Breech baby, breech baby

I am nearly 37 weeks now and baby Charlotte is still breech. She has been for as long as I can tell. I feel kicks in totally different places than I normally do and I'm not experiencing some of the late term pains that the others have given me. I think she just likes being up close to my heart. :) I will be admitted to Labor and Delivery early Wednesday morning and my doctors will attempt to manually turn her. Claire was also breech and I had the same procedure preformed with her. Since Charlotte and Claire have the same initials, I'm just assuming she's trying to be like her big sister.

Honestly, the procedure hurts - a lot. Two men stand on either side of you and basically pick the baby up and push to get her in the right position. It hurts - a lot - did I mention that? However, it is fairly quick and they can immediately tell if it is going to work. Either way, we will both be monitored during and after for signs of stress. If need be, an emergency Csection will be done but my doctor has never had to do that. If successful, we will then wait a few more weeks until she is ready to be born. If unsuccessful, we will schedule a Csection for 39 weeks. 

It might be a quick update but I will post again on Wednesday as to whether or not she turned for us. 

First Day of School

We started our 2015-2016 school year today! I know July 13th is early but I wanted our first semester to be completed by Charlotte Emma's due date. We finished last school year mid-May so we have had a 2 month summer break.

I have a regular Elementary School this year. :)
Kate-5th, Claire - 4th, Henry - 2nd, Jack - K, and Sims - K4

And every school needs a mascot or two. Here are ours:
Miles - 2, Luke - 8 months
I'm sure they will provide plenty of comic relief to our days.

Today was probably the best first day we've had. Everyone was excited, worked hard, and there was still plenty of time to play all afternoon.

21 weeks

I am 21 weeks now and amazed at how fast time is progressing. I still cannot believe we are having a GIRL!!! We gave away almost all of our girl clothes and one of our cribs when we found out Luke was a boy so I am currently going through what we do have to see what we actually need. I smocked several dresses for the girls when they were little (that was when I had more time) and thankfully kept all of those. I also have some gowns/dresses that Kate, Claire and I all wore as babies so it's fun to pull them out and know that little Charlotte Emma will be wearing them soon. My sister, Sarah, and another friend have already bought her a few sleepers and outfits which was so kind.

One thing I want to remember is how the Lord was extra gracious to me with my morning sickness. I always feel terrible for 6 weeks with every pregnancy and it normally lasts all day. This time I did feel sick everyday, but it was always after 2:00 in the afternoon. I was able to get our school work completed, some housework, and start dinner before it set in. This was a tremendous blessing.

Kate and Claire are beside themselves with excitement about a baby sister. For as long as Claire has been able to talk, she has been asking for one. She and Charlotte Emma share the same initials and that was partly to honor Claire. They ask me everyday about who will be able to hold her first - I'm not sure how we will decide that.

Baby girl is due November 19th and Luke's first birthday is October 21st. Our babies have never walked before their first birthday so we will most likely have 2 non-walkers for a few weeks. :)

We are starting school on Monday, July 13th, to accommodate our newest little one (or really me.) This will allow us to complete the 1st semester of school by mid-November, when Charlotte Emma is due. It will be good to get back into our routine and I know we will all be glad in November when we will break for the remainder of the year.

Charlotte Emma

You can't spell Hutchinson without the final "n"! Our little "n" is expected to arrive in November and - it's a GIRL!!! We are so very thankful for the Lord's abundant blessings. 

Alexa echoes through our home (Thanks Amazon)

When Amazon announced the Echo, I immediately requested access to purchase one. I read some skeptical blog posts about it, but had high hopes. We received ours back in December and since then it has become increasingly useful.

I will not list out everything we love about "Alexa", but I wanted to highlight one thing we do that has proven helpful. We have one iPad to share among the entire family and that can be problematic with 7 children. My wife came up with the idea of having the kids set a 20 minute timer on Alexa each time they begin using the ipad. It is simple and has changed our lives. The constant questions, "Mommy, can I have the ipad now," stopped immediately. And the amount of time on the iPad for each child was reduced without parental intervention.

Children are happier when they know their boundaries. This makes parents happier too. Alexa was just the tool we needed to reduce the amount of time kids were spending on the ipad and to ensure everyone has a turn.

The kids have also had their eyes opened to how easy it is to stay on the ipad for a really long time without noticing. It's a win all across the board. Thanks to Amazon and "Alexa". And thanks to my wife for the ingenious idea.