Easter

I never really made plans for Easter this year as I was convinced I would be having a new baby! Fortunatley, other people helped out.

We went to the annual Easter Egg Hunt put on by our friends.

My young women decorated eggs with the boys and played games with them for our activity while I was working on operation exit baby Tess, aka walking.

On Sunday when I didn't have the baby my friend and I collaborated food and had a delicious ham and potatoes meal with a freshly bought banana cream pie. It was great. My friend even busted out the china for the occasion.

39 Weeks

Operation exit baby Tess began immediatly after my baby shower. We thought we were having a baby a few weeks before and then we decided it would be better if we waited so I laid low for a few weeks. However, Tess had another plan despite all of my efforts. I scrubbed my house from top to bottom, I mowed my lawn, I weeded, I moved plants, I walked and walked and walked for miles but to no avail Tess snuggled up and stayed put! At least I was able to get lots of projects completed.

I had never been 39 weeks before so of course I had to document it! Baby Tess was proving to be different from her brothers and needed a little bit more time to catch up in size.

Family Pictures 2010!

We took these last fall when I was only 12 weeks pregnant but I just got the cd with the rest of the pictures so I thought I would post.

Maternity Photos

My friend and I randomly decided to try and take some maternity photos! It was pretty funny trying to take them, but in the end I am glad we did it. This is at 37.5 weeks.

 I love this picture of Ethan! He is always coming up and kissing my belly!

 Every morning Cole climbs into bed and puts his hand on my belly in hopes that she is moving! Usually she cooperates.

37 Weeks

A ride in an ambulance

I can officially say that I have been in an ambulance as a patient! We started the morning off on Tuesday the 5th with some bleeding and a scare that the baby might be in trouble. Matt called 911 per my midwife and they hauled me off to the hospital! Fortunately I was able to get a hold of my friend that arrived right after the ambulance and got the boys. Another friend felt prompted to call and sent her husband to meet us at the hospital (Who presented himself as clergy to get in and was referred to as my pastor during my stay! A helpful hint for anyone that needs a priesthood holder to be there. They were ready to allow him into the OR!). I was whisked into an OR while they started prepping me for an emergency c-section. Well friends, it was a false alarm, the bleeding wasn't coming from the baby, they called off the troops and then just monitored me for the rest of the morning. It was all a very surreal experience. They put me on bed rest for a few days and my ward gathered around and had meals and babysitters lined up for a week! I was overwhelmed by all the love and support from everyone around me. It truly was amazing.

The update is that I have been clearance to get up and if the baby comes I am now considered full term. I felt like she was for sure coming last week and then things calmed down a bit and now feel a little bit like she might come again. It will be a great surprise when she makes it!

Lessons learned from the experience:
When you are close to having a baby ALWAYS keep your hair fixed and a little makeup on! (I looked horrible the entire time and was so worried those memories were going to be implanted on my post baby pictures forever)
Never forget to keep your legs shaved.
Pack your bags when they tell you to.
Keep your phone and camera charged at all times.
Bleeding in pregnancy is more normal than you think.
It is good to have the clothes washed, diapers purchased and the car seat a little bit early.

A sprained arm

We like to keep things exciting in our life so we decided to make at least one more trip to an ER for the week! The story is something to the effect that he was trying to get off the trampoline and landed on his arm.....We took him in for some x-rays but it wasn't broken and they sent us home. We happen to have an orthopedic surgeon (yes, you have heard of him, he is the same guy that stitched Ethan up after we had invited them over for dinner!) in our ward who saw his arm and decided to take over his care! He said it was so swollen that he needed a splint. This is what he ended up with. Cole is the ever great patient claiming immobility and demanding snacks and drinks on the couch while he watched TV! He will have this on for 7 days and then we will re-evaluate the situation!

What we did while Matt was away and things we missed most!

While Matt was gone it POURED with rain almost the entire time and it happened to cross a spring break when most of our friends were out of town! We got creative and hit all of the indoor events we could find. The boats at the mall, McDonalds, McDonalds, and McDonalds! I also decided we should try and meet with a realtor to see if we could sell our house this summer which means I cleaned and scoured the entire house and worked out in the yard for several hours.

I went on a cooking strike and the boys were happy as clams eating nuggets, pizza and quesadillas. Their favorite meal had to be the cereal we ate one night! They revolted quite heavily when Matt returned and they had to eat healthy nutritious meals again!

I also decided it would be funny to chop off my hair while he was away and then wait until he noticed! I gave him about 30-45 minutes to notice on his own with the alert that we had a surprise for him and he didn't until I shook my head in his face! I guess we will chock that up to jet lag.....I did, however, tell him that the chiropractor noticed as soon as I saw him and so did Cole's preschool teacher!

The new look. I have to say I LOVE it. It is so much easier to fix and looks good longer!

The things I/we missed the most:

Having Dad around on Sunday. (We ended up missing Sacrament Meeting one day because we never got the memo that it was daylight savings!)

A warm body next to me at night to keep the nightmares away!

Someone who locked up the house for the night.

Someone to change all the light bulbs.

Someone to get things off the high shelves, move furniture and set up stuff.

A visit with Adrienne

When I knew Matt was going to be in Africa for two weeks I called my friend Adrienne and told her to come for a visit! We had a fabulous time. We went shopping, went to the flight museum, ate Thai and Indian food, made paella and tortilla and it was just plain nice to have an adult to talk to for an entire weekend! She made the two weeks go by just a little bit faster.

 Ethan during our shopping!

 The boys and I standing outside of an Air Force one at the Flight Museum.

 Ethan.

 Dad called while we were there!

 Cole being cool as a cucumber.

 Adrienne posing!

Ethan attached himself to Adrienne for the entire weekend! He was her best friend and was very sad to see her leave!

Pictures of the the Ghana life

This is when their bus broke down!

 A lizard.

 The boys loved this pictures with the ladies carrying things on their heads!

 Wild horses.

The coast.

More Ghana

Here are pictures of Matt that one of his classmates took!

 At the temple.

 At the reserve.

 At a slave castle.

Chillin.