It's a.............

Ok. Yes I know it's been since parachute pants were cool that I've blogged, and yes the rumor is true... I was deflated!


The birth story: (if you don't care you are allowed to scroll down!)
At 39 weeks and 3 days I went into the hospital to have my water broken. They opened the flood gates at 10am and I had my first contraction 5 minutes later. Pat and I went and walked for about an hour and a half and I was then dilated to a 4. My mom and sister got there shortly after that and about 45 minutes after that I was to a 6. I thought it would be this great thing to have my mom and Joslin in the room for the delivery...and it was...what was not such a good idea was having them with Pat in the room for my labor! They were obnoxious, sarcastic, annoying, and hilarious-but they're hilarity was not what I could see at the time!


This is my "yes, you're so funny to be saying that you think I'll be in labor until 7 pm tonight!" "I'm laughing so hard" face. aka "shoot me now I'm dying" face.

Yes I did the whole birth natural which wouldn't have been a huge deal, considering I've done two other natural births, except.....

About an hour later I was to an 8 (per my sweet, obviously optimistic nurse) and a few minutes after I was checked I knew I NEEDED to push!!! No getting around it, no relaxing through it, I NEEDED TO PUSH!!! My nurse went and got my Midwife who promptly came in, checked me, and notified me that not only was I not fully dilated but that I was only to a 7 and could not push or I would tear my cervix! Yeah right! Since I was doing it natural and that urge to push was so strong the only other option was for her to stretch me to a 10. Yes ladies-that means exactly what you think it does. Pleasant...I think not! Needless to say I was not the model of strength, endurance, and control for those next 25 minutes! Yes there was yelling, and maybe some screaming but I can't be sure. All I know is that I've NEVER felt pain like that before and just about blacked out because it was just too much for me to handle. Wimpy I know. Finally I was to a 10 and life was good again! I was back to having contractions I knew, was prepared for, and could handle and the baby was ready to be born. Because the baby was right there for so long and was waiting for my body to catch up I was reassured that pushing would be quick.


My wonderful paramedic husband got all "dolled up" in his "catching" attire and prepared to deliver his third child, whatever it was going to be! I began to push and the baby was born after 2 pushes! Well I'm used to midwives who immediately hand the baby to me after it's born, but Pat apparently missed that memo and delivered the baby and just held it! I quickly, in the nicest way possible I'm sure, said "give it to me!" Which he quickly did. In all the excitement neither of us remembered to check under the hood to see what the new addition to our family was! Joslin (who took a fabulous discrete video of the whole thing for anyone who's interested) said "well, what is it!" I'm incredibly impressed by her because she'd already seen what "it" was and still had the self control not to blurt it out! I quickly lifted the legs to reveal....It was a GIRL!!! Wait.....What?!?!?! Ok, not what I was expecting. I thought I was prepared for either, until it came out a girl! Then I realized just how much I had been expecting a boy. I was in total shock! On top of that, this little baby looked nothing like our other kids! This was going to take some getting used too!

Ok not that much getting used to!


Maisley Nichole Berry was born at 2:35pm August 23, 2010. She weighed 7lbs 11oz and was 19 7/8" long!
Well the kids, especially Merik, had been calling the baby inside me a boy since the beginning. When we told him he had a sister, he just stared at me and finally said "what?"
They quickly became bonded and in love! They absolutely adore their little sister and are such big helpers! :)


When I got home from the hospital Merik looked at me and said "mom what's that?" I explained that I was wearing a belly band and what it was. He quickly shot back "no not that, why is that so big?" Thanks kid! Not only did you just call me fat, but you referred to my entire mid-section as "that!" Gotta love 'em!
We've been home for a couple of weeks now and everyone seems to be adjusting to the ever so demanding, but ever so cute munchkin in our house. She's a very good baby, very happy and very patient, and she will be an even better baby when we get her on a schedule so she sleeps longer than 45 min through out the night.

We've already had some Priceless experiences ! 2 year old Karma is ALWAYS carrying around her accessories! She has several purses, a pumpkin(usually full of things), ponies, bracelets, phones, and babies and ALL must be with her at ALL times! One day Mais was crying so I went to hunt down a bink. I came back to find that selfless Karma had carefully tried to comfort her with her treasures.
Another night Merik wanted to hold Mais so I put them together on the rocker and quickly Karma climbed right up next to them. I hurriedly ran into the other room searching for the camera hoping to catch this precious moment and when I returned I found Merik and Karma singing "I am a child of God" to their new little sister. Yes, tears flowed!

Maisley has already truly blessed our family and her sweet little spirit fills our home with joy! We are so lucky to have been given her and are so excited to get to know her and her little personality better! It's a girl, and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Karma Sue turns 2!

There's our typical 2 year old- Climbing! We can't believe it but Karma is 2!! We had a couple great celebrations for her! We have great friends who's daughter also turned 2 on the same day! So we all got together for a fun double 2 year old birthday party at the park! My darling friend Joy made the girls little tu-tu's that were a HUGE hit! Karma just ran around swinging her arms to hit the skirt-it was so cute and a really fun night!


The next day we had Karma's Princess Party! It was really fun! But definitely one of those parties where the vision was a lot better than the execution! I had bought Karma a whole little princess get up with a crown and wand and little princess shoes that we let her open right before her party. Well I ended up having to WAKE her up from a nap 10 minutes before her party started so she was in no mood for the get up! The dress was all we got on her and that only lasted half the party! She loved her new stroller from Grandma Oogie (Pat's mom, whose real name is Susie) and new baby from G-ma Karma (my grandma). She was very cute opening presents on her throne and blowing the candles out on her castle cake! Merik was hilarious as always and decided at the last minute that the knight costume was good enough and that the ninja was a better option. Over all it was a great party and I think the birthday girl had fun!


Karma is so fun and getting so old so fast! Typical of a 2 year old her favorite things to say these days involve yelling at me or Pat "no you stop it" or "don't talk to me"---she's so cute :) No, we do adore her but her attitude is definitely here and causing us worry for the teenage years!

Happy Birthday our little Angel Bug!

Easter!

"On your mark...Get set...GO!"




Our friends Choloe, Caden, Tristan, Merik

Merik's so proud of his egg!
Merik took this!!
Ahhhh!






Easter was really fun this year since the kids are both old enough to really understand looking for eggs! We thought it'd be fun to hit up the city's Easter Egg hunt---jury's out on whether or not it was actually fun. The parents were allowed to go in with the 3-4 year olds and the walking -2 year olds. Stupid parents! The kids couldn't get any eggs because the parents were scooping up piles and hoarding them for their children! Seriously!?!?! Poor Karma actually got eggs taken from her as she was bending down to pick them up! Merik, on the otherhand, developed a different strategy-he went for the suckers that were just laying on the grass! Parents left those so he ended up with about 15 dumb dumbs-smart kid!
This year was a little different with Conference being on Easter so we had to wear our "easter clothes" the week before! Easter sunday started with an easter egg hunt around our house. While the "easter bunnies" were hiding the eggs it brought back many memories! When Merik came down to find eggs he picked up all of the real eggs and said "mom these don't belong out here! I don't want these!" and proceeded to put them all back in the crate! Then we got to go to a DELICIOUS breakfast at a friend's house! Good thing I don't have much of a figure to protect- I ate myselft to death! We "watched" the first session of Conference and then headed over to my grandma's for a yummy easter lunch! The traditional food: Ham, artichokes, jello, rolls, scalloped potatoes! We finished by going and hanging out with Pat's family and blowing alot of bubbles (Merik liked eating them -Wierdo!) It was a great day!

I realized I haven't blogged about the biggest change in our life lately...Pat's back in school. West Metro Fire Department puts all of their firefighters through Paramedic School. It's incredibly INTENSE because it's normally a 2 year course they complete in 6 months. He goes to school everyday, all day, and spends the evenings and weekends hiding in our room studying. I'm so proud of him! I can't imagine having to learn everything they have to know so fast! I never realized everything Paramedic's are required to know. They are basically ER doctors on wheels. They spend countless hours learning cardiology, they have to know every possible drug and med known to man and every way to treat ANYTHING all in the back for a car! He's working incredibly hard and has done very well thus far!

Well....

It is well known, really throughout the world, that we have beautiful children! My uncle Brad took these amazing pictures over Christmas that I thought I would share.

I love this one! It just cracks me up! It shows his personality so well.

Our little darling Karma! She's so beautiful...definitely didn't get that from her mom!









And....introducing....the tadpole! Yes I'm pregnant! I'm still not sure how I feel about this whole thing since I've been so sick I can't hardly get off the couch each day. I'm almost 9 weeks and due August 28. No...we're very excited and just can't believe we're doing this again. Lets pray our other two aren't so gorgeous that took all of the options for cuteness already.
Pregnancy...bring it on!

Yee Haw Stock Show Time!

The Stock Show is in town and Joslin had the FABULOUS idea that I take Merik on a date. Since Pat's gone at school all the time now I really felt like Merik could use some individual attention so we went on a date! It was wonderful! He got to pick what we ate for lunch, which direction we walked, and how long we stayed in each area, and he LOVED it!
I just love this picture!

The rodeo bulls were kept just outside the Stock Show and Merik loved watching them. They were so calm but huge! He thought he'd be really funny (and yes I tried to upload this too but it wouldn't work) and make this goofy face at the bull that was laying just beyond the fence. The bull had a trick of his own...he got up and walked right up to the fence! Merik quickly backed away almost in tears. I was in tears also because I was laughing so hard! That bull got the best of him!

Merik begged me to ride this pony and he thought it was hilarious that it's name was Cowboy!
Merik LOVED the petting zoo full of pigs and goats! But he fell IN love with this black and white goat! We sat with it for at least 10 minutes while Merik talked to it, tried to feed it, let it wear his hat, and cuddled! It was so cute!
We had an incredible time just to two of us! The stock show is so fun! Yee Haw!!!