Little London

London Lashmett
Born Wednesday Feb. 16 @ 9:09pm
7lbs. 2oz. 19inches long

Our sweet little girl London, makes our family so happy. The girls absolutely adore her and if she is not being fed, they are holding her. Fighting over her is more like it. The boys just want to give her slobbery kisses all the time. So far she is so good, only cries to be fed and changed.
I was induced Wed. afternoon at 12, she was 4 days overdue so we decided to go ahead and do it, Scott's jobs were all out of town and he didn't want to chance it, my babies come really fast. We started on the IV's around 1:30ish, they broke my water, and contractions started hard and fast around 5ish. I had been debating on an epidural for the last 9 months, I had done the other 4 natural and I did not want to do that again. The thought of the needle in my back freaked me out, but I had to make a choice the anesthesiologist was leaving for the night so it was "now or never". I decided o.k. lets do it, still scared out of my mind about it.
Of course he got it in my vein the 2nd time around and had to pull it out the odds of that he said were 1 in 10,000.....figures right. So I guess the 3 poke was the charm. Let me tell you the hype of the epidural was what it was all cracked up to be. I didn't feel a thing. I went from 6-10 in 20minutes and was ready to push for 15minutes, we were waiting for the doctor. 2 pushes and she was here.
There is always the possibility because of my blood type to have a coombs positive baby, and having done this before with Cannon I was hoping she was not but, guess what she was. Thankfully with new studies and research they didn't whisk her away from me for the whole hospital stay, we did some new techniques to slow the process of jaundice down, and it worked. I checked out of the hospital Friday afternoon, and she stayed under the lights for all of Friday night, thankfully the hospital put me up in a room (closet) so I could go out and feed her every 2 hours, we both went home Sat. morning. Sunday we had another jaundice test and she was in the clear no bilirubins lights at home either.
We can't really tell who she looks like, sometimes it's Talmadge and other times she looks like the other 3. I feel great and life goes on once you come home from the hospital. I thought 5 would be so much harder, but really it's not. The only thing I find difficult is leaving to go places. I put Talmadge back in a car seat he can't get out of (which means he can't get in it without my help either) and Cannon obviously still needs help so, in and out of the car is a process for me. At home it's just one more pretty girl to add to the others I already have.

We are so grateful to our Heavenly Father who has trusted us to be these sweet children's earthly parents, I hope and pray for help on our journey everyday.

Bad Words

Dad- Talmadge why are you putting soap in your mouth?

Talmadge- Because I'm saying bad words.

Mom- What bad words are you saying and why?

Talmadge- "I'm downstairs with Zoie and I keep saying bad words"

Mom- Why?

Talmadge- In frustration "I can't stop saying them, I think something is wrong with me."

What an honorable boy I have. Maybe I need to change the soap flavor.....although it seems to be working.

Raising little boys

So the last few weeks I have been studying and trying to learn as much as I can about little BOYS. They are so different and to say that Talmadge is a handful is a huge understatement. I am up for any books or ideas on teaching and learning about how to raise boys. They are both such a delight to me in two totally different ways, and I'm so grateful to be their mother even though it is extremely challenging at times. I'm learning to pray and search the scriptures for patience and help, but I need all the help I can get, so give me ideas :"}

Adding one more

I have had all kinds of mixed feelings about a new addition to our family. I'm happy to say we are so excited that it's a GIRL! Scott, the girls, the boys (even Cannon)and I said from the very beginning it's going to be a girl, we were all right. I couldn't even think of boy names.

If I don't record the events leading up to this I will forget, so hear goes about 1 year ago I was telling Scott I really feel like we are missing another child from our family and I had many different experiences that led me to believe it was a girl that was still waiting to come to us. When I started to express these things to Scott he had told me of different instances where he had the same feelings. Keep in mind we were DONE! I thought 4 is a great # and I really didn't want to do the whole pregnant thing again, I am not one of those who enjoys being pregnant. Medically it is really hard on my hips and back and all the other uncomfortable things that go along with getting huge. So we had talked about adopting, that was the extent of that and we just kept "talking" about it not making any big plans. We weren't really preventing anything either so the possiblilty was always there, well it happened. I was mad, sad, irritated, surprised, happy, scared, all those emotions I'm not good enough to handle 5, I'm just a stress case. Apparently Heavenly Father thinks I can do it and he was trying to prep me a year ago when I had strong feelings of someone missing.

We are glad to find out it was a girl, Scott kept saying "If it's not a girl, we are not done yet" both of us knowing there was still a little girl to come, so YEAH! Let's just hope in 2 years we don't have another "feeling" of someone missing.

The joys of the Piano

I decided to move our piano to upstairs this summer. I realized I am never in the basement and if I was serious about making my children be "serious" about playing than I needed to make a change. Now that it is in our family room the children are on it constantly and sometimes even Dad. Even though sometimes I cringe at the banging and annoying sounds that come from it, there is something about listening to Lucy(or anyone else) play a song she has worked really hard on and make beautiful music. We spend so much more time on it upstairs and I'm glad we made the change.

Ideas from moms/dads out there

We have decided together as a family we set up certain rules to try and "help" our children make smart choices, and keep them out of situations that could be harmful or not constructive for there spiritual growth. The most important thing to me as a mother is to "shelter" my children from the destructive things of the world and do all that I can to teach them to be Christlike, and have a testimony of the Savior. I want them to feel safe in our home, and have an open dialect about all topics.

Just a few simple and not too major rules that we have set up as a family are:
1. No sleepovers (unless mom & dad are going out of town)
2. Chore charts.....or consequences
3. Scripture study as a family in the am before school (it just helps set the mood for the day)
4. Personal prayers at night time.......
5. No bad words (we know what those are)
6. Not to be judgmental
7. No swimming on Sundays
8. Obeying parents (the answer "NO" is not acceptable)
9. T.V. and computer are monitored.
10. No TV before school (this is really hard considering Talmadge wakes up at 5:30, and Lucy 6) this is a work in progress


These are just a few simple rules we have set that we have found are helpful to our children in many ways.....obviously things are always changing and we are learning as we go. If some of these things make my children sheltered well good. To say "Someone's children are going to rebel because you shelter them." I think is a bunch of crap if I can do everything in my power to teach them correct principles and set up ground rules, so that later in life they can understand the importance of them, and gain a testimony on their own, it really doesn't matter what others think about the decisions you make as a couple in raising your children. Scott and I hope and pray everyday for guidance on how to raise our children and what is best for them.

What rules or things do you have set up in your home that can help your children?

Toothfairy's are real!!!!!

We have lost a ton of teeth at our house over the last few months. Zoie took this picture with the barbie holding her tooth. When I downloaded my pictures I found it and just laughed. What a cute concept. She lost her other lower front baby tooth while wrestling with Lucy. She had bread in her mouth when it happened and the tooth was never recovered. I'm thinking it was swallowed in all the chaos. Lucy wrote a note to the tooth fairy explaining what happened and Zoie signed it, making sure the tooth fairy knew it was Zoie's tooth. She was still visited by the tooth fairy and thrilled!!!!