DIY Christmas Part 2

I've been frantically trying to get things finished for our DIY Christmas and, honestly, we've 1. given in on a few things and 2. have hardly finished anything we set out to do!
AH!
First off, Scott is in an awkward age for presents.  He's still a little boy... sometimes... and, sometimes, he's a big boy.  He wants trucks and Thomas the Train and stuffed animals but he also wants guns and robots and bikes.  Needless to say, it's hard to find him things I could make.  The things I had decided on, like the monster bean bag toss or a bucket of blocks made out of our scrap wood from the basement, were a little too young for him.
Luckily, he's been asking for a remote controlled car since last year.  Apparently, knowing this, I bought him a Lightning McQueen RC car last year for our (supposed) trip to Disney this last summer that didn't happen because I had two siblings get married instead.  Rude.  Just rude.  ;) 
I bought all the kids cups, a toy, and a shirt to have at Disney this year at some sales LAST year.  When Josh and I were cleaning up in the garage, I decided to open the box and see what was in it.  Voila!  An RC car.  That saved the day and allowed us some extra Christmas money to spend on Scott instead of make him things.
The girls are different.  There are SO many things I want to make them that I've had to narrow my list.  Kati is ALMOST to that same awkward stage Scott is, but not quite!
So, this year I decided on a few differences for the girls than what I originally posted a few months ago.  Instead of the "Box-o-Princesses" (because they're a little too young and, honestly... what would you do with them?), I made the girls some little aprons out of the leftover fabric from making their curtain for their kitchen.  1. it matches their kitchen 2. they can use them to help me if they want upstairs! 
(Side note:  I love how mom's always say "help me" in the kitchen when, in all reality, it's really "come make a bigger mess for me to clean up but I'll allow it because you're cute and I want to make memories with you!")
Side note finished.  :)
I also decided to make the girls some earring/jewelry holders.  Kati received a jewelry box from Scott a few years back and it just broke.  When I went to this Women's bazaar (basically) called What Women Want in Salt Lake a couple of months ago, there was a booth selling really cute and really easy jewelry holders; the kind with wire mesh in a frame like thing.  The coolest part was that they were selling kits to make them for WAY cheaper than they were selling the actual put together pieces. I bought enough for 4.  SO excited to get some new earrings on them and see what they think!
I'm still making the bullseye for Scott out of PVC, but I need to find something to make the target out of.  I'm thinking felt.  If it's still on sale at JoAnn's.
Anyways. 
I'd post pictures but, sadly, like I said, pretty much nothing is done and, the only thing that is, is wrapped already.
Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive.
I'm busy.
I love you!
And
Merry Christmas!!  
That's right. 
I said it.
Good night!

It's Been Too Long!

I can't believe it's been so long!  Piper is almost 3 months old, Kati just turned 4, Audrie just turned 2 and I'm getting ready for the biggest Twilight Party ever! 
Other than that, nothing's happening.
Ok, that's a lie!
Scott is doing fantasically in school!  We had parent teacher conferences last week (during Kati's birthday... oops) and Scott's teacher, Mrs. Parker, told me he is the sweetest kid in her class.  First off, I'm an ex-teacher...ish.  I know what that means.  1.  He is the sweetest kid BUT... 2. He also has issues.  lol  She told me he has meltdowns every now and then.  I knew that.  Grateful she's honest! 
In other, and similar, news, Josh and I got to go to an early screening of "Breaking Dawn Part 2" on Tuesday evening and I got a babysitter.  Her name is Sydney.  You can't have her.
She's mine.
Anyways, after the movie (WHICH WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and I was dropping Syd off back home, she asked me if Scott had an anxiety disorder; that she herself has one and recognized some symptoms in him while he was having one of his meltdown fits that night. 
Ever since then, everything he does makes sense!
His freak out fit the first day of school, his random melt downs when he gets in trouble, his panic attacks (basically...) when something breaks or when he falls over or when someone is watching him do something naughty... Anxiety. 
I've decided I'm going to ask the kid's pediatrician about it next week at the girl's check ups.
We'll see what she thinks.
I think it's correct.
And I'm right.  So there.
:)
Anyways, among all the other craziness, we're trying to start to finish the other half of our basement.  We had some extra drywall that we paid for from our last job and, after Josh installed electrical, he and our new next door neighbor, also named Josh, put up drywall along the one wall we were able to get insulation in already.  I'm glad 1. because now I have another wall to put stuff on for my party tomorrow and 2. because now the cats/dog/kids won't rip out the insulation anymore and I won't find myself cleaning up random bits of itchy pink fuzz from all over the house anymore!
I also deep cleaned my craft room.  I found the best layout for everything (finally!), and it feels so much better.  Isn't it interesting how moving one piece of furniture can change the entire feel of a room?  How having something in the wrong place (even if that place is where it goes) alters the whole room?  I LOVE the new arrangement and, honestly, I didn't change much.  I'll post pictures... maybe.  Because, honestly, I don't even know if I have any befores and I'm not moving it back just to take pictures!  lol That bookcase was heavy! 
Ok.
I lied. 
It's not heavy.
It's from WalMart.
But it was AWKWARD!
Ok, ok.  I'm done ranting and raving.
Now I need to get back to doing things to get ready for my fabulous friends to be here soon and I need to arrange my "spare" (aka unfinished basement room) room so Bradley (AH!) can sleep there this next week since he's coming for Thanksgiving!!
Oh yeah.  He got his mission call!!
Longbeach, California!!  He leaves January 16th!!
That is all!
Adios!

DIY Christmas

I've decided to have a (mainly) DIY Christmas this year at our house.  My entire family will be here for the holidays so I think making most of our gifts, especially from stuff we already have lying around or just buying inexpensive items to finish up projects, would be ideal budget wise.  Plus, now that I'm on Pinterest... I have 8 zabajillion ideas!!
I recently posted most of my ideas on my Facebook wall so I apologize for those of you who are reading or seeing these again... but a friend of mine (thanks, Erin!) asked if I had posted them on my blog and I decided that was a great idea too!!  For posterity's sake, right?
So, here we go.
Every year for the last few years I've made a list of things we want to do for Christmas around September so I can start looking for and finding or making these things and not 1. run out of time or 2. spend more than I really want.  Sadly, last year was the first year that I've actually stuck to this list and we kept our Christmas budget only slightly over what we wanted to spend.
This year, I'm determined to make it smaller than we are looking to spend. 
Here's my list (for the kids) so far.

Child:               From:                                 Gift:              
Scott             Mom & Dad            Monster bean bag toss  (DIY)
                       Kaitlyn                       "Scott" appliqued pillow (DIY)
                        Audrie                       no clue
                         Piper                        bean bags for game  (DIY)
                         Santa                      remote control car (he's been asking for one since last Christmas!)

Kaitlyn        Mom & Dad             Stuff for the kitchen we're making for the girl's birthdays
                        Scott                       hobby horse (DIY)
                       Audrie                       "Kaitlyn" appliqued pillow (DIY)
                        Piper                         Box of Princesses? (DIY) (might be stocking stuffer)
                        Santa                        doll crib with personalized bedding (DIY)

Audrie        Mom & Dad               baby doll and items for baby doll
                       Scott                         personalized picture block puzzle (DIY)
                      Kaitlyn                     Box of Princesses? (DIY) (might be stocking stuffer)
                       Piper                         "Audrie" appliqued pillow (DIY)
                      Santa                         doll crib with personalized bedding (DIY)

Piper          Mom & Dad                "Piper" appliqued pillow

And I have no clue what the kids will get Piper.  It's hard to shop for a baby... especially since everything we possibly need for a baby, specifically a girl, we already have... bah humbug!

Anyways, and then Josh and I are planning on making a really neat work bench for him for Christmas this year!

And then this is the kitchen we're making for the girl's for their birthdays this year.  Looks hard, but is really SO easy!  I'm so excited to get all this stuff going!!!

Kindergarten

As if my life hasn't been stressful enough and emotional enough and crazy enough... Scott started Kindergarten last week!!
I'm pretty sure he couldn't have cared less that school was coming.  I don't know why that is, but he really didn't seem to.  He probably just didn't understand what it would be all about.  For a few weeks, I've been talking to Scott about what he would need to do at school; what would be expected of him; where he was going... etc...  But I don't think it really kicked in until the first day.
He was FINALLY so excited to go to school the night before!  He picked out his clothes, found his tennis shoes (that have been on hiatus for a while) and got out his new Mario Bros. backpack.
In the morning, he was up and dressed by about 7:00am and ate his breakfast like a pro.  Josh stayed back from work a little late so he could watch the girls while I took Scottie to school.
We took some pictures in front of the house before I took him.  The girls wanted in on the action too!  Then some family pictures after Josh gave Scott a Father's Blessing.
Yes.
I cried.
If you read my last post, you know I've been very VERY emotional recently... so I was trying to hold it together for Scott on the way to school.  If I cry... he'll cry.
I parked outside the school and walked with him up to it.
"Mommy," he asked, "can I walk by myself?"  He let go of my hand (heart squeeze!) and walked all by himself into his classroom.
Which was empty!
No one told me that the kids all line up outside with the teacher before school starts.
That would've been nice to know.
So then he started to panic.
When we finally figured out what was going on, found his teacher, and he realized I'd be leaving... he broke down!
Started crying and hiding behind me.  Which made me cry.
Dang hormones.
Anyways... after about 20 minutes in the hall with him with both of us crying and my not knowing what to do (it's a different story with an 18 month old I'm supposed to leave in the Church nursery... I can turn around and close the door and leave... but, with a HUGE five year old, he can follow me quite easily and, with a huge school and a kid who doesn't know where anything is and tons of new people and students... I wasn't willing to hope he would stay where he was), the new Principal, Mr. Pullan (whom I LOVE!), came and convinced Scott to go with him to his office, pick out a toy airplane to play with, and told me that he would take him to class once he calmed down.
Disaster averted.
I cried the whole way home!
It's hard enough to leave the child you've spent every day with since birth with a stranger who will become someone whom he trusts and loves...
But when that child is TERRIFIED...
Anyways, needless to say, I didn't have a good day.
When I picked him up almost three hours later (they have half day Kinder here in Utah), I asked Mrs. Parker, his teacher, how he did.  She said he did very well; spent a little time in the office with Mr. Pullan, calmed down, and then came to class.  She said the only problem he had was coming in when the bell rang after recess.
So Scott.
I was so nervous to send him back the next day.
I bribed Josh to take him.
I bribed Scott with a treat from the gas station (there's one right by our house) if he was good.
Success!
Josh walked him up to his line, he stepped right in, said "hi" to Mrs. Parker, Josh walked off, no one followed, no one cried.
When I picked Scott up Friday 2 hours later (half days every Friday), he wouldn't stop talking about school!  About his new friends!  All the things they had done.  He made a train.  Got to use scissors.  Wrote a book.
Day 2 should've been his first day!
Saturday afternoon, when he was getting ready for rest time, Scott turned to me suddenly with panic on his face!
"MOM!!  You forgot to take me to school!!!"
I think we've beat the panic!  So excited to see how he does this year!! 


First day pictures.

 The sun was in his eyes.

 Walking in to the school... moments before turning around for panic attack number 2 when he thought I wasn't following him. 

Piper Nancy

Well, here I am... finally... posting about our new addition.  Yes, it's been a while since she's been born.  Yes, I realize I should include some pictures.  No, I'm not going to.  Not right now, at least.  My camera is all the way upstairs, for heaven's sake!
So, let me tell you a little story.
It's Piper's story.
It's the scariest story I've ever been a part of. 
Let's backtrack a little ways and start at the beginning...
Monday August 20th, I picked my mom up at the airport.  She flew into Salt Lake City at 1:40 pm to be there for my induction scheduled for the next morning.  First, we drove to my friend Katie's house to pick up her bassinet she said we could borrow.  I lost two of the poles that go to ours!  Sadly, it's weird having Piper in a different bassinet.  All my kids have used the same one!  I know, I'm sentimental.  Anyways, then I took mom with me to WinCo for a last hoorah shopping trip.  No lie, my Suburban was packed with canned food!  We got back to my house, finished cleaning up (not much to do there... those who follow me on facebook know how busy I was with nesting!), set up the bassinet and settled in for our last night as a family of 5.
Or so I thought.
My instructions were to call the hospital between 6:30am and 7:00am to find out whether there was room for me.  I woke up around 6:15 and had to walk around/find something to do for 15 minutes.
About 6:25 (hey, I'm impatient), I called.  The nurse told me to call back around 7:30 for the day shift nurse, but to be ready to come in at that time.
I called my sister and brother-in-law, who so willingly took the day off to watch my children, to come over.  They were sleeping.
Around 7:30 I called the hospital back and spoke to the head nurse who told me that a lot of women had come in in labor the night before and that they were pretty packed.  I needed to call back around 10:30 to see if any of them had had their babies to make room for me.
Now, those of you who've known me for a while, know that I have very, VERY fast labors.  All of my children have been induced.  Scott was a week late, the girls were all a week early (or so).  I dilate and efface very early so labor is almost effortless.  Scott was born in 6 hours from when my water broke to when he came, Kaitlyn was born in 4 hours, Audrie in 2 and a half.  So, I was expecting a very fast labor with Piper.
I was very emotional.  Couldn't stop crying for the life of me... my poor children.  This was the hardest pregnancy I've had and I was so ready to be done and be holding my sweet little girl.  I KNEW that, if the hospital would let me, I would be in and out in a matter of a few hours and probably BEAT a few of those women who came in during the night.
Because of these facts, I was very upset.  I couldn't understand how things could change from "come in in an hour" to "call back later" in such a short amount of time.
I called the nurse back, her name was Jeanna, to ask her what had happened and try to understand.  She was actually kind of rude and it hurt my feelings even more.  She explained that there were no nurses available to get me hooked up and ready for my induction because they were all assisting other patients who had come in on their own.  Call back at 10:30.
I did.
No room.
I felt like Mary!  That POOR WOMAN!!
Call back at 1:30 but, if there's still no room, you can't come in because your Doctor doesn't want you in any later than 2:30.  ie. He doesn't want to have to be to work later than 5:00.
Stink.
Since I'd been so good about getting ready, I had nothing to do.  All.  Day.
We took the kids to the park with my mom and Aubrey and Brandon.  Aubrey and Brandon went to the gas station and bought us all ICEE's and candy.  Bless them.  I spoke to a woman at the park who had had the same thing happen with her... only she was overdue!  I couldn't imagine.
I started to feel worse for myself because, well, that's what I do sometimes.  
And then, because I couldn't handle it, Josh called back at 1:30 and got the whole story.
There were six women scheduled for inductions that morning.  I was number 5... not sure how that happened because, frankly, I told my doctor when I wanted my induction SIX WEEKS out.  But, he either called too late (probably the case) or some other doctor's jumped the gun.
Whatever.
I was number five and, at 1:30, they were waiting to call number 4 and tell her she could come in.
They rescheduled me for the morning.  They moved number 6 to Thursday (this was Tuesday morning) and had me as the only induction of the day.
I just wish they would've told me that from the beginning.  I could've mourned, and gotten over it faster; maybe found something to do besides sit around and wait and feel sorry for myself.
Long story longer, we settled in again to wait for the morning.
I called at 7:00 and was told to come in a 7:30.
Called Aubrey and Brandon.  Woke them up... again.
Got a call back from the hospital saying two women had come in in the last thirty minutes in labor.
Wait for a call from them.
More crying...
Then the call came.
I needed to be there at 9.
Sweet hallelujia!!
After the initial check-in (I had pre-registered so it took about five minutes) and being shown to my room, I was all ready and hooked up the oxytocin waiting to meet my baby girl.
But the heart monitor kept losing her.  At first we thought she kept moving out of the way.
My nurse, Jeanna (who was amazing and felt horrible for having to move me), told me she was going to call my Doctor to come break my water so they could put a monitor on the baby's head to track her heart beat better.
Doctor Dinger arrived about ten minutes later, broke my water, and never left.
They knew immediately there was something wrong.
Piper's heart rate was psychotically sporadic.  The head monitor beeps with every heart beat and it would go from about 150 bpm and beeping like mad, to almost nothing.. beeping every few seconds... then back up to 150.
The initial thought was that the cord was wrapped around Piper's neck.  Doctor Dinger checked (OUCH!) but couldn't find anything but her hand.
Jeanna called for my epidural.  She believed me when I told her that I labor very fast and push twice.  She was expecting/hoping that I would be ready and have the baby quickly... but I had only progressed from a 4 to a 5.
As the anesthesiologist was putting in my epidural, I heard the scariest thing I've ever heard from my Doctor, "You need to be done now.  Finish this.  We're doing an emergency C-section."
I started to hyperventilate.
They gave me oxygen, which DIDN'T help because I'm also claustrophobic, and asked me to calm down.
Calm down!?
Let me get a few things straight.
1. I don't go to the doctor.  I don't get physicals. I don't do anything except go to my OBGYN for yearly appointments and when I'm pregnant.
2. I don't do well with sudden change.  Having the thought of a fast, painless, easy delivery torn from me was severely traumatic.
3. What have I done?! was my only real thought that I couldn't shake.  Because of my selfish unwillingness to allow nature to take it's course and Piper to come when she was ready, I was now going to be rushed to surgery and my baby could have permanent brain damage or worse.
4. I was scared out of my mind!  Surgery?!  No!  This wasn't what I wanted or expected.  What about my baby?!  What about my body?!
5. I was angry.  I wanted them to give me ten minutes.  Just TEN minutes and everything would be fine.  I'd be dilated, two pushes, and BAM baby.
In a moment of pure panic, however, I suddenly was overcome with a strong feeling of peace.  I knew, without a doubt, that everything would be ok.  Piper was going to be fine.  I was going to be fine.  I would get through this and all would be well.
I started to relax... a little... enough to try to focus on the fact that the oxygen mask wasn't going to kill me and try to take in everything that had and was going to happen.
Mind you, this all happened in the length it took for me to get my epidural.  The anesthesiologist simply turned my epidural into a spinal tap and gave me the drugs necessary for surgery.
Once those kicked in, my "calm" was a thing of the past.
They ran me down the hallway and into the OR, stopped my mom from following, yelled at Josh for not wearing his mask, threw me on a table, asked if I could feel anything, sliced, diced, and then I heard, "Heather, can you hear that?!  She's crying!"
There was nothing wrong that they could tell.  In the midst of trying to breathe and trying to see my baby (hey, I'd been crying for a long time and my eyes were all puffed up!), I heard Jeanna ask Dr. Dinger if there was any cord in the way or wrapped on anything.  He said no.
Which made me feel worse, of course.
I had to put myself into an almost trance to try to get through the panic that was eeking at the front of my mind.  It felt like something was sitting in my chest, not allowing me to breathe.  The anesthesiologist told me that it was completely normal to feel that way; that I could breathe, obviously, because I was talking, and that I'd lose feeling in my arms WAY before I'd completely lose it in my chest.  So then I started panicking because I could swear I couldn't feel my arms... until I'd move them.
I closed my eyes and focused on taking breaths.  In.  Out.  In.  Out.
Jeanna came up and started to rub my cheek, telling me I'd done well and that Piper was perfectly healthy and fine.  When I didn't respond (she couldn't hear me), she thought I'd fallen asleep.  Josh explained that I was just closing me eyes.  Jeanna told me that she was born at 12:26.  We'd gotten into the room at 12:20.
After what seemed like forever (around 1pm), they lifted me back to a hospital bed, and wheeled me down the hall.  They forgot to lift my bed, however, so I couldn't see anything that was happening.  They had wrapped up Piper and put her in the crook of my arm, but I couldn't really feel her there.
I felt out of body.  Like this was all happening to someone else and I was just having to be tortured by enduring the panic of it all.
Once I got back to my room, however, and started to be able to feel my arms and breathe easier, things were a little better.
Jeanna came in to make sure everything was ok.  She took Piper (who looked JUST like Audrie at birth, chubby cheeks and all), checked her vitals, wrapped her up and handed her to Josh.  I couldn't feel her anyways.
But I couldn't stop crying.  I felt so guilty.  I felt so lost.  And I felt completely disconnected from my daughter; like I hadn't given birth and like she wasn't really mine.  After I could feel my arms and was able to hold her and feed her comfortably, I felt much better.  But it took a while.
I was still so emotional!
Then Jeanna did me the greatest service anyone could've done for me that day.
When I told her how guilty I felt at forcing my child into the world instead of waiting; that none of this would've happened if I would've just been patient, she told me this:
She said, "Ya know what, I see God in everything I do.  More so in this job than any other.  If you would've broken your water at home, your baby might not have made it.  We were completely expecting to have to resuscitate her.  It's a miracle there was nothing wrong.  This was the best place for you to be today."
Now it's been a week and a half since Piper's dramatic/traumatic entrance into this world.  I was in the hospital for three extra days.  My recovery is going well.  Piper is a wonderful baby!  All the nurses in the hospital raved about how good she was, asking me whether I was going to put her in the nursery at night so they could take care of her.  My mom and my main nurse, Ying, were shocked at how quickly I was up and walking after my surgery.  So things are going very well.
Emotionally, as I've discovered while writing this, things are going slow.  Jeanna told me that I'd have to mourn the loss of my dream delivery just like the loss of anything else close to my heart.  I realize how true that is.  Josh doesn't understand, like he shouldn't.  How could he?  I don't expect him to.
My mom, dad, and brother left yesterday and Josh goes back to work on Tuesday.
Not sure how I'm going to cope seeing as how I can't lift Audrie, my little (chubby) momma's girl, into her crib or high chair.
Scott starts school on Thursday of this week.  I'm already an emotional wreck so I have NO clue what's going to happen when I drop him off and he cries (which I completely expect him to do).  We are working with the school psychologist and his teacher to look into an ADD diagnosis for Scott, so that's emotional too.
Blah!  I'm an emotional blob!
But I am grateful too.
Grateful for a wonderful doctor who saw signs of distress in my baby and didn't just let me labor.  I found out later from my mom that he tried.  He sat at the end of my bed the entire time I was getting my epidural and tried to see if I'd be able to deliver her instead of rush to the OR.  Because of that, even though he has the social graces of a toad, I will keep going back to Doctor Dinger until I leave the state!
I'm grateful for my mom being there with me.  I was a C-section for her and it was wonderful to be able to go through this with her.
I'm grateful for amazing nurses who were with me every step of the way and who helped me feel like a human again.  It's amazing what a good shower can do, huh?
I'm grateful for my sister and brother-in-law for watching my kids and for my dad and brother who drove all night to make sure I was ok!
I'm especially grateful for my husband.  For his support and calm during my storm!  He may not understand completely  the way I feel in the aftermath of the chaos, but he has been right there, holding my hand, and my baby, when I need him.
But mostly, I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father.  His peace and His presence with me in the Operating Room was the difference between insanity and understanding on my part.  He calmed Josh enough to get me through.  Josh told me that, the second the doctor said, "Emergency C-section," he felt peace.  The Lord knew I needed Josh calm.  He knew I needed to feel peace in a moment when it felt like my world was crashing down and I was headed down a terrifying and frightening road.
I'm grateful, also, for all of you.  For my friends who were there with words of encouragement, support, and congratulations.
And I lied.
I do have some pictures.
After this long, emotionally draining story, you at least deserve some pictures.  Sorry for my facebook peeps, you've already seen all of these.  Until I find my camera and upload the ones from there, this is all you get!


Day three in the hospital: Piper and I watched "Pride and Prejudice."  Startin' her off early!  My favorite night nurse, Karen, wanted to come watch it with us!

Pretty sure this is also day three when I finally felt good enough to get up and find the baby clothes I'd brought for her!  This is my UBER favorite baby blanket.  Got it from some great friends when I was pregnant with Kaitlyn in Rexburg.  It's the best blanket for wrapping babies up nice and tight!

These pictures were taken the day we came home.  Yes, this is the only picture I have of any of the kids with Piper... Audrie LOVES her little sister and wants to hold her all. day. long!

More to come soon!!  Now where's the stinkin' camera...?

A Week Without Josh

Well, this week has definitely been an eye opener for me.  Josh left Sunday morning for a work conference/training in Portland, Oregon.  I've been away from him before for longer than a week, actually... and, yes, I had all the kids with me then too. 
But, I've never been home when I've been away from him for so long with three kids.  And 8 months + pregnant.  In the summer. 
I discovered a few things about myself.
1. If I get up when the kids wake me up first instead of lying there and pretending to actually try to fall asleep again thinking it'll matter when, in all reality, it doesn't, I get a lot more done than if I took that hour of painfully obnoxious, constantly interrupted sleep.
2. When my days are full of things I love to do, they go by a lot faster than if they were full of me doing other things.  Like laundry.
3. My kids are fed and ready for bed earlier (because we aren't waiting for Daddy to get home so we can eat) which means they go right to sleep instead of sitting around talking and laughing and playing for an extra hour.  Which means they aren't as grumpy the next day.
4.  I have fewer dishes.  I wasn't expecting this.  I've decided, though, that this phenomenon occurred because I like to cook for Josh.  The kids don't care.  I could give them peanut butter and jelly and carrot sticks every other day and grilled cheese sandwiches on the other days and they'd be perfectly fine. 
5.  All those random little leftovers that stay in the fridge and are usually thrown away aren't, in fact, thrown away but used!  For reasons, see #4.  They just don't care if we eat leftover waffles, french fries, and chicken casserole in one sitting.
6.  I feel oddly more accomplished.  Maybe it's because this week has been spent getting my craft room together, a dream I've had since I began to craft.  Or, maybe it's because my children are still walking, breathing, and alive after a week of me.  Alone.  With no Josh to buffer me.  Or tell me I'm yelling.  Or kiss me when I need a kiss.
Anyway, he gets home tonight after the kids go to bed.  My sister and her hubs will make their way over here to sit with the kids (and probably make out... ew) until I get home from picking up my hubs.
Oh well.
We'll probably stop to make out too!! 
hee hee hee

Just makes me wonder how I'll be with this newfound knowledge about myself.  Will I actually get up when the kids wake me?  Not care what we eat as long as we're eating?  Eat earlier even if Josh isn't home?
Probably not. 
But it's nice to know I don't suck.  :)

Warning, SAPPY

When I told Josh to read our last blog post on Audrie he said, "So, am I next?"  With which I replied with, "Of course."
So, here we are.
I'm still not sure if it's a good idea or a bad idea for me to be doing this while Josh is out of town and I'm 8 months pregnant and therefore moody, emotional, and needy... but we'll see.
Josh is amazing.  (Crap, you think, it's already getting bad.)  To recap the last two or so years, he graduated from BYU-Idaho in April of 2010.  The day before graduation, we found out he had a job offer with Overstock.com which would send us to Salt Lake City, Utah.  Let me make very clear one main point here: I have NEVER wanted to live in Utah, let alone Salt Lake.  Not sure if it's because EVERYONE who was not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints would ask, once they found out I was, "Oh, so you'll be moving to Salt Lake when you grow up?"  I would promptly say, "Heck no!"
I'm a liar.
Sad.

Anyways, so I wasn't too fond of the idea but, seeing as how we had no other job offers and we had to be out of our apartment by noon the following day (an hour after graduation), I decided to let it go and move to Utah.
I LOVE IT.
Just putting that out there.
So, Josh graduated with his Bachelor's in Computer Information Technology with a minor in Computer Science.  He started working at Overstock for a team that worked with the Windows (yes, as in the computer "windows" not the "let's clean your glass" windows) side of things.  We found a super cheap 3 bedroom apartment and things were going well.  We welcomed Audrie in November and couldn't have been happier.
Except that we were in an apartment.
Josh switched teams around a year after starting at Overstock.  He now works with the Linux side of things.  If you don't know what Linux is... don't ask.  It's a computer language, basically, and it can get confusing.  Josh goes on-call with Overstock, like he did with his last team, about once every three or four weeks.  Most of the time, I LOVE him being on-call.  1. He gets to stay home.  Granted, he's sleeping most of the time OR he's fixing a computer issue, but it's nice to have him there to go shopping with me or to let me take a shower without any interruptions.  It's also nice to get some of the honey-do list done!  2. I love it when he's on-call because he gets a nice little bonus in his next paycheck.  Money is always nice.
Josh started working on his Master's through Western Governor's University, an online Master's School, about a year or so ago.  It's been really hard!  On top of being on-call every month, Josh also works full time and, doing school full time, while rewarding EVENTUALLY, is hard.  We didn't realize the impact living in Rexburg had on school mentality until we are doing school NOT in Rexburg.  It's a lot harder to stay motivated when you are the only one near you doing school instead of EVERYONE near you doing school.
Luckily, we only have a little less than two years left until Josh is done with school.  He has two semesters a year, one every six months, and he gets to go his own pace, which is good and bad.  Oh well.  Slowly but surely.
Josh's thirtieth (he'll tell you it's his twenty first) birthday is coming up this Saturday.  I don't know what it is, but 30 sounds so sexy!  lol  I've told him that forever!  When he was freaking out about turning 25, I told him to stop freaking out.  Men get sexier with age.  Unlike women... or at least me... who just get pudgier and rounder and wrinklier and do not age well.  OH well.  That's what the resurrection is for, right?
I can't wait to celebrate Josh's big day with him!  He gets back from this week long work training in Portland, OR on Friday night around 10pm so I'm taking him to lunch the next day and then we're going shopping for his birthday.  Josh is the kind of guy who prefers to pick out his present himself.  I'm not.  Wrap me up a big surprise and let me open it!  We always let the kids pick out some little silly presents, but Josh wants his big present to NOT be a surprise.  Probably because I'm a lot cheaper than him so if he asked for something like "a new computer" I'd get him the cheapest one out there that would still do it's job and last, whereas he would pick out the nicest, top of the time, amazing computer out there!
He's decided he wants a treadmill this year.
I chose this one: (click the pic)

Gold's Gym Trainer 410 Treadmill

He "really liked" this one:

ProForm Power 995 Treadmill

We negotiated on this one:

Gold's Gym CrossWalk 570 Treadmill

See what I mean?
I love this man.  Growing up, the Wickern boys (seeing as how there are 6) were the hot commodity!  I had no self esteem.  And, while I had a HUGE crush on Josh in my youth years, it never crossed my mind that such a hot, amazing, good, man would choose me!  But, boy, am I glad I drugged him all those years ago and made him comply with my wishes on threat of death.
He is an amazing father, husband, and friend.  I couldn't ask for anything more.

Except maybe a cheaper taste!  lol

Audrie

Continuing on the path... The Audgster.  I call her Odge Podge.  Hey, she's the chubby one.  Odge Podge sounds like a chunky thighed kid's name.  Sue me! 
Let's see... where to start...
Audrie is... Audrie.  There is no describing, no categorizing, no maintaining, or anything with Audrie.  She is definitely her own person.
When I was pregnant with Kaitlyn, I was told by multiple people "If your second baby is easy, your third will be hard.  If your second baby is hard, your third will be easy."
Let me put it this way.
Kaitlyn was an angel.
Nuff said.
Audrie has been my hardest child.  "What?!"  You think.  "And you're having another?!" 
Yes.
I am. 
The end of that little saying up there about your second and third babies is "After three, you could have a million more and never know the difference."
So, I'm having a million more.  I guess I won't even be able to tell.
Anyways, back to Audrie.

Besides having the sucking reflex of a Hoover and nearly killing me while nursing, she was a pretty normal infant.  I was nervous waiting for the horrible third baby issues to arrive.
She slept great, took a binky right away, took a bottle when I couldn't handle nursing anymore, smiled occasionally, and even slept through the night around 4 months.
But Audrie is an emotional roller coaster.
We thought Kaitlyn was bad.
Whew.
Audrie is a whiner.  She screams for hardly any reason at all and throws fits for those same reasons.  When she finally started talking about 17 months she calmed down a little bit because she could finally express some of her desires.
Except now she just screams in words!  Instead of "AAAH!!!" it's "MOOOOOMMMMYY!!"  or "MINE!!"
Don't get me wrong, I love her to death.  She's my momma's girl and I adore it.  On occasion.  Ok, mostly.  The occasion part is when she's trying to climb in my slowly disappearing lap while I'm on the computer trying to type a blog entry.
Like right now.
("Go away, Odge." "MOOOOOMMMMYY!!")
Yeah.  Like that.
Audrie has always been a cuddle bug.  I forgot what it was like.  Scott is still that way, has been since he was tiny.  But Kati?  Oh, Kati has always been Miss Independence.  Never needing anyone. 
So it's nice to have a child that seems to enjoy my company.
Until Daddy's around.

When Josh gets home from work, one of my favorite things to hear is Audrie rush away from me (usually standing under me while I try to cook whatever concoction we're eating for dinner and pushing my legs away from the cupboard/stove/oven/sink) and run to the door yelling, "DAADDY!"
Audrie loves her Daddy.  Even though she's a Momma's girl, that's only during the day.  When Daddy is home, he is where she is. 
Audrie is also our little clown.  If Scott and Kaitlyn seem to be laughing for no reason, Audrie will be the cause.  There are so many times that I've heard them playing instead of eating lunch or cleaning or doing whatever it was that I asked them to do and I'll turn and see Audrie making faces or blowing bubbles or making fart sounds with her lips or doing something to get her brother and sister to laugh!  She's a goober.
(This picture below is proof of her loving to copy people!  Taken moments after I asked Kati to give me a monkey face.  Kati's monkey face is in the blog post just before this one!)

She also loves to copy people.  She's really good a mimicking words.  This morning, in fact, I was trying to get the baby to wiggle for Kati to see.  Josh came up and put his hand on my belly, followed by Scott, then Kaitlyn, then Audrie.  Josh starts singing, "Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle... Yeah!" and immediately Audrie goes, "Wiggle wiggle wiggle!"  Another clown moment.  We were all cracking up!
Audrie LOVES bath time!  I actually think that she gets messy on purpose so she can take a bath!  During dinner, she'll get food on her face/hands/thighs/arms/anywhere and then start yelling, while pointing to the bathroom, "TATE A BAAH!"  She's crazy!  The picture below was taken as Scott was saying, "Audrie!  You wanna take a bath!?"

And she loves food.  Take a gander at her thighs and you'll understand that!  Audrie was my chunkiest baby.  Scott was a week late and was 8 pounds 3 ounces. Kati was a week early and was 7 lbs 7 oz.  Audrie was a week early and was 7 lbs 15.5 ounces.  She would've been my biggest if she would've gone another 2 weeks like Scott.  When Audrie is sad or upset, it's usually about food.  She loves to snack.  She loves cheese.  I don't.  Because Audrie also loves to get constipated!  lol  TMI, I know.  Most of the time, you can find her sitting in her high chair (or trying to climb it) enjoying some treat/drink/food.
Audrie is also the only child who has shown any possibility for jealousy regarding Piper coming in five weeks (AH!).  When I hold anyone else (someone's baby, Scott or Kaitlyn, a toy...) she screams, tries to pull the person/object from my arms and yells, "MINE!"  Cute... but scary.
Audrie is the sweetest, craziest, most emotional child we've had so far.  I hope the Lord understands that I need another calm child.  But, we'll see.
They come how they come!  

Kaitlyn

Since I did a post on Scott the other day, I figure I might as well move through the ranks and do an expose on the rest of the Bunch!
Kaitlyn has had a fun/snotty summer.  Does that make sense?  lol  She is our little Miss Independent.  Granted... so is Audrie... but Kati started it!  She is three years old going on 12.  She wants to wear make up and dresses and "high up shoes" (high heels) and play and do nothing anyone asks her to do.  When she has her turn with the online Pre-School program I signed the kids up for, she spends the entire time browsing the website playing the games she wants instead of following the structured plan set up by the site.  Oh well.  She'll learn it all eventually. 
Kati loves to go outside with me and water the flowers I have in the front yard.  She also loves to help me fill up the bird feeders and ride her bike.

Kaitlyn loves fairy tales.  Ask her any day and she'll tell you who her new favorite Princess is.  The other day it was Belle from Beauty and the Beast.  Most days it's Rapunzel... whom she strives to be like.

Kati has a hard time with her hair.  She wants it long and beautiful like Rapunzel but, like most girls (I HOPE!), she does NOT like it brushed.  It's an endless struggle every day to get her to allow me to brush her hair.  She tells me that Daddy, GranBuddy, Grandma, and even Audrie are nicer to her hair than me.  Too bad.  I've finally threatened her that I will cut it short if she doesn't let me brush it at least once a day.
Besides her hair, Kaitlyn is very proud of the fact that her baby blue eyes are officially (almost) green.  "Like Mommy's."  She tells everyone.  I'm pretty proud myself.  

Kati is our little crazy girl... as evidenced by the following photos.  Believe it or not, but I asked her to smile nicely for the camera.  She's a goofball and I can't get enough of her!  I mean, come on!  She is with me all day.  She's not going to end up normal.

She dresses herself everyday (most of the time the moment she wakes up) and it's almost always in the bee dress shown above or in one of her many insane personal styles; ie. ugly shirt with dress up skirt, dress up shoes, and flip flops.  We've been trying to teach her how to match her clothes... So now, somedays, she just wears all pink.  From the top of her curly head to her toes!

There are so many times that I look at her sweet face and am overwhelmed by love and awe!  I can't believe that I've been gifted with the blessing of being her mother.  The Lord truly is great.

Scott

This Summer so far has been pretty fun.  Because we have no children in school yet, summer is pretty much like any other time of the year except it's hotter and there are more water sports.

I realized this is my last summer where I'll ever feel that way.  Scott starts school August 28th ( two days after I'm due... early induction, please?) and I can't believe he's already old enough! 
He's so excited! 
I've been very nervous. 
Any of you who follow me on facebook know this.  My son is not stupid.  He is not hard of hearing, ADD, or "slow" in any way.  He just could care less about most things.
Cars, Ali (the dog), the cats, Disney movies, or playing outside, he cares 100% about.  But learning?
When he was 3 and I realized he was the age of the children I taught pre-K to in Texas and Idaho and tried to actually be a good Mrs. Mom and teach him things, I spent 30 minutes on "red" only to have him not remember what it was a second after the lesson.
He just doesn't really care.  If he cares, he remembers.  
The kids watch cartoons in the mornings (sometimes) before Josh and I dare to get out of bed and brave the day.  No clue what most of the shows are, but I do know that they promote a website called "ABCMouse.com."  The commercials emphasize the fact that you get your first month free to try out and see if you like the program.  It's an online preschool, basically, to help children start on the path to learning.
So I signed up.  Not only was the first month free, but you can have 3 children per account and it's only $8 a month.  That's SO MUCH FREAKISHLY CHEAPER than preschool!  Not only that, but after our first month, I was able to sign up for 18 months for $80.  That's the price of ten months.  Eight months free?  Yes please.
The kids LOVE it.
Kaitlyn is a sponge and soaks up pretty much anything that she learns... when she decides to actually follow the curriculum.  Granted, I'm not nervous about her.  She still has three years (poor thing'll almost be 6 when she starts Kinder... same with Audrie.) before she starts school.
Scott, on the other hand, seems to have it go in one ear long enough to complete the exercise/game and then he forgets completely.  BUT...
My brother William came to visit us for a few days last week and he brought finger paints.  The kids had a blast!  Scott kept making "twisters" on his paper and was mixing colors together in the process.  He pulled out the yellow and blue and said, "I'm gonna mix these two, Mom."  I asked him what color they would make and he promptly responded, "Orange. No. Green.  I learned-ed that in school."  Ok, 1. "learned-ed" is adorable and awful at the same time and 2. I was so relieved to hear that he had soaked up and kept something in his huge brain!  We have never discussed color mixing before.  Mommy = Happy.

On another happy Scott note, he lost his first tooth!  Talk about make me feel old!  I don't know why that is actually.  I guess I always thought he'd be older when he lost his first tooth... at least in school already.  But, oh well.  It's gone.
It was a very traumatic experience for him.  After a few days of not really understanding why that would be, I've come to this rather odd conclusion: When you're a child, all you remember is having the teeth you have.  When one is suddenly gone, good or bad, I guess it can be a little traumatic.  Especially if your name is Scott and you're kind of a weenie (love you, son) and live most of the day with three girls... almost 4.

The Toof Incident
I was standing in the checkout line at Hobby Lobby and Scott suddenly starts screaming.  Because I am the horrible mother I am, I completely ignored him expecting to discover that Kati had hit him or he had fallen or he had just decided that he wanted to scream bloody murder for no flippin' reason. 
It's all happened.
But, when I turned to look at him, there was blood coming out of his mouth!  Those of you who know Scott and have seem him cry can attest to the fact that he likes to drool when he cries.  I don't know/understand why, but he's always done it.  It's a soul wrenching, open mouthed, drool dripping, cry. 
And this one had a lot of blood.
Cue small panic attack.
Until he screamed, "My toof!!"
I realized that his front bottom tooth was hanging very precariously to the side.  No clue how it got to be that way.  Scott's not one to hurt himself on purpose. 
I had to talk to him the entire ride home about how it's ok to lose teeth; how everyone's teeth have to fall out in order for them to grow up and get big kid teeth.  I even showed him my teeth in an attempt to show him the size difference between his and mine... big mistake.
I have horrible teeth.  I'm almost positive that every single one of my teeth has a filling in it.  ALL of my molars are silver on the inside and it freaked him out.  He thought that he'd have to get metal teeth now!
Another long talk later, he had calmed down, but, where most any other child I've ever met would tug and pull and wiggle and shake and do all they could to make their tooth fall out, ... Scott didn't do anything.  He wouldn't move it with his tongue.  He wouldn't touch it.  He was actually scared to eat.
He started crying again when Josh got home from work and I told Scott to show him what had happened.
Long talk number... well, another long talk ensued.
Day one passed without incident, as did day two.
Finally, day three.  At this point, I actually forgot about his tooth being loose when Scott asked if he could have an apple "all by himself" for snack, meaning he didn't want me to cut it up.
Three seconds later, more panic and more blood as his tooth fell out and he came, screaming mind you, to me with it sitting in the palm of his hand.
I screamed because I was excited for him, but he took it as a sign of imminent death and began crying even harder. 
This picture is the one I took after I finally got him to calm down, hence the red in his eyes.

I'm sure you get it, but it took a lot of talking and calming down for him to realize that it was a good thing; great, actually, if you factor in the tooth fairy! who forgot to come and had to show up after he woke up because "he stayed up too late and she couldn't come in." 
Call me a liar.  I'll believe you.
He got $1.00 and was SO excited he told me he couldn't wait for his other teeth to fall out.
Yeah, we'll see, Buddy.
Believe it or not, but this Transformers shirt was his favorite of the week.  Sue me, if it's not dirty, I don't care.  He can wear it for three days straight before the laundry magically makes it disappear.  So, the above picture is from Day 3 of the tooth incident, and the one below is from Day 4.

Yes, that's a Darth Vader mask on his head.  He loves Star Wars.
Random note: One thing that is very important to me, is teaching my children how to handle money.  I never learned and it's cost us... literally.  I bought Scott a bank from Deseret Book that has 3 slots: 1 for Tithing (10%), one for his mission (we made it 10%), and one for fun.  After he put 1 dime in tithing, and 1 in his mission fund, he was able to go to WalMart with me and buy a pack of Jolly Rancher chews. 
Which he promptly ate.
Good thing they're all baby teeth... for now.

60 Days

I was reading through all of your updated blogs and noticed at the top of my blog my pregnancy ticker.  60 days!  60!?  REALLY?!  That seems like a looooong time.  I am SO ready to be done being pregnant!
In all reality, pregnancy is wonderful/marvelous/miraculous.  All those things.  Combined.  But, for me, it's also painful.  I know I've been talking about this on Facebook so, for those of you who don't care, go ahead and sign off.  I understand.  But I wanted to get this down 1. for posterity's sake and 2. for my sake.
I have a condition called PGP.  Pelvic Girdle Pain.  Sounds fake, I know.  But, believe me, it's not.  PGP (if you haven't followed the link and read all about it because you're so fascinated and worried about me) is a condition where pregnancy hormones cause the joints in my pubic bone to inflame.  Basically, from about 8 or 9 weeks pregnant, my pubic bone hurts.  As pregnancy progresses, hormones increase, and baby gets bigger/heavier/more movey, the pain gets more intense.  So much so, that I end up limping around 4 months along... WAAAAY too early to actually look pregnant and needing to limp/waddle.  The majority of my pain dwells in my left hip, or the joint there where my leg meets my pubic bone.  Towards the end of pregnancy, when baby starts getting into position with head down and preparing for birth, the pain gets worse because the baby then is actually creating more inflammation by putting pressure on the already inflamed joints.
I've had it with each baby.  Scott's pregnancy had me thinking it was normal.  And his was my easiest pregnancy with PGP.  I was able to sleep on my sides and didn't waddle/limp as badly.  It hurt to lift my legs to get dressed and it was uncomfortable.  I couldn't sit on the floor with my pre-k kids at work, but it really wasn't that bad... now that I know how bad it could get!  But it was still enough to talk to my doctor about.
Bad idea in Rexburg, Idaho.  The doctors there are so used to new mom's and first time pregnancies and paranoid women that they don't really ever listen to what you're really saying and put it off as normal.  Because no one would listen, I decided to research and see if I was just being a weenie or if there really was something wrong.  I discovered Round Ligament Pain that seemed to match some of my symptoms: the random bursts of pain, difficulty walking without pain, constant throbbing.  I asked my doctor about it.  He said, "Yup.  That's what it is."  Ok.  Problem solved.  No solution, just deal with it. 
When I was pregnant with Kaitlyn and thinking that my pain was Round Ligament, the doctor told me that, in order to help my body, I needed to push through the pain and help my ligament stretch out so it wouldn't hurt as badly later on.
Bad.  Idea.
Working or continuing to walk/exercise/move on something that is inflamed does, in fact, NOT help.  It creates for inflammation and much more severe pain.  Kaitlyn's was my worst pregnancy to date regarding PGP.  I had to sleep sitting up because I couldn't sleep on either side or on my back which caused more pressure to sit on my pelvis and created, of course, more pain.
I had pain in my pubic bone until she was almost 7 months old.
When I was pregnant with Audrie, Josh had had it.  We were lying in bed one night and he looked at me and said, "Ya know what?  Your round ligament is NOT in your hips.  It runs across the front of your stomach."
Stupid doctor.  Not even listening.
So, I researched again and found PGP.  ALL the symptoms met... including those special symptoms set aside for the "rare" cases of extreme pain.
Hoorah...
At my next doctor's appointment, I asked my new doctor (we'd just moved to Utah) if what I could be experiencing was PGP.  He looked at me like I'd just grown another head.  (He's kind of a doofus).  I explained what it was, how I realized I couldn't have Round Ligament Pain, and why I thought I had PGP.
His solution, he lay me on the examining table and pressed on the front of my pubic bone causing me to whelp in pain.
"Yup. That's what you have.  There is some inflammation there."  Yeah?  No duh.  But, seriously!  HOW HARD WAS THAT?!  I wish my Rexburg doctors would've just listened and done that for me and maybe I wouldn't've been in such pain with Kati's pregnancy.
Finding out what I had made it a lot easier to deal with pregnancy with Audrie.  Because I knew it was now inflammation and not just the needing-to-loosen ligament, I was able to stay off of the pain and it was a lot easier to deal with.  I slept on the couch with a few pillows under me instead of sitting straight up in bed with every pillow imaginable underneath me.  It stunk to not sleep in the same room as my husband, but it was worth relieving some of the pain.
I have the same doctor I had with Audrie.  Should I have found another one?  Yes.  I know that now.  He's a doofus.  But I loved the hospital experience I had so much with Audrie and I love the office so much and I'm such a weenie, that I didn't want to show up to the same place and be seeing a different doctor than before and have my old doctor recognize me.
I know.  I suck.
Because he didn't recognize me anyways.  And, apparently, my PGP is not worth putting into my chart because he had no idea and just performed the "test" on me again.
But he's still not listening.  Oh well... 60 more days... 60 more days...
Most/all women experience the regular loosening of pelvic joints towards the end of pregnancy to prepare for delivery.  Unfortunately for me, my doctor believes that this is all my problem.  Trying to get him to understand that the pain I refer to is not just pelvic loosening and is actually a real condition is frustrating.  He keeps telling me to get a belly bra to help get the baby off of my pelvis and therefore relieving the pain.
Oh well.
Because of this issue, Josh is wanting to be done having children.  He hates seeing me in pain and, especially with 60 DAYS to go (mumble, grr, mumble, argh, mumble), he doesn't want me to have to do it again.
But, I would do it again because it means another baby.  And it means something I can hold over that child's head for the rest of his/her life.  lol  JK
PGP can, I suppose, be a blessing in disguise.  My labors are NOTHING because everything's already so loose that my kids pretty much walk out.  I dilate really early.  As in like the first time they check me at my doctor's appointments (around 34ish weeks), I'm already a 2 or 3 and it just gets further along from there.  Scott was born in 6 hours, Kati in 3.  Both induced.
With Audrie's pregnancy, I went in at my 39 week and my doctor said, "You're at 4 and a half plus."  What?  Isn't that a 5?!  So we induced and she was born in a little less than 2 hours (start of pitocin to finish).  Another good thing about PGP is that I MAKE myself get an epidural.  Not that I'm one of those (amazing/fantastic/rockin') women that want to do it drug-free.  I'm not.  I'm a wuss.  But, because of the pain in my pubic bone, contractions suck (not that they wouldn't if I was normal) but, where some women look at an epidural as a further source of pain and healing (the epidural causing their healing to be longer and their recovery harder), I look at it as an extra special dose of taking even MORE pain away than it would in a regularly healthy patient.
I'm wanting to induce Piper around 39 weeks too (possibly earlier if my doctor will allow it).  And she might be my last.
So it breaks my heart.
Josh was trying to understand why that is such a hard thing to swallow.  And I tried to explain it to him.  Mentally, I'm not ready for this to be my last pregnancy.  Emotionally, I'm not ready either and I'm not ready to go through all our baby clothes/supplies/gear and give them to a wonderful new home.  I'm not ready for Scott to be my only boy.  Coming from families with so many boys (Josh has 5 brothers and I have 4), when I found out Scott was a boy, I figured he was the first of a whole slew of crazy ADHD Wickern/Weatherholtz hybrids!  Not the case.  Instead, we harbor a heavily feminine, hormonal, drama-queen home.  So, for him to be my first and last boy hurts my heart.  Am I fine with him being my only son?  Of course.  If that is what the Lord has planned for our family, then of course I'm fine.  I just guess I would've appreciated it more.  I don't know.  Maybe not.  But I've always wanted 5 children and, with 3 girls now in a row, I'd love to try for one more boy!  But we'll see.
Long, long, loooong story short...
I'm ready to be done.  I'm ready for Piper to be here so I can hold her and cuddle her and put her in all my favorite baby girl outfits and kiss her cheeks and put giant bows on her head and have everyone tell me (for the third time) what a beautiful baby girl I have!
In equal readiness, I'm ready for this pain to be gone.
While this hasn't been as painful a pregnancy as Kaitlyn's, being that I can still sleep on my right side (even for just an hour or so), it's still been painful.  But I think, while my bouts have been fewer and farther between, they've been the most painful bouts of my pregnancies.  Yay.
Man this is a long post... and I'm not even done yet.  Oh well.  No one's gonna read it anyways!  lol  I wouldn't!
My parents both want to be here for Piper's birth.  My mom will be there at the delivery and my dad will be with the kids and ready to bring them to the hospital to meet their new sister.  I want that more than anything.
Because Audrie was induced early without any previous planning, my mom wasn't here for her birth.  I thought it'd be ok.  She was coming up in a week and that would be just as good.  That's when she'd do the things I'd really need: laundry, taking kids so I could sleep, dishes, etc.  But, in fact, I realized that I don't need my mom there for temporal help.  I need her there for emotional help... I just need her there.
Unfortunately, my dad has to work and my youngest brother, Bradley, will be coming up for school at BYU-Idaho at the end of the month of August.  It'd be ideal to just have everyone come up together (around my due date, August 26th).  But, for me.  That's not ideal.
I want them here sooner.  I want my baby here.  I want my pain gone.
But we'll see.
Long post over and out!

Hello World

Is anyone out there?  It's been so long I'm sure you guys have been checking your local papers for my obituary.  But, alas, I'm still here.  And kickin'.  Well, Piper's kickin'.  I'm just surviving day to day. 
Isn't that how it is sometimes?  Day. To. Day.  I'd like to think that our existence here is much more than that and, it is, to an extent. 
I've come to the conclusion that life isn't supposed to be all fun and games and roller coaster rides and candy and chocolate and, well, you get the picture.  Surprise?!  Over the last few weeks, after spending a few of them in San Antonio with my family and then back home to Utah (sometimes I forget I live here... so weird), I've pondered what my purpose in this life is.  I know I'm here to rear my children in righteousness and help them to become better than me.  I know I'm here to be tested so I can faithfully return, with my family, to the judgement seat of God when this life is over, and be able to look Him in the eyes and feel worthy.  But how does that happen?
Sometimes, most times, I feel like I'm nowhere near where I need to be.  Ok, I don't feel it, I know it.  But then I'm reminded by little things: Scott coming up to me in pure awe of the fact that the food he eats "really does get squooshed up inside and all the bad stuff comes out in the potty!" or Kati looking at our painting by Greg Olsen of the Sacred Grove and saying, "Mommy!  There's Joseph Smith!" or Audrie pointing around the world and saying the words she knows.

I realize that, while I have a long way to go, and I feel like I need to be the best woman out there: philanthropist, good neighbor, involved citizen, amazing Visiting Teacher (sorry, Kyla... I'm awful, I've discovered), and fabulous member of the Church; I realize that my life, no matter how small I may feel it is and, no matter how unnoticed I feel I am, is exactly where it should be: at home with my children.
We, for the first time in our married lives, have been reading the scriptures as a family.  Our Stake was recently divided and our new Stake President (our ex-Bishop), issued us the challenge to read The Book of Mormon as a family by the end of the year.  At the rate we're going, about 10 verses a night, we won't get there.  But, ya know what?  THAT is not what is important.  Scott and Kati both repeat the verses Josh and I speak to them and then, when we are done, if it's not the Isaiah chapters of Nephi (whew!), we explain (or try our hardest) what we just "read" about. 
I am amazed at the spirit I feel. 
Before, honestly, I felt like I was lacking.  Like there was something just not right in my life and that I just wasn't getting it.
Boom!  Scriptures before prayers and bed, DONE!
I'm so grateful for the blessing of the scriptures in my life.  I know that they aren't just cool stories someone decided to jot down for our enjoyment or internal reflection.  Real people sat at real tables/desks/beds/wherever, and wrote down their life's journeys and spiritual happenings so that I can read them to my family, feel the Spirit of the Lord, and come one step closer to being that Perfect Woman.

The Basement Project

Those of you who follow me on Facebook or know me at all, know that we have been trying to get most of our basement finished for the last few months.  Josh has done an AMAZING job getting most of the work done himself!  And, thanks to some friends who gave us some insulation/wire/random stuff at great discounts, it was even cheaper than it would've been!

I realized that I haven't documented this event yet and, seeing as how there's a sweet little old Mexican man in our basement AS WE SPEAK sanding the walls and applying a beautiful texture to our ceiling, I figured now was the time.

Some of these pictures aren't very good.  I'm sure I could lay out a list of excuses but, I'm not.  Just don't look at them if you don't like them. 

Here is a picture we took during our final walk through of the house before we bought it last July.  This is Josh's future office.  

Josh began framing a few months ago with his great friend, Tyler, whose father owns a very successful construction company in the Salt Lake are.  Tyler came over and helped Josh frame up his office, which is the room just below the Master bedroom. 
When Tyler came to help, we got Josh's office framed but, apparently, I didn't get any pictures! So, here is a picture of Josh holding up his first ever "built by himself" wall in my craft room.

We got a few estimates on Contractor's.  The first guy came and, after about ten minutes of looking around, said he'd charge $2200 just to drywall Josh's office and my craft room.  He'd give us a discount if we got the hallway drywalled too.  No thank you.

The second guy was the one!  He came in and right away started telling us things we could do to make our basement THAT much better!  Because of him and even though we were already debating whether or not to do this, we decided to demo out the doorway at the bottom of our stairwell and open up the doorway into the living room.  We also decided to finish half of our living room instead of leave it for Phase Two of the entire basement project.  

Christopher, the contractor, bid an amazing price for the entire basement.  Sound insane?  Let me list what else he's doing for us!

1. Widening the living room doorway

2. Building archway in said living room doorway

3. Building soffits over all the duct work in the ceilings

4. Running 3 AC lines and 1 return air line

5. Drywalling Josh's office, the Utility room exterior, my craft room, the hallway, and half the living room

6. Adding a custom, hand troweled texture to the ceiling and walls (thanks to kind little Mexican man downstairs!)

7. Taping and mudding the drywall

8. Building a custom built-in bookshelf in Josh's office

9. Fixing all the windows that need leveling and squaring

10. Building custom shelves in our Master bedroom closet

11. and a full clean up

We had another guy come out the next day because he was already scheduled, but he bid us only $300 less than Christopher just for drywall.  

We're pretty sure we made the right choice.

My brother, Stephen, and his wife, Camille, came down to Utah on their way down to Texas.  Stephen came back up for a dance competition that next week and helped us with the basement doorway demo.

Here's a picture of the kid's seeing it for the first time.  Kind of fuzzy.  Too bad!

After the doorway was demoed, we had Christopher come out and widen the doorway, build the arch, soffits, and put in the AC lines.  The next day, we weren't QUITE ready for drywall.  Josh was on-call, but he was also frantically running around trying to finish up electrical (which included: fire alarm install, outlet install, roughing in the wires for light switches, lights, fans, fire alarms, etc), insulation, and framing the final window.
Much to our chagrin, the morning of drywall, we woke up to a thunder storm.  Not an awesome Texas thunderstorm, but a storm nonetheless.  When Josh went downstairs to start on the finishing work, we panicked.  Two of the four windows that were going to be drywalled were leaking!  We'd never noticed before but, luckily, we found out all we needed was silicone caulk on the outside of the windows.  Interesting how the Lord blesses you in ways you wouldn't understand, huh?  We never would've known about the leaks until the drywall started to rot and/or we found mold!  So thankful for a random storm that turned into an otherwise beautifully sunny day!

Before the drywallers got there, I went down to help Josh and ended up finishing insulation for him.  Here I am in all my round glory!

All done and ready for drywall!!
This is a look into Josh's office (See the first picture for a comparison), and then into the living room through the wall from my craft room.

Here's another picture from when we did our walk through.  This is the original doorway into the living room.  This view is actually from the living room looking into the hallway that leads to my craftroom and upstairs.

And here's the new and improved doorway!  WE LOVE THE ARCH!!!  So beautiful!!

My craft room all ready and prepared for drywall!

 The drywallers were here for a few hours and left in no time.  Below is Josh standing in his new and improved office... sans mud and tape.

Our beautiful living room arch looking into the dark space that is my craft room.  The wall to the right of the electrical box on the wall is the outside wall to our utility room. 

And my craftroom.  The door to the left is Aubrey's room (well... not anymore... she officially moved out this morning, getting ready for her wedding on FRIDAY!) and, although you can't see it, there is a doorway on the right that leads into the utility room.

The view up the stairs showing the original ceiling from where we ripped out the doorway and pulled the wall back a few feet.  To the right is a cold storage room that we won't have finished.

The doorways into the cold storage (left) and Aubrey's room/guest room (right).  Josh angled the cold storage door.  It looks SO great!

The day after drywall (Wednesday), kind little Mexican man and his son came to tape and mud the walls and ceilings.  The next day, they did another coat, and Friday, they did two.  Saturday, Little Mexican Man came and put a beautiful texture on the walls!  You won't be able to really see it until we paint, but here's some pictures of the final, almost, project.

The corner of Josh's office, right next to his window.

And the arch.

 As I said earlier, Mr kind Mexican man is downstairs right now sanding the texture and adding one to the ceiling.  We leave for Texas in two days, so we won't be here to put everything back where it goes right away.  We're bringing my mom back up with us so she can attend Aubrey's Utah open house on May 19th, and she's promised to help me paint my craft room!!  I plan on putting up white wainscoting and an apple green paint!  Pictures of that when all is finished!

Josh will be driving to Texas with us, going to Aubrey and Brandon's sealing on Friday April 27th, their reception in San Antonio on the 28th, and then will fly back up to Utah for work.  He'll come back down for Landon and Tabitha's wedding on May 11th, attend the sealing and reception on the 12th, and then we'll all load up in the Behemoth for a long trip back to Utah with mom.  He plans on putting on base and getting his office together while he's here alone.

We are so excited to get this project (mostly) finished.  Here's hoping for a big tax return next year so we can finish the rest!!