My favorite part

 We took a bath and got all cleaned up for our special visitors.

 I was so excited for the boys to come and meet their new brother. 

They walked in and it was love at first sight. They were so excited to get their turn to hold him. And they were very excited to see Mommy and Daddy too. 

Mason showed off his biggest brother skills first. It was neat to watch each one meet him in their own way for the first time. They were so sweet and fun while we waited for him to grow and finally get here. They loved to talk to him in my belly. They would introduce themself "Hi Maxton it's me your brother Mason or Mattix." It was neat to see him react to the sounds and noise of his brothers. He seemed to know them already.

 Mattix is such a nurturing and sweet boy. He loves his brother too.

 Manning felt like such a big boy. And beamed everytime we called him the "big brother."

 I loved having my boys all there. They hung out and played, watched TV and ate the snacks that we had stashed away just for them.

While killing time before we had Maxton we had walked around the hospital's gift shop. We found this awesome book. Mighty Max. While the boys were there that day, the nurse came in and needed to check me, so Matt took the boys for a walk and they came back with a present for their new brother. 

I am happy to report that the love for our baby brother hasn't gone away. Not one of the boys has wanted to give him back or give him away. They each take turns holding him and love to help get diapers and whatever else he might need. I love this age. They love their baby brother. And he loves them. I know people say this all the time when they have a new baby, but Maxton was meant to be in our family. He fits so perfectly.

First's for everyone

 Maxton's first morning. Trying to sleep that first night at the hospital was next to impossible. They came in to check on the baby every hour, and me every other other. And all the other people coming and going. We survived though.

 My first meal. I was pretty excited as you can tell. I hadn't eaten since the day before at breakfast and this was breakfast the next day. I forgot Matt took this picture.

 Maxton's first bath. Because it was so late by the time we got out of recovery and to our room, they waited until the next morning to give him his bath. I love how they do the bath in your room now. I get to watch and not just see the pictures after. Poor guy cried and screamed the whole time.

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 Until she started scrubbing his head. He kind of seemed to enjoy that part. 

Snuggling my clean baby.

He's really here!

 Proud daddy took so many pictures. (This is a good thing but it's just hard to pick which to post)

 We thought for sure Papa finally got his red headed grand baby. But once we bathed him his hair turned white. Sorry Papa.

 Look at that face. I think he was comfy and not planning on coming out.

 Matt said at one point he had his whole fist in his mouth.

 

 I love this boy!

 I think his daddy loves him too.

Maxton is one lucky kid. We sure love this little guy.

And finally....

A BABY!!

Maxton Andrew Harris was born Nov. 1. 

7 lbs. 19 in.

We had scheduled Nov. 1st hoping to get through Halloween, for the sake of the boys and the fact that I didn't want to miss it. We made it to that day. We had to be there at 5:30 a.m. We got there, got prepped and found out that we had been bumped and my doctor couldn't get into the delivery room until 5:30 that evening. That bummed us out. But the anesthesiologist came in and told me that if I hurried I had 15 min. to eat before I couldn't. So we ran down to the cafeteria and I had a good breakfast. Than Matt and I went and took a much needed 3 hour nap. Than headed back to the hospital and finally they got us in. 

I wasn't scared this time. I was more anxious about leaving my other boys. Not that they weren't in good hands. (Thanks Nadia!!)  But because I am the mom and I do it all. But once I got on the operating table it all sank in and the memories of what all I would have to go through in a c-section. I started to freak out. Matt and the anesthesiologist were both right by my side and trying to be entertaining and distracting. It sort of worked.

This was my 4th c-section. I have never really got to see the details of what goes on. I've always worried that it's nasty and that we miss out on the "beauty" of delivering a baby. Matt and the anesthesiologist had a fun time taking some good pictures for me. I personally think they are beautiful. I left out quite a few though.

   

 It's amazing to see and be able to create something so beautiful and breath taking. 

I am in awe everytime I have a baby, of the sacredness that comes with having a baby. Nothing in this world compares to the feelings that come from knowing that me and my eternal best friend created this little guy together. He's ours. Heavenly Father has trusted us with this baby to teach him and help him reach his best potential. I am so thankful for each of my boys.

My doctor is so awesome. He remembered from last time my special request. To this day he still thinks it's funny that I want to see "my gooey baby" before he's all cleaned up. There's something about seeing that face for the first time. Goo and all. I love it!! It's my favorite.

 

And Halloween!

 We had a very fun and busy Halloween this year despite the fact that I was very pregnant and trying my best to make it past Halloween with a baby still inside me. (So I wouldn't miss Halloween of course)

Manning was his most favorite thing a Fire Fighter. Which for one party he decided to stay in his pajamas and be Superman. This is a blurry picture but the best one I got.

 Mason begged to be a skeleton pirate. He really wanted to be scary. I had a hard time with the whole scary part. He's in first grade. He's supposed to be cute not scary. But we compromised and instead of a scary mask we painted his face and he wasn't as scary as he probably wanted to be but he thought it was cool.

 Mattix was a vampire. He let me spray his hair black and paint his face. He looked awesome. He didn't even look like Mattix.

Everything was perfect this year for Halloween. The weather was perfect trick or treating weather. The moon was even perfect for trick or treating. After a long day of Halloween parades and class parties. I was exhausted and contracting like crazy. (But didn't have a Halloween baby!) We did some trick or treating not a ton but got a ton of candy. Which I would call that successful. It was a good day.

Pumpkins!!

 Matt and the boys decided to try again this year to grow our own pumpkins. We haven't had much luck in the past at our house or at Nana and Papa's house. But whatever they did different this year, it worked. Matt planted 4 small plants and we harvested 22 pumpkins! We were so excited. As they kept popping up the boys started reserving their spot for who they wanted to give which pumpkin to. Cousins and friends all had their own pumpkin growing. Even our not born yet baby brother. Well the night before we were going to give out some of our pumpkins we had over half of our pumpkins stolen and smashed all over the street in front of our neighborhood. The boys and Matt and I were very crushed. They even smashed the tiny pumpkin we picked out for Maxton. Well because we still had a bunch left we were able to give out enough for the cousins that came the next day. And a couple of our awesome neighbor's supplied us with some replacement pumpkins. Even a warty cool looking pumpkin.

 Each of the cousins got to pick a pumpkin. The boys were so excited to share.

 For family night right before Halloween we got creative and made our own pumpkin face pizzas and went to work carving out pumpkins.

 Matt had the boys draw the face they wanted to put on their pumpkin and tried his best to match it.

 I think they turned out awesome.

 And when we put candles in them the boys thought they were the best pumpkins ever.