Pumpkin Pictures

Happy Halloween from the Zeller Zoo!

Our First Pumpkin Carving :)

We carved our first pumpkin this year with Tatum.

Looking at these pictures, why didn't I grab her a shirt?  Am I really that brainless right now?  Sorry folks!  

Here's our cute, but shirtless, hillbilly and her pumpkins...

She wasn't really liking the slimy insides... I don't blame her!

 Raleigh was physically there too, but slept through everything.

 Tatum helped me draw the face for Daddy to carve.  

 And Zach, of course, had to use some kind of power tool to carve the pumpkin.  Whatever happened to using a knife??

(The eyes were perfectly round and pretty though!)

 I helped Bug draw herself and Raleigh on the two smaller pumpkins.

Boys are such boys... here's Zach washing out the pumpkin and pretending to make it throw up.  Is this what I have to look forward to with Raleigh? :)

My proud girl and her pumpkins...

... and proud Momma and her FOUR pumpkins!

Beautiful Blanco

We are so blessed to live a short 5 minute walk from the Blanco river.

Before Raleigh arrived, we went down to splash a little before the water gets too cold.

We stopped to check on the llamas and goats a few properties down from us.

And down to the water we went...

While Tatum and Daddy walked downstream, I found a little friend... a VERY little friend.

Talk about cute!

 

I am definitely looking forward to next summer when Raleigh can join us for some fun!

Daddy's New Baby

Not only did we add a new little human to the family recently...

Daddy got a "new baby" as well.

 Welcome Polaris Ranger Crew!

 

Zach got a deer lease up the road from our house at the Freeman Ranch.  It's just 8 miles from door to "door" and provides him over 160 acres to be a hunting machine.  

 (I try not to think about that part)

The Ranger is street legal (on streets up to 35mph), has seat belts for 6, and can ferry us to and from the river with all our gear.  The dogs are enjoying rides around the yard :)

Boys and their toys...

Raleigh's Birth Day

October 12 came so quickly!!

 I was convinced that our little Raleigh James would come before induction day, but he had other plans.  He cooked until we kicked him out!

I wasn't a fan of being induced initially, but as the date neared, I was looking forward to not timing contractions in the middle of the night, the stress-less drive to the hospital, knowing MY doctor would deliver him, and getting an epidural ASAP.  :)

Our appointment was for 9am, so Gramma came over to take over Tatum-duty for the day.

Tatum hugged and kissed the big belly good bye...

And we were off!

We got all settled, having been met at the admissions counter by my two nurses.  They were awesome and even carried all our stuff to the room.  I wish I had taken a picture of them both.  There was Julie, a kick ball coaching mother of 4 and Tatyana, a sweet new momma to #2 who just started on the LD floor a few weeks before.

The pitocin started to drip around 10:30.  The started with the smallest of doses to see how my body would react.  I was a 5 and 80% the first time they checked when we got there.  I was also told I could get an epidural as soon as I was ready.  Yes please, thank you!

 After a few hours I started to feel some awful pain up in my ribs on the right side.  I was afraid the epidural wasn't working.  The nurses had me flip over to my left side and see if we couldn't encourage Raleigh to move a little.  They chose to check me too, just to see where we were at.  A TEN!  

 A mere 4 and a half hours after the first bit of pitocin, Dr. Weihs was back and ready for me to push.  They had turned the pitocin off after only about an hour since my contractions were every few minutes and my body took it from there.  10 minutes of pushing... that was 3 contractions worth... 3 pushes per contraction... and he was HERE!

My little blond baby boy...

Mom, Dad, and Tatey Bug came in to meet Raleigh James shortly after his arrival.  Tatum was so sweet and immediately dove in for a kiss and proclaimed, "He's SO cute!"

Big Sissy got to help bring him to the nursery for his first bath.

She even tested out my bed in post-partum before I got there.

 I made Tatum a Big Sister bag filled with goodies from Baby Raleigh. (Thank you Target dollar aisle!)  It helped keep her occupied at the hospital and gave her something to do when she visited the next day as well.

Heading home to Wimberley with our new little man!

We picked Tatey up from school on our way into town so she could come with us to bring Baby Brother home.  As soon as we brought him in the house, she ran to his room, grabbed a few toys, and brought them to him in his car seat.  She also grabbed her stool from the bathroom and put it right in front of him so she could look at him better.  So precious!

Welcome Home Raleigh James!

We love you!