Baby #5 Details

We are thrilled to be adding to our family in July!  Newborns are just the sweetest and they grow up into some pretty fantastic kids.

Here are some details from the pregnancy so far that I want to remember....

Novemeber 2, 2017:

The night we found out we were expecting was a perfect evening.  It was Friday, October 27, 2017 McKay and I had a date night.  We went to the temple to do some family names.  I am in love with the Idaho Falls temple the spirit is so strong there.  After the temple we went to Olive Garden for dinner.  We had the sweetest waitress who has kids that are similar ages to ours.  She could relate to our situation and was very helpful through our whole meal.  All through dinner I was silently debating in my head about whether to go get a pregnancy test after dinner.  I had taken one a day before my missed period and it had been negative.  Now three days later I was past my period and really wanted to know if I was expecting or not.  I was crampy and bloated (exactly how I feel before my period) so I felt fairly certain that I was NOT pregnant, just late.  Plus if I took a test and it was negative then that would be that and the guessing game would be over. In the end we had to run to the store anyways so I decided to grab one just because (trying to not get my hopes up too much).  It really helps that the tests are only .88 cents so I don't feel bad buying a few.

That night after I got home I took the test and watched it begin.  Yes I don't walk away for 2 mins I just watch it.  ;)  30 seconds in a very slight second line started to appear.  I was SO shocked (in a good way).  I had really convinced myself that this was not the month.  McKay and I were both thrilled and you couldn't have wiped those grins off our faces.  We went to bed and watched a movie as we fell asleep.  I was super tired and fell asleep fast and slept so well for the first half of the night.  Then in the middle of the night I woke up and went to the bathroom.  While in the bathroom I saw the positive test and was reminded again about the sweet little blessing I had in my belly (if having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night wasn't enough of a reminder haha!)  After that I layed awake for an hour or so just day dreaming about life, pregnancy, and a new baby.

I love that they are going to be born in July.  It fits perfectly with my other kid's birthdays.  We will now have a July, August, September, October, and December birthdays.  I know this trend might not last forever, but it is fun for now.

I remember with Magnolia's pregnancy I had a lot of fear in the beginning of her pregnancy.  Since I was able to go on and have a healthy baby with her pregnancy I don't feel like I have as much fear this time.  I am definitely not ignorant to the idea of having a miscarriage, but I am grateful that the fear is not as strong this time.  I still feel excited a lot of the time and am grateful for this pregnancy.  Bring on the morning sickness!

I am now writing this January 15, 2018:

Morning sickness finally came on gradually during the 6th week of my pregnancy.  I was thankful that first week for it since that was a good sign that things were happening.  Week 7-9 I was fairly miserable and not a happy camper.  Lots of headaches, nausea, dizziness, and annoying food needs.  1-5 pm was when I was the most sick.  Then I would have a good few moments from 5-7 pm and then I was sick the rest of the night.  Sitting up at the computer was the worst, hence why this blog has taken a back seat (hopefully I can catch up soon!).  Often I would have McKay give me a back massage as I was falling asleep to help calm my stomach and nerves so that I could relax and go to sleep.

Thanksgiving was during my 8th week and I was not feeling great, but we survived and I was grateful for the distraction of family to help get my mind off the sickness.

My first appointment with my midwife was the week after Thanksgiving.  I was SO nervous for that first ultrasound.  I prayed and hoped that there would be a heartbeat.  The dr. doing the ultrasound was funny.  She also has 5 kids and was shocked to find out that I was having my fifth baby (I look pretty young to people who don't know me.  haha).  So the moment we saw the baby she yells out.  "Oh good there is only ONE!"  haha!  yes one is good.  Thank you for your concern. ;)  My official due date is July 4th which is a fun day!

And to be honest FIVE kids is still sinking in for me.  I can't believe it either most days.  Time just flies and I swear I was having my first baby yesterday.  My family had 4 kids so I really have no idea what to expect with 5 kids.  It will be an adjustment for sure.

Life kept plugging along and I was grateful for the distractions of Christmas through the month of December to keep my mind off being sick.  I love Christmas shopping and it was nice to be able to do it from my phone while I was laying on the couch.  We took a break in December from the kids extra activities so they had lots of time to play and enjoy the Christmas fun.

We didn't eat out a ton with this pregnancy as we have in the past during my other first trimesters.  Thankfully I was still able to cook simple meals and not go crazy with the food budget.  Although I did do 2-3 drive thru runs for lunch a couple days just to get us out of the house and a change of scenery.  I am not one who throws up during pregnancy, but I have to be eating constantly to avoid it.  I eat ALL the TIME during those first few weeks.  Nice in some ways because food is yummy.  But not nice at other times.  I wouldn't feel like eating anything, yet I knew I had to eat to not feel sick.  My favorite foods were hamburgers, salads, plain rice, cereal, plain chips, and hash browns.  Boring food were best. 

We stayed home a lot which normally isn't like me, but I just didn't feel like going anywhere unless I had to.  I gained weight very fast with this pregnancy and that stressed me out.  I didn't love getting dressed and I struggled hiding the bump/bloat that was coming on fast.  I really struggle with the hormonal ups and downs of the first trimester and was not my normal happy self.  I was crabby and didn't love taking the time or energy to do "extra stuff".  Now after 5 pregnancies I realize that this is just how my body reacts in the first few months of pregnancy.  Still not fun, but I am grateful to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and things will balance out eventually (usually around 15 weeks of pregnancy).

We told the kids about the pregnancy when I was 10 weeks along.  They were thrilled and asked lots of questions.  Declin (who seems to be the most excited about the new baby) still asks daily about when the baby is going to pop out of my tummy.  It is going to be a long 6 months for that guy.  :)  Thankfully they love the 4th of July and are excited for fireworks AND a new baby.

We told our families a few days later and are grateful for their love and support with our announcement.

We got to have a second ultrasound at the 13 week appointment since we struggled to find the heartbeat with the Doppler.  That was a first for me since usually they can easily find it after 12 weeks.  I guess my placenta is in front so that was getting in the way.  But thankfully everything looked great with baby and they were growing well.

I am now writing this January 28, 2018-

I am currently 17.5 weeks along.  This pregnancy is flying by and I think July is going to be here before we know it.  I have finally gotten my eating back under control and am exercising daily (even if it is a short workout).  I feel much better now!  I was having daily, hourly heartburn and now that is all gone.  I have energy now and I am enjoying the 2nd trimester.

The biggest news that we have had in the baby department is that we found out the gender! 

Drum roll.... baby #5 is a BOY!!!

This baby was a tiebreaker for us so we were happy either way.  The 3 younger kids and my mom came to the ultrasound with me.  The boys were SO excited to find out about the baby brother.  They kept fist bumping the air and saying "Yes, boys win!"  Then I looked down at Magnolia and realized she was now surrounded by brothers.  haha!  She will survive though!

After the ultrasound, we called McKay and told him the fun news (we also took a video during the ultrasound for him to watch later.  He was in California with his family during the ultrasound).  Declin yelled out "It's a Boy!"  Then we bought some blue decorations and put them up in the basement to surprise Adalyn with when she got home.  She wasn't super excited at first, but it is safe to say we have all gotten used to the idea and are excited for a tiny brother to be joining our family.

I have now bought a few tiny summer baby boy outfits and have some nursery decoration ideas floating around in my head.  The last big concern we have now is to pick out a name.  And currently our list has zero names on it so we have our work cut out for us.  eek!!  With Magnolia we finalized the name in the hospital after she was born and that felt too stressful to me so I want to have a name picked out BEFORE I go into labor.  Hopefully we come up with one soon! 

Life is just crazy!  I have learned so much through this journey of parenthood and am a bit scared about all that I still have to learn.  But we are so grateful for this sweet spirit that will soon come to our house and all that we get to learn from him.  Keep growing buddy and we will see you in a few months!
 

       
 



           

Baby #5 on the way!

Recently we have been able to share a really exciting announcement with our family and friends.  We are expecting baby #5!!!  We LOVE babies and are thrilled to be adding to our family again.  I am due on July 4, 2018.  I am so happy to be having a summer baby over a fall/winter baby.  

Here are a few pictures that we shared with family and friends to tell them the happy news.  The kids are crazy excited about having a new baby.  All of them think it is the best thing ever.  Their excitement has been contagious for me.  Especially in those moments when I am so focused on all the hard work that it takes in bringing a new baby into the world.  They help me see the beauty and magic in the whole process.  

We have taken our "announcement" pictures in this same chair for the last 4 kids.  It is my favorite chair in the house and the place that I spend so much time with my newborns in those first few weeks.  Here are the other "announcement" photos that we have done. 

So grateful for these kids, McKay and I think they are the best!  Pregnancy details coming soon.  

 

Finishing Our Basement in 2017

In January of 2017, after 5 years of living in our house, we decided to begin the process of finishing our basement.  As the kids were getting older (and bigger) we felt like we needed some more space.  Before we finished the basement our upstairs had 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 1400 sq ft.  It is not terrible by any means, but we were ready to spread out a bit more, plus have some space for the toys.  Now that the majority of the basement is finished we have 6 bedrooms, (soon to be three bathrooms) and 2900 sq ft.  In my opinion this is the perfect size house and I think we will have plenty of space for many years to come! 

We knew it would be a long process to finish our basement so we decided to just get started and see how far we could make it.  McKay was thrilled to be starting his "dream" project.  He has never finished a basement before, but he was more then ready for the challenge.  I was trying to be positive and excited about it too, but I was nervous.  All year I have been praying for extra patience and endurance during this project.  I LOVE having my house in order.  Not only having the things in order, but having it be a beautiful, nice place to be in.  After all... I spend all day, everyday at home.  I want it to be a space that brings me joy.  A construction zone does not bring me much joy (haha), so I knew this would be a test for my patience level.   

The first step of finishing the basement was moving all of the stuff that we had down there to new places.  All the toys had to find new homes and lots of kids clothing boxes were moved out to the garage.  Things were stuffed in every nook and cranny in the house.  It was a bit crazy but we made it work.  McKay got started with the framing and h-vac (aka heating).  My dad was able to help with framing so that step went quickly.  I was impressed at how well McKay figured out the h-vac all on his own.  He did his homework and it all turned out great.  Then he moved on to the electrical.  Originally I insisted that he hire out the electrical, but after getting quotes (lots of $$) and lots of pep talks from McKay (insisting he could do it) I finally caved and let him do the electrical himself.  Thankfully he had his brother, Laron, to be his guide and they did a great job at getting it all figured out.  Later we had a friend in the electrical business double check everything and he said it all looked great.   

Electrical is in...

After the electrical, we took a break from working on the basement.  It wasn't a planned break, but just sort of happened when life got busy.  A few months later as fall rolled around I started getting stressed about the possibility of spending another long winter coupe up inside with no place to send the kids to get their energy out.  So McKay and I sat down and had a little heart to heart.  I told him my fears (haha, yes I was nervous) and asked if we could speed up the basement finishing process.  In exchange I promised to (try and) not complain about having him away from the family so much.  So the rest of Sept- Dec 2017 I was basically a single mom to 4 kids while McKay came home after working all day and then worked on the basement all evening.  After tying up some loose ends we were finally ready for dry wall, tape and texture.  McKay wanted to do this himself, but I insisted we hire it out.  I wanted to hire it out for multiple reasons.  Mostly to save time and to make sure it looked "professional".  Yes it was expensive, but totally worth in my opinion.  After drywall we ordered doors, and prepped for painting.  We ended up painting over  Thanksgiving weekend while McKay had a few extra days off work and my parents were in town to help.  Between my dad and McKay we got ALL the painting done in one weekend!! Special thanks to the paint sprayer that we rented that saved us a lot of time.  McKay loved it and now wants to own one.  :)

After painting we put outlet covers on, heater vents in place, and prepped for carpet.  On December 11th and 12th the carpet was installed and we now have a wonderful and beautiful basement to enjoy.  Wahoo!!
Yes I just snapped these pictures really fast to finish this post. 

The last items that need to be done are tile in the bathroom and cabinets in the laundry room (yes we put a second laundry room in the basement for when the kids get older) and bathroom.  We plan to finish that up this spring.  Everything looks great and we are LOVING all the space.  Feel free to come visit, we now have a few empty rooms just waiting for visitors. :)

When we started this process we didn't actually think we would finish it all in one year, since we were doing a lot of it ourselves.  But I am grateful we did and are putting it to good use.  My older kids think it is awesome to sleep downstairs and are enjoying their new rooms.  Mornings are quieter since they can sleep a little better in separate spaces and I love having a cleaner living room now that there aren't toys spread everywhere.  I am also grateful for all of McKay's hard work on this project and that he actually loved doing it.  I honestly didn't pound a single nail in and I am totally ok with that.  ;)  Now for the fun part... decorating!  The boys are already so excited about their soon to be superhero room.