Megan's 27

There are probably studies that have been done that show not a single person in the south eastern region of Pennsylvania has remembered their 27th birthday, even the day after. With this birthday being so insignificant it didn't matter that i would be at school all day, and taking Megan out to dinner on Saturday was good enough. But I love Megan and she is the most significant thing in my life. So any day that celebrates her birth is a big deal and classes need to be blown off. The girls and I let Megan sleep in until 8:30--that's right 8:30--while we decorated the house with some balloons and made blueberry pancakes and a smoothie.
After the breakfast in bed we got our work out on, and we'd need it for what lied ahead. Birthday lunch was at BBP and where some of the most delicious things imaginable were stuffed into our bocas.

After the burgers put us into a hibernation we woke up to be fed some more yummy food brought over by a friend. To cap the evening off we went bowling, and let Megan win because I'm thoughtful like that, and then got some DQ on the way home. I hope that Megan has the best 27th year ever, she deserves it.

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Here's some more fun fall photos of the girls.

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!!