Baby Ty!

Here is my yearly blog post! I now have a cool phone that I can blog from so lets hope I take advantage of it! Baby Ty was born April 11th! After being induced with all my girls he came on his own. It was a new experience for me! My parent had come to stay with us because I was scheduled to be induced on the 12th but the night of the 11th around 6pm painful contractions started. I asked my mom if she ever waited until her water broke to go to the hospital she said that she could never wait that long because it was too painful and when she did finally go it was too late for her to have an epidural. Well, that was not going to happen (love my epidurals). So Steve and I headed to the hospital around 8:30pm. I was dilated to a 7!! I got the epidural right away...wonderful. Well for a little while anyway, it didn't work very well! It was not like natural childbirth or anything but it felt pretty natural to me. At one point I told Steve "I can't do this!" I was like a first time mom in there!! After I settled down a little and pushed a few times Baby Ty was here at 11:50pm! He had a little trouble breathing on his own for a while so we did not get to hold him right away. He weighed 7lbs 4oz (same as Lauryn) and was 20 inches long. I made it known to all the staff at the hospital that I wanted to go home ASAP. I just hate staying there! I tested negative for Strep B so I was able to go home the next day around 3pm. I was not even there a full 24 hours! He is perfect in every way. Welcome to our family little man!

Lauryn turns 5!

Only about 3-4 posts down Lauryn turned 4! That is just how this blogger rolls. Anyway she is all about La La Loopsy dolls this year and wanted a La La Loopsy cake. Being an el cheapo I never buy cakes they look pretty but taste like crap. I usually make them; even if they do not turn out professional looking at least they taste good. I just used round cake pans of different sizes, staked them on top of each other, frosted it and walaa! (I know that is not how you spell that word). The buttons were the fun part they are Starburst candies that I softened in the microwave for about 5-10 seconds. After they are softened you can roll them out with a rolling pin, flatten them with the bottom of a cup or be lazy like me and just use your hand. After you have "Starburst dough" you will need a Wilton #1 cake decorating tip (The one with the smallest hole as the tip). Use the bottom end of the tip to cut out your button shape and use the tip to form your 4 button holes. The party was a huge success! Happy birthday Lauryn!

February into March 2012

Yes, I have gone to labeling my posts with the year. It seem all I can do is a few of them a year! Things are good. We have all been so healthy this year, no colds, flu, or anything. That is such a blessing!
Steve is as busy at work as ever but things are about to change... I am lucky if I can get one load of laundry and the dishes done during the day with Macie almost walking! Autam is doing good in school but has some trouble with "conduct marks". Numbers that correspond with a certain behavior. Autam likes to talk to her friends, obviously, she is an 8 yr old girl. We have had some discussions on the matter and she did not get a one last week!
Lauren is the same sweet girl as always, she is not one for doing chores though. During the day she has a few chores she is responsible for. Sometimes I will tell her that she will be rewarded for doing them with a treat or something. More often than not she will pass up the treat so that she does not have to do the chore! I am going to have to figure something else out.
At the end of January we were able to take a trip to Utah to visit family. My dad retired from the Forest Service. He worked there for over 40 years.

Life...

Why is life so busy I am not really that busy am I? Why is it that I cannot sit down for a few minutes and write a blog post or two...
Since my last post of Lauryn's birthday Autam had a birthday, she turned 8 and was baptized. At the time of all this we had no camera so the only pics I have are in my phone. Those will have to come later.
We were able to finally get a really nice camera to take on vacation with us! We went to Florida to visit friends and then went to Disney World for a few days. We had a great time! Steve and I have never been so it was just as much fun for us as it was for the girls. Being a military family has blessed us so much! We were able to get tickets to Disney for 4 days at half price! We also stayed at "Shades of Green". A resort on the Disney property that is only for military members. It was awesome (no microwave...grrr. I had no idea how HUGE that place is. Really a "world" in and of itself.
The trip was not so much fun for Macie though. The day we left our Friends house for Disney she had a fever that continued the whole time we were there. We cut our trip a day short and headed home but once we got about halfway and Macie was just not getting better we took her to an ER in Pensacola, FL. It is amazing how sick kids can really lay on the stress. After 8 hours of driving in the car and then another 5 hours at the ER, to find out Macie had a bladder or kidney infection, I was D-O-N-E!
After we found out what it was and she got a good dose of antibiotics via IV, Steve and I both slept so well that night!
We did have a great time with Autam and Lauryn and are so grateful to our friends the Farias' for letting us say a few days and feeding us so so well ;)

2011

2011 has come and gone! We had a few ups and downs though; Steve works for a company called Lockheed Martin who contracts with NASA. Recently the space programs budget and plans for space flight were cut drastically. Steve's job is secure for now but over the last year he has put his resume out a little bit in hopes of something more close to home. One day he got a call from a friend who works for a company in Salt Lake City who told him to come interview with them. I tried not to get my hopes to high but they soared when he got the job and we were just waiting for an offer letter! No letter...a phone call from HR that told us the corporate office reviewed his resume and thought he did not have enough experience. :( We moved to Texas knowing that it would not be our forever home and I am loving it here, we just have always had plans to go when the opportunity presented itself. Not this time. We have more to do in Texas! That was a down for a while but I am back up!
A very big up for us was Miss Macie Lynn was born on April 8th! She is the best baby ever! Which I think I deserve after how sick I was with her during pregnancy. Autam and Lauryn just love her guts. We are so blessed with healthy little girls.
Just as I am sure everyone was, we were so busy this year. I can see that it is only the beginning. Autam is in 2nd grade now. That is when the homework starts at CLCE (Clear Lake City Elementary). She is supposed to read 20min every night as well. She also is still taking piano lessons and I like for her to practice 30 mins a day.
I am still the YW president in our ward. Any calling that has to do with the youth of our church is very demanding. There are Sunday responsibilities, Wednesday night activities, and also at least one Saturday a month there is a youth activity. It is hard but rewarding at the same time.
While working, Steve is perusing a masters degree as well. He took two classes this last quarter which meant 3 nights a week either he or I was gone. I will not complain too much because it is way better than his undergraduate where he would come home at 11pm, sleep for 4 hours, while reciting math problems in his sleep, then go back to the school at 3am.
I am ready to take on 2012. My goals this year; 1. Not yell at my kids, 2. Read scriptures at least 2 days a week, 3. Be a better friend by listening to others better.

Macie is 6 months

Okay, maybe almost 7. I wanted to get some new pictures of her up around the time she turned 6 months but as my last post revealed I am happy if I have a chance to take pictures of my kids!
Sitting up is still a little bit of a challenge for her but she will have it soon! She loves to be on her tummy and even does a little bit of an army crawl to toys she wants that are not within reach.
She gave us a little bit of a scare with a kidney infection while we were on our Florida vacation a little while back. I am so grateful for the priesthood that Steve has and for military hospitals. Steve gave her a blessing 3 days in a row while we were on vacation and she just was not getting any better so we knew that she needed to go to a hospital. I get so nervous taking my children, or even myself, to a hospital that is out of town so we drove half of the way home to Pensacola, FL, where there is a naval base. Most bases have hospitals, and most are great ones. We lived on a base for 4 months right after Steve graduated, they feel so safe. Almost like a small town. I am glad we waited to take her there. The doctor was great! It did take us 5 hours to get out of the ER but I felt so relieved when we left.
We already had our Trunk-or-Treat this year due to stake conference. I was lazy this year and just bought all of our costumes. I cannot believe it is almost November!

Life is flying by!

Busy...seems like just about everyone these days is busy. We are no exception, but with what? I must remember that I have a new born and that is why I feel like I cannot keep up with everything going on. I literally have about 40 projects that need to be completed around my house; organize our closet, go through the astronomical amount of little girl clothing we have, paint over the stick figure Lauryn drew on the wall with permanent marker, weed the weed beds in our yard, shampoo the carpets so I can be less disgusted with them for a day or two. Then there is all that daily stuff that needs kept up on and my calling as Young Womens presedent weighs heavily on my mind. I am feeling slightly overwhelmed in my life right now...
This is only compounded with that fact that Steve is CRAZY busy at work. Yes, Obama decided not to totally do away with the space program and NASA found some $$ for them so for now (we always have our fingers crossed) he has a lot going on. This includes his monthly trips to Denver for work that he combines with National Guard duty in Wyoming so he is gone a full 7 days out of each month.
This too shall pass...