Baby Blessing in Las Cruces

We went to Las Cruces to see Chris and Francisca's babies be blessed. Callum and Rachel were the miracle twins and we wanted to celebrate their safe arrival and Francisca's safe recovery. Here we are at their house:

And here's the proud family. That's got to be a lot of work!Here's me with my niece Rachel. She's so tiny!On another note, we had friends over on Veteran's Day and the boys had tons of fun with Todd and Trey:Lucas couldn't get in on the light saber duels so much so he played with the hose and ended up getting his clothes all wet as usual. So, I stripped him down and here he is telling me he's "Coad" which is how he says "cold." On yet another note, today we had a turkey on the farm. I don't know where it came from, but it was here today.Clayton was a little bit nervous around it!

Halloween

Halloween pics:

Here's the whole Star Wars gang:

Clayton went as Plo KoonDavid went as a Storm TrooperLucas went as R2D2.Cora went as a ballerina, but I think she's not going to get a job with chubby arms like that!I was a Hawaiian girl, Bethany was "Sleepover Barbie" and Grandma Bluth and Avie were the Bobsy twins in their 1920s costumes.Bwtween the donut eating game and the candy, Lucas is coverted to this whole Halloween idea!

Surgery

Last Tuesday I had surgery. It was a tubal ligation/double hernia repair. My mom came over and helped with kids. It was so great to have her since I was completely out of commission for a couple of days. I never had too much pain, just nausea and discomfort. The hardest part of the whole thing was the kids. Cora couldn't nurse all day because I was in surgery and then had to wait until the medication left my system. She wouldn't take a bottle until several hours had gone by because she hates bottles. When she finally did get to nurse after almost 12 hours, she was the happiest thing you ever saw. Her eyes were rolling around in her head and she was gulping it down. The other kids just had to put up with a Mom in bed for a couple of days. But, it was fun to have them come and join me:One memorable time was when we were trying to feed the kids dinner. They weren't eating and Lucas was being loud and messy (these are his only big negatives- he's an absolutely cute boy except when he's loud and messy because he's REALLY loud and REALLY messy to the point that I question my sanity). My mom and I were becoming very irritated and the tension in the house was high. So, we bagged dinner, I needed to lay down and my Mom took the kids on an emergency anti-wiggle walk. She looked stunning in her shower cap which was to protect her hair from the wind and humidity. We'll always remember that walk!
Thanks for all your help Mom! Thanks too to Marcus and Grandma Bluth and Bethany who were also a ton of help. I'm feeling much better now and just about back into the swing of things thanks to all the wonderful help I've had.

Cora's Blessing

Cora was blessed on October 18th. She was so beautiful in her long white dress.She seemed to know it was her big day. She didn't want to go to sleep the night before or nap the morning of the blessing. She wasn't fussy or anything, but simply wanted to lay there and coo and laugh and be excited for her big day. Marcus gave the blessing with Grandpa Bluth, Grandpa Hakes, and AJ. Clayton's job was to hold the microphone and did a really good job. Right before the prayer, Marcus whispered to Clayton to not hold the microphone too close, but of course that was broadcasted over the closely held microphone and made everyone chuckle. At the end of the blessing, Clayton could finally drop his arm and said, "my arm's tired!" which was also broadcast for everyone to hear and caused another round of chuckles. Marcus did a great job on the blessing and said wonderful things for Cora's life. I'm so happy for a great husband who can perform those blessings for our kids.Me with my baby girl. This is Cora, Grandma Hakes and Clayton in primary. Lucas hates nursery and cries so much that I feel bad for the nursery workers and let him come hang out with me in Primary. He sits so quietly in there because I threaten to take him to nursery if he doesn't. Here's the whole gang now. Our first pictures with everyone in our growing family. (Left to Right: Lucas, Marcus, David, Me, Cora, Clayton)

Grandma and Grandpa Hakes came that morning. My dad had to leave that evening, but my Mom stayed to help me for the week since I underwent surgery. More on that later!

We splurged on steaks since it was just a small group getting together. So, if you missed the blessing, you missed out on some good eats!

Cora was getting a kick out of my dad. He was making her smile and laugh like crazy!

There's no pictures of Grandma and Grandpa Bluth because Avie was really sick and they were not wanting to hold Cora to avoid spreading germs.

Musical Beds

I've been playing musical beds ever since my baby girl was born, and I wanted to document it so I can look back and laugh someday. Someday far away when I am sleeping so well that I can barely remember these days! I am so wierd about sleep it's not even funny. I'm taking 20mg of Prednisone a day which is a steroid that "wires" you a bit, so sleep can be elusive. If I take the proper steps I can usually have a decent night, but it doesn't take much to trigger my "sleep paranoia." Then I lay awake for a long time and don't get any sleep. I usually start the night off in my bed:
This bed was already made this morning by my sweet husband. David and Lucas wanted to jump in the picture. They're wearing their new Star Wars costumes that they got in the mail yesterday.
Once Cora cries around 1 or 2 am, I head off to nurse/sleep in the bed next to the crib:

I stay there and sleep with her until 4 or 5 when she usually wants to nurse and starts her fussy/gassy phase. She's not very lady like about grunting and passing gas in her sleep and she seems to do it every morning about this time. If things don't work out right, this is the end of my night. But, if she's asleep enough that I can sneak off, I go to the couch in the "orange" room. R2D2 wanted to be in this picture:I don't want to go back to bed because there's a small chance I can sleep a little longer than Marcus's alarm will allow for. That doesn't happen to often though because my kids, especially Clayton, don't know how to sleep in. They're usually up by 6:30 or 6:45. The moral of the story is to go to bed early. There's no other way to get sleep around here!

Here's my Cora now that she's 2 months. She's cooing and smiling so cute! She weighed in yesterday at 12 lbs, 2 ozs.David and Lucas playing on my bed. These two are getting to be better friends now that they spend more time just the two of them while Clayton's at school.

New Swing Set!

When Marcus went to Lubbock over a month ago to get the window fixed on his truck, he came back with a new swing set. We've never had a swing set and I've been wanting one so bad since we have so many kids and they're starting to get older. I mean, shouldn't every kid have a swing in their backyard? I've had my eye on the one at Sam's Club for a LONG time now, and it's always been hard to spend that much money. But, Marcus took the plunge while he was in Lubbock and brought this baby home. Well, not only was it a lot of money, but it turns out that you have to build this whole thing- every nut and bolt and screw of it. It came as 4 huge boxes full of wood; pretty intimidating. This project pretty much fell to me. So, with the help of my boys and occasionally Marcus, we got this thing put together over the course of 4+ weeks working on it during naptime for Cora. It was a good learning experience for me. I feel very aquainted with our power drill and wrenches and things. It was good bonding for me and the boys because they liked to push the button on the drill while I held the screws, etc. Plus, I got a tan and heightened spirits from being out in the sunshine. Here's the swing set as it's going up. At this point I thought I would never finish!Marcus was a big help. He did all of the things I couldn't do physically- you know when I need some manly muscle. One thing was to anchor the swing set into the ground with stakes. I went to a soccer game and when I came back he had done that part for me. I was so excited that he did it. However, after looking at the instructions and the swing set for a while, I realized I had the whole thing backwards. The way it was, the kids were going to be going down the slide straight into the fence! So, I meekly had to ask him if he wouldn't mind unanchoring it and rotating it around. I think I will be made fun of for that one for a while. Here he is hanging the swings. That was a big deal.Here's my good friend the power drill. This was such a beautiful evening. It was one of those moments when your kids are being cute and the weather and the scenery is so beautiful that you feel so happy. Disclaimer: Cora is in her baby carrier because we just went on a walk. I don't normally operate power tools with my baby there!There's the finished product. Pretty cool, huh? So, with the swing set and the trampoline having been replaced, I'd say our backyard is more kid friendly.

David's Hair!

I was outside giving David a haircut the last week. I had scissor cut the top part and was needing to use the clippers on the side when baby Cora started crying on the monitor. So, I told David I needed to go take care of her, gave him a squirt bottle to play with in the meantime and went inside. I took care of the baby and came back a few minutes later to find that David had taken the scissors and cut huge chunks of hair off all over his head. He had cut all the way down as short as he could so that I had no other option except to shave his whole head. I couldn't even put an attachment on the clippers- it had to be bare in order to match what he had already cut off. I cried and cried while I did that because I love David's beautiful red hair. I thought he looked pretty bad at first and told him things like "You don't have to go to school if you don't want to" or "I'll buy you a new hat." The worst part was after the haircut and showering him off, I let David look in the mirror for the first time and his face fell. He made a sad face and said he looked awful. That broke my heart! I have rarely felt so bad. But, now that we're all used to it, I think he looks fine. It turns out that David's head is a nice shape under all that hair.In other news, we went to Las Cruces for a day while Marcus did the NMSU job fair representing Intrepid. It was fun to see the fam there. Here's my beautiful Mom with Cora.How cute and fat are those cheeks? Lucas throwing a balloon in the air.

Daivd playing with cousin Haley.

Carrie and Clayton: