2015-2016 School Year has begun!!!

Brigham: Kindergarten    Abigail: 3rd Grade

A new school year is upon us already. Seriously, why do my kids keep getting so big?  It feels like yesterday that Abigail was starting her official school journey and now its Brigham's turn. Man are the cute are what? I am really loving the uniforms. Its so helpful to not have to fight about what is being worn every morning. Its a long day for both of them but so far they have done really well.

Abby is an old pro at the the school things so she was dropped off at regular time and tackled her first day head on.

Briggs, because he is in Kinder had the chance to be taken little later into the school by parents, for an easier transition.  So to kill and hour, we went to chick-fil-a and had breakfast and played on the toys. 

This little goof wanted her picture taken too :)

Then comes seeing this little guy so confident and ready to go to school. He looks so tiny with his backpack against the school as a background.  He was so proud to be going in, a little nervous but he was a champ. No tears, just a see ya mom with a quick kiss. It was nothing like my experience with Abigail and Kindergarten. A little too independent maybe  for this momma.

Handsome stud

There he is, so big and ready to take on the day in his new classroom. Man I could just  squeeze him!!!! Emily could too!

T

he best part was Emily, she couldn't say goodbye enough. Hugs, kisses and more hugs and kisses. This picture is probably one of my favorites, nothing like a good choke hold hug to send him off.

Save me

Every Monday is formal Dress day. They look so pretty and handsome dressed to impress.  I love it, and they dont really complain about it either, everyone else is doing it too! 

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Ummm how old are you Abby? You looks so big and beautiful!

 Brigham is a lady killer, I mean look at him so so so handsome. Its even more impressive when he gets dressed all by himself. It gives him a little more confidence and pep in his step.

Look mom we can like each other for a second.

Emily needed in on the action too.

 With our move, I was concerned about not having a carpool. It has been really awesome having one for the last 3 years. The school is not exactly close and sometimes you have to wait a really long time. Thus, I feel really blessed that were were able to work something out especially with one of Abby's best friends. The car pool crazies

Look at them all cute and ready to be picked up for the day!!

The last days of Summer 2015

Summer 2015 has officially come to an end. The kids have been back to school for about a week and I cannot believe it. The summer literally whizzed by. I remember thinking, what in the world are we going to do this summer, and now its over.

We tried to take advantage of the pool and Seth being home on the last few Saturdays. Brigham finally is swimming without his floaty.  He managed to learn to float on his back and swim these last few weeks. He needs more practice for sure but he did it!

Utilizing daddy 

Chasing after objects 

The mastered float

Emily wanting to learn too.

Cute dude.

The kids went to another summer camp learning about the rain forest. They all had a good time and it was nice that they were able to go together.

Of course there was lots of down time and Abby succeeded in pestering the dog most of it.

There were plenty of supplies bought and trying on of new back packs and uniforms.

Seth's Uncle Doug and family passed through town one night and stayed with us. Their kids are roughly the same age as ours and get along pretty well.  Herding cats. Thats what these picture are.

There were plenty of days too where Briggs and Nems would randomly fall asleep from exhaustion. It was Emily's turn. What a comfortable way to sleep...?

I also found out that they spent some time taking selfies on my phone. Even though I had to delete hundreds of photos these tow were to cute and funny to pass up.

Goodbye summer see you next year...

Pregnancy #4 update

After much frustration with blogger I am finally able to post again! So thus comes the bombardment of back blogging. :)

The babies birth is fast approaching. As I write this I have 6 weeks to go! Time has really flown by and I am not sure I am quite ready to be a mommy of 4.

As in a previous post I was diagnosed with bells palsy during these last stages of pregnancy. It was rough but after about 3.5 weeks it began to clear up. Everyday there was a slight progression of healing. If you didn't know I had it, you probably couldn't tell now. However it is still only about 85-90% back to normal. I notice. It drives me a bit mad but its better than complete paralysis.  Its kinda paused in the healing process and its been about a week or so since I had any more improvement so we shall see.

30 Weeks

I am definitely starting to feel this pregnancy. Its hard to bend over, breathe, and function in general. I am in the waddling stage for sure. My bones feel achy  and are preparing for birth and I am exhausted. But thankfully with all of that I am managing. The baby is growing well and the doctor thinks at this point the baby will probably be in the 7 lb range.

The baby is moving quite a bit, mostly at night of course to keep me awake. In general its OK but sometimes there is that one kick or jab that hurts like you know what.

Because of the pressure of the baby and the weight at night I have really bad re flux, one night I woke up gasping for air and I couldn't breathe. Needless to say, I take something every night before I go to bed now.

This little rascal is already trying to give me fits. That all being said, I am really excited to meet this little person growing within. Its an exciting time in our house. The kids cannot wait either. We are on the down hill slope. Now just to get over my anxieties about the c-section...

 32 weeks

Whats it gonna be???? We will find out October 13, 2015!

Project #1

Before

 

There are a lot of projects to be had in our new house. But being pregnant holds me back from tackling many of them. I like to get in and get things done. But since we moved in, this one wall has been bothering me. It had lots of nicks and holes along with random food splatter. It really needed freshened up! I decided to make it an accent wall. Not to mention it was a project I could do by myself while Seth was gone.

 

I had these samples hanging on my wall for a little over a week. I was having a hard time deciding. While I really liked the blue, I kept being drawn to the green colors.

 

Finally one day I was sick of having those up and decided to just throw some color up there.

 

But that in and of it self didn't help because I had a hard time seeing any color up there with all the others on the wall. I took the pictures down and stared some more. I got a few opinions which were mostly for the light blue. Which I also liked but couldn't get the green out of my head.

 

 

One night I decided to use the sample paint to paint over the others I had painted on there so I could  get a feel for it....But once I started I couldn't stop. Before I knew it I had cut in the whole wall and painted a big chunk.

 

 

The next day I bought more paint and it was a done deal. Surprise Seth :)

 

I really do love it. It brings just the right amount of color to the room and goes well because I have other green accents throughout the house.

 

The final touch was our table coming!  It matches the cabinets perfectly and now its a great little nook for all our casual meals.

Photo bombed by Maggie.

Abby's horse adventure

All these pictures I love!

 

One of Abigails closest friends shares the same love of horses as Abby. A huge reason they are such good buddies.  She had a birthday party that involved horses and of course Abby was beyond thrilled.

 

They rode bare back and played games. They had food and so much fun. Abby is such a natural. Maybe one day she will be able to have riding lessons of her own. For now events like these will have to suffice.

 

This was Abby before the party. Dressed in all the right duds.

The realities of Bells Palsy

Above: Some of the first days with Bells, I am actually Smiling in the picture on the left. The one on the right I am raising both my eyebrows but as you can see only one side is working...



Admittedly these pictures are not fun to look at. But the reality is, this is my life right now with Bells Palsy. Its awkward to say these least.

July 16th was like any other day. Busy and crazy. I took the kids to the movies and while there my eye was kind of twitching and burned a little. I also had a bit of tingling in my tongue. I wrote it off to maybe some sort of mild food reaction and maybe allergies with my eye.

Above: This is me before bed. I have to put a thick gel in my eye then tape it shut. Again a smiling and non smiling...Arrrrr



Later that night Seth got home from a week away and we went to dinner. We got the kids ready for bed and my eye was really tearing up. Again I attributed it to allergies. Seth ran to the pharmacy around 8 and I went and brushed my teeth. While brushing my teeth I realized my mouth couldn't hold water. I looked into the mirror and saw what you see in the pictures.  My eyes wouldn't blink, only half my smile was working and I couldn't get anything on the left side of my face to work.

I started to freak out.

 Above: One morning I woke up what looks like a black eye. Its wonderful. I cant wear much make up because I have to constantly manually shut my eye. How do ya like my shiner?


I texted some peeps who I thought had similar  symptoms and they suggested Bells palsy. I commenced looking it up on the internet while waiting for Seth. Once he got home he was concerned as well. I called the on call OB nurse who suggested I go straight to the ER since I was pregnant. GREAT. I thought maybe it was related to a headache I had been having for a few days, at least that was the hope. I get headaches quite often so the longevity of it wasn't any concern to me.

Seth stayed with the Kids and I headed to the ER around 9pm.

Another pre bedtime shot. For some reason when I smile it makes the other side of my face look like I have been stung by bees.

 

 

I got there and was with someone right away. I told them about my headache and that I was there because my face wasn't working. OBVIOUSLY!! I was taken to a room and blood was drawn and they started an IV. The nurse said the doctor had ordered drugs for my headache. I told her I hadn't seen the doctor yet and that I wasnt there for my headache. It was my face! Oh really she said...YES! She told me the doc sometimes orders things before a patient is seen to alleviate the pains before he has time to see you. Ok whatever. It was nice to get rid of that headache.

 

The doctor comes in quite a bit later asking me about my headache, how often I had them etc. Then says "your face is drooping". REALLY???That's weird because that's why I am here! Oh, hmmm....

 

Then he proceeds along another line of questioning and comes with the diagnosis which I pretty much already knew of Bells Palsy.

 

 

I was anxious and ready to go home as it was around 1am and I was exhausted. Finally I was released and on my way and was  told to follow up with my OB.

 

Above:  Almost two weeks in. Most of the make up is rubbed off or looks bad.  Again I am raising both eyebrows in the left picture and my left side remains complete still. The right is an attempted smile. Sometimes its like I invented cam wow

.

 

I called the OB the next day and told him what was going on and he gave me some meds to help possibly prevent nerve damage.

 

At that point I wasn't in much pain more of discomfort from my eye not blinking. I have to tape my eye at night so it doesn't dry out. My working half gets fatigued from overcompensation and my broken side is tender. Its awkward because I have to really careful when I drink or it just leaks out of my mouth. If I am outside for a long period like at the pool I have to tape my eye because it feels like it is being scalded by the sun.

 

For the most part I am dealing. If I am talking to strangers I don't say anything. Cause who cares really. But if I am meeting someone new at church or talking to old friends  I usually mention that  I know I look like a freaking awesome pirate, don't be jealous that I have Bells Palsy.

 

I am thankful that it is not supposedly permanent. It should last a few weeks to months. I am just hoping its gone by the time I have the baby!

 

Overall I am in good spirits and things are being dealt with.

 

Unfortunately the last few days I have been experiencing significant pain around my ear and down my jaw line and neck. It seems to be much worse at night. Why? I have no idea I can only guess. I was given pain meds, they don't work. The first few nights of pain I slept with ice on my face, if you can call it sleep. Then that stopped working. I moved on the heating pad and that helped a bit, not so much anymore. Now I have a heated rice sock....I have used oils and rubs and massage. I am seeing a chiropractor and I have an appointment with neurology soon. Even though the pain is bad, the lack of sleep is really hard. I would guess I get up 12-15 times a night in pain.  Couple that with a husband who has been traveling all week long and is only home on the weekends makes it physically and emotionally troubling at times.

 

But, what can I do? Such is life. Maybe there is something to be learned from this, compassion, patience, long suffering? I am not sure. I have had a priesthood blessing and I know there are many prayers being said on my behalf. Of which I am very grateful. The kids sometimes ask why my smile doesn't work, its cute really. Brigham often hugs me and says "mom I hope your face gets better" which is comforting as well. I appreciate all the offers of help and those who have helped. I know with faith it will all end with a full smile.

 

But for now its a Pirates life for me!