Catching up

I have, obviously not been very consistent with this whole blogging thing, but it was fun to read the few posts that I had created, so I'm determined to try again! 2013 was a wonderful year for our family, which brought us our first daughter! We welcomed Charlotte Jane into our family on November 11, 2013! My pregnancy with her was fairly easy, other than the fact that I was constantly reminded how incredibly large people thought that I was. I hear that many pregnant women get this all of the time! But for me, it was like a flashback to my childhood. You see, I was always an overweight kid and I was made fun of for it! I worked hard after high school to lose all of my excess weight ... not without difficulty, I might add! So, gaining weight, even though it's for a good reason, isn't easy for me! It definitely wasn't easy when people would let me know how extremely large they thought I was getting and insisting that there MUST be 2 babies in there! And then 2 weeks before my sweet daughter was due, Patrick's last week of vacation was scheduled, even though he was supposed to be able to use it after Charlotte was born .... and we were still waiting for a baby. And then my best friend, Kuulei Harker left for Utah for 5 or 6 weeks. Then my baby brother Stein and his family left for Arizona to have a heart consultation (that's another story in itself). After Stein's consultation they wanted to do his heart surgery right away, so he was scheduled to have open heart surgery the 15 of November! Just 5 days after my due date. So, needless to say, I started stressing out over my daughter coming! So I waited and waited and waited, what felt like forever! Then the Sunday before Charlotte was due, Stein came home to get some things in order and Amber left with him to Arizona. I was devastated! I was scared. I was angry. I didn't blame Stein for wanting family around him, but I also didn't want to have my baby alone. It was a hard time for me. You see, I tend to have very fast labors and I was afraid of what might happen if I went into labor while Patrick was at work and I was at home, alone, with my 2 boys, and my entire family was gone!? It scared me. Anyway, on top of my entire family getting ready to head to Arizona, my other dear friend, Carrie Jones was moving (I miss that family!), my 2 sister missionary friends were both being transferred on November 11... November 11, is the morning that I got a call from Dr Vigneri at 730 in the morning. He called to tell me that he had an opening that morning for an induction. I immediately said I'd take it! Then he reminded me that inductions increase your chances for a C-section and complications, so I prayed and I talked to Patrick quickly, and felt like it was the only choice after Dr Vigneri let me know that he would be leaving town on Wednesday! My first thought was, "Is this a joke!? How is it that my family is leaving (Stein, Kyla and Amber were already gone and parent's were leaving on Wednesday, the same day as Dr Vigneri), my 1 best friend is gone, my other best friend is moving TOMORROW, these 2 missionaries that I love are both being transferred today, Patrick is out of vacation time AND my doctor is leaving too!?" I literally felt like I was cursed. So, off to the hospital I went! I arrived at the hospital around 8:30 a.m. Dr. Vigneri came in around 9:30 a.m., after I'd gotten all of my paper work done and I.V.'s in. He started the induction process by inserting a pill that would cause my cervix to soften and possibly start dilating. He told me that we would just have to see what would happen and he would be back around noon to check on me and break my water. So... the process began. I lost track of time, but the Sister Missionaries stopped by to say "Goodbye", which was wonderful! And I miss them! They, literally, missed meeting Charlotte by about an hour! Anyway, somewhere in between 9:30 a.m. and noon my contractions starting getting hard and lost my resolve that have that baby without an epidural, like I had done with McKay. So, I got the epidural, which sadly, never fully kicked in! It took the edge off of the pain that I was having my back, but that was about it ... not worth it! If I have another baby, I'm making myself stay strong and do without the epidural! Then my mom showed up at about noon to see how I was doing; Dr. Vigneri came in behind her to check me. So, my mom stepped out to grab some lunch in the cafeteria. Dr. Vigneri checked me and I was dilated to an 8! He said, "Oh, she'll probably have 2 more contractions and be ready to go! She goes fast!" I laughed, in my head! I thought, "Ya right!" Well, it was probably 2 contractions later and felt like I needed to push! She was coming!!! FINALLY!!! So, I push the first time, expecting to feel pain relief like I did with McKay, but that was not the case! This baby was coming out face up, and let me tell you, that does not feel good! I won't go into too much gory detail, but I had to get an episiotomy, and he used forceps, and my epidural didn't work, so I felt EVERYTHING! But I have to say here, that I believe in God and His ability to help us when we ask for it! I asked for His help and I fully believe that he sent His angels to help me deliver a beautiful and healthy 7 pound 3 ounce, 21 1/2 in long, perfect baby girl! She was finally here!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel like I have been waiting for this girl for a long time and she finally decided to grace us with her presence at about 12:50 p.m. on Monday November 11, 2013! Now, let me fast forward to now. I think I'll start with a brief summary of who we are today and then go from there another day. Patrick is the best man I could've ever asked for! He is my right hand. He is my partner. He is the love of my life! I love the quote, "Everybody has a love story, but ours is my favorite." That's how I feel about Patrick. I feel so lucky that I found him! I'm so grateful that he has, and is willing to have, a job that is sufficient to support our little family, so that I can stay home and raise our children. I am so grateful that he's a father that is invested in the lives of his children! He loves these kids, and I really couldn't ask for more than that! Jeremiah is 4, soon to be 5. ... Just typing that brings tears to my eyes! I can't believe that my oldest son is almost 5! Where has that time gone???? He is currently in Preschool at Shepherd of the Hills and his teacher is Mrs. Hagan. He LOVES Mrs. Hagan! She is a wonderful teacher to these little people! He also gets to go to school with his best buddy and cousin Brody! A few weeks ago I attended my very first parent/teacher conference and it was wonderful! She let me know that there are times when Jeremiah likes to talk too much or that he has endless amounts of energy, but that he is a smart boy and he's a good boy! Let me tell you, if you know Jeremiah, you know these things about him! He starting talking at 10 months old and hasn't stopped since! He's a quick learner too. ... He loves school. He can write his first name, we're currently working on writing his last name. He knows all of his zoo-phonics and signals for the alphabet. He can recognize every letter in the alphabet. He is so cute lately. We'll say a word, like "Fridge". And Jeremiah will say, "Fridge. Like "ffff". Like Franky Fish!" It's so cute to see him discover the world of reading! His favorite book, right now, is "The Cat in the Hat". He'll stand up, pretend that he's balancing on a ball and say, "Look. I am The Cat in the Hat. I can do everything." And then he will fall down and bonk his head! Hahaha. It's pretty adorable! He's also a pretty good helper around the house. He will keep an eye on Charlotte for me when I have to leave the room for a few seconds, because McKay can't seem to not try and pick her up! He sets the table. He vacuums. He cleans under the stairs and he picks up his toys (most of the time). He even helped me make cookies today, and he did a really good job! He is a wonderful first child! So helpful! McKay is 2 and a little fire ball! He has become and loving little boy with a vibrant personality! He wasn't sure about Charlotte when we first brought her home, but he adores her now! In fact, today I was holding Charlotte on the couch and he jumped up and gave her a big kiss on the head! It was just about the cutest thing ever! McKay LOVES to tease! He will tell me that he's daddy's boy just to get me to tickle him! He thinks he's so smart and so funny! His most common phrase is, "Lights off scare me". He's afraid of he dark! But his vocabulary and ability to form sentences is just sky rocketing right now! It's so fun to hear him talk more and more every day! McKay loves Lightning McQueen and Spiderman (super hero's in general) and his Papa! Yesterday, he went and put his cowboy boots on, so naturally we asked where he was going? "To Papa's house!" he said! It was adorable. He is best buddies with his cousin Talon! McKay and Talon are only 10 days apart! It's so fun that they have been able to grow up together! Charlotte is 3 months old! Time is flying. She has been able to roll from her tummy to her back since she was only a few weeks old! She's strong, just like her brothers! (I guess she better be, because they're pretty crazy!) She is almost sitting up! She loves to make spit bubbles. She has excellent eye contact. She was 13 pounds last week at her dr. visit. She is the sweetest little baby! We all just adore her! She's the perfect addition to this crazy little family!