Two weeks later

and so far we think we're going to keep this little guy. We feel like he's brought a measure of peace and love into our home even though sometimes things get loud and crazy. Everyone here loves Rex and he is usually being held by someone. Rex is like any other 2 week old baby. He eats frequently, sleeps sporadically and is flying through diapers. He even gained a whopping 9 ounces. I find it hard to take pictures of him, especially compared to all the pictures we took of Donovan when he was a baby. We will work on that. So here's what we have for now:

Roller Derby

As if life isn't crazy enough at our house, the kids have started playing this new game. It's nice and safe and super quiet. They roll around our house trying to catch each other. The boys use their rollerblades and Nina uses her skates. They also roll around to get food out of the kitchen, to use the bathroom, answer the door and it gets better (and safer). They go up and down the stairs in this sturdy footwear too. So far the injuries have been minimal and I hope it stays that way.

Baby Rex is here!

We had a nice little surprise Sunday night. Matt was at a meeting and I had just sat down to relax after putting the kids to bed when my water broke. That has never happened before and I kind of didn't know what to do. Once Matt got home we threw together some things and headed to the hospital. Our wonderful friend Rachelle came and held down the fort for us. A few hours later the tiny little guy was born. 5 lb 3 oz and 18 inches long. So he keeps in line with the other small babies we've had, but holds the record for the smallest. We are excited that he's here!

Christmas morning

It wasn't the most beautifully captured morning, but I can assure you that we had a wonderful morning.

The line up. So photogenic.



Opening presents.





Posing with presents. Matt and I feel like it's a success that we got half of our kids pictured with their presents. The other half did nicely too.




The big news of the day was the present from Santa. The kids came downstairs fully expecting to see presents all over the living room that Santa had left. Their expressions were pretty funny as they tried to figure out why there were no presents from Santa. After looking around, they finally noticed a note from Santa telling them that there was not enough room to bring the present down the chimney so he had to leave it in the backyard. They looked out the window and saw that Santa left them a trampoline. We have no pictures of their reaction. Or of them jumping on it. Or of the trampoline itself. But trust me, they all loved, and continue to love it.

Christmas Eve presents

Traditionally Santa makes an appearance during our family Christmas Eve festivities, but it appeared that Santa was too busy to sit and chat this year. This year Santa doorbell-ditched us leaving a big, red sack of presents on the porch. No one seemed to mind which was a little bit of a relief, and our kids seemed to enjoy their presents. Also a relief.

Santa and a gingerbread house

We worked long and hard to make this beauty.



And everyone was still smiling when it was all done.



Way to take charge and run the show Matt.



The only time our kids sat on Santa's lap was at our ward Christmas breakfast. Howie didn't feel the need to join in with the rest of the family.

Skate City

Last year when we went to Skate City, only Matt and Donovan skated. This year we rolled out two more participants with Howie and Nina. Both were a little reluctant at first, but by the end, they wanted to keep going around "just one more time". I hear there are already plans to go again during this Christmas break.




Cam decided to be a Jedi and blast the bad guys who were skating.






And this was me at 35.5 weeks.