tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28214081194262753692024-03-14T00:37:04.735-07:00T- Rex Mom and Dad TalesOur family adventures...Nurse practitioner mom, system engineer dad, fourth grade son, second grade daughter, pre-school daughter, and active toddler. Trying to live happy healthy lives as simply as possible.T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.comBlogger649125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-66077987023058060222019-10-20T16:53:00.000-07:002019-10-20T16:53:05.879-07:00Where have we been...<b>A new year resolution this year was to update the blog. I was not sure if I could catch it up completely but I would try updating. So here we go. I am going to start adding back some of the big things we've missed but for now I just wanted to say - we are alive, we are well, and life is great. It's just really, really busy. </b><br />
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<b>Our youngest just turned three. He is probably the biggest area of busy. He is SO busy. But we love him. He is so very much loved by all of us, particularly his three older siblings, that we sometimes have to remind them to leave him alone and so he can learn to plan on his own, eat on his own, talk for him self. He was our slowest walker because everyone was always carrying this child around. My heart bursts with so much happiness we had him but he has really pushed us into the super busy realm.</b><br />
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<b>Kid activities. That's another area of busy. The kids are all into something now. At least one activity, usually more. So, I am a professional chauffeur. I don't mind driving carpool most days. S is at the gym 5 days per week and does violin every other week, T has oboe lessons, broadcast new club (he's an amazing new anchor) and Boy Scouts. He will be resuming taekwondo once we find another studio for him as his teacher moved - he's very close to gaining black belt status. And not a black belt factory one but 6-7 years worth of consistent training. He is quite strong and we are proud. BB started kindergarten but needs to go to first grade part time because she is such a proficient reader and a wiz at math. She is half time kindergarten, half time first grade, and part time gifted class. Her testing showed she scored perfect on her spacial abilities which means she can put puzzles both 2D and 3D together super fast. She learns at a rapid pace and can memorize in a snap. And yes, she still has her imaginary friends from Venus. There is an entire family of them now. She does rec gymnastics and also takes piano lesson which she is getting quite good reading music. W - he tags along but it will be his turn soon. I'm thinking wrestling (half joking statement) - he's tiny and freakishly strong. He's like a younger male version of S - fearless, tiny, and super strong - basically a wild thing like S is referred to at the gym.</b><br />
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<b>Skip spent 5 years at Taos but has since returned back to Micron. Being back at Micron increased his busy level, too. I continue at the same clinic and am on year 7 - crazy - it feels like I just finished grad school. I only work two days a week to keep up with my crew. Plus, I added a new job this year - after 5 years on the school PTO board I am now the president. Ironically, it is busy but I don't feel like I'm quite as busy as I was in the past related to my volunteering there. But with three kids at the same school this year, juggling classroom volunteering has been tough. I still teach art when I can.</b><br />
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<b>Our dog Max is awesome. We lost Anya after 18 years this past spring. She was such a great dog. We are glad Max is still with us. He just turned two. He is a solid family pet and loved by all of us. He is literally everyone's dog.</b><br />
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<b>We have a big school year ahead. T is auditioning for honor band in a couple weeks. This will add some more activities. S will be starting competition season for gym in December. Last year she skipped level 5 and competed 6. We knew it would be a stretch for her but her coaches felt it would set her up to be a stronger level 7. She is cruising along and one of her coaches said she has the ability to potentially score a perfect 10 this year on bars or beam which has totally motivated her to work harder on both those events. Plus, vault last year was really tough being so tiny, having a new set of rules where the vault could not be lowered for tiny people like her, and it was a brand new style vault she needed to perform. Well, now she's taller and stronger, and it's not new. So we won't be praying for her just to make it over the table. Last year we were literally worried she would score a zero. She didn't but it was close a couple times.</b><br />
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<b>So I will add some photos just so you can see that we are indeed alive and all is well. It's just like treading water though - always something going on. But I have to emphasize - it's all good things. Truly. We are so blessed. Life is good. Our family is happy. We are a bit crazy but is good crazy.</b><br />
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<b>Photos - not in any particular order:</b><br />
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<b>Becca's first piano recital in May. She was SO excited to wear her unicorn dress. She had also just cut her hair and donated 14 inches. </b><br />
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<b>Biller at work with me. Now that she's older, Beck has been able to articulate to us that he is subatomic and small which is why we cannot see him. This is a large scale version which she sometimes sends to work with me as a reminder she is missing me.</b><br />
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<b>Family night at Blue Cow - frozen yogurt plus. Just a great place where everyone can find a a favorite dessert. S doesn't like frozen yogurt but sorbet is fine and they make it fresh there. T doesn't like either but they have lots of gummy candies. W - he'll eat anything but just cannot have peanuts. Tree nuts are fine. Beck - all of the above goes in her bowl.</b><br />
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<b>Beck reading bedtime story to W. She is amazing at reading. She just finished her 6th chapter book. She's been in kindergarten 2 months.</b><br />
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<b>Lunch with Nana. Kids absolutely adore her. We are so glad she is around to read and snuggle them.</b><br />
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<b>Max on walk. Just the best dog.</b><br />
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<b>S's straddle jump in her floor routine. I love the shadow in the photos, too.</b><br />
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<b>S giving her dad a beam lesson. Gymnastics is her passion and she loves sharing it. </b><br />
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<b>S teaching W to point his toes. These two - he loves doing whatever his Yaya is doing. Sometimes he won't go to bed until she tucks him in.</b><br />
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<b>T did basketball this past winter/early spring. He never played but he was not too bad and quite the defensive player. His ability to not be affraid to try new things that he will potentially be bad at is such a lesson to me. He is my old soul. Love him so much!</b><br />
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<b>Color run this fall with older kids. Look how tall T is - he's taller than me now! Not that is saying all that much as I'm five feet but still, in 6th grade he has passed his mom.</b><br />
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<b>T's first fish this past spring. He has been dying to catch a fish for years so this was a dream come true. His Scout leader was awesome helping him earn his fishing merit badge.</b><br />
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<b>Girls at gym - they surprised each other with matching leos. They each pick out new leos for each other. Ironically, they ended up being the exact same ones. It's fun when they go matching to the gym. </b><br />
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<b>S won beam for her entire level at this meet. She was crowned ice queen. (She has blue lips because she was super excited about the blue ring pop that came with it.)</b><br />
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<b>T hiking on a boy scout camp out. He was the only one who opted to go hiking with the leaders. He is always eager to hike on scout trips. He's done 4-5 camp outs now and is getting quite good at camping.</b><br />
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<b>There is the update. I will try to do more. </b>T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-80985751395713491982019-05-24T15:50:00.000-07:002019-10-20T15:55:00.955-07:00First and Last Day of School Photos 2018-19T was in 5th grade and S was in 3rd grade. BB didn't go to school but still dressed up for the first day. She was REALLY sad that she was not going. She already knew her letters and was starting to read pretty proficiently.<br />
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It was a surprisingly cold last day of school. Kids needed their coats. Both these kids grew several inches during the school year. <br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-42121314662216176352018-06-01T15:51:00.000-07:002018-08-26T15:52:07.716-07:00First and Last Days of School 2017-18<b>Both our school age children had great years. They had amazing teachers which doesn't surprise us from this school. S loved 2nd grade and T enjoyed 4th grade. The year just seemed to fly by. They both had perfect report cards all year long and were very good citizens. </b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-5006785125060156752017-08-26T15:00:00.000-07:002018-08-26T15:01:22.587-07:00Total Lunar Eclipe August 2017<b>We were in the path of totality for the lunar eclipse of 2017 (August 21, 2017). Dad stayed home with the older kids while I worked. Littles went to Mrs. B's but were still able to get into the spirit of things. The school district postponed starting school so the event could be enjoyed at home.</b><br />
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<b>The street lights came on and everything. It was like twilight for about 3 minutes. I viewed the event from the roof of my work place. It was pretty cool and very exciting for all of us! Here are lots of photos! I included Ss art that she drew after the event. I think those are probably my most favorite renderings of the event.</b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-71776743230598236302017-08-24T06:09:00.000-07:002017-08-24T06:27:29.301-07:00Updates - Starting with First day of school<b>I know, I know - times has gotten away from us. But, after 10 months our baby is finally sleeping through the night. It has taken a lot and had he been our first baby there may not be 4 children. He is awesome and wonderful and the sweestest thing ever belowed by all of us. But the lack of sleep - sheesh!</b><br />
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<b>But we are all sleeping better. And the older kids went off to school. Big ole second and fourth graders. Both have wonderful teachers this year. I love that T, without prompting, pulled out his bow tie for the special day. Love these kids.</b><br />
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<b>Little BB is SO ready for school at almost four but she misses all the cut off dates. In fact, I've been writing letter after letter after letter about our strict state law that does not permit early entrance into kindergarten. The other kids did fine with the cut off date and being older but she's starting to read and we're still two full years away from kindergarten. The teachers and principal at our school say she will have to grade skip but I really don't want that for her. The simpler solution seems to just petition for consideration for early entrance. Alas, it could not be so simple. I've been going around and around with the governor's office and soliciting help from my local state representatives.</b><br />
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<b>Kids are back to their busy activities. S never stopped gymnastics this summer. She trains about 20 hours a week. We're working with her teacher this year about homework in advance. She's also doing taekwondo with her brother and I am teaching her piano. T continue Scouts and taekwondo. They both belt test next week for advancements. Little BB wants to start gymnastics. I thought I could push that off for a while by saying she had to learn to swim first. She did two months of lessons this summer and was swimming. Everyone was blown away by how fast she learned it. I guess that was my first clue she might be different but until the more obvious one of her reading to me when she has not been to pre-school or that I've worked with her (only that we read together - a lot). The older kids had a certified gifted teacher in first grade and she kept hinting about BB especially after she had not one but two imaginary friends. Bonus - they are from Venus.</b><br />
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<b>Work has been crazy busy for both my sweetheart and me. I worked all summer picking up extra days so the other providers could go on vacation. They covered my maternity leave so I felt it was what I needed to do. My husband has been so busy with his work - 60 hours a week. It's tough getting to see each other much especially running kids in opposite directions. Still - we did sneak away for a date for our anniversary (only a month late though). But he is still my most favorite person and a pretty amazing dad.</b><br />
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<b>For now - some photos from first day of school and a couple others. I will try to retroactively post but for now at least I'm back in the game - pending our baby W keeps on sleeping.</b><br />
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<b>Photos: last day of school and then first day of school, BB playing "chest" - she is actually learning but at this point still just board set up, and W playing with his favorite toy (it had to be an annoying talking car) </b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-54950484705963885062017-08-23T06:23:00.000-07:002017-08-24T06:28:06.429-07:00Simple Summer Days...<b>This summer was just about spending time together doing simple things.</b><br />
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<b>We spent a lot of time at the neighborhood pool. Little BB learned to swim which was exciting for all of us. We would walk to the school playground and picnic and sometimes run through the sprinklers. We did our annual trip to the water park with our close friends. We visited the library and read A LOT. We had pizza nights.</b><br />
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<b>I took 3 months off of work for maternity leave so I opted to spend the summer picking up extra hours at the clinic so my colleagues could vacation with their families. </b><br />
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<b>We did a short 3 day camping trip here in Idaho to the not-so-Warm Lake.</b><br />
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<b>It was simple and lovely and over all too quickly.</b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-54859141713254525472017-05-01T15:03:00.000-07:002018-08-26T15:05:33.294-07:00First Half of 2017I'm a bit overwhelmed at the idea of catching up the family blogs and starting a new one for our almost 8 month old. It has been such a busy year already. I am very much looking forward to a quieter summer and squeezing my kids - a lot.<br />
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January we had 7 snow days - 7 days of school canceled. This was just after their winter break. They were out of school almost a month during winter. Of course, it was Snowmagedon 2016-2017 which meant there was no going anywhere - just staying inside watching it snow day after day after day. And while with it being summer right now playing out in the snow sounds fun - days and days of it - not so much fun. We made the most of it but with it being right when I went back to work after leave it did have it's challenges.<br />
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January through March we were fully consumed with gymnastics. Little S did amazing. This was her first year of competition. Man that girl is tough! When I would go watch her at the gym I would often watch her fall flat on her face. She would jump up and try the same skill again and again, without tears, until she got it right. She is tenacious, that's for sure. She was so young and inexperienced but she did great for a first year. Her goal all year was to take first in something. She totally peaked by year end state competition. She took first in vault. Throughout the year she did well in the all around often placing 4th or 5th. She placed 5th all around at the travel meet in Salt Lake City. She almost always placed in vault. Bars was also a strong event for her. Bean started off being terrible and by year end she was also placing in it. Floor was always solid but there were always so many excellent floor routines that she never placed in floor. Considering she only learned her round off back handspring a month or so before she started competing it, we were all pleased. She was by far the youngest on the team - tiniest too. One of her coaches refers to her as a "T-rex" - she is strong and tough.<br />
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Gymnastics was a family event for sure. Although, we often tried to leave the toddler behind. little BB is a force to be reckoned with and there was a reason she only went to one competition. At State up in Moscow, Idaho several of the other gym families we would see each week explained "We didn't know you had a three year old!". After watching us chase her at the meet they understood why we never took her along. That one was out of town so we didn't want to leave her. For the meet in Utah S, baby W, and I drove down with my mom and sister leaving the rest of the family behind.<br />
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The older kids had a great year of school. Both were just perfectly placed with their teachers. Such a tremendous year of growth for both of them academically. They are both strong readers. Both need to focus a bit more on math but they still met or exceeded goals for their math concepts. It's just they are SUCH GOOD readers that being above average in math seems like they need work. But they don't. Still, if they can be as good in math as they are at reading...We are proud of them. They worked hard.<br />
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I did not volunteer in the classroom as much this year as I have in the past. I did not even visit Ss classroom this year except to drop stuff off a couple times. I know that teacher well as I used to be in there once or twice a week helping her. Plus, S is so independent that she didn't need me watching her. She actually won an award this year for being an "independent pioneer" as she is just a self driven person. T's teacher was wonderful providing chances for me to be in the classroom with parties (recall I did the Holiday party?). I was also a guest readers and a guest speaker. I taught the kids how I use math in my job. They actually really responded positively with that. T also had me come in with newborn Baby W for a share which was also nice. Everyone was blown away by how much knowledge of babies he has. I guess having three younger siblings he has picked up a few things along the way!<br />
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I was on the school PTO board this year. Last year I shadowed the VP of Art. This year I was elected and held that position. It's kind of a big deal at our school since the entire art program is parent driven so a lot of volunteers to coordinate. I think I had 80+. Lots of personalities. Sometimes I would get weird requests and sometimes some of the parent helpers were a bit demanding. Still, it was a good place to start. There are only 5 positions on the board and one can only hold them for 2 years. I will end up having kids at the school for 15 years straight so I need to pace myself! We accompished a lot as a PTO and I enjoyed the group of women I worked with. I will do art for one more year. It a bit more work than volunteering in classroom but just in a different capacity.<br />
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This year we also had a big effort to pass a school bond to get some improvements within the school district. At the beginning of the school year my husband and I began attending distinct sessions on planning. We gave input on what changes to make. It was determined that funding would be needed so we got approval for a bond election. We partnered with principals, teachers, and other parents at our school and did phone banks, meetings, door to door - all sorts of stuff to get the word out. The bond was passed. Again, different than being in the classroom but still important.<br />
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T is still in taekwondo. He hasn't tested for a belt in a while as there have been some changes in the club he is in but he continues to enjoy it. He even recruited little S to participate when she is not at gymnastics (which she always is - 20 hours a week) but she does have 1 night off during the weeks when she goes. She's doing pretty good, too.<br />
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Little BB started swimming lessons in April. It started off pretty rough. For the first couple lessons she refused to get into the water and would scream endlessly. Finally I asked the instructor what I should do. She suggested we just push through. There was a lot of thrashing around and screaming in the water and I think her poor instructor might have permanent hearing damage. Then she found something she liked and she took off. We had a small set back when a substitute stepped in one day. When it came time to move on we opted to just hire the instructor she loved for private lessons rather than deal with more screaming and thrashing. Funny girl. I never knew her to be so particular. She adored her teacher and just wrapped up those lessons as her beloved Annie is relocated to the mid-west. It has been fun to my little littlest girl - who does not have her older sister's gift of kinesology - progress.<br />
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Little W - gosh where to start. He is simply a delight. He smiles so much! He is growing, growing, growing. He is slow to take solids and we joke he has a milk addiction. It has been tough on me nursing him ALL THE TIME! Sleep is a luxury. I know it will pass so I am being patient. He is my loudest baby. When he's awake - we all are. He screeches, squeals, goos, coos, and grunts so loud that the entire house is up when he is. He's so happy though we cannot get too upset. We recently found out he's allergic to eggs. That was no fun. The kids adore their baby sibling and we all simply do not know how we existed without this person in our lives.<br />
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Life is crazy busy and crazy hard with four kids but it is pretty much heaven being surrounded by these loves. I know my husband and I look exhausted and probably older than we really are from all the sleep deprivation and exhaustion but we would not trade it for anything. It's why the blog has suffered. There is just not a lot of time for anything not kid related. I want to keep up on it, though. The kids often pull out the printed versions I made each year end and read through our adventures while reminiscing about the fun. I will endeavor to try harder.<br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-36326914625555144712016-12-31T20:27:00.000-08:002017-04-02T20:29:17.312-07:00From Kids' Holday Program<b>The kids were a part of a beautiful holiday program at our school. It was written by our own music teacher. She did a wonderful job. She is new to our school but not new to her profession. I had heard rumors that she could get the kids to put on quite the show and those rumors were confirmed as truth. It was amazing!</b><br />
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<b>T was the Norway Boy and S was part of the Chinese dragon. I helped make the dragon and did the head entirely myself. It was a fun project and so happy Little S could be apart my project.</b><br />
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<b>Both kids did a beautiful job and so fun that they could be in it together. Here are some photos from the event (S's feet accompany the blue dress under the dragon):</b><br />
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T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-73884960183573412172016-12-30T13:12:00.002-08:002017-04-02T20:33:10.282-07:00Christmas Time<b>Here it is the eve of me going back to work and I'm just now starting to update the blog. Cut me some slack - I have 4 blogs to update and one still to set up for baby W.</b><br />
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<b>Christmas season around here is quite a busy time. Plus it's also the time of birthdays. However, we've made it through the gauntlet of birthdays and holidays and we are still alive. All six of us. That sounds like a lot, doesn't it?!? Anytime we show up somewhere we create an instant party because there are so many of us. But that is the great fun of it!</b><br />
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<b>Side note - thank goodness for dictation on my phone. I walked around with a baby in one arm, my phone in the another and I updated. </b><br />
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<b>Where to begin? Well my birthday was celebrated a few different ways. First, I did get to go out with my girlfriends. It's become an annual tradition for us since there's a couple of us that have birthdays during this time. Then my family took me to dinner at our favorite family place. We did skip out on Scouts that night but our Scout leader was totally supportive of us celebrating my birthday otherwise we may not have ever made it to celebrate. The kids and their activities keep us quite busy - especially S's gymnastics. Plus, her meet season has started. Her first meet - the Teddy Bear Classic - went pretty good. She placed for vault and qualified for the state meet. They awarded teddy bears instead of medals.</b><br />
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<b>Christmas time was quite fun. We got about 6 inches of snow the two days leading up to Christmas. On December 23rd, Ss gymnastics class was canceled because of all the snow and we decided to spend that free evening making graham cracker gingerbread houses. For T's class party, which I was in charge of, I wanted everyone in the class to be able to make a gingerbread graham cracker house. With the help of a few other moms I assembled 26 houses and put together 26 packets of frosting.. There may or may not have been some drama involved getting all that frosting done at the last minute. My good friend Ms. KN saved me by delivering 7 pounds of powdered sugar at the last minute. That was actually the hardest part. Yes, assembling the homes in advance wasn't too difficult. Transporting them in their per-assembled state was quite difficult. The kids had a great time and they were super adorable. I just remember doing something very similar as a first grader and it is one of my very favorite memories. I also had an aunt that used to make me a gingerbread house every year. They were super elaborate and super amazing and edible. However, these ones were not edible because I did assemble them with hot glue.</b><br />
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<b>Whenever you have six people in your family anything you do becomes an instant party and therefore our gingerbread house assembling became a party at our house. It was quite fun. On Christmas Eve we did want to go visit my in-laws, the kids grandparents. The normal 45 minute drive turned into an hour and a half drive. But it was a beautiful white Christmas. The family was great. That night we opened gifts from everyone but our mediate family and obviously not Santa either. We skipped the traditional Christmas eve dinner and I actually fed the kids tub side. Initially, I thought it was an epic parenting failure to not have a beautiful sit down meal for Christmas eve dinner. However, they were really excited and thought it was a super special treat since they had never done that before. They had just come in from playing in the snow and building a snowman and they were very cold so I thought a warm bath to warm them up would be a good idea. Plus, it saved about an hour of prep and clean up so that they could then bake and decorate their gingerbread cookies.</b><br />
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<b>We did our traditional viewing of A<i> Charlie Brown Christmas</i> before the kids went to bed. Little S was worried that we don't have a chimney so she drew a fireplace and a chimney for Santa and hung it. It was quite charming and she even left a little note on it too. Christmas morning was wonderful. Everybody did sleep in a little bit later and the older kids were most excited about the fact that little BB got her blue package that she asked Santa for.</b><br />
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<b>Speaking of Santa they had an amazing visit to see Santa. We we went to the mall which is where we traditionally go to visit Santa. Little BB was a little nervous so her big brother T went first. He sat down on Santa's lap and Santa immediately said "What would you like for Christmas, Little Boy?" His reply was "I would very much like to answer that. However I have a couple questions for you first. How are you? And how is Mrs. Claus?" Then little S went and her first comment was "thank you so much, Santa, for the lovely gifts last year." Then little BB sat on his lap and just kindly asked for a blue present with some surprises and a "Meow Meow" book.Then they had their photo. It wasn't a super spectacular picture but it was a very nice visit and at the end Santa told them that they were the most polite children he had met. Then T looked at me and said basically that there was no way Santa wasn't going to be visiting the house with a complement like that!</b><br />
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<b>Christmas morning was wonderful, magical - all the adjectives that describe an absolutely perfect day. They were super excited for their sister. Little W slept through a good chunk of it and we all got just the perfect gifts. It did warm my heart that little S's favorite gifts for the ones that I crafted for her. I would often get up at about 5:30 or 6 AM to craft after the baby's second or third feeding of the night. This is my only quiet uninterrupted time and I am certainly not a morning person. Therefore, it was truly an act of love to get up and craft all these gifts for them. Each of the kids got a hooded blanket and I also made them their own blog books and for my husband I made him a family vacation book from our trip to Maui. I also crafted each of them a toy. I made T the 11th doctor. For a little S I made her a mama and baby owl and for little BB I made her a polar bear in a sleeping bag. They were all very happy with all their gifts and they were all quite modest in what they asked for. Later on Christmas Day we went over for prime rib at my sister's and that was also great fun to spend some time with them and my nephew and just enjoy their company. Plus, get to enjoy my mom who is feeling well.</b></div>
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<b>We're looking forward to the new year I start work up right after the new year 2016 has been spectacular to us - one of our best years ever! Especially with our amazing family vacation and the birth of our sweet little boy.</b><br />
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<b>We wish you and your family and loved ones a great happiness this year and hope that we all have a great 2017.</b><br />
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<b>Photos:</b><br />
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<b>- Birthday celebration with friends, then with my family, and lastly the gift from little S. </b><br />
<b>- T decorating his graham cracker house in his classroom.</b><br />
<b>- Decorating houses here at home.</b><br />
<b> - Snow-magedon 2016 </b><br />
<b>- Night of Christmas Eve</b><br />
<b>- Christmas morning - fresh snow, baby's first Christmas, gift opening.</b><br />
<b>- Gifts from the kids.</b><br />
<b>- Santa photo </b><br />
<b>- Photos of baby from the season</b><br />
<b>- Ss first gymnastics meet </b><br />
<b>- Other miscellaneous photos </b><br />
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T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-12314023113256718282016-12-04T22:06:00.000-08:002016-12-04T22:06:30.878-08:00Where we are at...<b>Our newest edition to the family just turned 8 weeks old. How is that possible? The last 2-4 weeks of pregnancy were like an eternity but somehow the past 8 weeks have blasted by. He's great, by the way. So am I.</b><br />
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<b>One quick story from our first week. The state nurse practitioner conference was the same day as my due date. I really wanted to go. I also needed to go since I was short 5 credits for my re-certification. The keynote speaker was THE guru in the NP world- like if you were to say to any nurse practitioner "Margaret" is coming to town they would know you were referring to Margaret Fitzgerald. She's been a NP about as long as I've been alive. She's a celebrity in our field. Well, she was coming to town and I wanted to hear her speak at our conference. Since the baby and I were doing well, I got up super early and headed to the conference when he was just a week old. I was concerned some folks, even her, would not want a baby at a professional conference but I went anyway with the backup plan of leaving if needed. While waiting for her to start her talk she walked to the back of the hall right to me. She stopped and asked if she could admire my baby. She asked about him and said he was the youngest attendee she has ever had at one of her talks and she was honored he was there. I beamed and we enjoyed the two day conference together. He was a great companion! Most enjoyable conference ever! </b><br />
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<b>Okay, back to the update. </b><br />
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<b>We're all doing pretty good. The kids adore their new brother. BB (the youngest of the older kids) has not bonded with him as quickly. She actually prefers to take care of me rather than help with him. Sometimes when I'm up in the night feeding him she will get out of bed and come find me to offer me a blanket or bring my water. Sometimes she just snuggles me and strokes my arm. She's such a loving child. She has her moments but she's pretty great. She, by the way, just turned 3! Amazing how time flies!</b><br />
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<b>BB had a fun Monster Mash theme birthday party with her closest family friends. She had a grand time but totally freaked out when we put candles on her cake and lit them. She started screaming and hid under the table. Otherwise, a pretty good time.</b><br />
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<b>We had the kids' parent teacher conferences in October. Because I had not bottle trained our baby yet we ended up showing up at the end of T's allot time because I could not get our baby to hurry up and finish eating. However, his teacher is wonderful and is a relatively new mom herself (twin 9 month old boys) so she could understand. T's doing great - all As (this is the first year they get letter grades). His areas needing the most focus is math and listening attentively, as well as participation in group work. (I feel his pain with group work - in college I just wanted to do the entire project myself - so much easier than trying to work with others but he needs to learn and perhaps so should I). S's teacher handed us her packet of info and simply said, "She's perfect - you can go." She was joking but S is pretty darn near perfect at school. My question to the teacher is how can we get that kind of behavior and work ethic at home? Her teachers really don't believe me when I say that kid can really push my buttons and give me a run for my money. WOW!</b><br />
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<b>Little W is awesome. He's such a perfect addition to our family. He not the super easy baby S was but a little easier than BB - definitely easier than T. He has his evening fussy time when nothing makes him happy except if we walk with him. He's a great eater, continues to be a decent sleeper. He LOVES his bath time. He LOVES my mom. He loves his vibo bassinet.</b><br />
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<b>I'm missing work. I'm grateful for my time at home but I miss my co-workers and patients and the routine of being at work. I'm sad that is approaching winter. It gets so dark and dreary here in the winter with short days and significantly less sunshine. This time having a baby has been so much easier than the last time. With all the families at our school becoming good family friends I've had an endless stream of meals and flowers and goodies. I gained a total of 22 lbs this pregnancy and I'm down over half of that. I think it's slowing down from all the goodies and Halloween candy we have around here!</b><br />
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<b>Halloween - delightful. The kids had a great time going out with their dad. I stayed home with W and my in-laws and handed out candy. We didn't have as many kids as we have traditionally had. Little BB totally got into it. There was a scary house decorated with people in the windows pretending to be zombies and she kept going on and on about "monkeys coming out of the windows." She doesn't know what zombies are. After they were done and my in-laws left, we went to visit our favorite kindergarten teacher. Costumes - T was Indiana Jones, S was a cat coming out of a pumpkin (that girl can never do anything simple), and BB was a pink princess. All costumes homemade. T's was put together from a variety of things we already had. S - I made her pumpkin out of left over fleece from the Monsters I made for BB's party, BB's dress was S's old princess costume that I made 5 years ago.</b><br />
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<b>We did manage to sneak in a fun outing to our local pumpkin patch with some close friends. That was super fun. We went on the last day they were open and got to see the 700 lb pumpkin be dropped from 4 stories high. Lot of water in that! Becca LOVED riding the cattle train. W just snuggled with me in the pack.</b><br />
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<b>Thanksgiving was delightful. My sister had just flown in from Japan a day prior but with my mom's help she threw together an amazing feast. I just showed up with my army of kids, my husband, and my long time friend whom we had just picked up at the airport (Ms. M). She stayed a few days with us and we crammed as much into our short time as possible. Plus, celebrated T's 9th birthday a couple times.</b><br />
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<b>Lastly and most recently, we celebrated my husband's birthday. It's birthday season around here. Combine that with the holidays and the kids think it's endless celebration time. T is all about Dr. Who this year. He has never seen the new ones but rather the old 1970s ones. My daughter gets a kick out of the go go boots the women wear and T thinks the big hair every one fashions is crazy funny. Still. the enjoy the show immensely. </b><br />
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<b>So before I have to change this blog posting - again - because it's been 4 weeks since I wrote it - I'm going to add some photos and call it good. </b><br />
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<b>While having 4 kids is amazing and wonderful and all sorts of adjectives of awesomeness, it's also a ton of work with little free times. So, there's where we are at...</b><br />
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<b>1. My date at the NP conference. </b><br />
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<b>2-4. BBs Monster Mash party (S and I made the monsters and I made the pinata - little BB found the correct string first try!)</b><br />
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<b>5. One week old snuggles </b><br />
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<b>6. BB on the eve of her 3rd birthday</b><br />
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<b>7-8. Halloween</b><br />
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<b>9-11. Snuggles with Baby W (it took BB a while to want to hold him so he's quite a bit older and bigger when she finally took her turn)</b><br />
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<b>12. My boys</b><br />
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<b>13. Kissing my cutie</b><br />
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<b>14. Nan was able to get one of his first smiles </b><br />
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<b>15. More snuggles with my little guy</b><br />
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<b>16-18. Ms. M's visit</b><br />
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<b>19. Our birthday boy aka The Doctor</b><br />
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<b>20. Toothless kids (both lost teeth within 24 hours of each other)</b><br />
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<b>21. Eight weeks - we work hard for those cute cheeks!</b><br />
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T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-85443559462540214272016-10-19T14:13:00.000-07:002016-12-04T21:19:36.479-08:00He's Here...W's Birth Story...<b>Warning - very long posting. However, this is our family history so I feel in 50 years the details will be really meaningful. </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>First - a little back story.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>A few weeks before our baby was due I had quite a long day scheduled for us - all the kids needed their dental cleanings and it would be BB's first visit. Her last trip to see Uncle Doc, our dentist, was for mouth stitches so I was not surprised she was not all that happy about her visit. I was big and uncomfortable and just didn't care if she got her teeth cleaned or not. But from there, I promised the older kids a fast trip into the Lego store while BB and I started ahead to get to my office where we could all get our flu shots.</b><br />
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<b>All that day I was just not feeling well. Like I was ill. I felt like I had a fever and my body ached but at 36/37 weeks pregnant, who feels great? So I chalked it all up to pregnancy and being grumpy that day. We went ahead and made it to my office for flu shots and those were a success - working at an allergy office that gives allergy shots every day, my nurses rock and no one else gives as many shots as them. The kids didn't even bat an eye lash from discomfort.</b><br />
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<b>While they collected stickers I talked with one of my colleagues. I showed him my hand which had been throbbing all day. That mixed with the other symptoms I was having I suspected an infection on my hand (which I've never had any type of skin infection ever and I don't like self diagnosing - I always guess the worst scenario on myself). So I asked him for his opinion. He concurred. He said it was the type of infection that really needed antibiotics and that since I was already an established patient of the clinic he would go ahead and send in some pregnancy safe antibiotics.</b><br />
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<b>I started the antibiotics that night and the next morning the hand was somewhat worse and needed to be drained. I took care of that - I had done that many times on other patients during my urgent care rotation. It was not pretty but it felt better and over the course of the day the antibiotics kicked in and the ill feelings I was having started to lift and my hand started to improve. That night, however, my digestive tract revolved against the antibiotics.</b><br />
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<b>I've never taken antibiotics while pregnant. Plus, it was a new antibiotic to me (Keflex). I prescribe it all the time and it's fairly mild for GI side effects but I think since my GI tract is already very delicate during pregnancy (like I take anti-nausea meds every day while pregnant), it put me over. Between the diarrhea, vomiting, and cramping from the other two symptoms, I became dehydrated and started having some contractions.</b><br />
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<b>I contacted the doctor the next day and we worked on hydration. It took a few days for me to bounce back but I finally did just in time to make it to family bingo night at the school. I had been on bed rest for a few days and was anxious to get out of bed and I was assigned a strictly only sitting job as a compromise. (I helped the kids call the numbers - it was quite charming.)</b><br />
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<b>I went back to work and finished up my time with my student over the next couple weeks. I went to my 38 week OB appointment and we discussed induction at just over 39 weeks. He said he was worried I would wait to long to get to the hospital and with the logistics of planning around the other three kids, I may just end up having the baby in the car so we should go ahead and just schedule it early. Plus, he really did not think I would make it to 40 weeks. I was losing weight from not being able to eat due to no space from the baby and the poor baby was crammed in and starting to move less.</b><br />
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<b>I was happy - we were all scheduled for induction October 11 - which I thought 10-11 had a nice ring to it for a birthday. My doctor warned me - be vigilant as I could still have spontaneous labor happen before then and to come to the hospital if contractions were too painful to talk through or at 5 minutes apart.</b><br />
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<b>We had a nice weekend after that - launching rockets with out two closest families of friends. I was pretty tired and very immobile but the end was in sight. I went to work on Monday and all was good. I was slow. The week progressed normally - I had meetings at school and lots of kid activities. The kids had the latter part of the week off due to teacher in-service. That Thursday I took them to the library, lunch with their dad, picked up the dog at the groomers, and we came home where I completed a baby hat for W because the first one didn't match him coming home outfit. I also had a girls night out scheduled with my friend.</b><br />
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<b>That night, my friend picked me up at 7 and we went out for soup, salad, and Carmel apples. She dropped me off at 8:45 and I helped tuck BB into bed. I felt tired - tired from a very busy day but fine. My mom called to check on me. She said, "I just had a feeling you may need me". I told her, "No, I'm fine. Really. I want to go watch some Dr. Who with the kids before they go to bed. I will call you if we need you."</b><br />
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<b>I took my shower, put rollers in my hair, and laid down to watch a show with Hubby and the older kids (about 9:15/9:30). As we were watching these old Dr. Who episodes I had a really painful contraction. About 10 minutes later it happened again. Little S tried to snuggle up to me but I just didn't want anyone touching me. I texted my friend at 9:45 and just asked her to be on standby, just in case because I was having painful contractions but about ever 10 minutes so a long way to go. She assured me she would keep her phone close that night.</b><br />
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<b>Hubby put the older kids to bed at 10 (remember, no school the next day), and I laid in bed, experiencing horrible pain that lasted about a minute very regularly at the 10 minute intervals. At 10:45 pm I looked at Hubby and said, I think you should go get my mom - even if it's a false alarm, I'd feel better having her available just in case. I called my mom and she said she would be ready (she no longer drives).</b><br />
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<b>At 11:00 my husband took off to get her and they were back at around 11:45/11:50. I texted him while he was gone - the contractions had moved to every 8 minutes. I was still trying to lay down but the contractions were getting so painful that I would often wake up and having to stand when they occurred. I assured him, I had to get to 5 minutes apart and I thought that would take more time. I didn't want to be turned away at the hospital nor did I want to labor that much at the hospital. Five minutes apart should give me plenty of time to get there, get checked in, get pain meds, and then have the baby.</b><br />
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<b>At 12:15 am I could not tolerate the contractions any more. They were 6-7 minutes apart but the pain was so intense I had to practice all my relaxation techniques I studied with kid 3.0 (we didn't do classes this time around - I was opting for as many pain management techniques as I could have so why take a class when I've been through child birth 3 previous times). I was also pretty sure my mucous plug fell out during one of the many trips to the bathroom I was needing to have - pretty much after every contraction.</b><br />
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<b>So, we woke my mom up and left the house. We arrived at the hospital about 1:00/1:15ish. The main entrance was closed so we had to go through the ER. I could not walk the long distance from the ER to the second floor so Hubby pushed me in a fancy wheel chair. It felt like it took forever to get there.</b><br />
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<b>Once there, the lady doing the checking in would not do anything for me until I showed her my ID - thank goodness I did not leave my purse in the car! Then she handed us this 2+ page paper to fill out while we waited for a nurse to come get us. She could see I was uncomfortable and I could not sit during the contractions. Finally, she said we could fill out the paper work in the back (my husband could complete it while I gave a urine specimen, changed my clothes, and a nurse hooked me to the monitor for 30 minutes). I used the bathroom and had to have Hubby help me change my clothes. I laid my upper body across the bed and rocked back and forth - contractions seemed to be much closer together since we left and I thought gravity from sitting/standing was the cause. Finally a nurse came in (Carrie) - it was someone I went to school with 16 years ago. It was nice to see her friendly face and she started to try and hook me up. Then she looked at me and asked a couple questions. I was so out of it having been focusing on pain management through relaxation I actually could not make out what she was saying. She repeated herself and then said, "Let's skip the monitoring - I'll do your check." 7 cm with boggy bag. She left to call anesthesia and my doctor. Another nurse immediately showed up and wheeled me away. She said her name was Shannon and was just floating that day because the floor was full. She also did not even know what room we were going to as at some point they were all full but we would find something. Oh, bonus, the hospital had just launched a new electronic medical records program that was slowing things down.</b><br />
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<b>We ended up in room 6, I think. I immediately went back to standing. She tried to hook me up to monitors and had to do so while I was standing. Then she started my IV. First one blew. I told her to stop being gentle and not use lidocaine to numb the area because I was in so much pain, IV pain was the least of my worries. When I'm in active labor like that I also don't like to be touched (my poor sweet husband starts to feel helpless at this point) Finally the IV was in. The nurse said they could give me some pain meds through the IV but if she thought the baby would arrive before 2 hours then there would be no time. I definitely did not think we had two hours and if we had two hours, I'd go epidural all the way. (That's saying a lot because I HATE, and I mean HATE needles, and big ones I hate especially but I was banking on epidural this go round.) Alas, I knew there was no time for meds or epidural. What's left? Nothing.</b><br />
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<b>I was left in the room, standing against the bed contracting about every 2 minutes with 1 minute breaks from severe pain. I was pretty deeply relaxed when I could feel baby pushing down. I looked up at my husband and said, "It's time. You better get someone." He went out into the nurses station and calmly said, "Hello? I think we're having a baby in here." The nurse and the doctor came screeching in and he very, very quickly slid on his suit cover up thing (I think that's the technical name). and he said, "No pain management options but if you push the baby out, you will feel better." That's all the motivation I needed. In my mind I leaped onto the bed and started pushing. (Remember, I was doing my funky hypnobirthing so some of what happened is foggy.) But according to Hubby, it went a bit (only a bit) slower than that. The doctor said I could push and I pushed and out came the head. I heard the nurse say, "You can reach down to touch him." but I was sort of frozen in pain and didn't want to. But I heard my husband say he could see him and that I was doing amazing that gave me a lot of energy to keep going. My water also broke at that moment. I don't think I was in a completely broken down bed because I felt the warm fluid hit my feet. The next push out came the shoulders and then one more easy push and he was out. Six minutes later the placenta.</b><br />
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<b>I have often heard people describe pushing the baby out like they were being torn in half. I did not experience that. To me, it felt so much better to push and get the baby out than to keep laboring and cramping. I may have had that "ring of fire" sensation but it really was not bad, even with second degree tearing. My pushing was not super controlled but my doctor said with natural childbirth it is tough to control the pushing.</b><br />
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<b>Baby also came out really clean because he was in a mostly intact sac for most of the process. He did have the cord wrapped around his neck - twice and was quite blue/purple. He also pooped on the way out. When I was born - I had the cord around my neck once and pooped on the way out. Maybe this kid will take after me?!? He also sucks his two same fingers I sucked as a baby, too.</b><br />
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<b>After the birth, the doctor told me about the tearing and he needed to do some stitches. I looked at him and said, "You're going to numb the area, right?" I don't know if he normally does or not, but the nurse had to go track down lidocane to numb the area before he started. The numbing of the area was awful! I still feel like I felt the stitches and the whole "you're numb in that area following birth" - that was not the case for me. But, the cool thing about natural child birth - I recovered SUPER fast. As soon as those stitches were done, I was up to the bathroom and cleaned up. In fact, the photo of baby and me was less than 30 minutes after he was born and I think I looked fairly decent because I had already visited the bathroom and sponge bathed myself.</b><br />
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<b>Then back to bed to get some pitocen to contract my uterus to ensure no hemorrhage. They really don't mess around when you've had 4 kids. Three hours hooked to that thing! At that point, my nurse started asking my "pre-admission" questions and I signed consent forms.</b><br />
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<b>Total time from first timed contraction to birth 3.5 hours. W was born at 1:57 am. Super fast. Honestly, I was completely surprised that he came early and at how quickly he arrived. The doctor kept insisting he was a week ahead of schedule and I just kept putting it in the back of my mind having these visions of waiting around like I've done in the past. He also kept telling me - give myself plenty of time to get to the hospital. I thought I had. I guess I gave just enough time to get there. I didn't even get to prep the kids before leaving as they were already sound asleep. They woke up to their Nan (my mom) at the house, no parents, and her telling them the baby was born.</b><br />
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<b>As I said, recovery went super smooth and fast. The one thing baby struggled with was temperature regulation. He kept getting cold and his temperature kept dropping to below 98 degrees. So at one point he went to the nursery to sit under a heat lamp for 30 minutes. Otherwise, he was great. Super healthy and happy. Of course, I did not sleep much those two nights I was at the hospital. The nurses tried to give me rest but I was in a hallway right next to one of the nursing stations. It was loud - all the time. Then at one point during a 2 hour nap when they said no one would disturb me I woke up with a window cleaner outside my window. I was on the 8th floor - that freaked me out! But once the grogginess of sleep wore off I was fine. Ironically, I was in the same recovery room that time as I was when T was born.</b><br />
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<b>Early the morning of baby's birth I called my friend who had dropped me off from our girls' night out. She gets up at 5 am to work out. I let her know the baby was born and she was my first visitor coming at 7:30 am. She had seen me less than 10 hours prior and I was very pregnant but not having contractions. She was amazed things changed - literally over night. We had several other wonderful friends and family stop in. It was a great day! But I was tired after 24+ hours of no sleep. I was also quite sore.</b><br />
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<b>We are so happy with our little one. He just fits in perfectly and is so pleasant. The first few nights were tough but once we got him into a rhythm he's sleeping well and waking twice at night (2 am and 6 am).</b><br />
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<b>He weighed 7 lbs 12.8 ounces, 20.25 inches long. Lots of dark hair. He shares his dad's name - just in reverse so his first name is his father's middle name. I really wanted to name him after his dad but we did not want them having the same first name so we were going to call him by his middle name. Then one of my colleagues at work, who does that with his name, said he grew up his whole life struggling with that and it has caused confusion since kindergarten through medical school and still as a partner in his own practice. So, we simplified things and reversed them. My husband is named for his two grandfathers.</b><br />
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<b>The other kids have been wonderful. Our toddler (almost 3) struggled the most. It took a few days for her to warm up to him and she kept checking my tummy to see if he really was out. The other two are in love with their brother. T just wants to pat his head all the time. S has changed her mind and thinks some day she may actually be open to being a mom after seeing how amazing her brother is (she really did not like all the changes I experienced while pregnant - she would keep saying, "Yet another reason I never want to have a baby.") She said the other night, "Mom, it was totally worth it - he is so amazing!" She's my unfiltered child so I know she is in earnest.</b><br />
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<b>There you have it. Birth story and lots of details. Now for photos!</b><br />
<br />
<b>1. Profile pic - 38 weeks.</b><br />
<b>2. Profile pic - 38.5 weeks - less than 24 hours prior to delivery</b><br />
<b>3. Just out of the womb and the first time seeing him - he came out very clean because his sac didn't break until his head came out. He was quite blue so they were trying to get him to cry.</b><br />
<b>4. Our doctor holding him - he's also very clean because of the super fast delivery - the bed was not even completely broken down when I started to push. I could barely speak but I remember saying I needed somewhere to put my feet after that first push. (Side note - our doctor's sister is the kids' vice principal at school.)<br />5. The nurse's timer and notes - it was so fast she jotted stuff down on her notepad next to a timer - all the computerized charting had to wait.</b><br />
<b>6. Stop watch on my phone next to my husband's watch with the time. I started my stop watch when I thought the contractions were regular. You can see how fast things progressed. </b><br />
<b>7. Being checked out by nursery nurses - he liked the warmer.</b><br />
<b>8. Measurements - these are my proof - the hospital wrote his measurements down wrong in the chart. The nurses were shocked when they weighed him before discharge and he had gained weight instead of losing it (It was because they recorded it incorrectly - just they insisted not. Just saying - here is my proof.)</b><br />
<b>9. Baby and me about 30 minutes after delivery. As soon as I was stitched up I went to the restroom and cleaned myself up. Recovery was really fast - one perk to natural child birth. That I did enjoy.</b><br />
<b>10. Baby's first bath - he likes getting his hair washed.</b><br />
<b>11. Clean, clean baby.</b><br />
<b>12. Daddy and son hands.</b><br />
<b>13. Baby feet - my favorite!</b><br />
<b>14. Dressed to head home (I really missed being at home - 36 hours at the hospital was plenty.)</b><br />
<b>15. Older kids meeting him and instantly loving him. He totally recognized their voices.</b><br />
<b>16. Day 5 snuggles.</b><br />
<b>17. Just hanging out on his soft blanket being "chill".</b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-13631358556821309962016-08-28T16:01:00.001-07:002016-08-28T16:01:09.480-07:00First Day of School 2016-2017 School Year and Updates<b>This year T goes into 3rd and S goes into 1st.</b><br />
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<b>We went last week and checked the list to see who they would have as their teachers. T had a big last minute change last year that caused him some stress so this year he did not even want to see the list. after Scouts we took both kids. He said, "Mom, just look at the list for me and I can be surprised at sneak peek." I insisted he see the list. When he did, he was beaming. S got everything she wanted - favorite first grade teacher and her best friend in class. Both were happy campers.</b><br />
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<b>They went the day before school for sneak peek. T was very excited to meet his teacher. He said, "I like her because she has a son named Cooper, which is my favorite name, and she is about your size, Mom" (referring to my petite stature. Yes, we all know if this household I will be the shortest one after the kids are all grown. His teacher just had twin boys in February and he knew that. He told her he was having a baby brother and was super excited about it.</b><br />
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<b>S was also beaming seeing her teacher. She already knows her and was just super excited to officially be a student of hers. She is already loving first grade and is already showing off her helper skills and her super good behavior. Her teachers still don't believe me that she has a "firey" side. She does. Boy, can I go around and around with that girl when she's in a mood. She is stretching my parenting skills and I think I will eventually learn patience being her mom. She is often one of my greatest sources of pride while also one of my greatest feelings of failure as a parent. Some days I'm like, "Hey, I'm rocking this parenting thing. Look at that kid!" The next day I am humbled because of something she did or said which made me feel like an awful parent. I often say it but it bears repeating - parenting is more about my learning and growth than what I will ever teach my children.</b><br />
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<b>Little BB was sad that she did not get to go to school, too, but we had a great day together. She's my little buddy and helper and keeps me company all the time when the older kids are off playing so it worked out nicely. I want to soak up my one-on-one time with her while I can before Baby comes. I don't want her to feel too displaced. She is super special and my own personal sunshine. Everyone that spends any amount of time with her understands that concept of her being sunshine. She is just a happy, goofy soul. She looks a lot like me as a child, too (unlike S who is a clone of my sister). It's nice to have one kid resemble me after all the hard work it is bringing them into this world.</b><br />
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<b>It has been interesting the older kids watching me experience pregnancy. S is convinced she never wants children because she doesn't want to get fat, get big breasts, have stretch marks, have veins, feel ill, get freckles. Oh I get all sorts of fun stuff from pregnant. For the most part, it goes all go back. At least I'm hoping it does like it has in the past. I'm not as young as I used to be so I'm mentally preparing to have to hit the work outs hard but every time she sees another change she says, "More evidence I never want to be pregnant." I remind her that if I had that attitude she would not be here and I also recall never wanting children because they were "sticky, smelly, and annoying". But here I am having a fourth - by choice! So, who knows with that girl.</b><br />
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<b>I'm definitely slowing down and starting to get really grumpy. Seven weeks to go. My labs are all excellent and my weight gain thus far is about 20lbs. I think I'll hit 25-28 lbs total. That's fine. Good fetal movement. There is NO space in my abdomen. Small frequent meals are how I eat. I do have to drink 1-2 cups of green tea a day to keep my blood pressure up (it's low). I cannot tolerate soda so it's my caffeine option and fairly healthy, too. Everyone tells me I look adorable. I so don't feel that way and think they are just being super kind, which I appreciate. It's such a two edge sword - I am happy to be bringing life into this world - a little boy I get to enjoy, cuddle, and watch grow. It will be my last time pregnant and I want to cherish the feeling. However, I am kind of over the pregnancy thing. After four times, I feel I have lived it and cherished it. I am ready to have my body back. I want to be able to play with my kids and chase them and feel energy doing so and not feel like I'm going to pee myself, vomit, or faint. I am dreading childbirth. Been there, done that. I know it's coming. I am just grateful at the end of all of it I get the pleasure of holding this little boy we've all grown to love already. </b><br />
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<b>I have so much to do at work - I have to wrap things for two students who need hours before I go on leave. There's a conference I really want to attend. I have been working on preparations for the baby, too. I bought a few disposable diapers just in case my rental ones don't arrive before the baby does. I think we're going to try half and half this go around. I don't feel I need to be a purest with cloth but I do like saving money and resources with them. Friends have been generously loaning me stuff so I don't have to buy much. I did have to buy a "new" breast pump set up because I gave mine away. It was good to me but it was used when I got it and then it went through three babies I nursed for 2 years each. I'm sure it did not have much left. It will be interesting getting used to a new one. I bet because it's not 10 years old it will work better than my last. </b><br />
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<b>I also purchased a new set of swaddling blankets and "lovey" blankets. I feel each of the kids should have their own since they get so attached. One of my students gave me a "little brother shirt". It's newborn size so I hope it fits but I always try to get a shirt that says something referencing birth order.</b><br />
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<b>Overall, we are doing good. Busy with kid activities and them being in school plus our jobs but we're good. BB has a book that has been teaching her about emotions. When asked "How are you feeling?" She says, "Happy!" Because happy is a feeling. Good is a condition. Well, I'm taking after her. When asked these days with the sad pathetic eyes folks often give me seeing my giant belly, "How are you feeling?" I reply, "Happy". They are not expecting that and I enjoy the surprise. But, indeed, I am feeling happy. One can be uncomfortable and happy at the same time, right?!? </b><br />
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<b>Here are some photos from that first day of school. T said he had to step up his dress code and replaced what I had laid out with a collared shirt. S wanted to wear her dress she got in Maui and little BB had to be like her sister. Last photo - 32/33 weeks.</b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-19531717030836573242016-08-13T17:33:00.002-07:002016-08-13T20:07:50.083-07:00Maui Family Vacation<b>It's been 8 years since I've left my beloved home state. My husband and I were talking and basically we figured if we didn't go somewhere now, it would be quite a while before we went anywhere with baby coming soon. Last year we had talked about the Oregon Coast (one of my favorite trips as a young adult). However, you have to book at least 6+ months in advance and since we decided to go on vacation only 2 months ago that was not going to happen. I wanted the kids to see a beach and the ocean. Living in a landlocked state it is something they had never experienced. I also needed easy. I would be 7+ months pregnant at vacation time.</b><br />
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<b>I did some research and all my life I have wanted to go to Hawaii. Talk about a beach and ocean. However, 8 hours on an airplane with 3 small children, that might be asking a lot. But we decided we'd put the new carpet for our home on hold and do a big family vacation anyway. The kids have never been on an airplane so more new experiences for them!</b><br />
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<b>I had been planning to have my life long best friend come up for a summer visit but when we decided on where we were going for vacation we decided she should go on vacation with us instead of a quick 2 day trip during the summer. Plus, it would be nice to have a 1:1 kid/adult ratio at the beach to help with the kids. She was thrilled to go along. (My kid adore her and consider her a surrogate aunt.)</b><br />
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<b>We did not really do much on vacation other than go to the beach and snorkel. We didn't do the Road to Hana or see the volcano. We just wanted to be at the beach. We went every day. We snorkeled every day. We had shave ice as often as possible. We stayed in a 2 bedroom condo on the beach and cooked our own meals to save on costs (we even shopped at Costco while there - our Costco has better hot dogs - just saying). It was all heavenly. There always seemed to be a rainbow in Maui. Even the rain was warm like the ocean water. We saw fish every day. What an epic family vacation! Well worth the 8 years of waiting to get out of the state.</b><br />
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<b>Funny story - T just started Cub Scouts. He was excited for the major service project of going to the local food bank and serving there. It happened to fall on the week we would be gone for vacation. Not knowing where our vacation was he asked us to reschedule our vacation because "we can go to north Idaho any time we want but I cannot serve at the food bank any time." I insisted we could not reschedule and he was pretty bummed with me. Finally we told him we were going to Maui and he really was speechless - mouth open, no words. I wish I had a video of that moment.</b><br />
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<b>All the kids had an amazing time. They LOVED swimming, body surfing, boogie boarding, snorkeling, diving, building sand castles. EVERYTHING. They were just so happy there. The water was warmer than our neighborhood pool and the salty taste did shock the kids, too. I also never got tired of watching them play on the beach. My 6:00 am wake up call every morning was little BB asking, "Can we go to the beach?!?" Then she would head into the bathroom and change into her swim clothes. The sunsets were lovely but I have to say ours are prettier in Idaho. It was like being on an alien planet with different plants and animals and all that humidity. It was refreshing and recharging but it is also wonderful to be back at home!</b><br />
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<b>And we were not without travel adventures. BB developed a viral GI bug on the way home. Six clothing changes in 24 hours in airports. We flew the red eye home and by the 4th change I was done! 7 months pregnant, tired sick toddler, no sleep for me - I was SO done. Not an apex mothering moment but I've never claimed to be perfect. Traveling with kids is not for the weak, that's for sure. Aside from that and one really amazing screaming moment on the flight from Phoenix to Maui where BB decided she wanted off the plane and the flight attendant felt she needed to calm my child for me and I had to ask politely 5 times to be left alone, BB was actually pretty amazing on the plane. The older kids were amazing. S is born to be a world traveler. She carried all her own luggage and backpack the entire time - no complaints and no questions. She was a machine.</b><br />
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<b>Another fun aspect of our trip - the youngest of hubby's older sisters happen to be on Maui at the same time as us. She and Uncle Doc stopped by our beach, played with the kids, boogie boarded, snorkeled and just had a fun morning with us. That was special for all of us. The kids were so surprised when they showed up and had such a great time.</b><br />
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<b>Here are lots of photos. But these are less than 10% of them. We took SO many. So I narrowed it down to the top 40 or so.</b><br />
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<b>Lots of photos of kids on the beach playing. Little BB LOVED shopping so she often was found in a shop with a hat and trying to match a hat with it. T was almost always in the water. S went to a lei making class with her daddy (very charming). I did a bit of snorkeling myself and there's a photo of me at 30 weeks pregnant. Several photos of the Maui Ocean Center, too. Some photos of my best friend who join us - Ms. M. It was such a delight to have her along.</b><br />
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<b>I will say it one last time - such a great time! Epic Family Vacation!!!</b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-68286267277026973772016-08-12T20:18:00.000-07:002016-08-13T20:19:40.390-07:00Last Day of School<b>Last day of school for my kindergartner and second grader.</b><br />
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<b>They seem so grown up now. It was a great year for them. They both ended the year with excellent report cards (S's was perfect). T did great and raised all his scores to end higher at the end. They are both excellent readers. They both enjoy school. We were all ready for a break though. </b><br />
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<b>We look forward to starting again in the fall after lots of fun and sleeping in during the summer. </b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-53406571796578797132016-05-29T17:47:00.003-07:002016-05-29T17:51:50.432-07:00Dad's 90th Birthday Celebration<b>Hubby's dad recently celebrated his 90th birthday. It was a nice celebration with pizza and ice cream cake. He was surrounded by most of his kids and grandkids. What an amazing individual and what a life and legacy he has led! How grateful we are for his example to all of us.</b><br />
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<b>My favorite story about him is from his retirement party. He had worked for three governors of the state of Idaho in various appointed positions like running department of correction or transportation. At his party someone asked, "Does anyone know what political party he affiliates with?" No one knew. He always kept his cards close and never showed them.</b><br />
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<b>Well, we certainly know where he stands but for 30 years no one knew including those three governors from two different parties who highly respected him and begged him not to retire. His grandson, our oldest, is a lot like him in his mannerisms and attitude. If he turns out to be half the person his grandfather is we will not have to worry about him doing amazing things with his life.</b><br />
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<b>We are so happy we could be apart of his birthday celebration. Does he not look about 65 years old instead of 90?!?</b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-1140424675754472912016-05-29T17:32:00.002-07:002016-05-29T17:32:31.483-07:00Spring Break Stay-cation<b>Again, still catching up. </b><br />
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<b>During spring break we wanted to do something for the kids. I worked the early part of the week so I could have the latter part off with them. Instead of going somewhere, we stayed local and went to a hotel about 15 minutes away. It had the best indoor pool I could find and a suite that would accommodate our entire clan.</b><br />
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<b>What a grand time! We had Chinese take out for dinner, watched the new Cinderella movie, ate breakfast at the hotel, and invited some friends for swimming before leaving the next day. Such a great time almost in our own back yard. We shall do it again sometime!</b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-70393839810155035362016-05-29T16:43:00.001-07:002016-05-29T16:53:10.463-07:00Highlights...<b>From the past few weeks...</b><br />
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<b>We've had a lot going on in May with celebrations, end of school events, dance recitals, and graduations. Here are a few photos from each. The kids' blogs have more extensive details on them.</b><br />
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<b>S had her third dance recital. She was adorable and did great. She prefers gymnastics but I insist she keep up on dance to supplement her gymnastics which is helping. She points her toes better than any one else on her team. (And she is on the competitive team now which she loves.)</b><br />
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<b>S also graduated from kindergarten. I cannot believe that! I remember how we were all so looking forward to her being in kindergarten with her best friend. Now she's all done. I was sad and teary eyed but the ceremony was just perfect thanks for her amazing teacher.</b><br />
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<b>T has been enjoying the last couple weeks of school doing Apple Valley. They were being taught as if they were in a one room classroom during the mid-1800s. They were awarded points each day for dressing and acting the part. He really got into it with his creative learning style. In the end those points were turned in for prizes. He also had his class program where he once again had a speaking part but not nearly as large as last year's.</b><br />
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<b>T also tested for his blue belt in taekwondo. It's been six months of preparation. So proud of his hard work. It took two full sessions to complete his form, sparring, board break, and three steps to progress. He was fortunate to have his two favorite teachers in attendance observing, too. </b><br />
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<b>We had our school carnival which was awesome and earned the PTO about $8000 for next year. The kids had a blast. I was also elected to the PTO board this year. I'm VP of art. It's an easy job but there are executive voting privileges which I think is a perfect start for me, especially since most of the responsibilities are earlier in the year before baby comes. </b><br />
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<b>On Mother's Day my own kids showered me with lovely homemade gifts, a lovely necklace, and then my own mother came over to celebrate the remainder of the day. Super special to have her with us, too.</b><br />
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<b>We all attended my nephew's high school graduation. We were the loudest cheering section by far and since he was the last name called we just kept on cheering with our bull horns and everything. So proud of him! We also celebrated his 18th birthday the same day. My husband and I were both together at his first birthday party. Amazing how time flies! And look how BIG he is!</b><br />
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<b>Lastly, a profile photo at 20 weeks. Half way there. Feeling pretty good - I still have my rough days. I've also had a chronic cold for about the past 2-3 months. I had one week of no symptoms and then they all came back. That is frustrating. Still, I know it could always be worse and I know how fortunate I am to be pregnant with a healthy baby boy. We go next week for an ultrasound. I postponed it so the kids would be out of school and could also enjoy the moment seeing their newest sibling. He's really moving around a lot. Still not as much action as previous babies but those are still reassuring taps and kicks knowing he is alive in there. </b><br />
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<b>S's third dance recital.</b><br />
<b>S's Kindergarten graduation </b><br />
<b>T and Apple Valley attire</b><br />
<b>T's Class Program</b><br />
<b>T's blue belt test </b><br />
<b>School carnival (two photos - S looks forward to the face paint every year)</b><br />
<b>Mother's Day</b><br />
<b>Nephew Dede's high school graduation</b><br />
<b>20 week profile photo and little BB giving her brother some taps</b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-36413910357638353982016-05-29T15:39:00.001-07:002016-05-29T16:37:53.223-07:00Some Projects in 2016<b>Growing a human is hard work. Still, I have been trying to get a few things finished for special folks. I wanted to post some photos of these. A couple are from pre-pregnancy so I was a whole lot more productive then. Some of more recent. I did not realize how lacking I was in posting project photos.</b><br />
<br />
<b>Really, though, I just want to document some of these. Most are my own creations and designs and I want to be able to refer back if I want to repeat some of them. I have to say, I now consider myself an expert level crochet artist. Still, getting two pieces on an item such as two arms or two legs to match up is difficult. It really puts into perspective how amazing the miracle of life is - assembling a human and getting all the parts right. Truly miraculous!</b><br />
<br />
<b>1. Bear for co-worker's new baby girl.</b><br />
<b>2 & 3. Quilt made for kindergarten teacher as end of year gift. I had kids design patches and I sewed them together and then bound the quilt. Great project. Brought her to tears.<br />4. Easy t-shirt S used for 100 days of school.</b><br />
<b>5. Chunky hat I made for myself. I really wanted the one I saw in the catalog but it was $55. This cost about $7 to make. Better color, too. Super soft.</b><br />
<b>6. 50 heart necklaces made for T and S's classes for Valentine's favors. I think I should probably start on the ones for 2017 if I'm going to keep the tradition going.</b><br />
<b>7. "Teddy Bacca" so named by the 9 year old who received this for his Star Wars themed birthday. My version of Chewbacca - satchel instead of crossbow. </b><br />
<b>8. Peacock - for one of my best friends. I saw it pinned on her Pintrest board and I knew there was no way she could make it for herself so I made it for her - complicated and time consuming but totally worth the look on her face when she opened it!</b><br />
<b>9. Scarves I made for co-workers. I sometimes crochet during lunch at work so I thought I would gift them with an original creation of my own. Super easy and chunky scarves. Well received. I made about 13 total this year for friends and co-workers.</b><br />
<b>10. Camo hat and owl for a favorite patient who had a baby and asked me to come see her while in the hospital. It was a long road getting her through pregnancy so I thought the new baby and the big sister should have a little something.</b><br />
<b>11. Pink pony for our great-niece A's birthday.</b><br />
<b>12. Blue monkey for our great nephew's birth. </b><br />
<b>13. Christmas creations - "white elephant", Christmas owls, and snowmen.</b><br />
<b>14. Wise may and camel for a friend's annual birthday gift. Each year I add a piece to her Nativity set. </b><br />
<b> 15. Yoda for a little one's 5th birthday. </b><br />
<b>16. Twin opposite monkeys and hats for my friend and fellow blogger Caitlin's new identical twin boys.</b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-17283297270948637942016-05-29T14:23:00.002-07:002016-05-29T14:23:26.787-07:00S's 6th Birthday Party - Fashion Cat Party<i><b>I just published the identical posting on her blog but it was such a great party idea and I was so happy with the end result that I will post here, too. I'm behind in blogging but trying to catch up.</b></i><br />
<br />
<b>S's's mom here - really behind in the blogging department (we're
having a baby in October and lots to do to catch up and prepare and just
a lot keeping up with this super high energy girl!) So, my apologies
this is so delayed. Poor dear, she has not even been in for her 6 year
wellness visit but I'm sure she's fine. She's a super healthy girl -
most of the time. This weekend she was struck with a gastrointestinal
bug but she's tough and powered through it.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>So
here you go - the photos from her 6th birthday. Her Auntie J helped a
ton and her cousin Dede and his girlfriend S also came to help. Her
beloved kindergarten teacher also came by and pitched in helping herd
the cats. S's chosen theme was "fashion cat party". This is classic S -
complicated theme that I cannot just look on Pintrest to get ideas.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Her
Auntie did all the food and decorations. I did the activities. S really
wanted face painting and the face painting artists were happy to have a
theme to work with. So as folks arrived, the girls (and it was a girls
only party at S's insistence) circulated through the face painting
station. While they did that, the also made cat ear headbands. Then onto
jewelry making and finally designing their "dresses" which were just
T-shirts they colored with fabric markers. I crocheted some belts and
bow ties for them to add to their costumes.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Instead
of gifts we had a book exchange. Each girl brought a book and each left
with a book. I drew names and in that order they could select which
book they wanted. I picked up a few extra books just in case and to add
variety but everyone was super excited about the books and it saved us
from a mound of gifts to keep track of and gifts that she really does
not need. There was no complaint from the birthday girl. She loves to
read and is quite good at it even at six. I also had Dr. Seuss' book
"Happy Birthday to You!" out for everyone in attendance to sign so she
could remember all the people at her birthday party.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Party favors consisted of crocheted cats I made in a variety of colors. This kept cost down but it was quite labor intensive.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>After
cupcakes (which were shaped into a pink dress - that was her
requested "cake") they strutted down the "cat walk" while my sister
introduced each of them with their cat names while discussing their
designs. The cat walk photos are quite blurry. Every one was in motion
but I still wanted to put some on here to remember the moments.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>It was a huge success and all the little girls LOVED it but
especially my birthday girl love it which is the most important part.</b><br />
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T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-33866834548509817812016-04-26T19:41:00.001-07:002016-04-26T19:51:41.973-07:00Kid 4.0<b></b><br />
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<b>My extended blogging absence is for good reason.We are expanding our family this fall! I am just coming out of the brain fog that is the first trimester. </b><br />
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<b>Here's the back story with some explanations for some of the questions I've been getting when we share our news. </b><br />
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<b>For the past couple of years I've been helping my friend with her three kids. It was therapeutic for me because I was pretty overwhelmed with my own three kids and by doing so I found that going from six kids to three kids made having three seem not too difficult. My juggling powers have grown and my responsibilities of having a fourth child three days a week coming to an end as my friend gets ready to graduate, I found myself feeling sad that the house would be so quiet and I'd only have one child at home while the older two went off to school all day. My heart was sad. I talked with my husband and we took some time to think and pray.</b><br />
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<b>Funnily, when I was pregnant with our 3.0 I made Hubby promise if I EVER asked for another child he would remind me that I made him promise to say no and remind me of that promise. He looked at me and reminded me - "Remember our conversation? You made me promise I would tell you and remind you? Are you saying you want another baby? Are you sure you can handle it - physically and mentally?" I really appreciated how tenderly he said it though. I could sense a small part of him thinking another little person in our life would probably be pretty awesome but three was just such a tough transition for us. We have grown a lot since then, though. He's helped a lot with the bonus kids, too. He used to get up and make them breakfast a couple mornings a week. He is well known for his perfect toast.</b><br />
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<b>Now I signed up for a 5 year birth control plan so reversing that does not happen over night. There is a wait to get into to the doctor and then a wait for one's female cycle to restart. So emphasis here - we did not just wake up one day and say, "Let's have another baby" and then just go for it. I say emphasis because a lot of folks think this baby is a surprise or accident. Not at all. Quite the contrary. Many just cannot comprehend that we would actually want four children. My response, "We're just crazy and love being surrounded by our kids and being engaged in their lives full time." We don't do anything else except work and tend kids. We love it. We do often feel like we need a break and goodness knows It's been 9+ years since my husband and I have been on a trip minus kids but it's okay. We're happy and love being all together before bed snuggling, watching some Star Wars cartoons, and reading stories before saying prayers. Life is just simple and beautiful. I NEVER thought in a million years such a life would be so satisfying but it is. 20 years ago I thought being a single person practicing medicine and living with a dog was the life for me. Interesting how meeting the right person and building a life with said person can change one's life completely - for the best!</b><br />
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<b>I just wish I would have changed my mind about more children before giving everything away. We need to reacquire darn near everything again but it's okay. Lots of friends are where we thought we were several months ago - getting rid of baby items. So, my neighbor just loaned me a big box of maternity clothes and says I can borrow any of the baby items stored in her garage.It will be fine. I've learned from experience that new is not necessary and a lot of the "baby stuff" is totally unnecessary. </b><br />
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<b>We also know we're having a baby boy. He's growing beautifully. We initially found out it was a boy through our genetic tests. I'm old in the world of child bearing so there are some risk factors. Even our insurance agreed and paid for it. We opted for the blood testing to avoid risks from amnio. Everything checked out good and we did get the gender. At our 12 week ultrasound our physician, who is well known for being a genius with ultrasounds, confirmed it was a boy. In fact, he was able to meet several of the benchmarks that are looked for at a 20 week ultrasound (i.e. 4 heart chambers, etc.). We watched our baby boy drink fluid, watched the fluid going into his gut, then into the bladder, and the back out. It was quite amazing. Heart beat was excellent. He was even measuring 13 weeks versus 12 (I assured our doctor there was no way he was 13 weeks old, though, so it seems he probably going to be big or just deliver early). This is the only pregnancy where the placenta is anterior versus posterior. With it being in front I won't feel as much baby movement action but I have felt him move - nearly every day for the past few weeks. First butterfly flutters, then bubbles, and now tiny taps to either my left or right side - but usually on the right. His egg is also from the right ovary. Kids 1,2, and 4 are right side kids. I love little tidbits like that.</b><br />
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<b>After we got all the testing done and things looked good through ultrasounds we told the kids and the next day I went in to talk to my boss and co-workers. It was April first when I told much of my staff so they thought it was a joke. The following week several asked if I was still pregnant.I got a good laugh out of that. We all did. </b><br />
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<b>How am I feeling? Well, I got influenza when I was 7 weeks. It was horrible. I was bedridden for 10 straight days. I missed over 2 weeks of work. Because of the immune compromise that pregnancy is, it made getting well very difficult. I feel very blessed that our baby was strong to survive the whole ordeal. It was one of the worst illnesses of my life. It was also during that time the nausea and vomiting kicked in, too. Really tough couple of weeks. I had horrible nausea and vomiting for about 4 weeks and then things improved significantly. I also found that 12 hours of sleep a night can help a lot to stave off that. With my girls I had months and months of vomiting. This time is much better - a lot like with my first. I've resumed some exercising - just not my ab exercises. I rode bikes with the kids last week and have been walking them to and from school. Someone gave me a great compliment today - "Are you adopting that baby boy in the fall because I don't see how you could be pregnant?!?" It was very sweet of her. At 15 weeks I have switched to maternity clothes but still not feeling too large - yet.</b><br />
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<b>About 5 months ago, my little S drew the first photo. She says she has no idea why she drew it with 6 in the family. She even got the gender right! The other is our little guy as a gummy bear - his first photo. I love gummy bear photos. Such reassurance that something is actually there growing. One last photo - adding last minute. I told my friend last week I feel like I popped over night. She demanded a bathroom selfie so it's added at the bottom. (Taken at restroom at work.) I am adding one more selfie that a bit more refined and on my actual 15 week mark. I like to keep track of growth.</b><br />
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<b>Thank you for sharing our wonderful news with us. We're are very excited about the upcoming changes. It will certainly be crazy but it is craziness that went into with eyes wide open and asked for. </b><br />
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<b></b>T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-27374359613162984122016-04-26T13:27:00.000-07:002016-04-26T13:27:37.402-07:00Grandparents Day 2016<b>The kids had their grandparents to the school on grandparents day. I was working but Hubby took some time during his lunch hour to shuttle them back and forth to the various events with each of the kids. I would say the kids AND the grandparents had a great time.</b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-72856938061293756512016-04-26T13:21:00.001-07:002016-04-26T13:21:36.924-07:00Rock and Gem Show 2016Hubby took the older kids to the annual rock and gem show down at our local fair grounds. Last year T's first grade teacher introduced us to this event. It's a great event and extremely kid friendly. Our kids love rocks and are always collecting them. They had quite the grand time for the second year in a row. Here are some highlights:<br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-84853042630439558872016-04-26T13:14:00.001-07:002016-04-26T13:14:06.789-07:00Art Night at school<b>This is the second time I have been an art parent for kindergarten. It's kind of a big job because the parents teach art at our school. We have a program we follow so that when a child graduates from 6th grade they have been exposed to every artist in the program. The parent is to devise and teach about the artist and then have the children in their class make something in the style of that artist. </b><br />
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<b>I tag teamed teaching this year with another mom. Next year, I take over the program for the entire school. I'm pretty nervous but also excited about that. I figure I'll be at this school for quite a while so I'll start in a PTO elected position that is not quite so scary as say going right for president.</b><br />
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<b>In February we host a big art gala at the school. All the walls are covered in black paper and the children's art is displayed. I also had to do an art auction item piece. We generate funds for our art program through this silent auction. I had the kinders use water color pastels to color hearts and then mounted them between two pieces of glass. That's the last photo. I think it made $60 or $70 (a couple of families got into a friendly bidding war which just benefits the school.) Here are some photos from this year's art night. (Yes, I was pretty tired that night and just recovering from influenza among other things so I don't look my best - so please look at the kids and the art!)</b><br />
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<br />T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-85372526430931411302016-04-26T12:59:00.000-07:002016-04-26T12:59:32.017-07:00Mom and Dad's (G and G's) 65th Wedding Anniversary<b>What a tremendous couple! What an incredible example and legacy to follow.</b><br />
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<b>In February we were fortunate to celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary. These folks are incredibly modest and wanted only a small celebration in a back room of a restaurant that they insisted on covering all the expenses for. All four of their children, 5 of their 8 grandchildren were there and all four of their great grandchildren were there. It was wonderful being all together and celebrating these two.</b><br />
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<b>I did insist on doing something special for them and volunteered to make the cake. My friend Ms. K helped me with the frosting and coached me through the layers portion. My sister-in-law J brought flowers from her shop to top the cake. Everything was 100% homemade and it was received graciously by my in-laws and enjoyed by all. Delicious and lovely.</b><br />
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<b>Our kiddos were all a bit groggy that night as they were about to start a bout of influenza which they then passed along to us adults. The toddler was the only one spared. We were all vaccinated, too. S had the least intense case but she also was the only one who had the mist versus the shot (better coverage with mist). The rest of us had the quadravalent shot. Fortunately, we did not infect anyone.</b><br />
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<b>I am so grateful to these two people for raising such an amazing son and being such wonderful grandparents to our children. They both look about 20 years younger than they really are. Stay tuned - we celebrated Dad's 90th birthday this month. I think he looks about 65 versus 90. He walks every day about 2-3 miles and they have always eaten healthy and just live a clean lifestyle. I am honored to be apart of their family. Right before Hubby and I were married 15 years ago we celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. It has been wonderful growing closer through the years. I am most grateful for their example and most definitely that they had a fourth child, their only son!</b><br />
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T Rex Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07581711492269619311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2821408119426275369.post-65753313432897305432015-12-31T20:19:00.000-08:002015-12-31T20:19:04.435-08:00Winter Garden 2015<b>We go every year. This year was nice because we went with Ms. B and her family. She is the one who watches BB for us while I am at work. It's been wonderful having them in our lives because they are such a wonderful family. We were brave this year and let the toddler run free. I figured with 4 adults there watching her we could keep up. She did pretty good. Only once did I need to carry her and sing the ABC Song over and over. </b><br />
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<b>The trains were a big hit with everyone as was climbing the hill and ringing the bell. There was a fresh skiff of snow which just made everything that much more beautiful.</b><br />
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