Just a couple of things

You know what the worst part of having 4 people (probably soon to be 5) in our family that wear glasses? Its ridiculously hard to get a family picture without glaring on those glasses.  We had family pictures taken about a week and a half ago (we wanted to get some with Echo before she's not the baby anymore), and we tried FOREVER to get one without someone having a glare, and while everyone smiles.  Ugh, it was impossible.  Oh well, I think we still got some cute ones out of it.  I'll post the new pics soon.

This weekend some of our best friends (who I hope don't get mad at me for sharing this) called to tell us that they might be having a baby with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (the same condition as Ivy).  I was devastated for them and I couldn't stop thinking about it.  It brought back a lot of those old feelings of sorrow for Ivy, and I just couldn't believe it was happening to someone else that we know so well.  When they called me this morning to tell me that the baby did not have it, and will actually be totally fine, it took all my strength to not weep with joy (I waited til we hung up...is that weird?).  I am so happy that they don't have to go through what we went through.  They mentioned that they felt bad that they got such good news when we never did get that kind of news with Ivy.  To which I say, don't feel bad.  I don't feel bad.  Ivy is a happy, beautiful, amazing little girl, and she is who she is because of what she's gone through, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  The trials that we've dealt with are how its meant to be and we are okay with it.  That being said, I would never want to go through it again, or witness our friends, whom I love, go through it either.  So I'm so SO happy for them.  Congratulations guys!  I am completely ecstatic for you!

Also this weekend we started painting the main living areas in our house.  Scott hates painting, but I've wanted to paint since we moved in, so after 4 1/2 years I'm finally getting my way.  I hate the yellowish color of all the walls, so I'm so happy to be rid of it in at least part of the house.  I can't wait to post pictures of how it all turns out (We're not quite finished yet, but I will for sure show it off when its all done).

And finally, remember on Corbin's birthday how we posted a video of his first two years and promised to post more as Scott finished them?  Well he finished the video for years 2-4.  So if you're interested here is that video. We totally understand if Grandma's and Grandpa's are the only ones interested, so don't feel obligated to watch....Anyway have a fantastic rest of the week.

Ivy's MRI and Echocardiogram

So our little Ivy is getting ready for Summer surgery by having some post-op procedures.  Today she had a sedated MRI and Echocardiogram to check out her heart in good detail.  It basically took the entire day to get them both done and for her anesthesia to wear off, but everything went super good, and she's already back to her normal, adorable, charming self.  Here are some pictures we took throughout the day.

Matching armbands.  She was very excited about our "bracelets".

 Her new little teddy bear (the hospital always has a blanket or toy to give her). She named her "baby" or "pink"...maybe both.  I don't know.

 Dancing around in the waiting room.

 Playing with daddy

 So pretty in her "dress".

 again...

 Entertaining herself with a zillion stickers.

 Still....it seriously kept her happy for a good half an hour.

 testing out her newly decorated gas mask thingy.

 In recovery several hours later.

 The anesthesia caused a little upset stomach and we dealt with some throwing up, but she quickly recovered and is already doing totally great.   We were hoping she wouldn't have to have a catheterization this time, but unfortunately she does.  That'll happen sometime in April.  Otherwise things are all going according to plan.  Yay!

 Oh yes, and here are Dexter's and Ellie's snowmen (and Ellie).  They had a lot of fun while we were stuck at the hospital all day!  A special thanks to Auntie Collette for babysitting Dex and Echo, and also a thanks to Kammi Nelson in my ward for picking Corbin up from school and watching him for a few hours.  We couldn't have done it without you awesome people!

What's going on.

I'm sick of being sick, and I'm tired of being tired.  I just want to wake up in the morning and be able to get out of bed without being nauseous or throwing up in the sink while I get the kids breakfast.  I want to be able to work on my crochet projects without falling asleep or stay up past 10pm.

With all that said, I just hit 11 weeks, so I should be done with all that soon.  Just in time for spring.  That's right, spring.  This morning while I was sitting on the couch green-faced and miserable, I heard lawn mowers outside.  It made me so happy.  Grass outside is still horribly pale and ugly, but if people are mowing, then green grass must be on its way.  I really hate Winter, and live for Summer so I feel like I'm always counting the days til warmer weather.  I just can't wait.

Anyway, I recently finished an etsy order of Mr. and Mrs. Fredrickson from UP (the Disney/Pixar movie that makes me cry during the "married life montage" every single time).  I wasn't crazy about how Ellie came out, but I loved how Carl ended up.  Here they are together.

 Carl by himself.  Look at his cute square head and cool hair  (I restarted his head 3 times because I wanted to get it right).  Isn't he adorable!

 Here is the pic the customer sent for me to work with, just in case you aren't familiar with Up.

Now that I have no pending etsy orders I'm teaching myself how to crochet a purse, and then I have to make Dexter a Sonic hat for his birthday.  I love trying new things.  I'm looking forward to the upcoming morning-sickness free part of the pregnancy, and spring and summer.  I just gotta get through a few more weeks.

Ten days stubborn

I bet you didn't think it was possible to measure how stubborn a person is, but you can.  Echo is ten days stubborn. The doctor said "give her two days, she'll give in and take a bottle."  The doctor was off......by eight days.  We tried everything to get that girl to take her bottle, but she didn't take it from us.  It took a trip to Utah for a funeral (which was beautiful, but out of respect I don't want to blog about it) where Grandma Marde offered almond milk, and Auntie Heidi gave her the bottle.  She finally got a drink!  Now here we are four days later and she's taking her bottle without a fuss every time I offer it.  She's no longer constipated, and she's sleeping from about 9 pm to 8 am......oh man, its wonderful!  I am forever grateful to Marde and Heidi for finally convincing her to give it a shot.  It feels like a giant weight has been lifted from my shoulders. We've secretly been adding a scoop of formula to each 8 oz of almond milk, and plan on increasing it gradually so she won't notice the switch. (but I'm honestly so happy she's taking anything that I'm not pushing it....I don't want to scare her away from the bottle!)

On another note about eating....remember when she hated baby food?  Well, she loves it now.  And not just baby food.  She loves EVERYTHING!  I'm not exaggerating.  She seriously eats any and everything I offer.  While in Utah she was introduced to frog eye salad, funeral potatoes, avocado, cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, and pancakes and she loved them all!  She's also developed this adorable habit of spitting out the pacifier the second any food is in sight (even if it isn't for her).  Its so funny it even makes strangers laugh.

Random stuff

Echo had her 9 month well-check on Friday. It didn't go well.  She'd only gained 3 oz in the last 3 months and fell from the 50th percentile to the 10th.  She isn't getting the amount of calories she needs from my breast milk.  The pediatrician gave me orders to wean immediately.  I told him that I've tried and it didn't work, but he gave me some more ideas to try. Its been ROUGH to say the least.  I haven't nursed since friday afternoon, and she still hasn't taken a bottle.  I'm concerned about her becoming dehydrated.  I don't know what to do.  We tried the sippy cup again, even a regular cup, bought expensive "breast-like" bottles, and still, no dice.  The doctor said, "Babies are smart, her brain will know that she needs to drink the milk and as long as she's not getting any from you she'll give in after a day or two."  He was wrong!!  I'm frustrated! At least when she was nursing she was getting SOME calories from it, now she's not nursing or taking a bottle and getting NO calories.  (she is still eating baby food, so she's not starving, but still!)  I tell you what I'm not going to do with the next baby...I'm not going to exclusively breastfeed, because this is a nightmare.

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When I woke up this morning my ankle hurt.  It still hurts now.  Like I injured it.  How can I injure it while sleeping?  I'm pretty sure I don't sleepwalk.  I think its just having flashbacks from the Plastic Kiwi Incident of 2011.

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Ivy's been getting headaches.  They seem pretty severe.  She threw up from one last saturday.  At least, I'm pretty sure they are headaches, she describes them as her eyebrows hurting.  I get severe headaches that cause me to throw up too, but I didn't start getting them until I was 12.  I don't think its normal for a three year old to get migraines.  I'm a perpetual worrier when it comes to my little Ivy, and I'm probably overreacting, but I called her cardiologist this morning and left a message.  He hasn't called me back yet. Its making me anxious.

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I've been playing volleyball the last few weeks, with women from my stake.  Its not a competition or anything, just a bunch of women getting together to play.  Its seriously been so fun!  I wonder if I can still play when my belly gets huge.

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We bought a new van about 2 weeks ago.  Our dodge caravan could supposedly seat 7, but no matter how we arranged seats, we could NOT fit five children in it.  So we traded it in for a toyota sienna. It is much more spacious and fits 7, but it was hard for me to agree to have a car payment again.  I finally gave in because we found one for pretty cheap.  We really like it so far.  I really wish we would have bought one in the first place instead of the dodge.

Ipad pictures

Last night Scott and I went through the billions of pictures on our Ipad.  99% of them were taken by either Corbin or Ivy, there were lots that were just blackness, and too many of the ceiling, but there were also quite a few gems.  Here are just a few:

Echo

 Ivy

 Dexy

 Corbin

Man!  These kids make me laugh!

Friends don't let friends go to Kindergarten while flipping out

Hey guys, Happy Tuesday.  I haven't been moving much this week, the morning sickness is awful.  Its good though, while my house is a terrible disaster (although, I did manage to fold laundry, YES!), I have time to blog, crochet and read.  I thought I'd fill you in on how Echo's doing with all the issues I mentioned in a previous post, and give you a few new things to help me out with.

First, Echo is pretty much sleeping through the night.  It makes such a big difference.  She still wakes up throughout the night, but only cries for 30 seconds or so before going back to sleep, I don't even have to get out of bed.  Its great.  She's tolerating the car seat and stroller occasionally, but she's pretty unpredictable.  I'm still working on that.  And with the weaning from breastfeeding....I gave up. She will not take a bottle.  The doc said I can still nurse until she's one, I just need to feed her more solids to make sure she continues to gain weight.  Which is okay, because she finally decided she likes baby food along with other solids.  Its definitely getting easier.

Now for my new problems:

1. The Jehovah's Witnesses.  A couple of weeks ago a polite old man and sweet little person knocked on my door.  I knew who they were immediately, but I have a rule about being polite to people who are going door to door for their religion, so I listened to them for about 2 minutes and took their brochure.  When they left I figured that was the end of it.  I was wrong.  Since then, they've come back 3 times.  I continue to take their literature (never actually reading it), and smiling politely. Last time they actually gave me a book.  I don't want to waste their resources, or take them away from people who are actually interested in it, but I don't know how to get rid of them.  I feel like I'm cheating on my religion.  How do I get them to stop coming around without being rude?

2. Dexter's flipping out.  I'm actually starting to be concerned that there may be something wrong with him.  He turns five in less than 2 months.  This shouldn't be happening like this at his age.  I'm leaning towards bipolar disorder.  I'm not even joking.  I'm going to talk to the pediatrician about it on Friday.  I'm kind of at the end of my rope and am thinking that he possibly needs to go on medication to be able to function normally in society.  I can't send him to kindergarten like this.  It really isn't normal.  Am I overreacting?

3. My craving for Mexican food.  I have always been a big mexican food fan, but lately I have this ridiculous need for it.  There are two problems with this, first the other members of my family aren't as big on it as me and second, it doesn't fully agree with my stomach, yet I can't stop wanting it. Tonight I'm making some sweet pork enchiladas with mango salsa, and I'm SO EXCITED about it.  I don't think there is another member of my family that is going to like it, and I'm going to regret it when the indigestion comes around at bedtime, but I've still just got to do it! (I don't really think anyone can help me with this.  Cravings go away after a while)

Anyway, let me know if you have any thoughts on any of this stuff.  Thanks!