Interesting Information and Issues

Last night Gordon and I had a big long discussion about some serious issues with our children. Yes, they all have issues (some more serious than others). Anyway- he shared a tidbit of information with me. He said he has worked more in the last month in a half than than he ever has in the same amount of time at any time in his career. Never before has he had such a busy January and February. Yikes- that's scary considering how much he does work in general. No wonder we all have issues! Remarkably, for me at least, I never would have come to that realization on my own. And usually I am the first to notice how much he is working. Maybe my issues with his workload are being replaced by the issues of my children. Ah, life is all about issues!!! Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. How can such little kids have such serious issues. Maybe they just feel serious because I am their mom. When I have more time I can explain a little better, let's just say therapists, doctors and trips to the principals office are not always fun!

Now I am off to prepare for the big Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet tonight. Let's hope there are no issues with that!

Catching up!

I don't know why I have been in such a blogging slump. It's not like things haven't been happening. I mean what could be more exciting than being 14 weeks pregnant, having your husband out of town and having kidney stones! Not much, let me tell you.....

Now I am 16 weeks pregnant, no longer have a kidney stone, my husband is back in town and life is pretty much back to normal. So I guess I can resume blogging since nothing interesting is going on now! Life did get pretty stressful there for a while, but we are doing great now. Except for the small fact that I have not yet gained a single pound in this pregnancy and am a little worried about a teeny tiny underweight baby. I was kind of in the same position with Chase, but I think by now I had gained a few pounds (maybe three or four). By the end I gained almost 30 lbs, so maybe I am just a "late" gainer. And Chase was perfectly average- 7lbs 50z. But, I was told that if I don't gain in the next four weeks I will have to aggressively eat ice cream, cheese and fruit smoothies. So sad, huh? Except those things really don't sound very good at all to me right now. Isn't that the sad irony of pregnancy. You don't have to worry too much about what you are eating, but not everything sounds good. I haven't been too sick, I don't throw up, and I just can't quite figure out why I can easily gain weight when I am not pregnant unfortunately, but can't seem to do it when I need to.

We will find out in four weeks the gender of this baby. We are all so excited. Since the moment I found out I was pregnant I have been thinking a lot about the journey we have been through to have a family. Going from infertility, to a planned adoption, to a surprise adoption, to a surprise pregnancy to a planned pregnancy, certainly has been a journey. We've been able to experience a little bit of everything. Each child has come to us under such amazingly different circumstances, and our reaction to each has been so different. From absolute excitement (Abby) to absolute terror (Chase) and emotions in between.

We believe this will be our last child and I am so grateful that we have been given this chance to have one more. Our journey has certainly strengthened our testimony that Heavenly Father has a plan for us. We believe more than ever that Abby and Madison were meant to be our daughters. We've had lots of conversations lately about birthmothers and adoption. Madison is still kind of figuring it out. We were watching the food network together yesterday and she asked me if Ina Garten (is that her name? The Barefoot Contessa) was her birthmother. I had to laugh. Abby got impatient and said, "No, Emily is our birthmother." Then Madi gets a confused look on her face because her teacher is Miss Emily. Like I said, she is still trying to get it all straight in her head. Half the time they still call their birthmother their Godmother. Like they are Cinderella with a fairy godmother. Wishful thinking.

We still have several months (I am due mid July) but we are excited to see what #4 brings to our family!

And now, I will try to be a better blogger!

Funny boy.

Chase went to his very first day of preschool this morning. There were about 5 other kids starting this morning too. I felt like a bad mom because I didn't bring my camera along. All the other moms (and dads- oops I guess we messed up there too) were snapping pictures left and right of their little ones rolling playdough or playing with puzzles. I helped Chase find a seat at the playdough table, gave him a kiss and ran for the door. Ok - not really, but I didn't hesitate to leave once he seemed thoroughly engaged in whapping his playdough with a hammer. I guess since we have been going to this preschool for the last 4 years it just seemed like normal to take him and leave him there. I drove away with a little smile on my face and a few hours of NO KIDS ahead of me.

Speaking of Chase-he is such a funny boy. He is our best sleeper and we sometimes have to wake him up to go places. This last Sunday it was around 9:15am and he was still asleep. He had gone to bed at 8pm the night before so we were a little worried. Gordon went into his room and layed down next to him to try and coax him awake. I peeked my head in to see how it was going and Chase saw me. He kind of yawned, put his head back down and the first thing out of his mouth that morning was, "Momma will you help me to get Daddy out of my bed." I started cracking up.

Gotta love him!

We had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Christmas Eve Fun- we made pizzas and they were delicious. We also made Snickerdoodles for Santa and all the kids got new pj's and slippers.

Christmas Morning was pretty exciting. We had to wake Chase up, but once he heard Santa had come he was ok with getting out of bed.

Madison's face is so classic in this picture. My kids are the best to give gifts to. They love everything and act like every present is the coolest thing in the world. It makes Christmas and birthdays very fun!

Christmas Traditions

I used to think that we weren't very good at doing Christmas traditions, but as I listened to my kids talk (well, actually just Abby talk) about all the things we do at Christmas I realized that we do have some traditions.

We decorate outside. Granted, it doesn't take much effort, but the kids love it. (I think I warned all of you about this at Halloween.)

We go to the same tree lot every year and pick out a tree. The kids always get a picture in front of the giant Santa and the picture is always washed out because of the sun.

We always go to the ward christmas party and the kids sit with Santa. Madison has always been fascinated by Santa and she sat on his lap about 6 times this year at the ward party. It helped that we were right on time and there was only one other family there. Whenever we couldn't find Madison we looked over by Santa and there she was either on his lap or watching his every move from about three feet away. When Santa left and we started to eat dinner Madison was very curious about where he was.



madison and her BFF, aka- Santa.

We have some other traditions too, like Gordon's work Christmas party (where Santa comes to visit too), neighbor gift delivering and Christmas eve pizza. But those things haven't happened yet.

If I get any good pictures I will post about those things too. So far it's been pretty fun and the kids are getting excited. I am excited too. I think I did pretty good on gifts this year, especially for Gordon. I think I might even see him excited! It's hard for Gordon to show excitement about gifts, but I think I might have done it this year- and no, it's not a Caribou Hunt or a Ford F-150, although those would be guaranteed to elicit some excitement from him. I'll let you know how I did. What are you most excited for this Christmas?

Helpless!

So, I have been lucky enough to have a nanny helping me out for the last year and a half or so. I wish every mom could be so lucky. A few months after Chase was born we had Mimi come and work for us. She came every day for a few hours, which was great because she was able to stay with the kids when Gordon and I went on a trip together, and she came when I had surgery to have my tonsils taken out. She was just what we needed at the time, but we knew it would just be for a few months. After Mimi we had Courtney come to work for us. Again, Courtney was just what we needed at the time. Courtney is married and lives close by. She started by coming two days a week, and then she just started coming one day a week. She is wonderful, amazing and she provided the sanity I desperately needed. She took care of the kids, cleaned, did the laundry, made their meals, took them to the park (all in one day). I swear that girl never takes a rest!

BUT, guess what! Yesterday was Courtney's last day. So, so , so Sad!!!! I have to hand it to her though. She worked until she was 37 weeks pregnant. And she continued to work hard through her whole pregnancy. We will miss her, but are totally excited to meet her daughter Kristen when she makes her way into the world (hopefully not on Christmas day- even though she is due Dec 24th!)

So now I am totally help-less!!!! (I did used to have a cleaning lady too- I know I'm spoiled, but I swear my kids are HARD!!!) Life is much easier now though. Madison's therapy session are still 4 days a week, but are here at Abby's elementary school instead of in Walnut Creek. The kids are doing chores, which actually really helps out. We have gotten used to Gordon's travel schedule and long hours.

Anyway- we just wanted to give a shout out to our wonderful nannies, without whom I would have for sure had a nervous breakdown. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping our family when we needed it most!

Madison, our daredevil.

Madison's birthday was on November 15th. She turned 5. 5 is a big deal at our house because it is the first year we do a "big" birthday party. Madison got to choose where she wanted to have her party and our little redhead chose the "rock climbing place."

She has been to a couple of parties at this place and has been on the rock wall almost the whole time. There are also big jump houses and slides, foosball tables, and other activities, but Madison loves the Wall!

That's her up there on the right. She mostly just liked the freefall off the wall.

So on Friday November 14th, twenty of her friends, neighbors, cousins and classmates joined us at her favorite party place to celebrate her 5th birthday.

She had a blast. Can you tell? She totally deserved an amazing over the top birthday party and we are just so glad so many of her friends were able to come and celebrate with her. She works so hard in all her therapy and she has made so much improvement. We love her so much and are happy she is part of our family.