Goodbyes and some stats

My best friend is moving to Texas this Friday. We had a last get together at Chic-fil-A for lunch yesterday.

The kids played one more time and no matter how hard we tried to get a good picture of them, this is how they turned out.

I did capture this before we hopped in our cars though. I hope our kids will remain friends and still want to play with each other when we do see them.

After our fun lunch I headed back to Heber to take Cole and Blake to their 18 month/2 week appointments. Ever since I came home from the hospital with Blake I have considered Cole to be huge! Well, the statistics don't seem to think so. Apparently Cole is only in the 10th percentile for weight (22.6lbs.), 30th for height (31.75) and 80th for head. I can definitely see the head!
Blake is 8lbs. and that's the 25%. I don't count his height because it's different every time I take him in. All that really matters is that they are healthy and happy!

24th of July

We celebrated the 24th of July and my dad's birthday down at my Grandparent Foster's house on Saturday. Sadly I am not able to swim yet, but Cody went in with the kids and they had a blast! What could be more fun than jumping off the diving board on Daddy's shoulders?! Cody about had his eye gouged out by Aubrey's death grip to his face!

Peer pressure can be such a great thing. The kids cousin, Mckenna, is 8, and she was jumping off the diving board all by herself. My kids hadn't done that this year and after an hour or so of swimming they were jumping and doing tricks and having a fun time. Even Aubrey was doing it! I love that they are brave enough.

My Mom's parents live really close to my Dad's parents so they came over to celebrate as well. Do you like how Cole is trying to feed my Grandpa grapes in the background. They did this for a long time. : )

This is my cousin Preston and his wife Melissa. It was fun to have them there, because growing up, we always had these holiday BBQ's. It reminded me of the good ol' days.  

The birthday guy and his newest grandchild.

Cole and Hayden. They are only 6 months apart and I can tell they are going to have a lot of fun together growing up.

The new babes. Heather and I have matching sleeper outfits so we put them on for show.

When we got home we let the kids use up our remaining 3 sparklers. Cole even participated this time. He is our little firecracker! His red hair and glowing sparkler just made me laugh!

Since we've been home

Last week turned out to be a nice relaxing week for Cody, Blake and me. The older kids were having a blast with grandparents and I was forced to relax and just be with my itty bitty one. I have to admit I became completely caught up with this season's Bachelorette. I was opting to sit this season out, realized that I'd be home for a week with a newborn and DVR'd away. Blake is getting cuter every day. I personally think every newborn comes out a bit squished and as each day progresses my little guy fills out and is adorable. My cousin, April, came and took some pictures of him last Friday and beforehand I attempted my own little photo shoot. I'm hoping our little Blondie has blue eyes. The rest of the kids have a shade of brown - so it would be nice to have a child with my eye color.

I began to miss my other kids as the week progressed and we were able to get Cole back Friday night. Cody's parents came up to help install our sprinkler timer box and they brought my "big" baby home. He was so silly that night, in his footie pajamas with his cowboy boots and hat. Oh and I can't forget the socks on his hands. He did it all himself too.

I think every child loves talking on the phone. Cole will walk around the house talking and laughing to his imaginary callers.

I love Cole's expression in this picture. It kind of says "what are you?" The adjustment of a new baby hasn't been too bad yet. For the most part Cole doesn't really care about him. Unfortunately he does usually want me to go with him somewhere when I'm feeding Blake. Hopefully he doesn't feel like I'm ignoring him in those moments.

My Mom brought Tucker and Aubrey back to us last Saturday night. It was fun being all together as a family again. We drove up to Logan on Sunday to attend baby Ethan's blessing. My recovery has gone really well and so we all went to church. Blake was covered up in his new carseat and cover I made.

The first all cousins picture.

My dad with the "twins". It's so fun that my kids all have cousins fairly close in age.

And finally a typical scenario at our house now. Cole is always getting into something! He decided the Vaseline was what he wanted yesterday morning and so he climbed right in the pack n play with Blake. Of course, Blake slept through it all - what a good brother.

Tucker and Aubrey love Blake and are very good helpers. Everyone is quick to shove a binkie in his mouth if he cries and Tucker likes to hold and carry him around. I definitely have my hands full, but it's so much fun and I wouldn't want it any other way!

Introducing...Blake Cody Calderwood

Blake Cody Calderwood

Born: July 11th, 2010

Time: 4:21 AM

Weight: 7lbs. 6oz.

Length: 21inches

Here's the story! Blake decided he was coming into this world 1 day earlier than was planned. I went to bed about midnight Saturday and woke up at 2:20 to do one of my nightly runs to the bathroom. I noticed that it was a bit bloody and thought to myself, "I should go google that." I figured it was the mucus plug or something. I don't remember ever seeing that with my other kids. Well, instead of googling immediately, I thought it would be better for me if I just got some sleep. I climbed back in bed and lay there for 30 minutes thinking there was something going on with my body. I haven't felt contractions since I was pregnant with Tucker, and wasn't convinced that I was having them. But about every 5-7 minutes I was feeling something. I headed downstairs to turn the computer on at 3:00 and googled mucus plug, checked my email/facebook etc. I was finally convinced I was having contractions when they started hurting my back. I had intense back labor with Tucker and knew that I must be at the beginning of labor. My contractions were really close together so I woke Cody up at 3:30 and told him we needed to head to the hospital.

Now luckily, my sister and her family had driven down from Logan the day before to show off their baby to family members that were passing through after our annual family reunion. I woke them up and told them we were headed and to take care of the kiddos. My contractions were really starting to hurt now. Cody had to move their car off the driveway so we could get out and I took all our carseats out of the car. Cody drove as fast as he could and was safe to get to Park City. (I guess one bad thing about living where we do is you have to watch out for wildlife at all times of the day. The last thing we wanted to do was hit a deer or moose on our way.) At this point I'm pretty much in extreme pain with each contraction. I'm clinging to the handle above my door and moaning/complaining in pain. Poor Cody, there really is nothing he can do, but drive fast. My contractions are now every 3-4 minutes apart. 

He drops me off at the ER entrance and I walk inside stating that I'm having a baby now and to get my doctor stat. They put me in a wheelchair and take me upstairs to labor and delivery. As I'm being put in the elevator I'm crying that I want to push. The nurse is telling me "No! You do not want a baby in the elevator!" Right - I don't want that. As we approach the nurses in L&D the first thing I say is that I need an epidural NOW! They wheel me to room 1 (small hospital - only 4 beds) and I'm still dying with pain. Between contractions they help me into a gown and I climb in bed. Thankfully they know where the good pressure points are on my back and that helps a little - but only a little. Cody gets there and the nurse checks me while I'm still telling everyone to get me pain meds and my doctor. She looks at me and tells me "Sorry sweetie, you're complete, you aren't getting anything for the pain." I'm a 10, have a bulging sac, the baby is crowned and she tells me that I'll be having a baby in 15 minutes. Not good, not good. I want an epidural - ANYTHING to take some pain away. I'm rolled over on the bed squeezing Cody's hand as hard as I can yelling/moaning that I can't do it. I even thought about biting Cody's hand several times just to clench on something, but thank goodness all my sense hadn't left me. How would that look, my dentist husband with severe bite marks in his arm from his wife. I am not a vampire.

After being in the bed for a minute or two I have a contraction and my water breaks all over - I'm still yelling that I can't do it. I want to push with every contraction and my doctor is not there. The nurse is lying on the bed next to me trying to keep the monitor on to check babies heartrate. The other nurse keeps telling me that Dr. Falk is on her way, she'll be there any minute, she's probably coming up the stairs now. Now I know that my doctor is pregnant herself and has preclampsia and placenta previa and I know she's not running up any stairs to get to me. She may be on her way, but not the way the nurse is trying to tell me. The nurses do keep telling me that I'm doing great (yeah right) and that everything I'm yelling is normal. Well, at least I'm normal.

Finally, with another contraction I just push the baby out. It is so amazing how after you feel the body squiggle out, that the pain and pressure leaves. Hallelujah! But, I'm so exhausted from the pain that even when they place the baby on my stomach I just have to look at the ceiling. Granted, I am lying flat on my back, not in the sitting up, legs in stirrups position. There was just no time to prepare the bed they way it should have been. My fantastic nurse Holly was able to deliver Blake for me. To demonstrate even more how fast it went - the nurse checked me in at 4:02 and Blake was born at 4:21.

My doctor arrived 2-3 minutes after I pushed him out. She is great and finished the rest of the job getting the placenta out and stitching me up (1 stitch). I am now able to relax and enjoy my new baby and start to laugh at the situation we were just in. I just seriously did now think I could progress that fast from 2 hours before using the bathroom, noticing blood, having contractions and delivering a baby. Crazy stuff! If Cody and I have another baby - my doctor has promised me that we will convince the hospital that I'll need to be induced even earlier. I can't imagine what would have happened had I gone into labor with Cody at work or gone somewhere. There is no way I would have been able to drive myself to the hospital with the pain I was in. And for all you Mom's that have gone natural before; 1 - you must have taken some kind of class to focus your pain (which I will take next time just in case) and 2 - you must not have had back labor like me.

Now for the pictures!

After we had the chance to hold him for awhile, attempt to feed and ate our breakfast, we each did some of this. Cody told me that if the hospitals in Baltimore would have had chair/beds like this, he just might have spent the night. Apparently they were super comfy. Oh and Blake has blond hair. None of our other kids were blondies at birth - even though Tucker is now a blond. We'll see if it grows in that way or changes color.

Heather and Dan brought the kids over later in the morning. Tucker and Aubrey were sooo excited to see their new baby brother. Cole just wanted me to hold him and didn't really care about the baby. I'm sure that will change next week when he comes home. We have fantastic parents who are taking Tucker, Aubrey and Cole for the week.

Unfortunately with Aubrey, after they had been there for 30 minutes or so she was lying on my pillow telling me she was cold and started to look a bit lethargic. She was burning up and we had to send them all home. I'm not sure what she was sick with, but she threw up a couple times, slept a lot and then was fine the next day.

Blake meets his cousin Ethan. 3 weeks apart.

I love this picture of Tucker. He is so cute and was carefully holding Blake while my nurse, Sarah took his vitals. I have to tell you all that Park City Medical Center is the BEST hospital I have ever been to. Every single one of the staff members was incredible and awesome. Because it's a small hospital you actually feel like they want to help you and you aren't just a number. When I pushed my nurse call button it wasn't just a voice over a speaker asking what I wanted. They would come in person and help me. And they were all fun to talk to and hangout with. I highly recommend the hospital to anyone that can go there.

Another awesome thing about the hospital is their food. It's incredible! Gourmet food for every meal. We tried some great dishes, with my favorite being my last meal there Monday night. It was a Thai chicken stir fry. Cody and I were also given a complimentary dinner of our choosing with choices like Flank Steak, Salmon, Tortellini, etc. I think we'll have some date nights to the cafeteria in the future. The prices are actually really reasonable and like I said, the food is awesome!

We opted to come home Monday night because Cody had to work on Tuesday. I'm feeling great - Blake is finally eating well and doing great and we're happy to be home. : )

Actual 4th of July

On Sunday we did our usual. We have 1:00 church, which is nice in a way because we have all morning to get ready, yet it lands during naptime too. We've been fairly good at getting Cole to take a nap before church - which helps a ton. And our nursery leaders have been awesome and have let Cole come in early and Cody and I don't have to stay. He technically won't be 18 months until the end of July, but like I said, the leaders are awesome and have been letting us take him for a few months, and about a month ago they told us just to leave him. Last Sunday one of the leaders even told me that he is one that doesn't cry, so they welcome him in! Sweet for us! Cody especially was getting tired of wandering the halls for 2 hours with him. Both of us have to teach off and on and Cole is just quite the distraction.

Anyway, we decided to drive up Daniel's Canyon Sunday evening and roast some marshmallows. Cody wanted to let Tucker practice striking a match and lighting a fire. He did a great job and he's gearing up to be a great little scout. Aubrey fell asleep on our way up (we only live 15 minutes away, she must have been really tired!) so we let her sleep and the rest of us enjoyed being in the mountains.

Setting the smore on fire.

I love smores! I'll make them in the microwave at home quite frequently.

Our busy body wandering child. He just loves to walk all over and discover everything there is to see.

There was a stream right next to us that he had fun throwing rocks into. Check out his awesome shoes. Like I mentioned, Aubrey was asleep and somehow I forgot Cole's shoes, so we took them off of her and put them on Cole. I admit that is the real reason we didn't wake her up. What was I going to do with one child with no shoes in the mountains.

And because he rarely gets a picture by himself, here's my cute husband! I love that he is so ambitious and wants to get out and be in the mountains. The whole family loves it and with a family full of mostly boys - it will be fun to see how adventurous they are as well.

As for a little update on me - I'm scheduled to be induced Monday morning, July 12th. My official due date is the 17th, so I'll be in there 5 days early. I would love to go into labor as I write this, but I'm sure I won't. I was dilated to a 4/5 with Cole for a couple weeks and still didn't go into labor. I'm only a 3 right now with this one and I'm sure nothing will happen over the weekend. Thinking on the bright side we have one more day to go swimming, another night to hangout with friends, I'm getting glitter toes, and I can cross a few more things off my list of to-do's before the baby is born.

4th of July Cabin Fun

On the 3rd of July my niece, Mckenna, was baptized into our church Saturday morning. We headed out to Eagle Mountain to attend that and then later in the day we went up to our cabin in Oakley.

Cody got the grain out for the horses and the kids had fun feeding them.

That evening we had a BBQ and then attended the Oakley Rodeo. I forgot my camera in the car - so if I ever get the pictures off my Mom's camera I might post them. Cody shaved part of his beard into a totally redneck look. It's blog worthy - so eventually you'll see it.

Monday morning Cody had to go into work to take care of some emergency patients and I took the kids back to Oakley to the parade. It's a fun tradition that my family has gone to ever since I was a little girl.

The kids all have their treat bags and anxiously await the floats to come by and throw candy at them.

Cole is my little wandering child and he walked up and down the street several times before the parade began. One float threw out Popsicle's and that finally convinced him to sit in his chair and eat it for awhile. Luckily I have awesome family members that are willing to stroll along right next to him.

After the parade we went back to the cabin to ride horses, the gator, the tractor and to play outside. I even rode a horse - NOT! I probably could have though and nothing would have happened to me or the baby. I thought a picture would be nice a touch, being all tethered up to the corral and all.

Tucker and Aubrey rode the horses all by themselves around the field. Well, at least they sat on the horses by themselves while my Mom led them. Our horses are quite lazy and don't get ridden very often - like this was the first time the whole summer (as far as I know) that they've had a rider on them.

After lunch we drove up to Smith and Morehouse to let the kids pretend to fish. They had a great time casting into the lake over and over, trying to catch a big one. We didn't even put hooks on them - just bobbers.

Aubrey fell in the lake and became our topless fishergirl. Do you like how she has the reel tucked under her arm? It was quite cute. : )

Here's my handsome Tucker. He poses so well these days for photos. I love it! Luckily Cole took a nap all afternoon so I didn't have to watch him at the lake. We wouldn't have lasted very long had he been there.