First Day of School 2010

A Good Day

While I was recovering in the hospital from the c-section, our oldest child was starting his 3^rd grade year.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I love to take lots of pictures of the big day and I love to see my children off and be there to pick them up and get their reactions. Obviously that was all out of my control this year, but I am indeed grateful to my husband who took a few pictures and made sure Big D got a great breakfast and was there to pick him up (even without a wink of sleep for almost 36 hours – I’m telling you I married the most amazing man ever) and when I saw him after school (when he came to meet his little brother for the first time) we got to talk about his first day.

I am so happy that we went to meet his teacher the week before. After talking with her, looking around the classroom, and picking his seat – Big D declared that his teacher is AWESOME and I conquer. She is calm, friendly, motherly, and according to D – she doesn’t raise her voice. I can just tell this is going to be a good year!

D - May you have an increased desire to learn, a chance to make new friends, and as always continue to choose the right! I am so proud to be your mom!

 
Three Cheers for a new school year, 

For Thee We Prayed

We welcome our little one

Well – he didn’t want to wait until our scheduled c-section on August 30^th. I started having contractions during sacrament meeting at church. For the 3 hours of church, I continued to have contractions, about 20 minutes apart.

When we got home, I worked on our special back to school dinner, but had to cut back on the decorating due to the increased frequency of the contractions. We did enjoy our meal and brief celebration after dinner.

After putting the boys to bed at 8pm, Gramps and Grandma came over to stay the night with them (thank you, thank you, thank you). Ryan and I headed over to Labor and Delivery and I got hooked up to a bunch of monitors where they determined that I was indeed in labor.

So we prepared ourselves with a word of prayer and then the commotion began of getting all prepped for surgery.

Yeah we look great for the middle of the night! Ha!

At 12:03am they pulled our littlest boy out of me and with very few cries I got to meet the little man briefly then they took him to clean and weigh him while I hung out on the operating table while they finished.

About 2 hours later I got to hold him for the first time and was so surprised to find out how little he was (7lbs .07ozs and 18 inches long). The smallest of our boys!

I was hit with the emotion of this being the baby that I prayed for. I was done having kids (2 was good for me) but I turned the matter over to prayer and was humbled to realize that we were to have another. I was struck with the fact that this would be our last little one. Pregnancy is just too difficult for me and my family and to endure this again would send me to the nutty farm for sure. It was a tender moment as I stared into the eyes of this newborn, so fresh from our Father in Heaven. I felt the blessing of this little one immediately and was struck with the love of my Father in Heaven by sending me this sweetie pie.

We stayed in the hospital until Thursday and had to return the next day so that I could have an Epidural Blood Patch performed to fix the epidural headache I had developed (basically spinal fluid was leaking internally and was causing my brain to sag creating the most intense pain I have ever felt). We also have been dealing with our little one having jaundice. Daily trips to the pediatrician for blood tests and 24/7 light treatments on a light blanket (fortunately today should be the last day of the phototherapy) have been tiring but we are making it.

Our older children have welcomed their little brother with open arms. They love holding him, making faces at him, talking to him. Our middle child has only asked a few times to put him back once he heard him cry. They have nicknamed him Hud-Nut.

Overall, things have been good. Ryan has been able to see to Big D’s needs with his first and second week of school. C-Man has had the opportunity to play at friends houses (thank you to my dear friends for your help with this). We have been doing our best to keep up with the busyness of school and soccer and so far things have gone relatively smoothly.

Thank you for your well wishes on FaceBook and your prayers. We are thrilled to continue our journey to eternity as a family! 

 I am the mother of three boys. Three mighty fine boys!!!

Happy Blessings to You,

Choose the Right

We will choose the right at school, at home, or at play!

In the midst of contractions, I simplified our back to school dinner! I didn't deck out the table like I normally would and we had to shorten the celebration. 

I love Big D's face in this picture!

This school year our focus as a family is to choose the right! 

So we celebrated our theme with crowns, enjoying a yummy dinner, singing the song “Choose the Right,” and we talked about how we can make good choices while at school, while playing with our friends and family, and at home. After that, my handsome hubby was able to give a Father’s Blessing to each of our boys to help them prepare for the new school year.

Just a few hours after these pictures were taken; hubby and I were on our way to the hospital to welcome our newest little one into the world. Perfect timing – right?!!! 

Happy Choosing to you, 

Shower for Baby

Showering with love and gifts

I felt the love as my friends hosted a shower for me! I was pretty insistent that I didn’t need a shower but I’m glad that my girlfriend, Erica, was even more insistent than I was. It was just so nice to spend time with so many of my friends and to enjoy some laughs and tender moments together.

A huge thank you to this lady (with the camera)…

…she organized the shower and allowed us to enjoy her home. Thanks Erica!!!

Many thanks to my girls Amber and Kelsey (sorry the picture is fuzzy) for the simple shower games.

Christine (the one in pink in the picture below) – the cake was just AMAZING! Thank you for sharing your talents with all of us.

I had a nice time spending time with friends I haven’t been able to do things with during this pregnancy. (Note: in most of these pictures the ladies are making play dough balls into what they think the baby will look like - such a fun game)

And this little one was so very spoiled!!! Such cute outfits and other gifts. Thank you to all who came!

Only one more week until our scheduled c-section. Here I am at 38 1/2 weeks. Oh so close!!!!

We shall see if he waits until then – I have been having a good amount of contractions, so who knows. Now if I could just get some sleep before he comes!!!

 
Happy Celebrating to you, 

I Love Vinyl

Just a few weeks left until our little one makes his grand appearance and I am trying to put the finishing touches on the nursery.

Last year I covered a bulletin board with my favorite ticking stripe and used it as part of my Christmas decorations. I decided to use it in the nursery so I hung it in the baby’s room and have had it there for a few months.

I have been trying to figure out the best way to use it. Now if I was having a girl I would have attached ribbon and made that a darling bow holder board. Something tells me that my little boy wouldn’t really need the hair bows, so I had to come up with something else.

Last week an idea popped into my head that was the perfect use of the darling bulletin board. Why not use it as a growth chart?

I usually keep a photo album that documents each week of my child’s first year, but I knew I couldn’t fit that many pictures on the board so I decided to use the board to display a picture a month for our little guy’s first year. 

I made a mat for each month (I can’t wait to start putting pictures on it) and then cut out the tag line “watch me GROW” using my handy dandy Cricut and some black vinyl. My friend Kelsey had just used that wording on one of her recent scrapbooking pages and it was perfect for this too. 

One more thing done and just a few more to do before baby comes!

Last week, at 36 weeks!

Happy Sticking To You, 

Happy Camper's

The dirtier the better!

With a car full of supplies, my husband took our boys camping a few weeks ago at SugarPine (outside of Forrest Hill, CA). They went with another dad and his twin boys. My boys were looking forward to hiking (a 4 – 6 mile hike around the lake), fishing, camping, being dirty, and eating s’mores.

At the beginning of the hike

My dirty boys - taken while on the hike!

Big D fishing from the canoe

Little C and one of the twins

You see the tent the arrow is pointing at? Well that is a 2-man tent that my husband set up for him and the 2 boys! They said it was a little tight! Hahahaha!!!!

The shirt says it all!

Seriously cute kids!!! I love that Little C is trying to give rabbit ears to his brother...

and then too himself

My handsome, dirty, tired boys!!!!

Upon all reports, the camping trip was AWESOME! My oldest and the twins were even able to complete several Cub Scout requirements – added bonus!

Happy Trails To You,

Zucchini Muffins

YUMMMY!

These muffins were a HUGE hit in our house. Many thanks to Melanie for sharing the recipe.

Trust me – you may want to double the recipe because they will be gone much too soon.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cup sugar
2 cup grated zucchini
1 cup nuts (optional)
3 tsp vanilla
3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
3 tsp cinnamon
½ bag semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Directions:

1.   Preheat oven to 350*

2.  Beat eggs until foamy. Add oil, sugar, squash, vanilla and nuts.

3.  In another bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder. Add to the wet mixture, slowly, and mix until it is all incorporated. Add chocolate chips and mix.

4.  Pour into greased muffin pans. (Makes about 24).

5.  Bake at 350* for about 20 minutes (time will vary depending on your oven and amount of batter in each cup.

Happy Baking To You,