Picker Family Update

Wow Time sure does fly when you aren't paying attention. 

I suppose I have not updated my blog at all in February. I don't have any good excuses other than the days are not long enough to get everything done that I would like to. 

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Mom came to visit

My Mom came to stay with us for 2 weeks on her way to Hawaii. It was so great to be able to see her and have her help. While she was here the time went by too quickly. I wanted to do so many other things with her. She was able to help me to name over a hundred pictures of ancestors from her side of the family. She was so adorable as a little girl. Now she is beautiful!

Rhoda Ellen Sibley - Great grandmother

Letha Evelyn Black - Grandmother

Heather Lyn Black with Dog - Mom

Then we were also able to refinish a china hutch that I bought on Craigs list for $60. It looks amazing especially with my Great-Grandma Rhoda's china in it. 

We visited some parks and generally hung out. Liam won her heart in-fact all the boys all loved her. We did a lot of talking which was really nice. She was able to help me see a few things I could be doing different as a Mom and it has helped. Thank You Mom! Seeing the boys thru her more experienced eyes was great. 

Shane

Jared

Dallin

Shane at a park

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 She flew out of San Francisco airport so we thought it would be fun if we went to the Bay area a day before. We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is the most amazing place. All the boys loved it. Even Liam enjoyed looking at the fish. After that we went to the Black Bear diner it was yummy. 

The Jellies were beautiful

The deep sea tank is amazing, you could sit there for hours and never get bored. That is the sun fish, he is so ugly he is cute. 

There was a lot of hands on things for the boys to do.

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Aaron dropped Mom off at the airport very early in the morning on Thursday. We took our time going home. Jared had the great idea to go to the Jelly Belly factory on our way home. They were actually running the factory. It was fun to see millions of jellybeans being made. They did not allow cameras into the actual jelly bean making part of the factory. So here is a before. . . 

 . . . and here is the after. 

Then we came home. 

Thats The End

Liam my sweet little boy

Liam is so much fun to photograph. These are a few taken just the other day while laying on my kitchen table.  He was happy to help Mom practice taking pictures I think. :o)

 He is now 8 weeks old can you belive it. He is starting to smile at us and hold his head up a lot more. We have truly enjoyed this little one.

 

I will try to get the other boys to work with me and get some good photos of them. I am starting to think that they are tired of me taking their pictures. Even Shane is turning his head at me when I point a camera at him. 

Weekend with Grandma Jolene

Aaron's Mom came to visit us this past weekend. We had a great visit. It was great to see her and for her to see the boys. 

On Monday we went to the Folsom Zoo while Aaron worked, and we rode the train and saw the animals. 

Shane loved the train, he has ridden it before but this time he seemed to be just the right age to really appreciate it. Funny how that seems to work for every age. 

There are a lot of peacocks at the zoo this one was really pretty. There is also a completely white peacock at the zoo.

The newest animal at the zoo are dear, the boys were actually petting them. Later we found signs saying not to pet them because they have poison oak in their enclosure and they don't get itchy but you might if you pet them. Oh Well. The boys didn't show any signs of being itchy so I guess we lucked out. 

We hope you all had a great weekend too. 

New toys are always fun

I have been dreaming of owning Photoshop for a couple years now and finally it is mine. I am still working on learning how to use it so I am sure I will love it even more when I do. I was able to add text to these pictures and doctor them up a little. 

 My dream is to become a great photographer. These are a few of the pictures I took today. 

Liam was such a great model. 

Liam is 7 weeks old today. I can not believe how big he is getting, he is barely fitting into his newborn clothes anymore. 

Brave Boys

We had to take the boys in to the Lab to get their blood drawn for some tests that the Dr. ordered. I 'm telling you it was quite the drama. Jared had done this before so he kind of remembered what he was in for and was really brave. Dallin being ever so dramatic like always made it a huge production but in the end was brave, with lots of bribery of ice cream :o). Shane didn't know what he was signing up for but he was super brave and jumped into the chair saying my turn my turn. When they poked him he said that hurts but stayed really still. I am grateful for the very patient nurses who helped my boys and in the end we all had some really good ice cream.

Here they are with their little Band-Aids. For the rest of the day Dallin kept reminding us that his elbow was busted and to be careful of it.

I am glad we don't have to do that very often. :o)

Christmas 2008

Christmas was very enjoyable this year. We took it real easy and just enjoyed the day. Christmas eve the boys opened their new PJ's and went to bed. Then Christmas morning we wake up to Dallin telling us that the blocks are for them. We had been working on these building blocks for a couple weeks and there just was no way to keep them a total secret, so we just told the boys that we were making them for some children that deserved them. He was pleasantly surprised. 

Soo Cute! 

Shanes favorite part about the blocks is that he can build a big tower and then knock them down. Just be sure not to be standing too close, they don't fall softly. 

Shane flying his Geo Tracks airplane. 

We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas. It has been quite a holiday season for us. I think our goal for next year is going to be to keep the stress levels at a minimum. That means not doing anything life changing for a while. Perhaps just finish up a few projects and enjoy our 4 boys. 

Here is the story

I need to apologize that this has taken me so long to get to but life has been a little crazy. 

So here is the story of Liam. 

I have very big babies so my Dr. agreed to induce me a week early. That would have been Monday November 24th. That morning we had aranged child care for the other 3 boys and a very dear friend was going to come to our house at 5:30 in the morning and stay until the boys woke up and then take them to her house. As Aaron and I were getting ready to go the phone rang and it was the hospital. They said that there was no room for me a the moment and they would call later that day if a bed opened. So we called our friend and canceled and waited. Monday was the longest day ever. And at 6:00 that night we called the hospital for the last time and they said they would put me first on the list for Tuesday. So we again had to arrange child care with a different set of friends. (Have I mentioned that I feel so blessed to be here where my friends take such great care of me? We would have been in huge trouble if not for a handful of wonderful friends. ) So Tuesday morning came and all morning I was afraid the hospital would call and say not to come but they didn't. We arrive at the hospital at 6:00 am and the nurses got us settled into our room and start me on pitocin. Just like the one before him Liam was in no hurry to get here, I don't think he was happy that we were evicting him. And we didn't have a name set yet. So it took all day for my body to decide to go into labor. The hospital did have the wireless monitors which was a step up from last time I was there. It comes to a point where if they attach one more wire or tube to you it is just too much. So around 7:00 or 8:00 that evening I start to feel the contractions really good. I got my first interthecal (sp?)at 9:00pm and it took the edge off for a couple hours and let me rest. I made a little progress after the Dr. broke my water and then got another interthecal at 11:00. I was able to rest some more and to help move things along they had me stand up for a while. As we waited for the anesthesiologist to come ( he was helping someone else at the time) He gave me my last shot at 12:00 and I was able to sleep for an hour. When the pain woke me up again the nurse checked me and the baby was already at a +1 so it was time to start pushing. It took a while to wake up Aaron but when everything was set I started pushing. Aaron was able to dress in a gown and gloves and practically deliver the baby.

 It was really neat. It took less than 20 minutes to actually deliver him at that point and then it was all worth it. He was born Wednesday morning at 1:08 am. He weighed 7 lb. and 15 oz. and was 21 inches long. He is long and skinny just like Jared was, with a lot of dark hair. The boys came to visit later that day and they were all very happy to see him. 

On Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) we were invited to a friend's house for dinner so I wanted to go. I could have stayed in the hospital another day but I really did not want to spend the holiday in the hospital. So when we finally decided on Liam for a name we went home. We never had such a hard time choosing a name, but I think we got it right. I really wanted to have his middle name Lawrence, after my great grandfather Lester Lawrence Sibley. And Aaron really liked the name Liam. My Mom thinks it is funny but we actually called the family and asked them what they thought there was a poll taken at my Mom's house while the family was having Thanksgiving Dinner. It was between Emmit and Liam. There was a lot of very good feedback and we decided that we would go with Liam. 

So after a name was settled upon and we had dinner at the Patterson's house we are loading into the car for the first time with all 4 boys. Liam is a little upset and crying a little. We set his seat into the car next to Shane and tell Shane that he is lucky because he gets to sit next to the new baby. Shane didn't think it was such an honor because he tells me 'Mom, please put baby back into your tummy.' I just laughed. 

 

Now we are home and adjusting to things here. Aaron has been playing Mr. Mom while I recover and it has been quite a long recovery. I like to think I am super woman and I push myself too much some days and pay for it the next. I am learning, I think. :o) Aaron has been great. Although he does get overwhelmed every now and then. That is to be expected being both a Mom and a Dad is a difficult task. 

These are pictures taken of Liam at one week old. 

 

I love this one.