Trevor is 8!

I can't believe it has already been eight years since I gave birth to my first baby boy. I never really wrote on Trev's birth last year, so I am going to this year. Trevor was due April 19, 2002. I begged the doctor to induce me, because I was so big and swollen. I couldn't wear shoes anymore at all. I was even wearing slippers to work. They decided the induction would take place on April 11. I was so excited! Well, that day came and went with labor and pushing. It was decided that he would need to be born by c-section because his heartbeat was going up and down with each contraction. I was wheeled in to the operation room and at 12:34 heard his little cry. He was a big baby weighing in at 9 lbs 13.5 oz and he was 21 1/4 inches long. They rushed him right out, and I didn't get to see him again till 3:30. I will never forget the moment they placed him in my arms though. I was finally a mom! I had waited most of my life to be a mom, and now this "little" baby had made me one. Trevor has always been a very strong kid. He was crawling at six months, walking at nine, and running before he was one. It has been amazing and awesome to watch him grow into the older brother role he now plays so well. He loves people, and he can't stand to watch anybody get hurt. This year we celebrated his birthday quite a lot. We had family parties on Easter, had a friend party the Friday before his birthday, and then we took him to Chuck E Cheese on his birthday. I love my kids birthdays. I love making them feel super special for one day, or many days. I love my Trevor and I really love the person he is becoming. It is so fun to watch him grow and change, and I think this year is going to be a great one! Happy Birthday Trevor!

Happy Easter!

I think holidays are so much more fun with young kids. I don't even remember having this much fun on holidays when I was a kid as I do watching my kids. Maybe holidays are really more fun for parents, because we get to see so much joy and laughter in our kids. Easter this year was busy for us. We woke up to another picture scavenger hunt set out for the boys by the "Easter Bunny." It is always fun to watch the boys run from location to location trying to find their baskets. I think they are actually some what disappointed when they do find them, because they love getting each clue. This year that bunny had them outside, and our house had a good couple inches of snow. I found it amazing that they didn't even seem to notice the snow, but just the hunt of that egg. After they all found their baskets we loaded up the car, and headed to my moms for breakfast. This year was more challenging, because we were celebrating Trevor's and Tyler's birthdays along with Easter. This Easter Sunday was also General Conference for our church. It was nice to eat breakfast and watch conference. We then ate lunch, did an Easter egg hunt, and eventually had cupcakes with ice cream cones. The boys got to open their presents, and it was just a really nice day with the family. We celebrated Easter night with Spencer's family as we celebrated birthdays too. We played a game called "Killer Bunnies" (go figure!) and then ate dinner together. It was a nice night with his family, and the boys got to open more presents. It was an exhausting day, but we had so much fun with both families, and it is really nice to have the birthdays done for both families.
There are a lot of religions that celebrate Easter for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a time I look back on how lucky I am to have him in my life. I am grateful for my wonderful boys, my fantastic husband, and right now this little baby growing inside my belly. I am grateful for my heavenly father and all that I have been blessed with. Whether you have a specific religion, or you don't believe in religion at all, Easter can be a time for lots of fun with family and friends too.

I love this kid!

Tyler is almost 23 months, but he already acts way older than two. He is already talking in three word sentences, will totally feed himself, drink from a cup (spilling occasionally still), and the biggest event.....HE IS IN A BIG BOY BED! I have to admit I was really scared of this event coming. I knew we were going to need the crib, and I wanted him out before the baby even came, because I didn't want him to connect the two. I had no idea how to even go about the big boy bed from a crib. Tyler is our first to successfully sleep in a crib. I decorated his room with more animals, and he thinks it is awesome. I found a great deal on the vinyls I had in his other room (thanks angie) so I bought a bunch to really make his room cute. Then we got the double rail so he wouldn't fall out, and I tried his first sleep at nap time. I couldn't believe it when he just went to sleep. I was so happy, but night time could be a whole other story. He sleeps at least 11 hours at night, so I wasn't sure if this would continue or he would sleep less. Lucky for us, he sleeps the same. He wakes up happy, and proud he can get out of bed all by himself. I have to say he is just the best kid, and I am so happy to have this little almost two year old in my life :)

five, five, five!

Lately it seems like a lot in my life has to do with the number five.

5 years-

It has been five years since we decided to keep me home with our kids. I can't believe is has already been five years. Looking back, I can still remember deciding that this was the best for our family. It was going to be a really big stretch financially, and most of the time we weren't even sure we could pull it, but here we are five years later and still making it. I could have made close to $150,000 had I still been working. WOW! That could have paid for a lot of things we could have used and really wanted in the last five years. We could have had a bigger house, a better vehicle a long time ago, and all sorts of fun trips. Would I trade it for the money? No way! Being a stay at home mom is not what I thought it was going to be like. It is a lot harder, and really mentally demanding. Going to work was hard too, but it really is just different mentally. Work was hard, but I got a nice breaks, I could pee without interruption, I had adult conversation, I missed out on a lot of dirty diapers, and my house was a lot cleaner(go figure). I love being at home with my boys, and I am so happy I truly get to enjoy even the un-enjoyable moments of their childhood. They will only be little once, and I will only get to cuddle and hold them for so long. I will rejoin the work force at some point though....feeding four teenage boys is going to cost a lot! ha ha

5 weeks-

I now have five more weeks till I am scheduled to bring this baby girl into this world. Some days it feels like forever still, and other times I feel like I have so much to do, and I might not get it done in time. My placenta previa has cleared and as feared by my doctor, it is not attached to my c-section scar. We are going to be having a very big baby. A week ago she was approx. 6lbs 9oz. I think I am very lucky to live in this time period with the technology we have to be able to get this big hairy baby girl out. I can't wait to meet her!

5 others-

I had to take five tums last night, I get up five times for either kids or my bladder almost every night, I have at least five contractions a day, I have lost five pounds since they put me on my diabetic diet, and in five weeks I will be the mom of five beautiful kids! Here is a recent ultrasound of our Kairi. Little blurry, but she is looking at you with chubby cheeks....oh so cute!

Jr. Jazz

This year Trevor got to play Jr. Jazz. He was so excited to be able to play, and it was really fun to watch him play. For kids this young they actually hang another basket on top of the actual basketball hoop, so it is shorter. This had some pluses and minuses. It was nice because kids this age have a hard time throwing the ball hard enough to always get it to the basket, and it made a lay up possible. The only really bad thing about it was that it would put the hoop further into the court, so the kids would pass it up, because they hadn't made it to the out of bounds line yet. Trevor got to play with a lot of boys in our area, and he really enjoyed goofing off with them every Saturday. We decided that Trev's best quality in basketball was definitely defense. He never let the kid he was guarding get the ball. I felt bad for that poor kid, but I was so proud of my own for doing such an awesome job. In the end he got a certificate and trophy. He took the trophy to school for good news Monday. It was fun watching him play, but I am always glad when the sport season is over with...ha ha!

Honest Scrap.....hummmm?

So, my awesome friend Angie decided to nominate me for this. I had no idea what it even was, but apparently you just tell ten things about yourself. Well, I don't want to just say anything, so I have been thinking about this for a while.

First...I find myself to be really blessed. I feel like we have had a rough first years of marriage, but in the end I can't even complain, because I have the best husband and cutest boys ever!

Second....I love my friends! I am kind of picky on who I choose to be friends with. I am not one of those people who will just talk to anybody and act like a friend. If I am your friend, I am a real honest true friend that will do just about anything for you. I sometimes can be taken advantage of because of this, but I don't even care, because it is the friend I wanted to be.

Third....I am seriously scared for my kids futures. I think this world is scary, and I think it is just getting worse. I want to just keep my kids close and let nothing happen to them, but then I am not really being a good mom that way either...a double edge sword if you ask me.

Fourth....I miss my dad. I have been feeling a little guilty lately, because I have a hard time even thinking I actually had a dad. Seems like the memories I had of him could have been dreams? I hate the fact that my boys had such an awesome Papa, and they will never even know it, and that is about the only thing that makes me know my dad was really a good dad, and he was actually here at one point in time.

Fifth....I really don't like being pregnant. I think this is funny, because technically I am on my sixth pregnancy. I may not like this part of life, but I love love love the results of pregnancy. Who couldn't love a sweet baby? (or a horrible one, that will eventually turn sweet..he he)

Sixth....I really really really hate the fact that all the crack whores in the world can have kids, or get pregnant and abort the sweet little embryos, and then other really great people can't have kids at all. This is a really sad and hard thing for me. My heart seriously hurts for all these couples. I also hate that insurance companies won't even help these couples at least find out why?

Seventh....I have some weird phobias. I don't like balloons, or the thought of them popping actually. I can't reach my hand in places I can't see. I hate clowns! I hate the feeling of being stuck or in a situation I feel I have absolutely no control at all of. I can feel a little claustrophobic in weird situations. All these give me anxiety and are really unpleasant.

Eighth....I find being a mom the hardest, but most wonderful thing I can ever imagine. I never knew how hard it was to actually be a mom, but there is far more involved than I ever knew. In turn I think because it is so hard, it seems like such a pay off when something goes right.

Ninth....I never thought I would become one of those frumpy moms, but here I am! HA HA It isn't that I want to be frumpy, but I have a hard time with why I need to look nice to just do dirty laundry, dishes, floors, sheets, carpets, and changing poopy diapers etc, all day long.

Tenth....I can't wait to find some of me again. In the almost nine years we have been married, I have been pregnant roughly half of them. If not pregnant, I have had a newborn or toddler before it all started again. Over time I have lost parts of me. Many people may judge me on this because I have obviously gained weight. I don't need anybody to tell me, believe me I know, and it isn't something I am proud of either. I can say until you have been in my shoes....please don't judge. It is hard to find me in a body that doesn't feel like me at all. My abs are so separated that my intestines can get stuck in there, and cause a lot of discomfort and pain. My stomach is so stretched it is indescribable. I haven't had any real me time for a long time. When I have an awesome husband working long hard hours to keep me home with our sweet boys, I don't have much me time to work on anything. Would I change any of it? HELL NO! I know my life isn't what everybody wants for themselves, but I can honestly say I am a happy proud mom of almost five kids!

Wow! That could be too much but for now I am leaving it, because my dryer just finished, and I have no more time. I don't know many people in the blog world, so I am asking Becca Vala, Jessi Carsellers, Jessica Grose, and Allison Loosli to all do this.....IF you don't wanna....don't. Those are about the only blogs I follow...ha ha Love you all!

BEATLES ROCKBAND!

Last year the boys got Rock band from one of their aunts for Christmas. They have always had fun playing it, but they all just wanted to play the drums. Recently Spencer decided to buy the Beatles Rockband game for me as a surprise. I thought he was the best, but didn't really see the boys still wanting to do more than fight over who got to play the drums....boy was I wrong! We showed them Yellow Submarine first, and of course it was an instant hit. Now they are familiar with more of the Beatles songs, and they take turns singing too. Trevor is getting pretty good at the guitar as well, so we can have all of them doing something if Trev plays the guitar. Generally, Spencer and I play Bass and Guitar and they do the drums and singing. It is awesome to hear your little ones singing Beatles songs. One day at Target, Bryson started singing Lucy in the sky, and the lady in front of us turned around to see who was singing. I think she was shocked finding it was a three year old, who by then had switched to singing Yellow submarine. She told us it was awesome that he knew the Beatles. This is truly one of our favorite things to do as a family now, plus it is a good introduction of true music for the boys to learn to love, just like their parents. Tyler can't obviously do any of them, but he always has to have his own guitar while we play...it is so cute!