Happiness

Declan,      You are two months old!      You are growing and changing so much! You like to:         -Coo and try to talk and sing when we talk to you. It is so cute!         -Laugh if we shake your hands and then tickle under your arms.                -You are super long- your head hits the arm of the rocking chair when          I feed you and you barely fit!         -You love to listen to music- you smile and coo: anything on Pandora, especially Baby Rock songs (rock songs set to lullaby music- so creative). When you cry in the car, I put Pandora on my phone, put my phone in your car seat and you are good to go! (we learned this on our trip to Cali!).          -...

 One of the Young Women in our ward is a Photographer and volunteered to take newborn pictures of Declan to add to her portfolio. I happily agreed! She came over and took them when he was 6 days old- still pretty little! I could just eat him up! Thanks, T!  At one point, he was sleepy, so we wrapped him up and he fell fast asleep. Then we unwrapped him to take more pictures. After a while he was done though! She had planned a picture with him in a basket but we didn't get to it.  He has really long fingers and toes- we think he is going to be pretty tall! (His length is in the 75th percentile). What a sweet, little boy!

As I sit here, typing this, Baby LulLaby Radio is playing on Pandora and Declan is asleep in his chair- his little nose peeking out of his wrap (he is doing quite well eating and sleeping now! Knock on wood!). Wipes, a boppy, a swing and several blankets are spread across the room. Life sure changes with a baby around! But I am SO glad he is here! We took him to Church for the first time on Sunday and it felt so good to have everyone together. So good! Declan is almost 3 weeks old (this Thursday) and so, I am a little behind on blogging! We brought baby home to several VERY excited kids! It took us a lot longer than we thought to leave the hospital and the kids had been waiting at home most of the day for him to come (they had no school that day since it was Good Friday).   He wasn't too happy about being strapped into his carseat! The kids had made and decorated super cute Welcome banners for Declan. They also wrote cute messages in chalk on the front porch...

  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...

  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!            

  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...

  Elizabeth and I at my Grandma's bday party!    Well, I am at 38 weeks tomorrow- full term! Yay! !The time has flown by so fast! Maybe that's what happens when you are busy with 4 kids in school and keeping busy substituting as well!    And now comes the time when I can't sleep. I just can't get comfortable- the bed is too straight, my curves are too curvy and it's not a great fit! I have a full body pillow but it doesn't help much. I need one of those big, huge J shaped body pillows they sell that are quite expensive! And of course, I am just EXCITED! I know that excitement can cause adrenalin rushes, but I can't help it. I held a nine month old last night and thrilled at the thought of having another one! The kids are getting excited too and ask about when the baby is coming or if they will come home one day and find me nursing on the couch. I reassure them that they will get to visit us at the hospital first!  I love babies. And I get ...

Asher      All the cars, lined up!     Ethan, getting ready to race!   Ethan     Jonah and his car! He won the sportiest award for his design.   Ethan and his car. He won the "most unusual car" award. We thought it should be the most unique car award, but that's okay!   Someone brought an old Model T racer- the kids loved it and loved honking the horn!  " The Red Hot Rod" and "The Blues" Ethan doing some painting. This year, we didn't have a lot of time to work on the cars, since e-mails about the event got sent out late and we were gone during Spring Break. The boys did a great job even on short notice! Josh did a great job helping them too!    Jonah taping and painting.   Oh, Baby! Almost 37 weeks there. Getting ready to meet this little guy!