Picture Catch Up

Instead of writing about everything else I didn't mention in my last post, I just wanted to post some pictures of the last 8 months of what we've been doing!

 Isaac has become quite the fisherman this last year!

 He had his 7th birthday last June, just a couple of weeks after Lance was born.

 We took a vacation down to south/east Utah and visited Canyonlands.

 This was one of the roads we took while we were down there.   It's hard to see in a picture, but just over the edge of the road was a drop all the way to the low valley you see in the background.  It was harrowing, but also amazing!

 We went a couple of times to one of our favorite lakes, Teapot Lake in the Uintas.

 Eden paddling on her own!

 Lance being such a good baby while at the lake!

 We also made it up to Tony Grove and did some swimming/fishing!

 Eden worked really hard last summer to earn enough money to go and get her ears pierced.  So proud of her!

 Isaac just cracks me up.  He did his own hair and had to pose for the camera.

 And another one, with an awesome face from Emma as well!

We went camping, and everyone did really well, including the baby!  This was Ammon in the morning!

 We went camping at Pineview and went swimming the next day.

 Just a cute one of Ammon being himself, a cute warrior!

 Eden and Emma both had good birthdays last August, and loved the dollhouse their aunt got them!

 These three went to a Stake service activity with me, and I was so impressed with how hard they worked, especially Isaac!

 Did I mention that I dyed my hair red?

 Cute girl wearing daddy's glasses!

 Ammon played on a soccer team with his cousin, Lex.  He didn't play much because he decided he'd rather play at the park instead, but I did get a few shots of him playing.  Rob and I were the coaches, so Rob is on the field coaching.

 This kid is so dull.

 In October, Eden had to have surgery on both her legs.  She had to have tendons lengthened in her club leg, and she had a bracket put on her good knee to stop growth because her legs were about an inch different.  So, until her club leg catches up, she won't be getting any taller!

 Emma has lost a few teeth...

 Halloween: Patriot Iron Man, Juliet, and Strawberry Shortcake.

 Halloween with cousins and friends!

 My very chill boys and their awesome glasses.

 Another tooth gone...

 Until finally there are NO top, front teeth.  Luckily, one of the middle ones just started growing in a couple of days ago!

 Finally, Eden got a haircut this week!

Mission Impossible and Happy Birthday Caydin!

So, after a slight, eh-hem, hiatus, I am attempting to start blogging again!  I think it would be almost impossible to "catch-up", but hopefully I'll be able to remember any significant things for posterity that I can hit on, such as the birth of my last baby!

But, first, because it is on my mind, I have to say happy birthday to Caydin.  He would be turning 11 today, which is crazy to think about!  I miss that boy!

So, I am planning on writing a detailed post on the birth, but since I haven't exactly been on top of things, I want to at least mention some small details of our newest member of our family's arrival!  Lance Caydin Fischer was born on June 2, 2013, which was a Sunday.  His due date was June 14th, and so yes, he was the first of six children to come on his own!  I had contractions on my way to two baby blessings (my cousin Lesa's and my sister Melanie's), made it to one, but missed the other because I ended up in labor and at the hospital!  It was actually quite nice because it was a Sunday, so the hospital was very quite and calm.  It took about an hour and a half before we could start the c-section because they had to call everybody in.  Lance was born at 3:26 PM and weighed 6 lb 11 oz (which is my smallest baby) and was 18 inches long.  Besides a little bit of jaundice when we first came home, he was healthy, and has been such a sweet baby!  Everyone loves him, and he is just really calm and peaceful!  He is for sure our last baby as my uterus is not healthy enough to get through another pregnancy, so I have been really soaking up this baby!  It is so weird because for so many years it felt like I was overwhelmed with "baby mode" and it felt like it was never going to be different, and yet here I am now already done with my child bearing years!  It has been hard, actually.  I have grieved the fact that I can't have more babies, but at the same time feel SO blessed that I was able to have as many as I have since they have all been c-section.  20 years ago I think it was almost unheard of to have 6 children c-section!  So, I'm just trying to enjoy the time I get with all my sweet children, and I know I'm going to be one of those grandparents that is coming to sneak all grandchildren away for time with Grandma (and no, I am not counting down the days till Eden gets married-she's still a baby, but I also know that time flies, and it won't be all that long before she and all the rest of my kids are grown up!). 

So, again, Lance is my smallest baby.  He just had his checkup yesterday, and he weighs 18.5 pounds, but is off the charts in his height because he is so little still!  Ammon was often the same way, so I'm not worried at all, and know he will catch up in time.  He still doesn't roll, let alone crawl or walk, but again, I'm not anxious for him to grow up too fast!  I love that he likes just sitting contently with whoever wants to hold him, and he is a really happy baby!  I think because the kids were all at the hospital with us when I went into labor until Rob's mom could come get them, they all adjusted better to him, especially Ammon.  Instead of waking up one morning to Mom and Dad being gone and suddenly a new baby with them, they got to be there at the beginning, knew what was coming, went for a couple of hours, and then came back to see the baby.  It wasn't such a shock!  All the kids are so good to Lance and love him so much! 

So, another few items to mention.  Rob and I are still in school, although I am taking this semester off so I can help establish a better routine for our family.  We pulled the kids out of their charter school in October because of some struggles, and have been schooling them online since that time.  We were going to Davis Connect, and online school run by the Davis School District, and while the teachers and people who worked there were AWESOME, the curriculum was a little dull for my kids and we were having a hard time motivating them to do it.  So, right before Christmas break we looked into another schooled, called Harmony Ed.  There are lots of options this school offers, but the one we chose was called the Options Day.  The kids take their main core classes online through Odyssey (which is much more engaging and animated, and the kids love it so much more!), but then once a week they go to the school in Riverdale to do an options day.  They have 6 one-hour periods that they choose courses to take.  They are all fun classes, so the kids love going there!  All the kids are in the same classes together, and this is their schedule: Choir, Lego Robotics, Computer Lab, Lunch, Pottery, Science Lab, and finally Gym.  Other options include piano, violin lessons (you have to start at the beginning of the year with this one since they start at the beginning and it would be hard for kids to join and catch up later in the year), karate, cooking, sewing, and a few others.  The kids would have liked to have taken some of these other classes as well, but with scheduling issues and the fact that we did start in the middle of the year, the schedule they have is what worked out best, and the kids love it!! 

Besides the new school change, it came with a wonderful opportunity for us as a family as well!  The timing for going to the school seems more than just a coincidence.  Rob happened to ask Kim, the director over Riverdale, if they had any job opportunities, and they were looking right at that time for a new Computer Lab teacher.  Rob applied, and he got hired for it!  Right now it is very part time, but the pay is amazing, considering it is part time, and there is almost a guarantee of increased hours next school year.  It is also a great part time job because it still gives Rob plenty of time to work on school.  It's only 6 hours a week right now, but he would have to work at least 2 to 3 times the hours in a typical part time job to make the same amount, so we are feeling pretty blessed!  Plus, Rob is so good with kids, and has really enjoyed working there and with the students.  Its a position that will work well with our degree, so it is also giving him good experience and a foot in the door for after graduation!

So, I think that catches up the most important things.  Following are some pictures of Lance from the time he was born to just a few days ago!

 This is Lance and Jackson, the cousin who's baby blessing we missed because Lance decided he wanted to come!

 

Ammon's Birthday and 36 Weeks

Yesterday Ammon turned 3 years old!  I can't believe he is getting so big!  It's also weird to me to think that when Eden turned 3 years old, I already had Isaac, who was a little over one, and a couple of weeks later had EmmaLee as a newborn!  CRAZY!  Ammon still seems so young to me that it's weird to think how close the other kids were at that time!  It's amazing I survived! 

One thing that I love about Ammon is how imaginative he is.  He can go into the toy room and play with his toys for hours at a time, all by himself!  And, he actually role plays them!  His cars talk and play together, his Lego's act out scenes, and if he has no other toys, even his fingers will do as characters!  He's my only kid that has been so imaginative at this age, and I love it!

I don't know if it is good or bad, but Ammon has really become a mama's boy these last few months.  While I love that he loves me, I worry with a new baby on the way how he is going to take it!  I'm planning on making sure I still get good one on one time with all my kids after the baby comes, I worry that it will still be more change than he is wanting!  But, I think I worry about that with all my kids, and, surprise, surprise, things always end up working out!  The hardest part will probably be when I am at the hospital.  Ammon hasn't spent a lot of time away from me, and it always seems to upset the younger kids when they come to the hospital and see their mom hooked up to IV's and stuff!  But, again, experience has shown me that things work out, so I'm trying to not let my emotions and hormones stress me out and make me worry about it too much!!

As for my pregnancy, I had an ultrasound done at 33 weeks, and everything still looked great!  They still wanted me to follow through with weekly stress tests starting at 34 weeks, so I've now had 3 done, and every single one of them have gone great.  He is very active and my placenta seems to be holding up just fine!  He has been really low this whole pregnancy, with his head already being really far down in my pelvic region.  This has created more pressure and uncomfortableness when it comes to walking, and these last few weeks are not getting easier!  People keep saying they don't think I will make it to my scheduled c-section date because I've dropped so much, but the truth is that I really never was up!  The advantage to this is that this little guy hasn't been in my ribs as much as the other kids, but again, the disadvantage is that walking has been harder this time around!  The good news is that 3 weeks from today, this little boy will already be around 12 hours old!!!  Yeah!  We are almost there!  It's so fun to feel him moving around, but I'm so excited that it is almost time to get to hold him in my arms!  I got to hold Melanie's baby boy on Saturday for a while at a family birthday party, and it made me so excited to get to meet my own little guy!

Here's some recent pictures of Ammon:

 Ammon says that Ryder is his "best friend"!  They are so cute together, although sometimes they are more like siblings and bug and bother each other!

 I took this picture of Ammon the morning of his birthday.  Of course he has a couple of his cars with him!

He thought he was so funny when he drew with marker all over his face!  He was very proud of himself!!!  Love this boy!!!

Pregnancy Update, 29 Weeks

So, I realized that I really haven't posted any pictures of me pregnant this time around.  So, since I'm now into my third trimester, I thought I would post some!

 A side view (Ammon is reaching up to touch my belly; it's not a big smudge on my wall-those are still hidden enough to not be seen by the camera . . .)

This was actually the reason I thought of taking a picture.  I'm starting to get a few of the baby things I have washed and ready, and when I pulled this little onsie out of the dryer, it looked so small!  But, when I put it on my belly, I realized how cramped the babies really are in there and why it gets to be so dang uncomfortable!!

I'm waddling plenty, and I don't think that is going to get any better for these last two months!  But, it has been fun to feel the baby a lot stronger, especially for the kids!  It was funny to finally see Ammon's reaction when he actually felt the baby kick.  He pulled his hand away really fast and had the strangest look on his face, and then walked out of the room!  It was hilarious!  Of course, he has a baby named Ammon in his tummy that will be coming out soon, too!

We signed Isaac up for soccer this spring, the first of our kids to play it!  He has only had about 3 practices so far, but seems to really like it!  We've realized since taking this picture that the socks aren't meant to be worn so high, and that they should fold over his shin guards, which are also suppose to be worn OVER his socks, and not under them, but he's part German, so it's okay!

Going along with my last post of Ammon being tired, I had to share this photo of Ammon sleeping.  He loves his puppy wee-wee (blankee), but not to actually cover him.  No, he either sleeps on top of it bunched up like a pillow, or wears it like a wig!  

Ammon has really grown a lot these last few months, which is good since he isn't going to be the baby of the family much longer!  He wrestles, talks so much more, and just loves life!  Lately, he has started thinking he shouldn't have to wear a shirt much (what is it with boys taking off their shirts?), and frankly it hurts too much for me to bend over and pick it up multiple times to fight the battle, so there are some days when he goes shirtless!  This was one of those days!  He decided that while a shirt wasn't necessary, a hat and shield were!

Finally, I thought I would share this photo of all the kids being, well, themselves!  They sure keep me on my toes (and hands, knees, and everything in-between!), but I sure love them and love that we have each other!