Happiness

  This was taken the day before I went into Labor- 40 Weeks and 3 days- Done Loading!     The Contractions (or birthing waves) started around 7 pm on Wednesday night (the 16th). I was 3 days over due. The night before I had strong contractions on and off but they were gone by the morning. I realized later that they must have helped me progress because things went pretty fast! I had just finished organizing one of the kid's toy bins (a burst of energy) when the contractions started. I got on my birthing ball and bounced while the kids got ready for bed. Josh was talking with Elizabeth and I had to tell him "Let's get these kids to bed!" After they were in bed, Josh read to the boys while I turned on my "Fear Release" Hypno-babies soundtrack on my phone and relaxed into the contractions on the couch. They were definitely stronger and had more kick than the ones I had before, so I knew this was my birthing time! I was slightly worried that...

My Parents left today. Josh, Declan and I stood on the porch and waved goodbye. It is just us now. All 7 of us. Walking into the living room, you find more Abbotts there. More family. More sweet faces. More responsibility. It has surprised us and caught us happily unawares- how families can grow and change- dynamic little things. And speaking of dynamic little things-  Declan is oh so dynamic! His little coos. His funny, funny facial expressions. The hefty weight of his bum in your hand. The eating and sleeping and changing of diapers then sleeping and eating and changing again. The obliviousness of what time the clock says at night. This little new person, all shiny and new and tiny. He is here and he is changing our world!

  Introducing...   Declan James Abbott     Born at 2:24 a.m.   Thursday, April 17th 2014 (on Aunt Hilary's Bday)   Au Natural (baby story to come)   8 lbs 5 oz- our biggest baby ever!   Lovely Blonde Hair-   He has stolen all of our Hearts!!   Welcome, Baby Declan!   **and Happy Easter!   

Prepping for baby (some of the twins, Ashers and new baby clothes all together!)   Well, my due date (the 12th) has come and gone (and still no baby!). This is pretty much a first for me! Elizabeth's due date was Sept. 14th but I convinced myself that it was the 15th and I went into labor early that morning! The twins were born 5 1/2 weeks early and Asher 3 days early. Everything about this pregnancy has been quite different than the others. I don't know if it's because I am 36 or if this baby is just a very unique boy! With him, I was quite sick from 6 weeks along to almost exactly 12 weeks along. I wasn't very much with the others (more so with the twins). This baby kicks and moves a lot more than all my others did. I've had about 4 long nights of contractions, only for them to fade away by morning. What?! With Asher that happened and then the next day he arrived! And Elizabeth after 2 days too. Aren't I supposed to go along fine and then c...

I hit 40 weeks tomorrow. And still no baby. That's okay! He's growing big and fat in there, so it's all good. I won a free photo shoot from facebook- here's a few that were taken (at 38 weeks).  I'm glad she got them back to me before the baby arrived. I really liked how these turned out!            

Josh and his birthday toy- a quadcopter Happy Birthday, Babe! We joked that now that you are 35 you are an adult! He laughed and said that when we had three kids (at the age of 25) a co-worker said that he was definitely an adult then. Happy Birthday to my now-adult hubby! I love you!   Not too good of a pic but it shows all of the Party Crew! and do you love the wrapping job? (I ran out of paper!)  Because of Young Womens on Wednesday Nights (tonight they are having a Beehive night and welcoming all the girls who are turning 12 this year and Elizabeth is invited!) and since Josh's Mom was here, we had a celebration early this year.     Happy Birthday, Josh!!

  Asher's 2nd Grade Dinosaur Project. They each were assigned a dinosaur (he got the Apatosaurus- which is like the Brontosarus) and had to write a 4-5 paragraph research paper and make a model. He ended up adding a paper mache nest with egg shells and some rocks. He had a great time doing it!   Baby B's corner in Elizabeth's room. We had her help Dad put up the crib when I was out shopping and she was thrilled to show it to me when we were done!   A bow tie made during Conference (which I loved, btw!) for baby boy. I asked Asher and the others if they wanted bow ties for Easter too and they said yes! I'm planning to make some! 39 weeks (and a hot Asher- it's supposed to be 98 on Thursday!). Josh's Mom has been visiting on Baby Watch and it's been such a life saver to have her here! She helps out a lot and even cooks dinner- it's been wonderful! She leaves on Wednesday, but we are enjoying her while we can!

On Saturday Evening, Elizabeth and I got to go together to the first General Womens Conference of the Church where girls ages 8 and up were also invited- along with the Women. I was excited to have her come with me! She was a little nervous, since it is was a new situation, but once there, she really enjoyed it! About 10 minutes into the meeting, I start having contractions/birthing waves- mostly Braxton hicks, but they I notice they keep coming and coming. I started timing them- 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 8 minutes, 5 minutes. Painful ones. I started getting excited! Elizabeth wanted to get a drink at the drinking fountain afterwards. I wanted to hurry home and lay down and see if they would go away. We got home, I excitedly told Josh what was going on and went to lay down on my left side for an hour and drink lots of water. After 45 minutes of resting and them not going away, I was too antsy and had to get up and do something! I packed more of my hospital bag, started cleaning the bat...