I AM SO...

FREAKED OUT RIGHT NOW!!!!

This is what I found on our kitchen floor last night.

No, not this exact one. I didn't take the time to grab my camera to get a picture before smashing the disgusting creature with a shoe. I walked into the kitchen last night to throw something away and almost stepped on it. The only reason it caught my attention is because the cat was stalking it so I looked down to see what she was playing with. It's so scary too because it was like a transparent brown color so it blended in perfectly with our tile. It's funny because bugs & spiders don't generally freak me out too bad, but this has me all out of sorts. I'm so scared for my kids who are on the floor a lot (well not Urban so much yet, but soon). I totally have the heebie jeebies now. I can't walk on the floor without looking down to make sure I'm not about to step on one. YUCK, I AM SO GROSSED OUT!!!

PUMPKIN PATCH

Yesterday we took the kids (it's so weird to say kids...plural) to a pumpkin patch so Addison could pick out her pumpkin. I was a little nervous at first to take Urban out to a dirty ole' pumpkin patch since I'm a paranoid mom and he really hasn't been out much yet other than to the doctor's office, but it ended up being a lot of fun. It's a little different the second time around because I can't just lock myself up in my house like I did with Addison since I still have to keep life as normal as possible for her. And what's Halloween without a pumpkin patch? Anyway, I'm so glad we went, it was such a cute little pumpkin farm. Man was it warm though! It's still in the 90's here so we cut the visit a little short as we were all sweating, including poor Urban. I did manage to get some cute pictures though and Addison picked out the perfect pumpkin. I'll post pictures after we carve them. It will probably be tomorrow night for family home evening (I know, I know we're getting a bit of a late start).

Here's Addison happy as can be sitting with all the pumpkins.

Here she is again trying to pick up her pumpkin. It was so cute watching her actually try to pick it up. She was grunting and groaning and making all sorts of faces.
Urban slept through the whole ordeal, but I'm sure he still had fun. How could you not enjoy a pumpkin patch right?

Here's Jared with the kiddos. I was bummed because we kept having to take separate pictures but then we met this super nice couple who offered to take a picture of our whole family if we would do the same for them. So here it is below, I finally got my family shot. Not the greatest, but it will do. Addison was DONE with pictures at this point and apparently from the looks of things I forgot how to hold my baby! =) (doesn't he look super uncomfortable?) Don't worry, I'm not this horrible of a mom ALL of the time...I hope.

FAMILY GATHERING

Over the past week and a half Jared has had family here visiting from all over the place. It was so much fun to see everyone. I met some family members who I had not met before and it was so great getting to know them better. I was not able to visit with everyone as much as I would have liked as things have been hectic around here with a new baby and I didn't want to take him out of the house much yet. Unfortunately this also means that I didn't get as many pictures of everybody as I wanted. But we were able to spend some good times together. Jared's grandparents came down from Alaska and got to meet Addison and Urban for the first time. It worked out well that Urban ended up coming early because that way everybody got to see him while they were here. Grandpa Frank Urban is one of the grandpas that Urban was named after. He and Grandma Kathy are such wonderful people, we just love them! Grandpa is also a patriarch so he was able to give Jared, his sister Julie and our nephew Michael their patriarchal blessings while he was here. It was really special for Jared to receive his blessing from his grandfather. We're so glad they were able to come visit. Jared's Aunt Peggy came to visit from Florida. I had never met her before but she is so much fun! I wish I could have spent more time with her. Jared's oldest brother Ron came down from Portland and another brother Ike from Texas with his wife Amber and two of their boys Jaden and Ian. It was really nice to have so much family around. They are all really wonderful people and it's so much fun to watch them get together and have a good time.

To the right is great grandpa & great grandma with Urban, below they also have Addison. There is also a four generation picture with Great Grandpa Frank, Dianna (Jared's mom), Jared and Addison & Urban.





To the right is Urban with cousin Jenna holding him and above is Grandma Estes with Urban. Below is Grandpa Estes and Aunt Amber holding Urban and Jared's brother Ron with nephew Ian.

SUPER PARENTS TO THE RESCUE!

I LOVE my parents, they are so awesome! They are always here for me when I need them and always have been. The day we found out I was having Urban (which was quite a surprise to all of us) they just jumped in their truck and headed the 4 or 5 hours to our house. It means so much that they dropped everything so they could be here to see their newest grandchild. It was so wonderful to have them here, they were such a HUGE help. My dad was here from Sunday thru Tuesday then went home to take care of their animals and stuff then came back on Saturday to get my mom because she stayed the whole week. I was in the hospital until Wednesday and it was such a relief knowing that they were there to take care of Addison while Jared went to work and school. They did a ton of stuff while they were here. I wasn't prepared for the little guy and while I had most things I needed there were still a few things missing and his nursery was in shambles! Well, my mom ran out and got all the remaining items we needed and helped to organize and put things away. She also fixed up the car seat (it had some pink on it from Addison so she covered it up and it looks great). She also managed to whip up some cute new decorations for Addison's room. She did a million other things while she was here too like cook & clean, get her own work done on her computer and drive us back and forth to doctor's appointments. I still can't figure out how she did it all! The most important thing both of my parents did though was make Addison feel extremely special the entire time they were here. The main thing I worried about with having another child is making sure Addison did not feel left out since babies are SO time consuming. Bapa and Bama made sure that did not happen. They took her out to eat, took her shopping, played with her, read her books, watched Diego and Lady and the Tramp over & over & over again (I think they both have those movies memorized now!). Addison loved it and she was so sad to see them go. The first morning after they left when she woke up the first thing she did was ask for bama and bapa and she seemed so sad that they weren't there. She kept looking around the house hoping to find them somewhere. I am SO GRATEFUL that they were there that week to help us out and to focus so much time and attention on Addison, as she is having a bit of a hard time adjusting to our new addition and this helped out so much and made things easier on all of us. Thank you mom and dad, I will never be able to fully express my gratitude. WE LOVE YOU!!!

BUILD A BEAR

We wanted to do something special with Addison before baby brother came along so we took her to "Build-A-Bear". It was so fun watching her customize her little friend. First she looked at the wall to see all the stuffed animals she could pick to make and of course, you guessed it, she picked a puppy! It was too cute though because the little girl ahead of her picked the same puppy so they both thought that was pretty special.

Here she is putting the heart inside of her puppy to bring her to life.

Then she got to give her a bath and brush her hair.

Next she got to pick out an outfit and help get her puppy dressed. They had so many cute clothes to choose from. Addison picked a pink outfit with sequins and little purple bows for her hair.

Here's Addison holding up the finished product. We named her Glitter and Addison just loves her. She takes her puppy to bed with her every night. I'm so glad we got to go do this, it was a lot of fun. We're going to take her back sometime soon and have her make one for her baby brother.

ANNOUNCING...

The birth of

Urban Claude Estes!

Urban Claude was born on Sunday, September 30 at 11:24 a.m.

He was 6 lbs. 6 oz. and 21 inches long.

He came to us a little early as his due date was not until October 27 and I had a planned c-section scheduled for October 17th, but he was ready! He is healthy, beautiful and absolutely perfect. We are so blessed to have 2 wonderful children. Urban and I came home from the hospital on Wednesday October 3rd and are doing just fine. By the way, for those of you who don't know, his name comes from Jared's grandfather's middle name and my grandfather's middle name. Our grandpas are two amazing men and we're honored to name our son after them.

Sorry this post came so late, I've been having trouble downloading pictures onto blogger. I have a TON of catch up to do that I will try to get done little by little so keep checking back. Thanks to everyone for all of your love and support during my pregnancy. We love you all and can't wait for everyone to be able to see little Urban Claude.