It's really happening

We are getting an addition on our house! Yeah!

So far, all wires have been ran underground instead of above ground like they were before, the tramp and swing set have been ripped out (with many tears from Kyler) some trees out back have been removed, with tears to begin with...and well after days of trying to remove a nasty big trees stump, the tears have turned to some cussing in our heads :-)

Concrete was supposed to be poured this week, but I think this week will be put on hold as Joels uncle Terry is going to pass away probably today, so Travis (who is helping us build the house and Terry's son) is going to need to spend much needed time with family this week! But hopefully next week we will be back in the swing of things :-)

Keegans Blessing

So, I just started working on baby books, and realized that we never even bought Parlee and baby book! I know what terrible parents we are! Anyhow, Joel is huge about keeping a baby book, he is always asking if Ive written in them lately. I'll say that I havent but that Ive written stuff on my blog. Joel when then say something like a blog isnt the only place you should record stuff...well Im here to say Im so glad I have a blog and Im going to be a lot better about recording stuff here, and not worrying about if I have a picture to add or not, because today I was about to go back over the last 3 years and find dates, stories and facts to update baby books! How great is that! Thank you blog!!!


Anyhow, to keep with updating things and archiving, Keegan was blessed Sunday August 7th, the day after Tarans blessing...wow doing two big events and two seperate luncheons within 2 days with only a 2 week old baby was a lot!!! But it all turned out great, we had a lot of family come to the blessing, Joel gave a really nice blessing and then we all came back to our house for lunch, it was very casual and nice! Keegan actually slept during the entire luncheon!

Keegans blessing was the first blessing that Joel said he was seriously worried about the baby crying during the blessing. Keegan cries alot, he just like to nurse and sleep :-) But needless to say he did well, he didnt cry once during the blessing, but he didnt make it all the way through sacrament, he was crying by the end :-)

Tarans baptism

On Saturday August 6th Taran was baptism a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints...Taran has been looking forward to this day for a LONG time! In fact he was supposed to be baptized on July 10th, but we worried that we could have a small baby right then and decided to move it back one month so that we could do it on the same weekend that the babies blessing would be (of course we figured we would have at least a month old baby by then). For the last few months Taran would say things like "so mom and dad, do you want to talk to me about my baptism?" you could tell he just was so excited that he was always hoping we would have something new to tell him to prepare him....The night before he wanted Joel to practice how to hold his arms, over and over again, of course Parlee and Kyler also wanted to pretend that they were being baptized too.

His baptism was great, it was the same day as Mason Abbots in our ward, so we had our family and his there. After we went to the park to eat, we invited the Abbotts to come with us and also the Maxwells were there. It was nice to have some friends there for Taran!

my little boy

I just cant get enough of this sweet little boy!

But for your entertainment I have a funny story, today I drove through Conrads car wash, and part way through the car wash, my car just stopped on the track, it stopped right when this big blue sheet like thing was over my windshield, so I didnt dare try to put it into drive and try to drive down the track a bit, for fear that the small car in front of me was stopped on the track ahead. needless to say the large white medical van behind me hit into the back of me, and the truck behind him hit into him....a worker came over and I had to roll down my window, which ended up soaking me, because the sprayers where still on, and he had me drive throw the rest of the way with my window down....the funny thing is they didnt even offer to refund my money, offer my a free wash or anything, they never even asked if my car was dented. I guess one of my wheels went off the track. The guy in the van came up to me after and said that his wheel went off to and they had to guide him trough too. odd huh? ...I did go and ask them for at least another free wash, because my car was still looking cruddy because they turned the dryers off

Keegan

We are loving our time with the newest member of our family! How lucky are we to be blessed with another sweet baby in our family, nothing is better then a new baby!

He is loved (WAY TOO MUCH), I feel like he is constantly being mauled. I have to ask the kids to leave him alone sometimes. He is always being kissed. He has even been dropped (by Parlee who picked him up and dropped him on the floor before we even noticed...and he never even cried, that's a fifth baby for you!)

He has a name

He has a name, and its not just cute baby :-)
it's

Keegan Joel Stout

Never a dull moment

Thats my motto at our home!

As if having a baby isn't enough excitment in our home, we like to step things up a bit!

Last night when my mom was visiting, and we were cleaning up from dinner that a neighbor brought....the kids were out side playing while we got dessert ready, and Parlee came inside screaming with blood pouring (not an understatement) down her face.

She must have fallen and hit the bench out front and ended up with a nice little gash in her forehead! Luckily my mom was here, so Joel and I quickly loaded up Parlee and headed to Instacare (Yes, Joel was mad that I didnt just stay home, but honestly I couldnt just sit at home)

We called Instacare and told them we were on our way, so that we wouldnt have to wait around. They got us right in and put a jell on her cut to numb her instead of a shot....at this point Parlee was happy go lucky and I was kind of a wreck. After about 20 minutes they came in to tell us that they were going to burrito wrap her up and have a nurse and Joel hold her down while the Dr. stitched her up. They told us that all the kids freak out and perhaps I should leave. I told them I would leave if I needed too, but Parlee was doing fine at the moment so I would stay in.

The wrapped Parlee up...and she did fine, we talked to her and told her she was such a big girl, she stayed perfectly still.

The Doctor put the first stitch in and Palree said "ow" in the cutest quietest voice ever. We all had to smile...then on the next stitch she said it again..it was so quite and so darned cute, the doctor and nurse where totally smiling and commenting about her. So then I figured I would get out my cell phone and take a picture, when i took the picture Parlee said 'Cheese" and thats wen everyone lost it, we were all laughing at her. It was so unexpected! Im so glad I was there instead of home worrying about her.

Parlee has done great ever since, she hasnt complained once! Her stitches come out next Wednesday, she has 5 of them.

It's a.....

It's a BOY!

He was born last night at 9:30pm
9 lbs 8 oz
No name yet :-)

No baby still

Cake, castor oil and patience :-)

At this point I figure I can have chocolate cake for breakfast right? Honestly who is going to tell someone as pregnant as me to have something else...Im kind of thinking if I ate nothing but cake, no one would say anything either :-)

My midwife appointment today went something like this... Im measuring at 41 and a half weeks. I will be seeing the midwife again in a couple of days to see if anything has progressed. Starting Friday she will as she said 'be more aggressive' about getting this baby here YEAH! because we are starting to get concerned, and so was she...so hopefully for real this time the baby should be coming soon. She did say that everything looked like I wouldnt make it to the Friday appointment, which is not like her to say. However I have thought many times I wouldnt make it to this point :-)

My past week went something like this....I knew the baby would be coming last week...I mean really how could it not? Or so I thought. I dont care about dates or anything like that, its all the signs that make it so frustrating. Like loosing the plug weeks ago, and having 4 kids that are born within 1 1/2 weeks after that....seems pretty good odds to bank on the fact that the baby would be born within a week and a half right? Being dilated to a 5...I mean seriously! The baby dropping, so low that its hard to walk. Contractions galore. My measurement all pointing to the 4th of July, not to mention I NEVER measure big EVER! In fact Ive never measured more then 38 weeks before....I dont know I guess all of that made me pretty convinced this baby would be here. But its not.

I've tried to hurry the baby along, I took Kohosh, and herb that now if I smell I throw up, it did nothing. In fact the other day Joely opened up the bottle in the car the other day, and I had to pull the car over to toss my cookies for about 5 minutes!

I've gone on tons of walk (even though it is hard to walk) I've even googled this 'labor' inducing walk that has you walk with one foot on the curb and one on the road. I tried that the other night (at midnight to avoid hopefully anyone seeing) It was ridiculous and still no baby.

I've get on the ellipticle almost ever day, I jumped on the trampoline (no that wasnt tremors you felt from an earthquake, it was just me)...no baby.

On Saturday, I broke down and tried Castor oil....and a LOT of it! I started with a Tbs...nothing happened. So an hour later I tried some more, and then more. Nothing happened. So we went to bed.....I woke up at 1:30 and it was working! I had way hard contractions and of course the diarreaha. Wow, that stuff is crazy! But after 9 hours of misery, I still had no baby!

So, we have changed our prayers, to pray for patience! As I guess there really isnt anything else we can do. Though I have to admit, I am getting a little nervous, I try not to, but this is really wearing on my mind, and Joels too. We both have dark circles under our eyes from lack of sleep...since Im up most nights with contractions.


Also this week, I went to sacrament to hear the girls camp talks. I was delighted and surprised that when the Bishop saw me, he called me up to bear my testimony too. I think thats the best way to give a talk, there's no time to be nervous, or no stressing about it all week. Its kind of what you see is what you get, I gotta admit, thats a nice way to go!

Well, here's to patience, and of course hoping that this baby comes!

today

No baby, but dialated to a five today!

This and That

What a fun week we have had (at least when Im not crying because Im still pregnant).


We celebrated the 4th yesterday (complete with a insurance claim). We all dressed in something red, white or clue, except Joel who wore green (party pooper). We started the day out with Joels family. For lunch we headed to Pizza Factory with all the crew that was here in town. All the kids were obsessed with the darned quarter candy machines in the little waiting area. Have I mentioned I hate those darned machines. Anyhow Kyler is beyond obsessed with them, he packs a quarter in his pocket where ever we go "just in case" we find a quarter machine. The kids had exausted all the quarters by the time we were seated, except one quarter that I kept in my purse for Kyler to use at the end if he was good in the restraunt. Needless to say at the end, he got his quarter, and started to run out to our car, knowing their were more quarters out there. Well, he beat us to the car and threw open the excursion door and completely dented the car next to us!....Needless to say thats where the insurance claim comes in. Luckily its already all taken care of, and we waited around to talk to the people who owned to car, just so that we could appologize and get everything figured out.
Later we had a BBQ at my grandparents house, then Joel took the older kids to Vernon Werthen park to see the fireworks, I stayed with Parlee to watch them from my grandparents house. Parlee loved, loved, loved the fireworks. She kept yelling "more" after each firework and saying "I love it" over and over again. It really was funny! She viewed ALL the fireworks from the 'seat' my belly makes. Nope she didnt sit on my lap, she perched herself right on my belly for the full half hour (how did that not push the baby out?)

The 3rd was Parlee's 2nd birthday! She had a fun birthday, having grandma and grandpa stout and uncle Aaron over for dinner, cake and icecream. She loved being sang too, and was so cute about blowing out her candles. She blew them out so daintily (is that a real word). Kyler was too cute and wrapped up one of his train toys for her for her birthday, he was so proud of that!

Saturday: We took off to Zions to try and get my mind off things, he went to the temple of Sinawava and played around the river. We also took the kids to a rock and gem store, they got to pick out some rocks, and then we bought three geodes for the kids to crack open after Parlees birthday the next day (The geodes where a huge hit!), (hee hee no pun intended).

Other things we've done this week: went to Judd's for breadsticks and ate them at Greene Gate Village, that sure brings back memories of 6th grade! Checked out the new carousel they are putting in at city center. Watched more movies then we should admit too (its just too hot) Saw 17 miracles at the theaters. Oh and my favorite thing ever (I swear at this point it was cooler then getting a diamond necklace!) Joel bought me a giant bag of the little pebble ice from Iceberg! Yum! I am obsessed with eating ice when I am pregnant, so he went and got me my own huge bag of perfect little ice! I love it! Im not even joking, I cant think of a more perfect present then a bag of ice right now!!!

big belly

Just a few of the pictures that Amber took of me the other night.

Some thoughts from that night:

1. I miss my callouses on my feet, the other day I had a pedicure with two of my friends, all my yucky looking callouses were removed. While taking these pictures I was walking around bare foot most of the time and I realized that I quite miss those callouses!



2.Im a wimp! By the end of taking pictures I was so tired! I actually had to sit down after almost each picture once Joel got there.

3. I have no creative eye for pictures! I was amazed at things Amber would say or do, and thought to myself I'd never have thought of that.




4. I think photo editing is so cool! The picture of my laying down with my eyes closed...well I really like that picture and I think its super cool that my sleeve is FAKE! serious when I went to put my arm above my head my sleeve was showing my garments and of course my ever so cute arm pits, and Amber told me not to worry about it. Sure enough when the pictures came back I miraculously had a sleeve that looked a little longer...I consider that up their with magic :-)

my not so informative appointment

So, here is what I know.....I am measuring at 39 weeks. I am dialated to a 3, I am starting to efface, the cervical ring is softening and last Friday I lost my mucous plug...

However, though i feel like Im on my final week, she kept saying things like "well that could mean your with a few days" followed by something else and she'd respond "I think you may be 2 weeks out"...so I guess that means I could have a baby sooner or later....well I could have told you that :-) I feel like I walked away with nothing. I know that no one can predict when a baby is coming, but to hear, with in 48 hours followed by 2 weeks, seemed a little confusing.

She did say that my pubic bone was not in the right place (I knew that), she suggested this resistance stretch and then she suggested something else that she thinks works....she started explaining that what she would do and the red lights were flashing in my head....IT WAS THE CROTCH KICK!!!!! (Im sure many of you remember that one from Parlee) I told her NO WAY! It was funny she looked at me all surprised? I told her she did that to me two times last time and it hurt so bad, she then proceeded to tell me that no one has ever complained about it before (really?). Needless to say there is NO WAY i will ever have the kick to the pubic bone done to me EVER again!!! Anyhow, I guess the position of my pubic bone makes it difficult for the baby to move down and progress (cruddy).

Oh yeah, also when I went to my appointment, I walked in, and she has a wood floor. I stepped on the floor and totally slipped. I caught myself before completely falling on the ground. However, I did pull a groin muscle! Just what I needed :-)

Names

I think after enough stress we have finally narrowed down...or let me re-state that, we have finally decided on some names that we both like.....which is very difficult. It seems like I will love a name and Joel laughs at it, or he suggests a name and I cant stand it. However, we have picked a boy name and 2 possible girl names we both like. We still dont have any middle names picked out, its hard also choosing family names that sound alright with first names. I really think the naming of a baby is quite difficult.

So do you want to hear the names we have thought of? Well guess what Im not telling :-) I've always had a hard time when people make comments and dont like names you've chose, so we usually figure its best to keep things under wraps until baby is born. I remember letting the cat out of the bag to a few people last time, when we had chosen Parlee for a girl name, the response was never favorable :-) Of course even after she was born there was an abundant amount of "Did you say Carly, or Charlie" or "Like Parley P. Pratt? but hes a boy?" Yup, just like Parley P. Pratt, thats who she was named after! I still love her name!!!

Hopefully, soon we will meet our new little baby! I go in later for an appointment and I'll write down what she says.

Later

my predictions

If I had to make a prediction, I'd bet that this is the final week I'll be looking like this. I used to think the 4th of July sounded to early, but now I just don't think I'll be pregnant by then.

Also isn't this picture cute? I'm so un-photogentic, but somehow my friend Amber can make anyone look good in a picture.

another appointment

yesterday I went into my midwife and Im measuring 38 weeks. Which still puts me on track for the 4th of July.

Girls Campity

For those who wondered....I survived girls camp!...and to the second most asked question, No I did not have a baby at camp and scare a whole generation of girls from ever having their own babies :-)

Girls camp went better then I ever thought. It was a GREAT, AWESOME, PRACTICALLY PERFECT IN EVERY WAY, kind of camp, and I did better then I thought I would have (granted, I was like a bump on the log, but I survived)

Shelyce and I decided to head up to camp on Monday, with all the girls' stuff, the tents and of course our families. Im so glad we did this, we got a chance to take our kids out paddle boating, roast marshmellows and have fun. We also got camp all set up for the girls to come up on Tuesday. Another thing we noticed was that there was a million gnats up there (not exaggerating) so we were a able to call some leaders and send word to pack bug spray!!!

Tuesday everyone else came up as our families headed back home. Tuesday we had the oppertunity to go sailing (which I have always wanted to do, but felt that perhaps I was a little to prego to be trying sailing out, so I watched from the shore of New Castle resevoir). That night we had the Goochs come up and talk to us about 'Enduring to the End' Chantra Gooch grew up in Cambodia and lived on the killing fields for 4 years. Her story made everyone crying (expept some 1st years who were a little to young to really get it). We then stayed up late to do those 'color personality' tests. I was surprised to see how much I had changed from when I was a teenager. As a teen I was always VERY red, with yellow 2nd and pretty much no white or blue. Now I am still red first but surprisingly blue was almost tied with my red. I only had a few yellow and 2 (could have been no) white. I guess Im not as fun or spontanious (yellow), and Im still not a peacemaker (white)....didnt surprise me :-)


Wednesday: Joel and Will showed up to take the girls pn their hike, the leaders (except Natalie) all stayed behind. We latter met them at the end of their hike at the lake with paddle boats. I think everyone had such a blast on the paddle boats! For me a 'memorable' (I say that very loosly) moment was when Joel and Will decided to take the paddle out. Now as a rule, they fit 4 people, the 2 heaviest up front. SO i figured if they were going out, I jump in the back. We got in and the boys started paddling and we were going no where fast! I weighed too much! I laughed so much, I know Im pregnant, but come on! So I had to climb up and sit between the two of them so that we could move. I know the girls got a huge kick out of that....as many moms have already told me that this was one of the first stories they heard.
Later we did our skits, which turned out so funny...all of them!

Thursday: We (not me on this one) made a volleyball court for the Gublers (the property we were staying at) Now granted this was a project I thought up, I went up to the property, took pictures, we planned it out, and yet I NEVER imagined it would have turned out as fabulous as it did. The girls cleared the ground, removed bushes, trees and anything in the way. the court was marked with 2x4's along the perimeter which were dug into the ground then painted white. The whole thing just looked super!

Then the Bishopric came up, we played a fun game called Faith Factor, which was intense and fun, we had dinner and then went on our Faith Walk which had different leaders talking to the girls at different locations. It ended with a blind folded ropes course. We concluded back at the pavilion where the Bishopric could talk to us. During the time that the Bishop started to talk, the winds came up, tents began to collapse (one was totaled beyond repair). Needless to say their was quick decisions being made as it was 9:30 a night and it was concluded to take down camp and get off the mountain. I was told to call Joel and get him up there right now. I called him, he was on a walk with the kids, he quickly got home, changed the kids into their PJs, drove them to his parents house in town, fueled up and drove up to us. In the meantime we completely torn down camp in about an hour, the wind was crazy it rained a few times, and we did this mostly all by lantern and flashlight! We got most the leaders and girls off the mountain with only a few of us remaining to clean up, pack the trailer and wrap things up. This was the only time that I seriously over exerted myself and I paid for it the next day....but their really wasnt anything else that could be done. I knew I was going to hurt, but I also knew that camp had to come down NOW! It was cute Rhonda our Bishops wife came up to me and said you know this probably wont put you into labor, but it will put you into a lot of pain. Prophetic words! However I would have done it the same if I did it again, and by Saturday I felt fine again.

We did miss our testimony meeting with all the chaos, but we rescheduled that for this Wednesday.

All in all. It was a great camp. Im am seriously sad to think that I may not be able to be at camp next year!!! I wonder if I could sneek inside Joelys bags next year, because it will be her first year....dont 'greenies' bring their moms? I'll have to look into that :-)

Todays midwife update....

Joel have been feeling for awhile now that the due date if off, In Joel decided to put an exact date on it, he was thinking we were two weeks off, making the due date July 4th. I couldnt agree more, and not because I wan tthe baby to come sooner (which I do). But because everything just felt wrong, when you get to the end, their are just signs that happen at certain points in your pregnancy, and everything was pointing to the date being wrong....truth be told weve been concerned about the date from the very beginning, but we never had an ultrasound to confirm anything....

So today I had an appointment and Joel said I had to let Liz know of our concern. So I went in and told her. She measured me and sure enough I measured at 36 weeks (I never measure ahead)...thats make the date July 4th!

Also my Iron levels were awesome...and 11.5. But I really have worked hard to keep those levels up!

And last but not least...I lost weight (thanks to throwing up) and weigh less then Joel again. Phew!

New hair x two

Today was a fun day. Joely woke up bright and early to go down to our neighbors house for a fun haircut and color. She got a super cute a-line and had her died blonde. She came home and then later I went to the lady who does my hair and got my hair cut, died blonde, and had a bright orange feather added to my hair. I knew Joely would be jealous, so I purchased two and dropped Joely off later to have a feather added to her hair too. It was so fun to both get our hair done, and seeing how excited Joely has been with her hair all day has made my day! She has brushed and styled it so many different time today, its way cute! I feel like we are a bunch of rebels with our feathers :-) They sure are fun though.