Christmas at our place

Well, looks like it's all over. Which is nice to know it's behind us and we can move on. Although we had a very fun morning, the rest of the day was... well... we all ended up with stomach flu, so you know how the rest of our day (and right on into the weekend) was. YUCK!



I had a tough time getting started into the Christmas spirit, but as the days got closer, I got so excited to give TJ the gift I had gotten him, and to see the girls' faces as they opened up their gifts, it was going to be so much fun!

Getting the house all ready and festive. Thanks to everyone who gave us their Christmas cards, I really enjoyed putting them up and seeing them everyday!


The cookies were thoroughly enjoyed by Santa and his reindeer. This year the reindeer didn't get their usual Pepsi, the girls opted to leave a Sprite for them, good news too, I hear the reindeer are going to give up soda in 2010....



The stockings were hung and nicely stuffed. Well, except, Mrs. Claus fills all the stockings except for Mom's, Santa does that after he's finished with all his treats, and Mrs. Claus was tired, so she had to get back to the North Pole... whatever, they were hung, and they are cute, and that's a SWEET board they are hanging from, right?





It really was fun, lots of fun. I surprised TJ with his, gift, he seemed kind of bummed while we were opening gifts, he didn't have a lot to open and was less than thrilled with the too many shirts and ties I bought him -oops. But once he got to the good gift, all the rest were behing him. He opened it (probably expecting more ties) and when he saw what it was (a Zune player) he got all squirmy in his seat, it was totally worth making him open all the ties!!



Austin didn't really have a lot to do, but he sat there nicely while everyone else helped him open his gifts!



The girls have stay busy with all their new stuff, and were so excited for finally a warm day that they weren't sick to go outside and play with some of their new toys, it was great!

And my favorite was that TJ picked out "Beatles" shirts for all of the girls, they were oddly very excited when they opened them. Now they can look just like Dad!



That's all we've got. I'm such a bad picture taker on Christmas day, I take a few, then set it down to enjoy the morning. And then it never got picked back up for the whole next week, since we were all sick. Fortunately msot of us are feeling better, and almost back to normal, some are still plagued with a nasty cold. Oh! I forgot to mention that TJ has decided to share his garage with me, since he got me some new saws for Christmas! I can't wait to clear out some space and start cutting something!!

And um, Madison had a birthday sometime in that last few months! I can believe that I forgot to post the pictures, because it was all I could do to throw a little party together. It was cute, her and her friends had fun, that's all that matters. Oh yeah, Tristan turned 2 also... do I have pictures of that? No. Oh well, we'll catch it next year!!

Austin at 3 months

Here he is trying out his bumbo seat, those things are pretty cool. he doesn't really know how to hold his head up very well in it at that age. Well, maybe because he's a bit top heavy... anyway, now he does much better in it, but I still feel bad leaving him in it for too long, it jsut doesn't seem comfortable at all... and he always looks really bored in it!

A few "oldies" of Austin

... Well, how "old" could they get? I mean, he's not even 5 months old!

These are him at 2 1/2 months. My friend gave me that shirt, which I think is adorable, especially since we live in Texas. And it just so happened to match-ish with that adorable blanket another friend made for me. Wow, I have awesome friends! so, here he is!!

Ah, blogging

So I read back on some old posts to the blog, I was actually looking to see if I had set any goals for the new year last January... I didn't so I'm off the hook with meeting or not meeting them! Anyway, seeing the pictures and some of the things I had written, mademe realize that I kind of miss blogging. I never make time for it anymore, as I'm sure most of you can guess why? I've kind of turned into a nut after this 4th child came along and kindergarten started. Although, most recently I've been feeling a bit back to my old self and ready to get on with life. Get on to setting new goals and changing things around here in this new year to come.

On that note I grabbed a bunch of recently old pictures and got them ready to post, so I'll try to get them up sometime today, I might have to give up my facebook farm in order to make time for more important things in my life!

Anyway, that's all, look for new pictures, and maybe more blogging this year!

It's Christmastime

It's been a little tough for me to get in the Christmas spirit this year. But, alas, the day is almost here. I was able to go out Christmas shopping with TJ the other nite and we had such a blast buying stuff for the kids. Seriously, who knew shopping for toys could be so much fun?!!

Anyway, after a rediculously busy, hard to keep up with, week for me last week I am looking forward to jsut relaxing these next couple of days. Taking it easy, making some treats, wrapping gifts... that shouldn't be too hard, right? Right.

So, for right now, a copy of our family Christmas card, to all those who may have not gotten one ~sorry~ I apparently underestimated on how many I wanted to send out, next year I better up the number!

Tristan's Trip to the Cardiologist

Okay, so we FINALLY had that 6-month check up, which, can I jsut tell you has seemed like it's taken forever to get here. In fact, they didn't want to see me until January, but I was getting pretty anxious any time I thought about it, so I made them move me to December. (Because if it were bad news it'd be better 7 days before Christmas? Whatever, I wasn't thinkin about THAT in October.)

Anyway, so here's the deal..... nothing's changed. yeah, all that, to hear that. Which is actually not bad news. I mean, it's not the greatest, because the problem didn't go away, but it hasn't gotten worse or caused her anymore problems.

I think the part I get so anxious about is this "sit and wait" thing you have to do. Because of course they don't just want to go cutting her heart open to remove the extra tissue jsut for good measure. It's not that kind of deal. Not to mention the extra risks that come along with surgeon in and of itself. But also the cardi. mentioned something about how if by "chance" they were to clip this extra tissue too close to the wall of the heart, then it could cause problems with the heart. Now, I'm sure they are good at what they do, and heck, they mess around in their ALL THE TIME, I mean, they are Pediatric Cardiothorasic Surgeons and all, but still. Last time they still "bumped" something inside her and then she had lingering side effects. Which some kids spend a lifetime healing from, luckily for her, her chylothorax cleared up in a few weeks of being on specialized formula.

Anyway, she was a trooper. Several fruit snacks, pretzels, apple juices, and lollipops later... along with a good bit of "Finding Nemo" the movie, she did great. Doc checked out her heart, her aorta repair, which looked great, no residual narrowing (yeah, copied that right from his report I read over his shoulder!) The subaortic membrane tissue grew at a consistant rate with her aorta so the percentage it's blocking is pretty close to what it was before.

So, another few months down the road, we'll see what he has to say then. Oh how I'm glad for good insurance;)

Finally an update

So Austin rolled over last nite! I know, so exciting, right? Even after 3 others have done it! He rolled from his tummy to his back several times. At first I wasn't sure if it was really him doing it or his slightly mean-ish toddler sister. But I actually saw him in action, it was so cute! I have several pictures to put up, but these are the latest and the ones I played around with.

Since Madison is out of school this week for Thanksgiving, I thought it would be a fabulous idea to take the 4 kids out (by myself) and take some pictures of them, I mean, how hard could that be, right? Oh my goodness, it wasn't as terrible as some of our other outing have been, but I'm surprised we all arrived home in one piece (or 5 seperate pieces all still intact though!)

As I was out I called TJ to tell him that I did recognize that I am a loon for thinking it could be so ambitious, he said he would go out with me another day and help with the photo shoot, so hopefully I'll be able to get some more, better pictures. But if that should never happen, I atleast have these...

For moms

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow
for babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep"

Just saw that on FB and it was just the reminder I needed right now.

Spooky

Just thought I'd pass on this info to everyone (in case you don't dig Chili at the church!)

Taco Bell is giving away one free black jack taco to every person that comes in on Halloween nite, from 6 p.m. until Midnight, or I'm sure until they run out. Don't believe me? Check out the frightful ad here. It's not a trick, just a treat.

Finally here's all 3

Alright, so finally a picture with all 3 girls. Although it's missing baby Austin, but hey, you can't have everything! The girls looked especially cute tonite as we got ready for bed. We've managed to survive the whole week that TJ was gone, Yeah us!









And here are a few I took of Madison the other day. Our backyard looks like a jungle since we got so much rain and haven't mowed it since (cool, huh? bet you wish you were our neighbors?!!) Anyway, whatever, these flower weeds are pretty and made for a nice picture background! The other fun thing was that they attracted LOTS of dragonflies, so I tried my hardest to get a picture of them too.

2 months already?

Can you believe how fast time flies? I guess I should expect it by now, Austin being my 4th baby, but I am always amazed at where the days go.



Man, taking pictures is HARD work....!



Brooklyne wanted SO bad to take a picture with him today. She said that he is her best brother... I would hope so!



And yeah.... here are his blessing outfit pictures. I am so ashamed that it has taken me an entire month to get them taken, but in the long run, atleast they got taken, and hey, they are "kinda" close to what he looked like a month ago. In like 30 years when my memory is failing, nobody will really know anyway!



Here's a shot of the whole dress. My mom and I worked together on sewing it. I've had the fabric forever, just waiting for if I ever had a boy to make a blessing gown from it. So 6 years old doesn't make it heirloom or anything, but hey, it's still sentimental!



Oh yeah, and let's see... what's going on in our lives.... He doesn't have his 2 month check up until later this week or next. He was sleeping through the nite, like 2 weeks ago there were several nites in a row that I didn't get up with him at all in the nite, which rocked. But then the past week-ish he's been pretty consistant with going to bed shortly after the girls, like around 9 and then I get up with him once in the nite, that's the part that is never consistant, sometimes it's 2 or 3 or 4, whatever. And then he's up again around 6:30 or 7 when the whole house is getting going for the day.

I am slowly starting to be sane again, it wasn't looking good for a little while. I thought I had a pretty good handle on the 4 kids thing, but our Kindergarten schedule really threw me for a loop. I was able to maintain composure for about 5 weeks when I pretty much lost it. Of course there didn't seem to be many ways to remedy by over-whelmed-ness... Pull Madison out of Kinder?- that seems extreme. Put Austin back where he came from? -slightly impossible, and still not a better solution given how miserable late pregnancy is. In the end we decided that TJ should be driving M to school, which helps my morning a bit, and then I have had to cut out a lot of extra things, since I felt like we jsut kept driving all day, everyday to different places for different kids, etc. And hey, I am feeling lots better! So, pretty soon I'm thinking I might be a normal, functioning part of society again. Until then, don't think I'm a bad person or friend for hiding under my bed all day, it just has to be that way so I can get through it and manage it all.

So, my point is that if having 4 children doesn't kill you, taking them to school just might!

Just cuz

Because who doesn't love a crying baby?



And I might add that not only is he still cute while he is crying, he looks great in that one of a kind red outfit atop that one of a kind, not vintage but retro, Dick and Jane quilt... somebody is pretty cool.

As per request

Not only have people requested to see more pictures. Because seriously, who doesn't love to see more pictures of babies?!! But also, a friend wanted me to MAKE SURE that I put a picture of this outfit up. So Esther, hope you catch this one... I actually sewed this outfit myself. Complete with matching Tie, Blanket, and Burp CLoth (did I seriously have that much time on my hands?) Anyway, I'm totally in love with this outfit, I have another short/suspender combo in blue and orange, but really, nothing compares to some Sa-Weet avacado green and gold!









We were able to bless little Austin over Labor Day weekend, and we were able to have my parents come down to be here for that. (Thanks Mom!) Also some good friends were able to "visit" from another ward to share in the occasion. And yep, once again folks my mom and I sewed his blessing outfit. Which as some of you may know was a gown, although I think it turned out awesome. So if you have any mean comments to make, keep them to yourself! I've been meaning to take some photos of him in his outfit, but haven't gotten to yet. I know I need to soon, since it was like 3 weeks ago, yikes!

Nevertheless, here is our little family and our awesome visitors that day!







As well while my folks were here we got to go visit the Alamo for the first time, it was kinda cool, whatever. The girls loved getting out, and uh, check out that one of Austin, I'm pretty sure he had a rockin' good time. And my dad's choice of restaurant was Lulu's. Made famous for their chicken fried steak and the guy from "Man vs. Food" ate there, sweet. It was an awesome weekend spent with my parents!