Fun Car Ride Home

So today we drove 2 hours to go out to lunch with my parents for Mom's birthday. She was so surprised! And then we did some shopping (how I miss Cache Valley!) and then we drove 2 hours home! It's been a long but fun day. Here are some funny things that Charity did on our drive home...

So, initially Charity was acting like she was so tired she couldn't keep her eyes open! But then when we stopped for gas she must have caught her second wind cuz she was wide awake! (yes, she's still awake, but hopefully she doesn't want to stay up too late) When we were 3/4s of the way home she started throwing a fit because she didn't want to go home she wanted to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house! She must have argued with me for atleast 10 minutes about where we were going. I ended the argument by telling her she didn't have to want to go home. lol.

Then, I'd gotten in the backseat with the girl's for a while because Danielle has a hard time travelling in the dark, she's just fine during the day but turn the lights out and she can't handle it! So, anyway, Charity starts saying to me, "Mommy, you need to stay in your seat. You need to stay in your seat, Mommy! Mommy I told you have to stay in your seat!" Well, she tends to ask if she can drive with Daddy and we tell her no because she has to stay in her seat and I guess she was thinking about that and she got upset with me because I wasn't in MY seat. lol. So, just so everyone knows, the front passenger seat is mine. ROFL! She is so funny sometimes.

Ok, now I don't think we go out to eat too often and we don't go through a drive through more than once a month but when we got off the freeway (and pulled over so I could get back in my seat!) Charity decided she was hungry and she wanted a hamburger or Buger as she calls it. So, she starts asking everyone if they want a burger. Now since it was getting late and we were all tired we caved and said ok, we'll get some burgers. So, when we pull up to the burger place Charity bends to the side a little and says "I want a burger please." Then Dennis asked me if she thought she was ordering and I said I didn't know but then she looked out the window and started telling us to go to the box! Such a smartie!

Oh, and I forgot to mention it before, or post about it but Danielle's got her first tooth! It came in this week on Thursday! Poor girl you can tell there's a whole bunch trying to pop through though and she is just miserable but we're doing our best to comfort her through it. Poor girl, teething is no fun!

Happy Birthday Mom!

It's my Mom's birthday today! Wow, the things she's seen and done in her lifetime! As well as the things she'd had to go through. I just hope that I'm as happy and wonderful when I reach that age as she is! (for those of you who know my mom, you know exactly what I'm talking about!) But I just had a minute to write a happy birthday note so Happy Birthday Mom!

Random Things

Hello! I was tagged by my friend Emily for 6 Random things about me, and then my friend Phyllisa tagged me for 25 random things so I'm combining them. No you're not gonna get 31 random things though! (This is really hard for me to come up with so... I hope I'm creative and not boring to much, lol)

Rules:
~Link to the person who tagged you
~Post the rules on your blog
~Write six random things about yourself
~Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them
~Let each person know they've been tagged

Six Random Things About Me:

1. I'm scared of the dark.

2. Though I love to sit outside alone and look up at the night sky! Though it's nice to do that sitting next to Dennis too.

3. I'm a huge worrier about my family and their health and car accidents.

4. I want nice new furniture but it's not at the top of our priorities list so it's gonna be a while.

5. I am terribly shy and quiet. And I've worried that people think I'm stuck up, but really I'm just shy! (though I've gotten amazingly better over the last few years)

6. Sometimes I seriously think I've got some form of OCD! lol.

OK... so I tag
Kim
April
Jennifer
Angie
Laura
Ginny

Then 19 more...

7. I LOVE taking pictures, but I'm not very good at it.

8. My favorite picture of Charity EVER is when she was either 2 or 4 months old, Dennis took it and I cropped it. I'll have to find it and post it!

9. I tried to get a picture of Danielle in the same style but failed :(

10. I have a very addictive personality. Meaning, I get addicted t o something for a short time and then move on to something else that I get addicted to! lol. ie. computer games, video games, playing with pictures, tv shows, books, sometimes just really random things.

11. I would love to find a stay at home job, but haven't been able to find anything, though I haven't looked that hard, yet.

12. I LOVE Blogging, I pretty much use it as a journal now and it's great to be able to look back at the things that have happened. (I'd really love to print it all off and make it into a book, year by year!)

13. I also LOVE Facebook! I only recently found it but it is such a great way to keep in contact with your friends and family! LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!

14. I hate to cook. Really, I hate it and would be happy to not do it at all, but sometimes you do what you gotta do.

15. I love playing with graphics on the computer and doing web design but I haven't really done much in the last few years.

16. I'm very susceptible to advertising.

17. I want more kids but I worry about the effects it would have on my body and if my family would survive the pregnancy! lol.

18. Sometimes I worry I'm too overprotective of my kids and sometimes I worry I'm not protective enough! I guess that's just normal mom worries?

19. I love birthdays and think they should be a big deal! (And I love it that May at our house is practically a second Christmas! poor Dennis!)

20. I refuse to drive in the snow. I've ended up in a ditch 3 times while driving in it and now I'm scared to death to drive while it's snowing... so no driving in the snow for me!

21. My husband thinks I only married him for his car - and for resident status at school. lol. Not really, but it's a running joke for us, I don't remember how it started.

22. I'm a twin, most of you know that, I just wanted to share for those that don't. :) Oh and I love being a twin, oh and until our stake redid our ward boundaries, I was in the ward that had the highest number of twins in it except that was both sets but there were several of us who were twins without the other half in the ward too. lol.

23. My husband has been the one to come up with the names for both of our kids! Though I've picked out their middle name. It just worked out that way.

24. I love to go to the zoo. I think I enjoy it as much or more than my kids! Seriously, I'm just a big kid at heart, but the zoo is so much fun!

25. This has taken me over an hour to come up with things! Oops, I'm not very good at coming up with random things about me!

Full of Baloney

Charity and I had an interesting conversation today at lunch. (my how much 2 year olds pick up!)

She was being cute and I said to her, "I love you, Care Bear."

I call her Care Bear, it's a long story as to why but so she looks at me and goes, "I love YOU, Care Bear. You're full of baloney."

"I'm full of baloney?" I say.

"No, I'M full of baloney! You're a Care Bear. Are you a Care Bear, Mommy?"

"Sure I'm a Care Bear Charity. Are you a Care Bear?"

"No, I'm full of Baloney, You are."

"I'm full of Baloney too?"

"No, you're a Care Bear. Aren't you a Care Bear, Mommy?"

"Yes, Charity. I'll be a Care Bear."

"I'm a Care Bear too Mommy, and I'm full of Baloney."

"OK Charity." ROFL.

I had to come and post this quick while it was still in my mind and I could pretty much write it down word for word. Lol. She is such a cutie. Oh, grandpa tells her she's full of baloney when she's being funny.

Charity's Birth Story

So a friend of mine was asking us all to post our birth stories for her (she's pregnant) and since I didn't have this blog when Charity was born I figured I'd add it here now so that I'll be able to look back on it later. :) I may go and compare this to what I wrote in my journal later because I think it's interesting to look back now and see how I see it differently after having another baby, parenting experience, and more knowledge behind me.

My whole pregnancy I felt that she was going to come early, I figured it would only be a week or two. At my appointment when I was about 36 1/2 weeks, I asked my doctor wanting to know what my chances were of going early (my mom had her kids 3-4 weeks early but us girls were twins and that's normal and then my brother was induced I think, but her mom had all of her kids 3-8 weeks early). So at my appoinment that was about 36 1/2 weeks (Tuesday), I asked him what my chances were of going early based on my family history. Well, I hadn't had any braxton hicks contractions or anything like that and he told me I was probably going to go to at least 40 weeks. Little did her know he'd be delivering a baby in a few days.... lol.

The day before I went into labor I had a huge urge to make Strawberry Shortcake. That's odd for me because I don't like to cook, or do a lot of baking so I should have realized something was up. I was on the phone with my mom several times making sure I could find substitutes for some things I didn't have and figuring out how to make it. Well, I didn't get the strawberries cut and juicing early enough so we decided to eat it the next day after the strawberries had a while longer. That night I woke up at 3:30 to my water breaking. Now, she was a little over 3 weeks early, I was NOT ready for it. lol. no bag was packed, I wasn't mentally ready (labor is what I feared the most that first time). So I sat on the toilet for 1/2 an hour going back and forth about whether my water had broken. Now it was pretty much a guarantee and contractions started within a few minutes and they started at 4-5mins apart. So I finally couldn't deny it to myself. Most of the stuff that I needed for the hospital bag was in the basement so I made a list of everything that I needed from downstairs and made 1 trip down to go get it. If you ask my husband he makes it sound like I was running up and down the stairs while I was in labor, but it was just one trip! He wouldn't really know anyway since I hadn't woken him up yet!

So, I got everything ready and then woke him up around 5 to let him know it was time to go to the hospital. He ate breakfast and got ready and we got there around 5:45ish. The labor and delivery nurse checked me and sure enough my water had broken and I was dialted to 3cm at this point. They asked when I wanted the epidural and I said now please. They have to do an IV before you can get the epidural so I said ok. OUCH! I seriously NEVER want an IV again if I can avoid it. It took them 4 tries to get it in right and it just HURT. I thought that was the worst part of the whole thing. Well, it took the anesthiologist 2 more hours to get there so I didn't get the epidural until 8. Around 7 the nurse gave me a shot of something in my IV that was suppose to take the edge off the pain but it didn't seem to help much. I hadn't learned any coping techniques really prior to this and I wish that I had. After the epidural my husband swears I was on cloud nine and out of pain, but I don't remember it that way! It didn't really take and I still felt every contraction, especially in my back. Oh, and they checked me right after I had the epidural and I was dialated to a 7 at that point.

Sometime between 9:30 and 10 I was fully dialated and ready to push but my doctor was next door delivering another baby! Well, the epidural had worked really well in that area and I didn't feel a thing in regards to pressure or anything so I said fine. It wasn't until around 10:45ish or so the nurse came in, had me do a trial push and then the doctor came in for me to start pushing. Looking back now, I wonder if that is why I pushed for so long because maybe after sitting for that long with her that close maybe I'd gotten a bit swollen or something but hey, I couldn't feel it. Anyway, so around 1 (2 hours of pushing) the doctor starts talking about maybe using forceps or the vacuum to help get her out. Up to this point, I gotta admit I hadn't really been concentrating on pushing, I was watching in the mirror, lol. Well, I got serious at this point because I didn't want any interventions and she was born at 1:30!

I had planned on holding her immediately and nursing her but since she was 3 weeks early she was covered in the vernix still so she came out all white and icky looking so when the doctor asked if I wanted her right then or if I wanted them to clean her off first I said go ahead and clean her off. BIG MISTAKE! they didn't just clean her off, they ran all of their tests and did everything so it was like an hour before I got to hold her and then I didn't even think of nursing at that time. Shortly after that a nurse noticed that she looked a bit shaky and they checked and her blood sugar levels were really low. So she ended up getting a bottle of formula to boost those up cuz the possibility of her needing an IV and being transferred to another hospital scared me. Thist caused us some major problems in getting breastfeeding established but we eventually worked them all out. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that being 3 weeks early she was still 7lbs 3oz!

Early babies can be extra sleepy and are at a higher risk for developing jaundice. Which, she did but luckily where you can get the bililights brought to your home so they don't have to have a hospital stay. Charity ended up needing to be under those for several days. The day she got to be off them was my birthday and what a great present!!!

Danielle's Story is my posst She's Here on May 14th.

I have Serious Issues with Sesame Street today

Anyone watch Sesame Street lately? WOW, apparently it's changed a bit since I was a kid. What kind of values are they wanting to teach young children?

I know some people really like this kind of music and there is nothing inherently wrong with it but a bunch of it was like hip/hop rap type music and then they had one of the actresses off of sex and the city doing a segment on fabulous and at one part she asked if the shoe came in her size and while nothing was specifically said or anything it just was too similar for me, it was just too easy to make the connection, and then they had some women who were dancers who were just soooo sickenly thin. You know, the toothpick arms, you can see every bone kind of thin. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. I mean, there are some parts of it that are REALLY good but then they throw in stuff like that. Grrrrr. I mean, why can't it just all be good wholesome kid stuff!?!

Update

I figured I'd update on how my neice is doing. So far, the findings are good! The ultrasound on her liver came back normal!!! Yay!!! And the GI specialist (I think that's who my sister said they saw) said that so far everything looks good. They are waiting on the last few blood test results but it looks like things may be just fine, except they're still leaving her with the failure to thrive diagnosis the pediatrician gave her earlier this week. That one really bugs me though.

At her 1-year appointment they were worried about her weight because she'd been dropping percentiles and was a little over 18lbs so they had them put her on ensure to help boost her calorie intake because she's a picky eater. Well, she gained a pound in a month! Which is really good for a 12-month old and even raised the percentiles. so they were satisfied after the appointment that she was doing fine, but then the blood tests came back and her liver enzymes were up pretty high so that's when the pediatrician started worrying about her having hepatitis and then gave her a failure to thrive diagnosis! I mean, c'mon on. Mom and Dad is already worrying their baby may have hepatitis and they add that on top of it!?! It just really REALLY bugs me. But so far things are looking good so I guess I shouldn't be complaining!

Thanks everyone for your prayers and support for them this week! I know it was felt!

Request for Prayers

My twin found out today that my 13-month old neice may have hepatitis. How scary. They're now waiting on a few more test results to get more information and are waiting to see a specialist. How scary for them so please send them some prayers that everything turns out ok!

New Year's Resolution

OK, so I'm not really one for making New Year's Resolutions because I have a terrible time remembering what they are let alone accomplishing them! But I'm gonna try. So this year I want to:

Read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover
Improve more at doing family home evening
Exercise atleast 3x a week
Be better at keeping track of our budget

I guess that's enough. So, here's to hoping I can accomplish them this year!