Spots!

Today we found out that Brigham is allergic to penicillin. Yikes! These pictures actually don't even show how bad he really looks. I took him to the doctor this morning just as the rash was starting and by tonight he had red spots all over his head, back, tummy arms and legs. They took him off the immoxicillin and put him on something else, so, hopefully, he will look normal again soon!

Hazel Jane: 1 month old

Hazel is one month old today. This little girl is so sweet and so loved by her whole family. She is becoming more awake now than she was the first couple of weeks and it is now a little easier to get a picture of her beautiful dark blue eyes. She is already looking less and less like a newborn and it is so fun to see her get a little chub. Her sisters love to dress her and put cute little bows in her hair--sometimes they even change her diapers! Emma and Eliza were both spit up on recently and it was so funny to see their reaction--"Ew! Mom get it off of me!". Ben was saying the other day when Hazel was a little fussy that she was getting spoiled, but how can you not spoil such a sweet baby?

Here's that hair I've been talking about. None of our other kids had nearly this much hair. The second picture is a close up of the cute little curls she has after her bath. I haven't figured out how to get them to stay--any ideas?

Back to School?

All three girls were very excited for the first day of a new school year. Although I wasn't there to see it, Ben said that Rachel literally ran out the door and down the steps when her ride came to take her to pre-school. He also said that she went to her first day with peach juice on her shirt because when he tried to get her to change it she informed him "I can't change my shirt--this is what's called 'an outfit' ". She also told him to take a picture "just of my backpack". Unfortunately, while the girls were at school, the rest of us were at the doctor being checked for strep throat. Not only were the tests positive, but when I told the doctor that my other kids had also been sick the week before I found out that the rash that they had was also a symptom of strep (who knew?) and that they all needed to be treated and could possibly still be contagious! So, basically, we may have single-handedly exposed the entire school and neighborhood to strep over the course of the last week. The school year is off to a great start--my girls are all mad at me because they could not understand why they had to miss the second day of school when they didn't even feel sick, my throat hurts like the dickens and I feel awful for not taking them to the doctor sooner. So, to anyone who has come in contact with us in the past week, please accept my sincere apology. The good news is that our pediatrician wrote out prescriptions for all four kids and me saving me about a hundred bucks worth of co-pays and he also said that Hazel is probably safe because kids under two usually don't get strep. It's been a rough first day, but I figure things can only get better from here on out, right?

Water Party!

Emma had a fun water party the week before school started to celebrate her 8th birthday. We kept it very simple, but I think a good time was had by all!

Two weeks old!

I'm a few days late in posting this, but I took Hazel to her two week check-up last Tuesday and I wanted to document her growth. She was 7 lbs. 15 oz. (up 7 oz. from her birth weight) and 21 1/2 inches (up 2 inches from her birth length!). She has been such a good baby and has never made me wake up more than twice in the night since the day she came home from the hospital. She doesn't take a binky, but really doesn't need it much since her sisters pick her up the second they hear her make a peep! We'll see what happens when they go to school and there's no one to do that anymore. Brigham seemed to be having a bit of a hard time at first, but is getting better and really loves his baby sister.

I made this little collage of all the kids' baby pictures at approximately the same age. From these pictures I'd say Hazel seems to resemble Rachel (bottom middle) the most, but I also think she resembles the other two quite a bit. Brigham (top left) definitely looks the most boyish and the most different from the others to me. I definitely think Hazel has them all beat as far as the amount of hair that she has. You can't really tell from this picture, but I'm going to try to get a better picture when Ben gets back with the camera. We'll see if it stays--when I was looking at the other kids baby pictures they all appeared to have less and less hair as they progressed through their first few months and they mostly all looked pretty bald by the time they were six months or so. We'll see....anyway it's fun to go back and look at their pictures to see who looks like who.

Top, left to right: Brigham, Emma Bottom, left to right: Hazel, Rachel, Eliza

It is hard to get a picture of this little girl awake so here is cute one that Ben took of Rachel holding Hazel.

Ben has been gone camping in Teton Valley this weekend so it has been very quiet around here with just me and the baby. I was kind of in need of a little break so it has been nice. I got lots of errands done yesterday and today I am just enjoying a very peaceful Sunday. Hopefully, I will be energized enough to face one more week of summer break and then it's back to school! I honestly don't think I've ever been this excited for the kids to go back to school--they are driving each other crazy (which drives me crazy) and I think they could use a little time apart. Thankfully, we have lots of things planned for this coming week so it should keep us busy until they can get back to school!

It's great to be eight!

Emma turned eight on August 10th. (Am I really old enough to have an eight-year old?) We've all been looking forward to this birthday for a long time. I am so proud of Emma and the fact that she is so looking forward to getting baptized. She is such a good girl and tries so hard to do the right things. She is also a big help to me especially since the new baby arrived. It's exciting to see the young woman that she is becoming.
It's been kind of crazy around here so we kept the day pretty simple. Emma and I went to lunch at Golden Corral (her pick) and she got to go to her very first activity day. We had cake with Grandma and Grandpa Shelton that night which Emma made mostly by herself with just a little help from me. We're saving the big celebration for her baptism day on September 5th and we are hoping to bless Hazel the same day so that everyone who wants to can be there for both events. It will be a very special day!

I was looking at pictures of Emma from last year and noticing how much she has grown in the past year. She's gone from the toothless seven-year-old.....to full blown tween!

Bath time!

Hazel had her first bath today and I really wish I had a picture of me surrounded by all four kids in our little bathroom all wanting to help! It was probably more exciting for them than it was for Hazel although she did seem to enjoy it and didn't cry a bit. I thought this picture was so cute so I hope she doesn't hate me for taking it when she gets older!

Afterwards, we had fun picking out a cute little onsie and putting a fun little bow on her head. Isn't she sweet?
Here she is about twenty minutes later looking quite cozy after eating and promptly spitting up on her cute little onsie!

One week old already!

This girl's first week of life really flew by on account of my brother, Matt's, wedding and my family having a family reunion the same weekend. I feel bad that I didn't get a single picture of either of those events, but I was doing good just to make it to the wedding and, as for the family reunion, Hazel and I stayed home for most of it while Ben and the kids got to spend some time with my family. Today I decided it was high time I dusted off the old camera and take some pictures of this little cutie. She has been such a good baby so far and we all just love her. I'm a little afraid she's getting spoiled because her sisters just want to hold her ALL THE TIME, but they are totally enamored by her. Emma especially is taking the role of chief oldest sister very seriously and didn't hesitate to tell my sister exactly what Hazel needed when she watched her for the wedding.

Here is Hazel all clean and pink after having a little sponge bath. Her cord actually fell off later on in the day so next time we can give her a real bath!
I'm not the best photographer, but I decided we would do our best and have a little photo shoot in Hazel's room this morning. Here's some of our best pics:

Welcome Hazel Jane!

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Hazel Jane Barfus!

Born: July 28, 2009
Time: 12:27 p.m.
Weight: 7 pounds 8 ounces
Length: 19 1/2 inches

I have to admit I was really torn the last couple of weeks before delivering because my brother was getting married 5 days before my due date and I really wanted to be there, but I also really wanted to have this baby so that I wouldn't have to be pregnant anymore. When it came right down to it, my midwife said that it probably wouldn't be in my best interest to travel to Provo that close to my due date and that our best bet would be to induce at the earliest day possible (39 weeks) and hope that everything went off without a hitch so that I could still make it to the wedding two days later. So we went in Tuesday morning at 8:00 a.m. to be induced and our sweet little Hazel was born 4 1/2 hours later. Everything went according to the plan and I was actually in the Mount Timpanogas temple on Thursday morning! Yay! And I am so happy that I am not pregnant anymore! Double yay!
Here are the kids holding their new baby sister a few hours after she was born. More pics to come!