update

I am really not very good at writing blog posts!! I think about it when I don't have enough time and forget when I have a moment. Anyway, life here has been as crazy as ever. The kids are busy with soccer and school and friends. I keep busy with volunteering, MOMS club, appointments, and running the kids around. Oh and the housework has to fit in there somewhere.

Our latest news is small health scares for the 2 little girls. We went in for well checks for B and the 2 littles and while we were there they found a heart murmur on Kelsey and that something was indeed wrong with Karlie's eyes. We figured that it was coming, but you always have a small hope that they say it is really nothing. So the last 2 weeks or so have been filled with a lot of anxiety and tests. They completed a battery of tests on Kelsey within a few days of finding the murmur, but we have not heard any news as of yet. I am hoping no news is good news. Karlie went to the pediatric opthamologist today. It was definitely more promising than my mind was letting me believe. She does have cataracts in both eyes. The good news is, that they are positioned at the front of her eyes (and that is why we can see them) and that she doesn't really have any vision loss at this point. We have to watch her carefully for changes and have her seen in a few months because the bad part is that if they grow and her vision does become blurry it can cause lifelong damage. With kids, their brains have to learn how to see and when that is compromised the damage becomes permanent even if we fix the cataracts. So we just have to keep our fingers crossed that they don't grow or that we are able to catch it in time to fix before there is any real damage.

In other news, I am going to be a girlscout leader. Yes, me! I am not sure how I feel about this. Avery really wants to do it but there are no open troops unless I want to be a leader. So there you go... the things we do for our kids. I think that she will really enjoy it though.

The kids finish soccer this coming weekend and both have end of the season parties to attend. They are a little over the top for my taste, but the kids will have fun. They are both still deciding what activity they would like to do next, so we will have to see where we go from here.

I guess that is all that is new here. We are now just getting ready for the holidays and enjoying the beautiful weather we are having right now.

Karlie's Birth day

It is amazing to me that I have had four children and each of their births have been so different. With Avery, I didn't prepare myself with any class or technique to deal with labor so by the time I was 4 centimeters I was really sick and couldn't deal with the pain anymore. I got an epidural and was relaxed for the rest of labor. The sad part is that I had so much of the medication in me that I couldn't feel a thing to push properly and I was really out of it when she was born. After, I couldn't walk or go to the bathroom for over a day. They had to keep cathetering (sp?) me. Avery was also screaming for the first hours of her life and no one is quite sure why. She was not consolable, really, and did not eat well. This all was awful enough that chris and I decided that we would never use meds if we had more kids. So for Braden, my water broke and I didn't have any contractions. I waited and waited and nothing happened so I called the hospital and they said I should be checked since it had been so long since it had broken. Well, since it had broken and it had been more than 12 hours they made me stay and have pitocin. They barely gave me a small dose and it kicked my body into labor. Braden was born 2 hours and 57 minutes later. This was the most painful and hardest labor of them all even though it was the shortest. It was a really good thing that he was born so quickly, though, because he had a knot in his cord which was apparently tightening with each contraction because his heartbeat kept dipping so low that it had the medical staff very frantic. Anyway, the doc told us that she hasn't seen a live baby with a knot like his in a VERY long time. We are so grateful to have him! With Kelsey, I ended up being induced because I had a terrible nurse midwife and she had us convinced that Kelsey had a hole in her heart and that I had so much extra fluid that it would be a detriment to the baby. So we went ahead with the induction. It was a normal progressive labor with about an hour of pushing. It was fun to experience.
With Karlie I started having contractions on friday evening the 21st. They came in clusters of a couple hours here, a few hours there. They were not painful at all though and always subsided. Then on Sunday evening the 23rd, my family was over to celebrate my brothers' and my birthday and just before dinner I started having contractions again and this time they were painful. I thought that maybe this would be it so we started tracking them. We were really disheartened when we realized that they were all over the place. None of them were consistant. Some were 1/2 hour apart while others would be 5-10 minutes apart. So we continued with dinner and cupcakes and enjoying the evening. My mom wanted to see if she should stay (since she lives 2 hours away) so we tried timing the contractions again. They were still very spiratic but slightly more painful then when they started. We decided that this was probably not it so my family left and we decided to watch some TV and get the kids to bed. The contractions continued and were starting to get even a little stronger so about 10pm chris and I decded to take a walk to try and stop them if they weren't real and to kick them into action if they were. While we walked I had two very light ones and nothing else. So we went home and chris watered the lawn and did a few things. Just after 11 PM suddenly the contractions became a lot more painful and were 3 minutes apart. Within 15 minutes they were 2 minutes apart. I told chris that we needed to go and quickly. So he ran around the house getting the things we needed and we left. Meanwhile, my sister stayed behind to be with the sleeping kids and my SIL and BIL left to race up here to be with us. By the time we got to the hospital (15 minutes later) My contractions were 1 minute apart. While registering they told us it would be a little while before they could take us back to a room, so chris and I just went to the side and worked through the contractions. While we were waiting the receptionist asked how many contractions I had had since arriving. we told her and she jumped out of her seat and raced away. She was back within a minute or so and told us to follow her. I thought this was funny because when we got to the back there were at least 7 nurses sitting at the nurses station doing nothing so I am not sure what they were waiting for but the amount of my contractions sure got them moving! Anyway they checked me and said I was 7 cent. dilated. The nurse did a few things and talked with chris. Meanwhile my contractions advanced to the next level of pain and became even closer. The nurse said she would come back in an hour or so to check me again. I told her that would be too long and she laughed but checked me anyway. To her surprise I was already 8 cent. She started rushing around calling the nursery and the doc and setting everything up for delivery. Chris and I just stayed in the far part of the room concentrating on ourselves and the contractions. Just after 1 I was fully dilated and waiting for my water to break. I started having some urge to push, but nothing too great. Shortly after that my water broke and Karlie made her debut in the world at 1:17 am. It is odd to say, but I thouroughly enjoyed this experience. I was SO incredibly calm and focused until the last 20 minutes and was able to go through this experience of labor fully present and in the moment. Karlie was given to me right away and nursed for a VERY long time. It was wonderful! The only unfortunate part was that it went so quickly that my sis and sis-in-law missed the birth by about 2 minutes. I am so grateful for the amazing children I have and the wonderful family I am surrounded by! I am sure one lucky girl!

Frozen Yogurt and baby

So someone told me once that they would let their kids have ice cream for dinner once a summer and when they were all grown up they told their mom that this was their fondest memory from their childhood. So I have thought about this over time and thought it would be a wonderful idea, but have never done anything about it. Well, the kids have all been acting up a bit lately with all the changes pending at our house and I wanted to do something that they would love and would be very special so chris and I decided that today we would take them to this fun frozen yogurt shop and let them have it for lunch. They didn't know where we were going and were complaining that they wanted to go home, until they saw the store. We went in and Avery looked at me with wide eyes and said, "but we didn't eat lunch yet". Chris told her that this was lunch today. You should have seen the excitement on their faces. So this place is a self serve, so you pick the yogurt you want and put in the amount you want. Then you can choose as many or little sauces you want, whipped cream and candy/other toppings. It is all done by weight so you only pay for what you get. We had so much fun. We were the only ones in the place so we just ate slowly and talked. The kids loved it. When we were almost done Avery looked at Chris and I and gave us the most sincere thank- you I have ever gotten. Braden has been saying that our lunch today was the best. That sure made it all worth it for me. What a fun memory! I think this is something we will keep as a once a summer tradition.
On another note, I think I am going to scream if this baby does not come soon. My pregnancy has not been bad, but I am really ready to be unpregnant and I have been very uncomfortable the last week or so. Also the longer I go, the more inconvienient it is. The kids start soccer this week, chris starts softaball, and school starts next week. I was just hoping that I could have a little time to recover before life exploded. It doesn't seem like I am going to have much luck with that. Oh well... I guess that is life.

Summer

We are 3 weeks into our summer and it has proved to be a busy one. Braden went to a ooey gooey science camp the first week. The kids started swim lessons this week. The have had many playdates with several friends and we have gone swimming a couple of times. I am glad that we have had things to keep us busy, but at the same time I am pretty pooped. I just entered my 33rd week of pregnancy and am feeling it. I have to say that I have had a pretty easy pregnancy so far, but I am now just getting tired more easily and can't bend well. I can't believe, though, that there are only 61/2 weeks left.
Ok, enough of the side track. Back to summer. Avery still has a summer camp. All the kids will probably stay with Grandma over a couple of long weekends and we have free movies to go to and playdates to attend. We also have another set of swim lessons later on.
Even though we have a lot going on, I still think I would like year round school better. All of the kids are having bad behavior and I like the routine of school. I think it would be easier to deal with if the breaks were shorter. Oh well, I hope everyone has a great summer!

tantrums

I am so terrible at writing here. I am not sure why, either. I guess I will blame it on not having enough time and when I do I am so tired that I just don't have the energy.
Anyway, today I have a moment and just needed a little venting session. We went to Trader Joe's today to get some groceries. A few minutes after getting there Kelsey started throwing a tantrum. (Part of this whole thing is my fault because we went at naptime and she only had a little car nap) Anyway, she would not listen and was crying and screaming and yelling no ( I think as loud as she could). Now I am not so bothered by this. It is annoying and makes me just want to leave (but I couldn't because we needed groceries so bad), but what made me so frustrated and a bit angry is all of the people in the store. People were just starring, and some were making comments under their breath. How annoying can you be? Could there really have been a store full of people who had never seen a child have a tantrum? The other thing was that 2 separate people who worked there came running up with cookies and kept wanting to feed her. She took the cookies, of course, and the crying stopped for a second but then she was right back at it. I really wanted to yell, not so much at Kelsey, as the rest of the people who were acting as if I was beating my child and not simply carrying her while she threw a huge tantrum. GRRRR! And whats worse is that once she was in the car she was fine and happy. Why couldn't she have the tantrum there instead of in the store? And I will have one more soon. What am I thinking?!

our Utah house

It is finally under contract! It has been a long ride since we put in on the market in February, but hopefully it will come to a close soon. Then we will really be able to move on and work on fixing all that has gone bad. FOr anyone that doesn't know we had to short sell our house because it is not worth anywhere near what we owe and we had gotten ourselves into such a tight financial spot that we were sunk when chris lost his job. It is a bit embarassing for me to admit and makes me sad all at the same time to think that we were that tight financially, but it is what it is. I am also a little sad to see it go. It is our last tie to Utah and although there were many things that we did not like about Utah, we did like our house and some of our neighbors. Chris also had a some good friends (which hasn't happened in quite a few years) and I loved the friends I made through MOMs club. I truly miss those things! Oh well, life seems to always be an adventure with us and now that the house will be closing soon, I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Chris and work

I have been so busy and tired that I haven't had a chance to write about this yet. About a month ago, Chris changed is job again. When it was all happening I was really freaked out and frustrated, but in hindsight I see that it was a wonderful move. When we moved back to CA he was able to get a job within about 5 weeks. We were grateful, at the time, that he was able to get any job at all and didn't want to complain about the pay or hours. The company he was working for also told him that they were really busy and that he would be able to make ample money with their company. That turned out not to be the case. It was really hurting us financially (well I guess not more than we were already hurting, but it wasn't helping either). So he heard through the grapevine that the Mercedes dealer near us had moved into their new shop and were busy. So chris decided that he would go talk to the service manager again (he had been in there a few times in hopes that he would gain some sort of relationship with the boss and that if they ever were hiring they would think of him) and give him a resume. He did this on a tuesday and they ended up hiring him that day. He was so excited. He ended up being in the right place at the right time because the boss told him that they were going to begin looking through resumes the next day. So far it has all been working out for the better. He is making a good wage again and likes the people and the shop. He also doesn't come home so frustrated and cranky anymore. Hopefully it will continue this way and we will be able to pull ourselves out of the hole we have dug for ourselves.