James: 18 months

James is officially 1 1/2 years old!  He is doing SO great, and I am so in love with him, just as much as I was the day he was born.  I spent today following him with a camera and catching all the things he likes to do during the day.  You will notice a pattern, and that pattern is "things that are inappropriate".  Observe:

Trying to smash ants with his finger.

 Emptying everything out of the activity bag.  Eventually finding my make up bag and trying to give himself a makeover.

 Playing with the contents of my purse.

 Drawing with markers on his body and on the floor-can you see the brown scribbles on the left by his knee?

 Climbing, especially on chairs.

 Stealing other people's food.

 Digging through the garbage to find leftover food.

 Playing with the real telephones.

Oh James, how I love you, but you sure do frustrate me sometimes!  Regardless, James is still my little bug of joy and we love him to pieces.  Here are some other 18 month things to note:

1. James is talking more and understands a ton.  He will follow simple requests like putting things in the sink and the garbage.  He is starting to say some 2 word phrases like thank you and love you and all done.  He isn't talking as much as I would expect, but when I consider where he was at around 6 months-just squeaking because of his TVC paralysis-I realize his talking at all is a big blessing.
2. James loves animals.  He loves dogs especially, reading any animal book, and singing Old MacDonald.  He loves bugs as well-finding them, yelling out "bug!" when he sees them, and squishing them of course.  He loves roaring like a lion as well!
3. James is finally sitting forward facing in his carseat.  I have never left a kid facing backward as long as I did James, and I honestly would have kept him backwards if it worked better in our new van.  
4. James officially has his own room as of tonite!  That has been a long time coming.  He is close to climbing out of his pack and play and I am already dreading moving him to a big boy bed, just because i think he is going to wreak havoc on his room. 
5. James loves balls-throwing them and kicking them, and caught his first throw the other day.  
6. James gives sweet kisses. Of course, his mouth is wide open, and that hasn't changed....and sometimes he will come towards you when asked for a kiss and then run away at the last second....but when you actually catch one, they are sweet!
7. James has a hard time if he has to separate from me or Jared, but me especially.  He never had this stranger danger when he was younger, but he certainly has it now.  He went to nursery for his first time last week, and I had Jared take him to avoid the crying-and thankfully that worked!  
8. James loves to run everywhere and jump on beds.  He likes swimming, but I admittedly don't take him a ton.  
9. James can be very independent and if something isn't going his way, he will let you know big time.  Brothers and sisters have learned that lesson!
10. James tries to help with everything.  He tried to help me move Sara's bed today.  He always tries to help unload the dishwasher.  He tries to help fold clothes.  He is great at cleaning up stuff if I ask him to!  Sometimes his "help" isn't very helpful but I am trying to be patient with him.
11. James has lots of little curls in the back as well as a lovely mohawk on the top if I spike it up.  
12. James loves baths but hates getting his hair washed.  He loves driving cars around the floor.  He loves to draw with chalk and with markers (on or off paper).  He loves to steal water bottles and drink out of them.  He loves milk with a passion.  His favorite foods are bananas and string cheese. He does not sit well for long periods of time and gets easily frustrated if he can't move where he wants to.  He is hard to discipline because he doesn't quite get it.  He has the cutest shy little smiles.  

I'm sure I could go on with James antics, as evidenced by a 12 item list!  In terms of James' health, we won't have a heart update until August, but for all intents and purposes, he seems to be doing great.  His growth has been amazing, he never ever slows down, and there is nothing to suggest he might be declining.  I don't have weight/height stats, but I'll add those when I get them.  It's awesome, this is the first doctor well visit that I am NOT anxious about the number on that scale-James' little belly proves he has been growing!  

Happy year and a half Jamos!

Proof

...that summer is helping the kids bond. This was not even directed by me.  Sara asked Karianna to read her a book.  Karianna didn't even hesitate before saying "Sure".  Wow.

Journal: Early Pregnancy

Oh dear reader-you may want to skip this.  This is just my own thoughts from early pregnancy that I kept up in a word document, but I do want to put it here for the purposes of the blog book.  This is seriously long, so my feelings won't be hurt if you skip if.  If you DO make it through, leave me a comment, just for fun-I'm curious how many people will actually read this whole thing (out of, like, the 4 people who still read blogs....) Have fun!

Today is March 24^th. 

We found out this week we are expecting baby #6. I have had a flurry of emotions these past few days as I contemplate what that means.  We are keeping this news under wraps for a while, so it has been difficult to find an outlet for those emotions…mostly because I can’t quite figure out how to express them!  I’m glad I have Jared to talk to.  Sometimes it can be difficult to share my thoughts especially when they hit a soft spot.  He does a great job just knowing when I need something.  Like right now he is cleaning the bathroom because he knows it will make me feel better (and he’s right about that)!  There’s an awesome husband.

So perhaps in a few months I’ll post this record on the blog and just make this my outlet for now!

We have been open to having another child for the last few months—not necessarily trying, but open.  On Sunday the 17^th, Jared told me, out of the blue, that he was sure I was pregnant. Like 100%.  I’ve never seen him like that!  I do know that Jared is really intuitive though, so I took the test, not really thinking it would come back positive.  It was the only time I ever allowed Jared to watch the test results.  I usually take pregnancy tests in private because I don’t want him to get his hopes up.  However, since he called it, I let him announce the results….2 pink lines.  I sat down and went into a slight state of shock while Jared just smiled from ear to ear. He always reacts like that!  I had that standard rush of emotions, and was just proud that I didn’t flip out! 

See, this pregnancy is probably going to be our last one.  We have felt for a while we would have 6 kids and that’s it (“that’s it”….yes, I know that’s still a lot!).  So for me, I knew when I got pregnant for the last time, I would want to enjoy every moment.  I feel okay about this being my last pregnancy—I didn’t feel that way about James at all, but I do feel okay now.  I feel like it is time for us to move past the child bearing stage of our lives and move on.  Jared feels this even stronger than I do.  Now, if the Lord wants us to have a 7^th baby down the road, we would be open to it, however we really do both feel this is the last little one that is waiting to join our family.

So I enter this pregnancy intent on enjoying it as much as possible.  I don’t want to be stressed out about the little things, or the big things for that matter.  I want to relish the feelings and emotions that come with carrying a baby. Sure there are tons of crappy things about pregnancy.  I am NOT looking forward to the constant nausea, swallowing down vomit (because I never let myself throw up), dizzy spells, heartburn, and the feeling that your stomach is going to split down the middle.  But I am going to do my best to CHOOSE to focus on the tap-tap-tap of little toes, and the little hiccups, the first sign of a bump, and the feeling of knowing my child before he or she officially enters the world. 

I worry about this little baby’s heart.  I have done a ton of research about what I can do to help prevent CHD, and the sad thing is, there’s not much just shy of altering mine and Jared’s genetic make-up!  The chance of having a 2^nd child with CHD are about 4%...its not high.  However, the thought of having another baby deal with what James dealt with is staggering and panic-inducing.  I did read a study that showed taking folic acid decreases the chances of CHD by about 8%.  I am thus taking my prenatals religiously and doing everything else I can to stay healthy. I have upped my servings of fruits and veggies everyday.  I resumed carrying around my water bottle and I pack it with ice water every morning.  I have gotten more consistent at going to the gym-I feel a real need to keep my body healthy this pregnancy, maybe moreso than any other pregnancy.  I just have to be careful to keep my heart rate at a good level and to only use certain weight machines.  I’m happy with these goals, and happy to feel like I’m doing something to help prevent CHD….it might not be much, but it's giving me peace of mind.

I will be anticipating a 20 week fetal echo.  I am already nervous about this and for ME alone—I don’t know if I want to have it done. I am not sure if I can go the last 20 weeks of pregnancy knowing my child has a heart defect and I can’t do anything about it until he or she is born.  With that being said, I can’t NOT do the fetal echo…..the doctors need to be prepared if there is anything wrong, and I can’t in my right mind give my child any less than that. 

We are currently working on increasing our income so we can afford to purchase a new car.  Jared is just looking for a part-time job to work evenings or weekends, and I am looking at increasing some of my work hours, just to help.  Worst case scenario, we can use our savings for a down payment, or we can just be a 2 car family (ie, we need two cars to go places as a whole family).  Those are the only 2 real physical things we are concerned with, and we are placing a lot of faith in the Lord that he will provide as we are worthy.  We have made a greater commitment to going to the temple weekly (individually since it is so hard to do together) to make sure the spirit of revelation is with us. 

I just started feeling gross in the last few days unfortunately.  I have had a few dizzy spells, which probably came as a result of having zero appetite.  I wake up not hungry at all, and nothing appeals. This continues through midday, and right around the time I start feeling hungry the afternoon/evening nausea kicks in.  It isn’t terrible yet, just a nagging sensation. However it’s enough to make me gag at the thought or smell of food.  The only things that have appealed to me this week are tortilla chips and sausage.  ?????  I don’t know either.  There’s one for the baby book I guess! 

The funniest part about this so far is our metaphor.  We have to speak in code all the time, and actually, we have been doing so for a few months since we decided to semi-try and test.  As such, any eavesdroppers probably think we are obsessed with steak.  “If we are going to make a steak, we probably need to be prepared…”; “The steak will probably be done around…”. That sort of thing.  In this case, the steak is obviously not meat-it’s a baby.  J  A few weeks ago, I posted on facebook something like “So excited for steak , one of my favorite things!”  Yeah, I was talking about a potential baby.  On the day of the two pink lines, I posted, “Sigh.  Here we go again.  Trying to make a lot of goals to make it more productive”.  That was in my stupor of momentary shock---and while most people thought I was talking about another day, I was talking about another pregnancy and making some goals to make it a memorable one.  So really, I announced my pregnancy earlier than any of the others—just not so obviously!

So with all that being said, we are excited for this portion of our family's life.  The kids will be ecstatic when they find out….which won’t be for quite some time!  We have decided that if the baby is a girl her name will be:

Addalyn Joy

This is a switch for us!  We have stuck to our honeymoon list for all the other kids, and here we are switching it up!  The other names we had just didn’t feel right.  After digging through some lists, we came to Addalyn and both of us loved it. It is definitely unique, but still modern enough to sound just beautiful.  It is also German and means “noble”.  We liked that as well.  If the baby is a boy, we only know his name will start with a J…I have decided to leave that up to Jared, since none of the J names on our list are standing out to me at all.  I will admit: I want a girl.  I don’t necessarily feel either one yet, but my heart wants a girl to even our family out.  We will of course be happy either way! 

Baby is due November 26^th, just a few days before Thanksgiving-we will have a lot to be grateful for!  Hopefully I can deliver the week before---wouldn’t want to miss out on Black Friday shopping!  J  Just kidding!

Today is April 7^th.

Well, morning sickness has hit full blast.  To the degree that I have been feeling very panicky because the medicine I have is not helping for much longer than 30 minutes or so.  That worries me.  I have 5 kids to watch after, a house to clean, and teaching to do….I am not sure how I am going to balance this right now when I feel so darn gross.  In the past, ms usually is confined to late afternoon/evening hours.  

That’s not the case right now.  I am feeling sick all day, and it's all I can do to eat some saltines and TRY to drink water.  I am overwhelmed to say the least and hoping this alleviates within the next 5 weeks as all research says it's supposed to (who believes research though???)  Jared has been a lifesaver, jumping in anytime he is home and able, and taking over with the kids while I moan and groan in bed.  This weekend has been even worse because I legitimately have some sort of viral infection as well. My throat is burning, my nose is all stuffed up, and I’ve had body aches/low fever all day.  As if that wasn’t enough, I also have a yeast infection.  L Sigh…Am I seriously only 7 weeks pregnant?  It feels like it has been an eternity. 

The one bright spot is I think Jared decided on the boy name if that becomes necessary:

Jackson Ammon

I am glad he stuck with Jackson. I think he was leaning toward Joseph to get a good scriptural references, and I just could not see it.  He decided to go with Jackson as long as he could pick a scriptural middle name. Not a problem for me.  Thus we now have a boy name.  I have no inclinations either way about what it actually is.

The other good piece of news is that Jared got a part-time job that will work with his schedule.  He’s going to be working for Sonora Quest Laboratories 5 nights a week, from 6:15 pm to 2am. He’ll be doing a lot of sorting work and data entry.  He’s a bit nervous about the hours, but he is such a night owl anyway-he thinks he will be just fine.  That means I need to able to be a single mom for a while.  It also means we need to do a better job with packing lunches/dinners/snacks for Jared.  He’ll need to sleep until 8 in the morning before leaving at 8:30 for his other job-that part won’t be hard, it just means I’ll need to do my morning sessions out in the front room and I’ll need to stop teaching a 7:30-8:30 session so I can take the kids to school again.  The only part I am worried about is making sure Jared goes to bed as soon as he gets home.  I am assuming he will be wiped out, but he tends to need time to wind down.  Hopefully that will diminish when he is working that long. 

This position is exactly what we needed in that it worked with Jared’s schedule, it is doable, and it is right next to his first job.  It will also help us save up money for a huge down payment on a new car, which obviously is the thing we are worried about in terms of this new baby.  We are not exactly certain if we want to just pay off our little car, or save up for the down payment.  We think our bank will look more kindly on a huge down payment in terms of securing a good interest rate, so that’s where we are heading.  We’ll see as things continue to move along.  I am looking into another job opportunity as well through a different company.  That one is so up in the air though, no need to even go into it until it becomes more realistic. 

That’s where things stand as of now. Just hoping I feel better, or at least that I can kick this viral stuff out the door so I can focus on how to overcome morning sickness.  I have my first appointment in about a week-April 16^th.  Hoping and praying that we see a healthy heartbeat and zero complications.

April 22, 2013

Another few weeks have gone by, and I’m still alive.  Woohoo!  Seriously, that is a huge blessing and kind of a surprise to me.  I know I mentioned morning sickness was hitting me hard, but that was before it hit the hardest.  Last week was a week from he**.  I have never thrown up like that before during pregnancy—which I realize has always been a blessing, and I guess it’s a good thing that my body naturally fights throwing up anyway.  But wow.  I just felt like dying, especially when it hit its apex on Monday the 15^th.  I spent all day in bed, other than the moments I had to jolt up to dry heave a bunch of bile, and then the few things I tried to eat:  saltines, slim fast, a red popsicle….the last two of which are no fun to throw up, and I shall never ingest either ever again.  I cannot even express how difficult the 15^th was.  It was hitting a point where Jared and I were considering going to the ER because we thought I was getting dehydrated.  Thankfully I woke up the morning of the 16^th and was able to drink water and eat a bowl of cheerios before the nausea set in.  I was really low on the 15^th.  I felt broken, in that I had no idea how I was going to take care of the kids all day, especially since Jared was slated to start his new job the next day.  I broke down multiple time that day and ended up telling my mom and my older sister about the pregnancy just because I needed the support. I can’t express how miserable I was.

I had my first appointment on the 16^th and thankfully everything looked okay with the baby.  Since I managed to keep down a bowl of cheerios, the nausea stayed away long enough for me to down about 24 ounces of water.  My blood pressure was okay and the baby’s heartrate looked great-158, right on target with my dates.  My doctor put me on prilosec twice a day and phenergran every 6 hours.  I started taking that immediately and I am SO glad to say it has calmed the major degree of illness I have been feeling.  I still feel extremely sick around 4pm until I manage to fall asleep, but I have just been grateful to feel like I could get out of bed.  I kept telling Jared, it is one thing to feel so sick you don’t want to do anything.  It's another thing altogether to be so sick you literally can’t do anything, even if you wanted to. 

Anyhow, everything is looking just fine with pregnancy.  I talked to my doctor and her awesome ultrasound tech about chd and what that means for my prenatal care this time around.  I’ll have more frequent ultrasounds to monitor baby’s growth and I’ll have a level two ultrasound at 18 weeks.  I’ll also have a fetal echo at 24 weeks, which I am hoping I can do at our cardiologist’s office.  I love my doctor’s office-I feel so comfortable there, and I love how calming the entire atmosphere is.  I have to drive 45 min to an hour, but it seems like an easy exchange for such a great doctor.  I will go back for a follow up ultrasound in 2 weeks.  I thought that was awfully quick, but my doctor assured me nothing was wrong, they really are just going to closely monitor growth.  I hope I don’t have to go back that often the entire time---it’s such a drive, and I am not sure I think it is necessary. 

We had the great blessing of having Jared’s start date change as well.  Instead of starting on the 16^th as we assumed, he didn’t have to start until the 22^nd-today.  It gave us the entire week to really think through some changes we would need to make through our work schedules, our food schedules, chores, and bedtime schedules.  I am glad my meds are helping, but I knew I would need to cut some corners to make this work as a single mom with bad morning sickness.  We decided each weekend we would come up with a simplified meal plan that I can handle.  I put a new work schedule in so my morning hours are cut down and I only teach at night certain days of the week.  We had a sit down talk with the kids this weekend about some new expectations and what our weekends will be like-ie, focused on family.  It was hard having to explain to the kids that they won’t really see their dad during the week.  I really feel sad for them on that part.  Jared is going to make a point to really engage with them during that half hour in the morning before he takes off.  It sounds so small, but it's what they can get before Saturday rolls around.  I don’t think I really realized the changes that would be necessary before he starts this second job until I was bedridden for a few days.  I have to thank the Lord that my OB had some answers for me and that we had a few extra days together. 

So it is now 7:34 and Jared is already at job #2.  So far the day has been going okay except for a very bad rush of nausea that started hitting a few hours ago.  I still managed to watch the kids ride bikes and splash around in a huge river of pool water that was running through the gutters in our neighborhood. Sara has been throwing up all day and running a fever so I am doing my best to tend to her without getting too close and risking getting sick myself.  I managed to teach 4 hours without sacrificing time with the kids or my household chores, so that is a plus. The only downside so far today is I am feeling so nauseous, it is hard to convince myself to go fix dinner for the kids.  I just took my evening meds, and hoping they kick in momentarily so I can stomach the whole kitchen scene.  Then the kids will go to bed, and I’ll need to find a project to work on this week until I get tired enough to fall asleep on my own.  That makes me sad, but it is what it is.

I’m 9 weeks pregnant at this point-baby is as big as a grape and still wreaking havoc on my body.  J  Seeing that little heartbeat on the screen though makes me remember what I am aiming for-a  healthy baby to welcome in 7 months. 

Today is May 13^th.

I am 12 weeks now, and happily coming to the end of the 1^st trimester.  I am still battling the nausea that hits hard around 4pm every day. Some days I can stifle it with a lot of cinnamon trident gum, and if I go too long without eating, it overwhelms.  I still can’t smell chicken nuggets without gagging, and grapes or yoghurt are still no-no’s ever since the great throwing up marathon.  I’m grateful I’m not throwing up anymore, but I am tired of the nausea, and weary of taking medicine that I fear is not having as much of an effect as I need.  The prilosec is still helping a ton, but the phenergan is only taking a slight edge off.  I still think my kids think I am dying.  JD will come up to me and told me, “I am kind of worried about you mom.”  Whenever I make a face during a swell of nausea, Sara will ask me if I am swallowing throw up.  They have just gotten used to me needing to lay down after school, a fact about which I feel sad.  It's just life right now, and I am just hoping it abates in a few weeks like it is supposed to. 

My ultrasound follow up was just fine-baby’s heart rate was at 168, measuring a few days behind my due date but not enough to change the actual due date on my charts.  My doctor couldn’t find the heartbeat on the Doppler but that’s okay, its still early for that.  I’ll go back at 14 weeks for a regular check up, and then I’ll be back at 18 weeks for the next one.  I scheduled my level 2 ultrasound for June 25^th, exactly 18 weeks.  It’s the same equipment, but it will be a perinatalogist reading the ultrasound and telling me what they see, particularly in terms of heart development.  Of course we will find out if the baby is a girl or a boy at that point too.  I haven’t had a chance to ask our cardiologist about the fetal echo, but again, I will do that at our next appointment.  Overall, things with the baby seem just fine.  I have silly girls on my birthboard who started posting that they could feel their baby at 9, 10, 11 weeks.  I laughed at every single one of those posts, but admittedly started feeling anxious to feel this little one since that is the only time I start to feel safer about pregnancy.  Not that nothing can happen after that, but it comforts me to feel the baby and know everything is okay.

I am showing already a bit with this little kid.  If I was being honest, I would say a lot of a bit.  I don’t usually show obviously until much later, but I very much feel like I am playing a hiding game right now, and anyone who is really looking could totally tell I am pregnant.  I can feel my uterus when I’m laying flat, which is good.  A few weeks ago, I would wake up in the morning looking fairly normal and look more pregnant by the evening, which is just typical bloat.  But now, I wake up in the morning and I just look pregnant.  I don’t mind too much, I only mind because I still need to keep this under wraps for 3 more weeks before just letting it all “hang out”.  I have been looking around for some maxi dresses to wear this summer, just to stay cooler.  So far, no luck, but I’m sure I’ll catch a deal at some point.

We are at the start of week 4 of Jared’s second job.  I am so glad this is halfway over, it will be nice to not have to work through each week on my own. This last weekend Jared seemed overly concerned with how sick I seemed.  He asked me a few times if it was just because he was home.  I think he was joking a bit, but I had to seriously explain to him:  this is everyday life for me right now, you just only see it 2 days a week.  I am pretty good about putting on a show when I need to, like when we visit with family or when I have to go to church. But I can’t do that all day, it is just too hard.  I feel bad I have to be like this on the only 2 days I get to see Jared-it makes it very hard to feel connected.  We are still working on it-chances are we will figure it out AFTER he is done with his contract in its entirety.

That’s where things are at right now.  School gets out in a week and a half, and I have started thinking about how we are going to schedule our weeks.  I am a little bit worried if the m/s sticks around…..I can’t lay on the couch all day with 5 kids needing my attention.  If that’s the case though, I am going to have to just be really upfront with the kids and institute quiet time during the worse nausea period of the day and concentrate activities during non-nausea parts of the day.  Hopefully this all plays out smoothly as things always do, right?  J

Current Summer Projects

Okay, perhaps this will motivate me to actually do my current summer projects.  Yesterday was woefully unproductive (as I put it on FB).  I don't want to feel such an utter lack of motivation to get some of these things done and going.  I blame it on pregnancy all the time, but honestly....that's not a good excuse!  I just gotta get it done!  So here's what I am working on right now, in this moment (or should be):

1. Moving Sara and James.  James is officially moving into Sara's room and Sara is going to bunk with Karianna.  This arrangement did not work when Sara was younger.  She would not stop touching Karianna's things and bedtime was a disaster--which is why Sara has had her own room for a while.  Nowadays, Karianna is starting to get tired of James waking her up at the crack of dawn and deodorizing her room with poop...I don't blame her.  So the time has come to make the switch, and though I haven't done much to begin, Karianna and Sara have taken it upon themselves to clean out Sara's room, organize the items that will travel with her, and move all James' things into Sara's room.  I really just have to vacuum and move the beds as well as the food storage that goes under Sara's bed...doesn't sound too bad right?  It shouldn't be Rachel, it really shouldn't be....
2. Blog Book.  I need to finish editing last year's since it is now time to start editing this year's!!!!!  I can't believe I have gotten this far behind.  I just got the one from 2 years ago in the mail maybe a month ago now, and I just need to buckle down and get this next one laid out, edited and printed up.  
3. Summer School buckets.  I have all the materials.  I have the buckets.  I have the work space.  I have the reading lists.  I just have to put them together so I can start the kids on them!  I am glad the have had a few weeks of pure relaxation, but I am starting to need more structure in the day, and this will help. Speaking of structure....
4. Job Lists!!!!  I want to start, I really do!  But that means I need to actually make up a job list template and start actually printing it out each day!  The kids have done great doing their jobs everyday, but with a verbal direction from me-I want them to start learning the responsibility of attending to a job list and making sure it is done everyday by 4:30

See, it really is not that much, right?  I just have to stop being lazy and DO IT!  We'll see if I can knock any of these things off my list this week.  It's only Monday, right?  What?  Wednesday???  Yikes, better get offline and kick it into gear!

A New Nickname for Sara

Sara has been doing "swim lessons" with me whenever I actually get into the pool.  She is super excited about them, she wants to be a "big girl" in the pool so bad.  She has been faltering with jumping in from the side though-she always wants to hold at least one hand.  Today the whole family got into the pool to do our first real family swim of the summer since Jared was actually getting in!  I had Jared do swim lessons with Sara and she had a first:  she jumped in all by herself. That was it-she was hooked.  She started jumping in all over the place and eventually started doing it on her own. She would jump in, then yell at us, "I jumped in all by myself with no family!!!!!"  She was so proud of herself.

Thus, she has given herself a new nickname:  Diver.  She says she is a diver because she will jump in from the point everyone else dives from all by herself.  She has been so proud of herself, and it is a great boost in her swimming confidence as we work to having her swim independently! I love that Jared was the key to Sara's success!

Some standard summer activities....

Now that we are a few weeks into summer and the car situation is resolved, we started up our splash pad visits.  I am hopeful to make these a weekly thing, just to get the kids out of the house and running around before it gets too hot!  Today was a blast, James did a great job playing in the water-as did the other kids of course.  I managed to park the car in a fairly tight spot, which is always a boost in my white whale morale.  I didn't have to get after the kids too much to go play instead of trying to sit in the shade and beg me for snacks ;)  Overall it was a blast!

We also hit the first summer movie together-we missed last week since it was not going to be a totally kid friendly movie, and I had to work in the morning.  Today we saw Hotel Transylvania, and man was it packed!  Becca and I like to sit in the front section anyway to accommodate babies, but even that was packed-people were still coming in 15 minutes into it trying to find a seat that just wasn't available.  I had an awesome mommy moment where James went missing before the movie started.  He can slip out of his stroller if I don't buckle him, and I just didn't think.  I ran up the aisle searching for a little toddler and overheard a mom asking who's baby this was.  Sure enough, she had James in her arms.  I thanked her profusely and blushed as I walked away with James-he reeked of poop.  Sigh.  He was strapped into his stroller from that moment until midway through the movie where he had to bounce around in my aisle, and then until I had to walk him to the back of the theater when he just started to lose it-he was tired and fussy, and he threw himself on the ground at the back and just whined and whimpered.  He got over that after about 10 minutes, but was just done after that.  Thankfully the movie was almost over and we got out of there quick.  The other kids did great sitting on their own, I just think the rest of the summer movies will be this same way-it could have been a ton worse, and hopefully I don't lose sight of James at every movie!!!!

My fav part of Hotel Transylvania-at some point, Dracula sees a TV on that is obviously showing a scene from Twilight and he says something like, "This is how we are portrayed these days?????? [frustrated sigh]".  I loved that part!

The First Swim Meet!

Karianna had her first swim meet today!  We are such newbies at this, I packed a bag for the kids, brought lunchables, and thought I would be set.  But we were there for 3 hours (watching Karianna for maybe 5 minutes of that time period), and man was it hard to keep the kids entertained that whole time.  REGARDLESS, it was amazing to see Karianna do her stuff!  I was so proud of her, I love the effect swim team is having on her, I am so glad she agreed to this for the summer!

The first race Karianna had was freestyle-just one lap.  She was up against 9 other girls in her age division.  For these stroke meets, they don't do heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, etc.  They just award places for each heat. So in Karianna's race, she got up on the dive block (which was higher than the ones at Shepherd), crouched down in starting position, and stared at the girl to her left.  I was wondering why in the world she was doing that, she needed to look straight ahead and listen for the horn to dive!  As she was thus distracted, she got off the dive block late, which you can see in the 2nd picture below.  I know she's a fast swimmer, but I thought that would hurt her.

Karianna proved me wrong!  She got a great dolphin kick in before she surfaced and immediately started "stroking her guts out" as she says.  She raced to the wall and ended up in 1st place!!! I ran up to the fence to get a picture, and she was clutching her ribbon, but she didn't seem aware of what it said. I asked her if she knew what place she got in.  She shrugged.  I laughed and was like, "You got first place!!!"  She looked more closely at her ribbon, and the smile on her face was once in a lifetime.  You could see how cool that made her feel about herself, it was awesome!

Karianna's second race was the relay-4 kids on a team, each kid swims a lap of freestyle.  Karianna was 3rd to go.  The first girl swam her lap and was 3rd place by only a few strokes-close to 2nd.  That was impressive, as one of her legs ended at her knee.  The second girl swam her lap and managed to get the team into 2nd place.  Karianna swam the 3rd lap.  By the end of it, she had gotten into first by a considerable lead! I was super proud, sure their team was now guaranteed 1st place!  The anchor swimmer started her lap and my smile faltered-she was not fast, bless her heart. She would take a few strokes, come up and breathe frantically while doggy paddling, and then try to start again.  Unfortunately, she lost the lead just barely and Karianna's team ended up in 2nd place.  They still did great, just made me wish Karianna had been the anchor!

In any case, the entire meet went so well for Karianna and she got a true taste for what competitive swimming is like (as much as you can for an 8 year old).  I love what she is learning.  I love the confidence it is building.  I even love having the other kids support her (annoying as it is to keep them entertained).  We are looking forward to the next few meets and supporting Karianna even more!  Congratulations Karianna!

A Funny

Tonite was the night to do werewolf hair.

JD's Birthday Party and an Announcement

We celebrated JD's birthday on his actual birthday-that's kind of unique when you are talking about a cousin party!!!  It was a fun birthday because Jared and I finally announced to everyone that we are expecting baby #6.  Don't think I have even mentioned it on the blog yet-we are expecting baby #6.  Woohoo!!!!  Karianna already knew, as did just a few family members.  I had some pretty severe morning sickness in the early weeks, and found I needed some support from some family, especially with Jared gone all the time.  Thankfully most of that is past, and the time had come to clue the rest of the family in, including JD, Jordan and Sara.

I didn't want to detract too much from the birthday festivities for JD and Elizabeth, so I opted to give JD his last present, which was a gift bag that had a card in it. The card said, "Mom and Dad are giving you a brand new baby!  But not until November!"  JD read it out loud, and then just looked at us kind of confused-you could tell he wasn't sure what the actual present was.  We clarified, and it still took a few moments for it to sink in for JD and the other 2 kids.  Well-actually for everyone else that was there, it seems.  I really didn't want it to be a "stop the party" moment, so we moved on to treats pretty quickly thereafter, and over the course of the next few days, it really started to hit the kids that there is a baby in my tummy.  It was a fun moment, and I'm glad we could share it finally!  For record's sake, I am due November 26th, 2 days before Thanksgiving. -it will be a busy holiday season, and a super busy November!  Everything is healthy with the baby thus far, we will have a level 2 ultrasound on June 25th to begin checking for any heart defects, as well as to find out if it's a boy or a girl.  I have no feelings either way, though I admittedly would like a girl to be named Addalyn.  If it's a boy, Jared picked Jackson, and if it is a boy, then that just means we will have a perfect roommate for James!

Okay, back to party stuff.  JD and Elizabeth got to open their gifts, and JD of course loved everything he got, especially his new bike.  Wait, scratch that-I think his favorite thing was the container of Flart goo.  You take it out, shove it back in the container, and press your fingers into it, producing a...ummm....flatulence sound. That stuff was super popular until it got pressed into a bathroom towel just for fun and never fully came off.  But wow, what a great inexpensive gift!  JD also loved the model plane he got from Daniel and Carly, he and Karianna built it that night and we found out it flies amazingly well!  Jared really wants to buy a few more and drive up to Payson so we can fly them around the pines.  JD loved everything he got, and we are just grateful to everyone for supporting him, just with their presence.  We were only missing the out-of-towners, and even still, JD loved his cards from the Hammerquists, and I showed him Jacob's birthday greetings on Facebook.

We had treat time thereafter of ice cream sundaes that the kids got to top themselves.

The kids gobbled that down and immediately jumped in the pool with the willing adults.  I got to hold Presley for quite a while during swimming time, which was awesome since it was the first time I got to meet her-she is a doll and looks just like an Erickson in my opinion.  I did eventually get in with James for a bit, and he tried out his floatie for the first time-he disliked it greatly for the first few minutes, but as soon as he got used to it, he was loving splashing, finding the bugs in the water, and watching everyone jump around him.  JD got to use his new dragon floatie, which is huge and awesome!  He also used his water gun thingie to shoot water at everyone.  The kids all had a blast....and the adult swimmers did too.  Rob, Steve, Daniel, and Eric were in the pool for a record amount of time perfecting their swim acrobatics involving throwing a ball around and catching it mid dive-it was actually pretty impressive, if blogger was better about loading videos, I could put one up!  I was glad everyone had a fun time, this is pretty much the one time a year I invite everyone for a birthday party at our house, and the swim aspect of it is always a blast.

So happy birthday to JD and Elizabeth!  I'll post an "all about JD" post soon to update what he is like as a 7 year old!

Swim Team!

Karianna started swim team this week, which I was so excited about! Karianna is such a natural swimmer and she loves the water-I thought this would be a perfect fit.

This week was definitely a process though.  The first few days, Karianna came home with a weird attitude.  She was constantly talking about how hard it was, how much she didn't like it, how she didn't want to go back.  After talking to her a bit, I think I figured out that it wasn't that she disliked swimming-it was that she wasn't used to this type of swimming.  She told me on the first day they swam 12 laps across the pool and it made her so tired.  I can totally understand that.  We had a good conversation about how her body would get used to swimming that much at those speeds, she just had to give it a few days to acclimate.  We also talked about the importance of having a good attitude.  I told her it was okay for this to be kind of hard at first-but it was also important to be persistent and see things through, even if they are hard.  I told her when she made negative comments, it makes it sound like she is not willing to even try-and she might end up convincing herself of that....and that's not how we should live life.  She seemed to get it, I was super proud of her during that conversation.

So the last few days this week, I saw a marked change in her attitude. She would tell me, "today was better, I think I'm getting used to this".  I hesitantly asked her if she was liking it, and she said, "Yeah, I'm definitely liking it more and more every day".  I think it helps that she has gotten to know some of the kids more, and she feels more competent at swimming true blue laps.  I am so excited to see her progress over the course of the next 8 weeks-it will be exciting!

The other thing I realized about swim team is there is way more to it than I realized.  Karianna came home the first day with a bunch of paperwork, and I was overwhelmed with the info about weekly meets, time trials, relay meets, divisionals....yikes!  Thankfully her coach answered a lot of my questions via email, and that helped.  Still-this is a lifestyle for sure, and she's only 8!  I have been really laying into Karianna how winning at meets is not important-what is important is participating and trying her best and seeing something through that may have been hard at first.  She will do great either way, and we are already super proud of her for having such a great week.

Next week will be the freestyle meet at Kino-it will be interesting to see how that works!

We Own a Bus

It is official....we own a bus.  We picked it up today from the dealership and we have survived the initial ride home from Glendale.  We now own a 15-passenger Ford 350 XLT.  It is affectionately known by our kids as the White Whale.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it...that is, the idea that we own a car this big.  There are times I will sit back and feel kind of embarrassed that we went ahead and bought a car this big.  We obviously don't need all that space, and never will!  But then, I have to remind myself this car was about 6000 dollars cheaper than the 12-passenger van we were also looking at...and that's a lot.  So what if we have an extra bench? We'll take it out, and I'll never have to worry about cargo space.  I just have to wrap my mind around it, that's all!

Driving a vehicle this big is going to take some work.  I have only driven it a few times thus far, and I am already hyper-aware that things like changing lanes, parking, and turning will never be the same again.  Checking your blind spot is obsolete in this car-it doesn't help, and if it supposed to, I'm missing how to do it.  My rearview mirror is also ineffective....all it helps me see is the last few benches and a muddled glimpse out the back windows-nothing that will ever help me drive.  I have to really get used to relying on my side mirrors, which have an upclose view and a farther away view...I have to learn to switch my gaze real quick from one to the other, like bifocals, to ensure safety before jetting out into another lane of traffic.  Parking I can handle-I think. Of course, handling means parking out in the boonies and hope no other cars are silly enough to park near a 15 seater van.  We'll see how that one goes.

I do have to say though, I love driving this car because of the sheer power.  It's like a tank. I have no qualms driving it, and the kids think we are so cool being so high up.  It's in good shape that way,  I just have to get used to the other quirks.

For now, I am feeling less inclined to go out on errands just because it seems like such a hassle to drive around in the White Whale.  That will have to change next week when a whole barrage of summer activities start.  Hopefully, that will go well and my worries about driving a bus will dissipate quickly!

The End of Preschool (for now)

Jordan and Sara also had their last day of preschool yesterday, and I thought it would be fun to do those comparison pics too!

Sara on Day One

 Sara on her Last Day-I cannot believe how beautiful she looks here!  Sara will be going to afternoon preschool next year with Ms. Cathy.  Her IEP goals will change, and she'll be with the older kids, which is great!

Jordan on his first day

Jordan on his Last Day

 Jordan never loses his silly touch! He designed his own mohawk :)

 He also came home with an awesome Graduation pin and bracelet, he is so proud of himself!  Kindergarten, here we come!

Last Day of School Comparison!

 Okay, just for fun, here's a comparison of the first day of school and the last day of school!  Here's what the kids looked like on their first day of school....

And here's the last day of school!  So much growth in a year!

 This never changes though.

The End of Another School Year!

Just some pics as the kids got ready for their last day of school (the older kids anyway).  Karianna's class had special events every day this week.  Monday was math facts competition day, Tuesday was Spelling Bee day (Karianna came really close to winning both of these!), Wednesday was sand castle day, and Thursday was board game day.  On Wednesday, they also made these shirts-its hard to read, but it says "I am in 4th Grade...Here I come!"  They were super cute, and Karianna has all her classmates sign it.  She looked so grown up today-I wonder if it's just because I know another year has flown by, or if it's just the idea that I have a 4th grader now!!!!  Karianna's report card was stellar as always, and I am so proud of her progress!  She brought home her writing portfolio, and had a blast showing me all the creative projects they did this year.

 Action shots of JD!  He loves playing soccer at recess.  He and a couple of his brave buddies always join in with the 3rd graders for their pick up games, and he really hangs in there! It was so funny watching him every time the 3rd graders would score (which was, cough cough, a lot...), he and his friends would stand there all confused and ask each other, what are we doing wrong?  Loved watching him interact, he gets along with others so easily, and is so acclimated to the school environment, yet he clings to me in line, giving me tons of last minute hugs before finally waving goodbye.  He has loved school this year and like his big sister, had a stellar report card.  I really enjoyed his teacher Mrs. Cawood, and got to know her fairly well-her oldest daughter is in Karianna's class, and we are hoping to get the girls together for play dates this summer.

 Don't know why JD is pointing his finger in this pic....

 Can you see Karianna?

Happy last day of school guys!!!

JD's Scrapbook Party

JD's class had their annual scrapbook party last week-great time for the kids to show off their scrapbooks of best work and to get awards from their teacher.  JD got an award for completion of 1st grade of course, as well as an award for being a great reader. He was so proud of his scrapbook, and it was so cool to see how his writing has changed from the beginning of the year to the end. His pictures are night and day as well-I always forget how much little kids grow through the course of the year and JD is no exception!  I am so proud of JD and his progress, this has been his lightbulb year-he really got on track with reading fluently and went from easy readers to chapter books.  He excelled in all areas of math-he wasn't able to pass his 1st-grade mathblasters, but his understanding of how to do addition and subtraction is stellar.  His writing is so full of voice-he needs to work on his punctuation and other mechanics but I am so pleased with his overall writing pieces.  Mrs. Cawood always tells me how much JD loves school, and that is one thing that has never changed-he really does love to learn, and I am so glad that has not changed.  Great job this year JD!

Side Note: Of course, James decides to poop about 2 minutes after we got to JD's classroom.  All he wanted to do was rifle through my diaper bag for snacks, or steal stuff off of other kids' desks.  He was in desperate need of a nap or a playpen-neither of which I could give him at the time....fun times.

Happy Anniversary!

On our wedding day 11 years ago, someone put toothpaste all over our getaway car.  We left the reception in that car thinking it was something different and decided to go through a car wash real quick. That's when we realized it was toothpaste, and that's when we realized toothpaste is one of the worst things you can put on car windows-especially if you try to roll the windows down.  Needless to say, it was a very stressful moment to start our marriage off with, and we couldn't even take that car on our honeymoon-we had to borrow the Lautenschlager's car.

So 11 years later, we celebrated our anniversary with what we now deem an appropriate event:  the demise of our Kia Sedona.  Here's the story.

Jared decided we would go up to Flagstaff for an overnighter as a family.  I have been really leery of pushing our van very far since it was on its last leg.  However, Jared had asked our mechanic specifically to see if it was okay for a trip up north when we had it in to check the transmission about 2 weeks ago.  Our mechanic fixed a few things and said he thought it would be fine-and if the check engine light came back on, to bring it back in.  It didn't pop on, so we thought it would be fine. The car did great-drove smoothly, no issues to speak of whatsoever. We were really glad we decided to go.

We checked into our hotel in Flag, got everything set up, and then decided to head out for dinner as planned.  We loaded everyone into the van, started it up (just fine), and tried to leave. We couldn't.  The car wouldn't switch into reverse. Jared revved the engine, and it lurched backward enough for us to put it in drive to move forward....wouldn't do anything.  He revved the engine again, and it lurched forward right back into our parking spot.  That was all it took-we knew it was trouble.

We got the kids back upstairs, ordered pizza, found a movie, and got to work strategizing.  Jared went back down to the car and managed to get it to drive around the parking lot.  He tried to take it for a longer test drive and managed to pull it halfway into the street when it stopped working again.  He had to push it down the street and into the neighboring gas station.  He walked back to the hotel with the bad news-it wasn't going anywhere.

It was at that point we pretty much knew we would not be able to drive the van back to Mesa, much less any other things we had planned on doing with the kids.  We hurriedly looked up rentals and found an option that would get us back to Mesa.  We looked into possible ways to get the van back to Mesa.  Towing was way too expensive.  Jared thought maybe if we rest it overnight, it might work-I wasn't holding my breath.  It already seemed obvious to me the van was not returning to Mesa with us.  Jared obliged me by looking up junkyards that would buy old cars for parts, and we got a few quotes, just in case.  We finally called Jared's parents to see if they had any suggestions. They had connections with a transmission guy in Flag they were trying to get ahold of for us, and they told Jared to search out a safer spot to get the car to, if we did end up needing to leave it in Flag.

There was nothing else we could do at that point, so we tried to stay positive for the kids and engage with them until bedtime.  Morning came with good news and bad news.  Jared tried getting the car to move again with absolutely no luck.  However, Jared's parents did let us know they were driving up to help, along with Aubrey and Brennan.  We were so grateful for their willingness to just help with no thought as to whether or not they should-they are so wonderful that way.  So at this point, we knew we would not need to rent a car to get back to Mesa-we just needed to figure out what to do with the van.

Once the Lautenschlagers got here, we checked out of the hotel, got all the car seats switched to their car, and cleaned out our van in its entirety.  The guys all tried to get the car moving with the hopes of just pulling it to a nearby transmission place with a tow rope Jared's dad brought-no go.  We ended up calling a tow truck to get the car to a very reputable transmission place that Jared's parents had researched.  They ran a quick diagnostics test for us just so we could be sure there was no way to get the van to Mesa:  no go.  The transmission was completely shot.  1450 for a used part repair, 2700 for a rebuild repair.   And that was it.  That was the final answer.  We knew we would be leaving the van in Flagstaff and heading home without it.

We spent the rest of the day in Flag with Jared's family, trying to make it up to the kids with a fun park day in the beautiful Flag weather and forest.  It was so enjoyable actually, once I managed to stop worrying about things I can't control.  We caravanned home together, and once we got back, Jordan, JD, and Sara all asked where the van was.  I told them it was staying in Flagstaff and we would never see it again.  They gave me the most shocking looks I have ever seen.  So I take that to mean we did a decent job trying to put up a good face for the kids in the midst of an emergency situation.  Can I call that the silver lining?

So right now, we have two main tasks, both of which are full of smaller tasks.  Number One:  we need to get our Kia sold off in Flagstaff.  We will be selling it to a junkyard for pieces, we are just doing the research on which one to go through.  Jared is prepared to drive back to Flag one day this week to finalize that if necessary, though a few of the shops we have looked into have a pay-by-mail option that I hope will be reputable enough to use so we can avoid an extra trip.  Number Two:  we need to buy a car.

Sigh.

I highly dislike buying cars. We have known for a long time that we were approaching the demise of the Kia.  Thus we have been saving up for a huge down payment with the hopes of paying it all in cash.  We were trying to get through at least summer while Jared works his extra job, but that is just not going to work anymore-so we will have to go with the down payment we have now and finance the rest--not ideal, but doable.  We know we want a Nissan NV, and there are currently 6 in the area that we are considering-3 moreso than the other 3.  Jared has already reached out to the dealerships, and we are hoping to wait until Saturday to catch a memorial day weekend deal, but we may have to go in sooner-we'll see.  We do still want to try a credit union for pre-approval if they will do it for this vehicle, but we are also prepared to just go straight through the dealership if necessary.  The only thing we still need to do is come up with a backup in case getting the NV is not possible-we have a certain price threshold we can't cross, and with how limited these vehicles are, we can't be certain this will work out as we want it.

So lots to get done this week, and somewhat difficult just because Jared is working so much.  We will make it work though, and we are just praying like crazy that the Lord gives us a clear path to follow.

So Happy Anniversary to us!  The gift was a clear answer on when we need to purchase a car-the time is now apparently!  Hoping this week goes more smoothly than I anticipate, even in the smallest degree.....