June thru October - catch up time!

Some of these are out of order, but I'm trying to keep up on our family journal! 

It's been a busy past few months, but we have had a great time. 

We love going to the beach as a family, and recently found a new favorite spot down in Santa Cruz off 13th street.  It's fun how the beach always looks different.  On this day, we could climb into some low caves, but the next time we came the tide was up and they were filled with water.  I love exploring with my boys! 

I joined the PTA while Spence was in kindergarten and I had a fun time trying to help re-establish the PTA in our school.  We love our school, but the parent/teacher/community communication is not so great.  We have excellent teachers, but many low income housing developments in our school and lots of homes where both parents have to work.  This makes finding volunteers to help at school very tricky.  

We did a school wide carnival to raise money and it was a pretty good success.  The kids had a wonderful time (as shown above!) and it was tons of work.  Spence and I were there from the very beginning (9am set up) to the bitter end (4 pm) all outdoors and HOT! We were wiped out, but had fun.  

While Spence was at school, Daniel and I had a lot of good bonding time at home.  We missed Spencer, but it was really fun to have some one on one time with him.  He's such a sweet heart.  He's really concerned about others and from a very young age, even notices emotions in books on the character's faces.  I love this guy. 

And he really loves his big brother, "Pender". 

:)

Happy Mother's Day to me!  Complete with yummy waffles and tons of fruit.  I enjoyed it with my two cute boys and little Josh inside. :) Notice Spencer's beautiful portrait of me behind us on the sideboard! 

Spencer lost his first tooth in kindergarten!  He was so excited about it.  The old tooth was already growing in behind it!  

We instituted a mandatory "drop everything and read" program at our house.  Every evening for 20 minutes before bed we all get books out and read.  It lasted a little while, but we need to get back into this.  It was a great relaxing time for all of us! 

Spencer did a soccer camp this summer with his friends Maddy, Sydney and Grace.  Dad picked him up every day after camp (ended at noon) and took him out to lunch everyday that week.  I think they went to Boudin (spencer's choice) almost every day.  Sometimes, Daniel got to tag along also.

In May, I got to slip away for a girl's weekend up north of SF with three of my best friends.  It was a great weekend until I had a bout of vertigo on the last afternoon.  They were such awesome supports and helped me get around and try to still enjoy the time up there.  It was a pretty rough few months after that, but I'm so grateful things started to level back out and I enjoyed the last few months of pregnancy without too much trouble.  

In June, we went to Florida (Panama City) with my side of the family.  All of us were there (minus Tyler on a mission in Las Vegas!) so it was a FULL house.  We found a beach home only 3 homes from the beach and it fit us all in nicely.  I wasn't feeling great that week, but I'm glad we were able to see everyone.  The boys had a great time! 

Spencer ended his kindergarten year with a bang.  Miss Enyart (now Mrs. Moon, married over the summer) was so fantastic.  She was super fun, patient and a fabulous teacher for Spencer.  She used music in her classroom a lot and expected a lot of her students while still letting them have fun.  We really couldn't have asked for a better first year of school.  

Spencer, Gordon and Daniel (in stroller) did the 5K bubble run in San Jose with several other of our friends and their families.  I cheered them on from the sidelines, being pregnant and still having trouble with vertigo prevented me from joining in.  But, they had a fabulous time! 

For weeks after this, Daniel was terrified of bubbles and anytime he saw the headbands from this run he would say, "bubbles -- scary!" They had huge machines that dumped TONS of colorful bubble foam on you as you ran.  :) 

At the end of the summer, Spence did a Lego Minecraft camp with his friend, Jack.  He LOVED it.  They had different themes each day, and had to roll dice and run from bucket to bucket building their creations.  He came home everyday exhausted and sweaty! 

Gordon and Spence did several Giants games in SF together.  Spencer LOVES to have one on one time with Dad.  And I think Dad loves it just as much.  :) 

All of the grandkids in Panama City, FL!

More from soccer camp.  It was run by guys from the UK and they were SERIOUS about their soccer.  It was an intense 3 hours of soccer a day for a week.  He was wiped out by the end.  He told me at the end of the week that he liked it, but he wished it were only an hour a day.  :) 

The boys broke out the tent in the backyard several times this summer.  They have so much fun playing out there with Dad and eventually going to sleep.  :)  This particular time, they had an air mattress out in the tent to make it more comfortable.  But, they were wrestling and Gordon has his elbow down on the mattress and Spencer jumped on him - POP!  Daniel came screaming in the house.  He was terrified and wouldn't sleep out there.  Poor guy.  

First day of school - 2016.  Spencer has Mr. Segal and we love him.  He challenges Spencer and really pushes him to learn more and more.  He sends him home with extra 2nd grade homework and always has 2nd grade curriculum for him at school.  He used to teach 2nd and it's a perfect fit for our little brain.  He also plays the guitar and banjo at school, which Spencer thinks is super cool. 

I got bigger and bigger and we read more and more books as the Fall went on.  :) 

Spencer did another session of swim lessons this summer, this time in the evenings, which was lovely.  It wasn't hot and if Daniel didn't want to come, just one of us could go and take Spencer to class.  He progressed a TON and is swimming independently very well now.  :) 

Another belly shot.  Little Josh got pretty big inside! 

Our good friends, the Payne's, moved to Utah this summer and we had a get together at the park for them.  These four boys palled around the whole time and were so cute.  They had a Romeo and Juliet stage set up and the kids had a great time pretending to put on a play.  

Spencer got really into garage sales this summer.  He found these MMA boxing gloves for $5 one Saturday morning and has so much fun pretending to box with Dad. 

Baby Josh was sitting very low at the end of my pregnancy.  So, my doctor had warned me to not wait too long before coming into the hospital once my contractions started.  On a Friday evening (about a week before his due date) I started having contractions.  It felt like the real deal, progressing every hour so Gordon came home from work and we sent the kiddos over to the Moore's house to spend the night while we went into the hospital.  They checked us in and had us wait for 2 hours to see if they kept progressing ... they stopped.  It was super discouraging and made the next week and a half before he came feel like FOREVER!  But, eventually he made his grand appearance 2 days late.  I know that's not very late, but since the first two boys were about a week early, it felt pretty long to me.  

My good friends, MaryDee and Kate threw me a great baby shower.  We had brunch and just chatted and had fun with lots of local friends.  Even Angie drove down from Livermore!  It was so fun.  

At the end of the pregnancy, we had lots of low key days and local weekends, just to stay close to the hospital.  It was some great and relaxing family time.  

Apparently, Spencer would have made a pretty cute girl too.  

On September 26, 2015 at 6:30 in the morning our little Joshua Robert was born.  He is just a beautiful baby.  

We went into the hospital on Friday evening (exactly a week after our false alarm) and they told me I was only dilated to a 4.  I could wait and see if things progressed or I could go home.  Ah!!  I was so frustrated.  So, we waited to see.  About an hour later, the intern came in and explained that Josh's heart rate had dropped during a large contraction.  She said it wasn't something to be too worried about, but since I was already past due, they would go ahead and keep me to keep an eye on him.  If things progressed on their own, we would just deliver normally.  If the contractions slowed, we would use some Pitocin and get things moving along.  After a few hours, I was progressed to a 6, but the contractions were slowing to every 10 minutes.  They wanted to start the medicine, but I knew that the contractions would get increasingly strong and I wanted an epidural first.  But, I knew I couldn't eat after my epidural.  It was late in the evening and I hadn't eaten since lunch time and knew I could be in labor for a long time still.  

So, I ordered a big dinner and then got my epidural (the doctor was amazing!) and then they started the pitocin.  

Things moved along well and I didn't have "pain" but tons of pressure.  I felt like I was getting very close.  I called in the nurse and I was at a 9.  The doctor came in to check me and could feel fingers behind my bag of water.  For the past few weeks before this I had felt like his hands were down and I could feel him wiggling!  They did an ultrasound and sure enough, he had one hand up by his face.  Usually, as they progress down the birth canal, their arms will go to their side, so they were hopeful he would just put his arm down.  

I waited a while longer and they came to check when I was at a 10.  His arms had gone back, the fingers were gone and we were ready to push. 

I pushed for 15 minutes and little Josh was here.  Both boys were here in under 10 minutes, so we have been very lucky to have quick births!  

He is adorable and such a sweet and snuggly baby!

Both boys have been really great with him.  They want to hold him all of the time, and when he's in his chair or on his play mat and I'm busy, I'll often find them next to him just talking to him and trying to make him smile.  :) 

Gordon took 2 weeks off, my parents came for a week and his parents came for a week.  Following that, he took 2 more weeks off - so I have had TONS of help and it has made adjusting to three boys a lot more smooth.  This week was my first on my own, and overall we did really well.  I took all three to Target on Friday ... at 5 pm when we were all hungry ... and Josh was tired.  That was not so successful, but the rest of the week was wonderful.  There were lots of times where I would find them all just happily playing together.  I really, really love watching them all play together.  Seeing them love each other is the best reward a Mom could ask for.  :)