Idle Hands...

Lately my kids have been crazy being stuck at home. Here are some of the "fun" things they have come up with (at my expense) to entertain themselves: We have brought out the exersaucer for Noah, but Sarah thinks it's for her. She had been climbing in it to play. This time she climbed in it with both shoes on and got both legs in the same hole. She got very stuck and very mad!! Daniel is more aware of things than I thought. I found him in my room the other day playing dress up with...well you know: I will be using this for blackmail later on haha.

Sunday Josh decided to try out a new medium for his art--HIS HEAD! Too bad I cut their hair short enough you can see it really well. To relieve some of the boredom today I got up my courage and took all five kids out alone. I threw Noah in the front pack and took the kids to the nature park to feed the ducks and to walk around. I also let Matthew wear his skate shoes and brought both the scooters for Daniel and Josh.Matthew preferred feeding and chasing the Seagulls instead.It's all fun and games until someone accidentally falls in the water: and then sits in a pile of dirt with her wet pants--AWESOME!

After feeding the ducks we walked around on the path for a while while Matthew and Josh rode the scooters--Daniel said he was just too tired to ride his scooter. While I was stuck pushing the stroller with Daniel and Sarah both squished inside it, Josh and Matthew just took off on their scooters. I came around a corner and found Josh's flip flop just lying in the pathway. I picked it up and carried it with me and started looking for Josh because I couldn't see him. When I finally saw and caught up to Josh I asked him why he just left his flip flop on the pathway. He said he was going too fast and he just knew that I would pick it up for him. I guess he really does know me because I did exactly that. I just didn't think he would leave his flip flop in the middle of the road and keep going pretty far with nothing on his foot. What a crazy kid!! After walking for a ways we then came back to the waterfall. We all stuck our feet in it to cool off while throwing a whole bunch of rocks in. We had a fun day--minus the accidental swim by Sarah. Also I am pretty proud of myself for not losing any of them either. Five is harder to keep track of than I thought and that's even with Noah who, of course, is not mobile yet.

Also in true Sarah form, I brought her home and showered her. Afterward she went and grabbed some clothes and brought them downstairs. She grabbed any clothes she could find and they happened to be Daniel's clothes out of his drawers. She just wanted to be dressed and it didn't matter what in either. She screamed until we got her dressed. She does not like being in just a diaper anymore. After we got her dressed in her own pajamas she went upstairs and started screaming at our closed bedroom door. We finally figured out she had left her shoes inside our bathroom since she had taken them off there to get in the shower. She screamed until we opened the door and let her go in and get her shoes on. After she had her pajamas and shoes on she was a happy girl. She is such a GIRLY GIRL and I LOVE it!!

I Got No Strings!!

Noah had a pediatrician's appointment today to see if he was mature and ready enough to come off the oxygen and apnea monitor. They checked the oxygen saturation then turned off his oxygen for 10 minutes and checked the oxygen saturation again. He passed that test. Next they kept his oxygen off and then I fed him for 10 minutes to see if his oxygen saturation would stay up--which it did. He passed everything with flying colors and so now he is a free man!! No more strings to tie him down--YAY!! His little face looks so much different without all stuff on it!! It is so nice to carry him all around the house without lugging the heavy oxygen tank and apnea monitor with him. The kids like him being off because he is more accessible to them. Sarah likes to point out his eyes while they are open, have him talk on her toy phone also to "play" with him in the exersaucer--poor guy he's going to be one tough kid!!
He is turning into a chunky monkey to weighing in at 10 pounds 4 ounces. He's doing great. To celebrate our new found freedom from the oxygen we took everyone to McDonalds for dinner. Wow our kids were busy. The first 30 minutes we were there, Sarah took all the shoes out of the shoe holder and tried them on (none of them were hers), Daniel pushed open the emergency door setting off the alarm that the clerk had a really hard time turning off (and yes that was Daniel not Matthew), and then Sarah pooped her pants. Unfortunately I had cleaned out our car and took out all the extra diapers and wipes without replacing them. Since we were there to celebrate we quietly snuck her back inside to play while we could clean everything up and round the kids up to come home. During that time everyone was playing keep away from Sarah and she thought it was a fun game--little did she know they really did want to keep away from her horrid stench. They kept "locking" her up in the basketball court to try and keep her contained--it really didn't have a lock on it so she kept escaping to play the "keep away" game some more. We had to drive all the way home with the windows down......it was bad!! Earlier in the day Josh and Daniel went to a birthday party which happened to be an outdoor water party. Daniel was running around slipped and fell and ended up giving himself a huge fat lip. Who knows maybe this could be the next generation of botox?!That morning after Matthew got out of the shower I sent him to get dressed. He came back wearing Daniel's jeans. How he fit in the them and got them pulled up to his hips I don't know, but I wouldn't let him keep his capris on. I made him find shorts that actually fit him instead of Daniel's pants.

Survival of the Fittest

I am happy to say most of us survived another one of Aaron's business trips this week. We had one casualty while he was gone and you can read about it here. I still feel bad about that fish!! Anyway, having the trips back to back is not the funnest thing for everyone, but I survived and more importantly the kids survived as well. Here's what Aaron works on while he is in San Diego: It is an amphibious assault vehicle for the marines and he helps with testing the software and debugging to make sure it works. He got things settled for now so hopefully this will be the last trip for a while. However, I didn't know about last weeks trip until the day before he left so you just never know.

While he was gone I had a some bright spots. One night my sister brought us dinner--an unexpected, but pleasant treat since we had all been living off of cold cereal for dinner while he was gone. My sister-in-law took the kids (except Noah of course) one morning so I could be almost kid free for a few hours which was bliss!! A friend came and brought me some ice cream one night--which happened to be only my dinner that night and it was greatly appreciated!! I also got out and took the kids to the park for a picnic lunch with friends twice which was nice to have some adult conversation. It seems I had been relegated to conversations like this while stuck at home: pull up your pants, don't hit your brother, don't jump off that, don't lick that....etc. All things were greatly appreciated for sure!!

As for Noah we have an appointment tomorrow with the pediatrician to see if he is mature enough to be taken off the oxygen and apnea monitor. I think Noah is more than ready since most of the time I find he has pulled the oxygen tubing and I find it either in his mouth or on tip of his nose like this:We are keeping our fingers crossed. He did have an apnea spell (stopped breathing) yesterday, but he self recovered without needing any outside stimulation which is the most important part--although it is still a little scary.

As for other funny happenings I found a new way to spell STUBBORN it is S-A-R-A-H. I put some sandals on her this morning and she did not want to wear those shoes at all. She got really mad when I pulled off her other shoes to put the sandals on. She screamed and tried to take them off without succeeding since they had buckles she couldn't get undone. She screamed all morning following me around trying to get me to take them off. I held strong and didn't give in, though. When Aaron dropped her off at nursery her face was red from all her crying just because she didn't want to wear those stupid shoes. I think I will start calling her Stubborn Sarah!!!

Other things I have not learned even after having four boys is how to point their little boy part down after changing their diapers. Aaron is getting ready to go home teaching and Noah just peed all over his pants out of the leg of his diaper because his boy part was not pointed in the right direction. I am trying not to laugh, but it is still pretty funny. Poor Aaron....hahahahaha. If you think about it, it is technically Aaron's fault I had four boys since he's the one that carries all those "Y" chromosomes....;)

My Kids Have Been Brainwashed!!

The advertisers really know who to peddle their products to!! The other day we were sitting down for dinner. We were having spaghetti and I asked all the kids to take their shirts off because it is a rather messy affair. Josh asked me why they had to take their shirts off and I told him it's because spaghetti sauce stains clothes. He looked at me and said, "Mom you just need to get Oxyclean. That gets all the stains out." I also can't go grocery shopping without going down some aisle of the store only have the kids point out some product they have seen advertised on TV. And of course after seeing it on TV they HAVE to have it. Maybe we have been watching a little too much TV which is brainwashing my kids?!?

Monday Matthew and Josh had a dentist appointment. Matthew's front tooth was chipped so he got it sanded down and smoothed out. You can still tell it's chipped, but it's not as bad as it was! Josh unfortunately had a cavity in one of his bottom molars that had to be filled. However, it was small enough he didn't need a shot so that was good. It was a baby tooth so they used silver filling because it's just going to fall out anyway. At least he has a silver tooth to show for his first cavity--and we are hoping it's his only cavity, too.

Sarah has been a slow talker. She really hasn't needed to say much since her brothers do and get everything for her. She is finally starting to say stuff. A couple days ago we were getting into the car in a parking lot and she heard a dog bark. She then said, "Goggie." She also started saying "more" and today I was putting her in the car and her shoe fell off. That's when she started screaming, "MY SHOE, MY SHOE!!" Also at night Daniel tries to sneak downstairs. He got to the stair landing and asked if he could come downstairs. Before I could say anything Sarah yelled at Daniel saying, "NO!!!" and then she also tried to say something like, "Go to bed!" Also when I tuck her in bed at night I say, "Night Night" and she says, "BYE!!" I am finally glad to hear her little voice do something other than scream to get what she wants!!

Noah's Smiling & Some Oopses!

Noah's started smiling this morning! I love that! I tried to get some pictures, but they didn't show his smile very well. I still love it!In other happenings, I feel horrible!! This morning I was trying to give our pet fish some clean water in his bowl. In order to put the clean water in I needed to get the dirty water out. However, we don't have a fish net so I was very carefully trying to pour out the water while trying to keep the fish inside the bowl. Well the fish went into the drain. I could see him flopping around so I tried to get him out. I tried, but couldn't quite see very well to get him. I went to flip the light so I could see better, but accidentally hit the garbage disposal. The fish is now in fish heaven. The bad part was, Daniel was right next to me and saw the whole thing. He asked me if the fish was still alive. I lied and told him the fish just went to visit his family in the lake. Daniel started crying and told me he was really worried about the fish. I just thought to myself there's no need to worry about him now. Oops!

My kids have started being little hypochondriacs. They make the biggest deal about a little scrape or scratch. It is like the little kid who cried wolf--after you hear it so many times you don't take it too seriously anymore. In our house you don't get band aids or too much attention unless it is bleeding or broken. The other night Daniel came downstairs crying and saying Sarah pushed him off the bed and he hurt his leg. I just told him, "Oh that's too bad. Now go back to bed!!" It wasn't until the next day when he showed me this huge black and blue knot on his thigh: I really felt bad because it looks like that really did hurt!

Also Matthew has a new obsession with wheelchairs. Anytime he gets hurt he demands a wheelchair. The last week of school he got hurt on the playground and demanded a wheelchair. He was so insistent his teacher had to call me so I could talk to him and try to reason with him letting him know he did not need a wheelchair. He told me I needed to go to the wheelchair store and get him a wheelchair. When trying to reason with him didn't work I ended up telling him the wheelchair store was out of wheelchairs and there wasn't anymore for me to get for him. I hope I don't get in trouble for all the little white lies I tell my kids!! Well he was out riding his scooter when Aaron told him to get in the car so he could run some errands with him. Matthew got in saying he hurt his knee and that, of course, he needed a wheelchair. Aaron told him he was fine without really paying attention. It wasn't until he got out of the car and saw this: he felt a little bad. It's not wheelchair bad, but it still looks like it hurt!

Soup's On!

Yesterday I was at my wits end so when Aaron came home from work I handed off the kids and went upstairs to take a bath absolutely and completely ALONE with no interruption!! It had just been one of those days. Anyway I was up there for about an hour when Aaron came in the bathroom holding Sarah by her arm and turned on the shower. I was about to remind him of the no interruption part when he quickly explained the need for Sarah to take a shower. She must have been craving soup because she went and got one of my measuring cups and took it upstairs. She then started scooping some "soup" out of the boys' bathroom toilet and was slurping it right down. I don't want to go into details, but there was some special seasoning inside the bowl if ya know what I mean. ICKY!!!! We threw the measuring cup in the trash and she took a good long shower. Too bad you can't SCRUB her mouth out. I will be thinking twice before I ever share any of my food with her again. I have never seen a kid so fascinated with a toilet like her. I have stressed to the boys to keep the door closed, but the "NOT ME" ghost keeps leaving it open. I really need to track down this "NOT ME" ghost and have a talk with him.

Well I do know Daniel is still allergic to milk. Sarah pounded her sippy cup of cow's milk on Daniel's head spilling a few drops on him. Daniel started to get really upset when I told him don't worry about it. He came back about five minutes later and his eye was almost swollen shut. I hate to give him Benadryl because he turns into Chuckles because it makes him so tired and ornery, but he needed it. I did contemplate anaphylatic shock versus Chuckles and it was a little bit of a hard decision, but the Benadryl (Chuckles) won out. Maybe some day he will get over this milk allergy!

Noah has become even more grabby than ever. He HATES his oxygen tubing and pulls it out of his nose every chance he gets. Most the time he pulls it down into his mouth which makes him root around only to find nothing. That makes him very mad and scream. Hopefully we can get him off it soon. I need to make the appointment for next week for his room air challenge. It's where they take him off the oxygen and look at his oxygen saturation. Hopefully he has matured enough he won't need it anymore. He has decided that breathing for the most part is a good thing. He hasn't stopped breathing and set off the apnea monitor for 5 days so he's doing pretty well. Hopefully we can get him off everything next week. Keep your fingers crossed!!

The Hunt for Missing Pills and Father's Day

Summer is now in full swing and things are going relatively well. Josh and Matthew are enjoying Kids in the Park and I have only gotten three calls so far from the leader about Matthew. Luckily, we have been able to work it out over the phone so I haven't had to pick him up early...yet. Currently Aaron is in the process of switching jobs at work. He still is working on the same project, but in a different area of it. However, with this new job it will require some traveling. I am not too excited about that part of it, but it is the area Aaron is really interested in so I am trying to be supportive. He had his first business trip this week. He left early morning Wednesday and was supposed to return Friday night. However, they didn't finish what they needed to so he ended up staying until Saturday. I have to confess being confined to home because of Noah with five kids was not the easiest thing. The kids weren't too bad though so we survived it. Hopefully I will survive it (and the kids, too) again because he is leaving again later this week for four days. I was able to break up the monotony a little bit because we went and met some friends at the park for a picnic. It was very nice to have some adult interaction and to let the kids play to expend some pent up energy.

Thursday Matthew had his first cub scout day camp. I was a little nervous to send him, but he has some good leaders that watched out for him. I really wanted Aaron or me to go with him, but with Aaron being out of town and me tied to Noah we couldn't go with him. He did great and said he had fun so I hope things went as well as the leaders said. This week's Kids in the Park field trip was to a local farm. Josh went, but Matthew went to day camp instead. Josh had fun seeing all the animals and I made sure to medicate him with Zyrtec before he went to head off the allergy attack from all the animals (horses and even dogs give him hives--and yes this is Josh not Daniel). He said he had lots of fun going there, too.

Aaron returned Saturday in time for G&G T's Father's Day party at their house. We got together and had a yummy Dutch Oven dinner and got to chit chat for a while. It was nice for me because I got some adult interaction after being at home alone with five kids for the past few days. The kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins, too. I am thankful for my Dad and the great example he was and still is for me while growing up and currently. Sunday morning Aaron got (or rather shared) breakfast in bed with all the kids. The kids had fun helping me get it ready. Since Aaron hadn't been able to perform is membership clerk duties for the last few weeks he was the one to take all the kids to church while I stayed home with Noah. Things went great until the sacrament. During the bread I guess Sarah wanted to get out and wander the aisle and her mean Dad wouldn't let her so a huge screaming tantrum occurred. Aaron went to take Sarah out the meeting only to realize it probably wouldn't be a very good idea to leave the three boys alone during the water phase of the sacrament. That's just a screaming match waiting to happen. He ended up staying in the meeting and trying to calm down a screaming Sarah. That didn't work out so well and I am sure everyone was not appreciating the screaming so he finally gave up and brought everyone home. He gets an "A" for effort, though. I am glad he is a good Dad and husband.

Sunday afternoon I made Aaron's favorite dinner of lasagna. While cleaning up we medicated the kids for bed and then let them play until bed time. Later I was reading the paper when Daniel came up to me to tell me something when something fell out of his hand. I looked down to see what it was and it was his night time medication he was supposed to have already taken. Daniel looked at me rather guiltily and then said, "But, Mom, it's the key to my door!" I have to give the kid credit for his imagination, but....grrrr. I found another loose pill the other day just sitting out on the family room floor. I guess I will have to go on a hunt for any loose pills just laying around because it appears he isn't taking them. That also explains why we had to get up last night and give him a breathing treatment since he was coughing and wheezing. The medication he is supposed to be taking but isn't is a long term preventative asthma medication. I guess it only works if you actually take it--who would have thought?!? I will have to keep my eye on that kid! Since he was up coughing last night it explains why I found him on the floor asleep this afternoon. And since Sarah shares a room with him and his coughing kept her awake as well it explains why I found her asleep on the kitchen counter about the same time. These kids like to keep things interesting around our house that's for sure!

I am such a mean Mom!!

When Will Summer Get Here to Stay?

This morning we all woke up and our house was freezing. I didn't think I would need to turn the furnace on in the middle of JUNE. I tried to wait until the house warmed up from 63 degrees, but I finally gave up and turned it on about noon. All the while I am thinking to myself, "IT'S the middle of JUNE for cryin' out loud!!" Here's what my poor kids this morning to get and keep warm--and of course Sarah HAD to be in the middle:Earlier in the week Sarah came and stood next to me. When I finally actually looked at her this is what I saw:
I guess she wanted to see what all the fuss was about with Noah and his binkie. She can get into more things faster than anyone I know!

What's Grosser Than Gross?

Every night after we put the boys down we let Sarah stay up for a little bit longer. Unfortunately tonight Josh and Daniel were not tired and just wanted to play upstairs. Sarah heard them and went upstairs to join the fun. Usually that is not a problem and we don't stop it. We have also limited the boys to using one bathroom in the house-that way I only have one way disgusting bathroom that Aaron and I don't have to use. That bathroom happens to be upstairs. We have told them time and time again to keep the door to the bathroom closed, but tonight that request fell on deaf ears. We had to chase Sarah out of the bathroom twice tonight. Her favorite thing to do is crawl on top of the toilet and play with the faucet. Well someone used the bathroom and forgot to close the bathroom door again--this would be the third time in about 30 minutes. We just thought Sarah was upstairs playing with the boys. We were wrong--she was playing in the bathroom. We didn't discover what she was doing until Daniel started screaming that Sarah was in the bathroom. Aaron ran up there to find her having some toilet time with Daniel's toothbrush brushing her teeth--and yes using the toilet water. I don't think I can convey how disgusting that really is. We try to keep that bathroom clean, but with three boys with questionable aim using it everyday, it gets gross pretty quick. YUCK!!! It makes me gag just thinking about it! Aaron threw her in the shower and this is her post scrub down: Would it be considered child abuse to make her drink a little Listerine to sanitize her mouth?!? She is quite the mischief maker!!!!

Noah's Blessing

We decided to bless Noah today since G&G M were in town to pick up their car they left for Jill while she was here. It was a great day and we were able to share it with all our family except Jill and her family and Jennifer and her family. They were missed. Noah was still on the oxygen, but it worked out. He was blessed with a keen mind and intellect, that he will go on a mission, marry in the temple, be a husband and father, a good son, have a joyful spirit, with health and strength and with gifts of discernment. This was the first place we have gone together as a complete immediate family. It was nice! Aaron and I were sure glad to have all the help for our kids from our families during sacrament meeting! We will definitely have our hands full at church with all five very active kids when we are able to make it back (probably when Noah's off the oxygen). Daniel loved having everyone there and tried to sit on everyone's lap at least once. He kept going from person to person. I can't complain because it kept him busy and occupied. Afterward we wanted to have a picnic in the park with everyone, but the weather did not cooperate. We ended up having the luncheon at our house, but I think it was easier for everyone to visit. It was nice to share this day with our families! Thanks for all the help we got from everyone as well!!

Successful Surgery X2

I am very excited to say in the mail we received the special screw driver for the Wii yesterday. Aaron was able to go in and perform surgery on the Wii to extract the stuck toy CD Sarah put inside it. Yay for me because there is no Kids in the Park today. We are also stuck at home with Noah and it is very overcast and rainy today so the kids can't even go outside to play. I guess we will have a Wii marathon. However, Sarah has attempted to put some more toys and DVDs in the Wii, but we have caught her just in time. I am thinking we might need to move the Wii out of Sarah's reach....Here's a picture of Sarah with the offending toy CD who is casually inching toward the Wii with it again:

As for the second surgery, Noah had his circumcision done yesterday. The neonatologist in the NICU does not like to do them so we had to wait until we saw the pediatrician to get it done. After seeing the Pediatrician he wanted to wait until he was 40 weeks gestational age and when he was a bit more stable and not setting off the apnea alarms as much. So yesterday was Noah's lucky or unlucky day depending on how you want to look at it. I was a little nervous getting it done because when we got Daniel's done we had major problems afterward. We had problems with lots of bleeding and had to follow up with a Urologist--not fun. However, Noah has done well so far so I think everything will be ok. As for Sarah she has been making her own fun. She keeps finding markers and coloring with them, but not on paper. I keep trying to find her stash, but I haven't been able to find it yet. Until I do find her stash of markers I am left to clean up her artistic messes:

BUSTED!!

What To Do With These Kids?!!

Well Summer vacation has started and I am already counting down the days until school starts again. I am shamed to say that I don't think I could make it (or my kids either) as a home schooler mom. Anyway, we are stuck at home until Noah is off his oxygen and apnea monitor so it makes for some long days and a touch of cabin fever all around. However, my kids have been making their own fun at everyone's expense. Sarah decided to get her five a day fruits and veggies by eating my Cucumber Melon lotion the other morning. I am sure that tasted terrific. I hope it tasted so bad she won't attempt that again.

Sarah is also great example of monkey see monkey do. She has made many attempts at trying to put different cds or dvds in the Wii, but we have always caught her in time before she actually got them inside. Yesterday she was just a titch faster than Aaron was. The bad thing was it was a toy cd that is only about 2 inches big. The Wii accepted it and pulled it inside, but now it is stuck and we can't get it out. It happened in slow motion. Aaron saw her heading toward the Wii, but didn't make it in time to stop her. Right after she did it she turned around and looked at Aaron with a triumphant grin that said, "Look what I just did. I am such a big girl." Aaron didn't have the heart to get mad at her--she has him wrapped around her little finger. Aaron went to take the Wii apart to see if he could get the toy out, but it requires a special screw driver to open it. Aaron ordered one and requested overnight shipping on it. At this point being stuck home because of Noah this is a NEED and not a WANT so, yes, to save my sanity he overnighted it. Hopefully, we can fix it and get it up and running tomorrow. How could you get mad at this face?

Matthew has found his own fun. Matthew has finally decided at the beginning of this year that riding his bike was fun. I guess just riding your bike got a little boring so he has been playing chicken with cars. It started with me backing out of the drive way. He came up and parked his bike behind me and just sat there smiling and laughing because I couldn't go anywhere while he was there. I got mad, but that didn't stop him. He has been doing it to the neighbors as well. Once I found that out I had a talk with him and told him if he does it anymore he won't be able to ride his bike. I am keeping my fingers crossed he actually LISTENED to me this time.

Matthew and Josh started Kids in the Park Monday. It is a recreational program sponsored by our city to help relieve some summer boredom. Monday and Tuesday they play games and do activities for three hours. Wednesday is water day where they play with water guns, sprinklers and play water games. Thursday is field trip day where they go to places all around for fun field trips. Tomorrow they are going to a theater to see a movie. This is the third year Matthew and Josh have done this so they have gotten to know them. The leader that really got close to Matthew last year had a baby and did not come back for this year. Instead the lady in charge of the program hired her daughter who works with special needs kids to come to help out (mostly with Matthew) which was awesome. So far things are going well and I am hoping they stay that way.

Josh had a Neurology follow up appointment on Monday. He is doing well and staying seizure free as far as I know. The new medication he started made him quite moody and hard to be around. However, we had to lower his dosage because he ended up being on too much for his body weight. Since we have lowered the dosage he has become a lot more pleasant to be around. He is still more moody than when he started it, but it is tolerable now. We have another follow up in four months and I hope things will be going as well then as they are now.

So for now summer is in full swing and I still can't believe it. It seems like this school year went by entirely way too fast! Hopefully Noah will get off all the equipment soon so we can get out and have some fun that I decide to do instead of letting the kids come up with their own fun at our expense ;)!

10 Crazy Years

Our 10th anniversary is today and wow, what a crazy 10 years. This engagement picture makes us look so young (especially Aaron). Daniel is looking over my shoulder at our engagement picture and asking me who the guy is that's standing next to me. I am sure Aaron will really appreciate that comment (not really). I guess kids, especially ours, will make you age faster than anything. Who would have thought ten years would bring 5 kids under age 8 (what were we thinking?!?), 3 moves, 3 college degrees and lots of crazy adventures.I still don't feel old enough to get married let alone have children. I look back to that windy day and I am thankful I made the decision to get married to Aaron. I can still see him nervously waiting at the temple wondering if I was going to show up. I was wondering if I was going to show up as well ;)--good thing I did! The Lord knew what he was doing when he paired us up in our college karate class. He is the perfect partner for me!

I had no idea what the next 10 years would entail, but we have weathered it pretty well seeing as we are both still standing and somewhat sane--some may not agree with the sane part, though :). I am very thankful families are forever because there is no one else I would rather be with.

Not Another Thumb Sucker and Other Randomness

Matthew and Daniel were thumb suckers. Sarah has done her share after seeing Daniel suck his thumb. She somewhat picked up the habit for a short while--thank goodness I haven't seen her suck her thumb for a little bit even though Daniel still does. Now this isn't the first time I have caught Noah doing this and I have a feeling it won't be the last either: Sarah loves taking pictures. If she finds the camera anywhere she will pick it up and say, "Teez" (cheese) and take pictures of anything and everything. The funny thing is the camera is facing backwards most of the time. Daniel is Mr. Social in everything he does. Whether it's playing the game "Mummy" with Josh (yes that is Daniel all wrapped up in Josh's blankee) to sneaking in Josh's room with his pillow and blankee at night to sleep on the floor. Yesterday he even went over to the neighbor's house to play, but instead of ringing the doorbell he (with Matthew tagging along) decided to walk inside their house and see what was going on their kitchen. It scared the neighbor half to death. She was in the laundry room and didn't even know they were in her house until walking out of the laundry room and seeing two strange kids who weren't hers just standing in her kitchen. I am pretty sure she appreciated that one! We had a talk about that this afternoon and I am hoping it won't happen again, but you never know with them. They're both pretty funny kids.

Hard To Say Goodbye

Yesterday my sister-in-law Jill finally got approval from her insurance to transport her and her preemie Sydney back to her home in Texas. She was so excited to finally get back to her home after being here for 9 weeks straight. It was hard to see her go since she had become a part of our "home" family. Nine weeks ago I was starting down the road of pre-eclampsia and we knew I was not going to be able to stay pregnant much longer. She dropped everything and came to help me out with the kids. Little did we know that the night she came in I would be leaving very early the next morning to be admitted to the hospital. She was thrown into the chaos of taking care of four children on maybe two hours of sleep without any help. She did fabulous. When I got home from a surprise c-section and a 9 day stay at the hospital she took care of everything from laundry to dishes to taking care of all the kids--no easy task. She also was a support while I was dealing with having a preemie on a ventilator all the way to feeding issues. When things finally settled down and I was feeling well enough to take back over my post, that's when her problems began. The day before she was going to leave to go back to Texas we had to make an emergency run to take her to the hospital because she was having contractions and was bleeding. That is when we got the news she was going to be admitted and on complete and total bedrest for as long as her body could stay pregnant. She was able to stay pregnant for an additional two weeks until Sydney had to make her appearance at 27 weeks 6 days. What a roller coaster the next month was. However, Jill became an even bigger part of our home family. While visiting Sydney in the hospital she also got to participate in our Family Home Evenings and our movie nights. She was able to eat dinner with us and she drove Josh's carpool to school every morning. We were excited for her when we heard the news that her insurance was going to pay to transport her and Sydney back to a hospital by her home in Texas. She was able to leave yesterday, but it was hard to say goodbye. It will be best for her to be by her husband through the ups and downs of having a preemie. They made it safely back to Dallas last night riding a Lear Jet with a neonatal medical transport team. Now comes the hard part of trying to explain to the kids why their Aunt Jill isn't living with us anymore. We are all missing her. We are missing the Sonic drink runs and the starbursts :). We will eternally grateful and indebted to her for dropping everything to come to our aid and for all the help she gave us. Judging to what a wonderful job she did taking care of my kids she will be an excellent mother to Sydney. Thanks a ton Jill!!

Noah's 2 Month Appointment

Noah had his two month check up from the pediatrician today. Jill was kind enough to stay home with Daniel and Sarah because just getting out of the house with all Noah's stuff is a chore in itself. This picture shows how I am loaded down with my purse, the diaper bag, the apnea monitor, the oxygen and Noah in his car seat. I get a work out every time I go to the pediatrician! Luckily I got an awesome parking spot close to the door so I didn't have to lug this stuff too far today.

Since Noah is still setting off his apnea monitor we won't be changing anything. He only sets off the apnea monitor every few days, but when he does drop the heart rate too low or stops breathing he sometimes needs some stimulation to get going again. That's still a little scary, but we are learning how to work with him. He will still be on the oxygen as well as the apnea monitor until he can remember to breath all the time and not drop his heart rate. You know, I am really ok with that. I need that piece of mind to know he is doing ok before we take away everything. Other than that he loves to eat and his weight is up to 8 pounds 12 ounces, 37.5 cm head circumference and 21 inches long. He gained 1 pound 5 ounces in two weeks so that proves he loves to eat. Now I can nurse him all the time and don't have to worry about pumping and supplementing with a bottle of breast milk mixed with formula for the extra calories. YAY!! He is in the 3rd percentile for his weight and 10th percentile for his head size for a two month old. However, if you take into account his prematurity his adjusted age is only 10 days old. So if you look at the growth chart for a newborn, he is the 50th percentile for his height and weight which is great.

Today I got some help without even asking for it with Noah's bottle earlier: