charts

One day I took a picture of all my lists and charts.  I may have some of these in other posts.  But I can't remember.

This is the list the kids had while we were in the hospital having the baby.  We hired someone to take care of Dane (Anna Prusse - from the ward), but we decided to let the 4 older kids be in charge of themselves.  At first glace they got a solid B.  But after further examination all they did was eat candy and have screen time - for about 3 days straight.  haha  I guess they weren't ready. (Anna was at the house and ultimatly in charge - but I told her to just let them take care of themselves)

Since anything can happen when your going to have a baby and none of my previous "watch my older children when I have a baby" plans have worked, I figured anyone might have to "step in" and be in charge of Dane.  So I put signs all over so anyone could take care of him.  It is helpful for the kids as well. 

Our lists of lunches and snacks go on the fridge so I don't have to hear "we have nothing to eat" 1000 times a day. 

Our point system  Who ever has the most points at the end of the week gets to pick the dessert for FHE.

My garden

One of the last things I did in pregnancy before I couldn't really "do" things anymore and the first thing I did postpartum was tend to my garden.  I really enjoy my front yard flower garden.  I haven't been able to put as much TLC into it as I would have liked.  But given our spring/summer I am happy with how it has turned out.  For the first time I bought some perennials.  They add such a great color.  Dane, Eve, and I spend several hours a day in our front yard (and several more in our back yard).  I appreciate having something beautiful to look at.

First time in her wrap.

Coming Home

Debby brought our older kids back to us!!  We were so excited to have them home.  I made a welcome home sign.    When Dane first saw them he smiled... then he yelled and ran away... then he came back and gave them all a hug.  

Grandma stayed a few days and had some quality time with the babies.  (the older kids did go and stay at their house a few days while in Utah - but I don't have any pictures.  They went hiking at bridal veil falls, rode her riding lawn mower (and mowed the lawn), went swimming, got snow cones, and had a ton of fun!)

I cant not over emphasize how grateful I am to ALL our family who helped take care of and love my older kids and gave them a great summer and life long memories and also gave me a chance to get my footing and feel prepared to tackle this big job of raising these 6 kids.  And to Jason for doing ALL THE THINGS that I fall short on doing.  

an outing

I wanted to go on a big outing with the babies before the big kids got back.  We decided to go to the aquarium.  We got an annual pass to the aquarium about a week before it was obvious Covid was a problem.  Luckily they extended our membership!  

It was fun having all of our attention on Dane!  He is the best!

Evee slept the whole time.

 The 4 of us.  

Just the 4 of us

We had a pretty slow two weeks while the older kids were gone.  It was actually kind of hilarious.  First off Jason took the first week off and took care of Dane while Eve and I recovered.  It was wonderful.  But the hilarious part was Jason's and mine's perspective shifts.  When we decided to have 2 babies in two years we knew very well what we were getting into.  We had done this before - we could do it again.  When you get "rid" of 4 kids it feels like a vacation.  We felt "free" - like we had no kids, no responsibilities, and we could do anything.  How hard can just 2 kids be?  Ha.  Truly we went back and forth between this is so easy... and this is so hard!  We are not 23 anymore and having a new born and a toddler is not for the faint of heart.  On the other hand it was SO EASY, your days are slow, there are naps, you are in complete control, they go to bed so early - it was a pretty sweet gig.  But then there are those moments... when it feels like either a hurricane, or so boring and monotonous that you can not read the Oscar book one. more. time!!  

On a serous note though it was great for Jason and I to find our grove with these younger 2 and remember how much it takes and revert back to our old roles.  I will always remember these 2 weeks with sacredness and sweetness.  But we were both looking forward to getting all our kids under one roof AND getting my helpers back.  They seriously do SO MUCH for me.

Most of these pictures are of the second week - when I started slowly taking things over.  The first week I was just up in my room most of the time.


We stayed in jammies most of the day and played a lot in the back yard.



That's a Noah face right there!





You have to have pool reservations and Dane LOVES swimming.  I had reservations for this week and hated to not have them used - so I hired a babysitter to take Dane swimming.




The splash pad opened up for the first time so we went to check it out.  He didn't love it.







We went to a lot of parks.

I didn't get a picture but one of my favorite things was eating dinner together.  We put Evee up in the bouncer on the table and the 4 of us ate dinner together almost every night (sometimes I was nursing). 


I took this picture on morning.  This is about 5:30 am.  It is little moments like this with a newborn that  I always want to remember.  


I am not a good group selfie taker - I get so focused on getting everyone in that I want I forget to smile.  Ha.




Jason took these pictures of me, Dane, and Eve.  Toddlers are silly.  He loves to "old er".  He points to her nose and hand.  Then he is done.
















And what did Dane and Jason do the first week.  Well... he taught him to talk!!  They red book after book after book (he loved the Little Critters book about having a new baby) and sang a lot of songs.  By the end of the week Dane learned probably 100 words.  They also went outside a lot.



Every night after dinner they went on a walk.  This tradition still continues today.  It is one of Dane's favorite things.  

And this is a random picture of Dane watching "Jesus Shows" after sacrament meeting.  He sat there on our piano turned sacrament table and watched about 20 minutes of church made videos and said "Jesus" every time Jesus came on.  It was adorable.