Nursery

So, I've never had a nursery for any of my kids before. We have always been in rental places until now. I guess you could say I went a little overboard, but it has been a fun treat for me (I mean for Emmett) to have a cute, fun nursery.

The green walls didn't quite end up the green I was looking for, but after trying 2 different shades, this is the one that got to stay.

Here is our "miracle" crib. This crib was left on our doorstep in Provo by some guy who had been paid $20 to deliver it to us. I still remember that night - I was pregnant with Ethan, we were both in school and were studying for finals at that very moment that the doorbell rang. To this day we don't know who left this crib for us (we have our guesses) but we hope to reciprocate this kind deed someday.

This crib has lasted us through all 4 kids and we cherish all the memories we have had around this crib.

Emmett trying out his changing table. My favorite part of this set up is having the diapers hanging on the wall, who would have ever thought???

I'm sure I spent way too much on Emmett's room, but I was a little excited!!! And thanks to my mom and mother in law, I was able to get a few more acessories that went with this super adorable bed set.

And this did NOT come with the crib set. My mother-in-law made this INCREDIBLE quilt!!! She had called and asked what crib set we got and I told her. I seemed like only a week (maybe 2 weeks) later I got this in the mail. The picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice. This quilt is WONDERFUL!!! The fabrics she chose are perfect and she quilted each of the different fabrics differently. The fabric with the circles were quilted in circles around the circles. It is just amazing and something that Emmett and I will always cherish.

Thank you SO Much to my wonderful, amazing and talented mother-in-law.

Emmett's First Week

Just a few pictures (OK, a lot) of Emmett during his first week here.

2 Days Old

3 Days Old

First Bath at Home

He cried a little, but really did great - you can even see how relaxed he was

Squeeky Clean

Fuzzy, clean blonde hair

The kids love to treat Emmett like a doll. They just had to try out the swing. He didn't mind it so much.

My wonderful husband got me some beautiful flowers and his work sent some as well. I just love getting flowers to celebrate such wonderful times in our lives. Does this mean I won't be getting flowers for Valentine's Day now????

That counts as a smile, right?

4 Days Old

Luke and Linz helped Emmett have tummy time (and back time.) I like these shots to show the difference in size between my older babies and my newest baby.

5 Days Old

I just love pictures of their cute, skinny little legs.

So sweet and peaceful

So, apparently I don't have a lot of pictures of Ethan with Emmett. Don't worry I'm sure I can get a few taken:)

Going Private

After much thought we have decided to go private on our blog. We want to make sure everyone is invited that would like to be, so if you don't get an invite in the next day or so, check the comments and email me and I'll make sure you get invited.

And hopefully once you are invited, I will have our newest post up and ready!!!!

Introducing.................Emmett Mark Noakes

HE Made It!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is our beautiful new baby. We are so excited he is here and I promise you he will not lack for LOVE in our family.

Emmett Mark Noakes - Birth Day

Born: February 3, 2009 at 11 a.m.

Weight: 7 lbs. 8.1 oz. Height: 20 inches

APGAR: 9 and 9 (Nate asked the nurse, otherwise I wouldn't have thought about asking them, not that it really matters. Nate said the nurse told him that only doctors' kids get a 10 on their APGAR)

Colors: I hope he likes green and brown because that's what's in his room

Friends: Ethan, Luke and Linz

To Do: Eat, sleep, fill up diapers

Food: Mom's milk is the BEST!!!!

What we Love about Emmett: His healthy arrival, his beautiful blonde hair, all his tiny features, his cute little cry, that he loves to cuddle with us, just everything about him. We love him to death and couldn't be happier he is part of our family.

Emmett, we are SO blessed to have you join our family, we are so grateful you came to us healthy and you are so handsome. We want you to know that we love you and are so excited to show you what life in the Noakes family is like. Know that you did not lack for love or attention when you entered this world. Your siblings fight over you every day for who gets to hold you first and who you love the most. We sure love you and we look forward to watching you grow and learn every day!!!!

Is he not a good lookin' kid, except that red slime leftover on his head...

Beautiful in blue

Here is our first picture with our beautiful Emmett on his Birth Day.

Entering the World

Here are the boring details - skip over if you want to get to the good stuff PICTURES

So, I really, really, really didn't want to be induced. Maybe I say this to make myself feel better, but I was VERY close to being in labor when I went in to be INDUCED. Emmett was born the day after his due date (just like Ethan.) Things worked out and we decided to go ahead and get induced Tuesday morning.

I, of course, didn't sleep at all Monday night. Not so much because of being nervous about having a baby the next day. Linz woke us up right as we went to bed and was up for about an hour crying about this and that (worried that grandma had left, wanted mom, etc.) Then I woke up at 3:45 a.m. with contractions. I got up and starting walking around my house in hopes that the contractions would keep up and that I would be in full labor by the time I got to the hospital. The contractions did keep up right up until about the time we left for the hospital at 5:30 a.m. Then they stopped. I was dialated to 3 cm Monday morning at the Dr. office and I was at 4 cm when I got to the hospital.

So, the contractions were doing something, they were just taking their SWEET time. They started the pitocin at about 7:15 a.m. If you've followed this pregnancy at all, you will know that nothing about this pregnancy is like any of my other pregnancies in any way!!! My contractions are no exception. I have had SO many false starts with this pregnancy. The week before Emmett was born I had about 6 different times where I'd have hard, close contractions for an hour or two and then they'd stop. With the 2 kids I went into labor with, it was not like that at all - once I started having contractions, that was labor and the baby was born a few hours later.

The doctor came and broke my water about 8:30 a.m. He wouldn't tell me what I was dialated to - I have no idea why, but it had to be about 6-7 cm. My contractions really didn't hurt at all up until then and then even for the next hour until about 9:30 a.m. then I could feel them. (I had harder, more painful contractions WAY earlier with all the others.) I asked for the epidural at 9:30 and it was fully in around 10:15 a.m. The nurse checked me right after and I was at 8 cm. I started feeling lots of pressure at 10:30, the resident checked me and I was fully dialated, effaced and ready to go. That is when they went to call the doctor, of course aren't we always waiting on them. The doctor got there about 10:45 and Emmett was born at 11:00 a.m. on the dot.

I wonder if they would have checked me before they gave me the epidural, I probably shouldn't have gotten one. I've heard about 7-8 cm is too late to get one. I'm pretty sure I was at an 8 when I got mine. That's ok with me. Since I had the epidural so soon before I delivered I felt more with the delivery than with any of the others (which I REALLY liked.) I felt my water break for the first time. I felt that pressure to push for the first time. And I got to deliver the lower half of my baby MYSELF. Can I just tell you, that was incredible and AWESOME.

The doctor had mentioned that he'd like to let me do this if all was going well and I was coherent enough to do so. The doctor got Emmett's head and shoulders out, then he had me grab Emmett underneath his arms and pull him the rest of the way out. I pulled him right up onto my chest, slime and all. They clamped his cord while he was on me and Nate cut it off then too. That was an amazing and incredible experience and I am SO grateful the doctor cared enough and was willing to do that something extra for me on that very special day for us. I would recommend it to anyone if your doctor will let you. The nurse that was with me said she had never seen a doctor do that before. I was very grateful and impressed with my wonderful doctor.

This is Emmett and I literally seconds after he was born. You can see all the slime still on him.

Here he is slightly cleaned off
Here is Emmett having his first bath. I included this picture so you could see his BLONDE hair. Our other three kids were born with that dark, dark hair, so we were very surprised when the doctor announced that we had a blondie.

We shouldn't be surprised since we both have light hair, but once again Emmett has thrown our "normal" off.


So sweet, holding hands with the nurse
Can you even resist that perfect little face. We have yet to decide who Emmett looks like. If you have any thoughts, we'd LOVE to know.

The PROUD and very EXCITED siblings. Our FOUR kids!!!!!!!!!!! That is so weird to say.

My mom with Emmett. She has been SO WONDERFUL to us through all of this. She came up Monday evening and will be here until Sunday. She has done SO much for us, I can't even say how great it has been to have her here. She has gotten the kids up, fed and on the bus every morning. She plays with Linz and keeps her happy and cleaned my house and made dinners, laundry, etc. We are so blessed to live close to her and we are forever grateful for her willingness to help us out!!!! Emmett is one lucky grandson!!!

Here are my babies - at least I thought Linz was my baby up until Feb. 3, 2009

The proud Father

Here is our first family picture - the 6 of us (officially now:)

Emmett will learn to take teasing from daddy very soon

I had to include one MAD face, they are just so sweet when they are mad.

Here he is in his HUGE car seat. The kids are all too eager to help out. I think Ethan got to buckle Emmett in for the very first time.









Ethan was very sweet and made this Welcome Home sign for Emmett. Ethan called me at the hospital when Nate told him what we named Emmett. He has to ask me what we named Emmett because he didn't believe Nate. (Does that sound like Nate to trick about something like that?????)

Here is Emmett with proud brother Luke. Emmett's first picture at home. Don't mind Luke's pjs. The boys have this thing going lately where they have inside out pj nights.

Happy 7th Birthday Ethan!!!!!!!!

He we are this year at Ethan's birthday party. We had a lot of OSU stuff around our house that day, so I tried to even it out with a little BYU spirit!!!

Ethan's 7 Year Old Stats:

Height: 46.5 inches Weight: 50.5 lbs.

Shows: Between Lego Star Wars and Webkinz, movies have really taken a backseat in our house. He still loves Star Wars and High School Musical.

Color: Blue and red

Friends: Michael, Cameron, Collin, Bradey, Dallas, Ben, Lindsey, Luke, Mom, Dad

To Do: Play basketball, watch movies, go to church, play with friends, make baby sister laugh, tease Luke

Food: Ethan is a great eater, always has been. I don't know if it's because he is the first and so we were harder on him about eating his food or if it is just his personality. He almost NEVER complains about what we give him to eat. He sits down, eats ALL of his food and is ready to be off to his next task. We never have to bribe him to finish his food. He often eats seconds and occasionally thirds. The only thing I can think of that he doesn't like (at least of the stuff we've offered him) are olives.

His favorite foods are - PBJ sandwiches, all sandwiches, pancakes, cheeseburgers.

What we Love about Ethan: Ethan constantly amazes us with the things he is learning and his desire to learn new things every day. Ethan has been SO great to Luke this year, helping him get up and off to school everyday. Ethan sits by Luke on the bus and helps Luke when he cries. Ethan has gotten much kinder and sweeter to Linz also. He plays very cute with her and tries to include her most of the time. Ethan is a very well behaved kid at school and at church.

What Ethan has learned this year: Ethan has really taken off with his reading this last year. Ethan is a very SMART little boy and one of the best readers in his class. He is reading longer chapter books in school and amazes us with the books he checks out from the library to read. He has brought home several books about the Titanic and has loved learning about that ship. He loves to learn about different animals and has really gotten into the Webkinz world lately. Ethan has learned a lot about basketball and it is great to see his skills getting better over time. He is also learning what it means to stand up for what you believe and that there are many things that are not ok for us to do even though other kids (on the bus) do them. I hope that he will always stand up for what he believes in, especially as that gets harder and harder to do.

We are truly blessed to have Ethan as a part of our family and cherish the wonderful child and helper he is. I am SO excited to see how he blossoms into an even bigger helper when his baby brother is born. He will be old enough this time to really help with a baby, hold him, bring him to me, and hopefully change his diapers?!?!?!?! Ethan is our very easy going kid and always willing to do what we ask him to. He is always willing to try new things and picks up on things very quickly. We thank Heavenly Father every day for sending Ethan to us and pray that we can do our best to teach and guide him through his life. We sure LOVE you Ethan and we hope you had a great day.

Ethan with his gifts on his birthday.

My dad came down on Ethan's birthday (Martin Luther King Jr. day so no school.) That was a fun treat for us and it was fun for Ethan to spend some time with Grandpa ON his birthday.
We tried to take the kids roller skating (they are learning how in P.E. class) but they weren't open Monday night.

I haven't gotten Ethan's 7 year pictures taken yet, so I will get those up as soon as I get them done. Hopefully before the baby's newborn pictures or I will have pictures coming out of my ears (not like I don't already.)