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. :)

Best Mother's Day EVER!

I got the greatest gift for Mother's Day. This:

I am such a lucky lady to have these people in my life!

Picture Overload!

Sometimes it's easy for me to forget that not everyone sees when Michael or I post pictures on Facebook or use that to give updates about our family.  So for all those that aren't connected that way, here's what we've been up to.  But since I don't use my blog as a form of scrapbooking, my motivation level for staying caught up keeps getting lower and lower. :)

Get ready for major picture overload.

I love these cute boys. Just thought I'd let ya know.

In September Michael had a hearing up near Atlanta, GA. I love when we get to tag along. We visited my aunt and uncle and then went to the Coca-Cola museum and the Olympic Park. Lots of fun. These kids were just amazed by the concept of all you could drink soda. 

This year some friends and I decided to do a little preschool for our 3 year olds. We even took a field trip to a local fire station. Jessica was so glad that we decided to go on a day she was off school.

End of last year were the months of trips. Michael's former job was coming to an end (hooray!) and he had a lot of unused airline credit that was about to expire. So he whisked the kiddos off on some pretty cool father-son/daddy-daughter dates. First Benjamin got to experience true cold when they went to Utah for General Conference and a BYU football game. Fun!

Next was Jessica's turn. She got to go with Michael to New York and see Niagra Falls as well as LDS Church history sights in Palmyra, including the Sacred Grove.

Lastly it was Chandler's turn. They actually didn't fly anywhere. They went with a group of friends up to Atlanta for the Atlanta Aquarium, lunch at The Varsity, and more BYU football.

(Best babysitter EVER!)

Benjamin's face here is just too funny not to share.

Fun with dry ice.

Halloween!

Beach days are the best!

 The kids wanted elf costumes. Yep, I have some amazing skills. :)

Chandler helped as we looked for the perfect Christmas tree.

Jessica was Michael's side-kick in hanging lights outside.

Thanksgiving!!

Happy birthday to me! I think I'm the only one in the family that gets a store-bought cake since it's the only birthday I'm not in charge of getting it. :)

Decorating Christmas cookies.

A good friend made our family some amazing nativity costumes! The kids thought this would be a great activity Christmas Eve night.

 And look who lost her first tooth! Woo Hoo!

Christmas morning! These kiddos have been little jumping beans ever since they discovered this out back (and yes, it has the net on now).

Another view of baby #4 - A BOY!!

3 handsome boys before church.

Benjamin's face kills me!

 The girls.

A rare photo - Michael and I together.  Jessica is turning out to be a pretty good photographer.

Our little dare-devil was SO thrilled with the chance to do a trampoline/bungee cord jump at the mall. This girl has no fear.

Chandler is a little stud on his bike.

Benjamin loves taking rides with Daddy on his skateboard.

Oh, and she climbs trees too. :)

This was our adventure today for Jessica's day off of school - a 15 minute train ride down to Orlando. Super fun!

 No promises on when you'll get another update. I hope you enjoyed a peek into our fun times for the past few months!

And One More Makes 6

Back when I announced I was pregnant with Benjamin, my sister-in-law told me that she'd known all along because I no longer updated my blog. Although there have been a lot of stretches in between now and then that I've been less than punctual with updating, this time around it's for good reason.

Announcing baby #4!

I'm due May 25th (about 12 1/2 weeks along).  Here's a bit of the little bean jumping around. I love it already.