Happy Birthday Kyle!!!

HAPPY SEVENTH BIRTHDAY KYLE!!

Seven Years ago Today...

I had been on bedrest for 3.5 weeks because one day when I went to vote with my 2 little ones in tow, I realized I had started contracting regularly and I was 31 weeks pregnant. I went home and put my feet up and drank loads of water. The contractions didn't stop. I called the doctor and though they were reluctant to get me in, dismissing it as probably nothing, we had them check just for "peace of mind." Well, it was something as I was dilated to a 2.5. Not a good thing.

So, here I was at 34 weeks and 5 days pregnant. It was a Friday and I remember laying there in bed that morning wondering when my baby would come, but grateful he hadn't come yet! I was giddy with excitement because it was a HE, my first baby boy!!! I had had a steroid shot to help his lungs develop as a precautionary measure should he happen to make an appearance too early.

Well, around 5pm that night regular contractions started in. I got the bloody show, a significant sign of labor. The contractions were difficult already but bearable. My Mother-in-Law had been at our house helping out since I was incapacitated. I called my husband at work and told him what was going on, just to give him a "heads up." I then called my doctor, he said to come in to the hospital.

I was terribly worried about the baby because he appeared to be coming too early and the doctor had previously informed me of potential problems about having the baby come too soon. Of course the doctor seemed all calm, cool and collected when I spoke with him.

My husband came home, we threw our Coming Home bag together and took off for the hospital. This was to be our second baby born (but 3rd child overall) at Mesa Lutheran Hospital in Mesa, AZ.



When we came in they checked me and I was dilated to a 7. So the newborn baby crib and equipment that they had moved out of the room when I first came in, they moved it right back and told me that I would be needing that equipment before anyone else they already had in there.

Dr. Tutt, my doctor, was not the doctor on call that night. So instead I saw Dr. Beck. He is very easy-going and quiet. He is a very good doctor too. I was so worried, but he gave me much reassurance. I got an epideral not because I was in terrible pain because really it was manageable. I got it because I was scared.

Well, an hour and a half after arriving at the hospital, Kyle came out with lots of white vernix on him but he was healthy and let out a wailing scream to prove it!! A miracle occured. Unlike the predictions of the doctors and nurses, he needed no oxygen or any other assistance in breathing and surviving. He did just great on his own. I realized immediately my wonderful blessing. Kyle weighed, around 6 pounds 4 ounces and was 21 inches long. I'm embarassed to admit I don't remember exactly what he weighed but I do have it written down in his baby book.

Kyle has been blessing my life ever since!

Kyle eating his picnic lunch last week.

7 Things I Love about Kyle

1. Kyle has a gentle and conscientious nature about him.

2. Kyle is getting good at fixing things just like his Dad. Just this morning Kyle found a screw and figured out that it came from the weight bench and screwed it back in to fix it.

3. Kyle is a good friend to others. He seems to make friends easily. In fact he is downstairs rough-housing with one of his friends as I type this.

Kyle, Randy (Kyle's friend) and Tyler playing Gameboy's last night.

4. Every single week-day, Kyle comes home from school and immediately sets the timer on the microwave for 30 minutes and Kyle reads. He does this entirely on his own. I know that sounds too far-fetched to be true, but it is true!! I wouldn't say he loves to read, but he knows he has to do it so he does!

5. Kyle is a great conversationalist at times and has many intriguing thoughts and questions.

6. Kyle is patient with his siblings. I don't think it's always easy for him to have 3 sisters. And Kyle will let Tyler sleep with him and grab hold of his head and rub his buzzed hair almost anytime, though it seems like it would be totally annoying!

7. Kyle is intelligent. He is an excellent student and he always amazes his teachers with how well he does on his schoolwork with little instruction.

Kyle showing me where he lost his first tooth! He just lost it 10 days ago!!
Kyle, I love you more than words could ever say! You are a fantastic son!!

Rilynisms

Rilynisms

Something to make me laugh. Rilyn (pronounced Rye'lin), my 4 year old daughter has made some interesting questions and comments, here is a sampling:

Rilyn: Mom, do you think you can help me find a Dad to marry because I don't have a Dad? (Meaning husband instead of Dad, but she didn't know the word husband to say it, I guess.)

Rilyn: Mom, do you think you could help me and my "Dad" find a house to live in too, because we are going to need a house.

Rilyn: Also, we are going to need a van or a car to drive, do you think you could share yours Mom?

Rilyn: Mom, I know why they call coffee, coffee!

Me: Why, Rilyn?

Rilyn: Because it makes you cough a lot!!

Rilyn: When you die, angels come to get you.

Rilyn: When you die, you will be resurrected again someday.

(These last two makes me teary to think about, even though I know it is accurate, I just wonder what it is that made her think about it. She has been saying this over a few weeks/months now. I'm glad she knows that but it kind of freaks me out.)

Melancholy

Melancholy

I'm trying to fight the mood, but I'm having a hard time with it. I don't know if I should be just putting this "out there" or what. I'm not trying to be an alarmist or anything but my Mom has some not so good things going on with her healthwise. It seems like it matches quite well with inflammatory breast cancer. I am just sick.

We lost my Dad 3.5 years ago. He was 66, died of a heart attack. Now my Mom is 66 and I just don't feel like I'm ready to let her go. We do not have a diagnosis, yet. I'm hoping for the best but reality being what it is...well, I just don't want to go there.

Hopefully we will find out more next week, but we keep thinking this week in and week out. I'm really frustrated by that too. I wish she would go to a specialist instead of a "general" surgeon.

I love my Mom to pieces and I just am really hoping for the best!

Favorite Things!

SOME OF MY NEW FAVORITE THINGS!

The first FAVORITE I think I have mentioned once before. It is Pink Lady apples. These apples are sweet, but not too sweet, and crunchy! They are delicious. And I LOVE their great reddish-pink color!! The color is as beautiful as the taste. These apples surpassed my old favorites, Golden Delicious.

This favorite is brand new to me, as of this week! It is X-14 Bathroom Cleaner. It is the foaming kind. I LOVE it! It is safe on many bathroom surfaces and it cleans well quickly without having to let it sit and soak for a bunch of time! And maybe it helps that 14 is my favorite number too? No, just kidding on that it's just a coincidence!!



My next favorite thing is also relatively new. It is a Revlon Blowdryer with 2 different styling brushes that attach. I got it at Target for $29.99 and the thing that makes this so amazing is it blowdries and styles your hair all at the same time! And the curls last all day long and gives my hair body even into the next day!

I was referred to this product by a friend who uses this to "flip" her hair and she has beautiful hair. Oh, and this is what I used to get those curls in my hair that are in my picture on my sidebar.



And finally, this is my new FAVORITE cereal! It is Special K Chocolately Delight! It is yumm-o! Ya gotta try it. It is great because not only does it taste great and have good crunch but it is also healthy too! I can eat this guilt free!

SPT: How I play with others!

SPT
(She Photographs on Tuesday)

This week Lelly's challenge was to show how I played with others. Well, I play with my kids all the time.

As it happens, this week we have had a lot of family time with it being Spring Break and my oldest daughter's birthday. So I did not really get the chance to gather/"play" with my friends/extended family in person.

This is how I got together with my Sister, and my Mom this weekend.

I was able to have some nice chats with both of them.

And I was able to gather/"play" with my friends in this way.



I'm not sure if the internet makes me more social or less social. In one sense it gives me more opportunities for interaction via email and messageboards. And in yet another sense I think it takes away opportunities of gathering with friends in real life because my discretionary time is then used up.

At any rate, it is safe to say I love getting together with friends and family and plan on doing it more than we have. Each month I think we are doing better and better and hopefully we'll keep it up.

Happy Birthday Kayla!!

Happy Birthday Kayla!!

Eleven years ago today I went to the hospital about midnight and was contracting every five minutes. We were poor students at BYU and I had just finished my Student Teaching the week before. But it was Spring and we were so excited to welcome our first child into the world.

I did not realize when I entered Utah Valley Regional Hospital that night what a long and miserable night it would be bringing a beautiful child into my arms.

The maternity floor was full and they did not want to "keep" me unless I really was in labor. So they had me put on a gown, checked my vital signs and dilitation and had me go walk the downstairs halls of the hospital. The contractions were horrific, each one seeming doubly more difficult than the one before.

Every time a contration came I would have to stop walking, grab onto my husbands arm, bend over and whinge in pain. Several people walking past in middle of the night stopped to ask my husband if I was alright. He told them yes, that I was just in labor and I was fine.

After an hour of walking I was dilated to 5. The nurses apparently did not think I would progress so rapidly since it was my first baby because they were surprised to see my progress. So they reluctantly admitted me. They asked if I wanted an epidural, I told them I wanted to wait and see if I could go on my own first.

By about 5 am I was DYING in pain! My husband had to go out and seek out the nurse and tell her I wanted an epidural. Well, I couldn't get one now because the anesthesiologist was in surgery and I would have to wait. Meanwhile I was making knots in my long hair by writhing almost rhythmically from one side of the bed to the other.

Finally about 5:30 I get an epidural and THEN they check me (why they didn't check my dilitation first, I will never know) and I'm dilated to a 9.5. So they call my doctor. He says keep trying to hold her off until he comes in to do his rounds at 6:00.

One sympathetic nurse wants to see me deliver before her shift ends so she wheels me into a delivery room and gets me all hooked up and has me start pushing so I can be "ready" when the doctor comes in. She says on the next contraction she would break my water with her fingernail. Then POP! My water broke on it's own! There was tons of it and it even splashed her in the face. Whoops!

She realizes the baby is face up instead of face down. Maybe that's part of why I was dying, I had back labor for a good six hours. She can see the baby's head. There is a head full of black hair. She then attempts and is successful at turning the baby face down. After one more contraction in walks my doctor and I push and out comes the most beautiful baby girl I had ever seen in my life. It was 6:05 am. She was pink and wailing, perfect!!! I remember thinking I really did have a baby inside of me, I wasn't just imagining it!!

Since that day, my life was changed forever.

11 Things I love about Kayla:

1.) Kayla is smart.

2.) Kayla is fun to be around.

3.) She is a good helper.

Kayla helping Laren dig dirt in the backyard on Saturday.

4.) She is responsible.

5.) She is forgiving.

6.) She has a testimony of her own of Jesus Christ and that He will help her when she needs it. She just bore a beautiful testimony in Sacrament Meeting to this effect, a week ago Sunday. She did it all on her own accord too.

7.) Kayla is a voracious reader. We have to take the book away from her at the dinner table.

8.) Kayla chooses good friends.

9.) She has always done well academically.

10.) She is interested in dressing fashionably.

11.) Kayla is musically gifted both at playing the piano and she has a beautiful singing voice.

I couldn't be more proud to be her Mom!!

Kayla, I love you to the Moon and back!! Love, Mom

Kayla's Bedroom!

Kayla's Bedroom is Decorated!

Though it is not completely finished, here it is!! We still have moulding to put up where the brown meets the pink on three of the walls and we still have closet doors to hang and a couple of other things.

I tried to make the room appropriate for my tween while still taking into consideration my 4 year old who also shares the room with Kayla. And I wanted to retain a "classic" look too without going too trendy.

Hopefully I achieved all of that.

The striped wall is the accent wall.



The curtains that I couldn't quit talking about!! They really were not that much work, it just took awhile to go to enough stores to get all the ribbon that I needed! They are made of a taffeta type material and have a bit of a sheen to them. I love the texture and it is nice that they do not hardly wrinkle!


Another shot of the bedroom.



Another wall, we are still working on this side.


And finally the birthday girl, herself!! Kayla will officially be 11 tomorrow as of 6:05 AM.

Oh, and just for fun. Below is what the curtains look like when they are down.