Texas Road House

Ethan got a 100% on his spelling test. Whenever the kids get a 100, the teacher puts a dot on their noses to let everyone know they did so well. He wouldn't wash itoff, so here is Ethan with his green nose.

We tried to explain that we were going to take him home, with or without the box...

Katelyn received a "compassion" award from school, a couple of months ago. And with that award came a free kids meal from Texas Road House. Then last week Ethan received a free kids meal for a reading accomplishment. And Dan and I received a gift certificate for Texas Road House for Christmas. Seemed like someone was telling us to go there :) and since I am all for having dinner that I don't have to cook or clean up after, we went on Friday. We tried to get there before the rush, but didn't quite make it, so we had to wait about 15 minutes. Dan and I kept saying, "they are being so good". We were quite amazed at how well behaved they were. That restraunt is usually pretty noisy, which was fine with us. I realized if we were going to take our kids out, that is a really good place because no one expects quiet there. I have to say that when I look at my kids, I think, hmmm 4 kids. No big deal. I mean, we didn't have them all at once, so we have had time to adjust, and get used to the idea of having all of them around. And then for me to be pregnant, well, it is just kind of normal for us. :) But when you walk through a crowded restraunt, I was noticing people looking at us in a "what in the world" sort of way. And I truly felt like I was in a parade, and thought maybe I should start waving or something. I kept hearing, did you see how many kids they have? I felt like saying back, we are on a school field trip, the bus is right outside. (All joking aside, sometimes I wish I had a bus so there would be a little more room for everyone/everything.) haha. Well, shortly after we were seated, they really turned the music up. Zach and Ethan got Sprite, and Katelyn and Alyssa got lemonaid. (Katelyn does NOT like soda, she says it's too hot) anyway, I am not quite sure what they put into the kids drinks because once the music turned up they turned into kids I have never seen before. Zach was dancing like a crazy guy, (he was sitting across from Katelyn and Ethan) and they both were laughing so hard at him. Which egged him on even more. It was so funny to watch, and I looked at Dan at one point, and said, "people are going to think there is something really wrong with him." :) Needless to say, we had a really fun time. We usually don't like to take the kids out to restraunts because it is inevitable that someone will melt down. But I have to say that if you have kids and you want to go out, take them there. It's so loud, no one really notices what the heck your kids are doing. One waitress said, "you should bring them back on Tuesday, it's kids night, free ice cream and everything." Dan made a good point that we should start keeping a list of all the places that do kids night. We had so much fun with them, and it helped that we didn't have to pay for food that they didn't eat. :)

*Here is Zach going crazy. The lady behind us was a little ornery, so I tried to keep him from at least hitting or kicking the bench. It is really hard to discipline a child when you are laughing so hard. (you'll probably have to pause my dumb playlist to get the full effect.)

Katelyn

So at lunch after church today we were talking to the kids about their favorite parts of church. Ethan said he loves primary, and when asked what he loved about primary, he said singing and his friends, and his teachers... Zach said he loved primary because he got to sing. And he loves his friends. He said that Lincoln and Brock are his favorite friends at church. Then we get to Katelyn. She sits up straighter in her chair, gets a thoughtful look on her face, and says, "when they talk about Jesus I feel the spririt and it makes me happy." So for all of you who are primary teachers, or who will be just know that they really are paying attention! :)

Anxiety

Usually by 34-35 weeks of pregnancy, I get really anxious. I get a little impatient, mainly because of how uncomfortable it gets to be pregnant. But this time, I am not anxious about that. I am grateful to still be pregnant and grateful to be able to carry to term without too many complications. I think that is something I have always taken for granted. Lately, though my anxiety lies with the questions of "will the baby be ok"? "Will I be ok"? What if something happens? I have heard just recently so many people that I know that are going through challenging times related to pregnancy or births and it makes me really nervous to think that maybe something bad could happen to any of us at any time. It is hard not to think of those things. All of the "what ifs". Dan is a huge comfort when I get like this, I have never seen any one have such a take things as they come kind of attitude like Dan does. It is pretty amazing to witness. Another reason for my anxiety is the fact that we are having another boy. After Zach was born, I was told by my dr. that boys don't do nearly as well as girls, as far as breathing goes. When we had Zach, he came out at 9lbs and 4oz, seemingly normal. But shortly after he was born I noticed that he was having a hard time breathing. Like he had fluid in his lungs. So my nurse took him and said "it's probably nothing, but let's just check". Shortly after that, the head nurse of the special care nursery came in and didn't have him with her. I knew that was a bad sign. She told us he may have an infection, that he stopped breathing when he was in the nursery, so they had to put an IV of antibiotics in him. Well, they couldn't get the IV in his hand, so she said, just to prepare you, it is in his head. "It looks a lot worse than what it is". Then a couple of days later, shortly before we were to be sent home, he stopped breathing while I was feeding him. We believe that he was choking, and thankfully he was hooked up to all of the monitors so all the alarms went off, and nurses came runnning, but that bought us a few more days in the hospital. So we ended up being there ten days total. I still remember the first day (actually it was in the middle of the night) that they made me go home. I was no longer a patient at the hospital, and I had to leave. I cried the whole way home, and almost couldn't bear it to see the empty basinet, and all of the things that we prepared for him. It was a good thing I was so exahusted, otherwise I don't think I would have slept at all. It is still amazing to me that during that difficult time, the amount of peace and happiness I felt, even though he wasn't home with us. I keep looking for that now, it is kind of funny in an interesting way that I don't feel that peace now, and nothing is happening. Nothing is really going wrong, in fact it seems like everything is going perfectly, with the pregnancy that is. There is still a lot of things that we are dealing with that just won't work out for some reason or another. I think the frustrating part about all of that, is that we still aren't sure where Heavenly Father wants us to be right now. Anyway, that is a whole new can of worms, and best saved for another posting. Here are some pictures of our Zach in the hospital, and then some when he was a couple of months old. I remember in the blessing that Dan gave him the day that he stopped breathing, he blessed him to be healthy and strong. He ended up being such a big baby it was sometimes really hard to carry him. I am grateful for those experiences in life that remind you that Heavenly Father is aware of you, and remembering that time is bringing comfort to me now, as I am getting ready to go through this all again. I keep thinking about this new little guy of ours, who will be here in just a month. He must really have something special to do here, at this particular time. Now I feel better. There really is something to be said about record keeping and remembering the experiences that you go through in life to see how you have been watched over, and carried even during the hardest of learning experiences.


The nurses called this his "party hat". He kept trying to pull out his IV, so they had to put this over it. Blessing day in June (about a month and a half old)
About a month old.
Zach at 3 months About 6 months old. All he could do was sit.

Zach, Zach, Zach

Ok, so this kid of mine makes me laugh every day. He just has one of those personalities that makes your day brighter. He played all day at a friend's house, (Thanks Summer, are you recovering by the way?!) and then he came home and played outside forever. So when it was time for dinner, I told everyone to go wash their hands. Well, apparently he was thirsty because I caught him not washing his hands, but drinking out of the faucet. (we do have cups...) anyway, I said "Zach, what are you doing?" "drinking". ooookkkkk, "Zach, what is on your face?" (it looked like he had eaten a whole secret stash of chocolate, of course I was wondering where that stash was....) he looks in the mirror, and says, "oh, that is called dirt." very matter of fact. Ask a stupid question.....

Some new Pictures

Recent family picture Alyssa and Elsie, what are you doing....??? :)

Cousins

Alyssa with baby Joshua



JanaKaye (Jer's wife) in the back, Eloise, (Cody's wife) me, Allison (Corey's wife) and Lindsey

Patiently waiting for their turn :)

Abby and Alyssa, I forgot to "fix" their eyes!

Apparently you can't ever be too prepared...

Zach's first day in Sunbeams

January 13th, 2009--Already!?

Happy New Year!

Just a few updates, nothing big...

Ok, so at my last dr appointment the dr and I talked about a possible induction date. (I am usually induced a few days early) So the tentative date is Friday the 13th. :) Either that, or I have to wait and go on my own. Honestly, with this pregnancy, I am good either way. But today I realize hmmm, in a month I am going to have five kids. I think I should go take a nap. :)
We got the kids report cards last week, and I have to say hurray! They did so good. They are really enjoying school, and my hope is that I can make this enthusiasm last! Although, it is almost impossible to wake them up! I think we are still catching up from all of the late nights over Christmas break, but oh my goodness. Ethan even has an alarm clock! Although, there have been a few days where he will wake up with the alarm clock, and get ready even before I am up. He is getting so old. :)

This year, Ethan is in CTR 8, and it is weird for me to think he will be in scouts soon. Katelyn is in CTR 6, and Zach is a Sunbeam! Alyssa is in the nursery, and has decided it is an okay place to be.

For the last couple of days at preschool, Zach has started to say, "Ms. Dana, I don't feel well... I can't do my papers". Of course he can play like crazy, but he just can't color his papers. I was working with him yesterday, and he says, "mom, I can't color anymore, can you do it for me?" in his scratchiest voice. What a faker. :) I can't clean up my toys because my stomach hurts.....
Alyssa is talking a lot more, and although it is hard to let her go into nursery, once she is in there, she is fine. She seems really happy, running around the house with one of Katelyn's shoes on, (they are too big for her to wear two, so she wears just one). I think she can sense that there are some big changes coming, all of a sudden she screams "no, no!" when she has to go to bed. That has not ever happened before. It breaks my heart to hear her cry, since she rarely does. But she has turned into a really good pretender lately. When she plays with her dolls, she pretends that they are sad and crying, and then gives them a "baby cup"aka bottle. Is she really almost 2? :)
Katelyn is doing really well in school, and she is getting so tall! She is such a sweetheart. She said that one of her friends at school was crying and she walked him to his bus and then walked back to her bus. She said she even gave him a hug to help him to feel better. I said did he feel better, she said, "no, but I tried to help him." So cute, I wish I could have seen it. She and Alyssa got to be good buddies over the break. It is fun to watch them together. Although, they like to play on Katelyn's bed, Alyssa's favorite thing to do. I wouldn't mind so much, if it weren't up so high!
Dan is still job searching. It has been pretty frustrating lately. We are a little confused as to what to do next. I can't imagine making these important decisions without prayer and a little extra guidance. I recently got a email from a friend who is going through the adoption process. I can't imagine what they are going through, but as I look at both situations, the thing we have in common is patience and relying on the Lord.
I am feeling really great these days. This has been a really great pregnancy. Over the holidays, I don't know if it was because I wasn't sleeping enough with all the fun going on, or what, but I wasn't doing so great. It was a little hard not to complain, the pain was sometimes so bad, but I made it through. I don't think I was all that fun to be around, but in my defense, I was a little worried about things not going so well with the pregnancy, and just plain exhausted. But all is well, and he and I are both healthy and strong. I still can't believe it is only a month away. Although, it is getting difficult to be comfortable at night. :) This is the first pregnancy though that Dan has been around a lot more, and he is so helpful. It is really hard to find anything to complain about these days. We have been so blessed and despite the bumps in the road we are still facing, we are happy and optimistic for future days. I have just come to realize that this is all going by so fast, that I need to enjoy every minute.