Halloween and Hair

What do Halloween and hair have in common? They both start with H... There really is no connection for me other than the fact that I am way behind on things I want to write about and need to just start combining topics.

First, Halloween:

Last year my mom bought Madeline a costume at Old Navy the day after Halloween (for $4.00!) so she has had her costume planned for a year. She was a bumblebee. She really liked to show off her stinger on her bum. We dressed Eli as a missionary. I couldn't resist because I always think his hair looks so missionary-y.


Eli's hair looks so grown up!


"Hello, my name is Elder Payne. I have a message..."


My mom and Abby came up and we carved our pumpkins. If you know Madeline, you know she HATES to be dirty, especially her hands. We weren't sure she would carve pumpkins at all. It was funny to watch her help because she would carefully put her hand in the pumpkin and put out one seed. Then she would wipe her hands - over and over.



After pumpkins we ate homemade pizza, then went trick-or-treating. We only went to the 15ish houses on our street. Madeline would enthusiastically say "trick-or treat" after I would say, "what do you say?" The people would comment on how cute she was then give her a handful of candy. She got way more than I thought she would or needed. I was proud because she would always say thank-you. Then, as we would go down the driveway she would usually yell, "love you! Bye!" Then she would tell mom and Abby "I tick-or-tweat, candy." This happened at every house. It was cute.




Now for my hair:

When I got my job I decided not to cut my hair short anymore because it was too hard to wear a hair net without a pony-tail or a bun. Ian likes shorter hair so I told him when I quit I would cut my hair short again. I kept my word and got it cut last week. My hair was the longest it has ever been and went to shortest it has ever been. This is a "before" picture...


And "after"...


She cut off 12 inches! I donated it to Locks of Love.


She cut off a little more than I had asked (10 inches is the minimum to donate) and at first I was kind of sad. I missed my hair and it is a lot shorter in the back than in the front. Then I remembered that hair grows and thought about how sad I would be if I had no hair. I really do like it now. I think I look a lot more stylish and put together.

Eli Houston Payne

Eli Houston Payne was born October 11, 2011. (Yes. I know. Almost 5 weeks ago.) He was born at 1:17 pm and weighed in at 9 lbs 13 oz. He was 22 inches long. We chose the name Eli because we just liked it and Houston is after his Great Grandfather George Houston Spears.

I was induced a week before my due date because the doctor thought that he could possibly be a big baby (although he thought he would definitely be under 9 lbs - oops). We were also moving up to Washington because of Ian's new job (and I wanted to go to the BYU vs. OSU game). I got to the hospital at about 6:45 am and they got me in my room. I was feeling really nervous. When I had Madeline, my water broke and I was suddenly in labor. I did not have days to sit and think about it. It was happening. I think I was nervous with the inducement because I thought about it too much. It is a weird feeling to go in and knowingly inflict pain upon yourself.

They started the pitocin at about 7:15 am. Ian and I just hung out for the next couple hours. We watched some TV online and worked on crossword puzzles. The doctor told me that we would have a baby in the evening which I thought was entirely too long to wait. Also, I wanted him to be born quicker because my friend Rachel was in town for her Grandmother's funeral and could come see us if I had him before 3ish. The nurse continually checked my progress (and kept speeding up the pitocin drip) and assured me that Eli would be here before her shift was over at 4:00. At about 10:30 am, the doctor came in and broke my water. I hadn't really felt any of the contractions until that point and was dilated to a 4. He told me I'd better get my epidural quick because the labor was going to speed up.

I got the epidural at 11:00 am. I am amazed at how different this epidural from the first one I had with Madeline. This one actually worked! I would not have been nervous to be induced if I was as pain free the first time as I was this time around.

The doctor came in a little before 1:00 pm and said that he had a C-section at 2:00 so we had better start pushing. I didn't know I had progressed that far. I kind of think he would have waited a little longer if he had not had the C-section scheduled. I pushed for about 20 minutes and Eli was born! The first thing the doctor commented about him was how much hair he had. All of the nurses commented that he was huge. When the nurse put him on the scale, I thought I read it wrong. She made the doctor guess how much he weighed. He thought high 8's. WRONG! I was shocked to have an almost 10 pound baby. I also noticed his cute little dimple on his right cheek pretty early. Here we are pretty soon after his birth.


He was really blue so they had to give him oxygen for a couple of minutes.


Madeline had spent the night at my mom's the night before. She and my mom came to the hospital about and hour after Eli was born. They were both very proud.


Madeline hasn't stopped wanting to kiss/hug/hold Eli since.


Rachel was also able to come see us before she flew back to Utah which made me really happy.

Here we are the next day. They made us stay two days which I wasn't really happy about. I was so bored and just wanted to be home! Oh well.

Every single nurse that came into our room would first comment about how he did not look like a newborn because he was so big. Then they would comment on his thick, dark hair.


Here are the kids when we finally got to go home. Madeline was very excited that Eli got to come home with us.


Eli had jaundice pretty bad. We had to go in to the hospital every day until the 16th to check his bilirubin level. I felt so sad for his poor little heels that were pricked everyday. I am so thankful, however, that the levels were never high enough to actually have to take any further action. They were always on the border. You can see how is was pretty yellow in the next three pictures.


Now Eli is a little over a month old. He has been a very good baby. We moved to Tumwater, WA when he was just one week old. The first week of his life I left him alone all day two times - once with my mom so we could go to the football game and once with my dad so I could take a load of our stuff to our new house and he was an angel. He is a wonderful eater (he eats all the time) and a pretty good sleeper. He usually will sleep for about 4 hours at a time. He is so mild mannered which really helps with Madeline. She tries to hold him and pick him up. She pretty much mauls him and he just takes it. I think Heavenly Father knew I needed a low key baby for all of the changes we have had in the past few weeks.

I just think he is the cutest little boy in the world and we all love him very much. We are so happy that Eli is part of our family!