Katie Graduates!

When Katie graduated with her Masters in Occupational Therapy this May, all my siblings came to town to celebrate:)  It was the perfect opportunity to take some family photos, since we haven't all been together since 2009!  I don't have time to write much, but I wanted to get these posted.

So much to say, so little time...

I have been waiting for a convenient time to update you all on everything we have been doing.  I've decided there is no such thing!  The Monday after Caleb and his family came to visit I began babysitting for a friend of mine whose babysitter quit on her without notice.  Keira is 6 weeks younger than Ruby and she loves her parents...not me!  So, between keeping her half the day and chasing Ruby all day and still being exhausted by the early stages of pregnancy, I haven't accomplished much in the last month.  Now here I sit, typing with one hand so I can hold Keira and hoping that Ruby will sleep just a little while longer!  

The visit with the Calders (Caleb's fam) was fantastic!  We thoroughly enjoyed their company and look forward to future visits:)  In fact, we are super lucky because Caleb and his brother Adam are coming for a long weekend next week!  All of my siblings will be here for Katie's graduation from OT school.  (She has a Master's degree!)  So everyone who missed meeting Caleb the first time will be here:)  Trevor and Christina are especially excited to see Caleb and Adam again.  They have tons of things in common.  From a love of reading and art to longboarding, they have plenty to keep them entertained.  I'm so glad they have meshed into our family so seamlessly.  To me, it is just another affirmation of our Heavenly Father's awareness of us and his desire for us all to be happy!  The whole situation has absolutely been divinely orchestrated:)  

Well, gotta wrap this up.  Keira is getting grumpy.  I'll try to post again soon.  And next time-pictures!

A new beginning...

For the first time since 1998, I was able to celebrate Caleb's birthday without wondering where he was and if he ever thought of me.  I feel immensely blessed that Sarah reached out to me earlier this year and invited me into their lives.  She trusted me enough to let me have their home address so I could send him a birthday gift.  It may have seemed like a small thing to her.  But let me assure you, it was huge!  Not only did I get to send him a gift, but that day we spoke for the first time on the phone.  I think he may have been a bit overwhelmed at my ability to talk!  I was just so nervous to hear his voice, I think I sort of compensated by chattering his ear off!  He was so grown up.  I loved hearing how he was so excited about the books we sent him.  He was already halfway through the book my mom sent, Ender's Game.  Upon hearing that, his mom exclaimed, " Did you go to school today?!"  It was pretty funny:)  He told me about their pet rabbit.  (We were able to figure out it was a mini rex.) We talked about his siblings, too.  He has a special love for his youngest sister, just like Trevor and Ruby.  

One of the most exciting things we talked about that day is the time when his family will come to visit us!  They will be coming to Utah the end of March!!  My whole family is greatly anticipating their visit:)  We are so thrilled to start on this new path of being one big family.  Thank you, Sarah, for making this all possible:)  We look forward to seeing you all soon!  

Of course, we'll take lots of pictures so I can write a post about that!

Ruby the fish...

Aunt Carrie bought her this bathing suit

6 weeks old in Aunt Carrie's pool!

 Ruby has loved the water from day one!  Joey likes to say it was because of the water birth.  Who knows? Maybe he's on to something because my boys never liked the water til they were much older.

We are lucky enough to have several choices of places to swim here in Utah.  We have lots of family with swimming pools and some really cool water parks around.  We tried to go swimming as often as we could this summer.  Thankfully, Ruby likes it as much as the big boys.  She splashes and kicks and is very relaxed.  It is such fun to see a baby so young just living it up in the pool!  We have the cutest video of her swimming, but it wouldn't upload to the blog:(  I will see if I can get it to work later.

This was taken at Classic Water slides.   Ruby was about 10 weeks old.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Ruby.  This was at our family end of summer party.  Ruby was almost 4 months old.

Chantelle with Daphne.  Me and Ruby. Daphne is wearing the suit Carrie bought because Ruby had already outgrown it:)

Ruby makes her grand entrance....

Ruby is all bundled up ready for the ride home!

So, this was an amazing story that I should have taken the time to share when it happened.  Better late than never:)  I have a hard time knowing how far back to begin.  I will simply begin at the beginning, I suppose.  Joey, years ago, had a dream that we would have a beautiful girl with brown hair and eyes.  But, as time went on, we never got pregnant and I had all but given up.  Gavin was 9 years old when Joey told me he thought we should give it another shot.  I was dumbfounded but, of course said, "YES!"  I went to the doctor and sought help.  He put me on hormones and monitored egg production, but to no avail.  Eight months passed and we decided we'd better put that on hold because we were moving back to Utah.  4 months after we arrived in Utah I received the shock of my life.  Without any help at all, we were pregnant again!  

It was a difficult start.  I had never been sick with a pregnancy, but Ruby wasn't going to make it that easy.  I was sick and exhausted until about 20 weeks.  I lost weight up to that point and didn't actually start gaining anything back until about 30 weeks.  It was still a very slow gain and it wasn't until I was 40 weeks that I reached my pre-pregnancy weight. 

 In the beginning, I had decided to go natural and use a midwife.  I had given birth naturally 3 out of the 4 times already and I knew I could do it.  No need for bossy hospitals poking you and telling you not to push yet!  The only thing I was sure I did need was my doula, Jan.  She had been at my side every time and I wanted to be sure she would get me through this one.  She was amazing and promised right away to come out from Oklahoma near my due date.  Because I was waiting for her arrival, it was easy to not be anxious for the baby to come early.  In fact, I really felt so good toward the end,  I wasn't anxious at all! 

Jan had family responsibilities that kept her in Oklahoma until 3 days before Ruby was due to arrive.  I started to get a little worried she wouldn't make it in time when I fell down the stairs a week before my due date.  I spent the afternoon in the ER being monitored, but everything was fine.  Once Jan arrived, we spent every day together walking and hoping for labor to start.

On my way into the birthing center.  Man I was big!

On April 25th (my birthday), one day before I was due, we went to my checkup with the midwife.  She said I was still only dilated to 1 cm.  She gave me some herbs to drink and told me to call her if we experienced any changes.  About a half an hour later, I felt the first twinges of possible labor.  We had plans to see a movie with my sister-in-law, Stacy, and I really wanted to go.  So, off we went to the theater to meet Stacy.  Thankfully, Jan had the foresight to recommend I put on a pad before the movie.  As we sat through the movie, what had begun as random pains, began to organize into fairly steady labor.  About 30-45 min before the movie ended (Stacy had seen it before) my water broke.  I texted my midwife and my husband who both told me to leave immediately and head for the birthing center.  Being the cooperative person that I am, I didn't.  We stayed to finish the movie.  By the time it was over, I had to stop every time a contraction hit as we made our way back to the car.  Of course, by this time, my midwife and Joey were both frantic about where I was.  I went home to change into non-soaked clothes and headed for the birthing center.  Enough details, I am sure... One hour and eighteen minutes after we arrived at the birthing center, Ruby was born.  It was the most amazing and precious experience.  I wish all my kids had been born that way!  It was truly the best birthday I have ever had!  I spent the day with my dear friend and my sisters.  Then I got to have a quick birth centered on everything I wanted.  

Just born

Ruby weighed in at 8 pounds 4 ounces.  A fact that Joey disputes to this day.  He swears she was smaller, but we have video proof of what the scale said!  She was 20 and 3/4 inches and perfect from head to toe:)  She had tons of dark hair and cheeks that went on for days!  We spent the evening at the birthing center ooohing and aaahing at her.  Most of my family got to come see and hold her that night.  Then, at 10:30pm, we took her home.  We could have spent the night at the birthing center, but I just really wanted to go home.   It was so nice have Ruby on the outside!  She was such a sweet baby from the first moment.  

I will never forget what an awesome and unusual experience the whole pregnancy and birth were.  If I could go back, I wouldn't change a thing.

Jan, my doula and hero!

A few false starts...

It has been really difficult to get back in the swing of posting regularly!  I hope this time, the new motivation I have will be enough to keep me going:)  Most of you know by now, that after nearly 16 years without contact, I heard from Caleb's family last week.  His mom did a very brave thing in approaching me for his sake.  I am so happy to know that they have been quietly watching and are well acquainted with our family!  My mom and I both had the same lament, though.  "I wish I had done better about blogging!  I never guessed that they may be reading it, too!"  Well, here I am, saying I will do better... again.  Joey has loaded many pictures on to the computer for me.  So I can at least go back and do some catch up;)  This is your official welcome, Calder family!  We hope to meet you in person soon.

15 months later...

I was stunned when I looked at the blog to see how long it truly has been since I updated!  The whole, being pregnant again after 10 years kinda threw me off my game;)  I will make time, soon, to sit down and add some new pictures and updates. We are having new family pics made later this month.  I'll add some after that, if I can get our computer to cooperate.  It is on it's last leg and really acting up.  Suffice it to say, that I am loving life as a new-old mom:)  Ruby is the sweetest girl!  I feel blessed every day to have her in my life.  More on that later... gotta chase Gavin out the door to school!