A direct quote from Contessa

Contessa loves to dance with her daddy...just like her older sisters.

Last night they had quite the dance party in Lauren and Avery's bedroom.

This morning she asked me to dance with her. And I just do not live up to his moves. She was quite frustrated with me and said, 'Daddy hame (came) home and spunned danced me in Bo-Bo's oom (room), I wan (want) Daddy home now. Not you mommy!'

Jordan's got his hands full with all these girls that's for sure!

Kissing Cousins

Trina and I got the babies together for a little photo shoot today.

I'm not sure that we got any great pictures but it was hilarious.

I call this the 'Sears' shot.

Adrian was born 9-23-10

And I swear he looked like a full grown person next to Torrance!

His smiles were precious...I just didn't catch one.

Torrance put up with our picture taking ... actually, I think she was bored.

And this was just hysterical.

Adrian really wanted to lick Torrance's head!

Here is looks like a nice kiss.

Uh, now what are you doing?

And now that is just trying to eat her head!

What's sweeter than the back of a baby's head?

Well the backs of two babies' heads of course!

Baby Tess

I may have been a bit premature with my post that claimed

Tess was handling the new baby perfectly fine.

She is handling Torrance fine.

Just not the rest of us.

She gets very angry with Jordan and I and says, 'I dont like you!'

when we tell her to do something or if she gets in trouble.

She wants her own binkie and bottle and wants to be carried 'like a baby'.

Oh sweet girl. You haven't lost your spot.

Mommy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know!

sharing the love

Luckily this little girl shares her love pretty easily!

Cause we've got lots of willing recipients!

Sully has surprised me. He doesn't pay that much attention to her!

But goodness he's cute!

Avery wants to hold her immediately after school each day.

And I'm pretty sure Lauren could actually care for her completely without me!

Not kidding.

And oh Tess.

Tess, Tess, Tess, Tess, Tess.

Can you say complete obsession?

Flying Solo

Today was Jordan's first day back to work.

I'm happy to report that we are getting along just great!

In fact, if my sweet friends continue to bring us supper every night I think I can actually mother five kids just fine!

Seriously though, we have amazing friends who are taking amazing care of us right now!

We cant say enough thank you's!!

The 'Greats'

My kids are so lucky to have three great grandparents living so close!

Last night Torrance got to meet them all for the first time.

Papa Joe

Grandma Elaine

Grandma Hildegarde

Five

Tonight after giving baths I realized that now we have five little wash cloths hanging in the tub at the end of the night.

Five.

We have five kids.

You'd think I'd already realize that but at times it hits me.

And tonight I'm struck by how many that really is!

And the responsibility before us. With great blessing comes great responsibility.

I'm not feeling all that worthy to take on that responsibility. I feel more like I'm going to mess it up in a real big way. Very inadequate and having no clue even where to start raising these five for Him. Knowing that the characteristics they are seeing in me are not the ones I want to see in them. Knowing that mixed in with my happiness and elation are my weakness and exhaustion and short temper and my tendency to feel like I may hyperventilate.

But then I remembered this promise...'If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.' James 1:5

So I'm still hyperventilating a little bit. But I've got my paper bag in place to breathe into now.

And I'm off to pray for Jordan and I and for our five.

yep, five.

16 years

16 years ago Jordan and I started 'officially' dating.

Things are a little different now!

I wonder what we would have done if we'd known

then that this was how things would look now!

5 kids later...

I love you Jordan!

There is no one else in the world I can imagine being on this wild ride with!

:)

Miss Contessa

I've had lots of emails asking how Tess is dealing with the new baby.

And I'm surprised but happy to say that she is handling it wonderfully.

She loves Torrance and calls her MY BABY!

She is content to cuddle beside me when I'm feeding the baby and is really just doing great

about playing and acting like normal.

PHEW!

This is what she looks like when its her turn to hold Torrance.

This is what she looks like when its someone else's turn! :)

Hospital Time

I've been having trouble finding 'computer time' since we got home.

Go figure!

But I vow to get some things up about our time in the hospital and my version of Torrance's

birth story soon!

We'll start with hospital pics.

First of all there is nothing Jordan and I love more than staying in the hospital together in the days after having a baby. We owe a huge thanks to our mom's for taking all of the other kids and giving us this great gift! We really appreciated every second of our time.

This was the first time Jordan held Torrance.

He was beaming. I love that.

And he maintained his streak.

Five kids and I never once changed a diaper in the hospital.

This was our nurse Sara. She was also our nurse when we had Contessa!

It was so fun to get reacquainted and to spend time with her again.

The OB floor was slow while we were there so we were her favorite/only patients...we took advantage of her undivided attention. I kind of wish we could have brought her home with us!

We're home

I just rocked Contessa before bed and as she and I sat there listening to the lullaby version of 'How Great is Our God' it hit me...

Contessa is gigantic now.

And I am blessed beyond measure.

I have such a grateful heart tonight.

Meeting her sisters and brother!

Lauren and Avery saw that my mom was at our house when they came home from school and they say that they knew right away that they must have a new sibling!

Lauren just loves her and really struggled when it was time to go home.

Avery was a little wound up at the hospital but I think she was just excited!

Um, cute!

And Tess, oh my Tess.

She didn't want anyone to hold the baby but her.

She called her, 'MY Baby!!!'

She had fun 'exploring' her face and feet.

In awe.

Torrance Reagan

She has a name!

And yep, she's just that precious!

We love her and feel so very blessed.

It's a GIRL!

7 lbs. 6 ounces

20 inches long

Loving her so much.

And now we need to decide on a name...

It's a ....

Yep, thought I was going to tell you didn't you...got to call the grandmas first!!!

Born at 4:08, the doctor's guess was one minute off

It's time!!!

Doctor is on his way!

Today's recap

1:00 a.m. Becky wakes up with a bad headache and doesn't go back to sleep.

7:45 a.m. Becky laying down resting, has to get up to do the girl's hair

8:30 a.m. Calls Doctor about headache and is instructed to go get blood pressure checked

9:15 a.m Nurse calls back and says to come on in since blood pressure was elevated yesterday

9:30 a.m. Call to Jordan - a little emotional - time to go!

Lots of stuff in between - but have to go, finish recap later...

3:47 p.m. Realized we forgot the stinking video camera. Ughhh! Had it all packed and everything...

Update

Becky is very sleepy, I think she might dose off a bit. The nurse is thinking any time, amazing the change since the epidural. She's not feeling anything right now, it's like she was when we walked in the door today.

Feeling good...

What a difference after the epidural. Wow!

Dilation

At 2:15 - 4 cm

At 3:15 - 6 cm

Epidural is in

We are really close, prep work is happening, not exactly scrambling to get it together, but they are getting ready.

Anesthesiologist

The nurse just went to call the anesthesiologist. Good news.

Student Nurse

Well, this is new...a student nurse for the first time. She's very young, only child, no experience with kids, I think it's a major birth control experience for her.

What isn't new...we have the same nurse as what we did with Tess. Fun!

Pain

Prior to the pain medication, on a scale of 1 to 10, pain during contractions a 10(11 or 12 actually). After the pain medication, pain is at 9. Better I guess...

Back in Bed

Becky just got finished with her bath, I was away from the computer for awhile which is the reason for the lack of posts. Pain med is in and hoping the epidural comes quickly.

Strength

I've never had my hand squeezed this hard - every contraction. The contractions are every 1.5 minutes, and very strong. Becky just got her pain medication - time to get loopy according to the nurse. Next will be the epidural.

Becky's Brother Jordan

Becky's brother stopped in a bit ago(he works at the hospital). He was very helpful, extra blankets, turning up the thermostat - but he also knew he had to get on out of the room in Becky's condition....thanks Jordan for your help!

Update

The epidural can't come soon enough! Becky's contractions are very painful. She's super cold, I think we have 5 blankets on her. The temperature is turned up in the room, I'm starting to bake. More updates when I can...E.T.A. (according to me) is bumped up to 3:15. Maybe still 3:30...and definitely before supper!

Becky didn't have lunch, she's hungry(was recently), and needs to go the bathroom. I guarantee you she's not going to get anything to eat, move from her bed, she's having the baby, and fairly soon.

More later.

Contractions

Well, the contractions are starting. When I asked Becky how I could describe her contractions the only word that came out of her mouth was "sucky." She's on the phone with my sister now and I heard her say "not the greatest." I suppose she's describing how she's feeling.

My bet is baby before 3:30. Just hoping they get the epidural started in time(and it works), my fear is things will progress to fast and the epidural won't happen.

E.T.A.

On his way out the door, the doctor said "You'll have the baby at 4:07 p.m." And then added, "And the most I've ever been off is by 12 hours."

Let's hope, for Becky's sake that 4:07 p.m. today is it, because 4:00 a.m. tomorrow doesn't sound like a great plan.

Doctor Says

The doctor literally just said(after the goo experience):

"See you later, and have fun." "You are going to have a baby today."

There were other quotes that came out of his mouth, which I won't share. Here we go!

At the hospital

Fearing a false alarm, we made our way to the hospital... and we found out we are here to stay. Becky's blood pressure was up and she had a massive headache which is why we came. The goo is unfrozen, and it looks like we will have a baby before supper!

This post and future posts will be by Jordan...

Name search

Sully told some of my friends this morning about our names for the new baby...

Girl: Free

Boy: Free Fallin'

I don't know where he comes up with this stuff! But I know its time for a new CD in the van!

1, 2, 3...JUMP!!!

The three older kids were excited to teach Tess how to jump into leaves!

She really wanted to give it a try but was a little nervous!

So Bo-Bo helped her out.

Oh she loves her Bo-Bo.

And jumping in leaves is kind of fun too!

oh these kids...and my new camera

We had so much fun in the leaves this afternoon!

And did I mention my new camera????

And I just couldn't decide which one of Sully I liked best.

New camera pics

Im having so much fun playing with my new camera and lucky for me

I have lots of cute subjects to practice on!

I just love how crystal clear his big cheesy smile is!

Aint she a beaut?!?!

Happy new baby, anniversary, christmas, bday, mothers day to me!

Jordan came through in a big way for my 2010-2011 gift! :)

So excited.

Now I just need to figure it all out in 1 week so we can take pics in the hospital.

Ok, I at least need to know how to take a simple picture within a week!

Thank you, Jordan!

Roomies

Contessa and Sullivan have officially been roommates for over a week now.

I was dreading this move.

Even more than I dreaded the day we moved Lauren and Avery in together.

I felt like our family would never survive this set up.

(Don't you love how I am never overly dramatic? So does my husband!)

In all honestly it has gone amazingly well.

After the first two nights they both stopped talking and now it normally takes less than 10 minutes for them both to be sound asleep.

And they are both still sleeping in until 8 so I call that a huge success.

But last night Tess was struggling.

I think she napped too long.

Sully was fast asleep but we could hear Tess up there talking and playing until after 9.

So Jordan went up and brought her down to have a talk.

I might also need to mention that she tore apart a really cute book that she had in her

bed with her. Less than pleased!!!!

So Daddy gave her a stern talking too.

Look close at her face...she looks real concerned doesn't she?

She just sat there with this sheepish/angelic/smirky face starring at him.

And I'm pretty sure the whole encounter had more of an affect on him that it did on her.

Then she looked at me like this and of course having the camera in my hand I really had no place to discipline her. She knew she had me won over. And I'm pretty sure she knew she was in no real trouble from him either.

Oh Miss Contessa, what are we going to do with you?

Stages

I've arrived at the stage of pregnancy that I like to call ' complete insanity and unreasonableness'. I've reached it with each pregnancy and its always when I get to the point where I can say, 'I could have this baby ANY DAY!' and where the contractions start getting more real and regular.

The stage is characterized by irrational needs to have EVERY. SINGLE. BIT. OF. LAUNDRY. COMPLETE. AT. EVERY. MOMENT. OF. THE. DAY., to keep every toy not currently being touched put away, every bed made, every cupboard stocked, every spot in the fridge stocked or the grocery list to fill said spots made, everyone in the house needs a hair cut, a flu shot and a bath and their nails clipped, we need to have enough toilet paper stashed away to last until at least 2012.

And its also characterized by me having a very mean and short temper.

I reached this stage today and its not been pretty.

It means I am a chicken with my head cut off and there are children hiding and whispering and a husband rolling his eyes and walking away.

And seriously...what? do I think that once I leave for the hospital I wont come back for 5 weeks? do I really think that once we bring the baby home we wont leave the house for months? WHAT IS WITH ME?

But rest assured that within a few days time this stage will be replaced by the one I like to call, 'the total and complete inability to move off the couch and the inability to care about ANYTHING other than sitting completely still'.

This stage is characterized by kids being told to wear dirty socks, eat cereal for every meal and to spray some lysol on themselves before walking out the door. And a husband who would give anything for a home cooked meal and a wife who doesn't resemble one of those people who have to be removed from their houses by a crane.

Baby, you need to come out soon and put us all out of our misery.

ok, enough blogging...off to wash a load of probably 12 socks.

Fall 2010

Is there anything better than Iowa in the Fall?

Nope, there isn't.

Its hard to believe that they are 6, 4, (almost) 9 and 2.

And even harder to believe that we're about to add one more.

They cause me more frustration, exhaustion, sweat, tears and headaches than I ever thought possible. Especially when I'm 9 months pregnant!

But they also bring me more joy, satisfaction, contentment, hope and love than I ever dreamed.

Sometimes its hard to imagine why God chose to bless us so greatly.

I am so thankful.

Pumpkin Carving

The weather was absolutely gorgeous on Saturday.

So after soccer and a morning and afternoon of outside projects we set out for some fun.

We spent the evening carving pumpkins, grilling and eating outside and having our first fire in the new fire pit.

The kids were really serious about their work.

And about our 'friendly' competition.

Sullivan was so excited you would have thought it was the best night of his life!

Really, this kid just has excitement pouring out of every side of his body.

He loves life!

(and wow, sometimes its exhausting for the rest of us!!!)

Tess didn't want much to do with cleaning out the pumpkins so we gave her a marker and a 'baby' pumpkin and she was busy for the longest time!

Sully's is on the left and Lauren's on the right.

Avery and Daddy didn't quite get theirs finished.

Anyone surprised by this?

Then it was time for fire and smores!

This picture is smokey but Tess was just SO happy to be helping daddy!

I just love our fire pit.

So relaxing.

After the little two were in bed we stayed outside with the older girls for a bit.

Lauren is the original Daddy's girl.