Baby Sprinkle

May 25, 2010:

I was lucky enough to have my mom and sister, Jamie, throw me a baby "sprinkle." It was just supposed to be for some of the fun little necessities, but I was very pleasantly surprised by how generous everyone was! Jamie had it at her house and she and my mom did such an awesome job putting it all together. There was such a delicious set up of food and desserts. I was a little embarrassed having all of that done just for me, but I was so appreciative! I had a fun combination of people from church and friends come.

The yummy spread of food!
35 weeks 5 days

Big sister, Lyric,was able to come to the shower too!All of my loot :)

Me with the shower hostesses, Jamie and Mom!

Me and Tuesdee, a friend from high school

The most amazing diaper cake made by my mom!

Me with Bree and Kim, both high school friends, all three pregnant!

Cute girls helping open the gifts

Cute little homemade booties and hat

Preschool Graduation

Official graduation picture taken a few days before the graduation

Waiting for her turn to walk to the stage
Receiving her diploma

Showing her diploma and bible

Her and her "preschool girl," as they have so affectionately nicknamed each other since they started going to preschool together! Who knows where they came up with that!

Family picture :)

May 16, 2010

Lyric had a cute little ceremony at her preschool to celebrate graduation. She was very excited for the evening and had all of the songs memorized that they had been practicing. She wouldn't tell me what she was going to say she wanted to be into the microphone, because she wanted it to be a surprise. She ended up saying she wanted to be a ballerina teacher.

They had a cute little slide show of pictures they showed from the school year at the beginning. It's a little Mennonite preschool, so they received their "diploma" and a little bible as a graduation gift. She's so excited to move on to kindergarten, but will often tell me she's a little sad and will miss it. She says she's glad she gets to drive by it whenever she is on her way to grandma's so she doesn't forget what it looks like.

Her and cousin Peyton have been able to go to school together since January. It has been quite fun and special for the two of them. There is nothing that excites them more than when they get to arrive at preschool together, or when they get to go in the same car home with each other. I have been extremely lucky lately to have Jamie pick her up every morning and take her to school.

Kim's Shower

May 1, 2010

Kim is a friend that I've known since sixth grade when we lived in Corcoran. Her family joined the church and we became good friends right away. After our freshman year of high school, my family moved, and we lost contact. Last June, through good ol' Facebook, she found me! We reconnected and gotten together for play dates with our kids. Our oldest our seven months apart, and the next two are 3 months apart. Now, we are both pregnant together. Funny enough, it wasn't really planned that way, but we are exactly three weeks apart. She's having her third boy. We've enjoyed experiencing the pains of pregnancy together :)

She had a fun little shower that I was able to go to. We took this picture together, which I think is the only one we have together. She didn't believe me when I told her how big I got when I was pregnant, I've been able to prove myself right to her!

Photographers

Paxton's special Mickey Mouse. He has to sleep with it every night. Don't even know how the obsession started!

Lyric's "Lamby." Jamie bought this for her one night, as promised, and it also became an obsession. This girl sleeps with so many stuffed animals, it almost pushes her off her bed!

Showing off her Kitty Cat towel

If these two find my camera, I can always be sure to have a few surprises when I download my pictures to the computer. They love taking pictures of each other, and of really random things!

32 Week Appt

April 28, 2010

At most of my appointments, my mom has been able to come and has also been really good at taking some pictures. This was my 32 week appointment and man do I feel about twice the size now compared to these pictures! My doctor is super nice and will typically pull out the ultrasound machine when my mom and kids are there so they can see the baby. Lyric loves seeing her baby sister and Paxton loves to walk around with the ultrasound picture afterwards. He know Kylee is in mommie's tummy, but I'm not sure if he totally gets it!

Chuck E. Cheese

Lyric and Lexi trying to earn as many tickets as they can!
Paxton played countless rounds of basketball. When he talks about Chuck E. Cheese, that all he cares about!

Jo and Aly on the roller coaster simulator

Decisions, decisions........

All of their loot!

April 9, 2010

While Carly and Alyson were visiting from Utah for Jordyn's baptism, we made a special trip to Chuck E. Cheese. Jamie was doing her last day of long term subbing, so my mom, dad, Carly and I took five of the six kids with us. Pey stayed with Tucker and napped.

They each got "only" about 120 tokens to spend. They didn't even complain when they ran out, it was just the perfect amount for them. My mom wanted to make sure everyone got their satisfactory fill! Afterwards, they combined all of their tickets evenly and picked out their prizes. Always shocking to me to see what the choices offered are. Like, not even Dollar Tree quality, but the kids loved it! They each picked out cotton candy and a few other trinkets.

Easter Sunday

Getting six kids to pose can be a little trick, I actually think it's mainly the two youngest :)
Paxton was wanting to run with the other kids and not be in this picture!

Family group shot, Tucker's mom and dad were also able to make it down from Utah.

Technically, Easter Sunday fell on the same Sunday as General Conference this year, so the kids got to wear their Easter outfits the following Sunday, which also happened to be Jordyn's baptism. We were lucky enough to have Carly and Alyson here, so we had an extra fun couple of days. Chuck E. Cheese, swimming, cousin pictures and lots of playing were a few things on the agenda.

Like always, my mom did such a good job at putting their outfits together. Paxton is always, quite literally, the odd man out, and it gives grandma an extra job to find a boy outfit to coordinate the girls! I had bought a polka dot dress to match the girls, but decided that in my pregnant state, it was not very flattering :)

Jordyn's baptism was so special. Jamie did an excellent job putting it all together. I think I'll just have her replicate the same thing for my kids :) Paxton was beyond fascinated with the whole concept. He's not shy about expressing his emotions and doesn't mind using his football field voice in a quiet setting. Thank goodness for the safety glass in front of the font, or he probably would've been tempted to jump in and join her.

Sleeping on daddy

Getting ready to leave!

April 19, 2010

We had to be to Valley Children's at 8:00am for Lyric's procedure. She was so brave and did such a good job. That hospital is so awesome with kids. They make sure that all questions are answered and that the children feel as comfortable as possible.

Her tonsils and adenoids were removed, and she got her second set of tubes. The procedure ended up only taking 30 minutes. I was very surprised. They brought her to us in the recovery. She was still pretty out of it. The doctor said she had lots of fluid behind her ears, the reason why her ears always felt "cloudy!"

She slept on Mike for a while until she felt a little more alert. I was expecting to be in for a really long day in the recovery, but by 12:30 they were wheeling her out! I wasn't sure what to expect the next few weeks, but kind of expected the worst.

I was quite shocked at how smooth everything went. She had no complications, and as long as I kept the pain medicine in her, she hardly complained. It was ten times easier then I could have ever imagined! The doctor did a really good job, and I am so glad we got it taken care of before kindergarten starts.

Easter 2010

The Easter Bunny came!
They wasted no time digging into their baskets

Dying all of the fun eggs

Cute cousins during the egg cracking competition

Packy showing off his egg

This year we had a nice little Easter. The Easter Bunny came on Saturday night, and the kids wasted no time getting to their baskets nice and early Sunday morning! Easter fell on the same weekend as General Conference, so we were able to lounge and enjoy conference and Easter baskets.

Later in the afternoon, we headed over to Jamie and Tucker's do enjoy the rest of the day. The kids had fun dying some eggs and then we enjoyed a yummy meal. After that, we had an Easter Egg Cracking Competition. It originated with Tucker's family, but have since done it a few times with ours. Tucker was the ultimate champion this year. Then, we did an egg hunt for the kids. We had to do it inside because it ended up raining, but the kids still thought it was lots of fun! Lyric found the golden egg this year and was able to share a prize with each of her cousins and brother.

Zoo Trip

Back on April 2, during spring break, we took a trip to the zoo. We went with my friend, Kim, and her two boys, Quin and Connor. The weather was perfect and the kids had lots of fun. We hadn't been in two years, so it was kind of like a new experience for them. I think their favorite part was petting the sting rays. They were hesitant at first, but really warmed up to it. The sting rays must've really liked Lyric because they kept swimming right over to her! She thought that was pretty cool. They also really like brushing all of the goats in the petting area. Paxton enjoyed following them all around the pen.

Kim and I probably looked like quite the site pushing our four kids around and both having big pregnant bellies!

Sports

Paxton has sports running through his blood. Of course his daddy helps with that, but the boy was born with it in his system. He doesn't care what kind of ball is involved, he wants to play it. After repeatedly stealing his sister's pink helmet, my mom was nice enough to get him one of his own. The minute he got the helmet, the thing rarely left his head! If I would've allowed, he would've slept with it on. I was so happy to see such a gift bring him so much joy and pleasure!

A Wild Hair

Woah, today this boy woke up with something under his skin that made him unlike himself all day! He's always full of lots of energy and loud, but today he was just defiant! I'm actually really hoping it was just today, and not a new faze. I knew it was a really off day when the nursery leader at church brought him to Mike because he wasn't cooperating! That is so not like him. It made me feel a little sad that he got "in trouble" at church.

I'm hoping he sleeps it off and returns to his rambunctious little self in the morning :)

33 Weeks 3 Days

33w 3days

Today, I made myself get pictures taken of my belly. It always sounds inconvenient and annoying, but I know I'll regret it if I don't do it! This week I'll hit 34 weeks. In my mind I have it set that I'll be induced at 39 weeks, so I'm telling myself that I have just about five weeks left.

In the scheme of life, five weeks is nothing, but in pregnancy life, that can feel like eternity. I keep saying that I feel ready to not be pregnant, but I don't quite feel ready for the baby. Since I can't have both, I just need to endure and get ready for this next phase of life!

I think my family deserves an award for putting up with my emotional, illogical, grumpiness that they've been putting up with. I try so hard, but my emotions seem to win the battle :) I've never experienced what enduring something meant quite like I have these last months. In my heart I feel grateful to be able to experience pregnancy, but that doesn't make it feel any easier.

I often find myself apologizing to Mike because I don't have a lot of positive things to say. I know this is temporary and I know in the long, long run, I will have nothing but fond memories of being pregnant :)

Angels Among Us

This morning I had one of those moments where time stood still. I was getting Lyric ready for pre-school when my phone rang. It was my mom. I really didn't think much of it. But on the other end all I remember hearing was, "Lindy, Mike's been in a serious accident." What, who, when, where, how? I wasn't even connecting who she was talking about at first.

Mike leaves for work at about 5:40 each morning. It's still dark, so it can often feel like the middle of the night still, unless Lyric has one of her mornings where she thinks it's normal to be awake at that hour. So, my mind was trying to gain composure. Obviously it had happened on his way to work, but we didn't know much beyond that. They had tried contacting me, but our house phone is messed up right now, so thank goodness they were able to get ahold of my parents.

My parents came over right away and my mom stayed with the kids while my dad drove me to the hospital. We knew that he had been ambulenced there. The nurse updated me when we got there, and then we were able to go back to him. At that point, he was waiting for results from the cat scan.

To make a long story short, he ended up with a concussion, five stitches and eight staples wound on his head, and I'm sure what'll be an extremely sore body tomorrow. Four hours after being taken in, he was being wheeled out! Nothing short of a miracle. The nurses and doctors kept telling him how lucky he was to even be alive.

We still don't know the full story because he's had some short term memory loss and only knows bits and pieces. The main road he drives each morning is a country road. That means that there are typically semis and lots of tractors on it. He was driving and all of the sudden saw a tractor in front of him. They are usually going at about the speed of a snail, and he realized he didn't have time to brake fast enough. He swerved to the left so that he would miss the tractor and that's when he clipped something hanging off of the tractor and spun. A suburban was in the oncoming lane and plowed into him.

At this point, Mike is pretty sure that he doesn't remember seeing lights on the tractor. He said it's almost as though it was all of the sudden dropped in front of him. Since it was still dark, it made it even more impossible to see. We're not sure of much beyond that at this point. We are waiting from the report from the CHP. They told him that they almost had to use the jaws of life to get him out. He was knocked unconscious quickly after swerving to miss the tractor.

The country roads are so scary and the tractors make it even scarier! They often have such huge pieces of equipment that hang far into the next lane, and if there wasn't appropriate lighting on the tractor, that's a death trap!

My dad came with me and we went to the place where his car was towed. It was another surreal feeling as we pulled up and saw the car. It was hardly recognizable. It was like one of those cars that you see on a tow truck and just know the person inside didn't make it out alive. I could not believe my eyes. There was no doubt in my mind that Mike literally had angels holding him as the accident happened. His seat and door are the only ones not mangled to death. Had the suburban hit two to three feet to the left, and it would have been a different story.

It was such a strong example to me of Heavenly Father's love and watch he has over each of us. This accident happened, yet he knew that he was going to preserve Mike and keep him safe. It's just one of those times that really make you realize how delicate life is. It can slip away in seconds. I feel lucky beyond words to have him home and doing relatively well. I have never had such a powerful witness of someone being protected and preserved like I witnessed today. And I feel so grateful for my mom, dad, and Jamie who were either with me or my kids all day helping! What a blessing and a relief that was for my mind.