The Verdict.

It has been decided. Tayvin will get his own friends birthday party right around his birthday. The theme he wants is sharks and fish.  I want Tahn to have his own 1st birthday party so 2 weeks later, Tahnyon will get a cute little turtle party with his friends. And somewhere in between, they'll have a combined party for our family. The theme? THING 1 and THING 2! I'm so excited.  The Cat in the Hat will be making an appearance to tell the kids his story, the pictures on the wall will be tilted, there will be kites, and the list goes on. But I'm always still looking for ideas so if you have any, let me in on them!

And thanks everyone for your input.

A swampy party

Still going back... Tayv turned 3 oh, only 8 months ago. He wanted an alligator/crocodile/frog/balloon birthday party. Being 8 and 1/2 months pregnant, I ran out of energy so it didn't turn out quite like I planned but he loved it anyway! He still tells me how the food was the best part! :) Love my sweet boy.

One of his presents from mommy & daddy...

Frog eye salad, ants on a log, frog and alligator jigglers, gummy frogs, and swamp juice...

Ready to blow out the candles...

Yes, I am aware that I was huge...

My cute niece...

Tayv, we can't imagine life without you. You have brought so much joy and love into our home. Thank you a million times for allowing us to be your parents.

3+1=Us

I always have the best of intentions. When I was pregnant with Tayvin, I started a journal for him. I wasn’t the best at writing in it but I wrote about how I found out I was pregnant, how I told Nate, the day we found out his gender, his birth story, etc, etc. I intended to do one of these journals for each of my kids. One day I did go look for a journal for Tahnyon but they didn’t have one I liked. That’s as far as it ever went. Thus, the blog. So here’s the birth story for Tahn’s digital journal…



September 5th- lots of contractions. Went camping. Rode in my dad’s truck. Was absolutely sure I would be having that baby in the tent after the bumpy ride up. Fail.

September 6th- Started to feel uncomfortable thanks to the beach ball under my shirt and decided I wouldn’t mind having the baby come out sometime. (Let’s just say that up until this point, I was perfectly happy being pregnant.)

September 11th- due date.

Canning peaches and decided to make Nate a fresh peach pie. I figured 1 of 2 things would happen. Either I would go into labor because there was a fresh peach pie beckoning to me and I wouldn’t be able to eat it OR I wouldn’t go into labor but then I would have a fresh peach pie to console me. Sure enough, contractions began. They were about 6 minutes apart so we decided to go walk to see if they would increase or decrease. They increased. We waited. And waited. I really didn’t want to go the hospital to have them quit like they did with Tayv. Called my mom and had her meet us in Salt Lake to pick up Tayv. Pain. Arrived at the hospital around midnight. Of course, because we decided to go the hospital, the contractions stopped. Well, they didn’t stop per se; they just weren’t doing much for me. Tahnyon got grounded till he’s 27 and they sent me home.

September 12th-We went up to Kamas to pick up Tayv from Mom & Dad’s and hung out for the rest of the day. I was a bit depressed. Meanwhile, I’m still having contractions pretty regularly. We decided to leave Tayv there so my parents wouldn’t have to drive down again to pick him up.

September 13th-Nate made me breakfast to eat on our deck and we played cards for awhile. 1 pm-show up to church to discover we had missed Stake conference. Went for a drive. Nate made me go on a 4 mile walk. There was a little running involved towards the end. Labor begins! I didn’t sleep much that night but told Nate to go in to work for half a day. He refused.

September 14th-Finally get out of bed at 6 because there is no sleeping going on. (From me, not Nate.) Shower. Start laundry. Go downstairs to do dishes. Water breaks. I think. Change laundry. Wait awhile to tell Nate my water broke because he’s on the phone. Finish packing bag. Refuse Nate’s insistence to go to hospital immediately because I need to finish laundry. Make bed. Clean bathroom. Make Tayv’s bed. Change laundry. Finally admit that perhaps now is a good time. Contractions 2 minutes apart. Again, pain.

10:30-arrive at hospital. Amazing the difference in treatment you receive when you tell them your water broke.

Talk to nurse. Test to make sure it really was my water that broke. Meconium in fluid. Still only 2 cm. Dr orders pitocin. Stacia orders epidural. Sweet relief. Oh, how I love catheters. Nate watches football.

12 pm- baby’s heartbeat starts dropping. Internal monitor. Oxygen mask. Sudoku. Football. Chick flicks.

2 pm- 4 cm. Epidural starts to wear off. More juice. Nate gets to go eat but is instructed to not come back smelling like food because I’m starving.

5 pm-6 cm. Nurse informs me she’s leaving at 7 but wants to see my baby so it would be great if I could hurry it along. :) We loved our nurse. I know how to work under pressure.

6 pm-pretty sure I need to push. Nurse checks- 10 cm. Call the Dr. Waiting. Waiting.

7 pm- practice push. Instructed to not push anymore until the dr. is there-baby’s too close.

7:40-Dr.Hinson arrives and preps. Disgusting details. Monitors removed.

7:50- Push 1, push 2, push 3. Successful VBAC. 

My sweet baby!
I can't wait to do it again. Seriously.
(On his way out, he grabbed onto the scissors. It took 3 sets of hands to remove his iron grip on them. 8 months later, he’s still like that.)

Minutes old...

Tayv meeting his 'little buddy'...

First family picture...

My life, my joy, my everything...

Oh how I love this sweet thing...

Such a happy (and seriously hot) daddy...

Ready to go home...

My life is changed forever.

Overheard-One liners

Just a few of Tayvin's latest one liners.

• "If you like it then you should of put a ring on it."
• "Whatever it takes."
• "Alright BK, let's roll!"
• "Yah, I got this."
• "I'm good with whatever."

Kindness

I've been thinking about kindness a lot recently. About how often I show it and how often I don't. About the people in this world who seem to not know the meaning of it and the many more people in this world that do.
Yesterday I had two experiences that reminded me to get out of my comfort zone, notice those around me, and do all that I can to help them.
So thank you to the man at the DMV that was understanding and kind to this un-licensed mother of two kids (one of which was tired and crying) who truly appreciated your kindness.
And thank you to the sweet old man that saw an overloaded mother and took the 2 minutes out of his time to help me out and remind me of the kindness of others.

Truly. Thank you.

That's what you're getting for now, I'm tired.
Keep scrolling.

My little sister returned home from her mission in New Zealand a couple months ago and

the kids have been having a blast with her since!

These two just can't get enough of each other. They're hooked.

This is what we usually find at the end of a run...

(Look of "Um, mom-could you help me out here please?" always included.)

Until daddy walks by. Then it's all smiles...

The funny thing about this picture is that he was almost done with his cereal. It's like he knew what kind of picture I was trying to get. :)

The Duo

My brother and his wife had their first baby girl 4 months after Tayvin was born. Their second was born 10 days after Tahnyon. Only time will tell if Tahn & RyElle will be as inseperable as their older siblings, Tayvin and Toshlyn.

Prayer time...

2 years ago in Alaska...

Every time it snowed here it would be gone within a few hours. So when we wanted to play in the snow, we'd head up to Kamas.

My cute little snowman...

While my parents were in New Zealand/Australia, we went up to do a few things at their house then spent 4 hours snowshoeing. It was so nice to escape for a little while.

Love this kid!

My dad has such a special connection with my boys. I can just sit there and watch him with them for hours.  I love this one of him and Tahn...

We think Tahn looks so much like Dave. We were blessed to have Dave and Jeanne come visit us for a couple of days-the boys loved having their grandparents with them!

Oh, and you might as well just count this as my Father's Day post. Thanks. :)

Blackmail...

I have no idea.

Just can't get enough of those sweet cheeks.

Overheard: 2 + 2

Nate:     "K buddy, your chicken will be off the grill in a couple minutes."
Tayvin: "Dad, a couple is like two."
               No response.
Tayvin: "Dad, a couple is like two."
               No response.
Tayvin: " Dad, a couple is two."
Nate:     "Oh, like four!"
Tayvin: "No Dad, not two plus two. Just two."

Please vote?
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If you know me at all, you know I always have an excuse. Mostly though, I live by this motto... "Don't rush me, I'm waiting until the last minute."
The great thing about blogging? There never is a last minute!
Anyway, here's my excuse: My poor sweet baby got his first tooth on Sunday and also a nasty cold.
So here's one picture for now...

(This is his new 'I just got a cute little tooth, wanna see it?' smile.)

He's such a little trooper, still trying to light up the room whether he's sick or not.

Oh, and please ignore the shiny snot running down his face.

Edited to add: Although I am admitting that I always have an excuse, I would at least like a little credit for always trying not to use my excuses.  Thank you very much.

Overheard

While praying: "And thank you that daddy can go to work everyday. Except for Sundays. And except for the days that we want to go to Grandma & Grandpa's house."
Maybe he is learning something worthwhile.

Nate has a few business trips coming up, one of them being tomorrow. Tonight in the car he rudely interrupted to say, "Dad, we will miss you when you're gone." :)

And the other day out of the blue... "Mom, I will really miss you guys when you're dead!"
LOL-Us too buddy, us too!
Luckily we're not quite as old as he thinks we are.