Hadley Meets Brady (And Everyone Else)

 Brady fell in love with baby Hadley almost as instantly as we did!  I was very nervous how he would do with a sister, but he being an awesome big brother came natural to him! There has been no shortage of kisses, hugs, snuggles, etc from the first meeting.  The first few weeks he mostly referred to her as "my baby" but now he sometimes calls her by her actual name.  He is a pretty good helper and fairly patient when I am taking care of Hadley, especially during feedings.  I feel so lucky at the smooth transition this big brother has had.

And of course Hadley met the rest of the family too.  Only I don't have pictures of everyone.  Grandma documented about every second with pictures though, so if you feel you need more, go to her :)  Here she is with "Crapa" (we are not sure why, but this is how Brady says Grandpa.  He says Grandma just fine!)

 Grandma Bell came and stayed a night with us.  She was gracious enough to take night duty with Hadley so Quentin and I could get some rest.

 Grandpa Bell came and stayed a night also.  Brady had a blast with him and I put him to work :)  While he was here Quentin and Randy installed a peep hole in my front door and hung shelves in the laundry room for me.  There are plenty more projects for the next time :)

1 month

Can you believe this adorable girl is 1 month old? I can't.  I think time goes by even faster with the second child.  I think since she was born a little early she slept away about the first 3 weeks, but it looks like that is over.  She is still a good baby.  Doesn't cry much.  Still working on sleeping at night though :)

Welcome Hadley!

There I was, 37 weeks pregnant, uncomfortable, unsure how I would survive the next few weeks at work.  I had resigned myself to the likelihood that little miss Hadley would follow her brother's example and make us wait until well after her expected arrival time.  I even went to Hobby Lobby and bought stuff to start a new project on Saturday.  Saturday night I felt a little off and went to bed but hardly slept.  Sunday I had to work so I dragged myself out of bed in the morning and got all ready to go.  Before I walked out the door I told Quentin to make sure the hospital bags were packed.  Luckily work was fairly slow, but that morning we x-rayed a larger patient that we had to roll onto her side to get our cassette under her.  My coworker joked that it would send me into labor. And perhaps it did. A few short hours later, around 10:30, I got up to go to the bathroom at work and *gush* my water broke!  I continued on to the bathroom because I wasn't quite sure what to do, and let's be honest...when you gotta go, you gotta go, especially during pregnancy.  So I walked out of the bathroom, kindly informed my coworkers that my water broke and I was headed home, and changed into some hospital scrubs (too bad I didn't have extra underwear with me!)  Quentin and Brady were at church, so I called Quentin and told him I was headed home and he should finish his lesson and then come home too.  I asked him if he had packed the hospital bags (may I add that everything was laid out, ready to go, he just needed to get the suitcase and put stuff in).  There was a slight pause before he said "Well I didn't think you meant it would happen today!"  Surprise!  Brady was thrilled that he got to go home to Grandma's because Grandma's house is the best! Here's my last belly shot before the hospital:

 My contractions hadn't started, so I wasn't really in a huge rush to get to the hospital.  Mostly I was tired and wanted to relax before the real fun began.  When Quentin got home I was just laying in bed, and he came in frantically throwing things in the suit case.  He kept asking if I was ok and ready to go.  Much to his dismay I told him I was not going yet.  I really did not want pitocin, and I knew the clock started as soon as I got to the hospital.  So I made Quentin get me a burger, we ate, went on a walk, watched a movie and then I agreed to go to the hospital even though contractions still hadn't started.  We got there around 5 and got checked in.  They asked if I wanted to start the pitocin and I respectfully declined.  We spent a good deal of time walking the halls to try and get things going, but to no avail.  Dr. Trammell was the Dr. on call and he advised me to again to start the pitocin.  To avoid an unnecessary C-section, I finally consented and we started that around 10:00.  The rest of the labor was pretty similar to Brady's.  I was doing great for a while, and then they kept increasing the pitocin and eventually, around 11:30 I caved and asked for my epidural. They came fairly quickly and the whole thing was done a little after Except this time it only numbed my right side.  It took the edge off, but there was still PLENTY of feeling there.  They had said this was a possibility and there was some way they could correct it, but I had to wait 20 min or so to make sure it didn't correct itself.  Only I started throwing up and so they checked my cervix and there was no time for any correction, it was time to push!  And I guess once she decided it was time, she was ready (which is lucky for my only half-numbed body) so I pushed through 3 contractions and Hadley made her debut at 12:39am.  We were surprised to see all her dark hair and were instantly in love!  She weighed a whopping 6 lbs 9 oz, was 20 in long and so sweet.  She is the perfect addition to our little family and we are so blessed to have her.  And I am so grateful she did not make me wait longer :)

A clear example of the Bell nose (Quentin still does not understand what this means):

 She is seriously so snuggly!  And she loves to be held like this.  All the time.

 You can't really see it well, but the nurse put a little black and gold bow in her hair.  It was her first bow and looked adorable, of course.

Stay tuned for more Hadley.  And Brady.

Brady and Quentin's Trip to KC

Toward the end of my pregnancy, the Bell family had a big get together in Kansas City as part of Randy's Christmas present.  Since this was the only weekend in the foreseeable future (and by that I mean pre-baby) that I did not have to work or anything, I decided to stay home and take a much needed break.  But it's always a little weird to have the house to myself for that long.  Anyway, Quentin and Brady joined the fun and Brady had a blast with his cousins, as always!  He got to have a slumber party with Rex, who apparently fell off the bed :)

 They all went to some type of kid-fun museum/play/exhibit.  I am not sure on the details since I missed out on the fun, but this picture is a favorite of mine...can anyone guess why?  The OCD in me is also annoyed at it because of the low quality of some of the x-rays and the incorrectly hung chest x-ray.

 They also enjoyed a meal at a BBQ joint, and Brady's favorite part was his very own ice cream cone.  Not sure where he gets that sweet tooth...

 And here is a picture of some of the cousins.  From left to right: Kaylie, Ashlyn, Brady, Preston, Jonas, Addison, Cora, Rex, and Garrett.  Brady sure loves playing with his cousins! What a good looking group of kids.

"Baby" Brady is 3!

Brady had his 3rd birthday on Saturday.  We didn't have a huge celebration, but Grandma Bell came for the weekend and then Cassie and her girls ended up joining us and the Moore clan for pizza, presents, and cupcakes.  Brady got spoiled with plenty of stuff, but I think Grandma Bell wins the prize for favorite present.  She got him a nice, noisy police car...woohoo!

 I made him a Spiderman cape and got him gloves and a mask to go with it.  He didn't seem as interested as I thought he would be, but Alexa enjoyed being "Spiderman's wife"

 Makinley is so cute and is growing so fast.  She is starting to talk quite a bit and after playing with her a few hours Brady proclaimed "Makinley, you can talk?!"  He is usually so observant, but apparently he completely missed that one :)

 No birthday is complete without cake, so I made spiderman cupcakes and Brady loved them.

 But apparently he does not love his picture taken while he eats :)

We are so blessed to have this sweet boy in our family.  He says the funniest things, has the best memory (which is a blessing and a curse), and he just gets more fun and cuter every day.  Maybe some day I can be better about recording the funny things he does and says :)  We love you, Brady!

33 weeks

This was two weeks ago.  I feel like I am huge.  Not sure how she even moves around in there, but she seems to do just fine :)

Christmas!

Well this is only 2 months late, but I didn't forget completely!  We did celebrate Christmas of course!  And not once, not twice, but three times (as usual).  First we did our Christmas in Willard with the Bells.  It was a fun weekend and Brady loved the motorcycles he got!  He also got to see his first movie in theaters!  We took all the kiddos to see Frozen and it was pretty cute.  He did really well and watched the whole thing.  He like to laugh and repeat the funny parts and he just covered his ears when it got too loud for him.  I'm sure the shared popcorn and treats helped keep his attention a little too.  We definitely got our money's worth of popcorn :)

Next was just our little family's Christmas.  We did our traditional Christmas Eve visit to the magic tree.  This year was FREEZING cold so we didn't stay much longer than it took to take our picture (and prove we were there).  This year there were bells on a few of the branches and Brady had fun with that.

I had to work this Christmas, but I was lucky enough to get a late shift so that we could still enjoy our Christmas morning together.  And this year was sooooo much fun!  Plus it was our first Christmas in our house.  (And yes, we have since removed the plastic from the carpet).  Brady was so excited by everything.  He didn't even see his motorcycle at first because he was overjoyed at his hard hat, which was the first thing he saw.  Another favorite was his "pack pack" and he insisted on wearing it and then I caught him checking himself out in his reflection in the window.  Have I ever mentioned how cute this boy is?

We also did a late celebration with the Moore side when Grandma and Grandpa got back from their visit to Vegas to see the Marshalls.  But I forgot my camera and didn't get pictures.  Crazy to think that next year we will have 2 kids at Christmas.  And, if it's even possible, Brady will be even more fun!