Krispy Kreme

So I don't know if Krispy Kreme is a nation wide thing or not (if not it should be)....all I know is its a big deal around here. Even though I've eaten Krispy Kreme goodness melt in your mouth doughnuts for years now, I've actually never been in one. So after the kids were feeling all cooped up after visiting T for a while in his little hospital room, Ryan suggested I take them to Krispy Kreme. I happened to have my camera with me as I had taken some of T at the hospital (that's another post) so here was all the happenings while getting doughnuts.

Warm weather! whoohoo!

Spring is here and we are loving the warm weather. It has been so nice to be able to go outdoors and we spend hours outside every day. (unless it rains) We decided to take the kids to the park the other day and they loved it. Tyce is going to be 6 months old this month (eek!) and Maya and Jax are growing so fast. I swear time flies faster with every kid. Since my last update things are going so much smoother. I am just so glad to have some warm weather to get out on walks and playdates and such.  Here we are at the park....

 

 

 Tyce spent the duration in his carseat...but he didn't seem to mind

 Ready to go down the slide

 He loved the "airplane swing"

 Looking at an airplane

 

Mad at us cause we asked if he wanted to go down the big slide. :)

 He finally made it. :D

The ride of my life

Well I finally made it back around to blogging.

I just gave myself a pat on the back for that.

Ya know. Talking to people who have larger families I heard these two things countless times:

1.) Kid number 2 was the HARDEST adjustment for me. It is a lot different than just taking care of one child. After that you can do any number.

OR

2.) Kid number 3 was the HARDEST adjustment for me-because you have more children than you have hands and more children than you have adults. After that you can do any number.

Well. The verdict is in. I fall in the second category.

For some reason I didn't think it would be that much of an adjustment since I did daycare last year and sometimes had 4 extra kids. My logic was: if I can watch 6 kids for 8 hours a day surely 3 of my own will be just fine.

I expected some adjustment of course, but more what I went through when I had my second. Not bad. Not bad at all. Even with Jaxons health problems...not bad at all.

So dont ask me why 3 was initally so hard. I really dont know. I consider myself a prompt, responsible person. So why with one extra kid did that get shot down the drain? Late to church, late to preschool, late to the pediatrician, late with dinner (if dinner got made), late to bed, late to wake up, the list went on......

I just couldn't keep up. I felt like I was on a roller coaster that never ended. I was so frustrated with myself as a mother.



Then. On one particular day. (I think Tyce was about 3 weeks old at this point)  I hit my breaking point. I had woken up late, was running late taking maya to preschool and in doing so forgot to feed her breakfast. I couldn't find socks for Jaxon so I shoved his boots on and quickly put him in the car without a coat. Maya, Jax,  AND Tyce was crying in the van as we drove to preschool. I did the walk of shame to mayas preschool to take her to class but couldn't remember the code to get in the building. Luckily another mother was late -who obviously still has her mind- because she remembered the code. I walked maya in late to her class than ran to the van.

I got in the car and started to drive. Tyce was now screaming, but at this point if I didn't keep going I was going to be late for my pediatrician appointment. Tears started to swell as I drove and I called my mother. I said, "I know its too late for this.....but I dont think i'm ready to have 3 children! I cant do it. "

You can hear the same piece of advice a 100 times in your life. But sometimes, once out of that 100 times it sticks. It is now lodged in the back of your brain forever. This was one of those moments. After recounting my mornings madness my mother wisely said to me,

 "Holly! You NEED to lower your expectations. "

my response: "Im not expecting much at this point! I just want to shower, eat , and get my kids where they need to go on time. How can I lower THOSE expectations??"

Mom: Well, you can wait to shower in the evening when Ryan is home, let the kids cry for a minute while you eat something, and being on time???? HA! Now you know why so many mothers with lots of little children are late. Just accept that you will be late UNTIL you adjust to 3 kids. It will happen. Just be patient and lower. your. expecatations.

The perfectionist in me was wanting to fight everything she had just said. But my gut told me that she was 100%  right.

At this point I had pulled off on the side of the road (my mother demanded it once she realized I was crying and driving- smart woman. )

I hung up the phone and drove to my pediatrician appt. As I drove I had a quote that I love come to mind.

"The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache."    -Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Maybe it was my headache that brought this to mind...... But I made a decision. Even though it is NOT in my nature to be lighthearted when I am stressed. I was going to make a concious effort to do so. On top of that I was going to....

lower my expectations.

Accept that I was going to be late for a while, maybe not have showered or gotten ready till AFTER dinner. That meals were going to be from Artic Circle, frozen chicken nuggets, or pizza for a while.

Then a couple weeks later I stumbled across this blog post on facebook. It too was life changing.

http://www.daringyoungmom.com/2012/12/19/drops-of-awesome/

The next time I took maya to preschool: I was still late. Her hair wasn't done. (she did get fed though. I was mighty proud of that. ) Tyce was crying in his carseat again, but I took a deep breath as I walked her in late to preschool and said to myself "lower your expectations. This is ok." and you know what? It kinda worked! I got in the van and thought to myself. Just laugh.

It was definitely a forced laugh. But there were no tears. :)

I am now happy to report that things are going MUCH smoother. About the time Tyce hit 8 weeks old I started to gain a little bit more control. Here at 12 weeks old I am now arriving to preschool and appointments on time again, cooking dinner again-mostly, breathing, Ive even thrown in a few workouts here and there, I shower on a regular basis, im breathing. Hooray! Drops of Awesome for me! That doesn't mean life is perfect, but I just wanted to throw this out there to anyone else going through a time of adjustment. As moms we can be so hard on ourselves. Yes we have a big responsibility in raising our children. But there will be times where we wont measure up to our own expectations. In those moments-

Lower your expectations until you adjust.

Laugh and find a way to enjoy the ride.

and when you do have small victories

Pat yourself on the back and give yourselves a "Drop of Awesome!"

Cause you know what..... WE deserve it.

Baby #3

(Yes.... this is a little lengthy.)

Its been a few weeks, but I still wanted to post this. We welcomed our 3rd addition to the family and he couldn't be cuter. Tyce Ryan made his debut 2 days past his due date on Halloween. To be honest, I was really shocked he lasted that long. I started having preterm labor at 28 weeks when I traveled to Eastern Idaho for my nieces baby blessing. It went away for a couple days when I got back and I figured I had just over done it a little. It started coming back though and over the next two weeks it got pretty intense. I had to go to the hospital twice, I was given the shot to stop my labor, and was put on perscription meds to keep it from happening again. I was told that I wasn't technically on "bedrest" but I was banned from doing a lot of things. Something as simple as carrying my one year old upstairs would start contractions. So I had to take things REALLY easy.

From week 37-39, probably 3 times, I thought it was go time.(and my dr. was out of town) I was close to going to the hospital. The last ten days I felt like I was in labor but I couldnt time the distance between the contractions. I wasn't dilated much and that absolutely baffled me. The only time I have felt that much pain in pregnancy was when I was actually in labor. I talked to my Dr. at my 39 week appt- Unfortunately he had been out of town for the previous two weeks, and without a medical reason-the hospital wont let you induce without a week notice. So I was given two options-being induced on halloween or november 4th because he was booked on surgeries till then. Wanting to keep my sanity...I chose Halloween. :)

Then mothers guilt set in. Is that a super lame birthday? Was I being totally selfish for not waiting 5 days? Will my kid never feel like he actually has his own special day? Would this put me as a candidate for worst mother of the year?

Then reality set in. I couldn't it handle anymore....and even if he hates his birthday, someday if/when his future wife goes over her due date. He'll understand. :) Besides, Halloween COULD be a cool birthday right?.....right???

aaahhh.... I felt MUCH better after rationalizing in my brain. (and a few phone calls to my sisters having them agree with me)

.......................................................................

The day of the inducement came. My last appt. with my OB  had been 15 hours earlier.( I was still dilated to barely a one.) Over the last 48 hours I had told ryan, "I feel like I am in labor" 60 times. Literally. But I still couldn't time my contractions. We got to the hospital at 7am and at 8 when my dr. checked me....I was almost at a 5!! I was already in full blown labor. Whoohoo!

This immediately solved two problems for me.
One: I now felt very justified for every one of the 60 times I said, "I feel like im in labor!"
Two: Mothers guilt about the halloween birthday???? What guilt?? Pshaw...this baby decided to come on Halloween by his own free will!

All I needed now was a magical epidural, a tall cool glass of ice chips, and CNN to pass the time. Bliss.

I was dilated to a 10 by 10:30am. However.....apparently my dr was trying to finish seeing all his morning patients quickly so they asked "since I had an epidural and wasn't feeling anything if i could wait?"

"Huh?"

"Um..."

Is that humanly possible? You do realize this is a baby being born right?

Then my nurse explained that the baby wasn't fully descended and it actually would be easier on my body because I wouldnt have to push as much. Sounded strange but fair to me. I made it 45 minutes before I felt like the baby was going to come crawling out on his own.

My Doctor ran over from his office across the street. Once he got there I did a practice push, pushed through 2 more contractions, then without even pushing- Tyce was here. :D

My immediate reaction has been different with each of my three kids births.

Maya: I was more in shock and just like. "oh wow, so this is what you look like. You are so beautiful!......wow im a mom! ect...."

Jax: I choked up a little and I was amazed how much he and Maya looked alike. Holding a son for the first time was an amazing experience.

Tyce: Tears. Lots of tears. I couldn't hold them back. There were so many challenges that came with this pregnancy. But as cliche as it sounds, it is so true that as soon as you hold your baby in your arms you know that every minute was worth it. There was such a flood of emotions as I held him. Relief, gratitude, amazement, and just so much love for this new little boy of ours.

 

My 4 year old princess!

 They spent so much time just on the trampoline.

 The one "prince" at the princess party. :)

Well, I officially have a 4 year old. Ok, she has been 4 for a couple weeks now (ok....almost a month), but with moving, visiting my family and laziness  other things.....I just didn't get around to a big party till later. I figure what better time to have a late party then when they dont really get how calendars work? You can tell a 3-4 year old any day is their bday. :D and they believe you.

We had a great time though. Lots of little princesses and one "prince" running all over for a couple hours. It was a blast. What a fun age to have a bday party.

Maya is so grown up and I love how well she communicates. Its fun to have "grown up" conversations...well kind of. She is such a huge helper with Jaxon and even though they may have their "sibling spats", dont mess with her brother. She is super protective and I find it adorable. She is loving learning time, crafts, and is absolutely in love with the trampoline.

I love my girl. What a blessing she is in our lives!

A needed update

Wow. 4 months since my last post. Thats a long time. But to my credit, I was sick for half of it, the other half I was just lazy. :D

Lets see, so much has happened since then, but most of you are friends on facebook so im pretty sure you know all the updates anyways.

For starters (as many of you already know), baby number 3 is on the way and growing well. This was by far my hardest pregnancy, but for the shortest time. I actually started getting better at 12 weeks instead of 17 or 18. It ended up being such a huge blessing for many reasons, but we also ended up buying another house and moving right when I was about 18 weeks, so that made things a ton easier. I am now 24 weeks and in the best phase of pregnancy that exists I believe. We found out we are having a boy, (which maya was less than thrilled about), but after recently meeting her first cousin at 2 days old-I think she was won over by the size of "the baby's little toes!" and I think as long as we show her the babys toes.... we will be just fine. Although we did have an hour and a half discussion after my ultrasound about "why a baby brother is not a curse". ( she was dead set on a sister)

A pregnant zebra. At 24 weeks. ;)

My parents are living their dream and bought a house in eastern idaho. I would never call that my dream location. Too much snow. HOWEVER, in the summers it is SO beautiful over there. They live on a farm and are getting right into the whole "animals, growing things, enjoying my aunts 4 wheelers....." and my kids love it. Heres some pics from our last visit.

 They Loved riding the horses.

 3 baby kittens were there to play with

 with grandma werner

 feeding the baby calves

 Jaxon would pass on the animals if he could have his own 4 wheeler. He's obsessed. :)

 4th of july outfit

 travelin' in style

I bought this for mayas bday, but I think Jax uses it more.

 The house we bought was my parents house, and we are currently renting out our other house. Its decently bigger and on a much bigger lot, so we are loving it....and I am trying my best to not kill all the vegetation that exists. The pluses of this lot is a big raspberry patch (i came back from vacation and had about a gallon and a half waiting for me), peach trees, and a huge spot for a garden. I would take a picture but you might have a hard time distinguishing between the plants and the treacherous weeds. (we were gonna for over a week and they took full advantage)

Ryan Graduated. Enough said. Hallelujah and let the party begin! He is still working at the same company he was working before, however he got moved over to marketing, now has salary instead of commission, doesn't work saturdays or late hours, and gets to go on business trips, (he just went to New Orleans and will go to Missouri next month)

I became an aunt! This just happened two weeks ago. I went over to take her newborn pictures- I will post one. I came back with 300 on my memory card. hmmmmm..... new aunt syndrome??

Did I say i'd post just one? Sorry. I couldn't contain myself. Little Jaylee Ann was 5 lbs 14 oz and was just soooo tiny. She came three weeks early, but was on her best behavior for Aunt Holly to bombard her life and take a bazillion pictures. I LOVE being an aunt. Seriously so fun!

wow this is a long post, last pictures I swear! I took Ryan and kids to a park with me to scope out some spots for my latest family shoot I had. I had to take a couple of them while there. So far my pictures are coming up crappy lookin' on blogger....any ideas on how to make them look like how they are supposed to? Anyways, here is our last 4 months in one HUGE post. enjoy! (if you got this far)

my munchkins

She let me straighten her hair a little for this. So fun. :D

We've only had a couple snow days this year. literally. like two. I haven't minded one bit.

Isn't he a doll? Half of the pictures didn't work because he was laughing and his eyes were scrunched closed.

They ride this bike in circles all day in my kitchen. It will have to do till the weather is warmer.

Her face before preschool for the first time. Id say she was excited.

Of course, being my offspring-she had to throw some poses in. Actually, if you saw all the photos- I only got one of her standing against a wall. All the rest are exaggerated poses. I don't know where she gets it from.

So Maya has loved preschool way more than dance, which has been quite nice. I don't have to shove her out the door like I had to when dance class was about to start. She gets up excited and cant wait to get there. Its just an hour long, so its perfect for her.

Jaxon has been growing like a weed. I think he is about to get his molars in because he has been pretty cranky, but with no apparent cause, until today when he was crying the sunlight caught inside his mouth and I saw some major Red swollen gums. He loves to play and follow his sister around. He is a cuddler and wont leave his crib without his blanket. Talking has not been a priority for him, so we've been working on signing Vs. just plain screaming. we are making progress.

As for me and Ryan, we are doing well. Just the normal busyness of school, work, callings, and being parents. Wow. I cant think of anything else to say about us..... I give up. Maybe we can count ourselves in the "old and boring" category this month. ;)