Hair Cuts

It's great to have a hair stylist in the family! The girls L♥VE L♥VE L♥VE it when Aunt Janelle cuts their hair. And she always does a great job! 

This was Katelyn's first hair cut with a little style. She looks so cute and grown up. Where has baby gone???

Last day of School Challenge

A few weeks before school ended the kids were with their friend Eli, one of them said something about on the last day of school they will be so excited that school is over that they will Run all the way home. I told them that I would LOVE to see that. So the challenge emerged!!! I told them that if they RAN all the way home from school without stopping then I would pay them $10 bucks each!! We only live 1/2 a mile from the school so I knew that this was totally do-able. I just wasn't sure if they would really do it.  The kids talked about it for a few weeks leading up to it and on the last day of school they were very excited. I met them just outside of school and followed them home in my car as they ran home. (I was 2 weeks post baby so I knew that I could not keep up with them with my stroller and 3 little girls.) I was very impressed by each of them. They all did a great job! Claudia and I cheered them on from the car as we followed them home. I think there were times when they wanted to stop but they kept going and did not give up! 

Maybe we will make this a new tradition.

 Madison was too fast I couldn't get any photos of her running

Visitors

These are just a few of my favorite photos from when the kids got to meet Jillian for the 1st time. They all fell in L♥VE with her!!!

Our 1st family photo! 

Wow I can't believe we have 5 kids!!!! 

And here are some of our other visitors!!! I don't think we got photos of everyone that visited.  

Jillian Marie Garthe has FINALLY arrived!!!!

Jillian joined our family on May 31st

Just a few days after her due date. We had to evict her due to my fluctuating blood pressure. This labor did not go as smooth as I had hoped. My body was not as ready to deliver this baby as my previous 3 pregnancies and I was not aware that they would not give me Pitocin unless I was dilated to a 3. Which made this induction process much longer than I anticipated. And I had as SUPER lame nurse who claimed I was not as far dilated as the previous 3 nurses had told me. 

I check into the hospital on Friday night May 30th and labored all night. I did not get more than 30 minutes of sleep and was super frustrated by morning. They gave me some medication to soften my cervix and get my body working towards deliver. Luckily that helped get me dilating.  It was a LONG night!!! And even included an occasional cry of frustration. And I am not a crier. Luckily the nurses changed at 7 AM and things got better then. The FINALLY gave me Pitocin just before the shift change and that helped things progress more. In the middle of the night the crazy nurse decided that I NEEDED to have an ultra sound because she was not sure that the baby was head down. Although at my doctor's appointment the day before they assured me she was head down. When they did the Ultra Sound they also decided to check the size of the baby.  And to our surprise we were told she was around 9 pounds. Which I thought was crazy because my biggest baby was 8 lbs 4 oz.

Once the contractions got more intense I decided to get my epidural. That was nice for a little while but it was not working so well on one side. I was still feeling a lot of pain on my left side and in my lower abdomen. They tried to increase the level I was getting and that did not help. So they had me lay on my side to help the medicine move. That didn't really help much either. Finally the anesthesiologist came back to check it out and they said that sometimes it just doesn't work so well on one side of the bod.y BUMMER!! My doctor said the only solution was to deliver the baby. Luckily with the Pitocin my body was progressing very quickly and I was able to breathe through the contractions.  I always said I wanted to try to deliver a baby naturally with no medication but I was never brave enough to try it. I guess I got a little taste of it this time. And it was tough. 

It only took a few quick pushed and Jillian was here!!! A beautiful baby girl with a head full of dark hair!!! 

The pain and horrible night of no sleep and a CrAZy nurse was all worth it!!!! It wasn't how I hoped it would have gone but we got a happy healthy baby out of it so all is well!!!!

Welcome Jillian Marie Garthe!!!!
8 lbs. 14 oz

Graves

 

May 2014

 

May 2013

pLaYiN iN tHe RaIn

 

There was a Random Rain storm while we were leaving my parents house so the girls and I decided to have some fun and play in the rain!!!

Random day at the Park

               

                 Don't be fooled by this face, she LOVES it!!!!

 Almost as much as she LOVES her big sister Claudia!