February

Love this little guy!  Well…both of them actually.  His hair looks kind of light in this picture, but in reality its still kind of dark for one of our babies.  We usually have platinum white headed kids by 4/5 months.  It will be nice to have a change though!

We've had two of our children be finger suckers.  #1 and #3.  We give them until about 2 1/2 years old then they get their fingers taped.  At about 2 1/2 we start to notice the habit is effecting teeth so the tape comes out.  It's a very inexpensive way to break the habit.  Louie is doing much better than Emmy did at stopping.  :)  Of course she hasn't napped since we've started the tape, but oh well.

I know Louie is blurry in this photo, but I love H's face!  Like, "Seriously mom, she's going to smash me."

Louie

Mr. H

Emmy got a new comfy blanket for her birthday!

Birthday breakfast!  If you notice her lips are pretty pink.  One of our friend's kids had a birthday the night before and the neon pink frosting stained her lips.  

The Garden Bug Cake

Laws of the Universe

So the day of the baby blessing can be somewhat a stressful day.  Unfortunately we didn't have any family in town…just us.  Trying to get 3 little girls ready for church and looking nice (and matching…), hair brushed, teeth brushed, shoes on (yes…Louie was in crocs.  Not the best shoes but she was sporting a pretty bad blister from shoes she wore the day before so crocs were the best option…).  There was also the responsibility of getting the baby dressed in his little blessing outfit, brushing what little hair he has (though I don't know why I brush it…it just goes straight up in its own crazy mohawk way), socks on.  We were actually doing half way decent on time.  Everyone was fed, watered, and dressed.  I was even ready.  The baby was fed.  Mr. N was running around trying to get all his last minute ducks in a row for a lesson that was being taught in young mens.  We also had to make sure we had the camera, snacks, and some form of entertainment for Sacrament meeting.  Then there was putting the baby in his carseat, shooing the girls out to the car, remembering my Primary stuff for church, remembering the diaper bag with diapers for the baby and Louie.  Oh yeah, wipes too.  I hate it when I forget wipes.  The girls were loaded and Mr. N & I kept making trips alternately back to the car to get things we forgot.  It really is amazing we manage to get to church on time in general.  Finally we were in the car and going.  We were even going to be about 5 minutes early.

Then of course things took a quite unexpected turn.  Louie started yelling loudly about something, asking about her little brother.  Specifically asking where he was.  Covered up asleep in his carseat of course.  Then that little thought went into my head to really listen to her.  "Mom, where H?"  My stomach dropped as the sinking realization hit.  I turned around and saw his car seat base was sitting there empty.  I yelled, "N, We forgot the baby!!!"  "What!" (or something along those lines) was his response.  Now generally Mr. N needs a good amount of time to be prepared to take a turn in the car.  He just isn't a last minute turn kind of person.  Not in this instance.  He hit the brakes and veered off into the Target parking lot, did a U-turn and headed back home, all the while he and I were somewhat panicked as we explained how we thought the other had taken him out to the car.  Really it was more my fault than his.  I did have the carseat in hand (which he saw) but when I saw him come back inside I left it for him to carry because those carseats are so darn heavy and awkward.  I didn't verbalize that I was doing that though.  Anyways, by some miracle we hit every green light which made all the difference in the world.  We were back home in 5 minutes and little H man was asleep in his carseat right next to the front door (inside…not outside.  That would have been really bad…).  He was just the way we left him.  We were both kind of shaken, and it didn't help a ton that the girls were screaming in the car, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe we left H-!  We have to tell all our friends!!!"  To which I responded, "No!  You know girls we don't have to tell our friends everything.  Sometimes these things are better kept quiet…"  I know, here I am blogging about it.  So we got to church about 1 minute before it started.  It was like divine intervention that we again hit all the green lights, which almost never happens.  Luckily Louie noticed her brother's absence.  If it wasn't for her we would have gotten all the way to the church before noticing our huge oversight in making sure we had everything for church and the baby blessing.  Yeah, we had everything…except the baby.

This is our little Louie.  She really is the queen of dirty looks right now.  She doesn't like the camera (can you tell?).  Also, when she gets sent to time out (there's a lot of hitting and throwing of toys going on now too) she usually yells at me the whole time.  It's something like this: "NO Mommy!  Bad Girl Mommy!  Mommy, you MEAN!"  It's actually a bit entertaining.

Emmy is currently sporting a black eye thanks to being hit in the eye by a rock (thrown by Elle).  She also got her first top tooth knocked out (it was loose) by Elle as well.  That one wasn't Elle's fault though.  Emmy bit her foot & Elle reacted, which resulted in a lot of blood and a missing tooth.  Like 10 minutes after I took this picture of my battered child she sprained her ankle.  Nice.  We went for X-rays today.  She's not a huge fan of her ankle stabilizer and boot, but it is helping with the pain.

Elle is the one inflicting the harm.  :)  She's doing well in school and has taken a great interest in being Louie's friend (when they aren't fighting that is…)

Our 4 kiddos

Emmy is developing a fantastic attitude too.  In this picture above she got sent to her room for that attitude and was so mad she pulled all the blankets and pillows out and built a barricade so I couldn't see her.  

Little H man is getting chubby.  He's such a sweet baby.  

Dress up time!

Some of November

I must say I LOVE having a son.  He is so sweet and is such a cuddler.  Its also been fun to dress a child in boy clothes.  It's refreshing…not that I don't love all my little girls!  We just needed some new colors in our house

Mr. N loves his little son too.  It's been so sweet to watch them together.  He's not really verbal about it, but I can tell he is really grateful to have him.  At church he loves to take him to young men's, insisting that they need "boy time" together.  I can't argue with that!

Louie is hard to photograph lately.  She just isn't into it…and I stink at photos…so all in all it's a bad combination.  I did get this picture of her dancing.  Oh, and she insists on living in her pajama dresses.  I've had to go through our bigger girl clothes to pull out a greater variety of pj dresses so she would wear more that 2 things.

They grow so fast.  I just wanted to be able to remember his kettle hands.

I love this photo.  She's such am imp. 

Yet again

Yawning

Smiling at 5 weeks

Emmy.  I was trying to convince her to let me rip her top tooth out.  She was not having it.

More October Pics

Big sister's loving their brother

Full belly after eating

Elle at the doctor.  She had strep throat…poor kid.  She still loves her Monkey Blanket.  

And then there's Louie…  

He Finally Arrives!

A very tired dad.

 

Because I had Gestational Diabetes with this pregnancy, my doctor made it clear she didn't want me to go to 40 weeks due to the risk of having a big baby.  At my 39 week appointment I was a good 3 cm dilated & effaced.  She had planned to schedule an induction date if I made it to 39 weeks, but didn't because she said she was positive my body would go into labor on its own.  She had me schedule a 40 week appointment just in case, but assured me she would not see me then.  Haha.  It is kind of a bummer to wait around, sure you are going to go into labor.  Having contractions start, then just go away cold turkey.  Such was the following week.  The weekend was especially hard for me emotionally.  I don't know exactly why.  I was just so sure I'd go into labor and didn't.  Plus, the week before I had started having terrible shooting pains down my legs that would make it impossible for me to walk when they hit.  I'd had sciatic nerve pain before, but it was nothing compared to this.  It would be so bad at times that I would just cry.  Anyways, once Monday came around I was over my depression about still being pregnant.  We ended up taking Elle to the doctor as well to get her persistent sore throat checked and found out she had strep throat, so overall we were relieved we didn't have a baby over the weekend. My 40 week appointment arrived, and every nurse I saw (I was having ultrasounds, non-stress tests, & dr. visits every week) commented that they just couldn't believe I was still pregnant.  Yeah...me neither.  It was really funny to see my doctor's disbelief over not having delivered as well.  My induction was scheduled for the next day.  I was sad in a way to have to be induced again...I had really wanted to experience what it was like to go into labor.  But then again, it was nice to know what was coming and prepare.  We were up at 4:15 am on Thursday morning.  Bright and early...neither one of us slept well.  It's hard to sleep well knowing something big was just on the horizon.  Our good friend came to watch the girls and we arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am.  I was really excited to get started.

 

 

Usually when I had been induced I was 1-1.5 cm at most.  This time I was nearly 4.  With my 3 previous births I was only ever checked as having progressed to a 5, then delivered a baby quickly.  Granted, I would stay for hours at 3, 4 and 5...then deliver a baby at the speed of light.  Mr. N and I were pretty clear with them about how quick I go at then end and the need to be checked more frequently...especially since I was almost a 4.  The nurses were great.  I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to have an epidural either.  I had been so stressed about the birth for weeks and weeks before hand, and Mr. N had finally said to me, "Why don't you just get an epidural this time?"  I had had an epidural that didn't take with my 1st (I didn't realize it hadn't taken, 1 that did take with my 2nd (though it wasn't a great experience for me emotionally because Elle struggled so much while I was in labor that I had a really hard time with the fact that I was so pain free while she struggled), and I had an epidural attempted on me 3 times with Louie before the the guy ended up catching the baby.  Afterwards my body was like in shock for about 30 minutes.  I couldn't open my eyes or focus mentally on anything.  I just laid there and shook.  I really regretted missing those initial birth moments with Louie.  I have no memories of those first afterbirth moments and that makes me so sad).  Anyways, epidurals weren't a comforting thought for me.  Yet, when he suggested it I felt like all my stress and anxiety went away.  I still wasn't 100% sure, but I was tentatively planning on it.

 

 

They started pitocin at about 7:20 am and the contractions picked up really quickly and strongly.  Usually it takes my body a while...but again I was starting with much more of a head start than before.  After about an hour and a half to two hours of labor I had the thought that if I was going to have the epidural, I needed to do it now.  I went ahead an asked for it.  I was really glad I had because the contractions were really picking up and by the time they actually did it I was borderline being to the point where it would be difficult to hold the position they needed.  For the most part the epidural went well.  They hit a blood vessel first, which made my head spin, but the next time he got it fine.  It was a good epidural too because it took the pain away, but not the pain of the pressure associated with the contractions.  I had a real good idea of how the contractions were going and how strong they were.  And, for the first time I advanced through all the numbers!  That was a totally new experience for us.  Being checked at a 6, then 8, then 9.  I stayed at a 9 for a while because the baby's heart rate dropped so they took me of the pitocin until he recovered.  Once they put me back on the contractions picked up again.  I think I was actually a 10 for a while before I got checked...but the nurse disappeared for a while.  Probably to sneak in a quick lunch before I delivered.  Because of the epidural I could sit on it though...and I don't blame her for wanting to eat!  She came back and I was ready so they got everything set up and called the doctor.

 

 

Delivery has always been the easy part for me.  He was out in 2 small pushes and one decent one.  This was the first time I got to have the baby put right on my stomach after delivery.  I was unsure if I wanted to at first, but it was such a precious moment...I'm so glad I did.  He was such a little miracle baby.  And yes...he peed everywhere as soon as it came out!  He weighed 6 lbs 12 oz (it should have been a little more since he peed before they weighed him!) and was 19 1/2 inches long.  All around our biggest baby!

 

 

One of the sweetest moments was seeing Mr. N tear up as he was delivered.

 

 

Our newest addition.  Poor Mr. N looked way more exhausted than I did.

 

 

Our Little Man

 

 

It took us a while to decide on a name.  The top one on our list was Hyrum...but we had a hard time finding the time to sit down and seriously talk about it.  Over the days though he became Hyrum.  We decided to name him Hyrum Neal, after his dad.  We liked the name Hyrum because of Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith's elder brother.  When we read about the kind of man he was it reminded me of the kind of man Mr. N is.  Anyways, meet our little guy! Finally Mr. N isn't alone in a house full of girls!

Boys...

Neal was being goofy as he was taking this picture so I look a little dumb...Anyways, me at 38 weeks.

This evening we went to the park so the girls could play while dad watched them and I could lug my big pregnant self up and down the stairs and hills at the park. Everyone probably knew the purpose of all my walking...encouraging this little one to make his way on his own towards the exit. I've been induced 3 times and was told I would be induced again. Today I went to the doctor and I've actually progressed far enough on my own that my doctor thinks I won't need to be induced. I'm pretty excited about that and anxious to "help things progress". Mr. N is nervous though. Since I only dilate to a 5 before the baby comes flying out he's nervous that if I go too quick he'll have to deliver the baby or something. :) I seriously doubt that, but still it's kind of entertaining to watch him process those doubts.

Anyways, as I was walking I was watching these teenage boys skateboarding. They were attempting these jumps off the pavilion...and I think they were then trying to slide on their skateboards down the handrail. Really all they were doing was crash landing spectacularly on the grass behind the pavilion.

All I could think as I watched this is what different creatures boys are than girls…and that we were about to bring a little man-child into this world.  As I thought about that and watched these two teens almost breaking their necks in pursuit of fun, I found myself thinking that I was really grateful this baby was going to come small so we could grow through these experiences together instead of having to deal with situations like this right away.  I don’t think I could do that and keep my sanity.

These last few weeks are kind of tough because of all the conflicting emotions I feel.  For one I feel better at the end than I do throughout my entire pregnancy because the sickness lets up.  But I still don’t feel like myself and really look forward to feeling like me again.  But on the other hand, I can sleep on my own terms right now and pretty much know what to expect day to day from my family (pretty much being the key word.  We have LOTS of fun unexpected things come up that I never imagined I’d have to deal with!).  Plus, newborns are demanding...I know that.  They are easier to take care of inside.   I look forward to not having this huge belly proceed me everywhere I go…and to being able to sit up in bed at night without Herculean effort.  Yet I am excited to meet this newest member of our family.  There is nothing quite like the sweet spirit a newborn brings to the family…and the smell!  It’s to die for.  Either way, time will pass and he will be with us soon enough.  Now if only we could decide on a name!

Louie Turns 2!

 

 

Louie turned 2 last month!  I can't believe how quickly time is flying.  Last year when she turned 1 she technically wasn't a baby anymore...but she was still my baby.  This year there's no denying she's growing up into a little girl!  Louie loves trains...really anything that moves.  Balls, trains, cars, carriages, shopping carts, strollers...you get the idea.  Mr. N & I decided to venture out and try our first ever train cake.  With a boy on the way I doubt it will be our last...but it was still fun to do. 

 

 

We celebrated Louie's birthday with friends who had a daughter born the day before Louie.  They actually should have been born the same day...but I didn't want to go into the hospital to get the baby checked because I knew this friend was in there having her baby and didn't want to steal her thunder.  Really silly I know.  At the time it made sense.  I'm just glad Louie was kept safe by guardian angels & didn't get sick (there had been a pretty significant drop in her fetal movements over the weekend and as it turned out she had had a bowel movement inutero).

 

 

Oh the goodness of all that cake!

 

 

Excuse the crazy hair.  Her hair usually looks like that.  She is getting better at leaving it in...but still.  Most of the time she looks like a wild woman.

 

 

Not the best pictures I know...Louie got a bitty baby for her birthday...

 

 

And our all time favorite, most looked forward to gift: her own handmade Raggedy Ann from her Grandma E!  Again...I didn't get a great picture.

 

 

Grandma hand stitches the name on the bum of the doll.  There we are looking at it!  It was a really fun little birthday party.  The two little girls had a blast and really enjoyed being the center of all the fun.  I just can't believe how fast time is flying!  Soon we will be welcoming another one into our brood.  Crazy.