Meet Evelyn

We hardly ever call her that.  In fact, if you do say "Evelyn" to her, she doesn't even look your way.  We just call her Evee (pronouned eevee).  She is such a perfect and happy baby.  Seriously, she is almost always smiling and happy.  When she does get mad, she has a very high pitched banshee scream, but luckily we hear it pretty infrequently--maybe once per week.

Evee loves to eat!  Her favorite thing to eat is vegetables.  We give her whatever we are having with dinner, and she'll eat almost as much as the other girls combined. We do call her our bottomless pit.  She also nurses quite often, and she is a huge fan.  She has gotten into biting since her two bottom teeth came in a few weeks ago, and I am not so much a fan of that.

Evee is 11 months old, and it boggles my mind how fast time has traveled!  She has just started scooting and pulling herself up.  She sat up at 4 months, but she couldn't be bothered to try anything after that.  July 20th she scooted for the first time, and she has been gaining momentum ever since.

Evee loves her mommy, and the feeling is definitely mutual.  She has always been a snugly baby, and we enjoy long cuddles every day.  She is also quite fond of Daddy, and she most wants to go to him when she is feeling playful.

She is dead average for height and weight, but she is the chunkiest of my babies so far, and she has the sweetest little leg rolls.

All in all, Evee is an absolute dream baby.  Her sisters adore her, and they scramble to get her toys to play with, and they love to make her laugh.  Nobody can make her laugh like her sisters can.

Meet Katie

Katie is seriously as sweet as they come.  She is easy going and fun and snuggly.  She is very sensitive to others feelings and wants to make sure everyone is doing "dwait" (great) as she says it.

Katie is just like me in the mornings; she's a gradual waker.  She likes to wander in my room to have some extra snuggle time in the morning.  That extra time makes her day start so much better.

Katie loves loves my dad!  She likes to sneak my phone and call him.  He says she jabbers on and on about stuff he can't quite understand over the phone.  She also likes to call and ask him for "chichen nuggets."  A request he's more than happy to grant.  On more than one occasion, he has shown up at my door with "chichen" for Katie because she asked for it.  I'm working on teaching her not to do that...

Katie loves her pet chickens Moo and Boo.  She carries them around and pets them, and the crazy thing is they love her!

Katie loves Frozen!  I know, so does every little girl on the planet... But she wears her Elsa dress almost every day.  The only reason she doesn't wear it every day is because sometimes I don't get around to washing it every day, and I won't let her wear it to church.  When she's not wearing her Elsa dress, she's wearing her Anna dress.  I seriously don't know why I even put other clothes in her drawers.  (I won these dresses from a facebook giveaway, and it was seriously the biggest score ever!  I wasn't even sure people actually won those things. Check them out at foofs and frills on etsy.)

Katie says the sweetest, longest prayers ever!  She asks for everything her little heart could desire.  I really am working with her more on gratitude.... She asks for there to be a rainbow in the sky, for her hair to be pink, that her "chichens" will have a good night sleep, and that I would finish her "Hello Titty Twilt,"(she's also a huge fan of Hello Kitty) among other things.  I was finally able to finish her quilt and answer her prayers about that.

Katie loves others deeply and has no problems telling them and showing them.  She will often do extra chores for me or color me a picture when I'm having a bad day.  We love her!

Meet Sophie

Sophie is an absolute fireball!  She has more energy than anybody I have ever met.  We put her to bed at 7:30pm, and she typically stays up until 9:30.  She then wakes up at 6:30am, and she doesn't have that sleepy, I'm just getting out of bed mode.  She is up and firing on all cylinders.  And she doesn't take naps. Yay for me, right... Luckily, our main living area goes in a circle, so she can burn off a lot of energy going round and round.

Sophie absolutely loves animals and plants, and she has an incredible green thumb.  Everything she plants grows, and I mean EVERYTHING!  How is this possible?  I will never know.

Sophie is a builder, and I mean that literally.  She is constantly stealing pillows and couch cushions to make houses, barns, dog kennels, whatever.  If I put stuff away, I'll turn around, and she'll have it all out again.  She is like an ant in her persistent building.

Sophie has incredible hair!  I swear she took all the hair genes and left her sisters a little lacking.  It is long and thick and a little wild.  It takes a ton of work to maintain, and Justin has threatened to cut it more than once.  She has had 20 haircuts to date, and by haircuts I mean I trim off 2 inches while she's sleeping.  Sneaky, I know, but she's super sensitive about her hair, but it has to be trimmed when she starts to sit on it.  She wants it to grow to her feet like Rapunzels, so I trim it whilst she sleeps to avoid a fight.  Pick your battles right?  Tell me I'm not the only sneaky parent out there....

Sophie is my sunshine.  She experiences life to its fullest.  Sure that comes with a lot of ups and downs; in fact, I believe the correct term for her is spirited.  She honestly can be very difficult, and when she gets mad, she's MAD, and when she gets sad she's SAD, but most of the time she is happy.  She's more than happy though--she's joyful.

Sophie is the best helper!  She loves to help me cook, and she's even made dinner by herself a few times.  We're talking fettucinni alfredo, from scratch with wilted spinach and sauteed mushrooms.  Yeah, she's my kid!

Sophie acts way too much like an adult sometimes, and it melts my heart, and makes me want to cry because she's growing so fast!  I can't believe she'll be 6 in just a few short months.  I mean, really!

Evelyn's Birth Story

I finally found the time to sit down and write Evelyn's birth story.  I knew it would take a while, so I was intimidated by the task.  Kudos to anyone who gets through the whole thing!

People say that labor gets easier with each subsequent birth, but there are exceptions to this; and Evelyn was my exception.

Before Evelyn came, I was experiencing protromal labor for weeks.  Basically, I had regular contractions that never got closer together and never stopped.  So, for about 2 weeks, I had contractions about every 7 minutes.  Sometimes, they would get down to 5 minutes apart, but they would never progress beyond that.  I was frustrating and tiring.  I was told that protromal labor often leads to easier labor at the end, so I was game for that.

A week before Evelyn came, we started throwing around the idea of inducing because I was 2 weeks overdue.  But, since we weren't exactly sure of my precise due date (it went from September 2nd to August 16th), we decided as long as the baby was fine, we would proceed with pregnancy.  I was beyond frustrated because I was contracting, but then Tuesday August 27th, all contractions stopped with no signs they would start again.  It was at this point that I decided that the baby was never coming out, and I was going to be pregnant for the rest of my life.

On Friday, August 30th, my contractions started again in the evening, but they were not very uncomfortable, and I was able to sleep.  At 6:00 am, I woke up to them intensifying, and I got up and started cleaning the kitchen and packing some last minute things.  By the time the girls got up at 7:30 am, I thought, "this is it!"  At 9:00 am, I finally called my mom, and she and my dad headed over to get the girls.  I decided to go into the hospital and just see how things were progressing, and we took everything with us.  They monitored me for an hour, and found that I had made progress, but barely, so they sent me home.

We headed to the temple at this point and took a long walk, and then we went to lunch at Red Lobster which was excellent.  I was exhausted after that, so we went home and relaxed and watched Parks and Recreation.  My contractions stayed consistently 5 minutes apart, but they never got closer.  I couldn't sleep that night because of the pain, and by the morning, the contractions had intensified but had not grown closer.  I called the hospital because I was exhausted and wasn't sure if I could last through the rest of my labor, and they told me to come in for a quick check.

Justin and I headed in at about 10:00 am on Sunday, and they checked me to find progress but very little, and I was extremely discouraged at this point.  I could not stand the thoughts of doing this one more day.  After the nurse talked to my doctor, Doctor Chalmers, he said he'd come in and break my water to get things going.  He broke my water at 1:00 pm.  (He was so awesome to come in on a Sunday to help me out.  He is honestly, hands down, the best doctor I've had.  I had a different doctor deliver each of my kids, and he is the one I would go back to.)

He assured me that breaking my water would probably get things moving right along, and after a quick prayer, we decided this was the right thing to do.  And true to his word, the contractions picked right up and went to 4 minutes apart.  I was put in the natural birthing room, which is absolutely wonderful!  I decided to walk for a bit to start things up, and when the contractions started to get really painful, I got into the birthing tub.  (I have an intense love for baths, so this arrangement was perfect for me.)  We turned the lights down and turned on the battery operated candles, and we continued our Parks and Rec marathon.  They checked me an hour and a half later and found I was at a 7, and I was feeling pretty good, so things were awesome.

Then, my contractions petered out.  I started walking to get them going again, but they would not restart.  At this point, we opted to get some pitocin going to give the contractions a jump start.  This was about 7:00 pm.  They started me at 6, and it did very little, so over the next hour they kept bumping it up until my pump was at 20.  Then the pain became unreal!  An hour after that, I had progressed to an 8, and we discovered the baby was posterior.  I experienced this with my other girls, and there is nothing more frustrating than a baby who won't turn at the end of labor.  I tried some different positions and tried to remove myself from the pain as much as possible.  I had never experienced pain this intense with my other 2.  (Sophie was also helped by pitocin, but we didn't have to use as much.)  At about 10:30 pm, I was sure I was at the transition point, but the pain kept intensifying with each contraction.  My nurse Kelly was amazing, and she stayed with Justin and I to help relieve my pain with pressure points.  Justin was so diligent in doing everything I needed even though I knew he was exhausted too.

This continued until 11:30 pm, and I was still at an 8, and the baby was still posterior.  All this time, I kept telling myself I could do this for only another half an hour, and then when that point would pass, I would focus on the next half hour.  Well, midnight seemed to loom, and I told myself I could make it to midnight but not beyond.  I was thinking of all my favorite places of and on and praying the rest of the time.  I tried to remain still and relaxed.

Midnight rolled around, and I was mentally done!  I told them I wanted the epidural.  I was beyond the point of feeling disappointed in myself.  I was just so tired!  I sat up, and my nurse left to round up the anesthesiologist.  He was working with somewhere else, and I was told he would come soon.  I got up between a contraction to go to the bathroom, and I went back to the bed and tried to make it through 1 contraction at a time.  I was holding out for the epidural, and at 12:10 am, I felt the pushing urge.  I wasn't sure if I was imagining it in my delerium, so I waited, but 2 minutes later I was sure!  I told Justin, and he called for the nurse.  Everybody rushed in including my doctor who had been hanging out for hours and checking on me because he was sure I'd go any minute.  I was pushing by 12:15 am, and I was elated at the thought of meeting my little boy or girl.  (We still didn't know the gender.)

My baby girl came at 12:19 am, and I was exhausted and elated and starving!  She was 7 lbs 4 oz and 20 inches long (exact same as Katie), and she looked just like my other girls.  I was instantly in love and have been ever since.  I am grateful I was able to make it to the end naturally.  It was multiple more times more difficult than my other births, but I love that I went through the maximum pain possible to bring my miracle into the world.  The pain and joy of labor links me with my Savior in a way I cannot fully explain.  I appreciate his suffering infinitely more, and I marvel at his strength to shoulder all the pain of the world.

We were originally going to name a baby girl Rosalie, but after she came, we decided Evelyn would be her name, and it is absolutely perfect for her.  She is my angel baby and my absolute love!

After Evelyn came, I was tired and hungry!

The girls love her so much!

Best Daddy in the world!

Best doctor ever!

She Only Wanted to be a Kangaroo...

 

As Halloween approached, I began interrogating Sophie on what she wanted to be.  She changed her mind every couple of days until she settled on being a kangaroo.  I figured this too would pass, but she became insistent.  One day in the car, I was telling Justin I wasn't sure exactly how to make a kangaroo costume.  Sophie was quiet in the back seat until she tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a piece of paper.  She said, "Mom this is a blueprint for my kangaroo costume, follow it carefully."

 This was the best I could come up with...  Justin brought Sophie a little kangaroo he got from work to stick in her pouch.

Katie was a wonderful Cinderella.  And both the girls absolutely loved trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.  I had just had surgery, and my parents came to take the girls around the neighborhood.  Sophie continues to wear the costume long after Halloween.

Dress Overhaul

My mom was cleaning out her closet and decided to discard a few dresses.  This is one of those...  I hated it, so I decided to give it a little overhaul.  I chopped off some of the length and used it to add sleeves, threw a belt on, and viola!

 Now I have a super cute dress that I absolutely love.  Another bonus is that I got to make the dress exactly the length I wanted it.  I am not fond of showing my knees because I find them unattractive, so I chopped it just below the knee (it seems like dresses in the store are not this length).  The awesome poses are due to my photographer husband Justin.  He said do this and that, and I did. 

Yay for having a brand new, awesome dress for nothing! 
And yes, our dog does follow me wherever I go...

I Guess You Just Have to Make it Work

I went into the girls' room to check on them one night before I went off to bed.  And I walked in to find Sophie's bed full of stuff but empty of Sophie...

 I guess she decided it was just too crowded after she filled her bed with toys and the pillows from all over the house.  So instead of fighting the crowd, she just took her blankets and some more pillows from around the house and sacked out in her laundry bin. 

 Picking up toys when you have little kids is a constant chore, and this is my kids' favorite way to get it done.  Yes, I did make a rope out of grocery sacks.  It's ghetto, but it works...

 And here is just an added picture of Katie.  She doesn't like to swim, but she wants to be in a swimsuit so she can be like Sophie.  So when we do go out to the splash pad or something, she just chills on a blanket on the sidelines.  I'm hoping she soon decides she has a huge, undiscovered love of the water and gives it a shot.