Baby Update

Almost 2 months ago we were blessed with the most perfect little boy. I've done a terrible job updating everyone on our new addition, but a lot has happened in our family. Gavin and I both had some complications during the delivery but we recovered quickly and were able to go home after a few days. Within 48 hours of being home I became really sick and was re-admitted to the hospital. I had an infection in my uterus and they had to take me back in for another operation. I was in the hospital for about a week and a half. Then I went home with an IV in and was on antibiotics and other medications for another 2 weeks. Its been a long slow recovery, and every time I felt like I was getting better I would start getting sick again. I'm finally starting to feel a lot better and I'm on, what I hope is, my last round of antibiotics...knock on wood!
In spite of all of the problems we are loving having our little GavMan, and we're just so grateful that at least he is healthy. He is such a sweet and patient little baby, which is nice because we constantly find little Annabelle laying on top of him. His sisters are both crazy about their new brother, but Annabelle is definitely the most hands on ;0)
We finally got some pictures of our little guy and his 2 cute sisters, so enjoy the photo album that follows.









I'm sorry about all the sideways pictures, apparently I'm still not quite smart enough to use our computer...GRRRR!

Our New Arrival!

On March 18th, 2011 at 10:30am; Gavin Buckley Maxfield joined our family. We are all thrilled to have him here, even Annabelle which was a definite concern of ours. The delivery didn't go as planned. I went in that morning to be induced and found out our little guy was not in the right position. So at 10am they took me in for a c-section. During the c-section they realized Gavin was to high, so in addition to the low horizontal incision they also had to make a vertical incision (upside down T). They were finally able to reach him but as they were pulling him out my uterus contracted around his head. The doctor had Gavin by his feet with all of him out except his head. Once they finally got him out he was blue and cold. Things were kind of scary for a little while. Brett went with him to the nursery to help. After they stitched me up they wheeled me back to the nursery to see him. He was hooked up to wires and tubes but they decided to let me hold him anyway. As soon as they laid him on my stomach he perked right up. The nurse was amazed at how his oxygen level went up and he started to pink up as soon as they handed him to me. I guess my little guy just needed his mommy.
While we were in the hospital the girls stayed with my parents and came to visit their new brother regularly. The both love Gavin so much.

We were so excited to take our cute little Gavin home with us. We feel blessed to have him in our family.

Big 5!

Our McKinley bug turned 5 years old this month. Its crazy to think I have a 5 year old, and even crazier to think she has only been part of our life for that long because I can't imagine life without her.
This year we did something kind of different for her birthday. Her past 2 birthday parties have been very girly princess parties, but this one definitely wasn't girly. This year Kinley wanted to have a "How to Train Your Dragon" party. Although most of her friends were girls and we gave out viking helmets, inflatable swords, and shields for party favors, it still looked like everyone had a good time.

The thing Kinley was most looking forward to was celebrating her birthday at school. On the day of your birthday at her Montessori you get to bring in a big poster with pictures of yourself to show the class. They also get to bring in a treat to share with the class and they have a special song sung to them.

A couple of months ago we hired a friend to come paint the girls room. We decided we weren't ready for Kinley to move to a downstairs bedroom yet, so we wanted to do something really fun for a room the girls could share once the baby comes.
This picture doesn't do the room or mural justice, so you'll just have to take my word for it when I say that their room turned out adorable. We got the girls new beds, bedding and a cute chandelier. I couldn't be happier with their new bedroom, and the girls love it which is the most important part.
Now I would love to show pictures of a finished nursery, but the nursery is not yet finished. We did get it all painted, and I love the color we chose, but we're still waiting for our baby furniture. Hopefully it will be here before the baby. I hate not having the nursery finished this close to my due date, but I know the baby won't care...just the obsessive mommy is freaking out.
We have 4 weeks to go before the baby is supposed to be here, and I have to say this has been my most difficult pregnancy yet. I can't wait to get our little guy here for many reasons, but mainly because I can't wait to meet him.

My Baby Turned 2!!!

I don't realize how quickly time moves until I start looking at pictures of my kids. They are growing up soooo fast....too fast! I swear we just celebrated Annabelles 1st birthday and now my baby is turning 2. This year we decided to throw a big party for Annabelle since we finally live near family, and she's never had a big party. We celebrated her birthday at Leos Place with our friends and family. She was able to play with her cousins, eat pizza (which is her favorite), and have ice cream cake. Annabelle recieved a lot of fun presents, but I think she was most excited about her new horses.
The actual night of her Birthday we had a little family party with the 4 of us. She was really excited about the rocking horse Mckinley gave her

Annabelle got her own set of all the princess barbies from Mommy and Daddy. We've learned the hard way that to keep peace in your house you buy your girls the same things. Now they both have all the princess barbies, which SHOULD relieve some toy tension.
And here is another picture of Annabelle eating her cake without her hands, utensils or manners. Poor little girl doesn't want to touch it because she is afraid she'll get her hands dirty, just another example of how my kids obsessive mother has warped them...sorry kids.
We leave Monday for our trip to Cancun with some of our friends. I'm soooo excited and nervous at the same time. Our girls always have so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa, but I'm terrified that we'll have our little guy try to make an early appearance while we're there. Now if all my kiddos will promise to behave I promise to come home a more relaxed version of myself...DEAL!?!

Merry Christmas

We enjoyed spending Christmas with family for the first time in 4 years. The weekend before Christmas we spent in Utah with Bretts family. His moms family has a big party every year and it was really fun for us to be able to attend it this year. We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out at the cabin, and we even took the kids sledding for the first time. While we were in Utah we took the kids to Temple Square, which we haven't been able to do in the past 4 years either.
On Christmas Eve we went to my brothers house and had a fun evening. We had yummy snacks, a gift exchange, acted out the nativity, and even had a special visit from the man in red.


It was a fun evening with family and Kinley was soooo excited that she got to be Mary in the nativity this year.
Christmas day involved even more family and presents, and I must say we all got kind of spoiled this year.


The girls got a trampoline from santa, some more barbies and horses, and they both got the walking dogs they really wanted. Brett got a new grill and some tools. However, I must have been the best this year because I really got spoiled. Santa brought me a diamond necklace and Brett gave me an Ipad.
As always the best part of Christmas was watching the girls open their presents Christmas morning, I love to see how excited they get. We also enjoyed being able to spend Christmas with family this year. What a wonderful time of year!

Halloween Fun

This has been such a busy Halloween month. We've had 3 Halloween parties, a school and ward carnival, trunk-or-treat, Boo at the Zoo, and of course trick-or-treating. By the time we went trick-or-treating on Halloween our kids were spent. We went to 5 houses and then Kinley asked if we could go home. I think its safe to say that we had enough Halloween fun to last us another year. We broke out all of the Halloween costumes and dress-ups so that we could wear different costumes for all of our events. It was fun dressing up the girls differently for each party, and it made for a lot of cute halloween pics.

Halloween Party #1




Boo at The Zoo was a blast, and we'll definitely be going again next year.





Halloween Party with Bradshaw Family




Trick-or-Treating


This is Kinley's friend Zach who went trick-or-treating with us. Apparently she plans on marrying him, which is fine with us...in 15-20 years.



What a fun month! Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. I saved my favorite pic for last. Its our little "Jo Dirt" wearing her daddy's mullet.
Happy November!