MorePictures

We took some pictures of Rebekah. The purple outfit drowns her, but Katie insisted she was so cute in it, so we took some pictures anyway. We had fun dressing her up !

Rebekah Eve

Rebekah Eve was born last week. She was 7.3 lbs, 18 1/2 inches. We are all so excited to have her!

Nathan has been so cute to hold out his arms and calls her "Bekah". He holds her for a few seconds, then says, "Done", and hands her back.

All five of our sweet children. Everyone loves to hold Rebekah, and asks about her whenever she is out of sight. Our life has changed dramatically this week, but we have looked forward to this wonderful change.

To follow up on a previous post, we did do this birth naturally. I say "we", because I couldn't have done it without David helping me, especially through the last hour. We left home at 10:45, it took 20 minutes to get to the hospital and she was born at 11:50. She came so quickly, the doctor didn't make it and the nurses delivered her. We love her so much, and are so happy to finally have her in our arms!

Sarah - 4 years old

We are a few days early on these pictures, but I was in St. George, it was good weather, I have no idea when this baby is coming, and Sarah looked so darn cute. We were going to go to a different place, but she saw the temple and thought it was the most beautiful place we could go to get beautiful pictures...and I couldn't argue with that. We did all right, these are the ones I liked the best, and tweeked a bit. She is so sweet and I can't believe she'll be four in just a few days!

I am having a hard time choosing my favorite, so any opinions would be helpful. I can only choose one for the front room!
She is a definite cheeser, but we got a few true smiles in there. She is beautiful!

3 1/2 Weeks

In the last eight months, I've been gearing myself up for something I've wanted to do ever since our first child, but have never made it. Natural Child Birth.

Most comments I get after announcing that are:

"Wow, you go girl."
"Why?"
"Did you know they can make it painless?"
"To each his own...."

And so on....

Yep, sure know all of that. I KNOW all of that. Heck, I know its going to hurt like heck. But, here are some of my thoughts.

1. The pain. I love what my friend Kim said about this. You have to set your mind to recognize the body working. I have read some amazing books, and the pain I have experienced, that I am so afraid of, can be worked through. Don't get me wrong, its not that the pain will go away, but perceiving it as work and that our body is preparing itself for the most amazing experience a woman can have, that is different. The mind can prepare you, the mind can be told what it is experiencing, and change something insurmountable, into something challenging yet attainable.

2. With Nathan, my body didn't dilate, yet I knew I was in labor, yet the doctors wouldn't admit me or give me any anesthetic. I didn't know how to handle it. And when I did start to dilate, it was so quick, the epidural didn't react fast enough, and I was so numbed up by the time he was here, you could have tied my body in lovely bow. I need to know how to work through labor. I want to be able to have my husband be there right with me, and him knowing I can't do this alone, I need him. It may seem dramatic, but I look forward to David being able to help me through this, and using him to be a sort of relief to relieve some of the discomforts...to know I am working through a contraction and that by pushing on pressure points, getting me a pillow, supporting my back, or whatever I'll ask, he'll be there. I hope it brings us closer together.

3. We have four wonderful children. I have had an epidural each time. I HATE that cold feeling down my back when the epidural is in. I HATE the shock they warn you about when the epidural is going in. I HATE being hooked up to IVs. And I HATE that I fear for my body each time. By that, I mean that I know that everything could go wrong with an epidural. Tapping into someone's spine is not a light thing. Your spine is a central part of your body, and by tapping into it, severe problems could result. Like I said, its the one thing I have even worried about the last four births, because I know my child will be fine, but I pray I will not be a vegetable by the time they are done.

My purpose in writing this is not to convince anyone to have a natural birth. It is mainly to convince myself to have a natural birth.

I am 3 1/2 weeks away from delivering our fifth child. We are excited. I am in terror some days of what I will experience, but I know I can do it. I've prepared my mind by reading all I can on ways to work through labor. I've prepared physically. I stretch and walk every day. I have a spiritual reassurance that things will be fine, and I can do this. And I have the positive support of my husband.

3 1/2 weeks.

Katie, Beautiful Katie

We were a little late getting up into the canyon this year, so my leafy fall background was all over the ground. We were able to get some cute pictures anyway. Katie chose her dress and how we did her hair. She is so beautiful! Here are the best of the pictures.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! This year, Rachel was a cowgirl, Katie was an angel, Sarah was Tigger, and Nathan was the monkey...again, it was the only thing he would wear, and he made us take it off pretty quickly.
I just thought the backdrop of our beautiful grass for this picture was perfect. The girls look pretty cute too!

I went to Tremonton to be with Grandpa and Grandma Z and all the cousins had a Halloween party. We had a ton of fun.

Sarah was also a ballerina, we convinced her to do the Tigger costume when we went to the trunk or treat because I didn't want her to freeze her cute face off. She made a very sweet ballerina.

This was the number one thing we got from our trick or treating. The girls loved the glasses and Nathan tolerated the glasses to get a great pictures. All in all, it was a Happy Halloween!

Life...

Life has been busy. I know everyone is busy, but I'm realizing that MY life is getting more and more stretched. Blogging is working its way down my priority list, but I hope to still keep up on it. Here are a few things that have been happening.

Katie turned six years old. She is such a sweet heart. Here is Aunt Carla with her and the new gloves Carla got her for her birthday. She loves them.

Grass. There is a huge story that goes behind that one word, but the grass is poking up, our poor children just sit in the car port rubbing their little fingers over the young grass. We pray every day that it keeps growing. We would love to mow it once before winter hits!

Rachel started 2nd grade and piano lessons. She is doing great in both. I am glad we didn't start her earlier in piano, this is just right for her. She is able to complete the theory on her own and is old enough skill wise to not get discouraged. She realizes practicing does help, and is thrilled with her piano teacher.

These are my two cuties left at home. We have snacks and when Nathan goes down for a nap, I get my Sarah all to myself. We have our own little school time, which I've been surprised how much she enjoys it. As soon as Nathan is down, she is asking to do her letters, play our memory games, put together puzzles, match numbers, and all the other things that we do. She knows her upper and lowercase letters now, and is working on sounds. Smart little gal!

Here is our kindergartner! Katie has been sooooooo ready for school. The first week was hard, because she wasn't there the WHOLE day, and the teacher was not sending any homework for her to do. But now she is better that she gets a little homework, a "book in the bag", and is at least going to school. It made me so happy the other day when Rachel and Katie came back from school and said how they were so excited that their recesses were at the same time that day, and they were able to play together.
I love hearing them say things like that!

Next in the line up....a girl!

We are having another girl! We are so excited!

TriZathlon

The TriZathlon increased from 7 participants to 18 this year! We do a sprint triathlon, so it is about half the distance of a normal tri. Run 3 miles, Bike 14 miles, and Swim 500 yds. Being pregnant made my scores fall short this year. Surprisingly, on the swim, I improved. My cousin, Levi, kneeling on the bottom far right, won this year...but he'll be leaving on a mission soon, so he won't be able to hold his victory seat for long!

I don't really enjoy every event, but I love having something to train for all year. I love doing something challenging and working on it with those I am close to. David ran with me this year, so that made it even better! Rachel, Katie, Sarah, and Nathan are there to cheer us on, see us try our best, and finish difficult events. Its been great for our whole family, and next year Rachel and Katie want to participate. I'm hoping it will be something we can work on together each year, and that is more motivating than anything.

More Vacation

After Bear Lake, we were able to visit David's mom. The girls were so excited to swim in the pool and show off all their new skills from swimming lessons. We finished the visit with a trip to the temple.

Next we were able to visit Grandpa and Grandma Cox. We love seeing them. We lived right next door to them our first year married, so it is always fun to come and visit, we love them so much!

Grandpa and Grandma Zollinger were our next stop. Sarah could hardly wait to see their house. She remembers so much of last year when we lived with them. Dave and Mel's family were also there, so we were able to get lots of cute cousin pictures!

Nathan and Katie

Cats are Nathan's new love, but it didn't take long for the felines to avoid him.


Sarah and Mathew became quite the pair. Sarah came home saying she needs to go to school with Mathew. She loved having a little buddy to play with.

Mathew, Sarah, Brooke, and Katie

Brooke and Katie


David and I decided to celebrate our anniversary in July...although our real anniversary is in December. Mom and Dad watched the kids for a few days and we were able to do a lot of shopping, a couple of movies (Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon), a game of tennis (David won a set and I won the other set...we decided to leave it as a tie...because I tend to be a bad sport when I loose), and I didn't have to cook meals for the entire time, there are these great things called restaurants that serve you food if you just give them money! I think I remember these before our 8 years of marriage...but I'm not sure...

Back to Grandpa and Grandma's for more family fun. Nathan and Maylee are pretty darn cute.

Rachel, Grandma Z, Brooke, Katie, and Aunt Marianna. Aunt Marianna came to see us, we lived in her basement for four years, and our family just thinks she is great!

Steph gave us all a lot of haircuts, and then french braided everyone's hair...she is way good, and deserved much more than we gave her, which was a big hug and a kiss!

Katie, Grandpa Z, Sarah and Rachel all ready for bed.

My Uncle Ron invited our families to Crystal Springs. We had a ton of fun going down slides and swimming with Grandpa Z, the fish. We had such a great time with Grandpa and Grandma Z!

Bear Lake Vacation

The Hislop Lodge fit everyone. It was close to the lake and just perfect for our families. We spent the mornings at the lake, then went the lodge and enjoyed pool, a hot tub, Foosball, a huge movie theater, and of course family! Melanie painted all the girls toe nails. This is Sarah, Emmy and Mathew getting their nails done.

Mathew, Rachel, Sarah and Emmy during our family night.

We put on some limbo music and had everyone try out the limbo. It was fun, even more fun to watch everyone go through. David and Nathan did not last very long, but Nathan wouldn't let go of his dad the whole trip...so loosing the limbo tournament was the consequence.

A great shot of dad doing the limbo. Jenn took all these pictures, and really captured the best moments!

Bear Lake. Dad fixed up old Bell Boy, and got a tube for the kids to ride. Some very lucky people even got to go knee boarding. I love having children, but the drawbacks of being pregnant this year would include, not being able to ski. Dad promised he'd have the boat going next year, so I might have to monopolize it, as recompense for missing out this year!

Nathan discovering the beauty of a shovel, endless amounts of sand, and parents not caring how dirty their cute little boy got.

Katie and Rachel building a sand castle.

Nathan

Katie

David and Sarah

Thanks to Mom and Dad for setting this all up, can't wait for next year!