Okay, I know some people have been waiting for this post, so although its taken a few days, here I am. :)
Due to an ultrasound at 35 weeks that showed the possibility of a 9-10lb. baby, my doctor decided to induce at 39 weeks. Can I tell you how ecstatic I was? I have never, ever gone early and I was thrilled to go early this time. I kept hoping I would go on my own even earlier, but that was simply asking too much. So last Thursday morning we got up early, my parents arrived for baby-sitting duty and at 10:00 we got the word from the hospital to come on in. By 11:00 we were there, and by 12:00 I was hooked up to an IV. By 12:30 the doctor had checked me and broken my water (probably the most painful part of the day) and I was hooked up to pitocin. We spent the rest of the afternoon just waiting for bigger contractions, thinking any minute I would be far enough along to want an epidural. This process took quite a bit longer than we'd anticipated, mainly because of the low dosage of pitocin I was receiving. Finally I asked for the epidural (before I was feeling much pain, well, any real pain). It seemed that I was still feeling more contratctions than I ever had before, so after some checking and debating, I was given a new epidural, which worked wonders. Thank heavens for the epidural!!!! Anyway, since we were taking things slowly and it looked like it was going to be late before our little girl was born, my folks brought the kids by to see us before things really got going. It was so fun to see the kids and they really seemed to enjoy seeing us too. We sure missed them while we were in the hospital. They all got to climb up in the bed with me and snuggle for a minute and see all the cool contraptions, buttons and things that were all around me. After they left, it wasn't long before they finally said it was time to push. I was extremely numb from both epidurals, plus some pain medicine they'd given me in the time between deciding what to do about the ineffecutal first epidural. So I was having trouble feeling if my pushes were effective, but the nurse assured me it was fine. And within about 15 minutes or so, Logan Paige made her grand entrance into the world. She wasn't nearly the big baby that we thought she was going to be, weighing only 6lbs. 15oz. She's a cute, cute, cute baby. She's also so good with her eating and sleeping. Its still early, but we're cautiously optimistic that she's off to a good start. We're adjusting pretty well to a family of four kids. The older ones are totally in love with their new little sister. The biggest challenge we've had is having the kids take turns holding baby Paige. They all want to hold her all the time. It is very sweet. So basically, we're all healthy and happy and doing well. We're just enjoying the somewhat slower, quiter life that we get to enjoy for just a few weeks before "real" life kicks back in.
And could the post really be complete without a few picture of the newest addition to the family!!!
Holding my baby for the (almost) first time. She was wrapped up in so many blankets!!!! Oh, she is just so sweet!!!
The whole family. I think next time we might need to ask for a double bed. :)
The big sister with the little sister. Elise is so responsible. She is a GREAT help to me and to baby Paige. She's already proving to be a good baby-sittter.
And our little gentleman meets the newest girl he'll be looking out for for the next 20 years. He's so gentle and sweet with her. He loves to hug and kiss her.
And Merry Grace with her long-awaited little sister. She loves that baby and will hold her whether she's happy or fussy. It doesn't matter to her as long as she gets to love on her.
Elise is so good with Paige and loves her to pieces. We are so lucky we had Elise first. I don't know what we'd do without her.
Ian loves her too. He's fascinated by everything she does. He's also quite a bit gentler with her then he was with Merry Grace. I guess he really is getting older.
Yep, she's in love. And I mean in love. I think the feeling is mutual, though. :)
I had two incidents this week that convinced me of (at least) two things: that I haven't learned everything I need to know about being a mother yet and that I can be one crabby pregnant woman. One was a situation with Ian's continual learning process of wiping himself off. First, instead of just pooping, wiping, and being done, he got shaving cream out of the shower and passed the time by squirting it all over everything in sight. Then, once he finally got down to wiping he forgot to flush and stopped up the toilet well in advance of being done. Ick. I was frustrated enough at that point to overreact to the situation and fussed more than was needed. So once we got everything straightened out, cleaned up and back on track, I had to do a little apologizing. The second incident involved an empty bottle of body wash in the shower. More than once I've found a brand new bottle of something, mysteriously empty after only one or two uses. So when I saw this empty bottle in the shower, I jumped to conclusions and gave Elise a good "talkin' to", only to find out afterwards that I didn't have all the information and had to apologize again. Just like the kids are still learning and growing, I'm still learning how to be a mom. I've never done this before, so I make quite a few mistakes here and there. But maybe I'm learning along the way. :)
While my Dad, Cory and I worked on the Salsa from a little while back, my Mom entertained Merry Grace, who adores her "Gimmy". Merry Grace helped them both look fancy by sharing her set of new hair clips with Grammy. 
"Goo" was also a good entertainer for the kids during the salsa making. It sure is messy, but they LOVE playing with it. And its a cheap easy thing for them to do.
My brothers came down and spent a couple of weeks with me this summer. I'm surprised they wanted to put up with my crazy, grumpy, overboard-cleaning pregnant self, but they did. And we had a lot of fun. I don't have many pictures, but here is one of Logan. He was a lot of fun and a good sport. Without his masterful cleaning skills I don't where we would have been. I suppose that stack of paper plates would still be on the top shelf. (wink wink) 
We spent one last day at the beach this summer. It was a wonderful, picture-perfect day and we all had a great time. 
Merry Grace is just as big a beach bum as the rest of us.
And Elise. We found tons of those little sand critters, (we always call them sand fleas, but I'm not sure what the "official" name is) and had the best time playing with them. That's what's great about the beach--simple entertainment.
Uncle Adam was lots of fun on the trampoline. He's also the only one of my brothers who was interested in going to the beach with us. I think that may be what earned him the title "favorite uncle". :)
Here's the whole fam: my parents, our little family, Ethan & his girlfriend Lois (who we adore), Adam and Logan. Aren't we just too cute for words?
We may not be newlyweds anymore but we can still kiss. :) And the other two lovebirds, well, they seem to be managing fine as well. :)
We spent a day at the beach toward the end of the summer. On our way there, we stopped at a gas station and Cory bought the kids these lollipops. As if they weren't silly enough already. :)
I have definitely needed to catch up on some of the late summer happenings. So here's a start. Last weekend, my brother was headed back out west to school and took off on an early morning flight. So once the rest of us recovered from the horrific hour and complete lack of sleep, we began canning salsa. Just for the record, I have never canned anything in my life. I've always been intimidated by the process, always thinking I would do something wrong and poison my entire family. A big part of that is just not knowing how to do it. And there really are quite a few rules. :) But my folks are really good at it, so my Dad agreed to give me the full tutorial and so we began on the salsa.
So here is my dad & I in the kitchen doing lots of prep work. Mainly I worked with blanching, peeling and cutting up the tomatoes. My dad used his mixer attachment to grind up all the ingredients.
Cory was a big help too, cutting up onions, peppers and cilantro. Obviously, canning is not a one person job. At least if that one person is me. :)
And here is the salsa simmering on the stove. YUMMMMMM!!!! When all was said and done, we ended up with 12 quarts of salsa, which as good as we love it, isn't nearly enough. But it was fun to all work together, the salsa is truly delicious (did I mention we were already down a quart?) and I learned a few things I didn't know before. I'd say it was a success! :)
Well, I'm officially tired of being pregnant. I really don't like to complain about it because I'm grateful and blessed in so many ways. But I'm at the part where it really stinks. So there's my gripe for the day.
Speaking of pregnancy stuff, here are my funny stories from recently. We were cleaning up around the house one day and out of the blue Ian goes, "Mama, you're pretty fat, but I still love you." Then the other day at church Ian said, "What if baby Paige were growing in your knees instead of your tummy?" Then he just stopped and giggled as he thought about that. Then he said, "I'll bet your glad that she's not in your knees because they would just keep getting bigger and bigger and then everyone would laugh at you." I'd never ever thought about it before, but as uncomfortable as I am right now, I'm sure if she were in my knees it would be much worse. And yes, people might laugh at me. :) I also went to the store the other day with Cory and the lady who was ringing us up was asking about the pregnancy. Of course her first questions was "When are you due?" When I told her and she realized how much farther I had to go she said, in a surprised tone, "Oh....." and then she paused and then with some surprise mixed with realization said, "Oh my....." and finally again, this time with sympathy, "Oh." What can you say to that? Yes I'm pregnant, yes I'm huge, what can I do about it? But thanks for noticing!!!
Oh well, this happens every time. I'm a magnet for crazy comments. I guess I'm getting used to it. :)
Since this post has dealt quite a bit with Ian, I'll fill you in on a few of his antics. Did you know that if you poke a pop-tart with an ink pen it will make a perfect round hole in them? The pop-tart won't break in pieces, it will just be "holey". Did you know that if you try in on more than one pop-tart the same thing happens. No matter how many pop-tarts you poke, the same thing will happen. If you didn't know this, just ask Ian about it. He knows, because he tried it. And left is random pop-tarts laying around the house. Silly rascal. He also took apart the drains in the kitchen sink and then lost the pieces. We found the pieces for one of them, but somehow he managed to mess it up anyway and when we'd put it in the sink it would suction itself to the drain and we'd have to pry it out with a butter knife. And it didn't come up without a fight. He also used a whole thing of dental floss to booby-trap his room. It was wrapped from the bed to the rocking chair to the dresser, back to the bed, all over the dresser, over the closet and the nightstand, back to the dresser and over to the bed again. There was a lot of dental floss. A lot. It's just lucky that Cory and I found it. I just happened that Cory's parents were staying with us that night and Russell was supposed to be sleeping in Ian's room. I'm afraid the dental floss might have gotten the better of him.
They're little things, though, and I can laugh about them. I just wonder what in the world I'd do if there were more of him. :)
It has been a long day today for both Cory and I and tonight we are both worn out. A little bit ago, Cory came into the kitchen and gave me a big hug. We stood there for just a minute and Elise, sitting at the table sipping hot chocolate, said, "I hope when I get married I find a man as good as my Daddy."
That is one sweet girl, and one wonderful Daddy. All I can say to Elise's comment is "Amen".
Its hard to put a week's worth of experience into one tiny little post. But here's a valiant effort!
We spent last week cabin camping with Cory's family. This is our third annual trip with his parents and all his siblings and we had tons of fun. We did experience our first 100+ degree day (and a couple other close ones), we had three of us pregnant (another Camp Singletary first), and a few sicknesses or injuries. So it wasn't all smooth sailing, but we enjoy being together and the kids think it is the closest thing to Heaven on earth. :)
Here we are, just kicking the week off. As you can see, the cousins are already excited to be together!
There is tons of sand around camp, so for the boys (and sometimes the girls, too) this is the perfect playground.
Elise's favorite part of camp is playing with Emmy. A whole week of uninterrupted playdates and sleepovers is pretty much perfect for her!
We discovered that Merry Grace is quite the fearless little water bug. She loved being dunked, jumping, swimming, splashing--you name it, she loved it. She's definitely comfortable in the water. I just wish she had a little more "healthy respect" for it. :)
Another fun part of the week was our trip to Dairy Queen. Ian definitely enjoyed his dipped cone!
Each day we did a craft with the kids. We did beads, scrapbooking, and t-shirts. Here are my three kids painting flower pots.
There was always some mischief around camp. Here are Cory and Neal wrestling in the water. There were multiple water balloon incidents, a big mud fight, some ice water thrown into the shower, and several other odds and ends that kept everyone on their toes.
Some other highlights were chocolate fondue, the water park, Mormon Rook games, , bike riding, volleyball, and mainly just being together. All too soon the week came to and end and we were heading home.
Here are some of the kids on the last day, as we were packing up.
And a few more--just hanging out before saying "good-bye".
And a shot of some of the Camp Singletary Mischief Makers.
It was a great week, but it was nice to be back home, too. Now I need another vacation to recover from vacation. :)
The other night at dinner we had, among other things, garden peas (from a can) and fresh blueberries from Cory's dad. Unbeknownst to us, Elise picked a very green blueberry from the bowl and placed it in the bowl with the peas. As she later told us, "I didn't think anyone was going to get it, but I looked and I saw Daddy get it and I was like, 'YES!!!!'" And eat it he did, right along with a mouthful of peas. Elise was thrilled and we all got a kick out of her mischief. Obviously she's got a good dose of her Daddy in her. :)
We had a sleepover night before last with a couple of Elise's cousins. They had lots of fun together and played really well together. Elise needed desperately to catch up on the sleep she missed, but other than that we recovered nicely. :) Our biggest excitement came during the day when Uncle Neal had come over to pick up the shop vac that was sitting under the carport. All of a sudden I heard a commotion at the door as the girls had gone over to look out and see what was going on. I walked over to the door, only to see Neal killing a snake with a broom handle! Apparently it had been right there with the shop vac and he was nice enough to take care of it for us. When it was sufficiently decapitated, the girls all cheered that Uncle Neal was their hero and all afternoon Merry Grace talked about "Uncle Meal" and the "Big Nake". We weren't happy the snake was there but grateful its gone now!
And just for fun: Here's a little game I stole from my friend's blog. It's pretty fun. She got a better score than me, but I was still pretty proud. :)
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We spent most of last week camping with my family in Virginia. It was a lot of fun. Neither Elise nor Merry Grace has never been camping or slept in a tent, so this was all new for them. After lots of packing, lots of planning, and lots of anticipation, we finally made it to our home away from home for the better part of a week.
Here was our little campsite. Isn't it cute? My parents and brothers had the campsite next to us, so we were able to spend lots of time together. Our tent was really comfortable, especially with the air mattress we brought. It kept us warm on the two chilly nights we had and dry on the one night it rained. 
As we were going to bed the first night, we were talking about different things and Elise said, "My dream is to go to sleep and wake up to a hot breakfast. I think the girls should sleep in and Daddy should get up and cook for us." We just cracked up. True to Elise's dream, Cory (and my Dad) cooked us a hot breakfast every morning. I'm not sure the sleeping in thing worked too well, but we're not complaining.
The first full day there, we went to the lake in the morning. It was cooler that day, as it had rained the night before and the sky was still overcast. But as you can see from Ian's smile, it didn't damped our spirits.
We still managed to all get in the water, and thanks to my family, we had lots of fun water toys to use. Here is a rare picture of me and in a bathing suit to boot. :)
One of the best things about vacation is having lots of people to entertain and love the kids. Here Uncle Adam is gamely playing with the kids on the lake. Uncle Ethan and Uncle Logan joined in quite a bit, doing different things with them, from "super speeding" them in the water to a hundred other little things that made them laugh and keep them happy.
Here is Uncle Ethan playing the slap game. He enjoyed playing with the kids more than the adults because he could win easier that way. :) The kids didn't really mind, though. They just enjoyed playing.
We also took our dog, Max, on vacation with us. He got plenty of attention from the animal lovers in the group and enjoyed playing with his best friend, 8bol, who also came along on vacation with Uncle Logan.
The lake was one of the best parts of vacation, as my little crowd loves the water. Even the sand is fun, though. All the kids got better at swimming and Uncle Adam worked with Elise and Ian on holding their breath. Uncle Adam and Uncle Logan also spent quite a bit of time one day "throwing" the kids in the air and letting them cannonball or whatever into the water. I can't imagine how they had the strength or energy for it, but they seemed to hold up ok.
Ian was what Grammy called a water duck. He couldn't get enough of the water. He was under the water, splashing, playing and wearing himself out constantly. But he sure is a cute little guy.
I'm not sure Merry Grace would have survived this trip without Grammy, or "Gimmy" as she calls her. I can't even begin to put into words how much this little gal loves and adores her Gimmy. She wants to be held by Grammy, go where Grammy goes (even to the bathroom), ride in Grammy's car, and call Grammy on the phone--even if Grammy is 5 feet away! Here is the dynamic duo splashing in the water.
And thank goodness, too, that Papa knows how to fly an airplane. The only trouble is once he got Merry Grace up, he always had trouble getting her landing gear down.
We had really yummy food on this campout. Each morning and night we had a really good meal and even dessert. Smores night will go down in family history thanks to Ethan's creative, yet failed, attempts at new ways to cook smores. We had many a laugh that night. My dad also cooked a perfect peach cobbler one night in the dutch oven. Oh. My. Goodness. It was heavenly! This night we had hobo dinners cooked over the coals. We do have a few picky eaters who preferred hot dogs, but thankfully we'd come prepared.
Here is adorable Uncle Logan, the namesake of our new little girl on the way. (Her name will be Logan Paige, with us calling her Paige. Logan thinks its pretty cool to have someone named after him and we think he's pretty cool too.) Logan spent a good portion of this trip texting a girl he recently met at a youth activity. He even texted her on the lake while floating in the raft. Several people suggested that maybe this wasn't the best idea, and it was confirmed when the phone fell overboard, inches from shore. :) Logan must be more than cool, though, he must also be lucky, because the phone worked again really soon.
We had such a fun week. These pictures only tell part of the story, though, since I didn't always have my camera on me. We took a nice walk one night, played Mormon Rook another, made bead necklaces which seemed to be the biggest hit with my mom :), laughed, joked, told stories, and enjoyed being together. My legs are worn out from walking to the bath house (which was close behind our campsite, but up a steep hill). What a workout that was!!! It was just lots of fun and we made lots of memories together. Now we're already looking forward to next year!
