Hercules Family

Hannah Banana

2011-10-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

It is a little past Hannah's birthday, and by a little I mean 2 weeks little.... I almost just waited till exactly 1 month, but I can do it now:) So here is my little post just for Hannah!

I have decided that birthdays should not be about the kid. Because, what is it the mom thinks about when it is birthday time? It looks like this, "wow, 1 year ago, (or 2, 3, 4,...) I was in labour. I endured ________, I went through ___________, and I felt like ___________ to bring you into the world. I can't believe it has been a whole year since I did that!" Don't lie! You know you have this same conversation for every birthday! It may only be in your head, but it is still there. So, birthdays should be about the mother who went through...heck...to get the child here. It makes sense, the more kids you have, the more celebration you deserve! ok, ok, I'm only mostly joking here.... back to Hannah.

Truely I can't believe Hannah is a year old already! She is so stinking cute!!! She brings so much into our family. For any twihards out there, if you remember the special power Jasper has of influencing people, that is Hannah. Yes, if Hannah were a vampire, she would control your feelings :) She is very compelling. Everyone that meets her instantly falls in love with her. It's like they just can't help it. She is best friends with EVERYBODY. No problems going to strangers for this little social butterfly. Even today at church, she walks to the pew in front of us and smiles at the couple like she belongs with them. They pick her up and play with her till sacrament was over. Then Kyle had her in priesthood and the husband of that couple took her again and played with her for 40min. Really? What dad in priesthood would take a child that wasn't theirs? Maybe in Relief Society yes, but priesthood? There is just something about her that people are drawn to.

She really is a social butterfly. She has to be with somebody all the time! She loves playing and just being involved with what is going on. And if she doesn't like something, she will let you know. She is not afraid to get in there and hit, kick, bite anything. I guess with 2 big brothers she has to hold her own!

She is super close to walking all the time. She can take about 6-8 steps by herself before she thinks she needs to grab on to something. She is ALWAYS in PINK! I love having a little girl to dress up. Now, if only she would grow some hair! I have seriously considered shaving her baby hair off so that the other hair will grow in, but I just can't get myself to get rid of the little hair she does have....

Hannah loves to sleep in. If we let her, she will sleep till 10 or 11 in the morning and wake up talking and chatting. But we usually wake her up to take daddy to work about 7:30 and even then she gets up all smiles.

Hannah is such a sweet little girl. And I'm so excited to continue to get to know her!

Conner-isms

2011-10-03T19:21:00.001-07:00

With today being Conner's birthday and seeing as how I haven't blogged since April... I thought I would do a quick blog on my big 4 yr old.

shake a tower

So yesterday between sessions I was going to go take a shower, but to be silly I told Conner I was going to shake a tower. He started laughing and said, "MOM! You can't shake a tower! Towers don't shake!"

pad flying

This happened about 2-3 months ago, but so funny it is worth blogging about. We were in sacrament meeting and Josh was having an off day, so Kyle had to take him out in the hall. I'm in the pew with Hannah and Conner, feeding Hannah a bottle. Conner is looking through the diaper bag and finds a wrapped pad in a pocket that apparently isn't as hidden as I thought. He opens it and as quietly as possible I'm trying to grab it from him. yes, this is all going on while the prayers are being said to pass the sacrament.... I am about to grab it and put it away when Conner decides if he can't have it I can't either so it throws it and it flies a few pews behind us!!! I am mortified and send Conner after it. He army crawls under the pews to retrieve it and of course little snickers are happening. So when he gets back to our pew a reach for it again and what does the little stinker do? He throws it forward this time! It lands a few pews in front of us... thank goodness it didn't land in somebody's hair and get stuck or something! But yes, our side of sacrament got to witness a flying pad that Sunday...

gotta dance

Conner loves to dance. There are quiet a few times when I ask him to do something and he says, "hang on mama, I just gotta dance first" it is super cute. He loves the song with the words "tonight's going to be a good night" he sings that all the time.

see big butt

I probably shouldn't but, when going up the stairs I tell Conner, "I see your little butt" and give him a little tap, and when I talk to all the kids I saw something like, "Come on little butts, lets go." Well, Conner has started to call me "Big Butt" he says, "mama, I see your big butt!" and taps my bumm... haha, probably need to break that habit before he goes to school...

he has gas

This happened a bit ago too. We were at Walmart....enough said :) And there was a sweet old man in one of those scooter things. Both boys were in the basket and as we were passing this man, the man started to talk to the kids. Asking their names and whatnot. Well, in the middle of the conversation his scooter made a funny noise and Conner loudly exclaims, "mom! he has gas!!" Yep, we walked quickly away after that.

clothes don't like me

I take lots of pictures of the kiddos, but the thing that is seen the most in Conner's pictures is that he is not wearing any clothes... Underwear is his preferred method of clothing and that is all. And that is probably because I make him at least wear undies. It never fails, as soon as he gets in the door he starts stripping. The one item he leaves on other then his undies are his black Lightning McQueen tennis shoes that light up when he walks. It is really funny to see him in his undies and tennis shoes, but anyway. He always has some excuse to take off his clothes, he spilled water on them, Joshie bit him, Hannah drooled on him, etc... but my favorite is when he just says, "mom, my clothes just don't like me" haha...he is so creative!

Those are the only stories I can remember right now to celebrate his first four years. He really is a funny, smart, wonderful kid and I'm excited for the next 40 years!

A blogging day

2011-04-07T06:57:00.000-07:00

I think Conner must secretly read our blog and if doesn't say enough about him he has to do something big enough to get me to write about it....so, Conner if you are reading this, here is your blog about you.....

I will start with a few funny things he said over the past few days. I think the last time I wrote I wrote about the Dr. Suess Green eggs and applesauce story. Well the following Sunday we were getting ready for church and Conner said he didn't want to go. So I asked where he did want to go and he thinks then yells, "Neverland!" haha, little boys!!! Too cute!

Then the other day Conner was looking at my hair using a lego as a "telescope" when he turned and said, lets look at daddy's hair. I pointed out that daddy didn't have any hair. Conner replied, "well we need to go to the store and buy him some more hair." Why didn't I think of that!!!! Man he makes me laugh.

Then yesterday happened. Kyle and I affectionatley call days that had a lot of stuff happen, blogging days, because it is always the best stuff to post on a blog. And yesterday was deffenintly a blogging day!

I'm still not sure when, but at some point Conner found one of my Mary Kay lipsticks somewhere and he put it in his lunch box. After I buckled him in his carseat he asked to hold his lunchbox. Thinking it was empty I just gave it to him. Well by the time we got to the store I turned around and that lipstick he was hiding was used to color his window. So now the back window in the van has some beautiful artwork for all to see. There wasn't much I could do about it going into the store, and it is still there....

Later on in the day I was noticing it was a little quite. Any mother knows that either means their kid feel asleep somewhere, or TROUBLE! I go upstairs and find Conner buck naked sitting on the bathroom sink with his toothpaste EVERYWHERE! Covering him, the counter, the mirror, the sink, everywhere. And maybe it is just me, but toothpaste is hard to clean up. So, all the kids just got a bath....

A little later, once again quite and by now we are on a roll so I know something is up. I go upstairs and find Conner has found all the diaper ointment stash and he must of thought Hannah's floor needed some because it is all over her carpet. Great, thanks son.

And then I'm feeding Hannah and out of the kitchen walks Conner with a cup overflowing with milk. So I quickly get up to sip the top for him not thinking that if it was overflowing where I was that probably meant it was overflowing where he poured the milk. I follow the milk trail to the kitchen and covering the floor is milk. But the best part is Conner had grabbed a washcloth and put it in the middle of the spill to "clean it up." I just started laughing, I wish I had taken a picture as that poor little washcloth had no chance against the quart of milk all over the floor.

Needless to say Conner spent a lot of time in time-out yesterday. But we had a great "blogging day." I am very grateful for the patience I was blessed with yesterday because I really handled it well, of course I still have the lipstick in the car, the desatin on Hannah's floor and the oven....oh the oven.

This wasn't Conner but on Fri I used the oven to cook some garlic bread, well there must have been something in there because it catches on fire. The whole inside is full of flames and the smoke alarm is going off. So Hannah wakes up. My babysitter was over because I was supposed to be leaving for a Mary Kay conference. I wasn't sure what to do so I grab the baking soda or powder whichever one you keep in the fridge and opened the stove door and just poured that stuff everywhere. It worked great putting out the flames but now the inside of the oven is, well it needs some attention, so we haven't been able to use it.

With all of this I will probably be paying my cleaning lady a little extra this week....

pics and funny sayings

2011-03-26T05:26:00.000-07:00

These pics of Hannah were taken by the babysitter. She changed them with an app on her iphone and I thought they were super cute so I wanted to share.

It has been in the 80s here and Hannah is ready! She is such a diva already!

I thought this was so funny! Josh is just like Kyle!!!

This is Conner's forced smile. He is so cute!

Hannah loves her bouncer! She jumps up and down like crazy and spins around to play with all of the toys. It is great to get a little break and let he play. We bought this toy when Conner was a baby and I'm happy we have gotten so much use out of it!

Conner is definitely MY son. I know I have said before how much he copies what I say. He is always saying, Gee Wiz! and That's strange. It is funny but the other night he said something that really made me laugh...

As part of his dinner he had applesauce on his plate. He loves applesauce! But for some reason he wasn't eating it. I said, "Conner will you eat your applesauce?" He looks me straight in the face and without missing a beat says, "Mama, if you will let me be, I will try them you will see." Then he takes a big bite and exclaims, "Hey I like applesauce, green eggs, and ham, I do!!!" hahahaha, it was so funny! He loves the book Green Eggs and Ham and for Christmas from Grandma/pa Conners he got the movie which he loves watching. It was just so funny coming from him without any prompting at all. I love hearing what that little mind is thinking.

Josh is the greatest little helper. He loves unloading the dishwasher, and by that he just throws all the silverware in the drawer so you know Josh has helped if the forks are where the spoons go and whatnot. He also loves helping with laundry. He does know how to throw a mean tantrum and you don't want any appendage near his mouth if he is mad as he will bite it off. But he is really a sweet little guy with the best smile. He thinks it is so funny to pretend to eat something and he loves feeding mommy and daddy.

Hannah is getting so big! She can roll over now and is really a happy baby. She is growing so fast and is in all 6 month clothes and some 9 months. She is only 5 months old!!!! But she is so beautiful! Everyone always comments on her big bright beautiful eyes. She is sleeping mostly through the night. About 6pm-6am and wakes up sometimes once to eat. She loves her rice cereal especially when made with juice. And she is a daddy's girl through and through! She loves her daddy and just lights up with huge smiles when she sees him. It is so cute!

Well now I have bragged on all my kids, but I'm sure there will be more funny instances coming soon...

Which is which?

2011-03-10T20:02:00.000-08:00

I just think it is so cute to look at them when there were all first born to look at similarities and whatnot. Can you tell which is which? Hint...they are not in order

Kiddos

2011-03-10T19:38:00.000-08:00

"Wow mom! Hannah is a princess!" This was Conner's reaction when I first put Hannah in this dress. Obviously it took some getting used to, but Hannah sure had fun playing with it and she look so so so cute!!

We did have her little ears pierced. They are pink, but it is actually her birthstone so that worked out nicely! She was so good when they did it. She only cried for like 20 seconds and by the time I was paying for it, she had stopped crying. She is already 5 months and getting so big so fast! She goes to bed at 6pm and wakes up around 6am. She is our morning baby. Both boys would rather stay up and sleep in, well now they go to bed by 8 and get up around 7:30ish. I can't complain.

Conner is getting to the age of always wanting to play games. This is him hiding for hide and seek. It was so funny, the other day it was my turn to hide. We were just in my room and Conner was standing in front of the door, so I go into the bathroom and stand in the shower. Conner is looking everywhere and I say his name so he steps into the bathroom and can see me in the mirror. I smile and wave. He takes a step forward but then he can't see me so he stepped back so he could see me in the mirror again. He did this back and forth about 10 times before I peaked my head out of the curtain and he yelled "I found you!" hahaha.... he couldn't understand how he could see me in the mirror and then not see where I was!

He also repeats EVERYTHING I say. Luckily it's nothing bad. He says "that's strange" and I didn't know he knew that word until I caught myself saying it a couple of times. While driving them to school one morning we were sitting at a red light and Conner asked, "Mom, what does red mean?" "Red means stop." "Oh mama, you are so smart!" haha, yes I am, thank you very much son! I tell him all the time how smart he is and now he does it to others! I love passing on that positive thinking because there is not enough of that in this world.

Hannah can roll over now onto her belly. She also loves grabbing her toes. Sometimes it is hard getting a clean diaper on because she won't let go. And then when she lets go of her toes she grabs your arm. She is such a cuddle bug and love being around people.

She is great to put to sleep though. She doesn't want to be rocked or anything. Just lay her in her crib and put on the mobile and she is asleep before the music is off, it is heavenly!

Trying to get all three kids looking in the same direction can be very difficult! But at least it shows their personalities.....Conner is never wearing any clothes, we are lucky if he has undies on! and he is ALWAYS hungry! Josh cries for his pants to be put back on even when changing a diaper and he is always thirsty and Hannah just kind of hangs out...she loves her brothers so much. They can get her to smile and laugh so easily it almost makes me jealous!!

Conner and Josh get along GREAT! The are such good buddies. It is so hard if one of them is sleeping because the other wants to go wake him up to have somebody to play with it. It is cute but at them same time it would be better if they both took naps together!!! yeah!!!

Kids are a ton of work and hard work, but they are so much fun!!!! I love my three crazy kids, I don't know what I would do without them!

What a day!

2011-01-24T11:02:00.000-08:00

Friday morning started off at 3:30am when Hannah woke up. I fed her and got her back to sleep by 4 and everything was fine. Kyle's alarm went off about 6:30 and he got up. He opened our bedroom door and was like "uh, Sarah" so I get up and low and behold a pipe under our sink burst and our ENTIRE first floor of our town home was completely flooded! 2in from the kitchen all the way to the front door and it was seeping into our room and our bathroom was covered...joy! I call maintenance, Kyle gets a sub and we start trying to save anything we can. The maintenance came and started water vacuuming everything. I took the kids to Kyle's parents to keep them out of the way. I am very grateful we have laminate floors and luckily we didn't have any electronics or anything on the floor. Really the only thing is the rug, I still don't know if the smell will leave it enough to keep using it. So, our place still smells like a basement...and the really annoying thing was they just thew all of our stuff in the garage. So when I got back I had that to deal with. But at least with all of this happening our couches were moved and cleaned under them and our carpet in the bedroom was cleaned! We are going to try a humidifier thing to get ride of the smell and my cleaning lady is coming Wed. so that should help too.

This morning went well. We go to MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) and it is a tone of fun! We left to be there by 9 and I was totally ready and doing well. I get the kids in their coats and run to my closet to grab my shoes. I wanted to wear my black shoes to match so I slip one on and then the other and take off. I was at the MOPS meeting for over an hour and I had my legs crossed. I looked down and saw I had on my blue flat shoe that had little decorative holes in it. "That's funny" I thought, "I thought I wore my black flats with the big flower on the toe to match." So I looked at my other foot and saw my black flat. Yes, that is right I wore 2 different shoes! I have never done that before!!! And it wasn't like they were similar, no, one was blue with holes and the other was black with a big flower!! hahaha!!! Really?!?!? I start laughing and of course had to tell the other moms I was sitting with. That's when you know you have 3 kids ages 3 and under when you wear 2 different shoes and I wasn't even in a hurry to get ready!!! Anyway, pretty funny stuff! You have to love being a mom!!

Mavs Game

2011-01-20T08:38:00.001-08:00

For Christmas I got Kyle tickets to see the Mavs/Lakers play. Last night was the big event. As soon as Kyle got home we changed into our "Mavs gear" and dropped the kids of at Grandma and Grandpas. If anyone reading this doesn't have kids, you have no idea the feeling of joy it is to just leave the kids and have a night out. Not that I don't love them, I do terribly, but holy cow a night off is heavenly. Anyway, we went to a restaurant called the Cotten Patch. I love it because it has unlimited rolls which are divine (but I had to work super hard this morning in my workout to work those babies off!) We actually had a coupon for a free dinner for 2 which made the food taste even better!

After our fabulous dinner we drove downtown. We found parking for $15 bucks! And that was even farther away. Man those people have to make a killing charging each car 15-20 just for a few hours. Anyway we speed walked to the American Airlines Center and found our seats. We were probably about 15 rows from the top but we could still see everything. The worst part though was we were surrounded by Lakers fans! But they were all really nice even with that shortcoming.

The game was a lot of fun. The Mavs had the lead for like the first min then the Lakers took the lead for the rest of the first half. Half time was fun. They had these Flipper Guys from Memphis. It was amazing everything they could do. There were 4 of them and 3 were what you would expect. Very toned and muscular then the 4th guy was a big guy. No joke, like a gut and everything, but holy cow!he was so good!!! He was flipping across the whole court with the rest of them. It was impressive. They also had a Mavs Drum line that played throughout the game.

The 2nd half was really exciting. The Mavs made a comeback and took the lead. Cobe Bryant was really good hitting some amazing shots, but nothing really crazy. The game ended 109-101 or something like that. Great job Mavs!!!

I think the worst part about going to games and stuff is leaving with all the drunk crazies. And of course they were all Lakers fans, because Mavs fans would never act like that.....

We took the stairs down and once we hit the bottom level we could hear the drum line. I thought they were on the court again or something doing another show, but low and behold they were like right there with a crowd of people dancing. So of course Kyle and I joined in with dancing and yelling "Let's go Mavs!!" It was funny because there was this big black lady who was a Lakers fan in the middle dancing with the drummers. Then the guys that only wear underwear and paint themselves blue with white lettering on their chests (you know what I'm talking about, somehow the always seem to be at every sporting event) so, there were probably 5 of them and the all make a tight circle around her and start dancing. It was so funny!!! She was a good sport about it and they all even hugged afterward.

Then we came home to all of our kids asleep, what a perfect world!!! I forgot my camera though so we took some pictures at the house just to document the event. Again, it was a ton of fun and I'm excited for the next game!

family pics

2011-01-17T15:26:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I have posted. So much has happened, and I honestly don't really feel like writing it all...haha...but over the Christmas holiday we had family pictures done in Ohio with my whole family so I did want to post some pictures. It was very interesting trying to work with a 3 and 2 year old who didn't really want to take pictures, but it is funny seeing the sequence of them so here some of them are....

ok, well i obviously need to work on my blogging. I wrote the first part, then put the pics up and they showed up before the words...whatever, it's all there somewhere....

Roll Over

2010-12-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

Hannah had her 2 month doctors visit today. I can't believe my little baby is already 2 months old! Man time just flies. Anyway, she is 11 lbs 15 oz, so nearly 12 lbs already! She is growing strong and healthy, like a Hercules! The best part though was the doc told me I need to give her lots of tummy time. I replied that I try but she just rolls over. The doc said, no, she is too young for that, just put her on her belly. No, really, she rolls over....So the doc put her on her belly and just like a good little girl she kicked her legs a few times and rolled right over. Wow, sad the doc, she is really young to be doing that. Does she do that every time? Yep! So, tummy time is like non-existent. And I wasn't lying. Thanks Hannah for doing it right on que!

Everyone needs a cleaning lady...

2010-12-06T14:30:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I don't have a cleaning lady persay, but a cleaning couple. And they are great! I found them on Craigslist. They are both in their 40s and this is what they do for a living...clean houses. It is so nice to look around my home and see how nice and clean it is, and the best part it, I didn't have to do it!!!! I did help out in putting things away and showing where things went, but now they know and I won't have to do that again. The house looks just great, I can't wait for Kyle to get home to see it. What a load off my shoulders! As women, we do so so so much and it just gets stressful, and not everything gets done, so delegate! I would much rather be playing with my kids or doing a Mary Kay class and earning money then on my knees scrubbing the floor, yuck! My kids loved having them over and thought they were there to play with them...haha. plus, I got to share some of the gospel with them as they are "church shopping" I see no negatives here! They will be coming every other week. And I am only paying 120 a month! Ok, well I just wanted to share since I'm so happy to have a clean house! Now on to find an assistant....

boys vs. girls

2010-11-09T14:52:00.000-08:00

Since I'm a master at little boys, haha, it is very different and lots of fun having a girl. However I have already noticed a major difference other then the obvious.

Eating Time

I am pretty much done nursing. Maybe it is just that fact that I only nursed Josh for 3 weeks. So, being "tied down" to nursing can be hard. I think it is great that moms do it and I know it is so healthy for mom and baby, maybe it is just my personality, but I really like having the help of other people being able to take care of baby and I don't have to do everything. Aka, I like being able to have Kyle get up and feed her at night so I can get a few more winkies....So, we are now bottle feeding Hannah. What is the difference between boys and girls then?

The boys didn't care how they got their food. As long as they got it. Hannah on the other hand, is PICKY! We tried so many different bottles. All had my pumped milk even but she wanted nothing to do with any of them. When we registered at Babies R Us they gave us a bag with different samples and coupons and stuff. We got a bottle from a company called "Born Free" I figured, why not try this one. And low and behold, she loved it!

Well, we can't use just 1 bottle all the time so I went to Walmart to get some more. Walmart didn't have them, so I tried Target. Good news: they had the bottle! Bad news: they are 10 bucks a pop!!! I only bought 3 and it was just over 30$ for the small bottles!!!! Are you kidding me! That is 2times as much as like all the other bottles. Of course she likes those! haha...

So, my little girl already has expensive taste, let's just hope she doesn't keep that with everything!!

Baby Hannah

2010-10-31T14:30:00.001-07:00

Well, sense it has been over 3 weeks I suppose I should write about Hannah's birth. I wrote briefly about it in my journal, so I figure this one should be a little more detailed...

First off, we knew we were going in Friday morning to have the baby, so I asked Kyle if he would give me my blessing Thurs. night. It was a great blessing! I was told so many things I didn't even know about myself like being an inspiration to others and always putting others before myself. I am so grateful for the priesthood and the blessings it brings. I felt much more comfortable with the day ahead. I had been nervous in not knowing if Hannah had moved from a transverse position. Anyway...

Grandma Hercules got to our house to stay with the boys around 5:45am and we took off for the hospital. We got there around 6:30am. They had me get into the buttless dress and into the bed. The nurse I had was GREAT! I loved her!!! She was so helpful and you could tell she loved what she did. I did tell her they always try to put the IV into the side of my wrist whatever vein that is, and it never works, they always have to go through my hand. She looked around and found the vein so I let her try once. It didn't go in....hhmm... just like I said.... she said it didn't roll it just clamped up. So, like I said originally she had to do it in my hand. They started the IV and put the monitors on me to feel for contractions and Hannah's heartbeat. My contractions were already coming every 5 min but not very strong. She thought I was already in early labor on my own, but I don't think so as I knew they were coming regularly for a couple days, but I also knew they weren't near strong enough. Then, they had me lay in one side and I said, baby doesn't like this side. Well a few min. later the nurse came back in saying her heart rate dropped....like I said, she doesn't like this side. So, I turned over, and low and behold her heart rate came back up.

We waited for the doc to come in. I was dilated to a 3. He tried to break my water, but Hannah's head was in the way and he couldn't really get a good shot at it. So, he said he would try again around lunch time.

Kyle told the nurse that once I get dilated to a 5 I usually go pretty fast after that. I didn't remember that, so I'm glad he did. It's just getting to the 5. So we were hoping for a fast delivery since I was already at 3. They started the pitocin and we waited. I warned the nurse that for some reason my body seems to get used to the medicine really fast and I need more (it's a good thing I have never been a druggie...haha) She asked what my natural hair color was and I told her blond. She said that the anesthesiologist once told her that fair skinned, fair haired people tend to need more meds....interesting.... apparently it is a fact.

So, the pit isn't really working....I feel the contractions, but nothing crazy, maybe hurting a level 2 on a scale up to 10. They keep turning up the pit. This is going on four hours. Then with one contraction I feel a little fluid seep out. That continues with the oncoming contractions. I told the nurse, she checked me and I was still at a 3 and she couldn't tell that my water had broken. Anyway, lunch time rolls around, the doc comes back, I'm still at a 3, but my cervix was thinned. He moved Hannah's head and more water came out. He was like, Oh, your water must have broken. It was strange though because it was just little seepages, with the boys it was gushes.

They kept turning up the pit and it was starting to look like another long delivery. But around 3pm I started to feel the contractions more. So we called for the epidural so I wouldn't have to be in pain even if it was manageable. Apparently the nurse told the epi guy about my needing lots of meds because he gave me tons! He said I shouldn't need to push the button for more with the amount he was giving me. And he wasn't kidding! I literally could not move my left side. If they needed me to move Kyle had to move me. Weird feeling, but not painful! Love that! Epis don't even really hurt, I mean the worse part is when they give you the shot to numb you and that isn't even bad, maybe after giving myself a shot everyday for 9 months curred me of the fear of them, but still, worth a little pinch to be pain free the rest of the time. It was good we called the epi guy when we did too because he was about to go in for a c-section and wouldn't have been available for a while.

So we are around 3pm, I just had my epi and feeling good. I tried to get some sleep, but sleeping in a hospital is just about pointless with all the people coming in to check this or look at that. The contractions were putting pressure on Hannah, obviously, so they had me put oxygen on and she really like that. I said I felt more pressure and the nurse checked me and I was at a 6, about 20 min later I had her check again and I was at an 8. They called the doc and he was finishing up with his last 2 patients and would be over. Well I really felt the need to push not even 10 min after that and when I was checked I was completely dilated. Kyle could actually see the head with each contraction. I told them I needed to push and the doc came in, got suited up, told me to push and with just 1 contraction and 2.5 pushes she was out!!!!

Born Oct 8, 2010 at 5:41pm. 8lbs 3 oz, 20.5in. She has been my biggest baby yet! But she is beautiful and healthy. She is a great nurser and sleeps through the night, just waking up every 3-4 hours to eat. I love her so much and I am so happy she is part of our family. Welcome Hannah Mae Hercules!

Conner Milk

2010-10-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to my sister Melanie, since she keeps asking me to post something....

I have yet to write all the details of Hannah's birth, but I will soon, I just wanted to get this little blop down first as I thought it so so funny!

I'm nursing Hannah and we have a boppy pillow. Conner always asks what Hannah is doing and I tell him she is drinking Mama milk. So, now he knows whenever Hannah is lying on that pillow she is eating. Conner loves Hannah so much and always asks to hold her. Yesterday Conner sat down and wanted to hold her. I was about to hand her to him but then he said WAIT! He jumped up and grabbed the boppy pillow and sat down. I put Hannah in his lap (he wasn't wearing a shirt at this time) Then he kind of tilts Hannah and leans toward her and says, "OK Hannah time to drink Conner Milk." hahahaha!!! I was laughing so hard and said, "Conner you don't have milk. It's only Mommies milk she drinks." He just said, Oh.... It was to funny. Hannah's 3 year old brother trying to nurse her...

what's that?

2010-09-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

Conner: "Here mama." Holding out his hand for me.

Me: "Thanks Conner." It takes a few tries but finally he puts something in my hand. I look at it and turn it over and just can't figure out what the little white sticky thing is and where it came from.

Me: "What is it?"

Conner: "My buger!"

haha... ewww..... Kyle started cracking up which made me laugh, which made both boys start laughing like they were all in on the whole thing! Oh man, what is next?

oh Conner

2010-09-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

This conversation just made me laugh for a long time and I still chuckle just thinking about it. I wanted to write it down so I wouldn't forget. 2 days ago Conner comes downstairs wearing nothing but his undies...

me: "Conner, where are your clothes?"

Conner: "I dunno mama, they just run away!"

hahaha!!!! I love hearing him talk more and more and the funny things he says!

a scoot across the floor

2010-09-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

I think to any pregnant women, who has kids, a clean house is just a distant memory....

I am one of those people who likes to get everything done at once and then have the rest of the day to do whatever I want. That is next to impossible while pregnant. Even my doctor has told me I need to take breaks. Just clean one room at a time with a little break in between. But this drives me nuts! Mainly because while I am "breaking" the kids have already messed up the room that I just cleaned. And then you add in being only 5 weeks away from popping out a kid and that doesn't help. She is sitting so high compared to the boys. With Joshua mostly, my pelvic bone killed all the time! Even just to lift up a leg to put on my pants would sometimes bring tears to my eyes, but with her geesh! Get out of my ribs!!! Even at the last doc appointment I had the nurse was trying to find her heartbeat down low and on the sides. It wasn't until she tried right next to my ribs that she could find it. And the nurse was like, wow, she is up high. I know! And try bending over! It has to be one of the most uncomfortable things! I have mastered the pregnancy spreading of the legs to bend over so your belly fits in between them. When it comes to picking up toys/clothes/food/etc it is the worse. Thus I have reverted to the floor scoot.... yes, I scoot across the floor and pick everything up to avoid bending over. It is a little tricky in the bedrooms as those are carpeted. But the rest of the house has laminate wood floors so it is so easy to scoot. I pull a toy box along with me first and go all around, then through the dirty clothes in a pile for Conner to put in a basket and so forth till the floor is clean. The downside, is that I have found pop tart pieces stuck to my bum later on, but I will take that compared to bending over. I'm sure it looks so funny if you were to walk in, since I'm not just staying in one area, but scooting all over. But, you gotta do what you gotta do to get the job done. Plus, the bonus is since I'm not exerting to much energy I can get multiple rooms done at once instead of having to break all the time! Yeah! Hopefully in a few more weeks this little rib-sitter will be rocking in a swing and I won't have to scoot across the floor, but until then, my bum is giving the floor a nice cleaning...

You're starting to sound like a Mormon!

2010-09-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

Kyle has made it through his first week and a half of school! Yeah! He seems to be really enjoying it. He gets along great with the kids. His 4th period class is a 50 min long class (like the others) but adds in 1/2hr for lunch and 1/2 for homeroom. He isn't allowed to teach during that time, so he gets to see those kids a big chunk of the day. Well, the other day during homeroom, somehow the kids got on the conversation of drinking. Kyle mentioned how he has never had a drink in his life. The kids had a hard time believing that. Then one of the kids says, "Senor Hercules, you don't drink or do drugs, man you are starting to sound like a Mormon!" hahaha... Kyle said, well now that you mention it, I am one. The same kid then says there is a Mormon who happens to be in one of Kyle's other classes. So, after class Kyle pulls the LDS kid aside and says, "I heard something about you. I hear you're a Mormon. *pause* what ward are you in?" The kid was so surprised and was like "are you Mormon too?!?!?" Anyway, I just thought it was so funny, I wanted to blog about it before I forgot. For an assignment Kyle was having the kids do, they had to write 5 sentences using a verb. One of the kids said Mr. Hercules is CALVO. (I don't know how to write the whole thing in Spanish, or I would have. I was helping input grades for Kyle as he was grading this paper and he didn't know what Calvo meant. I looked it up online and it means Bald!!! haha... this made me laugh for a long time. I thought it was pretty gutsy for a student to write in the first week of class! I think teaching will be full of interesting stories, just like being a mom!

We were invited to go swimming at a previous ward member house this morning. We had a fun time and they even had a huge backyard the kids were playing in with a swing set too. One of the other families there had a little 4 month old baby. Conner ran up to him and just stared at him for a straight 5 min. Then he turns around looks at me and says "look mama, a baby! Can we take him?" I said no and he says "please mama, can we take him?" I told him we will soon have our own baby at home and that his parents will miss him if we take him. Then he ran off and didn't look at the baby again. I hope this means he will be a great big brother! I'm sure he will be!

stinky garage

2010-08-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

We now live in a townhouse. We really like it! One of the rules of the community though, to keep it looking nice, is that you are not allowed to have bags of trash in front of your door anywhere or you will get fined. That is fine with me, however the trash bins are a little walk away. Especially when you are 7 1/2 months pregnant in 100+ degree weather! So, Kyle being the wonderful husband he is, usually takes the trash out. I typically tie one bag up and set it in the garage and then within 1-2 days another bag is ready to go out and he takes them both at the same time. This system has been working pretty well, until about a week and a half ago.

I was cleaning out the fridge when I remembered a fruit salad I made that didn't get all the way eaten. Well the fruit had gotten all squishy and I just can't eat squishy fruit, so I put it in the bag, tied it and set it in the garage for Kyle to take out (it was the #2 bag so I thought it would go out that day) Well, for some reason we didn't park our car in the garage so that bag sat out there for over 24 hours in the hot hot hot weather, and decided to leak its juiciness onto the garage floor.... great. Because I opened the door to the garage and just about passed out! It was so gross!!!!! I can't even describe the stench. Obviously Kyle took the trash out instantly, but the damage had been done. I tried getting a bucket with soap and water and just used a broom to clean off the cement. We aired out the garage for a few hours, and it helped, but not perfect. I bought a thick bristled brush and scrubbed it down. It's not perfect, but it is much much better. We can actually park in the garage now without gagging!. The kids ask me every day now too if we can clean out the garage because they loved running around in the water on the floor and helping scoot the water out with the broom. I'm not sure what else, if anything, there is to do to help it be back to normal. I mean, does baking soda work on cement? Anyway, it's not to bad now, and I have learned my lesson about putting squishy fruit in the trash, when, hello! we have a garbage disposal!

It has been GREAT having Kyle as a teacher. I love having a schedule to work with and having a routine. He has been leaving around 7:45am and getting home around 5:30. And he we just got the first pay check direct deposited today. I love that for us! His classes seem to be going well. He intimidated the kids on the first day, but I'm sure they will soon learn he is a goofball and they will enjoy class.

All in all, life is good. We are so blessed! We have so much to be grateful for. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows each of us and knows what we need. He gives us support when we think we can't go on, and blesses us everyday. All we need to do is ask and we shall receive. In church on Sunday, our Sunday School teacher said, "life without God is a meaningless life." Amen brother! If we don't have God in our lives, what is the point? I am so grateful once again for the wonderful life He has blessed me and my family with!

30 week pregnant!

2010-08-15T09:52:00.001-07:00

Conner was there helping take pictures of my 30 weeks belly. He wanted to show off his belly too! I thought it was so funny!! They loved lifting up my shirt, rubbing my belly and talking to baby Hannah through my belly button. Then they lift up their shirts too. They are too funny! So, this is also a picture of Conner in his underwear. We haven't had an accident in over a week! This is a huge deal for us!! Conner did really well going number 1 in the potty, but when it came to #2 he just didn't get putting ALL of it in the potty. Some would go in, and then when he got up from his nap I would find the rest of it on the floor. Let's just say I was pretty tired of cleaning up poop!! We bought Dora stickers and told him if he went in the potty he got a sticker. He was so excited. But we still were having having accidents. Then I made up a song to the tone of one of the Dora songs. The one where they sing, "Where are we going? To the _________(wherever the episode for that day was doing)" Anyway, so I changed the words to, "where does the poop go? In the potty! Where does the poop go? In the potty! Does it go on the floor? No! Does it go on the wall? No! Does it go in our undies? No! Where does the poop go? In the potty!" And surprisingly it worked! He loves the song! I sometimes hear him signing to himself the song. haha!! But at least #2 is going in the right place now!

30 weeks and 4 days!

It's crazy how much faster this pregnancy is going! I can't believe I'm so close to holding this little girl! He room is set up and everything is ready. I feel like I haven't gotten as big for how far along I am. She seems to be long and skinny. Hopefully that means she will be a little easier to push out.... I only have about a month left of the 1 shot a day and they will switch me to a blood thinner called Heparin and that will be 2 times a day shots. So, a little more often, however the reason for the switch is they can reverse the effects of it, so if I go into labor they can make my blood back to normal. Whereas the meds I am on now they cannot reverse. It's pretty exciting that we are getting ready for delivery. I know it is still about 8ish weeks away but I'm sure it will fly by.

We are loving being in our own place again! We really like Allen, TX. The people are great, we have a great ward and getting to make new friends. If only the kids would listen and keep the house clean.... I guess that is wishful thinking. Usually it isn't to bad, I try to keep up, but as it is getting harder to bend over, there are more crumbs on the floor then I would like. But, we love it! Kyle has started his teacher training, and next week school starts! I can't wait to find out how it goes for him!!! Good luck honey!

Computers: Blessing or Curse?

2010-07-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

In January of 2009 Kyle and I head off to Walmart and buy a $400 Dell desk top computer. We each had a laptop going into the marriage, but alas, they passed away and so we bought a desktop. This computer was working fine till one day about 3 months ago it got a really bad virus and we had a computer guy come in and after 8 hours of him being here he fixed it. He was supposed to bill us $100, but even after 3 months we have yet to receive anything from him... anyway, the computer was fine after that. Well, about 2 weeks ago the dang thing locked up and we couldn't log on. Computer mistake 101 only having one user account (make sure you have at least 2 users!!) Anyway, we took it to Office Depot since we had a "free inspection" thing and the guy said we needed to order a recovery disk. Joy. So, I call Dell to order this disk that would erase everything on the computer, and smart me didn't have anything backed up... I'm on the phone, and by now you can probably tell I know NOTHING about computers. So trying to understand what this guy was asking was crazy, add in that he hardly knew English, and it became that much better. Well, he said I didn't need a recovery disk but I needed to buy the warranty. Long story short, after $250 for a warranty, 4 different techs (nobody could fix it till I spoke with the "expert tech" who thankfully knew the most English), and 5 1/2 hours of me sitting on the computer trying to figure out what they wanted me to do, I am happy to report that our computer is fixed!!! And, with the 2 year warranty we shouldn't have to pay for anything for it at least for 2 years. After everything we have had to do though, we may as well have bought a new computer, and then you add in paying for Internet..... gee wiz! So it got me to thinking is this contraption a blessing or a curse? And honestly, it is both. I would say the blessing out way the curses though. And now I can blog again!

I'm 26 weeks pregnant now. And everything seems to be going well. She moves and wiggles a lot! About a week ago I was lying on the couch with Conner between my legs and his head on my belly. We were watching the Lion King (Conner's new favorite movie) and Hannah kicked and it happened to be right where Conner's head was. He sat up turned around and said, "HEY!" I was like, it wasn't me! It was your sister! haha, super cute.

We are moving in 1 week. And right now I am grateful that most of our stuff is packed. I try to get at least one box packed a day and it really wears me out. Who knows how long it will take to unpack with how exhausted I get so easily. But it will be worth it!

Conner is doing major potty training right now. He has worn big boy underwear for the past 5 days, and is really doing well. He has mastered going pee-pee. We are still working on the poop part. He gets it most of the time, but has slipped up 2 or 3 times. But hey, it's much better then changing diapers all day like I still do for Josh. And there is just something about seeing Conner run away with Lightning McQueen or Buzz and Woody on his little butt that is just so stinking cute! I just want to pinch his little butt cheeks all the time. haha.... I will have to post a picture!

Joshie is talking more and more. He can say every one's name in our little family. My favorite is when he says Conner. It come out like "Cor-er" but at least he is trying. He also likes to say "re, se, go" (ready, set, go) and chase after Conner. His first Spanish word is Ca-Ca. So anytime, he has a diaper change he repeats it. And he knows he gets the biggest laugh from it so when the whole family is over he is sure to say it to get all the attention. Thanks Kyle, for teaching him that! He loves playing with Conner, and he loves playing in the nursery. It's fun to see their little games they play together and how the little wheels are turning in their heads. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

22 weeks

2010-06-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

So baby Hannah is now the size of a spaghetti squash! I'm not sure what that is, but apparently it is around a foot long and about a pound. I think this is one of the best times in pregnancy. I actually look pregnant (at the store today even a MAN asked what I was having!) however I'm not so big that I am waddling and uncomfortable. I do sleep with 3 pillows though. Depending on what I have eaten I get heartburn. She wiggles all the time, our little soccer player. She has to keep up with her brothers! I'm still really emotional. Today for some reason was just hard and Kyle got home from work and I just started crying. He kept asking why and I was like, "I don't know, I'm just crazy!" He said I'm not crazy I'm just pregnant! What an understanding husband! I still have to give myself shots everyday, but it's not so bad anymore. I don't even bruise where I inject them. I have to stand up every so often or else I get uncomfortable. But I'm really excited to be having a girl that it makes up for all the not so nice pregnancy symptoms! What a blessing to be able to have children and I am so grateful we have been given this opportunity. I just pray I can handle 3!

It's a GIRL!!!

2010-06-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

We just go back from the doctor's office this morning where we had a sonogram and true to my kids nature, she was not ashamed to bare it all! He legs were wide open and nothing hanging in the middle, haha. But other then that exciting news, she looks completely healthy. He heart and lungs and brain looked normal. She was sucking her thumb and kicking her legs like crazy. The lady doing it was like, wow, you have an active baby. I was like, I know, I feel her. Kyle was excited to see her kicking so much and thinks she is just practicing her soccer kicks!! She is exactly the right size for being 20 weeks and I have gained 11 lbs in total, so I'm still on track. Now I just can't wait to go shopping!!! Kyle took the car to work today I think on purpose so I can't drain our account while he is gone, haha.

I did want to post also about the "Energy Testing" I did. I always thought this baby was a girl and the energy testing proved it, and the sonogram confirmed it once again. The theory behind Energy Testing is that your body cannot lie. Your mind can and that's how we are able to lie, but our body's can't. So to preform the test, you stand with one of your arms out and have a partner ready. You make a statement (pregnancy example) "I am having a boy." Continue stating this and have your partner start putting pressure on your arm. Then repeat the process by saying the opposite statement, "I am having a girl." Continue saying this with your partner putting pressure on your arm. One of the statements is true and the other is false. The one that is true your body will know is the truth and you will be able to withstand the pressure from your partner on your arm longer and easier. When you say the false statement, your body is weaker because you are not telling the truth (and you may not even know you're not!) It is really incredible! You can practice by using it on your self first, ex "I am a boy/girl" to notice the difference in feeling before asking harder questions. I know of doctors that use this technique to diagnose patients and parents who use this to get the truth out of their kids since they won't be able to lie!! haha... Anyway, give it a try and let me know what you think! It's pretty cool!

I just thought these pics were really cute! They are so excited to have a little sister!!!

Conner's First Prayer

2010-05-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

Every night our routine is read from scriptures, brush teeth, say prayers, sing 2 song, and good night. Well we were on step 3-say prayers. Typically Kyle or I say it and the kids are really good about folding their arms. Kyle is working tonight so I was doing everything and I said the prayer. After I was done I said ok, lets sing a song. Conner says, "No mama, more prayers" I asked if he wanted to say it and he said yes. So we all folded our arms again and I waited about 10 seconds. He didn't say anything so I whispered, Heavenly Father and he repeated. I stopped and he said, "good dreams, good sleep. Daddy safe. Jesus Christ, Amen." How cute is that! It brought tears to my eyes! I love hearing what those little minds are thinking and I'm so proud of him saying his own prayers now! I was just so excited I had to blog about it before I forgot exactly what he said. Now we shall always remember Conner's very first prayer all by himself!

Everything will work out!

2010-05-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

So we have the 1st and 2nd collection of John Bytheway's talks on cd. They are awesome! I listen to them quite often while in the car. I was listening to the one entitled "Righteous Warriors" and he mentions a quote from President Gorden B. Hinckley in it. He just mentioned the President Hinckley tells himself every morning (when he was alive) that everything is not as bad as you think it is and everything will work out. I wanted to look up the exact quote and here it is:

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers." -President Hinckley-

Wow! What a great quote! And it is so true. Soon after Kyle and I got married we had a conversation about what he wanted to do for a career. He had a few different choices and he decided he would love to be a seminary teacher. He loved teaching and was great! However the year he was trying to get in the church had a hiring freeze and he wasn't hired. Then, Kyle graduated from college over 13 months ago with a business degree. He was trying to find a job in the marketing/advertising world. It really wasn't going to hot so Kyle started working as a Waiter to pay the bills till he found a "real job." He then thought he should go back and get his masters in Accounting. So, we do all the work to apply but missed the deadline by a few days. So Kyle gets everything ready for the following semester. We hadn't heard if he got in so he called the school and they told him the only thing he didn't do was change on his application he wanted a different semester and even though he did have everything in he couldn't go because of that one detail. So, school was put off for a year while he kept working as a waiter. Then he decided maybe striking out twice with getting a masters that he would also like to be a teacher (we had looked into it but the program people never called back so we didn't know what he needed to become certified). Finally, he found a program that called back and he did all the work very diligently and now has his "temporary" certificate (you get the real thing after a full school year of teaching).

He was soon offered a job but we didn't feel good about taking it. That was hard to say no to a salary job, but we knew it wasn't where he should be. So, after many job fairs and more interviews later he has been offered a job at Williams High School right here in Plano! He is doing to finger printing and stuff now and will be signing a contract soon!! It has taken over 13 months but I am so happy and proud of him and the choices he has made. Even though it took a few dead ends before getting here, we still made it and I know the Lord has a plan.

It is just amazing how when you are doing what the Lord wants you to do everything works out. We have been deciding when and if we should move out. We were looking at some nice places but before we committed to anything we wanted to check our budget of what we can do when Kyle starts the new job. We figured we should be safer and stay within a certain budget with utilities and everything. None of the places we had looked at would be in that price range. And needing a 3 bedroom it can be hard. Well wouldn't you know the day after we decided what we could realistically do I found a place that is perfect! We checked it out and we really like it. It's only about 15 min from Kyle's parents and a straight 10-15 min to Kyle's work. So are currently on their waiting list but they said they are pretty sure we could get in by August. So that is what I'm shooting for.

Kyle had a really good month this month and I was thinking what we can do to get ready to move. I had a friend who was selling her washer/dryer that were bought brand new and only used a year. She only asked 250$ for the set! Obviously we bought them. Then I found on Craigs list a toddler bed. We were trying to figure out what to do with a new baby coming and needing the crib for that. We got the cherry wood toddler bed and mattress for only 40$ (gently used). Then yesterday I found a table and 6 chairs for only 150$ We need that many chairs since our family is growing! We set up a time to pick it up this morning at 8am. At 7:30am we received a call that last night he mentioned to his mother-in-law they were selling it and she stole it sometime in the night! He sounded mad and said he was working with the police to get it back! Wholly Cow!! Anyway, that obviously didn't work out. But I figured we still had time so I was just glancing at tables again and wouldn't you know I found an oak table with 6 chairs for only $85 this time!!!! Needless to say I got on it right away and that tables and those chairs are now mine!!! They will need to be reupholstered but they really are in good condition. So, now we are pretty much set with the necessities for when we get the call that an apartment has opened up and we are approved. I know that will happen because we have been blessed so much why stop now! haha...

So anyway, it may be a little hard right now, but just like President Hinckley said, it's never as bad as you think it is and everything will work out. The Lord loves us and He wants us to be happy. And things are working out!

Something about Nature

2010-05-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

I really believe there is something about nature that truly heals the soul. Some days are just plain tough, and I feel it is even harder because there is always someone watching (more on that later on) so if I'm having a hard time the best medicine seems to be to just pack the kids up in the stroller and take a long walk. The kids just love being in the stroller for some reason. They love just looking around and Conner talks about every single bird/rabbit/flower/airplane/etc that he sees the entire time. Just being outside just helps calm me down as well. I don't usually think about anything in particular and it's not like we are out in the middle of nowhere, we are walking through the neighborhood. It's just in the air or something that makes me feel so much better and I can walk back into the house a much happier momma! Pretty much everyday we go on a walk in late morning or early evening. The weather is perfect at that time and it seems to be when I and the kids need out of the house the most.

We are so blessed to be living with Kyle's parents. They do so much for us, however we are very excited to here back from a school with a job offer so we can move out on our own again. I think I have pinpointed why I need it now. Being pregnant I feel like my emotions just take control all of a sudden and I really try to not say anything I would regret, but sometimes it just pops out. Poor Kyle, our kids, and everyone else who lives with us! I know Sherry (mom in law) tries to help and today I snapped more then I should have. Everything was just building up and the kids were in a non mommy mode apparently. They were so tired so I put Joshie to bed around 8:30 (kicking dad in law off the big screen again, which I always feel guilty doing) then I laid Conner down by 8:45. Of course he started crying and Sherry was upstairs and wanted to go sing to him. I said, "No! I want him to fall asleep by himself or he will get used to someone there till he falls asleep." She asked if she could just sing him a few songs and I was just like, "please no, just let me raise him and put him down how I want." She just went downstairs and of course I felt guilty. I know she loves her grandsons and hates hearing them cry, I shouldn't have freaked out I was just so tired of how hard the kids were today and just wanted to be done. So, when we move out I won't have to worry about biting some ones head off for trying to help (except Kyle but he choose to be with me!haha)

Anyway, after I put the kids down I read my scriptures and that always brings a spirit to calm the soul also. It's just another miracle Heavenly Father gives us for those hard days. I'm so grateful to have this knowledge or I really think I would go crazy.

Just a Pregnancy Day

2010-05-22T15:47:00.000-07:00

Kyle and I have a saying when I am having a ruff day, I say, "Don't worry, it's just a pregnancy day." One of those days where everyone seems to be saying the wrong things to me and I wonder, what is wrong with everyone today? Then I realize it's not them, its me! On "pregnancy days" I am much more irritable. Poor Kyle and the poor kids (luckily they shouldn't remember it! haha) My little Bell Pepper sized baby has decided to pop out a little more, so I am in all maternity clothes now, making it to 18 weeks with my 3rd child isn't bad! Lynda (my sister in law) said the other day, wow, you actually look pregnant now, even just a week ago you didn't. That's always nice knowing I don't just look pudgy anymore. Kyle tells me I now have the pregnancy glow. He tells me I look beautiful every day. I have needed to start sleeping with a pillow between my legs, it's just much more comfortable. I also had to lean the seat back a little in the car. I usually like it straight up, however now my belly gets squished so I have to lean a bit now when I sit. Kyle is working today so lets hope I can put up with this "pregnancy day" and that tomorrow is just another normal day.

Swimming Picutes

2010-05-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

We bought 3 month passes to the Plano Parks and Recreation Centers. The one we are at here is the one we usually go to because they have great pools! Here is our little family taking a dip.

Conner for some reason really loved wearing the life jacket, and every time we go he grabs the blue one for him and the yellow one for Josh. I should probably thank Dora the Explorer for that since that is always what he quotes when he puts it on, "life jackets so we can be safe!"

Conner has said some pretty funny things lately. He has recently discovered his love for the movie Finding Nemo. At the very beginning of the movie it shows the plant that Nemo and his father live in. Conner always says "look mama french fries! French fries in the ocean!" haha...it is too funny!

Joshie wasn't sure about the slide at all.

Here is the kids part. However, the water splashes off the stairs and things it is right at the height were it hits the kids eyes so they don't like playing on it yet.

Both boys crashed afterward, that's the best part!

The boys really can read for hours! They love reading their books. Their favorite is a book called This Truck. Conner has it memorized! He sounds so smart when he reads it! Conner is also going through a phase right now where he will repeat everything he says over and over and over again until you repeat him back. Ex. "mommy, i want chocolate milk, mommy i want chocolate milk, mommy i want chocolate milk." "ok Conner I will get it for you." "mommy I want chocolate milk (over and over untill..)" "Conner you want chocolate milk?" "yes thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks" "your welcome Conner" For everything he says you have to repeat it or he will keep saying it! At least he is talking though!

Is it possible?

2010-05-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

Kyle and I were trying to decide the other day if it is possible for two right handed people to have a left handed child. Josh is 17 months old and does everything with his left hand. He only throws balls, colors, etc with his left hand. We have tried putting it in his right and he just switches it. Nobody that we can think of in our family is left handed but Kyle thought it was hereditary. I thought maybe it's like red headed people. It is way more likely if a parent has red hair that the child will too, but once in a while a red headed child is born without either parent being red headed. Kyle's dad thinks we should really help Josh keep up throwing balls with his left hand so that he can be a MLB Pitcher and we can make lots of money off him.... but to get to the majors you have to go through little league, and man I get bored enough with baseball, let alone when the kids run the wrong way around the bases, no thanks! I guess we will just see if the left handedness sticks or if it is just a phase. Only time will tell I suppose.

Oh, and good news, Kyle had interviews with a high school in Plano and a middle school in Frisco! yeah Kyle!!!!

Books to Movies

2010-05-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

Wow I haven't posted in forever and now 2 posts in one day! Kyle is working all day and the kids are really being great, so I'm taking the opportunity. For some reason this really bothers me and Kyle doesn't really understand.....

I just finished the book called Beastly. It was cute, very much Beauty and the Beast, only modern times. I learned it is going to be a movie and comes out July 30th. So I take the time to look up the trailer and I was really disappointed. The only character they seem to have right is the blind guy! And the story line is changed and I can just tell that from the trailer. I love love love to read. I read all the time! And maybe that's my problem because books are always so much better then the movie, however there are still some really good movies out there that originated with books. Here is my beef, if you are going to call it the same title the book has, then it better follow the book!!!!!!! If you are just going to loosely base the story on the book, ie. "A Walk to Remember" then call it something else and say it is based on a novel. I hate getting my hopes up and then the movie has only the title in common.... I understand to make it more "Hollywood" some things need to be changed. Like the fight seen in New Moon or in the 2nd Harry Potter, but basically the characters and story line are correct. Anyway, Kyle isn't much of a ready other then church books, and seeing as how Jesus the Christ isn't coming to the big screen anytime soon, he can't really empathize. So sorry it's me ranting a bit on a pet peeve.

I'm sure the movie Beastly will be fine, but don't read the book and expect it to be the same...

Baby Cakes

2010-05-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

My little baby cakes is now bigger than an avocado!! We find out on June 3rd if it is going to be a boy or girl. I seem to be the only one in the family that thinks it's a girl... I'm trying to prepare myself though for the sonogram so I don't start crying if they say they see the "turtle." Just a few more weeks. This baby is super active! As soon as I lay down I can feel it moving all around. Last night I pushed down on my belly to see if you could feel it and she was rolling and pushing back. So I put Kyle hand where mine had been and he was like what is that? I was like it's the baby. He said but it's not kicking or anything. I was like, I know she is just rolling around. He thought it was pretty cool and I did too that he could feel her already (yes I always say she/her till we find out otherwise). So, everything with the pregnancy is going great. I usually feel pretty good. I am more moody of course, but I really strive to be patient. I have days where I am like, man what is wrong with everybody! But then I realize it's probably just me not them and I try to just relax a little and go to my room. But other then that, it's going well.

The only thing we have done to prepare for this baby is buy a van...yes, a van. It's an Honda Odyssey, and we actually really like it. I will have to post pictures however the internet upstairs is out so I have to use a computer but it doesn't have any of our pictures on it. So, maybe later.

Kyle had a great interview in Grande Prairie (Fort Worth area) the other day. The school was great! We should be hearing soon if he is offered the job. I think the hard thing now is going to be knowing which job to take. We would love one in Plano/Friso area, but it's hard to know if we will even be offered one here... however, I know the Lord will help us. We have really been praying to know what we should do and I know He won't let us make a wrong choice for our family.

Lately I have had my testimony strengthed on family. I love love love being a mother and having my beautiful little children to be with. They make me happier then anything. When Kyle and I first got married he was planning on going to Law School. We were talking and I told him I didn't care what he did or how much money we had as long as when he came home he was really home and we could be a family. We have a lot of people in our lives who are lawyers (family/friends) and they all love what they do, however we have known for a while this is not what we are going to do in our family. Kyle loves to teach! For some reason he loves it and we may not live in Plano (we don't want to anyway) but we will be provided for and have a wonderful husband/daddy as part of our lives. I love being able to be home with our kids! Anyway, I didn't mean to go off on a soap box there, i was just thinking about it. Well, when I get my computer back I have some cute picks of the kids swimming so I will post them later. But knowing how often I blog the next time will probably be when we find out if the baby is Sarah Jr. or Kyle Jr.......

A great 24 hours!

2010-04-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

Since I am leaving with the boys to go to Ohio in a few days Kyle and I wanted to go on a date before we left. Luckily he wasn't scheduled to work on Friday night which is a first in a long time and he thought about picking up but we realized it was ward temple night and we really wanted to go as we have a goal to go to the temple 18 times this year. So, we booked a babysitter and made the plans. Kyle really did a great job at lunch. The Lord really blessed him to make just as much money as he typically would if he were to work all day. I picked up our babysitter (something else we haven't had to do in a while since mostly the in-laws are home to help but they were out of town). I showed her the basics and we took off. We went to the restaurant that Kyle works at (not the exact building but the same place) mostly because the food is great and we get 50% off. Well, one of the managers there knew Kyle and took care of our whole bill!!!! So, we left a nice tip for the waiter, 20 bucks!! haha...

Of course the temple was amazing! It is so incredible to feel the spirit there and to just feel like your life is back in place and going the way you need to go. There were probably about 8 couples from the ward which was good to see, of course we wish it was more. Then we went home. We paid what we thought was a generous amount for the babysitter. We figured the Lord had blessed us so much everyday, why not share a little more with those around us. I'm sure our babysitter felt like she deserved it though. haha! She told me it was her first experience babysitting a 2 year old and a 1 year old. Joshie really does go through these phases of not wanting to be put down. Apparently he fell of the couch and he wanted he to hold him the whole time after that. Conner just ran around the whole time and said NO to everything she asked. She was like "Where does he get the energy?" haha, I was like "He's 2!!!" The nice thing though was that he walked upstairs around bed time and laid down himself (he didn't get a nap). I mentioned to her Conner might ask to say prayers. So she went up and asked if he wanted to, of course he said no, but as soon as she started to stand he says "prayers, prayers!" so she had to get back down and pray with him. Ha Ha, so if was just a crazy night for this poor 13 year old! So, she deserved the cash, we will see if she ever wants to watch them again!!

Today was great with being able to watch General Conference! It was so humbling and uplifting. I love listening and learning. The kids were really good throughout it too watch was another huge blessing from the Lord. Kyle had to go to work at 3 so he missed the 2nd session. I really felt like the main message was about families. You can tell that the devil is really trying to destroy the family. I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life to help me and guide me in the troubled time.

The weather was beautiful today! As soon as conference was over we went outside. The boys have this play lawn mower thing that pops balls and is really loud so it is an outside toy, but man do they love it! So they were loving being outside. Soon after we went out it was time to eat, so we went back in and Conner threw a fit. Of course in the middle of dinner he was falling asleep. Again, another day with no nap. When I grabbed him though to put him in bed he woke up and wouldn't go so I put him back in his chair and before he took a bite he was already nodding off. It was too funny. After Josh and I were done we woke him up to go back outside. We played in the backyard a bit then Conner found the sidewalk chalk. So we went to the driveway and Conner thought it was so cool. He knows all of his shapes so he kept telling me different shapes to draw so he could color them. Josh just ran around the whole time. There was a point where a little lady bug crawled by. Conner has this book he loves called Creepy Crawlies and it talks about ladybugs so I thought it would be fun to show him one. He was interested in looking but under no circumstances would he touch it. Josh on the other hand couldn't stop grabbing at it. He loved it! Unfortunately after Josh tried stepping on it multiple time he actually squished it in his little fingers....

Josh had a few tumbles on the driveway and now has some scraped up knees, a cut, and bruise on his head and Conner has some scraped knees also. We grabbed the stroller and went on a long walk. But as we were getting started Conner found a dandelion and was like "flower, flower!" So we had to stop and he picked the "flower." He carried that thing for at least an hour tonight! The funniest part was it was just the head, so he was like pinching the bottom of it. About a quarter of the way through Conner wanted out so he could walk. He really did a good job, he walked over a mile right next to the stroller. However, ever dandelion he saw he wanted to pick. He had two hand fulls of weeds and the yellowest fingers. I was so disappointed I didn't have the camera with me. If he didn't pick the "flower" he had to say hi and bye to it. Obviously it took a while to get home. Then right when we were going to turn on our street he just set his piles down and said "bye flowers" haha, I guess he was done with them!

The kids had a bath, we read scriptures, brushed out teeth, prayed, then they laid right down without a problem. Now I have been able to relax and write this blog. It has been a great 24 hours and now to make it perfect Kyle should be walking through the door any minute...

A Plum

2010-04-01T18:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, my little kumquat has grown crazy amounts and is now a plum! I sure hope through the whole pregnancy my baby is compared to fruit. It sure is great. Fortunately I am still able to wear my normal clothes. I'm just over 11 weeks now, and I think that's pretty good with it being my 3rd baby and all. Sometimes I have to unbutton my pants when I'm sitting, but for the most part I'm good. Just a little pudgy around the belly area. At least I can still sleep on my stomach though! That is one thing I'm not looking forward to. Most days I feel pretty good, except for the whole eating thing. I've just found I get really nauseous if I don't eat or if I let myself get hungry and if that happens I can't eat hardly anything the rest of the day. Really the only thing that typically sounds good is cereal, so that's what I eat. And I want milk ALL the time. I find myself making multiply things for meals b/c I think it will be good but as soon as I sit down to eat it I just can't do it. Thankfully Kyle typically eats it and he just laughs. He says he has never seen my like that and I think it has finally convinced him I am having a girl. I've have only gained 1 pound in this entire 3 months but apparently that is normal and I am keeping my cereal down, so that's good. The shots are going well, really not too bad, just a little annoying sometimes. It was funny b/c I was up in WI for a Mary Kay convention this past weekend and one of my roomates saw me take out the shot and she asked if she could watch. haha...I didn't mind at all and she said with her last she had gestational diabetes and had to prick her finger every day and she through a fit over that so she couldn't imagine how I do with not even flinching. I guess you have to do what you have to do.

So, a funny story. I was just putting the kiddos to bed and we have the Book of Mormon picture scripture thing, anyway, so we are starting over again. And tonight it was the chapter of the Nephites leaving the Lamanites. It showed of picture of the Lamanites in their loin cloths and Conner says "Mama, find their pants! Where are the pants?!" haha....too funny, I was wondering the same thing, how do you go to war without pants?!?!?!So that was our laugh for tonight, and it is so cute, usually when Kyle is home we all read scriptures together then pray then I brush the boys teeth, then they go to bed. But if he isn't home we read, brush teeth, then pray in their "rooms" So even if we already said prayers with daddy as soon as we are by Conner's bed we have to say prayers again. I think it is Conner just stalling, but at least he is the one wanting to say prayers, I love that!

I'm so blessed!

Finally a break!

2010-03-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

This past week has been HARD!!! Mama Hercules, Lynda, and Ben got back from a vacation in Florida and brought colds with them. Then Conner got it and of course past it to Joshie. Somehow Josh has been sick since last Sat. On Sat he just slept the whole day, I couldn't put him down, but at least he was just sleeping. So, Kyle stayed home with him on Sunday and he slept a lot but seemed to be doing better. Then on Monday I felt like crap! Plus Joshie got worse. Poor Conner had to pretty much fend for himself. Lets just say he has been watching a lot of cartoons... Luckily, I was feeling a little better by Tues but Josh just got worse. All day yesterday and today he has just been screaming all day and nothing would make him happy. He has had the squirts pretty bad. The Tylenol kept his temp down, but that is about all it did. We all just needed to get out of the house today so we went to the store and I found some cute pj's for the kids. Tonight after dinner I got them dressed in their new duds and they were so cute in matching outfits! Not 10 min later Josh EXPLODED!!! All over his new pj's. So, I striped him down and fixed him up. The good news is though that he has been walking around laughing and talking and being his normal self ever since that explosion, hopefully it all came out with that. So, I'm praying tomorrow will be a much more relaxing day.

Little baby Hannah (that's what I call her even though we haven't found out for sure it's a girl) is now a little bigger then a cherry! Yeah for fruit babies!!! I have been getting more nauseous throughout the day, so whatever sounds fine without making me want to puke is what I eat whether it is an apple or fries. The other day I tried making 3 different things for lunch, would take a bite and couldn't handle it. That gets a little annoying. My belly is also looking great with the old stretch marks from the previous kiddos and now I have little bruises all over from the shots. They really aren't bad to give them to myself, but I always smell rubbing alcohol randomly. Another blessing of Kyle being a waiter is the fact that unless he is closing lunch he is usually home everyday between 2-4 so that tends to be my nap time. It also means less time with the hubby, but makes me much happier the rest of the day! So, now that Josh is fine, Conner is great (except I just noticed one of his eyes is red...gee wiz) Kyle is healthy, and myself plus baby are doing great, we can't complain!

A Blueberry!

2010-03-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

I have a blueberry inside of me! Well, ok, it's just the size of a blueberry, but it is really a baby! The internet says at 7 1/2 weeks that's the size she is. I'm due around October 21 however will probably need to be induced early because of the blood thinner situation. So, we will see. Here is what happened...

As I've mentioned in previous posts I can't take any birth control with a hormone because it thickens my blood to much and it clots. I have been taking Coumadin every day to thin my blood out. The doc said I could go off the meds in March and we would start trying to have a baby then. However, there was one night and I can tell you the exact night, where I could have been still fertile (obviously was) and lets just say extra measures were not taken.... This will get a little personal, just a warning. So, my periods are typically 40 days apart however after the night in question I started spotting at around 33 days. And then it got heavy enough I thought it was my period just early. The only non-normal part was that my temps were getting higher and higher every day. For those of you not familiar with the Fertility Awareness Method, every morning I take my temperature and there are normal highs and lows. For me, before I have ovulated my temps are around 95.6-96.4 but during this particular period they were up in the 98s. Really weird for me. I thought they would go down after my period, but they didn't. So, after about a week and reading through my book and not finding any answers I called my cousin how is great with this stuff. So I told her everything that was happening and she asked if I could be pregnant. I thought of course not, I just had my period. Well, she suggested taking a test just to role it out but to maybe talk to a doc and let her know. For some reason I did have a test in the house so I decided it was probably smart to role it out. I didn't even have to wait, that thing came back positive in like .2 seconds! I couldn't believe it! I actually called Kyle at work and told him I was freaking out! He was happy though.

After that, we went to Planned Parenthood to get the test there so I could have proof for WIC and Medicaid. And that one was positive. I was told I needed to stop taking the coumadin now though (it can cause birth defects) I have to give myself 2 shots a day now of Heprin because that will keep my blood thin through pregnancy and is safe for the baby. Anyway, because of the bleeding that I thought was my period I was worried. I called some friend that just had babies that were on Medicaid and I found out their doctor. So, I call the doc and they said if I haven't been approved yet, I am considered self pay and would have to put down a $1000 deposit! But they said Medicaid would reimburse that. So, we do it and I go in. They do the sonogram and can see a gestation sack, but that's all. I do blood work and go in 2 days later for more. My blood levels didn't go up, so I had to go in again. Apparently your levels are supposed to double every day you are pregnant. My first level was 8,000 and after 5 days it only went up to 13,000, obviously way under what it should have been. So that wasn't good. But I went in for another sonogram and it was pretty funny....

The lady doing the sonogram was like, so your about 8 weeks now right? And I said, "no, I'm closer to 6 because of how long my period are." She was like "Well, according to your last period you are 8 so lets stick with that" ok lady! I've been charting for 7 months and I know I'm not that far along, but whatever you say... and good news, they found the baby and the heartbeat! The heartbeat was 146 beats/min. They said it's great! So they measure her and wouldn't you know she was 6 weeks and 4 days! hhmmm..... who was right? That's right, ME!!! hhahahaha!!!!

Anyway, so the baby looks good and I am actually feeling pretty good. I do get really tired sometimes, but Kyle is really helpful with letting me take naps. But I eat all the time!! Really, physically I'm not to different, but I have limited patience. My poor kids, I really am trying, but some days it's really hard. I told kyle I think it's a girl because of how emotional I am. He said he thinks it's a girl because she is already costing us money! (1000 deposit we won't get back till after I deliver!) Anyway, I've named her Hannah, even though Kyle wants Hailey. I told him he could pick the boys name even if it is Kyle Jr.

So, that's my story, I know it's super long, but I print this off and put it in my journal and I didn't want to have to re-write anything. Yeah, baby Hannah! I'll see you in about 7.5 months!!

Look mama, a Temple!

2010-02-22T09:19:00.000-08:00

So the kids have been doing some really funny things lately that I know I wanted to write so I would remember for when they have kids. A few weeks ago I drove with the kids to the Dallas Temple to exchange some garments for Kyle. As soon as we were passing it (mind you I hadn't said a thing) Conner points and says, "A Temple! Temple!" Yeah!!! I am a good mom!!! haha... it was too cute! They were so excited to touch the Temple and Conner wanted to go all the way in, but obviously he still has a few years yet. And today, he was eating a gram cracker and the way he was eating it, it was fat at the bottom and then came up to a point in the middle and Conner says, "Look mama, a Temple!" haha... yeah! Plus, he know all the actions to Book of Mormon stories, I can't take all the credit for that though, I'm sure the nursery helps with that too.

Conner has also resorted to not taking naps, unfortunately. Sometimes it happens, but not usually. Which is hard for me seeing as how I could use naps every day, plus I was taking the kids nap times to make phone calls. Anyway, the kids are in bed at around 7:30pm though since Conner isn't taking a nap. And I can't complain about that, it's great! The hardest thing though is the fact that Joshie's crib is behind the couch in the Family Room still so nobody can be in there past 7:30. But Ben will be leaving in a few months to serve a mission and the boys will probably take his room till we move out.

The other day when it was supposed to be Conner's nap time the kids were being so cute. I blew up balloons with hearts on them for Valentine's Day and somehow they are are still alive! The boys think they are awesome. So, Josh was carrying one and hit everything with it. Conner was chasing him and they thought it was the funniest thing. They were both laughing and laughing. Then I had a travel roll up bag (Mary Kay) filled with all my samples and Conner was running with that and Josh chased him. Then Conner would drop it and Joshie would try to pick it up. He would only be able to carry it like 2 steps before falling, but this was all the cause of lots of laughter. Then Conner yells "Pillows!" and it's like they both new what to do. They ran to the couch, each grabbed a pillow then ran to the other room and threw them. The continued this with 3 pillows each. After all the pillows were piled up both kids ran and jumped on the piles. It was too funny to see them play with each other so much. It makes me happy that they are close brothers. Some days are harder then others, but overall they truly are great kids. And I figure I'll have all our kids close together so we can always have days like this and the best part they will all be out of the house by the time I'm 45! Then Kyle and I can serve missions and things. What a great life I have!

God's Blessings

2010-02-19T18:08:00.000-08:00

I am continually grateful for this wonderful life God has blessed me with. Everything is never perfect, nor is it how I would plan it, but I wouldn't change my life for anything. John Bytheway's collection of talks, the 2nd set has a talk titled "Be Thou an Example of the Believers" and WOW it is such a good talk. He must have a big notebook or something (it was recorded in front of an audience) and he says to pretend that each piece of paper is someone in the world. Many people complain about their lives and say they want to trade, but is it really worth it? If you were to take 1000 pieces of paper from that notebook, only 45 of them would be people born in the USA. And of that 45 only 2 would be members of the church. 2!!!! That's .002 chance of getting to be born in the USA and being a member of the church. Each of us that has that privilege, is it just a coincidence or does our Father in Heaven need us on this Earth at this time for something? I believe the latter. I'm not perfect, but if everyone on Earth were like me I can promise we wouldn't need a homicide department in the police force, there wouldn't be Drunk Driving. We wouldn't need to lock our cars/houses. So, I give the world so sososo much! But can I do more, of course. God didn't put me on Earth to not steal anything. He expects greatness because that is what He is. And we are supposed to be like Him.

I am so grateful that he has blessed me with a wonderful, fantastic, nobody is better husband and 2 beautiful children! I am grateful my husband has a job that is providing for us. I'm grateful my in-laws are so caring and giving to let us stay in their home even longer then planned. I'm grateful that Ben and Lynda also put up with us living here and are great with their nephews. I'm grateful for the health we have all been blessed with. I'm grateful we have been the receivers and givers to help when needed. I'm grateful for phones and the internet to keep in contact with my family who live hundreds of miles away. Wow, I am so blessed.

I'm blessed with my Mary Kay business. Since moving to Texas, I stopped working. But I would read my scriptures and have this feeling I needed to start again. I had all the excuses, a new baby, in the hospital, I don't know anyone, we only have 1 car....blah blah blah..... But God kept putting in my heart that He had greater plans for me then I had for myself. One day my director called just to see how I was doing and the whole day I was so much happier. Kyle asked me what was going on and I told him I talked to Holly. I asked how he would feel if I started my Mary Kay business again, and he said "great! You always look HOT when you do it!" haha! So, I finally put myself and me excuses on the shelf and started to bless some women. I LOVE IT!!! I can't explain how much I love blessing other women and being an answer to their prayers. I had a women tell me she had been praying to God for help and here I come along and she knew I was her answer. WOW!! To have someone tell me that is so powerful. I have to repent that it took so long for my thick head to get over itself. I could have been helping so many more women the past ten months. But I can't change that. Now I just need to show my Father in Heaven how grateful I am for his endless blessing. I need to be the best wife, mother, primary worker, Mary Kay Consultant, friend, and disciple of Christ I can possibly be. Any even though I know I can never do enough to show God how grateful I am, I can bless His children and I know that is what I am here to do!

Pink Eggs and Ham

2010-01-29T19:00:00.000-08:00

So, Conner loves loves loves reading books! We could honestly sit for over an hour just reading. Josh likes to read books too, but not like Conner my book worm. One of his favorite new books is Green Eggs and Ham. So we were reading it the other day, and as we finished Conner says "no green, pink egg ham!" I was like, no, green eggs and ham. He then replied, "no bue (blue) egg ham" and we went back and forth all the colors he knows, black, brown, white, yellow... he said every color but never says GREEN eggs and ham. So the book is affectionately called Pink Eggs and Ham. Too cute!

Tantrums

2010-01-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

So the new thing in our house that the boys seem to be most interested in is tantrums... Conner was never really bad at it before. We had our little melt downs every now and then, but over all he is a very even tempered kid. It's so interesting how different your kids can be because man o man does Joshie lay it on thick. He throws his head on the floor over and over. He learned real fast not to do that on the kitchen floor though. Sometimes his whole body gets thrown. The best part though is if you leave the room he stops, follows to wherever you are and starts it again! hahaha.... it is to funny. However, it gets really old really fast. Fortunately Conner hasn't started copying him, yet.

Hugs!

2010-01-09T19:18:00.001-08:00

So Conner really is a great 2 year old. Don't get me wrong, we have our melt downs, but really they are not to bad. Every time he does do something wrong though like push his brother or jump on the dogs I always make him sit in time out. He hates just sitting there as I'm sure most kids do. Then I have him get up and he has to give his brother a hug and a kiss. Well, I think he has caught one because if I see him push Josh he looks at me, goes right to Josh, gives him a hug and says "hugs!" It's too cute! Of course, now he thinks he can do what he wants as long as he gives the person/animal a hug afterward. How do you correct that though because do I say "no hitting" as he is hugging his brother? haha.... oh the joys of parenthood. I also think he has figured out he gets away with more with me because his hugs and kisses melt my heart. If he does push Josh from a toy he looks at Kyle first to see if he saw it. haha.... kids are so funny, they learn so fast. He has also learned how to give raspberries. You know like the ones on your belly, except he pretends to give one to you on your cheak and instead you end up with a wet slobbery cheak. Joshie thinks this is the funniest thing in the world. He could watch Conner give me rasberries all day and be happy.

Josh had his 1 year check up. He is super healthy. He is 21lbs which puts him in the 30% range. He is 29 inches which puts him in the 50% range. So the doc said he is tall and skinny, he looks good. Of course his head though is in the 85% tile. So the Hercules big head lives on in both of my boys. It's a good thing they are so cute!

0 degrees in Texas?

2010-01-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, I have been lied to all along, Texas is not warm and beautiful during the winter months. So, over the past 4 years when we were freezing in Idaho and we would talk to Kyle's parents and they said they were wearing shorts, they must have been lieing! It has been so cold! And tonight it is supposed to get down to 0 degrees and stay there for a while. So, they cancelled seminary at least for tomorrow. Kyle will be happy about that since it is his week to teach (he is still at work so he doesn't know yet). The said thing is that it is really hard to ride the bike I got for Christmas when it is icey outside! A well, it won't stay cold forever right?

An amazing thing happend on Sunday night. As I have previously mentioned, our dog Meg has some serious dog aggression. However, we have been taking her to training and it is really working. So, I'm walking her on Sunday night and we see a little dog on the side of the street we were on, so just to be on the safe side I cross the street and Meg is interested but doesn't freak out at this bite sized dog. Well, because we were looking at that dog, I didn't notice a lady who opened her front door right as we were passing and he dog (I'm thinking some kind of spanial) ran out straight for Meg. This dog barked a little, but just sniffed Meg, and she sniffed the other dog back. Then they were like best friends! It was amazing!! Again, if you know how aggressive Meg would get toward other dogs, this is like a miracle! So, every night since I have been trying to look for dogs on our walks to help Meg more but alas, I have found none. Now, the next step is to keep Lola from bolting out the door when it opens. I have done work though and they are much better about not barking at everything that walks by the window.... they will be perfect angels...one day. It does look like if we ever do move out of the in-laws house we will have to bring all the dogs. They are really loved here, however Larry can't walk them period, and Sherry hurt her knee somehow and I don't think she lets on how much pain she is really in. So, she hasn't been able to walk the dogs either. So, she is put on baby duty and I walk all three dogs seperatly, so it takes about and hour every night, but at least it gets me some time to myself, and the dogs get out.

Kyle started his teaching certification! Yeah!! He has a lot of the program to do online and he starts actual class on Feb. 27. He will be done and certified by April! Then he can be hiried and finally have a "real job." We really have been blessed though and are very gratefull for the help of living with the in-laws, even if it can be really hard some times.

We also finally switched bank accounts. We were ssosososososs sick of Wells Fargo and are now done with them!!! They have fees for EVERYTHING!! And they weren't honest with us about our accounts, but thankfully we no longer have to deal with them. Except for paying off the credit cards, which hopefully we can do sooner rather then later. We are now banking with Chase and really like it so far. I guess we will see how it goes...

The kids are growing up so fast! Conner loves playing ring around the roosies and loves loves loves playing hide and seek with his uncle Ben. He runs around the house saying, "where's ben?" it's really cute. He also loves Dora the Explorer and Go Diago Go. He asks all day, "Dora Boots? Dora Boots?" The only time I know that they are on T.V. is 6pm so he has to wait and 6-7 he gets to watch his 2 favorite shows. Josh is such a one year old. His mood goes back and forth and he always wants to be held! I'm getting buff arms though! haha...right....

I'm excited for next month because that is when my horse classes start again. However, I did find a Ranch in Frisco that needs volunteers and they give you free riding lessons in return. So, I may switch to that one. Firstly, it's a whole lot closer and secondly, I can get free riding lessons which I really really want. I have been checking books out at the library all about horses, and one day I will own my own. I have narrowed it down to 3 breeds I would love to have. Quarter horses, Tennessee Walking Horse, or Appaloosa. These are my favorites, and I would like to eventually lease one of each to see which breed I like. Hopefully sooner rather then later, but we will see.

So, life is good, Kyle and I still aren't eating sugar and it's going great. I've lost 20lbs and Kyle has lost 16lbs, so we are getting there. We really just want to be healthier. 2010 is going to be a great great year!

Little brother fights back!

2009-12-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

First off, I can't believe it's December!! Man time is just going by so fast. We have most of the Christmas shopping for the kiddos done. Just one more big present for them to share and then the stocking stuff. I have no clue what to get for Kyle though.... I still have a few weeks I guess to figure it out. Thanksgiving in Ohio was great. That week flew by and we all had a great time. The drive was very long, but after watching the movie Cars 15 times we made it.

Ok, so I have a 2 year old and the other one will be 1 in just 2 weeks! They get along pretty well most of the time, but man Josh is really starting to get a personality! They are both HUGE mama's boys!! They fight over who gets to sit on my lap at church, when I'm on the computer, any time really. And when I try to put Joshie down he gets this look on his face like, "mom! why would you even think about putting me down. Don't you love me?" it melts my heart and I pick him back up. Anyway, we have this little toy Conner actually got from his uncle Joey (currently serving a mission in Honduras) it is one of those personal PDA things, pretty much a toy cell phone. Well, Conner of course forgets its in the toy box and one day Josh finds it and it has been "the toy" to have ever since. They both forget it till one grabs it then they both have to have it! Well, it was Joshie's turn with it, so he is just walking around pushing the buttons and Conner goes up and takes it from him. Josh screams and "runs" (as well as a 1 year old can run) towards Conner mouth wide open and bites his arm!! He only has 6 teeth, but he can still leave a mark. It was one of those times it was so hard to not laugh and Josh. It was so funny seeing him get upset. I think it really threw Conner off because he gave the toy back and got a book for us to read. The only thing is right before I started to write this post, once again they both wanted to sit in my lap and Josh opened his mouth to bite Conner again. Man, we are going to have to work on that, it's just so funny and cute coming from such a small person. Anyway, I'm sure this is just the start of the great friendship they will forever have!!

I need a vacation!

2009-11-21T16:38:00.000-08:00

I don't think this day could be any longer.... it's only 6:40pm and it feels like it should be midnight at least. I just try to keep telling myself, we are leaving tomorrow, we are leaving tomorrow. Really everything started yesterday. Kyle has had to be working doubles most of the week so between shift yesterday I needed a little break from the kids. I love them a lot but everyone needs a ten min. break once in a while right? So I go to the bank and then put gas in the car. When I get home I notice that Kyle has the kids upstairs and Josh is just crying and crying. So of course I pick him right up and he calms down, but I come to find out that Kyle was eating some lunch downstairs while catching up on his sports. Meanwhile Conner started climbing up the stairs, so Joshie followed. I guess about half way up Conner turns around and just pushes Josh down. So he fell down about 8 stairs. He is just fine, I think really it just scarred him. So, Sherry's (mom-in-law) room is right by the stairs. Since she works from home she heard it first and got mad at Kyle for not paying enough attention. That's hard because it could happen to anyone at anytime. I know it wasn't the first time he has fallen down the stairs and I'm sure it won't be the last since there is no way anyone can watch him 24/7. Sherry did apologize to Kyle for getting upset though.

Luckily the boys were pretty good last night. I tried to take them on a walk because that is like their favorite thing to do is get in the stroller. However as soon as we got to the end of the street it started raining so I had to run with the double stroller back home. But I was able to get some packing done so that was good.

Kyle didn't have to be at work until noon today. So we took advantage of the time and got some last min things for the trip to Ohio. We hurried home and Kyle had to leave right away. I try to get some things picked up around the house so we don't leave it a complete mess, but of course Conner is right behind me throwing everything back out that I just put away. Oh, he slept in the car for 20min on our way home and so wouldn't take a nap. I was going to use that time to color my hair so I don't have roots in the family pics, but that didn't happen. I tried making lunch but Conner just fed it all to the dogs when I turned around to grab something. I feed Josh and get him to sleep but then Conner came in the room and whacked him on the head which of course woke him up and he wouldn't go back to sleep.

Conner found a stash of markers and was coloring on things he should not have been. He took off his diaper that was poopy. He found a box of thumb tacks and threw them (they were clear, joy). He found a box of sugar ice cream cones, opened them and threw them so the dogs ate them. He did throw his diaper away, that was nice. I found hot wheel cars in the fridge, I sure hope he didn't take anything out and hide it so we have a nice smelly surprise sometime. I made the boys sandwichs for dinner. Josh was nicely sitting in his highchair eating his and Conner went up and took all of Joshie's pieces and fed them to the dogs. Then he was chasing the dogs while I was trying to feed Josh and myself something. Then I hear Conner screaming. I run into the other room where Larry (dad-in-law) are and grab Conner. He has blood dripping from his head. I guess he was crawling into Lola (stubborn dog) and she jumped up and growled at him pushing him backward into the entertainment center. It was dark so you couldn't really see the blood, but gee wiz, both kids are crying you would think someone might try to help. So I get the blood under control and strive with all my might to calmly ask dad to let Josh out of his highchair. So then we went back to the kitchen to finish eating. As we are I hear Sherry getting frustrated with Conner for opening the back door which doesn't have a door handle. Then Conner comes back in the kitchen and as I'm rinsing the dishes I hear "Oh NO!" from Sherry. I turned around and see Conner had found one of those jumbo Advil containers and poured it all over. There is no way he could have opened it so it must not have been on all the way. So then we are trying to pick up all the meds before Conner, Josh, or the dogs could get it. After that I am just done. So, we came upstairs and are staying her till bedtime.

I just want to say I'm grateful to be living hear, but I cannot wait until I have a place of my own again. It is so hard to share and try to constantly be watching a 1 and 2 year old in a not child proofed house. And if anything gets messed up I feel like a bad mom. One day, hopefully sooner rather then later it will happen. After Kyle gets his teaching certificate since he can't get his accounting stuff started till next fall now.

Ok, Josh just whacked his head on something. Tomorrow please come soon!!!

Birthday date

2009-11-19T11:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, I just want to preface by saying I'm the best wife ever!!! and humble too, really.... So Kyle is turning 26 on Monday, however we will still be driving to Ohio on that day and how unfun is that? Kyle also works all day Thurs. Fri. and Sat. so obviously we couldn't do anything those days. So I asked him if we could do a "birthday dinner" on Wed. since my volunteering with the horses is off for the next 2 weeks and I didn't need to go. I kept asking where he wanted to go to eat but he wouldn't make up his mind. I tried to guide him to go closer or at least on the way to down town Dallas. I said we always did stuff in/around Plano and we should do something different for his birthday. So he finally picked a steakhouse in the West End (downtown Dallas, lots of good food!) So we just placed our food orders and had our bread and drinks when I pull out the first gift I had cleverly hidden in my purse without him knowing. We had agreed that he wouldn't be getting anything but a nice dinner/date for his birthday since we were leaving for OH soon. So that I even had a gift surprised him. I got him the newest book by Dan Brown. He really likes that author and it gives me the opportunity to read it too. So after we eat our salad but before the main course I pull out another gift. A phone cover to protect his phone from sticky fingers. He liked it and called me a turkey for getting him anything. Our steaks were ssoooo good. I tried to be good and got the 6oz fillet Mignon while Kyle got the 16oz sirloin!! they were both amazing!!! After that I gave him the 3rd gift which was the Dallas Mavericks newest blue jersey. He was sossososos excited!!Then our waiter brought a little cake with a candle (he was a really great guy) and after Kyle made a wish I asked him what he wished for and he said, "I wish you have to Mavs tickets in your purse" So I pull out the envelope and say, " your wish is my command!" He was so excited!! For you see Kyle had been trying to get tickets but I kept coming up with excuses of why we couldn't get them. He nearly messed up the surprise a few times, but it all worked out and was great!!The game was awesome! We won by 5 points in overtime!! So the birthday was a hit and I'm a great wife!!

I love the Doggie Back Pack!

2009-11-17T19:52:00.000-08:00

So we recently started training all three of our dogs. Meg, a pit bull mix, Lola a chocolate lab, and Bear a black lab. I was sick of Meg and now Bear going crazy when they see another dog. I'm sick of Meg and Lola going after each other. I'm tired of the dogs going crazy if, heaven forbid someone knocks on the door, and a million other things they do. So, I contacted a dog trainer and have started the dogs on lessons. I take them once a week. Last week was the first time and I had all three of them. They are all at different levels. Lola will follow commands if you have food, but if you don't good luck with even getting her to acknowledge your existence. Then Meg will do what you want but not if an unknown dog is within 2 states and Bear is just so spastic he doesn't even know the "sit" command. So, that first training was, lets say, interesting. I worked with the dogs every day with the "sit" and "leave it" commands. They are doing pretty well, and surprisingly Bear is the best. Probably because he is the youngest and most impressionable.

Today was the 2nd lesson and it went great! The trainer only wanted me to bring Meg and Lola this time. By the end of the lesson Meg was able to follow her commands with an unknown dog sitting not 3 feet away!! Hallelujah!! In the 3 years of owning her I don't think she has ever and I mean ever done that! She was even able to walk next to another unknown dog without trying to kill it!!

So the trainer gave me a Doggie Back Pack to use for the next couple of weeks. Basically it is a pack that you fill with water bottles and it makes the dog feel like they are on a mission so they are better at walks. And I tell you what, that works!! Meg didn't try to chase after the rabbits that are everywhere here. She even sat while a dog was sitting there barking at her! She didn't pull or tug, she just walked right next to me! Bear did a great job too! He usually goes back and forth and back and forth. He has to get dizzy. He is so spastic! But even he walked right next to me and didn't pull! Whose dogs are these!!! Anyone who has ever met our dogs knows what a HUGE deal this is. We still have a long way to go before they are all the "perfect" dog, but we are a lot closer then we were even just last week.

Can't a mom poop in peace?

2009-11-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

Why is it, whenever I have to go the bathroom is the exact time when both boys need me? I always try to get them occupied doing something, but I swear they know! They both start crying hysterically and bang on the door until I open it. Most of the time it's as soon as I walk in the bathroom so I always just let them in and have an audience. Haha... I get handed all the toilet paper rolls and the cabinet door get slammed and the toilet paper already on the roll gets unrolled. Then as soon as I stand up its a rush to put the lid down before little fingers get there first. Ewww... so, what used to be a time to sit and read has become almost a three-ring circus. I'm glad the kids won't remember this at all, at least I hope not! Maybe in a little bit I will have my time to go to the bathroom without any interruptions, but until then I will have to make the best of it....

11/7/09

2009-11-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can't believe it's November! Time really does go faster the older you get! Everything changes so fast it's amazing. Josh is now strictly walking, and he isn't yet 11 months. He also has 5 teeth. 3 on top, 2 on bottom. A 4th on top is about to break through too. Conner has figured out how to open doors for real now. Sometimes he would open them on accident, he never figured out how to turn the handle all the way, but 2 days ago, he figured it out, and it has been his mission to open and close every door in the house! What scares me is he has opened the front door too, so we got more child proofing things. Hopefully at least a few more months until he figures that out too.

Halloween was a blast! Conner had a great time. He wanted to go to every house!!!! For some reason when he wants something he asks for it in a high pitched voice. Like juice, cheese, please. all in a high pitch voice. So when learning TRICK OR TREAT he would say it in a high voice and it sounded more like tweet tweet. It was so cute!! We are actually going to be starting speach therapy with Conner next week. He just isn't talking as much as he should for his age so hopefully this will help.

We leave for Ohio 2 weeks from tomorrow!! I'm not looking forward to the drive there with both kids in the car, but it will be great to be there!!! We get to see family, and eat great food. What is better then that?!?!?! I can't wait, good things lay ahead!

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

I just love looking at other people's pictures so I figure people like looking at mine too!! Our family went to a pumpkin patch this past week and it was great. In Texas it has rained every day during the month of October except for 2 whole days...yes, I'm actually in England....it feels like that anyway. So it was finally not raining so we took advantage of it. Well, it may not have been raining, but it sure was cold, for Texas anyway, and super, super muddy!

The pumpkin patch was about 30 min. away, but worth the drive.

We almost got stuck in the mud in the parking lot, but thanks to Kyle learning how to drive in the snow, he used those techniques to get us a good parking spot without getting stuck at all! I knew there was a reason we lived in Idaho!! haha

Just a little plug, I have recently started weight watchers and have lost 9lbs in the first 2 weeks!! Making my total since moving to Texas a total loss of 16lbs!! It feels great! I love being able to wear pants I haven't been able to in a while. But more then that, I love feeling healthy!!

This is Conner feeding the longhorn at the patch. I thought he would be scared of them, but he has no fear.

This is Conner's pumpkin. He is still carrying it around the house!

By the end, Conner was done with the pumpkin patch, so he was crying, but we had a great time overall with the tractor ride, feeding cows, goats, and sheep, and picking our pumpkins.

Our little family! We love being together, especially since Kyle is working 2 jobs now, trying to get us financially ready to get him back to school. So, we may not see him a lot, but when we do we try to have a good time together.

Conner and Josh feel right asleep in the car. Don't you love his socks? He is so stylish! Life is great! I love my family!!!

Conner's 2nd Birthday

2009-10-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

So this picture should be last, but whatever. After a long day and no nap Conner fell asleep while he was eating dinner. He is so cute! And had a great day!

We had a party in the back yard with all of Conner's friends from nursery. We had over 30 people there! It was a lot of fun. I think Conner's favorite part were the balloons.

We put Cars tats on his cheeks!! haha,

Eating his birthday cupcakes!

We opted for cupcakes with the 2 year olds instead of cake. But even the wrappers are in the Cars theme. I had a lot of fun doing this party for Conner! Being a mom is the best!

Conner loved the pull string pinata. I don't know if they are all like this or it just happened to work out this way, but the thing didn't open until the very last string...is that normal? We still have the pinata and Conner just likes playing with it like a real toy.

This was right when Conner woke up, we had a lot of balloons outside his bedroom as a surprise. He loved it! I think it is funny you can see the bungee cord hanging on the door knob because they are french doors you just pull open and Conner can open the doors so we have to bungee cord them so he stays in to go to sleep. haha.. I promise I'm a good mom!!

Ok, Josh is just so cute I had to post a picture of him. All in all it was a great party for Conner and we had a lot of fun. I know I'm posting this about 3 weeks after his birthday, but better late then never right....

9/25/09

2009-09-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

Well both Conner, Joshie, and myself aren't feeling 100%. We all have runny noses, sneezing, coughing, the works. Joshie has had a temp, but his top teeth are about to pop out so I am assuming that is what it's from. It can be hard to not feel great and still be a mom. But what can you do about it. Being a mom is one job you can't call in sick for. Luckily Kyle only has to work the dinner shift tonight and he even made me breakfast in bed! What a great husband!! So, hopefully by tonight we will all be feeling better.

Wed. I started my first official day as a volunteer for Equest, the therapeutic horse ranch. It was so cool! For the class I worked with a horse name Amigo and the rider was named Nancy. Nancy was mostly an independent rider so I just walked alongside in case her foot slid out of the stirrup. Then I got to put Amigo away. I cleaned out his feet for the first time. I have always been afraid of their legs, maybe from when I was kicked, but I was up close and personal with Amigo and he was great! He is a beautiful horse and very friendly. The best part is he understands both Spanish and English! After grooming him I needed to get ready for the next class I was helping with. So I helped get Princess Buttercup ready. This class is for 5-6 year old girls and they are sssoooo cute in their riding gear! The little pink helmets and riding pants with their black knee high riding boots. Too cute! I worked with a little girl named Emma and a pony named Katina. Katina was a little more high maintenance. Maybe because she was smaller and felt intimidated, I don't know. After cleaning her off I got to go into all the stalls and check the water and let the horses windows open. So I got to meet them all! Equest has 30 horses, over 300 riders and 29 acres of land. It really is an amazing facility and does wonders for their riders. Most of them have very little Independence other then when they are on the horse (Nancy was in a wheel chair, so the only "walking" she does is on the horse). I was totally exhausted though afterward. But luckily my feet didn't hurt at all because I have nice boots! I hope to be able to take lessons soon, but there is a waiting list so we will see when I am able to. Now the hard question is if I'm going to stick with Western and learn how to barrel and rope, or switch to English and learn how to jump? decisions decisions...

Kyle and I got to go on our date this past Tuesday. We received 2 free tickets to the Dallas Starz game. So we grabbed a bite to eat before hand then headed down town for the game. It was AWSOME!! Neither of us have gone to a pro-hockey game before. the atmosphere was great and even though the Starz lost 3-1 it was still a really fun date! Maybe kyle will get a job with a sports team and we can have many more dates like this one... that would be great!!

9/11/09

2009-09-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

Wow I can't believe it has been 8 years since 9/11. I'm sure everyone remembers where they were when those planes hit the Twin Towers. The news was saying that over 58,000 people worked in those towers, and only 3,000 were killed, don't get me wrong that's still a lot, but what a blessing it wasn't worse! I'm so grateful to be an American and to live in this wonderful country. I'm so blessed to be here.

Anyway, Joshie is having one of those days where no body is good enough except for mom. I can't put him down without him crying, Kyle can't hold him without him crying. And he loves to pull my hair! OUCH!! It's a good thing he is so cute and I guess it is building up my arm muscles... I can't have the last name Hercules and be a weakling!! haha... it still makes it hard to do anything when you have a 8 month old 20lb baby in your arm at all times!

I'm planning Conner's 2nd birthday party! I can't believe my little baby he just doesn't stop growing! We are doing a Cars themed party. He loves the movie!! He could watch it every day all day. I think I have all the lines memorized! He was so excited when I showed him the invitations. I figure cupcakes will be better with a bunch of 2 year olds rather then cake so I ordered Cars cupcake holder things and little toppers with Lightning McQueen on them. I'm so excited to see his face with all the decorations! Of course like the whole nursery is invited!! It's going to be so fun. His birthday happens to be on conference weekend so we are doing a bbq between sessions. I figure that would be great because everyone eats lunch during then anyway. I just hope he handles it well. He is still taking 5 hour long naps from 1pm-6pm. So I hope he isn't a grump, but he'll enjoy it anyway!!

Tonight's Ward Temple Night, but Kyle is working and I don't have a babysitter or a car, so I think we are going in the morning. I hope that still counts!! haha... I haven't been to the temple since getting out of the Hospital, so I'm really excited to go. I know I can handle it now, I am much healthier.

So since I can't take birth control anymore and I really don't want 18 kids my cousin Mallory has introduced me to the FAM for of natural birth control. It is incredibly interesting and I have already learned so much more about my body. I don't think as women, we truly know as much about how wonderful our bodies are and it is a smart thing to learn. So I'm excited to see how it goes!! Well, Joshie is sitting in my lap and it is getting harder to type, at least I had a few minutes to myself. Oh the life of a mother, but I wouldn't have it any other way!!

9/9/09

2009-09-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

We have recently discovered how fun the park is! Luckily we live just a couple blocks from a little park that the kids just LOVE! We were going there really often when I could just through the kids in the stoller and walk there, but then with the blood clots I wasn't able to go. Now thankfully we have rediscovered the joy that comes with going to the park. Both boys love the swings the most. And Conner loves the slides. I think he likes going because he always seems to make new friends there too.

Conner is such a daredevil though it makes me nervous. He just isn't afraid of anything. He nearly walked off the top of this playground without even thinking about it. Maybe that means he won't be afraid of heights. But man, I'll have gray hair by the time I'm 30!

Anything Conner sees anyone do, he wants to do also. For example, today after changing his diaper Kyle threw the dirty diaper at me. He bent down to change Josh and I through it and nearly hit Kyle's head. Conner thought it was so funny, he just kept throwing the stinky diapers around... hahaha... it was pretty funny, but he just copies EVERYTHING!!!!

Conner is also getting so good at saying more words. His cutest words are bubbles, horse, and pasta. I can point at Josh and say, who is that? And Conner says brother Josh. It really comes out budda jos but hey it's super cute.

For some reason all of a sudden stopped liking to eat the crust of bread... I don't know why. He used to be able to eat a whole sandwich, but now he eats around the crust and feeds the crust to the dogs. Maybe he has always done that and I never noticed... but I truly think he just stopped for some reason, just like he did with rasins, one day he loved them, the next day, not so much. Weird kid...

Joshie is just as cute as can be! He is standing all by himself really often now. He claps his hands while he is standing, but just hasn't figured out the walking thing yet. That's fine with me, he can wait. Luckily he doesn't spit up nearly as much! He does drool a lot still though. He has his 2 bottom teeth and they are so cute!! He has these huge smiles that light up a room. The only time he isn't smiling is if he is hungry or tired. That kid can eat too!! He has 6 containers of the stage 2 foods plus his formula! He is 20 lbs!! but he is still well withen a healthy weight group so more power to him!!

Kyle is still waiting tables, but he is planning on going back to school come January to get his masters. So, we are waiting on the acceptance letter.... He loves playing with the kids though. Anytime he gets on the floor the boys both tackle him! Men, we need a little girl to even things out I think...eventually.

I'm healing well. My blood levels still aren't perfect, but much better, it's really just a guessing game to get it right. I can do a lot more now which is so nice. And I get to enjoy being with my kids all day. I do read A LOT! I just finished the whole Work and the Glory series in 3 months and re-read the Twilight Saga. Plus a few other books in between. I really enjoy reading, I hope my kids will too.

My sister Melanie and I are in a competition with each other. Basically we can't eat sugar, and if one of us messes up, we owe the other one 100$ So, it really isn't that bad I don't think. The first couple of days were the hardest, but now its really not the worst thing. We are in a contest until Thanksgiving. It's only 3 months right?!?! And the best part is, Kyle is doing it too! He hasn't cheated once so I'm super proud of him!

If all goes right, we will be in Ohio for Thanksgiving and that will be fun to be with my side of the family again. It's really nice to be so close to family. We didn't have that in Idaho, but here in Texas it is a blessing. It's funny thinking back to a year ago and remembering where we were and what we were doing. We were still housing managers, I was still pregnant, and Kyle was starting up school again along with his crazy hour jobs. Wow, life moves quickly! But it sure is wonderful when we are so blessed!

Hospital Visit

2009-07-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, well I haven't written in a while because I like to post pictures but we lost the cord to get the pictures from the camera to the computer, so no pics this time. I did want to write about my hospital visit though so I don't have to type the same thing a bunch of times for everyone to know what happened. So, here it goes.

For my birthday this year, my wonderful husband got me exactly what I wanted, a gym membership! I was so excited and was going 6 days a week and working out for an hour each time. It was going great. I went to all different group fitness classes (yoga, spinners, dance, etc) well, I had been doing this for a month and one day I went in but was 1/2 hr late for the class so I decided to work out myself. I stretched and got on a treadmill. I walked the first mile and then started running the second mile. Well about 2 min into the run my entire left side from my hip down just cramped up and wouldn't move. I was able to stretch it out enough to make it home. For the next couple of days it was going back and forth from hurting really bad to being tolerable. So I thought it was just sore muscles. Well, after mentioning what was happening to my mom she thought I might have a pinched nerve so I went to a chiropractor.

It was a Tues. that I went and he thought I had a bruised muscle in my back witch was putting pressure on my nerves and causing my muscles to spasm. He also re-aligned my hips and sent me home to rest the muscles and do some stretches. So now it is Wed. and my left leg is hurting really bad. I can hardly put any pressure on it, by the end of the night it was so swollen that I went to the emergency room. After and ultrasound they found clotting from the top of my thigh down to my knee! I'm 22! Who gets blood clots at 22?!?!?!?

Of course I was admitted to the hospital where I had a heart monitor on in case a piece of the clot broke off and went to my heart/lungs. My blood was drawn every morning. I had an IV in my right arm, but it was not connected to anything, just there to bother me I guess.... Had my vitals taken every few hours, and so on. No privacy! I'll just say that much when it comes to hospital stays, at least I had my own room though. That's good.

I had to stay there so long because my blood didn't want to thin! The doc said I needed to drink a few more margaritas because my liver was to healthy!! I told him I have never had alcohol and he said that was probably why it is so healthy. So, the normal person is only on 2-8mg of Cumadin(blood thinner) and I am on 12.5mg!!! But I'm sure 90% of people that come in have had a drink before! Thanks Word of Wisdom!! Do you think I should talk to my Bishop about starting to drink for medical purposes?!?!?!

Anyway, after 8 long days I am home again. I can't pick my kids up for 2 weeks! Thankfully I have lots of help (my mom and siblings came from Ohio to help) I can never take birth control again (that's what they think caused the clotting) I have to go have my blood taken a few times a week for the next 6-9 months and I will have to be monitored the rest of my life. But at least we caught it and I am recovering! Thanks for the prayers!!

Kyle's Graduation

2009-04-11T06:56:00.000-07:00

Kyle officially graduated on April 10, 2009! Elder Neil L. Anderson (newest member of the quarm of the 12) was the guest speaker. He told us the just the previous day he had all 14 of the current prophets and apostles put their hands on his head and ordain him. What an experiece that must have been! He spook to the graduates about the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God. It was very well done. Of course Kyle was easy to spot out. There were some 1400 graduates. Over 600 served full time missions. 50% were married and of those married, there were 70 couples graduating together!! I'm not sure how many had kids, let alone 2 kids! I'm not sure how Kyle did everything he had going on this past and even previous semesters. But I do know he was not alone. Only with help for God could this be accomplished, and I truly know our Heavenly Father helped all of us, but specially Kyle.

I couldn't be more proud of Kyle right now. He worked so hard and I'm so grateful he accomplished his goal. And it does help that we are now able to get out of Rexburg! We are headed to Dallas soon. I'm actually leaving with the boys on April 16 and Kyle will be driving down w/ all of our stuff the week after. Change is so exciting! We have no idea what we will be doing, but thank goodness for family and the knowledge that everything has a plan and it will all work out.

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Joshie is getting so big!! He loves standing! You can just let him hold on to your fingers and he will stand. He eats all the time and gets so mad when the bottle is empty. At the end of the movie the Incredibles... Jack Jack is stolen and then they find out he has those super powers too. Well, Josh makes those same faces! He turns bright red, sticks out his fists and grunts when he gets mad. It is so funny!! He is also a charmer too. It was about 10pm on Thurs. night. We had a long day of traveling from Ohio back to Rexburg. He had been in bed about 20 min and decided to wake up again. Everyone else was in bed too, so I got up and needless to say was a little annoyed, I wanted to sleep... I start changing Josh's diaper and of course he gives me those huge gummy smiles and I told him to stop smiling at me because I was trying to be annoyed...haha.. well he didn't listen and of course I just laughed and couldn't be upset that I lost a little sleep because we had that time together.

Conner is also a huge ball of fun! He loved being in Ohio. He got to play with his aunt and uncles and had a great time. He even cried when they had to go to school and got so excited when they came home. He also loved the cats! He would chase them every where!!! And try to hold them. I don't know how many times I said the words, "Be soft!" He was so spoiled there and I know he will be again in Texas. I'm excited to see how he loves the dogs. He just loves animals!

Here is my graduate!! Great job Kyle!!!

finally some pics...

2009-02-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

Conner is just to cute!!

Joshua doing his favorite thing, just hanging out

Eat baby brother! I want you to eat!!

A little smile caught on camera.

I love my brother!!!

Check out those lips!!

Mommy and baby, so happy together

Conner playing with his dad

So sleepy Josh

Conner sitting in a dish, he thinks everything in this house belongs to him...

7 hours!!

2009-02-15T16:01:00.000-08:00

YEAH!!! For the first time ever, Joshua Kyle Hercules slept for 7 hours straight on the night of Feb. 14! Happy Valentine's Day to us!! It was wonderful to get that rest! I think it was making up for the past 2 months... about a week and a half ago we were actually in the hospital with little Josh. He had RSV and it got pretty severe so we headed to the hospital where he needed an IV and breathing treatments. The poor little guy was so out of it and dehydrated that when they were inserting the IV, they tried 8 times to do it and he didn't cry once! I would have been crying by then! I get mad if they miss the first time. But he is a trooper and doing much better now. We finally have a formula that works for him, and of course it's the most expensive brand. 25$ a can, and he would go through 8 cans a month, so 200$ in food for a two month old!! Holy Cow, that's half of what the rest of us eat all together! So, the little stinker is lactose intolerant, slightly colic, has been in the hospital, I swear this kid is giving me gray hair already at 2 months!! I'm a little nervous to raise him for at least the next 18 years!

Conner did the cutest thing on Friday. So, when I'm on the phone doing Mary Kay phone calls I always tell Conner we need to be so quite and put my finger over my lips and make the "sshhh" sound. So the other day Conner was sitting on a chair and I just hear him babbling on so I look over at him and he has Kyle's MP3 player up to his ear. I asked him who he was talking to and he puts his finger over his mouth and goes "ssshhhhh" hahahaha.... it was so funny! It really shows that kids watch and copy everything we do! Speaking of Conner, he has figured out how to climb up on the couches/chairs/etc. That makes me a nervous wreck too because he always gets so close to falling off and I have to run over and save him. Our food cabinet is above the built in desk, and yesterday he pushed a chair over to the computer, climbed up the chair, climbed on the desk, opened the cabinet and tried to get out all the food! Man!!! these kids wear me out! You would think I would have lost all my baby weight chasing after them booth. Good news though, next week is Conner's last week to not be in nursery!!!! Starting the first Sunday in March he starts going! We can't wait!

I leave for Disney World this Thursday! I can't wait to have the warm weather and ride roller coasters again since I'm finally not pregnant! People keep asking me if I'm bring the baby. I'm like, HECK NO!! This is a vacation! They always sound shocked and surprised that I would leave my baby. They ask what he will do without me. Well, he will probably eat, sleep, and poop just like he always does!! haha... my kids will survive without me. It's only 4 days, and I think everyone needs a break every now and then. And, I know my kids will be that much cuter when I come back. I'm so excited!!!!!

We still haven't found out anything about Kyle continuing on with seminary. We were supposed to find out by Friday, and here it is Sunday, and nothing. So, no news is good news? Or no news is bad news? Who knows. I just want to find out so we know where to go from here. We shall see in due time I guess. It's just crazy that so much is going to be happening in the next few months. Kyle is actually half way done with his last semester! yeah!!! Then we can leave Rexburg. I actually got stuck in the snow the other day and it was awful! I was wearing heels and had Josh in the car. What could I do? take off me heels and have josh drive while I push? haha.... Luckily people here are pretty nice so I was just able to flag a couple guys down to push me out. Thus, I'm sick of the snow and ready to be completely done with it!

So, all in all. I have the best kids that drive me crazy, the best husband who is so close to graduating, and just the best unpredictable life ever!!

Finally another post...

2009-01-23T10:41:00.000-08:00

So, I am finally getting a chance to write again. Life has been crazy busy. We needed to buy a new computer, and unfortunatly it doesn't have the place to put the memory card from our camera in it, and Kyle doesn't have the cord anymore, so, thus no new pictures. I will need to drag out the laptop to upload them all and post them. So, hopefully soon, I will get some new pictures up. It's been getting better with the two babies. Josh is sleeping a little better through the night. He only wakes up 2 times a night to eat. Sadly, Josh did not handle my breast milk well for some reason. He is now on a special formula that is agreeing much better with his system. It is lactose free, but hopefully he will grow out of it (apparently most babies do). But, other then that, he is really healthy. We are still waiting to see the first smile, however he does stay awake much more and has beautiful blue eyes! He is the cutest baby at church, and Conner is definently the cutest toddler. He is such a ladies man... I'm a little nervous for 15 years from now, but we will handle that when we get there I guess. Conner only has 1 more month until we can start bringing him to nursury!!! We are really excited about that. I'm earning a free trip to Disney World next month! I'm so excited for a real vacation, Mary Kay is so great! Then in March I'm going to Chicago, Kyle is graduating in April, and my sister is getting married in May, so we will all had back to Chicago, then in May we will offically be leaving Rexburg!! This is going to be a fun, busy year. I just want to mention how great it is to wear normal clothes again! Well, I need to finish lunch, so I have to wrap this up. Hopefully pictures will be on the next one.

Joshua Kyle Hercules

2008-12-18T20:19:00.000-08:00

Baby Josh wrapped in a fleece blanket so comfy!!

All the boys hanging out on the couch!

Josh is such a good sleeper! He slept 4 hours his first night at home!!

Me and Josh at the hospital, recovering from a long day.

Daddy and Josh bonding at the hospital.

Joshua Kyle Hercules was born at 10:15pm on Monday, December 15. He weighed 8lbs, 21 1/2 in long. And what a cutie!! We can't tell exactly who he looks like yet, but I would say he looks more Hercules then anything. He has the cutest pudgy cheeks just like his daddy did.

Kyle and I were to go to the hospital on Sunday night. Kyle's brother Joey ended up being here in Rexburg, and was able to stay at home with Conner. That was a huge blessing not having to worry about finding babysitters to help with Conner. So, we went to the hospital at 8pm to be induced. Josh was still pretty high, but I was dilated some, so they ended up putting some kind of tape thing on my cervix to soften it and help and I was just to sleep there at the hospital. Well, it would have been fine, except Josh was being so wiggly they had a hard time finding him on the monitor and keeping him there. So, at least every 15 min. the nurse was back in adjusting the strap across my belly. Obviously, when somebody is waking you up that often, it is hard to get a good sleep. Monday morning they started the pitocin. After a while they were able to break my water, and I hold the record for the most water!! It was amazing how small my belly seemed even after that. Well, after hours or waiting, Josh's heart rate kept dropping. So, they had to stop the pitocin. That would stop my contractions, and we would be stuck. Then they would start the pit again, but then his heart would drop again, and the cycle kept going on like that until he was finally born. I only had to push for 20 min, but the cord was wrapped around Josh's neck 2 times. So, he was really lethargic, and pale. It makes me so grateful to be in such a country though, where there are people who could help and have the medical personal there. I don't know what would have happened if I didn't have the doctors and nursers there, you just never know what kind of emergency may happen. Anyway, Josh had to stay in the nursery over night, but that did give us some time to sleep and rest from all that hard work. But man is he worth it!!

Conner and Josh are already best friends...ok, well Conner doesn't know how to be soft really yet, but he is getting there. He is fascinated with Josh. It's a lot of work trying to take care of both boys, but it helps that I have the best husband to help me out. Well, Josh just finished eating and I need to try to get some sleep. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep up the blog with everything else going on!!!

baby soon

2008-12-12T14:38:00.000-08:00

Yesturday I had the amneocentesis done and it wasn't really what I had expected. Really, it wasn't to bad, it wasn't to great either. I don't know that I would want to do it again. The kin prt didn't hurt at all, but as soon as it hit my uterous, it cramped up, and wasn't nice. After a couple of hours though the cramping stopped and all was back to normal. So, we took the sample to the hospital for the testing, and I stayed in the car while Kyle ran it inside. He gets up to the desk to drop it off and says "I have the amniotic fluid for testing to drop off." The Secretary replies, "Are you the patient?" "umm... yeah, I'm expecting any day now..." here's your sign... Are you serious? Since when has a man had amniotic fluid?!?!?!?! But it does make for a good laugh!

We got the results in today. They can't say for sure that his lungs are fully mature but they know they are not immature. The best they can say is that they are intermediately developed. AAgghhh... then what do you do? However, by now, they could be developed. So, after discussing with the doctor the options, we are scheduled to be induced Sunday night. And hopefully have a baby by Monday morning. My sister Melanie will be driving up on Sunday to help out with Conner. I'm really excited to see her again, it has been long time. I think the last time was nearly a year ago. And my mom will be here in 13 days!! When I told my mom though today, she is a little disappointed that baby herc will be 10 days old by the time she sees him. But I'll be ready for the help. We will see how it goes.

amnio....

2008-12-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

So, it seems that after every doctor apointment I have to blog about it.... I just got home from having an ultrasound done of baby herc. As of now, he is measuring to be just over 9lbs. I can't say I'm surprized, but technically I still have 3 weeks, so he could still grow a lot! He has a huge head, of course, a big abdoman, and little legs. haha, short and stout. And I tell you what he has some huge cheeks!! Just like his daddy did when he was a baby. Along with seeing how big the baby was they also measured how much water I have. The doctor said through a normal pregnancy one would have 10-20 oz (I think oz, that's the only thing I can think of). Well, as of now I have over 30oz of water!!! That could be one reason I am measuring so big is because of all the water. I asked the doctor if that is harmful to the baby at all. He said that the only negative they have found is that the baby will just kind of float around and never come down into the pelvis to deliver. He checked my cervix also, and I am about 2-3, but he couldn't touch the babies head, so either his head is to big to fit, or there is to much water keeping him floating to high. The doctor said if he knew the babies lungs were fully developed, he would induce me tomorrow. The only way to know that is by doing an amniocentesis. So, I have that scheduled for tomorrow, and if it shows that his lungs are developed then I could be induced as early as this weekend. Or, I can just wait and see if I go into labor. The hard thing is they can't break my water because the baby is still to high, and the only thing to bring the baby down is contractions, but because there is so much water contractions may not even do it. And that makes my risk for a c-section even higher. Oh, the joys of labor and delivery, and the unknown!! So, I'm a little nervous for tomorrow, but I'm sure it will it will all work out.

Conner has figured out how to blow kisses now. It is so cute!! The other day we were all going out to run errands and I had Conner's hand and we were walking out to the car. All of a sudden, Conner stopped and turned around to look at Kyle who was locking the apartment. So Conner stopped and looked at Kyle and held up his hand and wouldn't move until Kyle took Conner's other hand. It was super cute!! I'm excited to see him as a big brother, maybe even as early as this weekend!! We will see.

Snow....

2008-12-08T06:30:00.000-08:00

So, it fianlly snowed last night. I'm not sure exactly how much, but at least 3-4 inches. It has been so nice not having to worry about road conditions or snow boots or anything like that. And it has made it to Dec. 8 which I would say is a record for Rexburg. I'm not sure how true it is, but Kyle was telling me about a rumer that has been going around. He said that President Clark asked all the BYU-Idaho faculty to fast and pray with him that Rexburg would not have snow until the roof on the new expansion was complete so the building could stay on track. I don't know if the roof is done, it's hard to say, but I wouldn't be surprized.
I'm still pregnant...and Joshua is still huge... my belly is measuring full term and Wed. we will start the ultrasounds to get an estimate of how big he is. Can't you just see it in the paper..."Hercules Baby Born 12 lbs!!!" That's what he feels like now anyway. I still don't have a hospital bag packed, or any of the little baby clothes pulled out, or really anything really ready for the baby, so I guess I'm not prepared enough for him to come, but I sure am ready. Each day is a victory if I make it through the day. And it has been a GREAT day if I get dinner made. haha!! I'm ready to have my body back and see my toes again! But Christmas is in 17 days which means I will have the help of my mom in 17 days!! And I will get to see my sister and her man (whom I have never met). I can't wait to have the help of family! That's the hardest part of living so far away I think.
The new apartment is great. Conner loves it! I feel like we have child-proofed everything, and yet every day he finds something new to get into. I don't know how he does it, he is just too smart. He is a great kid though, always laughing and playing. He loves shoes!! He will just carry his around and he gets so excited to put them on. Once you put them on him though, he goes straight to the front door and waits to leave. He tries to put his coat on himself now, and gets one arm in and thinks he is done. It is so funny. He also LOVES the Christmas tree. So, the bottom half of the tree never stays decorated for long before he takes everything off. Then, we find his little toys balancing somehow on the lower branches!! Who knew there was a bouncy ball there at Baby Jesus' birth!! It's so fun to have him here for Christmas. I don't think he understands Santa Clause or anything yet (maybe next year), but it will be fun to let him open some presents and see his face on Christmas morning.
Hopefully the next time I write, I will have to post pictures of little baby Hercules!!!!

Doctor Visit

2008-11-19T18:38:00.000-08:00

So, yesturday I had my doctor apointment for the pregnancy. Of course, little Hercules is measuring HUGE!!! And, he is a wiggly worm. It took them nearly 15 min. because he wouldn't stop moving. My stomach was doing waves. The nurse just kept laughing, and my belly was just covered with the jelly stuff from it!! And I am measuring 3 weeks early still. My next apt. is Dec. 2 and will have to start doing ultra sounds again at each apointment to make sure little Herc has everything he needs and is healthy. They may have to induce me early if there is any question about anything. Being so uncomfortable that sound good, however I do know my chance for a c-section dramatically increases especially if he is to big. So that does make me a little nervous. But, I know everything will work out and it will be worth it. It would be nice to have the baby Early, however, not being close to any family makes the planning a little more difficult with Conner. And with a lot of our friends up here taking off for Christmas soon our choices are even more limited. So I told my sister Melanie she is on-call and may have to drive up from Provo to help me out! I guess only time will tell. Maybe it will all work out and I won't have the baby until Dec. 26 and my mom will be here and the only problem will be my comfort.
The move is going pretty well. I would say 75% is done. We still have a little more unpacking and organizing to do, but it will hopefully be done soon. I have had some help with Conner which is nice but he is still taking apart the house so it is taking me a lot longer to get things done. So, I'm excited for Thanksgiving and all the food!! And Kyle's birthday on Sunday and cake!!! The holidays are the best!

7 times in 23 months

2008-11-15T19:18:00.000-08:00

So, we are finally in our new apartment but far from being done unpacking! I counted today, and we have moves 7 times in the past 23 months! Ever since Kyle and I have been married basically. We started, Appletree (rexburg), Brooks Landing (Modesto, CA), Kati and Seth (Frisco, TX), Heartland (Rexburg), House with Blue roof (Rexburg), Brick House (Rexburg), and Main Street Station (Rexburg). Count them all... and 7 times!! That averages to us moving every 3 months. I guess the positive side is that we can't be pack rats. We get ride of things and have DI boxes with every move. Hopefully this is the last time we move in Rexburg!! It better be!!! Our contract here goes through May and then we will be out of here. The hardest part now is being so pregnant. I only have a month left, and everything I need to do to get ready for the new baby has now been doubled in having to put everything away. Kyle is such a great husband! I could tell I was starting to over work myself today and he made me sit on the bed and gave me a foot rub. Then I got to relax on the bed and just tell him where I wanted everything to be put. Who could ask for anyone better?!?!?!?
Conner has been having a lot of fun exploring everything and today he discovered how fun it can be to unroll the toilet paper from the roll (our other houses didn't have the roll dispenser things for him to enjoy). So that has been interesting trying to keep him entertained and get stuff done. Right now, his room is a mess so his mattress is on the floor in our room and he is sleeping there tonight. Luckily he won't ever remember sleeping on the floor!! haha...
We are excited to go to the family ward tomorrow. But it will be interesting sharing the building with 3 other wards at the same time. Kyle says he gives us 3 Sundays before we both have callings. I guess we will see. Part of me wants to be in primary again. I love it!! And Conner only has 4 1/2 months until he goes to nursery!!! I'm pretty excited for that. Of course, I'll have another one to chase after soon anyway, but one day I won't have to worry about bringing Cheerios and juice and pray a tantrum doesn't start. But I know I need to cherish these time b/c they don't last forever and Conner is already growing up so fast. I love the song by Trace Adkins, I think it is called Your Gonna Miss This, it makes me cry every time. Well, I'm really tired and need to head off to bed, hopefully I will be comfortable enough to get to sleep!! Gotta love pregnancy!

2008-11-08T19:50:00.000-08:00

So, Kyle and I just got back from the much needed trip to the temple. It is amazing how calming and peaceful the temple is, and no matter how many times you go you can still learn more. It was a completely full session, and three people were actually there taking out their own endowments, so of course all the family was there for them. It was great to remember going through my first time in Columbus. And I have a greater appreciation for Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist when she says that her son jumps in her womb when Mary the mother of Jesus comes by. Little Josh was just going crazy inside me the whole time, and I will admit it got pretty uncomfortable, but he must have just known where he was and was so excited about it. Now, I'm super hungry, so Kyle being a wonderful husband is making us dinner, and Conner just went to bed, so I am taking advantage of the time.
Kyle and I actually found an apartment that is pretty nice and will give us our basic needs. And the best part is that it is subsidized, or however you spell that. So it is much cheaper then other places and we will have a dishwasher again!! Oh, the little things in life you don't realize how much you miss until you don't have it anymore. The boys will be sharing a pretty small room, and Conner will probably have his mattress on the floor, but the nice thing is he won't remember it!! haha... so we will find out Monday if we were approved and get to move in this week. It's a real blessing though because all the other subsidized housing is on long, and I mean long waiting lists. So, hopefully it will all work out and we can move in sooner rather then later.
Conner has been very needed lately. Maybe he is teething again... it never ends!! and we actually played a little game because he would not let anyone else other then myself hold him. So Kyle stood at the other side of the room and would take a step towards me holding Conner. As soon as Kyle took a step forward Conner would yell and whip around and grab my neck. If Kyle took a step backwards Conner would just watch him closely, and as soon as Kyle would step forward again Conner would yell and grab me again. It was pretty funny, but I will admit, it is getting really hard for me to hold him all the time now. He is getting so heavy for me, and it doesn't help my belly gets in the way. But, I know I need to enjoy this time because it is already flying by. We have so many blessings in life, and it's our job to realize how blessed we truly are.

2008-11-05T12:32:00.000-08:00

Today I am officially 32 weeks! I haven't taked any pictures of the belly throughout this pregnancy, and fianally this morning took the first one. I almost feel guilty because I took them at least every two weeks with Conner, I guess because this isn't the first one.... and I already think I am bigger with this baby then I ever was with Conner. None of my clothes are fitting at all. I am down to only 3 shirts that fit, and 2 pairs of pants. So, obviously they just get rotated every day. Other then that, I just wear Kyle's clothes! I have a feeling that Conner is soooo good, because his little brother that will be here next month will be a handful! We are still working on the name, well kind of. Kyle really wants a Kyle Eugene Hercules Jr. However, I already mix up Kyle and Conner's name, and adding another Kyle would be crazy for me. Plus, my sister Melanie is planning on getting married to a guy named Kyle as well. So I don't think so. I really want the name to be Joshua Kenneth Hercules. So I call the baby Josh, and Kyle calls him Kyle Jr. so we may comprimise and name him Joshua Kyle. I still think if I go through the pain of labor and delivery, I should at least get to pick the name. But Kyle says he is the one blessing the baby, so he can change the name!! Oh, the joys of parenthood!! It will all work out though, and the baby's name will be Joshua!!
Conner is walking all over the place now, he hardly crawls anymore. It's pretty nice because he can entertain himself so much more. And I rotate a load of laundry and I'm just EXHAUSTED!! So, it's really hard for me to play with him all day. Poor Kyle, I put so much on him, since it's so hard for me to get anything done these days. But Kyle is the best husband, and does sooo much for us! I don't know what I would do without him. We also recently found out that my mom will be flying out Dec. 25-Jan. 5. It will be soooo great to have her help. And we will be moving during that week too, so her help couldn't come at a better time. At least Kyle will be graduating in April, and maybe we can move closer to family. It all just depends on if Kyle is hired as a seminary teacher by the church. He is doing great student teaching and I'm really excited for him. Well, Conner is getting into things he shouldn't be, so I should go, but I think I'll be blogging a lot more now that I am getting it!!

Finally another post!!

2008-11-04T20:11:00.001-08:00

So, I'm still learning how to use this blog thing... Kyle is much better at computer stuff then I am, but I try!! I figured since it has been about 7 months since the last post it was about time. It just seems that with facebook and e-mails I just usually do that, but I just have the urge. Maybe it's a pregnancy thing!! haha, thankfully I'm due NEXT MONTH!!! This pregnancy has definently gone by much faster then being pregnant with Conner. And speaking of Conner, he looked sooo cute for Halloween!! We were the "Farmer Family" and Kyle took advantage of being bald and we painted a Jack-O-Lantern on the back of his head!!! It was great!!

We went Trick or Treating all over town. It was great, and a lot of fun, luckily it wasn't to cold yet. However, today of course it started snowing again!! And we found out that we have to move again. So, we are looking at our different options. It's just not going to be fun with the weather changing so much and being so pregnant. And this little guy inside my belly is already a ball of energy! He moves sooo much, and I'm very uncomfortable, but it will be done soon, and then I'm sure I will be missing feeling him move. Well, trying to attach the pictures is driving me crazy, because they won't go where I want them. Hahahaha. And we need to go to bed b/c Kyle has to wake up super early. I'm sure I will get better at this blog thing!

Conner Joseph Hercules Birth to 4 Months

2008-01-31T11:05:00.000-08:00

Welcome Everyone!!

We wanted to create this blog so we could keep up with everyone and allow you all to see our handsome son as often as you would like (especially you grandmas and grandpas!!

Conner is getting so big! He has learned how to use his lungs, so he loves screaming as loud as possible. He has also learned how to jump in his bouncer. It's so nice because he will jump in that thing for over and hour and wear himself out and just take a little nap in it. He always has a smile on his face and catches the girls eyes with his beautiful blue eyes! Above are Conner's first pictures with Mommy and Daddy. Below are a bunch of pictures from when he was first born all the way up to now. Enjoy!!

Conner's first bath at home. He didn't like it so much when he was first born but he LOVES his bath now!! He never wants to get out, and he loves getting mommy all wet while he is kicking and splashing.

Conner's first smile caught on camera!

Conner wants to be just like Daddy!!

What is that light that keeps flashing at me?

Me and Mommy are best friends almost as close as me and elmo!

My favorite toy, and you have to stay warm in Rexburg!!

Look at my BEAUTIFUL blue eyes!! I can't see over my highchair!!

Another picture...

Conner loves looking at his own reflection, he must know he is the best looking baby in town!!