5 days old!

5 Little Monkeys...

I'm awake!

Kind of...

Thaddeus Ray Kimball

Back to Life (sort of)

The Return of the Snugli! This snugli has seen the world! We hauled Kensi all over India in it, to the beaches in Oregon, I climbed the Eiffel Tower last year with Asher in it, Its been to Germany, as well as to every shopping or kid place in Utah. What would I do without it!

My Dad came to visit on Saturday to meet Grandbaby number 28!

Meet Cathy O'Bryant, my fabulous midwife! She delivered Asher as well and is awesome! For you Oregon folks, she also happens to be Charlie Sharp's sister. Isn't that a random coincidence? This was approximately her 850th delivery, plus she has 10 of her own children.

So, Abe had to go back to work today so I have to pretend I can function just a little bit. We had planned on my Mom being here by the time the baby came so he didn't take off too much time but she won't get here until this Saturday. It won't be so bad. Abe only has to work a half day today, a full day tomorrow, he'll be home Thursday, and then works a half day on Friday and then my mom gets here. The ward has been bringing us dinners. That's always nice. It actually feels really strange for the baby to be here already. It was so early and the delivery was so fast and uncomplicated (although, don't let me fool you, it was NOT easy! It never is, for me anyway, but it is exhilarating once its over) I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. There is, of course, so much still to do on the house and I'm trying to figure out what I can reasonably expect to accomplish with this little grub that wants to eat every hour. He's absolutely adorable and so tiny! This is really the first little baby I've ever had. He's 2 lbs smaller than my last 2 babies and that is a HUGE difference on such a little person. All of his older siblings just adore him--which I'm guessing will last until he gets big enough to start getting into their toys and such.

Thaddeus makes an early Arrival!

Thaddeus ? Kimball
6 lbs. 14 oz.
21 in long
October 24, 2008
1:48 pm

Thaddeus decided to make a bit of an early arrival. I succeeded in keeping him smaller than my other babies, helped I'm sure by the fact that he was a bit early. It was by far my shortest and easiest delivery. The midwife made it to the house just as I was fully dilated. Kensi and Salem were planning on being here for the birth but were at a neighbors and didn't make it. The midwife kept the cord attached so Salem could cut it and they all helped dress him. I'm feeling great. The midwife will be back tomorrow for the 24 hour check up and hopefully we will have decided on a middle name by then--anyone have any suggestions?. Abe took the two little boys on a drive to find Grandma and Grandpa (whom we think may have gotten lost trying to find our house) and Thaddeus, after a good nurse, is zonked out with Kensi and Salem arguing over whose turn it is to hold him. I'm going to go zonk out now too, the post birth adrenaline rush is wearing off and I'm TIRED!

FYI- we named him Thaddeus Ray Kimball--for Abe's Great-Grandma and Grandpa Ray and Grandma Barbara whose maiden name is Ray.

Ready for Christmas?

So, we haven't even had Halloween yet and my kids are SOOO excited for Christmas. The fact that they recently got a Lego catalog in the mail hasn't helped either. I thought this was a cute picture that Salem drew so I thought I'd post it for everyone to see. Why is it that creative things always have to be messy? I love that my kids draw pictures and make crafts with paper and play with Legos ALL the time but then I always have tiny pieces of cut paper, crayons, glue, scissors, and tiny Lego pieces literally everywhere. (Just ask Quinn who came and helped me paint yesterday.) What's the trick to keeping them contained?

Cabin Photos

Here's a photo of the mudroom (incorrect door placement and everything) coming off the back of the house. Eventually we'll have a detached garage next to this and this will be the entrance we use the most--especially the kids so they can dump all their junk before coming into the house. And out here, we really do need a room to contain the mud!
OK, this is to show you Abe's shenanigans of the morning. If you look closely, you'll see a rope coming off the van hitch and up and over the roof of the house.
The rope is tied to his waist to keep him from falling off while he puts on the chimney cap. The door in this photo comes off the living room. Eventually we'll have a nice large patio/deck of some sort and then we'll have you all over for a party! Plan on 2 or 3 years from now at the rate we're going :-)

Contractors Schmontractors!

OK, so we hired a contractor who is very nice and came highly recommended to help speed up the work on our house a bit. So he came with his crew and worked all day framing our mudroom. He came to the door once to ask for the plans and also for the window that goes in the mudroom to make sure he was getting things right. After lots of banging and noise all day they left at about 5 pm and I go out to take a look. It looks great...straight walls, sturdy construction, everything you'd expect...but wait, that door doesn't look like its 3 feet from the wall (we plan to put a freezer along that wall so if its too shallow...no good!)...and I thought the window was tall and narrow, not wide? I got out the plans, checked the measurements myself and measured the window. Somehow, he managed to get the door AND the window in the wrong place as well as made the window cutout the wrong direction. Give me a break! These were not complicated plans. Did he even look at them? I called Abe to gripe and vent and he called the contractor who is going to have to come back and fix it all which is super frustrating when we're on a time crunch as it is. Sheesh! On a positive note, I'm excited to design the inside of the mudroom (once everything is in its proper place, that is) with, hopefully, individual cubbies for each person, shelving/cabinets for food storage and pantry items, a chest freezer, and a small craft table for my sewing machine. Hope I can fit everything in!

My new addiction!

So, I'm sitting here in my fleeciest of fleece PJs (yes I realize its after 1:00 but do you know how cold it would be to change?) with a thick wool gray sweater on, wool socks and slippers, with the space heater right at my feet (my kids, of course, are playing outside without coats on and don't seem to notice the temperature too much) and CRAVING these little chocolate covered fruit pieces from Dilletante chocolates. Its all my Dad's fault. He has to bring all kinds of treats to our monthly family dinners. I would never buy these just to try, especially as I typically abhor chocolate covered fruits. They're usually really waxy, poor quality chocolate and frankly disgusting. These are heavenly! I brought home a sandwich baggies of M & Ms from the dinner for my kids to snack on and realized there were still a few of these gems in the bag. After digging out the remaining 5 or 6 out of the bag I sit here completely dissatisfied. I want MORE! This pictured mix just has berries in it. The one we had had apricots and cherries and I think even pomegranate. Of course, I shouldn't be eating any of these at all right now. Perfect way to have a fat baby (and a fat momma for that matter!) But what else should I be doing right now? Its too cold to actually DO anything. Like, take care of the box of awesome pears Aunt Pat gave us the other day that are so yummy but we'll never be able to eat all of them fresh...or assemble the rest of these cabinets/drawers from IKEA to finish the kitchen...or do some laundry which would entail going down the (non)stairs to the even colder basement. I'll just sit here and shiver and dream...Yum!