Often when Caleb and I say, "I love you," to each other, the other will counter with, "Oh, yeah, well I love you to the universe and back." It started when we read the book "Guess How Much I Love You." Today, when Caleb said our little phrase he mused, "Ya know. It's weird. Everyday there's this feeling like I love you more than I did the day before." Awww.....Love that boy!
And just so my head wouldn't get too big, tonight when I was threatening Michaela to get to bed she stomped off and said, "You're such a mean mommy. I don't love you."
And such is a typical mom's day!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Family Update
It's been two months since little Emily has entered our family. She is getting nice and chubby and is happy as can be. The above pictures were taken today after church. My mom made the cute little dress but she is already outgrowing it!
We discovered she has multiple food allergies and I had to stop nursing because I was down to eating nothing but chicken and rice and pears and it was not fun and it wasn't helping. She has been eating a special formula and is tolerating it okay. We may need to go to prescription type formula eventually as she seems to be having a few issues with the current formula. But in spite of her allergies she is gaining well and has the plumpest cheeks and legs. She is yummy and is terribly fun to kiss and hold. Indeed, she is the sunshine around here that makes everyone smile. The other children have mostly been healthy except for two cases of strep throat the boys had about a month ago. Princess Michaela has not been sick at all, thankfully.
Mike had some stressful news with AirMed a while back. They are trying to save some money in their budget and decided to make all the staff make the three hour drive to Rock Springs for their shifts instead of flying them out there. Then they had considered shutting down one local helicopter pad at a hospital to open up one in Idaho Falls and making them drive up there, too. But thankfully, that is not going to happen.
At his Sandy City Fire job he was promoted to Engineer recently and we all couldn't be more proud. We love him so much for how hard he works and all that he does for us. He has continued working out faithfully and has even lost more weight. He is awesome!
Caleb and Jake start soccer in a few weeks. It's going to be fun to see our muscular little Jake tearing up the soccer field for the first time. He's very excited and has all his soccer gear in a pile in his closet ready to go. Caleb is getting taller and taller and eats everything in sight. He has the brain of an elephant and absorbs knowledge just by being near a book it seems. He remembers just about any new word he sees and is reading exceptionally well for his age.
Michaela has become quite the diva--is really great at tormenting Jake--pushing and scratching even at times! It doesn't look like she will have any problems with people bossing her around because she stands her own. She has since she was born. But that's why we love her, right???? Right. Her favorite day is Sunday because she gets to wear a dress and her Sunday shoes and curl her hair. Now if only I could get the boys as excited to get their Sunday best on!
Have I forgotten anyone. Oh, Chewbacca. He continues to be the sweet, loving, golden retriever that he is. Sometimes I think he is a gopher instead of a Canis lupus familiaris. Our poor backyard. I do try to take him on a jog but our crazy weather (it has been snowing) does not seem to pay attention to the month that it says on the calendar. When I take him jogging I tucker him out too much to root around for whatever it is he seems to find in the grass and flowerbeds.
Speaking of running, it is amazing how quickly I have bounced back after this pregnancy, considering my pelvis was separating. But I am grateful for a doctor that had recommended I continue water exercises. With a lot of help from our neighbors and my husband I was able to get to the pool just about every day during the pregnancy. I think because my muscles were kept strong my pelvis just snapped back into place pretty quickly postpartum. Mike and I have started a 90-day round of P90X +. So it will be great to see the results in three months.
We hope all of you are well and happy!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Emily Kathryn
Born at 12:01 PM on February 3, 2011, weighing 7 lbs. 2 oz. and 20 inches long.
She has black hair with the classic Kessel widow's peak (or maybe it's the Hasert widow's peak) either way all our kids get that from their dad.
Here's her birth story:
I've been battling a cold for over a week and haven't felt well and that's probably why I didn't feel my blood pressure start to creep up. When I went for my 38 week checkup yesterday, my blood pressure was 140/88 and then 162/84. My doctor advised we go ahead and try to induce since it's more risky to stay pregnant at this point than to deliver the baby. Her placenta could start to break down from the hypertension, for example. I was nervous that we might end up having a c-section because I wasn't as dilated as I wanted to be and/or that I was going to get preeclampsia like I did with Caleb and have this traumatic birth experience. But I was wrong--terribly wrong.
They asked me to come in at 5 AM which meant we had to leave at 4 AM which meant we had to be up at 3:30 AM! I tried to get to bed early and fall asleep, but I just couldn't. I coughed most of the night and just kept thinking, "My goodness, tomorrow I am going to have a baby!" Once we were admitted to the hospital, they broke my water and started the pitocin, I started having regular contractions 3-4 minutes apart. I was grabbing the bedrails trying to get through each one, even though it looked like on the monitor they weren't that strong, they were. I needed to wait for the anesthesiologist to finish with a c-section and I asked for the epidural. I don't think the nurse believed me that my contractions were that painful because it was only about an hour after she had started the pitocin. My doctor had advised me to get the epidural before I was having too much pain or it would be a lot harder to get the epidural placed right. The anesthesiologist got to me just in time. He actually had to put the epidural in while I was having one of my strongest contractions and that's when the tears just started to flow. But that was the most uncomfortable part of my whole delivery! I squeezed the dickens out of Mike's hand during that part, but luckily he is so tough and didn't even wince, but kept rubbing my arms and stroking my forehead encouraging me to remain still as the epidural was being put in. And then life was bliss! We watched the movie Charlie St. Cloud (weird, weird movie, by-the-way!) and the nursed checked and I dilated somewhere about 4 cm. At 11 AM, I was at 7+ and she said, "I think you will have this baby within the hour." I wasn't sure if I could believe that, but half an hour later she checked and I was about ready to push the baby out. All we had to do was wait for the doctor. In just a few pushes I got her out and my doctor was great at coaching me and I didn't require any stitches! They placed her on me immediately and I just started to cry. She was so perfect and it was all so wonderful that this little being came from me and Mike. She was screaming mad, too. That made us all smile. I couldn't stop crying, I was so relieved it went so well. I had been worried for nothing. Which is usually the case and Mike is usually quick to kindly point that out. :) She is just perfect, too. She seems to cry easily, but is also easy to soothe. She has this cute little girl cry.
I really want to go home and have our whole little family be together, but it's probably wise to stay. Each of our children developed jaundice from blood type incompatibility issues because I have type 0 blood and they have had type A, so we should stay to make sure she doesn't develop that. But I am anxious to be home and surrounded by the other kids. That is a comfort to me, believe it or not. I already miss them!
I'm feeling really groggy now that it is all over, Emily is sleeping contentedly in her little hospital bassinet. I can't wait to get home and start our life with her.
She has black hair with the classic Kessel widow's peak (or maybe it's the Hasert widow's peak) either way all our kids get that from their dad.
Here's her birth story:
I've been battling a cold for over a week and haven't felt well and that's probably why I didn't feel my blood pressure start to creep up. When I went for my 38 week checkup yesterday, my blood pressure was 140/88 and then 162/84. My doctor advised we go ahead and try to induce since it's more risky to stay pregnant at this point than to deliver the baby. Her placenta could start to break down from the hypertension, for example. I was nervous that we might end up having a c-section because I wasn't as dilated as I wanted to be and/or that I was going to get preeclampsia like I did with Caleb and have this traumatic birth experience. But I was wrong--terribly wrong.
They asked me to come in at 5 AM which meant we had to leave at 4 AM which meant we had to be up at 3:30 AM! I tried to get to bed early and fall asleep, but I just couldn't. I coughed most of the night and just kept thinking, "My goodness, tomorrow I am going to have a baby!" Once we were admitted to the hospital, they broke my water and started the pitocin, I started having regular contractions 3-4 minutes apart. I was grabbing the bedrails trying to get through each one, even though it looked like on the monitor they weren't that strong, they were. I needed to wait for the anesthesiologist to finish with a c-section and I asked for the epidural. I don't think the nurse believed me that my contractions were that painful because it was only about an hour after she had started the pitocin. My doctor had advised me to get the epidural before I was having too much pain or it would be a lot harder to get the epidural placed right. The anesthesiologist got to me just in time. He actually had to put the epidural in while I was having one of my strongest contractions and that's when the tears just started to flow. But that was the most uncomfortable part of my whole delivery! I squeezed the dickens out of Mike's hand during that part, but luckily he is so tough and didn't even wince, but kept rubbing my arms and stroking my forehead encouraging me to remain still as the epidural was being put in. And then life was bliss! We watched the movie Charlie St. Cloud (weird, weird movie, by-the-way!) and the nursed checked and I dilated somewhere about 4 cm. At 11 AM, I was at 7+ and she said, "I think you will have this baby within the hour." I wasn't sure if I could believe that, but half an hour later she checked and I was about ready to push the baby out. All we had to do was wait for the doctor. In just a few pushes I got her out and my doctor was great at coaching me and I didn't require any stitches! They placed her on me immediately and I just started to cry. She was so perfect and it was all so wonderful that this little being came from me and Mike. She was screaming mad, too. That made us all smile. I couldn't stop crying, I was so relieved it went so well. I had been worried for nothing. Which is usually the case and Mike is usually quick to kindly point that out. :) She is just perfect, too. She seems to cry easily, but is also easy to soothe. She has this cute little girl cry.
I really want to go home and have our whole little family be together, but it's probably wise to stay. Each of our children developed jaundice from blood type incompatibility issues because I have type 0 blood and they have had type A, so we should stay to make sure she doesn't develop that. But I am anxious to be home and surrounded by the other kids. That is a comfort to me, believe it or not. I already miss them!
I'm feeling really groggy now that it is all over, Emily is sleeping contentedly in her little hospital bassinet. I can't wait to get home and start our life with her.
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| Photo album generated with Smilebox |
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Katydid
I woke up one autumn morning to let the dog out into the backyard and this guy was perched on the porch railing: Microcentrum rhombifolium, or the greater angle-winged katydid. You don't usually see these virtually innocuous insects because they are arboreal, spending most of their time in the trees. But he decided to venture out onto our porch. I'm not sure why I like katydids so much. Perhaps I just find them more pleasing to look at than the bland bug-eyed looking grasshoppers. Maybe it is because katydids don't do the nerve-wracking jump and flutter that grasshoppers do when you are walking along the grass or bushes. They don't sporadically jump onto your clothes when you frighten them like their aforementioned, closely related crop decimating orthopteran short-horned grasshoppers. Katydids are slow, methodical and observant. And because of this behavior, I was able to take about five pictures trying to get an image that showed him in all his beauty. Unfortunately, the other four pictures I was not pleased with, but I like this one.
Fall General Conference 2010
This post is long overdue. But I was looking through some family pictures and realized I needed to blog about them or I would forget some of the special moments we got to share together. Here goes:
Fall General Conference 2010. Some of may recall last year's slideshow I created for the Fall 2009 General Conference. Just to refresh your memory, every six months our church holds a conference for its entire membership. It is broadcast across the world. We have started using an activity called "Conference Bingo" to help the kids get something out of it. They get a card with various topics on it and are then given candy. When a particular topic is discussed that they can find on their card, they can place a candy on it. When the whole card is full, they can eat the candy. It sounds good when written down, but put into practice when you have a 2 and 4 year old, it doesn't always work out that way. Here are the kids starting out in the first session:
Here we are about 15 minutes into watching conference. You may notice that little Michaela has chipmunk cheeks here, guess what is inside those cheeks? The M & M's.
And eventually, Jake and Michaela lost all interest because all their candy was gone and that's when they sauntered into the playroom and started to bring out the toys. Michaela decided to put on her butterfly costume she wore when she was about 11 months old. Amazingly, she was able to squeeze into it:
Here's Jake with chocolate smeared on his face, guilty of eating all his candy right away.
And here is the best big brother anyone could ask for. He's a good role model. He sat through the entire first session and diligently placed candy on his Bingo card.
And I just had to throw this one on here because it shows my husbands gorgeous brown eyes, that made me fall in love with him (along with so many many other things!):
Daddy gets to attend a special session just for the men called the "Priesthood Session." It's broadcast at the church. We have started taking a picture before he goes each time:
General Conference is always a special family time. It's a wonderful way to rejuvenate the spirit,too, and help me stay motivated to becoming a better wife, mother, sister, friend, community member--a better person.
Fall General Conference 2010. Some of may recall last year's slideshow I created for the Fall 2009 General Conference. Just to refresh your memory, every six months our church holds a conference for its entire membership. It is broadcast across the world. We have started using an activity called "Conference Bingo" to help the kids get something out of it. They get a card with various topics on it and are then given candy. When a particular topic is discussed that they can find on their card, they can place a candy on it. When the whole card is full, they can eat the candy. It sounds good when written down, but put into practice when you have a 2 and 4 year old, it doesn't always work out that way. Here are the kids starting out in the first session:
Here we are about 15 minutes into watching conference. You may notice that little Michaela has chipmunk cheeks here, guess what is inside those cheeks? The M & M's.
And eventually, Jake and Michaela lost all interest because all their candy was gone and that's when they sauntered into the playroom and started to bring out the toys. Michaela decided to put on her butterfly costume she wore when she was about 11 months old. Amazingly, she was able to squeeze into it:
Here's Jake with chocolate smeared on his face, guilty of eating all his candy right away.
And here is the best big brother anyone could ask for. He's a good role model. He sat through the entire first session and diligently placed candy on his Bingo card.
And I just had to throw this one on here because it shows my husbands gorgeous brown eyes, that made me fall in love with him (along with so many many other things!):
Daddy gets to attend a special session just for the men called the "Priesthood Session." It's broadcast at the church. We have started taking a picture before he goes each time:
General Conference is always a special family time. It's a wonderful way to rejuvenate the spirit,too, and help me stay motivated to becoming a better wife, mother, sister, friend, community member--a better person.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Caleb Surgery Update
Hi, Family and Friends,
Just wanted to drop a quick note about Caleb's umbilical hernia surgery. We are going to postpone it until June. We didn't really want to do that, but with Christmas coming, we got on the phone with the insurance and found out how much we were going to need to pay upfront and right now isn't a great time for us to pay that much. We talked with the doctor and he felt it was okay to wait. The good news is, after the baby comes we will have met our out-of-pocket maximum and Caleb's surgery should be covered 100%. Additionally, he has a ruptured eardrum right now and is on antibiotics, which probably wouldn't affect the surgery too much, I just want him to be a lot better before he goes under the knife. Don't want him getting any sicker than he was and let his immune system time to recover from the onslaught it has received the last 9 days. We are blessed that no one else has gotten sick and everyone is doing well.
We hope you are all enjoying your Christmas season! We look forward to seeing a lot of you soon.
Just wanted to drop a quick note about Caleb's umbilical hernia surgery. We are going to postpone it until June. We didn't really want to do that, but with Christmas coming, we got on the phone with the insurance and found out how much we were going to need to pay upfront and right now isn't a great time for us to pay that much. We talked with the doctor and he felt it was okay to wait. The good news is, after the baby comes we will have met our out-of-pocket maximum and Caleb's surgery should be covered 100%. Additionally, he has a ruptured eardrum right now and is on antibiotics, which probably wouldn't affect the surgery too much, I just want him to be a lot better before he goes under the knife. Don't want him getting any sicker than he was and let his immune system time to recover from the onslaught it has received the last 9 days. We are blessed that no one else has gotten sick and everyone is doing well.
We hope you are all enjoying your Christmas season! We look forward to seeing a lot of you soon.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Silly Dog
This picture is evidence of the silliness of our ultra friendly meek golden retriever, Chewbacca. When he is given a chewbone he will walk around the house whimpering looking for a place to hide it, then waits by the door to be let out. If I don't let him outside to bury it, he puts his paw on my leg and sits there looking at me with this pitiful look, waiting. And waiting. This goes on for about 20 minutes until he gives up by either putting the chew bone behind a piece of furniture or laying on it. Eventually, within a few hours, he will start to gingerly chew on it. And once it is soft, then he devours it in a few minutes. Any animal behaviorist out there want to explain? :)
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