Picture party

Juliet's blessing day.  We were able to sneak a quick photo shoot with Dave's sister Shelly before we left for church.

We love this kindergartener.  Scarlet is loving school and is learning so much. She writes all her letters and getting really good at reading!!  Its so fun to see how much she is learning.  We went to her parent teacher conference and she is doing great, she is way ahead on her writing and right on with everything else. The only thing her teacher said needs work is for her to stop chatting to her neighbors.:) I feel ya Scarlet. I'm pretty sure that was my biggest challenge in school...until MATH came along! Our three girls are just as fun as ever. Juliet is 3 1/2 months old and doing really great.  She is full of smiles, drool, and jabber.  She is 13lbs and we are just Crrrrazzy about her.  She is so alert and has to look around with her big wide open eyes trying to get it all figured out.  We are all enamored by her and can't believe there was ever a time we didn't have her here in our home!

catch up time...

 New baby, 3rd b day...and life in between. It has been a wild month.  Juliet Pearl St.Julien joined the crew on my birthday, June 15th. It was the most memorable b day yet, to be sure!!  The birth was amazing.  In short I woke up feeling contractions around 3:30 in the morning.  We weren't convinced it was labor because the contractions were super close together...we decided it had to be the real deal and headed to the hospital around 5.  By the time we got to the hospital I was in serious pain!!  They took me into the admitting room and I was dilated to a five.  Which was NOT what I was wanting to hear.   I was sure all that pain was doing ALOT more than one centimeter of progress.  Thoughts of ACTUALLY going natural were quickly dissipating. I started panicking and yelling all sorts of crazy things.  I was desperately trying to convince everyone I couldn't do this, I was begging Dave to forget everything we had decided and get me that DANG epidural NOW!!!  He was trying his best to decide if he should listen to the pre laboring wife or the screaming wild animal in front of him.  Then my water broke and some how we made it to the delivery room and I was all kinds of CRAZY.  I was still only dilated to a 6 but I was feeling the urge to push sooo strong. So I did and my midwife luckily made it there in time to give me the go ahead to push.  I was STILL begging for drugs and the nurses finally said "If you get an epidural it will be at least 10 contractions before you feel it, and chances are that baby will be here before you feel any relief."  NOT what I wanted to hear, but at that point I realized I was gonna do this thing whether I wanted to or not.  And I didn't want to anymore!!!  

I had all these visions of how my labor would proceed.  In my minds eye I was walking around calmly with Dave trying the different positions we researched to reduce pain .  I pictured getting in the tub, or sitting on the birthing ball.  In my mind the pain would be there but it would be manageable.  BOY was I WRONG!!  All I was able to do was grip that side bar on the hospital bed and scream like the dickens!!  I didn't have to push for long...it felt like longer than it was. And there were a few times I really honestly thought "this is too much,  I will NOT do this anymore!! I am going to reach down, push that babies head back up and GO HOME!!!!"  But instead I pushed harder. Somehow, I did it. That dark head finally came out and I have never been more relieved of ANYTHING in my life. I don't know that I felt that feeling some people talk about, of like a euphoria.  Mine was exhaustion and RELIEF!!! 

Juliet was born at 6:30am, three of the longest most memorable hours of my life. It was fast and furious, but thankfully she was a healthy 7 lb wonder.  We were in love immediately.  We are still baffled by this mop of dark hair.  She didn't have a name for the first day, we were trying Juliet on for size.  The next day we figured it was as good a name as any and she would grow into it.  We decide on Pearl for her middle name because it's the June birthstone.  Our girls are smitten with her and we are excited to get to know her as she grows.  Looking back at the birth experience, the further away I get the more fond I feel about it all.  I am glad everything went the way it did.  Dave and I laugh at how loud I was yelling and how I literally screamed so hard that after things had calmed down my guts hurt.  That's what screaming your guts out feels like. I don't know that I will try going unmedicated again, Dave will tell you NO WAY.  But I am undecided.  I am glad I know what it feels like.  And I am glad Juliet is here and healthy. Welcome little lady...

   

Rosie turned three!! We are crazy about our three year old.  She is just the best.  We get such a kick out of this girl.  She is still just so funny and unpredictable.  She is so intense one minute then sweet and loving the next.  I don't know that there is a cuter face in this world!!  I just stare at her face and those green eyes and dimples and I am enamored!  She is no angel but we love every single bit of her and are so glad she is part of our family.  She just adores Scarlet and lately they will just play and play together in their little make believe world.  It's the BEST.  There are so many things Rosie says and does. I wish I could capture them all and remember everything.  But I don't think I will be able to at the moment. We love you Rose bud!!

 Thanks to everyone who came!  Special Thanks to Katie and Dustin for bringing the whopper hopper!! And for the great photos of the party and of Juliet.  (all the fancy pretty pics are from Katie, the dark boring ones are all me.)

We believe in Easter...

Yet again, late but not forgotten.  Roll your eyes if you must but I am posting our Easter pictures.  It's only a month overdue... 

Our special hopping visitor left his foot prints on the floor...it was all the girls could talk about for days.  Rosie would tell everyone "the Easter bunny left hop prints on our floor!!!"

In other news and events...we are LOVING the weather...waiting for baby, house hunting and possibly moving in the very near future.  We celebrated Dave's b day this past weekend.  I took Dave on a surprise get away to Park City.  It was SO much fun, and exactly what we needed before our lives get turned upside down and shaken all around.  A few more pics...

 Park City PARTAYYY!!

Dave's big 3-2!!

brought these home for the girlies, bigger than your face lollipop...I couldn't resist.