Christmas!

For Christmas we went back to California again this year. Lots of fun! The kids and I got to be there 2 weeks and Zarik was there a week, then flew back out for 2 days to pick us up (watch for the post on that!).

We had lots of fun hanging out with our families! Flene is pregnant again and was looking so cute with her baby belly! Jonathan's fiance Brittany was pregnant for Christmas (popped about a week later!). The kids loved seeing all their different aunts, uncles, grandparents, grandmother's dogs, cousins, etc. We were bad about getting pictures, but here are some from Christmas. Be sure to look through them all as I have pictures of my new nephew, Kayden at the bottom!

The Christmas Tree


Mika brought an Ariel with her, and got another one for Christmas! TWO Ariel's!


Grandma Minnie, Urijah, Jon, and Brittany


Shanna and Bobby - Brandon got them cool shirts that light up when they're close to each other, and go out when they're separated!


Papa played Santa


G-ma made sure she got it all on video


Mika had fun opening all her presents!


Kayden Scott! 12-30-09 7lbs1oz, 19"


Here's a cool montage of Kayden's first photoshoot!

Kayden Parsons from LivingStone Photography on Vimeo.

And baby makes three FIVE!

So I know this is really late coming out. But here you go!

We're pregnant! Again! And if this baby comes on it's due date, We will have 3 under 3 for 2 days. And the crazy thing is, this baby was planned. I know. We must be nuts, haha. But we definitly felt that it was time.

So, as most of the women I know know, I am very in tune with my body. And as I joke, I know too much about fertility. I knew over a week before I could test that I was pregnant. And a few days after I knew, I had my first scare. I was spotting. I know most women would just say "oh my period's coming", but like I said - I'm very in tune with my body and knew I was pregnant already. I suspected that I had a progesterone deficiency, so I anxiously waited until I saw the proof the dr's would need:



(BTW, isn't that ClearBlue test cool? It actually tells you how far along you are! The tests aren't available in the US yet, but I found them on EBay. I'm a nerd.)

I called my Certified Nurse Midwife immediately and they sent me for bloodwork that day. The next morning I got the confirmation and they called in a prescription for synthetic progesterone for me that day.

About two weeks later I went in for my first appointment and got an ultrasound! We could barely see the baby, but it had a heartbeat!!



During the weeks before my appointment, Zarik and I had been talking and praying about the care provider and place of birth we wanted for this birth. Our insurance changed as of January (locked in as of October) which opened up different options to us. After much consideration we decided on going with a midwife and a homebirth. So when we came back from California after Christmas, we met with our new midwife. She had a bit of a hard time finding li'l bean's heartbeat (li'l bean is my nickname for this one) with the doppler so she did an ultrasound too!



So far this has been a decent pregnancy. I have had morning *ahem* all-day sickness since about 5 1/2 weeks along. However, it's been better than with Mika and Urijah. I haven't lost any weight this time. I've been able to eat more than cheese and crackers. And at 13 weeks (where I am now) I'm starting to get my appetite back even though my gag reflex is still sensitive. We'll be seeing the midwife every three weeks for our appointments and I'm getting chiropractic care weekly like with Mika and Urijah.

So there you are! As crazy as we may be, at least they'll all be out of the house early, haha!!

Better late than never!

So, my muddled brain thought that I had no Halloween pictures from this year. I was right that I didn't get any from Boo at the Zoo, Treat Street or the Harvest Fest. BUT - when I turned on my camera to take a couple pictures this last weekend (I know, I really need to step up the pictre taking, lol) I found a bunch of cute pictures of the kids at Shanna's work! They had a little "trick or treat" time the friday before Halloween for their workers kids, and Shanna invited us. So here are my "better late than never" Halloween Pictures!

A General Update

So it was pointed out to me that it's been a while - again. I guess when there's not a lot going on I find it hard to find "exciting" things to blog about. I should probably get over that, huh? :-) So, what has been going on with us lately?

Mika can now count to 10 and do most of her ABC's! Such a smart girl. :-) She still is completely in love with animals. We haven't started potty training yet because she is just not ready. We may do a "crash course" to see if we can get going on that before Christmas, though.

Urijah is now 1!! Big guy! As Halloween was his birthday, and Zarik was gone, we didn't to a traditional party. We just did all the "Halloween-y" things like going to Treat Street at the High School and the Harvest Festival at a local church. (Can I say how grateful I am for indoor Halloween activities here in Colorado? I can? Good. I am very grateful for them.) I don't know if I ever mentioned, but he started crawling about 2 and a half months ago and is now all over the place, up the stairs, and into the dog food. He also cruises along furniture VERY well and we are encouraging his walking skills. His favorite thing in the world is DOORS. Yes, you read that right. DOORS. He could open and close doors all day long. We don't usually have to worry about him going into a room we don't want him because he stops at the entrance and plays with the door!

Zarik has been working a lot. Last month I saw him a total of 6 days, and the 6th he wasn't actually supposed to be here, so it was a blessing! Some of that was other trips, but it was really hard. He's going to be here a lot more this month, and I'm grateful for that. The kids and I have been busy with MOPS, Bible Study, and just general day to day living. I also had Munchkin Market though my MOPS group last month, which is a HUGE consignment sale/kids rummage sale. As a steering member, I am there the entire time, so my mom came out to watch the kids for me. A million thanks, again, Mom! You Rock!!

That's pretty much it for now. I've been really bad about taking pictures, but I'll try to put some up soon.

Random Wanderings

*NOTE* This is the third post I've done today on activities we've done this summer. So don't forget to scroll down and check the others out!

Lately we've discovered that one of our favorite things to do is take random road trips. Just in the last two weeks we drove out to Buena Vista just to see the river and get some coffee, to the Denver Aquarium, and finally on a loop from Woodland Park through St. George to Tarryall Rd, then took Tarryall to the Reservoir, then up to the 285, then down Pine Valley Rd to Deckers, over to 67, and back to WP. Ok, ok, just look HERE to see where we went. Anyways, here are some videos and pictures from our trip to Tarryall:

Walkin' around the shore of Tarryall Reservoir


Throwing Rocks in Tarryall Reservoir


Aren't they cute?


Mika in front of the Reservoir


Urijah found some things to play with on the shore


Pretty Girl


On the Road Again...


Self Portrait (hey, I gotta get myself in here somehow!)


Pit Stop!


Mmmm...Ice Cream!


Adventures in Feeding...


...on the Road

Fishies!

One of the things we really wanted to do this summer was visit the Denver Aquarium. Although it doesn't compare to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (really, what aquarium does?), it's very cute, has a good amount of sharks, TONS of fish (Dori was in almost every other tank - a real crowd pleaser, lol), and you can pet sting rays!

Mika wasn't quite as excited as we thought she'd be - I think the bigger fish and some of the dark "tunnels" scared her - she did LOVE finding all the Dori's, haha!

A video of Zarik and the kids in front of one of the big tanks


This video is dark, but I think the effect with the sharks is cool


Our friend Sean joined us. Group shot!


A random trout


Look! Dori!


We see you! (this was a bubble where you can look out of the bottom of the tank.)


Hi Mika! (ditto)


See Dori behind her?

The 5 Days That Became 3 Weeks

We had an extended vacation to visit our families this summer! Although, it wasn't planned to be as long as it turned out...

We planned on staying for five days. I had to tell my mom that we were going to be spending most of the time with the Brost family, since we hadn't had a lot of time with them since Christmas. She understood, but was bummed, of course. The reason we "had" to leave was because Zarik had to be at work. So after our five days were up, we go to the airport. We went later in the day because the loads looked decent. Well, unfortunately, a flight was delayed and screwed everything up. So we were stuck for that night. On the way home we decided that the kids and I should stay for another 3 days to a week while Zarik went to work, and then he'd come get us. When he came back, we went wakeboarding with his brother, and Zarik broke his face.

Do I have your attention now? Hehe!

What happened was Zarik fell hard - on the handle or just the water, we're not sure - but didn't know he'd really hurt himself. Later on he went to equalize the pressure in his ears (you know - plug your nose and blow) and all the air escaped his sinuses and went under his eye!!!



After calling around to Stara and Flene (who are both into medicine - Stara has her EMT licence and is looking at Physical Therapy while Flene is a Physicians Assistant), my mom's eye doctor, and Kaiser, we determined that what had happened was his eye was tramatized, but it displaced the trama to the bones around his eye. This cracked the ethmoid bone which allowed air to escape the sinuses. We decided it would be best to go to Urgent Care because it probably wouldn't be good to fly with this injury and Zarik would need a note for work. Sure 'nough, he was grounded for at least another week! Since he had about five days off after he was cleared to fly again, we just stayed for a week after that, too! It was a total God thing that Zarik got the injury he got, with no complications (his sister was all "I'm glad the air bubble didn't go to your brain!"). We couldn't think of any other injury that would totally trap in California, and yet not really limit his fun.

So here are some snippits from our trip:

We all drew "tattoos" on eachother


I keep trying to convince Zarik he needs a real one


Swinging on the Rope Swing at Kidd Lake


Hanging on my parents' pontoon boat


Mika swimming with Mommy


Urijah swimming with Daddy


Sleepy Boy


Sophie!


Cute couple, if I do say so myself. :-)


Lion Towel


Mika turned 2! Mommy made her cake!


Hanging with Mommy


Janis, Jackie, and Kailah dancing on the pontoon boat


We got lots of Grandma time in