The King has Arrived!

He's here!! Finally. Haha. Kingston Tyre Eric Wallace was due January 20th and was born on the 11th. SO grateful not to go to the due date or over! The pregnancy was rough for me. I know other women have it way worse and deal with scary complications, but it was definitly my personal harderst. I was sick longer and more than usual. My lab work all said elderly, and I was feeling it for sure. Lol. I did get to find out at 14 weeks that we were having a boy though due to my old age status and a fancy blood test. More importantly that everything was good chromosone wise. Yay for healthy babes. In fact, I had the doctor leave a voice mail and then let Tiff (my awesome sis-n-law) listen to it and then tease us for 3 days that she knew the gender and we didn't. ;) Then her and my brother David did an awesome reveal for us while in Lake Chelan. It was super fun and I'm grateful to have had that experience for our last baby. Yes, that's right, our L.A.S.T. First time I've said that, so I'm sure that I'm sure. Anyways, they had a string across the room with balloons strung up on it. Each of us, including the kids, got a needle and all popped them at the same time. Glitter and "it's a boy" confetti erupted everywhere. It was so great. Rob just sat there in shock staring at the confetti on the floor. He was in disbelief for days. In fact a few weeks before I had Kingston, he mentioned that he still wouldn't believe it until he saw him. I had to remind him that it wasn't just an ultrasound... dna don't lie yo! I also had bronchitis, double ear infections and tendonitis in my shoulder. The worst thing was my hormones though, they were super out of whack and I was just super cranky and irrationaly unhappy. I also had false labor for the first time. That's super depressing. A big ol' karmic psych out. So not cool.

The family went out with my mom on Saturday to see Annie and get some lunch. I just felt "off" the whole day. We watched a football game at home that evening and then I decided to do a Wal-Mart run with Rob and walk around for a bit while there. We got home that night around 10 and I ended up just going to bed. Contractions woke me up around 1:30 that morning. I tried to lay back down for a bit, and finally woke up Rob around 4:30 to head to the hospital. After getting checked out, I was told I was having real contractions and they were 3-4 minutes apart, but they needed them to be stronger and to last longer. I desperately didn't want to go home! I was told to walk for an hour and then I could be rechecked for any progression. I walked in circles around that labor floor and the nurses would cheer me on when I passed the desk. I also did some time on the exercise ball. I didn't have a ton of progression after the hour, but enough to give me a room. It was just Rob and I for this birth, which was a first for us. We got unpacked and settled in to our room and then I got hooked up to the dreaded blood pressure machine and IV. I decided to wait for the epidural until the anesthesiologist got out of the csection he was doing. Things were starting to hurt pretty good though, so I got some drugs in my IV. It was instant lala land for me, but only lasted like 20 minutes and was gone. It was good while it lasted though!

I did end up getting my epidural, but it was kind of scary. He kept hitting bone and had to redirect it several times...OUCH. Once it was in though it worked beautifully. I was able to move my legs to enough of an extent that I could reposition myself as needed in the bed and such, but felt no pain whatsoever. I was progressing steadily, but pretty slowly. They did have Pitocin going and as they added a drop more over time, things really started to pick up. The contractions were finally super strong and lasting a lot longer and when I got checked I was at a 10. Yay! Dr. Smith, who wasn't on call by the way, but came in because he's awesome came back in to the room. He asked how long I usually pushed. I said way too conservatively under 10 minutes so he said to just get the bed and everything ready before he checked me. Sure enough I was ready to go, even though King was still a little high. I literally pushed out his entire head in the first push and the Dr and nurses were all "wow!! great job" and Rob got all teary exclaiming "he looks just like Mekhi!" I only pushed a few more times and he was out. It was like 2 minutes total maybe. He came out to Sam Smith playing and us all super chill. He didn't cry, but was ok at first. I got to check him out breifly, then they had to do their thing and wait for him to get breathing good. He was kind of holding his breath off and on. I got him back after a few minutes though and he latched on to nurse instantly. He ended up not crying the entire first day, day and half, and when he did it was more of a little one liner complaint than actual crying. Even through pku, etc. Tough little guy.

All the kids and grandma came that evening around 7. Erica and Joe ended up coming by that night too, like 11 pm as neither of them could wait any longer. :)  Betsy came by the next day and the day after that we went home! It's now been 6 weeks (too fast!!) and he's still super sweet and chill. He does actually cry, but pretty rarely. I do just sit and hold him ALOT, but he's our last and I know how fast it goes. Everything is our last first that he does and it's kind of sad. Bittersweet memories being made. The kids all love him. Ave immitates how I talk to him and it's really cute. Tay always wants to hold him as does big brother. Khi's really happy to finally have a brother even if he will only be going into Kindergarten when Khi's on a mission! He is most definitely worth it all, but I'm most definitely happy to not do it again. I will miss the cool stuff as far as feeling him move in my belly and seeing a baby move inside like an alien though. We've got our final five and he's the perfect little grand finale!

Virtual Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to YOU and yours!!

Robert graduated with his bachelor degree in Applied Business Management. WOOHOO! We are so proud of him. He took a job as a cashier at Wal-Mart and of course started raking in the compliments on his cheerful personality, catching the attention of the managers there. He was promoted to a department manager for the holiday seasons, with the plan in place to make him an assistant manager in Jan/Feb. Fingers crossed that works out for us! 

Grace moved in with us last February. And the year has flown by. She is a joy to have around as always and the house and family are once again complete. She is full of life and fun. She's an amazing big sister and a huge help to me. She is attending Columbia Basin College and is looking into moving into a dorm and attending school in Walla Walla. We'll be SO sad to not have her full time, but I think it'll be a wonderful experience for her! We're hopeful that she'll get to play on the basketball team there as well. That girl lives and breathes bball! 

Mekhi is a 7th grader this year. The biggest thing that happened with him was playing football for the first time. It was a god send for him and us. He fell in love with playing and it was so fun to watch him learn and grow. He was blessed with some amazing coaches and teammates. They didn't actually win any games, but man they played hard. He had some awesome plays, especially when they moved him to full back. Nothing like seeing Khi running down the field with the ball and a kid hanging off each arm as well as one around his waist. This happened more than once and was hilarious. He ran over a hundred yards total his first game as full back. So excited for the next season. He was very dedicated and stuck to a rigorous workout schedule with Grace and Rob all summer leading up to playing. I was a proud mama!

Tayvin started to learn violin and is picking it up quickly. She is in 1st grade in our local dual language program learning to habla espanol like a pro. She is full of questions always and spends the majority of her time drawing or doing art projects. And she's good! She is able to read books in both English and Spanish and gets better every day. Tay is a thoughtful girl and will be the first to give you a hug or pay a compliment when you are down. That girl's got the whole world ahead of her, and we can't wait to see what she does next.

Aveline. Our little doodle bug. She is a HAM. Seriously. she is so darn funny and keeps us all on our toes. She is a sweet little cuddler and also super emotional. That can be a challenge at times, but mostly pretty entertaining. Ave has begun to draw this past week or two, more than scribbles, which is cool to see. We've got a house full of artists, which I love. Ave has done wonderful being the only kiddo at home while the others are at school. She gets into her imaginary play so deeply and will sit and play for hours with littlest pet shop, little people, etc. She also loves to "write" songs and perform them for us regularly. She is super sensitive..."you said no and you broke my heart!!" She is also great at sticking up for her siblings when she thinks we're mad at them or if they are teasing each other. She's a sweetheart.

That leaves me and my little belly buddy. It's been a rough year pregnancy wise. My hormones have been INSANE. I'm really trying to savor this last time being pregnant. Watching the miracle inside grow, it's so crazy and never gets old to see. But the pain that comes with it all I could live without! I'm too old for this!! I turned 39 last month and my lab work says I'm elderly. Yep. We're super excited to end things with a little boy and can't wait for him to get here though! Otherwise, I'm just enjoying my wonderful friends, doing a little crafting when I can, and trying to be a good mom and wife. 

Most of all we are thankful for all the blessings we've been shown this year. We love attending church and are grateful for a wonderful ward family. Christ is so abundantly present in our lives, and we wish for the same gift in yours. We truly love and care for you all. We pray for our friends and family near and far daily and wish you all the best. We love you so much!!!! Looking forward to another great year and some great times together! 

Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year!