Lots of Catching Up to do. . . . .

It has been over a month since I wrote a blog post, but it has been a busy month.

The most significant event to have occurred was the birth of my 4th son. He was born at 12:49 a.m. (yes, that is shortly after midnight) on June 14th. He was 20 inches and 8 pounds 0.6 ounces, which makes him my smallest child. (This picture was taken when he was 11 days old).

He is growing like a little weed, surpassing his birth weight by 10 days old. Today is his 1 month birthday. He has his one month well-baby check up tomorrow.

The older boys love him, almost a little too much. R.L. and Q are always loving on him and wanting to "pat" him. They do leave him alone quite a bit when they are playing, though. C at first didn't know what to think of him and lately has been wanting to sit with Mommy when D is in my lap, which is okay as long as I am not nursing. But just the other day D was sitting in his rocker (similar to a bouncy chair but it rocks instead of bouncing) and C just came over to him and was laughing with him. He was trying to make him laugh I think, who knows, but he was just having a blast looking at his brother. The one downside to C's discovery of D is that he wants to pick him up now and that is a big no-no.

With the birth of D also came my maternity leave, all of 15 days. I am now back at work (as of July 1st) and have internet access again. However, I am only working 1/2 days and we'll see how that goes. Another nice surprise is the implementation of a new student loan repayment plan called income-based repayment. This plan is based on total household income and household size which would give me payments that are actually within my budget. So now I am going to apply for that and get off of economic hardship deferment, hopefully.

Also in June was the air show here in Helena that we took the boys to. My SIL and niece were also in town so we took them too. We got there as the skydivers were starting. We left before the Thunderbirds really got going (too loud especially for DH) but we saw a lot of aircraft. The boys got to sit in 3 different helicopters and play on an inflatable obstacle course. They all had fun. What wasn't fun was the 45-minutes we spent stuck in line to park! But it was still worth it overall, since the event was free to the public and everyone had fun.

The 4th of July came and went as well. Happy Birthday, America and thanks to all those who have risked and are currently risking their lives to protect our freedom.

My brother and his family also came and went. They live in Cheyenne, WY and left on July 1st to come up here and promptly got stranded in Casper, WY when their vehicle broke down. So they didn't get to Whitehall until the 3rd. On the 4th they came over to my house and we lit off fireworks and watched the professional show from East Helena at my house (I was on-call and Richard was working so we couldn't leave). My boys had an absolute blast playing with their boys. Then they were originally going to leave on the 8th but they extended their stay to leave on the 10th, so we went to Whitehall on the 8th and spent the afternoon and evening over there. The boys (all of them) went horseback riding, played on the trampoline and in the tree house. My boys got to go for a brief 4-wheeler ride as well, but that one was bittersweet. We drove the 4-wheeler up to the edge of my parents' property to the tree where they buried my dog Sam, so that we could bury our dog Guinness's ashes. She has a beautiful view and there was a cactus in bloom near the tree. It was the first one that Richard saw as we walked up and he thought it was fitting that there was that flower there.
Then we lit off fireworks again before heading home. We got home at 12:30 am, so needless to say we were all tired.

This weekend was a busy one for us as well (at least Saturday was). We went to garage sales in the morning, took the boys swimming in the afternoon, then to the library, then had a picnic dinner at the school. Everyone was wore out by the end but we all had fun.

I think that pretty much gets everyone caught up. D has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so we shall see how much he has grown.