Elora

I'm only a month late with this post - hey, don't judge me!

2 days after moving in - no kitchen sink or dishwasher, no washer & dryer, no food, and no beds.

But it was Elli's birthday so we stopped to celebrate her special day!

We made a bubble gum cake with powdered eggs - and it was a total flop.
If you look closely you can see that I had to squish the cake together and then run frosting on top.
Didn't matter - all she cared about was the gumballs anyway!!

We had pesto pasta (I think almost all of my kids chose that this year for their birthdays and I'm actually getting a little sick of it now!!) and a huge salad.  It was the first real meal we ate in our new house, and it tasted delicious!

I love this Elli girl - she makes me laugh all the time.

silly face - it's all we get lately.  I think Elli has kind of forgotten how to smile for pictures!
I'm not sure why we couldn't move the boxes and laundry baskets behind her, but - we were moving and everything was in chaos!

I love this picture - I wouldn't have gotten it if they knew I was taking it

everyone likes to get up close to see what the presents are

bubble gum wars - so fun!

ELLI'S BIRTH STORY:
I have been induced with every single one of my babies, so I expected the same thing with my 7th baby.

On Friday I had gone to my appointment in Utah with my midwife, and then Genelle had come to spend a few days with us.  Since we would be going to Utah on Tuesday to be induced we would just bring her home with us that day.  I should also mention that my midwife had stripped my membranes that morning.  Nothing new - done all of that before.

Friday evening Dave and I went on a nice date and ended up at Wal-Mart like we usually do.  We walked around a bunch and I had lots and lots of braxton hicks.  Again nothing new - done it all before.

The house was a mess.  I planned on cleaning the next day.  I was in the middle of making announcements since we would be having our baby the next week.

Dave and I sat down to a movie and I was finishing up the announcements.  I stood up and stepped over something........ and gush!!!  My water broke all over the floor.

I had no bags packed.

Typically after my water breaks I have a baby in 30 minutes, and we had a 2 1/2 hour drive to my birthing center and favorite midwife.

I laid down and Dave rushed around to pack some things.

He went downstairs to tell the kids, and we suddenly had mass chaos with everyone throwing things in bags.

It was probably only 10 minutes and then we were in the car - and scared.

I found out later that Dave packed some "tools" for just in case..... a rope, some pliers..... he was well prepared (said sarcastically).

Not a single contraction the whole drive.

My parents were out of town so my brother and SIL (Brandon and Ayrial) took the kids for the night.

I worked hard all night to have a baby and nothing happened (I should have stayed home and slept all night and then drove to the birthing center in the morning).

I really wanted to see if I could go into labor on my own without citotek for JUST ONE BABY!!!

It wasn't to be.

I fiinally took citotek at 1:00 (more than 24 hours after my water broke), and Elora was born 30 minutes later.

She had HUGE eyes, and tiny features.  We called her Gollem for a little while (terrible, but it was quite funny - she really looked like a little elf or something).

She was one of my smallest babies at 7 pounds 2 ounces.

She struggled with nursing and was losing rapidly.
It was really frightening.
I was nursing all the time, but she wasn't gaining weight.
After 2 weeks she was still down to 6 pounds.

I think maybe my milk finally fattened up or something, because she gained really well and very quickly after that.



*Elora has always had her own mind and way of doing things.
*She's a vivacious and super creative girl.
*She loves all things girly - dolls, barbies, jewelry, makeup, dress-ups.
*She has honey-blonde hair down to her waist, and huge brown eyes.  She also has very brown skin.
*She writes us several love notes a day and loves sitting on her dad's lap.
*She asks lots of questions and is always wondering about things.
*She has an adorable sense of humor - though she can get really silly sometimes too.


This is my favorite picture of her.
Unfortunately my scanner isn't working, so I took a picture of her school picture with my phone.

It makes me laugh because she made sure on her own that her nails were painted and she had her jewelry on.

None of us had any idea she had done that until we saw the picture.

It is so Elli!

good things:
6 year olds
missing teeth
play jewelry