Matching Pj's!

I was at Kid 2 Kid and Brayden happened to find Brielle the cutest little frog jammies that matched ones Brooklyn already had. He convinced me we HAD to get them for her. Not more than 45 seconds later I happened to see some of the same jammies in Brynlee's size. The girls have been SO excited to wear them, but had to had a couple of weeks until Brielle could fit into hers. So cute!!!

Mom's Birthday

We had my entire family over for a bbq for my mom's birthday. Ryon and Jana came down from Idaho and stayed in our basement. It was a lot of fun to be able to hang out with them all weekend. 

The escalade was a hit with all the kids. It was fun to watch even the little kids zoom around the yard. Here's little Ty driving around...thankfully Justin stayed close by and helped steer him in the right direction.

 Rachelle announced that they are having a boy!!! We are all SO excited!!!

 This little one slept for most of the party...which was nice for me :)

More Random Pics

The kids still love holding Brielle. Now that she is getting a little bigger they are able to hold her better now.

 The Tuckers came over and the kids loved playing together. They were all so cute huddled on the couch watching their show...way past bed time.

First Bath

It's tradition that my mom gets to give her grandkids their first bath. Brielle loved it!

Random Pics

Double Shot

The kids love to play together. It seems like they can do almost every activity together, as long as there are some minor modifications. Like for the double shot, all you need is a couple of chairs and they all can enjoy it!

Dad + 3 girls

So fun to imagine how life is going to be for this dad and his 3 girls!

"Can I Hold The Baby?"

This is what I hear all day long..."Can I hold the baby?" The kids LOVE to hold Brielle. It's sweet to see how much they care about her and are always concerned about her.

Brielle - Going Home

I love being in the hospital and it always makes me sad to leave...mostly bc I know once I get home the reality of 4 kids would be very, very real :). Josh again slept at home then came back and hung out with me for the day. We watched a couple of movies and had a lot of time to talk and hold our little one. The time finally came that we had to go, so we quickly packed everything up and headed out. Here we are about to leave:

When we got home Ali and Justin brought their kids over to visit. Nate and Celeste also stopped by, and my mom and Rachelle and Sean were already there watching the kids. So it was quite a full house for the evening. But it was fun to see everyone and fun for the kids to play with their cousins. A big, huge thanks to Rachelle, my mom, and Josh's parents for taking such good care of the kids. We couldn't have done it without you all!

Brielle - Day 2

The first night is always the hardest. The nurses come in every hour (it seems) to check something. I was feeling pretty good and slept ok, just not for very long. Brielle finally got the hang of breastfeeding, so that has been going pretty well. She usually just wants to sleep, though, so I have spent a lot of time trying to wake her up to feed her. Josh went home and slept, then came back in the morning with and egg mcmuffin breakfast...SO good! Rachelle and my mom have been watching the kids and they have been having a blast. Once the 2 older ones were at school, they brought Brynlee back to the hospital for a little bit. She did better with the baby today, and loved looking at her feet.

 We spent most of the day just relaxing and watching movies. Our AC was out, so it was SO hot! They finally got it fixed so it was much better after that. They brought us our "couples" dinner and we enjoyed visiting with more visitors and just relaxing! My recovery has gone really well and I've felt really good. The pain comes and goes, but that's expected.

Brielle Marie Ericson

What a fun and enjoyable day! The dr. didn't think I would make it to my appt, but of course I did. So I went in to see him in the morning. I was already dilated to almost a 4, and since he was leaving town the next day we decided to have a baby, since I would go into labor within 1-2 days anyway. We know that my babies come really fast, so the dr. didn't want me to get to a 4 on my own...I've gone from a 4 to a 10 in 7 minutes before. So I quickly ran home, waited for my sister to come over, and Josh and I headed back to the hospital. They were SO SO SO busy that day...one of their busiest days they've had. They were turning away everyone that was wanting to be induced bc SO many had come in already in labor. Luckily my dr. got us in. So we quickly checked in and got put in a recovery room to wait for a delivery room to open up. About 1:00 we got moved to the delivery room. Knowing how fast I go, we went ahead and got the epidural, the dr. broke my water, and they set up everything for the delivery before they started the pitocin about 3:00. It took about 1 hr for the contractions to start after the pitocin was started. 20 minutes later the contractions were 2 min apart and I was feeling pressure with each contraction. I quickly called the nurse. By then I was almost a 10 and the baby was on it's way out. The nurse was SO glad I had told her how fast she would come so everything was already set up before the pitocin was started.  I felt like it took a little longer than the other kids, but the nurses were shocked that it only took 1 hr on pitocin to go from not being in labor, to pushing the baby out. I guess that is really fast. N-e way, the doctor quickly came in and we were ready to push. Brynlee popped out half way through my first push, so I was hoping it would be just as quick. Unfortunately she was posterior, so I had to push 3 times so the doctor could turn her, then once for her to pop out. It was all done within one contraction. She got a 9,9 on the apgar scale and was perfect in every way! Here I am that morning:

Brielle Marie Ericson (Her middle name is after her little cousin that just passed away, Samantha Marie.)
6lbs 6oz
20" long
4:24pm

 The kids were SO cute and excited when they came to visit. Brynlee was confused, as she walked in and asked where the baby's mommy was. The kids all brought the baby a present, and Brielle gave each of them a present. It was a lot of fun to have them there with us.

The rest of the evening we visited with family, then Josh and I enjoyed the time we had after everyone left. Because I didn't have the epidural for very long, it wore off quickly and I was up moving around shortly after she was born. We feel so blessed that everything went so well and that Brielle made it here safely and she is healthy and strong.

Paige's Pancake and Pajama Party

On Saturday morning we headed to my mom's clubhouse for Paige's 5th birthday party. It was a pancake and pajama party and it was a lot of fun. The pancakes were SO good, and the kids had a blast bouncing away and playing with all the kids. Happy Birthday Paige!