Emily's 9th Birthday

Emily celebrated her 9th birthday on Friday. The day before on Thursday we had a family party, because dad had to work Friday night. We had some Korean food. Emily didn't like the Mandu Guk very much, a potsticker soup. But she did like the Bulgogi, like teriyaki meat. And instead of cake, she wanted donuts. She got a Build-A-Bear and even got to sew the whole body up, except the head, it was already sewn. Happy Birthday Emily!

So here's Emily's birth story. I'm writing it down now so I don't forget as I've never written it down before.

With Emily, I never had Braxton Hicks. It was weird because I did have them with Alex and Kate. So with Emily there was nothing. She was due on February 17th, Kate's birthday. Emily was born on a Monday. The day before I remember going over a list of things that I needed to do during the week and because I was having no signs of labor, not even a Braxton Hick, I pretty much assumed the week would come and go and I would get everything done that I had planned. Todd's mom was going to come up when she was born, so I was planning on getting one of the rooms ready for her to stay in. I had hoped Emily would come early, but was resigned to the fact that it may not happen because nothing seemed to be happening. Early Monday morning I remember waking up and having a strong contraction. A while later I had another one. So, I figured I need to get up and get showered and ready to go. I'm not sure what we did with the kids, I can't remember exactly, did we take them over your house LaNae? Anyways, we weren't in a rush as the contractions were not too close together, but they were strong. We got to the hospital about six in the morning. The amazing thing about Emily's birth is that the contractions never got closer than 5 minutes apart, so I always had time to rest and regroup. We get all set up in the hospital and I can't remember how dilated I was, perhaps a five, but not sure as the details in my head are fading. I was having intense back labor and I would have Todd rub my back real hard during the contractions. I think it was worse on him! Finally after going through several contractions, I tell the nurse that it's time for some pain killers. She thought I was doing so well and I could do it without, but I didn't want to get to a point where you start panicing because of the pain and there's no turning back. Granted, I was very calm during it all, I had been praying for that and everything was going real smooth. So I was given an interthecal because as fast as I was dilating the doctor thought for sure I would be delivering in less than an hour. With an interthecal you feel your legs and feet and can even walk but there's no pain during contractions, just pressure. But no one's perfect, so I suppose the anesthesiologist didn't do it exactly right as I could not feel my legs at all and couldn't even feel myself pushing. I began pushing around 8 am. But because the contractions would never get any closer than five minutes apart it seemed like there's was a lot of waiting going and less pushing going on. It seemed like forever and everytime I pushed it was as if nothing was happening. Nine o'clock came and we were still pushing. Ten o'clock rolled around and still we were pushing. The doctor had called his office twice to reschdule appointments as he thought I'd have easily been delivered by now. Ten thirty was approaching and by now the interthecal was wearing off and I was starting to feel pain of the contractions. I was also getting really tired. The doctor decided to do an episiotomy on the next push and wallah! Out popped Emily! 7 lbs. 4 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. She was sunny side up! Instead of her head facing down towards the ground so her crown could come first, she was face up with her forehead wanting to come first. This is why she wasn't coming and why the back labor was so intense. Her head couldn't shape and conform to come out so easily. She wanted to see us all first, not the ground! She was the easiest baby out of all my babies! And honestly I will admit, she never slept in her crib! She was too easy and she would sleep so soundly next to me. She was generally always happy and even took a bottle when needed! The only down side to her birth was that I developed a spinal headache that lasted for four days! But I didn't realize it was a spinal headache until months later. I just thought I was tired. My head only hurt when I would sit up or stand, but laying down I was perfectly fine. Weird. Had I known what it was the doctor could have fixed it. Oh well. At least it did subside. I love you sweet Emily!

When they cancel school, the kids will play!

Wednesday we got roughly 8 inches of snow, which cancelled school for the day. Todd helped the kids create a sledding trail or run or whatever you want to call it. We just bought some tubes and they go down the hill much faster. We love the area we live in. I know Heavenly Father helped us find this place! How much better does it get? We can go tubing in our own backyard! I went down once. After we bought the tubes I went down a couple of more times. It is lots of fun. This weekend we are getting any where from 20 to 30 inches of snow! It's crazy! We are excited to see how that will add to our tubing adventures!

Here's Emily taking a turn on the run!

When did Alex go see a play?

I caught Alex playing with his little people the other day and he had a play going on! I don't know when he went and saw a play. I asked him later if he had seen a play at his school or went to a play with his class but he said no. He usually acts out what he's already done. He's so funny. (Don't forget to push the pause button to the right to turn off the music so you can hear Alex singing!)

First Steps!

The children are perfect helpers when it comes to teaching Seth! The kids will walk Seth all over the house. Today they decided to see if he could walk on his own. And what do you know? He's starting taking a few steps! We got a little bit of it on camera. Enjoy!

(Don't forget to push the pause button to the right to stop the music so you can hear the videos!)

A funny thing about Seth today: I was sweeping the kitchen floor and Seth drug the dust pan over to the pile of dirt I was sweeping up! He's so funny! He's also very smart! He knew exactly what to do. Now I'm wondering why the other kids haven't figured this out. They just sweep everything into the pantry or under the rug! :)

Lego Maniac

Karsten loves to build anything that flies with Legos! It all started when I bought some Lego Star Wars at the thrift shop. It wasn't a complete set, but it had enough parts for Karsten to improvise to make a ship. So for Christmas this year he got the Darth Vadar ship of Lego Star Wars. He is so good at building. Alex built it for Karsten at first, but it soon was busted in a million pieces! So Karsten began rebuilding! He knows how to follow the instructions that they give you. It has taken him several days to figure it out. In the pictures below he is building the central part of Darth's ship. He's got one of the wings built and still has got another wing to build. If he can't find a piece, he improvises. He loves Lego Star Wars! Or anything Star Wars for that matter. The recommendation for ages 8-12 years doesn't intimidate this 4 year old! Dane is also really good at building with Legos, although I think he prefers to play with the Legos over building, as he let Alex build his Lego ship he got for his birthday. Alex stayed up until 11:30 building it! OCD, that's all I can tell you.

Happy Birthday Dane!

Dane celebrated his 7th birthday this past Sunday. It is amazing how fast time has flown by. For his birthday, Dane wanted to make pizzas. So, Dane had the honors of making the very first pizza. Do you see any resemblance between Dane and Seth? I think Seth looks like Karsten. The next few photos are of the girls decorating Dane's cake. They love to do it. I can't remember the last time I baked a birthday cake because they always beat me to it! They didn't do such a bad job, considering we have no cake decorating utensils in our home. They are pretty good at improvising.

This is the funny part. We lit the birthday candle and got ready to sing.

Right in the middle of us singing the candle goes out! We can't get it relit. So I check the candle, and because it has been used in the past, their is no wick left! So we grabbed a toothpick and stuck it in the top of the candle so we'd have something to light and for Dane to have something to blow out. This explains the flame on top of the candle in the next picture.

Now for she'll have something to blow out! We had to light the toothpick twice! The first time I just lit the top and it went out. So the second time I lit the bottom and the whole thing started burning!

Blowing out the candle!

Here are the gifts I got from mom and dad, and Grandma and Grandpa Stailey.

Ok, so the rest of this post you can skip if you'd like. All it contains is the events that took place on the day Dane was born. So, if you'd rather not, here's your warning!

I'd been having mild contractions with Dane for about three weeks. I even went to the hospital at one point to get checked, as Dane was going to have to be a C-section due to changes in hospital policies. Dane was due on about the 15th of January, if I remember right. As my due date got nearer, my doctor told me that he didn't care what the hospital said, he'd let me deliver vaginally if I wanted. I told the doctor that would be fine, but I'd have to expect to have no anesthesia, as we were going against hospital policy. I didn't know exactly what I was getting myself into by agreeing not to have anesthesia, but I decided to go along with it. I totally believe that Heavenly Father was watching out for me on this delivery. On the evening of January 9th, after having mild contractions all day long (nothing new from the previous 3 weeks), Todd and I turned in for the night. After having contractions for so many weeks, I thought for sure I would go to my due date. At midnight I woke up with what felt like gastrointestinal cramps. So, I got up to go to the bathroom. While in the bathroom I had a pretty good contraction. At this point I wasn't totally sure what was going on. So I go back to bed. I then have another good contraction. I get back up and go to the bathroom. The contractions are really close and are getting stronger. I tell Todd it's time! I had wanted to take a shower before heading to the hospital, but as fast as they were coming, I decided not to. Todd called a friend, Sandy Vangilder, who had agreed to watch the kids for us. She arrived a little before 1 am. By now some of the contractions were on top of each other, meaning when one would end another would immediately begin. We left for the hospital, which thank goodness was only five minutes away. As we walked into the hospital I told Todd I had to go the bathroom. I have never felt the pushing stages of labor because I had had an interthecal with the two girls. (Interthecal is just an injection into the spine, not a catheter like the epidural. But it does not last as long, so it is used when only a few hours of pain control is needed.) Todd told me no, that we should just get up to the third floor first. It probably was a good idea, as I probably could have had Dane in the bathroom! When we arrived on the third floor, we told them I was in labor, and the nurses are just calm and cool about things thinking we've got some time. I go into the bathroom and by now I am having such strong contractions that you can't help but holler! The nurse tells me to get out of the bathroom so she can check me as I think she was pretty sure this baby was coming soon. The contractions were so close that I couldn't even change. Todd and the nurse had to undress me and put a gown on. When the nurse checked me, she immediately got the other nurses and told them the baby was coming now. An on-call OB/GYN came in as my doctor was still on his way to the hospital. I remember the look on the nurses' face when they asked me how many children I had previously delivered and if they were all vaginally. I told them no, that my first was a C-section, and they kind of look at each other like, what do we do, but then continue on with getting me prepped. Remember, hospital policy was that no woman who had had a previous C-section was allowed to deliver vaginally. The baby's head was ready to come out, what are you suppose to do, push it back in and send them to the operating room? My doctor finally arrives and after two pushes, Dane is born at 1:32 am weighing in at 9 lbs. 6 oz. Nothing feels better than after delivering a baby, well, maybe an epidural. Had I taken that shower I might have not made it to the hospital!

The experience of giving birth to Dane totally changed my out look on labor and delivery. It was a very intense and traumatic experience. As I look back, I know Heavenly Father allowed it to be so fast so I wouldn't have to be in pain for very long. I have to deal with anxiety now, which I never really dealt with before Dane. When I got pregnant with Karsten, because of the experience I had with Dane, it was a pretty hard thing. Funny how it all turns out to be such a blessing, though! I've also thought about the fact that had I had a c-section with Dane, perhaps my placenta increta would have happened with Karsten, and we'd have missed out on Seth. Who knows, I just know Heavenly Father is really looking out for us! Happy Birthday, Dane! I love you! You were worth every bit of pain and anxiety I've felt!

Two things

Ok, two things that I had a light bulb moment on today. The first thing, perhaps not a light bulb moment, but pretty much a confirming experience: when Heavenly Father has something for you to do, he will provide a way if we ask. Todd had to work today, Sunday, so I had the kids alone again during church and I wondered if Seth would be as good as he was the last time I was alone for the sweet sister in our ward who watches him for me. Should I have doubted? Not only was he great but he was actually interacting with her, like smiling back at her, laughing, etc. She use to just hold him so he couldn't see her in hopes that if he didn't know who was holding him that he'd be happy! Just another confirmation that when Heavenly Father has work for us to do (or anything that may be placed in our lives), He will provide a way!

The second thing: perhaps one of the reasons why Heavenly Father doesn't answer our prayers in the manner we want him to is that because we are not ready for the responsibility that may come with having that answer! This hit me today during Sacrament as the speaker mentioned a story about his friend who was investigating the church, but wasn't ready to commit. He wasn't getting a confirmation about the gospel because he was not ready to commit. The speaker contrasted this story to the one of Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith was ready and prepared for the answers he sought in the Sacred Grove, and that's why he was answered. We all may not have angels or God himself visit us in answer to our prayers, but if we are prepared for an answer, we will receive it. It may be that the "just wait" answer is that we are not yet prepared to receive it. Very good talk.