Happy Easter!

Easter egg hunt in the backyard....

someone's determined.....

My little Soccer Tot

I signed Paige up for her first lesson of soccer in Soccer Tots.  I was curious how she might (or might not) participate, given that she is my super shy little girl.  One of her favorite friends, Kylan, was in the class with her and to my surprise she was so excited every week to go.  I loved watching her and I discovered that she kinda....runs like Phoebe.  (Remember on Friends when Phoebe goes running through Central Park?)  It was awesome!  I love that girl!

It was mandatory that she have her "socca hair" done every time too, which consisted of a pony tail (aka "allllll the hair up") and a headband.  And there was no deviating from this whatsoever.  Just so you know.

Way to go Paige!

Snowbird 2011

We've been coming here every year for as long as I can remember.  My grandpa began the timeshare tradition, who then passed it to his kids, and my parents have now passed it to us.  I love it and my kids love it.  (It was kinda a busy/crazy week and somehow these are the only photos I managed.  Sad.)

But we put both kids on ski's - this is Caiden's third time and he just cruised along...

and Paige's first time...

I wasn't sure how this was gonna go.  I'll admit, I was expecting lots of tears and flailing of arms and legs - but to my surprise, she did great!  A bit hestitant at first, she didn't want to put her full weight on the skis and more or less let Casey "carry" her. 

Then my dad tried skiing backwards with her in this awesome yoga pose of his while she hung onto his head, but it caused a bit of a head rush for him which led to a bloody nose, which sorta freaked Paige out.  It was hilarious. 

But soon enough Casey had her doing it by herself.  And when she would fall, she'd giggle and get right back up.  I was quite proud of my little Paigey. 

And Preston - well, he pretty much did this the whole time.  Lots of sleep and lots of snuggles with Aunt Rebecca. 

He's proving to be a fabulous little traveler already :)



SURPRISE Baby Shower!

Another reason I needed/wanted to leave early for our trip to Utah was because me and my mom were covertly trying to plan a surprise baby shower for my sister, who is pregnant with her first baby.  It's hard for us all to get together at the same time, so I figured why not during our Snowbird week, when everyone's already there.  It was so fun being sneaky and planning it all the while staying at her house.  I was so worried she was going to find out....but we pulled it off magnificently!

We disguised it by having a girls shopping day down in Salt Lake (which is a very normal thing - no suspicions there) and having lunch at Olive Garden, where everyone would be waiting when we arrived. It was fabulous! Except for the hostess guy who nearly ruined it when he said to us "Are you here for the baby shower?" and my sister-in-law fiercely whispered "Shut up!!!!!" But then they led us to the back where everyone (cousins, aunts, a couple friends from college) were waiting. She was so confused! And surprised! I'm so mad I didn't get a picture of her face.

fun times....

good food.....

and lots of presents!

Oh, and I pulled out my Kelley-crafty skills and made this beautiful diaper cake.  I'm impressed, at least.  And it matches the baby's room (which is all done in pink and black and white paisley).  So adorable.  I can't wait to see this baby already!

Bon Jovi....again!

What do you do when you are planning a trip and you find out that your good friend Jon Bon Jovi (remember how he practically loves me) is performing in that exact same city, only a week before your scheduled trip????  Leave your husband with the kids and buy tickets of course! 

First I must say that my husband rocks.  He puts up with my craziness (and that of my sister as well) when we spontaneously decide we need a girls trip...and to see Jon again.  Now I didn't leave all the kids with him, just Caiden, as we were already pulling him out of school for a week for our annual Snowbird trip.  I felt it would be irresponsible of me to have him miss another week of school.  And since I'm the picture of responsibilty itself, I took Paige and Preston with me.  You know, priorities.  Casey wasn't exactly happy about this plan, nor did he share my excitement (in any way, shape, or form), but he went along (if a bit begrudgingly) and didn't try to tell me no.  Mostly because it is highly unlikely I would listen :) but also because he rocks.  Plus, I told him he would have a fabulous time bonding with his oldest son, just the boys.  AND it was obvious I needed to get away as I was starting to lose my mind after having just gotten over the RSV fiasco with Preston and adjusting to life with 3 kids.  Seriously, I had a MAJOR crazy-full-on-lost-my-mind (and memory) moment...and it was clear I needed a break.  (It's actually a funny story, maybe I will share it sometime, if I get over my embarassment first :)

But on to more important matters....the concert itself.  We had a blast!!!  It was so fun and they put on such a great show.

And check out how great our seats were!  I'm pretty sure he spotted us....and was happy we were there.

Unfortunately, we did not get to stalk meet him after the show.  I had 2 children I needed to pick up and get to bed.  That's just me, being all responsible.  Like I said, priorities.   

RSV and No Teeth

Preston is approaching 2 months!  And what a crazy past few weeks it has been.  It all started with Paige getting sick...and then it was downhill from there for everyone.  (Not that I'm blaming her, that's just who it started with). 

First she randomly gets sick in the middle of the night and then develops a cold.  Then, Caiden wakes up one morning and his eyes are freakishly swollen. (Wish I had taken a picture).  That lasted a couple of days and it was very weird.  My eyes watered every time I looked at him.  Then my throat starts hurting REALLY bad.  Thought maybe I had strep.  Then I wake up with a lovely fat cold sore on my lip and my mouth is FULL of ridiculous, painful canker sores. (TMI, I know.  But it hurt!)  I could hardly stand to eat or chew anything and was pretty much on a liquid diet for a few days.  (However, it did help me lose the last of my baby weight hanging around :)  I tried so hard to keep all of this nastiness from Preston, but how is that even humanly possible with both kids sneezing and coughing all over (and their idea of "covering their mouth" is anything but that) and me being in such close contact with him all the time????  It's not possible, I tell you.

So sadly, Preston starts to develop a cold.  First the runny nose and congestion, then slowly a cough develops, which seems to get worse as time goes by.  Then he starts to lack in nursing and I can't get him to eat very well.  So I take him in, honestly thinking he has an ear infection.  Nope.  RSV!!!  I sorta freaked out when his doctor told me.  Isn't that a serious thing? 

So then all the tests are ordered.  First they start with the nebulizer, which he actually LOVED.  I literally watched my baby get high right before my eyes.  His eyes got all lupe-y looking and his arms fell to his sides as he breathed in the vapors.  It was pretty funny.  Then a blood test, with not one, but two pokes.  They couldn't get it in the first arm and had to do it in the other, all whilst screaming bloody murder.  Not so funny.  I just couldn't handle the tortured scream coming from my baby.  You know the kind where they let out a huge cry and then they're silent and breathless for a few seconds, and then comes the next one even louder and they're shaking in pain? Yep. I pretty much lost it too and cried with him.  Then a chest x-ray - not as bad as the blood draw, but not as pleasant as the nebulizer.  Then, back up stairs where they put a huge long tube up each nostril and sucked all the junk out of his lungs.  He didn't love that either.  THEN, the doctor tells me RSV almost always leads to ear infections and the fact that he doesn't have his first set of immunizations would put him at risk of menigitis.  Don't want that.  So 3 more shots it is, right in the thigh.  I fail to mention that Paige is with me and doesn't understand why they are torturing our baby.  After the first failed blood draw, she put her hands over her eyes and says "I don't want to watch anymore!"  Me too girlie.

So the doctor contemplates having him stay the night in the hospital.  Huh?  But she sends us home and tells me to watch for a fever and if his breathing gets any more labored.  Then we go back the next morning and the next morning for follow ups.  They get his blood tests back and there's something detected that shouldn't be there.  They're thinking just a contaminate, but not sure.  So guess what?  Another blood draw.  And in both arms too.  He cries, I cry, Paige hides.  Then his doctor says his lungs sound not as good as the day before and with it being Friday and not able to come in over the weekend she decides he needs monitoring at the hospital overnight.  Before we go they do one more nebulizer treatment, which he LOVES, and then a steriod shot, which he does not love so much. 

And that's how he ended up in what I call the baby jail.  Is this not the most frightening looking crib you've ever seen.  Every time the nurse checked him, she raise the rail all the way up, and as soon as she left, right back down it went.  I mean, he's a baby - not an animal/criminal, and I'm right here.  I can see if he suddenly learns how to sit up, roll over and fall off a bed. 

So me and my boy just hung out with this obnoxious little cord wrapped around his little teeny tiny toe.  It monitored his oxygen levels, which needed to be above 95 and the closer to 100 the better.  Gradually they got stronger and he started eating better and never once developed a fever, which is good.  And his blood tests came back okay.  So the next day we went home. Yay!  Then come Monday morning we go back to the doctors office for a follow up, and what do you know - an ear infection.  So he's on antibiotics, but totally over the cough and weird labored-wheezing breathing.

He's even started smiling a bit.  Mostly at the walls and ceiling, and only a little bit at us.  We're pretty sure he has imaginary friends.  I'm just SO grateful he's back to being his healthy little self and it really puts into perspective how hard it would be to have a baby that needed constant monitoring and in and out of the hospital.  My heart goes out to them.  I think Heavenly Father knows what I can and can't handle.  I cried over a blood draw for pete's sake.

Speaking of things I can't handle, here's another one.....

This crazy kid has had his 2 front teeth loose FOR-E-VER.  It literally got to the point where they were dangling and when he would talk it would hit his bottom lip and move.  I could NOT bear it.  I tried pulling out the first one, and Caiden nearly died of a panic attack.  No joke.  He started breathing heavily and saying "m-my h-heart is b-beating s-s-so F-FAST!!!" and then "I think I'm gonna throw up" and runs to the bathroom and starts gagging (but no throw up).  Are you freakin kidding me?  I used to pull my teeth out in school.  Seriously.  I get bored easily.  So when Casey got home, I said "Go pull your son's tooth out NOW!" and wa-la, he yanked it out.  Then a few weeks later the other one was ready to come out and Caiden lost all trust in Casey.  He would not let him near his tooth.  But after much convincing and wailing and gnashing of teeth (literally) Casey ripped the other one out.  And now we have this toothless little boy who speaks with a lisp :)

And Paige....what has she been up to?  Just her crazy little hilarious self.  I've no pictures, but take my word for it.

One Month

My sweet baby boy is officially one month old today.  I've always been told and even thought so myself that the first month is the hardest.  But really, this past month hasn't been that bad.  He has been a pretty sweet baby.  Only getting upset when he's hungry, poopy, and tired - all of which are easily remedied.

I must say, I was significantly happier once the belly button and circumcision were all healed.  I very much hate those processes.  As far as sleep, I am tired, but it could be so much worse.  I'm usually up twice a night, around 2ish and 5ish.  The challenge is falling back to sleep.  If I could just do that, I'd be much more alert.  However, the past two nights he has slept from 10:30 to almost 5:30!  It has been great! 

There is one small matter that has me deeply saddened.  His beautiful dark hair is beginning to fall out!  What happened to my one baby that had hair????  He looks like he is suffering from a receding hair line.  I hope it doesn't all fall out!  Oh, and he has quite the case of baby acne right now.  Caiden and Paige went through it pretty bad too, but I'm sure it will be gone soon....I hope :)  Regardless, he is adorable.

I can't get enough of holding him, scratch that - squeezing him.  I just love newborns.  Casey will often say to me "You're staring at him again.  Why do you stare at him so much?"  Do you really have to ask?  But really, he's guilty of it too :)

The kids are still loving him like crazy too.  Last night I took Preston and went over to a friends house.  I got home right after Casey put the kids to bed.  I peeked to see if they were still awake and Caiden (half-asleep) said "Mom, I didn't even get to hold Preston today.  Can I just hold him?"  So he climbs down from the bunk bed and holds him for about 10 sec. and thens says "Ok."  And went back to bed.  So cute.

As far as my time - well it's pretty much gone.  Why didn't anyone tell me that 3 kids is significantly busier than 2?  I feel like I can't get anything done.  I can certainly start something, but rarely do I find the time to finish it.  I realized that I have literally lost about 4 hours of my day to just nursing alone.  Ugh!  Not to mention all the diaper changing (and sometimes the whole outfit too). 

This is pretty much my daily routine right now:
Race to get the kids to school at 8:30, come home, feed Preston, clean up breakfast, try to squeeze in some time to work on the computer before I have to shower and go pick up Paige from preschool.  Then we get her, and by the time we get home it's lunch time.  Wait a minute...did I even eat breakfast?  Then Preston's hungry again...and probably poopy.  Feed him, then I have about an hour and a half or so to either run errands or clean up my disgustingly messy house.  It's a toss up on which one I decide to do.  Then before I know it it's time to get Caiden, which shouldn't take long, but it does because he has to talk to E.V.E.R.Y. single child he passes on the playground.  Finally get home, Preston is hungry...again...and poopy...again.  Then it's practically dinner time (oh how I hate dinner time...and cooking...it's just ridiculous), then gotta do homework and reading with Caiden, which takes forever because he's....easily distracted.  Then bath time...whaddya know..Preston's hungry again.  Then bed time...which takes forever too because the kids have gotten their second wind and are bouncing off the walls.  Then finally they're in bed and now it's Prestons' bath time.  And the kitchen is full of dirty dishes and no one has clean clothes tomorrow.  Do I have the energy do it?  Hmmm....I won't answer that.  Then, it's about 9:00....and I'm freakin exhausted.  Feed Preston one last time and try my hardest to convince him to sleep all night (don't laugh, it's working) and then it's almost 10:00.  It's either "good night" or "oh my gosh, I haven't showered yet" and in that case it's a quick shower and then "good night"....all to just wake up and do it again tomorrow :)

Ahhh......yes, I'm loving my little newborn....but very much looking forward to summer, with no schedules and where my only priority is "how long should we stay at the pool today"?

I'm a cow....

So, my kids have been struggling with the concept of nursing.  And my explanations have been quite vague.  I've tried to explain it as appropiately as possible, but I just can't bring myself to say the necessary words that would explain how it works.  Do they need to know the details?  I don't really think so. 

Caiden has quit asking questions but not Paige.  So on the way to school yesterday Paige says:
"Mom, how you feed the baby I guess you don't have a bottle?  (Oh, I should mention that for some reason Paige always says "I guess" in place of "if".  It's something we're working on...)

So I'm contemplating on how to properly answer (and it's 8:30 in the morning, and I'm tired and apparently my brain was taking too long)  and Caiden pipes in:

"Mom....is like a cow, Paige.  And Preston....he's like....her baby cow."  (very matter of factly)

And Paige replies "Oooooohhhhhh."  As if that clears it all up. 

And we haven't had any questions since.  So....I'm a cow.

Oh, this baby.....

I just can't get enough of his cute squishy cheeks.  He is barely a week old now and already I feel like he is getting too big too fast. 

So for posterity's sake and memories sake I shall record the tale of his birth.  (Don't worry, I won't be too graphic, but for any of you who don't love stories of labor and delivery, just skip on down.  Kim, maybe you shouldn't read this :)

Well, as you can tell from previous posts, I was more than ready to deliver even though I had a few weeks to go.  Why?  Simply because I don't have 6-pound babies.  I have almost 9-pound babies.  Not so fun.  So at my 35 week check-up, I was at a 1 and at my 36 week check-up, I moved to a 2, and at 37 weeks I was barely a 3.  I had had a couple of days where I thought maybe I was going into labor as I started to have contractions, but sadly they always stopped.  However, my doctor had predicted that he would be coming that weekend.  Well the weekend came and went and still no baby.  I'm getting really frustrated and plain awnry (more than the usual) at this point.  I don't imagine I was too fun to be around. 

So I tried walking and walking and walking some more.  And then I tried a little bit more walking.  Oh yeah, and did I mention I tried walking?  Nothing.  So some friends and family members suggested that I try some castor oil.  And some other friends strongly suggested that I NOT try castor oil.  I'd say an equal amount swore that it worked and others swore that I'd be sick and miserable and in the bathroom all night and still pregnant.  What to do?  On Sat. night, I hummed and hawed over it, and just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I mean, I'm trying to get rid of my discomfort, not add to it, right?  Then Sunday morning, I woke up still pregnant and probably at my very grumpiest.  Everyone was getting ready for church and the thought of getting dressed, all fat and ugly was not appealing.  Then when I went to take a shower and there was no hot water, I pretty much fell apart and declared "I'm not going!!"  Needless to say, nobody begged me to come and everyone willingly left me behind :) 

Then, by Sunday night, I just didn't care anymore.  Could it possibly be that bad?  So I did it.  Except that I was kinda a wimp and I only did half the recommended dose (1oz instead of 2oz) mixed with orange juice.  It was NASTY!  It felt like I was drinking liquid Vaseline, with a hint of orange.  (Oh, I think I just gagged again.)  Then I went to bed.  I woke around 2 in the morning with some severe stomach cramps.  I'm thinking "Oh.My.Goodness.  What have I just done to myself?  This sucks!!"  Spent a little time in the bathroom, then went back to bed.  Then I woke up again at 3:30 in the morning, but with a different kind of cramping.  Could these possibly be labor pains, I'm wondering????????  So I get up and walk around the house a bit and sure enough they are coming and going about every 5 minutes or so.  But they're not too painful.  Shouldn't it hurt more if they're real labor pains?  And what happened to the part where I was supposed to be sick and in the bathroom ALL night long??  So I wait a little bit, thinking they're bound to stop on their own, as they had done the couple times before, but.....they don't! 

So finally around 6ish, I wake Casey and tell him I think I'm in labor and let's go to the hospital before the contractions stop.  I figure once I'm there, I will just refuse to leave.  Even if they tell me it's a false alarm, I just won't go home.  I simply won't do it.  Then I wake my parents (who came up a few days prior to this) and tell them "I'm gonna go have a baby now!"  Caiden hears me and says "What?! You're going to the hospital mom???  Now?  The baby is coming now?  Cool!!"

So we get there finally around 7ish, they check me and sure enough it is real labor and I'm at a 4.  (Castor oil rocks!  And I might add, it was rather ingenious of me to take only half the dose.  Ingenious.  Not weak.) So I ask the nurse what I have to be at in order to get an epidural.  She sweetly replies, "Just a 4."  Even though I'm not in too much pain, I quickly tell her I really, really want one of those.....right now.  (I'm not one of those women who need to prove how tough I am.  I figure I'm a woman, I can have babies, and it hurts.  Nuff said.  Let's just get on with the drugs already.  I call it being smart.)  So up comes Mr. Epidural Man (aka Ed) and I was a little nervous because I was really planning on Tim (the guy who did such an excellent job with Paige) but he proved to be just as good.  About 4 hours later, my doctor (Dr. Russell) informs me it is about time.  (She actually sped things up a bit with a little pitocin as she had somewhere she absolutely had to be at 1:00 and I was not open to another Dr. delivering my baby - just her.)  Then about 4 pushes later, my little (or not so little) baby Preston was here!!!!!  Weighing 8 pounds 8 ounces, 20 inches long (almost identical to Caiden who was 8 pounds 9 ounces, 20.5 inches long) except that Preston was almost 2 weeks early.  I think I would have had a 10lb baby if I had gone another 2 weeks.  Yikes!

They placed him on my chest (with my permission) right after he was born.  He was very purple and a bit slimy.  Kinda gross - but not when it's your own baby of course.  Immediately we knew he was over 8 pounds.

Caiden and Paige were so excited to see him....

Caiden got to listen to his heart beat....

We were shocked at how much hair he had and how dark too!  It might not seem like a lot but after 2 bald babies, one blonde and one red head, it was a bit surprising.

And from there, it's history.  Everything with me and the baby checked out great, and we both went home the next day.  Of course, once the epidural wore off I realized how sore I was (and how big he was) and had a little trouble walking for a couple of days.  But now, not even a week has past and I feel pretty darn good.  I have even squeezed into my jeans!  Yay!  (They're kinda tight and I usually only last in them for half a day before the sweats are back on, but still - it's something.)

And did I mention what a good baby he is?  The first 2 nights I had to wake him to feed him.  He would have slept all night had I not woken him.  I kept waking up thinking, shouldn't he be crying?  Isn't he hungry?  So I'd go check on him, and he'd be sound asleep.  Amazing baby he is.  Then on the third night, he proved to be entirely normal and I got up about 6 times with him that night :) But it's okay.  Now having gone through this 2 times before and knowing that yes, indeed, the day will come that I will sleep again, it's not as hard for me to get up in the night.  I remember with Caiden (and even Paige) thinking that I would never sleep again.  But I look back now and realize that is the shortest time, and even though I don't love being sleep deprived, I am trying to soak up every minute with him while he's this little.  Plus the fact that I was functioning on about 3 hours of interrupted sleep a night during the last month of pregnancy is also making this a lot easier for me :).  We've yet to have any uncontrollable crying spells.  In fact, he doesn't cry much at all.  Not even when he is hungry.  It's more of a grunt and groan and a big ole wide mouth searching for food.  It's too cute.  I so hope this all continues.......

Such a sleepy guy....

Here are some more pics of our precious little guy.  Caiden and Paige are completely in love with their little brother. 

Isn't he so cute?????  I just can't get enough of him!