Where did February go?

Where did February go? I dont know BUT it went really fast. On February 20 my very young looking husband turnded the big 4-0 YES 40 years old!! I decorated his office all in black for the big event. The kids decorated the living and dining rooms. We grilled out that night, fun time for all. Our little Mal Mal as she is most oftened called is finally starting to grow!! She had her 4 month check-up last week, 19 weeks old, and she weighed 11 lbs and 9 oz. She is such a sweet and happy baby. (most of the time) Tonight Maleah was talking to her and she was laughing SO hard that it almost sounded like she was crying. This past Sunday, March 1st we went to church, late of course I think we got there around 10:30 and it starts at 10, around 11:30 the kids in the hall started getting really loud. To make a long story short.... it had started snowing and the kids were all in and out playing in the falling snow. It snowed until sometime very late that evening and the kids had a wonderful, very wet time playing in the snow. Monday was a SNOW DAY for us, I'm not sure how things are really done down here and if they will have to make it up or not. This weekend is a busy weekend down here. It is race weekend and we live about 5-10 mins from Atlanta Motor Speedway. We were hoping that Daddy and Mama would have been here this weekend so we could take Daddy to the race but had surgery yesterday and wont be able to come for a while. *we are praying for a speedy recovery* The above picture was taken a few weeks ago, while I was giving Mali her bath. This expressiong and sweet look is how she is most of the time. She has been such a blessing to us as are all the kids. We love our 5 girls and 1 little boy. ~Times are good and our home is filled with lots of laughter and love~

2009 is here!!

I cant believe another year is here already. And I cant believe my baby is already 3 months old as of this past Wednesday. I had her weighed that day and she now weighs 10# and 11 oz. She is such a little cutie!! The kids are really enjoying having another little one around. And she is such a sweet baby!! She really enjoys eating. Yes I feed her and she loves it. She usually doesnt get messy but I let her just so I could take some pictures of her messy!! She LOVES tapioca pudding and sweet potatoes!! (the orange face) Just to catch up a little bit since the last post...... Christmas came. What a wonderful time of year. Lexi came and stayed several days with us and I was actually able to get a pretty good picture of all of the kids together. AND it didnt take as many snaps as I thought that it would. It may not be the best but for a picture of 6 kids, I thought that I did a good job. We had a wonderful time together.

Then next was New Years Eve. Well the day before that I think it was we were eating dinner approximately at 9:00 pm. And it was so good. I had made beef tips over rice and I dont remember now what I fixed to go with that. ANYWAYS while we were eating Marlee ran outside to get something from one of her friends and when she came back in she said look who's here and when we looked....... it was Grandma and Pa!!!! They surprised us by coming down to see us. I had asked them to the day before, Daddy had a Dr.'s appointment in Durham and I tried talking them into coming but Mama said they couldnt they didnt have clothes or anything they would need with them. I didnt know but they were planning on coming here all along. So New Years Eve, me, Mama and the girls but a bunch of party food and partied all night!!! Mama laid on 1 couch and I laid on the other and both tried staying awake until the New Year came in. Other than that there isnt much going on. John and I are working really hard to build our business. We now OWN 14 machines and are hoping to increase our inventory to 20 very soon. As anyone knows........... good help is hard to find. We have several really good, hard working guys and gals right now. Hopefully there are a few of them that we can hold onto. The kids have a long weekend since it is MLK day on Monday! They have off for their winter break the middle of February. We may go to the Island for that week, but we have also talked about going to Myrtle Beach. Oh yeah John got me a new laptop for Christmas. It has a webcam and camera. This is just one of the many pictures that has been taken with it. We have really enjoyed talking to our family back in NC and being able to see eachother. We are very excited for this new year with our wonderful little family and teaching Mali so many new things. Love to everyone!!!

How time flies.........

I cant believe that I haven't blogged in over a month!!! Just to catch up a little bit....... we went to NC for Thanksgiving. We were able to be there for 5 days well that includes driving there and back but still we were gone for 5 days. Everyone was so excited to see all of the kids and to especially see Mali for the 1st time. There were very few minutes in the day that she wasn't in someones arms. We had Thanksgiving dinner at Mama and Daddy's. My sisters Macy and Mariah and my youngest (but biggest... hes over 6 ft tall) brother Riley was there. Mema (my grandma) was able to be there and to see and hold Mali and Mikal and all of her family and Marianne and all of her family. There were quite a few of us squeezed in the house but it was nice being all together.
Marlee and Makenna had their Christmas chorus concert and it was great. That group of kids sing really good and I love their concerts. Mali is now 2 months old and weighs a big whopping 9 lbs!! She isn't very big but she is growing!! Michael is finally getting a top front tooth and for those of you that really know him, he hasn't had one since he was 2 years old!! Maleah had a haircut this week and man is her hair curly now. I really just trimmed it but it looks much shorter now. Maleah and Michael also got new bunk beds this week. John and I finally got them put together last night (with the kids help) so they were finally able to sleep on them. Which they didn't know til this morning....... they fell asleep on the couch!!
Christmas is next week and I haven't done ANY shopping. When I say ANY I mean I haven't purchased the 1st gift!! NOTHING!!! I need to get busy, I just have to decide what I am going to buy for them!! Today is also the kids last day of school til January 6, 2009. We are hoping to find time to take the kids to Stone Mountain while they are on vacation for a day of fun at snow mountain. It looks like so much fun!! Heres a video that you can look at. http://www.snowmountainpark.com/snow_goodies/promo-detail.aspx?id=14 It's open from Dec 31 til March 31 so if we dont get to go during this vacation there is still time that we can go!!
What a wonderful year this has been. We have been blessed in so many ways. We have 6 beautiful and healthy kids. My husband and I share a wonderful life together and working together everyday. Our children are blessed with the best parents ever (hehehe) and the best grandparents too. Hopefully this coming year the kids will be able to spend more time with Grandma and Pa. (we are hoping they visit more) To everyone that reads this we love you and wish the best for your families in the coming new year.

The 6 of them

Al l 6 of the kids were here this past weekend. They had alot of fun times. I tried getting a good picture of them but try getting 6 to look at you and smile all at the same time. The 4 girls on the right did a good job, but Marlee and Michael weren't very cooperative. So out of all of the pictures I took of them together this is the one that turned out the best. I'm hoping that the next time that Lexi comes down that we will be able to get at least one good picture of all of them so we can put it in our office.

John, Makenna, Maleah and Lexi spent a great deal of the day doing cheerleading stunts, with Maleah being the flyer. John, I have to say caught on pretty quick. They tried getting Michael to do it but he changed his mind real quick!! THANK GOODNESS!!!!!

Anyway Mali is growing tooooo quickly, and time is going by tooooo fast. She will be a month old is 7 days and it hurts my feelings and hurts my heart. Dont you wish sometimes that time would just slow down, but then there are times when you wish it would just speed up. We are planning, as of right now, going to the Island for Thanksgiving. I really want everyone to see Mali before she gets too much bigger. And I especially want Mema to be able to see her.

Life has been good here for us. We have so many things to be thankful for. The kids primary program is this coming Sunday and then the following Sunday Marlee and I are supposed to talk in Sacrament meeting. We are both very nervous to say the least. We have to speak on service. I havent talked in Sacrament meeting since I was pregnant with Makenna, over 11 years ago!! The little one has woke up and so I must cut this short!!

SHE'S HERE!!!!

Mali Anna Peck arrived on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 6:15 pm. I had to be at the hospital at 6am. When I got there I was dilated 2 and 70% effaced. At 6:45 they inserted Cytotec into my cervix. Around 10:30 the magic man arrived in my room, Dr Loo, and started the epidural and then at 10:45 I was dilated to 4 and they started me on Pitocin and the Dr broke my water. Soon after that her heartbeat dropped and so did my blood pressure. They gave me medication to bring it back up and put oxygen on me. We kept losing Mali's heartbeat so they put a fetal monitor on her and put my feet up and my head down. I stayed at 4 for quite a while. I think at 4:00 I was finally dilated to 6. It wasnt long after this that I told John, everytime I have a contraction I feel pressure down there. I waited for a couple more contractions to make sure and then I got John to call the nurse back in, that was around 5:00. She came right in and checked me and I was dilated to 9.5. They called the Dr and she finally got there sometime after 6:00. I felt like everyone was just taking there time, but the epidural was still working good, so I wasnt in any pain. I think I pushed thru 3 contractions. When her head came out, they told me to stop pushing, the cord was wrapped around her neck twice, hence the reason for the heartbeat to keep going down!!! The Dr cut the cord and one more push and she was out!! Head full of black hair and BEAUTIFUL!!!! She was much tinier than we thought that she would be. She weighed 6 pounds and 9 ounces. She was 20 inches long. All of the kids were in the waiting room eagerly awaiting her arrival. Everyone was so excited and glad that she was here. We are enjoying every minute with her. All of her sisters and her brother, think that she is perfect and Dad and I know she is. What a wonderful, beautiful, perfect little girl to complete our family. There is nothing in the world like a new baby. We all love her so much and cant wait to watch her learn and grow. Heavenly Father has truly blessed us.

Went to the Dr

OK, so I went to the Dr yesterday, for my last visit!!! YAY!!! I am dilated a whole big whopping 1 cm and I am 50% effaced!! I am to report to the hospital on Tuesday, Oct 14 at 6am. Daddy, Mama and Macy (and all of her kids) are leaving the Island today for Durham. Daddy has a Dr appt in the morning there at 8am. After the appt they are leaving to drive down this way!!

So my to do list:

On Saturday, Marlee has All State Chorus tryouts at 11:40.
Some of the girls at church are getting together on Saturday at 1:00 to have me a little shower. (glad Mama and Macy are gonna be able to be there)
Get my bag packed
Get Malis bag packed
Make sure I have all of the necessary items for the hospital
Make a place for everyone to sleep while they are here
And I'm sure ALOT more!!!

Our last photo shoot!!

I went to the Dr this morning, we had our final in utero photo shoot. She was simply beautiful of course!! According to their calculations she weighed 6lbs 2oz. What a big girl!! And I'm not even 35 weeks yet. She hid her face most of the time, but we were able to get some good pictures of her after her measurements. Only 3 more weeks til I go to be induced. Maleah and Michael ask everyday, how many more days til Mali is here. They are all so excited and so are John and I. Cant wait for us all to be at home together.