{ Sleep When the Baby Sleeps }

I have had a lot of advice given and asked of me in the last 15 years of motherhood. By far the one that has held the most truth in it has been the one that recommends that you sleep when the baby sleeps. Even after eight kids I totally forget how sleep deprived you can get with a newborn. After that first night in the hospital I remembered real quick. I was so lucky to have Aaron home for almost three weeks to help out while I recovered. He held down the fort so I was able to sleep when Ethan slept, since my night times were a bit lacking in the sleep department.

It’s funny how lots of other individuals have been taking that advice too, and grabbing a few winks when they can WITH baby Ethan. I think it’s just a good excuse to cuddle extra close to him-which I can hardly blame them for because he really is so fun to cuddle with. Here are some cute cuddle times they have had with him in his first two weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

{ Visiting OUR Baby }

It’s funny how ownership works. Usually you buy something with money and it becomes yours. Or you earn something-like a grade, and it’s yours. Occasionally you may own up to a choice, and that makes it yours too. Little baby Ethan wasn’t bought with money, or earned through any good merit of his brothers or sisters. He wasn’t necessarily their choice they could own, but they have claimed him as their own since they knew of his tiny little existence almost nine months ago. Every time we talked about “the baby” he was always OUR baby. And not the Aaron and I kind of OUR, but the whole Starbuck gang kind of OUR.They bought him with love and take that ownership so seriously. His every little movement and need is looked on with love and care. There are usually three people deep in line to hold him, or change a diaper, or sit next to him. Yes, ownership for this little guy is a group effort, but never was there anything quite so nice to share as OUR baby.

  The first little glimpses of Ethan were looked upon with complete wonderment and amazement for this tiny little creature that just days before they had to only imagine what he would look like. They seemed to hang on my every word as I talked about him being born or what he was like already at just a few hours old. The nurse had come to take his temperature a few minutes before they arrived at the hospital and his temperature was a little low, so she had me hold him skin to skin to warm him up a little. The kids loved to see his cute chubby little body as I played momma kangaroo for awhile.

    

Our tradition of holding a new baby still stands as youngest to oldest-and our former youngest Ryan was SO excited to hold Ethan. I think the sweetest thing though was that he immediately wanted to come sit on my lap and he asked me, “How are you feeling?” He had come up with that sincere little thought all on his own with no older sibling prompting and it was just what I needed to hear. He was so gentle holding Ethan and kept stroking his hair lovingly. So cute to see this brother to brother interaction already forming-or maybe just picking up where they left off in heaven a few years ago.

He was very interested in my IV in my hand and wanted me to “open it up” and show him my tummy. It took a little bit to figure out baby Ethan wasn’t in my tummy anymore. He decided he would just push on my stomach a few times to make sure and then he declared, ‘'”It’s just kind of fatty.” Ha! Love his candidness! And yes he was right, it’s just kind of fatty still. He was happy to give others a turn holding Ethan too, but after his last time holding him before leaving he said, “Can we put him back in your tummy?” I asked if he loved Ethan and he said “Yes, I was just joking”

{I just noticed how appropriate that he has a number 8 on his shirt for our little number 8 being born. Good job me for picking out that shirt beforehand and not even realizing that. I guess my pregnancy brain wasn’t that non functional at the end.}

Scott seemed almost the most nervous to hold Ethan. He was completely taken back by how little he was and kept saying, “I want to hold him, but I am just afraid I am going to brake him!” It was very sweet-and he did great! He held him close and Ethan even stuck his thumb in his mouth as Scott started holding him, so that made Scott just beam even more. He is going to be such a good older brother to those two younger guys.

Abby-aka “Little mommy #4”. I tell you those girls have been planning and plotting how they are going to care for this guy for months! A real live baby doll is just about every 7 year olds dream-and boy did Ethan not disappoint. After two younger brothers she has perfected the baby hold, and cuddled him like a pro.

Little mommy #2 and #3 were equally happy with their new roles as big sisters. They were pretty pleased that they were chosen to stay extra long that night and hold Ethan. They made sure that everyone got exactly 10 minutes of holding time and that he was constantly being passed to the next person so that they could get in as many turns as possible before Aaron came back to get them. Brooke amazingly seems to call all the diaper changing. I don’t complain at all, and am secretly doing air high fives about that fact. That girl knows just what this “service love language mom” needs sometimes. I love that!

      

And then there is this guy. I don’t think that smile could have gotten any bigger. He is pretty positive that Ethan and him are twinners and he couldn’t love it more. Austin and the girls got to stay a few extra hours with me at the hospital that night when Aaron took Brianna and the little boys home, and then Austin got to come back the next day and spend the whole day with me at the hospital. It was very heartwarming to see him loving hold Ethan and get just as excited as the girls at every little sneeze and yawn he made. It’s times like this that I feel bad for some other families that never get to experience bringing home a new baby and seeing what that does to your other children. It is pretty priceless.

    

Brianna was the one that most opening declared ownership on Ethan. He will probably eventually share a room with her for a while, and she has assured me that she will be overjoyed to fetch binkies in the middle of the night and calm him down. We will see about those latter promises, but as for the loving part-she already has that down pretty good. She loves on him and he just stares and stares so intently at her-it’s quite special to see. Brianna was happy to go back with the little boys instead of staying extra at the hospital that first night-with promises that she would get a chance the next night. After Aaron came down to get the other kids later that night though, he was SO tired and maybe rethinking the three trips down to the hospital the next day. At 30 minutes each way, it takes a lot out of the day and being in the car. She was bummed when she left for school the next day thinking she may not get a longer chance to be with Ethan. Aaron then decided to bring Austin to the hospital during the day to help me, and when he brought every else after school bring Brianna down and let her spend the night with me at the hospital. That text reply was filled with a resounding YES!!!! and lots of smiley faces.

It was nice to have some one on one time with my older kids and let them have some alone time with Ethan. Once he gets home and their busy schedules get quickly filled there aren’t always as many hours of uninterrupted baby holding time for them.

We are so glad that you are OURS Ethan. You have been waited for for a long time and we are so glad you are in OUR family. We love you so much!

{Seventeen for Sunday-Baby Edition}

Yes, I am still pregnant. I am thinking/hoping that this will be the last Sunday before I can actually breathe/see my feet/bend over/walk up my stairs/sleep at night/…have a beautiful little baby in my arms. In celebration of that little fact, I decided to compile all the funny or notable things that the kids have said in regards to this little guy and me being pregnant. I had forgotten about some of them-SO glad I wrote them down when they happened because some of them made me laugh out loud when I read them again, and some are just fun to remember what the kids thought of all of this baby stuff.

1. Ryan is obsessed with seeing my belly-the big naked belly. It doesn’t count to feel the baby kick through my shirt, he wants me to lift up my shirt and show him my belly. His thing he says is, “Open it up!” Really cute, except when we are in the middle of church or some other public place and he thinks that everyone in the world would like to see that big white belly hanging out.
2. Sometimes I will say something to Scott and then say,”Do you think that the baby can hear that?” He’ll always say back to me, “Duh, your mouth is open!”
3. Erika is CRAZY obsessed with me being pregnant and along with the other girls can really barely contain themselves until this kid is born. After sacrament today, she says on her way to Primary,” If you start having contractions during Relief Society, come get me!” The whole labor process is pretty much lost on a 9 year old, but man does she sure want to not miss a bit of it. She feels to need to be constantly updated on any contraction activity happening at any time.
4. Austin likes to remind me as of late that I look like I am going to pop.
5. I went back to read up on when Ryan was born (really glad I wrote that down too, I felt like a pretty bad mom when I was reading it and couldn’t remember half of it) and had Ryan next to me playing. He got excited to look through pictures of himself when he was little. I said to him as we looked at one picture, “That was when you were one and a half.” He looked at me and said, “I was one at a time? Then two at a time, and now I’m three at a time”.
6. The kids were asking how big the baby would be. We were taking guesses, and they were coming up with some great ways to tell how big he would be. Austin looked over then with this stroke of genius on his face, and with that great math brain of his said, “Wait, how about we just weigh you at the beginning and then weigh you now and subtract it!” It was a great idea in theory, but I am pretty sure that I am not having a 35 pound baby. Wouldn’t that be great if the actual baby was all the weight you gained? In a perfect world…He suddenly realized the error of his ways, and agreed that yes, that may not be the best way to calculate it. I’m glad because a 35 pound baby is sounding like a bit of a struggle to push out. I am amazing..but superwoman I am not.
7. The kids (mostly Erika, Abby, and Scott) think it’s so funny that the baby is naked right now. We are pretty immature I know, but it just gives them the giggles every single time.
8. Scott thinks that I am always sick and that I am always contagious too. He likes to remind me of that so I won’t even think of sharing a cup or sometimes kissing him on the lips. “Why won’t you kiss me?” I’ll ask. “Um, you’re sick-you have a baby in your tummy!”
9. Not funny.Not even cute. Just a reminder to me of what life was like just a few days before Ethan was born. Ryan and Scott get sick last Wednesday night throwing up every 30 minutes. I wish I was kidding about that fact. But every 30 minutes! That was rough. They were sick Thursday and Friday. Friday night Erika threw up. We slept with three kids on our floors, and everyone else was sent to bed with bowls and towels lining their floors making a little path to the bathroom. Saturday the boys feel better. Sunday morning Ryan throws up again. I feel like my body just aches and can’t sleep at night because my legs have restless leg syndrome and I am having contractions from 10:30pm-3am for the last three nights. Tuesday we pick Austin up from school-that night he throws up. Brooke says she is sick-goes to bed with a bowl. Aaron throws up during the night-repeatedly, while he happens to be on call that night. Lucky for him there weren’t any calls after he threw up-serious tender mercy. Wednesday Abby has to be picked up from school because she is sick and ends up throwing up that night. Brooke sleeps all day Wednesday. That night both me and her finally break our fevers, and by Friday everyone is back at school and work. Brianna is the only one that walks away whole. Lucky girl.
10. The kids love to watch my belly bubble up as the baby wiggles and moves all around. He puts on a seriously good show for us most Sunday nights. Ryan loves to rub lotion on my belly for me. LOTS of lotion. I have a very well moisturized tummy.
11. Little baby diapers are seriously so cute. Weird I know. But seriously they are SO little. We look at them and we all break out in the high pitched squeal of cuteness voices. We are way excited around this place for this baby.
12. I finally got around to washing up all the boy baby clothes. I forgot how little babies are. Those little clothes seem just so tiny! Our little tiny cuteness obsession clearly crosses over from the diapers to the clothes as well.
13. Brianna is in love with driving with her permit. She loves to drive more often that I love to have her drive-it’s nothing personal, just a little stressful at times. She assures me it will be easier for me to just sit back and relax while she does all the driving. If it’s not, she is sure that it may just send me into labor-either way I win. That’s her rational at least. It worked in part after church because I gave in and let her drive home. We made it-and no contractions.
14. When are you going to have this baby?! You need to have this baby tonight! When is he coming?! Are you having a contraction right now?-all key phrases at our house right now. Most mentioned by those age 15 and younger. Multiple times a day. Every day. Multiple times a day-did I mention that one?
15. Brooke, Erika, and Abby like to constantly remind me how fat my stomach is. Like ALL the time. I can’t wait until all these daughters of mine grow up and have babies of their own. I will sometimes walk out with a new outfit on-one that doesn’t camouflage the fact that I am nine months pregnant as much, and I hear, “Wo, that is one big belly!” Love the honestly around this place.
16. At preschool the boys talked about goals, and Ryan wanted his goal to be to go potty in the toilet. He is trying really hard, and is wearing pull ups. We used up our last diapers-besides the few straggler's hanging out in random diapers bags and the back pockets of the vehicle car seats. He does okay some days, and others he just feels a little lazy-kind of like me. He is really trying to reach his goal before this baby is born. I am pretty sure that we aren’t going to be breaking that 15 year straight streak of having someone in diapers though. 15 years. Wow, that’s a lot of diapers. I am super proud of him for trying so hard though. I think after the baby is born, and with a few incentives he will be potty trained all the way in no time.
17. Brooke is really concerned about what the rules are about who gets to stand up and walk around holding the baby. She asks me very often in hopes that she will make the cut, and be on the stand up, and hopefully walk around list. Lucky for her, things are looking pretty good in her favor.

{ Valentine’s Letters to Our New Baby }

For Family Home Evening on Monday we talked about love, and told some stories of the prophet Joseph Fielding Smith and how he loved his family, then we wrote love letters to the new baby. The night before when Aaron said the family prayer he called the baby Ethan. All of the kids (especially Brianna) were all excited the rest of the prayer. He has been the last one to agree for sure on a name and usually just asks for the “baby” to be healthy and strong, so they were happy to have his approval, and write their little love letters to “Ethan” instead of just baby #8.

I guess we are pretty locked in with a name at this point-though Ryan and Scott still think that his name will be Jack Attack. They also think that he will come out with a cape and his arm will be up out straight like he is ready to fly into the sky. They have a little bit of super hero mania going on right now.

Ryan’s picture to the new baby

It was cute to see him color his heart (the left one) so intensely, and then the rest of his paper. He was very adamant about using “turquoise” his new favorite color I guess, and then would also grab his other colors in just the right order. He insisted that I color the other two hearts because, “I am too tired”.

 Scott’s Valentine to the new baby

He is super excited for Valentine’s Day on Friday, and even more excited that he learned how to draw a heart at preschool last week. He has been drawing hearts on every picture he has made since then (which is a lot), and after seeing Brooke cut out a heart, he insisted that he add a few to his picture too. It’s hard to see but he REALLY taped down those hearts good. He is one of my “tape thieves” around here-he really loves to tape up anything he can. He made sure that I wrote down exactly what he said on the paper too, “I love you baby. Happy Valentine’s Day”.

Abby’s letter to Ethan

Abby was a bit in a mood tonight and didn’t feel like writing too much. She made sure to tell him the most important thing she felt though-how much she loves him.

Erika’s letter to Ethan

Erika’s letter made me smile-it’s funny to see the kids different perspectives about how life is around here. She is so excited for this little guy to get here that she can hardly contain herself some days. She is going to be such a great big sister for him.

Brooke’s letter to baby Ethan

We had just read one of the hymns as part of the lesson-it was one that President Smith had wrote as a poem to his wife when he was away and feeling the loneliness and hardships she may have had to endure. Brooke decided she wanted to write a clever little poem in her Valentine’s letter to the baby too.

Austin’s letter to Ethan

Austin gets right to the point. He was the first one done, and as well had to put in his plea to the baby that he will be the “favorite” one.

Brianna’s letter to Ethan

Her letter kind of cracks me up-she is pretty confident that she will be the favorite too, and lists lots of great reasons for that. Makes me laugh!

Aaron’s letter to Ethan

My Letter to Ethan

And where is my handwritten letter? Unfortunately I got as far as Dear baby Ethan, and then was swiftly sidetracked helping the little boys with their letters and that’s about all I could muster by the end of FHE, so a typed version will have to due.
Dear Baby Ethan,
It’s hard to believe that 9 months have come and gone and it is almost time for you to be here. My heart is full this Valentine’s Day as I think of all the happiness and love you will bring to our family. It would be hard to pick who is the most excited to see you, everyone has been preparing in their own little way, and the wave of excitement hits them at different times. We wonder what you will look like, how you will act, how big you will be, and how sweet you will be to hold. We love you so much already!
I feel you kick all the time and can’t wait to see those tiny little feet in person. Your big brothers are helping me get everything ready for your arrival. They think those little diapers you will wear are as cute as I do. Ryan is very excited for you to have you new binkies that we bought you. We bought you a few new outfits and we all just squeal in delight at how little and cute they are. I know getting to see you in them will only bring more smiles on our faces.
I know since you are baby #8 that you must be patient, and one that will need lots of love. The abundance of love you will feel around here is by far the sweetest thing to see and for us to look forward to. I wonder how old you will be before you are actually put down for any period of time and not being held, there are so many arms just waiting to cuddle with you.
I hope when we bring you home you will be able to feel that love in our home, and every day after that. I hope you will grow with a strong knowledge of how much you are loved-both by us and by your Heavenly Father. I know that your sweet little spirit will bless our home everyday. I love you so much, and am so grateful to get to be your mom, and feel of your love too. We can’t wait to see you soon!!!
Love, Mom

{ Seven For Sunday }

 

1. Tonight we were all sitting in the front room and Ryan came in from the bathroom and asked for me to button his jeans. I asked “"Did you go poop or pee in the potty?”- a little surprised because he still officially wears diapers. He looked at me and said, “No, it didn’t work out”. Poor kid, bless his heart for trying so hard with the deadbeat potty training mom he has.
2. A few weeks ago we were at church and Erika was on one side of me and Scott was sitting on the other, both with their hands on my belly just waiting for the baby to move. I felt the baby move and looked at Scott and said, “Did you feel that?” He got excited and said, “Yes” A few minutes later the baby kicked again and Scott got really excited. He said,” Last time I just said I felt it, but this time I REALLY did.”
3. Aaron is such a good dad and husband. He and the kids are up to some surprise they are doing. There is lots of whispering and planning and lots of happy helping out. I don’t know what it is, and at this point I am too tired to be sneaky and find out.  I am just so grateful for a loving husband and loving kids who love me so much. I feel very taken care of.
4. Yesterday Aaron took it upon himself to be in charge of Saturday work. He is just SO patient. He made out the lists for the kids and helped the little boys clean. He is just so fun. They would clean up a few things and then they would get to play a cleaning “game” and he would use one of their light saber swords and point to something and they would have to pick it up. This guy is definitely the better half of us when it comes to fun. I wish I would take better notes from him sometimes-I need a little help in the fun department.
5. Ryan is still in love with saying the prayer. He insists on saying it every time, and I love to see how in the last few months it has grown from “thank you for the food” to a whole list of things. Since my brother and sister in-law stayed with us for a few weeks back in September he always says, “Thank you that Mitch and Michelli came to our house.” For awhile he would just say Michelli (I think he has a secret crush on her) and then say, “..and what’s his name? Oh, Mitch” Now he has both of their names down good, but since around Thanksgiving his prayers have gotten even longer. We talked about trying to say three things in his prayers so now he says he loves Jesus, thanks for the food, and thanks for Mitch and Michelli. When my parents left after Christmas he has added in a new part, it goes something like this, “Dear Heavenly Father, I love Jesus, I love Mitch and Michelli, I’m thankful that Grandpa and Grandma came to our house, and for Granddad and that other Granny, bless the food, Jesus Christ, Amen. Most times there are some giggles after the “other granny” part from other people, so he occasionally says, “those two other granny’s” and then breaks out in giggles.
6. Austin thought it would be fun to try and sleep with our dog Simon tonight instead of Simon being in his crate.. Since there is a no dog in the bedroom rule, he asked if he could sleep in the front room on the floor and put on Simon’s leash so he wouldn’t wander around in the night. I agreed and by the time that bedtime rituals were finished we ended up with Austin, Brooke, Erika, and Abby all on the floor getting cozy. I went upstairs to get Ryan put to bed, and then went out into the hallway to sit for awhile to make sure he wouldn’t wander out until he was fully asleep. I could hear the kids downstairs begging Simon to lay down and go to sleep. After about twenty more minutes I heard the crate down shut and Austin come up stairs. I asked how it was going? He smiled and said kind of exasperated, “He wouldn’t just lay down and go to sleep. He kept wanting to wander around and play.” “Kind of like a little 3 year old?” I asked smiling. Yes, he agreed. The three girls soon followed up the stairs telling of their trying to get the dog to go to sleep stories as well. At the end Erika, said, “I’m tired, I gotta get some sleep” . Sometimes this dog teaches some good lessons to my kids I don’t even ask him to teach.
7. Brianna has her driving permit now, and so is always begging us to take her driving. A few weeks ago Aaron asked who wanted to come with them, and everyone was super excited and yelling and scrambling to get on their shoes and get in the van to go with them. Aaron looked at me and said, “I’ve never seen kids so excited to go 25 mph.” It made me laugh.

{ Erika’s American Girl Birthday }

We have had some major American Girl fever around this place, and Erika has been right at the middle of it. For the last few months, every time an American Girl magazine would show up in the mailbox the girls would grab it and be circling stuff like crazy. They finally made their own little binders with pages for each girl they liked, and cut out items and would glue them to each page. Erika was positive about what she wanted for her birthday-the American Girl doll Julie. She would show me almost everyday something new about Julie that was so cute she would just have to have it. She wasn’t shy about what she expected to show up in one of her presents.

We have an American Girl Doll store on the North side of Atlanta about 2 hours away-she was torn about whether she wanted to open the Julie doll for a present or go to the store and pick her out herself. Those back and forth decisions were changing on a daily basis, and as her birthday was coming closer, I had to make a decision and hope it was the right one…Present or Store?

    

One of the other presents I had gotten for her months ago-like way back in April. She had been mentioning wanting another set of Lego Friends-The Vet, forever, so when I bought Brooke and Abby’s presents back in April I found a great deal and picked this one up as well. It had been hidden away in my closet for all these months hoping that she would still be interested in it by October. Lucky for me, she was, and had fun putting it together with Brooke and Abby that night.

    

    

Her other present….I picked the STORE. I figured the memory and a special date with mom and dad was a lot more fun that just opening a present. We told her that she could bring Brooke and Abby if she wanted to or just go with Aaron and I. She really wanted to share her excitement with her sisters since they are just as American Girl doll crazy as she is- so the date was set for next night after school.

Our newest 9 year old and our “Cake of the Year”-the chocolate stampede from Longhorn Steakhouse. SO GOOD!!!

We left after school and stopped in Atlanta at a special pizza place we had heard about. It was suppose to have authentic Italian pizza-and it proved to be a great place to eat. It’s called Antico and it sits close to the Georgia Tech campus. It was fantastic-at least Aaron and I thought so. The menu was all in Italian, and they made the pizza right in front of you, threw on big clumps of cheese and cooked it in their brick oven. I love that the times say ”Open at 11:30am-until the dough runs out”. By the time you pay, and find a seat in their small cafeteria style seating, your pizza is ready. Talk about fast service. The thin crust and clumps of cheese made me long to be back in Europe! Aaron and I were in heaven. The girls tolerated it, and mostly enjoyed the tiny little soda bottles that they sold there.

They mostly wanted to eat as fast as they could so we could keep driving and get here….are those girls excited or what?!

    

Erika went straight to the Julie display case. I don’t think I could have saw a bigger smile on that girl. She was so excited!

    

We wandered around the store, the girls oohing and ahhing at one thing after another. I have to admit, I think Aaron and I was oohing and ahhing just as much-okay maybe me more than him, but he was being very excited for birthday sake too. If I was a nine year old girl-I would have been in heaven, there was so many cute things there. The girls had a good solid hour there of walking around and adoring all the cute dolls and accessories. A few minutes before the store closed Erika had picked out her Julie doll, a new brush, and some cute eyeglasses for her doll. The lady opened her up out of the box for Erika (Erika decided to keep her hairnet on for a little while longer so it wouldn’t get “ruined”), and a very happy girl left the store that night. The whole ride back we heard the three girls talking and giggling and playing dolls. It was a very happy birthday.

9 Things We Love About Erika At 9

• Her love for animals. She says she wants to be a vet someday.
• Her complete dedication to something. NO matter what it is, she goes all out finding out anything and everything about it. If it’s horses, she goes horse crazy for awhile. Horse books, horse games,horse shows…She loves to be totally dedicated to something.
• How she tears up when I share something spiritual during Family Home Evening. She is very close to the spirit-I love to see her little testimony bloom and grow.
• Her excitement for her little brother to be born. She is completely obsessed with my stomach. She really would walk around ALL day long with her hands on my belly, just waiting for this little guy to kick, if I would let her. She is going to be a great big sister.
• Her love of pasta. Some things never change. I am pretty sure I have written about her love of pasts for the last nine years. It is definitely her food of choice. She would rather have it than cereal for breakfast if I would make it for her.
• Her laid back nature.Nothing bothers this girl too much. As long as she eats and sleeps on her very definite schedule-she is good.
• Her bright imagination. She loves to “PLAY” still, which I love. Her and Abby or Brooke are always coming up with something to play. The latest ones are gymnastics, horse anything, dolls, dogs, and ice skating.
• She is super observant. Keeping secrets from her is close to impossible. She is constantly looking over my shoulder. I always have to be one step ahead of this girl-which is HARD! She almost always figures out surprises beforehand. She definitely keeps me on my toes.
• She loves to come and give random hugs-they are the best!

Happy Birthday Erika. We love you!!!