This and That

This is Reese after she got done laughing, our camera takes 5 seconds to take the picture so she was done by the time it flashed! She loves to laugh and smile!
This was taken the day after Reese was officially 2 months but man they grow so fast...She is already 11 lbs 4 oz. and 23 inches long! All day Tuesday she just slept since she got her shots Monday! She is so good and I think her thrush is finally gone but I better knock on wood after writing that!

Chloe fell asleep like this last week and I thought man, how can she breathe! Let alone how much her back hurt after I moved her! She never woke up when I moved her but hasn't fallen asleep like this again!

Sorry even darker, this is my brother, Ian, and Cooper bonding playing Wii, we do a lot of bonding with the Wii, I think this is Mario Kart, we bought it for Ryan for his birthday (early), Nov. 5th!

Sorry this is so dark but this is Cooper and Chloe bonding, playing the Wii, even though Chloe isn't really playing she just thinks she is!

This is Chloe caught climbing up their bunk beds one day! She has tried repeatedly but this day I let her so I could have a picture! She does sleep on the bottom so the top, Cooper's bed, is a treat to be able to even get on the mattress!

So these are just some random pictures and things that go on in our daily life especially the Wii, Cooper plays for hours some days when I need to get things done and he has gotten so good at Mario Kart he beats Ryan and I! Next posting will be trick or treating and pumpkin carving!

Pumpkins, Drums, Lipstick, and an Eviction

Carrie and Cooper on the tractor waiting to leave with our pumpkins!

Reese is in the car seat nice and cozy! Chloe is all bundled up and could not move her arms by herself! I think we need to go earlier next year to get bigger pumpkins and you can get wagons to haul them instead of riding the tractors!

Cooper wanted a red pumpkin! I honestly had not seen a red pumpkin before and thought it was kind of cool. This is at Carver Farms in Washington, just outside of Idaho. Sad to say we have never been to a pumpkin patch before but definitely will make it a tradition!

Chloe wants a real drum set from Santa! She found these mixing bowls and so I thought why not let her bang and she loved it!

Reese has thrush...Poor thing, we have it with every kid! We use Gentian Violet instead of all the antibiotics they put you through! It is messy to use but hopefully will work soon!

So we don't have pictures or I do but do not want to post them of our duplex. Ryan and I bought a duplex 4 years ago and just had the worst problem with a renter ever! We almost had to evict her. She owes us almost 2 months rent plus late fees! So we finally told her she needed to get out and talk about 1001 excuses! She had a story for everything and come to find out she lies without hesitation! I told her last Wednesday she needed to be out by Saturday at noon and we stopped by after getting the pumpkins, and buying new locks for the doors, and she was nowhere near done! So Sunday night we drove by and it looked better and at 6:45 am Monday morning on the way to my physical therapy appt. she calls and says she is out. Talk about trashed - as soon as I got home Ryan and I went over there and the carpets might need to be replaced, the toilets were never cleaned and this was all done in less than 5 months! We have new renters and they have painted and cleaned up the place but the carpet people don't promise to get the red stains out, I think it is strawberry milk from the 5 year old...GRRRR!! Ryan and I learned our lesson and are doing background and credit checks from now on...We have a great Christian family on one side and Ryan's friend from high school is on the other side now so we pray for no more problems! We love having this duplex but have learned a lot from this experience especially that it is illegal to open a mailbox if it does not belong to you because you do not live there! Okay enough venting, we are doing great now and hope that we get our money or we will be posting about our experience in court, but we hope not!

I finished a 4 mile run!

So I know I posted yesterday but I have to say how proud I am of myself! I started running a week and a half ago and yesterday I ran with my sister-in-law Sarah! We never know where we are going to go but she does this 4 mile run and I said no way, I just did 2 1/2 last Wednesday and that was hard enough and she said oh you can do it! So we did it! I couldn't believe it! I seriously have not worked out for a year and Reese is 5 weeks old tomorrow! On the run I pushed Cooper in the stroller so 32 pounds of resistance the whole time and when we turned around at the halfway point all of a sudden we were headed into the wind! But I finished without walking and I am surprisingly not sore today! Hopefully we can squeeze in a 5k before the snow starts to hit!

Reese's Blessing

Ryan blessed Reese Evelyn yesterday in our ward, which is nice because all of his family is here except Tyler, our brother-in-law. It was very spiritual and amazing which each blessing is for our children. We had her dress made by Lona's mom, Jenny, Ryan grew up with Lona. Jenny is extremely talented and found spare time to make Reese's dress. Thank You!

Even though Reese hated pictures before church, she was amazing during the blessing, she really doesn't cry that often... Maybe she is taking after Chloe who glares at my sister-in-law Val every time she pulls out her camera! Thanks Val for taking our pictures! Even though Reese is mad this is the best picture for our little family...I know I just had our family photo shot quickly one night before dinner (thanks Sarah) but this one is more foraml as we are dressed up for church! The kids were okay for the pictures as our church is at 12:30!

Our second family photo that was better of Reese but we couldn't decide between this one and the previous!

Cooper sick of taking pictures.

It was a good day even though Cooper and Chloe were getting over colds so I left second hour! I have to brag that Cooper bore his testimony for the FIRST time, we are very proud parents, he practiced all week! So after the blessing, my temple recommend interview, dinner, an hour long walk, I went to our youth fireside and home teachers at 8pm we finally made it to bed at 10pm! The next thing I knew it was 2:30 time for the paper route luckily Mondays are really easy!

Sorry for the long post!!!!

Poor baby!

So we have never had a baby have acne...I hate it! I feel so bad for Reese and I know it doesn't bother her but it does me! I am such a picker! It is so hard not to pick at her face! I have been reading about what to do and that is nothing! So I have been washing her face with some Johnson's baby wash that is "milder than soap" and I do that every night and twice today since she vomited everywhere! I am just worried she will have it when we bless her at church on the 28th...So we will just pray for her face! The brighter side is that she has almost stopped peeling, I also have never had a baby have flakey skin...
So on a bright side everyone is doing well! No one is sick and other than Chloe drinking a little bit of the Mylicon gas drops and having diarrhea we are doing great! Enjoying the last few days of sunshine and 80's until the cool air comes in! That means nights are getting colder and I am going to have to wear shoes and not flip flops on the paper route!

Kids are doing great!

Reese is 10 days old now! Where does time go! She is doing great and gets lots of love in this family from her siblings and parents after the siblings of course! I had to post this picture of all the kids sleeping at the same time, it really happened, twice this last week! Everyone has adjusted and loves "baby Reese" as Cooper calls her! We also learned that there have been a ton of girls born named Reese during the past month at our hospital...We know this is true as we took her to her first doctor's appointment the day after she was born and there are two doors and a nurse from each side came out asking for Reese and we went first but we stopped as soon as the other nurse said Reese and sure enough we were going in the wrong direction, the other Reese was only 2 weeks old so we know it is a popular name around here right now!

Reese is here!

So we decided to go ahead and get induced on Tuesday night. We called at 6 pm and they said they had room so we checked in at 7 pm. Well I checked in cause we were out for dinner and Ryan still had to take the kids to our friends house to stay the night so he dropped me off...Kind of funny like I was doing it without him, I really missed him and the kids the whole time but Ryan was able to come be with me about 2 hours later once the kids settled in and he snuck out! So I got started with a pill put on my cervix called cytotek and it goy my contractions going in about 2 hours. Then they started to get worse so the nurse decided to do the epidural before it got too bad and that was nice! Then my contractions slowed down so we started the pitocin and they got me really going about 5:30 Wed. morning and I still was only a 4 and 75% effaced. Then the dr. broke my water at 7:30am and when the nurse checked me at 8:45 I was ready to push so by the time they got everything together it was about 9:05 and she was out at 9:20am. She was 7 lbs. 7 oz. 20 inches long and has dark hair and blue/gray eyes. She is a great eater and sleeper!

So the hospital that day and night was ridiculous! I was the first of 4 births in the 9am hour Wednesday morning and it only got worse from there so they put me in a room where there was already someone in but it had two beds, only one bathroom...But she checked out about 3 hours later so I told Ryan I was going to convince my dr. and Reese's dr. to let us go early and it worked! The pediatrician was very hesitant but since she is our 3rd and I promised to take her into the office the next day he let us! So we stayed 12 hours and 20 minutes after she was born and we got to come home after we picked me up some drugs! It was nice to be home with the kids and in my OWN bed! I slept so well! But right before we left they put another couple in that room and all I can say is I am grateful to my dr. and the pediatrician for letting us go! The nurses also said there were only 2 beds left in post partum and 4 women in labor and 2 sets of twins were just born so I wish all those women luck in the hospital!

So we are home and adjusting and Reese is doing awesome and we have a great friend down the street that has taken Cooper most of today and spoiled him! Chloe loves her sister and is trying to learn how to say Reese! Cooper loves to hold her and talks to her about when she gets bigger and all the things she will do with him and Chloe!

I don't think this baby wants to come out!

So I went to the dr. Friday the 22nd, yesterday, and am only a 1 and not even completely effaced! I don't think this baby wants to come out! So I go back on Tuesday to see how much I have progressed again. The only reason we are anxious on this one is because Ryan's work is switching insurances on September 1st and we don't want to meet another deductible if we are lucky! So sometime this week you will all get to meet Reese! Hopefully that is her name since Ryan had a dream it was a boy last week! We will keep you all updated!

Pinehurst Days

This last Saturday we ventured to Pinehurst, where Ryan was born and raised, for Pinehurst Days! It was fun! There is a little parade and a few booths, old cars that are and aren't restored, burgers and sun! Cooper got to ride in Grandpa Ron's 39 Chevy Coupe with Ryan and threw candy to the other kids in the parade while Chloe and I watched everyone grab the candy in front of us. I think she was kind of upset I wasn't getting her much but she can't have half the stuff they threw out! It was nice day with lots of sun, a breeze and plenty of water for me! Here are a few pictures from the day!

Three weeks

I think I am finally figuring out this blog thing! I have had a little extra time lately and only 3 weeks until the baby comes so I am going to try and get this up and running before then! I am really bad about updating but maybe this will help kick my butt!
We are excited to have only three weeks left until Reese is here! We had another ultrasound a week ago and she is about 6 pounds so far and doing well! She is a little pushy thing but we know she is such a blessing! We had a to-do list before she came and we got all but a few things accomplished and are still working on the basement. We have a 1400 sq. ft. basement that is unfinished and we are trying to organize it and even though every time we move we get rid of stuff we still have too much! Goodwill will be getting loads of stuff along with the dump!