Back to School

On August 18th, the girls went Back to School. Emma Jo started 6th Grade and Grace is now in 1st Grade. Grace is delighted to have Mrs. Codding for a teacher (and Mrs. Stadum for a substitute) and Emma Jo is thrilled that they are now upstairs in the Jr. High. In Jr. High the students get lockers and Emma came home from school on the first day with the exciting news that she got a top locker!

All four kids in front of the house on our way off to school. Cooper keeps asking when he gets to go to "Grace's Kindergarten".

In front of the sign at school.

Gracie and one of her best friends, Matthew waiting to go into class. They have been together since she was 12 weeks old and started daycare.

Group shot of the 6th Grade before they head upstairs on their new adventure.

End of Summer - Cookie Making

One of the last things we did to enjoy the end of summer, was make chocolate chip cookies.

We invited our friend, Halle, over to help.

I'm not sure if the kids liked the cookies better or the cookie dough. (Thankfully the eggs we used weren't tainted with salmonella.)

We had to pick up Cooper after we mixed the dough, but before we formed the cookies. That was when I realized that I might have lost my mind. Because who in their right mind would think making cookies with four kids and a 3 week old baby was a good idea?

Thankfully Jason got home before it got too out of control, and Henry slept through most of the chaos so everything turned out okay. (And I got some delicious cookies to snack on while I go a little crazy.)

Swimming Lessons

Grace and Cooper just finished two weeks of swimming lessons. They both did amazing! I wish I had signed them up for lessons earlier in the summer. If I had I bet Grace would have been swimming independently by the end of summer! She was willing to go under water, retrieve rings from the bottom of the pool, cross the pool with a kick board, and even swim 1/4 of the way across the pool completely on her own. I am just so thankful that she is finally getting over her fear of getting her face and ears wet!
Cooper has developed a little attitude since we brought Henry home from the hospital and swimming lessons were no exception. Cooper would not get into the pool unless it was his decision. Once he got in the pool he would gladly participate in class, as long as he was holding a toy of some sort. By the end of the two weeks he was willing to blow bubbles, use "scooper arms", kick with a kick board or holding on to the rail. He was not willing to go completely under the water or jump off the side, but I'm sure that will come next year...

Good Morning

This morning started out a little earlier than I would have liked, at 4am Henry decided it was time for breakfast. Before 5am Cooper decided it was time to watch Mickey Mouse in my bed. But early wake up aside, today is a good morning. Jason is at work but we are doing just fine on our own. Now at 7am Henry is snoozing away in bed next to me. Cooper and Grace are playing Barbie & Buzz Lightyear in their room and Emma Jo is still sleeping. In a little bit we will officially start our day with breakfast, showers and chores, but right now it is quiet and peaceful in our house. It is moments like this when I think "four kids isn't crazy". We'll see if I still think that this afternoon...

Henry Charles

I am so happy to share that Henry Charles has joined our family. The induction worked (maybe a little too well) and he was born early on Tuesday morning.

We started the induction with Cytotec to get everything ready for the "actual" induction scheduled for Tuesday morning. Turns out the Cytotec worked overtime and my contractions started almost right away. They were fairly mild about every 5 minutes starting around midnight. At 4:15 the contractions started in earnest. I felt my water break during a double contraction at 4:25 and he was born at 5:15am. I went from 5cm to complete in less than 40 minutes which left no time for an epidural or any other pain medications. Thankfully we were able to hold off the birth long enough for my midwife to arrive as Henry was crowning. Unfortunately the quick progression did not give Grammie enough time to make it to the hospital in time to attend the birth.

Each of Henry's older siblings is delighted with him.

Cooper can't stop saying "I like Henry".

Grace wants to hold him as long as he doesn't start crying.

Emma Jo is again loving being the oldest and having the freedom to hold Henry without having to sit carefully in a chair. She is treating him like a living doll and having fun dressing him up and talking and singing to him.

I had always wondered if I should have tried to have the other kids without an epidural. I always felt a little cheated that I had pitocin with each of them which seemed to rule out the possibility of an epidural-free experience. Now I know that epidurals are a good thing. I can say though that I felt fantastic within a few hours of Henry's birth which definitely wasn't the case with any of the other babies. I'm not sure if it is attributable to no epidural to recover from or if it is due to the extremely quick labor.

We came home from the hospital on Thursday and since then Henry has become very comfortable on our bed. He will gladly sleep for 2-4 hours at a time in this spot.