a new blog

Okay, all you faithful blog readers out there....I've finally used up the maximum amount of free picture space on blogger, and so I've had to change my blog. My new blog addy is www.marshan2.blogspot.com or you can just click here. See I made it very easy by simply adding a 2 to it. I hope all of you readers will join me at my newly decorated blog over there. Shoot, it even has a new blog title. Anyways, see ya there!

Almost two weeks old

Took a few more pics of Baby Klaire. Makenna had her pictures taken in this outfit that my dear friend Pat gave me at one week old. I wanted to do Klaire's too. She'll be two weeks old tomorrow, so we're a little late. If you want to compare with Makenna's, click here to see hers. This first one looks a lot like this one of Makenna.

Klaire's 12 day old portraits

I took Klaire to Portrait Innovations yesterday to get her portrait done for the wall in the dining room...and well....as always, I left with a few more than I should have. Cute, huh?

pics of the girls

My sister-in-law, Stacy, gave me the outfit that Makenna is wearing for Klaire, but since it fit Makenna, and I had an adorable outfit that Niki had given Makenna way back when she was small....I thought it would be cool for them to match. They'll be sharing clothes anyways for their whole lives, so why not start them early on it? Right?? So Klaire had Makenna's outfit on, and Makenna had Klaire's outfit on,, and they both looked dog-gone cute!

Klaire's first time at church

the boys and Klaire - Makenna was being a stinker and wouldn't get in the picture.

such a cute yawn!!

matching dresses - these could get me in a lot of trouble!!

and the first photo of all SIX - Makenna once again being a stinker.

Sliding II

This is a re-cap of what we did yesterday. We haven't done it in quite some time. In face, it's been over two years since we did it last. Check out the last time we did it here, and no...this time I didn't do it because I was holding the baby although anyone who knows me knows I would have done it in a heartbeat. Shoot last time I did it I was 8 months pregnant. We made it more fun with a small ramp and some crazy falls this time though.

Almost a week old

Just like with Makenna, I plan on taking Klaire's pics next to the big doll each month.

oh, and here's one just to make you smile!

A new normal

We're starting a new normal today. Our guests have left, and now we are settling in to how life will be with a family of eight. Should be interesting!

Klaire Riley Alma has arrived!!!!

Klaire made her grand appearance today at 8:03 pm weighing in at 8 pounds, 7 ounces (She took the smallest baby title away from Blake who was not impressed that he lost his title.) and she's 21 inches long. She's absolutely adorable. Here's a quick timeline of all that happened.
5:30- 7:30 am - woke up with occasional contractions, told Eric that the baby was coming today. He didn't believe me and rolled back over and fell asleep.

After 7:30 contractions pretty much stopped with the occasional one through out the day. Man, I was bummed.

3:30 pm - left the house to go see Terani and her new baby boy. We stopped at Walmart first and did a little shopping. Started having contractions again.

4:30ish?? - Got to Terani's where I was still having contractions about every 10 minutes. Saw Jayden, and man, is he adorable!!!!!

after 5:00 - left Terani's and went home. Contractions were about 5-10 minutes apart now.

6:00ish - called the doctor and he suggested going to the hospital since I wasn't feeling a lot of movement from Klaire.

6:15ish - dropped the kids off at the Sill's house. Listened to Eric say over and over again that we were just going to get sent home, so this was pointless. But still had contractions every 5 minutes.

6:30ish - got into the hospital and checked in, I mentioned to the nurse that this was my sixth child and that I felt the need to push, and she responded with a BEEP word and told me to get a gown on. She checked me and shocked us all by telling us that I was 7 cm dilated.
7:00ish got my epidural - yay!!!
7:30ish - doctor got there and turned the baby around. She was face up.

8:03 Baby Klaire arrived, and Eric and I still are sitting in an amazed and happy kind of shock!

August 4th

We have an inducing date!!! AUGUST 4th! I had the option of having the baby on July 30th, but I figured since I had waited this long for her, I'd do all I could to have an August baby, so she'll have her own birthday month. Now, if she wants to come early tomorrow...then hey, that's her choice! I have had a few contractions here and there, but nothing serious. So, Klaire Rylee (Riley, Ryleigh, Rylie) Alma will be here no later than August 4th. (Obviously we still haven't decided on the spelling of the middle name. Feel free to leave your opinion on that one!
In no particular order:
1. Klaire Rylee Alma
2. Klaire Riley Alma
3. Klaire Rylie Alma
4. Klaire Ryleigh Alma

Nesting part four - the finishing touches

Some finishing touches in our bedroom:

I made the clock this past week from a kit that I have had for quite some time. I got the candle holders from...get this....GOODWILL yesterday.

This is the top of my dresser with one of my all time favorite pictures of Luke, a box of albums, and some other stuff I got on sale.

Here's the top of Eric's dresser. The lamp was normally $119.00, and I got it for $12 at Hobby Lobby!!! Crazy, huh? I'm not crazy about the glass part of the lamp, but I think I know something I can do to make it look different or slightly colored but......it would be an experiment, and I'm not sure I want to tackle it in case I ruin the lamp. (Oh, and try to ignore the pole behind the lamp over there in the corner. That's not supposed to be there.)

Some finishing touches on the living room area
The bookshelf/desk you see when you first come into the house. Eric built it quite a few years ago.

These were up in my house growing up, and well, they just make me happy. The top left is my dad and his sister when they were little, and the bottom right is my mom and her older brother when they were little. These are located at the front of the hallway when you actually walk in to the house..(right next to the bookshelf).

I found these votive candle holders that my neighbor had given to me last Christmas and they match nicely. She was thrilled when she saw that I finally had put them out. She actually thought that I didn't like them. I had to convince her that I did like them, but just didn't know where to put them until now. I put two over here and then three on the bookshelf.

I found this little black basket at Goodwill the other day, and knew I could find something to do with it. And I think it works really well to store all the X-box controllers and stuff. Now to keep the kids putting them back in there when they are done!

I wanted some Scriptures on the wall which is yet another reason I LOVE Hobby Lobby. I go these canvases for half off which made them about $7.50 each. SWEET!!! These are above the chair in my living room that in the corner.

Remember the stars in the corner of the dining room??? I thought they needed something else, and well, I think it looks so much better now with the rub on words on the wall. Don't you?

Let's see...there's a couple of projects in the works still to get done. I have a mirror that I want to spray paint the frame of it, and display it either in the dining room or in my bedroom. I've heard that mirrors make a space look bigger, and I think it would probably look best in the dining room since our dining room isn't very big....but then...it would look good above my dresser too. We've had the mirror FOREVER and it's just sitting in a gold frame in our basement, so I might as well put it to use, right?

I'm also spray painting a basket that I found in my mom's basement gathering dust. It was a scary gold color, but I spray painted it brown and am waiting for it to completely dry. We'll be using it next to the love seat to put library books or magazines in. Hopefully it'll work for us.

Eric's working on building a wall in the basement to separate the yucky part of the basement from the school room. The frame of the wall is up along with the door, so he's moving on to phase 2 - DRYWALLING. I'm excited to see what it will look like when it's finished. It'll be so nice not to see the laundry/storage side of the basement when we have school.

Oh, and last, but not least. We plan on painting the playroom/guest room downstairs to make it look nicer instead of just having the primed walls. But this project probably won't happen for quite some time.

K-A-L-E-B

Kaleb wrote his name yesterday. Yay for him!!!!

This makes me smile!

artwork by Jakeb Alma

OUCH!!!!

Poor Kaleb did a wipeout yesterday, and used his face to break the fall! Poor little guy! Looks like it hurt, huh?
Maybe being "Mr. Independent" isn't such a great idea for him!

Two weeks from today!!!!!

Well, baby Klaire Riley/Rylee will be here no later than TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY!!!!! (We still haven't decided the spelling of her middle name!) I'm hoping she comes early enough so the older boys can come home, and then go to camp next week, but I'm not holding my breath even though the doctor said I've softened and I'm 3 cm. I guess we just have to wait and see. It's all in God's timing, right?

Zoo w/ the cousins