Memorial Day

Elsie and I decided that since she fit in the doll cradle then certainly we needed to see if Emry fit.  Sure enough she fit but not like Boo.  Emry even bonked her head when she kicked her legs out.  It was cute to see her in it but she didn't last more then long enough to take the picture.

When I found out I was due June 1st there were two things I wanted to avoid. First was having Emry on my due date because that was the day school got out. I preferred to have her when I could have a little piece and quiet before the kids were home. Second, I did not want a Memorial Weekend baby. Growing up with my birthday so close to a holiday was kind of rotten. All my friends would be out of town on my b-day. I didn't want the same for Emry. Well her birthday wasn't actually on Memorial day but it will hit sometimes. Oh well, one out of two is good.  I really wanted a cool pic of her balloons and the flag blowing a the same time but I tried and failed but Emry is cute so here is the picture. 

Having a new baby is tough on everyone.  This picture is one of my favorites. 

Happy Memorial Day...Goodnight.

Bringing Emry Home

Jeron and I had many discussions about coming home as soon as possible after the birth of Emry.

We were all set to head home by at least Saturday, but then I had to throw a kink in the plans by losing blood.   We stayed the whole 48 hours, so you can imagine how pumped we were to get the go ahead to head home.  Emry was pretty pumped to head home too.  Just look at her face.

She looks like a little bean in that huge car seat.

Grandma Jan and Grandpa Gene came up and brought us dinner. 

Grandma B came with them and got to meet Miss Emry for the first time. 

They stayed and helped out a bit.  It was nice to have dinner and not have to worry about it.

After they headed out Aunt Jenny,  Aunt Julie, Courtney, Kylie, and Brock stopped by.

Jenny and Brock got to meet Emry also for the first time. 

As they were leaving there was a huge double rainbow and the kids went out and looked at it.

They ended up getting all muddy.  

When they came in Jeron gave the girls a bath and I fell asleep on the couch holding Emry.

Jeron snapped a quick pic of me that i will always treasure.

It has been a tough couple of days and it shows in my eyes.

Plus, there is no better time than snuggle time with my baby.

After Mama and Papa came over.  It was nice having family drop by.

We just love showing off our baby.

Emry Kate is one day old :)

Before Jeron headed home this morning we gave Miss Emry here first bath.

They have you leave the cottage cheese stuff on for at least 12 hours. 

I think this is great.  Personally I loved the way she smelled.

This was actually my first time to be there for the bath.

Normally my legs don't work and so Jeron took them.  

Poor little bug didn't love her bath.

She was freezing.

I was moving at a turtles pace.

It just wasn't the best experience for her or me.  

But I am glad I got to do it on my last.

She didn't cry to long.  Here she is peaceful after it was all done. 

It was pretty quiet around here today.  

I got some good rest in because literally no t a soul came during the day.

I was very happy when Julie, Courtney and Kylie showed up to see her.

Not even 15 minutes after Julie and her girls came Jana and Graydon came.

It is crazy, you have no visitors and then everyone comes.  

I actually like it when everyone is there. 

It was fun to have them all here.  

Then Mama, JJ, and Emma came.

And then Papa, and then Jeron with the 2 littles.  

Jeron was bummed he missed the Johns.  

Brynn came by later tonight and we forgot to take her picture.  Dang it!

A new addition

To the rest of the world this was just another day but for us we knew  it was the day we would completely be out numbered.  Before we could at least grab every kid by the hand with the two of us but now we don't have enough hands.  Yep, we started out our day knowing we were adding a fifth child to our family.  

I have had a lot of strange looks since this pregnancy.  I can't believe how many people think this is so many kids.   To us it is just FAMILY.  And we are so excited to have our sweet new bundle come.  

We were told to call labor and delivery at 6:00 to see if we should come in at 7:30.  When I called they said call back at 6:30...so I did...they said to call back at 8:30.  Now I am starting to get a bit nervous.  I am SO DONE being pregnant and I'm starting to wonder if today is really going to be the big day.  At around 7:30 we get a call telling us to head on in.  WAHOO!!!

(not so flattering belly shot but you have to have one)

We get to the hospital and our nurse takes us to our room.  She is a very nice lady and that right away makes me feel good.  I tell her I want to go natural and she is totally on board to help in any way she can.  Jeron and I are both nervous about the decision to go natural and getting induced certainly doesn't make it any less unnerving.  So it was a relief to have a nurse that was totally on board and ready to help me focus.  

Because Elsie had pneumonia they gave me the meds for strep B to just be preventative.  First they checked me to see where I was dilated and shocking I was still at a 4...UGH!  They started me on pit. and got the ball rolling.  I needed the meds to be in me for at least 3 hours so they would not break my water until then.  Jeron and I just hung out.  He was a dork and said to the nurse "So, I have 3 hours, I guess I will go get breakfast.  See you in 3."  Haha, he is hilarious.  (actually I did laugh)  

There was one point that the nurse came in and said "Wow, you are having a pretty intense contraction on the monitor right now and you are just sitting there playing on your phone.You are Superwoman!"  What she didn't realize is that I have been having pretty intense contractions for the past 3 weeks.   This just felt like those.  I will say though that she justified me in all of my wondering.  I really was having some intense contractions and they just were not doing anything.  Sure enough after the 3 hours they checked to see how much more my cervix had dilated and I was still only at a 4.  This was around 11:30.  They were coming to break my water at 12 so I called my mom and told her and Emma to head on down.  The big show is about to start.  

They broke my water at 12.  It was crazy how they did it.  She said because the sack of water had so much fluid it would have taken a pretty big baby to break it.  They had to let the water out slowly.  She let it trickle slowly while the nurse applied pressure. At one point the doctor said good job do that again.  It was a contraction.  I didn't do it my body did.  

As soon as this process was over  I started to have insane contractions.  Jeron was an awesome labor partner.  He would help me relax by pushing on my knees.  He also was great to talk me through them.  He kept me focused.  Labor really is a two person job.  (just one of you has the harder task:)) There was a point were I could feel so much pressure so I called the nurse and in a panic asked her to come in.  They came running in and checked me.  I was at a 6.  WHAT!!! a stinking 6.  I felt my heart sink.  If this is a 6 I don't even want to know what an 8 feels like.  I said "So, false alarm huh?!?  The doctor said "Oh no, you are at a 6 but you will be pushing in about 5 minutes.  Sure enough it came and it came fast.  It is funny how just the littlest things could set me off during the hard labor.  I couldn't stand the blood pressure cuff, so they took it off, I was so HOT...so HOT so they put cool rags on my head, I hated Cold Play I wanted them turned off 2 minutes ago.  I hope I didn't bark orders to much but I knew what I wanted dang it. 

There was a point where the nurse said if you want to push you can start or you can wait because Dr. Sharp is almost here.  I thought to myself "WAIT?!?  I ain't waiting for no stinking Doctor".  It was funny because they were giving me play by play of Dr. Sharps location.  He is just around the corner.  He is just down the hall.  He is walking through the door.  It is comical now, then I couldn't have cared less.  I wanted to push and push I was going to do.

I can not believe how cool our bodies are.  It knew exactly what to do.  Even my legs knew to pull up.  I know this because when it came time to push my legs shot up like a cannon.  Then it was time to push.  I turned to Jeron amid all the pain and took a moment to tell him how bad I felt that Mom and Emma didn't make it.  I just couldn't wait any longer.  It was time to push and nothing was stopping me now.  I had a moment that only in my head I thought "WHAT ON EARTH WAS I THINKING!!!!  I MADE A HUGE MISTAKE!!! I CAN'T DO THIS." (that was a sneak peek inside my brain)  But do this I must.  Dr. Sharp actually came in right as I started pushing.  I will have to say my confidence in him is great so this help a ton.

I pushed and felt the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life, and out came the head.  At the time I didn't realize this because she didn't make a peep.  Apparently there was a sack around her that they took off pretty quickly.   Then it was time to push again, and feel that pain again. Out came this beautiful amazing little angel baby.  When you go natural the pain is so real that you feel everything right down to their teeny tiny toe come out.  I screamed and hollered and screamed some more but not one tear was shed until they placed that beautiful little girl on me.  I couldn't stop crying.  Everything felt perfect.  The pain was done! and here she was beautiful and mine. 

Meeting Miss Emry Kate Snow.
There is a moment when you give birth that heaven and earth are in the room at the same time.
I feel this every time I have a baby.  It might be why I love delivery so much.  They are perfect and you can feel their spirits as they enter into the room.  It makes me so emotional just thinking about it.  She certainly is perfect in every way.  Plus, the love that is there is overwhelming.  You have never even seen this little bundle before but you already love her with everything you are.  Jeron becomes putty in our babies hands.  He is such a good daddy and it shows in the way he loves his babies.  Right away he is smitten.

I think this is the first time that I got to watch Jeron cut the cord.  That was pretty cool.   

Then it is time to delivery the ugly twin as my doctor likes to call the placenta.

This was painful but nothing like delivering Emry.

Dr. Sharp loves to show us the placenta and he was holding it up just as my mom and Emma walked in.  The literally missed the birthing process by a matter of minutes.  Such a bummer.  But really, Emry is here and isn't that what they wanted to see all along.  They just missed me screaming like a crazy lady.

As Dr. Sharp was looking over the placenta I could tell that he wasn't to confident that it was all there.  Then I heard one of the nurses say she is bleeding.  The room became very calm and professional.  I knew something was wrong.  Dr Sharp informed me that the placenta didn't come out all the way and he needed to try to get it.  My uterus had already started to close up and he needed to get in there and get it out.  Here he is up to his arm inside of me scraping around.  I could feel EVERYTHING!!!  He was turning his hand around over and over scraping me inside.  I thought I was going to die.  He knew how much pain I was in so he asked his resident to try since she had smaller hands.  It didn't help.  They were pulling out huge blood clots but I was still bleeding.  I could feel myself fading too.  They were in the room with me but I felt removed.  I just wanted to sleep.  People would talk to me and I really didn't understand a word they were saying.

They had Jeron go with Emry and Emma and my mom stayed with me until they wheeled me over to the O.R. for a d&c.  I could feel the blood pooling around my ankle and it wasn't until we got to the O.R. and they had me move to the O.R. bed that I saw just how much blood there was.  It was a lot.  In the end the guessdimated about 700 cc's.  They just did a mild sedation and I went to sleep.  It was the BEST sleep I have had in months.  I seriously want a hook up on that stuff.  I woke up and they were just wrapping up.  They took me back to labor and delivery where my mom and Emma were.  Jeron and Emry came shortly after.  The details of things are a bit foggy from this point on.  Even the rest of the night I was still kind of out of it.  

I hate to say it but this post will be picture overload

Emry weighed in at a whopping 6 pounds 13 ounces and 19 1/4 inches

Daddy with his little ladybug

 Miss Emry

 Emma and Mama looking on watching Emry get weighed.

Meeting Emma for the first time

Meeting all her siblings.

Meeting her grandparents

Meeting Aunts and Uncles

These are Jeron's favorite pics.  He loves to take pics of me looking stressed.

We are so blessed to have Emry in our family.  I can't believe she is finally here.

She is perfect in every single way.  

Ellie's First Grade Preformance

Ellie loves to preform so this is her big day.  She did a great job.  She knew all the actions and words to every single song.  She was in heaven.  They sang about nature and all it gives to us. 

This is pictures of Ellie and some of her classmates

Here is Ellie holding up her Tomato sign.  She did it right on cue.  Love this lady.

All her fans in the audience.

JJ was there too but he had to get back to class.  

Emma was on a field trip so she missed it.  She was bummed about that.

Seriously look at that smile.  She was made to be on stage:)

Eclispe of the Sun

JJ and Emma but mostly JJ have been going on and on about the Eclipse that was happening tonight.

JJ begged us to go and get the special glasses so we could watch it but we just really couldn't go.

My parents came and took the kids to the cabin, and while they were here my dad mentioned a box you could make to see the eclipse.  While the kids were gone to the cabin Jeron and I decided to hurry and make the box so when they got home they would be able to see the eclipse.  It was actually pretty easy to make.  And it was a lot of fun to watch.

It was so much fun it drew in the neighbors.  As we were watching a single cloud in the sky went across the sun right when it was at the climax of the eclipse.  It was crazy.  We were a little bit bummed but it was still pretty cool what we saw. 

I really wish that I would have taken a picture of what the eclipse looked like in our box. Oh well I will have to wait for 22 years before I can do that again.  I hope JJ and Emma liked their eclipse box. 

And her name will be...

This time the name has been a bit of an issue. I love the name Emry but I Loooove the name Lila as well. That is I love it unless Jeron is saying it. He says Lila in a very unique way and so I really can't name a child Lila when her dad sounds like a jacker saying it. Emry was picked by JJ which makes it kind of special for them to have that bond.  We really did toy with a lot of names though.  Evie was one that I love and so does Emma but I felt it was to young sounding for a woman.  So then it brought in Evelyn.  I love the name but MANY don't.  Then there was Emerson which I totally forgot for the picture.  It is funny the reaction you get from people when you say Emerson.  It is very obvious if they like it or if they don't right away.  I LOVE it.  We could call her Emry even if we named her Emerson.  In the end though Emry seems to be sticking.  Even though many of you don't like it I think it is the name for this little bundle.  But who knows, maybe when we see her she won't be an Emry at all.

Emma and I were looking on Pinterest when we saw this very cute image of a prego woman laying next the the names they had been thinking of.  So the ladybugs and myself headed over to Farmington Trail and we set up the picture.  Emma took the picture and I think she did a fantastic job.  She has an eye that little lady.  

Now, we just need little miss Emry to come out and meet us.

Zoo day, which means we are good parents.

I am sure you have heard me say this before I HATE the Zoo.  I don't consider myself an animal activist by any means but holy cow do I feel so bad for those animals.  Especially the Owls, tigers, and all of them.  Then I think of my little kids and how cool it must be for them to see a Giraffe in person and I understand (kind of) why we have Zoo's.  So if you see me at the Zoo the first thing you should think is "What a good mom." simply because I hate it so bad.  This time though I had an ulterior motive.  I thought for sure all that walking around the Zoo would get  the baby out of me.  Man, was I wrong.  I did have a TON of contractions but no baby.  Oh well, we had a great time with the little ladies so it wasn't for nothing.

The train ride is a must but it was hilarious how scared Elsie was.  She makes me laugh.  Here is my little lady that is so full of spunk, trembling at the thought of the train moving.  She held on for dear life the whole time.  Ellie on the other hand had a great time.  She just soaked it all in. 

Ellie loved the monkey's and reacted when they would do silly things.  Elsie says she loved the monkeys which I am sure she did but it was the snakes that fascinated her the most.  She didn't want to see the snakes at all but she sure had to find every single one.  

The playground was a lot of fun for them.  They had a great time running round it.

I love that the giraffe came over for a picture.  Those animals are pretty amazing. 

I think the best part for the girls was that Daddy got to come with us.  

They sure do love Daddy time.

Temple Square with Boo

This is a picture overload post.  I couldn't pick just one or even two.  It really was such a beautiful day.  The sky was blue, the flowers were spectacular, and the temperature was amazing. I am officially off of "Take it easy" because I have made it to the 36th week.  I have had to drive by Temple Square for every appointment so to have this spectacular day presented on a silver platter, we just couldn't pass it up.

After watching Boo run around and enjoy all that the day had to offer we headed over to the Lion House Pantry.  We each got a Lion House Roll and a drink.  They were pretty yummy but I will have to say I like mine better.  What!?!  I know!  I was shocked too.  

You just can't visit temple square without getting a temple picture.  She really did enjoy the day.  She especially loved seeing all the brides that were walking around.  I think we saw at least five in the hour we were there.  Elsie loved to look at their pretty dresses.  She even got to smell one of the beautiful bouquet of one of the brides.  She loved that.

It was the perfect way to spend the first day back in real life land. And the baby stayed inside...