7 months

So, what will I be doing seven months from today?  Hopefully having a baby (if not sooner!).  Yes, I am expecting, which is a REALLY big surprise!  I guess this is what Todd & I get for joking that Emma was working really hard to be the last!

We told the kids tonight.  Sarah was a little upset because she won't get the biggest kid bedroom at the new house, unless she wants to share it with Emma for a while.  Oh, the worries of a seven year old.  Mason seemed fine with it all.  When we asked him what he wants it to be he said a girl.  I think he just would not know what to do with a brother.

De-ja-vu

Last year on the Friday before Christmas break Sarah was not feeling well.  She went to kindergarten anyway because she wanted to go to the class party.  When she got home she felt awful.  Poor kid.

Saturday morning I took her to the doctor.   Mason & 6 week old Emma came along since Todd was on call.  Sarah had strep throat.  We braved Target to pick up her prescription.

Now fast forward to this year.... Sarah called me after school on Monday from her friend's house, 4 doors away.  She told me she felt yucky & could not walk home.  It was snowing, so I was nice & picked her up.  She had a fever & kind of a sore throat.  She missed her Christmas dance class.

Tuesday it was snowing like crazy.  I dropped Mason off early at Lori's before preschool then took Emma with Sarah & me to the doctor.  Her strep test came back negative.

Well, all week long she's gone up & down with a fever, but started with a cough, so I figured it mush not be strep.  Mason & Emma have started with colds too.

Well, today Lori called & offered to stay home with Mason & Emma while I took Sarah in yet again, since of course, Todd is on call.

Today the test came back positive, so we braved Target to get the prescription.  What a nightmare.

So, next year when Sarah gets sick the week before Christmas, there will be no doubt in my mind what it is!!!!

Mason's birthday, finally!

Happy 4th Birthday Mason! His big day finally arrived!
He had preschool this morning, then we went to the mall to get his picture taken. He was cooperative but kept giving funny smiles with his chin jetting out. We did get some good shots though.

After Mason's pictures we had some lunch then he rode on the merry go round.

Grandpa & Grandma C came on Sunday night to celebrate (we'll celebrate with the other side this coming Sunday). They gave him this great builder set. He was thrilled!

And once again, how Mason arrived.....

Mason was due December 17. Todd was an intern at LDS Hospital. He was on an internal medicine rotation & was NEVER home. December 8 Todd had a work party at Ruby River. I'd had a doctor's appointment that day & seemed to not be getting any closer to delivery. I was tired & ready to be done.

We went to dinner that night & had a nice time. Todd stopped at the hospital to finish some paperwork & Sarah & I headed home to Centerville. Todd was going to have his first day of the month off the next day & was ready for some serious sleep.

I woke up around 12:30 am on the 9th, not sure if I'd just eaten way too much or if I was in labor. I realized it was labor & decided I'd better wake Todd, it was around 2:30. We gathered up my bag & called my parents. My mom headed over to be with Sarah as we left. I was really hurting, so we passed her on the road.

We walked up to labor & delivery around 3:30 am & told them I was in labor. I was given the "yeah right" look. The nurse took us to a room to check me. I was at a 7 or 8. Then she believed me & asked if I was ready for my epidural, um yes!

I think I had my epidural by 4:30 or so. It was great! We settled in to wait, I was told to get some sleep, ha.

Around 5:00 am I started feeling something happening. So the doctor was paged (not mine, but I really did not care). I pushed a bit & Mason was born at 5:37 am. He weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces & was about 21 inches long. It was a great delivery, my easiest by far.

Todd had that day off with us, he slept. The next day he worked while I was in the hospital. That was fine, he popped in occasionally throughout the day. His coworkers were kind enough to cover for him over the weekend, so he could take Mason & me home on Saturday.

Mason was a good but very hungry little guy. He was content to sit & watch the action of our house.

Sarah did fine with Mason. It was really weird for me when my mom brought Sarah to the hospital to see Mason. She seemed so big & then it really hit me that I had two kids. Yikes!

So, that's that & now he's four. It's gone really fast.

And she's off!

Emma has finally decided that walking is a good thing. She'll stand up & just take off sometimes. She is always really proud of herself. It's fun to just see her strolling along. She still falls alot, but she's getting the hand of it. She also seems to like to carry something while she walks, I guess it takes her mind off of actually walking.

Happy birthday to me

We are onto the 4th birthday in our house, mine. I'm the big 33.  It was a nice day, with a few little surprises.  

Todd & Sarah picked out a new camera for me, one that fits in my purse & takes movies.  We have a great camera already, it's just too big to haul around, so this is what I wanted.

We got to eat dinner at my parent's house & that was fun!  Thanks mom & dad. 

One birthday to go, Mason on December 9, then we'll be done for a while, whew!

Tagged for 8 things

My cousin Emily tagged me a while ago, I'm a bit slow doing it, but here goes.

8 shows I watch

I don't think I watch 8 shows regularly, I don't watch anything really regularly.

1. The Office (only a few times, it's just silly)

2. HGTV things (mostly House Hunters)

3. Discovery Channel stuff (when Todd has the remote)

4. National Geographic Channel stuff (once again, Todd in control)

5. Something we DVR'd

6. 7. 8. I just can't think of anything else

8 favorite restaurants

This should be easy, I enjoy eating out, without kids that is!

1. The Cheesecake Factory (if only the wait was not so terrible)

2. The Spaghetti Factory

3. PF Changs

4. Ruby River

5. Macaroni Grill

6. Papa John's (I could have pizza once a week & be happy)

7. Jimmy John's (they have good subs & I'm not a huge sub fan)

8. Pretty much anything I did not cook myself

8 things that happened yesterday

Hmm, I'm drawing a blank.  Must have been great!

1. Got Sarah off to school, barely in time for the bus (she can be really chatty in the morning)

2. Vacuumed the house (there's a lot of carpet)

3. Waited for my mom to come to babysit my kids (should have told her 10 not 11, Mason was so excited to have her come!)

4. Went to Twilight with my two older sisters

5. Came home, talked with my mom & Lori for a while

6. Picked Sarah up from a friend's house (she'd ridden home with her on her bus)

7. Picked pizza up from Dominos

8. Wrestled the kids to bed, whew, the day is done!

8 things I look forward to

1. Thanksgiving

2. Mason's birthday (poor kid, he's the last one during our family "birthday season")

3.Christmas (it's fun to have some new toys, even though we already have way too many)

4. Closing on our house (in a few weeks, assuming everything gets finished)

5. Moving in (not the actual moving part, but it will be fun to live there!)

6. A vacation, anywhere!

7. A date with Todd, to anywhere!

8. Spending time with my family 

8 things on my wish list

1. That my kids would obey me the first time I ask them to do something

2. That some of my good friends would move into the houses still for sale in my new neighborhood.

3. To travel

4. A clean house

5. A new car that could fit three carseats/boosters easily

6. New clothes (& a few less pounds so they'd look good)

7. For my kids to turn out great

8. To have some close friends again (I miss hanging out with my friends!)

8 phrases I use all the time

1. Potty, brush, pajama (Todd came up with that one & we have to say it about 20 times each night)

2. You are going to lose a dime!

3. See you later

4. Be good

5. I love you

6. We are going now

7. Talk to you later

8. What's up?

Happy First Birthday Emma!

Today is the big day, Emma is one! I can hardly believe it! I must admit, I do like today much more than I did a year ago. It's so amazing to have a newborn, but I am happy to have this year done (what a year it's been!).
We celebrated today by going to the mall to have Emma's picture taken. This evening we did birthday cupcakes, Emma thought the candle was great. Poor Todd is on call & has missed her entire day (this does get better, I hope!?).
We are celebrating with the extended family on Sunday, so Emma gets her presents then, good thing she does not care. Emma ooing over the candle.

The cake face.

Pictures from today. She cooperated better than I thought she would. It took her a few minutes to warm up to it all, but then she did great.

Last night as I went to bed I was remembering a year ago. Once again, I'm going to give the birth story, read on if you'd like....

Todd was on a liver transplant month, which meant he was on call all the time. He'd done about 10 cases or so by this time, more than some do during the entire month. I was nervous that I'd go into labor in the middle of the night with him not home. I had Jenni & Rosemary on standby with a few others willing to help if needed. I was still nervous about it.

Emma was due the 19th, but I planned to have her the 10th (Sarah is an 8th & Mason is a 9th, so that would have been great). I had a doctor visit on the 9th & she stripped my membranes (not fun). I'd had contractions at night that entire week, so I thought for sure this would move things along. I slept the best I had in weeks that night & was very disappointed on the 10th when I woke up!

On Monday the 12th it was a nice day. I went for a long walk with Mason riding his big wheel. I did some yard work. I even put up a little Christmas tree downstairs at Sarah's request. I was trying to get Emma out!

Todd got home around 7:30 that night. We got the kids to bed & I was so tired. I went to the bathroom & had a huge gush of blood. I was scared to death! So, we pulled the kids out of bed & ran them over to the Glines. The kids were thrilled for a sleepover.

We hurried into the hospital & was whisked up to an observation room. I was not bleeding any more & the baby seemed fine on the monitors. My doctor said it would be fine to stay & be induced, the charge nurse wanted to send me home since it was a really busy night. I was not about to go home without a baby! My kids were taken care of, I had Todd with me & was 39 weeks along, no reason to leave!

So, around 2:30 am they started to induce me. I started having contractions right away. After about an hour they were about every 2 minutes. I asked when I could get my epidural, I was really hurting (being induced was way worse than starting on my own). I had to be checked first. An intern came to check me & break my water, but she just could not get it to break & I was not doing well. Finally I got my epidural done by one of Todd's friends around 5:00. Then I was ready to push (before it had fully taken effect, at least that's how it felt). Emma was born at 5:29 am. She weighed 6 pounds 6 ounces & was 19 inches long. She had lots of light brown hair & big eyes. We were so happy to see her!

We called the kids that morning. Sarah was excited to have a baby sister then immediately asked if she could still stay at Mary Jane's for the day. Mason was a little shy on the phone, but happy. It was fun to call our families & surprise them with the news since none of them knew we'd even gone to the hospital. Thanks to our friends who helped with the kids! They thought it was great.

Gym

Mason's been taking a basketball class at the local rec center.  It's two times a week for an hour each time.  One of the kids in his class is also in his preschool class.  Todd & I knew his parents when we were newlyweds in Provo.  Anyway, she's very fit & keeps telling me I need to put Emma in the daycare & work out during Mason's class.  

I gave it a try today.  I'm feeling the effects.  It's been six months since I've done a "real gym" workout.  I've just not had a motivator.  Rosemary & I used to spend nearly every weekday morning for 5 months chatting as we walked to nowhere.  It was a great motivator to have a friend to talk with.  

It was nice today, especially the part of dropping Emma off at the daycare instead of trying to keep her entertained for an hour & not let her crawl all over the place in the way of the basketballs.  

On of my main drawbacks about it is I get home at 10:45 & need to shower & get ready for the day.  I like to be done with all the business before the kids get up.  I think we will get a membership though because it does feel good to get moving for a change & it's nice to have  a few minutes without the kids, even if it is while I'm going nowhere.

Birthday Todd.

No, that's not a typo for the title. Yesterday was Todd's birthday, but it was not that happy. Sarah's face sums it up.
Todd worked yesterday. Fine. Mason & I bought him a balloon & the kids made some cards. Mason is excited for each birthday because it means his is getting closer, just Emma's & mine are in the way, then it will be his.
At 5:30 Todd called to let me he was done in the OR but was stuck doing pain rounds. The guy who was supposed to do them pawned them off on Todd. I was not happy, neither was he. The kids & I were starving, so we ordered pizza (as had been the plan, we were just missing the birthday boy). So, we ate Todd's birthday dinner without him. He got home around 7:30.
Another kicker is that we had some BYU football tickets offered to us for today. We have not been to a game since 1999. Well, Todd has some big meeting up in Salt Lake today, so no game. So here I am, once again with the kids, no husband. Blah. At least we are going to Cheesecake Factory tonight with Todd's family to celebrate, that is assuming he makes it home.


The icing to top the day was at 10pm as Todd & I were getting ready for bed, Emma woke up. She was poopie. I took care of the problem, held her for a few minutes, then thought we would be fine. No way. It was 1am before I crawled into my bed to stay, then she was up by 6:45.
We really need a vacation & I really need a ladies night out.

Snow again.

We woke up to a bunch of snow this morning. The kids had gotten up really early & wanted to play before Sarah went to school. Good thing they did because the snow is melting now. They had a good time then I drove Sarah to school. Emma did not think too highly of the snow. It was snowing really hard when I took her out & she would not let me put mittens on her poor little hands.
Yes, the snow pants were Mason's & the coat was Sarah's. It's great to be the third child.

Sarah's coat was soaked. Good thing I'd bought her a new one just yesterday! She insisted on taking her snow pants to school. In Minnesota the kids wear them pretty much from November to March. I called Lori's house & asked Allie this morning if kids wear them to school. She said not usually, so I just packed Sarah's wet ones in a bag in her backpack, just in case!

Halloween, finally

I'm finally getting around to posting Halloween pictures. We had a fun day. This is Sarah's first grade class, her teacher is the clown. All the first graders got to sing songs then parade around the gym. It was fun as I drove up to her school to see the kids out at recess all dressed up.

The kids on our front porch before going to Lori's. Notice my shadow, it was sunny.

Todd was the "mole" at work, meaning he worked the 7p-7a shift, blah. At least he did get to see the kiddos dressed up.

Allie & Sarah as vampires. They went with Becca & her friend. They were out for along time & filled their pumpkins.

Mason as a "space man" & Isaac as Indiana Jones. Notice the raindrops on the sidewalk & Isaac's umbrella. It started to rain just as we were ready to start trick-or-treating. It sprinkled off & on while we were out.

I took the boys & pushed Emma in her stroller. They had a good time. Emma was tired of sitting part way through & I ended up carrying her for a while. Good thing she's a feather weight!

Emma was a princess. Sarah had worn this costume six years ago. Emma would not leave the hat on long enough to get a picture.

Election

I'm watching the election results, not thrilled I'll add.  It is historic, but I'm not for his plans.

I'm just glad I'm not working in DC tonight.  Eight years ago I worked on election night at GWU Hospital in downtown DC.  I think I was probably the only person in the hospital who had voted for Bush (DC tonight showed 92% Democrat).  Anyway, it was quite a night, I don't think any of my patients slept, they were all watching to see if Florida was given back to Gore.  We all joked that patients would start rolling in due to chest pain related to the election & stress (I worked on the cardiac floor).  The day shift stumbled in at 7 am bleary eyed & frustrated.  Quite a memory!

Splish splash

We have a rule at our house that the toilet lid goes down (why else would they have them if they are not meant to be used?).  I always try to clean toilets without little, pretrained kids around. So I've never had a problem with little splashers.

This morning as Mason was getting dressed Emma was in the bathroom with him.  I was in the kitchen & heard him yelling for me.  When I got to the bathroom there was Emma splashing in the yellow water having a great time.  Mason was not sure what to do.  I was just grossed out.  What a great way to start Halloween!

It's Halloween Time!

This has been a fun Halloween week & the big day has not even happened yet!
We had a family party last Saturday, but my camera did not make it. I need to get some pictures from Mom & Becky. Emma was tired after a morning of shopping. She was asleep when I pulled her out of the car. I held her for a few minutes, then set her down, hoping she would wake up. Instead she just flopped over. She did wake up after this picture, good thing, because she (& I) needed a real nap!

Mason could not wait to carve pumpkins, so we did three on Monday. He was not so sure about the slime inside of them (even though he & Sarah have been having a great time with some black slime stuff Grandpa & Grandma gave them at the party on Saturday).

Mason & Sarah went to a primary Halloween party last night put on by the young men & women. We have a very talented artist in our ward who did the face paintings.

Mason had a horse to go with his horse costume. We bought this costume for him about a month ago. Last week in Costco I found an astronaut costume that I just could not leave there, he would not let me. So, for some parties (like a birthday party yesterday) he's been the astronaut, for others the horse.

Sarah had a witch hat, even though she was a vampire.

Today Mason & I made "eyeball cookies". They look pretty great & taste even better. Those are not Mason's real teeth, he's got vampire ones in from his preschool party today.

Mason's preschool class. Miss Cathie makes a great Dora (& an even better sport)!

The view out our kitchen window. Todd bought a telescope this week. I told him it would be a great family Christmas present. Yeah, if it had stayed in the box until then! We've had fun looking up at the mountains with it & last night we saw a planet or two. Mason wanted to look through it to see Sammy's house since he knows it's far away.

Food & friends & a tooth

Last night we went on a double date with Brad & Jenni. They were down for the weekend from Idaho Falls. We went to the Cheesecake Factory & stuffed ourselves & had a great visit. It was so great to see them again!
Our kids were sad that they did not get to see each other, hopefully next time.
Sarah ended up having fun with her cousins babysitting, she lost a tooth! It was really loose as Todd & I left. Allie & Becca are "loose tooth experts" since they have recently lost some, so they gave Sarah some tips & she surprised us this morning with the hole in her smile. She's thrilled she'll get her name on the lost tooth poster in her first grade class.

Fall!

Fall is really here! We've never had a yard with leaves to rake before. The kids are enjoying it.

The kids were having fun jumping out of the swings into the leaf pile.

This mess is from a walnut tree. Don't EVER plant one. When we moved in there were black wormy things (not really worms, just seeds or something) all over the ground from it. Then at the end of the summer walnuts started falling in big green pods. Now the leaves are falling. I had cleaned up this many the day before, came out the next day to see this mess again. I'm going to wait a few days before I clean this round up.

Fall Break

This past weekend was Fall Break (better known as UEA with Monday off tacked on).
Sarah went camping with my sister Lori's family. They went to Crystal Hot Springs. It's a campground & swimming area in Honeyville, Utah. The pools are filled with water from natural hot & cold springs, so they are kind of salty, but feel really good. We went there every year growing up. It's still the same!
I took Mason & Emma up on Friday to swim. The temperature was in the 70's & the water was much warmer. My kids thought the water was great. Too bad we did not have our camera along.
Monday Lori, Lynda, & I took our kids to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. They had a great time!

Jonah, Isaac, & Mason, what handsome fellows!

Emma was really good for the day, she even fell asleep in her stroller towards the end (she rarely does that!).

Mason did the bungee jump. He loved it! Sarah had done this at Snowbird & did not want to try it again.

There were tons of inflatable slides & bouncers, the kids loved them!

There was a little haunted house.

We picked out a few pumkins, only $2 each since it was the last day.

Mason & Jonah in the Toddler Town, even though they probably should not have been.

Emma thought the Toddler Town was great! It did gross me out when she tried to eat these balls.

An offer they'd better not refuse

We put in an offer for the house I love last night. We finally got the green light from our lender, so I think things are good on our end.
The owner/builder/seller was thrilled to get our offer & needed to take it his bank to find out if they would be as thrilled about it & accept it.
We'll see!

Good thing she's cute!

Emma was 11 months old yesterday. All I can say is it's a good thing she's cute, really cute.
She has been our toughest baby. She does not care much for sleeping. We've given up on the two naps a day, so yesterday I fed her & put her down around 1:00. She did not like that idea. She screamed in her crib until I went in to hold her for a second & put her back down. When I got in there, she had thrown a sock as well as her pants overboard. The pants on the floor just made me laugh. Good thing I think it's funny, she did it again today; screamed forever, threw pants overboard, and now is finally napping, pantless. This picture shows her great teeth, she's got 8, all 5 on the top came during September, it was a painful month. No, there is nothing wrong with her eye, she's just grinning so big that it's all scrunched up.
Emma loves my tupperware cupboard. Good thing that's the only thing in there.
Yesterday she discovered the kitchen towel drawer, she thought she'd struck gold.

First snow!

Sunday morning we had our first snow of the season. The kids were thrilled. There was enough to cover the grass. The driveway was warm enough still that we did not need to shovel.
The kids played for a while in the morning, then the snow was gone when we headed to 1:00 church, which was fine with me since I'm not quite ready to have snow yet!

oh deer.

We have lots of deer around here. This morning there were three in our backyard.
Mason has not been a huge fan of the deer. One night he came upstairs telling me there was a deer in his room. The next morning when I asked him about it he remembered the deer still. Then whenever he'd see a deer out behind the back fence he'd get nervous & run into the house & lock the door since he knows deer can't open doors. These deer were wandering down our street.
This is one right behind our back fence. I had Mason look at this one carefully to hopefully overcome his fear. He still told me about the deer in his room, but that they are not scary. He must be having quite the dreams.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Sarah is seven today! Wow! Time really does go faster as I get older.
Many of you know her crazy birth story, but just in case... I'll write about it.
Todd was in his second year of medical school in DC & we were living in Virginia. Sarah was due October 23. Todd just kept saying any time after October 8 would be fine for me to have the baby. He had his first big test that day.
Well, the night of October 7 I started with some low back pain. It lasted off & on all night. The next morning I was sure I was starting labor. I called my doctor around 8am & she told me it would be all day probably & not to come in to the hospital yet. So, I sent Todd downtown (25 minute metro ride) to take his test, with his dial-a-dad pager from the hospital. Someone from work called to see if I was coming in to do some schedule work (I worked at GW Hospital in DC & was in charge of making the nursing schedules for my floor). I said I was starting labor & did not think I wanted to come in (I should have though!).
Anyway, Todd called around 10:30 & I was fine. Then around 11:00 I started thinking I was not so fine. I called my doctor around 11:30 & she told me maybe I should come in. I paged Todd. Then I paged again, & again, & again. I was really starting to hurt by this time.
Finally, Todd called at 12. He was done with his test & the pager had never gone off. I could hardly talk I was in so much pain. He hurried home. I knew I was not going to make it to a hospital in a car so I called 911. Todd pulled into our parking lot followed by a fire engine full of EMT's. The ambulance arrived a few minutes later.
I was loaded into the ambulance & Todd made it in & we were off, 7 minutes to Fairfax Hospital. I knew I would not make it. Sarah was born at 12:59 on Lee Highway in Fairfax, Virginia.
The afternoon, Todd's pager went off for the first time that day. Hmmm.
Sarah just wanted to make a grand entrance!
We had a family party on Sunday to celebrate. Here is Sarah with her birthday loot.
This is the cake (or shall I say frosting with a bit of cake?). Sarah is a chocolate fan.
Last night we went to the mall to pick out Sarah's Build-A-Bear. This was the thing she really wanted for her birthday, so we'd given her a gift certificate so she could pick the bear herself. We were there for a long time! She named her bear Mary Jane. It sings a funny happy birthday song. (Todd wonders why he went to med school, he wishes he'd been the one to come up with the build-a-bear idea & make his millions that way)
Last week at school Sarah got to celebrate her birthday (another kid in her class got this week). She had to make a poster of pictures. On here is a picture of her with her birthday poster for preschool when she turned three.