Hazel 1 month

 Ok first can I just say this little girl has us all wrapped around her tiny little fingers. And that face? She makes the funniest faces! I hope you enjoy. I am trying to remind myself to take more pictures more often. My camera has been put away for some time now.

Taking a break from Homeschool

 I know that sending the kids to school this year is the right thing. Hazel is working through some sort of reflux or digestion issue, which we are working on solving, and the sleep deprivation is intense. I know It will be a good break for the kids and a good break for me. I'll post some pictures of their first day later. They are going to Mountain Sage Community School, which is pretty much the greatest so far.

But the other night Leah and I were up late talking as I was nursing Hazel. We were making plans for Leah to bake and sell chocolate chip cookies and milk. We were trying to decide how much to charge. I suggested she sell them for a penny so that even the kids without a lot of money could buy one. She looked at me very seriously and said 

"But mom, I would have to sell 100 cookies to make one dollar." 

"Why yes, yes you would" (I didn't know she knew that)

Then we dove into fractions, and since I didn't have any paper on hand to use for our illustrations we used the last page of my journal. We discussed fractions and equivalent fractions. Which I'm pretty sure kids don't learn in 1st grade. 

This is how I dream of homeschooling all the time. And I'm hoping we will revisit home school again next year. At this point the kids want nothing more than going to MSCS. I guess that is a good thing, but I am a little hopeful that they won't love it so much at the end of the year so I can coax them back into homeschooling. :)

 

For now, I'll just have to dive into all the pre-calculus with this girl in the evenings ;)

Yes yes, More pictures

 Just in case you needed more baby pictures

Miss Hazel

 3 days old. Still enjoying snuggling in bed.

More Pictures

 some are less modest than is typical for me, but in the moment, some things were less important than others. :)

trying to get her to let out some good cries.

My great midwife Diane. We didnt get a picture with my fantastic doula Jenn.

Overexposed because i forgot to change my camera settings, but this is Grandmas first time holding Hazel.

Hazel Grace Hirschi

 I'll write her very swift birth story later, more for myself than anything else. But for now. Here are some initial pictures of our beautiful little Miss Hazel. The kids adore her, and so do we.

6lbs 9oz. 19.5 in.  born at 7:45am on July 15, 2015

 I think this photo is adorable. Already a deep thinker.

35 weeks

 Yep, This is definitely happening. I'm 35 1/2 weeks now and baby girl Hirschi is preparing for birth. Who knows if it'll happen next week, or in late July, all my babies have been born at different times. my average is 37 weeks. For someone who really likes to plan, I wish I could at least narrow it down to a week, rather than an entire month of "maybe". But that's not how birth works and I am patiently waiting for this baby girl to be ready.

 

And just for a healthy dose of reality, this is what I looked like at around 12 weeks. Dang I was thin. But I am thoroughly appreciating the chance I have to be a mom again, and to experience the incredible miracle of pregnancy and birth.

Why I prefer natural childbirth in 4 pictures.

Well, actually 5 pictures, these are in chronological order:

The first two are with Jeremiah. I had an epidural. I don't think there is much explanation needed for these ones. I look TOTALLY with it.

This is with Leah. Obviously post childbirth. but this was my first natural childbirth and I did it solo, I think all the nurses must have been super busy that day, and Greg didn't really know how to assist. All in all, I was feeling pretty good after that!

 

This picture was taken when I was probably dilated to a 7 with Colette. Sometime during the 20 minutes between when I got to the hospital and she was born. :)

 And this is with Annabelle, I think I was dilated to an 8 at this point.

 Enough Said. I'm definitely choosing to birth without any medication (except antibiotics if I'm GBS+ again) I'm super excited about baby #5!