Catching up! Focus on Cliffton

Not too sure where to start!  Since 2015 back when Cliffton was in third grade and Violet in 1st, now in 2019, we have Cliff in 7th, Vi in 5th, Azure in 3rd, and Ruby in Pre-K. I think I'll focus on Cliffton for this post. 

    Cliffton had a career thingy in third grade (Mrs. Horrocks) where he talked about being a computer programmer. They had shrunken apples that were the heads of the projects they made to look like a person in the chosen career. He was so tiny then!  Grandma and Papa were able to come when the kids presented their career. I think he started GATE that year (advanced/gifted).  Grandma and Papa also have Cliff and Vi bikes that year and that summer of 2015 they learned how to ride!  Violet learned quickly but Cliff got it too. Richard passed the Utah bar!  He found out in September 2015 and then we Went to the ceremony in October. That was an amazing feeling!!

    4th grade he was in Mrs. Miller's class and she is still his favorite teacher. That was the year he started to come out of his shell a bit. 5th grade he had Mrs Hayter.  I think she was a great teacher too.  He said whenever she left the room, kids immediately launched pencils to stick into the ceiling panels.  That was the year he seemed to finally start growing and catching up a tiny bit with his peers.  He got a backpack and laptop that year.  He used in next year in 6th.  

    In 6th grade he seemed about average, maybe still  a bit short at the start of the school year. He did not like band.  I think he liked learning percussion but he hated performances. We went to the only one he did and I could tell it was really rough. I typically drove all the kids to school at MES (Midway Elem School) but then they took the bus in the afternoon.  When Cliff started at RMMS (Rocky Mtn Middle School) he started going on the bus at the end of Pine Canyon and 200 N.  During 6th grade, our prophet, Russell M Nelson changed ages for youth so any kid that turned 12 in the calendar year would now come into YM/YW. So the 11 year old boys could now receive the aaronic priesthood. In Jan this year he received it and he has been going to YM functions since. We still need to attend the temple with him 😬 

     He liked his STEM class and he liked his art class (that one surprised me a bit).  Did not like his English teacher- she sometimes thought he was not following rules and gave him lunch detention.  Not cool.  I think he liked his history class. But not really english, math, PE or band. Science was interesting. Now, as a 7th grader he is taller than his Mom!  He passed me up around Pioneer Day (July 24).  My big guy!  He has a college and career class, English, math, science, PE, Health. Next semester (about Jan 15) are more of his "fun classes."  He doesn't really do sports.  Whenever we go swimming at the Kamas Pool or at the Wasatch pool (we had that pass June 2018-June 2019) he has fun. He does love the water!  Still would ride his bike sometimes but now he's quite big for it. I'm going to let him ride my bike when he wants.    

    Cliffton loves Nintendo, YouTube, likes to talk politics with Richard, likes getting his haircut at SportClips.  He started that when he was about 7 or 8 with Richard but I usually cut Richards hair.  Cliff Loves Cafe Rio, Seven Peaks Water Park and the Lehi fun center. We have a pass that expires in March. It's for the Fun center and for the water parks and a bunch of sports stuff we never go to. We have never been to the SLC water park either. Our zoo pass just expired on Halloween. That would be fun to do again. I'd like to get the one with unlimited carousel and train rides. The carousel is awesome!!  We haven't been to Lagoon since Ruby was one, so 2016. That's it for now!

Ruby, Rubikins, Rubiks Cube, Ruby-Rube, little lady, princess, sweetie, Lady-Baby, Honey Bunny, and more

 The New Family Favorite, Ruby

My Mom came out a week before Ruby was born and was able to stay for 2 weeks.  

The kiddos stayed at Grandma and Papa's while Richard and I were in the hospital.  We stayed from about 3am Monday morning (she was born at 7:01 am) to 5pm Tuesday.

Our kids came to visit Ruby when she was about 4 hours old.

So very, very beautiful.  

My Mom created this poster to welcome little Ruby.

 I love the scared/concerned look newborns often have.  They are so cute!

  Love those cheeks!!

  Talking with Grammers.  

First Bath!!

Ruby Jewel Stacey

On the night of Sunday July 5th, I started having contractions that got painful.  Around 10:45pm I started keeping track and they weren't terribly consistent but I was surprised with this pregnancy how it was the pain that alerted me that this was probably labor.  With both Violet and Azure, I had lots of regular contractions before they started to hurt.  So we (slowly) started getting ourselves ready to head to the hospital and also gathered up the kids stuff to spend the night at Grandmas.  I had some bleeding too which is new for me.  A hot shower helped a little.  Richard dropped me and my Mom off at the Women's Center at the Orem Community Hospital about 2am.  After checking in, they monitor you for an hour to see if labor is progressing.  I was NOT too happy when the nurse said I was about 3 cm dilated.  I figured since my labor with Azure was quick (maybe 5 hours) and with the pain that I was farther along but oh well.  A rather painful hour later, I had progressed enough that they admitted me.  Thank goodness!

 As I walked to my room I saw the anesthesiologist in the hallway.  Yea!  I wouldn't (hopefully) have to wait around for hours for him to get there.  :)  Richard came before we got to my room.  The nurses were all awesome as was the anesthesiologist and my doctor.  We got to my room around 3:30 am and by about 4am I had my IV and epidural.  I knew I wanted pain relief but I had wanted to be mobile for as long as possible so it worked out pretty well.  I had been in pain for a few hours by then and really wanted some relief!  Around 5:30 I was at a 5 and by about 6:40, a 9.  I didn't need to push very long and our sweet Ruby was born at 7:03am.  Very close to her birth, Dr. McCarter saw that her heart rate was dropping with contractions so he briefly used a vacuum on her.  Otherwise, everything went really well.  Quite a different experience than my last although both babies were safe and healthy.  I'm happy that it was a good experience and that Richard and my Mom could both be there for her birth.  Tearing was minimal so that was great.

As my doctor handed Ruby to the respiratory therapist I remember feeling a little nervous at how they handled my newborn.  She looked so slippery and it almost seemed like they were passing a football! Well, they know what they're doing.  We hope!  I was able to hold her pretty quickly after birth and this was neat because although I've always held my babies soon after being born, this was the first time I didn't immediately get the "shakes" after a baby's birth.  I had them a little after getting the epidural.  Speaking of, my back has been somewhat tender  (still) ever since then even though the procedure was just fine.  I think I have a ton of knots and need a really good massage!  Nursing, as usual, has been rough but is already getting a bit better.  I don't have any scabs now.  Yup, its that awesome.  The first month is hard but after that it is a lot better.  So, I'm looking forward to next week!

While we were in the hospital, we felt that this was indeed our "Ruby" but did not decide on her middle name until close to discharge.  We had tossed around the idea of Jewel and as its a family name on Loretta's side, in keeping with a family name for all of our kids middle names, we both thought it was perfect for a little Jewel like Ruby and it would be cool for her to share a middle name with one of her cousins (Tessa Jewel).  I have two cousins close in age to me that share the same middle name (Ann) and I always thought it was groovy.  When the kids came in to see her, Azure was very nervous and hated to hear Ruby cry.  She wanted Richard to put Ruby back in the bassinet so she would 'stop crying.'  Cliff was a great big brother from the get-go and Violet was super de duper excited to see her!  Violet has used my phone several times to make videos of Ruby and I'll have to post them on here.  They are way cute!

She has been a great little eater and a pretty good sleeper.  Although she "goes to bed" rather late, she typically just wakes up once after that.  Pretty nice.  We've gone to church once since she's been born (speaking of Ruby and myself) and I realized again how much work goes into keeping a little one happy at church.  Haven't had to deal with that for a few years!

Not feeling like me

I just want to say how exhausting the last 2 months or so of this pregnancy has been.  I've never been off my feet so much and I'm so grateful that the kids are all a little bit older during this one so I'm not trying to chase a toddler while preggo.  This has been my hardest pregnancy, especially this last month.  My right leg has bad circulation and I wear a neoprene sleeve that helps.  Sometimes my leg is really sore.  Sometimes my hernia is really sore.  Lately, its like I'm having morning sickness again and I've had a cough that wont let up and terrible ligament pain.  My hips hurt.  Ugh.  On the plus side,  I'm already dilated to almost 3 but the baby hasn't dropped into my pelvis yet.  Dr. McCarter said walking will help pull her down so I've done a bit more walking.  Sort of.  My whole activity level is sooo far below what it was in the first trimester, forget before becoming pregnant.  I'm really looking forward to feeling more like "me" again.  All that said, I'm grateful that I can have children, I'm grateful to have this sweet family of mine.  I know I don't have it near as rough as some moms so I can count my blessings that I'm not sick the whole time, I'm not high risk, I don't gain a ton of weight and I have a very supportive husband.  He makes life good.  :)  My kids are terribly cute in the way they like to talk to this little baby.  Azure loves to say, "Hey babe-ah babe-ah babe-ah" and she will push my tummy around a little and then gasp and say, "Oh, I felt the baby move!"

I did want to ask all Moms out there:  Any foods or drinks you recommend leading up to L&D?  Thanks!

Our hike up Memorial Hill....

....which turned into Memory of Hell for the kids.  :)

See?  They started off happy.  I have proof!  In fact we got to the top of Memorial Hill with everyone still in good spirits and enjoying the walk.

We love ladybugs!

I just love Azure's face.  

34 weeks preggo

Mount Timpanogos in background

Military flags

The Memorial.  There are plaques all around the base with the names of soldiers and nurses who served in different wars.

You can see the rain and hail coming in from behind.  It hurt but it wasn't near as bad as the hail we had the evening of June 6.

Its a beautiful memorial up here.  What debt of gratitude is ours.

This is a new "trolley" in town.  Azure really wants a ride for her birthday later this month.  

Cliffton telling Grandma about the awful experience we just had.

"Grandma, my parents are terrible people....."

When we were on our last circle coming down the hill, the cold rain and then hail hit us.  I haven't heard Violet cry so hard in awhile.  Richard was close to Cliffton and Azure and said Azure was crying and crying and Cliff was quite upset too.  So, our nice little hike kinda backfired.  Oh well.  We'll just have to do it again, with jackets and umbrellas.  :)

Soon to be Stacey Party of Six!

I wrote this back in November and thought I would share it.

~We found out on October 25th that I'm expecting!  Except for week 5 when I felt so horribly, horribly ill, and a few other times, I've been doing well.  Life is sweet!  Its also hard.  I want to be done with work.  I want to see my husband succeed in his desires.  We would love to be out of debt.  Even though some things are harder now, we are so happy to be welcoming another little bundle or two into our family and for our many blessings.  We are blessed to have great family and friends around us.  We enjoy our neighborhood and this last year was awesome as the kids have made several neighborhood friends and most days we have some of them over.  We have a (mostly) free nation and a police system that avoids the corruption you find in many other countries.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is available in our country and we find comfort in reading our scriptures. 

I love my husband!  That man kicks some major butt.  We recently celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary and even though all the money I had saved for it earlier had gone to our car, we enjoyed a fun time eating out together, doing some shopping (for our kiddos) and going to a movie.  I love going to the movies!  It never gets old!  Maybe because we don't go very much.  :)   I'm so happy to be with Richard Stacey.  He's so good to our family and he is so patient and compassionate.  I love him so much more than I did 10 years ago when he was my brand new husband.  I appreciate that he seeks the Lord and that he has a strong testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  I'm looking forward to at least 60 years more with this man.  He makes my heart a flutter!

The kids reactions were funny when we told them about the baby.  We had taken them away from a show (negative points there) and didn't tell them right away for some reason and Cliffton was getting very impatient that he was missing out on a show.  :)  When we told them, Cliffton was barely impressed, Azure was playing with Elsa and Anna dolls and couldn't care less but Violet was very excited.  She said something like, "Oh, yeah!  I've always wanted 16 sisters!"  Ha ha ha, not sure where that came from.  We wanted them to tell their Grandparents here and Violet told most of the family, "We're going to have a baby in 10 weeks."  Again not sure where that came from.  So we started telling family, person by person, as they were around.  Loretta asked almost right after Violet spoke if she was right.  I said, "what do you think?!"  We wanted Cliffton to tell his grandpa but he was so nervous for some reason.  He would just make squeaky noises and get all fidgety.  Violet eventually came to help him.   She told Darrell.  Then we started telling our families.  One thing we found out that's really cool, is my sister in law Felicia and I have the same due dates!  Which, by the way, is July 3rd.  We're pretty sure she's going to beat me by having an induction a week early which she did with their first baby.  But still, maybe I'll beat her if we have twins!  ;) ~

Currently:  Now, that I'm nearly at the end of this pregnancy, I just want to add a few thoughts.  I am so thankful that I'm not working front desk anymore.  Richard gained employment right around Christmas and started working the beginning of January.  I quit mid January and my last day was January 22.  That was a tough job.  Not everyday, but most.  Richard works here in Midway for Malinka CPA and does bookkeeping and tax law research.  The owner is a friend in our ward who started expanding his business when they moved into Midway.  The hours are great, and quite flexible, Richard enjoys it and its only minutes from our home.  The only downer is there are no benefits as it is such a small business.  So, health care is a bit tricky but we manage.

We found out in February that we're expecting a girl and I think Cliffton and I were the only 2 who really thought we were going to have a boy.  He was NOT too happy!  But he's since been quite excited and it is soooo cute when they all talk to the baby.  She has been a very active baby and she usually responds rather vigorously when she hears us talking to her.  I know I haven't had a baby respond so well to voices before.  I think we have another social butterfly coming to the family.  By the way, Richard still thinks we're having twins.  :)  He is very cute, y'know.

My sweet Sister in law Felicia was due on July 2 but their baby was stillborn at 18 weeks after her water broke.  Seeing pics of their precious little one was hard for me and I can't understand what it must be like for Matt and Felicia.  I hope they will be able to have more children and fulfill their desires.  They are such kind parents and friends and they are in our hearts.

Richard and I were pretty set on the name Daphne for most of this pregnancy until they gave me a Mother's Day necklace.  Inside this clear locket are tiny gemstones representing the birthstones of all my kiddos including this little baby.  Since she is due July 3, they put a "ruby" in there along with Cliffton's emerald, Violet's diamond and Azure's, um, well, there are about 5 different choices for June:  Pearl, Moonstone, lt. amethyst, alexandrite and smoky quartz.  I'm going with alexandrite since it looks like a very light pink/purple like the one in my locket.  Anyways, Richard and I were both talking about how the Ruby likes to get stuck in one part of the locket.  After saying Ruby a few times, we both felt this name would be perfect.  So, we're not set, but pretty sure this will be our little lady's name.

Cliffton's Baptism 6-6-2015

I wish I could have put up pictures from the last 8 months or so but it looks like most are lost.  I think Grandma and Papa have at least some Holiday photos I could snag.  :/

I want to post some pictures from Saturday, June 6, 2015, Cliffton's Baptism.  Cliffton Darrell Stacey turned 8 on May 10 and was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints  last week.  He is a peacemaker in our home and he loves to be with family.  Cliffton tries to CTR (choose the right) and he such a good big brother to his (sometimes crazy!) little sisters.  He asked that his Papa baptize him (Darrell Stacey) and that Daddy confirm him.  We had Uncle Dave (my brother), and Grumpers, My Dad -  Dagan Dalton, act as witnesses.  Grammers, my Mom, gave a talk on the Holy Ghost (which I only heard part of it since Azure had to go to the restroom) and Grandma, Loretta, gave the opening prayer.  Aunt Megan played the piano and I led the music.  Cliffton chose the song, "When I am Baptized."

The rest of the program was chosen by the Haight Family who are our neighbors down Rainbow ln.  Their youngest daughter, Eliza, was baptized.  I really like their family and Sis. Haight is the new Primary President so she took a few minutes to talk about both Cliffton and Eliza before we sang.  Cliffton only needed to be baptized once and contrary to Grammers' suggestion, Darrell did not swish him around a little in the font.  :)  Darrell was ready to baptize him with the wrong arm but  Bishop Ezra Segura made sure to switch that. (Sorry if you didn't want that for all posterity to see Papa!).

Cliffton Darrell Stacey

We all came back to our home for some yummy food after pictures.  Mmmmm....I'm starting to get hungry and thirsty now as I type this.  I'm 36 weeks along and I feel like this baby could have come a week or 2 ago.  :)