Pumpkin Carving

Adam drawing out the design for his pumpkin

Classic Matt...not happy with how his drawing came out, but we managed to save it!
Ben actually did all of his own carving this year!

Ben designed and carved the "4 Boys" pumpkin!

Grandparents

Our kids are fortunate that they are able to see most of their grandparents fairly often. My parents only live 10 min away, and Brian's parents are 4 hours away, but Grandma is a trooper and makes the drive here fairly often! We were thrilled to be able to share baby Luke with them.

Hopefully Opa can meet Mr. Luke soon, too!

Grandma holding grandchild #11 on Brian's side of the family.

Luke tipped the scales in favor of the boys...6 boys & 5 girls.

Nana & 1 hour old Luke: grandson #10, grandchild #13

Papa with 3 of the 5 MN grandsons

They share a middle name

I'm not sure who was more surprised here!

Pictures of our reality

Master Bedroom mess

Could we be on an episode of "Hoarders"?

At least it's clean laundry that's piled all over!



Hopefully all 4th baby's rooms are this messy! (He's not using the room yet, so it's become a catch all room while we continue to adjust!)


I have yet to use the glider & the Boppy pillow this time around.


This is what our supper table looked like the other night.

Fast asleep on the floor at 5:30 p.m.

Becoming independent...they hopped in the shower together & helped wash each other's hair

Week in Photo Review

Epidural bliss!

Meeting their brother for the first time. (I LOVE Matt's expression!)

Coming home 36 hours later

Waiting patiently for Grandma...and still in jammies at noon!

Enjoying the beautiful fall weather in the midst of happy chaos.

A happy mom moment...all 3 playing with Adam's new bday playdough set!

Family outing with Grandma to pioneer village 4 days post-baby. This was on Adam's actual birthday and at one point during our visit he said, "This is the awesomest birthday ever!"

Family of 6 photo

I don't want to forget how tiny he is!

Adam didn't seem to mind that his birthday was slightly overshadowed by the birth of his brother. He still loved his Star Wars cake!

Family walk to the park where Ben CHOSE to pick up a baby snake. Gross!

Lots of neighbors and friends stopping by to meet Luke.

My current favorite picture of our newest addition!

October Birthdays

Half of our family of 6 has a birthday in October, and today happens to be Adam's special day!

Happy 4th birthday, buddy!

We love how you are growing and learning more and more each day. It's been a busy week with the birth of your new baby brother, but you are impressing us with how loving and accepting you are of him.

We hope today is a special day for you as we celebrate YOUR birthday!

We love you, Adam!

Our one and only Adam Charles!

With cousin and favorite pal, Max.

A blurry pictures, but he LOVES this costume!

He's an awesome big brother already!

Luke

Wow! Where to begin? The last 48 hours have been a whirlwind.

On Monday morning at 6:15 I felt and heard kind of a "pop" sound. Honestly I thought it was a hard baby kick and shortly after got up to go to the bathroom. When I was walking back to my bed, more and more fluid came out and I realized that perhaps my water had broken. I've never had this happen at home, and since I was exactly 38 weeks and had never delivered a baby more than 2 days early, I certainly wasn't expecting any of this to be happening. It didn't take long to be convinced that in fact my water had broken, and were going to be having a baby!

Brian took the boys up to our friend and neighbor, Kari, around 7:00 while I was making dr. phone calls and getting a few last things together. As we made the 20 min drive to the hospital I started having some consistent and painful contractions, and based on my history of fast deliveries, we assumed this baby was going to be here SOON!

I got checked in around 7:30, the nurse checked me and said I was dilated to a 4. She asked if I wanted an epidural and I said ABSOLUTELY! I've never been able to have one before because things progressed so quickly, but she said she'd get the IV started and that hopefully I'd be able to see the anesthesiologist soon. I was so very thankful that I was in fact able to get the drugs! It was heaven! I was chatting with my parents, Holly and Brian who were all in the room while I "peacefully" labored.

When it was time to start pushing the nurses and dr. had me move from my side to my back at which point my blood pressure dropped unexpectedly. I guess I was out for 30 sec or so and when I came to I remember looking up at all these faces saying, "Hilary? Are you okay? Do you know where you are?" It turns out it had dropped to 50/28...pretty low considering the normal is 120/80. I could tell people were concerned and they called for some extra staff in the room in case they needed any additional help. Fortunately none of that was necessary, and with an oxygen mask on a few more pushes, at 9:50, just a little over 2 hours after arriving at the hospital, I was able to deliver Luke, a happy healthy boy!

After delivery the placenta would not deliver, an issue I had with my second pregnancy as well, but fortunately the dr. was able to perform a D & C in the room and I was able to avoid going to the OR like I had to with Matt's delivery. Several times the dr. commented that he was so glad I had the epidural to block the pain of the placenta removal. God certainly had his hand on us in that room and took care of everything!

Fast forward about 36 hours and we were heading home with baby Luke! I only stayed one night in the hospital because I was feeling really well and ready to get home.

We're all adjusting and the boys have been so sweet with their new little brother. Some of the comments have been "This is like a dream" (Matt), "This is the best" (Ben), and "I love being a big brother" (Adam). What more could we ask for?!

Sure, I know life is going to be crazy, and I've already had a few moments of wondering how I meet everyone's needs. We need time to adjust, but so far, things couldn't be going any better!

We are thankful for our healthy family and know that we are truly blessed!

Luke Randolph

October 18, 2010

7 lbs 13 oz

20 in

Already declaring he's #1, despite being number 4!

The best shot we've got so far with his eyes open.

He better get used to being picked on!

Being a big brother is tiring work!

Baby Makes Six

Sister guest poster because.....

look who's here.....

Luke Randolph

Born October 18, 2010 at 9:50 a.m.

7 lbs 13 oz

A few scary moments during and after delivery for mom (I'll let her fill you in on all the details), but everyone is doing great now.


Has anyone noticed that this makes four boys?!?!?
And little Luke is just as cute as his big brothers.

Cooking Extravaganza

We're still a family of 5 here. We'll post baby news as soon as we have some to share.

In the meantime, I spent Saturday cooking some meals ahead of time with one of our neighbors. He and his wife are expecting their 2nd baby about a month after us, and they have very busy schedules. He is a police officer, she is a doctor, and they have a 5 year-old daughter. He likes to cook and suggested that we do some mass food prep together.

For $60 a piece we each made and have since put in the freezer to pull out when our lives get super crazy:

2 9x13 pans of chicken manicotti

1 9 x13 pan of chicken-cheese- broccoli casserole

6 breasts of chicken cordon bleu

24 breakfast burritos

Hopefully we won't eat everything before the baby arrives, but I'm starting to wonder...

I'm Ready

The house is cleaned.

Laundry is done.

Groceries are bought.

Lesson plans at school are set.

Hospital bag is packed.

Hurry up baby, before I have to do this all again in a few days!

**UPDATE**

We just realize our camera isn't working. Hold on baby...we need to hit Best Buy before you come.

Saturday Morning

How we entertain ourselves around here on the weekend.

The Spider Song

Stair Surfing

Closer

Baby Update from the dr. appt today:

*almost 2 cm dilated

*70 % effaced

Bottom line....getting closer!

Teachers!

I think all elementary teachers need to have children of their own to experience what life in the evenings is like!

I just spent over an hour working on spelling words. No joke.

Matt has 25 words that he needs to spell correctly and fit into the long i or short i category. Perhaps it doesn't sound difficult, but reading and spelling do not come easy for Mr. Matt.

Ben has 25 words that need to be spelled correctly and then categorized into the -al, -il, -le, -el categories. After that, we had to work on placement and correct spellings of all the New England states and capitals.

That's a whole lot of spelling for one night!

Making Progress

I cannot believe I am 36 weeks into this pregnancy. Really? In 4 weeks we're going to have another baby in the house? It has flown by, and it has been the easiest by far. (Although Brian would say it's been the crabbiest pregnancy. Oops...)

I had an appt a few days ago and here's what I know:

*The baby is head down.

*My cervix has started to thin.

*The dr. is willing to schedule an induction once I hit 39 weeks b/c of my fast delivery history.

That means I have approximately 2 1/2 weeks of school left until show time.

I put the camera on self-timer and snapped this quickly. I have very few pictures of me pregnant with this baby.

At Target today I realized I should probably buy some small diapers. All we have is a hodge-podge of size 6 diapers left over from Adam. It sure has been nice being diaper free for the past ~6 months.

26.2

He did it! And he did it with a lot of class, I might add! Brian completed his first full marathon today with a time of 4 hours and 35 minutes. That's an average pace of 10:29 min miles.

The boys and I met him at mile 12 (and I hope he doesn't get mad at me for sharing this), but he lost it when he saw us. The tears were running down his face. At first I thought he was in pain or something was wrong, but when I asked if he was okay he said, "I'm just so happy to see you guys!" I've heard running a marathon can be an emotional experience, and clearly it was for him.

We met up again at mile 24. He was running on behalf of the NF Endurance Team, a group I've represented in the past as well. This group had a ton of spectators, a high school drum line playing and a DJ pumping music. He was filled with energy as he ran past.

When he was finished I asked him what he thought and he said, "It was great! It really wasn't that different than running a 1/2 marathon," (of which he's completed 7). I was thinking to myself, ah, yes, it IS different. It's like running 2 half-marathons, but I decided not to argue with him.

We all rested a little bit when we got home, and now he's off to the park with the boys to play on this perfect fall day! He says he's up for running another marathon next year.

Way to go, Brian! We're all so proud of you!

Watching for Dad at mile 12.

Approaching us for the first time

You can see some of the emotion in his face!

Matt and his buddy, Connor, a friend fighting NF, at the NF Cheer Zone at mile 24.

Full of energy with 2 miles to go!

So proud of Dad!