MERRY CHRISTMAS from The Scharmans

2015 has been good to us.  After being in the Navy for so long, it seems strange to hit a two year mark (and beyond) anywhere!  We have been here in Houston for two and a half years now.  Our roots are growing deeper and we are grateful for the family we are surrounded by.  We love our church family, our schools and our home.
Clark is as busy as ever - still serving as Bishop of the Tomball 1st Ward and working at Chevron in downtown Houston.  He travels some,  but not nearly as much as before.  Clark still loves to be outside playing with his dog, biking, or taking kids along on his new favorite pastime, fishing.  He manages to juggle all of that and more and we love him for it.
Emily - I could pretty much copy and paste what I do from year to year, not much changes.  I am still doing what I love, and that is being at home with the kids, personalizing our space, and trying not to go crazy with the mess and chaos of it all.  I have been serving with the young women at church for the last two years and loving it.  They are an amazing group of youth that we have here.  I spent most of the year growing a baby and taking as many naps as possible, but I'll get to that in a minute.
This year for me, has been focusing on how to simplify.  Simplifying for me has meant putting aside the things of lesser importance to focus on those of greater significance.  There will be time for other things later so right now it is all about my home and family.  And though we have all experienced the frustrations and challenges that come, it truly is what brings us the greatest joy.
In my efforts to simplify, I am letting the kids write their own "bios" this year to tell you what they've been up to.  We are sticking to a favorite tradition of ours around the dinner table called "Rose, Thorn, Bud".  Rose-something that makes you happy.  Thorn is something that makes you sad and a bud is something you are looking forward to.
I haven't written a great deal about our year because it's all right here in the blog.  Read at your leisure as much or as little as you like.  You might find a little fun, a lot of driving, a fair amount of sarcasm but hopefully, and most of all, lots of happiness.
Enjoy!

 The kids, in their entirety in August 2015.

Hey it's Haley. I am 14 years old and just started my Freshman year.  I still love to dance and have taken an interest in photography.  My rose is that I got my first smart phone this year! My thorn is the struggle of schoolwork during the week (including the weekends!) I continue to play and still have a love for piano - I just played a four person piano quartet with my Mom, piano teacher and good friend.  My bud for 2016 is looking forward to making more friends and to achieve goals I have set spiritually, physically and emotionally.

Hi.  Abby here.  I turned 12 in May and finally made it to Young Women's at church! I love to read, absolutely, positively all the time. I got braces.  They're OK.  I was in a play this year at school.  I played Lady Rosette in The Glass Slipper.  My rose is making friends and hanging out with my cousins.  My thorn is homework and my bud for 2016 summer vacation!
(Abby, miss charisma clammed up tight when I asked her to talk about herself.  Don't let those dimples fool you, she's a little spitfire.)

My name is Mia Scharman and I am 10 years old.  I love to read.  I take my books everywhere (and lose them all the time!) Right now I am reading the Warriors series.  I got enough reading points at school to go on a limo ride to CiCi's pizza.  I  play the piano.  My rose is reading and playing with my poopy puppy.  My thorn is cleaning and homework.  My bud is Christmas this week!

Hi, my name is Hazel Christina.  I am 7.  I do horseback riding lessons and piano.  Horseback is fun but I don't love to canter.  I fell off the horse a few weeks ago but landed on my feet-I was laughing so hard I was crying.  In piano I just learned a trio - my Dad's favorite Christmas carol with two of my sisters.  I am learning to play more Christmas carols.  I am in second grade.  This year I got to do a creative writing club and a math club.  My favorite subject in school is math or science.  My rose is roller skates.  My thorn is consequences and doing jobs.  My bud is more school!

Jonah is such a big boy!  Nothing like bringing a new baby home to make your last baby seem like a giant.  A few months ago Jonah got crazy so I was anticipating an insane adjustment to having a new baby.  But big brother turned a corner when he saw his baby brother for the first time.  He has been sweet, happy and more independent from the day we brought him home.  Jonah's rose is trains, his thorns is eating food at mealtimes and his bud is potty training, finally (a mom can hope, right?)

The dog has arguably become one of the family.  So he gets his own update, right?  "Rocket's Red Glare", or Rocky for short (he also goes by Rock, Rocket, Doofus, Poopy Puppy and "dog".)  His greatest accomplishment in the last year is that he has stopped spontaneously tinckling on the floor when he is excited to see you.  He still eats shoes if you leave them out but prefers anything made of hard plastic.  The kids love him and will occasionally take him for walks or wrestle him in the living room. He follows me around all day long when the kids are in school - I joke that he would make a great basketball player because he is running "picks" every time I turn around.
But our house would feel a little more empty without him here so I guess he can stick around.

 Our family, pre baby, this summer at an Oscarson Family Reunion at Bear Lake in Idaho in August.

A Scharman Christmas card wouldn't seem complete without a move, or a baby so here we have

Ezra Oscarson Scharman

born on Friday the 13th of November.   He was a whoppin 10 pounds, 3 ounces.  We knew he was going to be big, but had no idea he would be that big!  Clark's dream finally came true of delivering one of his children (you can read more about that in a previous post.)  It was an amazing experience for the both of us (don't worry, the doctor was practically holding Clark's hands the whole time.)
Ezra is adored by his siblings.  He is a good baby with a very sweet disposition.  He sleeps well and doesn't mind noise which is a perfect combination for this crazy household of ours.  We feel so blessed to have welcomed him into our family.  And he just smiled today for the first time, a perfectly perfect Christmas present.

  

As always, we feel the most blessed when we consider the gratitude we have for a loving Heavenly Father and a Savior, whose birth and life we celebrate now and throughout the year.  We love and cherish our family and friends who have played such a significant role in our lives and in the lives of each of our children.  

Wishing you all a wonderful, happy and joyful 2016.

With love,

Clark, Emily, Haley, Abby, Mia, Hazel, Jonah & Ezra

Life goes on...

So here's what really stinks the most about having a baby: you can't just sit and stare at them and nuzzle and love them on the couch all day. 
Life goes on. 
His birth came at a good time because it felt nice and easy to just say that I'm taking the rest of the year off.  I am not volunteering for anything or feeling overly obligated to do anything but the necessities. 
"When you cannot do what you have always done, then you only do what matters most."
-Robert D. Hales
We have had our fair share of doctor appointments and school obligations but everything else is taking a back burner.  We are edging back into life very slowly.  Ezra dropped a lot of weight so we began supplementing and doing regular weight checks at the doctor every other day until just this week when he finally made it back to his magic number.  He is seeing an ENT for a posterior tongue tie and had a visit to urgent care at a week old for a rather nasty looking cord and circumcision site.  But all is well now and he is growing and sleeping and eating and being adored every minute.
Jonah has been amazing.  He has been so difficult the last couple of months, I had psyched myself out that this transition with him was going to be a nightmare but he has been sweet, independent and so grown up since bringing Ezra home.  He loves baby brother.  All except for these pictures I took at one week, where he refused to hold him because "his belly button is gross".

And I like saying "the boys".  It warms the cockles of this Mom heart that was the mother of all girls for quite some time.  I was ushered into Motherhood as the mother of all girls and will leave the years of "birds in the nest" with only boys.

And although I haven't escaped the baby blues period with lots of crying and feelings of being overwhelmed, it is passing and I count my blessings that he sleeps so well.  That helps me keep my sanity better than anything else.

We feel so incredibly blessed and content.

And finally, I had a baby.

I had the most awesome doctor ever.  He listened at every appointment, to every bit of history, concern, desire and ideal and wrapped them all into something he could work with.  Because of all of my history of different birth experiences we felt an induction at 39 weeks was our best bet.  So we moved forward with an induction on Friday, the 13th, a lucky day for Oscarsons.
PAUSE THAT THOUGHT!! He offered to induce me on the 12th until I remembered that Abby was in her first school play - and since we couldn't miss that, we attended opening night on November 12th where she played Lady Rosetta in The Glass Slipper.  She did fabulously! And she had fun - I see more plays in her future.

OK, NOW we can have a baby.  The next morning we got the call to head on in.  I got hooked up and everything got moving.  I have to say I approached this birth with much more trepidation than in the past- I was tired, so so tired.  The thought of going through labor was almost too much.  I just had no umph left so when I felt that first painful contraction (before the pitocin even started) I panicked a little and thought, "nevermind, I don't want to do this."  At which point, it was a little late.  So proceeded we did.  I wasn't interested in a natural birth, I just wanted to be there and comfortable enough to enjoy it. 
I have spent a lot of time thinking about our family and just where we are in the grand scheme of things.  I will be honest that the last couple of kids have been somewhat of a harder notion to grasp - more kids, more chaos, more stress, yadda yadda yadda.  I love my infants and so naturally I have dwelt  a lot on whether or not this was "it" for us. From the moment we checked in, I was already having those reassurances that this was in fact, it, our last, our final Scharman baby.  It made the experience all the more special.  I really tried to take in and appreciate this experience, one last time.  The pitocin was going by 7:30am.  By 12:30 I had the anesthesiologist in to place the epidural so that the doctor could break my water before heading to another delivery he had scheduled.  I was comfortable, I was progressing.  I spent much of the day just resting with my headphones on and listening to a little Chopin.  My mother in law and sister in law were there hanging out and ready to help/capture the moment but gave me space and quiet for most of the time.

They were there to take pictures so we don't miss anything - like how fun it is for Clark to hang out while his wife is in labor.  Clark was in charge of social media until the big moment arrived.  He had text streams going with friends and family - on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsAp.

Then it was suddenly time to "suit up".  When they wheel that table of supplies in, is when things get real.  It has been Clark's dream for years, to deliver a baby.  He didn't care if it was on the kitchen floor or on the side of the road - I personally, preferred a hospital so it was a dream come true to work with Dr. M who agreed to let Clark do the delivery.  He made sure before hand that Clark was OK with holding his hand and being "close" to which Clark replied that he had been a submariner for 13 years with no respect for personal space.  They made a good team.

As they were sitting me up to start pushing, my blood pressure and heart rate plummeted so they took a moment, gave me a shot of something to send them back up, handed me the oxygen and we were on our way.  They gave me plenty of time between pushes to breathe deep and gather strength knowing that a big kid was on his way.

The last several weeks of my pregnancy I was having ultrasounds to keep an eye on his size, his weight and his shoulders which appeared particularly "wide".  I was really worried about being able to deliver him and for things to go smoothly but my wonderful Dr. reassured me that all would be fine and he had confidence that things would go as planned.  Clark had his hands on the baby from the moment he crowned.  Dr. M was there with his hands on Clark's to manipulate where needed, a little twist, a small tug, but Clark really was there to catch - I helped a little :)

Things could not have gone better.  I pushed for 25 minutes max.  It was hard but what labor isn't? Things were perfect.  I cannot express the sight of my husband holding that brand new son - it was one of the most spectacular, beautiful things I had ever seen.  He put that baby on my chest and I took it in - there is nothing like the warm weight of that brand new soul on your chest.  And their skin is soft and warm.  My sister said it best when she described their cheeks like a warm breath, it's so soft.
It was incredible.

And when they put him on the scale we just about died.  I couldn't believe that I had just birthed a 10+ pound baby.

I mean, look at him! He was huge! We like to joke that he checked himself out of the hospital, as soon as he was done shaving and filling out college applications.

But he is perfect and beautiful and so incredibly sweet.

I am kicking myself for not prepping the camera better before the kids walked in.  I missed Jonah's first reaction which was absolutely priceless.  He ran in and just giggled for the first two minutes.  He perfectly understood and was excited that baby brother was out and waiting for him.

These kids are amazing.  They adore each other when they are not bickering.  I desperately want them all to realize the blessings of this big, crazy family of ours while they are still young enough to enjoy living with one another!

Since Abby still had her play going on, she missed the initial meeting so Aunt Megan was kind enough to bring her up later in the evening, play makeup and all.

I was happy to let Clark take the reins on naming his last son.  Meet

Ezra Oscarson Scharman

November 13, 2015

10 pounds 3 ounces

23 inches

and adorable.

And there we are. 
Scharman, party of 8.

PB Wrap up (tha's Pre Baby, in case you were keeping track)

One day I decided to host a little in home lunch for a good friend at my house.  Often times we move fun friend lunches to a house so that all of the tiny little people that we have don't reak havoc in public.  Jonah had been particularly difficult in recent months.  I was prepping myself for a whirlwind of hurt when the baby arrived because he has been destructive and crazy and insane!  He likes to be super naughty when he gets together with his little cousin Lovey.  They adore each other.  They run and hug when they see each other but they have been known to cause lots and lots of trouble as of late.  Most of the time it involves a toilet.
During the lunch they had disappeared upstairs.  Megan was kind enough to restrict me from running up the stairs so she was doing the honors every once in a while to check on them.  After a few minutes of eery silence she ran up to do a check and returned to the balcony screaming urgently for backup.  She had walked into the bathroom upstairs to find the two littles maniacally stirring a concoction in the toilet with the plunger and toilet brush.  There was an inch of water on the floor, flowing freely into the vanity areas on either side.  The two toddlers had retreated to the media room and were hiding under the ottoman.  My friends, my dear friends that were there to enjoy a lovely lunch wouldn't let me help but they sprang from their seats and proceeded to sop up toilet water from the floor of the bathroom.  By the time I got upstairs with towels and rags, Megan was already up to her elbows emptying the contents of the toilet with her bare hands and trying to stop the flow of water.  The toddlers had shoved no less than two rolls of toilet paper all the way into the hole.
By the time my friends were done, the bathroom was cleaner than it has been in two years.
My friends, are the best.  The very best.
As we were walking back downstairs a wet glob of toilet paper literally fell from the sky onto my toe.  It was a comical reminder that life is gross, and random and funny and wonderful all at the same time.

I'm almost to the part where I have a baby.

Hazel knows that a sure fire way to get me to laugh is to impersonate Nacho Libre.  It gets me every time.

Sassafrass.

We love taking walks.  Back when I could still walk farther than the bus stop we did one of our walks around the retention ponds.  We like to watch the dog chase the birds and there are no other people.  We took our new camera along to try it out and hopefully capture what I love about spending time with this family of mine.
Even the disgruntled teenager faces.  She was loving every minute of it.  I can assure you.

Then somewhere in there Haley got to go to her first "formal".  The youth group at church get to attend a very fancified dance every fall - Haley has been watching her friends and cousins get ready for this dance for the last couple of years and this year she got to go.  Even though shopping for a modest dress is enough to make me want to move my entire family into a cave forever more, we found one and gussied her up. 
She looks old.
And beautiful.

Then there was that time that I refused to potty train Jonah, then changed my mind and gave it a whirl thinking, I have nothing but time until the baby comes.  We did this, exactly this, for ONE ENTIRE WEEK.  He did awesome, amazing.  Never missed.  Lots of success.  And then the next week we had to do stuff again and go places and it turns out that I was right all along.  The kid doesn't care one whit about using the potty.  Basically we had success because he got to sit and watch the ipad for an entire week straight - he just happen to be sitting on the potty the whole time.
He may be the only sunbeam at church still in diapers, come January.

Then Hazel dressed up for Halloween and my heart swooned.  I love her new hobby.  She was supposed to do her first show in December but it turns out that her class was on Sunday and we have decided to keep that strictly to our church and family day.  She was really disappointed but I was proud of her for sticking to our family's priority.

One day Mia came into my room at 6:30 in the morning and frantically woke me from my slumber with the cry that there was a snake in the kitchen.  She almost stepped on it.  I was hoping that she had mistaken a worm for a snake but alas, it was a snake.  It was small but a snake is a snake and I called Clark immediately (who happened to just be at the church that morning) and told him to come home NOW.  Poor guy probably thought I was having a baby.  Nope.  Just a hissy fit.  We all sat on the counter in the kitchen with our eyes glued to the snake to make sure it didn't try to escape.  If it had climbed under or in anything, I was prepared to move.

It's not surprise that Halloween is not my favorite holiday.  I love the costumes, adore the kids dressing up.  I despise trick or treating.  So I was quite proud of myself for "dressing up".  I was a fish tank.  We somehow convinced the kids to just go hang out with friends and eat pizza and copious amounts of candy that I would buy them if they didn't make me take them trick or treating. 
It was lovely.

Hazel and her horseback riding lessons.  It's apparently one of my favorite places to take pictures.  I just can't help myself.

This is how Jonah has spent the better part of my pregnancy.  He has watched A LOT of TV.  But he is still smart and loved and I figure there is plenty of time to fix how we have messed him up.  It allowed me to maintain some sanity from the comfort of my bed, or the couch, or wherever else I couldn't get up from for the last 4 months.

My bump didn't bother or deter him one bit.  He was fully passed out at this point and I couldn't bring myself to put him down.  Because he was still my baby, for a few more weeks at this point.

I documented my last Sunday getting dressed.  Getting dresses is really hard when you are nine months pregnant. And yet now I am recalling how much harder it is to get dressed in the months following having that baby.  One day your bump is "cute", then the baby is born and BAM, the next day, not so "cute".

This was taken just a couple of days before baby boy was born.  He was pretty much sitting on my lap at the end.  It was to the point where strangers in public were saying shocking things and I wondered if my very presence was obscenely offensive.  I, in fact, love pregnant bodies.  I think they are wonderful and fascinating and amazing.  So keep on, pregnant people.  Keep on.