Ruby Belle

I feel like I have been waiting FOREVER to hold this little angel!  My twin sister, Hilary, gave birth to her first child on our dad's birthday (January 11th), and named her Ruby Belle.  She is such a sweet little thing!  Hil's husband had to leave town last weekend, so I flew out for a girls' weekend.  We had the BEST time!  

Hilary is seriously the cutest-sweetest mom EVER!  She loves her little girl so much.  I loved hearing her say "Hi pretty lady" each time she picked up her little one.  And let us not forget how hard Hil worked to get this little girl into the world!  A 27 hour labor without pain meds isn't exactly a walk in the park.  :)

We also got to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon with our cousin Michelle.  :)

I seriously could not get enough snuggles!

Ruby is tiny, just like Magsy was.  She is tipping the scale at 8 pounds now.  :)

So fun to hear her discover her voice!

She just started giving smiles a week or so ago, and I was lucky to get a few every day.  

This was our final snuggle.  It broke my heart to say goodbye to her.  It is always hard to say goodbye to Hil, but it was a different kind of pain to say goodbye to Ruby.  The only thing I hate more than crying is crying in public, but I couldn't hold it in at the airport.  Cried all the way through the security line!  Don't get too big without me, Ruby!

Best Valentine's Day EVER!

We were so excited for Valentines Day this year, that we all woke up around 4 am to get the party started.   Todd and I were woken up by a very sad Magdalen, informing us that she had thrown up.  And even though she tried her hardest to get to the toilet in time, she didn't make it.

Isn't this just the best wake up call, ever?!

Todd took on the dirty work of cleaning up the chunks and starting the wash, while I consoled a broken hearted 5 year old who had just realized she would now miss her Kindergarten Valentine's Day Party.  Talk about DEVASTATION!  She is such a sensitive girl, and the tears were rolling big time.  The minutes clicked by, and I  saw how quickly morning was coming, and new that my 6:45 Zumba class would be a killer today.  I went downstairs to get Mags some sprite, and what did I find but a dozen roses and diet coke.  Man, I am so going to need those today!   But the vomit kept coming, along with some serious dry heaves coming from Todd.  Poor guy.

Somehow we still managed to have our family breakfast at 8 am, and exchange valentines.  This year was especially sweet because Bronwyn bought a small gift for Todd and me a couple weeks ago.  She enlisted Grandma for a trip to Fred Meyer, and the package has been calling my name from the top of the fridge.  She bought us each a chocolate rose.  It is the first thing she has ever bought me, and it melted my heart.  Todd also got flowers for the girls, and I made personalized M&Ms for all the kids.

But the magic didn't last long.  Magsy smelled like puke, so I knew there were remnants on her hair and or pajamas.  So into the bath she went.  I was scrambling like a mad woman to get the bath going, laundry started, teeth brushed, that for about 30 seconds I forgot that I started potty training Ty yesterday.  His silence alerted me to a BIG problem.... His first poopy pants.  UG.  Just what I needed.  Todd emerged from the shower just in time to hear my phone freakout to my sister about how his poop had fallen to the floor, been stepped in, and then somehow smeared all across my arm.  Perfect.

Todd gave me a sarcastic "Happy Valentine's Day"; and while today is certainly not going well, I couldn't be happier about my valentine and the home we have built.  Turns out parenting is about a trillion times harder than I was prepared for it to be, and I am so thankful to have a husband who has never left me feeling like I am doing it alone.  I feel like I have been running on empty since I got pregnant.  From morning sickness to this never ending flu that we all just keep passing back and forth to eachother, Todd is always there when my idle just won't start.  We live in a constant state of survival mode, but always seem to make it through together.

After the past few months, life with a newborn actually sounds like a vacation.  At least when I am up nursing I won't have to smell vomit, and can catch up on my tv watching.   Plus, when I need to potty train baby #4, all the other kids will be at school, and I won't be pregnant.  That will make it way easier, right?

Talent Show!

For those of you who know Bronwyn, it may be hard to believe that she takes the stage almost nightly in our home!  In the evenings, Todd plays piano while Bronwyn makes up dances.  (She has a real love of piano music. She loves to listen to her piano cd while she falls asleep.  But we often hear her dancing in her room while Magsy snoozes!)  So while she may not enjoy being the center of attention around anyone else, we sure enjoy her nightly routines.  Her ballet technique is rapidly improving, and it is so exciting!

Magdalen also graces us with many a dance performance, but lately has enjoyed singing even more.  She reminds me of myself.  She has SO many Christmas songs memorized.  I couldn't be prouder.  :)  She has recently learned a song from a "Scripture Bugs" DVD.  I was somewhat frustrated that she had such a hard time matching the correct pitches.  But when I heard her watching the DVD the other day, I realized that I had actually lifted the song incorrectly.  So while it sounds like I am the one on pitch.... she is!  

I find myself wondering what Ty's talents will be, and am having a hard time figuring out when to enroll him in something, and what that something should be.  He is definitely strong and athletic.  He will probably have to wait until I am out of the newborn fog to really start in on developing his talents.  So until then, he can continue  melting our hearts daily with his cuteness and quirkiness!

Ty has been sporting this lovely scab for WEEKS!  Every morning when I get him out of his crib, he has fresh blood on his cheek.  Here's hoping it doesn't scar!

Perfect Symmetry!

When Todd and I got married he told me "You can have as many kids as you want".  I thought it was a really weird thing to say since I was pretty sure I had told him I only wanted two!  Over the years, I always knew he wanted more, but it took me a while to realize that that is what I wanted too.  

I NEVER pictured myself with four kids!  But through the sleepless nights, temper tantrums, and complete chaos; we have found so much joy.  And we are soooo excited to be welcoming another

BOY

into our family!

Of course, we would be just as happy to be getting another girl.  But if I had been given the choice, I would have chosen a boy.  Out of 7 grandkids here in Boise, Ty is the only boy.  And he really needs a partner in crime!  Add that to the fact that we have a 3 bedroom home, and another boy is the perfect fit for all of us!

All of our kids were excited to find out, and I was really happy that we could all find out together.  This video is dark, but you can still see how excited Ty is to have a brother on the way.  He keeps telling me that he is going to teach his little brother how to play Angry Birds!

This is my favorite shot from the ultrasound.  Looks like he is yawning.  So adorable!  Can't wait to see and hear those little baby yawns this summer.  

It is so fun to be finishing off our family with 3 girls and 3 boys in the house.  I am glad that God sent the girls first though.  I feel like I needed those first few years of parenting to prepare for parenting boys.  And now I have 2 older sisters to help me, so I know I can survive!  

Now What?!

I hate when Christmas is over.  This year I am participating in my typical rebellion by taking down all of my Christmas decor, except for the two trees in my front room.  They only have their stars on now, but their lights are on all day.  I keep the blinds shut so I can enjoy their twinkling for a little longer.  The house always feels so empty when Christmas goes away.  Clean.  But empty.

We got a new camera for Christmas, and are soooo excited about it!  It has an image sensor from Aptina, which is the company Todd works for.  It is awesome to finally have a product with an Aptina sensor in it, and even better to have a good camera!  So we have been busy taking cute pictures of our sweethearts.

We've also been busy taking silly pictures!   Pretty sure there is an apple slice in there somewhere!

And even though not a single person has asked to see a belly shot of me, here it is anyway!  (Funny how no one is all that interested in a 4th pregnancy...)  I am 15 weeks here.  Pretty sure I am twice that big now at 18 weeks!

My mom came up for a preChristmas visit, and we had so much fun.  We recorded a lullaby for Hilary's baby, and I had the bright idea of adding the clarinet to it.  Note:  I only had the idea.  Todd and mom had all the talent to make it happen.  It is so great to have a recording of my mom playing, and I just knew it would mean so much to Hil since she plays the clarinet as well.  At the time of recording this, I was so excited for Hilary to have her baby that I had to lock myself in the bathroom and have a little cry after I recorded my part.  I was so emotional!  (Hilary had her baby on the 11th, and was a total ROCKSTAR!  We are so happy for her and C, and loving baby Ruby from afar.)

I was really excited to have a camera that would take outdoor pictures at night!  We had so much fun going to the Botanical Gardens with Todd's mom.  We almost froze our faces off, but it was totally worth it.  Kids loved it, and everywhere I went people talked about the leash I had Ty on, LOL!  Never thought I'd be one of those parents, but I am, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  The leash made the night awesome!

Be sure to check out Bronwyn and her hilarious hat in all these pics!  I am seriously laughing out loud!

Seriously!  Bronwyn is cracking me up.  Love that kid.

We spent Christmas Eve at my inlaws, and had a wonderful time.  Ty clobbered anyone with a cell phone in the hopes of feeding his Angry Bird addiction.  Where did we go wrong?

We were surrounded by the cutest Christmas elves EVER!

We were even given a Christmas concert by some of the older grand-daughters.  I was so proud of Bronwyn for playing the piano in front of everyone.  She and her cousin learned the same song on different instruments, and did an imprompu duet.  I am definitely looking forward to more of these concerts, and watching all the kids develop their talents over the years.

Later that night, we set out some carrots and nanaimo bars for Santa and his reindeer.  I know for a fact that they all enjoyed their treats.  :)

Then after putting the kids to bed, Todd and I opened all our presents!  It was so fun!  And it made Christmas morning alot more relaxed since we had to be at church at 10:30.  Todd always gets me the best gifts, and surprised me this year with a diamond necklace.  Sure makes the two books I got him look kind of lame...  And let's just pretend that my face doesn't look fat in this picture.

I couldn't wait for Christmas morning.  Ty was sooo excited all week, and kept talking about how he wanted to open his presents.  But he started feeling sick on Christmas Eve, and when we woke him up Christmas morning he greeted us with a big "NO!".  Despite his sickness, he was able to go through his stocking and open his presents.  Just not as animated as he usually is.

Santa brought all our kids their own laptop in the hopes that it would make them play with mine less...  It kind of worked.  :)

Magsy went straight to work coloring a bag that she really wanted for Christmas, and Ty went straight to the couch.  Where he stayed for about 3 days, except for the during his 40 plus diaper changes.  Could I be more grateful that Todd was home when our kid in diapers had the runs?  I think I changed maybe 3 diapers that week.  Thank you, honey!

I was so bummed that both Todd and Ty were too sick to spend Christmas afternoon with the entire family.  But we still enjoyed our week home as a family, and spent alot of time doing fun projects with the kids.

And Ty didn't let go of his "little, yellow angry bird from Aunt Shellie" the entire week!

Thankfully he perked up after a few days, and we had him open the rest of his presents.  And the second time around we finally got to see what we had been waiting for!  The cutest little boy on the planet, who couldn't have been happier to open up presents!