Fun Times

The past few days have been pretty lazy for us girls here at home. I'm not suppose to do anything until after I get the call from my doctor so I've been reading and watching movies while the girls are napping and playing with the girls while they are awake. I always keep the camera by my side where ever I go in the house! I'm finding there are just too many cute moments that Caitlin has to where I want to snap a few shots of her in all her cuteness!
Such as here: Lounging in the mushroom chair while watching PBS kids! I just love her!Oh, and Rosalie too! :) She's getting so big, so fast! I cannot believe it! She's so long that I've bumped her up into 3-6 month clothes! Gosh... I guess breast milk really is the best! Considering how often this little tank eats, it seems appropriate for her to be outgrowing her clothes so fast!

Still no word from Dr. G yet about my biopsy... I hate playing the waiting game. I just know that as soon as I leave my phone alone for a minute, I will miss his call... It's just my luck! I hate having to call him back because then I have to wait another few hours and it's just a headache! Phone is with me at all times! :)

I've posted a new background and banner to change things up a bit. I still don't know if I like it, but it's starting to grow on me! I snapped this cute photo of the girls yesterday! I just LOVE Caity's "CHEESE" face/smile!
I just love these two girls of mine!

What a day...

I had to be up early for my doctor's appointment today. I've found it easier to get ready when I know the girls will still be sleeping. I got Caity up an hour earlier than usual and she was quite happy all day! Which was nice!

Charles was able to take 2 hours of vacation to go with me to the doctor's today for my biopsy. While I was having the procedure done, I was thanking God that he was there with me. I would've hated to do that alone. I love my husband :)

(On our honeymoon in Huatulco, Mexico - October 2007)

We will know the results of the biopsy sometime Thursday or early Friday. I pray for a good outcome. More details later!

By lunch time, I felt like most of the day had been a very good one with a lot getting done! Charles, Caitlin, and I haven't had a lunch together in a while due to her schedule. Shortly after Charles left to go back to work, Caity was still in her chair finishing up. I ran to the bathroom real quick and when I came back, she was OUT! I cleaned her off, unbuckled her, and put her in her bed without her waking up once! I should have painted her nails! :)

By the time Charles came home, Caity had just woken up and it was time to take Rosalie in for her 2 month shots. She did really well! Cried a bit, but did very well!

We had sausage and cheese stuffed shells for dinner with mulitgrain bread and a side salad. Delicious! :) We are controlling our portions and finding that we get fuller faster when we have a small salad first and take our time eating. I've already lost 5 lbs! I haven't started TurboJam yet due to all the headaches I had been having, but they are now gone! :) After all this other stuff gets taken care of, working out is on my agenda! :)

Now we are getting settled in for the night! We are going to watch Percy Jackson & the Olympians - The Lightning Thief and have some strawberry Italian Ice!

Life is good!

Birthday Weekend

I spent my birthday with my girls! It was all I could ask for!

Alyce and Caleb stopped by to give me a birthday present and spend some time with me and the girls! I got the new novella from the Twilight Series and a bag of skittles! (Thank you!) When Charles got home, we headed to his Mom's house to have black cherry jell-o cake and open presents! I got 2 shirts and another copy of the novella! Now I'm just waiting for the first Twilight graphic novel! ;)

I got a call from my doctor right before we sang Happy Birthday... it was not the call I wanted to get on my birthday. I'll explain more once I know more about what's going on with me. For now, keep me in your prayers! I definitely need them.

Back to my birthday! Charles and I headed to the store to pick up the take-and-bake pizzas for my party and headed home to bake them. This is how we were dressed up for my Hawkeye: Black and GOLDen Birthday Party!

The girls looked so gorgeous! :) They were a blast! We tried to get a "family" photo but they didn't turn out very well... :( Oh well! The two above sure did! Mikey and Megan drove down for my birthday party! (Thanks you two!) We invited our friends Mike and Karmen, the Missionaries, Jenny, and Matt. It was a full house! We ate, talked, and played Apples to Apples! It was a fantastic game! I only got one green apple card because I BEGGED my Husband to pick my card so I wouldn't look like the "goof who has no cards" when everyone else had at least 2 by that point!

The category: Dirty.
My card: The Dump!
WIN!
We enjoyed some store made cupcakes! I picked these because I LOVE the Care Bears! :)

They were probably the best cupcakes I have ever had before! The frosting was soooo delicious! They were awesome! Everyone left our house around 10 because we had to get Caity to bed! Mikey and Megan stayed the whole weekend at our house, and we had a busy day on Saturday!

Saturday Morning, Caity was in a super good mood and was giving everyone kisses! Even Mikey's dog, Shorty!
Did I mention that she gives kisses with her mouth open?!? Yeah... hilarious! We drove to Red Oak for my Mom's house! It was nice to see my family! My parents got me a storm radio! Mainly becuase we only pick up PBS stations with our crappy DTV system. So I asked for the radio so that I can keep up on bad weather when it happens to arise! My Aunt Norma got me wonderful lotion! It smells like Love Spell from Victoria's Secret! SOOO good! I had all my siblings there and it was wonderful! By the time we got back home, we were exhausted!

We had a wonderful weekend with Mikey and Megan! They stayed until 5 Sunday evening! We headed to Charles' Mom's house for dinner. They wanted to visit teach me for the month!

Mikey and Megan had the wonderful idea to gift me with 23 things that remind them of me! In the picture below, there are most of the things that I got! Here's the list and reasons!

1.) Pink Ball - I love the color pink ;)
2.) Hawkeye sign - I love the Hawkeyes!
3.) Insect rubber bands - I hate insects!
4.) Chocolate Chips - I have to make Mikey some cookies with them because, "That's all I want!"
5.) Fudge - I love the "Green Bay (Fudge) Packers" or so Mikey and Megan call them!
6.) Silly Faces book - I make silly faces!
7.) Muffin mix - I sing Mikey's "I Love Muffins, Muffins, Muffins" song he wrote in Jr. High!
8.) Canning Lids - I love to can the produce from my garden!
9.) Toy Jeep - I drive a Jeep!
10.) Grill stickers - I always send a picture of the "perfect grill lines" Charles has on our steaks!
11.) Love sign - I hate the song "All I wanna Do (Is Love You)" by Sugarland, so they always rub it in by singing it to me! Haha!
12.) Little Mermaid jewelry set - It's my favorite movie of all time!
13.) Stripe scrapbooking stuff - I love stripes!
14.) Polka Dot scrapbooking stuff - I love polka dots!
15.) Recipe Cards - I am constantly cooking and looking up new recipes!
16.) Skittles - I love Skittles!
17.) Elmo book - Caity's love of Elmo and my constant search for Elmo stuff for her!
18.) Poster Drawing Board - I love to draw!
19.) Panda set - I love Pandas!
20.) Monkey stickers - I fell of the monkey bars in school.
21.) Purple toe nail polish - I dropped a speaker on Mikey's toe and it turned purple!
22.) $10 Wal-Mart gift card - I'm always at Wal-Mart!
23.) DQ cake - Need I say more?!

It was the best gift idea ever! It made me feel so special to know that all these things remind Mikey and Megan of me! :)

My Golden 23rd Birthday

In honor of my GOLDEN 23rd Birthday today, I have made a list of the things I have been through and accomplished in my 23 years here on the Earth. I'm sure the list is endless, but my list is of the pivotal moments in my life that have molded and shaped me into the woman I am today.

-I was born on July 23, 1987 by Dr. Gregory Kloch.
-I was welcomed home by two older brothers, Robert and Michael.
-My Godparents are my Nana and my Uncle Tim.
-When I was about 6, I hit my head on a radiator/heater and had to get stitches along my eyebrow line. Thus why I have a scar above my eye that splits my eyebrow into two pieces!

-I had the chicken pox in first grade and I missed our field trip to the Omaha Library to pick out a book... I was very upset!
-I was in second grade, my class had worked really hard to let our teacher have an unlimited recess. The only exception was that, "When someone gets hurt, we go back inside." I remember this day clearly! I was sitting on a bar that was used for stability when crossing the bridge from one scape to the next, I had a fight with Tyrell about something dumb, and the next thing I know, he pushes me from behind and I land on my chin. It knocked me out for a brief moment, I woke up, looked down at a pool of blood, then got up and ran to our teacher. Everyone was mad at me for "getting hurt first" and causing us to go inside early. I had 8 stitches and got to stay home the rest of the week from school!
-In fourth grade, we moved to Iowa.
-I was in 3 different fourth grade classes at 3 different schools that year.
-My parents divorced when I was in 6th grade. It has been ugly ever since. "His side" "Her side" petty fights ever since then...
-My Mother remarried twice, My Father remarried once.
-Mom's third marriage is by far her best choice!
-I gained three new siblings throughout my Mom's remarriages; Alice, Jeff, and Robert!
-I gained three new siblings when my Father remarried; Mike, Melissa, and Morgan!
-I attempted suicide for the first time in Junior High because I was made fun of all the time... it was relentless, non-stop, and horrible. My brother Robert helped me through it and somehow I ended up on top. Thank you, Bob!
-I finally got boobs in High School!
-I was in so many extracurricular activities during High School that my resume that I attached to my scholarship applications was about 4 pages long!
-I dated a few guys, but I fell head over heels in love with Shane in High School... learned a lot from that!
-I graduated in the top 10% of my class.

-I was destroyed when my relationship with Shane ended.
-My best friend, Alyce, stepped in and invited me to her church.
-I was baptized on August 6, 2005 into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
-I attended the University of Northern Iowa majoring in Art Education and Spanish Education with a minor in Communications.
-I met so many incredible people who have changed my life forever in the Cedar Falls and W'loo wards while in college.
-I met the man who would later become my husband Christmas of 2006.
-I got pregnant in my second year of college by Dain, who died from injuries sustained in a car accident before I even knew I was pregnant with his baby.
-I moved home from college to take time to deal with everything.
-I miscarried his baby on April 2, 2007.
-Charles was persistent in wanting to be with me, and I finally gave in on May 5th, 2007.
-I was kicked out of my Father's home shortly after... and I now have a terrible relationship with my Father, who refuses to let things go and move on. I have forgiven him for everything... It's in the Lord's hands now!
-The same day I was kicked out, I called my Mom and reconnected with her.
-Charles asked my Mom for permission to marry me the same day that he proposed, June 5th, 2007!
-We were married and sealed for time and all eternity on August 11th, 2007 in the Nauvoo, Ill temple.

-We experienced a molar pregnancy right after we were married, I had to have a D&C, and was on cancer watch for about 4 months.
-My Grandma Rosemary died in the fall of 2007.
-We bought our first house in June of 2008, the same month my Father and his wife had a set of boy twins, Kaleb and Issac.
-On our first year anniversary, we discovered we were pregnant!
-March 24th, 2009, we welcomed Caitlin Nadine into our family!

-My Grandpa Robert died on his birthday, July 8, 2009.
-When Caity was about 4 months old, we got pregnant again. We wanted another child... eventually! We just didn't think it would be so soon after our first!
-May 21st, 2010, we welcomed Rosalie Cadence into our family!


And here we are today! I have a wonderful husband, two girls (16 months old and 2 months old), a house, 2 cats, 2 dogs, a huge family, and a wonderful support system of friends and loved ones who have stood beside me through it all!
These past 23 years have been amazing, hard, sad, and simply wonderful! I cannot wait to live out the rest of my years here growing in love, patience, and in the Lord!

I am truly blessed!
I love you!

Happy 2 Months, Rosalie! (Yesterday!)

It has been quite busy around our household! I am finally off of ibuprofen and the muscle relaxers the doctor had put me on. I've been without them for a week! This makes me very happy!

Yesterday, Rosalie turned 2 months old! Already! It's gone by super fast! July is usually a busy month for our family! But I sang her my "Happy ___ Month, to you!" song yesterday! Rosalie gifted Charles and I by having an EPIC explosion of poo yesterday while we were in Wal-mart. It was awful... I took two photos. One after we took her out. And one when we opened her sleep-and-play up to see the damage! Be warned... it's nasty stuff!

We went to Wal-Mart to buy cake mixes for my 23rd birthday. Which will be TOMORROW! I will be 23 and will have a list of things I have accomplished in my 23 years on here tomorrow!
I am excited! It's my favorite day of the year! We are having some friends over on my birthday to have a small party and play apples to apples, then we are heading to Red Oak on Saturday to celebrate my birthday with my side of the family!

Yesterday, Caitlin decided to help her sissy out in the swing and push and pull her! It was hilarious and Rosalie was smiling the whole time!

Later that night, Caity decided to help Rosalie out after her bath by brushing her hair, or "pretties" as she calls it!
I only hope that our girls remain this close their whole lives! :)
It makes me so happy to hear Caity tell Rosie that she loves her and then gives her kisses! :)

Growing Together

Yesterday I put Rosalie on the floor to help her muscles get strong by holding her head up. It was super cute watching Caity watch Rosalie! She was so intent to just sit by sissy, sit ON sissy, and love on sissy! My girls are growing together more and more each day!Sitting next to Sissy!

Rosalie was fussing and Caity looks over and...

Puts her finger in Rosalie's nose!
I was laughing so hard!

I love my life with these girls!

*Love*

Since the last post, it's been a roller coaster of things that have been going on with my head and neck. To make a long story short, I'm on muscle relaxers to help with the constant pain I have had since last week. They are wonderful... I just wish I had more time to sleep. I'm constantly dragging and tired. I blame my actions on them.

Caity's antibiotics have pretty much wiped out the bite/sore she's had on her side. You can't even really see it anymore. I'm am so happy! :) :) We found her sitting on the couch the other day reading her favorite book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and trying to sing the rhyme! This is the photo I got of her!

Rosalie is now holding her head up without help! Followed by throwing up! I love her! This photo was taken a few days ago while Rosie was napping! Looks like she was contemplating something while sleeping!

Charles and I have a busy next few weeks with Dr. appointments, chiropractor appointments, weddings, birthdays (my golden birthday will be July 23rd! I'll be 23!), a family get together, my 5 year class reunion, and some other events here and there. I feel like we're constantly on the go anymore! There are times of the year where we'd give anything to have something going on... and then there are times we wish we didn't have so many things to do!

I'm getting my hair trimmed tomorrow... I want a different look... I'm just too scared to do that with my hair. *sigh* I wish I had guts to go all out and do something different for once.

Maybe next time...

July -- So Far

Our 4th of July Sunday Outfits!


The Happy Couple!

Well we've been having issues with the wireless internet and have decided that we are going to go ahead and go through a different provider and hope that we have less issues. We have been discussing it for a while now and Charles flat out said that he is tired of waiting for pages to load, pictures to download, etc. He wants to be able to play games online that don't freeze for a while or quit on him every 10 minutes. I agree! But on my side, I hate waiting for half an hour for one picture to upload to my facebook or my Blog.... it gets really old, really fast!

Anywho, July started off wonderful! We had a GORGEOUS week during the end of June and the beginning of July! Not a cloud in the sky for about 5 days straight! Followed by a storm front that moved in and rained out all the activities that were suppose to go on in town on the 3rd and 4th. No parade, no carnival, no fireworks... NOTHING. The rain so so heavy at times that we couldn't see 2 houses down the street! It was crazy! Our city moved the fireworks to July 31st and canceled the carnival and parade all together. We were very upset. Mostly because the 31st is my 5 year High School Reunion and I've already sent in my RSVP that I will be attending.

Our brother in law brought over some small fireworks to do at Mom's house on Tuesday and Caitlin freaked out... so it's probably best that we aren't going to see the fireworks anyway. Caitlin has been going through a lot in July alone.

We took her in for her 15 month check up on June 30th and found out that she weighs a whopping 27 lbs and is 32 inches long. Our baby girl is a toddler now! Dr. G noticed that she had a bite or two along her diaper line on her left side between her hip and belly button. He told me to keep an eye on them and keep them clean and dry. I was doing quite well until July 2nd when I noticed that the bite had become pimple like with a head. Charles popped it and drained out what was inside. I put Neosporin on it and that was mistake number one. It irritated her bite and it just got worse from that point on.

On the 3rd, I ended up calling the ER because she was running a fever and not eating. The man told me to let her take plenty of baths with Epsom salt to soak the bite and help in draining it. Caitlin LOVED that part! She's such a water baby! After the first bath, the bite came to another nasty head and I just left it alone. No place in town had the ointment we needed for her bite. We knew we'd have to wait until Monday to look again for the next shipment, if any, had come in.

Sunday we gave her 3 soak-baths and it continued to drain. Monday came and she was swollen all the way up to her ribs on the left side. We went back to the store and talked with the pharmacy to see if they had an order coming in for the ointment. We ended up special ordering it and having to wait another day.

Tuesday morning, Caitlin's swelling was down a little, so I gave her a soak-bath right away when she woke up. When I was toweling her off, I was patting her bite softly to soak up the puss that was now draining out. I don't know what took over me in the next few minutes after that, but I was prompted to touch around the bite since I noticed her skin wasn't moving naturally with her body. It was rock hard. I pushed down on it lightly and a mixture of blood and green puss starting flowing out of the bite opening. It smelled horrendous and was just gross. So much came out of it. Caitlin was screaming her head off, but I kept draining it until there was nothing left. I put a band aid on it and immediately called the Dr. He couldn't see her until Wednesday. They told me to bring her in when I had my appointment for my head pain.

Wednesday rolled around and I gave her another bath before our morning appointment, nothing came out of the bite when I pushed down on the hard part. Dr. G looked at it and said it was a good thing I had drained it the day before... it could have been much, much worse if I had left all that stuff inside of her. He put her on a double antibiotic and we have already seen a difference in her appetite and general attitude.

As for my head pain, Dr. G sent me to my chiropractor to see if the pain in my head is being caused by nerve end issues. He set me straight (haha) and the pain was immediately gone. Until about 8:30 last night when I started to have my first migraine. It was AWFUL. I have never had one before. And I hope to never have one again. I will be going back in on Monday to see what else we can do for the pain that is now all over in my head instead of just being on one side.

Keep us in your prayers! We need 'em!

What a Beautiful Day

Yesterday my friend Shantel called me and asked if I wanted to take the girls to the park with her and her son, Blaise. I said, "Of course!" and we decided on a time. The sun was shining and it was only about 75 degrees outside, it was perfect! Caitlin and Blaise had so much fun! He's 20 days older than Caitlin, but man does that make a difference! Caity is still falling down a lot when she walks, so she got pretty dirty! It was so nice to get out of the house with the girls and spend time with a friend!

Charles got home from work and started doing yard work. He got done around 7, so we decided to take the girls out to the lake because the play scape there is a lot bigger than the one in town. We took out some Strawberry Sundae ice cream bars and they were so delicious! Caity even thought so!

It was so nice to get her outside! I feel like she never goes outside now that we have Rosalie. But we're going to get her out more now! I just love how she gets when she's outside playing! Even if it's only at home! The park is a 5 minute walk from here, but it's hard with one stroller and two children! Rosalie rides in the snugglie, but it just gets too hot for me with her in that thing.

We ended up staying at the park letting her run around until 8:30. I had to try and keep her awake for the ride home! I immediately gave her a bath at home and she went down for bed so quickly!

All in all, it was a gorgeous day! Today is suppose to be a super nice day, too! We are having a BBQ for Jenny's arrival home from Texas! We are super happy to have her home again! So much has happened since she left shortly after Easter! She's going to FINALLY meet Rosalie! Caitlin is walking... Jared is HUGE and rolling over now... it might be overwhelming for Jenny her first few days home because we have so much to catch up on!

I'm off to clean the house and get ready for the BBQ!

Just Because...

This little girl seems to be growing up too fast for me! I know that now we have another little one, time sure does seem to fly, but look at her.


She's growing up right before my eyes.

I guess the saying, "Don't Blink," is a very true one indeed!

Good Advice

Life is a gift...Accept it.

Life is an adventure...Dare it.
Life is a mystery...Unfold it.
Life is a struggle...Face it.
Life is a puzzle...Solve it.
Life is an opportunity...Take it.
Life is a mission...Fulfill it.
Life is a goal...Achieve it.


Thanks, Jamie :)

It's Time for a Change

It's hard to believe that my 6 week post-baby check up will be this Friday. I will be able to start exercising again and have the green light to go back to normal! I am pumped! I guess there are a lot of wonderful things about having my two girls so close, but one thing that isn't so wonderful is the extra skin I've developed on my belly. Charles hates when I grab at it and jiggle it. I have to laugh though, because it makes me think of the movie Click when Adam Sandler's character has lost weight and has a "flap" of skin hanging on his mid-section, and he starts flapping it all around! His ex-wife in the movie screams, "Would you stop flapping that thing?!" Haha, Charles keeps telling me that! It's not terrible, but it is there.

We talked about it last night and decided that we are cutting out the junk food all together. No more buying it at all. He is going to cut back on his pop consumption and start drinking water more. I don't drink pop, so that's totally his thing! We are going to start buying wholesome snacks by sticking to fresh fruit and veggies, almonds, etc. We are going to start portion control during meals and incorporating salads with lots of veggies and using dressing sparingly.

I guess it hit us the other night that we've let ourselves go. We are married, in love, and comfortable. But that is no excuse for not taking care of ourselves. Sure, we've gained weight. But there comes a time when enough is enough. Now that we have two daughters, the time has come to start thinking about being healthy to be able to live longer and be here for our girls.

As of July 1st, we are going to start walking every night (if the weather permits) and working out. I am going to start up doing TurboJam again! I did it after Caity was born and I lost 15 lbs in one month. So I am pretty excited to start that up again! I'm not for sure if Charles will be joining me for Turbo, but I know that he wants to start lifting weights and working out again. Wish us luck! We are praying that we will stay motivated and be happy with ourselves again.

That's what it's about, really.
Being happy with ourselves, again.
It can happen!
But we're going to need your support!
Pray for us!

This isn't a Tragedy... but it does SUCK

It's official... our doctor is leaving the clinic and leaving town. This makes us super sad. I cried for a good hour yesterday when we got the letter about him leaving. This leaves us to choose from 6 doctors, whom we have never seen or met.

It's been a long, hard road for me to find good doctors who genuinely care about me and about my kids. Charles has never had to go to Dr. Gerdes ( thank goodness for a healthy husband ). I had a horrible experience with Dr. She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named that landed me in the wonderful hands of Dr. Potter and Dr. Gerdes. Dr. Potter delivered Caitlin. Since Dr. Potter is only available in the Council Bluffs/Omaha area, it was too much money to drive there every two weeks when we got pregnant with Rosalie. We were both working when pregnant with Caity, so we had the means to travel to see him. Dr. Gerdes cares ( which is hard to find ) and if he doesn't know something, he won't sit there and say "maybe this" or "maybe that". He is a humble man. And I am going to miss him deeply. I wish him the best of luck in all his endeavors.

I am now left with a sheet of paper with a list of names to choose from.
I've been looking them up online and I have narrowed it down to two choices.
Wish us luck with that...

On a lighter note:
My brother Mike and our friend Michelle came to visit me on Tuesday! They surprised me by just showing up to hang out and see baby Rosie! I was so thrilled! It made my whole week when they stopped by! We just talked and played with Caity from about 1:30 to 5:00! Charles and I had to go to our nephew's little league game later on so they had to leave. I just love watching little league! Fun times!

We have a free weekend to clean and get some yard work done! I am excited and hoping for some nice weather. I'm so tired of all this rain and crappy weather.
We need some SUNSHINE!

Birthday and Father's Day Weekend

We were way excited for the weekend because Mikey and Megan were coming back down and Jeff's 8th birthday celebration was going to be at a mini golf/go kart place near RO! We weren't for sure if we were going to go until late Saturday morning. But we ended up being able to go!

First off, we forgot our camera, AGAIN, so I have no pictures of the fun that went on. Megan brought a camera, so until she posts them on her FB, I can't post any pics until then.

We got to the Sports Plex and all of the boys were way excited to go on the go karts! It was like Christmas morning watching all of the guys riding in them! Mikey is always determined to race and pass people! Josh couldn't help but spin out around ever curve! Charles couldn't stop smiling and laughing the entire length of the ride! Raymond had to ride with Jeff the first round and wanted to ride solo on the second round, and he had a BLAST! Megan and Alice were the only girls out on the track, due to my Mom being scared of go karts and me having to breastfeed Rosalie. Caitlin walked around and watched her Daddy going around and around on the track!

Afterward, we headed over to the mini golf area. I opted to sit out and watch the girls while everyone else played a round! Charles ended up winning by one point! Mikey came in second! They were all out in the blazing hot sun while I was in the air conditioning with my girls! Everyone took turns coming in and out of the main house to see me and the girls.

Everyone was super hot so they came into the main house and we all played in the arcade area for a good hour and a half! Everyone acted like giddy children the whole day! It was a blast to see! They guys ended up going out on the go karts one last time before we went. From what I was told, Mikey and Charles kept ganging up on Raymond and bumping into him! I wish I could have seen the guys having a blast on the track! They rode for 20 minutes straight!

We all headed back to Mom's house for some pizza and rest! Megan and Mikey followed us home and spent the night.

This morning, our clock was reset because of a power out last night, so we missed church. Oops! Mikey and Megan were gone before we got up. I made Charles some homemade Blueberry Pancakes! They were DELICIOUS! And since then, we've been lounging around in our PJs and relaxing! Right now, Charles and the girls are napping and I'm doing some laundry while blogging! What a wonderful weekend so far! :) We're heading off to T's for dinner tonight!

Happy Father's Day to all the Fathers and Fathers-to-be out there! Hope you have a GREAT day! The picture below has nothing to do with this post, but I thought I'd share it anyway! This is just what comes from me when I'm bored and messing with Picnik!

Our Past Few Days

I haven't been on here since last Thursday because it was that day I found out that a friend of mine from High School had gotten into a car accident, and passed away. Her name was Lauren Elisabeth Anderson, and she was only 20 years old. The news hit home pretty hard. I went to school where we all were really close to one another. Everyone knows everyone. So when something like this happens, it is truly amazing to see how many people come together for support and love. Even when the circumstances are this crummy. She was truly an amazing woman... I will miss her contagious smile and laughter. Her and I had some pretty amazing times in Cheerleading and Colorguard.

Mikey and Megan came to see Rosalie for the first time! :) It was awesome seeing my big brother holding my brand new baby! Though, it was hilarious that every time she cried, he'd hand her over without hesitating! Haha! Megan just loved Rosie! Caitlin was a little shy at first, but soon warmed up to both of them and you couldn't separate Megan and Caity! :) Saturday, the boys went fishing and then came back so we could catch some of the city wide garage sales, but we had no luck with that. It wasn't a very fun Saturday, but we all enjoyed each others company!

Sunday we went to Red Oak so that Rosalie could meet Aunt Norma and her family! She couldn't get over how much Rosalie looks like me! :) We ended up going out to a lake and fishing with Bob for the afternoon. It was a gorgeous day to do so! I forgot my camera :( Otherwise I'd have some awesome pics of the guys and Megan fishing, Caitlin playing with AJ, and Rosalie and I chilling in the shade! We all went out to eat at Casa de Oro and headed home. It was a wonderful weekend!

I even got to put pig tails in Caity's hair! The first time EVER! I thought she looked downright CUTE! :) I've managed to get them into her hair every day since! :) I love 'em! See for yourself!


I can't get over how cute she is! And we got Rosalie her signature Panda outfit! She'll soon be able to fit the one we got for Caity! I just love my baby panda!

Attack of the Teddy Grahams

We've had one heck of a day :( I only got about 2 hours of sleep last night, so I've been in a not-so-good-mood all day. Caity woke earlier than usual and Rosalie is nursing every hour again. My day has been hectic.

By the time I got both girls down for nap time, I was ready to head to my bedroom for a nap right when the missionaries called me. They got stuck on a dirt (real dirt, not gravel) road. We've had some pretty heavy rainfall today... so it was more of a mud road! Anywho, they wanted help finding someone to come get them out. I called Charles at work and he ended up going out there with Brent and Ashley, and after about an hour of trying, the car just wouldn't come out of the mud. They are calling in a tow right now. So all of this meant no nap for me.

Not to mention the fact that when Caity got up from her nap, she was screaming. Which NEVER happens. And since then, she's been screaming and crying non-stop, for no reason. *sigh* She's got tylenol in her because she's teething, but I'm starting to think she's got something else going on.

I left the room for a brief moment to use the bathroom earlier and came back in the room to find that Caity had gotten her box of Teddy Grahams and made a HUGE mess of my couch, floor, and other daughter! She kept saying, "Share!" when she's drop a teddy on Rosalie! It was cute so I snapped a picture of the mess! I was upset, but I found it more hilarious!

"It wasn't me, Mommy!"
Sharing with Sissy!

Roses are Pink!

We decided yesterday to go ahead and use up the last of the gift cards we got for Rosalie's baby shower. We only have a Wal-Mart here so our choices are limited, but they have some super cute dresses for toddlers. So we got Caity a dress that Rosalie will wear someday, a super cute fish outfit for Rosalie, some hair ties for both girls, a bib that says, "I love Daddy", and we got matching headbands with roses in dark pink and light pink. One for each of our girls! Caity chose the dark pink rose headband, which was hilarious because it matched her outfit perfectly! I snapped some photos of our gorgeous girls wearing their roses!You can't see the whole rose, but it's the best photo I could get!
She was in a terrible mood yesterday!

Our sweet angel slept through Caity's fits... she looks so peaceful!

Precious :)

We still cannot believe just how big our first baby is getting! She's so stinking cute, it hurts! We thought we'd post these pictures of Caity in her new Little Mermaid swimming suit!*~* Caitlin Nadine *~*

Mid-step! :) Hilarious!

Rosalie's Baby Blessing

Baby blessings are a true gift from our Heavenly Father. Being the only member in my family, I often get asked why we don't baptize newborns. My answer is simple... they are clean and pure before the Lord. And they are until the age of accountability, which is 8. Then our children are given the choice to be baptized. What a wonderful blessing. To give our children the choice.

Rosalie's baby blessing was yesterday. My Mom and Dad came from RO to see the blessing and stay for sacrament meeting. I'm always nervous when my family comes to church. I think it's more excitement than being nervous. I just love having them there with me. To feel the Spirit, hear testimonies, and share in the pure love of Christ. It never fails... every time I see Charles cry, I cry. He held in his tears until after the blessing was done, but like he did with Caitlin, I had to give him a good 5 to 10 minutes to compose himself afterward. He says that he felt the Spirit so much during her blessing that he ended up pausing for at least a minute during her blessing. It was beautiful. He said that he looked down at Rosalie and saw her infinite potential to do anything she sets her mind to. Anything at all. He realized that that feeling must be what Heavenly Father feels when a child is born into this world. Infinite possibilities to do good things.

I love that I have a worthy husband to bless our children!

The day turned out to be b-e-a-utiful! The sun was out all day, the wind was gentle, and the Lord was smiling down on us the entire day! We went over to T's for chinese and to hang out after supper. It was delicious, as always! :)
Here are some photos from our day :)
Enjoy!

Our Forever Family!

Rosalie Cadence

Heavenly Feet

Welcome June... Welcome Tornado Season

Yesterday was full of tornado warnings all over Iowa, Nebraska, and surrounding states. I honestly thought that we were quite lucky at mid-day when the first of the warnings hit in Northwest Iowa. It was sunny here. A little while later, the warnings got lower down towards our part of the state. But the sun was still shining here. Odd, I thought.

Charles got home and we wanted to head to the store right away because the storm clouds were moving in and I was getting nervous about having the girls out in the rain. We made it to Fareway and out again without getting rained on too terribly. I ran Rosalie out to the Jeep and Charles looked like a mad man running with Caity in the cart! The poor Fareway kid had to stand in the rain and load our groceries in the back of the Jeep. Bless his heart! And his job! Not to mention that I was standing right next to him helping! My job: Being a Mom!

We went to Hy-Vee next to try to find Ziti for the Chicken, Broccoli, Ziti One Skillet Supper I was going to be making for supper. That's when the first Warning in our area went off. There was a tornado about 20 miles east of our town. The sun was coming back out while behind us, it was almost black. That tornado hit a farm and caused over 3 million in damages. The family lost their home, machine shed, 2 combines, livestock, etc. After the tornado warning was lifted for that area, over 250 emergency response people and volunteers helped the family out and gathered livestock back into fenced areas. Photos and Story HERE.

We got home, I packed a "tornado diaper bag" for the girls and I started dinner making the comment, "I don't want this to be my last supper!" Dinner was amazing, by the way! I love America's Test Kitchen recipes! I kept an eye outside and watched the clouds.

It was about 7ish when I had the sudden urge to go look outside. Freaking-A... HUGE black wall cloud. By the time it took me to turn around to tell Charles about the wall cloud, the sirens started going off. The city JUST put a HUGE siren right outside our house, so it was hella loud. Charles and I looked at each other, I grabbed Rosalie and the diaper bag, he grabbed Caity and we ran downstairs.

Charles ran back up to get a sheet, the car seat, and some toys for Caity. The "rotation" was north of town so he felt safe enough to run up really quick. We stayed down in the basement for a good 30 minutes until the "all clear" was announced.

We eventually calmed down for the night, had family prayer, and put the girls down. We had an uneventful night... I thanked God! Now that we had a crash course in "running with the girls down to the basement", we are now fully prepared with our bags downstairs and a path cleared to run if needed.

Please pray for the family who lost their home and for safety over our area. No tornadoes, please! I didn't have babies to come into this world and be harmed by mother nature. Please keep us safe!

Gorgeous :)

I just wanted to share this photo of our gorgeous girl, Rosalie! :)

We have truly been blessed with a healthy, uneventful pregnancy, followed by a healthy, gorgeous baby girl!

Happy First Week, Rosalie!

These past few days have gone rather well! We welcomed Rosalie into this world a week ago today, which is crazy because it feels as if she's been here much longer than that. Much longer. Our home life has remained rather quiet. We've had few guests and few phone calls. Which is nice! I don't want too many people around Rosalie due to her being so new and being a magnet for germs. Call me paranoid, a germ freak, or overprotective, but I'd rather be that than have a sick newborn. We were the same way with Caity because she was a preemie, but I'd rather play it safe than sorry.

We've been blessed with meals from the relief society sisters! They have helped us out so much! Our budget is so tight that we ran out of money in our "food budget" right before we had Rosalie. So having willing sisters prepare meals for our small family has been a HUGE blessing! We've had some delicious meals! Hamburgers with all the fixings, shepherd's pie, lasagna, chili, pizza... it's been wonderful having a variety! Thank you all so much! :)

Rosalie is breastfeeding every 2-3 hours during the day with spurts of eating every hour on the hour. Her night times have smoothed out to every 3 hours. The first few nights we were going every hour. I guess I don't mind feeding her since her bilirubin count was at 11 and we're trying to get her jaundice down. More breast milk means more urine output and more dirty diapers. Which means less bili in the system. Caitlin had it much worse. We're counting our blessings!

Caitlin is still having some jealousy issues with Rosie, but I think that it'll never really change. Sibling rivalry/jealousy is normal. I was the only girl in my family for a long time and my brothers were always jealous of me. Though I have to give Caity credit, she does love on Rosie quite often! Giving her kisses and rubbing her head and back! I've noticed Caitlin will come over and cuddle with me after I feed Rosalie or just at random times during the day. I always tell her I love her and give her lots of kisses. She's taking all of this rather well!

Charles goes back to work today. If he works today, than he gets the Monday holiday paid. Originally, he was going to take this whole week off, but his supervisor told him that if he wants the holiday pay of time and a half for Monday, he needs to come back Friday. Their policy is that you have to work the day before and the day after the holiday to get paid for the holiday. So he did. It's my first day alone with my girls! I'm not nervous. I'm more excited to have Caitlin back in her normal routine and having Rosalie along for the ride!

We took some pictures yesterday of our girls in their "Big Sister" "Little Sister" outfits I made for them. Well, I put the words on the shirt and onesie I bought. I used puffy paint! Here is the best photo of the 10 or so that I took!

Sisterly Love

We were worried about how Caitlin would react to Rosalie when we brought her home from the hospital. Most times, she looks at Rosalie like this:

Then we ask her, "Do you love baby sissy?" and we get this look:


This is going to be fun!

Welcome Rosalie!

Our sweet angel came into our life last Friday! We got up and got ready for the day ahead of us. We took one last photo as a family of 3 right before we left for the hospital. We checked in around 7:30 and Charles left to take Caity to T's house for the day. I got settled in and hooked up to the monitors. My contractions were 3 to 4 minutes a part. I opted for NO pain medicine at all. Told the nurses that right off the bat so they wouldn't ask me at all. They never did!

Around 8:30, Charles returned and Dr. G broke my water at 8:40. My contractions didn't start picking up until about an hour afterward. I sat in the rocking chair and rocked through my contractions singing primary songs in my head. It helped.

A little after 12:30, I was checked and I was dilated to 8 cm. I had another contraction and dilated to 9. That's where I stalled for the next 15 or so minutes. I told Dr. G that I needed to push, but he said no. The right side of my cervix was only 95% effaced and I was at 10 cm. He massaged my cervix during a contraction and it HURT. But after that, it was go time!

4 contractions and pushes later, we welcomed our sweet girl into the world!

Rosalie Cadence AustinMay 21, 2010
1:17 p.m.
8 lbs 7 oz
20 inches long

I know Heavenly Father and the angels were rejoicing with us as we celebrated a new life in our world! It took absolutely everything I had in me to give birth without any sort of medicinal help. By far, the shoulders were worse than her head! I think that's why my face is so disgusted in the picture up above... it friggin' HURT! I know I was saying, "My sweet baby girl!" but my face was saying otherwise! It's kinda funny... but oh well! It was the second most incredible moment of my life! Tied for first with the moment Caitlin entered the world!

I had the shakes for a good hour after I had Rosalie. I felt like I shouldn't hold her, so Charles go to hold her quite a bit in the first hour. He enjoyed it! :) I felt wonderful after I had some Motrin in my system after the delivery! I breastfed Rosalie and she took to it wonderfully!

I spent a grand total of 2 days in the hospital. We welcomed Rosalie home on the 22nd and our first few nights have gone well. Rosalie is an oinker, eating every hour during the day, and every 2-3 hours at night. Caitlin just loves little sister! She tries to poke her eyes! Don't know why... but it's kinda cute! She'll kiss her head and rub her back! But she is jealous of her. We have a long road ahead of us, but every day is going to be SO worth it!


Rosalie and I about 2 hours after I delivered her.

All of us girls!

D-Day!

I woke up this morning and looked outside to see this gorgeous blue/purple hue to the sky. The birds were chirping and there was a dense fog that was really low to the ground. It was gorgeous. And I realized...

Today is the day. D-Day. Delivery day.

I am so excited! Yes, a little nervous, but more excited than anything else! Not for the pain, the aches, the stretching of my... ya know... but most of all, I'm excited to FINALLY hold this baby who has officially made it to 40 weeks with me.

I honestly never thought I'd ever go full term. God saw otherwise, and I couldn't be happier!

The plan for today, GET BABY OUT without pain meds! Wish me luck! It's been done before! Just not by me! I pray that Heavenly Father will guide my labor and delivery and keep me strong. We will post our labor and delievery story along with pictures of our sweet baby as soon as we can after she arrives!

I am so, so excited to meet Rosalie!
(or Jason... if the ultrasound lady was wrong...)

TOMORROW! You're only a day away!

Tomorrow we will officially meet our sweet baby Rosalie! (Or if it's a surprise and turns out to be a boy, we'll be meeting our sweet baby Jason!) Either way, we will be meeting our baby tomorrow! Unless I pull a 24 hour labor... then I'll be meeting baby on Saturday! I'm just excited to be in the hospital, in labor, and not being sent home!

Today is going to be filled with the last of the cleaning. I've been keeping up on the house since my last labor scare, so there really isn't much to do. Thank goodness. Just some random dishes, laundry, sweeping, moping, vacuuming, etc. We will also be loading the Jeep up with the car seat, overnight bags, and stuff for Caity to spend the day with Aunt T!

We are going to spend the last day as a family of 3 doing what we do best! Nothing! Ha! We're going to have just another normal day/night. We're going to play, sing, and dance like we have done every night with our sweet Caity! Give her a bottle, brush teeth, get PJs on, sing some soft songs, and rock her to sleep! I think she knows that baby sister is almost here! I just know she's going to do just fine with her here! She's our little baby Momma!

Last night was hilarious! Sesame Street came on for the second time and we were all singing along with the Elmo's World song when I looked over and saw Caity on the couch, lying down, watching Elmo! Here she is in all her cuteness!

She's just like her Daddy! :)