he's ready for his close-up, mr. demille ...

While my sister, Stephanie, was here to help me out after Fischer was born, we decided to try our hands at a little mini-newborn shoot (well...it was supposed to be mini, but ended up taking a loooot longer than a mini-shoot would ;).  He was about a week and a half old at the time.  Mr. Fisch wasn't cooperating at all, but we managed to get plenty of cute pictures regardless...which, despite how adorable newborns are, is actually really hard to do!

Enjoy!

this is my absolute favorite of the group

I just love how his little dark eyes pop in this one

I just can't get enough of that soft baby neck and dark hair!

The yellow blanket kept on making the colors in the pictures do funny things, but he just looked too cute not to share :)

smilin' during dreams of heaven

I love how the colors just pop in this one

We tried to do some tummy-pictures while Mr. F was awake and he nearly wriggled himself right off the chair!  You can totally see him straining with all his might here.  He looks like a turtle trying to crawl out of his chair :)

poppin' in the binky was the only way to get him to relax.  as soon as we took it out, however, he'd go right back to wriggling.

he has the longest, thinnest toes and feet!  I love those dry little newborn toes

contemplating big adventures to come

Thanks, Steph, for sharing your mad photo-takin' talents with me!

summer picture dump

I'm sure that you've heard me allude to the insanely busy summer we've had.  We crisscrossed the country with our 2nd Utah trip, two visits to Indiana, and a quick trip to Oklahoma for good measure.  Looking back, I'm not sure how I did so much traveling (mostly without Spencer's help) while vastly pregnant...but it was definitely worth it for the chance to catch up with family.  As I'm sure you can tell based on the fact I'm squishing an entire summer's worth of pictures into a single post, I was crap about taking pictures. I blame it on pregnancy exhaustion *cough*laziness*cough*.  Oh well, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

Before I get to the traveling pictures, however, I wanted to post a few from when Spencer's mom was here in June.  We loved having her out here and showing her around some of our favorite places (although mostly we just shopped for fabric and stayed home and sewed the tops for chevron quilts we're making for the boys' room).  Here's a few photos from our visit to the Johnson Country Museum's Kidscape Exhibit:

Oak doing two of his favorite things...playing with cars and wearing fancy hats

Ezra and Grandma playing wii baseball
(and groping himself like a real pro-baller to boot ;)

Georgia playing with magnet dolls in their fashion design boutique

Dr. Scarlett examining a newborn

Golf pro Ezra

As I mentioned before, we actually made 2 trips up to Indiana this summer.  The first one was to keep my sister, Stephanie, company and give her a hand while her husband was on a business trip in England (lucky, lucky man) and the second one was to catch-up with my other sister, Liberty, and her cute kiddos while they were at Steph's house.  Seeing Stephanie and her chillun' a second time was a definite perk too ;)  We were certifiably insane for trying to do as much as we did with 12 children, ages 11 and down, but I enjoyed almost every minute of it!  I just threw all the Indiana pictures up together, so be warned that they're not in chronological order at all!

Miss Emmeline and a very messy Oak (if you look closely you can even see he has a little dirt 'stache goin' on) being fairies together

We had lots of fun at the splash pad too!  I'm bummed I didn't get any pictures of most of the boys, but they mostly hang out on the far side of the pad, out of camera range.

Georgia with Cooper and Ella

Miss Scarlett

Emme enjoyed every drop of watery fun

Oakie couldn't quite decide whether he hated or loved getting wet
(I spy an orange-clad Ezra in the background!)

Poor little Gunner was like a little red-headed popsicle.

That's what happens when one has 1% body fat, I suppose.

Auntie Lib with robot Oak

This was a super-common scene with our 2 little blonde TV junkies, Oak and Cooper:

 BFFs, Georgia, Ella, and Scarlett

Georgie-girl was lucky enough to get to celebrate her 6th birthday up at Stephanie's house, who is a birthday-celebrator extraordinaire.  Being one of Auntie Steph's favorite people in the whole darn wide world definitely comes with some perks, especially on your birthday ;)

The Birthday Loot

 nothin' like a little sisterly love

 Princess Georgia with her princess cake

Ahhh, how I love these 3 girlies!

A couple of days after I got home from Steph's house (for the 2nd time) I turned west and headed out to Utah for Spencer's little brother, Kyle's wedding.  I stopped on the way in Colorado and picked up Spencer, who was out there on High Adventures with the Boy Scouts.  If I thought I was crazy-pants before, getting ready and driving half-way across the country all on your lonesome, 33 weeks pregnant, with four kids in tow...definitely confirmed it!  Since we were too distracted on the actual wedding day to get any pictures, feel free to check them out here.

We were lucky enough to snag a room overnight in the historic Delaware Hotel in Leadville, Colorado.  It's an old Victorian inn, opened in 1886, where each room is chock-full of antiques (and luckily a tiny single bathroom).  It was definitely different than your average Motel 8 and we loved it!

The kids (and Aunt Kim) getting ready for a canoe trip down the Provo River.

I don't think Georgia actually ever ended up going down the river.  She got cold feet and backed out, poor girl.

 Ezra trying out rock climbing for the first time

 A selfie by Kim and Miss G (also known as Kim's other twin)

So, Spencer and his brothers took Kyle slingshot paint-balling and bonfireing for his bacheor party.  Apparently, on the way home, they couldn't resist pulling out the slingshots and going at it between the two caravaning cars.  Spencer couldn't wait to document the proof the next morning.  He's just lucky he has a wife who bit her tongue and rolled her eyes at the whole situation rather than lecturing him on safe driving practices :P

Well, that's all, folks!  I know, I know, these pictures were like the breadcrumbs of our summer, but I figured I'd post them anyway.  Even though there wasn't much there are still lots of memories attached to each one :)  Hope you enjoyed!

Hello World!

I can't believe it's already been nearly 2 weeks since Mr. Fischer Jack arrived!  It's been crazy, but oh-so-perfect too.  He is just so darn precious.  So far, he's been my easiest newborn, with nice long bouts of sleeping and minimal gassiness.  He doesn't even spit up.  like at all. literally.  It's insanity after having 4 reflux babies (I'd be lying to say I'm not a teeeeny bit disappointed to not get to use all those fun burp cloths I've made).  He's yet to have a blow-out diaper either.  In fact, it's a wonder his clothes get changed at all.  I can't quite believe my luck.  We'll see if it lasts, considering newborn personalities seem to change weekly.

The kids are all in seventh heaven with a new baby around.  Well...most of them anyway.  Oak has had a rough transition, but I think he's finally coming around.  He has started to ask where the baby is when I'm not holding him and yesterday I even caught him trying to share a toy with Fischer (he was actually quite upset that the baby wouldn't take the toy from his hand and kept on yelling, "Baby...Hold!...Baby!...HOLD!" until he finally just left it in Fischer's lap in disgust.  Oak will still occasionally chuck the baby's binky away from him but at least he's no longer growling at him when he catches Fischer looking his way.  Both my mom and sister, Stephanie, came to help out with the 5th baby transition at mostly different times (with one day of overlap), which was super-nice!  I think it helped Oak, in particular, to have extra people here to give him some lovin'.

The older three think the baby is great fun, however, and beg for a chance to hold him whenever they get the chance.  Scarlett, in particular, has taken on the role of Mini-Mama and likes to inform me regularly that she "looks like a little Mommy!" while holding him.  I'm sure we've fueled this fire by telling her how much he looks like her (which is a hecka lot).  I even caught her trying to change his diaper by herself this evening.  I haven't gotten nearly enough pictures of the older 2 holding Mr. F so I'll have to remedy that situation soon and post them since Scarlett manages to get her picture taken quite frequently (I'm sure it helps that she yells, "Mama, take a picture!" all the time while holding him ;).

Since I've had a few questions about his name, here's a rundown: Fischer is a family surname on Spencer's side.  There's quite a few Fischers on his paternal side due to some kissin' cousins, but primarily it's his great-great-grandmother Clara's maiden name (Gretchen's mother, for all you Lifferths reading this).  It's a strong, traditional German name (it means Fisherman, which isn't much of a stretch) and we love how it honors both of our German heritages too.  Fischer's middle name, Jack, honor's Spencer's dad, who shares it as his middle name.  It's also a mash-up of my little brother's names, Jesse and Mack (whose full name is Mackenzie, but he goes by Mack).  It's a good, strong name in honor of good, strong men.

We just love our new little man and can't even wait to get to know him better as he grows bigger.  I already can't imagine our family being complete without him!

and now for the good stuff...pictures!

 Freshly sent from above :)

I know, I know, this is a photo-repeat, but I couldn't NOT post a daddy-son picture!

It was love at first for sight Miss S

 ...and she hasn't stopped kissing him since

MiMi (my mom) and Oak checkin' things out

(aaaand this would be the last time he acknowledged Fischer's presence for the next week and a half)

Georgie-Porgie holds him every chance she gets!  It's not uncommon for her to insist on holding him before she leaves for school in the morning and again the minute she gets home in the afternoon.

Ezra is beyond thrilled to have another little brother.  He's even more thrilled that this puts the boys ahead by one with our tie-breaker baby.

lookin' like a chubby, disgruntled, middle-aged man with his Mama

all packed up and ready to go home!

aaaand one more of of my two little brunettes just because I couldn't resist

That's all for the newborn cuteness, but carry on down if you want to read all of the gory birth details (don't worry, they won't be too gory, I'm just copying and pasteing Spencer's rendition to shake things up a bit (ie: I'm feeling lazy)).  Check back for more baby cuteness, though, since I'll be posting the photos from the little newborn shoot my sister did asap!

The Birth Story: Dad's take

For a change from my other previous birth posts, I've decided to post Spencer's rendition of the birth story this time.  Partly because I think it's kind of fun to read about a birth from the dad's perspective, for a change, and partly because it's 10:00 at night and I'm feeling lazy and he already had one typed up ;)  Enjoy!


The Thursday before Fischer's birth, at Whitney's midwife appointment, she was told she was at a 3 and that it would probably not be too much longer before we would have the baby.  Most of the day on Saturday and Sunday, Whitney had "false" labor.  The contractions were of varying intensity and regularity.  Whitney has a bad habit of ignoring contractions until they are really painful and really close together, but she was a trooper and we went to church; she even taught her primary class.  I'm not sure who she thought that she was fooling, because it was obvious on her face when the contractions hit.

Sunday evening after the kids went to bed, Whitney and I played a few round of boggle.  I had an unfair advantage in many of the rounds as Whitney contracted.  I often asked her if she wanted to pause the game, but she just powered right on through the contractions.  Before we went to bed at 11:30 I asked her if she wanted to go to the hospital...she declined, said that she thought the contractions might peter out.  I gave her a priesthood blessing and we went to bed...or at least I did.  Whitney woke me up at 1:30 and said it was probably time to go to the hospital.  I know from experience that that means it is really time to rush to the hospital.  I tried to hurry her along, but she wanted to do this and that, including touching up her makeup (she has done the makeup thing pretty much before every birth...she has not yet figured out that there is a reason that no one takes her seriously at the hospital until there is a baby coming out).  I was trying to keep track of her contraction times, but I was pretty disoriented.  She would not let me call our neighbor, Jenny Staggs (we had pre-arranged weeks ago for her to come down if it happened in the middle of the night) down until she was "ready" to go...I finally called Jenny at about 1:45am and told her that I was not sure that we would wait for her to get to our house before we left.  I got to the bottom of the stairs thinking that we were ready to roll out, only to find that Whitney was assembling lunches for Georgia and Ezra.  I knew I could not stop her, so I helped her make sandwiches and get carrot sticks, cookies, and whatever else needed to get in there...two lunches and two contractions later I finally got Whitney outside the house.  We got in the suburban and pulled out of the driveway just as Jenny was walking into our yard.  Perfect timing.  We did give her a quick update, then sped off to the hospital.

Our hospital is under construction so we parked about 2:05am near the ER and went through the ER doors, but then had to navigate our way up to the maternity area.  The ER receptionist was less than helpful.  It was quite the maze and although wheelchairs were accessible in more than one location, Whitney refused to use one.  Basically, we could not walk more than about 50 ft between contractions at which time Whitney would hang on me, rather than support her own weight.  We backtracked a few corridors and had to buzz security to get through a couple of doors, but eventually we got to the maternity area.  They checked us in when Whitney was at a 7.  The nurse noted that if her water broke, we would be having a baby immediately.  Our midwife was nice enough to write a personal note in her file that pretty much read: "When this patient checks in, call the midwife immediately."  This was the first birth that the nurses seemed to be in a little bit of a hurry...they were finally taking it seriously.

Whitney, semi-smiling, in between contractions

The only in-labor picture since we forgot to take one outside the hospital like we usually do

Anyway, the checked us in around 2:20, then moved us to Labor and Delivery.  A midwife from Whitney's practice was at a nearby hospital and was told to come quick, but just in case, they got the doctor from this hospital to also come down and introduce herself.  The local doctor would be the one to deliver.  We waited around through a few more contractions, Whitney did great.  Between 3:30 and 3:40 Whitney said it was time to push, so I called the nurses in and they set up everything.  The doctor got ready, she complimented Whitney on her incredible pain management, and checked her...she was at a 9.5, but she would be ready any minute, she agreed that if Whitney was ready, then we should go for it.  The nurses counted as she pushed...they got to ten and the head was out.  Whitney took a breath and pushed for 2 more seconds and then Fischer was born at 3:44am.  There was just a tiny tear that the doctor said was too small to stitch.  They weighed and measure Fischer - 6 lbs 15.7 oz and 18.5 inches long.  Fischer was fine, but his oxygen was a little low, so they gave him some and they had him under the heat lamp to help him with his body temperature but within 30-45 minutes from when he was born he was doing fine at keeping his body and his O2 levels up.

Meeting Mama for the first time

It's Whitney now...this is where Spencer finished up, so I'll add my 2 cents and call it a night :)

Overall, Fischer's birth was one of my easiest, matched only by Scarlett's.  I can't complain a bit.  I felt like I stayed on top of the pain for the most part and while it wasn't any fun, it really wasn't all that bad (...except for the pushing...I reeeeally hate pushing.  As Spencer mentioned, it only lasted for an uber-intense minute or two, so I can't whine much.)  Just a lot of trying to relax and deep breathing, like my other 2 natural births (minus the vomiting like during Oak's). The recovery has been fairly easy too.  Fischer latches on and nurses like a champ, preferring to cluster feed, as the nurses put it, and then take long-ish naps in-between (in layman's terms, he nurses frequently and for fairly long during awake periods and then sleeps for a good chunk of time in-between).  I'm just so happy to finally have him here.  He's already such a blessing in our home and I'm just so grateful to be his mama :)

1 week older and wiser too!

Happy 1 week Birthday, Fischer Jack!

(or Fish Stick, as Daddy likes to call you)

 But Mama, I'm so tired...

growing big is hard work!

ps- I promise the official birth posts are coming soon...as soon as I steal all the pictures off of Spencer's computer, anyway.  Stay tuned!