I didn't get pictures as soon as I should, as you can see, he's missing an eye. The girls got these cute little snowman kits for Christmas from Sadie and it was cute to see what they did with them.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Charity turned 10! I can't believe it!
Actually, I'm really excited that it's her birthday because it gives me a chance to really reflect on her and who she is becoming. I'm really so proud of Charity. She's met so many challenges already. And the way she barrels through them, is just impressive to me. It's been a tough year, we've seen different sides of Charity that I'm not sure we knew existed. It's nice to know, but it has been difficult to watch her struggle as well. She is an amazing girl. She has so much strength and stamina! To watch her keep going, to keep getting up when she's knocked down.... it's just incredible to me. She's really becoming such a beautiful young lady.
Charity is spunky, smart, full of love for all she comes in contact with. She loves friends, and loves being loved :).
Right now her favorite colors are blue (turquoise), green and orange. She loves to read, play outside, pretend to be a dog, and dream about having a dog of her own.
She is an excellent reader, typist, singer, dancer, big sister, daughter and student. She really has excelled in all of these areas this year. It's neat to watch her try so many things.
Charity lives and breathes for dogs, she has plans to buy a new dog someday. She has been waiting patiently, and hopes to be able to get one as soon as we get into a house of our own.
She's really just a huge asset to our family. She loves her family and we love her.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAR BEAR!!
*I will add pictures and the post about her birthday and the following day as soon as I can get my blog to let me! Sorry for the delay :)
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Pregnancy Journal
3-7-12
I went in for my 2nd check up. Things looked good! I did the peeing on a "strip" for the first time this time. That was weird. One thing that annoys me is my Doctor has changed offices almost as much as we've gotten pregnant! This is the third office he's been at, and the whole system seems different each time. So that annoys me, but oh well. Dr. Thackeray is worth the inconvenience I guess.
The baby's heartbeat was 150, he/she was moving around so much we could hear it on the dopler, but not enough that I could actually feel it! Darn it! I thought I felt something the other day, but I'm not sure. Seems like once I feel them move, I'm good to go as far as stressing about them being okay. For some reason the having the Doctor say that there is less than a 1% chance that I could lose this baby has no effect on me. And I still figure that there's a chance and that's enough to worry about. I wish the worrying part of pregnancy could be less with each one. It's not. I think it might be that darn number 7 that keeps getting me though! It's supposed to be lucky right?? ha! kidding.
I learned 2 new things this time. 1- your body can produce different amounts of different hormones with each pregnancy. And that is why no two pregnancies are really the same. That was interesting, and SO TRUE! It's interesting to find out too, that it's my hormones that determine how much discharge I will have. That's weird. Luckily I am not worried about an infection for now though. The other thing I learned is that the uterus does in fact have nerves in it (some dummy told me otherwise- sorry if you were that dummy :) I don't remember who it was)- but that they do not receive pain in the same way that say our skin does. The nerves in the uterus will receive it as pressure or cramping instead of a sharp poking or cutting pain. I thought that was interesting. That explains a LOT! Kinda cool.
So my latest question is why did Heavenly Father make child-bearing so difficult for some people, but not for others? And for those that it is, why? Not in a "why me?" sort of way, but in an "I'm just curious in terms of his big plan, what the purpose was?".... there's a purpose for everything right? I just like to know stuff like that. I'm sure there is a good reason and I like to think that anyway because it helps me deal with the torture a little better. Maybe I'm just a wuss. Who knows.
So things don't seem to be looking up a WHOLE lot with the nausea and all that, but hopefully soon! I'm about 14 weeks right now.
Dr. Thackeray was nice enough to say that if we want any of our kids to see the baby on the ultrasound at 20 weeks, he would be willing to do one for them just in our office if we want to bring them to my next visit. He said that the official 20 week one is done with a technician and they don't like to have kids there, but he offered to do one in his office. See how nice he is! Good doctor. I'd recommend him to anyone and everyone.
So anyway. I feel relieved to have heard the baby's heartbeat and know that I still have one in there :). Hopefully this lasts until I can feel it move, which should hopefully be soon. I feel distant right now... I want to feel closer to this baby. I do love that Erika has been really interested in watching the home videos of all our babies when they were born. She calls it "Baby Ewika crying computer, wanna watch it." She LOVES babies! She always has. I'm excited for her to have a little baby around :). She was the recruiter in Heaven. Recruiting people to be in our family. She made Noah come first so that she could get a few more :) (well, not a few, but you get the idea :) ). I'm certain of it. I know she's been waiting for this one to come. I'm glad it's finally time.
I went in for my 2nd check up. Things looked good! I did the peeing on a "strip" for the first time this time. That was weird. One thing that annoys me is my Doctor has changed offices almost as much as we've gotten pregnant! This is the third office he's been at, and the whole system seems different each time. So that annoys me, but oh well. Dr. Thackeray is worth the inconvenience I guess.
The baby's heartbeat was 150, he/she was moving around so much we could hear it on the dopler, but not enough that I could actually feel it! Darn it! I thought I felt something the other day, but I'm not sure. Seems like once I feel them move, I'm good to go as far as stressing about them being okay. For some reason the having the Doctor say that there is less than a 1% chance that I could lose this baby has no effect on me. And I still figure that there's a chance and that's enough to worry about. I wish the worrying part of pregnancy could be less with each one. It's not. I think it might be that darn number 7 that keeps getting me though! It's supposed to be lucky right?? ha! kidding.
I learned 2 new things this time. 1- your body can produce different amounts of different hormones with each pregnancy. And that is why no two pregnancies are really the same. That was interesting, and SO TRUE! It's interesting to find out too, that it's my hormones that determine how much discharge I will have. That's weird. Luckily I am not worried about an infection for now though. The other thing I learned is that the uterus does in fact have nerves in it (some dummy told me otherwise- sorry if you were that dummy :) I don't remember who it was)- but that they do not receive pain in the same way that say our skin does. The nerves in the uterus will receive it as pressure or cramping instead of a sharp poking or cutting pain. I thought that was interesting. That explains a LOT! Kinda cool.
So my latest question is why did Heavenly Father make child-bearing so difficult for some people, but not for others? And for those that it is, why? Not in a "why me?" sort of way, but in an "I'm just curious in terms of his big plan, what the purpose was?".... there's a purpose for everything right? I just like to know stuff like that. I'm sure there is a good reason and I like to think that anyway because it helps me deal with the torture a little better. Maybe I'm just a wuss. Who knows.
So things don't seem to be looking up a WHOLE lot with the nausea and all that, but hopefully soon! I'm about 14 weeks right now.
Dr. Thackeray was nice enough to say that if we want any of our kids to see the baby on the ultrasound at 20 weeks, he would be willing to do one for them just in our office if we want to bring them to my next visit. He said that the official 20 week one is done with a technician and they don't like to have kids there, but he offered to do one in his office. See how nice he is! Good doctor. I'd recommend him to anyone and everyone.
So anyway. I feel relieved to have heard the baby's heartbeat and know that I still have one in there :). Hopefully this lasts until I can feel it move, which should hopefully be soon. I feel distant right now... I want to feel closer to this baby. I do love that Erika has been really interested in watching the home videos of all our babies when they were born. She calls it "Baby Ewika crying computer, wanna watch it." She LOVES babies! She always has. I'm excited for her to have a little baby around :). She was the recruiter in Heaven. Recruiting people to be in our family. She made Noah come first so that she could get a few more :) (well, not a few, but you get the idea :) ). I'm certain of it. I know she's been waiting for this one to come. I'm glad it's finally time.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
The Dentist
I hate admitting it, but we've had to have quite a bit of dental work over the past couple years. It's frustrating to try as hard as we do to cut out sugary foods, and to focus on the brushing, and still see no fruits of our labors. But I thought I better document Tuesday. I had taken in Kelly, Bradley, Luke and Noah a couple weeks prior, and it was time for their follow-up, filling visits. The dentist we see is awesome because they scheduled ALL of our kids for the next visit, all at the same time. In some ways this is ideal, in others, it's not, but I will take it. SO Tuesday was our big day. Charity and Erika were just having check ups. At which we found out that one of Charity's old fillings has broken and she has to have that redone. And Erika "has very good teeth with no cavities" (I used to get all excited about this news, but now I know it's just a matter of time!) Following their check-ups, we had Kelly getting two teeth pulled, plus one filled and capped, Bradley had to have one filled, and Lukey had to have one filled. It was a long hour and a half of tears, tough kids, and walking back and forth from the waiting room to the exam rooms. Luckily Nate was there. But it was definitely insane. It's interesting to me which kids try to tough things out. And which ones buckle under the pain or pressure, whichever it is. I love getting to know their personalities in different situations. And I hate watching them suffer. SO a little bitter sweet. We're hoping to start with a clean slate now and we're putting a whole new focus on teeth brushing, even flossing which is a new one for me, and we've got a goal to all be cavity-free at our next check up! I should have mentioned that Noah was cavity-free at his visit also, and got to play the Nintendo the entire visit on Tuesday :). Lucky duck. Better luck next time for the rest of them. I HOPE!!!
The Book of Mormon
Monday night we knew were on our last chapter of the Book of Mormon so we planned to read it for Family Night and then go out for ice cream to celebrate. It's always such a neat experience to read and finish the Book of Mormon for me. I love it even more when my kids get to be part of it as well. This was our third time reading it as a family. Which may not seem like a lot since we've been reading it REGULARLY for about 8 years. But with little kids, it can take a while :). We're proud of ourselves either way and know that it has been a blessing for our family. I can think of so many things (outside of our testimonies even) that our family scripture study has done for me and for each of our kids. Charity, Kelly, Bradley and Luke have all learned how to read (I say) solely from the Book of Mormon. They are all exceptional readers for their ages. I KNOW that this blessing has come from our steady reading as a family. I know that the time we spend together has been priceless no matter how unorganized it has been at times. The fact that we are able to regroup, calm down, and have that quiet, thought-provoking time together, every night, is phenomenal in my mind. I am so grateful for the counsel from our leaders to read as a family, the encouragement that we receive on a regular basis at church, and the knowledge that it is what Heavenly Father wants us to do. What an awesome thing to receive so much blessing from. I am just in awe at how beneficial it is for our family. I hope I don't sound preachy, it is just my testimony that family scripture study can strengthen a family, and help to bring the Spirit into the home regularly. I'm glad we've made it a habit, I'm glad my kids are so used to it that they remind us and make us do it even when I'm too tired :). I'm glad that my testimony of the Book of Mormon has been strengthened and I know that it will continue to grow. What an awesome thing.
We had a lot of fun at Dairy Queen celebrating :). Ice cream is the way to top off all cool accomplishments in our family :). I loved the looks we got from the couple and their one daughter when we came in and took up three tables, half of our kids in their junky pajamas, spilling ice cream all over the place, dipping their fries in their melting ice cream cones, and well, goofing off too much. Let's just say we were having a good time and they looked jealous ;). I love our family. I wouldn't trade those moments for the world. I hope some of them grasped the concept and recognized the coolness of reading the Book of Mormon. I can't wait til the day when they have their very own testimonies of the Book of Mormon and can share them with me. That will be a cool day.
We had a lot of fun at Dairy Queen celebrating :). Ice cream is the way to top off all cool accomplishments in our family :). I loved the looks we got from the couple and their one daughter when we came in and took up three tables, half of our kids in their junky pajamas, spilling ice cream all over the place, dipping their fries in their melting ice cream cones, and well, goofing off too much. Let's just say we were having a good time and they looked jealous ;). I love our family. I wouldn't trade those moments for the world. I hope some of them grasped the concept and recognized the coolness of reading the Book of Mormon. I can't wait til the day when they have their very own testimonies of the Book of Mormon and can share them with me. That will be a cool day.
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