Bathtime!

George and I have the opportunity to visit Max everyday and the nurses always have us help take care of him. We change his diapers and take his temperature and yesterday we got to give him a bath. It's kind of nice because they teach you the best ways of doing it. Max really enjoyed his bath as long as he was staying warm. It was fun to clean him up and spend time with him.

Staying warm in the bath

Getting his hair styled

So clean!

"ahhh, I feel so clean and warm and toasty"

Early Christmas Surprise!

So last Wednesday I went to my doctor's appointment for my 36 week check, (I was only at 35 and 5 days). Everything was normal and the baby was breech, but the doctor wasn't too concerned about it. Then we had our weekly monitoring because my fluid had been low so they were watching it closely. George didn't have work so he was with me. The baby looked good and was active, but the fluid was way low. The nurse went to consult the doctor but said to us on her way out, "you may be having a baby today." She was a really nice nurse and had been watching me over the past weeks. I really liked her. Anyway, she came back and said, "OK go straight over to the hospital, we'll call and let them know you're on your way." George and I were shocked! The day had started out so typical and we had a bunch of errands we were going to run in preparation for the baby, whose due date was a month away. Nope, he was going to be here today. It was a surreal experience. We didn't have anything with us, not even a camera. George almost forgot how to get to the hospital. :) We went up to labor and delivery and they checked us in. The nurse got me all ready and within 3 hours of finding out we were having a baby that day, our little man was born. Maxwell Rollins Patterson was born at 12:58 pm. He was 4 lbs. 12 oz. and 18 inches long. I'm kind of relieved I had a C-section and it all happened so fast because I was way scared. George went with Maxwell to the NICU for them to check him. He had some breathing issues because he was 4 1/2 weeks early. They did bring him over for me to look at him, but I didn't get to hold him until the next day. His breathing issues quickly improved but he was still little and had to learn how to eat. He has been doing great and progressing, but will still be in the NICU until it clicks for him. He has been a little trooper. This experience has been such a crazy, yet amazing one. He is so precious and has brought our family a lot closer. He is still in the NICU, but I'll keep you posted. Our family has definitely benefitted from all of the prayers said in our behalf. Thank you.

Halloween!

So it turns out that I'm pretty lame as far as Halloween goes. I don't really start thinking of a costume until the night before I need one. The fact that I have a big old belly doesn't help the situation. George on the other hand, made a very impressive nerd :) His whole department dressed up as nerds. My favorite parts are the suspenders and the shirt coming out of the zipper.

Later on, we had a ward party and decided to both dress up like nerds. This is George's second nerd outfit. I really like the look on his face in this picture. He is so convincing :) We told people we were "mathaletes".

It was funny because our good friends, the Ellers, were dressed as nerds (aka Alfalfa's family) and I caught George and Brandon talking to Damian, who happened to be dressed as a star wars figure. It was perfect to see 2 nerds idolizing a star wars super hero :) I also love that we get a perfect shot of Seth's little Alfalfa hairdo.

32 weeks and going strong

32 weeks so far and I can't believe it! I feel great, besides the heartburn, and the baby just keeps getting bigger. George and I are so excited to finally meet this crazy kid!

This is George sticking out his "baby belly"

Sticking the belly out to where it should be. Everyone keeps telling me I'm so little for 32 weeks, which i guess is a good thing? I'm just glad I'm not huge and miserable yet :)

Week 29

This is pregnancy week 29! I am told that I am small, but that crazy little boy is still growing, don't worry. (Please ignore my big butt)

Funny Story

My good friend Jessica is getting married next week and so we had a bridal shower for her. I decided I was going to give her a "honeymoon essentials kit". It's a funny little gift that has cute little sayings to go along with it. It's fun. Anyway, so I was at the dollar store looking for items and was trying to find the pregnancy tests. I couldn't see them anywhere, so I asked the clerk, "Where do you guys keep your pregnancy tests". She stopped and looked at me over very seriously and said, "Don't you already know?" It was hilarious! Being 29 weeks along, I am very clearly pregnant so I can see why she would be confused. I told her it wasn't for me and everything turned out ok. It made for a funny story though :)

George's New York Artwork

So last March, George got to go to New York with UVU art people. He loved it and promised me he would take me there someday. As part of the trip, he had to create artwork inspired by New York. He made this piece by cutting out all the black part with an exacto-knife and then glued it to the glass and the color behind is another piece of paper. He is just good like that and it looks amazing! It is now hanging in the UVU library as part of the New York gallery! He's famous! We went to go see it the other night and noticed a small addition to his work. Well, to preface, George got the frame from the DI and sprayed it black and cleaned the glass. After turning it in, it sat in his teacher's office for a while. During that time, a teeny-tiny little bug snuck into the frame and died behind the glass. You can hardly even see it, but it was kind of a surprise! Luckily, the artwork is so amazing, no one will notice :)

Conference Weekend

Wow, what a great conference! I always feel so blessed to hear from our wonderful leaders. Another thing I love about it is the delicious food and being with all the crazy family! Usually we spend some time with both families, but George's fam was up at the cabin this weekend and we sadly couldn't join them :( We don't have TV so we decided to watch all of Sunday's sessions at my parents house instead of fight with the internet (we had a bad experience with it on Saturday). It was great to hang out and enjoy all the crazy company!

Andrew is paying close attention :)

Taylor loves George and always looks forward to seeing him. He doesn't care if I'm there or not.

Hannah is a good eater, she's especially good at cleaning up after people

Crazy boys

He is always so happy to see me :)

Where's Ben?

Putting the kids to work

Belly Picture

This belly shot is from a few weeks ago, but I thought i'd put it up anyway.

It's a boy!

I have done more blogging in this one day than I have in my whole life! It's kind of crazy! I figured I top off the night with some pictures of our more recent ultrasound!

Here's a top view showing his little arms

He was moving a lot, but he sort of let us take his picture. This is a picture of his face. I swear he was waving at us when we were looking at this view :)

Here are 2 strong legs. He'll be a soccer player of course!

This is obviously a little foot.

It's crazy what they can find in there with the right equipment. It's a good thing the sonographer knew what she was doing because everything basically looks the same. It was so fun to see our strong and wiggly little man!

Baby Shower!

My wonderful friend, Hayley, was nice enough to throw me a baby shower. It was a lot of fun to see old friends :) It felt funny having a baby shower at only 23 weeks because I still have a long way to go, but it was great!

Madison thought I was bigger than I really am, should I be offended?

What is there to say about this face?

I am so blessed to have such great friends! :)

Doctor George

George is going to be the cutest dad! He loves listening to our little guy, even though he usually only hears my dinner :) Our baby boy is starting to get a lot more active and it's fun to see George try to feel for his little kicks.

Freedom Parade with 97th Ward

We went to the Provo 4th of July Parade for the Freedom Festival with the 97th ward this year. Provo is funny and people get really excited about this parade. People camp out and go crazy! It's funny!

Lauren and Megan

Eller Family

Mustache

Guitar lessons!

George has been teaching me how to play the guitar this summer. It's pretty exciting as you can see :) I haven't gotten too good, but I'm getting the hang of it.

Babysitting Owen

I had the privilege of watching Heidi and Craig's son, Owen, the other day. We had lots of fun! He likes to drool and roll and smile :)

I'm sure going to miss this cute boy! And his parents I guess :)

STADIUM OF FIRE!

George's family was nice enough to invite us to go to the Stadium of Fire this year! It was amazing! Carrie Underwood was the main performer, but the 5 Browns and Jenny Oaks Baker performed as well. We had great seats on the Northwest end zone. It was a lot of fun! We were sad to be missing Cami and Katie :(

Molly had a good idea...take a picture through the binoculars. It actually turned out pretty good!