We've been trying to buy a house for a couple of months now-well maybe just one month really. It just seems longer! We've put an offer on two houses that we really liked and didn't get either of them. We were so bummed since we knew both of them would have made great homes for us. Since we got married I have been the one who's primarily dealt with the money. It has just worked for us and Chris said he trusts me. We've never argued about money that I can remember of- which I'm grateful for. Money is such an interesting thing-I was reading in a church financial book a while back and it said that God has created all things-including money-so he knows what we should do with it and what is in our best interest. I know it seems like a simple concept but I guess I had never looked at it in that way. As we've been looking over our finances and trying to decide what we can afford, Chris has felt somewhat out of the loop. Not being up to date on where our money is going it was frustrating for him and I don't blame him! So call it a mistake or just good timing for change we went over our finances together last night. It felt good to be on the same page. Basically what it comes down to is life is expensive! And it is always changing. We're just getting started, but just the thought of trying to get ahead and save seems so impossible right now. I've had our budget on my mind since last night and as I was getting ready this morning I started thinking about our tithing. Wow-that seems like a big chunk of the budget! Of course it's only 10% of the gross amount but still a good amount. I'm grateful for tender moments that the Spirit speaks to you and in that moment I heard that still small voice say to me. "Thank you."
I needed to hear that. It wasn't that I needed the reassurance that it's good to pay tithing, but it was more of a "thank you, I really appreciate it and I love you."
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Monday, February 3, 2014
Lucy at 3 weeks old
Oh my little angel baby. I just love her so much. Something about babies just warms my heart. Thank goodness cause I need that with 2 toddlers around. She's been sleeping pretty well-I mean she's still so little so I can't expect too much and I don't really. Chris has been busy and I'm trying to give him the time he needs to sleep and study so life has been a little rough but all is well! My mom has been here helping which of course is awesome! All of her little features are just so beautiful to me.
Lucy's birth story
I really miss blogging! Poor Lucy hasn't had any of her life documented(other than pictures). I'm determined to write as much as I can down and catch up. I wish life allowed me more TIME to blog and keep better track of my kids' history! I'll just have to do my best!
August 19th we went into my dr. appointment. This was the first time I had been "checked" which was way different than any other pregnancy. Because this was a high risk office they don't like to mess too much down there unless they really have to. So the nurse checked me and I pretty much was at a 1 and 70% effaced. Dr. Bohman came in and said, "ok lets have this baby today, go on down to the hospital." With Lucy we didn't know if she was a girl or boy. Which to this day I can't believe I actually had the patience to go through with it! Especially since I had an ultrasound at EVERY appointment! So, he asked us if we had done Cervadil or Pitocin with the other inductions and we said Pitocin. Ryan was 13hr labor and Paige 6hr. Both came out very quickly once I was a 10. So I called my mom who was home with the kids and told her we were coming home and on our way to the hospital. Called Whitney as well. :) When you get to the end of your pregnancy you know you're just done, but you don't want to rush things. I suddenly got really nervous and was hoping we had made the right decision. I guess we just trusted Dr. Bohman so we went ahead and drove to Southern Hills Hospital. About a 20 minute freeway drive from our house. (We had originally planned on having her at the hospital that's a mile from our house but found out a few weeks before I was due that they didn't accept our insurance) My mom wanted to be at the delivery and so Whitney was going to take the kids(Love her). We checked into the hospital about 12-12:30. It was so fun to just be with Chris. Having a baby never gets old, it's just such a fun experience to have together. As we're walking back to our room, a girl from my ward whom I didn't know really well, but enough to recognize her, said,"I'm going to be your nurse!" I was so excited! So after everything got set up and she was going to start the Pitocin another nurse came in and said Dr. Bohman called and said to do Cervidil instead. We didn't even talk about what that was and why we would even do it. We felt super uninformed and pretty frustrated because this medicine was just to soften my cervix over the next 12 hours while I sat in bed. I could have been home and laboring on my own. My mother was so sweet to be with the kids all this time. Well the good news about Cervidil is that you can eat while on it. So Chris went and got us Dairy Queen. I just got a chicken wrap cause I didn't want my stomach to be too full of greasiness. Oh and I got a small butterfinger blizzard because those are my favorite! Then we did a lot of waiting and I tried to sleep but the bed was so uncomfortable because it was a delivery bed and there was a huge divot right in the middle of the bed where is separates. 12 hrs later was around 2am. Guess what! I hadn't had but a 1/2 cm change! Worthless. But, I will say, now I am very glad that he gave my body some time to be more ready. The Cervidil didn't change my dilation but I think it did indeed soften my cervix and prepared my body for labor. So you have to wait another hour after the Cervidil is taken out to start the Pitocin. So around 3 I started the Pitocin. After that I can't remember times other than I went from a 4 to a 10 with in 30-60 min. I pushed only a few times and our little angel was born! 10:11 am on August 20th. Healthy and beautiful. We couldn't ask for anything more. My mom made it just in time too! I was totally expecting a boy and secretly thought one time I have seen boy parts in one of my ultrasounds. Of course I hadn't told Chris because that wouldn't have been very fun! But I was wrong and I'm glad because that made it fun for us! Her foot was covering her parts when she came out because of the way he was holding her so I kept saying, "what is it?" The nurse said, "what do you want it to be?"
Recovery was fine for the first day. And then those after birth contractions and nursing pains kick in and I wanted to die! Oh the pain. It's indescribable- just something you have to experience for yourself! I didn't take any type of medication the first day and couldn't believe the after pains that I had had with the other two hadn't kicked in yet. Even when Dr. Bohman came in the next morning I told him I felt great and no pain at all. I should have shut my mouth right then and there! The contractions were CRAZY! The nurse just told me to think that I was getting skinny because my uterus was contracting back to "normal" size. WHAT? I believed her for as long as I could! I love nursing my babies-but the first month is always really hard. It is so painful for me-I get cracked, bloody nipples and I just cringe every time they latch on. But I fight through it and all is well now! Another thing that my body experiences after birth is ZERO bladder control. It's so sad and Chris just keeps reminding me to do kegle exercises, but it's just not something I think about. I had to wear the big ole' diapers for 3 weeks and still 6 months later am not back to normal. Whatever normal ever was for me.
Enough about me! My mom got the kids from Whitney and brought them back to the hospital later that afternoon. It was so fun to see their reaction to her. Chris took the kids home and my mom was able to stay with me for a little while, which was so nice. After she left Chris came back and we moved rooms and stayed the night at the hospital. Whitney and Zoey came to visit that night which was great. They brought some sweet gifts for Lucy. I'm so grateful for wonderful friends-such a blessing in my life. We were gone the next day by 10 am. 24 hr stay just what we like. :)
Lucy has been by my side since day one. Not a binkie sucker and not a bottle drinker. Both something Ryan and Paige did great with. When they say every child is different they sure mean that! We've tried several times and several different kinds but she's just not interested! I always thought it would be horrible if a baby didn't take them, but you know what you move on and deal with it! This may sound horrible to say because I didn't necessarily feel this way with my other two, but I've felt such a close spiritual bond with Lucy. She's my calm when my other two are making my blood pressure boil, she's my little angel who has slept through the night since she was a month old, she's mellow and peaceful and is patient. I love her cheeks, they are chubby and droopy and oh so kissable. I love that she'll rest her tired head on my shoulder and her body just melts into mine. We've connected and I can't help to thank Heavenly Father for this sweet baby that I get to care for AND love with all my heart.
My sweet Ryan just looked at all of her features and held her for quite a while...you can tell because of the next set of pictures.
Someone else could not WAIT to hold her sister! Look at that motherly urgency...GIVE ME THE BABY!
The rest of the day we just took in all of her cuteness and rested and took lots of pictures.
Going home. Wow, so crazy to think about a little human being only 1 DAY old!
August 19th we went into my dr. appointment. This was the first time I had been "checked" which was way different than any other pregnancy. Because this was a high risk office they don't like to mess too much down there unless they really have to. So the nurse checked me and I pretty much was at a 1 and 70% effaced. Dr. Bohman came in and said, "ok lets have this baby today, go on down to the hospital." With Lucy we didn't know if she was a girl or boy. Which to this day I can't believe I actually had the patience to go through with it! Especially since I had an ultrasound at EVERY appointment! So, he asked us if we had done Cervadil or Pitocin with the other inductions and we said Pitocin. Ryan was 13hr labor and Paige 6hr. Both came out very quickly once I was a 10. So I called my mom who was home with the kids and told her we were coming home and on our way to the hospital. Called Whitney as well. :) When you get to the end of your pregnancy you know you're just done, but you don't want to rush things. I suddenly got really nervous and was hoping we had made the right decision. I guess we just trusted Dr. Bohman so we went ahead and drove to Southern Hills Hospital. About a 20 minute freeway drive from our house. (We had originally planned on having her at the hospital that's a mile from our house but found out a few weeks before I was due that they didn't accept our insurance) My mom wanted to be at the delivery and so Whitney was going to take the kids(Love her). We checked into the hospital about 12-12:30. It was so fun to just be with Chris. Having a baby never gets old, it's just such a fun experience to have together. As we're walking back to our room, a girl from my ward whom I didn't know really well, but enough to recognize her, said,"I'm going to be your nurse!" I was so excited! So after everything got set up and she was going to start the Pitocin another nurse came in and said Dr. Bohman called and said to do Cervidil instead. We didn't even talk about what that was and why we would even do it. We felt super uninformed and pretty frustrated because this medicine was just to soften my cervix over the next 12 hours while I sat in bed. I could have been home and laboring on my own. My mother was so sweet to be with the kids all this time. Well the good news about Cervidil is that you can eat while on it. So Chris went and got us Dairy Queen. I just got a chicken wrap cause I didn't want my stomach to be too full of greasiness. Oh and I got a small butterfinger blizzard because those are my favorite! Then we did a lot of waiting and I tried to sleep but the bed was so uncomfortable because it was a delivery bed and there was a huge divot right in the middle of the bed where is separates. 12 hrs later was around 2am. Guess what! I hadn't had but a 1/2 cm change! Worthless. But, I will say, now I am very glad that he gave my body some time to be more ready. The Cervidil didn't change my dilation but I think it did indeed soften my cervix and prepared my body for labor. So you have to wait another hour after the Cervidil is taken out to start the Pitocin. So around 3 I started the Pitocin. After that I can't remember times other than I went from a 4 to a 10 with in 30-60 min. I pushed only a few times and our little angel was born! 10:11 am on August 20th. Healthy and beautiful. We couldn't ask for anything more. My mom made it just in time too! I was totally expecting a boy and secretly thought one time I have seen boy parts in one of my ultrasounds. Of course I hadn't told Chris because that wouldn't have been very fun! But I was wrong and I'm glad because that made it fun for us! Her foot was covering her parts when she came out because of the way he was holding her so I kept saying, "what is it?" The nurse said, "what do you want it to be?"
Recovery was fine for the first day. And then those after birth contractions and nursing pains kick in and I wanted to die! Oh the pain. It's indescribable- just something you have to experience for yourself! I didn't take any type of medication the first day and couldn't believe the after pains that I had had with the other two hadn't kicked in yet. Even when Dr. Bohman came in the next morning I told him I felt great and no pain at all. I should have shut my mouth right then and there! The contractions were CRAZY! The nurse just told me to think that I was getting skinny because my uterus was contracting back to "normal" size. WHAT? I believed her for as long as I could! I love nursing my babies-but the first month is always really hard. It is so painful for me-I get cracked, bloody nipples and I just cringe every time they latch on. But I fight through it and all is well now! Another thing that my body experiences after birth is ZERO bladder control. It's so sad and Chris just keeps reminding me to do kegle exercises, but it's just not something I think about. I had to wear the big ole' diapers for 3 weeks and still 6 months later am not back to normal. Whatever normal ever was for me.
Enough about me! My mom got the kids from Whitney and brought them back to the hospital later that afternoon. It was so fun to see their reaction to her. Chris took the kids home and my mom was able to stay with me for a little while, which was so nice. After she left Chris came back and we moved rooms and stayed the night at the hospital. Whitney and Zoey came to visit that night which was great. They brought some sweet gifts for Lucy. I'm so grateful for wonderful friends-such a blessing in my life. We were gone the next day by 10 am. 24 hr stay just what we like. :)
Lucy has been by my side since day one. Not a binkie sucker and not a bottle drinker. Both something Ryan and Paige did great with. When they say every child is different they sure mean that! We've tried several times and several different kinds but she's just not interested! I always thought it would be horrible if a baby didn't take them, but you know what you move on and deal with it! This may sound horrible to say because I didn't necessarily feel this way with my other two, but I've felt such a close spiritual bond with Lucy. She's my calm when my other two are making my blood pressure boil, she's my little angel who has slept through the night since she was a month old, she's mellow and peaceful and is patient. I love her cheeks, they are chubby and droopy and oh so kissable. I love that she'll rest her tired head on my shoulder and her body just melts into mine. We've connected and I can't help to thank Heavenly Father for this sweet baby that I get to care for AND love with all my heart.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Utah in July
Chris flew back up to Utah after a week in Vegas all by himself! We missed him a lot! I really wanted to start Ryan in swim lessons and found someone in Centerville who didn't cost an arm and a leg but she was booked when I called her the first of June. She said she'd let me know if anything opened up. Well she called me the last week we were in Utah and she had an opening! I had actually already found someone in Vegas for when we got back but I decided the more practice the better so I went ahead it did it anyway. It was everyday for 30 min. He loved it and Paige was super jealous!
So, my friend Jill had posted on her Facebook that her 3 yr old girl was taking private swim lessons and so I hurried and txt her for the lady's info. I set it up when I was in Utah to start the following Monday after we'd get home. I'd have to say it was one of my best investments of the summer. It was worth every penny. One, because she came to my pool :) Two, because she was soo sweet with Ryan. Three, he learned how to actually swim in 3 weeks. Four, it gave us something to do every morning! Five, It was fun to see Ryan feel good about something HE accomplished!
Paige and I enjoyed our little walks up to the pool. Sometimes I just had to snap a few pictures of her cuteness.
Chris went paint balling with "the boys" Rick and Dawn. He came home bruised. Why this is fun I have yet to understand!
I taught Ryan how to "play" Chinese Checkers. It's a fun memory I have of playing with my mom and grandma Clow. I hardly ever win so that's why I had to teach Ryan so that I could beat someone!
Chris had to leave Utah to go and take an exam. We really wanted to be in Utah on the 4th so he flew back up. We went for doughnuts afterwards. The kids were ecstatic to see him!
Grandma Clow is now living at my parents house. It has been quite the adjustment for her, but we're soo glad she's close now! One thing that just brightens my grandma's spirits is gardening. She loves it, and she's really good at it!
I got a cute bracelet when I was at Dani's. You can find her stuff here . Love the costumes and
jewelry!
So it's obvious that I can't braid. I called Dawn and Breanne over to show me how. This was my first real try. It hasn't gotten much better since then. :(
Paige loves to help me fold laundry. She rolls them up and just puts them on the floor. It's actually really cute to watch her do it. Mind you in this picture I had JUST packed all these things in her bag.
I LOVED these pictures of her-just precious
Our favorite:Basil, Italian Sausage, Ricotta. YUM YUM YUM
Stake 24th of July Celebration. It's a BIG deal here and it's a lot of fun!
Paige had her 2 yr check up. All is well-I can't remember any of her stats. I will have to look up her paper and post it on her. I'm thinking she was 30 lbs. though
They had a really fun backyard besides the amazing pool. Paige was in heaven the last day, because we finally let her play!
The week after we got to Utah Ryan started 3 weeks of summer fun classes up at Smoot Park. He did a ball class first, then he did a tumbling class and then a preschool type class. They were all about an hour long. When I signed him up in May I was really worried that would be too much-but I should have known. Ryan is my go go go child that has to be constantly entertained so it was right up his alley. He started at 9 and went till 12.
I was sooo proud of him and I really wanted him to feel special on his last day of lessons. I made him this certificate and got him this batman mask he had been eying at Target for the last few weeks. He was SO excited!
Chris went paint balling with "the boys" Rick and Dawn. He came home bruised. Why this is fun I have yet to understand! 
I spotted this ottoman in Utah and I new I had to have it. I am soo glad that it wasn't that expensive. So maybe this was my favorite investment of the summer-because when we got back to LV our Costco didn't have it! I called around and it was on order to come in that week. Chris snatched up one of the few they had and we never saw them their again. Come to find out-Nancy had bought one for her family room too! We LOVE it!
Leaving Utah is always sad but since we had been there over a month I think we were ready to go back home We had a GREAT time spending time with family and doing lots of fun things with the kids. The drive back was less than exciting! We hit all sorts of random weather a 2 1/2 hr traffic jam(for which we never knew why-no accident or anything!) a very short nap in the car for Paige and by the end we just gave her a case of wipes to entertain her. And by golly it sure did!!
Fun times at Town Square :)
Paige just being herself
The night before we watched the fireworks with Dani and her family at Eaglewood.
The 4th of July festivities are a few of my favorites. The Centerville parade is the highlight for the kids and adults alike! We had breakfast with the Harris' at my parents home and then headed up to Main St.
Saying good-bye after the parade. We always miss our grandparents but we're glad we live a drive away
Caught Paige spinning around in her dress outside. It just looked so fun! Oh to be a kid again!
4th of July night we bought some fireworks and got together with the neighbors and our family for LOTS of fireworks.
jewelry!
Ya, we're kind of weird sometimes.
Love my family so much
LOTS of fun swimming this summer
Fun times at the pool with the Bishops. The kids always want to eat. And yes, that is peanut butter and jelly all over Ryan's face.
Ghimaldi's pizza with friends. The kids and I love this place.
And after we like to hit up a little Nielson's. Sharing...it doesn't happen often
Paige's favorite thing to do at the children's museum is any type of art!
Such a fun Dad Chris is!
You look good Ryan
More fun times at the pool with Whitney and the kids. This was at the Whitney Ranch Pool
I love this picture- raspberry fingers and a cute smile
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