Andy's Halloween Costumes

Andy amazes me with his ability to make costumes! He is so creative! Here is a look at all of his costumes he has made over the years! AMAZING!!

2004 Oscar the Grouch


2005- Tin Man



2006- SpongeBob


2007- Headless Horseman

2008- Army Toy

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

We had our branch (church) Halloween party this last Wed. night and the kids had a blast! Eric went as Spiderman and Alex as Tinkerbell. It was so much fun getting them ready and seeing their excitement! I'm sure I'll be posting more pictures after tonight's fun trick-or-treating!!

Andy and Alex drawing monsters!

Eric playing games...He got ONE!

So funny to see them trying so hard not to use hands!

Poor Alex couldn't help but use her hands!

Eric coming out of the maze!

Tinkerbell and Spiderman!!

A little of everything...

The kids painted their pumpkins yesterday and had so much fun! I stripped them down to their diapers and underwear and they hardly got dirty...YAHOO!! The only one to get paint in their hair was Noah...shocking! :) Ryleigh was so good the whole time they were painting. She just sat in her chair she loves so much! I'm posting a picture of Alex from this morning. I was in the kitchen getting breakfast ready when she started whining. I asked Eric what was wrong with her and he tried telling me but I couldn't understand him (speech starts next week). She woke up with a fever and a tummy ache so I thought maybe she was just being cranky. I told her to come into the kitchen and help me get breakfast ready. Eric said she couldn't because she was "stepping on something"...or so I thought that's what he was saying. She gets herself up on things and can't get down so I figured that's what she had done. I went in to see what she was "stepping" on...he was saying "CHOKING". She had her head through the handle of this mesh clothes basket we have and then had it twisted. She was really CHOKING. It was so scary...I could hardly get it off of her and almost ran to get the scissors to cut it off. The picture I took isn't very good but its almost like she has rope burn. The picture was taken 1/2 hour to 45 minutes after it happened. Most of the marks are gone now but there are still some on the side of her neck. I cut the handles off of it so it never happens again. Things happen so fast and I'm just really lucky Eric was here to let me know what was going on. SCARY. Does anyone else ever feel like they are just living day to day...like they are in a fog?? I can't shake it...maybe its from having 3 kids plus Noah?? Maybe its from everything that's been going on lately?? Maybe a mixture of both?? My heart aches. I miss my Lisa and worry about her. I know she has awesome people in Idaho but my heart still hurts. Eric keeps saying "uh-oh mommy's crying again..." and asks me when I'm going to stop crying. I'm just so sad. I feel really alone but I'm busy all the time so I don't know how I have time to feel this way. Something is definitely missing in my life. I don't know what. Maybe SLEEP??
Blah...sorry this was a post about the kids. I really am grateful for all that I have. I complain so much. I really am blessed and have so much.

I DID IT!!

I DID IT!! I made it through an entire workout video! YAHOO!! And it really sucked!! haha I'm so glad I did it though! Ryleigh stayed sleeping and the kids for the most part stayed out of my way! This is the first time since having Ryleigh that I've done an entire workout video! My 'scar' from the c-section felt really tight the entire time I worked out and I have a pulled tendon in my abdomen area that is really sore but I DID IT!! Now my plan is to get on the treadmill once the kids go down for naps...if Ryleigh cooperates. I'm really mad at myself for putting so much weight on and for not working out more while I was pregnant. Now I get to work really hard to get it off...blah!!!! 60 DAYS!!

The kids thought it was fun to work out with me...for like 2 minutes! Then they gave up!!

60 Days

Only 60 days until Christmas!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas!! ...but this is not about how many days until Christmas...it's about how many days I have to get back into my pre-prego clothes! With everything that has been going on lately I have had to give up the diet/working out but I'm back and starting strong! So here we go AGAIN! How awesome would it be if I'm back into my clothes by Christmas?? SO awesome! And Andy seems to really be motivating me. He has a big dumb mouth that keeps saying the wrong things and makes me feel really gross and it really hurts my feelings but at the same time really gets me wanting to get this stuff off of me. Guess I can't really blame him...he just doesn't think before he talks! But what guy does?!?!
...60 DAYS!!

Thank you so much to everyone that shared their thoughts and testimonies with me. It has helped me so much to hear that you all really -truly- firmly believe in the gospel and have strong testimonies of it. I said I was searching for my "ahh ha"...searching for what my testimony really is. Last Friday (when I wrote that blog looking for answers) was the worst day of my life. I hope I never have another day that even comes close to that one. My sister and cousin both attend BYU-Idaho. They were driving to Utah for the weekend so my sister could start looking for a job as she is almost done with school. They were south of Pocatello when a moose ran out in front of them. I'm not going to blog very much about this as it is so very devastating. My cousin died at the scene and my sister somehow had minor injuries. Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and it is His will in our lives. We have this time on earth to learn and to grow and to repent. This is our test...the reason we are here on this earth. I know that Heavenly Father loves each of us individually and he doesn't allow things to happen to hurt us. I am devastated by the loss of my cousin but I know that I can see her again and that our loving Heavenly Father has other plans for her than what we expected or wanted. It is His will and he knows better than us and we need to understand and trust in that. My amazing beautiful sister has such a strong and firm testimony of the gospel and as fearful of seeing people and causing lots of attention as she was she so badly wanted to attend sacrament meeting and partake of the sacrament. She just amazes me. We went to her ward for sacrament meeting and one of the hymns we sang was I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go. This was a very hard song for me to sing but it was sweet and helped me so much. I am grateful to have the gospel in my life and I'm grateful for the knowledge we have of eternal families. I don't think our families could get through this time if we didn't have the gospel. I am so grateful I still have my Lisa. I can't say more about this as my heart is so full. She is amazing and beautiful and I love her so much. I am so grateful I got to drive out with my parents to get her. My arms just ached to hold her. She is so strong and we will all get through this.

It may not be on the mountain height or over the stormy sea,
It may not be at the battle's front My Lord will have need of me.
But if, by a still, small voice he call To paths that I do not know,
I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine: I'll go where you want me to go.

I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, Over mountain or plain or sea;
I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord; I'll be what you want me to be.

Perhaps today there are loving words Which Jesus would have me speak:
There may be now in the paths of sin Some wand'rer whom I should seek.
O Savior, if thou wilt be my guide, Tho dark and rugged the way,
My voice shall echo the message sweet: I'll say what you want me to say.

I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, Over mountain or plain or sea;
I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord; I'll be what you want me to be.

There's surely somewhere a lowly place in earth's harvest fields so wide
Where I may labor through life's short day For Jesus, the Crucified.
So trusting my all to thy tender care, And knowing, thou lovest me,
I'll do thy will with a hear sincere: I'll be what you want me to be.

I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, Over mountain or plain or sea;
I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord; I'll be what you want me to be.

Help

Any LDS bloggers who may read this blog...I need your help. Please, if you will, share with me why you believe our church is the true church. I realize with conference 2 weeks behind us I should be on a spiritual high right now... Please just give me something...anything...something that will make me remember or realize...make me go "ahh ha, what was I thinking to doubt it?". And please do not judge me...I'm not at a good place right now.

WEAK

I am seriously sucking at this diet! I have yet to workout let alone walk a mile every day. I'm so weak when it comes to diets...If I told you all I've eaten today is a bowl of cheerios at 6:45 this morning, carrot and celery sticks at lunch and more carrot and celery sticks for snack just now you might think I'm not doing so horribly. ...The carrot and celery sticks were covered in peanut butter. LOTS and LOTS of peanut butter. NOT GOOD! But even with the peanut butter I'm doing better today than I have all week. Tomorrow's a new day and I just won't add the peanut butter!! It's so good though!! The really sad thing is that I have a slight reaction when I eat peanut butter. My lips get itchy and really sore...so you'd think I wouldn't eat it...you'd think.

3 strikes you're out?

Last night Alex tripped while going up the stairs to bed. I didn't see it happen but she must have face planted into the stairs because she ended up having a bloody nose and a fat lip. Strike 1!
Now tonight she was walking in the living room and just face planted into the floor. No bloody nose this time but she bled from the mouth and made her fat lip come back! I was holding Ryleigh and had to lay her down so I asked Alex to go into the bathroom. Her hands were all bloody from holding her mouth so the light switch, wall and sink were all covered with blood. Not being dramatic...there was lots of blood! It was really gross! I don't know if you can really see it in the pictures I'm posting but she also has like rug burn on her chin. Poor girl! Strike 2!
If there is a strike 3 (keep your fingers crossed there isn't) I'm sure it will end up with her knocking herself out!

Here We Go...

"It took 9 months to put it on...It'll take 9 months to take it off"...so says my doctor about my pregnancy weight gain. I'm out to prove him wrong! It started falling off nicely while I was breastfeeding but then when I quit I put a little back on and now I'm just kinda stuck. I gained 30 lbs with this last pregnancy and still have 10 of it to lose...but LOTS of firming up to do!! :) I don't want to do any hardcore workouts yet as I'm not supposed to do anything for 6 weeks and it's only been 3. I am however going to walk at least 1 mile everyday and do my "easy" workout video and be careful of what I am eating. I did part of a workout video last week (until I was interrupted by Ryleigh!) and just wanted to roll over and die! It sucks being SO out of shape! But I'm sure it'll get easier as I go as long as I stick with it! My goal is to have it all gone and be back into all my old clothes by Christmas. I would say Thanksgiving but I get the feeling that won't be long enough for Miss Inconsistent over here!
WISH ME LUCK!!

Not that i'm a huge fan of getting struck by lightening but I have to say that somedays I think its obvious I was created by a MALE. At least that's how i've been feeling since I had Ryleigh...child number 3. We aren't going to get into the "poor me, why do I have to be female and have to have a period and hormones blah blah blah"...although I do wonder that once in a while! I am wondering why God only gave me 2 arms. Yah, that worked when I had 2 kids!! I could manage 2 kids and cooking and housework etc with 2 arms...now that we have 3 kids those things aren't as manageable. So this is what i'm thinking...If I were to make a woman...haha...I'd make it where if/when needed she could pop out extra arms! Take me for instance, the breastfeeding didn't work out this time around so I don't need boobs for anything...what a perfect place for an extra set of arms!! Imagine the advantages of that! I could get so much more done!! Ok, so it might freak Andy out a little bit but I would bet meals would be on time, the house clean, kids under control and Ryleigh content! Hey, if we are able to grow a human inside of us for 9 whole months we should be able to grow an extra set of arms from time to time!!
Haha I'm such a dork!!

Just a Picture Post

So frustrating...

Having 3 kids is a lot harder than I had thought it would be. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE having all 3 of them and feel so incredibly blessed. Ryleigh has just not been a happy baby. She sleeps ALL the time...I know that's usual for newborns but she does it more than normal. When she's awake she's eating and I'm unbelievably sore because she's not latching on right and before she's full she falls asleep. If she is awake and not eating she's crying all the time. She just hasn't been very content. Nights have been a nightmare as she is waking up wanting to eat and I'm so so tired and it hurts so bad that I can hardly feed her laying down. Yesterday I got what I thought was a blocked milk duct so I'm even more sore. Oh my goodness is the pain unreal. I never once cried because of the pain of my c-section but last night that's all I could do is cry. I took two hot showers, put hot wet towels on...and went to bed early. I think I had a fever because I was so freezing cold and could not warm up but then woke up really hot and my whole body was wet from sweating. Part of my crying all night was due to the fact that Andy went out and bought formula and bottles and we got her started on that. That's right...I'm giving up the breast feeding. I feel like a woman who has had her breasts cut off...I seriously mourned the fact that I am unable to continue breast feeding. It was such a beautiful experience with Alex and I really loved the bonding we had. Me and Ryleigh just aren't working out together. And I would continue to cry and be sad about it except that I've seen how much better she already is today. She gulped down two bottles last night so that tells me she was hungry so maybe I was kind of starving her?? She slept in her bassinet all night with only one bottle at 3 AM...before she was up all night and had to sleep with us. And now today she has been awake so much more and really content. She just sits and looks around and isn't crying. Its amazing. She's a completely different baby today than she was yesterday. Luckily she had her 2 week check up today. I say luckily but its not really all that lucky. Her doctor looked at my boob that hurts so bad and said its not a blocked milk duct but rather Mastitis?? A breast infection. So now I'm taking something to take care of that and she said if I were to not take it I would end up having puss come out of my nipples. How insane is that? However the lucky but unlucky news is that she took Ryleigh's diaper off that Andy had seriously JUST changed due to poopy pants and we discovered she had pooped AGAIN. All of a sudden she asks very concerned if Ryleigh has had blood in her stool for a while. ??? WHAT??? We had never noticed it before so she took her diaper to lab and sure enough it really is blood. So she is thinking Ryleigh has a milk allergy. So is that an allergy to the formula she's been on less than 24 hours?? She gave us some other formula's to try and hopefully they work. I just don't understand why she is so content if she all of a sudden has an allergy. She said blood in a baby's stool is alarming and is never a good thing so if that's the only sign she's going to give us that she has an allergy than I'll take it. I just would think she'd be fussy??
Anyway...I hope we can get this all figured out. It's really overwhelming and emotionally draining. I'm glad its almost the weekend and Andy will be able to be home. That will be nice.