Paige Dorene Springer

Paige Dorene Springer was born on April 9th at 10:09 am. She was 7 pounds 9 ounces and 20.5 inches long. She surprised us with more hair than any of the other kids, and it was dark brown. She is a better blend than any of the others, but most people think she looks most like Jaxson, or my side of the family.
Delivery went really well, the best one. And thank goodness because it was the worst pregnancy of all! We arrived at the hospital at 6am for our induction appointment. By the time they got me checked in my room, some paperwork done, and hooked to the IV it was slightly past 7am. That's when the nurse started the pitocin. The doctor broke my water around 7:30 and the contractions were terrible for an hour until I could get the epidural. I still don't know why people go natural - those contractions were a killer!
After the epidural was going, things were pretty simple from there. We waited for the contractions to do their work and the doctor came right before 10 to deliver her. Since this was the last time I was ever going to be pregnant, or delivering a baby again, the whole situation carried a different feel for me. Birth is definitely a miracle and we were so happy to meet our new baby girl. What a blessing to our family. I had a wonderful delivery nurse named Melody, and she hooked me up with the big room I requested. Everything was great... I am thankful for a smooth, healthy delivery.
We still didn't have a name picked out when we went to the hospital. There were a few we were considering - Charlee, Adalynn, Paige, Reese, Claire. Some Sam liked better, some I did. At the end of the first day we thought we would go with Reese. That was the one Shaye loved and we both liked it too. For some reason that just didn't stick as much as we were hoping, so on the second day we switched our minds to Paige. I think it fits her well with her dark hair and complexion. As for her middle name, its my mom's middle name. It was really important to us to use a family name for the middle. Dorene is a little old fashioned, but I am thrilled to have named her after mom.

Meeting Paige

The kids were of course very excited to meet their new sister. There's no doubt she is going to get lots of love and have lots of helpers!

Any concern Jaxson had over getting a sister instead of a brother was gone once he saw her. He wanted to hold her and was very gentle and loving. Now that he's a little older than he was when Sydnee was born, I'm sure he'll be a great helper and big brother. Can't wait to see him sticking up for all his sisters in the future!


We had the older kids go ahead and go to school so I could settle in at the hospital. Sam, along with mom and dad, brought them all up after they go home on the bus. They were very excited, and wanted to spend a lot of time at the hospital. Shaye is going to be, and has already been, such a good helper. I'm going to try not to be so worried this time and let her be more involved. She has enjoyed holding Paige and is always smothering her in kisses!



Mom and dad brought Sydnee up in the afternoon a few hours after delivery. She walked right in and stopped and stood and stared when she saw the baby. She was fascinated! It was so cute to watch her meet her little sister. She wanted to hold her and still says "lap! lap!" when she wants her. We hold Paige over Sydnee's lap and she feels like she has her for a while. So far Sydnee has been soft and loving to her. She gives her nice kisses and covers her with her blanket. Before she left the hospital she was saying "my baby, my baby" whenever anyone else had Paige.


I delivered on Friday, so mom and dad came up Thursday afternoon to stay with the kids while we went in. It was so nice to have them here. I know Sam really appreciated the help with the three big kids, and I always love having mom take care of me again! :) It was priceless having them around the few days after I got home, and we wished they could have stayed longer. They played with the kids, made dinner, and kept the house up. Things I would have never been able to do. I didn't know how I was going to be able to do it when they left, but Sam worked short days and we made it through that first week.

Happy Easter

We had a great Easter. The weather was nice for the weekend, and we were able to get in several activities. On Sunday, between conference sessions, we died eggs with the kids. They had a fun time doing that. Sydnee really loved it, until all the eggs were done and she wanted to do more. You can see where she lays her head on the table to throw her fit at the end! Jaxson ate most of the eggs after they had played with them for a while, he really likes eggs. Since we didn't have church (at the church building anyway) we didn't do Easter outfits this year. But we all had a nice day together at home.





This year, Easter fell on the same weekend as General Conference. So the kids had plenty of time to get up and explore their baskets. Not that it would have mattered if we had church at 9, since they were up at 7 to see what the Easter bunny had brought! The Easter bunny knows they eat too much candy when they get it, so he decided to bring summer toys this year. Items for the pool, chalk, bubbles, and some new pajamas for Shaye, with just a little bit of candy!





We were invited by our friend, Amanda Vaclaw, to a brunch and egg hunt Saturday morning. The brunch was amazing... waffles, crepes, cinnamon rolls, casseroles, fruit, muffins, everything you could want! And the egg hunt was lots of fun for all the kids. Sydnee had practiced some around the house with Shaye and Jaxson hiding eggs for her during the week, so she was ready to go. It was fun to watch her on her first hunt. Shaye and Jaxson of course collected tons, but Shaye was sweet enough to share.

Jaxson's Spring Soccer

This is Jaxson's second season to play soccer, and I can't tell if he really likes it or not. Some days he doesn't care to go, and complains that he rather play baseball, and other times he gets upset if he doesn't get to practice with Shaye. I think she is his main motivation for playing. He does a pretty good job, when he wants to. Our neighbors, who the kids adore, came to watch his game this weekend so he tried his best. He was amazing! He made 6 goals and controlled the field. He has been on the red Raptors both seasons. They play half field with the small goals while they are learning the basics. We have decided to let him try baseball next, so I suppose we'll see which he prefers.

Celebrating Baby!

I was happy to be able to get out with some girlfriends one week before delivery. We went to see "Last Song" at the theater and had desert back at Amy's house. They girls were nice enough to get us some much needed items for baby - diapers and wipes. We had a great time, it was fun to hang out before I am secluded to the house for months, and I appreciate their thoughtfulness on the gifts!

Pregnancy, one last time...

So I'm down to the last 18 days before delivery, which may be the worst... except for those first 16 weeks! :-) At the end, I can't sleep and the heartburn gets so bad it hurts all over. The thing that keeps my up is the restless legs! Its SO bad! I have to kick them or flex or try squats before bed to try and help, but nothing takes it away. I'm hot most of the time, and have absolutely NOTHING to wear that I like and fits well. I prefer to stay home and live in my sweats! I have been having braxton hicks contractions since about 30 weeks, and they are getting pretty strong and frequent. Sometimes I wonder what makes them "fake." For me, each pregnancy has been worse than the previous ones, making this one terrible! I was really sick the first 16 weeks - to the point of throwing up 4 or 5 times a day. When that finally passed, things were much better, but I never did get that second trimester energy surge. I have been so tired this time. I suppose it has something to do with keeping up with the other 3 kids. If I didn't get a nap in the afternoon, I would feel sick in the evening. Thankfully, Sydnee takes good naps. Then there are the veins. I had some veins swell with Sydnee, but this time my legs look like I'm 80 years old. They have swollen and busted and I look like I have bruises all over. This picture is of the veins on my calf, and they're like this all over.
We knew this was going to be our last baby, but if we didn't before, I sure do now after pregnancy. The doctor says a lot of these things get worse with each one, which has certainly been my experience. Not to mention the weight. With Shaye I gained 23 pounds and lost all of it plus more. Each time I have gained a little more. Needless to say, I am going to have a lot of work to do this time! I have put on about 35 pounds. It's my own fault. The attitude I adopted this time was "hey, this is the last time I will be pregnant and won't have to worry about weight... I'll spend the rest of my life trying to stay in shape!" I'll regret it later, but hopefully I'll be able to get motivated and get into a running routine and accomplish some of my workout goals.
I know I should look at it as a blessing. We are lucky to be able to have children, and get pregnant easily. And I know there are a lot of other mothers who end up on bedrest or get even more sick than I do. We are really excited to meet our new baby girl. We still need to pick a name. We think we have narrowed it down to 4, but not sure what it will be. I'm anxious to know if she is going to look like Shaye and Sydnee, since they are so similar, or if we'll get a little girl who resembles Jaxson this time. We will find out on April 9th!

Operation: Column

When we moved into this house, there was support beam in the living room that was just sheetrock and the same color as the walls. It has bothered Sam how plain it is, and he wanted to fancy it up. Some of the other homes in the neighborhood have a column with molding and trim on them and are pretty decorative. Sam followed these ideas, and he and his dad worked over Spring Break to transform our beam into a fancy detail in the living room. They did a great job. You can see in the first picture, which was taken right before we moved in, how dull it was. And in the last picture you can tell how it really stands out now! We do these types of projects in hopes that small touches will make a big difference when its time to sell.

The Duck Pond

Though the wind was blowing, it was a great day today, so Sydnee and I headed over to the duck pond to feed the ducks. The ducks aren't so bad, but the geese are scary! As soon as you get out of the car they come running and they are not afraid of people so they will come right up to you. It didn't seem to bother Sydnee the first couple of minutes, but once I threw out a few pieces of bread and they started swarming her, she was nervous. She held on tight to monkey for a little while.



Then she adjusted, and enjoyed "shooing" them away with the stick and had fun throwing the bread out herself. Afterwards we took a walk around the pond looking at the birds and leaves. We are so excited Spring is on the way!

Spring Concert

The theme for the Will Rogers Pre-K Spring Concert was the 50's. So the boys all wore white t-shirts with blue jeans, and had the option of greasing their hair back. Jaxson was fully against slicking his hair, or rolling his sleeves, but at least I got him in the shirt and jeans! They sang 3 songs - Do-Wah-Diddy, Let's Twist Again, and Rockin Robin. It was very cute. As you can see, Jaxson takes his singing very serious! He always does a great job!