Saturday, November 7, 2009

One month and pictures

Jack is already a month old! (Technically, a month and three days, but who's counting?) His doctor's appointment went well. There was no need to ask if he was eating well since his measurements wer 12 lbs. and 23 in.! Yep, he's my big baby!
Here's a few picture's that I wanted to share. This one is a cute one of Noah.
A cute one of Braden.
Our pumpkins. Braden's is on the left, Kevin's is in the middle, and mine is on the right. Noah and Jack both had pumpkins, but we didn't have time to carve them. We used a carving kit with patterns; mine was supposed to be as easy as the other two. Hah! I should have known better!
The big boys at the pumpkin patch.
Like father, like son.
Jack sleeping so sweetly, and no I didn't pose him.







Monday, October 5, 2009

Introducing...

We'd like to welcome the newest member of our family, Jack Owen . He was born yesterday (Oct. 4) at 10:44 AM. He's a good sized little man, 8 lbs 9 oz and 21 in long. The nurse also said that his head is 14 in/cm (whatever they measure in), which is big. Luckily, my water broke before I went into labor, so I got to the hospital in plenty of time to get my epidural. I don't think he would have made it out otherwise. Labor was nice and fast, my water broke at 5:55 AM and he was born at 10:44, so under 5 hrs. I love short deliveries! We did miss conference, though.

Braden was so excited to see Jack. He just loves him and wants to show him everything. Noah seems okay with him for now; he likes to pat Jack's head and look at him. Hopefully he'll continue to be okay with a new baby around, because he's going to be getting less of me. Sorry this is kinda unintelligible. I'm exhausted, but I just wanted to let everyone know.



Thursday, August 27, 2009

First haircut!

Noah finally got his first haircut! I'd been trying to figure out a way to cut his hair without accidentally stabbing him and finally figured out that I could use the clippers like I did on Braden. I was afraid it would be too short, but I don't think it's too bad.

Before After





















I found Braden and Noah laying on the little couch together, and I had to take a picture. Noah doesn't usually like being "confined" like that, so it will probably never happen again.

Braden is sucking his lip because Noah is. It's something Noah started a couple of weeks ago, but now he usually only does it when he's sleeping.

This is a view of a sunset from our front yard. By the time I got the picture the colors were starting to fade. We get lots of incredible sunsets here.




And lastly, I'm 34 weeks! Only 6 (or so) more to go! Time to get crackin' on getting ready for baby.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Just more stuff

Well, I've been meaning to do another post for a while now, but I've been putting it off since this is what I have to work with (thanks, Noah):




So there probably won't be much actual text in this blog.

Braden got a new haircut a week or so ago. I'd been meaning to do it for a few weeks, and my grandpa kept refering to Braden as my daughter, so it was well past time.

Before and After

























This is a big deal for us, since both Braden and I like it long (though not as long as it is in the picture). Seriously, who wouldn't want to keep those gorgeous loose curls? Kevin decided he wanted to do it with the clippers, and convinced Braden and I to let him. I thought I was going to cry, but I held back the tears. Braden hated it at first and said he wanted his hair back. Now he's okay either way. I like it because you can see his face better, but I still miss the long hair. He'll probably grow it out again, as much because it takes us forever to get around to cutting it. Maybe we'll do short for summer and long the rest of the year.


Kevin's sister has been in town for the summer with her family and I finally got around to taking pictures of all the kids. These are all of Kevin's parents' grandkids, or at least until October.

From left, Carter, Katelyn, Braden, Dylan, and Noah.

The kids were watching a movie and I caught Braden and Dylan like this.



This is also during the movie. I thought they looked cute smooshed together on Braden's tiny couch.


And in baby news, I only have 10 weeks to go! Yay! I'm almost done! Now if only I could figure out a name.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Craziness!

So, way back in the day, I was going to post about our recent vacation to Florida. While that was an awesome trip (except the traveling), so much has happened since then that I'm just going to say a few things. First, it was so great to see our good friends again. We hadn't seen them since Braden was a baby, so it had been about three years and a kid for each family. That was the best part was seeing them again. Second, Braden sprained his ankle the second day we were there. We don't know how, he just started limping one night, and the next morning he had a bruise and was swelling. (By the way, Braden is one of those kids who will take flying leaps off of four foot high stages. He hadn't done anything remotely like that for days!) He spent a whole day crawling because he refused to stand on his foot, then woke up the next morning and said, "Mommy, my ankle's all better!" Sure didn't slow him down much, huh? Third, I did get pictures, but most of them are on a disposable waterproof camera which has not been developed yet, so, sorry. No pictures today.

Okay, getting on with the craziness. Kevin and I have been in the process of buying a house, and we closed on it (finally!) the last day of our vacation. Nice to have keys waiting for us when we got home. Well, we knew we were going to have it cleaned, and so when we had people out to do estimates, we found out the carpet that we thought was just dirty was destroyed by dog urine. Sick. So we had to replace the carpet. I'm kinda glad because I love our new carpet.

Anyways, come Monday morning of the week everything for the house is supposed to happen (carpet replacement, fridge delivery, cleaning, etc.) Noah has a seizure. I am not kidding when I say it was the scariest thing that has ever happened in my life. He was sitting on the floor next to me crying for me to pick him up while I was trying to make pancakes for Braden. He stops crying, and then I hear a thunk, so I look over at him, and he was laying on his side on the floor, not doing anything. He does this sometimes when he's really tired, and he was just getting over a bug, so I didn't think anything about it and went back to turning a pancake. As soon as it was turned, I looked at him again and he had stiffened up, was twitching and drooling, his eyes were rolled back into his head, and his lips were turning blue. Now, it's a good thing that I don't panic, because I would have. I just about did. I started yelling for Kevin, but I wasn't getting much out, so I picked Noah up and ran him to Kevin. Kevin had just gotten out of the shower, so he threw on some clothes and gave Noah a blessing. Right away the twitching stops and he loosens up, but the look he gave us was horrifying, like, "Do I know you?" He wasn't scared, just confused, and then he fell asleep. We rushed him to the ER and they took his temp (99.1) and his vitals then got us into a room. The doctor actually showed up fairly quickly, took a look at him and decided that Noah had a bad ear infection and that therefore the seizure was a febrile seizure. They're actually fairly common. Some kids have them some don't, and they grow out of it. He then says that we were being very calm, and we're not sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or a suspicion about our parenting. So he sends us on our way with a prescription for antibiotics. We go home, get his medicine and give him a dose, and are chilling when Noah starts getting clinging and crying inconsolably again. He loves going outside, so I thought that would help. Kevin took him out while I went to change out of my PJ's when Kevin yells that he was doing it again! Noah was wandering around, decided he wanted to go back inside and starts to go in then he stops and stiffens up. Luckily, Kevin saw this and grabbed him before the actual seizure started, 'cause Noah would have fallen onto concrete, which would have made things worse. As soon as he stops, we put him back in the car, take him back to the ER where they decide to do some tests. They do a urine sample (catheter for the poor little guy!) blood test (kept an IV in, too, just in case), lumbar puncture (or spinal tap), and a CT scan. Poor little guy! He was NOT happy. And because he kept trying to pull the IV out, they put a foam brace on his hand to keep him from getting to the IV. Noah kept trying to shake the brace off, which was kind of funny. While we were trying to calm him down for the CT scan (you have to be perfectly still for it, and he was crying again) he had another seizure. Since we were right there in the hospital, the doctor and a bunch of nurses come running and load him up on something, which is a lot like Valium and used to stop seizures. That knocked him out, so they rushed him in to do the scan, and had to kick some one out so we could do it while Noah was in his after-effects. They couldn't get ahold of our pediatrician, so they had the oncall one come down and look at him. She used to be Noah's doctor, and we trusted her, so that was nice for us. She looked at Noah and said that he did not have an ear infection, and that we were going to be kept overnight for observation. More than one seizure in a day is not normal. We ended up being in the hospital for the rest of that day and most of the next. It was after 4:00 when we finally got to go home. While we were in the hospital, my dad calls, out of the blue. When I tell him what's going on, he informs me that there is a family history of epilepsy. Such a nightmare! The results of his tests all came back clean, so we were referred to a pediatric neurologist in Reno (that's an hour away, for those who don't know) with an appointment at 7:45 the next morning to do an EEG and then another appointment at 1:00 pm the same day to go over the results and talk with the doctor about what happened. So Wednesday morning we show up for the EEG another test where you need to be still, and preferably asleep, for half an hour. Once the electrodes were on, Noah, the little champ, slept through the test. They had a bed like table , so I laid down with him and also fell asleep. Since it was ridiculous to go home and come back, we stayed in town and took Noah to Scheel's and then to lunch. It was actually fun, and was a much needed break from stress. We go back to the second appointment, find out that the EEG was normal (Yay!) so she's pretty sure it's not epilepsy. She had us tell her exactly what happened, asked a few personal history questions, watched Noah play (ha!) for a little while, then told us what she thought. She thinks that it's like how some kids get upset and hold their breath until they pass out, only Noah was having seizures instead of passing out, and most likely not doing it on purpose. Basically, he was crying so hard that he wasn't getting enough oxygen to his brain, which was causing seizures. She warned us that this would most likely happen again, sent us home with a couple of prescriptions in case it does, and told us that she hoped not to hear from us again. So far, Noah has not had any more seizures, and is doing great! Thanks for all your prayers for Noah. We really appreciate them.

But this is not where the story ends. Like I said earlier, we had all sorts of house stuf going on that week. Luckily, Kevin's sister and brother in law offered to clean our house for cheaper than the pros, so we had them around for all of the stuff that was going on with the house. That was all done by Thursday, so we spent the rest of the week packing and moving. That wouldn't have been a big deal, but we had to speak in church that Sunday. There was pretty much about 10 minutes worth of preparation, because I kept falling asleep sitting up at the table Saturday night, and church was at 9:00 the next morning. Fortunately for me, we were assigned conference talks, which was a big help. I have a hard time giving talks and filling up my time (once I spoke for two minutes after spending the whole week preparing and Kevin got stuck with the rest of the time), but I ended up speaking for twenty minutes! Holy Moley! I sat down and Kevin looked at me and said, "Geez, you sure talked forever." I thought he was kidding til I looked at the clock. I tell you what, that was purely me being blessed. I never could have done that on my own.

So that's the drama formerly known as my life.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Baby update

Just wanted to let everyone know that it looks like there are no cute baby dresses in my near future. Yep. We're having another boy! Goodness gracious! What am I going to do with all these boys? I get to choose the name (Kevin made me a deal), and I think I have a first name, but the name I like best for a middle name Kevin hates. If I can't come up with anything else, I'm going to have to just make an executive decision. Actually now that I think about it, I don't think anyone I've told yet likes the name. I think the first name is going to be Ezra, so any suggestions that sound good with Ezra would be appreciated. Of course, I still have 4 1/2 months to go, so I could totally change my mind.

It's almost too bad we're not having a girl. We had a name we both liked picked out since within a week of finding out I was pregnant. Oh, well. We're just making sure there will be plenty of missionaries and priesthood holders in the world. And carrying on the family name, since we're the only grandkids with our last name having boys so far.

One day, I will have a girl. I can't give up hope. ;P

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Facebook?

So, I've been wondering lately what the deal with facebook is. I don't really understand the purpose of it. Kevin's got a profile and he lets me look on it, so I do sometimes, but I just don't quite get it.

How many of you have a Facebook profile? Can you explain to me what the purpose of ti is and why it's so great? I'm trying to decide if I want one, and whether or not I'll do both this blog and facebook.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Braden in Primary

This is just a funny story about Braden. I love that he's in that stage now where he's constantly doing or saying something that's not supposed to be funny but is. Anyways.

I'm a Primary worker and I go into the nursery and Sunbeams classes to teach them music. That means I go into Braden's class every Sunday. (They have Sharing time first, then they go to class and meet back in the Primary room for the last 15 minutes.) When I went into Braden's class yesterday, he wasn't there. I figured he was going to the bathroom and didn't think much about it, but when he never showed up, I asked where he was. His teacher said that he wanted to stay in the Primary room so they let him. I thought that was strange and told Kevin about it after church. He got a funny look on his face and told me that he told Braden that since today was his turn to do scripture he had to sit there quietly the whole time and be reverent and good. So that's exactly what he did. He sat there the whole time and would not leave his chair because he wanted to do the scripture. It's funny how literal kids take everything.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Look what I did!

Before After


Well, Braden's obviously been needing a good trimming lately. His hair got so long that when it was wet (meaning no curl) it was at least as long as mine, which is a good inch and a half longer than when I first cut it. I just never got around to taking him to get it cut, so one night, I thought, "What the heck. Why don't I just do it?" And I did! I kept longish on purpose, cause I like it that way, and so that if I really messed up, there would still be plenty left for the beautician to fix. I have to say, I think I did a pretty good job!

And while I'm on the topic of personal accomplishments, It's official! Braden is potty trained! He even wakes up dry in the morning, which I was not expecting to happen for a while. Yay, Bradenman! We are so proud of you!

And some funny things that Braden has said recently:

1. When we were watching Conference, any time someone said "Holy Ghost" Braden would get all excited. After a while of this he said, "Holy Ghost! I love the Holy Ghost!" So Kevin asks, "What about Heavenly Father and Jesus?" Braden answers, "Yeah. They like him, too."

2. Just a little preface. Every once in a while Kevin or I will feel the need to give Braden a little smack on the rear when he's gotten into some big trouble. Not much of a spanking, it doesn't even hurt him. So last night, I went to the store with my mom and left the kids with Kevin to get ready for bed (so nice to go without kids!). Braden only gets a bath a couple of times a week, otherwise he skin gets horribly dried out, but Noah needs one every night so he can be slathered with a prescription cream to keep his rash away. Real fun. Anyways, Kevin was giving Noah his bath, and Braden kept getting in the way and splashing water all over the floor, and not listening to Kevin, so Kevin spanked him. Braden laughed so Kevin went to spank him again, but Braden ran away and Kevin had to chase him down. (Noah was not in the bathtub at this time.) After Kevin got a hold of him, he spanked him (this is the second spanking) and sent him to his room. Kevin was so mad that he left Braden there for quite a while. When he finally went back to talk with Braden, Braden couldn't remember really why he was in trouble. This is what Kevin finally extracted from him. "I was just running around and you wouldn't stop spanking me!"

And one funny Noah thing. Kevin was stretching the other day. I mean one of those big loud back bending stretches that make you do a kind of roar-like thing. Noah saw Kevin do this and decided to copy him. So cute! Now Kevin will stretch just to get Noah to do it too.

Oh, and another baby update. My due date has been changed from Oct. 9 to to Oct. 8. Yay! It keeps getting earlier and earlier!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Birthday and going potty

Well, Noah's 1st birthday was Saturday. I can't believe he's already 1! He's my sweet little guy, and I thought I would post some pictures from the party. Oh, and sorry that some of them are sideways. I forgot to switch them before I downloaded them onto my blog, and I didn't feel like taking the time to redo them.







This is a cool book Noah got for his birthday. When you open it up, it's got pictures of animals that you hold it up to your face like a mask. A week before his birthday, we went to a bookstore with my mom and found this book. Noah looked at it for maybe five minutes, then got distracted. A week later he opens up his present from my mom, and sees this book. He got all excited and pulled it out. He started putting it up to his face because he remembered that's what he's supposed to do. I didn't think he'd remember!






Noah being cute. He loves books.






Noah eating his cake. I made red velvet cupcakes. They were really good, but Noah didn't like the frosting.







Noah not eating his cake. He was actually eating ice cream. I just didn't know he could feed himself. He's always surprising me with the things he can do.




A bad picture I took. It had too much flash, so I took it to a photo editing website called Picnik. It's awesome! I played around with contrast and exposure, and it ended up looking like this. Waaaaaay better than the original!
And in other news, I think Braden might be potty trained! He hasn't had an accident in about a week. Finally! Way to go, Bradenman!


















Saturday, March 7, 2009

Baby update

So I just wanted to do a post to let everyone know that I'm due Oct. 9. I wasn't sure on when I would be due, and since I'd had some spotting, my doctor wanted to do an ultarsound to make sure everything's okay. He said that the spotting most likely wasn't anything to be concerened about, but just to be on the safe side, we'd do an ultrasound. He also said that gives us a good excuse to check to see if our dates are right. They were! Kevin was hoping I'd be due later, since his birthday is the 16th, but I'm glad that it's not. That's a whole week later!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Happy Square Root Day!

No, I'm not a math geek. I read a little article online this morning explaining, then found this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_root_day on Wikipedia. Check it out!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Funny kid!

So, a couple of days ago, Braden and I were lying on the couch chilling. After a couple of minutes, he starts wiggling and kicking his feet, and was getting pretty wild. I told him that he needed to stop because we need to be careful so we don't hurt the baby in mommy's tummy. He said okay then asked if he could see the baby. I told him that no, he can't because the baby is in my tummy. He still looked confused as to why he couldn't see, so I told him, "You know how when you eat food it goes in your tummy and you can't see it anymore? It's kind of like that. The baby's in my tummy, so we can't see it." He thought for a minute, then asked me to open my mouth. I didn't really think much about it, and he starts looking in my mouth. After a few seconds, I figured out what he was doing, and told him that I didn't eat the baby, Heavenly Father put the baby in my tummy. He thought some more and and decided that that made sense, and went off to play. Funny little boy. He's also saying that he has a baby in his tummy, and asked if Noah has a baby in his tummy, and says that there's lots of babies in my tummy, and sometimes they growl (really I'm just hungry).

Monday, February 16, 2009

Big News

So, uh Kevin and I are having another baby. Seriously. Neither of us thought I would get pregnant this fast, since it took 8 months for Braden and over a year for Noah. So it's a little bit of a surprise just because we thought it would be at least another half a year. Yay for us! Wow! Obviously Heavenly Father knows when it's best, (He's never been wrong before) so we'll see what happens this time.



P.S. There's more new posts below.

Pay it forward

This is how it works..... The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. BUT, in order for you to leave a comment on my blog, you have to post this on your blog first. (That means that sometime during this year you will send a gift to 3 people as well.) Get it? So, the first 3 people to comment on this post will be the lucky ones!

P.S. There's supposed to be a picture of a present with this post, but I couldn't figure out how to get it on here. So I guess you'll just have to use your imaginations.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Smarty Pants and Heavenly Father's "Thank You"

So I just have to say, Noah is such a smarty pants. Last night, my mom came over and watched the kiddos so Kevin and I could go to the store together. Well, Noah thinks that he gets to go whenever anyone leaves. So when he saw Kevin and me put our coats on, he runs and picks up a jacket and takes it to have it put on him, then runs and starts pulling on the diaper bag. If he could talk he probably would have said, "Don't forget me! I want to come, too!"



Noah's also my little sweetie. He loves giving me hugs, and tries to give kisses by blowing raspberries on my cheek. His two favorite games are peek-a-boo and patty cake, at least I assume they are since he's always trying to get us to play them. He just found out that he can stack and nestle these little cups at my mom's place, and it's fun watching him figure it out.
































A couple of nights ago we were trying to get Braden to say bedtime prayers. He thinks he can stay up later if he doesn't pray or brush his teeth or whatever, so sometimes getting him to pray is an ordeal. Well, I've just found that if I want him to do something, I'll tell him that if he does it I'll be sooo happy, then I'll make a big deal about it when he's done. So I tried it to get him to pray. I told him that Heavenly Father would be so happy if he prayed. Braden did pray, then, when he got done, he asked me if Heavenly Father was happy now. I said yes He is. Braden then pointed at the ceiling and asked if heavenly Father was way up there. I said that He is, and that He can see and hear everything that Braden does, so He knows when Braden prays. Then Braden said, "I can hear Him!" So I asked him what he was saying. He stopped and tilted his head and squinted his eyes like he's listening real hard, then he said, "He said, 'Thank you.' " Wow!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Funniest ward talent show ever!

Not my ward talent show, though. My mom got this video in an e-mail from her friend. It was so hilarious I had to post it.

http://www.ldsmag.com/youtube/081106swim.html

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Sunbeams and shockers

So in honor of my new little Sunbeam, I thought it would be cute to put a video of Braden singing the Sunbeam song. This is his rendition.





Speaking of Braden's rendition of songs, when he sings the Alphabet Song, he ends it "Now I know my ABC's. Next I love you, stay with me."



So that takes care of the Sunbeam part. On to the shocker.



My dad called me out of the blue and said he was in town. So we got to hang out with him for a little while this afternoon. He's living in Japan now, but will be moving back to the states soon. Yay! We'll get to see them more often. Which is great since I now have a sister and twin brothers to get to know. Their ages are pretty close to my kids' ages, so hopefully they'll get to be friends. Oh yeah, the boys sure had fun with their Grandpa.


P. S. Noah is now 10 months old! In only two short months he'll be a year! Where did the time go? Oh, and Noah's also decided to try running, now. It's so funny to watch!


Thursday, January 15, 2009

I did it!

I know it's been a while since I first started thinking about cutting my hair, but I've finally done it! Here's a before and after comparison.



Quite the change, huh?