A little of this and that....

I do not have any pictures from Thanksgiving, but I do have a few random pics from the week...
By the way I think I am in absolute heaven right now with all the snow we received from yesterday!!! It makes me smile every time I look out my windows. If only it could last everyday till the end of the year.....(sigh).

We converted one of our gas fireplaces into a wood burning one...And I LOVE it!

Getting bundled to go play outside with big sister! And little Ollie just waking up from a nap looking oh so sweet!

Going out to get our Christmas tree!!:)

Making snowflakes on our snowy Sunday evening.

Life with the trio

My mom (bless her heart) has been here this week to help me adjust to this new adventure in life.....3 little people to take care of. So far it has been incredible and has brought so much joy... it has also been incredibly challenging, and has resulted in me breaking out into tears for no apparent reason at all....sleep deprivation?? Maybe:)?. I know I will adjust and soon, that is the beauty of life. The thing is our little ones get big so fast this phase in life really is a short one. Soon my little Ollie bug will be crawling, walking, talking....and it happens in the blink of an eye doesn't it? I look at Rachel and think to myself, what happened? You were my little bug, and before that it was Becca who was just a tiny infant in my arms. I am so lucky to have a man like Nathan by my side....MAN I JUST LOVE HIM AND OUR GIRLS SO MUCH!!!! He is such an incredible father, husband and friend. I loved watching him fall in love with our Ollie bug the minute he laid eyes on her! He is just smitten with our girls! Can I just tell you how sexy that is??? Well it is! Now I have a few pics from this last week..

Having her first bath

Olivia James Lord

She is here! Our little Olivia bug made it! She is absolutely the most precious, fragile, sweet, heavenly little bundle of joy.

Her smell is just amazing, I just want to breathe her in! She came a little early, however I had a feeling she would. I had just returned home from a doctors visit, and was getting girls down for naps when my water broke. My mom was at the house already because she was watching the girls while I was at my apt. I called Nathan with the good news, and told him to hurry home! Leslie my other wonderful mother came right away to watch the girls so we could head off to the hospital. So I am of course not contracting at all (a dejavu of Rachel's birth). So they put me on a low dose of petocin, which freaked me out because I was induced with Rachel. I did not do the epidural with Rachel's birth....there are no words to describe the pain I had with her delivery. So I was kinda freaking out inside because I still was unsure about the epidural. As soon as I started to feel the contractions I had a little reminder of just how stupid I would be to do this again without pain killer:)! So they brought the guy in to give me what I can only describe as the most WONDERFUL, wonderful, WONDERFUL gift modern medicine has given us! My body relaxed and felt warm and tingly inside, and I was pain free! My mom and sister were there along with Leslie, and Nathan of course. It was coming on 10 p.m. and I was still at a 3! So we sent everyone home assuring them it would be hours before Olivia's arrival. Being completely numb I was unsure how I was going to be able to tell when I needed to push. Around 10:50 I called the nurse in to say I was having a weird sensation and thought I should be checked. She checked and told me I was at a 4 :(. Then not 2 minutes later before the nurse was about to leave the room she checked me again because I told her I felt that sensation MUCH much stronger again......um ya I suddenly went from a 4 to a 10 in 2 minutes no joke. So they were all scrambling to get things ready and set up. Meanwhile I in utter bliss (feeling no pain) turned to Nathan in pure excitement saying "Our little girl is coming, she is coming! Can you believe it!" And it was the most enjoyable delivery I have had! I had no complications at all. I was smiling just waiting for her to show her little face. I knew she would come quick, it felt like she was going to just fall out of me....she came in about 2 1/2 pushes. We have felt so watched over and blessed with how well everything went with this delivery. It was absolute perfection, I can't even describe how great it was.... Our little bug weighed in at 6 lbs 7 oz, and is as healthy as can be. She is so content and calm. We love her little cry, we just melt when we hear it. So far she is doing what newborns do best...SLEEP!
So there you have it all the little details.  A few pictures now to follow....

 In case you are wondering why the name James for a middle??? It is Nathans middle name, and I think it is so cute for a girl! Becca and Ray have my name and middle name, so this one (yes being our last) gets to take on Nathans name ;)

Introducing...

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog to give you an exclusive, never before seen post from Mr. Lauren Lord. We'd like to introduce you to the newest addition to our family, ______  ______ Lord (we haven't chosen a name yet.) She was born on 11/11 at 11:11 PM. She comes in at 6 lbs 7 oz and 20 inches long. Mom and baby are doing magnificently, and sisters are as excited as can be. As soon as she is able, Lauren will give you a whole rundown on the labor and delivery, as well as answering the question you're all asking: epidural or natural?

Here are some quick pics, with more coming soon...

Thank you for your prayers and faith on our behalf - we are evidence that they worked!

Hot Cocoa

Today Nathan surprised us by coming home early on this snowy, wonderful day, and with him he brought not just any cocoa mix.... he brought the Dagoboa cocoa mix home mmmmmmm :). Have you ever tried this wonderful, delectable chocolate drink?? Well first off you need to love dark chocolate, and if you do, then you must try it! I am a big fan of not too sweet cocoa drinks, I like to put a big huge dollop of lightly sweetened whip cream on top...Oh heavens delicious! I know some people think I am crazy to like dark chocolate, but I personally think I am not crazy, a little weird perhaps :).  Anyway the girls were pretty darn excited! I have a few pictures from the day's events.  I also need to do a little update on those cute girls, and what is new in their little world. So here we go....

Rachel

- Has been potty trained for the last few months now, and I am thrilled! I was not planning on training her for a while, but she wanted to give it a go and she has done excellent. I was worried she would be difficult, I was not looking forward to dealing with her and her more than stubborn attitude;) I am told (frequently) I was just as stubborn if not more so when I was her age.

- Loves to sing, and can I just tell you...It is so CUTE! That little voice of her's just melts you to pieces!

- Likes to refer to herself in the third person, and she changes her identity frequently. One day she will be Inspector Gadget, the next day she is Ichabod Crane (Sleep Hollow). Today she was Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Notice she is always the boy character? That's because big sister Becca won't have it any other way, she must always play the girl. Anyway, Rachel will not answer to her name if she is in character mode, funny girl!

- Likes to tease and bully her big sister. Becca frequently comes to me in tears, explaining that Rachel has punched her, or taken something from her etc.. We are working on that:)

- Loves her big sister, and is currently sharing a room with her. We moved them into the same room a few months ago to free up a room for the baby. So far they have been good, we have had some difficult nights, but that is to be expected I guess.


Becca

- Loves to make crafts, she will ask me, oh I don't know, like 20 times a day if we can make crafts, and she enjoys it thoroughly. She also loves to pretend play, and does so most of the day.

- Is filled with drama and emotion. This girl is ALL girl! She has a very tender little heart, and with that comes a lot of tears, and smiles. She is kind of all over the map with her feelings throughout the day. Sometimes Nathan and I wonder how we will survive the emotions of soon to be 4 girls in this household :).

- Loves, loves, loves primary! This girl lives to go to primary and church every week. Not kidding one bit! She will be in a panic Sunday morning making sure we are on time for church. She cannot miss a single minute of it, or she is devastated. She has a primary program this week, and is so excited, I can't even tell you.

-The other day Becca informed me that I needed to start giving her a bigger lunch. Apparently what I was giving her before was not up to her standards :) She does not like peanut butter and jam anymore (so she says:) It needs to be turkey with cheese, lettuce, mustard and mayo.

Pumpkin Spice Whole Wheat Pancakes:)

These baby's are sooooo good, and good for you! Pumpkin has so many wonderful nutritional things going for it. I make these pancakes sometimes several times a week, smothered in maples syrup and butter...mmmmmmm:). Here is the recipe below incase you want to try these out.

P.S. Don't judge the pictures I took, I am not a photographer okay!

Pumpkin Spice Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 1/2 C. Whole wheat flour
1/2  C. Organic sugar (or regular is fine too)
2 TSP. Cinnamon
1/2 TSP. Nutmeg
1 TSP. sea salt (if using regular salt cut amount in half)
2 TSP. Baking powder
2 TSP. Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 1/4 C. Whole milk (apple juice is yummy too)
A heaping 1/2 C. pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)

Mix all dry ingredients first together in bowl, then mix in wet, stir and cook!

Trick or treating, pumpkin carve, baby's room.........And a new Holiday!

That was a loaded description! I am lazy and just want to put this all into one post so stay with my here....

First off, we finally got around to carving our pumpkins Friday morning. The girls loved it up until scooping out the pumpkin innards, and then they were done. Then on Saturday we took the girls to the neighborhood right by us called Shenandoah?? (I think that's how it's spelled) That is where Nathans aunts, and grandma live.....can I just tell you what a magical Halloween experience that was? Every house was decked out in awesome Halloween decor, it felt like we were walking on the back lot of a movie set! Trick or treaters were everywhere with families filling the streets! They had these grim reapers walking around all dressed up on huge stilts with baskets full of candy. Becca and Ray could not get enough, Rachel kept saying "another house, another house"! We ended the night by stopping off at this cute old lady's house in our ward that makes homemade doughnuts! Heavens, they were delicious! Needless to say I have not enjoyed Halloween this much since I was a kid....maybe even more. Then that night Nathan brought our lit pumpkins into the house, the girls requested that the pumpkins they carved go into their bedroom, so in they went. Nathan kept ours out by us to watch a scary movie by. We watched the "Burbs" and ate way too much candy!

Today I am realizing something.....Our new baby is going to be here sooooo soon! And I am not ready yet! I have been in major nesting mode lately. Today I am feeling ambitious, and I think I will get Halloween put away, and put Christmas up! Yes you heard me right. Hey you go to all the trouble and time to get it all put up and then a month later you have to take it all down? Not at our house. I have decided that I want to enjoy it longer since I go to so much trouble putting it all out. Plus when baby comes I know I will be too tired to get it out. Don't get my wrong we LOVE Thanksgiving in our house, and we are not skipping over it by any means, but......
1- I don't decorate for Thanksgiving
2- I love nothing more than to have our Thanksgiving dinner by candlelight and a glowing Christmas tree :).

Anyway Here a few pictures from the weekend events, and some from the babys room! Enjoy....

Rachel looking out at the first real snowfall this season

Getting ready to carve!!

Babys room

That white blotchy looking stuff on the tree is the light from outside

Tah Dah! I made the artwork in the room, I cut our felt letters and birds and put them on beautiful turquoise paper. I really love how it turned out..