The show must go on!

I thought Mom would appreciate this, since she single-handedly supervised practicing while she and Daddy were here. And Dad, since you juggled the kids most the time, you'll appreciate the background noise. This is what happens when a violin recital falls on the same night as Seth's manditory night class and I have a brand new baby and two other ornery, hungry kids in the audience. But Lyd did a good job, in spite of all distractions!

Seth the Brave

Seth is a pretty fearless guy. I mean, he bikes down mountains, loves driving his truck off-road, and balances our kids on one hand (perhaps "reckless" is a better word). But when it comes to anything creepy-crawly, he is a regular Ron Weasley. The other night Seth came in from the garage hollering for me--I thought we had another broken arm on our hands . . . but no. He had been lifting weights and had felt something funny twitching between his shoulder blades as he benched. Muscle spasm? Nope, how about TARANTULA!!!! He had killed it by laying on it and had felt its last dying twitches. And of course, this would happen to Seth, who is already terrified of most bugs, especially spiders. He couldn't function the whole evening; he kept getting jittery and jumpy whenever he saw something small on the floor. Poor guy! He needed a big hug after that one.

Oh yeah, did I mention he's scared of dogs? Especially the small yippy ones. Or the huge barky ones. This is why we have no pets.

This isn't the tarantula he squashed, but it is a tarantula I found on our rocks by where the kids were playing. We also had one outside our front door last week.And this little beauty is the scorpion I killed because Seth was too afraid to do it. He tried catching it in a jar (he also has this thing about killing anything, bug, animal, what have you, which I really admire but do not share. If it's in/around my house, it must DIE) but it almost got him. So I took his shoe, squished the living daylights out of it, then jumped on the shoe. And my sweet Daddy--animals flock to him whenever he comes. He caught this frog/toad by our garbage can. I've never even seen one in St. George!

Jacob was actually stung by a scorpion, and we've also had skunks and California Kingsnakes (how appropriate!) in our yard. And a lizard that ran into our house--I wasn't so brave on that one!

Seth may kill me, but here's the video of him explaining the episode. I think he intended this only for posterity.

Easy Burdens

There's a story I love in the Book of Mormon that has recently taken on new meaning for me. Alma and his people had just been captured by Lamanites and put under Amulon's rule. He wouldn't allow them to pray, but they prayed in their hearts. The Lord promised them this beautiful blessing in Mosiah 24:14-15:

"And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs . . . that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

There have been moments since Gabriel's birth and clubfoot diagnosis when I have felt very discouraged (i.e. when Jacob broke his arm). But then after praying for help, I have felt the immediate fulfillment of this blessing, just like Alma's people:

"And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."

This is just a thank you to all you who have eased our family's burdens and made them light. My good friend Abi Collins (thank you Abi!!! and John for watching the kids for her . . .) drove me to Gabe's appointment. It was such a blast! We even ended up getting "glitter toes" done by a friend of hers on the way home. Thanks to Mikel who watched my crazy kids back here in St. George! Thanks to Debbie Morley, who drove me a few weeks ago, Michelle, her daughter, who rode home with me; Verle, my cousin, who drove me home 2 trips ago and let me sleep the whole way; Danielle Jones & Elsa Picklesimer, who watched Jacob & Eleni two different weeks, and Danielle & Kathie who lent me their cell phones for different trips. Thanks to Aunt Judy, who put up 2 boxes of peaches for me, since I never would have gotten around to doing it. Thanks to my wonderful moms who met me last weekend and watched Lyd & Ellers for me. And thanks to Seth, who held down and cleaned the fort each evening I was gone. And especially I need to thank my heavenly Father, who has blessed all of this to pass much more quickly than I expected.
Gabriel had his surgery this past Friday. I'll post pictures later--I don't have the camera. The surgery was only 5 minutes long, and he hardly cried, the doctor said. It is incredible how much his little foot has stretched since then! He needs one more cast next week, then has a break for a week and (HALLELUJAH) gets the last cast off on Halloween! Jacob gets his off the day before. Can I just say, I am going to strip those boys down and give them one enormous bath--Jacob especially beginneth to stink.
Grandma Yaya (Elaine) and Grandma Kaye
Jacob & Ellers in clean clothes with their hair done--it's so much easier to love them when they look nice! :) And this is Lyd's school picture (yes, I know it's probably copyrighted).

Explain THIS to strangers at the grocery store!

We have now added another cast to the family! Two weeks ago, my sweet, wonderful neighbor Elsa Picklesimer offered to tend the kids while I went up to Salt Lake with Gabe. Of course, after all the crazy, reckless things Jacob has done, he would break his arm under her tender care! He tripped as he walked down her stairs and broke his left arm, both bones. His hand was almost on backwards. I am SO grateful I wasn't there! I probably would have gone into shock or something. But luckily Elsa kept her cool, and Seth came to take Jacob to the ER. They had to break it further to set it. Jacob was so tough, he hardly cried at all. My poor little boys!
"Want hoe Gable!" Ellie loves to hold her brother--for about 5 seconds. Then she gets tired of it and pushes him off her lap. I have to be ready.

Gabriel's hair has all rubbed off on top. Uncanny resemblance, don't you think?

Being with Gabe and Other Things (by Lydia King)

I was reading in my mind by Gabriel and he was watching me for some reason. He looks mad.
I love it when Gabriel smiles! He's so cute when he does that.

Mommy made me "Beetles on a Branch" for an after school snack. It sounded tastier than "Ants on a Log." Here is the recipe.

Spread peanut butter on a few bananas. Put raisins or chocolate chips or some other kinds of snacks on peanut butter spread over the banana.

These casts were made for walkin' . . . someday!

I am so blessed to have this little precious baby! We have felt a definite change in the tenor of our home. I don't know where Gabriel came from--he is so calm! We have felt the Lord's hand daily as we have sought to know what to do for his little foot. We were blessed to get an appointment last Friday at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City (they are very busy!). We thought about going to an orthopedic surgeon here in St. George, but no one here sees clubfoot patients on a regular basis, and we felt strongly we needed the very best care possible.

It was with some apprehension that Seth and I left our poor mother/mother-in-law Elaine with the 3 older kids and headed up last Friday. She has helped us so much! I admit it was difficult to want to put a cast on the poor little crooked foot, but once we arrived, Seth and I felt such peace. That hospital is a special place! The doctor and nurse who casted his little clubfoot leg were wonderful. He cried for a second, then calmed down to the soft music they had playing as the nurse rocked him back and forth. He fell asleep just as they finished the cast.

I have felt such peace--I know that this is going to be okay. If Mom and Dad could handle it with me, I'd better be tough enough to handle it with little Gabe! It amazes me how much more quickly they can fix things now. I was in casts for 2+ years, and Gabe will only need them for 6-8 weeks. Then he'll have to wear corrective shoes with a bar in between until he's 3, but only at night once he's walking age. And the best news is that he'll be able to run, jump, and do just about any sports, unlike his old momma. Thank goodness for modern technology! And yes, he actually smiles. I have to brag a bit--isn't two weeks early for that? He especially smiles for Seth. He already loves his daddy!
(Thanks, Beth, for the cute shirt!) I love his cross-eyed expression in this picture. And how about the Cary Grant dented chin, eh? Thanks to the King genes . . .
One day Jacob came running up and said, "Mommy, Mommy, I taught Gabe-ree-yul how to shoot!" Then he proceeded to demonstrate the following:
He stretched those poor fingers into perfect shooting position, but I don't think Gabriel enjoyed it quite as much.

Gabriel Noah is here!!!!!

We are THRILLED to announce the birth of our newest little addition--Gabriel Noah King! His name means "man of God," and "rest & comfort," and we think it fits perfectly! Here are his stats:

Birthday: Sept. 3, 2008

Time: 2:00 PM

Weight: 7 lbs. 5 oz.

Length: 20 inches

Hair: Brown

Eyes: looking brown already!

Labor length: 5 hours, 3 hard labor (easiest one yet!)

He was only 6 days overdue . . . and I wasn't exactly induced--they just helped me along a bit. Other than that, I was able to do it naturally. I couldn't have done it without Seth--he's an amazing coach!

We think Gabriel looks like a mix of all the kids. Seth says he's a Romney baby, and I think he has his Uncle Cy's chin with a cute little dimple. Gabriel was pretty jaundiced (it's a shame that that is a bad thing--they have such pretty, tan skin when they're jaundiced!), so we had to take the bilirubin lights home. Thank goodness he is over that now--I did not enjoy putting him in there! The kids were sweet. They would take turns sitting by him and stroking his head while he was under the lights. Eleni turned them off several times. She didn't like how bright they were. Anyway, that's why he's naked in his early pictures.While I was in the hardest part of labor, I asked Seth to give me a blessing. He blessed me that things would go quickly (and they did!), and that the complications with our baby would be okay. Not exactly the thing you want to hear as expectant parents!

When Gabe was born, we noticed right away that his right foot is clubbed, just like his Mommy's. I know that's what the blessing referred to. We have appointments set up with orthopedic surgeons, but no one around here deals with this sort of thing. So it looks like we may be heading up in a week or two to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake. They have a 6-7 week commitment there for club-foot babies. We'll let you know what ends up happening.

In the meantime, Seth and I have been working on keeping his little foot flexible and stretched in the right direction. Gabe is incredibly patient about it!Now he is 4 days old, and I feel he has changed so much already! It's amazing how having a new baby can make your older children look so huge and grownup!
They have all adjusted well so far. Eleni keeps asking to "hode baby Gab-el!" Lydia has a magic touch with him and can calm him right down. And Jacob loves him, perhaps too much. He can hardly keep himself away. "But I just want to touch him!" Yeeeeesss. That's the problem.I am so grateful for my beautiful kids! I am so grateful for my supportive, wonderful husband, who has somehow juggled coaching labor, one-on-one time with the kids swimming, hiking, etc., cleaning the house top-to-bottom in under an hour (the man is INCREDIBLE!), mountains of doctrate homework, a 4-hour night class, young men's responsibilities, comforting an emotional wife, stretching Gabe's foot, and keeping us all sane and happy. I couldn't do without him!