Boys' Birthdays

For Landon's birthday (yeah, it was a while ago--June 25th), we went to the splash pad in Spanish Fork. Landon loved it! We had some friends and family join us and the kids all had lots of fun running and screaming and getting soaked.

Landon is the first of my kids to really go for it with the first-birthday cake. He just dug right in! I made him a turtle cake but we won't talk about that. Not my best piece of work. It was too hot so the pudding I used between cake layers melted all over the place and it pretty much looked like a big pile of glop. Tasty though!

Landon had a lot of fun opening gifts and he really likes cuddly toys. He likes to eat them....

Ryker got an electric drum set that Brice and I found on KSL (I love KSL! Have I mentioned that before?) and it's just so Ryker-y.

Ryker wanted a 4th of July themed birthday so we shot off fireworks and I made him a firework cake. Easiest cake I ever made!

Sorry it's not a very exciting or detailed post as is my usual M.O., but at this point, I'm so far behind that I'm just trying to get the highlights and catch back up. One day I'll stay caught up. Yeah, right.

WARNING!!!!! GRUESOME PICTURES OF RYKER'S LATEST INJURY!!

So, I know I have tons to catch up on, but I just can't resist skipping ahead and posting about Ryker's injury today. The pictures are NOT for the faint of heart so I'll put them at the end so you can read the story without looking if you want to.

The Andrews (Brice's sister's family) are out visiting and the kids have been having a blast! They were all out in the front yard waiting for us to get out the door to go to Brice's brother's house for dinner. Ryker and some of his cousins were playing tag and Ryker was on the trailer in the front yard. He fell off and caught his leg on an L-shaped brace which just ripped right into his leg. Ouch! He screamed, which he does almost every time he gets even semi hurt. I kinda could tell by how he fell that he'd been jabbed pretty good by something, but being the awesome mom that I am, what do I do? I tell him not to scream. Uncle Wes was closer to him than I was, so he went over and scooped him up and carried him towards me. He asked, "Where do you want me to put him?" I said, "Uh, in the car. We're going to need some stitches." Wes turned him a little in his arms to see the wound and said, "Yep, I think you're right!" (Here, I would normally insert a picture of the wound, but for those of you who are squeamish, you're welcome, and I will save it for later so you don't have to see.) He put him on the porch while I ran through the house collecting shoes for my other kids and Brice, calling for Brice to hurry his buns up getting ready (he'd been in the shower) cuz we needed to go NOW, finding the insurance cards, and getting a towel to put over Ryker's gash. It wasn't bleeding much, fortunately. The cut kinda went in under the skin and a long way up through the fatty tissue, but not deep enough to get to the muscle, which is a lot more vascular and would have meant LOTS of blood. Wes, who is typically pretty squeamish, really stepped up and kept Ryker looking into his face and calm so that he wasn't looking into his cut and freaking out (when Ryker first got a good look at his cut when he was in Wes's arms, he said, "I can see my BONE!!" We quickly straightened out that misconception! He thought that the fatty tissue, being whitish yellow instead of blood-red, was his bone. He'd never seen fatty tissue before). We got Ryker loaded up in one car, the other kids loaded in the other, and we went to the Insta-Care while Wes drove the rest of our kids over to Brice's brother's house for dinner. Brice's sister drove her brood in their car. We were at the Insta-Care for about an hour or so. The doctor was great. He was so good with Ryker and thought Ryker was hilarious. He is. He was saying funny stuff and being his normal Ryker-y self. All happy and chipper. He didn't like the shot part, but otherwise, he said it was easy. He even seemed to feel a little bit of pain after the shot but decided he'd rather suffer through it than get more Lidocaine. While waiting for the doc, he decided to practice perfecting snapping his fingers (don't worry--not a scary pic):

And he would not stop moving around! Crazy kid! Brice and I talked to him and told him all the things that would happen and then the doc told him everything, step by step, before he did them as well. He also talked me through the stitching, teaching me names of techniques and explaining it to me because I guess he could see that I was interested. Brice, on the other hand, had to go take a couple of time-outs. He got queasy a couple of times and had to go sit in the chair behind the bed until the color came back into his face (it was mostly his lips that were really pale when I looked at him). Even Ryker was watching everything that was happening. A couple of times, the doctor or nurse's hands were in his way so he couldn't see and he fussed at them about it because he really wanted to watch everything that happened to him. He's such a Somers. Brice's dad will be so proud!

Ready for pictures? Stop here if you don't want to see them!!!!

Here's the wound at the hospital before they did anything other than put a topical numbing agent on it:

And here's the wound all stitched up with 18 stitches:

And now it's all cleaned up and ready to be bandaged:

Oh the adventures we have with Ryker in our family!!

The Lord has a sense of humor

Well, I suppose since it's fairly common knowledge at this point, it's about time for an official bloggy announcement. For some reason, the Lord sees fit to play lots of practical jokes on us. Landon was our surprise baby and a welcome one. A bit early for comfort (Alaina was only 9 months old when I got pregnant with him) but what is life for if not to challenge and stretch us. Getting pregnant with him was, however, birth control operator neglect.

This time though, we did our part in the prevention department. We were entirely diligent in our birth control use and I have no explanation for how we have conceived yet another child. That's right. Baby #5 is on its way.

I'm not sure how to describe my feelings about this. I guess there's what I feel on the one hand and what I know on the other. I KNOW that this will all work out in the end. I KNOW that God has a plan in all of this and that He does not make mistakes. I KNOW that God can make it possible for me to carry, birth, nurse, and raise another child right now (though perhaps it's not part of His plan for me to maintain my sanity in the process?). But I FEEL much different about this whole thing. I feel like I'm not up for another pregnancy right now or anytime in the near future. I feel like I really have no interest in going through the apprehension of another birth (in the end, it works out fine, each better than the last, but the anticipation of having to be in such perfect control of my body and mind to work through the birthing process drug-free is daunting, though I can't see myself doing it any other way--using drugs I mean). I feel like I'm floundering with four kids and I just don't see how I can possibly manage five. I mean, you've seen how much I haven't blogged in the last year. There's a reason for that. I can hardly manage daily life. I'm so not looking forward to getting nursing established because that process can be more painful than childbirth. I'm also not excited about how to manage THREE kids three and under. That's right. Alaina will have just turned three when this one is born. Three kids in three years! You've GOT to be kidding me! The thing that had been getting me through the day sometimes was knowing that life is hard right now because I have two very small children who need help with everything, but that they will grow quickly enough and be able to do more things on their own in no time. Well, with another one coming, I'm just not sure how I can do three so close in age who will need SO much from me for such a long while yet.

I suppose that I knew there was another child waiting for us because when people would ask if we were done having kids, I would say that I would be fine to be done but that if the Lord had other plans for us, that was okay too. But He might have to yell for me to hear Him. I guess he succeeded there. Hearing it loud and clear! I just could never actually say flat out that we were done, so I guess I kinda knew we'd have another. Plus I have a girl name picked out that I was sad not to get to use when Landon came out a boy. Right there, I jinxed us. I just didn't think the Lord would plan for us to have another so soon! And ultimately, that's what giving me a run for my money. I'm so not feeling ready to do all this again right now!

So aside from feeling emotionally kinda unstable and unsure of myself and my ability to have a 5th child right now, I'm also feeling miserably ill. The thought of food makes me sick but not eating makes me sicker. And I have to eat every two hours or I feel like I'm on my deathbed. Nothing sounds good. Ever. But I'm forced to either be thinking about or eating food all. day. long. And when I think of something I might be able to choke down, I need it right this minute. Ugh! So, needless to say, the house is a disaster (I mean, it's always a disaster, but right now it really looks like some sort of tornado or earthquake rocked our world, which I guess it kinda did). Brice has had very little work the last few weeks which is sucking as far as paying the bills is concerned but is a Godsend for keeping the family functioning. He's been amazing about keeping up on dishes and making sure that SOMETHING gets done around the house every day, even if it's not enough to get us to a normal state of functioning. He also takes care of all the poopy diapers when he's home because that just sends me over the edge. And he makes my food for me as much as he can. And the kids' too. He also takes care of everything in the morning so I can sleep in and get my much-needed rest (I'm not a napper). He's so good to me! Even if he does get frustrated that I'm not helping around the house. But I think he gained some insight into my plight last night (whoa, that was a lot of -ights in a row) when I asked him how much work he'd be doing if he had food poisoning that lasted 6-8 weeks. A light went on behind his eyes. Total ah-ha moment.

Then there's the whole issue of moving and all that. With homebirthing, it's not quite as simple to just change care providers. Some midwives want to have you as a client for at least a specified amount of time before the birth--it keeps their risks low to know what's going on with their patients. Also, midwifery in California is FAR more expensive than it is here. So do we postpone our moving date until after the baby? Or do we go anyway and pay the higher cost and find a midwife for the last 2 months of care and the birth? The other thing is that part of the point of midwifery is to have a woman whom you trust and have built a rapport with. It's a little more difficult to do all of that there at the end. At any rate, I haven't done much to answer my own questions in this department because I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all these decisions that now need to be made.

Oh, yeah. And add to all of this, the guilt that I feel for carrying a child that I'm not totally excited to have. Yeah. Great. I keep worrying that this poor kid will feel totally robbed and unwanted for his/her whole life because I feel so not excited right now. I'm sure I will love and adore this one just as much as my other four, but right now I don't feel anything like I did when I was pregnant with them. Where I should be feeling excitement and joy I feel fear and doubt. How do you remedy that one?

Well, now I'm just rambling. So that's the long and the short of it (mostly the long) so feel free to offer your congratulations or your condolences--both are appropriate at the moment.

Okay, but really. I do truly KNOW that it's going to be okay, so don't go thinking that I'm in the depths of despair, thinking my life is ruined or that I'm not going to love this baby or anything overly dramatic like that. I know that once the baby is here it will all be worth it. It's just right now, with 8 or 9 months of pain, discomfort, hard work, and fatigue staring me in the face, that I'm doubting my ability to rise to the challenge. But in the end I do KNOW that I CAN do it. Just scared to I guess. It's a lot to ask of one little mommy with 4 small kids already.

Oh, and due date: Brice's birthday! February 22 2012. That will mean that Alaina and Landon are 17 months apart and Landon and #5 (I think I'll start calling the baby Johnny 5) will be 20 months apart. Alaina and Johnny 5 will be 3 years and one month apart. Raelin will be 8 and Ryker will be 6.5. So we'll have 8, 6.5, 3, 2.5 and a newborn. Here goes nothin'.

Family Pictures

We never get family pictures taken. In all our married life, we've done it twice. Our old ones were so outdated that we were missing half our kids. So my cousin did a photo shoot with us and we FINALLY got some new ones done! I LOVE them! We took them a few months ago, but I've been a blog-slacker and am just now getting around to posting them. I still haven't gotten them printed to hang on my wall but I will do that when financial aid comes in next month. This is the set I want to print--my most favorites:

I ADORE this picture! It melts my heart. It just captures so well how Brice feels about this little girl. She is such a light in our family. Such a precious picture!

Thank you, thank you, Trina!!!

My kids are so cool!

I've been wanting to do this post for a while but I was hoping to collect more pictures. Eh, well, I'm just going to go for it and see what pics I have.

My kids do the most awesome things! Lots of times I get really frustrated with how much mess they make and how much trouble they cause, but by letting them make the messes and cause the trouble, they also develop independence, creativity, and ambition. So I try not to sweat the small stuff and focus more on all the awesome things they come up with to do with all their autonomy. Here are some recent examples of just how cool my kids are, in no particular order:

Landon lets me hold him on his back and toss him in the air and he tucks just perfectly to do a full 360 barrel roll. I've got to get it on video. He thinks it hilarious.

My kids caught a BIG fish in a POT!!!!!! This one blew me away! They came running in the house, all out of breath, and asked for a pot. I got them the camping pot and a while later they came back with this:

The kids build a fort with stuff from Brice's lumber stash and using all kinds of stuff to keep their "walls" from falling over. They played in it all day.

Landon can hang from the monkey bars.

The kids can set up their tent all by themselves! Love that. They camp in the backyard frequently.

Their fort they built up the canyon.

Raelin loves to dance. I love this outfit even though it's kinda weird. Her style is all her own and I love it. I think she pulls it off really well.

While Raelin's style carries over through all her outfits, Ryker has this one outfit that is a favorite. He loves to wear my soccer socks with shorts.

Landon eats dirt

And roots. And rocks (not pictured).

My cool kids in their cool shades.

Alaina manages to make a face full of food and drool look absolutely gorgeous. I don't know how she does it.

Raelin holds slimy salamanders and loves it.

She also climbs trees like nobody's business. There's a tree at the library that's about 50 feet tall and she can climb to the tippy top. It's hilarious to see her little face poking out of the branches way up there. And I totally trust her in trees too. She's like a leopard.

The breakfast they invented: Kiwi, toast, mango, and frosting.

They love to find the biggest hills around and run as fast as they can down them. Rolling down them is loads of fun too.

Alaina makes an awesome funny face.

My brother is AWESOME!

My brother just graduated from the fire academy on Thursday and we are SO PROUD of him!

Twenty two weeks of early mornings, late nights, hard work, and dedication (sounds like motherhood). His academy is one of the most prestigious and difficult ones in the state and lots of other academies think they go way overboard.

His platoon outdid all the platoons of fire fighter recruits their chief had worked with before them. They are the cream of the crop.

When awards were being given out, Jesse got passed up for scholarships, best academic skills, most improved, most dedicated, and best manual skills. But then he got awarded TOP GUN!

Top Gun is the best all-around recruit and it was the highest award you can earn at the academy. That's my bro. Just call him Maverick. Or Goose. He loves it. ;) Not really. Actually, it pretty much embarrasses the crud out of him. It's loads of fun. We keep putting his plaque on display around the house and he keeps hiding it.

This is Jesse making his "I'm too cool" face with his gorgeous fiance.

This is Jesse's fabulous cheering section. We were the best cheerers in the audience.

My kids adore him. And at over 6' tall, he makes a great jungle gym.

This is the aptly named "misery log." The recruits had to use it in lots of their training excercises. They had to carry it on runs, pass it backwards over their heads and then run to the back of the line to catch it again when their turn came back around, do sit ups as a group holding it across their chests, and other such misery-making drills.

I'm so very proud of him! It's quite an achievement, and I look forward to watching him progress through his career. Good job, Jesse!!! You're awesome!!