Dreams

I was dreaming this morning about something random when in my dream all of the sudden a baby started crying out of nowhere. I tried to find the crying baby to see if I could comfort it. My efforts seemed to be fruitless and then I woke up and found Daniel was up and crying. It is so facsinating to me how that happens.

Kady tuckered out after church.  She found a place under the dining room tables.  She actually peed on the floor shortly after I took the picture,

Last week he went through a growth spurt. So for several nights he was up for a midnight feeding to up my milk supply to accommodate his growth.After the growth spurt feedings it leaves me quite full in the mornings now. This morning was no different. I think he had been crying for a while so he must have had a good air bubble. After chugging down on the first side he un latched himself looked at me with a very overfilled look and spewed milk all over me.

Can you count how many chins he has?

Kady had come in his room to talk while I fed Daniel. (yes some of the kids wake up that early) When he exploded she said "Oh dear! He's okay?" So cute.

I got frustrated with Emma this morning. She needed to finish her homework. She had about 4 questions left. I came down stairs about 7, after I got myself ready for the day. She had already been down there for a good 20 minutes prior so naturally I had thought she was done with homework.  Nay, nay.

This is what it looked like when I came to the kitchen.

Emma was sitting at the table still in her pajamas, hair crazy. Her change purse dumped out on the table with a few random pieces of trash from her drawer. Still no breakfast.She was chatting up a storm with Lucy about who knows what.

My first thought was, "well maybe she is using this stuff for homework. " But after about 20 more minutes of just sitting there I felt it necessary to sternly remind her that she had roughly 15 minutes to get her lids done and that I was pretty sure nobody at school wanted her to show up in her night gown.

Most of the time the responsibility lids work. Sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, I need to work on how to respond to it. I get so frustrated. Mostly because I feel that they have been doing the lid thing for so long (about 4 years now) that surely they get it.

Unfortunately, I get reminded on how many times I need to be reminded of what I am suppose to be doing.  I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and His example of the kind of parent I need to be. 

After Emma and Sera left for school we got to help a family in our congregation.  We took the 2 older sons of the family to school and got to bring a dinner for them.  Eliza closed her eyes and pretended she was asleep to avoid the strangers.  She has been going through the stranger danger stage lately.  It was cute to me to watch through the rear view mirror.

I love looking at my kids eyelashes when they are sleeping.  So cute!

We got home and while I fed Daniel we watched some footage of the royal wedding.  The girls got bored so they played with play doh. 

We made cupcakes this morning for our babysitter.  Her birthday is on Monday.  We had fun.  I ate 4 of them.  They were so airy so I tricked myself into thinking that surely something so light and fluffy couldn't possibly have too many calories. 

After lunch we all took a nice nap.  Oh blessed nap time. 

For dinner I had some free pizza coupons from the community.  They sent us a nice welcome package thingy with several coupons to use at local places.  We got a Barros pizza.  Double cheese.  Yum! 

The girls had a picnic dinner in front of the tv while they watched their Friday night movie.  Lucy's tummy got a rumbly and threw up.  She seems to have a sensitive tummy lately.  Once Jared got home from work we headed out on our hot date.

Kady and my Dad napping during conference

I was in charge this week.  We take turns.  We went to the Mesa Temple.  What a great night.  We headed to Culvers to indulge in their yummy butter burgers.  We got a vanilla bean shake but that was not as good.  We talked about how we are going to work on making and succeeding financial goals for the future and I told him some cute things that happened this week with the kids.  He looked so handsome sitting there in his Sunday clothes.  He told me about how the retreat went.  What a great night!  I am glad he is home.
Off to bed ;)

 Jared napping with Emma and Sera when they were 3 and 2.

 

My New Journal

For the past 5 years I have documented every single day of my life, that is until the end of last November. I think that with all of the change that happened at the same time I put it on the back burner. I felt that a piece of me was missing. I figured out that I wasn't doing what I enjoy doing and that is recording what went on in our daily lives on a consistent basis. After thinking about what I could do I differently, I realized getting back to blogging would be the answer. Except now it will be more of a personal recording.

Thursday April 28, 2011

I got to bed around midnight last night and boy did I feel it this morning. It was nice that Jared did not have to leave until later in the morning. So I snuck in a half an hour more of sleep. Sera was up bright and early because she was so excited to be going to the zoo. Anytime one of the girls would come in to the room I told them to go downstairs to spend time with Dad. I finally got up about 6:45, showered and got ready. I got the girls lunches ready. Sera wanted her hair put up in pig tails. As I was doing her hair I suggested that she wear her pioneer bonnet for a hat when she was at the zoo. She informed me that that was not going to happen, and that if she did do that then she would be the only one wearing a bonnet and that would be weird. She opted for a girlish baseball cap.

After the two older girls left for school, I packed everyone else up and we headed over to a friends home to play. It is always such a joy for me to visit with my friends. The kids played beautifully. Eliza enjoyed getting in and out of the kiddie pool. Her diaper looked like this big bulge. Kady and one of friends son role played and pretended. It is so cute to me to listen to little people role play. Their little voices figuring out who's gonna be who and who's gonna say what.

Around one we wrapped things up and headed home. On my way home I had thought of my best friend back in Michigan. I planned to call her once we got home. We we arrived home, Eliza had fallen asleep, so I got her to her bed. When I got Daniel out he had, had a blow out, so I cleaned him up.

I thought to check the phone to see if anyone had called, and to my surprise my best friend from Michigan had called and left a message. I love when things like this happen!

I gave her a call and we talked for about an hour. She was having "one of those days". I hate those kind of days. It was so wonderful to catch up.


This morning I had a thought to call a friend here where we live to see if I could watch her youngest while the rest of her family went to her kindergartners spring concert thing. I am glad she let me watch him, because we all know how fun a 2 year old can be when you are suppose to sit still and be quiet. She dropped him off about dinner time. He cried for a moment until the girls came to his rescue and mothered him to happiness. I love that our girls are so kind and considerate.

I made tacos for dinner. Always a hit with the kids. they especially love building their own tacos. It is one of those meals that I close my eyes half shut because it is quite messy. By the end of the meal our table looks like a taco has sneezed all over it. It is worth it though. Messes can always be cleaned up.

Eliza has had diarrhea for 2 days now. A sure sign that teeth will be coming. At least that has always been the case with all of the children when they cut teeth. 2 year molars, here you come!


Jared has been working like crazy. They have a retreat today and tomorrow and he has put a lot of work into making sure it turns out well. Of course it will! Because he is fabulous at what he does.

Tuesday night I tried staying up with him, but by 1:30 a.m. my body had, had enough of being awake. Goodnight honey. see you in a few hours. It may have taken me a full 10 seconds before I passed out on my pillow. My body was so tired when I woke up a few hours later to start the day. I got a brief nap mid day, and that helped me get through the rest of the day.

My sister is letting me borrow this baby thing. It is my lifesaver and Daniels too. If I leave him on the floor when Eliza is up, he ends up getting a nice pile drive and Eliza plops right on him and then proceeds to give the biggest, wettest kiss right on the nose.

During the girls spring break a few weeks back, I had them help me clean our beautiful plantain shudders. I keep old holey sock and we use those to dust with. They worked wonderfully.

Eliza and Lucy were in charge of the table area blinds.

Sera wanted her hair to be curly, so we put her hair in about 7 little buns. It curled up real nice.

I LOVE this girl! I tell her all the time that she is my favorite Kady. Her age is one of my favorite too. 3 years olds are the best in my opinion. I seriously could listen to her play all day.

This above picture and below picture were taken a while back at our local library. This particular night they had the BYU ballet company performing a very condensed version of their full ballet they were going to be performing somewhere in Mesa or Phoenix that weekend. The girls loved watching them. Afterward they wanted to play in the very green lush grass. It reminded us of Michigan.

Eliza stuffing her mouth with Easter candy.

Emma got her ears pierced this past month for her birthday. She has done such a great job at taking care of them and making sure she cleans them daily.

This picture I took that same night as the ballet thing and I just black and whited it.

Jared took these pictures of this yummy little boy this morning:

Life has been really full lately. I am just starting to feel like I am getting into some kind of routine again. Having 4 little ones 4 and under home with me for most of the day helps me to use up the majority of my brain power. And then when Emma and Sera get home I get to help them with homework if need be.

I love my life right now. I love the struggles I have. I love how my career makes me a better person and how it forces me to look at my imperfections and re-evaluate what is really important. It can be so easy to get caught up in what is not important, you know. I have learned to use my energies more efficiently. Not perfectly. That comes with time. Until then I am going to soak up these memories and enjoy the journey, because it doesn't last forever.

Just so you know.....

-I am not missing the cold weather at all (.)

- I have not forgotten about blogging

-Daniel weighed 15 pounds 3 ounces this afternoon at his well baby visit, but I think he pooped a pound of that after we got home

-I am really enjoying my new calling at church. Nursery leader (working with the 18months to 3 year olds)

-I disliked when the two older girls walked in the door today from school fighting. So they got to go out in the back yard and figure out a solution to their problem. It only took 45 minutes. I have a feeling they would have resolved their problem a lot quicker if we were still living in Michigan.

-My brother is on his way home from being in Afghanistan for the last 7(+) months serving for our country. He will soon be reunited with his sweetheart. I am so happy for the 2 of them to be back together. Our family is so grateful for all of the service men and women who protect our country.

-It may be another month before I post again

Growing

Daniel is growing so fast. At his one week check up he was already 9# 7 oz. Typically babies drop weight their first week but not him. Then last week on the 22nd he had his one month check up and weighed in at 11# 12 oz. I can't believe he will be 1 1/2 month on Monday.

Daniel is growing well. I took these pictures from my husbands blog. These were all taken within the last couple weeks.

Asleep...

Asleep...

"I love you, mommy!"

"It's not easy being cute."

"I think my food source is near."

"I can blow raspberries..."

"...and be the 'Karate Kid'."

"Was that you? I don't think it was me...I've just been eating num-nums."

The delivery was very quick and easy. The day before I had him was Sera's birthday and she was clear she did not want to share her birthday with him. So that night when I was telling her birthday story at cuddle time afterward the girls all came to my belly and told Daniel he could come out tomorrow after I got all of the laundry done. They told him this because they all know how much I love doing laundry.


So sure enough on Monday after I had gotten all of the laundry cleaned and folded and after a nice nap, around 2:45pm I got a very strong contraction. Not the braxton hicks type ones I had been having for the last several months. Because we still had not closed on our home we were still living with my sister and her family, which actually came in quite handy with this deliver. I told my sister I believed I was going into labor. So she called her hubby and he was on his way home to take care of the little ones while my sister came to the hospital with me.

After I called my husband I got into the shower and proceeded to have several more of the same type of contractions. After getting myself ready I then put away all of the close and then I was officially all done with the laundry and we were off to the hospital. My husband and mother-in-law met us at the hospital.

We got there around 4:30ish and I was checked about 5pm. I was an eight! I went into my hypnobirthing zone even more so and about 6 the doctor suggested he break my water. So I took a potty break before he did that. By 6:15 I knew he was coming very soon. and after doing my very noisy breathing the baby out he was born at 6:20. The cafeteria closes at 7. So I was able to order dinner. I am telling ya this kid is very considerate. My mother-in-law was able to attend her first birth of a grandchild and my sister was able to attend her first birth other than her own. She cut Daniels cord. It was a wonderful experience to be surrounded by my husband and 2 incredible women.

I left the following day and a couple days after that we moved into our home. It was bitter sweet for me. I loved living with my sister. Every single day for 6 weeks I had her to talk with. She pampered me. It really was sad for me to leave. On the other hand it has been nice to get into a routine. the girls have adjusted to their new school and our home is so fun and perfect for our family.

Change of subject:
Our home in Michigan was recently put on the market. It is too bad the market is terrible right now. We get to do a short sale on the home because the value of the home has decreased because of the market right now. Funny how 5 years ago our home appraised for 250K and now after improving it even more it is worth pretty much nothing. So if you know of anyone who would love to live in Troy Michigan here is the link to our Realtor site http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/750-West-Square-Lake-Road_Troy_MI_48098_M35420-22867


Happy New Year!