Family of Six

I was finally able to finish my Christmas post so check two posts back for pictures from our first week at home with Joshua with lots of family visiting and helping us celebrate "the most wonderful season of all"!!!

Zack and the kids playing the "Cars" computer game that I found at Goodwill and had to get them for Christmas!

This is week two of Joshua's life and I am so enjoying him along with the rest of my family.  Zack has been so gracious and helpful and I have finally taken his advice and parked myself at Panera so I can catch up on blogging and e-mail.  Since we returned home from the hospital we have had no Internet, except a few hours when I posted my first post about Joshua.  It's been frustrating to not be able to correspond with friends via e-mail or post recent pictures, but it's also a gift to not have one more thing to distract me and Zack from our kids.  So here I am, sitting at a booth with a recently fed, content, sleeping Joshua next to me. 

Oh My! I've had so many friends offer to bring us meals that I think we'll be set for a good month.  This is leftovers from the dinner Velynn made us: freshly fried chicken, green beans and ham, homemade mac-n-cheese, from scratch corn muffins, and brownies.  WOW!

Some thoughts on our first week and a half as a family of 6.  So many people have commented on how good I look for just having a baby.  I keep saying how much better I sleep now compared to the few weeks leading up to Joshua's birth.  Although my sleep is interrupted when I do sleep I sleep hard and rarely wake until Joshua wakes me up.  No irritable bladder, no laying in bed for an hour or more unable to fall asleep despite being dead tired, no having to sleep on my side.  And then there is the absolute joy and luxury of being able to sit for hours a day nursing and cuddling with little Joshua.  I think I can appreciate this time more with each child because I realize how quickly it passes and how healthy and nourishing it is for both me and him.  I know that having a good eater (he's already gained a pound from birth!) is not something to take for granted.  I've had many friends who have struggled with nursing and I am so glad it has never been a problem for me.  I am choosing to acknowlege and be grateful for every single positive aspect of this transition because when hard times do come (and we have had a few rough hours already) I need to draw on these things.  In the scheme of things to have a healthy baby who eats well is no small miracle and I never want to forget that there are many people out there struggling with a variety of healthy issues concerning their babies. 

The older two have such a great balance of sincere interest in Joshua and complete oblivion to his existance.  It's so fun to watch them interact and to hear their questions and comments about Joshua.

Having Zack home for all this time is amazing.  I know most of you are envious, I would be!  I would not be rested or very sane right now if I was trying to manage all four kids on my own right now!  They are benefiting as much as I am from this time with Dad.  We've had an eye guck virus circulating through the older three kids but thank goodness it hasn't interrupted their sleep, in fact they are all sleeping better and better.  They've slept until 6:30 the last few mornings.  Poor Zack has been pretty tired because when Joshua is awake he often is too, but he's up each morning with the kids and always has some form of breakfast ready for me when I get up (oatmeal, breakfast burritos, waffles - I'm so spoiled!).  I'm typically up around 8 which is perfect because then I get plenty of time with the kids and we can try to get out for a walk or errands before lunch.  Zack took Samuel and Audrey to McDonalds two days in a row while David took his morning nap so that they could get out some energy playing at PlayLand.  It's so cute to hear their stories of the friends they meet and play with! 

Such a loving sister!

Zack and I have been using the evenings to watch movies and read books.  Zack recently finish Angles and Demons and is currently reading The DaVinci Code.  He convinced me to pick up the first book since he wants to rent the DVDs once he's finished with the series.  I picked the first book up and decided if I could get into it quickly I would try to read it.  Wow, it grabbed me right away and is hard to put down - now if I just had more hours to read!  I've always been curious to read The DaVinci Code due to all the controversy and look forward to being able to discuss it with Zack once we've both finished it - whenever that is! 

Getting ready for a diaper change and a feeding

I'm trying to take each day as it comes and cherish it without thinking about when Zack returns to work and worrying about all the transitions and adjustments that will come then.  Praise God, my mom and Trish are coming for four days each to cover the first two weeks that Zack is at work.  The final week of January will be my first solo week with Zack gone on his four day and me on my own.  I'm sure there will be tears but I also know that there will be moments of joy as I realize that I can do it and as I see my kids stepping up their help and responsibility.  Ok, update: since I typed this last paragraph I received an e-mail from my sister-in-law, Emily, who is in Korea teaching English for a year.  She's returning for a visit in a few weeks and will be around that last week of January to help out.  She'll stay with a good friend in Portland but be around during the day - yeah!!!  Not only will I get great company from her but the kids will be in auntie heaven and I'll have an extra set of hands to help!  God is SO good!

First bath in the bathroom sink (I can get that room the warmest).  You know it's your fourth when you wait over a week to bathe them.  And I only did it when I did because he was getting circumcised that day and I knew I wouldn't be able to do it again for another week.

What a year it has been!  I have no idea what to expect from 2010 but I am excited for it and so very happy to not be pregnant (after 36 months of pregnancy in the last 5 years!) but rather to be moving ahead as a family of six.  It will be our last year of having a baby around, my last year of nursing, a time for purging baby supplies, well worn maternity clothes, and all our girl clothes under 3T.  Bittersweet!  But our family is ready to be done expanding and rather focus on growing together.  We are extremely blessed to have these four kids and I want to be able to shift my energy from growing new babies to being able to nurture my kids with more focus.  For the time being we are staying in our current home and I am at peace with it.  We still have our eye out for something else but I'm not as anxious as I once was and I can find plenty to be grateful for with this house.  Zack's work looks like it's going to present us with many choices this year as he will have the opportunity to either upgrade to captain or transition to flying the jet, both options would help us out tremendously in the financial area.  However, they would also both mean either moving to a new base in a new state or Zack commuting - neither of which sound especially appealing.  We have a lot of weighing to do as we consider our options and we covet your prayers as we trying to discern what is best for our family.

This picture's for you, Auntie Laura!  Remember giving this shirt to Samuel?  Now all four of our kids have worn it.  And although he doesn't know his auntie in person yet, I know he'll love her when he does get the chance to meet her!! 

I sincerely hope that you are able to take some time to reflect on the blessings, big and small, that God has provided over this last year and that you are able to be filled with hope and excitement at the vast opportunities this new year holds.  It's my prayer that I can see as many of you as possible in this next year!!

 I just LOVE this picture!  Not only does it show off how handsome my husband is but it shows how absolutely adorable and loving David is too.  The last week and a half has been quite the adjustment time for him but thanks to having a loving Dad who does his best to dote on him, David is definitely rising to the occassion and his meltdowns and fits have continued to be minimum compared to what they had been and what they could be. 

Introducing . . .

Joshua Eugene Grice

December 21st, 1:44pm

6 lbs 14oz, 19.5 inches

The Birth Story:

What an absolutely perfect ending to my birthing experiences!  Althought it seemed that Joshua's birthday would never arrive it of course did and the timing was as perfect as could be.  I really feel incredibly blessed!!!  As some of you noticed my last post before Joshua's birth was Monday morning.  Although I had an inkling it would be the day based on some low cramps in the morning I really wasn't sure until about two hours before his arrival. 

I started having low contractions around 10am but nothing strong, consistant, or long.  We had planned a Costco trip for that morning and we took my hospital bag "just in case" but at this point I really thought my labor could last all day.  Walking around Costco caused a few stronger contractions but they were still really inconsistant.  However, when my mother-in-law, Trish, called around 11:30 to let me know she was available to come any time (from Yakima) to help I told her I thought she should come that day based on how I was feeling.  Bless her heart she jumped into action and was on the road by 2pm.  We started home from Costco and I was beginning to think maybe I was having false labor because the contractions slowed way down.  And then suddenly as we pulled into our driveway at 11:50 I felt really low pressure that took my breath away.  From then on my contractions quickly sped up to every 3-4 minutes and increased in strength and pain.  Since I had an appointment set for 1:15 we had childcare lined up already with our next door neighbors, Gladys and Lee.  I called Gladys at 12:30 to tell her I was in labor and asked if she was available earlier if I needed her, she said she was.  I ended up waiting until 1 to take off since we wanted to get the kids fed and down for naps.  By the time Gladys arrived I was in the labor zone and focusing pretty hard on relaxing through contractions. 

The ride to the hospital seemed much longer than usual and when I arrived inside (I had called to tell them I was coming) I wasn't happy to have to wait to see the receptionist.  They made me go into Triage even though I told them I was fairly certain I was complete.  It only took the nurse a quick check of my dialation to call and let them know I was complete and needed a room.  They tried to offer me a wheelchair but there was absolutely no way I could sit at that point!  I arrived in my room at 1:30 and it took everything in me to wait to push until 1:40 when the midwife arrived and they were set up for the delivery.  I stood and gave a few hard, painful pushes and out came Joshua!!  What an absolute joy to meet our fourth child!  Zack was next to me all along and did a great job of encouraging me although he did make a really bad joke less than an hour after Joshua's birth about having to go for that second girl . . . NO WAY!!!  I feel honored and privileged to be the mother of three boys and one girl!

Joshua is our biggest baby by almost 10oz, but still so small and precious!  He's been a great sucker from the beginning and I have nothing but gratitude for his safe, healthy arrival.  The kids have been amazing!  Samuel and Audrey are curious and doting and also indifferent, just depends on the time of day.  David has been curious, loving, jealous, angry, excited, and helpful, again it just depends on the time of day!!  But he is getting more use to the idea of Joshua and has calmed down a lot in the last few days.  Already it seems like he is such a big boy, and he is!  Our first week was quite the honeymoon with so many family members around to love on the kids and us and to help out.  The next two weeks will be a time of adjustment as we enter into learning to live as a family of 6.  Zack has taken three weeks off and I couldn't be more happy.  I know I am so blessed to have a husband who can and will take this amount of time off - because in many ways going to work would be much more relaxing for him!!!  I can't say enough about how much he helps out.  I basically just need to worry about caring for Joshua and myself.  However, I really enjoy it when Joshua is sleeping and I can spend some time with the older kids.  Tonight I was able to roll around on the floor with David goofing around and laughing for about 15 minutes, something I couldn't do the last two months of pregnancy.  We had such a good time and I could tell it meant a lot to him to have that time with me.  I chose to put him to bed and he laid his head on my shoulder and let me sing four songs to him before praying.  Often he gets mad at me because he knows I'm going to put him to bed and doesn't even let me sing one song to him.

I am feeling great all things considered.  Of course the biggest complaint is being tired but I'm sleeping way better now than at the end of my pregnancy, even if I am woken a few times for feedings.  I have energy and felt really good on our first family walk this evening.  I know I need to continue to take it easy but it will be nice to get outside more and more, and I can't wait to start running again!!!!!

I'll try to post more pictures soon but we haven't had Internet all week and right now it is a super bad connection so it's hard to download pictures.  Believe me, I've been trying to post for days!!

A Very Merry Christmas!

It will be hard to top our Christmas marathon this year! We were absolutely blessed to have so many family members come to visit, celebrate, and help us out.  Here's a quick run-down of our week:

A family of 6!!!

Monday: Joshua's birth!!!  Trish (GG) drives from Yakima to stay with the kids and help out all week!

GG admiring her fourth grandchild

Tuesday: Kids and Trish visit us at the hospital in the AM; Bring Joshua home in the afternoon and get settled; Anticipate lots of great company in the coming days!

Traditional shot leaving the hospital

Wednesday: Zack's dad, Steve, and his wife, Sally, arrive for a two day visit; my dad, Bob, and girlfriend, Tylar, come by for a visit and to start round 1 of gifts; Dinner with Steve and Sally.

Grandpa DeVine and Tylar admiring Joshua

KFC complements of Steve and Sally - yum!!

Thursday: Kids swim at Grandpa Grice's hotel pool in am while Joshua and I attend his 3 day appointment; Christmas with Steve and Sally; Christmas Eve dinner and gifts with Trish and Allan.

Matching hats & scarves made by Sally

The boys' hats (Joshua has one too)

Presents!

Christmas Eve dinner with GG and Allan (no fondue this year but lots of crackers, cheese, meat, veggies, fruit, and goodies!

Friday: Stockings with family; Brunch with Trish, Allan, my mom, Jill (Grandma DeVine), and my sister's family - more presents; Christmas dinner with Mom, Trish & Allan, and Lee and Gladys (neighbors).

Family love!

Cousin gift exchange and presents from Grandma DeVine

Playing with GG and Allan

Christmas dinner

Saturday: Mom, Trish & Allan leave; Auntie Laura's package arrives for round 5 of gifts!!

Cuddling with Grandma DeVine

Sunday: Day one of our family of 6 alone at home and our first outing together to church; First family walk!; Visit from college friends, Christian and Emily Berkey and their adorable 5 month old, Claire (the last time we visited with them was when David was about 4 days old!!).

First family walk

Admiring Joshua

Christmas shots

Since I'm not sure if we'll make it to our Christmas Eve service I had us all get dressed up yesterday in our "Christmas best" for church and we took a few pictures afterward in front of our tree.  As you can imagine, we were lucky to get a good family shot and when it came to getting one of the three kids together they weren't as cooperative, at least David wasn't.  But these are the pictures that end up being the most fun to look at in the long run because they show so much personality - notice David's pout!

I will get a Christmas picture out this year but it will be late since I really want to include our new baby!!  I love all the pictures we are receiving of family and friends.  It's fun to talk about each family and to hang them up to enjoy for a month or two.  I also enjoy reading the creative annual letters that so many of you still write. I feel inspired to write one of my own but almost feel like it's overkill since so many of you that I would send it to follow my blog . . . one of these years the annual Grice newsletter may return.

Happy Monday and here's to hoping this is my last post before baby arrives!!!!!!!!!

In the meantime . . .

Still waiting but now feeling healthy, more rested and much more emotionally ready to tackle labor, delivery, and the transition of welcoming a new baby.  Plus we've had more time as a family and each day it seems David is getting a bit more independent and less needly (now if only he could sleep in - he's reverted to his 5:30 wake-up again - ugh!).  And we've finally been able to get out for some walks since the rain has let up, wow does that make a difference for all of us!  Just a couple pictures to share from the last few days.

More nesting: finally getting around to our shred pile that has been accumulating for as long as we've lived here, over a year and a half now - yikes!

Zack and the kids making more Christmas cookies (here the kids are unwrapping the Hershey kisses to put on top of the cookies).  Zack also made a tasty pot roast for us the same day - what a great guy!!!!

Going for drive with Dad

David LOVES touching and kissing the baby and insists on lifting up my shirt whenever my belly is at his eye level.  Will this continue once the baby is out of my belly??

Goofing around

Samuel's sleep position of choice yesterday - so bizzare!!

Still waiting

It's really pretty funny when I think about it that I am now 38.5 weeks pregnant and feeling like this baby is "late" when in reality most people are still thinking they have quite a bit of time to prepare at this stage.  In so many ways it's a true blessing that this baby is still in me considering we have a cold circulating our household and we are all beyond exhausted.  Not sure we'll be rested before this little one comes but hopefully we'll be healthy!  We had a super cold weather spell last week and I'm glad we didn't have to bring a newborn home in that, so one more thing to be thankful for.  The biggest blessing by far has been Zack's work schedule this month.  He's been able to be home each day and only works at night.  He doesn't get good sleep, and neither do I, but at least we can give each other a break during the day.  We are beginning to think it would be great if the baby can wait until Monday the 21st because starting tomorrow, Thursday, Zack has a four day break and maybe, just maybe, we can each get enough sleep in that time to feel sane by Monday! 

But despite the highs and lows of waiting for a baby (I've had enough "false alarms" to make one feel a bit looney!) we have really been blessed over the last few weeks to have a lot of quality family time together.  We haven't ventured out a whole lot but it's nice to feel like we can stay home for days at a time and still enjoy each other.  Of course each day has it's trials, and we definitely do need breaks from each other, but in general we really do love being together and just hanging out.  I've pretty much exhausted my nesting list of things to do.  Not that everything that needs to be done is done but the things that were pressing me are done and now it's just a matter of maintaining - and that is no small matter with five of us eating three meals a day at home!!! 

This has been an Advent season that has been especially focused for us.  I think being home a lot allows for this, plus having some really great resources from church.  Each day at breakfast we add to the advent chain that Audrey got at church that teaches different names for Jesus from the Bible.  There are some good discussion questions included and it seems there are also always connections to be made to something else we've read or talked about.  In the evening we read "Which Way is Christmas?" an Advent countdown book that reviews major events from Creation to Jesus' birth in a very creative, kid-friendly way using devotions, rhymes and seek-and find picture puzzles (like the "I Spy" books).  What a blessings to be given these resources from our church!  In addition, I've been trying to tie in our memory verse for each week this month to Jesus' birth.  This week's verse is from Luke 1:37, "For nothing is impossible with God."  Probably the shortest and easiest verse we've attempted to learn and yet so profound.  If only I could live by that truth more often, allowing it to sooth my worry and calm my anxiousness, causing me to pray more and try to "fix" less.  I say it but do I really believe it in my inmost being when chaos seems to be the rule of the day?  I certainly feel like I'm in a refining period right now.  God is showing me how much I really do need Him to be the person I want to be and the person He has called me to be.  I honestly think it's taken becoming a mom of so many kids in such a short time to show me my true, selfish, weak, human nature.  Getting married peeled a few layers away but having kids has revealed more layers than I realized were there.  I've been faced with more ugliness than I'd like to know about myself but I've also been shown abundant grace and mercy too.  I've experienced deeper and greater love than I realized possible.  I know I am in good company too as I reach out and share with others in this current stage of life I am inspired and spurred on knowing that there are many of us going through this same fire and striving desperately to allow our Savior and Redeemer to have His way with us and to mold us into the women, mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, and friends that He designed us to be.  This is what I want most right now.  It's so simple and not simple at all!

I hope and pray that this is a season of simplicity and focus for you too.  It will look different for each of us, as it should, but the outcome will be similar: our faith and hope in Jesus Christ will positively affect our actions in every area of our life and cause skeptics to believe that there really is a "reason for the season" beyond the gift giving, food, and fun traditions.

Letting David walk instead of being carried, takes a little more time but everyone likes it better.

 

Giving the new baby (through the skin of my belly) its first bit of sibling lovin'.

Samuel doesn't take naps often but lately when he does he finds the most interesting places to fall asleep.  Here he is under one of our dining room chairs that is stored in our guest room.  We have also found him wedged in a corner between the wall and the piano half sitting up with his blanket covering him completely.   

David

Insisting that I show him the picture I was in the middle of taking

Getting a ride from Samuel

An even faster ride from Dad

This not so little guy is now 17 months old and he is suddenly feeling much more like a toddler.  He has been communicating with words more and more, has decided he likes to hold our hands when we pray at mealtime (which he absolutely refused to do up until about a week ago), loves to kiss everyone goodnight (and will run up to each person individually and do it), insists on seeing pictures I take of him on the camera, likes to dance, enjoys reading books (but definitely has his favorites!), and so much more.  I am so grateful right now too because it is 7:25am and he is STILL sleeping, and didn't wake up once last night.  He does have a bit of a runny nose so it could be a fluke but in general he's given us until at least 6am for the last week - a huge improvement over 5 or 5:30!!!  Suddenly it feels like he might just be OK being replaced as the baby . . . maybe!  Of course there will be an adjustment period for all of us but with how well he's been playing with the older two kids and communicating with us I think he'll have plenty to distract him (in good ways).  He still knows how to throw tantrums but they are fewer and further between and in general he's been much less whiney, such a relief.  You know how it is when you begin to wonder if a particularly hard phase is actually going to be the norm and you start to fear that your child really is going to be like this all the time.