Sad day...

We lost a member of our family today... our little puppy girl, Zoe, passed away. It was so unexpected. We had gone to church from 9 am to noon and when we got home I let her outside in the field to do her business then hooked her up to her cable outside our sliding door like I've done a thousand times before. About an hour later, I was sweeping the floor after lunch and asked Josh to take the rug outside and shake it out for me. He called me from his cell about 10 minutes later and told me he had found Zoe and at first she just looked asleep, but he quickly realized something was wrong and she wasn't responding. He was on his way to a vet that he uses for the police dog. They don't know if she ate a rock or she got stung by a bee and had an allergic reaction, but she was barely breathing and there was really nothing they could do. We felt horrible and Gabe is pretty upset. But it was such a fluke thing. One second she's outside chewing on her frisbee, the next she was gone. I am just glad Josh was home or I would've been freaking out. Gabe asked us if he'll ever see her again. We told him we'll see her in puppy heaven someday. Rest in peace sweet puppy girl! :(

So proud of my boys!

Two little stories...

When I went to pick up Caleb from school on Friday, he had two big scratch marks on his face. His teacher said to wait a minute because she had to talk to me. I thought, "Oh no... Caleb's first fight..." but when she came over and told me what happened I was soooo surprised. She said that a little boy in one of the other classes who is one of the special needs kids was acting up at gym and got mad and clawed Caleb's face basically. But as soon as it happened (which I guess a lot of people saw) they said Caleb just turned right around and went and got the teacher and said, "That boy scratched me!!!" I was so proud of him for not smacking that boy back! The teacher said they couldn't believe it either. They said they all were talking about how Caleb was so patient and well-mannered and always uses his words. (and more words... and more words.... hah jk) But anyways, I was pretty proud of him! And very shocked and wondering why he doesn't react that way at home... :)

Gabe had to give his first talk in primary today. I helped him write the talk, which was one page written in his own handwriting, and the topic was "Honoring My Parents." He did sooo good! We practiced it a few times on Saturday night (right after he wrote it) and the hardest part for him was reading a scripture in Exodus, but he did really well. I went in to help him, but I really only had to help him with a couple of words. But the funniest part came afterwards. I know this girl who teaches the class of five-year-olds. She told Josh at a meeting after church that when Gabe first went up to the podium to start his talk, one of her little five-year-old girls whispered to her loudly, "He is SOOO HOT!" ahahahaha! I love it. What a ladies man. We told him this and he just got a very embarrassed look on his face and ignored us.

Avery's 2 month Check-up

We just got back from the doctor's office and Avery got all of her two month shots. She officiallu weighed 12 lbs, 14 ounces (big girl!) and is 23.75 inches long and is in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. I think her head circumference was 15 inches, which is actually a smaller percentile. I have an abnormally small head too. I got told that when I was trying on wigs at Disney World for princess costumes! But the doctor said he thinks she will be a tall girl. He also said she looked really good, and "doesn't even have the slightest diaper rash! A true princess." Caleb was along for the ride and he was helping "take care" of her while we got her checked out. He was a little concerned when they gave her the shots so I had to explain they will help keep her from getting sick.

Another quick funny Caleb story...

Anyone who knows Caleb knows he LOVES technology... iPods, the Wii, cameras... you name it. So the other day I had gotten Avery down for her nap and was really good about even putting her into her crib, hoping to get her used to that so she will sleep better. The bad thing was, I forgot about my video monitors high-tech feature that allows you to push a "talk" button and talk to your baby in their room. I had showed Caleb the baby monitors when we first got them and he knew all about how this worked. I found him about ten minutes after I laid her down, hiding in my room, holding the monitor and pressing that button down, saying, "Hi Avery! Hi baby Avery! How you doing???" When I walked in and saw him he looked at me with a smily face, knowing he'd been caught, and yes, Avery was staring into the camera wide-awake.

Sometimes I hate technology.

Caleb Starts Preschool

It's officially starting to feel like Fall with both of my boys in school now. Caleb had his first day of preschool last week Monday, September 10th. Mondays will be kind of a crazy day in our house for school. Gabe goes at 8:00 am, then Caleb goes at 12:00, then Gabe gets done at 1:25 (every other day it's 2:25), then Caleb gets done at 2:15. Good thing it's all right across the street! Avery and I go for lots of stroller walks that day! Don't ask me why Gabe gets done with school an hour early one day a week. That must be an Idaho thing. I had never heard of that but I guess in Ashton they get out early on Friday. In good ol' Wisconsin it was about 8:30 to 3:00 Monday through Friday! I also wish school started at 8:30 and went to 3:00 here. The waking up early thing is kind of killing me. Usually Avery wakes up sometime between 5:00 and 6:30. So depending on when she wakes up I try to squeeze in time to get myself ready before Gabe gets up at 7:00. Josh has been working 7:00 am to 5:00 pm the past two weeks so the hours between 5:00 to 8:00 am are definitely the most stressful times of my day.

Getting Gabe out the door has been a bit of a challenge lately. He doesn't seem to have the zest for learning that some kids do! I blame Josh. :) I was a nerd that loved school. I asked him if maybe he wanted to switch to a different class but he said, "No! I love Mrs. Henneke!" so I don't think it's that she's mean or anything. I think he just gets sick of being at school for 6 hours. They are really pushing the whole reading thing (that annoying little reading thing! ha ha) so then he gets home at 2:30 and it's time for homework, which seems to take at least 45 minutes.I would say he's a little behind with his reading compared to his classmates, so we really need to spend extra time working through books. Luckily Avery usually sleeps in the afternoon from about 1:30 to 4:30. So she's pretty easy while I help Gabe.

Caleb, on the other hand, LOVES to jump on the trampoline with me. So usually he asks "When can you jump on the trampoline with me?" at least 10 times a day. I can divide 90 percent of Caleb's questions into 3 categories: 1)"When can you jump with me?" 2) "Can you put on the Wii for me?" and 3)"Can you get me some hot chocolate?" He's a simple man. His needs are very predictable.

He went pretty easily to preschool on Monday. I don't worry about him too much there. I drop him off, he waves good-bye as he is already distracted playing with some toy. The only thing I worry about a little bit is that it's a preschool that's half for special needs kids and I worry that Caleb might have one of his Hulk bad temper moments and haul off and whack some handicapped kid that steals his toy someday. No calls from the teacher yet.... knock on wood.

Little Miss Avery is doing well. She is a pretty easy baby. She sleeps really well at night. I put her in her crib all swaddled up around 9:30. Sometimes she wakes up once around 4 am and eats and goes back to sleep but typically it's after 5 or 6. I think she gave me her first genuine smile yesterday. I was holding her and I smiled and said, "Can you give me a real smile?" and she smiled really big with her mouth open and even chuckled a little. It was super cute. I have her 2-month appointment this week so I will post stats then. I think, judging by how she is fitting into clothes, she weighs about 12 pounds. We will see! Her eyes still look blue. I wonder if they will stay that way. Her hair doesn't really seem to be falling out. Some people have said it looks a little lighter though. Her fingers still seem really long to me. Maybe that means she will be tall? Who knows. She is wearing size 3 month sleepers and almost into the ones that are 3-6 months. I think newborn usually ends at 8 pounds and three month ends at 12 pounds.  Anyways, she is growing fast!

We had a fun little day at Porter Park yesterday. Josh was doing this bird hunting thing and so the kids and I went and got snow cones and played. Then the boys stripped down to their shorts and ran around in the spray park like little ghetto kids. It was great. It may be the last day it is warm enough to do that and there were only like 3 other people there so I let them be rebels this once. Oh also, there's a funny picture of both the boys in Caleb's bed together. They fell asleep in there like that by their own choice! It was so cute. But then Caleb peed the bed about an hour later. Not so cute then. Haha.

Also, I think I have officially gotten rid of all my little boys clothes now. Between second-hand stores, garage sales and online postings I think I probably made about $400 on all of it. I just sold my jungle crib bedding stuff to a girl on Saturday for $80. It was a little sad to see the end of the baby boy stuff era but it's onto the girly things now! I also have a goal to put food storage and emergency prep supplies on the shelves where my 9 bins of baby stuff once were... I figure if Obama gets reelected we might as well all prepare for a total economic collapse. Sorry, had to slide in one political rant for Jesse. :)

So that is the report for this first half of September! It's getting a little chillier! At night it was down to 33 degrees the other day! Crazy! Here comes Winter! Noooo!!!!

                             "Turn out the lights, please."

                  "Save me from these crazy brothers!"

                                          Nose-picker!

Gabe's First Day and More

Well, we got home from Wisconsin on August 16th, which left about one week of Summer fun before Gabe had to start school on August 22nd. Caleb doesn't start his preschool until September 10th. He will be going to the same public school as Gabe that is right across the street from us, but his preschool is only MWF afternoons. He is pretty excited I think. They just built on to this school (even though the school is only about 5 years old) because they run the preschool for the whole city out of it and they needed extra classrooms. It is actually a preschool for the 3-5 year olds that qualify for special needs stuff for whatever reason (like Speech problems, need to learn English, developmental delays, etc.) before they start kindergarten but they have half of each class set aside for "peer role models" which is what Caleb will be. The good news is he isn't developmentally behind. The bad news is, that means we have to pay for him to attend because he doesn't qualify for the state to fund it. :( jk It is still cheaper than the other preschool we were sending him to last year and it will be waaay more convenient for me to have him at the same school as Gabe right across the street.

So anyways, in the past two weeks, we've done some more outdoor fun. It's still been pretty hot. Today we went and picked raspberries at this little family farm outside of Rexburg. We are going to make jam tommorow. We've had a lot of fun jumping on the trampoline in our backyard (yes I even have!) and hanging out with all the neighborhood kids. We have a pretty kid-saturated little 'hood. Lots of young families! Our little street is growing. I think there were about 7 houses on it when we moved in. Now there are about 16 plus all the townhomes and twin homes at the other end. It will be fun for all the kids to grow up together.

On the first day of school there was a little group of them that all walked over together. Gabe is in first grade and his two little friends, Noah and Michael, are in Kindergarten. It seems like there is this run of boys ages 4-8 and then it is all girls from 3 and down. (Except for Kohl... Kristy he will be a ladies' man!)

So far Gabe likes school I think. Of course, that hasn't stopped him from trying to play the sick card a couple times already. We're on to him though... he always comes home smiling and happy and we're like, "Aren't you glad you went???" I think the hardest part for him is getting out of bed at 7 am. He is definitely not used to that. Neither am I for that matter! It is expecially fun when I have been up during the night taking care of a baby! When Josh is home he helps a lot in the morning with Gabe, but he starts working the 7 am to 5 pm this Monday - Thursday all month, so I think Gabe will be walking to school with our neighor.

Avery has been growing so fast. She is wearing 3 months clothes and starting to get a couple rolls on her legs finally! She has so many cute clothes that she is starting to grow out of already that were newborn size. She is eating about every 3 hours and is completely on bottles now. Part of me feels a little guilty about that but I swear, my sanity was at stake. So I think it's better to have a sane mom than a crazy, stressed-out, sleep-deprived one from all the pumping and so on... Breastfeeding and I have just never been good friends. Oh well. Life goes on.

I feel a little spoiled about her nightimes already. I usually have her down in her bed by about 10:30 pm and she will usually sleep until about 5 am.  She has a bath around 7:30 and dozes sometimes afterward but I try to keep her somewhat awake and around me in the evening hours so she gets tired by 9:30 or 10. Then I can get a good 7 hours stretch from 10 to 5 sometimes. This of course is not ALWAYS the case, but on a good night. During the day she likes to either lay on a blanket on her back while Caleb harrasses her or be in her swing or stroller if we are outside. I also bought a front-carrier today to use while we were raspberry picking, which she liked and slept in the whole time.

We are sort of figuring out life now with two crazy little boys and a newborn princess. It is going pretty good most days. :) I also have to post separately these super cute pictures that my neighbor took. She was only 6 days old when we took them so she's already changed a lot!

 

 

Avery's Newborn pictures

My wonderful neighbor, Kristy, took these lovely photos for me one day at her house, using some curtains and wrapping papers as backgrounds. We didn't really know for sure how they'd turn out but I'd say pretty dang good for two stay-at-home moms just messing around!!! Here are some of my favorites! Thanks Kristy!!!

Avery's "Crib"... (and by "crib" I mean, her whole room)

I realized I never showed any pictures of Avery's nursery. I have had a lot of people ask to see it it because I made a lot of the stuff in it when I was on bedrest. (There wasn't much else to do...) So here are some pictures of Avery's nursery! It has kind of a birds/trees theme. I painted the wall behind her bed a darker brown and then painted the tree on the wall behind her crib and made the letters for her name out of scrapbook paper and modge podge. Other things I made were a mobile, a throw pillow, her curtains, two lamps, and I painted a mirror. I really got a little carried away... but I think on all these things I spent a total of about $20, between thread, spray paint, and materials. It just took time... which I had plenty of on bedrest! :)

Wisconsin Trip/Happy 1 Month, Avery!/8 years!

Wow, time flies. I haven't blogged in a month! I kept wanting to, but at night once I have gotten everyone to bed I usually just want to sleep! There is a lot to report though.....

We had two weeks at home with Avery at the end of July. It was a pretty relaxing time because Josh had off from work all except about 3 days between the time she was born and the time we went to Wisconsin on August 2nd. Those first two weeks were a lot of poopy diapers and trying to figure out when and how to feed her. I was nursing her for the first week but when we took her to the doctor for the first time when she was about 5 days old, they said she only weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce, which concerned them because she was 7 lbs 14 oz when she was born. It is normal for babies to lose weight, but she had been home for a few days and they said she should be gaining by now. So the doctor told me to bring her back in 2 days. I kept doing the nursing only thing and two days later... still 7 lbs 1 oz. So then the doctor said I should start supplementing with formula or try pumping and giving her it in a bottle. So I did the pumping and giving her it in a bottle to make sure she was getting a full 3 ounces per feeding. Then at her 2 week check-up (so about a week later) she weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces. So that was pretty good.

So we went to Wisconsin - three days' drive each way - and I was pumping and giving her bottle all along the way! (Not the most fun...) Now that we have returned back to Idaho, I am thinking it is about time to give her formula. I was hoping to make it at least until 2 months but I am pretty exhausted from trying to pump every three hours, feed her every 2.5 to 3 hours, and take care of 2 little boys. It's especially hard at night when Josh is working and I'll finally get the boys and Avery to sleep, then wake up to pump at 1 am.... sleep an hour... she wakes up at 2 am... finally get her back to sleep at about 3:00.... pump again at 4:00.... back to sleep for an hour.... she wakes up again at 5:00.... I end up getting about 3 hours of sleep total some nights. Now we have started giving her formula about every other feeding to get her used to it slowly. She seems to be doing pretty good with it though. But onto other things!

The Wisconsin trip was really good. We did a lot of eating out and SHOPPING!!! (Josh had a hard time getting the car top carrier to close on the way home...) Avery has a lot more clothes now than she did 2 weeks ago! While we were there we also had Avery blessed, went to a Wisconsin Dells waterpark, went to the Fond du lac waterpark, and saw lots of friends and relatives. The boys' favorite park is always all the swimming we do when we are there and getting to see their cousin, Jasmine.

Now we are home again and school is starting for Gabe already this Wednesday! Only two days left of Summer for him! Sad! I think he is excited but after the first couple days of it being all day long he will be a little sad about not having the freedom to lounge all day! Caleb will be doing preschool at the same school as Gabe but only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. So that will leave me and Avery alone (and Zoe I guess!) for a few hours each week! I plan to sleep during those hours... :)

Also, yesterday Avery was officially 1 month old! We took her in to weigh her and she was 9 pounds, 6 ounces! Time for those 3 month size clothes and size 1 diapers! She is already starting to try and keep her head lifted up and look around when we have her up on our shoulder. She loves snuggling into me on her tummy, up on my shoulder when she is tired and done eating. Although I think she is starting to figure out she can cry to get me now, because last night I fed her around 9 pm and tried to put her in her crib (she looked totally asleep) then about 5 minutes later she was wide awake and crying again. I picked her up and walked around with her up on my shoulder and she fell asleep really fast. I laid her down... toptoes out... two minutes later, "Waaahh!" again! This happened about 8 times. Finally at about 12:30 am she was asleep in her crib and stayed asleep till about 4 am. Then it was time for a bottle and she was back asleep by maybe 5 am in her crib. Then she woke up at about 8:30 again. So that is probably a pretty typical night. She is most awake from about 8 pm to midnight... the time she is supposed to be going to sleep! But that was the case with her even when she was in my belly. I could always feel the kicks the most from those times. I think a lot of babies are that way. So that is the Avery update. She is very cute and still has lots of dark hair. I even dyed my hair yesterday back to it's dark color so we could match. :) We love finally having a little girl in out family! Even the boys say, "She is the cutest baby ever!!!"

Final news.... it is Josh and my 8 year anniversary today! Happy Anniversary, Honey! Eight years, three kids, two dogs, and a house... I would say we are doing pretty good. Now I just need a trip to Hawaii.... maybe for our 10-year... :)