We have a 1 year old!!

July was Kailee's birthday. We had some cake (I made 2 actually- one was cherry cake with almond buttercream frosting, and the other was a chocolate zucchini cake for those that are watching their figures). She got to open presents from Juju and Papa (she loves that doll and Reagan loves the diaper bag and wipes that came with the baby).  Some friends came over also to help eat all the cake. She didnt get very messy but thats ok. It was messy enough.

In other news, Hunter starts school in 2 weeks...I can not believe my baby boy is now a kindergartener!! He will be attending a full day class and is excited to be eating lunch at school. Most of our ward (church unit) goes to a different school but our chosen school feels like it will be a better fit for him. I will keep you posted on that.

Reagan just finished up a mini "cheer" camp this week and today was her performance...she sat in a chair (in the audience) the entire time. Glad I charged and cleared space on our camera for the magical moment.

We also got to go to Idaho this summer, have a visit from my aunt and uncle, girls trip to Chicago for mom with Juju, celebrated the 4th of July with friends and had visits from Grandpa and Grandma.  We are all well and happy. We hope you all are too. Hopefully I will get better at this once school starts for Hunter...but dont hold your breath.

This stinks!

Wow- I had a (unspoken) goal to blog once a month...FAIL! We have been busy (if thats any consolation!) so I will blame it on that!

February we got to have Grandpa come and visit for a week. The kids had a blast talking Grandpa's ear off! He liked catching up with Kailee especially since that week she had found her voice!

March we got to go to a St. Patrik's Day party. We also got to watch my niece and nephew while Rachel and Luke went to Hawaii. Papa and Juju were supposed to come out but Mom had surgery on her back beforehand and wasn't able to come. Soon though! Hunter and Reagan loved having their cousins here and getting to go to parks almost every day (since our backyard wasn't done). We also got to celebrate Easter with them while they were here.

April was a month of Hunter's 5th birthday (wow- he goes to kindergarten in the fall!) complete with a Super Mario Bros. party, and backyard landscaping! We got grass in (sooo thrilled), some raised beds for gardening and did the irrigation for some additional fruit trees as funds allow.  This month, we will also travel to Provo to see Aubs graduate from BYU (or arrive for pictures afterward) and possibly head to Idaho to get a quick hello/goodbye to Grandparents.

Some pictures to tide you over (hopefully).  And they wont move for me- sorry.

Catching up!

Happy New Year and belated Christmas, and Thanksgiving! Things have definitely been busy and I really can't blame the lack of posts on that! Since life will always be busy, I just need to be better! Blogger is moving all my pictures below all out of sync so I apologize about that. 

Settle in:

Thanksgiving- we went to Idaho to stay with my family and bless Kailee! We were blessed to have both sides of the family represented and it was wonderful to see everyone on Jeremy's side- however brief it was. We made wonderful food, got to go to Big Jud's (of course) and did some shopping on Black Friday (not the early crazy stuff- just when we got up). I was working on credits as well for my re-certification and THANKFULLY that is done until 2018. 

Christmas- We went back to Idaho to visit with Jeremy's side of the family with a lil sledding with Rach and her fam (pictures are on the other computer and will be uploaded when I remember). Christmas was wonderful. Kids got to experience snow and we always love going to see family!

January: Reagan, Jeremy and myself had birthdays (not to mention oodles of other people in my family :D- January is a doozy of a month for birthdays!!). Reagan got to pick what she wanted for her birthday dinner and after many conversations

R: I want cake! 

Me: Ok, what else?

R: And a candle.

Me: Anything else?

R: And fire!

It was decided she wanted cereal! She picked out Lucky Charms as her birthday dinner and we had a great dinner and "party" with just family. She loves her Pillow Pet by the way, Juju!! Hunter does too and keeps telling me we need to switch the rooms so the pillow pets can see both rooms...

   Reagan is a wonderful big sister and LOVES Kailee! She is my little helper when Kailee cries and she makes sure a pacifier is nearby! She loves books and is getting introduced to "princess" and girly things. She LOVES my chap stick and other makeup so I have to hide it (Not that I wear it that often)! 

Hunter keeps asking how many minutes it will be until his birthday and then gets frustrated when I say we have a few months to wait..."Thats sooooo long!" He starts kindergarten this fall and I cannot believe how fast the time has gone! He is a very smart boy and his sense of humor is starting to come out! He loves to read still and is very interested in science and math too! Writing is not happening for us but I figure his teacher has to have something to work on :) Hahaha!

Kailee is 6 months old tomorrow! She is the sweetest little thing (even when she is teething-which is right now) and loves to smile and laugh at her siblings and others. Mommy doesn't get many giggles- stinker! She loves the dog and screams little trills whenever Gidget comes within her gaze. Gidget is wonderful with her and will sit near her (mainly because Kailee is on a blanket in the sun) but far enough out of reach- so far. Kailee is rolling both ways and hates being on her tummy! I don't get much done when she is on the ground rolling around. We can't imagine our lives without her and are very grateful for her fantastic personality! 

Big Juds at Thanksgiving

The best shot (really) picking out the cereal

Oh how she loves that pillow pet!

Forgive the purple (and zombie baby in background): 

Iphones have lousy flashes

She is so fun!!

 

My side after Kailee's blessing

Jeremy's side after the blessing

Seeing Santa...Reagan was NOT interested

but at least she sat this year. :) Baby steps

Halloween, the Great Pumpkin and Life

We have had a pretty awesome Fall so far! It is my favorite season- always has been. My mind's eye always envisions Fall/Autumn like the scenes in "Hocus Pocus" before the night actually begins. All the awesome leaves and colors and the fantastic houses....Vegas doesn't have architecture like back east but that's ok- one of these days I would like a house with character (like the ones I grew up in).

Anyway, we went to a pumpkin patch to search for "The Great Pumpkin" and ended up buying 2. The kid's started to get more excited this year for Halloween and it didn't take as much talking up for them to get the candy concept. Hunter was Lightening McQueen from Cars, Reagan was Minnie Mouse and Kailee was a rabbit. We had fun walking around 2 blocks near our house and returning with 2 pumpkins full of candy- so much so that the kids could hardly carry them home. I have enough candy leftover for next year...or to divvy up slowly over time.

Hello Kitty

Iron Man

All lit up

I have been taking a few technology classes for my re-certification for my teaching license and so far I really like them. Web design is pretty interesting so far. The weather here has started to cool off (mid 70s) and the kids are growing more everyday. Hunter is counting down to his 5th birthday so he can go to Kindergarten. He is still reading and is loving Mr. Putter and Tabby books. Reagan is very chatty and quite the little mother with her dolls (she has to sleep with 3 dolls and an infinite number of stuffed animals- it is ridiculous!). She has started to pack up her baby in a stroller, put a hat on her head and grab her "purse" so she can head out. It's pretty awesome! Kailee is 3 months and is smiling loads. She will laugh and giggle for Jeremy and coo for me. She loves her siblings and they are awesome helpers (thank goodness). We are all happy, healthy and very grateful for both! We are excited to see family in the next few weeks for Thanksgiving! Until then, be safe all!

New bed and other news

We got a lot done this past weekend- it was a long weekend for Jeremy due to Columbus day so we had an extra day! First of all, we loved General Conference and actually got a little bit from it (unlike 6 months ago when I was trying too hard to keep kids quiet so I could listen and ended up not being able to listen to anything!). We finally got around to painting and repairing the twin bed for Hunter we got from friends when they moved (thanks Amber, and Melanie originally). It was a plain blonde color laminate wood that I wasn't wild about and 2 of the 3 drawers were broken but thanks to the amazing man in my life- it is now a dark brown color and matches his dresser (which will most likely be moved to Reagan's room very soon) and all 3 drawers work! Woohoo! Jeremy also helped me get a craft done- my jewelry organizer that I have been wanting to put together so I can display and untangle my jewelry and actually use it (no picture of that unless you are facebook). I also have some pictures of Hunter at his sports camp (and a shot of a meltdown-sigh). Enjoy!

The bed with his new quilt from his birthday that
 Gma Diane helped make. 

Reagan enjoying her "picnic dinner" at Hunter's practice 

Practicing dribbling (he gets confused since he knows
you dribble in basketball) 

aaaannnnd GOAL!!!

warming up 

Can't even remember the reason for this fit

Practicing being goalie

Survival

Hello readers (if I have any left since I am a horrible blogger!)! We have survived the first (almost) 2 months of little Kailee being in our family! She is sleeping 7-9 hours at night (yay!) and the other two kids adore her! We have enrolled Hunter in a sports class so he can start figuring out what he wants to do (since our kids won't be getting any sports abilities from us) and as soon as Reagan turns 3 (yikes- in a few months!) she can be enrolled in some fun rec center classes as well. I am trying to dive into the potty training of Reagan and I am just not feeling it! She tells me after the fact so I am just trying to get motivated to stay at home for a week and not go anywhere...sigh- wish us luck! Sorry I have no pictures- my camera cord is still MIA! Hopefully we will be back with pictures sooner than the last post!

She has arrived!

              Settle in for a long post! For those that hadn't heard- a few weeks ago I went to my doctor appointment and we found out that our little girl was breech instead of head down. We had a few options- hope she turned on her own, turn her ourselves (version) or schedule a c-section. With all of these options we were also hoping I wouldn't go into labor since she was breech it would need to be a c-section and other complications could arise. 

        After having a few ultrasounds we were told I was a good candidate for an external version- fancy phrase for flipping her around before labor. Basically they oil your tummy up and PUSH on you and try and turn the baby! No pain meds, done in the hospital in case you need to go to an emergency c-section, hooked up to monitors to make sure it doesn't distress the baby. It also isn't always successful (most of the time apparently) or it is and the baby will turn back around before labor anyway. Needless to say- we were a little nervous about the entire thing and all the options. 

           We scheduled the version and decided to be induced afterward to make sure she didn't flip back around while waiting for natural labor. On July 30 we got up, fed kids, dropped off kids and headed to the hospital. 

Last pregnancy picture- 39 weeks

            We arrived at the hospital, got checked in and had another ultrasound to make sure she was still breech, I was still a good candidate and that it was a good idea. The doctor said it was a 50/50 chance and he wasn't going to kill me or himself trying to turn her. That being said- it was an intense, uncomfortable 5 minutes. He put some mineral oil on my stomach, pushed her out of my lower abdomen and then continued to push her all the way around until her head was facing down. Then I was sat up and let gravity push her back down to where she belonged. I had to be reminded to breathe since I was holding my breath, etc. while he was pushing on my ribs, etc. The doctor was very good at what he does but I am not anxious to do that again! After she was head down, we rolled down to labor and delivery and got hooked up to pitocin and lots of fluids to start labor (10:15am).

Baby #3 

        SEVERAL hours later there wasn't much to report- contractions were 3-4 minutes apart but weren't intense enough to do much so they broke my water (3pm) and they upped the pitocin. During the day, the little girl inside kept putting her fingers on top of her head to say hi to the nurses and they were getting concerned that she wouldn't move her arm before delivery. 4pm rolls around and I am done with the contractions that are heading my way so we got some drugs in my system and I was MUCH happier (and pretty proud of myself since the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and were at 50 intensity and they peak at 60ish- so I was told). Around 7pm my drugs stopped working (I was a little panicky) and they came in to give me another dose- tad stronger this time! MUCH BETTER! Couldn't move my legs but could still push and didn't feel A THING!  We did a practice push and waited for my doctor to arrive before pushing Kailee out at 9:15 pm!

Dr. Long- delivered all our babies so far!

A few firsts for me (gross firsts) this time around- I got to see my placenta and my doctor was very impressed with it because it had 2 different sections and was shaped like a heart. I was not as impressed. I also "held" the baby for the first few seconds of life before she was cleaned off this time around-not as bad as I was expecting :)

          We had to stay in the hospital an extra day due to the group strep B bacteria- even though I got 3 doses of the antibiotics. Better safe than sorry but I sure missed Jeremy and the kids that second night!

           This pregnancy went faster for me than the other 2- it was also my easiest pregnancy. Those of you that have seen me this pregnancy are probably thinking, "Seriously? This is the easiest one?" but it is true. I gained the most weight this time around and it went the fastest, I wasn't as sick as the previous ones (hence the weight gain) and nested earlier this time. This recovery has also been the easiest- not as sore or as exhausted and the previous ones. I am nesting more now than before giving birth and am able to get a lot done (or so I think).

Enjoy the rest of the pictures- just a few that we liked.

Hello little lady!

Proud Daddy! We have an identical picture to this with Reagan
and didn't even mean to wear the same shirt!

Getting some rest

Hello world!

Forgot to add Daddy! 

Headin' home!

She has tears already

"Let's go! I'm ready!"