Sunday, November 13, 2011

The last 1 1/2 years in a couple of paragraphs

It's been 1 1/2 years since I last posted...I was looking at my last post and recognizing that it was about the end of my 3rd child's immobile phase. Truly life changed once that 3rd kiddo got moving! Life just got so busy. Later that summer we took all 3 to Las Vegas ...And in October to New York City. It was totally wild! I remembered enjoying The Big Apple much more as an 18 year old. As a mom with my 3 kids it mostly left impressions of being crowded, dirty, inconvenient etc...oh well, live and learn! We still had a great time hanging out in Central Park, the museums, the Staten Island ferry (we actually rented a house in Staten Island for the week so we passed the Statue of Liberty on the days we went across the bay on the ferry to Manhattan).
Later that month Clara turned 1. We had a big party with all the family featuring a ladybug for our little lady. To this day when we read a book, if there is a ladybug in it, she'll find it and point it out without fail. She loves them! I don't know if it was because of the cake or what, but I love that we picked a good subject for her #1.

We also started house hunting in earnest. And Landen turned 3. And that Lightening McQueen, is 100% cake and fondant. With a little yellow vinyl!

The Holidays Season came and went. Birthday for me came and went. In March we decided to go to France with Rhett's mom. She has been trying to get us to travel with her for a while. But with the ages of our kiddos it never seemed doable. By the time they were old enough to think about leaving we were well on our way to expecting the next one. Not this time, so to France we went. It was amazing. We covered half the country in about 7 days. I couldn't believe how big the kids seemed when we got home after 9 days! France will get it's own post in about 2 years. ha ha And while we were in France we opened escrow on a house purchase. When we got home, we had a short window to close our loan and then it was packing and moving! Then unpacking, trying to get settled and ready for Kindergarten! Lots of adventures and big changes for our little family in the last year and 1/2.
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Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Family Pictures

Well, after years of having both sides of our extended family all living in the same area my brother and his wife decided to move. We decided to take some family pictures before they left. I'm not posting the huge group shot, but here are a few of just our little family.


I want to take a sec and advertise for the great photographer who did our shoot. Check out http://www.gilbertfamilyphotography.com for more info. Chelsea was really great with the kids. She had mini boxes of nerds that she shook to get them to look at the camera and afterwards they got to have a box. My kids now love to play photographer and bribe each other with pretend nerds candy. Even if nobody is moving, the affordable rates make it a good idea to get a family photo this summer. We've been really spoiled having everyone nearby. I feel more motivated to update our blog to stay in touch and hope that they will start one too! (hint hint)
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

For Grandma Great

I keep promising my Grandma I will update my blog. Tonight I am finally following through and keeping my promise. Here are a few pictures from the last couple of months. I can't believe how fast Clara is growing and changing. Here she is on Valentine's Day with her Valentine that came in the mail from her Grandparents in California. Louisa turned 4 last month. I can't believe she is 4 already! I made her requested princess cake and she of course had to dress-up in her princess attire for the occasion. We had a couple cousins over while their parents helped with a move and they loved it too. Addie loved the frosting rose bushes!

A couple of weeks ago I needed to deliver some onesies to a store the next town over so I loaded up my crew for a mini roadtrip. Here is Clara ready to cruise.


And here are the other two. Yes, I take all 3 with me and they all fit in the backseat of our car, carseats and all!
We had a rainy day and they were so excited to put on all of their snow clothes first thing in the morning and go out and stomp around in the rain. Their gloves are huge but they kept their little digits warm while they splashed around.
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Tuesday, February 09, 2010

June 2009

Well, here I am attempting to catch up on the blog per request from Grandma for some pictures! Here ya go.... June was fingerpainting mania at our house. Louisa mostly loved squirting it onto the plates and then usually would end up painting herself more than the paper.

Rhett introducing Landen to some worms during our annual summer campout that we take with Rhett's family. The past two years we've gone to Hawley Lake.

The boys doing some fishing up at Hawley...


We had weekly swim-days with our cousins. We'd swim all morning and then have lunch. Landen often fell asleep during lunch. What a beautiful boy...as summer progressed he seemed to go from baby to toddler very quickly. By the end of summer (20 months of age) he was speaking in sentences.
We also took a Saturday and went to Lake Roosevelt with some friends from a neighboring ward. We paddled the canoe, rode jet skis, played in the sand and had a great day overall. The kids loved the canoe even when it was beached. More pics from the weekend trip to my "home area" of the White Mountains with all of Rhett's family. We fished and hiked around, played games, ate, chased the kids around and had a memorable time. How can you not with 6 families living together in 3 cabins for a few days?

Louisa and Landen doing some fishing at Hawley Lake. Hopefully they will take after me in this department since I have caught the first fish of the trip for the past two years. It must be my White Mountain upbringing and the many family fishing trips we took there growing up that gives me my edge. Although, I will admit that by the end of the trip I have always been out-fished by one of the other ladies in the family and this year I definitely had an advantage since my Grandpa Rollie came up and took us out in his boat.

Louisa and cousin Nadia suited up to head down to the water at Hawley Lake. What a great start to the summer. Looking back, we sure packed it in during the month of June!
In a few days I will do July highlights and so on to try and get caught up so that posts will be more current.














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Thursday, December 10, 2009

The debut post of....

Clara Macey arrived about 6 weeks ago...she was 8 lbs. 5 oz. and a whopping 21 3/4 inches long. She is still a long baby and she stretches constantly. She has been a very easy-going newborn and has settled right into life with our family. Her siblings adore her...especially her big sister. Her brother is very adoring also but actually allows her to have some breathing room. 3 kids 3 and under is a busy, exciting time for us packed with fun and love. The labor and delivery went well. Due to the possibility of some risk from an antibody issue, I was induced two days after my due date. We started contractions around noon and she was born at 5:30 p.m. after two pushes...literally less than 5 minutes of pushing. I took note of the clock when we started the first push because everyone always asks, "how long did you have to push?" I was stunned when after the first push the Dr. was saying he was wrong about it taking several pushes and the nurse is telling me to keep my eyes open on the next push. I hardly believed them but then there she was up in the air with her little fist clutching the umbilical chord. They laid her on me and I was just laughing with pure joy and a little shock and it occured to me to find out that she was a girl but it took a few minutes. I think Rhett and the Dr. and nurses knew before me but I had no idea, I was just too elated that she was there and that it had all gone so smoothly. (I was really uneasy about being induced since it was a new thing for me). Well, enough chit-chat, let's get to the pictures...
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Friday, June 05, 2009

News, News, News...

I'm not quite sure where to pick-up since I've gotten behind with the blog. I guess we'll start with the biggest news first....Baby #3 is on his/her way! We are about 20 weeks along now which puts us due for October 24th. I had the all-important ultrasound today. However, we did not do gender determination. We thought we'd go old-fashioned this time around and wait until the birth to find out. Since we have one girl and one boy we are pretty much ready for either one. I have a hunch it's a girl but we shall see.

In other news we have been potty-training. Things with #1 have been pretty good for the past few months. However, #2 is a story of it's own...but we are making good progress and today was another exciting, successful day on that front. As a result Louisa got a box of stickers and promptly sat down and put all 100+ all over her arms and legs. Check her out! She took her nap like this and afterwards she wanted me to help her take them off. They were pretty sticky, not bad for the Target dollar stop. We ended up leaving them on, went to dinner and put her in the bath to let them dissolve off a bit. The other day the kids got into a bottle of suncreen. I thought about putting them into the tub but opted for the sprinkler instead. The grass needs the extra water and it was a lovely, late afternoon. They were a little tentative so I suggested they try drinking the water....resulting in priceless pictures and enough wetness to call them clean.

We're starting to get some use out of the pool again. Landen chilling in a care bear donut in Louisa's purple and pink flotation suit with Dad's sunglasses.


Post 1st swim of the summer, snacks on the lounge chairs. What a life! To be 3 and/or 1 again.



The first swim of the summer!
Getting ready to enter the pool gate for our first swim of the summer! Since this picture was taken Landen has given up his paci. Louisa was the same way, just earlier. I love it when my kids make me feel like a champion Mom, giving up their pacifiers voluntarily, nursing until at least a year old, eventually weaning on their own from that....if only potty training was that easy!

And I just can't resist some Easter pictures...Landen eating his loot on Sunday's egg hunt. Even after running and scooping up eggs with gusto he is still tucked in! Gotta love those white-shirt onesies. He is getting chocolate all over this one but it's not like we don' t have a replacement should that chocolate stain....we have a garage full of these things. However, slowly but surely we are starting to get some exposure and it looks like there's hope our next kids won't have to spend their whole lives in these and nothing else afterall. Still, this recession is really lousy timing for a small, home-based, mom run business featuring a semi-luxury item for baby boys. I figure if we get off the ground in this economic and business climate then I can chalk it up to a good idea after all because heaven knows I've had my doubts. Just a reminder....these adorable, high-quality white, dress-shirt onesies are for sale at http://www.charmedlifeclothing.com/



My crew on Easter Saturday enjoying their loot post Grammy Corrine's famous Easter egg hunt. Louisa was talking about it today when we pulled up to drop them off for Grammy time while I got my ultrasound done. Gee whiz, what a cute threesome!


Louisa collecting some eggs!

Landen getting his goodies, what an angel! It didn't take him long to catch on at all. He got several all on his own instead of getting distracted by the first one as is usually the case with this age.

And it looks like we are pretty caught up...we covererd family expansion , Easter holiday, business update/sales pitch, developmental stages, and leisure activities. Makes you wonder what I'm not telling you/saying on this blog, huh?
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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Louisa turns 3! and gets plastic surgery...

Our spring has been such a crazy few weeks of ups and downs....First, Louisa turned 3 last month. It was a great day. As parents we spend a good amount of time establishing boundaries, structure, routines etc...to help our children have happy, balanced, progressing lives...so it sure was nice to depart from the usual objectives and have a day designed to indulge the whims of our beautiful and delightful 3 year-old. This meant breakfast outside on the picnic table with vanilla yogurt and pancakes with syrup (syrup was pronounced in a hilarious way that I cannot duplicate). She also requested that we, "make a juice." This means picking oranges off our backyard tree and juicing them, yes we are spoiled here with our own huge orange tree that has had a good crop of sweet oranges perfect for juicing.
I love this picture with the bear at the table draped in Louisa's favorite blankie.
Mmm...mmm...enjoying that fresh squeezed orange juice. Plus, any beverage is better when you have a straw.

Time for the Happy Birthday song...she loves it! She had been singing it a lot to me and Landen since we recently had birthdays.
Taking a big breath to blow out those candles...
And blowing them out...well, she got 2 of them anyways. Landen was eager to help! What a sweetheart...we had such a fun day. We karaoked after dinner, the kids just loved that. We finished the day off letting Louisa pick out a movie at Blockbuster to watch at bedtime...she chose Cinderella part III...and bibbity-bobbity-booed through the whole thing. The next day it was a little hard to go back to the usual routine...she was still a little wound up. So at nap time I told her she could go lay down in Mommy's bed...she took of like a shot (Louisa has a tendency to run practically everywhere she goes. She even loves to run laps around the yard.) As she went around the corner of the bed she took a good spill (I think she slipped on a recipe page I had torn out of a magazine) and was crying pretty good. I laid her on our bed to calm her down and noticed a big splotch of blood on the pillow. I was praying it was a split lip like the one other time I have seen my child bleeed...but it wasn't. It was a nice sized gash under her eye. So she is crying and bleeding all over (bot she didn't seem too phased because she doesn't even really know what blood is.) I get her a juice box to calm her down and try to put a damp washcloth on the wound to stop the bleeding. She didn't like the washcloth so I ditched that. She sat there sipping her juice box and that's when I hit a semi-panic...I couldn't believe this was happening to my perfect little girl. In one second she went from being fine to having this bleeding gash right by her eye and I figured she was going to need stitches. I called Rhett and he rushed home and we all hopped in the car to go the Phoenix Children's Hospital urgent care...it was about 15-20 minutes away....as we get close I look at my driving direction/info printout and it says the hours are 5:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. I'm wondering if that can be right so I call them. And sure enough, they are not open. So I call my pediatrician while we head back towards their office. They got back to me right away and told me about another pedicatric urgent care - the exit to which we had passed a mile or two back so we turn around again. Louisa was perfectly calm this entire time - in fact she had fallen asleep as this did happen right at nap time. We pull up to the pediatric urgent care (Cornerstone on Stapley and Baseline for those of you in the area) and it's pretty empty so we get right in. The Dr. on duty was great....he took a look at it and confirmed the need for stitches but since she was a girl (and a dang cute one at that) said he would try to find someone in plastics to do it. A few minutes later he came back and said that the Chief of Plastic Surgery for the Children's Hospital at Banner Desert had a hour free right then and would taken us "right now" so to head straight there and call them on our way to start the info transfer process etc...What luck! More like, what a blessing! I felt some relief knowing she was getting some of the best care possible. This Dr. only works on children and he and his team were very conscientious, explaining everything to two very nervous, anxious parents. So like I said, roller-coaster! I did go ahead and take a picture after we got home from the Dr.'s office....We got her a smoothie on the way home which she is enjoying here...I guess this picture makes the cut look quite a bit bigger than it is due to the bruise so here is the close-up I wasn't going to post because it was so gruesome...but that other one is almost worse.

Even now it makes my stomach hurt to look at these pictures. The stitches healed perfectly and with any luck the scar won't be very noticeable a year from now. The Dr. did warn us that it will be pretty red and raised for the next year though. And then a few days after this...we had her big family birthday party. Invites had already been sent and Rhett and I had been scheming about her cake for a week or two. Here are a few pictures of the big #3 family party...

Louisa declaring her age of 3 years old.
Sneaking a taste of that carousel.

Clapping for the crowd's very robust rendition of Happy Birthday!

Clapping for herself upon blowing out her candles (with the help of several cousins). Phew! She got a lot of lovely gifts from everyone and overall it was a great birthday week despite having our first medical emergency. It's been a good 6 weeks now and she still points out her "owie" a lot. She talked about the whole accident quite a bit for the first month but hasn't so much lately. It was always interesting to see what would cause her to start talking about it and sometimes it seemed to come out of nowhere. So that was the fist week of our Spring...and it pretty much seems to have followed that roller-coaster pattern.
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