Talea turns 4?!

Where does time go? It just seems like the other day that I was giving birth to my first baby, and here she is 4 already, and I have two more kids I've given birth to since her! It's nice now though that I can officially say that my kids are 4, 2, and newborn, rather than 3, 1, and newborn. People would give me strange looks when I said that. Yes, they are all 23 or 22 months apart, but basically spaced every 2 years, by sheer luck!

You see, I couldn't get pregnant for the first 2 years of my marriage. We weren't really trying to, or trying not to, get preganant. We just figured that whatever happened would be fine. After 2 years of never saying "Oh my gosh, I'm pregnant!" we decided to consult a fertility doctor. I got a recommendation from a friend, went for the doctor visit and came away with fertility pills (just clomid, nothing that produces 6 kids or anything). I was actually scared to death that I was holding the power to get pregnant in my hand. I put it aside for 6 months fearing I wasn't actually ready (though I was months away from turning 27). I heard that sometimes it took people several months to get pregnant even with clomid, so one day Hyrum and I finally decided it was time to get the ball rolling, and low and behold, ready or not, it worked on the first try and I was pregnant!

38 weeks later (I got toxemia and was induced 2 weeks early) we had a tiny, beautiful little girl, weighing only 5 lbs, 8 oz. She was so precious and we were madly in love with her. We thought we had it made. Infertility would be our natural birth control! Just take a pill every couple of years to GET pregnant rather than take a daily pill NOT to get pregnant. Well, we took care of 4 nieces and nephews when Talea was only a year old, so I had 5 kids to take care of for 6 months, and that put me over the edge. I decided 5 kids was far too many for me. In fact, 1 was just enough. I decided I was done having kids, then ironically, I felt some pregnancy symptoms, but thought I was imagining them. I took a test just for fun, and found out I was pregnant...again!!! We didn't think we could get pregnant unassisted, so we were stunned! And just thankful that these kids would be 23 months apart rather than 10 months apart! After Hyatt arrived, Kiersa was our next surprise. I guess I can't rely on infertility!!! Hyatt and Kiersa are 22 months apart.

Here's a 1 day old Talea, the same size as my 30 oz hospital mug!

From the moment Talea arrived in the world to this very day today, Hyrum and I prefer to be with our kids rather than without them. It's rare that we go anywhere without our kids because it just feels too wierd to be somewhere without them, and it's so fun to have them around. Talea is now at the age, and is of the personality, that she is totally into friends and playing with them, and, sadly, has recently decided that if given the choice to stay and play with her cousin, Sophia, or go shopping with mom and dad at Costco, she'll take staying and playing. It about broke our hearts, especially Hyrum's, but we knew that day had to come. We just hoped it wouldn't be only after 3 1/2 years. After each baby, I hit a point where I feel stressed and feel that I don't want any more babies, and that's when another comes on it's way. But then after each has arrived, I've never been happier to have that tiny baby in my arms joining our growing family. I love my kids!!!!