Cute Despain Babies

2011-07-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

I decided its about time I updated this good ol' blog. I'm not very good at keeping people informed on what is going on with Brigham (or any of the rest of us) so maybe I'll give it a go. Brigham is only a week away from being 3 months old. I seriously can't believe how time flies. It seems like just last week I was pregnant and miserable.

He is doing really well. When we first got home from the hospital things were pretty rough. I didn't adjust to 4 kids well at all. Brig was so fussy for a while that I ended spending most days in my room with him. He demanded a lot more attention that any of my other newborns....and none of them were necessarily easy babies. After being home for about 2 weeks I decided to start giving him half formula/and half pumped breastmilk. He was being such a lazy nurser that he never really was able to get full. This causes a lot of gas for him and A LOT of crying. I go back and forth a lot trying to decide if that was the best thing to do. The only reason is that I HATE pumping and formula costs a ton of money. Life has became easier since then though. Don't get me wrong. He still demands a lot of attention and he still has a really sensitive tummy but things did get easier when I started bottle feeding.

He is almost 11 pounds now. What a little chunker. He smiles a lot and really likes to be talked to. When he is fussy the big kids will come and talk to him and it almost always calms him down. It is so nice not to have to be holding him all the time. He likes to eat....seriously he has a major appetite. He eats 4 ounces every 2.5 hours or so. I have tried feeding him more in hopes to not feed him as often. He must have a small tummy though because anything more that 4 oz. doesn't stay down.

I was really hoping to be completely done with the oxygen by now. Unfortunately his oxygen saturation is quite what it should be so we are still using the oxygen at night. His saturation needs to be above 90%. When is dips below that it means his organs aren't getting enough oxygen. The dr. here thinks after another month with it on at night that we will be ready to get rid of it. He does need it during the day sometimes but the dr. thinks its ok for him to be without it unless it drops below 90% for more than a few minutes. Brigham hates the tubes up his nose. He pulls it out a couple times a night. I feel so bad for him. It can't be comfortable!

I'm gonna post a few pics of him. There are a lot more pictures that I need to post of him and the other kids too. Maybe someday I will be more consistent about this blogging thing.

Not really a current picture. We were heading to the dr. One of the few outings he had been on at the point. He is about 7 weeks old in this picture.
The first day in the NICU. This was before his jaundice spiked.
Right after he was born.....when we had no idea what we were in for.
Day 2 in the NICU. So sad with the blindfold and stupid ventilator.

Day 11....I think, and day 12

2011-05-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a lot of time to keep this updated.....sorry. I'm trying to be good about answering all of the text messages and facebook comments. If I haven't responded to you I am really sorry.

Brigham is doing pretty good. He has been on high flow nasal oxygen since Monday. He was really getting tired of the nCPAP so the decided to go to high flow. He is much more content with that big tube out of his face. He is still breathing too fast but they are slowly weaning him down on the oxygen. He started out getting 6 liters per day and he is now down to 3. He has to be at least down to 2 in order for me to nurse him and he needs to keep his respiratory rate below 70. I am kind of nervous to nurse him....they keep talking about the risk of aspiration and that just kinda freaks me out. The told me a lactation specialist and an occupational therapist and a nurse will be there to help so that is kind of comforting. After he has nursed well for about 48 hours we will be able to go home.

Yesterday started rough for me. After talking to the nurse I felt like we were going to be here FOREVER. I am really ready to go home and have all of my little family together and back to normal. After a breakdown we decided to take the kids to do something fun. We had some passes to Hollywood Connection in West Valley so we headed up there. The kids had a blast. Millie and Levi loved all the rides. Callie hated them. Josh took Millie and Levi on the bumper cars several times and they all really loved that. Josh and Millie spent the night in West Valley with his parents and then headed back home today. I drove back to my parents house late last night. I had some milk I needed to drop at the hospital and Todd and Ashley were going to come and watch Levi and Callie while I ran inside. My kids were so tired that I almost decided not to stop. I just had to stop though and I am so glad that I did. I don't think I would have been able to live with myself if I knew I had let a whole day go by without seeing my little Brig. He was wide awake when I got there so I held him and cuddled him for a while.

Today I ran over there for a little while. He had been upset and crying so I held him and calmed him down. I had promised Levi that I wouldn't spend too much time there. Poor little Brig started crying again when I put him down. It breaks my heart. I am headed back there tonight to give him and bath and hold him while he gets fed.

I'll post some more pictures soon! I have lots of them.

Brigham's Birthday!

2011-05-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

I guess I better type all this out before I forget.

On Friday, May 6, I had a dr. appt. The dr checked me and I wasn't at all dilated or effaced. The plan was for me to come back on the 16th and if I was dilated to at least a 3 he would start me. If not we would have to wait another week.

Well Brigham had other plans. My water broke just after midnight on May 7. It was just a little trickle so I wasn't positive that it had broke. I went and sat on the couch for a while because I just wasn't sure what was going on. At about 1:45 am I went and told Josh. We decided we better get packed up. By 3:00 we were pretty much packed and ready to go. I wasn't contracting at all so we decided to try and sleep a little before we left. Yeah right. Neither of us could sleep and I was getting uncomfortable and a little nervous about the 2 hour drive. We woke the kids up at 4:00 and hit the road. The kids did really great on the drive. I had been so worried about waking them up but things went really well.

Josh dropped me at the hospital at 6:30 and then took the kids to my Robert and Heidi (my brother and his wife). They were going down to my moms house that day anyway so they took our kids with them. I got all checked in to the hospital and waited for Josh to get back. The nurse did a test to see if my water had actually broken. The little strip of paper didn't turn blue fast enough so she wasn't sure what was going on. They did a few different tests before they finally decided my water had actually broken. It was a little frustrating because I knew how much fluid I had lost.

The timing is all a little sketchy to me but I think it was around 10:00 before they started the pitocin and antibiotic. I had the GBS test at the my appt. the day before so we didn't have results yet. When the happens they treat for it anyway, especially because I had tested positive before. It wasn't long before I told the nurse I was ready for an epidural. I see no point in putting yourself through pain. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. The did have to put monitors on the baby's head because his heart rate was dropping. I progressed slowly throughout the day and the nurse just kept on turning the pit up. I was starting to feel a lot of pressure but not enough to really cause a ton of pain. Between 5:00 and 6:00 pm I went from a 6 to a complete 10. Once I was complete I really felt like I had to push. I had never felt this much pressure with any of the other babies. My dr wasn't in that day so I had a different dr but he was pretty nice. I didn't have to push for very long. Maybe 10 minutes at the most. Brigham was born at 6:40 pm, eighteen and a half hours after my water broke.

As soon as he came out the doctor and nurse both commented on how small he was. I was shocked to hear that because I had measured big for the last 6 weeks or so. Just goes to show how much those measurements mean. He weighed 5 pounds 9 oz and was 19 inches long. He is such a cute cute baby.

I held him for a little while and then the nurse came in to bath him. With my other babies they bathed them in the nursery and Josh went to help. This time they bathed him right on the end of my bed. It was fun to watch that even though he was really mad about it. When she was done bathing him I thought to myself that it seemed like he was struggling with his breathing. I could see his chest retracting but I kind of thought I was just being worrisome and that the retracting was because he was so small.

The nurse took him to the nursery to warm him up and check his blood sugar. Josh left to go Robert and Heidi's house to sleep. I was running a low grade fever so I just kind of relaxed in my bed for a while. Around 9:30 the nurse came back in and told me they were taking Brigham to the NICU. I wasn't that worried. I thought maybe he needed a tiny bit of oxygen or something. Once my fever went down I had one of the nurses walk me down to the NICU. I don't know how I got through the next couple of hours. I didn't really have time to call Josh and I knew he really needed sleep. They had Brigham on nCPAP and they were giving him an IV because his blood sugar was very low. Seeing him completely broke my heart. It was so sad. The IV was hard for me to see. His hand just seemed too tiny to have a needle in it. The pediatrician showed up and looked at an x-ray. I had seen the x-ray there but didn't connect the fact that it was of Brigham. As soon as he walked in he looked at it and said, "Whoa, thats UGLY!" One nurse came to me and put her arm around me while another nurse kindly told the dr that the mom was in the room. The doctor felt really bad that he hadn't noticed me and been a little more gentle with his comment about the x-ray. He explained to me what he meant and apologized a lot. He decided that Brigham needed to be intubated and put on the ventilator so that he could have a dose of surfactant. He told me that Brigham had premature lung disease I started watching as they intubated him but had to turn away. The x-ray people came back in and did another x-ray to make sure the tube was in right. Once he was stable things kind of calmed down a little bit. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I was really really tired and knew I better get some sleep. I didn't know what a good mom was supposed to do though. Sleep or just stay there and stare at my sick baby. A very nice nurse gave me a hug and told me the best thing I could do for my baby was go and get some sleep. I am so glad I listened to her.

I texted Josh to fill him in and I told him to just stay there and get all the sleep he could. Then I tried to sleep but I am not sure I was very successful. At this point I still wasn't really that worried. Maybe things just hadn't sunk in yet. The next few days were really rough. Hopefully I can get around to writing about them soon.

Day 8

2011-05-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

The nurse practitioner called this morning (this has been one thing I love about UVRMC, the nurse practitioner always calls after doing rounds). She went down on his nCPAP pressure so now its at 7. The plan was to take him off of it this afternoon. I got there at 10:30 and one of the nurses told me she thought they had taken him off. I was so excited but as soon as I saw him I realized that he was back on the nCPAP. What happened is Brigham pulled the tubes out of his nose 3 times in about 15 minutes. He was getting MAD at them trying to get them back in so they decided to see how he would do without it. Within a few minutes he was breathing really fast again and retracting quite a bit. So they put him back on. BUMMER.

He has really developed quite an appetite. He definitely lets us know when he is hungry. We decided to go up 3 mL every feeding. He is really tolerating food quite well. By tomorrow he should be completely off the IV and just getting breastmilk. Now if he would just get off the nCPAP so I can nurse him.....grrrrr.

I decided not to go back tonight. Levi and Callie and I have been playing together. Josh and Millie are still in Afton. They are coming back tomorrow and I am so excited for them to get back.

Baby Brig the birdy

2011-05-15T17:56:00.001-07:00

I love this picture! Brigham is wanting to eat and he kept smacking his lips together. The nurse dropped a tiny bit of milk into his mouth and boy did that make him happy!

Day 7

2011-05-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that Brigham is a week old now! Its weird because the week has seemed to go by so fast but yet time just seems to be dragging on forever.

Brigham is still on the nasal CPAP. His breathing does seem to be slowing down a little bit and he is no longer getting the antibiotic. The pressure on the nCPAP is set at 7. That probably needs to go a little lower before he goes off of it. I was at the hospital from 10:00 until 1:30. Then I went back around 7:30. He needed a bath so I went in time to help with that. The nurses are really great about letting the me as much as I can. I gave him a sponge bath and he did not like that AT ALL. I like having him smell good though! After the bath it was time to eat and I got to hold him while he was fed. We have been going up on his feeding and down on the IV. He has really developed an appetite and he really likes being fed. He was wide awake and really liked being held tight and talked to. It was really hard to go home without him. :(

SO CUTE!!!!

2011-05-13T19:21:00.001-07:00

This is Brigham on day 5 not long before he got off the oscillating ventilator. I could look at this kid all day.

Day 6

2011-05-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

Another good day!

Josh and Millie left to go back home today. They will probably just be there for a couple days but it is hard for me to have them gone. I sure miss them. I spent the morning bathing kids and getting Millie ready to go.

I headed to the hospital around 1:00. I had to pump and then headed to see my little baby Brig. As soon as I got there the nurse asked if I wanted to hold him. His bilirubin had gone down quite a bit so he didn't have to be under the lights anymore. I held him for 3 hours and I loved every second of it! He was sound asleep the whole time but it was still nice to hold him. I would have held him all night long but I had to pump again and he needed his diaper changed.

While I was pumping he started to get upset so the nurse changed his diaper. Once I was done it was time for Brigham to eat. It was so cute. He was wide awake and looking around. My little brother Nate stopped to see him for a little while. Its kinda fun for me to show off how cute Brig is.

I am feeling really hopeful that we are almost ready to come home. I know we are on the down hill side of things and that makes me SO happy.

Once I got home from the hospital I got to take Levi and Callie to a school carnival across the street from my moms house. Its nice to do things that seem normal. Part of me feels like I should never leave the hospital but I also know my other kids need me as much as Brigham does.

Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Day 5

2011-05-13T19:00:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. Blogger has been down for a day or so. Its been kind of annoying because it seems like I start to forget what happens.

Day 5 was a good day for us. Josh and I were kind of lazy at my moms house all morning. Life flight day was just SO exhausting!

We got to the hospital around 1:30 or so. My sister's friend Jada was our nurse and she was really nice. The nurse practitioner was also really helpful and explained things really well. When we first got there they took his blindfold off and he was wide awake for a while just looking at us. It made me really happy to see him with his eyes open. After a little while I went to pump and Josh went to do a little shopping. As I was finishing up pumping the nurse came and told me they were ready to take him off the vent. She waited for me to get there and I watched them pull the tube out of him and put him on the nCPAP. He handled it really really well. He was so calm and mellow and he didn't even have morphine in him to force him to be calm.

I just have really so calm since then. I feel like we are really making progress now!!! YAY!

Brigham Update: Day 4

2011-05-12T06:24:00.000-07:00

I wish I was a better blogger. My horrible blogging skills along with my brain filled with mush is going to make this hard to understand.

On Tuesday night (day 3) we noticed that Brigham was still breathing really fast. He was on high flow oxygen and it really didn't seem to be helping him. The nurse we had was really great and called the dr. Eventually the dr. decided to put him on nasal cpap. This just ticked Brig off and he would not calm down. Around midnight Josh and I went to bed. The nurse had given him some morphine so eventually he didn't have a choice but to calm down.

Wednesday morning I got up to pump around 5:30 and couldn't get back to sleep so I went down to the NICU. Even on the nasal cpap it seemed like he was still having a hard time slowing down his breathing. He was retracting quite a bit and I just felt like it might be time to transfer him to a different hospital. I asked the nurse about it and she seemed like he would be fine in Logan because he wasn't getting any worse. The fact that he wasn't getting any better was really bothering me. The dr came in that morning and it was decided that we should transfer. Normally they would have sent him to McKayDee in Ogden but we decided to come to UVRMC since its closer to my parents house and to where the kids are.

Things started happening really fast after this. Josh came up to the room where staying to fill me in on what was going on. I of course lose it.....just in time for the social worker to show up. She was really nice and had been calling our insurance company and UVRMC to make sure things were all going to work out that way. Pretty soon after that the pediatrician and the family dr. showed up to kind of let us know how things were going. They told us life flight had been called and it would probably be a couple hours before the showed up. It didn't take that long though and pretty soon the NICU nurse called to tell us they were on their way.

Once they got there they went right to work getting Brig switched over to their vent. Josh and I were able to stay right close to him until the helicopter took off. Josh was able to video the whole thing so that might be fun to watch sometime.

We got down to the hospital around 3:30 or 4. Its really different that the NICU in Logan. After being there for a while with a lame nurse we finally found someone who could answer all of our questions. Right before we left we were able to talk to the neonatologist. He was really nice and helpful.

The reason Brig hasn't been getting better is because he has an infection. It seems like his body is working so hard to fight the infection that his lungs just can't get better. He has pneumonia and the were concerned that he might have spinal meningitis. The dr called me late last night to tell me the lumbar puncture had gone well and that he does NOT have spinal meningitis. (YAY) The other good news is that his bilirubin had gone down quite a bit. Yesterday morning it was at 17 and when the tested him at UVRMC is was down to 11. I think today he might be able to go without the bili lights and then we can take his blindfold off. I miss seeing his cute eyes.

As for the rest of us: We are doing good. It was so great to see the kids yesterday. I was pretty emotional and missing them so much. Of course they have just been having a great time playing with grandma and grandpa. I am sure I needed them more than they needed me. Josh has been amazing through this. He keeps me calm and helps me understand things. He is really great at asking questions. Really he needs husband and dad of the year award because without him I am pretty sure they would be doping me up with morphine too.

It looks like we are going to be here for a while longer. My guess is that we will be here into next week sometime. Josh is able to miss work. Its been nice to have his coworker and principal tell him that will just take care of things there for him. I really have needed him with me. We have had MANY people offer to help us with the kids. Right now I feel like we need to be together as a family so the kids are going to stay down here with us. I am not concerned at all about them missing school. As for what you can do for us.... just keep praying. If I think of anything else I promise I'll ask but for now there just really isn't much that can be done. I really appreciate all of the phone calls, text messages and facebook messages. They have really cheered me up and made me feel loved. If I don't respond please dont be offended. Things have been really busy so sometimes I just don't get around to responding and then I forget. It also gets kind of hard to tell the story over and over again.

We really appreciate the thoughts and prayers and love. I know there have been some fasts organized too and we really appreciate it. I will try and update this every day with all the details that I can give. Please check back and share the blog address with people that ask about us.

Thanks again for all of the support!

(and please forgive the typos)

2011-05-10T15:42:00.000-07:00

This was this morning, May 10. Its kind of blue because of the bilirubin lights. Poor little man. He doesn't love that mask......well really he doesn't like any of it.
This is shortly after his born. Before we even had any idea that his little lungs so premature. Poor little baby Brigham. :(

Time to blog again

2011-05-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

Hey! I haven't blogged for a very long time. Mostly because we are pretty boring (and busy) people. There hasn't been much to talk about but now that Brigham is here and having some issues I decided its going to be easier to update people this way. Its hard to remember what I have told people and who I have told so I just decided that blogging will help a bit.

For now he is making progress. He was taken off the ventilator this morning. I am so happy about that!!! He is getting help to breath with high flow oxygen. I feel like he is still breathing a little too fast but the nurses and dr haven't seemed too worried. His bilirubin level is still high (15) so he has lights above him and below him. He is on a feeding tube that is inserted through his nose. I've been pumping breast milk since shortly after he was born and I'm glad he is able to get nutrients from that. He also is on an IV. There is one in each hand but they only use one hand at a time and just kind of switch back and forth. He gets an antibiotic, morphine, and some calories through the IV.

When I get time I'll go back over the last 3 or 4 days. I think it will be good to journal it all a little because my brain has pretty much turned to mush in the last couple days.

nevermind

2011-01-17T08:10:00.000-08:00

...

Swimming Lessons

2010-07-07T06:20:00.001-07:00

My kids really hated swimming lessons. Its was a good experience for them but man they thought it was pure torture!
Yeah, I got to be a mean mommy and drop them off the diving board.

I was sooooo glad she loosened her grip on my enough to not pull me in after her.

Millie kind of pretended to like it as long as she was sitting right on the edge of the pool.

No pretending for Levi. He cried. A LOT!

SUMMER TIME!!!!

2010-07-07T06:10:00.001-07:00

I guess I just have better things to do than blog.....
Like take pictures of Callie while she is super mess and posing all cute in her daddy's hat.

Or spy on my kids while they are feeding stolen carrots to the neighbor's horses. I wondered where all my carrots went. Spoiled horses!

Millie turns 6

2010-06-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe my little girl is 6. Time just seriously flies by so fast. She is really the best daughter that a mom could ask for. She is kind and helpful and cheerful. She giggles all day long. Rarely whines. Shares with her little brother and sister. Really, I don't mean to brag but she is the BEST!
Millie got this puppy from her grandma. Lucky puppy even got to go to dinner with us.

My super cute 6 year old. Her birthday was on the last day of school so she is wearing her class shirt. I can't believe how big she is!

I went crazy and let her invite 12 girls over for a birthday party. Seriously it was crazy here for that hour and a half. She had a blast though!

Playing the dice game at her party.

A few days before her birthday she came home with this iPod dock station. She won it from a drawing at school. She was SO SO SO excited and her dad was just as jealous.

I love my family

2010-06-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

Seriously there could not be a better looking family. And this family totally ROCKS! I can't believe how many of us there are.

In other news: I still need to get pictures from Millie's birthday uploaded. I am starting a training program at the gym with Josh today. I am so excited and there is a part of my brain that really thinks at some point in time I will really be a SMOKIN HOT MAMA!

Have a great day!

Ugh!

2010-06-02T12:46:00.001-07:00

I really want to post some pictures of all the fun we had for Millie's birthday but I can't seem to get them to load onto my computer. I'll have to wait for Josh to come and rescue me from being a computer dummy.

In health news..... It is so hard to eat healthy when you are travelling a lot. Also, it is very hard to get in a good work out. Lets face it though....if I REALLY wanted to exercise and eat right when I am away from home I would.

Today I went jogging at 6 am in the rain. For lunch I had a blackberry spinach smootie. It was tasty. We are heading out of town again tomorrow or Friday. Wish me luck!

Thanks for all of the support and healthy eating ideas. I really appreciate it!

GOOD MORNING!!!

2010-05-26T05:18:00.000-07:00

A few updates on our attempt to be healthy:

IT IS SO HARD!!!!!!! I know I sound like a whiney baby......but this whole being healthy thing is hard. On Saturday I took the kids to Burger King. Millie had gotten a coupon for a free hamburger and wanted to use it. It has been ultra cold here so I thought the kids would like to play on the playground there. I stopped at Subway for myself....so I was somewhat healthy. Later that day we took the kids bowling. Bowling was half price and they had free soda and hotdogs. So we ate out for lunch and dinner. I don't think my kids had any vegetables that entire day.

Last night we had whole wheat pasta for dinner though. The kids and I couldn't tell a difference at all. I really liked it!!!

In other news..... MILLIE TURNS 6 TOMORROW!!!! Where has the time gone??? I went to her kindergarten class yesterday, today is her birthday party, and then she gets to celebrate tomorrow with her family! School also gets out tomorrow!!!! Its such a fun time of year.

We are going camping on Friday. Its really hard to think about being healthy when we are going camping. Any great suggestions???

So far....

2010-05-22T07:08:00.001-07:00

Our summer hasn't officially started. HELLO!!!! We woke up to snow this morning. (BARF)! The last day of school is on Thursday, which is also my Millie's birthday (I can't believe she'll be 6)!

So far on our journey to eat right and get fit:

* We (meaning just me) quit buying bread and started making it at home. Yeah its white and fluffy and delicious. Maybe not the most healthy food choice in the world but if I make it at home its not loaded with preservatives. The kids and Josh LOVE the bread. I love it too but try to avoid eating too much of it. Eventually I will start adding wheat to it and some flax seed. Shhh....don't tell Josh or the kids.

* The kids have had a fruit or vegetable with every meal for a few days now. It took Millie 40 minutes to gag down some carrot sticks last night. Levi loves them though. The both like to eat them with ranch so I give them a small amount of it and tell them thats all they get. The other night I was making myself a blackberry smoothie. I made each of the kids try a blackberry. Callie gobbled it up. Millie gagged and spit it out. Levi reluctantly ate it and then said it wasn't too bad. They all liked the smoothie though.

*The other night we had baked chicken, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and brown rice. The kids LOVED it. They cleared their plates without too much complaining. Millie even ate all of her cauliflower even though she thought she was going to die. They all love broccoli so they were excited about that.

*I am hoping we can get out for some exercise today. I have gotten a workout every day this week so far. Today I woke up to snow though and even though its a balmy 37 degrees (yesterday it was 30 when I ran at 5:30 a.m.) out there I can't convince myself to go on a run. And I definitely am not making me kids go out there. Brrrr!

Thanks for all the tips on healthy snacks! One problem I am running in to is that everything is SO expensive here. I wish I was a part of a produce co-op like Bountiful Baskets or something. Hmmm....I may have to look in to that!

Have a great weekend!

Healthy and Fit Summer 2010

2010-05-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends and Family!

Its been a while since I blogged. I'm not good at this whole blog thing as you all know by now. But I am telling you now that I am about to get a LOT better! This blog is about to take a new purpose and I hope that you'll enjoy the little change.

So here's the thing.... My kids and I have decided that its time to start eating and living more healthy. OK....I decided that its time for my family to start being more healthy and the little people are going along with it because I'm their mama. They have been pretty cooperative so far. So since summer time is fast approaching we are going to make a goal to eat much more healthy food, eliminate the junk we eat, and start exercising as a family. Sounds fun, right????

Here is the little plan that Millie, Levi and I have came up with:

* We are going to eat at least one fruit and vegetable at every meal.

* We are going to try new things even if they look gross.

* We are going to eat fewer snacks and make healthy choices for snacks.

*We only are going to eat one treat or dessert a day.

*Soda and eating out is going to just be for special occasions.

*We are going to exercise as a family every day.

Doesn't sound too hard....but I promise its really really hard. The little people around here are used to having lots of treats around and honestly so am I.

Josh looked at me like I have 27 heads the other night when I served brown rice as a side dish. Convincing him that this is a good idea will be more difficult than it was to convince the munchkins.

Wanna know where this whole idea came from? Yeah, so do I. I guess what it boils down to is me. I'm fat, although I would rather call myself pleasantly plump. I work out regularly and I try really hard to eat right. I've been to two different doctors now that have told me that my weight problems are genetic. The last dr. that I talked to had me have some tests done (5 blood draws in 2 hours......OUCH)!!! The results all tell me that I am healthy. The dr seems to think that I am a very healthy over weight person. HUH? He also told me that I need to exercise more and eat less. OK? I've been trying that for years. So now I guess it is time to do something more drastic. So, here we are. I decided to blog about it mostly so I can keep track of what we do but also because it makes me feel a little more accountable.

I hope you'll enjoy this blog as my sweet little family goes on this journey with me. It is definitely not going to be easy and I can for sure use all the support I can get.

Speaking of support........anybody have any good ideas for some healthy, kid friendly snacks?

A few random pictures.

2010-04-19T08:56:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I just realized that the few pictures I have of my kids during spring break are actually on my phone and I haven't sent them to my computer yet. So those pictures will come later I guess.
Callie is really a sweet little baby sometimes. She likes to give hugs and kisses and we all love being the recipients to her affection. Levi and Callie play really well together for the most part. I hope they will always love each other like this.

The kids got to dye Easter Eggs while they stayed at Grandma's house but Josh thought they should do it again. Josh is really good to help with stuff like this otherwise there is no way I would ever do it with the kids. Isn't Levi just the cutest!

Callie is way into suckers right now. Notice in this picture how she has one in her mouth and one in her hand. She stole them out of the diaper bag when we were at the hotel on Logan. She is a PILL! Callie is almost 19 months now and is still talking up a storm. She loves to call and talk to my mom on the phone....even though she is speaking a language of her own. She does have many words that are recognizable but for the most part she just jibber jabbers. CONSTANTLY! She seems like a little girl to me now as opposed to a baby....we still call her Baby all the time though. Especially Josh, he never calls her Callie. Just Baby.

Okay, enough rambling from me. I have a post full of Millie pictures coming up...which is why I left her out of this blog. Hope life if being good to you all!

VEGAS BABY!

2010-04-08T09:50:00.001-07:00

It is totally a miracle that I am blogging about this so soon! I know its been a week and a half but sheesh, I really feel on top of things! Josh and I had so much fun in Las Vegas. There are so many things to do and see and there is SO MUCH WALKING!!!!

We got there Sunday afternoon and just because we were kid free we decided to take a nap. Ohhhhh it was so nice to sleep without assuming I would have a kids bugging me 3 minutes later. After napping we went down to Circus Circus. It was so much fun to play all those carnival/fair type games. We spent a ton of cash but also won a ton of dorky stuffed animals for the kids. They were thrilled with them. No one tell them that in another few weeks I will probably trash some of them. I swear there are stuffed animals that breed in my house.

After Circus Circus we went to dinner and headed back down to the strip to walk around. HOLY COW we walked forever. There is so much to see though (especially lots of drunk, scantilly clad people and people handing out hooker cards). I love love love the Bellagio. Its so cool and totally worth a Vegas trip just to see it. I should have taken pictures but I didn't. It was SO WARM down there. I loved being able to escape the arctic!

Now for some random pics! More to come later!
My man standing in from on the Luxor.

On Monday we decided to try the samples of Coke products from around the world. I am not sure which one I am sipping here but it was NASTY. Later I am going to post a movie of Josh trying an Italian drink called Beverly. EWWWW is was GROSS!

Here is Josh trying one that I guess wasn't too bad. Some of them were actually alright but most of them tasted like you were drinking super carbonated benadryl. SO AWFUL!

Ick....I can't believe I am actually posting a pic of me and my fat self. Here I am standing in from of the Excalibur. Josh bought me some new shades. I love them. I got a hair cut the day after this was taken....as you can tell it was very needed. LOL

More to come. In another week or so. Serioulsy how do so many people have so much time to blog???

Still Boring.

2010-03-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

BUT NOT FOR LONG!!!!

Today we are leaving on a week long VACATION!!!! We need it. A few of those days Josh and I will be alone. The kids are staying with my awesome mom and dad. I'm so grateful they will keep them so Josh and I can have some alone time. I feel bad for my mom....she has to keep Callie too. I love Callie I really do but GOLLY that girl knows how to wear on me. I exhausted by her and I am sure her grandma will be too. CANT WAIT FOR TIME ALONE WITH JOSH. Did I mention that yet.

So, well be back in a week and then it will take me a week to get my house back together and then I will blog about the great time we are going to have. I know you will all be waiting on the edge of your seat. HAHA

Too Boring to Blog

2010-03-01T09:49:00.001-08:00

I really really wish I had something exciting to blog about. But I don't. Life is just normal....which is good.

2010 has brought us lots of weekend company....which is WAY FUN.

We have been mostly healthy, until now. Callie and Levi both have yucky colds. Josh and Millie are on their way. So far I am just taking care of everyone.

We bought half a cow....cooking has been more fun for me now that we actually have beef that tastes good.

We are leaving town this weekend after 2 full months of staying in the valley. YAY!!! We are hoping it is a little warmer down in Salt Lake!

Hmmmm......See, I told you we are boring!

Two Little Valentines

2010-02-03T08:37:00.001-08:00

I love Valentines Day!!! Can't wait to make some more!

Sew Happy....I Craft My Pants!

2010-02-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

I just got done making Callie a little Valentine skirt. I am so excited about it that I just have to share. I made one for Millie too and she wore it to school today. I'll take a picture of her later.

In other news: Well there is no other news really. Life is just going on.....same old same old!

Blah Blah Bloggity Blog

2010-01-15T07:30:00.000-08:00

Not much happening for us these days. I love January because everything seems so new but for some reason this January is kind of dragging.
So lets see....this week:
Monday-cleaned like a MAD WOMAN to make up for not really doing much all weekend. I used my birthday as an excuse to be lazy.
Tuesday-took my friend Erin to Evanston where she met another friend to take her to PMCM so her baby Noah could have surgery. The ride was awesome and honestly not long enough for me. I think I talked her ear right off!
Wednesday-babysat for a couple different friends, had a meeting.... nothing to exciting.
Thursday-boring.
Friday-Cleaning and getting ready for J's brother to come and visit. And I get to go the the grocery store....YAY!!! (note the sarcasm. I dread grocery shopping).
So really the first week of being 30 was pretty dull other than going on a quick roadtrip....that was a blast.
Onto the PICS!

I've got this brown wall by my stairs that go down to the basement. I'd been wanting a shelf and quilt hanger for a while and my awesome husband made me one for my birthday. It adds so much color to the house. I like the jar quilt but I just finished peicing another one that will soon be on its way to my sister to be quilted and then it will hang here. Its a bit funkier and I am way excited to put it up.

On Saturday night my friend Erin (the one right behind me) arranged a birthday dinner for me at the fish place in Afton. It was so much fun to get out with my girlfriends (not to mention have some yummy crab cakes)! This picture is a great reminder to me of why I should: A-lose 20 pounds and B-never slouch in a picture. BLECK!!!

My friends Tye and Dani made me this cake with lots of kisses! It was so yummy! Speaking of my birthday I have thought long and hard about what I can do to make myself feel like I am doing something good in the world. Well since I just turned 30 I decided I am going to do 30 things this year that make me stretch myself. So far I have done nothing...haha. Not sure what any of them will be.....could be anything from learning something new, doing some kind of service project, or even something as silly as reaching out to someone I don't like. HA! I may even post about these things so I can be more accountable. We'll see. I'd really hate for someone I don't like (or even someone I love to pieces) to read on my blog that they had been a dumb project of mine. Anyway.....we'll see what happens.

Here is my rockstar baby Callie! So cute and such a monster!

This has got to be one of my favorite pictures of Levi EVER!!! EVER EVER EVER!!! He feel asleep with his hand in the cheetoh bag! Perfect for him because he is ALWAYS eating.

Family Pics!

2010-01-11T08:09:00.001-08:00

For your viewing pleasure! My adorable family! 3 cute kids, 1 super hot hubby, and one tired mommy that has been working out like a mad woman and still hasn't lost a single pound!

We still need to do some cropping and get them printed! Ughh. So much for getting family pictures in time to send Christmas cards. Anyone want a Valentine's Day card???

Resolutions:

2010-01-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

I am really really crappy at resolutions. REALLY CRAPPY.

This year I need some though. And I need to stick to them.

FIRST: Get rid of the 10 lbs that I have gained since school started in August. UGHHH. It turns out I am an emotional eater and every emotion makes me want to eat food that is bad for me. Also seems I have had an emotional few months. Not a good combination for someone who was dealt the fat cards. I started today with Jillian Micheals 30 Day Shred AND my treadmill. And no chocolate!!! (so far anyway)

LAST: Have you ever had the feeling that you want to do something more in the world? Lately I feel that way and I just can't shake it. Problem: I don't know what to do. What really could there for ME to do? So throughout the year I plan to figure it out. I barely seem to get through each day without losing my mind, in fact some days by dinner time I have completely lost it. So for now I'll start small. I'll be more patient, kind, and happy. I'll be a better mom, wife, daughter, sister and friend. I'll gain a closer realtionship with my Savior. And maybe if I just do these few simple things every day then by the end of the year I can figure out what I can do that is just a little bit bigger. Did that make sense to anybody???

New Years Eve

2010-01-02T13:19:00.001-08:00

Don't ask me what Tye is doing behind Josh.........or why my camera has the date totally wrong. Maybe I should figure out how to get that date to not show up. Hmmm....

Levi was the only kid that stayed up clear until midnight. So here he playing a game with himself while all the other kiddos were napping.

(I have no idea why the pictures insist on being on the top. The refuse to let me move them....stubborn pictures.)

So the plan for Christmas break was to go see family in Utah and then come and get my house in order. We saw family, we came home. My house is NOT in order. I've been sick for what seems like FOREVER now so I have really just vegged out all week. I took a small break from my vegging to go and see Erin and Andrea (and a whole lot of kids)! It was so great to see them and I didn't get to stay nearly as long as I would have liked. Then New Year's Eve I felt decent enough to have some friends over for games.

HOLY COW!!! I don't think I have had this much fun in a really long time! The Larsons and Broughs came over and it was a BLAST! The kids all cooperated, we had loads of delicious food, and we laughed a lot!!! I stayed up way too late and felt horrible the next day. I took that as an excuse to read a good book, watch a good movie and I even snuck in a nap.

I can't wait for Monday to get here so I can get back to my routine!!!!

Proof I did at least one thing productive in 2009

2010-01-02T13:10:00.001-08:00

I decided that I'd make Millie and Levi each a blanket for their bed for Christmas. Any smart mom would go to WalMart and buy one of those themed beds in a bag that cost $18.88. Well, not me, I spent my $18.88 buying a new brain at WalMart. The pattern is called "Surprisingly Super Simple." Well for me it was Not Surprisingly Quite Challenging.

So there you have it. I made 2 quilts in 2009 and I feel quite accomplished.

Just a few pics

2010-01-02T10:32:00.000-08:00

Just posting a few pics........maybe I'll get to a real post later today. Maybe not.
Vidya's birthday is on Christmas Eve. This is all the Despain cousins celebrating a few days late.

All the Llewellyn cousins. Getting these kids to even agree to take a picture is a huge task so I didn't bother to really try to get them to all look at the camera....let alone smile. But they are for sure cute anyway! If we would have waited a few days baby Asher would be in the picture too!

Our tree.....before Santa came. Didn't get a picture of after but let me just say there was A LOT of presents!

I love these kids....even if they are making me crazy right this very second! One day they will all look right at the camera and say MERRY CHRISTMAS like they are supposed too..........RIGHT?????

Christmas

2009-12-25T20:26:00.000-08:00

Christmas is almost over. I can't believe it has already come and gone. My goodness it seems like so much work for a day that goes by so fast. I'm feeling slightly bad (okay, more than slightly) that I have allowed myself to get so busy that I very nearly forgot the real reason for this season.

We are at my mom's house right now. Well I guess it's my dad's house too.....haha. Most of us played Cranium together which is odd because my family is not really full of game playing people. The kids had a blast this morning opening all of their presents. Santa did a pretty good job this year. I'll post some pictures when we get back to Wyoming. We'll be here until tomorrow and then we are going to my in-laws house for more Christmas fun.

When we get home we get to:

I GET TO CLEAN THE ENTIRE HOUSE!!!!!! (gag)

Josh gets to go work out in his shed.

The kids get to play with their presents that we made them leave in Wyoming. (I know, we are meanie weanie parents).

OH!!!! And I get to go meet Andrea who is Erin's (one of my most favorite people in the world) best friend visiting from Virginia. I am just a tad (a HUGE tad) excited. If you read her blog you'll know why.

So yeah....thats about it. I really am going to become better at this blogging thing. I really have the feeling that 2010 will be the year (yeah right). I always have a blog in my head....its just getting it out of my brain that is the problem. ICK

Favorite Things Party! and craftiness

2009-12-09T09:47:00.000-08:00

Last week I got to escape for a couple hours to hang out with my best friends for our annual My Favorite Things Party. It was so much fun!!!
I love these girls so much! We missed a couple of them that weren't there. We laughed our heads off, ate yummy food, and got lots of super fun presets!!!

I've been trying to be a little craftier in an attempt to save some money this Christmas. This is a lame picture but these are soup cans that have the pull top lid. I opened them from the bottom and filled them with treats then glued the bottom back on. Then made them look cute! The recipient of the present gets to open the top, eat the treats and maybe use it for a pencil holder or something. I'm thinking I'll try fabric on some next time.

Oh yeah, family pictures! Maybe tomorrow!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-07T08:37:00.001-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving with my family this year down in Salem. Early Friday morning we left and came home so all of the Despains could join us here for the rest of the weekend. We went to Bar J Wranglers (LOVE), hunting for Christmas trees, played lot of games and at lots of food. Millie and her cousin had a great time puttig on make-up and doing their own hair!
SCARY!!!

This is at my moms house! All of the guys enjoying the couch! Callie is sitting on my grandpa's lap. They are birthday buddies! He is soooo cute with the little kids!

Here are Callie and baby Mac getting to know each other. They played in my moms tupperware lid drawer and had a great time.

Cute Grandma Carol with little baby Ava.

For FHE the week of Thanksgiving we made these oreo turkeys. CUTE!

Levi could not wait to eat it!

I have a few more blogs coming this week!!!! I really am not sure there could be a more lame blogger in the world than me. BLAH! Stay tuned though. I might even post our family picutes for you!

I know....I'm a bad blogger!!!

2009-11-23T04:26:00.001-08:00

PART I
I spend most of my day pulling Callie down from stuff she has climbed onto. Seriously, this girl keeps me BUSY!

For Halloween we had a frog, a Luigi, and a cute witch.

I didn't know Luigi could be so cute! I am way in love with Levi right now. He is my little buddy all day long and he knows how to make my heart melt.

Millie had to take a pumpkin to school for a pumpkin walk. I am SO glad the asked her dad to help her with it!

I guess it was a little stinky!

I know....I'm a bad blogger!!!

2009-11-23T04:17:00.000-08:00

PART II

My mom gave Callie this little push toy for her birthday. She prefers sitting in it and being pushed by Levi.

We went to my moms for fall break. I think I took this picture because I was in awe that all of the kids actually had the arm folded. Maybe my mom is telling them something really important. Maybe I took it in the middle of the prayer.....who knows.

Heidi holding cute new baby Ava (not her baby).

Me and Callie. My eyes look like they are going to pop out of my head.

What Keeps Me Busy

2009-10-03T15:09:00.001-07:00

I don't even know if I need to explain any of this post. If you come over (HINT HINT because no one ever comes over) and wonder why my house is always dirty IT IS CALLIE'S FAULT!

What We Do For Fun

2009-09-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

We like to PAR-TAY!!! Totally tubular 80's style kind of party!
Alana, Tye, Dani, Mel, and Heidi. I have some AWESOME friends!

Tye, Dani, Helena, My big fat face, and Faye. They are like totally awesome at an 80's murder mystery party!!!! WOOT WOOT!

See that big pink thing....Its my big bootay!!!

Melanie got a little tipsy when Tye and I spinned her on the chair at least a million times.

Josh....he was SCABFACE! He played the part well....Definately the life of the party.

We had our annual back to school BBQ. We invited about 20 families and ended up having about 50 people show up. It is sooooo much fun (so much that I piss people off when they aren't invited to my super cool party HA). I didn't take near as many pictures as I should have. Here is a football game that Levi was totally irritated with. If there is a football game he thinks he should be able to play.

And here is my cute little neighbor Collin. He is soooo sad the party is OVER. Poor kid.

Millie declared that we haven't seen Kiran enough this summer. So we took a trip down to Willow Park to see them! It was a fun day and a perfect way to spend the last day before school started.

This is what happens to Callie's feet when she plays at the park. I should probably make her start wearing shoes at some point.

SCHOOL!!!

2009-09-03T08:59:00.001-07:00

Well is was bound to happen sometime. I sent Millie to Kindergarten. She loves it!!! She leaves every morning at 7:30 and gets home at 2:00. Its a long day for me and Levi and Callie at home. They miss thier big sister and I miss my helper.
Millie was so excited to start school that she waited outside in the cold for 20 minutes for the bus to come!

Cute daddy and daughter! Josh is starting his 3rd year of teaching 5th grade and Millie is thrilled to finally be in Kindergarten

Isn't that the cutest jacket in the world??? Props to my mom for that one!

The REST!!!!

2009-08-20T19:28:00.000-07:00

FINALLY

2009-08-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

Before: The view from the front door.

View from the back door.

After: view from the back door....please ignore the bag of flour.

From the front door: I left the laundry on the couch....because there is ALWAYS laundry on my couch!

ooop forgot a pic of Callie!!!

2009-07-27T07:04:00.001-07:00

Callie was a realy trooper on the trip to the lot considering the fact that she had to be held most of the time. I didn't dare let her down in the dirt because her burn was still an open oozing wound and I was worried about infection.

Here she is enjoying a very sticky sucker....that I am sure was given to her by Aunt Jenny. :)

She loved the corn on the cob. It really kept her quiet for a few minutes. She was a fan of this baby back pack for the first 20 minutes or so but once she realized she was going to have to spent the majority of her time in the thing her opinion soon changed.

Grandpa's Mountain

2009-07-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

We got to spend the 4th of July weekend at Grandpa's Mountain (aka The Lot or The Cabin). I really really love it there. Its not too hot and its beautiful and not over crowded.
I wish I was a better photographer. Luckily I have cute kids that make it work no matter how great I am at taking pictures. Here is Millie....she had a blast camping!!!

Here is Levi loving corn on the cob for the first time ever!

And here is again finally getting used to the big swing. He didn't want to go to high but I finally just gave him a big push and he ended up loving it!

And....here is being cheesy! He sure is cute though!

Busy Busy Busy

2009-07-27T06:29:00.000-07:00

It has been a BUSY summer! We have lots of fun with family and friends and we have had a TON of work to do on our house! I'll try to get caught up with all we have done in July but it will surely take a while!
Here is Josh standing in our soon to be master bedroom. He has been working SO HARD!

I think he is cutting the backer board to put up in the bathroom in this picutre. He almost always has his iPod in while he works...... he must have a lot of songs on that thing because he has been working for at least 15 hours a day.

Josh and our friend Ty did all of the electric work (which saved us a TON of money). I have been really impressed with all of this things that Josh has learned to do during this addition.

This is my much talked about bathtub! Of course its almost done being tiled so you will those pics soon (ok...maybe in a month when I get caught up). I LOVE LOVE LOVE this bath tub and CANNOT wait to use it!

Burn Baby Burn

2009-07-01T19:55:00.001-07:00

WARNING: GROSS PICTURE BELOW THE CUTENESS!!!!!

My poor little Callie pulled a curling iron off of the bathroom counter and then sat on it. :( Its been six days now and she is finally smiling a little. Not only did she have the burn but she also ran a fever for 4 days and she has an ear infection. She also had been mildly dehydrated.... so really she just hasn't felt well AT ALL! I have seriously held her for 6 days straight now! She will occasionally nap but when she is awake she wants mommy.

Here is the burn today. It is mostly first degree but you can see on the top burn where there are also some pretty severe second degree burns.

This is how it looked about 8 hours after it happened. The day it happened she really was sooooo good. I cried much more than she did.

CATCH UP!!!!

2009-06-30T21:36:00.000-07:00

I am in a SERIOUS blogging RUT!!! So here are some picutres to catch you up!
Levi: ALMOST potty trained. He is a goof ball and keeps me laughing all day long! He is definately a charmer.

And definately gets tired when he has been playing all day at grandma's house!

Callie: She is into everything!!!! She crawled way earlier than the other kids and it kind of catches me off gaurd sometimes. She got a NASTY burn on her leg from my curling iron last week and she has been sick with an ear infection, fever, and stomach bug of some kind. Usually she is a really happy and content baby.... BUT when she is sick she wants to be held by mommy ALL DAY LONG!!!!

Millie: She is 5 already!!! I can't believe how time flies. She is my little helper and she is thrilled to go to all day kindergarten in the fall.

I can hardly ever get a picture of her looking at the camera because before I even get the button pressed she is running to look at the picture. I love this picture though. SO SWEET!

She had a dance recital last month. There is really nothing cuter than a bunch of 4 year olds trying to dance. When she tries to dance its cute. When I dance its commical!

For the opening number all of the girls that wanted to got to dance with their dads in a number called "Dancing on Daddy's Feet" It was so sweet to see all of the girls with their dads. Millie loved the time she got to spend just with daddy going to rehearsals.

STAY TUNED FOR MUCH MORE TOMORROW!!! My camera battery died but I still have pictures to post of the house and Callie's burn!

More House Pics

2009-06-07T20:04:00.000-07:00

Josh and his friend Ty have been doing the electrical work. Ty has kind of just coached Josh through it. It is crazy how much work Josh has been doing. He gets up super early and works until it is almost too dark for him to work. I have to practically drag him in for lunch.

Here are a few current pictures. This week we should be getting the roof on and then we can get started on the dry wall. There is a little bit more insulating to do but Josh thinks he can get that done tomorrow after work.

All of the rough in plumbing is done too! Huge props to my dad....the most awesome plumber ever, and my little brother Todd. Its always fun to have them come up and visit....er, work. And just wait until I show you a picture of my SWEET bath tub!

More House Pics

2009-05-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

This pic is a few days old....

The view from inside the garage

Before any framing was done. I can't believe how fast the framing goes. It finally seems like there is really going to be a house there now! More pic to come soon. But for now I am headed to UTAH BABY!!!! I can't wait!

Miss Independent!

2009-05-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

My Awesome Husband....

surprised me with these a few nights ago! I am in LOVE!!! (with Josh and the cookies). Growing up my family always had Pecan Sandies on camping trips. I never got to eat them because of my freaky nut allergy. My sister Molly especially liked them if I remember right. I really might be crazy though and it could all be a dream. Really though....next camping trip with my family I am bringing some of these......to eat by myself while they eat those yucky pecan things.

He also made me this cool little earring holder for mother's day! I LOVE it! He has some serious skills and you should all be jealous! I LOVE YOU JOSHY

Remember my post about the baby powder from a few months back? Yeah....he did it again. Cute little pain in my butt!

And finally....MISS INDEPENDENT!!!! She made herself a PB sandwich! Those of you that know my sweet little Millie very well know that independence has been a long time coming. She will be 5 next week....she is growing up way too fast. But, ya know what??? I kind of like it. Maybe this means she can make her own lunch for school next year. Thats right....she starts kindergarten in the fall....FULL DAY KINDERGARTEN!!! I wish her little brother was invited.

HEY!!!!

2009-05-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

Sabra and JILL !!!!!

Thanks for commenting on my boring blog!

Sabra....I was so thrilled to hear from you. I promise I am emailing you ASAP for an invite to your blog. I probably know some of your family that lives in Star Valley. You are from Swan Valley, right? I think about you every time I drive through there on my way to do shopping the big city I.F. Whoa...I'd feel totally dumb if that is not where you are from.... Be looking for an email from me.

Jill...How is Kemmerer? I was in Kemmerer a few months ago. Rode over with a friend of mine to meet a friend of hers for dinner at Arctic Circle. One of these days I'll head back over that way to visit you. I've heard the Chinese place there is great so maybe we could go to lunch. Your blog is cute....I am jealous of your mad running skills.

Thanks for reading!!!! One day I am sure I'll get better at blogging!!!

And DANI.... Thanks for stopping by on Saturday. You ROCK!

Read This:

2009-05-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/57325/A-bumpy-ride.html

I liked it.

I suck at blogging

2009-05-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

Check out this cutie pa tootie. Seriously.....she has got some good genes. This super cute dress was knitted by my friend Marianne that lives in Norway. Isn't that cool???

Cute!!!

2009-04-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

Callie attacking Grandpa's hat!

Levi...so proud of his easter egg.

Millie....she looks like an orphan when I don't do her hair!

More Construction!

2009-04-26T19:22:00.001-07:00

Ok...so I was all motivated to post everyday to show the progress that we are doing on our addition (not that any of the 6 of you really care but more for a record for ourselves). BUT...I am a slacker when it comes to blogging! Maybe because I am super busy or maybe because I just am not that creative when it comes to making this thing interesting.
This is after the hole was dug. They are putting the forms down for the footings. Very intertaining to watch.

I obviously am skipping ahead a bit. In this picture the footings are all poured and now they are pouring the walls for the basement. This was the most entertaining thing to watch so far. The guy in the picture, Ryan, should seriously join the circus as a tight rope walker. It was crazy how balanced he was on walking up and down these forms.

Here is the view from my back porch. My dad came up a few days ago to do the underground plumbing. Dad, Todd, and Josh got right to work as soon as they got here and they were done in just a couple hours (and just in time for us to go to the fish place for dinner).

Here is a picture of what will soon be my new driveway and garage. I can't wait! I need to get a picture still of the hole that was cut in my basement wall where the old basement will connect to the new one. I should have taken a picture before Josh and I spent all day cleaning up the 25 layers of dust that were in my storage room one the cutting was done. It was sooo bad....but luckily its all clean now!

I know everyone us just thrilled to read this. I am picturing you all just sitting on the edges of you seats wondering what will be the next step.....haha.

Septic Tank....Really Crappy Problem

2009-04-11T07:31:00.000-07:00

So...here was the fun problem from day #1.
Not long into the digging process the excavator noticed that the lid to my septic tank seemed to be caving in a little bit. Yeah....not a good thing. He said he was willing to try and uncover the whole tank but he was nervous to do it because there was a chance that he could do even more damage than there already was. We really had no choice though. In the picture above you can see that they lid had a huge crack and a hole in it. And let me just tell you...it was so SMELLY! We had gotten ahold of a guy that makes the pre-cast concrete lids and he was able to get us one that same day (huge relief). The only problem was that we were afraid that the broken lid would break even more when they tried to get it off and then land in my septic tank that was full of well....POOP. Luckily I got ahold of someone that could come right over and pump out the tank (another huge relief).

Here is the new lid. I was so relieved to see it finally in place. My nose was really relieved too! Seriously that smell was so bad!

So they got a lot less done yesterday than we had hoped for but I am so glad that we caught this problem before it got worse. The guy that brought the new lid said that if we didn't fix that problem and then the crane came in to bring the trusses it would have completely caved in the septic tank and we would have had a much bigger problem!

They will be back on Monday to finish digging and then the concrete guys are coming on Tuesday. Poor Josh...it kills him to miss all the action while he is at work during the day!

OH POOEY!

2009-04-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few pictures of Excavating Day #1. Josh and the kids thought it was great to walk around in the hole!!! Levi was glued to the window watching them dig a "willy deep hole" for a good part of the morning. We did have some really POOPY set backs today. I'll post the whole story tomorrow!

Let the construction begin!!!!

2009-04-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

I am soooo excited! Tomorrow we are starting the offical construction on our house addition!

This is my cute LITTLE house! It is about to nearly double in size!!! The front lawn is usually covered with snow. It was until yesterday when my good neighbor Joe came and pushed the snow away so that I will have a place to park during the construction. The other prep work that had to be done was that Josh had to move the steps on both our front and back porches. Josh had been working his tail off getting everything ready. He is going to have a very busy summer. The most help that I can do is keep the kiddos out of his hair while he is working.

The excavator should be here tomorrow!

Jumpin Jacks

2009-04-07T18:08:00.000-07:00

For Spring Break this year we spent lots of time with our family down in Utah. Thanks to my cousin Rachel I had heard about this place called Jumpin Jacks and decided to take the kids there. It was a BLAST!!! I only paid 11 bucks for the 3 of us to get in and we had so much fun! I will definately be taking the kids back!

Millie could climb up all of the slides by herself and she was not at all afraid of them. She just giggled the whole way down.

Here is a shot of my foot! Levi and I were headed down the tallest slide. It was a workout to help him climb up all of the slides....but he LOVED going down!

This is the one slide that Levi could climb up on his own. He was so proud of himself and must have climbed that one slide at least 50 times.

Seriously.....aren't they the cutest kids you have ever seen???

BTW.....I am just going to use their real names. I can't even keep the 3 of them straight with their own names....there is not way I can keep using nick names!

I'm in love!

2009-03-27T21:00:00.001-07:00

I really cannot get enough of this adorable face! She has got to be the cutest 6 month old baby in the world! Gosh I love her!

PAWS

2009-03-13T05:21:00.001-07:00

Josh starts PAWS testing on Monday. He is nervous and uptight about it just like every other teacher he works with. He is a super fantastic teacher though so I know he doesn't need to worry. To calm his nerves I made him a little good luck present!

(In case you can't tell....it supposed to be like a bouquet of flowers in a vase) Its way cuter in person!

Sisters

2009-03-03T09:57:00.000-08:00

Here I am with my sisters. I think we are a pretty cute bunch...but I really get tired of being the "thick" one.

My Baby Brother is HOME!!!

2009-02-09T09:11:00.000-08:00

Of course when we are all at Grandma and Grandpa's house we have to try and get all of the kids together for a picture We got them all to sit still....just didn't get them all to look at the same camera

Top row left to right: Junior, Monkey #3, Monkey #2, Giggles, Monkey #4 holding "the baby."
Bottom row left to right: Twinkle Toes, Monster, Pinkie. Aren't they CUTE!!!!

Seriously you will never get a group of more handsome boys! Don't I have the cutest brothers ever??? The one in middle is Rob....sorry ladies he is taken. On the left is Todd...he is single but I am not letting him be available yet! On the right is Nate......he is desperately looking for a wifey!!!!!

Here is my cute little baby with her birthday buddy Grandpa Bob. He has won at least 37 cutest grandpa awards. I know you are all jealous of the cuteness that runs in my family!

Here is the man of the hour!!! I'm so happy that Toddy is home! He still has the same sense of humor and could make me laugh for hours. He gave a super good talk in church too! I can't believe my baby brother is all grown up!

Just Pictures!!!!

2009-02-02T08:21:00.000-08:00

I'm not so great at blogging these days....so here are some cute pictures!

2009-01-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

Hey...all you 6 blog readers of mine!!!

Just so you know...one of my resolutions for 2009 was not to blog more often!

Can you tell!

I promise I'll update soon!

oh...and p.s. MY BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW!!! and so far this is already my best birthday ever! I'll post some pictures soon!

GIFTS!!!

2008-12-25T18:33:00.000-08:00

Another One

2008-12-17T04:35:00.000-08:00

I got a few different variations of this one--but DANI this one is for you baby!

Paper of Gift Bag: For Christmas its gotta be wrapped! Thats the only way to go. But don't be surprised if you get a gift from me in a bag...or even worse not wrapped at all. I stink at wrapping presents!

Real of fake tree: REAL! I don't have a choice about this one. Josh takes care of it though and I think its a fun tradition to go scope out a Christmas tree. Josh starts looking in June...he is a little nutso when it comes to Christmas trees! Going to get trees with his family the first year we were married is an experience I would like to forget...but I am still haunted by it! I'll have to blog about that one sometime!

When do you put the tree up? This year it was the weekend after Thanksgiving but a lot of years we have had it up sooner. We try and get it before there is too much snow.

Do you like eggnog? GROSS!!! I can't even smell it without barfing a little in my mouth! EWWWW! YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!

Favorite Gift As A Kid: Hmmm...I don't know if I have a favorite. I always loved coming down the stairs and seeing a whole room completely full of gifts though. I do remember getting a preemie cabbage patch doll. Giggle plays with her now.

Hardest person to buy for: Some years its Josh. This year however I had plenty of ideas for him. This year I didn't really have a hard time with anyone---THANK GOODNESS!!!

Easiest person to buy for: My kids. I have a hard time stopping with them.

Do you have a nativity scene? Yes someone gave it to us a piece at a time a few years ago. I just realized that its not on display anywhere in my house. I wonder where it is...hmmmm.

Do you email or mail Christmas cards? what??? I'm supposed to send Christmas cards. I must not have gotten that memo.

Worst gift as a child: I can't think of one! Santa always went all out for us.

Favorite Christmas Movie: A Christmas Story

Do you ever re-gift: No way!!!

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas time: My moms caramel and my mother-in-law's fudge.

Colored lights or clear: Gotta be colored.

Favorite Christmas Song: Sleighride and O Holy Night

Travel or home for Christmas: This will be our first time doing Christmas at our house. We are headed down to see our families sometime on Christmas day.

Angel or star: We have a star...but I am not opposed to an angel.

Do you open presents on Christmas Eve: This year the kids will open pajamas.

Most annoying thing at Christmas: Just the fact that I procrasinate too much.

Favorite Ornament or theme: I really like the ornaments that Josh has turned on the lathe.

What do I want for Christmas this year: PRESENTS!!!! And I want to see all the people I love happy!

Favorite Christmas dinner food: Anything that I don't have to cook!

White or warm Christmas: Either as long as its not -10 like it is now!

Favorite thing about Christmas: My husband...because he loves it soooo much

Favorite tradition: It used to ba going to Grandma Carol's house on Christmas Eve. This is a year of new traditions...so I'm not sure yet.

Favorite location for Christmas: With my family

I tag---anyone with Christmas Spirit :)

CHRISTMAS TAG

2008-12-13T19:41:00.000-08:00

Okay Julia this one is for you!!!

One The First Day Of Christmas My True Love Gave To Me...

One Embarrassing Moment: Hmmm....this is a hard one because I don't get embarrassed really easily so I don't really have that funny of a story. One time in 9th grade I was in a drama class and I had to do a scene from Shakesphere. So in the middle of the performance I backed up to sit down on a chair and completely missed the chair. That was pretty humiliating. However I barely even cracked a smile and just continued the performance as if it hadn't happened.

Two Best Friends: Lori and Josh

Three Things I Buy Regularly: Refills for Josh, Milk, treats to hide in my diaper bag.

Four Places I Want To Go (and might actually go): New York City with girlfriends, to see a taping of the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Disneyland with my kids...and a nanny, the temple (at least 3 times next year).

Five Goals For The Upcoming Year: Go the the temple at least 3 times, go on vacation with Josh and no kids, get below my pre-preggo weight, start and finish one sewing/crafty project a month, host another back to school BBQ.

6 Things Most People Don't Know About You: THIS ONE IS HARD!!!!! 1- I work out 5 times a week (hard to tell, huh?) What you do know is that I like junk food. 2- Ok...you all know that I absolutely can not carry a tune worth a can of beans. What you don't know is that I sing almost all day long when the only ones around to hear are my kids....AND I pretend that I can sing really well. 3- Some of you know that when I was younger I was really afraid of sirens. I would hide in the blanket closet to avoid hearing them. What you don't know is that there is a siren that goes off here in small farm town USA every day and 8am and 6pm. I used to live in an apartment right by the city hall building where the siren goes off...AND I am still scared of sirens. It scared me twice every day for 5 months! 4- I don't think any of you know that I really wish I was eating a Peanut Butter Twix right now. 5- Ok...you also don't know that I have a leg tumor right now. Its really really annoying and slightly painful at times. I really wish this mystery bump would go away. 6- Do any of you know what I want for Christmas??? I hope you know..and I hope you are getting it for me!!!!

7 Things I Would Never Say: A certain word that starts with F and ends with art. I hate that word, "No Josh I don't you to watch the kids for a whole day while I go shopping", "I love bearing my testimony in church!", "I love cream cheese, YUM", "I promise to never eat chocolate again", "Please don't give me a present for my birthday", "Keep crying Baby, I love to hear you cry!"

8 Things I Love About Christmas: I love how much Josh loves Christmas...he makes it so fun, giving presents, getting presents, Christmas music, Christmas trees, Santa, food, and Jesus.

9 Things I Say To My Kids: No, Stop, Don't drink the bath water, Are you stinky?, Stop Whining, Do you need a thump?, How did you get so cute?, I love you, Who do you love?"

10 Things I Do A Lot: Feed the baby, Exercise, IM Lori, Change Diapers, Sing, Eat Candy, Complain, Check my email, waste time, talk to myself.

11 Things I Would Rather Not Live Without: My family, the internet, cards from friends, Pepsi, Chocolate, my bed, my car, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, my friends, pedicures, my dishwasher, surprises.

12 People I Tag: Bonny, Molly, Ringmaster, Dani, Tye, Audra, Tara, Angie, Denise, Jill, Angela and Rachel. But if you made it this far...then I give you permission to not do this tag!

I have another Christmas tag from Dani...I'll get to it soon!

A few more pictures!

2008-12-08T16:01:00.000-08:00

A sneak Peek!

2008-12-07T19:40:00.000-08:00

Favorite Things Party!

2008-12-05T09:43:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite parts of this time of year is my annual "My Favorite Things" party! My friends and I get together and exchange gifts, eat a lot, and laugh A LOT!
Me and Lori. Aren't we cute? This was her first time at the party and I hope she's not to scared to join us every year in the future!

In the background you can kind of see Dani's hubby Brian. It was really nice of him to let 12 wild women take over his house...and his ROCK BAND for the night!

Tye on the guitar! She looks so serious...but she's not!

Carissa did AWESOME for her first time on the drums! She ROCKS!

Kindra and Jen striking a cute pose! My friend RaDawn came and took about a million pictures of us...I'll post those as soon as I get a copy of them.

I wish I would have gotten a pic of all us with our gifts...oh well. Thanks Dani for letting us use your house! And thanks to all of my favorite friends...I am so blessed to have all of you in my life!

O Christmas Tree

2008-12-05T09:31:00.001-08:00

Every year we look forward to going and cutting down a Christmas tree. It is has been a tradition is Josh's family for years so we decided to start taking our kids while they were young.

We had just gotten new snow tires on our Explorer. It was fun to drive up the snowy mountain without too much worry of getting stuck.
Josh especially thought it was fun!

Here is Josh with a tree possibility. This is actually a picture that was taken while were just scoping out good trees. We didn't get this one.

The baby was pretty good for the trip...she got to stay in her car seat the whole time. The look she has on her face is one that we see often. It mean "Mommy, I have a tummy ache."

Giggles and Monster of course had a blast playing in the snow. Don't ask my why Monster has on a purple hat. I'll post pictures out our tree as soon as we have it fully decorated.

Crazy 8 Tag

2008-11-25T06:58:00.000-08:00

8 TV shows I like: House, Seinfeld, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Oprah, Scrubs, The Office, and of course Ellen.

8 Things that happened yesterday: I unpacked, I cleaned a very dirty kitchen, I did a lot of online shopping, Giggles went to school, Monster and the baby both took really good naps, I checked my email a lot, I worked out, I did something I was scared of doing, and I sent a Christmas package.

8 Favorite Places to Eat: Chilis, The Olive Garden, Panda Express, Brick Oven, Maglebys, My Mom's house, My Grandma Carol's house, and Lori's house.

8 Things I am Looking Forward To: My Favortie Things Party, Christmas, a day with Lori, the baby sleeping through the night, Monster getting potty trained, adding on to my house, making some new bags, and getting back into shape.

8 Things on My Wishlist: a day with Lori, getting back into shape, the baby sleeping though the night....do you see a pattern here???

8 People I Tag----yeah right, there aren't even 8 people who read this!

4th Picture Tag

2008-11-25T06:54:00.000-08:00

Me and Giggles in New York City! May 2005

I tag...Tye, Dani, Lani and Denise

I Won!

2008-11-17T14:45:00.001-08:00

Thanks Lola I never win anything! You are my blogging hero! Maybe I'll have a 50th post giveaway...300 is a loooong way off!

Ok...I'm blog retarded and I can't make the link work! lolaagain.blogspot.com. Go check her out you will love her...and laugh like crazy!

My Cute Brother!

2008-11-16T07:38:00.000-08:00

Oh how I have missed this boy! I really hope he brings me some of this stuff! Only two and a half more months until I get to laugh at his twisted sense of humor!

LOLA's Give Away

2008-11-16T06:09:00.000-08:00

So my friend and blogging hero Lola is celebrating her 300th post with a huge giveaway! Go check out her blog and leave her a comment! And wish me luck I really really want to win the Lynsey bag!!!

Thanksgiving Tag

2008-11-08T05:45:00.000-08:00

What I'm Thankful For...
A: America...I'm glad I live here and I really thing we're going to be okay!
B: Books and Baths...they are escapes for me.
C: Chocolate...and lots of it.
D: Dark Chocolate...especially the kind Lori gets from me from the pharmacy.
E: Exercise...not really but I am trying to stay positive about it.
F: Friends...I have a lot of them!
G: Girl Nights
H: Happiness
I: Inside Jokes...or when you look and someone and you know exactly what they are thinking!
J: Josh...an amazing husband, father and friend and you should see what he can do with wood!
K: Kids---Millie, Levi and Callie. I love them more than I ever knew I could love!
L: Laughing with Lori! (do I get bonus points for using two L's?)
M: Massages...I could really use on right now!
N: Necklaces...the only thing pre-pregnancy thing that fits me post-pregnancy.
O: Oh my gosh...I can't think of anything to put here.
P: Presents...I admit...I love getting presents!
Q: Quilts...because the other Q thing is not appropriate!
R: Religion. I don't express the love I have for my religion often enough!
S: Slim in Six...I wish it was true. For me it should be called Slim in Sixty.
T: Temples...because I know I can be with ALL of my favorite people forever!
U: ummm...Underwear???
V: Vicariously...and the life I vicariously live...oh and V8 Splash.
W: Water...I like to drink it but I hate it on my face!
X: X-Ray vision...I bet you are all jealous that I have this super power.
Y: Yahoo Messenger
Z: Zits...or more like the fact that I don't get them very often.

This is the first Tag I have done...and I am tagging everyone who reads my blog...all 6 of you, especially Gaffney, South Carolina...could you please tell me who you are!

Mostly Just Pictures

2008-11-06T09:02:00.000-08:00

I keep trying to tell myself that I am going to blog a lot more often but it just doesn't seem to happen. Most of the time that I am sitting at the computer I am also feeding the baby and I am a really slow one-handed typer!

Here are Barbie Mariposa and Barney ready to trick or treat on Main Street. They had a great time and got a ton of candy. I think I am a little nuts for taking all 3 kids by myself...but we somehow survived!

Grandma Z. holding the baby on her blessing day! Marianne made the dress and I love it!

Here we all are before the blessing. I remember when Giggles was blessed we made sure to a million pictures. I think I have one picture of Levi on his blessing day...and this baby gets two. We just aren't good with pictures I guess.

I managed to survive the stress that comes with blessing the baby---like a house full of people that need to be fed! Most of my sanity came from Lori---she made sure my house was SPOTLESS!!! My mom and grandma did most of the cooking so that was helpful--and yummy!

Blessed

2008-10-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

Ya know how sometimes you just feel really blessed??? That is how I feel lately. I'm not sure that I deserve all of the kindness that I have been blessed with lately. I have needed it though and definately appreciated it! Now that my baby is a month old I am finally getting in the swing of things again and hopefully I can return all of the kindness! Here are a few highlights from the last month in no particular order:

*All three of my sisters came to see me in the hospital. The 4 of us are very rarely all together so it was a lot of fun to see them.

*My mom came and stayed for a few days. One day that she was here I accidently feel asleep on the couch. She took the baby and the kids down stairs and let me sleep when I needed it most...and she made me some really cool curtains while she was here and fixed about 20 of Josh's shirts

*I didn't have to cook for a month. Soooo many people brought us meals!

*My friends Tye and Dani brought me onion rings one day. I needed some greasy food but mostly I needed some company for a few minutes

*My aunt made the baby the most beautiful blessing dress EVER!

*So many people have called or stopped by.

*Uncle Russ and Aunt Ruth stopped by one night and Aunt Ruth held the baby for over and hour!!! It was so nice to sit and visit with them!

*Josh---he needs to win the husband and dad of the year award. He gets up with me in the night, cleans, cooks, plays with the kids.....I could go on and on. I couldn't ask for a better husband

*Lori---Everyone needs a best friend like her!!! Babysitting, presents, food, phone calls, visits...I could go on and on. But most importantly she is always there when I need her.

Thanks everyone for all you have done to make this last month a little easier for me!!! I know I have left things out but that doesn't mean I have forgotten it!!!!

A few more pictures!

2008-10-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the baby! She puts her hand like that a lot and I just assume that she is praying! She is laying on the beautiful quilt my mom made for her! She is a month old now. Time goes by too quickly. People keep asking me if I remember what it was like to just have 2 kids. YES!!! I do...that was when I got more that 45 minutes of sleep at a time and I had a clean house! Having her is way better though!

Here is Monster! He is excited because I told him that after he finishes his dinner we are going to make cookies!

The baby is just over 3 weeks old in this picture and we decided it was time to go back to church. And you all know by now that if I am going to be on time to church we are definately getting a picture! Josh should have told me to sit up straight so that you wouldn't have to see so many of my fat rolls!

Hide and Seek!

2008-10-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

Lately Giggles and Monster love playing hide and seek with Josh. They would play it for hours every night if they could!

Here is Giggles cheesing it for the camera after being found!!!!

The two of them hiding in the hall closet together! Giggles must think that plugging her ears will make her less likely to be found!

Here is Monster hiding on the bathroom floor! I can't get the picture of him counting to load. He runs into Giggles room and puts his head against her dresser and counts. You have to hide fast when it is his turn to seek!!!

Too Busy to Blog

2008-10-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

Giggles and Monter were soooo excited about the first snow storm. Those of you that remember my post where I posted a picture of a lovely snow sculpture already know how I feel about snow. This picture was taken in the morning. I should have taken on later in the day when there was 8 more inches on the ground!

I love it when this happens!!! Giggles is at preschool and both Monster and the Baby are sound asleep!!! Monster even stayed asleep while I moved him to his crib! Small problem though...I have to wake them both up in about 5 minutes so I can go get Giggles from school!

Really...I don't know how some of you bloggers out there find time to blog so often. I have been hoping to blog every day for over a week now...but it just doesn't happen!!! The baby is almost 3 weeks old now. She still has all of her fingers and toes even though she is attacked several times a day by Giggles and Monster. We are pretty sure that we will be blessing her on November 2. Our church is at 1:00. I'll post some more details and more pictures of the baby soon!

We Survived Week One

2008-10-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

The Baby (which is what she'll be called in Blog World until I come up with something better) is a week old now! She is doing really well. She is a great baby during the day...night time is a whole other story though. My mom was here for a few days and was a HUGE help! Giggles and Monster love the baby and constantly want to hold her. They are adjusting to her better than I thought they would . I am feeling great and I have been very well taken care of.

Callie Pics

2008-09-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

Our Baby Girl

2008-09-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

Callie Ann was born today at 11:32 a.m. The labor and delivery was incredibly easy!!! She weighed 6lbs 14oz. and is 19 inches long. I'll post some pics of her as soon as I can figure out how to do it on this computer!!! For now I am going to try and get some sleep while she is in the nursery!

No Baby Yet

2008-09-26T04:29:00.000-07:00

Well we got here at 8 last night. They have given me 2 doses of something that is supposed to thin out my cervix. The nurse checked me before giving me the second dose and I had not progressed at all....which is really annoying because I was having pretty steady contractions. I have gotten a little bit of sleep here and there. Josh has slept more that I thought he would. They are going to start me on pitocin first thing in the morning...which I am thinking will be around 6ish. I'm gonna hopefully get the epidural then too!!! It hasn't been too bad so far...the worst part was listening to the girl in the next room scream her head off for an hour. Luckily I have the ipod that Josh gave me so that drowned out her screaming a little bit!!!!

I'll update more later!!!!

Still Pregnant!!!

2008-09-22T18:41:00.001-07:00

Well...I'm still pregnant! It looks like my mom and Vanessa are the only ones that still have a chance of winning my contest! If all goes as planned my mom will be the winner. Right now the plan is for me to check in to the hospital Thursday night at 8pm. I'll be given a dose of cervidil which is supposed to soften my cervix overnight. So we'll see what happens with that and then Friday morning I'll be given pitocin if I still needs drugs to help start the labor. The hospital has wireless internet so I am hoping that I can update my blog with pics of the baby while I am still in the hospital!

Here are a few pics from the last week while I took a blogging break:

Monster turned 2 on Sept. 13th. He had a great time opening his presents and wanted to try them out as soon as he got them. I made him an Elmo cake that he was pretty impressed with. That night Lori, S and A came over for pizza and cake. Then a few days later we met up with Grandma and some cousins to celebrate again!
He entered the terrible twos with a big bang. Here he is dressed as Barney! I had just caught him with a travel size thing of baby powder....he created this mess in about 3 minutes while I was in the computer room balancing my checkbook!
The couch only shows about 10% of the damage that he did. There was seriously baby powder throughout my whole basement!!! I can laugh now...but trust me I was not laughing then!
Here is Giggles (also dressed up) right after washing her hands and arms. While her brother was having fun with baby powder she was having fun giving herself tatooes from her finger tips to her elbows. I was way too mad to take a picture of the original damage.

Cute!!!

2008-09-11T08:19:00.001-07:00

Someone please tell me that my kids will always love each other this much!!! I love it when I walk in and find them sitting together like this!!! Does the top picture remind anyone else of my favorite LDS musical??? Everytime I see the picture I start singing, "Line upon line, precept on precept"

Preggo Update!

2008-09-11T05:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had my 36 week check-up. It is a really good thing that I love my dr. and that I laugh a lot in the 10 minutes that I see him. Otherwise I would be really mad about driving over 2 hours each way just to be told that I haven't progressed at all. I was really hoping that he would schedule a new induction date for me but instead he just told me to come back on Tuesday!!! Josh has almost convinced me to post a real picture of myself...just because it would make everyone LOL to see how huge I am!!!! Even Lori told me the other day that I am starting to look pregnant. She's been really good about lying to me for the last 8 months and telling me that I look good. So now that she can't lie anymore I know I must really look like an elephant!
Every time I walk into Josh's school at least on person asks me if I am in labor....and you can tell that everyone else that sees me is thinking it. Trust me...if I am in labor I will not be walking into the school. That is what a phone is for! They should be more worried if they see Josh leave the school in the middle of the day.
Anyhow...I'll keep you all posted!

Diaper Bag and Preschool

2008-09-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

Today was Giggles first day of preschool! She was sooo excited to go and she practiced saying The Pledge of Allegience all morning in hopes that she would be the only one there that knew it! As I was walking her in she did get a little nervous and was concerned that not all of the kids there would like her. Drama already and its only the first day!
I finished my diaper bag about a week ago and I just haven't gotten around to take a picture. This picture doesn't do it justice at all but I have never claimed to be a good photographer. I love it!!! While I was making it I thought that it was hard but now that I am done I am actually surprised at how simple it was! Now all I need is a baby!!!

SNOW!!!

2008-09-07T20:44:00.001-07:00

Just in case any of you are wondering---this is what Star Valley is like on Labor Day. Thats right folks, you are seeing SNOW!!! I thought my kids were just being crazy when they were standing by the door yelling, "SNOW" but sure enough it snowed for a good hour or so. If you all remember my snow sculpture that I posted a picture of back in April you will know how I feel about this!

On a happier note Josh made our traditional Sunday Night treat with Giggles and Monster! Mmmm... there is nothing like a good cupcake!!!!

Monster licked some of the frosting off of his and then declared that he was done. I guess he doesn't like cupcakes...this just means there are more for me!!!!
Giggles was really excited that she got to put the sprinkles on all by herself!!!

The contest is still on for those of you who haven't entered!!! So far I am hoping that Lola is the winner because her guess is the soonest!!!

Contest and Preggo Update!

2008-09-04T19:46:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to get this posted for a couple days now....but I am too tired to blog---or do anything else for that matter!

Today I am officially 35 weeks and 1 day pregnant. I went to the dr. on Tuesday. This was not a fun day---at all!!! I got less than 3 hours of sleep the night before so driving myself down there was probably not the safest thing to do. I also had a horrible headache and was nauseated for the whole drive (there and back). Dr. H checked me and told me that I am a tiny finger tip dilated. That mean nothing because it is less than 1 cm. Originally we had decided that if I could make it to Sept. 26 (38 weeks 3 days) that I would get induced that day. Now Dr. H. doesn't think I will make it that long so we will decide a new induction date at my next appt--which is on Wednesday. He also told me to take it easy and stay off my feet as much as possible--I'm not totally sure how to do this, but I am trying.

So...the contest starts NOW!!!! Leave me a comment with your guess of when this baby will be born. Also include how much you think she will weigh and anything else you feel like. I promise the winner will get a really cool prize!!!! I'll even give you some more stats to help you out:

My official due date is October 8th
Giggles was born at 35 weeks 6 days and weighed 5lbs 14 oz.
Monster was born at 37 weeks 3 days and weighed 6 lbs 8 oz. I was scheduled to be induced at exactly 38 weeks.
My water broke with both of them and I was not dilated at all when I got to the hospital.
If it was up to me I would have the baby NOW!!! However, I want to keep in her in long enough that she will be healthy. I also don't want to be an inconvenience to anyone, especially Josh or Lori so it really would best if my water broke on a Friday at 2:30 in the afternoon.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Mmmmm!!!!

2008-08-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

So I have this super amazing friend, Lori. I feel bad for people who don't have a best friend like her. She has been taking such good care of me while I have been pregnant. I can't even list all of the awesome stuff she does for me so I have just included a picture of the best one!!!! Thanks Lori for all you do for me and my family!!! I don't know what I'd do without you!
One day a few weeks ago I took my kids and Lori's kids to the park while Lori went to work. She made lunch for all of us and let me tell you something...it was the BEST LUNCH EVER!!! Who knew that roast beef, cheese, sprouts and tomatoes could be soooo good! So, I told Lori I wanted a sandwich just like that every day for the rest of my life! I should have known better--because every time I tell Lori that I want something--I get it! Poor Lori has been making me sandwiches like crazy. Sometimes she drops them off in the morning before she goes to work and I can't wait until lunch time to eat it so I have it for breakfast. Seriously they are the best sandwiches ever! She even makes them for Josh too! And the other day she brought one for my neighbor too!

**In other news---the "when will Abbey have her baby?" contest will be next week. I got to the dr. on Tuesday so the contest will start Wednesday or Thrusday!

Monster the Vet!

2008-08-29T07:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Monster's speech therapist came. Any of you who have been around him at all lately know that he definately doesn't need any help talking---but Giggles and Monster both love playing with her and she has the coolest toys ever!

Yesterday they played animal doctor! Monster loved it!
Notice in this picture he has a beeper on. He thought that was really cool. Part of the doctor kit had some animal grooming tools in it. Those were Giggle's favorite. Both of the kids cried when Miss Pam left yesterday. Luckily she'll be back next week!

Its about time I blogged!

2008-08-24T09:36:00.001-07:00

Okay Okay....I know and fully admit that I am really bad at this whole blog thing. The thought crosses my mind at least a thousand times a day that I should update...but I just never get around to it. We haven't really been up to a whole lot. Josh started work again and the kids are not coping well with that...which means that I am not coping well either!!! I am 34 weeks preggo now so the next month will be filled with weekly trips to see my doctor. For most people going to the dr. is not a big deal but when you have to drive over 2 hours to get there it becomes an all day event!

Here is a cute pic of Giggles and Monster. I woke up from a nap and found them like this while watching an episode of Dora! They don't like each other this much all the time but for the most part they are the best of friends.

They are supposed to be helping Josh do some yard work to get ready for the BBQ we are hosting tomorrow night. Mostly they just ended up really wet!!! Yes...Giggles is dressed as some sort of a princess and yes she wore that all day---even to the grocery store. She called herself Princess MaryBella, I have no idea where she came up with that name.
This is a picture of a small problem that I have right now. Waaaaay too many books to read. Usually I can breeze through a good book in a day or two--maybe a week at the longest. Lately though as soon as I pick up a book I fall asleep. The more I think of it I might be able to get a lot of these read from 3-5 in the morning when I am too uncomfortable to sleep. That way I should either get something read or fall asleep. I'll have to try that tonight!
We had an early birthday party for Lori. The kids did a great job of planning and executing it! Now Giggles now thinks that we should always celebrate birthdays early---even if it is several months early!!! We've been having a lot of un-birthday parties at our house lately!!!

Stay tuned for the "When will Abbey have her baby contest" later this week. There will definitely be a prize involved!!!

Family Fun!

2008-08-09T06:37:00.001-07:00

We were lucky enough to spend a couple of days with our families before the summer comes to and end! Unfortuntely, in order to see our families we had to go to a much hotter place!!!! Next year I think the family will have to come here to see us...it is after all A LOT cooler here!

Here is Giggles and Josh out kayaking. Going kayaking is a big tradition in Josh's family but it has been put on hold because of all the kids. This year we finally decided to break them in!

With soon to be 11 grandkids under the age of 5 trying to get a picture is enough to make us all crazy!
Giggles is still getting braver on the waterslide! Since both grandpas have one she got to practice her watersliding skills twice this week!

Every year at the LD family reunion we try for a family photo. I really should post all of the shots because they are pretty humorous! I am pretty sure we'll be doing some photoshop work before any of these hang on the wall!

Okay...so we tried!!! Josh seems to look great in every picture that he is in. Especially because he is smiling---something people don't see very often. Monster was in desperate need of a nap. Giggles has not mastered the art of looking at the camera! And then theres me...good thing I have a photogenic husband and cute kids or the picture would probably make the computer explode!

Just a Mother

2008-08-02T05:28:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I am just a mom. I stumbled across a talk by President Hinckley. This is my favorite part of the talk: E. T. Sullivan once wrote these interesting words: “When God wants a great work done in the world or a great wrong righted, he goes about it in a very unusual way. He doesn’t stir up his earthquakes or send forth his thunderbolts. Instead, he has a helpless baby born, perhaps in a simple home and of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart, and she puts it into the baby’s mind. And then God waits. The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and the thunderbolts. The greatest forces in the world are babies.”1
And those babies, I should like to add, will become forces for good or ill, depending in large measure on how they are reared. The Lord, without equivocation, has declared, “I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth” (D&C 93:40).

I guess it is what I needed to hear! However...I am pretty sure that the baby that is inside of me is an earthquake and a thunderbolt.

Preggo Pic and Sunday Night Treats

2008-07-27T18:42:00.000-07:00

Maybe one of these days I'll post a real picture of my preggo belly. This is as close as you're gonna get for now!!! I go in for my 30 week appt. on Wednesday and then I have to start making trips every other week. YUCK---the 2 hour drive to see the dr. gets old really fast when I have to go that often.

Last week it was Chocolate No Bake Cookies...this week we decided to continue the Sunday night treat tradition. We made these YUMMY Golden Grahams Smores! Mmmm! We'd like to make it a weekly tradition---any suggestions for quick, easy, kid-friendly treats?