The one where my kids had a sleepover

Before me and Jon went into the hospital for baby girl to get here, I dropped my kids off at my friends house for them to have a sleepover. This wonderful woman, Whitney, has been so great to me and my family since we moved here to Claremore. I can not thank her enough for everything she has done!
My kids had so much fun playing with her family while we "patiently" waited for baby girl to get here. I knew Taegen would have a blast. He had been talking about his sleepover non stop since I told him about it. Ellie claimed she was excited, but I was worries about how she'd handle sleeping somewhere else. She's never slept anywhere but her own bed/house without mom or dad. But both of them did great. Whitney randomly sent me pictures to reassure me that they were having fun. Im so glad I was able to relax and not have to worry about them.

The one where shes here!

No name yet, but baby girl is here! 7 lbs 11 oz 20.5 inches long born at 7:26pm May 1st. Quite a bit smaller than her siblings. Birth story coming soon

The one with the family newsletter update for April

My sister puts together a family newsletter each month. Each of us send in some pictures and updates on our family. It makes keeping up with everyone really easy since we don't all live in the same city anymore. I've decided that I'm going to put my update on here as well. Some of the information might be repeated from other posts, but it will give a general monthly update all in one place.

April was busy yet uneventful at the same time. I’ll start with Ellie.

She has been super rough to deal with. Very ornery, whiney and crying all the time. I’m sure this is due to the change of baby sister coming soon, but it’s still hard none the less. She still has her very cute moments and her and Taegen can play so well together, when she’s not being ornery that is. She is very sensitive and has a hard time with the rough play that Taegen likes. He’ll chase after her playing dinosaurs, bad guys or some other form of boy game and sometimes she loves it, others she screams bloody murder and is scared to death. She hates getting dirty, any type of bug and being outside in general right now. We were out working in our garden and Ellie was pulling leaves off of a tree, putting them in my “weed” pile. Later that night we found a tick on her head. It was super gross, but she did great with it. I think it’s because she wasn’t able to see the bug. If she could I’m sure she would have freaked out. She didn’t cry when we pulled it out though, so I’m not even sure she felt anything. She gets frustrated very quickly. If she can’t successfully do something on the first try she instantly freaks out. This includes getting on a chair, couch or bed, getting food into her mouth, opening doors, turning something on or off, just about anything she does. She’s definitely trying my patience and I’m having to try to calm her down multiple times a day.

Taegen turned 5! Crazy that he’s that old. He’s so excited to finally be able to say that he’s 5 years old now. For his birthday we ended up getting a trampoline. It wasn’t just for him, which we explained both before and after he opened the “gift”. Although since Ellie hates it, it does seem to be just him that jumps on it. He loves it and would jump every chance he could, but it’s not as fun jumping by yourself. We are slowly trying to help Ellie adjust, so they both will love it. Taegen has made a couple friends from church and constantly asks to play with them. When the baby comes, he gets to spend a couple days with one of them and couldn’t be more excited. He loves to be outside, especially if Jon is working out there. It has been raining a lot and he’s been cooped up inside and is hating it. I got Taegen signed up for Kindergarten and he says he can’t wait to meet his new teacher. He obviously has a while before it starts but the excitement is there. When we had our tick experience we also found 3 ticks on our dog and poor Taegen got so sad. He thought that meant that Blue was going to die and started crying. He really is a sensitive soul. If it wasn’t for him and Jon I would get rid of the dog because a black dog and ticks just does not sound like very much fun. But Taegen loves him too much for me to actually go through with it.

Jon had a successful month. He flew out to Utah to attend drill and he had his pinning ceremony to E5 (sergeant). This is a big deal within the Army (some people spend most of their careers at E4, unable to get the promotion). So he’s super excited about it. Although he did have to switch units to one up in Ogden (go figure he switches there as soon as we move out of state). He’s bummed to leave his unit but the promotion makes it worth it. He also graduated with his associates. I’m not sure if I mentioned this last time or not. But he finished his last class in March right before we moved and he has officially graduated! Jon is also keeping busy with our yard, garden and in the garage. He loves always having something to do. The garden has been fun, especially since it rains so often that as of now it requires barely any maintenance. Hopefully we can get some veggies to grow. This is our first attempt at a garden, so we really don’t know what we’re doing yet. I’m just hoping we can some watermelons to grow. Yum yum. J

As for me, my due date is May 2^nd, so in just a couple days from now. When Jon came back from drill in Utah, we found out that he will have to fly out again in May for a week. With my track record of going over my due date I didn’t want to risk Jon being out of town or having to leave just a couple days after the baby is born. Because of this we have decided for me to get induced at my 40 week mark (or as close to it as they will let me since they won’t schedule them for weekends). So baby might (hopefully) share a birthday with Kimi. I do not like the idea of being induced, but since we live so far away with no family around to help us out, I’ve felt this is the best route and most stress free option for me. I will keep you all updated and send pics once she’s born. J Other than pregnancy related things, I’m not that interesting. Haha. I like our house and city, although I could do without all the bugs, ticks especially! Yuck! I stay inside a lot and when I do have to go outside, I drench myself and the kids in bug spray. It’s not that hot yet, a little humid but really not that bad. We do get some crazy thunderstorms though. We just had one the other day that was so loud that it woke up me, Ellie, Jon (which is a miracle since Jon sleeps like a rock) and the dog. Ellie and the dog were scared enough that they had to come into our room until it was over. “I don’t want the funder to get get me, its scary” as Ellie says J

The one with the baby shower

Moving to OK at 35 weeks pregnant has been hard. Its not easy to not have family or good friends around to help if the need arises. My first realization of this came when I learned I had to take an epidural class at the hospital where no kids were allowed. I had literally been in my house for 10 days when I learned about it. I called the relief society presidency and they hooked me up with a wonderful girl who has kids my kids' ages who said she'd watch my kids for me to go to the class. I have been ever thankful for the church during this move. All the people have been super friendly and very willing to help me, a stranger, out if I need it.

I was informed that a few women in the ward wanted to throw me a baby shower. This took me by surprise, as I hadnt even considered it or realized that I wouldnt be getting one this pregnancy. At 38 weeks, these wonderful ladies out everything together for a shower at the park for the other kids to play. I had a wonderful time getting to know more women from my ward. They were all so kind and generous to attend/throw a shower for a woman they dont even know! I am truly humbled by their willingness to give and help me out.

The one where I am 39 weeks

This baby is about to make her appearance into the world and I have posted almost nothing about this pregnancy.
-I am super swollen, everywhere!
-I had morning sickness this time around, that I didn'tget with the other 2.
-I still have my food aversion to Garlic. Cant eat anything that has it in the ingredients...which is just about everything.
-I got a stress fracture in my right foot, shortly after we moved to OK and its just now starting to heal. (6 weeks later). I couldnt walk unless I was wearing tennis shoes. I believe I got it from all the pregnancy weight Ive gained/water Ive retained.
-I had to switch doctors without meeting the new one, at 35 weeks (due to the move). Luckily I like my new doc.
-I have felt a lot more pain this pregnancy. Ie pelvic pressure, sciatic pain. They have been so bad at times that I have been unable to move. Most of the pain I feel I didnt have with my other 2.
-I may have Had a gall bladder attack. They cant be sure as it only happened once, but thats what the doc thinks it was. Chest pain, just on the right side, came every 2-3 minutes, lasting 30 secs or so. This lasted for about 3 hours.

I dont mean to sound negative. I know everything I posted was negative,  but I am not one of those women that enjoy pregnancy. Im fact, I truly dont believe the women who say they do enjoy it or miss it. It just seems absurd to me. Pregnancy is a means to an end. A wonderful way to grow a baby in a healthy way, but one that I just do not enjoy. I love my babies, but would much rather have them outside with me. Maybe this is bc I do not bond with them in the normal way during pregnancy. I love my baby, I just dont connect very well until after they are born.
I hope that is not taken the wrong way. I dont mean it as a bad or negative thing.

The one with Jons accomplishments

Jon isnt one to brag much about himself, so Im going to do it for him! He has been working so hard lately. Back in Nov he started working on his promotion to seargant packet. This is mainly just a whole lot of paper work. There were a lot of issues, starting with the guy supposed to check the packet before submitting it to the approval board. The guy didnt even look over it, he just signed it and sent it in. Luckily Jons packet wasnt the only one he did this to, so they realized it wasnt his fault that an incomplete packet was sent in. They let him complete it and it was finally approved last month. Yay! This is the biggest and hardest promotion to get. Some people spend years at a specialist waiting for a position to open up. Jon has been in the Army for 4 years in July and he only spent a short amount of that time as a specialist! He has worked hard to prove himself and he just had his pinning ceremony last weekend. He had to fly out to Utah, so me and the kids werent able be there :( But we're proud of him non the less.
He also just got his associates degree. The training through the Army that he did to become a BMET counted towards his civilian degree. All he had to do was complete 5 general classes. He started last July and his last class finished up in March. So proud of this guy for all his hard work!

The one with the unsuccessful potty training

Potty training shortly before a baby comes, not really a great idea. However, Ellie was showing all the signs and was asking to do it. Otherwise theres no way I would have even thought to try. But since she wanted it, I gave in and we bought all the stuff (underwear and treats she picked out). We had to wait about a week before we had the time to just stay home for a while.
A few days before I was constantly reminding her we were gonna start potty training and she'd get to wear her big girl underwear and go potty in the big girl potty. She was still excited about it so we forged ahead. The day before her attitude changed. She kept saying she wanted to wear her underwear and get the treats, but was adamant she didnt want to go pee or poo in the big girl toilet. I started to worry but was still hopeful. I went to the library and got some books and an Elmo movie about potty training. She liked them but her attitude still hadnt changed.
This morning I let her eat breakfast then we changed her into her new underwear. At first she was so excited to use the potty as she knew she would get a treat. She intentionality would go sit down and pee to get a treat. Of course not much came out, but I was just excited she wasnt afraid of it. She did that a few times and I had hope she would do ok. Then after an hour things changed. She still wanted her treats, but didnt want to go potty. I started asking if she needed to go potty and she always said no, but an accident almost always followed shortly after. This was something I could work with though. Not worth giving up over. She then started getting upset over the idea of using the potty. It was almost like she became afraid of it. I never forced her to sit on the potty, just asked if she needed to go pee. She eventually started crying if I asked her if she needed to use the potty/go pee. And not just a little cry, but like a full blown melt down.
After multiple accidents and her crying over the idea of using the potty I decided to stop. I didnt want to traumatize her to the idea of using the potty and I felt that was more important than continuing with the process once we started. Im hoping in a few months she'll be open to the idea again.
I want to remember what happened with our first attempt so maybe I can do things a little different next time. Plus when we try again she'll be closer to 3 years old, Taegen will be in school and she'll be use to having a baby sister. No more change will be happening and hopefully that'll help. Heres to a more successful second try.

The one where we got a tramp

I have been searching for a tramp since we finally have the space for one and I found one at a discount store here for such a good price I couldnt pass it up. Since Taegs' bday is on monday we figured it could be his bday present that he gets to share with Ellie.
We surprised the kids with it and both seemed pretty excited. Jon set it up and Taegen does love it. Ellie on the other hand got on it once and hated it! Shes super scared of it. I got on with the two of them today and sat with her while Taegs jumped. Im hoping to slowly teach her that its not scary. But for now she wont get on unless me or Jon goes with her and even then she still asks to get off frequently.
Last night Jon got on with Taegen after they finished setting it up and the two of them had a blast. Jon even got Blue running around the tramp chasing them. It was fun to watch.
I dont plan on getting on (and actually  jumping) any time soon. Unless of course I want to try to get this baby out of me sooner :)

The one where my sweet child disappeared

While Jon was gone for the 2 months before we moved I was having a bit of a difficult time with Ellie. However I knew in the back of my mind that it was due to so much change that was going to happen/happening. I was hoping things with her would get better once we got out to OK and were all together again. Boy was I wrong!
She has been so difficult lately. Even more so than she was back in UT. I know it hasnt even been a month since we moved and the baby is due in another month, both of which Im sure are effecting her behavior. Somedays though I just get so frustrated. She throws tantrums like crazy, talks back to me, has major attitude (which I know is partly just her personality) and gets so frustrated/gives up if something doesn't go her way after the first try/time. I'm already a little worried about how she'll react to the new baby, but add some attitude on top of the possible jealousy and Im worried it'll be a disaster!
My sweet little Ellie has all but disappeared lately and I would really love foe her to come back.
This picture just made me laugh. I asked her to show me her super powers (as she had previous been talking about them) and this is what she did. Im guessing its the Superman pose. And of course, dont mind her chocolaty shirt  (Easter candy remnants at their best). The words on her shirt describe her perfectly right now. "Wild child" she sure is! And gotta love the double chin! :) We love her no matter what, just the joys of so much change is taking its toll.

The one with Easter 2015

Happy Easter!
Yeaterday we colored eggs using kool-aid and the kids loved it. It smelled really good. The kids kept smelling the water and eggs. They even licked the eggs, which they say didnt taste as good as it smelled. Haha
Last year dad was gone at drill l, so it was nice to have him home this year. In fact he even woke up before the kids this morning to make sure he didnt miss out on all the fun :)
This morning for the egg hunt they were both so excited and moving too fast for me to get any good pictures. Now they are just playing with their new playdoh and trying to eat every bit of candy they can :) Hope you all have a Happy Easter full of fun family time and some general conference.