Lazy Days of Maternity Leave

One of the reason I know that I can survive having all of these kids this close together is because my fabulous husband chooses to save up all of his vacation and sick time to go on maternity leave with me after I have a baby.  With this baby, Jason managed to save up about 5 weeks of paid time off.  I love him for this, he could be choosing to spend his vacation days in a variety of other ways, but he picks to stay home with me.  I hope he enjoys this time off as much as I enjoy having him home.  I know he gets excited to have a new baby, but sometimes I know the excitement is more about not having to work (no offense to the City of Henderson Utilities Dept.).  Either way, this what we've been up to since Danny was born almost 3 weeks ago.

I got a little excited with the scissors and chopped Kimballs hair for the summer.

Tod has been very anxious to play with the baby. We're just trying to teach him to be mellow and not hit or pull him off the couch.

 But Tod has been enjoying some of the new toys around the house, including Danny's chair.

 

Kimball and Jack are very content to have each other and have been busy playing with one another.

As you can see, we are all trying to stay caught up on sleep and the couch has become a favorite nap location.

 Danny snoozing on the couch between feedings.  Yes, he does sleep every once in a while. Especially while Tod is asleep up in his room.

 Jason and Jack worn out from after hard day of playing.

Kimball and Jason napping after church.

Jason was worried that people would think all he does is sleep while on Maternity Leave.  But, not true.  They just look so cute, I couldn't help taking pictures of our kids curled up with their dad.

Other notable events... Kimball stuck an air-soft pellet (that she found outside) up her nose and had to go to 2 different doctors to get it removed.  Our pediatrician couldn't get it, so Jason took her to an ear nose throat specialist to get it out. That's a first. Needless to say, we've found all of the pellets that she had collected, and they've mysteriously disappeared.

We also took our first road trip up to St. George to have pictures taken w/ Kim, my very talented sister-in-law.  Hopefully she managed to photoshop a few decent shots.  What a champ to try and get a picture with all of us together and not to mention that she's 5 months pregnant. She's awesome!

4 Kids Under the age of 4

We officially have 4 kids under the age of 4. Daniel Jay Hafen was born 05/25/11 at 3:33 am weighing in at 9 lbs and 3 0z and 22 inches long. Here's some of the highlights.

Mandy posing in her pre-delivery state. I love taking this picture before each kid is born.

Mandy went to the midwife on Tuesday afternoon and was dilated to a 4 almost a 5, so her midwife, Sherri, gave her a little nudge. When I got home from work, we went and walked around the mall, voted, shared a delicious Cinnabon (because that's how we celebrate momentous occasions), walked up to the church and tried all sorts of other things to help contractions along. Mandy called Sherri around midnight saying the contractions were getting more consistent. That's when the party started.

Mandy's parents came over, our sister in law Danette, Sherri (the midwife), Tiffany (her assistant) and Shanna (the student midwife). There was great conversation and distraction for Mandy as she was having the contractions. The baby's head was kinked a little bit so he wasn't descending into the birth canal very easily. When Mandy would have a contraction, she would lift her belly up to try and get him in the right position. After some more walking around, she was checked again and was dilated to a 7. Her water was broken and we were off to the races.

Mandy relaxing in the pool, enjoying the warm water.

We borrowed a birthing tub/pool from Mandy's sister Sammy to have a water birth. 55 minutes after Mandy's water was broken, our new boy was born.

I was able to pull him out of the water and give him to Mandy. It's one of my favorite parts of having a new child.

As you can tell, he was born with a ton of vernix

He cried 2 times and then fell asleep. Mandy stayed in the pool for a little bit holding him. It was very relaxing. I remember in the hospital they whisked the others away as soon as the cord was cut. The midwives were very accommodating and let Mandy do things when she was ready.

Daniel getting weighed. No one guessed he was over 9 pounds. I even tried to rig the betting by weighing on our digital baby scale before the official weigh-in.

Mandy's parents (Nana and Papa) holding baby Daniel, number 29 grandchild for them.

Kimball keeps asking to hold him. She already loves him tons.

Grandma (Jason's mom) came over later to meet her new grandchild, number 23 for them.

Kimball took this picture while Grandma was holding her new brother.

We are so excited to have Daniel in our family and know that it's only 4 under 4 until the end of July. Mandy is doing well and said her nether regions have never felt so good postpartum. She was very worried about tearing. While she tore a tiny bit, she didn't need stitches. For that very reason, Mandy feels the home birth was a success. I'm now a believer in home births. The kids were asleep the whole time and I got to sleep in my own bed instead of the hospitals pull out mattress. We had more freedom to walk around and have the birth the way Mandy wanted. We have truly been blessed.

Jason

Happy Kids and Father Daughter Camp Outs

Can I just tell you how much I love happy kids? Well, I do. And I think I have some of the happiest kids in the world. I'm not saying I have anything to do with this... No, it's mostly because they have their dads temperament, but either way, I love them.

After bath time, the kids love to spin on the computer chair. They love it and laugh and giggle.

This is what I found when I went out in the back the other morning. Jack was pedaling Kimball's tricycle around with Tod hitching a ride. It didn't last long, because Tod kept trying to get Jack off, so he could pedal. Oh, to be the littlest one, waiting to get big enough to do the "big" kid things.

On to the Father Daughter Camp Out. Jason's brothers try to take their daughters on an annual camp out, and this year Jason took Kimball for the first time. Needless to say, she had a blast. She had been talking about sleeping in a tent and camping for the last 2 months (I think she saw something on Bubble Guppies about camping).

Kimball and her cousins, who she will follow around all day long, or all morning long, as I heard that it started pretty early at 5:30am or so.

And, I love this picture because it shows how dirty her face was. I love the dads for doing this, because you know if the moms had been there, Kimball's face would have a wet wipe taken to it. But not with the dads, who cares about clean faces and wet wipes. I actually got to see this face, because she came home with it looking just the same. Thanks Jason and the other Hafen dads for doing this for your girls. Great memories!

Tod has become very chatty. We can't really tell what he's saying but he definitely knows what he's saying. He walks (yes, he's been walking for about a month now) around the the whole house laughing and saying all sorts of jibberish.

As for me, I can't believe how blessed I am as a mother and a wife. I got to teach Young Womens on Mother's Day and I asked the girls what did their moms (or any mom) do that made them excited to be a mom or something that they're excited to do with their own kids. As I sat there, I pondered my own mom and some of the things she did (and still does) for us as our mom. I am so grateful to have a mom that played with us. A couple of the young women have nicked-named me "Sis. Playful" and I had to tell them that my mom is the original "Sis. Playful." She's the one that taught me how to play because she played with us. Because of her, I try not to miss a chance to push my kids on swings or take them down a slide, or chase them around the house. I hope I can play with them as much as my mom played with me.
Thanks MOM - the Original Sis. Playful!

Hoppy Easter

Hoppy Easter! Our kids had a blast with Easter this year and more than their fill of treats, mixed in with us trying to teach them what Easter is really about.

We started the festivities with a flashlight Easter Egg hunt at Aunt Carmens with all of the other Hafen cousins the Monday before Easter. They started opening their eggs and getting sugar in their systems, so this picture was as close as it was going to get with all of them sitting together.

Easter morning came around and the kids each opened their baskets that were up on the table.

Jason had to go early to church this morning, and I was desperately trying to get a picture of all three of them in their Easter outfits, and not be late to church. Well, the picture turned out okay, and we made it on time. It was truly an Easter miracle.

And, I just had to throw in this picture because it sums up Kimballs life pretty well. If she had a band she could call it Kimball and the Boys. She loves her little brothers. She also loves her primary class where she is the only girl with 7 boys.

A Shout Out to Abbey

My fabulous sister decided to come visit our family for the first week of her track break. It was so fun to have her. She really became my 2nd pair of hands as she helped me change diapers and take care of the kiddos. She spoiled them (and me) rotten with treats, Chuck E. Cheese, trips to the park, and the mall (which I don't have pictures of because I couldn't find my camera until her last day in town.) I was joking about her being my sister wife, but maybe I should change that to my sister mom. Thanks Ab!

The one thing Abbey wanted to do here in town was jump off the Stratosphere, so we got a babysitter and joined her down on the strip. Here she is getting suited up and getting a little nervous - she said she wasn't nervous but she was giggling a lot so I didn't believe her.

Jason decide to join her. Yes, I couldn't join them because they don't make jumpsuits for pregnant people, and something about pre-term labor.

Here's the video of Abbey. You can't see the people until they get at least 1/2 way down.

Here's Jason. He said that the workers told him to bend his knees and stand up when he feels the tug. He only remembered the first part. He was too busy laughing and looking over at us to remember to stand up. It gave me a good laugh (yes, that's my cackle in the background.)

Randomness and Superhero Moments

Not much has been happening around this Hafen house. I feel like we're all in a holding pattern waiting for this new little boy to get here. I'm now 33 weeks and feeling good. This little guy still doesn't have an official name. Jason comes up with names that last about a week then he moves on to something else. Until then, I've been calling the new one "Morty" short for Voldemort aka "He who shall not be named."

So, these are some of the random moments I've captured while waiting for baby #4.

On occasion, Jack doesn't wait for me to put him down for a nap, and one day, this is where he decided to crash.

After we put Jack down to sleep at night, he sometimes sneaks out of his bed and collects some of his most prized possessions. This night, it included a toy garbage truck, his bat, a cardboard tube he uses as a bat, a ball, his brown bear and a bottle of water. And his plug (or binky.)

One lazy morning, the kids decided to bury Jason (who was taking a nap) with all the blankets and pillows that they could find down stairs. This pic was taken after Jason decided that air is a good thing and uncovered his head.

Tod just being the cute guy that he is.

Sometimes making cookies is such hard work. I let Kimball lick the paddle after making a batch, but between the sugar coma that set in and mellow cartoons, she didn't have a chance of staying awake. But she wasn't going to let go of her cookie dough.

If you look closely at this shirt, you'll notice a burned piece in the corner. Basically Jason is so hot that he started to spontaneously combusted while we were at my parents house over conference weekend. Good thing my mom was there, because she put him out with her bare hands. So between my hot husband (okay so the stove really started his shirt on fire) and my super-hero mom who grabbed the burning part of the shirt in her hands, (she said there was no time to make it to the sink) we can have any emergency in the kitchen under control. That is, until my dad drops a knife on his foot and cuts himself. We were all joking that maybe we should call OSHA and have them inspect the kitchen. Well, all I know is that it was a General Conference Miracle. Thanks Mom for rescuing my husband!

Kimball loves to make Tod laugh.

When Jack is in a hurry, this is how he gets down the stairs.

Don't worry, this video is a couple weeks old, and Tod is now walking, and standing himself up with flying colors. We just love how happy this kid is, even while face-planting on the floor.

Was it worth it? Disneyland

My sister Sam and her family decided for their last spring break in dental school, that they would drive 18 hours to meet up with us, and my parents, and then all go to Disneyland together. I hope it was worth it for her, because we loved having their family with us and we played at our favorite place.

Some of our kids in the tub the night before we left.

Kimball and Jack waiting to ride the Matterhorn.

Tod and I deciding to take a pass on the teacups ride.

Kimball and Jack could spin all day long.

A night without kids in the park.  We actually rode on Peter Pan without the kids.  It made sense at the time.

Kimball creating her own fun in the hotel by finding the smallest place she could hide.

Reach for the sky!  Bubble guns keeping all of us entertained. Love the taste of that soap.

Help, Mater is eating Jack.  Or Jack wanted to see if Mater liked him that much.

The dad/papa corner in the shade keeping cool with a couple of the kids.

Best Papa award goes to... PAPA, for attempting to strap on my sisters little girl.

Best Nana award goes to... NANA, for taking the kids on a spinny ride.