Just a few more pics. . .

William is doing really well. He is eating great and sleeping well. He is a little cuddle-bug. His little face got pretty smashed in the process of delivery, so did Daniel's I remember. I am sorry my entries are brief, I really will be more interesting in a few more days. I am a bit tired but I thought I would at least post pictures for those who check often, and mostly for Mom and Dad who are far, far away. : )

I love you all lots and lots, and hope you are all well.

Love, Me

Baby Will

Some pictures of brand new William Turner. It is so funny, I keep calling him Daniel. He is very precious. He only cries when he gets his diaper changed or if he is hungry. He is very mellow and calm. I try to be the same and it seems to make all the difference. I will write more later -I am still recovering and I am pretty darn tired. I will gain my energy back again soon. : )

Lots of love, Me

Sammi and Daniel love their new baby brother. He fits right into our little family. They have been so good with him. It has been very sweet.

Where there's a "Will" there's a way!

I will keep this brief. I am pretty tired. : ) Here is our little William Turner. He was 8lbs 2oz. 20 inches long. He is a sweet baby. I was induced and I did it without an Epidural - Ouch! I will write more of the interesting details at a later time. For now pictures and I must rest - I just got home!

Love you all lots and lots!

Love, Mari

Happy Birthday Dan!

It is Daniel's 4th birthday today - amazing! I love Daniel so much. He has been such a joy to me. Last night Sammi decided to make Daniel "a surprise". She made him some birthday cards and then took a bunch of his old toys and displayed them on the kitchen table for him to see when he woke up. At first I was unsure about what she was doing. I almost stopped her because I did not want Daniel to be disappointed not getting any new toys and she was making a big deal about a surprise for him and he could not peek. So, in the morning he woke up at 6am and said "Mommy, can I go out now?" and I told him he could. I watched as he looked at his surprise with great excitement and joy. He said, "Sammi did this for me? Now I can play with my toys!" After Sammi woke up she read him the cards she wrote and he said, "Thanks Sam, I love it." I was so amazed and pleased with Daniel's ability to be happy with what he has. Never once did he say, "Ok, that is nice, now cough up the good stuff." I think I learned a bit about what it is like to be child-like. To appreciate the things you have for what they are and to not "need" more. How many of us would be thrilled to have all of our "old toys" laid before us on our birthday - could we be thrilled with what we already have? I love Daniel he is a great example to me. Sammi was so thoughtful to do that for Dan. She knew he would like it because she is a child and can see through child eyes. I love them for it.

Tomorrow is the day! Tomorrow will be William's birthday. I go in at 7am to start the process of induction. The doctor said we should go for it since I already measure over due on my belly/baby size. He thinks he is close to or perhaps 9lbs already - we will see. We do not want to let him get too much larger though, he needs to fit on his way out. : ) So, tomorrow say a little extra prayer for me and for my strength to hold up. I am going to attempt to be induced without an epidural! Whew! We will see about that! The doctor said it is possible though - I will give it a good go. I actually started having really hard contractions last night. I actually prayed that I could wait, I really wanted Daniel to have his birthday today without rushing to the hospital. I am grateful that the contractions tapered off and I can go in tomorrow. We can have Daniel's little pizza and cake party tonight. : )

If all is well I will be home on Friday afternoon. I will make sure and post tons of pictures. Sam and Dan will be staying at a friends house so that will be nice as well. I am so excited to meet our latest addition to the family. Wish me luck!

Lots of love,

Mari

A Sunday night walk in the park

39 weeks - I am ready!
The magical waterfall

The trees are so pretty!
Sammi watching the huge goldfish in the pond
We went for a walk at Manito Park last night. We usually go for Sunday walks. That is when Sam and Dan get to walk with us. We normally have them in the stroller so we can go at our pace. Sundays are special and they get to walk and they love it! We had a great time strolling through the park. It smelled so good, all the flowers are blooming and the Lilac trees are all starting to bloom. It was such a lovely night. : )

I am so ready for baby to come. Nothing yet. I have my next appointment on Tuesday and then I can set up an induction date any day after that. I really want to do it "naturally" but I also do not want the baby to get too big (the doctors concern as well). Though the last check up he said William did not feel too huge. How can you really tell when they are inside though? Anyway, so if nothing happens before Tuesday afternoon I will be able to let you know when we will "go in" to have the baby. Wish me luck. I really, really want to go naturally into labor. If not, I will still be happy. : ) WINK!

Lots of love to everyone. I hope you all are well! Have a happy day.

Love, Me

Sitting by the duck pond
Sammi feeding the ducks. They were so full they would not eat!
Daniel feeding the ducks. He was watching out for the geese though - they bit him last time!

A Sunday walk in the park

Murmuring

Hear no evil!

See no evil!
Speak no evil!
The other night while we were doing our scripture study we read about Nephi and how he was so good at not murmuring.

1 Nephi chapter 3: 5-6

5. And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment from the Lord.

6. Therefore go, my son, and thou shalt be favored of the Lord, because thou hast not murmured.

As we read this to the kids a thought came into my mind that we needed a little family challenge. I have recently heard that there is a group of people doing a no complaining challenge. You cannot complain for a certain amount of days or you are a loser (I cannot remember what happens if you do complain). Anyhow, in my family we are doing the no murmuring challenge. We explained to the kids what murmuring meant. No whining, complaining, or otherwise negative talk. Charles asked me if I thought all complaining is considered murmuring. I thought about it and I do not think you can complain without complaining against God. He certainly hears us when we do. As a parent how sad is it to hear your kids complain about their life, no matter how small or big they are. We all have troubles large and small but I believe they can be made smaller by complaining less and being grateful more. Complaining is, "of the dark side". You complain because you are afraid, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the Dark side! I also recently read about how the adversary cannot read our thoughts, but he can hear us if we speak out loud. If we are always murmuring about things - he will know where to attack. I do not want to give him any power over me!

So our challenge is for 7 days, no complaining or negative speaking in any way. At the end of the 7 days if we all can do it we are going to have a happy party and enjoy our new found skill. They also say after 7 days you can form a habit - that is my goal. Nix the complaining all together - increase the gratitude. I also think you cannot murmur and have faith at the same time. You cannot serve two masters. Nephi was loved by God because he was always grateful and he always praised God even in times of great affliction, he was a great man of faith. His brothers Laman and Lemuel saw angels and miracles just as Nephi did but they were whiners. Always murmuring, always complaining, always lacking in faith and abudant in doubt. I am going to give it a good old Nephi try and replace my murmuring with gratitude and replace my fears with greater faith. : )

Another thing I noticed while reading the scriptures was that it was murmuring that would cause the Liahona to stop working for them. If they murmured and lost faith they would lose the use of the compass which pointed them to the promised land. How often is that true for us? How often do we lose our heading to "the promised land" because of our lack of faith and constant complaining about the journey there? We are sent here to be happy. Though the journey may be rough at times I think we can make it more pleasant and find more joy in the journey. We can see the beauty of the rose, and not be deterred from its beauty by the thorns that lead up to its beautiful petals. : )

I know I probably picked some of the silliest 7 days to give this no complaining thing a go. I should be giving birth anyday now. If I can make it through child birth without complaint then I will know that I am the master of my mind and my body. Wish me luck on that!! Where there's a "WILL" there's a way! Come on Will! I am ready!

Lots of Love to you all!

Love, ME

Sammi and Julia

So, I went to the doctor yesterday. I am 3 cm. dilated and 70% effaced. That could mean anything. At least it means progress has been made - that is good. It could be anyday now. I am just waiting on pins and needles!

I babysat today for Sammi's friend Julie and her brother James. They are really good kids and my kids love them. I normally would not babysit so close to giving birth but it was only for an hour. It went fine.

I will keep everyone posted on progress here. For now we wait. . .

Love, Me

Yesterday we went over to our friends house for Sunday night dinner. It was great. Our friends made Mexican lasagna and homemade salsa - amazing. It was a great night. They are a family here as Medical residence for a year and they will be moving in June. Their daughter is Sammi's best friend and they have a little boy that Daniel loves to play with. When I first got there they brought the chips and Salsa to me and the "doctor" came over to me and said that it was my salsa and he had put pitocin in it. Nice. I felt comfortable being there with them because if I were to go into labor the Doc could have had me all taken care of. He has delivered tons of babies so that was nice to know. Anyhow, no action happen last night even after the salsa. We stayed there way too late, but it was a great time.

They also had some other members over from the ward for the dinner. They were a pretty young couple. They had just had their second baby who was born blind. It was pretty sad. She apparently was missing an eyeball and they could tell that from the ultrasound. They thought the other eye might be ok but when she came out there was only the white of the eye, no pupil. They had a little tube sticking in her eye which was making room for a false eye which she will get when she is two. It was really amazing to see this precious baby. She pretty much cried all the time too, I am sure it must be uncomfortable to have a little tube stuck in her eye socket. She was a little princess, I held her and tried to comfort her for awhile (I think she had gas). Sammi asked me if William was going to be like that - crying all the time. I told her little babies do cry. We will just have to see how William is. Seeing this little baby made me realize how fragile life is and how precious little babies are. I was amazed at the strength of the parents who are both under 24 and just starting school. I am always amazed at the strength that people have when faced with trials and difficulties. I love such good example. They are some tough cookies.

I have been put on hold with my calling at church for awhile. I get to have maternity leave or something. Then who knows what they will do. As much as I would want to bring the baby to my 9 year old class, it would be so distracting. That is the nature of our ward though, students and babies everywhere. You just kind of have to deal with it. I have been in primary since we got in this ward 2 years ago. I do love it. I would also love to go to relief society and sit with the baby for awhile of recovery - we will see. I have a feeling recovery will be short and I am going to just have to be strong and ready to rumble - I will do my best. : )

I have an appointment today with the baby doctor. I will report on that after I return home. I hope he says I have dialated and I am ready to go - Yeah! That would be nice. We are trying to avoid going too much longer because then we start getting into finals time for Charles. Now is a good time.

That is all for now. I will report back later with more info on baby stuff.

Love for now!

Mari

38 Weeks

Here is my 38 week baby pooch. I am feeling pretty large-marge now. Any day now is ok for baby to come. I have a doctor appointment tomorrow and he will be going "down under" to explore what is going on. He will be able to tell if I am dialated etc. I am excited to find out any information. I am hoping he discovers I am really dialated and that the baby will want to come out very soon. I really want this to be a "natural" birth. I do not mind being induced, it is nice to plan some things, but I would love to experience it another way as well. We will see what he has in mind. For now I wait. Oh waiting. . . you gotta love it.

I will write more later. We are off to eat dinner at a friends house tonight. I am excited, someone else is cooking! Fun! Mexican food too - YUM!

Love you lots,

Mari

Baby Stephen. . .

Baby Stephen is now 6 1/2 months old. Here are the most recent pictures of him. He loves sleeping in a sleeping bag. : ) Yes, Daddy is training him early to love the outdoors so they can go camping together. He loves dancing around in his exersaucer and swinging away in his swing. Last night, he enjoyed his first ride in Sage's cart. It was adorable. Yes, he had to be all bundled up because it's still about 30-40°. Don't you love the snow in the background? yes, it's really Spring here!!!! Sage did so well being obedient to Ray's commands. She seemed very aware that she was carrying precious cargo and needed to drive accordingly. : ) What a good girl our Sage puppy is. Last year at this time, Beth, Mari and Charles will remember we hooked her up the cart and she did not like it at all, but patience prevailed and she smiles and wags her happy tail while pulling her load.

Let us all press on!

love, Kary (photos taken by Mommy & Beppy)