We didn't really know what to expect when the boys first met Bentley. They weren't sure of the hospital, me hooked up to all the tubs and wires, or their new sister. Kyler and Damon got out of school early on Friday, and I had the baby around the time they were getting out. My mom brought them to the hospital, and they were all able to meet her within 2 hours of her being born. She hadn't even taken a bath yet! None of them wanted to hold her when the first time they saw her, but they eventually warmed up, especially by the next day.
The next day when they came to visit, Kyler and Damon both asked to hold her. Radley didn't want anything to do with her! Damon was smitten from the beginning. He loved holding her and still does. Kyler was much more interested in the TV and the hospital bed. Radley didn't know what to think of anything. He just wanted treats!
Watching Daddy bring the baby to them.
Radley trying to not let the baby touch him.
Literally running away from the baby.
Rearranged to let Radley sit on the chair, but he was adamant that Bentley was not going to get anywhere near him.
These two were excited to see and hold their new sister.
Eventually he warmed up. He didn't hold her for long, basically long enough to snap a quick picture, but it was a huge improvement from the day before!
He was obsessed once he first held her. Look how proud he is to hold her.
She had to be under the lights to help with her bilirubin levels. The boys had to check out the cool blue lights.
Kyler's happy place. He kicked me out of bed, not really, but he didn't want me sitting there because it was much easier to control the TV and the bed.
The heater made her pretty comfortable under the lights. She did really well until it was 11pm, and she cried until 3am! It was a long night!!
Thankfully the lights worked and she was able to come home on Sunday.
This was right after the boys walked in to see Bentley the first time. They had just gone to Walmart with Oma where they each picked out a present for her, got me some flowers and each got a treat. They pretty much just ignored their new sister!
As Kenney was taking the boys to play, to let Oma have some time with the baby, the nurse walked in to take Bentley's blood sugar. The boys were curious and wanted to know what she was going to do to the baby. We explained what would happen, and Damon looked at Kenney and said, "Daddy can we stay and watch the baby sister get a shot?" He wanted to watch what would happen!! I had no idea how to take that, but Kenney let them stay. This is the video of them watching her get her blood sugar taken. I guess Damon was preparing for some big screams! He later told Kenney, "Daddy the next time we have a baby sister I don't want to watch her get poked."
This video just makes me smile. Kenney took the boys to the park one day while we were at the hospital. He told Radley he needed to sit on his bottom to go down the slide, and Radley was saying "Sit on my bottom" in a really funny way. It makes Kenney laugh every time he watches it!
This little girl finally made her debut on Friday November 13th at 1:42pm. She was 8lbs 2oz and 21 inches long; our biggest baby yet! One reason she was the biggest was because I was 6 days over due and none of her brothers even made it to a due date! I was really hoping she would be born on Nov 12th making her the 3rd child in our family to be born on the 12th of a month, but the doctor was going to a football game and wouldn't induce me until the next morning!! Really?? I like football, but I was really disappointed. I did everything I could think of (besides castor oil) to make me go into labor on the 12th, but she wasn't going to budge!! She stayed inside nice and cozy until we forced her to come out the next day!
We got to the hospital and they broke my water at 8:30am the next morning. I wasn't having consistent enough contractions by 10-10:30 so they started pitocin. Ugh! I HATE that drug!! By 11:45 I had not made much progress, so I thought I was in for another long day on pit. However, I progressed pretty quickly after that and was ready to go around 1:30. 3 pushes later she came into the world (thankfully, because I don't think I would have made it much longer)!
She screamed and screamed when the nurses were messing with her. She hated them touching her and doing things to her, but she was born with a full head of hair and looks like a mix of all her brothers right now! It was a relief to know that it was for sure that we finally had a girl in our family, and she is perfect!
This was the day I thought for sure the Dr would send me to the hospital. However we had to wait one more day!
As new as they come!
Kenney HATED this big bow! She will never have a bow that big again. Daddy will make sure!
Not sure the glossy eyes are her best look, but we still thought she was pretty.
Cleaned up after her first bath with poofy hair and all.
We started a new November tradition this year (mostly because I was planning on having a baby by now, but have a little more time than expected). We made a Thankful Tree! The boys helped me draw and cut out leaves, and then for Family Home Evening we wrote what we are thankful for on the leaves. The boys had fun with it and asked for more leaves! They didn't even run out of things to write down once they caught on to what thankful meant! When we first asked Radley (who really didn't understand at all) what he was thankful for, he looked at us very seriously and said, "Nothing." We were able to convince him of a few things! Hopefully we will be able to remember what Thanksgiving is about and not just skip over to Christmas!
Here is a list of some the things we wrote on our leaves:
Friends, cousins, food, markers, the couch, the iPad/TV, movies, pictures (Kyler)
People being nice to me, playing with friends, animals, playing in the leaves (Damon)
Brothers, toys (Radley)
Our family, Jesus Christ (Mom)
Being able to see, touch, taste and hear; Heavenly Father's plan, our house, Mommy (Dad)
This last week at school, the kindergartners were doing a unit on transportation. The teachers gave us a few weeks to work on a project and make a boxcar for Kyler to parade in at the school and at the pep rally. I was very grateful that Daddy was around because they worked on this project together! Yay for Dads!!
Kenney added a few extra accessories and we thought it was a pretty spiffy little car. However it was insane how much effort some of these parents put forth for these cars!! There were lights and music and all kinds of accessories! Were were blown away. Thank goodness Kenney did put some extra thought into his car.
Testing it out at home. They added a few extra things after this, but we thought it looked pretty good!
I don't think Kyler knew we were coming to the parade at the school, so he was super excited when he saw us (Daddy was even able to come)! There were a lot of bat mobiles, but Kyler's was the only Ironman.
One of the best smiles I've gotten in a while.
Kyler's turn on stage.
I think he had a lot of fun with this! Next year Damon will enjoy this because he loves cars and was super excited about Kyler's.
This kid had a full on jet!! It was huge! This picture is not great because Radley was helping me take it, but it was crazy how big and detailed it was.
Walking through the pep rally.
That's a lot of little box cars!
This is Damon during the pep rallies. It's hard to point out where he is, but he is the one kid sitting down the entire pep rally. I think there is just too much going on and too many people he doesn't know. His teacher tries and tires to get him involved, but he refuses!
Halloween did not disappoint this year! The boys both had Halloween parties in their classes at school, and Radley and I went to help. I was floored at how much stuff they got and how much food/treats were there! I'm glad I didn't do anything over the top!! Radley had fun being in class with the boys and getting treats too. He felt pretty big sitting next to Kyler!
The boys went 'real' trick-or-treating this year. Radley was not excited at first, but he caught on really quick! He soon became the lookout and spotted every house with a light on or the door open. After about 20/30 mins he got tired of it and decided to yell directions to the boys from the car and eat candy! Damon was proud of himself because he wasn't too shy to say thank you! Kyler would have gone all night if we would have let him! Once we got home, they had just as much fun passing out candy. It was fun to see them get so excited to hand out candy.
