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Grandpa's

You know you're getting old when your Grandparent's are expected to pass away soon. Today has been an emotional day for me. BOTH Grandpa's are in the hospital (well, one on hospice).

Grandpa C. is my Dad's Dad. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's years ago and it is now hitting the final stages of the disease. He was diagnosed with Tuberculosis awhile back and the medication progressed his Alzheimer's at a faster rate. Then he recently had a stroke that has taken it to the final stages. He's not expected to live any longer than 2 weeks.

August 2010 (last time I will get to see Grandpa)

Grandpa D. is my Mom's Dad. He has COPD and many other diseases that make life/breathing miserable. He also had surgery years ago to remove part of his lung so his breathing capacity is not great. He recently had a fall and broke several ribs. He is no in the hospital with pneumonia and has no muscle mass. He can't even move. The doctor's are thinking about putting him on life support to let his body rest and gain strength. However, after working with these type of "cases" and knowing my Grandpa I believe that his time is short.

August 2010

Both of my parents have been calling and keeping me updated. And I've been calling Brady updating him. These men are amazing and have lived wonderful lives. They both are ready to end their life here on Earth. I pray that they are not suffering in pain and that their nurses/doctors are keeping up on their pain medication!

Pregnancy Brain?

I've been doing REALLY dumb things lately. Here are some examples:

- putting shoes on the wrong feet. No, not mine, but individuals at work and Coopers.

- putting cereal in the fridge and milk in the cupboard. (I usually figure it out once I start doing it)

- packing up clean towels thinking, "there are some in the dryer we will use." And then get in the shower without a towel.

- saying "ummm" a LOT when I start to speak because I forgot what I was going to say.

Pregnancy Brain is REAL people! Look it up :)

Oh ya...and I'm over halfway done with this pregnancy!!!

Almost...

a disaster!

Cooper LOVES LOVES LOVES to be naked. And it's super cute seeing him walk around naked! He gets so excited and tries to run! He has only peed once being naked and toots a LOT (and giggles every time). Today he started grunting as if to poo! Can you imagine how fast I went to put his diaper on?? And good thing I did because he blew out within a minute of putting it on! Oh what a disaster that would have been!

I haven't really updated on Brady and I so here's a quick update.

Brady: signed up for a soccer team!! Most of the players speak spanish so he feels a little uncomfortable but a few team members speak english and try to include him. His work is really busy and he they just hired someone for their new position that opened.

Kelsey: has a growing belly and no weight gain. Work and a little toddler are keeping her busy! We are busy going through each tub/box and getting rid of TONS of stuff. We are also transitioning everything into tubs as much as we can. We can start moving next week!!

Funny Joke

An attractive blonde from Cork, Ireland arrived at the casino. She seemed a little intoxicated and bet twenty-thousand Euros on a single roll of the dice.

She said, 'I hope you don't mind, but I feel much luckier when I'm completely nude'.

With that, she stripped from the neck down, rolled the dice and with an Irish brogue yelled, 'Come on, baby, Mama needs new clothes!'

As the dice came to a stop, she jumped up and down and squealed...'YES! YES! I WON, I WON!'

She hugged each of the dealers and then picked up her winnings and her clothes and quickly departed.

The dealers stared at each other dumbfounded. Finally, one of them asked, 'What did she roll?'

The other answered, 'I don't know - I thought you were watching.'

MORAL OF THE STORY -

Not all Irish are drunks,
not all blondes are dumb,
but all men...are men

More walking!!

First of Many

Now that Cooper is walking he's going to have many more of these!!

This is the result of hitting the door at the doctor's office

It's a.....

BOY!!!!

We are so excited!!!! I don't think it's really hit Brady yet that we're having another baby but let me tell you - after today it has totally hit me!! I am so excited to have another little boy! All the soccer games, cars, balls, and mommy/son time! I am so happy to be a mother of 3 boys! And the baby is healthy and strong. He kept his hands up over his face the entire time so we didn't really get a good view but everything is working and growing! He's measuring a few days past the due date but only by 4 days. He has 10 fingers and 10 toes! He wiggles a LOT. More than I can feel, which makes me believe he's going to be like his brother!! He even has that little button nose!!

Video

Here's the little man walking! It's not the greatest but he is really good at it when he thinks he's not being watched. He takes some pretty big spills but stands right back up and goes again! The worst spill so far happened in the ultrasound room! I was closing the door and he fell at the same time hitting the corner edge. Poor guy has a BIG bruise on his forehead.

Let the packing begin!

We are MOVING! YES! But it's just to Twin Falls.

- it's a duplex with a two car garage!

- in a quiet neighborhood with elderly couples.

- fenced in back yard (small but nice)

- 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms

- master bedroom has a walk in closet

- pantry in kitchen

- DISHWASHER

- laundry room

- BIG kitchen

- dining room

- WINDOWS!

Oh I am so excited to move. We have unseen mice (they leave their droppings) that we can not catch...GROSS. We don't have enough room to use our dining room table. We don't have enough room to use a dresser. We could really use the space...so here we go!

Belly Picture

Well, here it is. 18 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I am actually much bigger than this picture shows! We find out next week the "flavor" of this little one!

P.S. I usually look much better than this picture shows! This was after a LONG day and after giving Cooper a bath.

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken - cubed

1 C. sliced carrots

1/2 C. frozen green peas

1/2 C sliced celery

1 lg. or 2 sm. potatoes

1/3 C butter

1/3 C. chopped onion

1/3 C. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. coarse salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp. celery seed

32 oz. chicken stock or broth

2/3 C. milk

2 (9-inch) unbaked pilsburry pie crust

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375*.

In a pot combine chicken, carrots, peas, potatoes, and celery. Add the chicken broth to cover and boil for 15 min. Remove from heat, drain (reserving 1 3/4 C. chicken broth for filling) and set aside. In the saucepan over medium heat cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and combine with chicken mixture. Add more broth if desired to make filling less thick. Place bottom crust in pie pan. Spoon the chicken filling on bottom crust. Cover with top crust, seal edges, cut away excess dough. Make several small slits on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and filling is bubbly.

*Bake bottom crust at 425* for 5-6 minute before filling to make the crust less soggy.

*I would probably use less celery seed or none at all.

YUMMY

oh the joys of parenthood!

Today I am grateful for:

our box fan!!

I have sensitive ears. I swear I can hear every little noise! Breathing, tapping, chewing, creaks, seriously EVERY little noise. School was extremely difficult because of the chatter, chewing, paper moving, finger tapping, computer noises, etc. Poor Brady gets the worst of it. Simple chewing, swallowing, breathing, moving, etc gets to me. And TRUST ME I have been working REALLY hard for that stuff not to bother me. But seriously, even my own breathing/chewing bothers me. Anyway, back to the reason why I'm grateful for these box fans.

- it blocks all the "noise" throughout the night. Even my non-stop thinking.

- It helped Cooper nap today!!!! Poor little guy is teething. His molars are coming in and he refuses to relax and sleep. He wants to play all day long. AND to make it worse he's going through a growth spurt. He's exhausted but won't sleep. He wants to eat NON STOP, which leaves him hungry when trying to sleep. He has a runny nose, which makes him cough every ten seconds. I've even seen him tug on his ear. BUT I plugged in the fan and after about 15 minutes he stopped laughing/giggling/jumping in bed :) And yes...he has learned jumping on the bed is fun stuff!!!

trying it out...

Since Cooper was about 6 months old I've been thinking about cloth diapers. We didn't have the money to invest so I just put it in the back of my mind. Now, with our AMAZING tax refund, I've been thinking about investing the money into it. There are so many great things about them and they have come a LONG way making it easier for parents. They are super adorable! So SO soft! Not to mention less garbage. AND the money we will be saving. We have to buy night time diapers AND day time diapers. If we could cut back on at least day time that would be awesome!! Many people have mentioned the "poo" part of it. But hey! I'm a nurse and deal with big people "poo" all the time! Cooper's stinkiness is a little easier to handle :)

So now all I need is for my 2 diapers to come in the mail! I only bought 2 to try it out and see how we like it.

giggles

today...

I am grateful for:

my bed!

You know the feeling when you get into bed and all you can say is "aaaahhhh!!" I have that EVERY SINGLE DAY! Especially last night after work. Not only is it so comfy I could lay in it all day long but it's the one place where Brady and I can cuddle in peace and quiet (without the TV). I also love Saturday mornings when I don't work! Brady will usually get Cooper up and bring him into bed with us. It's never a calm situation but it's so fun to have all of us together. Those are wonderful mornings to wake up to!

And I'm always looking into decorating our bed differently. Unfortunately, I don't have the "guts" to go all out so for now it's just some cute brown/teal sheets. But eventually I would like to have all the big decorative pillows and the fluffy cute bed that you see in a magazine! Seriously, how cute is that?!

pregnancy fun

- This pregnancy still has not hit me yet

- I don't have very many cravings, but when I do I could cry when I don't get what I want. I fight back tears just to not be so silly.

- my belly is growing. today I even misjudged (sp?) how big it was. I hit the back of someone's chair with it!

- I'm exhausted...all the time

- My immune system is AWFUL. GRRR.

- I feel movements a few times a day...nothing like I did with the boys (all day every day)

- eczema is no fun. I really is a pain and has brought me to tears because it itches SO bad.

- hernias are no fun and are actually pretty painful

- I pee 2-3 times a night!

- I drink 2-3 liters of water a day...mainly because I'm SO thirsty.

- I'm an emotional roller coaster still...but the meds are helping.

There really is a positive side to this pregnancy! The negative side seems to stand out more than the positive. I am so ANXIOUS to have another little baby in the house. I see newborns and get baby hungry. Cooper will be a good big brother!

Hubby

Today I am grateful for...

my hubby!!

He is an amazing man. He works hard to provide for our family, has a strong testimony of the gospel, loves his children, and is in love with me. Since I've been working and pregnant he's been doing most of the house work and lets me rest. Last night I was up on and off with an upset stomach. This morning I got up with Cooper and have been throwing up since then. Cooper was up last night too, which is unusual, and he's been throwing up this morning. Stomach bug?! GRR! I called Brady just to let him know what was going on and he's getting things ready so that he can come home and take care of us. How sweet is that?! I took an anti-nausea med and it's helped keep the vomit down but I still feel really nauseated/weak. Cooper is already down for a nap and he was up for an hour.

I honestly cannot believe that we have been getting sick over and over again.

Wedding June 2006

Grateful...

I realized I haven't been posting as many "grateful" posts as I wanted but I have thought of something every day to be especially grateful for. On Sunday I was especially grateful for...

eternal families

It was Fast and Testimony meeting. It was one of the best meetings we have had in a long time (maybe because I work a lot of weekends and miss out on going to church). There was an apparent theme and it was eternal families. Many people have lost a loved one recently and they shared how grateful they are to know they can be with their loved ones again. One testimony in particular hit me a little stronger. There's a young boy in our ward who is battling with cancer. He shared an experience he had when he went under for his first bone marrow. He said he had an out of body experience where he knows without a doubt that families are forever. I would love to share with you his personal experience but I feel it's too personal for me to share. He recently had his final tests done to see if the cancer had come back and his lab results were not promising. So they tested his bone marrow again. This time they found that his labs were okay and the cancer had not come back! This family is amazing. Their testimonies are strong. They have love for one another that I have never seen before. When we first moved into the ward the whole family had shaved heads. A little awkward at first but it was to support their son/brother during his chemo treatment. I am so grateful that we have the gospel to guide us through such trials and to know that when we do loose someone close to us we can be with them forever.

Our sweet Kegan a few hours old

Cooper Update

Cooper is growing up so fast! I still can't believe how big he is getting. Here's a little update:

- he's wearing 18 month clothes

- he's in the 5th percentile for weight and head circumference but 50th for height

- still not walking! He can and he will for about 6 steps or more but then falls to the floor. I think it's because crawling is still so much faster.

- he says "dada" "mama" his own version of "hi" (sounds like "haaa") and "bye bye" (sounds like "baa baa") he says "num num" when he's hungry and "ni ni" for nice and night night.

- he waves hi and bye

- he still HATES to have his diaper changed. he screams and screams like we're torturing him. it's becoming a bit ridiculous and it's getting worse. he does okay if he's standing up playing, doing whatever.

- he LOVES LOVES LOVES his binky and blankets. There's no particular blanket as long as it's soft. His binky he has a favorite but he'll take any. Lately, the blanket goes everywhere with him. When he sees a blanket he knows is soft he'll crawl over to it, lay his head down, snuggle in, and go "aaawww". He won't lay on our shoulder's but if we put his blanket across them he'll snuggle right in!

- he loves to eat. he'll eat basically anything except fresh fruit and vegetables. We still feed him baby fruit and vegetables so that it's something healthy!

- he loves his sippy cup. he drinks lots of milk, water, and apple juice.

- he's sitting forward in a new car seat. He loves it!

- he sleeps 12-14 hours at night. It's pretty awesome.

- he needs a hair cut but we think it can wait a while longer.

I could go on FOREVER! he's so much fun and energetic! Here are a few pictures.

Naked boy not wanting to get dressed!

in his new car seat

having a snack

he could use a hair cut

boy or girl??

We find out on the 22nd what our little baby is!! I'm interested in what you guys think we are having. To help you decide here are a few interesting pregnancy facts:

- i have no cravings

- i am exhausted all the time

- i am losing lots of hair

- i have eczema...everywhere! it's taking over my life!!

- baby is pretty calm

- i am an emotional rollercoaster

- i am getting "baby hungry" and can't wait to have another newborn in our home!

4 am...

I've been having a hard time staying positive lately and I'm always looking at the "bad" side of things. So I've decided each day I am going to pick one thing that I'm grateful for tell you about it.

Today I'm grateful for...

My education.

I hate having to work. I miss Cooper too much and my house is such a disaster ALL the time. My time home is with Cooper or for myself so I don't do much cleaning anymore. Nothing like I used to. It's unfortunate that I have to work right now but if it wasn't for my education I wouldn't have an amazing job that pays extremely well. Even on days like today where I wake up around 4 AM, have no lunch break, pick up Cooper, and not get a break until bedtime - I am grateful that I have the job I have. There are many tearful moments but I still am grateful that I'm not working at a fast food place or having to work the typical 8-5 hours getting paid less than half of what I am now. Even though my current job is a RN I would say my career is a mother. I will be a mother for eternity. It's what I love the most!

graduation day!

today...

I am grateful for...

baths!!

Baths serve for three main purposes for Cooper...play time, cleaning up, relaxation. Cooper loves bath time. He plays so hard and I never come out of the bathroom with dry clothes! When he's done he smells SOO good and he's very relaxed (most of the time). After his bath I always lotion him with the night time lotion to try and calm him down more (his calmness is usually still pretty active). We then dress him in something snuggly and comfy for the night. There's nothing better than a wonderful smelling baby in something soft and snuggly! Today he had a PB&J for lunch...jam was EVERYWHERE so he had his bath a little early today.

One of Cooper's first baths