THE DIXONS

Kayden FINALLY Goes to School!

2011-09-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

Here is Kayden's school. It is BRAND NEW!!! Which is good because the old one looked pretty shady. They have all day kindergarten here so he is getting thrown right in. Kayden has never gone to preschool, so I was a little nervous about him being able to keep up, but he is excited for school and is doing great!

We had to go to registration the week before school started. They did a whole health assessment. They checked Kayden's hearing, seeing, weight, height, BMI, teeth, and had behavioral assessment survey. Plus Kayden got his last chicken pox shot for FREE! (Which he cried and freaked out at.) Of course Steve had work so I got to go to this madhouse by myself with all 3 kids. I must say they were pretty good going from line to line. (I guess it might be time to try Disneyland.)

Here is Kayden doing his vision test. They recommended that he be tested again by the school nurse. Not sure if that is because he really does have trouble seeing, or because he kept uncovering his eye. (Kayden is in the blue shorts and white shirt)

Jenna just wanted to try it too. (This is the computer room. Plus all of the classrooms have computers in them.)

Here is Kayden the first day of school. The kindergarteners got to go to school the day before everyone else with their parents. Kayden was so excited. I woke him up, and of course he started whining saying that he was tired still. When I told him he had to get ready to go to school he jumped up. That is the fastest he has ever gotten dressed. (We are back to the whining now.)

He has also worn basketball shorts to school EVERYDAY!! It is below 40 degrees here in the mornings now. I am going to try and persuade him to wear jeans or khaki shorts for picture day tomorrow. I bet he ends up in basketball shorts though.

My pictures didn't load in order for some reason. So here is his school from farther away. The K-2 building is on the left (it is in the back) and the 3-5 building is on the right. There is only one way in and out for both buildings. The parking and drop off is in between the buildings (you can see the cars) and the playgrounds and fields are down at the far end between the buildings behind the parking lots. IT IS CRAZY!!! They usually have the police out directing traffic now, but the first week we were dead stopped out on the highway when the TARDY bell rang.

Doesn't it look like we could be in Vegas for all of the change of scenery? :)

Kayden came home from school on Friday and told me there was a fire at the big kids school. I got a little concerned. He was so excited and went on and on about how they saw the smoke and everything. Finally he said there was a fire at the junkyard to. When Steve came home later and I asked him about it, he said there weren't any fires at the school, but there was a fire at the junkyard that day. It is really smart to build elementary schools in the middle of the desert across from a junkyard? Just saying. I did feel better though that the brand new school didn't have a fire.

Here is Kayden sitting at his table. Look at those chairs!! I for sure did not get a chair like that ever in school. His classroom is more high tech than some colleges I went to.

He has an awesome teacher.

The teacher talked to the parents and the students about the school year and her class. (They call the kids "friends" here instead of "students". There are 22 "friends" in Kayden's class.) Then the parents went to the cafeteria for Q&A with the principal while the kids had their morning snack. They get a snack every morning. (So I don't feel bad when Kayden takes too long eating his cereal and I make him leave it.) I also did not ever get a morning snack at school!

After their snack the kids got to go on a tour of the school, while the parents came back and got to sit in those awesome little chairs and have Q&A with the teacher.

Then the parents got kicked out. As we were leaving Kayden and his class happened to be out on the playground. We had a hard time getting them to stop playing so we could take a picture.

This is Kayden's friend Keawe. She is the basketball coach's daughter, and we take her to school with us, while Jenna and Drew stay at her house during the day.

And me and my son who I am so proud of. He wants me to walk him to his classroom every morning, and then he has to give me a big hug and a big kiss, and he also wants one in return. I don't know how long it will last for.

And here is Drew on Kayden's first day of school. (I think Dad was about to cry too. Don't worry Mom didn't though.)

Drew asks me every morning as soon as he wakes up if he gets to go to preschool today, and it breaks my heart to tell him "no." We have tried to get him in, but he is still too young and they won't let him go (we were even going to lie about his birthday to get him in). Here the birthday deadline for schools is June 1st, so he misses it by a ways.

We had parent teacher conference today with Kayden's teacher and she said he is doing really well. He listens, obeys, and knows what he needs to do and how to follow directions. She said she never would have known he hadn't had any kind of schooling before. For kindergarten here, they need to know how to write all of their letters, count to 100, and be able to read and write about 30-40 different words by the end of the year. Kayden knows all of his alphabet now, and counted to 64 so far for his teacher. And he can read the words they have learned so far.

He comes home everyday saying a new little chant that Ms. Abeyta has taught them. For example: "The days of the week are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc." or "a straight line down is lots of fun, and that is how you make a one."

We got a little confused though when he brought home the Spanish packet for September announcements. We got the gist of most of it, but told Kayden to try and get an English one next time. Kayden's reply was, "or the Portuguese one?"

Everyday when I ask Kayden what he did at school, I usually get something like this: "I only got to play outside for one time today." It is always about how many times he had recess, and how long it was, and who he played with, or what they did. Sometimes he will tell me what activity center he played at before school ended. I have to give him 20 questions to find out what letter they learned, or if he went to music or PE. Such a boy. :)

Just something else I wanted to write down before I forget:

We spoke in church this last Sunday, and I of course cried and had that high crying voice all through my talk. When I was done and came to sit back down in our row, Drew asked, "Mom, why are you crying?" "Because that's what Moms do." He proudly replied, "But Dads don't cry." He makes me laugh everyday!! He also gives me stress anxiety everyday, but it's worth it!!

New Picture

2011-04-06T21:30:00.001-07:00

Thanks for the comments on the new picture. We tried to take family pictures last minute before Steve left. I was going to put up the good picture (which isn't really that good because everyone was being difficult), but then I thought that this one was reality for our family. So why not show everyone what reality is for us. Every time I look at it I love it more and more!!

Here is the "perfect little family, not really reality" picture

Drew had just woken up and doesn't have socks on. Kayden wouldn't put shoes on so I gave up. I just grabbed clothes out of drawers and they are all wrinkly. That is pretty much life lately.

Jenna didn't like the grass and just wanted to be picked up. She has since decided the grass is great and I can't keep her off of it when it is all wet.

And Drew wouldn't sit still to take a picture.

Drew the Disaster

2011-03-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

This is how I think of Drew as I clean up mess after mess from him. He is just busy all the time, and it seems that whatever he is doing ends up in a mess. It is a good thing he is so cute making all these messes.

This last week was a hard week. It has been raining nonstop all week. The boys are driving everyone crazy. Drew keeps wanting to go outside and I won't let him because even if it isn't raining at the moment everything is wet and cold.

So Grandma decided she was going to make the boys some play dough. And this is how we found Drew.

The neon green food coloring actually came out of his shirt faster than it got off of his hands. Too bad he didn't turn himself green the week before on St. Patrick's Day.

Here are the boys playing with their play dough.

Kayden said that these are supposed to be cookies with candles on top.

Drew then went and got the sprinkles and put sprinkles on his "cookies". So then Grandma had to get the sprinkles off of the playdough.

It was just one thing after another to clean up all day.

We also had a huge cake disaster. Grandma had to make two chocolate cakes for the youth activity. So she had them sitting on the counter ready to go. When she came home from an errand there were slashes through the top of one and a huge chunk of cake gone.

Kayden was sitting at the table having himself some cake. He llllllluuuuvs cake! Grandma thought I had given it to him, and I thought Grandma had told him he could have some. Grandma was not very happy, but she got another cake mix and made another one to replace the one Kayden had demolished.

Grandma had just gotten the 3rd cake out of the oven and it was sitting on the counter cooling. Well the cake monster must have come back because when she came back in the kitchen the 2nd cake was now all slashed up and ruined. Now we are worried about why Kayden is slashing cakes.

So Kayden was sent to his room and when he came out I helped him make ANOTHER cake.

We ate cake #1 plain. Grandma salvaged cake #2 by flipping it over and making some delicious cream cheese frosting for it. Cake #3 and Cake #4 actually made it to the youth activity unharmed.

What a day! Grandma was exhausted!!!

Conversations with Kayden

2011-03-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

Scene: Wiping Kayden's bottom

Kayden: I went diarrhea.

Mom: Does your tummy hurt?

Kayden: No. I think me and Drew ate too much gum?

Mom: Where did you get gum from?

Kayden: Uncle Weston's room. There's two pieces left. Do you want one of the last two pieces of gum? We ate all the gum.

Mom (mental note to go find the last two pieces of gum and now I know where that blue gum came from that Kayden had all over his hands last night)

Attention Aunt Sarah

2011-01-20T12:30:00.001-08:00

Dear Aunt Sarah,

I know that you are very busy, but when you have some time will you Please come and cut my hair? This morning I woke up with it looking like this!! My mom tried to wet it and comb it, and so did I, but it just went right back to the way that it was. Mom doesn't know what to do with it. I am not an adorable cute girl anymore because I have this crazy hair and it is getting in my eyes and sticks out all over in my headbands. And Mom keeps trying to put hats on my head to cover it up, but I don't like them and have to keep taking them off. So please help me Aunt Sarah!! I will smile and laugh, and and show you how I can crawl and climb the stairs, and give you a big slobbery kiss.

Your favorite niece,
Jenna

PS. Drew just had to take his picture since Mom was taking mine.

Digging Out

2010-12-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

It started raining yesterday early morning. By afternoon the rain turned to snow, and this is what we got to wake up to this morning after snowing all night!! And it is still going!!

Here is Steve digging out his car. Check out how high that snow is on the sidewalk. We park right in front of the house so there is less to dig.

After a while our neighbor came over to help Steve. He is a lot faster than Steve, but he has a lot bigger shovel too!

He cleared the whole front of our house in about 5 minutes.

Steve posted a picture on his facebook of the snowman him and Kayden made yesterday when it has first started snowing. Here was his snowman this morning.

Here is the front of the house this morning.

Here is the original front of the house.

And here is the park across the street all covered in snow.

This is a huge branch that fell down in our driveway. (Good thing we don't park there in the winter since it's so far away from the house. And glad it fell in our yard instead of the other way on top of our neighbor's trailer.)

Here is our backyard. It was a picture perfect winter wonderland. The trampoline has snow all the way up to the top of it now. The trees got so heavy that you could see snow falling off them all day long whenever you looked out.

This is a view from out of our garage. You can kind of see how high the snow was.

And here is me in the snow that Steve pushed me in. (I just got out of the shower so don't judge.)

I kept going and watching out the window all day. I LOVE IT!!! Maybe I won't love it as much tomorrow morning when I have to go to work at 5am, but today I still love it.

Playing in the Leaves

2010-10-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

I think that we just attract leaves. In Omaha, everyone else had some leaves in their yard, but our yard was always totally covered with leaves. It is the same way here now too. I haven't seen anyone else having to rake their leaves yet, but our yard is already covered and most of the leaves are still on the trees.

I thought it was a lot of work in Omaha raking leaves, but that was easy compared to raking leaves with two little boys running through all of your piles!

I don't ever remember playing in the leaves growing up (Oh yeah, Vegas doesn't have a Fall.) so it was so fun to watch the kids. I went a little picture crazy. So enjoy.

Look at that tongue!!

Running through the leaves

Jenna loves being outside and watching her brothers. She also loves being bounced on the trampoline...until she gets bounced over.

I swear I don't have favorites. Jenna is the only one that would sit still for me to take pictures.

Here is Kayden's way of picking up the leaves.

Cute Dress + Cute Hat = ADORABLE GIRL!

2010-10-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

Jenna finally got to wear her cute dress from Aunt Erin and her cute hat that my Aunt Valerie made for her. I didn't walk by anybody at church that didn't make a comment about how adorable she was.

She is so stinkin' CUTE!!!

(We are probably going to need some more hats.)

Drew just wanted a picture taken of his cute self too.

Conversations with Kayden

2010-07-08T00:17:00.000-07:00

I love talking to Kayden, when we actually talk and it's not whining. Our little talks during the day is one thing that I will miss most when I go back to work.

If I wait to add pictures to this post I will never post it and it will sit with all of the other blogs I have written and never posted due to lack of pictures. So sorry there are no pictures. (Now you're not going to read it, huh.)

So I call Jenna "Sweetheart" all the time. One day when Steve was leaving he said, "Bye sweetheart."

Kayden looked at me a little confused and said, "Mom, are you a sweetheart too?"

"Yes," I said.

"Oh", he said thinking about that. "Well whose sweetheart are you?"

"I'm Dad's sweetheart."

"And Jenna is your sweetheart?"

"Yes, and Dad too."

"Whose my sweetheart?"

"Jenna can be your sweetheart."

Now he asks me almost everyday about sweethearts, and who everybody's sweetheart is. Plus he started calling Jenna sweetheart sometimes.

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Kayden has started saying Portuguese words more often. He always tells me, "Mom, me and Dad call you Mae." (That's mom if you didn't figure it out. Pronounced like my.)

He has gone golfing a few times with Steve. I always ask him if he had fun riding in the golf cart. He gets mad and says, "No Mom, it's a carhino." (Which translates to little car.)

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Kayden kills me. There is just no winning with this kid. The other day he would not stay in his chair and eat his lunch. What am I saying, he never stays in his chair. But here is our little conversation:

Mom (a little mad): Kayden, if you don't sit down and eat your lunch I am going to tie you to your chair!

Kayden (after a pause): Mom, what are you going to tie me to the chair with?

M: A rope.

K: Do we have a rope, Mom?

M: Yes.

K: Where do we have a rope at Mom?

He didn't even care about being tied to a chair and now lunch was totally forgotten about.

A few days later at lunch he said, "Mom, are you going to tie me to the chair today?"

(Disclaimer: I am not an abusive mom and I never tied him to the chair.)

Drew really needs to start talking so I can blog about him more.

Cabin Time is Finally Here!!

2010-06-10T12:58:00.000-07:00

We got to go to the cabin for Memorial Day. Kayden had been talking about the cabin ALL WEEK, actually all winter. For months he would just randomly start talking about the cabin. "Mom, we have to wear helmets." "Mom, what color 4-wheeler are you going to ride?"

Kayden got to go up with his Dad, 2 Grandpas, and his Uncle Matt the weekend before to open the cabin. He was in HEAVEN!!

Going up the mountain he told his Dad that he needed to call the reindeers. So Steve honked the horn, but Kayden said that wasn't working.

So all week he has been talking nonstop about the cabin.
"Mom, don't you want to go through the snow? Me and Dad went through the snow. Do you want to go through the snow too Mom? I think that Abi wants to go through the snow. Me and your Dad went through the snow."
"Mom, do you want to see the reindeers at the cabin?"

Of course, Steve had to work late the one day we wanted to get out of town. We left at 9:30 at night. Drew had already been in bed for an hour and a half. There are a few good things about leaving that late though:

1 - You miss the traffice getting out of town and going up the mountain. There are no cars on the mountain at 1am.

2 - The kids sleep all the way

3 - Taco Time is closed which means no stinky car all the way up the mountain!

The kids were so good all weekend. I barely even see Kayden while we are there. He just loves to play with his cousins all day. The 4-wheelers started first thing Saturday morning.

Steve looks like he could be on Dumb and Dumber with those goggles.

I love how Drew's helmet squishes his cheeks together. He was so top heavy in his helmet that he couldn't walk up the stairs.

Coming up the mountain Friday night, Kayden woke up and was all worried, "Mom, we forgot Drew's helmet!" I told him it was in the back of the car. "OK. What bag is it in?"

Drew would run and get his helmet whenever he thought someone was going on a ride. He goes totally limp on the 4-wheelers though. He just sits and relaxes and won't hold on. It makes it really hard to drive.

Kayden has started to try and take control sometimes. He will try to turn the handlebars on you, and once he pushed the gas on me while I was trying to hold Drew on. We are in trouble with him.

Sunday was Max's birthday so we got to have some cake and sing Happy Birthday to him.
This is how Drew sat at the table all weekend. He was so happy to be with all the kids and thought he was just as big.
Here are all of the kids at the table. Jenna was such a good girl all weekend and got lots of attention.
I have no idea what they drank all weekend. I only filled up their sippie cups once. I think they were sneaking soda the whole time.

Kayden got mad one night when Steve tried to take him up to bed because he wanted to stay in the family room with his cousins.

Kayden is going to go crazy if we don't go back for awhile.

Calico Basin

2010-06-03T22:58:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went up to Calico Basin. It is just before Red Rock. It was a gorgeous day and a friend of mine was going. So I figured what the heck, we might as well get out of the house.

There is a picnic area and then a boardwalk goes up to the basin and around it.

I think that this is one of those priceless pictures.

Here are the boys looking at the rocks. We didn't see any lizards or anything. This is about all the nature there is to look at in the desert.
Here we are resting on the benches.

We went up and walked around the basin. Then we went down and had our picnic, and then went back and walked around the boardwalk again. That was a mistake to go the second time. The kids were too worn out and this is how the stroller situation ended up.
Yes, the oldest is in the stroller, and Drew rode most of the way on the handle bars while I carried Jenna. They did go to bed really early that night.

Picnics and Kicks

2010-06-02T15:24:00.001-07:00

I told the boys they could have a picnic for lunch yesterday. So I made them their sandwiches and told Kayden to get a blanket. He said, "Mom, we already got one." So I go outside and they had everything all ready.

They got all of this out by themselves except the plates and sandwiches. Funny little boys. Yesterday was a good day and they were best friends.

Today Jenna was lying on the end of the bed and Kayden said, "Mom, stand close. She will kick you. Come on Baby Jenna, kick Mom." Jenna smiled her big smile and started kicking me. So I smiled too.

Kayden's Birthday Letter

2010-05-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

Today Kayden got a Birthday letter (she was out of cards) in the mail from his Great Grandma. I told him he got some mail and to come see what it was. This is what the letter said according to Kayden:

Kayden Chad Dixon,
When there is a storm coming remember we love you.
Happy Birthday.

Grandma Truman

And he is really loved because he got money.

I think the storm reference is from Family Home Evening when Nephi is crossing to the promised land and there is a storm and they pray.

Anyway it was close enough to what the letter really said.

Star Wars and Smiles

2010-05-01T23:12:00.000-07:00

OK, so I am way behind on blogging, but what's new? Since I already had these pictures uploaded I figured I should finally post them.

Jenna is such a smiley baby! She loves to look at you with those blue eyes (I've never had a blue-eyed baby before) and smile at you. She also loves to talk to you and even gets upset when she is smiling at you and you don't pay attention to her. Steve calls her princess, which she totally is.

She also loves a clean diaper. The picture is from the beginning of April (don't mind her awful baby acne) right before a diaper change. Changing her diaper always makes her happy, and she will usually wait for a nice clean diaper to poop in!

So while the cousins were in town Kayden got introduced to lightsabers. The cousins LOVE Star Wars and all have lightsabers. So Steve decided our boys needed their own lightsabers, and then they watched Star Wars so that Kayden could see what a lightsaber actually was.

Here are the boys watching Star Wars on the little TV (aka portable DVD player that we have Kayden watch his movies on when we want to watch something else).

Easter Egg Hunts

2010-04-19T22:38:00.000-07:00

Well the Easter Bunny didn't visit our house this year. My kids don't know who the Easter Bunny is yet so he has decided to skip our house since he is so busy and come when they are older.

I wasn't totally a Scrooge though (can that apply to Easter too?). We had an Easter egg hunt for playgroup on Friday. Tons of kids came and I think they had lots of fun. Of course, Kayden took forever to get out the door and walk across the street to the park. So we were practically the last ones there. Lots of kids had already found their egg limit by the time we got there. Plus, now we have to walk all the way across the park because the close eggs have all been found. Now it takes even longer.

Only in Vegas is a rock yard with bushes and a couple benches considered a "Park." But, I must say that is was great for an Easter egg hunt for little kids. So it is a useful park once a year.

Drew of course wanted to do everything BUT find eggs. He tried to ride the tricycle we passed, and just wanted to watch the UPS truck. Then when I showed him an egg he wouldn't pick it up out of the bush. (I don't blame him. Those things hurt.)

Drew ended up with only 2 eggs, and he gave those to Kayden.

Then we sat on the wall to eat.

But I am happy to say that one day after Easter our candy was already gone. "How?" you ask. "You're kids must be on a crazy sugar high, " you're thinking. No, simply leave the egg hunt with only 12 eggs when you brought 20, and have the Easter Bunny skip your house. Wonderful!!

Then on Sunday we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to have an Easter Egg hunt. We missed coloring eggs (ooops, we missed a big mess with colors that stain clothes and hands) due to having one of the best naps OF MY LIFE!! (Not sad about that)

Here is Drew finding some eggs on the slide. (I actually re-hid a couple for him to find.)

So we had a great Easter, but don't come looking for any candy at our house.

Who should say the prayer?

2010-04-11T23:10:00.000-07:00

Tonight when I asked Kayden if he wanted to say the prayer he said he wanted Joseph Smith to say it.

OK. That was a totally unexpected answer!

I guess I know now what he learned about in Primary today.

For Grandma

2010-04-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures for Grandma Gordon from last week.

Cousins

2010-04-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

The cousins have been in town this past week. The boys have had so much fun getting to play with cousins everyday. My house and everything else is totally getting neglected, but we might as well take advantage of getting to spend time with our family. It it more fun anyway than cleaning house.

Jenna has girl cousins on both sides of the family. On Steve's side she has a cousin one month older, and on my side she has a cousin two weeks younger. LUCKY GIRL!! So here are her boy cousins holding their little baby girl cousins. Matthew is holding Jenna on the left and Max is holding Lilly on the right.

Aunt Erin has let us come destroy her house almost every day. Here are all of the cousins (and Aunt Helen) eating some lunch.

The kids love to play all day and seriously never fight. It's great. Us Moms don't have to do anything, but look outside every once in a while and get them juice and snacks. But here's what we found looking out the window one time.

I don't know why Kayden decdied to take off his pants instead of his shirt like everyone else. (Maybe because he can't take his shirt off by himself yet. I don't know.) And little Abi just thinks she is one of the boys. It was cold outside too!

So there is some of our fun for the week.

Jenna's Story

2010-03-12T21:34:00.000-08:00

Jenna Ruth Dixon
Born February 14, 2010
at 3:33am
7 lbs 12 ounces
19 3/4 inches

Saturday started out like most other days-Busy. Steve was at the church all morning for church basketball. I spent the morning cleaning the house and the baby swing, car seat, bouncer, etc. Steve got home after lunch and took the boys to his parents to watch the UNLV basketball game and I got ready and went in to work for a few hours. I left work about six and stopped by my Grandma's to pick up our family's Valentines present (a pie, Grandma always gets each family a pie for holidays). When I got home we headed to Babies R Us to trade in our single stroller for a double. Steve let me also get baby bedding since it was on sale and purple. (He is boycotting pink!)

We finally got home after a long day. I was standing in the family room trying to help Kayden and hadn't even made it all the way through the house yet when I thought I felt my water break. I just stopped for a minute and stood there, a little in shock, thinking this can't be happening tonight. So I went in the bathroom and finally called for Steve to come in our room after a few minutes. As soon as I called him, Steve said he knew what had happened before I told him.

The boys needed to go to bed. So we called my Dad to come stay at our house for the night and got the boys ready for bed. Then we both took showers. When my water broke with Kayden we had been traveling all day and I didn't take a shower before bed. Then we went straight to the hospital when my water broke and I felt so gross already before even going through labor. So I knew this time I wanted a shower because I didn't know when I would get another one. So after showers and eating some food we headed off to the hospital. Kayden didn't even care. He was just excited Grandpa was at our house.

My water broke around 9:15pm and we got to the hospital around 11:20pm. We were obviously in no hurry. I had been having contractions off and on all afternoon, but they weren't very strong or consistent for that long. I figured they were from cleaning all morning and they would go away once I finally got home and laid down. Well, that never happened.

Labor and Delivery seemed pretty quiet. We got all checked in and I was dilated to a 4. I got my ephidural about 2am. That was the worst my contractions have ever been before getting the drugs, and they were coming one right after another. When they checked me again I was still a 4 so they were going to give me petosin, but before they could start me on it I was a six. The baby's heart rate was above normal the entire time so they were really watching that. By 3am I was fully dilated so they called the doctor. When the doctor came and went to check, the baby's head was already coming out. After a couple small pushes the doctor actually told me to stop pushing and just pulled the baby the rest of the way out. Jenna was born at 3:33am on Valentines Day.

She gave a couple small cries, and then it was a while before she cried again. The nurse was working with her, but called up a NICU nurse to be safe. Jenna would cry if they agitated her, but then would kind of wimper in between and her cries weren't that strong. I got to hold her for a few seconds and then Steve went with the nurses and took Jenna down to NICU to monitor her.

I had been shaking really bad for the last part of my labor and had trouble breathing so I was just trying to calm down and relax. They decided to keep Jenna in NICU because her breathing rate and heart rate were really fast. So once Steve and I were in the recovery room, and Steve had talked the nurse into finding him a cot, we decided to take advantage of having the baby in NICU and get a couple good hours of sleep.

I got to see Jenna later in the morning. Her heart rate was more normal, but she was still breathing really fast. The doctor started her on antibiodics as a precaution, and she was getting oxygen. The doctors were concerned about infection because I have Group B Strep and I only got one dose of antibiodics instead of two, which is the standard. (My labor was too short to get the second dose, which I am really not complaining about.) They also did an x-ray of Jenna's lungs and there was still some fluid in them. We were able to hold Jenna, but it was a lot of wires and tubes to move around.

There wasn't much change between Sunday and Monday. Jenna was stable, but we were kind of waiting and seeing. Monday night Steve and his Dad gave Jenna a blessing. Steve went home and slept with the boys Monday night and I went down and held Jenna for over an hour, knowing that I would have to leave her there the next day while I went home. I tried not to let the nurses see me crying. It is hard to leave even though you know they are ok and are being taken care of.

So Tuesday we started the routine of going back and forth to the hospital. I would go in the morning for a feeding, and then Steve and I went right when he got home from work and took the boys to Grandma and Grandpa's house, and they were nice enough to feed them too. Jenna started looking better. Her breathing was slowing and she was needing less help with the oxygen. The doctors wanted to give her the full dose of antibiotics since she was improving even though they still had nothing to confirm if she did have an infection or not. So that meant that she would be there at least 7 days.

By Wednesday Jenna's jaundice had gone up and she got to spend a day sunbathing so we didn't get to hold her. We were pretty much expecting this though. That is a white piece of tape below her mouth holding her feeding tube in place.

When I went in to the hospital on Thursday her nurse was on break, but I knew she must be doing better because her oxygen tube was gone, so she was doing alright breathing on her own. The doctor also rounded while I was there and said Jenna could start eating as much as she wanted (they had been only letting her have 10cc and supplementing with the IV). They also turned off her bed to see if she could keep her body temperature on her own. (See, no tubes in the nose anymore!)

When I went in on Friday Jenna had been moved over to level two (NICU is level 3)and was in a regular bed. She was a pretty good baby in NICU and didn't really cry. She doesn't even want to wake up and eat. We would spend the whole time she is supposed to be eating just trying to wake her up. She will open her eyes just enough to roll them at you and then go back to sleep.

Saturday the doctor was rounding on Jenna when I got there and he said as long as she ate well and didn't lose weight again she could go home on Sunday since she would have her last dose of antibiotics Saturday night. I was really surprised that everything was good enough for her to come home.

So Sunday morning I called the hospital to make sure she was still ok to get discharged and they said her belirubin levels jumped up from the day before so she was on photo therapy again. Not surprised. The doctor was having Jenna's levels checked again that afternoon and if they went down enough she could still get discharged, but I thought that was a really long shot. I went and saw Jenna before church and then we went again that night and continued our routine. By now Kayden was asking if he was going to Grandma and Grandpa's house every night.

Jenna's belirubin hadn't gone down very much when they checked again that afternoon. So Jenna had to stay under the lights until Monday morning.

Monday was just a waiting day to see what Jenna's jaundice would do. She was eating enough and had only lost a tiny bit more weight.

Tuesday morning I was about to walk out the door to make Jenna's 9am feeding when the doctor called me and said Jenna was ready to come home. I was once again caught off guard. So I hurried and called Steve at work to tell him we could bring her home.

All this time it didn't really seem like we had 3 kids. It was like we had two lives; two kids in one life and one in the other. I wasn't nervous to bring Jenna home like I was with Kayden either. I have never had a baby sleep this much. In fact, she sleeps too much and it is causing problems with her feeding schedule because she won't wake up and eat often enough to keep the milk supply up. She is a sweetheart and I love holding her at night when the boys are asleep and I can just enjoy being with her and not worrying about what her brothers are doing.

Jenna still had jaundice, but it isn't bad enough for lots of concern. She just had to keep doing a little sun bathing everyday for a while, which was hard with all of the cloudy days. She hasn't had any more breathing problems though and has a lot stronger cries. In fact, she can get really mad when she does cry, and turns dark red. She is going to have to get mad to handle her brothers though. They, of course, love her to death and will not leave her alone.

Thank you so much to everyone who helped us, and offered to help, and prayed for our family and Jenna while she was in the hospital. They had a NICU support group meeting one night. We didn't go because we wanted to get home to the boys, but we also have so many other support groups from our family, friends, and church that we could turn to first. We love you and love our new little baby! And we are glad she is home with us!

Birthday Excitement

2010-02-09T21:34:00.000-08:00

My birthday wasn't going to be that exciting this year. I had a doctor's appointment and then worked all day. I came home knowing that I would be working some more, but when I got home Steve and the boys had gotten me a CAKE and PRESENTS!! (Steve had also done the dishes, which is my favorite kind of presents.) Steve said the boys picked out the cake. I guess he tried to talk them into a different one, but they were adamant.

Kayden said, "Look Mom, we got you a cake. Dad, you get the fire." So Steve lit the candles and they sang Happy Birthday to me, and we got to have some cake after dinner.

Kayden is obsessed with birthday cake. He could care less about presents. He always wants to know where the cake is when it's someone's birthday.

I got a movie and some chocolate chip cookie dough for my presents (I obviously really like cookie dough)! I guess there is one more present in the mail. And thanks to everyone who sent cards and other gifts as well and texted, called, or emailed. I opened up the cards as they came this year instead of waiting for my birthday.

So it was a great birthday because my boys made me happy!!

The other day Kayden told me, "Mom, I'm tired of waiting for Baby Jenna."

I said, "I'm tired of waiting too."

So unless she decides to come on her own sooner she is scheduled to arrive next Friday!!

Annika needs a home

2010-01-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

We are very sad that we have to let Annie go. If anyone is interested in taking her so we don't have to take her to the pound please let us know. She's a great dog, very obedient and very good with children...

Baby Jenna

2010-01-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

I have to write down some of the things Kayden has been doing with the new baby coming. Her name will most likely be Jenna Ruth (I can't say for sure until I see her though). Steve told Kayden her name was Jenna and now he talks about baby Jenna all the time, so I guess we better not change it.

Every present that was little under the Christmas tree Kayden said was for baby Jenna.

He will also pat my belly all the time and wants to see baby Jenna. When I tell him he can't see her because she's in my tummy, then he says that he wants to go in there too. I told him he can't because he is too big and won't fit in my tummy and Drew is too big too.

(Steve gets really confused when he comes home from work most of the time. For example, the day of this conversation Steve came home and Kayden told Steve, "Me and Drew are too big to fit in Mom's tummy." Steve was obviously confused as to where this came from.)

Yesterday Kayden wanted a gogurt. So he brought me one to open for him and another one for baby Jenna. Luckily, he forgot about baby Jenna's gogurt once he started eating his and I snuck it back in the freezer. I had no idea how to tell him she couldn't eat it and I didn't really want to eat it for her.

I am so glad that he already loves his baby sister and thinks about her all of the time. Hopefully this won't change once she is actually here.

I finally got Drew's laugh on video. I LOVE it!! Here are the boys playing with their toothbrushes. (They have the suction thingy on the bottom.)

Mom's a Girl

2010-01-21T22:32:00.000-08:00

So a few Mondays ago I had a hard start to the day with the boys. I was out of patience by the time Steve left for work and both boys cried when he left. Thankfully, waving bye out the front window usually helps.

Then when Steve called later Kayden had a trantrum because I got the phone and he wanted to. Then he insisted it was Aunt Carrie calling and not Dad, but then he wanted to talk to Dad. So we called Dad back, but Kayden wouldn't talk so Dad said bye and hung-up. Of course, Kayden starts another tantrum because he wants to talk to Dad.

You get the idea. This kind of stuff has been going on all morning.

Well, that night Steve found out why it was such a hard day. Kayden told Steve, "Dad, me and Drew just wanted you today, and we didn't want you to go to work. We wanted you to stay home. We didn't want Mom to stay home because she's a girl."

And there you have it!

Family Christmas Card After Christmas (and New Years)

2010-01-06T22:20:00.000-08:00

Here is our family Christmas Card to everyone, after Christmas. And after the entire year for that matter. I am not one of those people who is good about sending out cards. I don't send birth announcements, or Christmas cards, birthday cards, and I didn't even send out graduation announcements when Steve and I graduated college. If I do send out a card it is usually late, just like this post. And not just a couple of days late, we are talking months late. So this post will have to do as our Christmas card.

Like most we have had a great year with its share of joys, accomplishments and trials. Since I would have to look back through this blog to remember what we actually did this year, I will let you do that and just give some updates.

Drew is growing up so fast. He of course thinks he is as big as Kayden. He insists on eating with a spoon or fork and sitting in a regular chair at the table. We have Kayden's little golf bag in the garage next to the door. Drew has to get out a golf club everytime we come home before he will go in the house. He will also bring you a ball and then go stand by the TV with a golf club or bat and wait for you to throw the ball to him. He doesn't swing or anything, but it will be interesting to see where he goes in sports. He can throw the ball pretty well most of the time.

Drew is pretty happy most of the time, and has learned to not take everything his brother dishes out. He will get mad and scream. We have screaming back and forth a lot at our house now. Drew insists on being up on the counter while I cook, or on the bathroom counter while I get ready in the morning. He also loves baths and water. If Steve and I don't pay attention we will frequently end up with a visitor in the shower, and many time Drew gets a 2nd bath because he goes and climbs back in the tub while Kayden is still in there. Drew can also say Dad ("Da"), but doesn't say Mom as much. So we can always hear him yelling for Dad. As soon as Drew hears the garage door go up at night, he drops whatever he is doing and runs/waddles to the garage door to wait for Dad to come in. He is still a snuggly boy and gives great hugs. But he bites when he gives kisses, so watch out.

Kayden's personality has grown so much, for better and worse. He will go on and on telling you all about something. His new words are delicious and disgusting. And if he likes something, he will say it is his favorite. And he also hears everytime we say the word stupid or shutup and informs you that we don't say those words. (Dad has been reprimanded a lot lately) We also have to say "ahhh" after we take a drink. I think Steve does this and Kayden has picked up on it. So now we all have to say "ahhh" all the time.

Kayden has pretty good manners and will always say "you're welcome" when I tell him "thank you." He will even say it when he brings me something and I don't tell him "thank you." Lots of times I will make him lunch and when I tell him lunch is ready he will casually say, "No thanks. I don't want it." It wasn't really an option, but how do I make him eat it when he refuses so politely? But if he asks for something, and says please, and I don't let him have it, then he gets mad and says, "But I said PLEASE!"

Kayden has also started to pick up on the Portuguese and English differences. He usually wants Steve to say "amen" like we do in English, but sometimes when Steve says the prayer I have to say amen in Portuguese (which sounds like ah-meng). He will also get mad at Steve for saying the Portuguese word sometimes. Once he said, "No, Dad. It's not preto, it's black."

Kayden has endless energy and will play tag all day long. He just walks up to you and says, "Tag, you're it!" and starts running. When Dad gets too tired to play tag then Kayden wants to play Hide and Seek or Duck, Duck, Goose. Drew will start patting you and say "Duh" too. Kayden usually hides in the same places for hide and seek, and he only counts to 4 before he comes looking for you. Anni will always follow me and give away my hiding spot. Drew will watch where Kayden hides and then go and find him for me.

Kayden has also started crying and whining over EVERYTHING. He can get emotional very quickly and then it is hard for him to calm back down. We have been working on how to ask for things and tell Mom and Dad what we need without whining or crying. He has gotten so much better. We are trying to give Kayden the attention he needs when he is being good and Steve took him to his first movie at the movie theaters. He loved it, but I think Steve loved taking him even more.

Kayden is a great big brother. If I ask him to do something for Drew he usually will. And he always shares his food and snacks with Drew without me even asking. The boys love to roll around and wrestle on the floor and chase each other. Kayden has also started informing me of everything Drew wants. "Drew wants a cracker too." "Me and Drew want to watch a cartoon." And whenever I ask who is stinky, or who is ready for bed, Kayden is quick to respond, "Drew does." We love our boys and they make us happy everyday.

We will soon have a little girl for the boys to be big brothers to. I only had morning sickness for a few weeks with this pregnancy, which I am so thankful for. Besides being huge, this pregnancy has been much easier than the other two. What makes it hard is everything else going on and me having no idea how I am going to take care of this baby when I can't do everything right now with only 2 kids. But we know that everything will work out. Kayden loves patting my stomach and keeps asking for the baby and wants to see it.

Steve and I are blessed to have great jobs that let us put our family first. Steve comes home and plays with the boys every night while I make dinner. Other than the boys we really have no lives of our own. Well, Steve does. He still enjoys playing golf and basketball. Instead of just going to the driving range, his new hobby is to go to the shooting range as well.

I have given up my fun hobbies due to being pregnant, but this year I got to be part of a bunco group, so I had a fun girls night out once a month. I am looking forward to a busy next couple of months with audits and taxes before I have the baby. (Hopefully, this will make the last months go by faster.)

So, I think that is pretty much it for our family. We love you all, and feel very blessed to have such great friends and family who are always there for us even if we don't keep in contact as often as we would like to. Thank you for all you do for our family.

We had a wonderful Christmas season and are looking forward to the next year with 3 kids!!! We love you!

Early to Bed

2009-12-22T12:36:00.000-08:00

(This is an old picture of Kayden.)

So we finally figured out how to get the boys to bed early without any trouble.

1. Take them to play at their cousins so they get worn out and only take a 20 minute nap in the car on the way home.

2. Give baths before dinner.

3. After dinner go look at Christmas lights where they will fall asleep in the car and not even get to look at the lights.

4. Take them home and put them in bed.

Easy, right!

(Note: Do not have their sheets in the dryer. Then you have to put them to bed somewhere else and move them after you make their beds. Without fail they will wake up when you move them to their beds.)