The Bell Family

Basketball Star in the Making

2012-01-15T15:10:00.002-07:00

For Christmas Benjamin got a small basketball hoop and tons of balls. This kid loves balls. He wants to play with them all day. Well, one night last week he was playing ball before bed. He shut his door, backed up to by his closet and well......watch the video to see.

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Two-faced Toddler

2012-01-12T20:14:00.002-07:00

How can one baby make me on the verge of a breakdown one minute and the next do the absolute cutest things ever? That would be my two-faced toddler. My own little personal Jekel and Hyde. I will post pictures tomorrow. He is into throwing fits (terrible twos start early). He has an opionion on what he wants to do and eat, but he still can't talk so we both get quite frustrated. All day he wanted this and that, and then he didn't want it. He made messes up the wazoo (just wait for the peanut butter pictures!). But, tonight, as I was putting him to bed he waved bye bye to Makayla, gave me kisses (without me prompting), and hugs. Then as I sang him "I'm a Child of God" he sang with me in his own way. Thank goodness for small moments with these little ones.

Two-faced Toddler

2012-01-12T19:56:00.002-07:00

How can one baby make me on the verge of a breakdown one minute and the next do the absolute cutest things ever? That would be my two-faced toddler. My own little personal Jekel and Hyde. I will post pictures tomorrow. He is into throwing fits (terrible twos start early). He has an opionion on what he wants to do and eat, but he still can't talk so we both get quite frustrated. All day he wanted this and that, and then he didn't want it. He made messes up the wazoo (just wait for the peanut butter pictures!). But, tonight, as I was putting him to bed he waved bye bye to Makayla, gave me kisses (without me prompting), and hugs. Then as I sang him "I'm a Child of God" he sang along with me (in his own way). Seriously, what a way to end a very difficult night!!

"Free" education?

2011-10-12T11:42:00.002-06:00

You know that our education isn't really "free" when you are cleaning up the kids play area and find the following note that was used as they were playing school:
"Dear Parent,
Please can you make some donation for a big math test the donation is for money for field trips. Thank you, Jessica Allen."
Yeah, I think my kids caught on how often and how much their teachers were asking for donations.

(don't worry, I don't blame the teachers one bit. I always donate because I don't want them pulling it from their own small salaries!)

Funny Things

2011-10-12T11:23:00.002-06:00

So, I don't have time to post regular events in my house, but the funny things my kids say, well I just have to make time. The other day I got a "night off" for following my health goals. I don't go anywhere, I usually just hibernate in my room while Brad puts the kids to bed and makes sure the house gets cleaned. The other night it was time for my night off. After family scriptures and prayer Brad told the kids "Okay, say goodnight to your mom. She gets the night off." Ashlyn responded, "You mean she has a date with the bathtub!" Oh, how my kids know me so well.

We're In Trouble!!

2011-09-19T07:14:00.002-06:00

Ashlyn's primary teacher passed on this quote that Ashlyn said yesterday.....
"God made hair bows and pretty girl dresses so we could attract the boys." giggle, giggle, giggle.
I think I am in BIG trouble!!! She is only six.

Cute little Becca Boo

2011-07-18T08:27:00.002-06:00

Last night Becca received her present from Grandma Sweeney (who was on vacation on Becca's birthday). She got the talking backpack from Dora the Explorer (which Becca is obsessed with still). She was in heaven. She was playing with all the fun toys that came in the backpack. We let Benjamin play with one of the small toys to keep him happy. Well, Ryan decided he wanted to look at the pretend video camera. So he started playing with it. Becca was quite upset. She said harshly to Ryan "No big boys allowed to play!" We do love this vivacious child!!

Ryan...our champion

2011-02-17T22:34:00.003-07:00

I truly believe we are given specific personalities to deal with trials in life. That is the case with Ryan for sure. I have had so many people testify to this as well. Ryan has always been a serious minded child well beyond his years. He has always been concerned about his health and doing the correct things. Well, Ryan has handled this huge trial well beyond his years. It has been one month and today he did his first shot by himself at school without me there (he does his own shots all the time...but I have had to go to the school everyday for lunch until today). Of course his numbers were really low today and I was wondering why I wasn't there. We got through it though. He is such a champion. he doesn't cry. He doesn't complain. He did have his first break down last week when I called him up for dinner. He didn't want another shot. He cried for a bit, and then was just fine!!

He has slowed down on eating knowing if he eats for than 15 carbs for his snack then he needs a shot. He mostly chooses not to. His numbers are all over the place, which is to be expected. I have to call the doctor every other day and he makes new adjustments to the insulin doses and carb ratios almost daily. I sometimes get overwhelmed by that, but then I realize there is a reason we have a doctor. It is his job to worry and figure out this game, and my job is to follow his instructions and pray it works!! I have full confidence in our doctor. He is amazing and always seems to be a step ahead of the game.

It is amazing how much support we have had. It has made life so much more bearable. I have a wonderful contact at our insurance agency, the diabetes center up at the U of U is incredible. I have talked to so many people that know someone close to them with diabetes and they lend us so much support. This is a life long struggle and some days I lose it. But, those days will eventually become less and less. I couldn't ask for a better situation because Ryan is SOOOOO incredible. I really can't believe how well he has done. So, I have to say our entire lives have changed in this past month...and at the same time so much is the same!!

9 months old....already?

2011-02-17T22:14:00.002-07:00

Yes, my sweet little baby is now 9 months old. How did that happen? I swear these last 9 months flew by way faster than the blasted pregnancy. Benjamin is getting so big...well, not size wise...just in what he can do. He has learned to crawl in the past 2-3 weeks. He actually has a very funny crawl. He goes on both hands, one knee, and his foot or bum. He crawls and scoots. If I can figure it out I will have to post a video of it. It is pretty hilarious. I do have to say, though, he has kind of out grown it. He does it a little bit, but is going on both knees more.

Benjamin is by far my smallest child. I took him into the doctor today. He weighs 16 lbs 3 oz (which is the 1%-yes 1% not 11% but 1 %). Yeah, usually my kids are that at 6 months. He is only the 15th% for height. Just a small little guy. My doctor is wondering if it is because of his growth stunt in utero, but we still don't know why. I just have to beef him up. We aren't too worried, just something more to do....I am getting tired of food and my children. I have one child I need to make sure eats certain amounts at certain times and count the carbs. Another child who is on the high side of the BMI so I need to make sure she isn't eating too much and is eating healthy food and now a baby who I need to shove calories down!! Seriously....no more food issues. Not to mention I still have a few baby pounds to lose.

Back to the darling baby. He is still as happy as can be. He is now starting to get anywhere and everywhere. We still need to get a baby gate (please remind me why we got rid of our last one?) He loves his siblings and all the neighbor kids. His favorite song is I am a Child of God. He loves to clap my hands together and has started clapping his. He sleeps well at night (most of the time) He just brings us so much joy. I am so grateful I took the huge leap of faith to have another child!!

What's in a Day?

2011-01-18T08:48:00.003-07:00

There are certain days in the year filled with memories. On Christmas day you can think of years and years of happy memories. October 1st is filled with many happy memories (12 to be exact) as that is my anniversary. Each of my kids birthdays are filled with happy memories of their births and of fun times on their actual birthdays. Well, there is another day that has changed my life forever now in two different years. That day is January 17th.
On January 17th in the year 2004 my life changed. I lost my little boy when I was only 17 weeks pregnant with him. I won't go into the story, but I spent the entire day in the hospital waiting to birth him and then spending time with his tiny, yet perfect body. My life changed spiritually that day. I also learned that life is full of many hardships that can either make or break you. After I picked up the pieces of my heart I decided to let that experience make me!!
Well, January 17th 2010 will now go down in history. And once again it includes a hospital stay. Yesterday, the 17th, Brad and I took Ryan into the doctor for a physical. We had some concerns and wanted to make sure all was okay with our sweet 9 year old. Well, come to find out our '"worst case scenario" as far as his symptoms came to pass. Ryan was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes!! The doctor did a urine test and found the glucose in his urine was over 1000 which is not good. He also had ketones in his urine which is another sign. They then did a blood glucose test. It came up so high that it couldn't give us a number. It just said, "Too high to read". We all sat there in shock. Brad and I weren't as shocked as Ryan because we knew it was a possibility. He had no idea, and really didn't know what it meant. Dr Glade, our fantastic pediatrician, said we needed to head up to Primary Children's hospital immediately. He got a hold of the endocrinologist who said to get there quickly so we could get the process of correcting and educating started. We ran home, grabbed essentials for the next couple of days, and then headed up.
Now we sit in Primary Children's Hospital trying to soak in everything. I still feel like I am living a dream, not necessarily a nightmare surprisingly enough, but not a good dream either. Ryan had a very difficult time going to bed last night as he was trying to grasp how this would change his life forever. He stated that he too was still in shock!! Can you blame him?
Let me back up and answer the question that everyone has asked so far. How did we know to take him in? Well, we almost didn't. The past few weeks Ryan has been drinking.....a lot!! He was always needing a drink and always complaining of being really thirsty. Secondly, he was going to the bathroom all the time. I mean, all the time. Brad and I mostly noticed it in the evenings when we were around and things were slower. We all thought it was linked to him drinking so much, but I was starting to get concerned because he was only getting drinks out of the drinking fountain and such. I kept thinking to myself "Can he really be getting enough water to be needing to go to the bathroom that much?" Also, he was eating constantly and tons! I was so glad he was finally eating, he is such a small kid and usually doesn't eat that much. The strange thing was this past weekend I was noticing he was looking a little guant in the face and his ribs and bones were protruding more than normal. At first Brad calmed me a bit by saying that was a Bell thing, which it very much is. But, on Sunday Brad himself started looking at all of these things and we both noted that Ryan was way more tired than usual and wasn't his normal perky self. We decided to take him in to get a physical. I called first thing Monday morning and they scheduled a physical for 10 days from now. She also put in a note to the nurse to call us in case she thought we should go in first. I wasn't surprised when our nurse fit us in for 2:40 that afternoon. What a blessing that was. Now we are on top of the diabetes and in the process of healing. I am afraid if we had waited until next week Ryan could have gotten pretty darn sick. He is already doing so much better now that he is on insulin.
It is funny. 8 months ago we sat in the hospital praying for one sons glucose numbers to go up enough and stablize so we could go home. Now we pray that another sons glucose will go way down, which it is, and regulate so we can go home (after we do all the "educational" stuff of course)!! I have to say that Heavenly Father works in miraculous ways. When I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes last February I was scared to death. Once I got information I was fine and did everything I could do manage it. I learned to count carbs very well. Now, I am using that new found knowledge to help and to educate my sweet son that will be doing that for the rest of his life!! Also, I went into this experience not near as scared as I would have been because I knew that once I had knowledge we would all be okay. I was able to pass on that advice to my son knowing exactly the fears he was feeling!! I have been told that the trials I have now will prepare me for what is to come on the marrow. This is a perfect example!
Ryan is taking this all in so well. He is keeping up with Brad and I on all the education. He doesn't cry with the injections (although he HATED having to give himself the finger prick this afternoon). Tomorrow he gets to try injecting himself tomorrow. Wish him luck!! His only big incentive is that once he injects himself he gets to test Dad's glucose levels!! Brad's not super excited. Ryan is, of course. I am so impressed with his attidude. It is also wonderful seeing the effect of the insulin. All of my doubts wondering if he really has diabetes (which is a very common doubt of parents with kids diagnosed with this) are diminished with seeing how much better he looks, is acting, how much less frequently he is going to the bathroom, and even his appetite. It will be wonderful to see the old Ryan back!!
Another miracle to note. I decided to finally bite the bullet and sleep train Benjamin. I have been wanting too, but he has been sick whenever it was convenient with work. I let him cry it out on Friday night and Saturday night. Sunday night he slept for 11 hours straight. I couldn't believe it!! Well, last night I was worried, because I wasn't home, that he would wake up. But, he slept through the night again!! Let's pray he does tonight. Brad needs all the sleep he can get. Also, he slept 2 1/2 hours for my sister Tiffany today. He never naps that long for me EVER!! What a blessing!!

Is this better

2011-01-14T15:31:00.001-07:00

There just was something not quite right about the last temple picture. The temple wasn't standing out enough. Let me know if this is better, or if you prefer the other one.
Thanks for all your advice!!

Testing

2011-01-09T15:23:00.005-07:00

So, I love the temple. I love seeing temples everywhere and would love to visit all the temples in the world one day. That was my goal, until we started building them everywhere!! Now my goal is to see as many as possible in my lifetime. Along with that, I love taking pictures of the temple. I have just started and haven't done very many. I also love all the new temple pictures out there but don't want to pay an arm and a leg for them. So, I have been experimenting with doing my own. Here is my first attempt of the Los Angeles Temple. I actually got in trouble taking these pictures because I was at my brother in laws wedding and thought we were done with group pictures. So, I went off taking pictures of the temple. Well, my frantic mother in law came and got me after a while because we WEREN'T done. I am afraid she and others weren't very happy with me!
Anyway, here it is. Let me know any changes you would make. Ask yourself, "If I were to display this in my home, what would I want changed (besides the actual temple!!)"

Thanks for you help in this.

(Click on the picture to see it larger)

Christmas Picture

2010-12-22T15:29:00.005-07:00

Here is an adorable picture of all of my kiddos around the Christmas tree!! How blessed I am this Christmas. (So, I have four color versions). I need opinions on what people like the best!!
#1-Normal Color

#2-Black and white with some color
#3-Pure black and white#4-Aged color

Creativity at it's BEST!!

2010-12-21T17:20:00.002-07:00

This is the product of 3 very creative boys on a snowy day!! They love Club Penguin!!

So Fast?

2010-11-30T22:08:00.003-07:00

How do little people grow up so fast? Last week we went to California for Thanksgiving. Before we left Benjamin could sit up a little with our help and was barely eating solids. By the time we left California he was downing jars of baby food and sitting all by himself. Also, he is doing so much better at rolling over. However, sometimes he gets stuck on one side so he starts army crawling, by default, he doesn't really mean to. It is completely insane how fast he is growing up!!

Look how big I am!!!
This was a scene I happened upon as Makayla was playing the computer.

Benjamin with his sweet cousin Easton. It will be so cute to see them play as they get older. Easton was trying to hold Benjamin. Easton is about 10 months older than Benjamin!!

6 Month Stats

2010-11-14T08:48:00.004-07:00

Okay, so my little guy is still so little. By far my smallest of all of my kids. He either has the Bell metabolism (that I did NOT inherit once I got married....darn it!) or my milk isn't cream this time. Anyway, he weighed in at 14 lbs 6 oz which is the 4th percentile!! That is actually down from the 10th percentile the last time, but my doctor isn't worried at all, which is good because I really am not worried. He was almost 26 inches long which is the 27th percentile!! So, long and skinny (okay, not really that long but in comparison to his length he is still a cute little bean pole)!!
I started him on solids this week. He isn't loving it, but he will get it. I waited as long as I could because I really don't enjoy the baby food scene. But, he is always trying to eat my table food so it was time.

Let me tell you a little about Benjamin at this age. He is the CUTEST little guy. He is the smiliest kid there is. I am not joking. I went to the doctors the other day, to see if I need sinus surgery (a whole other story) and the nurse couldn't even concentrate on what she was saying to me and what I was saying back because he was smiling, laughing, and cooing at her. She couldn't get enough of him. That is pretty much how it goes. I really can't say how many people interrupt themselves talking to me because they just have to comment on how adorable he is. One person yesterday said "He is so darling. He smiles with his whole body!" Which he does. He really is a happy baby. He does still like attention which still makes it a bit difficult at times. But, his siblings absolutely adore him so he gets a whole lot of it!!

Benjamin has learned to roll over, finally. The great news is he still doesn't do it very often. He hates being on his stomach so he doesn't roll to that very much. If I put him on his stomach he rolls to his back pretty fast. I am liking that he isn't on the move yet. I am SOOO not ready for that. He can also sit up on his own for a short bit. It is getting longer and longer each day. I am ready for him to do that as life gets so much more fun for him. I have the bumbo, but he wiggles and arches his back to try to get out that it is no longer safe for him to be in it.
I love this little guy. There is not a day that goes by that I am not grateful for him. He is such a blessing to our family!!

BENEFIT CONCERT FOR MY FRIEND

2010-10-21T13:59:00.008-06:00

Benefit Concert for Ruth Clark

Saturday, November 13, 2010 @ 7:30 PM

Pleasant Grove Jr High Auditorium

*Admission is free, but donations are encouraged*

Ruth Clark is a ‘super-mom’. She is married to her best friend Jared. Together they have 4 wonderful children: Joshua (deceased), Katie 8, Nathan 5, and Alice 1. Ruth majored in vocal performance and shares her time and talents with many people. She has organized benefit concerts for others in need, conducted choirs, directed Christmas and Easter programs, and much more. Ruth is not only musically talented but has many other wonderful attributes. She is very outgoing, sensitive to others needs, an eternal optimist, and a hard worker. She never lets challenges get her down.

Ruth will need these attributes and more to fight a disease that now threatens her life. Ruth was recently diagnosed with breast cancer which has now spread into her bones. Doctors have pronounced the cancer terminal; it is not curable and at the moment they are treating it the best they can.

Ruth and Jared have been ‘students’ for the past 10 years. Jared has been working on his PhD and was going to graduate this August, but pushed back his graduation to spend more time with his family. Ruth and Jared are struggling financially trying to meet all the needs of Ruth’s doctor appointments, tests, and chemo therapy. This benefit concert will be held in her honor with all the proceeds going to pay for Ruth’s cancer treatments. Ruth and her family need any help we can give them. Please bring your friends and family members to the concert. It will be a fabulous evening of music with dancing, piano performances, vocal solos, choir performances, flute and guitar solos, and much more!

Come and enjoy a fantastic night of music in honor of Ruth!

If you can't come but would still like to help out click on the button and donate through pay pal using a debit or credit card. It is free and completely secure.

Dear Patience

2010-10-07T19:38:00.002-06:00

Dear Patience,
Where did you go? Ryan prayed today that "mom might find her patience". Please come back. Obviously I need you!!
Sincerely,
Tamara

Quick update

2010-10-07T19:11:00.007-06:00

So, I am about ready to give up blogging. It is just one more thing on my to do list that doesn't get done and the guilt just eats at me...oh well. Anyway, here is just a quick update of what is happening around here.

Benjamin: He had his month check up....one month ago!! He weighed in at 12 lbs 11 oz (9 percentile) and was 23.5 inches (32 percentile). He pukes tons, although when I drink Kiefer milk it seems to help. He still loves to be held and entertained. He does not nap well, but sleeps awesome at night (the best was two nights ago when he slept from 7:30pm until 6:30am). But don't worry, the next night he slept from 8-12:30 and then woke up again at 5:30. So, nothing consistent but for the most part he doesn't wake up until the 5 oclock hour. That is good because naps are nonexistent around here. He is still a very cute and happy kid. He is growing way too fast.
Poor Benjamin was dragged around in this little stroller all night when we had a girls night (he was the only boy). Last one he will ever want to attend!!
Becca: She is a handful. Especially with all of her playmates at school. She loves to watch Care Bears and Veggie Tales on Netflix. I have finally gotten her some other craft activities to keep her busy while Ash is gone. She loves to throw tantrums and in the next breath say something absolutely adorable. It is a dang good thing we have those happy moments. She loves Benjamin to death and wants to hold him all of the time. Too bad sometimes she gives too much love and ruins a good thing (like him actually being happy on his own for a moment or two). The other day she decided she didn't like how long her hair was (barely to her shoulders thanks to last years hair cut from Ash) so she cut her hair. I had to go get it fixed once again from a sweet lady in my ward. She now has Dora hair which she thinks is great since that is what she is going to be for Halloween.
This is pre-hair cut photo. It is now pretty hard to pull the bangs back since they were cut short. One day they will grow out!!

Ashlyn: She is my sweet Kindergartner that really loves any minute. She is sad to be in the same class as all of her friends in our ward, but she is making new friends. This really is a talent of hers. She is starting to learn to read pretty well. It is fun to see the progress she has made in this first month of school. She loves to dress herself and it is usually pretty stylish and cute. She is also starting piano and doing pretty well, when we remember to practice. She is a HUGE help with Benjamin. She loves to change his diaper and play house with him.
My beautiful Ashlyn. She really is growing up so quickly. Do you guys like her cute headband? My sister in law has started making and selling them. I LOVE THEM!!!

Makayla: She is another smarty pants. She is the top reader in her class, which is nice to not have to worry about that. She just started Activity Days and loves it. She had her first Daddy Daughter night and Brad had to go to an over night Scout training. So, she got to go with her Papa who was in town from California. Her biggest news is she is getting baptized on Saturday. She couldn't be more excited for that.

One day I will get caught up and post all of her gorgeous baptism photos. I did her and my nephew McKay at the same time (he is exactly 2 weeks older than her). They looked like a little bride and groom. It was adorable!!!
Ryan: There is a reason he was sent to me first. He really is such a big helper, most of the time. Come on, he is only 9 and is still a kid (I have to remind myself of that sometimes). He is doing extremely well in school. He was chosen to help tutor some younger kids in school even though his class isn't doing it yet (another teacher needed a 3 kids to help his class). He is currently in a play for Lehi City Arts Council that he will do in November. He scored a solo!! Whoo hoo....except he won't sing it for me!! He is also super busy practicing the song "Follow the Prophet". He will be accompanying the entire primary for the Primary program. He knows the song really well, we are just practicing what he does if he makes a mistake and has to keep going.
Ryan earned his Bear in Cub Scouts this month. We always try to work really hard over the summer so that once schools hits and I am busy with school we don't have to worry about it too much. He and I are still enjoying scouts together as I am one of his Den leaders.

Brad and I are trying to stay sane with all life has given to us. Nothing big and exciting, just life.Brad is looking for a new job, so if you hear of anything in the Marketing realm, please let us know. (He isn't out of work, just looking to further his career). I am doing my best to balance everything, I fall short daily, but I go to bed, even after the worst of days and say to myself "Tomorrow is a new day and will be better". Most of the time it is. I do worry when at 10am I am thinking those thoughts to myself, but, don't we all have days like that? Life is good, just busy. I keep thinking it will get better, but who am I kidding? The older my kids get the busier it will be, especially in the afternoons. At least I have been blessed with the most amazing kids and the best husband in the world.

PS If anyone is looking to sell or just lend out an exersaucer for babies I am in the market. Sadly enough I have never had one for any of my children. I think it would be a great thing to help entertain Benjamin so I don't have to hold him so much. He is getting better, but we need lots of things to entertain him with these days.

Big boy

2010-09-02T21:27:00.003-06:00

Benjamin is growing like a weed. He still isn't quite the chubbers my other kids have been at this stage, but he is getting bigger. Today he was wearing a romper that used to drown him and it is starting to get small. Don't worry, it is newborn, but still....it is getting small. He is such a sweetie. He is spoiled with attention, which means he always wants it. As long as he can see me or someone else he is generally happy. He loves his swing, bouncy chair, and the bumbo. None of my other kids have had a bumbo. Let me tell you, I love it. He loves it. We are all happy!!

The First Day of.......

2010-09-02T20:27:00.010-06:00

Welcome to the first days of many things for all of my kids. On August 25th it was the first day of school for Ryan and Makayla. Makayla was lucky enough to get Mr Rindlisbacher (he calls himself Mr Rindy) for 2nd grade. Ryan LOVED him when he had him in 2nd grade and we were all thrilled that Makayla got him. In fact, I have decided to be one of the two room mothers for him this year. I thought it would be nice for me to be a room mom for each of my kids once (or at least assistant room mom). I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but I think this will be a great class for it. So, I guess I also made the list of firsts as this is my first room mom experience. Makayla also had a first....her first cavity filled. It actually was 4 cavities. Man, we now know she has teeth to really watch. We have stepped up the brushing and flossing in hopes of preventing more!! Makayla is my first child to have a cavity. Not too bad. She did really really well. Her poor lip is swollen. I think she bit it when it was numb. But bless her heart, she hasn't complained once.
Ryan with his two best friends. They had arranged to wear matching shirts...which says "Smooth like butta!!"

Ryan got Mrs Rivera. He actually had gotten a different teacher and I fought to get him changed. I usually don't like to rock the boat at all but really felt it was best in this case. This teacher will work him hard and help him learn how to really be responsible and organized. He is excited because this is his first time being in class with one of his friends (his best friend Ben...they had better behave!!)

Ryan ready for 4th grade

On August 25th Becca had her first day of dance. She was quite excited to go, but didn't want to stay. Finally with 15 minutes left she got into it. This last week didn't go too much better. They are looking to get a teachers aid, which would be great. All Becca needs is someone to literally hold her hand for a few minutes and walk her through what they are doing and then she is okay. Becca is excited to be there with Libby.

On September 1st Ashlyn had her first day of Kindergarten. Boy was she excited. She didn't understand that she goes 1 hour and 15 min after Ryan and Makayla goes to school. It was the longest hour ever!! She LOVED her first day. I can already, after two days, see her blossoming out of her timid shell.

This week was my first week teaching piano since having Benjamin. It actually went really well. I am not teaching quite as much so it is much more enjoyable. We are still getting into the swing of things, but we will get it!
The last first has to be one of the biggest ones of all. Benjamin watched his very first football game. And I am proud to say, it was a UTAH game!! He LOVED it. Of course, who wouldn't? All you BYU fans....don't answer that!!

We have had a very busy two weeks. It will be nice when life settles down more (hmmm.....that will never happen, will it.)

Summertime and the living is easy!!

2010-08-24T07:47:00.004-06:00

Well, the summer has come to a close. Tomorrow my home will be filled with new clothes, new hair cuts (pictures to be forthcoming), back packs, and EXTREMELY excited kids. Then, sooner than not, it will be quiet (well, okay not quiet as the three youngest will be around). The beginning of the school year also means the end of my blessed maternity leave. Wow!! How did that happen so quickly. Benjamin is now 15 weeks old and I must face the music and start working again. I sit hear and realize all the things I was hoping to get accomplished during this summer time before school started and I had NO time.
-I wanted to get all of my scrapbooks/photobooks updated (I am so severely behind it is ridiculous).
-I wanted to get all caught up on my blog for this year and last year so I can make a book out of them.
-I wanted to organize all of my pictures and clean up the computer with them.
-I wanted to play with some of my temple pictures and go take pictures of the Timp temple.
-I wanted to deep clean the entire house.
Well, none of that got done. Not even close. But, as I feel frustrated with that I reflect on what was accomplished in place of these things.
-I held Benjamin all the time and watched him grow in my arms.
-I read to my kids (still not near enough)
-I played hard with my kids. We bought a Trafalga season pass which after we bought it we found out it also included a season pass to Seven Peaks, the Owlz and now even the Utah Flash. We have been to Lehi Trafalga a few times, 2 Owlz games, and Seven Peaks around 4 times!! It has been so fun.
-I have read quite a few books (what else do you do when you are nursing your life away)
-I have been to California and Flaming Gorge (maybe one day I will blog about those trips)

So, it has been a good summer. I have few regrets. My pictures are still there to sort through and scrapbook. My house is still here to clean. The memories are still around to blog. However, my 15 week old will never be 6 weeks old again and learning to smile. So, it was a WONDERFUL summer. I am sad to see it go but excited to see what this school year hold.

Water skiing

2010-07-25T20:57:00.006-06:00

I love to water ski. It is one of my favorite things to do. I learned as a pre teen from my uncle in Idaho. I remember trying over and over and the satisfaction of finally getting it. It really is a fond memory. Well, Allison and Bryce were kind enough to invite us to go boating last Saturday, July 17th. We had a great time. I was pretty worried that I wouldn't be able to get up as I am super out of shape and weigh more than usual. Well, after a couple of tries I got up on the wake board. I didn't stay up too long as I am so out of shape. I then tried the slalom ski. It took me way more tries than usual, but my determination prevailed and I got up and stayed up for a bit (a short bit as mt legs and arms were shaking). But, I did it and got the picture!!
Now, as exciting as it was for me, the best part of the day was seeing Ryan and Makayla learn. Mckay, my nephew, went first. He did pretty well but was done after a couple of tries. Ryan and Makayla practiced on the boat first. This kind of freaked them out, but after bribery they dared try it behind the boat.

Bryce went in with them (and an orange flag for safety) and helped them learn how to get up. Makayla went first (that girl has GUTS). She got right up and stayed up for a few seconds. I was holding the end of the roap so when she crashed if she didn't let go I let go so she doesn't drag. Well, that is the idea. I was so excited that she was up that when she crashed it took me a sec to remember to let go. She ended up crying, but is now ultra proud of herself, as she should be.

Ryan was super brave and got in, even after seeing Kayla fall. It took him a couple of tries but he eventually got up, kind of. He was up but crouched down. He looked like a frog. We told him he just needed to stand up. He was done after that. Next month, when we go to Flaming Gorge they will try again.

Ryan doing crunchy frog (anyone familiar with P90x?)

Darling Ashlyn

Becca got to drive

Becca really wanted to get in the water with mom. She thought it was so cool.

I did get up!!

Brad surfing!!!

It was a beautiful day

Pioneer Day

2010-07-25T20:40:00.004-06:00

We had a nice pioneer day. It was full of work all day and then play. A lot like our pioneers. Poor Ashlyn was really sick with a fever all day. She does seem to be doing better today. We had Tiff and her family over for dinner as well as the Owens (minus Allison who is in Canada with my parents.) It was relaxing until we played the intense game of Scotland Yard. Brad played this board game on his mission and has wanted it since. It has only taken me 11 years to fulfill this wish. He just received it for his birthday. We had a ball playing this game. The coolest part is the Mister X the bad guy wears!!

Man do I have a good looking husband or what? Even when he is the bad guy.

Breaking Point

2010-07-15T14:46:00.003-06:00

I do believe everyone has a breaking point. I know I do. I have been feeling myself heading down that road this past week. We have had tons of late nights and that has affected the kids, including the baby. I have just about had it by night time. Poor Brad, get's me at my worst. Anyway, I believe that Heavenly Father loves me very much. I could list the millions of reasons, 6 of which are Brad, Ryan, Makayla, Ashlyn, Becca, and Benjamin. However, this day I know because he has given me tender mercies to help as I am on the verge of breaking.
The first breaking point is sleep. I really have been so tired. Today I was at the park with some friends from the ward and our kids and I was having a hard time staying awake. Definitely not for lack of stimulating conversation. I love the friends I was with, and they were very entertaining. But between the allergies I was having and the late nights, not to mention middle of the night feedings, I was toast. I can't even totally blame Benjamin. He is seriously waking up once before 6am, and the past two nights his first waking is 4:30. I can totally handle that. Part of the problem is I no longer get to nap. There are several reasons, 5 of which are each of my children. I also don't love to nap, as there is so much else I need to do. But, I know a little 15 min nap here or there really would help me. Well, today after the park and library I got my kids lunch and Benjamin was still asleep. The little girls went to Brooke and Clair's house so I told the older kids I was going to take just a quick 15 min nap while he was sleeping. Over an hour later I woke up, looked at the clock, and then panicked!! Is the baby okay? I jumped off the bed and found him sound asleep in his car seat still. Now, the nap AND him sleeping so long is a tender mercy. He doesn't nap that long right now in the afternoons. I am usually fighting him with cat naps. I know I will be way more refreshed and that I needed it. Hopefully this will ward me off from reaching my breaking point for a while.
The second tender mercy has to do with me reaching my breaking point on trying to lose weight. I gained way too much with Benjamin. It wasn't any more than my other kids, but I started heavier with them and ended the heaviest. Well, I have always been able to lose the baby weight. It just takes work. I have found the older you are and the more kids you have the harder it is. I have been trying but it has not been coming off. Seriously, as of Monday I had lost 5 lbs from the initial weight loss after having a baby. Now, that being said, for two weeks I was on vacation in California and with California family up here. Not conducive to weight loss. So, this week I said "ENOUGH!!!" After many prayers I really felt like doing weight watchers wouldn't be enough and just counting my carbs wouldn't be enough. I needed to do both. So, I am now doing both together. It can be quite tricky but not if you eat really healthy. I can't chow down on fruits as much as I would like, but I can on veggies. I have to watch the amount of sugars I eat.....hardly any now!! But, I have found the last couple of days I have not even reached my amount of carbs or points in a day and I haven't been hungry. I have been downing water like crazy and exercising at least 25 min a day. Best news of all.....I have lost 5 lbs since Monday. I had been praying that if I was doing everything I could do lose weight that Heavenly Father would step in and help me, and that is exactly what he has done. Now, I know it won't fall off like this all the time and I will have moments of frustration still, but for today I am happy.

4 Down, 1 to go!!!

2010-07-12T14:41:00.003-06:00

So, Becca is potty trained!! I kept putting it off for various reasons. The biggest reason was Benjamin. I just couldn't do that to all of us. Becca started showing interest just before we went to California for Doug's wedding. I would not do it before. It would have totally messed up her potty training and our trip. So, I said, when we get home. Finally, last Wednesday, she decided we were ready. I had nothing that day so I set it aside to potty train. I followed Bre's advice (she potty trained dozens of autistic children in her kindergarten class) and pumped her full of juice and asked every 5 minutes if she was dry. Then we would try to go every 15 minutes. After 5 hours and a few accidents later I was done. I was so tired and Benjamin needed me. So, I stopped pumping her full of juice, kept her in undies, and just did dry checks every 15 minutes or so and potty tries every 30 minutes. She was dry the rest of the day. The next day I went to Day Camp with Ryan so my wonderful mother and father in law had the girls. They said she had just one accident all morning. I had left a basket full of underwear and shorts for those accidents. I felt so bad they had to deal with that. However, since Thursday she has only had 1 accident and it was a matter of not quite making it. She made it to the bathroom and almost on the toilet. I know I will have many of those moments as she learns when she can and can't hold it while playing. She has been perfect thus far in the poop department since we started on Wednesday. I have to say it is totally worth it to wait until your child is older and ready. I don't remind her and she goes. We were even at the doctor and she needed to go and went without a problem. I hate potty training, but I have to say, if you wait and do that intense method for a day or so it really isn't that bad. I just hope I remember this for Benjamin.
1 DOWN AND 1 TO GO!!!!

Benjamin Update

2010-07-12T14:31:00.005-06:00

He is getting bigger!!! My little boy isn't so little anymore. Actually, compared to the rest of my kiddos he is quite small. But, he is growing great so my doctor was very happy. Here are the stats:
Weight: 9 lbs 13 oz (10%)
Heights: 22.5 inches (31st%)
Head: 12%
He is smiling like crazy now and has started cooing. Actually, last Saturday I think it was, he laughed at Brad. I guess Brad is pretty funny. Ryan laughed at Brad first as well. Besides needing to be held all the time (which is why my doctor thinks he smiles so much which is a very good thing) he is a great baby. I do have to say that he is getting better at being entertained in his bouncer or car seat. However, still not extremely long. His favorite place is on me!! He is sleeping well. Not through the night. My kids don't do that until 9 months (I am shooting for 6 months this time and would take anything before that!!) He will fall asleep anywhere from 8pm-11pm and then sleep until 3:30. Then he wakes up sometime in the 6am hour and will go back to sleep on and off all morning. I do wish I could nap, but who can nap with 5 kids? My favorite thing though is his smile. He has always been a smiley kid. Now, though, it is in response to you smiling, a full tummy, waking from a nap, or just being happy. His smile sure melts everyone's heart!!

The "Hateful" Years...or are they?

2010-06-16T22:10:00.004-06:00

I have been doing a lot of reading since I am nursing all of the time. I even read in the middle of the night to keep me awake while Benjamin feeds. I am sure if my neighbors were to look in my windows in the middle of the night they would have quite the site. I have a head lamp that Brad's grandma gave to him for Christmas. I put it on and can read and nurse without turning on lamps or dealing with an awkward flashlight. It is awesome....although I look hilarious. Anyway, that is besides the point. I have started reading Nicholas Sparks book "The Wedding" which I am pretty sure I have read before, but can't remember it. I am hoping it isn't too depressing. Last night, in the middle of the night, as I was reading I came across this paragraph where the man in the book is describing how his wife looked to the years with young children. As I am right in the thick of things I could relate all too well. She called them the "hateful" years. I find the word "Hateful" too strong. I don't hate anything about this time in life. I really actually love it.....except ask me that after a night with no sleep and a day with a screaming baby. (Obviously today was a good day with Benjamin and last night was okay). However, I really could relate to her frustrations and I had to laugh at how too true it was.

Let me share what Sparks had to say on this matter. By "hateful" what Jane meant was this: There were moments when she hated practically everything. She hated how she looked and how she felt. She hated women whose breasts didn't ache and women who still fit into their clothes. (Amen to this!!!) But it was the lack of sleep that raised her ire most of all, and consequently, nothing irritated her more than hearing stories of other mothers whose infants slept through the night within weeks of leaving the hospital. (I can really relate to this as Ryan was 14 months before he slept through the night. So please, don't share how wonderful your babies are in sleeping so quickly through the night. If I can get this guy to do it by 6 months I will be doing great!!!) In fact, she hated everyone who had the opportunity to sleep more than three hours at a stretch, and there were times, it seemed, that she even hated me for my role in all this. After all, I couldn't breast feed, and because of my long hours at the law firm, I had no choice but to sleep in the guest room occasionally so I could function at the office the next day. Though I'm certain that she understood this intellectually, it often didn't seem that way."

This is where I laughed. I so remember just before I had Benjamin thinking about how little sleep I will be getting and remembering that I sometimes get so angry(not at Brad, just the situation) that Brad can just go to sleep and I stay up trying to get the baby to sleep. He does have to work and I can nap ...ha ha ha-nap, really?!!! I do have to say that Brad has been so wonderful. As long as the baby is fed he takes him and puts him to sleep for me. The other night I was so beyond exhausted I fell asleep without meaning to and Brad stayed up an extra hour putting Benjamin, who wasn't quite tired enough, to sleep. He is so wonderful to me!!!

Now, as I said before, hateful is way too strong of a word. Do I get so tired and frustrated with the not fitting clothes and trying to lose weight that I sometimes get frustrated? Yes. Am I angry at anyone? No. Am I angry at having made the choice to have a baby. Not even remotely. I am just tired and impatient. However, this week I have reflected on these feeling, even before I read this book. I realized that even though some days I am past the point of exhaustion, because who can nap when you have 5 kids, I wouldn't trade these moments for anything. I knew exactly what I was signing up for and every time I even think about Benjamin I smile and think how worth it it all is. So, I will never call these years the "hateful years" because they aren't. I don't know yet what to call them. I am way too tired to be cleaver and thoughtful anymore on the matter. I just know I will reflect with fondness on these times and will be so grateful for every moment I share with these little people I adore!!

Pictures

2010-05-28T20:20:00.004-06:00

Here are some cute pictures of my kids this past week.

The kids were so intrigued by me bathing Benjamin.

This kind of gives an idea of how small he is.

I love this picture. Ryan just adores this little guy.

Isn't she so beautiful? I cropped this from a picture taken when the kids were watching Benjamin's bath.

I am a sucker for sleeping babies pictures.

Becca also adores her baby brother.

Becca was bawling for Ash's graduation cap!!

Another one. I really can't get enough!!

Kids say the darndest things

2010-05-28T20:02:00.002-06:00

I really should have been recording all of the funny things my kids have been saying the past few weeks. Here are a couple of cute and funny things.

Becca to Nana: You need to go home. (said while I was stuck in the hospital-she was having a hard time with mom being gone)

Becca to Nana again once I was home: You can go home now.

Becca to Nana the day Nana was leaving: You stay. Don't go home.

Becca and Ash have been curious about nursing. Ash asked how I was going to feed the baby. So, one of the first times I was feeding him once i was home Ash came in and watched. She said "Oh, that's just like a sheep." Baa baa....I really feel more like a cow, but we are on the same page!!

When I was pregnant and asked Becca where the baby was she would always point to my huge chest and say "baby". So, one day I was feeding Benjamin and she was watching for a minute. She got a concerned look on her face and said "Mom, why is Benjamin biting the baby?"

Ashlyn's Preschool graduation

2010-05-28T17:59:00.007-06:00

This year we did a neighborhood preschool for Ashlyn and her friends. It ended up being 7 kids in our ward, 6 girls and 1 boy. The moms would teach every 7 weeks for 2 days that week. At the beginning of the year we got together and decided on the order, what would be taught when, field trips, etc. It worked out so well. Big props to the other moms that took it very seriously and did an amazing job. I feel like Ashlyn got a quality education for free. Plus, she was with all of her friends in the ward. It was a really fun thing. It went well when it was my week to teach. The kids were extremely well behaved, which is amazing when you have 7 four year olds for 2 hours. They all learned so much. I was nervous doing it knowing I would be pregnant and knowing how sick I get. But, I only had to cancel once the entire year and that was because Ashlyn had a fever, not because of me. I am so proud of my sweet Ashlyn. She loves to learn and is so excited for kindergarten. I can't believe she is that old!!!

Megan, Brooke, Emily, Bryant, Kylee, Ashlyn, Gwyn

Cute hats that Kylee's mom made.

Ashlyn and her best friend Brooke. These two love each other like sisters!! They like to call themselves twins.

The kids didn't quite understand the concept of throwing the hats.

Small photoshoot

2010-05-27T08:12:00.002-06:00

This little guy must get used to me playing photographer with him. What a cute subject!!

2 Weeks and counting

2010-05-26T10:35:00.007-06:00

Well, Benjamin is now over 2 weeks old. I don't know how it happens so fast. I hate that the pregnancy takes a lifetime and their first year flies so quickly. I am trying to gobble this little guy up and not wish away a single moment. So far so good. I spend much of my day holding and loving him. I also love watching his siblings adore him. They are so good, especially Becca and Ash, to know they have to hand sanitize before even touching him. We are going through the stuff like mad, but it is well worth it.

Benjamin is a good little baby. He really only fusses when he is fighting going into a deep sleep. He doesn't cry too much about being hungry because I am still feeding him every 3 hours and that seems to keep him quite content. He is sleeping pretty well now. On Friday he got his circumcision (they couldn't do it in the hospital because it was too much for his body to take). He had a pretty hard time Friday night and Saturday night. He was up for 2 1/2-3 hours each night which didn't make mom too happy. He really has been doing better so I hope that continues.

Benjamin had his two week appointment last Friday, even though he was only 11 days old. He weighed in at a whopping 5 lbs 15 oz!!! The funny thing is Brad and I were taking bets on how big he would be. I was guessing 7 lbs. Now, I know that is a lot in a week going from 5 lbs 10 oz to 7 lbs, but all of my other kids, except Kayla, had gained a 1 lb to 1 1/2 lbs in their first two weeks. Well, I was quite wrong. But the good thing is he had gained 5 oz in 7 days and the doctors look for 1/2 oz to 1 oz a day. So, the doctor was happy. He measured in at 20 inches long. He is only 3% for weight, 40th for height, and 10% for head. I am sure he will eventually catch up. I take him in tomorrow for another reweigh. As long as he has reached his birth weight of 6 lbs 2 oz, which he will, I can lengthen his feedings a bit in the night. That sure would be nice. There is nothing more frustrating than having to wake a sleeping baby to eat in the middle of the night.

He is much more alert which is so much fun. I think he is a darling baby. Especially sleeping he is so sweet and innocent. But, when he is awake and you can see into his little soul through his beautiful eyes, well, he could melt the biggest iceberg in the world. He is really easy going and so content. So many times this week I have been so grateful we listened to the Holy Ghost and decided to have one more child. I can't imagine my life without this little guy!!!

Coming home pictures

2010-05-18T19:29:00.001-06:00

Look how little he is. He only weighed 5 lbs 10 oz at this moment. I still can't believe there is a 3 lb difference between my smallest and largest babies. And, there was only a 5 or 6 day difference on gestational age.

Our favorite nurse, Beate. She was incredible. She was the daytime nurse all 5 days which was a miracle!!

So, I really struggled with the fact that with my last child I didn't get my normal hospital experience. I love sitting on my bed holding my baby hours on end, showing him off, bounding with Brad baby and I. Instead I had to hold him in a not as private nursery with cords all over him. However, we bonded and had more special moments than one normally would have. When we got to take Benjamin home they had us go in the room I had "rented" over night and get him ready while the nurses did a shift change. I really felt like we had contraband having him in there. It was a weird feeling. However, as I was changing him into clothes and then nursing him in the room I suddenly had the wonderful moment of what I usually have with all my babies. Peace and quiet in our own room. It was a wonderful way to end the crazy hospital ride. Normalcy. At that moment I knew we could take care of him and all would be well.

Pictures in the Level 2 Nursery (NICU)

2010-05-17T19:17:00.000-06:00

I had a really hard time seeing a tube down my baby's nose. I am grateful he didn't have to have oxygen too. After a few days we decided we should document the NICU stay with pictures. Beate, our wonderful nurse, put him in this cute outfit!!

We are Home!!!

2010-05-15T19:28:00.001-06:00

I feel complete. I am finally at home with this little guy. It has been so wonderful having my entire family all together!!! The kids can't get enough of their little brother. He can't get enough of being held all the time. I can't get enough of holding and nursing him without a million cords in the way or worrying about pulling out the cords or making the sensors go off!!!

Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers. It was a major help. I am looking forward to the chaos of 5 children (although I am very very grateful to my mother in law for helping me deal with that right now). Wish me luck in a couple of weeks when I am on my own!!! I welcome that over what we just went through!!!

Benjamin seems to be doing really well. I was very positive when he woke up every 2 hours and 45 minutes last night. That may seem strange, but I have to feed him every 3 hours anyway until he gets bigger. I had set Brad's phone alarm for every 3 hours and didn't have to use it once. The reason this is so good is that it means he was hungry on his own. A very good sign that he is thriving!!!! He onky started doing that the last 24 hours of the hospital stay!!!!

We suckered into buying some professional photographs at the hospital (new program they are doing). Here are a few of them. There are some that I could never duplicate if I tried (you just don't get a brand new born to smile!!!)

Count your Blessings

2010-05-14T09:15:00.002-06:00

Last night I was thinking through this crazy week and realizing how many blessings we have been given during this trial. Brad is always telling me to count my blessings so I will. (These are in no particular order as I consider them all equally a HUGE blessing)

#1-I made it to the hospital in time to have Benjamin.

#2-We didn't discover his low blood sugar until after our kids were able to come and spend time with him in the delivery room.

#3-We have the BEST and I truly mean the BEST nurse in Level 2 nursery possible. Beata, this incredible German lady, has made the difference. She isn't just our nurse, she is our friend and cheerleader. She gets just as nervous as we do to see what the blood sugars will be.

#3b-To go along with Beata, I found out last night she usually only works on Wednesday-Friday. However, they needed help on Monday and Tuesday so she has worked the entire week with us. No other child has had the same nurse all week. We have had different and wonderful nurses at night, but always have the same one during the day. The consistency has been wonderful. I also pondered today that I was scheduled to be induced today!! If I had been and Benjamin had had this problem Beata would not have been our nurse through the whole thing and my doctor wouldn't have been on the whole time since it would be the weekend and someone else may have been on call.

#4-My mother in law was able to change her flight and be the surrogate mother all week. It has been so wonderful to know my kids are at home, having fun, but having some consistency through this all!! Thanks to her for loving my kids during all of this. (although, on a funny side note, Becca informed Nana yesterday that it is time for her to go home!! I think Becca is certainly ready for this to be done!!)

#5-I was able to stay in a room tonight instead of the family lounge. It was nice to shower again and have privacy.

#6-I have been feeling INCREDIBLE physically. Seriously, for the most part I don't feel like I just had a baby. All of my pregnancy complaints are gone. I love how that happens. I always get to this point and realize how sick I always felt. My biggest complaint now is my back hurts from everything....mostly all this nursing. I have to have a pretty active role as Benjamin learns. The more he really sucks the better his chances are of getting better. It is quite exhausting but oh so worth it.

#7-Just last week or the week before they changed the visiting policy for the Level 2 nursery. Because of this my kids have been able to actually hold him in the nursery. 2 weeks ago they would have had to just look through a window.

#8-I have the BEST husband in the world. I am serious. He has been by my side to help me with whatever I need. He is always jumping up to help and makes sure I am taking it easy. He has been a huge help getting Benjamin to wake up to eat. He has been sleeping with Becca at home as she is still trying to recover. That in and of itself is a feat. She moves around TONS!!! He has been and continues to be my rock through all of this. There is nothing more I love than to see him holding little Benjamin. Man, I love this man!!!

#9-Brad has been able to work from the hospital . His boss has been wonderful to let him do this. Although he is working all the time, it is nice to have him by my side. Let's just pray we are done with this by Monday because he will have to go back.

#10-I have been able to have 5 days of quite bonding time with Benjamin. It just wouldn't have been the same at home. Becca loves this little guy way too much and is going to always want to be with him.

#11-My mother was able to step in and teach all of my group piano lessons for me. I had worked hard to get things ready for my students as I take the summer off and we were able to still give them what I had worked on. Thanks mom for all you have done!!

#12-I have an incredible support system. All of my family and friends have been there through calls, prayers(yes, we have been feeling them), thoughts and well wishes online. I love you all very much!!!

#13-For the most part I have been really calm through all of this. This is a direct blessing I was given at the beginning of my pregnancy and is continuing through all of this. I have bad moments, but the Holy Ghost is right there to help me in the end!!!

As I think of more I will have to post them. We are going in right now to test his sugars and feed him. My stomach is churning. We turned the IV down to a 2 and the 10 oclock hour has messed us up everyday as it hasn't been good. Let's pray for a miracle!!!

Thursday update

2010-05-13T15:17:00.003-06:00

Well, we went on a plan this morning to slowly wean from the supplemental feedings and the IV. We haven't supplemented since this morning, but have still be on the IV. We had a very bad number late morning which meant the nurse had to draw tons of blood to run some tests to rule out other causes of the problem. It also meant we will NOT be going home today. The good news is I fed him after the bad number and he ate pretty well. We then tested his sugars after that and they were good. We were shocked. We then tested before his last feeding and they were good again. So, we will test in the next hour and see. I am hoping if they are good we can turn the IV down and see if he tolerates that well. The nurse did say that it isn't common, but she has personally seen something like this and suddenly the baby just kicks in and regulates the sugars and they never know why it took so long or what was wrong. We are hoping that is the case and that there isn't something else going on. The good news is Benjamin is the cutest little guy alive. Man, I am tired of being in the hospital, but I decided that today I would take some breaks but spend a lot of time with him in the nursery. I realized that I get really anxious when I am not with him. But when I am, I feel totally calm and at peace and know everything will be alright. This has helped today.

After his last feeding I had to pump. While I was doing that he was awake in his bassinet. He started fussing and was good and crying when I finished. The second I picked him up he looked at me and calmed down immediately. I guess he just knew I was around and not holding him and decided that just wouldn't do!!! He must feel the void that I have felt when we aren't together. Here we spend 9 months as literally one being and then we are stripped away and not able to spend every waking second together like I usually do with my newborns. We both feel it. However, I do have to say we have had some very special bonding moments here that we wouldn't have had at home with his brother and sisters fighting over who gets to hold him. So, I will continue to relish in the quiet moments we have and savor these memories!!!

Patience is a Virtue

2010-05-12T21:28:00.002-06:00

So, patience is a virtue. I am learning that Heavenly Father REALLY wants me to develop this. Benjamin's numbers did not do well today. After we took him off the IV they dropped below 50. So, we fed him well and supplemented to see if it would help. It didn't so as of around 5:30 they had to restart the IV. The problem was his IV had fallen out so they had to redo the IV site. My poor tiny little boy looks so beat up. He has a big bruise on his hand where they tried to place the IV. He has another big bruise on his arm where they had to draw labs yesterday. His foot is HORRIBLE because of all the pokes for the glucose testing. He handles it all pretty well but my heart aches for him. Tonight, all night, we will be nursing him, supplementing him, and doing the IV. They are pretty sure the problem is he didn't develop in the last couple of weeks so he didn't make glucose storage that helps newborns get through the first few days in life. Because of this he just can't process the glucose. If we can beef up those stores than hopefully it will help. My milk came in today so we are hoping it will help. If we could get him to nurse well that would be awesome. I am so exhausted from trying so hard to have him sleep.

Today the kids came to visit. I have been missing them so much. I just want all of my children together....at home. I feel like I am living a different life right now. I am ready to bring Benjamin into my normal life. Becca came into the lounge where I am now staying and sat on my lap. The first thing she said, in her new much higher voice because of the tonsillectomy, "You need to come home." Of course the water works started and haven't stopped. The littlest things are setting me off. Oh well, I am postpartum and my hormones are a wreck so I have the right.

Tonight will be good. He will do this and we just must learn patience. Watching other families going through much worse in the NICU makes me realize it really could be worse so I will count my blessings.

Pictures

2010-05-12T10:11:00.002-06:00

I don't know what Ryan was screnching his face for. He loves this little guy. Boy does that moment seem like forever ago. I am so ready for these two to be reunited!!!

Here are some pictures of my cute little guy. He has tons of hair (not as much as Becca who wins the prize for the most). His hair is lighter though which is fun.

I Believe in Miracles

2010-05-12T09:53:00.004-06:00

I truly am a believer in miracles and in the power of the priesthood. Last night Brad gave Benjamin a blessing. I won't go into the details except to say in part of the blessing the nurses and doctors were blessed through Benjamin to know what to do to help give him the best treatment and know what would be best for him. We tested his blood sugars and they were good. He then nursed pretty well. We gave him supplemental colostrum and formula. Later he spit a lot of it up, but his levels still stayed high. Which was great. At 10 we were able to drop his IV levels to an 8 and the nurse decided to not supplement because he nursed so well and she didn't want to fill him up too much and have him spit it all up. So, we had a huge amount of faith in her and her decision making. The great thing is this nurse, named Sherri, also had a huge amount of faith. She kept saying "this will work because he got a blessing." It was nice to have her added faith.

Well, she was right. His numbers stayed up all night and he kept nursing really well. At 1, since his number was around 68 we took the IV down to a 5. I was pretty nervous, but he ate really well. At 5 Sherri called me and said his numbers were at 74 and he was ready to eat. He was sleepy so that feeding wasn't quite as good, but it was still okay. I was nervous again this morning because we took the IV to a 2. However, this morning Baeta, Benjamin's daytime nurse that is also incredible, called to say his numbers were 58 which was still good so we could take him off the IV. I fed him and we took him off. We will test in 1 hour to see how those levels are. He needs two good levels off the IV to be able to bring him home . So, there is a chance he could come home this afternoon. If they aren't good we have to put him back on the IV and then start the weaning process again. We won't have to put him all the way back up to 11. I am just praying that they will stay good so I can take this little guy home. His brother and sisters are pretty anxious to see him. We didn't have them come yesterday as we didn't know how they would react to the feeding tube in his nose. I am praying for more miracles!!

Benjamin's Story

2010-05-11T15:23:00.007-06:00

So, much has happened in the past 36 hours. I sit in the hospital knowing I will be discharged in the morning, but not knowing when my little boy will be. He is doing well. The problem is his body is not regulating his blood sugars on his own like he should. We knew this was a possibility with my diabetes, but I had no idea it would mean what we have been through. However, let me back up and tell you his story.

On Saturday I started having contractions every hour. Some were hard and some weren't. On Sunday they slowed down a bit so we weren't too excited. That ended up being a blessing as Becca had a really hard day on Sunday with her recovery and she really needed her mom. On Monday morning at 2:20ish I awoke with a really strong contractions that lasted for around 5 minutes (it really could have been two just on top of each other). I got up and walked around to try to help it feel better. I kept having contractions but some were really hard and some weren't that bad. They also were not consistent in timing. I laid back in bed trying to get some sleep. At 3:00 they started again and went every 15 minutes. At 3:45 I got sick of trying to sleep and not being able to so I went and took a bath. I also took Brad's I phone and downloaded an app that tracked my contractions. It was super cool. I just had to push a button when my contraction started and then when it ended. It told me how long it was, how long since the last one, the average in 20 minutes and the average in 24 hours.

To make a long night short I had contractions all night and was not able to sleep at all because whenever I would go back to sleep 10-20 minutes later I would have another contraction. Now, most ladies would maybe think "Oh, maybe I am in labor." However, I have been induced with all 4 of my other children and had no idea. The biggest problem was the contractions varied so much in strength and timing. I honestly didn't think I was in labor. In fact, I had an appointment set for 8:50 that morning so I was just hoping it had done something to help me dilate past the 2.5 I was at the week before. It wasn't until 6:55 when I had a pretty hard contraction when I thought, maybe I should call Allison (my older sister) and ask what her contractions felt like. I felt like an idiot but am SOOO grateful I called. As I was talking to her I had a really hard contraction. I was writhing in pain and couldn't talk to her. When it ended she said "Um, I am pretty sure that was a labor contraction." Oh, to back up the train a bit, I was wondering towards the end of the night if I didn't have a stone in my bladder ready to come out. My lower abdomen is where the contraction was the worst and I didn't think that was the case with real labor. Anyway, Allison assured me that contraction was not stone related but was a contraction. As I talked to her I had another one, just not quite as long. After that, since it was only 5 minutes from the last one, she said "I really think you should go to the hospital." I said I would talk to Brad and see. By the time I got off the phone, just a few minutes later, I had yet another one and they were really starting to hurt. Plus, I couldn't sit up because I felt like I was sitting on his head.

I said, "Okay, I think we should go to the hospital. I don't think I am going to make it to my doctors appointment." As I was getting dressed the contractions were getting much worse and right on top of one another. We left before Allison could even come to watch the kids (she was only 1 minute away) and put Ryan in charge. By the time I got in the car the contractions were so bad and I felt like I had to push. So, the drive to the hospital, which is usually 15 minutes, was the longest drive of my life. I had to push the entire time and it just got worse with each contraction. I was yelling at Brad to hurry and at cars that got in our way. Brad drove like a conservative mad man (more conservative than I liked for the situation, but he didn't want to crash which I did appreciate). Poor guy was thinking "Should I pull over and see if I just need to call 911 to deliver the baby?" When I was around 5 minutes away from the hospital my water broke (yes in the car....thank goodness for the seat cover which saved the seat.). I was yelling and screaming like in the movies. I even kept saying "This happens in the movies, not to me!!"

We made it to the hospital and Brad dropped me off in the front while he parked. I made it half way through the lobby when another horrible contraction hit. I stopped and was bent over and crying "Help me....help me". Some nice man and lady rushed to get me a wheel chair just as Brad ran through the doors. We hurried to the elevator and had to wait to be buzzed into labor and delivery. Brad calmly said "Yes, my wife is having a baby." I in the background yelled "I am needing to push right now." I didn't want them to think I was barely in labor. This was an emergency. We went to the front desk and the girl was calmly and VERY SLOWLY trying to check us in. I was panicking and saying I need to push right now. I nurse caught on and bipassed the front desk girl and got us in a room. My friend Carol, from our AF ward, is an OB nurse and she hurried and helped the other nurse get me into the room. We didn't have time to change into a gown. I was wearing a jumper so it worked out well. She checked me and saw I was at a +2 station, which meant she could see his head quite well. I asked her and the other nurse if they could deliver the baby because I couldn't wait for the doctor if he wasn't there. They said they could and we started pushing. Benjamin's heart beat was down for a second, but then it went back up once I pushed a little. The doctor came in a minute later (he was miraculously at the hospital assisting with a c-section so he left to come deliver our little guy). Nothing was set up, but it didn't matter. I pushed and a few minutes after I got in the room our little one was born. I was a mess. It hurt worse than anything I have ever experienced. I knew I was too far gone for an epidural but I kept asking if there was anything to dull the pain. Of course it was too late for any measures. The nurses kept saying "You can do it" to which I replied "I don't think I can." I have felt the pushing pain for two of my other kids because the epidural didn't work quite right. So, I knew the pain, but I now can say the epidural helped a tinsy bit because this time was the worst, and Benjamin was the smallest. Anyway, it was pretty cool because I saw right after his head came out and before his shoulders. I have never seen that. I also saw the umbillical chord and the placenta which I had never seen. I don't know why, I just hadn't. That cord was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. Plus mine was almost double the length of a normal one. The nurses and doctors were shocked and joking about it. I was just so grateful it hadn't wrapped around his neck. There was some maconium in my water so they had to suction his mouth. But, he was just fine. The time from when I entered the main doors of the hospital to when he was born was only 8 minutes. Yeah, that is cutting it close.

After they cleaned him a bit and weighed and measured him he was placed in my arms. There is nothing like that moment. He was so beautiful. He has lots of hair, not the most of my kids, but more than most kids have. The weird thing is his hair is lighter than all my kids have had. However, the other weird thing is today it looks a little darker than yesterday. Go figure. He is tiny. He weighed 6 lbs 2 oz. I seriously was worried about having a 10 lb baby. The weird thing was 2 weeks ago at my ultrasound the doctors measured him at 6 lbs 3 oz. Then last week a different doctor measured him at 6 lbs 2 oz. He said he tends to measure small and that it was fine. However, he did want me doing another one because he was measuring so much smaller than my other kids. So, I was going to at my appointment. Anyway, I am now thinking he may not have been growing much the last couple of weeks. My pediatrician also thinks so.

So, there is the delivery update. Now, for the last 30 hours. We knew Benjamin had to be checked for blood sugars because of my diabetes. All was fine until they got those numbers. he was only at 29. They like them above 50. So they fed him a bottle of formula to get his numbers up. It only got him to 44. So, they then had to give him a shot of something that gives more glucose. That worked, but because the other numbers weren't great they had to put him on an IV. Because of this he can't come to our room. He is now in Level 2 nursery while we get these numbers under control. I guess if your blood sugar levels stay really low for a long time it can cause seizures, learning disabilities, and all sorts of other problems. Therefore, they have to gradually wean him from the IV until his body takes over and properly deals with glucose. This is what we have dealt with. Sometimes his numbers are great. They then did a rapid wean where they lowered his IV level from 11 to an 8 for a few hours. Well, his levels dropped dramatically and they had to bump it back up as well as give him another shot of the glucose thing. The bad news is his numbers have not been stable enough to lower his levels at all. This means his chances of coming home with me tomorrow morning are 0%. We don't know how long it will take. Yesterday was so crazy with births and such that because Benjamin isn't top priority in the nursery (since his breathing is awesome) it is just taking longer for anything to happen.

Today they had to insert a feeding tube to supplement nursing. He did not nurse well last night at all. I was up for over an hour from 1-2ish trying to get him to eat. He maybe ate 10 minutes in that time. I then had to go back to my room and pump to stimulate myself so my milk will come in. That took forever. The nurses were so busy, or so I am assuming, that it took 30 minutes anytime I called and needed something. Finally, around 3:15 I got back to sleep. I then got a call from the nurse at 4 saying Benjamin was acting like he wanted to eat. So, I got up and spent another hour trying to get him to eat. He just wanted to be close to his mother. Around 8:30ish I tried to feed him again and he just wasn't getting it. Because he was struggling with nursing and his numbers weren't great the Dr decided to put a feeding tube in to help supplement with the milk I was pumping. We did that and tested his numbers and they still weren't good. We were pretty frustrated and nervous. It has been a roller coaster of a day. I fed him around 1pm and he actually nursed really well. We were all very positive about that. We didn't even supplement him. We tested his numbers 3 hours after that feeding and they were at 68 which was really good. So, we are now all hopeful that his body is starting to regulate the glucose on his own. Tonight at the 7pm feeding they will test his blood sugars again. If they stay above the 53 mark then they will start the very slow weaning from the IV process. So, I am saying lots of prayers at this moment.

New Baby!

2010-05-10T12:45:00.003-06:00

Only picture ever of me being in regular clothes meeting my baby for the first time. I love how delivery is over and then I have to get in the hospital gown!!

Meeting daddy!!

Respiratory therapists were there because he had some meconium, but he ended up being just fine.

New baby boy! So cute!!! Born around 7:35. (walked through the hospital doors around 7:27, so yes... fun car ride).

Benjamin Robert Bell - 6 lbs 2 oz. - 19 inches - smallest baby of all of ours!

More details and pictures to follow.

The Surgery!!

2010-05-09T07:40:00.009-06:00

Becca enjoying her stay by having a tea party with daddy!!

The 3rd Tonsillectomy of the Bell Family Children was a success. Let's just hope we can stop there!! Leading up to surgery was stressful. You have to be healthy in order to have surgery. Well on the Friday before Becca started getting a cough. Actually a few days before she had started getting a runny nose with a tiny cough, but on Friday it was worse. I called the nurse and she said if the cough is more than once an hour we can't do surgery. Of course on Friday it was and I was not happy. The nurse was optimistic and told me to keep her down, fill her full of fluids, and keep her away from everyone. So, that is what we did all weekend. She got pretty stir crazy but did alright. Between doing that, many prayers, and a wonderful priesthood blessing miracles occurred and she was healthy for surgery.

The other miracle that occurred was that I was calm. I was such a wreck when I found out she needed surgery that I thought for sure the night before and during surgery I would be a mess, especially being pregnant. But, the Holy Ghost was once again my constant companion, as he has been this entire pregnancy, and I was fine. Brad was laughing because on the way to the hospital I just imagined them taking her away into surgery and started bawling!!

We got to the hospital and it was a very quick check in to when she went to surgery. That was actually nice. Anticipation is always the worst. She did so well. She sat on the bed and held a little doll they gave her and watched tv until it was time to go. I am grateful she is a tv girl (most of the time I don't like it), but it was helpful this time. She didn't even cry and I didn't cry. It helped that the nurse anesthetist gave me all the assurance that he would take good care of her and watch her extremely closely!! I must not be the only mom that worries about sedation. I just knew all would be well. Which it was.

Brad and I waited in the waiting room and soon got into a conversation with a lady whose husband was getting his gal bladder removed. She was quite the talker. It was actually really nice. It got my mind off of what was happening and before we knew it the doctor was out to tell us it went well and give us instructions. The doctor told us that when Becca was completely relaxed her tonsils touched each other!! Lovely, no wonder she sounded like she did. Her adenoids were equally large and the doctor didn't know how she even breathed at night. I wasn't shocked at all. You could hear, from birth, how large they were. She always sounded congested. Anyway, all went well with the surgery and we were all happy we did it....well, except for poor Becca.

The actual worst part of the whole process is waking out of anesthesia. We waited by an elevator to go to the pediatric ward and before we knew it could hear Becca bawling uncontrollably as they wheeled her down the hallway. She saw me and wanted me but we had to wait until we were in her room. That was a long walk. Once we got in the room we had to get her settled into bed with mom and then try to get her to take medicine. This is as she is screaming hysterically. They assured me once the anesthesia wore off she would get better. It was the longest 30-45 minutes ever. She kept ripping at her IV and wanted that out and just wouldn't stop. I was so worried because she did just have throat surgery. Once the anesthesia did wear off our sweet Becca was back. She wanted me to cuddle with her the entire time, but I was just fine with that.

We watched Mickey Mouse clubhouse for an hour and then Dora the Explorer the rest of the 6 hours we were in the room. Wow!! We will just say if I never hear Dora's voice again it will be too soon (of course, as I write this I am listening to Dora again as Becca is watching it). Becca did so well. She stayed down until the end without much complaint. She downed the juice and Popsicles which is exactly what she needed to do. After a while Becca was able to bring some toys into our room to play with and then we were able to go to the toy room they had. She LOVED it. She had a tea party with daddy, played with a doll, and then discovered the wagon and this cool little car. She loved driving this car down the hallways. The problem was she was still hooked up to the IV and we had to follow right behind her so it wouldn't rip out. She kept getting tangled in the IV, but it didn't stop her.

We were told she would have to stay over night. However, because she did so well we were able to go home. I was so glad. It has been tough since, but doable. We have fought getting her to drink and take her medicine. We finally gave up on the Tylenol with codine because she just fought to hard. However, she is still fighting me so hard with regular Tylenol. Every once in a while we can coax her to take it without a fight, but for the most part...NOT!! She already sounds much better. She still snores a bit, but nothing compared to what it was, and it will go away once she is fully recovered. She is still just swollen from everything. Today is day 6 (if you could surgery day) and we were told day 5-10 the scabs start coming off and can be painful again. Well, that would be accurate. She is having another rough day, but we shall survive. My biggest concern now is that she has been sleeping with me since we got home (per the doctors orders). However, she doesn't need to anymore, except the two nights we have tried different arrangements she as woken up and ended up back in bed with us. This means I don't sleep well as she moves more in bed than anyone I know. Oh, well. I just don't know how to wean her from this while she still doesn't feel well....by this weekend. The baby is coming and I will be gone, for one thing, but also I CANNOT and WILL NOT be kept up at night from the new baby AND my toddler. I just can't physically do it. We need prayers and miracles again that she will quickly heal and go back to her wonderful sleeping habits. I am a believer in miracles as we have seen several this week. No reason this can't happen.

Over all Becca really is doing well. If we could just get her to take medicine it would be perfect. She is a real trooper. I love this little girl and am so grateful this is now in the past. I can hold her and know she will have a much better and more full life because of it (once she recovers of course)!!!

Enjoying the toy room

You can see the IV kept getting in the way. Brad had to be quick on his feet so it didn't get ripped out!!

She loved the bikes in the room.

She also loved her wagon ride. In fact, going down to the car she got to take a wagon ride. (Much cooler than the wheel chair I will be in next week!!)

This little car toy was her favorite. In fact, once she discovered it she no longer wanted to go home. Too bad her IV didn't come out until about 30 minutes before we went home.

I loved this shot of her diaper and the hospital gown. It just cracked me up for some reason.

Becca has the best daddy in the world!! They were so darling having their tea party!!

Thanks Aunt Celeste for the Princess and the Frog balloon. She really did love it. She just comes and goes with her pleasant disposition!!

Coloring on her new princess chalk board.....the joy lasted about 5 minutes!!

Sweet little Becca soon after the anesthesia wore off!!!

So, for some reason I can't move the pictures around to the order I wanted. I have never had this problem before. Anyway, excuse the fact they are out of order.

Indoor Soccer

2010-04-30T20:34:00.000-06:00

Ryan played indoor soccer this year. Brad was his coach. They had a wonderful time together. All the games were played at the Legacy Center.

Little Becca Boo

2010-04-22T09:03:00.002-06:00

Well, we knew the time would come and we actually wanted it to be around when we had the baby, but now that it is I am not so sure. Becca is getting her tonsils out. This little girl has the BIGGEST tonsils ever. When she is not sick they touch her uvula. She also sounds sick all the time (and often is found with a snooker nose). When she is sick you can't see into the back of her throat and she literally sounds like darth vadar when she sleeps. In fact, earlier in January my parents were watching her over night and called scared to death because of her breathing. She has sleep apnea because of the tonsils so not only does she sound horrible, she stops breathing and then gasps for breath and goes back to sleep. It is pretty scary. My mom was so scared that half the night she slept with Becca to make sure she was okay!!!
So, we knew she would have to get them out this year. We decided to take her into an ENT to just make sure and yesterday we got the news that "yes" she needs her tonsils out and we had better do it sooner than later. So, we made the decision that it would be easier for me to take care of her BEFORE I have the baby rather than later. So, on Tuesday, May 4th (yes, less than 2 weeks away) my sweet little girl undergoes surgery. The doctor and the nurse yesterday, that is when I took her and Ashlyn in for a consult, warned me that they have had a couple of moms go into labor when their kids got their tonsils out. One had the baby the night before and the other was in labor so the husband kept going between post-op with his child and labor and delivery with his wife. I will be 37 1/2 weeks pregnant so I guess it is a possibility. But, seeing I have NEVER gone into labor on my own it won't happen so I really am not worried. The funny thing is at the Dr's office I was saying "Bring it on!! I would love to have the baby then." However, last night as I was thinking about what it would really be like I decided emphatically that I DO NOT want that to happen. Becca will need her mommy and I will want to be with her.
So now, we prep Becca and my home and wait for May 4th. Fortunately, I did get good sleep last night. I was really worried. The night before that I hadn't slept well as I worried about the baby (he was fine, I just do that from time to time). Last night before bed I was A MESS!!! I have now gone through this tonsillectomy thing twice before this with Ryan and Makayla and each time I freak out. The funny thing is I am not worried about the actual surgery or the tough recovery (although, it really wasn't too bad with the other two). It is the whole anesthesia thing that sets me over the edge. I am literally placing the life of my child in the hands of very well trained doctors. However, it just scares me to death. I know she will be fine. I feel it deep down. I just am human and at times let my extremely active imagination run away with itself with the "what if''s". Last night I told Brad, "I will now have a two weeks of really working on my mind control (which I need to master)." Today I have been so much better. It usually is the nights when the bad thoughts dwell and fester. So, I just need to read a good book or watch a good movie to not let my mind wander. Heaven help me the night of the 3rd and during the surgery. Then I am good. Like I said, I have done this two other times and my reaction is always the same. But, because I have such an incredible husband and the companionship of the Holy ghost, I get through it and I know I will this time.
So, now the time has come to really get my behind in gear and finish my "to do list before the baby comes". I now have until May 4th because once we bring Becca home from the hospital (she will most likely have to stay over night although we are praying not) then it will be like taking care of a newborn for a week or so. Then my little guy will be here as well. So, I shall be a Franklin Planner and schedule my time well to make everything happen. Fortunately, I have been so blessed to have so much help with friends and family that I am not worried.

Cub Scout Ryan

2010-04-11T19:03:00.000-06:00

Ryan has been a cub scout for a year now. He earned his Wolf in record time and earned 7 silver arrows. That equals to a whole lot of work. He is now currently working on his Bear and tons of belt loops. Here are some fun pictures of him receiving his awards.

Receiving his Wolf
Ryan giving me the Mother's Wolf Pin

Look at all of those Belt Loops!!

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T19:22:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful Easter this year. It was kind of crazy as Easter weekend was Conference weekend. That meant the annual Sweeney Easter Egg Hunt had to be a different weekend because the Owens were out of town and Grandma Sweeney is so busy with the Tabernacle Choir. On Easter weekend we colored eggs, had our own mini hunt in the backyard with Brooklyn, and took it easy!!

Sleeping Children

2010-04-02T08:56:00.005-06:00

One of my very favorite things in this world is a sleeping child. Now, there are many reasons for this. The obvious ones: they can't make messes and they can't cry. However, those are actually not the reasons I love sleeping children. I love to watch them sleep. They are so peaceful and innocent. I first fell in love watching my children sleep on April 7th, 2001 when I had my first. I couldn't get enough of watching him sleep so peacefully. I often wondered what he was dreaming about. Well, it has continued with the birth of each child. Now, lest you think I just enjoy watching my newborns.....oh contrare!!! I love watching them at any age. Even my almost 9 year old.
Last night it was Becca I was watching. She is in the lovely stage of needing a nap, but not always taking one. So, 5 and 6 o'clock hits and she is a basket case!! Last night she was eating dinner and literally fell asleep. We quickly got her dressed and in bed (which temporarily woke her up). I sang her all of her songs and then she grabbed my head and pressed it right up to hers. I laid that way until I heard the snoring kick in. I then pulled away enough to see her peaceful and very asleep. I laid for several more minutes just watching my beautiful daughter sleep peacefully. I was once again taken away by the wonder of children. I love my children so very much. When they sleep I really remember how much. I think of all the funny things they did or how sweet they are. I truly believe this will last at least while they are in my home. I will sneak in and watch them sleep and remember how quickly life goes by and how much I love my little munchkins.

This is often how I find Ryan asleep!! He is way too much like his mother (except for the BYU blanket)

My sweet Makayla when she was around 1-2 years old!!! I love how little ones can fall asleep anywhereMy sweet Ashlyn as a newborn. Man time flies by too quickly.

Becca as a sleeping newborn. She used to sleep with her eyes slit open.

I really am not a drug user, I'm not!!!

2010-03-31T09:24:00.002-06:00

So, yesterday at the hospital I was asked tons of questions, as usual. All about my health, safety in home, smoking, and substance abuse. As she was asking me about substance abuse I glanced down at my left arm. I had to suppress a laugh. I have track marks all in the crook of my arm. Not from drugs, but from my diabetes testing. Most of the time I prick my fingers. However, if I can't wash my hands my test will come back really high due to oils and residue on my fingers. Sometimes even if I wash my hands I may have not rinsed the soap off well enough or something so it will come back high. So, if a test comes back higher than I am allowed or if I am not able to wash my hands, I test in my arm. I have some really good veins in my left arm so I use it often. I now have about six marks and bruises on that arm. (It is harder for me to draw enough blood from my arm than my fingers....therefore, I only use it as a last resort). If anyone saw my arm they would really think I was a drug user. But really, I am NOT!!!

Easter Preschool

2010-03-30T20:15:00.000-06:00

I had preschool the week of Easter. We had a fun Easter party making Rice Krispie bird nests and having an Easter egg hunt indoor due to bad weather.

32 Week Update

2010-03-30T12:41:00.003-06:00

So, it is time to give a pregnancy update. I really should take a picture of my ever expanding belly. Makayla keeps reminding me, I just keep forgetting to do it. Anyway, I went to my 32 week appointment. Things will now be kind of crazy for this mom of 4 kids, but no worries. I am measuring normal, which is good. My favorite thing though was my doctor asked how I was feeling about the size of my baby. He said that is actually the best indicator. He said it is a better indicator than an ultrasound or the doctors measurements. I was glad to know he would listen to me, because when I had my Makayla I didn't feel like I was listened to when I said "this baby will be extremely large." So, I will now just have to pray for discernment so I and my doctor will know if he is getting too big. I am so paranoid about having a 9-11 lb baby that I have to put those feelings aside and see how I feel he really is growing. I will say at this point I am not worried about him being too small....not even remotely. I don't know if I would say he is abnormally large....but that is where it is hard to tell at this stage. Around 36 weeks I will have a much better feel, I do believe.
Anyway, I now have to go to the doctor once a week and do a non-stress test at the hospital once a week. The only down side I see to this is finding babysitters. I want to do the non-stress test right after my doctors each week because the hospital is right across the street from my doctors and 12 minutes away from me, so I don't want to go twice. But, the non-stress tests could take awhile depending on whether this little guy is awake or not. Today he was sleeping quite nicely during the test. Which meant I was there for around an hour instead of just 30 minutes. His heart beat was great. He even had the hiccups which I heard on the monitor....that was priceless. I loved it!!! He just wouldn't move neough. We tried the lovely stimulator to get him going. Finally, we had to resort to juice to get him going. (I don't drink juice because of the diabetes...too many non filling carbs) I knew this should get him going a bit as it would be a good jolt of sugar to him. It worked, he wasn't going nuts but it got him active enough that I could go home. It made me greatly appreciate my sweet sister in law who has had to do this every two weeks for the past couple of months. She was saying what a pain it was because they had to get two babies to move enough. I now truly understand!!!
Anyway, rather than looking at having to go every week as a pain I will look at it as a wonderful relaxing time where I have to do nothing but listen to my childs heartbeat for 30-60 minutes. I will take books, conference talks, etc and just relax. Let's be honest, when do I get to sit for even 30 minutes and read a book without feeling guilty about doing nothing? NEVER!!!! So, I will savor this quiet moments that I get to share with my little one....and the nurses trying to probe him awake. I am grateful that my doctor is seeming on top of all of this. My blood sugar levels are great so there really are no worries. We are just taking precautionary measures to make sure everything stays okay. I am grateful for that.
Next week we will do another ultrasound to get a better idea of how he is doing size wise. That should be interesting and enlightening....hopefully. No matter what it will be fun to see him again.
Well, that is the medical update. As far as how I am doing, well, I am okay. I am tired all of the time and have days when I am almost in tears because I am crawling out of skin with discomfort. However, it isn't every day so that helps. My lower back kills constantly and my heartburn is only controlled through constant medication. However, I have been blessed with the best husband in the world. He saw how crazy my week is this week between teaching preschool, doctors appointments, teaching piano, driving carpool, etc. and he has really stepped up to ease my burden wherever he can. I could not do this without him and am so grateful to have him. I don't know how women do it alone, or with an non-supportive spouse!! I will be okay. I have hopefully only 6 weeks and 3 days left until he comes. I can do it!!! Right?!!!

Cute Moments with Becca

2010-03-03T08:46:00.003-07:00

Becca is talking more and more and it is getting more and more funny. She is the most polite child I have. She says "please" and "thank you's" "no thanks", etc. Here are a couple of funny moments we have had with Becca's verbage.
On Sunday we were in Sacrament Meeting and she really wanted a pen over her ear like I had. So, I gave her one. She got this smile and her face and I could tell she was ready to say something. I thought it was going to be "Look, I look like Mommy!!" Nope. Instead she said "I'm Handy Mandy!!!" (For those who don't know who that is, it is a cartoon on Disney. Handy Mandy is a hispanic fix it guy that always puts a pencil above his ear).
One of my favorites is Becca's nighttime ritual. She is now sharing a room with Ashlyn which is working out quite well. As long as Mom (and no one else if mom is in the hosue) sings her a ritual of specific songs, she goes right to sleep. The songs are these (in this pretty specific order) I love to See the Temple, Daddy's Little Girl (I change it to Mommy's), I am a child of God, Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam, Jingle Bells (thank you christmas), How much is that doggy in the window, and finally the Ant's High Hopes song (it is a Bell favorite). Now, she is quite particular about what to sing when. Temple is ALWAYS first and ANT'S can NEVER be anywhere but last. If you do that, she will then say "Night night" when the songs are done and you leave. Well, since she has been sharing with Ashlyn she has decided it is nice for Ash to get a turn to choose. So she will say "Ashie's turn." Ashlyn will then choose. However, Ashlyn has not mastered the art of choosing the right song at the right time and inevitably Becca will say "NO, NOT THAT ONE!!" Well, at least she is trying to share on some level!!!
The third one was yesterday. Ashlyn got her hair cut (I will post pictures soon) and it is ADORABLE!! When we got in the car Becca looked at Ashlyn and said "Ashlyn, you are so pretty!!"
The fourth happened last night. I was having a hard night as I walked through my extremely messy house (the priority this week has been helping my mom with pictures and website stuff instead of house cleaning). Well, I walked into the little girls room to sing Becca her nightly ritual of songs. I saw what a HUGE mess it was knowing that is what I would be doing tomorrow. I started crying. It was just too much for me. Becca looks at me and says "Let me kiss it better" to which she then kisses my cheeks where the tears had fallen. She said that and did it a couple of times and then she said "Say Thank You!!" Of course I ended up laughing and realizing that is what life is all about. I can clean up the messes and they will reappear tomorrow, but I can NEVER get moments like that back!! I love my sweet little girl that puts a smile on my face every day.

Diabetes Update

2010-02-16T17:47:00.002-07:00

Well, I have learned quite a bit about gestational diabetes this week. I must say I am less panicked then I was, in most ways. I am just annoyed. However, I met with the dietitian for the second time today and news was much better. I will back up though.
Last week I was put on a strict diet regime. I have to have a certain amount of carbs each meal and snacks. I have to eat 3 snacks in the day. Each snack has to occur at least 2 hours after breakfast, lunch, and dinner, except for the dinner snack which has to be at least 3 hours after. I have had to test my blood sugar levels before each meal, 2 hours after each meal, and 3 hours after dinner. That equals to 7 times a day!!! Besides just not enjoying the pricking so much I was floored by how much my little strips cost. Try $1 a strip. Yeah, $7 a day. That is tons of fun!! However, like I said, today I got good news. My levels look good (well, actually some are border line so if they don't get in check this week I will have to go on medication). Anyway, I now only have to test 4 times a day. I do have to keep everything else the same.
Let me tell you, being on a diet during pregnancy is the pits. Especially during Valentines Day. I made a delicious pie (well, it looked delicious since I can't eat it) for my family. I thought it would be fine since it isn't chocolate. However, I still want to eat it!! But alas, not too many sweets for this girl. The silver lining is I haven't gained any weight the past 2 weeks. Which, is a HUGE deal. I was packing on 2-5 lbs per week before we discovered the diabetes. So, I am hoping my weight gain will slow down and I won't have 90 lbs to lose.
I am hoping to gain some healthy habits so I don't develop type 2 diabetes. I really feel for diabetic people. I at least have some hope in site that this will end. They don't, for the most part. I will have to keep testing for 6 weeks after, but only 2x a day which is SO MUCH better than 7x. I actually think they have you do 7 times a day so you are so grateful to only have to do 4 times a day. Perspective!!!

Darling Hair

2010-02-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

Ashlyn wanted short hair like Chloe, her cousin. Angie Larson cut her hair. Ashlyn was so excited to get it cut. It looks adorable on her and is so much easier to do!!

Positive

2010-02-04T16:03:00.003-07:00

Well, I just found out the gestational diabetes test came back positive. What does that mean now? Well, that is a good question. I really don't know. The nurse is referring me to a dietitian at AF hospital. She will help me try to control it using diet and excercise (I don't need insulin which is a blessing!!) I am just waiting for her to call me. In the mean time I am not sure what, when, and how to eat. Just staying away from the chocolate and carbs. Why is it that is what I crave? I will then talk to my doctor at my 28 week appointment and explain my absolute fear of having a 10 lb plus baby. In the mean time I wait to get instructions. If you know me when there is a problem I like information and solutions immediately, so waiting will be joyous!!! I am hoping she calls tomorrow.
Let's just hope this is my weird health issue this pregnancy. I have had them with each child. Ryan and Ashlyn were both induced at 37 weeks due toxemia. Makayla was a week early, induced just because, and she was my 9lb baby. Rebecca was born at 38 weeks due to a kidney infection and an abnormally large kidney stone. Therefore, I don't think any of us are shocked by this new development. I can't have a text book pregnancy. Oh, well. This is my last one and I will learn fabulous eating habits that I can use to help lose all this weight I have gained and will gain!!!

Gestational Diabetes? Let's hope not!!!

2010-02-03T21:12:00.003-07:00

So, I failed my 1 hour glucose test. I don't know by how much, I just know I had to do the lovely 3 hour test. For that one I had to go into the office at 8:40 fasting. They then drew my blood and made me drink the lovely orange drink (side note: the red drink they have is SOOO much better than the orange. I did the red on Monday with no complaints). After 1 hour they drew my blood. Then at 2 hours they drew my blood again. Finally, at 11:50 I had my 4th and final blood draw. I had to sit in my doctors waiting room for 3 hours. Another side note, there was a lady there probably 3-4 months pregnant with her husband there her 7 monthish old son and a daughter that was probably 22 months...maybe?!!! My thought was, good luck. I am exhausted for them!!!
I was really worried about how I would handle not eating for 15 hours straight, but I was fine....UNTIL I ate. I stopped by Arby's for a roasted chicken sandwich. I honestly almost passed out after I started eating. I really shouldn't have driven home as I was close to blacking out. I did make it home and a few hours later felt normal....well, as normal for a pregnant lady. Anyway, I should find out on Friday the results. I am sure everything is normal, which makes the whole process quite frustrating!!! Let's hope I don't have it. One of the major side effects is the baby tends to grow more rappidly, but not necessarily the lungs. The problem? I had a 9 lb 3 oz baby 1 week early WITHOUT gestational diabetes!! So, if it comes back positive, we might as well schedule a c-section right now because there ain't no way I am getting a 10 lb baby out the hard way!!!

Random Notes

2010-01-22T09:07:00.004-07:00

I had two observations today about two of my daughters. The first is Makayla. I am currently working on a photo book for her that spans the middle of 2007 through New Years this year. What I noticed about her is I hardly have any pictures of her where she isn't smiling. That may seem silly, but think about it. Many kids aren't smiling all the time. Makayla always cracks me up. She can be really upset about something, I pull out the camera to take a picture and she smiles. But, what I really noticed the most about this little girl is how many pictures I have of her laughing. She has such a contagious laugh. Even looking at these pictures of her laughing makes me want to laugh. I really enjoy having her in my home. She truly is a blessing to all of us!!!

Next random thought. There is not much else in the world that makes me happy and warms my heart than seeing my children help each other. I have seen it much this week as in the past week all 4 of my kids have been sick at different times (and I have been sick the entire time so I haven't been able to be as useful as usual). When Ashlyn was sick the other day Ryan was my helper, even though he should have been in bed (hmm.....now, that sounds suspicious!!). Well, today my helper is Ashlyn. Makayla woke up with a stomach ache. Ashlyn has rushed to her aid before I even could. She even learned how to make toast so she could get Makayla something to eat!!! It is wonderful to know that my kids really do love and care for each other. I really do have incredible kids!!!!

Oops

2010-01-15T15:15:00.001-07:00

What do you get when you say no to your two year old when she asks for chocolate milk for the 10th time that day?
A cup full of just plain hershey's syrup!!! Becca, when did you learn to get whatever you wanted?

Wasting time?

2010-01-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

So, it is a Friday afternoon and I am unmotivated to clean my house for the billionth time and have it look the same. I should do something productive, but my ear hurts, I have horrible heartburn, and I just don't feel like it. So, I will update my blog. It isn't blogging it really is family history and scrapbooking combined into one, right? There I feel better about myself. Maybe I can actually catch up on 2009 sometime. I am hoping to be caught up on that and photo books before the baby comes....wish me luck!!!

Half way there

2010-01-15T15:04:00.003-07:00

So, here is a picture of me at 4 1/2 months. (No Becca, I am not quite as big as a basketball...yet) You can already tell I carry my babies low. The baby, boy or girl, always seem to be mostly below the belly button. I do still get horrible heartburn and run out of breath, even though the baby is so low. However, I don't have to fight the baby in my ribs to much. That is nice.
Anyway, this little boy is starting to get more active. Ryan, Kayla, and Brad (in that order) felt the baby move on Wednesday for the first time. He was extremely active that day and was positioned right up near my stomach (other days he is way more in my back, which isn't too fun!!!) This is the part of pregnancy I will miss the rest of my life. There is NOTHING else like feeling your child move and having that closeness. My kids are never active enough where it gets bothersome to me at all. I even love when they get the hiccups. So, move baby move. I love knowing you are happy in there.

It's a .......

2010-01-04T15:19:00.003-07:00

Well, after a horrible nights sleep (which is what happens every time the night before an ultrasound) I tried to be productive before my appointment. I got my dishes done, actually felt like I could exercise went to do it to only make it one lap before my treadmill broke!! I knew I had gained a lot this Christmas, but enough break a treadmill? Okay, so it hadn't worked for Brad for long either so it really wasn't me. Anyway, all morning I was having all these fears go through my head: "What if the baby is dead in there, what if it is deformed, what if something is wrong?" Then the fear "What if the baby doesn't cooperate and let us know what it is?" After a heartfelt prayer I bravely got into my car with my sweet husband and went to the appointment.
Once the ultrasound started I was able to relax a little. The heart was beating and baby was moving (although I couldn't feel all the movements, I could see it). All went really well. Baby is developing just as it should. The baby is measuring about a week ahead of schedule, but they didn't move my due date. Which means, I will have another very large baby (I have already had a 9 lb 3 oz baby a week early) unless another weird medical emergency comes up like my other 3 (two for toxemia and one for kidney stone and infection) and they are induced 2-3 weeks early. Is it bad to pray for that? JUST KIDDING!!! Believe me, I would rather have a 9 lb baby than the pain from a kidney stone and kidney infection 9 months pregnant.
Anyway, I know you really don't care about any of this. You are just wondering what it is I am having. Well, the baby cooperated very well and gave us a perfect shot!!!

It is a BOY!!!!!!

Yes, we are so super excited. It will have been 9 years since we had a little baby boy around this house. Ryan just smiled and smiled and is still smiling. All of my kids wanted a boy so everyone was very excited. Brad and I are still in shock that it is actually happening. We get our bookend boys!! Now we can start the name game. I still have 19 weeks to figure that out so no worries. I now understand why I have been so sick, all three of my boys (especially the one I lost at 17 weeks) have made me super duper sick. I am guessing this little one will be like Ryan and make me sick the whole rest of the pregnancy....yeah for me!!! Oh, well. If he is half as cute and wonderful as my Ryan it will be worth it. It is nice to know what we are having now so I can give my sweet sister in law who is having twins (a boy and a girl) all my girl clothes and get them out of my house. Oh, the room we will have!!! I also get to have fun shopping as I gave up all my boy clothes to another sister in law last spring. I will also have fun for birthdays and Christmas as I have gotten rid of a lot of my boy toys through the years so I will actually have something to get for the little guy!! If you can't tell I am just thrilled. I really would have loved another girl, but as I fight my girls every day on doing their hair I can say a little prayer of gratitude for the son that will be joining us soon!!!

20 Weeks and Counting

2010-01-02T19:21:00.002-07:00

So, for those few of you that don't know, I am pregnant again. Yes it was planned and yes, we did think we were done. That is what happens when you decide to pray and go to the temple to find out if you should have one more!!! Baby #5 will arrive on May 14th or sooner. I am now officially 20 weeks and on Monday I have my ultrasound!!! Ryan has been praying everyday that it will be a little boy. In fact just tonight he said "Only 2 more days to pray that it is a boy!!!" We shall see if the faith of a little boy is enough to break the Bell trend of little girls!! Anyway, I am just curious to see what your guess is as to what we are having. Pending the baby cooperates we should know by Monday night. At this point I can honestly say I am just praying for a healthy baby. I don't care boy or girl as long as I have that!! Time will tell.

Here is me at 3 1/2 months. I will have to take another one this week and you can see how much I have grown!! I am trying not to get too depressed with all the growth and weight gain. I am praying that I won't have another 9 lb baby. That recovery is just way too difficult!!!

Christmas Morning

2009-12-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time Christmas morning. In both of our families, growing up, Brad and I always had to wait at the top of the stairs. Well, our kids will remember waiting at the bottom of the stairs. The kids loved their Santa presents. We loved being able to open presents at our own speed. We really took our time. It was great. The thing I loved most was seeing my kids more excited for each other and the most excited to see their siblings reactions to what they bought them.

Ryan was the most surprised by his Santa gift. We told him that we had told Santa no way no the Nintendo DS. It was just to throw him off. He was thrilled!!!

Ashlyn loves Barbies of all sorts. She loved her new nurse barbie with twins.

This pile of goods is what the family and kids got as group gifts.

This is Brad and I's stash. We spent most of the money on Brad's new blu-ray player (okay, let's be honest, it is just as much for me as well)

Kids Christmas Picture

2009-12-25T12:38:00.002-07:00

2009-12-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

We

This was our first Christmas Eve at our home in Lehi. We didn't go to my parents or California. Our kids were so excited for this. We had a very nice Ham dinner, had a special lesson from Dad on being a light unto the world, and then the kids acted out the nativity. (You can never do it enough in the year for my girls). At the end the kids opened their annual pajamas. Our girls called themselves "the triplets"!!! I love matching my girls. I have to do it now while it is still cool. Not so cool when they are tweens and up!!

Grandma Swensen Day

2009-12-21T16:27:00.003-07:00

We have a tradition of something called Grandma Swensen Day. It is a day when my sisters and I get together to make Christmas candy. My Grandma Swensen was my mothers mother. She was a wonderful candy maker. She passed away when Ryan was only 3 months old. She was a wonderful women and it is fun to remember her as we make candy and listen to Mormon Tabernacle Choir music. We also have KFC for lunch as that was a favorite of my grandmother.
This year we also had FHE with my family and the kids acted out the nativity. My girls were angles and Ryan was a wise man. It was a wonderful day.

This is how Brad spent Grandma Swensen Day!!!

I love this picture of my sweet little angel. She posed herself.

2009-12-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

Ashlyn had a very Merry Christmas preschool on the Monday before Christmas. She was visited by The Grintch and then they acted out the nativity. She got to be a beautiful angel.

Christmas Performances

2009-12-16T15:56:00.004-07:00

At school the kids have music class. Their teacher has a talent show for a week where kids get to show off any talents they have. And I mean any. During Ryan's talent show two boys did a staged fight while they asked another boy from their class to play "anything" on the piano. It was pretty funny until they pretended to start shooting each other. Bless his teachers heart. She tried really hard to find something positive to say about the performance.
Ryan and Makayla both performed their Christmas songs. They did such a good job. It really is a miracle my kids know how to play the piano. I have been a horrible teacher to them this past year as I have been juggling teaching and pregnancy. The worked hard though and did a magnificent job.
On December 16th they had their piano recital. It was the first year I had it at the church. I got permission from my stake president through my bishop to do it. It was FANTASTIC!!! I could actually fit people, and we didn't have to fight parking or a snow storm in Alpine. The kids once again performed very well. Good job you two. I am so proud of you.

Makayla getting praise from her fellow students after she was done performing.

On the 5th Day of Christmas

2009-12-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, on December 5th there is the Christmas Devotional. My family tradition growing up is to have a fondu dinner on Christmas Eve. Well, this year we have decided to make the move and rearrange and start the Brad and Tamara Bell family traditions this year. So, we moved fondu dinner to the night of the Christmas Devotional. We shared the fun evening with the Owens. Bryce didn't love the day I picked because it was fast Sunday. The problem is fondu is a very slow dinner. You don't fill up quickly. I didn't notice a problem with it since I couldn't fast due to the pregnancy. We had a very wonderful evening.

Christmas Vacation

2009-11-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

So, Brad was forced to take the last two weeks of the year off of work (using his vacation time). I always hate it during the year as we are trying to plan everything and don't seem to have enough time. However, when it comes to those last 2 weeks....I LOVE IT!!!! Here is a quick look at December and all the fun festivities!!!

It began with our annual gingerbread house making FHE. I totally cheat and buy the wonderful package at Costco. The kids love it and ogle the tasty house all December.

Setting up Christmas

2009-11-26T15:33:00.001-07:00

We always set up Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. Brad was a champion and fought the Black Friday crowds for some important Christmas presents. He was successful which made it worth the early morning. We spent the rest of the day setting up Christmas. I only got a couple of pictures of the kids decorating "their" tree downstairs. This was the first year we had a smaller tree down stairs for the kids. They loved it.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T15:40:00.002-07:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was the first year we have had to "split" our time between the two families. The Bells were in town for the BYU/Utah football game....oh yeah, and Thanksgiving. The most exciting part was Bre announced she was having TWINS!!!! A boy and a girl. We are so super excited. I am grateful that I have had two ultrasounds that have showed only one baby. If I had twins this time we would have to buy a new car....and a new house (okay, just kidding on the new house, but not really). Bre will do wonderfully well with twins. We are super excited for her and Mark.
On Thanksgiving we spent the morning doing a turkey trot with the Sweeneys. The later morning we went to Bre's house, the afternoon at the Sweeneys, and the evening at Bre's house with the Bells. During the afternoon we did the very fun Sweeney Family Scavenger Hunt. My dad always puts together a really fun scavenger hunt for us to do Thanksgiving afternoon. This year was the best by far. He had taken pictures of parts of buildings and other things in Alpine (in a 2-3 block radius). He then gave us a map of the area, the pictures, and we had to go find those images and take similar pictures of them. He was quite specific. I was separated from my husband and two oldest kids. Although my team got the hardest to find pictures, we did not win. I am happy to say Brad, Ryan, and Kayla's team won!!Turkey Trot. Next year I will be running the 5 K. I could barely walk 1 mile....how pathetic. My older kids almost ran the whole way. Maybe next year I can get Brad to run the 5 K with me!!!!
Here are a couple of the pictures we had to take. It wasn't a picture of just any handicapped sign, but this specific one because of the crease in the middle. Yes, we got that (the others didn't). The one above is looking down on a mailbox in a bucket. Those were our two pride and joy finds!!!

What is a family get together without a HUGE MESS!!! This is what happened in Bre and Marks living room while the adults were chatting in the other room. The games were all mine, fortunately!!!
The girls innocently playing while the adults picked up their mess!!!
Apples to apples, ticket to ride, and settlers of Catan. All the pieces were out. That was fun to clean up!!!

Becca's Haircut

2009-09-13T21:29:00.003-06:00

Life is full of ironies. Like the song "Ironic" it's like a free ride when you've already paid. Well, my ironies seem to come when I say something is doing better and then I find out....hmm, they really aren't. For example, at our neighborhood party I was talking with Jenene and later her husband about how Ashlyn and Brooke have seemed to really do better with not getting into trouble. Those two really were a pair for a while. I was super happy about this change. They play so well together that it is nice to know I don't have to worry as much about what they are doing.
Well, after talking with Rick at the neighborhood party I was chating with the ladies and holding Becca. I had noticed all day that her hair didn't look great. But, that is because she never lets me do it, or pulls it out right after I take care of it. As I was looking closer I realized, wait, it seems shorter in part of the back. So, I looked even closer and OH MY WORD.....I found this. You can kind of see in the back that her hair is cut right to the scalp. I quickly went down stairs and asked Ashlyn where she had been when she cut Becca's hair. She didn't deny it, but led me to the scene of the crime. Ryan's room. I didn't know we had scissors accessible. They were little kid scissors. Bless Ashlyn and Brooke's heart, they at least cleaned up their mess. I saw a little hair on the floor, and then found the rest in the garbage can. It was a sandwich baggy full. Ash got a little cut off and Brooke had a little cut off, but Becca got the brunt of it. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH THEM? The next day as I was doing her hair I found several more horrible spots that had been cut. Three days later I called my friend Angie and asked her to fix the hair. Becca now has a cute little A line cut. It actually is nice because it looks cute not done, which is always. I would really love to grow her hair out, but Ashlyn really seems against it!!!!

Piano Recital

2009-09-13T20:44:00.003-06:00

We had a piano recital on Wednesday, September 2nd. I was not the greatest mom in making my kids practice this summer like they should. However, the last week they really worked hard and pulled it off. I was super proud of both of them. In fact, most of my students did really well, with the last week practice.

Ryan and Alyssa both have done festival for 3 years now and earned their 100 point gold cup. That is a lot of hard work. Good job you two.

Neighborhood Party

2009-09-13T20:21:00.004-06:00

We had a fantastic neighborhood party that our neighbors the Jones' put together. The weekend before the party Brad and our Nate took down our fence, not for the party, but because he was given a new wooden fence we will put up between our homes. We decided to leave it down for the party. This made for a very fun party. We, as neighbors on airport dr, rented a huge water slide. It filled up most of the Jones' back yard. Having the fence down made it great so we could do the food on our side. The kids had whale of a good time. That slide was used for 4 hours straight. At the end of the night Diana Ware somehow talked all the women into going down in our clothes. I usually do not give into peer pressure, but somehow they coerced me....even in a white shirt. All was well, no worries. We really had a blast.

Becca wanted to go down the slide over and over again. Brad was such a good sport.
The kids had a blast laughing with the people coming down the slide.

The women had just as much gabbing with each other. We just don't get enough of it.

The other side of the party.

First Day of School

2009-09-13T20:12:00.004-06:00

Ryan and Makayla could not wait for school. They were counting down the days. Ryan and Kayla are so excited for their new teachers. We have been so blessed with great teachers for my kids. It looks like this year is no exception. We are excited for what this year holds.

Ryan really wanted to wear his "Top 10 Reasons I couldn't finish my homework" shirt. We decided it was best for his teacher to get to know him first and then he could wear it. So, instead he put on his "BYU" shirt.

Isn't she gorgeous? My kids are getting too big too fast.

More August

2009-09-13T19:49:00.006-06:00

A big event that happened in August was pack meeting. Ryan got quite a few awards from Day Camp in June. I never was a huge fan of Cub Scouts because I never understood it. I am now learning what a great thing it is for these young boys. They learn much and get recognized for it. Ryan loves getting awards, big and small.

The Monday after school started we went up the canyon with my parents. It was so beautiful, I don't know why we don't go up there more. Makayla had tons of fun with my camera. Don't worry, for her birthday I bought her her own camera since she is always wanting to use mine. here are some fun pictures she and I documented of the evening.

One advantage to Makayla taking pictures is we can actually get one of Brad and I.

Becca loves it when I nuzzle her neck. It tickles her like crazy, yet she begs for more!!!

I love this picture of Becca. Good job, Kayla.

There was this huge log that worked well as a teeter totter. The kids loved it.

Becca had to join in the fun of roasting marshmallows. Fortunately there weren't any incidents.

Another Beautiful shot by Makayla. She is getting good.

Why children love these shots, I don't know . But if I had a dollar for how many of these ends up on my camera I would be a millionaire.

More August Joys

2009-09-06T22:04:00.004-06:00

The biggest news in August is that we got a new addition to the family......meet Ginger.
Ryan and Kayla decided they wanted a bunny when they went to see new little ones born at our neighbors house at the beginning of the summer. We told them they could get one or two, HOWEVER, only if they earned the money for the rabbits, the cages, food, and the hutch (which was the biggest expense). Well, they worked hard all summer long and by August they had earned enough (and it was about $75 MORE than we thought it would be) and Ryan helped dad build the hutch which also helped him earn his Wolf Cub Scout badge.

I love this picture. You can see how happy Ryan was to help his dad build something. He really enjoyed the whole process.The kids absolutely love Ginger. We will be getting another bunny in a couple of months, as soon as he or she is born and can be weaned from his mother.

The Joys of August

2009-09-06T21:12:00.006-06:00

Well, much has happened in August and now that it is September 6th I shall document. Maybe one of these days I will get caught up with my to do list. My one that has to do with photography, blogging, scrapbooking, etc is longer than my arm. It is crazy that August has come and gone. It started with a wonderful b-day bash for my incredible mother-in-law who turned 50. Yes, you read that right, my mother-in-law is only 50. And she doesn't even look it. We had an adult only birthday dinner at Bre's new house. We had all written favorite memories of mom and printed them on papers and posted them on the wall. Then we had fixed a meal we knew she would love. Lastly, we gave her what she always wanted..."Peace, Love, and Happiness" So, we couldn't actually give theose things, but Willow Tree makes a set of figurines which are called "Peace, Love, and Joy." Whenever we give mom a gift, it is always fun to see if we can make her cry....well.....The other joy of the evening was seeing my cute little nephew again, Easton. I can't get enough of this little guy.
All summer the kids worked extremely hard. Call us the worst parents in the world, but we actually made them do a list full of chores daily, read at least 20 min, practice the piano, do school workbooks, and a book report each month. Their "reward" besides increasing their brain cells, was a trip to Lagoon. The last Friday before school started we took the two oldest ones. We thought it would be fun to take just them so we could all goes on rides together. My little Kayla did all the big rides except Wicked (which was fine with me since last year I seriously thought Ryan was going to fall out of his seat.....seriously, it scared me to death).
I was super glad to take this picture. It meant they survived!!! Wicked really is one Wicked ride.
This is a picture of Ryan and Brad on Wicked. I missed my DSLR with my zoom lens, we took our small digital camera so you can't really see them. Man, am I spoiled or what?

Kayla loves me taking pictures of her. She especially wanted me to document her by the Colasses, which she rode on twice.
We loved Snakewater Rapids. The best/worst part is there is a HUGE waterfall that no matter where you sit on that blasted raft you CANNOT avoid. Believe me, I tried. My family laughed at me trying. I made the kids take this picture. Kayla cannot make funny faces. She just can't help it. The camera is out and her beautiful smile is on her face, no matter what!!! At least Ryan is a good sport to look silly with his mother.

This one is for you Kayla.

Ryan and Makayla are the perfect age for Lagoon. They are tall enough for all the big fun rides they want to go on, yet small enough for the kiddie rides that they have loved for years!!!!
We really had a good time. I was super proud of my kids for working hard all summer long. Good job you two.

The No good Day

2009-07-31T17:14:00.002-06:00

So, I have some friends that refuse to blog or look at blogs because they think everyone sugar coats their lives, or at least only post those wonderful things that happen in the day. I do think it is true to a point. However, I am now breaking the trend and documenting a day that went from bad, to worse, to okay in the end.
On Wednesday I taught a long teaching day, fought my children with chores, and greatly looked forward to the date I was to have with my husband that night. My mother in law and sister in law joined us in the afternoon which was very enjoyable. I always enjoy their visits, as do the kids. Well, nana took the grandkids to get ice cream. Makayla came back not feeling so well. I was wondering if it was because she hadn't eaten much during the day and then had ice cream. We hopped in the car to go see my sister in law Bre's new paint job on her new house. Kayla was in tears by the time we arrived. We got her some bread and a glass of water hoping that would help settle things. As I was upstairs looking at possible paint for a bathroom, Makayla came up saying she felt better. I was relieved until she said, "all I needed to do was throw up!!" What?!!!! I quickly usurred her out to our car so we didn't contaminate anyone else (hopefully damage wasn't already done). Because of this turn of events our date was over. Not only did Kayla need her mom home (although at that moment I didn't know how bad it was going to get) but my sister in law Lori was set to babysit, but because she has been helping on an off with the new baby at my other sister in laws house, we couldn't risk her getting sick. So, now the much needed break for Brad and I was off and even worse, I had to decide what to do for dinner.
I am driving home and complaining to my sister Allison on the phone about how I am sick of my kids being sick and such when I heard the worst sound....Makayla puking in the car. Yep, when it rains it pours. At that point I was practically in tears. Sometimes the sacrifices of motherhood are extremely overwhelming. Cleaning up throw up is one of those moments I can really do without. I talked with Brad and we decided to just grab something at Costco as he was there picking up diapers.
The oven is on, preheating for orange chicken, and all I smell is gas. I go over to see if one of my burners was partially turned on, but nope they are fine. So, I made the could be fatal mistake of opening the oven door to see what the problem was. Well, a huge gaseous ball of fire shot out at me and then recinded to it's home. It happened so quickly. My first thought, once I knew I wasn't hurt at all, was "Do I still have eyebrows?" I had tons of flaky things falling from my head. I thought it was just debri from the oven. Nope, not that lucky. It was half of my eye lashes and some hair from my head (just the very top front). Brad assures me I am still beautiful, as he is trying not to laugh too hard. He comes to give me a hug, but can't stand to be near me as I smell like burned hair. Probably because I had burned hair. The only thing that smells worse than burned hair is wet burned hair. I discovered that as I took a shower to try to make myself not dispicable to all those around me.
I was ready to go to bed and wake up the next morning with a fresh new day. Of course I knew the night could be bad with a throwing up child (she was puking until 10pm). Brad bought me brownie bites to help cheer me up. It worked, although I have been fighting my weight so as I enjoyed them I knew I would hate myself in the morning for eating them...but I still enjoyed EVERY BITE!!!!

Newest Nephew

2009-07-23T17:01:00.003-06:00

Here is my newest nephew, Easton Robert Bell. He was born to Brandon and Lindsey on July 21st (Brandon's birthday). He was 6 lbs 7 oz. Tiny little thing. He had some problems with his lungs at the beginning, but is now doing better. He will go home from the hospital tomorrow morning. He has been in the NICU since he was born. The bummer is that my kids can't be in the same room as him for a couple of weeks because he is so fragile. They are sad but understand. We were able to go to the hospital and look at him through the NICU window. I actually got to go in since I am over 16 (much older...but that isn't the point). He is the sweetest little baby. He looks a lot like my little ones look. Beautiful with tons of dark hair. We are super excited to have another Bell boy in the family!!! Being an aunt is a wonderful thing.

Wednesday, July 8th ZOO ZOO ZOO!!!!

2009-07-22T21:04:00.007-06:00

We're going to the ZOO ZOO ZOO You can go too, we're going to the ZOO. That is how we spent the day on Wednesday, once I got back from taking Brad to the airport. The kids had a wonderful time. They love "Nana's" zoo. Although everytime we go to California we go to the zoo, the kids don't get sick of it. In fact, the second they find out we are going to California they ask if we are going to the zoo. It is a beautiful zoo full of tons of green trees. However, it is full of hills (now that I think about it, what zoo doesn't have big hills?) The kids had fun with all the animals, although most were hiding from us. The biggest attraction of the day ended up being us. We had rented a wagon to pull the little girls around in at the zoo. However, going down the hills was very tricky with the wagon as it gained momentum and was hard to control. After lunch all the kids wanted to ride in the wagon. I had no problem pulling the wagon until we hit the giraffe hill. It is a short but very steep hill. Ryan wondered how I would handle it, but I said I would fine. I should have listened to my eight year old. I started going down the hill slowly, the wagon started picking up speed. I did my best to stop it with my body, but the hill got the best of all of us. The wagon went faster and faster, I really tried to slow it down but it went so fast that it eventually took me out with the kids. The wagon hit my knees and I fell in with the little ones. My mother in law was chasing after us trying to stop it, but couldn't. We finally ran into a retaining wall and the wagon tipped over. The littlest girls started crying, but no one was hurt. Mom and I started laughing and couldn't stop for several minutes. I nice man came and tried to help us, but he was too late. I am sure he and his wife are still laughing at the spectacle.

Build a Bear....a tradition

2009-07-17T16:06:00.004-06:00

My mom started a tradition several years ago of taking her grandkids to build a bear for their birthdays. My kids just started doing this past year. They have now all had a turn. Today Becca went with her cousin Chloe whose birthday is a week after Becca's. After having gone several times I knew which one I would choose for my baby....because does she really care? We chose this soft little lamb. She is adorable and Becca loves her. She is named Cuddles.

Pinewood Derby

2009-07-17T15:42:00.004-06:00

Well, last night we had our first ever Pinewood Derby experience. The best way to describe it is organized chaos. There were very excited boy scouts and their families everywhere. Each boy got to race his car 6 times, randomly, and they averaged all the times to get the "winners". Ryan's car won 2 first places, 2 second, 1 third, and 1 fourth. He won 2nd fastest in his wolf den and 7th fastest of all the boys (there were probably 30 of them!!). He was so excited by all of this. Brad was extremely relieved that he didn't build a losing car. Everyone went home happy.

Kayla had so much fun watching all the cars with her friends.

On your mark, get set, and GO!!!!!

Ryan anticipating his race

Becca found her friend Claire and they entertained themselves!!!

Thursday, July 9th

2009-07-15T16:33:00.000-06:00

Thursday was a wonderful day. We had the wonderful opportunity of seeing our friends the Jasinski's that are living in LA. I haven't seen them for almost 2 years, our babies were, well, babies. Now they are grown up toddlers. Eva, was Ryan's best friend when they were 4 years old. It always takes our kids only a few minutes to warm up to each other and then they begging to stay forever. We had a wonderful lunch, kids played in the slippin slide and the little kiddie pool, and we had tons of visiting....just not enough. It is amazing how when you have good friendship it doesn't matter how much time you are apart, it always seems like we were never apart. Jean is one of those friends. I hope to see her again soon!!!
Becca found this "drinking fountain". Not the most sanitary thing, but it made her happy....until I stopped her!!!!

Ashlyn didn't want to try the slippin slide with everyone watching. But, once the attention as elsewhere she went the first time herself and then had a ball the rest of the day.

Makayla, Leah, Eva, Ryan

Tuesday, July 7th

2009-07-15T15:18:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday Brad and I had a date to celebrate his birthday. We went to lunch, returned some clothes, then headed to LA. We went to Santa Monica Pier, walked the 3rd street promenade, and ate at California Pizza Kitchen. Brad then had an early morning flight back to Utah the next morning so we stayed at a hotel room next to the airport. It wonderful to spend time with Brad alone, not so fun to send Brad home.

Monday night....Family Night

2009-07-15T14:18:00.006-06:00

For Family night, the boys worked on Ryan's pinewood derby car (after a wonderful lesson by mom). He has the pinewood derby this Thursday, and we just returned in town on Monday. Brad knew we wouldn't have time to do it all this week so they worked hard in California. The boys all had fun working together to make the stylish car. (Picture to come later...it is currently at work with Brad to get weighed!!) At this age Pinewood Derby is really for the dads...not the kids. Ryan should be extremely grateful for Daddy and Papa and all the work they have done.

Saturday, 4th of July, Brad's birthday

2009-07-15T14:00:00.000-06:00

Saturday was full of fun. Well, it didn't quite start that way for Brad, Doug, or Dad. Mom and Dad decided to fill in the trampoline hole since it was way too expensive to fix the broken tramp. (Yes, my kids were severely disappointed) Their neighbor across the street had a bunch of dirt he dug up for a project in his back yard and said dad could have it if he wheeled it out. So, the boys worked extremely hard on this huge pile of dirt. On Monday Brad and I finished the pile and let me tell you, it is very hard work....and I didn't even run the wheel barrow. I just shoveled the dirt!!! You boys are amazing...and Brad, you are even more amazing for doing it on your birthday.

After the hard shoveling we opened presents. Becca's birthday was a week before Brad's so she knew exactly what to do with the presents. She had to sit on Brad's lap and help him, otherwise, she was just going at the presents on her own!!!

After presents, went to the beach again. We were disappointed to find that it was windy again which made it cold for the kids. They still had fun playing, but didn't last as long as the parents. The irony of the whole situation is one big reason we went down this summer was to get warm beach days. You just never know in November or December how warm it will be and the ocean is always way too cold to play in. Oh, well. The kids still had a ball.
That night we had a nice bbq, chocolate cake, and Camarillo fireworks!!! It is nice of the country to celebrate the birth of my sweet husband!!!!

Friday, July 3rd

2009-07-15T13:45:00.000-06:00

Once we arrived in California we got settled in and headed to the beach!! It was windy which made it cold, but we still had fun. We played football, jumped waves, and flew a big purple cow kite. What could be better?

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California!!!

2009-07-15T13:29:00.008-06:00

We just spent 10 wonderful days in California at Brad's parents home (well, Brad was cheated out of 5 days since he had to go back for work). It was so relaxing and fun. Usually when we are there so are the rest of Brad's 6 siblings and spouses and once little niece. It was really fun to be just us with mom and dad and Doug (for a few moments when he wasn't sleeping, working, or hanging out with others...we just weren't quite cool enough!!!) Lori was at EFY when we got there, home for one day, and then went to Lake Powell with Mari (my sister-in-laws) parents. It was very quiet, well, as quiet as it can be with 4 little kids running around.
We made the most of our time, although there was still plenty of down time for my kids to watch way too much disney channel. I swear they have now seen every episode of Wizards at Waverly Place, Hannah Montana, and The Suite Life on Deck. I have seen way too many episodes, and I wasn't even watching with them!!!
On Thursday night we stayed in Primm, Nevada at Buffalo Bills hotel. I hate walking through a Casino with my kids. Although, they thought it was pretty cool. Makayla kept saying "It is just a great big game room!!!" The kids were wired up the wazoo!!!! They were literally bouncing off the beds. Becca was laying on my bed when she suddenly said "this is awesome!!" We all were stunned as we didn't know she knew the word awesome. We had to capture it on Brad's i-phone, although it took a few tries.

We're in Trouble!!!

2009-07-15T12:34:00.002-06:00

Each of my children that has even taken a binki (Kayla never did) has been off of it before the next sibling came. For Ryan he was done by around 12 months and Ashlyn was around 21 months. Well, Becca hasn't had another sibling breathing down her neck. So, we haven't been in a huge rush to get rid of it. Putting her to bed for naps and nighttime has been too easy with it. Traveling, not a big deal. However, as she approached 2 I knew I needed to wean her before it got too hard. But, in May we went to Hawaii and I knew it would be easier for my babysitters if she had it. So, I waited. Then, she was getting 3 i-teeth which was causing her much grief so I waited. Then, we went to California and I had to drive my kids home myself which I was super worried about. I knew it would be MUCH better if she had ber binki. So, once again, I waited. But, I had decided early June that after this California trip we were done. She is much to old to be going around with a pacifier. I knew it would be difficult, but we can do it. I am more attached than she is right?
Well..........not anymore. Last night I put her to bed without it. I was going to let her cry to sleep knowing she would eventually survive. As I was going to bed I thought I should check on her to see if she had fallen asleep by her door (which she did the other day). I know she had been by her door for a while, so I wanted to make sure. When we looked in we saw a darling site.
She had put herself back in her bed and pulled up the covers. It was so adorable. Then I looked closer and .....what did I see?
That little stinker had found her binki. I was so excited that we had one night down...but NO!!!! I always keep them in her top drawer of her dresser. This is what we saw..
She had stood in her bottom drawer to reach the top drawer with the binkis. They will now be thrown out!!!

Why?

2009-07-14T13:34:00.002-06:00

Why is it that the batteries in a smoke alarm only decide to run out of batteries and start chirping in the middle of the night? Last night we had yet another experience in this matter. The crazy thing is even when the smoke alarm was disconnected from all the wiring and the battery it was still chirping. It reminded me of those horrible dreams where your alarm clock goes off, you try to shut it off and it doesn't go off, you unplug it and still it screams at you. Alas, you go to extreme means and beat the blasted thing with a hammer...yet it still goes on and on. Finally, you realize that you are dreaming and your alarm clock is really going off. That is truly how I felt last night. However, the dang smoke alarm did not shut off. We had to eventually put it in the garage so we could get some sleep.

Cute sister

2009-06-24T21:07:00.002-06:00

I just have to say I have six wonderful sisters. We are all unique in looks and personality. My second to youngest sister Jacque has one of the most sparkling personality I have ever met, especially when she is with children. I took this picture at my sister Celeste's graduation party. I was practicing the sunlight effect. I didn't really get what I wanted, but I did get a darling picture of my sister with her contagious smile!!!! I love you, Jacque.

A Hike to Remember

2009-06-24T19:14:00.004-06:00

So, there is this amazing waterfall up Alpine canyon that you have to hit at the right time. If you go too late in the summer the waterfall isn't very big. It is called Horse Tail Falls because when the water hits some rocks it shoots out like a horses tail. Anyway, Brad and I and my sister Allison and her husband Bryce all wanted to hike it before the water "went away." We decided to hike it on Saturday, June 13th. The weather was raining on and off all week long. Actually, it was more like torrential down pour each day. Well, it played it by ear. It rained a bit in the morning so we were unsure. But, early afternoon it was looking good so we decided to just do it.
The hike up went well. We had all forgotten that it was 2 miles STRAIGHT up the mountain, no switch backs, just straight up. It was super hard, but the waterfall and view of Alpine is worth it.

Once we got up we were only able to enjoy the waterfall for a few minutes as we could see the storm clouds moving in. 5 minutes after we started down it began raining.
All of us scrambled to get our rain ponchos on (that Brad didn't think we really needed when I packed them) and I tripled wrapped my camera so it wouldn't get wet. We then ran down the mountain. About 1/4 of a mile down the heavens let loose for the day. We were caught in the middle of a horrific downpour that soaked us to the core. We ran as fast as we could with slipping on our....well, you get the drift. I didn't realize that you could kind of see through my capris when wet, fortunately my sweatshirt was long enough. We made it down the mountain in 30 minutes verses the hour it took to get up. I was not near as muddy as you would imagine since we were literally running through a stream the entire way. There was just so much water that it rinsed off the rain. As fun as all that sounds I realized that I forgot to mention the thunder and lightening. That made things quite interesting. With each lightening we were counting to see how close it was. I think the closest it got was 2 miles away, which was close enough for all of us. We were praying that we wouldn't get struck. Prayers were answered and we made it safely down, soaked to the core, even with ponchos on.
You can kind of tell by looking at my sister how wet we were. Just step into a shower with a poncho on, for 30 minutes, then you will know how wet we were!!!

A message from the Workers Compensation Fund

2009-06-18T21:00:00.004-06:00

On TV these days they are many commercials about different precautions men should take in the work place to be safe. They are reminding people to think of those you have left at home and wear their hard hats, safety goggles, etc. I would love to see the commercial warning piano teachers of the dangers that lurk in their home as they are working. My daughter could be a poster child.....

Becca's idiosyncrisies

2009-06-13T16:05:00.003-06:00

Becca is the funniest little girl. I am sad to say she is still hooked on her binky. It is really myself that is hooked, but that is another story. I love putting her down for naps and to bed. She is EXTREMELY easy to put down, IF she has her binky. You give it to her and instantly her head drops to your shoulder. Lately the funny thing she has been doing at bed time is REQUIRING me to take out her hair barrets and elastics when she gets in her crib. I wonder why I even do her hair before nap time at all. Becca has always loved to play with her hair when she gets tired. In fact, that is a huge sign that she is ready for bed. I love the routine she has set for herself!!!

Smart Kids

2009-06-13T16:01:00.002-06:00

Let me tell you, my son is extremely intelligent when it comes to computers. He can do more than probably both sets of his grandparents (grandfathers included). The other day he asked me if he could build a website. I said he would have to ask his dad since that is Brad's realm, not mine. The next day I went to my computer and saw the most recent search on the google tab bar. It said "How to build a website safely!!" I was so proud that my son knew that there needs to be safety in his internetting!!! Thanks to his computer teacher Susan Richards in our ward, Ryan has learned safety on the computer!!! Ryan now has his own blog which will document his life. The sad thing is, his blog will probably be more up to date and better kept than my own!!!

Easter

2009-06-02T22:08:00.007-06:00

Easter was next. Easter was the next weekend after Ryan's birthday. We started Easter Saturday with decorating eggs. Then we had our annual Easter Egg Hunt with the Sweeney family. It was raining so we actually held it in the church.

Becca thought it was cool to actually get to eat candy off the floor.