Gracie Loves Adam

Gracie wanted to get in on some pictures Kenny was taking of Adam on September 10th. We thought they turned out so cute that we put 3 of them (the picture of their hands, Gracie kissing Adam, and Gracie leaning on him) on our wall. It's nice that Kenny's so good at picture taking. It gets us lots of good pictures. Too bad we don't have more walls.

Gracie In A Nutshell

Gracie came into the office one day to talk to Daddy. She looked just like Gracie would look everyday if she had a choice. She's such a goofy little thing. Her hair is almost always a mess, even if I do it. She's great at sneaking food and would snack all day long if we let her. Her face is always messy and so are her hands. None of this matters to Gracie and that's one of the many things I love about her. When Kenny saw her he grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures, did some editing, and this is what he got.

Back To School

Ready to catch the bus the first day of school

Another school year is upon us and the kids are super excited. I love that my kids love to go to school and I hope their love of learning and of school continues throughout their lives. School started bright and early on cold and rainy Monday, August 30th. When I say bright and early I mean bright and early. The kids had to catch the bus at 7:05 and they were determined to do so. When I learned of the new bus time I really began to wonder how long the kids would be able to get up so early (and how long I'd let them.) Luckily, the next day they changed the bus schedule and now the kids catch the bus at 7:40. That is much more doable. They love riding the bus and I'm happy we don't have to get up so early to do so.

Sarah Kate is in the 3rd grade this year. I can't believe she's that big, but she is. Her teacher is Mr. Guymon and she was very sad to learn that she had boy teacher. Sad enough I thought she was going to cry. She begged me to get her switched, but I told her she had to at least give him a try. Mr. Guymon is a first year teacher who did his student teaching at Rimrock last year. I've heard many wonderful things about him and so I wasn't worried about her liking him. After meeting him at back to school night a few days before school started she was willing to give him a try. She came home from school the first day and declared that "Mr. Guymon is the best teacher ever." I'm so glad she likes him and more importantly I've been impressed with him. He has a ton of energy, creativity, and he has an amazing ability to make learning fun. I get to help with math every Thursday morning and I've really enjoyed watching him teach. I think this is going to be a great year for Sarah and I can't wait to see all she does and learns.

Showing what grade they're in.

Ben 1st and Sarah 3rd!

Ben is in the 1st grade and that means a lot of changes for him. He gets to go to school all day which means lunch every day in the cafeteria, he gets to play on the big playground in stead of the little kindergarten one, and he gets to do a lot more learning programs like AR (Accelerated Reading) and Accelerated Math, not to mention he gets to go to assemblies. All in all it's great to be Ben this year. His teacher may be another story. He too has a first year teacher whose name is Mrs. Bodily. This poor woman has had a lot stacked against her from the beginning. She was hired about 3 work days before school started which is hard for any teach let a lone a first year teacher. We met her at back to school night as well and were a little iffy about her. We're willing to give her a chance, but things have not gone too smoothly so far. This is another blog all by itself that I'll have to write. For now, Ben loves school. He loves his new class and the fun things he gets to do. I'm happy he's enjoying it and I hope things turn around and he has an amazing year.

Sarah's Free Time

Just thought I'd share what Sarah Kate likes to do in her free time.

She's a great big sister and loves to hold Adam. It's nice having an 8 year old around to help out. I'm hoping the new baby love doesn't wear off too quickly. There's not much in life that better than watching your kids love each other. I'm so grateful for Sarah and all she does. I'm one lucky mommy.

Kids Annual Pictures

Now that Adam has finally arrived we decided it was time to take some pictures of the kids. We do annual pictures of them in the summer and hang them on our wall throughout the year. We were a little late this year, typically we do them in late June or early July, but we wanted to wait until Adam arrived. It took us a few tries, we never get a good shot of all the kids in one try, but it actually went rather smoothly. We did try to get a group shot of all of them, but that's probably going to have to wait for at least a year. There's just simply too many of them and their too young.

So here are the annual pictures from 2010. All 6 kids. Our completed family.

Sarah Kate 8 1/2 years old

Ben 6 1/2 years old

Hannah Beth 4 1/2 years old

Gracie 2 years old (almost 3)

Dan 1 year old

Adam 1 week old

Adam Comes Home

Ben, Hannah, and Sarah enjoying having Adam home.

We brought Adam home on Saturday August 21st. The kids were so excited to have little Adam home and to be able to hold him when they wanted. Daniel was especially happy to have us home. The time without Mom and Dad was definitely hardest on Daniel. It's taken some time, but Dan has gotten used to his little brother and is much better at sharing Mom and Dad. Here are some more pictures of the kids holding Adam when we got home.

Hannah holding Adam all by herself.

Gracie keeping an eye on Adam.

Daniel exploring Adam.

Daniel loves to take the Binky from Adam and then try to give it back to him. Adam's typically not too found of this game, yet.

While Mom's Away, The Kids Will Play

Playing with Daddy

We were really fortunate to have some wonderful help with the kids while I was in the hospital having Adam. It's so nice to know we're surrounded by amazing people who are so willing to help. As a mother it means a lot to know my kids are being taken care of while I'm not there with them.

As I had mentioned earlier, the day Adam was born our good friend Sara volunteered to watch all 5 kids. She's amazing, that or really crazy. Sara has 4 kids of her own (a girl Sarah Kate's age, twin boys Ben's age, and a boy Gracie's age.) Our kids absolutely love her kids and they were so excited to be going to their house. We dropped them off a little before noon and Kenny didn't pick them up until almost 9:00 that night. I'm sure it was overwhelming for Sara, but we were so grateful. The kids had a blast playing with their friends and Sara said they were good (I'm choosing to believe her.)

The newest big brother

Grandma came to the hospital to meet Adam.

On a side note, I find it kind of funny that Sara was the one who watched our kids. This means we've had a Sarah watch our kids for the past 3 births. When Gracie was born our great friend (whom we miss dearly) Sarah Gulick watched the kids, with Daniel my sister-in-law Sarah was one of the people who watched the kids, and now with Adam we had a Sara watch the kids. We tend to surround ourselves with Sarah's and I must say they're all amazing people.

Washing Grandma's car. Now that's fun. :)

Ben's a good scrubber.

Hannah loves the bubbles. Hopefully they got Grandma's car nice and clean.

The day after Adam was born was a Friday which means my mother-in-law had the day off of work. She volunteered to come watch the kids so we could have some time with Adam. Kenny brought the kids to the hospital that morning and then took them home just in time to meet grandma. Helen came very prepared and the kids had a blast with her. They got to wash grandma's car (yes to my kids this is a fun thing) they made rock people, they made cereal necklaces, and colored many pictures. They did so many fun things with her that we had to thank her for making our life as parents more difficult. Kenny teased her that now the kids know what it's like to have someone do things with and for them and we were now going to have to step it up as parents. Probably something we should do anyway, but thanks grandma. Lucky for the kids, Daddy did play with them while he was home and even make them ice cream treats. Maybe grandma's playfulness did wear off on us. :)

Sarah making a cereal necklace.

All 4 kids making their necklaces.

Hannah filled her string completely with cereal.

I missed my kids so much while I was away, but it was nice to know they were well taken care of. Grandma brought Sarah and Hannah to the hospital with her to meet baby Adam. The girls loved the time with Grandma and I was so happy to see all of them. Helen spent the night on Friday night and this allowed Kenny to sleep at the hospital with Adam and I. The next morning we left the hospital around 11:00 and came home to a clean house and 5 happy kids. I'm so grateful for all those who helped us and I'm so lucky to know such wonderful people.

The kids rock people

Having ice cream with Daddy.

Adam Meets His Siblings

All 6 kids! Hannah, Gracie, Sarah, Adam, Daniel, and Ben

All 6 kids, again (yes the striped shirts were planned.)

The morning after Adam was born Kenny brought the kids to the hospital to see him. They were all very excited to meet their new little brother and I was excited to see them. It was quite the sight having all 6 of our kids together for the first time. Luckily my hospital room was good sized and there was plenty of room for the kids to wander around. Adam slept through most of the introductions, but each kid got to take a turn holding him. Lots of questions were asked as we explored the new things about the new baby. The kids didn't stay long, it's a little overwhelming, but they were good while they were there and they enjoyed meeting Adam. Now for the pictures.

Sarah Kate holding Adam. By day 2 Adam was looking more like Sarah did when she was a baby.

Ben holding his little brother.

Hannah holding and loving baby Adam.

Gracie's turn to hold Adam

The best picture we got of Daniel holding Adam.

This is how Daniel typically held Adam.

Baby Adam

The little girls exploring baby Adam and asking lots of questions.

The Arrival of Adam Patrick

Adam Patrick Newbry

Kenny told me the other day that I needed to blog about our child before he enters kindergarten. While I still have a few years (at least 5 to be exact) until that happens, he does make a good point that I'm a little behind on my blogging. For some reason I've been dreading this blog. I don't know if it's because it's the last blog I'll write about the arrival of one of our children, or if it's just because I don't feel I have the words to describe such a wonderful event. I'm sure it's a little of both and a lot of other reasons as well. Anyway, I finally decided it needs to be done, so here goes.

We were told to go to the hospital at noon on Thursday August 19th for an induction. Dr, Huggins was out of town that morning, but expected to be back around noon so Kenny and I quickly found a babysitter for the other 5 kids (thanks so much Sara) and headed to the hospital. I wasn't expecting to be induced until the next Tuesday at the earliest so this was such a pleasant surprise. At this point I was so tired of being pregnant. The gestational diabetes had made me so large and uncomfortable, the baby had plenty of room to roam (thanks to the extra fluid) and therefore kicked and hurt me more than any of the other kids did, I couldn't sleep at night, and I was just all around miserable. The news of an early induction was music to my ears.

We arrived at the hospital a little after noon and got set up for the induction. Our nurse said she had just talked to Dr. Huggins who was still in Victor, Idaho. She wanted to wait to give me the pitocin until she was nearing Idaho Falls. This was not happy news to me. Luckily the nurse did start the medicine, but she used so little of it, it barely did anything. It took Dr. Huggins about 2 hours to get into town and by that time Kenny and I were so ready to go. There's nothing like sitting in a hospital room waiting for the doctor to show up. After I was OK'd to have the pitocin dosage upped, my body started to do it's thing. I got an epidural (those are so nice) and we hung out waiting for baby to come.

Adam with Dr. Huggins

I was slow moving at first, but I assumed that when I dilated to a 5 I would go quickly. That's what I typically do, but this time was an exception. My last 2 babies have been that way and I knew it meant there was something not right. Gracie didn't go quick because she was posterior and Daniel didn't go quick because he had that terrifying figure 8 knot in his cord. I knew something was up with Adam, I just didn't know what. About 5:00 the nurse discovered Adam was posterior, just like Gracie had been. This didn't excite me because it took Gracie FOREVER to correct her position (they almost did a C-section) and I wasn't looking forward to waiting for Adam to move. They had me lay on my sides to try and get him to move, but every time I'd lay on my right side his heart rate would drop drastically and this brought back images of Daniel's birth. So, to keep Adam's heart rate where it needed to be I stayed mostly on my back and waited for him to change position on his own.

Waiting for baby to come

Around 7:00 things started to happen. I was progressing much quicker thanks to Adam's willingness to move a little and the doctor was called back to the hospital for the delivery. When Adam arrived we discovered that his heart rate kept dropping because he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. I must admit I'm not a fan of having babies born purple and not screaming. They took him quickly to the warming bed and I was left to frantically ask if he was OK. In total I've had 3 babies born screaming and 3 babies born quite (funny fact: all the girls were screaming and the boys were not) and when they're born silent I absolutely hate the helpless feeling of sitting in the hospital bed unable to get to my baby or see what's going on. Each time one of the boys was born Kenny was right over at the warming bed checking on them and being there with them. Being stuck in the hospital beds is definitely one of the disadvantages of being the mother. The doctor kept telling me he was fine, he just had the cord wrapped around his neck, but I still hadn't heard him cry. It seemed like forever (it was probably only a minute or so) before I finally heard that wonderful first cry.

The wonderful, welcomed scream of a new baby, finally!

Being that he had been posterior, he had bruises all over his face from hitting my bones as he was trying to come out upside down. His face was swollen and bruised, but it surprisingly didn't last too long. When he was first born he looked a lot like Daniel only with less hair. He was born at 7:14 and weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces. Thankfully he hadn't gained too much weight because of the diabetes and he was born a perfectly normal, healthy weight.

Weight: 8 lb 3.5 ounces

After he passed his first check I was able to hold him. There are few things in life more amazing than holding your child for the first time. Looking down into their beautiful face is such an emotional time. I've always thought to myself, 'Of course this is you. I should have known.' My babies always seem to belong from the moment they come into the world and Adam was no exception. It's a very spiritual time for me and it's something I'm truly going to miss.

Mommy and Adam

Being that it was so late we decided to wait until morning to let the kids come meet Adam. Kenny went to rescue our good friend Sara from all 5 of our kids and put them in bed. I was taken to my room where I was able to eat a nice boxed lunch and some crackers. I love eating after having a baby. It's such a wonderful feeling to get food back in my body. Adam was keep in the nursery for about 2 hours while he took a bath and did all the necessary tests. I finally got him back around 11:00. I fed him, held him, and just enjoyed him for about 2 hours and then sent him back to the nursery so I could get some much needed rest.

We are so happy to welcome Adam into our family. It took us awhile to name him, but we finally settled on Adam Patrick. We like the name Adam and think it fits well with the names of the other kids. Patrick comes from my side of the family. My dad's middle name is Patrick, my brothers first name is Patrick (he goes by his middle name) and I have a grandfather from the Lewis and Clark expedition whose name was Patrick. The name seems to fit him and hopefully he'll like it.

I'm consistently reminded of how lucky I am to have 6 wonderful, healthy children. We've had some easy births and some scary births and I'm fully aware of how lucky we are.Adam is a great addition to our family and we are truly blessed to have him in our lives.