Telling my parents

Again nothing special, just a valentine to let them know that our family is growing. My parents are always excited to here about that too.

Telling Russ' Parents

We gave Russ' parents the same Valentine's day card that I gave him. William was very excited to give it to them.

Grandma is always excited to here about an addition to the family.

And she loves giving them holiday treats!

These are the thank you hugs.

And a valentines kiss for Daddy

And then we even had a cake for my birthday and the kids helped me blow out the candles.

Oregano burn

We have decided to try some essential oils for health stuff. Oregano is supposed to be great when you have a cold and such, but it is what they call a "hot" oil. It will irritate your skin and feel very hot so you just put it on the bottom of your feet or dilute it with coconut oil.
Well one night while the kids were in bed Russ and I were watching a movie. All of a sudden Gracie came running out into the room set something down by the piano and ran back to her room. We were both confused about what she was doing. Russ went to her and I went to see what she put by the piano. It was the bottle of oregano oil. Pretty soon her tears started and Russ and I began oiling her down like crazy with coconut oil.
It didn't take long for it to stop burning, but it was very sad and her red face afterwards was heart breaking. Lets just say that I probably won't replace the oregano oil:)

Just having a good time

Hey Gracie, what is in that box? Oh, it's William

Funny kid.

Lucky girl

One day Gracie and Russ called me into the bathroom to show me the pretty hair do Russ had done for Gracie. Then she wanted "mit gyoss" (lip gloss)

It makes her feel so pretty.

He is such a good Daddy and I hope she will always remember how much he loved to brush her hair, rock her and sing her songs, and snuggle with her when she grow up.

Valentine's Party

Rachel Hatch and I threw a little V-day party for our kids.

Gracie was still napping so Russ went to get her so she would not miss out on the fun. I love the way my kids look after they just wake up.I made heart shaped pizzas and little felt necklaces for the girls...and since I didn't know what to make for the boys and they are both in love with Astro Boy I made them Astro Boy shirts (William still try's to wear this shirt everyday). Rachel got the girls chap stick (Gracie was in heaven) and the boys got disc shooting guns. The boys played with their guns while the girls made graham cracker "love shacks".Gracie mostly just ate frosting. After we cleaned up we headed over to the Hatches for the adult dinner. Most the kids walked with Rachel, but Gracie and I drove and beat them. Here is Gracie running to meat them.We ate yummy food and played games. Some of us with kids on our laps.The boys, like always, played and played.Soon Russ was involved, he is on the bottom of the pile.And the night ended with Russ getting it right in the... Nice shot William.
It was a very fun evening. The rest of February blogging coming soon.

I think it is safe to say...

I'm done!

I'm done being sick. I am not 100%, but I am not sure I will be 100% until I am not pregnant anymore. For awhile I was afraid I would not get better, but it has come. No more days like this on the couch. This picture was taken while everyone else was moving for me

I feel like there is a part of me that goes to sleep while I am sick and I have felt her waking up. I love it. Yesterday I made a menu for the week, looked up new healthy recipes online, spent time with friends, and just had a good day. My stomach can still be pretty wishy-washy but not bad at all and it seems to get better everyday.

I care about things again and it is nice. It will be really nice when everything in the house it working but I will try to make it work until then. I would love to post pictures of the house, but I can not for the life of me find them on my computer! I know I took them - I just can't find them. And the house is in no condition to take pictures of right now, at least not ones I will show.
I have some catching up to do on this blog, but I am not sure I will have the time to do it. There is a lot to do around here.

I am feeling much better today

I really am. My parents took my kids to play at the park with their cousins so I took a bath in their big bath tub and shaved my legs! All the way! This is a big deal. Now I am sitting at the computer listening to Muse and eating my second bologna sandwich for the day. Please don't judge. My diet has been nothing to brag about the last couple of months. I can't wait to get back to the foods I used to eat. BUT, I CAN stomach way more varieties of food than I could a week or so ago. And this is great news. I spent a lot of the morning trying to get through my google reader and now there is only 141 unread! I think it was almost to 700. I obviously deleted a lot. It was a good exercise to show me which blogs I really care about. And I care about everyones blog that I know personally, it is the imaginary friends one that I am talking about. I think I am going to delete some of them.

I was actually feeling good this last weekend, which was awesome because it meant I got to participate in Easter activities and do some stuff with my sis-in-law that was in town. She asked me to help her plan a baby shower for her bestie and it is going to be awesome. We were able to start the invites, but I wish I could have helped her do more (sorry Kirsten).

Someday when my computer is up and running and I am up and running I will post some Easter pics. The kids had a blast. They got to go to the Easter Pageant with Russ and some of his family. I am actually not sure who all was there but I am glad I decided not to go because I threw up that night, rather unexpectedly. Williams favorite part was when Jesus rose up at the end. Gracie's favorite part was with Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus and Mary sings Jesus a lullaby. I could have guessed that would be her favorite part. My favorite part is when the children run to Jesus and sing, "he is my Savior, my Redeemer, and friend" because that is what I feel like - a child that constantly needs to run to the arms of my Savior and I am so grateful he is there and I was taught where to go when it gets so hard. And now I am crying and I need to stop before I make myself throw up.

Like I was saying, I felt better on the weekend, but left my unisom and vitamin b6 at my house so when I got out to my moms Sunday night I couldn't take it like I usually do. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal because I still had zofran, but it was. I was down all day Monday and threw up twice. That was a hard day. I was so excited to be getting better. I was able to take my the unisom and vit b6 and keep it down that night so Tues was better but still not good. I woke up feeling really good this morning, tho. So I will be continuing my meds without fail from now on.

Muse is on Friday and I will be going to it, even if I have to go in a wheel chair and take a lot of Zofran (safely) I am going to go! And I am very excited about it. I love Muse so much. Sometimes I think that everyone loves them and knows them but then realize that that is not true. I know they are not every ones cup of tea, but they are mine. They are so musical and diverse and I love it. Lets just say they kick start my rock n' rollin' heart.

I can't wait to be all the way better and unpack my house and have a party so I can see all you people that I miss so much right now. It won't be long before I crawl out of my cave. And at least I won't have hairy legs for it:)

Happy St. Patties Day

The title really has nothing to do with this post. I am not doing anything for the holiday. My mom is cooking corned beef and cabbage and heaven knows I will not be eating that while I am sick. In fact the smell of it cooking was so bad I asked my mom to put it outside, and she did. We are staying at my moms and have been since after my last post. She takes care of the kids and of me and because of it I have been able to stay out of the hospital. Even with eating all the time and laying down all the time I have still thrown up quite a bit. I know have the generic zofran which does make it much easier not to throw up and sometimes I even feel good enough to sit up and type on the computer. Night time is the worst time for me. I go home on the weekends and we are trying to move into our new house. I don't do any moving and I feel very guilty about that. I am pretty much useless. Russ has been working very hard and is very stressed and I hate that I can't help.

I am not sure exactly what my weight was before this all started, but I know I am down 5 pound already. I feel like I eat all day but I guess when it is only 2 bites at a time it doesn't add up to much.

I hope I don't sound too complaining in this post. That is not the purpose of it. I just needed to journal what has been going on with us. I am so grateful to be at my moms, it has helped the kids and I so much. I am hoping for less than 4 more weeks of this. I hope, I hope, I hope.

Next time I am home I plan to post some pictures of the house. It really is wonderful.

Flowers in the Window

There is a song by Travis called Flowers in the Window. If you have never heard it you should listen. It makes me think of Russ and how I think he is "one in a million" and that more than anything I am "glad [he] feels the same". It makes me think of our decision to be together forever and watch our "flowers" grow.

Our little flowers (besides Russ) are the happiest part of my life. They are so fun/funny. Beautiful, smart, the list goes on. I love them so much that there are not words. One day while driving in the car and listening to this song I was wondering(again) when (and if) I was going to get pregnant again. Then a line from the song stuck out to me, "there is time to plant new seeds and watch them grow, so there'll be flowers in the window when we go". Yes, I realized, there is time. Then I thought about how I had been comforted by Travis' songs through the worst of my pregnancy sickness, through a miscarriage, and through the end of pregnancy(those long days waiting for the baby to come), and even having a new baby in the house. I wonder if Fran ever thought he would be comforting a women through all aspects of pregnancy. Even a lack of it.
Well last week I found out that I am pregnant. Yea! I found out on a Friday morning and I had to tell someone. But I didn't want to call and tell Russ on the phone so I told William and he said, "awesome". Then William and I made a valentine to give to Russ to break the new to him.

William drew a picture that I scanned and put inside the card. Isn't it the best. (He still draws Russ with a beard even though he hasn't had one for a while.) I love this picture in so many ways.

Here is Russ reading his valentine. And William is holding his head because he bumped it earlier and apparently it still hurt.

So Russ held him for awhile.

So now it is a week later and I am feeling pretty sick, but I have not thrown up. I am trying so hard not to throw up. I really hope I can last. But it is hard. I have to eat all the time. And if the food isn't sitting right I have to sit or lay down in hopes that it won't come up. Sometimes these things are hard to do. Yesterday in church I was munching on my friends little boys graham crackers.

The kids have both been really good and understanding. We went grocery shopping and they were both so good. So for the next couple weeks my house will be a disaster, but I hope I will be able to keep a good attitude, because it is means to an end that I am very excited for.

Swordsman

He's an expert.

He just came and looked at this post while I was typing and said, "boo yah".

A nice change

Gracie is getting good at falling asleep anywhere when she is tired. William never has done this, except in the car. And Gracie never did it either until a few months ago.

Here she was tired so she climbed up next to me while I watched Project Runway and fell fast asleep. We took these pictures before Russ picked her up to hold her. He loves to have her sleep on him.

It is just nice to have a child that wants to sleep when she is tired.