Thirty-four!

 

Someone turned 34 yesterday!

Our handsome and dashing Dad.

I made my first chocolate cake from scratch.

It turned out pretty well and miraculously came out of the bundt mold 

that I freaked out about all afternoon.

It wasn't much to look at - especially with the from scratch frosting.

(I know, look at me go. ;) 

But, it tasted good.

We sure love Ryan.

It makes me happy to know that we're growing OLD together. ;)

In the meantime, look who's started pre-school.

Miss Olivia!

 

 Henry wasn't too sure what to do the first couple days Olivia was gone being the only one at home.

(I almost didn't know what to do either! This is a first for us - only ONE at home.) 

But he found some things to do.

Eleven

 

 This young lady turned eleven the other day.

ELEVEN.

And, although the thought of middle school in the Fall makes me want to throw up a bit,

she is magnificent, ready for the challenge.

She is and absolute gem. 

We couldn't have asked for a more awesome first child.

Happy Birthday, Rylee!

October 24, 2002 - Enter Clay

You know, it's a good thing I'm recording these birth stories now because I feel like my memory is going. I hope it comes back some day. But really, if you know my family history, it's not...

I remember coming back from the temple to my parents house to pick up Rylee and we told my mom #2 was on it's way. I had taken the Fall semester off after Rylee was born and so when Winter semester started I was ready to finish my last semester and graduate.

I had a feeling Clay just may be a boy as I didn't have the slightest morning sickness or nausea. Holy cow what a difference than with Rylee - and an incredible blessing so I could finish up and graduate. My stomach grew faster (not unusual the second time around) and I carried lower. We were thrilled to find out he was a boy, due October 30/31st.

On Ryan's birthday (a Tuesday, the 22nd), I had the nurse practitioner strip my membranes. That evening when we had family over to celebrate Ryan's birthday. My sisters asked how the procedure went and I said it was fine. I didn't hurt. They looked at me and informed me that if it didn't hurt (and I wasn't contracting), the NP hadn't done it right. They told me to go back to Dr. Baird and have him do it.

I called the next day and had Dr. Baird try. Yeah, it hurt. Nothing like a teeny tiny reminder of what's coming up. Ryan and I walked around to get the contractions going. We prepared Rylee to stay with my parents for the night.

One of the reasons we started seeing Dr. Baird was because my sister delivered with him and he was awesome. When Marcie was pregnant, she was having contractions, but when arrived at the hospital, they stopped. Dr. Baird admitted her, gave her the epidural and started the pitocin. He hung out with Marcie and Brackon the whole night. They had a great time. Sounds like a fun delivery to me.

So, around 10 I felt like my contractions were consistent and we went to the hospital. Why not go for a completely pain-free labor? Well, my doctor had me walk around because I wasn't dilating. AFter an hour, because of no change, I was sent home.

I talked to my mom and she told us to keep Rylee with her, just in case something happened. Discouraged and grumpy I cried getting into bed. It was just a matter of minutes, the contractions changed. The only word I've been able to describe this change was as bone-crushing. I thought my hips were caving in. Holy cow. I waited to see if more contractions were coming. They were coming alright and I told Ryan we had to go back. I walked back in the hospital and sure enough I was dilating. Because it was close to midnight now, the anesthesiologist had just gone home - to Alpine. They said he could be back in about an hour. No way. I needed him now. I wasn't going to have back labor again without anything! They gave me some drug (Staldin?) and although it offered some relief during the contractions I thought I was having an allergic reaction. The pattern on the wallpaper was swaying back and forth and I couldn't focus in on anything. I alerted Ryan and he informed me it wasn't a reaction, but the affects of the drugs. Yuck.

The man of the hour - the anesthesiologist, arrived. Glory be. I could sleep and got some rest. I don't remember when Dr. Baird came in (he did NOT stay and hang out with us..) and broke my water, but by 7:35 the pressure was incredible (I actually thought my epidural was wearing off, I was pushing that button like crazy!). I wondered if Clay was going to be born at the same time as his sister, 7:47.

He was ready to come and at 7:43 all 7 lbs 15 oz of Clay came out. He didn't look too big, but a full 2+ lbs bigger than Rylee. He was completely covered in white. They wiped him off and he was just as cute as could be. He nursed like a champ and gained weight like a pro. (By his 2 week appointment he was 9 lbs. and by 6 mos he was 19.5 lbs. He was our little brick - and my shoulders haven't been so defined since.)

He was such a mellow baby letting his sister continue getting all the attention she demanded. (But, what 16 month old doesn't.) They became the best of friends.

Clay, the past 9 years have seemed to fly by.
I remember holding you when you were just a few weeks old and sobbing that you'd have to leave on a mission.
In 19 years.
You're a great kid and well liked by so many.
You continue to make us laugh and at the same time want to pull our hair out, but here's no one like you.
We love you.
We are so happy you're part of our family.
Happy Birthday!

October 22 - Enter Ryan

I actually don't know anything about Ryan's birth - except he was born on a Sunday. I didn't want him to feel left out on the birthday series this year.

This past week, I've thought a lot about what the important things in life are and how things can change in an instant. I still follow the blog of the sweet little family that lost their dear wife and mother. I'm not sure why I it seems I am so drawn to tragedies of strangers, but I find that it never hurts to get those reminders of what the truly important things - and people are.

Last Sunday, I found out that the wife of the first counselor in our Stake Presidency had taken a turn for the worse and that doctors treating her for ovarian cancer for the past 4 years could do no more. She passed away yesterday. She turned 54 this year and welcomed a couple grandchildren. Truly a remarkable woman leaving behind a remarkable family. My heart hurts for them and I pray for their peace and comfort.

My mind wanders to what I would do without my family; what I would do without my Ryan. It's not hard to tear up. I love him. As cliche as it sounds, he is the love of my life. He is what's important to me. The promises we've made to each other, the promises that extend beyond this life are what's it's all about. (I feel uncomfortable when people write mushy things about their spouse on their blogs, so I'll stop.)

Ryan, I adore you.
Happy 33rd Birthday.
I look forward to forever.
With you.

September 10, 2008 - Enter Olivia

When we brought Olivia home from the hospital, I sat on the couch with all the kids around admiring the new addition. I questioned myself for a moment if I shouldn't have spent one more night at the hospital. I turned to Ryan and said "wow, we have a lot of kids."

Not that going from 4-5 was a big difference, I'd definitely say that 2-3 rocked my boat, but 5 looked like A LOT.

It was almost a week after my mom had left, when Olivia was about 10 days old, that I was on my death bed. Ok, not my death bed, but I've never felt more sick. I couldn't move, I had a fever and chills and my head felt like it was going to explode. I couldn't swallow or eat and sitting to nurse Olivia was the most energy I could exert. It wasn't until the third day that I went in and found out I had strep throat. I wasn't my first time, but that illness always got the best of me. It was awful. Call me wimpy, but I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Especially after a new baby.

We were delighted to have a new baby though, especially after a tumultuous 2007. Sweet Olivia Reece. I think she's been the most blogged about with my pregnancy and delivery. Remember?

Three years have flown by. And, just like the rest of her sisters at this age, she's full of spunk and spice. She's still pretty iddy biddy - the smallest 3 year old we've had, but definitely has a big personality. She's so fun.

Happy Birthday, Sweet girl!

July 22, 2010 - Enter Henry

I have a hard time believing it's been one full year since this post or this post but, then it feels like Henry has always been with our family.

Henry, you make me one proud mama! You taught me that I can do hard things - things I never knew I could do. You are the perfect little caboose for our family. You are such a sweet boy, so easy going. We love you to pieces.

Isn't he the cutest ever?

That picture has little boy written all over it.

When I figure out how to get birthday pictures on here, I will.

(his parents weren't even there...rude.)

June 27, 2001 - Enter Rylee

First moments

When people find out that Rylee was born three and a half weeks early, I tell them that she was prayed out.

Four Hunt brothers were married in the summer of 2000 while the youngest brother, Aaron, was on his mission. Two of the new sisters-in-law had met Aaron before he left, yet, 2 of us had not. The summer of 2001 Aaron was coming home and there was a family reunion planned for the 4th of July weekend. Rylee wasn't due until July 21st and unless she was going to come before the 4th, we weren't going to make it.

It was 2:30 the morning of the 27th when I woke up to something unusual. A contraction. I tried to go back to sleep, but continued having more contractions. At 6, we decided to start walking around the block. At 7am, we decided to go the hospital. The contractions were still coming, not too painful, but I had no idea what to expect. At the hospital, the nurse checked me and I was barely a one. She left us with "well, maybe we'll see you later on today. . ." and we were on our way.

Dang it.

It wasn't long before we got home that a lot of the pain went into my back. OUCH. Ryan drew me a hot bath, but I couldn't find any relief. My parents came over to see me crying on the couch in pain. Ryan and my dad gave me a blessing. Around 3pm we headed over to my parents house. While, again, crying on their couch, my sweet sister-in-law Mindy rubbed my feet.

The pain was awful. Mindy encouraged us to go back to the hospital. This time at the hospital, I couldn't even get out of the car. I was wheeled in bawling.

At 4pm, I was dilated to a 4, and happy to meet and anesthesiologist. Wow. In just moments I couldn't feel a thing! Not knowing how long things would take, my mom and Mindy were going to bring Ryan some food and grab our camera. (Who forgets their camera?)

Thankfully, things went well and after only 20 minutes of pushing (not too shabby for my first and not being able to feel a thing), at 7:47pm, Miss Rylee made her appearance.

I remember watching her coming out and thinking " holy cow, she's looks big." Then to hear she was a whopping 5lb 12oz. When they passed her to me all wrapped up, she was just a tiny peanut with an adorable pink bow. She was beautiful. I was a mom! We were parents. She had such a dainty, pretty little face and her tongue was too cute as she constantly stuck it out. She was so alert and her eyes full of wonder. It was a while before she fell asleep again.

We had no clue that things would have progressed that quickly. My mom came about 10 minutes after Rylee was born with our camera. I heard her knock on the door and asked if she wanted to meet her. A great surprise to my mom.

The Hunts are faith-filled people and we flew to Denver when Rylee was just 5 days old! (Note: if this had not been my first baby when I had no clue what I was doing, I'm not sure we would have done that!). It was a great reunion and so fun having ALL the Hunts together.

Ryan walking off the plane with Rylee
to meet her adoring grandparents and aunts and uncles

Rylee was such an easy baby and is still pretty easy going. She's as beautiful as ever and I often tell people that there is no way we could have 6 kids without her! She is a tremendous help.

October 2010

Happy 10th Birthday, Rylee.

We sure love you.

May 28, 2004 - Enter Kaycee

(can you tell the theme for birthday posts this year?)

Thursday, May 27th started with a doctor's appointment. I sighed when the doctor came in and she asked if I was getting tired of being pregnant. I laughed. Then she said something that shocked me.

"Do you want me to strip your membranes?"

I had to think about that for a second, this baby wasn't due until the June 10th. Was that legal? Not lawfully, but in pregnancy...?

Then I could hear myself blurting out, OK! (Nothing like a few moments, when getting stripped, to question whether you're really ready for labor...)

I sat up and she told me to give her a call later when the contractions started.

We went through the day, but nothing was happening. I called Dr. Lindsey around 8:30pm and told her that nothing was happening and then she surprised me again: Well, do you want to come to the hospital and I can break your water?

Yeah, ok.

Rylee and Clay were set up with Gma and Gpa Hunt and Ryan and I made our way to the hospital, stopping for something to eat first

This time around Ryan was 'self-employed' and our insurance wasn't the best. I has toying with the idea of saving money and not getting an epidural...but we'd see how it went.

I was admitted to the hospital and the doctor came and broke my water around 10 pm. Why I chose to labor thru the night I have no idea. It wasn't long before I threw every idea of saving money out the window and got the epidural. I wanted rest. However, this time the epidural didn't feel as good as I had remembered. I could still feel quite a bit especially on my right side. Well, dang, not much rest.

The doctor joined us around 7am and we started thinking of names. Boy names and girls names. Since we'd already had one of a each- a boy and a girl, we thought it would be fun to wait to find out the gender. It wasn't until that hour I think I started to go into transition. The doctor checked me and although I was close to being fully dilated there was still a small lip in the way (sorry tmi, but this is for Kaycee). The doctor said I could try pushing as I felt pressure. The effectiveness of the epidural was starting to wear off and I was exhausted. Twenty minutes had passed and I'd never pushed that long. As Kaycee started to crown (again, for Kaycee) the doctor cheered me on and told me to reach down and feel her head. My words exactly: NO, GET IT OUT!

Sure enough, 10 minutes later at 7:58am we were holding our second baby girl - 6lbs 13oz. She was a cutie. We had two girl names and even though I like to see their little faces before officially naming them, I still didn't know. It was between Ellie or Kaycee.

It wasn't until Ryan was on the phone and mentioned if we named her Kaycee we could call her 'Cee Cee' that I knew what her name was going to be. My sister Reecy had gone by 'Cee Cee' for a time and it felt good to get two family names in one little person.

Our cute Miss Kaycee has always been so easy going and as smiley as they come. With her care-free spirit she knows how to have a fun time. Her contagious laugh keeps things light, yet her thoughtfulness is dear.

Happy 7th Birthday Kace!!

May 22, 2006 - Enter Lucy

I had a doctor's appointment that Monday afternoon. My mom was in town - as we were all anticipating Lucy's arrival - so I was alone at my appointment. Because my due date was the day before, I had a non-stress test before I got to see the doctor.

It was to be a routine exam to check everything out (you know, dilation, effacement etc., all that fun stuff). However, this time she grabbed one of those Ph strips. Apparently, my water had broken some and I was "juicy". That's a first.

I was sent to the hospital (which just so happened to be at a different hospital than the one I was at - another first), so I called Ryan and told him to meet me there. I called my mom and told her I wasn't coming home, and then I called my sister, Reecy, to tell her that (hopefully!) she'd have a niece that would share her birthday.

It was about 3pm when I arrived at the hospital and after getting all set up in our room, they started the pitocin. I don't remember being in much pain so I must have gotten my epidural shortly after. I'm pretty sure this was my easiest labor (if you can call it that :) and delivery as Miss Lucy Jean was born at 7:04pm.

She had the most hair of any of our kids and since we'd decided to skip any sort of induction, she came on her own schedule. Miss Lucy is still that way. Even when I'm rushing her out the door, she still prefers to take her own time. And, just to be sure I know she's part of our family (because actually coming out of me wouldn't be enough :) she has had the 4 year-old sass in her pants like her sisters. And, goodness me, this girl can be stubborn. (I know EXACTLY where that comes from and it ain't from me!) She cracks me up every now and then the way she asserts her independence, but really, she is a little sweetheart. It pinches my heart a bit when I'm scolding her to see her little stone-face break a little with hurt feelings. I know she's got a tender heart in there.

We love our sweet Lucy.

Happy 5th Birthday!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Henry's Blessing Day

Clay's 8th Birthday
(just two days after Ryan's 32nd)

Clay's Baptism




A wonderful day.
Especially to see my boys in white.
Thank you to all who came and celebrated with us.

She's 2!

Miss Olivia Reece

Here's to our spunky, fun-loving, binky-sucking, cute-talking, cereal-chomping,
blankey-carrying, baby-helping, floor-sleeping, tooth-brushing, nap-taking,
most favorite two year old in the world!

Happy Birthday!

She's 9!

Miss Rylee is 9!
Can you believe it? She knew exactly what she wanted to do, too.

Grab a friend and head to the salon.
The nail salon for her first manicure!

Getting Started

I didn't want to seem like the strange lady taking pictures at the nail salon (it was pretty full), so I didn't take any pictures of her getting her nails done, but here she is drying them.

Isn't she cute?

All polished up with Lucy.
The nail guy even did fun little fireworks on her thumbs.
Very cool.

Happy Birthday Rylee!

She's 6!

Friday we celebrated Kaycee's 6th birthday! Picking out her gift with Dad and then lunch with the fam and G&G H at Red Robin (Hood). Eating cupcakes with friends, I think her birthday was a happy day.

Happy Birthday Kaycee!

Starting off the Birthdays - Lucy

It's not until almost half way through the year that our little family gets to start celebrating birthdays, and Miss Lucy is the first. Excited to pick out her own gifts, and anxiously waiting for her pupcakes, she had a wonderful birthday celebrated with family and friends.

Happy 4th Birthday Lucy!

She's One!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

We have an 8 year old!

Happy Birthday to the best, most beautiful, most kind and considerate, brightest, most helpful, and responsible,

8 year old we know!

Happy Birthday, Rylee!

Someone's 5 Today!

Happy Birthday Kaycee!

Little Lucy Bean

(I am falling behind so quickly. . .)

Last Friday, Lucy turned 3!

As sweet as she looks, this is more of what we've been getting lately. . .

Should I be surprised? This is the age where my girls start getting the real sass in their pants! Hopefully it fades in the coming months.

I asked Lucy what kind of cake she wanted and she yelled "Pancakes!"
Here are Lucy' 'pancakes'.

Lucy opening her gifts.

Plum - tuckered out in Daddy's arms.
Hope you had a wonderful 3rd birthday, sweetie pie. We love you more than words can say.