A trip to the doctor

On friday the baby was one month old and he had an appointment at the doctor for a wellness check up.  He weighed 11 lb 3 oz, which places him in the 90th percentile for weight.  Since all the kiddos are home for the summer, we all trekked out to the appointment.  The kids were good, helping hold the baby.  When poor little Michael got his shot, the kids all watched, and when he screamed they all laughed.  I think they were all so happy they did not have to be the ones to get the shot!  Although Bella's four year shots are right around the corner, but what she doesn't know won't hurt her!  After the doctor going so well, I got confident that I could take the four kids anywhere myself, so we headed to Kohl's for a little back to school shopping.  It went pretty well, the three older kids all got backpacks, didn't think Michael needed one yet.  Lizzie and Markie also got their first day of school outfits.  Did I mention it was 116 degrees?  Thus the picture of the thermometer inside my car.  To celebrate we got Burger King and Someburros on the way home, which actually turned into a trip to Aunt Kim's house to visit Ben who had just arrived home from a week at summer camp.  He had a great time and taught us all a couple of camp songs.  It was a big outting for all of us, and I must say we are all adjusting to being plus one as a family quite well!

While Mommie is away.

Mark and Lizzie do a great job with Michael Hawk when I run to the grocery store, or on Sunday when I got to go see the new Tom Cruise movie with Kim.  Lizzie got him to take his first bottle on Saturday while I was on a big grocery store trip.  Mark says that Michael is always fussy when I leave, but I don't believe it, I think he just likes to hold him the whole time I am gone!

Baby Hawk

The kids with Baby Hawk.  Markie knows how to make him stop crying.  Lizzie fed him his first bottle when he was 3 1/2 weeks old.  Bella likes to hold him against her chest.  The kids just love their baby brother.  Baby Hawk, you fit into our family just right. 

4th of July Barbeque

On the 4th of July we had my sister's family and the neighbors across the street over for a bbq and swimming.  It was a lot of fun and I tried out a new chicken marinade I made "from scratch" and we had a bunch of chicken on the grill.  Kim made her famous potato salad and Brad made a fabulous crab pasta salad, among other food items of course.  The great thing about our house is we have a large empty field across the street that makes it easy to see quite a few fireworks displays from our tree house.  They are a little far away, but the kids love it and it saves us from having to drive and find a parking spot to watch fireworks.  The other part of the day was spent with Mark at Ikea where he purchased some new furniture items for the kid's rooms as we continue our attempt to fit four children into three rooms with all of their belongings and "junk" they can't part with.  Markie, do you really need your nametag from preschool???  Anyways, Mark came home with a load of bookshelves and dressers that take about a thousand hours to assemble.  Lizzie does enjoy helping, which makes it more fun for Mark.

Michael Hawk

Michael Hawk Phipps arrived at 7:11 a.m. on June 16.  He weighed in at 9 lb 12.3 oz and was 21 3/4 in. 

I went into labor at 1:30 a.m. on the morning of the 16th, a Wednesday.  My water started leaking.  I laid back down for another hour and started having cramping and contracting.  I realized about 2:30 a.m. that I was going to have to head to the hospital, so I woke up Mark.  We were planning on going to the hospital at 8 a.m. anyways as I was scheduled to be induced.  So we grabbed the kid's bags, loaded everybody sleeping into the car and took off to drop them at Aunt Kim's and Uncle Bill's house.  We arrived at the hospital at 3:15 a.m. and my contractions and pain level were pretty severe.  My blood pressure was high, I was dilated to a 7 and was immediately admitted.   I will leave out most of the other details, I got my epidural at 4:30, my doctor walked in the room at 7:05, and at 7:11 out came Michael with 3 pushes.  Mark and Kim were there.  It was a nice light mood, really fun delivery, great to have my own doctor there.  At one point I was ready to push, and Mark and Kim were both at my shoulders, I said aren't you guys going to look?  They said no, and so the doctor goes, well, maybe I'll close my eyes too.  It was funny.  We decided to name him Michael Hawk after he was delivered.  We had decided on the first name, but only picked the middle name between that and one other after he was born.  Michael was beautiful and huge when he came out and they put him on my chest.  I spent two nights at the hospital and he was very easy there.  He is a great baby!  More in a future post on the other kids' reactions to Michael.

My B-Day Dinner

We went to our favorite family birthday spot for dinner, Oreganos!  We had a blast!  From the caesar salad to the pazookies for dessert, the kids enjoyed it.  The kids love their "dough balls"  which entertain them most of the time we are there.  It was the baby's first dinner out, and he slept the whole time!