Snapshots of My Day

After I had Adam I did a post about my crazy day with three little kids. This is sort of the same thing except in picture form. Here is a look into my life with a Kindergartner, a preschooler, a toddler, and a new baby.


Watching Curious George, at 7 am.


Good Morning!


Breakfast, theirs and mine. I am on Weight Watchers, I have to eat something a little more substantial than their favorite, cold cereal.


Adam all dressed, what this picture doesn't show is how I had to wrestle his clothes on him.


Laundry.


Nathan all ready for Joy School.


Before my shower, and after.


A diaper change, one of countless.


Adam having a tantrum.


The elusive smile, the first one caught on camera.


A quick trip to Wal Mart, with only three kids.


Unloading the dishes with my little helper.


Yes, that is what you think it is.


All clean!


They had lunch, she had lunch, I had lunch, in that order.


Jacob all ready for Kindergarten.


Another load of laundry.


Naps.


Reading stories.


The one thing I do for myself everyday is exercise for about 30 minutes. While I don't love workout videos, I do like this set I found by Lindsey Brin. She says it is like a tummy tuck with out the surgery. We will see. I do feel my abs getting stronger, which I defiantly need after 4 babies.


Snack time.


My messy house.


Checking email.


Diaper leak. Two in diapers is too many.


Brothers wrestling.


Picking up Jacob from school.


Snack time, frosted sugar cookies, nice and messy. As you can see, they like to lick the frosting off first, then they beg for more.


Homework.


Yeah! Daddy is home!


Dinner-Thai Peanut Stir Fry


Randy set up our new tent in the basement. It is the perfect place to play and have story time.


Tooth Brush time.


The children were nestled all snug in their beds, or in this case the older boys were snuggled in their sleeping bags in the tent.


Daddy finally gets some Natalie time.

Cute Moments

A couple of weeks ago I was in the car listening to Dr. Laura. I turned it on in time to hear Dr. Laura talking to the mother of three very small children. They talked about a few things but one thing really stood out in my mind. The woman said something like, "I am not enjoying being a mother." Dr. Laura's response was, "It's not supposed to be fun!" I was so happy to hear her say that. I sometimes feel guilty that I don't love being a mother every day. It is really hard work. I mean who really loves cleaning up messes and wiping bums all day? I know there are a lot of things I would rather be doing, but I recognize that this is just the stage of life I am in right now. Dr. Laura's advice to her was to look for her children's cute moments, those moments will make what she is doing worth it. Since I heard that I have been trying harder to notice the cute moments my children give me to help get me through my days. Here are some of those moments.Adam putting on his sister's head band, and then pretending he is a big boy playing a computer game.

Dressing a baby in a dress for the very first time. Isn't she cute?The best moment of all came yesterday in Sacrament meeting. I was in the mother's room feeding Natalie when I heard Jacob's voice through the speaker. He got up to "berry" his testimony. He ended by saying, "And I love my mom so much. So, so, so much." I almost cried, it was so sweet. That made every negative thing that happen in the last week disappear.

I love my kids. I don't always love every aspect of being a mom, but in the end I know it will all be worth it.

Good Bye 20's, you were good to me

Today I leave behind one decade of my life and enter another, I am now 30. Holy Cow! Where has the time gone? My 20's were awesome, I accomplished all of my life's goals in my 20's. The decade started in the best way possible, I had a first date with the most amazing man on my 20th birthday. Six months later we were married in the San Diego Temple. After we were married I started nursing school. I graduated from BYU with a BS degree in Nursing a few years later. And of course, the best thing that happened in my 20's, I had all 4 of my children. I am everything I ever wanted to be, a wife, a mother, and a nurse. Randy and I have had a lot of fun together these past 10 years. I have loved every minute of it, well almost, there was that year and a half that he was sick, but even that wasn't so bad. Our best adventure was a trip to Hawaii when Jacob was a baby. But, we don't need expensive vacations to enjoy time as a family. Everyday is an adventure with these kids. Even though my list of accomplishments is not very long I feel really good about the way the last decade went. And, while it is a strange feeling to no longer be in my 20's, I am excited to move forward with my life and accomplish new goals, like getting these kids through childhood in one piece.

A personal question

Okay, so I have kind of a personal question, I need some advice from my friends. I am considering getting an IUD at my doctors appointment next week, but for some reason I am really nervous about it. At this point in my life I do not want any more babies, but I want to reserve the right to change my mind, so I don't want anything permanent. I have always just taken the pill, but that seems too temporary and there is too much possibility of error. The IUD seems like a good, hassle free alternative. But, is it really? I don't know much about it except what I read in the pamphlet the doctor gave me. So, if any of you have had one I want to know if you liked it or not. Any problems with it? My six week appointment is next Thursday, I need to decide by then what I am going to do. I would appreciate any insight you can give me. Thanks.

One Month

Natalie is now one month old. And what a month it has been! I have to say it was one of the most challenging months of my life. I have been plagued with numerous random illnesses, and in between all the sickness have had breastfeeding troubles. The first 10 days of Natalie's life were wonderful. I felt great, was healing wonderfully, had only minor and normal breastfeeding issues, and then the fun started. The Monday before Christmas I started having stomach pain. Randy and I went to Wal Mart to try to finish some last minute shopping. But the pain got so bad we had to go home. I wasn't nauseous, but still threw up a couple of times, without any relief. Randy said to me, "This is just how I was when I had appendicitis." I pressed on my right lower side and had sharp pain. I started to freak out, I can not have appendicitis, I have a brand new baby, it is almost Christmas, I can not go to the hospital and have surgery! So I had Randy and my Dad give me a blessing and then went to bed. When I woke up the pain was still there but not worse. I still had some pain the next day, but it was managable, and by Wednesday it was gone. Then on Thursday, Christmas Eve, I had flu like symptoms, without the fever. I spent most of the day in bed. I was okay on Chirstmas, but the next day I did have a fever and aches and chills and spent even more of the day in bed. I was so greatful to have my mom and dad here to help. They left on the Sunday after Christmas. After that I got a little cold. Then one night somewhere in there I woke up in the middle of the night throwing up. And to top it all off I got mastitis last Tuesday night. Worst pain I have ever been in, including labor. Now the mastitis is gone, but the cause of the mastitis is not gone and I am still suffering with some breast pain. Will this ever end? I have to go back to work soon. I need to be all better. All of this has just made me more sure that I do not want any more babies. I never want to be pregnant again, and I never want to go through this again.

The happy part of this story is that I have a beautiful sweet baby girl. She is doing wonderful. She sleeps well, eats well, is healthy and growing. She couldn't be better.

Introducing Natalie Victoria Wardle

Natalie Victoria Wardle was born yesterday, December 10, 2009 at 11:58. She was 6 lbs 12 oz and 18 1/2 inches long. We decided to give her the middle name Victoria after my Grandma.

As I mentioned in my last post I had my membranes stripped on Monday, and I was really expecting that that would make me go into labor, it worked with Adam. But I went ahead and scheduled an induction for Thursday anyway, just in case. I had contractions off and on for three days, but they never turned into actual labor. I was pretty disappointed Wednesday night when it became apparent that I would in fact be induced the next day. We went to the new Riverton Hospital on Thursday morning. It is such a nice hospital and all of the staff was so nice, they made us feel very comfortable. Things went slowly for a few hours, then at about 11:30 they got a little crazy. I went from a 4 to holding my baby in less than 30 minutes. And, my epidural didn't have time to kick all the way in, so I could feel a lot more than I wanted to. It was not fun, but it was fast. I only had to push through one contratction and then my beautiful baby was here. No stitches eaither, yeah!

We stayed in the hospital for less than 24 hrs after her birth. I am a postpartum nurse and so I feel like I can take care of myself. I also don't really like being in the hospital, the bed is not comfortable and the food isn't very good. But the main reason to go home early was because kids aren't allowed in the hospital right now because of the strict visitor policy during flu season. I missed them and I wanted them to meet their baby sister.All ready to go home

Adam, Nathan, and Jaocb checking out their sister

Nathan and Natalie

Jacob wasn't very excited about a sister from the begining, but he feel in love with her as soon as he saw her. I knew that would happen. Nathan was very excited for a baby sister the whole time, he is also the one who really wanted the name Natalie, so he was really excited. I was worried about how Adam would do, but he did very well with her, he is facinated by her, I think he thinks she is doll that moves.

It is strange to have a little girl dressed in pink in our house. I am sure we will get used to it soon enough. Now I need to go and get some sleep.

I am ready! I think.

Today I am 39 weeks pregnant, and I am so ready to have this baby. I was really happy to wake up this morning with somewhat regular, but very mild contractions. They lasted all morning, but stopped about the time I went to my doctor appointment. I am dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced. I had the doctor strip my membranes. It hurt like heck. I had it done with Adam and I don't remember it hurting so bad. With Adam I went into labor about 48 hours later, so maybe Wednesday. If it doesn't happen on it's own, I went ahead and scheduled an induction on Thursday, so whatever happens, I am having a baby this week. I went ahead and used today to finish up some last preparations.

I have drawers full of pink clothes, which is really strange for me after having three boys.

I took our old, ugly, boy bassinet and recovered with a cute brown and pink polka dot fabric. Now it is fit for sweet little girl.

My mom and I found this supper cute car seat cover that changes my boys car seat into a nice girly one with a nice think blanket cover to keep her warm this winter. And, I got this diaper bag from my sister in law, just enough pink, but not too much that Randy won't carry it.

All this pink is really strange, but so cute. I am so excited to be having a little girl. I can't wait to see her, and give her a name. The sooner the better, I am ready.