Baby Jackson is Here!

Jackson Howard Meyer was born Saturday, May 30 (his due date!)
at 10:26 am.

Weighing 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and 19 1/2 inches long.

He's been a bit jaundiced and I ended up with an infection in my uterus, but we are both doing pretty good now! Now if only I could figure out how to get him to sleep without being cuddled at nite!

As for his name, we had already decided to use Howard as the middle name, but had no idea for a first name until a few weeks ago. We were picking rocks out of the garden one day and got talking about names. We really had no ideas. So Rick asked the kids what they thot we should name the baby if it was a boy. Gabriella hollered out "Jack!" William said "NO! Zack!" Gabriella turned to Tabitha and said "What do you think we should name the baby? Jack or Zack?" and Tabitha said "Jack." Rick turned to me and said, "Well, there you go. We'll name him Jack." But I wasn't that big on Jack. Just too plain and simple and boring for me. Though I did think it funny that Gabriella came up with it and it was my Grandpa's name. So anyways, we came up with Jackson. It's a good name - I wouldn't say I love it, but I like it, and it is definitely growing on me!

And to add a little spin on it all, as Rick puts it "Howard is Lisa's father's name. Jack is Lisa's father's father's name. So, Jack's son Howard is Lisa's dad, and Jackson Howard is Lisa's son. (say it...it's fun)"

If you want to know all the wonderful birth details, keep reading!

If not, stop! :)

So all that week, I had been ready to have this baby! I had never felt that way with any of my other kids - Tabitha was even 10 days late and I was totally fine with waiting longer (but I was induced). But I was just READY to have this baby! So I started going on walks, jumping on the trampoline a little bit, just trying to get things started. Well, nothing was happening and I was rather discouraged on Tuesday of that week when my doctor told me I was only dilated to a 2+.

So Friday afternoon I got me some castor oil. Mixed it with some OJ, prepared for the worst, and drank it as fast as I could. And waited. Half an hour later nothing was happening. According to my dear expert friend on this, I should have been on the throne, miserable. So I gave her a call to find out why nothing was happening. Turns out I hadn't taken enuf of the castor oil. So I downed some more. And waited.
Dinner time I started feeling kinda crampy, but nothing bad. When I FINALLY had to spend some time in the bathroom that evening, I was SO Excited! After about 20 minutes I started having contractions that were 5 minutes apart. They lasted about an hour and stopped. It was about 11 pm then so I went to bed, thinking for sure that I'd wake up in the middle of the nite, in full blown labor.

Instead I woke up just after 6 (thank you little birdies singing outside my window!). At 6:15 the contractions started. They came every 2 minutes, occasionally 3 minutes, or even just 1 minute apart, but pretty regularly 2 minutes. I had been hoping to labor at home as long as possible, but that made me a bit nervous, being only 2 minutes apart. By 8 am, they were starting to get a little uncomfortable, so we got ready to go to the hospital.

Just before leaving, Gabriella told me "Mom, it will be ok if the baby is a boy." And I reminded William that I thot it was going to be a boy and if so, then yes, it was ok, we would love him. The kids have all wanted a girl. William would even say "I don't like boys. I only like girls. If it's a boy I'm not gonna love it." So I was a bit worried, since I really did feel like it was a boy.

When the nurse checked me at 8:15, I was dilated to 4+. I was a bit disappointed, not even being halfway there and already at the hospital. But I told her that I was wanting to go natural and did not want to be hooked up and monitored unless I absolutely had to me. A world of choices was then opened to me! And hour later I was to a 7! And yes, at this point the contractions were definitely uncomfortable, not painful, but uncomfortable. I was excited because with Gabriella I had wanted to go natural, and only made it to a 7 before I was BEGGING for an epidural! So I was way excited that I had made it that far already and things were going good.

The nurse asked if I'd like to take a hot bath. My first big CHOICE! All my other babies I'd been stuck in bed being monitored or had already had an epidural by then. So I got into a nice, hot tub and within 10 minutes I was at an 8. And then things got really uncomfortable. Ok, painful even.

I was in the tub maybe 40 minutes at the most, when my water popped. I say popped instead of broke, because that it exactly how it felt. I'd never had my water break on its own. It felt just like there was a water balloon inside of me that had suddenly, and painfully popped and everything gushed out of me. I yelled out. (According to Rick, it was NOT a scream, just a good yell) And the nurse came running in my room. She helped me get out and to my bed for a quick check. I was ready!

The doctor walked in just then and asked "Ok, so how do we want to do this?" I was completely confused! "Standing up, lying down, or sitting?" It was pretty cool. So in a semi reclined position I got ready to push.

I pushed through about 6 contractions (I think). And it was NOT fun. At all. Pushing was very painful. I felt like everything down there was just going to burst open! Once or twice I said that I couldn't do it. And the nurses just said "Oh yes, you can!" Though there was no turning back now! I wondered why it was taking so long, with so many pushes. At least it felt like so long to me - in reality it was maybe 15 minutes.

At one point the nurse said "I see a baldy! You have a bald baby." "I don't have bald babies," I told her. And that's when they realized that this baby was not cooperating like he/she should have. Instead of coming out face down, it was posterior, or face up. The reason the pushing was so bad.

As soon as I felt him finally pop out of me, I felt such relief. But I was SO drained. So completely physically and emotionally drained. The doctor had immediately placed the baby on my tummy, so it was me who announced that it was a boy and I just held him in one arm, crying. (and Rick was immediately updating our Facebook status!) I really had no desire at that moment, no strength really, to hold him or pay much attention to Jackson. So after they had taken him, weighed and measured, and cleaned him, I told the nurse to give him to his daddy. It took me probably a good 20 minutes after that before I felt like I was ready. I really just needed time to lay back and relax, to recover a little after what I'd just done. And I must admit, I was/am rather proud of myself. I accomplished what I'd wanted by birthing naturally. Though it wasn't the calm, peaceful, or graceful birth - yes, there was defintiely some screaming involved! - that I had envisioned, I DID IT! And it was all over with.

We came home from the hospital the next afternoon and overall things are going good. Jackson is a bit jaundiced and I developed an infection in my uterus. THAT was horrible, excruciatingly painful when it started! I was in tears, telling Rick that I would rather go thru my natural birth all over again. 3 different antibiotics seem to be getting it cleared up though!

Yard Sales, Pizza, and Balloon Animals

Yesterday, Saturday, we had our first Yard Sale of the year. We normally have 2 every summer - one at the beginning and one at the end. My backyard neighbor Amie joined me, as always, and a couple other neighbors brought a few things over as well. The weather was perfect! Nice and overcast and not too hot. It went pretty good - we made about what we normally do. But I know that I really overdid it this weekend! By 11 am I was feeling so worn out. And not feeling too well, either. William's had a terrible cough all week and we got him started on some meds first thing that morning, and I am afraid I am getting it, or something! Though I am feeling quite a bit better today actually.

We ended up going longer than normal with our yard sale, and it was 4 in the afternoon before we were all finished, everything packed up and a load taken to the D.I. Time to think about something for dinner! And with the way I was feeling, having to be up and fixing anything really did not sound fun - I wanted nothing more than to sit - sit and be catered to! So, since we both had gift cards to a pizza place we'd never been, Amie and I decided that going out for pizza was the perfect end to our day!

Brick Oven Pizza is pretty much right on BYU campus - it was huge inside! And SO yummy! Our family had the Deluxe Chicken Alfredo pizza and salad bar with it. I think it was the best, yummiest pizza I have ever had! (which reminds me, the one remaining piece is in the fridge - snack time!) But the best part of all, for the kids anyways, was that there was a balloon twister making the rounds.

This guy Jeremy is AMAZING!! Totally blows away the simple little dog I can make! But then again, he has been doing it for over 6 years! And does it seriously, too! Here he is working on William's awesome Triceratops!


Here's all the kids with their balloon creations: Zach has a Nimbus 2000 Broomstick (can't see it all, but it was awesome!), Madison has Tinkerbell, Gabriella has Aerial, Hannah has a dalmation (no spots, she had to draw those on herself!), Annalise has an awesome Cinderella that made Tabitha completely jealous - her Tinkerbell wasn't big enuf! And William and his Triceratops.


It was a fun, and very relazing evening! Delicious food (that I didn't have to fix!). And as soon as we got home it was bedtime and I got to lay on the couch and put my feet up and just relax!

Graduation Time!

This past Thursday was William's Preschool Graduation. I can't believe my little boy is ready for and will soon be starting Kindergarten! He has learned SO much in his fun little preschool. I admit, I was a bit worried about what he would learn, since this was a "cheap" preschool. But I have been impressed with SO much of it - I would recommend The Wooden Cottage to anyone!

The kids put on a nice little program (of which none of my pictures turned out since the camera was on a wierd setting - oops!) showing off what they have learned this year and singing lots of cute little songs. Then they got ready for their graduation march. His teacher, Mrs. Geanna (or Mrs. G as William likes to call her!) had these cute little caps and gowns for them to wear - complete with tassels! It was so cute watching each of the kids walk in and get their diploma from her!

Mrs. Geanna, William, and Miss Carrie

Ok, cute little story here!

This little girl is Lily - and I had never met her or even heard anything about her from William. But her parents came up to us after the little ceremony and said they had to get a picture of William and Lily together, because Lily said that he was her boyfriend. And she would talk about him almost everyday after preschool - telling her parents how William had told her that her hair looked pretty or he liked her shirt or something sweet like that. Her mom said that often Lily would say things like, I need to wear this shirt today because William really likes it. Or, I want my hair fixed this way because William says it is pretty. TOO STINKIN' CUTE! He is VERY nice and sweet with his compliments like that! Always telling me and his sisters that we looked pretty. If you ask William, he has 8 girlfriends. But he can't remember all their names!

Gabriella, the proud big sister, and Tabitha.

We let Gabriella miss part of school to come to the graduation. She said "I've never been to a preschool graduation before!" She was thrilled.

Congratulations, William!
You have done a great job and learned SO much!
I know you will do wonderful in Kindergarten!

The Secret to Butter

A week or so ago, William told me (very randomly) that butterflies make butter. And he knew this because our 7 year old neighbor friend, Hannah, had told him this. And Hannah knows EVERYTHING. She even knows more than his older and wiser mom.

He would NOT believe me when I told him that butter did NOT come from butterflies. It was made from cream, from milk, that comes from cows. He insisted that butterflies made butter. In a way, it kinda makes sense - why else would they be called BUTTERflies?

So Rick had the great idea that we should teach the kids how to make butter and let them make some on their own.

So here's a picture of the kids with their little jars, shaking and shaking the cream, watching it turn into butter, leaving behind the buttermilk (which we used to make buttermilk pancakes!)
You can see the butter on a little plate in front on them.

But, even after all of that, William still insists that Butterflies make Butter!

Mother's Day 2009

I had a great Mother's Day this year. The kids woke me up nice and early around 7, (not so great!) so excited to bring me their little gifts they had made in school and primary - each one wrapped in either paper towels or a blanket. Pretty darn cute! After oohing and ahhing over each one, I nudged Rick to wake him up. He had a very nice card for me with a gift card to Kohl's - my favorite store! - with strict instructions that it was to be used on me, NOT the kids. Yeah, I kinda have a little problem with that!

Rick and the kids fixed me breakfast in bed, then it was off to church, where mothers were given a giant candy bar - chocolate, yummy! We spent the late afternoon and evening at Rick's parents', where we had a very yummy dinner and enjoyed visiting.

Me and my sweet, silly kiddos!

Me and the kids with my mom a week recently.

For Your Listening Pleasure!

Time to plant!

This week we have been SO busy getting our garden area ready! Ok, ok, by "we" I really mean Rick - mostly Rick! I DID help.
The beginning of the week there just seemed to be SO much to do - our little garden spots were just full of huge weeds, grass over a foot high, and more weeds! So we needed to get all the weeds/grass cleared out, compost brought in, tilled, and planted - and guess what? We did it!
Rick and I spent a couple of evenings after the kids were in bed, pulling out all the weeds. One evening a backyard neighbor saw us and offered us raspberry starts. I LOVE raspberries! We have a few very small plants that my sister gave us last year, so we gladly took what was offered us! And Rick spent even more time outside, in the dark, that evening, clearing away more weeds/grass and planting the new raspberries.
He went and got a truckload of compost before work one morning, came home on his lunch break to unload it, and spread it out and tilled it in that evening.
Today has been spent cleaning up a big rock pile (we have very rocky dirt!) weed whacking the rest of the horrid weeds, shopping for seeds and plants, and planting! The kids helped me plant beans, carrots, squash and zucchini. And then Rick, William, and I planted tomatoes, green peppers, onions, cucumbers, corn, pumpkin, and broccoli. Busy day! And still to come - watermelon and potatoes - and possibly more - depending on whatever else I come up with!
Thanks Rick, for all your hard work and help this week! No way I could have done it all myself! I was worried I was going to put myself into labor pulling out some of those weeds!

My men - hard at work!

On another note - I lost 2 pounds in the last 2 weeks! My goal for this pregnancy has been to keep my weight gain around 30 pounds, hopefully no more than 35. As of Tuesday, I was at 29 pounds, down 2 (probably because I had been yucky sick Monday morning!)

The doctor is sure that the baby is head down! Very good news! And she/he is more active than ever! One of my favorite things is being able to see my tummy move - big waves and sudden pokes - love it!

And most exciting of all: The baby has a name!! As Rick and I were tossing rocks into the wheelbarrow today, I brought up the topic of names - again. And with a little bit of help from the kids, and a bit of compromise from both of us, we have officially decided on first AND middle names for the baby - a boy name and a girl name. So happy and excited to have that taken care of! Oh, but don't ask, cuz we won't tell! Nope - no one will know until the baby is here! :)

Any guesses when that might be? I'd love to get some guesses of dates and boy/girl and see if anyone gets it right! The kids are all hoping for a girl. Rick definitely wants a boy, and I am hoping for a girl, but I kinda feel like it's going to be a boy AND that he is going to come early - or at least on time! (May 30! only 3 weeks left! ) No idea why I feel that way - my kids have all been late, but who knows? What do you think?