Future Dentist Perhaps

A few weeks ago Carly lost her other front tooth. This was not an act of nature... Carly was determined to lose that tooth. She asked me to pull it out, which I am happy to do, but when I tried it wasn't quite ready. Less than five minutes later Carly hollered from the bathroom that she'd pulled it out.

The following week she wiggled another tooth loose. Again I tried to pull it out and told her it wasn’t quite ready. A few minutes later she came into my room and told me she thought it was ready now. It was and came out very easily.

With her most recent tooth loss, Carly wrote a little note for the tooth fairy and politely asked for a $5 bill. The tooth fairy didn’t pull through for her, but when she’s coming to our house every week can you blame her?

Carly doesn’t have any teeth loose at this moment, but I don't think that makes much difference. I predict she'll have another tooth out in the next month or so.

Perfect Summer Hairstyle

Jason isn't too fond of getting his hair cut and he usually doesn't like getting it combed either. He was long overdue for a trim so I told Justin to just buzz it. He did and I like it.

Chaos

Can you see my hope amid the chaos that is my life?

still need to work on trying to retrieve all my files, but it just might be possible now

Experiencing Technology Difficulties

This has been one of the most frustrating weeks and it’s all because of modern technology.

Several months ago my computer started running very slowly, its over 5 years old so I wasn’t surprised. I did my best to clean up the hard drive and bought a fancy external hard drive to back up all my files.

Things got worse. The external hard drive was faulty so the company replaced it. The virus software I purchased only made things slower. The replacement external hard drive continued to have problems. I found it frustrating that the company actual told me not to use the included software and instead manual drag and drop the files I want backed up. Why would I spend over $100 so I can do it all on my own anyhow.

Then my internet stopped working. In the process of fixing that, a main system file got "corrupted" and I had to restore the computer to original factory settings just to get it turned on.

The result is a computer without any of my programs installed (Photoshop, QuickBooks, Microsoft office) - internet still not working properly, loss of years of calendaring, even worse I may have even lost years of pictures and other important files... But I can’t find that out cause the external hard drive still has issues.

I’ve spent hours on the phone trying to get help:

Microsoft: for internet explorer that won’t work

Qwest: our ISP

Hp: the manufacture of the possessed pc AND the printer that won't reinstall because its "obsolete"

Norton: for the supposed virus/trojan that has recently taken over my already issue plagued pc

Western Digital: to get try to retrieve backed up files that I hope exist

But it’s all a vicious circle: everyone sending you to another company because they can’t fix their problem until all the other problems are addressed.

We knew we'd need a new computer soon, but this is a horrible way to go out. Several members of my family have raved about Mac computers for years. In fact my sisters Christmas card had each member of their family proudly holding an Apple product. I've been tempted to make the switch for years and this is the perfect opportunity. Hopefully tonight I’ll come home with a brand new computer and I’ll be able to post some of the fun things that have been going on amid our technology disaster – so stayed tuned.

Saturday

Do you know what happens when you neglect your yard for a year? Well, let me tell you, you get REALLY behind. Yesterday was gorgeous here (in fact Justin even cranked on the A/C for the first time this year). The sunshine gave us the perfect opportunity to spend the day outside trying to catch up (impossible!)

I took this picture last week - the sun finally broke through the rain clouds. Maybe, just maybe, we will have summer afterall.

Jason found a comfy spot on the neighbors grass and quietly laid there for over an hour. I asked him if I could take his picture. He was cool with it.

Less than 10 minutes after the above picture, I had to run back in for my camera to capture this:

He was out. And to our surprise he slept there for quite awhile.


When he woke up he moved into the garage...

and crashed


This too lasted at least a half hour and then, finally, he made it up to bed to finish his nap.

Jason wasn't the only one catching some zzz's outside. Katie napped in the shade while I attempted to weed part of the yard.

The girls also worked outside (washing the outdoor table/chairs and trimming the grass around the playset), but they spent most of the day playing with the neighborhood kids.

Lunch was served in the cabana.

Justin spent most of the day powerwashing. That really wasn't our plan, but once he got started he just couldn't stop. He cleaned off the driveway, sidewalk, and part of the fence. I should have taken before and after pictures cause it made a huge difference – it all looked so much cleaner… except for Justin. He was a MESS by the end of the day.

Abigail's Recent Achievements

Soccer

Soccer season is over! Saturday’s game was so fun to watch. The opposing team was definitely our best competition, but Abigail and her team played another great game and ended the season undefeated. We're excited to have our Saturdays back (that is until the girls start soccer again in the fall.)

Katie relaxing during the game

Piano Debut

Abigail had her first piano recital on Saturday evening. We are so proud of how much she has learned since starting lessons in January. She loves learning new songs and practices several times a day. She enjoys it so much that she wants to ask her teacher if she can take lessons throughout the summer. Here's a video clip of her performance:

Spelling Bee Finalist

Yesterday Abigail participated in her schools first annual spelling bee. Each class sent their top three spellers to the finals, there were 15 second-grade finalists. This was the first spelling bee I’ve ever seen. The set-up was quite intense and very official. The students had a time limit, had to specify capitalization and punctuation (I witnessed a third-grader get the shaft for not capitalizing “English”), and there was no correcting of yourself. If you made even the slightest stutter of the wrong letter you were out of the running. Abigail seemed to have a lot of fun with it and made it through several rounds – she was one of the last five standing. All the finalists received rootbeer floats afterward – Abigail takes hers without the bubbly. Way to go Abigail!

Blessing Day

Yesterday was a special day for our family as Justin blessed Katie at church. She wore the same dress & booties my Mom gave us when Abigail was blessed. All three girls have worn the same dress on their blessing day. My Mom also crocheted the beautiful white blanket Katie is laying on.

Katie slept peacefully through the blessing (always a huge relief).

I am so overwhelmed with gratitude and love for my little family and we are so blessed to have Katie in our family!

Dessert Dilemma

What's a mama to do when she has a serious craving for caramel brownies but her baby just wants to be held?

She brings in reinforcements

Bonus if she gets her to go to sleep

Six Weeks

Katie is six weeks old today

at least someone is happy about that

A Week in the Life of

Beware – it’s a long post, but for posterity’s sake I have documented it and for no one else’s sake I have posted it.

Now that Katie is gaining weight and eating well I’ve regained several hours during the day. I wish I could say I’ve been able to use them to do more of the things I’d like to, but instead I’ve just picked up where I’ve been slacking off over the past month – carpools, soccer practices, grocery shopping, etc…

We’ve had a busy week:

Friday, May 14th was the annual Father/Son campout. Justin and Jason had a great time camping while I enjoyed an evening with my girls - Abigail actually had a birthday party so Carly and I were able to hit the town and redeem several free goodies she’s earned at school (McDonalds, Subway, Starbucks) – Katie slept the entire evening.

My boys soundly sleeping in the tent – photo courtesy of their tent-roomies

Last Saturday was our annual neighborhood garage sale. We're talking about hundreds of homes. It gets crazy busy and driving anywhere is next to impossible. Justin’s sister lives 20 minutes away and comes down every year with a group of friends - people love this thing. Garage sale shopping is not my thing, but I'm all about getting rid of our junk and making a few dollars. The girls were super excited to sale a selection of snacks we had lying around the house. They ended the day making $20 - half going to me to cover the “cost of goods sold” and the other half they got to pocket as profit. It was a fun day and the weather was perfect.

Carly’s sporting a new smile these days - she must have spent all morning at church last Sunday wiggling her front tooth because by the time we got home it was ready to be pulled out. Of course I took it upon myself to do the honors. Carly loves her new smile (she discovered later that evening that it was the perfect space for a straw). For me, I was a little sad to see her smile change so drastically. Still cute though!


Tuesday was a big day for Jason. For the past year Jason has been receiving services (primarily speech therapy) through the county birth-to-three program. As his third birthday approaches its time for us to figure out the next step. His speech therapist has already told me he qualifies for weekly speech therapy through the school district which will be good for him, but what I really, really, really want is for him to qualify to attend the school district pre-school program. Abigail attended pre-school there as a peer model so I know it’s a great program and that Jason would benefit from going. Tuesday was the big evaluation and we went in with high hopes of failure. It's not very often that you want to tell someone every weakness and challenge your child has. But come on, two years of free pre-school, with a bus picking him up at our house and bringing him home four days a week with many fun field trips throughout the year, and teachers and specialists to help him progress... who wouldn't want that for their child? After just a few minutes meeting with the professionals it became clear that he doesn't really meet their requirements. They agreed that he does still need speech services, but by the books that isn't enough to qualify for the preschool program. However, the teacher that evaluated him told me if it were up to her alone she'd love to have him in her class, although he'd basically serve a peer model role. The other gal there was much more difficult to sway and kept trying to keep the teacher from enrolling him on the spot. We won't know their decision for another month, but I’m remaining hopeful.


Jason’s playgroup had the opportunity to get on a school bus last Wednesday. Jason LOVES buses and points out every single bus he sees so we weren't going to miss this activity. He was disappointed that they didn't get to go on a ride, but he enjoyed sitting on the bus and didn't want to get off. Here he is with his good buddy Mitchell listening carefully to the bus driver’s instructions:

Abigail and I had our first Mother & Daughter breakfast for activity days on Saturday morning. We had a late night enjoying dinner and a movie with friends on Friday, but it was worth waking up early for this. I got a kick out of what she wrote on the placemat she made me:

“Dear Holly, You are my best and only Mom. Thank you for watching over me. Love, Abigail”

We played a newlywed type of game – which we did great on. She knew my favorite food was potatoes and I knew that she wanted to be a Mom and that playing games is her favorite thing to do with me.

Saturday afternoon the whole family went to Abigail’s soccer game. She only has one game left and her team remains undefeated.

Grandpa was able to come to one of Abigail’s games this season

Katie enjoying all the action

Last night Justin and I watched the series finale of LOST – are we the only ones who are still confused??

Anyhow, as we were getting ready for bed Miss Katie gave me two big, beautiful smiles – melted my heart. Justin was there to witness it and agreed that they were definitely the real thing. Hopefully I can capture it on camera in the next few days.

a Month

Say it ain't so!! It doesn't seem possible that Katie could already be a month old

Here’s a few tidbits about Katie:

• Still likes to be swaddled - although I only wrap her up at night
• Stays up with Justin and I until we go to bed (or more like we stay up with her until she's ready to go to bed)
• Is usually wide awake for a few hours in the morning and a few hours before bed
• Enjoys baths
• Awesome burper
• Likes to stretch out - before she was born I could tell she wasn't a baby that liked to be curled up in the fetal position
• Has very dry, flaky skin
• Pediatrician thinks its likely she may end up with allergies based on how sensitive her skin is now
• Makes squeaky noises when she eats
• Looks most like Carly
• Doesn’t cry often, but when she does you can't miss it
• Hasn’t stayed awake during the night since her first few days
• Rarely spits up – although the last two people that have held her had a different experience
• Is working on a smile - from her gassy smiles I can tell the real thing is going to be gorgeous
• Justin and I still aren’t used to her name, we definitely like it but there are times it just doesn’t come out naturally
• Is incredibly gassy and can stink up an entire room

Yesterday Katie had her one month check-up with our pediatrician, here are her stats:

Weight: 10 lbs. 1.4 oz. – 75th percentile – it only took a month, but Katie is finally back up to her birth weight (and beyond) and is eating wonderfully

Height: 22.5 inches – 90th percentile

Head: approximately 39 cm – 90th percentile

AND here are a few of my favorite pictures of Katie we've taken over the past few weeks:

I love those pictures of newborns where there's something or someone in the shot that puts their smallness into perspective. But since I can't simultaneously cradle Katie’s body in my arms and take a picture I needed Justin’s help. We finally found a time last Sunday when Justin was home AND we still had some decent natural light.

I showed Justin what I had in mind, stripped Katie down to her birthday suit and put her in Justin's hands.

Here's my first shot:

I put the camera down so I could turn Katie’s face toward the camera, then it happened. Katie peed. And since Justin was lying on his back holding her in the air above him, it trickled down his arm onto his chest and as he bolted up screaming "take her, take her" it trickled under his shirt, pooling in his belly button. The girls and I were hysterical, I was laugh-crying so hard I couldn't do a thing to help him. Needless to say I didn't get the shot I was looking for and Justin put an end to assisting in any more naked baby poses.

Perspective

When I was pregnant with Katie I had a conversation with a friend about enjoying each moment. At the time her baby was around 9 months old and still waking up several times at night - what surprised me was that she had such a great attitude about it. She had decided to enjoy her baby, even at the hard times (including at three in the morning), knowing that time would pass too quickly. I decided to try to take on that same perspective. So while it's been difficult to spend at least 12 hours of my day either nursing, pumping, or bottle feeding my sweet baby I am grateful that I’ve been able to see that this too will pass and that I'll probably never again have the excuse or opportunity to spend this much time with her.

You can’t tell, but Katie was wide awake just watching me – have I mentioned how much I LOVE this girl?!?

Sunday Jason had a runny nose and slight cough which by yesterday morning escalated to his asthma acting up and lots of wheezing and coughing. We did several treatments throughout the day, however last night he was at his worst. His little heart was pounding so fast. It's so hard to see a child struggle and not be able to fix them. We seriously considered taking him to the emergency room. Jason was wiped out though and was able to sleep well considering he had to work so hard to breathe. He woke up a once during the night so we were able to continue the treatments and he has been MUCH better today.

Only a few hours after the picture above was taken I sat in the same spot holding my suddenly ginormous boy while he slept though a treatment last night

As Justin and I were getting ready to go to bed yesterday we were watching an episode of TLC's "19 kids and counting" where the 19th child in the Dugger family (born 15 weeks premature) was fighting for her life. Her entire body could fit in the palm of Justin’s hand. It sure did put things into perspective. Sure we have our struggles and obstacles but we are blessed with four beautiful, healthy children.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all you Moms out there!

Today we finally got a picture with all SIX of us

I am so grateful for my role as a mother – there’s nothing I’d rather be doing

Cinco de Mayo

Katie had her weight checked again today
she’s not gaining the weight she should be
but she’s not losing weight - that’s a good thing
so the feeding “process” resumes
it’s a full-time job

the nurse thought Katie’s outfit was perfect for today

Happy Cinco de Mayo!
thankfully Stouffers makes yummy frozen enchiladas

Do Not Disturb

Can you blame me for not wanting to wake up this sweet girl?

In the Yard

I am a list maker. I have a Wal-Mart list, a grocery list, a Sam's club list, my personal to-do list, and of course a honey-do list. As a list maker, I like to cross items off my lists; it proves that something was accomplished. Unfortunately there are items on my list that never get crossed off - for example yard work... is there ever such a thing as a yard that isn’t in need of some sort of care?

Our yard has been neglected since last summer. First trimester nausea/exhaustion last fall kept me from cleaning up the yard before winter set in, then winter was.... well, winter, then I was enormously pregnant and my body would not have tolerated me hunching over and pulling weeds for hours.

Yesterday we finally got outside. The girls were excited that we had an excuse to bundle Katie up in a little snowsuit they’ve seen hanging in her closet.

While Justin worked on cleaning up the garden and planting some vegetables for our summer harvest I started the daunting task of weeding. Oh, how I wish I was one of those people that love gardening, but unfortunately I'm just someone who wants a fabulous yard without all the work. I estimate I may have gotten 2% of the weeding done before it was time once again to feed my little girl.

While thinning out the strawberries Justin found a little something he knew the kids would LOVE.

waiting for Justin to reveal his surprise

Jason’s first time holding a frog