Merry(late) Christmas and Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior!! I hope you all have a blessed new year:)

My blessings:)

So after years of begging asking my husband for a dslr camera, we finally got one back in late August. I have been having so much fun with it:) I even have a facebook page and have been doing a few photo sessions:) Here are a few with my children!!

Fall:)

Fall is one of our favorite time of the year. After weeks of sickness and colds we finally all felt good enough for an outing. We were suppose to meet some friends there to do some family pictures of both families, but we had a mix up. Maybe we will try again soon:) We headed 1 1/2 hours a way to Townsend, Tn in the Great Smokey Mountains to Cades Cove. The weather was perfect and it was absolutely beautiful there. Here are just a few of the pictures from our trip!!

so much sickness.........

The last few weeks have been horrible.....Let the story begin around December of 2009. In December of 2009 we had a Christmas program at our church. Earlier that day we had pizza from pizza hut. The time I got to church I was extremely sick nauseated and felt like I was having a heart attack:( I just assumed it was a bad case of indigestion. Almost a year later, I had Taco Bell and the same thing happened, but I was pregnant this time. Then through out my pregnancy this kept happening and finally my midwife ordered an ultrasound and I found out I had gall stones. It happened several times after Lydia was born and through out my pregnancy with Leah, in fact it is what jump started my labor:) I really wanted to hang on to my gall bladder, but the last 2 weeks in August I had 3 attacks and on the 3rd attack I went to the ER. It stopped by the time I was seen but they did an ultrasound and compared it to the one I had over a year ago and decided to keep me over night and take the gallbladder out. I ended up having surgery on August 28th and had to stay a total of 2 nights in the hospital. It was no fun and I hated being away from my babies. I had all kinds of issues with Leah nursing and she was "mad" at me for a couple of days, but we worked through that. Then Lydia started getting sick a week ago and her temperature spiked to 103.7, and that terrified me. Friday Leah started getting sick. So today Lydia had a well check and the dr went ahead and saw both of them. Lydia has an ear infection and my sweet Leah has RSV. I hate my babies being sick so please keep them in your prayers:)

My sweet girls:)

Leah's Birth Story

I used to think natural labor was the way to go and had 3 of my children natural, but after Lydia, I am all for the epidural;-). Now don't take me wrong, if you enjoy Natural Labor, I am not condemning it at all, and I do know it is better for mama and baby, but for me I prefer the epidural and admire you ladies who labor without any pain medicine!! With that being said back to the birth story..... Once I hit about 36 weeks pregnant I am DONE!!! So 3 out of 5 of my children have all been scheduled inductions, including baby Leah. I was scheduled for my induction on Friday June 8th at 39 weeks 1 day. Tuesday June 7th, I was just feeling miserable and went to bed pretty early. All night I was in so much pain, with contractions and gall bladder pain( I have gall stones and have had several attacks, I have been trying to hang on to my gallbladder, but don't know how long that is going to last). Around 7 I had all I could take so I woke my husband up and took a shower. We headed to the hospital(30 minutes away), and I cried the entire time. We arrived around the hospital around 9:30. I was having "mild contractions", dilated a 3 70% effaced. Same as I was the week before at the drs office, I was so upset. The nurse could tell I was in horrible pain and the machine kept showing contractions, so she checked me again and I was 90% effaced but still a 3. She said my dr was here and she was going to check me. When she came in she called me a 4 and admitted me, yay!!!! They took me back to my room and did all the hook ups, blood work, iv, etc. I then got my epidural and they broke my water. My contractions stopped, so they had to give me pitocin. I only had it for an hour before I was complete, just in time for my grandmother and sister to arrive from Georgia. Leah Faith was born at 1:20pm weighing 7lbs 8ozs 20 1/2 inches long(my biggest baby yet). She is such a blessing and I love being a mommy to 5 beautiful children!!!

so Fresh and new:)

Our favorite nurse, Sarah

It took Lydia some time to adjust:)

Summer Days!!!

The summer has just flown by and we are still trying to finish up our previous school year(7th, 3rd, and 1st)!! We will be entering our 6th year of homeschooling this year!! I can not believe I have a teenager and next year she will be in "high school"(at home, of course)!! It is hard to believe my babies are growing up too fast:( We plan on finishing up by the end of August and starting our new year in September(I hope to do a post on what we will be using for our 8th, 4th, and 3rd grades)!! Hopefully we will not take as many breaks, unless I get pregnant again, LOL, and we can finish up in May!!! Here is just a few pictures!!

Haley with friends at church on Easter morning

Haley fell a sleep with baby sister

Bryson

Haley

Hannah with her friends on Easter morning

Bryson caught one!!

Hannah with friends at a Birthday party

Bryson and Lydia

Haley with friends at church with their "listening" ears on

Haley and Lydia shopping at Kroger with mommy!! Sorry for all the pictures:)

Cow Apprectiation Day 2012!!!(Free Chicken)

This our 3rd time dressing like a cow for Chick Fil A's Cow appreciation day (2009, 2010, we skipped 2011 because we were out of town)!!! I know it may seem crazy, but free food, yes!!! When you have a larger family and try to live more frugal, you don't get to eat out often, so this was a great opportunity to enjoy our selves and not feel guilty about how many groceries/meals we could have spent that money on. Here are pictures from our day.

Baby Leah:)

Lydia:)

my whole "herd" including my cousin Austin:)

Lydia loved the cow!!

Fun times!!

We ended the day with free Starbucks:)

1 year and 1 month!!

My sweet little Lydia celebrated her 1st Birthday on June 16. I can not believe that she is a year old, time is just flying by. She is very petite for her age. She was 6 lbs 7 ozs 19.5 inches when she was born. At her 1 year check up she weighed 17lbs 12 ozs and was 29.5 inches. She had stomach issues and could not even take breast milk. She is lactose intolerant and was on enfamil nutramigen. She now is on almond milk!!

My sweet newborn Leah is already a month old. I can not believe a month has already gone by. At her 1 month appt. she weighed 8.4 pounds and was 22.5 inches long. I don't know if her height is right, they are going to recheck next month. I don't see her growing 2 inches in one month, but we will see:)

Leah Faith Nicole:)

June 6, 2011 Leah Faith Nicole was born. She was 7lbs 8ozs 19.5 inches and my biggest baby yet!! She is such a blessing!! I really wish I would blog more but with 5 children, it is really hard. I admire all you mamas who blog consistently and have even more children than me:) My goal is try to blog at least once every 2 weeks!! 1