22 Weeks!

I am 22 weeks pregnant today!  14 more to go till we reach our goal!

And since I was up to take a shower I had Brigetta take a quick profile picture.

Spring Break

Andy's sisters are so great to us!  Mindy had offered to take the girls for the week so that they could enjoy their spring break.  Andy dropped them off at her house on Sunday night.  They were at her house till Tuesday and then they headed to Eastern Idaho.  Ashley and Katie were dropped off at Aunt Sarah's house and Mindy picked up some of Sarah's kids and headed to Dana's house.  They spent one night at Dana's house and then back to Sarah's house for one more night before the drive back home.  Sarah ended up calling Andy and asked if the girls could stay longer!  They stayed till today and Andy is on his way to meet her halfway.  Andy's sisters are so much better at taking pictures than I am.  I was sent many picture texts to show me what they were up to.  So here is a glimpse into their week and how much fun they had.

 Riding around on scooters at the skate park

 Halle, Katie, Shelby, and Ashley

 Sleepover at Sarah's house

Poor Josh is the only boy in that house!

 Back row: Katie, Kelsie, Halle, Shelby, Ashley

Front row: Sammy, Jessie, Avery

 Ashley, Shelby, and Katie

 Kelsie and Sammy

 Halle kissing Kelsie.  So cute!

 The moms get to have some fun, too.  Totally missing the crafts, but so glad they were able to have some bonding time.  Good job on the cute decorations.

Mindy, Dana, Sarah

They went to a roller dome and by the looks of it they had a blast!  Sarah said they were quick learners and were going around without help pretty soon after they started.

Shelby and Sammy

 Avery and Ashley

 Avery, Josh, Sammy, Jessie, and Katie

 Jessie and Katie

Even falling down they look happy!

They also attended a baptism for a cousin to the Smith clan.  I love the look on Sammy's face!

On the couch: Katie, Ashley, Quinn, (2 Smith cousins), Sammy, Jessie, and another cousin

On the floor: Shelby and Halle

 This must have been taken after the baptism.  They look so happy!

Katie and Ashley

And of course we have to post a few pictures to what I was up to...

Not a whole lot happens around here while being on bed rest.  However, these are two of the girls I hung out with a lot this week.  Lyla and Mikayla usually come with Brigetta when she brings me lunch and then they stay and play.  That day Mikayla had to keep a secret that we bought Frozen.  It's for Easter but I decided to break it out while the girls were gone.  They will soon find out we do actually have it.  We enjoyed watching the movie and eating our lunch in bed... the crumbs left behind were not so fun.  And one day in the week Lyla fell asleep next to me and stayed there in my arm for about 3 hours.  It was nice to snuggle with her.  :)
I thought it was so cute that in this picture both girls are touching my belly.  I sent this to Andy and said, "This baby is already loved so much!" His response was, "Cute and it better be."

My reward for Saturday and making it through another week was manicures!

My mom came over with her awesome wax and warmer and we pampered ourselves.  

Here is Brigetta showing off the warming gloves with her wax covered hands.

 And here is my finished look for my manicure.  It's a little harder doing a French manicure at a reclined angle.  Thanks for coming and getting pampered with me!

A good day of pampering ended with a shot in the bum!  Oh how I hate those shots, but so glad it's only once a week and not more often.  3 down, 14 to go... I hope!

21 Weeks!

I am 21 weeks today and we're so glad we have made it another week!  Our goal is to make it at least another 15 weeks and my friend commented to me yesterday that this is just a different kind of marathon training.  It's kind of crazy to think it took us the same amount of weeks to finish our training.

I had a follow up on Friday with Dr. Blea.  (He is the specialist that did my surgery.)  He said the stitches are holding up and everything looked good.  He said I should continue the advice of Dr. Hodges as far as bed rest goes since he is my physician.  So I am still down and trying to find things to do to keep my mind busy.

Friends have brought books, magazines, movies... and sweets galore!  People, we want this baby to come out chubby... not the mama!  My mom also made a countdown calendar with a little surprise something everyday so I have at least one thing to check off.  Wednesdays we do a game night, Fridays we do a movie night, and Saturdays are our "Hooray we made it through the week" reward nights.  The other days have something like a quote and then "read two chapters from a novel."  Every day is covered up so I don't know what game we are supposed to play or what movie to watch.  This last Saturday our reward was to buy a new outfit for the baby.  So I did a ton of online shopping trying to find the "bring home" outfit.  I finally decided on the one I wanted and sent Andy to go buy it since I was too cheap to pay for shipping.  When he brought it home I kept looking at it thinking it was too big.  My girls never fit into any newborn outfits so I was thinking a 0-3 month outfit would be fine.  However, I forgot that this one most likely will not make it full term.  So I have another one on hold and Andy better do his duty and pick it up after work.  :)

My friend, Sarah, also brought over a huge bag of stuff.  She looked on Pinterest what to get women on bed rest.  I thought it was awesome!!!  Now I have many things by my bed that I never realized I would need before now... tissues, lotion, lip balm, nail polish, air freshener, a book of crossword puzzles, a book of sudoku puzzles, and the one that made me laugh... animal cookies!  Two weeks ago I was at her house and her daughter was sharing her animal cookies with me.  I had mentioned something along the lines of, "I know this is silly, but I love animal cookies."

And the last bit of update... I had to have my first shot at home!  I can't remember if I had mentioned this before, but I also have to have a progesterone shot every Friday.  It has to be administered in my bum so someone else has to give it to me.  And as much as I love Andy there is no way he is coming near me with a needle!  My friend, Molli, happens to be a labor and delivery nurse and lives less than a mile away.  (She gives these shots all the time.)  And she agreed to get friendly with me for these 16 weeks.  Andy picked up the medication and supplies and brought them home to me.  I did a dumb thing and opened the bag!  It was all over after that.  I hate needles with a passion!!!  I literally screamed when I saw the giant needles!  When Molli came over I handed her the bag and told her I didn't want to see anything.  She was kind of laughing and told me the needles I saw were the filter needles and I should look at the actual one going in my bum.  She didn't believe me that I was so nervous my hands were sweating... So I wiped her arm and then she finally turned away to finish doing whatever she needed and I told her not to tell me anything... "Just do it!"  When she was finished I told her she could put everything back in the bag and then put it in the drawer where I don't have to see it.  She was still chuckling to herself when she left.  One down, fifteen more to go! (I sure hope)

Goals for today: "Keep pregnant" and read 2 more chapters from The Help.

We're Home!

We were able to come home yesterday afternoon!  The nurses came in and said that everything looked good enough that the doctors were going to let me go home.  So Andy packed as fast as he could and we were out of there and home by about 1:30. 

It was nice and peaceful when we arrived and settled ourselves back in.  Brigetta and my mom showed up after school to help with the girls and things around the house.  I am so grateful they are here to help beyond words.  It's going to be a difficult adjustment and I spoke to a friend of mine who was on bed rest in the hospital for 8 weeks with one of her kids.  Some of the advice she gave was, "Remember you can still do everything you want, it just needs to be delegated" and "you can lead your troops from behind, just not on the front line."  She also said to remind Andy if he thinks I can do more, "I can either do the bed rest at home... or in the hospital."

Right now I'm trying to catch up on bills that need to be paid (thank goodness for online banking) and finding other things to do in bed.  As always I am up for visitors anytime.  I'm not going anywhere.

Keep Pregnant

I am exactly 20 weeks today and our goal to "keep pregnant" is still being achieved.  Dr. Hodges came in on Saturday when we were expecting him to do the surgery and said, "I don't feel comfortable doing a cerclage on you at this point.  Your cervix is really thin and starting to cone already.  I would like a specialist take a look and decide."  So we waited some more. I was told to go ahead and eat since they didn't know when the specialist would be in to see me and I had already waited 12 hours.  Andy had literally put my sandwich on my hip when Dr. Hodges walked in and said, "Don't eat! Dr. Blea is here and he decides to do the surgery you may go right away." We waited some more and then the nurse came in and said, "Go ahead and eat.  If they do the surgery it will be tomorrow."  I asked Andy to pop my sandwich in the microwave for a second and again he had just handed the sandwich to me when the nurse came in and told me they were ready for me to do an ultrasound.  I wanted to cry at that point... again... because I was so hungry.  The nurse just said, "Take the sandwich with you. We have yo-yoed you around long enough."  After Dr. Blea did the ultrasound and took a really good look at my cervix he decided to go forward with the surgery but that it really all depended upon how things looked once he got in there.  It was scheduled for 8:00 Sunday morning.

 We went in for surgery and there were comments about my pedicure and I laughed because my friend, Becky, and I went to get mani-pedis done on Thursday so that she was all pretty to deliver her baby... I ended up being the one to go to labor and delivery before her.  They started the drugs in my IV and I quickly fell asleep.  Andy was told the surgery went well and they were done within 15 minutes.  I was put back on complete bed rest and told I would maybe go home on Tuesday.

I was having some respiratory problems yesterday but that seems to be checking out okay now.  I was on oxygen all day yesterday, but I'm off and breathing fine on my own.  I still have the compression boots on my legs, an IV (no fluids) in my wrist, and a monitor on my belly to make sure I'm not having contractions.  My new nurse walked into my room and I said, "Jody!!!" She was my nurse when I was pregnant with Katie and I was always fond of her.  It was nice to see a familiar face in what Andy is starting to call jail.  Our view is pretty pathetic... bricks everywhere!

The doctor just came in and told us we get to go home today!!!  We are so glad, but we know it's going to be a long haul.  I will be on bed rest for the time being and possibly the rest of my pregnancy.  My doctor wants me on strict bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy and only get up to go to the bathroom.  "Sloth!  That's what you're going to be."  My mom and Brigetta are helping out a ton!  And the RS will step in with meals and checking on me during the day.  I will have a follow up with the specialist in about a week and then I'll be turned back over to my regular OB doctor and I'm sure we'll reevaluate often.  I've only been on bed rest for a few days but the boredom is going to be a trial.  I am definitely not a home body.  I like to get out everyday and this is going to be difficult.  So, if you are ever bored yourself come see me or call me because I will be available. :)

Also, Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!  Hope you're wearing green... if not, I can't chase you down and pinch you anyway.  I'm glad my hospital gown has green pin stripes on it otherwise Andy might pinch me to have a little bit of fun in this "jail".

Happy Anniversary... and the hopital

I just had to write a quick update on our neck of the woods.  It's mine and Andy's 11th anniversary today!  Our plan was to have our big ultrasound yesterday at three and find out the gender.  Afterward we were going to celebrate news and anniversary with some shopping and eating at Tucanos.  Then have a night to ourselves at home.  I made arrangements with my sister to pick up the girls after school and then keep them till ten Saturday morning.  Well... our plans changed dramatically.

We went in for our ultrasound and right off the tech measured my cervix and said, "When you're done here we'll have you go see the on call doctor."  I said, "I have an appointment with my doctor on Monday.  Do you want me to just wait till then?"  She replied, "No.  We'll have you go see the doctor right after this."  I asked what could be the outcome and so forth and then she said it depended on the doctor but that I may be on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy but it really depended upon the doctor.  We finished what we could with the ultrasound... I say that because the baby was moving so much the tech couldn't quite get all the measurements needed.  Yes, we found out the gender but we are keeping that between Andy and I for now.

The tech walked me straight back to Dr. Lowder and Andy headed back to work and asked me to call him when I was done.  Dr. Lowder explained that my cervix is really thin and already starting to cone.  This causes preterm labor and could have been the cause of our miscarriage at 16 weeks two years ago.  He sent me straight to the hospital!  So I called Andy twice without an answer.  I texted 911 and then he finally called me back.  I told him I was being admitted to the hospital and when he asked why I started to cry and said to just meet me and I would explain everything.

 I've been on bed rest since and today they will do what is called a cerclage.  Basically they sew my cervix shut and until they do I can't lay flat on my back, sit up, or walk other than to go to the bathroom.  The cerclage will be removed about 36 weeks and Dr. Lowder said that usually patients deliver within a week or two of it being removed.  Right now we are just waiting to know when the surgery will be done, but it's all nerve racking.  We'll know more after the surgery, but the good news is they caught it and the baby is still looking good.  Dr. Lowder said, "I'm so glad they caught it... I'm so glad they caught it.  If it had been another week things could have been really bad."  At his office he had explained the risk of a cerclage, but that if I didn't do it I would most likely lose this baby, too.  He also said that most of the time a cerclage is done about 12 weeks.  I'm 8 weeks past that already! 

We see tender mercies from the Lord as we talk about everything.  I was so sick up till a few weeks ago and because of that I spent so much of my first trimester in bed.  That took pressure off my cervix.  I also stopped watching Owen much sooner than I imagined because of our little scare at week 8 and that allowed me to rest.  If I had been watching him still it would have been hard to lay down so much and I would have been picking up a very big boy.  And of course this is the one that I am most grateful for, but scheduling our ultrasound was also a tender mercy.  If I had scheduled a visit with my doctor and the ultrasound back to back it would have been pushed out another week.  We decided we didn't want to wait to find out the gender so we scheduled our ultrasound for yesterday and a doctor visit for Monday.  I am so glad we were impatient.

Andy and I have been laughing through tears that our insurance plan renews on April 1st... Which means we will pay our deductible and max out of pocket twice this year.  Instead of a quiet evening at home we get to stay in the most expensive hotel in Boise... the hospital!  Don't misunderstand... we are so glad they caught everything and we don't really care about the bills at this point.  We are just so thankful our little baby is safe and they are trying to fix what is wrong with my body.  We are also thankful that I had made previous plans to have my sister take the girls and that they are taken care of as well. 

I'll try and update later, but for now keep baby in your prayers that it stays put for the next 16 to 20 weeks.  And last little note, because I thought this was kind of cute.  My board with all my nurse and room information says "Today's Goals/Plans/Progress: Keep Pregnant".

Thanks for reading.

Last update... and a miracle!

I mentioned in my previous post that I've been a slacker.  Let me explain...

If you remember (or if you actually read it) my really, really long post to catch up over the year I talked a lot about fertility issues.  We had gone to see a specialist in November and found out that my right fallopian tube is completely blocked.  We also learned through genetic testing that Andy is a carrier for the Cystic Fibrosis gene.  After spending a lot of money and finding out those things the doctor recommended we go through IUI treatments.  We ultimately decided we were going to wait till after the holidays.  While down in Utah for Thanksgiving I also mentioned that I wasn't feeling great.  I felt just kind of "icky" the whole week.  I wasn't throwing up or even to say I was sick... I just didn't feel my best.  I also had some other symptoms that normally I would have thought, "Could I be pregnant?"  But I knew that wasn't even a possibility.  I thought for sure I had been ovulating on my right side during my recent cycle (blocked side) and I was in Vegas for most of my "ovulating days".  So I kept telling myself there is no way I'm pregnant.  Well, I was supposed to have a visit from my little friend on Thanksgiving and it never happened.  I was frustrated when we came home and I still didn't get a visit.  By Sunday morning I thought, "I'll take a pregnancy test and it'll be negative.  And then I'll start later today... because that is how it always happens!"

This is what I saw just barely after washing my hands!  There was no question!

I flew open the bathroom door and said, "Andy!" He was a little taken back and said, "What?" I said, "I'm pregnant!"  Andy was then surprised and said, "Are you sure? Let me see... That's awesome!"  He gave me a high five and then said, "That just saved us $3,000!"  I laughed that he first gave me a high five but then followed it with a comment about the cost.  I'll take it, though.  When I told him I was pregnant with each of the girls his response every time was, "Oh, crap!"

Although we were very surprised and happy to see the positive test we were still cautious because of my history.  I called the fertility office and my doctor's office the very next morning.  I didn't know who I was supposed to see at that point.  The specialist had me go in Tuesday morning and get my blood drawn and get my Beta levels checked.  I had the results sent to my doctor's office as well and waited a few hours for the results.  Since I was barely 5 weeks I was thinking the numbers would be in the 200 range or so.  (Anything above a 5 is positive for pregnancy) I had two different nurses call me back.  They both said, "You're definitely pregnant.  Your levels were at 2,906."  I was kind of quiet on the phone for a second and then said, "What?"  I wasn't sure if I heard the number correct.  I heard correctly and then they wanted me to go in on Thursday to make sure my levels were going up.  Those results were 5,686!  They were definitely going up as they should.  They immediately started me on a low dose of Aspirin (blood thinner) and a Progesterone suppository that I had to do every night.  Next they scheduled me to have an ultrasound at my 6 week mark.  We could see the heart beating, but it was too small to measure how many beats per minute.  So they scheduled me to come in the following week.  At that ultrasound the heart rate was measuring at 146!  The normal range is between 120 and 160.  When we did meet with my doctor for the first time he came in with a huge smile on his face and said, "Oh, I was so excited when I saw your name on the schedule!  I was almost jumping up and down because I was so excited!  Congratulations!!!"  We were glad to see things were going as they should, but still cautious.

(Funny and very smart Katie... along with telling the girls)

Katie came RUNNING down the stairs yelling, "Mom! You're pregnant!!!  You're pregnant!!!"  I was a little surprised and trying not to smile I said, "What makes you say that?"  She said, "Because, I saw that thing in your bathroom.  It has two lines.  Two lines means you're pregnant!  Ashley come see!!!"  I didn't say anything to deny or confirm it other than, "I didn't say I was pregnant." and hoped she wouldn't say anything else. Andy and I decided we were going to wait to tell the girls till we were further along that Katie was right.  We went to get our Christmas tree and on the way home we were listening to the radio.  They were having listeners call in and tell things they did growing up they always thought was normal until they reached adulthood and realized it wasn't.  A girl named Samantha had said something along the lines of they used to go to the bathroom with the door opened.  I laughed and said, "Samantha, was that you?"  Andy said, "She's not the only one that leaves the door open.  And if mommy's baby is a boy that better stop!"  I shot Andy a look and said, "I thought we weren't going to say anything yet?"  He smiled and shrugged.  Katie smiled and with a sly look on her face she said, "I knew I was right.  I knew you were pregnant."  The girls were very excited and wanted to tell everyone.  We told them it needed to be a secret and they couldn't even say, "I have a secret, but my mommy said I can't tell you" because that gives it away.

(This part it a little gross... sorry.)

It's normal to have a discharge with the suppository and although it was annoying I didn't worry.  That is until the color changed.  It freaked me out when it turned a dark red color.  It was the day after Christmas and I had just woken up.  I immediately called the nurse and she said, "The only thing we have available is in 45 minutes.  Can you make it?  If not you can wait till tomorrow and see Dr. Hodges.  He is not in today." Of course I wanted to go in and know either way.  I hate the waiting game!  Sammy had just left with my mom and I couldn't leave Ashley and Katie home.  I called around frantically trying to find someone to take them without any notice.  After about the 6th phone call I dropped them off at my friend, Angela's, house.  I called her on the way to apologize for literally dropping my kids and running.  (I didn't even shower.  I threw my hair back in a pony tail as I was brushing my teeth.)  I eventually broke down and cried to Angela because I was nervous about the results.  My mom by then had dropped Sammy off at the house and realized my car was gone so she took her back to her house.  (This is when I didn't have a choice in her going to my mom's house and she ended up getting sick.)  Andy met me at the doctor's office and were relieved when we did the ultrasound and the lady said the baby had a strong heartbeat.  She also said, "Everything I can see here looks really good.  So hopefully the bloody discharge has to do with the cervix and not the uterus.  That's something you'll have to ask the doctor.  But as far as I can see everything looks really good."  I told Andy, "Sorry for being a nervous ninny.  And I know I should have a sigh of relief, but I just can't do that yet."  Andy had an amazing response of, "You're not crazy.  You did the right thing to check and make sure.  And I don't think you will have that sigh of relief till the baby is in your arms."  I was glad he was there.  I picked up the girls, went home, and finally got a shower just before Dallin and Brindy showed up for the week.  Needless to say it was a stressful day.

After our little scare I decided I really needed to take it easy and focus on taking care of myself and this little one growing inside me.  I stopped watching Owen mostly because he is such a big baby and I was scared to death to pick him up.  I know that seems silly, but the kid was 20 pounds by the time he was 6 months old!  And I swear the boy gets bigger every time I see him.  Most of my days were spent vegging out at home and trying to get enough nutrients in my body.  Later on I started to shake a ton!  I tried eating more, but nothing seemed to help.  Dr. Hodges told me that I probably have a bit of a hyperthyroid problem.  After talking with my sister-in-law and hearing her experience with it I felt like that was probably what it was.  Dr. Hodges pleads with me to get more protein in my body... but that is the thing I can't stand the most!!!  It all makes me nauseated!  Meat, cheese, yogurt... it's all gross.  And the worst part is Andy decided to start the Atkins diet which is a ton of meat!!!  He makes eggs every morning for breakfast and I want to punch him every time!  To me it smells like vomit, it lingers in my house all day, and then it happens all over again in the morning.  So disgusting!!!

It was hard to keep it hidden since I started showing pretty quick.  Friends and neighbors wondered what was going on because I was starting to get chubby in my midsection and not doing much.  I even had one friend trying to get it out of me and she said, "So do you still run in the winter?"  I knew what she was getting at by the look on her face.  I responded with, "Normally I run through the winter, but I haven't run since Thanksgiving."  She then smiled and said, "Why???"  I told her it was okay to ask me and she said she had suspected for a few weeks but didn't want to say anything and be wrong.  Some people in our ward are just finding out and I want to smack them and say, "Did you honestly think I just got really fat all of a sudden!?"  And then I'm glad to hear my cousin say, "Corey came home one day and said Alanya looks pregnant."  I know I wasn't in the best shape of my life before we got pregnant, but come on!  I am very round and obviously not just overweight.  Not only that I am super emotional.  I cry at the dumbest things.  One day during activity days my friend Melissa was our guest speaker and asked if I would stand with her and the YW she brought and recite the theme.  I agreed and when we started I couldn't stop the tears.  I've said that theme a million times!  Melissa kind of laughed and said, "It's fine. She's pregnant."  All the girls looked at me in surprise!  Whoops!  Melissa didn't know we weren't exactly telling people at that point.

The girls were so excited when we told them on Valentine's day that they could finally tell their teachers.  The teachers were all surprised when they found out the girls had been keeping it a secret for nearly 3 months.  They still whisper, "Do they know?" when someone is around.  I always respond with, "Honey, it's obvious now and I think everyone knows."

We go in nearly every week to make sure things are going well.  We've only had three visits where they didn't do an ultrasound... So my fridge is covered in pictures of the baby.  My friend, Brenda, brought me a present 2 weeks ago and said, "I saw this and thought Ally needs this."  It was a frame to hold your ultrasound picture with a caption underneath that says, "Coming soon".  We were having another ultrasound the next week so we decided to wait and get a better profile picture.

When we opened the frame we realized there were several captions you could put in it not just coming soon.  The girls and I chose "bun in the oven" as you can see.  Ashley asked what that meant and Sammy responded, "It means Mommy has a baby in her tummy."  Ashley said, "I know that, but what does it mean?"  I replied, "It means Daddy's been doing some baking and he put a bun in my oven."  Ashley then said, "Daddy's a good cook!"  I laughed so hard!!!  Our little bun is growing and it's heart rate fluctuates from time to time.  It's gone from 146 all the way up to 176 and back down to 144.  We've been told not to worry at all and that is completely normal.  As long as it stays in the 120-160 range (well, as long as it stays above 120) there is nothing to worry about.  We did ask at the last ultrasound to take a peek and see if we could see the gender.  The baby had it's ankles crossed and it's legs tucked way up under it's bum.  It was moving a ton during the ultrasound, but kept it's ankles crossed.  We have another ultrasound 2 weeks from Friday and hopefully the baby won't be so modest... that's the only time in it's life I will say that!  Any guesses as to what the baby is?  Boy?  Girl?  Definitely not both!  I've heard that more than once... mostly by Katie.  She wants there to be two.  I keep telling her there is only one.  And then she'll say, "But one could be hiding behind the other one."  I tell her that can happen, but we've had so many ultrasounds they would have seen that by now.  Only one!

Here are my growing baby bump pictures:

12 weeks

(end of the day... I always seem to be bigger at night when I relax a bit more)

 14 weeks

 17 weeks

This one was taken Monday in the late afternoon

Also, if you have any suggestions for names I would like to hear ideas.  We are super picky and have a couple rules.  It needs to be a name (or something that can be shortened for a nickname) that ends with a long E sound.  Andy, Ally, Sammy, Ashley, Katie... we want to stick with it.  We don't want any family names and boy does that make it hard!  We don't like duplicates.  (Sorry if I'm offending anyone who likes to do family names.  It's not our thing.)  And last, if it's a boy we can't have any J names.  He would have the middle name Edward... here is where you are going to think I've fallen off my rocker!  It is Andy's middle name and his dad's middle name.  This is our only exception to a family name.  Andy is the first born son and he would like our first born son to carry the tradition.  You might be thinking what's wrong with a J name?  When we were pregnant with Sammy and didn't know she was a girl we had a boy name picked out, too.  If she was a boy her name was going to be Jacob Edward---way before Twilight ladies!!!  We thought it was a good, strong name and then my little brother ruined it... before Twilight ruined it for good.  He said, "You are such a jerk.  Why would you do that to your kid?"  I was confused thinking it was a great name.  He said, "Did you ever think about his initials?  They would be J.E.W.!  He would get teased all the time."  Thanks a lot!  So now all boy J names are out which totally bites because there are a bunch to choose from that go along with our theme... Jamie, Jeremy, Jeffery, and the list goes on.  I am open for suggestions because everything I've taken to Andy he immediately shoots down.  I have 2 baby name books and I'm still at a loss.  Sammy was the only one who had a name before she was actually born.  Poor Ashley was 3 days old when we finally agreed on her name.  And Katie popped up as a contender during labor, but wasn't named till she was a day or two old.  I'm open to suggestions.

I love the things Katie says...

Katie said the family prayer tonight and I had to share a few of the things she talked about.  She started her prayer with the things she was thankful for, "Thank you for... my mom and dad, my sisters, my cousins, my Uncle Brinton... Thank you for rainbows and birds..." Then she continued with, "Please help us not get to 30 minutes tomorrow at bedtime..."  I was tired of telling the girls to hurry or get done and so I told them, "Every time I have to tell you, you get to go to bed 10 minutes early tomorrow."  So far Katie is still on track for normal bedtime, but Ashley and Sammy are going to bed 20 minutes early.  I thought the prayer was pretty cute, and it was hard to keep a straight face.

December 2012 and 2013

I realized as I was looking over my catch up post I didn't mention anything about Sammy's 9th birthday or much of Christmas.  I'll cover those first before moving onto December 2013.

On her actual birthday we went to Jalapenos for dinner.  It's our girls' favorite place to eat for their birthday because...

 Not only is it fun, but...

 They bring a sombrero and sing happy birthday in Spanish to you!

 That year Sammy wanted an Elf movie themed birthday and it was a blast!  We had the four basic food groups: candy, candy cane, candy corn, and syrup.

 We played a version of the game Chubby Bunny.  Instead of saying "chubby bunny" they had to say "I'm a cotton headed ninny muggins."

 Here is one of the worst cakes I've ever made!  We were trying to get across the story Buddy tells in the movie of him traveling from the North Pole to New York.  It failed miserably!  Everyone thought the thing on top of the cake was a whale of some sort... it's an elf shoe.  Oh well, it tasted good.

 Mini snowballs (Son of a Nutcracker!)

 World's best cup of hot cocoa... not coffee.

 This was a funny game.  They had to smell the different pieces of gum and try and figure out the flavor.  They thought that was hilarious!  "When you see gum on the street---leave it there.  It's not free candy" Santa

 Around the house I had different quotes said by Buddy.

"Oh, I forgot to give you a hug!"

 "I just like to smile.  Smiling's my favorite."

"Buddy the elf, what's your favorite color?"

 This one we left on the bathroom door.  All the girls laughed at that one!

 Of course we had to get a picture of Andy in there.

 We decorated to make it look like the apartment with paper chains and snowflakes.

 It was awesome!

 Some of the girls playing the previously mentioned game.

Sammy, Sophia, Courtney, Kiersten, and Ashana in the back.

 They all had a great time!  Happy 9th birthday, Sammy!

After the party we went to Grandma's house for her annual Christmas slumber party.  We actually had already done one, but since Ben and Kim were in town with their kids we had another one.

A bunch of the kids piled on Grandma!

The kids from the first slumber party in their new Christmas pajamas.

Porter, Katie, Ashley, Mikayla, and Sammy

Christmas 2012

I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again... I am terrible about taking pictures.  These are the only pictures I have of Christmas that year.

 Grandpa, Sammy, Katie, and Ashley

 Under our tree looks a little bare because we decided to do something different that year.  We got the girls one gift they really, really wanted and then just a few other small gifts.  Sammy and Ashley both wanted Ipods that you can watch movies on as well as listen to music.  We found some on Craigslist for killer deals!  We bought both (16 GB in fantastic condition) for $140.  And all Katie wanted for about a year and a half was a new kitchen.  We found that one at Costco down in Utah for another killer deal!  When I looked online for wooden kitchens I would've paid at least $200.  We got that one for $100!!!  We hauled it all the way home and put it together Christmas Eve.  It took my mom and I about 5 and a half hours!!!  It was totally worth it to see how happy she was.

 Funny story about her kitchen.  (Sorry if this is redundant.)  Like I said it was the only thing she asked for and ended up being very protective of it.  New Years Eve Corey and Hollie came over with their boys.  Caden and Jacob wanted to play with it... of course... it was in the living room where all the action was going on.  Caden lost interest and Jacob thought it was funny to get a rise out of Katie.  She would spread eagle in front of it and yell, "No! You can't play with it!  It's my kitchen!"  So we got Jacob distracted doing something upstairs and Katie was watching a movie in the other living room.  Andy yelled, "Katie!  Hurry!  Jacob is getting your kitchen!"  Katie jumped off the couch and ran as fast as her legs would carry her to protect her kitchen.  It was kind of funny!

 Katie also got her first pair of dangle earrings.  Yep! I'm kind of lame to take so few pictures.

Now onto December 2013

Here are pictures from my mom's annual Christmas slumber party.  Merridy and her family moved in with my mom in September and so they were there to celebrate with us.  Usually it's just Brigetta's family along with ours since it's hard for others to travel between the holidays.

 Normally we decorate gingerbread (Graham cracker) trains or houses.  This year we did caterpillar brownie bites.  The kids had a ton of fun with them and it was a lot less messy.

Porter, Mikayla, and Brigetta... I'm not sure where Lyla was at the time and Brandon had to work.

 Back row: Bryson, Merridy, Tiffany, and Brittany

Front row: Alexandrea, Conner, Tanner, and Jessica (I think Chuck was out of town)

 Me, Andy, Katie, Ashley, and Sammy

 Mom, Ashana, and Tanis

 Our finished caterpillar

 The girls opening their Christmas jammies

 And showing them off!  Katie's shirt made me laugh.  It says, "My mom thinks this girl is awesome" with an arrow pointing up to her face.

 We played a new game where we had to stretch out a blanket and blow a ping pong ball around and try not to let it fall off by you.  We also played our usual hide and seek, the blanket game, and Just Dance on the Wii.  After the kids settled down with a movie the adults and the older kids played Heads Up, Catch Phrase, Rook, and some other games I can't remember.  We had a blast!

This was at our ward Christmas party.  Sammy seemed a little uncomfortable sitting on Santa's lap.  Maybe she's starting to outgrow this stage in life.

 Katie was all too excited!

 I had to insert this letter Katie wrote.  All she wanted for Christmas was a magic wand.  I kept telling her they don't exist.  I happened to find a toy wand at Walmart that had right on the box "Magic Wand"!  Of course we had to get it for her.  And she was thrilled on Christmas morning!

 Ashley was pretty excited, too, to sit on Santa's lap.

 And of course we can't leave out Gracie.  She came along to the party.

 Yep, folks!  This is all I have from Christmas... and I didn't even take the picture.  This year we were severely slacking... you'll soon see why.

 My brother and his family had us for Christmas this year and they decided to take our family photo we just had taken and enlarge it.  Ben made the frame and Kim added a quote from the scriptures that reads, "All things are possible if you believe. Mark 9:23"  I was crying when I opened it out of gratitude.  I couldn't believe how thoughtful they were.  And it looks beautiful above our mantel!

 Sammy's birthday was super low key especially compared to the year before.  She decided she wanted to go to Barnes and Noble instead of having a party.  I thought, "Wahoo!"  Since the girls were getting out of school early that day the plan was to go and deliver some of our neighbor Christmas gifts and then meet Andy at his sister, Mindy's, house.  She was going to take Ashley and Katie so we could take just Sammy and make it somewhat special.  Just before we were heading out the door Andy called and said he was feeling sick and coming home.  I thought I would still take the girls and deliver some neighbor gifts and then figure out what to do once Andy got home.  I went to the first house (Callahan's) and realized her next door neighbor (Robertson's) whom I was also going to go see was about to leave.  I went to her house first before I missed her and then decided to put my car in reverse to go to Callahan's.  Well... it was not the best idea.  I was looking over my right shoulder making sure I didn't hit any cars when I heard a crunch!  I knew immediately that I had hit they're mailbox.  It completely took off my left mirror.  This was my ghetto tape job, but it held the whole time it was broken.  When people asked what happened I told them I got into a fight with a mailbox and the mailbox won!  It barely---BARELY---slanted to one side.  So much so that the Callahan's didn't even notice.  I confessed for nothing!

The girls and I left Andy home and headed to Boise.  Sammy knew exactly what she wanted and walked out of there within 15 minutes.  By the time we were finished at Mindy's house snow was coming down pretty hard.  It was probably the worst snow storm I've ever driven in.  That's not to say it's the worst I've seen, but the worst I drove in.  My knuckles were white by the time I got home and I was scared we weren't going to make it that far.  My wipers had completely iced over and it was just smearing the snow.  I felt terrible because I couldn't even celebrate Sammy's birthday dinner out because of the snow.  So we crept home and tried to celebrate a little more the next day.  Sammy didn't want a cake or anything fancy.  She wanted Subway for dinner and brownies.  She went REALLY low key for her 10th.  Happy Birthday, Sammy!!!

To continue with the mirror... I called around to see how much it would cost to get it fixed and I about died!  $500!!!  I did a little searching on the Internet and happened to find a youtube video of a guy changing the driver side mirror on a 2002 Honda CRV!  It looked easy enough I felt I could repair the mirror myself.  Then Andy did a little searching on eBay and found a green mirror that matched my car.  We saved ourselves $450 by doing it ourselves... well, really Andy did all the hard work.  Thanks, Andy!!!

For Christmas we had my mom, Dale, Tanis, and Ashana come celebrate with us.  They spent the night Christmas eve and stayed through Christmas.  The girls were up by about 6:00 am to open presents. (Yep, I'm lame...no pictures at all!)  We were able to talk to Brinton in Bolivia for about 45 minutes and then the rest of the day we ate leftovers and played games.  Brigetta and Brandon joined us later on and then the next day Dallin, Brindy, and Dasttan came to stay the week.

On the 27th the girls were supposed to spend the night at Mindy's house.  I met Andy there and then we headed out for a date night.  We had dinner and as I was getting in my car I received a text message from Mindy saying, "Bad news.  Sammy is throwing up."  I went straight over and picked all the girls up.  Poor Sammy threw up the whole way home.  Thank goodness Mindy gave her a bowl to use and told us to keep it since it would forever be the throw up bowl.  Sammy continued to throw up after we got home.  We called our neighbor to come help Andy give her a blessing.  We kept her isolated in our room and after the vomiting stopped then came the diarrhea. By morning she was feeling tons better, but we decided to keep her in and away from other people so she didn't spread further germs.  I knew Sammy picked it up while at my mom's house, but I didn't have a choice at the time but to have her go there.  It turns out that was a nasty bug!  Dallin and his family all caught the bug while spending time at my mom's house as well.  They were sick practically the whole time they were here.  Ugh!  We cancelled our usual New Years Eve party because we didn't want to risk spreading the germs further.  So Brigetta, Brandon, and their kids joined us along with my niece, Kelsey.  We ate food, played games with the kids till midnight, and then went out and let off some poppers.  All of the kids went to our room and put on a movie.  Kelsey was the only one who made her way to an actual bed and then the rest of the kids slept on our floor. 

 The adults stayed up way into the morning playing games and watching a movie.  I crashed after that and honestly I don't even remember what everyone else did.  Before sunlight I could here Mikayla try and wake Ashley!  Ah!!! I quickly put a stop to that and told her to go back to sleep.  Other than that the kids were awesome! It was fun to see all the kids asleep in a row on our floor.  Dallin and Brindy packed up and left the following day.  Hopefully the bug didn't follow them home.

Next post... Last update to catch up!