Monday, October 10, 2016

Yellow Stone

My side of the family does a little trip every 2 years together. Usually it is to Disneyland but with the large quantity of people we now have in the family Disney is getting a little overwhelming so this year we tried something new. We went to Island Park and rented a giant cabin for all of us to stay in!
And so when our little Leo was 4 weeks old, we packed him up (and the other kids too) and went on an adventure to Yellow stone!


Honestly I think this trip was better than Disneyland for the cousins. They actually got to just be with each other for days on end. It was a blast and I had never been to Yellow Stone before so that was pretty neat.... Ok if we are being really honest here, I wasn't that impressed with the park. And its not because Yellow Stone isn't wicked cool. It is! But the 6 billion other people there just ruined it for me. When I am in nature, I want to see nature... not a million Asians. (sorry?? that was bad, wasn't it?)
However, sharing a cabin with all the cousins and going on little adventures close to the cabin was a BLAST and we made some memories that will last with my kids forever. My parents are awesome for providing these kinds of opportunities.


 P.S. We cut Ike's hair off... I still want to cry. It can't grow back fast enough!




Look at that water! I have never seen a more beautiful lake.
Also... don't let the picture fool you. The boys were screaming their bloody heads off. Apparently paddle boards are just death traps and adults are just to ignorant to recognize it.

That One Time When I Had a 4th Child

Introducing Leonidas Jacob Naugle


He is now 3 months old and looks like this.


Yes. THREE months. I feel like I have zero time to do this blogging thing but I refuse to give up on it.
I want to tell his "birth story" (Im not sure why but it bugs me to call it that) but Ill be honest, its not the cutes story ever. Feel free to just look at the cute pics and skip the story.
 I was scheduled to be induced on the 13th of July. I had tested positive for group strep B and we knew there was a good chance that I was going to have a pretty quick labor so the plan was to have me arrive at the hospital about 2 hours early so they could start me on the antibiotic and then about 2 hours in they would break my water and see if that would get me started. I tried to convince my doctor that I needed to be induced a little earlier but she wasn't having it.
On thursday, July 7th I woke up with the kids. Andrew was still in bed so I was getting them drinks and breakfast. I took a quick break to head to the bathroom since you know, I was really pregnant and hadn't peed yet that morning. So I sat down, did my business, wiped and then stood up.... at which point fluid leaked down my leg. Now Im frustrated and Im thinking to myself "Ok I literally JUST peed and I know I was dry down there, I JUST wiped!" and then it dawns on me that it could possibly be that my water broke. However 2 things are deterring me from jumping to that conclusion. 1) I don't go in to labor on my own. I have said those words SO many times its not even funny. I have been induced with all three previous pregnancies without ever experiencing so much as a braxton hick. 2) I have seen the movies guys. I know what it looks like when a womens water breaks and its not a little trickle leaking down her leg. Its an explosion down under. One that generally warrants the women letting out a little squeal. But to be safe I decide to call the only person I know who has had her water break before going into labor, my sister Amber. She tells me that when hers broke it was just like that. I little trickle that she ignored until it happened again about 15 minutes later. Guess what happened to me about 15 minutes later? So I got back in to the bathroom to clean myself up and tell AnDee to go wake her dad up and tell him I think my water broke. Andrew stumbles into the bathroom a minute later and asks if Im ok. "Oh yeah. Im fine. I just think my water broke"
"What??" He is obviously skeptical because like I said before. I DONT go in to labor on my own.
After a little bit of discussion we decide to wait until my appointment that morning. It was only about a half hour before I was supposed to be there anyway. So we get dressed, get the kids ready and head to the appointment.
Side note: AnDee had decided that she wanted to be in the delivery room when the baby was born so we brought her with us just incase this was the real thing. The  boys stayed with Gayle.
Im totally fine until we pull in to the parking lot of the doctors office, at which point I experience another (really wonderful!) gush. Ew. We get out of the car and head to the building. As soon as we hit the front doors I have my fist contraction. We make it up to the 3 floor and into the office and I tell the lady at the front desk that I think my water broke. She gets really pale and tells me to hurry back the exam room. I have another contraction. 5 Minutes apart. Nurse asks me what happened. I recount my wetting myself experience. She runs to get the doctor. The doctor pops her head in and says "Why are you here? Go to the hospital. Ill see you there in a little while" We walk out the door and  I have 3rd contraction in the hallway. 5 minutes apart. We make it down to the main level and out the door. 4th contraction. 3 minutes apart. We are lucky at this point because the hospital is literally next door so we just walk it. We hit the hospital lobby. 5th contraction. 3 minutes apart. We make it to labor and delivery. 6th contraction. 3 minutes apart. They get me to my room and tell me to get my hospital gown on. Contractions are coming at 3 minutes apart but the nurses have disappeared. Im walking around my room working through contractions and starting to worry a little cause we are down to a contraction every 2 minutes and there are no nurses anywhere to be found. About 15 minutes later they come back. They start asking me the standard questions. Im answering the best I can through and between contractions. Finally the nurse asked the golden questions. "How long was your last labor" "about an hour" and there it is! The look of panic I have been waiting for! "Oh! We better hurry!" Ya think?! While one nurse is hooking me up to monitors and trying (in my opinion in vain) to get the antibiotic hooked up (its supposed to run for 4 hours before I deliver. Yeah right.) the other is preparing the tray. They finally get around to checking me. Im only at a 7. We are good. "Are you going to get an epidural cause we need to do it now if you do" "No. I think Im going to try to go without." This was the best part. My nurse is understanding AND supportive. She tells me about how she delivered her last without an epidural and explains to me that when I get to the point that I think i simply CANNOT handle anymore pain, that is the beginning of the end. I have made it to transition and I only have a few more minutes left. I thank her but Im DYING!! I am seriously going to die. Oh... is this what she was talking about? And in fact it was. They check me, Im a 9. Get the doctor here asap! The doctor arrives and they let me start pushing while she suits up. Things are going well. I want to die but no one else knows that. Im quiet and handling the pain all on my own. AnDee is in the corner looking a little worried but she has been quiet and observant. The nurses keep asking "are you SURE you're ok with her being in here?" Yes! Good grief! I wouldn't have brought her if we hadn't thought long and hard and made a decision first.

Back to me. Like I said, things are going pretty well, Im pushing and handling the pain without anyone knowing how much I want drugs right now and then it happened. The doctor got involved. Now let me explain. I have struggled with this doctor through the entire pregnancy. I have felt like I was just a number to her and that she really isn't concerned with much other than just getting me through the assembly line. I miss my old doctor that delivered my other 3 babies. Why oh why did he have to drop his OB practice right before I got pregnant?!

Like I said, the doctor sits down and gets "involved" now when I say involved this is what I mean.... everytime a contraction hits and I start to push, she takes it upon herself to shove her hands in my downstairs and push really hard on my cervix. Like really hard and this is multiplying the normal pain of labor by like 12 thousand. I want to kick her in her stupid face. I don't know what she is thinking. My best guess is that she doesn't often deliver babies without the epidural. I asked Andrew if our other doctor had done this with my previous deliveries and I just didn't notice because I was numb (I wasn't ever that numb but maybe I had missed it somehow?) He told me that "No he would never do that. He would just check you and then he would back off and let you do the work"
Im too focused and too much of a weenie to tell her to get her flipping hands outta my business so I just deal with it... in a pitiful way. I start whimpering "ow ow ow ow" this is making AnDee a little nervous so she turns and stares out the window. Mom isn't supposed to show that kind of weakness. The doctor responds in a rather snotty voice. "Maybe we need to take a break cause you aren't even really pushing down here" Im going to MURDER her! Her hands being in my business is stoping my ability to push. I can't focus past the pain she is causing. Thats it. I have to end this. The next contraction I push for all I'm worth. One more and he is out! But I hate her. Oh I hate her SO much!

I will never forget that feeling. The feeling of him actually coming out. I guess its kind of gross for other people to hear about but it was so weird and so cool and so painful all at the same time.
As you can probably gather, the antibiotic for the group strep b was not in for the desired 4 hours. Not even close. I don't think I was on it for even 45 minutes. Had the doctor kept her hands to herself I would have only been on it for maybe 20. So now Im worried. Is he ok? I know there can be some serious life threatening effects from the group strep.

He is fine. Totally healthy and crying. 7 lbs 11 oz! Almost an entire pound bigger than my previous biggest baby! I ask if I can nurse him before they give him his bath. The little dude latches on and nurses for 45 minutes. He likes to eat. He still likes to eat.

Im in heaven, Andrew is in heaven and it turns out that AnDee actually REALLY REALLY loves him, even if he is a boy and not the sister she had hoped for. The boys really like him too.




The next day we were on our way home!

Isn't my little family completely perfect?



Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Strawberry Days

We did the Strawberry days thing this year. Well... actually we just did the rodeo and the parade but we got to do it with cousins so we were totally happy.
Plus, strawberries and cream. That is all


Ok so Im pretty sure Im going to have my hands full with my Ikey boy when he gets a little older. You see that position he is in? It looks like I just snapped the photo at a weird time. Not so. He was just talking to his cousin Grace and eating a sucker one minute and the BAM!! the next minute he is frozen in this position because a pretty girl is dancing in front of him. He stayed in this exact position until the pretty girl moved on and he came to his senses.


Monday, July 25, 2016

Lets Take it Back

I have lots to write about, including the birth of our newest addition. However we are gonna take it back to pre-baby for a minute.

This summer has been full of fishing, sunshine, friends and cousins. I can't think  of a better combination.

We spent a few days fishing Strawberry.


Pep even got to go on an over-nighter with his dad. Just the two of them. He was SO happy. Plus they met up with his cousin Wyatt which was just the icing on the cake.


Grandma Naugle got a little pool for the kids. Its been a lifesaver. Endless hours of fun... plus a few sunburns.


Im not sure why the snail had to go on his head. It literally left a streak of green slime in his hair. 

And of course we have spent as much time as possible with Aunt Gayle. The kids think that being able to harvest their own food is the greatest thing to ever happen so we put them to work as often as we can. 



Plus... Pep practically caught a flipping humming bird! Do you see it!?

Don't worry this is not the end of our summer adventures. There will be more to come shortly.



Friday, June 10, 2016

Sometimes When Your Turning 7...

Sometimes when your seventh birthday is coming up an you tell your dad that you want to go camping for your birthday, he takes you to Montana.
Andrew had a trip to Montana to go fly fishing with a friend all planned. The plan was that he would return home on May 30th (AnDee's birthday) But when she told him that what she wanted for her birthday was to go camping and fishing, we figured, why not take the whole family? So we did! And we liked it!
We spent most of our time just exploring. Despite what the locals were all telling us, no one got eaten by a bear. In fact, we never even saw a bear. It was terribly disappointing but that couldn't keep us down because Montana, especially the western end, is incredibly beautiful.

 We stayed for about 5 days and then headed home but we couldn't make the entire trip without having a few breaks and what is a pitstop without a little fishing?

When we made it home, the girl was spoiled by her grandparents. She got this intense new scooter from Grandma and Grandpa
On the Cowley side it is tradition for Nanny and Poppy to take each kid out on their birthday to get dinner and let them pick out their own gift. This tradition generally starts at age 5 but since we have been in Illinois for AnDee's last 2 birthdays, this was her first time. She was in heaven! Bet you can't guess what Nanny and Poppy got her...
And even though it was a day late, mom made her the cake she requested (chocolate with banana pudding in the middle and white frosting with strawberries cut like roses)

This girl... I can't even. Honestly, I have no way to tell you how amazing she is. She is essentially the perfect child and Im not being sarcastic in the least. She is sweet and considerate and helpful. She loves her brothers (even when they aren't the nicest) and is her Mama's bff. She is a daddies girl and an animal whisperer. She is strong and athletic (incredibly so) and yet she is not afraid to be girly and gentle. Simply put, she is amazing and I couldn't be any more proud of her.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Sometimes I feel like writing. Sometimes I don't. I haven't in a very very long time. That is why I keep posting posts such as this. A mess of things that are important and should be remembered in detail but all they get is a little picture and a sentence or two if Im feeling generous. I sure wish I could snap out of this but until I do...

Somehow I missed this and Im not sure how but last month this happened..
 We hatched our own little baby ducks. We had 12 eggs and 11 of them hatched. 11! And they just keep getting bigger!
What? you don't bathe with ducklings? Weird.

 They are now almost full sized ducks with full sized duck voices instead of little cheeps.

We also got new bunnies.

The weather is definitely warming up so our snake friends have come out to play. Yay??

What makes the warm weather even better is that warm weather equals fishing!!

 Also... 60 degrees is naked weather, right?

We spent a day or two helping clean up Granma Naugle's yard, which we  couldn't complain about cause, you know, fire.
 They are awesome little workers.
 The poor dogs got all tuckered out while working on the yard so they snuggled up and took a nap together. Sweet, right?

We celebrated Andrew's birthday... well... sort of. Andrew was up at a wood badge training so we didn't get to actually party on his birthday but  we did make him a giant ball of rice crispy treats, which was all he asked for.

However, last week my amazing parents watched our kids for a couple of nights so Andrew and I could go down to St. George together.... alone... no kids... for the second time since we had AnDee! We called it a happy birthday/Mothers day trip.  It was super fun. On the way down we took a detour to Panquitch lake. Holy guacamole that place was gorgeous! But still a little cold..
And unfortunately for us, the fishing wasn't great.
However, we made up for the bad fishing when we got down to St. George and spent a couple of days  (or hours really) fishing Quail Creek. 
It was a blast just hanging out together, doing something we both love and being able to just talk and not stress about the kids' poles or keeping them fed and entertained. That being said, we missed them terribly. Our kids are the coolest.