Baby Daze!

I only have time and energy for a quick update. We are doing alright. We had Claire on Wednesday May 14th at 8:54 pm. It was a long day, but everything went well. Claire has her days and nights mixed up and likes to sleep all day, and play (or cry) from about midnight to about 5am. We are so tired! Thankfully our ward is helping a ton with meals and other stuff. And my sister called today and said she wants to come stay the night and let us get some sleep--THANK YOU MEGHAN!!

The kids are loving to help with and hold Claire, she is spoiled already.

Mckenna is the best big sister, and has been with each baby. I couldn't ask for a better big sister than she is to each of her siblings. She takes great care of each of them, they are lucky to have her!!!

Carson called her "Claire Bear" the other day and that seems to be her nick name now. He always talks about how cute she is and likes to lay on the couch and cuddle with her. He is so gentle and natural with her.

Halle is pretty much obsessed with her and wants to hold "it" all the time. She is very possessive of her and will hang on to her in a death grip if she thinks someone is coming to take Claire away from her. I am glad that she is just in love with her and not mad at her like I had worried about.

I am very lucky that they have all been smitten by her cuteness and just want too love on her. I love watching each of them with her, she is a blessed little baby.

It is sad to think she will be my last one, I am trying to just enjoy the newborn stage as much as I can because even though it is hard and exhausting, I won't have this again. I will miss the little baby squeaks, smells, cuddling etc. I am always sad when they stop curling up their legs and sticking out their bum when you hold them and so many other things. So, for now I will just enjoy each moment and cherish each moment!

I tried to upload some pictures, but I keep geting an error. Until I can get that figured out, you can go to this site and see some pictures! http://www.reefworkshop.com/claire/claire.html

I am loved!!

I meant to post this yesterday, but forgot. I just wanted to share how great my Mother's day was! (sorry, no pictures again). Kyle got up with the kids in the morning and let me sleep in until I HAD to get up to get ready for Church (which starts at 9am). When we came home he told me that I was not allowed to do anything in the house for the day. He did everything! Cleaned all the messes that were made, did the dishes, got the food ready for our Mothers Day dinner with my family....EVERYTHING! He would not let me do anything, which is hard for me not to see something that needs to be picked up or taken care of and not do it. He even stopped the kids from whining, crying, fighting, or complaining around me. It was a GREAT day! I loved every minute of it!!!
Thank you Kyle for taking such good care of me all day! I loved only having to enjoy the good parts of my kids all day and not have to clean up after them or do anything other than rest, read the Ensign and have a fabulous day!!! At the end of the dayI did tell him how nice it would be to have a maid. Everyday would feel like Mothers day then!

I hope you all had a great day too!

Tomorrow is the BIG day! We will be a family of 6. Please tell me I will be able to handle 4 kids. That I won't go crazy and be committed!

How do you all plan to spend your long summer days with your kids? What will you do to keep them busy and happy? What can I do with a newborn? HELP!!!

Only a few more days!!!

Wow! I can't believe that the time to meet out little girl is almost here! I am scheduled to be induced this Wednesday, May 14th, at 7:30am!!! I am starting to freak out, just a little bit (ok...maybe a whole lot). I still feel like we have so much to do to get the house, carseat, and baby stuff ready. Plus, I have not been sleeping well at all, so I am already exhausted and I know it is just going to get worse. I don't function well on little to no sleep.
BUT we will soon meet our sweet little baby! I am so excited to see her and cuddle with her, and love on her! Only a few more days and our family will be complete. The kids are all so excited for her to come home. Halle is probably not going to be happy. She already knows something is up and has claimed total ownership of every baby thing that we have brought out so far. She tells me "I a baby too". She wants to wear the baby clothes, sleep in her bassinet, sit in the swing, etc. She is already very possessive with me, and doesn't really want me to cuddle with the other kids. I am trying to prepare myself to handle what I am sure is going to come regarding Halle being jealous of the baby. Any one have some good idea's for me?

I will post an update this weekend with pictures of course!

Wish me luck!!!

A few names...

This will be a short post. I still need to post from Easter and Halle's 2nd Birthday which was on Easter Sunday but Kyle still has not loaded the pictures from the camera and I have no idea how. Hopefully in the next few days I will be able to get some pictures on from both events.

Well, here goes.... A list of some of the names that we like so far.

-Claire
-Carly
-Emery
-Avery
-Cate

We would like to narrow it down to about 2 for when we go to the hospital and pick the name once we meet her! There are still a few more written down on a list but I can't find the list right now. So until I find it these are the names that i can remember.

The results are in!!!

We are having a GIRL!!!!!

So the final count will be Girls-3 , boy(s)-1.

Carson is more excited about another sister than Mckenna. She was actually a little mad because she had prayed for a brother. Finally after she got over her frustration, she decided that she would be like her Grandma Dugger and 'be happy either way'!

Now comes the hard part....We have a 3 bedroom house and don't plan on moving any time soon.
I mean, it will be no problem for the next 3-5 years to have them sharing rooms, but at some point it won't be ok. As it is, Carson and Mckenna sleep in the same room/bed every night, even though Carson has his own room with 2 beds in it.....go figure! So I really should not be worried at this point, right?

I am happy to finally know, now I can start buying all the cute "girly" cloth diapers that I have my eye on!!!!! We also need a name. Anyone have any good idea's? I am stumped. I do have a list of about 10 girl names that I like but none that I LOVE and just have to have KWIM?

Somehow HE knows!

I got this e-mail from a friend today. Somehow Heavenly Father knows when I need to hear something like this. Lately I have felt like a maid, nose wiper, errand runner, etc. just wondering what my purpose was. I now feel more grateful for the opportunity to do these things!


The invisible MOM!
It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way
one of the kids walks into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be
taken to the store. Inside, I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'
Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping
the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see
me at all. I'm invisible. The Invisible Mom.


Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: 'Can you fix this?' 'Can
you tie this?' 'Can you open this?' Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm
not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a
satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to
order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'


I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes
that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now
they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.
'She's going, she's going, she's gone!'


One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a
friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and
she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there,
looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to
compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress;
it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was
pulled up in a hair clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut
butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a
beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book
on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it
to me until I read her inscription:


'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building
when no one sees.'


In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover
what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could
pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no
record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they
would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God
saw everything. A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to
visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a
tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why
are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be
covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied,
'Because God will see.'


I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost
as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the
sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of
kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is
too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great
cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.' At times, my
invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is
erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness.
It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right
perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who
show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something
that their name will never be on.


The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever
be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to
sacrifice to that degree. When I really think about it, I don't want my son
to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom
gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand
bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.'
That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him
to want to come home. Then, if there is anything to say to his friend, it
could be, 'You're gonna love it here!' As mothers, we are building great
cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is
very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built,
but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of
invisible women.

Time for more Snow Video's!!

Seth is quite adventurous! He blazed this trail, it comes within inches of the tree!

Matthew and Seth racing...And the winner is????

Kyle catching some air! This was the fastest trail that they could find.


Matthew hitting the jump too!

Kyle had to beg and bribe Mckenna to go on this trail. The bribe included a piggy back ride half way up the hill and 2 candies from the country store!