Sydney's Birthday

June 30, 2016

Sydney's Bday Party

Our Backyard

Last year was Sydney's official party year, but since we were up at the cabin, she didn't get to invite any friends and reminded me often that she needed to have a friend birthday when she turned 6.  With the baby and CMT, we had to do it a little late, but her friend party was lots of fun.  

We just played outside with water and had pizza and cake and popsicles.  It was perfect!  We sure loved celebrating this spunky, inquisitive, curly-haired girl.  We're so glad she's in our family and I can't believe she's 6 already!

CMT 2016--Pirates of Penzance Jr.

June 25, 2016

CMT Presents Pirates of Penzance Jr.

Montano LDS Chapel

Since I had a baby this month, I was really grateful to Jaime Olsen who directed CMT this year.  They put on Pirates of Penzance Jr. and it was hysterical!  Everyone did such a great job--I was smiling the whole time!  Loved it all--the backdrop, the costumes, the singing and dancing and sword fights!  So grateful to all the parents who volunteered their time so my kids could have this opportunity!  

Costume credits:  My mom and I (mostly my mom) worked on Daphne's darling dress while she was here to help me after I had Nathan.  It was a super complicated pattern and took both us to figure it out!  

Also, I drew Dallin's chest hair, and it may or may not have stolen the show.  Just wanted to put that out there.

Backstage before the show:

During the show:

  

Post Show Pictures:

D-DAY! (aka Delivery Day!)

June 6, 2016

Nathan's Birthday

aka D-Day

aka Delivery Day for Sharee!

Presbyterian Hospital, ABQ, NM

After a very uncomfortable Sunday, (church was an exTREMEly long 3 hours for me that day) and finishing the night enjoying the Utah Valley Children's Choir Concert, (awesome, but again, I was SO uncomfortable) we drove home enjoying a spectacular lightning storm, got ready for bed and called it a night.  

A few hours later, I was awoken by some pretty good contractions.  It was early in the morning, about 2:45 I think, and I lay in bed for awhile waiting to see if the contractions would subside.  After awhile I started timing them and decided maybe I should take a shower just in case.  After my shower, we decided it was probably time to head down to the hospital.  We left about 3:45, after telling Dallin and Daphne they were in charge when everyone woke up because we were going to the hospital to have a baby.

We arrived at the hospital about 4AM and they took their sweet time in triage even though I asked for an epidural right away, rated the pain of my contractions an 8, told them this was my 7th baby and I have a history of rapid birth.  When they checked me upon arrival I was dilated to a five, but I knew from past experience that could jump much higher with just one good contraction.  Well, even though I kept asking what the status of my epidural was, they just dinked around, laughing and talking out in the hallway.  After about 40 minutes, they officially admitted me, and took me to a labor and delivery room, where I AGAIN asked about the epidural. They said first they needed to draw some blood for some blood work and run a bag of IV fluid through me.  I asked how long it takes for one bag to drip through.  "About 30 minutes," she said.  My contractions were so intense and close together at this point, I knew I wasn't getting that epidural, because that baby was definitely coming sooner than 30 minutes. 

Sure enough, after a few more minutes and me praying between every contraction for strength to last the next one, it wasn't long before I felt like I needed to push.  With about 4 good pushes, our sweet little Nathan Arthur was born at 5:12 AM.  He was 7 lbs 5 oz and 21 inches long.  We are so thankful for his presence in our family, and that all of the kids are out of school and able to enjoy him so much while he's tiny!  He has no shortage of arms to love and hold him.  Welcome to the world, Nathan!

 

Kirtland AFB Airshow

June 4, 2016

Kirtland Airforce Base Air Show

ABQ

After a couple of false alarms on Memorial Day and the following Tuesday, baby still hadn't come.  So on Saturday, we  went to the Kirtland AFB airshow.  Daphne's friend Kirra came with us that day--she had come into town from Boston for Girl's Camp and had just gotten back that morning.  She was a great sport, even though I'm sure she was tired from Girl's Camp!

The Air Show was great!  There were really fun stunt pilots flying propeller planes and some cool fly-bys:  a fire fighter plane, and a B2 Bomber were among the best ones.  There were also lots of grounded aircraft that you could walk through and "play on."  I'll admit, I kept thinking, how would I get to the hospital in time if I went into labor out here?  It was a good walk to the shuttle busses and a 10-15 minute ride back to the parking lots.  I'm sure they would have rushed me outta there if there had been an emergency, but it made me nervous!

The only bummer is how hot it was out there!  Crowds of people were camped out in the shade of every grounded aircraft.  We stopped for awhile next to a HUGE cargo plane (C 110, I think?) to just get out of the sun and enjoy a cold slushy drink.  Finally, after several hours in the hot sun checking everything out, and when the F-18 fly-by was indefinitely postponed due to lightning in the area, we decided to call it a day.  Very fun, but I think next time, we would bring a bag full of ice to help cool us off, and umbrellas for shade!  Also, not being 38 weeks pregnant would probably make it a little more enjoyable. ;)

a 38 week baby bump shadow

April & May Quotes

I was crying one morning because the house was thrashed and after praying and reading my scriptures and taking a nap (at 9:15AM!) and writing in my journal, I still could not scrounge up the energy to tackle all the work that needed to be done to take care of my family.  Bennett saw me crying and this conversation followed:

Bennett:  Mom, you okay?

Me:  Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just crying a little bit.

Bennett:  Why you crying?  Who punched you?

Me:  Nobody punched me, sweetie, I'm just crying because I wish I had more energy.

Bennett:  Does your tummy hurt?

Me:  Yeah, my tummy does hurt a little bit.

Bennett:  Why does that baby give you owies?

Me:  That's just what happens sometimes.

Bennett:  Here, mom have a drink (handing me my cup) It will help you tummy feel better.

Me:  Oh thank you Bennett, that's very thoughtful of you.

Bennett:  Okay, now you can be really happy, okay mom?

Me:  Yes, I will be happy and stop crying.

Bennett: Yeah, now you can stop crying and just be happy. . . . Are you happy, Mom?

(And he continued to ask me if I was happy for the next 10 minutes.)

I had several brass players at my house one afternoon to practice their solos for solo & ensemble.  Bennett has a fascination with instruments lately, thanks to his interest in the Little Einstein's show.  When the first one started playing he said, "Oh, nice, you playin' the tramboon!"  (trombone)

Hayden:  Are you happy being a Mom?

That question cut me to the heart.  I think he was just curious, but this pregnancy was a tough one emotionally.  I ended up going on medication for pregnancy-induced depression and until we got all of that figured out, I was kind of a basket case.  I cried A LOT.  And even though I tried to wait until I was alone, my kids saw me in tears quite often.  So it made me sad that Hayden had to ask me if I was happy being a mom.  I LOVE being a mom.  I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world.  But being a mom is hard sometimes and  being pregnant makes it even harder.   And, it makes me cry  more than usual!  I explained that to Hayden, but I also thought that I need to make sure my kids see me loving being a mother.  Working on that.
  
Bennett:   I am great at playing games and watching shows!

Bennett:  Mom! The birds just flew away! Okay, birds, you better come back here.  I count to three.
One . . . two . . . three!
Okay, birds, now you get a spankin on you bottom!