I'll be back soon

Hi to everyone who reads my blog! I know it's been a while since I have posted.. I have been very busy since our fantastic trip to Disneyland. We got back this last Saturday, and I have not stopped going since. I am now back to work, and busier then ever. I promise to update with pictures soon! But I wanted to let you know we all got back safe & sound, and things are well. Check back soon for pics from our trip! Stace

And Away We Go!!

Today is the day! We are leaving this afternoon/evening to go to a hotel by the airport so we only have to get up at 3:30 am instead of 2:00 am... And so that we don't have to park at the airport, we can leave our car at the hotel. I just can't believe that we are going already! It seems like just yesterday I was pregnant with Maddy, talking about how when she turns 6 we will go to Disneyland. And here it is! Wow. Anyways, I will post pictures & everyhting when we get back! YAY!!

Sheesh..

I found out this morning I have another bonified thumb sucker. Sheesh. I was really hoping to avoid that with Peyton, but no luck. Here is picture of her with her new found "friend".



This weekend was a fun filled weekend. It was very busy though. The girls had their birthday tea party on Saturday. It was so cute to see all the little girls get all dressed up. We had a total of 8 girls there. Here are a couple snap shots.





Then after the tea party Maddy had another birthday party to go to. This one was at Cosmic bowling. I dropped her off for that, and it looked like a ton of fun! Then she went to the slumber party after. It is so hard for me to let my little girl grow up. She, of course, did great. I am proud of her, and I know I am teaching her how to be respectful of other people and their property.

Then on Sunday, the girls went with Gwamma & Gwampa Johnson to see "Horton Hears a Who" and Trav & I got ready to have my family over for a pre-Disneyland dinner. Just to go over a basic iteneray & some rules about all of our attitudes while down there. It went really well, and everyone seemed to enjoy the food I prepared. I made Mexican Lasagna, and the best ever chocolate cake. Seriously, it is the best chocolate cake you will ever eat. Yummy. I think I will have a piece after I eat some lunch..

And yes, Disneyland is in only 5 days! I am so excited! I am hoping to get to see my oldest friend Susanne while down there, along with my bro Austin's girlfriend Heather who lives in LA going to the Fashion Institute. How cool is that? She is one hip chick. :-) And it's rubbing off on Austin. I tell him he's like a girl all the time now. He actually noticed that I got a new pair of jeans the other day. What guy does that?! My bro, I guess. Actually, Austin is my brother in law. I only have sisters.. And 4 brother in laws. But my other brother in laws don't give me anything to razz them about. :-) But I love em anyways.

Peyton is just waking up from her nap, so I best be pickin her up. See ya later..

Peyton Laughs!

Peyton has started laughing! And Oh MY is it the cutest thing! I hope to get it on video soon, so that I will have it for ever & ever. I am going to cherish every 1st this baby girl has because I am not having any more babies. Ever.

Alex is, right this very moment, Growling, yes, growling, at me because I am making her lie down for a "rest" And you know what? I am cherishing that as well. It's not as fun and sweet as a babies 1st laugh is, but you know, she is just trying to tell me that she is not happy. I wish she would use her words more then her icky sounds, but we are working on that. I have had to remind her that she needs to use her "happy voice" less & less nowadays, which is a pretty big improvement from what it was.

This last weekend was a ton of fun. We started out with the girls' 1st soccer game! Oh, was that funny! Alex "played", but really she just ran into people. She literally took the biggest girl on the other team out. I wish, wish, wish, I would have gotten it on tape! I seriously think I would be $10,000 richer someday if I had. (From America's Funniest Home Video's). Then that night Trav I took the 2 big girls bowling. It was so fun! Even though I wasn't feeling well. I had a fever & all the icky stuff, but I did ok. Trav kicked booty! He bowled a 200 game. Not bad for a guy who hasn't bowled in about 10 years. Here is a slideshow from our weekend..

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY ALEX!!!

Today is Alex's 4th birthday! I can not believe that 4 years ago today I had my 2nd beautiful daughter. We were totally surprised when she came out a girl. We had decided to not find out what she was until she was born, and knowing her now it fits that we didn't. She is constantantly surprising us with the things she can do. The girl can put together a 100 peice puzzle without help! She is starting to read too. She knows how to write her name, and is a great counter too. Oh and the girl dominates in the Memory Game. It's pretty embarrasing as a mom to get schooled by your kid, but I am so proud of her. Her behavior has improved drastically as well. She is such a great little girl now!

To celebrate this birthday we have done, and are going to do quite a few things. Last night we celebrated with my family at Red Robin in Salem. Here are some pictures from last night.


Today we are going to the girl's first soccer game of the spring season. Yes, I said girl's.. Maddy's soccer team is so small that the coaches, who happen to be my father in law & my husband, decided to put Alex in a shirt and let her "play". She is really in my mind to immature to play, but at least she can be a body on the field. It makes her feel big too. :-) Then tonight the 5 of us are all going bowling to celebrate Alex's actuall birthday. I am very excited to spend the evening with my family. Then tomorrow we are going to Trav's partents house to have lunch with them. We are having what Alex requested, CAKE, Chicken Nuggets, and French Fries. And yes, Alex did request the Cake first. Goes to show, the girl is mine.. I would have said the same thing. After lunch we will be going to Scotty's playhouse for Trav's Grandma's 80 something birthday. Sounds silly huh, but it's really more like a small family reunioun. So there you have it, our weekend in a pretty large nutshell.. Alex, Happy Birthday sweetheart, I duh du so so so much, and I am very proud of the girl you are becoming. Momma.

Our new pet

Maddy brought home a new pet for us yesterday. She named her Crystal. Which is funny because that is my brother in law's ex girlfriends name. :-) Hee Hee. Anyways, just thought I would share it with everyone else..
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Yes, she brought us home a dead baby octopus. They are learning about sea animals in school and they got to bring these home so that they could teach us about them as well. How nice huh! Anyways, Maddy is a little bit confused about the whole "dead" thing. She has told us that octopuses have 8 legs (tenticles) with sucky things on them, (suckers), and that they live in very cold salt water. So when the girls were taking a bath last night Maddy asked me if I could fill the bath tub up with extra cold water when they were done, add salt to it so that she could put Crystal in it so she could swin again. I thought it was cute. Anyways, Crystal has been moved to the outside freezer for a couple of days so that Maddy can show her off when she wants, but she will soon be moved to her brand new home at the landfill. What a great place for Crystal, don't ya think? (Crystal the dead baby octopus, not the bro's ex..)

Peyton is 3 months old!!

Our baby girl is 3 months old today. Wow, time goes by so fast! She is such a blessing and a joy. We all love her so much. She has changed quite alot as well from the day she was born in looks, and she is talking so much nowadays too. When she is on the floor doing tummy time, she now holds her self up and looks around. She loves to sleep in her swing, and she is now sleeping almost 11 hours a night. From 9:30 p.m. to around 8:00 a.m. in her bassinet.. Soon to be moved into her own bedroom. Yay for that! Here are some pictures of her as she has grown.. These have all been taken on the 2nd of the last 3 months.

Here she is on the day she was born

Here she is at 1 month

Here she is at 2 months

Here she is today at 3 months

Thanks Peyton for being such a blessing. We all love you!

Update..

I had my endocrinolgist appiontment yesterday.. And it for the most part went as I expected it to. Except when they got some of my lab results back.. They fould that my liver enzymes are high. So today I had an ultrasound done on my liver to see what is causing that. I am praying that everything turns out normal, but we'll see. The doc did put me on Tapazole, but since my liver is out of whack, I can't take it until they figure out what is wrong with that. So I can continue nursing for at least the next few days. :-) I did go to Target today after my ultrasound and purchased some bigger bottles for Peyton when I can no longer nurse her. I feel like I am falling apart. I can honestly say I have never been so scared & felt so helpless. I don't know what is going on in my body, and right now I am not being treated for anything but my racing heart. Oh yeah, my resting heart rate is 130 bpm. No wonder I am so shaky & tired all the time.

I will post again when I hear something from my doc.. Hopefully it will be soon. Stace

So sad

I went through Peyton's clothes this afternoon, and boy I am sad. She has grown out of her 0-3 month clothes already! I loved some of those clothes so much, that she didn't actually wear about half of the ones she had. Oops. Luckily my sister is expecting a baby girl in June so I am sure I will see some of my fave's again since I am giving her almost all of Peyton's things. I have selected a few articles that are special, or that I just couldn't part with, but the rest are being passed down to Olivia. :-) Isn't it amazing how fast babies grow? Peyton was 7 lbs 6 oz when she was born, when she left the hospital she was 6 lbs 12 oz.. At her 2 month check up she was 12 lbs 14 oz! Crazy.

I am heading into my last month of Maternity leave too. WOW! The end of March will be so bittersweet. Sweet because we will be celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary, and Madalynn Grace's 6th birthday in DISNEYLAND! Bitter because my last day at home is March 31st. Ah, life goes on doesn't it... I am so grateful that I will have had 4 1/2 months off my job to care for our precious Peyton Leigh.

We are changing the girls' bedrooms too. Maddy & Alex are getting a redecorated room with bunkbeds, and Peyton is FINALLY moving into her room/office/playroom.. Hey we only have a 3 bedroom house. The computer has to go somewhere! Since she gets her "own" room, she gets the computer along with it. I found some killer deals on all 3 girls' bedding, Maddy & Alex are getting Polka dots, and Peyton is getting purple butterfly's. We are planning on having the big girls spend the night with the grandparents one weekend and doing the makeover then so that when they get home there room will be all done. :-) I can't wait!

I have an appointment on this Thursday with my Endocrinologist to talk about my thyroid.. I am hoping that he will provide me with some insight as to what I should do. If he firmly suggests for me to go on the meds and stop nursing that is what I will do.. If that's the case, anyone wanna buy a $300 breast pump? :-) Hey I'll give ya a deal! We'll see what he says.

That's all for now.. Hope you are all doing well. Stace

Horrible, just horrible!

I had my thyroid injetions today. And all I can say is, horrible, just horrible. I actually cried. Alot. It hurt so incredibly bad. She told me that for them to be truly effective I need to get them done, once or maybe even twice a week. I honestly can not imagine doing it ever again, let alone later this week. She didn't even numb it at all! She just took the needle & stuck it in my neck. Then, when I was crying so much she grabbed my hands, and stuck both of them, telling me it would calm me down. All that did was make my hand break out in a rash & swell up. She ended up only doing one side of my thryoid since it was just way to intense for me to withstand having the other side done. I didn't see my normal Naturalpath doc, and I really didn't like this new one at all. If this doesn't make me feel better, I have decided that it will be time for me to see my endocrinologist, so I can start on Tapazol. Which breaks my heart because I really want to continue nursing for a lot longer. But my health is more important to me & my family then it is for me to continue nursing Peyton. She has had almost 3 months now of nursing, which has been great for her. So we will see how I start feeling.

My dentist appointment had to get reschedualed due to the doc being double booked. In a way I was ok with it, especially since she is going to take $50 off my bill, but on the other hand I was all ready geared up for a day full of ickiness.. And to get them all done and over with. oh well.

Thanks for all your thoughts today! Stace

Ick

Tomorrow I am going to have an Ick day. Yes, I said an Ick day. I get to get up in the morning and drop Peyton off so I can go to the dentist to have 3 fillings replaced. So fun.. THEN I get to go to my Naturalpathic Doc to have injections in my thyroid. Yup, needles in my neck. Oh goody. I guess if the injections make me feel better they will be worth it.. So here's to hopin they work.

Today was a fun day, I went to New to You consignement to sell my maternity clothes, half of which they deemed not good enough for resale. Which really annoyed me. Most of them are Gap, Old Navy, or Mimi Maternity.. Which are all nice clothes. Oh well. Then I went to the community center to sign Maddy up for Spring soccer. After that, I picked Madikins up from school and we all trooped to the grocery store. The girls were so good at the store not begging for anything. I was very proud of them. After that I went to Subway and bought lunch for the 3 of us who eat normal food, and we headed to the park for a cold cold cold picnic. The girls really didn't mind the cold once they could start playing on the playground. We were the only ones there.. Big shock. But it was nice to get some fresh air. I am really loving being home with my girls. I wish I could stay home with them always, but alas we have bills to pay. Uncle Sam's generous return won't last forever. (I say generous.. Which is a joke.. It was our money to begin with, but it was nice to get some back)

I hope I didn't sound to Negitive Nancy this post. I just wanted all of you who care to know what a fun day I am going to have tomorrow. Ciao

Relaxation

I had a massage today, and it felt so good. Especially since I could lie on my stomach. I haven't had a massage since 2 weeks before Peyton was born and I needed it! It is so nice to have insurance that covers massages. I left Peyton, my little sidekick, with my mom, and had an hour of peace & quiet.

Trav & I are going on our 1st date since a month before Peyton was born tomorrow night too. We are going to go to dinner and to see Fools Gold. I don't know where we will end up for dinner, but I really don't care. It's going to give us some great time together so that we can talk, probably about the kids, but hey they are for the most part our world.. It's a natural subject for us. It will be the first time I will be leaving Peyton for more then 2-3 hours at one time as well.

Speaking of Peyton, she is getting so big! I can't believe that she is 2 1/2 months already! I am so blessed to have another month & a half off work so that I can spend as much time with her as possible. She has found her hands. It is so cute, she will look at them, put them in her mouth, pull her own hair.. And she is talking so much too. I am going to attach a little movie clip I took with my camera (that's why it is so pixily). It shows how much she is talking now. I love it! (oh don't mind me sounding like a complete dork either.. All for the love of a baby)

I'm a mess...

I am a complete mess right now! My thryoid is overproducing like crazy, causing me to drop 35 lbs since Peyton has been born, I am dizzy, shaky, weak, and I passed out the other day. I don't feel comfortable carrying Peyton down the stairs because my legs are so weak & shaky. To top it off my left booh booh has a large lump in it from a clogged milk duct causing an infection to which has produced a fever, and it hurts like heck! I am now going to be on 6 different kinds of medicines. 5 of which I am taking 3x a day. The worst part about it is they are not working. I don't want to stop nursing Peyton yet, and I am using all these "natural" medicines so that I don't have too. Why oh why can't I just feel normal again! Anyways.. I am done complaining.

On a much happier note, we have everything paid for for Disneyland! I am SO excited to take my beautiful daughters to Disneyland next month. We are flying out March 22nd, returning on March 29th. We are hitting up Disneyland, California Adventures, Universal Studios, and Sea World. I am hoping to meet up with my oldest friend Susanne while down there. She has been my friend since the 2nd grade! She was my Maid of Honor as well. She lives down in Cali with her Hubby and son Josh.

Peyton is up from her nap now, so I best be going. Thanks for checking in!

Slumber Party, Super Bowl, & the Beach

So this last weekend, my oldest daughter Maddy went to her very first slumber party! I can not believe how fast she is growing up. Pretty soon she will be driving. Anyways, she had a great time, and we did not get a phone call to pick her up. The next morning when we arrived to get her, she was so excited. She told me that they got to stay up until 9:30! And they watched both High School Musical, and High School Musical II. It was quite the night for her.

After we picked Maddy up, we drove out to Warrenton to see our friends at the beach for the SuperBowl, GO ELI!, and to stay the night. We had a great time visiting with them, and even though it was wet out we managed to make it to the beach, the Astoria Tower, a new playground, and to a yummy lunch before we headed home. I will try to post some pictures in a few days from our weekend.

Oh, Peyton is now 2 months old! She had her 2 month check up and she is 12lbs 14 oz, and 23 1/2 inches long. She is in the 95% for both. Her pediatrician said that she is farsighted, so that is why she doesn't focus on me, but at the pictures on the walls. Makes sense now. I am a big blurry blob to her. :-( The good news is that he said that it should resolve on its own.

My sister found out yesterday that she is having a little girl too. Her name is Olivia Ann. I am SO excited to be an aunt, and I think it is so cool that Peyton will have a girl cousin her age. They are going to be the very best of friends! Congrats Charity & Mike!

Looking Back...

These are just a few of the snapshots I had taken of my big girls a couple of years ago. I can not believe how much they have grown & changed, yet at the same time, stayed the same. Maddy still loves to pose, and Alex still has that beautiful smile. Looking at these pictures has made me appreciate everything we have been given even more then I already do. I am looking forward to seeing what all 3 of my beautiful daughters do with their lives as they grow.