Simple Chaos

Happy 1st Birthday to Brooke-Tini!!!

2011-06-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

I never shared this when she was born, but figured I would today in honor of her Birthday! I will attach some pictures later. We are off to celebrate my baby's day!!! Love you Brooke-Tini!

Brooke Lynn’s Birth Story

Born: June 15^th, 2010

at 9:05pm

Weighing : 8lbs 5.5ozs

And 21” Long!

So where to begin….I guess from the morning of the 15^th. As most people know, I have had all my babies at least a week early. So when 39 weeks came and went I was kind of shocked! Lol All my prenatal care was being done in Stockton, but I wanted to deliver at the Antioch Hospital facility and since my doctor didn’t deliver in Antioch (different County) I had to make my 40 week appt with a doctor at the Antioch facility. So it was all set up for Tuesday, June 15^th, at 9:20am. I woke up disappointed that I hadn’t gone in to labor on my own, got dressed, and headed out the door before more than half my family was awake.

Got to my appointment and blood pressure was really high (160/95). Dr came in did an exam and told me I was a whole 1.5 cm dilated. I had been a 2.5cm just the week before. (Talk about more disappointment.) At this point he did an aggressive membrane sweep and measured my belly. It was measuring 43cm, or 43 weeks. He was guessing baby to be 9 ½ lbs and wanted to send me over for a Non-Stress Test. First the nurse did an U/S and wasn’t finding much fluid, but wanted the doctor to double check, so they hooked me up the monitors while we waited for him to come in. Baby was doing great. Then they did the 2^nd U/S. He was trying to measure the fluid levels and wasn’t really finding any. He did finally find one pocket and came up with 2cm of fluid. Anything below 5 is not good news. I was again told that baby was BIG and that I was all baby and placenta. He told me right then that he wanted to send me immediately over to the hospital. They would probably break what little water I had and do and amnioinfusion. I asked if I could go home first, get my stuff, and of course Brad and the girls. He was completely against this idea, but it was my choice to make. He and the nurse also advised at this point that I shouldn’t bring Aly and Kayla with me. That kids that age don’t handle it well, that my induction could take awhile, that they would be scared, etc. I had to sign release saying I was going against his wishes and off I went crying the whole way.

I called my mom while on the way home and she met me at the house. I was totally petrified of being induced. I was partially induced with Alyssa and didn’t have the Best experience. Brad and I talked and decided that it was our wishes and the girls that they be there for the birth. They had been so excited about it for weeks and to take that away then just wasn’t right. We did however make arrangement with my friend Erika that if the girls wanted/needed to leave she would come and get them.

We got to the hospital, checked in, got all settled, and talked with the Nurse and Doctor. The doctor took her guess at babies size and she said at least 9 ½ - 10lbs. Again…my anxiety shot through the roof. She then asked if I wanted/planned on an epidural. I hadn’t even gotten my IV to start induction yet. I told while I wasn’t opposed to it, I had wasn’t planning to have one. Her thoughts were at least it would be in and we wouldn’t have to do one in a rush if a c-sect was needed. She also explained that if she felt the baby wasn’t coming down the birth canal or I had been pushing too long that she wouldn’t use forceps or the vacuum, but would do a c-sect. So NOT what I wanted and while I’m sure she was trying to ease my fears, she was actually scary the crap out of me. They got me all hooked up, started the IV & Pitocin, took some blood (to test for Pre-Eclampsia, which I had with Alyssa) and we were on our way. The plan was to increase the pictocin every 30 minutes until we reached a good pattern of contractions every 2-3 minutes. This all started about 3pm. Brad and the girls watched (G-Force) a movie while I rocked in a rocking chair. Around 4pm the dr. came in again and said that since I was not Pre-e, she felt comfortable handing my care over to a Midwife, and was I ok with that. ABSOLUTELY!!! Was the first thought in my mind. Of course I said, “YES”. The midwife came in and just talked with us for a few. She asked about how my previous births went, talked to the girls about how exciting it was to be there, what kind of pain control I wanted, etc. She was so encouraging of the girls being there. Very nice lady, but she would be leaving at 8pm. Our next shift nurse came on and I recognized her right away. Her sons and a couple of my girls used to go to the same gymnastics gym together. So that made things comfortable right away. She is AWESOME and so Encouraging!

Around 5pm, Brad took the girls to go get something to eat and I just chilled and watched Transformers. I was having contractions about 5 minutes apart, but nothing that would make me stop and breathe or take real notice. They got back about 6:15 and we finished Transformers. Around 7:30 pm is when the contractions were actually starting to become “breathe” through contractions. The girls were asking why mommy was getting louder (I’m a toner and picked Uhhhhh as my tone this go round…lol). He explained that mommy would get louder as it was getting closer to having the baby. At this point, I was still totally fine breathing through contractions and put the pain level at about 5 - 6 out of 10. We decided to watch Indian Jones (the most recent one) and at 8pm & 8:05pm I felt a small amount of fluid, but thought nothing of it. I felt it again when the next contraction came, but this time felt more fluid and realized that my water must have broke. When they said my fluid was low I had no idea. I swear my water breaking was like coughing and peeing your pants a little. Kinda scary, but we knew the baby would be here soon. I reached over and hit the “nurse” call button. Brad asked me why I was calling the nurse and at that moment they came back and asked what I needed. I told them my water just broke, and Brad says “It did?”. Things picked up at this point. Around 8:30 I felt the pressure and transition. They had me get into the bed and checked me. They told me I was 5 + and I cried thinking I was going to have to labor so much longer and that she was just too big to fit. Brad, like his usual calm and reassuring self, just said the baby will be here soon. You can do this. I asked for some phentynol and while I know it helped….it sure didn’t seem to help like the last 2 times I had it with Noah & Sierra. The midwife had me get out of the bed and stand to have gravity do its thing. This was the first time in any of my labors that I didn’t want to stand up, but wanted to stay in the bed. They got me up and I immediately felt her descent through the birth canal. Such a weird feeling. Brad stood in front of me and with my arms around his neck, and we labored through the contractions. I kept getting scared saying she wasn’t coming down and she was too big. Brad and the midwife both kept reassuring me that she was and it would not be much longer. Brad also at that time told me how he could feel the baby moving down when I was leaned against him. I thought that was pretty cool. My midwife then told me to pick a deeper tone to work through contractions, which seemed to help some. Then I started burning up. I was sweating like crazy and thought I was going to pass out from the heat. Brad used a wet cloth to try to cool me down and the midwife was not only rubbing my back, but fanning me with something to help. Aly and Kayla were handling it all so well. They stayed back behind Brad sitting on the couch and just taking it in. I was told later that Kayla spent some time looking out the window during transition for me. Such a smart girl. At this point with each contraction I was starting to push without trying to. I then felt this sudden intense pressure like the baby was going to fall out. They got me back into the bed (which is not fun when you feel like the baby is coming out), we waited for the next contraction (I remember looking at the clock, it said 9:02, and then a contraction hit. Aly and Kayla were at the foot of the bed to watch, the midwife said “go for it”, and I started pushing. At 9:05pm my little beauty came into this world, as the midwife called it, Born in the caul. She was born with the amniotic sac still covering her head.

There are special meanings around the world for babies born this way. A few: They are a sign good luck and greatness, you have phycic sight, will never drown, the mark of kings, thought to bring wisdom, honor and truth, and as infants, are usually easy babies.

They laid her on my chest and Aly & Kayla came over to meet their newest little sister. My first words are always the same “Oh Thank God & I feel so much better”. Those were of course said and then it was “she doesn’t seem that big”. Brad guessed she was 8lbs 4oz and I guess 9lbs. At 9:07 the placenta was delivered. The girls were just in awe and watching her be cleaned up and assessed. That was such a joy to watch my older girls enjoying such an unforgettable moment that they, and I, will forever remember. They got her all weighed and wrapped and brought her back over to me. I spent a few moments looking my little girl over, but then handed her over to her sisters. They had been so Excited for this moment and I didn’t want to delay it. Once they were done…they handed Miss Brooke over to their daddy!

I am so Proud of Aly & Kayla and their courage to watch such an Amazing experience. They did Wonderful and share the experience very fondly. Like every time before Brad is my rock! He always gets me through the hard parts like it’s a breeze. I’m so lucky to have him as my husband, support and most of all as the Father of our babies! Brooke is such a FANTASTIC Baby! Hardly cries, loves to snuggle and sleeps AMAZING!!! We did end up back in the hospital, with Jaundice, a day after we came home, but after 24 hrs, she was home again. We all LOVE her so much!!!

Born in the Caul

Legend

It is seen as a sign of extremely good luck to be born with a caul. That caulbearers are destined for something great and will have a life of good luck.
It is also said that a caulbearer would never die from drowning.

From Wikipedia:

A child "born with the caul" has a portion of the amniotic sac or membrane remaining on the head. There are two types of cauls. The most common caul is adhered to the head and face, and looped around the ears of the infant. (What Brooke had.) The rarer type drapes over the head and partly down the torso of the child. In Germany, this would be called a "helmet" [Galea] for boys, and in Italy, for girls, a "fillet" [vitta] or "shirt" [indusium, camisia].^[2]

The caul is harmless and is easily removed by the doctor or midwife. If done correctly, the attending practitioner will place a small incision in the membrane across the nostrils so that the child can breathe. The loops are then carefully un-looped from behind the ears. Then, the remainder of the caul can be either peeled back very carefully from the skin, or gently rubbed with a sheet of paper, which is then peeled away. If removed too quickly, the caul can leave wounds on the infant's flesh, which may leave permanent scars.

The caul membrane in most cases will be preserved and given to the mother. However, the parents may or may not be told that their child was born with the caul. This depends upon the particular practice of the hospital.

The "en-caul" birth, not to be confused with the "caul" birth, occurs when the infant is born inside of the entire amniotic sac. The sac balloons out at birth, with the child remaining inside of the unbroken or partially broken membrane.

Birth with a caul is rare, occurring in fewer than 1 in 80,000 births. This statistic includes "en-caul" births, which occur more frequently than authentic caul births; therefore authentic caul births are rarer than the statistic indicates.^[3] Most "en-caul" births are premature.

History & Tradition:

According to Aelius Lampridius, the boy-emperor Diadumenian (208–218) was so named because he was born with a diadem formed by a rolled caul.^[4]

Many caul bearers claim to possess clairvoyance or other preternatural abilities.

In medieval times the appearance of a caul on a newborn baby was seen as a sign of good luck.^[5] It was considered an omen that the child was destined for greatness. Gathering the caul onto paper was considered an important tradition of childbirth: the midwife would rub a sheet of paper across the baby's head and face, pressing the material of the caul onto the paper. The caul would then be presented to the mother, to be kept as an heirloom. Some Early Modern European traditions linked caul birth to the ability to defend fertility and the harvest against the forces of evil, particularly witches and sorcerers.^[6]

A legend developed suggesting that possession of a baby's caul would give its bearer good luck and protect that person from death by drowning. Cauls were therefore highly prized by sailors. Medieval women often sold these cauls to sailors for large sums of money; a caul was regarded as a valuable talisman.^[7]

In Asia they say that if a baby is born in the caul that it is a sign of greatness and that his/her mother must have been very flexiable of body, mind and spirit.

Graphic but AMAZING pictures of a baby born in the caul:

http://www.birthingway.com/caul.htm

Just some recent funnies from my kids.....

2010-11-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

So we will start with Sierra....

So sitting at dinner last night we went around the table and said what we were Thankful for.

Me: CC do you have anything you are Thankful for?

CC: No Thanks.....I'm EATING!

Me: Well ok then!

Then today I found this on my Mantel while cleaning.

Here's what it says:

Dear Santa, May you please give us some more tattoos please. You guys are cool. Pretty please with a cherry on top. Thanks. Bye. I love you guys. Love Megan.

Now how cute is that? LOL She asked for Tattoos and even said that Santa is "Cool"!

I'll have to remember a few of the other funny things that my kids have said. Some days, it's these funnies that get me through my day!

Talk about a DAY....

2010-10-09T19:15:00.001-07:00

So Brad had to work today and I decided I'm Superwoman, after taking all 7 bowling yesterday, surely I can handle running a bunch of errands by myself with 7 kids.......

I did do it, but not without EXHAUSTING myself! Here's how our day went:

Left here at 10am and went to the post office.

From post office we went to Lollipops (Kids hair cutting salon..pics to follow soon) to get Noah's mop cut. He looks adorable by the way! I just love short spiky hair on little boys. ;-)

Next we went to Starbuck's for a treat to enjoy while getting the truck washed. I'm talking the full McCoy....got everybody out of the car and had the inside of the car cleaned as well. Fed the baby at this little rest stop.
,
Got them all loaded back into our clean ride and headed to Oodles of Noodles for lunch. That's right...I took all 7 of them into a restaurant by myself (a Mongolian BBQ style one at that). I ate a few bites for my late lunch and then it was time to go. The kids were done and apparently so was I. lol

Left lunch and headed to home for a quick change of clothes for The Boy. He peed out and before I could take him into Safeway he needed a wardrobe change. Changed Brooke-tini as well.

Off to Safeway we went. Now that was a fun trip. Grocery shopping with them all after a day filled with errands.

So an hour and half later I got home. It is now 5pm. As I open the back of the Denali out jumps 3 gallons of milk at me. I caught 2, but the 3rd got away from me and busted open at my feet. Ewww is all I will say to that one. Grabbed the milk, ran what was left of it to the lawn and let it finish spilling out there....not that there was anything really to save.

Grabbed the hose and hosed out the garage and driveway. Did you know that Milk actually stains concrete...kind of gross when you think about it. Something that stains concrete and I drink/eat it with all kinds of things.

So as I'm putting away groceries I tell the kids to go clean there room. I'm 3/4 of the way done and run downstairs to put something in the office and low and behold, there are my oldest 4 playing games on the computer! Needless to say, they are now upstairs with their jammies on, cleaning their room. And to be honest...that is how I ended up here posting this to my blog.

Guess I should take a cue from myself and go finish putting those groceries away on the counter. Better yet, can I put on my jammies and go to my room???

Still working on some changes.....

2010-10-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't given up already...I promise. I actually have a post from yesterday that is waiting for me to finish it so I can post it. I will get to it...it just may take a few days. =-)

Time to give this Blog thing another whirl....

2010-09-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

So much to share, but first things first....I have to update and restructure this blog. Can't wait!

Sometimes the little things are the Best things EVER.....

2009-09-01T11:28:00.001-07:00

There is nothing better than being able to Avoid Drama by using such a simple little thing...Caller ID. I can choose to answer and have a Great conversation with laughter OR simply ignore and save myself the heartache, stress, or the waste of my time. Isn't that what answering machines are for anyway...to take the unwanted calls?

Don't get me wrong...I LOVE to chat on the phone. Just ask any of my friends. I'm sure they on several occasions have used that simple little piece of joy to "ignore" me as well. We all have those moments. If you don't have Caller ID, call your phone company and get it. It's a MUST!

Now if only I could get that limo window put up in my Expedition. Then I could really drown out the DRAMA! lol

Now I remember why we only do family get together every so often...

2009-08-30T13:59:00.000-07:00

It was a pretty crazy 18 hours here in the Bechtold house. The kids LOVED having Grandma Gail and Aunt Laura here...mom and dad....not so sure.

No matter how much one expresses how well you have to watch 6 kids, they still just don't/won't get it.

No, you can not leave glasses/soda cans just anywhere. They will be drank or dumped.

No....you can not just take a drive around the corner leaving a 2, 4, & 5 year old ALONE in the backyard. Not just any backyard, but we live in a Country Club which means on the golf course, with the fences that kids can WALK RIGHT THROUGH!
Especially when there is a big lake on said golf course and a pond right against the neighboring fence and yours. *You are not Allowed Privacy Fences except for 3/4 of your side fence.* (I'll find a pic to show what I'm talking about)

No...it is not a good idea to leave the 8 yr old in charge of the kids while you leave to drop off your 52 yr old DAUGHTER around the corner so her friend can pick her up. (Why said friend couldn't come into the country club to pick up Aunt Laura...we have no idea) Then to have the 8 yr old sitting in front of the door to make sure that the younger kids don't go out the front door. Yep...they left the front door unlocked. (we have a double deadbolt for a reason)

When somebody tells you that they do not wish to hear about the details of a very sad and tragic story (which we heard about when it happened) involving a young girl, her mother, and somebody who broke in and was waiting in their apt. PLEASE LISTEN! I have enough Anxieties of the safety of my kids. (and like posted above leave my kids alone the next morning with an unlocked door)

And people thought mama bears were protective. I have never been more in AWE, shocked, and PROUD of my husband when he let his mother have it for actually doing the things above and putting our kids lives in jeopardy. I will say she was so remorseful and apologized over and over again. Which we accepted.

While I know that Grandma Gail and Aunt Laura Love these kids deeply...I can now answer the question that was asked of me in the Grocery store by Aunt Laura. NO if you lived closer I would NOT TRUST you to watch my kids. I trust very few and those few know who they are. There's a reason that Brad and I don't go on many date nights. Having 6 kids, 8 and under is not easy and that's coming from somebody who birthed and is raising them. Would I love more children... you betcha, but if we did....I'm starting to think Date Night may just be have to be in the Backyard. Hahaha.....

My little man is trying to crawl.

2009-04-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

Here he is. I will have to get some video of it as well.

Mommy and me date....

2009-04-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

So Brad and I have been talking lately and decided that the older girls and I need to start spending some more one on one time together. So today Aly and I went to breakfast together, then to Barnes and Noble, and then to get mani/pedi's together.

Wow....it was such a BLAST! I never knew what a Great conversation that an 8 year old and I could have over breakfast and how much more I could learn about her. Or how much fun it is to skim all the books in the book store and giggle at pictures. Not to mention going over colors and talking about how fun and relaxing it was to get our nails done together. I can't wait till next weekend to do it again. Next up is Kayla!

She has so far requested Breakfast and will let me know what else sounds like fun. I can totally see this one telling me the batting cages or something like that, and let me tell you...I would love that as well. =)

Vertical Gardening.....

2009-04-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

We decided to do something different this year with the Tomatoes, Peppers, and Strawberries. The tubes are filled with 600 strawberries, and the buckets have 4 tomato plants each. We are working on a pepper bucket. Those pics will have to come soon. For now...here's part of our vertical garden:

Spring Cuteness...

2009-04-11T13:22:00.000-07:00

Noah playing out on the deck while the girls played on the grass.

It was so nice and hot out, we let the kiddies play in the sprinklers. And yes...they are wearing bathing suits under those shirts. Just trying to keep the sun off those shoulders. =)

Happy 2nd Birthday Sierra!!!

2009-01-28T13:25:00.000-08:00

Little Miss Sierra is 2! My baby girl is so BIG! I can't believe 2 years have gone so quickly.

Happy Happy 5th Birthday Miss Megan!

2009-01-27T11:20:00.000-08:00

My baby girl is 5! I can't believe she will be starting Kindergarten this year. Time has just flown by and it's been the BEST!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

2009-01-15T18:32:00.000-08:00

Title says it all!

I am 33 today and feel GREAT about it! I have an Amazing hubby, 6 Beautiful and Smart children, a Nice home, and a FANTASTIC life. What more could I ask for? *ok..a small part of me would love Wii Fit, a Laptop, a massage/day at the spa, but that's not asking for alot...right?* lol

She DID IT!!! 1st PLACE!!!!

2009-01-13T20:32:00.000-08:00

Aly took 1st place in the 2nd Grade Spelling Bee today! Words can not describe how Proud and Happy we are for her, as well as for her! She BLEW Brad and I away today. Congratulations Baby!

Here's a short video of her spelling the word the little boy missed correctly and then the word that won the spelling bee. =)

Paige vs Poopy Panties....

2009-01-08T18:07:00.001-08:00

After months and months of a cleaning poopy panties, Paige had done it. She pooped in the potty!!! I hope and pray that she will keep this up. As with Aly, I am so PROUD of Paige and her triumph over the" poop in the panties" battle. WTG Paige!!!

Alyssa is a SUPERSTAR!!

2009-01-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

My Awesome girl took 1st place in her 2nd grade classroom spelling bee!!! She has now advanced to the entire 2nd grade spelling bee. 424 words are on that list. *yikes* We will be studying hard. I am so Proud of her!!!

Cute shirt and even cuter little man.....

2009-01-06T13:49:00.000-08:00

I have a thing about funny shirt sayings. One of my favorites (will be worn to our tax appt) is a onesie with a dollar sign and says...."Tax Deduction". haha

So here's my Adorable little man wearing one of the shirts that I have found that I love.

Not the happiest of campers. :(

and just because it's his first somewhat smile I have caught on camera...(his first was Christmas morning...what a Gift that was!)

Productivity....Yay or Nay???

2009-01-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

Things I have accomplished for Month 1: (day 1 & 2)

Done the dishes a few times
Watched Step-Brother
Watched a Traveling to Disney World on a Dime. (Good for future reference)
Laundry (sadly I really can't say that I have done this, because Brad does all the laundry, I just help fold it.)
Went grocery shopping
Changed roughly 20 diapers
Played on the computer (looking up videos on Youtube, J05, downloading music..all very Productive things if I do say so myself)
Brushed teeth (the kids teeth, and of course myself as well)
Policed a few fights between kids and the Plasma cars
Made Monkey Bread (yeah, that was Great for the waist line)

Thing we were supposed to be working on for day 1 & 2:

Cleaning out the garage (that alone will take the whole month of January)
Putting the holiday stuff in the garage back up in the overhead
Sweep/Mop kitchen and dining room floors (this should be easy being that we have the Hoover Floormate that does the sweeping, mopping, and even the drying. Yet it has not moved)

So while I can't say that I've been super productive, I can say that Step-Brother is Hella funny and totally worth Owning, I have yummy food (some even healthy) in the house, and the girls Will have something to wear to school on Monday.

WooHoo for us!

Ok, seriously...I'm getting off to go help in the garage now. (or to go fold clothes) ;)

January's Resolution.

2008-12-31T10:18:00.000-08:00

As stated in the blog below, I've decided to follow Sheri's 12 month resolutions system. I will have a New Resolution for each month.

This month....I am going with De-Cluttering our house! I WILL work on one room a day/night. I WILL get the stuff taken to GoodWill and the items that need to be thrown away, thrown away. I WILL go through the clothes and get rid of said clothes with any holes, stains, rips, or items that I just know I will NEVER put my kids in. (I am bad for keeping clothes thinking..well maybe someday, somebody will want to wear that. LOL) I WILL get that room clean. Vacuuming, dusting, wiping things down. I so WANT the De-Cluttered and Clean home. That is my Resolution for January.

I am so BAD about blogging....

2008-12-31T10:10:00.000-08:00

I just don't get why I can't remember to get on her and jot down a few notes, thoughts, funnies that my kids make. That is my New Year's Resolution...ok that and to declutter my home, get more organized, pay off debt, save more money, etc. I guess I should throw losing weight in there. haha

I hope you all had a Fantastic Christmas! I know we did, and I got one of the BESTEST presents EVER! Noah gave me his first smile! Talk about a melting the heart moment. Even though I was told how much I would love having a son, nothing prepared me for it. I have the most AMAZING family. I just love them all to pieces!

Ok..enough mushy stuff. We have 5 more days of Winter Break and it's back to school. I am so NOT ready. I like being able to sleep in till 7:30-8am. But I do find that I'm more on top of things when I'm held accountable...like getting kids to school and being dressed by 8am. Again...part of my New Year's Resolutions.

One of my friends, Sheri, does resolutions by the month instead of the year. I think I'm going to give that a whirl instead. Thanks Sheri!

The Incredible Shrinking Body...

2008-11-20T10:43:00.000-08:00

Nothing makes you feel *Thin* like having a baby...haha

Here's a 38w belly pic:

3hrs after Noah arrived:

and 3 days after:

Ok...so not THIN, but wow how FAST the body can shrink!

Noah Christian has made his arrival.....

2008-11-17T10:29:00.000-08:00

A Very QUICK one at that. Here's my Birth Story that took almost 3 weeks to write. I've back dated it though so it falls on his actual Birthday! Welcome to the World Sweet Boy! We LOVE you!

I've been reflecting a lot on the birth of my "Little Man" and I finally have a moment to sit and get it all down.

I'm not sure how much everyone knows, but since the middle of Oct I had been having Anlots of contractions & BH, as well as raised BP. My dr's were seeing me weekly and the contractions/BH, BP issues, and the fact that Sierra came early put me in their category of "Risk for Pre-Term".

I was told at my 35w appt that they thought the baby to be aprox 7lbs already. *EEK* was all I was thinking. I was hoping and praying he came around the 37.5 week mark so I wouldn't have to push out a toddler. :giggle: Time rolled by and I got through BooVille (school carnival I helped organize), and Halloween (where the walking around brought my contractions to a point
of me having to stop and breath through them), as well as the Halloween parties for the girls. Next thing I knew, we were out of the "pre-term" risk category, and into full term. WooHoo! Now baby could come at any time. I was having constant contractions that would come every 10 min apart but would taper out after a few hours.

Nov 15th...My sisters birthday. Hoping and praying that baby wouldn't come that day. My sister was in San Francisco (aprox an hour away) celebrating her birthday with friends and family. I was so not going to be that far away from the hospital. Instead, we hung close to home, finished getting the Garden and the backyard ready for winter.

Nov 16th...Brad and My 12yr Anniversary! We mostly had a chill day/cleaning up around the house. Brad took the older 2 girls on some errands to Home Depot & Lowes, and then came home and got the younger 3 (dropped off the older 2) and went to the Grocery store to pick up some things to make me dinner for our Anniversary. (He made a really good Beef Stir Fry and Rice.) While he was at the grocery store, I had (for the first time with any of my pregnancies) a “bloody show” and was having contractions every 4-5 min, but would have them for like an hour and gone for an hour, then have them for an hour. I knew at that point that baby would be coming that night or by tomorrow. It freaked me out and made me excited all in one huge range of emotions. With all my girls except Sierra, (her water leaked before hand with no contractions) I woke up with contractions and when they got close enough/painful enough I went in to the hospital. So this was an all new experience for me. I told Brad when he got home about the show and he said “cool, so I won’t have to go to work tomorrow?” I laughed and said with all that was going on, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with him going to work the next day REGARDLESS! (He works about 1-1.5hrs away from home.)

We went to bed around 11pm and my contractions had completely stopped. I was starting to think I was wrong about it “happening” tonight or tomorrow. I was however grateful that the baby at this point would not come on our Anniversary.

I woke up to this weird jolting stomach zing at 12:51am. I felt like when you wake up with diarrhea. I laid there for a minute hoping it would go away, and at 12:53 had another stomach type pain. I remember mentally thinking...”ok, ok, I’ll get up and go”. When I went to get out of bed I felt very minor leaking. I thought I was feeling things at first, and then I tried to move again. I KNEW I was NOT imagining it. I was leaking and it was a pretty good leak. I some how KNEW I couldn’t get out of bed without my water gushing. I woke Brad up, more like startled the crap out of him. Poor guy...I just kinda belted out “my water just broke”. He was out of the bed so fast. He told me not to move. He then told me to stay where I was and that we needed to call Karrie right away. I really wanted to get out of bed and into the shower, but laid there while he got the phone so I could call my sister. He insisted she be called first, and even though I was not having contractions I agreed it was probably best.

Once the call was made, I scooted myself off the bed (Thank Goodness I was facing the edge of the bed and not rolled over facing the middle...otherwise, I have no idea how I would have gotten out of bed) and remember being grateful that I had thrown a towel next to the bed a few days earlier “just in case”. Haha. At this point I felt the GUSH! I was telling Brad I NEED more towels. He brought them and then made a pathway of towels from the bed to the shower for me to walk on. That was the Worst feeling. I could feel my stomach deflating and the never ending water was freaking me out. I got to the shower and went to pull my shorts off when I noticed that my underwear were inflated like a balloon. How in the world that happened I will never know, but I am thankful for those Lane Bryant panties that I had on. I got into the shower and felt my first contraction at 1:11am. Nothing to write home about, and I didn’t get my next one till 20 min later. I stayed in the shower for about 30-40 min just enjoying the nice warm water, and also waiting for my water to stop leaking. Got out, got dressed and the contractions were still not coming very close together. I finished packing the items that I needed, my sister showed up, and at about 2:45am we left for the hospital.

Right before we left my contractions were actually starting to pick up and became the “breath” through kind of contractions. During the car ride there, things really picked up. The ride was kinda bumpy, and it made the contractions so much worse. We got to the hospital around 3am and I waddled my way upstairs to L&D with Brad’s assistance.

I was put into observations where the 2nd nurse came in (the 1st was a nurse in training) and said that being this was baby #6, that if I knew I was in labor than I was. My midwife came in and talked to Brad and I for a few minutes. They admitted me at 3:30am and walked me over to my birthing suite. The midwife never left me from that point on. She stayed in the room rubbing my back, arm, head, she was so Encouraging, and seriously just AMAZING! When we got to the birthing room, I felt the need to pee. I sat on the toilet, and ended up staying there for about 40 minutes laboring. Brad and the Midwife sat with me. I was in a lot of pain at this point so I had them check me at 4:04am. I was a very “loose” 6 and I decided to get the phentenol (sp?). It worked like a charm for all of 20 min. My contractions were every 2 minutes and so INTENSE! It was like I couldn’t catch a moment in between. I asked if I could have some more of the phentenol and she said I had to wait an hour. You better believe I was watching the clock, and at 5:05 I was asking for more drugs. She told me that she already knew I would be delivered very soon and that I probably wouldn’t be able to have more. I still begged her to check me cause I was hurting and didn’t believe that the baby would be here. At 5:15am she checked me, and all she said was baby was at -2 station and that she was going to get dressed. I started to feel the pressure/urge to push, but it wasn’t intense like when you know the baby is coming. She told me if I felt like pushing to listen to my body and just don’t “bear down” with the contractions. I started letting my body do the pushing to the extent that it felt it needed.

At 5:24 I felt a huge “pop and a thunk” can’t think of another way to describe this. It felt like his head pop under the pelvic bone, and within seconds he was crowning. She had me slow my breathing and just breath through the delivery of his head (which was coming very very fast). Head was out and cord was wrapped, but she was able to unloop it pretty easily. One more deep and intense push, and Noah was here. 5:28am Poor little guy was so bruised from being delivered so fast.(this was said many times during our stay from all the nurses and drs. “Oh, he must have been born very fast...he has a lot of bruising.”) They put him on my stomach and he started to pee. I was the first to catch this, maybe cause he was peeing on me, but we all laughed. Just like his sisters, he is a sprawler and loves having his arms and legs fully extended. One of the things I remember really noting was that they never broke down my bed, put stirrups up, made it into a very hospital type setting. It was as close to a home delivery as I could ever imagine. I just delivered in the bed with the help of Brad. Very Awesome!

His apgars were 9 & 10! Aside from the bruising my little man was perfect and Holy Crap BIG to boot. He was 9lbs .08ozs and 21.5" long.

There were some minor issues with delivering the placenta and sac. The placenta came out, but the sac was tearing as we were trying to push placenta out. So she had to twist and carefully manipulate the sac out. I had no tearing, but a very minor abrasion (skid) which required no stitches.

His labor and delivery were very FAST, but the most intense of all 6 deliveries. The contractions every 2 min made it very difficult to keep myself calm and relaxed. Brad was Absolutely Amazing (like always) during the entire labor and delivery. He kept me focused, told me he knew I could do this, assured me when he knew I was almost done, when I thought I wasn’t, that baby would be here very soon. I should also mention that Brad was totally sick with a horrible cold. He had been miserable for days prior to delivery. He didn’t want to get Noah sick, so he didn’t get to hold Noah till he was many hours old, and it was very brief. His first real time of holding him was the next day when we took some pics.

Here’s some pics. I don’t have any from labor or delivery really....it all went to fast and there was NO way I was letting go of Brad’s hand to let him take pics. Thanks for taking the time to reading this...I’m sure I will come back and update bits and pieces here and there. =)

First look at Noah...Oh so flattering shot of me, but all good for the sake of memories..

AHHH Bliss!

Getting checked out:

An hour after delivery...That's my AWESOME midwife...

First Family pic..Little man was all of 4 hrs old and thrown into the mix of chaos. hehe

Aly:

Megan:

Paige:

Sierra...she didn't want to sit still for the pic. :(

Kayla:

You can see how bruised he was here:

Daddy:

Me:

Me, Megan, Sierra, and Noah...

Getting ready to go home:

Ready to go:

Resting at home:

Picture Day at School....

2008-08-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

Here's some pics from this morning:

Oh what fun times. Why oh why today does it have to be windy. And it's hot too. Does not make for a good hair day. :( Add that to me being up 6:30am to start and you've got a tired mommy. :)

Although the girls hair turned out pretty cute. I had to give it some Extra oomph so it would it wouldn't be completely flat by the time they took pictures. Both girls hair were already going flat by the time I dropped them off.

Grandma Gail is coming.....

2008-08-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

The girls are so excited to see Grandma Gail (Brad's mom). She'll be coming down Saturday morning from Redding. So today is a busy day of cleaning up for Grandma as well as all the drawing and projects that the girls have for their grandma. Let's just say Grandma may need another suitcase to take home all the colorings and such. *hehe*

The only agenda for Friday is going to the Booville Meeting at school. Some may remember that I was involved with Booville last year as well. It's a Halloween type carnival, minus the rides. Food, Games, Haunted Houses, as well as all the individual Class themed lawn art.

Should be a fun filled weekend of visiting, and then re-staining (putting teak oil) on the teak furniture outside so we can put it on Craigslist. Haha

Hope you all have a Fantastic weekend, and I'll post some pics of Grandma's visit.

26 Weeks and Counting....

2008-08-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

This is what 6 pregnancies will do to you...*YIKES* lol

Megan vs The Window Sill

2008-08-14T20:14:00.000-07:00

The Window Sill WON! :(

So miss Megan was on my bed and I hear a thud, some crying, and that's when I see it....the blood. We still aren't sure if she was jumping on the bed, or just fell backwards. Either way her head and the window sill connected in a rather not so nice way.

Here's some pics of her battle wound. These are pretty graphic...so now would be the time to scroll down...hehe

Here's a pic with the staple. Doesn't look much different, but I guess it does the job. He also said that since it was in the hair, no issues with scarring or needing anything more to close the wound.

She did so AWESOME! First she won all the hearts of everyone who worked at the hospital. She was Sweet and totally Polite to all. Even after I explained that she would need stitches, which by the pic above you can tell she actually got a staple, she was totally fine with it.

Dr examine it, cleaned it, put some numbing cream on it and had her lay down for 10 min. He told me it might hurt a little, but it was better this route than to give her 2 shots, and still have to actually sew it up. Since it was in the hair, I was fine with the staple...as was she. :) They told me to have her talk to me, so we were coming up with ways to sneak up on daddy when we got home and surprise him. ;) The tool they used looked very similar to this one:

He gave her the staple and Megan gives me a big smile and says "That didn't even hurt". She was so proud of herself, and I must say...I was more than Proud! She been acting like nothing even happened since we got to the hospital and will have her staple removed in 10 days. Hey, at least this kid didn't require the ambulance ride for her head injury. (that would be Kayla) *wink wink*

Here a pic when we got home. Her hair was in 2 very funny loose ponies to help keep the area exposed for them to do the staple.

Here's a couple of other pics of the Megan, Paige and Aly. They all got Pink Highlights to be like mommy. Kayla got a Blue "Peek a boo", but it didn't stay to well in her hair. I'll get pics of that tomorrow and post, as well as better pics of the girls highlights. =)

These are Cakes are Hilarious....

2008-07-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

You must check them out. A friend from my mommies site posted this blog with Cake Wrecks. I was laughing so hard.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

You have to keep going to the older posts as well. The Fireman one was to die for Funny! I so need that for one of Brad's Poker Nights. *hahahaha*

Today is my Sweet Paige's 3rd Birthday!!!

2008-07-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY PAIGE!

I can't believe how FAST the time has come and gone. She is such a BRIGHT and Beautiful girl! She's a Wonderful Sister, so sensitive and just a LOVE. I'm so very proud of her!

Wow...3! Why do my babies have to keep growing up. Here's some pics of Paigey right after birth:

and then again the next day. We were getting ready to head home:

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!! Mommy, Daddy, and Sissies LOVE YOU!!! (Noah too) ;)

My Latest Favorite Song.....

2008-05-31T20:05:00.000-07:00

What more is there to say! He's got an AMAZING voice (Yeah Tib...you've been telling everyone that FOREVER! lol, and you are RIGHT) and there's just something about the song. It brings tears to my eyes. Maybe the movie clips and the sentimental value of it, or maybe just my Hormonal ass crying over Everything...like Always. haha

Pukefest 2008....AGAIN???

2008-05-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

I swear didn't we just do this???

It all starts technically 2 weeks ago when Kayla ended up in the E/R and the Dr's office for Breathing treatments with a really BAD case of Croup and Chest infection..how fun! She was almost admitted, but x-rays/bloodwork came back ok.

Then on Monday morning (long story...but here's the end result) the front of my oven (pretty new from kitchen remodel) glass exploded. Again...How fun!

and here's how it all follows:

Monday: Sierra runs 101-102 fever and come afternoon starts throwing up. Goes to bed with no throwing up...that's the good thing.

11pm Paige (after 4 days of diarrhea) start throwing up....and this continued every 10-15 minutes like clockwork the whole night (and next day) with a fever.

11pm I start throwing up. Yeah...poor Brad at this point. The guy seriously didn't sleep the whole night. We had gone to bed at 10:30pm.

12am Sierra wakes up with 103.5 fever...thankfully no throwing up anymore.

Tuesday: Paige is still throwing up every 10-15 min with diarrhea. Call dr, ends up at hospital dehydrated. So IV fluids and thankfully Zofran for the vomiting. After blood draw and most of the day, they let us go home.

Wednesday: Kayla starts throwing up in the afternoon, and continues all night long every 20-30 min.

Paige still has diarrhea and fever

4am Sierra out of the blue throws up on 2 separate occasions. She too still has fever.

Thursday: Kayla still throwing up and has low grade fever.

Paige...still lethargic and has fever.

Sierra...still has fever. Both Paige and Sierra pretty much stayed at the 101 mark the whole time.

11:00 Megan keeps waking up with a croupy type cough..not quite the barking seal, but not a normal cough either.

12:30 Megan wakes up throwing up. Continues through the night.

Friday: Megan still throwing up, but handling it well.

Kayla was going to school, but something was kinda off so I told her I wanted her to stay home...after much sadness...she agrees. Get in the car to take Aly to school, and she starts throwing up.

Paige....WooHoo...she's almost completely back to normal...talking up a storm, wanted to get dressed and do her hair, drinking. Still not eating, but I'm working on trying to get some little things in.

Sierra...now has that wheezy growly type cough, but no vomiting or diarrhea.

Brad...he's doing all he can to keep from throwing up at work, and has a critical lab down (does HVAC) and can't leave work till it's done. :(

Aly...so far so good, but I anticipate tonight or tomorrow will be her turn. If I can stay out of the hospital E/R and dr's office for a few days...I may just make it.

UGH...to top it off...I am a coordinator for our whole 1st grade classes Luau that they are having on Wednesday. So still working on that as well.

If you got this far...BLESS YOUR HEART!

Time just passes by...

2008-05-12T17:22:00.000-07:00

I have no excuses! Time just passes by and before I realize....days, weeks, and even a month go by with no posts from me. I will really try harder to get here daily, and to check on all my blogging "friends".

So here's the most recent update on us:

Baby #6 will be gracing us with it's presence around Nov 21st. (all my girls were a week early except for Sierra who came 3 weeks early) So as of today..I'm 12w3d with baby. =) Very EXCITED, and VERY DONE!!! Yeah, I know you have all heard that before. But Seriously...Done! I've talked with many moms who say they "just knew" when they were done, and I was like, cool...I hope I feel that way someday. Someday has COME! We are DONE after this little one.

Aly & Kayla only have 4 more weeks of school. How crazy and exciting! I can't wait for summer, but then again....I will then have a 2nd grader and a 1st grader. I will only have to go to the school 2xs a day. What will I do with myself?

Megan, Paige, & Sierra...Talk about a small mixture of personality. I swear Megan has the biggest Attitude of all 5 girls. We call it "Little Girl Syndrome". Like because she's petite, she has something to prove. lol Yet, she's still a really sweetie with some of the funniest saying/funnies. Paige...I can't believe she's going to be 3 soon. She's growing up and our next feat is POTTY Training. UGH...I figure once school is out, and I can devote a straight week of cleaning floors without having to constantly leave to drop off, pick up, pick up again, then we will start. Sierra...Her latest and to me the funniest thing is her laugh. She likes to throw her head back, cover her mouth and give the Biggest Belly Laugh!!! LOVE IT! She loves being with her sisters and is just so much fun.

Brad...Now there's a busy man! With the weather warming up, he's been busy at work, and busy working on the garden in the back yard. Not to mention he built a friend of ours 3 garden boxes for their family. I tease him that we have more fruit/veggies/garden items on our 7400 sqft lot than most do on an acre. Let me list some of "Brad's Farmers Market":

3 Apple trees
2 Pear trees
8 Blueberry bushes
4 Grape vines
1 Passion Fruit vine
Many..Many Tomato plants in many varieties
3 different type of Pepper plants
Watermelon
Many cucumbers plants, again different varieties
2 Pumpkin plants
4 Artichoke plants
Several kinds of squash (zucchini, spaghetti squash, yellow squash, etc)
Well Over 100 strawberry plants (he has a whole garden box devoted to these alone)
4 Blackberry Bushes (He got those for me..=) and they are thornless!)
1 Avocado tree

Well...that's all I can think of right now. I know there's more, but you get the gist of it. =)

Me...I'm doing better now. Had some morning sickness (before you decide I'm having a boy...I've had it with each one and almost exactly the same as each girl). I'm still tired, but doing much better. Just in the "I feel so fat" stage and don't look pregnant yet. Oh well...no biggie, and soon enough I'll be sporting a big ole belly. haha Just in time for Summer.

And just because nobody has really seen pics of my Beautiful girls lately...My sister came and took these Friday so we could give our mom a pic for Mother's Day. She did a Great job, especially for such an impromptu photo shoot and minutes to get them together. Thankfully I had bought the dresses for a wedding we will be going to over Memorial Day weekend. =)

Here's my babies, and one with my niece as well...Aren't they all GORGEOUS?!?!?!

Miley Ray Cyrus....

2008-04-27T17:39:00.001-07:00

So my girls totally are NOT into Hannah Montana, yeah all there friends are, but they would rather clean up than watch the show. Funny thing, they LOVE this song, and I have to admit...It's one of my favorites right now as well. Did I just say that out loud. *blushing* lol

Wow...it's been awhile.

2008-03-26T10:33:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted. Between packing for Disneyland, going to Disneyland, getting back and having Easter the next day, unpacking, being sick with yet another damn cold (I swear we are destined to be sick FOREVER), and playing with the girls while they are on Spring Break, I have had no time for the computer. Jeez...I'm just now downloading the pics from Disneyland and we've been home for a week now. *eek*

So here they are:

At the "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" show

The girls got to help with a demonstration at the Mission Tortilla Factory in
California Adventure Park.

On a ride with dad.

They changed Tom Sawyers Island to a Pirate Island now. Loved it.
Here's the girls and I with Captain Jack Sparrow. He rode the fairy over to the island with us, and told me how much he loved my hair. lol

Playing at Pirate Island

Brad, Aly, & Kayla on the "Wild Train" Ride.

Group shot!

Jesse & Kayla

Jesse & Aly

Aly & Kayla on Dumbo

One of the Many, many cute shots I got of Sierra, but didn't want to overdo it with pics of her. =)

Good Laugh of the DaY!!!!

2008-03-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

That will teach you not to stand at the bottom of a sledding hill. =)

Check out my girls.....

2008-03-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

My sister is being mentored by a Professional Photographer, so that she can eventually start taking pics professionally. Here are a few she did from the other day. The Mentor wanted her to capture the natural light coming in from a window around the child.

~Alyssa~

~Kayla~

~Megan~

and Paige....coming soon. =)

The room is booked....

2008-03-06T11:21:00.000-08:00

We are heading off to Disneyland as a *surprise* trip for the girls. (Mar 18 - 22) We are going to just put them in the car, start driving, and then tell them on the way where we are going. I'm so excited, nervous, anxious, and overwhelmed. lol

Think good thoughts for us, and wish us LUCK...we (Brad and I ) are going this alone. We've done it before, but 1 less baby.

Went and did it again...

2008-03-06T11:19:00.001-08:00

and I LOVE IT! This is what I have wanted since the first time I did it. Thank you Laura!

ETA...so some friends of mine made the comment that I had "balls" to do the pink. Another friend Tib made this for me....lol

Aly & Kayla...

2008-03-04T11:30:00.000-08:00

here's a couple of pics of them from PJ day at school. =)

(Aly loves the camera)

Not a whole lot new going on....

2008-03-03T11:25:00.001-08:00

So, here's some new pics of the girls.

Sierra walking around

Sisterly LOVE

Look at those thighs...I just want to squeeze them. lol

Cute smile (excuse the runny nose)

Oh yeah...DOUBLE TROUBLE!
(I couldn't resist those shirts at Target...these two call themselves
"The TWINS"...like in Peter Pan)

I'll have to take some "new" pics of Aly and Kayla tonight. Today is "Read Across America Day", and they wore some really cute Jammies to school. Will update later today with their pics.

No School Today...

2008-02-29T12:46:00.000-08:00

So we are heading off to the park! Today is the last semester day, so the teachers are working (bummer for them), and the kids are off. The weather here has been AMAZING!!! I was in shorts and a tank top yesterday, which to most people doesn't seem like a big deal that that is what I was wearing, but even the girls were in shorts and t-shirts. =) WooHoo...Spring is a Coming!

Ok...we are off, pics to follow. Hope you are all enjoying your day as much as we are.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2008-02-24T10:29:00.000-08:00

That would be me today after a very long day yesterday and an even Longer night last night. Poor Brad has worked both days this weekend, Sierra is running a fever and apparently has the flu (took her and the other 4 to Kaiser by myself yesterday in the pouring rain), Alyssa woke up with nightmares, etc....

I'm just BEAT! Oh, and to top it off, I went to my nail appt on Friday with a friend, and my two normal nail ladies weren't there, but some other people were, I walked in and they were ripping up carpet, the spa pedicure chairs were removed (there went my pedi. F$%K!) and my nails turned out like SHIT! So much for enjoying my nail appt and "ME" time.

Scooby Doo's Culinary Tastes....

2008-02-21T12:17:00.000-08:00

Were Megan and Paige's inspiration for what they WANTED for Breakfast! *I'm gagging just thinking about it*

This morning's desire......They would wanted a Hot Dog with Chi Chi (whip cream). EWW!

I tell them, "that's really not meant to be eaten together, would you like something else". Their response..."No mommy, it is REEAALLYY good! Shaggy and Scooby eat it all the time".

After much insisting on my part that it really wouldn't be good, they settled on Lucky Charms. Whew...nastiness averted. =)

Happy Birthday 7th Alyssa!

2008-02-16T13:08:00.000-08:00

Wow, my baby isn't really a baby anymore. She's 7 today!

I can't believe how Fast the time has flown by. Alyssa is such a Blessing, and I'm grateful everyday for her. She's an Amazing artist, and will sit patiently for Hours doing some art project, or just coloring me a picture. I'm blown away that 7 years have gone by, and so quickly.

Here's my Gorgeous Birthday Girl! (Don't mind her undone hair, mommy was Lazy...*blushing*)

We had my mom come and watch the girls while we ran all over the Central Valley to get Aly her gift. Aly has been begging for a *pet*, first it was a kitten, mommy said "NO Way!", then it was a bunny, and I was starting to warm up to that, then I went to a mom's group and they had this adorable little thing that was so cute, I rushed home and did my research.

I have the GREATEST Video of her opening her gift, but it won't upload it. :(

We got her a Chinchilla! He's a boy (ok obviously, by the *he*) and an absolute DOLL! He's super FAST, and just a love. He's Great with the girls, totally CLEAN ( a big thing for me), doesn't smell, and just so EASY! (Perfect Pet for me! I didn't want anything to have to spend tons of time on and cleaning up after.)

Hey, Long Time No See!

2008-02-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

Gosh, I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted till I logged on today. YIKES!

The girls are better, and Brad and I are both on the mend. THANKFULLY! Illness is the unheard issues of having a large family. I swear it mutates to something entirely different by the time it reaches the last one of us, and the circle starts ALL OVER. *I'm tired just thinking about it* Haha.

So I promised some pictures of the girls party (I know over a week ago), so without further BS from me....here they are.

A Birthday Girl!!!
(ok 1 of them, she just woke up) lol

Sweet Sierra and Aunt Karrie.

Cousin Aleksia and Great Aunt Vicki

Sierra and the Butterfly Pinata.
(don't mind the double chins on the lady with the pink hair. UGH)

Some of the "CREW"
L-R (Sierra, Kayla, Megan Paige, Masen *standing*, Alyssa, Aleksia, Blayne, Jacob, and Aaron

Another "Crew" pic.

Blowing out candles...

Aaron & Jacob having some cake and 7up. =)

Getting a ride from Great Uncle Dean....Wheee =)

Tuckered out girl. Partying is Hard work!

Just ask Paige......lol

Here's some of the decorations the day after the party. =)

Thanks for checking out our pics. Off to feed some girls some lunch. =)

We are all so SICK....

2008-02-05T07:24:00.000-08:00

I promise I will get the pictures of the party up soon. The girls had a blast, got great presents, lots of food, and yummy cakes! I haven't been around much, due to some sick girl, and now mommy has it. CALGON....TAKE ME AWAY!

Lazy, Tired, and SO much to do...

2008-02-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

So today, Brad took the day off, and we are supposed to be working on the house. Here's the real picture. Brad and the girls are watching Tomb Raider, I'm in here on the computer, and other than the few items we've picked up here and there, NOTHING has been done. *cheesy smile* Ok...I went to Costco, the Party Store, and Safeway, and Brad cleaned out the pantry, did dishes, made Banana bread, and cleaned the kitchen.

We have so much more to do, and it needs to be done by 1pm tomorrow. So here's to a long night ahead, and if I'm lucky a Starbuck's in the morning to wake me up from the sleep deprivation from the night before. haha...

I'll post pics of the girls party later tomorrow, or Sunday.

And yet Another Megan Funny.....

2008-01-30T16:55:00.000-08:00

So I took the girls to Target and as we were leaving I asked the girls if they needed to go potty. Which the answer was of course, YES! Any mom or dad of small kids knows the answer is always Yes, even if they don't have to go. There must be something really fun in those bathrooms that I'm missing. *hehe*

Ok...so back to the bathroom. We walk in and it was kinda busy in there, a couple of employees, 2 other women, and a lady changing her baby at the changing table. So instead of letting Megan & Kayla use their "own" potty, I ushered them in to the Handicapped stall with Paige, Sierra, and myself. Talk about a group pee fest...lol So Kayla finishes, Megan finished, and it's now my turn. I got to sit down, and Megan busts out with:

"Wow mommy, you've got a BIG (emphasis on Big) BUTT, (small pause, and then) and BIG boobies too!" I hear several snickers from the other stalls, and can't help but bust out laughing myself.

Kids say the darnest things! =)

Ghost Ride the Whip????

2008-01-29T11:25:00.000-08:00

Brad thought it was funny that I had never heard of this. So off to You Tube we went. I was dying laughing and couldn't believe what good sports they are. =)

and then there was this DUMBASS!!! Seriously? LOL

Happy 1st Birthday Sierra!!!

2008-01-28T20:00:00.000-08:00

So I wrote out a birth story from Sierra's birth, and thought I would share that here. I hope you enjoy. We have had a Wonderful year with our Sweet Girl! She's walking, talking, getting into everything, and loving life with all her sisters. She is an absolute doll, and such a Good Girl!

Here's the story of Sierra's birth:

So we will start with Friday....(Jan 26, 2007)

I had to go return my 24hr urine catch and give blood....oh how fun . I called my mom to see if she wanted to go for a ride and we were talking about how I felt. I had been having this dream about going into labor on the night of the 26th and not being home on the morning of the 27th and missing Megan's 3rd birthday. I also made reference to her that I was actually feeling pretty good. (same thing happened with Paige. The day before labor I made the comment to Brad that I felt pretty good )

So wake up Saturday morning, and was feeling ok. Not too bad, not GREAT, but noticed that my pelvic area felt really loose...hard to explain, but almost like my hips could dislocate really easy. I took Megan to her gymnastics class, and then we went to the grocery store to pick up her Birthday cake and food for the bbq we were having that night for her Birthday and to Thank a friend/coworkers of Brad's for all his help.

So here's a little back story....I never had the nesting instinct, but Brad however DID! He decided that he wanted to rip out half our deck and the hot tub we had in the backyard on Sat.
Before: (ok before we even relandscaping but better visual of the deck...that's Kayla with Brad. These were taken when we were in Escrow on the house)

After: (demo)

So, Brad got his friend/coworker to come help him out and we used his truck to pull the trailer. Later that afternoon, him and his family were coming back over for bbq and birthday celebration....that was the plan.

Another funny quirk...Some may remember that my camera had just died and I was upset, cause I was worried I wouldn't have a camera to take pics of the new baby. So on Friday I went to Costco and bought a new Sony camera. (Great little camera...love it) Thinking that the new sony would use the same memory card that my camera used. So Saturday morning I go to try out my new camera (take pics of the destruction to post here about Brad's NESTING. ) and realize that my memory card doesn't fit the new camera. So right before we are all heading off to the dump to get rid of the hot tub and other stuff...I run up to Longs and buy a memory card. I took a few pics of the girls and put the camera in my purse to show Brad on the way to the dump.

Ok...so back to the story. I get back from the store with Megan and we are all just chillin around the house. I'm watching Brad and Dennis rip the deck apart. They finish up, and are leaving for the dump. The girls and I decide we would like to go along for a ride and to get out of the house. So we all get in our truck, and Dennis drives his truck with the trailer.

We arrive at the dump with about 15 minutes till closing time, and the guys ask the guys working there if they could just use the fork lift to lift up the end of the trailer so the hot tub and crap will just fall out. The guys are cool with this, and ask me to move my truck. No Prob...jump in the drivers seat, and pull forward. Then.......................

Did I just pee my pants??? I start thinking about whether I had sneezed or coughed really hard and realize I hadn't. So I shift just a tad and yep....a little trickle. I grab my Nextel and realize that Brad's is also still sitting in the truck with me. So I call Dennis' nextel...It's so loud in there, that he doesn't here it. I had to get out of the truck...meanwhile I'm freaking out about standing up and water running down my legs. I get out, and only a trickle of sorts. I start calling for Brad...he can't hear me, and I don't want to yell, afraid of my water gushing from using my stomach muscles to yell. I finally whistle a few times and he hears me. I tell him to come her and he asks me what wrong......I tell him...."my water just broke". He looks at me in almost a disbelief and says..."your shittin me right?" "nope". Brad spins around, yells at Dennis "Gotta go, her water broke". I have no towels or anything other than my knit sweater in the car, so throw that down and the seat, and away we go. We stop to pay the dump charge, but they need to weigh Dennis' truck again, so Brad (now this is SO UNLIKE him) says here's my American Express, my buddy will be out in a minute (we had already talked to this guy when going in, so he knew who we were talking about) charge my card and just give it to him.

I'm going to try and speed this story up....lol I finally convince Brad that we need to go HOME to drop of the girls (since I had NO diaper bag/diapers/nothing for the girls) and that I wanted to get my bag. Against his better judgement, he did it for me. It took several calls to my mom and my sister before finally getting a hold of my mom and she is also on her way to our house.

Arrive home and Brad is ADAMIT...no getting out of the car. So through Nextel communications....he packs my bag for me and brings me 2 towels. All I could think of was....I'm wrecking my seat, and the brand new yoga capris I had on. I literally took the tags off that morning.

We head off to the hospital, and I start getting some contractions, but nothing worth taking real notice to. I can talk right through them. (They did get somewhat stronger and 3-4 minutes apart) We get to the hospital, and I realize....Hey I haven't taken my last belly pic. So we get out of the car and with Water running (and I mean leaving a puddle) we stop by a tree and take the belly pic!

We get inside, and due to my water being broken and them not wanting to introduce infection, they don't check me. I was put on the monitor, and contractions are showing, but nothing to write home about, and then they started tapering off. I had a full bladder when I got there, and they said the pressure from that was what was making my contractions come.
Being that I was 36w5d when admitted, and that I had just had my GBS test done a few days prior, they didn't know what my results were, and I had to have an antibiotic. They gave me that around 6:30pm and was done by 7pm. Contractions from walking, but still nothing "grand". I walked some more and then was told that I had to have the antibiotics in my system for at least 4 hrs or the baby would have to stay for at least 48hrs and have some testing done. So we just continued to walk and no interventions were made (water breaking).

Well after some walking....Brad and I both realize neither one of us have eaten all day. So he gets the bright idea.....Let's order a pizza and have it delivered. And that's just what he did.
So off we go to walk the halls some more, and we turn the corner heading back to our room to call Tib and Jamie and let them know what's going on, when there he is.....The pizza deliver guy with Brad's Pizza and Soda's. Brad was so happy, he could hardly contain himself. Ask Tib and Jamie...they were talking to him while he was eating his pizza. He was now a VERY HAPPY CAMPER! lol
Sadly...I didn't get any. But to be honest...I didn't really have a big appetite anyway.

10pm rolls around. Contractions have finally decided to make their appearance in a fashion that is worth taking notice. Not too bad, but they are doing their job. Brad is exhausted from being up so early and ripping apart a hot tub (they cut it into 4 pieces) breaking up and moving a concrete pad that the hot tub sat on, and removing the 2nd half of the deck. I told him to lay down for a few and I would go walk the L&D track (the hall makes a big circle around L&D) This is what I came back to...with snoring included. The nurses and I were cracking up.
FF to 11:15...I am in some pretty Intense pain and am starting to feel the transition ( I need some drugs pain) Had this with Paige, and was a 8 almost ready to push. They finally check me (now that the 4hrs window is up) and I'm a 5 I seriously started crying for a moment. Thinking I can't do this when I'm only half way. Brad says...have them break your water, and you KNOW baby will be here soon. They broke my water about 11:30pm and gave me a shot of Phentenul (sp?) similiar to Nubain, but OH SO MUCH BETTER. Very short lived, and actually DOES take the edge off some. That lasted for about 20 min and let me actually relax during contractions. I was now lay in a bed, due to the meds and once they were wearing off they said would you like to rock in the rocking chair? I agreed and while trying to get up off the bed....."I NEED TO PUSH NOW"! It always happens this way for me. They check me and I'm pretty much a 10, but have the smallest of bit of a lip.

So another nurse comes in and says "let's do a practice push, and we'll see how you do. Then if your ready we'll call in a midwife/dr" Brad is telling them...No, you don't understand...she pushes these babies out VERY FAST! You need to get somebody now. Mean while I'm telling them. I'm pushing. The nurse yells STOP, breath through the next contraction (yeah the F$%K right) and out the door she ran. My other nurse ( I had 2 that were so WONDERFUL) gets me to slow my breathing down due to I was starting to hyperventilate due to "trying" to breath through a bear down contraction. I tell her I AM PUSHING, and in walks the dr. With just gloves barely on.....and them still breaking down my bed, babies head is here. 1 more push, and baby is HERE!!! So only 2 pushes...I'm happy with that. They put her on me, and she was crying and had apgar scores of 9 & 9. They left her on my chest under my gown and with a blanket on top of us for about an hour.
The dr said....These are my favorite deliveries...In and out in minutes flat. I had no tearing and really only "labored" from 10pm till when I had her at 12:52am. She was born 52 min after Megan's 3rd Birthday ended.

I got into my room at 4am, and was then told I would be staying for 48 hrs.
Here is Brad and Sierra on Sunday morning before Daddy had to leave, not to return until he picked me up.
and here is Daddy and Sierra sharing their first breakfast of cold Pizza.
I was dying there. My back/butt ached so bad from being in the bed, and I missed my family more than you know. I was begging and pleading with anybody to please let me and Sierra go home. I had a pedi that took pity on me and let Sierra go at 10pm on Monday night. Here are the girls and Brad picking us up at 11pm at night. I was desperate to get home and be with my FAMILY! Here they are....
Well...Speaking of Sierra....She's awake and HUNGRY! I may come back and edit some of this when I have a chance to re-read it...Sorry it was so LONG! Thanks for reading, and for all the congrats and well wishes.

And here is my BIG Girl on her Birthday!!!! Happy Happy Birthday Sierra! =)

Having her Birthday Breakfast...(McDonalds pancakes)

and having some cupcake

Happy 4th Birthday MEGAN!!!

2008-01-27T09:04:00.001-08:00

Brad and I were sitting in the hospital 4 years ago awaiting the birth of Miss Megan who was born at 12:10pm. 8lbs 2ozs (1 week early). She gave us quite the scare at birth.

I took the shot of Nubain (sp?) that they offered me, and they broke my water. I was dilated to 8, had my next contraction, and that was it. I was telling Brad I NEED to Push NOW!!! She was a wonderful fairly easy delivery. I basically "grunted" her out, and it took all of 3-4 min. I had 2 midwives, and 3 nurses in there, just for the show. =) (later told by them, that I was one of the Best births she was able to see) *I'm sure they say that to everyone, but I'll choose to just believe it was just to me*

As I had said before, I just received the shot of Nubain, so was pretty out of it. So out of it in fact, it never dawned on me until hours later that they never put her on my tummy after delivery. Brad walked over to the warming table/incubator, and by this time I realized (in my foggy head) that I hadn't heard her cry. I caught Brad's eyes and saw FEAR, she immediately began to cry. I had instant relief. What I didn't know, and wouldn't find out till 2 hours later, was that she had the cord wrapped so tight that they had cut it while her head was the only thing delivered, and she was born not breathing. Brad said my sweet girl was entirely Grey, and they were working on getting her breath like crazy. (This is the reason Brad hates deliveries, it gives him anxiety). They brought her over to me, and told me they wanted to take her to the NICU to warm her up, and her color was still slightly off. I was so oblivious to what had happened and thought nothing of it. Brad of course went with her, and I pretty much dozed in and out.

2 hrs later, a nurse comes in, and I ask where my hubby and baby are. She tells me they should be coming back to the room in a few minutes, that the baby is doing Great now, and that your husband was worried about Brain Damage and that the baby didn't have any. SAY WHAT?!?! I had NO idea what she was talking about and the look on my face gave that away pretty quickly. Right then Brad and Megan came back into the room. He gave me the details, and I was able to hold my Baby! Scary start, but Wonderful ending. So Miss Megan is 4 yrs old today and as Feisty as ever!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!!! We LOVE You!

Isn't he the GREATEST!

2008-01-25T10:44:00.000-08:00

So as you know, my birthday was last week, but what you didn't know was what Brad brought me home. *This would be a Bad Wife Moment*. Gosh I'm having a lot of bad moments lately..ok, back to my post.

Brad isn't big on cut flowers, unless they are something that came from a personal garden or wild flowers. He's more about Potted Flowers (which I love) or plants. He however knows how much I LOVE Flowers (Tulips being tied for one of my favorite flower. Gladiolas and Gerbera Daisies are the other two.) and he came home with this:

He not only bought the flowers, but the vase, and arranged them himself before coming into the house. The Flowers were just Stunning, and the Orange tulips with Yellow tips, reminded me of a Flame. They were Gorgeous! Sadly they are gone now (which is why he doesn't like cut flowers *wink* ) but I have this picture to remind me just how GREAT they were, and He is!

Oh, and the vase...it's totally awesome. It's actually not round, but oblong. The width is like 4", so really narrow. I absolutely LOVE it! It's sitting on a 4" back splash above the sink.

She's Walking...officially!

2008-01-25T10:37:00.000-08:00

She actually started "taking steps" awhile ago, but we have official walking starting about a week ago. What a bad mommy, that I completely forgot to Blog about it. *ok..totally bad mommy moment* But she is walking, that is when her sisters are carrying her, and when I'm not looking. She doesn't like to walk when mommy is watching. Why would she do that when she can just get me to pick her up.

Sierra is my 2nd latest walker. But I'm assuming it's due to having 4 older sisters who talk, and do the walking for her. lol

I'm proud of my little CC and I can't believe a year is almost here.

Another Megan Funny...

2008-01-24T10:04:00.000-08:00

So Megan is one of my thumb suckers. She only does it when she's tired, so I haven't been so concerned about it, but now that she's almost 4 (On Sunday...EEK), I thought it time to start working on her giving it up. So here's how our conversation went:

Me: Hey Megan, you are getting an owie from sucking your thumb, we should work on not sucking it, so it can heal.

Megan: But I'm not done yet.

Me: Not done with what?

Megan: Sucking out all the Juice!

Me: LAUGHING!!! Juice?

Megan: Yep. Laughing...

I swear this girl comes off the wall with little things all the time. She's always great for making mommy laugh.

I'm loving these.....

2008-01-21T15:26:00.001-08:00

My sister made these invitations for me for the girls party. They are going out today. =)

Look at my BIG Girl's!

2008-01-18T17:23:00.000-08:00

I can't believe she is almost 1, but before that..Megan will be turning 4!

The Big 32! Wow, I'm an Adult now. =)

2008-01-15T16:42:00.000-08:00

Hope you are all enjoying the day as much as I am! Ok, I'm off to buy a cake and celebrate with the girls and Brad. =)

I'm OLD? Say What???!

2008-01-14T09:37:00.000-08:00

So the girls have been doing a countdown till my birthday (my 32nd birthday) and this morning I was talking with Megan. I said..."Yay, tomorrow is mommies birthday, do you know how old she is?" Megan replies, "Yay, your birthday! I don't know mommy." Me.."take a guess." To which she replies, "I don't know mommy, you're just OLD!" Very funny, and yet it makes me think. I know 32 isn't old, however I'm realizing, that I'm not exactly Young anymore as well. I keep thinking (ok, in my own head, the body disagrees) that I'm still in my late 20's. Hello....in 8 more years, I will have a child that can get their learning permit to Drive, yep...DRIVE! Where did the years go? How did I get so old? Hey, I can't complain too much. My last 15 years or so have been AWESOME! And look what I have accomplished in those years. I've been married to Brad for 11 years and counting, I have 5 GORGEOUS girls, that are my Everything, we have owned 2 homes, and in the works to get ready to build our "dream home", I had some jobs that I loved, and yeah, so that I didn't, but I've learned alot along the way. I really do have a Wonderful life and come to think of it...I'm not old yet, just very well Established! =) So Happy Early Birthday to Me!!!

Resolutions???

2008-01-13T11:23:00.000-08:00

So I don't make New Year's Resolutions, cause I never actually follow through. This year, I'm making monthly/daily resolutions. That way if I falter, I have another day to try again. =) A few of them. Brad and I are working towards a better financial SAVINGS in 2008. I want to be able to let more things "go", and not worry about other peoples "problems" so much that it effects me so much. They are adults as well, and have to take care of themselves.

For my girls...I want to get them to the Kids in Motion classes at our Gym. They love them, and I enjoy watching them.

Hopefully, we will get pregnant soon and our health will return. So there you have it...my non existing, yet still there resolutions. lol

Feel like such a downer lately....

2008-01-13T10:45:00.000-08:00

I feel like all I do is complain lately about how sick we all are. Again...Sierra has the pneumonia back, Kayla has 2 ear infections, Paige and Megan have these yucky coughs from hell, Brad and I are both sick now. Thankfully, Aly is doing much better, but UGH to the rest! To top it all off...My period started again at 6dpo (days past ovulation)...so NOT a good thing. I'm talking with my dr about all this, and it sounds like I have a Luteal Phase Defect. Just taking some progesterone will help that. Ok...Complaint OVER! I'll do my best to start looking on the Brighter side of things. =)

We have TEETH!!!

2008-01-08T10:15:00.000-08:00

Sierra hasn't been sleeping very well lately. Party due to Pneumonia and ear infection, but I knew it was something more. The tooth fairy paid her a visit, not to leave money, but TEETH!!! Within in 5 days, the girl popped out 3, yep 3 teeth. =)

Her bottom left tooth, her top right tooth, and her top left canine type tooth (not the canine, but not the front tooth..in between) lol Poor girl...I can still see 2 more that are trying to come in. Motrin, here we come.

She won't let us really look at them much, but I will try and get a pic of them tonight. With Brad's help of course.

Happy New Year!!!

2008-01-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

Another Year, come and gone. How does that happen, and so damn FAST! I swear it was just 2006 and yet here we are in 2008. I guess when Life if Happy and Good (ok..most of the time) that little saying is more true than I care to admit. (Time Flies When Your Having FUN)

Wow......2008! 2007 did us pretty good.

We had Sweet Sierra, and what a Blessing she is. She fits so well in our family, and I love seeing the similarities between here and her different sisters. She looks like Aly, has Kayla's build and easy going traits. She does have a feisty side that is so much like Megan, and she Loves to cuddle/snuggle just like Paige.

Alyssa...my first baby started 1st Grade. She such a "big" person now. Not so much the "little" girl that I want to believe that she is. She's reading like a champ, and so helpful around the house. She is excelling in school and her art....oh my gosh, she's AMAZING!

Kayla...another baby starting school. She's halfway through Kindergarten, and LOVING every minute of it. She has been asking me everyday (we are on winter break) "Do I get to go back to school tomorrow?". She has made so many friends.

Both Aly and Kayla have been in Cheerleading and having a good time.

Megan...She's my Feisty little one. She may be little, but she's Smart & Sharp as a Whip! She comes off with some of the funniest sayings and the Attitude that rivals her older sisters. lol
Her latest funny...Apparently I forgot to throw away a pair of her panties that had a very small stain in them. I threw them to her (not knowing about the stain, and yes they were clean) ;) She starts to put them on and tells me "I can't wear these panties mommy, they have smoke in them!" I was busting up and trying to figure out what she meant by "smoke" in her panties. I asked her did she fart? She said no, and that the panties had Smoke in them. So I go to investigate, and sure enough a small stain. Needless to say, having Smoke in the panties has become a Bechtold Funny, and we are much more cautious about the "smoke" panties and extinguishing them in the garbage on that rare occasion. lol

Little Paigey....Barbie FANATIC! That about describes her day to day. Everything is Barbie. Her movies, her dolls, her slippers, her bike, her dress up, you name it. The girl believes she is Barbie, and I'm all for it. There's nothing cuter than seeing my little one all dressed up in Barbie Ball Gown and dancing while watching her "Barbie" movies. She loves to dance and sing. She is also very sensitive. If you tell her no, or raise your voice, she runs in tears and puts herself on time out. It breaks my heart every time. I have a hard time with it. She will be my tough one when she's older I think. She plays the game...and really WELL. haha

Brad...Well, today was his first day back to work since before Christmas. I think I was more bummed by this than anybody. I LOVE having him home. He's my "Buddy" and I love hanging out with him, or cleaning out the office (ok..not fun, but he motivates me) playing Wii, staying up late watching movies/tv. But back to work he had to go. He's a Hard Worker, and that time off was Wonderful for both him and for us as a family. Now if only everyone wasn't so sick. (whole other post)

As for me...I'm sad and yet Very Happy to see 2008. I'm sad cause it's another year gone, and another year that my girls are getting older. Sad that there were some things that I didn't get accomplished, but So Happy that we have our Health (working on it at least), the Time to accomplish those things, and Another year to spend with my INCREDIBLE FAMILY!!! It was supposed to be "back to the gym" day for me, but Aly's running another fever (again...whole other post on our end of 2007 ILLNESSES..ugh) So I will be heading off to the dr's office, AGAIN.

I hope that your 2007 was as Great as ours, and that your 2008 will be even Better! =)

Bowling is not for the weak....

2007-12-27T09:40:00.000-08:00

This holds true for the Wii bowling as well. I am SO SORE this morning after playing Wii bowling for most of the day. hehehe (it was a family gift from Santa so Brad, the girls and I have been having a BLAST) I feel like I have been doing squats and using weights with my arms. Even my butt muscles hurt. lol

I guess this could be an alternative for the gym??? I need to find more games that you use other muscles to get the full workout. ;)

Merry, MERRY Christmas!!!!

2007-12-24T16:17:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's Christmas ALREADY!!! We have a long night ahead of us, as I'm sure several others do as well. I vowed that this year would be different, and that I wouldn't be up till 4am wrapping presents. (That damn stomach bug is what messed up my schedule) I was supposed to do it all last weekend...oh well.

I hope you all have an Amazing Christmas, and a Wonderfully Safe New Year! Know that you are all being thought of tomorrow.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Twilight, New Moon, & Eclipse.....

2007-12-21T09:53:00.000-08:00

Wonderful, Amazing, Thrilling, and I just finished the 3 part series last night. OMGosh....I love these books. Thank you Tib, Nic, and JenLiz for introducing them to me, and THANK YOU Tib, for sending me the first book!

I couldn't stop reading. Seriously a GREAT Read!

Stephenie Meyer, Twilight Series

Weekend from HELL!

2007-12-18T16:47:00.001-08:00

As posted previously, Paige got a stomach bug, and as you can all imagine....IT SPREAD to the rest of us. (minus Kayla & Megan) That as well as has giving me so much anxiety and my poor girls are tired of hearing "are you alright?" "does your tummy hurt?" "do you have to throw up?" "what hurts?" "do you feel ok?".

Saturday was the true day from Hell! Sierra kicked us off, with Aly following a couple hours behind, and then Brad and myself a couple hours after that. We were useless as parents. We were crawling around trying to take care of the girls who were sick, take care of the girls that were well, get ourselves to the bathroom, and keep up with the laundry from the events.

I did however learn a really cool tidbit from my pedi. Did you know that Benadryl has an anti-nausea medicine in it. He told me to give that to the girls. It would help them not throw up, and let them get some sleep as well. Worked pretty good for both Sierra and Aly. Granted they still got sick, but at least they were getting some rest in between, unlike poor Paige who was vomiting, like clockwork, every 15 min for 15 hrs straight.

Ok...I will spare you all the really bad details and just say that we are doing better, but still trying to re-coup. I pray that this Bug doesn't find any of you.

Happy Holiday's from US!!!

2007-12-14T13:38:00.000-08:00

These will be going out in the mail very, very soon, but till then....Here's a sneak preview. Thank you Karrie for taking the cute pics, and making a really Beautiful Card.

AGAIN....for all who have not gotten their Flu shot.....

2007-12-14T13:34:00.000-08:00

GO AND GET IT!!!!!

Little Paige is SO sick! She has been throwing up since 12:30 last night. Every 15 min like clockwork. I can't believe after maybe 2 hours combined sleep, that Brad got up and went to work. He's a Trooper...*thanks for all your help babe*. I am leaving in about a hour to take her in. She can't keep anything down, and has yet to "pee" a diaper today. I'm trying and trying to get even the slightest fluids in her. Hoping they will also give her something to stop the vomiting. Poor baby got sick in my car both times I had to go the school. I'll update her condition when I get home.

Please, Please....Make SURE YOU GET YOUR FLU SHOT!!!!!

New Camera for us...

2007-12-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

Kayla was playing "photographer", and apparently decided the lens wasn't closing fast enough. The gears on the lens got messed up, so off we went to Costco (thankfully, the camera wasn't a year old yet, and even better...we bought the camera before their 90 day electronics return policy came into play). They didn't carry my Sony anymore, so we got this:

So far....I really like it. It's a bit bigger than my last camera, but it takes nice pictures. =) Thanks Bub! =)

I am So BLESSED....

2007-12-10T21:40:00.000-08:00

Not only do I have Awesome and Beautiful Girls, but I have an AMAZING Hubby! Tonight while I went to Aly's Class to decorate her classroom for Christmas, Brad had all 5 girls, bbq some New York Steaks, made Artichokes, Wild Rice, and Bread. I came home to the table set and dinner just about done. He does all our Laundry, and most of the cooking. Last weekend, he got the girls all ready for bed, brushed teeth, and tucked them in. Then he drew me a bath with candles! I'm embarrassed to say that I have never taken a candle lit bath, but it was AWESOME!

I can't say enough about how Wonderful he is, but I can say that I am EXCEPTIONALLY BLESSED!!!

Thank You Baby!

So CUTE!!!!

2007-12-08T16:19:00.000-08:00

Brad caught this while I was out at a Holiday party with Aly and Kayla today. So CUTE...

In the PINK

2007-12-08T10:02:00.000-08:00

I decided that I wanted so HOT Pink Highlights in my hair. Just to be fun and different. So I went to a friend who does hair, and it came out Awesome. However...being a blond, my hair is very, very porous. We had to wash each individual piece separately, then dry it to keep it from bleeding on my blond. Talk about tedious.... So because of the bleeding of the pink on the blond, I had to wait 3 days to wash it. When I did....it of course still BLED. Here's the results after the first at home washing. lol I actually really like it, and am debating whether I really want to go back and get parts bleached out. (what my friend wants to do to get the blond back) The funny thing, is that we did really TINY strands Pink. Talk about POTENT stuff. *wink*

ETA....today's pic..lol

If you look close, you can see that the whole underside of my hair is still blond. =) My girls LOVE IT! hahaha

It's been an ETERNITY!!!

2007-12-07T19:47:00.001-08:00

I haven't blogged in so long, that each time I came to do it, I was horrified at how long it's been, and have so much that has happened that I just say..."oh, I'll do it tomorrow when I have more time". Well a LOT of "tomorrows" have come and gone, and here we are 2+ weeks later. *gasp*

So we had a really nice Thanksgiving, however, Our neighbors did not, well not the dinner part, but how would you like to get a call that your House was on FIRE! Yep...Brad and I were out back deep frying our turkey (yummy, yummy) when Brad commented that you could actually see the tullie fog rolling in. We both figured there must be a fire somewhere. He then noticed that our neighbor had smoke coming from the chimney and we assumed he was having his "first" fire of the year and burning wet wood. We went inside, and all of a sudden Black smoke is POURING all over the backyard. I told Brad to go make sure the our Turkey hadn't caught fire (we knew it hadn't...we've been doing this for many, many years) but just in case. He came running in saying that it was coming from the neighbors Chimney. I instantly thought it was a "chimney" fire. I went running for the front door, threw it open, and SURPRISE...there were 10 fire trucks and literally 200 people watching the show. The trucks had just got there, but we never heard the sirens.

After all that excitement, we were Very Thankful, and enjoyed our dinner as a Healthy, Happy, Grateful Family!

The day after, we all headed out to get our Tree. We had a lot of fun, and found and AMAZINGLY Perfect Tree, with a Fantastic price! It's aprox 11'-11 1/2' ft tall. Gorgeous and smells Awesome. It's a Noble Fir.

Here are a few shots of the girls playing while Brad and I set the tree up, and right after. We are still working on decorating it. hahaha...

I will be better....Tomorrow I will post pics of my Hot Pink Hair!!! =)

No School - Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-21T09:22:00.001-08:00

WooHoo!!! No School today! We are going to be working on getting the house all clean for Thanksgiving. We will be having Thanksgiving here, and it will be just the 7 of us. I very Excited and In Need of some down time with my family. The plan is to cook, bake, deep fry the Turkey, and watch movies. WooHoo, WooHoo!!! There are a couple I'm dying to see (no pun intended lol) I'm a big Action movie person.

Movie line up:

LIVE FREE or DIE HARD
For anybody who Actually knows me won't be surprised by this one....these are my ULTIMATE FAVORITE movie series. There is just something about Bruce Willis (*swooning*)

Escape Clause (Santa Clause 3)

We are all excited to see this one. We Love watching the first 2, so this will be probably one of the first ones we see. (now how can I can convince them that Bruce should come first.....*scratches her chin*)

Oceans 13

Another movie I am eagerly anticipating. Do you see a theme with my movies??? Lots of good ACTION, with Sexy Men. Hahahaha In all seriousness, I really am an Action Movie type of girl. Love stories are ok once in a while, but I need the Thrill and Excitement of Danger and things Blowing Up!

The Polar Express

One of our Family Favorites. To be honest, we have already watched it a few times. But we will probably watch this one again as well, to get all in the Christmas spirit.

If I don't make it back here tomorrow, I hope you all have a SAFE and WONDERFUL..........Turkey Day!

11 AWESOME Years!!!

2007-11-16T14:19:00.000-08:00

11 years ago today, I pledged my love and commitment to Brad. Today...I am more in love with him and so BLESSED to have him in my life! He's a Wonderful Husband, an AMAZING Father, and my Best Friend Always! Thanks babe for always being there. I LOVE YOU!

Here's a couple of pics of us on our wedding. =)

Poster Family for "GET YOUR FLU SHOT!"

2007-11-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

Holy crap....it has started pouring in our household again. This week alone, Sierra was diagnosed with Pneumonia, Aly and Kayla with ear infections, Brad with a Sinus infection, and myself with Bronchitis. Paige and Megan have the worst cold/cough I think either of them have ever had. So raspy and phlemy. YUCK!

We were there back on Oct 5th, and I asked about the flu shot. Unfortunately, they didn't get them in till Oct 15th. So I figured....we would be there on Nov 19th for Sierra's "well baby" check, we would get them then. Go figure a week and a half before, we all end up sick! UGH

Cheesecake Factory & Friends...

2007-11-10T18:38:00.000-08:00

Today I met up with 2 of the mommies that I chat with online at July05moms.com. Jean (flutterby), her two Adorable daughters (Cadence & Faith), and Jen and her Gorgeous daughters (Avery and Addison). Karrie (my sister) also went with me.

I had a GREAT time and enjoyed the visit. Here are some pics from our mommy meet up.

Karrie (my sister), Jean , and her daughters Faith & Cadence:

Jen & her daughter Avery:

and Jen's other daughter Addison:

Campus Beautification

2007-11-04T09:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (Saturday) was Campus Beautification at Aly and Kayla's School. So Aly, Kayla, Megan, and myself headed over to plant some plants, weed, pick up garbage. I am happy to say that the 4 of us got quite a bit done. I planted 6 trees, and the girls did AWESOME at picking up trash. ( I am very proud of them, while they were picking up trash, all the other kids were playing on the playground) I wasn't a totally meanie...they picked up trash for 30 min and then played pretty much the rest of the day. hehe

I also weeded 2 rather large, and overgrown Kindergarten "Earth Day" garden boxes. Our family was the last ones to leave. It was held from 10am-2pm. The campus looks Great and even though I'm sore...I feel like I did something really good for both my girls, and for their school. I forgot my camera, but I know there were several snapping pics to put in the school newsletter and yearbook. So hopefully I can snag one of those. Ok...off to spend some time with my family...not gardening. =)

Butterfly Princess, Pirate, Witch, Devil, and Pumpkin...OH MY!

2007-11-01T19:43:00.001-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN a day late! What an exhausting month October was, and Halloween..utterly EXHAUSTING. *said with many yawns*

I was up till 4am starting/finishing Aly's costume, and then got up at 7am to get the girls all ready and off to school. Thankfully Brad stayed home and helped me SO MUCH! We all (yep...got them all dressed and out the door at 9:30am) headed off to school to drop the older two off, and then waited till 10am for the "parade". Which when all was said and done didn't actually start till more like 10:20. The kids were all so Cute/Funny/Scary/and all around AWESOME! Of course my two were the cutest, but that's just a biased mom talking. After the parade, we ran home for 30 min...just long enough to change some diapers, feed Sierra, load up 24 pumpkins in a wheelbarrow (thank you bub), get the snacks for party #1 & party #2, then we headed back to school. Went to party #1 for Kayla, and had fun. Then headed off to party #2 (I'm the room mom in this class) and got that one underway. The kids did GREAT! We did Caramel Apples, Decorated pumpkins (that they picked from our Pumpkin patch set up outside the classroom), some fun Halloween math problems (the safe way to extend any Halloween party without getting into trouble *wink wink*, and Pin the Smile on the Jack O' Lantern. The kids ate tons of snacks brought in by parents (they were so yummy). Then we were done. *falls down to catch a breath*. We headed home after cleaning up, and carved a couple and decorated a couple more pumpkins. Then off we headed to do our Trick or Treating. The girls had lots of FUN! Came home, ate some real food, before letting the girls have 2 candies each, got ready for bed, and then Brad and I PASSED OUT!

Here's are some pics from our Halloween Day....

The skirts that I made:

and here are my Butterfly Princess, Pirate, Witch, Devil, & Pumpkin: (they are so CUTE!!!)

When it Rains.....It Pours!

2007-10-25T16:32:00.002-07:00

Let me tell you....that saying has so held true for my family for the month of October. Between Brad working lots of overtime (albeit a good thing financially), Booville, Halloween parties for the girls at school, then of course making costumes, then throw in all the illnesses/injuries (Brad's thumb, Kayla's UTI, Aly's lymph node, Me falling at Costco, and JACKING up my tailbone/back....It's POURING here!

I haven't blogged about the me falling at Costco, mostly because...I haven't been able to sit at the computer for more than a few moments. While walking out of Costco, I reached forward to grab Paige, and my feet kept going....and going and going right up into the air. My rear end (thankfully a nice fluffy one) hit the concrete. I have a sprained coccyx (tailbone), and haven't been able to sit, stand, bend, pretty much anything since Monday afternoon.

I have been meaning to post pics from Booville, but still need to download them. It came out really good, and we got lots of compliments on our "cemetery". I will download them tonight, I have a Chiropractor appt in a few. Now between setting up the girls Halloween parties at school, as well as the ones that other's are throwing for fun/birthday's, I'm trying to get their costumes done. Sierra's is finished, and Adorable if I do say so myself. ( I will add pics in a bit) I still have 4 more to make, and one of our parties is on Saturday...*ugh* how and when will I find the time to get these finished?? It will get done though..even if I have to sit up all night long and make them. Guess I'm just better under pressure.

Ok...I'm getting sore and the Chiro awaits me. =) I hope you are all doing well, and I'll be around to check up on you all very soon. :)

Total Slacker as a "friend".....

2007-10-19T23:35:00.000-07:00

I want to thank each and everyone of you who have come to my blog and visited and left comments. I haven't had much time on the computer lately (Booville), but after Saturday, I will be BACK! I vow to you all that I will start visiting and leaving comments to all my "Friends". Life would be a pretty lonely place without YOU. :)

Thank you all for the support and wonderful comments. I am off to bed, cause I have to be up early to set up for the Booville Carnival...then my life will be MINE again! YAY!!! I hope you all enjoy and have fabulous plans for Saturday. =)

Yin & Yang......

2007-10-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

The meaning of Yin-Yang

This Simbol(Yin-Yang) represents the ancient Chinese understanding of how things work. The outer circle represents "everything", while the black and white shapes within the circle represent the interaction of two energies, called "yin" (black) and "yang" (white), which cause everything to happen. They are not completely black or white, just as things in life are not completely black or white, and they cannot exist without each other.

While "yin" would be dark, passive, downward, cold, contracting, and weak, "yang" would be bright, active, upward, hot, expanding, and strong. The shape of the yin and yang sections of the symbol, actually gives you a sense of the continual movement of these two energies, yin to yang and yang to yin, causing everything to happen: just as things expand and contract, and temperature changes from hot to cold.

Here is Yin & Yang in our Family! =)

My sister was watching the girls for me on Wednesday, so I could go to Aly's class to work on our Booville art projects. I came home to this....my heart just melts every time I see it. =)

Lymphadenitis...

2007-10-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

Lymphadenitis is the inflammation of lymph nodes. It is often a complication of bacterial infections, although it can also be caused by viruses or other disease agents. Lymphadenitis may be either generalized, involving a number of lymph nodes, or limited to a few nodes in the area of a localized infection. Lymphadenitis is sometimes accompanied by lymphangitis, which is the inflammation of the lymphatic vessels that connect the lymph nodes.

Aly has Lymphadenitis. Let me tell you...the HUGE (bigger than a golf ball) size lymph gland was certainly a give away that something wasn't right. Aly told me earlier in the day that her neck hurt, but never really touched on anything other than that. I asked her if her throat hurt, was she congested, all the typical questions, and the only answers I got were "no". I honestly thought maybe she slept funny or something, and since we didn't really go out yesterday, her hair wasn't done. I never noticed the Big lump below her ear/jaw. She was playing fine, running, dancing, eating, whining/complaining, but nothing that wasn't typical. *lame attempt at humor with pure exhaustion on the brain* Then she said it again at bed time. Brad was rubbing her neck for her, when he came upon the "LUMP".

HOLY CRAP!!! By dr's (a man mind you) weird measurements...it is 3 fingers wide x 5 fingers long. It's very Hard and hurts her to be touched. Aparantly there's an infection in her poor little node. So when all was said and done, got our antibiotics, got back in the car and heading on our 45 min drive home, it was already 2am. I got home, put Aly to bed, and CC woke up. Fed her, and got her back to sleep. Then poor Brad had to get up to head off to work after only 3.5 hrs sleep, and having worked all weekend, so no day off. So lets just say...we are ONE VERY TIRED Family!

Friday Night Fun!

2007-10-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

My sister and niece (Karrie and Aleksia) came over yesterday, and we decided to do something fun and Halloweenie for the girls. We made RICE KRISPIE TREATS!!!! It was a lot of fun! So two boxes of Rice Krispies (yep, the real kind...the treats just don't taste the same when you use generic lol), two bags of marshmallows, 9 tablespoons of butter, and sore muscles later.....Our TREATS...Witches, Pumpkins, and a Bat (didn't get a pic of that one).

Here's some pics..

Group shot (Aly doesn't look so happy, cause she got "a little" witch to decorate. I gave her a bigger one. She didn't realize she had CC's witch. *insert eyeroll*) Hahaha

Paigey and her Witch...

Kayla and her Witch...

Megan and her Witch...

Alyssa and her Witch...(notice the much happier face now that she got the right witch...(little girls...I'm telling you) lol

Aleksia's Witch...courtesy of her mommy. I will get a couple of pics from my sister of her "enjoying" her witch...Pretty darn funny. :)

and I can't believe I Forgot to get a pic of CC's witch....I will take one when Brad gets home. (He has the camera) What a BAD Mommy moment. ugh...*ETA the pic...it's a crappy one, cause it was already placed in a plastic bag...but you get the point.*

Here's a couple of pics of my sweet girl eating a "bat".

and the Pumpkin that I made....

I will get more pics from Karrie and try to add them later. I'm hoping she has one of CC's witch, and if not...I'll just take one of it in the plastic baggie. :( After making and eating some of the treats, it was off for a HUGE family BATH! We got some hilarious pics of Leksi and CC laughing, posing, naked tooshie's, and just all around being hams. It was a Very FUN night in our home last night. If you looking for something cheap, fun, and pretty easy clean up...I totally recommend a night of Rice Krispie Treats!

Poor Kayla.......

2007-10-06T11:32:00.000-07:00

My poor little Kayla has been diagnosed with her first and hopefully last ever bladder infection. She told me Thursday night that "if burned when she peed". :( I went with her to the restroom, and she was actually trying to fan her self. (my poor baby)

We made her an appt first thing for Friday morning and thankfully I have a very PRO Active pediatrician (just love him). He gave us a prescription before her culture had even been screened. He actually gave me two options to wait around for the results, or get the prescription and wait to take it when he called me. I knew she had an infection, so I went with the prescription and we were outta there. Our Pedi has 3 children of his own, and always comments to me that I probably know more than he does when it comes to their ailments. (hahaha, if only I were making his pay)

While there we also got Sierra's immunizations. She did Great (as usual) and we actually got to get lunch at El Torito and visit with my sister and niece (Karrie & Aleksia) on my way home.

So as of this afternoon, Kayla says..."It doesn't burn anymore mommy". YAY for that!

Missing the gym.....

2007-10-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

I have been slacking on my gym regimen. On a normal day, I drop the older two off at school, and head over to the gym. Every other day I do weights, and the other days I do and Aqua Fit class. This week, and next, the girls are off school. I just can't seem to get myself going and off to the gym. I went Monday, and so far that has been it. **SLACKER** I hear it in my head everyday since then. Between being tired (from CC teething and not sleeping at night) and my period being here, I am just so UN-motivated. Somebody KICK ME IN MY ASS!!!

If only it were that easy.....sigh

I vow that tonight I will go back to having the girls clothes sitting out and waiting for them when they wake up, and I will make it to my 9:15am aqua fit class. I miss the energy I get from going, the sense of accomplishment of doing it, and the overall "good" feeling I get after having gone.

I will probably take the girls to the park after the gym with a couple of my "mom's group" friends...time to get MOTIVATED and enjoy the time with them while they are home. So here's to making TGIF count!

Brad's Reading by Chris Dufresne (Sylvia Brown's son)

2007-10-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

Chris Dufresne, the son of psychic/best-selling author Sylvia Browne, is a highly respected psychic in his own right who has been in practice for more than 20 years. Chris, who inherited not only his mother’s significant psychic abilities, but also her writing talent, is the author of two books, My Psychic Journey and My Life with Sylvia Browne and works alongside her in the Northern California area. He has appeared in a featured article in People magazine, and has also been profiled on TV in Bay City Limits, Northwest Afternoon, and the Montel Williams show. He’s the father of two children, Angelia and William.

First I want to say...I am completely STUNNED how spot on almost everything was/is.

A little background behind Brad....

Brad is a perfectionist by nature. He has always loved Archeology, and used to want to be an Archaeologist. He also loves anything that has to do with Atlantis. He has been working towards starting his own business, and wants to work on buying some properties..both for "rentals" and for us. He totally thinks everything through...ever little step.

There were no questions asked in the beginning, just an exchange of pleasantries and on to the reading. Also, the girls were still asleep when the reading took place, so he couldn't hear them to base any of his "visions" on.

So here were some of the things that Chris saw.....

Both Brad and I will live to be in out 80's. Brad will pass on before me, and I will follow not to long after.

Our children will bury us. (This was important to us...just want to make sure it was the other way around)

Brad is an "Old Soul" and this is his last life.

His prior lives were: A Pioneer, A Roman, An Egyptian, and An Atlantian (this is where his background I gave before fits in) We can now see why he has the interests that he has.

We will have 1 more child and said child will be a BOY, conceived in May 2008. hahaha

Our last 3 children will be the trouble makers. again...hahaha

2008 is OUR year! A lot will be happening for us.

We will be financial in a good place (we have it already worked out that our debt will be gone as of March 2008)

We will be moving in 2008 and locally. (We have been looking for property nearby so we can build our next house.

We will own a vacation home sometime in the next 2 years, as well as have 5 "rental" properties (Again...something we have been looking into as well)

He sees us owning our own Business with a partnership. He said such partnership if we do 50/50, Brad will be doing more than 50% of his share of work. (Brad and a Friend have been in discussions of "said" business for the last 6-8 months and it has already been said that Brad would be more involved than said partner)

He sees the business doing "Contract" work. (Brad does HVAC, and has also looked into doing other "contract" work jobs)

Aprox 10yrs later, we will sell the "business" make quite a profit, and move out of state. (Again...another plan we have had this whole time)

Brad's mom within the next 2 years will live much closer to us. (The plan is for us to find property, get a modular home, live in it while we build our house, and then move his Mom into the modular home)

He said that I will see a significant difference in my weight loss come Feb 2008. (I just jointed a gym 3 weeks ago and have been going 6 days a week)

He said that Brad's mom has been having issues with her lower intestines/upper digestive issues, acid reflux/indigestion, and pressure behind the eyes, to go to the ophthalmologist to get eyes checked for Glaucoma. (she has Diverticulitis, and is going through other testings to find out what's wrong with her stomach, as well as she has had acid reflux pretty bad the last 2 months)

Our marriage is strong and long lasting. (we already knew that) :)

He said that stocks/bond are not a good investment for us. Real Estate is the way we will go. (We recently sold off all our stocks and like mentioned above have been looking into buying rentals.)

His dad...if we continue on our path of looking for him, we will find him in the next 6-7 weeks. That being said...he's a "loner", he's alive, and doing ok. He said that Brad's dad will be no Kind of Grandfather, like Brad is a dad. He told Brad he didn't want Brad to expect much from him as Grandfather material...(we never really wanted him to be a "grandfather" more just for Brad to make piece with the situation.

Oh...this is a pretty funny one....Chris said that both Brad and I are "OVER-Analyzers". (That is such an accurate statement....it's SCARY.)

He said had I waited till Jan of 2008, I would have never felt compelled to even make an appt with Chris.

He also said to Brad before ending his call. "I mean this with the utmost respect to you, and not as a Bad thing. You will never need to call me again. You know where you are going, and what you are doing. You don't need the guidance from anyone else." (I thought that was pretty cool. I guess we are doing ok with ourselves...not that I truly needed anybody to tell me that.)

That's all I can really remember right now, but I will have Brad look it over and see if I missed anything. I hope you enjoyed "his" reading as much as we did. =)

Not a Great Friday for Brad.....

2007-09-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

Wow...Brad had a Craptacular Friday! While talking with co-workers, right before leaving work, his thumb was crushed by the side sliding door on his work van. *YOWZA*

I was at a Birthday/Going away party for a family that is moving back to LA this Tuesday. While I was getting ready to leave, I noticed that I had 4 "missed calls" and 2 "messages" on my phone. I checked the missed calls and saw that Brad had called, so before checking messages, I called him back. He has horrible reception so all I really caught of the conversation was...."thumb", "roller", "X-ray" "nail gone", and then..."Oh, I'll call you back". I of course start freaking out and called Tib. I decided to check my messages and got more of the story....(ok, starting to feel slightly better, but still worried)

Brad finally calls me back (realistically, it was like 5 minutes later, but it seemed like 30), and he gives me some of the details. Apparently while shutting the sliding door with his left hand, he reached for the passenger door with his right hand. While looking at a co-worker, he missed the handle on the passenger door and WHAM...the slider caught his thumb! (Now totally speculating here, but I think I would be screaming every cuss word I could think of at this point.) He started shaking and was scared to look down at his thumb. When he finally did, his findings were NOT pretty.

His thumb nail from the middle of nail bed to tip of finger was flipped up in a 90 degree angle, and the portion of the nail that goes Under the cuticle was sitting on Top of the finger. Basically envision a V and that's what his nail looked like. He said there was lots of bleeding and it was running down to his elbow and dripping off like crazy. That's when he actually looked at the "thumb" portion. The pressure of the slamming of the door cut/blew his thumb open. The best way I can describe it is that he thought he might lose the top 1/2" of this thumb.

So after checking out the "damage", Brad jumped in his friend/co-workers (Dennis) van and off they went to the Hospital. They arrive at the local Kaiser to find that the hospital has apparently MOVED! At this point Brad is starting to freak, and from what I've heard, go into Shock. He tells Dennis to find another hospital NOW! They get to the ER and they give Brad some ice and ask if it's attached still. (I guess several people came into the ER that day with severed fingers/appendages. *UGH* (we keep looking at his injury as the better of the two outcomes). Brad tells them yes, but not by much.

So to make this long story a little shorter, they bring him back, have him wash it (oh, I didn't mention that his hands were covered in dirt/grease/grime from rebuilding a pump, as well as the paint that was used to paint the pump), they X-rayed it, shot it up with stuff to numb it, and then had to clip off the end (tip portion) of the nail. After that they put stitches in to reattach the part that had been severed. They gave him some Vicodin and sent him on his way. He has to go back in 2 weeks to have the stitches removed.

Today we had to change the dressings, and let's just say it was SO YUCKY! Totally something out of a Horror movie or Freak show. Just NOT RIGHT! I have pics that Brad took at the hospital with his cell phone, but don't want to make anybody ill, so here's a B&W of it after we took the dressings off of it today.

**WARNING still pretty NASTY/GRAPHIC**

Wednesday Morning Mom's Group

2007-09-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

A few moms, who all met last year when our "babies" started Kindergarten, started getting together for coffee at Starbucks every Wednesdays morning after dropping the kiddos off. It has since evolved into quite the little playgroup. There are roughly 6-8 of us who get together on Wednesday, and occasionally get together for "Mom's Night Out" as well.

This past Wednesday was my turn to Host our Wednesday Morning Mom's group. So I took a couple of pics of the moms and their precious ones (minus the kiddo's who are at school, our whole reason for meeting.)

Megan on the couch, Paige, Masen, and Lindsey playing on the floor...

This is Natalie (Christie's daycare child) she's a sweetie.
From Left-Right.....Masen, Erika, Nancy, Christie, Jackson, Tara, and Carly...
Sierra and Carly playing....

This is Masen...He's such a handsome little guy.....

another shot of Sierra and Carly...Here's Jackson..another little doll. Most call him "Jack Jack", or even cuter, Lisa's daughter Tiana, calls him "Qwack Qwack" too cute....

Last shot....the girls playing.

Running CRAZY!!!

2007-09-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

I swear yesterday and today were/are just those days where you just can NOT catch up.
I'm running ragged and can't seem to catch up.

This morning I think the girls had two speeds. Crawling along, and Standing still. Maybe they too are feeling the effects of running Crazy, but getting them going was Slow going. Off to school they go, and off I go to Target to do some returns. Get that done and Home is my next destination to Clean my home that has been neglected, to say the least. It is never easy to clean with little Monkey's running around pulling out more than you are putting away. Did I mention that I have our Wednesday Morning Mom's meet here tomorrow. So the cleaning HAS to get done. I had to skip the gym this morning to attempt to get some of these tasks done. Thankfully we don't have ballet or gymnastics, or cheer leading tonight, nor the Chiropractor/Costco run.

I do however have all the other little things circling around in my brain. I'm the Room Parent for Alyssa's class and we have the Booville Carnival (on Oct 20th) coming up. Did I also tell you all that I joined the PTA. YIKES...I have become one of those moms.

I had to have flyers ready to go out for tomorrow and try to collect some donations to put our project together. We are doing a Cemetery Theme which should be really cute. (Pics will be posted) ;) We still have to build the cemetery fence, as well as the archway once the donated items are turned in. Thankfully, we have 2 weeks off of school...this Friday is our LAST day!!! WooHoo! I then have a Going away/Birthday party for some friends moving back to LA right after school at the local Pizza place. And then we have 2 more Birthday parties this Saturday. One for our old neighbors son, and one for Aly's friend Sydney. Which reminds me...I forgot to get Birthday presents for everyone while at Target...UGH. Such is how the day is going.

I know it will all come together, and I just keeping looking at the end result....A clean house, Fun Friends coming over, A GREAT Booville presentation, Celebrations of Birthdays (as well as saying Goodbye)...and my Favorite part of all....Brad is Off Work on Monday for something Special! We are getting a reading from Chris Dufresne (Sylvia Brown's son) But that will be another post for Monday. I can't tell you how EXCITED I am for this. Ok...back to work for me. Hope you are all having a Fun and Eventful week.

Funniest Prank Call....

2007-09-22T11:30:00.001-07:00

This was on a radio show. Give it a few seconds and then it gets into the "prank call". For all of us who can't stand the telemarketer calls....this is for YOU!!!

A VERY SPECIAL BIRTHDAY!!!!!

2007-09-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

Today is a Very SPECIAL Day! Today is Hannah's Birthday!
(TY Virginia for the banner/pic)

I will forever remember her sweet face and what a Special and Sparkly girl she was. Please say an extra Special Prayer for this Beautiful Girl on her Birthday. I also ask that you keep her family in your thoughts and prayers today. I know they miss their "monkey" more than anything. To read more about Hannah, her Adorable sister Lily, and their amazing family, check out Rach D's Blog.

Here is a BEAUTIFUL montage (Thank you Tib) of Hannah!

Teething, Gassy, Spoiled, Catching something?????

2007-09-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

Hook me up!
I have no clue as to what happened last night! I can tell you this much, Sierra was up every 45min-1hr last night and would be up for approx 30 min each time. I'm not sure what was causing this sudden desire to be up and want to play/coo/keep mommy and daddy awake. She would wake up Screaming (literally, like she was in pain) then I would pick her up, and she would calm right down. If I nursed her, she conked right back out, but come on...she doesn't need to eat every 45 min. So I cut that off after the second time she tried to get boobie in under 2 hrs.

I was thinking teething, but like I said, she was fine once I picked her up. I then thought maybe gassy? She did later in the night start burping and farting away, and did actually sleep better after this, but it was in MY bed! And here's where my Spoiled thoughts came into play. I'm not one (personally, but could care less what other do) for kids sleeping in my bed, but I was desperate for some sleep. I went to bed at 11pm, and was up the first time with her at 12am. Poor Brad went to bed at 11pm as well and he gets up at 4am. So he already wasn't getting hardly any sleep, and now to be constantly jerked awake by a scream of pain...I see an early bedtime tonight in our household. Ok..got off track there for a second, must be the sleepiness getting to me. Spoiled....so could this be it? She just wants to sleep with me? I seriously doubt it, but who knows. My only other thought....she's getting sick. I so PRAY that this is not the case, but there is no drainage, cough, fever, nasally sounds....Oh PLEASE don't let this be the reason...I would rather stay up nursing her all night, then have 5 sick kiddos.

I guess it's a good think my mom's group meeting is this morning, cause I don't know if I would trust myself to be lifting weights right now. So the gym will have to wait till later this afternoon/early evening. That will make Aly and Kayla happy...they also like going, but I generally go during school.

To top off this fine morning, it is SO WINDY here today that the clothes I had laid out for them, just won't work for today. Yesterday was 86, today is going to be 73 and WINDY (15-25mph winds) I would say a bit chilly for tank tops and shorts. So off to go dig out some fall like clothing, or at least some t-shirts. =)

Check out these eyes.....

2007-09-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

*Swooning* I finally got some decent shots of her actual eye color....I'm in LOVE!

Went to a Wedding.

2007-09-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

Sierra and I went my cousin Jennifer's wedding. The Bride was of course Gorgeous, and her hubby is just AWESOME! I wish them all the Best that Life has to Offer! The older girls stayed home with Daddy and had fun. (it's hard to take them all to a wedding and expect them to sit patiently for hours on end) ;)

Here are a couple of pics of myself (ugh, I should have chose a more flattering pose) and Sierra. =) (don't mind the mess) lol

My Sweet girl.

Bad quality, but so had to post it....

Me...

Having her first Toast...(there was nothing in the cup)

Drama in Play Land....

2007-09-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

Had a small issue in "Daycare" (or "The Gym" as my girls call it) with Paige. She had apparently pushed a little boy (aprox 1 yr) down, because he was touching Sierra. The teacher even commented..."boy, she sure is protective of her sister" lol They put her on time out, but she sat and screamed, so they came and got me to see if I could calm her down and talk to her. She refused to say Sorry, and after trying 3 times, I followed through with my consequence and told her we were going home. She was very upset about having to leave, but I'm hoping this will make her realize that there are consequences to our actions. Then again...she's 2. None of us were upset over the pushing thing. She got that it wasn't nice, it was the fact that she REFUSED to say sorry to him. Guess I will be working more on that.

To make matters worse......As if being pulled from your class wasn't embarrassing enough, I was standing in the middle of this huge play area (with parents walking in and out) dressed like this (ok..I was wearing a one piece, but you get the idea) trying to talk with Paige. ;) *now THAT is SEXY!!!* lol

Got off my lazy butt and.........

2007-09-12T15:56:00.001-07:00

Joined a Gym!!!

Today was my first day at the Club, as well as the first day for the girls (younger 3) in "child care".
They did AWESOME! They actually weren't ready to go when I got there to pick them up. And here I was worried that they would be missing me and crying for me. Haha..they showed me. :)

Today I did:
30 min on the Elipitcal
30 min on a bike
10 min on arms with free weights and one of the bench press benches in the "womens" room.

Tomorrow I have my first appt with my personal Trainer! Woohoo!!!
Wish me luck. =-)

Where a kid can be a kid.....

2007-09-10T15:25:00.000-07:00

We have been implementing a "sticker" chart to help get the girls back on task for helping out without the fuss and whine. So for every time that they do something that is asked of them without the drama, they get a sticker. We told the girls that if they filled their sticker charts, we would take them to Chuck E Cheese's. Guess where we are headed tonight!

It should be fun and I have left over tokens and GREAT coupons, so not too expensive either.

Now to see if I can get them to continue helping without the fuss/whine without the bribe of a treat at the end....=)

After a few requests for the starter......

2007-09-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

HERE IT IS.... =-)

Sourdough Starter

Combine in a large wide-mouthed crockery or glass jar:

1 package active dry yeast
2 cups lukewarm water: 85*
2 cups all-purpose flour

Stir with a Wooden spoon-never use any metal. Let stand uncovered at 80*-90* for 4 to 7 days, or until it bubbles and emits a good sour odor. During this period, stir down once a day; if a crust develops, stir it down also. Use at once or refrigerate until ready to do so. (this is after the 4-7 days. I also covered mine with a paper towel or cheesecloth to keep bugs out.)

To replenish, discard all but 1 cup of the starter, because any excess, unless reactivated, may become rancid. Add the cupful to:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup lukewarm water

Let stand overnight until fermented and bubbling, then use or refrigerate.

To avoid spoilage, wash the starter crock about once a week with soap and warm water. Rinse well and dry carefully before returning the starter to the crock. You should also replenish (feed/activate) your starter then. See replenish direction above.

At this point, use any Sourdough recipe you like.

I hope you all have fun making bread with your family like we do with ours! Brad tries to bake with the girls at least once a week. =)

A Day in the Life Of........

2007-09-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

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