A grateful wife and mother

So I know my blog is very much out of date...that's a work in progress of getting in caught up.  But tonight I wanted to post my thoughts and gratitude so I wouldn't forget such a memorable night. I do not have pictures with this post because of the sacredness of it. So the first-best part of the night started with listening to the lesson that Kayley had prepared all on her own for our family home evening. Sometimes I wonder why Nick and I were blessed with such a righteous child. She is so knowledgable in the gospel and she thrives on learning more each day. She is actually almost finished reading The Book of Mormon and I know at her age I don't think I had read all of it yet. Her lesson was so good and she is such a wonderful example to all of us but especially to her younger siblings. The next best thing from the evening was...School starts on Wednesday for my girls and so tonight for part of our family home evening Nick was able to give the girls a fathers blessing for the start of the new school year.  Now I am first of all so grateful to have a husband who is a worthy Priesthood holder who keeps his covenants and is able to give blessings and exercise his Priesthood power for us. He started with Cora, who has always been eager for Nick to give her a blessing. The part that stuck out to me with her blessing was about how she would make lots of new friends this year. Then Kayley received a blessing. The part that stuck out to me for her blessing was how she would be sensitive to those around her in class that might be scared or nervous and for Kayley to be able to help ease their nervousness and to befriend them. This is huge for her because her 2 best friends are in different classes this year and I think she is a bit nervous with who she does have in her class. After Kayley, Rex wanted a blessing because he gets to start a preschool program this year that a few Mom's and I are putting together. Well Jase jumped up and obviously wanted Nick to give him a blessing. Jase started crying hysterically when he saw that Rex was going first, so Rex patiently waited and let Jase go first. I was worried that Jase had gotten himself so worked up and wouldn't be able to stop crying for his blessing. However he immediately stopped crying, folded his arms and sat so reverently during his blessing. My heart just melted at how my family was being blessed tremendously by the power of the Priesthood. After Jase, Rex received his blessing. And then of course I had to receive one too because let's face it, school starting for my girls is hard on me too. I am just beyond my feelings of gratitude for all of my many blessings within my sweet family.  I'm grateful to my Heavenly Father who has given me so much!

Other February Events

Welcome Jase Judson Bell

So we woke up super early Friday, February 1st, 2013 to get ready to go deliver our new baby.  My mom had come up the night before so she could stay with the kids while we were at the hospital.  That night before we had fun eating out with Mom at Taco John's.  Well we picked it up and took it home to eat.  We got to the hospital and signed in and the front desk lady of the labor and delivery girl recognized us from when we had Rex there I believe.  She joked about us being regulars there, which is pretty true as we've had Cora, Rex, and now Jase there.   When they got me to the floor they had to start an IV to get fluids going and then start my pitocin drip to induce labor.  The charge nurse that was finishing up on night shift was the one to do my IV and boy did it hurt.  I was glad I opted to do the lidocaine shot before she started my IV.  Then the shift changed and we got a super nice nurse who had a 4 month baby at home so it was fun to swap stories and tips, etc.  Ironically I had just bought a new diaper bag and she said she had the same one and loved it.  I got my epidural pretty early like around 8:30 or 9.  I usually like to get my epidural later so I can still get up and go to the bathroom but time wouldn't allow that based on when the anesthsiologist was on the floor.  I was hoping to get the same one I had had with Cora and Rex as I always had good ones with them.  I was even prepared for Nick to leave the room as that one always had him leave.  However this time I got a different one and his name was Slade.  I thought that was a very interesting and different name.  He let Nick stay in the room and boy am I glad he did!  He started injecting me and it hurt like the dickens.  Obviously he was in the wrong spot so he pulled out and tried again and it was worse pain!  The third time he finally got it right but I thought for sure that was it, that he was paralyzing me!  The epidural was fine but our baby was slow to coming so the nurse kept trying to get me to shift and lay in different positions to get the baby to crown better.  After a number of times of doing that it was finally time to push.  Pushing wasn't so bad until the baby's head was half way through.  I don't know if my epidural had worn off or if the baby was just that big but man it hurt!  I thought I wasn't going to be able to finish pushing and that the pain was just going to last forever!  But alas our baby came out and the doctor said it was a boy!  I immediately looked at the baby and said, no that's not a boy, it's a Rex!!  Jase looked identical to Rex when he was first born it was scary!  But we had a healthy 7 lb 13 oz and 20 1/2 in long baby boy!  We knew his name was going to be Jase, but we hadn't decided on a middle name yet.  The nurse immediately put him on my chest while they were cleaning him off and he just had the cutest little cry.  They finished cleaning him and getting me ready to move to post pardum floor. 

Such a healthy little boy!  Jase Judson Bell arrived at 12:32pm on Friday, February 1st, 2013 weighing in at 7lbs and 13oz and 20 1/2 in long.  

So I decided to try and put a picture of each of the kids when they were first born to see how the resembled each other.  I think they ironically resemble each other when they are crying.  

My Mom quickly brought the kids up to the hospital to see their new brother.  Sadly we as a family had been battling all kinds of sickies before Jase was born.  So we had the girls wear masks just to be safe and not to pass any sickness onto Jase.  Rex was so funny because he kept thinking we had a girl in our diaper bag.  I think he got confused since we always asked him if he wanted a boy or a girl baby.  I guess he thought that meant he was getting one of each so he kept saying the girl baby was in my diaper bag. 

Jase had many visitors at the hospital.  Grandpa Bell, the Felkers, and of course Grandma Jani who so willingly helped watch the older three kids so Nick could stay with me at the hospital.  My kids had a blast with Grandma Jani.  They made brownies, red lots of books, played games, and of course spent lots of time at the hospital cuddling their new baby brother!

The Walkers also came to meet Jase.  Baby Lydia was born three days before Jase so Grandma Bell had two new grandbabies within 3 days.  Grandma Jani also had two new grandbabies within 3 days, but we didn't get to go see baby Rachel in the hospital because as mentioned earlier, we were still battling sickness and it seemed to get worse once we got home so we didn't want to pass it to her.  Jani even got sick before even meeting Baby Rachel so she had to come back later to see her when she was healthier.

Here are some of our first family pictures and the pictures we took before heading home now as a family of 6!

Our 4 wonderful children!  The kids wanted to go on a date with Daddy while we were in the hospital so he took them to the dollar store to pick out a new toy for Jase.  Kayley had the idea to get Jase a soft football for Jase because of his namesake Judson who loved the game of football.  We were so honored that Jessica and JT allowed us to use Judson's name.  Ironically without sounding too weird, the date of my LMP for when I was pregnant with Jase was actually Judson's birthday 04/27/12.  So when Judson passed later that year in June one of my first thoughts was how perfect it would be to name our child after Judson if we had a boy.  When Jase was born and we found out he was a boy, within a few hours of him being born Nick suggested we used Judson as a middle name and then once we asked Jessica and JT it was official.  I just hope that Jase can live up to his name and honor Judson by living a great life by helping others naturally, living the Gospel, being a good brother, a good son, a great friend, and the many other things that Judson was.  How blessed we feel for Jessica and JT allowing Jase to carry on such a wonderful name.

January 2013 Events

No matter what, every year January always seems slim to me on pictures.  Needless to say, this year followed suit.  

One of our good friends from church always gives the kids presents for Christmas and every now and then will surprise them with treats.  This year for Christmas she gave the kids play-doh and the girls some fun purse craft books and Rex some matchbox cars.  They were due for some new play-doh and they spent hours playing with it!

One night I asked the kids to clean up the living room so I could vacuum.  One of them asked if they could vacuum and I gladly let them each have their own turn.  They were pretty proud of themselves.  Lets just hope this excitedness of vacuuming lasts!!

And for Christmas this year I got a portrait lens for my camera as a gift.  I'm not a professional by any means nor do I ever think I will be.  However I do enjoy every now and then trying my hand at a little bit of photography.  So the kids enjoy being my subjects a time or two. 

I didn't take this picture to show off my kids rears...I just thought it was so cute seeing all three of them sitting so content and enjoying themselves while watching tv.  I wish I had gotten a picture of them from the front but I'm sure if I had, then they would have moved before I could snap the picture!

The first weekend in January Quentin and Natalie joined us for a weekend visit.  I think this was the first time they had seen our house so the kids were excited to show Brady their rooms and Rex was ecstatic for another boy close to his age to play Choo-Choos with him all weekend!  We all went to the play place at the mall for the kids to play.  It made me a little bit anxious, but the kids had a blast playing together!

Moments like this just make my heart melt into a million pieces.  Here Nick is building legos with the kids on a Sunday evening.  They seriously played for at least an hour almost building things.  

Once a month Parents as Teachers does an activity at Rebound gymnastics and my kids love it!  Cora will only get to go a few more times this year as next year she will be in kindergarten.  Here is a picture of my two monkeys!

Anytime I pull the camera out to snap a picture of Rex and Kayley is in the room, she automatically jumps at the chance to get in the picture with him. 

So I mentioned earlier that Rex has a certain pair of PJ's that he wears a white t-shirt underneath and when he takes the top shirt off he says he's like Daddy with his white shirt on.  He wanted to take a picture of himself to send to Daddy at work when he had his white shirt on like him. 

Rex wanted to wear my sunglasses when we were waiting to pick up "KayKee" (as he calls her right now) from school.  

Mrs. Julie gave Rex a Lightening McQueen coloring book and he immediately was hard at work coloring in it! 

Michelle and I with only 2 1/2 weeks left to go!  We were both so ready!

Kayley with her class for the 100th day of school.  Her teacher absolutely loves owls and I think their 100 hats look like owls!! :) 

And Cora and Rex get some time alone to themselves in the morning before Cora goes to school at 12:15.  They have learned to play quite well together and it's very cute!

December Events

December was a holiday fun-filled month!  I just love the spirit of Christmas with little kids.  Makes me remember how fun Christmas time was when I was a kid.

One of Jessica's friends made Dylan a football hat with Judson's football number on it.  I instantly fell in love with it and she willingly made one for Rex.  He just loves his "Judson hat" and so do I!

I was fishing around trying to find some clothes for Rex in his 3T box of clothes and came across some PJ's that are definitely 2T size for him anyway.  He was just so excited to wear them and the girls wanted to take pictures with him.  The cutest part is I usually have him wear a white t-shirt under the shirt and when we take the PJ shirt off he says he's just like Daddy with a white t-shirt on!

And another thing I love about my kids is still being able to match the girls and try and coordinate with Rex.  They got to match their outfits quite a bit as we traveled for church a few Sundays in a row with family.  I snapped some pictures of them before church.

I try to meet Kayley once a week or so for lunch at school.  If it were up to her I'd eat lunch with her everyday.  Here's a pic of her at lunch one day this month.

Rex is getting so grown up.  He absolutely loves his nursery class!  I would love to be a fly on the wall in the class.  This is a picture one of the nursery leaders sent to me of him during snack time.  Every Sunday he just can't wait until Sacrament meeting is over so he can go to nursery.

This has started to become a tradition in our house of making gingerbread houses as a family.  I never did this growing up but my kids just love it!  This year we decided to do a homemade one and see how creative we are.  It didn't stay together as well as a gingerbread house kit, but the kids still loved putting it together.  Rex just loved eating the candy!!

We also had our first snow day of the season this month.  The kids were SO excited to see the snow and get to play in it.  Rex actually stayed in the snow for a long time this year.  He wanted to take his cars out in the snow and he just drove them around the snow..they must have had 4 wheel drive! 

Kayley and Cora still love the snow and would stay out forever if I'd let them!  Snow angels, snow ball fights, and attempts at building a snow man!  They had a blast!

Then we all came inside, drank hot chocolate to warm up and then baked some cookies.  Later in the evening the kids iced them and had a blast.  I caught Rex eating all the icing of course!  He's our candy boy for sure!

Then the weekend right before Christmas we went to Willard with all of Nick's family.  It seems to get crazier and crazier the more kids everyone has but we all have fun spending time together and the kids have a blast playing with each other!  Typically we all go out to eat for breakfast and Mooma treats for everyone's birthdays for the year.  This year we did it a little bit different and met at Incredible Pizza for lunch.  I have to admit, I was really sad we weren't doing breakfast because I LOVE breakfast food, especially buffet style!  But the kids had a lot of fun playing at Incredible pizza's play/game area. 

The gift tradition is for the cousins to swap names and then we do an adult gift swap and Grandma usually gets all the kids a present.  Here we are trying to get all the kids to sit quietly while they wait to open up their presents. 

Simon says seemed to do the trick...Shannon got put in the bunch and she obviously wasn't participating in the simon says!

Then our first Christmas in our new house.  I have to admit I was so excited to have Christmas in our new house and get it all decorated...so much so that I had the house decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving...except for the tree of course.  For some reason we must have forgotten to do pictures of hanging stockings the night before Christmas.  We got video of them though.  Christmas morning is always so fun for me to see the looks on their faces.  

Got some good shots of Cora and Kayley's faces from presents they were excited about on the bottom here.  Kayley really wanted a Caroline American Girl book set and Cora really wanted the cooker set.  Rex of course wanted more Choo-Choos and they were all very pleased with what Santa brought for them.  Grandpa Bell joined us for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning and the kids had a blast with him there.  It was a great Christmas in our new house.

Then after Christmas we went to Mom and Otto's house to play with cousins.  Nick wasn't able to get off work so the kids and I just went and stayed one night.  My kids had a blast playing with their cousins nonstop though.  The Realls, us, the Farmington Felkers, and the other Felkers were all there.  It was lots of fun!  It would have only been more fun if the Sanders, Carles, and Andersons could have joined us!  Maybe in a perfect world!

Then at the end of December I finally hit 35 weeks with this pregnancy.  Time is ticking and before we know it, this baby will be joining our family!

November Events

November was probably my favorite month out of all the last couple of 9 months (it was 9 months ago we started the whole sell our home/buy a new home process).  We have never felt so blessed, well with the exceptions of when each of our children were born.  But seriously this whole process was definitely led by Heavenly Father and it has been neat to look back and see all the tender mercies.  I always had an internal goal when we listed our house for sale to have the house sold and be moved into a new house by the time our baby was to be born February 1st.  I also thought how nice it would be to have everything finished by the holidays.  One huge tender mercy or maybe miracle that did occur was just that, we were able to move in November 7th!  Plenty of time to get unpacked before Thanksgiving even...I was just thinking Christmas would be nice!

And of course we had lots of help once again from our great family that lives nearby!  And this time around we had people from our ward come and help unload as we unloaded all our stuff from our storage pod.  Here's a collection of pictures from around the moving day.  Kayley actually had her music program at school that day so timing of everything was a bit crazy, but we were able to figure it all out!

Here's a cute picture of a book Kayley made in her class.  I thought it was cute what she said was the definition of being grounded.  I'm sure she won't think the definition is the same when she's older and actually has to be grounded...but let's hope that doesn't have to happen!

Then Shannon and John were our first guests in our new home as John had some work to do up here about a week after we had moved in.  It gave me the incentive to unpack quicker (hard to get incentive sometimes when you are 7 months pregnant at this point.)  But we all met up with Michelle and Kendall and Randy at Bass Pro for a visit with Santa and dinner.  The kids had a blast and we loved that it wasn't busy at all.  They got right up to see Santa and Santa got to spend some quality time listening to each kid on what they wanted for Christmas.  It was fun!

Here are my kids seeing Santa Claus...again he was great to fully listen to what they wanted.  Rex wasn't scared a bit with Santa surprisingly!

The Walkers and the Huffords visiting with Santa.  No one cried for Santa here either, a rarity! 

 And the workers and Santa were really nice to let us bring all the kids in and get pictures of them altogether!  I actually got one of them all pretty much looking and smiling!

Another perk of us going in November, the wonderland toys all still worked!  Rex adored the Choo-Choo table and it was very difficult to get him to leave it!  It's so cute to see how much he loves them!

One of our friends from church had a baby in November and they came over to welcome us to the neighborhood as our neighborhoods connect to one another.  Cora got to get her baby fix in with Baby Kona.  She is so ready for a new baby in the house!

The Bradfields are a family that lived across the street from Jan and John back when we all lived in Columbia.  Brett became a convert and then they moved and within a few years, his wife Cristy also became a member.  The third weekend in November Nick and I were able to attend their family's sealing in the Kansas City Temple.  What a wonderful experience this was to be able to see the joy the sealing brought to this sweet family.  It is always a reminder of how blessed I am to be married in the temple to Nick and to know that our family is an eternal family.

The first grade at Kayley's school did a Thanksgiving feast this year.  Sarah was kind enough to just hang out at our house for the day as Cora's school also did a Thanksgiving feast.  So I pretty muched hopped from school to school.  I cooked stuffing for Cora's school and had to have that dropped off at a certain time.  I made one of the turkeys for Kayley's school and had to have that dropped off at a certain time.  Then I volunteered at both schools to serve the feast.  It went very smoothly and I loved being able to spend time with both of them at their feasts.  I only got pictures of Kayley's feast though and forgot to snap a pic at Cora's feast.  They both had a lot of fun though!

Also this month I hit 30 weeks.  I have felt very blessed throughout this pregnancy.  Considering all we have been through with moving out of the new house, moving into the apartment, and then moving into the new house, I haven't had as many aches and pains as I thought I would have physically.  Or the pains I have had, I've been able to manage.  We had many ups and downs with Rex having high amounts of fluids, but this baby has been perfect.  I hope the baby continues to be perfect when he/she arrives!

And this is just a cute shot of Rex after he had some Nutella.  I never had Nutella growing up and honestly I'm not a die hard fan.  But Cora and Rex like it with teddy grahams.  I just always have to prep myself for a mess such as this!