Loving Roswell

Roswell has been the best baby. He only fusses when he's hungry or poopy, and he lets us sleep at night - waking up only once or twice to eat and then goes back to sleep. His brothers adore him and are always wanting to hold him and give him kisses and hugs. They have also been very helpful. How happy I am to be their mommy. I'm hoping it stays that way, especially on Sundays. Dan just got called to be the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency, so I'm on my own now during sacrament meeting. We'll see if my kids still remain well behaved. I'm nervous, but I know the other members have offered to lend a hand if I'm struggling. I'd love to be super mom and be able to handle anything, but I guess time will tell.

Here's some more hospital and family pictures.

Dono loved looking at his new little brother in the bassinet, waiting for him to wake up.

Elliott just wanted to be with mommy, except when he was misbehaving.

Dono finally got to hold his littlest brother!

Elliott enjoyed it too!

The brothers' Earl

Nama Earl with Roswell

Papa Earl with Roswell

Time to go home.

A Moment to Blog!

With having Roswell, recovering, and visiting with family, I have neglected my blogging. Thanks to my wonderful hubby, you were able to read about Roswell's entrance into our family. I was quite surprised that he actually came on his due date. My doctor offered to induce me, but I am not a supporter of inductions unless you are way over the due date. Babies will come when they are ready no matter what you do to encourage labor. It's nice to let babies have their choice of a birthday. Anyway, at my last appointment, my doctor told me that he was going to induce me if I went over my due date. I was not exactly sure I would go through with it, but there were factors that were tempting me. Mainly that Dan's parents were here and leaving on the 30th. We'd hate to see them leave from being here for 2 1/2 weeks and still not meet their newest grandson. Then my parents were coming on July 2nd, so there would be a few days that we didn't know where we would send the boys if I went into labor. It was a stressful decision. Gratefully, Dan's parents extended their stay a few days to overlap when my parents would get here. I knew we'd be covered, so now we just had to wait. Then enter Dan's post. It happened exactly like he said, even the part where he was almost born on the toilet (scary).

And so entered Roswell Harmon Earl

Birthdate: June 29, 2008

Time: 7:41 pm

Weight: 8 lb. 1 oz.

Length: 21 in.

So, the winners of the contest are:

Melissa with the closest time (7:59)

Geniel (7.9 lbs) and Shellee (8.3 lbs) tied for the weight. They were both 2 oz. off.

And Vanessa got the exact date.

Congrats! If you want me to send your prize, either email me your address to cleelc@hotmail.com or you can put it in the comments.

Thank you all for playing. I appreciated all the early due dates, but I guess our little Roswell wanted to be different from his brothers.

Welcome Roswell!!!

Well, My sweet wife has left it up to me to chronicle the birth of our third boy, Roswell. It was a harrowing event. We got home from church about 2pm and after lunch put the boys down for a nap. Once they were asleep we had a "nap" ourselves. After our "nap" Crystal went downstairs (where it is about 10 degrees cooler) and was going to lie down on the couch. It's about then that she started contracting about 5 minutes apart. She told me to get dressed and ready to go. We got to the hospital about 6pm (it's 45 minutes from our house). The doctor came and broke her water about 7:10 and about 1o minutes later her contractions were getting to the intensity where one can no longer cheat at rummy (as Crystal is wont to do) so I beat her for the first time EVER! (I'll take the asterik, I don't care, a win is a win) I digress, back to the baby. So the nurse tells her to go pee since she is at an 8.5 and is getting ready. Well, he was almost born on the toilet, after some deft manuvering by myself and one of the nurses we got her back to the bed, where our little guy was crowning. The doctor arrives without out a moment to spare, and Roswell Harmon Earl is born two pushes later. Mom and babe are doing great, he seems to be a hearty eater. Also he may have a touch of jaundice, but the nurses make it out like it's not a big deal. So there you have it, I'm sure Crystal will post a rebutal once her fingers are sufficiently healed to blog. Adios and enjoy the pictures of our little Monkey Pants.

A strategically placed hand so my guy's weiner is all over the internet.

My trooper of a wife, my favorite self quote of the event "Crap honey you could have had that kid pushing a handcart, your ancestors would be proud."

Nice touque, eh?

Crystal holding Roswell for the first time.

Ross after his first feeding. "Mmmm. YUMMMAY!"

My goodness... I'm gorgeous!

Happy Birthday Elliott!

Happy 2nd Birthday Elliott!

My baby is 2 today! He is getting so big and such a joker! He's always trying to make us laugh. I was so glad I didn't go into labor today. I'd like to have all my kids have their own birthday. Whew! Sorry for those who guessed today's date. Elliott had a great day and got to share it with Daddy and Papa's Father's Day.

Happy Father's Day to all the daddy's! Especially Dan, who is in my opinion the best daddy I know, besides my own Dad of course!

Dan's parents flew in Friday morning to share Elliott's birthday and to hopefully be here for Roswell's entrance.

Elliott chose all his birthday decs, even the cake. He wanted to have a basketball. He was excited to see it all decorated. Then he chose Thomas the train for everything else.

He got some wonderful gifts with lots of characters he likes, but I think the number 1 gift of the day was his new Thomas the Train big boy trike. We saved it for last for a reason. He didn't want to get off. He wanted to ride it instead of eating cake, saying night-time prayers, and going to bed. Donovan even liked it. He asked us if he could ride it. We told him that he had to ask Elliott nicely. So he said, "Elliott, can I have your new bike, PLEASE?" We'll have to see how the sharing goes. :)

Happy Birthday my sweet boy!

A Little Contest

A lot of you have been doing fun contests. Well, I've got one for you. I'm not sure if there'll be a prize, as I do live very far from most of you, but I'll think of something good.

As you know, I will be having this little baby boy very soon. How soon is what I'm after.

So the contest is, tell me your best guesses. There can be several winners, I'll see who gets the closest. So write a comment or email me with your guess on:

date of birth

time

weight

To help you in your guesses I'll give you some of my history. For both Dono and Elliott I gained exactly 20 lbs and dilated way early. Donovan was born 1 week early at ~2 am and weighed 7 lbs 3 oz. Elliott was born 2 weeks early at ~12 pm and weighed 7 lbs 4 oz. Right now I am due June 29th, I was put on partial bed rest because of early dilation fears and have only gained 11 lbs. and he has already dropped significantly. Maybe some of this will help.
Good luck! The contest will end obviously when Roswell is born. I won't accept any guesses once I go into labor just to be fair.

I thought this was a cute pic, but not my ucky yucky stretch marks. Too bad those things don't go away. Sorry if this offends you.

Happiest 6!

Happy 6th Anniversary to us!

It doesn't seem like it's been 6 years already, but wow what a great ride it has been!

I love Dan so much. We started out as friends and neighbors at college with different lifestyles. Who knew that such a wonderful match was made. I am so blessed to have married this wonderful man who adores me and our 2.999 boys. Life is wonderful!

New Gifts

This week has been very exciting. For my b-day Dan got me a much needed mommy item. A glider/rocker!In AZ, I always borrowed my mom's rocking chair the first few months and didn't know what I'd do with Ross. What a loving hubby! I love sitting in it already, it's so comfy.
I also had some extra b-day money to spend, so I thought I'd buy a new camera. There wasn't really anything wrong with my old one, except that the pictures and video (as I'm sure you could see) were a little fuzzy. I fell in love with this one:There are so many different functions on this camera that I would have never imagined! And it's 5 more megapixels than my old one, so the pics should come out sharper. I'm so excited to take more pictures, and just in time for Roswell to come! I guess I'm going to have to go out more so that I can take more pictures!

Happy Birthday to Us!

For those that don't know, my bro-in-law and I share a b-day.


Happy 40th Birthday Jake! May your next year be full of happiness (with the help of your new supply of prunes). Just kidding! We love you!

And me, I turned 29! Yowsa, I'm getting old.
It was a great day.