Carson Grant Gunnell

Our fifth and final baby joined our family on Friday, January 3rd, 2014.

My pregnancy was uneventful and healthy. It was certainly cumbersome at the end lugging around this belly, my extra weight and caring for Max, Kate and Rhett and I am so very happy to be on the other side of this picture. That being said, I do enjoy being pregnant for the most part. It is such an amazing process and my favorite part is feeling the kicks and movements of the baby, it never gets old.

38 weeks pregnant, only 1 week to go here!

The morning of my scheduled c-section. We were to be at the hospital 2 hours before surgery, so this was around 4:30 or 5am?

My parents were at the house with the kids and we left a sleeping family for the hospital. This is also where I delivered Max and Kate, they do such a nice job here.

We waited around in OB triage while I got prepped: IV, vitals, medical history, met the doctor and anesthesiologist, etc. Then just before our 7:30am surgery I walked down the hall to the OR. They did my spinal block and draped me, after which Phil is allowed in the room. I always react to the medication they give me; I get really cold and start shaking uncontrollably. The nurse anesthetist was great and they kept piling warm blankets on me and around my head to keep me warm. It is such a weird thing to be on the operating table, awake but only have feeling from the chest up. I half listen to the conversations around me, the sounds of the room and surgery and I always get to watch the procedure as it is reflected in the big lights above me. Phil comes in and stands by my head, he usually rubs my hair at some point in a gesture of comfort and love. He has done that with every birth, I don't think he realizes it but it's something sweet I want to remember. 

At this point baby No Name Gunnell was born at 7:50am and the first thing the doctor and nurses exclaim is "look at all that hair!". They asked us what his name is and we reply that we don't know yet. They show me my sweet baby and then take him off to get checked out and cleaned up. I enjoy listening to his cries and the gentle banter between Phil and the staff as he cuts the cord and chats about med school and his future residency. The surgery finishes up and I hear the staple gun -ew!- and then get transferred to a bed and brought into the recovery area where Phil and our baby are. 

While I was still in the OR Phil was deliberating with himself on what name we were going to call him. It was either Carson Phillip or Finn Thompson. I pretty much left the decision in his hands. Throughout the entire pregnancy we struggled with a name. I wanted a name to jump out and grab me, something that I loved and just felt right. That name never really came so we were glad we finally narrowed it down to two contenders. 

Obviously we chose Carson and Phil changed his middle name to Grant, after his grandfather. It sounds lovely and we are very happy with it.

Phil continued to hold Carson in recovery while I was in and out due to the meds. He was snapping pictures to text to family and caught this little gem. Mwah!

After I was moved to my room Phil left us to return home to the other kids and show them pictures. They returned later that day. It was chaos but they were generally pretty darn excited to be there. Especially Kate. The boys were just interested in watching the TV and drinking all my water. They also met the cookie lady in the hall on the way down to see us.

Kate is obsessed with Carson. Just a few pictures to illustrate her elation at having a baby. I love her sweet face here, pure adoration.

 

Max was also cute with Carson but not as enamored. He held him and then moved on. Rhett pretty much could have cared less. He was being ornery as most 2 year olds are. 

 

I was in the hospital on our anniversary so we didn't celebrate in the traditional sense. Ha! We actually haven't celebrated at all. Just launched right into life with 4 littles. But I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else by my side. Love this man and it is always a treasure to watch him with our babies.

 

My sweet babe after he had his bath. Every time the hospital staff came into his room they would remark on his hair; the color, how it looks like it has highlights, how much, etc.

 

I stayed just the 3 days and came home on the 5th, our anniversary. I was ready to sleep in my own bed and not be bothered by the staff. Though it was so nice to have that quiet time with Carson, have three nice meals brought to me each day and be able to nap when the baby did. Though let's be honest, it wasn't that much! He nursed constantly as my milk wasn't in yet and he was a hungry guy! 

We sure love our boy! Welcome to the family Carson!

Christmas Morning 2013

Christmas morning was a fun one this year! Kate was so excited we had to stop her from getting into everything and wait for the boys to wake.
 

Poor Rhett was still passed out and we let him sleep a bit longer since we had gotten to bed so late the night before. He wasn't happy to be woken up but cheered right up with the chocolate in his stocking.



Opening their stockings while Rhett still slept.



We had the kids take turns opening gifts. Kate's gift from Santa was a new dress-up dress and accessories.



Rhett's Santa gift was Duplo lego blocks. A whole big bin of them! Santa scored when he found them with a Mater truck. (go me!)



Max's Santa gift was a really cool Spiderman house.

When Grandma Nay and Papa came into town a few days later they were bearing gifts too. Kate received this really nice baby doll crib and was literally giddy and giggly with excitement. She loves it!

 

It was a good and simple Christmas with just enough and not too much.

Christmas Happenings 2013

We had a busy and festive December. Here is a brief (kinda, but not really) photo rundown with caption to sum up our month. Ya know, since it is mid February and I am still talking about December and haven't even formally mentioned on the family blog that we have another child...Ahem, onward!


We decorated cute rice krispie houses thanks to Kendra, aka the best neighbor.
 

We baked and decorated sugar cookies. Which always sounds so fun and fabulous in my mind; the children and I happily baking together in a warm fuzzy kitchen with love and laughter abounding... It ends up being a fine balance or squabble between who dumped what ingredient into the mixer, children smearing dough everywhere and licking every cotton picking thing. But our picture makes it look happy! The kids had a good time and that is what matters of course, but baking is much more enjoyable with one child at a time.

 

I tried to make lunch a bit more fun and festive with Christmas tree quesadillas and tree broccoli.

 

We went on our annual ornament choosing date. Last year we went one on one with the kids and we should have done that again this year. I was feeling ambitious I guess taking the whole family into Hobby Lobby, land of the breakable everything, with three touchy children. It ended with Phil taking Rhett back out into the van where he finished his tantrum while Max and Kate and I shopped. Again, it always sounds better in my mind.

Rhett chose a robot. In reality they always gravitate towards some horrible kitschy something or other and we gently coerce them to choose something that reflects their interests during the year.



Max and a cute dinosaur and Kate with Hello Kitty. Truly her obsession this year. And if they had a Spiderman then Max would have been all over that.



The kids and I went to the temple and saw the beautiful lights.

Fun story: Phil was in Tucson for the month of December working at the hospital doing a psychiatry rotation. He would come home on the weekends. The night we went to the temple lights was a Wednesday, I went for mutual and hauled the kids with me since Phil was gone. Anyway, on the way home from the lights Phil called and asked how things were going. I gave him the rundown of our day/night and we chatted as I drove home and then said goodnight. I unloaded the kids from the van once we got home and we set up in the kitchen having a snack before bed, some of our sugar cookies. The kids were at the kitchen island, I was in the corner by the stove and sink handing out cookies. I saw Rhett and Max turn towards the hall and smile. I thought that was weird and started to turn the corner to see what they were grinning at. Phil roared at me and scared me so bad! I screamed, Kate screamed and started crying and the boys all laughed. He had been home the whole time we were talking on the phone and then when he heard us pull into the garage he hid in the boys' closet. He went so far as to park his car down the street so I wouldn't see it. Max had even gone into his room while he was hiding in the closet. Creeper! :)

 

Here are the boys reunited and below is what I wrote on Instagram with the above picture: "This strange man was hiding in the boys' closet while we were at the temple. He popped out while we were in the kitchen and scared the crap out of Kate and me. She cried and I screamed. Silly daddy drove up from Tucson to scare/surprise us only to turn around and drive back in the morning, work at the hospital and then drive back home after his shift to spend a long weekend with us. Love him!".

I thought he was crazy for driving back and forth so many times but he didn't mind and actually said he knew it would be the last time he could suprise/scare us so he took advantage. 

The Apache Junction Library had a free event to meet Santa and make a craft. They had a legit Santa too! He was so nice and the kids ran right up to him and gave him big hugs. No tears, no fear.

 

Christmas Eve was the annual Rapier party and our kids had a blast! There is always a delicious Mexican potluck and this year we out in the backyard, the weather was perfect. The kids played Christmas Bingo and got a present, we did the pinata, they ran around chasing after cousins and just had a really nice time. We stayed for 5 hours! This year for the nativity re-enactment they did puppets and our family was assigned to be an angel and two shepherds. Phil and I are mighty proud of our cute paper bag puppets.

 

It was a very nice season and we felt that we celebrated just the right amount, we didn't feel pulled in every direction but we had a good time.

The Nutcracker Ballet 2013

Kate and I got to attend a production of the Nutcracker Ballet and it was such a fun date for us girls! My friend J'lene called me to tell me about a groupon (she is the queen of deals) and asked if we would like to join her and her daughter Lili. So we dressed up in our best and headed off for lunch before the show.

 

We lunched at Paradise Bakery and the girls were just thrilled to be out on a date minus siblings. It was really fun to focus on just Kate for a few hours.
 

After a lovely lunch of creamy mac and cheese for Kate, soup and grilled cheese for me, we went to a local high school where the show was being held. Since we were a groupon deal we waited in line for the people in charge to get a handle on the large amount of people there with vouchers. I counted my blessings that I only had one child to occupy/keep track of! It was a bit of a wait for a 4 year old and the auditorium lobby was crowded.

We took advantage of the time and made sure our tiny bladders would make it through the show. There weren't assigned seats and J'lene found seats near the front stage left. It was nice to be up close so the girls could see since they were too small to sit properly in the auditorium seats and still be able to see the ballerinas.
 

Kate did really well. I was grateful that it was a matinee showing, a small but very nice production that was just the right size for Kate's first outing and exposure to the ballet. We didn't have to worry too much about them being too loud when they "whispered" or fidgety bodies.

During intermission they clearly were inspired and were dancing and twirling around like the ballerinas on stage. So cute!

 

We had a really nice time together and I hope to make this an annual tradition.