Scitor Picnic

On the 25th of July we got to take all the kids to a Scitor Picnic at Heritage Square. We had alot of fun riding the Ferris Wheel and the carousel and all the other little kiddy rides that they had there. We also got to do minature golfing, paddle boats, pony rides and go carts. Rush was really good the whole time and the kids all had a great time. My favorite part was the chaos called minature golfing with 3 kids. It was hilarious.

2 Week Old

So our little Rush is now 2 week old. He is 7 lbs 15 oz and some how he shrunk to be only 20 inches long. He has been a very sweet boy so far. He loves to eat and sleep. I am feeling pretty much back to normal other than being tired constantly, but that is to be expected. The kids have been very sweet to Rush, even Larke whom we were most worried about. I am feeling very blessed to have such a wonderful family, not perfect, but wonderful all the same.

Introducing....

RUSHMORE ADAM JONES -- 7 lbs 6 oz, 20 1/2 in. Born at 3:39 pm 9 July 2009

Still yucky, being weighed

All of us

Chilling out under the lights, I love his shades.

Big brother and big sisters enjoying baby brother.

I love this picture of Larke.
Our yellow baby

My handsome Hubby and our yellow Rush.

WARNING: This post includes lengthy info. read at your own risk.

So for any of you who want the whole story. I went in for my appointment on the 7th and the Dr. said that we could go ahead and induce since I was at a 2 and about 50% effaced. They were able to schedule it for Thursday at 6:30am. So we went bright and early to the hospital. A special thanks to Phil and Jenny for watching our kids all day and for being willing to come so early in the morning. We played 50 questions for a while with the nurse and then Nurse Sue put in my IV. I have to say that having that IV in was the most unpleasant thing of the day. I almost passed out. The Dr. came in and broke my water around 8:15. The amniotic fluid seemed never ending, they even had to change all the bedding once because it just kept coming with every contraction. I had already been having some contractions for about a week but nothing consistent. The pitocin got some good contractions going in a consistent rhythm and by 10 they were ready to do my epidural. I decided to do the epidural fairly early in case a C-section became necessary. Everything was progressing really steadily and well. After about an hour and a half I was feeling contractions pretty strong again so they gave me more epidural medicine. I was still feeling everything but I soon realized that I was only feeling contractions on the right side. Again the anethesiologist came to give me more medicine which again went to my left side. They decided they needed to start a new epidural, so out came the old and in the new. (Because they gave me so much epidural medicine my left thigh was numb until about 10pm.) About an hour or so after that Rush was ready to come out. The Dr. came and after 5 or 10 minutes of pushing Rush entered the world. He was clocked at 3:39pm. He was very quiet. He looked around and took everything in, he has since discovered his voice which can have a very girly screech at the end. I tore a little because he was insistent on getting one of his arms out before his head. Everything on the whole went really well.
About 12 hrs after Rush was born they checked his billiruben levels and he has basically been on lights ever since. We did get to bring him home from the hospital on the 11th and have had him on lights at home. They had us take him off the lights last night and they checked his levels again this morning. They called a couple of hours ago and said that Rush is in the clear and that we are all done with the lights. His color is looking much better and I am so grateful that it wasn't any worse. Sorry if this is way too much information for some of you. I figured that some of you would want to know everything and some of you would want to know nothing. So there you have it, Rush's first week of life in a nutshell.
A special thanks to my sister LeAnn for watching the kids overnight and for the yummy dinner and for being an awesome friend and sister. Also to Mike, Joy and Melissa for coming and spending a few days with us entertaining the kids, cooking, cleaning, laughing and helping us with all that comes with transitioning to having a new baby in the house. We love you guys and are grateful for all you did. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. We are so grateful to have Rush home and healthy.

The parachuters right before the fireworks.

There were 5 in all this year.

Larke wrestling her Daddy.
All the kids together.
Matt watching fireworks with Gideon and Larke.

All the kids wrestling Daddy.

Eden playing with Gideon's hat.I love the 4th of July. I love being an American. I am very proud of this country with it's history and the role that it plays in the world we live in. I truly believe that God has preserved this nation and I pray that He will continue to do so. I love the fireworks show where we live. They hire parachuters every year and they float down from the sky to the music "I'm Proud To Be An American". It is so beautiful and it makes me cry every year. This year the tears fell freely, I was grateful for the darkness. Once the parachuters are done they proceed with the fireworks (which I love). The music of various patriotic songs continue to soar all through the fireworks, with of course a smashing finish. It's beautiful. The kids loved it. On our walk back to the car Gideon said that it was "the best night of his life". It was fabulous and the rain did not stick around to ruin our fun.

4th of July Dresses

These are the 4th of July dresses that I made for the girls with my left-over fabric from my 4th of July wallhanging. I think they turned out really good. Larke's was considerably easier to make. I do love the old fashioned patchwork of Edens dress though. The most important thing is that they both twirl.

7 Years

Matt's fire extinguisher.

Matt put dish soap in the dishwasher. We had fun cleaning it up together.

Beautiful antique box in a German antique shop in Downtown Denver. Very Scandinavian.

Most beautiful cradle I've ever seen.
The carving on this billow is so gorgeous.
Matt brought me these flowers because they were our wedding colors. I thought that that was really sweet of him.

So we celebrated our anniversary on the 26th of June because the 4th of July is on Saturday this year. Our anniversary is really the 2nd, anyway the 26th was just easier. Thanks to my wonderful sister LeAnn for taking the kids overnight for us and making it an even greater experience. So the main thing that we did were to go antique shopping in Downtown Denver. We love looking at antiques and it is something that we have enjoyed doing together from the beginning of our relationship. Kids pretty much make this outing impossible so we relished the chance to go without the kids. Our favorite store was this German store. It had so many awesome things. I of course loved all the Scandinavian stuff and Matt found an old fire extinguisher that he is excited to put up in the basement. If was wonderful to have the freedom to wander and not worry about losing any little kids. We had a wonderful dinner at Red Lobster (love love love those biscuits) and enjoyed just spending our time together.

I can't believe that it has been 7 years already. It all seems to have gone by so fast. Our lives are so different now. Surrounded by children and work and responsiblity and I love it. We have had a wonderful life together. My most favorite sound in the world is my husbands laughter. I especially love when I get to be the one to bring it out of him. We have learned alot from each other. We love our children! We love spending time together. I pray that our lives will always be this way. I pray that it will all continue and get better and better with each passing year. Marriage is so different then my girlhood dreams could come up with. Different but not to say unfulfilling. It is better and worse than I could have imagined. I am so grateful for my best friend, my helpmeet, my confidant, my court jester, my anchor, my sweetheart. I would be so lost without you, Matt. I love you!

The Bump

So I've had several requests for a baby bump picture. Here you go. I know that it is not that impressive for all the complaining of my last post, but still it's there. People are saying that I finally look pregnant. This picture was taken a week and a half ago on the 24th of June so I'm sure that I am bigger still. I have been having contractions off and on especially in the evenings the past few days. Today I have had quite a few, I really hope that they are doing something. I can't wait to hold baby Rush and introduce him to his crazy family. Thanks for the encouraging words. I know I will make it through, I've done it before. Life is good for the most part and I'm getting more used to the constant discomfort.