Levi's Hair Cut

Traumatic...love the sideburns!
Hello Poser...much better! Check out
that foldy ear!

This kid really, really hates getting his hair cut. If we want to threaten him to do something or to not do something (which every parent does, admit it)...we threaten him with a HAIR CUT!! He always says "Tomorrow". Not only is it hard on him but it's hard on his parents to inflict this on him (ha ha)...when we get done, we are worn out also.

So, for all of you that have seen our bushy-haired kid lately, he is now clean cut and doesn't resemble a Brady Bunch kid anymore. that is the other boys here...Will and Ethan have some seriously big hair.

Thanks for letting me blog this...Levi needed his own entry. Have a good day y'all! Next up, I hope, is a group shot of all FIVE of my kids together!! Working on that today!

Rocky Balboa

not such a flattering pic but he's struggling today....this
was in mid-afternoon on 7/30 (plus, he needs a haircut)

See the difference? this was at 11:30 p.m. of the same day....
Poor E...he got royally slammed in the ol' peeper last night! These pix are the reason that I am glad my kids have not expressed an interest in playing baseball...not that I wouldn't let them. I'm just glad soccer is their thing at this point in their lives. Baseball scares me...that little ball gets to whizzing and watch out!! Well, anyway...here's to you, Ethan...you tuff little dude! I actually think you kinda like the way your face looks with this shiner! and that's ok...you earned it! Thank the Lord for Arnica, a nice herbal ointment that has helped considerably with his bruising. Ok, well I'm off to bed but will post the Levi hair trials in the a.m. Good night!

Sweet Baby Girl who's always crying...

The kids took this picture....
mooooooooore milk please
Levi is unimpressed with the crying baby
Aunt Beck lovin' on Baby Kitten Head (yes, for those of you who know us, we do have the same shirt...way to reallly confuse some of you)

Molly, Molly, Molly....boy, it's a good thing you're cute!!

She really is cute...she is quite a little piglet though. I feel like

I'm nursing close to 24/7...we are getting used to it though. In

fact, she is crying right now, wanting some more comfort from

her mother dear. I just wanted to get these pix on here, and I

have a few more entries I am going to get on here tonight and

tomorrow...here's a preview....Ethan got hit in the right eye at

a church picnic last night by a baseball...he's pretty beat up

but he's tough. It looks worse tonight so I need to take another

picture of it...and then another entry is going to be Levi and his

hair cut (finally!! amen)...he's got the bushiest head of hair right

now...so David is cutting it as I type...and I am off to get a few

pix of the always trying and wearing event...off to snap some

pix and nurse my chubalicious baby girl...

Lazy Days of Summer

taking a little siesta with Daddy.
vision of perfection...love the tummy
tiny piggies...
Whatta handsome dude!

Not too much happening here...still getting used to having this new little person around here. She is cute but she is kinda high maintenance at this stage. I did discover, as you can see in the pix above, that she might be a tummy baby!! I know "they" say you aren't supposed to let baby sleep on her belly but every other time I've laid her down over the past few days, she wakes up instantly. And while she is cute and cuddly, doesn't allow for momma to get ANYTHING done through the day. I would love to just sit and cuddle her all day though. She is so warm and squishy!! She loves her sling immensely. She is smiling a little bit here and there too...so precious!!

The kids have been attending soccer camp at our church every night this week. It's a really nice mom break for them! I am home with Levi and Molly and David is going to pick them up! I know I need to get some pix of them on here and I will do that soon!! They haven't changed as much as Molly has over the past two weeks. They still continue to be incredible helps to me!!

Piper turns 3 tomorrow. Her big bash is tomorrow night!! Happy Birthday to you, Miss P! Becky still hasn't popped her kid out either! (have I mentioned how nice it is to NOT be pregnant????)

We've got some eyes!!

eating her dress...
I'm Supergirl!

Finally got some shots of Molly with her eyes open!...she doesn't really look like any of our other kids really, maybe Levi a tad. But I see Nathan...David's youngest brother. He was a super cute kid but he had brown eyes...no fair! We shall see, babies change so frequently. Will is holding her in one of these shots again, he isn't the only kid that I allow to hold her, it's always just so amazing and cute to me that my oldest and my youngest are together, and that even though he's a cool 12.5 year old dude, he is enthralled with her. When he's 20, she will only be 8. Wow. (I'm such a math head, ay??) Check out his moustache...

O yeah, Molly had her newborn check up on Thursday...(the appt. from you know where...I waited for 1 hour before I was even called back to a room...argh...don't get me going on that)...but the good news is that Molly weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces.(Chub-a-lubba) The week prior, at her check up with the midwives, she weighed 7 pounds, 7.4 ounces, down only 2/10 of an ounce from birth...so it's encouraging to find out that all this time spent nursing is paying off...now if it would actually help me lose weight as it's supposed to. wishful thinking.

I have determined that I need a new camera...my little Kodak dude is just struggling. And with all that money we have growing on the trees out back, that shouldn't be a problem. har har.

Ok, so there ya have it, two posts in one day...hope you all are well and healthy. Love and peace!

A Visit with Good friends!!

It's been far too long since we last saw these good people! You forget how awesome some people are...my kids LOOOOOOOVE those good ol' H. kids!! I finally caught up with you, Kelly!! Now we both have five kids. She made it look so easy! Kelly, you are such a blessing to me...wish we lived closer every time I get to be with you!

Well, we had a great visit with our friends and just want to send out a big thank you to all 6 of you for making the trek down here, getting lost in M-ville, and for not giving up till you found us!! Thank you for the diapers and outfits for Miss Molly! We are grateful. It's our turn next to drive up to you!! We love you guys! You have raised some incredible kids Mr. and Mrs. H! God Bless all 7 of you!

First Unofficial photo shoot

Mel and I took a bunch of pix earlier while Baby Kitten Head (as Aunt Becky refers to Molly) slept...it was like the Paparazzi had arrived with all the flashing and posing. She handled it really well though.

Once she wakes up more, I'm sure it will be more interesting...bear with me on all the sleeping baby pictures. I will try to pose her in some different ways (ha ha), just to make it more fun. She is so darn cute...a stinkin' cuddle bunny I tell ya.

I really plan to take a few pix of all FIVE of our kids together, and hope to be able to do that Wed. or Thurs...we have friends that are supposed to be coming over Wed...so I'll get pix of that too. Otherwise, that's it for me tonight. Enjoy the tiny baby foot pic...her feet are too too cute. Forgive the haphazard-ness of this post. G'night folks.

Bathing Beauty and I don't mean me...

I wanted to put the cute little naked pic of Miss Molly screamin in the tub on here but thought that would be kinda "weird"...so I cropped it and you can still get the idea of just how chub-alicious she is getting!! her scrawny newborn-ness is quickly going away...and is being replaced by a loverly cherubic baby doll.

Ok, it's late...I am going to do another post tonight because I got some cute pix of her tiny feet and a very relaxed pose on the couch...

Otherwise, all is well here...the kids are doing an awesome job keeping up with things, and helping me out where they can...I know they think I'm so cranky right now, and I am...sorry guys...YOU ROCK!

Have I mentioned how tired I am tonight? I guess I should go to bed, really, but need to get these posted so my sister has something to look at when she gets to work in 6.5 hours. :) ;) :P Love ya, B. Hi Mom...Hi everyone...Peace out!

Molly meets her Gma and Gpa Young and crew

Nick and Natalie greet Miss Lively
Crying for Emilie...it was dinner time!
With Grandma...Grandpa was nearby
Molly got to meet her Daddy's side of the family today...well, a few of them anyway. We had a nice late afternoon visit with Grandma and Grandpa, Natalie and Nick and Emilie! Molly slept pretty much the whole time till the end when her two hours was up and it was paaaaaast feeding time!! She is sticking by her 2 hour feeding schedule.
Thanks for making the trip over to visit us Family! It was nice to see you.
Otherwise, we got up late for church today but were still going to make it, maybe only 10 minutes late, which is the norm for us when David's with us...we got up the road and there had been a bad accident earlier this morning and traffic was backed up. At this point, we were a half an hour late so we decided since we were all dressed and ready, we would stop at Starbucks...the kids were telling us they were hungry, since no one took the time to eat except for MOLLY of course...When we went into order, they were giving out FREE breakfast sandwiches there today...egg, cheese and turkey bacon on a whole wheat muffin...pretty stinking cool and I'd say the Lord was looking out for our hungry tummies...I know, cheesy but this morning was a real blessing...we read the Bible together while we waited in traffic and sang in the car...then we met a nice guy and girl at a business right next Starbucky's...trying to sign folks up for a new fitness place in town here...the girl had a pretty undeniable testimony and wasn't afraid to talk about the Lord, God or the Bible!! Then she told David that he looked like Liev Schreiber (does anyone know who he is?? he was on CSI for a bit as well as Scream and Manchurian Candidate etc)...ha ha. I do believe he does...he's pretty cute (my husband, that is)...
Ok, sorry, I'm kinda sleepy and rambly so if any of that last paragraph makes ANY sense....well good. I'll be back on here tomorrow...planning a "photo shoot" with baby Molly! C'mon people, write me...

A few random shots...

Not such a flattering photo of momma but it's
for posterity's sake...
Pooped after her check-up
Hanging with her cousin, Piper...
Gettin' some love from Will...
I'm back...took a day off...thought I would post a few more random Molly shots on here. There are so many folks yet that I have to take her pic with or get one on here, so please don't think we don't love you. We do...just overwhelmed to say the least. I'm not bouncing back as fast as I thought I would!! (I AM old, ya know...) :)
It has been a good week of rest, I will say that...although I do hate to have to have my kids wait on me...My friend, Sarah, took Mel and Levi for most of the day yesterday and that was nice for them and nice for me...I got to take a 2 hour nap without worrying that Levi was going to find some mischief. Thank you, Mrs. T.! Thank you also for the yum meal...that soup was great!! Thank you also to the Petty family, for the chicken bowtie pasta and all the fixin's that went with that...Molly loved her outfit, socks and her mom liked the lotion, candle and bag...Thank you for thinking of us!! It makes me emotional.
We have to run some errands today, get some pix printed off and all that jazz, banking, shopping so that will be interesting with a newborn, as if I've never shopped with a newborn...but it's always a challenge to coordinate all that again! yikes. soooooo glad to NOT be pregnant this Saturday!! AMEN!!
I will try to get some pix of Molly and her siblings all together as well as some decent shots of her in real clothes and such. For now, though, she is crying, must be feeding time again...She is so darn cute! Wish you all could see her! she's a kitten.
I'll be back later...hope you all are doing well!

Whatta day...

The big blow-up...way to go, Daddy!!

Hmmmm, losing my perspective....2 days ago, I was longing for these days, when I would think about the pain of childbirth...always makes you appreciate life and the monotony that can and will come with it. Today, though, things have been good...but since I'm breastfeeding, and the milk came in, I'm grumpy and sore...yes, I know, this too shall pass...so I need to cherish this. Don't want to lose perspective...I feel so blessed. Molly has done well today...she is nursing somewhat well...all the time actually. I am more tired today than I thought I would be. waa waa.
Then tonight, spilled some newly pumped milk all over the table...nice. While that was happening, Levi came in from the pool and proceeded to slip on our lovely, metal spiral stairs and gave himself a nifty 4 inch wide abrasion/open scratch on his sweetly tanned little back. Youch. He is actually handling it better than I am...poor little fella.
Thank you to my awesome Mom, awesome Sister, and awesome pastor's wife, Julie, and their awesome daughter, Paige, who helped to feed our brood today...thank you girls!
Thank you for your moral support mom and beck...thank you, Heather Jernigan, for letting me use your electric breast pump till Beck needs it...You, my friend, are awesome!! Thank you for calling me tonight, Sarah, I will definitely get back to you and set up a Maddison and Molly meeting. What an incredible network of women...my Steel Magnolias! "Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion". Thank you to my amazing kids, who deal with the brunt of my incapabilities right now...I love you guys. Mel, you will be an astounding momma and wife someday and don't let anyone tell you that that is settling...that is the greatest calling from your Heavenly Father.
Well, I have so many more pix I want to put up and will do so but Molly needs me and we have a check-up with the midwives tomorrow. I am a beat up girl. Peace out...Laurie

A Few more pix of the birthday...and a funny birth story.

Momma Jr. (this baby likes to nuzzle)

These aren't the clearest pictures on this blog...don't quite know why they show up so foggy. Guess you will just have to come see us in person, ay??

Anyway, here's the story...hang on tight!

My labor was on and off all morning yesterday...started at about 2 a.m. with a weird "pop" noise under my belly button. I got up and watched TV all morning till 6 a.m., made my calls to the midwife and my sis and mom. We got to the birth center at about 8, was only dilated to THREE!! how frustrating. David and Mom took the 4 kids home while Beck stayed with me so I could labor there and get checked again in 2 hours. I slept, had a few killer contx., got checked again at 11 a.m. and was only at FOUR!! Ugh. We decided to leave so I could just go labor at home for the day...We got back at home at 12:54 p.m., had a few more killers and got in the tub...thought the water and warmth would help me to tolerate the pain and get thru the hardest parts...yeah, that didn't last too long. Once I got in the tub, the contx. picked up hot and heavy...from 7 minutes apart to 2-3. Youch. I was freaaaaaaaaaaaking out...how was I going to get from my tub to the Nurse Midwives tub without considerable pain and without having a baby...??? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me....that was my mantra. It worked! David got a call into the midwives and mom/beck...threw the kids in the car and off we went.

On a good day, you can make it to the birth center in about 40 minutes. Yeah, a problem arose. I was starting to have the urge to push and then my water broke...David kept encouraging me to pant and not push the baby out but a couple of times, I thought for sure Molly was going to bust out...David was driving around cars in turning lanes, honking. He had Will make a sign for the window that said in bold letters, BABY...It is a MIRACLE that we didn't get in an accident or pulled over...up Highway 37 (construction no less and then on top of that, stupid Indiana drivers)...onto 465...again duh....and onto 38th St., the "hood", 3 lanes of stupid drivers...it is also a miracle that we didn't have to pull over so David could deliver our baby...whew!! Water is continuing to break and gush all over my passenger seat and I'm cringing, moaning and panting to keep her IN...insane. David's honking and c'mon-ing people, continuing to "encourage" me to act like we are just out for a nice drive....ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH! We got to the birth center, I threw my door open while the middy's ran out to meet us...ripped my soaking pants off, threw on a towel (good foresight, huh?? didn't want to scar my kids or the passersby on a nice, bright clear July afternoon) and practically ran into the center. They were wonderful, nice calm music playing, candles, and the TUB...I jumped in, gave 2 good pushes and out she came...covered in vernix...with her cord wrapped tight around her neck, and she was holding onto her cord tight with her little right hand. I am trying right now to recall that feeling so I can always remember HOW PAINFUL IT IS!! and so I don't do this again...not that the kids aren't great but man, that was scary and painful and I'm far too old to live thru it again. We made it there with 5 minutes to spare...whew!!

Ok, yikes, having flashbacks and freaking myself right out...it is truly amazing how you can go from stark raving mad laboring woman to euphoric, joyful mother...a gift from God, for sure...She was screaming right from the get-go...good color, alert and good apgar scores of 9 at one minute and 9 at 5 minutes. The only sad part was that Mom and Beck missed this whole show...Beck got into the room just in time to hear her first cry and get my tub pix...Thanks B...you ROCK my sister. I would truly have not made it through this without YOU, MOM, DAVID and JESUS CHRIST! My kids were AMAZING and oh so helpful also...they saw things yesterday that some of you have probably never seen....(not that that's bad....) and when we got settled, they were so over the moon for Miss Molly! She is blessed to have four awesome sibs to help with her and to love her...in fact, as I type this (and yes, I do seem to be going on, sorry for that)...Levi is over on the couch holding her ever so gently...it's sooooooooo cute.

I am exhausted!! Molly is doing well today, nursing well (rock on!!), and man is she sweet!! She is so tiny and perfect....can't get over how blessed we feel! Thank You for all of your thoughts, calls, prayers and care. Thanks B and Mom for the delish dinner tonight, parmesan crusted chicken breast, rice with broccoli and cheese, corn on the cobby, big salad, choco cake...mmm mmm good. I love you guys!! So much. I guess I should close for tonight...I'll be back tomorrow...God bless all of you!!

O yeah, I will get a pic of Levi with Molly on here tomorrow...I have some, just have to download them...he has not been forgotten!! G'night...peace out.

Here She is!!

Molly Christine was born today at 2:55 p.m., weighing in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces, 20" long. She is chubby (for a newborn anyway) and although looks like her big bro E and big sis Mel, has a look all her own so far...she also has a wonderful set of lungs. Ha!!
I will get back on here tomorrow, when I've hopefully had some sleep, and recount the events of this day....they are rather movie-like and adventurous!! Some of you have heard the funny story...lucky you...

Praise the Lord that she made it safely and in the care of the midwives and not on the highway. Praise the Lord for a husband that was willing to drive like a madman to get us to the birth center on time...he was awesome and helpful today!! Praise the Lord that she seems healthy so far, has good lungs, bright, clear eyes and big siblings that can't seem to get enough of her (for now anyway). Praise the Lord that she was so fearfully and wonderfully made. Praise the Lord that I AM DONE GIVING BIRTH. Amen and amen.

G'night folks...I'll be back with more tomorrow. Love to you all!! sorry this took me so long, we had visitors.

This just may be the day...

It's 3:48 a.m. I have been up for the past two hours, with gradually more consistent contractions. They are not the sweet little Braxton Hicks ones that we get to enjoy mid-pregnancy to near the end...these are the kind that you can feel them opening up your ol' body to bring the kid out...youch.
I have called the midwife to make her aware but she said to wait it out till they become more consistent.
Well, I will get back on if anything changes but I need to get back to my not so enjoyable late night/early morning television...hopefully next time I come here, it will be with pix of our baby...o i hope so.
Pray for me..I'm scared and hurting!
Love Laurie

Levi and baby bedding

Love that boy's profile!
Just laying there, wetting my bed...but so cute!
Clothesline bedding for the baby

*Pacing and nesting, scrapping, and cleaning...I'm trying to do it all. It's kinda funny...is this the night? I pray so but my hopes are beginning to fade.

**I took a nap at about 8 p.m. and little Levi came in to lay with me. He fell asleep and has been asleep since then...(it's 12:51 a.m.). He looked cuter in person all snore-y and sleepy but these pix don't show that I forgot to put his pull-up on him and he soaked my bed...niiiiiiiice. My sheets will be nice and clean. Poor dude even missed our once in a blue moon, rare treat of Donato's pizza...mm mm good.

***The last picture is of Molly's new bedding...is that not the cutest quilt you've seen?? Makes ya hope that the ultrasound is correct, that it's a girl and that the baby is actually going to show up this week or next...yeah, I got all of that from that bedding picture. It's called clothesline. Thank you, Granmma and Grampa Greenie. We love the bedding and can't wait to lay her tiny bum down on it.

****Ok, well, on that note, enjoy these cheesy pix...and I will be back real, real soon. Peace out, sistas and bruthas.

No pictures but I'll post anyway

Figured I should get on here and post.
No, I have not had my baby YET!! Yes, I'm frustrated...and curious, and wondering and annoyed and highly irritable. It's Friday evening, July 6...David has predicted that I will start laboring consistenly tonight...and we will have our baby sometime on the 7th.
Let's hope he's on to something because I am really ready to get the pain of childbirth over with and meet our new person...He said I could "have" the baby when he got done with his shift tonight...ha ha. he's so fun.
Otherwise, it's been nice to sit in the pool when it's as hot outside as it has been and it's only going to get hotter (is that a word?)...I am sooooooooo thankful for that pool. Have I said that lately?
Well, I'm horribly boring and highly indifferent right now...I know I should have peace and be praising the Lord and thanking him for this time...and I am...I'm going to go do that right now.
"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life".
Proverbs 13:12
He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.
Psalm 113:9
I'll be baaaaaaaaack.

I'm still here!

Yeah, ouch.

No baby yet...my 4th of July prediction was off...which is pretty unusual for me. But I did also predict July 7th...and the way I feel today, it will most likely be BY then...I woke up at 5:45 this morning with some pretty consistent, not so comfy contx. Timed them a little then got up to "nest" a bit...do some dishes, laundry blah blah blah...they slowed down...dang it. I decided to go back and lay down and slept SOME MORE and woke up a bit ago. What's a girl to do to have her kid come out?? (yes, I know all the old wive's tales and we've tried a lot of them) I've done this 4 times already, you'd think this kid would just fall out. Fall out girl. c'mon...

Soooo, my loving sister and momma called a few times to check on me, see if I happened to have the baby in the middle of the night (remember, a watched pot never boils:):))and I've been instructed that I will be hanging out at mom's house when David leaves for work, in case baby #5 gets her act together and heads out. That way, loving hubby can leave his job (down south of us, an hour away) and mom can get us up to the birth center (such a weird concept to me...can't I just have it at home?)

Hope y'all enjoy the extremely pregnant pix of me up above...I look painful, don't I?? youch.

Sorry to dwell...it's getting old. soak it up, soak it up...cherish these moments...I'm trying.

I will get any new news on this blog as soon as I can...we only stay at the birth center for four hours after the baby arrives so you know I will be blogging as soon as we get home.

Have a super day, keep me in your prayers...I appreciate it!! Lots of love coming your way!