Veterans Honor concert

A new experience this year a veterans day musical program. The kids sang by class patriotic songs. They did a great job I am told. I was at home with Sir feeding him and resting. The rest in a recliner is not the same as a bed. He is not a fan of bed sleeping after 10 am until about 1 am. 

I love this. It's always magical and a bit mystical how the youngest suddenly morphs into a big responsible kid when a new baby comes home. Andrea is no different. She loves to brush hair. Afton was willing to let her help. 

The kids after the show. They are quite a group taking on or being forced into new bigger responsibilities it is fun and frustrating to watch and demand they grow and do more. 

 Time flies by and yet crawls like a slug. We are still in the trenches and that's a good place to be. I listened to a BYU devotional likening having children or the need to have children as archaic as the need to have a horse vs. a car. It was very thought provoking. We still need our children. We have been asked to have them while I mull over the responsibility of having so many my heart keeps beating we need each one. What a sad world that children are viewed as such a nuisance, waste of money and time... for Greg and I they definitely are a primary reason for our being for who we have become and the structure we live by. We are grateful to watch or see them become who they uniquely are. We are thankful for the lessons we learn with them. We are thankful for their relationships and influence on the world around them. Life is good.

Life rolls on

Part of the difference this time with new baby has been the non-stop life of the other people in the family. When we were younger life would just pause. We would watch movies and survive. Now with older kids life goes on and on. Halloween happened. They were so excited and came home very pleased with excessively full bags of candy. Into the safe it went so we can divvy it out week by week for a while. 

Harold came home to investigate and meet the new little one. He missed out on this stage with Andrea being on a mission. He still loves babies and they love him. 

Millie dear won a responsibility award. These three are powerhouses of good at her school. We are thankful for friends who inspire and are also strong lights for positive actions. 

We got to facetime with John eating chick fillet. Why my boys get into jewelry I don't know but its something that's happened to both the older boys. It's so nice to see them once a week usually. He too was happy to see the new brother.

And Mark on his last day in the MTC. He too was excited to see the baby. I had told him it was a boy and the name I wanted. He of course told John and maybe another sibling. It is good they can share the mission experience. Again it is such a joy to watch these brothers grow up together. Oh well life changes. The missionaries all seem to appreciate sharing that adventure with other siblings. They get the lingo and the sacrifice. 

The doctor was surprised I wanted to leave asap.  I have a lot of people who call me mom and while I'm not very active, I wanted to be available. So home we came and life swirls around us like a rock in an every moving stream. I'm not sure if we are a whirlpool causing rock or just one to maneuver around, I'm definitely not a dam. But the water of my kids lives, demands, and needs is constantly washing over me. It's a good place to be with so much life all the time. The kids are all doing well. They love each other. I get to be the bad guy in their lives, but they have siblings to console and understand them, and a dad who they perceive as more mellow and understanding. All good. We are blessed and thankful each day. 
 

District XC

Greg, my dad, Reed, and Livy took a road trip to watch Addie run in the district Cross country meet in Pendleton Or on Halloween day. We hope Livy might take up running and Reed needed to see what a race actually looks like after years of jeering her finish placements. They enjoyed the time off work to read for hours on end. Addie was surprised to see them all. 

Warmups with her teammates. 

The start line. All girls from 1a-3a run together there is no seperating like the boys enjoy. The team to the right of addie with blue and red are the speedsters. 

And their off. I love how strong Addie runs. 

This was the surprise and gold of the day. This is Zion she is a runner from Elgin. She and Addie run in the same time ranges. In the running world your times are all documented and stored away on a nasty little tool called Athletic.net. Those times are immortalized forever on that data base. Thus at any time you can compare yourself or rank youself based on times with your fellow runners. This is good and bad. 

This sweet lady ran with Addie most of the race. She would encourage Addie hey lets pass them about other runners. But mostly setting a pace Addie matched stride for stride. Addie hasn't had girls to run with in her day to day training and it changes from race to race depending on who shows up.

In the shoot about finished Zion pulled away Addie had given her all. She beat her old personal best by 14 seconds it was 19:49 she ran 19:35 this day thanks to Zion, maturity, and determination. This is pretty rare for a girl runner to run better than her younger self time. 

The Elgin team won. Zion was in tears for Addie. She had a spot for state because of her team. Addie was edged out of state participation. But she ran her best. She was back where she knew she could be. She set a new school record. It was a good day for running. 

The selfless ness of this fellow runner really touched me and Addie. It was so thoughtful of her. This is why I love this sport its not about killing the competition but about cheering each participant through doing better than they have before no matter what that looks like. It's about improving yourself each day. From gaining control over the debilitating nausea of last season to running stronger and managing a pile of leadership responsibility Addie did well. It was an enjoyable season. It ended well. 
 
Livy and Reed were delighted to find a perk of traveling with Papa Corn is good food locations. He knew of a deli in La Grand that served better than average sandwiches. They were absolutely happy to find delicious pies on the shelf as well. So after a great lunch and dessert they watched the runners, then  met the football bus and sent Reed to Umatilla to win the foot ball league title and headed home to be the late attendees to the Halloween party. It was a full day with lots of good. We are blessed.  

Our newest pumpkin

The day finally arrived for my scheduled c-section. We have never experienced that before. It was kinda nice to just work up to the big event. We got a lot done that may be another post. It's not to say there wasn't the usual worry and trepidation. I didn't sleep much the night before but knew the next day the doubts would be answered. We arrived a few minutes late to sit and wait. Greg was not impressed. I was dismayed to be with a training nurse who had a very hard time finding veins for the requisite IV lines. Finally after their 3 failed painful attempts the anesthesiologist promptly and confidently placed a line and we rolled into the operating room. This was a special experience last time. This time it was much less personal and the surgery as a whole was a lot more physical. I'm happy to say though that the baby is and was perfectly fine. I was able to hold him a while until the odd angle necessitated he be held more upright. But it was nice to touch and feel him a bit through the utter discomfort of being beat up as they pushed pulled and literally punched my uterus back in my body. 

At the end I was so happy to be put in a room with this sweet bundle to hold as my legs woke up. 

Although I was very aware of his life in my body it is always amazing to see what has grown in my belly. This boy has lots of red hair. When born Greg thought he was over 10# the anesthesiologist said mid 9 lb range. The official weight was 8 lbs 21 inches with a 14.5 inch head. Perfectly hydrated and fed he has since shrunk down to a respectable 7 lbs 6 oz the day we left the hospital. 

The sweet waking up time. Trying to capture some moments to share with the kids wondering about him. Trying to be modest and remembering through the whole day into this first week modest is not part of being a new moim. All access to anyone who "needs" to check or see how you or baby is doing. 

My mom brought lunch for her and Greg. My grandmother came next to hold and meet him. 

My sister came and we talked for hours. We are rarely together without kid needs and other commitments. It was nice to have time with each. 

Greg had gone to work earlier in the day. It was a long night of constant checking and caring for baby. There is no rest in the hospital. I reflected on  the nicety of midwife birth where you go home and figure life out. Or you rest together in a normal bed dealing with the healing process and getting to know baby. How I value those sweet times with midwives. 

The next day I facetimed with maybe the two most excited people Merle and Andrea. Aliza has been a rock for them. Taking them daily to water the cows and run off energy outside. They are having so much fun being kids together. Part of my postpartum heart is very sad the baby won't have a close sibling to share life with. 

The next day the doctor allowed me to leave. Greg came around 3 and we drove to Vale where we moved a car from Les Schwab to his shop even though the doctor told me no driving for two weeks. Life in the real world "I need some help please." I drove home then not wanting to move back to the passenger seat. Legs and reflexes worked just fine. These girls were thrilled to meet and hold baby brother. 

 A problem with so many sweet people to name is having enough names of respectable people not already used or with attachments. We wrestled through many name thinking maybe we had gotten close on one- I had wanted to name him Archie James. Greg never bought into that one. He liked Dave but too much baggage with that one so we moved on. Anna while driving me around suggested Jake for a long ago uncle that Aunt Gwen had told her about. That sounded good to me it's definitely only a male name, and has not been used, is short easy to write, all around checked our self determined boxes. We used Robert for Rob Wagstaff who we counseled with years ago when contemplating another child. But as that took so long to happen had dismissed from memory. 

Being a c-section baby he had none of the head bruising or swelling of the other kids. Thus he is able to open his eyes and look around. We spend a lot of time in this brown chair. I enjoy standing occasionally. 

The younger kids were so thankful the older kids went to school so they could be the baby holder. There is not enough time holding him if you ask any of them. 

After the usual stress and agony of learning to nurse and a 2am order on amazon that showed up the next day, then getting his membranes clipped on his lips and tongue the next day nursing has improved 100%. He primarily nurses getting a bottle only in the early morning hours when I just need a break and some sleep. I miss uninterrupted sleep but all in all he is doing well. 

Merle and Andrea are just tickled to be the older siblings they accept my non-stop sitting and again I'm so thankful for Aliza's presence to take them everyday outside for hours to burn off steam. Seriously she has been game changing and I repent for all the crazy-ness of the other kids first few weeks of life. It was much harder trying to manage them and baby. 

I'm thankful my body is able to care for him. I was very worried if with my advanced age and lack of thyroid if my body would do the routine. So far so good. All is actually very good and better than many of the last 4 kids have done. I am blessed. With all the fear and uncertainty and reluctance the outcome is much smoother and better than I had worried. Back to my brown chair I go to hold my little bundle of hunger and to enjoy these moments of time celebrating being able to and relief to be on this side working the system I see we can do. 14 healthy active bodies walking around inspires hope and confidence we can grow people. We are so blessed with the addition of our Jake Robert to our family. 

Weekend Work

These two are enjoying more freedom and responsibility. I was happy they happened to be riding by as I was in need of a ride home. They were happy to oblige. They got some work done, not all that was necessary but enough to say they were working while Reed was riding on a bud to Burns for a football game. 

I had surveyed our storage room and realized we were short on apple supplies so I bought 1500# of apples and we got to work. We are in no way going to use all those apples but hoping to share with many other families. Fresh hot applesauce is such a treat. That combined with the changing weather from beautiful and pleasant to cold and rainy this was a nice evening activity. I processed jars while waiting for Reed to get home from Burns. 

We also enjoyed pies, excuse Aliza's face she was caught mid sentence. We had fresh apple and fresh pumpkin pie. Yum!

The next day these two dressed up and headed to the piano recital. Huge thank you to Aunt Brenda for having such a nice costume for Millie. She made the costume years ago and it's just been hanging in a closet waiting for wear. So nice of grandma to suggest it as a possible solution to the dress up dilema we always face. 

Saw a few never before things at the recital. A cow playing the piano. Also known as Duke J. 

Taking a bow. 

A sweet Andrea who got to wear the crown when it hurt Addie's head too much. 

Addie played well. I'm thankful she is sticking with piano a little longer. I think it is such a powerful skill to possess and have used it often throughout my adult years. She said her hands were shaking so bad it was hard to play- I told her that was the mark of poise to keep going even when it was super hard. 

Millie played the same song as another girl there. Millie played hers faster and did a great job. Again survived the shaking hands and fear of performing in front of others. 

All of the performers. The young lady in blue jacket 3rd from left on top was one of the most amazing performances I have ever witnessed. She played a mash up of Queen, Elton John, and then Billy Joel's piano man complete with harmonica she played while playing the piano in between singing the words to the song. WOW! That is so much concentration and focus. Her teacher said she struggles to learn the super hard songs but she gets them down and then wow. 

After that we headed to buy a new drier as winter has come and our trusty clothesline isn't so reliable. Andrea and I completed that task while Addie and Millie shopped for Halloween supplies at the local thrift store. They found this adorable item for Andrea who loves the ears. We hope they last the week. 

I'm thankful for time to do what needs to be done. For kids who are capable working to become more. We do hard things. I had a person tell me they don't do hard things and I was so shocked I couldn't reply. We don't always seek them out but we don't shy away when they come. We are blessed in our journey, and have enough apples for hundreds of pies to come! Small portions and I can even have that deliciousness. Life is  good!!

truck riding

With all my appointments in the bigger close town I drive over there a few times a week. Kids aren't welcome in those places so they got to go ride in the truck. This is a new adventure but Merle and Andrea are experienced riders and enjoyed it. Merle was just mad I made him quit earlier than he is use to- with Mark he rode hour after hour. 

One day Lia got to also ride she was really looking forward to the white board to dray pictures while they went around and around. 

Andrea loves time with her older siblings and thinks Anna is pretty cool. She is still working to differentiate between Anna and Aliza's voices but she is learning who they are the more time she is around them. 

I adored time in the truck when I was a kid. We are thankful for the patient of the driver's to have us come spend time talking to them and asking questions. Harvest is a busy long time of year. It's a good time to spend time together. We are blessed. 

 

FFA Officer photo shoot

One tradition of being an FFA officer is a photo shoot. The very talented Emmy Johnson took these one evening. They are some of my favorite pictures ever taken of Addie. 

Her team below left to right Addie, Teahan, Taylor, Elli, Sean, Jackson

A picture with their new advisor Carli. She is teaching the good information, Addie is doing her best to manage and keep the FFA program going. She has enjoyed the challenge and loves leading her chapter. 

We continue to be thankful for the opportunities the kids are given. Life is about change and finding new ways. Life is good even though it is vastly different. In a student leadership program this year is offering that opportunity.