So Happy!!!!

Life is whirling wildly around me right now, but I am so happy. Right before our little Sarah was born we put an offer in on a house in American Fork. Two months later, the week before the kids got out of school, we were able to close on that house. It was a short sale, so it can be a super long process. Two months was an extraordinarily short amount of time to wait on a short sale. I was talking to the listing agent when he came by to pick up his key box. He was telling me he has two short sales that have been waiting over a year. At any rate, we were blessed and now we own our first home.
We moved in a week ago. Inside the house is still a mess. Boxes everywhere. We are trying to get the kids rooms all ready for them...we wanted them all to have rooms they loved because for the first time...we can do that for them. It's taking longer than we thought, but I think it will get finished up by the end of this week. I will take pictures then. I have a lovely kitchen...lots of light and lot of cupboards...and a pantry. Oh how I love the pantry. :)We have a living room where I have set up my office. Not ideal for people to walk into, but ideal for me to perform my job while keeping an eye on the kiddos. I can see most of the house from "the office".
We have a lovely little backyard. Lots of shade, a garden, two fruit trees...it's just a nice little space. Yesterday we had a bunch of Baxters over helping us add mulch to our garden and flower beds. Afterward, Mary (my mother in law) and I went to buy plants and got the flower beds and the garden planted. It was a back breaking all day affair, but it is done.
The neighborhood is very friendly. Yesterday a stranger stopped by to say hi to us and offered to bring us dinner. :) She is not a stranger anymore. I am sure I will get to know her very well as she has an 8 year old son. Across the street is another 8 year old boy. Ben has immediate friends. He loved his first day of scouts here. I am so happy for him. We have been a very busy household since we moved in. Lots of family in and out helping us get things done. It is so fun to be so near to everyone.
So, I am so happy. I will try to add pictures of my happiness later.

And Then There Were Six

Ok, I am home. Actually, I came home yesterday. Partly because I can't stand the hospital, partly because Nate has an even more serious aversion than I do and I know that every minute he spends there is a minute spent in pain. So, 24 hours after delivering our little bundle of joy, we packed her up and brought her home. They are making us rent the stupid bili light bed until her bilirubin count goes down. . .I don't really think it is that high. . . but just the same she is spending plenty of time in there. I digress. Back to the message. We are home. I forgot what the first little bit is like. I feel like I just did a hundred push ups and sit ups. My body hurts everywhere from the waist up. I am sleep deprived in the most horrible way. I cry about really silly things. Like Nate leaving me alone this afternoon so he could go pick up our kids. My gut is hanging. . .no longer am I cute pregnant. Just fat. ;) But it was all worth it because I have to say that Sarah is amazing. Now I am crying again. HAHA.

Sarah entered the world March 25, 2011. She was born in the early afternoon. So perfect. Let's talk about the delivery. Thanks to the fact that I am a VBAC patient, my doctor was nice enough to induce me as soon as it was IHC approved to do an elective induction because he was leaving town and didn't want me to end up with a doctor who wasn't willing to do the VBAC. Apparently it is kind of a pain in the butt because the doctor has to be in the building throughout the entire labor. . . and it has a small amount of risk involved. At any rate, I love my doctor. This is him.

So, getting to the point. That is how I ended up being induced a week early. I was a little nervous. I was induced with both my other girls, but it was only a day or two before my due date. I was afraid things may not move smoothly along. However, to play a long story short, I progressed very quickly. Everyone thought it was going to take 10 or 12 hours and they all ho hummed their way up to Ogden. Surprise to all of us, I was complete in only 6 hours. Ready to push.
Now, every story has some less than desirable circumstances. Well, maybe not every story, but this one did. I am not a woman who relished pain. Epidural is the only way in my book. So, early on I got my epidural. Ah, heavenly. Well, at some point my body started progressing pretty quickly and I realized that I was feeling things that I shouldn't with the epidural. I mentioned it to the nurse and she paged the anesthesiologist to come add some more drugs to my drip bag. Bad news. He was at the bedside of a woman having a c-section for triplets who were only 24 weeks. Hence, he was not able to leave to come to my bedside. And, I was progressing so fast that he probably wouldn't have been able to do much anyway. So,for the first time, I suffered at least some of the actual pain of labor. It was painful. I would share a picture of my face and how that felt, but frankly, I'd rather people did not remember me that way. So, we will just say that it was painful. Lucky for me though, I only had to push three short rounds to get Sarah out. Her shoulders got stuck for a minute and the first time her head came out the cord was around her neck. Doc took care of that. She was delivered and was the most purple baby I have ever seen.

She took her time getting that first breath. I was laying there thinking, Breath baby, breath. After what seemed like a long time. . .but really wasn't I heard her first little cry. Then I knew she was here and she was ok. A few good cries and her purple turned a lovely shade of red. :)

And I was happy. Let me show you some other happy people.




And that is how this family of five became a family of six. I am panicked. I have no idea how I am going to succeed at this new ball to juggle, but I prayed this afternoon and I think we will be ok. :) Thanks goodness we are not alone.

The Man of My Dreams

Nate turned 35 last week. That means I have pretty much known him half of his life. When we met in high school he was this cute, funny, and completely clueless teenager. I was just head over heals in love. I chased him relentlessly. . .ok, maybe I wasn't quite that bad. He went on his mission. . .very dedicated to his calling. Despite difficulties with his mission president he knew who he was really there for and had a wonderful mission. He came back slightly wiser, but not wise enough to marry me right then. We have grown together for many years. Really, we have gained a lot of wisdom together. He has been the source of complete frustration and utter joy in my life (just joy now, of course). Nate is the Father that every kid should have. His children adore him and are totally loyal to him above all others. For his birthday he took Ben to a Jazz game. The girls and I were going to have a girls night and we did, after some disappointment on there end that they couldn't go with Dad. Apparently, I really need to up my fun factor.
Last night Nate had to work late. I was tired and kind of ornery when he got home. The kids were stir crazy. So, instead of relaxing and watching TV after a 12 hour day, he played games with me and the kids and then let me lay on the couch and watch TV while he did the dishes afterward. I just love him. He is a year older and a year wiser and a year more wonderful. He is the man of my dreams. Happy Birthday.

New Year's Eve

We saw "Tangled". It was super cute and I loved it. Then we marched around the house around 10pm to celebrate the New Year. Hey, my kids are not wise enough to check the time yet. Maybe next year we will actually have to let them stay up until midnight.

The Best Christmas Ever!!!!

Christmas is always fun. We were definitely on the go this year. Back and forth between our Ogden abode to Utah County for parties and entertainment. By the time the Stalker Family Christmas Eve was done I was ready for a long winter's nap. At about 9pm we finally loaded up in the van for out treck back to Ogden. Nate opened the sliding door to throw a couple more things in....and you will not believe what happened. The door just fell off. It was hilarious (well, I found it funny. Nate did not find it so funny as he was trying to get the door back on.). All I could think was "How are we going to get home without a van door?" I ran inside and got a couple more strong arms to help Nate out. Luckily they were able to shove the door back on and we were able to still go home. (We just got it fixed to the tune of $175). At any rate, the crisis was averted. It reminded me of many years ago when my family went out to dinner on Christmas Eve. The only place we could find open was a Wienerschnitzel. We all filled our belly's on super grease and we were ready to head home for Santa. Out to the car we went only to discover that my Dad had locked the keys in the car. Oh, the fear I had that I was going to miss Santa Claus. I am sure the kids were a bit worried about that same thing.
Well, anyway, we did get on the road. Arriving home pretty late. The kids all slept in Ben's room. Shockingly, they fell asleep pretty quick. Then, all we had to do is wait for morning. We woke up about 8am and had a delightful time opening presents. The kids kept saying "This is the best Christmas Ever". It was very satisfying that they were so happy. The kids made us books for Christmas. They were great with pictures and stories included. Nate and I were a bit slow and didn't get around to shopping for eachother. However, Nate, being the better one, did buy me a necklace that I love. Then I went out and bought maternity clothes on super sale after Christmas. We havent' really gotten anything for Nate yet. His birthday came up right after Christmas so it sord of threw me off. Anyway, blah, blah, blah. We stayed in jammies almost all day and played. It was perfect.

Grandma Stalker's Grandma Party

What do you get when you mix 11 cousins and a Grandma. A big fat party with tons of chaos. This was Grandma Stalker's Christmas Party. The kids had a blast and regardless of it being somewhat exhausting for the adults, it was worth it. Somehow I did not escape being one of those adults. . . even though I tried. Then, Nate, being the good sport he is decided to help out too. We survived. I am always so glad that my kids have tons of cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grandmas and Grandpas. They are bountifully blessed.

The Nativity

I always love that we can do crafty things around Christmas. I saw this Nativity at Seagull Book and just had to have it. Mostly because I know one day I will look at that Nativity and remember my little children as they were. People keep telling me that I will miss that one day. :) We had so much fun painting these little figures and each of the kids was very proud of their finished project. I can't wait to get it out next year and find it a special place in our new home (we better have a new home ;).