Christmas and Skiing

Christmas was fantastic this year. The anticipation was thick. The stress was low(we had bought and wrapped everything earlier in the week) and we had zero travel to worry about...we could just focus all our energy on enjoying. It was really fun. The kids are at perfect ages right now for this. Seriously, the excitement was palpable. They were even pumped about their new chruch socks and snow boots and clothes. So fun. A week before we had a Baxter family gift exchange and celebration. We acted out the nativity. Highlight was the next day when Hansen was remembering and said, "I was Joseph, Garrett was a shepherd, Molly was a star and Abby was a butterfly(angel wings looked an awful lot like butterfly wings). A couple days before Rich and Gwen came down so we had a big get together as a family and ate up at Grandma and Grandpa O's house. Played with cousins. Talent show! It was great. So tons of family. Tons of good food. Tons of fun. We caroled the widows in our ward, and delivered caramels. Then went to Sam's work and caroled some of the long term patients. I don't know that it was the highlight for the kids, but it was one of my highlights. Nothing like getting a smile when three little kids are singing Mele Kalikimaka with the Uke. It was pretty cute. Kids slept great on Christmas eve but the excitement was too much for Olivia and she was up for hours with teeth problems. But it worked out bc our crawler slept through the present opening...and the kids didn't have to worry about protecting their new stuff from our curious little one. Perfect. Crepes on New Year's Day finished off the holiday season and skiing filled our Christmas break. Great memories...and we made it through pretty much unscathed from viruses. So it was a healthy fun time which is kind of a miracle at our stage right now. :-)

I had taken the two older kids to ski a couple of times and Hansen was getting pretty devastated he didn't get to go. So...we took him up. He was super happy to ski. I use the term "ski" very loosely with him. It was more of a mom catch me every ten feet kind of a thing but he loved it. And kept telling me to go backwards so he could go down the steep hill. He didn't quite grasp the gravity of the situation, and the pain that would be involved. Molly and Garrett are bored with the bunny hill. Garrett built a jump. :-) So we will have to start paying money for it now. :-) It is great to get up in the mountains and breath the fresh air and watch the kids master a skill. They are proud of themselves and it is fun to see them get more and more confident. Gavin and Logan came along and Gavin learned too! So fun to see him go from terrified and gripping on to his mom, to skiing independent. Greatest comment ever was when I overheard Garrett a couple days later trying to convince one of my friends from Arizona to come and learn to ski. He said, "You can learn no problem, my mom is an awesome teacher." Livi Rue was pretty cute just chillin in the backpack and watching what was happening. She is so cool. Love her. I think a trip to Alta is soon to come!

Molly's Baptism Weekend

What a great weekend. Family all came into town and we were all together...for a brief moment. Molly was very focused during the meeting. Listening intently to her grandmas speak about baptism(joining a team, and you gotta show up) and the Holy Ghost(that it can comfort you when you don't feel happy). People were sick with gastroenteritis, Kids were screaming in the back, when we got there it was double booked and the high councilman suggested we just come in during the other family's baptism and just "borrow" the font, cause it is "just" the baptism. I got very motherly and explained with all the restraint I could that he needed to think of a better plan.(not just for our sake...for the other family). We left and went into our meeting. His wife helped him and she came in and told us to move rooms and they would move them as well. It all worked out great...and Molly didn't even notice all the chaos. She just enjoyed it. She sang a solo(bc that is what she wanted to do) and sang the first verse of "I'm trying to be like Jesus" in french and then the second verse in english. We didn't have a mic cause we were in some random room(bc of the double booked font) and she didn't even notice. My mom played the piano SUPER quiet and she sang beautifully. Just beautifully. It was precious and I will never forget it. Her confirmation and baptism reminded me very simply that if we just fulfill saving ordinances and try our very best. We will live with Him again. Simple really. Quite simple. She really is trying hard to grow and learn and be her best. She tests me...oh how she tests me...but I love her great desire to be good and do good. We ate afterward and were able to spend time with family and friends. We are so blessed, and I know it.

ps...this pic cracks me up. Garrett is hilarious...Hansen is just crazy...and you can tell I had to wake up Livi Rue Who to get her there...she was poopy and mad by the end. But made it through. As always....so grateful for Sam...so grateful.

Just an update

It seems to be getting longer in between my posts. So my goal of keeping a journal for my children is not going so well. Oh well...they will have pictures...and now that they have GPS attached to them they can just figure it out for themselves. Too bad hackers are ruining all this great technology for me. Oh well. We had a good finish to the summer. We were healthy for so long that I almost started to take it for granted. But then I remembered Olivia's first four months of life and I was very grateful again. She is growing...and wow she is a tub of love. Her new nickname is Bubba. She has rolls and rolls and more rolls. I still think it is hilarious that people console me on this, "Don't worry, she will thin out...or that will go away so fast once she starts walking." I guess they don't know that one, I don't care, and two, three of my babies have been this way. And I have yet to grow an obese child. I love her rolls. She is super squeezable and she needs the extra girth to withstand all the "love" that she gets from Hansen. I also think she may never walk or crawl(not because of her great size, but because she is always in some sort of device; aka jumper, high chair, bumbo, to protect her from Hansen).
Molly is growing up. And this picture reminds me of that. She will be 8 years old in a month. Wow. She doesn't wear such absurd things to school anymore, and is very aware of the whole social aspect of school. I am not sure if that is a good thing or not. Garrett is learning to read and doing well...but he ONLY cares about the recess/lunch/social part of school too. He could care less how he is doing in school. Hansen is a boy of extremes right now. He either melts your heart with his cuteness, or he pierces your ears with is scream/tantrum. We attended Sam's brother's wedding in September. It was a beautiful perfect autumn day. The sealing was such a highlight for me. I felt kind of stressed on my own day, so it was very nice to just enjoy this one. It was fun for Sam and I to reflect on the last ten years. We have been very busy. Very very busy. Love the suits on the little boys...at church yesterday and Englishman said, "Now don't they look smart." I really want to go live in England. :-)

It's been a while!

Sometimes babies can be hard...especially little bitty babies...but sick babies can be really hard. Olivia has had some sort of sickness for pretty much 3/4 of her life. RSV at 3 weeks, gastrointestinal thing, parainfluenza, and an itty bitty cold. She toughed out most of these things pretty well. I like to say nursing helped, but that is just cause I need to say that to feel a sense of accomplishment, because it is hard to get up and nurse a sick baby when you feel SO sick yourself. Reflux was a result of the RSV...and I have never had a reflux baby before...I had wondered why in the world people kept giving me all these burp cloths for gifts. I had never used them. Ever. Molly spit up twice...it was more like projectile vomiting. Garrett...not really...Hansen...not really. Wow...THIS is what people do with babies??? Holy smokes??? Horrible. I feel like my laundry has quadrupled. We got her on some medicine, and I have been grateful for whoever invented it ever since. We feel like we are on the way up now. The low point of all of this was when Sam had to go out of town for work, and Livi Rue woke up every two hours all three nights he was gone...unbelievable stuff. We are hopefully on to a healthier happier life now.

This kids have enjoyed basketball camp this summer(well, they loved the popsicle breaks)...Molly is now in dance camp(and it's a nice review of some french)...and hopefully we get a little soccer camp in. We are eating lettuce and spinach and chard and strawberries out of the garden, and can't wait for more to start coming. There is something really fun for me about picking a bunch of strawberries and washing them in the hose on the lawn and eating them with the kids. It was the same last year with cherry tomatoes. I don't know why I love it so much, but it is easily the hightlight of the summer for me. Swimming at my aunt's pool, and going to the waterpark are the highlight for the kids. Hansen asks the moment Sam walks in the door. "Go Wimming! Wata pawk!" Molly has been loving Sudoku(i'm barely skilled enough for the beginner puzzles) and Garrett has been enjoying lego kits...fun stuff.

Time flies when...

Life is crazy! It seemed so great. I prepared myself for complete horror with 4 kids, and so it seemed pretty feasible. We were plugging along, enjoying life and then Livi Rue couldn't breath...RSV invaded her little body. I was up the whole night just watching her get gradually worse and worse. Those are the breaks if you have older kids my brother(dr russ) told me. He also told me to consult him if we ever decided to have a baby in February. If I was ever crazy enough to get pregnant again I would move FAR FAR away, and get a nanny for my other kids until the bugs were dead. Seriously. She finally got better...and we were plugging along again. Hey, I can do this, I thought to myself....and then Hansen threw up....again and again and again. Sam stayed up with him. Said it was bad. Then three days later, Garrett got it and came up in tears saying, "Now I don't get to go to cousins camp." it just so happened that this hit us while my brothers who we see once a year were in town with their families and they do a cuz camp with devotionals and sports and crafts....and Garrett missed it, but Molly got to go and then three days after that Molly got it. And in between that, Sam and I both got it. I have never had to nurse a baby through nausea etc...and it was one of the harder things I have done. You don't exactly feel like snuggling...but we made it through...and now I am documenting it so I don't forget how hard life has been...so that it seems easier later. :-)

Since my last journal entry(Livi's birth) we celebrated Hansen's birthday. He is such a lovable little dude. He sings full blast "I love to see the Temple" at bedtime and you can barely understand a word...and he is a little off tune. So it's even cuter. He clears his bowl or plate without being asked. He says "sorry" right after someone gets hurt and gives a kiss(Mmmm...awwm). He has ONE annoying two year old thing...which is a very high pitched scream...which he is getting better at...and I haven't had a two year old with that before...but since he is so sweet 99% of the time I won't hold the scream thing against him. He rides his scooter with reckless abandon. He lets "Molly b'Golly" take care off him...but won't let Garrett. He LOVES all things ball and balloon. Hence the balloons for his birthday. The ceiling was covered too. He loved it. Barely had time for his "crocodilo cake" He sang "Hata birfday to you" and we had to blow out candles a couple times...he loved it.

Just had to add in this little pic of Livi Rue. This dress(which I made for Molly from material that my mom used for dresses for us when we were little) was what she wore in the big family pic when my brothers were here. We had to drag our whole family down there, while Garrett held a barf bucket...and I am pretty sure he didn't smile in the picture. He was miserable. But probably not more miserable than my nephew who had a swollen face from an allergic reaction to a wasp sting. Memorable family pic..that is for sure...

Olivia LaRue Baxter 2-9-11

Olivia arrived in the middle of the night and we are sure grateful she is here. My water broke and it was a feeling of elation as I knew that I was done being pregnant. That the long wait for her was over. I was shaking from start to finish. Not sure if that is because I knew what was coming or because my body was just done. My mom hurried over and we left for the hospital. We had to get two doses of penicillin in before she came so they tried to slow me down the best they could. An early epidural only got half my body...so the labor just kept coming. Plenty fast. We barely got the second dose in after the request to just squeeze it in as fast as they could. My arm burned away, but the moment she could be born we got her here quick. She was blue as can be with the cord around her neck twice. They pinked her up after way too long and she is doing great now. 7 lbs 5 oz 19 inches long. Perfect.
Could Molly look any more excited? She is so excited. She totally gets it and is a great older sister. She thinks the umbilical cord thingy is gross. She's told me that a couple of times.
Garrett has been especially sweet with his little sister. He is the one that told us it was a girl. He is the one that knew we were pregnant before we told him. He has held her for over an hour...having me switch her from arm to arm. He told me it was no problem for him to hold her, "It's easy."
We are a family of 6. Wow. That sure seems like a lot to me. Hansen is doing much better today and has had the roughest adjustment so far. He's not sure what everyone is so excited about. And gets mad cause he wants to hold her and walk around with her. He helped today change a diaper and was very proud of himself. So hopefully that continues. I figure 4 will be a piece of cake as long as Sam never goes back to work and my Mom comes and cooks dinner for us every night and helps read books and put kids to bed. No problem.
The peace the newborn brings is unique and to be fully enjoyed. The joy that comes with not being pregnant anymore is too hard for me to describe. We are so grateful for out little family. Olivia is an amazing addition and is such a good little thing. She acts just like she did inside of me...roller...groover...not a kicker and crazy thing...just sweet...and patient...she will have to be to make it as number 4 in this family. :-)

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!

We celebrated Sam's birthday before Christmas b/c we would be in Seattle for the actual day. And being the easy perfect husband that he is...he just wanted a nice thick milkshake...which I provided him. My Mom was nice enough to feed everyone and it was a great "celebration." He really is an amazing man, and I am grateful for him every day.Christmas Eve at my mom's was delicious...after some amazing steelhead, we had crepes and the shoemaker story. We got home and opened PJ's and the kids were off to bed. They slept well...which was nice since we were traveling Christmas afternoon.
This is the only pic I took Christmas morning. Hansen all of the sudden saw the ball we got him and made a run for it. Molly was in the midst of talking...as usual and Garrett obliged with a smile. Classic.
We made it to Seattle and had a great flight. Very uneventful, and very smooth. Love the "let families through with small kids" in the security line. LOVE. IT. Molly made me a cookie...M for Mom!
Waiting to go down to see if Santa had come...very late...:-)
Visiting the gum wall. This is some famous place down by Pike place. Pretty gross. :-) The kids chewed some gum and stuck it on. They were not to pumped b/c they had been walking in the rain. We told them that it was all part of the experience. :-) They didn't buy that...but endured so they could go swimming back at the hotel.
This was an attempt at family pictures. It cracks me up every time. All the adults are trying to make the kids smile...and their reactions are just...them. What a great Christmas(minus our delayed flight home and VERY late arrival to find the bathroom flooded a bit)...but everything before that was perfect. :-)