Pinewood Derby & B-day Party

Last fall we told the kids they could each have a friend party for their following birthday.  Jayden got to have his last Friday, and chose to have it at Nicklemania.  We were having a hard time coordinating schedules so that both John & I could do it together.  Either John was working, I was going out of town, or we were all going out of town.  So, John decided to just be Super-Dad and handle it all alone.  He was a bit too busy (with 9 kids to keep track of) to get pictures when they were playing the arcade games, but he got some of when they were having pizza & ice cream cake.

Jayden also participated in another Pinewood Derby a couple weeks ago.  He had a fabulous car last year and won 1st place, so I was worried he would just expect to win again.  I tried to prepare him that it probably wouldn't happen again.  He decided he wanted a fun design this year, and made a Perry the Platypus car.  It turned out really cool.  He didn't win any races, but he said he's still happy he chose a fun car.

 Ashlyn playing with Perry's eyes

 Jayden's award was "Best cartoon character-like"

This year they also had a race for dad's & leaders.  Johnathan decided he would enter his pinewood derby car from when he was a scout.  He added new wheels and raced it once down the track.  It did pretty good considering how long ago he made it!  Johnathan was supposed to work the day of the derby, but he was able to trade a couple hours with someone so he could come.

His award was "The firebird award"

Surgery

Ashlyn had surgery today on her right ear.  She has had a lot of ear problems and we are really hoping this will be it!  About a year ago, she had a really bad ear infection and her ear drums burst.  She has had a hole in each ear ever since, and we decided that since they weren't healing on their own, it was time to do something about it.  When Ashlyn first heard they were going to fix her ear, she was excited.  She is tired of having problems and having to have ear plugs in every time she is in the water.

As we got closer to the surgery date, she didn't seem to be nervous.  She didn't have any questions and never vocalized anything.  We asked for a special pediatric tour on Tuesday evening.  They showed us the surgery center and told Ashlyn everything that was going to happen.  It was done very well and geared specially for kids.  She seemed fine.  The night before, she got nervous.  I laid by her in bed and she asked questions.  I kissed her goodnight and left a few minutes later.  Then after 5 minutes, I could hear her crying in bed.  We went up and she was crying pretty hard.  She tends to sit and think about things and worry and soon blows things way out of proportion.  We said a special prayer for her to stop worrying and I read her some stories to calm her down.  Then we turned on some primary songs on the radio and I stayed for a few more minutes rubbing her arms.  From the time she was 1 year old, she loved us to "tickle scratch" her.  Basically we just lightly rub our fingernails on her skin.  She loves it and it really relaxes her.

The next morning, we had to be at the hospital at 8 am.  She did good at first.  When they put us in our waiting room and had her change into the hospital pj's, she started getting worried about what would happen when she was asleep and that she would be in a lot of pain.  She started panicking and was crying (almost hysterically) for us to change the date of the surgery.  She didn't want to do it anymore.  She kept saying "Please mom!  Tell them I don't want to do it anymore!"  It seriously broke my heart!  I can't stand to see my kids so upset or hurt, and I started crying too.  She was unconsolable at this point.  She didn't hear anything we were trying to say to her.  We decided to have another prayer.  After the prayer, she was a little calmer.  A nurse came in to talk to us about the time frame and saw that she was scared.  She went and got a couple kits with colored pencils, some yarn and a bookmark to sew, and a bracelet thing to make.  After the nurse talked to us, we opened the kits and had her start working on the things in the kits.  This really took her mind off everything and she did fine after that.

They took her back to the surgery room around 10 and brought her back to us around 11:30.  She was really quiet and calm.  And dazed.  She saw us, but didn't really see us.  After a few minutes, she noticed her arm which was wrapped with pink coban.  It looked like she had a cast on.  Her eyes about bugged out of her head.  I think she was worried she had a broken arm.  Then she noticed the oxygen monitor taped on her finger and asked about it.  About five minutes later, she asked what it was for again.  She asked another 2 times about everything attached to her.  It was funny.  The nurses started pushing us to have her drink some apple juice (so they could get her out the door...) but she just kept throwing it up.  After a while of waiting (and throwing up) they just told us we could go home.  After we got home, she took a nap and woke up so much better.  She started drinking and keeping things down and later progressed to eating yogurt.  She's now able to walk around fine and is feeling good.

Getting distracted

After the surgery

 Recovering at home

They put tape on her eyes during the surgery which

irritated her skin.  She looks like a raccoon, poor girl

We are thankful for Doctors who can fix all sorts of problems.  We are also thankful that this surgery is over and that everything went well with it.

I forgot to mention that after her surgery, the doctor came in and told us that he looked in her left ear and it had healed!  We've been waiting for it to heal for almost a year now.  We are VERY thankful we don't have to have another surgery to fix the other ear too.

Kids, kids, KIDS!

Can I just say how much I LOVE my kiddos!  I love the ages they are.  Every time they hit a new age, I find a different thing I love.  Right now, I love that I can have a conversation with the older two.  I feel like I am not just teaching them and talking to them, but with them.  I love it.  I also love that Jacob is starting to figure things out.  He asks a LOT of questions (which can be difficult), but I love watching his personality unfold.  He is such an observant child.  He notices things that the older two don't.  Sometimes we'll be driving somewhere and he'll tell me that he knows where we are and then he'll name someone that lives close by that area.  He is usually right.  The older two are oblivious to that sort of thing.  Or else they just don't vocalize it.

Here are some of Jacob's questions/statements recently:

"Mom, why did Heavenly Father make cigarettes?"

"If you have a parachute and you jump out of a plane, can you die?"

"Can little kids die?"     I wish I could say NO!!!  :(

"How will the baby get out of your tummy?"

"Mom, when I get older I wont talk so much."     I doubt that!

"Mom, what would you choose to be?  A human or a cat?" ME:  "A human."  Jacob: "I would choose to be 2 things.  A human and a superhero."

"If my hair grows longer it will block my eyes and I will bump into everything.  Then if dad's hair grows longer, we will bump into each other!"

Me:  "Jacob, who loves you?"  Jacob: "Mom, Dad, Jayden, Ashlyn, Grandma, Grandpa, (he then proceeds to name several other relatives like cousins & aunts), and everyone who sees me.  I haven't seen EVERYONE though.  There's a lot of people."

"Mom, I know how to make Oreo's.  You take a cracker and add a marshmallow.  Then another cracker on top.  It's kinda like a smore.  (small pause...)  I'm SO smart!"

I have gotten behind on paying the kids their allowances, thanks to being so sick and everything getting neglected, but the kids have been super patient.  I just told them I need to pay them, but I can't do it all at once or I'd be broke.  So, I told them I would pay them half their allowance now, and the other half in a couple weeks OR if they wanted to do a second summer activity (I will pay for swimming lessons), they could give me back their second half of their allowance and I would use that and I would make up the other half to go towards dance or soccer or whatever they wanted to do.  Jayden didn't even have to think about it, he wanted to do another activity.  He understood that it was a much better deal.  He would only pay half of the activity, so he was getting more out of it.  Ashlyn could not understand what I was telling her.  I cut out some pretend money and acted it out for her, and then she got it.  She didn't have to think much either and went with keeping the money.  This totally shows their personalities!  One of them can think about the future and getting a good deal and one is stuck in the present.  Hopefully she will learn it with time.  It's so interesting to see each of their different personalities.

Jayden bought a new watch with his birthday money.  He really wanted to get one that has a timer (because he uses the stove timer ALL THE TIME).  He figured out how to set the time and the timer all by himself in the van after buying it.  Ever since, he has been timing EVERYTHING.  Seriously.  When he's home I hear the timer beeping several times a day.  He times himself brushing his teeth, how long he reads a book for, how long it takes him to run upstairs, how long it takes to do chores, etc etc etc.  It's kind of funny to me.  It fits his personality so much.  Another thing about him and his watch.  He knows how many seconds off his watch is from all the other clocks in the house.  If you ask him what time it is, he'll tell you the time and then exactly when it switches to a new minute, he'll inform you of the new time.  He is sure you wanted an EXACT time.

Ashlyn also bought a new watch with her allowance money.  She also wanted a timer watch so she got one that's just like Jayden's so he could show her how to use it.  She used it for 2 days and hasn't put it on since.  This fits her personality so much too.

I LOVE MY KIDDOS!!

Girls Getaway- Las Vegas!

This last weekend, my mom, sisters & I went to Vegas!  We had a lot of ups and downs along the way, but we're glad we went.  We left on Friday morning and came back on Sunday evening.  SO GLAD to be done traveling!

We got a super good deal on a nice resort getaway from living social.  The place was called Ravella at Lake Las Vegas and was clear out on the Northwest corner of Henderson, by Lake Mead/Lake Las Vegas.

Some of the fun things we did was watch the water show at the Bellagio, walk through the gardens at the Bellagio, eat at the Bacchanal buffet at Caesars Palace (HOLY YUMMY CREPES!!!), sit in the hot tub (although my mom was VERY strict about how deep I could sit- being preggo- and for how long), a visit to the spa, and we, actually I, enjoyed the super deep bathtub.  I really need one of those!

Some of the downfalls were the car A/C going out in 89* weather, bad hips and WAY too much walking between casinos and sitting in the car, hard beds, finding out we didn't really have a $200 credit to the spa (I'll expound on that in a minute...), and way too much smoke, porn, swearing, etc that goes along with the strip.

So, our story about the spa that I'm sure you're all DYING to hear...  When we got to the hotel and checked in, the front desk told us that with the voucher we bought came a $200 credit that we could use at the spa.  We had no idea it came with that, but HELLO!  Spa?  Yes please!  So, my mom & sister booked facials (which were on sale), I booked a massage (also on a super sale), and my other sister booked a hair dye.  Jamie and I went over on Saturday morning for our appointments.  Then we found out that we couldn't combine the $89 massage special with the credit...  I would have to pay full price, like $130 plus a tip, to use my credit.  Oh, and we couldn't cancel either without paying a cancellation fee of half price.  So, we decided to just do it anyways.  Then I get down to my massage and find out they really don't have a special pregnancy table like they said when we called and asked, so I had to lay on my side for an hour on an already sore hip (from the hard bed...).  Not the best massage.  DEFINITELY not worth $150.  The only good thing was that because of the misunderstanding of the price thing, they were super nice and decided to let us get the sale price and let us use the credit with it.  My sister's hair turned out super cute too!  My mom & other sister decided to just cancel their appt for the next day since it was so expensive.  SO, then we check out at the end of our vacation and the front desk tells us we really didn't have the $200 credit with the vouchers we bought.  Excuse me?  That's the ONLY reason we went to the spa!  We had to wait for the manager (who was already dealing with an angry customer) and work it out with him.  He told us that it was our fault and we should have know there was no credit when we bought the vouchers.  I said it was the employee's fault for telling us and she should have known.  We had no reason to think she would be telling us something not true.  Who wouldn't believe an employee.  I wasn't getting anywhere with him, so my sister Jamie stepped in.  She's really good at negotiations.  She plead our case, threatened to write bad reviews online, and demanded a full refund.  We got one :)

In the elevator at our hotel/resort

Here's my mom & I, her favorite child  :)

My favorite part of the buffet, the crepes!  SO! YUMMY!

I cannot emphasize that enough. I am already craving them...

 

 

At the Las Vegas Temple

The beautiful gardens in the Bellagio

These two pictures have a story...  Sometimes I feel like a total blacksheep in my family.  I am the oldest girl.  I am also the only married person out of my siblings and I have kids.  My personality is more quiet & reserved & serious.  My siblings are not.  Black sheep.  So, we are in this garden taking pictures.  My mom says she wants to get a picture of us girls in front of the tulips.  We stand together and immediately my sisters start acting like they are a tulip.  I have zero desire to act like a tulip.  The picture above caught my true feelings.  I then suggested we take a nice photo.  The picture below caught my sister Jamie's true feelings on taking a nice photo...

Like I said...  Black sheep right here...

 It was so nice to get away and enjoy myself and be with "the girls".  Thanks for a fun & memorable weekend ladies!

20 Weeks- HALFWAY!!!

So, I wrote this post a week ago...  I've been waiting for pictures to post with this but I'm just gonna post and update with pics later, not that anyone really cares that much but it will be fun to look back and see them.  I'm now 21 weeks, but here's my update from week 20.

YEA!  I'm halfway done!  I have so many emotions with that one statement.  This pregnancy has really been going by so slowly.  I know lots of people say that and I've said it before with previous pregnancies, but I really mean it with this one.  It feels like it will never end.  I did say that about the morning sickness that felt never ending, but it's finally (mostly) over.  I still have a day or two every now and then when I feel nauseous, but it's SO MUCH BETTER than it was, so I'll take it.  It feels exciting to be to at a momentous week.  Half done!  The kids are beyond excited too.  I can't wait till we get to hold our little girl, fresh from heaven.

Everything looks good with the baby so far.  We heard her heartbeat today, such a good sound!  The doctor brought in a model of a 20 week old baby which was fun to see.  He compared it to the 12 week old one and I am amazed at the growth in 8 weeks!  What a miracle!  I am still measuring large.  I guess I probably will the whole time.

Now on to my vent session...  I am so ready to be done being pregnant!  I know it's all worth it.  I know I am VERY blessed to be able to have kids of my own.  That doesn't make it easy though.  This pregnancy is thoroughly kicking my trash!  I have had so many more problems (physically) than with any of the others.  Blame it on my age and probably being more out of shape than with the others.  I am still going to the chiropractor twice a week to put my hips back in place.  Sometimes I can make it 5 days without his help, other times I have to go in after 2 days.  It's getting expensive, but I feel like it's necessary.  He gave me some exercises to strengthen the muscles around my hips.  I'm hoping they will help out more.  I am also having a lot of nerve pain that I normally get in the 3rd trimester.  I have a belly band that helps take the pressure off the nerves that I use for the worst days.  I try to not get discouraged about how much harder it's going to get...  I can do it.  I'm pretty sure I have no other choice :)

Next week we get to have another ultrasound.  This one is more in depth to see her heart and other organs.  I hope I can get through it with the technician.  He is super annoying and loves to jab the ultrasound wand thing into my stomach to get the baby to move.  Hello dude, that hurts!  Last time my stomach was bright red when he was done.

There you go.  4 more weeks down, 20 (well, now 19) more weeks to go!

The BIG One-O

Wednesday was a big day here at The Allen household.  Jayden turned 10!  Double digits!  I am in shock.  I knew this day would come, but I just don't feel old enough to have a 10 year old!  Time sure flies.  It seems like it was only yesterday we brought him home from the hospital.  I think it feels so momentous because he's our oldest. 

A little about Jayden:  He is such a smart kid.  When Grandpa Dutson called to wish him a happy birthday, he asked Jayden how many days old he was, and hardly without thinking about it, he replied 3,650.  He always gets really good grades (I know he's only in 4th grade, but he does really well).  Last year in school when doing some end of the year testing, his teacher told us he had the highest score she had ever seen on one of the tests.  She kept telling us that he was just like a sponge and would retain all this knowledge and could remember it for a long time.  He especially loves math (He gets that weirdness from me) and reading, but he says he loves it all.

Jayden also tries hard to do the right thing.  He will be such a good example to his younger brother and sisters.  He loves to help out around the house (Yes, I know this is unusual and that I'm very lucky!).  He also loves to play games as a family and play the Wii or computer games or to go bike riding. 

I haven't scanned old photos (a.k.a. pre-digital camera photos), so we'll start with age 2

 Age 2

 Age 3

 Age 4

 Age 5

 Age 6

 Age 7

 Age 8

Age 9

Age 10

On Jayden's birthday, Johnathan had to work so we went to the station that night to visit with him.  Jayden chose chicken & broccoli casserole for dinner, which we took with us.  Johnathan & his partner Jake were thankful for a hot home-cooked meal.  Jayden then opened up his present from us.  He got some money (to pick out a new watch) and some gum.

First thing in the morning, Jayden opened his presents from Grandparents.

 He got some new puncture proof tires for his bike.

Birthday spankings  :)

We love you Jayden!