easter

Here's a few pictures of the eggs we decorated

(I know, I know. Super bad picture taking skills. I opened the curtains to let in sunlight while we were decorating and didn't think to close them for pictures, or at least position myself differently. Someday I'm going to pay better attention to the pictures I take.)

 I did find lots of new fun ways to decorate the eggs and the boys loved it. Tie Dye. Sprinkling crayon shavings. Using rubber bands to keep white stripes.

I didn't get many of them actually searching for eggs but I did get this one of Trey doing exactly what I thought he'd do. He found about 6 eggs and then promptly sat down to eat the candy, not caring that there were more eggs to find. 

For some annoying reason I can't get my pictures to turn anymore. I blame the photo program on our new laptop. But I had to include one of Brock. 

My handsome boys in their Easter best

 Can you tell he had a mouth full of Easter candy? I didn't until now. (I would've made him spit it out. :)

I can't believe this big group of boys is my family! On Saturday we went out to run a few errands and I could not believe how big of a family we are. I seriously felt like we looked like a zoo. :) 

Good thing they're all so good looking.

Don't you just love the matching ties I found for them? I do!!

the arrival of Brock

My due date was Monday April 11th. That day came and went with no excitement or contractions - unless I was walking briskly. But as soon as I stopped walking, the contractions stopped.

I was trying to hard to be patient because I really disliked being induced with Peyton. With Cole and Trey, I was in the hospital less than 2 hours before having them. With Peyton it was more like 7 hours. I was stuck in bed, could only 'eat' ice and suckers, couldn't get up to go to the restroom. I pretty much call it torture.

But after my due date came and went, I couldn't be patient any longer. I called to schedule the induction and apparently it is very busy season and the best they could go was put me on the waiting list for Thursday. That actually was alright with me because I thought that Brock would decide to arrive on his own before then. But no, he proved me wrong.

The hospital called Wednesday night to say that they'd be calling me anytime between 10 and 2 on Thursday so to eat a small breakfast and just wait. Seth stayed home from work because the nurse sounded confident we'd get in during that time. They didn't call til 3. So pretty much a full day of torture.

They finally started the pitocin and broke my water around 4:30. Absolutely nothing was happening. I arrived at the hospital already dialated to a 3 and by 9 that night I was a 4.

Seth was finally remembering why I kept telling him I didn't want to be induced.

Eventually, and with just one push, Brock was born.

At 11:49 p.m. on April 14th. (Just barely avoided having to share his birthday with Tax Day.) He was 7 lbs 11 oz. 20.5 inches.

One thing that I thought was really cool was Skin-to-Skin contact right after birth. I had never heard of that before. They put him on my chest right after he was born and it was amazing. He just kind of melted on me. :) But I did start to get worried because he wasn't crying or anything. A nurse was right by him the whole time and didn't seem concerned but I thought maybe he wasn't breathing or something because don't all babies scream and cry right after birth? But as soon as they took him off of me, the crying began. It was actually pretty cool.

Definitely not a cute picture but I still had to include it. Makes me laugh.

 It took Trey a few days to even acknowledge Brock.

My Basketball Team!

See? Trey is only interested in the stuffed animal he picked out for Brock.

Waiting in the hospital for dad and brothers to come pick us up

First car ride

 At home with dad



So far Brock has been by far our best baby! His first night home he went 5 hours between feedings! (I still woke up plenty of times to check on him but I was not about to wake a sleeping baby - something I totally did with Easton. Call me crazy.) Although he has yet to go that long again, he still is sleeping so good. He wakes, eats and goes back to sleep.

We are all so in love with this perfect little boy!

Wood You Like to Craft - Candlestick Rabbits

First of all let me say I SO wish this post was announcing the birth of our new baby. But alas, here it is only one day from my due date and still no baby. It really doesn't seem fair that I still have to go all the way to my due date (or later! GRR!) with my 5th baby. I guess since this is my last pregnancy, I should just enjoy it, right? Yeah right! I've been 'enjoying' it for 9 months now. This is ridiculous!!

Last month (although it seems like yesterday) I made the "No Soliciting" sign for the craft group "Wood You Like to Craft?". I don't think I did a very good job explaining it all, so here's a little about it from their site -

"Wood you like to Craft? is a bloggers craft group.  We have gathered four fun blogs that have a love for wood crafts.  Each month we will be creating one project selected by the "host."  Then each of the other bloggers will take a turn showing their variation of the same craft."

I love it because as much as I dream about being able to sew, it's still so intimidating to me, and wood, paint, and tools are tons of fun to work with and there's so many ways to change things up a little. Plus it actually motivates me to make things. I have a list a mile long of all the crafts I'd like to make someday, but this forces me to get it done. And I love that!!

This post shows the fabulous original plus the variations all the others made. You really should take a quick peak. It's amazing what they all did!

Here's what I came up with. It was a lot cuter in my mind but I'm still pretty proud of it. ;)

Easter Bunny with Eggs

Didn't realize when I was making them that my piano would now be covered in candlesticks... I think I have some rearranging/new decorations to come up with.

Maybe one day I'll learn how to take good pictures. You know with the right lighting, angles, etc. Until then. Oh well. 

waiting...

My due date is less than 4 days away and.... nothing seems to be happening. UGH! I guess I just must be too comfortable inside because none (except Cole) have come more than 2 days early. What stinkers! I keep thinking if I plan something specific to do, the baby will decide to come and ruin my plans - cause isn't that what babies are good at. ;)

Friday we went to a hockey game. Carrying Peyton for a little while gave me painful contractions but I just couldn't carry him that long to keep it up.

Saturday I went on a date with Cole to see Riverdance. It surprised me how much I enjoyed it. And Cole did too. Although after the first performance (of like 20!), I asked him how he liked it and he said "It was cool. The guy in the white was my favorite!" I said, "Cool. He'll probably be in a lot more of them." To which he responded "What!? It's not over?" :)

Monday I met one of my best friends and her kids for lunch and to pick out fabric for her to make me a bag. (Which I'm so excited about! :) She is an amazing sewer (or is it seamstress?), crafter, blogger, friend, mom, and example. And it was so fun to see her!!

Tuesday Seth and I went to the temple and did sealings. So glad the baby decided to at least wait for that. It was an amazing experience.

Wednesday the boys and I took a tour of a candy factory. It wasn't quite as kid friendly as I was anticipating - I don't think the boys listened to a word the tour guide said or even realized she was talking. However, they were still very interested in all the machinery and candy samples :), very well behaved and looked so dang cute in the hair nets. ;) You can't take cameras inside the tour and you throw away the hair nets at the end of the tour so I couldn't take a picture. But to give you an idea- Cole told Easton he looked like Rumplestiltskin and Easton told Cole he looked like George Washington. So just envision that. :)

We also did a lot of cleaning, so if this baby wants to come home to a clean house he better come quick! I also finally got out the baby clothes and washed and put them away. As well as his car seat. I am definitely ready for this little guy to come!

Today I am going to vacuum the van, play games then watch a movie with the boys (at home, because I'm sure I'll fall asleep) and make some Easter or Spring decorations. 

So there's an update on my waiting game... I'd appreciate any good baby vibes you could send my way. :) 

april fool's!

Late last night I suddenly remembered it was April Fool's Day. Previous years (2010 & 2009) I've done fun stuff for my boys for either breakfast or dinner but this was all my exhausted body and mind could think of at 11 last night.  (You should've seen my poor swollen feet/legs after standing forever to trim, wrap and freeze 40 pounds of chicken. Ugh! But at least I got a fantastic deal on it and won't be buying chicken for a very long time. :)

We already have plans to go out tonight so I decided I'd give the boys breakfast in crazy dishes and utensils. When they asked what was going on, I just told them I was getting breakfast ready. It took a while for them to figure out it was for April Fool's - but eventually they did.

Froot Loops with a huge bowl and spoon

Pancakes on a cookie sheet with a huge fork

Yogurt with a baby spoon

  (And I also gave them bananas that I had cut through the skin with a toothpick, so when they peeled them they fell apart in big chunks - they didn't think that was a 'trick', only that I was magic. :)

I also made them rotate every two minutes so they could try everything and they thought that was extra cool too. I even got "this is the best breakfast ever!".

Later that morning I was taking a 'before' picture of a frame that I bought at the DI that I'm hoping to try and make beautiful and as soon as Trey saw the camera he stood in front of me and said "cheese! cheese! cheese!"



Happy April Fool's!!