Traditions

Writing letters to Santa has become one of our favorite traditions. The kids really enjoy letting him know that they've been "nice" and then listing a few gifts they would really appreciate getting on Christmas! :)

 Of course, we also love the tradition of visiting Santa every year. As much as they would love to go to the North Pole and meet all the elves and Mrs. Claus too. . .they understand that we're lucky to catch him where and when we can as he's so busy around Christmas! This was at a bookstore where Kyra performed in her choir:

Darci got lucky and got to see Santa again with her cousins at the library for preschool:

One tradition that we enjoy each year with Dave's cousins is making cookie trains. . .it's amazing the work parents will put into helping their kids have a great time! We do it because it's worth it, not because it's easy! :)

So Thankful. . .

We had such a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with my dad and many of my siblings. I LOVE having the cousins together and watching them have so much fun. We all gathered in Af and Chris's club house. It was perfect. The kids watched Toy Story 3, we played games, perused the sales, and of course ate lots of yummy food. :)

and, of course, I caught Hobie cheating!! hee hee

Family Pics. . .need I say more?!

I once got all my kids (back when I just had three) to Kiddie Kandids for pictures and by time we were called the kids were tired. . .I remember thinking, "this girl better be able to get a good picture because it was so hard getting here." When she couldn't easily, she just looked at me and calmly said, "maybe you should just come back tomorrow." I knew immediately that she didn't have kids. . .and I wanted to strangle her! It is nearly impossible to get all of the kids PLUS me AND Dave dressed somewhat similar, in clean clothes, with hair done, make-up on, faces/noses clean AND everyone happy at the same time. . .I decided the ONLY time that ever even ALMOST happens is on Sunday RIGHT before church! So, luckily I have a sister who could come over at that time and take a few pics for us last week. Then there's the big decision of WHERE to have the pic taken. This time we chose the center of our home. . .in front of the fireplace. Turned out you can see the pic of the temple in the back too--very cool! :) Anyway, YAY, we got a pretty good one, plus one of Dave and his boys and me with my girls. . .why do we do that? I don't know, I guess just because we can:

My sister Chrissy had the funniest post a couple years ago where she posted all the "out-takes" it took before getting a good picture. It made me laugh so hard, so I figured I'd copy her if I ever could. . .too bad I didn't remember until now because I've already gone through and deleted all the "bad" ones. But, believe me, we had Kaleb with his WHOLE fist in his mouth, Mark pouting with a frown because we made him take off his glasses (glare), Darci with a forced fake smile because we were yelling at her to "look at the CAMERA and SMILE", Kyra scrunching her face and looking away because Kaleb had her hair in his fist (and, yes, the one that was all the way in his mouth), and of course, me sweating to death because I've been running around trying to have everyone ready at the same time. Dave got to just get himself dressed, stand in for a few pics, and being the "guy" that he is, got to announce after about 10 snaps "we better have a good one, because this is the last one I'm standing here for!" :)

Weekend with my SISTERS!

I just LOVE sister time, friend time, family time, neighbor time. . .any time I can be with those I love and get to know them better, build connections, and engage in bonding time! In all reality, I think that IS what life is about! Well, ok, that AND proving ourselves, but our relationships we build and the help we give to one another is a major part of what we'll take with us to the next life! Can't you just imagine that someday we'll be looking back on our lives on Earth and wonder why we didn't spend more time helping others? I think you need to really know people to really be able to help them, and to really know people you have to really spend some time with them! Anyway, since I'm already all over the place, I'll just throw this in too: I was just telling Kyra this morning that we must've been such great friends in Heaven that we actually got to share our time on Earth together and in such a close way as mother and daughter! How blessed we are to have families, neighbors, wards, friends, etc. to help us through our time here and to make the ride so enjoyable! :):):) I know that where we are is no accident and we shouldn’t take anyone around us for granted! I understand there must be opposition in all things. . .for us to completely understand what we have, we must first go without. I've never been without my sisters and therefore have probably taken for granted their presence for much of my life. But, my SIL Michelle who has no sisters (although she gained 7+ when she married my brother!) reminded me once of how blessed I am and I've never forgotten it. I truly am blessed, and even more so that I actually get to live VERY close to many of them, in this way my children are blessed also to be able to grow up with their cousins! :) Anyway, to get to my point, I had the best weekend with my sisters and my moms! We got to spend two full days together talking, laughing (of course), playing games, going out, and pampering ourselves. Here are some pics: Oh, but first I want to write “anyway” one more time: Anyway, I think I have now achieved my goal of never making sense when I blog!

Zumba baby!

Trip to the temple

Out to lunch

Witches night at Gardner Village

Back massages!

Our new hair colors/styles, freshly manicured/pedicured nails, AND waxed brows/faces! hee hee

Do LESS?!

I just came across this talk again and would love to hear your views on it. What does this mean to YOU? Have you really done anything DIFFERENT since hearing this?

Excerpt from "Mothers Who Know" by Julie Beck (Relief Society General President):

Mothers Who Know Do Less


Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord’s kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power.

Please share your thoughts. . .

Round-brush of DEATH!

So, I got my hair cut again, and my awesome stylist told me for the third time that I need to buy a bigger round brush to style my hair. I had been looking at the stores I visit regularly, but to no avail. . .I already had one as big as their biggest. So, this time I took her more seriously and went to Sallys. This is what I ended up with:

It's the same brush she used. Here it is compared to my old one, and here's how my hair looked after she styled it:

Now if I could just get my bangs to be that cute again. . .

Look-Alike?!

Dave and I had been trying to figure out who we think Kaleb looks like. . .a Call (aka Kyra) or a Johnson (aka Mark and Darci). Well, when I came across this picture of Kaleb at 2.5 months old

I knew I'd pretty much seen it before. So, I went looking through some old photos and found this one of Kyra at 5 months old: 

I think our question has been answered!

Here is Mark and Darci, who I think have the same face:

What do you think?

Birthday Bash

Today is our 16th anniversary AND Mark's 11th birthday. Since Mark was born on our anniversary we always made a little bit bigger deal of his b-day because we figured we were sort of celebrating our whole family on that day. Four years later when Kyra came along just 3 weeks before August 16th, we just lumped her birthday into the party. . .and then two years later Darci came just one week before the 16th, so it was a no brainer to continue our family parties as we knew them! Anyway, needless to say, it's become a tradition to have a big family party every year and our kids really look forward to having all of their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins over for an evening of great food, fun, presents, and cake! Well, this year was no different. . .except we scaled down a bit--to just inviting the cousins, as we have so many family members who live close now! :) I'm not sure what Kaleb being born clear the heck in June will do to the family party, but we have another year to figure that out. So, this year we surprised the kids with having a lady come over to do face painting for everyone. It turned out to be a big hit! Here are a few pics of our "1 year older" kids (Mark 11, Kyra 7, and Darci 5) and some of their cousins:

as you can see, the boys loved the Avatar face, and no, it wasn't as hard to wash off as it looks like it would be. :) We are so blessed to live near so many cousins for the kids to grow up with!

Just me and my babe.

Here are pics from the photo shoot I had with Evelyn, my SIL! She's awesome, and we had so much fun. But, BEWARE, these pics are unedited! She assures me she can fix them up however I'd like. . .you know, remove moles, wrinkles, or blemishes, whiten teeth, lighten hair, darken and lengthen eye lashes, etc. But before I look like a celebrity. . .I'd like your vote on which one I should have her edit so I can frame it! :) 

And, this last one is just to show you how much my little guy loves me! :)

Independence Day

We had such a great time at my dad's last night celebrating Independence Day. The kids LOVED the sparklers more than anything. I just love having all the cousins around for my kids to grow up with! :)

"Connecting"

As I sit down to nurse Kaleb, I can also enjoy some time “connecting” with my friends and family through blogs and FB. I’ve loved being able to tell my birth story, post pictures, and share my thoughts and feelings and to get responses from so many of you all within the first few days of having a baby. It’s nice feeling like I’m still involved with everything/everyone around me even though I haven’t really even set foot outside my house. . .let alone showered or fixed my hair/put on make-up, etc. It makes me wonder what it was like for my mother. I know a hundred or so years ago people lived with their extended families or very close by, so they weren’t excluded from the outside world when they were sick or had babies. But, what about just 30 to 40 years ago? It was after most people didn’t live with/near extended family, but before the internet and affordable long-distance phone calls. It’s hard to imagine how lonely or disconnected they must have felt after having babies and being home alone, or with a bunch of other little ones running around the house too. I know a lot of mothers, even now, who feel like they are the only ones who can’t keep up with the laundry, who don’t go out and do something fun/productive every day, who are tired from having interrupted sleep all night long, who dread dinner time, who feel overwhelmed with their kids who throw tantrums or teenagers who have wacky hormones, who think their kids have too much homework that really the parents have to do, etc. I just think that FB and blogs have changed that for a lot of us women/mothers. We can see that everyone else is dealing with the same things on a daily basis and that we aren’t alone in anything that we’re going through. Anyway, the internet is definitely a blessing to me and I’m so grateful for the “connections” I’ve been able to have through this medium.

MY story. . .that did NOT go as planned!

Disclaimer: I LOVE to hear others' birth stories, and I always look forward to the day my kids are born to see how everything goes down. . .so if this is a little long or a little TMI, sorry, I'll be sharing all the details I love to hear from others. :)

Can I just say "NO EPIDURAL"?!!!!!!!!!!! OK, let me back up a bit. . .I woke up at 1:15am to, what else, pee, of course. So, after I finished I started walking back to bed and noticed I was still peeing! It took me a second, but when I realized my water had broken I started shaking with fear. I ran out to the kitchen to call Dave from downstairs where he was still up watching fights, and then ran back to the bedroom to put some clothes on. I wasn't sure what to do about the water leaking, but quickly I realized that I didn't have time to care that I was dripping all over, I just pulled on some pants--which were quickly soaked, a shirt, grabbed my backpack, and started running out the door yelling to Dave that we had to HURRY. I was SO SCARED that we weren't going to make it to the hospital (which is about 15 minutes away) before I had the baby. He asked what we were going to do about the kids, and I told him we'd just have to leave the front door unlocked and call Rachel (my sister) on the way. By now it was past 1:20. We only ran one red light (which was BARELY red, by the way) and I had to remind Dave that he could go 70mph on the highway as the speed limit was 60! :) About now we looked down and noticed the gas light was on! Holy Cow, how is it even possible that we didn't make sure the car was always FULL of gas?! Then, as Dave worried whether we had enough gas to make it there or not, he told me that he had gone grocery shopping after I went to bed and had just gotten home around midnight. What if he had been at Wal-Mart when my water broke?! Well, I was pleasantly surprised that my contractions hadn't started right away! At about 1:35 I had my first contraction, which was pretty hard. The next two came quickly and I told Dave to pull up to the ER as I didn't know where the Women's Center entrance was and I didn't want to deliver in the parking lot as we looked for it. Dave kept telling me to calm down, we were going to be ok, etc, but I didn't feel ok! We pulled up to the ER as I was having my 4th contraction. As I jumped out to get into the wheel chair I realized I didn't have any shoes. . .not that I cared, but I noticed. They wheeled me to my room as I cried for them to "hurry, it's going to come fast, and I have to get an epidural first, oh no, it's hurting, hurry!!!!" I must've seemed quite hysterical. . .but, I guess I kind of was. The nurses helped me undress and lay on the bed as the contractions continued back to back. I told her I was dilated to a 6 two weeks earlier and I knew the baby would be coming fast. She checked me and seemed to relax as she told me I was still "just a 6". She said "oh, I thought we had an emergency on our hands!" I was like, “we DO, now get me an epidural!” She continued to tell me that she had to get the IV in first and then she could call the anesthesiologist. OK, so hurry! She tried a few times in my right arm as she told me how thick my skin is and how I must be dehydrated because it wasn't easy finding my vein. . .blah, blah, blah. . ."JUST HURRY would ya?!" She moved to the other arm to try there. "Oh no, I'm feeling the pressure, help, I need an epidural"! She stuck it in and checked me, it's 1:50 by now! "It's OK honey, you're to an 8, the anesthesiologist is coming." He came in quickly and started asking some questions and preparing the stuff. Suddenly I felt that HORRIBLE pressure like my guts were coming out! "Help, it hurts!" "I don't want to push!!!" "I need an epidural!!" Then the nurse just looked at me and said, "he's coming out, he'll be here in just a second, just give me one push." "WHAT??? NO! I'M NOT PUSHING!!!" Number one, there's already WAY too much pressure for me to want to add to it, and number two. . .I WANT AN EPIDURAL FIRST, this HURTS!!!!! It BURNED and hurt soooooooooooo bad! I was so mad! But, what could I or they do? He was already here! It was 2:02am. My doctor didn't arrive until about 2:30. They left the placenta for her to deliver, so I continued having contractions until she came and about killed me pushing and pulling and pushing on my belly some more, then she starts numbing--"Really? Would the stitching hurt THIS bad? Maybe you should skip the "numbing" shots and just stitch me up!" Why would ANYONE choose this over the comfort of an epidural? Oh, wait a minute, where's my baby? Did he even let out a cry? Did Dave even cut the umbilical cord? See? All that pain basically made me not notice anything that was going on with the baby. I suddenly remembered my other babies and how I blissfully and painlessly watched them be born, watched Dave cut the cord, and without any pain, reached out to hold and snuggle my baby for the first time. But, by the time I could quit focusing on the pain, my little boy had already cried, had the cord cut, been cleaned, weighed, and been wrapped up! Obviously, I still LOVED holding and kissing him and could not believe how precious he was. . .I just couldn't believe I missed all that! Well, here I am smiling so I guess I lived through it!

A little side note: he was born with a KNOT in the umbilical cord. Many of the nurses had never seen one and came to check it out. One nurse, who had been around longer, told us a few times how lucky we were! Almost every time she had seen a knot, the baby had been still-born! She said usually when there's a knot, it tightens when the baby drops into the birth canal, and by the time they're born they've been without oxygen for too long. Also, sometimes there's not enough elastin in the umbilical cord and it collapses on itself, when that happens the babies die sometime before labor. Apparently we are very lucky to have our little Kaleb!

Well, there you have it. Everything happened in just 45 minutes, beginning to end! We made it to the hospital. I did it all without and epidural. I'll never do that again. Next time (yes, we hope there will be ONE more time) I'll just ask for the epidural in the 8th month of pregnancy and I'll not turn my doctor down when she offers to put me into labor before I go on my own. We ALL survived. Dave was calm and steady the whole time telling me I'd be ok and everything would be over soon (and he was right). I think somehow Kaleb saw that I predicted in my last post that he'd be born at 2:00 and was just a bit confused about the whole am/pm thing, so he was probably just trying to make my prediction come true. . .he just came exactly 12 hours early! :) I recovered quickly. By the first night I was dressed, sitting in a chair, and chatting with my visitors when the new nurse came in and asked "um, is the patient in here?" I'm still feeling great, minus being tired. Kaleb had a high bilirubin count so we had to come home with the Bilibed and he HATED laying in it, so he wailed ALL NIGHT LONG last night, and I had to take him to get his blood checked again this morning. So, we're all tired, but I had to record this before too much time passed and I forget how determined I am to NOT go through non-medicated birth again. I do have to say though, I've never been one who has to learn things through personal experience, I'm more than happy to learn from others' mistakes or experiences, BUT, that being said, now that I've gone through this, it's kind of nice to know first hand what I've chosen, and what I'm choosing, NOT to do again! :)

Kaleb Johnson

Kaleb was born on Friday, June 11, 2010 at 2:02 AM. He weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20.5 in. long.

The kids were so excited to see him and the toys we bought them the day before were the perfect entertainment for the time they spent in the hospital.

Kari, Mark, and Alexia drove from Orem to watch the kids during the night and to get them ready and bring them to the hospital to see us in the morning. Although Kaleb was born before they even got to our house, we were grateful they were willing to do that for us. :)

We are so in love with this little guy!

 The kids love him too. . .and want to hold him every second!

Here he is dressed and ready to go home! He was happy about it until I took his binky out so I could see his face. :)

We're home, and the kids still love to hold him.

His bilirubin count was high, so he spent the first night home on the bilibed. He did not like it at all. Luckily his numbers went down and we don't have to do it for another day.

Here are a few people who came to see Kaleb:

We came home to a decorated house and dinner delivered by my great friend Ang!