Better late than later! Remi's birth story

Remi is a third child and so she has not been forgotten, but maybe things are taking longer to get written down.  (So sorry)  As a seventh child I always am a little sad that there are not more pictures of me or "things" from my childhood.  So I am still attempting to not leave any of my children lacking.  So here go the story.  It is was quite simple and non eventful.
As soon as Robert and I new the approximate due date of our third child (Nov 4, 2013) I had a feeling she was going to be an October baby.  Sure enough she is!
Mom and Amy got to our house on the night of October 28th.  I teased that with the other 2 girls they came the very next day after mom arrived and so Remi would be here the next day.  I was feeling like it was about time for the baby to come anyway.  Sure enough she did come that next day after my mom got there. 
I was awoken as usual having to pee sometime before 4:00 and 4:30 AM.  I got up and peed and had some dischage and then went back to the bed.  As I lay there in bed trying to get comfortable and such I began to have lite pains.  Because of my labor and delivers with Kenya and Jasmin I did not really know what a contraction felt like.  As I laid there for a while I began to think maybe that is what was happening.  As I lay there trying to drift off to sleep again I would be awoken from falling asleep by these pains.  So I then began to time them.  The pains were coming about every 20 minutes but not lasting very long.  They were uncomfortable but nothing what I thought labor pains would  be like.  I tried to let Robert sleep.  After this had been happening a while I woke him up and we lay there for a little while talking about what if I was starting labor or not.  He eventually got up and head of to his seminary teaching class.  The contractions had slowed and so we knew it was not happening right then.  I called Dr Hopkin in the morning and told him.  He suggested just waiting to see what happens and then coming in if I felt like I needed to.  So when everyone else was up (my mom, Amy, Kenya and Jasmin) we headed to the grocery store.  I wanted to have everything in the house for when the baby came.  I also thought that walking around might send me in to labor.  We went to Fred Meyer and Kenya and Jasmin got to play in the their little play land as we walked around and got what we needed.  No more contraction, but I started spotting and have a lot of discharge by the late afternoon.  I decided to get my bags and head to get checked at the doctor.  This was about 3:30 PM.  He told me something has happening and I might just end up heading home just to come back in a few hours.  I decided to just check into the hospital and get put on something to speed it up.   We left and called Robert who left work and went to get Kenya and Jasmin to come down to Rexburg too.  I was checked into the hospital by 5:00 and getting ready to have this baby that night.  I had progressed in dilation from the last check until at the doctors and then again another cm by the time Dr Hopkin got there less than an hour later.  @ 5:44 my water was broken and then they began to increase the medicine to speed up the contracts.  Not much else happened for awhile.  Everyone else got to eat dinner and hang out for while.  Having Kenya and Jasmin in the room is fun, but boy they (mostly Kenya) sure asked at lot of questions and wanted to talk and be with me.  I loved that!  But it sure did make it hard to rest at ALL.  Then I got an epidural and only Robert was allowed to be in the room.  This nurse was strict and abrasive.  She did a fine job but was ALL busy and didn't want anyone to talk or be in the room.  Strange!  When everyone got back in the room we tried to put those girls to sleep on the coach as I rested and waited for the baby to come.  Just after 11PM I was dilated to a 10 and they called Dr Hopkin in.   Because my epidural had been so recent I could not feel a thing and they had to tell me when to push.  Then I could not tell if I was pushing or not and wasn't pushing as hard as I should have been.  The doctor asked if he could just help her out and he grabbed (I think it was the vacuum) and helped her out.  At 11:31PM out came baby "Pumpkin Face!!!" 
She was such an amazing baby.  Hardly cried or fused and was so healthy!  Just Robert stayed the night.  The next morning everyone was up to visit again.  Mom and Amy left mid-day and the girls stayed behind with us.  Remi had high bilirubin and the dr thought about keeping her another night, but then let us go home and I had to check her the next day at in Idaho Falls.   Again we had a hard time naming her.  We decided on Remi but didn't knw about a middle name.  After a while (shorter than it took us for Jasmin or Kenya) we decided on Remi Alexandria.  PERFECT!  After we got our dinner and the name finalized that night we headed home as a family of five.  I was again release early because of a great labor and delivery and a wonderful doctor!  We were home before bedtime for the girls that nigh.  (Just barley over 24 hrs in the hospital from check-in to check-out with an extra person, not bad if you ask me!)
Truly an easy uneventful (in the best way) labor and delivery!  Quick easy and amazing results! 
Remi had no other visitors in the hospital other than what was already mentioned, but more than 20 in her few weeks of life.  Friends, Neighbors and MANY that we did not know from the ward we had just moved into 3 months before.
Her bilirubin continued to get higher/ not lower in the first 2-3 days and so she was put on a bili light.  She had to sleep on that light and it to a LONG time! I was thinking maybe a day or two, but it was longer than a week.  (I don't remember exactly how long.)  Poor thing!  

Fall 2015

Here we are again, a year later!  Life is sure going fast!
Here are some updates!
Kenya completed kindergarten last year doing "home school."  I was a struggle, for both of us!  We are doing the same thing for 1st grade as we did last year.  It was hard the first month, but the last 2 weeks it has become the easiest it ever has been.  Still we have challenges, but we get it done.  Kenya is learning so quick and when she focuses and want to learns fast and is so smart!  Last year we did 1st math and 1/2 of first grade reading.  This year we started her at half way through both first grade math and reading.  It seems to be at the right level for her.  We did complete 1st grade math last year, but I wanted her to half the second half over again just to make sure she gets a solid foundation.  She is breezing through it this year!  We have such a smart girl on our hands! Some other update for Kenya is just lost her second front top tooth.  We tease her with singing "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" and she pretends she hates it and tells us to stop.  All together she has lost 5 teeth.  Her other front tooth came out about a month ago when her and Jasmin were playing and she had some of Jasmin's skirt in her mouth and Jasmin jumped down (or something I was not in the room when it happened) and it yanked her top tooth loose and 1 of her bottom teeth that was already loose all the way out and then Kenya just went and pulled the top tooth out too.  Kenya still loves gymnastics and is doing amazing in them.  She has just got her back walk-over and back bend.  In May in her recital competition she took 2nd in the all round for her level.  She was very proud and we were we.  She loves it!  She is reading very well and enjoys anything that has to do with playing with others and being social.  We love this girl and all the excitement and energy she has!  She has such a love for people and EVERYTHING around her.  She will bless many people here on earth!
Jasmin is now 4 and is very excited to turn 5 (in July, I know I tell her it is a long time to go)!  She loves to dance and preform gymnastics!  She also took 2nd in the all round in her level in May at their recital.  (Kenya and Jasmin competed in different groups for the first time.  Starting in Sept they also started in their own classes for the first time.  Both are doing well!)  Jasmin picked up riding her bike at the beginning of summer but was scared.  One day later in the summer she decided she was ready and off she went.  She can ride standing up, with 1 hand and with both legs on one side as tricks.  This girl when she puts her mind to it and DECIDES SHE WANTS to do, she will get it done!  I have not done anything formal with her for preschool or reading, but just being around Kenya and school here in the home she has taught herself to write her name and has beginning reading skills.  Another brilliant one on our hands!  She has had a great growth spurt in the last few months and is very tall.  She is still her adorable self and is truly a grateful person.  Most nights at dinner she tells me, "Thank you mom, this is the best meal ever.  Can you fix it every night for the rest of my life?'  She sure knows how to make me feel good.   When we do something fun she always remembers to thank us and gives the best hugs and loves to show that she is grateful. 
Kenya and Jasmin had a great time in their primary program this year and Kenya was given a solo.  (She has had a solo in the program every year that she has been old enough to be in the program.  1st year was "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" over the phone in China, last year she part of the 2nd verse of "The Family Is Of God" and this year part of the first verse of "I Know My Savior Loves Me."  Everytime she rocked it and sounded so great!  Both of the girls loved having the chance to sing and participate so much that they keep asking if they can do it again.  (This is just 1 week ago. )
Remi....  Well she is Remi!  She is full of attitude and so amazingly cute we cannot understand just how we have not exploded with cuteness in this house!  She has a temper on her, and that can be an understand at time.  She came to us this way and I have had to try many new things parenting things on her.  When she gets make she just loses it and want to hit/through the nearest thing.  When this started there was NO control in her.  But as she has grown she does control it much better!  I have a "hitter" and that is hard for me to accept. (OK it doesn't really hurt my feelings, but it does make me cringe a little.)  She just turned 2 years old 3 days ago and is always trying to do everything just the exact same as her sisters.  She thinks she is as big as them and so she should do everything like them!  She is not in a gymnastics class but she sure loves it!  She has an outfit that she wears when we go to drop the girls off at class and anytime they practice at home.  She really thinks she can do it just like them.  She makes me spot her in back bends and tries back hand springs but her little arms barely reach above her head to keep her hands off of the floor.  She practices the splits and is almost there and does an amazing forward roll.  She has been able to do these for quiet some time now too!  SO cute to watch!  Her speech is amazing just like her sister and her vocabulary is out of this world.  My girls have all been blessed with early speech, like 1 year or more ahead of the average.  (Which I am grateful for because I can understand what they want.)  Remi also like to play babies or with stuffed animals and put them to sleep.  She is so fun to watch and listen too.  She just recently started to hum and sing parts of the songs to put them to sleep.  I love hearing her little voice as she tries to tenderly put them down.  She love horses and dog and as I mentioned before ANY her sisters like and are doing.  I am blown away with how well she plays and interacts pretend with them at such a young age. 
Robert has had a rough year.  He quit he job last year and went 6 month without full time stead work.  He was working most of that time odd jobs from people we knew and last Dec her started as an early morning package handler at UPS.  EARLY when they are in peak season.  Then in April or May her started working construction for someone and that dwindled out after only a few months.   So then in Aug he started a different construction job that seems to be going well.  So now he is tried from 2 physical job all day.  His work usually starts before 5:30 in the morning and does not end until 5;30 or so at night.  He started working Saturdays driving in Aug and so he has 6 day work weeks.  With all of this physical work he has lost a lot of weight and is very happen about that.  His plan as of right now is to try to become a full time driver with UPS and have a career there.  He i still the an amazing father to these girls and I know he misses not spending time with them!  It hurts him to be gone so much!
Me, well, I have had a busy year as well.  I had a horrible time with a miscarriage last year and that was harder on me than I thought it would be and harder than I want to admit.  Then in March I started sell Jamberry Nail.  (Mostly online Facebook parties where I post information about them and people buy from the website and I earn commissions.)  That had proved really well for me and truly blessed our lives and helped us through some of those hard financial times.  It is something I do 90% of the time when the kids are asleep in bed and I like that because I am not taking about from being there mom.  If life wasn't busy enough with that in Aug I began the same type of thine with Usborne Books & More.  It has really burnt me out and so at the new year I am thinking if we are doing well enough still I will give that up.  At least for a while so I can rest.  I have kept busy with my normal motherly and wifely duties.  I truly feel like I don't have time or cannot find a balance in life to get everything done on daily basis.  I am learning and just keep trucking along.  Don't know if I ever will find that balance, but I will continue to try and just get done what needs to be done in the mean time.
Halloween this year was fun.  We went to a party, then trick or treating and hanging out with more friends.  Robert dressed as a Bruce Leroy and both Kenya and Jasmin were witches.  Remi was a panda and I was the witches black cat.  We had fun! 
We have been able to visit Montana quite a few times this year.  Once we were able to stay in a lake house that was like a mansion.  So nice and wonderful.  We stayed with my mom, Kira, Chris and his family (Christine and Mikhail).  It was a ton of fun!  In the spring we met Pascal Su and his family in Montana and went to Glacier National Park.   Robert and I were able to go on horse back through part of the park and that was amazing!  We went up a few other times to visit for various reason and it was nice to be up there so often.  When we went often times we would stay in Missoula at a hotel with a couple water-slides to break up the trip and have fun.   We also got to stay a week in a hotel in Boise when Robert as doing driver training for UPS.  AGAIN!  We loved it and had a blast! 
Today we did our tradition of watching "Polar Express" and having hot chocolate and popcorn to break in the holidays.  We all cherish these moments and traditions so much!  I am excited to get the Spirit of Christmas going in this house.  We are going to have a great time this year!

We will just start from here.

So I am not going to try to play catch up with a lot of details. 
Poor Remi...  She is truly a third child.  I have not written much about her on the blog and/or kept a good journal on her.  I AM going to do better.  Remi is full blown walking!  It was at about 10 1/2 months that she really started walking everywhere and by 11 months she was a pro.  She kind of has 4 teeth, meaning her 2 bottom front teeth came in awhile ago and her 2 top front teeth are peeking out.  She had an adorable 3 toothed grim for a little while.  She talks a little too.  Dada, daddy, all done, kitty, Kenya and Jasmin (or her version of them), mama, stop and she says different words all the time but then doesn't use them again.  She is hopping right along on her speech.  Remi is definitely my most impatient baby.  She tells me that she wants it NOW the  first time she tells me something.  It has been that way since birth.  She loves to play and especially with her sisters.  Truly all of these girls love each other so much it is just fun to be around them.
Jasmin is growing up and loves to play!  Her and Kenya love to play "Mom, Kid" and "Baby" and really anything pretend.  Jasmin does a great job playing by herself if everyone else is busy or whatever.   She makes us laugh all the time.
Kenya is 5 years old and is kindergarten this year.  We opted to do "home-school" with her because that is what the Lord told us to do.  It really is an online school so she is registered in a public school and they send me the curriculum and then I teach it to her.  We are trying to figure this out together.  It think it would have been so much easier on me and her if we would have just put her in a tradition public school, but then again knowing what that the Lord told me not too, maybe it would not be easier.  Kenya was reading well before the school year started and is excelling in all of her subjects (1st grade math, second semester kindergarten reading, handwriting, science and social studies .  She sure is smart.  It is hard for her focus at home when Jasmin gets to play as she does school and a million other things going on at home.  Some days are way better than others, but we make it work. 
We are still in Idaho Falls and finally kind of feel this is where we may be for an extended period of time.  We like it here a lot. 
We did a lot of playing this summer that included trips to Utah, Oregon, and camping a few times.  We bought a "family size" car this summer.  A suburban and we love it.  We sure can pack a lot of stuff in that thing. 
Kenya and Jasmin are both still in gymnastics and love it!  They have been impressed their teacher and she has mentioned they work hard and really seem to shine.  Last spring at their recitals they each got a 1st place medal.  Kenya on balance beam and Jamsin on the bars.  It is so fun to watch them  grow and learn new things.  Speaking of new things this Sept they also started a ballet class.  They both love it too!  Watching the joy on their faces when they are having fun beats just about anything else in the world. 
Kenya has been asked to sing a solo in her primary program this Sunday.  She says she is nervous for it, but I think she is also very excited about chance to do it. 
Life here is good! You will hear from me again soon.  Remi will be 1 in just a couple of days and I cannot not post about it. 

It's been a long time, but we're still here!

Sorry we haven't updated the blog in such a long time. My laptop is the older of the two and it often takes a really long time to post or do anything and Lois has been keeping people posted on things via Facebook and so the blog went to the back burner. It also doesn't help that, to us, our lives have seemed normal and that there's nothing really to post. However, that is not quite true! There have been tons of things, changes taking place in with the Draper family in Idaho.


Here it is, now fall time and we're finally posting something. Halloween is approaching and we are all so excited!  Today we'll begin watching General Conference!! We are so happy that our girls get giddy and excited when we tell them a week in advance that General Conference will be next weekend and we need to prepare! This time they literally dance and giggled and ran around with joy that General Conference was on it's way! I hope this is something that will stick with them forever. It is so important and Lois and I have done and are still doing whatever we can to help them understand that.

Some updates: Remi is walking and has been since she turned 10 months old! She holds conversations with us, oft times in baby jibberish, but the tones, voice fluctuations and mimic patterns are legit!

Remi is Nearly 5 months old.

On the 29th of this month, in just a few days, Remi will be 5 months old.  WOW!
Remi is by far our happiest baby.  She loves to laugh and smile at just about anything.  It doesn't take much and she breaks out into a huge grin that lights up the room and anyone who can see it.  She loves her sister which is kind of a amazing because Jasmin smothers her any chance she gets.  Kenya is a great help but often things she can do whatever I do with the baby including carrying her around and bring her downstairs to me because she started crying.  That was scary!  And yes, of course she has her daddy (and mommy) wrapped around her little finger.
At her 4 month check up she was in the 25% (13lbs) for her weight and 75% (25.5in) for height.  Looks like we have "skinny mini" babies.  
She already gives 5, kisses and is working hard on sitting up.   She loves to chew and play with toys now too.  We are pretty sure she response to when you say hi to her by saying "hi" back. 
She spits up what seems like just about everything the eats after every feeding.  She has done this since she was a just a couple of weeks old.  She is healthy and growing so we are not worried.  We just smell like baby most of the time.  
She is fought over at church in our ward at who gets to hold her during the meetings.  She is a wonderful baby!  We love our Remi and cannot imagine life without her.  We thank your father in heaven daily for our wonderful little girls!

The rest of us are enjoying the weather changing to warmer weather by riding bikes and play outside.  Kenya has been riding her "big" bike since last fall and is doing great at it.  She is also doing amazing at reading.  She is not to fond of reading by herself yet, but I think that will come.  She still LOVES me to read her books but when I try to get her to read any book other than her "reading book" she does not want to. 
Jasmin's favorite saying since Remi came along is "I am big enough."  She thinks that because Remi is the baby now she is big enough for everything.  She will not let me call her baby anymore at all. 
Kenya and Jasmin have been in a gymnastics class since Sept and both are learning so much.  They are both excelling in it as well.  I have really enjoyed watching them learn and grow.  I feel like they are also learning valuable skills like listening to a teacher and are having a fun time with other kids.  I will have to post about Kenya's 5th birthday party at a later time.  We had a blast!  

Almost 3 months

Remi is almost 3 months old and that means a lot has happened that needs updating. 
She has a gorgeous smile that she is not afraid to show off.  She loves to giggle and has for quite some time. 
She has never really been a baby to like to be held laying down.  She likes to sit and stand so that she can see what is going on.  She is now rolling for her tummy to her back and very recently from her back to her tummy.  (Life only gets harder from here with baby # 3 on the move I am assuming.)
She is super strong.  She pulls away from you when she is sitting in her arms.  She goes from sitting to standing while you hold under her arms all by herself.  
Remi likes to play peek-a-boo.  She still sleeps a lot and that makes my life easier.
Really she is a great baby. 

Her sister are still obsessed with her and love her more than they can express in hugging, swishing and mauling her. 
Maybe some more updates like on Christmas and the fun excitement we had this year after I kick this strep thing.  Man, it is kicking my trash!!

A Well Deserved Update.

Last Tuesday (Dec 10) Remi had her 6 week checkup.  Here are the stats.  8lbs 11oz and 21 and 3/4 inches.  She is growing well and gaining weight.  Here is a super short recap of the first 6 weeks of her life.

Just before we left the hospital.

Daddy and his girls!  They are all so happy!

In the hospital Remi had a low temperature.  It was just low enough that the nurses were concerned and watched her a little more carefully.  A couple of time the had me hold her with skin to skin contact to try and warm her and it worked well.  Dr Hopkin came to the hospital the next day and discharged us to go home before the 24 hour observation was over.  While the nurses were doing their baby check out the observed that Remi had become quite jaundice because her bilirubin number had spiked from where it was before.  They almost made her stay another night just to watch it but the Dr said I could go home as long as got her checked the next day.  So that is what we did.  I went in to get her checked for the next 2 days and it continued to climb.  So then on day 3 Dr Hopkin ordered a biliblanket for her.  And we continued to check her number for the next 2 days.  After that we did not have to check anymore, but she stayed on it.  She was on her biliblanket for 6 days.  I thought that was quite a while for a baby.  At one point as Amy put it Remi was "neon yellow."  She was very yellow and quite lethargic for most of those days.  She has fully recovered although it took a long time fore the yellow in her eyes to clear up.  Within the first week the Dr office called and told us that Remi tested positive for a sickle cell trait.  This will not really affect her until she ready to have kids and then only affects her children if her husband had the trait or the disease himself.  Nothing to worry about there, but in talking with the nurse it could be a factor in her jaundice sticking around for so long. 

Remi with her second umbilical cord. That is what I called it because she could not go anywhere without it.

  

Just a cute picture of her the first week of her life. 

After her jaundice cleared up we got some newborn pictures done and few for Christmas cards.  They turned out great!  Pictures at the end of the post. 

Jasmina was a lion and Kenya was a spooky black cat.  Thanks Aunt Amy for making their costumes and doing their makeup.

For Halloween we dressed her up in a pumpkin costume because the girls (Kenya and Jasmin) had nicknamed her "Pumpkin Face" before she was born.  She stayed at home and handed out treats with Grandma and Aunt Amy while the rest of us went out trick-or-treating.   We had a nice Halloween and it wasn't too cold.  It was cold, but not too cold this year. 
 

The cutest lion you have ever seen.

Spooky!

Pumpkin Face

(Jasmin still tells people when they look at Remi, "Her name is Pumpkin face and her name is Remi".  It is the cutest thing in the world!

I was a Dr/nurse and Robert was MJ

Robert's boss at work as the "white" MJ. 

 Thanksgiving this year was small in number for us.  Just our family of 5 here.  It turned out great and we enjoyed each others company.

One day when she was about 2 weeks old Robert and I went to the temple.  When we were finished we took the girls back to visit the visitors center.  They love going there to feel the spirit of the temple. 

Kenya loves to hold Remi and does a great job.  She often hold her long enough for me to get a few things done. 

 This was Veteran's Day.  Robert and Kenya played outside almost the whole day in the leaves and Jasmin joined them quite a few times too.  It was a beautiful day and we all had so much fun!

 The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to a thing here where they have Santa come and visit and fireworks to kick off the Christmas season.  It was COLD, but a lot of fun. 

 Our Christmas tree before any of the other decorations were up.  Yes, we have a fireplace this year!

 Kenya loves to play in the snow!!  She will stay out as long as she is allowed to.  Jasmin likes it, but does not handle the cold as well as Kenya.  I don't blame her.  We went through 2 weeks where the temp might not even reach zero some days.  It was cold!

 Here are the girls at a ceremony to honor the Veterans that we went to last Saturday, Dec 14.  They didn't really care too much for it, but we explained what we were doing and that it was important. 

 Robert got lights up on our house.  He finished them and we were able to turn them on Sunday Dec 15.  My first house with lights outside on the house and we all love it!

 Here is the tree with the rest of the Christmas decorations up. 

Remi has been quite a good baby and sleeps plenty.  She has slept almost through the night since birth.  While on her biliblanket I would wake her almost ever 2-3 hours because they told me the blanket could dehydrate them.  Once she was off of the blanket I let her sleep.  She now only wakes up maybe once a night to nurse and the again at about 6 AM.  What a wonderful blessing! She is smiling now and has been for about 2 weeks.  I always love it when they start to smile at you.  It makes taking care of them a little more rewarding.  Those pictures to come and hopefully sooner rather than later.   She has even began to laugh in just the last couple of days.  We are truly blessed to have Remi as our 3rd child.  She is the prefect addition to our family. 

Quick update on Kenya.  She is learning to read and doing very well at it!  She is smart!  We put both girls in a gymnastics class in Sept.  It is once a week and within a month Kenya had learned how to do a cartwheel and has continued to excel in her learning.  I am moving her up to a more advanced class starting in Jan.  She love both of her little sister and does a great job taking care of them  Kenya and Jasmin are best of friends.
And to Jasmin.  She is doing well in gymnastics too!  She is amazing at forward rolls and is excelling too.   Ever since Remi was born she has told us "I'm big enough."  No matter what we are talking about she is always big enough now.  She is truly growing up too.  Just in the last couple of weeks I have been seeing the transformation form toddler to preschooler and I am not sure I like it.  I want her to stay little.  She wants to hold Remi all the time, but she is still a little too small.  (Don't tell her I said that because she will be sure to tell me she is "big enough.")
We are so happy with our little/bigger family.  Robert and I find joy in our family everyday. 


I am sure there are things that I meant to had to want to post, but we are just trying to catch up with the bare minimums and then stay caught up.  So hopefully more to come and more often again. 

Welcome Remi Alexandria Draper to the World!

Here are the stats: Remi Draper was born October 29, 2013 @ 11:31pm, weighing in at 7lbs 4oz, measuring 20 1/2 in long, with a head of 13 1/4 in circumference and a chest width of 12 3/4 in wide. She, like her sisters before her has a full head of black hair, dark brown eyes, and according to Kenya "She's vanilla not carmel" as far as skin color goes!

Kenya really took to her new baby sister even though she was convinced before Lois was even pregnant that the next baby would be a boy.

I posted these pics post haste but there's still some more stuff to come!