Updates

So how's the fall going for you?
   Here for us... well, life doesn't stop, now does it? We have a 6 month-old, a 1.5 year-old, and a 3, 4,  and 5 year-old. We have started the journey of homeschooling and we LOVE every minute of it! My daughter loves being able to grow in her understanding at her pace, which I discovered quickly is much faster than anything the kindergarten programs out there! T-man and Monkey love doing homeschool preschool, and my littles, well they enjoy playing with a box full of toys for class time. Balancing life has been quite the adventure as we work hard to maintain sanity of home life, work lives, volunteering and helping our parish, plus two awesome Catholic homeschool co-ops in the area. Life never settles by the waysides in our house. But what can I say, we will enjoy the memories of summer and think about them especially as it gets cooler and colder here in MN!

Our Fifth

Our Lady Bug

 

              So this is the tale about our fifth and perfect little girl. On April 16th at 7 a.m. my hubby and I packed the car and drove to our local Catholic hospital for our inevitable inducement, five kids, five inducements, and I wasn't worried a second.

           Now this pregnancy had been a tough one; one with lots of sickness throughout the pregnancy and a TON of sickness the last month where I was not able to gain weight but our little lady bug was growing strong. On the day of her birth, we went in and after four labors and deliveries, they had finally  finished the AMAZING birthing wing! In fact, when we were admitted, they took us to the farthest room down the hall (all the better to walk with contractions with my dear)... and the doors opened and our eyes gazed on the most beautiful single suite ever!! It was the model room for the entire wing! Our eyes were viewing the Mississippi River, we even say eagles flying in the distance. They hooked me up and there they were, tiny contractions; just like my body to kick in after it knows it's about to be stuck by a needle (I LOATHE needles).

            After being hooked up to the monitor, some great labor-inducing meds, I asked if I could push the labor on with some squats, pregnancy yoga ball, and some walking with squats for the first couple of hours. Super Hubby and I were loving it! Happy with our wonderful room, ready to hold our little girl, nurses, and families in the hall could not believe I was having contractions... which is always a good sign that it was still early labor. I was able to talk to my nurses about how they should not bring any epidurals or medications in my room, unless they would like to have it pushed into their spines; thankfully I had some incredible nurses who liked my version of humor.

             Hubby took a nap for a few hours as I rolled around with the ball, and practiced tribal squats I had googled for pregnancies throughout the world. It was going great, my doctor came in at noon, broke the water, and she went to hang out in the doctors lounge. You see, my labors start by inducement and by the time I hit 4.5 cms well it only takes a few hours if that to push out a little blessing.

              Doc did not want to miss this one; she and I joked about how if she left the building that was the time that I'd have an all natural birth. Funny enough had she left, it could have been possible. When the water was broke, Super Hubby and I were tweeting and facebooking all our joys of how I told the world that we would be holding our baby by 3 p.m. that afternoon. That was my guess anyway. At 1:30, they checked me and I was at about 4 cm, with growing strength of contractions. I decided that it was time for more squats since the poor baby was not coming down fast enjoy still at -2, so she was pretty high up there. So I grabbed the edge of the bathroom sink sill squatted low and allowed gravity to help and then heard a slight pop, BOOM, her head moved into its proper position! Go time!!

                      A few rollings on the ball, I was quite literally singing a song about how I love Pitocin (my nurses joked how I should make a labor video since I was quite happy and content without any pain meds)... then I said how it'd be nice to go in the AMAZING jets bath... sadly I never got there, because as I squatted to the bathroom, I thought a potty break would be good. Two contractions in, I very calmly asked Super Hubby to get the nurse and doctor, I needed to be checked immediately. No one went to quickly since I was still in a great mood, I didn't hit "the wall" the one where everyone knows you're in active labor... well I then said, yes it was time so unless they wanted me to catch my baby they better hurry up. Doc came in the room, boom checked me and YES we were at 9.5 c.m. One contraction and BAM 10!!! Go time! My little lady bug was out in 1.5 push, contractions were 7 minutes apart which meant I pushed fast and she came! It was the coolest birth I've had yet!! Knowing what your body can do and allowing God to calm my heart was so amazing to be able to just enjoy this labor and delivery. And hey she was born at 3:36 pm at 7 pounds 8 ounces and a beautiful 19 inches long. Blue eyes, full brown hair... adorable simply adorable!  

              

   

 

                                      Lady Bug, Bear and me

                                    Lady Bug 2 hours after birth!

Waiting...

Well, the past few months have definitely slipped passed me. Let's see, highlight reel....

- after extensive testing, T-man and Monkey are cleared from the autism spectrum. Both boys really enjoyed the four weeks of testing at the 'big kid school'. T-man is above average on memory and cognitive skills testing. Meanwhile, Monkey will be getting some specialized one-on-one time for his speech for pronunciation.

- Bumblebee has been taking weekly swim lessons, which she loves and seems to think she is an Olympic athlete with her kicking! It's too cute! But classes are wrapping up in a few weeks, so she is getting sad knowing it won't be a weekly swim date, which is alright since.....

- Soccer starts soon! Both Bumblebee and T-man will be on a team together, which is extra nice for traveling purposes! Plus, they have been excited to play since the snow started melting last week!

- Our "baby" turned one on Saturday... Where did the time go? He still acts like a baby regardless, which is fine by me at times, except for when I need my arms since he likes his perch on my hip compared to being stuck on the floor...

-Lastly, our newest blessing is due to come out any time now! We are quite excited to welcome a sister for Bumble! As she has pointed out, we need more pink in this house of little men.

so it's been a while

YES we are alive!! Ok, so life has been pretty crazy and hectic and honestly I wasn't even sure if anyone would notice my drop-off from the blogosphere... but I thank you my dear friends and readers who have sent me emails, messages, or just called and said "write more about your beautiful and crazy tribe" And honestly, I really appreciated it because your encouragement or prayers sparked my desire to share our family's life again. So thank you! I wasn't really sure where to go with it... until today.

Why? Well at this moment, I have three sleeping boys and an almost sleeping daughter, so I clicked some links and found this INCREDIBLE short video about adoption. As many of you might know, or maybe you don't know, SuperHubby and I are truly open to God's love through having a large family. And while we are constantly growing with our tribe, lots of news to follow, we also look at how God can multiply our love through other outlets like family volunteering, quality time with each child, and hey even the possibility of adoption :)


So without any further anticipation, I encourage you to watch this short video and then spread it to the world!!! Facebook it, tweet it, email your family and friends, everything you can to share this awesome family's video.

Since i don't know how to use this new blog set up stuff... go here I promise it's not some weird site. it's so incredible.. and once SuperHubby comes home, maybe I can get him to fix this :)

Happy Advent!!

3 months too big

Hi world! I am 3 months old! I like tummy time, eating lots of yummy goodness, and sticking my tongue out with my brothers and sister.

Growing too fast

My little guy is already 2 1/2 months old! I can't believe it! Favorites include: Sleeping 8 hours straight at night! Making silly faces with his tongue with his big brothers and sisters; during tummy time, little Bear can already roll onto his back and then he coos with joy! He getting getting rather strong with his little legs, since when he is on the floor, he can push off with his feet and move upward. Adorable, charming, and ever so sweet; our little Bear is perfect in all ways!

The day the princess cut her hair...

Bumblebee had wanted to cut her hair for a while now... So we finally said yes since it was getting pretty unmanageable. I think it was harder for us as parents to say goodbye to the hair she had since birth... We might have even shed some tears as they snipped her strands.

12 inches were donated to locks of love and our princess was so pleased when we told her she was making someone happy who was sick. She said she was just like Rapunzel with her magic hair..  Oh Disney Tangled movie!

Oh yes and they put glitter in her hair afterwards... The joy of glitter is that it stays with you for weeks! B loved it though...

The youngesters

Monkey loves his little bro so much! He even wants to help feed his little brother! Life is too cute!

7.5 weeks

He is getting so big so fast!!

The sand box

So i do not like community sandboxes, aka the community litter box. However, i did create a sandbox for the kids with a sweet plastic bin that has those great secure side tabs so it cant slide off! The kiddos love it as well!

Sleeping baby

One of my favorite moments of the day...

An essential part of our day....

Without naps, the kids grow into maniacs, the baby wouldn't get as much one on one time, and Bumblebee would become aggitated..... God bless nap times!

Mothers day present making

We have been busy with crafts this week! All three "big kids" were finger painting up a storm! But let me tell ya, their presents for their grandmas, great-grandmas, and godmothers are adorable! So was the mess worth it?

As the natives here would say, "You betcha!"

Happy Mothers Day Great-Gramdma Ellie, Babu, Grandmas Patti and Karen! You present are drying but will be to you very soon!

6 weeks!!

I can't believe it has been 6 weeks since were at the hospital having our little Bear. He has been our most content newborn yet. He still continues to sleep 7 hrs straight. He is a wonderful eater and he rarely ever cries... Well for Mommy anyway. He has thecutest gas bubble face and a ton of other interesting facial expressions as well. All his siblings are quite protective of him and love to help him with his nukey. Life is adorable here at our growing home!

A beautiful day

Enjoying our kids on the deck...

Why does B have her winter coat on? She got to pick her jacket today....

Growin' up

This week's updates include:

 

-My lil' Monkey, 18 mos, has learned how to climb into and out of his brother's crib; then he showed said brother the new escape route... No more nap times in our house.

- At our appointment last week, Bumblebee and T-Man weighed almost the same (3 oz difference) and only 2 inches difference (T is the shorter)! I guess I can believe it a little, lots of people mistake them for twins :)

 

- Monkey weighs only 6 lbs less than his brothers and only a couple of inches differences of his older siblings

 

-Our little Bear is still absolutely adorable! He's weighing in at 9 lbs 7 oz, a good weight; and he's growing fast at 22 inches already!!

 

Life goes by so quickly...and kids grow too fast!

My one month old!

He is the most expressive newborn we have had yet.
Make time stop! He is already a month old, and it is getting to that time where his newborn adorable outfits are getting snug. Thus far, we have been super blest with this little guy. He sleeps six hours straight, has not mixed his nights and days...yet. He only cries when hungry or dirty. Sadly, he has had thrush, but thankfully medicine has helped tremendously! Blaisey  Bear is loved by all his siblings and he is very protected by each of them. In fact, we can see their relationships already blooming in their own ways. Between Bumblebee's sweet nature of holding Bear's  paci to his mouth, or Tman's constant watch over Bear in his swing, and then Monkey's overjoyed willingness to share all toys with his first little brother, we are so excited to see their love for Bear.

Outside our door

So MN is known for three seasons, fall, winter, and construction/summer. Well, it seems to be the start of construction season since our city currently tore up our streets to redo the sewer lines.

      We are thrilled this is taking place so it can help the lake we live.close to. We are not thrilled that we dont have access to our driveway, or we have to hike to our car a block away, or that we get the joys of being woken by trucks at 6:50 a.m.each morning and the kids can't nap because of noise, and that the workers streadily work til 8:30 p.m. Geez, let us pray our construction season ends quickly!

I want to ride my....

Bicycle!!!!!!

Thats right folks, after four months of potty training, this little princess is completely dry. And after a month's worth of B talking about Dora the explorer riding a bike and how she wanted one, we caved and bought her one from a community garage sale yesterday. B had a super fun afternoon, picking her first helmet and then coming home to practice on our porch; she is a natural,on her bike so beware world because this little lady has wheels!

A sleepy Blaisey Bear

This is my favorite view all day long. And since he only sleeps when in our arms or is bjorned to us, it is perfectly fine by me!
  At two weeks old, he is the perfect little guy. He eats 20 minutes, every three hours, burps twice, then nods back to sleep. The only crying he sounds is for food or diaper changing. Like I said, he is perfect!!