Flashback: Christmas Eve Eve 2010

A few photos of our new Christmas Eve Eve tradition--sleeping under the Christmas tree lights.  (And though Zach and I stayed down there till the kids fell asleep, we I then hightailed back up to my comfortable bed for the night. 

(I totally meant for these pictures to have a surreal, unfocused look.  Ahem.  Sort of.)

 And this is just a shot of the ridiculous amount perfectly acceptable number of treats we got from loving friends, family, and coworkers for Christmas (and this is AFTER we'd already eaten a lot of it).  After the loot was all gone, we went on a sugar-free detox week.  It was necessary.

Flashback: Snow Days December 2010

The last few days of school before Christmas break were cancelled because we got 1 1/2 to 2 feet of snow overnight.  No complaints here.  The kids had a blast playing in the snow and Zach and I blessed our good fortune to have a snowblower.



Lucy, Isaac, Kye, and Adam making thrones in the snow:

 Lululululululu:

 Isaac thought it was hilariously fun to fall face down in the snow:

 After hours of snowblowing, Zach joined in the fun before heading to work:

 Kye on the trampoline:

 And doing the facedown thing:

 Adam, enjoying it all:

 A few days later, we got another good snow and the kids built a snowman:

 After the storm, I looked out my window and noticed our neighborhood 11 year old scouts, traipsing through the neighborhood with shovels, looking for driveways to shovel.  What good kids!

Monkey and Croc

I've been meaning to do this for awhile, but I wanted to post a link to a friend's book app on ITUNES.  Check it out.  You won't regret it.

http://itunes.com/apps/jujubeebooks


ENJOY!

Hospital Visit

During my 3 1/2 day hospital stay a few weeks back, Zach brought the kids up to visit one night.  They thoroughly enjoyed running around the room, eating snacks, and watching TV.  I was so glad to see my kiddos, and Lucy kept reminding me how I had just gone to Texas and hadn't even been home a full day before being admitted to the hospital.  She didn't think it was quite fair.  I just told her how glad I was that I hadn't gone into labor IN Texas.  That would've been a bit of a problem.

Kye, Isaac, me, Adam, Lucy: 

 Adam loved the chair:

 This kept Isaac busy the whole time:

 One of my rare sitting up moments during the first few days after I made it home:

It's already been 2 weeks since the day I went in, which means we are 2 weeks closer to our goal.  I get to go off the nifedipine so it can't mask the problems that I've had in the past with PIH toward the end of my pregnancy.  It's been an adventure, I tell you!  Still need a name for this little guy. 

Top Ten -- January 2011 (part II)

For those of you waiting in suspense, I will keep it from you no longer:

5—I have discovered the bane of my existence. Now, this is a pretty serious commitment for me, designating something as the bane of my existence. But after careful consideration and very serious thought I’ve decided what it is: boys’ socks. Specifically that my boys cannot seem to keep their socks on for more than an hour at a time. So they shed them whenever and wherever around the house. And when it is time to go somewhere, they never have any socks left in their drawers. Because they are scattered around the house you see. So I get to say things like, “Well have you checked on the kitchen counter? What about behind the speakers in the family room? Bathroom floor? Dirty laundry basket? Under the kitchen table?!?!?” Bane, I’m telling you.

4-Aunt Camille: Adam, what are you going to name the baby?
Adam: Jesus.
C (somewhat startled): Ummm, Jesus?
A: Yes. Like the baby Jesus.
C: Adam, I don’t think your mom is going to name the baby Jesus.
A: Okay. . . . we’ll name him Gerald.

3—Kye (after seeing a piñata at the grocery store): I think we should get that for the new kid’s birthday.
(Adam’s calls him Gerald, the rest of us call him the baby with no name, Kye calls him “the new kid.” Fair enough, I guess.)

2- I think it’s fun to guess what my children will be when they grow up based on their current interests. Right now, it looks like Adam will be joining the navy because that kid has started CUSSING LIKE A SAILOR! He’s really into rhyming. Unfortunately, his favorite word to rhyme with is duck. Don’t ask me why—I really couldn’t tell you. Lucy sits there appalled as she listens to him drop the F-bomb every other word. Of course he has no idea what he’s saying and I’m not about to tell him for fear he’ll start using it intentionally. Still, it’s rather startling to hear from a 3 year old. I’m just waiting for him to get kicked out of his Sunbeam class for persistent profanity.

1—Enduring the ups and downs of being a prego mom.
Lucy: But I can’t tell the difference between dad’s jeans and mom’s jeans. (Really!?!? Even with maternity jeans we are no where NEAR the same size.)

And . . .

Me: I think I’ll make waffles for dinner.
Isaac: Your tummy is getting big!
(I'm not sure what that had to do with waffles for dinner, but whatev.)

And . . .

Me (to Zach’s coworker, Julie): Hey, how are you doing these days?
Julie: Hi! You look cute as he**!

(I knew I adored that woman. And yes, the asterisks are necessary. We try to keep the family blog G-rated.)

Valentine's Day 2011

Two weeks ago, my elaborate Valentine's Day plans included driving the kids to AZ for the long President's Day weekend and meeting Zach there after he got back from fishing in Mexico for a week with his dad and brother.  I was going to take him to Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale for dinner, where we celebrated our first Valentine's Day together 15 years ago.   Our little stint in the hospital changed all of our plans.  Instead of Zach heading to Mexico, we had a delicious family dinner and treats made by Zach's mom.  And then we spent the evening here:

A man who gives up his only fishing time for the year to stay home with a wife who spends her time laying on the couch baking a baby?  Now that's love.

Top Ten--January 2011 (part I)

Our top ten is very Adam-centric this month. Of course he’s 3 . . . and goofy . . .and, well, he’s home all day with me and the other 3 do a lot of their funny stuff where I can’t hear it anymore. Beggars can’t be choosers, folks, so I’ll take what I can get. And now, for our January top ten:

10-I think we finally figured out how we are going to arrange the kids in their bedrooms. It took awhile, though, and I took to asking everyone for advice, even the 3 year old.
M: Where should we put the baby’s bed?
A: Right next to mine, so I can pet him.

9-In which we discover Isaac is made of rubber: January in Utah is obviously cold and snowy and the parking lots could be skating rinks. You would think these conditions would cause everyone to stop and think before they run out in front of cars. Except a certain 5 year old. . . who got hit by a car . . . in our church parking lot the first Sunday of 2011. Like I said, though—made of rubber. Isaac bounced right back up and headed into church with no side effects besides a small hip bruise. One. Lucky. Kid.

8—Things that made me say “gross” this month:
• I’m a pickle fan. Always have been. But I drew the line at Isaac’s enthusiastic gulp of water that he squeezed dill pickle juice into. Gross.
• Excessive burping at the dinner table (which dramatically increased after we watched the infamous minute long burp of Buddy in “Elf.” I love that movie, but . . . gross.)
• Adam’s current favorite of peanut butter, jelly, and pepperoni sandwiches. Just . . . gross.
• Lucy drinking 3 syringes full of pickle juice (what is it with our family and pickle juice?) Gross.

7—Adam overheard (on his way from the bathroom where he had to brush his teeth, to the kitchen where he was to put away the silverware): Oh! Oh! Ohhhhh! I neeeeeed to do everything!”

Yeah, woe is you, son. (And . . . seriously? You’re three!!)

6—Abundant signs that it might be time to get Lucy new glasses: she can’t read the clock from 3 feet away, the squint is becoming a normal facial feature, her reading “they were baptized to wash away their skins” during scripture time, the super-glued bow coming loose every few days. Yup, it’s definitely time.

And now, though I had every intention of doing the whole top ten, I'm going to take a break and go to bed.  Because lying around on your backside all day baking a baby is exhausting I tell you:)  Stay tuned for tomorrow's episode of the top ten.

30 Weeks Along

And let me tell you, I am feeling extremely blessed to have made it to 30.  I went into preterm labor on Sunday and it hit hard and it hit fast.  I started having contractions during church and decided by the time I took the roll in RS that I needed to get home (and I think I may have worried those out in the hall with my tears and actually doubling over from the pain).  The pain was way too intense for normal contractions.  In fact, it was way more intense than I had experienced in preterm labor with Isaac and Adam.  I couldn't actually distinguish one contraction from another and I had a band of pain wrapping around my lower abdomen and back. 

Once I got home, Zach (who was already there with sick kids) helped me get into some pjs and lay down on my side.  I got a big glass of water and waited to see if things would slow down a bit.  My sister came to pick up the kids in case we needed to go in.  After a brief easing, the pain started up again and we headed to the hospital.  Despite hurting with every bump in the road on the way, I kept asking Zach if he thought I was just being a big wimp.  (I always have that fear, though I don't know why it should matter:)

At the hospital, they had me get into a hospital gown, hooked me up to monitors and immediately gave me the first shot for the baby's lungs.  I was contracting every 1-2 minutes with a 15 second break, and they peaked right off the charts (so . . . apparently I wasn't just being a wimp.)  By this time, it had been 4 hours or so and they needed to get it stopped ASAP.  I got 3 shots of tributalene in 15-30 minute intervals and I can't even tell you how relieved I was that within 5 minutes the contractions had slowed and the pain had eased up a bit.  After the shots, we did a quick check and I was dilated to a 3 and 75% effaced.  So we started a longer term medication, nifedipine, to keep contractions at bay.  I apparently was a little dehydrated as well, because it took 7 tries to get the IV in.  They finally had to call the anesthesiologist to put it in and he got it on the first try.  My arm somewhat resembles a pin cushion right now.

Fortunately, the contractions (mostly) stopped and we met with a perinatologist on Monday.  The u/s on the baby looked really good, but she wants to keep a close eye on things.  My fetal fibronection test came back positive (we were hoping for a negative, which is 99% accurate in telling us I wouldn't go into labor in the next two weeks).  Even with the positive on the test, and the baby's heart rate doing a couple of things they didn't like, they let me come home yesterday afternoon.  Now I'm on strict bedrest for the time being, and I'll be on the medication for the next several weeks. 

I have a follow up with my doctor next week and if things continue to look good, he might upgrade me from strict bedrest to taking it easy.  Here's hoping.

Blessings: 

• I am soooooo grateful I went into labor at home instead of in TX.  I had flown home Saturday from a few days there visiting family.  Less than 24 hours later, I was in the hospital. 
• I am thankful for modern medicine.  Because of it, I am 30 weeks pregnant right now, instead of having a baby in the NICU.
• I am thankful for all of the wonderful friends, neighbors, and family members who rushed to the rescue, helping with kids, meals, and especially for their prayers.  I truly believe that all of the prayers directed our way allowed us this particular blessing right now.
• I am thankful for the blessing that Zach and Ben gave me at the hospital, which reminded me (4 times) that this baby would come according to Heavenly Father's will and plan.  (And not necessarily mine.)

South Dakota Today

And this is why I don't live there . . .