Adam and Rachel Start School

Our elementary school is going to be year round now. I am not sure how this works, since we have never done anything like it. They start early and have 3 months off at different times throughout the year.

Adam and Rachel both left a little nervous and a little excited. They both came home confident and happy. Rachel told me that her favorite parts of school are recess, lunch, and drawing time. I cannot squeeze that much detail out of Adam. He did say there is a boy that likes Bionicles too.

I look forward to seeing how they blossom through the school year. I think this is especially good for Rachel. She is so small that most people believe she is 3 or 4 instead of 6. I am glad to give her the chance to both interact with and be treated like other 6 year old kids. After 2 days, she is already more confident and less dependent on me and her older sisters.

Baby Comes Today

I am having my baby this morning, and I cannot sleep.

A week and a half ago when I was told that I was dilated four centimeters and John was still required to spend much of his day laying down with his foot up, I felt rather overwhelmed. I asked John for a blessing.  In the blessing, I was told that I would know when to go to the hospital to have the baby. A few days later, I knew. I knew that I needed to send five of my kids to their grandma's in Provo, and ask to be induced on Friday the 27th.

Why Friday the 27th? Well, Rachel and  Adam started school on Wednesday the 25th; John had his post- op appointment on Thursday the 26th. With all of those big-ish events that I needed to take care of out of the way, it would be time to have the baby. I also knew that I needed to ask to be induced because I needed to get help with my children.

Ruth and Kate have done so very much for our family since John has broken his leg. There is always so much to be done in a family this size. Dishes, laundry, and food preparation take me twice as long now as they did when I had just four children, and there is always more things that need to be picked up and put away. A really big family like mine is just naturally more work. Ruth, Kate, Johnny, and Adam have pitched in and done many extra chores everyday. They are tired. It has been a long month.

Last Friday, John came to a couple of stores with our family. When we got home, he was exhuasted. I  felt like he had hardly done a thing. I looked around at our messy living room and my over worked older children and I knew things would not go well with me spending 24 hours in a hospital right now. Plans had to change.

I thought things over a while and decided to ask John's mom to take Kate, Johnny, Anya, Joseph, and Joshua while I had the baby. I wanted Ruth to stay here with Adam and Rachel and to be in charge of getting them to school. My mother in law readily agreed.

When Wednesday came around and I was still pregnant and still dilated 4 cm, my doctor asked what he could do for me (It is nice having a doctor with 7 children.). I told him I wanted to be induced and on what day. He was happy to go along with my plan.

Last night, I drove my children up to their Grandma's. I felt really bad leaving them. I have never left my little children over night before. We have always managed to use as little child care as possible while I had all of the previous babies. I also felt really bad that most of my children will not be able to greet their new little sister the day she is born. But, I know leaving them is the best thing for our family right now. John cannot take care of all of the kids and the house. And Ruth and Kate have taken care of enough. Sometimes, I just need to ask for help and take it.

That is where we are at. Kate, Johnny, and the three youngest are an hour away at their Grandma's. I will need to leave for the hospital in an hour and a half, and Ruth will walk Adam and Rachel to school in 2 hours.

I am excited to meet my new little daughter and grateful for the Priesthood and the Gift of the Holy Ghost that help me make the best decisions for my family.

Joseph Turns 3

Joseph is such an adorable, articulate little boy. I am so glad, he came to our family. I am not sure I have had such a fun toddler. I love all of my toddlers, but Joseph is just plain old fun. (That is, when he is not whining :).)

 All week long, Joseph had been begging me to go to Costco. So we went on his birthday! I think it is hilarious  that this little fellow is so interested in running errands with me.

 For the last two months, when we asked Joseph what he wanted for his birthday, he would say, "Gum, a gun, and a guy!" So that is what he got. He actually found his gun hidden in my bedroom the morning of his birthday. He was so excited about it, that we let him claim it and sang Happy Birthday right then. Johnny's present of a Bionicle ended up being his only wrapped up surprise. All day long, he kept asking me when he could eat his gum. Still, even with the wrapped surprise, he shook the box and immediately guessed "Lego's". This kid is going to be a tricky one to surprise in the future!

I made the easy to make, but fun to look at Monkey cake. Joseph had a good birthday, and he was a pleasant happy little boy all day long.

July 2009

July 2010

July 2011

July 2012-- My he has grown!!!

My Cute Kids

 I love these guys!

 We went to the Church History Museum--kids museum, for Joseph's birthday.

 The kids enjoyed playing with all of the neat hands on stuff the museum offers. Anya and Joseph are dressing up and setting up Nephite dolls.

 A bunch of the kids built castles with foam blocks.

 I was surprised to see Ruth joining in the play.

 Josh came and wrestled Joseph for a spot until he saw me taking his picture. Then he looked at me and smiled.

 In the kitchen/garden room, Kate tried to get Johnny to be the dad.

 Rachel enjoyed dressing up and getting her picture taken. She has that fake smile now.

 I think it will be a few years, before I can catch Rachel with her natural smile again.

 Kate took a couple of "chickens" from the coop and said, "These aren't laying eggs. They will have to be dinner."

 She then went ahead and "prepared them for dinner".

 I really enjoyed my nearly 13 year old daughter playing. She did not enjoy me taking pictures of her play. (I love those evil eyes. It is fun to tease my older kids.)

Here is Joseph enjoying Kate's feast.

Surgery and Recovery

I am late posting this. John had surgery last Friday. I took him into the hospital at 9am. They brought him into surgery just after 11am. At 1:15, I received a call from the doctor. Surgery went really well. His bone went back together nicely. Once the pins and metal plate were secured into his fibula, the tibia and surrounding ligaments moved back into place. This was the best case scenario. If the bones didn't move back onto the ligament that connects the leg bones to the foot bones, then they would have had to cut open the other side of John's leg, force them back together and pin the fibula and tibia together. We are so glad that fixing the one bone, fixed everything else. Surgery went great!

I met John back at the hospital at 4pm. He had been awake for just a little bit and had been able to eat some pudding and drink some juice, so they let me take him home.

Noticing that John was rather unsteady still, I called the kids and had them set up a mattress on the floor in the living room. We got John home and helped him to his mattress. John welcomed the kids sitting with him and playing with him on his bed on the floor.

Since then, John has not been in too much pain. He has minimized the pain killers he is taking and is mostly sticking with ibuprofen during the day. Honestly, things couldn't have gone better. And with him hanging out in the living room within kid reach, he is enjoying his time down just hanging out with all of our children.

All of the kids have been good about helping me and doing extra chores. John has gotten up to load dishes into the dish washer. I started to vehemently object, but then I realized that I have every intention of doing the same thing the day after I  have this baby, and do not want John to object to me.

John and I have developed a little more compassion for each other, because well, neither of us can get up and move around very easily right now. I get to be the one to be back to normal sooner.

A Pleasant Surprise

Today in church, Joshua got to start nursery (the class for 18 months to 3+ years), and to my great surprise, he LOVED it. I was nervous dropping him off, and hesitant to leave him. But, he actually went straight in and excitedly got to work on a puzzle. So I left my little guy. Unlike, half of the nursery, Josh didn't cry. He started baby talking to the leaders with a little smile on his face.

Josh played happily the whole time. He was absolutely fine without any family members present, and I think he even participated in the little activities. When I came to get him, he was chasing a little girl behind a stack of chairs.In all, this is the first time in church in months that Josh was not a nightmare.

I hope it stays this way. It is nice to have a baby like nursery.

Where We Have Been: Robertson Family Reunion 2012

The PineWood Derby

This is my kids favorite event. The older kids start designing their cars months before the fourth.