Family Pictures-2010

Family Pictures-Sneak Peak

If you'd like to take a sneak peak at our new family pictures, go here.

Dan's cousin is an amazing photographer, if any of you are looking.

Enjoy!

Melissa and Doug Giveaway!

For those of you who don't know, I LOVE Melissa and Doug. Firstly, because they make the best kid products and secondly, because it happens to be my Bro-in-law and his new wife's names. Double love.

Melissa and Doug (the ones who make the toys) are doing an awesome Giveaway and I had to share. The winner will receive the Melissa and Doug Puppet Theater and 3 puppets. Melissa and Doug items are so sturdy, and since I started the Day Care, I have become obsessed. Their toys are always the kids favorites. Amazingly, they also hold up to the sometimes 11 kids I have in my care without a problem. I love it!

Go here to check out the contest and enter for yourself.

Little Runner Boy

Mason's school held a 5k fundraiser last weekend, so I signed up and Mason told me he wanted to run it too. He went running with me a few weeks ago and I was amazed at how great he was, so we both signed up. Bless his little heart, it was definitely a struggle for him at times. The race was at 9am and he didn't eat breakfast before so he was complaining the whole time about how hungry and tired he was, but he ran most of the time and got 2nd place for his age group. I'm pretty sure he was the youngest one in the race.

At the end, I told him to start sprinting as fast as he could, and that I would try to keep up (which I couldn't do) and he finished very strong. Dan and I were both so proud of him! I'm crossing my fingers that I have a little runner in the family that I can run with someday. Hopefully this didn't kill any chances I had of that.

On a sidenote: I've lost about 5 pounds since I started trying to lose weight. I signed up to run in the BYU Cougar Run in a week and a half, so hopefully I won't make a fool of myself there. I'm far from fast, but at least I'm running again! I can fit in my pre-pregnancy pants again, thank goodness (my wardrobe was super sad). I still have about 8 pounds to go though. I just wish it would go faster!

For Paige....

Dearest Paige,

Roses are Red,

My fingers turned blue,

Running in the icy wind with you,

Was too good to be true.

Love,

p.s. I'm not as good at the poems as you, sorry.

Keep your comments to yourself....

I am posting about weight loss today. I will admit, the only reason that I am posting about this is to give myself some sort of motivation to actually exercise and diet. I feel like I need to know that people know I am trying to lose weight, in order to stay motivated to do it. Because heaven knows, if I slack off and don't do it, you might all come after me, right? (I'm kind of hoping you all said, "yes" there).

Baby # 4 is now weaned and I am ready to start losing some of my baby poundage. I have 10 pounds to be back to pre-baby weight, or about 13 to be where I would like to ideally be.

I bought myself a cute little shirt at Target yesterday, knowing that it wouldn't fit. It's hanging prominently in my closet in the hopes that it will give me extra motivation. It has helped so far today. Even though I'm hungry, I don't feel tempted to break my diet because I desperately want to fit into that cute little shirt! Not to mention the twenty or so others that are sitting in a box in my closet that I haven't worn in over a year and a half.

My diet is "Weight Watchers", which I haven't signed up for, of course, but I have all of my Mom's papers from when she joined a few years ago and I am tracking my points like crazy. I had only eaten fruits and vegetables today until a minute ago when I tallied up my points and realized that I was barely using any at all. I decided to have a little treat and had 13 Cheez-it crackers for a little snack. Working in the Day Care with all of the kids fun snacks is going to kill me off.

For exercise I plan to run, like always. I love running, but I'm also having a hard time being motivated to run knowing that I'm headed into fall/winter. My favorite time to run is early, around 6 or 6:30, but the days are getting shorter, so that's not ideal (not a fan of running in the dark all alone). Not to mention the fact that when I really get running, I want to run for at least 3 or 4 miles a day and I don't have that kind of time because kids start to show up for Day Care at 7:30. Add to that, the fact that I rarely get to bed before 11pm these days, because my house is always a disaster when I come back upstairs in the evenings, and you can see why I'm having a motivation problem, right? I'm going to try to start running in the evenings, we'll see how that goes.

Now, back to the title of my post. If you must leave a comment, please let it be something scary, like: "Get your butt in gear!", or "It's about time!", or "We're watching and you'd better be losing weight!". You MAY NOT leave me a comment that says anything to the effect of, "You don't need to diet, you don't need to exercise" blah blah blah and crap like that, ok? The last thing I need is to feel an extra lack of motivation!!! (did that make sense?) If you can't do it, then KEEP YOUR COMMENTS TO YOURSELF!

Catch-up-YUCK!

I hate it when I have to play catch -up on my blog. I'd rather just leave it blank, which is obvious from my recent lack of posts. Oh well, here it goes, but in a very very abbreviated version and in no particular order.Well, my cute little Kellan boy is growing like a weed! He is now 8 months and a huge food lover, which is awesome! He's a good baby most of the time, but lately he seems to be working on his two bottom teeth, which has been miserable for us both.
Dan's Mom and Dad got their mission call and they left last week for Boston, Massachusetts. It was a very rough few weeks for me. I love Dan's Mom and Dad so much, but I'm so excited for the people in Boston. They will be amazing missionaries.
Ethan turned 6 at the beginning of the summer and got to have a really fun water party in our backyard. I can't believe how big he is!
Dan demonstrated what a fun Dad he really is by having a sleepover with the boys on the tramp. They all LOVED it.

And, Ethan graduated Kindergarten. He was so darling in his end of year dance. He loved being in Mrs. Montgomery's class and I'm heartbroken to think of him being in 1st grade this year. Where does the time go?

Ok, I feel slightly less guilty now. We'll see how long that feeling lasts, eh?

Day Care Stories

Well, the Day Care has been a huge hit so far. I'm having way more fun than I even imagined I could. The kids are so fun and good and we have been doing some super fun things together. Here are just a few examples.

Here we are enjoying some "art time". Their paintings turned out so cute!

And here we are enjoying some "dramatic play" with our dress-up trunk. Aren't they adorable?

Day Care Items Needed

Hi Everyone! The Day Care will be ready to start in a few weeks and I have a few items that would be super awesome to get. I can make do without them, but it would be very helpful to have them. Here they are:

If anyone has any of these items they don't need or want to get rid of, I would gladly take them, or buy them if they're super cheap! It doesn't matter if they are in rough shape, I would be happy to sand and paint them if necessary!

Bookshelves, Entertainment Center, Toddler Beds/Mattresses, Play Kitchen Items (dishes/food), Children Sized Table/Chairs, Outside play equipment, Kitchen items (pans, pots, etc.), Rugs, Toys, Etc. Thanks!!!

Spread the word.....

I am starting a Day Care in my basement. If you happen to know anyone who needs a day care, or who might be interested in switching Day Care's, please send them my way! Here is a blog I set up to give some info while I am working on getting licensed. I should be ready to open it up in April.

Thanks!

p.s. Dan and his brother Matt designed me this cute logo, isn't it fun?

GOING UN-PRIVATE....

You weren't expecting that one, were you?

Well, you can add me back onto your automatic feeds, because I'm going to put the fun back into blogging!!!

Funny Aidan

On our way to Kaylen's Baptism on Feb. 6th, Mason and Ethan both had little coughs and were coughing in the car. Apparently Aidan felt a little bit left out, because he told us, "Mason and Ethan have the coughs, and I have the burps."

This little angel....

slept 8 1/2 hours last night! I am so in love with this little boy!!!

Thanks Gina for the picture!

Watch him grow...

The poor boy was super jaundice and had to be on the bili lights 23 hours a day for 2 weeks! Here he is, getting ready to go back in. Luckily, he liked them, because it was so warm.

This one "cracks" me up. (get it?) -I'm such a dork!

World's cutest baby, with the world's saddest face!

What a goofy face, but man, I love it!

Isn't he getting chubby?

Delivery/Hospital Stay

From the moment this little boy was placed in my arms, I have been in absolute heaven! He is such a wonderful little baby boy and we have loved every second of having him in our family.

OK, so here is the birth story. The Sunday before Kellan was born, I started showing signs of pre-ecclampsia. My blood pressure had already been too high at my last several appointments, then I woke up and my hands and face were swollen. I had pre-ecclampsia with Mason, so I'm at higher risk to get it again.

So, we headed in to labor and delivery and after a few hours, they sent us home because my blood pressure finally started to go down, and all of my tests were negative for pre-ecclampsia. Then, at my Dr. appointment on Tuesday, Dec. 1st my blood pressure was up really high again and I was still swollen so my Dr. decided that she didn't want to take the risk of keeping me pregnant, so she had me walk across the street to the American Fork Hospital and they admitted me. Luckily, I had guessed that there was a good chance that all of this might happen, so I had my hospital bag in the car already.

I called Dan while he was at work, and he hopped in the car and came to meet me. While he was on his way, I started to get really nervous. I had had them go ahead and get me hooked up to my IV, but I wouldn't let them give me my pitocin until Dan arrived. Dan came, and I had him give me a blessing, because I was getting super scared and that calmed me down a lot. Being the super big wuss that I am, I got my epidural just about 30 minutes after they started my pitocin, which was great. My epidural was such a good one this time. I could still feel all the pressure, and maybe just a hint of pain, but nothing really painful.

At about 10pm I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. The Dr asked me to give her a mini push just to see how things might go, then she prepped me for delivery. So, on the next contraction she told me to bear down. I started pushing and she was saying, "Wow, I think on the next push, he will be out." and I was thinking, Give me a break, you can't have a baby in 2 pushes. But, sure enough, on the next push his head was out and with one more small push, he was here! It was so great!!!

My poor little man came out super bruised though. They even had to put a sign in his bassinet that said "I am bruised" because he looked like he was turning blue from lack of oxygen. The next day and a half went smooth and we were able to take him home on Thursday morning.

He got to visit with lots of fun people in the Hospital. Grandma Hubbs came to visit him, and brought along his brothers for their first glimpse of him. So did Papa Gary and Papa Levor. Grandma Oldham had a cold, so she didn't want to come and risk getting him sick. Jim and Megan also came, bringing us an awesome baby blanket!

Isn't he perfect? I love this little man!