First Smile

Little Bean is about 6 weeks and look what she did!

Thankful 11

My sister did 11 things she was Thankful for this year, so I am following her trend here is my

11 for 11

I am Thankful for

1. My Family - the family I was raised in, I wish I was closer to them in proximity so we could spend more time together I do love visiting them. The family I married into they are so funny and fun to be with. Finally the family I have created I love to be with my kids and Swifty

2. The Gospel for the joy and knowledge it brings into my life and my children's lives

3. My Friends we have been lucky enough to meet amazing friends that we can consider family

4. The chance that I have had to live in different places. Although I wish I could be closer to family not only for my sake but also to help when it is needed as well as allow my children to have a more constant relationship with them I am better because of the people I have met living in different places.

5. The weather where I live. I LOVE warm winters

6. My home

7. I have renters in my home in OHIO

8. KB's school and her teacher who has been so fantastic

9. My kid's love of books. There is nothing better than reading books with my kids I think it is my favorite past time and if we all read together snuggled up it is even better

10. Our health

11. The fact that my husband is such a hard worker and will do anything to provide for us but also that as long as we are okay he always chooses us over work

I could go on and on but I wont. Okay just one more bonus because it can't be left off

I am thankful for a baby that is so sweet and patient.

Happy Thanksgiving

Moss Rock

We love to hike a preserve super close to our house, so a few weeks after E was born we decided to brave it with all 4 kiddos. Swifty and the kids always need to find a walking stick but this time Swifty found the Mother of all sticks. The kids tried but could not find a stick that compared to Daddy's. Of course when a man has to hike wearing an infant he needs a stick, Right?!

The kids found rivers to fall in, trees to climb, leaf hills to slide down and rocks to climb on

Swifty went up a steep hill so Heiselt thought he needed to help Swifty get down the hill safely

Heiselt got mad at me towards the end of the hike and became his Daddy's bud the rest of the way

Little bean did this the whole hike

The big kids allowed a picture of them together

We even had a rare citing of ME in a picture, don't worry we didn't get too CRAZY there is just one picture of me

Top TEN list

There are a few great things about having a baby besides the baby!

#10 Your kids love you because they are suddenly allowed to watch Dinosaur Train for an hour every morning while you sit on the couch and sleep

#9 You can be a little bit of a hermit if it is yucky and raining and everybody would expect it

#8 Your boobs make your waist look small

#7 As long as you have gotten yourself and children out of the house people think you are AMAZING!

#6 Everybody stops you to see your sweet bundle, I feel like a movie star

#5 You don't have to cook dinner and you have AMAZING meals brought to you

#4 Grandparents come and play with your kids

#3 Grandparents come and keep you company and do fun things with you and your kids for example play crazy games you never could think up, go to the pumpkin patch and sing silly songs with them

#2 Grandparents come and do a million and one projects, clean and cook and bring fun toys for your kids and run errands with you

#1 Grandparents COME! (because even if they didn't do #'s 4, 3, and 2 it is great to have them come)

Grandma Jo and all the kidlets (we missed our Baca)

Grandma and Grandpa S With E on her Blessing day

We are Blessed to have such AMAZING grandparents and we are so Grateful you came!

elena

Happy Birthday Elena Grace! now

for the highlights. . . .

October 8th

6lbs 14.6 oz

18 3/4 inches

12:56 a.m.

We went to the hospital Thursday October 6th because I had been contracting since Tuesday, and after holding Swifty and I hostage for 4 hours they sent me home!

I felt yucky all day Friday but my contractions had stopped. Swifty said I should go in, the OB's he was working with that day said I should go in. I was not about to go in and get sent home again. My Dr. said to wait. So I waited!

Swifty came home and talked me into going in after he took the biggins to the library as he'd promised.

We got our kids settled with some fantastic friends.

We made it to the hospital, got put back in triage with the same nurse that stood holding my stomach for 20 minutes the day before so she could feel a contraction which she never did but they were there I know!

Before the Dr. could come in to check me I had a horrible contraction, my water broke and then I had another contraction that was seriously the most painful contraction I have ever had and it contracted for over 20 minutes I know because there was this Huge digital clock on the wall right in front of my face taunting me. That contraction started at 6:53 and did not end until 7:20.

Swifty paged the nurse to inform them my water just broke she came in confirmed it and then checked me. Because of the contraction lil'beans heart rate dropped quite a bit for a few minutes/seconds I don't really know how long i didn't really know it dropped until I asked why I had to wear the dumb oxygen mask that was bugging me(I was still contracting and not really

happy). Then the nurse thought she felt a prolapsed cord. Let me tell you I have never seen a room fill so fast. I had Dr.'s checking nurses putting i.v's in for the C-section they thought we were going to need. Our room went from me, Swifty and the nurse to 6 more people in a matter of seconds. Finally they decided it was not a prolapsed cord and babies heart rate was better so I got wheeled to a labor and delivery room. My sweet husband made sure my blood work got sent to the correct lab so I would be able to get a epidural quickly. AHHHHHHHHHH, thank heavens.

Once I was in my Labor and Delivery room, the Anesthesiologist came in and got to work. HALLELUJAH! It is always amazing to me to see how Labor can go from me not really knowing what is going on and not really caring to sitting back enjoying the peace of being with just my husband laughing and joking. Reading a book and waiting for baby in a matter of minutes. Oh how I love my epidurals! I know not politically correct but I do love my epidurals. We hung out for awhile, Swifty took a nap after all he had been at work since 5:30 that morning. I suddenly begin to feel some pain in my abdomen just as the nurse decides to hook up some pitocin, after a few minutes she turns off the pitocin until the Anesthesiologist can get my pain under control, and looks at me at the same time and says are you sure you don't need to push. I said I could probably push so she checks me and decides it is time to have a baby. We call the OB on call wake up Swifty who quickly gets me a little boost before the Resident can get in there, he was afraid the resident wouldn't make it. After all lil'bean was the first of 27 births that night/morning. The ob came in and lil'bean was out with in a matter of minutes.

This lil' bean came out wide eyed and movin' She was ready for the world. She is soooooooooooo cute!

Wrapped up in daddy's arms. This guy gets her and she immediately falls asleep. It is truly amazing to watch. He snags her whenever he can but it is very hard to get her away from this girl below.

KB Loves this baby. The first thing she asks when she gets home from school is where is baby Ellie. But it is even harder to get her away from this guy below.

This boy counts her fingers, her toes, holds her all day if I'd let him. he rocks her when she cries and makes sure she is swaddled. I think he is the most smitten of all.

And this little boy well he likes to kiss her and coming to the hospital was his favorite in fact he often asks to go back to the hospital. I don't think it has anything to do with the amount of t.v. and candy he received while there.

Sweet home Alabama

We live in the south, it is the world of the SEC. They live and breathe school spirit, of Course Fridays are spirit day and you wear a shirt to support whatever team you want whether it be college or highschool football. KB came home informing me she really wanted an ALABAMA shirt she even had a white shirt in her closet that she was going to transform into an ALABAMA shirt. This kid gets an idea and we gotta run with it or . . . Well we just gotta run with it!

Not to shabby for a homemade shirt!

this shirt was made possible by KB's idea, the Internet, a techno cut and grandma Jo for buying us Fabric Markers a long time ago

Tropical Storms

In the late spring and late summer Alabama had some pretty cool Tropical Storms! With these rains we have learned that really WET sidewalk chalk has some pretty amazing colors!

Racing anything down the gutters is fun!

Hieselt and KB racing chalk down the gutter

A lot of Water makes some stylish hair

and dancing in the rain is the BEST!

1st Grade

KB's first day of First Grade

Teacher Miss. Daniel

Right now KB . . .

loves to write

loves to color

is sad her 2 good friends from Kindergarten are not in her class this year

sometimes thinks it is unfair that she is the only one that has to go to school

can not wait for school to start

was up at the crack of dawn with her clothes on and her chores done

Loves to read stories with mom before school

likes to take her lunch sometimes and buy it other times

says her favorite subject is Math

Is a fantastic, kind, big sister who loves to play with her brothers

***Update Grandma Jo gave KB her skirt for her birthday and I think she has worn it every other for the first 3 weeks of school! She LOVES it, and we love her.

I like LUCY

With a little sister on the way we have been talking a lot about baby names. Hieselt is set on the name Lucy. Every time we ask about a baby name he says no I like LUCY! It is soooooooooooo cute I like Lucy too so maybe we will name her that just so Hieselt doesn't get confused when her name isn't Lucy.

Eagle Scream

KB's school does a fun run every year for a fundraiser. Let me tell you for coming from a family of short legs this girl can run! The kids are only allowed to run 40 laps around a small track the PTO creates. Our girl ran her full 40 before they had the 10 minutes left signal. Instead of stopping she just kept on running. Her friends sat and walked together talking the whole time, but KB, she ran every lap. She is smart though, she ran the inner circle instead of the outer circle. Even Buster and I ran a few laps with her.

KB running past her best bud she tried to stay with her but couldn't stop to walk

Look at the determination on that girls face

Oh how I love her

running in for a lap mark!

GO EAGLES!

Peace

Lately our days have been filled with me working to get everything I HAVE to get done before this baby comes, which includes crazy things like painting walls, not baby room walls just walls. Decorating shelves, cleaning out whatever I fill the need to etc. Or me so exhausted and my body aching that I am to tired to play with my existing fantabulous children, dumb I know that is the brain of a psychotic crazy women. Anyway, this weekend, well it was different! It was a fantastic weekend! We began the weekend with a little fire and pitching of the tent in the backyard. Camping in your own backyard is AWESOME! We had low stress with 3 young kids and when your back yard looks like an abandoned forest you feel as if you are truly in the woods away from the stress of home. I being 9 months pregnant got to sleep in my own bed while the kids and the hubs slept outside. KB's comment to me in the morning was. . .

I woke up like 3 times and counted stars I counted 30 stars can we camp out again tonight!

Next we went to Soccer games and although the kids played at the same time, different fields, again! I had the bonus of having Swifty home today which meant both kids were watched throughout their whole game. The real BONUS of the morning was Both kids carried the ball down the field and scored goals!!!!!!!!!

GO THUNDER!

GO LIGHTNING!

(okay please ignore how high the kiddos shorts are appearantly we got the riding shorts)

We came home to a lovely afternoon of Conference kids playing joyfully together in the tent (I may never take it down) , riding bikes, and eating A LOT of candy. You know if you choose to sit reverently and watch conference you choose to be able to eat lots of candy! I know bribing with candy=no good. However, my kids asking when it is conference weekend for 3 weeks before hand and actually sitting without fighting, and asking questions or at least repeating some of the words they here from our leaders= totally worth the candy bribe. Well until Sunday night and we have had 2 days worth of candy!

Sunday we spent the day enjoying our family, watching conference, and picnicking. Ahhh, it is weekends like this that make me wonder why do I get so caught up in the getting things done. It is definitely the less enjoyable life!

Airplanes

I Love little boys and their noises,

I can hear the roar of the engine and the speed of the wind

as I look at these pictures of my Hieselt.

Who knew something so simple could be so entertaining.

I Love the innocence of a child.

FEBRUARY

The beginning of February brought a small amount of this. . . .

. . . which brought a lot of smiles and FUN!

The middle of February brought temperatures that allowed to play outside like this. . .

. . . which brought more smiles and FUN

Man we love Southern Weather!

Mother's day goal

Kids . . . I Love kids! I have always loved kids! Before I had my own kids I loved teaching kids especially the really challenging ones that made you learn to be creative in your interactions with them so a. they would know they were special and loved and b. you could get a desired behavior out of them. I went to college and learned about kids. I guess you could say I am a kid person. This brings me to my thoughts of late. Swifty and I are both kid people, who believe in age appropriate ______________ , it doesn't really matter what the blank is it could be restaurant, movie, music, etc.. I wonder if we have naturally and joyously made our children's lives so age appropriate that without even realizing it we have hindered our children's growth. I wonder if I have sheltered their world so much that I have taken all of me and Swifty out of our family. That their memories of me will not reflect the person I am or strive to become. That the things they remember about our family and their childhood will not reflect the things we like to do individually or as a couple, or even worse that they are not able to step out of their comfort zone because they have never had too. Yes I realize age appropriate things are good and yes I realize my children are still very young and there is time for them to learn these skills, but I also realize that time is now and life is fast. Hey I think it is the fact that life is fast that got us here, most days there just isn't time for a lot of those things, and a lot of things we liked to do we don't like anymore but there isn't time to find a replacement for that thing. I don't feel like I have lost myself in my children or that I don't know who I am, but am afraid that they don't know who I am or what is important to me. So in honor of Mother's day my goal for the next year is to make my family a little more equal, meaning mostly age appropriate life with a little bit of Mom and Dad stuff thrown in to help our kids understand us and hopefully be stretched in their growth and patience even if just a little.