1st Grader

This boy has been so ready for school to start.  We met his teacher, Mrs. Olson last Friday and that made him even more excited.  She's so cute and nice and she even has a pet frog.

Today finally arrived!  He woke up, got dressed and immediately put his back pack on.  We drove him over to the school, and he told me I didn't need to walk him in.  We did anyways... but maybe he had a point since I had to have 3 other kids in tow!  

When he got home this afternoon I asked him how his day was and he said "my teacher is so NICE, she let us have 3 recesses!"  I think he has a fantastic day!

Here's a few of Lucas' favorite things right now...

My favorite food is... Pizza
My favorite sport to play is... Baseball
The best show on television is... Garfield
The coolest person on Earth is... My friends
My favorite thing to learn about in school is... Math
The thing I do most awesomely is... Play with my friends
If I could go anywhere in the world, I'd go to... Grandma's
My favorite color is... All of them
When I grow up, I'm going to be a... Doctor
My current favorite song is... Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam
The book I am loving right now is... My Dinosaur Book
Three words that describe me are... Smart, Fast, Cool
When I was little, I use to... Go for walks
My favorite season of the year is... Summer
The snack I like the best is... Fruit Roll-ups
One food that I really dislike is... Gravy
My best friend is... Mason and Kyle
If I had one wish it would be... The Nicest Mom (hmmmm... am I suppose to be offended here??!!)
My best memory is... When I got to hold Hadley

Birth Announcement

Here's the birth announcement we sent out.  I can't believe I caught the picture of her smiling.  She was only a week or so old.

3 Boys and a Little Lady

I'm afraid this little girl doesn't just have her daddy wrapped around her finger, but her 3 old brothers also.  They are very concerned about Hadley and practically maul her if she makes any sort of noise.  They always want to hold and kiss her.  She's lucky to have these 3 who love her so much!  They are constantly telling me how much they do love her.  Lucas loves to show her off to his friends.  Kody loves to burp her and try to get her to sleep.  Ryker just loves to hold her... so much so that he things he's big enough to pick her up.  Yesterday he dropped her before I could get there quick enough.  Thankfully he was already low to the ground.

I am so blessed to have these 4 kids in my life.  Each second is an adventure, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

One Week Old

Our Miss Hadley is one week old today.  We love her dearly!

A few things about our little girl...

She's a very good eater.

She loves to take long afternoon naps

She thinks 2 a.m. is a great time for some two hour mom and daughter time (I'd prefer this be a day time activity!)

She's only been waking up 2 times a night, (but the item above is making it a long night!)

She's getting the hang of a binky more and more.

She's making it a habit of pooping almost instantly after I change her... sometimes before I can get the new diaper on!

She's constantly loved on by the most protective 3 older brothers.

Happy Anniversary

9 years ago today I married my life long friend!  I'm the luckiest girl alive to have Jed in my life.  He works extremely hard for our little family and I really appreciate it.  We've had our good times and not so good times, but I'm so glad we've gone through them together.

And now we have 4 kids...  I think life's only going to get busier and more exciting!

Happy Anniversary Jed!  I LOVE YOU!!

Hadley Kate

How cute is our little girl??!!  We're so glad she's here and all is well.

She arrived this afternoon at 12:10 weighing in at 7lbs 14ozs and 18 1/2 inches.  She came out using her set of lungs and has used them several times since!  Hopefully she's getting it all out now!! :)

The hospital called this morning and wanted us here by 7:00.  When we arrived, we had to wait a bit and didn't actually get into our room until 7:30.  I had the best delivery nurse, Emily.  She was extremely nice and easy to visit with.  When I arrived I was at a 4.

She started the antibiotics about 8:15 since I needed 4 hours for the Group B.  She started me on a very low dose of pitocin about 20 minutes later and then upped it about a 1/2 hour later.

About 10:30 Dr. Glenn came into check on me.  He said that he wasn't going to break my water since I deliver so quickly and I needed to make the 4 hour mark.  I requested an epidural about this time too when I started feeling the contracts more frequently and harder.  At this point I was at a 6 and knew if I didn't get it then, I would most likely start feeling everything before he could get in there.  The anesthesiologist was awesome!  He finished about 11 and although the epidural is extremely uncomfortable, he was by far the fastest and least painful I've had.

About 11:20 I started to feel things!  I called for my nurse, but she was with another patient at the time.  About 20 minutes later I called again cause I was really feeling it now!  Another nurse came in along with the resident doctor.  She took one look and said don't move and keep your legs closed!!  My water had broke and she was coming.  They called Dr. Glenn while the other Dr. prepped and got ready just in case.  My nurse came in and started the 2nd dose of antibiotics and ran it extremely fast through me so that hopefully it's been in before she delivered.  It seemed like forever before Dr. Glenn showed up.  It wasn't long after that I pushed 1 1/2 times and she was out.  The resident Dr. actually delivered her with Dr. Glenn walking him through it.  Unfortunately there was meconium so they told Jed he couldn't cut the cord.  So far he is 0 for 4 with our kids!  When they said this I actually chuckled a bit.

She is perfect and I couldn't help but love her instantly.  She has chubby cheeks and I think she looks a bit like Ryker, Jed says Kody with a hint of Lucas.  I guess it just proves she's related!!  I got to hold and nurse her for about 45 minutes before they took her down to the nursery.

Once they left for the nursery I started to get the famous shakes and chills that have come after every birth.  The nurse got me already on the gurney to move downstairs and then they didn't have a bed ready for me.  I just hung out on the gurney for about an hour before I finally got to my new room.

It seemed like forever before I got to see Jed and our baby girl again!

We've had a few visitors this afternoon including 3 brothers who are so excited that she's finally here!

I'm feeling pretty good and trying to stay up on the meds so the after pains don't get too bad.  Jed staying here with me tonight so wish us luck on a restful night!

Ready or Not...

She'll be here in 3 weeks or less! 

Am I ready???? 

Probably not, but that won't stop her from making an entrance!!

I got my new car seat cover in the mail yesterday and I LOVE it!  Unfortunately while we were trying to detach the canopy thing, we broke a piece off the car seat.  Nothin' a little heavy duty super glue won't fix (finger's crossed!) 

We still need to find a crib.  The boys have done a number on the one we have and currenlty it's missing a few slats!  But since she'll be in the cradle for a little bit, I'm not in a big hurry.

Thanks to amazing family and friends, this little girl will be dressed for head to toe for the next 12+ months.  I had a shower here in Spanish and one a couple weeks later up in Honeyville.  I can't wait for her to wear all the cute things.  I'd say she's already spoiled rotten!!

(Most of the 0-3 month clothes are washed and folded nicely in that white tub.  I have a dresser coming soon...  and the clothes underneath I ran out of hangers for, plus their older sizes.)

She is one active little girl.  My belly is constantly moving all day long!  It's been fun to let the boys watch it.  They think it's pretty funny that she can make it move.  They are so excited for her to finally get here.  I think it's going to be a bit surreal to them once they can see and hold her.

We still haven't officially decided on a name.  It's up to Jed this time around and he wants to see her first.  We have a couple we're choosing between so at least the list is narrowed down.

I know it probably sounds silly, but I often wonder what she'll look like.
Will she have lots of dark hair like I did?
Will she have long fingers and toes?
Will her toe nails grow normal unlike her brothers Kody and Ryker!  (Specifically for painting purposes!)

How much will she weigh... most likely bigger than Lucas (5lb 11oz), but will she compete with Ryker for the heavy weight (9lb 7oz) or little more average like Kody (7lb 3oz)?  I'm hoping for the later, but mostly for selfish purposes!!   I don't fill like I'm having a 10 pounder like I did last time.  Maybe that's a good sign!

As for me... my feet are swollen, my belly button is poking out, and I'm 30 pounds fatter.  Other than that, I'm just fine!!  Oh, and I had the worst possible charlie horse known to man last night.  It went from the tip of my toes up to my thigh.  I thought I was going to die!  Now I'm stuck with a big knot in my calf today.  Good times!

With only 3 weeks left, I think I'm good with her coming any time after the 16th.  The boys are in swimming lessons until the end of this week (which are paid for so we must attend!) and Kody's birthday is on Saturday.  After that... she's welcome to make her debut!

Can't wait to finally meet the little lady!

T-ball

This is Lucas' first year of tball and it has been so much fun to watch.  He loves it and is having a blast learning everything.  His coach this year happens to also be our Bishop since his son is also on the team.  It's been nice to have someone I know on the side lines to visit with too.  It is so entertaining to watch these kids and see how easily side tracked they are.  Sometimes it makes for some really good laughs!!  I'm so glad Lucas is having a good time.  He's even had a few fans come watch the games!  I hope he'll want to stick with it for awhile... especially with a new mitt, socks, pants, belt, cleats & gloves!

Abby and Reese

Valentine Reunion - St. George

We headed down to St. George last Thursday afternoon for a little Valentine reunion.  It was fun to finally see some sunshine.  The day we left it had started hailing at our house!  I'm sort of sick of the weather right now that can't just stay nice spring weather.