She's here!

CL was born Friday, Oct. 17! She is the sweetest girl on earth, and I have gotten NOTHING done since she's been born b/c I have to hold her and look at her all day. Its a tough job;-) We went in at 6 am for a scheduled inducement, and she was born at 9:01. John got to deliver her since he is in med school (the first thing he said was its still a girl!)! She was 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 20 3/4 long. She was our biggest baby, and was born with dimples on both cheeks and the greatest head of hair. In the sunlight it looks like shes already gotten highlights! We think she looks the most like M (see above) but has less defined eyebrows (thank goodness) and shorter eyelashes. Overall she is sleeping really well, (up to 4 hours at a time at night!) smiles a lot (i know its not on purpose, but still adorable!) and is so sweet! it has been so much fun to put so much pink on her!
Van wasn't phased at all at her unhappiness, and has done really well with his adjustment as big brother.
T and Jo with her
look at her hair! poor girl already has a mullet!
John is absolutely in love with her already! I guess the saying daddy's girl is true. John made the comment when she was just a few hours old that the most un-datable girl ever has just been born...

She already has enough hair for clips!!! too much fun! (1 day old, showing the rare eyes)
the nurses felt she needed a special hat to remind us she was a girl. They took 2 hospital hats and fashioned a lovely bow for her! I kept calling her him until we got her dressed in real clothes to take her home!
she has fat cheeks and fat thighs... poor girl!
She didn't really wake up and respond to much her first few hours. John went to go get the kids from school around 1 pm so they could come meet her. When the boys walked in the room, she opened her eyes and looked for them. it was so neat to see her recognize them, and the boys thought that was really cool that she watched them.

Big smiles when we left the hospital... look at her great dimples!

in other news: after 3 weeks without a washer (and doing 20 loads a week at the Laundromat) John and I went Mon and got a washer! it gets delivered sat. so CL and I went and did 10 loads yesterday to get us through til the new one comes (a Maytag!!! Merry Christmas to us!) promptly upon returning home with everything in the entire house clean, she proceeded to blow out on her very cute jeans and girly onesie...

Jo had a field trip to the pumpkin patch this morning. It was so beautiful in the valley. I went 2 weeks ago with vans class and the trees on all sides were still mostly green with a few reds peeking through. today there were more oranges and reds then greens. I sure will miss this place when we have to leave. It was beautiful. Ill post the pics later.

John starts finals next mon. he has 6 finals next week, then 3 more the following week.... Good luck John!!!

HELP!!!

so we went to the doctor today, and it doesn't appear that she will wait 20 more days.... We need a middle name for this girl before she gets here! post your favorite name in the comments box. It has to go with Carrington. We thought Grace was going to be the middle name, but from working in a catholic church and having so many people ask us her name, i got tired of tons of them saying things like "that's my daughters middle name" or my baby that's due in ___ weeks is going to be named grace... anyway. send us some help! I like Reese and Tate, John doesn't really seem to have anything he likes a lot...

happy birthday (other baby)

M turned 6 today! I cannot believe how fast the past 6 years have gone! He is such a fun guy, is always so smiley, and is sooo optimistic and cheerful. He is def. our ray of sunshine with his brothers, and is such a peacemaker.
He FINALLY got a DS! John and I found a pokemon ds, and he played it all morning, he was so excited to finally be able to link with his brothers and play games with them!
At lunch time, we met 7 of his friends at the bowling alley for a fun party. It was wonderful, i didn't have to clean, cook, clean up, entertain.... it was the easiest party ever! M got a strike on his first try, but his friend Nicky ended up scoring over 100 points. we only made it through 8 frames before the boys were done and ready to eat, but it was great fun!

My parents came into town to visit my little sister (who just started college here) and stopped by the bowling alley to visit M's party. he was so excited to see them, and it was a nice surprise for the boys. We had such a great day today, and I am so thankful for the blessing my third is in my life!

top 3 reasons I love this boy...

Look whos "free!!!"

Let me honor the boy (late, of course) with the top 3 reason I love this kid:

3. He has the greatest laugh. He plays this game where he says "I yummy" and you have to pretend to gobble him up and blow on his belly while he belly laughs until he says "I yucky" at which point you have to pretend to be totally grossed out that you had your mouth on him and pretend to spit him out. The game repeats until he runs to the bathroom so he doesnt have an accident because he laughs so hard, or until I have to go cook dinner. He would do this all day long if he could.

(van 2 days old)

2. He gives the best kisses (complete with totally stinky kids breath). BUT, you cant just kiss him. He first has to smooch the lips, then turn your head to plant a kiss on the cheek of his choice. He is absolutelty loveable, and still likes to snuggle.

(van 1 year with his daddy)

and the number 1 reason why this boy is the greatest: with delicious faces like these, whats not to love??? (van at his second birthday (l) and third birthday (bottom)

we celebrated his third birthday with a glorified playdate. we had 4 friends come over after preschool for chicken nuggets and apple slices. I was totally lazy and stopped by walmart and bought a premade lightning mcqueen cake for him (cars is his favorite movie, and he is obsessed!) and the kids just ate lunch and played. he had a great time, and it was so fun to celebrate this big birthday with him!!!! happy birthday baby!!!