Blessing day

So this day was kinds of interesting.
We had been putting off his blessing day for some reason... Oh yeah... Lance was supposed to set it up and he kept forgetting. So finally two Sundays before I left with the kids for a month we received a call and were able to ask the bishop if we could bless Lucas the Sunday before I left.

They said yes and got everything organized for it. Well Sunday came and we were planning on getting to church early so that we could make sure the bishopric remembered. But we got there right as church was starting...

This was the first mistake

THEN the opening song started and I told Lance that he needed to go up and tell them that they forgot to announce that we were blessing Lucas and he didn't want to. But with my persuasion skills he finally got up to go to the front... WELL he got the the pews to walk up and chickened OUT!! I was VERY frustrated. Then there were more announcements (blessing Lucas was NOT included) and then the bishop announced that we were going to do the sacrament... So Lance and I were arguing about him going up and telling them that we needed to bless our son and he just really didn't want to.

The thing is is that his blessing outfit was already VERY FITTED and I knew that it wouldn't fit if we waited to bless him after I got home in a MONTH! So finally I got VERY frustrated and Lance told me that I was overreacting and then told me to go up and tell the Bishop...

So, I did. (this was all during the sacrament song by the way)

Then after the sacrament the bishop gets up and says that "Sister Nethercott has just informed us that she they are blessing their son today so all the priesthood holders they have asked you can come up now"

WHAT THE CRAP! Seriously you were the ones that forgot! Oh well

Then my dear friend Amy wrote the blessing down for me. ( I was very grateful for because I was so flustered that I only heard about half of it)

In the end, all that mattered was that he was blessed. Lance DID give a good blessing and I am grateful for him.

Summer fun

Devy and our neighbors outside playing

Thanks for the cute swimsuit Grandma and grandpa Reynolds

Lucas at 7 weeks

The bro and sis just chillen'

Children + Fire pull at thier arms length = Fire Department Visits

New apartments = New fire codes and regulations...
In our apartments we have a very convenient red fire-pull that is at the same height
and right beside the light switches in our front room.
Our apartment tried to get the fire marshal to put a plastic covering over it
but he denied their request and said that in all his years as fire Marshal
he had never had a false alarm...
Well today is a first I guess; and a second for him

Devy and I were getting ready for the day when our smoke alarms started to go off.
Usually I just fan the alarm until it turns off. However 5 minutes later it was still going off
and my head was really starting to hurt!

So I go outside to get away from the noise and realize that my neighbors are outside as well.
I ask to see if they can hear our smoke alarm and then I am told that one of their kids
has pulled the fire alarm.

So... then we got to wait for the fire department to come and we got to see the cool firemen
in all of their get-up come with lights and alarm blazing to our apartment building.
They came turned the smoke alarms off and left.

Not even 7 hours later I was coming home from grocery shopping when I saw the same
fire truck at our next door building... Oops... Guess he should have let
our apartment put covers on the fire pulls. Oh well...

Yeah for tax-payer money well spent!...

My New Motto

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow, For babies grow up we've learned to our sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep."

A Baby Story

These dang pictures always load backwards!!
Look at them from the bottom up

Getting hugs from his loving sister
She was obsessed from day one

Here he is!! He has had a loud cry from day one!

In the first couple hours of labor (not too bad yet)

On our way to the hospital

If you haven't read this on my Facebook, here is the story on my blog:

July 9th
7:30 am: check in at Mercy hospital
7:40 am: No room in the inn... Seriously no beds were available since July is thier busiest month of babies
8:30 am: Check in to a room
9:00 am: Get IV placed (My nurse was amazing she got me the first poke and didn't have to dig around I love you Sandy!!!!)

9:30 am: Got the wonderful penicillin drip infused and my arm... Felt like it is going to burn off for the next 5 minutes (but only 5 minutes... unlike the 7 1/2 hours with my first delivery)

around 12:30 pm: Doctor Sandmeier (who is pregnant) breaks my water... It takes her about 5 minutes while she tells me that she has never had this hard of a time breaking someones water. Her words not mine: I think your placenta is reinforced... Me: when you do it you do it right (this is when we realized that all that walking did NOTHING to help break my water... my placenta was there to stay

2:30 pm: Still dilated to a 6 since 12:30 and am informed that I get pitocin or a c-section... I grudgingly accept the stupid drug

3:30 pm: my nurse offers an epidural and I say I think I can handle it for now so she turns up my pitocin drip and says that she has everything set up so if I decide that I want an epidural in two contractions it will be available

Two contractions later and a few colored words later: "Where the H*^^ is my nurse I want an epidural!!!!"

5 minutes later: Nurse is there with the anesthesiologist
2 minutes later: needle is in my back and I am being told that I can yell but I cant push or move
Two contractions later: Me to my anesthesiologist: "I love you"
My legs are numb and life is much much better

5:00pm: Blood pressure goes too low and I get some meds
15 minutes later: I am puking my guts out while Lance (literally 18 inches away from my face) munches on a Big Mac while playing a game on her computer
5 minutes later: Anti-nausea drugs kick in (I love modern medicine)

7:00 pm: I call in my nurse because I am feeling the urge to push
5 minutes later: Yep I'm at a ten and ready to push
5 minutes later: I start pushing ( I am then informed that I am a very good pusher especially for someone with a complete epidural... meaning I cant feel a thing and I have NO control over my legs... Im paralyzed from the waste down pretty much)
15 minutes later Dr. Booth comes in to see how I am doing and informs me that she has to go pee and she will be back in a couple of minutes
1 push later: my nurses are yelling at me to stop pushing
Doc runs in, the nurses set everything up for the grand entrance
7:30 pm and two pushes: Lucas Alfred Nethercott enters this grand world screaming and has a perfect Apgar rating 7 lbs 15 oz and 6 grams

Of course I cry and get to hold my beautiful baby boy. Yes he is a little swollen but who cares I know he is gorgeous underneath all that swelling and torpedoed headedness

So, there you have it. the whole story

A few weeks ago I bought some flip flops for Devy at a garage sale for only 1 dollar!! They are way cute but I had to figure out a way to keep them on her feet.





























I had to sew the elastic on the shoes and now she wears them ALL THE TIME! She loves them and I love that they are way easy to put on!

Cinco De Mayo

One of my friends hosted a Cinco De Mayo party and there were quite a few people that showed up. There were burritos with those you-cook shells! They were AMAZING! The meat was soo good. There was a TON of food and a pinata for the little kids! We all had a lot of fun.
















The kids waiting their turn















Swarming the candy...















Devy not knowing what to think about this situation















Devy playing with some kids at the party

29 Weeks

29 weeks!!

So... I know that I am 30 weeks and 4 days but here is the latest.
My life so far...
I love being pregnant... Yes I do! Really! I know I am sick a lot and tired A LOT and I have weird cravings... But it comes with the territory. Granted I DID NOT like the morning sickness but other than that I really enjoy feeling a little life inside of me. I really enjoy bonding with this little guy and knowing that one day he will be my official son! I am so excited to kiss his little face and and will play all day.

He will bring SO MUCH joy to our family. As CRAZY as it sounds, I am SO excited to have a "little Lance" running around our house. He was SUCH a cute little guy and from our ultrasound our little Lucas looks exactly like his Daddy. (Go figure right?) Our daughter doesn't even look like me though so it is to be expected. I definitely don't have the dominant genes here...

Also I am so happy to announce that I have solved the problem of neighbors that still have their kid in their bedroom that keeps me up all night (nothing against them, I am just a REALLY REALLY light sleeper) and the STINKIN BIRDS that chirp right outside me STINKIN window starting at 4 am. Yes and they chirp ALL DAY! SERIOUSLY PEOPLE if I wasn't afraid of guns or if we had bullets for the one Lance owns I would have shot them!

But good thing it didn't have to come to that since.... drum roll please... I bought EAR PLUGS!!!
AMAZING!!! I have never had much luck with ear plugs but I guess the ones I bought really do work! I didn't hear the baby OR the birds last night or this morning. It was great to actually sleep through the night (until Lance's alarm clock went on at 5am and then every 5 minutes after that...) By that time, one have fallen out and so I had my ear on the pillow that didn't have the earplug in...

Pella

Dutch shoes outside the biggest windmill

Some of the kids that we went with

A fountain that the kids were OBSESSED with

A couple weeks ago Devy and I went to Pella with a group of girls from my apartment complex.  People kept stopping us and asked if we were there for a child competition or something.  It was really funny.  We got there right as Devy was supposed to go down for a nap so that is why she isn't smiling in any of them.  Oh well, it was still fun!

For those of you who don't know, Pella was settled by the Dutch and so the little town is full of pretty windmills and fun little dutch shops.  The town has a 3 day festival called the Tulip festival and the whole town is FULL of gorgeous tulips.  We were able to take some pictures and eat some yummy Dutch treats.

Spending days counting days

So lately I have felt REALLY REALLY REALLY lonely... But I know that it comes with the territory of being a wife to a medical student. So maybe this will help others or maybe your husband is home all the time and you have no idea why I am whining...

If you are one of the latter, keep it to yourself nobody likes to hear a bragger.

So here is my "journal entry" of my missing my husband:
First lets start out with the good... I love my life. I really do! I love being mother to a feisty 20 month old and I am really enjoying pregnancy. I love love LOVE my nieghbors and friends who help to keep the sadness at bay (thank you girls you know who you are are you SERIOUSLY keep me sane)

However, I still miss my husband. I caught myself smelling one of his shirts the other day (it smelled like his cologne, not stinky body because we all know I would have thrown up instead of reminisced) Nothing can replace him. I know we drive each other CRAZY sometimes and half the time he is home I don't know what to do with him since I am so used to him being gone. But I do miss him.

It is hard not to be frustrated when you have only spent a total of two hours (awake) with your spouse in the last 6 days...

I have tried all the old tricks in trying NOT to miss him but they all FAILED miserably! Seriously it just made it worse I think. I tired the not thinking about it, the thinking that it is okay to be alone "who needs a man anyway... right? WRONG!!", the not caring if he is gone (meaning emotionally distancing myself so it doesn't hurt as bad when he doesn't get home till 1 am for 3 weeks straight), I think that one was the worst ever... and others that just don't work.

I have realized that yes it hurts to say goodbye, and yes it is sad to eat dinner without him, and yes it is sad when your daughter runs to the window when "daddy is supposed to come home" (I seriously don't know how she knows this) and points to cars driving by and asks "daddy?", or when we sit down for dinner and she says one of her first two words sentences of "daddy home?", and finally every time she passes our bedroom door she looks in and asks for daddy (this is because if Lance IS home when Devy is awake, he is always sleeping... and so on and so on

However I try to remind myself it is STILL VERY IMPORTANT to keep us both happy in our marriage. I do love him and I think that is why I miss him so much. I love him and miss his presence in our home.

I guess I just have to keep reminding myself: THIS IS TEMPORARY

Thats all

PS I LITERALLY count down the days until summer... I have two calenders that I cross off the days every day... I don't know why but it does help. 3 weeks and 1 day left... lol

Birthday fun!

The other day Devy and I had some friends over. The girls had a ton of fun trying on the colorful sunglasses that Devy got for Easter. Way cute Shaylee, Camille, and Devy!















Her hair is LONG ENOUGH!! I decided to try putting Devy's hair in pigtails... IT WORKED!! She kept them in all day! I just had to remind her just to touch and not pull.






























Later yesterday we went to a birthday party! It was her friend Blake's 2nd birthday and he threw a "Go Diego Go" party. They had headbands that Chelsea MADE! and here Devy is coloring her vest















She actually let me put it on her for about a minute and then she didn't want to wear it anymore! I'm glad I got a picture though! Great idea Chels!!















If that wasn't enough, there was also a pinata!! The kids had fun hitting it with the bat















They couldn't quite hit it hard enough so Chelsea's mom ripped it open and poured out the candy for the kids















The candy picking up... Devy LOVED her Starbursts she picked up

Pregnancy development

I am 27 weeks along now.  We are having a boy.  We have decided to name him Lucas Alfred.  We are soo excited! I think Devy is too.  Every time she sees a baby, especially baby boys for some reason, she wants to mommy them and play.  She is soo stinkin cute!!

I have also recently decided to just give up being so frugal that I feel like I am being left out of all the fun... So I am now in the process of getting a gym membership at the Y and I have been working out there for the last week.  I LOVE IT!! I LOVE working out! I LOVE helping people and giving them new ideas to add their workouts! I love looking at myself in the mirror and knowing that I am doing something good for myself and my baby! Why didn't I get a membership earlier you ask.  Well I was too cheap and we didn't have any money... But now that I know that Lance will be getting a job this summer, I am not going to deprive myself of happiness anymore.  And I want to get a job there after we have Lucas.  I probably wont do the Personal Trainer route because I don't want to work that hard... lol So I think that I am going to try and get a job in the child care so that I can play with my own kids (and others of course) while getting paid for it! Sounds like an amazing job to me...

20 weeks

22 weeks

24 weeks

24 weeks front view... Very pretty huh!

25 1/2 weeks

27 weeks today!!