Wait, I have a blog?

Wow...




Last April was my last post...




Let's not even look at my journal I'm supposed to keep up on...




I should probably put up a family picture with all our family members in it...


Let's just say that life has been pretty crazy and I've pretty much checked out the past year. This year has flown by and we have done some awesome things. The kids are all bigger and busier than ever.




Where to start....where to start.... mmmmmm




Hawaii of course!!




Ha ha! Mark and I took a trip to Hawaii a couple of weeks ago and I want to blog about it so I have a record of it. Purely selfish reasons of course. That is the nice thing about a blog; it is a fun online journal with pictures. Sooooo, I'm off to take a shower and let's hope it's not April 2015 before I blog about Hawaii.

G-Gma

Even though it was a while ago, I want to post about my grandma's birthday. It was so much fun!

 

G-Gma and the great grand-girls

 

My grandma is an amazing woman who I admire and love so much. She is always thinking of others, is fiercely independent, and is someone I can count on for anything. For her birthday, my mom put on a special dinner. She had the great-grandkids be the waitresses and hand out everything. She even typed up a special menu and had tablets the girls could "take orders" on. Of course the girls loved having their special jobs and were adorable. Everyone had a job and I think the girls found out how hard being a waitress actually is.

The waitresses in the kitchen

 

For dinner my mom made potato soup and cream of mushroom soup. I brought over a chicken minestrone soup. We also had delicious green beans and croissants or pretzel rolls.

the menu

Our waitress, Casidy

 

 We had a ton of stuff for dessert. I brought a whole bunch of different candy bar pieces for ice cream sundaes with strawberries and whipped cream. We had chocolate silk pie and coconut cream pie. There were carrot cake cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies. How can I choose?? Oh wait, I didn't. I just had one of each!

The desserts. Oh my!

Cute Buckaroos!

 

We had such a fun time and I'm thankful for my mom who put in so much time and effort to make it special for my grandma. I think she had a great birthday!

Porter is Here!!

It's only been 3 1/2 weeks since Porter was born so I guess it's about time to write about him being born...

Happy to get going already!!

 

I was told to check in at the hospital Friday, March 22nd at 8am. We were more than ready to go! My grandma came early in the morning to watch the boys for the day. I wanted my mom and the girls to be at the hospital when the baby came so I told them to plan on coming around 10 am. I figured I would be hooked up to everything and going by then. Well... I was wrong.

 

The nurse told us the doctor was in surgery and to just hook me up to the IV. I told them that once I was hooked up to Pitocin and they broke my water, I would have a baby really fast. The Dr told the nurse not to start me on Pitocin until 1pm. I was really disappointed. I wanted this baby out by lunch!



I quickly told my mom not to come until I texted her later. They were bummed too!

At 1 pm, the nurse anesthetist came and gave me the epidural. Since I go pretty fast, I always get the epidural before anything else. This one was the best I've had by far. I felt nothing the entire labor! The nurse even told me he was known to give a higher dose than the other nurse anesthetists. I'll take it!

After the epidural, the nurse started the Pitocin. I said that nothing was going to happen until they broke my water. The nurse then proceeded to tell me that the Dr had a C-section and a couple of other deliveries to make so he wouldn't break my water until later.

Maybe I should have sent them to school after all!



 



So the waiting game continued. We waited... and waited.... and watched tv.... and waited...

 

My parents brought the girls in at 1:30 and they stuck around for about an hour. I told them to go do something fun because nothing was going to happen any time soon. They decided to take off and go to Costco and get something to eat at Panda Express.

 

At 5 pm the nurse checked me and I was only progressed to a 5. It was so aggravating but at least I wasn't having any pain during all the contractions. If waiting around for the Dr to break my water was my worst complaint, I have nothing to complain about! At 7 the Dr finally came in and broke my water.

 

My parents and the girls came back and we continued to watch movies and wait around. I felt so bad for my grandma and the boys. They were soooo excited to come and I kept telling them, "not yet, not yet." 

 

At 9 I was finally progressed to a 10 and ready to push. I had started feeling contractions only on my right side so I pushed the button they gave me to give me an extra dose from the epidural. The buzzer started ringing for the nurses to change the bag the medicine was in for the epidural so they came in and changed that. After they did that (about 15 minutes later) I pushed the button again. I started feeling numb all the way up my left side. Slowly my left arm became numb, then the left side of my face was saggy and my eye became droopy. I told the nurse and she sat me up so gravity could take affect. There wasn't much else to do because I was ready to push.

 

Getting ready with the "splash guards

We had the girls stand up by my head so they could watch, but not see anything graphic. They were a little nervous and kept asking questions.

They were also my "peanut gallery" and throwing out comments left and right.

"Is it going to be really slimy?"

"Are you in pain?"

"Is that mucous?"

"The umbilical cord looks like a twisty ice cream!"

We were getting a little crazy after waiting for soooo long! Notice the droopy eye...



I only pushed for about 20 minutes. I still didn't feel anything and didn't even feel pressure so I just pushed! It was so amazing and surreal seeing my baby being born and not feeling anything. I love modern medicine! I enjoyed the experience so much and truly witnessed a miracle. At 9:29 pm Porter made his entrance into this world and let us know it with his amazing set of lungs :) I wish I could have seen the girls' faces but I could hear them oohing and aahing behind me. I was a little nervous to have them in there with me but I'm really glad they were. I think it is an experience they will never forget and were happy to be a part of.


Big Baby!

Our newest addition!

Squishy little old man face

After all the clean-up, check-ups, picture taking and rounds of holding Porter, my parents left and Mark took the girls home. I wasn't able to leave the room and go to my recovery room until the epidural wore off enough for me to stand up so we were in there for quite a while. After finally moving me over and getting settled in the recovery room I didn't get to bed until 1:30 am.

It was a long, long day but with excellent results! I was so happy to be done and to have my lungs and bladder back :)


the crew

The next day Mark came back with all the kids. The boys were so excited to meet their new little brother. They all took turns holding him and poking my jello belly. They had patted my belly almost every day for the past several months as it grew and I think it was weird for them to finally see the baby out!



This is what Jared looked like in every picture. Dude, open your eyes!!
 



Derek already making his little brother cry :)

 

I can't believe I have 5 kids!

 

Porter Cade DeBry

 

My Awesome Grandma!

The new fam

Proud Papa!

 



Emma is 9

Emma has sure grown up this past year! Her birthday was March 3rd, so I'm just catching up with the blog...

Emma is our little ball of spice, with a lot of nice too :)

She is so fun to have around and makes everything more glamorized and adds her own flare to whatever is going on. Her little brothers adore her and she babies them too! She is so loving and thoughtful of others and has a very strong sense of others' feelings.

Let's get this party started!

 

For Emma's party we had several friends come over. We made mini pizzas, opened presents and had cake and ice cream. Then I piled them all in the car to take them to the dollar theater to see "Wreck it Ralph." Before we left, they made their own candy bags with assorted candies I had bought. I think most of them ate almost all the candy before we even got there. :) 

A Gaggle of Goofy Girls

The girls patiently waiting their turn to give Emma their gift

She huffed, and she puffed...

We are so blessed to have such wonderful, supportive family

 

Later that night, we had the family come over for a party. I made some chicken minestrone soup and we had cake and ice cream too. We love having everyone over and are so grateful for the support we get. We have a wonderful family!

Finlee, Emma and Casidy

With some of my favorite people!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was absolutely crazy!! I signed up and tried to do way to many things that day. I put way to much effort into trying to make it a special day for everyone.

In the morning, I went to help Makayla's class with their hot air balloon launch and pancake breakfast. I brought my griddle and was out in the hall flipping pancakes with another mom when all of a sudden the principal came over the loud speaker and said two words:

Immediate Lockdown.

My blood ran cold and I froze. We were right by the library and the librarian immediately came out and made us go into the library. Makayla happened to be with me waiting to take hot pancakes over to the class so she got to go in with me. There were only a few people in there and I was freaked out for the first 5 minutes. I kept waiting to hear gun shots or for someone to try and bust the door down. After about 10 minutes I checked my phone on the local news sites. It said there was someone with a weapon at Heritage Middle School that is a few miles away from where we were. All the surrounding schools were in lockdown. I was so relieved that it wasn't our school! After about 30 minutes we were finally able to go out in the halls but no one was allowed to go outside until further notice. The 5th graders continued with their breakfast but weren't able to go outside to launch their balloons. After a while, we found out that there was a middle schooler who had brought some sort of WW2 shovel thing that looked like an axe that his teacher asked him to bring. Someone saw him carrying it in and called the authorities. I felt so bad for the kid and I'm sure he was shocked to be the cause of school lockdowns! They had tons of cops and authorities there from all over the valley. I can't blame them after what has happened, but still....

 

They had the hot air balloon launch the next morning

Anyway, after Makayla's breakfast, I ran home to start making a special treat (raspberry eclairs) I had found online that I had never made. It was a lot more complex than what the directions eluded. I had already committed to doing the Bingo table for Derek's Valentine party so I had to leave in the middle of making the treat. Derek's class was so cute and they had fun little stations. I kept thinking about all those kids in Connecticut and how they were all this age. I had to hold back tears as the kids were playing Bingo.

A sweet mom had brought in sugar cookies for each of the kids with their name on one. I took a picture of them and then noticed that Derek's name was not on one! I felt so bad but Derek didn't even notice. He just ate the XO cookie. That's one of the perks of having a totally oblivious kid!

Where's Derek?

 



 

Derek's Valentine's Box

 

The Bingo Station

After the party I shot back home to finish the treat before my fiddle lessons came over. I also planned to make Mark's favorite dinner so I tried to get all that stuff out too. After teaching, I hurried and put dinner together. I set the table up really fun and had a little gift for each kid.

All I have to say is NEVER AGAIN!! The kids were so-so about the dinner and I think everyone could have cared less with the effort I put into it. The dessert turned out not great and Makayla was mad she had to miss basketball practice to stay home for the "special dinner." I was so tired and stressed and my back and feet hurt so bad. I was like, "I am done with this holiday!! Never again!!" I didn't even get any pictures besides Derek's class party to document the horrible day.

From now on the kids can do their fun parties at school and get their fun gifts from my parents and grandparents. Mark can figure something out for us to do and not make me do everything. This holiday is about wooing the woman anyway, right!!

The Secret Garden

Back in February the girls tried out to be in the Secret Garden. My grandma sent me information about the play and helped me with getting them to try-outs and practices. Actually, she pretty much did everything because I had to teach lessons every day. The try-outs were on a Monday and rehearsals were every day from 4-8 with the performances on Friday and Saturday. It was an intense week but it worked out well. I actually liked not having it spread out over a long period of time.

Makayla didn't get a part in the play but she was able to participate in the pre-show. They sang and did choreography to the "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." They dressed up in WW2 uniforms and it turned out really great. That is such a hard song and I was really curious to see how they would do after only practicing a couple of times. They slowed the song way down and did a terrific job.

 

Emma was given the part of squirrel #2. I thought she would just have one little line or something but she actually got to be in a lot of the play. The best part was that she had to be a sassy squirrel character. She loved it and did a great job with it. She gets plenty of practice at home so she was a natural :).

 

 

 Even though practice was every day and didn't end until late, she loved every minute and was in her element. Along with their parts, they sang several songs in the play. I could totally hear her belting out the parts and there were several kids that were watching her to remember what the words were. She loves the stage!

 

 

Emma is on the bottom right



 

 

Squirrel 1 watching Emma for the words

 

Most of the cast

Squirrel 1 and 2

 

Almost there

I'm sitting here on my computer trying to enjoy the night with a heating pad on my belly. Only 2 more days until this baby is out! That is if he decides not to fall out in the meantime. I feel like I'm trying to keep a bowling ball up between my legs...

I've been really excited to have this baby. Each night that I am not sleeping and waking up to another part of my body that has fallen asleep or is cramping up, I think "I would rather be awake with a baby than awake with pains all over!" I may look back on this next week and laugh, but until then, I'll moan about the woes of the last stretch of pregnancy.

I think I am most excited to see the kids with the baby. They are so excited and the countdown began a long time ago. Every day I am reminded that "You are having a baby," and "when is the baby coming?" and "only ___ more days till the baby, Mom." I finally got diapers and the baby clothes out this past weekend and I canceled all my lessons for this week. I was actually going to teach this whole week but my back has been hurting too much and I can't stand sitting in a chair for too long. So basically I've been laying around playing the waiting game. I didn't even get out of PJs until 3:30. I only did because I had to go to the school and then take Emma and Derek to gymnastics later on. Even then I still only put on a different shirt and put shoes on.

I'm scheduled to go in Friday morning at 7:30 and I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. I can't wait to meet our new little guy and hold him and have him not kicking me in the ribs every few minutes. Until then, I'll be dreaming of bowling alleys and jumping out of bed at 3am with leg cramps.

11 years of blessed

Makayla is 11!!

 

On January 22nd, 11 years ago, I experienced having my first child. I'll admit it was extremely painful, there were lots of tears and emotions and I constantly had the thoughts, "What am I supposed to do with this little baby! How do I even take care of this thing?? What have I gotten myself into?" Life had thrown me a 6lb 11oz curve ball and my catcher's glove felt too tight and small.

 

 

Now that I'm pregnant with my 5th, I love and appreciate having Makayla as my firstborn child. She is fantastic!! She is a born leader and is very self-motivated. She wants to succeed in everything she does and has a love for life and people that is exceptional. She is great with her brothers and sister and is a life saver. She just does what she's supposed to do and I rarely have to remind her to do her jobs, practice, or do homework. Yup, she's one of those! In fact my father-in-law has told me on several occasions that if I could bottle her genes, I could be a billionaire! I couldn't agree more!

 

These past 11 years Makayla has helped shape me into a mother and taught me so much about what is important in life. I feel the roles have reversed with us. She has trained and brought me to a better place in life with love and patience all along the way. She is quick to forgive and loves me with a pure and innocence I never want her to lose. I am truly blessed!

 

Luckily Makayla's birthday always falls around MLK day so we plan her birthday party on that holiday Monday. She wanted to invite her group of friends over for a party and a movie. They all met at our home and we had pizza, presents and cake and ice cream within an hour. My mom and dad came over to help transport my kids to the movie with us. Mark still had to work so I needed an extra vehicle. We went and saw Hotel Transylvania at the dollar theatre and we all thought it was great. We came back after the movie and the girls hung out for a while longer and played with some of Makayla's new presents.

I promise there is more on that table than just chips! Ok, only pizza is there too... :)

Makayla and her buddies. She has a great group of friends!

My kids love to light their own birthday candles

Later that night, my family came over for dinner and a party. They are the best!

 

On Makayla's actual birthday, I brought cookies and milk to her class at school. They sang happy birthday to her and the kids all thought Jared was adorable :)

Later that night Jared and I took Makayla to several different stores so she could pick something out with her birthday money. We had dinner at her favorite place, Panda Express and she came home with a new Star Wars Legos Wii game, a reading light and a brush.

Happy Birthday Makayla!

Jared is 3!

Jared is 3 years old! He is such a fun, loving, independent, rascally kid that I wouldn't trade for the world. He has been so fun to have in our family and it's hard to believe he's not a baby anymore. My Grandpa and Grandma came and picked him up around lunch time to take him for a treat and to shop around. He climbed into the seat, got his seat belt on and was ready to go. They took him to Fred Meyer and walked up and down the toy asile with him. They said he was really good and never ran off. What a good thing for them! They never would have caught him! After that, they took him to McDonalds for an ice cream.

Sunday night we had a family party for both him and my Mom. Her birthday was Saturday so we decided to have cake and ice cream for both of them. I didn't feel like making a cake so I made cupcakes. I started thinking about how much Jared likes Angry Birds and thought that making the cupcakes into pigs and building a tower would be fun. Mark, Emma and Derek had a great time building a tower and I was a little nervous that someone would bump into the table and we would have frosted building blocks on our hands. Fortunately the tower held throughout the party.

I have some great pictures but when I tried to upload them, it said the blog storage was full...
Not sure how to work things out so for now, there are no pictures :(
I'll put some up when I figure it out.

TMI!!

For those who don't like reading about the bathroom... Stop here!

For every other person who likes a good laugh at someone else's expense, here's my story.

We went to Costco last night to voluntarily drain our bank account with all the kids. We always go eat food first. While Mark was waiting in line to order, I told him I was going to the bathroom. In the middle of going to the bathroom, I see Jared's little shoes appear outside my door. I said, "Jared, mommy's in the bathroom. I'm almost done. Don't go anywhere!" All of a sudden my door bursts open and I can see myself in the mirror in front of me. I let out a little shriek, grab Jared's arm, pull him in and shut the door. Just when I think the worst is over, Jared says in a not so quiet voice, "Mommy stink?" I was like, "No! Shhhh!" Then he said, "Mommy just pee?" Why do kids have to ask these questions!!! I whispered, "yes, be quiet!" I quickly finish up and as I come out of the stall, I'm nervously looking around for people watching and muffling their laughs. Unbelievably, I don't see a single soul. As I'm washing my hands, I'm non-chalantly looking under the stalls from the mirror to see if I can see other peoples' shoes. Not a pair in sight. What luck!!

Back at the table I tell Mark my story, which is a lot more funny after knowing nobody was there. He said, "that's the kind of thing you need to blog about!"

Hence the blog.

It's a?????

Last Friday, we went in for my 20 week checkup and ultrasound. I decided to pull the girls out of school and let all the kids come along. They were so excited! I really didn't want to find out what I was having but I caved. With 2 girls and 2 boys I already have everything I need but the hang-up is our bedroom situation. The girls each have their own room but the boys already share. I knew that if I had another girl, I could just have her share with Emma. The problem was if I have another boy. I don't want to put 3 boys in one room. We would need to convert the toy room into Derek and Jared's room and that would take time.

In the waiting room, waiting to be called back

All ready to find out!

Up to this point, everyone was always asking me what I thought it was. I was 90% convinced I was having a girl. I've been carrying this baby the exact same way as I did when I was pregnant with Makayla and Emma. My belly has stayed really small and high. With my boys, I was already big at 3 months. I also carried them low. My mouth was hanging open long enough to swallow next summer's annoying flies when I saw her write on the ultrasound, "It's a Boy!"

 

I was like, "uh...what? Come again?"

Mark was laughing and the kids all started talking at once.

Makayla said, "Oh man! More trains and bowling!"

Emma said, "Oh! Another little brother. I wanted a girl!"

Derek said, "Mom, Mom, it's a boy! There's a brother in there!"

Jared just wanted Mark to pick him up and hold him.

 

I have to admit that after a couple months of being convinced it was a girl, it took me a few days to re-wire my brain to the "I'm-having-a-boy" state of mind. I thought that having a girl at the end would be fun and she would be spoiled rotten by everyone in the family. Now I'm thinking that I'll have my 3 little musketeers (or 3 stooges if you prefer) to play and get in trouble together. They will have so much fun growing up together and will be best friends.

Happy Hauntings!

I love Halloween! I love fall and all the color changes and Halloween is the start of the holiday season. Mark is always in a great mood because football is in full swing and we have all different kinds of weather coming in to enjoy.

Halloween morning started off with an orchestra performance I attended for the pre-schoolers-1st graders. Makayla and Emma both play in the 2nd year orchestra. Even though it is only for 5th graders, the teacher has allowed Emma to be a part of the group. She should technically start 1st year orchestra next year when she's in 4th grade but Ms. Skidmore wanted her in. They played 3 different songs and Makayla played a solo. After they finished, they handed out treats to all the kids.

The kids all had parties in their classrooms but unfortunately they were all at the same time and all happened when I needed to start teaching fiddle lessons. They said they played fun games and ate yummy treats.

My Grandma, Mom and Dad, Justin and his family, and Justin's in-laws came over. I bought stuff to make personal pizzas and had that ready for whenever they came. Our neighborhood is a lot of fun and we know a ton of people so it is fun to see everyone come to the door dressed up. Our neighbors down the street make scones for everyone so that was a fun house to hit.

Makayla was the Mad Hatter. I had no idea what I was going to do for her costume but we only ended up buying the hat. My mom had fun doing her make-up and did a great job!

The Mad Hatter, a Zombie Cheerleader, Thomas and a BYU football player

After my Mom did Makayla's make-up she said, "Ok Emma, let's glam you up!" Emma was like, "Noooo! I want to be disgusting!"

My dad with Thomas and Minnie

Trick or Treat!

Sorting the loot! Justin and Chelise with daughters Aysha and Daylie, Jared and Derek

Crashing after a long night of fun

 

I stayed behind and handed out candy to the kids. My grandma came back after going and taking some pictures and we sat out on the porch and visited. It was such a nice night out! After having a rainy and cold week, the weather decided to be merciful for Halloween and was one of the warmest Halloween nights in a century! It was between 70 and 75! We had a great night.