Memorial Day

We had a great Memorial Day. Here's what we did.....

In the morning, Ben took the three oldest kids "treasure hunting" (aka geo-caching). They found where it as supposed to be, but there was no treasure. The kids were kind of bummed, but I think they had fun anyway.

The we had a BBQ with my family that consisted of way too much food (of course). Here are all the cousins (minus Miles) eating. They love being together and I love that my kids have so many friends.

After lunch, the guys took the older kids up the mountain behind my brother's house for a little hike. Here's the view of the valley from the top. Isn't it gorgeous?

All the little hikers (and one not-so-little hiker).

My dad brought back some wild flowers for my mom. Ben followed suit. Kamri was so proud of "her" flowers. (They were for me - I think).

This is Miles and the next youngest cousin, Josephine. They are 6 months apart. We had to get a picture of the comparison. I love it.

Two weeks...

As of yesterday, Miles is now 2 weeks old. He is such a big boy. At his doctor's appointment he weighed 9 lbs. 10 oz. A whole pound more than his birth weight and 1 lb. 10 oz. more than when he was 3 days old. He is such a sweet baby. He has a good set of lungs on him, but he doesn't use them much - which is good. And he makes the sweetest little sounds when he is sleeping. We all adore him.

Pictures of his first two weeks of life

3 days old

I came into the room one day and Kamri had moved her chair over to sit by him and was holding his hand. She loves him so much but is having a little bit of a hard time. Not too bad, but she is really possessive of Ben and I. She lets everyone know that we are HER mom and HER dad.

I am in love with his hair. It is so darn cute and oh so soft.

Already has Dad wrapped around his little finger, too.

So tiny....

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Thank you to everyone who has made it possible for me to spend the last two weeks just enjoying holding him and resting and taking care of myself. I have loved every minute of it. Now on to real life. Today was the first day I have been completely on my own to get back to REAL life. Tonight was the first night I've had to prepare dinner for two whole weeks. You all are amazing. Thank you!!!

Kindergarten here he comes...

Evan's last day of preschool was Thursday. I can't believe he is now officially a kindergartener.

First day of school...

Last day of school.

Boy, how he has grown!!!

They met at the park for a program so they could show off to their parents the songs they have learned this year. As you can see, Evan was a little scared.

But he fought through his fear...

And ended up having fun. Later he told me he almost ran to me, but he didn't. I was as proud of him for facing his fear as I would have been if he had done it without crying. Way to go Evan!!

The story....

I am now a mother of 4. That still sounds weird to me.

For those of you who want the story read on. I know some of you are curious so I will give a short version and a longer, more entertaining version of the series of events.

Short version:

12:00 noon: I picked Evan up from school then called Ben at work to put him on alert because I "thought" I was having contractions.

12:40 pm: Ben comes home for lunch

12:50: Ben asks if I'm just being dramatic or if I'm really having contractions

1:10: my water breaks

1:30: arrive at the hospital

1:45 : they check me and I'm dilated to an 8

2:20 or so: my doctor gets to the hospital

2:37 : I'm the proud mama of a 8 lb. 10 oz dark-haired little boy

Longer, funnier, and more exciting version :

Like I said above, I picked Evan up from preschool at noon. I talked to a couple people there about how there was no baby yet and not really any contractions yet. This is usual for me. I normally only have contractions when the baby really is getting ready to come. When I got home I called Ben at work to let him know I THOUGHT I was having contractions so he was ready to come home if I needed him to. I then fixed lunch for the kids and myself - still kind of wondering if they were really contractions or just pregnancy pains. Ben came home, as usual, for lunch about 12:40. We put Evan and Kamri down for a nap. While I was talking to Ben in the kitchen I had to hold on to the wall and take a few deep breaths. He said, "Are you being dramatic or are you really....." To which I replied, "No. They're really contractions." I told Ben to call Maria (my sister-in-law) and ask her if she could pick the older kids up from school because I was having contractions. So she headed over to pick up Sara's books for piano lessons after school. In the meantime, I laid on the couch. I started having a bad contraction and all of a sudden my water broke. I yelled "BBBBEEEEEENNNN". He asked if my water broke, I said yes. He was "detained" in the bathroom so he yelled, "Can't really do much for ya." I rolled off the couch and sat there on the floor on my hands and knees and waited for him to come. He threw me a towel and went back. I crawled over to the phone to call my mom to let her know what was going on. While I'm on the phone with her, Maria knocks on the door and comes in saying, "Any water breakage yet?" Then she sees me on the ground on all fours with a towel between my legs. She then started cheering. She tells us to get out of there and get to the hospital. She'll take care of the kids. We got to the hospital at about 1:30. While we are checking in to the Labor and Delivery front desk my water decides to break a little more. I apologize to them because now their floor is disgusting. They then go get me a wheelchair and wheel me to my room. When they first checked me I was dilated to an 8. In my own words, "HOW CAN I BE AN 8?" I was in total shock. They asked if I still wanted the epidural. I didn't have to hesitate for that one but I was worried I wouldn't get it in time. Luckily I did. (I'm still pretty proud of myself for getting that far. I'm not the strongest girl when it comes to pain.) My doctor got to my room at about 2:20 and I was the mama of a dark-haired 8 lb 10 oz little boy at 2:37. (I had the same doctor I had with Kamri. Kamri came so fast the doctor didn't get there in time and the nurse actually delivered her. The doctor got there as Kamri's nose and mouth was being suctioned out.)

Written down the story doesn't seem that exciting. I guess experiencing everything and how fast it all happened was a lot more exciting than hearing about it. But now you all know the eventful 2 hours in my life on May 12.

I'm lucky that Ben works 5 minutes away and happened to be home for lunch when it all started. If he hadn't been so close I don't know if we would have made it to the hospital in time.

Miles is just adorable. He actually has hair and it is so dark. My other three came out nearly bald and what hair they did have was so light you couldn't really see it. Sara, Evan, and Kamri have been so good with him. It still hasn't hit me that I have 4 kids, but give me a few days on my own and I'm sure it will.

Thank you to everybody who has helped me in the last few days. I don't know what we would have done without you.

Minutes old with the doctor

Evan and Kamri came to see him the next morning. Sara had school.

Look at that hair. I still can't believe it.

Proud papa

Sara's first time seeing him

Miles Benjamin Arkell

For all those still wondering.......

Yes, this is what I still look like.

Very pregnant at almost 39 weeks!!!

(The longest I've ever held a baby in)

Sara's piano

On Wednesday Sara had her first piano recital. She did awesome. We were so proud of her for. We were a little anxious to see if she would actually do it, and she DID!! Maybe she is getting over all her stage fright. She did a great job and I LOVED every second of her performance.

She and three cousins have the same piano teacher so they all got to perform. It was great to have all (most) the family there. Thanks to everyone who came to watch.

Their teacher with her students.

From then until now....

Here's a little catch up of what we've been doing for the last two weeks....

We've been enjoying the gorgeous weather. Kamri was given a new tricycle by a friend so of course all the kids wanted to ride it. Everyone knows Kamri is a little on the small side so her legs don't quite reach the pedals enough to push them to ride it. So she and Evan figured out how to get her to ride it. He pedals her around. I thought this was adorable.

May 1 we got to go to my little brother's graduation from college. Graduations are graduations, but it was exciting to get to see him in his cap and gown. We are so proud of you Pace. I actually got a little teary-eyed as they were all walking in. The reason was two-fold. 1) I was so proud of my not-so-little little brother. And 2) I was a little bit jealous. I didn't graduate, but am planning on it someday. Way to go Pace! We love you!!!

After a little celebration of food, Ben and I headed over to the Capitol Theater for WICKED. We have been looking forward to this for months. I've been listening to the music, but still couldn't quite figure out the whole story line. Ben didn't really know anything about it. Both of us enjoyed it. We went with my sister and her husband, my brother and his wife, and a couple of friends.

Ben took the kids fishing twice last week. They had a lot of fun, but hope the next time some fish will turn up.