New Years Eve 2011

Today has been a good day!  Felicia came in Tuesday night and the kids have loved it.  Thursday night she and Emily had hair appointments, then Friday morning she and I went and got a manicure and a pedicure.  It has just been fun having her here.

This afternoon we met up with the Ashby's and went to the DU basketball game.  Emily was honored at it for being a "Rising Star" in her community.  She was picked from the whole Denver Metro area, along with several other kids from other schools.  The local credit union here paid for up to 15 tickets.  They had a special message to the kids over the Jumbo Tron about how proud they are of them, and the accomplishments they are and will be.  Then during a break in the game they had the kids stand for a standing ovation.  There was certificates for them and a chance for basketball players and cheerleaders to sign them along with a group picture at the end.  We got the certificate, but didn't do the photo or signing since Emily didn't seem to really care and it was late...PLUS on the way down to the game as we were exiting off the freeway it was backed up because there was literally a river flowing down the street.  Apparently a water main broke and there was major redirecting of traffic, so we decided to leave a little early to beat the rush.

We did pizza, a tradition since we have been married, and then headed back here to play games while the kids played.  Sadly I don't have any pictures of the game playing and dinner.

Christmas to Remember

I spoke too soon. This morning we woke up at 7:00 to open presents.  While we were in the middle of opening them I started to get a headache so I took some Tylenol.  It soon became apparent that I was getting a migraine so I grabbed some Excedrin. After we were done opening presents it really hit and I layed down, but was up soon vomiting and diarrhea (just what you all wanted to hear).  Mike gave me a blessing and then urged me to head to the emergency room.  When we got there they gave me some I.V. fluids, after 4 pokes, and some anti-nausea medicine along with some Dilaudid for the pain.  Once I got the Dilaudid I was loopy because it took out the pain.  I got some more nausea medicine and then we were on our way home. 

We had Brett and Marsha here to watch our kids, can't thank them enough, and tons of other friends offering their help.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. 

The kids had an awesome Christmas and they have been playing with all of their toys, and what can I say...we know how to do Holidays.

Christmas Gifts (at least the big items)
ipods (E&M)
paper jamz guitars (E&M)
New Kitchen (Mom and Dad)
iphone (Desi)
church clothes (Mike)

Christmas Eve 2011

I can't believe it is Christmas Eve!  Mike and I have both found it really hard to get in the "Christmas Spirit".  We have concluded that it is because it just came so quickly...we both feel like we were just having Christmas last year.  It is amazing how when you are a kid Christmas takes FOREVER to get here, and when you are an adult it seems to sneak up on you.  We had our shopping done before Thanksgiving so we didn't have to hit the store too often since then.

Mike was going to take a half day this Friday, but we were hit with about 15 inches of snow Wednesday night into Thursday so he just took those two days off also...I guess it also helped that the D.O.D cut the program Mike has been working on so he doesn't really have anything to work on until after Christmas.

Thursday we spent the day cleaning up and lounging around.  Friday was fun though.  We took all 3 kids sledding.  At first we thought we would just sled across the street, by Don and Angela's house, but the snow hadn't melted enough so we went down to the school where it had.  There was some pretty awesome tracks already. Emily really loved this one that had a jump on it.

















Tonight for Christmas Eve dinner we did our family tradition.  Ever since 2009 we have gone to McDonald's for dinner.  It is cool because we are basically the only people there.  Afterwards we drive around looking at the lights. Then we come home, open our Christmas jammies from Grandma and Grandpa Bainbridge and then read the scripture account of Jesus' birth. After the kids were in bed we finished "Santa" presents and stockings

Weird Note- Our tree has blown 3 fuses so now our lights on our tree don't work.  We need to figure out what is going on.  At least it isn't a medical issue.  Three years ago Mike slipped on some ice and we ended up in the emergency room with a sprained wrist, and then last year we almost took Mordecai to the emergency room after he had a really bad night with a dog allergy attack.

"All I want for Christmas is..."

I can't believe I have a kid old enough to have lost her two front teeth! I know I say that every time a milestone happens, but really it is true.  Emily's first tooth she lost was this past Sunday the 18th.  The bottom two teeth have been really loose for the past month or so, but she hasn't really wiggled them until today. While we were sitting in sacrament she turned to me to show how she could bite one of them back while the other tooth she could push forward.  The one that was the wiggliest, the one I thought she could lose by Monday night if she really worked on it, wasn't the one that came out first. I took Ruby out to nurse her and while I was gone Mordecai accidentally hit Emily in the mouth and made her tooth super loose.  She didn't want to go to class because she kept telling me her tooth was going to fall out and she didn't want to lose it, or her mouth hurt so we sat in the foyer trying to pull it out...at one point we even tried dental floss at church. Once we came home she had wiggled it so much that every time she talked I could see it flapping around. I finally asked if I could try to pull it out one more time and she said yes.  I grabbed a napkin, so it wouldn't slip, and yanked once. She started to cry saying it hurt, but once she saw that it was out she stopped immediately and was so excited. The tooth fairy came that night and gave her a dollar.  Her second tooth she pulled out on Thursday night all on her own.  Lucky girl got a pack of gum and a dollar. She came into our room Friday morning saying, "She was the luckiest girl in the world" because she got gum and a dollar. Silly girl.

Piano Dancin'

Gingerbread Home

We had the Ashby's over for a last minute dinner and FHE tonight.  Last minute, as in, when she came to pick up her boys I invited, she called her hubby and the rest was history.  We did our annual gingerbread house FHE. Mordecai loved it this year, and so did Ruby.

Scooter #3

Mike and I had hopes that Ruby would be our crawler.  No such luck.  She started slowly inching on her bottom Saturday and today it finally clicked.  Enjoy!

Ruby Gets Down

Ruby loves to dance. This her dancing with the kids. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

Man I missed being with family this year...but we had the next best thing, friends.  We had 18 people for Thanksgiving with the potential of 23, but one family canceled last minute.  Since we had so many Rachel, Mine, and I opted to have it at the church so we would have enough space.  We were there from 12:00p.m.- 6:30 p.m.  All the guys had the kids while the ladies set up and prepared food.  Mike teased us that we were a "small branch" having a party. Ha Ha.  The food was all so yummy and I am convinced that LDS women only know how to make food for large masses because there was a ton of it, which means lots of left overs. The company was awesome, so much in fact that after we cleaned up we all headed back to our place to visit and look at the ads for black Friday.

Some things I am thankful are:

• My Husband who is such a great father, and provider.  He does so much for us and I love him so very much.
• My family.  My kids are my world and I am so grateful that I get to have them, even though I may not be the best of mom at all times.  The definitely teach me and help me to stretch and grow for the better.
• My Mom, Dad, Brothers, and Sisters.  They are such wonderful people and have been great examples to me.
• This Country, and those who fight for it.
• The Gospel.  Without it I would be so lost and unhappy.

Rachel & Tevita Haltokoua

Mine & Tom Ashby

Marsha Bowen, Mine, Rachel, & Me

Ruby 9 Month

Picture was taken with my cell phone

Doesn't she look so cute?  I have been able to put her hair in just one pony for a while, but it doesn't look as cute anymore because her hair is getting too long so it falls over.

Ruby had her 9-month well child today.  She is growing just fine, but is on the small side.  Everything she is supposed to be doing she is, and then a little more.  She has to bottom teeth that took FOREVER to come in, and she is the most goof child of ours yet.

Weight: 16 lbs 10 oz.- 15%

Length: 27 1/2" - 40%

Head: 17" - 30%

Ruby Giggles

This is just a video of how punchy and giggly Ruby is.  Sorry for the video footage. Emily was taking it.

Young Mozart

Emily is really good at picking out songs and playing them on the baby piano.  She has picked out 3 songs including "Love One Another".  Her latest is from this past primary program called, Our Prophet Has Some Words for Us, or something like that.  It took her like 10 minutes to figure it out.  I think we need to have her take piano.

Croup X's 3

It all started on Thursday the 27th of October.  Emily woke up in the middle of the night saying she didn't feel very good.  I kept her home from school and watched her play like she was fine, so I decided to meet Marci for lunch at McDonald's.  Emily ordered her usual, side salad with no dressing and apples, but didn't eat very much.  Friday I sent her to school even though she said she still didn't feel very well, I did tell her that if she needed to throw up to do it in the trash can and then tell Mrs. Hoff she wanted to come home.  I picked her up and she seemed fine so we went to Jack in the Box for lunch where all she had was a shake. The rest of the day she seemed fine, though she didn't eat a ton of dinner either.  Saturday was our big family day.  Mike and I  had decided that we were going to go to the Temple and do initiatory and then if the kids were good we would take them to Red Robin.  Emily didn't eat like she normally does there, but I thought it was because she had shared a soft pretzel with Mordecai at Target while Mike was in the Temple.  We came home and did our pumpkins which turned out really cute, side note: Emily designed and carved her own pumpkin all on her own, and then bathed the kids and put them to bed.

Desi's, Emily's Mordecai's, Mike's & Ruby's

That night everyone slept well but Sunday morning Emily came in about 5:30 a.m. complaining of not feeling well and coughed.  The minute I heard it I knew she had croup.  I went back and forth with the thought of taking her in or not, and then decided not to...until I asked her to get dressed and she said that she couldn't because sitting up hurt her chest.  I knew right then that I needed to take her in and that it explained her odd behavior earlier in the week.  I also decided that I would just do it by myself and send Mike to church for his meetings.  Mike helped me load the kids up and while he was helping Emily she threw up because all of the junk in her chest.  As we were sitting in the waiting room for The Children's Hospital Mordecai told me he needed to throw up, but then went off and played so I figured he said that because Emily had just done it.  Well when they called us back to the triage room he said it again and I held a bucket out for him and he did.  Now, I don't know if he really needed to or if he just made himself do it because he can, because after that he was totally fine, but I totally called Mike out of his meeting and made him meet me either way.  They gave Emily a steroid and said that she should be better.

Monday, Halloween, we sent Emily to school so she wouldn't miss her party and she seemed like she was getting better.  Sadly Mordecai came down with a fever Monday day and he didn't get to go Trick-or-Treating, but did help me hand out candy.  That night Mordecai came in to our room and he was having a really hard time breathing so Mike took him to the Children's Hospital at 3:00 a.m.  When they finally got back it was 5:00 a.m. and Mike said that the doctor told him that Mordecai was the 5th kid to come in since midnight.  They also gave him a steroid that seemed to help and the kid didn't roll out of bed until 10:30 a.m.  Wednesday seemed like we were on the mend and then Thursday morning happened.  While I was showering both the kids came in coughing up a storm again, and I knew they needed more medicine.  We got to the doctors about 10:00 a.m. and before we got out of the car Emily threw up on herself because of all the junk she had in her chest and throat.  Dr. Steitz gave both the kids steroids 2 times a day for 3 days because they were that bad off.  When we went to Costco afterwards to get their prescriptions they were both so miserable they were falling asleep in the cart.

The following days seemed like we were getting better, but then this past Sunday night happened where Ruby came down with it.  I put her to bed at 7:30 p.m. Sunday night and she was up coughing at 11:30 p.m.  I laid with her and nursed her in my bed for about an hour and then finally got up with her knowing she needed to go outside in the cold.  I was up the whole night.  I called and got her an appointment with Dr. Miller so I wouldn't have a repeat of the night before.  He told us that this years strain of croup is one of the worst he has ever seen.  Typically people past age 5 don't get it, but he said he has seen teenagers get it this year.  He also said it would explain why my asthmatic response kids needed more than one dose.  I went to bed last night at 7:00 p.m. with Ruby and didn't wake up until 6:30 a.m.  It was nice because I was so tired.