The Verdict is In

These pictures were taken for the sole purpose of recording this outfit. We all love it ;) The girls especially love the kitty on the bumb part ;). Erika got this from her friend Sophie :) They were so nice to share their cute clothes with us.

Okay, so this post just might end up being way more information than you could possibly want, but since I whined about how I felt over Thanksgiving so much, I thought I would fill you all in on what I found out Saturday. It makes me feel like I am justified in whining :)

I had felt almost okay on Friday because I took some of my pain killers from the c-section, but Saturday..... oh, Saturday was a killer. It was worse than Thursday, and then I had a few more little problems. Well, Nate was trying to talk me into going to the Instacare most of the day, being very sweet and loving and concerned, but I totally hate going to those places. I was going to try to wait it out till Monday. But at about 2:00 I started bleeding really heavily like as much as you do the day after you have a baby (and I had been done with that for about a week). That was kind of the kicker for me. Even though it really had little to do with all my other symptoms, I gave in and we went to the Instacare. Thanks to Sarah for making herself available for us!! She totally dropped everything and came right over. And I mean RIGHT over. She was here within minutes of calling her. SO awesome.

At the Instacare they told me I had to go to the ER because they weren't equipped to handle my problem. That was annoying, but we went. Then about 3 hours and a bunch of annoying tests and examinations (including a catheter which to me is next to torture) later we had some information. I really REALLY hate not knowing what is wrong with me when I am sick, so just having some answers is priceless for me. I had: a sinus infection, upper respiratory infection (a bad cough basically), a vaginal infection, and a tissue blockage at the cervix. They sent me home with 2 antibiotics and some strong cough medicine. So now I am all better ;) It's been a humbling experience for me. I can't tell you how crappy I felt and how mad I was that I had to be sick still. Funny how quickly the Lord will take something like that away even when I have such a bad attitude. I am grateful and also sorry for how frustrated I got with the whole thing. And I'm grateful that it wasn't something worse. I wish I had known it would be so quick and I wouldn't have gotten so bent out of shape. Hind sight.

Yesterday was awesome though, I got to go to church and it felt awesome! Our Ward is so awesome and I just felt really good. Today has been amazing too. It was a little tricky getting the girls to school this morning.... forgot how much work that is. But it almost feels good to be doing all my old chores and the old routine.... washing the dishes was almost refreshing! I love that I can do it now and not feel like garbage! The boys are having a little bit of a hard time getting back into things and doing it with a new little girl in the picture, but I think we can do this!! Life is good.

One of my least favorite Thanksgivings

That's a really negative title, but it's really true. We're all just lucky I didn't get on here and post something in the middle of it all. Yesterday was a really crappy day. I have been fighting this cold/fluish something or other for the last couple of weeks (basically ever since I started feeling better from my c-section), and yesterday was the worst day of it. I fought all morning the urge to just stop and not continue on with my day and just go to bed, but it wasn't until it was time to head out to Nate's parent's house that I gave up. I have THE HARDEST time missing out on things like Thanksgiving dinner and sometimes I will go even though I know I shouldn't. Not this time. I really didn't have anything left in me that wanted to go. I felt SO CRAPPY!! Nate had made the turkey though, so he really had to go, and I wasn't about to rob the kids of Thanksgiving dinner. So I stayed home with baby Erika (she has been a little congested as well) and they all left. It was SO HARD for me!!! I seriously could not stop crying.... I had lost any self control in that area. My whole body just hurt! I'll spare you the details of every little ailment, but it was bad. So anyway. I finally just decided to go lay down in bed. So Erika and I basically just slept the rest of Thanksgiving day, away. It was awful. I'm so done with not feeling good!! I'm ready to feel like myself again.

Nate and the kids did have a good time though. They ate Nate's nummy turkey and amazing stuffing, and then after the dinner made their cute little Gingerbread houses. I would post pictures but they all ate them for breakfast this morning while I was trying to get myself out of bed. But they were cute. Luke was really cute about his when he got home, I totally wish I could capture the cuteness of his speech on this blog. He sounds adorable.

So anyway. I hope everyone else had a nice Thanksgiving, and hopefully mine will be better next year. Time to eat all the leftovers and start getting ready for Christmas I guess!!!

Friday's Fabulous One

1. Luke eats his Colossal Berry Crunch without milk, cuts each little berry in half with his spoon and then eats each half, one at a time..... he's so very creative.

He's also VERY into mazes right now..... We found a coloring book with not 1, not2, but THREE mazes in it for him today!! Now that's fabulous.

Don't think I'm evil for not coming up with more than this.... I guess I put a lot of the good things that happened this week in other posts, so I don't feel too bad, but I did want to post this ONE, and I am too tired to think of anything else :)

okay, I thought of something
2. On Thanksgiving, my Dad called to wish me a Happy Thanksgiving, and it just happened to be right when I woke up from my long "killing the day" nap. It was just nice to be able to talk to him for a minute, and he was very sympathetic about how my day was going. It was nice. I appreciated it.

okay, one more
3. Erika's lump seems to be getting smaller!!!!

2 Weeks Old and Her First Bath

My cute little baby Erika is now 2 weeks old!!! Isn't it so crazy how fast the time goes! We've enjoyed her so much so far. She pretty much just sleeps and eats and poops (sound like a baby?). She's SUCH a good baby. She's already a pro at being the 6th kid and has totally mastered the art of being the squeaky wheel. Her cry is SO LOUD!! I almost have to laugh at how quickly she gets to the "I'm going to die if you don't feed me now" level. She doesn't get ignored, let's just say that :). She is really alert when she is awake, and just LOVES to look around. I love her crinkly forehead when she opens her eyes really wide and puts her lips in a whistling position to tell me that she's ready to eat. SO cute. She likes to hold hands while she eats and when anyone is holding her and she LOVES to be sung to by her sweet big brothers. It always calms her down.... so sweet. She really hasn't spent more than a few minutes a day NOT being held.... go figure. I don't believe you can spoil a baby though, so it's fun to me that she gets so much attention. She really loves to cuddle. Hardly even ever spits up.... as long as we burp her after she eats, she's good to go, and I LOVE that about her. She's really just a great baby. I know that it's only been 2 weeks and I shouldn't expect it to continue, but I am loving it :).


I gave her her first real bath yesterday. Her umbilical stump fell off a week ago, but it was so gooey still that I didn't feel comfortable doing more than a sponge bath, but yesterday her belly button was looking really good, so we got all excited and gave her a bath :). It's funny what a difference a couple of pounds makes on a newborn.... all of our other kids fit just fine in the little tub for their first baths, but she was just a little too big for it.... we're going to have to do something different for her next ones. But she seemed to like it for the most part. There were a few not so happy moments, but overall she seemed pretty cool with it all. Can you just smell the yummy babyness!!! I LOVE a freshly bathed baby :)

I love this face.

this one's sad, but ya gotta have a crying picture every once in a while right?

We took her in for her 2 week well child visit, and she is doing SO WELL!!

We found out that she weighs 8 lbs 7 oz already! Which is just miraculous for one of our kids. Usually we are fretting about how much milk they might be getting, and if they're growing.... they've all struggled a little. So to have her 7 oz up from her birth weight at only 2 weeks is just awesome!!! She's a healthy little bug and that makes me happy! She has also grown 2 inches according to their measurements :) ha ha! yeah right. Those measurements are just NOT accurate :)

We found out that her head lump will be there for a while, could be up to 3 months before it goes away and it will get hard around the edges before it is gone. But it is normal. It's called Cephalohematoma, and from the pictures we saw online, it could be a LOT worse. I don't even remember if I've said anything about her head lump. She got it from the use of the vacuum in the c-section. She was crammed in there pretty good, and had been slightly slanted, so her poor little head was rubbing against my pelvic bone. I think that's why the top of her head has so little hair compared to the back. But anyway, she was pretty hard to get out, so they used the vacuum and it did make a big lump on her head. It's hard for me that she has such a weird thing to deal with, but I'm SO grateful that it's "normal", painless, and will go away. Could be a lot worse. Plus we decided that if she didn't have that she would be perfect and then we wouldn't get to have her :) so this is her little "imperfection" to make her mortal :). It's winter, she'll wear a hat till it's gone :).

We also found out that her belly button is okay. Nate and I were really weirded out by how it looked when her umbilical stump fell off a lot sooner than we are used to. It looked VERY different compared to our other kids, but now it is fine :). It's so nice to be able to take our kids to the doctor and have our minds eased :).

So there ya have it. She's doing great!! I couldn't be happier. I feel so blessed to have been able to have Nate home this whole time too. We've never had more than a few days with him after having a baby, so this has been heavenly. He totally just let me sit around and relax while he was here. I think this could have a lot to do with how well my milk has come in and how good I feel too.... I definitely haven't overdone it at all like I usually do. It's just been awesome and I can't thank Nate enough for all that he's done. He's been amazing. Hopefully his first day back to work goes well.... and mine too :)

While we were out for my Doctor appointment we had an hour to kill and so we "popped in" to the Cole's house. It was so fun to sit and visit with Annie, Gentry and Austin (I still can't believe they were all there!! just have to catch Margo another time I think). We just love the Coles. It was fun to introduce Erika to Gentry. She's always so sweet about our babies, and just smiles the whole time she's holding one ;) I love it. Good times.

I just thought this was funny....

She's AWAKE!!!

I finally got some pictures of Erika awake on Sunday. I just love her face!

Sunday was nice, Erika and I took the day off from church (this is going to have to be my last Sunday of no church.... I hate missing church). Kelly was pretty upset about us not going, and made a big deal about it- I felt very loved :) it was kind of cute.

After church Charity's Primary teacher came over to see Charity's new little sister. She gave her a blanket, some burp cloths and this cute little nightgown. It was so sweet of her to come over. We don't know her real well, but the few times I've been able to sit down and talk with her, I have just loved it! She's the oldest of 10 kids in her family and had really wanted to have a big family herself, but was never able to have children. She ended up adopting, and has just the most amazing outlook on the whole situation no matter how difficult it was for her to not have things her way. It's just really cool to talk to her and be reminded of what a huge blessing these kids are. And how lucky we are to be able to have them. She's a really sweet lady. Her kids are all grown now and she just goes around spreading joy to everyone. She mentioned that she feels a special connection with Charity, she being the oldest of a lot of kids.... I thought that was sweet of her. I love that she can relate with Charity in that way and that she sees so many wonderful things in her. It's fun to know that I'm not the only one that can see her that way. Anyway, it was a fun little visit. We've been so grateful for any visitors, it's just so fun to show off our cute little Erika.

And now she's asleep again :)

A Spa Day For Charity and Kelly

Saturday was Charity and Kelly's Spa Day :). They've been asking me all about my Spa Day ever since I went a few weeks ago, and then Erika gave them each a little pedicure set (we always have the new baby give each of the kids a gift when they are born :) kinda cheesey, but it's fun for me, and it's something for them to have when I'm in the hospital). So they have been dying to do pedicures ever since they got those. This was the big day! I tried to make it a "Spa-like" atmosphere, dimmed lights, calming music, we even had the humidifier going in the room, so it gave it kind of a fountainy, running water feel.... so that was cool :). The girls had a good time I think. They sure don't know how to relax though :) they giggled and talked and wiggled around the WHOLE time :) It was way cute! I just get such a kick out of these too when they're all giddy. Makes me laugh. But it was fun.


We were going to let Erika in on the girly fun, but she fell asleep, and then later when she woke up had to leave the room and hang out with the boys. But I thought we needed a picture of her being there at least :) Does anyone know if it's bad to put nail polish on a newborn? The girls wanted me to paint her toes too, but I felt weird about it :). Erika does wake up sometimes.... I would just need to take my camera to bed with me to capture a picture of her awake. It's very rare that she is wide awake for a picture during the day..... we're working on that though!



Here are their cute little toes all soaked and lotioned and painted..... so cute :)

This is what the boys did while we girls were playing..... they SLEPT!!! Isn't this a cute one of Brad holding Erika.... he totally dozed off with her.... so adorable.

They're so cute when they're asleep :)

Sweetness

Thursday night, Brad and Kelly's Primary Teacher brought over a baby gift and some cookies with frosting and sprinkles for the other kids. I just can't tell you how much this meant to us.... we hardly know her, but she's been nothing but generous with the compliments and such about Brad and Kelly and our family since the day we moved in. She's just a really sweet lady. They've loved having her for a Primary teacher too. It's fun that they are in the same class this year.... this ward has a small primary so they had to combine their two classes. Anyway, so Friday was our Movie Night so we let the kids frost their cookies, and eat them for their movie snack. They had a blast, and it made it so special that it was from Sis. Hutchings.

I was feeding the baby so I didn't exactly get to participate, so I made Nate take pictures.

Apparently Noah didn't feel the need to frost his.... they were good enough without :)

And this is just from that night. When Nate and I were going to bed, and I had laid her in her bed, we both came in the room and couldn't resist taking pictures of her sweet little face while she was sleeping. Nate got a perfect one of her smiling, we will have to post that when we upload it. But it was just a fun little moment for Nate and I. These are just special to me.

November 20th

So today was Erika's due date. I'm always weirded out with the thought that this is the day that she was supposed to come, but she's already a week and a half old... ya know. I'm weird maybe. But she's been such a blessing in our home! Everyone loves her so much! I've seen such a softer side of Luke in the last few days when he comes over and strokes her head and kisses her cheeks and then calmly sings to her.... that is not a side of Luke we would have seen without his new little sister "Ewika". I love how everyone fights over who gets to hold her next. Noah has learned to say her name "Ga-Ka", I love that. I love how cuddly she is and how calm and laid back she is. She really has been a good baby. I look forward to when we can get her sleep schedule figured out, but she's a new baby, can't expect too much right now. I do love watching her look around at night in the dark. I know she sees things that I don't. I love the spirit I feel with a new baby. It's just priceless. So here's to her due date :) Brad took this picture of me laying here with my little girl... I like it.

Friday's Fabulous Five

1. On Sunday Nate totally filled in for me in Primary. I know what you're thinking, I was crazy to think I could go and do my Sharing time this Sunday, but I really could have done it!!!! If it wasn't for the comments I kept getting from the Primary Presidency I probably would have gone, but it was just annoying. So anyway.... I ended up having Nate sub for me. He did a great job as I am told :) What a sweetie.

2. On Monday we took Erika in for her bilirubin and that turned out to be quite the ordeal. Not because of her number but because of the Doctor's office and then the hospital. Yeah, so apparently they couldn't actually check her bilirubin at the doctor's office like they used to, so after waiting a long time in the waiting room, and then a long time in the room, and then having the doctor look her over (she was very nice btw. This was my first time with this particular doctor and I think I like her a lot. I am going to change to her for the girls since they were wanting a female doc anyway). She answered all my questions about her jaundice plus some about her hip (the doc at the hospital had said it was loose, luckily we don't need to worry about that for a while), then a few about her head lump (it doesn't seem to be going down, but it is in fact "normal" so we are not to worry about it anymore). We also found out that she weighed 7 lbs, 14oz at that point so she had essentially gained 5 ounces since we left the hospital, and only lost 2 from her birth weight!! Is that not so amazing!!! I am so proud of her!! She is "perfect on paper" according to the doctor, minus her yellowness, so she wanted to give us an order to get her over to the lab at the hospital and get her bilirubin number. I was annoyed when she said that we had to go over to the hospital, but even more annoyed when I realized that it was through the ER. "don't take your baby out too much, don't take her around large groups of people, don't let anyone touch her without washing their hands because of the H1N1 scare" but "it's okay to take her to the place where ALL the sick people are going!!!!!!" UGH! Yeah, I felt like I was getting sick as I was sitting there and could only imagine the germs that Erika might be breathing in during that hour and a half that we were in the waiting room. I was annoyed to say the least. The actual blood draw took approximately 2 minutes. I still can't believe we had to go through all the registration and get a wrist band and everything for those 2 MINUTES!!! So anyway. I got a call taht night that said she was fine. Her bilirubin number was perfectly normal for a baby her age. All that for NOTHING!!! But I guess it's good to know. Anyway.... the fabulous part here might be fading with my bad attitude, but it was fabulous to know that she was doing so well, weight wise, and with all the other "problems" she had "had" in the hospital. It's nice. And a blessing.





3. Wednesday we got to go to Discovery while the girls were at school. The boys have made that place theirs now. They pretty much know what they want to do there and don't waste time doing the things they don't like :) We had fun and it was so nice to not have to carry around that huge belly with me while I was playing. Felt like a new found freedom :) Nate was so nice to carry the baby the whole time.



4. The other day, we were sitting upstairs with Grandpa Hatch, watching tv. The kids were all sprawled out all over the floor except Bradley, he was holding Erika on the little couch, kind of away from everyone else. I kept hearing him say cute little baby things to her, and telling her how little her hands and feet were, which I just found adorable. Then, when she started fussing, this is my favorite part, he began singing "I Am A Child Of God" to her.... all cute and quietly. I LOVED it!!! I loved it so much I almost let him continue even though she was getting louder and more upset. It was SO cute. I just love how my kids are taking to the new baby thing. It's miraculous to me that they would be so interested in her and so loving to her. I mean, I know that they've had some practice, but this is just so neat for me as their mom.

5. Thursday night we got to have our game night. It's been a while. Loved it.

Another trip to Discovery

Nate and I took the boys (and Erika. It's weird to not be able to just say "the boys" now for during the day stuff :) good weird of course :)) to Discovery again this week. They had a good time just doing WHATEVER they wanted. It was really nice to be able to bend over and climb into the car, and all that other good stuff that you can do when you're not lugging around a huge belly.


They got to do some foam painting. I loved watching Noah get into it... he doesn't usually do that.



Lukey took it very seriously.




And Bradley made a really nice one too..... fun stuff.




This is from Friday... just a cute picture if you ask me :) I'm thinking Brad holds the record for holding Erika the most.... surprising? YES!!! But I LOVE It!!

Random Pictures from the last few days

We've gotten to the point where the kids have to take a number to hold her :) It's working out much better than "I get to hold her after you!!!"



The kids have done really well at entertaining themselves a lot lately. This was a cute little moment.... I think this was when Charity was at her Primary Party, and brad and Noah were asleep (or something) because it is very rare that Kelly and Luke play together alone. But this was cute. They played together for a good 2 hours and didn't have too many problems.... I loved it.

Is this not the cutest little polo dress?!!! I remember Charity and Kelly wearing these and I just had to put this one on Erika.... I love it. And the baggy tights too :) My favorite!

Brad's attempt at a partial family picture on the couch :) Not successful.

Cute Luke loves to look at himself on the camera.

Just goofing around with the camera of course.

again.
Nate was so good to take everyone to church. I got some much needed sleep and caught up on my reading, and played dress up some more with Erika :) Nate got all the usual comments about how crazy he is to bring all the kids to church by himself, but I still feel like it's better than having them miss. They LOVE church. They live to go to their classes!! It would just be sad to tell them that they were going to miss it. I'm glad Nate's okay with it, because I think it's better.

Charity's turn.

This was cute too... Noah got down on the floor and was watching tv with Kelly. I think it's adorable when little people lay on their tummies on the floor :)

She really loves this little girl... it's so cute!

Welcome Home Baby Erika!!!!

This is the sign Heidi and teh boys made the day she was born... so fun.



It's really funny to me that the entire pregnancy I was thinking I was going to milk my hospital stay for all it was worth and stay the entire 4 days that the insurance allows since I had never done that before. Well, once I heard that the kids couldn't come, I realized that staying at the hospital would mean they had to wait longer to see her, so I decided I would go home as soon as I could. Well, the third day, early in the day was the earliest they would let me have my staples out and I wasn't about to go home and the whole weekend with staples in, so I did stay until that 3rd day.... I was grateful for how quickly they did the discharge. I was ecstatic at the news that she had only lost a few ounces while in the hosptial. That never happens. Normally I have to stress about how much they're getting.
We were very happy to take our little angel home to meet her family.



Charity could hardly contain herself when we picked her up from school. I was pretty excited for her too to be honest. I couldn't stop smiling.

And Kelly was teh same... she showed her to a few of her friends there at the car before Charity came out of the school.... so cute to watch her show off her little sis.

Sisters!! We got some girl time while Nate picked up the boys from Brent and Sarah's. It was fun to talk to them about her and the stay at the hospital. They were so sweet with her.

I think Noah was next to the girls in excitement. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw a cute little baby in his house :) And that I let him hold her right away :) He was SO HAPPY.... very cute. And something I thought worth mentioning was the fact that Erika was just a tiny bit fussy right as I was handing her off to Noah, and then immediately stopped fussing when he had her in his arms. I loved it!! I can't help but feel like these two are connected somehow.... besides the obvious of course.... they have a connection!

And he's actually surprisingly gentle with her.... I really haven't had to be too worried about her with him... it's funny.

Everyone really loves her and can't get enough of the sweet little thing. She's been a fun little blessing to our family.

Brad loves her so much. He is so cute with her and asks to hold her ALL the time. Pretty much whenever he's not doing something else.

Luke loves her and loves to hold her, but it's really not his first choice for an activity.

My Relief Society President came by just minutes after Nate left to take Kelly to a birthday party, she was surprised to see me all alone with everyone :) she couldn't believe Nate would leave me alone :) LOL. He was only gone for a few minutes, so it's all good :) But it was funny. She brought the kids some suckers :) and a baby gift.... so nice!!! I don't know many RS pres that have time to stop by like that.... I thought it was nice.

Meeting the family can be overwhelming I'm sure!! She was such a sweetie with everyone, and so patient with the passing around. I hope she learns to just love it :)