Some decorating and a blessing

My wonderful sister (and 2 nieces) came to town for the weekend to see Milly, help me decorate my living room and be here for Milly's blessing. 
My living room is a really long awkward space and I needed some outside eyes to help me get things set right...that's where Jamie came in!  Here are the results of our weekend of decorating:

It looks so beautiful!  I wish I had taken some before pictures, but I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out.  The best part is that we used most everything that I had, added a few new pillows, a few cans of spray paint and voila a beautiful space.  It makes me happy to sit in this room and even the kids are being pretty good about keeping it clean.  It makes such a difference in how you take care of things if they truly look nice when they are clean!  Thanks, Jamie...I couldn't have done it without you.

It's always great to play with cousins.  They are definitely the best friends in the world!  We don't get to do this enough.  We were so glad that Kate and Maddie came to visit us.  Here are the kids having a splash in the backyard.  (it's so awesome to have grass!!)

And, of course, we can't forget the star of the weekend...our little angel, Milly!  She looked darling in her blessing dress and her daddy gave her a beautiful blessing.  He blessed her with a healthy body, to have the Spirit throughout her life and to always be filled with gratitude to our Heavenly Father.  It was lovely. 

It was a wonderful weekend and we were sad when it came time for Jamie and the girls to leave.  We hope we will see them again soon!

What we've been up to...

5/13...We moved from Rio Rancho, New Mexico to Gilbert, AZ.

Kids in the moving trailer


Our new house (we decided to rent {again!} for a year or so)

We are enjoying Arizona so far.  We have an incredible ward that is so friendly and we are excited to be a part of it.  The weather has been pretty mild so far, but we are preparing for the heat!  We like our new house, it's a little strange in the layout, but will suit us fine for the time being.  The neighborhood is quiet and friendly.  We live in a cul-de-sac with a little park at the end, so there is a nice, safe place for the kids to play.  It's not always best to be in a quiet neighborhood when you have 5 noisy kids!!  I will post more pics of the inside when I get it better situated (my mom will probably be the only one who cares!)

Milly in her swing at an odd angle! 

Our little sleeping princess...so sweet

5/17...Danny turned 37.  We are the same age for a month!  Through all of the unpacking we were able to make a yummy ice cream cake and have a little party.

Bathing beauty!

5/22...Milly turned 2 months...NOOOO!  The time is just going by too fast.  I am loving every moment with my little girl and I don't want her growing up too fast!  2 month stats:

10 lbs 13 oz (48%)

22 3/4" (60%)

Head 15 cm (50%)

She is still such a sweet little girl.  She is beginning to smile and react a little more to our funny faces and coos.  Her siblings still adore her and want to hold her every chance they get.  She is sleeping like a champ.  She has a fussy time in the evening from about 7pm to 10pm, it's not too bad, but she needs to be constantly held and bounced during this time.  But then she goes to bed around 10pm wakes up about 3am and then goes back to sleep until 6:30 or 7am.  I'll take a little fussiness in the evening for the trade off of a good night's sleep!  She also naps a lot during the day.  She is by far my best sleeper!  We love our little girlie-bug!

The many faces of Milly!

Even this little guy can't get enough of her...good thing Heavenly Father made babies strong enough to survive their 2 year old brothers!

The kids had a photo shoot of their own!  They did pretty well taking all these pics.

5/30...Memorial Day.  We started out the day having breakfast with two of my oldest and dearest friends Dannielle and Shayla.  We grew up together many moons ago in California.  Dannielle lives here in Mesa and Shayla was here visiting her brother so we met up for a little bit before Shay had to head back to CA.  It was fun to catch up for a little while.

And here are the offspring of just the 3 of us! There are actually 2 more of Shay's kids that were not there.  Shayla has 6, I have 5 and Dannielle has 3.  That's quite a bunch of kiddos!

After saying our goodbyes, we headed out to the old west...Goldfield Ghost Town!  It was fun to walk around and see all the old buildings and see a gunfight.  A nice little diversion from all the unpacking.

And that brings you up to date on the comings and goings of the Thatcher Family.  I'm really going to try to keep this better updated so that we have a better record of our lives!  

Easter

We had a nice Easter.  We had a special Stake meeting with Elder Keith B. McMullin of the presiding bishopric.  He gave such a great talk and bore such a sweet testimony of the Savior.  What a great way to start our Easter day.
Because of the special conference, I dressed the kids in their Easter outfits last Sunday.  Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture of all of us because most everyone was being uncooperative!  But I was able to get a couple pictures of a few of the kids.

On Easter, I did get a picture of all the kids.  Can you believe those are all mine!  Aren't they cute?

We also dyed eggs, got a visit from the Easter Bunny and hunted down the eggs.

1 month!

Can you believe it has been a whole month since Milly joined our family??  I can't and every day that passes makes me sad...I really want this girl to take her time growing up.  I'm trying to enjoy her even with all the chaos around here.  In case you haven't heard, we are moving to Arizona on May 14th.  Danny got a new position at Intel in Chandler so we are off to the heat.  Anyway, this post is about my little Milly.  Here are a few pictures to celebrate her 1 month (plus a few days, but who's keeping track?)



Her brothers just adore her as you can see.

At 1 month, Milly is still pretty content and such a sweet baby.  She is almost 9 pounds (I just held her to weigh her this am) and is still sleeping well at night...one night she even slept for 6 hours.  That hasn't happened again, but she sleeps consistently for 3-4 hours at a time.  Hey, I'll take it. 

She's starting to chunk up a little bit and she even smiled at me this morning a few times and I think they were real and intentional!

I just love watching the kids with Milly, they are so gentle and they just love her.  Every morning when we wake up, they all yell at once "Can I hold her?"  Every time she wears a new outfit Dylan will say, "She looks so pretty in that."  He is also known to use the word "adorable" on occasion as well.  He's just too cute!  Grace, of course, loves being a little mommy and is such a great mother's helper.  Jesse takes a more low key approach, but loves to hold her and is also a good helper when needed.  James also fights for his turn to hold her and won't give her up until she starts crying...then you have to be right there because when he's done, he's done and he just pushes her off of him!

We still can't get enough of our Milly-Girl. 

The First Two Weeks

We've decided to nickname our little girl Milly...it fits! We are all doting on Milly so much. We just love her to pieces. She is such a sweet, good baby. She is sleeping pretty well for a newborn (and especially one of MY newborns!) She sleeps easily 3-4 hours between feedings at night. I was lucky to get 1-2 hours at this stage with the others. I haven't spent any late nights (early mornings) in tears because she just won't sleep. What a blessing! I don't pretend to think that this will continue because babies change their habits so quickly, but I am just grateful for it at this time!

I've discovered these past two weeks that not only did I gain a new baby, but I lost one in the process:It makes me a little sad, but I guess as a consolation, I gained a BOY! It's funny how the baby grows up the moment you bring a new one home. The kids keep commenting on how BIG James is getting and I tell them that they just think that he's gotten so big because Milly is so small...they don't believe me!

Here are just some pics of our cute little Milly for your enjoyment.

(I just love my babies' heads)

We love having a new baby to adore and are trying to enjoy every moment of our final addition!

The story!

Tuesday morning I had a Drs. appt. and I came prepared with my hospital bag already packed. I was determined to not leave until I had that little girl. I told this to my doc and he agreed and let me check into the hospital (I was already dilated to a 4.) His office is right in the hospital, so it was very convenient.
I checked in around noon and Danny met me there a little later. About 1pm the doc came and broke my water. The contractions started coming more regularly and we were on our way! I had a few complications with my last 2 epidurals, so I decided that I didn't want to have one with this one. I was going to attempt birth-au natural! There was also a little part of me that wanted to see if I could do it.
Well...by 4-ish I was at a 7 and when the nurse checked me she felt the baby's hand above her head. Sometimes when this happens they can get their arm stretched out above the head and have to do a c-section. I was not too thrilled with that. The doc came to check and determined that her hand wasn't going to be a problem and was able to push her hand back...that did not feel too good!
Over the next little while, the contractions got a little stronger, but nothing unbearable and I thought that we were in for a long night because I was sure that if I was close to delivery, I would be hurting a lot more.
Around 6pm the doc came to check again and I was almost a 9 and he guessed that I would probably go within the next half hour or so. After he left the REAL contractions started and I was rethinking this whole natural thing, but it was too late at this point. I only had about 4 or 5 really hard, really awful contractions and then I was ready to push. I was freaked out and not handling the pain too well at this point, but had no other choice! The doc and the nurses came in and in 1 1/2 awful, torturous pushes, she was out. Can I just say "HOLY OUCH!" I have never experienced anything like that. You know those crazy, screaming ladies that you sometimes see on those baby story shows? Yeah, that was me. There was no controlling it. I'm so glad she came out quickly because I was sure I was going to die. It just hurt a lot. A lot, lot! But as soon as she was out, the pain was gone. That was pretty amazing!
It was nice not being numb and having control over my legs once all was said and done. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to experience the birth without an epidural and I am so grateful that she is here and healthy and perfect.
We are home and all is well. Even though this is #5, I am still in awe of the miracle of her. Just this tiny, perfect little human being. We feel blessed to have her join our family and look forward to getting to see her grow. She is just too sweet and perfect and the kids already adore her...especially her big sister. I love watching my cute boys being so gentle and sweet with her. There's nothing like a new little baby. Welcome home, Amelia. We love you so already.

Amelia Rose

Born March 22, 2011 ~ 6:56pm

6lbs 10.8oz ~ 19 3/4"
Amelia Rose Thatcher

Upon Arrival

A visit from the kiddosLook at all those kids!!

Welcome homeI will post more about the experience later...I just wanted to get these pictures up.