CrazyBusy

Jul. 23, 2008

My Poor Family (what they have to put up with...)

I think I may have a new project for my hubby. We have a 3 car (detached) garage. We have 4 vehicles. Only 1 vehicle is actually parked in the garage and only one of our other vehicles will even fit through any of the 3 single garage doors. It's wasted space if you asked me. And I'm thinking... it sure would make a nice photography studio... A place where I can leave all of my stuff set up, lock a door, leave it there and be able to use it whenever I please, not have anyone use reflectors as frisbies or backdrops to hide behind... hmm......

But not only is there space in there, there is also great light. The light inside our house is not very good and you have to catch it at certain times in certain rooms. If you miss that window of opportunity, you're out of luck. Alek & Millie helped me test my set up before Kenton brought out the nekked baby. These are SOOC or "straight out of camera"- no editing done at all. (except to resize/sharpen/frame for web viewing)

Not bad.

And then out came the nekked baby and her father. I have tried to get this picture/pose 3 times now. Kenton is such a trooper. He's been peed on every time and pooped on too. He was laying on a cushion I'd put on the ground, holding her up over him & she just peed and peed all over him. And did I help? After the hysterical laughter ceased, yes, I did help wipe him and her up a bit. You know you've married a good guy if he can sit there and laugh while a newborn is all over him.

And the first time we tried this.... we tried inside using my hot light. Josiah was downstairs playing with cars nearby while Kenton was standing in front of the backdrop. I had run upstairs to grab something and when I came back down, Kenton just smiled at me and said, "She pooped." That was an understatement. * ing up* It was in his hand, on the floor... and Josiah was a bit freaked. Kenton said as she was going, Josiah said, "Daddy she peed on you!"

I carried her upstairs to clean her off as Josiah was walking downstairs and you'd have thought she had leprosy or something the way he sidestepped us to avoid that scary pooping baby.

Okay, I'll stop there. What is it about having a brand new baby that makes us moms think that poop is an okay topic to blog about? Whew. Anyway.

So like I said, this was the third time I tried to get this shot. I still consider it unsuccessful and maybe, just maybe, I can convince Kenton to try again. *laugh* This little just will not stay fast asleep. Have I posted any pictures of her with her eyes open yet? If not, here ya go.

Now this first one looks weird and I'll tell you why in a sec. Maybe you noticed why right off. But this is the only shot I got of her in this position where she's not grumping, etc. This was before Kenton had his shower. I love it because it looks like she's giving the "okay" sign before she did the deed. But I didn't like it because her little bum area was exposed... so I just cloned that area out. Kenton's other arm & her little bum got cloned out. I tried just cropping it out but that looked even worse. I did a really sloppy job because this isn't one I'll print- no matter how hard I'd try to make it look good, it'd still look funny/off. I know, I talk to much about the photos. I need to just post 'em and not talk about 'em.

And here are two from a different pose that I liked but wish she was asleep...

Already opinionated about having her pic taken...

Do you want to see that one in color? Newborns' skin tones are so extreme, I like 'em better in B&W.

So if a) Julianna cooperates better next time and STAYS alseep and b) I can convince Kenton to do this again, I'll hopefully have better ones to post next time. I'd better wait at least a week before I bring it up again though...

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Jul. 21, 2008

The Hardest Thing About Having Six Children....

Wait. Six!? That sounds like so many! I guess it is to some people's standards. If you'd have told me 15 years ago that I'd have 6 children right now, I wouldn't have believed you. That wasn't the original plan. But as I've learned quite well over the years, God's plans trump ours each and every time. And it's amazing how much God can change our hearts as we grow and mature. Of course I wouldn't have believed you if you'd have told me I'd be a homeschooling mother either...

Anyway. I was certain that Julianna would arrive before the 4th of July. So certain was I that I had purchased coordinating 4th of July outfits for the children to wear, including an outfit for Julianna. Little did I know that I'd be giving birth to her that morning and the evening of the 4th would be spent in the hospital (with an awesome view of the city's fireworks display, might I add). So I set their 4th of July outfits aside and waited for a free day to take their pics- I wanted a coordinated-outfits sibling picture.

Okay, anyway. So. The hardest thing about having six children? Easy. Trying to take a picture of all 6 children. Hands down. I probably took 30+ shots of the whole group and I only cared for one. And I only "cared for" that one because after looking through 30+ shots of Josiah sucking his thumb or looking mopey or _____'s eyes closed or _______ (fill in the blank), I didn't feel like trying again. (ever?) So I just settled for the one halfway decent picture. Oh well. Up until today, I did not have ONE single picture of all of my children together. Now I do.

And this is how I felt when we were done:

So here it is. I know Josiah's got a funny look on his face and that he isn't even looking my way and he's got his Napolean look going on (he likes to suck his thumb & stick his other hand in his shirt/under his arm! LOL!), but at least his thumb isn't in his mouth & he's not looking down at the ground like he was in several of the other shots. Right? And Julianna's eyes are closed, but at least she's not crying. Can you even see her? Is she camouflaged into Gracie's dress? The bow. Follow the bow. The bow will help you navigate to her location. :) My babies. It amazes me sometimes that I gave birth to such a crowd. LOL!

Here are the two big sisters by themselves:

And with their new (temporarily grumpy) baby sister:

And my boys. So cool that the "teams" are even now. :)

Please excuse my ramblings- major brain fog has taken over here. Over and out.

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Jul. 18, 2008

Sleepy Smiles (and other sweet things)

Well, life is crazy busy here but a good kind of busy. Julianna is a sweet, sweet baby and I just love her so much already. I love just touching her tiny fingers and toes (like the rest of my children, she's got her daddy's toes- long and skinny!). I love watching her sleep and kissing her sweet cheeks. I love her smell. I love her little sqeaks and grunts. Even if she has kept me up until 2-3am grumping these past 3 nights. We'll get through it and I'm not going to let that interfere with enjoying my new baby girl.

And why didn't someone tell me about the Moby Wrap 5 babies ago?! (maybe it wasn't around then!?) I L-O-V-E that thing! And so does Julianna! I kind of like that I can cover her face up pretty good so while we're out in public, she's a little more protected from germs and things. I used to use a Snugli- you can only put baby in 2 positions in that thing & it always gave me a headache if I wore it for any length of time. The straps dug into my shoulders after a while. Baby's weight is so evenly distributed with the Moby Wrap. Ahem. Julianna has not taken one nap or even slept at night in her bed yet.

I also have a new stash of cloth diapers that I love- Kissaluvs fitted diapers. I sometimes use a wool wrap over the top & sometimes a Bumkins. The wool wrap is adorable but the Bumkins are trimmer.

Another thing different about this baby is they told us before we left the hospital that they no longer suggest you do any sort of special care for the umbilical cord. They told us we could give her tub baths and we didn't have to clean it with alcohol. And you know what? We followed that advice and it healed nicely and fell off on day 7.

I took some pictures of Julianna this evening. She was FAST asleep and I caught some of those sweet sleepy smiles. But first, here's her tiny little hand:

Showing off her Norwegian facial features:

See? She does have some hair.... it's just all in the back. *sigh*

Sleepy smiles:

With dimple:

And these I took last week. I think I was excited to be able to lay on my tummy to take pictures again. Not very exciting, but....
Josiah playing cars:

Gracie:

Millie, who gave me 11 tries, and that's it:

Moody Millie- she's good at the moody look:

Gotta get busy around here! Bye for now!

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Jul. 10, 2008

Julianna Pictures, Of Course. :)

I will admit that one thing I was looking forward to about having a newborn, was getting to take her pictures (is that bad?). Josiah was a few months old when I got my first digital SLR and I wasn't into photography then like I am now- although my hobby has taken a backburner for a while now it seems...

Anyway, I had all of these ideas I wanted to try with her, and I will admit, things aren't working as well as planned. LOL! Most of the little poses I wanted to try with her require a totally fast asleep baby. This little gal does not stay fast asleep once I start messing with her and trying to pose her. Oh well, it's been fun to try.

I think I've got our birth announcement finished. She's a little yellow but hopefully it doesn't look too bad. Just wanted to share some of the keepers I've gotten the past couple days.

Our birth announcement, mostly going out to family members:

And here are the rest.

I know her leg looks kind of funny tucked behind her in this one, but in the others where I moved her leg to the front, her privies were showing.

Last one.

Thanks for all of your comments and congrats! I really love reading through all of them & have had Kenton read them too. :) I have a feeling it's going to take me a while to get back to everyone- I was behind to begin with! Please email me if you need me to get back to you fast- that's easier for me anyway.

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Jul. 8, 2008

First Bath

I LOVE this photo of Julianna, taken just a few hours after her birth, of her first bath. And guess what? I don't even get to take credit for it! Kenton took it! He did great, huh?

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Jul. 7, 2008

One For Now. Okay, Two.

Between computer problems and my bright idea to shoot the hospital pics in RAW, it's taking me a long time to get through these pictures. Remind me never to shoot in RAW again. Especially in the middle of a computer crisis.

Thanks for all of the congratulations and sweet words sent my way! I loved reading all of your comments!

At any rate, here's Miss Julianna Kate! In B&W since her skin is yellow! :) That's all I can do for now.

Oh, and one of Julianna and her adoring oldest sister, Gracie! (now you can see her yellow skin)

Brain fog. Must sleep.

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Jul. 5, 2008

Miss Julianna Kate Has Arrived- And With A Bang!

Okay, so the bang came along later that evening, but...

So July 3rd I had a super busy day. I had my midwife appointment at 10:15am that morning (after not getting to sleep till at least 3am the night before). She stripped my membranes a bit again. I came home right away so I could try & finish up my computer stuff. I think that's when I posted on my blog too.

I still couldn't get things to work and then had to leave at 1:30pm for my spa foot treatment. Ah, that was lovely. And she played with labor inducing pressure points.

After that, I ran a few errands and ended up finding an awesome deal on a new computer. Got it. Took it home so Kenton could start setting it up for me. Ran back to town. Gabe, Gracie & Josiah went with me. We ran by the post office, filled the van up with gas, ran by Safeway & got Kenton a coffee. All the while having some pretty strong contractions every 20 minutes or so. Kenton called my mom & put her "on call."

I got home probably around 7pm, put the groceries away & started making dinner. Called my mom & just asked her to come over. It takes her 45 minutes to get here & I thought it'd be easier for her just to be here already if we had to go to the hospital.

We ate dinner, my mom got here, we got the children in bed. I was sitting at the new computer trying to get things loaded in between contractions.

I finally called my midwife around 11pm & she told me to go in to get checked. We took the hospital bag & camera with us in case they decided to keep us.

My contractions were irregular but pretty strong. I was a little disappointed when we got there, they checked me and said was only dilated a 3-4 (I was 2-3 at my appointment earlier that day- before the contractions began). I thought they'd send me home, but they were pretty sure I'd have her soon, so they kept me.

The midwife that delivered Josiah came in. She just knows what to do. She was shushing people when she could see I was obviously having a contraction. A guy from lab came in to draw my blood and while he was doing so, I was having a HARD contraction, had my eyes closed & was concentrating on breathing through it and he's sitting there telling me that I can talk while he's drawing my blood. ?? That's when Mary was shushing everyone & had to explain to him that I was having a contraction! (Men!)

She dimmed the lights, brought in some CD's for us to choose from & play in the CD player. Then she brought in a steaming cup of water with lavender oil in it. She rolled a birthing ball over and put a pad on it for me to sit on. My gosh, did that thing help! I labored on that for a long time!

So I started thinking about getting into the tub at this point but wanted to know how much progress I'd made so far. I didn't want to get in there and have it possibly stall labor if I still had a ways to go.

Before she checked me, she had me guess how dilated I thought I'd be. I told her I was hoping I'd be about 7 but was probably only 5 or so. She checked me & I was still only 3-4. How disappointing.

They were fine letting me stay if I'd wanted to because they were certain I'd have her soon, but I was so tired, I thought I'd just go home to my bed and try to sleep between contractions. We were all a little bummed.

So we got home around 3am on July 4th and went to bed. I was easily able to sleep between contractions but they were getting REALLY hard and I could not get comfortable. I woke Kenton up & told him that we had to go back. I needed pain relief and I was either going to get in the jetted tub or just get an intrathecal (like an epidural but just a one time shot). I was tired and discouraged and didn't care about a natural childbirth anymore.

I didn't realize at the time that we'd only been home for just over an hour before we headed back, probably because I was able to sleep a little. It just seemed longer to me.

So we get back to the hospital. The same nurse checks me in. She checks my cervix and I'm up to a 6 by that point. I sat on the birthing ball a while longer and then decided to get into the tub.

The tub. Ha! Obviously a MAN must've picked out that tub. It was probably only a few inches wider and deeper than a standard tub. Sure, it was jetted, but if it doesn't cover your belly all the way, who cares!? The last time I gave birth there (with Josiah), they didn't have tubs. In fact, they were working on making all of the post-partum rooms private at the time and things were LOUD due to the construction. Anyway, I had to get an approval from the department manager to bring in a kiddie pool to labor in with him. That thing was awesome- way better than this jetted tub. I was able to completely submerse my belly and lean on the side of the pool with my legs kind of sprawled out to the sides. I labored like that with Josiah until it was time to push. It worked so well. So I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't get into that same, comfy position as I did with Josiah because there just wasn't room and the water level wasn't high enough. The water helped, but not as much as I'd hoped.

I was very tired and the contractions were incredibly painful and I was ready to just give up. The nurse checked me and I was dilated to 8 yet I still asked if it were too late for an intrathecal. She said it wasn't but that they'd have to put in an IV and give me a bolus of fluid and have me lie down in bed so they could hook me up to the monitors to keep an eye on the baby. Even in as much pain as I was in, *that* option sounded worse than the contractions. I figured by the time they accomplished all of that, I'd be ready to push!

So I continued to labor in the tub. Heard a lady across the hall screaming for several minutes as she was pushing. Got a little freaked as it reminded me what was next.

A few more contractions and I was starting to feel the urge to push. They checked me again & I had just a bit of cervix still there. They said they could just push it out of the way & I could start pushing. But I didn't want to get out of the tub. Heck, I didn't even want to start pushing, to be honest!

I did finally get out. They listened to baby's heartbeat a while while I sat on the birthing ball again. The midwife told me I could get into any position I wanted for pushing. I felt like just staying on the birthing ball but as she so kindly told me, it'd be a little difficult to deliver a baby while sitting there. ;)

I finally got into the bed... in a sitting position. They lowered the foot of the bed (it drops straight down) and had me sit on the edge of it. I pushed like that for a while. Then they got out the squatting bar & I used that a bit. And then they put the head of the bed up and I leaned back on that & put my feet up on the squatting bar and started pushing like that.

It felt like forever that I was making any progress.And I will admit. I was good and quiet through all of my contractions, but when it came time to push, some sort of animal instinct took over. Hee-hee! Kenton did mention later that I wasn't as loud as the lady across the hall, but still. The grunting and groaning through the pushing and contractions did seem to help for some reason. I'm usually a quiet laborer/deliverer.

The midwife had Kenton right there as the baby was crowning and talked him through delivering her. I didn't even know he was there. The last 2 pushes were so intense and so incredibly painful, all of my focus was on that and my eyes were closed. I thought she was going to be huge. I thought I had torn from north to south. And then she was here.

Ah, the relief of the birth over with and the pleasure of meeting my new baby daughter... it was so wonderful. How quickly you forget what you were doing just seconds before.

The first thing I noticed about her was her hair... or lack thereof. ;) She does have a bunch but it's all on the sides and in the back. And then I noticed the dimple on her right cheek and a few times thought I saw one on her left. She hardly had any vernix at all. You know, that thick white stuff on babies? I've never had one so "term" so it was strange to see so little vernix.

I think she's beautiful. She may just be Gabe's "match". We shall see as she gets older.

So Julianna Kate was born on July 4th, 2008 @ 7:55am and weighed ONLY 7 pounds 5 ounces! (she should've been born at 7:44am and weighed 7-4, don't you think?) I didn't need stitches. We thought about changing her middle name to Liberty or something patriotic like that but nothing flowed as well as Kate. Plus, Gracie wouldn't have been happy. She loves the name Kate.

So far everyone loves her. I probably need to make a "whose turn it is to hold the baby" chart of some sort soon. Josiah's not so sure about her. He's S-L-O-W-L-Y warming up to her. I don't know what's going through his little 3 year old head, but when he came to see me in the hospital, he asked me, "Mom, are you sick?" Poor baby. Ha! As I was typing that, Josiah came down the stairs and sweetly asked, "Where's the baby sister?" and actually asked if he could hold her! He kissed her on the head too. Okay, he's warming up I'd say.

I had 4 days that if I had to choose, I'd love to have her born on. They were June 26th (our anniversary), June 28th (my grandpa's birthday), July 4th and July 7th (a 7-7 birthday). So I am just thrilled she was born on the 4th! What a fun day for a birthday party!

The fun thing is, here they shoot fireworks over the pier at night. They put on a really good show. It's just REALLY REALLY hard to find parking and even harder finding a good (close) spot to watch. However, since I was still in the hospital, everyone came there to watch! The hospital is on the water & we were on the 3rd floor. They have a "sun room" (ha!) that overlooks the water. We, and a few other patients & a couple of midwives & their families, got to watch the show from there. We opened the windows so we could hear the bangs as the fireworks exploded in the air. It was so cool! What a birth day!

I am (obviously) home now. I'm very very tired but am feeling pretty good... except for the afterbirth pains. Youch.

And we're in the middle of computer issues still. I can't do anything with pictures until it's all straightened out, but promise to post some as soon as I can!

My head's about to roll off my shoulders so I'd better stop here. I'm backspacing more than I'm typing!

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Jul. 3, 2008

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

I saw my midwife this morning and got some encouraging news (since it seems like this baby wants to stay in her womb forever). I am now dilated to 2-3, my cervix is stretchy, thin and soft, baby's head is nice & low and doesn't move when she pushes it. I'm measuring 38cm, down from 39cm which also indicates baby's dropped. I've also lost 2 pounds! I think that puts me at a 25 pound weight gain. I am very happy about that! I've NEVER lost towards the end, just packed it on. I've always gained between 35-40 pounds and have never even made it this far. I really haven't had much of an appetite though. I'm still not having many contractions, but I guess the ones I am having are actually doing something. Yay!

At this office, they don't even *talk* about inducing until you're 41 weeks along. The hospital I'll be delivering at doesn't do epidurals and that's the only pain relief option I'd choose, so I'd prefer not to be induced anyway. Josiah was my first completely natural (no meds) childbirth and I'm hoping for a similar delivery this time. I had an awesome experience with Josiah. Anyway, they do have you go in for a NST (non-stress test) when you're 41 weeks, so I'm scheduled for that next Thursday. Hoping it won't be necessary.

On the computer front, I stayed up until 2am last night reloading my programs. I did not feel like staying up that late but really wanted to get it done. I still have 2 programs I'm working on. I'm having problems with Roxio and Homeschool Tracker. AND I also got a weird error message- like the one I got when I had the virus. So I HOPE that thing's not back or lingering somewhere. If it is, I'm getting a new 'puter. I'll reformat this one & let it be a game/school computer for the children. At least ALL of my important files are backed up on my external hard drive now and I have all of my installation disks in one spot- moving my "stuff" to a new 'puter wouldn't be any more of a deal than what I've already done with this one.

We're getting there!

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Jul. 2, 2008

FINALLY!

And no, unfortunately my post's title has nothing to do with the baby! She is just way too comfy in there. I've still had hardly any contractions. I am officially 40 weeks pregnant today and my official due date is tomorrow. (not sure why those don't coincide, but...) Crazy. This has been my longest pregnancy!

No, the "Finally!" title has to do with how long it took to get my computer back. I just got it back tonight! It was a nasty, nasty virus. They (at Staples) were confident they could remove it. Well, long story short, they did finally get the virus off and then had to backup my files and restore the computer back to factory settings because there was so much damage to Windows files, drivers, etc.

I knew they'd be able to save the files in "My Documents" but thought I'd have to re-install all of my programs. When I got the computer all turned on, all of the programs *appear* to be there, but I'm finding a lot of them aren't working properly and I'm probably going to have to reinstall a lot of them. But that's better than having to reinstall ALL of them!

The biggest bummer is having to reinstall Incredimail. I lost ALL of my email address. So if you & I have contacted each other via email, please email me even if it's blank so I can get you added back into my address book.

As for the pregnancy, like I said, this girlie is just too comfy. Maybe she's afraid of all of the craziness she hears about her and just feels safer in my womb? Whatever the reason, I wouldn't be surprised if she hangs out in there for another week!

And honestly, I really wanted to get this computer thing DONE before she got here. AND the children's dressers finally arrived YESTERDAY (a week late) and I spent my whole day going through all of their clothes, sorting them into bins labeled by size & gender and got all of their clothes transferred to the new dressers. I slept SO good last night after that! So after I get this computer thing DONE I will be very ready for her. :)

I have an appointment with the midwife tomorrow. I do have some concerns about being late that I want to discuss with her and then, guess where I'm going? To a spa type place for a "Hydrolicious Foot and Leg Therapy". Doesn't that sound lovely? It's geared for pregnant women with swollen legs and feet. Can't wait!

Thanks for all of your comments & checking up on me. Made me smile. :) I can be better about updating now!

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Jun. 28, 2008

*#&*($&(#(@) Computers!

Well. Kenton accidentally downloaded a virus on my computer yesterday as I was out being a nice mom, and compromising with a (much smaller) pool (which by the way, Nooshie has already chewed a hole in!) on our very hot 77 degree day (it's over 80 today!). So. I am writing this from the library. The virus was a vicious one and I will have to pay to have it fixed. I couldn't get it in with anyone until Monday, and he says he can fix it that day. So I may or may not have a computer on Monday. I can't access the internet, it's deleted my printer drivers, network connections, I can only open a few programs, my sound's not working, I get several pop up error messages & the final one shuts my computer down after counting down 60 seconds. I can't copy & paste my files anywhere (including my external hard drive). I can't burn anything onto a CD. So depressing. I worked on my computer for 6 hours straight yesterday and couldn't fix it. My feet looked like balloons when I got up. *sigh*

And I may or may not have a baby by then too. Who knows. I had an appointment with my midwife today. NOTHING'S changed. Boo! Well, one good thing is that goes for my weight too! I don't think I've gained any in the past 2 weeks! I've gained 27 pounds so far. Which is GREAT for me.

So, fun update, huh? The computer thing has me stressed. I back up frequently but haven't in a few weeks

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Jun. 25, 2008

39 Weeks, 15 Years.

I'm trying to keep my blog updated at least every two days so that I don't leave you hanging, wondering if I've had the baby yet. So this is my "nope-baby's-not-here-yet" post. I am 39 weeks along today. If I make it past midnight, and I most likely will, this will be my longest pregnancy. Ever. I'm beginning to feel overdue and haven't even arrived at my due date yet!

I would LOVE for this baby to arrive this Saturday. This Saturday is my (deceased) grandpa's birthday. I miss him a lot. Alek was the only child of mine to get to meet him. He died when Alek was just 4 months old, at the age of 89. I have him to thank for my THICK THICK hair. He had more hair at age 89 than my hubby does now (sorry, honey). Probably double, actually. (sorry again) And he never got that white/gray hair that older people get. His hair was a lovely dark gray. He was a goof-off, always joking around, trying to act gruff. I loved that guy. This Saturday would be nice.

Even tomorrow would be kind of cool. Tomorrow Kenton and I will have been married for 15 years! Fifteen YEARS! My how time flies. So in honor of our anniversary, I want to write about how we met and a little about US.

I remember the day I met Kenton as if it were yesterday. I was 13 years old, he was 14. I had attended Modesto Christian School from the time I entered kindergarten and was just starting my freshman year there in high school. Kenton went to a ~~heathen~~ public school up until he decided to attend Modesto Christian, as one of his older sisters had. One of my good friends, who attended the same church as Kenton, introduced us.

She said, "Alyssa, this is Kenton. He's cool!" And Kenton, being the EXTREMELY shy guy he was back then, just smiled (without showing his teeth) and semi-nodded his head. First impression? I thought he was SUCH a nerd!

Sophomore year. I can't remember when I found this out, whether it was that year or later on (I think later on), but this is the year Kenton started to "like" me. I never noticed and was too busy having fun.

Junior year. Kenton still "liked" me. I had a "bad boy" type boyfriend that year. (Kenton, don't read this part) He was um, hot. :) I was still pretty goody-goody back then. We were pretty serious but I broke up with him for lying to me. He didn't actually lie, he just left out some very important information as to his whereabouts with his friends the night before. And someone at church told me they had seen him at a party. I went straight to his house and broke up with him. I could not and still cannot STAND people who lie. And even though I really liked the guy, I decided I was done with him. He actually cried (and cried and cried) when I broke up with him and begged me not to. Weird, for a guy that was the "bad boy" type.

Anyway, that was the end of that and that was the year I started to notice Kenton more. I don't think I recognized it then though. But I do remember having a friend who really liked Kenton and wanted me to talk to him and see if he'd ask her out (for something coming up- don't remember what). It was then (looking back) that I realized that I was starting to have feelings for him, because even though I told my friend I'd ask him for her, I was hoping nothing would come of it. I remember that day perfectly too. Kenton was THE HIGH SCHOOL SUPERSTAR BASKETBALL PLAYER. :) Seriously. He didn't just get MVP of his TEAM, he got MVP of our LEAGUE! He was SO awesome to watch. And so humble. And so sweet.

Anyway, he had just played a game in Turlock, where at halftime (or was it the end of the game!?), just before the buzzer went off, he took a shot from half court..... and swished it! He was so good at that. He was an awesome 3 point shooter and was one of the few that could slam dunk the ball too. Now THAT was exciting and really got the crowd going!

So after this most exciting game was over, I went up to him to talk about my friend. After I asked him, he looked a little disappointed and simply said, "No!" with a sound in his voice, like, are you crazy? (and not because my friend was not popular or not a looker- because she was!)

My respect for him went up quite a bit for that. I mean, he was a TEENager. A high school GUY. And he turned her down?! For what!?

Senior Year. Kenton still likes me, but he's starting to get a little impatient. We had a mutual friend that was used as a messenger (this makes me laugh thinking back on it- so childish!). She would tell me that he was about to give up on me. I would tell her that I liked him (which I did by that point and knew it!) but I was not wanting to be in a relationship my senior year. I just wanted to have FUN! And, deep inside, I just KNEW that once we started dating, that was it. He'd be my last boyfriend. Ever. And I was just not ready for that. I had some wildness I needed to release first. (I was not as goody-goody by then)

But he was just too irresistible. He asked me to the homecoming banquet and I said yes. And so began our first date; I was 16 and he was 17. In fact, before I say more, I have a picture of this first date!

Like the 80's hair? Modest dress? Know what I think is hilarious about this photo? Can't you just see how SHY poor Kenton was back then? See my hands? See his? I think I scared him. He had waited for me, you see, since our sophomore year. I was his first date. The beginning of many firsts, in fact.

So we had a lot of fun on our first date. And the dates became more & more frequent after that. I remember holding his hand at the movies, but don't remember what we saw. I also remember our first kiss. It was so sweet, just like him.

We used to just TALK. And talk and talk. One night, after one of our dates, we were parked in front of his parents house in my old '67 Mustang (which I still have, btw!). We sat out there for at least an hour just talking- talking about our childhoods, talking about everything. Just really getting to know each other. Before he got out of the car, I asked him for a hug. He leaned over to hug me and as we moved our heads to a more comfortable position, he snuck a quick kiss. Just a quick peck was all, on the lips. And then he did it two more times. And that was it. So sweet. So different than the other guys I dated. Oh, and my elbow also accidentally honked the horn at some point. Oops!

Well, I'll just say from that point on, we were glued at the hip. I kind of lost a lot of my friends that year because I highly preferred to spend time with Kenton. I ended up having an awesome senior year despite the fact that I had wanted to remain "single" that year.

We both had awesome basketball seasons. The girls team was undefeated in league and made it pretty far into the finals. They guys did too (I think they made it even farther), and of course Kenton even had some college scouts checking him out- a few offers came of that too!

What I think is so funny about our high school basketball careers is every single year in high school, Kenton was voted "Best Offensive Player" by his team. And every single year in high school, I was voted "Best Defensive Player" by MY team. We both kept the plaques we got for those awards, and later on in life, after we were married and when we had our first house and actually had a "spare oom" (only 1 child then), we hung those plaques side by side in our den. I still think it shows what a great match we are.

We had our graduation parties together. Marriage was mentioned by some of the guests even then, since the church he was going to at the time is known for waiting for their "one and only". Once a couple starts dating, it's pretty much assumed they'll eventually marry.

We started college. I had known since 8th grade or so that I wanted to become a nurse. I'm a first born with a type A personality and am ambitious. When I have a goal, I achieve it. Kenton on the other hand is the baby of the family AND the firstborn son. His personality is much more laid back than mine. Like I said, he was extremely shy back then and I was very outgoing. So I started my nursing pre-req's right away, while Kenton spent a few years or so changing majors.

After dating for 3 years, at ages 20 & 21, Kenton ~~FINALLY~~ asked me to marry him. We were married 6 months later- 15 years ago tomorrow. Here we are on our wedding day, my hair my natural color. LOL! (I know it's small, but it's the only scan I have on my computer)

So I finished up my last year of nursing school during our first year of marriage and graduated at the age of 21. Kenton was still changing majors at that point. Hee-hee!

So I was the main support for a while, which was fine at the time. He worked with his dad some, and worked as a Lab Tech at Gallo Winery at some point and at a veterinarian's office some. At one point he was taking classes for vet school (HARD classes!), even got to the applying for vet school step, but was not accepted. Vet school is HARD to get into- much, much harder than medical school even, due to the number of vet schools/spots availabe. His grades were good, but, well, let's just say affirmative action did not help him any back then. So he just continued on at Gallo for a while.

So first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes...... oh yeah! Baby in the baby carriage! Alek was conceived probably exactly on our 3rd anniversary. We were so excited! We had been trying for 1.5 YEARS! Infertility was a hard thing to go through. I never thought I'd have problems getting pregnant. So we were just very excited. I had been able to save money from working and had enough for a down payment on a house. So in Oct. of '96, we purchased our first house. Alek was born March of '97. That house was sure a good investment....

I finally talked Kenton into becoming a nurse. It's such a good job- one that you can go just about anywhere and find work, and the pay is decent too. So he started nursing school fall of 98. Next came a most devastating miscarriage in Dec. '98. Then came Gracie in Sept. of '99. Kenton graduated from nursing school in May of '00. Gabe was born May '01. Millie was born in Dec. of '02. We moved to WA in Oct. of '03. Josiah was born in Dec. of '04. We had the 2 miscarriages since- one in July '06 and the last in May '07 and now of course, I'm waiting for my little baby girl to make her entry!

We've been through a lot- mostly good times, some bad over the last 15 years. We've grown up a lot too! And thankfully, we've grown TOGETHER. He's mellowed me out and I've perked him up. He's no longer shy. Kenton is the type of guy that everyone likes. I don't believe the man has ever had an enemy. He's very pleasant to be around. Very, very rarely grumpy or moody. He has a great sense of humor and knows how to make me laugh.

I married the most wonderful man in this world. I have absolutely no regrets about my life. Kenton is the best dad ever. He loves his children dearly and my gosh, do they ever love him! That's one thing the man never feels around here- unloved. They yell "Daddy!" when he wakes up (he works nights, sleeps during day) and run upstairs to attack him when they hear him walking down the stairs. They run to him when he gets home from work. They run to him when he has to leave. He spends time with them and enjoys them. He gets down on their level and rough houses and plays with them. He takes an interest in their lives and *knows* them well. He's patient with them, kind and caring. It's very obvious how much he loves his children.

He's not the type to dole out compliments frequently, but shows me in other ways that he loves me (like nightly massages- don't hate!). And honestly? I'd rather take a massage than a "you're so beautiful" just about any day! Compliments make me feel uncomfortable anyway. And he NEVER complains- if I'm behind in laundry and he can't find socks or the house is a mess or dinner is late- he just never complains. I think he knows I try my best and do have some bad days, but I'm so thankful that I've never heard him complain ONCE about the house or anything else you could think of to complain about.

He is my best friend. I'd rather be with him than anyone else. I cannot imagine what life would be like without him and hope I never have to find out.

So after 15 wonderful years, happy anniversary, honey! You are THE best. Ever.

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Jun. 22, 2008

(King) Josiah And Other Ramblings

When I saw this shirt, I just had to get it. I've been meaning to get a picture of him in it for a while now and post it for Wordless Wednesday but didn't have the time. And now that I have finally gotten around to it, I thought I'd best just post it now since I don't know what I'll be doing this Wednesday, the day I'll be 39 weeks pregnant.

Please pay no mind to his dirty hands; and the pose? I just have no idea what he's doing.

The children will sometimes pretend that Josiah is King Josiah... and Josiah eats it up. In fact just last week he was carried downstairs on a litter (made of pillows) by a few of his siblings. He didn't really think THAT was very fun until his feet were set safely on the ground. But I think this has become his favorite shirt. After getting himself dressed, he proudly marches downstairs and in his deepest, gruffest voice declares, "The king has SPOKEN!" He's such a goof.

We had a nice, lazy day today. We didn't make it to church today (and I'm embarrassed to say that it's been a while that we have made it, for various reasons!). It was just beautiful outside so the children spent almost all day out there playing. I even got out there a bit and just sat in a lounge chair and soaked in the nice, warm rays of the sun. It felt lovely! And of course my camera was hanging from my neck....

Gracie spontaneously gathered Millie & Josiah together for a picture. I really like it, messy shirts, hair, faces and all.

I actually like this pic of Josiah in B&W better but wanted you to see his shirt in color in at least one.

Not sure about this pose either.

And this one he's smiling at Millie because Millie was laughing at all of his goofiness.

By the way, that fencing stuff he's standing next to? It's a kennel for our husky. She's due to go into heat, well, about the time of my due date. Last time she went into heat we just put diapers on her and kept her in the house most of the time. However, seeing as that the new baby and her heat cycle will most likely coincide, there is no way I'm trusting her around a new baby. No way. I never told you what she and Ceph (short for Bucephalus, our black lab/Great Pyrenees mix) did to our cat, Izzy. Izzy's still alive, but only by the grace of God. You can't really blame Noosh- huskies are known to be predatory dogs, especially with small animals. Plus she's still a pup- not even a year old yet.

She heard me talking about her and can't believe what I said. She's innocent. Innocent, I tell ya! Of all charges. Does she look like a criminal?

Of course not. And no, she would never chew up 3 coats, countless pairs of shoes, several door mats, rugs or towels. She could never get her teeth to chew through and pry off the covering of Ceph's containment (shock) collar ($50). And why would she ever want to chew up a bike helmet, let alone all FIVE of the children's bike helmets? And 2 of the NEW bike helmets? And most of the bike seats? Wasn't her. Nuh-uh. (and the owners of those two NEW bike helmets - the BOYS- no longer have bikes this summer for their irresponsibility in leaving them out!) The cord to the vacuum cleaner? No way. And she's not responsible for the hole in the bean bag cover. Nah. Chew entirely through a seat belt in the van ($200)? How could she? (she now has to be crated when she's in the van)

Anyone want a husky? Didn't think so. I wouldn't give her away anyway. Despite the damage she's caused, we still love her. The chewing thing is another common trait among huskies and "they say" that around age 2, they start to calm down a little. I hope. Oh Lord, PLEASE. And it's also about that time that she will be old enough to breed. We will need to find an AKC papered husky to breed her with, but we'll worry about that when the time comes. The point is, one litter of healthy puppies and we'll be more than even with the damage she's done. Even just one or two pups and she'll have paid us back.

Here's her co-conspirator, Ceph, also completely innocent of ever having helped her in her mischievous deeds. Would a dog that allows a child to sit on him ever be anything but an angel?

Okay, enough about the dogs.

I am such a mean mother. Did you know that? My children asked if they could get out the pool today. Get out the pool. That sounds easy enough, doesn't it? It is no simple little task. It's one of those "Easy Set" 4' deep pools that take ALL day to fill up. And even when it does fill up with our ice cold well water, it takes SEVERAL days, if not all summer, to warm the water up enough to be appealing to swim in. We also found out last time we set it up that we don't have ONE completely flat, even place in our yard to put this thing. It would sag on one side no matter where we put it or how flat we thought the spot was.

So there are those issues (ahem, excuses) and then there's:

Nooshie, who would probably chew a hole in it and cause a neighborhood wide flood.
the added stress of children playing in/around water, especially since 2 of those children do not know how to swim and those 2 also happen to be shorter than the pool's water level.
I'm going to be very busy soon with a newborn (which = inadequate supervision)
AND it just does not get hot enough here to justify the whole thing! We have a handful of days that make it past 80 degrees and take last summer for instance, when we had more rainy days than sunny days!

There. Those are my excuses as to why I do not want to set up our pool. Not gonna do it; not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent.

So what do they do? They compromise. And probably have just as much fun. Today, since it was SO hot outside (I believe it may have reached 72 today, and it did feel very NICE, but not HOT like my children think) and their mean mother wouldn't get out the pool, they decided to make their own.... in some potholes... in the grass. Big enough for 2 feet to jump into up to their ankles. But hey, it's a safe water level for the littles so I'm okay with it.

And just so you know, our dogs did have fresh water to drink at the time this photo was snapped. Ew.

So here they are, enjoying their "pool". No diving, please.

Thank you.

I'm not sure what Millie's doing in the background...

See? Just good ~~clean~~ fun. The "pool" did have to be refilled a couple of times, but that's okay. Safety first this summer!

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Jun. 20, 2008

Protected Post, Coming Up!

I've tried posting "friends only" posts before and don't usually get any comments (although it's been a while since I've tried!). So I'm not sure if I'm doing it right or not.

Anyway! This is just a warning that I am going to post a "friends only" post in a sec here with a pregnancy update and *gasp* a belly shot! (hence the protected post! LOL!)

So make sure you're signed in to HSB to view my next post! If you don't have a HSB account, you can sign up for one- I don't think you have to keep your account active to have an account here. You can add me to your friends list & I'll add you to mine. You may want to let me know via email (addy in sidebar) if you do it this way so I can get you added ASAP.

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Jun. 18, 2008

Like Older Sibs, Like Younger Sibs

Posted in A Day in the Life (of our homeschool)

When I saw Josiah and Millie walking around the house all dressed up last week, I had an immediate flashback. It reminded me of a time when Gracie and Gabriel used to play dress-up together. Gabe, completely oblivious to his cross-dressing, loved putting on anything pretty that belonged to Gracie. However, he'd always have SOMETHING on that showed a touch of masculinity. Who cares that he had a purse hanging from his wrist and mismatched high heeled shoes on- he had a hard hat on for goodness' sake! See? All boy.

So when I noticed Millie and Josiah, I had to make a run for my camera (okay, so I slowly waddled, big deal). The resemblance was uncanny.

Except that it looks like Josiah's shoes match and he's missing a purse, but I think that's the exact same hat that Gabe wore! Silly kiddies!

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Jun. 16, 2008

What Do YOU Call Grasslands? Savanna, Prairie, Steppe, Campos, Plain, Pampas?

Posted in A Day in the Life (of our homeschool)

Well, it all depends on where you live (er, or where the grassland is located)! At least that's what I my children learned in school today!

Alek & Gracie are staying with their grandparents for 2 nights. It's that time of the year again- assessment testing! And since my in-laws only live 5 minutes from where the children have to test as compared to a 45 minute drive for us, and since they are morning people and we are not, we've always given the grandparents the privilege of being in charge of the children for a couple of nights and getting them to their tests. So the atmosphere is a bit different without them here.

Gabe and Millie are school buddies this year. They are doing Winter Promise's Animals and Their Worlds program and this week, as you can probably guess, we're studying the animals that live in the grasslands. Since *my* workload was lighter than usual with Alek & Gracie being gone, we got around to a hands-on project today! Gabe and Millie made Pop-Up Prairie Dogs! They LOVED this project and have played with them quite a bit. They are trying their best to keep them in immaculate condition because they cannot wait to show their older sibs when they get home tomorrow. Their prairie dogs are taped to a popsicle stick and by pushing it up or pulling it down, they can make their prairie dogs pop out of their holes to see if the coast is clear or back in quickly if danger is spotted. They're pretty cute. Let me show you.

Here's Millie's having a peek around:

And after seeing a vicious Siberian Husky (a natural predator for the prairie dog, I'm sure), it quickly went back into its hole:

And Gabe's having a peek around:

Crazy thing on Gabe's head:

Decorating their homes with grass:

Millie's again (just because I actually got to get out & take some pics and took way too many):

And one of just Millie:

I've decided this IS our last week of school. Even if the baby's not born until my due date (July 3rd) and even if it rains every day until then, we will be stopping this Friday. I am very ready for a break, and we have a new routine to get used to- chores! I'd like to get everyone used to that soon. At least we got a good head start for our next school year, and I know what to expect from this new curriculum.

Off to fold some clothes!

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About Me

Hi and welcome to my crazy busy world! I'm Alyssa, pronounced A-lee-sa. Hubby & I have been married for 15 years and we have 5 wonderful children and one on the way! Their ages are 11, 8, 7, 5 & 3, with the latest model due early July! Spend any amount of time here and I'm sure you'll quickly learn that I love photography! You'll find quite a mix of posts here- lots of photo blogging, some photography tips and tutorials, posts about home schooling and posts that will give you a glimpse to the goings-on in our lives. I hope you enjoy your visit! Thanks for stopping by!