Jaxon’s first time at the beach

 This last Wednesday when the kids had early release I went to the beach with my mom and stepdad and the kids.  While we were there the tide kept coming in closer and closer and her stuff accidentally kept getting wet! But as always the beach is enjoyable. My mind is being open to how hard it is to go places with four kids now. Jax is also officially a month old now. I am adjusting much better now to the lack of sleep and I feel like we are getting on a better routine. Linden is also adjusting a little bit better to have a baby brother taking most of my attention. For the most part Linden is really sweet and nice to Jax.  Every once in a while Linden shows his stubborn two-year-old self and gets angry with Jax.  Daniell and Kaylan still can’t get enough of the baby, and just comment on how cute and sweet he is. 

KaeLynn turns 11

My first baby born is now 11 years old I can’t believe it! She also wanted to go to sky zone for her birthday. And we had a nice celebration with the family for cake and ice cream. Kaylins favorite thing to do is still reading. You can always find her reading a book.  She is such a great big sister and so helpful with Linden and Jaxon. She just can’t get enough of her new little baby brother and she looks forward to babysitting.  Fifth grade has been a big adjustment for her having her best friend move away and a new teacher, but she is adjusting well every day.

Daniel turns 8!

 For Daniel‘s birthday this year he wanted to take some of his friends to sky zone trampoline center. Then Cavan took the boys out for pizza. We had a nice birthday dinner with our family for him with cake and ice cream. He’s so excited to be eight years old now because he can go to Cub Scouts at church and he’s going to get baptized in November. Daniel is still our crazy energetic boy who’s always busting out at a random dance move!  He has adjusted to second grade very well. He also keeps getting better at reading every day. Now that he has found the Dogman book series he enjoys reading a lot more. 

Jaxon Mikel Dover

Our little boy has come to our family! Jaxon Mikel Dover was born August 30th at 11:34 pm. He was 7lbs 8 oz, 20 inches long. His original due date was Sept 13th, but I had a feeling that he was going to be born in August. The Monday before he was born I had false labor, so I knew that he was coming soon. As the week progressed we became aware of Hurricane Dorian that could possible hit us. The storm path kept changing and at one point it was said to be a category 4 directly hitting central Florida. I felt like Jaxon was coming soon, and I became so stressed that he was either going to come during the storm, or I would have a newborn with no power for a couple of weeks. Dorian was said to hit us on Monday. I went into labor that Friday and had him just before midnight. We had to stay at the hospital until Sunday. I was so relieved that I at least had Jaxon in my arms and that we would be home with all our children when the storm came. Then the storm changed course and we were not affected at all. It was such  relief. The Bahamas were hit when it was a category 5 and it completely destroyed the island. My labor was long at 17 1/2 hours. I was hoping for a short labor like I had with Linden. With Linden I did acupuncture while I was pregnant. The acupuncturist said that she did work that would allow me a short labor. I thought maybe since this was my 4th baby, Jaxon would be quick too, but nope! Everything went very well though. No complications, and Jaxon and myself are just fine. That's all that really matters anyways. He is nursing great, which is what I prayed for my whole pregnancy since I didn't get to nurse Linden. The first few days we were home Linden really had a hard time adjusting. He hadn't seen me in a couple of days, and then when I came home I couldn't pick him up per doctors orders, and I had this other little baby in my arms. Everyone was pretty restless because we still had the threat of the hurricane coming, but it was very slow moving so it kept getting pushed out. We couldn't really go anywhere for the kids because we needed to save  the gas in case the power went out. Once we knew the storm moved on, the tension seemed to relax and we are starting to get back into routine again. 

  

 

School has started again!!

 We have made it through the summer! School has officially started. Daniel is now in 2nd grade and KaeLynn is in 5th. They both have great teachers, and we look forward to another good year.

Cavan turned 37!

For Cavan's Birthday we went out with our friends to eat with no kids. We did a family celebration with the kids and my mom earlier in the week. We ate a Red Robin, of course because he gets a free burger for his birthday. Then we got some ice cream and ate it on the beach. Out of no where fireworks started going off out on a dock. It was like it was just for Cavan! I love being able to eat ice cream at night on the beach with our friends. It is one of the many things I love about Florida. 

Our time with the Dovers

 The first thing we did when we got together with the Dovers was take our family picture. We have grown so much since our last visit! There are 12 adults and 14 grand kids with one on they way! We then went camping at Lake Merwin, my personal favorite. It was not warm enough to play on the lake, but I was so happy that the weather was so much cooler, I didn't mind at all. KaeLynn and Daniel were so happy to be back camping again with all their cousins. We spent time at the coast and the kids swam at Long Beach. The water was so cold!! Linden loves the water so much, he didn't care it was cold. There was a tide pool that they were playing in so it was a bit warmer then the ocean. He played so hard, and then he just decided he had had enough. The poor thing was shivering so much. I took him back to the vehicle which was much warmer then outside and he warmed up quick. We also walked around the tourist stores and they even did the bumper cars. We went to the newly remodeled Tillamook cheese factory. They did a very nice job. I had so much clam chowder on our visit. It was so good! Then towards the end of our trip, it really was warming up and we got to play on the river. It brought back so many memories being out with the boat and wave runner. We had a beautiful view of Mt. Hood. It felt so good to visit home.