Rainy Christmas

Well we finally got some good rain around here. Too bad it is was all during Christmas week. We were so grateful for it that we didn't really care. We just took it as an opportunity to bundle up and bee lazy. My parents came down for Christmas weekend and even with my mom's horrible back pain we had a good time. We played cards and took the kids to see The Muppet Movie. We baked and watched movies and chit chatted. The kids were so glad to see Grandma and Grandpa and were sad to see them go so soon. THe kids had a great Christmas. It started with Christmas Eve pajamas from Nona and Grandad. This year thankfully did not end with tears when they realized they were pajamas. They loved the transformers pajamas and all wanted to put them on immediately. Christmas morning we woke up bright and early, a little too early for me, and the kids had a blast opening everything. Top gifts from Santa were the Lightning McQueen computer for Caleb, Lego sets for Benjamin, and a pop up tent for Joshua. The winner of the gifts from family members has to go to Nona and Grandad for the Thundercats swords. But everything has been loved and played with.

After Christmas we had an entire week off with Chris. Pam drove down and spent a few days with us. I put her to work sewing Baby Girl's blessing gown, which turned out amazing and better than I could have hoped for. I can't wait to see her in it.

Pam went home Saturday morning and we headed to Sea World for their New Year's Eve fireworks. It was totally worth the trip. The weather was perfect, the crowd was small, and the fireworks were amazing. We got home super late, but still managed to get up for our first week of 9 O'clock church.

A week later we celebrated Joshua's third birthday. I will post a seperate post for that. Since then it has been just waiting for baby. Chris finished his Psych rotation and is starting Family Practice this week. We had to move up the baby's due date due to liver problems. Thankful Pam came down this weekend and helped me get everything organized and ready to go. The ladies at church threw me a wonderful baby shower and I think we may be set for a little while. I am so grateful for all the amazing friends I have made here in this ward and all the wonderful things they are willing to do to help others. Ok so I will explain the liver problem now so no one is freaking out. My due date was originally February 23, but since I have Gestational Diabetes we had planned the C-section for Feb 16ish. Well last week I started having some severe itching all over my body. Now I always get a little itchy, like every pregnant woman, around my belly and such from growing, but tis was my arms, legs, feet, and hands. So I called the doctor and asked if this was normal and was there something I could take. She said this was not normal and I need to come straight in and get blood drawn to check my liver. I was diagnosed with Cholestasis which is complication due to pregnancy hormones. Basically my gall bladder is not letting the bile leave my liver and it can back up into my blood stream. Now this sounds really scary, but it really isn't that bad as long as it is caught and we delivery the baby at 37 weeks. It is after about 37 weeks that things can start getting bad. Luckily most babies are ready to go at 37 weeks and the worst that could happen is underdeveloped lungs, which only means a short stay in the NICU. The risks of keeping her in longer would be much greater for me and her. So needless to say my delivery day was moved to February 3ish at the latest. Now on top of the Cholestasis, the doctor thinks that the pill I was taking for the diabetes was causing my liver to be in a danger a little more, so she took me off of that and I go in Tuesday the 24th to see if my levels are better. If not then Baby will be her Wednesday the 25th. Again it isn't as scary as it seems. The baby and I are both looking great every where else. My blood pressure is great and my other levels are awesome. She is breathing really well and active and has a perfect heart rate, so we should be just fine even at 36 weeks along. I had a very comforting blessing from Chris and we are ready to go whenever it happens. I will try to get some blog posts in as soon as she is here and let everyone meet our sweet little girl. Till then keep us in your prayers and vote for Ron Paul!

Joshy Posh Turns 3

I cannot believe my baby is 3. We had strawberry cake per his request and had friends over for pizza. He got a new block table where he spends most of his day building, a game, a new tent since the Christmas one had already been destroyed, and a one dollar bill in the mail from his great grandma. He loves that dollar and goes to my drawer every day to make sure it is still there. He is such an amazing kid.

I cannot get enough of his crazy antics, most the time. Joshua loves to ask questions, sometimes the same one over and over and over. His most common one is, "What's that noise?" Which sometimes can be kind of a difficult one to answer, especially if we are at a park or somewhere noisy. He won't give up till you figure out which noise exactly he is asking about. He loves to play with his brothers. He is very smart and already tries to debate with the older two. Him and Caleb will get into arguments over the craziest things. The other day they were arguing over whether the plastic shape they were playing with was a square or a diamond. I got a good laugh over it later but during the argument neither would accept that it could possibly be both a diamond and a square. He loves to be independent. He wants to do things him self. Sometimes this is a good thing because he can dress himself and buckle his seat belt, but sometimes we have tears when mommy is in a hurry and can't wait for him to figure out his buttons or snaps. Overall, he is a pretty happy easy going kid. He isn't much of a cuddle bug, but when he is tired he will go get his rainbow blanket and snuggle up to me. He still loves to hold my hand though and I take every chance I can. He sings all kinds of songs now and even likes to make up his own words. Him and Caleb made up two new verses for "The Wheels on the Bus". They went a little like this, "the daddies on the bus go fart fart fart" and "the mommies on the bus go eww eww eww!" Sounds about right to me. Joshua is getting really interested in the baby and is trying to figure out what exactly is going on. He constantly asks if the baby is sleeping or awake. He asks if the baby is here yet and when I say no he asks when is she going to be here. He likes to rock her toys in her bassinet and pretend they are sleeping. Joshua is a good eater and has caught up to Caleb in size and weight. Everyone asks if they are twins. I sure am glad they aren't but I can't get annoyed cause I get them confused from the back. He is easy to make laugh and giggle as long as it isn't early in the morning, then he takes after his mom and can be quite the cranky pants. We love our little Joshy Posh and are so happy that he surprised us and came into our lives when we were least expecting him. I hope he keeps surprising me for many many years to come