Eight is Great!

Joey is eight and he is loving it.  When you are eight you don't have to ride in a booster seat anymore.  You get to go to Cub Scouts.  And of course you get to be baptized. 

Joey is such a wonderful boy.  He is very obedient and follows rules as long as he knows what they are.  He is very tender hearted and does not want to be left out or forgotten.  He is an early riser and loves routine.  He can eat as much as me and has even eaten as much as Peter before. He will try just about any food, in fact he wanted sushi for his birthday.  He did not actually like it all that well but at least he was willing to try.  He loves power rangers! He received a Megazord and three other zords that all fit together to make an ultimate megazord! 

He loves reading.  He loves legos too and so he got to take 2 friends to Legoland for his birthday on Friday. He is still in Taekwondo and is doing really well.  At a tournament on  Saturday, he won 3 gold medals. Yea Joey! He is also taking piano lessons this year.  

Joey has always liked jumping and will go out on the trampoline or in the play room and bounce for 30 minutes at a time.  It is like his release.  He is happy and loves to help people. I love that he has a sharp mind and is quick to memorize things. I am thankful that we have been able to get him into therapy and work with the school resources to help him understand this world and his way of seeing it better so that he can continue to have success in his life.  I could not have asked for a better first child.  Joey I love you!

Joey wanted a red dinosaur and we had a hard time getting the color just right and it came out a bit fuschia.  Peter and I noticed a slight resemblance to a certain children's show character. Maybe it is the green leaves that are like his green belly.  We decided this is an angry or possessed version- he does not love anyone. Joey loved it and that is what matters.

"When I am Dad's age..."

I asked Jon a few months ago when he was going to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. His answer was "when I am dad's age."  He has not wanted to learn this skill.

 But there he is - no training wheels and no mom holding on!

 He lucked out and we did not really force the issue during the summer because it was stinking hot and I could not help due to my pregnant state.

 This is his skid mark that he is so proud of.  He has the brakes figured out. 

 I'll push you and...

 you push me!

Lily slept during this exciting time.  The beauty rest is obvious! 

The following videos are: 

1. Jon riding his bike!

2. Jon at his Hip Hop Class (he is the one in the white shirt).

3. So you can get a kick out of the boy in the green shirt getting down! Sorry about the crazy filming I was holding Lily and helping Arabella.

My Girls

I love having 2 beautiful daughters! 

Peter captured these great pictures of Arabella at the temple the other day.  

It was our stake temple day and so we took turns going to the temple and switched the girls in the parking lot so I could feed Lily one last time.  Peter then took the girls to lunch and then picked up the boys from school.  It was a great day and absolutely beautiful! We then went to the park to play as a family. I love the temple and the wonderful feeling I get when I go there.  I also love my family!!

Yes, she is adorable!

Ta da!

I love when she says, "Oh Lily, Lily!"

This picture is of my sweet new girl! She is 6 weeks old and I can not believe how big she is getting already.

She will sleep for 4 hours at night and then another 2-3.  I feel quite rested.  

Alas, she is a spitty baby too but I still love her.  I have also found that I am not as shocked by the spit- unless it goes down my shirt like it did yesterday. 

She is a very mellow baby and will be one tough cookie from all of the love she gets from her brothers and sister.  They love to shake her arms and tug on her feet and Arabella will often go up to her and try to hug her while she is laying on the floor.  This may or may not contribute to some of the spitting up.  

She still looks a great deal like Jon.  He has been telling people that she is his twin. 

My favorite Joey and Lily interaction is when he sings, "Calma, Calma" from Dora or Diego (I can not remember which) when she is crying and either gently shakes her hand or gives her her binki. 

I love being a mom to 2 great girls and 2 great boys! 

Labor Day, "Sonic", and Fire Insurance

Today, as I was driving home from the library I noticed smoke in the air. As I drove closer, I realized the smoke was very near my neighborhood.  Then while driving into my neighborhood I passed a police car and a fire chief's truck.  Passing by the streets towards my house I could not see any fire trucks and I was beginning to realize the smoke was above my street (but was nearly gone).  

I pulled into the alleyway to get to our driveway and I saw some neighbors standing at the end of it by the train tracks.  Apparently a tree across the tracks caught on fire and some sparks came over the tracks and caught the deathly dry grass on fire. No houses were damaged but the pictures below were taken from my driveway and the black patches are the burned areas.  I am just saying that fire was a little too close for comfort- I am glad I have fire insurance. 

 The tree in the middle is the one that appears to have caught on fire.  The other side of it is very black- believe me. 

 Really, we are talking a matter of 30 yards or so!

 On to a happier time.  2 Sundays ago Jon and Arabella set up restaurant Sonic on the landing at the top of the stairs.  They made famous eggs and steak and strawberry drinks.

 They carted a good portion of the play food and the toy grill into Arabella's room from the play room so that Sonic could exist.  It was really funny!

 The above pictures were taken today of Arabella twirling! I love that girl!

 So we had planned to take the kids to the Fort Worth Zoo yesterday but when we got there the line to get into the parking area was literally a mile long.  So, we used the GPS and found a place to go miniature golfing and enjoyed the marvelous 85 degree weather! 

 These pictures are simply for your enjoyment of our adorable little Lily.  She is getting so big it seems but I realize she is still only about 8 maybe 9 pounds. She gets a lot of love at our house. 

All dressed up for Sunday!

First Day of School (and final summer days)

Yesterday was the first day of school and these boys were excited!

Jon had become nervous about school and so that made me more nervous than I remember being for Joey's first day of kindergarten. But by the time I picked them up yesterday Jon acted like a school pro!

This bag was on the table. It had the word new on it already- Jon added his name and the word bag without any help and he was so proud of himself - he needed a picture.

For our final days of summer, we loved on sweet Lily,

played on the swing set (and changed our own clothes),

had some pictures taken of Lily,

swam one more time at the Bishop's house (The boys swam twice a week with Lindsay and Emily White who helped them become much better swimmers. Arabella and I tagged along at least once a week.)

Took a few naps.

Enjoyed her some more! She had an appointment yesterday for a 2 week check- she weighed

7 lbs 10 oz and was 21 inches long. You grow girl!

Peter was great on the last Saturday he: mowed the lawn, helped with a move, adopt-a-spot clean up, bountiful baskets pick up, washed the cars, and washed the dog all before noon.

Finally, here are two videos for your enjoyment. First, Jon swimming- at the beginning of the summer on our first day we could not get Jon off of the step even with his life jacket on. Yes, we are so proud of his progress. Second, Joey had karate testing. For him, it was a midterm. In two months he will test for his black belt recommended belt and then 4 months after that he will test for his black belt. This is the form he will do for that testing. He is making good progress but still has a few things to perfect. We are very proud of his hard work.

11 Years into Eternity- and Loving It!!

Many of you are wondering who those two kids are?! We wonder sometimes ourselves.

If you can see the date stamp on the side you will see that it was taken Aug. 22, 1997.

Peter and I had stopped fighting our destiny and been dating for a few weeks.

This photo was taken on a camping trip with his family.

Aw, now Peter is home from his mission and we are more accepting of our destiny but must have one last battle before deciding if eternity is really for us!

Yes, eternity is most definitely for us!

This picture was taken August 19, 2000. What a lovely, young couple!

And here we are 11 years later and still smiling!

I am so grateful that years ago this amazing man was willing to give my stubborn heart and mind another chance to be by his most amazing side! He was so cute, sincere, honest, and spiritual (truly this is one of the things that caught my eye- spirit might be a better word- first) that I was humbled to be with him. We left the rest up to the Lord and so far things are working out splendidly! The rest of Eternity will be a great adventure!

I love you Peter! Thanks for the great week of surprises!

Love,

Missy Magoo

A Birth Story with a Man's Perspective

(Warning: this is long due to me wanting to get it down for posterity's sake.)

The chain of events in photos.

Description below.

Above: Thursday night as I was checking in.

Below: Me in the final stage (minutes) of Labor- I did not know this was taken.

Lily's birth has a unique story as does each child's but the above picture is the way Peter has described her entrance into this life.

Joey was my first and so I did not know what to expect. I was induced the day before my due date and spent 4 1/2 hours off and on pitocin. I got an epidural and Joey was born 15 minutes la

ter by the doctor. For a first timer, it was pretty quick and gave me valuable knowledge to tuck away until the next delivery.

Jon, I had been having contractions all day long off and on. It was getting later and so we headed to the hospital to see if it was real. My contractions pretty much stopped but Jon's heart rate dropped low after one last contraction so we stayed. I got antibiotics and then they broke my water and started pitocin and 1 1/2 hours late he was born without the doctor. This time I went all natural because I had almost made it the first time so I knew what to expect.

Arabella, due to the previous speedy deliveries I was a bit nervous about making it to the hospital for her delivery. Again, I had some contractions during the night, headed to the hospital for them to stop and get sent home. I slept. I had a good hard contraction about 1:30 and had one about every 20-30 minutes until about 3:15 when they got a little closer. At 4:05 my water broke at home and we made a mad rush to the hospital where the nurses did not believe I was ready to deliver until they saw the head was crowning and I was ready to push. If anyone ever tells you to just keep your legs closed I encourage you to laugh in their face. Anyhow, Arabella came into the world at 4:54 and was caught by a nurse wearing one glove that was only about 3/4 of the way on.

Now Lily. Her pregnancy was complicated by my anti-phosphlipid syndrome (clotting disorder). Due to this, my OB and my peri-natalogist did not want me to go over 39 weeks so I was induced at 38 1/2. I had to stay overnight at the hospital where I was given some cervix softener and antibiotics (strep positive).

About 6:30 am I was started on pitocin and my doctor broke my water about 7:00 at which time I was only about a 1 1/2 to 2 cm. It did not seem like a whole lot was happening and so they kept increasing the pitocin. About 9 am they had me roll on to my side and that seemed to do the trick. I began to have stronger contractions. About 9:56, according to Peter, I started to really complain of pressure. I was a 5 but would go to a 7 with a contraction and I was nauseated which is an indicator for me that the end is near. I asked them to call the doctor and they gave me some Zofran for the nausea. My doctor showed up about 10:15 and checked me, I was an 8. She told me not to push yet- good advice but begins to get tricky when you are getting medications that causes your uterus to contract on its own and you don't really have control over that muscle anyways.

My nurse (who was training a new nurse) came in and I told her that I was really uncomfortable and did not think I could make it any longer. She said okay, put on a glove and opened my legs to check me and there was no stopping the inevitable. My doctor who had stepped into the hall came in and saw the head was about 1 inch out, turned to put on her gloves and missed the delivery. Yes, that is right. The picture above is how Peter described what happened "A great white shark launching out of the water". I asked if he could not at least call it a whale (it seems more majestic), he said, "No it really was more like a great white."

Now, mind you I did not push- except for what my body was doing beyond my control. So, basically once the head was out past the widest part, Lily "launched" into this world and almost landed in the nurse's lap. (The new nurse said later that she was really glad she had not come in to check me because she did not think she was ready to deliver a baby. The nurse who delivered worked in California where apparently it is not unusual for doctors to miss births and so she had done dozens.) My doctor was stunned to say the least and after checking me said, "Now, Miss Lily you could not have waited for me to get my gloves on."

It was quite the experience. I was so relieved she was here and healthy! We both were healthy-

I did not have any major bleeding which was a risk due to my blood thinners but I was in great hands. Lily came out wanting to eat- she is still a good eater but initially she lost weight. We came home on Saturday night and she weighed a mere 5 lbs 13 oz. (A whole pound lighter than any of our other kids.) She is filling out though- by Monday she was back to 6lbs even.

Lily and I ready to go home and her foot is as narrow as and as long as Peter's thumb.

My parents came on Thursday night and stayed until the next Saturday. We loved having them here. The kids had a great time with grandma and grandpa. Jon and Arabella cried when it was time for them to go- as did I. I love being with my family and having the extra help was wonderful. It also helped that my dad has an i-pad with angry birds and my mom has an i-touch with angry birds and a few games for Arabella. My boring non-gaming phone just can not compare.

Lily gets held plenty by all of us. Jon is especially doting. He will just wonder over by her and give her a kiss or rub her hair. She looks most like him. I think she is going to be a blond. Her hair now reminds me of Peter's baby pictures and he was very blond as a kid.

Our life is an adventure and we are trying to make the most of each day-with these 4 kids!