Fire and Fireworks

There was a fire on the west side of Timp and the kids enjoyed watching the helicopter dump water on the fire to try and put it out. We thought it would be fun to follow the helicopter and find out where it was filling up it's water bucket. Turns out it was at a water holding tank just a few blocks from our house. The kids thought it was totally cool to watch it fill up and take off to fight the fire. 

Although nearly a month away, Jackson has been so excited for the 4th of July and watching fireworks.  All Spring I have been telling him what events were going to happen chronologically, like: baby Calvin will be born, and then it's Father's Day, and THEN the 4th of July...next comes swim lessons and then first day of school! 

I guess he thought that when I said the 4th of July came after Father's day I meant the DAY after Father's day because this morning (which happens to be Father's Day) he said, "Tomorrow is the fourth of JULY!!" He was so excited, but we had to correct the misunderstanding! Anyway, here they are with some cousins in red, white, and blue. 

Father's Day 2012

Happy Father's Day Brian! We love you and appreciate all your love and devotion to our family! I was lucky to have a great dad, and I'm sure Brian wouldn't be the father he is without the example he had from his own dad. I am so happy to see my children having an amazing experience with a dad who is completely involved and loves his children! Our tribute to him is so small compared to what he deserves!

 The kids gave Brian a coupon book with coupons for things they felt were essential to showing their dad how much they love him. It was so cute and included things like: a big bear hug, singing him a song, wearing hair in pigtails (Zoey), helping in the yard/garden, letting him sleep in, and being a buddy for the day. 

They love their dad best when he comes home from work and wrestles with them. They love when he reads them books and tucks them in bed at night. They love running errands with him in his truck and that special one-on-one time he shares with them. They love morning breakfasts when he makes pancakes into any desired shape they want...which has included some pretty imaginative objects to make out of pancake batter! 

Brian is a wonderful husband and father and I am so grateful for him in my life! These past few weeks would have been unimaginable without his support! 

Happy Father's day to all of you dads out there! 

One month!

Calvin is one month old! Time flies. We all feel a bit like Calvin does in this photo. Look at that huge yawn! It has been a very tiring and exhausting month for us. Calvin's reflux/colic is still pretty bad most days, although we have seen a few moments of improvement which gives me hope for the future and motivation to make it though each day. Yesterday was a day when he had painful cries from around 3:30pm until 7:30 at night. By the time Brian made it home from work, I was emotionally broken too. 

I really feel that this experience is teaching me to love deeper and greater and to have more sympathy for others in their trials. I have had more patience than I could have thought possible from me. For that, I guess you could say I'm grateful for  the challenge because of what it is teaching me. And of course, I will always be grateful for Calvin. My love for him is immense...I just wish I could take his pain away! He is a special, sweet baby.

I've learned that infants with reflux or colic can have the issue for 6 months or so. I guess you could say we are one month down, and a few more to go! That gives me something to look forward to! I also read a recent article on KSL about a family who's infant was diagnosed with a rare disease which will leave their baby unable to develop past 6 months of age mentally, and he won't be able to live much longer than that.

(you can read about it here: 

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=20746524&nid=1010&title=fighter-jett-touching-lives-with-a-flight-plan-all-his-own&s_cid=featured-1

 It puts things in perspective and I can at least say reflux isn't THAT bad. We can deal with it, at least we'll get to see him grow out of it! 

Although this picture is a bit fuzzy, you can see the greatest pleasure in Eli's face. He finally had the chance to hold his brother and was SO dang excited about it. Eli has been fighting colds, hand foot and mouth, coughs and fevers since we brought Calvin home from the hospital. Now, a month later, Eli finally got his chance! He was so happy! 

Graduate

 Jackson graduated from preschool! I love this pose he pulled with his

"grad cap" on. He is proud to be done with preschool and is looking forward to kindergarten. He can write his name, is reading a few words, can count to 100 by single digits and by tens, is familiar with the calendar, and has a repertoire of songs he knows!  

 

The school put on a big program at Noah's on Lindon showing off all the children's skills they have learned over the year. Zoey was thrilled with the whole program (she can't wait until it's her turn)!  

 A highlight for the kids was buzz lightyear made out of balloons. It was amazing...

Just a cute picture I snapped of Zoey taking care of Calvin, she was talking to him all by herself while he was in the bouncer and I thought it was such a sweet, peaceful moment. 

Coming Up Roses

There's a little saying that "Everything is coming up Roses!" Well. Every rose has it's thorn! 

Taking a look at this sweet sleeping baby and one would think everything is peachy! Truth is, we've had a rough patch of road to travel lately. 

Brian got sick the first few days after Calvin was born and wasn't even able to be around or hold him for the first 10 days. Then, of course, the kids were all sick too. So Calvin was quarantined in his room for the first bit of life. In fact, until just recently, the other kids hadn't seen much of him at all. Once he started getting integrated in with the family though, they have loved him and beg to hold him. Eli is a sweetie with him and gives him kisses and says "soft" while stroking Calvin's head (who he calls "Calvy").

But in all my "quarantining" and disinfecting and sterilizing to keep him healthy, I couldn't prevent him from getting acid reflux- or is it colic? We still don't know exactly what is wrong, other than he is very fussy and uncomfortable, and spits up most his meals. We spend hours with him at night trying to just soothe him, but there is seemingly nothing we can do to stop him from crying, wailing actually. It has been so hard for me to not be able to help him. I love him more than anything and just want to soothe him, and can't! I can't help but feel sometimes, what's wrong with me...what's wrong with him? 

We've hit some pretty frustrating moments. We've given him a blessing and have poured our hearts out in prayer over him. I beg for heaven's help each night. This morning I was just crying in my bathroom as I was getting ready for the day and finally begged God to send ME an angel to help me out and lift my burden. And guess who walks in my bathroom at that very moment? Eli...my most tender hearted child! It's as if he knew I needed a hug. He is such a sweetie. So tender and compassionate. I knew he was my angel at that moment! He just hugged me and pointed to my tears...and I got it pulled together and faced the day! I'm sure he doesn't know how much he helped. 

I know we'll get though this time, it just takes time and he'll grow out of it. We've had a lot of family help and support which has been so appreciated! I really couldn't do it without Brian's help at night either. It takes us caring for him in shifts to handle the crying some nights. He's a great support! Another blessing has been that Eli and Calvin will nap at the same time durring the day, so I cna usually sneak in a much needed nap. I've always known that nursing a newborn through the night is tiring, but one with colicky symptoms is SO much more tiring! 

Anyway, Eli has been talking up a storm lately. This picture is of him saying "cheese!" He also says, one of my personal favorites, "O-ink" for orange and "moik" for milk (and "more"). I love his little language right now and he is communicating pretty well. 

I found this picture of Jackson and love it. He received these items for his birthday from Grandma/pa Gray. One morning he dressed up in all his gear and asked me what I thought he looked like. I said "an adventurer!" And he said no...I'm a "Jungler" meaning he was going to the jungle on an adventure. He loves his "adventure" things! I think he's super cute. I love his imagination. 

Newborn Pictures!

Who can't get enough of this cute guy? I think we have a pretty darn cute baby, if I might say so! Each time I have a child, it always amazes me that a fully functioning and able body was created. 

I love my tender moments with Calvin when I can look at his tiny hands and feet and other features, and feel so completley grateful to a loving God who sent him to me. He is so loved! 

Calvin Jesse Beutler!

It's a good thing we took maternity photos when we did, because 3 days later, Calvin came into our world- two weeks early! He was born Tuesday morning May 8th at 6:12 a.m., weighed 7lbs 11 oz (our smallest boy!), and was 19 1/2 inches long. 

My OB appointment was on Monday, and the doc said I was dilated to a 3 and 90% effaced. I didn't want to get my hopes up, I've been there before and nothing happened for two weeks! But in the back of my mind, I was really hoping labor would happen at any moment. As the day passed on, there were no signs of labor at all, in fact I felt great...and went to bed a little discouraged! I thought-- ya...two more weeks. He'll probably even come late! Brian had scheduled work trips to be out of town, and I even told him to kep his appointments, that I didn't feel I would go into labor anytime soon. Luckily he didn't listen to me, otherwise he would have missed the whole thing! 

That night, we had a FHE with the kids on how to treat newborn babies, what to expect with changes, prepping them for things, etc. We carry on as normnal. 2 am rolls around and I start feeling contractions. But I figured it was just false labor and tried to go back to bed. No sense waking people up for no reason! By 3 am, the contractions hadn't stopped, and were also getting closer. I decided I might actually be in labor after all! Brian happened to roll over in bed and asked me how I was doing, and I told him I thought I was in labor, but to go back to bed until I felt ready to go to the hospital. How exciting! We wanted to have this experience of "I'm in labor, it's time to go!" And here we were, and I couldn't tell if I was really in labor, or if and when we should head to the Hospital. My last two deliveries were scheduled enductions, so we knew what was coming. Anyway, Brian tried to get back to sleep, but was restless and started timing the contractions for me. They were 1 min. 45 sec. apart. He was worried I'd have the baby in the car, and told me to call my mom right away. So I did. Around 3:30 I gave my mom a call, she arrived at our house near 4am. We drove to the hospital and got checked in (I was already at a 6, completely effaced). Doctor Holmes came around 5:00 am, and a little over an hour later, Calvin was born! 

That's the simple version. I did it med-free (call me crazy, I know, I just think my body does better without the epideral). I have also gone med-free with my other deliveries (except Jackson) and knew what to expect. I was completely in control of managing my pain... and not a nurse nor my husband could tell I was having a contraction unless they looked at the monitoring screen. Of course, it couldn't all be that easy. Doctor Holmes checked the baby around 5:30, after about a half hour of not progressing past an 8. For me and my body, he know that something was up. He did an ultrasound and soon realized Calvin was facing "posterior" and had to be turned to keep my labor progressing. "Turning" is such a nice word for how painful it was! It was worse than the pushing! But since the whole thing was relatively quick...it was doable. Brain took a small video clip af me holding Calvin after he was born, and all i said was "I survived!" That's how it felt....

I'm just glad he is here! We love him in our home. Doctor Holmes handed Calvin to me right away, and so the nurses took care of him while he was on my tummy, and Brian cut the cord. It was seical moment for me. my babies are usually swept away and I don't get to see them until after the bath, but after all that work of laboring, I really appreciated having the chance to hold my baby first...after 9 long months of pregnancy. It was a treat. The nurses also told me I could join in on the first bath. My first experience with that too! I was so excited to be there. They waited a few hours until I felt up to walking around. I was so grateful they were accomidating to me. It made the birthing experience so nice. 

My mom took the older siblings while we were at the hospital, and they are spending the rest of the week with their cousins. It has been sooo nice to rest and recuperate at home in my own bed with just the new baby. I love having time to hold him and enjoy him without someone else needing my hands for something. We are getting some sleep that otherwise wouldn't be possible with all our youngsters. It's been a great transition. We really appreciate all the help we receive. 

I can't express how much I love having a new baby. It's the feeling that got me through every contraction. It is so worth it!! So worth all the sleeplessness, the pains, the post-pardum figure....Calvin has made my life so much more complete and I love him so much! It's hard to put him down. I love looking at his face and tiny features. I love hearing his newborn noises, grunts, and whimpers. He's just perfect in every way!

The kiddos

We tried so hard to get the kids involved in the maternity shoot, but they had nothing to do with it! In the mix,  however, we got some random cute shots of them. I wish they could have cooperated more when we wanted them too! I had such high hopes and big plans...oh well! 

Jackson woke up the other morning and said, "I can't believe I'm 5!" I know...I can't believe it either! He's such a big kid anymore. 

 Zoey is such a girl, and I'm so glad she is. Surrounded by three brothers makes the "girlyness" in her stand out. She loves her long hair and is hoping it will touch her ankles soon! She is already looking forward to her next birthday, of which she has warned me that she does not want to share any of her cake!

Eli is such a good kid. He's talking more and more each day. He has a pleasant personality and is at a great stage right now. He's so fun, tender and loving.  He tries hard to be like the big kids...he's getting there! He is such a happy kid!

Anyway, I've had a challenge for myself this week to spend more quality time with these precious kiddos and enjoy our time before the new baby comes...I know my attentions will be diverted for a while and want to soak up some time that I have. We've had some really good, fun, action-packed days. All of them spontaneous, and on all of them I forgot my camera-ugh! We've gone on walks and bike rides, visited new parks and even found a pond with geese, took a stroll with Grandma by the river and threw rocks over the bridge, went for a fun drive to explore a new area (Brian's idea-it was a pretty scenic farm drive and the kids enjoyed spotting new things), ate lunch-out and got dessert or a fruit shake.... it's been splendid. I've really enjoyed this week with them. I know there will be plenty more...but I hope they feel special. They truly are my pride and joy.