I'll get some halloween pics up soon. But for now, check out my dad's political views at this link. I am not very politically educated and I like learning from my old man. Remember to vote!

Yes, I am superwoman

People keep telling me that I am superwoman. I keep thinking that what they really mean is that I am insane for having so many young children so close together. I have come to find that surviving these days does indeed make me superwoman. And I know that there are lots of other superwomen out there- glad you could join the club Bri.(if you want a good laugh click here)
Trent had a camp out last friday night and then was gone in Miami Monday through late Wednesday this week. Thank goodness my sister Karen slept over Monday night and helped all day Tuesday until my sweet MIL came over with dinner. I probably wouldn't have made it without the help I had that day because Monday and Wednesday evening were pretty trying. Try feeding 4 small children and getting them ready and tucking them in. It's hard. Especially with the baby and Henry needing me to personally feed them, in different ways of course. Man I am glad that I am not a single mother! Crying is pretty much a part of my daily routine lately. But you know what, so is laughing and kissing and snuggling and staring googly eyed at my wonderful babies. I love my children. And each day I have at least one moment where I really love my life (today it was Henry kissing me over and over between bites of oatmeal!) That is what keeps me going when I look at myself in the mirror and see myself in my sweats covered in spit up with my 25 extra pounds and my hair that hasn't been washed in two days.

Question of the day

For those of you who have seen The Backyardigans, what is Uniqua supposed to be? There is a moose (Tyrone), a penguin(Pablo), a kangaroo(Austin), a hippo(Tasha), and the mysterious spotted pink Uniqua- I can't figure it out!

In a nut shell

This guy is an awesome big brother.

This kid can climb anything. And usually has a bruise or fat lip to prove it.

This girl is a riot.

I am missing this man right now.

This baby is heavenly.

Blaaaah

You think after 3 other kids that I would know how to nurse a baby. Apparently I haven't been making sure that Paisley is getting enough of my areola in her mouth and now I have to bleeding, indescribably painful nipples. I am pumping for the next couple of days to let them heal a little and feeding Paisley breast milk bottles! I am excited to have a baby that will take a bottle even though the La Leche League lady told me that the nipple confusion from her taking bottles in the hospital is probably what caused the incorrect latching in the first place.

Is being exhausted enough to cry about everything and feeling guilty about not being able to give Henry enough attention depression or is that just normal?

4 weeks old

Paisley is now 4 weeks old.

Last Sunday we had a great time with family at Blake and Andrea's baby Weston's blessing.

I seem to have gotten some sort of stomach bug that kept me up all night Wednesday night.

I am suffering from a cracked nipple and had no idea it could be this painful! Youch!

I am tired all the time!

This picture of Henry pointing makes me want to say "Only you can prevent forest fires!"

Trent is being a great helper when he's home, thank goodness!

I love this picture of Hanky cruising around Tom Cruise in "Risky Business" style.

3 weeks old

Paisley is a whopping 3 weeks old today.

Last night we got to go to my mom's house and have birthday dinner for my dad.

We got to see Aunt Michelle, Kaleb, Ethan, and Moqui too.

If your bored or lonely

Come to our house and see these cuties.

We don't get out much.

4 kids

We got Paisley home on Wednesday and it has been wonderful to have her with us.

The kids seem to like her.

Baby girl

Our baby is beautiful with big round cheeks, dark hair, her mother's ears and her dad's little chin dimple. She came out with her little nose smashed to one side from however she was positioned down in my belly, it is slowly popping back out to the middle. She is a great eater and she hardly ever cries.

The labor and delivery went very well and I was happy to get an epidural. Once pushing time came, she was out very fast and it was a wonderful experience.

I have tested positive every pregnancy with Group B Strep and all of my labors have been too quick to receive both doses of the antibiotics, which means that my babies have been at risk to get sick from the strep virus. Paisley is the only one who was affected by this. Her white cell count was very high and her body was fighting hard to keep her healthy. The problem is easily and very effectively treated with antibiotics and prevents the many complications that can come with strep b. So, I was released Sunday night and Paisley is in the "special care nursery" until tomorrow. It was a terrible feeling to leave without my baby- however, seeing the other babies in there who have so many more problems than my little baby has made me so grateful for her perfect little body that works so well. We are truly blessed to have her here in such a perfect state. I get to go take her my milk often and feed her whenever I want and hold her and change her and I have been able to spend a lot of time with her. We are very excited to get her home to us tomorrow!
On the plus side, this will make one baby who can take a bottle!

Friday September 19, 2008

Paisley Jane
7 lbs. 4 oz.
4:04 pm

more info soon.

Charlotte's Big Girl Room

I want to post this before too many other things are happening.
Charlotte is a big girl now. She has been wearing big girl underwear for weeks. She doesn't have accidents. We are very proud of her.
She will be three in December and she was ready for a big girl bed. Not to mention that we had to steal her crib for the new baby's room.
So here are the pictures of her new bedroom.
The daybed and dresser were craigslist finds.

The cupboard with the hutch and the doll cradle were hand me downs from my mother.

The valance and pillows were originally the bedding I made for Charlotte's crib, which have now been transformed for her big girl room.

The circle canvases were painted by yours truly and hung by Trent.

I know the lighting is bad. I'm not a photographer.

Weddings, Babies

So, I let my doctor strip my membranes yesterday. I know I shouldn't have with Ted and Lauren's wedding tomorrow and all, but being as uncomfortable as I am and having my feet swollen like balloons I couldn't resist the thought of anything that might help get this baby out sooner. So last night as Trent is doing tons of laundry for me and I am climbing into bed, the contractions start. I think, uh-oh, am I really ready for this? The contractions were very sporadic all through the night and really started to taper off after 3:30 AM, so I guess I am not quite ready yet. Not to mention that Trent does not think that the house is clean enough for me to have a baby yet. I should also probably get groceries and finish packing my hospital bag today, just for when the baby does come. Food in the house is always a good idea, I just haven't been able to bring myself to go to the store for over a week. Yuck.
At least I got in the attic yesterday to find the other part for the bassinet and got that all set up by my bed.

Busy pants

I've been tired and super uncomfortable and not so bloggy lately. Henry is absolutely at the cutest, funnest age and is learning new things ever single day. Some of the new things have become a real pain though. For instance, Henry is very good at moving the kitchen chairs and climbing up them now. That gives me the pleasure of removing him from the kitchen table top 500 times a day. He has also learned how to open the long handled door knobs which gives him access to the bathrooms and also the garage if I forget to dead bolt it. Yay. Other fun things to mention, the antibiotic for his ear infection gives him explosive diarrhea. Trent was gone until 10 pm two nights last week and had an overnight on Friday. So basically I am exhausted.
It wasn't all bad though. Thursday evening I was able to go to the temple while my brother took his soon to be beautiful bride through for the first time. Saturday night I got to go to dinner with Lindy and some of her friends and then we went to a movie, so that was great. Yesterday was going pretty well too, until we arrived at Trent's parents house for dinner and Charlotte puked. (She seems to be feeling much better this morning.)

This week I have a lot of things to do. Things to start and things to finish.

Charlotte's room. Check. ( I will post pictures this week.)
Pack hospital bag. Started.
Put up bassinet. Started.
Paint nursery. Started. Here's a sneak peak. That is a silhouette of a tree on the wall. The tree is the original wall color. The teal is the new color.
Sew bumper pad. Haven't started.
Buy wedding present for Ted and Lauren. Haven't even looked yet.
Clean and organize house. Always a work in progress. Never even gets close to done.
Prepare meals to freeze. Not even started.

It is going to be a long week.

A whole lot of nothing

That is what is going on around these parts. Last Thursday Henry got a terrible ear infection that actually perforated his ear drum. Now that it has been a few days of being medicated he is almost back to his normal happy self and is sleeping much better.
I have been very frustrated in my search for dressers. We need some badly, so if you know anyone in my area trying to get rid of or sell a decent one please let me know.

I am also trying to get things ready for the baby, but it just seems like nothing gets finished. I go to the doctor tomorrow, which is always nice to see how things are progressing. I am pretty uncomfortable now and I tend to snore in my third trimester pretty badly, so Trent has spent a couple of nights on the couch which makes me feel terrible.

Hopefully this week I will manage to be a bit more productive.

Mr. Popular

When Trent needs to put his feet up after a long day of work, it looks something like this.

I am so happy that my kids love their dad, I have very few requests from them when he is home.

Also from this week: Henry as Buzz Lightyear (He puts it on himself!)

And finally, what Tucker said to Charlotte as we dropped him off at school this morning: "Do you think you can be a good girl for your mom today while I'm gone?" Man, it was hard to keep myself from laughing out loud. What a doll.

You may or may not have heard about this

Last week Christian and Stephanie Nielson were in a very serious plane crash. They are a young couple with four children under the age of six. They are in critical condition. Stephanie has third degree burns covering 80% of her body and Christian has third degree burns over 30% of his body. The recovery will be very long and very expensive.

If you are able, please consider contributing to this fund that will go directly to the family. http://www.nierecovery.com/

Today, several websites are auctioning off items for their benefit. Go here to see the comprehensive list: http://www.designmom.com/ .

Updates about Stephanie and Christian here: http://blog.cjanerun.com/

Anniversary Weekend

My lovely mother took our kids overnight so Trent and I could celebrate our anniversary by going to a resort! The views and pools and alone time with my husband were priceless, but we were pretty disappointed with our room, considering what we paid for it.

Here are some pictures of us at my mom's dropping off the kids. My face and body are plenty round and I will be glad when my body stops increasing in size.

And also, how cute is this guy?

Stupid idea

So after picking Tucker up from school, I had the foolish idea that we should go somewhere besides directly home. I thought we would visit Trent at his office and perhaps even find some frozen treats on the way there to take. After calling him I found he was not at the office. We were already headed that way though and there is a Joann's fabric by his office so I decided to go there. I did have the double stroller, so I thought we could swing it. Holy Crap! The kids were being loud and generally unruly, but I was determined to look at fabrics. I found 2 that I actually liked, that were ridiculously priced at 9 dollars a yard and finally gave up. But I did need some ribbon and fabric bondy stuff so I grabbed that. Tucker was being AWFUL. Running off, yelling, fighting, all very uncharacteristic, but I have found that he acts that way after a long day of school. So after waiting in line to buy my 5 dollars worth of merchandise I got rung up only to discover that my wallet was not in my purse. I walked to the car fighting tears.

7 years!

Today is Trent and my 7 year wedding anniversary.
I don't remember all the details of our wedding day or what was said in the ceremony. What I do remember is the wonderful, overwhelming feeling that had me bawling. Knowing I was being sealed to the man I love for time and all eternity and that I had never wanted anything more.

The seven years since that day have not been perfect. We have had our arguments, our complaints, our annoyances. We have also had something else. Commitment. I don't doubt that we will still be together and in love in 50 more years and I am so blessed to have that feeling. I am so glad that I married such a wonderful man and I look forward to all the years ahead that we have to share.

Tucker said yesterday, "Mom, I think you picked him because he looks handsome."

That was definitely part of it. Happy Anniversary to my handsome looking man who makes me laugh, smile, ooh and aaah. My man who can fix anything, will eat anything, who is the most athletic and strong, who loves kids and kids adore him, who is tidy and organized. I love you sweetheart, thank you for the beautiful roses.