Ben and Peyton

Ben just can't keep his hands off of his little sister! So far there has been no jealousy at all, let's hope it stays that way. I think that me watching Lilly for the whole school year last year really helped Ben get used to having a baby take up a lot of my attention. I think Ben and Peyton will be good friends!

back to birthweight

Peyton had her first Dr's appt and her first shot on Monday. She is now back at her birthweight of 8 lbs. The Dr said that she reached this faster than most babies do, it usually takes them about 2-3 weeks according to him. It's funny to me because all 3 of her brothers were 12+ pounds by 2 weeks, they never lost any weight after birth and gained 2 pounds or more during the first two weeks. It sure is a change having a small baby. I love it though. Her clothes are still big on her!

Swirlie cowlick, angel kiss and a stork bite.

My baby girl has the cutest cowlick on her right side just above her forhead. I'm sure that when she's older she'll hate it because it'll make her hair stick up, but for now it is the cutest thing ever! Much to Aunt Marcia's surprise, Peyton also has a red birthmark on her forhead between her eyes called an angel kiss and one on the back of her neck called a stork bite just like Aunt Marcia!

Saturday night I put a bow on Peyton for the first time and almost cried. I was just getting her stuff together for her first day at church and wanted to see if I could find a bow that fit het to go with her dress. She looked like such a girl!

I had to add these pictures just to illustrate that my little Benji is still just as adorable even now that Peyton is here. He will always be my baby boy!



All of her brothers absolutely love her. Friday or Saturday night Micah said that he loved Peyton even more than Christmas and a while later Jacob said Micah was right, Peyton is better than Christmas! Ben keeps asking to "pet him" and loves holding her too.

This is what happens when you have too many kids!

So, last Saturday I was nursing Peyton, which is what I'm doing most of the time, if I'm not nursing her then that means she's sleeping. Anyway, I finished nursing her and was in my bathroom getting ready when I heard Ben calling me. I called back to him and told him I was in my bathroom, which means, "if you need to talk to me come in here rather than yell." Well, He said, "I'm in my bathroom, I need you help." So I said I'll be right there. Above is how I found him when I came into the bathroom. He found lots of mud outside and couldn't resist and he needed some help turning the water on so he could wash up.

Uncomfortable accomodations

Sorry Tyler! I wanted to post this picture but Tyler told me not too, oh well. Clovis Community Hospital used to have fairly decent arrangements for the dads to sleep while staying in the room with the moms. Unfortunately the couch/chair type things they had were cloth and they had to get rid of them and replace them with a plastic like chair. That I can understand, but the chairs they replaced them with are horrid! They recline, but not flat, or even like a recliner, they have this part in the middle that bumps up. Anyway, I felt so bad for Tyler the first two nights, he looked miserable and sounded awful too. He is not normally one who snores, but he was exhausted and in the worst position for sleeping. Both nights he snored so incredibly loud that I had to send him home our last night in the hospital so he could get a little sleep!

Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy...It's a girl!!!

Peyton Kathleen Laing
8lbs. 0oz.
20 in.
January 18th, 2008 7:45 am

This was one of the best birth experiences I have ever had. For those of you that don't know, I get really freaked out about having c-sections. I have now had 4 c-sections, which is quite a feat for someone that would not even pay attention to the c-section portion of her birthing class because she was NOT going to have one! Tyler gave me a wonderful blessing the night before, it was everything I wanted and needed to hear. Of course, I still slept horribly that night and decided at 3:30 to go ahead and get up and get ready. We were to check into the hospital at 5:30 am.
We made it right on time and got admitted and I got stripped down and into my hospital gown. Before my walk to the OR, my anesthesiologist, Dr. Le came in to talk to me and get my info. He was the same Dr. that did my last spinal and he was great. Very funny and kind hearted. I went to the OR, which of course is about 60 degrees, and this time they put warm blankets on me which was a nice touch. I had a nurse, Anna, with me who was very nice and she held my shoulders in place while I got the spinal. Dr. Le talked me through each step and I made it through without totally freaking out this time and it was not horrible. They layed me down on the operating table and I got my catheter and everyone was fluttering around me doing their jobs and I felt very comforted. My Dr came in very soon after that and brought Dr. Harris with him this time, wow, lucky me, 2 Dr's! Dr Harris was the Dr. that delivered my 2nd baby, Jacob. Anyway, Tyler came in just as they were getting underway and I'm sure he was relieved to see that I was ok. I kind of mentally checked out and went to my happy place where I said a few prayers of gratitude and asked again for some more blessings. When I decided to listen again I heard Dr. Harris say, "I think this is her uterus right here." Tyler also heard that, and I decided to go somewhere else again for a bit. The doctors had quite a time with my insides, Dr. Illingworth said it was even worse than last time. This time there was so much scar tissue that he couldn't even get my uterus out. He opted to leave it in and get the baby out and stitch it up inside of me rather than cut it out again and risk further complications. Once the baby was out Tyler said, "It's a girl!" There was still some doubt in my mind after having 3 boys. They brought her to my side so I could see her and she was all spread out like, "Here I am!"




















She cried the whole time we were in the OR and it was a great sound to my ears, to know that she was finally here and she was alright. My Dr had a difficult time finding my tubes, in order to tie them, he found the right side eventually and saw the end of the left side through a dime sized hole and followed it down with the instrument, but he said he was unsure if he had gotten it, or a ligament. In 6 weeks I'll go and have an ex-ray to see if he was successful of not.
So, I got closed up and wheeled into recovery, where I actually got to be in the same room as my baby because the nursery was full. There were 29 moms that had given birth that day, which is a lot for our little hospital. My recovery and everything all went really well and we are so happy to be home with our family completed. The boys adore their sister and we are just so excited and happy to have a girl amongst us now (other than me!)! We are also in awe that she is so little, She can actuallt wear newborn diapers and her 0-3 month clothes are big on her! She has tiny petite little hands and feet and is just so cute, what a difference from 10 pound and 22 inch babies! They were cute too of course, but it sure is fun to have a little baby. I'll keep you posted!

Almost time!!!

Well, tomorrow is the day! 8 hours left to go. I hardly slept last night and I must say, I'm freaking out a bit, so I must stay busy. I'll post pictures and updates as soon as we are home!

6 days, deep breath in, slowly release.

The last few days have been pretty interesting. I feel like I have been an emotional wreck. Whether it is the pregnancy hormones or the fact that I have to undergo my 4th major surgery soon, or both, I'm not sure. Yesterday morning when I was dropping Jacob off at school, I found an empty spot next to the curb (hard to do). I pulled into the empty spot behind a truck and Jacob was gathering his backpack and giving me a kiss goodbye (he's in kindergarten)when I hear frantic fingernail tapping at my window. I turn to the window and there is this woman with a very fake smile on her face. I roll the window down and she says, "Can you move your car up so I can get in, my car is sticking out in the roadway!" All the while she has this fake plastered smile and sugar coated voice, which is actually very rude. While Jacob was getting out the trunk in front of us pulled out. I told the lady, in a similar voice and with the same smile that I would be leaving very soon and could not pull up while my son was getting out of the vehicle. She said something about not seeing anyone getting out, that all she saw was me just sitting there, whatever. There are some really crazy, rude parents at the school during pick up and drop off times. So, as I'm driving away, I'm thinking, "What a rude, nutty lady, can you believe her?" Then, instead of being angry or surprised, I get really sad and start crying, really crying, pitiful. It has been that way for the last 2 days, I think I've cried about ten times in the last 2 days.

Tyler went to get some sprinkler parts for our ongoing frontyard renovation. He and Matt McCauley have been working on it off and on for the last few months, I think. They had to reroute the sprinklers to go with the new landscaping, which is not in yet. The front yard is and has been grassless for quite some time, and right now with the rain and the sprinkler project, it is a muddy mess. I must say though, it looks better a muddy mess than with bright yellow dead grass! So, my pupose in going into this is that I am waiting for him to finish that so we can get started on cleaning out the van. We were going to do that today anyway, but after last night we really need to. Micah spilled a whole thing of Sprite all over the floor. He picked it up by the top and the top pulled right of and every last drop splashed down out of the cup, lovely. We've had the van for almost 4 years now and it was our first spill, other than a little water, so I guess we're doing pretty good. We do not spoil our van, it is very "lived in" and we love it.

So, the house cleaning is still ongoing, I have the office (easy), living room (easy), kitchen (not as easy), and both bathrooms (my least favorite), left. I want to get those done by Tuesday evening. I also want to use my Christmas gift cert. for a mani/pedi and catch up on laundry! I think I can accomplish all of this as long as I can enlist Tyler for some help. Then I should have a day or 2 to relax and rest, or rest and dwell on the inevitable.

Down to single digits!

Yikes, only 9 days left. Oddly, it still doesn't feel real. I have never had this happen to me before, I just can't seem to grasp the fact that I am having another baby somehow. Yesterday I started on "the cleaning" I didn't want to leave too much for the very last week, but I didn't want to do everything so soon that it got dirty again. I will leave the bathrooms and our bedroom for last, so they are as fresh as they can be. I am also going to save those rooms for Tyler and I to do together, you know, so we can bond and strengthen our marriage ;) I am very proud of myself though, this time around we have an upright freezer in our garage and I made 5 dinners that are in there frozen, ready to go. Last night we had a HFPE (Home, Family and Personal Enrichment) night, and they planned the best thing for me at this time, freezer meals! We got to go and assemble freezer meals, only $1 per serving. I did orange chicken and chicken tetrazzini. When I was there I began to wish I had signed up for more, they had a few soups that looked great too, but Stacey Olsen, who was in charge told me that I wasn't supposed to know, but they were going to bring me some of the meals, woo hoo! She also gave me a whole unopened bag of chicken tenders that they had left over. So, I have been trying to focuse on getting prepared rather than dwelling on freaking out about another surgery, it has been working fairly well, but I'm sure that as the days become less numbered it will have much less of an effect.

I tried to upload video from our digital camera, it didn't work, so, if you know what my problem is, help me out!

11 Days left!

So, I am going to be a mother of three sons and 1 daughter in just 11 days, yikes. I have so many mixed emotions about January 18th. I am so not looking forward to having my 4th c-section, but at the same time, I can't wait to meet my baby girl! I am so ready to not be pregnant anymore and to begin the road to recovery and weight loss... I know, it is such a long one, but like all things, you have to start somewhere! About New Years Eve, I fell asleep after Mr. Bean's Holiday, which was very funny. I knew I was going to be falling asleep, I don't last long these days, so I asked Tyler to wake me before New Years if he was still awake. Tyler is usually the one to fall asleep early, every night. About 30 seconds before midnight he did wake me up and I got my New Years kiss and promptly fell back asleep.

figuring it all out, someday!

Ok, let me just start out by saying that this is so not as user friendly as myspace! I thought I got a picture uploaded and it showed up and then I started typing and it disappeared, so we'll just see what happens. Every Christmas eve it is out tradition to open new pajamas and or slippers to wear that night. This is a picture of the boys in their new pajamas and slippers. They all love this tradition and really look forward to it. I'm hoping to get this whole process down in the next 16 days so I can know what I'm doing to keep everyone posted on our growing family! Not that anyone has even looked on here yet! There isn't much to see!