Sweet Legacy

I was ever so lucky to receive an amazing gift from my father after Haylee was born.  This gift has been now used by 5 children.  It has been moved all over the world.  And it has been a safehaven for even the dog.  William was finally able to take his turn being pictured in the oak cradle.

My dad spent many hours taking apart the cradle my grandfather made for my brother and replicating one for me.  It is big and heavy and has broken a window or two.  Yet, in it holds such precious gifts from God.  All of my children have taken a turn in this cradle and when I  look at it sitting empty between children that fit in it, I am always taken to the memories of each of them in it.  I love the cradle and love seeing my sweet baby William taking his turn in such a heartfelt gift.

Back to Life

So what does it feel like coming into a family with 4 siblings?  I have no idea.  But William is so lucky that he gets to be squished by his sister...

 Hushed by his other sister...

 While his dad and brothers sit nearby playing a game.

The sweet joys of family.  And what am I doing?  Ha Ha taking these pictures of course because there is nothing better than remembering the "good ole days".

Day 1

Since William was born at 11:38 pm, I had to spend a little more time in the hospital that I hoped, but it worked out ok.  I ended up staying until about 11 am on the 5th so it was really only a day and a half.  While we waited to leave oh so impatiently over the day and a half, I, of course, snapped some photos! 

 This was by far the easiest recovery of any of my children.  I do not know what was different this time around but it was amazing.  I was so lucky that the pain was more than tolerable so even post birth, I didn't take anything.  Now I almost needed something the for the pain nursing causes!  But, we managed.  Finally on the 5th, we were able to go home!  I searched everywhere for the perfect "take me home" outfit.  Finally at BabiesRus on clearnace, I found the perfect outfit!  Unfortunately, it turned out being a little big.

Even more unfortunately, I took him to church in it the following week and his diaper didn't hold up that day so now it is stained.  Now that he was home, we had to adjust to life post pregnancy.  I am still so thankful that Dave had some time with us so he could help with all of those adjustments!

Welcome to the Family

This was the first day the children were able to meet William.  He was just a couple hours old.  Haylee loves being a big sister.

 Trent was smitten!

 Laycee thought he was her baby doll.

 Man, doesn't his smile say it all?

It is hard to believe we now have 5 kids. I love it and they are so beautiful together!



New Years

12/31/11 was my due date and unfortunately no baby. BUT, in exchange, we had a great time!  We had games and family.

 We had some really neat fireworks. Arizona is really limited on the kinds you are allowed to let off, but we really found a lot of neat ones!

 And no firepit fun is complete without a game of Chubby Bunny.

It was amazing and I really was thankful for this tiem with family!

House Upgrades

Well while Dave was home, he went to work on a few projects I wanted done but couldn't do myself since we moved in.  He has not ever lived in this house.  He did one walk through on the house after we had already begun the buying paperwork and then he went off to work.  So this was his first real time in the house.  First on my "to do list" was to FINALLY paint the top of this wall.  I had painted the wall like the first week we were here except I couldn't get up on the top to paint it myself.  So he did it for me.  I love it!

 One bad thing about him working on opposite sides of the world is time zones.  He would often wake at 3 am after many restless hours of sleep and go to work being as it was day his time.  One morning I woke up (at 6 am even) and he had all of the upstairs taped off and the kids were busily helping him paint.

 Another thing I hated about the house was these lights. The fans in the house have a brushed bronze look but then we had these lights.  They looked SO out of place and I hated them.  So he replaced them. I don't know how I don't have a picture of the new ones.

 This is what he replaced in the front entry way.  It was also a gold light thing. I didn't like it much, but I love this one!

He also painted the downstairs hallway and he dug up a dead tree and prepared a spot for me to plant an orange tree when the dangers of frost have passed.  He then took to the many odds and ends of the house.  I am so excited we are in a place we can call home and a place that we can take and make ours.  I am thankful Dave was home to do so many of those needed tasks.  

Daddy's Visit Part 1

Dave was able to make it home for vacation on the 28th.  We were so doubtful he would get to come home so we were very thankful.  He had to ask 3 times and get lectured before they finally let him come home.  What an amazing time to have him home.  We did house work (post to come) and played with the kids, pictures below, had family over, played games, had a baptism and a baby blessing.  It turned out to be an amazing trip and a much too fast 20 days.  We were thankful for the time he had here though.  So on the first day he was home, the kids wanted to go out and fly Trent's helicopter that he got for Christmas.

 My cousins and aunt and uncle were here from Indiana, so we went over to Schnepf Farms and enjoyed their winter celebration. 

 This piggie went to the ...

Piggie pictures in order... Haylee, Logan, Laycee, William (my cousin), Dave and Trent. The kids had a great time with my cousins which they just met this past summer for the first time.  It was a fun filled few days and Dave and I were tired and ragged, him from jet lag and me from pregnancy!

Christmas Day

So I really need to get caught up because I want to post pictures of William's new adventures.  As a result,I am going to try and consolidate some.  On Christmas, we made our traditional Monkey Bread for breakfast.  I was days from my due date and just exhausted so I am thankful that Haylee and Trent are old enough to help now!

We plugged in Daddy so he could watch the festivities and then for their last suprise they found out that Dave was coming home for vacation! 

I was thankful for afternoon church this day.  We were able to open presents, make breakfast, talk to Dave AND get them groomed for church!

It was a great Christmas for us and I hope you all had a Merry Christmas as well.

40 weeks 3 days

I have a few more posts to add from December, mostly ones starting with Dave coming home!!  But its time to post about one special event. I had an updated due date of December 31st, following an early ultrasound.  And December 31st came and went with mixed emotions.  No one wants to go over their due date, however, Dave had just arrived home and we were trying to enjoy these last few days together before the baby came.  He had not been home since May, so this was precious time for us. 

 On Jan 3rd, I had my appt.  The doctor was surprised I had gone over my due date and scheduled me for an induction the following day.  The night about 6 pm contractions started in.  They had started and stopped before so we waited.  About 10 we headed to the hospital.  They spent some time taking history and I had committed to not having an epidural this time.  I didn't have one with Trent so I knew I could do it.  However, about 1110 when we were on our way to the delivery room, I told Dave that I changed my mind.  This is most likely our last baby and I wanted to enjoy this delivery and not be in pain. Well, we got into the delivery room and while the nurse was trying to get everything ready for my IV I informed her that the baby was trying to come out.  She checked things out and sure enough, he was on his way.  My doctor was not there yet and the on call doctor didnt help.  The nurse was busy with my IV and getting blood in case I needed a transfusion.  And at 11:38 pm William David was welcomed to our family.

 He came out a little blue but pinked up in some time.  He was 8lbs 2 oz, my biggest baby yet!  I had wanted a home birth this time around but it wasn't working out.  But this birth of his was as close to having a home birth as you can get in the hospital.  The IV was barely in before he came out.  He was born medication free and I did all of the pushing on my own when I felt like it was time.  The walk in doctor was useless... although she did catch him.

 I love these pictures with Dave.  William has such a short amount of time with Dave that I cherish these pictures knowing there won't be any more for a while.

Unfortunately my post is so late and he is already a month old!  But we love him so much and feel blessed to have him as part of our family.

Bangs

Ok,so we were at my mom's house and Laycee continuously complained that her hair kept getting in her eyes. I told her if she complained again, I was going to give her bangs.  My mom took over and said Laycee, come here. In one snip, she had bangs.   Her hair is cuter now that it has grown a little bit, but I love the bangs.  I would also like to add that she has not since complained about her hair being in her eyes.

Girls Night Out

Last month, Loni and Lynnae and I did a child swap.  I think I got the best end of the deal.  Lynnae took Trent and Laycee.  Loni took Logan and I took Brooklyn.  The girls had a party to attend and after I dropped off Trent and Laycee, the three of us had just enough time to stop for dinner at Red Robin.  It was so fun to have time with just Haylee and Brooklyn. Life goes too fast and they grow too quickly, so I enjoyed this time to get to reconnect with Haylee.  How great it is to watch her grow into a sweet young woman.

Laycee and Logan

This is a fitting post from December since today is the birthday of these two sweet children.  This was the first of many classroom activities to come for these two.  Logan and Laycee had a day of making gingerbread houses and I was able to come and help.

But since today is Feb 1st... I wanted to wish them both a Happy Birthday!  I marvel each year at how fast the previous year passed or in this case, the previous 5 years.  It seems each year as just last year they were my babies and now they are grown up and in preschool preparing for kindergerten in just a few short months.  They still seem to be my babies, yet now that we have a new baby in our home, I am amazed at how big they really are!  What a blessing they have been in my life.  Many days seem like a challenge and each new stage of life brings on new challenges with them.  However, I love that I get to watch two children progress through this stage of life.  Logan is still so in love with sports and has over this passed year, really grown to love being social.  Laycee is still such a spitefire full of love and affection (ironic as it is).  These two are so different and I love them even more for it.  5 years ago when we welcomed them into our home, I did not know what a blest ride this would be.