Two Weeks

I don't think we've said hello to September yet... have we? "Hello blessed September! I've been looking forward to you for 9 months, glad you're finally here!" We are almost there... two weeks from today and hopefully I'll be at the hospital being induced. God willing everything will go well and we'll be able to meet this little man. All the kids are excited, except for Owen, who probably doesn't know what's coming... do you Owen?

You, little person, are about to be booted from your position as baby in the family. Are you ready to share. There will be some attention adjustment I'm sure, but luckily we've got enough smitten older siblings who love babies to go around. I'm sure you'll be fine. I've told Owen before that I feel he's mostly responsible for this happening so quickly... Oh, don't look like you don't know what I'm talking about...

My theory is he had some premortal agreement with this sibling to get him down here pronto, and he's kept his word. They'll be 14 months apart.

Yeah, Owen, that was your fault for dumping me for the bottle. I don't remember all the details from each newborn experience, but since yours is the most recent and one of the few that is blogged about, you might be the baby that is remembered as being the most difficult.

No offense, that's just the truth, and I'm hoping your little brother doesn't follow suit and that nursing him won't be a trial.

So these photos here are adorable pictures that Ethan took yesterday after church. We made Owen dress up in a tight button up collared shirt like all the other poor men have to do, poor guys. It was a 2T though, so it wasn't too tight on Owen's chubby neck. 

We thought he looked pretty dapper. 

We're excited to meet your little brother in two weeks!

Laughing Baby

I have such a pretty baby.... 

That's my BeReal from yesterday with her lovely face. Here's her little face as I tickled her!

Natalie took a video of her laughing as I tickled her neck. It's a "short" so I can't embed it, but there's the link.

It was right after I changed her diaper and she had already been pretty smiley and laughing, but we tried to not use up all her laughs and save one for after she was clean, and so I gave Natalie my phone and she took it.

SO CUTE! Oh I love it. Babies are magic and pure heaven. 

Yestrday and today have been good. I felt pretty sick yesterday but feel better today. I picked up carpool (I do Tuesday and Wed pick ups), cleaned, took S to the library both days after I picked her up from safety patrol to get her another Sisters Grimm book that we put on hold. I had a plumber scheduled to come fix the tub Tues, and when I left for carpool they still hadn't come, so I left the door unlocked and was going to tell them just to go in, if they came while I was gone, but they called as I was leaving to reschedule for today. So then today they said that the faucet I got from Standard Plumbing won't work - I need "square handles" plus the two cartridges for hot and cold water are different from each other, so I went back to Standard Plumbing after they left to get the right faucet, turns out the square handle faucets, called Monticello, and gone, so we're going to prob get the cartridges replace, which is going to require accessing under the tub and prob breaking the tile around the tub, so we still don't have a working tub and this just turned into a bigger project, so I let our friends/landlords know and she wants a second opinion and someone is coming on Friday for that. Hopefully we'll have a working but within a week? 

Corey and Abi went to Provo tonight for a flute recital for Mel, I stayed home and held down the fort. It will be a later bedtime tonight but that's ok, it happens. But it's been really great for us ever since we all started to go to bed early (10 PM). Corey said going to bed early is his super power, and he's right! It's been a game changer for us all as a family. 

More American's in Costa Rica

When we first got here in Costa Rica, some of the church members we met asked us if we were the family with 7 kids that was driving down. We weren't, and were surprised to know there might be another family of 9 from Utah coming to Costa Rica. Well, there was another family, actually two, and on Tuesday evening we met them and all got together for a little stop at the beach then dinner and swimming at our house. Meet la familia Royal y la familia Meyers!


I told them I'd take lots of pictures of them, cause they haven't been able to send or post any photos for their family and friends to see. One camera of theirs got stolen while crossing the Mexico/Guatemala border, the other one is broken I think? Anyway, for all of their family and friends that have been waiting to see some photos, here are a few from our time together Tuesday.


This is Melanie and her cute little kid nicknamed "Tuna"

We moms and kids and Corey went over to Playa Conchal for the kids to play. It was really funny for Corey to be walking along the beach with 3 women and 19 kids. He felt very conspicuous and did have some people pass and ask with a smile "Are these all yours?!" He'd answer with a twinkle in his eye "Estan prestados" (They're on loan) :)


The mother's main job - keep kids from killing themselves by getting in over their head!



Rachael with her cute twin boys Andrew and Joseph. All three of our families have a Joseph.

The waves at Conchal when the tide is in are short and strong, they really pushed and pulled you in the water, the kids had fun being tossed around.

(Sorry, there were so many little people that I can't tell or don't know who the kids are in these pics - hopefully you can find the ones you love!)

As we walked from Brasilito to Conchal we could see the rain clouds coming. We stayed for an hour and then a light rain started and some lightening. I was praying as we walked back that we wouldn't get zapped, and am grateful to report we all made it back alive. Corey hurried off to AutoMercado for pizza, roasted chicken, french bread, apples, and other stuff for dinner and we headed back home where the kids all played in the pool till the food was ready.

Wesley, I know that one on the left, not sure the name of kid 2, but he's from the Meyers clan.

Some action jumping shots - Michael and Joseph (not my Joseph) but my Joseph was happy to have some boys his age to play with.

Corey arrived and we got dinner ready, the kids ate for a while, then Jacob and Dannan came and joined in the fun.

19 kids around the dinner table, well, the 3 babies weren't there I guess, so only 16 kids.

19 Kids watching Cartoon Network. Hmm, actually only 12. Can you see them all?
(Hint: Abi was well hidden, but you can see a bit of her blonde hair and her little feet...)

After we ate, we cleaned up and the kids swam some more or watched TV, and the adults visited...

Jacob on the left, Dannan on the right.

Well, so I didn't get a picture of all 19 kids at the dinner table or in the pool, but there were 19 kids in the house, and let me tell you that's a lot o-kids. Oh, and a dog too. Hyrum was a little freaked out. Guess he's not totally cured of his phobia, he's been away from Chloe too long.

Look at those angels sweeping my floor... Wish I could get my kids to do that!


Our new friends have an open invitation to come and take nice warm baths in our tub - since their place has neither hot water nor a tub, and we remember what that is like from our 4 month stay in Brazil. So yea, whenever you guys want to, come on over! We only have 6 more weeks here, so we're gonna pack the weeks with fun and I'm sure we'll be getting together with them again, so check back for updates (I'll try to post it to their facebook walls too so you can see more pictures)

Hey, wait don't tell me.. I know who's who! Okay... that's Joseph on the left and Andrew on the right, right? Cause that cutie on the right is sucking his thumb, no? And Andrew sucks his thumb, Joseph sucks his finger. Rachael said that difference came in handy on the plane ride down. Melanie and Rachael flew down with all the kids and luggage (I think their story puts my pity party of flying without my man to shame) while the men drove down with vans and trailers full of food storage, furniture, and stuff to help their families get settled. They are renting a home together in Nicoya on 12 acres. We're definitely going to go play at their house and let the kids run around in their jungle. :) See you guys again soon!

Abi's ABCs

E is for EAT - I like to eat Easter egg treats!

Each of my kids have their very own ABC book. I first got the idea when Joe and Mel were little- they had a little "Baby's ABCs" book that had pictures of babies with things for each letter. For A it was Apple, B for Ball, and I thought "I have a picture of Joe eating an apple... I have a picture of Joe with a Ball..." and I looked through my photos and found pictures for each letter. And so it began. I've made a book for each kid, with the goal being to have their book done before the next baby is born. Abi's book is all ready to be hard laminated and spiral bound at Kinkos with a few days to spare. Abi loves reading the other kid's books - I know she'll love having her own book and being the star!

Wes' Weekend

We had a really great visit with the kids tonight. The kids at home - not the college kids. After dinner, we just stayed around visiting and talking and it continued the rest of the night. The highlight for me was Wesley talking about how he's been putting the gospel to the test a little bit more - he's tried to go to the temple, he's been reading his scriptures and praying more consistently, and today he was up and about doing lots of church stuff: after preparing and serving the sacrament in our ward's sacrament meeting, he went on to go be in a discussion panel for two other wards in their ward conference (he's on the Stake Youth Commitee) and they talked about the new For The Strength of Youth pamphlet and answered questions, some of which would have never been brought up back when I used to be in YW (one example that one of the youth in our stake asked: If I'm a girl and I kiss a girl, am I going to hell? Wesley helped answer that one (No, but you should go talk to your bishop)). He also got back late last night from being a 11th wheel to a school dance (There were 5 couples and Wes) and he said he had so much fun and danced with more girls than the guys, cause at the dance, the guys all get together in a circle and dance and the girls did the same, and Wes was like "forget that" and went to the girls group and was just being super brave and putting himself out there. As Debbie W. said today in Relief Society as we discussed the Doctrine of Belonging: "Sometimes all it takes in 20 seconds of courage."

Anyway, so Wes had so much fun there, and he got home sometime after 2 am (we went to bed but he told us in the morning) cause they were watching Cars 2. "That movie is hilarious! It was so funny! But it was 1 am..." and then he was depressed around 2, true to sleep deprivation form. (See one of the quotes here) So Wes had come back early from St. George with his aunt and cousins so that he could get to hockey practice at 10:15. He said that he did an amazing shot and scored on a 3 players vs. 2 coaches drill, and his coach was amazed "WES! Have you been practicing?!?!" He said yeah even though he really hasn't been practicing hockey much, but he has been putting the gospel to the test and he said that is the only thing he's really been doing differently. His coach also said "Whatever you're doing, keep doing it!" and Wesley sent Corey this pic to share how he felt:

Anyway, it was so great talking to him tonight and he shared some of the things he's been feeling and learning with his younger siblings during scriptures. It was really fun. My heart was full of gratitude. We also talked about dating with Wes and Abi, and some of the things their older siblings have learned so far from their dating experiences. Abi said "I'm so glad that we have older siblings so that we don't mess up like they did". Ha. I'm sure you'll mess up in whole new ways. We all mess up and that's how we learn.

After we got home, I put my hand in ice water as I looked at a cold photo and a warm photo for Sophi's science fair project. Gotta love science. I could have gone all night, but I stopped after 2 and a half minutes and easily won the family endurance challenge.

I did a good on Sophi's hair for church! The youtube algorithm gives me a lot of hair videos, I usually share them with Mel, this is one I tried on Mel that didn't work great, but today on Sophi I did good and it was so pretty. 

Owen had a baptism preview. He's going to be baptized in August. Pretty exciting. These kids keep growing up. Nice bow tie, Owen! He's a sweet and innocent little kid. He tries hard to be good and is doing a great job following Jesus.

Owen accidentally broke an ornament on my wood board thingy (2nd to last pic). It was a new one I just got this past Christmas to represent Peter and his love for dinosaurs, especially brachiosaurus's. This is an ornament like "Tiny". It had a fragile glass body and resin feet and head. Well, lately Owen's been playing with a ball throwing it up the stairs. I told him not to, cause might hit the glass ornaments. He did after church today, and I tried to glue it back together. It didn't all line up perfectly, but pretty good. There's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.

The kids haven't been keeping up Katharine's Instagram - they're following my example of being behind. I did a little post with these pics I took - It's never too early to begin dental hygiene! 

(But if it could be too early, "before teeth" might qualify.) Katharine is flossing her gums. And with the wrong side of the floss pick.

Such a silly baby. She's soft and warm and smooth and squishy and little and fun, babies are perfectly made to be irresistible.

Cold Showers

Last night, Lily was taking a shower before bed and was freaking out. She was yelling through the door that it was broken and wouldn't get warm. Abi was sitting by waiting for her turn to shower, and just rolled her eyes and told Lily to stop turning off the water and just hurry and finish. I thought maybe the shower handle was stuck or something. We didn't really pay attention to her wailing. But then Peter misfired in the bathroom and got himself wet, and when I went to draw a bath for him, behold - there was no warm water! Hm, interesting. I went to check the basement and it looked like the water heaters did not have their pilot lights on. So Peter had a baby wipes bath and we learned that Lily wasn't being dramatic. Her shower wasn't tepid or room temperature, it was legit COLD. I laughed and said lucky for me and Wes, we've spent over a week getting used to cold showers! Wes told me about Wim Hof on Saturday Jan 14, on our way to Momentum, and after watching this video with Yes Theory (and several other people on youtube saying all the amazing benefits of cold showers for your brain and body...) I've taken several cold showers, done some snow exposure, like sitting in it, laying it in, taken out the trash barefoot (to the street) and yeah, it's kinda fun to shake things up with a little cold exposure. I tried to increase my time last Thurs and spent 6 minutes laying in the snow, before we went to St. George, and then on the drive down I noticed that the tips of my thumbs were still numb. The tips felt kinda numb/asleep for a few days, and my left one still does a little bit, so maybe I did some nerve damage. Sorry, thumbs. No more 6 minutes in the snow. I'll keep it quick. Maybe I got a bit of frostnip? So I'm not doing it that long again. Just 11 min a week. I know, I know - the disclaimer in the Yes Theory said to not attempt, and I didn't do a 4 hour hike, I was just feeling ambitious/crazy by choice. Looks like everyone else gets to be forced into it now for a day. Abi took a shower after, and she was washing her hair (I told her that's a bad idea) but she did it, cleanliness must prevail, and Abi afterwards let us know that it was a horrible experience, and that she "was screaming like an opera singer the whole time!" 

"I don't think opera singers would say that they 'scream'..." "I was like the bad lady on Phantom of the Opera" and I was laughing again thinking of Abi in the shower singing like Carlotta. We didn't hear her case we were downstairs playing around with the pilot lights. 

Corey got it lit on one tank briefly (Dec 2013 tank on left), but then it didn't seem to be on again, and the other tank looked like it was having problems (water at the bottom, Feb 2018 tank on right). Good news: we didn't cause an explosion. Bad news: we didn't fix anything. Water was still cold. So this morning it was a VERY cold shower for Wes, Corey showered at the gym, and I haven't showered today. I could have done cold, but I didn't feel like it today. Hmm, maybe that's why I've been in a kinda bad mood today. Note to self, go take a cold shower in the morning, don't skip it. 

I texted our landlord and she gave me the plumbers that we used last time (Neerings) and they were able to come out within an hour and had a new tank in by noon. It was under warranty, only a $49 service fee and yay, I thought we were back up and running. They said to give it 30 minutes, so I started laundry and then I had carpool and was busy until 4. Back at home, I went to wash dishes and hmm, it still felt kinda cold. I checked another sink, then went to the basement again. Seemed like it still wasn't working. I called Neerings again, they sent out another technician, I actually wasn't sure which tank was the 2013 or 2018, but he said the 2018 was the one that was under warranty and was replaced, and that the 2013 one on the left wasn't working either. It was an old brand that they don't use anymore. The pilot lighter needs to be replaced, but he said it's such an old tank, and would be $700 to fix, but he didn't think it was worth it to fix on an old tank, we should replace that one too. Doh. That one's warranty is expired. Sooo. we'll still be having cold showers tonight and tomorrow morning, and they will be back here at 9 to take a look again and then we'll see if we will be having warm baths tomorrow.

But I like the Yes Theory's idea of "Seek Discomfort". Maybe all these warm baths and comfortable homes have turned us all into pansies. A little bit of cold discomfort might make my body toughen up a bit. It's been making Katharine all the more lovely though. We discovered how soft she really is after we got calloused hands from bouldering, and now I'm really seeing how warm she is from getting myself a little cold. We'd never give her a cold bath, that would be so sad, she'd cry like a baby. She's  everything we want to be if we're just hanging out in our comfort zones, but we need to seek discomfort. It's good for us. We're not babies anymore, time to grow up and enjoy the dignity in calloused hands. 

Mornings

I thought I'd capture the new sleeping arrangement that is going on around here until we go home. Lily stayed in that room by herself for the first month of our adventure. Then Gianinna stayed in there, followed by Abi for a week. The kids got it ready for Joseph and Ethan next, and now with our friend Zeb here, he's got that room to himself and Ethan has moved in with Hyrum and Wes. I think they worked out a comfortable arrangement for themselves.

As for the girls, Sophi moved in with Joseph and Ethan when they were here, and doesn't like to be a baby sleeping in our room with Natalie anymore. Their room is a bit crowded with one mattress on the bed and three more on the floor...

They stack three of the mattresses on the crates when they make their bed and room in the morning, making a very cushy day bed for themselves. And then the 4th mattress is put back in our room where it used to be when Sophi was in there, propped up against the wall by Natalie's pack and play crib. It's hard to walk around their room without stepping on a mattress during the night or in the mornings, when I go in to open up their door shutters to let them know the sun is up and the day has begun.

A cute thing this morning ~ Natalie woke up earlier than usual, cause she fell asleep earlier than usual last night, around 8:00 (early for her.) She had a bowl of cereal with her baby, which I just think is so cute how she has her "baby" leopard tucked under her arm all the time.

She also has to have a napkin or paper towel by her at all times, cause she spills little drops of milk and can't continue eating with such a mess about her. She'll say "Mess!" and look up at me with an "Oh no!" expression. So we make sure she's got a napkin and she's able to wipe up the spills as she goes.

After she finished her small bowl of Nestle Nescau cereal, which has been one of our cereal staples for the past 3 months, Natalie decided it was time to wake up the troops. She followed me in to the girls room. Lily was the closest sister within reach. Natalie picked up Lily's Beanie Boo toy, her chihuahua named "AnyColorRainbow" and proceeded to be her voice~ she shoved the chihuahua in sleeping Lily's face and said "Mommy!! Mommy!!" in her cute toddler falsetto, as if baby AnyColorRainbow was trying to wake up her mommy Lily to play with her or something. It totally made me laugh, cause that is what babies do, huh! Sleeping Mothers, trying to enjoy their last few minutes of quiet rest before a new day, and the "baby" is up and full of energy and getting in your face yelling and hitting you with shouts of "Mommy!! Mommy!"

Lily didn't quite seem to know what was happening, and I told Natalie to be quiet, and she told me "No!" and then went over to where Melodie was sleeping and stepped on her glasses and broke off the right temple. I took them in to my room to superglue them again. We've been super gluing that about once a week. for the past month, it broke before Iguacu. Just trying to survive until we can get home and order a new pair.

Then Natalie went in to the kitchen to have breakfast again with her sisters.

 Cute little people at our little breakfast bar.