June Tidbits

National Donut Day!

I always love a good excuse to eat a donut.  

And when it's free, that's even better!  Thank you Krispy Kreme!

New tile in the kitchen

We had scheduled to our kitchen tiled a week before Nathan was due.  As it turned out, I had the baby, and the tile went in when he was a couple of days old.  It actually worked out perfectly because kind friends were bringing us dinner before my mom arrived anyway, so it was a great time to be without a kitchen.  We LOVE how it turned out!

Nona

Just thank goodness for my mom who came to help for a week.  We always love spending time with Nona, and I'm especially grateful for her coming to serve our family after each of our babies.

Daphne's Mabel Costume

While my mom was here, I asked if she would help me work on Daphne's CMT costume.  It was a super complicated pattern and required both of us to figure it out.  Mom did most of the work, but I helped and I LOVE how it turned out!  So, so darling!  We had to get that side shot to show off her bustle! Daphne looked great in it.

Mary Poppins at Vivian Awards

In May, I was down at Albuquerque Little Theater renting some props and set pieces for Pirates of Penzance.  One of the staff saw me and asked when the baby was due, and if I would be interested in singing a song from Mary Poppins for their annual Vivian Awards--an evening of awards and entertainment where they recognize outstanding performers and crew members from their recently finished season and introduce a couple of shows from their next season.

It was a bit of a gamble because I was due 10 days before the Vivians, but I said I would.  Thank goodness Nathan was born 11 days early, and that gave me about three weeks to recover before performing.  As it was, I barely fit into the skirt they gave me to wear, and was a nervous wreck, but vocally I think it went just fine.  Hopefully by the time auditions roll around, I can have the baby weight off and be ship shape and ready to put my best foot forward!

Drop the Mic Show Choir Camp

Dallin and Daphne participated in this show choir camp the week that Nona was here--another reason I was so glad she was there that week since my two biggest helpers were gone all day M-F of that week.  They really wanted to do it because it's the last time they'd get to sing under Mr. Prior's direction since he's off to Columbia to get his Master's degree.  They had a lot of friends participating and had a great time!

CMT/Courtney

Since the Amsdens have moved to Colorado Springs, we got to have Courtney stay with us the week of CMT!  Here are Daphne and Courtney decorating their hats for their costumes.  We were happy three of the Amsden kids could come be in CMT this year even though they don't live in ABQ anymore!  

First time out with 7 

Always gotta document the first time I go out by myself with all the kids including the newest baby.  I took them all to see Finding Dory on 5 Dollar Tuesday!  Great movie, and everyone was good, except for Bennett who kept trying to escape.  I must say that going out with 7 kids isn't so bad when three of them are really helpful.  4 kids with no helpers is much scarier.

Sydney Turned 6!

Sydney turned six years old on June 25th.  Due to CMT, we had a small family celebration that weekend and a bigger friend party a few days late.

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!