About a month before my due date we had an FHE lesson on welcoming a new baby to the family. I was surprised how receptive the girls were when we talked about washing hands, asking to hold the baby, how to hold a baby, etc. They practiced with their dolls up to Jacob’s arrival. I…

Naming our children is always a challenge. Katelyn’s naming came quick after she was born but for years before we had a different name picked for her. For Abby, we never even discussed the name Abigail but it’s what we decided on three days after she was born. Because everyone has their opinion about names,…

After arriving in our permanat room, the three of us had a few moments alone. This is the first picture of me and Baby. I’m clearly still a bit out of it. And the first of him and Devin. It was during this time that we began to discuss what we were going to name…

The time finally came. Our long awaited for baby boy was born! One of my worries was that he was actually a girl, not the boy that the ultrasound tech told us he was. I was relieved when I heard the words, “it’s a boy.” The mood in the room was light. The anesthesiologist was…

The more kids I have, the more I struggle with finding the time and energy to give each child what they need. Not only what they need, but what I need and what we both want. It’s a challenge adding another munchkin to the mix simply because we all have to switch gears and get…

After the IV was set, fluids were dripping, and most other preparations were made, we were informed that I would likely not be the scheduled noon c-section. Another mother with gestational diabetes was waiting on test results to determine if she had priority over me. Our go-time was looking more like 3pm if my doc…

Amazingly, we made it to delivery day. At exactly 39 weeks it was time to get that baby out of me! There were three options for surgery times–early (something like 6am), noon, or 5pm. When deciding on a time I was reminded that I had to arrive two hours prior and fast for 12 hours…

Early in the week (April 14) I went in for my “pre-op” visit with my doctor. He had been on vacation for ten days so I was glad baby held out for his return. We went over a few things like risks of c-sections, concerns I might have, and my general health condition. NBD. I…

Our second day was bit more of a smooth ride. I didn’t stand in the Frozen line for two hours and we had hit everything we wanted to so we just went for our favorites. Abby napped like a champ in the stroller. We ate tons of delicious, expensive food and best of all we…

Because of recent scares with my pregnancy, weren’t sure how good of an idea it was to go to DL. Our best decision was to stay right next to the park entrance. Though I never ended up going back to the hotel during the day, it was so nice not to have to wait for…