Saying Goodbye

Dad passed away on March 21st. Strange, sometimes it seems like nothing has changed and then I remember and everything has. Everything looks differently, and time is moving at a different pace. It's a strange feeling to watch life go on normally around you when yours seems to have stopped for a time.

The day before Dad left us my brothers came into town and we were able to spend the whole day together just our immediate family. It was such an amazing day, even with the sadness knowing it was probably just days till He'd be gone. It's hard to really describe that day so I'll just say it was so special and I'll always remember the spirit we felt and the words that were said. And I'll be forever grateful for all the time I've had to spend with my Dad, and that my kids did. And I'm grateful that I got to say goodbye and tell him all the things that I wanted to. And I am incredibly happy knowing that we will be together again. The hope that brings makes his parting a little less sorrowful. Although I already miss him more than words can say and my heart is broken.

Baby Quinn

Pictures by Evelyn at Freckles Photography

Life

Better late than never right? This last few months have been a whirlwind. So much happening all at once I'm just barely getting a chance to catch my breathe. So here come some updates finally.

I'll start with the good news :) Quinn, boy # 4, was born on March 4th. 7lbs 11 oz and 20.5 inches. Labor was great! When we had Clayton we had a home birth and I thought anything other than that again would be miserable. But we had Quinn at Orem Community Hospital and it was such a great experience. My labor was induced at about 1:00 in the afternoon and by 4:34 I had my sweet baby in my arms. And contrary to what you might think since we went so natural last time, I DID have an epidural, and it actually worked!!! It hasn't done that since I had my very first baby so it was so great.
I love that hospital, everyone there was so nice and caring and it was good to have a chance to relax a little before coming home to the chaos.

We got home Sunday and our great friends brought us meals for a few days till my mother in law as able to come. She stayed for a week and it as such a wonderful blessing. I have so many friends who don't really like their in laws, I feel very fortunate to have such great ones who I absolutely love. Sue took such great care of us, and I loved having the company. It's so nice having someone to talk to during the day other than little kids. I was sad to see her go home, but I know she had a lot waiting for her there. She does so much with so little thanks. Thank you Sue. For being so wonderful and for helping us when we really needed you. And for making it possible for my mom to not have to stress about us and just be able to take care of my Dad.

Now here's where life gets crazy. 2 weeks after Quinns birth I took the boys in to the Dr. just for some routine things, shots etc. While we were there we had Parkers iron tested since he'd been looking kinda of pale and sickly lately. I hadn't noticed it as much but everyone was starting to comment on how he looked so I decided we'd better just have him checked. Well it was so low we were sent to the hospital that afternoon and admitted and he received a blood transfusion! It was so scary, I felt terrible for not realizing how sick he was. But the next morning he had more energy than he'd had in months and the color had come back to his face. But the question still yet to be solved it why and how he was losing blood. We've spent the last few weeks getting test after test done to figure it out without a lot of luck. But hopefully soon we will have some answers.

3 days after Parker got out of the hospital Dad lost his battle with cancer and passed away. I'll do a separate post on this.
That week was busy getting ready for the funeral and the next spent visiting with family. And now other than dr. appts we are enjoying the quiet, well as much as we can with a house full of cute boys ;), and trying to get into a routine and figure out life again.

When Parker was at the hospital my good friend Evelyn was watching the kids and as a gift she took these sweet pictures of Quinn for me!!! She's done almost all our pics int he past and again she did an amazing job. Thank you Evelyn! You are such a great friend. These pics make my heart melt when I look at them and bring much needed smiles to us all.

Science Fair

This week was the school science fair, and even though it was mainly for the 5th and 6th graders they let all of the kids 1st and up participate. Parker was really exited to make a project for it. Here did it on magnetics and made a little rollerblader that moved around the cones by magnets underneath. What was the reason Parker was so motivated to do a project? Icecream. That's right, they promised every kid who participated icecream so of course we had to do it. And I think he did learn a bit along the way so you can't really be upset about that. Only 2 kids from his class participated and he was so proud to be one of them.

34 weeks!

The count down is on, 6 more weeks! I keep praying this little boy comes a little bit early, mostly so I can walk again, but since the last 4 babies came just after their due dates we're just hoping he gets here safely. I can't believe I'm doing this for the 5th time, each one has been harder that's for sure and I'm excited to be done. I'd really like to think that 4 boys will be enough for us and I can enjoy the rest of life pregnancy free. But I think almost everyone wants to believe they are really done when they are in the midst of the 3rd trimester lol.

The boys are getting excited to meet their new brother, and Clayton is enjoying the last few weeks of getting to be the baby, oh if only he knew what was about to happen. Poor kid, he's so young, I feel kind of guilty having another so soon when he still needs me so much. Although I'm sure once Jack gets here that Clayton will seem huge to me and not such a baby anymore.

I don't feel like a very photogenic person normally, so taking a picture pregnant when my face is all puffy and my belly huge is not so appealing to me. But here you go, this is the one and only pic I'll post of me and the belly. Let's just hope that over the next 6 weeks only the baby grows and not me, I don't think I could carry around much more.