oops... i forget that i'm nursing...

So, I was nursing Lily at Ellie's soccer practice tonight (Drew was laying on a quilt next to me- he's sick, and Leah was running circles around my chair.) And, the thought came to me-- what am I feeding my baby? Yeah-- cookies. That was all I ate today. I did sneak a few chicken nuggets off Leah's highchair when I was cleaning her up, but mainly, my milk consisted of cookies.

Yeah-- I'm sure that our bodies have a way of magically transforming cookies into healthy stuff, but I do need to be careful. It's just that I HATE FOOD... I hate remembering to eat... I guess if I'm eating with a purpose that's incentive. And, NO MORE CREATING COOKIES... maybe then I'll grab a piece of fruit. Am I alone out there?? Anyone else hate eating?? I know... I know... crazy eh?

seeds vs. harvest...

Burping Lily-- Never Done... Lasagna-- created, complete and edible Sweet Leah-- notice the black eye...

NEVER done... always hungry, loves books, loves Barney, loves babies... still growing...

Cookies-- mixed, baked, eaten, photographed, dishes almost cleaned up... Created and Consumed in one afternoon...

Last Saturday we had a General Relief Society Meeting... for all those of you reading this who aren't Mormon, this is when all the women of the church come together to listen to talks given by the women leaders and a member of the first presidency-- usually these are my favorite talks because they are completely aimed at women...

I LOVED the talk by President Dieter Uckdorf... (you have to click on the media player because they don't have the transcript up yet). He spoke about happiness, God's Happiness. Specifically he talked about two attributes of God-- Creation and Compassion. As we develop these qualities we can enjoy some of the happiness that He enjoys. (Well, this was my synopsis...) The thing that I LOVE about this, is that he spoke MY UNDERSTANDING... I have already learned that when I CREATE things something magical happens... I feel happy. Being a mother, we are harvesting a late harvest... we plant seeds in our children that may take 2o years to mature. We cook, we clean, we teach, we pray, everything we do over and over again and really we don't see the harvest for a long time. For me, sewing or quilting or making something or blogging or trying a new recipe, is therapeutic... at the end of the day I actually have something that I can hold and look at. Something finished and complete. My children are works in process-- it's nice to hold a quilt in the mean time and know that although the kids are still growing, I finished something today. Today, I have six seeds that I watered and nurtured... and, I created cookies and lasagna... AMAZING!!

why soccer?

OK--- I know that we're a bit crazy. So what's new? We have 6 kids-- Todd left his job at Ford to go back to school-- AND, we signed up 4 kids in soccer this season.

On Tuesday afternoon at 6pm we have 4 practices-- each at a different field across town. We have 3 practices Thursday at 6pm and one Friday from 6 to 7:30pm. Saturday is full of soccer games.

Why? Because we LOVE driving kids around, we LOVE finding 8 pairs of shinguards and cleats, we LOVE finding clean uniforms- socks, shirts and shorts, we love game schedules, make-up games, size 3 and size 4 soccer balls, water bottles, snacks for the games, bug spray, sunblock, frenchbraids and coordinating hair ribbons, sweaty bodies, fights about showers after practices and games, taking off earrings of little girls for the games, etc., etc...

No-- but we DO love kids who think they are soccer stars because they scored three goals in the last game. We LOVE kids who know how to listen to a coach, try their best and run hard even when they're tired. We LOVE the sweet friendships that we have made with others in our community. We LOVE that for a few hours a week our kids are outside, getting exercise not in front of a computer or TV monitor. We LOVE that soccer games only last one hour-- BASEBALL is INSANE!! And of course, we LOVE the groans of envy we get when we tell people we have 4 kids in soccer. We really do it all for those few, "I don't know how you do it" comments...

Plus, we had the boys in soccer for many seasons before we let the girls join... not cause we're sexist, just cause it was hard to imagine having 4 on different teams. We finally bit the bullet and signed everyone up-- it just happened to be the same month that Lily was born, but hey-- we LOVE to do hard things. (right Diana?!)

So, this email goes out to all of you who have rolled your eyes when you've seen us up at the fields on Saturday with a small day-care... to any of you who have heard our driving schedule on Tuesday or Thursday and asked WHY? I'll just point and say- read the blog. Why Soccer?? Because when we signed up for parenting we signed up for better and for worse (well, maybe that was marriage but you know what i mean). When we signed up for 6 kids we signed up for after school craziness, 6 spelling tests, 6 Tuesday folders and 6 SOCCER PRACTICES... our family is a free-family, opportunity for all, first and fourth children, brothers and sisters, all are given the same opportunity to become world famous soccer players... The boys got the coolest ever cleats when they were little, and the little girls get PINK soccer shoes now...

If you ever see Todd or I walking in circles or talking to ourselves or shaking a six year old who still refuses to remove her earrings for a game. If we seem a bit crazy on a Tuesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday... just know it is all an act. Deep down, WE LOVE IT!!

Did I mention that I am now the PTA President at the kids' school?!!... Yeah, CRAZY I know!!

Corrie-- I do still write "Superhero" when it asks for my job title... LOVE IT!!

President Spencer W. Kimball said, "My life is like my shoes—to be worn out in service".

rocco baby?...

Don't you think Lily looks like Rocco DiSpirito? (he's a chef and is on Dancing with the Stars)... Yeah, she's his love child...

SHE'S BACK... post-partum glory...

Yeah- it did take me till noon to get dressed, but Lily got a bath... Isn't she the cutest naked baby?

I barely buttoned some REAL jeans... My wedding rings fit!! AND i painted my nails... I tried a new recipe (because it was yummy in the hospital) Chicken Fried Steak...

It was just like homemade chicken nuggets except you start with cube steak (i think) and you make a white sauce gravy to go over it... i got the recipe from Better Homes and Garden's Cookbook.

AND... I made bread... (for real-- i even did the dishes... todd started having black-out moments... memories of days gone past... pre-pregnancy hallucinations of non-paper plates and dessert even when we don't have company...) As we were climbing into bed-- it was dark although my world was still full of sunshine-- I asked, "Is their really such a thing as post-partum depression?" Seriously, there needs to be more studies on mid-partum depression... who can be depressed loosing 20 pounds in two days, holding a perfect, tiny baby, or having pants that stay up over your bum??? Yeah-- I know, first day with no mother-in-law and I did pretty well... So, today I get to stay in my jammies all day and look at pictures of how productive I was yesterday. Or-- I'll clean my kitchen floor-- Leah just spilled Ellie's old bowl of cereal all over the floor... while I was wiping she was madly trying to eat the soggy marshmallows... Gross!!

pure joy...

I LOVE newborns... this is magnified by the fact that having a newborn means that I am no longer pregnant-- and I LOVE not being pregnant. My life feels like sunshine... i LOVE my kids, i LOVE my house, i LOVE my husband and i feel so blessed. yesterday i read in the bible of other joy-filled mothers... and my heart echoed theirs- Mary said, "For he that is mighty hath done to me great things..." (Luke 1:49) Elisabeth said, "Whereby the dayspring (dawn) from on high hath visited us." (Luke 1:79) Hannah said, "For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him: Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord." (1 Sam 1:27-28) In Psalms is perhaps my FAVORITE momma scripture, "He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord." (Psalms 113:9) And, "The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children." (Psalms 115:14) Yesterday in my journal I wrote... As I hold creation in my arms I marvel at the details. Tiny fingernails, perfect lips, puffs of breath and a deep sigh. Eyes rolling open, a concentrated focus, a contented smile, back to peaceful sleepy breaths. Squeaks, stretches, searching sucks- just a moment of knowing as our eyes meet and our souls see. Then a quick reflexive wiggle, a furrowed brow and a tiny whine. I lift and pat and rejoice over a magical burp. We spoke our first understandings. You spoke and I understood. Mouth open wide, searching for me with impatient panting. I gasp gently with the first sucks, but joy over the squeaky swallows and drips of milk seeping out the edges of a busy mouth. I am enough. God and I created this miracle and God and I can nourish and protect you. Once again in complete limp slumber. Belly round and full, gurgling with digestion. Eyes rolling, dreamy smiles. Mine, yet borrowed. A sweet gift of trust from the divine. So small and helpless, yet so wise and inspiring. I remember eternal covenants and vow once again to listen and provide. I am humbled and overflowing with gratitude. I imagine I can still smell Heaven on your breath. Puffs of breath, in and out, joy and peace filling my arms and our lives. Perfect fingers, perfect lips, creation's miracle.

dad can do posters?!

while i was in the hospital, Ellie was her Kindergarten "Star of the Week"... i smirked from my hospital bed as i gave Todd directions... get the poster, download some pictures of things ellie likes to do and make it cute... He did a GREAT job!! Who knew?! my husband is the all around guy...

the troops welcome an addition...

Jakob-- with ruler in hand, "Mom, Leah's ear is 1 and 1/4 inches long." Drew-- during a diaper change, "Yup, she is a girl..." short pause, "Mom, do you think you can pray and ask God to send us a boy next time?"

Anna-- "Ohhhh look, she's perfect."

Ellie-- "Mom, I think Lily likes me."

Leah-- "I hold it... I hold it..."

moments with lily...

yeah, we think she's an Eskimo baby with all that hair...

(jakob and ellie both were born with black hair like this, they are the two kids who turned white blond within the first year...) the eyes are the windows to the soul...

can't you tell she just came from heaven? lotsa lovin'

my babies... yeah!! we came home Wednesday morning... 6 days after delivery...

What a miracle-- they told us she would not breathe on her own for one to two weeks!! she was not breathing when she was born, and couldn't cry with a respirator in,

so, it took us two days to hear her very first cry...

although it looks lusty, it was a pretty quiet squeak...

Lily's first lilies... sweet baby... a bit jaundiced, she needed to soak up the rays for a few days... yeah, when things were a bit hard on mom, Todd was the rock...

lily is so lucky to have such a great dad!! We are so grateful for the miracles that we have experienced this past week.

Lily has brought such a sweet spirit into our home...

Thanks for all of your love and prayers!!

love ya!

Now Todd has uploaded pictures!

Here's my Wonder Woman on Thursday 9/11 as we enter the hospital for triage! Jen had just visited the OB the day before, and was told to go in the next morning and tell them she was leaking fluid since her OB was on call that morning . . .

Jen can't wait to have this baby! This is before all the fireworks started. Once her water broke, she had a prolapsed umbilical cord, meaning that the cord became stuck between Lily's head and the wall of the birth canal, pinching the cord and cutting off the blood supply. Lily's heart rate dropped below the safe level and Jen was rushed in for the emergency c-section. Lily was born 12 minutes later and was rushed to the NICU while Jen went to the recovery room. Once Lily was born, it was 36 hours before Jen was recovered enough to go to the NICU and help the nurses give Lily a sponge bath. Lily was on a breathing tube until Saturday (9/13), when the fluid had cleared enough for her to breathe on her own. These angel nurses (Briana and Allyson) have been taking great care of Lily in the NICU. Today (Sunday 9/14) Lily started taking bottles with Jen's milk. You can see the feeding tube in her nose in case she is too weak to take a bottle. Hopefully she'll be strong enough to nurse on her own sometime this week. Don't you love all that dark hair!

Here's my Sweetheart in all her post-partum glory. She's beautiful, no? Thanks Aunt Mil for the sweet hat...

Lily Grace

This is Todd again, typing while Jen dictates over the phone . . . Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers! After a scary start, Lily Grace is still in critical care the NICU, but she is breathing completely on her own!! She is the sweetest, cutest baby. All of the nurses are in love with her--she is very sweet and mellow. She ate through a feeding tube for the first time today (no longer through IV), so the next step is get her feeding on her own. Jen is grateful for drugs and every moment that she gets to hold her little baby (it was nearly 24 hours before Jen could see Lily, and 36 before she could hold her). Jen took some nice pics but Todd left the camera at the hospital after the visit today. We have been very blessed by the attention that we have received at the hospital, the wonders of modern medicine, and the wonderful friends who were with our kids for the first two days and others who have offered their support. Now Todd gets to spend some quality time with the kids until Jen gets back on Monday morning, and Todd' mother flies out Monday afternoon.

And we have a baby girl . . . for real this time!

This is Todd writing on the fly, hence no pictures yet (Jen is much better at this sort of thing). Yes, we did have a baby girl at 3:17 pm on Thursday, 9/11. Here's the details: Name: Lily ______ (middle name TBD) Weight: 7-11 Length: 20 inches After an emergency c-section, Jenifer is recovering nicely and Lily is in the UMC NICU due to some fluid in the lungs. We'll know more as time progresses, but it looks like Lily will stay at UMC for at least the next 1-2 weeks, and Jen will be coming home early next week. Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

she's having a baby... for real

i'm going to have a baby... tomorrow!

Sept. 11, 2008

i can't wait to meet her...

(i'm a little more nervous than i thought i would be...)

angels amoung us...

See these women... they may look ordinary, but they are SAINTS... My mom hired them to come and do a complete spring cleaning at my house yesterday. I must admit, I was a bit nervous to have someone else clean my house. And, I wasn't sure that the $130 they were charging was worth it... I WAS WRONG. These ladies showed up at 8:30am and worked non-stop until 3:00pm... they cleaned things I never even knew were dirty. They did my blinds, my windows, my light fixtures, my woodwork, my fans... it seriously took them over 3 hours just to clean the kid's bedrooms (and everything was picked up before they got here). My house SHINES and smells so good. The only bad thing is that I'm completely sold-- I have figured out the key to complete housekeeping happiness-- I'll organize and pick-up, I'll do dinner and dishes and laundry and mornings and soccer practice and music lessons and homework, but I wouldn't mind outsourcing the floors, bathrooms and dusting... oh, if only I had waited to experience this bliss till Todd was finished school. I think we needed to set some standards earlier... No dating till age 16. No sex till marriage. And, No housekeepers till graduation. If anyone is looking for a great 6th baby gift idea-- I think my mom picked the perfect thing!! Hire house cleaners... how am I ever going to be able to wash my toilet again without wondering if it is worth the $10 to pay someone else to do it for me... (Any of you that have known me since the beginning of my marriage will know how hypocritical this post is... I'm the housework advocate--- i used to place great value on cleaning toilets--- you love those you serve and as you clean your home you love your family more... I still believe this, but I was young then, and I had never experienced the true happiness of house keeepers... oh the grand ideals of the ignorant. I'm fine with the fact that these three ladies are a bit more connected to my sweet family then I am because they spent the whole day serving us while I laid on the couch reading books to Leah.)

ps... I'm STILL PREGNANT...

Now I know how many of you DON'T READ my relentless ramblings... I was teasing a bit-- NO BOY FOR US. (That was my friend's baby...) I am still VERY PREGNANT!! LOVE YA!! Please don't send us any little boy clothes. :)

It's a... BOY!?

After a long day of labor, little Graham made his entrance into the world... Can you believe it's a boy?? Isn't he the cutest little thing ever? Doesn't he make you want to have a baby? Yeah, me too... my friend, Becky Hardin, just gave birth and emailed a link to 71 adorable pictures of her first experience with labor... I want to meet my baby. Can you imagine our shock if we really had a boy!? Side Note- if you call my house and I'm not home it doesn't mean that I'm in labor... but, it probably does mean that I'm sitting in a hospital waiting room somewhere WISHING i were in labor-- yeah, this is the week of doctor appointments gotta tank up--LOVE IT!

words of wisdom:: 2 Linda Eyre

I love the Eyre's... you know the creators of joyschool (although I didn't LOVE joyschool-- still love the concept). Anyway, I've been rereading Linda Eyre's book, I Didn't Plan to be a Witch, and A Joyful Mother of Children... I found this quote that I loved... "...the joy in life doesn't usually come in long stretches for hours at a time, month after month, year after year . . . but in moments. "the very best gift... is that anyone can experience those unexpected twinkles of joy that make a magical moment. At these moments, you feel true, deep joy because of a great new insight, a beautiful prospect, or a glimpse into the radiance of another soul. They are the magic moments when life seems better than you ever realized, moments when you know positively that the light and love of Jesus Christ is wrapped around you like a warm blanket." (Linda Eyre, A Joyful Mother of Children, p. 108-109)

family...

Just another crazy, lazy Sunday afternoon...

i love these moments!

(important note- one second following this smiling picture, there was a scream-- jakob's head was smashed-- and a large tumble of crying kids... ahhh family life!)

hooter hider... really, that's the name...

I wanted one of these and couldn't spend $30 at Target, so I made one with the help of some online directions... it was pretty easy. I'm curious to see if I actually use it...

Here are the directions I used... Hooter Hider Directions... For the straps I used a contrasting fabric, cut them 4 inches wide and sewed them like a tube then turned them right-side out. I also added a lining--- I just sewed around all 4 sides leaving an opening to turn it right-side out, then I top-stiched around all four sides and turned the top under the way the instructions said to... yeah, I know it sounds confusing, but it wasn't.

Anyway, cute huh!?

car seat makeover...

My car seat was yucky having endured quite a few little ones... I really wanted a new baby car seat, but we couldn't justify spending the money when we already had one. I checked around online for car seat covers-- they really do sell some adorable things. The key to my success today was that I showed Todd the car seat covers that I liked on this website- they cost from $75-$130. Yeah, he didn't complain when I spend $20 on upholstery fabric to redo our old one. I couldn't find a free-online pattern, so I just cut my old cover off and used it as a pattern. Baby #6-- we're ready for ya!! Now we still need to decide on a name... Here is our list if you want to give us your vote... 1. Lucy Rose 2. Sofia Rose 3. Sara Sofia 4. Ava Rose 5. Lily Kate or Lily Katherine 6. Lily Grace I can't wait to meet this little one...

thanks mom...

Yeah-- my mom's visit was wonderful!! She helped me organize my closets and get ready for a new baby... She is really great at cleaning and sorting and organizing, and I've been working on it for the past two years (since we downsized and moved to Texas...) In my current state of nesting it was PERFECT!! (just wish she could have stayed another week)... And, of course the kids always love a visit from Grandma-- they needed a little grandma lovin' during these weeks of cranky, pregnant momma... Thanks Mom!!

Leah turns 2!!!

"See I did it!"

this is what Leah said after blowing out her candles, and opening her first gift... so cute!

Leah turned 2 on Sept.1, she has been a joy and a blessing in our family since the day she was born. I'm so excited to watch her grow and enjoy life-- what a gift she is to all of us!