Alden is developing his vocabulary, and it is so nice for us. Yesterday when I was taking off his pants, he said, “Papi took off!” We’ve been waiting for a long time for him to start stringing words together. He’s going to love communicating better.

The day before, he called “Eden” by her right name by himself for the first time. When he learned to talk, he called her “Hen.” Even though he has been able to pronounce all those letters for a long time, he had stuck to his original nickname.

One of his enunciation issues is with the “tr” sound. When he tries to say a word like “truck” he pronounces it with an “F”. It doesn’t sound very polite.

My midwife expected me to deliver between 36-38 weeks. But school finals came and went. We had a full day to celebrate Alden’s birthday. The Fourth of July went out with a bang and still no baby.

My midwife, Lindsey, encouraged me to naturally induce labor through a sweep. She told me to get out and walk and expected I would go into labor that day sometime.

So I walked over 3 miles, dropping off my visiting teaching newsletters. That evening contractions started to kick in and I knew it was starting. Chad and I started a movie but I couldn’t sit still for more than a few minutes. Chad tried to get some sleep and I walked around the neighborhood to try and keep my mind off of the pain. After two loops I knew it was time to head to the hospital.

Chad grabbed Becky Jessop from next door and we headed out. Chad called Lindsey on the way. We checked into the hospital a little after 1:00 am. At 2:27 am we welcomed our little BOY!

Jasher Chad. 7 pounds 13 ounces, 19 inches long. A head of dark hair. He didn’t cry a bit. He just looked around wide eyed. He was an ugly, puffy, squashed-nose little gnome. And I couldn’t love him more! His first pictures are of quite a different little monster than the beauty is is now, four weeks later. The kids adore him. I was amazed at how quickly Alden learned the name Jasher. We all love being a family of 5.

We haven’t really planned anything out for the last few weeks and the fourth was no different. But we did manage to have a great day together regardless. We had asked our neighbors, the Jessops, to save us a spot by them for some of the Murray City festivities just in case. I have to admit walking to the park made me feel a tiny bit vulnerable, knowing I was that much further away in case I needed to make a mad dash to the hospital. But here we are braving another day of possible impending chaos.

We attended the parade and it was so fun to be with a family. The kids loved it and brought home a huge stash of candy that I hope to con them out of somehow. Alden and Eden were our dancing entertainment.

I basically slept or relaxed the rest of the day since I had a bit of insomnia the night before. Chad got all kinds of projects taken care of. We had some crockpot pulled pork sandwiches for dinner and we must have had at least three servings of Alden’s delicious birthday cake throughout the day. Then we walked back over to the park for the firework display. They really have nothing on the Idaho Falls display but it was still great fun. I loved to see the kids dancing with their glow sticks and snuggling up to Chad. I am so blessed! We all came back pretty exhausted.