Perry Simon Borup

Perry Simon Borup was born at 2:45 pm on Friday, October 28th, 2011.  (Perry is after my mom, not Perry the Platypus, although our kids do plan to call him Agent P.)

He weight 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 20" long.  

We had scheduled an induction that morning because we delivered in Rexburg and Mikey was a little worried he'd be in class there and I'd be home in Idaho Falls when I went into labor.  Also, having four other kids to get babysitters for, having him over the weekend seemed like the best option for everybody.

But Friday morning when I woke up to get ready, I was already starting contractions and by the time we got to the hospital for our appointment, I was dilated enough to be admitted anyway.  The IV ended up stopping my labor kind of, though, so they did put me on Pitocin to get going again.  Everything went really smoothly, and thanks to my epidural I just slept through labor.  Our Obstetrician, Dr. Prince, said things went so smoothly it was kind of boring (not that he'd want it any other way)!

I just like this picture because he looks so goofy.

 We relaxed for a few hours after the delivery, and the nurses were super cool about not coming in and bothering us every five minutes, so we got some good rest and cuddling time with Perry.  That evening Mom and Dad brought our other four sweeties to see us and the new baby.  All the kids are pretty thrilled with their new "baby brudder" (as Sam said).

Our FOUR boys!

All our sweeties together.  Still can't believe we have five children now!

I remember once my mom telling me that as they had more and more kids they wondered how they'd have enough love for all of them, but they always did.  I remember kind of thinking, well duh, but with Perry as our fifth, I think I understand that a little more.  I honestly was happy to have another baby, but it was kind of feeling a little boring-- just more of the same.  But already it's been so great and just as exciting and wonderful as with the first!  I'm so happy to have him!

Perry at home for the first time

Mom and Dad Andrews are nice enough to take all four of our kids for the whole weekend, and Mom even cleaned up our house a bit for us (since our boys were so excited to get out the door friday morning to spend a few hours with Aunt DaNae before the baby was born that we kind of rushed out).  So we are currently relaxing at home, which has been awesome-- it's been so great to get lots of rest and a little more quiet time with just our littlest before getting back to routine.  Can't wait to see all our kids again today, though.  LOVE our little growing family!

Procrastination

Lately we've been super busy just doing the basics at home: chores, homework, making dinner, etc.  I'm trying to get my kids to be more responsible, etc., but it's hard because Andrew is gone so much of the day to school.

I have also caught myself sitting at the computer (usually on that cursed Facebook!) when I just don't want to be so busy right now.

Today I made a resolution: If I'm going to be sitting here putting things I should be doing off anyway, I'm going to make use of it by taking the time to post here, so I can remember some specifics from this busy time.

Our sweet Andrew getting so big and reading to his baby brother.

I have three out of four kids in distress right now, so it's time to get back in the game!

Daddy saves the day

This is just a sweet summer memory I thought I'd write down:

One night we wanted to take the kids to the swimming pool, but I didn't look closely enough at the schedule until the kids were all ready and in the car-- and I realized they weren't open for public swim on that night!  They were all really upset, and I felt bad, but my wonderful Michael came to our rescue.  He suggested we play in the pool in our backyard and then have ice cream.

We all went out in the back yard and filled our kiddie pool and played with the hose and had a great time.  It was one of those activities the kids do all the time but it was so much more special for them to have us out there playing too.  And I'm super glad I got a picture of my cute husband playing with his boys in the water.

Big Kids

This week Evie started school, and Sammy has been potty training.  I can't believe how big all my kids are getting! 

Evie on the 1st day of Kindergarten

Truman and Sam doing an "underwear boys" dance
to celebrate wearing the same underwear together.

As a side note, I think it's kind of funny how you can see the mess in our house in most of our pictures these days.  That's not to say we don't try to keep it somewhat clean, but I think at four kids, I have been WAY outnumbered, and it only stays clean for about five minutes at a time.  Guess we need to start trying to schedule picture-taking around that!

Meanwhile, I'm feeling pretty good about myself for not being too self-conscious at this stage of life.  After all, "Trying to clean while children are still growing is like trying to shovel snow while it's still snowing."

The Yard: Before and After

This is  the best Before shot we could find!

 

After: with a new swing set from Grandma and Grandpa Borup.

And a meal grown entirely in our garden!
(... except the chicken.)

We hauled like three truckloads of trash out of our yard-- pavers, trash wood, and the remains of a pond that the previous owners decided to just fill in with grass when it stopped working (leaving all the stone, plastic lining, etc.  Michael worked really hard, and I'm proud of him-- our yard is great!

End of Summer

We have had a busy few weeks taking vacations and getting ready for school to start.

We went to Boise, where the kids had a blast just playing outside in Grandma Borup's yard, dressing up, visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, and playing at Grandpa's water party he set up for them again this year.  The highlight of Andrew's weekend I think was when he got to wrestle a goat and ride it rodeo style at Michael's aunt Joyce's house.  He really impressed Michael's 11- and 13-year-old cousins, and I think he was pretty proud.  I wish we'd had a camera at the time to take pictures!

Andrew wore that knight helmet
the whole weekend!

Grandma reading bedtime stories to the kids. They loved it!  The only
trouble was finding a place for all three to sit-- I have that problem too.

Grandma and Grandpa Borup gave us their swing set to take home and set up in our newly sodded yard, and the kids have practically lived on that thing since we put it up!


A couple weeks after that we took a camping trip with Michael's brothers to the Albert Moser campground in Preston.  Lots of fun with cousins, and it was such a good time relaxing and not really having to have a whole lot of structure. (In general I like structure, but it also creates a kind of pressure to accomplish things for me that it's nice to escape temporarily.)

Truman and cousins on the hammock-- they spent hours there.

Andrew shooting a slingshot.  Love his focus!

Dirty Evie having lunch.

The kids were so creative about finding things to do, and I was so impressed that this is the kind of life I want for my family in general-- simple, few electronics, lots of outdoor time to be wild, active, and creative.  Our dream is to own some land in the country where our kids can build forts, raise chickens, and explore the outdoors freely.

Oh, by the way...

I'm pregnant.  I'm due November 1st (11-1-11), and it's another boy!  We're planning to have him on the due date, 49 minutes before noon (that's 11:11).  Mikey says he should weigh 11 lbs. and 11 oz., but I'm not willing to go that far!

The kids really wanted a sister, but now that they know it's a boy they're all good with it.  Evie has started saying, "I don't want a sister."

If I get ambitious, maybe I'll post some ultrasound pictures later, but for now that's all you get.

Ragnar Relay 2011

After my crazy Ragnar adventure last year, Anna and Johanna talked me into doing it again this year.  I was hesitant mostly because I knew I'd probably be pregnant.  (And I was-- 20 weeks along.)  But Michael didn't even flinch when I brought it up, so I went for it.

Ragnar 2010 Team $#!T-- I met all these people the day before, and they were great!

The first thing I was excited about was our team name: Saints and Sinners.  I thought this was hilarious because Johanna and Anna and all their "non-Mormon sinner friends" filled one van, and I picked out "saintly" friends for the other.

Saints: James, Bubba, Me, Amanda, Brett, Sam

Sinners: Becca, Michelle, Johanna, Anna, Stephanie, and Liz

All kinds of ideas started rolling and it turned out to be a blast.  Mikey um rendered? our team shirts (Anna and I came up with the basic idea and he put it together beautifully), and I was super proud of them.  We also decorated our cars cooler this year.

Another thing I was really excited for was running with some of the people I picked: my brother Bubba, bro-in-law, James, and my friend Amanda-- who was kicked off the Jr. High track team with me.  It was also cool getting to know James' brother, Sam, and Amanda's husband, Brett.

Amanda and me after the race.  So good to catch up after ten years!
(Also, check out our awesome shirts!-- there are wings on the back.)

The race itself was tougher than I'd hoped.  I'm ashamed to say this, but when I'm honest with myself I know it's true-- sometimes I like to think I'm better than other people, that things aren't going to be as challenging for me.  So I really hoped I could run Ragnar pregnant and make it look super easy.  But I didn't train as well as I could have, and I was pregnant, so it was a little tough, particularly for the last couple legs.  My second leg was such a beautiful run near a lake in the middle of the night, but I lost my flasher I had to wear on my back and had to run back probably half a mile for it, and things got a little ugly from there.  I wish I could have enjoyed that run a little more.  My last leg was all uphill and I pretty much just hiked it.

Receiving support: it was pretty hot, but I was kind of lazy about this "run."

After the race about half our team had to get home pretty quick so I was a little bummed we couldn't hang out more, and I decided I'm kind of Ragnar-ed out for a while, but I'm really glad I did it this year.  Definitely a good time.

Afterward: my "non-runner" friend Amanda decided to start her own team for next year!  Bubba decided he's tough enough to run the Pocatello Marathon this fall-- and he's going to kick butt!  I feel some pride that I may have contributed to these things.

Summer Fun

Truman's Birthday: we went to Tautphus Park where the kids got one free ride at Funland as a reward from the library reading program (did you know those rides normally cost two bucks each?!!)

Sam was afraid to ride, but loved the playground afterward.  I think he's our most adventurous toddler-- he likes to climb all over the playground and go down the slides himself.

After we got the sod in, we finally let the kids get out the swimming pool

 

This is their crazy pose-- aren't they great?

We have also done the slip-n-slide (an old store sign my grandpa gave us) at Grandma and Grandpa Andrews' house.  Their house is great for this because they have a warm water faucet outside that we like to use.

Truman is my timid guy-- he didn't love sliding,
but he played a bit with the water.

The Great Tree Removal

We had this 15 foot stump thing (basically a tree with no branches) right next to the fence in our backyard and Michael finally decided he was going to get that sucker out.  

After trying to chop it down himself, he finally hired someone to cut it down to just an actual stump.  Then he dug that out by hand!  It took at least a couple weeks of just spending all his free time out in the hard digging and hacking at the roots, until he was able to free them, jack up the stump, and finally use his manly strength to heft the thing onto its side ("He's so STRONG!" I say in a very impressed female voice): 

After that our yard looked like a big excavation pit for a while until we were able to get rid of all the wood and yard debris-- we have now hauled two very large truckloads of crap to the dump just out of our backyard, not to mention all the stuff we so generously gave away on craigslist, etc.!

Now our backyard looks like this: 

(I'll add Before and After pictures after we finish the final part of the project-- wink, wink!)

PHEW! It's been too long!

So... I haven't posted in about four months.  And before that it's been spotty.  Alright.  Here I go AGAIN recommitting to this.

First, I'm going to post some videos Mikey made FOREVER AGO! of our youngest boys.  (The delay is not just my fault, though, it did take him a while to get them online, and I still haven't figured out how to make my own videos work on this thing.


Truman Loves To Get Dressed from Michael Borup on Vimeo.


Sam Loves Just About Everything from Michael Borup on Vimeo.

While I'm at it, I better put on Andrew and Evie's videos.


Andrew Loves to Cook from Michael Borup on Vimeo.


Evie Loves Art from Michael Borup on Vimeo.

These videos are all a little old-- Andrew and Evie's were from at least a year ago-- but I love them still.

Sammy

I love how little kids can so thoroughly enjoy their food.  

Sammy likes to push on his belly and say "Belly, belly, belly!"

Home Alone Part 2

Um, well, the rest of the time actually turned out pretty boring.  There was some reading of books and eating of meals, and... I'm sorry, it's all kind of a blur now!

The best part of the second half, though, happened on the last day Michael was gone: Sam woke up extra early, and I was too tired to do anything, so I brought him into bed with me.  There he rolled his little body into me (so I was spooning him) and went right back to a sort of shallow sleep with a lot of rolling over and hugging me.  It was so sweet!  It was nice because he moved enough that I was aware of the sweet little cuddles, but not so much I was frustrated at being kept awake.  Mmm... I love that snuggly Sam!

Sam loves his daddy so much he freaked out every night I put him to bed, screaming, "Dadddaddaddadadd!" and sort of gripping his hands together and pulling them apart because he was so distraught without his dad to tuck him in.  I am really grateful to have a sweet husband who helps me out a TON so I really notice when he's gone.  And I do kind of take advantage.  :)

Home alone: Part 1

It's been really hard lately to take pictures, so the kids recently stole the camera and took their own pictures.    

Michael is out of town for about six days filming, so we're having an interesting time left to our own devices.  We had a sleep over in our office with everyone but Sam the first night and watched High School Musical, which they loved of course.  I fell asleep to Andrew saying, "This is the best night of my life," and woke up to him saying every couple hours or so, "I miss Daddy."  So I guess it's not an ideal trade-off but we're trying to make the most of it.  

Saturday we built a fort, made Rice Crispy Treats and had a "read in" (after swimming lessons and a nap).  Then we ate corn dogs for dinner, and I taught the kids the Corn Dog Song.  

Today was Sunday, so we went to church, only a tiny bit late, and were later commended by our second counselor, Brother Cannon for our efforts.  Now it's nap time, and I know I will probably sleep until the kids wake up if I lay down, so here I am posting first.  

Three and a half more days.  We will survive!  It does make me appreciate Michael though.

This one is for Anna

While I'm posting to humor people, I just found this pic on my sister's blog and decided to repost.  These are the aprons I made her and my niece for Christmas last year.  My friend Anna helped pick out fabric and told me I needed to post a picture when I finished making them, but I forgot to take pictures, so lucky for me Crissa did!

The aprons are reversible so each of them has polka dots (Kiely's are small) on one side and floral on the other.  Kiely's can also grow with her quite a bit, so that's fun.

I don't sew much these days, so I'm glad these turned out.

This is for DaNae

I have been REALLY bad at taking pictures lately.  I blame Michael (he has the camera all the time for his work now, so it's often unavailable, and when it is the cards are out and the lenses are switched and it's a pain!-- but I'm thankful that he has work anyway).

This weekend the kids "slept" over at Grandma Andrews' house.  Here's the residual damage:

They had lots of fun, but were COMPLETELY wiped out!

Okay DaNae?  I hope you're happy!

I tried to upload a video too, but it didn't work.  Next week.  You can bug me about it if you want.

What I overheard:

Evie: Andrew do you like that [birthday card I made you]?

Andrew: Yeah.

Evie: It's yours.  You can keep it forever.  Then when I'm grown up you won't forget me.

Andrew: Evie, I won't forget you, you're my sister.

The thing about this conversation you can't see in reading it is how sincere they were.  Evie was so excited to have given him something he really liked (it was a pop-up card I helped her make), and Andrew wasn't sarcastic or patronizing in his answer, but sincerely letting her know he couldn't forget her.  

I can never get over how great it makes me feel to know my kids truly love each other.  They are constantly doing kind things for each other and having conversations like this.