Introducing Emery!

She is here!

Emery was born on February 7 at 6:56 p.m. She weighs 9 lb. 4 oz. and is 20 inches long! She has a double chin, leg rolls and dark blond hair. She is the sweetest, most easy-natured baby and we already wonder how we ever existed without her!

For my own record I want to record her birth story. I was to be induced on Monday morning and my instructions were to call the hospital at 7:30 a.m. to find out if they had room for me. I called and they told me to come in at 9:00 a.m. We ran the kids to school and dropped Addison off with a friend and headed to the hospital. When we got there they still didn't have room for me so we waited an additional (excruciating) hour in the waiting room. Finally, at about 10 they came and got us and we got settled into my room. Of course, it takes FOREVER to get everything situated - paperwork, bloodwork, IVs inserted, etc. They didn't start my pitocin until almost 1:00 p.m. It was a long morning. I had been dilated to a 4 for a couple weeks so we were hoping the labor would go quickly.

As per usual with my inductions, things didn't really move along at all for the first couple of hours. My doc decided to break my water to speed things up so I decided to go ahead and get my epidural. I had no idea how fast things would progress with my water broken and I wasn't taking any chances. I got the epidural and have to say it was my best one ever. No pain but I could still feel and move my legs and feel the urge to push. It was perfect. About an hour after my water was broken I felt a ton of pressure. Allen called the nurse and when she checked me I was dilated to a 9! She hurried and called my doctor but it took her another 45 minutes to finish up a delivery and get into my room. It was intense and I wanted to push so bad. The doc finally came in and I was fully dilated. Three pushes later our little angel was here! Overall, it was a piece of cake delivery and probably my best one of all 4 kids. Emery was 2 oz. smaller than Carter but she was born at 39 weeks and he was born at 42. My doctor had been leery of inducing me and after she was born, she kept saying how glad she was that I had pushed for a 39 week delivery. Had we waited, I probably would have delivered a 10 lb. baby!!

{a few seconds old}
{Super proud daddy!}

After delivery Allen hurried off to get the kids from our friends so they could meet her for the the first time! It was totally chaotic when they got there since they were moving me from delivery to recovery. We got a lot of looks as we traipsed through the hospital with all 4 of our kids! I guess we'd better get used to that though! The kids are smitten with her. It is the cutest thing ever but also a bit overwhelming as someone is always wanting/trying to hold, touch, comfort or love on her.

The first night at the hospital was super dreamy. She slept next to me all night and nursed a ton. She is an awesome nurser and latched on immediately with no problems. Allen was able to spend Tuesday morning with us thanks to some awesome friends who took Addison for us. It was nice for him to get to spend some bonding time with her since he had rushed off to get the kids so quickly after she was born. The second night in the hospital was a bit rough. Emery hadn't pooped yet and I could tell she was uncomfortable. Her tummy was super grumbly and hard. She cried off and on for about 4 hours so I finally called the nurse in and we tried a few things to get her to poop. After a couple more hours of sad baby I finally asked for a bottle for her. She wouldn't nurse and I was hoping the bottle would push things through. It worked! About an hour later she had two enormous diapers and was a ton more content. We both only slept from 4-7 a.m. that night though.

By Wednesday morning I was totally ready to go home. Allen took Addison to ballet and then they came and picked us up. This is us right as we were ready to head out the door.

This has for sure been my easiest recovery of all. I have felt awesome the last few days. I keep telling everyone that I find ironic that just a few days after delivering a baby, the most sore thing on my body is my arm where I got a tetanus shot a few hours before leaving the hospital (apparently the new tetanus shots have a whooping cough booster that they are recommending all parents of infants get). I also didn't realize how physically difficult the last couple months of pregnancy had been until I realized that I feel about 100% better immediately after having delivered a 9 lb. baby than I did the previous two months! We're just so happy and relieved to have her here and that she is perfectly healthy.

Being home the past two days has been wonderful and intense. Emery is a dreamy baby - she is sleeping and eating great. My recovery has been amazing and I have not even had engorgement problems (which I'm attributing to the fact that I've set my alarm for every 2.5 hours and fed her round the clock at that interval). The big difference I have noticed is that it is going to be difficult to fulfill everyone's needs all the time. That will be the biggest adjustment for us but hopefully I'll be able to juggle all the balls in my life effectively soon! Allen has been home this week and my parents and Allen's mom come next week. Our ward family has been truly AMAZING and have stepped in and are proving meals (10 days worth!!!) and childcare and are fulfilling every need imaginable! We are truly blessed!!

Final Score!

Girls: 3 Boys: 1

Yep, yesterday was our big Ultrasound! It's a GIRL! Everything looks great and she is perfectly healthy and we are thrilled! The first thing out of Allen's mouth was "looks like our household expenses just went up another $10,000 a year." and then he got serious and said we need to set up a wedding fund for the girls. Too funny.

Carter was so sad when we told him. Telling him was truly the most heartbreaking experience of my life and I almost can't talk or write about it without crying again myself. He didn't believe us at first when we told him it was a girl and then when it finally sunk in he sobbed and sobbed. He kept telling us it just wasn't fair that he would never have a brother. We just kept reminding him that this baby girl is what Heavenly Father wants for our family and that we need to love her and be happy about it. It was hard but he will survive.

I have a ton of great pictures of her from the Ultrasound but I am swamped with life so I will have to scan them in and post later. She'll be a beauty just like her sisters, I'm sure.

{Sorry to leave you hanging yesterday - I had only gotten a few hours of sleep the night before, had a crazy busy day and fell asleep at about 8:00 p.m.}

Signs of Life

I am so happy to report that I am finally feeling back to my normal self. Well as normal as you can feel at 19 weeks pregnant anyway! I knew things were starting to get back to normal when the following happened:

Laundry getting washed, folded and put away on the same day! This didn't happen around here for months. I could get it washed and dried on my normal day (Monday) but it usually sat in baskets until Allen folded it for me (on about Thursday).

Meal planning and cooking! Yay! It feels great to be back in my kitchen and feeding my family healthy meals again. I'm especially enjoying all of the fall baking this year. Last year I was on my crazy strict diet and did virtually no baking all fall so I'm totally living it up this year! {And next year I'll have to be good again while I lose baby weight}Scrapbooking! I'm so happy to have enough energy to be getting back into a few hobbies. I scrapped TWELVE pages this week and am happily completely caught up on my kids' school scrapbooks! Next up is getting my 365 blog updated this weekend.This fall is shaping up to be INSANELY busy. My bestie (Mindy) is getting married in two weeks so we are making a QUICK trip to Utah for her wedding. We are thrilled to pieces for her and love her fiance Erik.

The very next weekend Allen and I will be boarding this:

And heading to places like this:

(One of our ports - St. Maarten, Virgin Islands) as an early 10 year anniversary trip. We are so excited but I have A LOT to do to get ready for my parents to come and care for my kiddos that week.

We also have all of our traditional fall activities - apple picking, state fair, pumpkin patch, balloon fiesta - to squeeze in to the remaining weekends. Carter starts football this week and the girls have started their dance and gymnastics classes. I have some decorating and sewing projects up my sleeve (including DARLING Halloween costumes - yes, I am a glutton for punishment!!) and am pulling out my fall decor bins to start decorating around here this weekend!

Ok, that's about it from around here! I'll be back with more soon!

The Truth about our Summer

Yay! We are home from our epic 17 day vacation. We had a grand time but I do not recommend coming home the day before school starts. It's been a bumpy start to the school year. I have been busy with laundry, getting groceries, unpacking and making sure my kiddos get adjusted to our new schedule. I have A LOT to blog about though and I'm going to go in chronological order.

At the beginning of the summer I was so jazzed about having a fun and productive summer with my kiddos. We were planned and scheduled and things went smoothly for the first couple of weeks. But then.... we got this:

And everything besides SURVIVING this summer went right out the window!! Surprised? Yeah, I'm still feeling a little shell shocked about the whole thing, even though this is a planned pregnancy. I spent the majority of July feeling like I wanted to die and my poor kids took the brunt of it. I tried hard to keep some semblance of normalcy around here but I'm pretty sure I failed miserably! Luckily, my "morning sickness" usually hit around 3 p.m. so I was able to keep it together until then and Allen was able to take over when he got home. In short, we ate out way too much, my kids watched way too much TV and my house was messy for the better part of a month! Allen also got a BIG promotion at work this summer so he has been working an insane number of hours adjusting to his new job making that first trimester rough on everyone.

The good news is that at 15 weeks most of the MS seems to have passed, though I still have my moments most days. This pregnancy feels pretty similar to my pregnancy with Carter - extreme nausea unless I am eating, plus being starving most of the time. It's been a weird combination - nausea + hunger. I've managed to pack on a few (haha) pounds already. It seems that no matter how hard I try or how much I swear "this time will be different" I still gain lots of weight. You'd think by my 4th pregnancy I would just accept that's how my body does things.

Most people know I was pretty adamantly against having a 4th baby so I will just address it right now. Allen felt very strongly that there was another baby out there for us. I felt pretty content with 3. I was so sure that we were done that I worked my tail off last fall and lost the rest of my baby weight and felt awesome. But his nagging feeling wouldn't go away. I prayed and prayed and prayed about it a lot and didn't ever really feel a definitive answer either way. So without going into a lot of details I will just say that I could have sat on the fence for the rest of my life and am pretty much going on faith with this one. I am HAPPY that the decision is made and that I'll never, ever have to think about it again.

To say that the kids are thrilled to pieces would be an enormous understatement. We told them pretty early on because I just felt so lousy and I felt like they needed to understand why. Carter and Makenna have been praying for another baby for a long time and just couldn't understand why their prayers were not being answered. The first thing out of Makenna's mouth when we told them was, "oh mom, Heavenly Father FINALLY answered our prayers." It was the cutest thing ever. She is forever kissing my tummy and they have been great helpers. Addie has no clue what is going on even though we talk about the baby all the time. Carter is 100% convinced that he is getting a brother this time around and prays about it every single day. I guess we will know in a few weeks!

Anyway, that is the truth about how our summer really went around here. I try not to think too much about having a nursing newborn next summer too but I'm sure this baby will be a huge

blessing to our family. I did already post my pregnancy news of Facebook so most of my friends already know our news but I wanted a record of this pregnancy too!

Just call me Sausage Toes...

I had my weekly appointment today and I am thrilled that I am dilated to a 3 and about 50% effaced! Whoop! Not that it means anything for me since my babies never, ever come on their own. We're sticking to the Feb. 4/5 induction date and my last appt is next Friday. Wow. I can't believe we are down to the final week.

I have reached a new low in pregnancy this week - my wedding ring no longer fits me. Even when I was 42 weeks pregnant with Carter, I could still wear my wedding ring. I am VERY very puffy this pregnancy (hence, the sausage toes). And really I can only squeeze into two pair of my shoes. I think I will be wearing flip flops to church this week (hideousness). I do hope that all the water I'm retaining accounts for some of my weight gain (which has been rapid and steady the past month, making up for my little gain I had earlier - sigh).

We're pretty much ready to go though. We have weekend company coming tomorrow and the kids' birthday party next week and a few other odds and ends to tie up. I want to finish some scrapbook layouts I've started this month, finish some bows for the girls, get a pedicure and then I'm all set! SO excited to meet this baby Girl!

Baby Update!

Just a quick pregnancy update. We are officially in the FINAL countdown. My doctor has a tentative date for my induction - February 4 - less than one month from today. ONE month. I will have one last ultrasound this week at my appt. where they will measure her and try to predict her weight. I know how inaccurate those measurements can be but since I have such big babies they are trying to make sure she is not too huge.

Speaking of huge, I am feeling pretty big these days. It's so nice to finally be able to tell people that I am having a baby next month. And this week I will start telling them I only have 3 weeks left. A friend who is due the same week I am mentioned on her blog that she is planning to deliver a 30 lb. baby and a 20 lb. placenta. I love it. So I guess I'm hoping for a 20 lb. baby and a 10 lb. placenta. I am having lots of contractions and by the end of most days I am dying over my pelvic pain. We have a lot of projects we are trying to wrap up before she is born and good thing I am fully nesting and have a lot of motivation.

Today I bought newborn diapers and wipes, new binkies and onesies. My diaper stash from today:I also got the sling I ordered. (and of course I plan to look exactly like this within days of delivering my baby - LOL!!!)I went by their weight recommendation for sizing and it seems awfully small but maybe it is because I have a huge belly. I did A LOT of research on slings before I took the plunge so I hope this works out for me. I have to get in and out of the car too much with preschool dropoff/pickup and can't imagine hauling my carseat in with me every time. I've tried baby Bjorn's before and find them awkward to get the baby in and out of. I still need to wash clothes and blankets. And neither baby girl or I have an outfit to wear home from the hospital. I refuse to wear maternity clothes even one second after I've had the baby so I need to go out and find something to wear. And I just can't find anything that is perfect for her either. Hopefully with all the spring clothes coming out I can find something for both of us. I am feeling wishy washy about buying a swing. Carter could have lived in the swing when he was tiny but Makenna didn't like it as much. I also stocked up on all the "mommy necessities" for post childbirth - it's not pretty but at least now I'm prepared.

You will not be seeing any more pictures of me until we have the baby. I'm not a fan of pregnant belly shots (maternity photo shoots completely baffle me) so I never take them. My friend Becky offered to do a shoot of me last week and I totally laughed my head off at the suggestion (nice of her to offer though, for sure). I do have a picture of my belly the night before I was induced with Makenna and it was enough to make me consider never getting pregnant again. I admire those who find pregnant women beautiful, I am just not one of them. And I know that if I don't want to look at my pregnant self that no one else needs to be subjected to it. I totally don't mind pictures of other people but I have enough body issues when I'm pregnant to document the whole thing.

So we're doing our best to get ready for the baby. We can't wait until she is HERE!!

OH NO!!!!!!!

I am DYING. The name we have been planning to name Baby Girl since Day 1 has cracked into the the top 10 girl names for 2007. I am about to cry. We have been calling her "the name" since we found out she is a girl. The kids know her by the name and call her that all the time. I honestly want to cry. We have liked this name since we were pregnant with Carter and it was not popular at all back then. I have no idea what to do. I've always prided myself on naming my kids slightly unpopular names. I certainly do not want Baby Girl to be one of 10 little girls in her class with the name (kind of like the Jenny's/Jennifer's of my day). There is not a single other name that I am attracted to. Boohoo!!!!!

(and yes, I have shed tears as I have typed this).

Do you just get crazier...

with each subsequent pregnancy? Holy moly. The hormones are FULL force around here lately. I have been SO weepy this pregnancy. Is this normal? I think this better be it for us because if we went for a fourth I would probably have to be checked into a looney bin. Today I was at Costco (trust me, bad idea 2 days before Thanksgiving) and ran into a cute gal in my ward who is pregnant with her 9th!! Her 9th child!! She has two sets of twins (including 1 year old twin girls) and she just seemed so calm about things, even though she was lugging around a whole ton of kids. I'm so amazed by people like her. I could honestly never pull it off. I get so irrational when I am pregnant and the littlest things get blown out of proportion. Do you feel sorry for my family yet?

How to make millions...

...figure out how to make maternity pants that don't fall down!!!!

Welcome to my 3rd trimester (yippee, hooray, and mostly YIKES).

*Pregnancy Love*

So here's a little pregnancy update (mostly for my record).

I *heart* salad!! I have always loved it but I am ESPECIALLY loving it this pregnancy. I literally crave it all.the.time. Sometimes I even eat it for breakfast. With my other two pregnancies, my big craving was Peanut Butter. This is a much preferred craving and will hopefully prevent me for gaining so much weight this time (I would eat an entire jar of PB every week during my other pregnancies). Anyway, this is my current favorite and I eat it at least once a day. It's kind of my homemade version of the beloved Cafe Rio salad.

I just cook up a homemade tortilla (available everywhere for purchase around here and so Delish!), top it with a ton of lettuce, some kind of beans, tortilla strips and this YUM chipotle ranch salad dressing. Voila - Yummy salad. I am also obsessed with the Chili's Buffalo Chicken Salad and beg Al to take me to Chili's every weekend for our date night. I don't even really like the food at Chili's but this is totally hitting the spot for me. Other great salads are the Luau salad from Cheesecake Factory and I've even hit The Olive Garden a couple times for their salad (and I HATE the O.G.). So there you have it, random pregnancy craving.

Ok, this is SO my new best friend:

Yep, I took the plunge (with strong encouragement from Al) to rent a doppler for this pregnancy. I've had it for a few weeks now and I LOVE it. It is such a nice peace of mind. I only wish I would have gotten it even earlier. It is so fun listening to Baby Girl's heartbeat every day. The kids get such a kick out of it too. And apparently word is getting out that I have one because all the pregnant girls in my ward have started calling to come over and use it. So FUN!

Finally, last night as we were getting ready for bed, I mentioned to Al how pregnant I am already looking. He said, "Yeah, you are way more huge with this baby than you were with the other ones." Gulp. Thanks. It's true though. I hate to see where I'll end up with this one, though I've only gained about 5 pounds so far. I'm still totally wiped out by the end of the day and am out cold on the couch most night by about 9. I'd love to get the 2nd trimester energy boost one of these days. Heaven knows the paint situation in my house could really benefit from some late night painting sessions!

It's a.....

We are VERY excited! Everything looks great with our little girl. Carter was pretty disappointed and actually started to cry. He was convinced it was a boy (as was I). So the girl streak in both of our families continue (my family 3 grandsons, 8 granddaughters; Al's family 4 grandsons, 12 granddaughters, 1 unknown). We do have to go in for another Ultrasound because the tech could not get a good picture of the left side of her heart. She was curled in a tiny ball and we could never get her to move.

I am seeing lots of matching dresses, bows and jewelry in my future. And I have a CUTE double girl bedroom to get going on!!

The Motherload

Today I hit the Gymboree Circle of Friends sale. I came away with the motherload of stuff for the new baby. I have been itching to buy layette stuff for over a year but have held off until now. I'll obviously return the half I don't need after we find out what we're having on TUESDAY!!

For Boy:

For Girl:

I actually would have bought more if they would have had more summer lines out. I also got 2 outfits for Makenna and one for Carter (none of these were on sale). The grand total? $206 -- when you split that between the 13 outfits, 1 blanket and 1 swimsuit I purchased, it ends up being just over $15 per outfit. Considering what I can resell these for on ebay, I'm fairly certain I'll break even. Love that!

Flutter, Bump...Kick!!

It's official. I've felt the baby move. Yay! Hooray! This is my absolute favorite thing about being pregnant (the list is short, I assure you). I've suspected it for a few days but it's been undeniable today. I know, it is really early. But, I've been able to feel all of my kids move really really early. Something about my uterus being tilted or something (or so saith the doctor). I love and adore feeling my little one move.

This also begins the obsessive compulsive part of my pregnancy. Once I can feel the baby move, it is a requirement that I feel him/her move every time I get up in the night (2-3 times most nights). Sometimes I lay there for a very long time. Several times I have woken Allen up in tears because it has been so long since I have felt the baby move. He is a patient man and usually gets me a glass of orange juice to get the baby moving and stays up to wait it out with me. Such a good man.

Anyway, that's all the news here!

Details, details!

Yes, it is true. We are expecting baby #3!! My due date is February 14 which puts me right at 14 weeks. We are truly thrilled to be adding this new addition to our family.

We're surprised that so many of you seem surprised. Baby and Makenna will be almost exactly 3 years apart. One of these days we should try to have a baby at a different time of year instead of in January and February.

As far as the pregnancy goes, it has been fabulously uneventful. I have been really, really sick but I expected that. My sickness mostly hits at night right around dinner time. This has been a blessing in many ways because Allen is usually home and can take over for me in the parenting and dinner duties. I am feeling a lot better but still have a couple of hard nights every week. We have had 3 Ultrasounds (5 weeks, 9 weeks and 14 weeks) and watching the baby change is nothing short of miraculous.

Last October when we had to choose our medical benefits for this year we opted out of the maternity benefit because I was 100% sure I didn't want to have a baby this year. By December I had changed my mind and we even called the Honeywell HR department but they would not let us add the benefit. So, we have been patiently (or not so) waiting to try for a baby for the last several months. I DO NOT recommend moving during the first trimester. That has been pretty awful and explains a lot about my frame of mind this summer. We have mostly just been surviving to get through the first trimester.

The kids are really excited. Especially Carter. He is very interested about how the baby got inside my tummy and how the baby gets out. I think I got a little too technical in my getting out explanation and he is really fascinated by the whole process and asks a ton of questions and then proceeds to be really grossed out. He is really cute and keeps coming up with baby name suggestions. The first time we heard the heartbeat he gasped and said, "Mom, listen. I can hear the baby snoring." Too cute. It is really fun to have him aware of what is going on this time.

I am sadly already starting to look pregnant. I am in total denial about it and keep squeezing into my normal clothes. I've only gained a couple of pounds but all my weight has shifted and I already look slightly pregnant. I didn't wear a stitch of maternity wear with Makenna until I was 24 weeks pregnant. If I make it to 18 weeks this time I'll be lucky.

Anyway, thanks for the congratulations. We will definitely keep you posted on the progress of the pregnancy. Our big Ultrasound is scheduled for September 18 and we can hardly wait!! Thanks again!