Newborn Pictures

I'm finally getting around to posting some of the newborn pictures I took of baby Jenna. I tried to take these as soon as we got home because that is the best time, but even then it was very difficult. She was not very excited about getting her pictures taken! Every time I tried to move her or put her on some prop she would get mad and scream. So here are a few of my better attempts. There were plenty of bad shots! Look at my photo blog if you want to see the pictures bigger. (Chuck took the one of Jenna and me. He's becoming quite the photographer if I just get the camera exposure set for him!)

I loved this shot even though her arm is a little weird because of her little smile. There's nothing better than holding a baby as they sweetly smile in their sleep!

This was one of my attempts at the use of a prop. This is the best I could get because she immediately started screaming. I really liked the basket though!

A Quiet Week

Samuel and Bella spent this past week at Grandma Luann's house and can I just say what a quiet and peaceful week it has been around our home. They had a lot of fun staying at Grandma's and I had a great time with only the two kids at home - life was so much simpler! Even though my tailbone is still causing me pain I was actually able to accomplish a few tasks that have been neglected for months. It was also great to be able to spend some alone time with Isaac. So this post is all about my Isaac.

This little guy really loves his baby sister. He can be so rough, but has been very gentle with the baby. He always wants to hold her and every time I feed or change her he is right there. He makes me laugh because each time I change her diaper he says, "Oh Yuck!" in this deep voice. He also likes to point to his own eyes, ears, mouth etc. and then point out the fact that the baby also has these same parts. It's very cute!

When I'm feeding her he likes to climb all over the chair and have me sing songs with him. Jenna and I don't get much alone time in the rocking chair! He can be a little character during these times as well because he knows I'm busy and can't get to him. Yesterday he dumped out his animal crackers on our bedroom floor then put on Bella's princess shoe and proceeded to stomp them to pieces. I kept asking him to stop, but he just laughed and kept at it. Because all the kids are so close in age I've had this issue with every kid - they just know when you are occupied and take full advantage of the situation.

Isaac decided that he really liked Samuel's hat and wore it all week long. He even had to take it to nap and bed with him. But he would only wear it backwards.

This week I spent a little time each day trying to get the toys in order. The only problem was I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere because I would get one area cleaned and while I was busy doing that Isaac was busy ripping another area apart. Isn't this just typical motherhood with little ones! That's why if you come to my house during the day there will be toys every where, but if you come at night or early in the morning before the kids get up it will be clean. I like to start each day with some semblance of order before it all goes to pot!

This is what he did while I was cleaning the upstairs rooms.

More smashing of snacks.

Isaac really wants to be "big" like the other kids. He decided several weeks ago that he was not longer going to sit in the highchair or the kids seat but has to sit at the table like everyone else. Because of this he gets so messy at meal time.

We sure do love this little guy!

Valentines

Luckily Grandma was here to make cupcakes with the kids for Valentines day. With the new baby I wasn't up for our usual holiday festivities.

Grandma also got the kids balloons from the Dollar Store. And even after a week they are still floating around the house. Isaac got mad and didn't want to be in the picture. Instead he threw himself on the floor in a fit - the terrible two's always start early around our house.

The kids picking out Valentines for each other. We asked the kids what they liked about each person they were giving a Valentine to. Samuel and Bella both said they liked each other because they play "house" together. The two of them play this "house" game they made up every day. One of them will say let's play "house" and off they will go.

We actually celebrated Valentines on Saturday and I did manage to quickly throw together a little treasure hunt for the kids. I made a map to their presents and candy pails because Samuel absolutely loves trying to follow maps. Here they are at the start of the treasure hunt. Again Isaac didn't want to be in the picture.

Each year I get the kids new swimsuits for Valentines Day. I bet you can't guess who was most excited about this gift.

Then on to the hidden candy pails. I bought the candy several weeks before Valentines because I knew I wouldn't be able to do it once the baby came. Amazingly Chuck and I didn't eat it before the day arrived. Of course I did hide it in the Laundry Room where it wasn't within sight.

Baby Jenna in her Valentines outfit.

That afternoon Grandma and Grandpa took everyone to Pirate Island. The baby and I stayed home and took a good nap. The kids came home with a lot of prizes - I think the adults were also playing the games to get that many tickets for prizes!

Bella kept telling me she was so excited about her new swimsuit. Of course she changed into it as soon as they got home from Pirate Island. Notice her green finger and face. She was dipping her finger in the candy packet and it turned green.

Welcome Home Baby!

We finally we able to come home at 8:00 p.m. the day after Jenna was born. We were all ready to leave earlier in the day, but Jenna had swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid and was still spitting it up just before we were discharged. The pediatrician ordered more blood tests, an x-ray and wanted to watch her throughout the day just to make sure nothing else was wrong. A lot of overkill, but at least by the end of the day we knew she was just fine and we were more than ready to get home.

The kids were so excited to see the new baby. Everyone wanted to touch and hold her.

Samuel and Bella were so funny asking all sorts of questions. Bella came over touched my stomach and said, "Oh mommy, you still have a baby in your belly". Yes, it's always a little disappointing that you still look about 6 months pregnant when you leave the hospital! I told her I didn't have a baby in my belly anymore and then she said, "Oh you can wear my princess outfits now".

Samuel got so excited and said, "Now we can have 6 more babies!" (Not from this mommy!) Later he asked me, "Did you drink a lot of milk so you can feed the baby out of those."

And Isaac's favorite thing to say is, "I wanna hold that."





I love this picture because it just represents our life. Lots of little ones doing crazy noisy things! How blessed I feel to have each of these kids and another baby in our home!!

On The Mend

The past week has been a little rough for me physically. For some reason my legs always swell after I deliver. I was hoping this time since it was such a quick labor this wouldn't happen, but it did. I knew I was in trouble when I went to put on my black sweatpants to come home from the hospital and I could barely get them over my thighs. They were tighter than when I went to the hospital in labor! At least this time I came home from the hospital and weighed 5 lbs. less than when I went in. The first day home I did gain a pound - obviously all the swelling. With all my other babies I've come home heavier than I went in - not a good thing!

With all this swelling it makes it extremely difficult to walk since my feet will hardly bend. I can also feel the water moving around on the top of my feet when I walk - a very weird sensation.

A close up of my sausage feet - pretty gross I know!

Bella thinks it's funny to wear my tube they gave me at the hospital to sit on. (I actually found that if I sit on my boppy it works a lot better than this tube!) I somehow managed to really hurt my tailbone during the delivery. Once the epidural wore off I couldn't believe how much pain I was in. Even the pain medication was not doing the trick. In fact I had a little break down in the hospital before we came home. It was killing me to sit because my tailbone hurt so bad, I couldn't walk very well because my feet were so swollen and baby Jenna was having an extremely hard time trying to breastfeed. The sweet nurse on duty at the time came into my room as I was wiping the tears away and she must have felt sorry for me because she stuck around for about a 1/2 hour trying to help Jenna suck and telling me how painful it was with a hurt tailbone. Just her little touch of sympathy made me feel so much better!

One blessing about coming home with a lot of mending to do was getting the opportunity to spend a lot of time in my rocking chair holding my beautiful new baby girl. I'm so grateful my mom has been here to help take care of the other kids so that I could focus on taking care of myself and the baby.

Can I just say I LOVE my chair. We bought it just before Samuel was born and I have so many memories of rocking, nursing, reading and singing to each of my precious little ones in this chair. It is also great for sleeping in when there's no way you can imagine actually climbing into bed because your body is so beat or when the baby doesn't want to sleep, but just be held and rocked during the middle of the night.

Over the past few days I have lost 14 lbs. of water - thanks to my husband for reminding me that this is almost the equivalent of 2 gallons of water! YEAH! Now my legs and feet are back to normal size and I am feeling so much better. My tailbone is still hurting and I can't sit down unless I'm on the boppy, but I am feeling so much better than I have in months.

Samuel the other night told Chuck he didn't think mommy was ever going to get better. The next night during family prayers Samuel prayed that mommy could be healed. It brought tears to my eyes as I heard my little boy pray for me. And I'm sure our Heavenly Father heard his prayer because it usually takes me 2 weeks to loose the water, but this time it was just a week.

The amazing thing about having a baby and then starting to feel better is that for some reason you convince yourself that it really wasn't that bad! I've already felt that way and when I told Chuck that he looked at me like I was going crazy. It must be because holding and loving that little baby is worth every price we pay to get them here.

Our Newest Addition!

Introducing our new beautiful baby girl:

Jenna Lynn

Weight: 8 lbs. 5 oz. (my biggest baby - beating Isaac by only 1 onuce)
Length: 20.5 inches (I'm really not sure how she fit!)
She was born at 6:34 a.m. - only 4 hours after my water broke! There's an exciting story, but I don't feel like writing it now so it will have to wait.

Chuck bought me a beautiful diamond Journey pendant since this is our last baby and what a fun and exciting Journey we are on.

Baby's Coming!

So it's 2:30 a.m. and my water broke so Chuck and I are getting our bags packed to go to the hospital. I've been anxiously awaiting this, but still didn't get myself ready! All that sitting last night must have done the trick!

Engineer of the Year!

Congrats to my wonderful, smart husband who received the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) Southern Utah Chapter - Engineer of the Year Award tonight.

The City Manager called me yesterday to tell me Chuck was getting this award and that I needed to get him to go to the banquet tonight without letting him know he was getting the award. I managed to do my part - convincing him that I really wanted to go and sit for hours at this banquet being "very great with child".

I'm proud of you honey!

Black Eye

The end of last week we had one of those days at our home when all the kids were just rotten all day long. As soon as Chuck walked in the door my mom and I took off to go to dinner and left poor Chuck behind with 3 bawling kids. We had both had enough for one day!

And this is what happened to cap the afternoon off - Samuel got a black eye and who gave it to him - little Isaac! All the kids were in the family room and Samuel was being mean to both Bella and Isaac. I wasn't facing the chaos, but my mom was in the process of telling Samuel he needed to go to his room when I heard a very loud noise that sounded like someone had hit the concrete floor very hard with something. Then the screaming began. Isaac had not taken kindly to Samuel taking away his toy had picked up his sippy cup, thrown it at Samuel and smashed him right above the eye. All day long Samuel had been creating problems, but I felt so bad for the guy. And Isaac was very pleased with himself. He kept saying, "I hit Samuel drink". When we tried to tell him that he really hurt Samuel he just smiled his huge smile and said, "Yah!"

Now just look at that happy little guy, you would never know that Isaac is the brute of the family. He may be the youngest, at least for a few more days, but he is also the meanest. He is my only kid that has hit and thrown things at people. If one of the other kids makes him mad, he goes after them when they're least expecting it. I'm hoping we can put an end to this problem when he gets a little older and can understand better. But for now watch out for flying objects!