Going back in time

I'm home from church today with my oldest (he woke up covered in hives, oi) and decided it would be a good time to get a little blogging done. A couple weeks ago I was catching up on my moms blog and came across some pictures of a trip we took to North Western WA with mom and dad in August. Aka...week 7-ish of this pregnancy...or...the beginning of the hell that is the first (and usually second) trimester.

In other words, I was sick. Super sick. Constant, debilitating nausea and a lot of throwing up. So I was also miserable and whiny and spent most of the vacation in bed trying not to throw up or cry.

So some of these pictures were the first I saw of what Dave and the kids did while I wallowed in my misery.

For example...

We went to the beach.

I curled up in a quilt, in the shade, on the sand, with a box of crackers, and tried to nap away my misery.

Dave and the kids, however, went to a beach museum of some sort and built a sand face.









Another morning they went walking along the coast where we were staying and looked for shells and starfish. I don't even remember this happening so I was either in my room, with the lights off, blinds closed, asleep, or trying to sleep away my misery.









I was conscious for part of the trip. Although, granted, not terribly fun to be around.

We went to Forks. (after a horrid drive through the mountains and around a mountain lake. Beautiful, but the road was long and curvy and horrid.)



If I look miserable in that picture it's because I was. Any other time I probably would have had a lot of fun running around Forks and being a dorky tourist. But I did take a few pictures. Pretty much the only pics I took the whole vacation.





Team Jacob! lol






The best part of the entire trip was going out to first beach at La Push. I had eaten a good amount of protein just then, there was a nice breeze and I had a few minutes of reprieve from the misery. It was nice to walk around and take a few pictures.



My favorite shot.


I even smiled once.




And I got a good laugh at my weirdo kids.

Merry Christmas! (a day late)

I was a slacker and didn't get our Christmas Cards sent this year. I also didn't write a letter. The inspiration just wasn't coming. I did, however, make the card itself.

So, here you are! Merry Christmas to all!

Had my ultrasound!

I have so many blogs I should be doing but I've been too busy to get anything down. One of these days I'll go through and back date a bunch of stuff. But in the meantime, we found out what we're having!

So there's a story that goes along with this. I touched on it in my first blog about this baby but didn't tell the whole thing.

Dave was in the temple and had a very clear feeling that there was a boy baby, named Hyrum, that was ready to come to our family. He came home and talked to me about it and I was wary. Pregnancies are rough for me and I wasn't ready to be pregnant again.

A few days later, I got a Priesthood Blessing and I was told there was a boy baby, named Hyrum, that was ready to come to our family. That I was to be his mother. The spirit was very strong and I realized I couldn't not listen to this clear of a prompting.

But, still, in the back of my mind I was thinking...it takes me forever to get pregnant, I'll be fine til next year at least. But like I said before, this little one was impatient. I found out I was pregnant within a matter of weeks, not months. Which means, I was likely already pregnant when I had that blessing.

But now I had a new fear. It was very clear that there's a boy named Hyrum that is meant to come to our family. So what if this turns out to be a girl??? I was so sick and so miserable that any time I thought about this baby being a girl, I'd burst into tears. I was trying hard to get over myself because I knew I'd love the baby no matter what, but I was terrified that I'd have to go through yet another pregnancy.

I prayed and told Heavenly Father that if he wanted me to have more kids after this, I'd listen. I'm willing to do His will. But, please, please, don't mess with my mind. He said he'd send Hyrum, so just let this be Hyrum so I don't have to go crazy wondering how many more kids I'd have to have to get him here.

I was terribly anxious for our ultrasound and really excited when yesterday finally came!

I went in and it was immediately clear, even to my untrained eye, that I was, indeed, pregnant with a boy.

The relief was intense. I'm so happy that little Hyrum is coming now and I don't have to deal with the emotions and insanity of not knowing. Everything looked great and I found out I have anterior placenta which would explain why I'm not feeling much movement yet. (it means my placenta is cushioning his blows) And he's a mover and a shaker. The u/s tech was really annoyed that he didn't stop moving once. He rolled and rolled and kicked and punched and waved his arms around. Totally incapable of sitting still.

The funny thing is, Dave was so excited about it that he couldn't sit still either. He managed to sit through about 20 mins of the u/s but when the tech let me get up to use the bathroom he left. I called him after the last hour cause I had no idea where he went and he was like "I was too excited to sit there, so I went to put gas in the van."

Apparently, Hyrum is his Father's son. Can't sit still for anything. (Looks like I'm in for it.)

Dave and I celebrated at Qdoba after I texted everyone I knew (which, btw, that burrito, with all the protein, rice and veggies was AWESOME. I didn't feel like throwing up once after eating it. I should eat one every day. It would certainly make this pregnancy easier).

Then we came home and informed Gabe and Clara. Gabe said "YES! That means we're not messing up our patter-en!" (boy, girl, boy, girl, boy) and Clara didn't really care much about the news. Nathan and Aria asked as soon as I picked them up from school and they were happy to hear it too. Later in the day Aria realized the boys will be outnumbering the girls, though, and she was a little annoyed about that. lol.

So...that's where we are now. At this point I feel like Heavenly Father is pleased that I was willing to have Hyrum and I think we're done. I did tell Him that if He wants me to have more that it will need to be very, very clear. I'm also open to the idea of adoption. I adore having a big family...it's just these pregnancies that make me crazy and sick and miserable and whiny and, and, and...

So, on to pics of our new little guy.

His profile


His hand (this was right at the end...the u/s tech said "say bye to your mommy and she caught this...cute, huh?)


and the proof

Gabe's turn!

Gabe had his first day of pre-school yesterday. He was so excited to finally get to go to school! He's been waiting a long time for this!





Clara, on the other hand, was super bummed out about Gabe going to pre-school. After we left she said. "Mom, go get Gabe!" I told her he was staying there because it was his pre-school and she said "No! Go get Gabe! Don't forget Gabe!" I said "Clara, it's just you and me now, we'll get him later" and she said "NOOOOO! Not you and me!!!!!" lol. Poor thing didn't know what to do without him.

So today when she woke up and I told her Gabe didn't have pre-school today she gave him a giant tackle hug and said "I wuv you, Gabe"

So sweet.

First day of school, hooray!

This year I have a 4th grader, a 2nd grader and a pre-schooler. Gabe doesn't start pre-school for a little bit yet, but Nathan and Aria had their first day today! They were both happy to see friends in their classes and I'm happy that I can hear myself think for the first time in 2 1/2 months. lol.

Nathan...silly boy refuses to smile.





Aria on the other hand...

There's a baby in my bee-bo!

If you're unfamiliar with Bee-bo, you need to go pick up "The Belly Button Book" by Sandra Boynton. It's a favorite around here.

It also is the inspiration for Clara's favorite saying that she spouts about 12 times a day..."Mama, you got a baby a baby in yo' bee-bo?"

Translation...in case you don't frequent facebook...I'm pregnant with #5!

A couple months ago Dave and I were pretty seriously discussing trying for a number 5 but I wasn't totally on board yet. A series of clear experiences while praying and in a blessing I received told us that we needed to have another baby. That there was a baby waiting to come to our family.

So, we decided to go ahead and start trying with the full expectation that it would be like every other time we've tried to have a baby and it would take a year or more before I actually got pregnant. I've never been one of those people that can just decide to have a baby and then get pregnant that month. It always takes forever.

But not this time. It was only a matter of weeks before I got the tell tale nausea when I'm hungry. That's always my first clue. So I laid down and pushed on my abdomen to feel where my uterus was and I thought. "oh...I'm pregnant already" cause it was pretty prominent. But I hadn't taken a test yet so I ran and bought two since I've gotten a lot more negative tests than positive over the years. But I ended up only needing the one. The positive was instant and very dark. (So I have an extra test here if anyone needs one, lol)

So anyway...this baby was pretty determined to come and we're excited for it! I had an ultrasound today to get a due date. We saw/heard the heartbeat and then the midwife measured the baby and we found out I'm 8 weeks 2 days along and I'm due on April 4th.

Now to just get through the misery that pregnancy is for me and onto the labor cause that's the best part. Except for after they're born of course. Can't wait to meet this new little one!

Diabetes and driving

One of the scariest things for me as a spouse of someone with t1 diabetes is worrying about them being behind the wheel. When we're together, I drive. Mostly because I get horrible motion sickness and it's just better for everyone if I'm driving rather than getting nauseous, but partly because I worry that he might go low.

He tells a story of being in college. He was going on a date one night and his blood sugar went low while he was driving. He was aware that it was dropping but wasn't present enough to take care of it himself. So his solution was to stop the car at an intersection, exit the car, and lay down in the street. Without saying a word to his poor date. His lying there stirred up some attention and finally somebody noticed his medical ID tag and knew what to do for him.

We laugh at that story but sometimes it's downright dangerous.

When we'd been married just a few years, my younger sister came to live with us. We had two small children and she was a Senior in High School. She was doing the running start program and the college was near where Dave worked and they'd often drive together because our house was pretty secluded.

One time they were driving home and he was driving. She said he wasn't making sense while he was talking but she didn't really know what was wrong. It wasn't until he drove right past the turn off to our house that she started worrying. She tried to get his attention but he was out. He was driving on "auto pilot" with no awareness of what he was doing. When attempts to get his attention failed, she reached her foot over and pushed his foot off the gas and stopped the car herself. Somehow (personally, I think angels helped because I've tried moving him before when he's out and it's hard) she managed to switch seats with him and she drove him home. She left him in the car and I took juice out to him and sat with him until he came to.

I fully believe she saved his life that day and I'll be forever grateful.

Another time I got a phone call about an hour and a half after he left for work. He just said "I don't know where I am. The car hit a curb and popped a tire. The last thing I remember was the garage door closing at our house." He had driven a good 45 miles on the freeway and he didn't remember it. He was able to tell me some landmarks around him and I helped him figure out where he was. He was closer to his work than to me so I called his office and they sent someone to go help him out.

I've learned to live by the phrase "no news is good news". It crosses my mind daily that he could drive low today, but I figure as long as I've heard nothing, he must be safe. Because if something bad happened I'd be getting a call from the police, fire station, hospital, morgue or something along those lines.

I've learned that silence is good. And that he should check his blood sugar before getting in the car. :)

Happy Birthday to me!

What I woke up to.

Donuts from the best donut shop in town.

Smiles and hugs all around.

A 50mm f/1.4

This email from Aria.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! You are now 31. So lets get to Silverwood and get in the sun. We will have so much fun! P.S.


if you get this email later happy late birthday!




i love you
love aria . pps if you get this email even later happy even later birthday ppps if you get it soooooooooper late happy
soooooooooper late birthday.

And Gabe said...

"MOM! I have a present for you!"



"It's FISH LIPS! It's really good 'cause I practiced in the mirror for a long time!"

And now my kids are all sharpie tattooed with my cell number and we're off to a fun day with some of my very favorite people in the world!

Happy Independence Day!

We had a really fun 4th this year! We spent the day at the lake with my brother-in-law's family. The kids had a blast and what better way to watch the fireworks display than on a private beach? I mean, seriously! It was rad.

The rope swing was a huge hit.




As was the lake. Even though it wasn't exactly warm yesterday.


At one point, these three seemed to think it was a clothing optional party. But we got them dressed again and stuck them in the boat on the shore and they were happy.


They pretended to sail off into the sunset.


Which was very pretty, btw.


After nature's show, we enjoyed the fireworks display!

Our summer in pictures

We are having a super fun summer so far! Here's a sampling of it. :)

It started out quite rainy. So we splashed in puddles.










On Nathan's birthday we went to an open track meet and all the kids ran a couple races.

Here's Mae winning the 50 meter dash.


and the 100 meter dash. lol.


Poor Clara was terrified, but she just kept running!






Gabe giving it his all.


Aria is all concentration and determination.


Nathan. We couldn't find his shoes before we left so he's wearing his sketchers. They didn't do him any favors but since I cut them out the picture looks pretty cool. lol.


After his race he wandered around talking to a girl. I'm pretending I didn't see it even though I was all stalkery with my camera. lol


Then we had several hot days we set up Nathan's slip and slide and they turned the slide on the swingset into a water slide. They were flying down that thing. It was pretty awesome.