So, life with four kids has been an adjustment for sure. Trying to make sure that all the kids are taken care of and get special time with their parents is the daily battle. It was difficult especially while I was nursing Bryce because it really limited my time and things. But I figured out that the younger 2 enjoyed if I just read to them or sang songs with them while I was nursing Bryce. We found ways to make things work and made adjustments where they were needed.
It's one of those things though that if I had to go back and change anything I don't think that I would. My children all love each other and we have found a way to find time that they each get at least a few minutes of 1 on 1 time. I'm not sure how we do it some days, but we do!! I am so blessed to have my wonderful children and can't imagine my life without any of them in it!!!
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Friday, September 16, 2016
Baby Bryce Arrives
So our son decided to make his arrival into our family very exciting and so now that he is 4 months old I am finally posting his very detailed birth story.
So all through the last few weeks of my pregnancy with our son I kept having elevated blood pressures and they were starting to really worry about if he would make it to term or if they would need to schedule his arrival early. At most of my appointments if I laid down for a while then my blood pressure would get into an acceptable range. So, as the weeks passed they just kept a closer eye on me and then baby boy decided that he didn't want to flip and wanted to remain in breach. Which of course complicated things for me and my stress levels and worry over him. Then he turned and then turned back. He just wanted me to worry about him and myself and how things were going to go. So, after talking to my doctors, Brett and I sat down and started making multiple plans for the many different possible deliveries of our son.
During all of this though we were still trying to figure out what our sons name would be. We each had our names we liked and couldn't agree. Then finally we agreed on naming our son Bryce Joseph Lehrschall (Bryce after Brett's best friend of 20+ years and Joseph after Brett's middle name). Having finally agreed on a name made his arrival a little less stressful as at least we would know what his name would be.
So as time got closer and closer to my due date my doctors kept checking on his position and with 1 week to spare baby Bryce turned head down and so we were good for delivery, but the doctor did say that whenever we got ready to deliver they would do an ultrasound just to be sure he didn't turn back again. So having a plan all set made things seem a little less crazy.
So, just before my due date the doctors and I discussed how long we would let me go past my due date because of my having larger babies. We decided that they didn't want me to make it to 41 weeks, but we wouldn't schedule anything for sure until I hit 40 weeks. They were pretty sure I wouldn't make it to 40 full weeks as I was at 3cm dilated by 39 weeks. However, Bryce had other plans.
So on the 16th of May (1 day after my due date) I went in and they went ahead and scheduled my induction for Wednesday morning and then the doctor offered to strip my membranes (in his experience labor starts within 48 hours). So I said lets try it and if nothing else I was being induced on Wednesday, so at about 2:30 in the afternoon they stripped my membranes which was uncomfortable, but I just hoped that it would help get labor going. BOY DID IT GET LABOR GOING!!! By the time Morgan got home from school at 4:30 I was having contractions every 8 minutes and they were lasting about 1 minute long. Then by 5:30 I was having contractions every 5 minutes and they were lasting about 1-1.5 minutes. So I got up with my friend who was going to drive me to the hospital since Brett was at class and she came over. She got me and the 3 girls all loaded up in her van and drove us to the hospital and I called Brett on the way. She dropped me off at the Rex Birthing Center where Brett was waiting. Brett and I said goodnight to our girls and they all headed to our friends house for the night and next day or two. So, now it's about 7pm and they hook me up to the monitors and take blood work and check my cervix. I am still at a 3, but he has moved down a bit. However, hours later at 11 pm they came in and said that because the contractions aren't getting any stronger or closer together they are going to give me a percocet to help me relax between contractions and send me home until things really get moving. So we get home just ahead of midnight and go straight to bed. Our girls thankfully our still at our friends house and my brother in law who was staying at our house to take care of our dogs is in Morgan's bedroom. Brett and I know that we will probably be heading back to the hospital within a few hours but figure we might as well sleep and I can at least rest a little. So at about 1:30am (it was light flipping a light switch it was so quick) my contractions go from 3 minutes apart to about 1.5 minutes apart and are lasting about the same so I am getting no relief. At 2:15 I wake up Brett and tell him we need to head to the hospital. At 2:20 as I'm waiting to talk to my doctor my water break in our bed. I quickly tell my doctor that "things are worse and my water broke" he says he will see me in about an hour when we get to the hospital. So I head into the bathroom to change into dry clothes and to grab some towels to sit on in the car. While in there I joke with my husband " Watch this guy do the same thing to me that I did to my mother and be born in the van on the way to the hospital". I was soooooo wrong. As I am trying to walk out of our bathroom Bryce crowns. I turn to my husband next to me and simply say "Call 911, the baby crowned!" To which my husband replied "WHAT!?" I simply say, "You HEARD me". He quickly calls 911 and gets me to our bed.
It is now around 2:25 am. The 911 dispatcher starts talking to him and I hear my husband say "My wife is having our baby....the baby is crowning!" As I am yelling in pain and pushing his head out I then hear Brett say to the dispatcher "The head is out......(then in an almost whisper) his face is blue. The cord is around his neck! What do I do?" The dispatcher tells him how to loosen the cord and get the baby breathing and thankfully it works. Bryce starts breathing as I finish pushing him out (it is now only about 8:35) and then Brett had to yell to his brother to bring in a wash cloth and towels (which his brother throws to Brett from our bedroom doorway). Then Brett yells to Brian to go out to meet the Fire fighters and EMS (which Brian happily agreed to do).
Brett has me covered with a blanket and towels on Bryce as the 2 Firemen walk in our room and say "Good job dad, but we will take over from here". They turn and find that Bryce is already born and they then say "Even better job dad, we will finish up". They then finished unwrapping the cord from around Bryce's neck and then start clapping the cord as EMS is only a few more minutes away. EMS arrives about 3 minutes later and the firemen show the head EMT the what they had done and ask what needs done next and he instructs them to cut the cord and then he turns to me and asks "How are you doing mom?" I reply that I am doing better now that the baby is crying. Once the cord was cut the firemen gave Bryce to the female EMT and she very quickly bundled him up in a bunch of towels and says "He is gorgeous mom. You guys did great. He seems about 9lbs I would guess." I am crying I am just so relieved at this point that things went as well as they did and that Bryce seems good.
The Lead EMT then tells my husband to get me some pants to just get me out to the ambulance (as they can't get the stretcher in and down our hallway. They then help me get dressed and out to the ambulance where they give me Bryce to hold for the first time (it is now around 2:40 am). Brett then asks if I want him to ride with us and I tell him that we will need the van so if he wants to just head up in our van soon I will be fine.
Bryce and I got to have a first together by riding to the hospital in an ambulance (I have never been in an ambulance before) and we also had our first time nursing in the ambulance on the way! When we got the the hospital they wheel us in and take us up to the the birthing center where all the nurses who had seen me earlier are shocked that I am coming in on a stretcher holding my baby. The nurse I had earlier that night and my doctor are extremely apologetic about having sent me home, in fact they are both almost in tears about it. They then start checking on me and the baby and I still needed to deliver the placenta so they got to work. As the doctor gets me ready for the placenta delivery they tell us that baby Bryce weighs 9lbs 5oz. Then the doctor tells me that I have no tearing (which is shocking with how quickly I delivered unexpectedly at home and with such a big baby). Brett gets there and he is able to give the nurse all of the info about the cord and things that I didn't see and conform my approximate time of birth. After they finished taking care of me and Bryce they finally get us in to our room and it is like 4am.
We all sleep really well for a few hours before calling the girls to tell them that their brother was born and that they will get to meet him later that day. We got to enjoy a few visitors during the next day, including our girls who got to meet their baby brother for the first time.
We got a few phone calls from people congratulating us and seeing how we are doing with the unexpected delivery at home. We were all doing well and looking forward to being able to go home on Thursday. I was not happy about telling Morgan that I would be missing her Mother/Daughter night at church, but when I told her that my mom and Brett's mom were going to go with her since I couldn't be there helped her take the news. She was still a little upset that I couldn't go, but was excited that her grandmas were going to be there.
Wednesday we got a few more visitors and our baby boy was loving all the attention. Then Thursday morning as we are thinking that we will need to start packing things up to head home they are doing their last checks on things for Bryce and they then discover that his bilirubin levels are higher then they want. They think that due to bruising in his face they didn't notice his jaundice earlier. So, they inform us that we will be staying for longer so he can undergo light therapy. So we start him with what they call a bili-blanket and we are praying that that will do the trick and we will be able to go home on Friday.
Poor little guy hated that mask and kept taking it off and hated having to be on that blanket. I held him all night Wednesday night to keep him on the lights and to keep him from taking his mask off. It was a long night with the bright blue light in my face all night, but we made it through. They came in fairly early to do another bilirubin level check and we were hoping for good news. However, when the doctor came in we knew it wasn't good news. She told us that his level had gone from 13 on Thursday morning to 17. She told us they were going to start a more intense light therapy and hopefully it would work and if it didn't then he would need to go to the NICU for blood transfusions. We instantly started praying and asking everyone we knew for prayers for our little Bryce. Brett knew that our girls would take the news really hard so he decided that he would go to our friends house and tell them in person. So he headed out and asked me what I needed from home. I told him "I need you to bring BJ (who Bryce is named after) and give Bryce and I both priesthood blessings." Brett said that he would see me after lunch time.
They then got Bryce all set up on his new lights and I prayed constantly for my little boy. I also prayed for myself that I would be able to handle whatever happened with him.
Brett went to have lunch with Morgan and give her the bad news, which she cried when it was just him and he told her that baby brother was still too sick to come home yet. Then he and BJ came up to the hospital and gave me and Bryce blessings. Then Brett asked if I was okay if he went and stayed with our girls that night (they were begging him to stay with them since mommy and baby brother couldn't come home) and I said that was fine.
Saturday morning when they checked his bilirubin levels they were very shocked by them. He had gone from a 17 to a 9 in 24 hours. They said that they had never seen a baby make that drastic of a recovery that quickly! I was so relieved. We FINALLY were headed home. We would however have to take him in for another check first thing Monday morning to make sure his levels continued to go down. We were so glad to be going home!
We did make our 1 stop on the way home so that he could meet Brett's grandma (we did this with all of the girls).
Then we made it home!!!! So happy to be home!!! Then the girls came home from our friends house and we were a happy family all together again!!!!
So all through the last few weeks of my pregnancy with our son I kept having elevated blood pressures and they were starting to really worry about if he would make it to term or if they would need to schedule his arrival early. At most of my appointments if I laid down for a while then my blood pressure would get into an acceptable range. So, as the weeks passed they just kept a closer eye on me and then baby boy decided that he didn't want to flip and wanted to remain in breach. Which of course complicated things for me and my stress levels and worry over him. Then he turned and then turned back. He just wanted me to worry about him and myself and how things were going to go. So, after talking to my doctors, Brett and I sat down and started making multiple plans for the many different possible deliveries of our son.
During all of this though we were still trying to figure out what our sons name would be. We each had our names we liked and couldn't agree. Then finally we agreed on naming our son Bryce Joseph Lehrschall (Bryce after Brett's best friend of 20+ years and Joseph after Brett's middle name). Having finally agreed on a name made his arrival a little less stressful as at least we would know what his name would be.
So as time got closer and closer to my due date my doctors kept checking on his position and with 1 week to spare baby Bryce turned head down and so we were good for delivery, but the doctor did say that whenever we got ready to deliver they would do an ultrasound just to be sure he didn't turn back again. So having a plan all set made things seem a little less crazy.
So, just before my due date the doctors and I discussed how long we would let me go past my due date because of my having larger babies. We decided that they didn't want me to make it to 41 weeks, but we wouldn't schedule anything for sure until I hit 40 weeks. They were pretty sure I wouldn't make it to 40 full weeks as I was at 3cm dilated by 39 weeks. However, Bryce had other plans.
So on the 16th of May (1 day after my due date) I went in and they went ahead and scheduled my induction for Wednesday morning and then the doctor offered to strip my membranes (in his experience labor starts within 48 hours). So I said lets try it and if nothing else I was being induced on Wednesday, so at about 2:30 in the afternoon they stripped my membranes which was uncomfortable, but I just hoped that it would help get labor going. BOY DID IT GET LABOR GOING!!! By the time Morgan got home from school at 4:30 I was having contractions every 8 minutes and they were lasting about 1 minute long. Then by 5:30 I was having contractions every 5 minutes and they were lasting about 1-1.5 minutes. So I got up with my friend who was going to drive me to the hospital since Brett was at class and she came over. She got me and the 3 girls all loaded up in her van and drove us to the hospital and I called Brett on the way. She dropped me off at the Rex Birthing Center where Brett was waiting. Brett and I said goodnight to our girls and they all headed to our friends house for the night and next day or two. So, now it's about 7pm and they hook me up to the monitors and take blood work and check my cervix. I am still at a 3, but he has moved down a bit. However, hours later at 11 pm they came in and said that because the contractions aren't getting any stronger or closer together they are going to give me a percocet to help me relax between contractions and send me home until things really get moving. So we get home just ahead of midnight and go straight to bed. Our girls thankfully our still at our friends house and my brother in law who was staying at our house to take care of our dogs is in Morgan's bedroom. Brett and I know that we will probably be heading back to the hospital within a few hours but figure we might as well sleep and I can at least rest a little. So at about 1:30am (it was light flipping a light switch it was so quick) my contractions go from 3 minutes apart to about 1.5 minutes apart and are lasting about the same so I am getting no relief. At 2:15 I wake up Brett and tell him we need to head to the hospital. At 2:20 as I'm waiting to talk to my doctor my water break in our bed. I quickly tell my doctor that "things are worse and my water broke" he says he will see me in about an hour when we get to the hospital. So I head into the bathroom to change into dry clothes and to grab some towels to sit on in the car. While in there I joke with my husband " Watch this guy do the same thing to me that I did to my mother and be born in the van on the way to the hospital". I was soooooo wrong. As I am trying to walk out of our bathroom Bryce crowns. I turn to my husband next to me and simply say "Call 911, the baby crowned!" To which my husband replied "WHAT!?" I simply say, "You HEARD me". He quickly calls 911 and gets me to our bed.
It is now around 2:25 am. The 911 dispatcher starts talking to him and I hear my husband say "My wife is having our baby....the baby is crowning!" As I am yelling in pain and pushing his head out I then hear Brett say to the dispatcher "The head is out......(then in an almost whisper) his face is blue. The cord is around his neck! What do I do?" The dispatcher tells him how to loosen the cord and get the baby breathing and thankfully it works. Bryce starts breathing as I finish pushing him out (it is now only about 8:35) and then Brett had to yell to his brother to bring in a wash cloth and towels (which his brother throws to Brett from our bedroom doorway). Then Brett yells to Brian to go out to meet the Fire fighters and EMS (which Brian happily agreed to do).
Brett has me covered with a blanket and towels on Bryce as the 2 Firemen walk in our room and say "Good job dad, but we will take over from here". They turn and find that Bryce is already born and they then say "Even better job dad, we will finish up". They then finished unwrapping the cord from around Bryce's neck and then start clapping the cord as EMS is only a few more minutes away. EMS arrives about 3 minutes later and the firemen show the head EMT the what they had done and ask what needs done next and he instructs them to cut the cord and then he turns to me and asks "How are you doing mom?" I reply that I am doing better now that the baby is crying. Once the cord was cut the firemen gave Bryce to the female EMT and she very quickly bundled him up in a bunch of towels and says "He is gorgeous mom. You guys did great. He seems about 9lbs I would guess." I am crying I am just so relieved at this point that things went as well as they did and that Bryce seems good.
The Lead EMT then tells my husband to get me some pants to just get me out to the ambulance (as they can't get the stretcher in and down our hallway. They then help me get dressed and out to the ambulance where they give me Bryce to hold for the first time (it is now around 2:40 am). Brett then asks if I want him to ride with us and I tell him that we will need the van so if he wants to just head up in our van soon I will be fine.
Bryce and I got to have a first together by riding to the hospital in an ambulance (I have never been in an ambulance before) and we also had our first time nursing in the ambulance on the way! When we got the the hospital they wheel us in and take us up to the the birthing center where all the nurses who had seen me earlier are shocked that I am coming in on a stretcher holding my baby. The nurse I had earlier that night and my doctor are extremely apologetic about having sent me home, in fact they are both almost in tears about it. They then start checking on me and the baby and I still needed to deliver the placenta so they got to work. As the doctor gets me ready for the placenta delivery they tell us that baby Bryce weighs 9lbs 5oz. Then the doctor tells me that I have no tearing (which is shocking with how quickly I delivered unexpectedly at home and with such a big baby). Brett gets there and he is able to give the nurse all of the info about the cord and things that I didn't see and conform my approximate time of birth. After they finished taking care of me and Bryce they finally get us in to our room and it is like 4am.
We all sleep really well for a few hours before calling the girls to tell them that their brother was born and that they will get to meet him later that day. We got to enjoy a few visitors during the next day, including our girls who got to meet their baby brother for the first time.
We got a few phone calls from people congratulating us and seeing how we are doing with the unexpected delivery at home. We were all doing well and looking forward to being able to go home on Thursday. I was not happy about telling Morgan that I would be missing her Mother/Daughter night at church, but when I told her that my mom and Brett's mom were going to go with her since I couldn't be there helped her take the news. She was still a little upset that I couldn't go, but was excited that her grandmas were going to be there.
Wednesday we got a few more visitors and our baby boy was loving all the attention. Then Thursday morning as we are thinking that we will need to start packing things up to head home they are doing their last checks on things for Bryce and they then discover that his bilirubin levels are higher then they want. They think that due to bruising in his face they didn't notice his jaundice earlier. So, they inform us that we will be staying for longer so he can undergo light therapy. So we start him with what they call a bili-blanket and we are praying that that will do the trick and we will be able to go home on Friday.
Poor little guy hated that mask and kept taking it off and hated having to be on that blanket. I held him all night Wednesday night to keep him on the lights and to keep him from taking his mask off. It was a long night with the bright blue light in my face all night, but we made it through. They came in fairly early to do another bilirubin level check and we were hoping for good news. However, when the doctor came in we knew it wasn't good news. She told us that his level had gone from 13 on Thursday morning to 17. She told us they were going to start a more intense light therapy and hopefully it would work and if it didn't then he would need to go to the NICU for blood transfusions. We instantly started praying and asking everyone we knew for prayers for our little Bryce. Brett knew that our girls would take the news really hard so he decided that he would go to our friends house and tell them in person. So he headed out and asked me what I needed from home. I told him "I need you to bring BJ (who Bryce is named after) and give Bryce and I both priesthood blessings." Brett said that he would see me after lunch time.They then got Bryce all set up on his new lights and I prayed constantly for my little boy. I also prayed for myself that I would be able to handle whatever happened with him.
Brett went to have lunch with Morgan and give her the bad news, which she cried when it was just him and he told her that baby brother was still too sick to come home yet. Then he and BJ came up to the hospital and gave me and Bryce blessings. Then Brett asked if I was okay if he went and stayed with our girls that night (they were begging him to stay with them since mommy and baby brother couldn't come home) and I said that was fine.
Saturday morning when they checked his bilirubin levels they were very shocked by them. He had gone from a 17 to a 9 in 24 hours. They said that they had never seen a baby make that drastic of a recovery that quickly! I was so relieved. We FINALLY were headed home. We would however have to take him in for another check first thing Monday morning to make sure his levels continued to go down. We were so glad to be going home!
We did make our 1 stop on the way home so that he could meet Brett's grandma (we did this with all of the girls).
Then we made it home!!!! So happy to be home!!! Then the girls came home from our friends house and we were a happy family all together again!!!!
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Baby #4 - It's a boy!! (Everyone's reactions to the news)
So, I am terrible about updating things on here, but we are now expecting our 4th child. I am currently 25 weeks along and we recently found out that we are having a boy! Everyone's reactions to the news was very interesting so I thought it would be something good to share.
So, Brett and I went to my doctor for my appointment and we were kind of anxious to find out if our next child would be a boy or a girl. Honestly, we would have been fine with either, but it's always nice to know. So when the doctor got to the genital area in the ultrasound we immediately both noticed it was a boy, but waited for confirmation from the doctor. The doctor very quickly confirmed that we are having a boy. I immediately turned to Brett and said "Natalie is going to cry."
Natalie has been saying since we told the girls that mommy was pregnant that she wanted another sister. She was very adamant that mommy was having another girl. So, needless to say on the drive to pick up our girls from our friends house Brett and I were talking about ways for us to help ease her in to the idea of getting a baby brother instead of a baby sister. We thought of letting her go to the store and pick out a special outfit for the baby and decided that was going to be our plan.
So, we walk in the house. Natalie and Lucy run up to us excited to see us and Natalie asked "So, where is my baby?" We asked her "What do you mean Natalie? The baby is still in mommy's belly." She started to cry and so Brett told her that she could be the one to tell everyone whether the baby was going to be a boy or a girl. She happily agreed. So we waited until Morgan finished her homework. Then we gathered the girls and our friends and their kids all in the living room and had Natalie come sit with me. I then showed her the ultrasound pictures and whispered in her ear that the pictures showed the baby's boy parts. She then turned to me and said "The baby has....." and she began to cry her little eyes out. So everyone was sitting there wondering what that meant. I then went on to say to Morgan, "Why do you think Natalie would be crying about the baby?" Morgan then replied "It's a BOY!!!" Morgan really wanted a baby brother.
Needless to say Natalie cried for like 30 minutes before we got her calmed down enough to put on her shoes and coat so that we could go to the store to let her pick out an outfit for the baby. However, once we get in the car ans we tell her where we are going, she starts crying again saying that she doesn't want to get the baby an outfit because she doesn't want to pick out a boy outfit. We get her calmed back down as we get to the store. So we go straight to the baby department and we start looking at little baby boy clothes. We keep showing her lots of different outfits to which she just keeps saying no to. Then finally, she points to a super cute sleeper with jungle animals on it and says "I want to get that one for the baby." So we put it in the cart. By the time we got home (she had carried it everywhere and wouldn't let anyone else really even touch it) she was much more on board with having a baby brother. She even let us film her talking about the outfit she picked out for her baby brother and used it to announce on social media that our 4th baby was going to be a boy.
Natalie is now slightly annoying in her excitement about getting a baby brother. I'm thinking that tomorrow we will be making a count down calendar or chain of some kind to help her keep track of the time between now and when the baby should get here.
So, Brett and I went to my doctor for my appointment and we were kind of anxious to find out if our next child would be a boy or a girl. Honestly, we would have been fine with either, but it's always nice to know. So when the doctor got to the genital area in the ultrasound we immediately both noticed it was a boy, but waited for confirmation from the doctor. The doctor very quickly confirmed that we are having a boy. I immediately turned to Brett and said "Natalie is going to cry."
Natalie has been saying since we told the girls that mommy was pregnant that she wanted another sister. She was very adamant that mommy was having another girl. So, needless to say on the drive to pick up our girls from our friends house Brett and I were talking about ways for us to help ease her in to the idea of getting a baby brother instead of a baby sister. We thought of letting her go to the store and pick out a special outfit for the baby and decided that was going to be our plan.
So, we walk in the house. Natalie and Lucy run up to us excited to see us and Natalie asked "So, where is my baby?" We asked her "What do you mean Natalie? The baby is still in mommy's belly." She started to cry and so Brett told her that she could be the one to tell everyone whether the baby was going to be a boy or a girl. She happily agreed. So we waited until Morgan finished her homework. Then we gathered the girls and our friends and their kids all in the living room and had Natalie come sit with me. I then showed her the ultrasound pictures and whispered in her ear that the pictures showed the baby's boy parts. She then turned to me and said "The baby has....." and she began to cry her little eyes out. So everyone was sitting there wondering what that meant. I then went on to say to Morgan, "Why do you think Natalie would be crying about the baby?" Morgan then replied "It's a BOY!!!" Morgan really wanted a baby brother.
Needless to say Natalie cried for like 30 minutes before we got her calmed down enough to put on her shoes and coat so that we could go to the store to let her pick out an outfit for the baby. However, once we get in the car ans we tell her where we are going, she starts crying again saying that she doesn't want to get the baby an outfit because she doesn't want to pick out a boy outfit. We get her calmed back down as we get to the store. So we go straight to the baby department and we start looking at little baby boy clothes. We keep showing her lots of different outfits to which she just keeps saying no to. Then finally, she points to a super cute sleeper with jungle animals on it and says "I want to get that one for the baby." So we put it in the cart. By the time we got home (she had carried it everywhere and wouldn't let anyone else really even touch it) she was much more on board with having a baby brother. She even let us film her talking about the outfit she picked out for her baby brother and used it to announce on social media that our 4th baby was going to be a boy.
Natalie is now slightly annoying in her excitement about getting a baby brother. I'm thinking that tomorrow we will be making a count down calendar or chain of some kind to help her keep track of the time between now and when the baby should get here.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Mother's Day
So, this year for Mother's Day we had limited finances, so I simply told my husband that I didn't need any gifts for Mother's Day. I just needed him to cook for me and just help me with the house a little more and the girls. He did really great and it overall was a very good Mother's Day. Morgan gave me wonderful things that she made at school and then they all had cards and other little things they made during church. It was just overall a sweet Mother's Day weekend for me.
However, like most Mother's Days it left me contemplating how I'm doing in my role of a mother and wife. Of course, like all mothers out there, I judged myself more harshly than I probably should have. I of course looked on all of the things I'm not doing or am not doing well enough, instead of focusing on the things that I am doing.
I only saw that the house always seems to be in some sort of messy situation instead of the fact that my kids are having fun and learning daily and that we get to enjoy lots of time having fun together. I saw the fact that I'm always doing laundry and can never keep up with it all and that the folded clothes tend to sit in their baskets for days before it all gets put away instead of focusing on that my family has more than enough clothes to wear that I can skip doing laundry for a few days and we still all have clean clothes. I only see that my kids are always asking to snack and I give in a lot of times out of frustration and then they don't eat their meals like they should instead of seeing that at least they are not going hungry.
I guess it all comes back to perspective and the things we choose to focus on. Today I decided to postpone doing any housework until I sat down and watched something just for me. I decided to watch "Mom's Night Out" which was probably the best thing for me to watch. There was so much that I gleaned from it today. It reminded me that we mothers tend to be our harshest critics. We need to sit back and not focus on our weaknesses, but our strengths. We need to look at everything we do and not focus on the things that we don't.
Our job as mothers is far from easy. It is usually messy, loud, challenging, and stressful most days. However, it truly has it's rewards. Getting to see the people that my children are slowly becoming and the sweet moments we get to share make it all worth all of the stress, chanllenges, mess, and noise.
However, like most Mother's Days it left me contemplating how I'm doing in my role of a mother and wife. Of course, like all mothers out there, I judged myself more harshly than I probably should have. I of course looked on all of the things I'm not doing or am not doing well enough, instead of focusing on the things that I am doing.
I only saw that the house always seems to be in some sort of messy situation instead of the fact that my kids are having fun and learning daily and that we get to enjoy lots of time having fun together. I saw the fact that I'm always doing laundry and can never keep up with it all and that the folded clothes tend to sit in their baskets for days before it all gets put away instead of focusing on that my family has more than enough clothes to wear that I can skip doing laundry for a few days and we still all have clean clothes. I only see that my kids are always asking to snack and I give in a lot of times out of frustration and then they don't eat their meals like they should instead of seeing that at least they are not going hungry.
I guess it all comes back to perspective and the things we choose to focus on. Today I decided to postpone doing any housework until I sat down and watched something just for me. I decided to watch "Mom's Night Out" which was probably the best thing for me to watch. There was so much that I gleaned from it today. It reminded me that we mothers tend to be our harshest critics. We need to sit back and not focus on our weaknesses, but our strengths. We need to look at everything we do and not focus on the things that we don't.
Our job as mothers is far from easy. It is usually messy, loud, challenging, and stressful most days. However, it truly has it's rewards. Getting to see the people that my children are slowly becoming and the sweet moments we get to share make it all worth all of the stress, chanllenges, mess, and noise.
Friday, February 20, 2015
New Year, New Family
So I know that this post comes way after the new year, in fact Valentines Day has come and gone. But over the last few days and weeks I've been doing a lot of thinking about things we as a family and as individuals need to work on this year.
A little over a month ago my husband lost his job. We were hopeful that things would be solved quickly as he had a job interview already set up for the day after he ended up losing his job. However after the interview and things we did a lot of praying and fasting that we would make the decision that was best for our family and what the Lord had planned for us and our future. In all of this praying and things we got the impression that Brett needed to get out of Restoration work. This left us confused and wondering what he was supposed to do for work if not what he had been doing for years. He filled out so many applications it is a blur and during this time we continued to pray and fast for the Lord's guidance in our decision making. The one distinct impression we got was that Brett needed to look for a job with normal.regular hours so that he could go back to school this fall to continue his education. He now has a job in the pest control field (a field he has worked in before) and he will have the regular hours that he needs to be able to go back to school.
During all of this praying and fasting I realized that we all needed to better ourselves this next year and try to all become better people. Not that we are terrible, but everyone can improve. Some of our main goals for this year will be:
1. Get better at having FHE regularly
2. Try to spend more quality time together
3. Try to get out of debt more
4. Try to get healthier (diet and exercise).
5. Study the scriptures more regularly (Individually and as a family)
6. Yell less, and laugh more.
It will be nice to see if we can meet these goals this year and I'm very hopeful that we can. I hope to make progress on some rather quickly, while others I know will take time and patience from all of us.
So here's to a new year and a family that is happier, healthier, and just better all around.
A little over a month ago my husband lost his job. We were hopeful that things would be solved quickly as he had a job interview already set up for the day after he ended up losing his job. However after the interview and things we did a lot of praying and fasting that we would make the decision that was best for our family and what the Lord had planned for us and our future. In all of this praying and things we got the impression that Brett needed to get out of Restoration work. This left us confused and wondering what he was supposed to do for work if not what he had been doing for years. He filled out so many applications it is a blur and during this time we continued to pray and fast for the Lord's guidance in our decision making. The one distinct impression we got was that Brett needed to look for a job with normal.regular hours so that he could go back to school this fall to continue his education. He now has a job in the pest control field (a field he has worked in before) and he will have the regular hours that he needs to be able to go back to school.
During all of this praying and fasting I realized that we all needed to better ourselves this next year and try to all become better people. Not that we are terrible, but everyone can improve. Some of our main goals for this year will be:
1. Get better at having FHE regularly
2. Try to spend more quality time together
3. Try to get out of debt more
4. Try to get healthier (diet and exercise).
5. Study the scriptures more regularly (Individually and as a family)
6. Yell less, and laugh more.
It will be nice to see if we can meet these goals this year and I'm very hopeful that we can. I hope to make progress on some rather quickly, while others I know will take time and patience from all of us.
So here's to a new year and a family that is happier, healthier, and just better all around.
Thursday, December 18, 2014
It's Christmas Time again!!
Yet another year has come and gone. We've enjoyed this year and have had lots of fun together. We've all gone through some changes, but are looking forward to what the future holds.
Brett: Is still working for Carolina Restoration Services and is one of the top Water Technicians at the company and he's hoping for a promotion within the next year. He has been working a lot of hours lately, but looks forward to the overtime pay and what we can use it for (dental work, Christmas gifts, other expenses). He was able to spend quite a bit of time over the summer working on the yard and was able to get a fountain working and was able to finish the privacy fence. He was recently called as the Young Men's Secretary in our ward and is looking forward to working with the youth. He knows it will be challenging at times to balance work, church, and family but he knows the Lord will bless him with finding that balance.
Melinda: Has been continuing to work on de-cluttering the house over the past few months and things are getting better and better. There is still work to be done, but overall we're about 50% there. She has also been working with Natalie on continuing her progress with her speech and has been starting on some preschool work with her and hopes to get potty training going soon.
Morgan: Is loving 1st grade and is thriving in school. She wasn't able to continue with dance this year, but she loves to dance around the house and try to teach her younger sisters what she learned in past years. She has also been a big help to her mother with taking care of things around the house and her younger sisters. She can be quite the little mother hen at times.
Natalie: Is doing very well with her speech and is actually no longer in speech therapy as they felt she was making enough progress that she would be fine on her own now. She is now talking as good as other children her age. She also recently started showing interest in going potty, so we're hoping that she'll be potty trained within the not too distant future.
Lucy: Is into everything. She is climbing on everything and running all over the place. She has a love of life and doesn't like to be slowed down by anything. She even didn't let a concussion she endured slow her down for very long. She is also starting to talk more and we are amazed at some of the things she is able to do at such a young age. She is learning a lot from her 2 older sisters.
As a family this year:
We were able to go to our Nation's capital for Thanksgiving with Melinda's parents, grandmothers, sister and brother-in-law. We had a wonderful time and learned a lot at the museums and Arlington National Cemetery.
We are looking forward to Christmas and getting to talk to Brett's brother Bradley who is still on his mission. We are also looking forward to spending a lot of time as a family and with our families and friends. Melinda and the girls wil1 be spending the week of New Years in Edisto, SC with some of her family.
Brett: Is still working for Carolina Restoration Services and is one of the top Water Technicians at the company and he's hoping for a promotion within the next year. He has been working a lot of hours lately, but looks forward to the overtime pay and what we can use it for (dental work, Christmas gifts, other expenses). He was able to spend quite a bit of time over the summer working on the yard and was able to get a fountain working and was able to finish the privacy fence. He was recently called as the Young Men's Secretary in our ward and is looking forward to working with the youth. He knows it will be challenging at times to balance work, church, and family but he knows the Lord will bless him with finding that balance.
Melinda: Has been continuing to work on de-cluttering the house over the past few months and things are getting better and better. There is still work to be done, but overall we're about 50% there. She has also been working with Natalie on continuing her progress with her speech and has been starting on some preschool work with her and hopes to get potty training going soon.
Morgan: Is loving 1st grade and is thriving in school. She wasn't able to continue with dance this year, but she loves to dance around the house and try to teach her younger sisters what she learned in past years. She has also been a big help to her mother with taking care of things around the house and her younger sisters. She can be quite the little mother hen at times.
Natalie: Is doing very well with her speech and is actually no longer in speech therapy as they felt she was making enough progress that she would be fine on her own now. She is now talking as good as other children her age. She also recently started showing interest in going potty, so we're hoping that she'll be potty trained within the not too distant future.
Lucy: Is into everything. She is climbing on everything and running all over the place. She has a love of life and doesn't like to be slowed down by anything. She even didn't let a concussion she endured slow her down for very long. She is also starting to talk more and we are amazed at some of the things she is able to do at such a young age. She is learning a lot from her 2 older sisters.
As a family this year:
We were able to go to our Nation's capital for Thanksgiving with Melinda's parents, grandmothers, sister and brother-in-law. We had a wonderful time and learned a lot at the museums and Arlington National Cemetery.
We are looking forward to Christmas and getting to talk to Brett's brother Bradley who is still on his mission. We are also looking forward to spending a lot of time as a family and with our families and friends. Melinda and the girls wil1 be spending the week of New Years in Edisto, SC with some of her family.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Speech therapy, Mother's day and Dance recital
It's been a busy last few months. So here's a little update on everyone in our family.
Brett: He's been working really hard and was recently promoted and given a raise. He's continuing to work towards his Master in Water Restoration. He's also working to try and get a new managers position within the company. He's also looking to start back to school in the fall.
Melinda: She's been working hard trying to keep the house and kids going while Brett's been working some crazy hours. It was really difficult a month or so ago when allergies caused her to rupture an ear drum which caused balance and other problems for her. She's recovering really well and her hearing is improving every day. She was able to enjoy Mother's day and is still enjoying her new camera she got.
Morgan: She's been doing really great in Kindergarten and continuing to love school. She also enjoyed taking dance again this last year and just had her dance recital. She did really well and we all had a great time watching her perform.
Brett: He's been working really hard and was recently promoted and given a raise. He's continuing to work towards his Master in Water Restoration. He's also working to try and get a new managers position within the company. He's also looking to start back to school in the fall.
Melinda: She's been working hard trying to keep the house and kids going while Brett's been working some crazy hours. It was really difficult a month or so ago when allergies caused her to rupture an ear drum which caused balance and other problems for her. She's recovering really well and her hearing is improving every day. She was able to enjoy Mother's day and is still enjoying her new camera she got.
Morgan: She's been doing really great in Kindergarten and continuing to love school. She also enjoyed taking dance again this last year and just had her dance recital. She did really well and we all had a great time watching her perform.
Natalie: She was evaluated a few months ago because she wasn't really talking and it was determined that she needed speech therapy. Therapy is going very well - she already (in just a little over a month) gone from a vocabulary of about 15 words to just over 100 words. Every day she seems to doing better and better with her speech - more words and it's becoming easier to understand her.
Lucy: She is growing like crazy. She is crawling all over now and getting into everything. She even tried to take a step last night. She also recently started a few trial runs with table food and so far has enjoyed it. It's crazy to believe that shell be a year old in just a few months.
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