In Honor of Twilight

So I have not read Twilight, but plan on doing so in the next couple of weeks. For all you junkies out there, Bella and Edward (Damon and Colleen) showed up at one of our Halloween parties. Enjoy the movie!
(And don't forget to comment and tell me how badly I need to read it, and that you will lend me your copy so that I can get started right away.)
Yes that is a bloody baby arm protruding from her truly pregnant belly! I guess that comes in a later book. Quite disturbing. Somewhere in their house is a wandering one-armed doll. Are you picturing Sid from Toy Story?

(She is due in February, even though she is not even showing yet-darn that skinny Colleen!)

Survival

What? I was busy doing dishes--okay?

He is one year old now, he can find his own dinner!

I think you know why the fruity pebbles are sticking to his face in that specific area.

Cash "Coopah Supah Doopah"

Today is the day. My baby is one! It has flown by. I guess this means I can't use the excuse that I just had a baby anymore. Dang it! That one was working so well for me! This little guy had quite an eventful beginning. And since by now you know that I like to tell a story, here comes another one.

So I am 2 weeks from my due date and I go into see the Doc. He says I am dialated to a 5 and asks, "Are you sure you aren't in labor?" Needless to say, after almost delivering Keane on the freeway, the fact that I live 30 minutes from the hospital, and I am already halfway dialated, Dr. said that he doesn't really feel good about sending me home and would I be interested in going over to the hospital and seeing if we could get things going. To the hospital you say? I just so happen to have a babysitter already lined up (thx Amanda and Susan!) and there is a suitcase in my car packed for three days. I think I am ready Doc! So I headed over to the hospital and after 30 minutes on the phone of trying to convince Tyler that I was truly at the hospital. He came to meet me. I was SIKED!!!

I am one of those sick people that loves labor. Maybe it is the distance runner in me, I don't know, but I love to see how the body and mind handles pain and overcomes it. I feel like labor is like a roller coaster, and as soon as it is over, I look forward to the next time I can do it again. I know, I have issues.

So the nurses were a little turbed that the doc had sent over an induction but he reassured them that I would go quickly. I could see the look in their eyes "sure that's what they all say" they were thinking. Well we got going on the pitocin and not much was happening. An hour went by and Dr. came to break my water on his lunch break. YES. Well things definitely started happening and FAST. After 30 minutes or so of some serious non stop contractions, I decided to ask for my epidural. I knew that I was not progressing as quickly as I thought and was thinking we would be laboring for a few more hours.

So I sit up, the anesthesiologist is cleaning my back and the nurse (very cute and nice girl named Brook Brown) is standing in front of me helping me to brace for the epidural. Epidural begins, needle goes in my back, and just as she is trying to find the "sweet spot" I feel a baby coming out. WHA?!?!?!? I grabbed nurse Brook's shoulders and looked up in panic. I had NEVER felt this feeling before, the urgency to push and not able to stop pushing. The nurse was shocked too, well after calling for backup and a couple minutes of panic while we got the epidural finished and I managed to keep the baby in, I flipped back onto my back and the nurse took a look. Sure enough, there was little Cash, RIGHT THERE and ready to go. So somewhere in that 30 minutes I managed to completely dialate and just didn't realize it until I sat up.

I was very excited. Then I was also disappointed, here again! I had gotten an epidural at the completion of my labor, when I did not need it! UGH! If I had only known that I was almost done. Baby #4 maybe. Anyhow, Cash came quickly and he came out crying. Music to a mother's ears. A sign that baby is strong and breathing and most likely healthy. Well they took him over to clean him off, and Ty took the video camera over to get some shots of our new little guy.

All of the sudden, the crying stopped. I watched the happenings over at the table where my new baby lay. My heart stopped as I notice the nurse trying everything to revive him and. . .nothing. 10 seconds...20 seconds...30 seconds and nothing. I felt completely helpless. He lay there limp and now purple as the nurse called for an EMT and bagged him in another attempt to bring Cash back to life. I looked at Ty and he read my thoughts which were, "turn off the camera, I don't want the death of my baby on film". Just after this, he gasped and began to cry again. OH RELIEF! He was back. They whisked him away to the NICU (newborn intensive care unit) for more tests and observation.

Turns out that a lot of babies that come out crying and then stop breathing end up having a serious heart valve defect. Everything will function normally in the womb and with the first few breaths but as the blood and oxygen begins to circulate through the body, everything malfunctions. They did chest x-rays and blood tests and everything came back normal. Phew. There was a problem though, since Cash decided to come through the chute at light speed, there was still a lot of fluid in his lungs, and he was having a lot of difficulty breathing. His breathing was very audible and labored and I could tell that each breath he took was serious work for him. They would have to observe him and let me know what the plan was going to be.

I usually am an optimistic person and this situation was no different. I knew that he would be okay in a couple of hours and then he would come into our room and get to meet everyone and everything would be normal. So as all of our family members arrived and were anxious to meet him, I walked down to the NICU to get an update. "He's not doing too well, we are going to have to admit him," the nurse tells me. I try to maintain composure but the reality of everything that happened earlier, and the fact that my baby is now in intensive care has finally hit me. I walk out to try and explain to everyone what she just told me and I totally lost it. Like in a bad way, like let's just say high octaves and two IV bags that came out my tear ducts. Oh well, what can you do.



Well after about 3 days, Cash had worked it all out and we had made friendly with some great nurses at Banner Gateway (nurse Margaret in photo). I loved watching these nurses handle the babies. Tubes and IVs in these itty bitty little bundles of pink flesh (and they knew just what to do to soothe them. I loved how they always talked to them. There was not one cry that went without a lengthy verbal reply. They would say "What are you complaining about, I just styled your hair?" or "Register, (Cash's night nurse called him "Register" get it, Cash Register) you just ate! Aren't you ready for a nap or something?" They were so sweet, gentle, and understanding of an anxious emotional post pardem mother. I spent lots of time in there feeding Cash and watching him breathe. He got better and better each day and at the end of the third day they were able to take his IV out and we were able to take him home!

Some of you may know about the fact that months before the birth in each of Lucy's prayers she would say, "please bless that when the baby comes out and he stops breathing that they will be able to help him get his breathing back". It creeped me out so much that she was forbidden to pray at all for the last trimester. So after all this happened it made me wonder how she knew about this? How do you explain that?

One year later, this kid has brought nothing but happiness to this home. Heavenly Father must want me to have more babies because Cash is as easy as they come. He sleeps at least 12 hours a night, and has since he was 7 months old. His cheesy grin is sooooo contageous and can cheer up a grouchy sister in 2 seconds flat. He is not much of a cuddler, but his other sibling make up for that and we will never stop trying to force our physical affection onto him! You know you secretly like it Cash. But seriously, he hasn't given me a kiss in 2 months! Why do you have to be so difficult! He loves to eat, and I think that is pretty obvious. Although he doesn't eat THAT much. I promise. He is just big boned okay! Ha. He is known for that "stone cold" expression that he has most of the time (just like his Dad).

Although he is a fabulous baby, I can tell this kid has some serious fire in him. While pregnant, doc said, "if you are waiting for a red head, this one is it." He was extremely active in the womb and has not stopped. Keane was so low key that we didn't even have to put hardly any child locks on and Cash...well he is completely opposite. I would say his top three loves are steering wheels, electronics, and being outside. Those three things pretty much consume his every thought. I see him at meal times and bed time and the rest of the time he is BUSY! We ADORE our little Cash Man and are so thankful to have him in our family.





















What a handsome blonde!! Check out those deltoids!
Oh, and you're kinda cute too Tyson.











GURTH!





















GIGGLES!
















GLUTEOUS! (that is a nice big chewy, booty folks--it doesn't get any better than that!)

A Day Off

Hey kids, let's go to the park. Sure you can wear whatever you like.

But Keane has to pick up his mess first. (He spent minutes trying to pick up scraps of paper with his mittens on, and he needs to pull up his pants. Can you tell what kind of dinosaur that it is? stegosaurus) Grandma is going to be there.some cousins too...
...it will make you smile.

Marlee's Partee...and Halloween

We love this little one for so many reasons. Shelby and I had so much fun being pregnant with Marlee and Cash. During our pregnancies we were cleaning models homes together, right up until the end. Despite our due dates, we ended up delivering just 2 weeks apart! Aside from being buddies in heaven with Cash, we love Marlee because she is just the sweetest little thing you'll ever meet. She just had her first birthday and since she was born on Halloween, it was quite the costume birthday bash! It was so much fun and no where near what Cash's first birthday will be like!!! Poor deprived Wheeler kids. I hope that her and Cash grow up to be bestest buds. Happy (late) birthday Mars! I am sneaking our Halloween pics into this post too.

Here is the man himself--POPEYE like you have never seen him! My kids love watching Popeye, so when I suggested we do this for Halloween, they were all on board. But this little guys seriously rocked it. From his pantyhose & batting forearms, to his authentic corn pipe, he had a great time, even singing the theme song. In fact, the other day Lucy was describing a bad dream that she had where some stranger had tried to kidnap her and Keane told her that he would just eat his spinach and beat him up. Attaboy!

Here is Olive Oil herself. Lucy was such a good sport to let us spray her hair black! I just wish she would have waved her skinny arms and said "Popeye, SAVE me!" Come on Lu. She actually got first and Keane second at the party costume contest. Although the judges were Grandma and Shelby so I don't know if it was completely fair.
Here is the sheriff and the little known archnemisis of Popeye, Bluto or as Keane still calls him "Noodle". Cash's beard is all slobbered off. I love those boys. Check out the forearms on that sheriff! Can I count Ty's forearms as part of our food storage? I think if we get hungry enough we could deep fry those suckers and have enough meat for our family of five for at least a month. What a man. My man that is.

The whole crew together. I didn't get a good ensemble shot. Sorry.

This is Halloween day at Ty's office. We go in every year for the cubicle trick or treating. But seriously don't these two look alike? I swear, Cash is Mini-me of Ty. One of my friends told me after she babysat Cash that she could never do it again because the whole time she was cuddling him and feeding him his bottle, she kept thinking it was Ty and it made her uncomfortable. Ha.

These are some friends of ours (Taylor, Miken, Dade and Tayen Gardner). The pic is blurry but they looked freakishly good. That is family togetherness. Cash went right to Taylor and never cried once. Hey Cash, beware of deranged, skitzo murderers next time.

Good Times at the State Fair

My mom had a fantastic idea to take all the kids to the fair while the Schroeder's were in town. It was super-arizona-october-hot, but we had a blast nonetheless. Pictures don't lie! Just look at these faces!

Riding an elephant! Seriously awesome. Although Keane had a panic attack on his way up, hence the grandmother caboose.
Aubs, Benson, and Lu on the ferris wheel.
Keane and I at the very top. Gulp.
Petting zoo. Do these two look like they have the same expression?
Bumper cars, a must do for all 3 year olds.
The infamous water guns, where Benson, Lucy, and Clark trashed some other little kids and won some serious poundage of plush! Thanks Coach Aubree!
I'm so proud! sniff, sniff
Lu and Ben on the Footsie Wootsie relishing their victories.

THANKS GRANDMA!

Frog Season

As the weather cooled off, we said goodbye to our last catch of the season. And wasn't he/she a beauty. Keane named him "Tiger" and Lu named him "Rascal". How did we catch this thing? Funny story. After my last big enrichment (Sept 3), I was carrying some loads out to my car and this little guy was waiting for me. I knew it was a tender mercy, because our entire night was about tender mercies and everything that happened to me after that night I like to put in the tender mercy category. Anyhow, to the horror of some onlooking sisters, I scooped him up into a laundry basket and carried him to my car, as he peeed the whole way.
Got him home, and put him in a nice deep, very deep, bin. I added some rocks, grass water, and dead crickets that were conveniently located all around my backyard. Yeah, just call me Snow White. Animals love me. Well to our disappointment, we woke up the next morning to find him gone! I don't know how he jumped that high but he did. While we found frog "scat" in our yard for the next couple of days, we never found him.
Then, a couple of weeks later, after rolling in from Sunday dinner, "eagle ears Ty" heard him along side the house. We had a good couple of days and then decided to put him in frog heaven, this little secret pond that is close to our house. So one night, I was trying to be a "good" mom and make my kids go to sleep in their own beds. We read stories, said prayers and tucked them in. Lucy zonked out right away, but Keane usually insists that you lay by him for at least an hour or two or five! And as much as I love to lay by him, it is getting impossible execute my dream of a smooth bedtime routine, and spending a little time with my Ty guy. I tucked him in and said that I would come back and check on him in a few minutes and that he needed to go to sleep. I came out and Ty was already asleep. Oh well. So I started some laundry. A good 20 minutes later, I peeked in to check on Keane and discovered that he was sitting patiently on the end of his bed waiting for me to come check on him. It melted my heart and so I went in and said, "Do you want to go with me to the froggie pond and we'll let Tiger go?" We snuck out. As I pulled up to this pitch dark farm road, we got out of the car and approached the water. As we got close, I heard a flurry of activity in the water. I panicked as visions of the Crocodile Hunter ran through my head and I just knew that this was our punishment for not going to bed on time! Needless to say, we survived and hopefully Rascal/Tiger is living the good life down at the pond.

PS-While playing with the frog one day, I asked the kids if they thought it was a boy or a girl. Lucy flipped him over and examined his underside. Then she said, "I know for sure that it is a girl mommy frog because look at her floppy belly, it looks just like yours mom!" Oh how I love that girl no matter what she did to my abdomen when she was in it, and no matter what she says about it now that she is out of it!

Money Walking

Our little Cash Man is growing up. This month he is officially off of formula (great for the budget) AND he is walking!! He is our earliest walker, although Ty and I have conflicting memories. Here is a little glimpse. No he is not potty trained, I just think his juicy, gigantic buns are so adorable in Keane's underwear! I love a wobbly toddler.

California Dreamin'

So my ever so lovely Mother-in-Law turned 60 this month! We knew that we had to do something special for her. She is a very special lady. One of those overworked and under appreciated types. Ain't she a beauty?

We decided to kidnap her and take her on a girls night out she would never forget! Sis-in-law Nikkii called her at 2:30 in the morning. She said, "Hey mom, whatcha doin? You have one hour to pack for 3 days. Someone will be there to pick you up in 1 hour. Love ya! Ba bye!" So I picked up Lindsey and after we picked up Susan, we stopped off at QT, where Shelby and Nikkii were standing on the corner with their luggage and hot pink posters saying "San Diego or Bust!"

When we first caught sight of the girls Susan said "Oh, look a car wash! Actually no, they have suitcases. Hmm. They must be runaways." Of course seconds later she realized that they were her daughters! Hilarious. We stayed in a beach house in Mission Beach for 3 days. The first good laugh of the weekend. I posted a lot of pics because it was too much fun. Wicked fun. In no particular order:

We ate very, very large slices of pizza.

A fabulous birthday dinner at Mimi's, that was supposed to be at Cheesecake Factory, but due to inclement weather and angry stomachs, Mimi's was the place. I think you can tell by the photo that we are all very cold and thinking only of the cheesecake we are not about to eat.
Nothing will make you feel better than eating Ben & Jerry's late at night. You shouldn't be surprised to learn that this was my idea.

It is really hard to loosen these girls up, but somebody had to do it.

Fun in flip flops on the boardwalk. Take note of all the orbs in this photo. Just like the homeless people, they all hang out at the beach. Wouldn't you? That is Granny Lively in the upper left, and I like to think that is my own Grandma Edith right next to my face. I knew that lady like to party!

Walking up the boardwalk. A prerequisite to downing the most delicious breakfast ever at The Wavehouse. Good idea Nik!

We had a $25 limit shop-a-thon to see who could come up with the best ensemble in one hour. Honestly I thought Shelby and I rocked it but Lindsay came away number one. She has been to design school! I think that should disqualify her! No fair. But yes she looked the best.

Who needs a man? Okay, okay I do, but not to load my roof rack! Ahhhhh yeah!

Does this look like a little bit of happiness?
Thanks to all the hubbies for holding things together while we were gone. I came home to happy kids, who were all still breathing and in one piece, and the house was clean too! What a guy! I wish I could afford him as a housekeeper and nanny.

Happy Birthday Susan!

We also laid on the beach, ate granola, laughed so hard, flat-ironed our hair, missed our kids and husbands, and much much more. I asked a million times "Is this where I get off? Do I turn here?" This is what happens when you are married to Ty. You just buckle up and turn your brain off and he takes care of the rest. So being the navigator was not a role I was comfortable with. Thank goodness for Nikkii. And thank goodness that Colleen got a good nights sleep because on the way out, I had to switch drivers in Maricopa! Yes that's right. Not even one hour out of town. I hadn't slept in two days okay people! Don't judge me! Thanks Colleen!

This was just a little taste of the fun we had. Needless to say, the weekend delivered. It was the most fun six girls could have. I am so lucky to have seriously amazing chicks for in-laws. They are truly my best friends and I know that they are in my life for many important reasons. Thanks gals! Here's to many more!

PS-I'll never forget our nights on the hide-a-bed Shelb! Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about your little bed-wetting problem. That can just be our little secret!