Welcome Benjamin Joseph! :)

During this past week I kept saying that it wasn’t a convenient time for him to arrive and finally on Sunday the stars aligned after Sammy’s talk at church and a few meetings and we went to the hospital. When my mom and sister Cathy arrived they broke my water and he arrived about 10-15 minutes later after a few pushes at 7:14 pm.

He wasn’t the biggest baby that we saw during our stay at the hospital (a 10 lbs. 14 oz. boy arrived this morning before we left) but he is our biggest so far having weighed in at 9 lbs. 9.4 oz. and 21.45” long. He reminds me a lot of his brothers at this age and is definitely ours!

The name was the hardest part. I was pretty sure that his name was supposed to be Benjamin after this experience but wasn’t sure what the middle name should be. we finally decided on Joseph after 3 great grandpas and an uncle!

The boys are sooo excited and their eyes light up when they see him! Welcome to our family Benjamin…we love you already!

  
Daddy holding his newest boy!

My mom and older sister Cathy were there for the delivery!

 
Big brother Sammy!

 
Nathan checking out his “cute, soft little ears”

Danny kissing the baby. He was pretty excited—I think that he thinks that the baby is his.

Our first family picture with everyone!

  
Even some cousins came to visit!

 
Getting ready to leave the hospital…

 
So sweet…

For even more pictures…click below! :)

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Sammy: Character Award Respect

Sammy got a character award this week for Respect! Hooray for him! He is a super star at school even though at home we’re working through some listening and brother torturing issues ;) Thanks Mrs. Lim!

We’re so proud of our Sammy boy!

What’s in a due date?

So I was officially due today. What does that mean anyway? I think that my kids at school thought that I would either a) be in the hospital, b) give birth in class or c) already have had the baby. I on the other hand am not too surprised with the fact that I am sitting here comfortably typing up a little blog post since Sammy was over a week late, Nathan arrived comfortably on his due date and Danny was five days late. (P.S. This picture was taken by Sammy boy but it is the most current one I have…I was busy inputting my quarter grades on the laptop while watching the boys play on the lawn!)

It has been interesting to hear the comments this pregnancy. Last pregnancy I had lots of negative comments from people about how many kids I was having (weird I thought since I was only on number 3) but this time I have had less negative comments about the number and actually less people apologize for me having my fourth boy and more people saying things like, “oh, my boys were so much easier” or “I know someone with all boys too!” It is also always very interesting to hear when walking across campus or down the hall at church one person say, “oh you look like you’re going to burst” and then 30 seconds later hear, “oh you look like you still have 1-2 months to go”. I think that it depends on what I’m wearing too…some outfits definitely make me look more pregnant! Either way I am grateful to be tall because it has got to be easier for me than for someone a foot shorter than me, I mean, really, where on earth do they stick the baby?? I feel bad just looking at some of them! I’m also very grateful for a strong, healthy body! Besides the normal heartburn, nausea, and exhaustion at times I think that I’ve got this pregnancy thing down!

With all that said he should be here sometime soon. My parents are in Cabo (remember last time they were in China) and are hoping that boy #4 is late like his brothers since they’ll be back on Saturday. Luckily I’m surrounded by lots of family and good friends!

Anyway…I really should get back to getting ready in case this baby decides to come before this Saturday. I have things “packed” but not really…maybe I’m getting too lazy…or too comfy…but I am getting excited to see this new little guy and welcome him into our family. What will he look like? What will his name be? What will the boys think? Will I know I’m in labor and make it to the hospital?

Stay tuned for more news later this week and enjoy the pictures!

Boy #1 – My skinny one Sammy who weighed in at 7 lbs 8 oz (since the others were 9 lbs 4 oz and 9 lbs 5 oz)

Boy #2 – Cute and cuddly Nate Nate

Boy # 3 – Little brother Danny-- I like this one because I can see how little Nate was back then.

And just for kicks…an old family picture!

Nateism: Nutrients

Here is what happened at Taco Bell today when Daddy didn’t order a cheese roll up for Nathan (his favorite).

Nate: Why didn’t you buy me a cheese roll up?

Daddy: Well you need to get something that has more nutrients in it since you’re growing bigger and you need more than just cheese.

Nate: Oh, so cheese roll ups just have oldtrients right? And tacos have newtrients?

Daddy: (Trying not to laugh) Yes Nate…you’re exactly right.

Halloween 2011

Halloween is so much more fun with kiddos. Everyone was so excited about it all month and they could hardly contain themselves when it finally arrived. We went to two church parties and then got to trick or treat on Halloween! Here are some of our pictures! :)

We had a Spiderman…

a Jack Sparrow…

a monkey named Curious George

who would have been cute but not as cute without his friend the Man with the Yellow Hat…

and Mommy and the soon to be baby dressed up too…He was Mike Wazowski!

On Halloween we visited and trick or treated a little with Grandma Driggs’, ate chili at Great Grandma Marcroft’s house with her, Grandma and Grandpa Marcroft and the Badalamenti cousins and then trick or treated with Sarah and her boys. I was pooped and very sore by the end of the night but the boys were happy and had fun. Even Danny knew what was going on and was ready with his phrase “Treat! Thank you. Welcome!”

A Photo with the cousins…

and one of just my boys after the church trunk-or-treat…

okay…and just one more because I like this picture. ;)

Happy Halloween!

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A mother of (almost) four boys…

So many people have asked me this pregnancy if I wanted a girl. Maybe? No? What do you say? I just explain that I’m happy having my fourth boy :) but I just want a baby. A healthy one hopefully but I’ll love him no matter what. But boys. That is all I know, and yesterday I had an experience at Jacob’s baptism that was very, well, important to me. I have always felt a great responsibility since beginning to have boys to begin preparing them to be good men, great priesthood holders and good husbands but that urge and responsibility is becoming even more clear.

While Vili and his boys were singing this song I was brought to tears and just thinking about all of these wonderful men from the scriptures and it reminded me of what I want my boys to be. They are each named after someone in the scriptures and have a family name as a middle name to remind them of someone great and what they can become. Their potential as sons of God is so great.

As they were singing though I kept thinking about my boys. Boys. Boys. Boys. I had a strong feeling that I probably won’t have a girl because he needs me to raise boys. I might be wrong, but, I know either way that he has a special job for these boys. The world around us is deteriorating and we need to raise our sons so that they can be like Nephi, like Samuel, like the Army of Helaman (and so many more people!)

Thanks for singing that song Vili, it touched many people yesterday, but especially brought a new light and understanding to my role as a mother.

How Can I Be, written by Nela Otuafi

Performed by Adam Ashby, Ben Mataele and Uaisele Fa

My Birthday Boys Nathan (4) and Sammy (6)

Sammy turned six today and I know that Nathan officially turned four ten days ago but you know what I didn’t get it posted…so I figured we’d do them both today!

Nathan is so excited to be four. He has run around telling everyone that he is now four and loving life. On his birthday we were really busy but we ate at L&L together before Daddy ran to CSULB for class and then used a BOGO free coupon at Dairy Queen and got two blizzards to share. YUM! Things that he enjoys at this stage of his life:

• Chocolate anything
• Shredded Mini Wheats
• His Webkinz Koala
• Pretending to be a koala, lion or kitty cat
• Geotrax
• Playing with Danny while Sam’s at school
• Train chasing (with Daddy)
• Grapes
• Jello
• Helping Mommy in the kitchen
• Primary
• “Praise to the Man”
• Playing outside in the dirt, riding his bike, or anything else outside.

Sammy, or Sam or Samuel as he sometimes writes on his papers, is excited to be six but doesn’t like time outs being so long. ;) He is loving kindergarten with Mrs. Lim and is happy to be able to say hi to Mrs. MacInnis daily too. For his birthday today we took him to get orange chicken (one of his favorite things) and then used a BOGO free coupon for ice cream at Cold Stone. YUM! He wore his birthday hat/crown from school most of the day and was so excited that it was finally his birthday after celebrating Danny’s in August and Nate’s on the 5th. Things that Sammy enjoys at this point in life:

• Chocolate anything
• “Strawberry cereal” (Special K with strawberries)
• Mac and Cheese or French Toast Sticks from the school cafeteria
• Long sleeve shirts (whether it is 40 degrees or 100 degrees)
• Combing his hair so that he looks “handsome”
• Dancing and singing to two or three lines of Justin Bieber that he learned from the girls down the street (sigh)
• Combo pizza or hot dogs with onions, mustard, ketchup and relish on them from Costco
• Building rockets, planes and space ships out of Legos
• Playing computer games (Webkinz.com, lego.com, Starfall.com)

Happy Birthday big boys. We love you!