Parker's Baptism

We are so proud of Parker for making the decision to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What a special day for him and us. We were blessed to have a lot of family and friends come and support us. The weather was beautiful outside and the day was really nice. The program went as follows:

Saturday November 2, 2013

                                                                        10:00 AM.
                                                      Blackfoot East Stake Center

Baptism of Parker Matthew Christiansen

 Opening Song: I Like My Birthdays

 Chorister: Erika Christiansen

 Pianist: Great Grandma, Sharon Williams

 Opening Prayer: Grandpa, Paul Yancey

 Talk on Baptism: Grandma, Serena Yancey

 Baptism of Parker by his father, Matthew Christiansen

 Talk on the Holy Ghost:  Erika Christiansen

 Confirmation of Parker by his Father, Matthew Christiansen

 Bishopric Remarks

 Blessing of Pieper by her father Matthew Christiansen

 Closing Song: The Holy Ghost

 Closing Prayer: Grandma Linda Christiansen

Parker's 8th Birthday

My oldest turned 8 on the 1st!! Holy cow! I am getting old! Matt and I are still in shock that we have an 8 year old, we can't even remember what life was like when it was just the two of us before we had kids. We sure love Parker and all the wild and crazy excitement he adds to our family. He is a great kid and we are so proud of him. For his birthday I sent boxed rice crispy treats to school, I was so overwhelmed with his birthday, Halloween, his baptism, and Pieper's blessing that I didn't want to have to worry about getting to his school to drop off treats. And with Halloween being the day before the kids were all probably still on a sugar high anyway. I felt a little guilty for not making him something homemade that he chose, but only for a little while. After he got home from school and Matt got home from working, we met my parents, Grandpa and Grandma Yancey, for Pizza at Mr. Pizza. It was delicious! I love their cheese breadsticks, I could eat them for dinner all by themselves! Parker wanted pizza and at first he chose Little Ceasers, but I convinced him that Mr. Pizza was better and that we needed to go there. It was great and I didn't have to cook!! We came back to the house for cake and gifts. Parker wanted an Army (camouflage) cake this year. It turned out great and he loved it. When he came home from school and saw it, he was so excited and immediately told me how much he loved it. I was glad I could at least do that for him to make his day special. He got a cub scout shirt, neckerchief, and scout book from Matt and I, along with a baptism book and towel. Grandma Yancey made him a quilt for his bed and a scrapbook about his baptism. Grandpa Yancey got him a remote control truck. He was quite excited for a new remote control vehicle. (Grandpa & Grandma Christiansen were out of town on Parker's birthday weekend but they got him a new church outfit with a white shirt, tie, and tie tack and he looked so handsome in his new clothes!). After gifts we had cake and then called it a night. We had a big day to get ready for the next day!

2 months

I am so far behind blogging, today I am playing catch up before the month is over with. Pieper turned 2 months old on November 1st, which was also Parkers birthday. It was a good day to celebrate a few milestones. At Pieper's doctors appointment she was 10 lbs, 13 oz.  (37%), and 22 1/4" long (31%). Yay!! She is getting big and even has some chunky little legs. which I love. I have always wanted a little chunky baby, but none of my other kids were even a little chunky. I was glad to see that she was even on the growth scale. None of the other kids were even close to the 37th percentile. She is such a great baby. She is sleeping pretty great at night only waking once or twice and loves to eat. She is drinking about 3 ounces every 2 1/2 to 3 hours! She loves to be held facing out and her favorite person is her mommy, (of course) but daddy comes in close second. She loves to be talked to and loves to be part of any conversation. She smiles a lot, some due to gas and some not. We love her so much and can't imagine our family without her.

1 Month Old

Pieper was one month old on October 1st. ONE MONTH!! Where has the time gone??!! I can't believe that my baby...my LAST baby...is already one month old. I am seriously not liking how fast this is happening. She is going to be one year old before I know it. I am loving having a little newborn in the house again. It is SERIOUSLY a lot of work and it is hard, definitely hard, but I look at that sweet face and it melts my heart. Pieper is such a sweet baby and loves to be the center of attention. She loves to be held (surprise, surprise!) and loves to be talked to. She loves her sister Paige and often gets "kidnapped" by her to be taken to their bedroom to be sung songs to or played with. She is going to have the best time when she is older with her big sister. She is sleeping pretty good throughout the night, usually waking only twice. I can live with that! Matt has been a super good helper at night, taking turns with the feedings during the night. It is so much harder with #4 because the three other kids have so much going on, I can't just sleep in or take napes when she is sleeping. Parker has school, Paige has school, Paige has to catch the bus, Parker has homework, Paige has homework, dinner needs made, laundry washed, grocery shopping.....the list goes on and on. So in that aspect it is so much harder. But Matt and I both knew that she was meant to be part of our family and now we feel like we are complete! Here she is 1 month old and counting!

Newborn Pictures

I love the trend of getting newborn pictures. Babies just don't stay so tiny and precuiously (Did I just make up a new word?!)
 small for very long and I feel like these images at least capture it a little bit. Pieper was an absolute angel for pictures, she slept almost the entire time. Although we found out that she did not want her head to be placed on her hands, she kept turning it to one side or the other. I think she is absolutely beautiful..I know I have a biased opinion, I can, I am the mom!

CheckUp

We took Pieper in for her 2 week checkup, well she was 3 weeks old when we actually got her in to the Dr. She weighed 8lbs 1 oz. and was 20 inches long. and her head was 35.8 cm. So she had gained an entire pound plus an ounce and is in the 30% for weight. She grew 1 inch and is in the 24% for height and the 33% for head circumference. I can't believe she has gained that much in just a few short weeks. She is a great eater and maybe that has something to do with it. The doctor said she looked perfect and I couldn't agree with him more!

Paige Turns 5!

Paige turned 5 on the 12th of April, but we celebrated her birthday on the 6th because I was going to be out of town on her actual birthday (scrapbooking with my mom and Charyn). Paige didn't seem to mind at all that we were celebrating early, especially since that meant that she got to open presents earlier. We had a few family and friends over to help us celebrate with dinner and cake and ice cream. We made hamburgers and hot dogs with all the fixings, potato salad, veggie tray, fruit tray, chips, and soda. This year Paige wanted a Lalaloopsey cake and I was able to talk her into just the face of a Lalaloopsey. I think it turned out very well and Paige loved it so much!! I makes me so happy to see how excited they are when they see the finished cake and love it! Paige was spoiled for her birthday and got a variety of great things. Doc McStuffins dress up, Doc McStuffins doctors kit with Lambie and the big book of boo-boos. She got several new Lalaloopsey dolls, a cowgirl hat (that she had to have when we were in Cal-Ranch), an itunes gift card, a new outfit, dress up clothes, ballet slippers, a new barbie, and a few other things. She loved them all and we were very appreciative of those that came and showed their love and support for our sweet and sassy little girl!!

17 Weeks

17 weeks along on the 5th of April.
We get to find out the gender of the baby on the 8th!! Can hardly wait!

14 Weeks

14 weeks along this pregnancy on the 15th of March!
I am feeling tired all the time still and the morning sickness is still around. My gag reflex is out of control and almost anything can make me gag and want to throw up. Overall I am feeling pretty good and have not gained any weight yet, although it looks like it, the baby is pushing it's way out front and my poor body knows exactly what to do after 3 other kids.

Paxten's 2 Yr. Photos

At the beginning of May I got Paxten's 2 year photos taken, so I was only about 3 months behind, but it got done. He was a litle stinker and would not hold still or let me go for Misty to take the picture. I was about to give up, when Charyn arrived with Zander to get some photos of him as well. Paxten was so excited to see his cousin that he finally started to smile. And of course at the end of the session he was all smiles and would sit on the chair, and played in the cube. But it had to be HIS idea. I was thrilled that she was able to get a few good smiles out of my little guy, and I must admit I think he is pretty darn cute!!

We're Prego!

 

Matt and I are thrilled about our new addition coming to our family in September this year. We can't believe we will soon be a family of 6!! We will be very outnumbered, but can hardly wait to find out if it is a boy or a girl, and yes we are going to find out this time. We have also decided that this will be our last baby. :(  we feel like our family will be complete after this baby and I am not sure how many more children my body can handle delivering. It is quite the ordeal to have a c-section, and with each kids it gets harder and harder and I have also had preeclampsia and it gets progressively worse with each pregnancy. So we are excited to be completing our family and sharing the news with our loved ones.

 

I compiled a photo collage with all of these photos and showed it to my parents, Matt's parents, and Charyn to tell them the news. It took a few minutes before they got the message, but were very excited to be getting a new grandbaby or neice/nephew. After I told the grandparents, I published the picture on facebook and got quite the number of respnses and congratulations. It is so fun to share good news with others!

 

At this point in the picture, I am only about 6 weeks along. 34 more to go!

 

I shared the news with my parents when I was about 7.5 weeks. A few days after, I had some bleeding and was really worried about miscarriage. I called the doctor and we had a few blood tests to determine if I was still carrying a fetus. Those were 3 long, and emotional days. It is amazing how attached I felt to this new baby when it was still so small and tiny. In fact I hadn't even seen a sonogram of it or heard it's heart beat, but I was still so worried about losing this precious life. I cried, and cried and then I finally came to peace with whatever was to happen. I knew that Heavenly Father would bless us with another child it if was His will. I also knew that if I did miscarry, I would have the opportunity to raise this child in the next life. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the plan of Salvation and the peace it brought into my life at this scary time. I took a blood test on Monday morning then had to go back on Wednesday to see if my HCG levels had increased or deceased. It was so hard to wait and not know, but I was feeling positive that I was still pregnant after I had talked to a few friends that had had miscarriages and realized what happened to me was quite different. Wednesday passed and I still hadn't heard back from the Doctor. Finally on Thursday morning I got a call to tell me that I was still indeed pregnant!! YAY!! We were so excited. After this little scare we decided not to share the news with anyone else until I was in the second trimester, just in case.

 

I was about 11 weeks along when we told Matt's parents and I was almost 12 weeks when we put the picture on Facebook. After reaching 13 weeks I was so relieved and knew that everything would be fine. I went to the doctor at 9 weeks and I was able to have an ultrasound where I saw the beautiful little baby in my belly and saw it's amazing hear beating. I could litterally see this litle tiny heart beating and pumping blood, it is such a miracle and I know that from the moment of conception, it is a new and miraculous life, seeing on the monitor just makes it that much more real!!

 

After the first doctors visit, I showed the kids the picture of the sonogram and asked if they knew what it was, Parker immediately said, "Another baby?!" I am not sure if he was happy or shocked. Paige was abslutely thrilled and from that moment on insisted that is was to be a baby sister. (Previous to us telling the kids, Matt was tucking her in bed one night and she told him that we were going to have 2 babies and we were going to name them Peter, and Pieper. Not sure how she knew we were having a baby, but I was sure hoping that she wasn't having sibling intiuition and that we would be having twins!) Paxten could have cared less and didn't really know what the picture was but he ooohhed and aahhed about it like he does when he sees any picture.

 

We are hoping to find out the sex of the baby at 17 weeks and are planning on having a special party to tell a bunch of family and friends. It will be a blast.

Paige's First Dentist Trip

On January 14th Paige had her first visit to the Dentist. She was really nervous at first and didn't quite know what to expect. She had seen Parker go, but was nervous because she was going to be the one in the chair. She did really well and learned all about the "Sugar Bugs" on her teeth and how she needed to brush them away. She got a new Cinderella toothbrush, mouthwash, toothpaste, dental gum, chapstick, and a water bottle. She loved getting "prizes" for going to the dentist, and better yet, she became a member of the No Cavities Club! She was pretty excited and I was too! No cavities to fix or pay for! Yay Paige!!