Introducing. . . . . .Elijah Collin Edington

So, sorry everyone that it has taken me one whole week to add some pictures of our new baby. This post is also heavy on the pictures so sorry about that. I am not good at how to add them in a better fashion. I'll work on it. As you can imagine, we have been very busy taking care of children. So. . .this is Elijah Collin Edington. He was born on Saturday, July 11, 2009 in Tucson, AZ at University Medical Center. He weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces at birth, and was 21 inches long. The pediatrician at UMC determined that Elijah was probably about 40 and possibly 41 weeks gestationally. I was supposedly 39 weeks when I was induced, but that was just an estimate since I got pregnant while I was nursing Aaron. Anyhow, we are both extremely healthy and incredibly happy! (However, today Andrew and Matthew have been sick. They both have been vomitting today--no fun! So sad!) We decided on the name Elijah because at this point we have been blessed beyond measure with little boys and we are so grateful for the prophet Elijah restoring the sealing keys to the prophet Joseph Smith so that we can be united as a family eternally. The kids call him Baby Elijah or Baby Eli. The middle name Collin is after his wonderful great grandmother, Colleen Edington. If we had a girl, we were always going to name her after Grandma. We don't make girls, so we went with the male form of Colleen which is Collin. If Grandma can't get into heaven, they aren't taking anyone! Grandma is a saint, in our humble opinion.
I went to UMC to be induced on Saturday, July 11. They started me on the Pitocin at 9 a.m. I didn't really make much progress until 2 p.m. I went into the hospital dilated to a 2 and completely effaced. At 2 p.m., I was the same. Kevin happened to say something to the effect of, "Man, we are going to be here all night." I was just about in tears, but still trying to hold it together. I felt bad for not going fast enough, and then my husband felt bad and realized how sensitive I was so it might be a good idea not to say much. The longest I have ever been in the hospital in labor was 7 hours with Jacob. Andrew was 6 1/2 hours, Matthew less than an hour, Benjamin 5 hours, and Aaron 6 hours. Well, at 2:15 p.m., the doctor broke my water and that pretty much took care of everything. I went from a 2 to practically everything. Elijah was born 1 hour and about 45 minutes after my water broke, and I only had to push for 5 minutes. So, it worked out well once my water broke. Don't think Kevin wasn't supportive, he was extremely supportive and I am thankful that he was there to help me out, entertain me, and make me laugh through it all. However, I was a little sensitive at the time--Pitocin contractions are a killer! Frankly, we live in a house of boys so emotions don't run very high in our house, but he is reminded to be sensitive and thoughtful by his wife, whose emotions due run high sometimes. I am so grateful for such a wonderful husband that has helped me bring 6 little boys into this world, and I hope they become just like him!
Elijah is a really good baby--he nurses well now (he had some latch on issues the first two days which are now resolved). He has been sleeping well the last three nights, which helps mom and dad a lot--he has been falling asleep for the night at about 11 p.m. and then waking at 3 a.m. and then waking again around 6;30 a.m. Here are some pictures of the boys with Elijah.

So, the boys love Elijah!! The newest fight in our home is who's turn it is to hold the baby. Aaron pretty much tries to either kiss or headbutt the baby. His eyes actually have not been poked out too many times. the pictures of the baby really don't do him justice. He is beautiful, but I am biased. But, ask Grandma and Grandpa, oh wait, they are probably biased too! Who does the baby look like you ask? Well, everyone of our boys--we make the same model, however, he is the spitting image of Andrew as a baby. It is almost freaky how much he reminds us of Andrew. It's like they are twins 9 1/2 years apart. Elijah currently weighs 6 pounds 11 ounces. He lost a full pound within two days of leaving the hospital, due to his latch on issues. He is now gaining weight, and before long he will be chunky, I am sure. We feel we are pretty much done having children at this point. We feel complete and at peace with our family size. We had to buy a new vehicle to fit all of us in the car at the same time. Any more children and we will have to add jump seats in the suburban and the bedrooms will start to feel crowded. Yes, we have a car full of children--it is wonderful! So, Jason and Kelly we are turning our "blessings of fertility and fruitfulness" (for lack of a better term) over to you and hope you will be as blessed as we have been. If God needs to close one womb in order to open up another, I am all for Him closing mine and opening Kelly's. If it works this way, that would work great! So, please accept this "gift" that we are passing on to you. It can't hurt. I have been praying to Heavenly Father and I think this is a good idea. I just hope He feels the same way and that is what would be best for you! I know I have crazy ideas, but wouldn't that still be wonderful!! The only issue with our blessing of having children is that we make the same model. So, if you want all boys, there you go. The world needs more Edingtons! We have been so blessed by our Heavenly Father, and it is nice to see how His plan for us having children has worked out. We see now that everything happened the best way possible for us! We love all of you and hope you enjoy all the pictures!

Aubrey's dance

Here is Aubrey's dance she did on the last day for the parents. She had a great time at dance camp!!!!

Mom and I are having a great time in Alpine. Believe it or not we are getting a lot of work done for school next year. Having the internet has been a great help.

We took Grandma Barney out last night and got some great pictures. Hope you enjoy.

Thank you!!!

Just wanted to say HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY and HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!! Thank you all for sharing it with us and Thank you Luke and Tamra for a wonderful meal. It was a great Mother's day!!!!

Alpine's Great

Mom and I spent some time at Alpine this week. Everything looked great. We are looking forward to seeing you for the family reunion.

Love Grandma and Grandpa

Pictures of the zoo trip

We had a blast at the zoo with everyone. We really missed Jason and Kelly and wished that they were there. It was kind of a spare of the moment thing that we all ended up going. ENjoy!!!

Sharing is Caring...

I have debated sharing this. Mostly because I don't want to be a crying wack-a-doo for the rest of my life, but life is about sharing the journey right? We aren't supposed to go it alone, we need each other. That is what life is all about. I have been listening to a few talks by Elder Holland over and over and over and they have really helped me during the last few months and especially last week. He says that God wants us to be strong as well as good. We can't control everything and those moments are for our growth. I know God wants me to be strong.

Last Monday night I found out I was pregnant. Tuesday morning it was confirmed again. I got my doctors appointment set for Friday after work and I had lost the baby by Thursday. Luckily my mom came up Thursday night. Jason had gone hunting Thursday morning. The doctor sent me to the hospital to get blood work done and to make sure it wasn't ectopic. I ended up getting sonograms and poked and prodded only to be told what I already knew. I had lost the baby very early on. As heart breaking and horrible this has been I am very lucky. I am very blessed that I lost it so early. I can't imagine loosing a baby further along. I don't know how I would handle that. I am also blessed because now it appears that there is a possibility of me actually getting pregnant, and as much as I had hoped it would stick I do know the Lord is looking out for me and eventually I am going to be blessed. Jason came home from his hunt early, Friday night late, I am very blessed to have such a loving and supportive husband.

Jason gave me a blessing last night. I was told I would have a family soon, that the Lord wants me to be strong and that I need to focus on my blessings. I had already restarted a gratitude journal, I was already on the right track. The key is going to be staying positive and hopeful while I wait. I am not sure how my family is coming but I am glad they are.

Rather than retreat and try to pretend this painful event didn't happen I come to you asking for your help. Please remember us in your prayers. We appreciate them and feel them help us. Also, my family is going to have a special fast for us on Sunday, if you would like to join us I would be very grateful. I am sorry I haven't been answering my phone much lately, I am getting better. It's just been hard to talk to people. I hope you will forgive me. :)

Thank you all for your love and support it means so very much. I love you all!

"Hope is critical to both faith and charity. When disobedience, disappointment, and procrastination erode faith, hope is there to uphold our faith. When frustration and impatience challenge charity, hope braces our resolve and urges us to care for our fellowmen even without expectation of reward. The brighter our hope, the greater our faith. The stronger our hope, the purer our charity."
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Infinite Power of Hope", Ensign, Nov 2008, 21–24

THE EVANS SNOW DAY!!!

We woke up too Snow!!!!Aubrey was so excited she wanted to build a snowman. Here it is shw named it Sally the Snowman. It was lots of fun, COLD but fun!!!

It's all about the good times!!!

Having fun with puppet shows!!! Aubrey loves the FHE Box and can't wait to choose something to talk about on Monday nights. I think it is now her favorite day of the week
She had a blast coloring!!!
Emily getting into the action she is all over the place now!!!
She crawls about 2 steps then gives up and will army crawl. She is so funny and guess what still no teeth good for me!!! Not so good for her. She has eating with her gums down pretty good though.

It's official!!!

Well It's official Luke got his first Subbing job today in Safford. It's High School English. He is excited and nervous but is glad that soon he can say the hard part is over with. Thank you everyone that has helped him along the way with encouragement prayers or whatever it might have been.
Before he left he said " I am a WORKING MAN!!! It was cute and funny. He is such a stud!!!
Aubrey and her lovely poses. She is definitely not afraid of the camera. She felt so pretty that day.
Ok so I got these awesome parents and grandma that gave Luke and I this awesome birthday present that makes awesome stuff. I LOVE MY PRESSURE COOKER!!!! Carol came over and helped me with my beans so so I could get familiar with it, thanks by the way. Anyways my first project was my beans. Only one didn't seal out of 18 pints and 7 quarts. I was exctied, ok maybe a lot excited and soaked up to many beans so we put some in the crock pot. I guess I know for next time. This week I am making chicken all by myself we shall see how it all turns out. THANKS AGAIN!!!!
MY BEANS, Well the start of them anyways. I feel like a real home maker now. I am working on my food starage YEAH FOR ME!!!!

We are definitely carrying on the Edington name!

So, if you haven't heard yet, Kevin and I are expecting boy #6! I should be more creative about announcing this, but I am too busy chasing little children. Isn't that wonderful?! I went to my first obstetrician appointment yesterday. I thought I was maybe 9-10 weeks pregnant. Of course, I was just speculating about how far along I was since I was nursing Aaron at the time and did not get my period back. I am 14 weeks pregnant--just starting my 4th month. The baby is due on July 16, 2009. Since I was farther along, we were able to figure out the sex of the baby. The doctor and I both knew almost instantaneously that it was a boy. It was pretty obvious!! I would scan in the pictures, but I haven't found where I put them yet. I'm a little disorganized lately! It's been kind of crazy at our house. The flu that went around took 5 weeks to make its way through each and every member of our family, and of course, mom got it last. I don't know if I was so extremely tired just from nursing AND being pregnant, or if I was just exhausted from chasing 5 little boys around and doing all the work involved when everyone gets sick and then getting sick myself--you know quadruple the laundry, dishes that pile up, toys strewn throughout the house. Anyway, I am finally STARTING to get caught up. I have 3 clean rooms right now, and am gradually working on the rest. Sadly, I just weaned Aaron last week. I feel a little guilty about that, but I really needed to be able to have more energy to take care of the rest of the family. It helps to just be pregnant, and not nursing too! It's only been about 4 days since I stopped nursing Aaron, but I already feel like I have more energy. I was also getting really moody (due to the hormone overload and extreme exhaustion), and I was trying to limit my contact with people so I wouldn't annoy anyone. So, poor Kevin has been very, very patient and extremely helpful lately (Thanks, Kevin).

Anyhow, yes we are very excited to have six little boys! We have been so blessed! My patriarchal blessing actually says that I would be surrounded and blessed by the strength of the priesthood in my home. Well, I can see how that blessing will come true. I feel so much joy and also so much exhaustion!! We will be great at scouts, the priesthood, and missionaries. We will have (10 years of scouting X 6 boys) 60 years worth of scouting (of course, the boys will overlap most of it). We will have (2 years X 6 boys) 12 years of missions. We will have (8 years X 6 boys) 48 years worth of Aaronic priesthood holders (overlapping). We enjoy our boys so much, and look forward to the times we will have in the future with them. It will surely be an adventure!! Looking back, we are so grateful to be so blessed by a loving Heavenly Father. I still remember the pain I felt many years ago when we were unable to have children for 3 years, but to look at how everything worked out now, my prayers have been more than just answered. Our blessings are overflowing!! As painful as those years of not having children were, it was all so worthwhile and we have been blessed beyond measure. Heavenly Father truly does know what is best for us, and he will bless us with what we desire if we are faithful and endure!

Pictures!!!

Emily Is army crawling everywhere and getting lost. I left for a few minutes and when I got back I couldn't find her she was behind the chair sucking on a marker. She is going to be good at hide and seek.

The girls hanging out together!!!

Aubrey is such a big helper she went and got a diaper and a wipe and changed Emily. It was so cute I had to take a picture. Emily was just sitting there smiling:)

SEE YOU ALL AT CHRISTMAS!!!!

For Kelsi...

Jason told me that Kelsi was very impressed that we actually had enough show to make a snow man so we thought we would give it a go between storms. They say we could get up to ten more inches tonight. Why do we live here?

Here she is in all of her snowy glory. It's a she because of the pink scarf and leafy hair...

Wow!

Wow! It has been a while since I looked at the blog. How fun it was to see the wonderful pictures and read what is happening in everyone's lives. Thanks for posting for the family to see. This is a wonderful way to share with everyone the good and bad happenings in your lives. Dad and I are sure proud of all of the wonderful things you are all doing with your families. We are grateful to the Lord for faithful sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters. We pray daily that each of you will have the desire to do those things that will bring us back as a family to live with Heavenly Father. Keep on working for exaltation and supporting each other in your efforts to do better each day. Dad and I love you all very much. Loads of love. MOM

Aaron is crawling!

It's official !! Aaron is crawling. He has been scooting forward and backwards for the past couple of weeks, and rolling around everywhere. He has been on the verge all week--almost taking off crawling. Well, today at my mom's house, he actually crawled. Yes, he was using his hands and his knees--no army crawling. We have several witnesses. Since he figured that out at my mom's today, he has gotten more confident and is now crawling all over the place. If I was smart enough to add some video, I would show some clips because it is oh, so cute! I love watching him move around. However, nothing is safe now. We are watching out for very small toys on the floor. The older boys have been warned to make sure all toys get put away so that Aaron will not choke! I'm not so worried about things that are edible--like crumbs. I know maybe I should be because eating food off the floor is just gross. I vacuum often and mop my floor, but remember Aaron is our 5th son. We have a lot of boys eating a lot of food. I pick up the messes as soon as I can, but sometimes that is not soon enough.So, here is Aaron crawling around. Watch out, here comes trouble. Now, he can chase his brothers a little easier and follow me all around the house. He is such a joy in our lives and we are so grateful he is a part of our family. Look at that smile and pretty blue eyes! Yes, Grandma and Grandpa I will bring him over tomorrow so you can watch him crawl. We were at my mom's house today fixing her computer for her so we did not get home until about 8 p.m. You can watch him tomorrow. He is so precious!! We had to take pictures in between him sitting up to dance/bounce to the music Kevin had playing in the background.

Hello!!!

Well as some of you allready know Luke got laid off from work along with 400 hundred other people. We are doing ok and looking at all the positives from this situation. The first thing Luke said was now I can watch the suns games. He is so funny. Hopefully we can find a job with better hours anyway. We have faith that every thing will be fine we will pay our tithing and pray and the lord will provide. We are so bless to be able to stay at grandma's right now and have family that loves us and is there for us. Many of the others that got laid off have rent and morgages due soon. So we are very lucky. We will keep moving forward.

New Kittens

Aaron is so cute with these kittens. They love to climb on him. He doesn't seem to mind.

Jacob is so good with the kittens. They adore him. He is our animal lover. Jacob used to wake up every morning (he's our early riser), and ask, "Can I play video games?" Now, he wakes up saying, "Can I get the kittens out and play with them?" Much better, I think.

So, these are our new kittens. We got them from the Trepanier's. They found 6 kittens abandoned near a water heater. When their kids came for piano, they asked us if we wanted some kittens. I told them, "We might. Let me call my husband and ask him." I knew what the kids answer would be. You see, about two weeks ago, the boys left the back door open ALL night long. Thank goodness it wasn't as cold then as it is now. I usually check all the doors before I go to bed, but I was exhausted that night. I went straight to bed. The next day, Kevin put out some mice traps and we caught three mice! I would much rather have cats than mice. I don't know why those tiny little animals terrify me, but they do. Jacob loves them. We have to not let Jacob know when we catch a mouse because he always wants to keep it. They are going to be outdoor cats. We may bring them in every now and then. I don't know. So far, I actually like the cats. They are now 8 weeks old. We got them when they were 6 weeks old. I am mildly allergic to the cats, I think Benjamin is too. The cat hair stings my eyes so I have been taking some medicine every now and then when it bothers me, but not too bad so far. I am trying to have the kids keep the cats on the linoleum so the cat hair will not affect Benjamin and I so much. We love the cats. I never thought I would be a cat owner, but I like cats more than mice. Kevin actually likes them a lot. He lets them climb all over him. I don't. Who would have thought Kevin would like cats someday? Enjoy the pictures!

Kevin and Kim's Family Halloween

So, this is Kimberly. I am totally new to this. Amy showed me how to add comments and pictures when she came to Pomerene last weekend. I don't know if this will work or not. Anyhow, these are pictures of our boys dressed in their various costumes. Andrew was Abraham Lincoln. Jacob was Darth Vader. Matthew was a Skeleton. Benjamin was Old McDonald. He has a belt around him that has stuffed farm animals on it. He is sitting on a tractor. Aaron was Old McDonald's cow. We thought they looked cute. Wait, I can't use the word cute--they are boys! They looked cool!! We went to the Pomerene Halloween Carnival--Grandma and Grandpa Edington were there, which was fun. They helped run the boys around. My mom also came. I need all the help I can get. The carnival was on Matthew's birthday, which was nice because I did not have to create a birthday dinner. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs at the school. We let Matthew open presents at 7 a.m. on his birthday so he could play with his presents all day and not drive me crazy asking me, "When can I open my presents?". On Halloween night, we went to City of Benson Parks and Recreation. Yes, Benson actually has a Parks and Recreation division now. It is wonderful! Anyhow, the city had free games, candy, cookies, punch, and they showed the movie Halloweentown. Then, we went to the Benson High School Football game. Mom and Dad were there, and we had a nice time. Benson won 45-0. I am going to add another post with pictures of our new kittens.

Halloween fun

We had a great Halloween this year. Here are some pictures highlighting the events.

The pumpkin we carved.

All lite up in the dark.

They had some little goats at the carnival for the kids to pet.

Shaylee went as Mulan.

Courtney was a pumpkin.

Kelsi went as a cowgirl.

Each year at the school they have a Halloween parade. All the kids dress in their costumes and walk around the block while several parents, grandparents and others stand around and watch. It is kind of fun to see all the different costumes. There were several Hannah Montanas, princesses and super heroes.

Halloween

These are the cutest girls ever!!! We had a blast at Halloween thanks grandma for the Cinderella dress Aubrey loved it.