Happy Half Birthday Nashie!

It is very hard to believe that six months ago I was in the hospital meeting our little guy. Time seriously goes by too quickly. Nash is just a blessing in our home. Even in his tough moments when he is dealing with teething or earaches, he still manages to flash his perfect smile. Nash is growing like a weed. People are always surprised to hear that he is only 6 months. He loves to roll around and is trying to scoot on his tummy. He loves when you talk to him and give him attention. He is not the biggest fan of his car seat but still rarely complains. What a great example you are Nashie and we are so lucky to have you in our family!

Guess who's supplying the turkey this year?

Well from the events documented in previous posts, it is obvious that we are living in the sticks. We have had visits from deer, mice, snakes, squirrels, spiders, a cougar at the top of the mountain, foxes, etc. The list seems to never end. Well the other day my neighbor stopped by and asked if we had seen the wild turkey. That night we did see it and snapped a few pictures. While we were looking out the window, Harlee disappeared to her room. She came back with her big binoculars. It was too cute. So let's hope that the next post does not include a picture of a bear. If so, there will also be a picture of a For Sale sign in the front yard.

Sibling Rivalry gone too far

Luke was never a biter except the one time that he bit his friend Chad at joyschool and left a mark very similar to the one seen in this picture. I guess what goes around comes around but this time Harlee was the cause of injury. She was mad at Luke and bit him. I must admit it was a good one and left quite the mark. As you can see from the expression on Luke's face he was truly milking it. He is use to being the one causing the trouble and he was loving the fact that he was the victim. Harlee had to do a significant time out and apology. The first thing that Luke told Joey when he got home was of the biting incident with shirt lifting and all. This was also the first thing he reminded Harlee of when he got up the next morning. So sorry Luke- try to stay away from Harlee's teeth when she is mad!

We hit the motherload!

This is what Joey said to me after he found Luke's secret stash. His underwear has been such an issue over the past little while. I bought him 12 new pairs a month ago and added to what he already had, his drawer should be overflowing. Well every time I do laundry, he only has about 5 clean pairs. It drives me crazy and I have asked Luke so many times where his underwear is. I know that if he gets them a little wet, he is embarrassed and quickly changes. He must have then been hiding them so I would not find out. Well the secret is out, Joey was cleaning Luke's room last night and found the stash behind his dresser. When I asked Luke about it this morning he totally had the "I have been caught" look. Hopefully now that we know, he will always have a full drawer of undies when the laundry is done.

Why can't we all be like Nash?

I have never met anyone more happy or content in my life. What a blessing Nash has been so far in our family. I hesitate to write this in case I jinx it but seriously he is so great. He always has a smile on his face that lights up the room. I think that we can all learn from him and follow his great example. I love this picture because of his huge smile and all his cuddly rolls! Check out those thighs!! We LOVE you Nashie!

Luke's Birthday Fun

I think we have all recovered from Luke's birthday fun and I finally have a moment to write about it. He had a fun couple of days. On Thursday night I was suppose to go to a RS meeting so Joey was coming home early. We planned to take Luke to McDonalds where they had just finished a new playplace. Joey got stuck at work and was not home until after 6pm. So I called Janet, the RS Pres, and she told me to skip the meeting and spend time with my family. What a blessing. We were then able to enjoy the birthday without any time restrictions. We spent about an hour and McDonalds and the kids had so much fun. Then we came home for presents. Luke was so excited because he got Venom and a web shooter. He also got some clothes, Spectacular Spiderman underwear, some candy and his Favorite Chips. After he tried everything out we sang Happy Birthday and ate his spiderman cake. As I was making it earlier he kept saying "This cake is so cool Mom!" That makes you feel so good! I also wanted to mention that Harlee was very sad that she was not getting presents. So Joey brought out all of the little gifts he received on his trip including a hot/cold pad, pens and a couple massagers. Harlee could not have been more excited. Great thinking Joey!

The next day Joey was off early and I took Luke to see the movie Up. It was a really cute movie and Luke was so good. It is amazing to see him sit and focus for 2 hours. Last year I took him to see Walle and we had to leave early because he could not sit still. Such a change. Then we got home and all went to Chucky Cheese as a family. It was really fun to watch them have fun. I hope Luke had a great birthday and we are so grateful to have him in our family.

Who's Birthday is it?

So hard to be two. Harlee just does not understand why Luke is getting all the attention today and not her. She keeps saying that it is her birthday and not Luke's. Needless to say with all of the crying (Nash included because he is teething) it has not been a quiet house today. I just had to post this picture because it speaks volumes of how Harlee is handling the day. One day you will understand my sweet girl!

Our Baby is 5!!!!

On June 4th, 2004 our lives changed forever. We were due to have our first baby, a boy, on June 18th and we were so excited. On Friday morning, the 4th, I was not feeling too great. My stomach would feel crampy for a minute or two and then the pain would fade. I knew that these could be contractions but figured they were Braxton Hicks. Joey was concerned but went to work as I promised to keep him updated. I had just finished teaching for the year and quit working at the bank so I was planning on a few weeks to get ready for this little guy. That did not happen! Over the next few hours, Joey would call me about every 30 minutes. I tried taking a bath and tried to relax but the pain kept coming. I could not believe this was happening so early. Around noon we decided to call the doctor and he suggested that we go to the hospital to be checked. So Joey rushed home and I must admit that he was so "first time Dad". It was so cute how he frantically got my bag and almost killed us on the way to the hospital because he was driving so fast. So we arrived at the hospital and they checked me around 2:30pm. I was dilated to a 2.5 which was about 1 cm more than my dr appt a few days prior. So they suggested that I walk for an hour and they would check me again. So they checked around 4pm and I was a 4.5. They knew this was the real thing and we would be staying. So by 5:30pm I had an epidural and they broke my water. I could not believe this was really happening. We made all the phone calls and got ready. By 10:30pm I was fully dilated and ready to push. Our doctor came in and said that he had someone complete at another hospital so we were going to have to hurry. How can I hurry when I don't know what I am doing? But he let me push 2 times and then pulled him out with a vacuum. This started what was to be a 10 day nightmare. Luke David Childs was born at 11:05pm. He weighed 6lbs and 15 ounces and was 19 inches long. He was a beautiful baby and they let me hold him for a second. They then noticed that he could not keep his temperature up, so they said they would keep him in the nursery overnight. I was a little worried but they did not seem worried so I tried to rest. Joey was back and forth between the room and nursery through the night. They put him on oxygen and he got progressively worse. I was so sad that I could not see him so this cute nurse brought me some pictures. I was in love! Joey and his dad gave him a blessing in the morning before they did some Xrays. They thought that he had a diaphragmatic hernia and said that he needed to be life flighted to Primary Children's Hospital. We could not believe this. They were not so kind and came into the room before transporting him. He was in this special covered bed that we could only put our hands through. They said that I should probably tell him goodbye because they did not think that he would make it. Are you kidding me? We had to just go on faith and trust in the blessing that he was given that he would recover. They would not release me until the next morning so Joey followed them up to Primarys. I could not sleep so they gave me a sleeping pill. My mom stayed the night with me. I remember not being able to close my eyes. Every time I did I would just start to pray for my little baby. I felt like I was in a nightmare. Joey finally called me a few hours later. He gave me the good news that it was not what they had thought but that he did have air outside of his lungs which is what they saw on the Xray. They also said that he had pneumonia and was extremely ill. He was on a ventilator for 5 days. We decided that Joey should go to work and save the vacation time until Luke came home. So he would drop me off at the hospital around 6:30am and I would stay there until Joey was done with work. Then we would stay together at night. Every night that we came home I was sick that we came home without Luke. I would wake up and call the nurses in the middle of the night to make sure he was ok. He made a turn around after about 6 days and was able to come home on June 14th. He is such a fighter and we were so grateful for his strong spirit. He is our miracle.
I cannot believe that five years have passed since that beautiful day. I love everything about Luke. He is such a smart boy. He loves to make people laugh and he thinks he is so funny. He is so sweet and is a great example to Harlee and Nash. For his birthday today he will have some visits from family and then tonight we are going to go to dinner then presents and cake. Because I have a RS meeting tomorrow we will really celebrate. I am going to take him to see the movie UP and then we are going to Chucky Cheese. It should be really fun. I am also making him a spiderman cake which is this years fav! This should be interesting since Luke is the only artist in the family!

We love you Luke and feel completely blessed to have you in our family.
Happy Birthday our Big Boy!

PS- Love this picture. It is so true to our Luke!

You don't know what you've got until it's gone!

This statement is somewhat true- I KNOW what a blessing Joey is in my life but I realize it even more when he is not here. He left on Monday to go to New Jersey and New York for work. He is only gone until Wednesday night but it feels like an eternity. Nothing feels the same when he is gone. I know that I still have a purpose, I am a mother to three wonderful kids, but it is so not the same when he does not walk through the door every night. Don't get me wrong, I am truly grateful for Joey's job and for the fact that he does not have to travel that much. I think that the lack of travel makes these times even harder. I miss him so much! I also miss all of the help that he gives me. We are truly a team. What a great man I have been blessed with. He is a perfect provider/father and an even more perfect husband. I don't know what I would do without him. That is why I better die first! I love you Joey and I am counting the hours until you are home safe with us.

Where are we living?

I must admit that I never thought of the special friends that might come with this new house. I should have figured that if you move to a place where your backyard is the mountain, you probably should expect the unexpected. Well last week we found some mice droppings in the garage and got right out to buy some mouse traps. Some of the pellets were missing and no more droppings so we figured our friend was dead somewhere in the garage- what a fun thought. So just when you think it cannot get any worse you come home from church on Sunday. Joey looks down and frantically tells all of us to get in the house. I figured the mouse was in a trap. I was so hysterical when I found out it was a baby rattlesnake. I have never wanted to move more. I have such a fear of snakes and so this was not happy news. Joey took a picture and then took care of it by cutting it up with a shovel and throwing it in the nearby field. This was Sunday and Joey left the next morning. I had him move the car out of the garage and we have not been in there since. I am so scared in my own home- not a great feeling. I am hoping that this is only a spring thing and soon it will not be an issue. I hesitate to post the picture because I cannot even look at it. But hopefully someday I can laugh at this- I doubt it, but maybe!!

Two Dollars of Fun

Well the garage sale has officially begun and I can kiss my Saturday mornings goodbye! Just kidding, I hate to admit it but I actually enjoy the thrill of a good deal. We have already found the coolest home decor, spiderman and barbie toys, and a sweet fire pit! This last Saturday was not very good for us but Harlee was thrilled with her two dollar fancy dress. She could not wait to go home and put it on. In fact, she asked over and over if we were done and going home. After we got home, she changed, and danced around the kitchen. Oh how fun to be the mom of a dancing girl- she is making my dreams come true!!