Long summer, busy summer..... is that fall?

Seriously Amelie, I love you!!

Porter tends to hide from the camera now, so this is him being caught off guard



Oh sweet Benjamin, I can just eat his cheeks!!

Jackson and his teacher Mrs Simpson

Lily and Jackson on the first day of school. She held his hand all the way to school, it was SOOOO cute!


The neighborhood kids getting ready to walk to school.

This was Lily's first day... the previous FIRST day pic was on JACKSONS first day of school


Ok, so I have been a slacker, but come on... I have 5 kids. Between 2 kids in school, 1 kid in pre school, 1 19 month old who is trying to kill me, and a 4 month old who wont stop puking....I am tired!!
Lily started 2nd grade and is doing awesome. She reads like a champ and I cant get her to stop. She loves Judy Blume which makes me happy, because I read those books when I was a kid!!She all of a sudden has become a 13 year old and cares about what outfits she wears. SO much for leggings and a shirt, or a simple sun dress. The shoes must match the out fit, and a hair style is needed. Dont forget the SILLY BANDS. My kids have about 500 sillybands, and thanks to Lily's B day party..... we have a BOX of them. I tell the kids daily, bring your bands to school and dont just TRADE them, GIVE them away!! wahooo!!!
Jackson started kindergarten and LOVES it. He is doing FABULOUS and I LOVE his teacher. She is SOOOO sweet and just the most kind person I have ever met. She has 2 sons who are Autistic and her heart is so welcoming to children with special needs. Jackson is going to speech therapy 2 days a week and is doing GREAT.
Porter is my pre school boy, man.... he needs to be in school all day. That boy is monster when he isnt BUSY with other kids or school. I am just THRILLED that he gets to take the bus to school starting in 2 weeks!!
Amelie is 19 months and has started the "terrible 2's" a few months early. But she is just so fun, and adorable with her red curly hair!!!
Benjamin... oh Benjamin. I sure do love this kid. He is SOOOO fun and loves to laugh, play with his toes, roll all over the floor. and bounces in the jumper like a pro!! He has a little issue called Pyloric Stenosis which causes him to become the exorcist child a few times a day. He has to get a Upper GI done, and a Lower GI as well to see whats up, and if he needs surgery =( Jackson had the same issue, but with medicine, and once he ate solid food, he seemed to be ok. He is 4 months old, 26 3/4 inches long, and 16 pounds 2 ozs!! TOTAL CHUNK! I love it!! But he is SOOOO tall, wears 6-9 month clothes and can fit in some 12 month onsies, depending on what brand they are.
I think its funny that when Lily was ONE year old, she was only 18 pounds, and my 4 month old is 16 pounds!! HAHA!!
Lily had her 7th birthday party a little late. She wanted to wait until school started so she could invite the girls from her class. We had 24 girls here... I repeat... 24! It was SOOOO fun! My friend Bethany came over and took pictures of the girls in their cute clothes, All the girls got some cute favors I bought from my friend Melissa and her company called BEING PETTI. My friend Kristine from KAKES BY KRISTINE made a cake that a BRIDE would adore. It was awesome (pictures below) It was a fun day and my little Lily had a GREAT time with her little friends. It took some time, but she has established some GREAT friendships down here and we just love it. Her "lehi best friend Lizzie" (must not confuse that with her "daybreak best friend Gracie") is here for dinner most nights and hangs out with Lily until I personally start to undress Lily into her pajamas. I am in trouble when Lily is a teen... I am sure she will be one of THOSE kids who wants to stay out late!!
Life is good, we are happy and are planning on staying here in Lehi for another 9 months until the school year is over. Then... who knows. Jake's current job has a opening in Henderson NV, and I am not sure if that is the BEST move for us, but it would be a pay increase, AND a change of scenery! SO we shall see what the next 9 months has to offer. Jake is doing great in school and its nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel, FINALLY! Well... here are some pics of the past few weeks or so....

Summer photo shoot for the kiddos

Ok, I know I am their mom, and of course even if they had a second nose, 4 eye balls and looked like shrek, I would think they were GORGEOUS, but MY KIDS ARE GORGEOUS!! Seriously AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS!! Here is the proof.....

totally random

OK, I dont think there is anything better to look at than a baby smile. Benjamin just started smiling and even gives a mini giggle every now and then, and I am even more in love with him every second I am his mom. I really truly have to thank my children for helping me become the woman I was meant to be..... a mom. With that... I love my kids, and today my house is a mess, laundry STILL needs to be folded from yesterday, there are dishes in the sink from last night, and I really dont care. Today is about my kids, and I am going to be a mommy and play!!

Wow, did July just fly on by?

I guess I am a slacker. I never thought people cared enough about my blog to actually ask me to post something!! It has been a BUSY July, and frankly I am thrilled July is OVER!! Bring on August, bring on a new school year. Bring on a 2nd grader, a kindergartner and a pre schooler!! I have 3 kids in school, am I THAT OLD? yes! I turned 32 this month (GASP!) And my husband turnd 37 (DOUBLE GASP!) July was busy, but fun. I am just REALLY tired and would like a break please!! I had surgery this past week, got my baby factory shut down. I am out of business!It was really easy!! The recovery wasnt so bad, my belly button is sore, but thats all! I needed pain meds for one day afterwards. When I bend over, I feel some tenderness, but all in all, I feel good!! NO stitches, and no scar!
Jackson is feeling WAY better, and his blood counts havent changed, so that is a good thing. They are still elevated, but are not in a dangerous zone.
Jake is back in school, so the evenings are a bit chaotic trying to manage a house full of kids, make dinner, clean up dinner, bath time and bed time. He does help, but some nights its easier for me to do it, I am faster!! I had a fun birthday. We went to Lagoon the week before with the kids and had a HOT, yet fun time. Then ON my birthday we went to Tucano's brazillian grill and had yummy food. Amelie yelled at the people for banging their drums at me for my birthday "no no NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" The only loud noises she likes, are ones she makes!
Today, we blessed baby Benjamin. It was really nice. My family is just amazing, its as simple as that. I consider many of my friends my sisters, and I was blessed to have them there with me. Bethany, Barb and Janie are seriously my best friends!! I love that we all have A LOT OF KIDS< and chaos is normal!! Between the 4 of us.....15 kids!! makes for a LOUD, yet fun day!! I am just really blessed to have such great friends.... =) Friends are everything. They are there when you need them and they are there when you didnt know you needed them. This year has been a rough one and with out ALL of my friends, I seriously dont know how I would have made it. Old friends, new friends, all of my friends. I love love love you!! Chatting on line with a friend, a phone call, a email, a visit.... means so much. Since I moved away from most of my friends it has been hard. I have truly been blessed with real friends, and I will never take them for granted, ever.
The baby blessing was great. My husband has a tender heart and it was obvious he really loves his baby boy.Even though I TOLD him (ahem.. wrote down what I wanted him to say) He did a great job. Benjamin looked adorable in his blessing outfit. I spent many hours on line searching for a WHITE NEWSBOY CAP for this kid!! And I FOUND one on Etsy! He also had these totally adorable hand knitted booties that looked like oxfords!! My mother in law made this way cute romper for him, and my cousin made a blue blanky. It was a nice day =) "cafe costco" catered the party afterwards, so I didnt have too much to do!! The food was super yummy! And totally random... I love AGAVE syrup. Have you had that stuff? HOLY YUMMINESS ON FRUIT!! mmmmmmmmmm! To close off July.... I GOT BANGS! And I really like them. I trusted my hairstylist Jocelyn (she has never let me down) and let her hack away!! Lily said "you look like one of my baby sitters". I sat there quiet and said "you mean I look young?" She said "yes.... you look like you are 12." I dont know if Lily likes them or not. hahaha
I had my 6 week post partum check up and all is "OK" with my kidneys. One is still being a little stubborn and causing some infections, but hopefully in time it will get better. I have had a heart murmur for about 5 years now, and the docs have said it wasnt so bad. But when I was at the hospital this week, the doctor said "Wow, you have a LOUD murmur, you need to see a cardiologist". So I did. I had a Echo Cardio gram and they did find a pretty loud murmur. So now I am waiting to see what he wants to do. I guess the "fix" would be surgery, and a shunt. The idea of open heart surgery does not excite me, but if it will make me get my energy back, and cure the Anemia and low blood volume... do it!! I will find out tomorrow or tuesday what the doc has planned.... seriously, if its not one thing, it will surely be another!! BUT, I truly believe that in order to truly enjoy the GOOD in our lives, we need to accept the bad. In order to appreciate all of our blessings, we need to experience pain. I am scared about my health, but I trust in many things. I have trust in my doctors, trust in my family, trust in my friends, trust in myself, and trust in God. With all those things... nothing can go wrong =)

Benjamin's photo shoot

These pictures just make me SMILE!! I have not had the best week (understatement of the century) and looking at sweet pictures of my kids always makes me smile. Benjamin had his pictures taken last night and OH.MY.GOSH!! AMAZING!
















I also need to express my feelings about another little boy I just adore. My sweet Jackson. 2 days ago I decided that something was just not right with him and I took him to the doctor. They immediatly sent us to the hospital for some lab work. The results of this lab work was not pleasing. It showed very high white and red blood cells, and high platelets. What does this mean? Could be a few different things. A major infection in the body (what we are actually hoping for), Leukemia (makes me break down and cry just thinking about it being that) or Mono. Well the Mono test came back negative. His blood tests were then sent to a patholigist and oncologist and will be reviewed. Under initial review they both feel that Jackson needs his bone marrow tested. All I can do when I think about them drilling a hole in my sons hip is scream!!! THIS IS SO UNFAIR! No child should undergo such agony, and no parent should witness their child in so much pain. We are waiting to hear back from the doctor to see if they still feel this is needed. Another option is to wait a couple of weeks, and run a new panel and see if any changes happen. Jackson is amazing, I love this kid so much and as frustrating as he can be, he always has time to give you a hug. He is always so kind to everyone, and the first to offer to help when needed. His best friend has cerebral palsy and Jackson is so loving towards him and is always helping him at school and with his walker/chair. Instead of teasing his friend he thinks its the coolest thing "mommy 'K' has the coolest set of wheels ever!! How lucky is he!!"
I am feeling blessings and love all around me and know my family is being watched over. I know that everything happens for a reason, and things like this can only make you stronger. Just as I was feeling weak and tired, this situation gets put into my life. I am angry, and scared, but also feel that going through this will make me appreciate the people I love even more. And I will cherish every single second I have with my kids. They are truly a blessing and I feel like I am the luckiest mom in the world. Jackson just sat up on the couch and out of no where said "mommy, I sure do love you". I sure do love him.

Benjamin Dwight Stephens

Well I am late!! Things have been a little BUSY around here, but I do have some free time right now!! Benjamin was born on Monday, May 31 at 9:37 pm! He weighed 8lb 7 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. Seems "Not so bad eh?"
Lets start from the beginning. I checked in to the hospital at 8 am. Got all hooked up, they started pitocin around 10:00 am, and my water broke at 12 noon. Easy right? WRONG. i got the epidural pretty quick this time around because the contractions were SOOOOO insane I couldnt see straight, literally. I got all dizzy and felt like I was totally tripping out!! The pain was THAT bad. Never in my experience with having babies, have I felt THAT pain before. It was SOOOO sharp and cruel!!
The epidural man came in and I fell in love with him. He just made everything awesome. I was dilated to a 3, and stood at a 3 for most of the day-seriously pissed me off. Then I finally got to a 4. And then creeped up to a 7, then to a 10!! So I went from a 4-10 in about 30 mins!! It was AWESOME!! But Benjamin just loves my uterus so much he stayed as high as he could go and would not drop down!! My doctor had me do some pushes, and nothing was happening. He told me to rest, and lay on my side and see if he would drop on his own. He did. And with my other kids I had the most gnarly chills, puked, became a literal devil woman and was a complete monster when I was in transition, this time... TOTALLY different. I just layed there and had fun!! My BFF Bethany came over to hang out with me and Jake and take some fun pictures. We just had so much fun!! The nurses, med student, my OB were in shock when they came in after seeing my "strip" and saw me laughing!! I was having some intense contractions but didnt feel anything!! AWESOME!
A few pushes later, I was told to STOP. Benjamin was sideways. He should have been face down shoulders across... but he was L-O-A, and had shoulder distocia. I totally spelled that wrong, sorry. He was STUCK, and he was pinching his cord with his shoulders every time I pushed. Not to mention, the cord was wrapped around his neck TWO times. The kid was trying to hang himself!! My doctor said "life here isnt that bad, what did you do that for!!" Again, making me laugh and trying to keep me calm. He didnt tell me the severity of it until AFTER he was born. But I knew something was wrong when I had a nurse literally lay on top of me PUSHING on my stomach in ways that shouldnt be legal. Benjamin popped out, and he was rushed off to the NICU nurses to be checked out since he wasnt crying and he was pretty much a smurf. After no more than 30 seconds, Benjamin SCREAMED and turned into "patrick star".
I then found out the damage that the delivery caused. OUCH. 4 tears, 14 stitches later... I think I held my pee in for the whole time I was in the hospital after the first time the nurse MADE me pee, in front of her none the less, and she heard me SCREAM like someone poured acid on my lady area.
It was a scary delivery but everything is great now, and Benjamin is doing awesome! he is the cutest thing ever! And I am IN LOVE!~! Life with 5 kids is pretty much insane, but so worth it. The kids LOVE him. Well, almost. Porter is not sure what to think, Lily and Jackson ADORE him, and Amelie loves to say "bee bee...ooooh oooh ahhhh" and give "love pats" which arent so loving.
I feel ok, still have some healing to do, but other than that, I am happy!! I have 5 amazing kids, and KNOW that I am truly blessed.