Adjusting to a family of 6

So, I wasn't quite sure what to expect with the addition of our little Charlee. I knew there would be adjustment but I truly didnt know what. Sure I figured there would be the sleep deprivation, big girls wanting to help, people making comments about me still being pregnant (4 so far) and getting out of the house time would be increased. Here are a few things I didnt figure:

-My older girls would be bubbling over to a point of the "momma bear" coming out in me. They are so incredibly fast and jumpy around baby that it makes me very anxious and nervous. They are doing better as the week has gone on, but still something that makes me on edge especially if I am feeling incredibly tired. The new mantra is to go SLOW around the baby.

-Charlee is a potty pyro. She can shoot poo and pee with the best of them. I had totally forgotten that little girls could do that so well.

-Nursing. I remember it now( the pain) but somehow had minimized it in my mind that maybe with this being the 4th it wouldnt hurt so bad. NOPE, we are at day 10 and it is still painful for the first minute. Wowza.

-Time, what time? I have magazines sitting on my table that have not been thouroughly perused 2-3 times yet. I have only cracked my Bible once and all other study of the word has been on my phone. (C did get me a stellar new phone that makes this very easy, but still.) My convos with my bestie have drastically decreased and time with the husband now includes our little Charlee.

-My head is not clear most of the time. Usually operating off not enough sleep and borderline headache. I know this will get better and I also know it could be a ton worse. Praise God for C helping me.

Things I am loving:

-Time with Charlee, even in the middle of the night

-My small group bringing me food. I havent cooked in forever, thank you all so much!

-My bigs wanting to hold their sister and have her tell them" go to bed sissies" each evening

-Leilani and the tenderness I feel as she waits for me to be able to pick her up and hold her again

-Nursing cover and changing table! Woot! never had one with the other girls, but am borrowing one from Parker

-Knowing Charlee is sucking it off me and putting it on her

-Being non-productive if I want to

-Taking mid- day naps

-Crazy healthy and long hair

-Dani, being so willing to help wherever needed

-Alli being excited to hold her sister

-Leilani wanting to touch the back of her head

-Knowing we are incredibly blessed that God would trust us to bring up 4 girls. Wowza

thats all for now. Baby needs~Jaimie

The Stash!

Isn't it beautiful! My husband started growing his stash back in April and it has bloomed into this amazing specimen you see before you. Some might call it a cop stash, some a 70's stash. Others have more inappropriate names for it. I call it AWESOME! He recently started carrying a comb in his pocket when we go out to make STASH look amazing at all times. It really has a lot of volume when he brushes it against the grain. He said that it would get shaved off if it bothered Charlee with the amount of kisses he would be delivering, but she doesn't seem to mind. Anyway....I thought that the stash was due to have a blog written on it. You make it look good babe! The haters out there are jealous

Charlee Elizabeth

Meet the newest member of our family Charlee (pronounced Charlie, there has been some confusion). She was born on July 15th at 8:20am weighing 7lbs. 10oz she was our smallest baby. We had to stay in the hospital a few extra days to make sure she did not have an infection and praise God we got to bring her home yesterday. So in love! Laura Pasma came to the hospital hours after she was born and blessed us with some amazing pictures of our little Charlee, isnt she beautiful? Anyway, we are extremely tired, a bit edgy and still trying to fall into routine as a family of 6. Will continue to update more after I have had some sleep.......possibly in a year or so.

Kennewick Singers Company

This is my friends new business. If you have a little girl (preschool- grade school age) who enjoys the spotlight she will love this. Singing, dancing, microphones, the whole 9 yards. Give Amy a call today at 406-212-3793 to find out more!

Countdown

I love this point in the pregnancy. I am a ticking time bomb and I love not knowing where I will be or when she will choose to make her appearance. Preparations continue as we ready ourselves to have a baby in the house again. Her room is definitely not ready, but the immediate necessities are. I figure all we need in the beginning is her car seat and a play pen for her to be sleeping in. Check and check. My hips are hurting more and more as sleep continues to evade me. I have always looked at this as God preparing me for a newborn, much appreciated. I have been getting many hours of sleep, just not solid sleep so I cant complain too much. I have an appointment today so we will see if she is just cozy in there or if there is progress to her wanting to come out.

My diaper bag is packed and she is all ready for the hospital. I on the other hand am not as prepared. I have a couple things together but I need C to get a suitcase down for me in order to complete this preparedness effort.

C is home sick. This is the second time in the last couple months he has felt this way. I feel horrible for him. He has flu like symptoms that come and go throughout the day. He feels best when in bed so we are just letting him be there. Poor guy. We joked that maybe the "stash" was carrying germs and causing him to get sick more often. Obviously not a real concern or he would have shaved it off. He did tell me that if our baby disapproves of the "stash" he will shave it off immediately. He wouldnt want to irritate her little face with the amount he plans on snuggling her.

Cravings:

Safeway Chineese food (it has literally been years)

Denali Moose Tracks Ice Cream

Raspberry Bars

Zucchini

Squash

The Play Room

Was finished yesterday. C and I spent the whole morning and afternoon assembling pieces, unpacking toys and getting ready for the big unveil. It was awesome! I will post pics when I think about it.

So, the closet is full of costumes and dress up clothes only. There will also be board games in the top when I get around to that. I put together the two shoe racks that now grace the bottom. There are 30 slots for shoes, 10 for each girl, although Dani may need a few more b/c her shoes only fit one to a cubby in some cases.

The room is equipped with a 9-holed cube thingy from Target. We got really cute colored bins to put in there to match the room. The colors are pink, lime green and purple. This is currently a home for the hundreds of Polly Pocket items that my auntie gave us. Lou is in heaven. The room was already lime green with purple polka dots on the walls so that worked out nicely. The most expensive piece of furniture was the table and chairs. They have white tops and light wood colored lets. Perfect for setting at to do crafts or play the DS.

The DS was an added feature. We bought one for Alli and Leilani to share. Dani bought hers with her own money and rarely lets them play. In all fairness to Dani, Alli bought herself one too and left it outside overnight to its ruin. This one is not allowed out of the playroom. Did I mention it is pink? So cute. We also brought the game Tangled and an Elmo game spesifically for Lou to work on the alphabet. They love. To go along with that we bought a low-to-the-floor gaming chair (lime green) and Alli has had her hiney glued to it ever since yesterday.

We also got a big pink bin to house all Allisons stuffed animals. She has quite a few. Another thing we put together was the multi-bin storage thingy. It has plastic bins in all the right colors and is currently housing the barbies and ponies. We still have several empty bins but Im sure the girls will have those filled in no time.

So, all this to say that the tv did not come on this morning. I woke up at 7:30am and did not hear the girls. I found them all on the floor of the playroom. Two were DSing and one was setting up a Polly Pocket adventure. This was my hope, that they would be more interested in having their toys back than watching tv. I felt horrible packing them all away while trying to sell our house, but that is over and we are back to playing Barbies!

Momma

Today is my mothers birthday. She had an incredibly difficult school year last year and as soon as it was over, I could see the weight off her shoulders and she was a different woman. All year she was stressed out over deadlines, test scores, double lesson plans and a difficult administration. Well, school is out baby and so is mom. She treats herself with a trip to Vegas each year and this year, she and her friend are staying an extra long time. They usually run themselves ragged while away and so they will actually have some time to rest now. I am so excited for her, she deserves it! happy birthday mom, you are amazing!

I also titled this post MOMMA because I am about to be a momma again. Wow, 4 lives that God has placed in my world to impact, mold, love, grow, all that. I feel really blessed. Never has C adored me so much during pregnancy. Usually by this point he is despising it and ready for it to be done. But call it maturity, call it 5 years since our last baby, call it growth, he is thrilled to meet our daughter soon. We did pick a name but she shall remain "heartbeat" until she is born. The girls have made sure that they will be the first to hear her name. They are so cute. Each day they oogle over the belly, point out how big it is, and are sure to give it a kiss. They are fascinated to know exactly what is kicking them, where her head is and if this is gonna hurt. 2/3 are ready to never have children but leave it to Allison to say, "I will try it once and if it doesnt hurt that bad, I will have 11 more." She probably will too. She is our little firecracker.

I have been running ragged these last two weeks with swimming lessons and VBS, but this next week I am doing nothing. We are gonna be home each day, laying around, watching tv and truly resting. I can tell the two littles could use a rest all week but we were too busy for that. Also, we combined the girls into one room. 2/3 were thrilled, one was not. Can you guess who? Also, C and I are making a fabulous play room and getting the baby room ready. Busy times. Ok, hows that for an update? Happy 4th of July weekend. My Alli was born on the 4th. Really special day for us!