A few more pictures

This tender brother LOVES his baby sister.  I love watching him love on her.  Though he hasn't been allowed to lately.  He and Cowboy are both super sick and therefore quarantined to their room with a tv and all the popsicles and movies they want

Every time he sees a camera he squints his eyes and poses "Cheese!"

I love this freckle nosed blue eyed boy!

Zane had a septiplasty (sp?) and this right after coming home from surgery.  I was a little disappointed there were no black eyes, and also grateful he recovered so quickly.

Conference weekend.  This is kind of a sad picture for me.  See the little hairball under the table?  Our sweet little Dexter got out from under the fence and was run over by a car the next day, so this is the last picture we have of him alive.  We miss him and the kids were just devastated and there were many many tears that night and though they don't cry about it every day, there are still some tears shed every time something reminds us of our little puppy.  I think we'll wait for a while though before getting another dog.  I just don't have the heart to do it again so soon.

Love the matching dresses.  Thanks Grandma Williams!  :)

I hate this picture because it makes me look huge next to Zane.  He and Princess were sitting all the way back on the couch, and I had scooted to the front so it looks out of whack.  However, it's pretty cute of the kids, so I'll post it anyway.  :)

Easter Sunday

My sweet baby girl.

So excited for this weekend!

Did you miss me??

We've had our old desktop, but our laptop has been out of commission for months now and our desktop isn't reliable, so I haven't wanted to load photos on it, and I can't really post on here on my kindle.  We finally got our laptop fixed and I am so happy!  So now I'm back and I really have missed the blogging.  :)


We had our 5th baby March 14.  It was a pretty tiring pregnancy with constant contractions since the beginning of February, 2 weeks straight of labor sessions where baby would drop and then pull back up every day for 2-3 hrs, and then when the hormones kicked in to relax my pelvic bones, it felt very similar to them breaking in half so walking was very painful.  Needless to say, if I had any doubt about this being my last pregnancy, they fled out the window.  :)

Leah Marie's story:

Went in for my appt Wed morning (3/14) and we were talking about scheduling me to go in that Friday to have her break my water since I'd been dilated to a 3 for so long, and I suggested she strip my membranes that day to see if it did anything.   So when she checked me I was already a 4, and after stripping I was almost a 5.   The hospital was really busy and since I wasn't contracting regularly my midwife suggested I walk around and then go to L&D after lunch.   I had some things to finish at home, so I just drove home and arranged for baby-sitters, then we dropped Cowboy off at school and headed back to the hospital and got there around 2:30.   I was contracting, but it wasn't too bad so we walked around from about 3-4, checked back into triage and I was right at a 5 so they went ahead and admitted me and my midwife came over after work at 5 to break my water.   Since I go fast once I go, she decided to stick around and Baby Girl came out at 6:24.   She's the biggest of all our babies - 8'14oz and 20 1/2" long.   

It was a really good experience which was nice because things weren't rushed or panicked like they have felt in the past, and they had everything already set up so the nurses weren't running around, and I had one nurse who just stayed in the room pretty much the whole time after they broke my water so Zane wasn't having to run out to tell them the baby was coming.   It was just calm, and I was so grateful.   We didn't have the kids come until the next morning and this hospital has a really strict rooming in policy so the baby never leaves the mother.   All tests/shots/etc were done in the room with us which was interesting - we've never had that before.   And the nurses would check us, but really for the most part they left you alone unless you wanted them to be more involved.   I loved it.   For once I wasn't chomping at the bit to get home as soon as I could and get the heck out of there.

I'm doing well.   I have to go to a chiropractor I think because my pelvis is so out of whack right now.   Other than that, she is nursing well and all the kids are adjusting to a new baby.  Baby Boy is funny and it's kind of hit and miss with him.   Sometimes he likes her, most of the time he ignores her, and then there are times he tries to grab her out of my arms while screaming or just hits her.   The others are ready to have their mom back.   This pregnancy really took it's toll and so everyone is needing extra reassurance from mom and dad of our love and that is kind of hard.   But all in all, things are good and I am very happy to not be pregnant anymore!   :)


We were going to name her Caroline or Rachel, but I wanted a 3rd option.  So Zane looked up some more names and suggested Leah, she didn't look like a Caroline, so I let him choose this time between Rachel and Leah.  The meaning of Leah?  Weary, Tiredsome.  :)  hahaha.  I thought it very fitting considering this pregnancy.

My photos are taking forever to upload, so I'll have to load more later.

Rotating due date

I finally asked my midwife today to see if she could narrow down a more exact due date for this baby just so we have a better idea on when is a safe time to deliver vs too early.  We had another ultrasound this week (just to make sure everything was ok again because of the meningitis) and it gave us another date.  So as of right now, I'm due: Mar 6, Mar 13, Mar 15, Mar 20, or Mar 22.  :)  Quite the spread, eh? 

We did find out 100% we are having a girl (before it was only 80-90%) so I am excited to get rid of the huge bags of boy things we have down in the basement!  Brother Bear went with us to the ultrasound because the other day he had been looking at my belly and talking to the baby when he said, "Mom open yo mouf."  I did. He said, "Hmm...I can't see it.  Can't see the baby!"  hahaha.  He's so funny right now with the things he says.  He said he wanted to name the baby Hannah, and I asked if it was so we could call her Hannah Banana to which he scowls and says, "NO!  Just orange."  What can I say?  He cracks me up.

Baby Boy is definitely our michevious little fellow.  There is NEVER a dull moment with him around.  He hates sitting down.  He'll sit for a total of maybe 5 minutes if we are lucky, then he's down and off and running - typically getting into something.  I love his little twinkle he gets in his eyes as he darts away giggling.

Cowboy is an official reader.  It makes me so happy for him!  He's loving school and is wishing away his kindergarten year so he can finally be in 1st grade and go to school all day like his sister.  :(  I ask if he'll miss me and he says, "Nope!"  I'm glad he loves school. 

He and Princess were both awarded with "Student of the Month" awards last month.  I am so proud of how well they are doing.  Princess is looking forward to joining the swim team this month, and last night made brownies all by herself.  It's hard to believe she will be turning 8 in a few short months, but she is beyond excited for the arrival of her baby sister.  She's prayed her here for a long time and I'm looking forward to seeing what she does when sister does arrive.

Zane's enjoying his job and we are very much enjoying having him home so much more.  He's got some big education decisions coming up as far as deciding which avenue to take for his masters, but other than that life is good with him being home.  :)

As for me - I'm trying not to freak out about the possibility of having our last baby in a mere couple of months.  I never imagined myself being done having kids by the time I was 30, but I also never imagined having 5 by then either.  :)  I feel super blessed, and even more blessed to be able to be at home with them. 

Sorry no pics on this post.  We've been having issues with the camera AND computer, so I'm lucky to just be posting words at this point.  But we have a computer still!  :)

reality

Reality hit me yesterday.  I don't think I've been in denial about the surprise pregnancy of our 5th baby, but as I looked out on our driveway at the Suburban we just purchased parked next to our van, the reality of outgrowing a minivan in a mere 3 months just whacked me upside the head.  (Granted, there are 7 seats in our minivan and we could have smooshed everyone in for a while).  We're going to be a family of 7, plus a dog, and only a few weeks after I turn 30.  W O W.  Never expected that.

Ever have one of those moments?  It's not a bad moment.  Just a WOW moment of contemplation of your life.  And it's not necessarily overwhelming either.  Especially when I compare myself to others I know.  It's just funny to sit back and think - how did this all happen SO fast?!?  :)

I'm officially not a nice person

I need to work on being Christ like in several aspects of my life.  A lot.

Like I probably shouldn't be annoyed at becoming a defacto baby-sitter for a neighbor kid who has a single mom who has to work and whose older brothers I don't think are very nice to him when he's at home

I shouldn't be annoyed.  I should welcome him into our home.

Even if he is loud.  And a complete tornado.  And doesn't listen.  And argues with me when I tell him not to do something...

I need to be more like Christ.

Even if He was never pregnant with four other children in the house.  :)

We added to the chaos

Meet Dexter.  :)

Yes I am crazy.  And it was not husband or children pressing for it.  I was the one who saw him and knew he was the one for our family.  He'll always stay pretty small, but we are hoping for his sake he grows a little bit more.  :)  The only problem I'm running into so far is the balance between wanting to wash him all the time to make sure he doesn't get the stinky dog smell, and not wash him too often so his skin doesn't get problems.  I'm hoping his skin can handle once a week.  I don't think I can do the 2 week...

He is much loved by all - and has taken a special attachment to Zane.  And I should say Zane's taken a special attachment to him.  So we have now complicated our life with a dog.  Hopefully I won't regret it too much.  :)

Did I say tomorrow?

Well, it wasn't tomorrow when I posted these pics...  :)

He did turn 1! :)  Clean up after cake.

Happy birthday baby!

First day of school in Kuna

This is a typical pose. :)  First day of school

2nd day for Princess, 1st for Cowboy

Playing in the park after we moved

Such a cheeser

it was very cold - so they all had several layers.

her scary witch face.

Settling

Typically as the holidays approach the stress level elevates with so much to do and so many things to see, places to go, etc.  It's opposite in our house.  Things are finally starting to settle down and we are slowly getting into a routine.  There are still a few things to work out - mostly my schedule.  I like to have specific days set aside each week for the same things: ie - library, park, errands, cleaning.  I'm hoping to have that all ironed out in less than 2 weeks for my own sanity.  :) 

The house is getting there.  I would say we are probably 3/4 unpacked - with most of the remaining boxes in the sitting area of our master bdrm.  :P  I keep saying I will get to them, and then I go to bed before 9 and it doesn't happen. haha.

Living on base is different.  I think there are positives and negatives.  We moved into a remodeled once-duplex and the space is nice as well as the no rent.  It's a beautiful base with tons of trees and parks.  There is a railroad track fairly close to where we are, so that has taken some getting used to - as well as the speaker blasting the trumpet every weekday at 6:30 am.  :)  The school is great though, and it is a super safe area.  Our ward is small and *gasp* we actually have to drive 20 min to the church building!  ;) lol.  I'm just glad we'll be here longer than a year! 

We are all doing well - it's fun to actually have Zane home for the most part when the kids are awake.  :)  The 3 min commute to his office is pretty grand and much better than that 8 hr drive.  He is enjoying the full-time military life, so I wouldn't be surprised if we end up being an Army family until retirement.  But you never know.  Let's get through a year long deployment first.  He needs to get over there sooner than later and his unit isn't slotted to go for another few years, so we're thinking he will probably try and volunteer sometime while we are here.  We'll see.

I'll do another post tomorrow updating on the kids and posting a few pictures, but we're doing well and adjusting.  We've definitely had some backlash from the craziness of our lives the last 6 months as far as behavior from the kids, but they are troopers in the truest sense. 

Something I truly despise

Packing.  And unpacking.

Blech.

We'll be in Spokane in about 48 hrs!  Crazy!

Hilarious

Because of the nature of the meningitis and how early I got it in the pregnancy, we opted to do a full diagnostic ultrasound last week to make sure everything was alright with the baby.  We weren't planning on finding out what we were having, but once there, told the technician if she could see then we wouldn't care if she told us.  This is a video of us telling the kids.  I personally think it is HILARIOUS!  :)

Hello again - we're still ticking

Quick update:

Kids are doing great. 

Brother Bear is still scared to go poop in the potty, but he is doing great otherwise with being in big boy underwear (FINALLY!!!)  Baby  Boy is now 13 1/2 months old and trying to be a big boy like his brothers.  His favorite thing is to get into everything he isn't supposed to and he giggles and runs away when you see him do it.  :)  Princess is doing great and is a reading machine.  It's fun to watch her as she falls in love with chapter books.  Cowboy is loving being a big school boy - especially that he gets to eat lunch at school on the days he goes.  (it's every other day, all day)

I'm doing better but thinking that the meningitis has ruined my immune system for the season, as I am now prone to picking up everything that is going around.  I still get pretty worn down by the end of the day, but at least I'm able to take care of the kids.  :)

Zane is doing well.  He found out earlier this month he got an AGR job with the reserves that he put in for back in February.  (One more reason to be grateful for not purchasing a home in Utah!  :))  So he had 3 weeks to get everything together to go up to Spokane.  The kids and I will be joining him in a few weeks when he's found housing for us.

Just another regular update from our neck of the woods, right?  :)  At least this move is for a definite 3 year period of time.  Oh, and did I mention we're having another baby?  Surprise!  Baby #5 will be joining us around March 20 and we've decided to be surprised on the gender.  Like I said, just a typical update from our neck of the woods.  lol.

We have landed

I haven't posted for a long time because pretty much everything has been in upheaval and I wanted to wait until things were a little more settled before filling you in.  I've been trying to reader's digest it and it's pretty difficult.

But here goes:

We were in the middle of purchasing a house in Utah, (by the way, a little plug here: if you are ever in need of an AWESOME realtor - call Parker Smith or go to his website: modernhomebuyers.com.  He really is the best!)  So back to my story.  We are literally in the middle of buying the house, already had the inspection and appraisal, when I just wasn't feeling it.  And not some little "I'm scared about buying the house" feeling, but I couldn't sleep and both Zane and I felt like we just had to walk away (there were several mitigating factors as with anything).  It didn't make sense, we were in the middle of packing up our house, we had already given notice.

Meanwhile, we made the decision to move to Boise, I would live with my parents and eventually look for a house here, and Zane would just keep on doing what he was doing and come home on the weekends for a while.  Then he saw an advertisement for a job opening here and felt strongly that he should apply and he got the job.  So the day he turned in his notice he found out they were working out something to transfer him to a job in Ashton, ID (insert relief at walking away from the house in UT - we would have moved in and then Zane would have been transferred to another site once again 6+ hrs away and the kids and I would have to build a support system by ourselves once again).  He considered staying, but felt like this was his opportunity to try something different, and he was tired of being away from his family so much (he's pretty much been gone Baby Boy's entire life)  so we went ahead and moved over to Boise.

It is a definite change for us.  He is going from a guaranteed salary to a commission only income but we both feel it will give him the future opportunities he wants.  I think it helps that his old job said he is welcome back any time if anything changes.  So for now, we are grateful for my parents letting us stay with them as a buffer zone while he adjusts to the sales life and we figure out what his income will be.  :)  It's nice for the kids to have some kind of consistency before school starts too.

Speaking of, they have the strangest kindergarten schedule - basically Cowboy will be going all day, every other day.  So some weeks he'll go Tues/Thurs and some weeks M/W/F.  Good thing we have a calendar.  :)  Princess is ready to start 2nd grade and I think it will be fun to have the two younger boys all to myself, especially since we'll be doing the home preschool for Brother Bear on the days Cowboy goes to school.

That is definitely a condensed version, but there you go.  :)  We've landed temporarily.

Heaven help us

Cowboy is going to be the death of me.  In more ways than one.

At the moment, he refuses to play with those different from himself.

Which means, in HIS words: "I don't play with brown people.  I don't like them.  I only like white ones like me."

WHAT?!?!?!?

Seriously mortifying.  Trying not to overreact to avert his doing this to get attention, but really?  REALLY?!?

Right as I was about to feel like an absolute and complete failure, Princess said to Cowboy: "That isn't okay!  I'm best friends with ..., ...., ...., and ...., and they are a different color and it doesn't matter at all!"

We've had several discussions over the last while reiterating who we can be friends with (everyone) and how everyone is a child of God.

And then I realized through no fault of anyone, there has really not been anyone his age that he is friends with or associates with who is at all different.  He's barely ever had anyone his own age around.  Typically they have been Princess's age or Brother Bear's.  And his preschool?  Every single child was white.  I had no idea until I looked at his school picture.

I worry.  He has a big mouth and likes to say what he thinks which makes me want to crawl into a hole because where do you think other people will think he got it from?!?  Even worse, what if he says it to a little person trying to be his friend in school?  How awful.  I'm seriously trying to nip this in the bud, but it's been so shocking I barely even know how to react.

I still feel like I failed.  But I'm a mom and it comes with the territory...

I really really hope I can change this BEFORE he hurts another mother's baby.  :(

The Upside and Downside of life

Which would you like first?

The downside could actually be considered upside depending on who you are.

We're moving still.

We're NOT moving to Utah as planned.

We're moving to...Boise!

My parents are being SUPER generous and letting us stay with them with all our stuff in storage for a bit - hopefully less than 3-4 months.  I think my mom is just happy she won't have to cook, go grocery shopping, and have less cleaning responsibilities.  Granted, my kids are going to be there so that last part might be a bit understated. :)  Kidding.  I'll just keep doing what I do at my own house there - except they have a LOVELY rule that whoever cooks doesn't have to do dishes.  :)  Can you see why I am planning on cooking every meal???  hahaha.

I know you aren't surprised at the complete change - this is Zane and I we are talking about.

Upside and downside to everything - one major upside: my kids (and I) LOVE their Grandma Great, and she loves them and I think they make each other pretty darn happy.  I'm glad they will have a chance to live close to her.  :)  Not to mention they love their grandparents too.

Letting go

Ummm...

I'm not going into details, those will come later.

We let the house in Eagle Mountain go.

Sometimes letting go is a good thing.

Especially when there are better things to come.  Hopefully.  :)

Lots of big things

What a big day!

We went and played at Grandma Great's.

Baby Boy took 3 steps.

Brother Bear went pee pee in the potty a ton - his idea!  :)  He also came in and said, "Mom!  I peed in the grass!"  I still cheered of course.  :)

Cowboy lost his first tooth!  We were playing a game and I glanced at him and noticed his tooth looked funny and I asked him what was wrong with it.  He said he broke it.  I ran over to inspect and the tooth practically fell out when I touched it.  Looks like he is on par with when Princess started losing all her teeth.  So fun.  He was so happy!

Grandma has now been here and a part of both of the older kids losing their first teeth.  Pretty cool.

There has also been a snag in our contract on the house.  Not a big deal, just more irritation.  I'm going to be glad when it's done.

Happy 4th!

This is my favorite verse of the national anthem, and unfortunately it's not one that most people ever hear:

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

I hope everyone had a great Independence day celebration!

Zane spent his driving back down to work.

We went to a parade this morning that was super fun - hit Five Guys on the way home for a juicy burger, and then the kids and I drove over to Boise to watch fireworks with my parents, grandma, and cousin.  It was AWESOME!  Baby Boy loved the fireworks after he got used to them and even started pointing his finger and I swear it sounded like he was saying "Look" and "Wow."

I feel incredibly blessed to live in such an extraordinary country.  Thanks to all who have made it possible!  Happy birthday America! 

Oh, and I still get teary EVERY time I hear and sing the song "Proud to be an American."  Never fails.  God bless the USA!!

We have another house!

We're set to close no later than Aug 12, though probably earlier.  It's a foreclosure in Eagle Mountain, so it needs some cosmetic work, but I think it will be a pretty good place.  I don't love the neighborhood as much as the other house, but I do like my view from the front window!  :)

Starting over

I am going to be super positive about this whole situation.  SUPER positive.

We don't have a house anymore.

I get to go shopping for another one.

In the positive realm, I am looking forward to finding an even BETTER house!  Yes!

Awesome!

Seriously.

Really.

Convinced?  Yeah, me too.  :)