July

Found I never published this......

Anna is 11 weeks old now! I cannot believe how fast time has gone. She is a doll. She is a very mild mannered baby. She warns us when she is going to get upset by stiffening and raising her arms up above her head. Then the crying starts. Charlotte and Ben love her but they do not seem to know how to stay out of her face. They always put their faces right in front of hers and yell. They cannot talk normal. now

Good friends

The big sis


He doesn't look at all awkward


How cool are they?


Daddy took them to pose in front of two tractors. When I saw the pictures, I could not have told you they were two different tractors

So we are moving. We are lucky because we are in no hurry to leave. But I am busy. Thank goodness for friends and family. Doug's brother has donated two Saturdays to helping us. His wife came and helped me pack and clean when she should have been off having fun since her children were away. Many people have offered to help us pack and move. Yesteday two of my friends Marla and Christy spent hours cleaning the walls and baseboards. Marla held my baby so I could clean. I do not put my babies down, as many of you can attest to. So all of this has been very hard for me to do. How am I supposed to pack while holding a baby? I would have lost my mind by now if not for my great friends and family. I am very blessed. I honestly am very sad to leave because I love my neighborhood. There are many good friends like the Cowdells and Kleins and the Hams who love my children so completely. That's what a mom wants, to have her children surrounded by people who love them. Plus, I've turned a little anti-social being in my secluded neighborhood. When we go for walks, we may not see another person the whole time, except driving by in cars. Plus, I will have to clean my bathrooms for the first time in 2 years! I have loved Sandy our maid. Yes, I am spoiled. I have to leave my 2 acre backyard and patio area where my kids can ride their bikes! I am whiny and I apologize but thank you for letting me vent. Doug is very excited to move and to have projects. So I need to be excited.

Anna is getting pudgy. Doug loves pudgy babies. She does not look like a newborn to us anymore at all. We love her so much. She is so diferent from our others. She is adorable, not that our other kids were not adorable. She is fun. But she does not nap well. She has decided that midnight is an acceptable bedtime. But she sleeps well through the night. She only wakes up once or twice through the night, which is crazy for my kids. She will take catnaps through the day, which is a bit annoying. The kids try so hard to help me. I am so grateful to have kids that I actually enjoy.




Charlotte got her first haircut from my aunt. She stayed so still! She wanted it a lot shorter but I could not part with her beautiful long hair. So we just evened it out.

Pictures

Anna Updated

Here are some updated pictures. The first ones are from my phone so they are not the best. She is a really good girl. She has not woken up in the middle of the night much. She is very mild mannered most of the time. We love having her in our family. Her name is a family name, Anna from one of my great grandmas and Sophia from the other.


Here is our zany Charlotte. She has taken to tattling on herself for every little thing she does wrong. We assume that she is doing this for attention, so that hopefully this will go away. She really is such a good helper. There is so much she can do for me. I do not know what I would do without her.

Here is a video of Ben's newest talent. For some reason him being able to do this has aged him astronomically in my mind. It is so fun to watch him actually pedal instead of just scooting around.




Here is a picture of the kittens. I cannot believe how much I enjoy them. We walk into the room and the black one will run and attack our feet. They fight each other and their mama all day long. I failed to mention that we did in fact lose the runt Xena a few weeks ago. I went in there and she was just gone, stoppped breathing. A part of me wonders if the mama cat smothered her because she just did not look right. I don't know. Charlotte got really sad when Doug buried her outside and said a little prayer. I don't think it hit her until we buried her body. Lucky for us that this is her first experience with death and not the death of a grandparent or something. We keep reassuring her that Xena is in heaven getting loves.





Here are the kids having fun in their dress up costumes. I cannot believe how much fun they have together. It has been so nice for them to have each other. They entertain one another while I am feeding the baby or getting her to sleep. I know they say three is the hardest, but I haven't hit that hard part yet. It will get there, I know, but for now three is great. I finally feel like I know what I am doing. Ben is old enough to do a lot of things himself and the kids love her.

Anna Sophia

So I think we have finally settled on a name. She is our little Anna Sophia. Charlotte really wanted Annabelle so we hope this is close enough to that. She is a sweetie. Still has those days and nights mixed up but I have to keep reminding myself that they all go through this and they all figure it out! I need to take more pictures, but this is what you get for now!

Birth Story

Doug took the kids to go look at yard sales. So instead of cleaning, I am going to do this :) I had an appointment on Wednesday morning and found I was 4cm dilated, 90% effaced and -1 station. They asked if I wanted to have my membranes stripped on the next appointment but I declined because I have heard it is very painful and not a guarantee. I still felt it was going to be a while. That morning I threw up and felt nauseated most of the day. After we got the kids to bed, I started cramping around 8:30. I honestly just thought I was getting sick. Anyway, they started hurting more than I thought they should so we started timing them. Lo and behold, every 2 minutes. By the time we found someone to watch the kids and head out, it was 10 o'clock before we made it to the hospital. They checked me and I was still the same that I was that morning. I was dissapointed. I figured they were going to send me home again. But they said since I was contracting that frequently, they wouldn't send me home and if I didn't start making progress they would break my water. I wanted to do this whole thing completely naturally so I was a little frustrated about that. After about 45 minutes of contractions, I asked them to check me again. I was not handling the contractions as well as i thought I was going to, and wanted to make sure they were doing something now. I was at a 6, and was very discouraged. I know now that that is not bad progress for 45 minutes, but in the moment I could not see it. Anyway, after a few more contractions I begged Doug for an epidural. He knew I wanted to try it naturally and was torn between helping me do what I wanted to do and what he knew would help. The nurse who had been helping me said that she would check me again just to make sure. I was at a 9. I said, "Oh crap." The midwife said "What?" I said, "Now I have to do this naturally." She said, " I thought that was the plan all along." Haha, I didn't think that was funny. I started pushing and my water broke. There was meconium in her bag and they wanted me to push on the bed. At this point I was standing next to the bed. I tried to get up onto the bed but it hurt way more, so I said sorry not happening. And they started to put towels down on the ground. Yup, I was that earthy chic. I pushed again and felt that ring of fire sensation they talk about but it felt wonderful to push. Two pushes later she was out and I had delivered my baby next to the bed. The best part was that I didn't tear or get an episiotomy. Recovery was a breeze. She was born at 11:06 pm and was 7lbs 2 oz and 18 1/2 inches long. She is so little. It is wonderful! I'm sure that had a lot to do with not tearing, too. She, like her siblings before her, had some wheezing when she was born and spend an hour in the special care nursery. The meconium turned out not to be a problem, thank goodness. No, we do not have a name. Yes, we know that makes us bad parents. I have never actually left the hospital without a name before. I forgot the wonder that is babies. I love everything about her. I love her smell. I love every sound she makes. I love cuddling her. I could watch her for hours and wish sometimes that she was my first again so that I can actually do that. My kids are doing great with her. I told Doug we should have 8 more of them and I honestly wasn't kidding at the moment. There is something magical about babies. Anyway, here are some pictures


Here she is with her proud big sister who loves to hold her as long as she isn't crying


Can't get enough of her baby sister


Here is the proud big brother



My sister Nicole who was a pro with her. Cami, on the other hand, much prefers older kids. They both came to visit me while at the hospital and it was great. This is the first baby I have had surrounded by so much family and it has been wonderful to share the joy with everyone


Here's the angry newborn picture! The hospital has a lojack system for the babies. Step past a certain area and a huge alarm sounds. It was pretty interesting. Anyway, name coming soon. We are almost there!