My sweet Husband

It has been 3 weeks since Scarlett has been here. I haven't gotten out at all. I think I may have a little bit of baby blues. That and the fact that my body is so tired from chasing around all 5 kiddos, I haven't felt like doing much. My sweet husband knows how relaxing it is to me to take a drive and "nature watch", as I like to call it, so he suggested that we all go for a little drive. It was exactly what I needed. Taking pictures and being outside has a natural calming effect on me.

Beau is always so thoughtful and helpful. I love him so much. He always knows exactly how to help me.

He picked a perfect day to go for a drive too. We saw so many beautiful things.

I wanted to get in front of this slithering snake, but was to scared.

 We saw lots of beautiful hawks and even an eagle too.

 The place we parked to picnic had a gazillion lizards.The kids were in heaven.

 And I was loving watching all the beautiful birds.

This little drive was perfect.

 I just love this beautiful earth!

2 weeks old

Our sweet Scarlett is 14 days old. 

She still hates to sleep. She is content when she is awake, but she doesn't like to sleep, at all. So as soon as she closed her eyes I had to get a few pictures. Having 5 kids is definitely busy. I don't know how my mom had 8 kids in 10 years. She really does deserve a medal!

I am sure as more time passes we can fall into a better routine. Right now I am still trying to recover from exhaustion.

At least she is adorable...that makes all these sleepless nights worth it!

Lukas is 3

Our little buddy is 3! It is so hard to believe. 

Lukas is such a good boy. He is so sweet, kind, loving, and snuggable.

We had a little family birthday party for him. Grandma Patsy was able to be here too. She came to see the new baby and help out. { and it is so greatly appreciated}

Somebody needs to give this kid a haircut! :)

These are our 3 favorite things about our Luke

1. He is OBSESSED with Beau. 

He calls Beau by his name, never dad. He mimics EVERYTHING he does and calls him "his best friend"

2. He hates clothes. 

Seriously, you can't keep this kid dressed. I swear I dress him at least 3 times a day but he strips his clothes and shoes off every chance he can get. But we don't care, it fits his adventurous little spirit.

3. He is ours! 

Lukas has taught us so much about ourselves. We didn't think our hearts could expand so far, but they have. He is everyone little buddy. He loves his family so much. 

We love you Lukas!!

Scarlett

Scarlett is 8 days old.

We love having her here. We are already learning so much about her.

 She loves to be held. 

She doesn't like to sleep and wakes up easily. 

She smells delicious. 

She likes her eyes open.

She is so beautiful!

Scarlett

I can't believe Scarlett is already 4 days old.  She has been a joy to have in our family. My heart if so full it feels like it could burst. Here are some of her 4 day old pictures and birth announcements we sent out.

She is finally here

After that long pregnancy and how torturous it felt, it is  amazing how quickly you forget the hard part. Or maybe it is how fast you can embrace how hard it was once that beautiful little child is placed in your arms. 

I would do it all again just to have Scarlett here with us!
She is so perfect.
 It feels like she has always been a a part of our family.
The adjustment has been easy and so natural!

I will include my birth experience below, more for my sake... so if you don't want to read just skip down to the pictures! 

Birth Experience

Easter Morning, April 8th, while getting ready for church my water broke. It wasn't that full on water breaking experience you think of. It was more like "did I just pee my pants?" (exactly how Savanah's birth experience was) I wan't having  contractions so I decided to keep getting ready for church anyways and choose not to say anything to Beau. I went to church and felt slightly uncomfortable, nothing unusual for this far along in my pregnancy. I had some copies and things to get done for our Enrichment the following Wednesday, so during Sunday School  I spent mot of my time walking around, finalizing plans, and distributing copies. In the back of my head I kept thinking that maybe my water had broken, but still felt good so just ignored it. 

I went to Relief Society and stood up to do my announcement. When I sat back down I knew that, unless I was peeing my pants again, my water had broken....and now I needed to get up and leave. EMBARRASSING I KNOW! ( Nobody seemed to see me or realize so that was good).
 I got Beau and he took me home. I wanted to clean before we went to the hospital so I had him drop me off and go back to priesthood. I was determined to wait until my contractions started. 

When he came home I started panicking (I had been having hard contractions for a week and felt like something was wrong)  that  something was wrong and that I shouldn't wait. So we headed to the hospital around 2 pm. (still no contractions) 

We got to the hospital and they confirmed my water broke. Since I wasn't in active labor they started me on PIT....which brought back the excruciating contractions again. I kept saying that something felt wrong...I had never had contractions hurt this bad. It seemed weird and unbearable. The nurses kept telling me that labor gets harder with every baby. So I just took their word for it.

I got my epidural which did nothing but numb my thighs. After waiting almost an hour..... I  decided I would be needing another epidural. The second time it worked!
 HOORAY!

Finally at 9:29 PM 

Scarlett Anne Bunnell  

was born. It was a beautiful birth. The spirit was overwhelmingly strong. 

She is perfect and everything seemed perfect!

I got to enjoy her for about 30 minutes before, once again (just like Lukas' birth, except his was directly after) my body started shaking uncontrollably.  I fevered, Scarlett fevered (  they had to draw blood from her..HATED THAT) and I had to be put on oxygen. I was kind of out of it for about an hour. I was shaking so uncontrollably that I couldn't even hold her. I had an infection caused by my placenta which had grown internally into my c-section scar. So the horrible contraction pain...yeah....now I get why it hurt soooo bad. 

Although that was a bummer...I really feel blessed to have gotten that 30 minutes with her before i was out of it. I missed out on the first hours of Kennedy's life (due to c-section and some complications) and missed out on the first several hours of Lukas' life (due to high fever..etc) My fever went down quickly (compared to the last time with Luke) and so did Scarlett's.So I felt really lucky. My doctor, Laurie Hansen, is so wonderful during birth. She really is concerned and loving. Which I greatly appreciated.

We are so grateful she is here. That she is healthy and their were no major problems.

I remember growing up when people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, while some were saying "vet...doctor...zoo keeper..teacher" I would always respond " a mom".

And if I could go back in time my answer would be the same.

Nothing compares to those moments when you get to finally hold your baby after months of anxiously waiting. Nothing compares to the spirit that fills the room, the joy that enters your heart, and that instant feeling of gratitude that the Lord has entrusted us with another sweet little spirit.

My life would not be so richly blessed without my children. 

And for that I will always be grateful I am a mom. 

{remember to turn the music on while you enjoy}

Waiting.....

Oh my goodness! 

Our baby girl is on her way.

We are so excited and relieved that we get to hold her soon.....really soon.....

Getting it done

Do I need to say anything?

That's my husband always finding a way to get things done!
The weeds were getting out of hand so he rigged up the back of a trailer door and plowed them down! HAHA

Love him!!!

Caleb's 9

Another year gone. Sigh. Time seems to just speed up when I want it to go slower. 

My little boy is growing up.  Why oh why can't a freeze time? It would be the best super power!

We had a small little family party {since I am due any day}

 Here are the top 9 things we LOVE about our Caleb in no particular order

1. He is adorable, handsome, and such a good looking boy.

2. He is determined. He works hard when he wants something done.

3. He likes to work with mom. He is my photography assistant and has gotten very good at it too!

4. He is SUPER smart. He excels at math.

5. He is talented. He is good at almost everything he tries. {I am sure #2 has a lot to do with that}

6. He is a good kid. 

7. He is a worry wart. Really he worries over things like Lukas getting stolen, Kennedy getting lost, someone bullying Savanah. Most of the time they are things that most likely won't happen, but he worries about his family just the same.

8. He loves to be outside. Lots of boys we know are stuck in front of the TV or video games, he likes that stuff, but 85% of the time he likes to be outside. He is an expert tree climber, an awesome skateboarder, a daring bikerider, and a great bird watcher.

9. We love that he is OURS! HE blesses our lives everyday with his personality!

We love you Caleb!

Pregnancy

Pregnancy Facts 

6 months preggers

This 5th pregnancy was the roughest of them all. I threw up almost every single day I was preggers. The first 7 1/2 months were the worst for sickness. It did get a little better towards the end...just in time to feel really uncomfortable. I had Labryntitis off and on through this pregnancy. Which causes constant dizziness and vertigo. Overall, it was rough. I am older. My body is older. I usually enjoy being pregnant, but can honestly say it felt torturous the majority of the time. That being said here are some of the highlights....

CRAVINGS

-I craved sushi. Especially the first 4 months.

-The last 4 months I craved Potato logs from Lins Deli.

-Cinnamon Rolls

-tuna fish

-yogurt covered raisins

basically anything I didn't have to cook or smell cooking ( SO FAST FOOD)

Random Facts

-We thought for sure this baby was a boy. 

We had the name STETSON JAMES picked out.

It took us both 2 weeks to get into "girl mode" after we found out.

-We had the name SCARLETT picked out by month 3. We just told everyone we didn't know. 

It is different and we didn't want anyone ruining it for us.

Funny tidbits

I fell all the time.

-I did the splits in my friends driveway one time when I fell.

-I fell down the stairs like 20 gazillion times.

-I used my cell phone as the TV remote a dozen times.

-Answered the TV remote like it was the phone.

Lets just say my brain was apparently MIA for the last 9 months.

My Hopes

-To have a good birth experience.

 I missed out on Kenny's due to a c-section. I missed out on the first 5 hours of Luke's life due to a high fever. I definitely wanted this one to be great!

-A healthy baby, of course!

The last month was incredibly long. I had severe anxiety attacks over nothing. 

I am glad it is all over with. I wish I could say it went fast, but it didn't. 

The best part of the whole experience, is of course, the baby!

I learned a lot about patience and making myself stay positive. Everything I went through was worth having Scarlett here with us!

She makes us so happy!!

More to come of the birth experience!

9 months preggers