In The Zone

The help:

Mia

Grandma

For Connor's entire life--yes all of it--we have had help. But once Grandma left on Saturday we were on our own. No longer in a man-to-midget, but now playing the zone d.

While Mia was here we went to the Philadelphia Zoo and rode on a camel. This is something that I have wanted to do my entire life. Of course I think it would have been more exciting when I was younger. But hey it wasn't for me anyways, right?

While Grandma was here we went to the Linvilla Orchards and it was packed. We had gone there before, but not on a weekend and not when pumpkins were in such high demand. The funnel cake awesome, and evidently they have fried Oreos™ as well which I definitely want to try the next time we go--and yes I just used the ™ symbol.

Photoshoot with Grandma and the girls in their cute new dresses.

Welcome, baby Payne!

(K, so I realize this post is about 2 weeks late....sorry!)

Connor Briggs Payne is here!!

He was born Sept. 25th at 10:56 am, weighing 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20 inches.

He is beautiful! He is a blonde baby. If you look back at our past babies, they were both pretty dark. He has LOTS of hair! He is also very TINY! It is amazing how much difference a pound makes. Our girls were both about 8 1/2 lbs, and they were meaty! This little guy is just so tiny and skinny. It's a lot different, but he is so stinking cute I can't get enough of him and I miss him when he sleeps for long periods of time. He is such a great addition to our family!

The labor and delivery went well. I wont go into too much detail, but just the basics. I went into labor at 5 am. We called a friend to come watch the girls. We got to the hospital at 6:30. I wasn't really progressing much (I was at 2 cm and 70% effaced). They can't admit you until you are 3 cm, unless you decide to induce. So, I agreed and they started getting everything set up and ready. By the time everything was hooked up and I had the IV, the penicillin, and the epidural, I was finally at 3 cm. Yay!! So then they broke my water, and after about an hour I was ready to push. There were some complications with my blood pressure being low and the baby's heart rate dropping, and it was kinda scary, but it all worked itself out and after about 5 minutes of pushing, baby Connor was born! We love him so much and are so grateful that our Father in Heaven trusts us to raise another one of His children. Connor is such a sweet baby and I am so excited to watch him grow and see his personality blossom.

Bids on baby's appearance?

So, I am just about 2 weeks away from my due date. For the past 8 months I felt unprepared and not ready for this huge change...mostly because I knew we would be moving and living in chaos for a little while just before having this baby. Now that we have moved in to our new home, and I have a bed to put the baby in, all of his clothes in order, and everything else organized, I am completely ready (and anxious) for this little man to come. AND, unless we can agree on something else when we see him, most likely his name will be Connor. We are so excited and feel so blessed to bring him into our family.

There were some requests for belly pics, so Kyle did a little photo session with me. :) It's pretty great having a husband with that talent. These were taken 3 weeks away from my due date.

I really love this little guy already.

We also really love our new home and our new neighborhood. It is a suburb of Philly and the area we live in has sort of a "small town feel," but to an extent. We are so much closer to so many things than we used to be. We sort of moved to the other side of town from where we used to be. We really loved the area we were in, with the cobblestone road and fun little shops and things, but we are happy with the change too. We LOVE our house and the loads of space we now have, compared to our last place. Next post...pics of the house. OR....baby!!

Quick little update

So, we had an awesome time at the beach in Oxnard, Ca. It was nice to relax and just hang out, and have kids that would play with/babysit my children almost constantly! The weather wasn't exactly hot, or lukewarm, or even tepid...but more of a freezing chilly breeze on the beach every day. So much so that most of the time you didn't even want to take off the layers to get some sun. BUT....it was still fun and gorgeous and some people like my hubby put on wetsuits and had some boogy boarding and surfing fun. THEN, we came back, completely homeless, found out we are staying here in Philly, and started looking for a new home. wow. This year we have found place after place that have all been really very nice and appealing. If we were looking for a 2 bedroom place, we would be moved in by now, and even for lots cheaper than what we were paying last year. BUT, 3 bedroom places are kinda tricky. It is not easy to find one that is in our price range, in good shape, and in a good neighborhood. We did FIND ONE though!! We gave them our application today and hope to hear back from them asap, so we can stop looking. (I will let you know how that goes.) Lucky for us, I have a good friend in the ward that happened to have a completely empty basement that she is letting us stay in until we find a place. And she has a little boy that's a few months older than Maddie, which makes our down time easy too. Anyway, I am also 5 weeks away from delivering this little baby boy. holy moly. I am just grateful that the Lord is on our side and leading us and comforting us (and giving me energy) to get through all this craziness. Oh yeah, and Kyle starts school in 2 days!

But, we are all happy, healthy, and having fun along the way. The girls are growing up so fast and learning so much every day. Maddie can sing almost every song we have taught her, word for word. Hallee is already spelling quite a few 3 letter words, and can even read some. They are such good friends and give each other hugs and kisses all the time. And for this little baby boy...any name suggestions??? We can't seem to agree on anything...

And...since I don't like posts without pics, here is one of Hallee today that I caught on my phone...trying to be like daddy! :)

And one of Maddie from the beach trip

That's about it. Hopefully next time I blog it will be in our new home!

Waiting game

I seem to do the waiting game often. Waiting. waiting. waiting. Still waiting to hear from 3 more law schools. Getting ancy. Mostly because if we are staying here, we need to start looking for a place to live, here. AND....we have mice. On our countertops in the kitchen. So incredibly disgusting. Makes me want to vomit and never cook in my kitchen. I want to move out today. But then where would we go? We still have a month. blah. Let's just throw in the fact that I am 6 1/2 months pregnant. By the time we move, I will be 8 weeks away from having the baby. There's the whole packing, unpacking, moving, cleaning, decorating, setting up a place for the baby to sleep, getting things we need, like diapers etc. Oh yeah, and on top of it all, I am primary president. Lots of resposibilities and stress and work (and fun!). Very unsettling. But I know the Lord is on my side, and he will bless us and guide us. It's just a little scary. So......

wish me luck!

Stuff

So, we haven't had our computer for the last 2 weeks because somehow a penny found its way into the CD drive...so, they had to replace the CD drive, then they broke a video cable in order to get the penny out, then for some reason they had to replace the screen too...quite the process. Let's just say our 3 year old isn't quite ready to be unsupervised with the computer. :)

Since the last post...we have had lots of fun things going on. One big one is that Hallee turned 3!! We had a nice little BBQ to celebrate for Hallee and 2 other little girls, one having the same birthday as Hallee, and the other whose birthday was a few days later.

It was lots of fun and even my brothers and their families got to come celebrate too. Can I tell you how fun it is to have 2 of my 4 siblings living within a few hours drive? It's so fun! I love it! So, we had bbq hot dogs and we had lots of cupcakes for dessert.

I made some princess cupcakes for Hallee, and she had sparkle candles to blow out!

At this age, I think birthday parties are more for the parents than for the kids. Not gonna lie.

We also have had lots of changes in our ward. We had about 14 families move out because they graduated from (mostly dental) school. So, with all the changes, I was called as the Primary President. I am really excited to take on the challenge, but also humbled and nervous. Our ward isn't like any normal ward, and it's sort of hard to explain it, but it's a new challenge and I am excited!

Kyle's job has been quite interesting. He is interning for a criminal defense attorney, and he has had a fun project to work on, which could potentially change a law regarding expungement of criminal records. So, it's been a cool project and he has learned a lot. The problem with the job is that Kyle has done most of it from home, and he just went 2 weeks without even hearing from his boss...He was also supposed to pay Kyle during that 2 week period, yet he somehow went MIA. Kyle started looking for a new job, because this wasn't cutting it. Then, all of a sudden, he gets an email from the boss saying he sent the money and he has been out of town, and then got really depressed, and other weird things, and Kyle is meeting with him today, and who knows what he will say. SO...most of the reason why I explain all this is because Kyle has been home A LOT more than we ever expected, and he also got paid A LOT for really, not a lot of work...which is also cool.

Another little ditty regarding Kyle is that he has applied to transfer to about 5 different law schools. We are just waiting to hear back from them, and if he is accepted, then we will be moving in August. I know. It's so crazy and sort of up in the air. There is also a chance that we will just be here for the next 2 years too. I guess we will see. It's kind of stressful though, not knowing where we will be living or what we will be doing just next month. Nothing like living by the seat of your pants! That seems to be the way we do things. :)

Also since my last post, my grandpa passed away. He was my mom's stepdad, but her dad died when she was 6, and so he was around for most of her life. He was also my last living grandparent. Sadly, most of my grandparents passed away in the last few years. So, one minute they were all around, and I turn around and they have all passed away. It's different too since I have lived away from home for so long, because I never really saw them much, but just knowing they wont be there when I do go home is a strange feeling. I am just grateful for the knowledge I have of the plan of salvation and I know we can see them again.

Last of all...our little baby boy...growing perfectly happy and healthy in my tummy. I only have about 12 weeks left! That is so crazy! Then our little family will have a new special blessing. We still have no idea what to name him, we welcome suggestions. We are really so excited and so blessed to be able to have another little spirit in our home. Having a boy will be so much different but I know the girls will be great big sisters and he will be so loved! I am grateful that Heavenly Father trusts us to raise these sweet little children. Being a mommy is the best calling in life. It is so fulfilling, rewarding, exciting, surprising, frustrating at times, joyous most of the time, and fun! I love my little kiddos and wouldn't trade my job for anything in the world.

Touring Philly Part 1

Day 1:

Mia and Grandma Lund flew in on Grandma's birthday so within an hour of their arrival we were heading downtown to celebrate. We ate at FARMiCiA, a restaurant in the Independence Park area that specializes in fresh-local-organic deliciousness. They also had Hank's root beer which was a bonus since it is awesome-good.

We then went just around the corner on a ghost tour where a lady in a cloak led us with a lantern through the Independence Park and Society Hill areas and told us ghost legend mingled with history. Turns out Ben Franklin was somewhat of a ladies man (or horn dog, not sure which one exactly) and his ghost will still try to bump into unsuspecting cleaning ladies at Library Hall. Also there are 11,000+ people buried beneath Washington Square from the Revolutionary War. Makes for some great fertilizer, it's a very green area.

Day: 2

The next morning was kicked off by Riding the Duck. It's a tour on a bus that turns into a boat, so we learned about the city by both land and sea. We also got crazy quackers which the girls enjoyed--and us adults also. On the tour we went down South Street and the guide pointed out a cheesesteak place, I think Jim's, and said it was good. We later tried it out after Mia and Grandma had taken off, and it is the best place for cheesesteaks--fact.

After the Ducks we went to the Franklin Fountain. Probably one of the coolest ice cream parlors ever. One of the founders majored in history so they have recreated, using antique machinery and handmade ice cream, a parlor straight from 1905.

Close by was the Betsy Ross House. Cool history, hot and muggy house. It was not a hit for the prego wife needless to say. On the duck tour we learned that Betsy didn't even design the flag, she was the seamstress. Francis Hopkinson was the designer. That's a good little fact to know if you are on a duck tour and the tour guide asks if anyone thinks they know a lot about history and you raise your hand and he asks you who designed the first U.S. flag. So here's Mialooking at Betsy's grave and the Philly mascot also lives in the House's courtyard for some reason.

That night we were treated special by Grandma Lund taking us out to one of the top restaurants in the nation, Le Bec Fin. Now I have never eaten French before, and especially not at a place as classy as this, so I decided to be adventurous and try some exotic foods and go with the waiter's recommendations. Anyways my four course meal went like this:

Foi Gras. Translation: "fat liver." And not just any liver it was duck liver. Risky but oh so rewarding because it was delicious.

Hawaiian Opha. I don't usually like fish, but I'm telling you this chef knows how to cook and I enjoyed this.

Rabbit Tenderloin. Cute little bunnies taste pretty good.

Creme Brule. Ok this wasn't risky or new, but I couldn't pass up my favorite desert at a French restaurant where it is in it's element. The birthday celebration continued as Grandma got a little surprise from our server for her desert.

Check out some of the more professional pics from day 1 and day 2 here.