Our New Baby Girl Is Here!

I've been slow in getting a new post up, but that's what happens when a new baby arrives. We're thrilled to announce the birth of our sweet baby girl! Megan Clara Bissett was born on Sunday, August 22, 2010 at 3:11 pm. She decided to make her appearance ten days early, which was a very nice surprise. She weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces (another nice surprise to have such a little one for a change!), and was 20 inches long. She is beautiful and perfect and we're so grateful. Megan is adored by her three older brothers, Taylor, Dallin, and Caleb. They call her their "pretty pink princess" and she does indeed have a beautiful pink complexion and just looks every inch a dainty, sweet, little girl. We're having fun with pink! Here are a few pictures of our little sweetheart.

Megan Clara, just moments after delivery and peeking at Daddy.

Mardi and Megan, right after delivery.

Travis, giving hungry little Megan a drink shortly after delivery.

Megan, all wrapped up and cozy after a bath.

The boys meet their new baby sister!

Taylor and Megan

Dallin and Megan

Caleb and Megan

Megan: almost one day old!

Taylor, Mardi and Megan

Megan, snoozing on her first evening at home.

Our beautiful baby girl!

By Surprisingly Popular Request...

I've had a lot of people ask me why I haven't posted pictures of myself progressing in size throughout my pregnancy. I should have thought the answer to that was painfully obvious. However, now that I'm almost done, Travis did take some photos of the boys and I outside so I suppose I can post them and at least be reasonably sure that it won't get much bigger than this. These are all taken at 38 weeks, with two weeks to go to my September 1st due date.

My three precious boys. They are so very excited to meet their new baby sister! Taylor has been making cards of welcome. Dallin asks every day if today is the day that she will come. Caleb jumps for joy whenever we talk about her arrival. He told me one day, "I love our new baby so much and I haven't even seen her yet!" He was opening all the drawers to the dresser in the baby's room one day and when asked what he looking for, he said, "I'm just checking that none of the baby's clothes are going mouldy." I think he'll be a vigilant big brother, just as the other two are.

Poor Dallin. He'd rather be riding his bike, which is what he thought he was doing when we came outside. He was released right after to go and do just that.

My baby Caleb stayed with me for another picture, though!

Taylor thought that Travis and I needed one together too, so he took the picture for us. Travis has his elbow pads on since he was roller-blading with the boys.

Here are the obligatory pregnancy shots. First, the straight-on, first impression shot.

Next, the classic 'hand on tummy' shot.

And, of course, the collection would not be complete without "the profile".

Hopefully, this satisfies any curiosity any of you were feeling.

Agatha the Hutt

I've been a dismal blogger as of late, but I suppose that was rather predictable. The arrival of our new baby is very close now, but even when it wasn't as close, we did already have these three little boys who actually take a bit of effort to raise. Who would have thought? So, here we are.

We've fallen behind in posting pictures here, but we've been having a fun few months. Lately, the boys are very much into anything to do with "Star Wars", and light sabre duels are a daily occurrence. However, they're still a bit new to it all so some of the names are hard to remember. For some reason, they all have it in their heads that Jabba the Hutt is in fact named Agatha the Hutt. It's pretty funny to hear them all going on about "that evil Agatha". One day, Dallin pulled out a feather duvet and decided he would make himself into Jabba/Agatha. I thought he did a pretty good job!

Dallin as Agatha (or Jabba as you prefer) the Hutt

I told Taylor he could be Salacious Crumb to Dallin's Jabba, but he wasn't too keen on the idea for some reason.

Dallin, doing his very best imitation of the yucky "Jabba tongue".

Mother's Day

We took these photos at home on May 9, 2010, Mother's Day.

Mardi, with her three boys on Mother's Day.

Three boys: Caleb, Taylor, and Dallin

Taylor and Caleb

Dallin and Caleb

Dallin and Caleb, modelling their new suits. They look so handsome in them.

Caleb

An Evening at Henderson Lake

These photos are from April 22, 2010. It was a beautiful afternoon and we headed in to meet Daddy at Henderson Lake after his work.

Caleb requested to be photographed with a Canada goose.

Dallin and Taylor

Mardi with her boys.

Caleb found a comfortable seat.

Taylor, Caleb, and Dallin encounter a piece of Canadiana.

The boys have heard all about geese being mean and territorial so they were hoping to see some aggression displayed. Later, we did get one to hiss at us when we accidentally came across a nest.

Three boys on a tree.

Daddy and his boys. Dallin has his classic 'deer in the headlights' eyes here.

Caleb started the trend by finding a tree that he could climb. The others soon followed.

The three boys, excited to find an intact, dead crayfish near the shore. They happily picked up various body parts for quite some time and, of course, had Daddy carry everything for them in a paper cup.

It's just too exciting for Caleb.

Taylor, slightly disgusted, though happy with his find.

Dallin, with his creature.

Caleb was pretty pleased to stand on such a big rock by Henderson Lake.

When We're Helping We're Happy (Honest)!

We've been rather neglectful of the blog lately and have some catch-up to do with photos. This selection is from April 12, 2010 and shows the boys during a Family Home Evening activity where we practised some valuable "cleaning skills", as Dallin calls them. We took pictures so that we could make a little slideshow later for the boys to watch and they actually seemed to enjoy themselves. Caleb especially is a great little helper around the house and often cleans spontaneously. The other two need a little more reminding. Cleaning the toilets was an especially big hit and I was happy to have eager volunteers to scrub all three of them in the house!

It was only fair that the boys clean this window since they're the ones who always have their hands, noses, etc. pasted to it while watching for Daddy to come home.

Washing the window looking out over our lovely dirt front yard. We're looking forward to grass very soon this year (as soon as it decides to stop raining).

Caleb sweeping floors.

Dallin washing floors.

Taylor putting away utensils from the dishwasher.

Caleb loves to empty the dishwasher. He's already an expert. He'll be a real prize of a husband someday.

Dallin goes to work on his first toilet.

Caleb sets to work in the basement bathroom.

Dallin works in the master bath.

Last toilet picture. They really had a good time with it. I only wish that Caleb was as keen on actually using it as he is on swishing in it.

Dallin thinks it's fun to clean mirrors if he gets to climb on countertops to do it.