Meet Everett!

Oh Boy! Its hard to post this without typing a novel! I'll try to keep it short and sweet :)
Memorial day weekend was coming up and I would be 39 weeks around that time, and since Cory was home I thought it would be a great time to have a baby!
I decided to give castor oil a try again and figured if my body wasn't ready then it wouldn't work anyway. I woke up at 5am on Saturday to take it and then went back to sleep. We did our normal Saturday routine of chores and I didn't notice too much going on, other than normal Braxton hicks I had already been having.
Around 11am I could tell they were picking up and at around 1pm I knew it was the real deal. We sent the older three to a friends house and around 3pm called our doula, Cynthia.
When she got there I asked if she could check me since I didn't want to labor at the hospital too long. I was so bummed to hear her say I was only at 3 cm! At this point I was struggling through contractions and felt we were getting close by how I was responding to the contractions. We waited around at the house for a little bit and Cynthia kept urging us to head to the hospital sooner than later so we wouldn't have a baby in the car ;)
I finally agreed to go, just to be safe, and the ride there was awful. We live 10 minutes from the hospital and every turn and quick stop seemed to happen in the middle of a contraction.
We arrived at emergency around 6pm and I remember everyone in the waiting room staring at me since I am very vocal. I walked up to L&D even though I was offered a wheel chair and much to my dismay they required me to go to triage (couldn't they tell I was in active labor?!) My midwife Sharon arrived just minutes after we did and found me to be 6-7 cm. Yay!!
We got to our room around 6:15pm and the nurses were already setting up the baby stuff. Cynthia pointed this out and reassured me that baby would be here soon. 'Yeah right!' I thought.

We all knew that once my water breaks my babies come quickly, so after trying a few different positions and techniques my midwife offered to break my water around 7:15pm (I was 8cm). Once she did I instantly sat up because I could feel baby moving down. I moved onto all fours and my body instantly started to push. I really felt like I was being torn apart from the inside! But...I remembered from previous labors that the only way out is through so I did the best I could to breathe through them (I kept having to be reminded to breathe! Apparently I held my breath a lot.) and work with my baby.

At 7:29pm our little baby came! They set him on the bed under me since he apparently was tangled in his cord. They hadn't told me this though (or I hadn't heard...) and said "where's my baby? Give me my baby!" and reached down for him.  

As I was picking him up Cory announced (through tears) that it was a boy and I totally didn't believe him! 'For real?!' I said. Everett was covered in vernix more than any of our other babies but that didn't stop me from loving on him! He cried a tiny cry and was pretty calm in my arms. We got to snuggle for over an hour before anything was done which I always love.

Doula Cynthia and Midwife Sharon Foster

He was the tiniest of our bunch weighing 7lbs 14 oz and was 21.5 in long. He was so mild mannered and calm! Hardly a peep out of him but awake and checking the world out.

Our hospital stay lasted a bit longer than we had expected, but we enjoyed the queen size bed and the extra couple days to snuggle him in the quiet of our own room. He was a great eater from the start and still so mellow. I didn't get much sleep between the feedings and the staring at his perfect little self!

Misc. May pictures

 Audrey on her way to school with her two front teeth missing. I didn't want to forget what she looked like at this age :)

 Liv, Adurey and Macie having a tea party, fancy dresses, flowers and all.

 Mother's Day 2016

We spent one afternoon at the library and while we were there there was a HUGE thunderstorm so we got stuck inside. When we got home there was water everywhere so I let the kids play their hearts out! 

Preschool graduation!

Well, she's not really graduated from preschool as she has one more year, but this was graduation from Mommy preschool. We did a co-op with a few friends and it went really well! The kids enjoyed it and I enjoyed only having to teach every 6-7 weeks ;)

Limo ride!

At the kids school they are required to read a certain amount of books each semester and complete a project for each. They can record whatever books they read to keep track. At the end of the year, the two people with the most books read for the year would get to go on a limo ride to lunch at Freddy's with the principal.

Isaac was in charge of tracking his own progress and with Audrey I hardly remembered to record hers since we read so much during the day.
Well wouldn't you know, even with me not writing down all her books she still got the highest in kindergarten! She was thrilled, and often reminds us that she is still the only one in our family to have ridden in a limo.

34 weeks

Baby #4--Alivya--Audrey--Isaac

I did this with Liv's pregnancy so I thought  I would carry on the tradition. All pictures are taken at 34 weeks pregnant. It does kind of weird me out that there are four pictures up there, which means there are almost four little children in my house that I've created! Ahh!!
I feel like this time around I am carrying rounder than with the girls. And even though I feel like a house, I feel like I am carrying this baby further back which is making me a teensy but smaller. /

I'd love to hear any guesses on what you think baby #4 will be! 

Drive in!

I was feeling like we needed a little family date since its been awhile since we've done something "big" and fun all together. Friday night was perfect weather and the drive in has a cheap deal going on right now so it really was the perfect place!

The kids all piled into the back with their blankets and pillows and we grabbed the scratchy little speaker and put it back there so we could hear. Wish there was room for me because it looked so cozy! 

 To pass the time the kids tossed a football around with Cory and climbed on top of the van (such a novelty!)

The bigger kids made it through both movies (the new Jungle Book and Zootopia), and Alivya made it through one. They were pretty stoked they got to stay up past midnight! We were all zombies the next day though...

Spring soccer

I think we've found this kids favorite sport! He is loving soccer this season and has grown a lot in his confidence already. Every day when he comes home from school he's outside in the back yard kicking the ball around. This Saturday he scored his first goal of the season and was pretty darn proud of it, though he'd never let it show ("I don't want to anyone to see me get excited...")! He's pretty lucky to have his dad coach, and I think Cory enjoys it too.

Fairies and tulips!

The girls and I had a little date to Botanica this weekend for their tulip and fairy festival. We'd never been but it was really cute and fun! Unfortunately I didn't get too many pictures because one child was being grumpy (until I bribed her with lunch) and the other one was too nervous to take pictures by all the fairies around the gardens.
This is one of my very favorite places in Wichita and its so stunning this time of year!

Happy Easter!

We dyed easter eggs for family night this week, though it was quick and not as big as some years. But tradition continues!

 The easter bunny visits our house on Saturday, thanks to a little letter I left him a couple years ago ;) This particular Easter Saturday we needed to be at the church to clean by 8am. Fortunately (unfortunately?) we have early risers and they were up and dressed by 6:15am (on their own). Baskets and eggs were quickly found and then we were out the door!

In their Easter best! What you can't see is the 3 inches of snow we got last night! 

Spring break Part I

Spring break has been so fun this year! I remember last year thinking it was pretty lame, but we had a blast hanging out exploring around town. Somehow my house was messier than it is during a normal week (when I have an extra two kids usually), but the memories are worth it.

Monday: We went to my favorite place in Wichita-- Botanica. Not much was blooming yet but you can tell it was getting started! I love the space that my kids can just be free and run around exploring. Gorgeous weather too!

 Tuesday: We went to the movies and had play dates with friends. No pictures, but still fun!

Wednesday: We got free passes from our library to Cowtown, an old western historic museum. Another place where the kids can run free and go at their own pace. I love all the old houses (the detail!) and they love all the games and activities. Win-win!

 Thursday: I heard about a funky donut shop on the west side of town, which is also by one of our favorite parks. We called up a few friends to go with us and had a great day! (Hmmm....no pictures of the park, only donuts. I see where my priorities are!)