Another Adoption

That's right! I'm am now announcing ANOTHER adoption.... Of Little Big Man and Essa!! However, we are not their adoptive parents! I just got a phone call from them and they were adopted two weeks ago by the aunt and uncle that they have been living with! They were both so excited and eager to share the news of their new forever family and sound like they are doing fantastic which does my heart a whole lot of good! It renewed my faith in the system; these kids were taken from a very unstable, scary and unsafe situation and came to us where we were able to love and help them until their family was able to provide a long term, lifelong home and family for them! They talked to Tate and Emerson and talked about missing us and wanting to set up a time to get together which I think could be a lot of fun, I just would hope it wouldn't make my kiddos sad to say good bye again!

A year ago today we were preparing to send them on their way to live with their aunt, uncle, cousins and grandma. It was a very hard time around here, the kids' emotions were running high at the thought of moving and it was making it really hard to balance it all. They officially moved in the middle of July and we have only received two phone calls from them and both have been positive and have affirmed that they are most definitely in the right place!

Little did we know, three months later we would be picking up baby Zane from the NICU and finding out we were expecting baby Drake! You never know what the future holds but I'll tell you this, if I find myself with two more kids next June, someone better shake me silly because I'll clearly have lost my mind!

All in all I'm thankful for the time I was able to have them in my life, they taught me a lot about myself and about the world around me. They are great kids who deserve a fantastic future and I am thrilled to hear that they have people behind them who will help them achieve their goals! When you get a phone call to accept a foster placement, you have no way of knowing what will come along with that so it's an amazing thing to see a happy ending. We have been very lucky to have seen two happy endings with both of our foster care placements!

However, what we taught Little Big Man must not have sunk in, last summer he was grounded for hiding his homework from us and had to finish it before he could get ungrounded at our house... This summer he informed me that he's living out the same fate! Boys! (And I have three of them!!)

Potty Training Emerson

Have I lost my marbles?!
I think that's the only logical explanation as to why I'd choose now to potty train a head strong, opinionated two year old! It wasn't exactly planned, last Wednesday was Tanner's last day off of 'paternity leave' and I was upstairs changing Emerson's diaper and I was thinking three in diapers was getting super old so I asked her if she wanted to wear panties and go potty on the toilet instead. She said yes, which she never has said when I asked her before, so she put on panties and hasn't worn a diaper since! I figured I wasn't going to be going anywhere any time soon which is essential for potty training, so it seemed like as good of time as any.

I like to cold turkey potty train... If it takes more than a couple days to get it down then in my opinion, the child isn't really ready, I'm in no mood to clean up potty messes day after day! So we put on underwear and go to the potty every ten minutes until they get the idea on their own.  (which is why day one is always on dad's day off so I can have back up, otherwise I might have an accident because there's never time for mommy to go potty!) Emerson actually did really well, she sat on the potty basically all day on day one because she didn't want to get her panties wet. I kept trying to tell her she could get down but she wouldn't! Her poor hiney had to be feeling a little tired of it by the end! She read a lot of books and watched some movies on my phone and looked pretty cute through all of it!

The next day, she woke up in a dry bed! (when I say cold turkey I mean it, even at bedtime! Like I said, I've lost my marbles!) Then she ran into the bathroom and went potty and yelled "I did it! I went potty!!" Then Tate said "good job Emerson! You went potty?!" And she said "yeah Tate, wanna see?!" And he said... "Ummmm... No Emerson!" It was pretty cute! So all in all, she has done really well, she's had a couple accidents on the way to the potty, but she's always been so close to getting there on time so she will be an expert soon! We have had two wet beds, but in a week, that isn't bad especially because they were on nights 2 & 3 so she's doing great thank goodness!

Our babies are doing really good too! Baby Drake is already up to 7lbs! He's nocturnal however! He's sleeping as snug as a big in a rug right now which is not what I can say for last night! Thank goodness Zane sleeps through the night! That's the only good thing that came out of his NG feeding tube, he had it for two months when he was three months old and it pumped food into his tummy at a continuous rate so he slept through the night. When he got off of the NG tube, he was in such a good habit it (luckily) stuck! Maybe every baby should be on a feeding tube for a little bit?! Just kidding, that was pretty much the only positive part of a feeding tube!

Other than all of that, things as a family of six have been going really well. I didn't realize how low my energy level was and how poor I really felt while I was pregnant until I was no longer pregnant! Everyone has been so kind and asking how I've been doing and if I need them to come help or if they can send their teens over to help but to be honest, I feel SO much better now than a couple weeks/months ago and I'm so thankful for it! I'm by no means saying that my house is super clean or extra organized, I'm for sure still plenty busy, but I really wouldn't have it any other way! When I look back on the past nine months, there were so many hard patches, three surgeries, hospital stays, Tate's first year of preschool, Tanner working in Provo leaving at 5am getting home at 10pm, struggling with anemia through my pregnancy but not knowing until almost the end that that was why I was so sick and depleted, glasses and contacts on an infant, HOURS and HOURS of therapy for both boys, etc. It was nuts! Goodness, while we were in the thick of it, we just pulled up our boot straps and did it but now that I can look back on it, I realize we were not doing it alone, there is no way we would've been able to make it if we were. We had incredible support from our family (I feel bad for how much we've needed their help through all of the doctors and surgery appointments and day to day crazy, I hope we didn't wear them out!) And I know that we had heavenly help to carry the load and more importantly teach us to take things one day at a time!

So, we're taking it one day at a time with all of these babies too! Some days are easier than others (Emerson can out cry the babies any day and that requires more patience than I have words for!) But I can honestly say I'm having fun with my smalls and I'm really trying to find at least parts ;) of everyday to cherish. They are only going to be so little for such a small time. If I could just sit and cuddle them all day I would! (They're just so cute it'd be easy to do!) It makes me a little sad to think that this phase will be over almost as quickly as it came but if there's one thing I know, it's that when one adventure ends another one always begins and that's exciting! I mean a year ago today I was sitting in the front yard with a tiny inflatable pool with a nine year old, four year old, three year old and 21 month old!

Goodness life couldn't be less predictable!

Oh Baby!

With four kiddos four and under, there's really never a dull moment in this house! Someone is always hungry, needing a diaper change or going potty and it's rare to have a moment when no one is crying! But with all of that, there is a whole lot of cute going on! These kiddos all adore each other and the talking ones say the darnedest things.....

Emerson Quotes:
"Oh baby Drake is so cute and so tiny!"

"Baby Drake you were in mommy's tummy so you could grow big, but now you big so you come out but now you our new baby. Now we need another one new baby in mommy's tummy!"

"Zaneys! (that's what she calls Zane, always plural it's so funny) don't eat your hand! It's not yummy!"

"Oh baby Drake fingers so tiny! I need to kiss them!"

Emerson said to Tanner: "Baby Drake so tiny, he so cute dad. And baby Zane so tiny and so cute! But I'm still small and still cute too!" And Tanner said "yes you are cute! What about Daddy, am I cute?" She said "ummm yeah dad, you Big Cute."

Emerson walked in and saw me burping Drake and said: "wait mom! I want to hit him too!"

Tatem Quotes:
While holding up two fingers, "wow ma we have three babies?! That's so many babies!"

The kids are use to babies being bottle fed because of Zane so when Tate first walked in on me nursing Drake he said "whoa ma what baby doing?! Biting you?! No, no baby Drake!" So I told him no I'm feeding him milk and he says, "oh that one milk and that one water?!"

While looking at the baby: "where's baby Drake? Silly ma, he right there!"

"What baby Drake doing? He sleeping ma? Wake up baby Drake! It's not bedtime!"

The night before I went in to have Drake I told the kids that I was going to go to the doctor to get the baby out so Grandpa Charlie would be there when they woke up. So the next day when they came to see us at the hospital Tate kept looking at the baby then looking at my tummy so confused and said maybe twenty times: "that baby Drake? Baby Drake come out. Baby Drake not in there anymore."

Tate loved to feel Drake kick and he called it a high high five so the first thing he said to him was "hi baby Drake! High five! Knuckles!" He didn't understand why he was so good at high fives in my tummy and not so good at them once he came out. It was hilarious.

So we're having lots of fun around here and taking things one day at a time! We feel so blessed to have so many small cute people and one big cute daddy!

And Baby Drake Makes Four

Baby Drake finally made his arrival and is home safe and sound and we couldn't be happier!

His birth story was crazy, he was traverse (sideways) and had a secluded c section. But thanks to some amazing doctors and nurses the morning of the surgery who offered me options beyond those given by my own doctor, he was able to be turned. This allowed me to give birth naturally which has been my goal since having Tate and was an answer to prayers in ways I can't describe, including allowing me to hold and cuddle all of my other smalls which was something that had weighed heavy on my mind with the thought of a c section. In fact, it went so well, we were both released 24 hours later and are home learning how to be a family of six!

Baby Drake, like the others, brings a beautiful spirit into our home that only he can. All of his siblings adore him and can't get enough! (So do his mommy and daddy!) There is nothing like going through the ups and downs of labor and all of the struggle and ending up with a beautiful child who is nothing less than a miracle. Baby Drake has already taught me so much and I know he's meant to be here and be part of our family at this time.
Welcome to the world and our crazy family baby Drake! We will try not to smother you too much with all our kisses!

Oh yeah, he was a whopping 6lbs 3oz 19.5 in long!! SO tiny we don't know what to do with him!

Pictures:
Emerson was the best prenatal doctor I had, although she did say my heart wasn't beating a few times!

Tate wearing a hat of grandpa Charlie's from a play

Zane learned to hold his bottle about a week before Drake got here and it's been a life saver

And the man of the hour! The first thing he did when he was born was suck his thumb and he came home in the same outfit that Tate and Zane came home in!