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!