Day 1

August 2013

We have two kids in school. TWO! How is that possible!? Jessica started second grade this year and Chandler is in VPK (pre-Kindergarten).  School is such a good thing for Jessica. She loves the routine, her friends, and staying busy learning new things. She has the same teacher as last year, which has been great. Mrs. Jacobson is wonderful at letting the kids act their age, while giving them lots of great opportunities for growth and independence. We'll be sad to have to move on next year.

Chandler also loves school. While I wouldn't call him "shy", Chandler is definitely reserved and isn't one to initiate social situations. This has been a great opportunity for him to get a little bit out of his comfort zone. I have been so happy to see him go up to new friends after school, with a smile on his face, asking if they want to play. He still has some progress to make (like how he should have said something when the kid kept blowing a party horn in his face at a birthday party and he just sat there looking nervous. Ugh. It's so hard to let your kids handle things themselves sometimes), but he is blossoming into a more confident version of himself.

Thoughts on Blogging

I've been doing some thinking lately about what a terrible blogger I am. Don't get me wrong, I have no aspirations to be a blogger to anyone but friends and family about our little simple life. But even that I'm pretty bad at. At best I pop in once a month, upload a bunch of pictures, and call it good. My sister and sisters-in-law are all thoughtful and articulate and relatively consistent with their postings. Me...not so much. I use lots of excuses with myself. And yes, the whole "Mom of four kids at two different schools, Primary President, landlord, (etc, etc)" thing is a lot, it's not like it's really THAT much more than anyone else. I'm sure I deal with much less than a lot of people. It's all about priorities. And since we live forever and a day from most of the family, I feel like maybe I should bump this whole blogging/keeping up with the grandparents thing further up the list. I'll just put off the ironing for another day. Ha! Ok, let's be honest, poor Michael is lucky if I get his stuff ironed twice a month. If we lived closer and saw family more, I'd probably be planning on ditching blogging altogether, but we don't, so I'm not.

So I guess this just means that just maybe you'll see a little more of us on here. But for now you'll have to be happy with pics from 3 1/2 years ago because our main computer is at the Apple doctor and I don't have much on this ancient laptop. This post has been quite exciting to carry out without a well-functioning G, H, V or B on the keyboard. :)

 

I'll be back once we have a well-working computer again. And although I can't promise that I'll be thoughtful, articulate or consistent, hopefully I'll do a little better. :)

 

Danny!

We are so blessed to have this little sweety in our family! He is a good sleeper, a good eater, and he puts up with being ignored. What more could you ask for? Being a mom is hard, but this little guy and his brothers and sister always remind me that it is so worth it and so wonderful.

And of course these little ones are pretty perfect also.

JCBD

We think we have some pretty great kids. While we haven't taken any big trips or vacations this summer, we've stayed busy.

Jessica and Chandler took swim lessons. Jessica got her ears pierced, again (they grew in from last time) and developed a love (obsession?) for Legos. Benjamin turned 2 and loved his dinosaur cake. They all loved the occasional night when we'd let them go to sleep in our bed. It was entertaining to see how they ended up. And of course, they all loved smothering Danny with hugs and kisses.

New Additions

Michael's office got a couple new additions recently. He commissioned a painting from Jessica that he's gotten a lot of compliments about. She's definitely our little artist.

The second addition is worth bragging about. This is proof of our second (and hopefully last) BAR admission! Woo Hoo! We are so proud of Michael and all of the hard work he put in. He's really liking his new job and the fact that he's done with that test. :)

4th of July

I was shocked how few 4th of July parades there are here in Central Florida. But a friend mentioned one in a town nearby. It was fun and short (the best kind) and the kids got WAY too much candy from the floats. That night we joined some friends for BBQ and fireworks.

Grandma and Papa's Visit

A couple weeks after Danny was born, Grandma and Papa came to visit. They went to Downtown Disney, the beach, the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, and LegoLand, as well as just hanging out and playing at home. Daniel was also blessed while they were here. It was great to have them!

Baby Danny!

Daniel Robert Hales

8 lbs 2 oz

Born May 26, 2013 1:24 pm

I was due May 25th, but I have never gone over 39 weeks before, so once the 18th rolled around, I felt like I was overdue.  I did my best to be patient, but I sure did a lot of walking.  :) Starting on Wednesday I was having quite a few contractions, but nothing regular. We almost went in Saturday night, but when they started slowing down again, we decided to try for a night's sleep first. I'm SO grateful for that sleep. When things picked back up Sunday morning we decided it was time to get moving. Michael's co-worker and her husband came over to watch the kids. We sure have some great surrogate grandparents around here. Thanks Debra!

I only felt a few contractions on the 20 minute drive to the hospital and we were both getting worried that they'd send us home. When they hooked me up to the monitors for a few minutes and I felt nothing, I was convinced. The nurse looked at the printout and said, "Oh good, they're coming even closer than 5 minutes apart." Michael and I just looked at each other like, "What?" She checked me and I was almost to a 7! Whew! I guess I don't feel a lot of my contractions. Feel free to hate me.  :)

We checked into our room and they called my midwife, Cathy. She wasn't technically on call, but she came over anyway.  Love her! I feel like I've finally found the right balance for me when it comes to birth. Jessica was born at a huge women's hospital where there were a lot of interventions that I think I would have handled differently now with experience. Chandler was at a super small hospital with an awesome nursing staff. Benjamin was born at a birthing center with a midwife. It was a great experience, but it was also a 45 minute drive with no traffic. We weren't comfortable risking it this time around since I went really fast last time.  We tried another birthing center closer to us, but I just didn't feel comfortable there.  We decided to give the hospital/nurse-midwife thing a try. It feels like the perfect balance to me.

Cathy walked the halls with us. At one point she mentioned that we could break my water in order to speed things up. I knew from experience with Benjamin that once my water breaks things go into hyper-speed and I can no longer claim not to feel many contractions. It gets really painful and I start regretting the whole "natural" thing. I decided to hang onto the slow, less painful, progress for a while longer. Honestly, I was really scared of what I knew was coming. We walked for a while longer and when I was checked again I was to an 8. After Michael and I talked it over, we decided it was probably time to get things going. They broke my water and it didn't take long for things to pick up. After what I think has got to be the most crazy, painful, amazing experience in a women's life, our perfect little Danny was born.

A few hours later, after going into the recovery room, Michael went to get the kiddos. They were so excited! Benjamin would practically scream, "BAY-BEE!" Jessica was a little mommy right from the start. She has trouble sharing Daniel with anyone else. :)

This was Ben's first time holding Danny. It doesn't look it, but he was SO happy and excited about the whole thing. He's a great big brother.

Danny wasn't so sure about his first bath. It was a little colder than he used to. Once he can have a little more water, when his cord falls off, I think he'll be much happier.

We are so glad to have Danny in our family. I have trouble keeping these kids from smothering him. :)