Life with Little Miss Scarlett

I love my little 2 year old. They call them the "terrible twos" but I'd much rather have a 2 year old than a 1 year old. Scarlett is so much work yet so much fun to talk to, to play with, to be around.

 

Scarlett loves her sisters. I thought she'd be jealous of Hadley but she's the opposite. She loves her and always wants to hold her. When I need to change Hadley it is always Scarlett who will hunt everywhere to bring me a diaper and wipes, while the other two just sit on their rumps.

 

Scarlett is fast. She runs fast, she rides her scooter very fast (prompting a lot of comments at the parks), and whenever its bedtime or bathtime, Scarlett HAS to be the first one up the stairs or down the stairs or to the bathroom. Her life is a big race and she's always winning.

 

Scarlett is almost always happy... if she gets what she wants. I guess that's why she tires me out - she always demands that I go outside with her, or go to the park with her, or fix her a snack, or turn on Peppa Pig. And I have to meet these demands asap or else she's screaming and clawing at me. But when she gets what she wants...she's golden.

 

Sometimes both of us are knackered at the end of the day. I'm starting to wean her off of her afternoon naps because she's been jabbering with Claire every night and keeping her up past bedtime. As a result I often find she gives herself a late nap. Always with her Dora blankie cuddled beneath her. She even sleeps like this in her bed.

Scarlett is a mess. She makes messes when she eats, and she makes messes getting dressed. She insists on dressing herself, which usually involves emptying the contents of her drawers and sprawling them across her bedroom floor before she picks out an outfit that doesn't match and/or isn't even suitable to wear out.

Scarlett is already an iPhone expert. I always find pictures and videos of her on my phone that make me laugh. It was fun until she figured out how to purchase apps, and post results of her games (Temple Run) to my facebook account. Now I have to keep a close eye on her!

She is so much fun to talk to and brings me so much joy. Worth all the work!

Mother's Day

Ahh yes..those would be the best gifts, but with a newborn, 3 other little girls, and a sick husband it just didn't happen. It was still a wonderful mother's day being showered with gifts and made to feel like a better mom than I really am. My favorite gifts are always the cards that the girls make at school, with questions they answered about their mom.

 

from Claire:

1. If I could give my mom anything in the world I would give her: new shoes

2. How do I show my mom I love her? I kiss her

3. My favorite thing to do with my mom is: go for a walk

4. Her favorite color is: red

5. Her favorite food is: salad

6. When my mom grows up she wants to: play with me

7. If she had extra time, she likes to: take a nap with Hadley

8. My mom and dad first met: in Texas

9. My mom laughs when: I do silly things or a funny laugh

10. My mom is 32 years old

11. What my mom loves the most is: flowers

 

from Lydia

My mom is as pretty as a butterfly

She is as sweet as a puppy

She is as smart as a scientist

She is as special as ME

My mom is 32 years old

She likes to: give me hug and kiss

The best thing she cooks is: pizza and ranch

Her favorite food is: vechtpels

Her favorite thing to do to relax is: Going to sleep with me

We like to: hugs and kissis together

She is really good as: helping Hadley

My mom is special because: she is realy nice to me

 

 

I hope that they always think my favorite thing to do is spend time with them. Those answers are the only completely true ones!

Introducing Hadley

 Hadley Sue Viets

Born April 6, 2013 at 6:18pm

Weight 7lbs, 7.7oz

Length 19.5"

My labor story:
Well here's my courageous story...though honestly this was by far the easiest birth of the four girls. I decided to be induced because if I didn't,  I knew I would go into labor in the middle of night like I always do, and not have anyone to help with the other kids. Hadley was due April 10th, but we scheduled the induction for April 6th. The week before the induction, I was already dilated to a 4 and was expecting her to come any time..but she didn't. So we made it to our appointment.
We checked in to the hospital at 7:30am, got my IV and my antibiotics, and my first dose of pitocin. Then we waited. And waited. The pitocin wasn't doing anything for me. I'd have regular contractions, but nothing painful. We increased the dosage every half hour. Nothing. I was ready for the doc to just come break my waters and get things going, but then something scary happened. An alarm went off in the hospital and our nurse abruptly left. The woman in the room next to me had just delivered and was having postpartum hemorrhaging, so everyone went to help. She ended up needing subsequent surgeries that took up the Dr's time for most of the day. Then on top of that, a woman came in with twins and ended up needing an emergency Caesarean. SO I didn't see my doctor all day. I just sat there on my drip. A little scared by all of this. Still no progress through the day and I was getting impatient, and ready to meet my baby!
So every time my nurse came in I asked her when the Dr. would finally be available to break my waters. When I heard she'd be available in about an hour, I called for the anesthesiologist to give me my epidural. That part was scary. I'd never been administered an epidural while I'm not in pain, so I was fully aware of it all...I felt the needle in my spine, the stinging medicine, the electric jolt down my leg...it was all creepy. But once the medicine took effect I was in heaven.
Then things happened fast. Just as the anesthesiologist packed up, my Dr. was in there ready to break my waters. It was already 5:45pm. She broke my waters, and then I waited and rested, happily drugged. Then about 15 minutes later I felt PAIN. What the heck!? I was feeling my contractions. I complained to my nurse that I needed another dose of medicine in my epidural, so she checked my cervix and said "Uh...there's no cervix...the baby's head is right there". So she went to retrieve my doctor, who came in and said "Let's have a baby." Those words got me really excited. Three big pushes later, she was here, at 6:18.

She looked pretty big when we first saw her, we were guessing she was at 8 lbs, but she weighed in at 7lbs 7.7oz.. how lucky! She was perfect. We held her the rest of the evening, imagining what her name should be. Our favorites were Hadley, Alaina, Rachelle, and Isla.

My mom had been looking after the girls, and at 6:30 that night we called her with the good news, and told her to bring them up to the hospital. They came up and took turns saying hi to their new sister. We decided on the name Hadley, which wasn't Josh's favorite until we agreed that her middle name would be Sue, just like his Mom.

  

We are in love with our little newborn. There are so many things I love about the newborn stage, that I had already forgotten since Scarlett's birth.

 

I love the new baby smell. So innocent and pure.

I love the way she arches her back to stretch...almost completely in a "C"...when I pick her up from a nap.

I love her quick little breaths through her nose when she's excited

I love the way she observes her world, wide-eyed and in slow-motion, like she is always in complete awe

I love her rooting reflex. It's so instinctive it's comical.

I love that when she's spooked, her arms and legs sprawl out, and I see how teeny tiny they really are.

 

She is one month old now, and so far she's a perfect baby. She sleeps well through the night, waking up just once for a feeding. I can take her anywhere and she will almost always just nap. She is only fussy when she's hungry, and she is so easy to please.

We love you Hadley!

My last pregnancy

We took this picture on the eve of our 4th daughter's birth. I think I only have one other picture of me pregnant with her, and I wanted to remember how our family was at this moment. The last day I will ever be pregnant.

 

Our family is comfortable with the decision to stop at 4 girls. There are definitely some things I will miss about being pregnant, but I am still ready to move on to the next stage in my life. The stage that doesn't involve so many diaper changes.

It may sound odd, but I for one really enjoyed being pregnant...and I want to remember that. Of course there was plenty to complain about - the backaches, the small bladder, the exhaustion,...and don't get me started on the postpartum problems - but it was all worth it. I felt beautiful. I think all pregnant women are beautiful. You can put on any old shabby sweater, and look adorable because you have a big round belly. When you're pregnant nobody sees your frizzy hair or your baggy maternity jeans, they just see the belly. And the belly makes you beautiful. At least that's what I see. I see a woman fulfilling her divine role.
I also love that being pregnant gave me a "free pass" to do things I wouldn't normally do, like eat donuts while I'm grocery shopping and take 2 hour naps on Sunday. I love that people are so accomodating to pregnant women - I get to cut in line, I get escorted to the "soft seats" in church, I get special parking at the grocery store, and wherever I go someone will offer me a seat if I am standing. And I especially love that when people ask "Is this your first?".. I get to smile and say "Nope this is my fourth!"

But what I loved most about being pregnant was feeling so very close to my Heavenly Father as I brought a new life into this world. I was part of a true miracle. A big part. I felt the weight of the responsibility to nourish and care for this little child that God has blessed me with, that I alone could care for. What an awesome responsibility.
It was such a blessed experience to bring my four beautiful daughters into this world, and now I'm looking forward to bringing them up to be strong, beautiful, women.



Spring Break with my sisters!

In Billings the kids' Spring Break is their Easter Break - it's basically just a long weekend that starts the Thursday before Easter and goes through Monday. Fortunately my sisters were on a similar schedule in Utah, and they made the drive up to Billings to spend the break with us! It was a lot of fun.

 

We took all the girls to an Easter Fair where they jumped on bounce houses, ate lots of cotton candy, and participated in a huge easter egg hunt.

We spent some time at our small-town mall - as girls usually do - but the highlight for the lil' ones was definitely the mall train. And the quarter-operated rides.

We spent an afternoon at the Reef - Billings' indoor waterpark.

Most afternoons while Scarlett was napping, Sarah and Chelsea took the girls to the park. It's only a block away, but they usually insisted on driving the car.

We also participated in the usual Easter traditions. We colored Easter eggs...

 ...and made Easter cookies.

 And here's all the beautiful girls Easter morning, with their lavender outfits from grandma!

It was a fabulous weekend, and we are excited to be closer to our cousin Madison and our Aunts in Utah! What a Happy Easter!

Billings loves Easter Egg Hunts

This season we went to no fewer than FOUR Easter Egg hunts. Of course we didn't plan it that way, but they just started popping up everywhere, so we kept huntin'!

 

First, I took Lydia and Scarlett to the Billings Zoo for the EggStravaganza while Josh was with Claire in St. Louis. It was sooo cooooold, we were miserable waiting for the activities to start. But once they did, we had a lot of fun.

 

 

After the hunt, we went through the zoo...which took all of 15 minutes. There's a bear and a tiger...and then birds and rodents. Not much to see, but to a kid it's still pretty fun. Lydia was so thrilled to see the wolf, she said "Mom! You have to get a picture of me in my wolf hat by the wolf!"

 

The following week there were two more hunts that came up, that we participated in too. First, Claire's preschool had an egg hunt. The parents "hid" the eggs in the field next to the church, then all the kids were let loose to find them. It sure didn't take long for each of them to find their 10 eggs, then start emptying the goodies into their buckets! Claire, as expected, was very good at sharing with her sister and letting her help.

 

Then later that week our neighborhood organized an Easter Egg hunt. We couldn't skip that! All the kids met at the park after school, where the Easter Bunny had put out hundreds of eggs. There were too many to "hide", so they were just laying out in the open field, and on the count of three all the kids were off to collect as many as they could!

 Finally, the Saturday before Easter there was a huge event at one of the middle schools, with massive easter egg hunts for each age group. The girls scored big. There were tens of thousands of eggs given out that day, and of course it wasn't a "hunt" at all, it was a grab-as-many-as-you-can race. But still so much fun.

Billings loves Easter egg hunts. That same day there were 7 or 8 other big hunts going on throughout the city, sponsored by different churches and organizations. And by Easter Sunday, the girls were experts at collecting eggs!

Claire's new preschool

One of the things I am always anxious about when we move somewhere new is finding decent schools for my girls. Before we moved to Billings I called a sister in the ward to ask about schools, doctors, etc., and she said a lot of moms really love Messiah Lutheran Preschool. So I called up the preschool in mid-January, and go figure - they had 1 spot open up in their Pre-K class. Claire was in! We had the same luck in Midland, getting into the last spot at First Presbyterian, and I really feel there is someone upstairs looking out for our little family through the big changes in our lives.

The church preschools in Billings are very different from the well-oiled machines of the mega-churches in Texas. The preschools here are small, only taking 2 to 4 classes depending on their size and schedules. Claire's preschool classroom is in the basement of the Lutheran church, and there are 18 kids in her class! Which seems like a lot, but there are at least 2 teachers there, and they are awesome with the kids. And as with any church preschool, Claire is learning Bible stories and gospel principles in her class too. Most importantly, she really loves her school and her new friends.

Because Claire has a summer birthday, in March they celebrated her "un-birthday". She got to wear her princess crown she decorated, we brought Wreck-It Ralph cupcakes to class, and her sister Scarlett got to come along and be in class for the day. Claire was spotlighted and was the special helper for the day, and she was soooo thrilled about it all.

Happy Un-Birthday Claire-bear!

Daddy and Claire head to St Louis

 

In March Josh and Claire went on a special weekend trip to St Louis to go visit Mimi. Our Mimi had her radiation treatment in St Louis earlier this year and was returning there for a check up. We all wanted to be there to see her again, and hope that someday soon we'll all be able to make the trip to visit. But this time it was just Josh and Claire, and they both had a blast. I am happy they had this special weekend together.

 

They spent the weekend at Zach & Lauren's home in St. Louis. Claire and her cousin Brody were best buds. And Claire got to mother her little cousin Ellie as well.

 

They did some shopping, they were spoiled with treats, and they even made a trip to the museum.

 

But mostly, they hung out at home, relaxing with Mimi and Papa, which was the best part of the whole weekend.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

 

We're always looking for new things to do around Billings on the weekends, and this weekend there was a St Patrick's Day parade and fair downtown. I never thought of St Patrick's Day as a big holiday, but it seemed like half of the city was there for the festivities. Unfortunately the street fair only took up 2 blocks, so it was crowded and the lines were long for everything - especially the food stands - but these girls were determined to get their faces painted, daddy was determined to get some tri-tip, and mommy needed some funnel cake.

 

 

 



The parade was a typical small-town parade with every city organization sponsoring a "float" - which was usually just a car or truck with lots of green decorations. But you can't have a St Pat's parade without the bagpipes.



Wait...is that a Scottish flag on his chest?!

 

Of course the kids didn't care how fancy the floats were, they just lined the streets with their plastic bags waiting for people to throw candy at them. We did, however, really like all the monster trucks that came through.

After the parade, Claire and I left to go to a friend's birthday party, and Josh stayed with Lydia and Scarlett at the street fair to get their faces painted. They were so dang cute, and I was so impressed that Scarlett stayed still long enough for all those flowers! I guess girls will be girls!