Happy Birthday Ashton!

My Ashton is 5 today! I can't believe how fast time flies! I've been looking through his old pics and the thing that strikes me the most is how much Jacob looks like Ashton! They literally are identical as babies! I can't tell them apart. It's like a blueprint of Ashton was made for Jacob. I'm glad though, cause Ashton was the one who looked so different out of Ethan and Lily, so for Jacob to come and look like Ashton, it ties my kids all together. My Ashton was the best baby on earth. He never made a peep, he slept like a champion and never gave his mom any trouble. He has the most easy going personality. He loves his older brother so much! Ashton has brought us so much joy over the past 5 years. He's always smiling, even when he's in trouble. He loves to have fun. I just can't believe he's already 5! Here are some pics of him over the years. I can't find my 2007 files, hopefully they aren't lost. But here are some pics of him as a baby, and you can see how identical to Jacob he is. We'll have his "party" this weekend and post more about that later!

When he was born

Just sleeping! What he did best!

Absolute twin to Jacob!

1 year old

2 years old

4 years old

Will post current pics of him later! I love you Ashton! Happy Birthday!

Watch for it!

Several months ago I posted this video of our dog Yoda playing hide and go seek with my hubby Darren. It shows how excited he gets to play. The reason I'm posting again is because we sent it in to American's Funniest Home Videos (AFV) and they will be showing it this Sunday! I thought I'd post it again, so you can watch it and then on Sunday night; if you want, you can watch for our clip to be shown on AFV. It plays on ABC. Enjoy! ;)

Test Results

For those who have followed my blog through my pregnancy you'll know that in the beginning of my pregnancy I was tested for being a carrier of cystic fibrosis. The result was positive and then Darren had to be tested as well and his result was positive too. This caused great stress for the rest of my pregnancy, followed with many other doctor visits and ultrasounds. They wanted me to do an amnio, but I opted out and chose to wait till the baby was born to find out for sure. Having to wait so many months and not knowing if your baby will have this life ending disease was so hard and stressful on us. We researched about the disease and prepared ourselves for the worse case scenario. Finally after waiting for so long, his blood test is back and he is negative for having the disease. Darren and I are so grateful that our little baby will not have to go through having this. We are also so thankful that our other 3 kids did not get it either. We consider ourselves really lucky. Especially since we didn't know we were carriers until our last pregnancy. I don't think we would have had as many kids as we did, if we had known earlier. I guess there's a reason for everything. Jacob had a check up today. he'll be 3 weeks old tomorrow. He's doing so well. He weighs 10lbs even and is growing like a weed. I love this little boy so much already. He is such a little ball of wonderment. I can't get enough of him. I'm so glad now that he is a boy and not a girl. I remember being so sad that he was a boy and that Lily wouldn't have a sister, but now that I have him, I wouldn't trade him for a million girls. Time goes so fast. I'm trying to treasure the newborn phase since this is our last. I know before we know it, he'll be all grown up. Jacob reminds me of a large breed puppy. Like puppies, he is small because he's still a baby, but you know he will be big because his hands and feet are huge! Like puppies that are small with these huge feet that they haven't grown into yet. I know he'll be a big dude. He'll have to be big to protect him self from his older brothers! ;)

This weekend we grilled for dinner. Darren had placed the grill rack on the grass to do something and out ran Ethan not knowing it was on the grass and stepped right on the hot grill. OUCH! Just thought I'd add this pic. Poor kid.

One Week Old

Jacob is already 9 pounds and growing rapidly. He eats more than any of my other babies. His feet are already too big for the sleepers! He's needless to say going to be big! But he'll be fat and happy! Those make the best babies. He is a really good baby and has a sweet spirit. He's still trying to get his nights and days figured out, but he's adjusting as are all of us. Here are some pics of "Mommy and baby", His first bath from grandma, and some other shots. Grandma will be leaving on Monday :( sniff sniff. She has been a huge help and comfort during these last couple weeks. Darren, I, and the kids will miss her greatly!

4/10/2009

They change so much with each day!


Grandma and me!

4/09/2009 "smiling in my sleep!"

Getting cleaned up! 4/7/2009

4/9/2009 Interesting choice of fingers to suck!

Baby Jacob

He's finally here. Jacob was born on Thursday April 2nd at 4:21pm. He weighed 8lb 9 oz and was 21 inches long. (he didn't weigh as much as I thought he would). I'm home and trying to get rest. My mom and Darren are my saviors right now. I'm struggling with some "blues" but trying to overcome them. I'll be back to normal hopefully in a couple weeks. The baby is super good. He is a sweet little guy. The kids love him and want to hold him all the time. I'll write more later when I'm up to it. Here are some pics of the new addition. I'll add an album to my facebook page later with more pics. Thanks for all the emails, concerns, and kind things from everyone. We are doing well and adjusting.

Still Pregnant

My mom flew in on Thursday night without luggage (lost), but made it none the less thankfully. Now the waiting game is one. That night I went into "labor" for a couple hours, I was about to wake everyone up and then everything just stopped. So, I'm still pregnant and just wondering if he'll ever come out. Here are some pics of my mom reading to the kids. Lily was "smitten" after grandma read her the first book. If you want to get on Lily's good side all you have to do is read her a book. The kids are enjoying her being here. Yesterday we went to Mount Trashmore so I could walk up and down that ridiculously big hill. By the time we were done I felt like I could fall down dead. I got a few contractions after that, but still........nothing. I'm pondering more drastic measures......"Castor Oil" any one???? Still not sure about that one. Any way. I've been bad about looking at any one's blog and commenting. Hopefully you'll understand, but just putting out the update that there really is no update and I'm still huge and pregnant. Send contraction prayers my way please!

Big Bertha!

We are in the home stretch. Even though I'm so uncomfortable, I'm hoping the baby stays put another week till my mom gets here. It will be so much easier with the kiddos to have her extra hands here. So pray that Jacob stays cozy till at least the 27th, then after that, I'm all for him making his exit.

I'm "regretfully" posting a prego pic of me, the big bertha mother. But I've felt bad that I haven't taken many prego pics of me this time around. Believe it or not, I haven't gained any weight with this pregnancy, I was just that fat to begin with! ha ha ha! I will actually weigh less after he is born then I did when I got pregnant with him, so that's a plus, maybe I can keep up the work and focus on me for once. ???? Hopefully. Any way, here is that pic and a pic of the pretty trees in bloom here. When Ashton saw the trees in bloom he said "Mom!!! Look it's hot snow!" (that day had been really warm, but the trees looked like they were covered in snow. cute)

Nervous

I find myself getting anxious at times knowing I only have 20 some odd days till it's "go time". Normally in the past the doctors will go ahead and give me an induction date about a week or so early so I don't have to push out a 9 pounder, my babies come out around 8 lbs. The doctors here could care less if I had a 7 pounder or a 12 pounder, but the word induction to them is like a curse word, heaven forbid! So I just sit not knowing if I'll go into labor tonight, or in 2 more weeks. It's hard for a "planner" like me to just sit and let whatever happen....happen. But I have no choice. But my body for sure is tired of having babies. This pregnancy was fine until about a month ago, and now I really can "feel" the toll it's taking on my body. My hips ache, my pelvic bone feels like it could split in half at any second and my back aches.... poor me right? I know all mom's go through it, I'm just definitely feeling more of the aches this time. My body is saying, "enough is enough woman!" Any way, just venting. Not really wanting the baby out now because that will mean I have 4 kids, but I wish my body wouldn't hurt so bad. Any way. all is good here. Let's just pray I don't go over my due date and have to push a 10 pounder out, that will not be fun.
Another note: This baby is Darren's baby to name. We pretty much named Ethan together, and then I named Ashton and Lily, so he gets dibs on this one. Which is fine till I heard the name he wanted. But now it's been 6 months since he said the name and he still wants it. Okay ready? The name he wants is........Jacob Edward Conner. Now anyone who has not read the Twilight series is saying..."so? what's the big deal?" Well it's a huge deal if you have read them. These books are "huge" right now, kind of like the Harry Potter craze. Jacob and Edward are the two main male characters in all 4 books. My husband never read the books, he knows they are popular but doesn't care. Edward is a family name after his dad, and he just likes Jacob a bunch. So there you have it people, the name most likely will be Jacob Edward and I don't want any laughs or giggles from anyone thinking I was so obsessed with the books that I had to name my last son after them! I can only imagine blessing day at church. All the women will be smiling and giggling! Have mercy on me!!!!! This is my disclaimer and I'm sticking to it!

Mud Bath

The beginning of this week the high barely hit the teens. It was sooooo cold! Today's temp got above 75. The weather here is WACK!!! But regardless, the kids actually put on shorts today. I heard the water running outside and came to see what they were doing. I found the sprinkler on the porch and them running through it. Yes it may be warm, but not that warm! I almost opened the door to tell them to turn it off, but had to grab the camera first. Then the soaked lawn turned into mud fast because the ground below is still frozen, so it was hard for the water to sink in fast enough, so they decided to play in the mud. Lily gets less and less clothed as time goes on, but they had fun. I bit my tongue and let them enjoy their warm Saturday in the muddy backyard. Who knows what next weeks weather will bring? Make up your mind already! :)