Pre-Halloween Festivities

Beautiful Rainbow Butterfly

Honey Bee

The lead up to Halloween this year has been intense. And we didn't even get to go to the Pumpkin Patch. E's school trip was rained out and I was going to take her one day this week, but she and Brandon brought a pumpkin home to me when the went to Lowe's together last weekend so that saved me the trip. (on a side note- she asked to go with him and she was still in her pajamas. So the two of them went to her room to get her dressed. I was feeding the baby, as usual. So of course she was stylin' for the trip to Lowe's in a brown summer skirt with tropical designs, purple t-shirt that reads "My uncle is a green beret" and pink plaid princess dress shoes. It was lovely. I am sad to say I did not get a picture as I was still on the couch with AM when they got back.)

Anyway- this week has been crazy. Monday and Tuesday I worked on her costume in between feedings and diaper changes.

Wednesday was ballet and then the Fall Festival at the church. It was great. So well organized and decorated. E had a great time playing all the games.

All the games were related to Bible stories and most of them were easy enough for E to do. At each game the kids collected "pumpkin bucks" that they cashed in at the end for prizes.

Thursday was the Halloween parade and trunk-or-treating at school . The games were still set up in the gym so they got to play some more. There was also the coolest bouncy house and cookie decorating.

Costume Parade

Trunk or Treating. Notice the cute bags that they painted.Cookie decorating- more icing was stuck to the table than any where else.

Class photo- aren't they cute. All the costumes were adorable. Out of 12 kids, there are only 4 girls- E was a butterfly and the others were a cheerleader, a fairy and a princess. And of the 8 boys, 3 were pirates this year.

Fishing Game with Ms. Tammy.

Today we had playgroup- Halloween style -at Barbara's house. More candy and cookies!! Barbara always has fun stuff planned. The girls each got to decorate a goody bag and then they trick or treated in the living room. We had a yummy picnic lunch of hot dogs and someone (me) made really good cookies. :)

All that and we haven't even trick-or-treated yet. Here is how I found Ellie this afternoon. She was in our room watching "The Great Pumpkin" and it got really quiet. Sure enough, she crashed.

More pics from actual trick-or-treating to come......

Hot Lava

The other day I got in trouble for "erupting" while Ellie was trying to tell a story. Today I did it again while she was singing to the baby.

I guess learning about manners and volcanoes at the same time is a little confusing.

Week 3

So, I haven't been very good about taking pictures. At least not as good as when E was first born. I will try to do better. Here are some of the ones I have gotten.



Ellie took this one this morning. Please ignore the dirty diaper and my leg sticking out of the picture. It almost looks like she's smiling.



Snuggling on the floor yesterday after school.

Sleeping in the big crib. She napped in there for hours yesterday. I wasted it on Facebook. (Melissa- notice her shirt.)

Snuggling in the big bed. You can see here that they have EXACTLY the same nose.

I think she looks like a rapper in this one. Yo Yo Yo!! Hilarious!

Trying to fill Daddy's shoes.

Granny came to visit last week and we had a great time. Here she is with her "great" hat ladies.

Ellie is still pretty infatuated with Ann Marie. She never gets tired of her and has not shown signs of being jealous or anything. Yet.

Two Weeks

Hard to believe she's been here for two weeks. And it's hard to remember when she wasn't here.

Settling In

Well, we're trying to anyway. This last week flew by! Ann Marie looks very different and is growing and getting stronger every day. She eats ALL the time and is sleeping well too. She can already lift her head up when you put her on your shoulder. In fact, you have to be careful that she doesn't fling herself all the way backwards. We stayed busy all week with normal stuff like the commissary and Dr. appts. and playgroup at the park and then this weekend Davis and Lori came to visit. We had a great time with them and even went to the Fun Factory to play Glow in the Dark Mini Golf. For those of you who know Davis, you know why I saved this for him to do with Ellie. She LOVED it. (and I'm pretty sure Davis did too). Today they left and so did my mom. I am a little worried about how thing will go now that she's gone. I know I can take care of E and AM, but whether everything else around here will get done is whole 'nother thing. I guess we'll see. Here are some pics of the fun we've had lately.



Halloween Craft Time

Playgroup at the Park

Big Sis/ Lil Sis
Uncle Davey and the Girls
Dave, Lori, Cooper and the Girls
GranJan and Ann Marie
Pretty in Polka Dots

Jammie Time

Ann Marie: Days 4-8

Here's some new pics of the girls. We've had a great week with my mom and have even ventured out in public a few times. I am not quite up to full speed yet, but I'm getting there. Ellie is still happy about being a big sister and wants to love all over Ann Marie all the time. We took her to the Dr. today for a 1 week check up and she is doing great. Eating like a champ and on her way back to birthweight. We go back again next week to check again. We have more company coming this weekend and next week to visit and help out. It's always a party in the House of Payne!


Pink Lady (Thanks for the Magic Quilt Miss Mary Ann)

Pajama Party Sisters Sleeping Angel (she's gotten much better at the whole sleeping thing)

Big sister making sure the bouncy seat was working right
She will actually sleep anywhere now- bouncy seat, car seat, someone's arms, pack-n-play, and the big crib.
First "bath" at home- she did not enjoy it.
Good morning time in the bed with Gran Jan

Who Needs Sleep?

3:30 am


4:30 am



and oh, the screaming......didn't you hear it?

She's Here!!

Welcome Ann Marie to the House of Payne!!!!

I think you will agree she is a cutie.

I got to the hospital Wednesday morning at 5 to be induced. Contractions started quickly, my water was broken at 9am and and I dilated to 3 cm in just a few hours. I got my epidural about 10:30 and things moved fairly quickly and smoothly until about 2 PM. At that point I was dilated to 5 cm. Unfortunately at 7PM I was still at 5cm and really tired. Ann Marie was also not as far down as she could've been. The doc gave me the option to wait a while and see if there was any progress, or to have a C-Section. I was so tired and the epidural had worn off on the right side twice. So we decided to opt for the C-Section. It was an interesting experience (read- my epidural wasn't quite strong enough and they had to give me Demorall which made me loopy and knocked me out for a while. ) Things moved quickly and she was born at 8:25 PM pink and healthy. Brandon was Daddy on Duty and took her to see Ellie and the grandmas and then on the to nursery to get cleaned up and checked out. Once I was awake, everyone came to the room and we took some pictures. She weighed 8 lbs 5 oz. and was 21 inches long. Not quite as big as they thought, but still bigger than Ellie. I'm not sure how much she weighs now, but she's eating and sleeping really well.

Ellie is very excited to be a big sister and wants to help with everything- except the poops and spit up. Both grandmas are here so they've been keeping her busy. We got home kind of late last night and are adjusting to every day life as a family of 4 (with visitors).