The kids have been Elfed again this year!

The kids had a blast elfing themselves again. Downside was when it says JibJab, Luke thinks it was saying Shut up so he would yell SHUT UP at the computer lol!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/vB6iaybC1vD5BSLQ


http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/NY7nJEu886uDqdAT


http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/3kyPPbkSXSVloLbC

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/JC3NpSFlnRzbjyirSEHh

I'm not very good with keeping this up to date! I'm always on facebook and that seems to be my update lol. Things are going well. We still haven't sold the house and seriously considering an addition. We're keeping the house up till March and in the meantime looking into what we need for the addition. I wanted to avoid this stress but I guess Heavenly Father has other plans for us. We love the area so I guess it will be worth it. I hope it will be anyway!

Jake and Tyee are loving school and they are doing awesome!! Both teachers say they are above average and Tyee's teacher was surprised I thought about holding him back because of his late birthday, she said he is so ready and ahead of the game! I'm so glad we decided to send him to kindergarten! Now if we can just get him to behave on the bus! He's had 3 strikes now and is separated from the boy he was sitting with and getting into trouble with so... so far he's been behaving. The last issue was him and the boy scratching each other's face... FOR FUN! Thing is I can totally see Tyee doing this and thinking, "what did we do wrong? We were just having fun!" Silly boy! He does know now that its behavior that will not be tolerated.

Luke is getting so big! He's been such a fun toddler! He adores Piper to pieces! He can not get enough of her! He gets a boo boo and it's a kiss from Piper is what he wants. It's precious!!

Piper is getting so big too! At her 6 month check up she was 17lb 8oz. Funny thing is she's actually my smallest! lol. I make good milk! She's been such a good baby! I have been so blessed! (I admit I'm gearing up for her toddler years though!)

So that's about it! Busy with school and everyday life!

Has it been that long???

So we've had a busy summer, doing what? Not sure really just keeping busy doing fun stuff. Going to the park, to the shore, playing outside. It seems everyone is enjoying their summer! Jason had off this week for vacation and the kids really have enjoyed daddy being home. We ended up not doing all the fun things we had planned but we did go to the shore and go to Crystal Cave (still haven't downloaded those pics) Jake and Tyee ran right into the ocean! They love the shore! Luke on the other hand ... it took him till the end of the second trip to actually get in and not cry. His cousin Katelynn brought him in and got him to fall in love with the water! Funny thing is he LOVES the water, but I think the waves were intimidating... Don't blame him!!

So we have decided to send Tyee to kindergarten this year. We do feel he is ready. He has a late birthday but just makes the cut off date and we thought because he was so young starting, that maybe he needed more time to grow, but after much thought we decided he is ready and holding him back would hold him back in learning. He is eager to learn and has been learning quickly! He's nervous but getting excited! I can't believe I will have 2 in full day school! It's going to be quiet around my house this year! Though I am looking forward to some time with just Luke and Piper. We're going to work on getting into a routine. I'm not much of a scheduler so hopefully we get into one once the older boys are in school. Luke will be attending story time at the library, I'm sure he will enjoy that! Jake and Tyee will be doing soccer this fall, Tyee is more excited about it than Jake, but I know it will grow on Jake. When Jake did it in prek, he had an awful coach so I think that really made an impact on him. Hopefully this year he'll get someone that lets the kids be kids and enjoy practice and games. Piper is growing so fast! She still wakes up once a night but nurses right back to sleep. She's a great napper during the day as well. We've thought about getting her into the crib as Luke has decided he's a big boy now and sleeps in the bottom bunk of the boys beds. But it's just so much easier to have Piper in our room! Why mess something up that works great!

As for our house it's still up on the market. We've had lots of people come look at it the last 2 wks or so and everyone has said they like the house, some say too small but we did have 2 that really liked the house enough to consider putting an offer in on the house, but nothing yet. We're still hoping soon, hopefully soon someone will love our house enough to put an offer on it!

So here are some pics from the begining of the summer or middle of the summer.

Yes, he's walking down the slide lol

Silly Tyee

She was not happy, but I love this dress!

Jake put Piper to sleep then Jake and Tyee fell asleep too

Luke loves looking for Piper and always making sure she knows he loves her

Interview with the Monsters

1. What is something I always say to you?

J: LUKE I mean JAAKKKE

T: Tyee help Piper

2. What makes me happy?

J: whenever I tell you I never lie to you

T: helping you

3 what makes me sad?

J: when I don't listen

T: when I don't do good things

4. How do I make you laugh?

J: when you make funny faces

T: you tickle my belly

5. what do you think I was like as a kid?

J: 8, you liked Zelda

T: a girl, played dollies

6. how old am I?

J: you have to tell us how high we can go... 13

T: 61

7. How tall am I?

J: 13 inches

T: 90 ft

8. What is my favorite thing to do?

J: play with me

T: play with Piper

9. What do i do when your not around?

J: go on the computer and hang out at home

T: hang out on the computer

10. what am I really good at?

J: helping us

T: playing Super Mario Brothers

11. what am I not really good at?

J: cleaning up

T: playing Zelda

12. what is my job?

J: playing on the computer and being a mom

T: clean up and being a mom

13. what is my favorite food?

J: watermelon

T: lukey bear soup

14. what makes me proud of you?

J: cleaning up

T: cleaning up

15. what something you and I play together?

J: the animal game

T: you and me playing "bow chicka wow wow" (he's obviously getting bored lol)

16. How are we the same?

J: we both have the same hair

T: we both have hair

17. How are we different?

J: we don't like the same animals

T: we dont like the same animals

18. If I were a cartoon character, who would I be?

J: the princess from Zelda

T: spiderlady

19. How do you know I love you?

J: cuz you treat me good

T: i dont know because we have hair

20. Where is my favorite place?

J: a type of resturant.. maybe Chatterbox.

T: at Land of Make Believe

Bad Luck?

I swear, if it weren't for bad luck we wouldn't have any luck at all. At least that's how I've been feeling lately. Still trying to sell the house... still no luck. Found a leak in the ceiling, our water pump is acting funny. Just feeling like everything is falling apart on us. We've lowered our price on our house in hopes to get people in here, and we succeeded in that, but it's always too small for them. I'm not sure what they think when they see the price and pictures with room measurements, what do they expect?? I'm not really sure what more we can do. I guess continue to have faith that it will work out.

Other than that things are going well. Piper is getting so big! She's been smiling up a storm! Schools out this Thursday the 18th and I guess we're in for a wet summer this year. Looks like we'll be spending alot of time at home inside this summer. We're planning a trip in Aug. I think we may go to Mysitic Seaport in CT. Possibly taking the kids whale watching and the aquairium. We may also go to Hershey Park. And for sure going to the shore this year! We haven't made it down there in a couple years and I miss the shore! Hopefully we'll have some dry days to be able to do that.

Just a bunch of pictures!

Jake just looked like a big boy that day. I couldn't believe I was sending my 6 yr old off to school.... yeah I know it was May hehe

The kids with their Build A Bears. Piper is actually wearing her bunny's outfit haha
She didn't get a coming home outfit since she was already home but this one is my favorite!

Tyee LOVES snuggling up with her!

Jason lost his ring almost the next day!!

I just love this pic!

Luke has decided he is a big boy now and can get his won cups! Hope he takes alot longer to figure out how to pour it! ahhhhh!!

So far I think this is the most baby acne she has gotten and it might have actually been that she grabbed her face and pinched herself to make those marks.

One of our first family pictures! The actual first was right after giving birth and I hate the way I look!

He just ADORES her!! He is always saying me me me! to hold her.

Just some outfits that I had to make sure I got pics of since we most likely wont be using them again :(

Well that's all the pics for today. I wanted to get some up of the birth... not graphic ones just ones that I thought were cool or special but it's late so I'll try that another night!

My home waterbirth

Well as most know we named our little girl Piper Jo Hanna. She's still absolutely perfect! 16 days after she was born she now weighs 8lb 2oz! So she's definitly growing!

The boys still love having her around! It's been so much fun watching them with her. They love her! She fits right in!

I'm doing very good! I think this has been my best recovery yet... well Tyee's recovery was perfect too, but it was nice to be home the whole time. I've written Piper's birth story so figured I would share it. So here it is.

I was having cramps starting on the Friday before she was born. They lasted all weekend and on Easter Sunday I actually thought I was going to have the baby by the next morning. Contractions were at one point 3 mins apart lasting at least a min long. But then they completely stopped. Still had cramping on Monday, some on Tuesday and Wed I had an appointment with Roxie, mostly just to check me to see if I had dilated and check the position of the baby because I was having alot of anxity about baby getting into position. I was 2 1/2cm, 50%, -2 station and she asked if I wanted her to strip my membranes. After a few days of cramping and on and off contractions I said yes. Boy did that hurt!! I had it done with Luke but it didn't hurt like this did and I told Roxie that too lol. So Thursday April 16th, Jason had to get up early for work because he had to drive to Fairview for some training (of course making me nervous that I would need to call him during that time and here he would be over an hour away) So he left for work and a couple hours later the boys climbed into bed with me. I got up to go to the bathroom and lost my plug. First time ever that I even noticed that I lost my plug! I was having contractions but were very mild, I could talk through them, walk, deal with the kids, yada, yada, yada. So I took all the boys to the dr so Jake could get his allergy shots. While there the pedi was asking if I was still having ahomebirth and that the hospital was a good place as well and asked if Roxie was going to be there and asked my due date. He's all for natural births, loves the idea of waterbirths and loves Roxie, but because homebirths are not very popular and he's had to rush in several times for emergencies of course he was skeptical and worried about homebirths. So after the dr's we went to my sisters, the kids played outside, we had lunch, and I was still having contractions so I decided to go home as my mil was coming up for dinner that evening with her sister and sister's husband (visiting from Tenn.). Got home cleaned the house (sorta), cleaned the bathroom, and still having contractions. They arrived and I told them right away I was having some mild contractions and apoligized for all the toys on the floor, I was not about to bend over and pick them up lol. Jason finally got home and I told him I thought we would be sending them home shortly after dinner and that's what happened. At 7pm they left, then called back to say there was a house fire down the street, Jason started getting the tub ready and I texted my midwives and my sister and they started heading up. My contractions were 3-5mins apart and 50 sec long but were turning into steady 3 mins apart 1 min long. I was nervous about them not making it so I didn't do much but sit on the couch. I didn't want to make my labor any shorter then it seemed like it was going to be. The boys were terrific while I was in labor. Jake and Tyee would come over and want a hug but if I was having a contraction they backed off and waited, then would ask if I was having the baby lol, I told them yes tonight she was coming! They were sooo excited! I wanted sooo bad to get in the tub but I was fearful of it making my labor progress rapidly, I declined. Jason had the boys put on jammies, then the back labor started, that was horrible! Jason rubbed my back for a good hour staight! At one point I got up to kneel on the floor and lean on the chair, I was feeling pressure but I tried my hardest not to push. Jason continued to rub my back and Jake came over with the flashlight and shown it down low and said "mom I'm making sure she comes head first for you." lol, very innocently. (that goes back to when she flipped breech, the boys thought it was fun to shine the flashlight on my lower belly ) So in the mean time they were all heading up. Of course they were all busy so they had to get their backups in order or get kids. So by the time they actually started showing up and were able to get through the house fire mess it was 8:30pm. Teresa was the first to show up with Mercedes, then Roxie 10 mins later, then Judy about 10 mins after Roxie. I was getting nervous because I could feel pressure before anyone was here. When they did arrive Roxie checked me, I was 10 cm!! I asked if I could get in the tub, but they wanted to make sure they could get the heplock in first so as soon as they saw blood they could start me up on pit. (as I'm prone to hemorraging) Finally got in the tub at 9pm. It felt soooo nice and relaxing, I wished I had gotten in sooner! Pretty much right away started pushing. I could feel her coming down, then go back up. And it seemed to keep happening with a few small pushes. During one contraction her head was right there, so I put my hand there and didn't feel a head, it was her membranes. That was such a weird feeling because I had expected to feel her hair. I pushed her head out and Roxie told me to just let it stretch, then the next contraction she told me to push, I said I can't but next thing you know I felt her body exit me and the water break as she slid out at 9:09pm. She was pretty blue and had the cord wrapped around her shoulder and I think because of that there may have been a little tug on the placenta that made a gush of blood come right away. So they shot me in the butt with pit. or that methajone stuff. I just sat and held her in the water, she definitly was a girl! and as much as I wanted to delay cord cutting alittle longer, they were concerned about the bleeding so I let them clamp (it was still at least 2 mins after so it was still somewhat delayed) Jake came over and cut the cord. You could tell he was sooo proud to get to do it! Judy took the baby while Roxie helped me out of the tub into my bed, I delivered the placenta and she massaged my uterus. Judy came in and gave me more methajone (sp?) and pit so I was cramping pretty bad with that, but no hemorraging!! I tried to nurse her but it was hard, she didn't want to latch right then and I was in so much pain, so after the massaging (which was at least 10-15mins) I nursed her and she latched right away. While I was being massaged, Jason weighed her, she was 7lb 2oz, 20 inches and just perfect! And I didn't tear!!The midwives and Jason cleaned the tub and everything and the house was back to normal in an hour. I just layed in bed holding and nursing my new little one. Who still didn't have a name lol. When everyone left by 1am, the house was quiet, the boys were sleeping, Jason was sleeping, the baby was sleeping and I was up almost all night cramping! I made sure to take motrin with the methwhatever pills after that! Later that day we decided to name her Piper Jo Hanna.
I couldn't have asked for it to go any better!! It was an amazing homebirth! The 2 reason's I'm glad I had my first 3 in the natural childbirth friendly hospital was because 1- Roxie didn't do homebirths then and 2- I hemorraged badly with Jake, with Tyee they were still trying to figure out what helped me to stop hemorraging and by Luke they had it down pat! I would have loved to be able to sit in the tub after giving birth and just hold her in the water for a few moments, but I guess that's where my situation is unique and even if we decide to have more, I'll probably have the same issues and will never get to experience that part of birth. But overall I was very happy about having my homebirth and feel completely blessed to have 4 beautiful children and 4 wonderful waterbirths! I couldn't ask for anything more! I am soooo blessed!

She's here!!

She was born last night on April 16th, at 9:09pm. She weighed 7lb 2 oz (we think) the midwife says she usually takes 1/2 lb off, not sure why but that would make her 6lb 10oz. I personally think she's closer to 7lb. Anyway it was an awesome homebirth!! Jason caught her, she was still in the bag, it broke as her body was coming out and Jake cut the cord, YES JAKE!! He's such a trooper! He was super excited about it. The boys were amazing during the birth! And they keep saying how cute their little sister is! Now for a name... Well her middle name is Jo Hanna, I'll get back to you when we figure out her first name!

Am I really 39 wks?!?

So I guess it depends on what due date you go by, I could be 39wks 1dy, or 39wks or almost 39 wks lol. Anyway, I don't have much further!!! I can't believe it!! It's kinda bitter sweet, I can't wait to meet this little person that's been giving me such stress yet been so gentle on me this pregnancy and this is my last pregnancy, I know I'm going to miss her moving around inside my belly. I feel so much better tonight after talking to my midwife. the baby has been kinda floating around some and I just get nervous that she's not going to get into position correctly and just make labor so much harder. The boys were in position and no worries about them moving out at 18 wks and I knew things were moving along even at 36 wks. So this little one has sorta thrown me for a few loops. I almost thought we were going to have an Easter baby. I started getting cramps on Friday night that lasted all day Sat. with mild contractions then Sunday they were becoming more intense and consistent. At one point they were 3 mins apart and 1 min long! I had contacted my midwife to let her know and sure enough they started spacing out and becoming mild. Still was dealing with it all day on Monday and then Tuesday they pretty much stopped. So my midwife told me I could come in tonight (wed) and she would check me and see the baby's position. And YAY she's exactly where she needs to be, 50% effaced, 2 1/2cm maybe almost 3, and -2 station. Can't tell you how relieved I was to know she was in position. I've been stressing so much about that! I don't care if I go to 40 wks I just wanted to be sure she was ready. My midwife told me she does not think she will be moving out of the pelvis and that was what I was worried about. Ahhh the stress is gone. Now I'm crampy and having contractions again. I don't think it will be too much longer but who knows! she fooled me on Sunday!

Oh and I've been losing weight. so far this pregnancy I've only gained 16lbs! Well it was up to 20 then apparently I lost a few. Not sure how that happened but I actually weigh less now than I did at the end of Luke's pregnancy!

38 weeks tomorrow!!

Wow I'll be 38 wks tomorrow! That's only 2 weeks till I'm 40 wks! I can't believe it!! I went early with all the boys, Jake 6 dys early, Tyee 7 dys early and Luke 8 dys early. So if I follow pattern I could be holding my little girl next Sunday! I personally think her actual due date is closer to April 25-26 not the 21st, but what's a few days anyway lol. I think we're all prepared. Since I don't have a room to set up or a crib all we've really had to do is wash clothes and put them in the dresser. We've done that, although haven't taken tags off the new clothes just washed the hand-me-downs we got from Tina and my sister-in-law Heather.... just in case she is actually a HE! Although I'm really feeling like it is a girl and have for quite some time so I'm sure she is ;) I've done alot of cooking and preparing for meals for after the baby is born. I think I just about bankrupt us just getting food prepared for afterwards lol. But I seriously won't have to cook for WEEKS! And any shopping from now on out is basically for milk and bread and produce so I'm feeling VERY prepared in that department. I have 4 trays of baked ziti, 2 big trays of lazana, chopped chicken ready for different meals, ground turkey with onions precooked and frozen for different meals, enchilada pie filling, mexican cornbread filling, .... I think that's it. But Tina has already stocked us up with lots of frozen veggies and little pizzas and such and Teresa and Mercedes want to make a few meals for us to freeze as well. Then not to mention the couple of people from church that most likely will be making us dinner ... I definitly won't be doing real cooking for weeks!!! At least!! Good thing we have a huge freezer!

So Jason and I found a big house, new construction, not finished but livable, that went under forecloser that we think we can almost afford. I told Jason if we were able to get this house it would be a lifetime of finishing it and furnishing it lol. It's a 5 bedrm, 2 1/2 bath, full basement, 3 car garage, office, wrap around porch, more rooms on the first level that we have no idea what we could do with them! It really is sad to see this beautiful home that the previous owners were not able to finish. I'm sure it won't stay on the market for long, if we had our house sold we'd definitly put a bid on the house and work our butts off finishing the house. We did have an open house on Sat. and there was a couple that came through and they said they did like the house, but no offers yet. We are also waiting on a single mother with 2 children to take a look at our house when she comes to visit from Fl. Of course she's coming when the baby is due so I'm kinda hoping she makes her arrival before the lady comes.

That's really all that's been going on lately. Of course besides the normal everyday stuff with the boys and school and Jake starting T-ball. They are getting more and more excited about their sister coming. They will actually be attending the birth (they have for each birth) Jake is looking forward to cutting the cord. He's such a trooper. We've talked alot about birth and some of the amazing things and some of the gross things so I think he's prepared, he remembers Luke's birth so I know he'll be great. Tyee is the type that is pretty good about it all. We watched some births on YouTube, decent ones, and they really were amazed and thought it was so neat and I think helped them tons to look more forward to seeing their sister be born. (don't worry I'm a very quiet woman in labor so there's no screaming and yelling, I might say it hurts but the boys are also aware that it will hurt mommy but it will be ok) I'm so proud of them! I think it goes to show that children can handle more than we think they can, they are strong people, we just don't give them enough credit. So that's about it! I think I'm ready for this little one but then again, are we ever truely ready!! LOL