Micah dressing up

There is something about this firefighter helmet that Micah just loves.  He wears it all the time to preschool and around the house whenever he can.  It has been worn so much that it is cracked down the middle but that doesn't stop him from loving it.  Apparently this night, he wanted to wear the helmet with goggles and snow boots. Sure it was mid-May, but why should that make any difference?

Benjamin's baby blessing

Benjamin is baby #5 for us and I still get nervous the day that the baby blessing rolls around.  I wonder if the baby will cry during the blessing, if Guy will remember how to start the blessing, if we will make it to church on time, if all Benjamin's siblings will behave during the meeting, if I've prepped the house enough to have people over, if I will get through the day.  Luckily, I have wonderful family and friends to help me do it all.

By the time we did some pictures, Benjamin was done.  He was hungry and tired.  I wanted to get done with pictures as fast as we could but Elliot and Micah were not exactly cooperating.  They both wanted to stand by mom and kept pushing each other out of the way.  After they made it in a picture or two, they left and I didn't attempt to call them back for any more.  I'm totally fine with that.

Gotta Move 2014

Amelia and Ashley were so excited to dance in the Gotta Move competition. And of course, get another trophy.  Yes, this is really just a participation trophy, but they don't need to know that.  They danced to "When Will My Life Begin" from Tangled.  I was really nervous about Ashley leading the line of dancers out to the floor, but she did a wonderful job.  So proud of my girls.  And remember when I said having a Spring baby would be so wonderful?  Well, that was before I brought a 4 week old baby at a dance competition.  He was a good baby but I was glad when it was all over and we could go home.  The girls got 1st place for their dance!

Trying to get a good shot

I have a new-found appreciation for photographers who take newborn photos.  I have no idea how they can time everything just right to get a happy, sleepy baby who they can position any way they want.  Benjamin was not going for that.

His eyes looked jaundiced for quite a while so I held off for a long time before trying to get a picture for a birth announcement.  After hundreds of pictures, I finally found one that I liked.

Easter Egg Hunt 2014

Once upon a time, I thought it would be so wonderful to have a Spring baby.  I would never be huge pregnant in the dead heat of summer and I wouldn't have to worry about driving through a big snow storm, rushing to the hospital for baby to be born.  After having Benjamin in Spring, I'm having second thoughts.  Spring is so busy!  The snow is melting and all you want to do is be outside.  And then there are all the happenings for the end of the school year.  Busy, busy times.

We had our annual Easter Egg Hunt on April 12th.  Benjamin wasn't quite three weeks old, but how can you disappoint the older kids.  So, off we went.  Benjamin was a wonderful baby and slept for most of the time we were there, and was held by many adoring fans the rest of the time.

Welcome to the World, Little One

Benjamin Daniel was born March 24, 2014 at 12:04 p.m.  He was our littlest baby, weighing 8 lbs. 7 ozs. and measuring 20.5 inches.  Since he was our little breech baby, he loved keeping his legs tucked up close to him.  Due to my C-section, I spent the next 3 days in the hospital recovering.  My wonderful mom spent those days holding down the fort at home.  Getting kids off to school, fixing meals, taking care of the house and bringing all the kids to visit me each night.  She is seriously amazing.  I was also really lucky to have Steve, Tamara and Lara come and visit me.  It helped the days go by much faster.

I was eager to get out of bed as soon as the epidural wore off enough.  There were enough pain killers in my system that nothing really hurt yet.  I wasn't trying to be a C-section hero, but I never took anything other than ibuprofen for pain.  Day 2 wasn't so bad, but I remember day 3 being a little worse.  It hurt to get in and out of bed but once I was up and walking around, things were fine.  The nurses told me that if I walked around enough, I wouldn't have to wear the compression things on my legs to prevent clots, so I tried to get up every couple of hours.

Guy and I had a really tough time deciding on a name for our little one.  Every day, the birth certificate nazi would come in my room and hound me about getting the paper work filled out.  The nurses wanted to hear our short list but remained neutral by telling me that they were all wonderful names.  I would go over my list each day, hoping that something would pop out at me.  Guy really likes Bible and family names.  I'm not a fan of anything too trendy.  Of course, our family and friends were eager to find out what we would call our little one.  Each day, we would cross a few names off the list to try and narrow it down.  Finally, on my last night in the hospital, Guy and I roamed the halls of the maternity ward discussing names.  Guy loved the name Daniel but I did not want to use it for a first name.  So, that became baby's middle name.  Benjamin finally stuck because it was the only thing that we really agreed on.  And, as luck would have it, it is a family name for both us which really made it special.  So, Benjamin Daniel would be his name.  And he would go by Benjamin.  Not Ben or Benny or Benji.  Benjamin.

Benjamin was born on a Monday and I was finally able to leave the hospital on Thursday.  My sweet nurse came in and took out all my staples, about 24 of them, and replaced them with Steri-strips.  Whenever a doctor or nurse would check on my incision, they would comment to me how low it was.  Guess I won't ever have to worry about my scar showing when I'm wearing that bikini.  Getting dressed and ready to go took me a lot longer than I thought it would.  My mom was able to get my whole room packed up while I was getting changed.  My biggest regret was that I didn't heed the advice about wearing loose, comfortable clothing.  I had my maternity jeans, which I had worn home after every other delivery, and thought they would work just fine.  Boy, was I wrong!  They hit right at my incision and I could hardly wait to get home and put on something more comfortable.  I had to ride in a wheel chair out of the hospital and to the curb where Guy was waiting with the car.  I was so glad to finally be on my way home with my new baby.  I was especially grateful to have my mom at home with me to help me relax and recover and get the kids off to school.