I am still alive

My life has been so crazy, I don't even know where to start.

How about with this.

We moved since I last posted.  I thought to snap a few pictures as things were being packed up.  Dan kept tabs on things at the house while I spent most of the time at my parents with the kids.  It is always so surreal to see your things packed up and then a bare house.  We took the kids over to the empty house the night before we left and they got a kick out of seeing it empty.

Moving is definitely stressful.  We didn't have the stress of packing ourselves (thank goodness) but we still had to go through all the logistics.  We had the packers/movers show up on Monday, February 17.  The truck was loaded by the end of the day Tuesday.  We stayed at my mom's that week.  Have I mentioned what a life saver she is? Now that there are 7 of us (can I just say that sounds so weird to me?) we tend to overwhelm the space of wherever we go.  We squished right in, and the kids thought that the air mattress was the coolest thing ever.

We flew out late Thursday.  I was really worried about the plane ride.  So worried that I wanted to make the 24 hour drive instead of fly.  I get a bit anxious flying to begin with, add in a mix of kids who could be loud and unpredictable, and I was not looking forward to the flight.  But Dan found good airfare, and we just couldn't pass it up.  The kids ended up doing okay.  I guess when you expect the worst, almost anything will seem okay.  Tyler was perfect.  Will slept perfectly.  The twins struggled a few times when they both wanted the same seat, and Jackson had a hard time understanding the concept of staying in your seat during take off.

The most chaotic part was making our connection in Denver.  At the airport in Salt Lake,  I wore Will, Jackson was in a stroller, the other boys all pulled a suitcase.  We checked the stroller all the way through to Houston, so when we landed in Denver a bit late, and had just a few minutes to move not the couple of gates like we thought but the next terminal, we panicked.  Dan took the older boys a head of me so they could move fast, and I brought the little boys.  So I'm carrying Will in a Bjorn, while coaxing Jackson through the airport.  I finally had to pick him up and carry him on my hip.  I must have been a sight, and I did hear a "two babies" comment as I was rushing past a group of people.  But we made our flight!

We had some friends pick us up at the airport, and Dan's brother lent us some blankets and towels and we camped out at the house for the weekend.  Our stuff arrived Sunday.

And we started unpacking.  We got the boxes empty the first week, and are finally feeling organized two months later.

Looking at that picture gives me the hives remembering the mess we've been through.  And Dan is so busy, I have unpacked probably 85% of this house by myself.

Will at one month

At his two week check up, Will weighed 8-11, up two ounces from his birth weight.  He quickly outgrew his newborn size clothes in length; he seems so long to me.

He is a good baby.  Thank goodness.  He rarely cries--usually just when he is hungry, but if he is crying when it's not time to eat, you just have to pick him up.  He loves snuggling.  The best thing is that he sleeps at night.  He wakes up to eat and goes right back to sleep.

I am grateful for those moments to stop and feed him--it's nice to force yourself to sit down.  I love those quiet moments with him.

Overall, I am trying to soak up this time.  The newborn stage is over so quickly, and I'm trying hard to enjoy it while it lasts.

Will's newborn photos

Other than the doctor's office, the only public place Will went for the first month was to get pictures taken.  You can see where my priorities are.  But you only get one chance to take newborn photos.  Here are a few of my favorites from our photo shoot at Camera Shy.

January = Baby loving

Where has the last month gone?  Will is one month old today, and while I did take pictures, I haven't uploaded them yet.  I will get those up soon.

We haven't done much, which is what should happen the first month with a baby.  I have liked having this quiet time at home.  Okay, that's laughable, there is nothing quiet about our house.  But it has been nice to be at home.  Will has ventured out to the doctor's office twice, to get pictures, to my parent's house, and once to church.  But the rest of our time has been spent loving this baby.

I have to do a shout out to how much help I've had.  People from church have brought dinners and treats and watched the bigger boys.  My sisters have helped.  But the award for most amazing parents is going to my mom and dad.  Dan went back to Houston January 10.  He was only able to stay for one week, and now we are in the middle of a 5 week stretch without him.  There is no way I could function without my parents.  Tonight is the first night I am actually cooking dinner, my parents have fed us that often.  They have taken turns coming to my house in the morning to make sure the kids get off to school, and are here most evenings to help with bedtime.  My dad has even been the one to take the twins to speech for the last three weeks!  I just couldn't have done this without their help.

Here are a few pictures from this last month.

Introducing

William Henry S.
1-4-14 8:00 am
8 lbs. 9 oz. 21 1/2 inches long

There isn't much "story" to tell.  I had contractions almost my whole pregnancy; from 25 weeks on I would have 5-10 a day, so I was convinced I would go into labor on my own.  But nope.  We scheduled my c-section for 39 weeks, and I showed up at the hospital nice and early on the morning of the fourth. He was here 2 hours later.  I made sure the doctor knew to show the baby to me as soon as possible (with Tyler, I didn't see him until he was already cleaned off).  My first thought when I saw him for the first time, was "he looks so big, how did he fit inside of me?"  He was the biggest of all my babies.  Another thing that was unique this time, was when we got back to the room.  I got to hold Jackson for all of 30 seconds before they took him to the NICU.  With Will, as soon as we got in the room, they let me do skin to skin with him, and I was able to nurse right away.

We were in the hospital for 4 days.  It was wonderful to soak in all that baby time, with very few interruptions.  I was joking with Dan how funny it is that I had to have major surgery in order to have a small vacation.  So while I had to put up with the pain, it was nice to have someone who would bring me fresh ice water all day.

Here are some pictures from Will's birth.

In addition to baby time, I loved watching my other boys meet their brother.

Just look at those smiles on my boys! And Jackson was so funny, just wanting to take him away like one of his stuffed animals.  The boys have actually been really good with Will at home as well.

I think it's safe to say we are all in love with baby Will.

Christmas 2013

We had a great Christmas.  I spent a lot of time resting since I was feeling so big and so pregnant, and having so many contractions (the Sunday before Christmas I had 8 in one hour, which freaked me out thinking we were going to end up with another Christmas baby).

We spent Christmas Eve at my sister's house.  We started off with yummy food. (Why am I always thinking about the food?)  She provided meats and cheeses for sandwhiches, and all the rest of us brought appetizers to go with it.  I want some more of those meatballs right now.  We also acted out the nativity, where Dan and I were chosen to be Mary and Joseph for obvious reasons, while my boys were the shepherds. 

We didn't stay too late, but headed home to open pajamas and read "Twas the night before Christmas."  But apparently I didn't take any pictures of those things.

The kids got to bed and we waited for Santa.  I worked hard to have things ready so we wouldn't be up all night wrapping, which was good because it took us long enough just to pull everything out of hiding.

The next morning, things were exciting and chaotic.

We got a new WiiU, and everyone got something to ride on plus one other toy (train, Beyblades, Snap Circuits), plus stockings and clothes.

Then we headed to brunch at my other sister's house and to spend some time with family.

I love Christmas.  I feel like there were things I just missed out on this year as far as our traditions, but I am glad we got to focus on the most important things: family and the birth of our Savior.