Post Much?

Holy cow, three children is a lot. Good thing I'm not in school this semester, because this mom thing is harder than I want. That's okay, because we have some cute kids. Even though Grant and Henry have turned into the devil, we still love them! James is a little bit of a screamer, but it's getting better now that he is on some reflux medicine. Ben is busy teaching guitar and running the music for "Deep Love: A Ghostly Folk Opera." Life is nuts but we adore our little family. It's a huge test in our patience, that's for sure. But again, our kids are cute so we'll keep them around. If they were ugly, we'd think a little harder about it... jk. 

When James was about 2 weeks old, we tried to do a photo shoot. Yeah- we're not professionals. These are the only ones I'll post.

GRANT! Here are some pictures we've taken of those other kids we have :)

HENRY!!! What a FUNNY kid!

And JAMES. I think I might just eat him one of these days!!!

Well, until I find 5 minutes again to post! Have a Happy Halloween!!!

We Had Another Kid!

Hi everyone!!

In case you missed it- we had our little baby. 

It's a BOY!

We named him James Earl Mathews. Go ahead- get all your darth vader jokes out now... I swear we haven't heard any of them yet ;-/ James after my dad's middle name and Earl after Ben's dad's middle name. He was 6 lbs 10 oz- that makes him our largest baby- by an ounce. He came pretty fast- here is the story:

Ben's family came into town on the 12th (Sunday) on their way to Yellowstone. After church they offered to take the boys with them. Ben and I couldn't say yes fast enough :) They got on the road at about 5ish... and Ben and I went to settle down for the rest of the evening. We relaxed and marveled at how quiet it was. I could tell I was contracting a lot- but what else is new? We sat down and watched a movie and I decided that maybe I should time them (I hate doing that because I feel like I make them up). The contractions went from 4 minutes a part to 3 minutes a part during the movie. At about 9:30 I called my midwife and asked what I should do! **NOTE- both my waters were broken in the hospital with the first two (one due to kidney stones, the other due to high blood pressure) so I really felt like this was all new to me!** My midwife said I should wait for them to get intense, not necessarily for timing of the contractions.

At this point, we decided to pack a bag for the hospital. While chatting with my sister, I remembered that we needed to bring the carseat. I felt very unprepared but we gathered things anyway (plus, I live 2 miles from the hospital- I wasn't worried). 10:30 rolled around and I felt some pressure in places I shouldn't be feeling it, so we jumped in the car and got to the hospital around 11pm.

This is me minutes before we walked out the door. lovely.

The nurses monitored me for about an hour, and then my midwife told me to go walking around the hospital for an hour- at that point (midnight) I was 5cm and 80% effaced (I had hardly changed since my last few appointments). I walked for an hour and man oh man... did the contractions get really intense. I came back and they checked me again. The walking was working- I was fully effaced and 8 cm. This picture is one I sent to my sister... it kind of hurt. 

At this point, they transferred me down the hall to a labor and delivery room. It was the room next to where Grant was epically born, side note. I got into that room at about 1:30 am. I labored for about 30 minutes and holy cow- did the contractions get intense. They were worse than Henry's delivery- that's for sure. At 2 am she broke my water, and this cute guy was born at 2:07 am. 

Aw- he's a little bit small!

He has many faces!! 

Angry James

Aunt Laurel came to visit. For the love- she's the cutest, too. 

Back at our place! Ben made that little onesie. Cute.

 Remember how the boys were in Yellowstone? We decided to take James up there to meet his brothers and bring them home. Henry and Grant LOVE him, and here is Henry loving him some James :)

I love this picture. Ben LOVES all his boys, but it is heart melting to see him with the boys when they're newborns. My midwife said to me today, "Your husband seems really supportive." I agreed and thought what an understatement that was. He is an amazing husband and father. 

For the love! I love this kid. He's so awesome. He is starting to smile in his sleep and he is really well mannered (so far!). James, I'm SO GLAD you're here. We are a complete family (for now) with you in our lives. I've never seen your older brothers so excited to love someone! You're an amazing addition to our crazy little family of boys!

PS- Check out how much sweet baby James looks like Grant!!!

Some Pictures

I had my last week of classes last week and now I don't know what to do with myself (my messy and not unpacked house knows what I can do!). My dad's in town this week and my husband and little sister (who is living with us for her 7 week break between semesters) are all out four-wheeling... leaving me alone with the crazies. It's such a nice day outside, but I'm having a panic attack THINKING about having to chase either one of them. So- today will be an indoors kind of day. It's been about 3 weeks since they've played the Wii... maybe it's time to bust it out? We'll see.

I checked my school email today and got these pictures from my teacher. This was our last day of class last week- so I'm 35 weeks along plus 1 day (or rather, in my 36th week... anyone else get annoyed at trying to figure out how far along you are?!). I thought these two pictures were fun. Enjoy :)

Here I am... at the top of the climbing wall! I had a blast- Ben was not happy with me for going up without a chest harness... but the other pregnant girl started climbing, and I may or may not have gotten really competitive (also- this competition is totally in my head). In case you're wondering- she didn't make it to the top. AH! I'm evil. 

 We had a pie? eating contest. Actually- it was whipped cream and we had tootsie rolls in the bottom of the pan and we had to get them out. My teacher is the cute one two people away from me in the green shirt. She's kind of awesome- and it you want to hear how she put certain people in their place this semester- just come ask me. It was my favorite time of day! haha Sad that class is over. 

(Also... I didn't realize that I looked this big! haha)

36 Weeks

Just got home from the midwife... things are looking just fine. Baby's heart rate is great, and my blood pressure is looking normal (which is good because that's the reason they broke my water with Henry- high blood pressure). I'm 2cm and 70% effaced. At this time with Henry I was 4 cm and 100% effaced, so it's slower than last time. My midwife asked me what my kid's weights have been, and she is "guessing" that this child will surpass 7 lbs! haha... Henry was 6 lbs 9 oz and Grant was our light weight at 5 lbs 15 oz. I know I'm "lucky" to have small babies- so I'm not really excited she's guessing for a "bigger" baby. Has anyone ever seen Ben's head?! Regardless of what this baby will be (boy or girl?) and what it will look like (I'm clueless on this one too- I have two children that look nothing a like), we have no idea when this child will make it's way into the world.

In the meantime, I'm going to go to Utah with Ben this weekend and see him battle it out at Battle of the Bands in Provo. If you're around... COME! Please come!!! It means so much to Ben (and to me) when his family and friends come to hear him play. His band is "Amber Lynn Stopell" and he's actually playing bass in this band. They are pretty good and if they make it past these semi finals on Friday, they'll go to the finals on Saturday.

Hope everyone is doing well. I'll post some pictures when I get around to it. Ha. That's the story of my life right now- "when I get around to it."

Love US

Winding Down... or Getting Started?

This week has been pretty nuts! I haven't taken many pictures because, let's be honest, I've been a little busy. We've been traveling all over (without children). I flew to Chicago to see one of my friends from growing up get married. I was 35 weeks along during all of it and I left the kids with Ben. I was gone for 5 days, and it was so nice to be kids free. I missed them like crazy (funny how that works- they make us want to pull our hair out one day and we can't live with out them the next minute), but they didn't mind I was gone! I would try and talk to them on the phone or Skype with them- and they didn't want anything to do with me. Awesome. My brother happened to be visiting my parents at the same time and I am SURE we were just as annoying to my parents as we've been in the past.

I came home to a week of exams and final projects. After a crazy semester, I got everything done- and I did it with flying colors. My entire school career up until now has not been great. Going back to school scared me to death because I think I tend to not finish things. I feel like I've dropped classes when they seemed too hard and I've always had a hard time sticking it out. This time has been totally different. I want to do well! I want to learn! I especially want my husband to never have to second guess us moving to the middle of nowhere so his wife can finish up what she never did in the first place. That brings me to Ben...

Ben and I always say how perfect we are- for each other. I know I'm not perfect, and I am aware that he is not perfect either. But we are so incredibly perfect for each other. I love him so much! What spouse, in their right mind, would go and finish his masters degree and then head right back to where we said we'd never go again- (BYU-I) JUST so their wife could finish school!? Ben would. I may not be amazing at a lot of things when it comes to being a wife, and I think that a lot of people will feel that way. However, I married a man who is so incredibly supportive of the things that I need to do, want to do, and things that will make me happy. In case you missed it, I was in school, full time, all summer with two children and one on the way. The ONLY way that was possible was for Ben to be there and take care of the boys while I was in class. He is amazing, and I could blog about him all day- but I'll keep it short. I know I have about 3 semesters left, but I'm so deeply grateful for all he does for us. I know a lot of people question what we have decided to do (some vocal, some not so vocal), but this is the right choice for us. It's really hard, I'm not going to lie, but how can I not try my best with a husband like Ben!!!? ...

Back to school- this is my blog- so I can brag as much as I want! haha But I walked away from school this semester with my first 4.0 in my entire life. The funny thing is that now I'm off academic probation! Hooray!! hahaha

Ben took a quick trip down to Panaca, NV for a Mathews Family Reunion. I didn't go with him (tho I really wanted to) because I've started dilating and effacing. Probably not the best choice to head down to the desert and maybe go into labor. I had the kids by myself for a good 3 days... I've decided that when women are this far along in pregnancies... being a single mom is no bueno. I'm glad I kept somewhat of a record with Henry, because it seems like this pregnancy is following the end of his a little. Because of some crazy contractions this week, I went in to make sure everything was good (and see if I could go to NV- nope) and that's where I learned that I'm 2cm and 70% effaced (this was on Wednesday). But that doesn't mean much because I was at a 4 for 2 weeks with Henry and pretty much fully effaced until they broke my water for me (high blood pressure). So time will tell. I have an appointment this week and well see if I'm making any progress. I'm not ready for a third! I have so much to do- but I'm ready to meet this little girl or boy- and so are Grant and Henry. According to Grant, this baby will be coming out of my mouth... we'll go with that for now.

Ben has a BATTLE OF THE BANDS semi-finals in Provo this weekend (27th and maybe the 28th). PLEASE COME and support him. His band is so good... of course- he isn't ever in anything that isn't good! I would love to go with him, but time will tell. Who knows?! The problem with not going is that the boys will stay here with me and it's so freaking hot out, that it makes me miserable- to the point that I seriously start getting tears in my eyes for so many reasons (mostly how hot it gets) by the end of the day. I just don't like sending them outside because I have to go too, and then we don't have a nice cool house to come back inside to... so we stay indoors most days. If anyone wants to come up and be their nanny while I try and actually unpack my house before this baby comes... you're more than welcome to do so! haha

Alright- I'll end this word vomit session for now. We miss everyone and hope all are doing well!

-Rochelle and Co.

Do you know that I love America?

Grant has started asking us things like, "Mom? Do you know how I love you?" It's adorable to Ben and me because we say that to him- "Do you know that I love you?" Glad it's rubbing off him!!! 

It's been a crazy summer so far- busy. We have been trying to have fun as well as finish up the semester, put our house together (ha), entertain people, and get ready for this baby that's going to be here before we know it.

This post is going to be a dumping of both phone pictures and some we actually took with our camera. I honestly doubt anyone is reading this anymore, but I feel awful for the lack of posting- because I feel like I'm going to regret it down the road. Please excuse the Facbook duplicates.

Grant loving him some custard. Can you believe that this huge thing only cost $1?!?! We love this place.

 And Henry- also a fan of the custard.

 Some onesies Ben and I made for the baby. Ben's are the cool ones on the left, mine are the crappy ones on the right.

 We took a quick trip last month to Utah and got together with some cousins. This picture is so funny.

 A few weeks ago was the Rexburg Airshow. If you have learned anything while reading this blog, it's that my boys  (all THREE) LOVE airplanes. We only live about a mile away from the airport and we see planes every day! Henry was having a rough time in the heat at the show. Sad.

Last weekend, we had a FULL house. My parents drove out from Chicago and so my sisters and some cousins all came up to play. Holy Monkies, Batman! I love how my mom tries to get pictures of all the kids, and expects them to sit still. Um... don't you remember having NINE kids? haha

When I was around 28/30 weeks, I climbed the tower here at BYU-Idaho. I've done it about 3 or 4 times so far- one day I even did a solo-climb. I've loved all the energy I've had this summer. Anyway, that's me at the top of the tower. Ben told me I need to stop telling him what it is I'm doing at school... haha.

I'm HORRIBLE at posting pictures of my belly. And each pregnancy I wonder what I look like and what I did look like with the other babies. This first one is me at 30 weeks. The baby was still super content to hang out INSIDE my organs- so I don't look very big.

 Since then the baby has turned into some gymnast who flips around ALL DAY LONG. So here I am TODAY! at 33.5 weeks. This child is insane. How fitting. I'm sure in an hour, my stomach will go back to not looking huge again. It differs every hour. haha

FOURTH OF JULY!!!

We had a blast this week on the 4th. We don't really have any friends, so we didn't do anything with a ton of people, just our little family. Here are the boys testing out someone's slack line. They both LOVED it. Grant was a natural... of course.

 Henry did a pretty good job, and cried when we had to leave. Strange- I know.

 We came back home after the parade and made some shirts for the day. The boys did most of the painting on the shirts- and they LOVED them! Ben made the templates- he is so creative.

 And here they are on the boys. Cute, right?! 

(I'm pretty sure Henry is eating a cracker)

 Here is a tired Henry after so much fun. Do you ever look at your kids and have the thought, "DANG! My kid is so cute!" Yes- I had that thought when I saw him napping like this.

 We opted out of the Idaho Falls Fireworks show and did our own thing in our driveway. The boys were frightened, but we still had fun. Crazy part was that about 5 homes in our little subdivision did their own fireworks, so we had a show for about an hour- in the comfort of our own house.

Guess what Grant learned how to do?! RIDE A TWO WHEELER!

He got it on the FIRST TRY! Wow- what a great little kid. He is really turning into a dare devil... something that he has not always been.  Also- that is how Henry rides his bike. It's actually Grant's trike that Henry is too short for- but since Grant has wanted to ride the two wheeler, Henry has resorted to pushing this thing around. ALL OVER THE NEIGHBORHOOD. It's pretty funny.

 The view from the boy's room the night of the 4th. Wow!

Some Updates

Totally odd, I know, but I'm busy. Who would have even thought that a mom of 2 who is also a full time student would get busy?! I did want to take a minute and update (mostly myself so I don't forget later) people on what's going on in our household. So- here are the things that either you're DYING TO KNOW- or couldn't care less about!

1- We are "moved in" to our house. We love it. It's gorgeous and we are so incredibly happy. The boys RUN AND RUN and it makes us all of happy that we aren't living on top of each other anymore. Some of my favorite things about our new place- my sink. It's so deep. Do you ever have a sink that is about 3" deep and even 1 fork in the sink makes it look like you haven't done dishes in months!? Ugh- I hate that. But our sink is super deep. I also love our fridge. It makes me happy. I also love having COUNTER SPACE! Every time we'd go to move to another rental I would swear that I would only say yes to a place with lots of counter space. Never happened. But now we have it and I'm in heaven. Ah- the simple things!

2- I'm pregnant! Remember? haha  This pregnancy has been strange (different) from the beginning. While I feel like I still got sick, and did for just as long- it was a different kind of sick. I am now WELL aware of how to control the morning sickness, but I think the controlling just made me sleep all the time at the beginning. But being in school has actually seemed to do wonders for me. I walk all over. I'm in a water aerobics class. I am at the ropes course every week (and my midwife said I can climb it if I want to... I'll be doing that on Wednesday night... pictures to come). My body is responding very well and I'm feeling great. It's funny to see people's reactions when I don't let my pregnancy "disable" me. There are is one particular woman who is pregnant in one of my classes who is only a week behind me, and she uses it to get out of EVERYTHING we do that is remotely active (like stand up for more than 30 seconds). She's even said that she's just lazy and tired. Um... I'm tired too. ANYWAY- I feel great. On Tuesday I will be 29 weeks along. We're getting close! I'm starting to panic a little about that fact that there is life after being pregnant, and for me, that means 3 kids. WHAT!? I am so focused on school that I hardly ever think about the baby OUTSIDE of me. Anyone else like that? Oh well... life is good.

3- School. I love school. I was never fond of it before. For me, deciding to uproot my small family, take my husband away from any other job that could benefit us NOW or in the near future, and landing back at BYU-Idaho, it all changed my motivation. I want to do well. I never really cared that much before. If I didn't study- no big deal- I deserved the grades I got. Now I actually TRY because my motivations have changed. I'm in school to learn, not just because it's the next thing in life to do. I'm sure that sounds strange to most of you- but it took me this entire time to LIVE that lesson. I knew it all along- I just didn't do it. Grant is also in school, and he is LOVING every minute of it. Because he does pre-school through BYU-Idaho, we get to sit in their observation booth and watch as he learns and plays. It's so interesting to see how he does. He is still crazy, but his teachers are amazing and can handle his craziness very well. He loves everything he is learning, and it's sticking. We love learning in this house!!!

4- Ben and Henry. These two are awesome. Ben is Mr. Stay at home dad during the week, but is still working hard on getting things lined up. He has already played with his band and other bands for a few shows. Ben played at i-Cover (the equivalent to Guitars Unplugged from a while ago) last night with one of his bands- and they ROCKED IT. Really- it was amazing. They were the ONLY band ALL NIGHT LONG to get more than 5 people interested in what they were doing. He is so amazing. I love him. Henry is a funny, crazy, silly, smart,  and a sneaky little boy. He loves to play with Grant and the two of them are becoming such great friends (when Grant is not punching him in the face! who does that?!?!). Henry loves sugar. Holy Cow. He is always asking for donuts, cookies, cupcakes, etc. And it's not like we always give them to him! Oh well- a typical kid, I guess. 

So that is life right now. We're learning the science of having no A/C in our home- and so far- so good. We forgot to leave the windows open last night, so our house was already 10 degrees warmer today that it was yesterday. Oh well... We'll stay in the basement today. We hope everyone is having a great summer. We miss all our friends and family!

Love Us.

Excitement

Things I'm excited for this week:

Spending time with my family here:

Sleeping under this cool ceiling and fan:

Having my clothes hung up and folded here- and not in my suitcase on the floor.

Aaaaaand soaking in this:

But not so excited that our new neighbor's sprinkler is broken and causing the first lake in Rexburg in our new backyard (well, it really is only crossing part of the property line.

Can't wait for this week.

Happy Mother's Day!

I love my mom. I don't know of many people who don't love their mom- but mine is pretty awesome. I'm amazed at the size of her heart. She loves each one of her 100 kids equally and just as intensely as the next. She also has such an amazing love for her grandchildren. She has 9 of them- and each one of them, no matter how far or near, know that they are loved by a grandma who makes them each feel like they are the only ones that matter. I think that's an amazing talent! She also has a huge heart for everyone else! Today, on Mother's Day, she took some flowers and cookies (or a treat- I can't remember) to one of her friends who was alone on Mother's Day. She's just selfless like that. Happy Day to YOU, MOM!

Also, I have such a great little family of my own. I have an amazing husband who makes me proud to be the mother of his children. I'm also so blessed to have such crazy and amazing children. Grant and Henry are the LIGHT of my life! Being in school makes me realize how much I love them even more. I always want to talk about them because not only are they MY kids- they're also HILARIOUS and super smart. Still wondering where they got those two traits from... must be Ben :) 

Today we successfully drove to Mesa Falls- and we had some fun! 

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment!

This kid cracks me up- "CHEESE!"

 Smiling at the Mesa Falls Overlook. Holy cow- it's just going to get harder to get us all to smile at the same time!

 What a good brother! Grant is "gently" trying to get Henry to NOT run away.

 Why hello there! Have some wrinkles. haha

 Ugh- I love my boys- all 3 of them! They were SO EXCITED to see the waterfall.

 Fun picture.

 Ben- what's up?

 HAHAHahahaha. Nice.

 Ben took this cool picture. Love it.

 Peek-a-boo!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to every female out there!