Our subheading's going to need to change.

"Do we really have five kids? When did that happen?" (future subheading set to appear June/July 2016)

If an immediate family member reading this blog did not receive this news, I blame Allan. (You told all of your siblings, right?)

I remember when Allan's brother, Brett, and his wife were expecting their fifth child, they thought it made more sense to just not tell people outside the family. Just show up to the next work Christmas party with five kids and see if anyone notices--all the better if none of your coworkers do notice. That's kind of been my attitude about this pregnancy. We definitely want this baby--but let's be honest, we have made many pregnancy announcements by this point, and we've run out of ways to say "I'm pregnant!"

My OB's words as he walked in the room for my very first appointment: "Hey, why not have another?" 

We found out right before Halloween, and it started feeling very real a few days after (i.e. I started wanting to die). It's been a very intense 14 weeks. However, the extreme nausea has passed by now, and I feel a bit more energy this week. This is the earliest I've ever felt better.

I like you already, Baby.

We told the boys on Christmas Eve. They opened a box with the ultrasound pic. Jack's reaction was "I knew it!!!" (And he did--I had been flat out lying to him for the past month and a half. He didn't buy my "I still have the stomach flu" line.) Micah was giddy. Nathan lifted up my shirt and asked where the baby was. A few days later he pointed to my chest and shouted "The baby is going to have TWO sippy cups?!?!"

Ah, the miracle of life.

October 2015

 As far as I can recall, the entire month of October was dedicated to celebrating Halloween. And thus began the Trifecta of Overeating.

The kids all had Halloween parties to attend.  I remembered to take pictures at Nathan and Astrid's Halloween-themed playdate. Some people are really serious about how they plan their play dates (I'm not--I'm lucky if I have Goldfish crackers on hand). This particular friend involved a pony in the festivies. A pony named Don Diego. Astrid had no fear (likely because the friend leading the horse had a blonde bob. All my kids feel safer around blonde bobs.).

Nathan had great fear. The blonde bob couldn't do a thing. Then he saw his baby sister ride and pride got the better of him. Look how proud he is. Like General Washington going into battle. On a pony named Don Diego.

 On the 27th of October as I was readying for bed I saw it-- something my pride could not overcome: the annual bloody eye. Someone told me that the older she gets the more often she gets these dagum popped blood vessels. My only consolation was that this was at Halloween--not Christmas like the last two. They last at least a week, and this picture wasn't even taken on the worst day. Some people seriously thought it was something I did for effect. I avoided eye contact until November.

(Note the trustworthy blonde bob)

As usual our Very Favorite Preschool Teacher in The Entire World (incidentally, also my popped blood vessel friend) had a pumpkin patch trip. This is the smaller patch just down the road. It's full of all sorts of dangerous equipment. How they haven't been sued yet is beyond me. Here are Carter and Nathan on the mild merry-go-round (This documents the two minutes of the trip where I could actually draw breath).

A few days later, I took Eli, Nathan, and Astrid to meet Katie, Carter, and Future Husband Decker at the bigger, better pumpkin patch in Visalia.

Then we met more friends at Chipotle. We always have to go to Chipotle. At least we did. Now I'm just waiting to hear how the federal criminal investigation into that untraceable norovirus incident turns out.......Oh, and the widespread E. Coli.

One of the highlights of the month was realizing that Jack and Micah's new school did not have a Halloween Carnival. Allan and I were both ecstatic we didn't have to attend an event where the main goal of the kids is to gorge on candy and collect horrible, cheap prizes that end up scattered all over the house for the next two months, while the main goal of the parents is to keep track of their young, vulnerable children among a crowd of masked strangers. Reason #83 I like this new school. 

We prepped for our ward's Trunk or Treat (my testimony of Trunk or Treat is not strong, by the way) with plans to meet Dad there.

Natey was a rather oversensitive triceratops that evening. 

Micah dressed up as a character from the soon-to-be-released Star Wars movie. A character we had no clue about. The costume was 50% off (because no one at our local Target had a clue about the character either).

Jack was a Storm Trooper. A dead Storm Trooper.

 Astrid was an owl. She never held still for an individual picture.

On Halloween night we drove around town hitting some friends' homes and then headed to my friend Julia's annual homemade doughnut party--where several people asked how I made my eye bloody for Halloween. 

Fall Part 1

I had big plans for catching up on posts before the New Year. I'll consider myself successful if I catch up by the end of January. The kids really, really need to go back to school. 

Right after school started, the boys and Allan had Fathers and Sons. I can't even describe the anticipation filling our home in the days leading up. Make that years--because we didn't have it last year. When we got a new bishop in the summer, Jack said, "I hope his first order of business is to schedule Fathers and Sons!"

They drove up the mountain and hour and a half into the Sequoias and somehow managed to survive. Jack got to go rappelling with some of the other boys, and of course there were plenty of nature walks/hikes for all ages. They came home dirty, happy, and tired. 

I started refinishing the office desk while they were gone. Totally productive and got very little sleep.

Astrid developed one of her more annoying habits of climbing on the table. Initially, I thought it was cute (because just look how proud she is!). Then it just got dangerous--and spread to other people's homes. Finally I had to move all the chairs out to the back patio during non-eating hours.

For some reason this evening I was feeling very permissive and let them take a bath together. They practically flooded the bathroom. Never again. (But again, cute picture)

We celebrated Natey's 3rd birthday in September. His birthdays never sneak up on me.  I always feel like he should have had a birthday about 6 months prior.  I think that's what the 21-month gap between him and Astrid has done to me.  Plus he talks so dang much.  I rarely do themes, but this year was a no-brainer.  Nathan lives and breathes Thomas.  Every single morning he hops out of bed and goes straight to his train tracks.  Except for preschool, meals, and the occasional show, that is where he remains all day.

I rarely give Astrid sweets. Because once they're gone, we have to deal with this. It goes on and on and on...

Natey's best friend in the entire world is "ELI!!!!". They LOVE each other. They are also extremely good at making giant messes that they can't possibly clean up by themselves. One afternoon they took out our biggest bin of Legos and sorted every tiny piece they could from the bigger pieces and threw them all over the room. It took me nearly an hour to clean that dumb mess up. I was growling the whole time.

I laughed and laughed when this year's school pics came back. My smile coaching didn't make much of a difference apparently. You can tell that Micah is thinking so hard in this picture, "Is this what Mom wanted?" Jack is resorting to smiling like Allan always did as a teen. 

Astrid loves to be outside. I still don't trust her unless she's heavily supervised. I love this picture--a dog was barking in the distance and it totally stopped her in her tracks.

This is one of those rare moments where Micah and Nathan stopped squabbling and started loving each other. Good thing I had my phone in hand.

When I pulled the pictures off of my phone, I was amused and surprised to see so many of Nathan sleeping in, well, not his crib. This was the time where he refused to nap. I have so many of these shots that I could put together an exhibit. 

Late Summer 2015

We spent a lovely week in Utah with both the Bailey and Vandagriff families. It was the first time all the Bailey siblings have been together since 2009. Way too long! With 19 grandchildren, Carl and Claudia were brave to host this brood. Because of their mission responsibilities, we saw them primarily in the evenings. The kids were never without a buddy (and often, a dog), and I was grateful for my parents and their willingness to let us stay at their house. Sharing two bathrooms with six people is a lot easier than sharing two bathrooms with 20+ people! The week went by quickly. Then we got to return to consistently triple digit temperatures. Which, strangely enough, I have now grown accustomed to and don't mind. 

Moms and kids went to Avila Beach right before school started. The water is never really warm there--a fact I still don't like and can't get used to, but the kids (and moms) still had ample fun. Jack and Jalen Manivanh spend the entire time day out in the water (the reason I don't have pics of them), and the youngers played on the shore or in the sand. 

Astrid ate so much sand, I started to worry. However, I had never seen her so happy in her thirteen months of life.

Nathan was terrified of the water, excited about the sand, and ecstatic about the snacks.

Micah would get in the water every so often (and get a mouthful of sand). For the week after, he constantly talked about building his house in "San Luis Pobipso". 

 Nathan, Micah, Tatum, Emma, Quinn, Decker, and Carter: 

Allan was finally able to compete in that Half Marathon he's been training (by running thirteen miles every Saturday) for nearly TWO YEARS. Now he's got an official time under his belt. This race is appropriately named "Hell of a Half Marathon" because it takes place on August 15th with a rather late start time. It also involves running up Mt. Doom (or something like that). We arrived at the perfect time to cheer him across the finish line. 

He was sweaty.

The finishers' swag included some pretty decadent breakfast burritos. Allan graciously shared, and half of our children were devastated when it was gone. It was that good.

There is an ice cream shop about 45 minutes away that pretty much blows away any ice cream shop that you've ever been to. Allan read about it in, of all places, The New York Times. We got two single scoop bowls. This is one of them:

This is after. We were slightly concerned that Nathan seemed unphased by the massive amount of ice cream he had just consumed.

I continued what has to be the one of the more easily maintained traditions in our house: The Back to School Feast. More often than not, it involves spaghetti and meatballs and caramel apple cake. This year I got to make three crowns for three students.

"Look intelligent, Micah." Jack struck the exact same pose the night before his first day of kindergarten. 
 

 

Their first day of school. This was a bigger first day than usual. Not only was Micah starting K, but both of them were at a brand new school (to us), in a brand new district (again, to us). There were a lot of unknowns for these children and their parents. Thankfully, it went off without a hitch. Other than the fact that four months later, Micah still thinks that the school day is way too long, things have gone well. (I still strongly dislike the two different release times, but what can I do about it?)

 

I choose this as my final image of summer--the constant struggle to  try and keep Nathan out of the peaches.