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.

Valentines Day Fun

I am so far behind in the blogging department that I almost don't know where to start. I am sure I will miss some of the things that I originally thought about posting, but here are the highlights.

I wanted to do something fun for the kids on Valentines Day, because it is usually a holiday for adults, but I wanted to make sure my kids knew that they were loved and cared about. I decided to do all meals with a Valentines theme. For breakfast we had pink waffles and pink (strawberry milk)

The kids all got a goody bag with a few fun things from Matt and I, along with some treats. They also got a few little things from Grandma Yancey. Paige got an adorable dress with hearts on it. She loved it and wore it to preschool that morning.

 

 

I made the kids a special Valentines lunch as well. Parker took a lunch to school that day and he got a heart peanut butter sandwhich, red jello, hear cheese slices, heart strawberries, a red squeeze-it, and a hear shaped cookie.

 

Paige and Paxten (and Mya) got pink macaroni and cheese, strawberries, red jello, and a red squeeze-it and for dessert a heart shaped sugar cookie with pink frosting.

then to top off our special day, we had a heart shaped pepperoni pizza, salad, cantalope, sparkling cider and strawberry shortcake for dinner. It was a fun day and I think the kids really enjoyed it. We stayed home and watched a movie and had a fun time as a family.

 

 

 

 

 

Paxten Turns 2!

Paxten celebrated his 2nd birthday on the 9th of February. I can't believe my baby is 2, and isn't a baby anymore!! We had a small party at our house for our little guy with grandparents and my sister. We had little smokies, tater tots, cheese and crackers, a veggies tray, and a fruit tray. It turned out quite yummy and there was something for everyone. We enjoyed visiting with each other and watched Paxten open gifts. He was loving unwrapping the presents and wanted to play with all his new stuff as he was unwrapping. He got a few new outfits, a ball and bat, plastic golf clubs, gummie bears, goldfish crackers, fruit snacks, a couple of cars that make noise, sidewalk chalk, nerf guns, coloring book and markers, and an Ipad Mini. Talk about spoiled!! After Christmas time when Parker and Paige both got an ipad mini, Paxten would take theirs and play with it or was always trying to take my phone and play on it, so we convinced my parents that he needed his own. He had loved it and played with it almost every day. There are so many educational games that I don't feel bad about him playing on it. After he opened gifts, we had cake and ice cream. I made Paxten a robot cake with chocolate doughnuts. I thought he turned out pretty darn cute and it was one of the easier cakes I have done. Paxten seemed to like him. He had a fun day and was spoiled rotten by the people that love him. 

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!!

Best Buddies

These two kids can be the best of buddies. Some days I wonder what they are up to and I find them like this. Close by each other playing together or watching a show together. Paxten really looks up to his big sister and has to do everything that she does. He is always concerned about "Pai" and wants to be where she is. When he asks for a snack, he asks for one for her as well. When he is in another room and realizes she is gone, he asks where she went. He gets so excited to see her when she gets home from preschool and pretty much follows her around the rest of the day. Paige is a pretty good big sister as well and lets him follow her around. She plays with him really well and tried to include him in the things she is doing. She lets his cuddle right next to her on the couch and sometimes I catch her rubbing his back, or with her arm around him. They really do love each other and moments like that just melt my heart! I hope they always feel that way about each other!

Parker's Award

On the 4th of January Parker received an award at school and I was able to attend to see him get his award. Each month the school has an assembly and 3-4 students from each class are acknowledged for their achievements in their classes. I think this is wonderful for the other students to see what they peers are accomplishing and it sure makes the honored student feel great. Parker was so excited to finally be one of the kids that got an award. His teacher, Mrs Hunt, is wonderful and I think she looks for the best in each of her students. Parker is really lucky to have her. She picked Parker for the month to receive the "Personal Successs Award" for spending extra time practicing his reading and for being a magnificent mathematician. He received a "star" necklace, a gift certificate to Wingers, and the certificate with his picture on it. I was really proud of him and his hard work to get his award. He really is good at math and it seems like the numbers come to him pretty naturally. I hope he continues to enjoy math adn excell at it as he gets older.

Sledding

Somehow I have seriously gotten behind in the Blog department. Before I knew it January was over, and then February and I haven't been updating like I should have been. It has been nagging me and I am finally giving into the nagging by sitting down to do a major catch up on what we have been up to.


During Christmas break it snowed quite a bit and we took the opportunity to take the kids out sledding. We never know how long the snow will stick around or when it will snow again so we had to take advantage of the day. It happened to be freezing cold temperature wise, it was probably below zero, but we didn't let that stop our fun. By now Parker is a sledding pro and immediately jumped on the sled and was down the hill before the rest of us were even fully dressed in our snow clothes. He probably went up and down the hill 30 times! Paxten was a little hesitant, but decided it was very fun after the first few rides down the hill. At one point we sent him down the hill by himself (the hill is not very big)  after Paige had gone on another sled. She had tipped over and was laying in the snow when Paxten's sled started heading straight for her. We yelled for her to get out of the way, but she wasn't quick enough and his sled ran right over the top of her face, causing him to face plant and her to get a face full of snow as well. They both got up and laughed it off and went for another ride down the hill. Although it wasn't long after that they both got cold and wanted to call it quits. We had such a fun time enjoying the outdoors and being together as a family. I love that we live in Idaho and can enjoy the snow in the Winter, the sun in the summer and the beautiful weather the entire year round. Our kids are lucky too, to be able to have these fun experiences as they are growing up.