Neela's 1!

We all know that I don't blog at all anymore... we are going to have to get used to the idea of me doing it every 6 months or so!

My baby girl turned one today! She's pretty special, and we love having her in our family. She eats up all the attention she gets from her brothers on a daily basis. She's so sweet to me and definitely is fond of her Daddy. She can't wait till he gets home, and as soon as he gets here, she just chases after him until he holds her! She walks everywhere, and it just surprises us that she is already a year old!

I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. Everyone knew I wanted Neela here... and I wanted her here NOW! She couldn't be in my arms and in her room soon enough! :) I went to the hospital at 37 weeks with false labor and it left me devastated because she didn't come. I seriously moped around the house for the next 2 weeks.... just hoping I would go into labor. But nothing.
It was a Saturday morning at like 5 am when I started having some mild contractions. I went into the living room and laid and watched TV... to help the time pass. I didn't wake up Seth, because, well frankly he hates to be woken up.... and I didn't want him grumpy the rest of the day. I had the contractions most the day. It was conference weekend, and Seth was adamant about attending the Priesthood session regardless of my contractions. I told him that if I started to have them closer together that he would have to leave as soon as I said! Well, as soon as he left the contractions got closer. Just a little bit. And they definitely felt a lot stronger. I called Seth and told him. When he got home from the entire meeting.. he didn't feel they were close enough to go to the hospital, and was even mad that I called his mom to give her a heads up about coming over to watch the kids. Because he didn't believe I was in the "real" labor yet. I went ahead and got everything ready for the kids, and myself "just in case". I was getting tired, and the contractions were making me sit on the toilet every time I had one. I wanted to go to the hospital, but he still didn't think they were close enough, so he said we should go to bed till they get 3-5minutes apart. Which really meant in husband terms= I'm tired and want to sleep before we head to the hospital!
I finally had a contraction that seemed like it never ended. I screamed at him and said I WANT TO GO NOW! I could barely walk and was shaking all over. His parents came over as soon as they could (I remember it felt like they took an eternity to get to my house) and we headed to the hospital. I was in so much pain, that a couple of times I felt like I was going to pass out from breathing so hard. We got to the hospital at 12:40 and I had her at 12:54am on April 5th 2009. When I arrived at the hospital all I could hope for was some kind of pain med, but they said I was having a baby and there was no time for that. I looked at Seth with an upset face and cried. I have done natural child birth with my first child, but for some reason this experience was so quick and painful. I definitely felt the "ring of fire" and screamed my head off when she came out. But it was so worth it... she has been such a huge blessing in our lives! We love you and Happy Birthday Neela!

Lifelong Friends

This past Saturday was Maxx's last soccer game for the season. He definitely learned a lot from his teammates and coach. He mostly loved his entire team! Having his buddies Brynn and Mason on his team made him so excited for practice and games.
I look at Maxx playing soccer and it makes me a little sad.... because he's getting so big so fast. I can't believe he will be starting Kindergarten next year. Time flies.

Here is the team giving the coach (Brad) a big Rocket break!

I love that my kids and the Haggard kids will always be life long friends. What's even more amazing about it.. is that both fathers were friends when they were this little, and now their children are best friends! It will be fun watching these kiddos grow up all together! I'm sure one day I will be posting a picture of them all in high school together. :)

Our visit to the Zoo

All of Seth's family was still in town for Stormy's wedding and we all decided to go to the PHX Zoo. It was a lot of fun and a little hecktic with my 4 kids.

All the boys wanted to see was the tiger. And when we finally got to the tiger, it was sleeping in a corner, and made it really hard to see. I had help though.. Dad went, Uncle Terry, Boofer, Aunt Pam, Uncle Rex, Lynn and their twins, Grandma Gene, Brandy and Jonah, Ginger and her little one, and Tristan. Yes, there was a large group of Carroll's at the zoo! It was fun and I'm glad I went!

This is for Noah!

Well.. its not just for Noah, but everyone. I have been a very terrible blogger since Neela came along, but if you know Neela, you know why I never have 2 free hands to update my blog. The girl constantly has to be held, and really tries my patience throughout the day.
So I decided to give an update while Seth holds her..

This past week was Stormy's wedding and Thanksgiving!

The wedding turned out so good! A lot of family came into town for it, and the reception turned out beautiful! Stormy and Spenser are awesome... I love them! I'm so excited that Spenser is now a part of the family!

In the last few weeks Maxx has been playing soccer with NYS (a city league) every Saturday morning. He gets better and better every game.... its more of kids just running in a herd kicking at the ball. But its a lot of fun to watch! Especially when someone from the other team runs the ball down the wrong side of the field and scores on his own goalie. lol ;)

Jase has been doing great.... he is still my snuggle bug. The kid never turns down being held or snuggled by someone. Its so cute. ;) I hope he's like this always, but I'm sure once he's a teenager he will no longer want to "snuggle" with his mommy! Jase is also potty trained now which is HUGE! Because he never had any interest and would get angry when I would try anything related to potty training with him... but now he does great. He has his occasional accidents, but overall I am happy with the progress he has made in the last couple months.

Kade is growing and talking a lot more. Kade is our one word man. Really.. he only says one word to you for communication. lol Drink. Hungry. Tired. Wantto. Wikeit(likeit). He cracks me and Seth up all the time. He's a tough kid and definitely lets Maxx and Jase know that everyday! He's sometimes rough with Neela, but I have to remind him she is a baby, and we are soft with babies. :) This is the kind of stuff he does that just makes us laugh!

lol.. I seriously just laugh when I look at these pictures.



Then there is Neela.. what a doll. I love her and having a girl, but she has been my hardest baby. Everyone always sees her when she's being held, so she seems happy. But when I am home with her and I have to let her play on the floor while I try and maintain my house.... she just screams and cries and follows me from room to room. She definitely makes my days really long. Seth is always good about coming home and grabbing her from me as soon as he gets in the door, because he knows she has stressed me to my limit.

The clothes and bows are a blast.... I absolutely love dressing her up and can't wait for the girl to grow some hair, so I can do it cute!

Funny Story

So every Sunday we come home and take naps after lunch. Some kids are awake and some are asleep, and me and Seth try and work out some kind of shifts.

This past Sunday Seth got home with Kade and they got changed. We have been trying to potty train the two youngest boys, so usually as soon as they get home we put underwear on them. Kade is awesome at potty training! He usually doesn't even tell us he has to go, he just walks over to the potty chair and uses the bathroom. We realize he has used the bathroom when he walks into the room with the blue bowl filled with ... well ya know.

Okay, back to my story. So me and Seth decide to lay down, Maxx was getting ready to fall asleep, Neela was out, and Jase was gone.... so all that was left is Kade. He was watching a movie, and we thought we were good. I woke up to Kade crying from a distant (you know the motherly instinct kicks in) and Seth just stays asleep. I run out to the living room and see him standing outside in the heat with no underwear on. I run out there and grab him and bring him inside and started to give him some water. I asked him if he needed to go potty and he said "yes" so I started looking for the blue bowl that goes in the potty chair. I couldn't find it anywhere. I looked in both bathrooms, kitchen, boys' room.. no where. I happened to go in our room and spotted his underwear by the doggy door next to our bed (yes we have a dumb doggy door in the master, and no we don't like it there).

His underwear was perfectly clean, which made me stop and stand there in confused. I happened to glance up and saw the blue bowl.... LAYING NEXT TO SETH'S FACE IN BED!!!!! And YES, it was filled with PEE!!!!! I began to laugh, but didn't want to wake Seth because I knew he would be so mad. Literally, if Seth had moved or tried to roll over it would have spilled all over his face and upper body! LOL I quickly grabbed it and finished laughing in the other room. Then began regretting not taking a picture of the bowl next to Seth's sleeping face. HAHAHAHA! It seriously cracks me up! and yes I know its disgusting.

I think Kade had gone pee pee on the potty and wanted to show Seth so he could clean it out, but when Seth didn't respond (because he was asleep) Kade decided to just slide it next to Seth's head. Funny or what!??

Enchanted

If your a fan of Enchanted you'll enjoy this story.

My boys love watching Enchanted. At first I didn't think they would be interested in it, but they love the songs and all the characters!
A couple of weeks ago I was taking a shower and Maxx came in and ask "Where does the water come from?"
I replied : "Umm.. the pipes"
Maxx: "And where do the pipes get it?"
Then I realized where he was going with this.. " The pipes get it from the ground"
Maxx: "Ooo.. ok"
I was waiting for him to say "Its all so magical!" LOL
Then Me and Seth went on a date the other night, and leading up till we had to leave, Maxx was overloading us with questions like "Whats a date?" and "What do you do on a date?" And the more we talked to him about it the more we realized how he was trying to do the scene from Enchanted! We both thought it was hilarious! Its so funny what kids pick up from movies!

She's 4 months today!

(Beware... typing with one hand ahead!)

Okay.. so yeah i know i'm a terrible blogger, but no need to rub it in!

Today Neela is 4 months old! She is doing great... rolls over all the time and loves playing on her belly! She's 13.9lbs and growing like a weed! She loves her brothers... she just giggles when they play with her! She's been sleeping through the night for a while now, but i'm just waiting for those teeth to cut, because then i wont be getting any sleep at all!

She is a joy to have and we love having her!

The boys are good... playing, fighting, wrestling like boys do. Hopefully i can update my blog sometime tonight with info on everyone in the family...

Cindy's photos of the Boys

Kade, Jase, Maxx

Maxx 4yrs old

Jase 3 yrs old

Kade 21months old

Neela 2 months