elizabeth....

9 pounds 3 ounces, 18 3/4 inches. She is our smallest baby so far - an ounce less than both of her sisters, two inches shorter than Eleanor and three inches shorter than Penelope.

Unfortunately Molly didn't arrive in time for my brother Freddie to meet her, so instead she was born on his birthday! It was fun to have Freddie here while we were waiting for the baby to come and the girls had a blast with him. When he left my mom insisted that my sister Laura should come to make sure I have help when I had the baby. She was here to help out a few days before and after Molly arrived. It was so nice to have her help, she was so good with the girls and they were both so sad to see her go. She left on Tuesday, so we've been on our own for a few days now and we are slowly adjusting to being a family of five. Andrew has class on Wednesday and Thursday nights (his last two MBA classes, wooooo!!!) so those days were pretty tough. Eleanor has turned into an awesome little helper and is such a good big sister. Penelope is excited about having a baby around, but she hasn't quite figured out how to be gentle. Molly seems to think that nighttime is from about 1 p.m. until 11 p.m. because that is when she has her best sleep. She'll just wake every few hours to eat and go back to sleep. She doesn't really get in a deep sleep from about 11 p.m. until 2 a.m. and from about 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. But she's only one week old so I'm sure we'll get it figured out soon enough. As for me, I'm just pretty exhausted, but luckily recovery seemed to be easier this time around.

Now for some picture overload...

Day 1 {September 21st} - Meeting Molly for the first time

{a little bit nervous}

{but very excited!}

Super Muffy (my sister Laura)

Day 2 - Checking out of the hospital

Eleanor made herself right at home with the nurse's whiteboard and markers.

Each room at our hospital has its own private patio, which was awesome to have when the girls came to visit. They could eat snacks out on the patio table and have more room to run around and be loud.

Home sweet home!