What's happenin at 15 weeks

So, yeah, I'm pregnant!  I haven't written anything about it so I thought I'd be boring and write how it's going so far.  15.5 weeks (yes that 0.5 is important) and things are great.  I really don't get morning sickness at all, and I do feel kinda guilty about that cause I see what it does to my dear friends, and I am so sorry!  I have, however, gotten a lot of headaches with this one (and Tylenol is the single thing you are allowed to take for them when you're pregnant, did you know that?  I looked it up on several websites) well Tylenol does next to nothing for me and I was so desperate one night I put a banana peel on my forehead, something I heard can help... and you know what I think it did!  Maybe!  Psychologically anyway?!  Anyhow they've gotten a lot better though.  I've just been super tired (imagine!) and super hungry, and I always want stuff like chicken noodle soup or spaghettios, stuff I grew up eating.  Well that or RED MEAT!  Gimme some protein.  YUM!  Right after we got back from D.C. I was very lightheaded for a few days, I don't really know what that was about, but it's mostly better.  But the fatigue usually disappears right around 13 weeks, but not this time... I am still SO TIRED!!!  It blows my mind that I ran while I was pregnant with Kaitlyn (the only one).  I ran consistently until I was 27 weeks along.  Yeah right now I cannot even picture getting off the couch!!!  I asked Santa for my energy back for Christmas, and I tell you, he really let me down. 

I really really want to be careful how I word things because I absolutely do not want to complain, I am so grateful for this little babe, and my pregnancies really are cake compared to many.  As I sat and watched my last ultrasound at 13 weeks, I just stared at that little baby (and it definitely looks like a little baby, that profile just melted my heart) as it kicked and bounced around and I was just in awe.  Early on it is hard to believe anything is in there, so when that picture appears I am always like WHOA HOLY COW I mean that thing is growing inside me right now!  It's a miracle.  In the last week I definitely feel like I am starting to show, and when I roll onto my stomach at night I can feel a little pouch of something.  I've always felt my babies move early on, right around that 16 week mark, at least that's when I look for it.  I thought I felt it the other night, just the slightest flutter, and I keep looking for it again.  I love that the word for it is a "quickening."  The definition is "the process of showing signs of life" or "to make alive."  Feeling something alive inside, for the first time, is so unreal.  It is exciting, it is fleeting, it is full of wonder- was that it?  or indigestion?!  I know it's debatable for some, but definitely not for me- there is a spirit in there! 

I am excited, and yes a little scared! to be a mother of 5.  Who will this little person be????  Who will be the next face to kiss and squeeze and wipe and love and adore??  And is it a boy or girl?  Well I shall tell you in 2 weeks. :)

I'm posting pics from a month ago that my sis-in-law took of our munchkins!  Thanks Danielle! 

Merry Christmas!

Well as much as I loved leaving this blog on a nice BOILS note... (which are MUCHO BETTER, the antibiotics are working!!)  it is time to get some Christmas pics up!  It was a very merry Christmas!

So Christmas Eve morning we took some family pictures with my whole family now that Kenny's home. My other brother and his wife are going to Taiwan to teach English for four months in a couple days, so we had to fit pictures in.  I didn't get any family pictures with all of us on my camera, but here is my little family.

Lunch with the in-laws, potato and brocolli cheese soup, YUM!!  Then cousin gift exchange...

Then, the nativity.

THEN decorating cookies.

THEN yummy roladen (old tradition) for dinner at my parent's... and yes, another nativity... always a little unconventional with my brothers, think mullets, sunglasses, and Dumbledore beards... unfortunately I didn't get a group picture.

Here is Logan following the star, ha ha...

THEN... SANTA CAME!

The kids woke up around 7:10 a.m.  I can handle that.

Logan was into everything Spiderman, IMAGINE!!!!  (I put on fb last week that he informed me sadly that his webs still don't work... I love this kid.)

Jenna and Carter got scooters, wahoo!

But ALL Carter cared about was his bow and arrow.  After he opened that, he was done.  It was just like last year and Buzz Lightyear.  He could have cared less about anything else.  He practiced shooting those arrows ALL DAY.

And by the end of the day, all 3 arrows had broken in half... it figures!!  He accidentally broke two when he fell down and then Logan snapped the last one on purpose as he mischievously laughed, "HA HA!"  He got in big trouble for that, what a little bully!  Carter was HEART broken... so I went to the store today to get another $6 bow and arrow from Walmart... may these last longer than 1 day.

Jenna loves her scooter most, also Barbie & Ken, and a little diary with little pens.

Kaitlyn finally woke up!!!  She loved all the yard sale toys she got!! :) 

And her baby doll that gives kisses.

Then to church.  And here is the cute picture I was hoping to get afterwards.  Oh well.

Jenna was upset she couldn't get Kaitlyn to stand up.

Here she is!

It was such a great day.  I feel so blessed!  My family brings me the greatest joy.  I think I have given up on Christmas cards, ever... I used to say THIS YEAR I will send some out... but this year I didn't even say that.  Just know we wished you a Merry Christmas telepathically.  :)

Would you like to know about boils?!

So Logan (yes more Logan!) woke up yesterday crying in pain and could hardly walk or sit down.  I noticed he had two large bumps, one on each thigh, that were all red, inflamed, and swollen with a whitish point... he would not even let me touch them and cried and cried.  I took him to the doctor and turns out they are BOILS.  I mean, gross. 

So apparently boils come from the germ Staphylococcus aureus and is an infected hair follicle or oil gland.  He'd had some tiny bumps for the last few weeks that I just chalked up to diaper rash or eczema, as they were just above his groin, a couple on his thighs.  I don't know if one of those bumps got infected or if this is something different...

So Logan was in for a surprise, cause the doctor actually drained the two inflamed bumps with a needle and a nurse and I held him down while he screamed and cried.  I felt so bad for him!  The doctor said that was the fastest way to get them healing, not to mention he could get a culture that way.  Then the doctor gave me oral antibiotics (Septra) to give him, as well as an antibiotic ointment (Bactroban).  He was in pain all day yesterday and had to be carried everywhere.  My poor boy.

I was really hoping Logan would have some relief today, but honestly he is still in a lot of pain.  He limps all around like Tiny Tim or something and cries about his "rash."  He will not let me go NEAR those bumps, and all I want to do is look at them and put ointment on them, but he will not have it.  He starts trembling because he is so scared I will touch them.  (well if someone took a needle to my skin I'd be wary too). 

And not only am I on Logan's bad list for trying to touch his owies, but for trying to force yucky medicine down his throat.  He took one taste and spit it out and it has been awful trying to get him to take it.  He keeps saying "I all better!  I all better!"  So last night and this morning, I hid it in hot chocolate and brownies.  (Anyone have other ideas?)  What does he think of his mom who desperately pleads with him to PLEASE PLEASE drink ALL his hot chocolate and that he HAS to eat ALL his brownie.   But hey it worked...

It is so hard sometimes!!!  Like I am supposed to be his mother, someone he trusts to take care of him, and I am tricking him and taking him to the doctor where he is getting traumatized by all sorts of things (I'm sure he has flashbacks of the stitches from a few months ago, then how scared he was when we saw the cardiologist...).  It is hard when I know he doesn't understand.  I am usually one who is pretty strong, even when my babies are getting shots, I handle it well because I know it has to be done and it only helps them.  I even have a great tolerance for letting my babies cry it out at night because I know them learning how to self soothe and be in their own beds at night will make them better sleepers (all my kids have slept through the night since they were babies, I can't help but take credit).  I definitely hate seeing my kids in pain, but you know, it is an interesting concept.  Putting your kids through hard things in order to help them.

I just feel like this is a small taste of what is to come.  There will be plenty of times I'll have to watch my kids go through pain, and sometimes it will be pain they inflict upon themselves... or it will be pain inflicted on them that hopefully will make them stronger and better people in the end.  Right now I have a lot of control.  But there will come the day where I won't be able to trick them into doing what I know is best.  They will have to choose. 

Isn't that why we are here on earth?  To be tested in our choices?  And we have a Father in Heaven who desperately hopes we choose to follow Him.  But he has no control.  It is up to us.

For now I will do my best to shove medicine down Logan's throat and keep trying to put ointment on those dang boils and HOPEFULLY they will get better (there is a chance it is MRSA which means antibiotic resistant, blah).  Someday he will understand it is because I love him.

Limping around :(

Silly Logan!

Logan is so dang funny sometimes, he is my spunky, silly, all-boy, little 2 year old whose little face can get away with anything.  I had to write these stories down.

Logan told me Santa was gonna bring him presents. He went on to say that Santa was going to bring him some hot dogs. Who says that?? I just love that kid. And I’m pretty sure that can be arranged.

We were in the basement the other day and he was dressed in a swimsuit (Jenna’s swimsuit) with an umbrella and he asks me, “Mom can I go upstairs to the beach?” And when I say, “Uh, yeah!” He grins and whispers, “YES!” I wish!!

I was gonna hand out flyers and I asked Jenna and Carter if they wanted to help me so they load in the car and Logan wants to come too so I say okay and put him in his carseat and as I buckle him in he whispers to himself, "I'm so excited!"  Yes handing out flyers is my favorite thing too...

Every single day he tells everyone he is either Spiderman or Iron man.  So he told Nate one day, "Daddy I spiderman." and Kaitlyn happened to speak some of her baby gibberish right then and he looks at her and shouts, "NO KAITLYN, I SPIDERMAN!!!!"  WHOA!!

A couple weeks ago I gave him a time out for kicking me.  Sometimes he gets pretty aggressive I gotta put a stop to this!  Anyway I asked him why I gave him a time out. He says, “Because I kick you.” I said, “We don’t kick, huh. You say sorry to mommy.” He truly looks sorry and says, “Sorry, mommy. I’m not gonna kick you.” He gave me a hug and then grabs my earlobes and says real sincerely, “Mom, I’m not gonna broke your ears.” random, I am like well THANKS! Then he touches my nose and says, “And I’m not gonna broke your nose.” THAT IS a relief, I am so glad you reconsidered that one… hee hee what a crack up.

We have a fake little Santa about 2 feet tall that we put by the fireplace and Logan just LOVES that Santa. He spends a lot of time touching it and looking at it and one day Carter tells him, “But Logan, that is not the real Santa.” And Logan got SO mad and in his angriest voice he growls, “IT IS SANTA, CARTER! And YOU are NOT my friend!!!!” He is very serious about Santa.

At our ward Christmas party Santa came at the very end and sat in the foyer. Nate went to the primary room where the kids were and said, “Guys! Santa’s here!!!” and they’re like, “YAY!!!!!” and rush out to get in line. Nate is standing with Jenna and Carter when he realizes Logan isn’t there. He goes to look for him and finds Logan back in the cultural hall, sitting at a table with his chin in his hands staring excitedly at the table centerpiece, which is a little Santa figurine. Ha ha I love it!!! Nate goes, “No, Logan! The real Santa is here!!! This way!” and when Logan saw the full size Santa his whole face lit up. :) I don’t know what he expected that figurine to do…

Ever since we got back from D.C. Logan has been telling me he loves me all day long. Then he told me quietly one day as I was holding him, “Mom, I love your black hair.” :) What a sweetie.  As long as he doesn't broke my nose. 

Here he is in Jenna's swimsuit taking a bath, and the other kids stuck toys down his swimsuit too.  I had to take a picture.

Yeah here they all are in swimsuits again... even Kaitlyn.

He said he was the "Iron Giant." 



A not very good picure with Santa.  Oh well.

Here are my silly kids in general:

Playing with yarn.  Who needs kittens.

I cannot remember what they were pretending with grocery sacks... but it was funny.

Jenna and Carter wanted to sleep one night in toy boxes. Yep. You can't tell but they are sitting in drawers from the toy room that they had pulled out and put blankets in. It looked completely uncomfortable and Carter didn't last long before he got in his bed. But Jenna slept in it all night long.

It is definitely not boring around here.