I know I am the world's WORST poster, but hopefully you all will forgive me when you hear about how crazy life has been the last little bit.



First thing, I want to announce the birth of our beautiful daughter,

ELLIANA HAZEL MCFARLAND.

She was born on May 13, at 10:47 p.m. and is an absolute Joy to have in our lives. She weighed 7 lbs, .7 oz which is a good size for a "preemie". Ellie is considered a preemie because she was born at 37 weeks, 2 days... full term is 37 weeks 5 days. So silly.

You can stop here if you don't want to hear all the details, but I am recording them for my own record so I will have them!

As most of you know, I was on bedrest for the last 3 weeks of my pregnancy due to high blood pressure. I also got the dreaded "morning sickness" back!! The day of the 13th I was feeling really sick again, and had thrown up quite a few times. Add that on top of everything else, I knew I was dehydrated, which was nothing new for me. I go to the hospital, be monitored for an hour, get an IV to rehydrate and head home. Simple, right? Not this time around!!

I was hooked up to the monitors, my blood pressure was higher then it had been, I got an IV going and they ran labs to make sure that my organs weren't showing signs of damage from the high blood pressure. While we were waiting for the labs to come back, the monitors were picking up contractions. They weren't too horrible, just enough to let you know they were there, but they were consistent. Luckily, my doctor had just come back from her vacation that night and came to the hospital to talk to me. She said that we would wait to see what the lab results said, and if the IV would help my body stop the contractions, but that it just might be time to say enough is enough! I sure wasn't expecting to hear that, but still didn't expect anything to come of it. Seriously, I don't go into labor on my own! I figured the contractions were from dehydration, and would stop as I got IV fluids in me.

By the time I had a full bag of IV fluid in me, and the lab results back, my contractions had moved from 8 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart!! The doctor walked in and said it was GO time. I was too far along to stop my contractions, and with my placenta previa, it was too risky to send me home and see if they contractions would stop. It was time to have a baby! Talk about a shock. I had to quickly put our game plan into action! I mean, John was still home with the kids! I called all the requisite people to action and it was game time! It was so quick. I was up to the OR before John was even at the hospital and we only live 3 blocks from it!

My doctor was SO awesome. I had mentioned to her how petrified I was of having a spinal, I don't do needles in my back, and she stood by my side holding my had the whole time the spinal was put in! That is some serious dedication to your patient! The spinal itself was awesome. There seriously was NO pain, just a small amount of pressure. The spinal doctor (I'm not even going to attempt to spell their specific name) was AMAZING! I did panic a few times because of the loss of the ability to move, I could still feel my legs and they were very painful with that intense tingling feeling but I couldn't move them. It was horrible! I apparently don't do well when I lose control over the situation.... and I had NO control over this one!

The c-section itself was textbook. I was able to have John in the OR on one side holding my hand and my best friend Karen on the other hand. It was SO nice to have them both there. Especially for what happened next. I don't think I would have done well being left by myself. John has always been my rock and Karen could talk me through anything.

After Ellie was born, she really struggled to breathe. The worked on her for quite a while and eventually got out the oxygen bag to assist her. Luckily she did breathe on her own,even though it wasn't as good as they would have liked. They wrapped her up and let me see her for a minute and snap a few pictures before they took her down to the nursery so they could work on her some more. John went with Ellie and Karen stayed with me while they finished up on me.

After I was done, they took me down to my room to recover. All I wanted was to see my baby! Unfortunately that wasn't to be. John came in to tell me that Ellie was still having a hard time breathing and the doctor working on her had taken him aside to tell him that Ellie was most likely going to be life flighted to Spokane to the NICU up there because she was struggling so much. Talk about put the fear of..... well you get the picture, into a new mommy. All I could imagine was my baby hooked up to all the tubes and wires like Karen's Hannah was. (I know it totally isn't the same situation, but tell that to a distraught new mom!) Luckily my doctor stepped in and put a halt to all the craziness! She told everyone to calm down and let Ellie prove to them that she could do it.Ellie wasn't as severe as the first doctor had thought. She was breathing very fast, she did need supplemental oxygen to keep her saturation up, but she was NOT having the flaring of the nostrils and the grunting and the retraction of the rib cage which are all signs that the baby is really struggling to breath and will tire out and need a breathing tube (which is why they would have sent her to the NICU. Our hospital doesn't do breathing tubes on infants.) Ellie was put into a special incubator that has oxygen in it and did quite well in there. She had her very own nurse that was dedicated to her alone, she couldn't be left alone. Unfortunately that also means that I wasn't able to see her. John and Karen would take pictures and bring back reports but that just isn't the same. I needed my baby but neither one of us were able to be moved. Me because of my c-section and Ellie because of her need of oxygen. It made for a VERY long night. I was right next to the nursery so I could here her cry when the would poke her heel to check her blood sugars (they didn't feed her the whole time, because they were afraid it would stress her out and cause her to drop her oxygen levels. Same reason they didn't give her an IV.) It was horrible.

I was finally able to see her at about 11 am the next morning. They had me pump and bring it in to her to "see" if she was able to handle sucking as well as breathing. She was a champ! After that, they let me hold her using "blow by", an oxygen tube that blows oxygen into her face. It was such an AMAZING moment! They even let me attempt to nurse her because she did so well and was rooting while I held her. She was a champ nurser which shocked everyone because they figured she would be to tired to nurse well... but hey you be starved for 12 hours and be taken away from the only thing you knew and see how you would do when you were finally reunited! Ellie was soon put onto a nasal cannula, and I spent a lot of time that first day in the nursery with her as well as the rest of the family coming in to meet the newest McFarland in the nursery. By that evening, they felt Ellie was stable enough to join me in my room with her sat monitor and her oxygen. We got lots of visits from nurses to make sure she was ok but I had my little girl with me at last and that is what was the MOST important!

She continued to thrive and do spectacularly until we had yet another curve ball thrown in our direction. Ellie's blood pressures were showing some abnormalities that usually indicate a heart defect. About 2 hours after we received this news, they took her away from me once again to have an echo cardiogram done in Pullman, WA. They refused to release me to take her. They wanted John to take her to the appointment but he was busy trying to finish up a final. In fact, he didn't even know what was going on until after it was all done because I didn't want him to worry and screw up his final. My sweet friend, Karen, saved the day again. She took my 2 day old baby for her appointment. You can only imagine how distraught I was. Once again, it seemed like someone was trying to take my baby away from me again. After a LONG hour, Karen called to say the Echo was done, and everything looked EXACTLY like it was supposed to! What a relief. They still had to meet with the doctor, but then she was headed back to reunite me with my sweet baby. The doctor confirmed that her heart looked "textbook" and we needn't worry about it again. I think the doctor told Karen there was no need for him to "ever see this baby in here again". I hope we don't have to!

Through all this, my recovery was spectacular! I was walking around with very minimal pain. I was off the heavy duty pain medication by the time I was sent home and only on minimal Advil. I felt great. My stamina was still low, but it wasn't anything like I anticipated. I was feeling specular! I was sent home Saturday evening and by Sunday Night/Monday morning we had a whole new situation to deal with! While rolling over in bed, I heard a "POP" and felt a HUGE gush of water. My first half asleep thought was that my water had just broken... only to remember I had already had my baby! My c-section incision had broke open!!! Needless to say I was off to the ER. While at the ER the incision opened up even more until it was 4 inches by 1 inch. NOT a good situation. They packed the wound with gauze and sent me to my doctor the next morning. I was told that this was a complication that happens with c-sections and my doctor see "1 every year... or 2.... or 3." I was just the lucky one! The wound was quite large as these types of wounds go and so my doctor referred me to a wound specialist in Clarkston, WA. After visiting with them, they decided that the best course of action for this wound would be to place me on a "wound VAC"-Vacuum Assisted Closure. After jumping through all the insurance hoops, I have been approved for my wound vac and currently have it on. It really does help the wound heal a LOT faster then if we weren't able to have it on. The only down fall is that I have to visit the doctor 3 times a week in Clarkston to have the dressing changed as it isn't something that someone who isn't trained in it can accomplish. (Although I am starting to get to be a "pro") The appointments are long and time consuming and I get a "free" bikini wax every time as they pull off the tape from the dressing... OUCH! I hate that I have to be away from my kids 3 times a week for 4-6 hours. I hate that I have to use my friends to take care of my kids all the time. I am ready to be their mommy again!! But... I do have a beautiful baby girl to love and stare at in awe. As far as wounds go, at least I get to have a great reason for the wound!

So now that you have heard my story and all the fun complications that I have gotten to experience, I hope you will forgive me for posting this SOOOOOO late! I really was thinking about all you out there in Blog world, but if I wasn't at a doctor's appointment, I was trying to recover from one.

One day soon this will all be a memory. And even with all the trials I have gone through, I have to admit that I am grateful for the experience. I have witnessed so MANY miracles through all this. From the fact that I was able to stay pregnant, to the fact that I was able to bring my baby home with me from the hospital, to the fact that even with my wound and the antibiotic resistant bacteria that was found in it I have stayed relatively healthy and out of the hospital, to the love of friends who care for me, and a mom who stayed 3 weeks to take care of me and my babies while I tried to heal, the blessings, miracles, and outpouring of love have been too numerous to count and I am blessed to be able to experience it.

Trip to L&D

Wednesday night I got my first taste of Labor and Delivery. I had been randomly vomiting for days and was starting to get shaky, and having a few contractions. I figured I was getting pretty dehydrated despite my attempts to keep liquid down. I went in to see the doctor for a blood pressure check (i have a history of throwing up with Pre-E) which was borderline high... just like it has been for the last 2 months. They sent me to L&D to be "checked" to make sure nothing else was looming. I was checked (no dilation, which is a good thing at this point with the Placenta Previa), put on the monitors, and hooked up to an IV. I also had blood tests done to make sure I wasn't showing signs of Pre-Eclampsia in my liver, etc. Those tests also came back great! The baby's heart rate was GREAT, very reactive. Every time they did something to me, her heart rate would jump. I don't think she liked the IV's either! After multiple blood pressure checks, I have been diagnosed with Pre-Eclampsia. I have been put on official BEDREST... CRY! I will be having to go into the hospital multiple times a week for a Non-Stress test to make sure we don't get any worse. We need to give this baby another 2 weeks to finish growing! So, I will spend the remainder of this pregnancy being watched and laying down. Anyone want to come clean my house, play with my kids, or make my family dinner? It's going to be a LONG 2 weeks!

2 years old going on .... 16?

Lainey has decided she LOVES cars, not playing with cars.... Driving cars! I can't tell you how many times I have found her inside our car pretending she is driving to grandmas, the store, a friends house... you name it! The other day, it was raining so we couldn't go outside so the real car was unavailable for her play (like it is ever SUPPOSED to be available!) so she made her own. She emptied my laundry basket (of course I had just loaded it with folded clothes to be hauled upstairs... =D ) found her booster seat and put it inside and found her "cell phone", keys (random extra key chains that I have put together with some old keys for her) and off she went. If I remember correctly, she was headed to grandma's house on this day. I love her impness and creativity to figure out how to make her play happen. How can you not respect her determination to make it all come together? If I only had half that determination I could concur the world!

P.S. I didn't even get mad at her for emptying the laundry basket... how could you get mad at that?!? Using her "cell phone" to call daddy to let him know of his progress
"Driving" her car. I think she was speeding!

My imp... what more can you say?!?
(the blue on her face? Her new favorite love, stickers. It doesn't matter where they come from, but they ALWAYS go on the cheeks!)

Happy Easter... a tad late!

Here are the Easter Pics I promised. I know they're late, but give me a break... I'm having a baby in 2 1/2 weeks! =D

Lainey Playing with her new puzzle from the "easter bunny"
Ky showing off his goodies from the "bunny"

My kids in their Easter Duds! (Can you believe how OLD Ky looks?!? I'm so NOT ready to have an 8 year old!)

I know the easter clothes pictures are a little rough but the sun was SO bright when we took them before church, I decided to scrap the photo session and try again after church.... After church it was raining. Gotta love the Northwest in the spring time!

Ultrasound Update

First of all, Happy late Easter. I have photos I want to share, but that is going to have to come at a later date. The camera is down stairs and I'm done walking up and down stairs for the day! =D I have people waiting on an update on my latest Doc appointment so I wanted to quickly get this written for them.

At my doctor's appointment today we did another ultrasound to see how our little peanut is fairing. She looks great at this point. She is a little smaller then my due date says at this point, measuring in at 31 weeks, instead of 33 weeks like I currently am. Her guesstimate weight is at this point is 4 lbs 3 oz. It totally boggles the mind that I am carrying 4 lbs of baby in there! We finally got to see our first profile picture of the little munchkin. She was sucking her thumb!! So cute. We have a real mover and shaker in there. Even the doctor commented on how much she was jiving in there! She has moved to the head down position, which is great....

EXCEPT....

You guessed it. The placenta has NOT moved an INCH... unless you count settling in more fully over the cervix. I still have a complete Placenta Previa and at this point there is very little, if no hope for it to move. It would just have to move too much in too little time. So, I am officially having a C-section. It is tentatively set for the last week in May, making me 39 weeks. Seeing that she is on the small (but still within the safe parameters) side, they want to give her as much time to bulk up as they can, without risking me going into labor on my own as that could be very dangerous for both me and the baby. There are a few things that could have this baby coming earlier then planned, such as my blood pressure being funky, or severe bleeding but hopefully everything will be smooth sailing from here on out!

Here's to hoping!

April Fool's Day Love, Mother Nature

This is what we woke up to on April 2, 2009.

The pictures kinda say it all doesn't it! I can just see Mother Nature getting a good laugh out of it! Poor Kyrin's snowboots bit the dust about a month ago so he has been going bootless for the last month, who ever would have thought we would need boots in APRIL?!? Kyrin's birthday is the end of this month, and we USUALLY have an outdoor party. It's USUALLY pretty nice by then, but this year?!?! I guess only time will tell! I thought you all would get a good laugh out of our inches and inches of snow! (the pictures don't show it well, but there was about 5-7" of snow out there before it started warming up a bit. But don't let the warming trend fool you, we are still under a Winter Storm Warning and I forsee more snow before the day is out!)

Spring Break... or maybe Winter Break!

A couple of weeks ago, the kids had Spring Break (I know... I'm a late poster, shame on me!) The weather has been so crappy here, that I didn't dare plan anything outside, and I was right. The weekend before Spring Break officially started, we got SNOW. A few inches of it. That meant outside time was cut short, everything was super MUDDY, you know the kind step out in it and lose your 2 year old because it is so deep mud! It made this mommy rack her brain to figure out something other then computer and x-box to do.

I had heard of a Science Center around here that was kid friendly, so I thought I would give it a try. It took a few attempts to find it, but I finally did and the kids LOVED it! It was all hands on for the kids and had a few different types of animals, including a snake, a HUGE spider, a noisy bird, and a few rats for the kids to look (but don't touch) at. We were there for about 2 hours, and I got whined at when it was time to leave, but I didn't pack any lunches and we were WAY past lunch time. The theme for the month was food and how it helps our bodies and it was really intriguing to see the different displays and hands on things they had for the kids to do. Ky really enjoyed the hand bike where you picked out a snack and then had to work off the calories from it. It really surprised him how much work he would have to do to work off strawberries, not to mention the candy bar!

They had things for Lainey's age too, including a small climbing apparatus, and activity boxes. I think her favorite thing to do was dig in the lentils to "find" the dinosaur bones. She kept trying to climb in for the "full body" experience!

After we were done, I enquired on how much a year pass would be. It was only $60 considering it cost me $20 to get in, I spent the extra money and got the year family pass. The kids are clamoring to go back, in fact, Kyrin has asked to skip school so he can go back... gotta love the kid! I know that we will be making many more stops to the science center to see what new displays they get.

I did bring my camera, but of course forgot to get it out until the very end when I was trying to round kids up! Oops, but enjoy the few I did get!

St. Patrick's day thoughts

Usually, I sit down with a month of news to share and write it all down in a 10 page blog post. Not so much today. There really isn't any news, the kids are still living (even though it is "spring" break) I'm still in one peice, or as close to such as possible, but I did want to wish you all a

Happy Saint Patty's Day!

As I sit here today, I had a very interesting thought. This is probably one of the few times in my life I can say I have Irish blood in me. How can this be so? John is half Irish. His family has a VERY strong pull to the "old country". Every year we MUST participate in Corned Beef (although we do skip the cabbage) and I have actually grown to if not like it, enjoy it one time a year. But this year it will mean a little more. This year it is a little more special. I am carrying a true dyed in the wool Irish lass. I'm not the Irish outcast in my family this year. I have Irish blood in me. Even if it isn't my own.

More doctor office drama!

I have decided that I am done going to the doctor's office. It seems every time I do they find yet another thing wrong with me! I'm done with things wrong with me! Yesterday I went back to the doctor for yet another OB check up. This time I got to do the glucose test to see if you have gestational diabetes. You know the test, where you have to drink the nasty orange drink and then have your blood drawn an hour later? That test. The test went o.k. while I was there, I didn't get light headed, throw up or do anything else to embarress myself. I thought I was golden.

Then came the blood pressure check. Yikes. I have decided I have "preformance anxiety" when it comes to that thing. When the nurse took it, it was 170/64 WOWZERS! too high is an understatement! When the doctor came in she rechecked it again, (without me knowing it was going to happen) and it was down to 130/70, still not great, but o.k. enough to let me go. (see, preformance anxiety! when I know I am going to have my bp checked it freaks out! Otherwise it is o.k.) Whew, I slid by for another couple of weeks... or so I thought.

After I got home from picking up my antibiotic (I have a sinus infection AGAIN!) There was a message from the doctors office saying they had received my results and needed to speak to me... ohhh noooo.... that is NEVER a good sign. A few minutes later the nurse called back saying my blood test results were back, and I am anemic. I need more iron. That is totally doable. It also explains my 8:30 bedtime for the last few months. =D An iron suppliment added to my daily diet and we are good to go right?!?

Wrong! She also continued to say, I didn't pass the glucose test. I get to come in for the 3 hour glucose test. I get to sit in the waiting room for 3 hours while they poke me 4 times so they can see how I process the sugar from the NASTY drink over a LONG period of time. AND if that isn't good enough, I have to fast for 12 hours before hand. Can they think up a worse test for a pregnant lady who is hungry all the time?!? To add insult to injury, they have to have it scheduled for next week, which just happens to be Spring Break. I will have ALL the children home! I have no idea how to work that one! Before the nurse hung up, I had one more question for her.... What was my glucose score? How badly did I bomb the test? Her answer, the cut off for normal is 140. Your test results, a 141. There seriously should be a margin of error to these tests!

So, I've decided I'm done. I don't want to know what else is broken on me. Anyone want to go in my place? The only good thing is that our unnamed bundle is growing exactly like they want to see so at least I am doing one thing right! We must focus on the positive!

Some dates to remember

O.k. I've been asked about upcoming important dates so here is a rough-- keyword here being ROUGH-- estimate of important upcoming dates.

April 28, Kyrin Turns 8! We still have no idea how to fit in a baptism as well as a baby birth but somehow we will get it all to work out!

May 4th- I hit 36 weeks pregnant. At this point we will be doing an ultrasound to see if the placenta has moved. If it hasn't, C-section here I come!

May 18th- 38 weeks pregnant. This is the point that the C-section will be done. I have no idea of the exact date yet as we are still waiting on the ultrasound to determine if I will have to have a c-section. John finishes finals on the 16th so we will LUCKILY be out of the woods for that.

June 1st- My official due date. I am really HOPING to have a baby by this point, but with my luck.... Even if a C-section isn't called for, I am hoping she will induce me around the 38th week (as I have had to have an induction with BOTH of my other children. I don't go into labor on my own.) and as of now, plans (such as child care and mommy care after the baby is born) are set for this party to start in Mid-May.

Those are the important dates as of now. They will change and get a lot more specific as we get closer, but that at least puts it into perspective for you!

Better late then never! A total random update

O.k. so I am a total slacker and have fallen behind in my posting. I admit it. But I can't promise it won't happen again! =D In all honesty, I did have good intentions. I just wanted to wait until I had some real official diagnosis to share. Apparently I'm not that lucky so I will just share the situation and the "assumed" diagnosis.

Last month, when I went into the doctor my blood pressure was up and I was beginning to have small amounts of protein in my urine. All this points toward pre-eclamsia. With my history, pre-e was only a matter of time, but it is a little earlier then I was hoping. ( I am currently at 27 weeks 2 days) At this point in time, they aren't doing anything special for it (except ask me to come in for an extra blood pressure check, that I missed because we had the flu at my house) I have another doc appointment next week so we will see what is being said then. Hopefully with more rest, and less sick children, (we were sick at our house for 3 weeks of the month of February) my blood pressure will be down into the "more acceptable" range. The little muffin (who is still UNNAMED at this point, ACK!!) is growing like a weed. I am starting to get a visible belly that looks more like a preggo belly then a "man, is SHE getting FAT" belly! I have to admit, I am enjoying that aspect of it. No one likes to the be "fat" lady! I am carrying her very high, just like when I was preggo with Lainey. Must be a girl thing. =)

Kyrin and Lainey are doing very well too. Kyrin was chosen this week to be "detective of the week" (basically Student of the Week) in his class. He is loving the extra attention. He gets to be the line leader all week, help pass out papers, and serve lunch in the lunchroom. We also got to fill out and COLOR (yuck!!) a poster and send pictures of him to be put on the classroom bulletin board. After spending 10 days in the month of February home with illness (bronchitis, pink eye, and the ever dreaded flu) I think he is really enjoying being in the spotlight at school. I think he really missed being with people his own age.

Lainey is growing faster then I know what do with! I pulled out a bunch of 3T shirts, and the are almost all too short!! I have had to start purchasing 4T clothes for her just for the length in the torso. (of course that makes them all too big in the shoulders but what is a mom to do?!?) She still has her "witch moments" but she is such a love bug too. Today she crawled up on my lap and pulled my face to hers and said "mommy, I just need some cuddles!" How can a mom say No to that?!? She has had some issues with her speech lately, and I can't help but wonder if this new baby is playing a roll in it. She seems much more clingy lately and keeps telling me, "mommy, it's not our turn to have our baby." I shudder to think what a c-section and the resulting 3 days in the hospital is going to do to her. We are working on having daddy more involved in her night routine and helping her through her night terrors but she is still a 100% mommy's girl. Hopefully it won't scar her too much!

This is just a quick (if totally random) update on our family. I hope you and yours are doing well too! And if anyone has any name suggestions or ideas to help Lainey with the new baby transition, we REALLY need all the help we can get!!!

My Lainey girl

What do you do with a 2 year old?!? Lainey is officially 2 and a half and quite the handful. She already has an emotional rollercoaster, which just scares me for what life is going to be like when she is a teenager!
Two days ago, I made a quick trip to the grocery store for a few items. When I came home I just set the bags on the floor so I could get dinner started. After I started cooking the meat (which is the first time I've been able to do THAT since I got pregnant! yay) I turned around the put the food away and Lainey had done it all! That's right! Three bags of groceries put away in the proper places! (as long as the bread is supposed to go in the fridge, but that was the only thing outta place) I was so suprised! That is more helpful then her brother is most days! I figured that we were having a "good" day. It was not to be. Less then a half hour later, she was screaming at the top of her lungs (and MAN, does she have a set of lungs!) throwing toys at her brother because he was trying to do his homework and that wasn't in her "plan". Sigh, so seriously.... what do you do with a 2 year old?!? I don't remember Kyrin being like this. Is this one of those things like labor that you forget so you can go through it again? When will it end? I know that she can be sweet and her loves are the best. She cries when I am sick and does everything in her power to make it better (including wrapping me in her blanket as I lay on the bathroom floor) but these witch moments are scary! Sometimes I wish I could permantly lock "her broom" in the closet so I could have that sweet loveable caring little girl all the time!

But then, she wouldn't be MY little girl if she wasn't a little emotional! (o.k.... A LOT emotional!)

Placenta Previa

O.k. folks, I got a call from my doc this morning. The baby looks wonderful. All pictures showed that she is doing as wonderfully as can be expected. I DO have complete placenta previa. This is when the Placenta is completely covering the cervix. Not a good situation for a natural birth, in fact it is impossible. This means that a c-section could seriously be in my immediate future. The doc said that Complete Placenta Previa "usually" doesn't move out of the way all the way and that automatically means c-section. We will do another ultrasound at 36 weeks to see if the placenta has moved and if it hasn't then we will schedule a c-section for 38 weeks, which means this baby could come mid-May. We are officially changing my due date to June 1st (Yeah) There isn't anything I can do to "make" it move, it just happens on it's own, so without sounding "preachy" any thoughts or prayers sent for this to correct itself would be wonderful. I am scared spitless for the dang epidural. (selfish, I know but it's a NEEDLE in my back!!) No matter what the outcome, it's nice to know that the baby is looking good and developing according to plan... Now all we need is a name. Anyone have any suggestions?!?

And the Verdict is.....

Dearest family and friends,

We are having a......... BABY! ha! Got ya! We are back from the ultrasound and things are looking good. The baby was very calm, we could hardly get her to move at all. It was almost eeiry, but then the baby usually moves in the evening for the most part. We were unable to get a good look between the legs at first, but with some more juice, and some movement on mom's part we were finally able to see... but we will get back to that later... =P (I MUST keep you in suspense!)

The baby is measuring ahead of what the doc thought (but EXACTLY what I said my due date should be) That makes my due date June 1st. The baby is breech, but looks good, but apparently I have a complete placenta previa. I only know this because I snuck a glance at the technicians paper work, and I will know more when my doctor calls with the ultrasound results in the next few days. =D
Now, back to the news that you really wanted to know about...

We are supposed to be having a BABY GIRL!! We are pretty sure about it... but you never can tell until they are born! Kyrin is a little disappointed, he really wanted a baby brother, but excited to have a new baby in the house. He loves babies quite a bit. He just said... "I'm always ganna be the only boy in our house.... except for dad.. but he doesn't count cuz he's a dad not a boy." All in all we are pretty excited and pleased to be one more step closer to having this baby in our arms. (and it doesn't help that I am now a week and a half farther then originally thought!!)

My new workout

I woke up this morning feeling like I hit the gym a little too hard. The problem? I didn't go to the gym! With the new baby coming, John and I decided that it was time to move Lainey out of the crib/toddler bed and into a new big girl bed. The problem is that space is LIMITED! So we decided to get bunkbeds. Lainey will be on the bottom and Kyrin on top. John and I put them together last night and apparently all the bending and twisting and strange positions that I had to pull to put in screws was better then going to any gym! I'm just glad that it is a one time only workout! I think I would cry if I had to do it again tonight! But no matter the pain, the Kids LOVE their new beds and that is all that matters! Now to get their bedroom back into one peice.....

Opps, I forgot the pictures

Lainey was all about sitting on Santa's lap, until it actually came time to do it! Then she wanted NOTHING to do with him! She grabbed her goodies and was GONE!

Kyrin couldn't think of a single thing he wanted for Christmas! His list, "Surprise me" I think that means the Kid has WAYYYY too much STUFF!

Lainey and Kyrin loved decorating the tree! Check out the concetration on her face as she tries to get the hook onto the branch.

Kyrin was really into decorating the tree this year. He was so precise and exact. He made sure the ordaments were spread out evenly over the whole tree and there wasn't a bare spot. Lainey on the other hand, thought the ordaments looked better all on the same branch. Frustrated him a little bit, but they worked it out!

The final product with ALL the loot! The kids were extremely spoiled this year! Thank you Santa and Elves!

P.S. Andrea, can you see how I made the couch work?!? It took some creative shoving and it was actually a LOT more work then I thought it would be. But it really did work well.

really REALLY late updates =D

So, Merry Chirstmas! Yep... it's me again, and I am really that far behind!!

We had a wonderful christmas this year. We stayed home in Moscow, which ended up being a mixed blessing because even if we had planned to travel there was a real possibility we wouldn't have been able to make it! There was A LOT of snow here. It seemed like it snowed over the whole christmas break!

We saved our pennies and was able to fly John's mom up for Christmas this year. It was a little dicey getting her here, her flight from SLC to Spokane ended up being cancelled and she had ONE chance on a stand by flight before she was stuck in the airport for 3 days before they could get her on another flight. Luckily she made the standby flight into Lewiston, (which was a blessing as the roads were 100% better headed that way. All of Spokane was declared a disaster area and every road but 2 were "closed") She finally made it to our house at about 1 am. It was a LONG day for her! But we were glad to have her here. She suffered a stroke a few months back so John and I felt it was important to have the children be able to spend some time with her as life can be so short!

We waited until Kathy (John's mom) was able to be here to decorate the tree. It was so much fun to see my two little munchkins be so excited to show off all the "cool" decorations to grandma before they were put up. It really was a lot of fun. It's amazing how much more fun some of these things can be when you look at it through the eyes of a child. I was really dreading the decorating of the tree because it was "so much work". But we ended up having a lot of fun and the work aspect kind of disappeared!

My kids were spoiled rotten this year! There were so many gifts under the tree for them! I think John and I had one present each under the tree and the rest was the kids. There were so many people who wanted to make sure my kids had a good Christmas we were really blessed. I appriciate everyone who loves my kids as much as I do!

Other then the usual crazy christmas morning (that didn't start until after 7:00 am THANK YOU CHILDREN!) we had a very laid back vacation. We played in the snow some, watched lots of movies and just enjoyed being around each other. We are very thankful for family and friends and all the blessings we have received this year.

We all hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas as well.

As for a quick update on baby, We are still taking it one day at a time. This baby seems to really be a mover and a shaker. The baby likes to kick a lot in the evening times. Kyrin has gotten to be able to feel him/her once and he thought it was TOTALLY awesome. John has yet to feel the baby because whenever I call him over to feel, the baby stops moving as soon as he puts his hand on my bump! It does make it nice for me when I want some sleep at night though, John just puts his hand on my belly and the baby stops moving and I get some relief! We have another doc appointment this week for the same old drill but the big news is our "big" ultrasound will be Jan 21!! (at 6:45 AM... yes that's right AM!!!) At this ultrasound we should finally get an offical due date, the date currently is fluctuating between June 1 and June 11. We will hopefully be able to see how healthy this little one is, and if we are lucky if the baby resembles a Kyrin or a Lainey. Kyrin is still hoping for puppies though! Silly kid! If I am really nice, and good, (o.k. if I remember!!!) I'll update you all on the final decision, until then, feel free to post your guesses on sex in the comments. I would love to see what kind of vibe everyone else is feeling!

Love ya all, and take care!