Kari and the Three Men

Because I like pictures...

2010-11-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

...and I think you do, too, this post has lots of pictures. Not as many as I would really like to post, but I understand that nobody likes to look at pictures of my kids as much as I do. There is no particular order to these. There were all taken within the last month so are pretty much what they look like now.

Braden and Grandma (Kevin's mom) carved his pumpkin, and I carved Noah's pumpkin. He helped by telling me if he liked my design.

I don't have any pictures of me and all the boys, so you're going to have to settle for this. The weather here has been BEAUTIFUL. Nice enough that you don't need a jacket during the day.

This is what the boys looked like one day after playing outside. There's mud all down their backs, too.

Yes. Jack really does have curly hair.

A little while after this picture was taken, Braden grabbed a piece of a game out of Jack's hand and made him fall and hit his head on the TV stand. Jack gets up crying and I thought he was coming to me for comforting, but no. He walked right past me (still crying) over to Braden and hits him! While I technically think this is funny, I also see how it doesn't bode well for our kids' futures.

I was going to post a couple of videos that I liked, but for some reason, they won't upload. The first was a video of Braden "breakdancing" that's hilarious. The second was a video of Braden and Noah doing somersaults off our couch. Oh well.

Braden is in preschool now and loves it. His teacher was Kevin's preschool teacher and she is the BEST. Everyday Braden asks if it's a school day and if he's sent home with homework, he can't wait to do it. He seems to be learning a lot, too.

Noah is so funny. If you ask him a question, and sometimes if you ask someone else, he'll answer, "Ee-yup." He's so excited about everything, and his eyes get all twinkly, and it's just so cute to watch him. I wish everybody could see him in real life, because he's so much cuter in person than in his pictures, and I think it's because of his personality.

Jack is still big, but now he's not very chubby. He's in the 92nd percentile for height and 50th for weight (which is still big in our family), so he's getting into things that are high enough that most kids his age (almost 13 months!) can't. For example, we have lever door handles on our inside doors. He can open them. He also likes to pull food down that's been left on the table. He's made a lot of messes doing that. Today, he discovered that if he spins in circles long enough, he'll get dizzy. Apparently he thinks that's fun, because he did it over and over again. Silly boy! Jack does the cutest thing. If he's around when Braden or Noah wakes up, he'll run over to them saying, "Hi! Hi! Hi!" in a cute sing-song voice. He'll also run into the big boys bedroom if he wakes up first in the morning and climb up on their bed saying the same thing.

Kevin was recently given an award at work. It was a statewide thing with lots of people involved, and they had a 3 day conference ending with an awards ceremony in Reno. Part of the "deal" was a free three night stay at the Peppermill for us. It was nice to have a mini vacation from the boys, but it was hard to leave them for so long. The only bad thing? I lost my brand new phone and someone stole it before I found out it was lost.

I'm the Primary music leader at church and we had our Sacrament meeting program a couple of weeks ago. I just want to say how impressed I am with all the Primary kids! They did their parts, sat reverently, and sang all the songs so well! Way to go Primary!

Also, just a little bragging. I won second place in the ward chili cook off for the second year in a row. Pretty cool if you consider that it's not a traditional chili.

More pictures

2010-05-25T23:22:00.001-07:00

Wow! Two posts in one day! This post is just because I couldn't get all the pictures I wanted on the last post. I just think my kids are sooo gorgeous that I have to show them off. :) But, I guess I should do a bit of an update.

Braden's crazy, as usual. I've just realized that Braden's kinda the life of the house. He's so full of energy and just wants to have fun with anybody and everybody. When he's gone for long, instead of feeling like I get to have a rest, I feel like the life has been sucked out of the room. It's too quiet and too calm. Never thought that was something I'd ever say. We're putting Braden ion some kind of sport this year. We wanted to put him in T-ball, but we found out when they were the day after they closed. Oh well. He doesn't need the tee anymore anyways. So we'll do soccer. He doesn't care. It's a sport!

Noah's doing better and better with his speech. I'm so pleased with him. He's come a huge distance from where he was. Now, Noah's at his age level with his vocabulary, but he's still very hard to understand and is doing a few two word phrases and sentences. He still sees a speech therapist every other week. The big boys love when she comes because she brings the coolest toys. Noah's turning into such a copy cat, trying to do everything Braden does. I just love that kid!

Jack is still not crawling! He gets around pretty well by scooting or doing this funny thing where he lays on his stomach, then sits up, then lays back down over and over. It's kinda funny. He's pulling to a stand, but doesn't understand that he has to keep holding on. Hopefully his balance will improve pretty quickly. He's gone about two or three seconds a few times before falling (I catch him). I didn't think he would walk as early as Braden and Noah, but he's so motivated he just might. At least he'll be pretty close.

Kevin's still working away. Seriously, he's always working! Because he's so good at his job, his boss keeps putting him in specialized training, which he always does awesome at, so he gets put in for more training. I think eventually they'll run out of stuff to train him in, but then what will they do?

My handsome boys.

The picture's small enough that it's hard to see, but Noah's face (and the rest of him) is covered in dirt, courtesy of Braden. This is what happens when you have dirt for a backyard.

This is a video of Braden doing what he called something like "Super Braden Rocket" something or other. Just to show you what I deal with on a day to day basis. Oh, and he does cartwheels.

Campfire!

2010-05-25T22:10:00.000-07:00

About a week or so ago, we decided to roast some marshmallows in our backyard. The kids had a blast! (This was during a very short warm spell, we're now back to it being cold.) Noah ended up being absolutely filthy, covered in dirt and marshmallow, Braden just wanted to play with the fire, and Jack kept getting bit by mosquitos, but hey, if it makes them happy, right? Next time, we'll do s'mores.

Isn't he adorable?

Random kid pictures.

Noah's throwing dirt on Braden. Don't worry, he'll get back at him.

My boys

2010-03-01T13:33:00.000-08:00

Isn't this a great picture? It could only be better if Noah were making a better face, but since he's laughing I'll let it slide. ;)

Braden's almost 4 1/2 now. He's getting to be so grown up. We thought about putting him in preschool this last fall, but decided to wait another year. He's an awesome big brother and a good helper, but sometimes he forgets that he's not the boss. He's also my drama king. You can tell exactly how he feels by the way he acts and the faces he makes. No stoicism here.

Noah will be 2 in less than a month. I can't believe he's already that old and not a baby anymore! He's a good little brother to Braden - they have tons of fun chasing each other all over the place - and is so sweet to Jack. He loves giving Jack kisses and will even share his special blankie with him (but only him). He's starting to talk more, adding a few new ones here and there and improving the enunciation of words he uses regularly. Noah's also a grandma's boy. As long as any grandma's around he doesn't need anybody else.

Jack's just about 5 months old now. He's my big boy. He was 18.5 lbs and 26.75 ins at his 4 month check up. That's in the 90 to 95 percentile! I'm not exactly sure where he got the big genes from. He's such a sweetie and has been the easiest baby yet. He got his first two teeth in the last week, is starting to sit up on his own, and has discovered the joys of squealing and screeching. Hopefully he'll find a new, less annoying sound to make pretty soon.

Kevin's doing pretty good. He works a ton, but he loves his job, so he's happy. He's also very good at his job, and is getting to do lots of training that people as new as he is don't generally get to do. Kevin's a work out fiend, it helps keep him fairly relaxed what with the high stress job and all. And what about me? I'm doin' fine. since getting my license in December, I haven't really felt that newfound sense of freedom everybody told me I would. But then again, you don't really have all that much freedom when you're the mother of three little ones. I was recently called to be the Primary chorister. I'm still getting the hang of it, but the kids are great. In my free time I like to bake and make candy. Luckily I don't have much free time, or I'd be gaining a ton of weight. I don't like to load the kids up with sweets, and Kevin's too full of protein shakes to eat much junk, so who eats most of it? I do.

This is my latest creation. Vanilla sparkling wine pound cake. (I subbed milk for wine.) I got the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens. It's soo good without the glaze and with macerated strawberries. Yum.

Well, that's about all for now!

Just catching up

2010-01-12T16:02:00.001-08:00

So, We've been pretty busy lately. I've been meaning to do a new post for ages, but just haven't had the time! I finally have some now, but it's not going to be the greatest post, and the pictures aren't in order 'cause it's a nice day out and I want to go out with my boys. Can you really blame me?

Braden and Noah Christmas morning. Jack was sleeping, so we didn't get any Christmas morning pictures of him.

Braden in front of our tree. We have vaulted ceilings, so we got a super expensive, thus REALLY nice, artificial 9 footer. It will last forever and whenever we move we're just going to have to have high ceilings there, too.

Andrew (on the left) and Bryan. They're my twin 17 month old half-brothers. My dad, Tami, and the kids all came to visit for a few days after Christmas. It was pretty nice!

Baby Jack. He's three months old now (!) and weighs about 17 pounds. He's a big kid and a total sweetheart. He's been much easier than Braden and Noah so far because he sleeps so well! He's even happy when he's sick, although he doesn't look very happy in this picture. I've just been slacking at picture taking lately.

Noah sitting on Braden's bed. He's nowhere near ready to move out of his crib, but he sure likes to play on Braden's bed.

Sophia and Braden. Sophia is my 5 year old half sister. She's like a girl version of Braden, their personalities are so similar!

I said we've been busy lately. What that really means is that besides Christmas and Dad's visit, that we've been sick. Braden got sick just before New Year's. Then Noah got sick. Poor kid always gets sick worse than Braden. It was so bad I took him to the doctor's because I was afraid he had strep. The doctor was also concerned and did a test. Nope! Just a really bad sore throat from a regular old cold. Thank goodness it was not strep! He's finally just about back to normal. Jack picked up the bug, but he only ever just gets stuffed up and does a little bit of coughing and sneezing, not bad at all. Then I got sick Sunday. I'm not sure what it was, but it was horrible! I spent Sunday night writhing in agony and my muscles did a weird tightening thing and my stomach was bothering me, then Monday rolls around and I'm feeling decent, and today I feel totally fine. Strange. Kevin, the lucky dog, has not gotten sick and shows no signs of becoming sick. So we're finally all healthy and that makes me happy.

One month and pictures

2009-11-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

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.

Introducing...

2009-10-05T20:58:00.001-07:00

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.

First haircut!

2009-08-27T10:51:00.001-07:00

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.

Just more stuff

2009-08-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

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.

Craziness!

2009-06-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

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.

Baby update

2009-05-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

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

Facebook?

2009-05-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

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.

Braden in Primary

2009-04-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

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.

Look what I did!

2009-04-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

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!

Birthday and going potty

2009-03-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

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!

Baby update

2009-03-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

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!

Happy Square Root Day!

2009-03-03T07:19:00.000-08:00

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!

Funny kid!

2009-02-19T19:02:00.000-08:00

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).

Big News

2009-02-16T14:52:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-16T14:45:00.000-08:00

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.

Smarty Pants and Heavenly Father's "Thank You"

2009-02-11T21:21:00.000-08:00

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!

Funniest ward talent show ever!

2009-01-28T11:27:00.000-08:00

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

Sunbeams and shockers

2009-01-21T22:51:00.000-08:00

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!

I did it!

2009-01-15T21:17:00.000-08:00

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?

stuff

2008-12-29T23:01:00.000-08:00

Just some post-Christmas pictures. I always have too many pictures that I want to post, but these are some of my favorites.

Noah's first experience with snow.

Braden eating snow. He LOVES snow days. When he came back inside his arms up to his elbows were that frozen red that hurts, but he didn't care. As long as he gets to play in the snow, it's all good.

The kids Christmas morning before opening presents. They were both fairly subdued opening presents. Braden wanted to open everybodies' presents, but we convinced him to let us open (most) of our own. So he decided to give everybody their presents instead. He had an uncanny ability to always give the right present to the right person.

Kevin and Braden playing with Braden's Christmas present. You have to cock them before you can shoot them. It's funny because Braden just can't remember the word, so he's asked us to lock them up and knock them up. Umm, no thanks.

Daddy and the boys.

Me and the boys.

And, finally we have a video of Noah walking! It took forever because every time I got the camera out, Noah would get so excited and start waving his arms around. He has a hard time standing up like that, let alone walking. He walks much better now than he does in the video. He's decided to make walking his primary mode of transportation, now.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T18:04:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish evetyone a Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has a great holiday!

Pictures and a video

2008-12-09T22:16:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post some fun stuff.

Braden "washing dishes"

Noah pulled the crackers off the table. He really likes crackers.

Click on the picture to see it big, then check the eyes. (Imagine them without the red-eye.)

Braden being cute.

Noah being cute.

The boys being cute.

Braden fell asleep on his chair while eating his bedtime snack. He's done this before, but this was the most precarious.

My little trick pony
I caught Noah doing the funniest thing with Braden's lawn mower. (Braden calls it a "lawn mower truck".) Noah loves playing with it, but I don't think he quite understands the correct way to do it.

Walking and potty training

2008-12-08T13:10:00.000-08:00

Well, Noah has officially taken a step (just one) a few times now. By the end of the week I think he might be taking multiple steps. The fun begins!

Braden is starting to potty train. He's worn underwear a few days without any problems, but he has accidents most of the time, so we usually keep him in diapers and he tells us when he's going so he can go on the toilet. I don't think he quite understands or can tell when he needs to go before he's going. But this is definetly progress. Just a few months ago he was totally ambivalent about using the tolet and wearing underwear. The end is in sight!

Funny stuff

2008-11-22T10:10:00.000-08:00

So I got an e-mail the other day of funny church bulletins. I'm posting my favorites here.
----

The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'

Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.

Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.

Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing: 'Break Forth Into Joy.'

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.

Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S. Is done.

The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.

The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.

The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan:
Last Sunday: ''I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours'

The sweetest thing

2008-11-21T22:39:00.000-08:00

So, at dinner last night, I asked Kevin who he thinks is the best cook ever (I figured he would say me, but he really means it :P). Before Kevin can say anything, Braden points at me and says, "MOMMY is!"

And this morning, Noah woke up earlier than Kevin or I wanted to get up. So I took him out in the living room for an hour, then brought him in to our bedroom to switch with Kevin. I put Noah on the bed next to Kevin and got under the covers, and when I looked at Noah again, he had curled up on the pillow next to Kevin.

How sweet is that?

Copycat

2008-11-17T19:46:00.000-08:00

So, Noah is our little copycat. Braden is too, but Noah is little enough that you don't really expect it. We've caught Noah copying (mostly Kevin) before, but today was the best.

During dinner, Kevin had to spit out a piece of meat with gristle in it. A minute later, Noah leans over the side of his chair and makes this disgusting noise, so I say something to that effect to Kevin. Kevin looks at me and says, "Well, you should have seen what came out of his mouth." Apparently Noah saw Kevin spit the meat out and decided to try it to. Wonderful.

Jokes and toilets

2008-11-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

Sounds lovely, huh?

Braden is -hurray!- starting to go potty on the toilet more. Most days he'll tell us at least once that he's going potty, so we tell him to stop and get him to th bathroom. He doesn't get yet to wait and go after you get to the toilet, so he doesn't usually get much out. We're thinking about trying pull-ups for him, since I don't think he's ready to switch to underwear. Maybe in a few months we'll have a diaper free kiddo!

Also, Braden just learned to do this:

The great hair debate

2008-11-06T22:48:00.000-08:00

Yeah, so, this is way better than those silly presidential election stuff that's been going on lately. (I'm not serious. That's all sarcasm.)

Anyway, I have a bit of a dilemma. I want to do something to my hair, partially 'cause I'm sick of it and partially 'cause Noah's driving me nuts always grabbing it. He's got a thing with my hair and holding and pulling it, not fun. So, my dilemma is that I can't decide what to do with it. I kind of want to leave it fairly long, just because I like it long, though I know that doesn't do anything to solve my Noah problem. I'd want to do something different if I did keep it long. Or I could go fairly short. My favorite is this shoulder length and curly, a la Sophia Bush. (Sadly, I am using celebrity shots, they always have great hair.)

Or I like this cut, as seen on Jessica Simpson.

Or I could do something else, but I don't know what. Let me know what you think. I like hearing other people's opinions. It drives Kevin crazy, so I'm going to ask him less.

We have a crawler!

2008-11-03T21:03:00.000-08:00

Another quick post. This is a couple of weeks late, but Noah has started crawling. It's funny that usually he's either crawling to me whining to be picked up or crawling to Braden's bat. It's still his favorite toy. I've even seen him crawling while holding the bat. Noah is now trying to stand without holding anything. He can stand with no help for 7 seconds. He's also cruising better.

You can hear Braden talking in the background.

2008-11-03T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well, here's just a quick post. Braden was a dragon for Halloween. We decided on that kinda last minute, thus the thrown-together-with-sweats costume. (I was trying so hard to get everything done early this year.)

Noah was Curious George, technically. But without The Man in the Yellow Hat (somebody didn't want to dress up for Halloween) he just looks like a monkey.

The day after Halloween we took the kiddos out to Scheels. It's a new sports superstore (and I mean super- Scheel's is considered the largest sports store in the world) in Sparks (Reno). It has all sorts of fun stuff. First, at either entrance is an aquarium. One has freshwater fish, the other has tropical fish. Then, for the kids is a small (6-7 ft.) climbing wall and jungle gym. There's a ferris wheel, and a race car driving simulator. Actually there's three and you can race the other drivers. Kevin's favorite part was the gun section. My favorite part was the women's clothes (not just a sports store!) and Braden loved the fish and ferris wheel and Noah loved everything! Braden and I rode the ferris wheel together and we had an extremely long ride, about twenty minutes. Braden spent the first five laughing. We had a lot of fun. For perspective, Kevin took pictures of us from the second floor of the store.

It's so crowded, though, that when I got some food to snack on I was in line for thirty minutes! Braden got wound up to the point where he couldn't calm down, so maybe next time we'll aim to go later in the day so he can maybe get a nap in the car on the way there. You live, you learn.

Cute pictures!

2008-10-27T22:13:00.000-07:00

So these pictures were so cute, I had to share them. Aren't these boys adorable?

Oh, and some small news. They just realigned the ward boundaries in our stake. It needed to be done, our ward was huge and had tons of little kids, especially nursery aged ones. And one of the other wards was tiny, so they realigned things to try and help out. The only problem is I don't think it helped much. Fallon fourth ward is still huge with tons of little kids; they only moved a few of us out. Yep, we got moved. We're now in the medium sized ward. There are a few other couples with young kids in that ward, but not many. Two other young couples moved with us, the rest stayed in our old ward, including all the ones we were friends with. So we'll be seeing less of them, but hopefully will make some new ones. What gets me the most is that I'm going to miss my Primary kids and I don't even get to say goodbye. Although, I'm glad I'm not the Primary President. She lost five teachers, the newly called pianist (my mom), and the secretary. Yowser! I think that almost everybody who changed wards is in Primary. And our favorite nursery leader is staying (sad for Braden!).

Lattin Farms

2008-10-27T21:36:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, Lattin Farms is an actual farm that is opened to the public for things like corn mazes, market fresh produce, a bakery, interesting jams, dressings, butters, etc., and general fun for the family. Also, Kevin and I met and had our wedding reception here. Anyway, we took the kiddos out to the farm on Saturday. When we got out of the car Braden sees the "cow train," gets all excited and says, "I want to go there!" So first thing first, Braden rode the cow train. It's just barrels fixed up like cows and jerry-rigged to the back of a tractor (there are seatbelts, and every child must use them). He had a blast! That's really all he wanted to do, but we did convince him to try something else.

The bouncer! He loved it! I guess he was pretty happy that we convinced him to get off the train. They also had a little blow up jungle gym type thing for kids who couldn't or didn't want to do the bouncer. It had a little crawl through tunnel. That's what this shot is.

We also went and fed some goats. Braden thought that was pretty cool. We didn't get any good shots of that, and well, goats aren't that great anyway. Before we left, we got some shots of the kids in the pumpkin/gourd patch.

Poor Noah just wants to be bigger so he can go and do all the cool things that Braden gets to do. But even then, he had fun just watching everything that was going on around him. Lattin Farms is pretty much only open when there are things ready to eat (and be sold), and don't usually have lots of fun stuff like this until the corn maze is ready, so this isn't an everyday occurrence. All in all, it was a pretty great day. My only complaint was how many bees there were. It's a good thing for them, sure, what with pollination and all. But I just kept thinking about what if one of the kids or I got stung and it turns out that we're deathly allergic to bee stings. A littl paranoid, I know. The funny thing is that I even had a dream with lots of wasps and bees and hornets in it (indoors and out) because I was so nervous. Strange, huh? But we really did have fun. Maybe we'll go again and take the kids to the maze. Or maybe not because the maze is huge and you have to stay out of the corn. Good luck keeping Braden out!

This is pretty cool.

2008-10-24T23:05:00.001-07:00

http://howmanyofme.com

So I found this on someone else's blog and thought it was pretty cool. It does first and last name and then tells you how many people in the US have the same name. Turns out, I'm pretty rare! There's only 7 of me (depending on how recent their records are). If I use my maiden name (I was a Hassell once, after all) then there's only 2! Try it out! Let me know where you stand.

This is nuts!

2008-10-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

So, just a few days after cold weather and snow, the weather here in Fallon is now sunny and warm (in the 70's). Talk about crazy weather!

Snow Shocker! and other Random stuff

2008-10-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

So, as much as I like the snow, I don't think I like the snow in October. Just after the kids and I woke up this morning, we looked out the window and it was snowing! And not just a little bit. It was snowing quite hard with big flakes (think quarter size), but it's too warm to stick. It's unbelievable! Here it is, the beginning of October and it's snowing! It hardly snows in winter! Hopefully this isn't a sign that winter is going to be colder than usual this year. Poor Noah doesn't have any winter clothes because we lived in Hawaii when Braden was a baby. Looks like winter gear for Noah is moving up on my priority list.

This is the lovely view outside our dining room window.

We took Braden to the dentist the other day and he was so good that he got tochoose something out of the prize box. He chose a cool army guy. It was wrapped in plastic so Kevin told Braden that he could have it in the car. Well, pretty much as soon as it was unwrapped, Braden snapped the guy's head off. Nice one.

Sorry the picture's sideways. I forgot to fix it.

Wowzer!

2008-09-30T15:55:00.001-07:00

So, in one of my last posts I mentioned Noah playing with Braden's bat. Well, that bat is Noah's absolutle, 100 %, no-doubt-about-it favorite toy. If you take it away. He goes into meltdown. If he's having a meltdown, give him the bat and he's almost always happy. If you put him down and he's anywhere near the bat, it's like he's magnetically attracted to it. I'm serious. He loves that thing.

Oh, and another update. Noah is starting to shakily cruise around our furniture. And he's about to start crawling. He gets on his hands and knees and sometimes rocks and then he either stretches out and falls on his tummy, or he goes back to sitting. I think in another few weeks we might have a crawler on our hands.

Be a good sport!

2008-09-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

Everyone needs to play...This is Fun!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember--it can be funny, weird, awkward, random, etc.!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Please do it!

Amazing!

2008-09-29T16:12:00.000-07:00

This is just going to be a quickie, but I was so excited that I had to post this. Braden actually used the toilet Saturday night! There's hope for him, still!

Kiddo update and pictures

2008-09-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well, lets get the update out of the way, then we'll do the fun suff.

Both kids are on the mend. Braden's got a small cough, but he doesn't have disgusting amounts of snot coming out of his nose anymore. Good thing. He was driving me nuts with his whining and crying because "I've got snot!" I think he equates snot with bloody noses -he's had a few of those recently- and it scares him. Noah is still a little stuffy, but also pretty much done with the runny nose. While it's nice to not have to be constantly wiping his nose, he slept better when he was runny and not stuffy. Now, Kevin and I have the cold and poor Kevin got a sinus infection from it that is aggravating his asthma. Yay!

Braden turns three tomorrow! Holy moley! (Or holy gracious as Braden would say.)! He's doing fine. He's going to be our little sports star, it looks like. He's good at soccer, baseball (NOT T-ball), basketball, and he's got a wicked spiral when he throws a football. A few months ago he astounded me by reciting most of the alphabet. I'm not exactly sure where he picked that up. I didn't teach him. It's a good thing that he does pick things up well, I don't always do the greatest job teaching him. Braden also loves praying. It's the funniest thing. He likes to bless daddy to exercise, among other things.

Noah just turned 6 months 5 days ago and is showing signs of being a sports star, too. He likes to play with Braden's bat, and even swings it some while holding it right. Noah started pulling himself to a stand about a month ago. that's a month earlier than Braden did. Braden started walking at 8 months, so I told Noah he can't start before that. Although I don't think that I'll be mean and knock him down when he's trying to walk. A couple of days ago I was eating crackers while holding Noah and he took one from me and started eating it. I was shocked. He was so resistant to starting solids and only barely started to actually like it. But that's runny food. I didn't think he'd want actual solid food any time soon. They grow up too fast.

Okay. Now that that's out of the way, it's Picture Time!

I never realized how much alike Braden and Noah look until I saw this picture.

We went to the train museum the other day and got to ride the train. It was pretty fun.

Shiver me timbers!

2008-09-19T15:11:00.000-07:00

Ahoy, maties! Take a gander at this fun article. If you don't I might be makin' you walk the plank.http://www.tampabay.com/features/popculture/article817148.ece

Geez! Revisited

2008-09-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

So, it's been less than a month since the last time the kids were sick and, guess what, they are again! They've both come down with this horrible cold that produces lots of snot. That's just annoying for Braden, but it makes it really hard for Noah to eat and sleep. The poor kid actully stopped eating for a while and I was starting to get nervous because he wasn't dirtying any diapers either, but he started eating again, so I'm okay. As irritating as this is -two kids sick at the same time!- at least it's just a cold.

Vacation!

2008-09-13T19:41:00.000-07:00

Okay. I should have done this a while ago but, yes, we did go on our vacation. We left Sunday (August 24) after church and drove 2 1/2 hrs. to Twin Lakes near Bridgeport, California. Both kiddos slept almost the whole way there, which was nice, but braden whined the whole last half an hour until we got there. Noah woke up not long after Braden did and was so happy. I don't know why, but if Braden is crying (or in trouble) Noah is almost always happy.

The night we got there, we saw a deer. Braden was so excited. Actually, he was excited about everything. He got to sleep in a big bed, he had his first s'more, and -best of all- he got to go fishing! Every morning when he woke up he'd yell, "The sun's up! Time to go fishing!" We pretty much spent all day, every day fishing, eating or sleeping. What a life!

We all caught at least one fish, though Braden got help. He liked trying to cast his own little pole

(that was hilarious) and helping us reel in ours. Most of his time was spent trying to sneakily through rocks in the water and chase ground squirrels. Noah had fun either sleeping in his sling, getting carried around, or playing on the sand. Well, at least he did like playing in the sand until he tipped over face first into it. Poor kid had sand all over his face! If we had gotten pictures we could tease him when he's older about eating sand, but alas. No pictures.

All in all, it was a nice relaxing vacation. Maybe we'll do it again sometime.

Geez! Part two

2008-08-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

Well, Braden is getting better. With antibiotics his bug should only last 1-3 days. Also, he's not contagious anymore, so the likelyhood of Noah getting it now is small. That's the follow up. On with the rest of the story.

Noah has eczema. It's fairly bad. I've always assumed that it's caused in part by allergies. Well, it's finally starting to look a little better, but a few days ago he started getting another, different rash. We didn't worry about it too much, since we're used to seeing a rash on him, but it started getting worse, so we decided last night to call and make an appointment for him. Well, this morning we're all kind of busy and don't remember right away, so I went to put Noah down for a nap. He didn't want to sleep, so I go to pick him up and his face is covered with this rash. So I'm like, Oh crap! and go to tell Kevin that we need to just take him in (our doctor does walk-ins) when I notice he has hives on his hand. The poor kid looked like he was attacked by mosquitoes! So Kevin takes him in and the receptioninst says, "Is he sick?" Kevin told her no but that he has a "funky rash and hives." So she told him he had to make an appointment and come back later. She didn't ask how old he is, if this is the first time he's had this, nothing! Luckily, the appointment was for later today. So Kevin again took him in, waited to be seen in a not busy waiting room for an hour, got Noah weighed, and then waited another half an hour to be seen by the doctor. They were both asleep by the time someone showed up. Not the doctor! The doctor wasn't in today, so a PA from the hospital emergency room was filling in. She said there was nothing they could do for him, except we could try kids Benadryl cream. Gee, helpful. She did check his throat for strep and so far he looks okay. Also the diarrhea is going around and nothing to worry about. So that's good. Oh, by the time they went to the appointment the rash on his face was gone (he still has it elsewhere) and the hives were gone too. He till has tiny red dots where the hives were, though. Can't they just test him for allergies?

Also, this is not the first time we've been unhappy with the staff. We love the doctor, but hate the staff. We're going to try a different doctor. The PA even reccommended one.

Geez! Bad timing!

2008-08-20T16:31:00.000-07:00

So, Kevin actually took some time off of work this week so we could take a little mini-vacation. We were looking forward to going out to Twin Lakes and taking Braden fisshing for a couple of days, but it wasn't to be. At least, not yet. First Noah has come down with a mild case of diarrhea, I think it's very mild rotavirus, but other than the diarrhea, he's fine. So we thought, no big deal. We'll still go. Well, the day before our vacation started (so, yesterday), Braden started acting sick. At first he was just tired and had a fever. But as the day went on he started getting worse. His stomach hurt, especially bad if you touched it, he felt dizzy, and he kept getting a higher and higher fever. It got so bad that I ended up calling Kevin to come home from work early. Braden's temp was 104.6 and he was in some pretty bad pain, so Kevin took him in to the emergency room at about 10:00 PM. They didn't get home until 1:45 AM! Poor Braden! So while they were there, the doctors/nurses (?) went to give him Tylenol, but Kevin told them that Tylenol makes Braden throw up. They gave it to him anyway and, guess what, he threw up all over himself and Kevin. They gave Braden a kid sized hospital gown to wear (he ended up wearing it all night). When they checked Braden's mouth, the doctor was shocked by how bad he looked. He couldn't believe that Braden was still swallowing and talking because he apparently has Strep bad. So now he's on antibiotics and he's even grumpier today than yesterday and he's refusing to take his medicine. Kevin's had to literally force it down him twice already. Great vacation.

Oh well. Thinking about it, though, I see that things worked out at the best time. Kevin is home to help me. I know that I couldn't take care of Braden and Noah like this by myself. And, since Noah has diarrhea, maybe that will help keep him from getting Strep, because the bug would (hopefully) get flushed out before it could make him sick. Plus, Kevin took time off through next Wednesday, so we'll hopefully still have time to go to the lake. Small blessings that make a big difference.

Where did the time go? And other ponderings

2008-08-10T14:53:00.000-07:00

Actually, I shouldn't say ponderings. I just told my Primary class that pondering is when you're really thinking deeply about something, especially something important. As most of my friends know, I don't do much pondering. I should probably have said something else, maybe "And other stuff." Anyways, on with the show.

I just realized that Noah (my baby!) is going to be five months old in just over a week. What?! I thought he just barely turned four months old last week! Heck, when did that even happen? Geez. Time keeps flying faster and faster and I can't keep up. Oh well. Not much I can do about it.

Speaking of Noah, he is one noisy baby. Right now he makes that phlbbt noise and when he wants to be picked up he goes, "Mmmm. Mmmm," and arches his back if he's laying down. And, just like Braden, when he cries he says,"Mamma. Mamma." For a while there, if a toy got out of his reach he'd make the funniest sound, like a frustrated animal. I wish I had some sound clips of him, he's hilarious!

OK. To refresh everyone's memories, my parents are divorced, and my dad is remarried and has a 3 year old daughter. Well, not anymore! My dad now has twin boys. They were born this July, I think on the 17. I don't know for sure, since I once again found out third hand.

Oh, and Braden said the funniest thing the other day. About a week ago, he was eating an Otter Pop type popsicle with my mom on her front porch. It was getting dark and some stars were out. When an airplane flew by (all you could see were the lights) he said, "Look, Grandma! It's an airplane-star! It's almost like a spaceship!" Also, my word of the moment is incredible. The other day something happened and Braden said, "That's incredible!" Clear as day.

Tag

2008-07-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

O.K. I was "tagged" by a friend so this is my tag blog. Enjoy!

Rules:
Each player answers the questions themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answers.

The Five

Ten years ago…
1. I had just turned 15.
2. I was in between my freshman and sophomore years in high school.
3. I was kind of a misfit (not a nerd, not a jock, not cool, not very memorable).
4. I just finished doing long and triple jump in the Silver State Games.
5. I did my fourth year hike at Girl's Camp.

Five things on today’s “to do” list...
1. Shower.
2. Feed me and kids.
3. Give kids nap.
4. Have Family Home Evening
5. Read.

Five snacks I enjoy...
1. Candy.
2. Baked goods
3. Leftovers that are too small to make a meal.
4. Strawberries with sour cream and brown sugar.
5. Ritz crackers topped with cheddar and a slice or two of pepperoni.

Five things I would do if I was a millionaire…
(I'm assuming this is after tithing)
1. Pay off all debts.
2. Buy a house.
3. Invest.
4. Follow a set budget.
5. Have some fun! (ie. visit friends and family, decorate said house, shop, travel, etc.)

Five places I have lived…
Only five?! I'll skip some.
1. North Carolina
2. Florida
3. Tennessee
4. California
5. Hawaii

I don't know 5 people to blog. (Seriously! I don't know very many friend's blogs, and of the fewI do know, most have already been tagged.) So, here's my whole 2 people. Katherine and LaNae.

Some goings-ons

2008-07-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

http://m.rgj.com/news.jsp?key=87572&rc=loYesterday we had some crazy weather. What looked like a normal summer storm ended up producing at least one tornado. The link at the beginning is for a newspaper article. Yikes. And to make matters worse, I let Kevin's parents take Braden out to the ranch yesterday. (That's not the problem.) When Kevin told me about the tornado warnings, he said thathe'd just talked to his parents and they hadn't left yet, so I tried calling them to see if they knew about the warnings but I couldn't get through. So I had no idea what's going on with Braden or where he is in the middle of this tornado warning, and am starting to get really nervous. Well, it turns out that Kevin had talked to them more than an hour previously and they were well on their way out to the ranch before the tornado warnings were issued, so Braden was not in any danger. The strange thing is that I had had a dream the night before where a giant man eating (though, thankfully flightless) bird was trying to get at us to eat us and I couldn't find Braden. I did end up finding him and everything was okay, but the parallel between my dream and real life was kind of weird.

In other news, Noah is now four months old! When did that happen? We took him in for his appointment today and he now weighs 14 lb. and 2 oz. (although I think he weighs a little more than that) and is 25.5 in. long. He's the same length as Braden was at six months and weighs only a little more than a pound less. At this rate, he'll be bigger than Braden in a year or two. Noah's on about the same milestone track as Braden was, meaning he has rolled over, can sit up without support for a minute or more (but he doen't do it all the time because he wants to stand-apparently sitting is for babies), he can pass objects between his hands and is starting to make repetitive sounds, but only mama. He talks more than Braden did, though, and I think he'll be a little behind Braden on the whole walking thing. He still looks quite a bit like Braden, only bigger. By the way, Noah is 3 months olds in that picture. I haven't gotten any recent ones downloaded yet.

Braden is turning more and more into a little boy. The things he says and does crack me up. We've been teaching him our last name (we hadn't even thought of doing it until last week) and so if you ask him what his name is he'll say, "Bradenman Henrix," although sometimes he says "Henry." Then if you go through and ask him everyone's names he'll say "Kevin Henrix," "Kari Henrix," and Noah is "Bradenman Henrix." We're like "Nooo. His name's not Braden. What's his name?" Then he'll get it right. Also, Braden will randomly call Kevin and I by our names instead of Mommy or Daddy. I think it's funny, but Kevin always saying, "No, you call me Daddy. You call her Mommy." I figure it's just a phase that he'll grow out of. Braden's going to be out at the ranch until Wednesday or Thursday. While cleaner than usual, my house is too quite! I can't wait till he's home.

Fun? What's that?

2008-07-18T16:20:00.000-07:00

I just read an article about how to have more fun. It talked about some common excuses people give for not having any and what you can do to fix them. One of the excuses was not remembering how to have fun. That's exactly my problem! Too bad I can't remember what they said to do about it. But all is not lost, I'll just have to read it again. If anyone wants to post a comment on what their no-fun excuse is, I'll let you know what the article said to do about it. They were actually good ideas.

Lately I've been feeling bad for Braden. He doesn't get to have near as much fun as he needs. Everybody's too busy to do anything with him, and we don't have a yard to play in so poor Braden gets pretty bored. Maybe that article will help us help him.

Teething?

2008-07-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

Noah has been driving me nuts lately. He hardly sleeps and trys to chew anything he can get into his mouth. It seems like maybe he's teething. I sure hope not. He's already bitten me a few times and it hurts more than enough without teeth. At least if he is teething, he'll stop being so annoying soon.

I love my kids!

I can't believe I'm doing this

2008-07-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally given into peer pressure (namely Suzanne) and decided that doing a blog can't be any harder than sending out e-mails to everybody I want to keep in touch with. So here I am plugging away. Hope you enjoy!