Comings and Goings

Life has been CRAZY!!  Adding a fourth to the mix was more of a shocker to me than I thought.  I had heard if you can handle 3 kids, any others will be a breeze.  They forgot to tell me that when you have older kids that have to be here and there all day long, it will be a little harder.  Before, we could just hunker down and adjust.  This time kids had to be to school and to soccer practice and be picked up and to soccer games.  It was a little harder to adjust.  Not to mention having to wake her up to put her in the car seat and go.
We survived though and are adjusting.  Now if we could just get little miss to be happy with life.  The poor little thing has not been a happy baby.  She has been my hardest, as a matter of fact.  We are trying to figure out what is bothering her with some success.  She is still pretty fussy.  It is a good thing she is so cute or who knows what we would do with all her screaming.

Little Miss is a MONTH old!

Through it all, schools ended.  DD#2 completed Kindergarten and is so excited to be moving on to the 1st grade.  She did so well this year and had great marks at the end of school.

DD#2 loved her teacher Mrs. L. We loved her as well.

DD#2 was finished a few days before DD#1 because of Kindergarten testing.  But soon enough, DD#1 was finishing her 2nd grade year.  Crazy!  I remember 2nd grade so well.  It wasn't that long ago, right?  DD#1 did very well this year in school as well.  She loved her teacher, Ms. S, and she improved so much this year.  Ms. S was perfect for her.

DS finsished preschool as well.  This is how he spent the extra time he had with DD#3.  He is a such a good big brother.

Dad has been the pillow many times.  He also gets little miss to sleep so well.

Little Miss turns 2 months old!

 DH was so excited to take DS to the Fathers and Sons this year.  DS was also so excited to go as well.  The morning of he came up to me and said that dad had told him last night that he only had one sleep until he could go.  He was done with his one sleep and was ready to go.  Unfortunately, he had to wait for Dad to get off from work.  An hour before dad was expected home, his tummy started to hurt.  We gave him his medicine and he was still saying he was going to go.  He fell asleep waiting for dad to get ready.  Well.....they made it about 5 mins before they had to turn around because he was too sick to go.  He was so sad the next morning.  Poor little guy.

Soccer 2012

All three kids decided they wanted to play soccer this year.  So we signed them up and started attending soccer games 9 days after Little Miss was born.  We have one more week.  We only had one week where all three of them had a game at the same time.  Luckily, Grandpa and Grandma O came to the rescue and we tagged teamed to see everyone.  They have all done really well.  We are glad to be able to have our Saturdays back, though.

 =

We've got a lot more fun things planned for this summer.

She's Here!!

Our little peanut arrived on Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 11:37 AM. She weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz and was 21 inches long. She has a ton of black hair and looks a lot like DD#1 with DD#2 color and complexion.

Wednesday I didn't feel well. I planned on taking the kids to Trafalga, but got really sick as the day went on. I called and bowed out of Activity Days and relaxed the rest of the day.

Thursday morning I woke up to DH getting ready for work. I really needed to use the restroom. When I got up I felt a small gush. I didn't think much of it and thought maybe I went a little too long. As I was getting ready to go back to bed, DH asked what was wrong. I told him what happened and waved it off. He said that maybe it was my water breaking. I have had awful experiences with trying to figure out if my water really does break. I waited to see if it would happen again. A few minutes later it happened again. I told him that maybe it might be time. I just wanted to make sure though. The kids started waking up. We didn't have it planned as to where they would go if I was early. We just had everything set up for Monday. We called our neighbors downstairs and she had an appointment. We called our moms but said to wait to come if it actually had broken. So we decided to get our kids ready and take them with us. We gave them their "Big Sister" and "Big Brother" shirts. I was planning on putting them in their Easter baskets.

I took a shower and got myself and the kids ready. We finally headed out pretty sure that this was the real deal and that this little girl was coming today.

We got to L&D and they put us back in a triage room and checked me. Sure enough, water had ruptured. They were keeping me and a Csection was in the making.

They started prepping me and I was having contractions consistently. I had had contractions for the week leading up to this. It was very different than any of my other births. So waiting for the anesthesiologist became uncomfortable. The kids did really well. Dad had a ton of nerves and wasn't so patient. I, surprisingly, was very calm. It was probably the blessing that I got the Sunday before.

My doctor was there and wanted to get back soon. We had to wait for the anesthesiologist. I guess there were a lot of women in labor. The nurse came back after about and hour and said that there were two girls crying so they needed their epidurals and I would wait some more. I asked the nurse if I should start crying so that he would come and get our show on the road. :)

Both Grandmas showed up and the kids were thrilled. Grandma O was so very excited! It was her 61st birthday and she was more than happy to share her wonderful day with this new little grandbaby.

We finally got to see the anesthesiologist and I told him about my concerns. He was willing to do what I needed to make it as comfortable as possible. Dad got ready and we were off to the operating room to meet this new little girl of ours.

The spinal was okay. It seemed to be more painful than I remember. I think he had to start over because I wasn't quite numb from the lidocaine. The surgery started and I wasn't nearly as tired as I had been before. I was quite alert. DH kept asking if I was okay. I was fine and calm. I watched through the little light at the top to see if I could see anything. My dr. and his partner chatted about names and we laughed about some of the names that I have had as a teacher. It was nice to interact with them. It made it seem like I was part of this and not just another surgery for them. Just before they pulled her out they asked DH if he wanted to stand up and watch. The nurse then looked at me and asked if I wanted to watch. I was shocked! I had never been able to see any of my children born. They put up a mirror and I watched as they pulled out sweet little girl out of my tummy. It was AMAZING!! When they did pull her out, I made a huge sighing noise. It was like she was finally pulled out of my ribs and I could breathe again. A very strange feeling. They whisked her away and DH went over to take pictures and to be with her. I finished watching them stitch me up. Very interesting to me.

When the nurse called out 7 lbs. 2 oz. I was so shocked. She was our littlest. DD#1 was our littlest at that point weighing in at 7 lbs. 15 oz. I thought maybe they had made a mistake. DH took a picture of the scale, so I guess I can't argue that. :)

We got back to the room and all was well. Little Miss swallowed some amniotic fluid and was having a tough time. They kept watching her to see if they needed to take her to the NICU, but she slowly started to breathe better. She sure was spitty though the next few days. You could tell that she didn't feel well and cried when someone touched or moved her. It was a rough two days with a pretty fussy baby. Eventually, she felt better and began to be calm. We spent 4 days in the hospital loving this little girl all day long. My mom took our kids to Delta to enjoy the Easter festivities.

We are so in love with this little girl. The kids are in love as well. DS comes up all the time and tells me that she is so beautiful and that she is the cutest baby ever.

We came home on Monday and have loved having her with us. She sleeps a lot and eats a lot more. If you ask DS what his baby sister does, he replies, "eats, sleeps, poops and cries"! He wanted his job to be taking out her diapers to the garbage can. Well...this little girl poops a TON!

She has gone through 3 packages of diapers in 10 days. That is 96 diapers. A few days after being excited to take out diapers, DS asked if he could have another job. :)

I am in awe about this whole pregnancy and birth. Remember my dream? I was so worried I would go too early and it wouldn't happen in April. I sighed a huge sigh of relief when it hit midnight on April 1st. It was my April baby. Then she came on my mom's birthday. My mom made the comment that my dad must have sent her as a birthday present to my mom. I believe that as well. When we were in our room, one of the hospital workers came in and wanted us to fill out her birth certificate. She said there were some questions they ask, that possibly we couldn't remember, one being the day of my first prenatal visit. I definitely could remember that as it was my dad's birthday. So many special things have happened that helps me realize my dad did have a hand in getting this little girl to our family. I am sure he had a hand in getting all of our children here for us.

Elder Scott at this last General Conference talked about receiving personal revelation. What an special experience it was for me to hear that we can receive revelation in our dreams. How appropriate that it was discussed a week and a half before my "April baby" entered this world. I am grateful to a loving Heavenly Father that allowed me to find peace 10 1/2 years ago when we were struggling so hard to get a family here. I needed the assurance that our children awaited coming down to be with us. Growing up, whatever my dad said, I listened to and obeyed. What a fitting person to come and help me realize that our children were on their way.

You can read Elder Scott's talk here. But let me share with you the part that touched my heart and let me know that Heavenly Father was listening to our prayers when our hearts ached so bad to start a family.

"Revelation can also be given in a dream when there is an almost imperceptible transition from sleep to wakefulness. If you strive to capture the content immediately, you can record great detail, but otherwise it fades rapidly. Inspired communication in the night is generally accompanied by a sacred feeling for the entire experience. The Lord uses individuals for whom we have great respect to teach us truths in a dream because we trust them and will listen to their counsel. It is the Lord doing the teaching through the Holy Ghost. However, He may in a dream make it both easier to understand and more likely to touch our hearts by teaching us through someone we love and respect."

We are so in love with this little girl and can't imagine life without her. She has brought a lot of joy to our family and will continue, I am sure.

My Valentine's Gift!

When DH asked what I wanted for Valentine's Day, I jokingly said that I wanted a 3D ultrasound of this baby. He said, "Okay"! and that was that. I was the one that had a hard time wanting to actually spend the money and do it. After being convinced by a few people that I should, we went ahead and did it.

I was excited to see her cute little face, make sure she still was a "she" and have the kids come and get to see her as well.

Now, let me tell you about what we know about this little girl already. She has been my calmest baby in the womb. Often times I will go throughout the day and that night wonder if I ever even felt her. She rolls and moves but rarely kicks. I am hoping that this means she is very calm and laid back. She is also a "stinker" as we all like to call her. Whenever she does kick or start to kick, I will always call someone over to feel her. The minute someone other than myself puts their hands on my belly, she stops and moves away! I thought it was a coincidence, but after having it happen so many times, it seems she is pretty stubborn. So we call her our "stinker". The kids get a kick out of calling her stinker as well.

So we head over and start the ultrasound. We see her spine and we see her heart. I ask if she can check the gender just one more time to give me piece of mind that she really is still a girl. So the tech heads down and says that her legs are indian style and really can't get a good look. She said she would go back and check after we got some good shots of her face. So she heads up to her head and sure enough, this little girl will not turn her face to get a good shot. The more the tech would poke and prod, the more she would just scrunch up her nose and turn more inward. She said, "Boy, you have a stubborn one!" DH and I just looked at each other and laughed.

After turning on both sides and waiting for over 30 minutes, we finally got some decent photos of her. We did confirm that she is still a little girl and after she showed us that shot, her legs and feet went immediately up to her face. I guess she was deteremined to cover her face.

I am glad that we did it. It was fantastic to she her face and see just how much she looks like my other two daughters. She is our last, so it was something fun to do.

Her mad face after the tech was poking and prodding to see if she would move.

Squishy face, not wanting to turn. Being stubborn.

Finally after 30 mins., she decided to turn just enough

to get a pretty good shot.

While the ultrasound was going on, I sure thought she looked just like DD#2. The tech said she had hair and DD#2 came out with dark hair. DD#1 did not have much and it was blonde. I wanted to get home and pull out newborn pictures of our daughters and compare. Sure enough, she looked like DD#2. But then I pulled out a picture of DD#1 and couldn't believe how much she looked like her. So I made a comparison to put them all together. I am still leaning towards her looking more like my 2nd than my 1st, but she probably will look like both. Who do you think she looks like?

It's A........

beautiful, healthy little GIRL!

We were so very shocked! We all thought it was another boy. It has taken some getting used to (because we were so sure), but we are so excited to welcome this beautiful girl into our family in April.

Special Spirits!

I can't let this story not go without writing it down to remember for a long time. My kids were outside playing and I was in my room reading. My window was open so I could hear them. Something happened and I heard DD#1 yell, "Don't you tell on me!" Well....this is a common quote said between my kids. I guess if they say that, then the other won't come and tell. DS#1 then yells, "DD#2 don't you tell!" At this point I thought I should get up and see what was going on. As I watched quietly out my window, I saw something that made my heart so very happy. It made me feel so great to be a mom to such special spirits. DD#2 who was on her way to tell, stopped and asked DD#1 to come and give her a hug. DD#1 came up and DD#2 grabbed her and hugged and hugged her. DD#1 then reluctanctly wrapped her arms around her sister. They were talking to one another (I wish I would have heard what they were saying). Then DD#2 grabbed DD#1's face and brushed the hair out of her eyes and said something to her. (Again, I wish I could have heard it). Then they grabbed each others hand and yelled, "All for One, One for All" and threw their hands up in the air!
DH had found his way to watch as well. It was amazing and made a mom's heart proud. They really love one another. Is there anything more wonderful?

A Dream....

Ten years ago, I had just started my first year of teaching, my dad had passed away recently (July) and DH and I had been trying to start a family for 2 years with no sucess. It was a very hard time for my family. My mom often asked questions wondering if my dad did this or did that in heaven. For some reason, when she would ask I would always have a dream about my dad and he would always answer the question for me. I haven't had a dream like that in a very long time.

Ten years ago this month, I had a dream one night. We were all sitting in my mom's room in our Delta home. We used to gather on my parent's bed while my mom read. (Funny, my kids have been doing that to me recently.) My dad usually ended coming in later and asking what everyone was doing. It is a favorite childhood memory. Even though my mom hated us interruppting her quiet reading time, it was a great family time.

Back to my dream....we were all sitting on my mom's bed and the phone rang. My brother Scott answered it and got a shocked look on his face. He said, "Dad is on the phone!" We couldn't believe it. We all knew that he was in heaven and couldn't be on the phone. He again said, "No, really, dad is on the phone". We were all so shocked. My brother Dan walked in and we said, "Dad is on the phone!" He said, "No he is not!" We again said, "Yes, he is on the phone!" He again said, "No, he is not on the phone, he is here." At that time, my dad then appeared to us. We were all VERY shocked. My dad explained that he felt that it would be not as shocking if he called first before he appeared. We were elated! We asked why he was here and he said he had come to talk to each one of his children. I was then on my way down the hall and he sat me down on the couch (it even had the flowers on it) and asked what I needed to know from him. I looked at him and asked when I was going to have children. He said, "April!" and then I woke up.

I remember waking up and thinking, "Wow! Was that real, or did I just make it up?" Whatever it was, it comforted me enough to continue to struggle with our infertility.

Fast forward 3 months and we found out two days after Christmas that we were expecting. We were over the moon with excitement. My due date was Aug. 31st. I was a little confused and once again questioned my dream. Three weeks later I miscarried. DH and I cried for about 10 mins and then rejoiced that we actually did get pregnant. I had heard that a lot of women miscarry their first and then your body gets ready for another baby. I held on to "April" all the while. Well.....April came and I wasn't pregnant. I thought maybe I was going to get pregnant in April. July came, which would make me due in April, and still no pregnancy. We hit the year mark and I really started to mourn my miscarriage. Maybe that was the only time I would get pregnant. The two year mark went by and I was devastated that I hadn't got pregnant again.

We started the process of adoption and began going to the classes. We met some great friends and really felt like this was the right direction. I had surgery in March of 2003 and when I woke up, DH was smiling from ear to ear. He told me that the doctor had found nothing and there wasn't anything wrong with any of us. Boy, this pretty much put me into a deeper depression. Nothing wrong with either of us??? Then why can't I get pregnant. The doctor came in and said that he thought I would be pregnant in the next 4 months. I was so angry! I had just finally accepted adoption and had stopped crying every month.

Fast forward 6 months and I felt the real need to get our adoption papers in and completed. Every time before this I would get them down off of the fridge and it just didn't feel right. I sat down one Sunday after church and finished them in record time. Tears streaming down my face, I talked about my dad who I loved and missed so much. I was very anxious for DH to get his part done. I knew that there was a little girl waiting for us and she was coming quickly and we needed to get our paperwork in and get ready. A few days later DH came up to me and said, "You are going to have a baby!" I looked at him funny and said, "No, remember we feel strongly that their is a baby girl coming to us!" He then said again, "No, you are going to have a baby!" I was 4 days late at this point, but was not going to get his hopes up. Watching him cry, because of infertility. was much harder to deal with then my own crying. Three days later (so 7 days late) I told him that I was a week late and that we should probably go and get a pregnancy test. We drove to the store and I was so angry. I knew I was going to start 30 mins after the negative like I ALWAYS did! We got home and I took the test and walked away. Remember, I was angry and was sick of seeing negatives. Twenty minutes later we both walked in together and got the shock of our lives. It was positive! We couldn't believe it. We immediately went to my in laws and got a blessing. My due date was August 10th. It still didn't fit the "April" dream. Our first daughter was born on July 31st. We talked about whether or not we should prevent from getting pregnant just in case it didn't happen again. We didn't and to our great surprise found out 15 months later that we were expecting our 2nd child. I was due June 26th and had our second daughter on June 17th. Fifteen months later (do you see a pattern?) we found out that we were expecting our 3rd child. His due date was May 13th and our first son was born on May 6th.

So you can see that we were getting closer to April, but just never quite got there. DH and I had talked and had always wanted 4 children. So I assumed that 15 months after our son, I would find myself pregnant one last time. Nope, it didn't happen. Fast forward a year and I find out that I am pregnant. We are thrilled. Just a few short days later, it was no more. We were sad, but still hopeful. The very next cycle, I found myself with a positive pregnancy test in my hand. We were so hopeful, only to lose that pregnancy as well. I couldn't figure it out. Why were we having such a hard time again? So we continued to try and try. It wasn't working. I was done with it and felt like the 3 beautiful children that I did have were plenty for us. We were at a great stage of no diapers, buckling themselves in the car and being more self sufficient. They were having a great time together and we felt it was right and that we could be done. We begin telling people that we had made that decision. I felt peaceful about it.

I attended a girl's night with my husband's side of the family and one of my sister in laws had just had a baby. When I walked into that room and saw her, I had to keep myself from crying. I had the most overwhelming feeling that there was still one more for us. It made me mad, because here I was finally feeling at peace with this decision (sound familiar?)

I went home and DH immediately knew that something was wrong. He asked me what was wrong and I just told him he didn't want to hear about it. He was tired of talking about whether to continue or be done. He wanted to be done. So he continued to ask and I finally said, "We've talked about it enough!" I told him what had happened and he said, "Do you just want me to make a decision?" I was so happy, because I was bouncing back and forth with my emotions. I knew he was going to say that we were done, but no! He said, "Let's have another baby!" I was shocked!

So on to our journey again. We found ouselves once again having a hard time getting that last little spirit here.

In June, I went back to the doctor and he wanted to re- test us again. It had been 8 years from the last time and wanted to see if something was wrong now. So we went through it again. DH's tests came back perfect. My tests came back as good as well. I went in for an HSG (dye through my tubes) mid July. The nurse called and said, "Everything looks great for the both of you, why don't you try and get pregnant this cycle?" I wanted to say, "Why don't you come over here and let me punch you?" I was so angry. Once again, nothing was wrong with us! We decided we would put in Heavenly Father's hands (like we had to learn, oh so many times) and contiue on.

WELL......

Renaming the post: A DREAM COMES TRUE!!

Do you see that arrival time on the bottom? APRIL!! Our little caboose is our little April baby that I was told would come ten years ago. We are ecstatic and so happy!

So, on what would have been my dad's 62nd birthday today....I saw our little bean growing with a healthy heartbeat. We are so very excited and the kids are just as excited as we are.

Happy Birthday Dad! I love and miss you more than anything. Thank you for advocating for me to send these special spirits down. We think about you often and know that you would have been one EXCELLENT grandpa. I love you!

Phew...that was one very long post. I had to get it down somewhere so I wouldn't forget this wonderful time.

A decade.....

since we last talked to you. Missing you all the more. September 16, 1949-July 27, 2001

Fathers Day!

Just thought I would post something on this blog. I am hoping to sit down and post the past 10 months with pictures included. Don't hold your breathe though.

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful husband and Dad! The kids absolutely adore their daddy. He is a great Father.



We went to Delta for birthtday parties. We dropped off Grandpa Mark's gift on the way out. We love you Grandpa Mark.



We also dropped off Grandpa Oliver's gift as well. Grandpa Oliver's birthday is at the beginning of June and we gave him the soda for his birthday. So for Father's Day he got nuts. We love you Grandpa Oliver.


And last, but not least, Happy Father's Day to my Dad! I can't believe we are coming up on the 10 year mark. That is crazy! I went walking while in Delta and stopped at the softball fields. They had held an all night softball tournament and it was the championship game at 8 AM. I sat and remembered all the summers we spent score keeping for his softball tournaments. It brought back many good memories. I was pretty emotional on the walk home. I miss him so much. I just want to talk to him and get a big hug from him. I love you dad! Happy Father's Day!

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010 was cold, fun and lasted all weekend.

DD#1 in her school parade. Thursday, October 28, 2010

Ready to Trick or Treat. Saturday, October 30, 2010

50's Sh0wgirl

A cute little witch

Thomas the Train

School Photos

Another year, another round of school photos. My kids go to different schools. My school doesn't have a preschool, so my kids go to the school here in our neighborhood for Preschool. Once they begin Kindergarten, I bring them with me. It makes it easier for Parent Teacher Conferences and other things.

DD#1 in 1st Grade

DD#2 in her 2nd year of preschool

She didn't start school until after Labor Day. On the 2nd day of school, I emptied out her backpack as we were walking out the door and noticed the flyer for pictures. I thought to myself that I needed to make a mental note about the date. Then....I realized it was THAT day! So we didn't buy a package through them, only a school photo. I took her to my school when we had school pictures. I thought they both turned out really great.

UEA Weekend!

Ahhh...the wonderful UEA weekend where school is out Thursday and Friday. It was a nice break.
So...what did we do? We were cooped up in our house with the virus hand, foot and mouth. Not fun!
DS started running a fever and we had him into the pediatricians office on Thursday. They didn't know if it was strep or the virus. DD#2 started running a fever two days later and we had her in the InstaCare yesterday with the confirmation that it was the virus. I had the doctor look in DS's mouth to make sure and she said it was covered with ulcers all along the back of his throat. Poor baby! No wonder why he didn't want to eat anything.
We had a lot of popsicles, puddings and yogurts. We watched movies (thank heavens for netflix) and we snuggled on the couch. When the medicine would kick in the kids would go outside for a while. A positive of the time was getting pretty close to getting my scrapbooking caught up. I am only 3 months behind! Hooray!
Abotu 2 months ago, the girls were looking at their scrapbooks. DS came up to me with the saddest little face (the girls were not sharing) and asked, "Where is my book?" It broke my heart. I realized I was that far behind. I got on the computer and found out that I was 2 1/2 years behind. Ugghhhh...... 2 years! I started working on his pages and checked off months as I went along.
I was doing really well until I hit January of this year. Our Disneyland trip has 200+ photos in it. It stopped me from being motivated. So, this weekend I decided to go backwards and hit the present and move towards Disneyland.
While scrapping I thought it would help keep this blog more up to date if I would post my pages as I do them. It will also help keep me up to date on my scrapbooking. So here is the summer.
The weekend is coming to an end. The great thing is that Dad is home. He has been hunting. He left the night before DS started running his fever! Doesn't it always happen that way?
Well..enjoy!
** I already posted about the last day of school and the kid's birthdays, so it looks like we will start at the first of July. June was so cold. I don't know or can't remember if we got out much in June. So here are some of the things that we did this past summer that I missed. Once I get the Disneyland pages done I will post those (as promised 8 months ago) :)

Our annual trip to my hometown for the 4th of July. Can't beat a small town celebration. We love it! We didn't make it for the jets and DH was sure disapointed. I will get ready on time next year. Whooops!

We road Trax to the Galivan Center for Radio Disney's water day. There were a million people there. The kids enjoyed being in the water and getting free squirt guns. I think the train ride to and from was the highlight, though.

We went to the float preview before the parade. It was so nice to go and have some fun. We got to go around to each float and see it up close. We were able to vote for our favorites as well. The kids got their faces painted and balloons made out for them. It was fun and the air conditioning made it even better!

The girls's preschool teacher went to Mill Hollow with me and we became good friends. She volunteers for the Days of 47 Rodeo and called us up to see if we wanted her free tickets. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a great time seeing the horses and the bulls. DS loved when the tracker came out and plowed the arena. He loves tractors.

We saw that a community theatre was putting on the production Cinderella, so we thought it would be great to have Mommy and Me Date and get the girls all dolled up. It was the day before DD#1's 6th bday so we had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to her.

First Day of Preschool

First Day of 1st Grade