Miss Nora's Arrival

a little showing off for grandma before life
changes the next day and a new sibling comes into the world!

the night before
and the morning of...
on our way to the blasted hospital!

i was a week before my due date
the dr. had to "turn" my baby because she was breech still
it wasn't too bad, it hurt a little but not much
these pics are before and post epidural.
i labored from 8 to 3:30 and progressed REALLY slowly on the highest level of pitocin
i sat in a hot bath and on a birth ball ...
my mom and Marty were there just watching me
i wanted to do it naturally like i did with Charlie,
 but this was a way different experience for me
i dislike being induced very much!
nothing came natural or flowed very well
everything was forced and awkward
we did to my body in a couple hours what would have taken at least 7 more days to do on its own
after epidural i was able to rest till 5 when i was ready to push

i HATE being numb and love it at the same time.
i dislike being able to feel what i am doing!
its hard to know if i'm even pushing and i hate not having control over my legs
but being without pain was SOO nice of course!it took only 3 contractions to push her out
i didn't tear or get cut...that is a HUGE blessing!!

isn't this pic crazy!
 look how blue the cord is and how purple her body is...!
kinda alien-ish...

she was my second smallest, only Liam weighed less but he was 4 weeks early...

so precious to see these kids immediately love her...

she is an amazing sister already.
she will pick up, burp, binki, wrap up, change diaper...etc.
Nora is better for her than me!

so nice to have my mom here for the birth and a whole week after!!
she helped us so much!
and it's such a blessing to have your kids with someone that loves them and that i trust completely-even more than myself:)

our little peanut

my dad came for a couple days.  love him.  he is a gem

photography by Ricki.  she is so great to do these for me....

A catch-up before the BIRTH.

Birthday lunch for my friend Ricki, swimming with Jami at her parents second casa in Bloomington and trying to keep up on running thru my pregnancy.
 Warning:there are lots of pregnancy shots in this post...I think I felt it was critical to catch these shots since this is likely our last baby and my last pregnancy:)

Mothers Day hike at Dixie Rock...

Camping up North at the Anderton Property...truly hill-billy-ing it!!

Memorial Day weekend: camping/BBQ with cousins and visiting Grandpas new headstone.

Running in beautiful Morgan County...

Our family trip to Bryce Canyon!

We stayed at Ruby's Inn....the kids had a blast, eating out swimming for hours, sleeping in the same bed and hiking the next day.

Liam's soccer team.  He did great this year and hope he'll continue playing.  He's not the fastest shark in the water but he tries and whenever he did touch the ball or do something good, he'd always look over at me and give me the thumbs up with a big fat grin.  The cutest ever.

The kite festival in April.  The weather was surprisingly mild this year, THANK GOODNESS. But I still got a nice burn on my calves.  The cutest was watching Marty and Charles fly their kite.  The cotton candy was a JOKE-they could have all shared ONE.

Liam learned to ride without training wheels!!  He was over 5.5 years old! I think he's been ready for a while but we never took the time to help him learn.  He picked it up in minutes.  Ruby was his biggest support.  She would run down the sidewalk with him keeping him upright then let go...after a couple times he did it and took off.  Ruby started clapping and jumping up and down saying "whahooo!"  SO precious to watch that.  She is such a great big sis.  Love her.  The bikes a bit small for him but he is comfortable and I don't want to push him quite yet into a bigger one.  He has to pedal a million miles an hour to keep up with Rubes.

We got these amazing snowcones at the Icebox in Santa Clara, our first experience.  Holy sugar overload.  You can get it with icecream on the bottom then the ice and syrup then with CREAM on top of all that...ya I said SUGAR overload!!  But it was fun anyhow.  Beautiful scenery all around us out there, right by the red rock mountains.  It was a beautiful outing.

A mothers day date night for me and Marty.  We went out to eat and to see a movie.  It was fun to spend some one on one time.  The kids rubbed my feet and Marty made dinner and this better than love cake with pudding and whipped cream...yum.  That stuff slides down ya!  I missed being with all my family a little that night , I knew they were all getting together for a BBQ...

Ruby's classroom school play.  She played the pig, obviously, in the the big bad wolf story with a twist and different songs. It was way cute.  She wasn't shy to sing out loud in this for a solo with her friend.  I was really amazed.  She's becoming more brave in performing and such.

Ruby loved this shirt I got for Liam, she is such a tomboy sometimes!  Charlie can be found most nights with cars lined up on his bed or clutched in his hand.  He is hilarious and obsessed.  The boys can be so good sometimes.  We were at Ruby's hour and a half gymnastics class and they sat and read library books forever!  Sometimes I could kiss them.  Liam's last day at preschool with miss Julie-he LOVED preschool.  Ruby and I at an activity days- dinner/program.  She had to dress up in my clothes and walk down a runway, it was cute.  She was really embarrassed because she wore my clothes there and she was supposed to bring them and change after dinner, so being the only one in mommy's clothes was too much and she started balling and wanted to go home and change.  We'd ridden over with a friend so I couldn't take her home.  We talked for a bit in the hallway and I finally convinced her that no one will care or make fun of her or even notice.  It took a bit of coaxing, but she finally decided to get over it and come eat with me- I was so proud of her for doing that.  It was a brave thing to do for someone her age and being one of the youngest in that group anyway.  It was a shining moment in mom-hood.

We went up North for a vaca and the girls surprised me with an overnight getaway/ baby shower-ish.  It was so fun.  We stayed at a hotel in Layton and went out to eat then came back and opened presents! yay!  Can you tell who is further along?? Then we made humanitarian hair bows for the Christmas Box House-my mom's idea. Then we ate treats and talked all night.  The next morning we ate at Kneaders for bfast after a little workout.  It was a fun time, I am so blessed with such an amazing family.

Memorial Day weekend/BBQ with cousins.  Again, I love my family.

My parents have the perfect yard for entertaining and gathering...its ALOT of work to keep up!!  But they continue to do it over and over and over for these sorts of parties.  I love it...

Sorry more prego pics.  My two sisters are pregnant too.  One due 10 weeks later than me and the other due in December.  Jami and Michelle are both having boys! yay.  And Megan had a girl in April after 5 boys and named her Georgia Jean and blessed her while we were there.  Such a beautiful family they have.  I love her and I don't know WHERE she gets her patience from but she has alot of it.

My beautiful Grandma.  She misses Don terribly.  They will have a grand reunion one day.  

My mom insisted on riding back with me from that long extended weekend cuz I stayed several days longer than Marty.  It was nice to have her with me on the drive.  She is so nice to come here in the summer, I know she hates the heat here so that was an ultimate sacrifice.  She celebrated me and Marty's b-days while she was here.  She took the shuttle back home after a a couple days.

Our anniversary!  11 years.  Sounds like a LONG time.  It's weird to think that we've been married for that many years!  We went to a movie and dinner.  We went with Ricki and Tony and they treated us to dinner with their 'trade' at a really nice restaurant.  It was a lovely night and we ate outside under some misters 

Marty's Birthday! 37! Which fell on Fathers Day this year.  Marty was pretty happy about that because he doesn't like all the fuss.  And obviously it was easier for me too, I only had to do one cake and bfast in bed.  I made this Caramel Cake from "The Help".  It turned out pretty yummy!  We wrote down 37 things we love about him and put it in a jar.  And of course we had to hide his gifts with clues that rhymed.  

Lemonade stand-Ruby trying to earn half the money for her new bike!  Picking carrots out of our garden by the Bishops house-Charlie was sooo excited.  And more: "I'm getting large" shots.  

We went to a splash pad one night when Marty and Ruby were at a daddy daughter campout.  We had pizza and drinks and it was a beautiful night to be out.  Ruby did a week long camp for gymnastics.  She has improved SO much.  It's so fun to watch her.  She's gotten really strong too.

Ruby learned to sew!  She asked me to teach her one day when I was working on something and she picked it right up!  I was so impressed with her diligence and straight lines!  She even threaded her own bobbin/needle and changed out the thread color all on her own..she made a couple bags/pockets and a burp cloth for baby.

My birthday! 33!  Spent with Tasha and Christopher.  We ate at Bucca's Italian.  It was yum and way filling!.  Look at my poor swollen feet...

Ruby got her bike!!  It was so fun to go pick it out with her at Wally World.  After her tithing was set aside she finally earned the 34 dollars needed to pay for half the bike.  She paid her cash and then I used the card to cover the rest.  She was stoked!
  A beautiful sunset in the smokey sky!  

My birthday celebration.  Marty was chef for the day, with pancakes for my bfast in bed and a yummy ginger chicken salad for dinner.  It was really good and he was really proud;)  I got a cannon camera for my present.  I was in desperate need of a new one.  Most of these pics in this post are taken with my poor phone camera!  gag.
  A month of birthdays and anniversary's and fathers day...good thing baby comes in JULY not JUNE;