Life's a mess, a wonderful mess!

A LOT has happened since the last time I updated the blog. I wish I had time to update every week, we're just learning how to manage our time efficiently. I have a lot of pictures to update you with, so here we go...

First, we had Halloween - We took a few trips to the Children's Museum for the haunted house, and then there was Halloween night.

McKinley and I on Halloween night, we bundled all up and sat on the porch to hand out candy. She is our little mouse, so her costume was fitting. :)

Cousin Ashlynn & McKinley in their Halloween costumes! Ashlynn is a penguin, and McKinley was a mouse. They were so cute together! They won a costume contest at the church Halloween party for the cutest costumes!

So tired!

Ashley and I took the girls to the Halloween festival on the east side of Indy. We had a lot of fun, and the girls enjoyed it too. It was really cold that day, but the strollers made it easy, and we had one heck of a time getting them into the trunk of my Honda Civic!

One day we took the girls to the Children's Museum for the haunted house, and while we were there we rode the merry go round. The guys tagged along too, hence the picture... :)

Ashley and I decided what we would be for Halloween!!! Haha!

Jared and I finally got McKinley one of those Bumbo seats to sit in. She was starting to get a flat spot on the back of her head (Apparently I hold her too much). But she is getting really good neck strength, and is sitting up really well on her own.

She constantly plays with her tongue. "Mom, look!"

Those blue eyes make me so happy.

Okay, so I have gotten a lot of flack for this but it's okay. We gave McKinley a vanilla wafer and she loved it. She liked it so much that when I took it away (because it was all soggy!) she screamed at me.

Vanilla Wafer all over that sweet little face.

These girls are best friends forever! It's so wonderful how close in age they are.

Okay, my cousin Jenny made these adorable headbands, and sent them with my Aunt & Uncle when they came to visit to test them out on the girls. They had a few flaws (the Flowers were too big) but they were still so cute I had to get a few pictures to send back with them. My Aunt, Uncle, & grandparents came out on the 18th and it has been a blast. My aunt and uncle left on the 24th, and my grandparents just headed home today.

Let me know which one is your favorite - I'm thinking about doing one of those Anne Geddes photo shoots. :)

I think McKinley liked the yellow one the best.

Here she is again, enjoying the yellow.

Oh, and did I mention she made a hat one too?? Very funny, but extremely cute.

While our family was in town, we all went up to Chicago and spent a couple of days playing. We went up and down the magnificent mile and saw all of the Christmas lights. We were there when they had their parade and lit all of the shop windows. Unfortunately, it was jam packed and we couldn't watch from the street. Thankfully our room was on the mile so we could look out the window and see the end of the parade and fireworks.

The girls all bundled up as we walk up and down the strip.

All of the girls went bra shopping while we were there (everyone but Jared came to Chicago) and the boys got tired of waiting with the babies.

The girls and I after walking ALL the way back to our room during the parade. I was SO tired!!!!

Once we got back to Indy, we had McKinley's baby blessing. These were all of the friends and family that were there to support us! From Left to right, My mom, my grandma, my grandpa, My uncle, Me, my Aunt, Jared, Ashley, Chris, Jared's friends Justin & Spencer, and my dad.

Our little family! (Time to start P90X!) We waited until Nov. to 23 to do McKinley's baby blessing so that our family could be here for it. It was so beautiful! (I made her dress, and it was so dang cute & the perfect size!!)

Last but not least, this past Friday Ashley, the boys, & I took the girls downtown for the Christmas tree lighting.

We had a lot of fun, and so did the babies. They were snug and warm against their mommy's so they slept most of the time.

Our little family at the lighting!

Ashley, Chris, & Ashlynn at the Christmas tree!

We've had a lot of fun these past three months. So much has happened and life feels like it's just flying. Jared is now working at the store in Noblesville so our lives have gotten much easier. He only has a short drive to work and home so we're getting to see him more often. My business has been going well too. We're working off of referrals now, so things are going smoothly.

Matt's mission in Czech has kept us on our toes. We don't hear from him nearly as often as we would like, so every time we get a letter it's such a relief. We found out today that he only gets his mail every 9 weeks, so it makes sense now why we wasn't answering our questions. :) We miss him terribly, and can't wait for him to meet his new niece, but we're glad he's serving the Lord.

Well, Jared is calling me for dinner so I had better go. Hopefully this is enough to keep you entertained for a few more days. We hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!!! Love you all!

McKinley Addison Peyton!

Hello again everyone!

I've been meaning to get on the Blog for two weeks now and Blog about the birth of our baby girl, but it seems like she does a good job of keeping me from it. So, I begin this post with an apology to my readers... It's via email so i'm not sure if I will be able to add pictures or not, and my spelling may be incorrect since i'm blogging in a hurry (please don't wake up McKinley!).

Let me go back to two weeks before she was born...

I have the best doctors in the entire world. There are four of them and they rotate so that you eventually get each one of them at an appointment. They do it that way so that you're comfortable with everyone so when you go into labor, whoever is on call will deliver you. I think that's a nice way to do things. I had a particular trust in one of the doctors, his name is Dr. Teter. Towards the end of my pregnancy, I would schedule my appointments when I knew he would be at the office so that I would get him. He's an older gentleman in his mid 60's, white hair, glasses... totally on his game. I think he's probably one of the smartest people I know, and has a wicked sense of humor. The first time I introduced him to Jared, he said 'I won't tell you that you're the third guy she's brought in here and introduced as her husband.' And at a later appointment he told Jared that 'I usually put in an extra stitch or two for the fathers when i'm cleaning the wives up after delivery.' He sounds a little cruel, but he's actually really light hearted and very funny. Anyway, my last several appointments at the office would be with Dr. Teter.

Throughout my pregnancy they had been concerned with my high blood pressure. It had been high prior to getting pregnant, but then it had steadily gotten worse with the passing months. Apparently, your body responds to high blood pressure by putting you into labor. It's as if your body is saying, okay it's time for this kid to come out! At my September 3rd appointment Dr. Teter had decided that if I didn't have her on my own over the weekend, we would talk about inducing at my next appointment a few days later. I tried all weekend long to get her out of me. Lunges, deep knee bends, stairs, walking.... nothing, she wasn't coming out. I even tried to have a false alarm and went to the hospital (I was having contractions, but they were tiny). They discharged us of course, and then our car battery died in the parking lot.
Finally, Tuesday rolled around and we had another Dr. appointment. He took my blood pressure and again hooked me up to the NST machine to check the baby's heart rate. My blood pressure was elevated (and I wasn't feeling well) and McKinley was okay but her heart rate was a little faster. He told us to go to the hospital, and have some labs done and to wait for the results. He would see us when we got there, and if my labs came back deteriorating then he would induce me right away. Otherwise we would wait a few more days and schedule it.

A trip to the hospital, and 2 hours later, we were headed home. We were told to report back to the hospital on Thursday, September 10th at 6:30am. Woo hoo! We were gonna have a baby! (her original due date was 9.21)

THE BIG DAY!!

09.10.09 6:30 am

We were late getting to the hospital because I made jared stop at McDonalds and get me an OJ. They screwed up our order and didn't even give me the OJ, which was probably better anyway. The nurse that we had gotten to know at the hospital would be coming on duty at 7am, and she would be with me throughout the day. Her name was Mary, and she was very nice, and we had gotten to know her pretty well over the past month or so. Once we got there, I changed and hoped in bed, and they hooked me up to the IV. (It took 3 tries because I was so swollen they couldn't find a vein.) Around 7am, they came in and started me on the Pitocin to get my labor started. Around 11am they broke my water and I started to feel some light contractions. I was determined to wait as long as possible to get the epidural, because I had heard that it slowed down delivery and could possibly result in C-Section. Finally, around 1 o'clock, I told Mary that she had better get the anethesiologist in there pronto- my contractions had gotten bad. They can administer pitocin in doses up to the number 20, and I was only on a 6, so my body was really ready for her to come. They backed off my pitocin but the contractions continued. An hour later the anethesiologist showed up to give me the epidural and I could hardly sit still to have it put in. They kept saying, be as still as possible... Between breathing and clinching through contractions, I was miserable, and could barely sit still for a minute at a time. She started to put in the needle and my leg jerked uncontrollably! I leaked a little spinal fluid and then she had to start all over. It was awful. Let me tell you though, 30 minutes later I was in heaven.
We just chilled and watched TV and played on Facebook for the next few hours.

Around 6PM Dr Teter came in to visit. I was feeling my contractions again and I wanted more drugs. He checked me and said that everything was progressing nicely, but that he wanted McKinley to be further down before we started pushing. Oh yeah, and he wouldn't let me have any more drugs because he wanted me to feel the contractions enough to push. I was angry with him. No joke, during my delivery I was really mean to him. We started pushing very shortly after. When we started pushing, he left the room, and I remember saying 'What kind of doctor is he?!' Because I wanted him there for it all.

I pushed for 2.5 hours and I was exhausted. My mom had one leg, jared had another, and we were all tired. Finally Teter came back into the room all dressed in his mask and gown, and then the room started to fill with doctors and nurses so I knew it was close. Remember how I mentioned that Dr teter wore glasses? Well as he sat down in front of me, I could see the reflection of what was happening down there and I said to him, 'Why can't you invest in a pair of contacts?!' I told you I was mean to him.

09.10.09 at 9:22PM McKinley Addison Peyton was born. 7lbs 13oz, and 20.5 inches long.

She was perfect.

It was totally worth it and I would do it again next week if I could. I love her. And I have a much greater understanding of the atonement and Heavenly Fathers love of his children now. How hard it must be for him to let us leave him and come to earth, I don't even want anyone else to hold McKinley. And to watch his children die painful deaths, and suffer serious trials. How deep his love must be. I love McKinley and i'm so grateful that heavenly father blessed us with her.

I've attached some pictures, sorry they aren't the best they are just ones on my phone. You can go to my facebook page for more. Love you all!

Megan

Sent via my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

What do I and the Czech Republic have in common?

So, what do I have in common with the Czech Republic? My brother, Matt!

He left for his mission this morning, and I believe, has recently arrived at the MTC (Missionary Training Center). My parents dropped him off at the airport this morning, and he called home a few hours ago to say that he made it safely. That will be the last time they will hear his voice until Christmas!

Matt will be leaving the MTC sometime around Thanksgiving for Prague, and we are so excited! We can't wait until we receive those first few letters home from him describing all of the things that he's doing.

As we receive letters, they will get posted on his mission Blog which you can get to by clicking on the title of this post, or by going to: http://eldervivona.blogspot.com/

If you would like to write to Matt, check on the mission Blog again soon, and we'll post his new address. I'm sure he would love to hear from you!

Snap, Crackle, Pop!

Jared can appreciate the title, since he's the one who said it. He had me laughing hysterically for 10 minutes the other night because of it. I can't give you the specifics (it would embarrass him too much) but it was a funny moment and to draw more attention to it he said, "Snap, crackle, pop!" I needed a good laugh, so it was perfect.

There has obviously been a lot going on in our lives lately. Other than this baby that we're expecting into the world (if you haven't seen the ultrasound pictures, feel free to visit my facebook page) we've been busy at work & play! This baby has had me on slow-mo, but I've been keeping up with everyone pretty well.

My mom and I have been hard at work, doing what we do best, with real estate. It's been a lot of fun, and we're starting to build some really good momentum. I'm feeling really good about things. We've been having a lot of fun with it too, as well as just working really hard, and it's paying off. We've been updating our websites, which are still a work in progress - but if you would like to see them, go here: www.VivonaPeytonTeam.com & www.SellabrateRealEstate.com (Keep in mind they should be very similar since we're a team!)

We've been playing hard these past few weeks too. We graduated both dogs from training class, which was AWESOME! They have officially been trained (although it's still a work in progress) and are finally acceptable to take out in public. Yay!!! Also, the farmers markets have recently opened for the summer, so we've been enjoying that - and should have plenty more fun with it in the weeks to come. The weather has finally decided to be nice to us, which has been great, and is significantly warmer than it has been. It was in the 80's all week! We're dog sitting for Jared's boss this week too which has been fun. She's a French Bulldog named Aggie, and she drools a lot! We're still getting acquainted, but she's getting along with Abbey and Lily so we really can't complain. Mostly, we've just been doing a lot of little fun things here and there, so it's not been to much to blog about.

On Monday, my family will be driving to Chicago to go to the temple with Matt to do his temple work in preparation for his mission. Jared and I are both looking forward to it. We haven't been back to the Chicago temple in awhile, and since that is where we were married it will be nice to visit. If you don't know what in the world I am talking about, click here and it will take you to a website that will explain more.

Well, I guess that's all for now. I'll try and get on here to update more soon. Have a great week!!!

Learning Something New

So, I just realized that I don't HAVE to be sitting in front of my computer to post to the Blog. That would have been fantastic to know earlier. I haven't been posting lately, but it's because I'm not at my computer very often. It seems like I'm out and about when I even think about posting.

This is a trial run email from my phone to see how it looks on Blogger. I'm also attaching some photos from Jared's birthday for you to enjoy. We love birthdays so we always take pictures. Another year older, another year wiser!
Sent via my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry