At Our Place

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Christmas

Sorry,

I wrote a whole blog on Christmas and Christmas Eve and it got deleted.

GRRRrrrrr.

So this is all you get.

We had some friends over on Christmas Eve and made gingerbread houses, played Christmas pictionary and had some lively games of tug-of-war.

I love the smoke coming from James' house. It's actually a snowman, but it looks pretty cool.

the kids woke up to a big train set, set up all over the living room.

Somebody ate too much. Look at that belly!

Big foot. Love her. :)

On the Jan 4th, We drove down to Utah and Barry blessed sweet little Emmaline in our old ward in Mendon.
Our niece was getting baptized that day, so the Pate family was all together. Barry gave Emma a beautiful blessing, I could feel the spirit very strong. It was a very special day. We went over to Barry's brother's house for lunch afterwards.

Emma was blessed in my blessing dress, which Eleanor and Lauren also wore.

I just LOVE my children.

Lauren turned 3 on the 29th! We celebrated with homemade pizza and pink cupcakes. An old man at the church asked Lauren about what color her birthday cake was. (We hadn't made it yet.) Her answer was quite funny and carefully worded. She replied that her birthday cake would be cupcakes and they would be pink!
She is such a sweet girl. We love her soo much!
She has grown up so much in the last couple of months. She seems to have no problem with Emma so far, and loves to tell people about her new baby sister. I told her she can still be my baby, and that now I will just have two babies, and she is totally okay with that. :)
Lauren is quite the jabberbox, she has soooo much to say, and has an incredible vocabulary if you can understand her. I love how she refers to herself as Waren and will ask if Waren can have something.
Lauren speaks very proper, she never asks CAN I do something? It is always, MAY I. I love it, I certainly didn't teach her that, but it's very cute.

Lauren loves to sing. She sings songs from Charlotte's web all the time, primary songs, and the Article of Faith songs.
I love how Lauren can recognize when she needs a nap, and that she will just go get in someone's bed (never her own) and go to sleep when she is tired.
Lauren is my first child to really take an interest in stuffed animals and baby dolls and is getting quite the collection.
Lauren is probably the biggest tease of all my children and is crazy cleaver and super smart. She tricks Barry and I all the time.

We feel so very lucky to have her as a part of our family.

Check out those eyelashes!

We picked up Natalie on the 30th. She came to stay for a week. We did a ton of traveling while she was here, but it was fun.

We got invited to spend New Years Eve and New Years with some friends at their cabin in Ashton.
The kids had a blast! They had a little snowmobile James could drive and he loved it! The kids sledded and rode on tubes and drove snowmobiles around all day. We played games and ate massive amounts of pizza. When night came our friends put on a small firework show to welcome in the New Year. On the 2nd, we went to their house in Rexburg, and Barry and Natalie learned how to turn wood on a lathe while the rest of the kids and I watched Wall-e. They both made a pretty cool wood cup.

On the 5th Lauren went to Sunbeams for the first time, she had fun. After church was had a huge meal and then spent the evening playing a rare game of phase 10. Daddy barely won, with Natalie close behind.

We had a fun visit with Natalie and were all sad to see her go. She has grown up so much. (3 inches in the last 6 months). She was very excited to meet her new little sister and was a lot of help with her. We are already looking forward to her next visit!

Monday, December 30, 2013

Emmaline's Birth

I know I need to write down Emma's birth story (this is my journal you know), but I haven't wanted to.

I guess I'll tell you why....

On Monday morning,(38 weeks and 2 days) I woke up not feeling well. I hadn't had more than a couple of contractions for more than a week. After trying to make an early appearance at 34.5 weeks, our sweet baby had decided to settle in for the long haul. I was totally fine with that, but it was getting more and more difficult to sleep at night and move my body...anywhere. ANYWAY. On Monday, I had several episodes where I felt very dizzy and short of breath. Remembering that is what happened the day I had James, I remarked to Barry that I would probably have the baby that night. I hadn't have a single contraction all day though, so it didn't really seem likely.
Around 8:30 we decided to go to bed. I went to the bathroom, then I laid back down and felt a tiny bit of fluid leak. After having 4 babies, this was totally normal, except I had just used the bathroom, so I got a little excited and thought "Hmmmm maybe my water broke.." I got up and caught a little of the fluid in a disposible bag. Nope, totally NOT amniotic fluid. I tried to go to sleep. Around 9:40ish I had my first contraction of the day and it was STRONG. I told myself, "gosh if I have another one of those I better go to the hospital. Within 5 minutes another very strong contraction followed, I couldn't stand up. I woke up Barry, and told him I had had TWO very strong contractions, and to call the neighbor. I am so glad he didn't argue with me, because afterall you are suppose to have 5 contractions 5 minutes apart or something before you call to go into the hospital. My neighbor was completely on the ball and rushed over.We were in the car by 10:10. On the way to the hospital, Barry, sensing I was in quite a bit of pain, asked me if there was anything he could do for me. I said, "YES! Pray! Pray, that this baby isn't born in the car." He did pray, and he also sped up quite a bit. :)
We got to the emergency about 10:25ish, and I hopped out of the car and ran in. The ladies at the desk asked what they could do for me. "I said, I am having a baby." They were quite sluggish, I don't think they believed me, but sent Barry to park the car and pushed a button to call someone to take me up to labor and delivery. I sat down in the wheelchair, and the man asked if I wanted to wait for my husband. I said NO! We need to go NOW and you need to hurry! I guess he could tell I was serious, because the poor man ran the length of the hospital and took me up three floors in probably less than 5 minutes. I had another contraction when trying to get to the bed from the wheelchair. They asked me when my water had broke, I told them it hadn't as far as I knew. They asked me how long I had been having contraction, I told them about a half an hour. A silly nurse tried to get some more information from me and another nurse tried to put in an IV, they were both unsuccessful. I had officially checked out because of the pain. Barry had caught up to us in the hall and attempted to answer their questions. He kept telling them over and over that my babies come really fast. They said they would call the Doctor as soon as they got me "settled" When they said that, I knew he would never make it. The nurse checked me, said I was at a 4. After two more contractions back to back, I told her it was time for baby to appear. (Okay, I didn't exactly say that, but something very eloquent like SHE COMING OUT NOW!!!!) She didn't really believe me but checked again and said in disbelief that I was at a 9! The moment she walked away, baby Emmaline decided to make her appearance. (strangely with no gush of water, another mystery) A Family Practitioner who happened to be there walked in the room and watched for a moment, he said. "Wow! Great Job! Now that's the way to have a baby, no messing around! Baby Emma was born at 10:41, just about 1 hour after my contractions started. The Family Doctor cut the cord, and while we were waiting for the placenta to be delivered, my OBGYN showed up. He successfully delivered the placenta, and kindly stopped the nurse from giving me any Pitocin. He said. "She said she didn't want any, so don't give her any." (Imagine that, someone actually listening to me at the hospital. yeah!)

Emma, who was nameless at the time was beautiful, she had lots of dark brown hair, and dark eyes. I remember noticing how big her hands and feetss were. I couldn't focus much on her because of the pain, I started shaking all over and my teeth clacked together. I couldn't even hold her. Having a baby from start to finish in 1 hour, might be convenient for babysitters, for doctors, for husbands, and maybe even for the baby, but it hurts like I only imagine HELL can feel for the Mom. I DO NOT recommend it! Unfortunately, I am not sure how to prevent it in my case, but I'm going to think of something before next time. ;)

I am soo very happy that our little Emmaline is here though, safe and sound. She is such a sweet little spirit, and is perfect in every way. She is a wonderful addition to our family, and I couldn't feel more blessed. :)

Emma the Wonderful.

Emma loves me.

I can tell.

:)

When I first held her right after she was born, she was crying when she was handed to me, but I put her on my shoulder and she put her little arms around my neck and lay her head on my shoulder ....and she stopped crying.

....It was very sweet. My first hug from a newborn.

Emma also calls to me.

I know that is to be expected when a baby is a bit older, but dear Emmaline is truly remarkable.

If she's sleeping and I put her down, and I'm not within eyesight when she wakes up, she makes this cute little squeeky sounds. I really don't know how else to describe it. She's DEFINITELY calling for me. I love that she doesn't wake up and cry when she find that I'm not there, she just does her best to make some noise to let me know she's awake and wanting me. She's my first baby to do this, and she does it consistently enough, I know (yes, I know ;) ) it's not by chance, and she ONLY does it when she can't hear or see me. Sooo she's pretty remarkable, I must say. Pretty smart for a three-week old.

"..are we done yet?"

I told James I wasn't taking any pictures of him until he got his hair cut. That made him really sad, so I relented. James the Hedgehog. (I do love him!)

Ellie really is that white, but I admit the wall doesn't help. It's actually a grey green color.. Someday I will have photoshop....

My little pumpkins. White and Orange. Emma's jaudice is holding steady, but she is still such a cutie.

My sweet Eleanor. Such a wonderful big sister!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Sleep

Something bizarre happened this morning.

I was sitting in the living room in front of the blazing wood stove talking to Emma. She was laying on a pillow on the floor.

The kids were in the kitchen eating breakfast.

I must have layed down next to Emma, because the next thing I remember is waking up on the floor, the fire had died, some little someone had put a blanket over me and the house was very quiet.

I couldn't hear anything except Emma's little snuffles as she slept. I was a little alarmed with the quietness, but found the kids in the sunroom playing.

It was quite bizarre, why hadn't they woke me up?

They just let me sleep for two, possibly three hours undisturbed. If I had told them I needed a nap and had threatened them within an inch of their lives not to bother me, they would have normally only come bothered me on average 5 times each within a ten minute time period.

Oh well. I guess Christmas came early this year. I got some glorious sleep and the children are all still alive and well....

Yes. I have more pictures of Emma to post, and about 100 others to catch up on. My computer is just so slow... and I'm always so tired. Maybe next week. ;)

J