Farewell 2012

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

I am still right at a month of posts to post...but it is the last day of 2012 and I am saying farewell.  It has been a good year.  Some highlights include:

• Buying a new house and moving to a new- and more than double as large- home
• K and C changing schools (because of above move)
• Driving to Colorado, Utah, and Idaho for our annual vacation while I was 7 1/2 months pregnant.
• J started Kindergarten
• V was born

I think those are the big ones.  I am so blessed.  I have the best husband ever.  For me, there could not be anyone more perfect for me.  I was reading a talk by Elder Holland today about marriage and I rejoiced over how perfectly CK already fits all the characteristics he talked about.  I love the Gospel and I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I know Jesus lives.  I have five wonderful children.  I have a great ward (church congregation).  I have many, many friends that live throughout the country and all provide such strength for me.  I have three sets of extended family members--all of whom I love so much.  They are great examples for me.

I am so blessed.  I am so excited for 2013.  I have so much to look forward to.  Life is good.

Today has been hard, but I don't know why.  I am just grumpy.  Not sure if it is because I am worried about V or sad to miss K this New Year's (she is with friends...at 13, it is time).  But, I have been grumpy today and I am trying so hard to be positive.  This post helps....I see just how blessed I am...more than I could ever have imagined!

On one final note, CK asked me to marry him exactly two years ago today.  Best decision I have ever made.  So blessed.

K's Choir Performance Downtown

K is in select choir at school.  As part of that, they had the opportunity to go downtown (November 28, 2012) and perform with other schools in the fancy hall where the symphony performs.  It was a great opportunity.

Here she is before she left.  Beautiful.  Absolutely beautiful.

 CK went down to be there for her performance.  V being only two months old...we already weren't sure how she would do and the tickets were $18 each.  We decided to risk it UNTIL we discovered that she would have to have a ticket, too.  Silly.  She would obviously be on a lap the ENTIRE time.  Since this was the case, we opted to have me stay home with the boys and V and CK went to the performance, which didn't even conclude until 10:15.

He said it was beautiful and that K did a great job.  I am glad he got to go and I feel so blessed that he has chosen to take on Dad responsibilities.  We are so blessed.  XDH also ended up being able to go, so K was able to have both her Dads there for her.  That is another blessing as well.  :)

V's Blessing (November 25, 2012)

 Here is V all ready for her blessing.  One of the cool things is that the dress that she is wearing is the dress that I wore when I was blessed.  My mom made it for me.  When she was visiting in October, she brought it with her.  Since V was still so small, she fit it well.  And, she looked beautiful.

 After all the pictures were done (which she was not happy about), I propped her up in the corner and she began smiling away.  She wants what she wants and sometimes it is NOT to be held.

I included this picture of my talented friend, K, taking pictures for us.  K is one of the very most talented people I know.  She is a wonderful photographer, she is amazing with her sewing/quilting skills, she is so determined, and, most of all, she is a great friend.  We have been friends for years.  As our children have gotten older, we don't talk every day (not even close) like we used to, but I cherish her friendship so much.  The following four pictures are ones that she took.  :)  Aren't they great?

 My family!  Love them!!!!

 Isn't she precious?

All our family that was able to come for the blessing.  Love you all!

 One of my favorites of my little V.

After the blessing (and after the rest of church), we had a small luncheon with the family.  It was great!

Then, sad but true....Uncle D and Grandpa K had to leave to fly home.  We sure loved having them here.

Can you see the family resemblance?

Yet again, I am so blessed...so very blessed.  I love my family.  I am one lucky, lucky girl.

Company!

 Okay.  Okay.  Okay.  So...this is take #2 of this post, which really turned me off to blogging for a while.  I hate having it all done and then having it all disappear!  YUCK!

And....I have spend so much time trying to help V and to figure out why she is not gaining weight.  Formula works...in very small doses or she throws them up and/or screams in pain.  The doctor has had us try a few different things, none successfully.  We are on to another trial of just me pumping and feeding her that milk in a bottle, so we can see EXACTLY how much she is getting.  It is a lot of work.  She only gained 2 oz last week and 2 oz the week before.  The doctor wants her to be gaining 8 oz or more a week.  Hmmm....not there yet.  I am exhausted.  CK is exhausted.  Even little V is exhausted.  Hopefully we can resume a normal routine sometime soon.

In the meantime, I will take you back---all the way back to last month (November 23 & 24, 2012)

CK's Dad and brother came out to visit, see V, and to particpate in her blessing.  It was so wonderful to have them here with us.  We love them so very much.  We only got to spend a couple of days together, but every moment was wonderful!

 Grandpa K with V

 Uncle D with V.

 On Saturday, we went down to the water gardens and had fun being together.

 We took this "L" picture at the water gardens.  My new sister-in-law had a great idea.  There are 5 kids in my family and 5 letters in my maiden name.  Each of us took a letter and took a picture with our families with the letter....then put it all together in a frame for my parents for Christmas.  It looked so cool and my parents loved it!  The first time I created this post, I couldn't post this picture---but now my parents have their gift and so I can post the picture.  It is a little crazy, but I definitely love that the whole family is in it.  It looks better in black and white for sure.

 After the water gardens, we went out to eat...BBQ, of course!  Then we came home, played some games, and got ready for the Sabbath.

I feel so blessed to have so many family members that I love so very much.  I love that CK's family is so supportive and loving.  I am so blessed.  So blessed indeed!

12-12-12

I have a post all ready to post, but....I have to wait on that for this date is so dang cool:  12-12-12.  I got a screenshot of 12:12 on 12-12-12.  I will post that when I upload the photo.  So cool!!  I have two friends that delivered babies today.  Such a cool birthday!  ;)  I just love numbers!

Christmas Tree #1

Thanksgiving was awesome.  I didn't take very many pictures.  We went to my sister's home.  It was very fun.  I am so grateful for all my blessings, including, and especially my sister.  I am so glad that she lives nearby.  Love her bunches and bunches.

Friday we cleaned up from all the cooking on Thursday.  J and A played together--like they always do.

 Then we wrapped presents and got ready for our first Christmas tree.

 We do have two trees up this year, partially because we now have a two story home, but mostly because this was our time all together as a family.  Most of the time, when we get to see A it is in St. Louis.  This time, all five of our children were together.  Decorating the tree is family time and so CK and I bought a smaller artificial tree and we put it up and decorated it together.  We now have our second tree up and decorated as well.  It is a live tree and it is downstairs in our living area.  I am pondering purchasing a third tree to use next year in our piano room.  It would look good there and it would allow me a tree to decorate for the beauty while still having the other trees have all the kids' ornaments and other special ornaments on them.  I have collected ornaments from places that we visit.  It is so fun to put them on the trees.  My sister-in-law, L, gave me that great idea and I love it.  Putting up ornaments is a time to relive our family history.

I love this picture with CK and A.  One day she will be too big, but right now--you can tell how much she loves her Daddy.

V loves to touch her hair.  It is the first thing she does when she wakes up and she feels it throughout the day.   :)  I guess it is a good thing that she has a lot of hair!

 V loved the Christmas tree.  She just laid there beneath it and looked and looked at the lights and the ornaments and the branches.

The other kids soon joined her.  There is something magical about laying under the tree.  I remember doing it as a kid and marveling at the beauty of it.  Our real tree would be more difficult--someone might end up with a pine needle in the eye.  Yikes!

I am so blessed to have these children, this home, and this Christmas season.

V's Status

Still many posts to catch up on before I begin the Christmas posts!  Wish me luck. Time is a rare commodity these days.  I am so grateful that I have five amazing children--but, for this season of my life, being Mom / Taxi Driver is about all I have time for!

On to V.  I took this picture of her while at her doctor's appointment on Friday--before I woke her up.  She was blissfully ignorant of the shots she was about to receive.  I had been a little worried about V's size.  She just seemed so tiny.  I had spoken with the doctor once when I called about a separate issue and they asked me a few key questions, but she was fine according to those questions.  I assumed that my fears about her size would be alleviated once I took her to the doctor.

Nope.  I was wrong.  Fears were not alleviated.  I was right.  She is too tiny.  She hasn't gained weight.  In fact, she dropped an ounce from her last appointment over a month ago.  At more than 2 months old, she only weighed in at 7 lbs 2 oz, merely 4 oz more than her birth weight.

Prior to the appointment, I had given her formula to try to supplement, just in case she was not getting enough from me.  She threw it up.  So, after a few attempts, I stopped trying.

Her doctor also wanted me to supplement, so she gave me a different kind of formula.  She threw that up.  Called the nurse on Saturday, who gave me the name of a different kind.  Bought a couple more different types to try (And, HOLY COW!  formula is expensive!).  She threw them up.  Called the doctor this morning.  She had me come get yet another sample.  We will see.

I could not get the picture to rotate--but just look at that smile--after they had me undress her and before weighing.

The scary thing is....if she does not gain weight it could be something serious.  I switch between being terrified of something serious or feeling that it probably isn't anything.  V is a happy kid (most of the time) and she has hit and exceeded all milestones.  She smiles, coos, holds her head, is very alert, has the recommended wet/dirty diapers, etc.  It is hard to imagine that something could possibly be wrong in her little body.  While sharing about V with a few friends, I have heard many, many stories of babies who had similar problems.  The end results range from heart problems to allergies to leukemia to absolutely nothing wrong.

Our hearts and prayers are with her.  I am so blessed to be her mother!  I just feel quite helpless of how to help her.  One thing that all this formula has done for her--increased the crankiness.  Hard to do anything EXCEPT hold her or she cries-even being held, she cries.  This makes for a little bit of frazzling as it IS the Christmas Season after all, and there are things I would like to do to prepare!  But, I am still so blessed!

Update, December 11, 2012:  The new formula is staying down so far!  She has had 4-5 bottles, 1-2 oz each and she has only spit up a teaspoon or less each time.  We are very hopeful that this formula will be the one that will work for her.  :)  I am guessing it will costs us our weight in gold to afford it (we are using a sample right now), but anything is worth her health---even our weight in gold!  Thank you for your prayers for our little V.

Cousins, Sleepovers, and Fun!

One of the things that we had the chance to do over Thanksgiving Break is to have sleepovers with the cousins.  We are so lucky that my sister lives so close and that all the kids absolutely LOVE to be together.  :)  The boys (and V) spent the night at my house, while the girls partied it up all night at my sister's!

I love this picture of the boys playing on the WII and V is watching the screen just as intently as they are.

The next morning was beautiful and we met at a park and played for a while before switching kids back.

Oh, how we love our cousins!  We are so blessed!

And Imaginations Run Wild....

V and J are so much alike.  They love to craft.  They love to pretend.  The whole week was filled with crafts and pretends.  They were almost inseperable, which is why A going home was most difficult on J.  Everyone cried, but J's pain was greatest.  

I should have taken more pictures, for we had a titanic exhibit, a sports something- hall of fame maybe?, and the below star wars battleground.  They transformed more than once the entire upstairs.  It was so fun.  They spent hours preparing without even fighting and then they willingly would clean it up.  What a blessing!

Having them all together is probably the greatest blessing of my life.  I am so blessed.

A Frustrating Date

So....I have many more pictures to post and blog about, including V's blessing day, but I am trying to post something every day and this is my moment.

V was happy as can be this morning.  Then.. I went to lunch with a friend and fed her a formula bottle.  This is only the second bottle she has ever had and it appears that it did not sit well with her.  She has been cranky ever since.

I have been looking forward to having a date with CK tonight for weeks and all week long I have looked forward to it.  We have had kids and company and more time with the kids, so we haven't had our weekly date in a couple of weeks.  I was excited to go out.

Nope.  Not tonight.  V was cranky as we drove downtown to look at furniture ( a long story-probably not worth the sharing though).  Since she hadn't slept well this afternoon, we hoped for some sleep from her.  Nope.  We drove back towards home.  Crying and screaming and more crying.  :(  Poor girl.  Poor us!  We went to the restaurant where we'd decided to eat---more crying and screaming, so we ended up not even getting out of the car.  We drove some more, stopped at restaurant #2...more crying.  Finally, we got Chic-Fil-A in the drive through and came home to eat.  I fed V first and so by the time we ate, it was cold and soggy.

Not the ideal date by far.  -sigh-  But, such is life and I am so blessed to have a warm home, a comfy bed, and a husband to snuggle....if V ever goes to sleep.  :)

2 months old!

Today's blog post is rather easy....V is 2 months old, as of last week!

She is such a fun girl.  We love having her in our family.  She is the most laid-back of my children--I thank her Daddy for that!  :)  She is absolutely tiny, though.  No baby fat at all.  My other kids were little and she is happy and eats well and doesn't have any other warning signs, however, her tinyness does concern me just a little.  I will talk to her doc at her check-up next week.  I am so blessed that she is in our family!  So blessed indeed!

A meets V

Since A lives most of the time out of state with her mom, the siblings don't get to see each other often.  I hate it.  My family is never complete unless A is there too, but it is another hardship of divorce that just is.

Because of this distance, A had never met V.  There was an immediate sister love.  

 Above is A's first time holding V.

 Sisters!  These are my girls!

 So sweet!  A wanted to touch her and hold her all the time.  :)

A has a brother the same age as V.  You can tell that she is used to being around babies.  She was so good with V, even sometimes being able to calm her when she was cranky.  She was so patient with her.  It was great!

We already miss A!