Eight is Great!

I know I have been a bit absent lately. It's hard to keep up on blogging when you have a baby and homeschool and stuff. But I need to blog about a big event that just happened in our lives. Noah and Eli turned 8 years old and chose to be baptized! In our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) we believe that little babies do not need to be baptized because they have not committed any sins. By the time a child is eight years old they have reached the age of accountability. This means that they are old enough to know right from wrong and therefore can be held accountable for their actions. This is when children are given the opportunity to be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The boys had to meet with the bishop for an interview to see if they were ready to be baptized. It is not forced on them.

The day of their baptism they were so happy and excited. We do stake baptisms here meaning all the kids that turned 8 in the stake that previous month get baptized on the same day. It started with 2 talks in the chapel on baptism and the Holy Ghost. Grandma gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. She used props including a light bulb and and lamp to help teach about how we need to take certain actions in order for the gift to work. She did a great job. After the talks, the wards took turns going into the baptismal font for the actual baptisms. Aaron baptized both boys and Grandpa and Uncle Alan were the witnesses.

We then moved to another room and watched a couple videos while the boys changed into dry clothes. We watched this video about The Shiny Bicycle and a couple of these cute videos where children were interviewed about different gospel topics like baptism and the atonement. Once Aaron and the boys were back in the room, Aaron was able to confirm them members of the church and give them the gift of the Holy Ghost. After a few shorts words from the primary president and bishop we were done.

Daddy and Noah

Daddy and Eli

The primary president gave them each a notebook and pen to write about their baptism day. On the way home they both wrote about their special day. The next day was fast Sunday and the boys were super excited to bear their testimonies in church. They wrote their testimonies down in their notebooks and read them over the pulpit. It was very sweet.

Uncle Mike, Aunt Lanae, and Hannah drove all the way from Boise (a 10 hour drive) to be there for their baptism.

Aaron interviewed the boys really quick after their baptism. I asked them if it was OK for me to share these on here, and they said yes. These videos will just melt your heart. I love their innocence and faith. I'm so proud of my boys!

Lily's birth

Lily Elizabeth was born on March 7, 2016 at 8:35am. She was 6lbs 11oz and 19 inches long.

Lily's pregnancy was rough for me. I had a lot of mixed emotions leading up to her birth. I think a lot of my apprehension and feeling of being disconnected from this little life growing in me had to do with the fear surrounding her delivery and possible heart complications. At her 20 week ultrasound the technician saw some things that lead them to believe she could have a heart defect. They thought she had a large hole in her atrial septum and an enlarged pulmonary vein. We went to a cardiologist and she said that all of those things looked fine, but she saw something else that could or could not be an issue. She was still too small to tell. So we went back for another fetal echo at 30 weeks, and the cardiologist said that there was really nothing wrong except she had 2 superior vena cavas instead of just 1. All babies have 2 in utero, but one will disintegrate leaving most people with just 1 superior vena cava. It's not bad to have 2 but could be a sign of other possible heart problems. So we had to go back again after the baby was born to make sure everything looked good.

All of this uncertainty made it really hard to be excited. I was tired of being pregnant but also afraid of having another c-section. We had prayed for several years about having another child. When we first started praying about it several years ago we definitely felt the answer was no. Aaron felt very strongly about it; his biggest fear being that something bad would happen to me with another pregnancy. We continued to pray though because we wanted another baby. When we made plans to move to Washington and in with Aaron's parents we finally felt we received a different answer to our prayer. This time we felt it would be OK to get pregnant and have another baby. It took a couple months of trying, but we found out in July we were pregnant. Throughout the whole pregnancy I had this thought in the back of my head, "What if something happens to me? What if we shouldn't have done this?"

Needless to say I was very anxious about my c-section. I wanted to meet this little baby so badly, but I was honestly just scared. It's a very surreal feeling going to the hospital, not in labor, knowing you are going to have a baby in a couple hours. We got up early in the morning on Monday, March 7th and had to be at the hospital by 6am. They got me right in a started getting me ready for surgery. They hooked me up to an IV, which took 2 tries, and started pumping me full of fluids. I had to get up 3 or 4 times to pee because of how much fluid they were giving me.

When it was time for the surgery they brought me in to the operating room, and Aaron waited outside on a chair in the hall. The room was freezing cold and smaller than I expected. I wasn't even sure it was the official operating room at first. It was scary getting the spinal block. I had to sit on the very edge of the table and hold onto the nurse while they put the needle in my back. I was so cold, so it was hard to sit still since I wanted to shiver. It hurt but not too bad. They quickly laid me down on the table, and I started going numb. They spread my legs out to insert the catheter. I couldn't feel my legs anymore, so I didn't know that they had put a cover over my bottom half. I thought I was just lying there, legs splayed, completely exposed. Since it was so cold they put heated blankets over my upper half. After getting the spinal block I got really hot and just wanted to throw the blankets off of me. Basically I was just really uncomfortable. Everyone was bustling around me getting everything prepped while I just lied there feeling exposed and nervous. My doctor came in and that helped me not to feel so nervous. Then Aaron finally came in.

I don't remember too much about the surgery. I know I started to feel sick to my stomach, so they gave me some medicine to help with that. The problem with that medicine is it makes me itchy. I kept having to itch my face. A c-section is really weird because you can feel all sorts of pressure and tugging but can't feel anything. Finally there was lots of pressure and she was out. I asked Aaron how she looked, and he told me she had lots of hair. All the nurses kept commenting on how cute she was.

They wrapped her up in blankets and then brought her over to me. I've never had this happen with any of my other c-sections, but they brought her to me and held her on my chest. They even undid my gown some so she could be on my bare skin. It was very sweet getting to have her right next to me so soon after being born. They then had Aaron go with her while they finished up my surgery. I had my tubes tied so it took a bit longer to finish things up. I dozed in and out while they finished up my tubal and closed me up.

When they wheeled me into the recovery room Aaron was standing there holding Lily. Again they brought her right to me and put her on my chest. My nurse knew I was planning to breastfeed and latched her on for me. Lily latched on so well for being 3 weeks early. She probably nursed for about 20 minutes. It was impressive. I was of course very out of it and shaking from the medication, so the nurse just stood there and held her onto my breast. After she finished nursing the took her to give her a bath. This was also the first time they did the bath in the recovery room. It was so nice being able to watch. After her bath they put her under some warming lights, and she had the hiccups. She continued to have the hiccups multiple times per day for the next 2-3 months! I like to joke that she came out with the hiccups.

That's about all I remember about her birth. We just received some pictures from a nurse at the hospital that took pictures during her delivery. These images are so special and beautiful to me. I don't have any quite like it for any of my other kids. As soon as she was born all those anxieties I was having about her birth just melted away. She was perfect.

February

Just a quick overview of our February. The power went out one day. We ended up making a fort in the living room and the kids played in that for awhile.

Aaron's cousin Thalia and Aunt Wendy threw me and his other cousin Emily a baby shower. Emily is expecting a boy in May. It was the cutest baby shower. The decorations were adorable. It was a retro theme, so there were old dolls and toys sitting all around. They made this really cool cloud and raindrop decoration out of white balloons that they hung from the ceiling. And the food was delicious. We played a couple of games, and I got lots of cute presents. It was super special and made me feel very loved.

The weather has warmed up some, so we've been able to get outside more. Aaron took the kids on a couple of hikes down the road and they even went for a bike ride the other day. I took the kids on a little nature walk around the McLane Creek Nature Trail in Olympia. It was very pretty and refreshing to be outside.

We got together with some homeschool friends and the little preschool co-op for a Valentine's Day party. The kids were so excited to hand out and get Valentines this year. I don't think they've ever done it before.

The kids love having fires outside. It's always a good excuse to have a fire when it's time to burn all the cardboard in the house. The kids also do a good job collecting up fallen branches and burning those.

Aaron had to go to DC for 8 days. It was a very long 8 days. For some reason that week I was having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions and was just generally very uncomfortable. I was afraid I was going to go into labor while he was gone. Luckily I didn't! He was gone for Valentine's Day but sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

These kids drive me crazy, but I love them!

Aaron and Pat took the boys to see Marvel Universe Live at the Tacoma Dome. The boys loved it. It was a show with all the Marvel characters where they did stunts with motorcycles and fire and wires.

While the boys did their thing, Sarah and I went to the Hands on Children's Museum. She really likes doing crafts, and they always have something fun to do in their craft room. They happened to be making tooth fairy pillows when we went. Sarah had to make one for her and the boys. The turned out super cute.

Sarah's 5th Birthday!

It's hard to believe, but Miss Sarah is 5! She had her first friend birthday party. We found out that one of the girls in her primary class had a birthday just one day before Sarah's, so we decided to combine forces and do a joint party. Sarah was so excited to have a party at our house with her friends. I found a really cute idea on Pinterest and went with it. The party was a "pet adoption" party. I bought a bunch of little Ty Beanie Boo stuffed animals. The kids all got to choose a pet to adopt. They received an official adoption certificate where they got to name their pet. We had a vet station where we had doctor toys and a little health form for the kids to fill out about their pet. Then we went upstairs and they made their pets collars and carrying bags. It was lots of fun.

A couple of the girls picking out their pet.

Making/decorating their collars and bags.

Some of these girls were very creative.

Tying on Britta's blindfold for pin the paw on the puppy.

Presents! Britta's on the left and Sarah's on the right.

Singing to the birthday girls. They are so cute!

Britta's aunt just happened to be in town, and she worked at a cupcake shop over the summer. These cupcakes she made were delicious!

Opening presents. Britta's mom is also pregnant and expecting twin girls. We have a lot of things in common. We both just moved here in the fall, we share homes with our in-laws, our husbands both work from home, Britta and Sarah's birthday is just 1 day apart and their youngest daughter's birthday is on the same day as Noah and Eli's, I have twins and she's expecting twins, we're both having girls.

As the guests were arriving Noah started to complain that his belly hurt. By the end of the party he was looking pretty miserable. It hit him pretty hard in the afternoon with waves of stomach cramps. He was screaming and crying in pain. At one point we thought we heard him yell out, "I don't want to live!" but apparently he said that he didn't want this life, as in he wanted to be someone else so he didn't feel so bad. He finally threw up a couple hours after the party and proceeded to throw up a couple more times during the day. He also had some diarrhea and a fever with chills. He was pretty miserable and didn't start feeling better until Sunday. Luckily no one else caught it. I'm not sure how we managed that.

Sarah wanted a jello cake on her birthday. She helped me make it the morning of her birthday.

Singing happy birthday to the birthday girl. Could she look any more excited!?

Make a wish!

Opening her presents.

I went out with Noah and Eli and they each picked her out a present. This one is from Noah. Eli got her a mermaid Barbie that can go in the bathtub.

This is one of the presents from us. She apparently wanted one of these balls that you bounce on for Christmas. She just kept saying she wanted a bouncy ball, so we had a little misunderstanding. Good thing her birthday isn't too far away from Christmas.

A friend of mine in the ward that also homeschools her kids makes these adorable pillows. I had her make one for Sarah for her birthday that matches her bed.

Since I was having her make one for Sarah, I went ahead and had her do one for baby sister. We're still deciding on a middle name, but she is for sure going to have Lily as her first name. Only 1 more week until we meet her!