Mr Personality

Bryson is my personality child. I got out of the shower to find this today. I was in a huge hurry, but had to take a picture. I didn't however get the little booties on his toes....darn!

Welcome Kairi!!!

Sugar and Spice and everything nice, well so far.....our little girl is precious! Last Wednesday April 14, 2010 we got to welcome little Kairi Inez Belt into our family. Surgery was scheduled at noon, so I had to get to the hospital at ten. It was a normal morning, besides the fact I was up at five folding laundry, doing dishes, setting out clothes, and getting ready to have a baby. We got to the hospital at ten being bombarded with a lot of paperwork, you would think we were buying a house. We were put into a room where a student put in my IV. I wasn't sure about having a student do it, because I think the IV is one of the worst parts of having a c-section, but she did good enough. We then learned that another doctor wanted us to wait to have my surgery because they might have to do a c-section on one of their patients. My doctor said no way, and I guess he won the duke out, because a couple minutes later I was walking into the operating room. I always start to shake at this point, not sure if it is nerves or because it is only like 60 degrees in there, but they wrap me in warm blankets....love that part :) Then the anesthesiologist does a spinal block on me by placing a really long needle into my spine and injecting some kind of potent medicine so I can't feel anything from the waist down. Before I knew it they were talking about seeing her hair, and then I heard the sweetest little sound, and out came my "little" baby girl. Tears streamed down my face as they held her little body over the shield for me to see. Kairi was weighed at 9 lbs and 4.5 oz and 20 inches long. She was just beautiful, and a amazing surprise to see all that hair. She was high on the apgar scores, and she was handed to Spencer and the baby doctors left. We haven't ever had our baby just handed to us and have them walk away. They finished sealing me up, using some super super glue this time. They wheeled me out with my baby in hand. I then feed her for the first time as they kept taking vitals and making sure I was ok. Of course I was until the puking began. I always puke after but this time I puked for the next 18 hours. Turns out I had a fuse in my intestines that wasn't letting anything past. My doctor was off that next morning, but made a trip in to see me. He got me on some really good drugs and before I knew it, I was actually hungry. I LOVE MY DOCTOR! They got me out of bed and took out that nasty catheter, and I didn't have any other issues :) I was released from the hospital the next morning....less than 48 hours from when surgery began. It has been so nice to be home again. Kairi is a sweet tempered little girl. She sleeps really well when you can get her to sleep. I am amazed how mellow she has been. I love just looking at her little face, playing with her thick head of hair, and smelling that newborn baby smell. With each kid I always wonder if I have enough love for another one, and if I can be a good enough mom. Well, I know for sure I have enough love, because this little girl already has me won over. I love all my kids so much, and I just count my blessings to have each of them. It has been fun watching the boys with their new sister. Trevor loves to tell her that he is her big brother, Dilan loves to see her eyes (getting right in her face), Bryson is the most mommy like to her making sure her needs are being met, and Tyler loves to just say baby, wow! I think it is really cute watching Spencer with her. She will definitely be a daddy's girl, and I love it! Too bad he can't do the breast feeding though :)Kairi will be the end of kids for us, and I can't think of a better way to end than this beautiful little girl that will call me mom.

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!