A Very Morrey Christmas

Jonas had his two month birthday on December 23. He's growing so fast and now smiling and cooing (though we haven't yet been able to capture his smile in a picture).  Here are the statistics from his two-month checkup:

Height: 23 inches

Weight: 10 lb 15 oz

This year we had our first Christmas Party in our new ward. This was the most elaborate Christmas party we've ever been to. They turned the gym into a bazaar from Bethlehem, and had everyone come dressed up in garb from the era.  We were asked to be Mary and Joseph, and Jonas was the baby Jesus.  The story of the Nativity was told, primary children sang Christmas songs (Brooklyn and Ethan forgot that they were supposed to go up and sing), and we got to get up on stage, and put our little newborn in a manger while everyone sang Silent Night. It was a special moment. 

Jonas

One of the perks of having a baby at the end of the year is having a chance of being asked to participate in this special role. Jonas got to follow in his big sister's footprints from five years ago. 

Brooklyn

Fast forward to Christmas Eve....
The stockings were hung,

 The cookies were set out for Santa

And the children had visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads. Ethan ran out of his room after about ten minutes of staring out at the night sky from his bedroom window, and excitedly exclaimed "I saw saw Santa!" We said "Wow! You'd better get back in bed!" and he was back in bed, as quick as a flash.

Santa decided we were on the "nice list," despite some last minute struggles to get the kids to clean their rooms...

He ate his cookies and drank his milk.

When the kids woke up the next morning, they found a note from Santa by the cookies he had devoured.

Then it was time to open presents.  Brooklyn led the way to the Christmas tree, with Ethan following close behind.

Ethan got his Disney Infinity game that he's been asking for for months.  We weren't going to get it for him because of the $75 price tag, but when Jen found it for $13 due to a walmart.com price mistake, she had to jump on it.

Brooklyn was so happy to get her "bath baby," the only thing she really had her heart set on.  Her reaction here was only slightly more excited than when she opened the box of Kraft Mac & Cheese she found in her stocking earlier that morning.

The kids were both excited to open the gifts they got for on another.

Jonas quietly observed all of the excitement from the corner. He was really good - we couldn't ask for a more content baby.

 Brooklyn was super-excited to give this drawing she made of our family to Dad.  He's going to hang it up at work.

Here's the aftermath of the morning.  Ten bonus points to the first one to spot Jonas.

On Christmas afternoon, Kyle's parents reserved the Beaver Creek Lodge near Beaver Mountain ski resort in Logan Canyon. We went up and had a great time with Kyle's parents and siblings.  The next day, we went skiing at Beaver Mountain.  We took Ethan skiing for his first time, and had a lot of fun. He was ready to go home after two hours, but he could already get on and off of the surface ski lift (kind of like a conveyor belt) by himself, and one time he even made it a good quarter of the way down the hill without any help. Now he just needs to learn how to stop and turn, and he's set.

Our Busiest Time of the Year

This is the busiest time of the year in our household. There's something every week - Jonas' birthday, Halloween, Jen's birthday, Brooklyn's birthday, our Anniversary, and Thanksgiving.  Needless to say, we have a lot of ice cream in our freezer right now.

Halloween was fun. Kyle took Ethan and Brooklyn trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood.  Jen got to stay home and meet all the trick-or-treaters who came by.

Jonas was a pea pod.  For many years Jen has thought it would be cute to dress one of her babies as a pea pod.  She bought this costume years ago, hoping someday we'd have a newborn to dress in it. Thanks, Jonas, for helping Jen cross this off her bucket list.

Ethan has wanted to be Luigi since spring-time.  Brooklyn wanted to be Darth Maul for about as long.  After a lot of work trying to convince her otherwise, she finally changed her mind and decided to be a butterfly. What changed her mind, you might ask?  She was worried that being Darth Maul would scare the baby.  

What kid hasn't done this after coming back from a productive night of trick-or-treating?

One evening, the kids dressed up as Buzz and Woody from Toy Story.  For the entire night, they pretended to be the characters. Whenever they noticed us looking at them, they'd collapse on the floor, like a pair of lifeless toys. Kyle overheard Ethan instructing Brooklyn how to smile like Buzz when she was a toy.    

Jen had her birthday on November 2.  It was the third anniversary of her 29th birthday.  We had a delicious cake we found on pinterest with layers of brownie, coconut pudding, chocolate mousse, whipped cream and toasted coconut on top. It was awesome.

Jonas' umbilical cord fell of when he was 12 days old.  This happened to be on a Monday, so for Family Home Evening, we gave him his first bath at home.  The kids were so excited all day to see their baby brother get his bath.  

One random day when Kyle had the camera, Brooklyn put on a happy banana face... 

...and a sad banana face.

One evening, Brooklyn was rude to Jen.  She refused to say sorry, and Kyle refused to tuck her in her bed until she did. She is a stubborn little girl. She sat at the top of the stairs waiting for us to change our minds.  We ignored her until she fell asleep.  We're not looking forward to teenage Brooklyn. (Please note that the coloring in this photo is off. Our walls aren't that greenish yellow color :)

Brooklyn had her fifth birthday on November 12.  We had a little party at home, where she opened her birthday presents. She can be a real sweetheart - she knew that Ethan would love to help open presents, so she said they could open them together.  Her favorite present was the Crayola Marker Maker. It is a kit for mixing your own marker colors. She needs a little bit of help with it, but it has been a lot of fun.

We had a family party on her on her birthday, and a friend party on the following Saturday. Brooklyn wanted a rainbow butterfly cake for her birthday. Jen compromised and kept her cakes pretty simple this year (thanks to the demands of a newborn) and made a rainbow cake on her birthday, and a butterfly cake for her friends. Jen was going to make the rainbow cake a bit differently, but Brooklyn picked at the cake while it was cooling so it became a half circle cake. Luckily, Brooklyn still thought this was "the best birthday ever."

At her friend party, we had all kinds of butterfly related activities.  We started off with a craft where the girls made butterflies using coffee filters and Crayola markers.  

Then we played pin the butterfly on the flower.

...followed by breaking the (homemade) butterfly pinata...  

Then we opened presents, ate cake, and played some games. It was a great opportunity to get to know some of the girls in our neighborhood.  We're really looking forward to all the friends Brooklyn will have.

This month, we celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary.  We had a simple celebration at home, involving chocolate fondue and lots of other goodies. 

Yesterday was Jonas' one month birthday. He has been a wonderful baby. He doesn't cry very much has been so much fun to snuggle and hold. Sadly, he lost quite a bit of weight after we came home from the hospital. He hasn't been very good at nursing so Jen has had to pump and bottle feed him for the last two weeks. Since doing so, he has been gaining about 2 ounces a day. He is our first baby to be willing to take a bottle, so we are enjoying the freedom that it provides. We hope he will get better at nursing as he gets older, but for now we are glad he is finally growing. We expect that his newborn clothes won't fit him too much longer. He currently weighs about 8 lbs 6 oz.

For those of you who are curious, here's how the rest of us looked when we were babies. Who do you think Jonas looks the most like?

New Arrival

At Jen's last two doctors appointments, she was dilated to a 3, the baby was at a -1 station, and she was 75% effaced. As a result, we sent our kids up to Grandma Morrey's house the day that Ethan went off-track (thank goodness for year round school).  Just about every night for the next week, Jen had false labor pains, and there were a number of times when we almost decided to go to the hospital.  But, the pains always went away, so we kept on waiting.

We had an induction scheduled for October 23.  We called the the hospital the night before, and asked if they would be able to take us.  They told us that they had made an appointment at 8:30, but to call back at 7:30 the next morning to make sure it was still OK. When we called at 7:30, they told us they were too busy, and to call back at 10:00. When we called at 10:00, they told us to call back at 12:00.  When we called at 12:00, they said it would be all right for use to come in at 1:00.  It was nice to drive to the hospital without being in labor.

We got checked in, and they hooked Jen up. When they checked their progress, she was still dilated to a three.  One of the reasons that we decided to do an induction was that Jen tested positive for Group B Strep, and had to receive some antibiotics at least four hours before the birth to protect the baby.  She got the antibiotic, and at the same time started the Pitocin to induce labor. Within a couple of minutes, the contractions started.  They never were very painful.  The nurses kept checking her progress, and increasing the pitocin because she wasn't progressing very far.  They were going to break her water to speed things up. At that time, Jen decided to get her epidural.  This is always the scariest part of labor for Jen.  It worked really well. Jen felt like she was cheating a little bit.

At about 5:30-6:00 pm, they checked Jen's progress, and she hadn't progressed beyond 3+.  We started to get worried that they'd want to do a c-section because things weren't progressing fast enough. The nurses assured us that we didn't need to worry yet.
Shortly before 7:00, the nurses suggested having Jen lay on her stomach, because sometimes that will help move things along.  Within a minute of moving to her stomach, Jen got the urge to push.  She told the nurses, and they helped her roll back onto her back to check her. Sure enough, she was fully dilated, and it was time for the baby to come.

The doctor was in the room within a few minutes, and after five to ten minutes of pushing, the baby was born at 7:16 pm.

This was a really good hospital experience. Very little pain through the labor process, a very well placed epidural, and an easier recovery than with the other two kids made this the best delivery yet.

Probably the hardest part of the whole process was choosing a name.  We had it narrowed down to three names, but it wasn't until the night before we had to leave that we made our final decision.

And now, without further ado, we are proud to announce the birth of
Jonas Russell Morrey
Birth Date: October 23, 2013
Birth Time: 7:16 pm
Weight: 7 lbs 4 oz
Length: 21 inches
Duration of labor: about 5 1/2 hours

When Grandma Morrey heard that Jen was pushing, she gathered the kids together, and started the two hour drive to Salt Lake.  Around 9:30 pm, the kids came in to meet their new brother.  We could see the excitement in both kids eyes. Ethan looked at him, but didn't want to hold him. Brooklyn was eager to hold her new baby brother.  

At about 2:00 that morning, it was time for Jonas' first bath.

The next day, we had fun trying on a few of the different hats Jen had made for him.

 After two days in the hospital, it was time to come home

We are in love with him, and are happy to have him in our family.