Recent Pics

Blessings, ♥T

I'm still alive!

Lest anyone think I've dropped off the face of the planet... I'm still here :)

We have been super busy and have had some family issues come up that had to be dealt with. But we are still alive and kicking!

Just a quick overview of what's been happening...

OK, well, so much for that thought, lol. I was gonna do a month by month of what has happened but I'm sitting here trying to remember what has happened and I can't! We have had birthdays, school testing and ending, more birthdays, chaos in our home, more birthdays, God fixed/is working on the chaos in our home, more birthdays... Yes, we have a lot of birthdays! With 11 people in our household and both of us coming from large families with our siblings having spouses and several children each we have LOTS of birthdays! I have 1 brother, 6 sisters, 7 brother in laws, 7 sister in laws, 12 nieces, and 10 nephews, in addition to my husband, 9 children, step daughter, and our parents! That makes a whole lot of birthdays all year long!

We haven't gone on any big trips or done anything "spectacular" but we're having a good summer and praying God continues to work in our family. We are probably going to start school after labor day. This year we are going to be using My Fathers World. I think it will work better for us to be able to do most of our school work together and just separate the older kids stuff. If we really like it (and I think we really will) I will be continuing with MFW for the kids 8th grade and younger. I'm not sure that I care for their high school program and I am looking into other stuff for that. (thinking about CLASS through Christian Liberty Academy for high school) But we will see. I still have a year to figure that out.

Sarah is getting so big. She's over 16 lbs now. She is not a very happy baby. She is quite a cranky baby actually. My worst yet. :( She is teething now too. I got her an amber necklace and that seems to help, but she is just not very happy. Hopefully she'll outgrow that soon.

Well, I've got a busy day tomorrow with church (we have to be there earlier than usual because my husband is going to be shuttling the bus kids to church as our normal bus drivers are gone or injured (one broke 3 of his vertebrae!) so he's subbing) Until I have more time... Hope your lives are blessed!

Blessings, ♥T

Pictures of Sarah♥

Here are some pictures of our sweet little Sarah Ruth♥

This is my dad

 This is Sarah with Titus who is 3 weeks older and was 1/2 an oz smaller than her when she was born :)

 This is my mom

 My sister

 My other sister

 Zachary holding her for the first time

 Emily holding her for the first time

 Makenzie holding her for the first time

 Madison holding her for the first time

Jason holding her for the first time

James Michael holding her for the first time

 Kathleen holding her for the first time

 His dad

 His mom

 Loves his little sister

Blessings, ♥T

Announcing the arrival of Miss Sarah Ruth ♥

Yes, she is finally here!!! And as adorable as can be! :D

I know some of this is chronicled on here already, but for those who haven't been reading all along...

Found out I was pregnant and got very sick right away. Thankfully I don't throw up, but I get so nauseous I can't eat. I also get very exhausted. Like falling asleep sitting up exhausted. So in the midst of this we moved across country. Not easy, or fun, packing and moving in that state.

Thankfully by the time we moved and got a house I was feeling well enough to be able to get my house unpacked and organized. (with the help of my mom, sisters and kids) I got a very severe kidney infection in Sept. Once I got over that though everything smoothed out and I had a very "uneventful" pregnancy from there.

When I went to the OB I was told I was diabetic. I started testing and my blood sugars were all perfectly normal. I had an U/S which showed a perfectly healthy little girl. At my next appt I was told I had to see the male OB/GYN. I had already stated that I would NOT see any male OB's and so I (thankfully!) was able to switch to a different practice. There were only 2 OB's there, one being the OB I saw when I was pregnant with my second son. She was actually a homebirth midwife in the past. They were both very supportive of me having a homebirth. They were not happy with the diagnosis of diabetes without the results showing so. (the other office never would produce those results) So because my sugars were all normal they weren't convinced. They ordered a 2 hr glucose test and I passed with flying colors! I am NOT diabetic!

In the meantime I was going to see my midwife along with my sister. It was always so nice to have the time to visit with her and have my appts with no kids :) (her husband would watch all our kids for us) The only issue I had for the remainder of my pregnancy is that my iron levels were low. They didn't continue dropping, but they wouldn't come up. Not sure why, but I am fine in spite of it.

My sister had her son on Jan. 21st. I was blessed to be able to be there. The midwife did my prenatal after her birth :D Our due dates were 3 weeks apart to the day and she ended up being late.

I got to my due date.

I passed my due date.

Really I was OK with it. I was tired, but I wasn't miserable and wasn't in a hurry to have her. My kids however were so anxious they were asking me everyday to try SOMEthing to put me into labor! LOL... Kids are so funny! I couldn't convince them that nothing ever worked for me before and it just wasn't worth it. At 40 weeks the OB said I was only to a 2 and 50% effaced. At 41 weeks I was a 2 and maybe 80% effaced. So she stripped my membranes. That was on Wednesday. After my appt and all day Thurs. I had severe cramps almost non-stop. Friday morning I was so miserable I decided to go to the chiropractor. I really felt like my hips were so crooked that she couldn't get in the right position. After the adjustment my cramps stopped and I felt so much better! All during this time I was not really having contractions. I would just have them sporadically and they would stop.

On Saturday morning around 6am I woke up with a really strong contraction. I had them every 10 mins for over an hr when I finally couldn't stay in bed any longer. I didn't know if this was "it" or just false labor and I didn't want to have everyone come and have it stop. So I didn't call anyone I just took a shower. Fixed my hair and put my make up on. (hey, if this was it I had to look nice ;) The contractions weren't really coming closer at that point, but were very strong. Finally around 9am I called my mom and the birth assistant, Jacquie. Jacquie was going to come over and see how things were going and observe for a while. My mom was going to go to the store and come over later. Then the contractions started coming 3-5 mins apart. So I asked her to just come straight over. I was starting to panic a bit because they were so strong and the midwife was 2 hours away. So I called her and she said she'd be on her way. My sister called during all this and was trying to decide when to come. While on the phone with her I had a contraction and threw the phone down. LOL... Makenzie picked it up and told her to call back :) Which she did a few mins later to tell me she was on her way as well.

Jacquie got here and checked me to find that I was still at a 2, but could stretch to a 3. Was still having very strong contractions. I was thinking that I couldn't keep this up all day. So I was a little frustrated and was crying through contractions. I was so disappointed seeing as the contractions were so hard. Claudette (the midwife) got here around 12. After talking with Jacquie and watching me, she told me to lay on my left side and try to rest for at least 30 mins to an hr. Not exactly what I wanted to do at this point :) But since I hadn't slept much in the last 3 days I was very tired, so I tried. I really didn't sleep, but I did get a bit of rest. The contractions picked back up and got closer so after 45 mins I asked her to check me again so we could decide what to do from that point. I was still a 2. She offered to do cervical pressure points or we could discuss other things. I said go ahead and do the pressure points. That was a very long 8 minutes! When she was done though I was at a 6!!! WooHoo!!! She told me I should either stand or lay down on my left side to keep baby's head engaged properly. I felt like I could manage contractions better standing. That was at 1:00.

After that there was a flurry of activity. Everyone was trying to get things set up quickly. The pool was aired up but had to be filled. Claudette was bringing all her stuff in my room. My bed had to be changed. Water had to be heated on the stove. I tried to help by "directing" in between contractions. But they were pretty much all I could manage. I stationed myself at my door and held onto it during the contractions.

I'm not sure exactly what time it was, but the pool was finally ready so I got in. Talk about relief! Water is so helpful in labor! So I continued to labor in the pool for a while. Claudette checked me when I started feeling "pushy". I was still 9 with a lip, but she said I could start pushing whenever I wanted. I didn't really want to push. I knew it was going to hurt ;) But I started pushing anyways. I always have such weird thoughts at this point. Claudette was standing in my doorway watching me and I kept looking at her thinking "why doesn't she come over here so I can get this baby out?"

Finally her head was crowning! I PUSHED her head out. Then there was a lull. I could feel her head and her little ear. I think I was a bit tired at that point. At this point I noticed Claudette started to climb in the pool. I remember thinking "can she not reach? Cause I can't move closer right now" But then I started pushing again and the rest of her came out. (They thought she was stuck I think?) Claudette helped me lift her up and she was in my arms! She kinda gurgled and cried a bit and then she started screaming! She was starving and started to nurse right away. She was the quickest of all my kids to want to eat. And then she didn't want to let go, for 3 days! We named her Sarah Ruth. Sarah, because we like the name and Ruth after James' grandma. She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and was 19 in long. She was born Feb. 11, at 2:58pm. Just 1 hr and 50 mins after the cervical pressure points were done.

She is absolutely beautiful! She is quite a screamer. And I don't mean the cute newborn cry, I mean a high pitched scream screamer! Things are finally settling down and she's sleeping better at night now. The kids all want to hold her and look at her all day long. They ALL love her to pieces :D

My sister and I with our babies who are 3 weeks to the day apart :)

 I am so thankful to have been able to give birth at home again. It was such a wonderful experience and I had such a great birth team!

Blessings, ♥T

My Favorite Song Right Now

You know sometimes certain songs just really bless you at certain times in your life and this song is one that is really blessing me at this time in my life...

Blessings by Laura Story



We pray for blessings, we pray for peace. Comfort for family, protection while we sleep. We pray for healing, for prosperity. We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering. All the while You hear each spoken need Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things


'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops? What if Your healing comes through tears? What if a thousand sleepless nights Are what it takes to know You're near? What if trials of this life Are Your mercies in disguise?


We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear. We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near. We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love. As if every promise from Your Word is not enough. And all the while You hear each desperate plea and long that we'd have faith to believe.


'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops? What if Your healing comes through tears? And what if a thousand sleepless nights Are what it takes to know You're near? And what if trials of this life Are Your mercies in disguise?


When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win. We know that pain reminds this heart that this is not our home. It's not our home.


'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops? What if Your healing comes through tears? And what if a thousand sleepless nights Are what it takes to know You're near?


What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy?


And what if trials of this life, the rain, the storms, the hardest nights are Your mercies in disguise?


Blessings, ♥T

Liar, liar, pants on fire...

Ok, so this is actually a serious post :)

To all the mom's out there...

Have any of you ever dealt with a child who lies about EVERY thing? And I mean literally everything! A child who will lie to get out of trouble, who will make up stories about anything and everything, who will lie to your face even when you watch them do "it"? What do you do? How did you deal with it? I am at a loss and nothing I say or "do" is seeming to get through to this child. I welcome any suggestions!

Blessings, ♥T

2 weeks to go!!

Yep, that's humongous me! Still got 2 weeks to go :) Can't wait, but can all at the same time! 

So things have been pretty "normal" around here. Had my "nesting" time, got everything clean except the toys in the girls room. Really need to get that done. Of course all the contractions I was having stopped as soon as I had everything done. I got my birth kit and supplies ready, got all the baby clothes and supplies ready, and now nothing.

Kids are staying caught up on school for the most part. We are trying lots of new things and some we really like and will continue with next year. Some we don't like and won't use again. They are doing really well with their piano too.

I'll probably do a post about what we are doing and what we will be doing soon. We'll see how things go :)

Blessings, ♥T

Emily Noel

Well, Emily has the last birthday of the year so I guess it's good she's got the last birth story too huh? :) 

We of course, were very happy to find out I was pregnant again. I was relieved partially because it gave me a good excuse to wean Michelle. I was very ready to be done, but she wasn't. 

When I was 16 weeks pregnant we were in a car accident. Someone backed into the side of our car. They were in a big vehicle. I went to the hospital because I was having contractions. They couldn't find a heartbeat so I was very worried. I went to my midwives the next day and she was able to find it really quickly. She was really low so that's why it was hard to find. 

After that things were pretty calm and normal. We moved to CA when I was about 6 mos along. I was very anxious to find a midwife and was blessed to be able to use Claudette. She had been the midwife for my sisters SIL. There were actually no midwives in my area so she was going to have come 2 hours to get to my house. But thankfully she was willing.

I found out I was pregnant in April and my due date was Dec 20th. I just KNEW that she was going to be born on Christmas. I really didn't want her to be though. For more than one reason... I didn't want to be in labor on Christmas, I didn't want to miss out on Christmas, I didn't want my kids to miss out on Christmas, I didn't want her to have to share her birthday with Christmas Day, etc... 

I had an appt with Claudette (On my due date I believe) and she stripped my membranes. I had lots of hard contractions for the next few hours and then nothing. On Saturday, the 23rd, I had my mucous plug come out and some bloody show. I thought for sure I would be having her that day or night. But no, nothing happened. We went to church Sunday morning and then spent the rest of the day celebrating Christmas with his side of the family. We had a good time, but I was very frustrated because I was late and I just knew she was going to "ruin" Christmas. 

That night I finished wrapping presents and went to bed around midnight. At 3 am the first contractions hit. They steadily got closer and stronger. I was able to have Christmas morning with my kids though :) I called my mom and Claudette around 4 pm. My mom was over right away and my dad took the boys back to their house. Claudette got there around 6 and by that time the contractions were beginning to get slower and further apart. So we discussed it and decided to put some gel on my cervix to get me going really good. We didn't want her to leave and then have to turn around and come right back. 

So at 6:30 we did that. Right away the contractions got stronger and closer. I stayed in the tub for most of the time after that. Claudette and my mom sat on the floor in the bathroom. Several times Claudette checked her heartbeat and encouraged me to try different positions. In the back of my mind I knew things were quite right, but didn't know what it was. Finally I was to a 9 so she said if I didn't want to be in the tub for the birth I needed to get out. So I got out, made my way to the living room and "got ready". The baby didn't want to come down though and we thought it was cause of her position. So I tried to get on my hands and knees. I think I only lasted one or two contractions that way. It just hurt my knees way too bad. 

I was finally at a 10 and she was down low enough, I started pushing. On the first push I experience the worst pain I have ever felt during labor and delivery. It is hard to describe but it was the horrid pain of pushing her out but at the same time her being pulled back up inside me. I said "I can't do it" (ok, I say this every time, but still it was AWFUL!!!) Everyone said "Yes, you can, push!" so I did and her head was out. Claudette told me to stop because her cord was around her neck. She got it off and I delivered the rest of her. I pulled her to my chest and the cord was so long it was still connected to both of us and in a pile on the floor. It had been wrapped around her neck 2 times and was wrapped around her arms/body too. When Claudette was checking her heartbeat she was actually only getting the cord pulse, not Emily's heartbeat. This was the reason I guess. 

Emily was born at 10:53 pm on December 25th. We didn't have a name picked out for her yet. Well, not exactly. We had planned on naming her Mykaela Emily, but couldn't agree on the spelling. Since she was born on Christmas Day we decided to name her Emily Noel. She was 7 lbs 13 oz. Big beautiful blue eyes and dark hair. 

She is a very smart, spunky little girl. While I was pregnant I would tell people that she had a terrible temper. Sure enough she does! Irish through and through. :D She has always been a sweet, cuddly girl in spite of that though.

Blessings, ♥T