and it FINALLY happened....

after saying good-bye to my 12 year old 

and sending her off on her first solo plane ride to indy,

after saying good-bye to my mom,

who had driven in from cali. two weekends in a row to be

 here for the baby & to help with the kids,

there we were.

sunday evening.

no eldest. no mom. no baby.

10 days past my due date.

we went swimming with cousins one more time,

some friends stopped by with ice cream,

we visited, got the kids cleaned up & shipped to bed.

exhausted and frustrated....

we went to bed.

then sure enough,

at 3am,

my eyes popped open.

oh yes. i was pretty sure that was a contraction.

i waited.

9 min. later... another one.

8 min. later... another one.

i decided to wait an hour and see if the contractions stayed consistent.

 they did. they were 7-9 min. apart and about 30-40 sec. long.

and they were intense.

i decided at 4am to get out of bed and get some cereal and text my mom.

i texted... "looks like L is going to have a birthday buddy!"

it was july 1, L's 11th birthday.

i labored around another hour before waking paully up.

at 5:30am i decided to take a shower and wake up dada.

he couldn't believe it.

he called natalie and told her to head over to our house.

i continued to labor with my heated bean bags (life savers)

and just walking around.

it was different than when i labored with R. i picked one spot and stayed there on the bed the whole time until we left for the hospital.

with this baby, it felt better to be standing and kind of sway thru the contractions.

i also used bradley method & a little hypno birthing techniques to meditate upon.

at about 7:45am i knew we should probably head over to the hospital.

we left the house and arrived at the hospital at 8am.

i walked into triage and requested to deliver the baby there.

they said no.

i was feeling a lot of pressure.

i was also feeling irritated at the triage nurses' questions and banging on the bed.

i don't know why they aren't more mindful and quiet.

anywho, turns out that pressure i was feeling was my bag of water.

it exploded in triage.

i had never had that happen before.

then i really had to push.

they threw a sheet over me and wheeled me into a delivery room.

i'm not sure how i managed, but they had me get onto another bed.

they kept asking to check me to see how far along i was,

but i declined and told them the baby was coming.

i was so happy that my doctor was there to deliver.

she had just returned from a vacation and

her shift had started at 7.

i told her i waited for her :)

i'm sure she thinks i'm crazy... or a stalker.

i'm a little bummed we didn't have lunch together after the delivery.

so i pushed a few times...

and at 8:18 am

 a beautiful healthy

BOY

joined our family.

18 minutes after arriving at the hospital.

pretty close. i'm glad my water didn't break in our brand spankin' new car.

there was a lot of meconium so they had the neonatal team there checking him out.

he was just fine and hadn't ingested any.

he was 21.5 in. and 8.13lbs.

i still had my dress on.

he and his big sis share a birthday.

she was a little apprehensive with the idea before it had happened,

but once the baby was born,

she was thrilled.

we had a special birthday party for her in our hospital room.

i had ordered her a rainbow zebra cake,

she's obsessed,

and she was happily surprised.

R was excited to finally meet his brother.

he knew it was a boy the whole time,

never doubted.

 

we stayed at the hospital for 2 days.

which was amazing.

we rested and bonded with our new baby.

it really was heaven.

i could have stayed 2 more days.

but alas i did miss my kiddos

and needed to relieve

nat....

who had been in charge of 7 kids for 3 days.

i came home to a clean house & happy kids.

what more could i ask for.

we stopped off for some blue donuts & headed home.

he is settling in quite nicely with all of his siblings.

they are all crazy about him and are big helpers.

he has had a little sensitivity to dairy but i'm hoping

he does not get into the same behaviors as his brother.

no colic allowed.

he does insist on being held 99.9% of the time which is why

i am finally getting to this birth story after 3 weeks.

i am so crazy about this little bundle.

 daddy is taking the morning shift so that i can crash for 2 hours.

 his favorite spot is on daddy's chest.

this little boy sure is surrounded by a lot of love!!

and noise!

waiting.....

i don't know why i do this to myself every time...

i was just sure that i would be early with this delivery.

but nope.

not the case.

we did a lot of labor inducing activities over the last 1.5 months.

again, starting early because i was just so positive that it could happen at any moment.

lots of active yard play...

eating at pei wei : i went in to labor with D after eating there.

even my fortune at pei wei insinuated that it would be early. i mean doesn't that just scream

"your water will break tomorrow and you will have a fast labor"???

swimming.

lots of drives. summer home school in the car. trying to stress myself into labor.

good times. 

not.

my expensive labor inducing spray water.

smells heavenly... but no labor.

i'm not sure how many mall walks we took. i'll be happy if i never see that place again.

there really is no other place to walk in this hellish heat.

bumpy country drives.

S was scheduled for a trip... several days after the baby was due. of course the baby hadn't arrived by the time her trip date came along.

we got her a cell phone to pacify her.

it worked.

she's quite a funny little texter.

more swimming.

lots of cousin time.

a little car trouble. again. thinking stress would do the trick.

this was truly depressing for me. our beloved 4runner died.

it had brought home every one of our babies from the hospital.

here it is getting towed back to the mechanic from my sister's house.

the repairs are more than the car is worth :(

so sad.

however... new car buying is always fun.

meet paul's new gangster ride.

a black prius.

the amount we will save on gas every month makes the whole thing a wash.

so i guess thats good.

we also had a flat tire one day in the suburban.

never a dull moment around here.

so 4 new tires later... so not what i wanted to be spending $$ on.

sweet sweet neighbors feeling sorry for me, so they brought over dinner and dessert :)

i was pretty sure the acid reflux was going to kill me ... if the heat didn't.

one day there was an exciting diversion...

a full swat team in the neighborhood.

complete with ambulances and firetrucks.

it was quite exciting.

we think "maryjane" was involved.

another new expense... 2 in braces.

the office is really cool and i can't wait to see those shiny smiles for the next 2 years.

we took a trip to sprouts to find any sort of natural herbal labor inducing remedy.

but decided against the primrose & cohosh.

i had already done the castor oil twice and that was noted

as the most successful.

not for me.

the lovely temperature outside.

record highs.

not fun.

we even went to a reflexology massage.

we told them to focus on the ankles.

while it did not work either...

it was heavenly and so relaxing.

a bit of catch up... s's kindergarten graduation

my baby girl graduated from kindergarten.

she felt very important and enjoyed the beautiful ceremony.

she walked up on stage and received her diploma.

they sang songs and recited their favorite work.

we are going to miss her teachers... they are the sweetest

most amazing kindergarten teachers a child could have.

here is a sweet picture os all my angels enjoying the cake reception.

i'm not sure why D insisted on making that face. she made it in every picture.

she better watch that cake tho... looks like R was ready to swipe.

thank you ms. yoo-kyung & ms. danielle!

we love you!!

six

six.

can i really do it?

as the weeks of summer are in full bloom...i am questioning my abilities.

the kids are all so excited. and asking me so many questions... again and again and again. i am not kidding. all of them ask the same question 3 times. even after I answer it the first time.

and they are all hypochondriacs. i see them eyeing wheelchairs and wraps and crutches whenever we see them. D has different parts of her body wrapped and iced all throughout the day. first her arm, then her leg and finally ends the day with both ankles in ankle wraps. I'm not even sure where they get these medical grade wraps.

L has been walking around with a pillow in her shirt and bean bags around her neck so they fall right on her chest. she breathes heavily and sighs and complains about how hard it is to bend over and pick up things off the floor. she said she really feels my pain.

driving in the car... now that's a whole other story. the requests... the fights of who is going to sit where.....

but then, just when I needed it, i received a package of support and love.

a package from my grandma. 

a beautiful hand stitched quilt. the sixth one she's made for my family. 

she has been working so hard getting it finished and mailed off before the baby arrives. which of course she did.

she can do anything.

she raised 6 babies.

 i always said i wanted to be just like her.

i'm sure i'll never accomplish as much as she does, but here i am. 

blessed enough to have the chance to raise 6 babies.

i called to tell her how much i love it.

she encouraged me and said the baby will be here before i know it.

and reminded me of what an honor and blessing it is to be able to carry another life and bring another beautiful baby into the world.

then she filled me in on some details around the house.

like for the first time in 47 years they paved the street in front of her house. she said how beautiful it is and how she and my grandpa drive up and down the new road. 

i put the beautiful new quilt in the beautiful cradle that my grandpa made for my babies.

and we will wait.

my babies sure are lucky to have such loving great-grandparents. i think we are the ones that are blessed by having them in our lives.

thank you grandma & grandpa.

you are truly an inspiration.

seattle escape

last month P & i were able to have our annual get away w our friends.

we decided on seattle.

we spent 2 nights in friday harbor and 1 night in seattle.

it was so relaxing and amazing.

mt. rainier welcoming us....

 

our first adventure was the tulip festival. i had always wanted to see this and it was just as amazing as i has imagined.
just so darn beautiful.

our second adventure was driving over and walking across deception pass. we chickened out on the walking over part. too creepy up there on that bridge.

again... so so beautiful.

we stayed at the cutest b&b. they brought coffee to our room each morning and made fresh chocolate chip cookies each day. i never wanted to leave.

we did a lot of hiking and driving around. we found a cool beach and skipped rocks. always keeping our eyes peeled for orcas and bald eagles. never did see an orca, however i spotted this bald eagle in the gift shop. "apprently" everyone else saw real ones....

this little church was located next to the local winery... which was in a little old school house.... which was across the street form the local famous camel. a real camel. pretty crazy to see on an island.

marionberry pie next to the sea.....

when we arrived to our hotel in seattle, which my friend crazy hooked us up, this tray of goodies greeted us. again.. more chocolate chip cookies.... my fav....

we were also hooked up at this delicious seafood restaurant. our table was practically falling in the ocean. sunset views, delicious food, great company.... heaven.

the market.... the flowers were over the top. if i lived there i would go there everyday just to get fresh flowers.

our friend enjoying his first coffee at the first starbucks.