Anna Lynae

Anna Lynae arrived  on the 20th of  August. She came in a whirlwind. I dilated from a 7 to a 10 in about ten minutes. I have been induced with all my children and she was by far the best labor. The pushing stage was the most intense. I pushed for four minutes. Although it felt a lot longer. I had no rips of tears and have had a great recovery. A true tender mercy from the Lord. For the first two day she was bruised purple.  Then after that she only suffered bloodshot eyes and smashed nose.  She has a little dent on her chin like  Ben does. Although now you can tell as much because she is getting a rolly. She is growing long lashes. Her skin tone is not as fair as Lydia's but not as dark and Eli's. That is the same with her hair. She has a light brown hair. It is not as blonde as Lydia's.
She weighed 8 lbs 15 oz and was 21 and 1/2 inches long

Hospital Pictures
She is a very content baby. She sleeps through almost any noise.  She is very expressive. I can tell what she wants by the cries she gives me.  She will often stop crying as soon as I pick her up and act like nothing is wrong, she smiles now almost every time  I pick her up.

Look how much she has grown. Her feet used to fit in the chair and now they hang over.

An outfit great grandma gave her.

Eli sure loves his sister.

 She loves making eye contact with people. She will smile at them too. It is amazing how she show the love of Christ at such a tender age and in such a tender way.
She likes to be right with us where ever we are. She sits in a little chair right by the table as we eat, or in the kitchen while I cook.
Tonight she was talking and cooing. She was sitting with Ben and I  was either telling us a story or singing us a song.  She holds her head up so well and will move her body back and forth.  She is a strong girl. She is also growing long. At two months she was 23 inches.  She now fits lengthwise in 6 month pajamas.
I have been truly blessed with her and I have felt emotionally amazing as well. It has been unique experience when compared to my other children and I know that it is the Lord's hand in my life. To be such a great mood helped me prepare for moving. We move when she was five weeks old.
Organizing the house was a slow challenge because I was trying to balance my kids and unpacking and adjusting to a newborn. So much has happened since we moved that it seems like we have been here a long time. When really it has been a month and a half.

Party,Party Party

August through September was one long party, and it will be that way as the kids grow up.Especially since the kids' birthdays all are one after the other.  Before Anna was born we decided that we should have a party with all of the kids' friends so that we could just be a family afterwords. We went to a park and let the kids  play and had cake and such. Lydia and Eli shared a jungle theme this year.  They usually pick what kind of cake they want.  Lydia surprisingly wanted a jungle cake. We bought some jungle animals at the store, and Lydia said, "Does it have rattlesnakes in it. It's got to have rattlesnakes!!"  What happened to princesses and pink and fluffy animals? Who knows, but it was fun to see her be interested in other things.

 Masks that we mad for al the kids going to the party.  Thanks Ben for modeling

After we had the party, Anna was born... her own exclusive post to come soon.

We then had an early party for Eli. Grandma Dalton was visiting and helping with the new baby. We had planned to send the kids with Grandma Erickson to stay with them for a week.  Eli wanted strawberry shortcake as a special dessert.  We opened presents and had  fun watching Eli's face and excitement.  The ages two and three are so fun because every little thing is exciting. He loved and still loves his nijia underwear. His cameo pjs. and such.

Shot gun. So he can go bird hunting with Dad. That was from Ben and me.  For a while he called it his real gun.

He really wanted to put these on so he could see the face, so I took a picture instead.  Often times I catch him with his underwear on backwards.  He want to look down and see the cool picture.

We then had cake again on his real birthday and he got to go fishing with dad.  He had so much fun!!

Cake Number 2

We celebrated Lydia's birthday early too so that Ben could be there because he had to work a ten day stretch. She wanted strawberry shortcake too. Her birthday was on a Sunday, so they sang to her in primary. The children also get a coupon to take to the bishop, and the get to turn it in for a candy bar. She was so thrilled.  

Our own birthday party.

Princess gloves

Love this face

At home we had more cake. Each time I made it I put half of it in the freezer. It just worked out perfect to pull it out and eat it each time we celebrated.  So over a month we had Strawberry shortcake four times.

Eli got a gun and wanted to show it off.

She then opened a box that she had got from grandma.  The snow cone maker was a big hit. The kids wanted snow cones for days to come. I can't believe she is five. Some one pointed out to me that she has thirteen more years at home. I am looking forward to enjoying each one of them.