1st melt down

So I keep getting asked how we're doing with four kids now, and truly, it hasn't been bad, but yesterday I had a "caught up" moment and just broke down. Now those of you who know me know that I don't cry hardly ever. Not that there's anything wrong with it, I just try to avoid it. I woke up yesterday to another Groundhog Day. Cooper up way before he should be, Caroline crying for warm milk yada yada yada. Well all the sudden my phone rings. Mind you it's 10:45 and it's our realtor saying they have someone who wants to come look at our house between 11:00 and 12:30. I told them I could do 11:30 at the earliest, which was really even pushing it. So she passed that on and I started freaking out. Now let me push things back 2 days where our family all got this cold and I threw my back out, so running around, bending over to pick things up, lifting things.... not good. I already hurt and felt crappy, plus all the wonderful nights with like 3 hours of sleep... not a good situation. I had just fed Isabelle, but she all the sudden got really fussy, so I called like 3 people who said to call them anytime I needed help with anything. Of course, none of them answered, but I saw life at one of the houses, so I tried again and Melinda was home. I asked her to hold Isabelle so I could run around and clean because I couldn't just leave her there crying. She ended up taking Isabelle, Cooper and Caroline to her house and even sent her daughter Lauren over to vacuum for me. Bless her! Lauren even swept my kitchen and bathroom floors. And wouldn't you know it that my vacuum died on the last room, so she ran to 2 of my neighbors and borrowed one. Well I couldn't have done it without these 2 ladies. We finished cleaning at 11:31. Miracle. I was praying that my back wouldn't just freeze up and I'd be standing there the rest of the day.

Well who knows what will come of that, but then I got my kiddos back and came home. Elizabeth and Caroline were beating up on a boy in the neighborhood so I made them come home and they were throwing attitude and disobeying and crying. In fact, I think I had all 4 crying at one point. Lovely! My back hurt, my body ached and I was just done. I sat there on the phone with Brian and all the sudden I just started crying. My girls were looking at me like I was dying or something. They kept asking why I was crying and being the nice Mom that I am I told them it was because they kept fighting with each other and were mean to me, not that that is going to do anything! Then Elizabeth decided to have her own meltdown on the phone with Brian, I mean seriously, can't I be the only one to have a meltdown?!!! So who does one run to when then can't handle it anymore..... yup, my poor Mom. Brian made me call her and I hesitated 'cause I don't like asking for help, but I was really done. So I called her and of course she came down, took my kids so I could get some sleep and then took the girls home with her since they're the ones waking up in the middle of the night again. What a great Mom. She's always there for me. She's the best. I have friends tell me how they wish their Mom was like mine and I have to agree that I'm pretty lucky. She is wonderful and she's the best grandma. The kids just love her. She's always playing pretend with them, having tea parties, making cookies with them, having sleepovers, giving them chocolate milk whenever they want. No wonder they'd rather stay there! Anyway, it's a new day and I feel like I can do it again. I made it 3 weeks I guess. It's like my Mom asked me on the phone, "so why are you upset? Is it selling the house, Brian being gone all day , having a new baby, disobedient or sassy kids?" Ha. Pick one I said!

Isa

Here's a picture of Isa from the other day. She's now 9 lb and 21 inches. We love this little girl!

Things I'm proud of

So I married a master gardener. Who knew? Look at his corn. Can you believe how big it is? I haven't seen any bigger yet, not even at the farms we pass. I'm so proud of him. He's faithful in watering and spent hours this spring mixing the clay with fertilizer, and I mean hours!!! At least 15. We've already enjoyed his sugar peas and now the squash is in full force. We're waiting on the tomatos and peppers and corn now.

Liz started riding a 2-wheeler this week. I went outside and she was on a friends bike just riding. Brian worked with her maybe 2 times and now she's a pro.

For Paul ;)

So what have we been up to you ask? Let me tell you... first few pics are of our attempt at "camping". Well, not really. ON Wed we took the kids up Provo canyon and set up the tent, with no intention of sleeping over. We had planned on being up there until it got dark, but after 3 hours, we were done. Cooper fell off the table onto his head, he kept trying to step in the fire pit, while the fire was going, Caroline kept running away to the port-a-potties, because for some reason, they're so cool. Liz threw a little attitude and wanted to be alone in the tent and "locked" the other 2 out.. blah blah blah. Needless to say, we don't plan on camping alone for a few more years. SO this morning we went up the canyon to Tanner Flatts with my parents and hung out there, only 3 hours yet again. It actually wasn't as bad, but the flies were getting bad and we just left before we got to "that point".







This is just one of me and Caroline. Since no one takes pictures of me, I have to do it myself.


The other day Brian's aunt Lisa and her kids took my kids, except for the baby, for the whole day. I loved it! Thanks Chudleighs! That's one of my favorite things, being alone with just the baby. I love taking naps with them. I mean how can you not love waking up to this face?!



Isabelle had her first bath. I love watching them take their first bath. They're always so relaxed and peaceful.


Another self portrait



Just the 3 of us


Anyway, we're doing well and adjusting just fine to having the 4 kiddos!

Isabelle... day 6

So I know all of you have been waiting for more pics of Isabelle right? And I hate to disappoint, so here are a few. I threw in one of me with her 'cause she was smiling and I thought it was cute. She has a few little dimples, but I haven't caught them on camera yet. Soon I hope. I hope they stay around. We're all doing well. It hasn't been as bad as I thought, yet anyway. Today was my first day with the kids by myself, but my neighbor took the girls for 2 hours so I could sleep. That was lovely!!! I just love this little girl. She is so sweet and such a good baby, thank goodness! Anyway, here they are...

Isabelle Catherine

Well, here's our new little girl. She was born just before 5:00 last night weighing
7 lbs 15 oz and 19 inches long. She's got a ton of dark hair that's really long in the back. Her little sibblings are really excited to have her here, as are we. Cooper's face was so cute. Mine however, was not. You know how great your face looks when gravity pulls it?! Anyway, we're in for a crazy adventure, but excited it's begun.

Happy Bday to the Chud Stud!

So today is Brian's big 30th bday. What do we have planned for this momentous occasion you might ask? Well, let's see. Brian woke up at a little after 5:00 and drove an hour to work. Then around 5:00 tonight, he'll drive back and get back around 6:30. Sounds fun huh? We'll go somewhere for dinner. He mentioned Taco Bell and I said, "what good wife would take her husband to Taco Bell for his 30th Bday. The least we could do is Del Taco. They at least have a play ground." Of course I was kidding, so we'll see what he feels like later today. Anyway, so just a few reasons why I love Brian....

- He cleans up when he sees it's needed
- He'll fold the laundry if he hears it beep before me, and he'll even put it away!
- He changes dirty diapers without me asking
- He likes to go to chick flicks with me
- He's musically talented and ALWAYS willing to share it with whoever will listen
- He gives great foot rubs
- He never says no to me when I ask for help
- He has a great laugh
- He plays with the kids and they love him
- He provides for our family
- He ALWAYS puts the toilet seat down
- He hangs all our decorations on the wall without complaining
- He'll get up with the kids in the night (if I wake him up :))
- He cleans up dinner
- He'll cook to give me a break
- He passed my Spanish class for me ( well, kind of :))
- He's a hard worker
- He grows a great garden
- He lets me buy whatever I want without making me feel guilty
- He makes pretty babies :)
- He has a sense of adventure
- He has a strong testimony
- He has a good heart
- He has great legs and boot-eh
- He's quick to apologize
- He can admit when he's wrong (which isn't often right babe?)
- He loves his family

I got a good man! I was impressed with how many people knew the answers on his quiz. He's like an open book. What you see is what you get. So what you might not know about him....

- although you would expect him to, he rarely sings in the shower (thank goodness since it's like 5:00 AM!!!)

- he eats his pb and honey face open and mixes the honey with his finger

- he watches Seinfeld every night before he goes to sleep and even if he's seen it 10 billion times, he still laughs like it's the first time!

- one of his least favorite hymns is "There is Sunshine in my Soul Today" (go fig)

- he could eat a hamburger for dinner every night

- he'd rather have a nice mountain bike than a nice car

- he got into dentistry because of a girl (nope, not me)

- he's afraid to get shots, but gives them with no problems!

- luckily for him, since he served his mission in Europe during mad cow, he can't give blood

- he hates onions, well, except for in salsa, or mexican food, or chopped really small and sauteed in food, actually, he might not know this one, but he really does like onions :)


So there you have a little on the man I got lucky to be with forever. Happy Birthday Babe. Love you!

Happy Birthday to me

So here we go to a very long post....
Thursday was my bday and I turned 29. That's right, 29 years of age. And how did I spend this glorious day you might ask? Well, the same way I do every other day of the week basically. Sounds great huh? Woke up tired, had to get 3 cups of warm milk at 3 different times. Had a fussy 3 year old with a white tongue and complaining of it hurting, so I took her to the dr and turns out it was strep. Nice. Then I had a slight fussy 5 year old in the morning from shots the day before, and slightly fussy 15 month old with 2 teeth trying to come in. So far, loving the day! Took the kids to the aquarium which was fine and then headed up to my parents house. No one there, no biggie. Tried to keep all 3 in the same room to make sure they didn't destroy anything and then when it got too dang hot in the tv room, made an escape outside. When I got tired of getting up and down and up and down to keep them in the back yard, inside again. You get the idea. My Mom did make me dinner though and a cake so that was the best part of my day. Brian got caught up at work an hour late. He came over for dinner and then we headed home. He stopped at the redbox to get us a movie, turned out it was horrible. Fell asleep. Well, love birthdays. At least Bri and I got to go out the night before for dinner and a movie. That was nice. So, a few pics of cute little me...








Fourth of July

So how about the 4th huh? Couldn't have been much better. Cloud cover all day, wind to cool us off. We went up Provo Canyon and took a lunch. Let the kiddos play in the stream up there for a little bit, then headed off to my Grandparents and hung out in the pool for a little bit. After that, we headed up to Sandy for the parade and fireworks. The 4th is my favorite holiday, and it turned out pretty good for the most part. My favorite picture is on my photo blog if you wanna check it out.

Baby

Since I keep getting the question, (apparently no one really listens to me. JK) I've posted this ticker on when we are having the baby. We've planned to be induced with this one because Brian is working so far away and if it were to happen in those almost 13 hours he's gone a day, I don't know if he'd make it home in time since the last one came in 40 min! Plus, since I have that lovely Group B Strep, they want me on the antibiotics for several hours. Same issue, I go too fast, so there ya have it. Next Friday is the day.