My Full House

Some days I'm overwhelmed with the activities and chaos associated with having 5 children. Some days I'm overwhelmed with the pure joy and love associated with having 5 children. I never knew my heart could hold so much.

Above is a picture taken in Steve's Grandma's pasture behind their house in Peterson, Utah. It is a beautiful place. Kids are welcome to explore and play here. There are hiding places, swings, campfires, and all the good stuff that comes with an old farm. Of course, the kids loved it! It reminds me of a place several hundred miles away. My Grandma & Grandpa's house in California. The scenery is a little different, but the feeling is the same. Freedom to be a kid, to get lost for hours in make believe, to be loved. I hope one day my grandchildren can come to my house wherever it ends up being and enjoy these same feelings.

Happy Valentine's

What a sweet Valentine's Day!

I received the best present ever, a homemade gift from my Valentine. The night before I set the table and decorated for the kids. When I woke up in the night with the baby I saw a beautiful tulip planted as a centerpiece. Then when I woke up in the morning (yes, there's a lot of "waking up" around here), I saw the note attached to the tulips. It told me to go to a website to get my card. I followed the instructions to: www.texasbohmans.com. Steve had spent months collecting old photos, scanning them, and putting them in place. What a sweetie! Best Valentine's gift ever! Thanks honey!

Arianna's Book Group

We had a fun time reviewing Gooseberry Park this weekend with Arianna's friends from school. Since the book is about a chocolate lab, Kona and his friends, we decided to make "chocolate" our theme. The girls loved the chocolate fountain and made quite a mess!

Green Workshop

Ashley's Girl Scout troop held a "Green" workshop for younger girls on Saturday. They worked so hard to put on this event! Each attendee was able to do a variety of activities including making draft stoppers, eco-friendly household cleaners, terrariums, recycled soda tab bracelets, and more. It was awesome! Ashley and her friends were also able to teach things about saving electricity, planting trees, and recycling on all kinds of cool levels. They showed the girls a PowerPoint sharing ways they have tried as a troop to make a difference in their world (litter pick ups, trips to Goodwill, projects using recycled items, and more.) They even put on a little skit and song for the younger girls. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle people!!

2009--A Year to Remember

2009 is a year filled with memories. We started the year innocently enough. In January things were going relatively good for everyone in the family. We all enjoyed good health as we kept ourselves busy with our various activities. We were hoping to have another child in our family, but not overly concerned about it. Ammah and Ampah came for a fun-filled visit.

By the end of February we were expecting, Ashley became an official teenager, and we had survived our 7th consecutive year of selling Girl Scout cookies.

March was a fun month. We FINALLY got to visit Dale & Jae in Florida. We had a great time visiting with them. The Nerf guns and the large Lego pit were very popular with our family. We also got to visit the Creers in Alabama and sneek in a trip to Disney World.

April was bitter and sweet. We found out about Dad Bohman's cancer, but were also able to start sharing the news of our pregnancy. DJ played soccer. Arianna participated in Super Squad, a dance/cheer/tumbling type of group. Alyssa started to really be able to play her viola. Ashley participated in a few school district art contests and began to receive blue ribbons.

May was also bitter and sweet. The first week we celebrated Grandma and Grandpa North's 65th wedding anniversary with family in Santa Barbara. The next week the fire swept through. It was a miracle their house wasn't burned, but Great Aunt Marian's on the adjacent property was completely destroyed. DJ graduated from preschool. Heather finished a year's worth of volunteering at the school.

June was all about swimming! The girls participated in swim team each morning and in the afternoons swam with DJ & Savannah. Cousin Savannah spent most of the month with us. We all enjoyed our foster pets. Ashley and Heather took a Girl Scout trip to Dallas.

Pregnancy fatigue started kicking in during July. We tried to do as much as possible. Heather took the kids back to school shopping in Dallas. Steve flew in to meet us and we had a great time doing touristy type things there, too. Ashley loved her week at Girl's Camp (a church camp for girls 12-17).

August was all about doing as much as humanly possible for Heather being 7+ months pregnant. We went on a week long Texas parks motor home trip with boating, swimming, diving, hiking, and caving. The idea was to do as many activities as possible before the limitations of strollers, diapers, bottles, etc. We had SO much Fun! Soon school would start. DJ began kinder, Arianna-3rd, Alyssa-6th, and Ashley-8th. Heather enjoyed working more with the Backpack Connection (a local family magazine.) Stephen continued to keep a good job (no small feat in this economy--yeah Steve!)

September was more of the same.

October was mostly about Benjamin. Dad Bohman had his last radiation treatment the same week Benjamin was born. We are so glad he has had such good medical care. Mom Bohman also took such good care of him during everything (on top of the cancer, he also had shoulder replacement). Ammah (Heather's mom) stayed two full weeks when Benjamin was born. We have been so blessed to have her help each time we have had a new baby. Talk about priceless!!!

We celebrated 15 years of marriage in November. Yippee for us! Stephen was planning a cruise, but we got a baby instead. He says "a cruise would've been cheaper, but...you get what you pay for." Honestly, November was challenging. Heather and Benjamin kept having problems and went to way too many doctor's appointments.

December got a little worse and a whole lot better. More doctors. Some pretty challenging illnesses. A trip to the hospital. Good medicine. Then there was DJ's birthday party. We are learning six year old boy groups are very energetic! Arianna skipped the big birthday bash and settled for a sleepover/movie night with a few friends. Christmas was wonderful, as usual. This year we got our very own live nativity. That was very special.

All in all, it was a very good year. Through the challenges there were always little miracles reminding us that we have a Heavenly Father that is mindful of each one of us. A quote keeps coming to mind by Spencer W. Kimball:

"God does notice us, and He watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.”

As the New Year begins, may we continue to love one another, serve each other, and strive to be the type of people God needs us to be. We are so thankful for our wonderful friends and family that set such good examples of this for us!!

Happy New Year!

Life goes on...and on...and on!

(This is Benjamin's first outfit. Thanks to my friends and their creative talents, he looked extra adorable coming home from the hospital!)

October was an eventful month. The funny thing about bringing home our 5th child is that life is still going on at super warp speed. In the past it seemed like my life would sort of freeze for a few weeks when I'd bring a baby home from the hospital. Not this time!

The week before Benjamin was born the whole family (minus Mom) came down with a stomach virus that caused intense vomiting. We were sanitizing everything in the house like crazy, because we heard this bug could stay around for a week or two.

The day Benjamin was born, DJ was honored at the Kendall Elementary Knighting Ceremony for his good behavior. He was so excited, but unfortunately his parents couldn't be there! I was being induced at the exact same hour. Thankfully two grandmas were in town and attended. The pictures show how thrilled he was. Later in the day DJ lost his first tooth! What a day for a kindergartner.

(DJ earned a free ticket to the Wild West Day when he was honored at the Knighting Ceremony. He enjoyed this outing with daddy on Oct. 24th.)

The day after Benjamin was born, DJ came down with a very high fever. He was taken to Urgent Care and put on antibiotics, but we had to keep him away from Benjamin, which was heartbreaking!

Here is how we spent our first two weeks with Benjamin, which explains how "life goes on..."

• We had plenty of concerns over Benjamin. He broke his clavicle during childbirth, so we had to be a little careful with his right arm. He was also jaundiced with a borderline biliruben level and we prayed he wouldn't have to go back to the hospital for lights. He was born with a heart murmer, so we had to get an EKG. After the cardiologist received and reviewed the test, his heart appears normal. He started losing weight and spitting up a lot on his second week. On his two week birthday he threw up some old blood which was scary! He had gone down in weight to 8lbs. 10oz. (about 1.5 lbs less than birth weight.) The Dr. is concerned that he could have pyloric stenosis, but we are hoping it is a case of acid reflux. He is taking medication and seems to be doing much, much better!

• Things started breaking all around the house. First the washing machine stopped agitating and we hired a repairman to fix it. Then the toilet was overflowing and needed to be completely replaced. Steve wanted to do it himself on his "free time." So, he started working on it, but was missing a part so he left a big open hole in the bathroom and promised to get to it after work. Of course, that was the day we were doing catch up laundry (remember the washer was broken) and the drain water from the laundry started shooting up through the open hole in the bathroom. Something about water flow and lowest points...don't ask me--I'm not a plumber. Several friends had suggested we contact Roto-rooter when this happened as my shower and toilet started "burping" gunk. Well, when Roto-rooter came, there was no blockage. He said our septic tank was full. Thankfully, the next morning we were able to get our septic tank pumped out, but we were given bad news. Our septic system is on its last leg and will probably need to be replaced ($10 thousand smackers!)
  

• As if this news wasn't depressing enough, our T.V. broke! Now, I'm not a big television watcher, but I couldn't handle one more thing being broken, so I just about cried! We had enjoyed our t.v. for 15 years, so I guess it was time. I just don't know why it happened at the same time as everything else. Early in October all four of my tires had to be replaced, then there's the baby bills, and now all of these household expenses. Yikes! When it rains it pours. I really do have to laugh about the T.V. breaking. Nobody needs to worry about that though, because I think Steve was thrilled to replace it. He's wanted a new T.V. for years. :)

• Halloween Costumes also kept me busy. Since my old sewing machine broke in September, I got a new one and have enjoyed using it. Steve brought home fabrics and patterns early in October. I plugged away at sewing the costumes over the course of the month: a little here, a little there. Of course, there were a few things that were reserved for the last minute, just to make sure we had a sufficient level of stress around the house.

With all of that stated...

Life Goes On
&
Life is Good!

October 16, 2009

Benjamin Stephen was born Friday, October 16, 2009 at 11:59am.

We arrived at Methodist Hospital at 6am. They were waiting for us and remembered we were the ones that were sent away on Wednesday when the scheduled induction got postponed. Since our paperwork was all done, we pretty much just strolled into labor and delivery. The nurse looked up my history and was pretty nervous that should would have to deliver our baby and she did not want that to happen. They said things like, "once she goes into labor, she goes fast," etc. I wasn't really feeling much by way of contractions, but I decided this time to go ahead and get an epidural early. Every other time my babies were born before the epidural had gone into full effect. (Having an early epidural is the way to go--I now know!!!)



I read my book, Stephen "tweeted" and we had a pretty enjoyable morning. When they'd come to check on me, they'd say "still smiling?" Yep!

The nurse came back from her break and said, "shall we sit you up and get things started?" And I said I didn't think that would be necessary, because the baby was ready to be born. She checked, confirmed, and started to slow things down the best she could as she tried to find the doctor. They were prepped for me, but no doc. So, they pulled a random Dr. in from another area and told me not to move, as this baby was crowning. (No kidding! It was kind of embarrassing to be told NOT to move or thinking of rolling over--I was on my side.) Just in the nick of time my doctor arrived and delivered the baby. The nurse was so relieved!

The BIG news was that he weighed 10 lbs. 2 oz. and was 21 inches long. I guess he just wanted to outdo his siblings. I kept telling everyone how huge I was feeling!! I was ridiculously large. I knew it. Steve knew it. Now baby Benjamin proved it!

I felt so much relief to have him out, safe and healthy. Bringing Benjamin into this world will be a mission of faith. The pregnancy wasn't easy, but it was better than I expected. My doctors were able to regulate my medications and keep the pregnancy as uneventful as possible. I have been humbled by this particular pregnancy experience and I am very thankful for the support of our friends and family, particularly Stephen. Most of all, I thank our Heavenly Father for blessing us with this sweet baby. Early in this pregnancy I knew I couldn't do it alone. I simply can't. I will pray every day to be a good mother for him and for our other children.

If my life were an ice cream sundae, Benjamin would be my cherry on top. How sweet it is!