Our Baby Max - Week 2

I can't get enough of this cute boy!  Seriously, I know that I'm biased, but come on - is he not the most beautiful baby that was ever created?  I could sit and stare at him all day, and take pictures (okay I do this) all day too.  However.... Shawn and I disagree on the best shots for newborns.  They are so hard to capture how they "really" look.  Shawn prefers them looking away from the camera or asleep.  I like them awake, unless I can get a really sweet sleeper picture. Anyways, here are some of the latest photo sessions with Maximus!  

*Final Note:  Yes Max has a little strawberry on his lower right cheek.  He gets this from my side of the family.  I have had them, Sam had one, and my niece Brittney has had one too.  They will eventually fade as he gets older but right now it is BRIGHT red!)  They are hemangiomas {little capillaries and blood vessels that come to the surface on the skin} They don't hurt, but if they ever get cut they bleed like crazy!  That is what happened to Sam's, and he ended up getting his cauterized.  We'll just keep watching it and see if it causes any problems.

Little Ms. Poopy Pants

Jake kept making fun of the constant discussion of poop when he was out for Thanksgiving, but lately it is in the forefront of our lives thanks to Lyv.  I got this wild hair about 2 weeks before having Max and decided that she needed to be potty trained.  She took right to going pee, but REFUSES - I mean Refuses to poop in the toilet.  So that leaves the nasty stuff in her underwear.  I'm so torn because she has been so good with everything else: she never has accidents, is always dry in the morning, and she even wakes up in the night if she needs to go.... I don't want to go back to diapers!  But.... how long can I stand this.  We've tried everything - bribes, rewards, consequences, I've even hung not watching Disney Jr. over her head....yet to no avail!  So until she finally decides it's a better option to just do her duty in the toilet, she'll be Ms. Poopy Pants.  YUCK!

 On a sweeter note: Lyv has fallen in love with Max.  She loves to hold him, to kiss him, to hug him... maybe a little too much!  She is always saying how cute he is.  When he cries she runs to get me, and she always is telling me to feed him, to hold him, to stay with him.  She even suggested the other day that Max would be her Prince, since she is a pretty princess.  I'm so glad she loves him and isn't jealous of him.  He is pretty much the greatest thing that has happened to our house in the past 2 years.

Turkey Day 2012

We were lucky enough to have Grandma Julie Dog, Grandpa Kelly, and Uncle Jake out for Thanksgiving this year.  Okay, Okay... Baby Max might have had something to do with them wanting to come out here, but we'll take whatever we can get!)  We had a super relaxing weekend, with a lot of good food, and good fun!  We went bowling, swimming, and to Wreck It Ralph - not to mention a mean round of shopping for Christmas.  All in all we had a wonderful time and love being with family - it makes us anxious to get closer to them in the next year (hopefully).  

 One thing I love about Jake is that he never seems to get sick of holding babies.  He always asks to hold them, which I find to be absolutely heart warming.  He is such a great uncle and my kids love him.

 Grandma and Grandpa always give my kids so much love - and we are so glad to have them out whenever we can.  Here's a picture with the newest addition to the Summers Family.

Finally we got a family picture since we didn't have one with all 4 kiddos in it.  I can't believe that we have four kids!  I'm slowly getting use to the choas that is life, but I find myself taking more moments to just sit and hold Max, watch Lyv dance and be a princess, and play games or read stories with Sam and Jack.  I just feel like it won't be very much longer until they are too old to do any of these things.  I don't soak up the moments nearly enough, but I think I'm finally realizing that they are fleeting...

 Shawn and I with Max - I have such a handsome husband and son.

Thankful

“To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us - and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. 

Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.” 

       ― Thomas Merton

Each year I always note how Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  It continues to hold 1st Place this year.  Probably because I'm getting more "mature", but I feel like I have so much to be grateful for. Shawn and I are approaching our 10 year anniversary, and I'm going to be 30 next year, and as I reflect back on my years I realize how blessed I am, and how God's Hand has been ever present in my life.  I have taken roads that I thought I wouldn't travel, and at times have been discouraged by some of the ways things have seemed to go - but each and every time, they have been for my good, and have brought me the ultimate happiness.  I am so grateful for all that I have - for my health, for the blessing of being a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, and a friend.

This Thanksgiving, with the arrival of Max I feel extremely grateful for my ability to have children.  I am also so grateful for Sam's desire to choose the right and his love of learning - I am grateful for Jack's sense of humor and purity of loving life - I am grateful for Lyv's love for pretty things and the softness she brings to our home - I am grateful for Max's healthy body and happy countenance.

I am grateful for Shawn, who is really the greatest husband and friend I have ever had.  He does so much to help me, and his thoughts are constantly on how he can help our family.  I am truly blessed.  I am thankful for my parents, especially my mother who came to nurse me back to health after baby #4 utterly exhausted me.  I am thankful for my in-laws who always come to visit and share and show love to us even though we are so far away, and who include me in their family like I was a daughter.  I am thankful for friends and family who called, texted, or messaged congratulations and concerns as we had Max.

I have been so blessed with extraordinary siblings and friends - they are constants in my life.  Lastly I am grateful for this experience we call life.  I have been blessed to have a testimony of the restored gospel, and to know plan of salvation.  I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who shows His love for me every day.  I am grateful for a loving Savior who died for me that I might be able to live again, and live in peace and joy.

"Gratitude is a Spirit‑filled principle. It opens our minds to a universe permeated with the richness of a living God. Through it, we become spiritually aware of the wonder of the smallest things, which gladden our hearts with their messages of God's love. This grateful awareness heightens our sensitivity to divine direction. When we communicate gratitude, we can be filled with the Spirit and connected to those around us and the Lord. Gratitude inspires happiness and carries divine influence." Bonnie Parkin

Taking it to the Max - 1st week

Max has been a great baby so far.  He seems so content and happy.  He has taken right to eating, which luckily for me has been the case with all my kids.  In fact this hungry little hippo is such a good eater, he had gained back all his weight he lost in at the hospital plus an additional ounces or two.  The doctor who saw him 4 days after being released was so impressed, he said Max didn't have to come back to the usual 2 week check up - that he could wait to be seen in a month! (He also couldn't believe that we weren't using any supplements - yes my milk is pure cream!)

When Max is awake he is really alert and will stare right into your eyes for minutes at a time.  He seems to have an "old soul" feel.  He is patient with the kids who LOVE to hold him.  They want to touch his head all the time because his hair is so soft, and they love trying to figure out how he is eating - which is super fun for me.  The only thing that Max seems to do a lot is wet through his clothes.  We had several nights where we went through 2-3 sets of pjs, onesies, blankets and crib sheets.  In other exciting milestones, his umbilical cord fell off yesterday so now we can bath him in the tub! Hooray!

All of us love taking pictures with Max - he is just cuter than cute - except for Lyv.  She loves Max, but can't be bothered to sit still long enough to take a decent picture.

I asked Shawn the other night as he was holding him if he could imagine that Max would be our last baby.  He said "Sure!" I on the other hand have a more difficult time imagining it.  Especially when I'm just holding him on my chest and he stares at me with his old soul eyes, I feel like I'm not sure if I'm ready for Max to be the last time I experience a new baby of my own.  There is something so literally heavenly about a newborn.  They are so pure in every sense of the word, and bring such a calming, loving feeling to a home.  I commented to Shawn that during my pregnancy I never felt like I was really having another child - things were always so busy that I didn't have time to cement it other than the movements I felt in my tummy.  I was worried that I would feel a little detatched from Max...but once he arrived I immediately felt like life without him didn't exist.  He just seems like he has always been apart of our family.

Shawn always gets me beautiful flowers when I have a baby - my reward for all the hard work!  These were probably my favorite arrangement.  I loved colors and the variety of blooms.

To each their own - Max's Birth Story

Each of our children's births have been so different, so I should have anticipated yet another "experience" - and that it was.  My mom flew into Albany on the 8th - Max's due date (her travel saga is an complete nightmare complete with an overnight stay at the Detriot airport), but we were glad to have her here!  So bring on baby Max...right?  Wrong! We went into see the doctor on Friday the 9th, the day after Max's due date - where the doctor stripped my membranes and sent me home with an appointment to come back on Monday if nothing had happened.  They were very hesistant to talk about induction, just because they didn't want to increase my chances for c-section, so we were all hoping that this would kick start the entire process. If it didn't, they said they let could let me go up to 2 weeks over rather than inducing! I was bound and determined not to let that happen.  We had a 10 day window with my mom being here and I needed to use her as much as possible.

During the past week and half, I didn't sleep well anticipating that I would wake up in the middle of the night contracting, but nothing.  Finally after many walks/runs/jumps on the trampoline I woke up on Sunday morning (11th) with contractions.  5:11 a.m. to be exact.  I was so excited to get this going that it was hard to go back to sleep.  We walked, I started to read Killing Kennedy, and started timing contractions.  At about 4:00 pm we headed over to the hospital to get a labor check - basically nothing had happened!) They sent me home!

This was seriously devastating to me, because it was like a twilight zone episode.  This is exactly what happened with Sam's labor and I was in labor with him for 30 hours.  I felt exhausted already and prayed that something would happen fast. I already had some major anxiety with this delivery because of the group of doctors we had this time around.  They are great doctors, I really do like them, but there is a different philosophy here that favors a more "Natural" focus on birthing.  That is fine and dandy, but I have no desire to feel any of my delivery - I am a HUGE fan of drugs and epidurals...so I wanted to be able to have #4 with a big smile on my face just like I had the first three.  

At about 6:30 pm my pains are getting super intense and with the exhaustion on top of the pain, I'm worried that I won't be able to stay in control of the pain, so we head back to the hospital.  (I'm SOOOO grateful that my mom was here during this whole process, because we didn't ever have to worry about the kiddos).  We get there and thankfully I've progressed to a 4 and so they are willing to admit me.  Then they start working on getting me some pain meds! WooHoo!!  BUT....they aren't fans of epidurals.  They prefer to do intrathecals.  The main difference... intrathecals are a one time shot, they take the pain away but not the pressure, and are easier to administer.  Epidurals are constant relief, take a little longer to start, but relieve ALL of the pain and pressure.  

I wasn't going to argue too hard because at the point I couldn't even see straight!  I just wanted some relief.  I got the intrathecal at 9:00 p.m., my water breaks during the process.  One of my favorite experiences during all of my deliveries are with these anesthesia docs.  They sit there and try to get me to bend my back in a curve (don't mind this HUGE baby in my belly) all while holding still during a contractions!  It is crazy....and this one throws in the fact that this pregnancy has created a slight curve in my spine, so now I have scoliosis.  

Once my water breaks - my babies come like a Mack truck and we delivered Max at 10:32 p.m.  The delivery was MUCH, MUCH more intense than my others.  I definitely felt "pressure"!  I've never let out any sound during a delivery and I did with Max.  I have a huge awe for women who are crazy enough to do it natural, I have a better idea for how they feel they HAVE to push.  At one point my doctor told me to slow down, and I looked at her like she was insane.... there would be no stopping until the baby was out!  So long story, but happy ending, and we have a beautiful, healthy Max to make it all worth it!

We struggled with a name for a long time.  About 2 weeks ago we finally decided on Max, but the middle name was up in the air.  I liked Hill as a middle name so he would have the same initials as me, like Sam has with Shawn.  But after having Max and sitting to finalize a name for the birth certificate I mentioned Shawn, and that was it.  I still like Hill, but I can't imagine having a better person in the entire world to have been named after than Shawn.  I felt a huge confirmation that the reason I was having so many boys was because they have such a wonderful father. So Max Shawn Summers, you have some pretty big shoes to fill - and you are lucky they are your incredibly wonderful Pappa's!

The kids were sooooo excited to get Max here.  Especially after going over my due date, each extra day just made them more excited.  In fact when we came home from going to the hospital the first time on Sunday, Sam and Jack about sent me back out the door!  Luckily because of Veteran's Day, no one had school and they came Monday to give Max a huge welcome!

Grandma Julianne with Max, grand baby #30 for my parents. She is the saint angel who has taken care of me and my kids for the past 10 days!  Thank you mom, you are truly the greatest.  I could not have done this without you here.

Taking Max home was very sentimental for me, because this could very well be my last baby.  I am always just amazed at the instant increase of love that you feel when a new baby comes.  Being a parent is such a blessing and such a privilege - I am so grateful for each one of my children.  This fourth pregnancy has given me a lot to really think about as we consider whether our family is complete.  My pregnancy was much more difficult physically and my recovery has been a lot slower this time around.  I don't feel the spring in my step - but I do feel like I have a greater appreciation for gift of life and the gift of love that each of my kids has brought to my life.  For that I am grateful beyond words for.

Meet Max Shawn...

Say hello to Max Shawn Summers!  Born on 11/11 at 10:32 pm.  He is our heaviest baby at 8 lbs even, and 20 inches long.  Mom and baby are healthy and well.  I am sure Meg will post more details soon.

Power of Democracy

Although I woke up this morning and was disappointed with the results of the presidential election, I am grateful to live in a country where ALL voices can be heard, and counted for something.  We are blessed to live a country where we aren't killed for differing views and opinions.  I am proud to be an American and pray that our leaders on all levels - local, state, and federal will consider the needs of their constituents and pursue policies that support and maintain the foundations of our great country. I saw the following statement posted on a friends Facebook page, and though I'm a stalker of facebook and enjoy reading others posts, I think it is a just a stage for randomness and TMI, so I don't like sharing my soap box opinions there.  I really thought this gave proper perspective on the election's outcome.  Enjoy!

The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following statement Tuesday: 

We congratulate President Obama on winning a second term as President of the United States.

After a long campaign, this is now a time for Americans to come together. It is a long tradition among Latter-day Saints to pray for our national leaders in our personal prayers and in our congregations. We invite Americans everywhere, whatever their political persuasion, to pray for the President, for his administration and the new Congress as they lead us through difficult and turbulent times. May our national leaders reflect the best in wisdom and judgment as they fulfill the great trust afforded to them by the American people.

We also commend Governor Romney for engaging at the highest level of our democratic process which, by its nature, demands so much of those who offer themselves for public service. We wish him and his family every success in their future endeavors.

Pray for our country.  Pray for our leaders.....and get involved!  If you don't like the way things are being run, get out there and run for office, support a candidate, work to make our country a better place.

Sam's Last Soccer Game 2012

Wow what a difference a coach makes!  The past two sports Sam has played he has had coaches who, bless their souls have been great people, but didn't really "teach" anything to the kids.  This season of soccer we got a great coach!  

You know they mean business when they show up with their own cones right?  Sam learned a lot, worked on fundamentals that he needed to know, and had a great season.  He loved playing goalie, and made a goal so I would say he felt great about his time on the field.  By the end of year the kids were passing to each other, and actually playing as a team.  It was really fun to watch him grow!  

Sam's #7

Green Gators - 2012

(*A side note* I'm probably one of those moms who cheers too loud, too often, and annoys everyone around her, but I can't help myself.  I want to see my kids do their best no matter if its Little League, High School, or professional sports - 100% effort.  So Sam if you were a little embarrassed by me ever, I'm sorry.  I'll try to be a little quieter, but I will still expect 100% effort.)

Baby Summers?

Is this what I will be bringing home from the hospital?  I hope he has two eyes at least.  (Courtesy of mother Lyvie)

Halloween 2012

Halloween was great this year.  This might have been due to all the events prior to All Hallows Eve had being cancelled or postponed for Tropical Storm Sandy, but we had a great, easy going day.  I tried to make the kids meals ghoulish as possible, dinner being the highlight with Mummy Dogs, Lips, Witches Brooms, and glasses full of blood!)  The kids picked out their costumes: we have - 

Dracula

Dash

Minnie Mouse "Princess"

We were able to trick or treat for the first time since moving here.  We went with our friends the Thun's in a great neighborhood where one of Shawn's attending's lives.  This was a gold mine for the kids - they were handing out full sized candy bars.  

I told Shawn to put on the Minnie Mouse ears and hit up those houses again.  He put on the ears, but refused to trick or treat!  Can you believe that?  The kids are at a great age to go, especially the boys.  They ran from house to house, knocked on the doors with us trailing along.  

It took me back to the good ol' days of trick or treating as a child.  1st I don't remember ever going with my parents... I just remember coming home after dark and unloading a HUGE bag full of candy.  I usually went with some friends in the neighborhood or J.D. and we took it seriously.  We RAN from house to house, trying to get as much candy as possible.  Back then...(yes this sounds like geriatric lingo) candy was mainly Tootsie Rolls, butterscotch candies, and if you were lucky some PB cups or Snickers!  My kids got the biggest variety of candy and treats I've ever seen!   

Tonight we go to our ward party and after much debate, and basically procrastinating far too long to come up with something better ta-da! Here We Are:.....Mary and Joseph.