Why so serious??

A "piggy" halloween

Too bad we weren't pigging out on treats or something along those lines. Halloween was my turn to have the swine flu, so I suppose you can say I was a "eukaryote housing H1N1" for Halloween. Fantastic getup, even came with a real fever of 102.8! Only Bekah and baby Davey haven't had this nasty little virus, so here's hoping it skips them somehow. I did manage to snap a picture with my cellphone of Davey in his Halloween getup a few days before we lost our Halloween spirit.

He's a cross dresser! :) He has 3 older sisters, this was bound to happen sooner or later right?? (Should've taken a picture before we took the dress off, but we were laughing uproariously. )

Choices...

to read...


To gnaw...

Or to lick...

Gnawing is probably my first choice.

Two more things to keep me from blogging...

I am such a sucker for abandoned kittens. I really wasn't going to let the girls keep them, but then Daddy joined them in begging me to keep them, and it was all over. Bekah chose the black one to be hers and named her Mittens. Kate named hers after a stuffed kitty she's had for several years...Dinah. I think they named them well considering Bekah's first choice was "Blackie".

Here's some pics I took with my cell phone (my real camera was in the house and that involved walking to get it.)

Dinah

Mittens

10 Weeks Old

Yikes. It's been 8 weeks since I blogged. Actually, that's not too bad for me. I found my journal and realized my closest entries were 8 MONTHS apart. Writing just isn't my thing. Eh well...good thing I have kids or I'd NEVER write in a journal...or blog...Hmm...kids are good for something after all!

So Davey's turning into quite a long chunky baby. Quite a change from tiny little Sarah. At his last appointment (at 10 weeks old) he weighed 13 lbs (75th percentile) and measured 25 inches (95th percentile!) . He started giving us huge grins around 7 weeks and little laughs around 8. He finds his sisters to be rather hilarious. The kid has a good sense of humor!

He's frickin' HUGE!

So Davey had his 2 week checkup and wow...he's a chubs! I shoulda guessed, he eats ALL the time and started out rather large for being 2 weeks early. Apparently average weight gain is back to the birth weight but the kiddo weighs 9 lbs! I'm wondering if his length was measured correctly because they said he was 22.5 inches. Is that possible?? 1.5 inches in 2 weeks?? Huh...in any case...he's destined to be tall.

He fell asleep like this...

Introducing David Edward

Ok, I am slow getting to this...but I rarely have more than one hand free. Anyway, David Edward Phippen was born on 4/11 at 12:40 AM. He weighed 7 lbs 11 ounces and supposedly measured 19.5 inches. Apparently the nurses measured him too quickly, because when I took him in at 6 days old to have his bilirubin levels checked, he actually measured 21 inches!! We did it twice to make sure. He was 2 weeks early, so I wonder just how big he would've been had I gone 40 weeks?? Holy crap, I'm glad he came when he did. His head was the biggest of my kids at 36 cm, and that was big enough! He's a good eater and sleeper, and the girls adore their Davey baby! Here's a few pics showing how we spent our Easter weekend.

38 weeks mug shot

I took pictures to pass the time during the first few hours at the hospital. J read magazines (notice who the cover article is about...:) )

Texting while they check how the baby responds to the contractions. I got a little bored...

Chunky, swollen and covered in vernix...I love it!

look at that lower lip

finally warm

my boys sleeping (I didn't do much of that in the hospital)

she adores her baby brother

so happy he's finally here

such a good big sister (I don't know what I'd do without her help)

Aunt Nettie and Kate fascinated by baby Davey

so in love with this little guy

Update

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions on teaching my sunday school class. The first class went really well, I honestly didn't expect them to be so dang good. Then, I got pertussis (whooping cough) and missed the next 2 weeks. When I finally came back, only one kid showed. Hmm..think it was me? :) So far, nothing to have stressed about! Which is good because the whole month of march we've (mostly I've) been sick. I learned alot about whooping cough, so I guess it wasn't all for naught? If anyone wants info on pertussis or the vaccine, or the lab tests for it, just ask. I'm pretty sure I've read everything the internet has to offer on the subject. There's alot to I could say about our fantastic March hackfest, but basically the kids and Justin didn't get much beyond a mild upper respiratory illness and a long lasting cough. I had the version where you cough so hard you puke ( and I did that for about 3 nights straight). Plus, if you know anything about pregnancy, take a guess what I had very little control of during those coughing spasms?? I'm doing a TON better and completely infection free (thanks to some intense antibiotics that wiped out my innards) but I'm still recovering from the pulled muscles in my back, pelvis and abdomen. From what I read though, it's common to crack a rib or get a hernia, so I'd say I came through it pretty well eh? :

So we finally are feeling sorta normal, and I have 3 more weeks till my due date. I'm done with the heartburn, the extreme fatigue, the feeling like a whale, the need to pee every 5 minutes...I could probably go on a while. I'm pretty much ready to get this little kicker out of me! Now if I can just get some sleep...

I'll leave you with some pics from our snowshoeing trip to Bryce Canyon in Jan.

Sarah in the Kinder Sled

The girls did really well despite the 20 degree weather

He got a good workout...

...but it got even better when Bekah got too tired and joined Sarah in the sled.

Gorgeous view of Bryce Canyon

It was a pretty tough hike for a 6 yr old!