Here's my yearly post !

 Ok so life gets away from me, and I have every intention to blog at least a few times a year, but it never seems to happen. Life gets busy and blogging is the last thing to cross my mind.

So anyways, last post I gave a quick rundown of the summer plans, so I guess I'll do the same for this one and tell about how last years summer plans went.

We went to California last summer. Drove there and had barely been in Redding for 5 minutes and got rear-ended. That sort of set the tone for the whole trip because the back door wouldn't open so getting all our luggage out of the car was a bit tricky. It was also a billion degrees, and the house we rented was in the boonies. But it was beautiful.

Jadon got his permit last summer, and this winter took drivers ed and passed his test and so now we just have to go to DMV to get his license! Its scary! And my stomach will be a mess every time he drives off on his own, i know it! For his 16th birthday, he, Derek and Jadon's friend matt rode the train up to Portland. They stayed at a hotel for a night that was right on the runway, and spent the day plane spotting. 

Carter did swimming and is now not afraid of deep water. He also learned how to ride his bike, but can only ride on flat surfaces, and either straight or riding counter clockwise in a circle. He tried riding clockwise and crashed into the neighbors truck so he is scared to do it again. We will need to get some more practice in this summer! He had his first actual birthday party at our house. It was a slip n slide/water gun party and he had a blast! He's got a good group of friends and I hope he keeps that group through his school years. They are good kids from good homes. 

Avery did a lot of reading, and still does a lot of reading. At the end of her 6h grade school year, she received the highest award possible for a person in middle school- The citizen of the year award! We are so proud of her! For her 13th birthday, she wanted to go ziplining, so we took her to a place up near McMinnville and stayed there for a couple nights. We went to downtown McMinnville and walked around and toured art shops and bookstores. At some big ice cream cones and pizza. Back at the hotel we played a game together on our devices, which was fun. The next day was the ziplining, and while it was fun, it wasn't nearly as nice as the crater lake ziplining that Derek and I did for our anniversary a few years ago. Not to mention, it was unseasonably hot that day (low 80's), and it required us to do a bit of up hill hiking. 

To end the year, the kids Christmas present was a short 3 day trip to Seattle. We rode the train up and home, stayed in a motel, and did something fun for each kid. For avery, we went to the science museum, for carter we went to the aquarium, and for Jadon we went to the space needle. It was a really fun trip, but very exhausting as well. And the train ride was quite nice coming home! The way there had some snags though. First off, we had had some wind the day before, and debris was covering the tracks between Albany and Portland, so we had to ride a bus up to the Portland train station. That took forever. And I wasn't sure the bus was going to make it. It started smelling really bad and this alarm kept going off. And at one point the driver had to pull over and turn the bus off and restart it, then let it run for a bit with the alarm on before leaving again. 

So this summer, we are going to Florida again! And Derek and I are going on our 20 year anniversary trip to Hawaii! Cant wait! We are going to the big island. Hard to believe we've been married for 20 years! And together for nearly 24! I'm very blessed to have such a wonderful partner to share the rest of my life with, to share all the ups and downs with, and to help manage our complicated children with! 

I've been looking for a part time job, but not having a ton of luck. Hoping to find something that aligns with the kids school schedules to make life easier for us. Mornings preferably. I was offered a job at the hospital back in March but it included working weekends, and I'm not down with that anymore! Worked almost every single weekend for 4 years when I was working for the church! I want that time to be with my family and to be able to do fun things together.

Jadon started track and field in February, and his season is coming to a close in the next couple weeks. He has made leaps and bounds, setting new PR's on his long distance runs- 3000 and 1500, and set a new PR in pole vault (9 ft.) 

Avery started track and field in April, and her season only goes for a month. She has only 4 meets (the last one is this weekend) and for the previous 3, she has gotten 3rd each week in her 100meter heat. She also set a new PR in long jump- 9ft 6in. She's really enjoyed track, and I'm so glad! 
She also got into chamber orchestra this year, which is the orchestra of the most seasoned players. Also she is going to be in a quartet later this month and she's very excited about that!

Next year Carter will get to do track! I'm not sure he will be able to decide what event to do, he likes them all! He did basketball back in the beginning of the year, Derek coached his team. The team was a pretty green team, but they managed to win their last 2 games. 

Well, I guess that's gonna be a wrap on this post! 

Until next time.... 😂

Life is an Adventure

What a year we've had so far! We all got Covid at the end of January, right at the tail end of the first Omicron spike. The kids were hardly sick. Mostly they each had one day where they were lethargic and had sore throats/snot/cough. Derek and I were coughing for what seemed forever. The gunk in our throats and coughing lasted for a month or more. And we were pretty worn out for a few days, but otherwise I think we got off pretty good. (Thank you vaccinations!)

From there, we've been sick pretty much every few weeks, or at least someone in the house is always sick. They lifted the mask mandate in the schools and buildings in I think March, which was bad timing as we were going to Florida to visit Grandmother in the beginning of April! Thankfully, the week we were in Florida we managed to be healthy! (Thank you Jesus!)

Florida was wonderful! The weather was great, not too hot, not humid. The kids swam in the pool at the house a lot. We went to the beach and got completely and very painfully lobsterized! Went to an aquarium in Sarasota. Went mini golfing in Fort Myers. Ate out for nearly every. single. meal. The best parts were when we got to be with Grandmother. One of my favorite things was when we all went to the cemetery to visit Grandfathers gravesite. We all sure do miss him and his crazy stories. We noticed there were pennies on some of the headstones, and found out that if there is a penny on a headstone, it means someone stopped by that grave, so we left a penny on Grandfathers. 

As vacations always do, it ended too quickly and before we knew it it was time to go home again. We had a traumatic trip home with getting confused getting to the airport because of poor road markings and no signage in Florida. Took FOREVER getting checked into the airport because their computers were barely working. Then we were some of the last people to board the plane because we were getting lunch.
One of the worst parts was when we had to go through security. The security people were complete jerks, treating all the people like idiots, fighting over who had to take an elderly lady, running everyone through the bag scanners as fast as they could go to the point that things were getting lost. A poor lady lost her phone and my sweater never came out of the machine. 10 minutes later it finally emerged not even in a bin. At some point I think it had fallen out (since all the bins were so full of stuff) and got stuck in the machine. I was FURIOUS with how they were treating people. 

Our plane ride was mostly uneventful, it was a direct flight from TPA to PDX and it was 6 hours long. About the time we passed into Oregon and started descending, Jadon began to have an anxiety attack because he had an upset stomach. The turbulence into PDX was pretty bad as well, so I'm sure that didn't help. But he was gagging into a vomit bag the whole way down. 

Once we landed, thankfully we got our bags right away, but waited at the airport for awhile so Jadon could go poop. Then a quick ride back to the hotel where we left the van, and we were on the road back home. About 20 minutes before Albany, Avery proceeds to barf all over the van and herself. She apparently had an anxiety attack over Jadon having an anxiety attack. Thankfully Carter slept through everything, but this didn't help Jadon's anxiety at all. Finally got to Albany and got Gramma Debbie dropped off and finally made it home. Cleaned the car a little bit and left the rest for the next day to deal with. By the time we went to bed, it was around 3am Florida time and we were POOOOOOPED! 

Thankfully life has been a little less exciting than that day! 😉

Less exciting, but very busy. All three kids began sports. Avery and Jadon doing track and field, and Carter doing basketball. There were a few evenings where all 3 kids had meets or games on the same night at the same time, so we had to divide and conquer and enlist the help of the grandma's. 

Jadon as it turns out has some talent for pole vault! I'm excited to see where this takes him the next 3 years of high school. Avery surprised us and decided she really enjoyed doing track and wants to do it again next year! And Carter, well, he's a little baller! He loves all sports!

And I guess that brings us to today! Since the mask mandate was lifted, EVERYONE is sick all the time. Its like the viruses are playing catchup now that they had a 2 year break. I'm not loving this at all. I am currently the one in the house who is sick, Jadon has the cold also, but its been very mild for him. Carter was sick the week before last, so I'm guessing he gave us his cough/snot? I've been volunteering a lot at his school, and Tuesday when I was there, soooo many kids were coughing. 

So since I will probably not blog again for another 6 months or more, I'll give you a future run down. This summer will start off busy. The older kids are volunteering at the church kids camp, and Carter will be an attendee for it. Which reminds me of the big news! I QUIT MY JOB AT THE CHURCH!! It was hard to let go, but it has been soooooo good for us. I feel like I have my brain back and don't lay in bed at night thinking of what needs to be done or who I can get to cover a volunteer shift. And we've been able to attend church services too! It has been very freeing!

Anyways, back to summer, we are taking a family road trip down to California for a week. Our annual anniversary trip will be a staycation, as we just don't have the money to go somewhere this year since we went to Florida (And next year is our big 20th anniversary and we are going to Hawaii.) 
Jadon is going to get his permit 😱(pray for us!!!! and for him!!!!) Carters going to resume swimming lessons, Avery is going to do a free 3 day camp at the community college and also take a summer orchestra class. Adrianna is getting married in August too! And both Derek and Carter have July birthdays, I know Carter will want to have a party (since we have yet to have had a party for him.... 3rd child problems! 😄) And, he is GOING to learn to ride his bike. He's been too scared to ride his bike for years, so this summer we are getting over that fear (whether he wants to or not!) Wish us luck! 

I had planned to blog again and yet I haven't....

Here we are, almost a year since I last posted. I had planned to start blogging again, but that just didn't happen. 

What a year we've had! Starting from where I left off I guess back in January.

Derek had just gotten his first covid vaccine, then got his second covid vaccine just days after he got a pneumonia vaccine, and so he was really sick. I have to admit, after seeing his reaction to his second shot, I felt hesitant to get my covid shots! However, when they opened it up to all the public, I did it, and I had no reaction other than a sore shoulder. Jadon got his a little less than a month later, and he ended up tired, with a headache and a little nauseated (which may or may not have been anxiety related!)  Avery got hers right after her birthday and had no reaction but a headache. Carter had his first one a couple weeks ago, and next week on  the 9th he gets his second one. Derek also got his booster, and I suppose its time for me to get my booster now as well since its been over 6 months. So, soon our whole house will be vaccinated!

So lets see, what else has happened since then that's significant. Well, I tweaked my back somehow in January. I could barely walk for a week, and then for another week or so after that I could only stand for short periods before it would hurt again. I have no idea what I did. I had not done any heavy lifting or weird bending. Anyways, I started doing yoga everyday to see if that helped. Between the stretching and strengthening that yoga offers, plus a lot of the stuff yoga  does is the same exercises they had me do at physical therapy many years ago. While yoga didn't help my back, it has done many other great things for me. My balance has drastically improved!! I did not expect that! I always just thought i was a clumsy oaf, but now I can actually put my pants on standing up without losing my balance! Yoga is slowly strengthening me. Its completely vanished what I can only describe as nerve twangs in my elbow and in my foot. I am certain that all the stretching helped my plantar fasciitis in my heal as that also. And just all the stretching feels great! I've been doing it now for around 10 months, which is the longest I've ever stuck with an at-home program! And I have no plans of stopping anytime soon, i really enjoy it!

At the end of March, and the first day of April, Carter and Avery got to go back to in-person school for half days, then at the end of April they went back full time! I was so worried about Carter since we struggled so hard doing school online! But he was thriving from in-person school! And he's made a lot of friends really fast and he's loving the social aspect, and its been great for him all around! He's smart as a whip, and reads crazy good! He started swimming lessons in September and just passed level 1 this week, and he's come a long ways. He will start level 2 in January as well as soccer.

Avery was so happy to be back for her last month of elementary school. We had planned to send her to East Linn, but in the end of July we decided she would be happier at NAMS. It was the right call, she is so extremely happy there. She's made new friends. She loves middle school. She got straight A's for her first quarter, and is on the same path for the second quarter. She's on her 4th year of viola. Her swim team was nixed in like May, and she doesn't want to join a new team, so she's not doing any sports or anything. 

Jadon started high school!! HOLY COW!! Its so weird to think that we have a high schooler! High school seemed so far away when he was in elementary school, and yet, here we are now, just a blink of an eye later! I think school is getting harder, and sports are definitely different! They practice every day for up to 2 hours sometimes, and its taken more seriously. He did cross country and he ended up really liking it. Even though he was the only boy on the team. Right now he just started basketball. There's a ton of JV kids though so they split the team and he's on the JV2 team. He is now taller than me and hairier than his father. 😄 

I don't think much has changed for Derek. He's now working from home full time and no plans to be back in the office ever again. It is really nice having him home. Many days during the week we get to have lunch together. And it helps with transportation for school and after school activities. He likes it.

I decided its time to quit my job, so December 31 is my last day. I decided to quit for a few reasons. Having a break last year gave me time to reflect on how crabby and exhausted I was from being so busy, especially between april-june. And like i mentioned in the last post, i felt like I was missing out on the kids. Since we opened children's ministry at church back up in April, my heart hasn't been in it. My heart is with my family, and so I have trouble working. Perhaps if the job was a normal 9-5 job or something, where I could leave my work at the door at the end of the day, then I would feel a little differently, but I cant just leave the work out of my head. Except now, i am having a hard time actually thinking about work, which isn't fair to our children's dept. I'm afraid once all our programs are back up and running I'll be back in the same boat I was in of not being able to think about anything else, and laying awake at night thinking about all the things I'm needing to do at church, or how to run programs, etc. 
Another reason, I've just become very disgusted with so many people there. Some people refuse to come to church because they refuse to wear masks. However, 95% of the people there aren't wearing masks at all anyways. I'm just sick of peoples stupid comments and selfishness. As Christians, we should be so much better than this. This is setting a terrible example, and will 100% not get non-Christians through the doors. 
Another reason, we are burned out. Since we opened back up, we've struggled to get enough volunteers, so Derek and i are working in a classroom almost every single week. Over the summer, we had several volunteers decide to take the whole summer off (mind you, we opened back up in April, which means that they all had a year off already!) We had to limit the number of VBS attenders because of inadequate volunteers. 
Another reason, I'm finding it hard to keep up with life. With kids back in school, all at different schools and different release times, and we opted to not do the bus this year to minimize more covid contact. Plus, they are so short on buses, almost every week there's a route cancelled because no drivers for that route, so it was just not worth it. Also, the kids are all doing things after school, and Derek and I already have to tag team each other to make things work. Adding Wednesday night church to the mix just doesn't work. 
Also, since I started working, I quit volunteering at the schools. I was exhausted and had no desire to add something else to my plate. Since I am only halfheartedly working right now, I have been volunteering at carters school twice a week. I love being there, and he enjoys it when I'm there. 💗
We've been eating so much better now too because I'm cooking all our meals instead of just throwing a box of chicken nuggets or corn dogs on a tray all the time. I have spices in my cupboards that I've finally been using from half a decade or more ago! (Side note, last year we had thanksgiving with just us and no other family, and I cooked my first thanksgiving smorgasbord, and it turned out great! We had mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, ham, rolls, bradley salad, and a couple pies! And it all turned out delicious so now I feel more confident making those dishes.)

Unfortunately I'll have to find another job eventually, as life is just too expensive. We could make it work but then we'd never be able to save anything for vacations and home improvements, or at least it would be very slow going. Hopefully I can find something that works with our life, and that I can put away at the end of the day.

So there you have it, that has been our life since my last post. I wish I could say I'll blog more but i doubt that would be true. 

New year, new goals

 Its been awhile since I've blogged again. There are 2 major reasons for that. 

1. Jadon got Minecraft on my computer that he likes to play with his friends. He also got a flight simulator game that he plays on my computer. 

2. The Chromebook that the school supplied us with, is not the greatest, so for Carters class meetings, he has to use my computer otherwise his teacher lags so badly that he is 10 seconds behind on everything. So, to conclude, Jadon has my computer in the evening's and on weekends. And Carter has it during the day. 

So 2020 really stunk. As we all know.

For me, it wasn't because of the virus. Yes, Covid really threw a wrench in all our plans, but the virus was actually a blessing. I didn't realize how tired and stressed I was with life until the world shut down and suddenly I had so much time to be in my house, with my kids and husband. Before that, I was crabby and stressed because we were always busy. Between kids events, school, and church taking up all my mental energy.
Covid gave me a chance to get to know my kids again, and I'm so grateful in that aspect because Jadon is nearly 14 now, he won't be home for too many more years. And once he starts driving, I'm sure we will see him less and less. :( So I'm not in any big hurry to get back to normal. 

The problem is people's responses to Covid. I heard some of the most idiotic and heartless comments about the virus. How can people think its all political??? How can people not think of protecting others even if they don't care about it effecting them?? Some comments I heard:  "Why don't they just wait until the hospitals are overrun before they shut things down?"  "Its just a cold, they are overreacting."  "The only people that die from it are elderly people, and they don't care anyways, they've lived their lives." 
On top of all the stupid comments like that, people griping about wearing masks, or social distancing, or having to cancel activities.  People refusing to cooperate with contact tracing in order to warn others. This is just some of the stupidity I heard/saw. 

Then of course there's politics which I'm not getting into. But everyone fighting about politics. Losing friends because they can't agree to disagree. 

And the racism and BLM stuff. Which I refuse to discuss. 

And the rioting. 

But because of all this, and because people refuse to put themselves in someone else shoes to see the world the way they do, they have to fight about it. All I saw every day when I got on Facebook was people arguing about something. People posting garbage news they heard and fighting over it. People complaining about everything. People whining about having to do online school and complaining that the school did a terrible job of preparing.

What happened to kindness? Grace?? Treating others as better than yourself???

What I'm getting at here is that 2020 left me feeling very angry and bitter. I can hardly stand people other than my own family. Even people in our church I'm disgusted with because of their dumb comments and lack of grace and kindness. I've been snippy with people. I've been avoiding people. Because I just can't take it anymore. 

I understand that we all have our own differences and opinions. That is totally ok! But when people lose friendships or family relationships over things, or don't think about how their words or actions affect others, it really has gotten to me. 

My goal for 2021 is to somehow not let anger and bitterness take hold of me. I never engage in arguments with people over things, and I will continue with that. But somehow I have to figure out how to not let all these comments harden my heart for people. I think the only way to accomplish that is to get on a regular prayer and quiet time schedule. God needs to be front and center in my thoughts.

My next goal is get get myself healthy. Last year, I think we all let ourselves go a little. But, I'm 40 now, its time to start taking better care of myself. So my goal is to lose 20 lbs., but more importantly to get into a regular exercise routine. 

In other news, the kids are doing great! Jadon's school has been in person since fall and its going surprisingly well. So far. He's doing good as usual with his grades. He's obsessed with planes and flying still, which is not a bad thing. He's a good kid. He's responsible and he does what he's asked without a fight, sometimes before we even have to ask him. Never in a million years thought that we'd be talking about what a good kid he is since he was a handful when he was younger, but I'm quite proud of him now. He is about an inch shorter than me, and that gap is closing FAST! I'm so thankful for that. As you may remember, he had premature adrenarche, and his bone age was was several years ahead of his age, so the endocrinologist expected his full grown height to be, if I remember correctly, around 5'8", potentially shorter. I was sad for this because he comes from a family of tall people. I didn't want him to be shorter than his own mom. I was praying he would be at least as tall as me. 5'9" (although I now regularly measure 5'8.5") The last 2 years, his bone age scan has shown no change, and so its now closer to where it is supposed to be for his age, which increases his potential adult height. 

Avery is good, she is happy to be in school , even though she has been completely online since fall. She just loves school. She's in her 3rd year doing viola and she likes that too. Swim team has been put on hold now as the pool is shut down, so unfortunately she isn't getting any swimming in. She's 11, but she informs us nearly daily that she's "practically 13" now. ;) Slow down girl, enjoy being a kid. Someday you'll wish you were 11 again! Adulting isn't all its cracked up to be! Next weekend she starts doing a couple extracurricular classes for a couple months. She is a TAG student (Talented And Gifted) which basically means she's super smart and so the college offers classes to give these TAG students some extra things to help keep them learning at their level and give them something to do. She's taking a drawing class and a travel type class. Now that I think of it, that might start today......

Carter is... well... Carter. Active, loud, talks or makes noise completely. School for him has also been online since the fall, and he does not like it. In fact, he tells us daily that he hates school. It has been a big struggle for us all. He is a very SMART kid, I never realized he was smart, but I think in the spring/summer when I was trying to home school him a little, I think he was acting like he didn't know anything just to get out of doing it. He has 4 class meetings online a day, each a half hour long. He gets bored during these. Two of the meetings are broken down into small groups, and his group is him and about 5 other kids who are at the same level of learning as him, so his group moves faster than other groups, but he just doesn't like it. He has behavioral issues because of this and we have been working with the teacher to help him with these issues. But man, its exhausting on so many levels. 

There is the potential for Carter and Avery's school to open up in February. I am PRAYING they can go back. Carter needs to be in person for school, he'll do much better. And this is Avery's last year of elementary and she really wants to be at the school. Please pray too!!!!

Derek is great. He got his 1st covid shot last week since he is high risk with his asthma. He's been working from home since march, and at this point it looks like he will be working from home forever. 

Well that's it for now.

Birthday Girl

 After having read this entire blog after I printed it all out, Avery has informed me that I never talked about her birthdays. I told her she's the middle child, so its a right of passage! 😄

So this post is dedicated to Avery and all her birthdays.

October 2010- 1st birthday- We had family over. I made her a 2-tiered birthday cake, pink and purple, and I ordered some cute little dragonflies that I'm sure I spent way too much money on, but it was before I knew about Amazon. She got a little doll, a my little pony, and a turtle toy that you sit on and bounce. 

October 2011- 2nd birthday- She had cute little pigtails. She got a little remote control car thing, and a beauty case with nail polish, lots of hair bands and bracelets and necklaces, and a leap frog alphabet toy. We had family over again to celebrate. For her cake, I made her ice cream cone cakes, and a sheet cake. We had last minute My little pony decorations. 

October 2012- 3rd birthday- This was our last birthday party in our old house! She was so cute! She's always been cute though! ;) This was my favorite cake I made her. It was strawberry shortcake, with fondant stripes, and a strawberry shortcake set on top. Family again for the party. She got a lego friends set, A strawberry shortcake doll with hair accessories for the doll, and a my little pony train set.

October 2013- 4th birthday- We mustve been really busy for this birthday. I made her a cupcake, and we didn't have any party. She got another lego friends set. 

October 2014- 5th birthday- We celebrated with her friends at the bouncy house in Corvallis. She had a sweaty blast! I made her a frozen birthday cake. We got her a new bike, Frozen of course. I remember that spring and summer she would be outside singing frozen songs. She was super into frozen! We also got a new puppy that month.

October 2015- 6th birthday- She had a new baby brother for this birthday. She had kindergarten on her actual birthday, and they were on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. She got to drive the tractor for the hay ride! We had family over to give her gifts. I was very busy with an infant, so this year was a last minute cupcake again. She didn't seem to mind, it was sugar. ;)

October 2016- 7th birthday- This year was a FUN birthday! We had an art party and had a bunch of her friends over. They got to decorate their own cupcakes, do several crafts, and goof around. It was one of my favorite birthdays to plan! 

October 2017- 8th birthday- This was another quiet birthday. She had just started swim team and had practice on her birthday. I made her a cupcake and she blew out her candles in her bathing suit before practice. I don't know what she got that year.

October 2018- 9th birthday- This year I was behind on everyones birthday parties. We didn't celebrate Jadon's until July, and we threw Carters in with his. Avery's didn't get celebrated until December. And we had to cancel the first appointment as we got the stomach flu. BUT, once we did have it, we had a Just Dance party, and she invited a handful of her best buds. They had a great, sweaty time dancing.

October 2019- 10th birthday- Another great party! It was her first slumber party, and they made dream catchers, blindfolded makeovers, and ran around playing some weird game they made up. Watched a movie and ate popcorn. It was also kindof Harry Potter themed. So we had cupcakes that had surprise frosting inside- yellow, red, blue and green, each was for a different "House". (Griffendor, hufflepuff, ravenclaw, and slitherin.) They each got to pick their cupcake and then once they bit into them they got to see which house they would be in. Avery was slitherin, which she was NOT happy about! But I think this was still one of her favorite parties overall. There was so much laughing! 

October 2020- Its not quite her birthday yet, but since we are in a global pandemic this year, there will be no big party. Jadon didn't get a 13th birthday party, Carter didn't get a 5th birthday party, and she wont get an 11th. :(  Every year of school, we've taken treats into her classroom. We wont get to take treats this year either, because school is all virtual. We WILL be celebrating at Grandma's house on Sunday though, so its not a total loss! ;)

Bottom line here is, even though I didn't blog about all her birthdays as they happened, we still have wonderful memories and pictures to show, and I hope she realizes that we love her so much regardless of whether or not I blogged about them. 

Avery, we love you more than you'll ever know!

Weird Times

 We are living in weird times for sure. Half of Oregon is on fire. It looks like the Apocalypse outside. It started earlier this week.... Monday or Tuesday I think. We had perfect conditions for some bad fires.... hot, dry, windy conditions. The fires spread so fast, some towns were destroyed. People didn't have time to do anything. People have lost their homes, and some even lost their lives. More and more stories are emerging of people running from these fires. One family had to leave behind grandma with a leg injury. A 13 year old ran out with his dog, only to be found dead in the car with the dog lying on top of him. A family ran for the river near their house and stayed in the water for an hour. Luckily the winds finally died down, and we are safe, but had the winds continued, this might be a different story. The fires are in no way contained yet, but at least the winds have died, and the firefighters can hopefully start containing the fires. For us, we've been smoked in for days. I miss the sky. I miss the sun. Its like there's a constant fog. Its blocking out the heat of the sun, but one morning we woke up and it was orange outside, and then it went dark again. The sun was supposed to rise around 6:30am, but it was still nearly pitch black at 8:30am. It was all so surreal. There is ash flying about, covering the ground, our cars, our grass. Its piled up on our porch entryway, and any slight breeze it swirls around. It smells bad, like a constant campfire. For a couple days, I was glued to my phone looking for the latest fire warnings. Cities near us, like Brownsville, are on a level 1 alert. Jadon's school started this week, and they cancelled the whole week (except the first day) due to air quality and 24 hour fire watch. The air quality is so bad, its considered hazardous. We are stuck inside, unable to take even a walk because its so bad. The ash gets in your eyes, as well as your nose. 

Linn county fairgrounds have been where around 500 evacuated have to, and we went and bought pillows and blankets, cat food and dog food to donate. It was wonderful to see all the people of Albany coming together to help, and they continue to do so. Its a little silver lining in all this tragedy.

The fires are all around us. To our east in the mountains, to the north around Salem and up to Portland, to the south around Eugene and Medford, even Lincoln city on the coast has fire. We were wondering where we would go if it got to the point that we would have to evacuate. We didn't think it would get to that point, but we were preparing a list of stuff to grab had we actually got to that point. Its good to be prepared and have that just in case. 

Anyways, weird times. Eventually the fires will be contained, supposed to rain in a couple days, so that is good. I just look forward to seeing the sky again. And getting to take walks again. 

On a different note, my little hummingbirds are going crazy! They are constantly fighting at the feeders! One bird thinks he owns the place and tries to run off every other hummer that tries to snack at the feeders. I have to wonder if its because of the ash covering everything. They have used my feeders for awhile, but just since this started it seems they are at the feeders nearly constantly. 

Well, that's what going on here. 

Carter

My baby boy is 5 today! I can't believe where the time went! He still seems so little to me, yet in a month he's going to kindergarten. :(

Anyhow, this boy was born at 3:41pm, July 28, 2015. He's been a mamas boy since the day he was born, and I really don't mind that at all! :) Hes an EF5 tornado!
He is one heck of a loud child, always talking (loudly), always giggling about something, always talking about farts or poop or weeners because thats what big brother and sister talk about so it must be pretty cool! He's Mr. Social like his big brother. He never hesitates to pick the flowers off of my plants, or the dandelions, and give them to me. If i'm sitting on the couch with a drink, he brings a little chair over to me so I can put my drink on it. He always thanks me for making dinner. He cuddles with me every morning, with his stinky breath and all, but I don't mind. He still sleeps with us most nights. He starts in his room, but he ends up in ours, and he fits so comfortably in my arms. But  at some point in his sleep he decides he needs his space and sprawls out like a star fish, but this star fish kicks and kicks, not enjoying being under the blankets. He still picks at my moles. Its sooooo weird! 😂 He's constantly moving. And he never lets me leave the house without giving me a hug goodbye.
Nursing was his favorite thing ever, and we finally stopped in May. It was sad for me, it felt like I was letting go the last of his babyhood. About the same time, he stopped wearing diapers to bed, and is now fully potty trained.
He seems to feel everything deeply. He gets intensely mad when he loses at games, his feelings get hurt easily, but he loves fiercely.
He is not a big eater. Its hard for him to sit for long and eat, especially when others are up and doing other things around him that he wants to do. He's not as picky as Avery, but he's not as accepting of food as Jadon. He loves top ramen, watermelon (which he pronounces "wather molen"), berries, muffins, danimals and gogurts, pasta.
He loves video games, including Minecraft, cars of all shapes and sizes, and running and jumping.
He enjoys harrassing Macy. I don't think hes intending to harrass her, I think he just loves her so much, and all animals for that matter, that he wants them to love him too and play with him too.

A few weeks ago, he was outside with me, and I was watering plants or something. I felt him put something in my pants pocket but didn't think anything of it, until he says "Oh mooom, I put something in your pocket....... its a dead spider!" My heart starts beating faster and I check my pocket and sure enough, he had put a dead house spider, the kind of spider that I am DEATHLY afraid of, in my pocket, and there's no way for me to get it out without touching it or taking my pants off and shaking it out. But my first thought was that maybe its just playing dead, and I've got to get these pants off as fast as I can! I almost ripped them off right there on the deck, but I ran inside and made it to the hallway before they were ripped off of me. I felt like spiders were crawling all over me! It was awful!!! And then once I had redressed, I went to get the spider out, but my nerves were so shot already, and I was afraid I would touch it, so I said "Someone is going to have to get this spider out of my pocket because I can't do it." So Jadon comes over, takes the pants, exposes the spider and starts running at me. I run and hid in the closest room which happened to be Carters room, and slam the door shut. I hear Avery screaming then, and I open the door quick so she can take shelter with me! It was quite the ordeal!

Yes, he's a little stinker. But i'm so glad we have him. He's made me a very tired Mama. He adds additional noise and chaos to our house, but he's such a funny, loving little guy, and my heart is happy to have him, and I can't imagine our family without him in it. 💓💓

Avery

Sheesh, now I understand why I quit blogging! I never know what to blog about, and time passes so quickly. Even though we are in a very slow pace of life, I still feel busy. I've been painting one of the classrooms as church, trying to make it into a funner, more inviting place that the kids will be proud to bring their friends to.

Anyways, this post is about my girl.
I think Avery was a kindergartner when I last wrote about her. She will now be entering 5th grade! I'm not sure how that happened so fast! I remember her last day of preschool, I was so emotional. I was 8 months pregnant, and I couldn't believe my baby girl was already done with preschool. Then a few months later, off to kindergarten she went. And I balled my eyes out for most of the morning. That whole week was difficult for me. She was my little side kick. Luckily, I had infant Carter to distract me.

Back when she was little, we used to call her our comic relief. She was so easygoing and funny. She still makes the best faces sometimes though. She has since mellowed out. She's now a shy, quiet, sweet girl, with a serious stubborn side! She's our Avery sandwich, the quiet, loving child smashed between two extremely loud and crazy brothers. She will befriend anyone that is willing to give her a chance. She is quick to hug everyone. She has a style that's all her own. She loves to shop and she LOVES to craft. Her room is a disaster almost all the time, with craft stuff and clothes lying all over the floor. She will spend an entire Saturday in her room, refusing to clean it. She really loves the dollar store and Hobby Lobby. She loves to read too.

She's quite smart. She's in the TAG program in math. But she excels in all her other subjects as well. Her teachers all love her and have nothing but good to say about her. We are never surprised at her conferences.The kids at school all think she is a very nice, sweet friend.

She tried gymnastics for a year, but its not her thing. She tried indoor soccer for a season, but that was definitely not her thing. Then she tried swim team, and THAT was her thing. She loves the water, so much! Shes comfortable in the water. She becomes a fish. I love to watch her in the pool! We are so proud of her for stepping out of her comfort zone and doing some swim meets! She loves to do the breast stroke, but most of all she loves to be a dolphin and spend her time under water.

She also wants to be a teacher. Specifically a preschool teacher. She dreams about her classroom. And sometimes she plays school with Carter, though not much lately since Carters driving her nuts.

She doesn't like to be told what to do though. She gets very angry at us when we ask her to do anything. I think thats why she wants to be a teacher, so she can be the boss. ;)

She is still a picky eater, but I think she's learned over the years that she has to eat her veggies, its not optional, so she doesn't sit at the table for hours now refusing to eat them.

I don't have much to say about her, she's been the easy child. I really hope that as she enters into teenage-hood that she will continue to be the easy child. My fingers are crossed!!!!! ;)

Jadon

Over the next few posts, i'm going to center each post on one child. Its been so long since I blogged, there's a lot to catch up on!  So many things have happened, and I want to fill in the big blank area that is 4 years!
So today's post is all about my first born child, Jadon.

This boy. He's nearly as tall as me now. He's 13. How can that be??? We have a teenager?!?! Wasn't he just a stinker of a 4 year old, like, yesterday???????

So I believe in my last posts, he was already diagnosed with anxiety. Hes been on medication for it for several years. He's been seeing a therapist for years as well. We have seen such an improvement! You may recall, alot of his anxiety was centered around illness and medical, especially throwing up. I think alot of it, he is outgrowing.
A couple years ago, he was also diagnosed with ADHD. He takes medication for that as well. Its helped him so much!
He also has a condition called Premature Adrenarche. He started getting B.O. when he was 5. He had hair growing in his armpits at age 8 or 9. We see an endocrinologist twice a year to have his bone age measured and to see where he's at with puberty.
Premature Adrenarche is: Adrenarche is a lot like puberty; it’s characterized by changes in the body as your child enters her teen years. Premature adrenarche is when these changes begin early, before age 8 for girls and age 9 for boys. It’s usually nothing serious, simply your child’s body maturing in its own time.

What’s the difference between puberty and adrenarche?

It may be helpful to think of puberty and adrenarche as separate processes that your child’s body goes through, usually at the same time, but not always.

• Adrenarche means “the awakening of the adrenal gland.” The adrenal gland is responsible for making hormones including androgens—sex hormones that cause changes such as the development of pubic hair, oily skin, oily hair and body odor. There is one adrenal gland on top of each kidney.
• Puberty is the name given to the stage of life at which the body becomes capable of sexual reproduction. During puberty, the brain sends signals to glands in the testes for boys and ovaries for girls, spurring the development of sperm, eggs and other secondary sexual characteristics (such as breasts for girls and a deepening voice for boys).

So because of this, its likely he will stop growing earlier than he would if he didn't have it, therefore he will probably only be around 5 ft 9 inches tall, whereas he could have been well over 6 feet with a tall mom and a tall dad. 

The last appointment we had, his bone age had barely changed, which is a good thing!!! His bone age previously had always been 2+ years ahead. The doctor thinks he has good genes on his side though, and that since he has tall parents, he will be a bit taller. 

Once upon a time, he was afraid of swimming, but he managed to learn how to swim thanks to our private lessons teacher from years ago, and is no longer afraid, and jumps off the high dive and goes down water slides, and does all the fun things you can do when you can swim without fear. 

He had a rough time in school in 4th and 5th grade. The boys were starting to be mean to him. He struggled. He hated going. He would call home from school with a "stomach ache" sometimes. He would get off the bus crying because the kids had been mean to him. Or he have an outburst at home, and we'd find out he had a difficult day at school. It was heartbreaking. A few times I cried when he wasn't looking. It just broke my heart to see him struggling with friends. It was also the time when we were figuring out that he had ADHD. 

In 5th grade, he visited East Linn for a day. He really enjoyed it. Its a small christian school. We were worried about him going to NAMS for middle school as bad things had been happening there, and he was such a follower. But ultimately we gave him the choice to switch schools for middle school, or stay the course. He decided to switch. It was the absolute best choice. Its expensive. We have to pay a hefty tuition, but its so worth it. He changed so much that first year! He was so happy! He had friends, he was getting good grades, we had no issues whatsoever, and he never called home with a stomach ache. He actually enjoys going to school now! Thank you Lord for showing him and us where he belonged!!

He joined the soccer team, the basketball team, and the track team. He has grown in soccer, but is still very tentative. He has improved a lot as a basketball player, and he really enjoys playing. He is a really good track star. He has learned how to run properly, and he is so fast!!!  Sadly, he's missing track this year.

So lets see. That brings us to today. He's finishing up 7th grade.... from home unfortunately with Covid-19 and the closure of the schools. But he is obsessed with girls. (Insert my eyeballs rolling around in my head here.) He's a handsome kid though, and the girls all seem to like him. He is obsessed with his hair looking good, and isnt happy with the haircut I gave him while stuck in quarantine! His other obsession is airplanes, and he wants to be a pilot someday. He soaks in all the information about aviation he can like a sponge. This is the same kid who was scared to fly years ago!

He is very outgoing. Extroverted. And talks a lot. Its weird that I have a child so extroverted, but I admire his outgoing nature since i'm the opposite. He also makes a great big brother!

In just a couple years, he'll be driving, and a couple more years he'll be graduating. I am sadly and acutely aware that we are on the down slope of raising this child, and the slope feels like its getting steeper and faster. 😢 Our time with him will be over soon, and he'll be flying off to start his own life. (Quite literally he could be flying off, if he continues to want to be a pilot when he's grown.) 

7 years!

That's how long we've been in our "new" house! I was reading posts from when we first moved in. We are still working on our yard. Its been a really really long and expensive project. Its not perfect by any means, but at least we have a flat area and "grass" (clovers mostly) that the kids can run around in. We acquired my parents old play structure, and bought a trampoline a few years back. The swings get played with every day that the sun is shining. Carter loves swinging so much!
And the trampoline gets nearly daily use still! It was such a good investment!

Anyways, the yard is a mostly completed mess. The soil is thick, sticky, horrible clay so plants and grass don't always grow very well in it (but the weeds sure love it.) The weeds every spring are so overwhelming. Our neighbor next door has been building his house himself for 6 years. And its still not finished. Super nice guy, but good heavens im not sure that house will ever be completed! And since he's not done, his yard isnt done so its all weeds. He weed eats it every so often, but i think it still spreads. Doesn't help that we have a field in our backyard as well.

Looking back, we talk about things we wish we'd done differently when building our house. Like installing the granite instead of the formica. We ended up spending nearly as much as granite would have been on making it look "fancy" with fancy edging. The backsplashes are all coming off now, and Derek has has to fix both bathrooms. The kitchen and laundry are also in need of fixing, but its a long process and we cant use the counters for a week.

Our carpet is a disaster. They didn't stretch it properly when it was installed, so its getting lines of lumps all over. I just want to replace it all with Pergo, but again, lots of $$$.  This is a problem in every single room. And it frustrates me to no end.

Another thing I would have done differently, is making the kids bedrooms about a foot bigger. Their rooms are pretty small.
And I would have also added on a bonus room. The kids are getting older, they need a place they can go hang out with their friends thats not in the main living area where we all have to be. Im still holding out hope that we can make this happen, but by the time we can, the kids will be grown and moved out.
These are things we didn't think about when building.

I got tired of the paint color that was in every single room. The kids rooms have been painted a few times each, but the rest of the house color was really wearing on me. It was a yellowish color. So I finally painted the main areas- kitchen, dining, living room and hallways. I'm SOOOO glad I did! It was a lot of work, but it was well worth it!

Another thing I would have done, made the dining area just a bit bigger. Its fine how it is, but I just like more space around my chairs and the rest of the stuff around it.
And a half bath would've been nice. I didn't want to have to clean 3 bathrooms, so we didn't add that to the plan. But for some reason, we all seem to have to use the bathrooms at the same time! 😂😂

Things I LOVE about our house-
The kitchen. I still love it. Its big, its so much bigger than our old kitchen, and I have so much room to keep everything!
The laundry room. I will not take for granted having my laundry inside the house as opposed to the garage. And having a utility sink has been life changing on so many levels! ;)
Our hallway. It has soooo much storage and I LOVE that!!!! You know me, i love organizing! In the original house plans, that storage area was supposed to be a stairway to a daylight basement. We didn't need a basement so we took out the stairs from the plan, leaving a nice big hallway and wonderful storage closets in its place!
Our big living room. Looking back, our old house had such a small living room. It had toys all over too. We kept the toys out there since the kids bedrooms were upstairs and I didn't want Avery climbing the stairs and tumbling down them. Now all the kids toys are in their rooms, and the living room is wide and open.
The big lot. The kids need that room to run. Carter would have never survived in our old yard! He loves to run, kick balls, swing, spend his time out there in the sun. I'm glad we get to have a garden (although the garden beds are being used by a certain 4 year old as a construction site....) Our house faces the opposite direction as our old house, so in the summer, our afternoons and evenings we get to spend out in the backyard and on the deck where its shaded from the hot summer sun by the house.

Dont get me wrong, I dearly loved our old house, and I still think about our time in that house. So many wonderful memories. Our first home. We brought home 2 of our 3 kids to that house. The yard was easy to take care of since it was so tiny. The house was easy to clean because it was smaller. And I just thought it was a cute house, and a nice layout. It was nice and bright. And perfect for a young couple just starting out.

In the end, i'm so grateful for the house we are in now. We are so blessed to be where we are! And i'm so grateful for the house we started our life together in. Yes, we were so blessed there as well.

11 in scrabble

Today was my 40th birthday! I can't believe it came so fast! I feel like it wasn't very long ago that we were throwing my mom a surprise 40th birthday party! But that was well over 20 years ago!

The day was nice. Since the world is in quarantine, we stayed in. Derek was working (from home.) Jadon had online school. Avery and Carter went and spent a few hours at Gramma Debbies playing with the chickens. It was so quiet when they were gone!

Derek got me a brand new set of pots and pans, stainless steel!
Avery got me a beautiful hummingbird feeder. And Jadon got me a lap desk. I love them all!
I'm a little worried about using the pans, I feel there will be some trial and error with using stainless steel cookware. But they are beautiful! Our other set is a couple of cheap pans from costco that are a couple years old, and some pots that we've had since the wedding!

It was pouring down rain today. Never know what kind of weather we're gonna get for my birthday. Could be like todays was, or it could be 80 degrees and beautiful and sunny.  Derek and i did manage to take Macy for a walk this evening when there was a break in the rain.

Avery gave me a card, and in it there was a picture of scrabble pieces that spelled out "Forty"... but, she said, in scrabble i'm only 11! 😅

Overall it was a nice, quiet day. And i'm not upset to be "Over the hill" now, actually i'm a little happy in a way. My 30's were much better than my 20's, and i've heard 40's are even better than 30's.
So, here's hoping or a great decade!

And the cherry on top of the nice day was when Carter got out of bed to come give me a hug tonight and tell me happy birthday. 💓

Good heavens

I decided I wanted to start blogging again, but I forgot how quickly time passes between posts! I feel like I just started this again and its already been a week somehow since I last posted.

I'm glad I blogged though. Ive been slowly going through each post and printing them all, keeping them in a binder. Avery has started reading them. That girl loves to read anyways, but she is enjoying seeing how life was before she was born, and when she was little. And I have to say, I enjoy looking back on all of the posts as well. It brings back so many memories, and things I would have otherwise forgotten.

Life feels really good right now! We aren't crazy busy, we aren't in the car constantly, and we have lots of time together. I know it will end eventually, but for now, i'm trying to soak it all in!

We've been reading The Hunger Games books with Jadon and Avery every evening after Carter goes to bed.  We are almost through with the final book. We've watched the movies as we finished each book. The movies are not nearly as good as the books, but that typical of most movies based on books.

Last summer we dubbed  "The Summer of Harry Potter." Avery had finished all the Harry Potter books, and was obsessed with anything Harry Potter. So we were watching the movies as a family for her. But then, the rest of us got hooked on them. All summer the kids would watch the movies.

Carter told me today that he wants us to get a little pool, and fill it with water and fish so he can fish in the pool. That kid. He can make me want to lose my mind one minute, then look at me cutely the next and I melt.

Anyways, again, another post thats all over the place. Thats kindof how my thoughts are lately... all over the place! ;)

My back has been bugging me again. Its been bugging me off and on since my physical therapy back when Avery was in preschool. But usually when i'd lift things wrong or bend weird. But its been hurting me a lot lately. I've been doing my stretches more, and doing core strengthening exercises, but it still sometimes will bug me. It was bugging me at the end of last week (today is Sunday). I took it easy over the weekend,did a lot of stretching, and yesterday it was feeling really good and this morning I woke up and thought I was back to normal again. Then for some reason around lunchtime, it started hurting again.  I immediately started my stretches, but that didn't help, and now i'm in misery again. I can barely do anything. I am relying on everyone else to do everything, and it just about kills me. I was so frustrated this evening as I was doing my stretches that I was tearing up because of frustration. I'm trying to think of what I could have done to make it hurt again, but I come up with nothing. I was bending over a little, but thats life. I wasn't picking up any heavy objects, or any objects for that matter. I feel broken.

Coronavirus, Covid 19, the 'rona.....

Doesn't matter what you call it. It has completely turned everyones lifes upside down. The entire world.

We have been in "quarantine", sheltering at home, practicing social distancing, since March 12th. We are not supposed to leave the house except for essential items, like groceries. 50% of people are wearing masks or gloves or both, and all non essential stores and restaurants had to close. Some restaurants still offer take out though. There are lines outside of busy stores, as they allow one person in, as another one exits, so they don't exceed a certain number of persons in the store.
Everyone is supposed to stay at least 6 feet away from each other, except within your immediate family.
The kids are doing "distance learning." I'm amazed by their resilience and ability to adjust to an unknown situation so easily. Jadon's school was able to easily convert to online learning as the kids all had chromebooks. Avery's school wasn't so easy. They missed several weeks before they were able to send out books for the kids to work in. But its not much. Around 15 minutes a day. So we have Avery do other stuff as well. Carter is doing some small stuff at home.
They are stressing that don't worry about your child falling behind, every kid in the world is in the same boat and they will catch back up next year.

Sadly, school has been cancelled for the rest of the school year. It made me sad because Avery is missing out on so many fun field trips in 4th grade. Today we picked up all her school supplies and papers and anything else she had at school. We pulled into the parking lot, and her teacher, wearing a mask and gloves, brought everything to our car and we didn't even leave the car.

This is such a surreal time. We encouraged the kids to write down stuff in a journal because this is historical. Someday they will tell their kids all about the time that we were quarantined and school was cancelled for 6 months.

In stores, everyone had stripped the shelves of TP, flour, sugar, and rice.
Today, April 30th, there have been 1,031,659 cases of Covid 19 in the USA. And a total of 60,057 deaths.

I'm kindof all over the place with this post.
Life has definitely changed around here. We are working from home, kids are "homeschooling" and we hardly leave the house except for groceries or Rx's. We have spent 24 hours a day together for a month and a half. You'd think we would all be at each others throats. But, I think its been good for us to slow down significantly. Jadon and Avery are getting along wonderfully again. I'm teaching Avery how to cook and Grandma Debbie is teacher her how to sew. Avery and Carter and I planted a garden. Something we haven't been able to do in a few years because of time. After Carter goes to bed, we've been reading The Hunger Games with the older two kids. They've enjoyed that.
The kids have A LOT of down time, which is where they struggle, they don't know what to do, so they just want to play video games and watch YouTube, but we put a limit on that. Once they come up with something to do they are great.
I think its even been good for our marriage. Derek and I have been going for walks together with the dog, and sometimes Carter. Its nice to have that time together where neither of us is stressed out or mentally exhausted. Its definitely making me rethink continuing my job. But i'm feeling happier, less stressed, than I have in years.
And surprisingly, none of them are driving me crazy. In fact, I'm soaking in all this time I've been given with them. I'm dreading when things go back to normal again and we have to be constantly on the go. Its like a dark cloud over my head.

Sure, we are running the dishwasher every day now, and going through TP much faster. But its so been worth it.

The years flew by....

Wow, its been 4 years since my last post. I figured I was done with this blog! I had forgotten how to get into it for a long time, and I just plain haven't had an ounce of time to blog. Last summer I almost just deleted it completely. I'm glad I didn't. I'm trying to figure out how I can print the blog without spending an arm and a leg.

I decided to read back through some of my posts, and boy did that bring back memories! I'm soooo glad I had the blog to document some of these things! Most of them I remember, but some I do not. None of the pictures show up anymore, because we've since created a "photo library" and all of our pictures were moved and sorted into the library. So none of the pictures show up in the blog anymore, but I know exactly which pictures were there still.

Its amazing how fast time goes. As a kid, it went so slow. I thought the years would never pass. But now they just keep going faster and faster like a snowball rolling down a hill.

In my last post, Jadon was in 3rd grade, Avery in kindergarten, and Carter was just 8 months old. They are now 7th grade, 4th grade and preschool. Carter starts kindergarten in the fall already.

Jadon is 5ft 4in now, just a few inches shorter than me. Its so weird to be over to look at him almost eye to eye!  On top of anxiety, he has ADHD, and Premature Adrenarche. He might not get to be taller than me, but luckily he has tall genes in his family so fingers are crossed.
He plays soccer, basketball and track. He is a really fast runner! Didn't see that coming! From the boy who used to clomp and stomp his way across the basketball court, to one of the fastest kids in his grade. (Someone taught him how to properly run.)
He really likes girls too. ;) And the girls seem to like him as well. He is Mr. Socialite. He talks a lot, has no trouble making friends and being around people. Its so weird that I have a kid like him that loves to socialize since i'm such an introvert.
He wants to be a pilot someday, and aside from girls, planes and flying are about all he thinks about.

Avery, my sweet girl, she is 5 ft tall. She.'s been about a head taller than most of the kids in her class throughout elementary school. She is artsy, crafty, creative. She loves quiet things, like reading, writing and drawing. She's a TAG student (Talented and gifted) and has been labeled as TAG in math, and her teacher also thinks reading or writing, i cant remember which. I personally think she is a very talented writer. But she's always been good at reading too.
She does swim team. Yep. Reading back when Avery was in Waterkids at 18 months or so old, I had typed that she loved jumping in and loved going under water. I've always known she'd love the water. She has done several swim meets, and has won quite a few ribbons.
She's still as stubborn as ever though. Holy moley is she stubborn.
Avery and I enjoy when the boys are gone and the house is quiet and we can hear each other talk! :)
Avery wants to be a preschool teacher someday. She got to help out in carters preschool class a couple of times.

Carter. Oh my little Carter. He's mama's boy through and through! He will crawl into bed with me at night and snuggle into me. If I have my back to him, he will spoon me! 😂 Hes always picking me flowers, or i constantly hear "mom, watch this!" and he'll do something that he thinks is totally awesome and amazing. He talks CONSTANTLY. Like, it never stops.
He's probably the most headstrong of the 3 kids, he's also stubborn like his sister, but not quite as bad. He's fast. He loves to play anything that involves running or a ball or jumping.
He's very social like his brother.
He was much easier to potty train than his siblings.

Derek is still working for the hospital. He's become quite a respected, important person in his job, enough that they suggested a manager role, but he doesn't want to manage anyone (i dont blame him.)

I started working part time at our church as children's ministry director in November 2017. Since then, we've been non stop on the go. Between church and the kids extracurricular activities, we have no time to breath. I've never liked being overly busy. I enjoy being home, being able to take care of my house and my family. So its been quite an adjustment.  And lately i've been praying about even continuing the job. My kids have grown up and I feel like i missed the last 3 years of their lives. So, we will see how God answers my prayers, whether he wants me to continue, or whether that season of my life is done.

One thing is for sure. I feel old. I'm tired. I don't have the energy I used to. I was a better mom to Avery and Jadon when they were little than I am to Carter. He knows I love him, but we spend hardly any time playing on the floor together like I did with Jadon and Avery. This is why you have kids in your 20's, and not any later! 😜

Breastmilk and popcorn

I am a big supporter of breastfeeding. Its good for both baby and mama, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to nurse our children!
I came across this good article about breastmilk and how it changes when baby is sick. Its pretty amazing what the human body can do!
http://distractify.com/trending/2016/02/23/aimee-gross-photo-of-breast-milk-is-fascinating-the-internet?utm_content=inf_10_53_2&tse_id=INF_fda32bb0a6054434a6fcc1c87593e9c4
Take the time to read it if you can.

Well, our little guy is nearing 8 months old already, and this time has gone so much faster than our first two kids. I'm super sad that its going so quickly. I so enjoy having a little baby around! He has been such a blessing to our family. I love seeing how the kids love on him, and how he smiles excitedly when they get home from school!

Jadon just started basketball, he is really enjoying it so far! Avery is going to be doing soccer next month, and she's excited. We had to stop swimming lessons for a couple months because we were doing a training class with Macy on the day we were doing swimming. We learned a lot at the training class, however, training will take some time as we have limited time to actually work with her on the things we learned.

Its friday movie night in the Loveless Household, and i'm being beckoned to make popcorn! Someday i'll have time to blog more frequently again. ;)

First post of the year, hopefully not the last!

Been a long time since I wrote last. Life is much busier when you have a baby. And kids. And a dog. And kids that act like babies sometimes. ;) Anyways, honestly I don't have much time right now either. Carter is sleeping, he usually wakes up around this time so I expect he will be waking any minute.

I'm ready for spring. Like NOW. I was doing pretty good not letting the dreary weather get to me, until this past week. Avery got the stomach flu, and then had a relapse 2 days later, and we've been stuck inside for 5 days. I'm going stir crazy, but at the same time I don't want to be outside in the cold, wet weather. January and February are my absolute LEAST favorite months of the year. Once March hits, daylight savings comes and the evenings are getting longer, the sun comes out sometimes, the vegetation starts budding....... I feel like I can breath a little more.
However, this year I also want it to slow down, which is purely crazy talk! But Carter is almost 6 months old already, and I can't stand it..... The time is just going way to fast, I just want him to stay my little baby forever. :*(
Just for the record, I don't ever remember the time going this fast with the first 2. Yes, it went fast, but this is like lightening speed.

Anyways, i'm doing my best to soak up every minute of his babyhood. At just a few weeks old, he was already so strong, we thought for sure he'd be crawling and rolling really early. But, he's still only rolls from tummy to back, and hasn't even attempted crawling. Its ok. I'm in no rush.
He has 2 teeth... first one poked through on his 5 month "birthday", the second one a week or so later. He's eating some cereal and carrots, but isnt incredibly interested in eating. Oh he watches us eat, and tries to grab at our food, but not because he wants to eat it.... but because he wants to explore it.

Jadon is good. He's enjoying 3rd grade... but with 3rd grade comes a large increase in self management, and homework. He's getting so tall too! I don't have to bend over to hug or kiss him anymore! I just have to bend my head down. Basically what i'm saying is, he's only about a head shorter than me now!!!!!! Scary scary scary!!!!

Avery is also good..... LOVES kindergarten. Loves school and socializing with her friends. She's a great student. She is on her teachers "All Star" team, which means she follows directions, pays attention, doesn't distract the other students, etc. She's always on point.

Derek is good as well. Busy. Work is busy and stressful at times. And then he comes home and helps out with the kids and cleaning kitchen. He really is a gem. I couldn't have asked for a better husband and father to my kids.

Macy is good too. She's bored. She wants to play but its hard for me to play with her during the day. Once the weather starts clearing up, I intend to start taking her and Carter for walks. We are starting a training class with her this weekend. I have no idea how to train a dog (other than sit, shake, lay down, etc.) and we want a dog that is well behaved, so we are going to take her to a training class at the humane society. I'm looking forward to it.

Anyways, the little human has awoken, so i'll leave you with our latest family picture! (in case you forgot, every year on January 1st, we take our picture as a family. it has been so fun to see our family grow and changes over the years , and we enjoy doing it too. This was our 7th year already!)

 And here's my precious kids....  I just love them. How blessed we are! :)

Life with baby

It's been awhile! It's like they say, time flies when you're having fun! 😊

Anyways, I came across an article that I thought was fantastic and so true! People have such derogatory things to say when you have more than 2 kids, especially when your first 2 are a boy and a girl. Things like, it's perfect, you have one of each so now you can stop. My neurologist even tried to convince me to only have 2 kids, like having three was just completely nuts... Afterall, it works perfectly with 2... One kid for each parent.... You fit in the booths at restaurants.... Etc.
also, people thinks it's crazy to have another child when your oldest ones are pretty much self sufficient now. "It's like starting all over now! With diapers, sleepless nights, crying, etc"

Well I knew exactly what I was getting into. And I would not ever change it. I love having a baby in the house again. Even with the diapers and blowouts. Even with not being able to keep up with house cleaning, even with having no time for "me", even though I spend a good portion of my day in the glider feeding Carter or rocking him while he sleeps.
I love seeing my bigger kuds doting on the baby. I never figured Jadon would be very interested in a baby, but he loves holding him! He loves trying to get him to laugh and smile and play with him. Yes, Carter is one lucky kid to have 2 big siblings who absolutely adore him!  (They even want another one!)

Yes there is no doubt in my mind that Carter was meant for our family, even if he is 6 years younger than his big sister and 8.5 years younger than his big brother.

So here's that link.... I Love it.
http://mom.me/blog/24246-13-things-moms-siblings-large-age-gaps-already-know/

3 weeks

Little baby Carter is 3 weeks old today! Hard to believe! This also means that Derek went back to work today,,,, after 3 glorious weeks of him being home helping out! He makes a fantastic house husband/stay at home dad!  What a blessing it was to have him home!

 We are adjusting good to having a baby in the house again. Jadon was a little emotional the first couple days, but he absolutely adores Carter now! He wants to hold him a lot, and then doesnt want to give him up when we need to take him to eat or change him. Avery obsesses over his little body parts... especially his feet and hands. She just came down with a cold, so I told her not to touch his face or hands with her hands, since he puts his hands in his mouth. She was extremely upset about this and cried and cried (literally.... with big old tears and all!) Overall they are adjusting well, and are doing pretty good with me sitting around feeding the baby all the time.
We had problems with Macy being jealous for a couple weeks, but she's calming down now for the most part.

My labor and delivery went well! From the time i got my IV and Pitocin to start labor until the time he was born was 5 hours, which was great. I got an epidural, which I kick myself for now. It only numbed my torso, so I felt no contractions (which was nice), but I felt everything when it was time for him to be delivered! I only had it for a little while before he was born. Id say I dilated pretty quickly once I got to 4 cm. At around 7cm my water broke on its own, and it seems like after that things went quick. The epidural caused my blood pressure to drop, and because of it Carters heart-rate was dropping, so I was stuck laying very uncomfortably on my side. (You'd think they'd make those beds more comfortable!) Then suddenly I had a major urge to push! It was extremely intense!! And it was a ton of pressure on my rectum... I thought for sure I was going to poop all over! I was scared to push because I didn't want to poop,  As far as I know, I did not poop... however Carter did.... he pooped inside me, so he had to be suctioned out quickly so he didn't breath in his poop when he came out. He came out after only a few pushes.
And I fell in love right away. :)
I keep telling everyone, if I could just skip 9 months of pregnancy, I would gladly go through labor and delivery and have a million babies!  I hated pregnancy! I was blessed with 3 good labor/delivery experiences i'd say, and I could definitely do that part over again.... but pregnancy, I could not.

Its really funny, but a girl from our church who was due 3 weeks after me, was actually in the hospital at the same time, just a few doors down from us. Her water had broke. So our babies are just a few hours apart in age! And both our babies ended up with jaundice.

Derek and I had our 12th anniversary the other day! We kept it low key and just spent the day together as a family. We went to church, then to the coast for the afternoon. The wind was whipping at the coast, and sandblasting us. Carter was NOT a happy camper! But Macy LOVED it!

And apparently naptime is over now, so its time to end this.

Well hello there! :)

Ive been meaning to post for a long time, but usually when I have a free chance to do so, i'm either napping/resting, or trying to do something with the kids before i fall asleep! I decided this week I really need to make a stronger effort to do so though since baby boy will be here any day!

We are good! Avery just finished up 2 weeks of Safety Town. She loved it! She was in a group with 3 of her good friends from Preschool. I enjoyed the 2 hours every morning spent with Jadon. Because it was in Corvallis, we didn't want to drive all the way home, so we just hung out in Corvallis for the 2 hours each day. One of the preschool friends has a brother who is in Jadon's grade at school, so we did things with them a few of the days and with the other moms. Other days we grocery shopped and went for coffee together. I rarely ever get time alone with him, so it was nice to get that opportunity before baby comes.

The last week of June was spent with the kids and Derek at VBS. Derek helped out with Jadon's group. This was Avery's first year to get to go, now that she will be a kindergartener!  Of course she loved it! Who doesn't love VBS? And plus, almost all of her preschool class was at that as well!

Baby is good! He measures perfectly for where he should. My OB thinks he will be bigger than Avery, but thats not saying a whole lot since she was not incredibly huge- 7lbs 9oz. Plus, its just a guess really. No one can tell exactly how big he'll be until he is here.
I'm feeling nothing. Very few braxton hicks. The only thing is my hips and groin feel like they are splitting apart, but thats been happening for weeks now. Sometime between 36 and 37 weeks, he dropped. I can totally tell because I have to pee constantly. And I am not having the miserable indigestion at night that I had been having now that my stomach has a little more room.
I was reading back in my blog in the last few weeks of pregnancy with Avery. It sounds almost identical to this one!
So, my OB is gone all next week. However, she is not comfortable with my 1 hour labor with Avery, and wants me to be induced. So monday the 27th when she gets back, if I haven't already delivered, she will check me. If the conditions are favorable, she wants me to be induced the next day.  For awhile I was completely against being induced. But now, i'm thinking its probably best. She said Derek is a computer guy, he doesn't need to be worrying about delivering a baby. She probably would have suggested we induce sooner, however my OB will be gone.
And i'll tell you why I think its best to be induced. Yesterday when I was reading my blog about my delivery with Avery, I realized my contractions cannot be used to gauge when I need to go in. The entire day before Avery was born, i'd had extremely irregular contractions. They ranged up to 20 minutes or more apart, and they were not "unbearable" and they even quit in the afternoon for awhile. By the time I went to bed that night, they were more uncomfortable, but I was only having 2 an hour....... that is, until I woke up to my water breaking. As soon as my water broke, the contractions were suddenly 5 minutes apart exactly, and incredibly painful. Avery was born an hour later.
Since we don't know what this labor will be like, we just have to assume it could be just like it was with Avery. Which makes me nervous that we wouldn't get to the hospital in time.
So now, i'm actually HOPING I make it to the 27th so we can induce the 28th. Right now, i'm 38 weeks and 3 days. Only a week and a half to go!

We finally decided on a name! It was a name that was on my list....for years actually. Since before we knew Avery was a girl. Derek settled for it a week or so ago since he couldn't come up with anything else that he liked and I liked. I was surprised he picked that name because I always assumed it was one that he wouldn't like. I'm happy. I think it goes well with Jadon and Avery's names.

Counting down!

Tuesday will be 26 weeks! Yay! I am really ready to be done. Pregnancy has not been fun this time around. With heartburn so horrible that even water makes me burn, random nauseous days in the second trimester, tiredness that has only partially improved this trimester.... and on top of that, i've lost all physical strength that I had from laying on the couch for the first 3 months of the pregnancy due to extreme fatigue and nausea. Seriously, I have no strength anymore, which makes things difficult. One good thing, I have found that eating lunch meat gives me HORRIBLE heartburn. So if I avoid that, then I can avoid really intense heartburn! Unfortunately meat and cheese sandwiches are incredibly tasty right now....

Jadon has been so cute. We told him baby can probably hear us now, so he's been talking to my belly a lot. Tonight he read the baby one of his books, then told the baby he loved him, and he was telling him about his family and how they will get to share a room. Its funny, the child that gives us the biggest heartache and trouble sometimes can also be the sweetest. Regardless of that, I sure do love that boy!

We just got over a bout of pink eye. First Jadon, then Avery, then Derek and I woke up with it at the same time. That was our first time dealing with pink eye. 

We also just recovered from a really really awful cold! We are all still coughing occasionally. That was one of the worst colds i've had though!
I guess i cant complain too much though, we've been extremely lucky to have escaped many colds this year.... from hearing from everyone else, its been a bad year for illnesses. I think this cold was the first one id had so far this pregnancy!

About a month ago, Jadon had an anxiety episode. It lasted for a few weeks, and we were worried he wasn't going to be able to get himself out of it and we would have to increase his medication. It is heartbreaking to see him going through it. Absolutely heartbreaking. 

But he did pull through it. I'm still not sure what exactly caused it. It started when he got sick with this cold (he was the first to get it.... of course.) And for whatever reason, he just started unraveling from everything else. :*( I pray he can outgrow this someday. 

On a different note, spring is here! Which means we've been busy! Jadon's doing track again, and that takes up 2 afternoons after school, plus weekend meets. 

Avery still does tap dance once a week. 

Swimming lessons once a week for both of them. 

Wednesdays the kids go to church for a kids program.

Sunday mornings we've been going to church.... well, on days we are healthy and not hacking or with pink eyes.

Plus we've been going to alot of birthday parties lately! It appears as though most of the kids in Avery's class were born in Feb, March, April. And apparently every child in her class is having a birthday party for their 5th birthdays.... which is fine. We've been to Papa's Pizza 3 times now for birthdays in the last couple months. 

On top of that, there's the dog. Lucky for all of us, Derek installed a makeshift wire fence around the perimeter of our backyard, so now the dog has free run of the backyard. She's in heaven with this arrangement! She LOOOOOOOOOVES it outside! On nice day's, she'll spend most of the day out there, just wandering around, sniffing the cats butts, exploring the yard, eating cat food then puking it up then eating her puke..... etc. She comes inside for napping mostly. She is not a big eater.... which is extremely odd in a dog we think? However, she just got weighed at the vet, and gained a pound since her last appointment. She's nearing full growth now, so she's not going to get a whole lot bigger or gain a whole lot more. She's clearly healthy though! I guess she's too busy eating cat food and sticks outside now ;)

Well, I think i've jabbered enough for now! 

Cruisin' along!

Tomorrow i'll be 17 weeks! Now that i'm done with the terrible first trimester, things are flying by!
I've been feeling better for about a week now. I still had some random waves of nausea several times, but for the most part, i'm feeling much better!  I'm quite tired by the end of the day though.
Earlier in the week I thought I might have felt the baby move, but I couldn't be 100% certain. A couple nights later, I was laying in bed, and there was no mistaking that feeling! And i've felt it several times since. Everytime I use the doppler to find the heartbeat, the little guy is moving around like CRAZY! I hear that an active baby is a healthy one.... whether that's true or not, I don't know. I just have to wonder what he'll be like out of the womb though.... I don't recall Jadon being overly active, and with Avery i'd have times where I wouldn't feel her much for days! It would scare me to death!

Macy is doing good! She is housebroken (I think.) She rings the bell that we have tied to the front door when she needs to go out. However, she also rings it when she just wants to go out to play, so on nice days when she LOVES being outside, she'll sit at the door and ring it all day! I look forward to having some fencing in place so we can let her out freely. The only problem we've come across is, she wears her harness all day and all night. So awhile back, she was doing really well going out to potty, and it appeared she was fully trained, so we took it off since she doesn't need to go out to potty every hour anymore. I think she was confused, and she peed on the floor several times that day. Once we put the harness back on, we haven't had a problem anymore. So that stinks for her because she has to wear the harness constantly now (we call it a training bra.... and i imagine its just as annoying feeling as one too!)
Last week she got spayed and micro chipped. I'm not sure how they expect an active terrier puppy to sit all day and do nothing active, including running and jumping, for 2 weeks! Also, she's not easily tricked into taking pills. Her pain medication is 1/4th of a small pill. Its pretty tiny. We've been putting it in her treats (pill pockets) and she still figures it out and spits it out. We tried putting it in a chunk of cheese. She figured it out. We tried a chunk of hot dog, and she figured it out. I tried several times to just get the thing into the back of her throat and then blow on her nose and I failed. So after all that, I think she was suspicious of me anytime I gave her a treat. So Derek tried and he did fine for a couple days, then Macy figured out that HE was giving her the meds now. So then he struggled a bit, but not nearly as bad as me.
She's lost all her teeth now, so she's not bitey like she was. She still chews on things, but she's not constantly trying to bite us with those sharp little puppy teeth!
Overall, she's turning into a really good dog! She's smart and knows several commands now, she loves riding in the car, and she LOVES cuddling with her people.

Other news- Jadon's 8th birthday is in a few weeks. EIGHT! How the heck did that happen????? In 2 more years he'll be out of single digits forever!
And Avery isn't far behind! She'll be doing all day kindergarten in the fall, and i'll miss her dearly!:*(
She's my girl. My silly, happy, goofy girl. In a month i'll be signing her up for Safety Town. You may remember Jadon did that. Its for kids entering kindergarten, and they teach them all about safety- water safety, pedestrian safety, animal safety, stranger danger, etc. Jadon was pretty smart already and knew pretty much everything, but he still enjoyed it because it was fun. Avery on the other hand.... she needs it! She's such a space cadet! She's off in her own little world all the time. She still is required to hold my hand in parking lots because she'll just run off or around in the parking lot, meanwhile cars are backing up and whizzing by..... shes oblivious. Jadon was always very aware of what was going on around him. Avery, not so much. Jadon, being the protective big brother, when we are in public, he's always more worried about where Avery is than else.

Spring is coming soon too!!!! You all know how hard winter is for me. This year, i'm so glad i was feeling like crap in the winter instead of the summer! The days are getting longer now, soon it will be daylight savings and we'll gain and hour of sunlight!! I personally feel like the hour of sleep we lose is WELL WORTH IT!!!!  My flower bulbs are coming up, and leaves are sprouting on the some of my bushes, like my hydrangeas!  It makes me so happy to see new life again! Winter is such a struggle for me. Last winter was a freezing, snowy, icy mess! We had a very mild winter this year, with temps mostly in the 40's and 50's. Yesterday it was even in the low 60's! The only problem is, this time of year I always start getting that really really really bad itch.... you know, the itch where you're just dying to do some yard work! Dying to get your hands in the dirt! Dying to plant some color in your garden! And with soooooooo much work needing to be done on our yard, this year is no exception for the itch!!!! But, we are trying to really watch our budget right now, so any purchases will have to wait until the next month when they can go into the budget.
Patience is a virtue, right?

12 weeks!

12 Weeks today! Wasn't sure i'd make it this far, but so far so good!

I realize my last post was very whiny and complainy..... It was a bad day, I was feeling pretty horrible and down. Not feeling well for so long can really start to wear on you.

So last night was my last progesterone suppository and last baby asprin. THANK GOODNESS! Glad those suppositories are done! I'll start progesterone shots in my heiney in 4 weeks.

So some of you may have already heard the results of my blood draw 2 weeks ago. Everything came back negative (meaning no trisomy or downs) so that is good. Being "older", my chances are not much greater of having a baby with down syndrome (doctor said just a third of a percent) but I was still worried nonetheless. Also found out this little one is another boy! I'm a little disappointed because we both had lots of girl names picked that we liked.... but boy names are stupid. We can't really find anything that we like. We aren't into the weird names... not really into the uncommon names either (which are often weird)..... I don't seem to like boys names that are longer than about 6 or 7 letters..... some of the ultra popular current names are cute but are in fact ultra popular, so I wouldn't do that..... not doing family names....not doing a Jr. either...... all the names I kindof like Derek associates with something else, like a sports person that i've never heard of. ;)  Its a good thing that we have awhile to figure a name out because i'm afraid its going to take us the whole time to come up with something.
Jadon's name was easy. We decided on Jayden for a boy back before we were even married, and before it was more popular. By the time Jadon was born, it was becoming popular so we chose a spelling that would set him apart from all the other "Jaydens".... Jadon is actually in the Bible.
Avery's was easy. We met at Avery Park. :)
This time...... no idea whatsoever! Derek said he would almost just like to stick 100 names into a hat and draw a name out. I dunno, but it might end up coming to that if we can't think of something!

This may bore you

Frustrated is how I feel. Seriously frustrated. Its been 5 weeks now that i've been feeling under the weather- Tired, nauseated, extremely exhausted. I've had some good days and I am SOOOO thankful for those days! But most days its the same. And so i'm stuck laying on the couch. My house is gross, the floors haven't been mopped in at least 5 weeks, and I feel like the whole house is in disarray. My poor husband has had to take over being the housewife/mom and I can't stand it because that is MY job and he shouldn't have to start that job when he gets home from working all day. He is so amazing though and does it without complaining.
I am useless to my family right now, and that's all there is to it.
I know I was tired with the other pregnancies, but this tired is like I can't even hardly move tired. Like my body has been in a coma for years and just getting up to use the bathroom is enough to overwhelm me!
And the nausea, while its not horrible, its enough to make me not want to move around. And nothing seems to help. With Avery, i sipped lemonade constantly and that was helpful. I haven't tried lemonade this time because it sounds pretty gross. I suck on hard candy and that helps a tad, especially when I have a gross taste in my mouth. But other than that, my beloved morning cup of coffee is totally disgusting, but i'm drinking it anyways because otherwise I get a headache.
I'm 11 weeks today, and first trimester ends in a couple weeks, I'm hoping I start feeling better. I've noticed for the past week that i've had a little more energy- Thank the Lord, because I was feeling like the exhaustion was going to kill me!. The nausea improved for a couple weeks though, and then came back a week ago.  However, this past Saturday I felt amazing! A little tired, but not sick feeling, and I cleaned a bathroom and did some laundry and a few other odds and ends that have been driving me nuts for weeks. It felt sooooooooo good to do something useful!!!!!!
You forget after awhile how horrible first trimester can be. However, I wanted this, and I knew what I was getting myself into, and I am very grateful to be feeling symptoms.... even if they are less than pleasant. It means my body is working and doing what it should be.

On a less depressing note, I had an appointment a week ago. They now do a new 1st trimester screening for chromosomal abnormalities (if you want it done) that is just a blood draw. You can read more about it here.  I did the blood draw and i'll find out the results by next week sometime. Why would I do it? Well, why not? Its simple and non invasive.... I get to find out important information about the baby. It also is able to tell the gender! At 10 weeks! Isn't that crazy? So you can now find out the gender in your first trimester, rather than waiting until your 20 week ultrasound!
Also, i'm considered "high risk" for a few reasons. First of all, history of miscarriages, second, i've had a preterm birth, and third.... well, i'm getting old.... or i'm of "advanced maternal age" now, or at least I will be when the baby is born. (apparently 35 is old?) So, i'm anxious to hear the results.

Upon finding out I was pregnant, my sweet sister in law graciously let me borrow her fetal doppler! I used one with Avery that I rented. It was so reassuring to have that, and I had planned to get one again this time. The best present ever was hearing a little heart beating on Christmas morning!
I had seen the heart beating at my 7 week appointment, which in a normal pregnancy would be a good sign and after a beating heart is detected, miscarriage risk drops significantly. However, for me, at least one of my miscarriage babies had a heartbeat, and i'm willing to put money on one of the other ones having a heartbeat as well..... so the risk doesn't drop for me just because of a heartbeat. The fact that I've now made it to week 11 and the heart is still beating is a good sign though, and my chances of miscarriage are dropping every day now.

This is IT for me though! I do NOT in a million years want to go through this again. I feel like I have no control over my body and its very taxing on me! Sorry to my mom who was already trying to convince me that maybe one more would be a good idea to even it out! Sorry, but it ain't happening!!!!!!!
Everyone is asking us where we are going to put this child after its born. Well, it will be in our room for awhile. After that, we'll just play it by ear. Plenty of people have lived their lives sharing a bedroom with a sibling, so it will not kill the children to share a room. The kids are already aware that they may need to share a room, and they are perfectly fine with it. We've got a lot of open space in our house, so its not like we're going to be jammed in here like sardines. I know people who have lived in 900 sq feet with 5 children and did just fine, even thrived.

The kids are very excited, especially Jadon, which surprised me. He even talks to my belly sometimes, even though the baby cant hear yet. Its sweet :) Avery said if its a boy or a girl, she wants to name it Flower. And believe it or not, I look forward to having my body back and surprisingly i'm motivated now more than ever to get back into shape! After being so stagnant for 2 months, and already feeling uncomfortable and ill, i'm super ready to get back to feeling good.... because lets be honest, I put on a few pounds in the last year and I felt gross before I even got pregnant!

Well this may have been a super boring post.