Uriah's Blessing

Uriah was blessed on December 2nd 2012. No matter how many baby blessings we've had, each one is so special and memorable for us. I'm so thankful that Jason holds the Priesthood, which is the authority to act in God's name.  The blessing itself was beautiful and the spirit was so strong, even though Ezra was talking throughout the whole thing and kept trying to throw something at me.  But that morning, I woke up, and it was raining like crazy outside. This was a HUGE storm, the biggest we had seen in a long time. I thought, I'm going to cancel and call my family and tell them not to come. I felt bad making them drive down for it.  But then I thought, wait, um, we drive to Oroville all the time, rain or shine, night or day.... so I didn't cancel it. We all got ready in time, amazingly enough! I left with the roasts on and the house a mess and knew my family would all see my messy house after church, but I didn't care and knew getting to church on time was more important. So we took off to church in the storm! Roads were closed... our freeway was flooded due to the fact that a pump station failed. So we had to take detours like crazy but finally got there. The adversary really does try to keep stuff like this from happening and tried that morning! We all got there in one piece!! Ezra was ok during church, which he usually never is. He loved having the family there! Sacrament was wonderful and it was so nice being able to take it after not being able to for a few weeks! Since it was my first Sunday back to church since I had my new calling in Primary, my mom took care of Uriah while I ran around to figure things out for my calling. And then I was able to go to Relief Society with my mom and sister in law while my friends covered me in Primary! I hadn't been to RS in years! It was so nice being there with my family, but i missed Primary. Then we headed back to our house and ate to pulled pork sandwhiches and hung out! It was seriously the perfect day! Even with the crazy storm! I'm so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ! The day of his blessing, a good friend of mine bore her testimony and talked about how much joy the gospel brings us! How if we didn't have the gospel, we wouldn't have the little things like baby blessings..... that bring us so much joy and happiness! We would be missing out on so much! And I totally agree! Even when I saw my brother Dustin and Jason both in their suits, walking down the hall together after church, seeing two amazing husbands & fathers, brought so much joy and happiness to my heart. I love it! Here are some pictures from the day! 

Cami, Spencer, & Raquel... I love my siblings!

Raquel, Dustin, & Christina eating some grub! Loved having them around for our special day!

And no party is complete without the kids!! Shelby is almost 16, but she's still a kid to me! :-)

 

Grandpa & Uriah

                                                                   Grandma & Uriah

                                                                 Uriah all tuckered out!

This was after the storm down our street! The drains were all clogged with leaves, so our street started flooding!

Uriah

I can't find the USB cord for my camera. Ezra loves to use them as whips and them I never see them again! Ugh! But I do have some pics of Uriah from his newborn shot. A friend of mine took photos of him as a present. It was so nice of her! I didnt realize how much go into these newborn photo shoots. I  have a whole new respect for photographers photographing newborns.

Hopefully I can find the cord soon! He is getting so big and growing way too fast! Everyone asks how I'm doing.... I am doing well!  My body has recovered very fast compared to other deliveries. I'm just very tired and an airhead most of the time. Jason said that I'm actually normal again. Like, my hormones are balanced for the first time in years!! And that does seem to be the case too. I feel like my "don't trip, it's all good" self is back. Its nice to really enjoy having a newborn, instead of just going through the mundane motions of it like I have in the past. The house is thrashed all the time! I mean, its out of control... but I actually don't care. Just trying to enjoy my beautiful children and the time I can spend with them. They really do grow up too fast!!

He's Heeere!!

Uriah Fisher McOmber.... Born on November 7th, 2012 at 2:41am.  Weighing 7lbs 13 oz. 20 3/4" long.... So small for me!

I went in and was induced on Election Day. I refused to turn on the tv, knowing that we're very passionate about politics and I didn't want that filth on while my baby was coming into the world. So at 5pm they gave me the Miso pill to soften the cervix. That definitely worked and my contractions were 3 mins apart. They were uncomfortable contractions, but weren't hard labor contractions. So they gave me a little tiny bit of pitocin. Like 2ml. That was causing the contractions to be too close together, so they knocked it down to 1/2 ml.  My Dr. came in at 8:30pm and I was at a 4cm and 80% efaced.  Then we changed the subject and started talking about guns and ccw's and what not.  Dr. Steven Katsuyama is a good family friend of ours. He worked at Oroville Hospital and delivered Isaiah and took care of my pregnancy with Maci. He also delivered Elijah and Ezra at Kaiser too.  He knows both of our families and a ton of people in Oroville. So we always end up talking about non-medical things when we get together. We love having him! He's amazing! Anyway, around midnight, I was pretty tired. I was having hard labor for about 2 hours and I realized that I was being dumb and trying way too hard to be tough and go without the epidural. I mean, it was in the middle of the night, I was tired, and I might not have this baby for another few hours. So I requested the epidural.  My Dr. and the anesthesiologists were in the OR delivering twins, so I had to wait. By this time, I had also been shaking out of control for an hour and a half. My body does that when I'm in labor. I was still at a 4 when I got the epidural, and then right afterwards, I went to a 5. With my last epidural, I was totally numb from the waist down. With this one, I was kinda numb on the right side, but could still feel it on the other.  Of course, my body kept shaking, but not as violently. It was just weird feeling it on the one side still. At 2:30am, Dr. Katsuyama came in and checked me. I was at an 8, and 100% efaced.  He said, "Let's push this baby out." So everyone started coming in to get ready and he said, "Get the vacuum, we don't want to have to get this baby another way." I was like, what? Vacuum? Another way? What's going on? I know Dr. Kats so well, that I knew something was up.  His bedside manner is amazing, and he's so calm, but I felt it was weird that I was going to start pushing at an 8.  So, I started pushing.  Pushed for 6 mins, and they used the vacuum 3 times, and Uriah entered the world! He wasn't crying, he was quiet, but I wasn't worried. He finally started crying.  I still thought something was weird about the delivery, but didn't ask questions. I was just happy he was here! He did a great job eating right off!  I was so thankful to my mom, Cami, my mother in law Lauren, and Jason for being there to help me and support me! I love family so much!!

Everyone left and I got to my room around 6am. I was so tired!! I slept for 1 1/2 hours and then woke up for the day!  Uriah and I just hung out all day long together. I rested a lot, but never slept. Ate a ton of hospital food... which I love!! My phone was dying, so I couldn't use it. And it was nice being disconnected from the world. It was a wonderful day!  I didn't get any visitors, which is normal for me. Usually I get bummed not having any, but this time I didn't care. I was so tired and felt like junk and just wanted to spend time with my little newest spirit that Heavenly Father was entrusting me with. I was awesome!

Wednesday night, I had him go to the nursery so I could get some sleep. I was able to get 3 hours of sleep that night. I woke up that morning and just felt awful. Dr Kats came in and he said a few things about the delivery. Not a whole lot. But he said it was a good thing he wasn't any bigger and my blood pressure was looking better. I didn't ask questions, but was curious why he said what he said.

I went home that day, Thursday. The kids were all coughing like crazy, so I made them put on masks and they could only hold him one time. I felt so bad! But I started talking to Jason and asked him about the delivery. I guess my blood pressure was dangerously low, so thats why Kats wanted me to start pushing at an 8. Also, when Uriah was born, I was watching Kats' face and it looked awkward. Especially when he was clamping the cord. And he didnt ask Jason to cut it like he normal. Well, apparently the cord was wrapped around his shoulders, so thats why he wasn't able to come down and why if he was any bigger, I would've had a c-section. My Dr. is seriously always right.  He was totally inspired for me to be induced! I'm so thankful for him and his knowledge. He's amazing!!

So that was my birthing story for Uriah! We didn't know his name really until the morning that I left. I wanted Uriah Jason McOmber.... Jason wanted Fisher for his first name. My mom suggested that we do Uriah Fisher so we both kinda get our way. I personally don't like the name Fisher for my son, but Jason was trying to turn it into meaning "Fisher of Men." Nice try Jason! Uriah is in the Old Testament, there are several. Two of them were priests.... one in the book of Isaiah and the other in Ezra. Not a huge meaning behind it like the other boys' names, but there is one. So that's how his name came about!

How am I feeling right now? Well, like junk! Usually a week after delivery, I'm up and moving and trying to get back into the gist of things. Not the case this time. I don't know why.... could it be age? Body? 5 other kids? I don't know. Uriah is really good though, but I can't seem to sleep. I feel exhausted. My cramps might as well be contractions. And my head is pounding.... no matter what I do. It's crazy... but all good. At least I have Jason home for the rest of the week. Well, I've written a book. I'll post more pictures later when I have the patience for blogger. 

Being Induced!

It has been a crazy last few weeks. I got a new calling (job) at church.  It's a very busy one... at least in the beginning, just trying to get everything together and organized.  So I've been focusing a lot on that and not on getting ready for the baby to come.  Last week I went to my weekly checkup and there was no progression at all! I was glad though, because last week was absolutely crazy for me and needed to just get through the week before I had the baby. He mentioned possibly inducing me, due to the fact I had big babies.  I went to my appt today, and he said I am only dialated to a 1 1/2cm and I'm 50% efaced. He had already made an appt for me to be induced tomorrow morning. I told him I really wanted to vote, so that wouldn't work. So he moved it to the afternoon/evening. I didn't really want to do it and just want him to come on his own, but knew that it was the best for all of us.  I knew I would have Jason at the end of the week, due to the rainy weather.  I knew it would be easier to plan for my family. And the timing is good for the fact it will give me some time before Thanksgiving Break when all of the kids will be home for the week. We came home and I quickly started cleaning like crazy.  Of course I haven't gotten a whole lot done, but at least I've gotten the car seat and newborn clothes washed. Who cares about everyone elses clothes, right?

So I'm having a baby within the next 2 days! It's crazy! I've been so busy with the kids, my job at church, and just life, that I haven't really sat down and thought about it until today. It hit me though, and man am I nervous! I guess I usually am. But just the idea of the pain is not something I want to think about  Or the idea of bringing my brand new baby home to a very disorganized crazy household scares me. I'm usually so excited.... but I think I just don't feel ready, so I feel more overwhelmed than anything.  And I guess since I had post partum depression after Ezra, that kinda scares me too. And my kids are all coughing and I kinda have a sore throat too, I don't want the baby getting sick. But it's all good. And I know it will be all good!! And I can't wait to hold this new little baby! 

It's my last night with Ezra alone, so I'm just holding him, and snuggling with him, and rocking him and singing to him our song Hourglass by Mindy Gledhill. He knows the baby is coming, but has no clue what that means exactly.  Hopefully he'll adjust just as well as all the other kids did with each baby.  

BTW.... we haven't totally decided on a name yet. We have some ideas, and pretty much know what name we'll choose, but we're not totally sure yet. I'm not a big fan of the name, but I feel better about it than the other's we've come up with.  I'll announce it once he's born.  So stay tuned! :-)

Au revoir mes amies!

Our week

It's friday morning, I got 5 hours of sleep last night, and the same for the last 3 weeks. Ezra was awake until 12:30am and then I finally went to sleep at 1am. Jason got home at 5:45am and of course, that woke me up. I got up this morning, telling myself that I have to have a good attitude and that'll make me have energy and not be so tired. Then some morning sickness hit me and Ezra watched me go through it and kept saying, "Ewww mom, you sick!" It was hilarious just seeing the look on his face while watching me. It made it much easier for me to get through it. haha! So we did our morning routine and I was struggling just focusing on what I needed to do, but got it all done except for making the kid's lunches. Here's to $3 hot lunches... yippee!! Hope's bus came and I walked her out and the bus driver says, "Oh dear, you look exhausted and burnt out, at least you can sleep in this weekend." No, I don't get to sleep in on the weekends with soccer and church. That's fine with me though, because I love being a mom and all that comes with it.

I went to my OB yesterday, who is amazing and has been my OB for 5 out of the 6 kids. I'm almost 37 weeks and I'm already dialated to a 1cm and 30% efaced. He said that was totally normal for how many kids I've had.  He said it's normal to be anywhere between a 1-3cm for 3 weeks. It'll just feel like the baby is going to fall out... haha! I'm happy to be progressing though. I would much rather do that then sit in the hospital for hours in labor. I want to show up to the hospital at an 8 and then have the baby within an hour. Wouldn't that be awesome! I'm hoping I won't have to get an epidural this time. I was so tired with Ezra because I had been having full on contractions for 3 days, so I got the epidural. And it was weird. So I guess we'll see what happens! Only 3 more weeks!

Isaiah has been playing a lot with Ezra and Elijah lately, which I love! I love that he's such a good big brother and willing to spend time with them and teach them things!! Most older siblings want nothing to do with their younger siblings, I'm glad that's not the case with him. Jason took the night off tonight to take the 2 older boys camping since we didn't get to go this last year at all due to Jason's work and our trip to my brother's wedding. Isaiah has been so excited and packing for the last 2 days! He loves nature and camping and survival things! I just hope they catch some fish!

Maci loves soccer and she works so hard at everything! She practices piano without me asking her, she does her homework without me asking her too. She'll go outside and practice soccer with Elijah so she can become better at it. She is on her 12 multiplications at school, and she's the highest in the class and has studied so hard to pass each one.  I just love how motivated she is!

Sadee went to the fish hatchery in Oroville yesterday for a field trip. She thought it was the coolest thing ever! She loved watching them cut open the fish and seeing all the eggs come out.  I was so bummed that I didn't go with her, I knew I wouldn't be able to walk around that much though.  She lost her first front tooth a few weeks ago and is about to lose her 2nd.  She's so proud of it too!  And she's doing very well in school!

Elijah's speech is coming along. I have to work with him more because he's so used to saying it a certain way. We need to retrain his mind to use his other muscles to say it correctly.  A kid the other day asked why he talks like that, and I asked the kid, why do you have brown hair? He got the clue that he was just born like that. He's definitely not special needs or anything, just taking a little longer to speak properly.  Just like his daddy! Jason was 4 years old before he talked! It's weird how he looks so much like Jason, he has the same speech problem as Jason did, and when I was prego with Elijah, I threw up the whole pregnancy 6-12 times a day and in labor and Lauren, Jason's mom, did too with Jason. Crazy!! I would love if Elijah turned out to be like Jason though.... because he is a wonderful man!!

Ezra is currently obsessed with Little Einsteins. He loves how we have on demand and can watch it whenever he wants.  I say no a lot and he throws huge temper tantrums.  So I just change his direction and find him something else to do. He loves the TV though.  I don't like that.... but it's been a blessing because I'm able to get a little rest at least while he's watching it.

I am so thankful to be able to have children. I think back to that dumb Dr. that told me that I wouldn't be able to and it just makes me want to scream to the world that Dr.'s aren't always right! To get to this point though, has taken a lot of prayer and faith.  While I was sick with the endo, I promised Heavenly Father I would have as many kids as He wanted me too, whether it was me having them or us adopting them, if He would just let us have 1 little McOmber.  I promised Him I would do my best at teaching them about how much He loves them and how to return and live with Him again someday.  I'm not always good at that and have to be kicked in the head sometimes when I just want to do my thing, but we do try hard to teach them and love them and just try to forget about ourselves and what we want. This pregnancy really has kicked my rear! I think one of the hardest things is the fact that my older kids have so many more activities now and they eat a lot more food. Before I could just lay around... but now I can't. Driving kids to and fro, helping them with homework, dr's appts, scouts, activity days, sports, piano, birthday parties, ect ect. I'm not complaining, but it is definitely harder when they're older.  And it seems as though they eat soooo much food now and I'm constantly running out of things, so I'm always at the grocery store.  Which is the hardest thing for me to do with the 2 younger boys. I do it anyway and thankful to have opportunity to do so.

 Twice a year, we have a mouse problem. It's usually in the spring and the fall. Always when the weather is changing. Last Spring we caught 8, trying to come into our house in one day. Ya, gross huh? They come in from the garage through this dumb open space where the cupboard and wall meet. Today I am buying some spray foam to seal it up and hopefully that'll keep them from getting into the house. Well, we knew it was that time of year and they would start coming, so we set traps up throughout the laundry room. Well, those smart little things kept getting the peanut butter and setting the traps off without getting caught. And Malcolm our dog, wouldn't eat his food or even go near it because he is scared of the mice. Then the other night we saw one in our family room! It was about midnight and I heard a trap go off and turned around and saw the mouse wiggle out and run back to the laundry room! ARGH!! I was so mad! So last night I was so done with them and with Malcolm crying about it and I set up glue traps.  This morning I got up and saw there was one, alive in the glue trap in our family room! Awful!! I felt so bad for it though and it made me want to cry. I went into the laundry room and saw that 1 of the traps was gone, so I ran upstairs and woke poor Jason up asking if he did something with it. He said there was another mouse in that one and he bumped it off and he'll take care of it when he gets up. I begged him to come downstairs and take care of the one in the family room, but he was just too tired. Poor guy! The mouse is still sitting there in the glue.... and it's crying now! I feel so bad, but I can't get near it. Those dumb things carry diseases and I'm pregnant and not taking any chances! So we'll just have to wait for Jason to get up and take care of it, because I definitely can not kill it, no matter how annoying they are! I'm hoping that there aren't anymore! Elijah is such a sweet boy and just came up to me and said in his broken English, "Mom, just be nice to the mouse and ask him nicely not to come into our house. Just talk nicely mom." :-) Such a sweet boy. It makes him sad too knowing that we will have to kill the mouse.

We haven't been able to find our camera, so Jason bought a cheapo one at walmart because we have to have a camera when the baby is born! I haven't had a chance to use it, but when I do, I'll post some pics. It's no fun reading without any pictures! BTW.... Jason has like 2-3 more weeks of nights! YAY!!!! Then he'll be home for me to have the baby and during that time he'll work at switching his sleeping schedule back to days and then go back to work 2 weeks after I have the baby. Ya, I get him for 2 weeks! YES!!!! It might be my only time to really be able to catch up on some much needed sleep and rest. So excited!

Gastroenteritis

-Did you know that the stomach bug is not and should not be called the flu? It is not associated with Influenza and should really be called the stomach bug or if you want to sound smart, call it gastroenteritis! 

- Did you know in 1980, gastroenteritis from all causes caused 4.6 million deaths in children, with the majority occurring in the developing world. Death rates were reduced significantly (to approximately 1.5 million deaths annually) by the year 2000, largely due to the introduction and widespread use of oral rehydration therapy. 

And this is exactly what we had....   I thought at first that maybe it was food poisoning, but no!! Ezra 1st, Jason 2nd, Isaiah 3rd, Brittney 4th, and Maci 5th.  Ezra & Maci threw up once and were done. Isaiah, Jason, and myself were hit waaay harder!! Jason and I were wiped out from it and had it around the same time. Jason laid on one couch, I laid on the other, and we just laid there and stared at each other when we were awake. I don't think we've spent that much time together since the kids were born.  I wasn't sure how we were going to make it since we were both out of commission. But we somehow figured it out. It was also an expensive week for us.... the kids eating hot lunch everyday, our trips to walgreens (gatorade at $2 a pop, many bottles of pedialyte, saltines, and the many bottles of Diet Gingerale), the nights of being so weak that we had to order pizza for the well ones, Jason missing work, the price of disinfectants products at Walgreens is crazy, disposable cups & plates & silverware, the loads of laundry, the cleaning products.... whew! 

In the beginning of this, I was pretty worried about the baby. I've been dehydrated before, but wasn't sure how I could even get to the hospital to get an IV if I needed one. I paid special attention to my body and the baby's movement.... making sure everything was ok. I did become pretty dehydrated and still am, but hopefully by tomorrow night I'll be all good. If not, I'll just go get the IV. But who has time for that when you have 5 kids to take care of? 

I hit one low point during the whole thing.... yesterday, Wednesday. I wasn't throwing up, but I was wiped out and could barely walk.  I didn't care about the house being a mess, but we were running out of clean dishes. And the kitchen was disgusting, so I wouldn't let the kids cook anything. We had no food in the house because I always go shopping on the 1st, but couldn't because that's when this had all started. The kids were hungry and searching for food to eat. Jason was trying to sleep so he could attempt to go back to work that night. It was 7pm, way past dinnertime and I really didn't want to spend $25 on pizza again for the well kids. So I was going to go to Walgreens to find something frozen to throw into the microwave. I looked disgusting and awful, I told the kids I would be right back, I went outside just barely walking to the car and I went to go get into the car and couldn't.  I grabbed the steering wheel and tried and tried to pull myself up, for about 5 mins. I just couldn't do it. Now if you know me, things like this just don't happen. I don't allow them to happen and WILL figure out a way to make things work. But I absolutely couldn't. I was standing there in my driveway, just bawling. Mad at having to spend so much money on stupid pizza, mad that I wasn't strong enough to get into my car, mad that I stunk like throw up but felt too weak to get in the shower, mad that I couldn't take care of my children or myself, & mad that I was having an absolute breakdown in my driveway, but couldn't help myself! I finally gained my composure and came back in and ordered pizza for the kids. It was not one of my greatest moments, but we all have them, right?!

This hasn't been the worst case of the stomach bug we've ever had. But I think just mentally and emotionally I wasn't prepared for it. I'm about to have this baby and my life is absolute chaos right now.  I am so thankful that it hit us when it did though. I'd rather have it happen now than after the baby is here. And I really needed to get hit upside the head by something like this to make me appreciate the small and simple thing in life. Ya, sounds weird huh? But lately, I've been so ornery and moody and whiny about little things. I mean, ya, it's normal to whine about being pregnant and sore all the time and having sciatic problems. But I was whining about having to clean the house all the time and doing laundry and all that fun stuff we do as women. But when I wasn't able to really do those things because I was sick, I wanted too. I wanted to clear off the counter, I wanted to do the dishes, I wanted to work on laundry. Weird huh? Now I really appreciate being able to do these things, and haven't whined about it in a whole 24 hours!

Anyway, I know this is a long post about nothing. But I realized that I'm not blogging things like this for anyone but myself and my family in the future. I really want to start blogging more. More about the highs & lows and realities of life. More about the things we go through and experience as a family. And the lessons that are learned from life. We'll see if this happens though. Finger's cross though that we are done with this stomach bug! We will find out tonight if that's the case! Then, we can finally prepare and get excited for General Conference this weekend! YAY!!!

Donde Esta mi Camera?

Ok, so I haven't blogged all summer. Maybe due to the fact that my blog always seems to be weird and do strange things and I don't have the patience to deal with it. We also lost our camera around the time that Maci got baptized. So I'm without a camera and hate it! But what can you do? I guess I'll just have to write about what's going on in our life right now instead of having pictures of it.

Kids
Between soccer, piano, scouts, activity days, Dr. & Dental appointments and just normal life... life is busy. The kids are all back in school and loving it! They love their teachers, love learning, and love their friends! Elijah is the only one that didn't go back to preschool. We did a co-op last year, but with the baby coming, there was no way I could commit to that. So his speech therapy class once a week is just going to have to do for now.

Pregnancy
I am due in 6 weeks! HALLELUJAH!! This pregnancy has been good, yet crazy! There are days that I have contractions 20 mins. apart and they don't go away for like 24 hours. Of course they don't hurt, just uncomfortable and when I have them, I have to try to lay down and rest a little. We don't want a preemie! My sciatic nerve is off and on too. Somedays it doesn't bother me, other days I can't move! And my blood pressure has been great.... but had a low blood pressure day last week and was bed ridden because of it. Despite all the weirdness of this pregnancy, I just still try to keep on going. I have to pick and choose what to do. So feeding and clothing the kids is my #1 priority. The house doesn't get touched until I'm feeling decent, and by that time, it's a disaster. Oh well! Just all part of the pregnancy game! One that is definitely hard, yet so rewarding in the end!

Jason
Jason just got released from his calling(job) at church. He was working with the youth, but is now teaching the 10/11 yr. olds in primary. He loved working with the youth, but never got too due to his work schedule. So it's nice that he has a calling he can actually fulfill now. His work schedule is 5-7 nights a week, 8-12 hour shifts. And he's working in Galt, which is a 60-90 min. commute one way. So since he's working all the time, the kids and I are on our own. So when I'm down.... I have to rely on Maci to help out with the younger kids. This time of year Jason is pretty much a zombie. Which is totally understandable. We'll go weeks without really seeing each other or talking to each other. And that's just part of the job this time of year. Once winter comes, he's around way more and works a lot from home. We're very thankful for that and his job!

Health
Since I've felt absolutely exhausted lately, my mind is mush. Last night around midnight, I heard Ezra coughing and it sounded like he was throwing up. I was sooooo tired that I couldn't even open my eyes and get up. I know, I'm a bad mom. But I figured if he wasn't crying, he was fine. Awhile later I heard the same thing, but once again could not get up for anything! Jason was wide awake downstairs and I couldn't even call for him. Ezra just fell back to sleep and so did I. Around 2:30am, Jason came upstairs loudly and announced that he could smell throw up. He checked on Ezra and sure enough, he had thrown up everywhere in the crib! He instantly took action and put him in the tub and cleaned him up. I slowly got up and waddled to the crib to clean it up. We got it all taken care of and went back to bed. An hour later, I woke up again to the sound of someone else throwing up. It was Jason this time! And then I heard Isaiah. Sooo.... it looks like we have some sort of bug in our household. Hopefully no one else will get it. I am glad that I had to cancel all of my appointments today. Because I'm just exhausted! I felt so bad though because Jason was upstairs dying and asked me to go to Walgreens and get him something. I was so out of it that I didn't even think about getting 7up, pedialyte, and saltines to help calm their stomachs. Usually I'm on top of that.... but not this time around. Oh well. It's all good and we're fine. Just tired!

Well, that's all I have for now. I guess I better go feed the healthy kids and check on the sick ones and then lay down and take a nap. Today is definitely one of those days that the TV is going to be babysitting the kids.

Those Lazy Days of Summer

Our Summer has been lazy, yet busy. I'm seriously taking advantage of the fact that there's no school by sleeping in until 8:30am. Ya, 8:30am! And the dishes rarely get done and the house is always a mess. But it's ok and I know it's just temporary. Right? At least I hope so. I have been trying to finish up the clothes room and laundry. It's taking me forever and that pile of laundry in the hall is calling me... but the voice sounds more like Jason's voice. I'll get her done eventually! I guess I don't feel a whole lot of motivation cause my friends that used to motivate me don't live here anymore. That's right... another friend of ours moved. :-( The Andersons! They moved here right after us and they are military, so their 4 years is up and they're off to their next adventure in Arkansas! Marinda was one of the lady's that we could carpool with one another and we always had each other's back if we couldn't get one of the kids somewhere or couldn't pick them up. It was sooo nice! We could just sit forever and talk too and she liked playing games! Also, she is one of the cleanest women I've ever met, but was very realistic about it being hard to keep up on it. She always motivated me to get things done around here. She is an awesome friend and one I will truly miss! Her husband and 4 boys were awesome too! We will miss them! Here they are...

BTW... I think this will make like 33 families that have left our ward since we've moved here. Crazy huh? Not much else is going on. Going to the park every Wednesday. We went up to Loafer Creek one Saturday just randomly. We were supposed to go to the beach with some friends, but they were too tired to go, so we went to Loafer Creek by ourselves. Ya, we seem to do a lot by ourselves! But anyway, Loafer Creek was actually nice. The water was way high. We found a good spot in the shade and not too far from the water. The kids had so much fun! Isaiah got his first bad sunburn... because he wouldn't get out of the water for me to reapply sunscreen. He definitely learned and will never do that again. It was just a nice day at the lake. One that we enjoyed. I'll have to figure out how to put the pics from my phone onto the computer. Junior Giants is starting now. I love YMCA sports! THey're perfect for beginner kids and young kids. It's very very non-competitive and low key. They teach you the fundamentals of the sport without major pressure. Sometimes I think if I would've actually learned how to play the sport first without feeling the pressure of my peers and lame parents.... I might've actually done a lot better. Now I'm expecting them to learn how to play and then if they like the sports, I'll put them in the leagues that last longer than 6-8 weeks. I have the 3 older kids doing it. It'll be fun and busy! Jason is doing ok. He's been building this patio cover for the last few months. Just a little here and there around his work schedule. He's not a builder or contractor by all means, so he's learning while he's building it and I'm really proud of him. I never knew it would be so difficult to build something like that. A lot really goes into building things. It's nothing like the legos we used to build with. haha! But, unfortunately he's at a cross roads with it and has to do the ceiling, but can't do it by himself. And his dad could come and help, but his schedule doesn't meet up with Jasons. So it doesn't look like it'll get done for awhile, which is fine. Jason's new work schedule is going to be 6-7 day weeks for 10-12 hours a shift. So we won't see him probably until we leave for our trip to Utah which is in another month. And then after that, we won't see him a whole lot until I have the baby in Nov. I'm not complaining... so thankful for his job. I just get tired and I do miss him. And the kids do too. So we'll see what happens... the contractor might cancel half of the days so maybe he won't be working 7 days a week. We'll see. Here's some pics of the patio cover though..

The Last Week of School

The last week of school was so busy! So many activities and assemblies and I was trying to get ready for my Utah trip as well. Ready as in getting the house in order for Jason. First, we had Elijah's preschool graduation. This year we did a little co-op with a few families. It was definitely fun, but crazy! Out of all the mom's, I was probably the worst teacher. The kids never ever seemed to like my lessons or even want to listen. Oh well. Elijah had fun though and loved it so much!! Here are some pictures from his little graduation! We were missing one of the boys though... Ayden! The graduation was at our friend's parents farm. The kids had so much fun being able to play with all of the tractors and they got to be pulled by the quad. Here are 4 of the 5 kids. Liam, Uhila, Elijah, & Lily didn't want to sit down for the graduation part. They wanted to go play! They boys got to ride the horse. We've been there several times and Elijah always loves to ride her! This was Ezra's first time though. And he loved it. When Elijah was younger, and we had a hard time communicating with him, as soon as he'd get on a horse, he was a whole different boy and could actually communicate better with us better. Animal therapy can do wonders. We also had the end of the year awards assembly at school. All 3 kids received awards! Sadee received the Math Award! Maci received the Writing Award! And Isaiah received 2 awards, Science and the Technology Awards! We were so proud of all of them! And on Thursday, Sadee had her Kindergarten Graduation! She is so funny! She had been planning and planning on what to wear for about 3 weeks. We were so proud of her! Here is Sadee & her amazing teacher Mrs. Cassidy. Here is the family at Sadee's graduation. I love how the kids get to get out of class to come watch her and support her.

The Eclipse

Last Sunday the kids got to experience a Solar Eclipse for the first time. It was pretty exciting! I told the kids not to get the telescope out because you can't look at the sun through it... but do you think they listened?

I wish so bad that I had an SLR sometimes. Ok, not sometimes but all the time. This is as good of a picture I could get of it... which you can't even tell there is an eclipse.

Since we didn't have glasses... thanks to facebook and our friend Jason Huhtala, we made a pinhole in a piece of paper, held it up to the sun, put another piece of paper in the first papers shadow a few feet back, and we were able to see the effect of the eclipse on the sun. It was pretty cool. It was a lot darker outside than normal, but this was the only way we could really see the moon over the sun.

Elijah got more excited to see a plane in the sky.

And who can watch an Eclipse without all the kids jumping on the trampoline? Not the McOmber's! And as you can see, Ezra could only take so much bouncing.

Mom, hurry! Come and get me!

Mom, I can't live without you!

Ahhhh.... mom, much better!

Mother's Day 2012

So Mother's Day was good this year. I was so stinkin' tired and had woken up that morning at 4am. The kids gave me their gifts and tried to make me breakfast and Jason actually got up at 7:20am! We went to church and the kids were all amazingly good. The talks at church were awesome and funny! I loved hearing the kids sing their songs for the moms during church. And in primary, the kids were all really good. It was a great morning. We then drove to Oroville and saw my Grandma Meyer.....

It is always fun seeing my Grandma! She's such an awesome lady! After seeing my Grandma Meyer, we headed off to Jason's parents house. Jason's brother Tim always makes us a Mother's Day dinner. It was so good and it was so nice of him to do that for Lauren, Carey, and Me. Jason did the bbqing too. After the McOmber's, we went to my parents. My Grandma was there eating dinner with my parents & Spencer. And Raquel showed up and one by one, each of her girls showed up and Raquel's grandchildren. I love seeing how my big sister is a Grandma now! And she's such a good one. We were able to take a few pictures... 5 Generations.... Great Great Grandma Meyer, Great Grandma Meyer, Grandma Raquel, Mama Bri, & Baby Annabelle!

Raquel, her girls, & her grand daughters. It's crazy to see all of my nieces grown up!

While at my mom's we were able to give her her present, which was old family video's that were transferred to dvd. We all gathered together, minus Derek & Cami, and watched the videos. We laughed so hard & cried a few times... Isaiah got motion sickness. It was a nice evening. I love old family videos! Jason loved seeing how nice and innocent I was too. Wow... am I different now. ;-) I am so thankful for all the women in my life. The women that helped raise me.... the women that help raise my children... and my sisters(that includes sister in laws), my grandma, my mother in law and my mother! I am so blessed to have such amazing women that are a part of my life. And I'm so thankful for the opportunity that I have to be a mother to 5, almost 6, rambunctious, spirited, funny, ornery, loving, kind, God loving children....

Yes, We Really Are!

I know making my announcement on April Fool's Day that I was pregnant seemed as though I really wasn't... but that's the catch... I am! We wanted to wait and tell family on April Fool's Day, because we knew none of them would believe us, but we told them a few weeks ago cause we couldn't keep it from them... we were just too excited.

So here's the story... there was a period in the very beginning that I was soo mean and moody. I wasn't sure what was going on with me. Then the week after that, I was just crying all the time. So I thought, I better take a pregnancy test, just to make sure. I didn't think it would actually be positive though. And when it instantly became positive... I ran upstairs to Jason and woke him up and showed him. I was sooo excited and I was bawling of course. We realized that we had no clue how far along I was, so we should wait to tell people. But that night at dinner, Jason made the announcement to the kids, because he was so excited! They promised not to tell anyone though. During that week, I kept having weird feelings about the whole pregnancy. I felt like I wasn't going to keep it. I felt more of a disconnect than I had with the other ones. So Jason and I decided we were going to wait until April Fool's Day to announce it to the family and then wait a few weeks after that to announce it to friends. But we couldn't hold it in. The week after we found out, we ended up letting the family know and a few friends that are involved in my daily life. I still wanted to make sure I was really pregnant, so I went to the Dr.'s 3 weeks after we found out. I thought by this time, I was about 8 or 9 weeks along. When the NP took the measurements of the baby, she informed me that I was only 6 weeks. WHAT? 6 weeks? So I found out when I was only 3 weeks. Which has never ever happened before. So we were still deciding if we should announce it to the world when I was 12 weeks, just to be safe, or if we should just do it on April Fool's Day. I decided at the last minute to just do it on April Fool's Day. Even if I do miscarry, we are so excited and happy for this pregnancy.. and miscarrying won't change that for me. Who knows why I've had these dumb feelings... maybe it's because I've had so many friends lately that have miscarried pretty far along. Who knows. But we are very happy and excited! And yes, we are CRAZY!!! Crazy about family! Family means more to me than anything. I want my kids to have a close knit support group when they're older or even now. I have 5 siblings and I love them all to death... but out of all 5 of them... usually there's only 1 of them at a time that's available to talk or able to show support. It is hard having a decent size family, but it's so fun and worth it. I would much rather have children than quads or fancy trips or a boat or anything else in this world. So yes, we'll see what pregnancy #6 is like. So far I have not thrown up or even felt nauseous. Which is the first time ever I've gone this long without feeling that way. I am very tired though, but aren't I always? I'm glad we have finally let the cat out of the bag now! Yay!

April Fool's Day

I love April Fool's! It's so fun! I usually try to be creative, but this year I was just tired. So I just got up this morning and toilet papered the kids' room and that was my big April Fool's thing for them. They thought it was the coolest thing ever though! But at least it was General Conference weekend. And I LOVE General Conference weekend! We usually go to Oroville on one of the days, but since we've been sick, we stayed home. This year though, we actually got to watch it on our TV instead of the computer. I loved it and am so thankful that our Heavenly Father loves us so much to send us a Prophet and leaders to remind us of what really brings happiness and joy in this life. It was a wonderful weekend!

BTW.... just wanted to let you all know our news! We're having another baby! That's right... #6! Due November 12th and we are soooooo happy and excited!! Woot woot!

Hope you all had a Happy and eventful April Fool's Day!

Our birthdays!

Jason's birthday is on March 11th and mine is on March 12th. Last weekend, my mom and dad made a delicious family dinner for us and had all the family over. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures there. But it was so fun hanging out with my family! I love them so much and miss hanging out with them! I hate how we all go our separate ways in life. I just wish we all lived in a cul de sac and got to hang out all the time! Anyway, it was nice celebrating with them.

Yesterday, the 11th.... poor Jason was suffering from some food poisoning from the day before. He was up all night and felt so sick Sunday morning. He wasn't able to go to church, so I took the kids. We came home and quickly cleaned the house because Jason's family was all coming over to celebrate. They showed up with a ton of food! It was so fun hanging out with them at our house. We appreciated all they did for us to make our day special. Jason was feeling better by the end of the day, but is having a tough day today with it. Poor guy!

Today is my birthday. And it just kinda feels like just another day. I'm exhausted though today! I took a nap and it made me even more tired. Jason is making dinner for us though... one of the greatest presents ever! I can't believe I'm 32 years old. Time definitely flies by so fast and it makes me realize how short life really is and how we need to just take advantage of every moment and make the best of it. I think tonight Jason and I will rent Jack and Jill and get a good laugh from that. I love Adam Sandler!

Here's some picture of the McOmber's kickin' it with us.

The grandkids putting on a concert for us!

Here we all are! Just missing Danny and Lee.


Jason blowing out the candles.


Every time the McOmber's come to our house, Jason is having Steve do something. He hates just sitting around so Jason likes to keep him busy with the many questions we have about our house. He's checking out this window to see what's behind it.

Other Happenings

Jason and I actually got to go on a date! It was our first date in over a year! We went with the book club out to dinner to celebrate 2 of our friends' birthdays. A bunch of us loaded up in our van and drove over to Roseville. It was so much fun! Ezra cried for 2 hours straight though for Shelby. Poor Shelby!


We took the kids bowling for the first time time ever! Even though it cost a fortune, it was well worth it. And something I think we'll try to do once a year!


There are always lots of project we want to do for the house. Jason and his dad Steve built shelves and racks for the kids to hang their clothes up in the clothes room. It has definitely been the best idea so far and actually keep the kids' clothes up off the ground. I'll have to do an after picture once I have it organized. I'm so thankful for a handy hubby and father in law!


We had a blast watching Maci and her bball team play at the Power Balance Pavillion.

Parry

This is Parry. Our mail lady gave him to us! Jason was so excited. But after a few days, we realized Parry was not going to work out for our family. He was very needy and wanted me to hold him all the time! He wasn't potty trained in our house, but was for the owner before us. I was so stressed that week and going crazy with Malcolm and Parry constantly chasing each other. And he never listened to me for anything! If all of our kids were older, it would've been fine. I would've had a chance to work with him and potty train him. But I'm way too busy to deal with it. So, one day, he ran outside with me to the bus. And the bus driver fell in love with him and I said, do you want him? She came by the next day and picked him up! She says that he's doing great and loving his new home and he's already potty trained for her. Parry just needed to find the right home. I'm glad he found it. We had him for a whole week, and that week was the craziest week of my life!