Proud Mama and 20 months!

So proud of Kade! He got 100% on his last two spelling tests! Yay Kade!

Today I finally took Kamryn to her 18  20 month check-up! Yep that's how great of a mom I am...I am two months behind. I was a little off on the 15 month check-up, actualy I didn't know they had a 15 month one and took her at 17 monthxs and since she turned 18 months old when we were driving to Utah I was going to just schedule her appointment for January and I have been so busy and then I would forget so it finally got done today and she is 20 months old. She only had to have one shot! Thank goodness! She doesn't have anymore shots until her kindergarten shots.  She still has a stills heart murmur but nothing to be worried about. The doctor looked at her tongue and said that it is all healed and looks good. I am still trying to get her to stick it out. She is so cute and so a fun girl to be around. She is saying lots of words and a lot of gibberish I don't really understand. The other day Kade heard a few people talking to each other in another language (not gonna say what language because I don't want to offend anyone) he turned to me and said, "Mom, they talk like Kamryn!"

Kamryn is 33 3/4" tall and weights 26.5 pounds!  Both are in the 50-75 percentile!

Here she is waiting for the doctor...

I love her to pieces! She is such a Mama's girl...I don't know what I am going to do. But I can't complain that she wants to be and go everywhere with me cuz she is so fun to be around. And a great shopper as long as you have snacks!

In honor of President's Day

For the past few weeks Kade has been learning about the presidents in school.  They have also been learning about money and that the presidents are on money. Kade's favorite president is Abraham Lincoln. He told me how sad he was that our president died and that he was shot in the back of the head. He also explained how sad he was that Abraham Lincoln died and he wishes he still was the president.  He told me that he wanted to be tall like a giant like Abraham Lincoln was. He told me about the statue and showed me the penny. I tried to explain to Kade that even if Abraham Lincoln didn't get shot that he would have been soo old that he would probably be dead anyway. We then talked about George Washington.  He doesn't really like George Washington or his curly hair. Part of his homework was to draw a picture of George Washington and he did not want to do it.  If I have time later today I might upload his drawings.

I love to hear Kade's take on things he learns in school. Kids are so funny!

Sick kids!

Last night was a LONG night! Both the kids are getting colds and teeth! The main problem is that they both NEED to sleep in their own beds. Kamryn was up and down all night. She can only sleep in her bed. She will lay by you for a few minutes in our bed when she is sick and then she has to move again and then move again and it's just restless and she never falls asleep.  Finally at 4:30 we had some cereal and watched Toy Story 3 until we both passed out. Keegan was up in our bed on and off when Kamryn wasn't. He sleeps better in his own bed but when he is sick or restless with teething he likes to hold me. Really I hold him and he wraps his arms around my neck or grabs my hands or my hair. He sleeps pretty well with us because not that long ago he was sleeping with us. The only problem is that now he is on the move it is hard to let him sleep with us especially when we can't barricade him between us in our huge bed. He has had a fall that luckily no harm was done, but I was worried it would happen again. So they both got Tylenol and that didn't help. I can't find my teething tablets so no luck there. Needless to say it was a long night. So today we took it easy. Kade asked a million times it doesn't feel like I am exaggerating but I am sure I am if we could go to the park but lucky us, we hard rain all day and nice cool weather and with sick kids, we didn't make it to the park. Looks like I will be staying home from church tomorrow so I don't spread the germs to all the other little ones in nursery. Of course that is probably where she picked it up!

 Last night we were discussing the things I wanted to do with the kitchen. It's going to be a long process because we don't have the money to just redo everything at once but last night I decided that we are starting with painting the kitchen. So since we were pretty much stuck at home with sick kids Ryan and I prepped the kitchen and tonight we painted! We still have lots more to do like...refinish the cabinets, back splash, hardware for the cabinets and whatever else pops up. But it is progress. I will keep you posted!

I just wanted to show some recent pictures of the kids. I haven't had any luck getting Kamryn's picture with her tongue sticking out. She hasn't really tried except for once. I don't think she understands since it has never gone further than her lip!  Hopefully I will get a picture soon so I can put up the before and after.

 This one is before the surgery...don't mind the crazy hair!

 Keegan's favorite thing to do....I need to get something to cover those wires. Strangulation hazard! Yikes!

 His second favorite thing to do...either his thumb or his toe....he doesn't care!

D-backs fan fest and V-day!

Saturday we took the kids to the Diamondback's Fan Fest! The kids had a lot of fun. They had bouncers and the company Ryan works for is a sponsor so we were able to see a few of his co-workers.  Here are a few pictures from our day!

Even Keegan had a D-backs shirt on!

 I thought I got a pic with Kamryn and her stickers but I guess I didn't.  She ended up with a rash where her stickers were...

**********Valentines Day! ************

 Don't these look delicious??? They are! This is what Ryan got me for Valentine's Day even though last week I asked and I thought we agreed that we weren't doing presents this year. Oh well we BOTH got to enjoy them! Thanks hunny you know me so well!

The kids got spoiled with gifts in the mail from grandparents and then I ended up not having to work so Ryan and I put the kids to bed and then spent the rest of the night eating our strawberries and catching up on our favorite shows on the DVR! I know so romantic...at least I wasn't at work and I got to spend some time with Ryan!

I found this in CJ's bed....either he stole it from Kamryn or Kamryn wanted to give CJ a nice treat! I am betting on the first one...

The kids!

Keegan and Kamryn are starting to play more and more. They get mad at each other for taking eachothers toy. Neither of them really know how to share yet. Kamryn tells him No No and he laughs at her.

Ms. Crazy Hair this morning!

Look at me mom!

Today Kade was looking at Keegan and said, "Mom, that's my shirt when I was a baby." he must have remembered seeing pictures of himself in the same outfit.

Poor buddy had a fall this morning and got a little carpet burn! :(

 The new table. It has chalkboard paint on top!

 I hate the flash because my kids always blink when I try and take their picture!

 Keegan is already pullhg himsefl up to stand..YIKES!

Last but not least today Kade told me, "I want Kamryn to be big so we can fight!" Oh great! They already wrestle and I can barely handle that!

 

Little reminders

Everyday I have little things that remind me of Kooper. Not everyday is it something that specifically represents him.  I have an account on babycenter.com. I have been on babycenter since before I became pregnant with Kade. You put in the dates or due dates of you children and then they have birth boards for the month and year that your baby is due so you can ask questions and compare things to other moms throughout the baby years. So after Kooper died I went to the stillbirth boards to find comfort. Comfort in knowing that someone else understood what I had gone through. What I found was not that. Many, not all but many didn't have much belief of the afterlife or their belief's weren't strong. So these boards ended up not doing me much good because their feelings were so different then mine although we still stood on some common ground.  So after that I never followed the birth boards much. I couldn't go to Kooper"s and see all these ladies complain about their baby because I would have given ANYTHING to have my baby not sleep a minute of the night. Although I very well know I would have been complaining if I was in their shoes. Being a Mom isn't easy.  I have entered Keegan and Kamryn's information in and every week I get an update about what they might be doing developmentally. I still get them for Kooper. It is one of those reminders.  Today i received a Huggies pamphlet not only for Kamryn but for Kooper too. It doesn't say his name on it but it is for the potty training years.

When I became pregnant with Kooper I signed up for Huggies coupons. You put in your information about your expected due date and start receiving samples and coupons. I still get them for Kooper. It doesn't really make me sad. Because lets be honest who wants to be potty training an almost 3 year old??? It's bittersweet because it reminds me of what could have been or would have been and what stage he would be in. But anytime I get a reminder that Kooper is real and that he is my baby it makes me happy.

Tonight as Kade was saying his prayers the first thing that he said was, "I'm thankful for Kooper." and then the last thing he said was, "I hope Kooper has awesome balloons!" (today we went to Chick-a-fillet and he and Kamryn got balloons and he kept talking about letting the balloons go to Kooper.) Before he said his prayers he was facing his Kooper monkey and I am pretty sure that reminded him of  his little brother.

Last night as I tucked Kade in to bed I had Keegan in my arms and I told Kade that in a few years he would be able to have a roommate, Keegan! And that Keegan could sleep on the pull-out trundle bed.  I told him that if Kooper were here and alive that he would be as big as Sara Jane and that he would be big enough to share a room and sleep in a big boy bed. He smiled and said, "But Mom, He's in heaven!" I smiled back thinking, I know, silly me!

Fun weekend

It is so weird when you go from blogging every day to blogging whenever you have make time to blog. I feel like I have missed out on documenting so many happenings from my weekend and I don't want to forget them. So lets start off with Thursday!

Thursday:
Keegan started crawling. He hasn't gotten much better or faster yet (which is definitely a good thing!). I thought for sure when I got back from Utah he would be all over the place but luckily he isn't going to fast only a few crawls and then he goes down to his tummy! Kade kinked his neck for the first time pretty bad. He just stayed on the couch all night trying not to move because it hurt. He asked me if I could give him a blessing and I told him I couldn't but I bet Daddy would when he got home from work. He started to cry and asked when Daddy would be home. I told him that if he wanted we could say a prayer in the meantime and he was satisfied with that, until he realized that just because you say a prayer it won't make the pain go away instantly!

Friday:
I left to go to Utah for my sisters baby shower. I took Kamryn along with me for a little girls weekend. I had a very neat experience. People always say it's a small world but I think that people are put in our paths for a reason.
Not too long after Kooper passed away I received an e-mail from a women in Utah that had a stillborn baby girl just months before I had Kooper. She will never know how much her e-mails meant to me. They inspired me and I only hoped that I could help others as much as she had helped me. She started a blog site that had links to other Angel Mommy blogs and there I was able to see others experiences and relate to them when I felt like I was the only person that was going through this. Little did I know how common stillbirth really was. So anyway back to the present. As I boarded on the airplane I began searching for an empty row so that someone could "choose" to sit by someone with a baby. As I was walking back someone who looks familiar says to me, "Are you Kooper's mom?" and I am sure my face lit up because it isn't very often that I get asked that. Actually I don't think I have ever been asked that. I immediately knew who she was even before I answered, "yes" and she told me, "I'm Savannah's mom!" She had a layover in Phoenix and we ended up on the same flight. It was so nice to talk to her in person. She is such a sweet girl and so pretty. She was also very nice to help me with Kamryn. Kamryn didn't do so well on the flight. She did okay but could have done better. Unfortunately we sat at the gate for 30 minutes before the plane even moved. It was also during Kamryn's nap time and I think it might have been bothering her ears a little bit. Luckily the flight wasn't too long. I wish it were longer and that I didn't have Kamryn because I could have talked to her for hours.

My Mom and little sister Ashley picked us up from the airport and we went to my favorite place to eat in Utah, Crown Burger. Then we did a little shopping which is always fun.

Saturday:
We  had Ashley's baby shower. It was a lot of fun to see lots of family many of them I hadn't seen in a while and I got to hold 2 cute little newborns! Oh how I wish my babies would stay that small forever! So sweet!

While I was having fun in Utah Ryan took Kade to Monster Jam, the monster truck show. They had a lot of fun. Ryan said next year the whole family is going to go!

Sunday:
We spent more time with family and then we had to wake up bright and early Monday morning at 3:30 am so that I could be at the airport in time for my 6:50am flight. Thanks Mom and Dad for waking up so early and driving me to the airport! Kamryn did a little better this time but I don't want to have to fly with her again anytime soon!

So that's it! It was a great weekend. Loved seeing my family. I can't wait for baby Maleaha to be born!

Car show

On Monday we all went to the Barrett Jackson car show. Ryan's work was a sponsor there and they even auctioned off a car that is just like this one below that Kade got to sit in. The money went to Cox Charities. It was fun to walk around and people watch and see all the neat cars. We were also able to see a few of Ryan's co-workers too! Of course Keegan was giving out his cute little flirty smiles to all the ladies too! Wish I had a picture of that!

Markers!

This is what happens when your five year old gets into the markers...

he gives himself sharp teeth and turns into a dragon!

Where did five dollars go??

Earlier this week 5 dollars went missing from the counter. Ryan and I didn't take it. That leaves one little boy! Well this little boy kept saying he didn't know where it was and that he didn't take it.

I knew eventually the 5 dollars would show up. I should have checked the pockets before I did laundry...

Today while I was waiting in the long line to pick Kade up from school I was thinking about the note from the PTA about the smencils they were selling. I memory popped into my head....

*Warning* I am retelling this from when I heard it a while ago so don't hold me accountable to any information that was not correct. I have had four kids and my memory is horrible!

When Ryan was in about second grade his Mom collected rent for an apartment complex. Well one day he decided to take some of the money. (I am not sure where it was kept the money) He took about 200 dollars and bought chums (do you even remember what the heck there were?) from Amanda Jones. Yes, he bought 200 dollars worth. I guess her Dad sold them or something. Well he then began to hand these out to whomever. If he was really smart he would have charged them money for them! But Ryan is a nice guy and he still is today a nice guy. He is a GIVER!

So anyways that thought popped into my head and I thought wouldn't it be funny if Kade came home from school with smencils.

Earlier tonight Kade comes running up to me with FIVE smencils. "Look Mom! Look what I got at school!" and then the questioning began. He found the money in his pants (this is why I should have checked his pockets when I did laundry.) When I asked him how it got into his pants he said, Maybe it crawled into my pocked all by itself! He then admitted that it must have been the money off the counter!

Here is the confession...Don't mind my messy house!

On the brain...

So I saw someone else put just a bunch of random thoughts from their brain as a blog post and I lvoed it so I copied her!

• Keegan is growing up too fast and soon he will be crawling and I am gonna be in trouble!
• My kids watch way too much TV.
• I am finding it really hard to choose healthy food over chocolate and cookies.
• I am obsessing over a new blog that I am afraid to share....it has ideas on refinishing furniture and I feel like if I will have an even harder time than I already am having finding some furniture to try and refinish. In case you are reading this and have furniture you want to get rid of...even if it's old I am looking for a twin size headboard, a table (to seat at least 6), end tables, and dressers. Funny thing is I have never "refinished" anything but it looks so good! I think I can do it.
• I feel like I am going to be buying diapers for the rest of my life. I see an end to formula in my near future but diapers seem so far away...probably at least 2 years...AT LEAST!
• I worry about pregnant people alot lately, especially since alot of my friends are pregnant. Even if I don't tell them, I do think about them often and pray that they will have a healthy baby.
• I wonder if Keegan will ever sleep through the night. We moved his crib into our room so that he can scream as loud as he wants and not wake Kamryn up....well I still find myself picking him up so I can sleep....not so good.
• I wish I could pay an interior designer to help me with colors to paint the walls. I am stumped.
• I wonder how much Kamryn's surgery will end up costing. She is having her tongue tie problem fixed.
• I really want some new couches. Ryan thinks that paying towards debts sounds like a better idea!
• I am jealous of my sister and friend Jenna, they are having girls.  I am feeling bad that Kamryn doesn't have a sister and I am not willing to risk it for another boy (I've already got 3, 4 if you count Ryan!). Yeah, I know that sounds really bad. Plus I AM DONE so I don't even know why it's on my mind. Probably because there are so many pregnant people and my baby is not little anymore!
• Kamryn doesn't like Goodwill. I went in to look for some furniture I talked about above and she screamed until we started to leave...EVERYBODY was staring...totally embarrassing.
• I found a fabric line that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE and I really want to make Kamryn a quilt for her bed (that she doesn't have yet) so I can figure out the exact color I want to paint her room. Problem is I don't know how to quilt and how much fabric to get.
• My sister Ashley's baby shower. I am nervous to be leaving the kids. Not that Ryan isn't a great parent, I haven't left my kids since we left Kade for a few nights while we went to a wedding out of state.. I am super excited to see my sister one last time before she has her baby!
• Is Kade ever going to lose a tooth or is Keegan ever going to get a tooth?

Does Andy have a dad?

The kids favorite move is Toy Story 3.  Kade has always loved the Toy Story movies too. Well today while I made dinner I decided to put in the first Toy Story because Kamryn had never watched it before. She had been around while it was playing but at that time she had no interest in movies. 

I remember myself wondering where the dad was in Toy Story. I remember thinking I wonder if kids even notice and today Kade did. He asked me, "Mom, does Andy have a dad?" I told him, "I don't know, do you think he has one?" Kade replied, "Nope, because I haven't seen him." I then let him think about it a little bit and he said, "Mom I want to see Toy Story 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. And it Toy Story 10 Andy has a Dad!"

I love his imagination. He then told me that Andy's dad must be at work.

I googled it and came across this article.

I think it is a good thing that they leave it up to the imagination because then each kid could relate it to their own circumstance. Weather their father is always at work, isn't in the picture at all or their Dad passed away. Whatever the situation may be they can make it their own.

Back to school!

So a little bit before Christmas break Kade would complain that his tummy hurt when he didnt't want to do something so he could get out of it.  Well yesterday it was time to go back to school and I got a call from the school nurse telling me that Kade was sick and he felt like he was going to throw up.  I beleive him because indeed he threw up in the classroom just before Christmas break!  I get him and it seems maybe his tummy might be bothering him a little bit but as soon as he gets into the car he is a hppy boy with no tummy ache in sight! I tell him that when we get home he is going to lay down. He quickly adds that he wants to watch TV and I tell him No TV because he is sick and needs his rest. He then tells me that he doesn't have a tummy ache anymore. I warned him that I would take him back to school since he was feeling better. I probably should have only there was less than an hour left and I didn't want to take him back to have to pick him up shortly after. He then complained that he hates school and doesn't want to go tomorrow. 
So this morning when he woke up he cried and whined about it all morning. He said, "If I go to school my tummy will hurt!" I reassured him that it wouldn't hurt and that he only goes to the nurses office if it hurts REALLY bad. I also warned him that I would not be picking him up from school and that he would be staying there all day.  I am a mom and I can pretty much tell when he is lying and telling the truth because he is NOT a good liar (thank goodness and hopefully it stays that way!) So I am hoping that things went better today. I tried to get out of him if he got in trouble or what he really didn't like about school yesterday. He usually loves it so it was kiind of odd. I think his tummy may have hurt just a little (probably from eating too fast so he could get out to recess) beacuse he went out to recess and that's when he started feeling sick and went to the nurse. What kids doesn't want to go to recess??  I think it triggered into his mind if he was sick enough he could come home and play. Maybe he got used to hanging out with all of us and just wanted to be back home with his family.
It reminds me of the poem in the book Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Sick, by Shel Silverstein

"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more--that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut--my eyes are blue--
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke--
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is. . .Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!"

I am hoping he will be back to the old Kade that LOVES to go to school so I don't have to worry about it anymore!

Goals for 2011

It has been kind of nice not having to worry about blogging everyday. When something happens I catch myself thinking...Oh I could blog about that! I have thought about blogging a lot. I haven't had a lot of things go through my head of ideas or things I want to share. I forgot to put in an older post that Kade named his pillow pet after my sister Ashley. Anyways now that I have that documented onto what I really have been wanting to blog about.....

My goals for 2011!

I really have been having a hard time with setting these goals...partly because I want them to be realistic and achievable.  I went back and looked at last years goals and I only achieved 1 maybe 2 of them. I think I had too many things to work on and not enough motivation.

Goals for 2011

• Be a better wife and mother.  I think sometimes I take my kids for granted and spend way too much time checking FB, blogger or just blogging in general.
• My major thing this year is getting my food storage in order. That statement sounds completely wrong because I have no food storage, only what is already in my cupboards, which is not enough. So any helpful hints and advice on food storage would be greatly appreciated because I have a LONG way to go!
• Work out more! With each baby I have kept 5 pounds and with my turn around time of getting pregnant that didn't do so well on the body! So with working out I hope to shed some of these pounds and by not getting pregnant again, hopefully I will continue to lose some weight and not gain?! I have had a hard time watching what I eat because for 3 years straight I was pregnant and watching what I ate was never a thought. I had reason to eat what I wanted when I wanted but now I am almost 7 months post pregnancy and no where near where I wanted to be.  So hopefully instead of sleeping in many mornings maybe I can gain some motivation and get off my booty and do something! Along with getting into shape I want to learn to love myself despite the negative things I see/think.  I have had a hard time with my body image and hopefully by doing things to improve it like exercising and trying to eat better I will see results and learn to love myself more and not be so hard on myself.

So those are the big ones for the year. There are some smaller goals I hope to accomplish that I have written down.

Happy New Year! I don't really like writing that. I think I could have kept going on with December forever. I loved having time off work visiting family, eating junk, playing games, having Ryan off work, hanging out with my parents and sisters. I loved having the Trees up and all the Christmas decorations out. I took them down yesterday and now the house feels empty in a way. The stores are empty of all the Christmas stuff and now are full of workout and diet stuff because everyone new years resolution is: Get in shape! Kind of like mine! ha! So sad and depressing. Maybe just to me because I love to eat....the problem is that I don't really like to eat healthy!

Oh well I can't stop time from moving on. I have the whole year to look forward to and all these goals to achieve so wish me luck!

We are home!

We made it home early this morning. It was a long crazy drive on the snowy roads in Utah.  Kamryn had a short nap at the begining and then woke up and stayed awake watching Barney until almost 3:30am! We drove through the night hoping that the kids would sleep. Keegan and Kade did great...Kamryn just didn't want to be in the car at ALL!  We were sad to have to leave our family. We weren't more than 3 miles away when Kade said, "I miss my Grandma and Grandpa!" We love them so much and are so glad they were able to put up with the WHOLE family!

Here are a few pictures that I didn't get to post of our stay there...

 Kamryn is happy at first on the car ride to Utah!

 Kade and Kamryn got to open an early Christmas present on the way there! Kamryn got a Barney movie (her favorite!)

 Kade got a new DS game, Mario VS Donkey Kong!

 Keegan enjoyed playing with the case!

 Kamryn is so hard to entertain in the car. All she wants to do is get out of that seat! So I let her play with pretty much whatever she wants! Including my old ipod!

 Cousin Daion holding Keegan!

 My parents horse dog Harley chasing CJ.

 Of course we couldn't miss any of the USU basketball games! Go Aggies! The boys were so excited to meet BIG BLUE (their mascot)!

We made a trip up to Malad to visit my Grandparents. Only my Mom. sister Ashley, Keegan and I went because the boys had colds and my Grandma Alder has had some health problems and we didn't want to spread the germs!  So here is Keegan with his great grandma Alder.  I forgot to bring the camera in when we visited Grandma Williams.

 Kade and Daion may have fought like brothers during the day but at night they slept like they were best friends!

 Daion, Kamryn and Kade watching Shrek. Kamryn wouldn't go anywhere without those necklaces! She only took them off to bathe and sleep!

When we got home Santa left a present for Kamryn at our house. He must have known we couldn't bring it back from Utah!