just to appease...

I have hundreds of pictures to go through of our newest addition, so here are just a few to wet your pallette. Some are just random pictures and some are little Z's first bath.

My mom came over on Christmas to break him in - and much like the other two, bath time wasn't his favorite time...yet. It's a fun tradition to have mom give my kids their first bath, but I just realized that might not be fair to Grandma to make her be the one that causes so much trauma!

Enjoy - more pictures to come....soon!

Introducing...

Zachary James Fuller

7 lbs. 15 oz.

19 inches

Mom and baby are doing great, and what a blessing that he came a day earlier than expected. I will be home for Christmas morning with the family! More pictures to come....

10 Facts About Harrison

We're spreading more birthday joy to our little man today, so here are a few facts you may or may not know about Harry:

1. He has ALWAYS been strong-willed - in utero to the present.
2. He adores his older brother and wants to be just like "Lukie," as he calls him.
3. The curls are officially gone, no more baby hair. Sad day for mom.
4. He absolutely "lubs" all the holidays, especially when I pull out the decorations.
5. He wakes up grumpy pretty much every day with few exceptions. Today actually was one of those rare days. Sound familiar to anyone on the Fuller side?
6. He gags at gross things - I think he gets that from his Aunt Amy.
7. Although he's normal for a three-year-old on the charts, he's wearing things Luke wore before he turned two.
8. What he lacks in size to his brother, he makes up in natural athletic ability.
9. When he decides to be affectionate, there is nobody better to snuggle with.
10. His sense of humor is one of a kind - not at all what you might expect from the shy little kid he becomes in public!

We love our little stinker and it's fun making his third birthday last three days. Call it guilt for having another baby to love in three more! The timing Jon and I have with kids truly is impeccable.

Harrison...

I think my mom (or someone) must have thrown this together when Harry was just tiny. I just ran across it while tidying up my laptop. It blows my mind this was three years ago. The photos were taken by my friend Rachel Sandberg.

Since tomorrow is Harry's actual birthday, I thought it would be a fun little thing to share. Enjoy!

ZOO Lights

I just realized there are about four events I haven't posted since Thanksgiving...Here is the first.

Last Friday night my folks took me, amy, and the four kids to the zoo for the annual ZOO Lights. I was really impressed with how well they did the zoo up for Christmas. It was really fun, but super super cold and Friday was packed. Lesson learned - not Friday and not when it feels like the Arctic winds blew in.

My sister, as usual, came to rescue with her camera. When will I learn to make sure to charge mine before we go anywhere? Here are some fun collages she put together. Thanks Mames.

Happy Happy Birthday to Harry!

Today we celebrated Harry's third birthday. The actual day is friday, but with family stuff and new baby coming so soon, we decided tonight was best. We had aunts and uncles and cousins (dogs too) and my folks over for a fun little party.

And, I did it. I attempted what I thought was impossible for me....I made the Little Einsteins Rocket cake Harry asked me for. It was hard and thanks to my friends Brooklyn and Rachel, I think I actually pulled it off. He loved it and was super excited to get to eat it.

Here are some pictures to summarize the night. It was a great day. Happy Birthday sweet Harrison!

Happy Holidays!

In the case that I don't get the Christmas cards out, here's my first effort - posting it on the blog has to count for something right? I'm not 100 percent sold on my design yet, but we'll see....Happy Holidays from us!

Update...

I've been really bad at blogging lately and thought it was time for a little update. It's been a busy month and I've been putting off blogging because I didn't want to just document all my complaining of the last month of pregnancy. Those of you who know me pregnant, know that me and my pregnant body just don't get along. I'm pukey practically the whole time and since about 20 weeks, my back has been killing me. Among the other common uncomforts of pregnancy, I'm probably not the funnest or nicest person to be around and to my loved ones I apologize!

Aside from the ever-growing list of things that need to happen before the baby comes, (Oh yeah, and Harry's birthday next week and that big holiday approaching) I seem to be getting a some stuff done. I finished my quilt this week, and the nursery is mostly put together. I'll get pictures up once the final touches are in. We lost our crib hardware in the move to this house, so a friend in the ward loaned me hers for the time being. That was one major stress off the table. And my sweet sister is lending me her cradle since our bassinet fell apart while Harry was tiny. (It was the one I used as an infant and one day, it was just done.)

To add to the mayhem of getting ready for Christmas, new baby, and Harrison's birthday on the 19th, we've had more minor mice issues and I don't think anyone in the state has a cleaner under-the-sink and pantry than mine, but I am so over the stinking little rodents. We've only ever killed/found two, but we have seen signs and enough poison has been consumed that I'm sure there were, and I use the past tense loosely, more.

Monday I spent a chunk of the day at the hospital in "false labor." You'd think at 37 weeks and some change, there wouldn't be such a thing, but I managed to have labor pains that made absolutely no progress. It turns out I had a bladder infection which can cause the uterus to be extremely irritable and mimic labor. I was actually very relieved to know something was wrong, since I've always had the fear of being that girl who goes into the hospital with what she thinks is labor and repeatedly gets sent home.

We're all excited for what the next little while brings our little growing family and I have resigned myself to the fact that I won't actually be able to accomplish everything I want to before little boy #3 arrives. I have also resigned myself to the fact that he will not be arriving until his scheduled date - December 22. And I really am OK with it. I just wanted one or two days earlier, so I could be at home for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Jon is preparing for his photo-documentation of the boys for the times I will miss and I am sure I'll be snapping away hundreds of photos in the hospital of the new one. My folks are planning on hanging out with me and I really appreciate them for that. I also appreciate Jon's family for moving Christmas Eve to Jenny's so it's easier for Jon and the boys to get there and home, and juggling their time with me in the hospital.

We truly feel blessed this time of year and as we approach so many changes, we are excited to see what 2009 brings our little family of five.

Is there a Doctor in the House?

Yesterday Jon and the boys joined me for my weekly check-up - with scheduled c-sections I get to decide if I get checked (you moms know what I mean), and I almost always choose not to, so I am not a horrible mom for bringing my kids to the appointment!

We thought it would be fun for everyone to get to see our great doctor and ask any questions if they had any. Mostly they just wanted to know if they could have surgical gloves and the little cones that go over the tools for checking ears, noses, etc...

Anyway, when it came time to listen to the baby, the doc handed the Doppler to Jon and promptly Harry took it from him, climbed up on the table and directed Luke to squeeze the goo on my tummy. He then immediately found the heartbeat and was so proud of himself. We all cracked up and joked about him becoming a doctor - that would make Grandpa so proud!

Nativity

Jon's sister Emily brought this picture over the other night so I could digitize it and I just had to post it. There's just nothing like the homemade Christmas Eve tradition of the Nativity.

I failed to mention when I originally posted this, who the cute kids are in the pic. That's Jon's older sister Jenny, him (think Luke looks at all like his dad?) and his little sister Emily with the nicely toussled-haired baby doll. I really love this old photo, thanks for sharing Em!

14-day walk with Christ

We did an activity this week for Young Women that I want to share. There are many versions of this online, but the one I chose is from Bev's Country Cottage. The cute scrapbook papers and elements are from a fabulous designer, Summer Driggs. I designed a card for each day, punched a hole in the corners and put them on a binder ring so the girls can toss 'em in their backpacks or purses and pull them out whenever they have a spare minute.

Everyday there is a question, a few scriptures to read, and a ponder/journal assignment. With everything that is going on during this time of year, we often tend to lose focus on the real reason for the season - the Savior. My hope is that our Laurels and us leaders strengthen our testimonies this next couple weeks. For the Christmas lesson, we're going to wrap this up and share our feelings of the experience.

You might need to click on the images to see them, and feel free to print them for yourself if you want. Happy December from me!

Thanksgiving....

I love this holiday and especially the fact that we get to share it with our loved ones. This year is my family's rotation and we went to my folks for the big meal. We had an unusually small group this year with just my folks, my sis, her hubby and two girls, and Jon and me and the boys. Nevertheless, we all cooked as if we were feeding the usual 40 or so, which resulted in many yummy leftovers, which I am AOK with.

Amy took some fun family shots for us and I took a bunch of random pictures of things I am grateful for so here goes...

I am grateful for...

my cute little guys, and that they are having a ball playing together and being super brothers - this was how I found them this morning when I woke up.

my sis - who made me an awesome comfy cozy blanket for the baby and always brings her camera to family stuff when I forget mine!

my sweet neices, who actually behave for pictures and are always willing to give aunt kat a hug and a kiss.

grandparents and their love and patience with their grandkids- the kids are all sleeping over at my folks tonight...hope that goes ok! a pretty Thanksgiving table, ok every holiday and most sunday dinners actually look this good too!

and the woman responsible for so many nice things in my life and anyone else she comes in contact with. I love my mom.

Unfortunately, I don't have the great picture my sis took of my beloved hubby on the couch in his tryptophan-induced coma. I'm very thankful for him and the whole fam for that matter. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Beauty and the Beast

For young womens this week, our little class went to the LHS production of Beauty and the Beast to support our beloved Lexi, who was in the play. I was very impressed with it overall and Luke had a great time. He was a little scared of the beast, but once I reminded him it all ends ok, he didn't need me to cover his eyes anymore. After the play, he had to go meet all the characters particularly Lumiere, his most favorite!

I love our girls and it was so fun to spend the evening with them.

Lexi and Melissa - our new Laurel advisor - aka my partner in crime.

Luke and Lexi

"Her dress is really funny, mom!"

Luke actually preferred Gaston over the Beast.

He just couldn't get enough of "the candlestick guy!"

Fall Fotos

My mom did a cute activity with the grandkids last week. (Is it just me or should we start a fun grandparents' activities blog with my mom?) Anyway, she did a little talking about seasons and that it's fall right now and she gave the littles each a camera (Harry and Ivy shared) and told them to go outside and take pictures of things that we see in the fall.

Luke and Jade mostly took pictures of each other, but they did get some great images I'll have to get from my mom and post. Ivy, having used her mom's camera before, was an old pro and she and Harry did a great job sharing the camera. Harry needed to learn the basics and then he was off and running. Again, I will get those images and share some in a future post.

I thought it would be fun to just document all the cuties out on their quest. So here are some of my shots...

they had so much fun showing their shots off to each other getting the littles oriented... love this pose by jade...
"I taking a picture of the sky."

Reading and Giggles

My mom was reading with the boys the other day and Luke was making Harry giggle uncontrollably so I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the crazy little guys. I love these faces.

Gingerbread in October?

My mom gave us a kit for making a spooky gingerbread house so we took it down to her house one night to share the experience. I don't think I would ever take on half of these projects myself if it weren't for her orchestrating them! I'm just not that crafty on my own - but the boys had a ball decorating it and unlike their sweet cousins Jade and Ivy, whose house was a perfect replication of the one on the box, ours was, let's just say a little more its own thing. And the boys keep asking when they can eat it.

Corn Maze

Grandma and I have made it an annual event to take the littles to the corn maze and Pumpkinland at Vineyard Nursery. It's always fun and the kids even got a treat for finding the "secret room" in the maze. Here are a bunch of pictures.... it really is quite impossible to get all four to smile and look at the camera at the same time.

Murder Mystery Dinner

I never really finished all the Halloween posts so there will still be a few....bear with me.

Jon and I were invited to a neighbor's for a murder mystery party and we had a lot of fun. Neither of us were the killer, and actually we both accused the wrong guests, but it was nice to get to know some new friends.

Jon was Count DeBodies, a film star who plays vampires and always dresses the part and I, as you may remember from the fake photo, was Jaqueline Hyde, a famous photographer and supernatural investigator. I always wear green or camo so in my preggo state, I opted for the camo. My father-in-law was kind enough to lend me his air force fatigues, complete with the boots, for the full effect.

Yes, I had to take a picture of the table. I appreciate these things...

Pre-game fun.

Warning...

I'm trying to get caught up on pictures and blogging tonight, so here's the warning for the barrage of posts to come....