Blessed Baby

How very fortunate I am to have such a loving family. Andrew, Caitlin, Miriam and Molly all came to Rexburg when we had our sweet baby blessed. DC and Anjelica were supposed to come also, but a wrench was thrown in the works so they weren't able to make it. Only one of Tom's siblings could come, Danny, and his famly also. Of course, my wonderful in-laws were there, as well as some very good friends. I know, we are so blessed to have so many great people in our lives who love us very much. Here are some pics from the weekend together.

Accident Prone

Poor Andrea. She is 2 years older than Sam, but she is a wisp. She's got great core strength for her size, but she's still very wispy. Sam weighs only a half pound less than she does. This may explain why Sam can walk up to her to hug her, then decide he wants to wrestle instead and down she goes--nothing she can do about it. It also becomes a problem when she happens to trip; again, nothing she can do but fall, it seems. Well there's a program for kids to have a free lunch for 2 months in the summer at the park. The kids had been wanting to go for a long time, so I finally took them a couple of weeks ago. Everything seemed to be going along fine, until we were getting ready to go. I unlocked the van so Peter and Andrea could get in, which they did, while I was saying goodbye to a friend who was about to move to Hawaii. Well, I heard a scream-cry and looked over to see my sweet "Andrina" holding her elbow and taking in a deep breath, ready for the next cry. It seemed that she had tried to get back out of the van and fell, or just plain slipped and fell after getting in and then ended up in the gutter and a little bit under the van. I figured we might have a fractured elbow or something, but when I moved her hand so I could look at it, I saw the blood. There was a big piece of concrete that had broken off of the curb and was in the gutter and it cut a slice just above the bend in her elbow. The only clean thing I had in the van to stop the blood was some dried up wipes, so that's what I used. It was just under half an inch wide, but it was deep enough to see the fat and muscle. So, she got four stitches and was very brave through the whole thing. The saddest part was when she finally looked down and saw the blood. She didn't do a total freak out, but she did look at the little puddle in her hand, and with wide eyes and tears said, "Mom, that's MY BLOOD!" I just said, "Yes, but you are alright, you're alright." She had bruises all down her shins and scraped up her knee pretty good, too.

That's not even the all of it...2 days after that, she and Peter were supposed to be cleaning up their room, right? Well, they were almost done when they decided to play with their bedroom door and Andrea got a little split on her forehead. It may have been a good idea to get one stich, but Thomas just pulled it together with medical tape. We're putting her in dance this Fall, so hopefully we will improve balance as well as strength...poor kid.

Happy Birthday, America

Here's my Fourth of July Family!

Pete got to be in the Fourth of July Parade down Main Street with his peewee ballroom team. The older kids were in it, too. Andrea was upset because she wanted to be in a parade also. We were having trouble getting to the parade in time, so we didn't sit at the first corner like we do every year. Instead we were a few blocks down, and when Pete got to us, they had just performed at the beginning of the block, then basically ran by us to the other corner of the block and started their routine again...that was very sad for me. However, my in-laws got there and sat in the usual place, so at least they got to see him do his thing. Here's the only picture we got of him as he is running by. He's the boy farthest to the right, in the front of the line.

We had Tom's parents over for dinner for steak (tube steak for the kids) and other yummies. I made a poke cake (for those of you who haven't ever had it, you make a yellow or white cake, let it cool for an hour, make gelatin--reducing the water by 1/2 cup--, poke your cake all over with a fork, then pour the gelatin all over the cake, chill for 2 hours and then you have poke cake! Top with whipped cream and/or fruit that goes with your flavor gelatin, or nothing at all!) and decorated it so that we had a "flag cake". Oh man, I love cold poke cake. I used cherry gelatin, though it was topped with strawberries Very tasty.

Aside from the fun stuff of the day, I really am grateful to a loving Heavenly Father that we have this country to live in, despite its many problems. I hope we can pull together as a nation by doing what we can to make this country great on an individual level and give thanks for what good we have.

Her Papparazzi & adoring fans

Baby & More

Pete had his last tball game today, so I finally got pictures of him playing. His last time at bat, his coach told him to try to hit right into the green. He told the coach he would hit all the way into the green and run home...and he did! Although, it may have been good to stop at third, but he did it. He's such a cute kid; then again, I think all 4 of my kids are cute, in general. :) It's been outside water weather, so the kids have been out a lot recently. Here's a couple of videos of the baby--the last one was seriously 5 minutes after the first one.

The Name

Well, we seem to have decided on Claire Elizabeth, but we might make it Claire Elise. Although, Tom said that if she talks too fast people will think her name is "Clerikson". :) Thank you all for putting in your votes. It's hard to choose one beautiful name for a beautiful baby when there really are so many nice ones to be had. It's been especially hard for us this time, for some reason. We figure that Claire will stick unless Tom gets some kind of strong inspiration to call her something totally different when she is blessed. We'll see!

She's Here!

Yes, making her premiere appearance here on earth is...well, we're not quite settled on the name. If you'd like to make your vote in the comments section after reading the blog, feel free...just don't be offended when we choose whatever we want anyway. :)

Our beautiful baby girl arrived at 6:15pm on June 12, 2008. She was 7 lbs, 3 oz and 19 inches long. She has bright, alert eyes when she opens them and a head full of brown hair. She's a good little baby. We're so blessed to have her here.

I went in for my weekly appointment Thursday morning and had the midwife (that's Certified Nurse Midwife, not lay-midwife) check to see if I was even close to dialating, just in case. Here's how it went:

Rachel: Oh, my gosh...

Char: What?

R: Oh, my gosh!...

C: What?!

R: I think you're at a 4 or 5 (she means centimeters dialated--10 cm is complete for those who don't know)!

C: You're crapping me...

R: No, I really think you are!

So, that's my cue...when I am that far, the baby comes that day. And...she did. Labor and delivery went well. She had a bit of trouble breathing for a little bit because she swallowed a bunch of fluid on the way out and must have inhaled a little bit, too. She got it out and pinked up well. Today the doc came to check her over and said, "Well, I think she's just perfect... I want to take her home with me!" That's pretty good since I think he has 5 young children of his own! Anway, she really is cute, and we have some cute little photos as well. Check out the pictures first, and then check out the name options.

Disclaimer: We're not taking a poll on pulling out new names, but we are interested as to which one of these name choices you like best for this cute little person. Thank you for being interested in our family. We love you all.

Name choices shown as first name with meaning and middle name with meaning:

A: Claire (clear, bright)Elizabeth (oath of God)

B: Nissa (friendly elf) Munay-said like moon-eye (to love)

C: Naomi (pleasant) Elise (French form of Elizabeth)

D: A different combination of Claire, Elizabeth, Nissa, Munay, Naomi or Elise