Happy Place

We didn't do a lot of trips this year and really stayed close to home but we were thrilled to get away for at least a few days to our "Happy Place" in central Oregon.  This is where we love to spend Christmas but it is just as fun of a place during the summer!  This year there was so much that Peter could do with the kids. I stayed back with the little girls a lot and being almost 8 months pregnant I was totally content to do so, although I would have loved to be out with them doing some of these things. There is always next time! 

Since there were a few things that LB couldn't do, Peter took her out on a special bike date one night. They were so cute!

 

He also took the bigs on a fun hike that him and I have done before and we thought the kids would enjoy it too! 

Ayla was all in for the deer and shaved ice! 

Pool Time!

I enjoyed an evening walk with my two little girls!

Bingo every night 

The boys stayed with my parents but the girls got sourdough pancakes every morning! 

Fun little afternoon playing in the Deschutes 

Watching the golfers

Ayla found ways to entertain us 

It is definitely a place that is near and dear to our family and I love all the memories we have made here and will continue to make here. I hope it holds special memories for all of our kids too because it sure is a fun place to be!  Hopefully it won't be too long before we return, I know we are itching for a winter trip! 

 

Nearing the End

Well, I officially feel like the end of this pregnancy is just about here!  I am both excited to meet and find out who this little person inside of me is and also a little bit (or a lot) nervous about giving birth and post partum. But nothing compares to the joy of meeting your baby so I know I will be just fine and have nothing to fear.  

Here is my 30 week comparison picture of all 4 pregnancies. I always feel like my belly is running bigger each pregnancy but when I compare them the last 3 have all been about similar. Which makes me think it might be a girl. But then again, I feel like I am carrying lower than I did with the girls and slightly different so maybe it's a boy. I honestly have no good inclination at all this time, and that keeps this fun! 

Also at 30 weeks we were able to go get a 3D ultrasound and this kid was by far our most cooperative baby. In general it has been cooperative so I hope that lasts after birth!  I even comment that while the kicks are hard, they don't feel aggressive and constant like the girls were. It's more like they're polite and baby is just trying to get comfy.  But back to the ultrasound, the baby just hung out and let us spend 25 blissful minutes watching it sleep.  It would yawn and try to suck on its toes as they floated by.  The best part is that while baby was sleeping, everytime s/he heard a sibling make a noise it would stir.  So cool to see how even in the womb this little one kind of interacts with them!

Instantly I thought this little one looks a lot like Miss Ayla!  It had its cord laying across its neck and its feet laying off to the left side. 

Sweetest little smirk! 

Sleepy baby 

And here I am at the beginning of Month 8.  

We finally agreed on names so we have that squared away. Of course I keep suggesting new names just in case but Peter is pretty set on the selections (and I've ordered name plates so....) We have started washing the clothes and setting things up! Trying to figure out where to put everyone in the van. The girls felt the baby hiccuping the other night and it was the cutest watching their reactions.  They love feeling the baby move and can't wait to have another baby in the house to love. We all talk and dream about who it will be and whether it will be a new brother or sister, and who gets to hold him or her first. This baby is already so loved! 

Overall I am feeling really good at 34 weeks!  I think I have definitely hit the nesting phase so I have more energy than I feel like I've had the entire time! The baby isn't up in my ribs so I can breathe and while I have had bouts of it hanging out in my pelvis and having SPD pain which I've never had before but all I can say is OUCH!  Right now baby is being super cooperative and I am enjoying all the kicks and wiggles and energy I still have.  I think the hardest symptom at this point is achy hips and reflux that makes trying to sleep awful.  It is definitely the beginning of the end as I am not sleeping well but so far I am thankful that most days I am hanging in there energy wise.  My GD is starting to flounder just a little bit (as expected around this phase) so I am on low morning dose and low evening dose of meds which kind of sucks because I have to keep a close eye and my numbers sometimes tank really fast. I am glad Peter is home this time just in case I need him! I am still controlling it better than I did last time, but my doctor confirmed that I will be inducing early because of it.  So the countdown is definitely on now!!!  I can't wait to meet this little one and I can't believe we are getting so close to the end. I am trying to soak up all the good times, get the house prepped and anticipate who this sweet little one is going to be!  I know this remaining time is going to go sooo fast and this sweet little baby is going to be in my arms soon! Yay!

 

Corona Update

 Since I originally intend for this to be a journal of sorts for the kids, I thought it was time to update on what we all hoped would be over by now. But this yucky virus continues full force over 18 months later.  We really thought that this summer would kind of be the end of this thing and we had one month of life that felt "normal" but now this virus seems to be back with a vengeance and it is really sad and defeating.

After talking with my doctor last week, she says it is worse than it has ever been and it kind of feels that way.  It seems like hospitals nationwide are now having to ration care.  My doctor said she's witnessed patients die in the halls of the hospital while waiting for a bed.  She has witnessed them loading young bodies into the overflow freezer trucks in the parking lot.  She has countless pregnant patients currently battling the virus and some who are even dying.  I know there are doubters about how bad the situation is, but actually talking with my doctor whom I have been seeing for over 15 years and trust with my life, and seeing how burdened she is by everything going on.  It just feels a bit unreal.

We have watched the virus go from hearing about people who we vaguely know having it to now some of our inner circle of people fighting it off.  I feel so fortunate that we have not had to deal with it in our home and I hope it can stay that way. But that hasn't come without some extreme sacrifices on all of our parts.  We are pretty much back in hiding with very limited activities.  Peter has been working from home for almost 18 months, we have really limited the kids activities.  My doctor has made it abundantly clear that as a pregnant woman I need to be so so careful and so we have.  It was certainly not my intention to be pregnant during a raging pandemic or give birth in a hospital during a pandemic but here we are.... 

I would love to just be able to countdown to birth and know that everything will be okay, but both our pediatrician and my OB have told us we need to continue to shelter and protect our baby.  Not only is covid extremely serious for a newborn, but there are other viruses that haven't gone around but will be a problem this winter that are extremely hard on small babies too.  They are particularly concerned about RSV (which is raging right now, out of season) flu seasons arrival and whooping cough. We are always careful with our new babies but this feels like we will have to take even more extreme measures and I am just so over it!  But protecting this little one (and all my kids) has been and will continue to be of top importance to me! 

On top of the personal implications of this thing, it has just caused great division among everyone.  I have never seen people so hostile in their views and it is really sad.  Everyone has a bit of fatigue at this point.  We sit in the middle not knowing who to trust.  We don't fully trust everything our government is telling us but we also don't believe the conspiracy theories running rampant on the other end.  It's just a bit insane and we just have block out a lot of the noise to save our sanity. 

In general we just don't know when this will end at this point. We were hopeful it was about behind us but now we don't feel optimistic at all. It is a different world.  Masks are still required, now vaccine mandates are coming out to go places and even work.  The supply change is still messed up so it's hard to get items and prices for things are going up, making buying things like groceries go up quite a bit for our large family.  But through it all we are optimistic about our lives and seeing as much positive as we can. These last 18 months with Peter home have been fantastic and it has been so good to have him close through this pregnancy.  The amount of family time we've had has been great for us, the slower pace of life.  The simple trips we've taken, while not what we planned, have been so good!  There have been so many challenges but life has still been okay!  We trust that God holds this all in his hands regardless of where the future goes, so even if there are moments where it feels like we are living one day at a time, maybe that is exactly how God wants us living! 

Family Day 2021

Another Family Day rolled around and another year still kind of stuck in restrictions to work with. But we gave the kids some fun options and they came up with a pretty darn fun family day!  

It started out with Peter taking the big kids on a long bike ride.  They had a blast and conquered a much longer bike ride than we thought they could. This will definitely be a repeat down the road. 

Then they thought coming home and playing some yard games and having a picnic would be fun.

This girl dominates at Bocce Ball. We don't even know how she does it but she is very very good! 

And then Peter headed off to get the Ethiopian boy some dinner. We bought a lot of variety and he was able to eat his heart out!  We all have fun trying different things each year and also sticking with some old favorites! 

And for some reason the kids love playing the donut game.  I mean, it is probably the fact that they get donuts!

We ended the night with a movie night! All in all it was a super sweet and fun day! I love days like this where we get focused time as a family!  It is hard to believe how fast these kids are growing but we sure do love them! 
 

15 Years

 15 years of marriage in just a blink of an eye. I remember when I thought 15 years was a long time, now it feels like it is still just the beginning. I remember when we hit 10 years and I really thought we were good to go and had it all figured out.  Honestly, the last 5 years have been the hardest.  I now believe there is no time to coast or think you've got this marriage thing figured out.  There will always be challenges, but how we work through them and move forward is what counts.  We've stayed committed and worked to be better as individuals and together.  We are still very much a work in progress at year 15, but we also aren't content with a mediocre marriage. We are always striving to be better, do better, and have the strongest most enjoyable marriage possible!  I am thankful for Peter and the man of leadership he is becoming.  I am thankful that he takes such good care of this ever growing family.  He balances a lot and makes it look effortless and never complains. I am thankful for the life we've built and the amazing legacy we are raising.  I am thankful for the opportunity to have and raise another little world changer on the way.  We don't deserve the life we've been given but I am so thankful for it! 

As we look ahead to the next 15 years it feels like a clean slate.  We feel like we've pretty much accomplished everything we set goals to do. Peter finished college, we have adopted and had biological children.  I have been able to be a stay at home mom.  Peter has built his career into a really great place.  We have traveled far more than I ever would have thought we could with a large family.  We hope to complete Dave Ramsey's baby steps sometime in the next year!  When you are standing at the altar as 20 year old's this is about as far into the future as we could see.  We've pretty much completed everything on that original list.  Now we look ahead and realize that this next phase of life needs new goals. What do we want these next 15 years to look like?  How do we want to continue to grow our marriage in the midst of parenting 6 children?  How do we want parenting to look as it continues into the next phase with teenagers and young adults?  What are our financial goals as we look ahead to putting all these kids through college?  How soon can Peter retire so we can maximize our later years and have fun?  Where do we want to continue to raise this family?  How can we best serve others?  It's a very exciting time for us and we feel like there is now so much opportunity ahead of us and so many potential doors open.  It will be fun to see what our lives look like by year 20! 

We had big plans to go on a trip to celebrate, but of course plans always seem to have to change. Instead we went to one of our most favorite places for a few nights of of R and R.  Even though it wasn't Hawaii, it felt so nice for both of us to enjoy some peace and quiet, lots of time to rest, quiet meals and walks together where we could actually talk!  It was perfect!  

Restaurants were all booked up, but somehow this little to-go meal in a park for our big 15th anniversary dinner was perfectly fitting for us! 

So here's to year 15 with so much to anticipate in the year ahead. Of course we cannot wait to welcome baby #6 very soon!  Peter has some exciting things coming up at work, and of course so much of life is up in the air at this moment and we have much we are praying about as we look ahead in the new year.  So away we go!