March 2014

Camille had a Dr. Seuss day at school. We choose to do her hair like Cindy Lou Who. Everyone seemed to love it, especially Camille. 

I was flipping through a notebook and found this random picture that Jillian drew. It is our friends the Rattray's and us. The way she drew Jeff's hair seriously cracks me up!

We blessed Cecil Pete mid-month. We were so grateful to have both sides of the family come out. 

Jeffs family loves to study and analyse the features of the children. I love to hear about where they think the nose is from or what shape the eyes are.  

We chose to bless Cecil at home. 

We invited a few good friends and of course our family. It was very special. I regret not getting a picture of the whole group. Not pictured is all of my brothers family, Jeff aunts Becky and Judy, his cousin Christina, and Tui's family. 

Uncle Zack was able to come out a day after the blessing. 

The end of the month brought on warmer temps. Coco's poor head would get so sweaty and Jillian's hair has always been stringy so we decided they needed a good chop. Here's some before and after.

The lady that cut Coco's hair did a real hack job.  I mean it was terrible and super uneven. After a few day's Jeff and I decided to take the clippers to it.  

Jillian's turned out adorable.

Later that week Jillian had a singing performance at school and one of her art paintings got selected to be framed and on display in the hall all of next year. 

Jeff has been serving in the Young Men organization at our ward.  They had a camp-out planned and Jeff decided to take the older three kids with him. Once he got out to the camp site at Berry Springs, he realized he was a week early. He decided to camp with the kids anyway. Cecil and I came out the next morning to spend time there. It is a favorite spot for us. 

At the end of the month I enrolled Camille in swimming lessons. She's always been timid around water and with summer around the corner and an extra baby, I needed her to be safe.  She thrived in the lessons but after four times I put her with a friend from the YMCA for private lessons and that's where she really learned her stuff.  I think I'll put the top three in privates next year, it was that good. 

When I was a little girl I really looking up to Marion Jones. I always felt like we were the same and if together, we'd be best friends. We both played basketball and did the same events in track. I had her pictures on my wall and loved watching her in the Olympics.  I was so let down when the truth about her steroid use came out. She's made a few more public bad decisions, but has now changed her live around. She does motivational speaking for young athletes and also coaches.  

I've been working out at the YMCA since we moved to Texas.  A few times I'd see who I thought looked like Marion at the gym.  Finally, she took a complete of the fitness class that I was in and there was no denying who she was.  I got to chat with her and she was so gracious to take a picture with me after we sweat it out for an hour.  I plan on asking her to race me one day but I think that can wait until we become best friends. 

Don't we look like we could be twins? Basically the same person. 

Another season of soccer begun and Jillian moved up to a larger field and is no longer playing co-ed. We have stuck with the same coaches and it seems to be becoming her sport of choice.

Camille is getting a little more interested in the game I think. Although, she says she only likes the practice and not the games. 

And then there's this dude. Still smiling. 

February 2014

It's true what they say, the older I get the faster time goes. The fact that I have a family of 6 blows my mind sometimes. These four are my life.

Cecil Pete has been growing well. It took him awhile to catch onto nursing and he has been my worst sleeper so far. All is forgiven when he looks this cute.

I bought a handful of crafts to keep the girls occupied while I was still healing. This canvas painting was by far the favorite for all of us. They turned out lovely and now hang in their room.

Jeff took the girls to Daddy-Daughter Dance at the YMCA this year. The Disney princesses showed up and the girls had a fabulous time. Jeff said he'll never go back to that dance again. He wasn't happy that the princesses came and took the attention of all the little girls. He wanted the attention of the girls. Next year we'll have to find another dance for them to attend. 

  

I often find pictures of random things on my phone from when the kids are playing with it. I always love to find mini-selfies: 

We always love finding little critters outside. Sometimes they get brought inside. 

Coco has really beautiful curly hair. He gets called a girl a lot though. Jeff and I go back and forth all the time about whether or not to cut it. I does get a little crazy looking sometimes.  

If you can make eye contact with this little baby you are rewarded with this:

My brother Scott lives in Michigan and I only get to see him every other year. Scott is in Residency to become an Ophthalmologist and had a class for the month in Houston. He stayed at my other brother Jeff's home but came out to Austin for a weekend to see us. The girls loved spending time with him and I really enjoyed catching up. I know I say this all the time, but I really really wish I lived closer to all my family. 

Camille lost her first tooth. I'm becoming more squeamish as I get older. I almost couldn't pull it out. 

When there is crazy weather the girls have in door recess.  Jillian loves it because she gets free time to be creative. she made this monogram headband one day and wore it for days after. 

Cecil Pete never minded tummy time too much. His old man hair always cracked me up. 

January 2014

With the beginning of the new year and my pregnancy drawing to a close I tried to spend a lot of quality time with these three.  They would always accompany me on my walks and copy me when I'd "curb-walk". I've curb-walked with all my pregnancy's. I don't remember who told me this, but I heard (while I was pregnant with Jillian) that if I went on walks with one foot in the road and one foot on the curb it would help my baby drop and my hips open, thus helping my body progress to birthing a baby. Who knows if it really works, but I keep doing it no matter how ridiculous I must look. I couldn't believe that this three was soon to be four. 

My mom was able to come out to Texas a week before my due date. I went in for my 39 week appt on the 16th. I had Dr Anger strip my membranes and then I came home and went about the day with my mom. I was trying to make sure she knew the schedule for the kids and the routes to all their activities. I awoke the morning of the 17th knowing my water broke. I didn't have a large gush of water but a slow steady leak. I told Jeff to go to work but keep his phone with him. My mom and I started raking the leaves in the backyard in hopes it would help start labor. After a few hours I decided to go into the dr.'s office just to see if my water had really broke. Sure enough toady was going to be the day.  They told me to go directly across the street to the hospital. Instead of doing that I went home, finished packing my bags, kissed and cuddled Coco, and called Jeff.  The party was about to start.  

I got to the hospital around 11:30.  Janice was working there and was able to come visit during her lunch break. My contractions were really irregular, and I was planning on going natural so I asked to walk the halls. My nurse was not liking that idea. She was nervous because I've had so many babies things might move too quickly for me to get back into the room etc. I made her call my dr and get permission. So I walked the halls a few times and did some squats. Nothing steady was happening. Jeff came and then the Rattray's and my mom brought the other kids. I really feel lucky to have had such great support. My entourage really made me feel loved. We were all dying to know if the baby was a girl or a boy. 

In the meantime, Jeff had to grab a picture of Dr. Anger and Coco. Coco was Dr. Anger's "first patient" delivery as a bone-a-fide Dr. She looks 12 because she probably isn't much older but we trust her.  

After several hours and slow progress, I consented to have some pitocin to get things moving as my water had been broken for about 12 hours. Dr. Anger went home and wasn't on call the evening but told my nurse to call her cell phone because she wanted to be the one to deliver my baby. I called my dear friend Kristen over to snap some birth shots. It was so nice to have her there. She wanted to be a fly on the wall, but I actually really enjoyed having her more present. Her conversation with Jeff was a welcome distraction while laboring.

When I was 7.5 cm dilated, and the contractions were coming fast and hard, I decided (with much persuasion from Jeff) to get an epidural. I actually hate getting epidurals. I feel out of control with my body and it makes me even more emotional. The idea of no or less pain was over riding at this point though. 

Right after I received the epidural they wanted to rupture my membranes more. I was still feeling all the pain but was assured the epidural would kick in soon. As they popped my water, the nurses were surprised when I still had full function of my body. After 45mins and no relief at all the anesthesiologist came back. At this point I was a 9 and feeling everything. I was tearful and throwing up and just a mess. Jeff was concerned and getting starting to feel upset with the drs and nurses. The nurse kept putting a mask on me because the baby's heart rate would drop a lot during the contractions, then I'd pull it off to throw-up. It wasn't pretty. 

After my second bolus of epidural medication they had me roll to my right side and I had immediate relief but also immediate need to push. The nurse checked me and it was go time. Apparently the nurse couldn't figure out how to get a hold of Dr. Anger and was running around trying to set the room up, all the while I'm feeling urges to push.

Once, Dr. Anger got there and checked me, she was visibly upset at the nurse and began hustling to get the baby out. The baby was in a bit of distress because it had be in the birth canal for a long time. After I pushed twice she hollered for the vacuum. When I heard that, I was determined to get this baby out of me! I more hard, long push and I was done!! It was 6:24 pm. and we had a new baby BOY!!

He was 8lbs 4 ounces and 20 inches long.

 We were in awe.

When the other children came, they couldn't look at him enough. Each took turns holding him and kissing him and also showing concern for me. I really believe that giving children a sibling is a blessing in their lives.

He was perfect. Now came the hard part, giving him a name. 

I was vying for Pete or Marc, both names from my father's family. Jeff was vying for Cecil. We decided on Cecil Pete. It fits.

When I came home from the hospital the kids passed him around and we all couldn't get enough. 

My mom was a champ while I was recovering. She cleaned and did laundry and carted the kids all over the place. She even took them to the circus with the Rattrays. In the down time she loved to hold the baby.

I know they say that when a baby smiles it's just gas. I don't believe that for one second. Cecil Pete smiles all the time and he's not always gassy.

My visiting teaching partner has become a good friend and she took new-born pics as a gift. This was her first time and she did great. I could just stare at my baby all day long. 

Winter weather here can be crazy. I let the girls jump with the sprinkler on one day,

or we'd take the baby to the park.

Then, there would be days like this. "Snow" (really ice) everywhere and school cancelled for several days because of hazardous driving conditions.  

Our January kept getting better. On the 26th Coco turned 2.

He must have known it was his special day. We was just so sweet and smiley all day. The girls dotted on him and spoiled him. He is really a great addition to our family. He has come to really really love cars and trucks. We often go outside to see the garbage truck as it makes him so happy to see BIG trucks. He's a smart little dude too. He can identify all the letters and most of the numbers up to 10. He's a bit of a scaredy cat and doesn't love to go down slides or be pushed too hard in the swings. He seems to be super strong though with a lot of muscles for his age. We always get comment's from others who pick him up about how "solid" he is. (I'm still not sure if they are just saying he's chubby but trying to be nice. Ha.) He still flexes and has "mini-seizures" when he's excited. He loves to tag along with his sisters and always needs mom close by. I feel so happy to have him.

We had the Rattray's over for cake and presents. Then we did the traditional balloon launch. I was nervous that he'd be upset by letting balloons go, but I was wrong. He loved watching them.

He got a balance bike from us and loved being pushed around on it.

side-note: I actually can't find his 2 year stats but he was around 93% for height and 97% for weight. His dr. used a formula to figure out how tall he'll be as an adult, and it predicted 6'1.  We are happy that he'll hopefully have a little height, but really just hope he'll continue to be healthy.