Happy (Belated) Birthday Kyliekins!!!

Six years ago (last Saturday), I woke up feeling weird around 7:45am. Megan had spent the night at Aunt Kate's house (fortunately). A couple minutes later my contractions started. They started at about 2 mins apart, so it only took me a few to wake up Rob. Rob was supposed to be working at his weekend job that day, but for some reason had switched from the catering job he was supposed to do early in the day in Boston to one close by later in the day, so he hadn't left yet. Rob got up and slowly started getting the house ready so we could head to the hospital in a while. I told him we needed to call the dr NOW. He thought I was over-reacting a bit, but got the phone. I left a message with the answering service to page the dr on call and call me back. By the time he called back not too long after, I couldn't even talk on the phone. The dr asked Rob how far away from the hospital we were. When Rob told him we were about ten minutes away, the dr told him to get me in the car and get there - we didn't have time for an ambulance to get there. Rob got me out to the car and started driving. I started yelling because the contractions had gotten so severe, plus they told me with Megan that if you made noise, the contractions didn't work as well. Rob made it to the hospital in about 7 mins (thank heavens it was a Sat morning and there wasn't much traffic!). My water broke as we pulled into the parking lot. Rob turned to me and said "would you like me to drop you off first or should I park the car?" I looked at him like he was crazy and informed him that he was running in to tell the nurses I was having a baby in the car. He ran in and told the first hospital person he saw, who hit a button, informing everyone of an emergency. It seemed like there were dozens of nurses surrounding the car. They checked to see if Kylie's head was out, discovered she was crowning, but not out yet, and pulled me out of the car and onto a gurney. L&D was on the 2nd floor so someone was holding the elevator doors open for us. The nurses pushed the gurney into the elevator, looked at each other and decided I wasn't going to make it. They pulled the gurney out of the elevator and into a triage room across the hall. Rob in the meantime was standing next to the car, not sure what to do. The valet grabbed his keys and pushed him into the hospital. He grabbed my hand as they pushed me into the triage room. A doctor ran around us and caught Kylie as she was born. She wasn't breathing, so a nearby nurse grabbed her and she and two others worked on Kylie until they got her to breathe. I didn't stop bleeding, so I had several nurses working on me as well. I'm glad I didn't deliver in the car!

When things quieted down, I asked Rob why in the world he asked if he should park the car first. He responded with "I thought you were being over-dramatic". Huh.

The nurse who grabbed Kylie came back to check on us a bit later. She said the funniest part of the whole thing was that just as I was pushed through the doors, there was a tour of prospective mothers going through the lobby. The looks on their faces were priceless! :)

Kylie, we are so glad you are part of our family! Life wouldn't be the same without you. I love your sense of humor and your confidence! You bring so much joy to our family!

The day she was born (several hours later - somehow Rob didn't remember to grab the camera until much later) ~


A few months old ~


Age one ~


Age two, having fallen asleep holding Beth ~


Age three ~


Just before her 4th birthday (we gave all the binkies to the binkie fairy the night before her birthday) ~


Age five ~


Almost age six ~

What We've Been Up To

I have been so sick with this pregnancy that I haven't done a very good job of keeping up on blogging. Granted there are other things going on too, such as school and church stuff. I just finished week six of my ten week quarter, so I'm over halfway done :) I still have 100's in both classes somehow - I'm sure due mostly to God's help as I certainly couldn't have done that on my own!

Church has been busy. We had a service project last week where we made "snakes" (used to support the babies) and tiny headbands for the NICU. I was in charge of it of course (as that's my job at church), but I didn't do a very good job of delegating. We have almost 100 women in our women's group (called Relief Society) and I know that many of them would have been more than happy to help with the activity, but of course I didn't ask them. Finally the day of the activity, my friend Allison called and asked how I was doing. I admitted to her that I still had two papers to write that day for school, had a dr's appt that afternoon, and still had to cut and iron the fabric. Then Beth walked over covered in ink from a burst pen and I told Allison I'd have to call her back. As all Allison knew about the situation stemmed from my comment to Beth ("What did you do to yourself???"), Allison jumped in her car and headed for my house, assuming we'd be spending the afternoon in the ER. Fortunately that wasn't necessary and most of the ink even washed off. Allison spent several hours at my house, cutting the fabric and watching the kids so I could finish my papers, then even waiting for Travis and Susie to get to the house so I was sure I had a babysitter before I left for my dr's appointment. She then brought the fabric back to her house and ironed it for me while I was at my appointment :)

I know . . . I need to learn to delegate sooner. I think that's why I was given this job. I'm working on it :) The activity turned out really well though!

A few random pictures that were on the camera ~

Beth and Jack playing together on the handheld Leapfrog ~


Jack playing under the bridge with his plane ~


I don't know who took this, but I love this shot of Jack :) ~


Megan feigning sleep - I think during a game ~


Kylie's 6th birthday was Saturday! She came home from school on Friday with a cardboard crown, which she wore the rest of the day Friday and all day Saturday. We started the celebration by going out to dinner at Mimi's Cafe on Friday night with Christy, Ron, Travis, Susan and our friend Priscilla. Keith, Dana and Rachel weren't able to make it, but we missed them! Since we have so many family birthdays in May (Christy and I were last week, Kylie is the 22nd and Travis is the 24th - there are other family birthdays too, but those were the ones who were in TX), we try to go out once for a family birthday dinner.

Saturday Rob was feeling worse (he lost his voice the day before), so he stayed home and Travis, Susie and I took the kids to IHOP, Kylie's favorite restaurant, for lunch. When we got home, Kylie got to open her presents. She got a new video game set for the TV from us, a set of pet shop toys from Molly and Brian (who also got the other girls pet shop toys and trucks for Jack), a couple of outfits and a cowgirl hook set from Christy, Travis and Susie (which she opened the night before so Christy could see), a book from Nona and Papa, and money from Grandma and Grandpa. Megan made her a Candyland game, complete with cards.

I didn't feel up to making a cake this year, so we went to Albertsons to buy one as they have the best cakes. Kylie quickly chose a chocolate cake with pink, blue and yellow flowers on it.






I hope to get a birthday post in for Kylie, but haven't gotten to it yet :) Happy Birthday little girl!!! We're so glad you joined our family!!!

My doctor's appoint on Thursday was my first sonogram at the OB's office. I've been so much sicker with this baby that several friends have asked if I was sure it wasn't twins. I didn't think it was as I got blood work done a month ago at my first visit and it probably would have shown up at that point, but I was still a bit nervous about it. The doctor walked into the room and said "lets have a look at those twins!" I almost fell off the bed. The doctor laughed and said "gotcha!" It is officially NOT twins, which I'm glad about.

The baby looks very healthy and was kicking and dancing around for us. We could see the fingers and the face a bit. I'm not far along enough to tell the gender, but we'll find out in about six weeks. That didn't stop Rob though, who took one look at the ultrasound and said "It's a boy." He says he can just tell. We'll see I guess! I'm kind of leaning towards girl and I was so positive when I first found out about the pregnancy that it was a girl, but my symptoms are closer to Jack's pregnancy than to the girls'. I guess we'll see! The girls all think it's a girl. I showed Jack the ultrasound pictures and he said "My brother!!!" I asked him if it was a boy then. He said no, it was a girl, so I guess he's right either way!



The doctor put me on an anti-nausea drug they use for chemotherapy patients, which is helping a lot, although the side effects aren't fun. Oh, well :) I'm almost at eleven weeks, so hopefully it will ease off soon as I only have two weeks left of the first trimester.

Rob is still sick. I finally convinced him to go to the dr today. He was diagnosed with an adenovirus, which is a heavy-duty virus that usually lasts 2-3 weeks. It can get really severe and require hospitalization even, but Rob has a more mild case fortunately. I'm hoping it doesn't make it's rounds through the house!

All About My Mom by Megan

For mother's day Megan made me a book about me. Each page is beautifully illustrated and contains something about me.



This is my mom. She is 31 years old. She has brown eyes and brown hair.


My mom likes to read comic books (???), newspapers (???) and regular books.


My mom does not like to clean up our mess.


My mom is so funny when she tickles me. It makes me laugh.


My mom likes for me to help her cook dinner.


My favorite place to go with my mom is Wendy's. She always gets me a frosty.


My favorite thing for my mom to cook is cake.


If I could give my mom anything, I would give her a beautiful dress.


Kylie made me a flower with a picture of her in the middle, but she put it somewhere and I can't find it, so there is no picture :)

Beth colored a card for me and signed her name at the bottom.


Jack didn't give me anything, although he spoke for a robot for me :)

Rob gave me three sets of pearl earrings - white, black and pink :)

Sunshiny Morning, Sunshiny Morning, I just can't wait to get out the door . . .

Probably no one but my mother and possibly a couple of my siblings will get the reference in the title as it's from a very odd movie that I'm sure very few copies were sold of :)

It has been beautiful here lately. The kids have practically lived outside. Simon is enjoying the weather too and loves sunbathing in the backyard ~



We haven't gotten much spring rain this year. The other day when the kids were outside it started to sprinkle. Since down here that's usually a prequel to a thunderstorm, I told them to come inside and play. They developed another solution (except for Beth, who I insisted come inside because of her cast), upending the turtle sandbox and walking around the yard with it on their heads. They then settled it on the electric thingy in our backyard, creating a fort to protect them from the rain. Simon was very interested in the camera ~





Life has been good here. I feel awful, but that's to be expected :) Hopefully the morning sickness will end soon. On the bright side, I've lost more weight in the last few weeks than I did on any diet! I highly recommend the cracker and popsicle diet. Everything is shrinking except my tummy, which is already poking out quite a bit. I guess that happens with your fifth. Rob keeps looking at me and saying things like "did you get this big this fast with the other kids?" and "are you sure it's not twins?" Haha - very funny sweetie :)

School is going well. I lucked out and got two teachers that I work well with. They tell me what they want and if I do it, I get a 100. God must have known I couldn't handle two teachers like the one I had last quarter. I'm almost halfway through the quarter and have a 100 in both classes :)

The kids only have a few weeks of school left. We're looking forward to Beth getting her cast off so we can go swimming. Brittney (our babysitter) is getting her driver's license and has announced that she will be living with us this summer :) Works for me!

We're enjoying having Susie and Travis down here for the summer. We have them over every Monday for dinner and Family Home Evening and usually over at least one other time during the week. They came over last night for dinner. We had BLT's, but I over toasted the bread, so we called them crouton sandwiches. Susie pointed out that it allowed us to test the acoustics in the dining room and that it was interesting to hear every bite anyone took :) They were yummy though, although I don't think we'll be eating much bacon for the next 6-7 months or so. It smelled like pork. We aren't eating any chicken either. In fact, we aren't eating much meat. Fresh fruits and veggies are the only thing that don't make me sick. Oh, and popsicles. I splurged and bought Dole popsicles. At least they make me feel like I'm getting some nutrition from them as they have real fruit in them.

A Whole New World . . .

In a few months, we'll have lived in TX for half a decade. Shocking to me, who had never even been to TX before we flew down here to look at houses. It certainly has been an interesting experience :) It took us a few years to get used to living down here and I have to admit that I still get homesick for New England every fall when we have one 80-90 degree day after another and I send my kids to school in t-shirts and shorts rather than jeans and sweaters. My favorite time of the year down here is spring, which shows up usually in February or March. I have to admit that I love having 70 degree days in March and being able to have the kids play outside almost all year round.

There are a few differences between New England and Texas ~

The slang is different. Growing up in MA, I am very used to the use of the word "wicked" as an adverb, meaning "very" (i.e.- that show was wicked awesome). They don't use that down here, however there are words that are slowly sneaking into my repertoire, such as "y'all". I don't think I will ever be able to use the phrase "all y'all", which is not uncommon (i.e.- what do all y'all want to do), nor do I ever see myself using the term "fixin'" (i.e.- I'm fixin' to get my truck fixed).

The weather is different. Megan's first year of kindergarten, we did not have a day when it rained at the time I was suppose to walk and pick her up the entire school year. I doubt we would have had very many weeks without a rainy day had we stayed in New England. It rains down here, but not the same way. In New England it's usually a slow, steady rain that lasts for at least a day or two. You can look outside in the morning and be able to tell if you need to bring an umbrella to work or not. In TX storms can blow in within a matter of minutes and leave at the same speed. The storms are bigger though. I have never seen thunder storms like TX storms. They literally shake the house. The first year we moved here they kept me up all night as even after they passed, I'd have to stay up for an hour or two to make sure it was over. Forecasts mean different things down here too. A 55% chance of rain in New England meant that the whole area had a 55% chance of rain. Down here a 55% chance of rain means that 55% of the area will get rained on, however your chances of being in the 55% seems directly proportional to your need to do something outside.

Storms aren't the only thing that is bigger in Texas. Everything is bigger. The houses are ginormous with McMansions everywhere. Yes, every third house looks the same, but they are huge. We live in the most "cost effective" (cheap) neighborhood in the area and still have three living rooms, a study, a formal dining room, and a jetted tub in our master bathroom. I thought we were getting a really nice house until we moved down here and saw what other houses look like. Seriously some of them are insane. Just off one the highways we drive fairly often, someone is building a castle, complete with turrets and towers, and yes, it's a residential house.

People talk more - a lot more. I remember once when Rob and I were down here looking at houses, we stopped at a store to pick something little up. Rob waited in the car and I ran in. 30 mins later I made it back out again. Rob asked what took so long. I answered him by giving him a detailed life story of the lady at the check out counter. I knew more about her at that point than I did about the people we lived next to in RI for four years.

Everyone is religious. While there are a lot of religious people in New England, they tend to keep their religious beliefs to themselves. Not so down here. Several years ago when Rob didn't pass a financial test needed for his job, his boss came up to him and told him "God must have other plans for you" and that we would be in her prayers. When Megan was sick last year, some of Rob's co-workers put her on their prayer group's list. It was a bit surprising to hear someone openly talk about religion like that.

Food is different. New England has wonderful seafood, Chinese and Italian restaurants. Texas has everything . . . with one exception. I have yet to find a really good Chinese restaurant. They have everything else though. I didn't realize Texas was so ethnically diverse. Everything has more flavor down here too. The last time we went back to New England, we visited a few of what used to be our favorite restaurants and were surprised to find the food sort of bland. Everything is Texas has flavor - lots of flavor. And I have now been introduced to BBQ. REAL BBQ, which for those of you not from Texas has nothing to do with BBQ sauce. It's a method of cooking. BBQ is meat cooked over real wood fires for a really long time. Rob loves it. I think it is just meat that tastes like wood. I try not to say that in front of Texans though as I've seen the response I get when I do :)

Construction is approached differently in Texas. In New England construction projects seem to drag on forever. In Texas there are so many of them that they get them done as fast as possible in order to move on to the next one.

Bugs fall into the category of things that are bigger in Texas as well. When we moved here, I was afraid of spiders. I am no longer afraid of New England spiders. It seems kind of pointless when you have tarantulas in your backyard. Fortunately we have a wonderful pest control guy and so we no longer have tarantulas in our back yard. Pest control was not something we ever worried about in New England, except for termites. It is a necessity in Texas. Even the ants bite. And ant bites hurt. When we moved here, Megan loved bugs. She and I would sit in our backyard and watch the ants and she would let them crawl over her fingers. She tried that once the day we moved into our house down here. 20 bites later, she developed a strong desire to kill every insect she encounters, which she has passed on to the other three children. We are trying to teach them that most beetles are nice, especially ladybugs and the girls don't kill roly-poly's, caterpillars or butterflies, but everything other than that is quickly squashed.

It's taken a few years for me to feel comfortable down here. I think my body has finally adjusted to the heat as 60 or 70 feels slightly chilly to me (although I still reserve the right to complain when it stays over 100 for months at a time). I enjoy the friendliness of Texans. Everything just seems brighter and happier here. I miss the trees (they are NOT bigger in Texas), but love the Texas sunsets (which are absolutely magnificent - I've never seen anything like them). I miss the ocean, but love the fields of wildflowers. I miss the seafood, but love the highly seasoned steaks. I miss New England autumns and especially Indian summer days, but love Texas thunderstorms. Looks like we're here for a while, so might as well enjoy it!