Look what the cat dragged in...literally! We heard a noise in the garage and Meowser had one of these little guys in her mouth and then proceeded to find a second one after we rescued the first one. We ended up finding a third one a day later too hiding out in my flower garden but that one has since died. Hopefully we can keep the other two alive. They are ridiculously cute and if anyone can desensitize them to humans the girls can. :-)
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Monday, June 27, 2016
More pictures.
The job hunt is still active and still a pain in my butt, no offers yet still interviewing and waiting. Blah! Here's more pictures of fun stuff though to keep my mind off the yucky stuff.
Our roof is all done, here's some shots of them working up there.
We went to the lake for the first time this season on Saturday, when the kids woke up they were so excited/nervous that they were wearing their life jackets while watching TV.
Joe's little mini me on the paddle board with Austin swimming along side.
Tyler took her job of keeping the Lily Pad close to the boat very seriously.
It was a big day for Hunter, who then slept on my lap for most of the evening.
Jackson's absolute favorite thing right now (besides his Dad who he idolizes) is the "Lawn Mow" so Joe goes real slow and let's him sit there and help...he doesn't move, talk or barely blink due to excitement.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Summer fun!!!
This one thousand times over...I love summer time!!!
They are starting our roof today!
Our swing stopped working (possibly because Jackson would lean into it) so we borrowed Tadd and Carri's since little Hunter still loves it so much. Look at the amazement on her face to see the mobile go around.
It's been hot here so pulling out the sprinkler is always fun.
We turned the old hot tub spot into a sand box for the kids.
We picked up Helen in Denver and Jackson got to watch his first movie facing forward while we waited for her.
After swimming lessons we went over to Tadd and Carri's house and ate pizza on the lawn.
Daddy's little helper spreading grass seed.
Hail storms have devastated my flowers, hopefully they will bounce back.
The girls got butterflies for their birthdays...they "hatched" and we set them free.
This face...boy do we love her!
Vacuuming the outside..that's a tough job!
They are starting our roof today!
Our swing stopped working (possibly because Jackson would lean into it) so we borrowed Tadd and Carri's since little Hunter still loves it so much. Look at the amazement on her face to see the mobile go around.
It's been hot here so pulling out the sprinkler is always fun.
We turned the old hot tub spot into a sand box for the kids.
So the big kids play in the sand and Hunter sleeps in the wagon.
We picked up Helen in Denver and Jackson got to watch his first movie facing forward while we waited for her.
After swimming lessons we went over to Tadd and Carri's house and ate pizza on the lawn.
Daddy's little helper spreading grass seed.
Hail storms have devastated my flowers, hopefully they will bounce back.
The girls got butterflies for their birthdays...they "hatched" and we set them free.
This face...boy do we love her!
Vacuuming the outside..that's a tough job!
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Hunter's Birth Story
As always here's Hunter's birth story for record...complete with the details read it if you'd like to. :-D
Hunter Ann’s
Birth Story
We knew when
we went from having more than two kids that we were going to go for an even
number and up the count to four. So
after Jackson was born we started thinking about how long it would take to get
pregnant with the fourth. It seemed
surreal at the time to realize that I was pregnant when Jackson was only six
months old. I waited to tell anyone
including Joe until after the first trimester was over and then we had one
wedding and Carri and Tadd’s baby shower for Summer. The shower was on a Sunday and I had my first
OB/GYN appointment on that Thursday to confirm that I was in fact 18 weeks
pregnant with our fourth child and third daughter. I remember that we named her Hunter within
the first week, it just stuck and we didn’t even think about other possibilities. So just as all of her siblings before her, we
made it to the past due date and started looking towards induction. While Jackson’s went smoothly I was still
apprehensive of the “what ifs”. Carole
got in town on Tuesday night, originally to meet the newest member of our
family and to help out with the other kiddos but instead she was able to be
here for the whole process and watch the kids during labor and delivery. Wednesday morning Joe accompanied me to my
weekly routine health check for the baby and I, and when they checked my cervix
I was starting to dilate, now sitting at a 3cm with 50% effacement we were told
that the beds in the hospital were filling up fast and since this was my fourth
and it would more than likely go extremely quickly so we should head in that
afternoon. We drove home and picked up
Austin from school so everyone could just be at home and I knew that everything
was taken care of and headed back into the hospital at 2PM. The nurse checked my cervix again and sure
enough I was still at a 3cm but now I was almost all the way effaced. We talked it over and we decided that we
would try one round of cytotec to finish the effacement and start the harder
contractions. My Mom was able to come
down and be with us in the hospital so when she arrived at just about 5PM we
were told that everything was going as planned and sitting at about 6cm
dilation so it should be any time. I was
up walking around and to be honest the contractions weren’t even making me stop
in my tracks, perhaps by my fourth I had finally learned the art of working
with my body rather than against it. The
next check showed that I was dilated to an 8 and it would be any second now (or
so we were told). Our OB/GYN had a
student doctor with him at the time and we had given permission for her to
deliver Hunter (with him standing there of course) and when we were all sitting
in the room after several hours sitting stagnant at an 8 she spoke up and said
perhaps it’s because the baby is double wrapped. Our ears perked up and asked her what that
meant to which she replied that the baby’s umbilical cord was wrapped twice
around her neck and perhaps that was causing her to not be able to drop all the
way down into the birth canal to finish the dilation. My mind went into a panic and the
contractions that hadn’t bothered me before were now taking concentration to
get through. The doctor suggested at
this point as it neared 11PM that we should try to manually dilate the cervix since
there really wasn’t much else to try. We
all agreed and with every contraction the nurse and Joe would hold my legs
back, I would push and the doctors both of them and their four hands would try
and push the cervix back around the baby’s head. This went on for 20-30 minutes although if you
had asked me at the time it was an eternity.
The pain was so much more of a sharp searing pain then normal labor is
and I couldn’t even form words (normally I can muster the energy for a cuss
word or two). My body was shaking in
between contractions uncontrollably which was making Joe nervous and he was
trying his best to hold me still.
Finally one eternity later during one of the contraction – pushing
rounds I felt a snap and could feel Hunter pass the cervix. Everyone rushed to get the table and gowns
all setup before she slipped too far back and we got ready for the real
pushing. After everyone was in place
they briefed us on the fact that we would push just enough to get her head out
and then stop so they could unwrap the cord and then finish the delivery. The nurse who had delivered Jackson too, who
just so happens to be our friends mom had to bow out at this point…she had my
Mom take my leg and Joe the other one and she stepped back. Afterwards she came up and told me that she
was too close to us now to watch me in that kind of pain. Just a couple pushes later Hunter flew out of
the birth canal and the poor student doctor tried to just block her in with her
hands pushing against me, which didn’t work and her the actual doctor and the
nurse all grabbed Hunter and she came racing into the world and essentially
tossed her on my stomach, where she sat up like a Budda doll facing away from
me with her cord neatly wrapped around her neck twice like a scarf. They quickly unwrapped the cord and laid her
flat against me. At this point labor had
been over for 30 seconds and I had the biggest smile on my face, the rush of
endorphins completely melted the pain away as they kneaded on my stomach to get
the placenta to break lose. Fifteen
minutes or so later they had me mostly cleaned up and presentable so George
could come in and meet his newest grandbaby.
I asked my Mom if it was easier to watch baby number four being
delivered compared to my first (since she was able to be there for both) and
through choked back tears, she exclaimed that they were both equally hard to
watch. To watch someone that you love
that much in that much pain and know that there is nothing that you can do is a
terrible feeling. It was now past
midnight and everyone was coming down off the rush, the doctors had left, the
nurses covered Hunter and I up with an additional blanket since I had requested
that she just lay there with me and they do the bath and measuring when they
came back around. Joe curled up on the
bench and fell asleep, when he woke up an hour or so later I urged him to go
home get some rest and be there if the other kids needed anything. Hunter and I were in good hands and by now
four babies in – all delivered in the same hospital – we had made friends with
most everyone. In fact the same nurse
bathed all four kiddos, she made her way back around almost four hours later to
find me enjoying every breath of that sweet baby on my chest her just snoozing
away. She had even passed her first
round of meconium right there on my chest…and I wouldn’t have had it any other
way. She was just absolutely content and
happy and perfect. They came in and
started the bath process with her and gave me new gowns and changed my sheets
and nestled us all back together. We
fell in and out of sleep until everyone came by the next morning to meet their
new baby sister…the love in that room was palpable that day. XOXO
Birthdays
We had two birthdays this month and boy did the girls have a ton of fun with them, of course Jackson gets included in most everything too so he loved it just as much. Here's a photo dump of the excitement.
Austin's Birthday was on Saturday so we took them all to Bass Pro shops to bowl and check out the giant fishes!
Jackson is just about the cutest thing ever standing up there pointing at the fish as they swim by.
Bowling was super fun too, even Jackson got to roll them down.
J is back in town for a while so it's been awesome to have her around more and it gives me someone to expel some of my 10,000 words a day to. ;-) Oh yeah and the guys bet Nate that he wouldn't shave for a year - while it's only for a $100 bucks apparently it's enough for Nate to grow that beard out.
Tyler wanted to jump in a bounce house for her birthday, when I looked online it was cheaper to buy this one than it was to rent one for the day. It's not quite as big as the commercial ones, but for our little kiddos and in this case Uncle Wells and Summer it was plenty big. :-) It was raining the day of the party so we were able to blow it up indoors and jump around in it.
But outside is where I love it best, that way when Action Jackson fall out onto his head it's just the grass not the concrete of the basement.
Austin's Birthday was on Saturday so we took them all to Bass Pro shops to bowl and check out the giant fishes!
Jackson is just about the cutest thing ever standing up there pointing at the fish as they swim by.
Bowling was super fun too, even Jackson got to roll them down.
Jackson wanted to finish petting the elk behind us but we made him sit still for a photo which lead to this great picture of my Mom with a crying Jackson on her lap.
J is back in town for a while so it's been awesome to have her around more and it gives me someone to expel some of my 10,000 words a day to. ;-) Oh yeah and the guys bet Nate that he wouldn't shave for a year - while it's only for a $100 bucks apparently it's enough for Nate to grow that beard out.
Tyler wanted to jump in a bounce house for her birthday, when I looked online it was cheaper to buy this one than it was to rent one for the day. It's not quite as big as the commercial ones, but for our little kiddos and in this case Uncle Wells and Summer it was plenty big. :-) It was raining the day of the party so we were able to blow it up indoors and jump around in it.
But outside is where I love it best, that way when Action Jackson fall out onto his head it's just the grass not the concrete of the basement.
We signed the kids up for swimming lessons at Tadd and Carri's neighborhood pool, apparently 30 minutes of crying because you are scared of the water makes Jackson very tired. ;-)
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