Six

 Abigail is two weeks in this picture.  She changes every day.  Actually, this blog will be about how quickly our family is changing.

 Six kids.  This picture was my idea, but Abigail is looking at David holding her on top of her siblings, like he is nuts.  We might be.  Rachel, Katie, Sarah, Nathan, Rebekah, and Abigail.  The last three weeks has been interesting.  My mom has been here helping us, and that has been wonderful.  This is my first day of being solo, and I don't know how I feel about it.  I have always enjoyed being independent, and I have always had a hard time accepting help from others.  So, I am grateful to have a baby 3 weeks old.  I am even more grateful to have a nine year old and eight year old that are so helpful.  Rachel and Katie have grown up a lot lately, and I love how they can take care of themselves, and help me.  Sarah is Sarah.  Always jumping and bouncing around, but very aware of her younger siblings and I have loved how school is already making her grow up.  Nathan, for the first time today, put his arm around Bekah, and she fell asleep on him.  He did want to give her away earlier this month, he said we had too many babies, but he might get better with her soon.  Bekah tells me if Abigail makes a peep.  Newborns are perfect, but I do get excited when I see them growing.  I am probably too fond of change...I like having new things, and doing new things.  Abigail, is a fun new addition.

 Katie and Rachel.  They have grown a lot, but are so silly sometimes.  Rebekah and Abigail and about the same months apart as these two.  They are ask all the time if they are twins.  This was my conversation with Katie yesterday:

Katie:  Mom, people always ask if Rachel and I are twins.

Me:  I think you guys like it.

Katie:  Yeah, we do.  But I think I can tell us apart.

Me:  Oh?  How?

Katie:  Rachel has big teeth, and I have little teeth.

I was going to point out that Katie has no teeth, but I had a good laugh without mentioning that.

Bekah's hair is so different than the other kids.  All of our children are so different, but I like how her hair and complexion make Bekah an obvious difference. 

Six children are going to be a challenge.  I knew that before we had our sixth.  They each have their own differences and similarities.  I hope we are ready for the challenges, but ready or not, her we come.

Abigail

David and I had our 6th child this monday.  She was born at 3:23 am.  She was 20 inches long and weighed 7 lbs 2 oz.  We have decided to call her, Abigail Shayla Foley.  We are so happy to have her here.

 

This was different from my other labors, but they have all been different, so I guess I should have expected it to be.  Friday and Saturday night, I had hard contractions for about 2-3 hours, but they never got closer than 10 minutes apart.  Sunday night I was still contracting, but it was random.  So, I went to bed and at 1:00 am, I woke up with a really painful contraction.  I was going to time them for a while before I went to the hospital, but they hurt too bad, and I didn't want David to deliver in the car.  So we called our neighbor, Donna Putich, and she came right over.  We pulled over every 4 minutes to have David help me through a contraction.  He would push on my knees, something my brother Joseph and his wife Jenn had shown us.  It helped a lot. 

 

We got to the hospital at 1:30 am.  They got me right in, and honestly, I have never been more pleased with the nurses.  They were amazing.  They were so considerate each time I had a contraction, they would stop what they were doing, let David just focus on helping me, and let me focus on getting through another contration.  I was able to move when I needed.  The doctor that was on call, Dr. Heath, was also very good to work with.  He ask what we wanted.  I wanted a natural birth. 

 

About an hour after we got there, the contractions were getting harder.  They were mainly in my back, which was a little different than I remember with my previous labor.  Finally, I had a hard contraction that broke my water and I ask that the doctor get in here.  When we got to the hospital I was dilated to a five, then an hour later, we were at a six.  The water broke about 45 minutes later, and we were at a nine.  The doctor came in, and said to push.  We have decided she was faced the wrong direction, because although it only took one contraction to get her out, I have never had such a hard time pushing the baby out.  She was also pretty bruised around her face, and David said she came out kind of side ways.  So, that was also a hard part of this experience.  David was amazing through it all, he helped when I needed it, and it was wonderful for him to help me.

 

The doctor wanted to give me pitocin to help deliver the placenta and stop the bleeding, but I told him no.  That stuff hurts, and unless there was a problem, I didn't want it.  He said he really recommends it, but I was firm that I didn't want it.  So, I delivered the placenta and he says, "Wow, theres not much blood, glad we held off on the pitocin."  Me too.  I was able to nurse the baby right away, and after we were ready, we moved to the recovery room.

So, here are our wonderful six children.  I picked this picture because this is Bekah's face pretty much all the time.  She thinks this is her baby, and if she is not within a few feet of Abigail, she is asking where she is and running to her as fast as she can.  Rachel and Katie decorated the house and room for her, and we are all just grateful she is here and all is well.

Katie's Baptism

 Katie was baptized last month.  It took me a while to get the pictures I wanted, so sorry I'm so late.  They baptized her right before the Brigham City Temple Dedication to give all eight year olds a chance to attend.  She turned 8, two days before the dedication, so we were all really excited she had that opportunity.

 Special credit to my mom for making a beautiful dress for Katie's baptism.  It was just the right one for Katie, and she loved it.

 Mom and Katie

 The baptism day was so nice.  We had lots of friends and family come, and it meant a lot to all of us.  But the most important and great thing, was seeing Katie get baptized by her dad.  David and I had talked to Katie a lot about the covenant she was making and the important step it is in our Heavenly Father's plan.  She made the decision and we are very proud of her.

Katie found a cake online and it turned out all right.  I did have to prop it up in the back, because it would have just toppled over.  I followed the directions, but whatever, Katie was happy and that's all that matters.  Thanks to everyone who came!

The Allusive Due Date

In my experiences of having children, there is a guessing game that accompanies my due date.  With our first one, she actually came early (bless her), the next two hit the due date right on, and the following two came after the due date.

I recently talked to someone who ask when my baby was due.  I said, "Oh, 2-3 weeks."  And she replied, "Oh, so any minute now."  No, I wanted to say, it will be either on time, or late, probably the latter.  I was trying to be polite by not commenting, but I loose my sense of politeness the last month of pregnancy...or the last few months or pregnancy.

Anyway, I've thought about this due date, and here are several things that annoy me.

1.  I don't think anyone tries to make me feel this way, but I do.  I feel incompetent as a women when I can't have a baby on time.  So, they give you this due date, and in your own mind, your always thinking, well I can go to that date.  Then, I don't.  So, the next few days, I'm always wondering, what the heck is wrong with me.  And the feeling is justified when I have good intentioned people who call and ask if anything is happening.  Or, very annoying people, who at social gatherings say, "You still here?!", "Hasn't that baby come yet?"  "You look like you're going to pop!"  Uhhhg.  Yes, I feel like a failure because the baby has not come yet, thank you for letting me know your thoughts also.

2.  Now, I could just be induced, or even if I had C-sections, that would take out this whole guessing game.  I have my reasons for not being induced, which would take up a lot of time.  But, the point is that with a lot of women being induced or having c-sections, more women can have a baby "on time" and accomplish the important task of reaching their due date, which makes me look like something is wrong.  Again, my own lack of promptness comes to hit me in the face.

3.  Women who can have healthy babies up to 3 weeks early are lucky, I'll not deny it.  I have a friend who, for her first 3 children, had them 3 weeks early.  On her fourth, she said she was about to die because the baby came only 1 1/2 weeks early.  Poor woman.   But, it was what she was used to.  That is probably the only comfort with this baby is that I'm fully expecting the baby to come late.

4.  So, my doctor walks in yesterday and says, "Well, you're about there.  Any day now."  No, I remind him of my history and say I'm not expecting anything.  He says, "Well, you should be more optimistic."  I've been optimistic, and it always leaves me anxious, exasperated, then I have an emotional breakdown.  I prefer realistic.  But, even my doctor is convinced I should have a baby on time, which puts more pressure on me...and increases my feelings of incompetence.

This is probably pointless writing this out.  I can only change myself to be a little more pleasant when I am in the last month of pregnancy.  I remind myself, I am very lucky to have pregnancies with few worries that result in healthy babies.  I am always grateful for the miracle of birth and to have a sweet little infant in my arms, there is no comparison.  I am reminding myself that not "everyone" thinks less of me for my babies getting comfortable in me and wanting to be in there as long as possible.  I will be happy to have this baby before Halloween, which gives her a good couple of weeks after the expected date.  Still, I might not answer the phone or choose to go to anything social for those weeks.  I am still pregnant, and the final comforting thought is, people do give you some leeway when you go over your "due date".

Happenings

 Sarah is the only one who wanted to sign up for soccer this year.  She has done really good.  The other girls love to play, but Sarah seems to have some skills. 

 I love watching the kids play sports.  Sarah is fun to watch because she is a good player and scores.  Somehow, that just makes it more fun.

 Labor Day weekend, our family got to go to the Brigham City Temple open house.  My parents have been called to work in the Temple, and it is a special place to our family.  So, David and I felt a need to take the kids and go through before it was dedicated.  It is beautiful.

 The grounds are smaller than most temple grounds, but still beautiful.  Our children were fun to take, and were excited about entering the temple...and the cookies afterward:)

That weekend, we also had my nephew, Ryan get baptized and niece, Quincy Beth, get blessed.  We celebrated my Mom's 60th birthday and so the whole family was together for these occasions.  Here are all the grandchildren with Grandpa and Grandma.  Zoom in and take a look at our two newborns.  Joseph and Jenn's, Quincy Beth.  Dave and Mel's "Benson" (he is 1 week old in the picture).  That makes a total of 16 grandkids in the picture, fun!

First Days of School

 The first day of school was last week.  These three girls were very excited to go.  Back to School night was good for me to meet their teachers and get a feel for what this year is going to be like.  Rachel is starting 4th grade.  Katie is in 2nd grade.  Sarah begins Kindergarten.  I love that they can walk to school and they will be walking together. 

 The First Day of School is always exciting for the kids, and a bit of a fiasco for me.  At least that is how it has been for the last 3 years.  This year I called in the reserves, and it was the best thing for all of us.  Each child is supposed to have a "caring adult" to attend the first couple of hours of school, and I have always divided myself between them, while hauling along my other children.  I didn't think I could do it this year, with 3 in school and two to haul along and being pregnant.  So my mom and my sister Carla were able to come and attend.  Then I had a friend call and ask to take Bekah and Nathan while we were at the school.  It was the slickest first day, and I might have to beg them to help me again next year, it was wonderful.

 So, this is one of the little people who will be staying at home with me this year.  Bekah does her hair like this every time I forget to close the bathroom door.  Headbands.  She loves them.  She usually has all of the hair elastics on her arm also.

Then, here is my boy.  I don't really know why I chose this picture, but he will be my other buddy while we wait for the girls to get home.  Already we have noticed that his sisters kept him running around, and he kind of needs to get out a bit more.  I am excited to have more time with him in the afternoons while Sarah is at Kindergarten.  He is so fun, and is already asking for his own school time, like I did with Sarah the last couple of years. 

Here's to the school year of 2012-2013!  Here we go!

Summer Part 2

 I know I said in the Summer 1 blog that this Pioneer Workshop was a lot of work, and then I put a picture of us in our Hawaiian gear, but we also had a lot of fun.  At a place called Dry Creek, there is a sand river, and if you dig deep enough you can come get water.  So, we were in teams, and the first team to fill their cup of water, won.  This is my winning team!

 Well, while all of that was happening, our children had a great time with Grandpa and Grandma Z.  We have never left our children for a whole week, and I was nervous, but they did such a great job, I think we are going to Will our children to them if David and I die.  Happy thoughts?  Well, our kids were very happy when we picked them up.  Nathan did have to be run to the doctor for a popcorn kernel up his nose, but if things like that didn't happen, where would the excitement be?

 This is what the weather was like when we got back.  Rain, rain, rain.  We were so grateful.  It saved our lawn and garden. 

 I know this is probably silly for some people.  But it is important to me that we work with our kids, and that we remember working together.  There is a lot of value in work.  Rachel and Katie helped me clean all the windows in the house also, and to tell you the truth, I couldn't have done it without them.  I love working with my children. Its exhausting and I'm not a chipper person the whole time, but I do love seeing the kids clean up by themselves, start the dishes without being ask, and when things like making applesauce come around, that they are right there with me, working.

 Grandma Nana came for a visit also.  She is always so kind and loving when she comes.  We love having her over!

And this sums up the rest of our summer.  Random, creative and fun.  Katie has taken tons of pictures of what the days were like, and they were silly.  But, we need our fun, silly summers, and now, we're ready to start another year of school, and get back to business.

Summer - Part 1

 We have had a great summer.  The end of June, we went to Bear Lake for the annual Zollinger Reunion.  David warranted a picture for riding in a boat and kind of enjoying it.  The kids loved it.

 This is the reason I did not ride in a boat.  Here are the Pregos of the Zollinger clan.  Jenn actually just had her baby a couple days ago, I'm due in October, and Melanie is due in the next couple of weeks.  Its funner to be pregnant with company, we can complain to each other and it feels better somehow.

 Our family at the Bear Lake overlook.  I love this place.  We won't be going there next year, and I'll miss it.  We're going to try vacationing at a different spot, but we'll miss Bear Lake a lot.

 Bekah found her new love.  Corn on the cob.  She'll eat 3 cobs of corn and ask for more.  So cute.

 David's dad came for a visit.  We went to St. George to be with David's brother Michael's family.  Its always fun to get together, and since David's dad lives in Michigan, the visits are few and far between.  We're so grateful he could come!

 Cox Reunion.  We haven't been to a Cox reunion since we moved to Parowan.  We miss seeing Grandma Cox, she is a special part of our lives, and our family thinks she's great.  We got to see a lot of cousins, uncles and aunts, but this lady is the main reason we go.  We love you, Grandma!

 The next few pictures is a Pioneer Workshop we did with David's work.  It was a good experience for David and I.  We spent a week visiting church history sites along the Pioneer/Oregon Trail.  We took a lot of notes, a lot of pictures, and made a lot of friends.

David is at the top of Independence Rock.  We had to wake up at 5:00 each morning, and would rush from one site to the other trying to cover as much terrain as possible.  This was a good break in the middle of the trip to take some time and hike this rock.  Names are still visible and it was a good reminder of Jesus Christ as the Rock on which we should build.

Father's Day

 David comes home from work in a suit each day, and usually doesn't change because of other meetings.  So, he ask for an apron for Father's Day.  We think he looks pretty great!  Here are a few things that we love about David.

 This may not make much sense.  But, David has been concerned about swimsuits for the girls and I agree.  Swimming is a sport, but our girls are not swimming for any sport, they swim because they love it and its fun.  So, David gave me an unlimited budget to find swimming suits for the girls that they liked.  Rachel got online with me, and picked this swim shirt and shorts.  They are so cute, they protect their bodies, and they don't get sunburned.  This is not unusual for David, clothes are something that he doesn't care the price, just make them modest and not sloppy.  We were really excited to find these, and the girls love them.

David has been working on these bunk beds for the past few weeks.  He finished them on Saturday, and I was thrilled.  About 7 years ago, we owned a candy business, and our office was next to a business that would receive large packages, and the wood used to carry the inventory was usually junked.  David ask if he could salvage the wood, and this is what he made with it.  The side boards we bought, but the rest David put together with junk wood.  They look amazing.

 More scrap wood.  The girls saw a Wishing well and wanted me to buy it.  I showed it to David and he told the girls if they could wait until the summer, he would make them a Wishing Well.  They have loved it.  I still need to paint it, but everyone was very happy.

Katie was eating breakfast Saturday morning, and couldn't eat her cold cereal because her tooth was so loose, it bothered her.  We told her to go wiggle it, she came back in, and her tooth was sideways with the bottom sticking out across her top lip.  She said it wouldn't come.  David told her to just give it a tug since it was hanging on buy a thread, and now we have our toothless Katie.

Katie's tooth doesn't have much to do with David, but it was part of a great weekend we had with a wonderful Dad.  We love you David! 

The Receiver

Your heard of "The Giver".  Well, if there was a book called "The Receiver", I should have wrote it.  We are blessed to have people give us things all the time.  Our friends, gave us this kid jeep.  They camouflaged it for their son, but it has remnants of the Barbie original colors.  It is really in great condition.  One of those things that I would never buy my children, but won't turn down.  They have had a blast.

 The same friends, gave us this mini four wheeler.  Nathan and Sarah are the only ones small enough, but again, they just gave it to us.

My brother and sister in law gave us this wonderful crib.  Bekah loves it, and it sure makes the room look plain.  Katie tried to decorate and put her art pictures up, but we'll have to add to Katie's improvements.

We have been given clothes in abundance.  I am always so grateful for what people bring over.  I had one friends tell me she feels bad, but I told her we love it.  It saves us so much money on keeping up with clothes.  My sister just brought over two cute new bed spreads, and matching sheets that will look so cute in the girls' room. 

Again, we should be called the Receivers, but we love it.

Zion's National Park

 When I was young, my parents took us camping at least every year in the summer.  I loved it.  David and I have taken our family camping a few times in our 10 years of marriage, but the more children we have, obviously, the harder it gets.  Rachel is 9, and the need for family time, and making memories seems to be going faster than I like.  We planned a lot this summer.  David's job makes it hard to vacation during the school year, so most of our adventures will happen in the summer.   This is our trip to Zion's National Park, and our family loved it.

 Loading up our van is always tricky.  7 people, 2 tents, 7 sleeping bags, 3 air mattresses, a grill, 7 pillows, 7 bags of clothing, 1 cooler, 3 boxes of food, paper products, and cooking gear....plus whatever else we needed took up a lot space, but it fit.  David is an amazing packer.

 At Zion's National Park, they have a shuttle bus to trasport people to all the different locations.  It was probably one of the highlights for the kids, they loved riding in it.

 Just one of the majestic pictures of Zion's huge moutains.  I was continually amazed and awed at the scenery, it was beautiful.

 Bekah and David on one of our hikes.  The trails we went on were paved and it made taking Bekah in the stroller easy.

 Rachel, Nathan, Katie, and Sarah.  They posed for about everything.  There were a lot of fun trails just right for kids.  I told the kids to stay on the trail, and Sarah said, "I just want to explore."  And it was a great place to do that.

 We set up two tents, Sarah, Katie, and Rachel, got a small two man tent.  They spent most of their time giggling themselves to sleep, but, for those of you with sisters, that is what you do, right?

 Tadpoles, the kids were fascinated with them.

 This was the Riverside Walk, on the way to the Narrows.  It was beautiful, and full of fun water to play in.

 My camera abilities are improving.  This was a lone flower on the trail.  So pretty.

 Every squirrel we found, Nathan was chasing.  This is Nathan on his knees, trying to coax a squirrel to be his friend.  Those little squirrels were everywhere.

 Our campground was perfect.  It had enough shade to cool us down in the heat, and space to have a fun time together.  We only got yelled at once to keep our baby quiet.  The ironic thing was the people who yelled at us were the ones staying up till midnight playing really loud games.  I was tempted to poke Bekah awake to keep screaming through the night, just for fun.  David is more saintly than I, and was more dilligent in keeping Bekah quiet through the nights.

 The park has a nature station that is geared for kids.  They can try on ranger gear, play with puppets, take classes on animals, color, study insects with a magnifying glass...we didn't sign up for the classes, but I might try it next time, the kids had fun just looking this time.

 Fish

 Wild turkeys.  This was the only one we saw.  I tried to get a picture of Nathan and Sarah chasing it, but I was laughing too hard.

 Sarah is holding a tadpole.  She and Nathan found that they could catch them and let them go again.  They were pretty brave compared to the rest of us.

 We saw a lot of deer, and the kids never got tired of it.  This one was not afraid of anything, and came really close to us.

 Weeping Rock was a really short hike, but just beautiful.  We got kind of wet, but it was one of my favorite scenic landscapes.  This is just a picture I liked from the area.

 Okay, this little lizard was found in our tent when we were cleaning the tent out.  David caught it, and I have a feeling it might have been there with us for the whole trip, which kind of gives me the willies.  I like sleeping free of living creatures besides family.

 Katie found a fun whole in the rock.  All the kids wanted a picture in it.

Bekah was filthy for most of the trip.  I tried keeping her somewhat clean the first day, but after that day, I was too tired to keep up, and we were both much happier when she was dirty.

We really had a wonderful time.  I was excited by how much our family could do at this park, and how much fun each of our children had.  We traveled about 1 1/2 hours, and camped for three days.  It was worth it all, and we plan to go there again.