The birth of our 5th son...

We were aiming for a birth similar to Calon's birth. It was a decent experience and I think the only thing that made it difficult was what I was feeling during the c-section. I made it through the section awake and was given some awesome medication to relax me. Sutton Oliver was born at 7:24am on August 8th weighing in at 6lbs 7oz at 18.5 inches long. He followed me to recovery this time and nursed instantly. It was awesome. I was able to leave the hospital after a couple of days and it felt so good to be home. Below is my 38ish week prego picture just before getting prepped for my c-section.

Some fun post-birth pictures!

Last time! 35 weeks!

Excuse the clutter. I swear we are usually cleaner...except that we aren't...usually tidy. 

I mean...we were prior to children. Ah-hem.

35 weeks. 3 more weeks left. 3 last appointments. I won't be doing this again. Bittersweet. I won't miss the 4 months of morning sickness. I'll miss the baby movement and even the Braxton hicks. I'll miss the pregnancy clothing and the cravings. I love the belly. 

What do people usually say? On to the next chapter of my life. :) When I won't end up pregnant 8ish months after giving birth. That will be strange.

Ugh....

I've been on a downer lately. I hate being negative...it never helps things. I'm 34 weeks and I am behind on pictures which isn't a first but irritating nonetheless. This pregnancy has been a little but more difficult than the others and I'm pretty sure it's only because it is my 6th pregnancy (5th baby) after all. I guess I could cut myself some slack. I normally get kind of sicky towards the end but I feel like it's still early. Oh well...trying to enjoy the moment as this is our last child...I think. *wink wink* 

Bittersweet. 

In other news, Charley starts school 2 days before he is getting a new sibling. He's way excited to start school and Izyk thinks he is going too. 

Izyk turned 4 years old this past week. I can't believe how much they are all growing. He loves Legos. That kid could play with them all day long. He hasn't even broken into the set we bought him for his birthday. 

Myles is still...Myles. Too traumatized to be potty trained but in the evening we wil take his diaper off and he always goes on the potty. I'm sure he'd be fine but I'm not pushing this one. 

Calon is so big and he learns so much and so fast from his brothers. He learned how to go down stairs in a day. He eats like a champ. He's cutting 5 teeth right now so he's been waking up every now and again at night. This too shall pass. Sleep has been hit and miss for me. Another strange symptom of this pregnancy. 

We finally invested in bunk beds for the boys room since Calon will be moving into the boys room in a few months. Makes me a tad nervous but they have had them for a few weeks and they are doing well. They were so excited to get them.

A blog post is not complete without pictures!

28 weeks...crazy fast

2 months left. This pregnancy has flown by and I believe I've said that with every post. 

Update on everyone:

Calon is a character. He talks so much. He's walking everywhere and he is a fantastic eater. He loves playing with his brothers. 

We attempted potty training with Myles but have decided that he is not ready. You can tell he was stressed. He did really well for the weekend but he went downhill after that and we don't want to force him into something he's not ready for (as much as we want him to be). The picture below is him passing out before nap time...this never happens. Poor little guy.

He's really good at busting his face. He did this again shortly after this one healed. 

Charley is all ready for school. He keeps asking about when he gets to go. Makes me sad but I'm excited for him. 

Izyk is just growing. He's so helpful and thoughtful (for the most part). He likes to sleep in only underwear...which, to me, is strange for an almost 4 year old but hey, whatever he's comfortable in. 

25 week picture

This time around I have not been very good at keeping up with the monthly picture. 25 weeks here...yay! I feel huge as usual but gaining weight right on par. The section date has been set for August 8, 2014! I'm excited and this pregnancy is flying by.

Miss Uncle Brandon

My brother came to visit!! It was a huge surprise. We had so much fun with him here. He taught the boys how to shoot bows and arrows. We went to the Space & Rocket Center which was SO awesome. Everyone had so much fun. Charley kept saying he was going on the airplane with Ms. Uncle Brandon. Uncle Brandon wore the boys out! Charley kept putting "Miss" in front of Uncle Brandon. Haha! 

Thank you Uncle Brandon for making a trip to see us!! 

Easter 2014

Eating habits

We have tried to do jarred baby food with Charley when he was young. That is expensive.

I even started to make my own baby food. Making my own baby food was time consuming because I only had time during the weekend to do it. I have enough to do on the weekend!!

A friend told me about baby-led weaning. At first, it sounded crazy. How can you just We did it a little with Izyk but I got panicky because he would choke sometimes...or at least I thought he was. He would gag but not actually choke. Myles was purely baby led weaned. Now that the first three are older, I can see the difference in eating habits. My oldest is the pickiest out of all of my kids. Izyk is not as picky as Charley and he has spurts of fantastic eating. Myles will eat whatever I put in front of him. He eats a wide range of foods and he is such a good eater. He's messy as all get-out but a great eater. Calon is a fantastic eater too. I absolutely love it. Both of them go for the vegetables first before they eat anything else. 

Now, this kind of amazes me. Only because I always hear about how difficult it is to feed children, in general let alone getting them to eat vegetables. I only have the experience of my kids. I can see the differences in how and what they eat. I keep being told that their tastebuds will change and they won't eat the same way. I suppose we will see. For now, I shall load them up on all the good stuff!

I have a rule that if they are still hungry or are in need of a snack, they are allowed to eat any vegetables we have available. I honestly didn't think they would take to this. I'm at the point of hiding all my salad fixings and vegetables slated for dinner. 

Crazy kids.

Prego Pics...re-cap

This was the 16 week prego picture complete with photo bombs by the two older ones....ish.

This is the 21/22 week picture. I'm not doing a good job keeping track of how along I am. Excuse the fluffy hair.

16 weeks and 20 weeks

It has been awhile. I still don't feel well most evenings and I'm exhausted all of the time but I'm sure that's the status of all parents...all of the time. This halfway point came faster than anticipated. We did not find out what the gender is so 4.5 weeks until we know. Haha! I will have to repost with a picture...I have been so bad about taking pictures regularly this time.

Charley starts kindergarten next year. He is getting so big, it kills me. He's so independent. Izyk talks so much and they are always fighting, playing, fun-having boys. Myles is still not really talking much...he is trying to. We really haven't done much potty training but he has used the toilet a few times. One of these days we will do hardcore potty training but I don't feel like it now. Calon is standing and cruising. He's getting more confident and is trying to stand on his own. He is SO vocal; so much more than the other three. I suppose when you are up against three brothers, you want to be loud. 

We are on our second/third table so we broke down and bought a solid hickory table. It's custom built and is taking. Few months to get built. We can't wait to all be sitting at a table together. I'm sure this new one will hold up better. 

Our family will be embarking on a new food journey. <- ha! I've become more conscience of sugar intake. I'm not talking about candy and cookies...breads, snacks, crackers. 

Processed foods. 

The amount of sugar added to the things we eat is crazy. We already don't eat candy and cookies (at least the kiddos, although on birthdays they do get cake and ice cream). I'm a little nervous (and excited), mainly about finding a good set of meals that we will all eat and enjoy.