Nathan and Abby

 Nathan turned 4 years old this month.  So, we need  some pictures of him.  He is a way handsome little guy, and I was pleased with how they turned out.

 

Abby is 5 months here.  She is so sweet, and she changes so fast, I couldn't help trying to capture her.  But, I thought this shot captured a good portion of her cuteness.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

 

 The last eight weeks have been pretty busy.  David tried out for the community theater spring play, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat".  He played a few parts, but his main part was Pharaoh.  It was really fun for him...maybe too much fun...but he and our family loved having him in this fun play.

 

It is not taped in perfect quality.  Rachel taped it and did a good job, but she is 10.  (I was trying to keep a 5 month old asleep and a two year old from trying to run up her M&M's to Daddy (who she knew really loved M&Ms)).  I have another recording, but they got a new wig that was way better than the old one, so I chose this last performance over the other one.  He does a great job in both, but got a little coughed up in one part.  If you have 11 minutes, its a great little show:)

 

Rachel's Choir Concert

Rachel has been in her school choir all year.  She had a solo at the Christmas program, and then she had this part at the end of school concert.  There are a few technical difficulties at the first.  Another little girl starts off singing, and then Rachel comes in with the harmony.  She is right on, pretty amazing for a ten year old!

Updated Pictures

We have had a lot of birthdays since my last post.  Rebekah turned 2 and Sarah turned 6 in December.  Rachel turned 10 years old in January. 

 

 Rebekah - 2

 Rebekah - 2

 Couldn't help but take a shot of all six of them.  Katie, Rebekah, Sarah, Rachel holding Abigail, and Nathan.

Rachel - 10

 

 Rachel - 10

 Sarah - 6

Sarah - 6

 

I think I just post pictures of my kids on this blog, but they are my life, so there you go.

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!