First Month

Guess who is one month old today?

Davy loves his baby sister!

Tiny tootsies

We all wonder what we did without her: our sweet Fiona.

Love, Mama Rachel

Many, MANY thanks to my sweet friend, the amazing Jen, for these beautiful photos!

Lucky #13

Introducing...

Fiona Temple

Arrived April 28, 2014

8:51pm

7lbs. 1 oz. 21" long

We are all so glad she's here!

Love, Mama Rachel

Seeing Pink

Coming soon...

...on or near April 20, 2014 (EASTER!) ...

...our home will have even more frills and ruffles!

Eight girls, and five boys; we are so excited!!! Everything looks good on the ultrasound, all my tests came back wonderful, and we're (finally) starting to plan for a new little one.

I do love the color pink. :-)

Love, Mama Rachel

Davydd's Birth Story

They kept two IV's in me until just before I left the hospital, so they wouldn't have to stick me again...

 Things I want to remember:

• The hours of praying through the night that baby's heartbeat would stay good so there would be no C-section needed.
• The divine intervention that kept me in pain in just the right spots to help move baby's head into the right place. (Even though I was frustrated beyond belief that I was still in pain WITH an epidural.)
• The sweet spirits I felt enter the room right when I thought I would burst with worry and overwhelm due to the oxygen I was on and the hyperventilating I was doing in an attempt to get baby all the oxygen he needed.
• The 9 attempts at getting my IV in that left me bruised and  nervous-- and the sweet nurse who was so upset about it saying "This is all you're going to remember, when all you wanted was a nice home birth!"
• The calm and kind nurse-midwife who was willing to wait patiently for our boys arrival-- more patiently than I was willing to wait through most of the experience!
• My midwife, Sue, who showed up JUST when I needed her to put cool cloths on my forehead and give me words of encouragement. (I don't know how I would have survived the nurse change right as things got hairy!)
• How I pushed for less than 10 minutes, determined to get baby out and in my arms at last!
• How scary it was afterward to realize how LITTLE ambiotic fluid my poor little guy was trying to swim in!
• How bad I felt when I realized that I was birthing without pain, but that my little one had to do a lot of work on his own WITHOUT pain relief.
• How I felt EVERYTHING while pushing-- the epidural blocked nothing.
• The lesson I learned about facing fears with faith. The Lord's plans are ALWAYS better than our own! If only I had trusted Him...

And now for some pictures:

Me on oxygen-- trying to stay positive!

First Davydd picture, covered in green vernix-- poor guy!

Meeting the whole family!

Alls well that ends well.

Love, Mama Rachel

A Baby, A Birthday, and a Bob

One of Davydd's funny faces.

Sweet Davy keeps growing, getting cuter every day. He is so expressive in his facial expressions! He has a rather large fan club at our house. It seems like he's always been here, even though it's only been three weeks since he was born.

In other news, MacKenna turned SEVEN years old!

Seven!

Sisters

She liked her necklace, bracelets, and new outfits. (Fifty percent off day at Goodwill makes it all possible!)

Oh, and she and Mom are going to make a Raggedy Ann doll together for one of her presents, too. She's growing so big and smart! We are very grateful for her bright spirit in our family.

Moving on...

Eryn has a fascination with scissors-- and it finally caught up with her and her long, beautiful curls. *sob* In the end, Mama had to cut her hair SHORT to even out the many lengths Eryn had cut. Here are her "after" shots-- she's still such a sweet, pretty girl!

Even if she is a mischievous toddler, now...

It's a good thing she's so cute.

From behind-- so short!

And I leave you with one more Funny-Davydd-Face from this morning:

Love, Mama Rachel

Precious Photos of Baby Davydd

All photos in this post were captured by Jill Rich.

My friend, Jill, is an amazingly talented photographer who has blessed our family with her skills in the past, (See our family picture on the "About Us" page!) and came over today to capture some newborn photos of our tiny little guy.

Again, this is a post for the grandparents! We love you!!!

I'm so grateful to be blessed by the talents of others!

October 2012 Pictures

Me with my sweet little Davy

 The next few posts are for all our family members that are not on Facebook, so please allow me to indulge in sharing lots of photos of ALL our cute, cute kids...

Most of us (except me and our little Davy) attended our ward's Trunk or Treat earlier this week:

Lovely Morganne chased little girls all night.

Brennan was an "apocalypse survivor/zombie-killer."

Lliam was scary in his black cloak.

Pretty Bonny had lots of fun with her friends.

Gavin was a dashing Legolas.

Dierdre was an adorable witch. (She made her own broom at her  weekly homeschool club.)

Ronan saved boxes for weeks to put together enough to be a cyborg. (He did a great job!)

MacKenna was excited to dress up as Mulan!

Miss Grayse Dawn as "Dorothy"

Adorable Princess Avalon...

And pretty Princess Eryn.

AND...

Now for some pictures of our new little one:

Grayse loves her baby brother.

Dierdre is so careful and kind.

Our Davydd Aldie

He's Here!

Arriving at 8:39am on October 17, 2012

After 15 hours of labor, lots of prayers, Priesthood blessings, and loads of waiting, our sweet little man has FINALLY arrived!

Russell's grandfather passed away at the beginning of the month, and we were not able to attend the funeral. That was hard, but we were there in spirit and heart. Our precious little one was given Grandpa's first name for his middle name, and we know Grandpa would be very pleased.

There is so much I have experienced, so many lessons I've learned, that I'm not sure where to start. Right now I'm just processing it all! Sometime soon, I will record everything, but for today it is simply enough to say that he's here, he's wonderful, and we are all falling deeply in love with him.

Welcome, Davydd Aldie!!!

Two Years Ago Today

Miss Eryn Millie

I can't believe it's been two years ago today that this sweet girl joined our family.

The time has flown by so fast! And yet, it seems she's always been a part of our family.

So sweet. (And ready to swim!)

Here's her blog birth announcement. And here's her birth story. (I'm so glad I recorded them both!)

Oh, Miss Eryn, what would we have done without your soft sweetness in our lives?

Happy Birthday, little one. We love you so much!

Love,
Mama

Baby #12 Update: June

Head profile (Yeah, kinda hard to see)

I am so, so, sooooo excited to report that we got an ultrasound last night, and we now know what kind of baby we'll be welcoming come October...

Are you ready???

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!

And he's a busy little guy! He kept moving like crazy during the ultrasound-- he was beginning to frustrate the technician to no end.

Russell and I decided that we're IN FOR IT!!! 

Then again, I can't stop grinning about having another little buddy to love. :-)

Now I need to FIND, and then go back through my baby boy stuff. (I'm so glad I didn't give it all away, as I almost did a million times!) And I think the girls and I will spend the next few months sewing. Summer is the perfect time for indoor projects 'round these parts!

I'm sharing a couple pictures, but I decided I wouldn't post the most delicate views. My boy may someday come back and read this blog, and I don't want him mad at me!!! 

View from above

I have to explain the second ultrasound picture. This little guy was doing all kinds of moving, twisting, and wiggling. The technician was laughing so hard at all our busy boy's contortions, so he just had to get a picture. In the picture above, it's a view looking down on the baby, his head is on the left, his hands by his head, his left leg is up and across his body. (On the right side of the picture.)

I think he's gonna be very cute. We're all so excited!

Peaceful

I want to thank you all for your prayers. I have felt them giving me peace and strength this week. I so appreciate all your active faith in my behalf!

I have not miscarried-- everything seems to be just fine. My husband and kids have been vigilant about keeping me down and resting, and I feel like it's been the right, best thing to do. I am trying to get an appointment with a midwife, but we've been playing phone tag, and honestly, I'm not feeling anxious or worried about it.

I did get out on Tuesday afternoon for our Fiddler on the Roof auditions. (I just couldn't reschedule and let all those kids down!) There's no way I could have done it without the amazing help of my producer, assistant director, and the other audition committee members. My assistant director, Melissa, especially organized the day, numbered the order of the kids auditioning, arranged rooms, ran errands, and even got the kids to bring in a COUCH for me to sit on! Yes, I am one blessed girl! She is awesome to work with!!!

The audition process took AGES-- from 11:30am to 5:30pm that night! I have been known to be faster than that, BUT the kids were all so amazing, that it was DIFFICULT to cast! Thank goodness for the guidance of the Holy Ghost! We even toyed with the idea of double-casting the show, but that means more work for everyone, so I decided to go with giving some of the kids understudy roles. I hope they're all excited to get started on the show. :-)

I will continue to take the rest of this week off, and then see how things go thereafter. I think I'm going to need to commit myself to taking one nap a day, but I feel a calm about everything.

The Lord is so good!

Thanks again, everyone!!!

Love,
Rachel

Holding on to Hope

Artwork by Greg Olsen

This weekend has been a bit frustrating. And I've been really hesitant to share what's been going on. But, due to my present circumstances, it's becoming necessary-- how else can I explain why I've had to put the brakes on my very busy life?

Sigh.

Friday morning I asked Russell for a priesthood blessing. I try not to ask him for blessings too much because I tend to prefer that means of communicating to the Lord, (I like to hear the words) and I have been known to abuse it a bit. Yet in the last week or so I've felt prompted by the Holy Ghost to ask for one, so I did.

You see, after two miscarriages since Eryn was born, I am finding myself again in the early stages of pregnancy. I am keenly aware that my childbearing days are nearing their end, but in a sacred experience in the temple, I was told that there would be twelve. And that I would need to be BRAVE. That happened way back during the summer.

Anyway, Russell gave me a beautiful, concise, detailed blessing. I was told quite clearly that I would carry this baby to term, bringing another child into our family circle. And I was told to take very good care of myself physically, writing down the inspiration I receive. (See why I'm blogging about this now?) And I was reminded that I need to make a list of all of the good things I'm heavily involved in right now, and to PRIORITIZE them.

I felt such joy, peace, and relief after that beautiful blessing! I have been on edge for weeks, worried that I might miscarry this baby, too. I haven't told anyone I was expecting, except for Russell and my older kids, because of my fear of losing another pregnancy. It's still quite early; only seven weeks.

I resolved to do the things that the Lord has asked me to do. At ten o'clock I had to take Dierdre to her charm and poise class, and so I gathered up a notebook, pen, and the most recent Ensign magazine before heading out the door.

Her class lasts about 2 hours, (but it's far enough away from home that I don't want to go back and forth twice) so I dropped her off, grabbed myself a quick breakfast in the nearby Trader Joe's, and parked at a nearby park. It was a beautiful day and the park was quiet. I quietly turned on some relaxing music, ate my meal, and started to write.

I made a list of everything within my stewardship right now. Husband, children, homeschool, directing a musical, three church callings, unfinished projects. Growing a baby. Everything. As I went down the list, I felt the inspiration of the Lord touching my heart. I could see where I was worrying unnecessarily, and what things I could simplify and re-work. It felt good. I had peace knowing that I was doing what the Lord had counseled me to do.

I went to pick up my daughter, and visited with her teacher for quite some time about her midwife. She gave me her reasons why she liked her so much, and told me more about her practice and how she worked. I felt good about her recommendation. I determined to go home and talk to Russell about it so that we can start planning and saving to pay for the birth.

I finally allowed myself to get excited about the pregnancy, seeing that we would really be getting a new baby out of this! I could relax and rejoice. I even started playing with baby names again. (One of my favorite things!)

After I arrived home, I made a scary discovery-- I was bleeding. Only a tiny bit, but still. That's how my last two miscarriages started. I ran to Russell, panicked. What about the blessing? What about the promises of the Lord? I thought I had done what He asked of me. Had I done something wrong?

I quickly laid down, and Russell and I talked. He told me that he had hesitated to make those promises in the blessing, but that the Spirit had pushed and prodded him to say those things exactly in that way. I took deep breaths, and remembered the story of an acquaintance who had been able to keep from going into labor with one of her babies by rubbing lavender essential oil on her abdomen. So I applied some lavender oil and prayed and PRAYED. The words "Faith is a verb" kept going through my mind.

Since then I have put myself on bedrest. I'm not out of the woods, yet, so Russell and the kids have taken over. I look at my calendar and try not to panic. This was going to be a very busy week for me! Auditions for the musical are on this Tuesday-- Valentine's Day, not to mention I had some big plans for Russell and I that evening.

Now I think I understand better about what the Lord meant when He told me to prioritize. I'm working my way through one moment at a time. We'll see what this week holds. But I am also trusting in the Lord's promise that I will carry this baby to term, that he or she will be okay. I need to do my part and follow the promptings of the Spirit, so can know what is most important for me to do right now, and not endanger the life of this new little one.

Thanks for listening. Any prayers would be most welcome.

Love,
Rachel