Family of Five

We've graduated to a family of five! Kind of crazy, but so far it's been great.

The boys were so excited to come to the hospital to meet Caleb. They were super sweet with him.

I almost cried when Wesley spontaneously kissed him on the head, without being prompted. He's been pretty nice with him, constantly trying to share toys with him and give him his binkie -- even when he's fast asleep!

Dillon could not be more proud. He runs through the door from school looking for Caleb. He'll just sit and hold him for 20 minutes, softly touching his little hands and face. It's pretty sweet.

I love my boys. Let the craziness begin!

Baby Caleb's Arrival

Our little guy has arrived! Caleb was born on April 26th at 3:15 PM, weighing in at 7 lbs 14 oz.

We're so grateful he's here safe and sound. The delivery was so smooth. I'm a fan of inductions -- everything is just under control. We had babysitters all set up, it all happened during the day so we were awake, I got the epidural in plenty of time, et cetera, et cetera. It just makes it all enjoyable. They started pitocin at 9:15 AM, epidural around 11:00, broke my water around 11:30. My contractions weren't consistent so they kept increasing the pitocin. At 2:30 I was dilated to a 6. They kept asking if I was feeling pressure and as soon as the nurse left the room I really started feeling just that. I called her back and at 2:45 I was a complete 10 -- I'd progressed from a 6 to a 10 in 15 minutes! I'm so glad I had the epidural during that time. I had to hold off pushing for a minute so we could get the doctor there. Once he got there I pushed just a couple times and our little Caleb arrived!

Stay tuned for more pictures and updates!

Easter 2011

We had a great Easter around here. Last Thursday we had a little Easter Egg Hunt at the church.

Dillon was awesome, Wesley was grumpy about it. So I had Dillon grab a couple extra eggs to share with his brother when he came around. They were both pretty happy when they discovered all the candy inside! We had a fun little brunch afterward.

On Saturday we went to the village Easter Egg Hunt. It was pretty crazy--way too many kids--but still fun.

Once again, Dillon had significantly more success than his younger brother, but was thankfully willing to share again.

The weather was beautiful, so after the hunt we ran over to the park for a few minutes.

Easter morning the boys were pretty excited to see the Easter Bunny had made it to our house

And he managed to bring me some much needed rain boots too!

After a nice day at church and traditional ham and potato dinner, we pulled out the eggs to color.

The boys had a blast and ended up with some fun colors. Meanwhile I prepared and served strawberry shortcake---yum!

We had a great Easter and it was nice to spend a little time as a family---those moments are always when I feel the happiest. And I can't forget to mention the real meaning of this sacred holiday. I am so grateful for a loving Savior that suffered for each and every one of us. I am so lucky to have a knowledge of His full plan for us. Easter is such a great excuse to really REMEMBER Him.

The week ahead is sure to be pretty crazy since I am scheduled to be induced tomorrow. I love my boys so much and am excited to welcome another one into our home!

Proud Mommy Moment

Let me preface this by saying my children are definitely not the best behaved children in church. My mother was so good at making all of us sit on the bench and I am a little more of a pushover. If they are playing quietly and their feet happen to be on the floor, I just don't fight it. And we're still working on the whispering thing. They forget so quickly. But today they were actually sitting next to each other on the bench while the bread and water for the sacrament were being passed. Dillon leaned over to Wesley and said, "Do you know what the bread is supposed to help us think about?"

Wesley, in a very loud whisper: "What?"

Dillon: "It's to help us think about Jesus' body."

Wesley: "Oh."

Dillon: "And do you know what the water is supposed to help us remember?"

Wesley: "What?"

Dillon: "We're supposed to remember Jesus' blood."

Wesley: "Oh."

I was definitely fighting back the tears. Then a few minutes later Wesley turned to me asking again for a snack I told him had to wait until after the sacrament, to which he responded, "Oh yeah, after the sacrament, when the bread makes us think about Jesus' body and the water helps us remember His blood." Children really are little sponges and we just have to make sure we provide the good stuff to be soaked in. I'm so grateful for my boys and that they do in fact listen to me on occasion and hopefully will grow up to be righteous little priesthood men!

Baby celebration

My dear friends decided I needed to do a little pre-baby celebrating, even though I'm having my THIRD boy. They threw together a nice little open house for the occasion. The food was awesome.

The friends were even better...

and despite the "presents not necessary" line in the evite, I somehow ended up with lots of cute little gifts and donations to a "diaper fund".

Here's fat me with my beautiful hostesses. Thank you so much Nicole and Jacquie!

Once I got home, I had to get a couple shots of the cute diaper cake Nicole made before opening it up. She really went above and beyond.

It was actually really good for me to have a little shower. I have been so concentrated on my discomfort and the fact that I am going to have push this baby out and then I'll have THREE CHILDREN! I wasn't feeling any excitement about the new little person that is about to come into our home. Opening some cute little outfits reminded me how lucky I am to be able to welcome another baby into our family. Yes, labor can be rough, and the newborn stage is full of sleep deprivation and stress, but it's also full of wonderful moments when the other side of the veil seems not so far away. I really am grateful I get to do this all again. I can't wait to see what this little man looks like and what the future holds for him as he joins our family of FIVE! My due date is 2 weeks away but I've been experiencing lots of pre-labor symptoms so I'm curious to see when he decides to make his entrance! I'm grateful to be a mom. And to my little one, we can't wait to have you join our family!

Spring Break with Heather & Bradley: Part 2

Here are a few more pictures of our time with Heather and Bradley. Bath time is always fun---the more the merrier, right?!

Heather extended her trip an extra day to avoid traveling with a sick baby. I was glad because we got to plan one more fun outing, this time to Monkey Bizness.

Check out that cute face! Pretty good considering the fact that he felt terrible.

This is about the only picture I got that actually had all three boys in it.

Dillon loves the art room.

Heather is always awesome to jump right in with the kids!

Thanks for coming Heather and Bradley. We loved having you here. Sorry we sent you home with a nasty cough--we just wanted to make sure you didn't forget us too soon.

Spring Break with Heather & Bradley: Part I

When my doctor advised against me traveling anywhere for Spring Break we decided we needed to maximize the fun here at home. What better way than to fly my super fun sister, Heather and her son Bradley here to spend the week and play. Unfortunately we had several bumps in the road---sick children, big uncomfortable hostess, bad weather, etc.----but I must say, we did a pretty good job of having fun despite the odds. I tried to capture some of the fun. We ventured to Naperville to the Dupage Children's Museum

Wesley was running all over the place--he's getting pretty crazy these days.

Their faces don't show it, but the boys loved the water area.

Once again, we sent them into the wind tunnel to dry off after the water fun.

And how can you not love story time with an 83-year-old Cat in the Hat!

Cute cousins!

The next day we took a last minute afternoon trip into the city via train. Dillon has been begging me for weeks to ride.

We had an hour to do something in the city so we decided to go to the top of the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower. Richelle, this picture is for you!

It was hard to get a good picture at the top but here's my beautiful sister.

This one is super dark, but that's probably good---you can't see how HUGE I am.

Heather and I were both totally freaked out by the glass bottom ledge, but the boys were much more brave---and apparently Wesley was a little grumpy too!

It was fun to have a little city walking time, although it was a little too cold to really enjoy it. But like I said, we made the most of the situation-- laughing at ourselves breaking handicap doors, nearly setting off a fire alarm and accidentally pulling off a bathroom door knob! Stay tuned for more fun in part 2!