School is out. It is officially summer.

It sure doesn't feel like summer yet though. It has been cooler the last 2 days. And for some reason, it really doesn't seem like the school year is over. Maybe it is because I have been busy with school stuff along with normal life and kids have been at grandparents houses so it still seems like they are at school.

I have been keeping busy with my crafts. I have sold 6 sets on etsy since starting to sell just over a month ago. I also have been started making custom diaper bags to sell. I am having so much fun. Just wishing I would sell more so I could buy more fabrics. Having to keep myself from buying all the cute fabric I see. Pretty sure I have a crafting addiction.lol

Happy Mother's Day everyone! For many today is a day where we feel loved, blesses, and celebrated. But there are those who today is a day of sorrow and seems more like a torture to see on the calander. I am talking about those mothers who have lost their babies. Or those who have tried and tried and never actually gotten pregnant.

Please join me in praying for peace in the hearts of these women. To pray for healing and God to bless them greatly today. Thank you for doing so.

Been busy

I haven't posted in a bit. That is because I have been busy. I have been working crafts. I have sold quite a few sets of my money envelopes and even have had 2 customers order more after recieving theirs because they like them so much. That is awesome!!

I am so happy because I LOVE to create!! I even made a really pretty quilt and put it on my etsy site to sell. I have had alot of compliments but so far haven't sold it, but I hope too. I really enjoyed making another quilt. It was so much fun to see it take shape. I can't wait to make more quilts and other crafts.

But Mom, I wanted that one

As a mom of 5 young children, one of the most annoying things I deal with in my day is whining. "But Mom, she always gets to sit there," "But Mom, I wanted the green one," Mom why didn't I get a toy," "But Mom, I always have to clean up the living room," etc, etc.

Somedays I am convinced that my children native language is in fact whine. Sometimes I hear whining when there is no one around. Sometimes it feels like no matter what I do, it is not good enough.

Ever wonder if that is how God feels? If I am truly honest, there are times when I overlook the abundant blessings God has placed in my life, because I am too focused on the blessings He has given someone else. How sad, because it means I am missing out on the gifts I have.

I serve an amazing God who loves and adores me. He cares about me so much that He knows the exact number of hairs on my head. Now that is a dedicated and loving Heavenly Father!!

I need to be more aware and appreciative of the many blessings that God has given me and stop feeling His ear with whining. Because He has already blessed me more than I ever deserved.

Something new in my life

So it has been a few weeks since I have posted. Life is going good here in the Schimek household.  Everyone asks me how it is being a mom of 5 and honestly I have to say, it has been relatively easy. I can't recall any of our children being a huge adjustment. Maybe it is because our babies are pretty good compared to other babies from what I hear from other moms. Our babies have always slept pretty good, eat good, don't cry all the time, and are pretty happy.

The school year is winding down and the kids are excited for summer. John and I are looking forward to the school's dinner theater program and JJ's kindergarten graduation.

One not so great thing is that John, Kennedy, the boys and I went to the dentist. Kennedy has one small cavity that they decided to hold off on filling since it was so small, I had only 2 small cavities that I got filled, John had a whooping 8 cavities he is in the process of getting fixed, and then the boys.....Alex needed 2 fillings and 3, count them THREE caps, and JJ needed 1 filling, 3 caps(although one they were able to avoid capping) and 1 tooth filled. Just paid off the dentist bill and now have another big one. Praise God we have good dental insurance.

Now for my news I am excited about. Maybe for some of you this will be no big thing, but for me it is something we have needed to start again. So about 2 weeks ago I was kinda freaking out about dental bill and was wondering how we would manage payments on it. I mean lately it seems like even though John gets really good paychecks and we don't have any huge bills or alot credit card debt, it always seems like by the end of a pay period we are broke and haven't paid all our bills. So I started looking at our bank statements and figured out that we were WAY over spending our food budget because we were spending way more on resturants and fast food than I imagined.(it was insane)

Then I was looking on pinterest to get some crafting ideas and came across fabric money envelopes someone was selling on etsy. Then it was like a ton of bricks fell on my head. Of course, money envelopes. We tried them once but never really did it for long. But I decided we were doing them again. So I decided to make my own(which are super cute) and get back on the system.

I actually am really enjoying it. I made 7 envelopes, and labeled them groceries, going out(for fast food), pop(yes we need to budget for pop, but it is cheaper than some habits), gas money, misc(for hair cuts, etc), bills(that I pay around town), and another one that I haven't decided on yet.

Then I took them and some other people saw them and they ordered some. So I decided that I am going to sell some on etsy(other people are charging way more than I wanted to spend, so I made some more reasonable) and take orders for those who know me. I had one lady order a set for her kids that have 3 envelopes in each set, one for Tithing, Saving, and Spending.

I am going to also make a set for saving for Christmas that has an envelope for each kid and John in fabric that reminds me of them, and also a set for my crafting so I can budget my money for selling my crafts(praying I can sell some more) and set back tithing money, then split the rest between money to buy more crafting supplies and paying money on a bill or something we need to pay off. That way I can have something I am actually paying on and feel like I am contributing some financially.

So here is a picture of my envelopes. Aren't they super cute?

 

Here is my etsy store if you want to check it out. https://www.etsy.com/shop/Tutuprecious

To much!!

Chalk it up to having 5 kids and seeing the cost of having a large family or the fact that I am going through my house cleaning out all the clutter and abundance of stuff, but I have been seriously rethinking how I go about presents for the kids(birthday, Christmas, Easter, etc) and also other items we bring into our house.

I went into the girls room the other day and in only 20 minutes had 2 garbage bags of stuff to get rid of. 2 bags and that didn't even make a dent. We have allowed our house to become storage for stuff we don't really need. I want to change that and the amount of money that we spend on things we shouldn't spend it on.

Anything worth having is worth working towards

We have become a society where we want what is easy. As a whole, we have become people who if it takes a little work or time, we would rather just not have to do it. We don't want our kids to have to go through a little bit of a hardship, to go without something they want, buy them cars when they are 16, bring their stuff to school if they forget it, come to their rescue if they have their littlest issue, etc. What are we really teaching our children and ourselves?!

I for one seeing the effects of this in my life and my family and I am not liking it. I am becoming a soft, selfish, lazy person. I want to teach my kids to become responsible, hard working, active people. And how can I do this, if I constantly make excuses why I am not keeping up with what is my responsibilities, or taking care of myself .

I heard something the other day, "If you really want it, you will make it a priority, if you don't, you will make an excuse." It is one thing to have a legitimate reason that you are unable to do something you HAVE or NEED to do(not meaning everything people would like you to do, but the things that are needing to be done because it is your responsibility), but if you always have a reason you can't do something, but you have time to do other things than you are just making an excuse. Example. I need to work out but I don't have the time. Yet I have time to park it in front of the tv for hours each day, then it is just an excuse! This is one of my problems. With sports season right now, I can't make it to the class I started going to, but I am trying to make time during the week to do a home dvd to make up for it. Not giving into the excuses going through my head!

Embracing change

Maybe it is the hormones from after having a baby or old age setting in, but I have noticed recently that I have changed in some ways. How you ask? Well my tastes in fabrics has changed. Now maybe others would not notice something like this, because not a whole lot of people work with fabrics often, but I love fabric! It is a love I don't always get to indulge because of my busy life, but when I get a chance I love to create.

Here recently I have been making stuff again...clothes for the girls; bunnies, robots, and rag dolls to donate; a blanket for a friend's baby; and recovering my dining room chairs. I picked out material for my chairs and the girls' dresses that a year ago I probably would have never considered putting in my house, but now I love them both!

I also notice that I gotten into the mood to purge stuff that we don't need. I have gotten rid of TONS and I mean tons of stuff that was in my house or storage sheds that we don't need or really want. And even with what I have already gotten rid of, there is still probably at least 1/4-1/2 of the stuff in our house that we don't really need. We all have way to many clothes, many of which we never wear, the kids have so many toys that their rooms are always a pit and they have no idea what they even have. Heck I went through the girls room once and got rid of a bunch of stuff but now see I wasn't picky enough about what I kept, and went through the boys room twice and they still have too much stuff. I want to purge a bunch more and simplify my house so it is easier for me to manage.

And then there are the ways I want to change. Like my housework. I am by no means a perfect housewife! I look at all these blogs of other moms with 4 or more kids and they are posting about organizational tips they have, or how they keep their house presentable while chaos is running amuck around them and know there is no way that will ever be me. And I don't really have any desire to spend every minute of everyday cleaning, but I do want to have a house that I am not ashamed when people stop by unannounced.

This week I have decluttered  my dining room and kitchen a bunch(you can actually see the top of the dresser in there) and have been keeping up on the dishes. I have washed dishes 3 times a day everyday. I am so proud of myself! Actually is quicker to just do them after every meal. And then I have been trying to keep up on laundry and fold them right away, which doesn't always happen, but I am trying.

I think the decluttering of my house will help with my desire to keep my house look more presentable. And also better organization and storage usage in my house. I know some people hate getting older, but I am embracing the older me and how I have changed. Well at least the good parts, the weight gain I am not embracing. lol

I am not alone!!

I went and had coffee with a good friend today. We did this regularly before our pregnancies, but then life and medical stuff got us out of the groove of it. It was so nice to sit and just talk. I hadn't seen her little one since her daughter was born and she is almost almost 10 weeks ago and my friend had never seen Emmalee who is almost 6 weeks, so it has been a while since we actually saw each other. We have talked quite a bit but not been able to sit down together.

As we talked we both shared our frustrations about raising childrens and also about our frustration about our reaction to kids behaviors. It was nice to hear another mom talk about how she gets just as frustrated as I do at times. I am not alone! Just nice to hear I am not the only one who has days where I feel like puling my hair out at the end of the day!

Proud of my kids!!

I have a grandma that has multiple scorosis. It is a really nasty disease. It has been really sad to see it transform my grandma.

This is my grandma on my dad's side. It is actually his stepmother, but she raised him and his brother from a very early age after his mother passed away. Her and my grandfather then also adopted a baby girl when my dad was a teen. Grandma Donna was never able to have any biological children. She was hit with this disease young and it has taken a huge part of her life.

From an early age I saw it transform her. I remember her always having trouble getting around, needing a cane, then eventually a wheel chair, to now being trapped in her body. She is in her 60's and has been in a wheel chair for probably close to 15 years. She can't eat or drink(has to have only liquids thickened), she can't move her legs and arms at all, can't see very well, and trying to talk is like trying to see through a fog.

Now you can imagine that it is something that is hard for kids to understand. My kids used to be very scared and not really want to go visit her. Heck I even was like that because it was just so sad and you can't help but think that she probably doesn't remember anyway, why bother.

Well when I went down with the kids in December I played on their sensitive hearts and told them that Grandma is stuck in her body, but she is there! She wants to see people, have them talk to her, and would love to have people treat her like she is just like anyone else. That visit they were amazing. All of them! They pushed her around the nursing home as we went visiting all the residents(Dad is big on showing off the grandkids and letting the residents enjoy seeing them), they sang to her all their Christmas songs they were learning, etc.

Since then, Kennedy has talked about Grandma from time to time and last week asked if we could go see her again. So I talked to Dad and also set it up with my sister to take my niece who they hadn't seen in 3 months or longer. So yesterday we went up. The kids were pretty good again. A little wilder because my niece was there(JJ and her are BEST buddies!!) but still really good. And all the kids were really excited to see Grandma, well except Bianca who is very reserved around people she isn't used to and Alex who is at that "too cool" stage. The other 3 all were kissing on Grandma and hugging on her, made me very proud of their sensitive little hearts. How lonely it must get for Grandma and you could tell it just made her day.

Here is a picture of my dad, my 5, my niece, and me with Grandma.

9 years ago

Nine years ago today, I held my little tiny baby boy's lifeless body in the palm of my hand. My first baby. A baby I so desperately wanted and couldn't believe he was taken from me before I even got to hold him.

I was only 15 weeks pregnant, past the 12 week mark which means I was suppose to be in the clear. The baby would be ok, I mean that is what I always thought. I now know that women lose babies at all stages of pregnancy, but until this moment I was young and blissfully naive to the realities of pregnancy lose.

I still remember the whole situation so well. It is both a blessing and a curse. It is hard to remember, to go back to the pain, it seems that it would be better to just forget it. But since I was so early in my pregnancy and never really got to enjoy all the fun parts, the baby moving around, watching my belly jump and look like an alien was trying to pop out, etc, this would be the end of it all. This event, though horrible and so sad, would be the last event I got to have with my beautiful baby.

We didn't know if the baby was a boy or girl, and I am so thankful that God made it very obvious after he was born. We named him Jacob Robert, the name we had picked out from the beginning for a boy. We had someone suggest we save that name for our next boy and pick something else, since we loved it so much, but we choose to give him the name. He was and still is our first son. We love him and chose that name for him.

He was so perfect. 10 toes and 10 fingers. A little mouth that was so precious and oh so tiny. He was only 4 inches long and by the time he was weighed was only 3/4 of an ounce. Apparently babies will lose weight in the womb and at this stage after being delivered after they have passed. Another thing I never knew....before, I sure know it now.

I remember feeling like I had failed my baby. Like it was my fault, that somehow my body was the reason we had to say goodbye to our baby. I now know that it is just one of those things that can happen. I remember fearing I would never have a baby to take home, never kiss my baby as it sleeps in my arms.

As I look back on this day that was probably the worst day of my life to date, I am so greatful to God. Not that my Jacob died, but that God brought us through it. And I would like to believe that God used it to make me love my children I have been blessed with since more than if Jacob would have lived. I praise God for the blessing of Jacob and our 5 other children. We have been blessed more than I ever imagined!

"You were pregnant?"

Ok, just how FAT did I look when I was pregnant? Because apparently I didn't look pregnant to pretty much anyone that didn't know I was pregnant. So I must have just looked fat. Why am I saying that you ask? Because I have had lots of people who are shocked that Emmalee is mine.

I am not kidding. Just today I went to grab a pop at the kwik stop and ran into a woman I went to school with. Now granted this woman I didn't see all the time, but about once a week and she goes "who's kid are you packing around?" She was floored when I said Emmalee was mine.

Heck even my neighbor had no clue I was pregnant beccause she even asked me whose baby I was babysitting just days after having Emmalee. This is a woman who I see everyday pretty much and she didn't even know I was pregnant. She even apologized for not realizing it. She was so embarrassed.

My mother in law and others said I didn't get as big as I did with the other kids. But I did get a baby bump, so why is it so shocking to people that I had a baby?! I can't go downtown without someone making the comment they had no clue I was pregnant. lol

View of my life in pictures

Sometimes I wonder what people really see when they look at me. You know those pictures that go around on facebook that say something like: What people think I do, What my mom thinks I do, What I think I do, etc; and every picture is totally different? I think this is the story of my life.

Today when I was at Walmart I ran into a former classmate and neighbor of John's parents. The woman has one child and she told me that she thinks I am amazing. John tells me often that he has alot of people tell him they think I am also amazing. Why?! Because I managed not to strangle my children? Because believe me there are days that it is a miracle. I am just joking......kinda. lol

This is how I feel my little facebook picture story would look like:

This is how other moms of young children views me:

 

This is how my children views me:

 

This is how I view me:

This is how I pray my children remember me as:

 

 

 

Pictures of my crafts

Since I was unable to post pictures of the crafts I made to donate for Christmas baskets for local children in our community, I thought I would post some now that I can. I am very proud of these, because I didn't really have much time to make items to donate and I worked hard to get as many done as I could. I also really enjoyed making them!!

 I have already started on items to donate this year. I am wanting expand on items I donate and really make alot to give. It gives me joy!

I have been going through our house and getting rid of stuff we don't need off and on for months now. In fact I went through the boys room twice in the past 3 months and got rid of TONS of toys and clothes both times. I went through the girls' room, our room, the laundry room TWICE, the shed, and the latest was the kitchen. And even though we have taken probably a good 50 garbage bags and/or boxes to the thrift store, local teens' group, and my friend who we pass boys clothes down too, I still have SOOOO much to get rid of!!

I find it amazing how much stuff we don't need or use is stuffed into our house. I mean how much stuff does a family of 7 REALLY need?! And have become more selective(although not as selective as I probably should be) about what I keep. I am getting over my "so and so gave this to use so we HAVE to keep it" mentality. I want a more organized and decluttered house and keeping everything that people give us just so we don't hurt anyones feelings doesn't help with that.

Heck I even am thinking that for Christmases and birthdays for the kids I should give good ideas of toys or items the kids really could use or play with would be best so we don't just keep replacing the stuff the kids don't play with with more stuff the kids don't play with. I honestly think they have too much stuff to even really know what they have.

During this process I have found that there are people in my house that are not good to help during this process. Alex is great help. He wanted his room less cluttered so it was easier to clean, so he was willing to get rid of pretty much anything. Kennedy is ok, if I don't let her see me taking the stuff out. JJ is horrible though, I got to keep him as far away from whatever I am going through. It doesn't even matter if the stuff is not his, he doesn't want to get rid of anything. John I have found is fine, as long as it is my stuff or the kids' stuff, if it is his stuff, he doesn't want to get rid of anything really. He doesn't like to go through his stuff, he would rather just keep it regardless of what it is.

So even though I have gone through almost every room in my house, it still needs gone through more. Kinda like I am when a team has multiple cycles of cutting players. I want to get rid of soooo much more stuff!!!

Poor little crabs!

In October we bought the kids 2 crabs, one for the girls named Lala Loopsie and one for the boys named Sharktooth. Now I had never heard of hermit crabs before purchasing them, except when a couple of our youth girls bought some, so I knew nothing about them. So like every responsible pet owner, we bought this nifty little hermit crab guide. It was really thin and I read it from cover to cover.

After a couple of weeks the novelty of the crabs wore off. They didn't really do much, especially after being dropped a couple of times. But they are also nocturnal so during the day they don't do much. I even found it kinda boring. I felt sorry for the little crabs, because I thought that they were probably bored out of their minds. But from my reading I see that they don't really do much of anything.

About 2 months ago, we found Lala Loopsie falling out of her shell and her arms fell off. So Alex cleaned out the shell and we gave the girls the bad news. By this time, Alex was neding to be reminded everyday(if I remembered) to take care of his crab. I was getting pretty tired of having to remind him ALL the time, especially when all he had to do was change the food and water and spray the crab down.

Today when I told him to take care of the crab, he found his fallling out of its shell. Sharktooth took the big dirt nap. Poor little buddy. So Alex started cleaning out the shell, but was having problems. So I helped him and as I was pulling out pieces and noticed 2 more claws and a bunch more legs, I realized Sharktooth wasn't dead. Well at least not until we started ripping him apart. He was just molting. Now I am pretty sure that Lala Loopsie was just molting too. So we killed 2 hermit crabs.

Now Alex wants 2 more since we know we aren't such horrible crab owners that kill our crabs, at least not from neglect. We just rip them out of their shells when they have the nerve to grow. lol. Maybe I will have to try my hand at another pair of crabs, so prove I can keep one alive. lol

I am so blessed!!

Alex on Crazy day at PVCA

JJ on Crazy day at PVCA

Kennedy when we went sledding

Livie on her first day of dance

Emmalee being all cute

9 days old

Well Emmalee is 9 days old today. I have to say I have been really blessed with her! She is a good baby. She hardly ever fusses, usually only if she is wanting fed or if one of her siblings are poking and prodding her. She sleeps really good at night. The past 3 nights she has slept for 5 hours straight for her first stretch of sleep, then nurses and goes back to sleep until morning, and all in her bassinet alone. I haven't had to cuddle her during the night for the past 3 nights. Mommy is enjoying her long stretches of sleep all by myself! Of course I wonder I have been putting her carseat in her bassinet and letting her sleep in that all swaddled up. I wonder if she would sleep as good just laying in the bassinet alone. Think I might try that tonight.

I just can't believe how fast these 9 days have flown by. I just keep thinking that I will never again have a baby in the house to enjoy this time and that is going by way to fast. Praying my baby girl don't grow up too fast! I will miss sweet baby smiles and a sleeping baby sighing contently.

How having my 5th baby was different than having my first baby

After having a baby you are sent home with doctor orders and thoughts of what the next few days or weeks with your new baby will be like. Now believe it or not it will be extremely different between your first baby and any children after the first. With each additional child you will remember the time after your first baby more and more fondly as you see how different this recovery time is. Not because your subsequant children are less loved or adored, but because it is always easier when there is only the baby and no children running around to be cared for and destroying your house. So here are the things I found that are extremely different from when I brought Alex home as my first baby to now that I am 6 days out from having Emmalee.

1. NO DRIVING FOR A WEEK- This is an order than was given to me with all my dismissal papers from the hospital. Now I am pretty sure that with my doctors this is a normal thing they put on their dismissals because for most women they prescribe them tylenol with codiene to help with the pain and that can make you loopy. But with me being "blessed" to being allergic to codiene just have to make it through with regular old tylenol. Lucky me. lol

Anyway, seriously no driving for a week?! I have 3 kids that have to go to and be picked up from school and a husband that works. No driving is not an option.

With Alex I didn't need to go out multiple times daily to go anywhere.

2. NO LIFTING ANYTHING HEAVIER THAN BABY FOR 2 WEEKS- Another dismissal order. Really?! I have a 2 1/2 year old that has to be helped into our SUV. Plus just carrying laudry baskets around with clothes are heavier than my tiny little one. This is nice in theory but impossible to not lift anything heavier than Emmalee for 2 weeks.

With Alex, there was only Alex and not laundry and picking up to do after 4 other kids.

3.  TAKE A NAP WHEN BABY TAKES A NAP- This sounds like great advice. Especially since newborns sleep so much, but when there are 4 other kids to take care of and Alex is the only one that goes to school all day, it is pretty much impossible to sneak a nap in. With just one, you could be napping all day long, but with your 5th, unless all your other kids are old enough to be in school or young enough to all take naps you are lucky to get to sit down for a bit.

4.  PEOPLE BRINGING OVER MEALS TO NEW MOTHERS- Again this is an awesome thing to have blessed upon you, but by the time you have 5 kids, the fact that you popped out another baby is old news to everyone and it just is not really done. You have been through this multiple times and know how to juggle it all already.

With your first I think people figure you are going to be so sleep deprieved and frazzled because you are new to all this that they feel sorry for you. By the time you have your 5th, you have been going for YEARS without a good nights sleep and deal with chaos on a daily basis, so life REALLY hasn't changed that much more. lol

5. YOU WILL HAVE TO RECOVER PHYSICALLY AFTER CHILD BIRTH- After every labor and delivery you have to allow yourself to recover. And maybe it is because with your first one you are able to have more down time because you dont have other children to chase after, or the fact that you are younger with your first. I don't know, but I don't remember being this sore after having Alex.

I remember having the cramping while nursing with all of the kids those first days. And it was always horrible. That part I expected and remembered. What I didn't remember was the horrible pain after that part. The feeling that my lower abdomen had been ran over and that my crotch had been kicked repeatedly with steel toe boots. I mean it makes sense that I would feel like this, but geez, I don't remember it being like this with any of the other kids.

Heck then you top it with the extremely sore wrist from where they placed my iv, that makes me want to cry everytime it is touched and the fact that my chest is sore from my milk coming in I feel awesome. REALLY. lol

6. YOUR OTHER CHILDREN DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE NOT A JUNGLE GYM- You come home sore from child birth, only wanting to be left alone, and your other children have missed you and only way they can show this is by crawling all over you and in the process poke and prod every sore part of your body with knees and elbows.

Now these 6 things are just a few things I have noticed that are different between bringing home my first baby, Alex, and my fifth baby, Emmalee. I must admit I find it humorous seeing my first time mommy friends on facebook posting about things with their babies and see how different it is with their pregnancies and my pregnancy. They have their rooms completely finished down to EVERY detail, house deep cleaned top to bottom, meals in the freezer ready for when they bring home baby, etc. And that is all great and amazing to get done, but when it comes to your 5th, any deep cleaning lasts for about a day, the baby room is done just enough to be functioning(if you have it painted and bedding to go with a theme you are doing awesome), and what are preplanned meals?!

Miss Emmalee Jorja Kay Arrived

The Schimek family is officially complete. Unless God decides to give us a major SURPRISE or we decide to adopt or foster in the future, we are finished expanding our tribe. Here is the last picture of me being pregnant ever. (well except for the couple John took while I was in labor)

Friday morning right before 5 John and I headed up to the hospital. I went with expectations of having a baby before noon considering the deliveries of Kennedy and Livie. Let's just say that my labor was nothing like I expected. It was a long, frustrating, very disappointing labor!! Things I hoped and specifically asked to not have happened, happened. My labor was very slow progressing once I hit 5 cm and got my epidural. Wasn't told the reason for the hold up for the longest time.

And before being told why labor probably wasn't progressing the baby's heart rate started dipping pretty low. It got so low that it would go from 160's to in the 90's and then go back up. The doctor was concerned and threatened a csection if it didn't even out in 5 minutes of him coming in. He put an oxygen mask on me and John, my mom, and John's mom started praying for me. Praise God, her heartbeat never dipped again after that. So we were out of the woods there.

The I found out that the baby was turned facing my side, so she couldn't drop down to get into position. I started asking if I could get up over the bed to help turn her with gravity or get on my hands and knees. The doctor didn't want me to because of the baby's heartrate being normal again and the nurse was worried because I had an epidural and she was sure I wouldn't be able to do it. I was getting so frustrating because by this point it was past 3 and I still had no baby, my mom, John's mom, and a friend had been there since before 11 or earlier, and they were all frustrated. I was very frustrated because my labor plan for how I wanted the atmosphere to be was totally not happening. I felt like saying just give me a csection and be done with it. I felt that that is what would end up happening anyway so why fight it. I was done and discouraged and just kept praying that God would get me through it.

So finally after asking the nurse again and again, she said we could try to get me on my hands and knees. The doctor had gone back to the office and was going to be back after office hours which was 5 and it was 4 by then. She said she refused to have me have to have a csection with my 5th child. So she went to help me over and she was shocked that I was able to hop over on my hands and knees so easily with an epidural. I was in that position just like 15 minutes and I told her I felt like something had shifted in there. I think she was just humoring me and said that maybe it was going to work while not really believing it. Then the pain, which was almost not there before started picking up. It kept getting more and more intense. I told her that I felt like the baby was right down there and I felt like it was working.

She went and checked me and goes "oh my, you are a good 6 and thinning out really fast. This is working." I had hope again, because usually I get to 5 or 6 and then it is super fast and I am 10. Often we don't realize how fast until they check me because the pain is so bad, or until a baby is popping out like with Livie. By then I was in ALOT of pain regardless of my epidural, so she called up the guy to give me another full dose in, because the pump wasn't touching it. He came in and did it and I told the nurse that it REALLY hurt and I felt like I had to push. She checked me and said that I was just a rim, and the baby was there, she was getting her tray and calling the doctor.

So John called in our moms and our friend who was bound and determined to see this delivery, and the nurses started coming in setting up stuff and talking about if the doctor didn't hurry who was delivery the baby. I was "blowing out candles" as they called it, trying not to pop the baby out like with Livie. I remembering looking at the clock and seeing it was just after 5 and thinking, this doctor better HURRY!!

So here comes in the doctor, not believing I am ready with how labor was progressing all day long. He checks before getting his stuff all on and was shocked to say the baby was RIGHT THERE. So he gets to put his stuff together and they break the bed, I am trying desperately not to push. The nurse goes ok you can push when you feel the need, but I see the doctor isn't even facing me and I ask her if she wants me to with him not being ready. She goes well he is almost, but I waited until he turned around. Then with one little push, the baby's head is out, 1 PUSH!! They did the shoulders real quick and my baby was out at 5:20 pm. Almost 12 hours after my induction began. Longer than I ever imagined. But she is so worth it. So introducing my baby girl..............

 

Emmalee Jorja Kay Schimek

Born on January 18, 2013 at 5:20 PM

7 lbs 9 oz(second smallest baby only by 1/2 oz bigger)

20 inches long

7 days and counting

I have only 7 days until I will meet my little baby girl. That is unless she decides to come early. I am not really in a hurry to get her out for the sake of getting her out, but I have been having contractions most days all day long, so I would really love for them to either stop or my princess to just make her debut. I can take the back pain and such that goes along with pregnancy, but the constant contracts, especially when I have them at night, it gets old fast. I am so tired because last night I couldn't sleep with all the ones I was having.

So who knows the next time I blog it might be to introduce our newest little baby. Stay tuned. lol

With my induction date approaching in 11 days and having spent last night in the hospital with possible labor, I have been thinking about what I would like my labor and delivery to be like. With all the kids but Kennedy, I had people in the room with me while I was laboring and then at delivery. With Kennedy it was only John and me, not because we planned it that way, it was because my mil was getting off work at noon and missed it and my mom was in the waiting room and I was at 5 for a while and then went from 5-10 in an instant and John was lucky to even get into the room in time because he had stepped out to talk to a friend.

Now I really don't mind having my mother and mil in the delivery room while I deliver, but I think I would really prefer to have no one in the room with me and John while I labor. When I am in pain, I like to draw into myself and prefer to not have people touch or talk to me. When people are in the room with me, I feel I have to entertain them and end up resenting that they are there and feel I can't show my pain.

So my desire would be for everyone to stay in the waiting room until I am ready to push. Now this is a really risky move, because honestly as fast as I pushed Kennedy out and how Live pretty much shot out on her own, I am worried they would miss it. But I really would like to make my labor room as stressfree as possible. I got really, REALLY stressed by guests while I was in labor with Livie and it affect my delivery and me afterwards. And I am really afraid of having unwanted guest again this time during the process.

I just want to enjoy my last labor and delivery and not feel that it is for others. I kinda feel like some people who just got to the hospital and never tell people they are there have the right idea. Then they are able to do things at their pace and without an audience.

While we were on vacation visiting my brother in October, I was on facebook and noticed I was added by a friend to a crafting page on facebook. It is a page where the point is that crafters get together and give each other ideas for crafts, although the main thing that was on the page was about these Christmas baskets they were wanting to put together. The head of the page had a list of kids whose parents had signed them up to recieve homemade items from these group to give them a little more under the Christmas tree.

So I said I was interested in helping. With it being the very end of October it only gave me 6 weeks to get some crafts done, but main did I come through. When we showed up to put the baskets together I was shocked to find out that even though I was the last one to join the group, I had contributed the most homemade items, except for the woman who made little Christmas ornaments. Now I have to admit that some of the items I was not overly impressed with, but that goes to show that everyone has their own taste and abilities.

I would love to add a picture of some of the projects I donated because I am very proud of them, but unfortuanately for some reason, blogger isn't allowing me to add pictures. One of the main items they wanted help making was rag dolls, which I had never made before. Their goal was to make 19 of them. Since I only had a little bit of time I wanted to make them as simple as possible, so I made ones that body was a triangle shape to be the dress and the legs were out of fabric to coordinate with the body to be stockings. I ended up finishing 9 and was willing to make more, but was told to wait to see if others made any. Mine were the only rag dolls that were donated. I also made 5 stuffed robots. Again first time I had made these, but I loved them and want to make more to give away. I got the idea from another blogger and thought they were super cute.

The thing that I got most addicted to was these fast crocheted stocking caps that I found the pattern for. They were pretty fast to make and I ended up making 20 to donate in various colors. I loved seeing all the different color combinations I could come up with. I even made one for each of my kids. And in addition to that I made 5 door hangers for boys' rooms with their name on them.

I was so proud to bring my stash of donations and the fact that with only 6 weeks to create, that I had a good amount to donate. We are planning on doing the baskets next year and I already have gotten a head start. I hope that we make it a better organized project since this year was kinda our practice year.

I also would like to maybe make projects to donate to other organizations that can use them. I love making the hats and am sure that I could get pretty crazy with it and end up with way more hats than we would need, so I will probably find another group that could also benefit.

I have so many craft ideas running through my heads and I love creating, but I find that items at craft shows just don't sell like they have in the past. I don't even like to buy items at craft shows usually because I know I can make it for less. So I love the itea of having somplace to donate the items I enjoy making. I am going to have fun with this!!

Happy Birthday Alex

Today 8 years ago, I became a mother for the first time. We welcomed our oldest son Alexander Michael into the world. He was such a blessing after all we went through with the loss of Jacob. In no way did we view Alex as a replacement for Jacob, but as a blessing to help heal our pain.

These past 8 years not only has Alex grew, but John and I have grown as people and parents. Alex has pushed us and stretched us in ways we never expected.

So today started off with our special family breakfast that has become a family tradition. However's birthday it is gets to choose what we have for breakfast. Alex chose pancakes with blueberry syrup, fried eggs, and bacon with hot cocoa. It was very yummy.

We then took the kids sledding for the first time ever as a family. It is one of those things we always wanted to do, but never did. Last year we bought a sled, but we never got enough snow to go. We all had so much fun going today. Well except for Livie, who did not want to go sledding, so she just walked around at the top of the hill and helped push people.

I even when about 10 times with various kids. Bet there isn't many 37 week pregnant women who go sledding. I haven't gone sledding down a hill like that in years, if ever. My dad used to pull a car hood behind a tractor when we were little, but I don't remember ever going sledding down a hill. Definately will have to go again!

Now we are preparing to enjoy a birthday dinner of steak and potatoes and black forest cake. It should be yummy. I would have posted pictures from today, but for some reason I can't post pictures right now. Not sure what the issue is.