Introducing my little bonbon

Ali "Jo" Reil named after her grandparents Linda "Jo" Lee and "Jo"seph John Pittl was born at 8:42 this morning.  She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and measured 20.5 inches long. 

Proud Papa.

Exhausted, but elated Mama.

I love to kiss her super soft cheeks!

We are already smitten.

So are Gramma and Grampa.

And all of her brothers and sister!

Ali, we are so glad you're in our family.  We love you so much!!

The journey of the belly

Positive pregnancy test

End of first trimester

Half way

End of second trimester

The eve before her birth

My belly always gets as huge as it did with the twins, ugh!

Girls vs. Boys

Our girls are outnumbered 2 to 1 in our family. 

Tomorrow we will bridge that gap a little bit, tee hee!

Babies with babies!

Ruby came over to play the other day and she and Hiram could not get enough of playing with the babies!

They were so cute hugging them, kissing them, and feeding them their bottles.  I love to see such sweet little ones nurturing others, even if they are toys!

Two visitors

Two visitors came to stay with us during the same week.  Elder Ted E. Bear from church and Fuzzy the recycled polar bear from school.

Teague had a blast with his special company!

Big boy bed!

Hiram was a little sad to lose his crib.

But then he was so excited to get a big boy bed!

He is my only child that has never fallen out of bed while making this transition.

He does sometimes switch sides of the bed to have his head lay in the same direction it laid when he was in the crib.  What a cutie!

Nesting

With the oncoming arrival of our 8th family member, we had a lot of preparation to do!  First of all, we had to buy a new 8-passenger vehicle.  We sold our 2001 Toyota Sienna and bought our first brand-new car ever, a 2014 Honda Odyssey.  We loved our Sienna, but we went with the Odyssey this time because the 8th seat seemed more substantial than that in the Sienna, plus the Odyssey offered a built-in DVD player whereas the Sienna only offered that for their 7-seater.  With 6 kids and a huge summer road trip on the horizon we'll need some digital entertainment  =).

Next we had to get Hiram out of the crib...

...and into his big boy bed!  Someday they will have matching comforters.

Noe's room had to make room for two...

...and now is the home of the crib.  I have to repaint the artwork and can't wait to reveal their new gallery wall.

Gavin and Teague's room didn't need a change, but we pushed their beds together for when the grandparents come to visit.  The boys like it so much they might just keep it this way.

We set up the pack & play crib in our room (and it will be a lifesaver on the previously mentioned road trip).

We also got a new table with 2 benches and 2 chairs so all 8 of us can eat in the kitchen.  Our dining room is a little crowded so we save that for Sunday dinners and now we can all eat our other dinners comfortably!

Our basement is now even more of a zoo with all of our old kitchen, boys' room, and girl's room furniture!

 

Our extra furniture is special to us and we'd like to save it for if we ever move to a house with bigger bedrooms or more bedrooms.  The girl furniture is sentimental as it was mine as a little girl.  The boy furniture is sentimental as it was my parents' and grandparents' before them.  I wish we had family nearby that could take (and keep) the boy furniture and take (and borrow, ha) the girl furniture.  I'm so grateful to have a home that we can all fit in so cozily!

May Showers bring Baby Towers (of gifts!)

I felt so spoiled in April when my mom and family threw me a baby shower in Las Vegas.  I felt even more spoiled in May when Mary and my friends in Ottawa threw me another one!  Pink rubber duckies, pink cupcakes, and spring flowers always make me smile!

My sweet friends pitched in and got me an amazing group gift- a pack & play crib (and 2 boxes of diapers, a baby doll, and baby stickers)!  I also received darling individual gifts.  I always feel guilty when people spend money on me, but I am so grateful for everyone's kindness and generosity.  I even had friends that weren't able to make it to the shower still give me gifts.  I really am a lucky lady!

Mary, Itzel, and Grace.

Jackie and Marsha.

Kala (pregnant with a girl), Josiane, and Jenn (also pregnant with a girl).

 

Danielle, Catherine, and Anngela.

Sheri (pregnant with a boy) and Rhonda.

*My friend Maggie is also pregnant with twin boys.  I love that we'll have a bumper crop of babies soon!

When Jackie packed up her van to drive me home, she brought the flowers too.  I just adore flowers!

Mary Ellen couldn't make it to the shower, but she brought over this darling and delicious cake!

Itzel gave darling gifts to baby girl AND she pampered me with a pedicure.  I'm so excited to have cute toes and soft feet in the hospital!

Baby girl already has a collection of her own baby dolls.

And I just can't wait to play dress-up with my new baby doll!

Are We Not All Mothers?

Every Mother's Day I am so full of gratitude for being a mother and so full of guilt for not being a perfect one.  I am so grateful for my own dear mother and for all of the women who have mothered me throughout my life.  My heart breaks for all of the women who want to have their own children, but haven't had the opportunity to do so yet.  This year for Mother's Day each of my school children made me sweet gifts.  Kaleb made me a card of his hand prints stretched out saying "I love you THIS much."  Noé made me a darling flower sculpture.  Gavin made me a lovely art project with an acrostic poem.  Teague made me a stepping stone for our garden.  At church all of the women were given a booklet "Are We Not All Mothers?" by Sheri Dew, who does not have any children of her own.  It is a beautiful little read and I will share some of my favorite quotes.

"Motherhood is the essence of who we are as women."

"Our (Heavenly) Father has entrusted us, His daughters, with His children, and He has asked us not only to LOVE them but to help LEAD them safely past the dangers of this world back home."

"If motherhood is divine and eternal and core to the nature of every woman- and it is- no wonder, then, that Lucifer would do everything in his considerable power to demean and undermine everything about motherhood, hoping to confuse women with worldly enticements or secular philosophies that appear more satisfying or dazzling or even more enlightening."

"All around us are those who need to be loved and led, nurtured and mentored.  The spiritual rewards of mothering are available to all."

"Mothers heal the souls of men."

I am so excited to have a new little baby join our family and to have our family compete.  I am also so sad that this will be our last little baby.  My mother had me, then almost 9 years later had her second child.  My 4 siblings were then born within 5 1/2 years.  I remember her telling me that she thought she would always have a new baby and she was so sad when that time in her life ended.  After 3 years of infertility struggles I finally became pregnant with Kaleb and Noé.  They were almost 5 before I had Gavin.  Now I've had these last 4 in 7 1/2 years and I can totally relate to how my mother felt.  I feel like I have always had a baby on my hip and that I always will.  I won't though, I can't have babies every few years throughout mortality, it's physically not possible.  I am so grateful for my belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ and that my divine nature as a mother will continue throughout the eternities.

I am grateful everyday for my wonderful husband.  He is such a caring father and does so much for our family.  He inspires me daily to be a better wife and mother.  I am so grateful for my knowledge that Families ARE Forever!!