Happy Birthday Sydnee!

Our little Sydnee turned 2 on May 22nd. She has a little bit of the terrible twos going on, but mainly she is so full of personality we just watch and laugh at her! There's not a word she can't say, and she loves to sing and dance. Though she is feisty, she is a joy to all of us!

Sydnee really likes Sesame Street, Curious George, and Dora. I decided to make her an Elmo cake. I have a lot more respect for cake decorators! This cake wasn't very big, and it even took hours to do.

Sydnee opening her gifts from family and from friends at the party! Thanks everyone!



For lunch, I made a sandwich ring, fruit salad, and chips with dip. Here are some of the friends eating outside with Syd.


Paige spent the party with our friend Nikki....

Later in the day, we had our neighbors come over for some cupcakes. For some reason, Sydnee was being shy when we sang to her this time.



This family lives to our east. Ankesh, Maduh, and Dillon. Dillon is just a few months younger than Sydnee, and we have enjoyed getting to know them.

These are our neighbors Larry and Rita Barnes. The kids go running to their house every chance they get. I usually have to carry Sydnee home screaming, she loves to be with them!

Finally Going Private

I have been thinking about making our blog private for a long time. ( That means you have to sign in to view it. ) There's been a little voice in my head saying it could be dangerous to post so much information about our family, and our 4 small children. Now that we are moving to Houston, I can't justify leaving it public anymore. There are just more people there, and more opportunities for trouble.
So... if you are out there reading our blog, please leave your email address in the comment section of this post, or if you rather, you can email it to me at: nattoe@hotmail.com.
I will put your email on the list, and you will receive an invitation to read our blog. You have to accept the invitation one time, and then in the future you just come to the blog, enter your email, and it will take you straight to it.
We still want everybody who has been keeping up with us to be able to. We hope this doesn't discourage you from keeping in touch!

Not Just a Myth

So far Paige has been a pretty good baby. Just typical newborn stuff... she hates changing her diaper and getting a bath, she eats every hour and a half, and she only sleeps 4 hours at night. The most difficult part is naptime. She won't take her naps in her bed, and unlike my other kids, she doesn't fall asleep in the swing. She mainly wants to be held once she gets tired. Unfortunately, with Sydnee home all day, and a house to keep clean while its on the market, I can't hold her every hour for a nap. She sleeps really well any time she is in the car seat, so today I put her in the seat and was going to carry it until she fell asleep. Then I realized I was doing the laundry anyways, and everybody always says put them on the dryer and the hum will put them to sleep, so I figured... why not!? I strapped her in, and set the seat up on my dryer. She was quiet a few minutes, and then off to sleep she went! When an extra pair of hands would be a lifesaver, this is second best! I just may be doing a lot more laundry from now on!

Paige's Blessing Day

We blessed Paige on May 1st in the Bartlesville 3rd Ward. Those who stood in with Sam were our Bishopric - Bishop Kevin Reid, Jeff Hartzfeld, and Brother Cummings. Along with some good friends - Brian Christiansen, Tyler Vaclaw, Russell Vaclaw, and Dan Mecham. Sam gave a nice blessings, and thankfully Paige was pretty happy through it.
Here are a few pictures from after church.









I love these two. Baby faces are so funny. She's keeping a good eye on Sydnee in the bottom pic.

House For Sale.... Again! :)

Seems like we just moved into the house, well its only been 11 months, so I guess we did. We have really enjoyed living in this neighborhood, and have loved our house. We are officially for sale now, and on the market. Fingers crossed we sell quickly. Here's a link to our virtual tour:


http://homesite.obeo.com/601455

Back to the Lone Star State

When we came to Bartlesville they (ConocoPhillips) told us it would be 3-5 years, and then we would be transferred to somewhere else. This May will be 5 years, and its time to go. We recently found out we will be moving to Houston. Well, we will live in Katy, and it will take Sam about 30 minutes to travel up I-10 to work. Now the rush is on to get our house on the market, go house hunting in Katy, and get moved down there by early June. All this while taking care of a brand new baby. Its going to be one busy time for me. I don't know how I am going to keep this house in tip top shape to show it. Let's hope we can sell as quickly as we did last time. We did For Sale By Owner in 12 days on the other house! Wish us luck!

First Day Home

After two nights in the hospital, Paige and I came home on Sunday the 11th. Unfortunately, the hospital was not as relaxing this time. Paige was awake every hour and a half during the night. Seems like the other kids slept a lot the first two nights. She continued that at home, and I thought I would never make it. But now, just two weeks down the road, she is sleeping 4-5 hours the first time at night. I am still really tired, but its much more manageable. It has definitely been an adjustment having a newborn again. Even though I knew what to expect, it has been exhausting. Nursing every hour and a half leaves no time for anything else. But I know a month or two will make a big difference. She is so sweet, and now that we have got her jaundice to come down (it was slightly up) there have been no problems. So grateful for a healthy, beautiful baby!

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.