The (L)eat-hams

those days

2012-01-30T00:05:00.002-07:00

Do you ever have those days when you just have so much love for your kids that it takes your breath away just looking at them? I am in that moment right now.

Doing my nightly check to see that every child is still tucked in and kissed goodnight again. Each kiss I gave filled my heart more and more and by the end of my nightly check I was in tears over how much I love all this sweet little kids. How did I get so lucky? I want to stay in this moment forever. I love them so much...my heart is over flowing with love mush :)

precious baby

2012-01-24T22:43:00.003-07:00

Eblynn Quincy Leatham

A little back ground before reading about the birth.

*I always go about 42 weeks in which time I have to be started by my midwife. I have horrible contractions through out my last trimester and being 5-6 cm is nothing new and usually happens during the whole last month. I also am usually trying anything and everything to get my babies out way before 40 weeks. I am miserable(to say the least) the whole last trimester.

*Eben started remodeling a second house (against my wishes) and spent most of my pregnancy working on the second house while our own house(also a fixer upper) stayed the same. By October we both decided that we would live in or second home while we fixed p our own home. The plan was to get into the second house BEFORE the baby came.

After the baby was turned by my midwife I began to feel "pregnant", up until that point I felt kind of like I had a huge separate part to my body, not alot to complain about and NOTHING like my other pregnancies. I also started to get suddle nudges from my midwife and doctor about possibly getting the ball rolling and getting little girl out. I on the other hand felt like I had along road ahead of me, I was so used to being miserable in my other pregnancies that I knew things had to get alot worse before the baby would come out, PLUS I needed my new house. If we were going to be pouring money into a nice new home I wanted to enjoy it for goodness sakes, I didn't want to be moving right after having a baby either. So when I started to have lots of hard contractions all the time I chalked it up to the start of the "bad".

Our dreams of getting into our home kept finding stupid snags and I just kept pretending like I wasn't having a baby. Eben and I worked very hard night and day to make the house come together. A week before the baby came we made a run to home depot to finish up some shopping for the house, on the way home I stopped for an appointment with my midwife. After checking me, she smiled and sayed "when you get home....walk, then call me" I was shocked. My midwife is A++ in my book, she knows me, knows my body and when she sayed this I knew she knew her stuff. I was scared and not ready to give up the fight for a new house to welcome our baby. In my mind I knew I could hold things off, I wouldn't take a walk and I would stay in bed and rest. She always has to start me anyways so if I told her I was fine then she wouldn't start me. I agreed to her terms but in my head I already knew I wasn't going to do what she asked of me. The ride home was HORRIBLE. I started to have contractions so strong that we had to stop, I tried to act like they were no big deal because I didn't want Eben to call my midwife. As soon as we got home I jumped into a hot tub and told myself over and over that I wasn't having a baby. Things calmed down. I didn't sleep much. And come to find out later Eben really truly believed I was having the baby that night, he said I only look like that when I am ready to pop a baby out (and here I thought I was holding myself together better). I didn't deliver that night. The next day we painted and caulked into the night, all while I pretended not to be in labor. The pain was bad and the up and down of painting didn't help much. The next day my midwife showed up, out of the blue...she was coming to start me lol. Now please understand that in previous pregnancies I am begging her to start me and even then I still end up going 42 weeks and at this point I still had a week to go to hit my medical due date, not to mention the fact that I had 2 weeks after that to hit my 42 week mark. Why the rush? I thought, so I laughed it off and told her I was fine (I WAS GOING TO HAVE THE BABY IN OUR NEW HOUSE NO MATTER WHAT!) And she smiled and gave me that "I know what your doing look" and then she dropped another bomb shell....she left all of her birthing supplies (this never has happened) she smirked and sayed "just in case".

That night I panicked, the carpet would be in the next morning and we could get most of the big furniture moved in and the small stuff Friday morning and then I could have Friday night to rest and we would have the baby on Saturday. But no matter what I did in my head I knew the baby would be here sooner. I woke up and started to get everything ready to be moved. By now my contractions were steady and I felt very ready...in fact I felt like I had to hold her in. Then the news came. The carpet installers were idiots and wouldn't put our carpet in because we only had space heaters and not a furnace. I spent the whole day not just crying but bawling. My mom even got on her angry eyes on and did everything she could to get my carpet put in. I grieved that whole day.

Friday morning I woke up with plans. There was no chance for us to get into our house...it was time to prepare for baby. I unpacked all morning while Eben moved our bedroom to the girls room so I didn't have to go up and down stairs anymore. I was in alot of pain but didn't let on to anyone. Around 4 my mom came by to check on me. She visited for a bit and I tried to hold back the fact that my contractions were hitting pretty hard. By 4:30 she had left and I broke down....things were serious now. I started the tub and yelled for Eben (who up to this point had no idea I was in labor) to get the big birthing tub blown up and get set up for the birth(good thing my midwife left me with all of the goods). He checked on me and asked if I was in labor. I sayed yes but I knew I had a long road ahead of me, he asked if I wanted him to call my midwife but I wanted to get on top of the pain before she came and since I knew she had to get me past 6 cm I wasn't worried about delivering, I was just worried about staying on top of the pain.

After the tub filled up with water Eben came and sat by me while I labored in the tub. I felt like I needed to be alone, I didn't want him to see me so weak. I kept asking him to do this and that to get him out of the bathroom. He came to tell me that I should get in the bigger tub where there was more water. I agreed, as I got up I realized that this was going to be a hard and LONG labor. I was scared to call my midwife. I had that moment when I thought "what the hell am I doing? Am I crazy? I need drugs! and I need them NOW! Luckily I was alone, if Eben was there at that moment I would have had him rush me to the hospital. In between my contraction I ran to my bedroom where the birth tub was waiting for me. The hot water felt amazing and the tub was so different from the ones I had used in the past...so sturdy, so much room and so comfortable. I knew this is where I wanted to be :) I called for Eben and told him that he needed to call my midwife and I needed my ipod. I found a workout music station on Pandora and I began to feel calm. The constant beat helped me so much. I didn't care to much for the music but the beat helped alot.

My body was in full birth mode. But I still had in the back of my mind that I needed to get "started" and that I had a long road ahead of me. I asked Eben to check me to see where I was as far as cm's. He started to check me when his eyes got HUGE! He said the head IS RIGHT THERE! I didn't believe him, I told him I still had along ways to go. His eyes still huge sayed NO I can feel your water sack and I feel the baby's head! I still had doubts, and just tried to find the beat in the music again. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks! I felt the baby move down and the pain was bad. At that point I yelled out "DON'T TOUCH ME AND DON'T TALK TO ME" I began to bare down and then realized I didn't have a MIDWIFE! So I stopped and just tried to stay with the beat. Soon enough I opened my eyes to my sweet midwife. Eben had told her that I didn't want to be touched or talked to (something I had already told her would help me alot...so she was prepared). I had no idea how long she had been there...I was relieved she had made it.

I felt safe, happy, and ready for what I needed to do. I took out my ear buds and my midwife told me that she needed to check me and the baby...so let me know when your ready (heaven help me, she is the best. Her saying "when your ready" helped me SO much) so I stuck my ear buds in and said give me a minute, she nodded and I closed my eyes. After a few contractions had passed I yelled out "GO" and she did, and she was in and out in a few seconds, then another contraction hit. After the contraction I opened my eyes and she said "push". WHAT?! I was already ready to push? I don't have babies on my own...whats going on? I closed my eyes again and listened to the beat and sayed give me a minute. Then I pushed...and pushed...and pushed, then I felt a hand on my head and heard Eben say DON'T TOUCH HER (lol) I had him that scared. It actually felt nice but I wasn't in a talking mood. That soft touch was from my mother-in-law who is also a midwife. Then I realized that I had told a few close people that they could come to the birth. So I told Eben to call people. He started to and then all the sudden the baby moved way down and I felt like she was about to come out, he ditched the phone calling. Little did I know I had more pushing to do. He did manage to call my little sister, who rushed over and got to see the baby being born.

I kept pushing and the pain was so bad, I kept thinking that I usually don't have this much pain unless the baby is moving out, but I just kept pushing with no baby coming out. Finally I heard everyone telling me to stop pushing, the cord was around the baby's neck, as soon as that was taken care, I pushed again...and again...and AGAIN! FINALLY she was out! Eben had ended up delivering her and setting her on my chest. Instantly I had so much love for her that I didn't know what to do or how to handle my emotions and I got scared. I can't even explain how scared I was. I have no idea what I was scared of or why I was so scared. My midwife later told me that its very common for women that have had trauma in their younger life to have this kind of reaction to delivering. I was so consumed by being scared....that's all I kept sayed was "I'm scared" and "help me". I tried to calm myself down and got out of the birthing tub and went to the shower. I tried to be OK, and my mother-in-law even stayed in the bathroom with me. I was done with my shower and tried to act normal. I came out to a crowd of people (which I loved) all checking out the baby, I felt better...then it hit again, I went back to the bathroom for a bit of a meltdown. Then I felt better.

Baby Quincy was here and she held the kids hearts in her hand. They just looked at her and touched her and melted. I got into bed and watched as everyone took turns holding her and then my mother-in-law and midwife did Quincy's check up. Turned out she was a perfect 8lb baby :)

It was an amazing birth. The best so far, I found strength I never I knew I had. I felt so accomplished. I felt like I did something amazing. I suddenly realized that I wasn't this ball of troubles and that I can have babies by myself and I can handle it. This brought out emotions that I have never felt before.

a few interesting things about the birth:

* Quincy was OVERDONE! lol I guess in order for me to go into labor by myself I am more of a 43-45 weeker...yes you heard me, Quincy was closer to 45 weeks, and although I had never heard of this, researching online I have found that there are others out there that go this far with every pregnancy. I had my official due date calculated at 20 weeks and that's what we went by. The baby wasn't big, but every time I was measured I was always almost 3 or 4 weeks bigger. She peeled for more than a week and she was way wrinkly. There is no way of telling how many weeks I actually did carry her but from what they can tell she was well over 40 weeks.

*After my post partum check up the next day my midwife told me a little secret. While I was having my meltdown in the bathroom she called a friend of ours who processes emotion. She told her I was scared and our friend began to process these emotions for me, now I don't know much about what she does or how it works, but whatever she did it helped. I really do recall being in the bathroom and then having this calming feeling. I had no idea she had done this for me but when I found out I was shocked and I felt so much love for both my midwife and my friend.

*I had a bit of an after party after the birth. My friends and my midwife just hung out and we talked and talked and I LOVED it. I needed it. My mom came by that night to and for once she wasn't grumpy or weirded out like she usually is after or while I give birth...such a nice feeling to have her there. My midwife was the true trooper stayed up with me until 4 am when I couldn't open my eyes any longer (truth be known I wish she would have stayed and just talked to me while I had my eyes closed) It is SO comforting to be surrounded by people you love, I love to hear people talk. That's what I needed the most.

The whole thing was amazing, I loved it, I am grateful for a great husband, a wonderful midwife, for my loving mom and mother-in-law , for my cute sister and sister-in-law and for awesome friends. Oh and for my brother-in-law Kord who followed right behind Liza(sister-in-law) who came to the house right after the birth (he is the first brother-in-law to ever come see me and the baby right after the birth)

why not?

2012-01-23T04:12:00.002-07:00

So I hate blogging..... :) I feel like I have to post a picture, write an update and actually have something interesting to say too. The last few posts have been just totally off the top of my head needed to write "posts" and looking back I'm actually ok with that, so how come I can't just write about lame-o stuff all the time? Sooooo 2012 is going to be post after post about a whole lot of nothing...just thoughts, happy moments and hopefully a picture or 2. Nothing special just "stuff" I want to write about :) HAPPY 2012 EVERYONE!

Got my game face on...

2011-11-11T09:42:00.002-07:00

The count down has officially began, it feels like I have been pregnant for SO long! And now that the pregnancy is coming to the end I feel SO unprepared! So today I mean serious business, the notebook came out and my pen and brain went to work.

First plan of action is to light the already roaring fire under my hubby's bum to get the other house done (poor man) he was on the phone for about an hour checking on this and that for my peace of mind, I made him write down what day he would be doing this or that and what materials he needed to pick up (instead of spending a half an hour here and there running to the store and back or having to wait for the next day because the store was closed and he couldn't get the parts he needed to finish up something) I already felt accomplished but I could tell he was just annoyed :)

Second was birthing and baby supplies. I ordered my birth kit and wrote down a shopping list of the other items I would need. I began to be excited/scared/overwhelmed....was I really just gonna have a baby in the next few weeks? SERIOUS! SERIOUSLY? Then I thought about the aftercare items I would need for both baby and me and I remembered the big box of girl clothes that at one point had piles of sizes but after 2 little girls getting into the box it was shoved away all mixed up and now I would not only have to re-wash everything but sort too (not a big deal but when I thought about it I was panicky). Ok so I guess we are having a baby huh? I have to decide on a name for this wee one, I have to come up with an "Eben" name I actually like...ugh I am tempted to just step away from the "Eben" name game but I don't want her to be left out either. Once again I warn those people out their not to do a "theme" with your children's names, not only can you pressure yourself into keeping up with it every child but EVERYONE else will be right there to pressure you too...even if they don't like your theme. But just to be clear the girls were never supposed to be involved with the "Eben theme" but after Ebie(and she was only Ebie after my sister-in-law, who was due at the same time told us she was using the name we had planned on) I felt so much pressure from other's to keep up with the Eben thing.

Next is Christmas shopping. I need to be done with projects(or at least started on them) before baby gets here, I want to hold and cherish the baby without feeling like I need to be doing something else. I also want all of the actual shopping done, because the last thing I want to be doing with a brand new baby is go shopping.

And last is THE MOVE! HOLY cow I am not looking forward to that. I think I am just going to take the basics and have those things in place and if I feel up to it I will bring more and more items over. Sounds complicated huh? My first plan was to take a room over with each load but I had to step back and realize that I am only one person and can only do so much with this very round, very contracting, very LARGE belly of mine so maybe I needed to take it slower. Still not decided.

Notebook pages filled with ideas and time lines makes me feel accomplished but putting everything into action is a whole other thing. I also have to look around at my neglected house, I have to get it under control too...but that doesn't sound very fun ;)

I am feeling great about having everything planned and organized, things just look so much easier on paper and much more manageable than just thing bumping around in my brain.

Life is really good, good kids to keep a smile on my face, good friends, good family, and WERE HAVING A BABY! Life will be great even if my "to-do" list doesn't get done, but it will get done even if I have to paint my house and lay carpet while I am in labor (lol)

And then there was light at the end of the tunnel

2011-11-07T13:43:00.002-07:00

FABULOUS news to share! My awesome midwife was able to flip my baby! She is now where she is supposed to be...making my every day life a bit harder (but nothing to complain about)

I can't even begin to say how tough these last few months have been. Between money, houses, extended family stresses and stress about what choice I would be making about how and when the baby would be coming, I thought I could crawl in a hole and die. I don't get down very much, and if I do I can usually pick myself back up within a day or so, but this was hard.

I feel like I can make it...I truly do.

what to do?

2011-11-01T14:13:00.002-06:00

Well here's the deal, This little girl in my tummy is stuck...yep she is stuck, ever since 20 weeks (maybe before) she has been in the exact position -head up and to the left, bottom down and back outwards with the placenta on my right side more towards the top. She wiggles but she doesn't change positions (very different from my other kids, who were doing back flips and moving EVERYWHERE possible at what seemed to be every waking and sleeping moment.

34 weeks today (going on my 42 weeks normal scale) so in the medical world I am actually closer to 36 weeks, but if you know me you know I am for sure a 42 weeker. And after many mini talks about a possible c-section along with all my other options, my doctor appointment went like this -first ultrasound (baby still in same spot) -then that do not look directly at the the doctor for fear of bursting into tears as he tries to get me to look at what the options really are and what needs to happen now. - realistically looking at the fact that unless I really want to go for a home birth with a breech delivery my options are to get the baby manually rotated up north and then see if she will stay (I am not excited about that one and I am still not sure that's the right thing to do) if she turns though, I will be able to have her at home (which is what I really want) and if she doesn't turn I am left with a c-section.....my biggest and greatest fear of all, it gos against anything I have ever wanted to do during a birth, not to mention the recovery stay of 2-3 days...which is unbearable to even think about and then the recovery from a c-section and dealing with any problems with the baby such as low or high blood sugar because I was not able to nurse her right away and nursing issues in general.

Needless to say I am very very scared. I am not sure what to do at this point, having a baby is a very scary thing in general(for me anyways) but to think of being in the hospital for that long without my kids and hubby makes my heart just ache, that is one of the most special things about delivering at home is that you take a shower in your own bathroom, you use your own toilette, you sit in your own bed holding your sweet little baby and you are surrounded by playing children. And there isn't ANYTHING better than feeling the spirit fill your home when that sweet angel finally arrives, that is a feeling that you can never replace. I am so sad, I know everything will be fine, I don't doubt that, and I know if I pray and ask what I should do heavenly father will tell me or make it known. I'm just not sure I can handle that right now. I want it my way or no way at all :)

So there it is, Momma and baby are both very healthy and doing great, have a wonderful mid-wife and a great doctor. Both support me in whatever I decide and I am grateful for that.

It's a......

2011-07-22T15:13:00.011-06:00

BABY! :)

Gender Maker: First test turned purple...yep PURPLE! The test includes a color graph starting with either a light pink or blue and both sides fade off into purple....so being annoyed I wrote the company and told them of my situation and that I wasn't satisfied. They emailed back quickly and said a "purple" indicates a boy. Which is fine except the girls color graph also faded into purple too and the purple was similar to the "girl" purple, rather than the "boy" purple. They sent another test :) Second test quickly showed a dark blue, indicating that "It's a boy". Conclusion:BOY twice.

Chinese Calendar: 5 sites were used 2 saying boy and 3 saying girl. Conclusion: GIRL

Wedding ring: I did this test 3 times, I didn't tell my husband what either way meant. Conclusion: GIRL

Drano: Conclusion: GIRL

Red Cabbage: Conclusion: GIRL
I also found some more test:

Baking Soda test: You collect your morning urine and mix it with a spoon full of baking soda and if it foams like beer its a boy, and if it stayes the same it's a girl. Conclusion: All 3 times it was a BOY

Baby's heartbeat: Slower means boy and faster means Girl. Conclusion: BOY

Sweet or Sour: If you are craving sweets it's a girl, and sours its a Boy. Conclusion: GIRL

Hair line: This site you actually have to go check out. This test involves the hair line of your previous child. I checked each child and sure enough they all went in the order of their hair line. Conclusion: GIRL Check out the link here

*I was going to include picture of each test for reference purposes but decided I didn't want to look at my Urine and figured no one else did either. But most Urine based test can be googled and you can either see pictures of other people's results or see video's of other's women's results (I was super jealous of the women who took the gender maker test and they immediately got a cute blue color or cute pink color...I got purple and bluish purple :(

Out of the 8 tests GIRL was the most common, BUT I was really looking forward to the Ultrasound. Ultrasounds can be wrong and the only real way of knowing what your having is to wait the 9 months and see what pops out.

ULTRASOUND: We had our technician put a girl or boy card in an envelope, we took it home and after our kids came back from a Cousin camp at Gramma Leathams they opened it. They all were excited and as you can see It's a GIRL!

HEY! Were havin a baby :)

2011-07-06T06:06:00.004-06:00

Yep that's right, for those of you who don't already know I am 17 weeks and counting to our 6th baby and I couldn't be more excited! I can't say the same for many people around me, but hey you can't please everyone right?

Since I am almost to 20 weeks(20 weeks is when most women get their official ultrasound to see what the gender of their baby is) I have decided to use the remaining 3 weeks to take a stab at some "old wives tales". I will do each one and post the results just before my 20 weeks ultrasound. Also please put your 2 cents in, I don't have many readers so if you happen to stubble upon my blog please leave a comment...in other words I don't care if I know you or don't leave a comment on whether you think this baby is a boy or a girl. Thanks

1st- GENDER MAKER- is a test using your morning urine on a control stick to give you either a "pink"(girl) or "blue"(boy) result. The cost= $24.99 with free shipping or $19.99 with $3.00 shipping from amazon

2nd- CHINESE GENDER CHART- which uses the Chinese calendar to predict the gender of your child based on how old you are at the time of conception and in what month you conceived. The cost is FREE

3rd- THE WEDDING RING TEST- put your wedding ring on a string, Lie down and dangle the ring over your belly. If it starts moving in circles, you are having a boy, or if it moves like a pendulum from side to side, then you are having a girl. The cost = FREE

4th- THE DRANO TEST- Collect around 2 or 3 ounces of morning urine and mix it with around two tablespoons of crystal Drano. Do not use the liquid form, as there will not be the same sort of chemical reaction. If the mixture turns brownish in color you are going to have a boy. If the mixture doesn't get any darker, and if it doesn't become brownish in color then its a girl. *Drano is a powerful and dangerous chemical to use during pregnancy* because of this I will provide the urine and my hubby will be doing the rest of the test far away from me. The cost= around $10.00

5th- THE RED CABBAGE TEST- cut up a cabbage, boil it in water then mix 1 part of morning urine to 1 part cabbage water and if the water turns pink or red your having a boy if the water turns purple or grey you are having a girl. The cost= $2.49

I will post my results and also test out any other wives tales I happen to find out about in the next 3 weeks.

who's this chick?

2011-02-24T21:55:00.002-07:00

Name: Crystal Lynn
Birthday: May 26, 1983

What would you do if you had a Million dollars?
I wouldn't tell anyone. I would anonymously pay family and friends mortgages off. I would buy new cars for people and leave them parked in their drive ways with a big bow and a note that sayed "zoom zoom" lol I would build the perfect house :) I would travel the world. I would hire a freakin maid :) I would spend my days playing with my kids.

What do you look at on the Internet?
facebook :) and I stalk a bunch of blogs about arts and crafts and then I throw a pity party because I am such a loser mom who spends her free time stalking blogs about people who actually do crafts instead of doing my own. And the rest of the time I usually try to learn something new about health and about midwifery.

What have been your best buys for 2011?
Plain White T's tickets, 5 pairs of shoes for my family and myself at the D.I. (yes I washed and scrubbed them), a package of cool mint oreo's, an Ikea mattress for my girls, some clearance lip gloss that has peppermint oil in it, and asparagus :)

Whats a secret that you are embarrassed to tell people?
That even after trying to "re-populate the earth" with our 5 kids, we are actually trying to conceive. shhh please don't tell the haters

If you were to choose a new name for yourself what would it be?
Thats really tough to decide. I think I would want a really weird name, something no one else had like September. Or a Hippie name like Willow. I don't really know, thats actually a really hard question to answer.

Why don't you blog?
Lazy maybe? I just really hate blogging now. But I will admit that I do blog in my head alot, specially while doing laundry. I am thinking soon they will have a machine that reads your mind, and when that happens I will have new posts ALL the time

Why are you asking yourself weird questions and then answering yourself?
boredom, needed a happy blog post, in a very weird mood, and I actually do this quite often....what a weirdo eh?

my mom bucket list -2002-

2011-02-20T20:28:00.002-07:00

I ran across a journal entry about things I either wanted to do with my kids, or things I wanted my kids to have...over all goals for them.

*I wanted them to grow up on a farm, an old broken down farm that they could fix up. Spend their summer's getting lost on the farm having wonderful adventures.
*I wanted to travel around the world with them. Take them to new places.
*I wanted them to be home schooled, and learn at their own pace. I would give them all the tools they needed to learn and be there when they had questions and never miss an opportunity to teach them something new.
*I never wanted to spank my kids. I knew there had to be a better way to get a point across.
*I wanted to spend my nights reading books to the kids and listening to Eben play the guitar.
*I wanted each of my kids to earn there own money for their first car, or I wanted them to fix up their own car.
*I really wanted my kids to be happy, healthy and be well behaved.

Those were my goals. I love each one of them and wish I would have already full filled most of them by now. It seems so odd to think that I have very few years with my oldest, who was 2 at the time when my "bucket list" was written. Time has just slipped away from me. I think it may be time for a new bucket list. Although it seems so sad to look at this old one. My dreams are still the same but just not possible.

I am so lucky to be a mom. Some days I let the good things about being a mom slip away. And more days than not I spend my day cleaning, and running here and there and forget to actually spend time with my kids.

Maybe I need some goals. A month to month guide to get me back to being a full time mom, instead of being a full time maid/taxi driver/babysitter. I can truly say I have gotten off the beaten path.

I am thankful for these reality checks. The one's that make you wonder "what was I thinking?"

Onwards and upwards :)

Is it just me?

2010-12-06T13:17:00.002-07:00

Does anyone else feel like we are supposed to have all this freedom and have so many places to air our thought (blogs, facebook etc.) but no one ever just sayes what they want to....?? I know I don't say much of anything that I want to.
Life is so odd. I always thought when I was older that I could do whatever I wanted all the time. Cake for breakfast, never have to clean my house, say whatever I wanted to and not get spanked or grounded. Now I can't eat cake for breakfast because it's bad for my waist line, bad for my health and a bad example to my kids. Have to keep my house clean just in case someone stops by, have to keep everything organized so I can actually find something when I need it. And can't say ANYTHING that could possibly offend someone.
Who knew?

Shutterfly fun!

2010-12-01T20:25:00.008-07:00

I am SO ExCiTeD! I heard about this great deal through shutterfly.com; where you can get 50 free cards just in time for the holidays! This makes me just want to jump for JOY! I have always loved shutterfly's deals and there prints. I decided to take a quick look at there Christmas cards to see which one I would be using this year...WOW there are too many to decide from! How can I decide on just one? All of them are so colorful!
Shutterfly.com's Christmas cards seem to have more variety than most places, which makes it very hard to decide! Just look at all these adorable cards!
There are also some fun gift ideas like photo calendars. I have made a photo calendar for my Grandma and my mom in the past and thought about doing it this year too(shhh don't tell them) My hubby's birthday is in January so that might even be fun for him too.

And shutterfly also has some cute Birthday cards and invites that I had never seen before. I am pretty excited to make some for Ebie's birthday in February. I will be sending some out to family we don't see very often just so they can see how big the birthday girl is getting.

Shutterfly seems to have so many good deals on free prints and fun products. I have been very happy with them in the past.

So many choices to choose from where do I start? I probably better start by taking a family picture :) But this offer and looking at shutterfly's website makes me more excited to get going! Maybe I will get my cards out before New Years this year ;)

Get more info and check out the great deals at shutterfly.com

It's June

2010-06-27T13:02:00.003-06:00

Or I should say the end of June :)

Anyone remember my "2010 goals"? Well its time to do a quick update on how I have been doing with them:
1-WEIGHT GOAL- Well I would Love to say I have lost 30lbs but I haven't yet. I joined a weight loss group and did pretty good with it and ended up being "the biggest loser" but I have pretty much gained it all back after having a love affair with food for the last month...but I am back on the wagon and ready to try losing some more lbs.
2-HAPPY FAMILY- I think we are a work in progress but I do feel like we all have been making a big effort to be a happier family :)
3-BETTER HEALTH Still working on this one...I'm pretty sure this is the one goal that I have worked on the least.
4-BLOG- Okay...so this is the one goal I have worked on the least. I just don't want to blog! I really hate blogging, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE to read everyone else and even get a little annoyed when no one has blogged in awhile(total hypocrite)
5-TAKE MORE PICTURES I have really been doing quite well with taking pictures, I have really enjoyed getting back into taking pictures for fun. I have even made another goal to take a picture everyday of my 27th year of life(my 27th birthday was in May).
6-SCHEDULE Yep, I got one :) And can I just say how helpful a schedule is? I'm sure I could work on it more.
7-BE A BETTER FRIEND- This one I have really worked on the most. I hope I can keep doing better and helping my friends out as much as they help me and be there when they need me. I really value my friends and I have been really blessed with getting to know them again.
8-GET-R-DONE- This one pretty much goes with the "schedule goal", I find when I get things done ahead of time my schedule works out so much better. I really love not being such a procrastinator.
9-TRY IT YOU'LL LIKE IT-I would like to do more with this goal, I guess I have kind of kept up with it but I would like to try more things.
10-COWBOYS AND PRINCESS'- Well my girls have the "princess" part down to an art(specially "Princess Ebie-cup") and the boys are learning to be better "cowboys". I have been working with them on manner's and also working harder and more efficiently.

All in all my goals are working out pretty well. In May I decided since my favorite number (in the whole world) is "27" and since I was turning 27 I thought I better make the best of my year so I have tried to live my days enjoying life. My first thoughts were to go on trips and sleep in every morning, but reality sunk in and I went simple. So if my day is going bad I take a few minute's and try to think of some way I can turn the day around and other than some really really bad days I have been successful in making each day a pretty good one. I have enjoyed my kids so much more and really taken the time to get to know them and also to work with them to be better in so many ways.

I am really thankful for 2010, in some ways its been very hard, but I feel like so far this has been one of my more successful years of life.

5/18/2010

2010-05-28T14:19:00.004-06:00

Was the day my little sweetpea left my tummy.

People have alot of different views on what a miscarriage is and also if a baby is a "baby" before it is born full term. I feel like I had a sweet little baby girl(she looked like a girl but it could have been a boy who wasn't developed yet) and I miss her and I think she with heavenly father. I think that tiny little body that I held was her earthly body. I am not a expert nor do I want anyone opinion. That's just the way I feel.

We buried our little girl in a spot picked out by her brother's(Kamryn told me he would know where to dig a hole if he saw some flowers by a little rock) in the mountains. They took it all really hard but being able to bury her and have an ending helped.

We make plans and Heavenly father laughs...

2010-04-20T22:51:00.002-06:00

really really hard :)

We are exspecting baby #6!!!
I am completely but happily very shocked! We didnt think we could or should have anymore babies, so this was such a neat suprise. We made plans to wait a few years to try for another baby, but I started to feel kinda yucky in the mornings and I was SUPER grumpy all the time so I took a test and TADA! 2 pink lines. I just laughed. What else can you do? This is the closest my kids have ever been so hopefully I wont go crazy :)

Excitement

2010-01-09T11:37:00.004-07:00

I find myself so excited lately. It seems like things are coming together finally.

Our basement is FINALLY coming together after our first discovery of black mold almost 4 years ago. Lots of hard work and frustration will finally end by the end of January. (hopefully) I am so excited to finally have an area for my kids to play! The basement went from a small 1 bedroom apartment to a good size family/craft room. I can see my house magically coming together once I finally have a place for everything.

My hormones or whatever you want to call it, have finally calmed down and I feel quite a bit more normal than I have in the last 10 months. And what a wonderful feeling it is to feel "normal" again.

I have had success in my New Years resolutions and even though its only 9 days into the new year I feel very accomplished.

My little Lily is crawling and pulling herself up onto furniture which normally would make me feel like she is growing up to quickly but instead makes me excited to see her feel so accomplished and also she can almost keep up with her brother's and sister which makes for a much happier baby.

Ebie is a girly girl through and through and to see her play barbies or dolly's makes me smile. She has recently invented an imaginary friend named Leah. Ebie and Leah play together and they also fight together which seems very funny and somewhat odd.

I see my boys getting bigger everyday and see the struggles and the "hardships" they seem to have with life and that somehow makes me smile too just because it may seem big to them but it really has no standing ground when it comes to the hardships they will face only a short time away and it makes me happy to know that there problems are still small and very fixable.

I am also excited for all the pregnant women around me. I have such a love for babies and for people who are excited about having babies. If I wont be having any of my own babies anymore I love that I can enjoy other people's babies.

Life is just very manageable and good right now. I am so grateful for my many blessings.

Ready or not....welcome 2010

2009-12-31T15:41:00.002-07:00

For whatever reason we all either think about a New Years resolution or make one...or a few.

This year I am really going to keep close tabs on myself so I can finally accomplish my New Years Resolution(s)

When I think of a resolution I think of accomplishing something or in my case thinking of something wonderful to do before the next year comes around only to find myself dreading a quick look back in my journal to see nothing I had set out to do has been done.

Well this year I hope to make some reasonable goals to which I will post for all to see and please my blog readers(few as they may be) you keep on me.

1- A WEIGHT GOAL- I know, this is forever everyone goal but I am sticking it out there anyways. 30lbs lighter by 2011
2- HAPPY FAMILY- I honestly want to work on my family life, I want my kids and myself to be happy to come home from wherever they may have been. I want my kids to have a better understanding of our Heavenly Father and his plans and goals for us here on earth. I want my kids to keep journals through out there year to which they have to write in every Sunday.
3- HEALTH- it has taken a back seat for about 4 years now. We eat far to much junk and its time to get back to simple eating and for me...not as much eating and for my wee ones more eating.
4- BLOG - I cant honestly say I "need" a blog or two but I sure do want them. I want one for my everyday run of the mill, don't want to write n my journal, good reads for the posterity good ol' blog. And another for my photography which I love.
5- TAKE MORE PICTURES- That in itself may sound funny coming from me but I find my self looking for "the right shot" instead of logging my kids growing up. I also have become way to self conchious carrying around a camera because I am afraid I will be mocked (I know I am weird)
6- SCHEDULE- oh my goodness do I NEED a schedule!
7- BEING A BETTER FRIEND- I have pushed my friends to the side for way to long, its time to make it known that I love and value them. My excuse before was always that I was simply overwhelmed with my own life that I didn't want to flake out on them. That is simply not going to do this year. I may not have an active role in there life's but I want them to feel the Love I have for them and for them to be able to rely on me
8- "GET-R-DONE"- I have a great love for procrastination and its just NOT working in my life. It causes me stress and disappointment in my life constantly. I am here by taking a stand that my birthday gifts, cards and anything else I my need will be bought, made(with love ;), and wrapped the month before it needs to be.
9- TRY IT YOU'LL LIKE IT- I am going to try something new every month.
10- COWBOYS AND PRINCESSES- growing up I wanted my boys to be cowboys(whatever I pictured a "cowboy" being) and I wanted my girls to be princesses. So this year I am going to make sure I really look back and reflect what I want my kids to "be" in that I am talking about the way they act and feel. I want my cowboys to be tough but also know how to treat a lady, I want my girls to know that they are special, and that even though they are special they still have responsibilities to be gentle and kind to other's.

Now that being said I need a little freedom with these goals or else I will never go through with them. I am going to make little goals or ideas to use every week to accomplish my goals. Then at the "half way mark" (I am picking sometime in June) I am going to repost my goals and how they have helped my life, and if I have been slacking.

Wish me luck, and have a wonderful 2010!

I would never do that...

2009-10-01T10:05:00.004-06:00

When I was pregnant with Kamryn I had a little list of things I would never do as a mother. But now 5 kids and 9 years later I realize I have broken alot of them and it makes me wonder exactly what happened to make me break those "mommy rules" along the way.
1- Sugar only on special occasions.
-I held onto this for awhile and probably did the best I could up until my little Taitum was born and candy was a way to show my kids that I loved them because I was SOO busy trying to keep Taitum happy(he had a bad case of colic). Sadly I don't think the kids go a day without having some form of sugar.
2- I was never going to spank my kids
-I have spanked my kids, sometimes as a punishment and sometimes out of anger for there actions. This one makes me sad and although I think kids can learn from a spankin I don't think its necessary. Although it has happened in the past our form of punishment usually falls on either time outs and having personal items taken away for bad actions.
3- I was going to try not to yell around or at my kids
-that one lasted until Kamryn hit the "terrible two's.
4- My kids would never go to public school.
- This is something I wish I could have stuck with. I read the book "Education of Thomas Jefferson" and I loved it. That was always my plan for my kids and I did well until my little Taitum was born and needed so much attention. I'm not a huge fan of public school but I'm glad the kids have somewhere to learn when I don't have time or energy to help them.
5- My kids will always be seen in public but not heard unless asked to speak.
- If anyone saw me on the 4th of July trying to control my kids and keep track of them will know that I didnt do so good with that rule.

These are just a few of the things that fell to the way side when more and more kids came into our family. I still love all 5 of my rules and work everyday to get back to them. I do understand that some of the other rules that I made will never be broken and some just don't apply anymore.

Being a mom is so hard and yet so rewarding. It seems so easy before you have kids. I know I make mistakes and I know I wont win a prize for being the best mom but I hope to always do my best.

As the holidays approach quickly I am always reminded of this "wonderful mom" I wanted to be and the mistakes I have made along the way. I think the best advise I have ever been given was to never think "Its too late". I love that thought, I always set my sights way too high around the holidays and this year is no different but this year Im not going to worry about what I didn't do but focus more on what I can do. I hope this holiday season of traditions and fun activity's is the best yet. I am determined to spend what time I do have with my kids being happy and active with them.

3 months already!

2009-09-30T16:10:00.004-06:00

Wow how time has flown by! My little girl is already 3 months old!
She is already a traveler, we made a trip in August to Texas for a Radio Shack convention and Lily and Ebie came along. We saw Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and of course Texas. In the last 3 months we have been so blessed to have such a special little girl in our lives. Her brother's and sister love her to death and of course her mommy and daddy are pretty fond of her too ;)
I had a hard time adjusting to 5 children at first and also a mistake I had made...I confess I named my baby the WRONG name! I have a close friend who used to tell me that she was scared she would name her kids the "wrong" name. I never thought too much about this because I figured it would work out in the end and whatever name you chose for your baby would be the "right" name. So I set out in the beginning of my pregnancy the same way most mothers do, I was set on finding the best name for my little one. I had so many names I liked but there was one name that just made me smile every time I sayed it "Lily". It was settled the moment I presented the name to Eben and he actually agreed that he liked it too(something we struggle with anytime we talk about baby names).
So when the day came and we found out we were having a little girl we excitedly started to refer to our little one as "lily" soon after we realized we had a problem when people started asking what we would name another girl referring to a stupid tradition my husband started by calling all of his boys Eben. I had no intentions on using "eben" in any form when it came to naming my girls. But after being surprised with a pretty little girl February 18th 2007 we came upon a delima when the names we agreed to and picked out were already taken or very overdone. Everyone joked about girl versions of Eben but that was out. I always called Eben "ebey" and had mentioned I wanted to use it for our little girl but he had veto's it quickly. But as we came up blank on what to name our new little girl "ebie" just fit. So she was named after her daddy and her mommy (Ebie Lynn).
So now we were in a pickle, we couldn't have all our kids named after eben EXCEPT Lily...BUT then Eben suggested that we use "lynn" for all the girls and I liked that alot. Little Lily Lynn Leatham....it was kinda cute and fun to say. But we just kept getting flack from people. So I set out to find an "eben" name for our little girl. And one day I thought of "Ebrie" it sounded soo pretty and unique. I sayed Ebrie Lily a hundred times a day and it still sounded dumb. I needed to either have a "Lily" or a "Ebrie" because the combination sounded way too weird. So I began to think about just naming her Ebrie Elaine(after my granny) I liked it alot but I still wanted my little Lily. What a pickle I put myself in. And to make it worse everyone called my belly Lily. I figured the day she was born I would know what to do and who this little girl was.
Well she came out and she was NOT a "Lily" she looked like a "Ebrie" but everyone was already calling her Lily and then it also accured to me Ebrie and Ebie sound a whole lot like each other....ugh why I had I not noticed this before? All I did is stick an "R" in Ebie...duh
So when I was asked what her name was I sayed Ebrie Lily Leatham with no conviction at all. I was so bummed. But I just had to get used to it. For awhile after she was called both Lily and Ebrie and I loved when people called her Ebrie. But 3 months into it and she is officially Lily and it has grown on me but I'm not convinced.
What kind of flake-mom am I to not even be sure that the name I named my baby is right for her? ugh what an idiot. I have told Eben over and over that I was supposed to have twins "Ebrie Elaine" and "Lily Lynn". I find myself calling her all kinds of names lil,ebrie,brie, lily lynn, moosey, lue lue, and for some reason "mama" in a little spanish ancient...??? what is wrong with me? And what have I done? I have issues :) to say the least.

Other than me having a day to day break down over what I named my little girl the last 3 months has been so much fun. I am grateful for my precious little girl (whatever her name is :)

Too little...

2009-07-19T01:07:00.003-06:00

too late? I hope not.

I have SO not been doing good with blogging lately. So much has happened since I last blogged about the birth of Lily I kind of don't know where to even begin. Because it late and I should have more free time this week I will try to catch up in another blog but for now I wanted to post Lily's birth announcement pictures.

SHE'S HERE!!!

2009-06-20T01:23:00.004-06:00

Ebrie Lily Leatham is finally here!
Date- June 14th 2009
Time- 8:20 p.m.
Weight- 7lbs 10oz
Length- 20 1/2 inches

I made it! finally she is here! And boy do we just love her! She somehow came out with dark black hair and brown eyes...?? I dunno? She is bigger than all of my baby's and even though I came well prepared with an adorable "daddy's girl" preemie outfit we had to go home in an over sized outfit picked out quickly by her dad after finding that the preemie outfit only came to her knee :)

The birth went well. After contracting for a week or so and being woke up in the middle of the night with labor pains...I called my midwife and she came down Sunday afternoon to start me. Everything was going good and by 2:00 p.m. I was in full blown labor. I had every intention on staying home and laboring in my quiet little house and having the "most amazing" well planned birth ever I chicken out and began to have a full blown panic attack when I reached 6 or 7 cm and realized "I cant do this". I called it quites and rushed to the hospital for my "drugs". Eben had called ahead and made sure that the guy from Fillmore was here to give me an epidural and I wouldn't have to wait for the guy from Delta to get here. I walked in and straight to the birthing room and tried to stay calm as I quickly realized it might be to late and not only was stuck at the hospital but I was going to have to go through all the pain of giving birth to a baby naturally again. My midwife came to the hospital to give me support and as an hour passed I knew time was getting close but I was determined to get that relief before I had to push a baby out. Finally the epidural guy got there (the Fillmore guy ended up being out of town for dinner so I was waiting for the other guy to get there from delta) he quickly "hooked me up" with a wonderful pain numbing dose. I could finally bare to live again...I was really at the point of thinking I would rather die...lol From there I sat comfy cozy in my bed waiting for the doctor to get there and when he did he checked me and sayed "it's time" I'll go get dressed. I felt the epidural wearing off and I would have liked another dose I decided to buck up and get this done. When the doc got his scrubs on I got to work giving my best pushes to get baby Lily out. But one of my worst fears showed it's ugly face when she decided to come face up(all of my kids have come that way except for Ebie) my pelvis has issues and as she was making her was out she was stuck. I knew I didn't want a c-section so I gave it my all for 45 minutes and had my dose changed so I could really feel what I was supposed to be doing. Finally she came out...lookin like a MOOSE! She looked alot bigger than she was but still! Everything went well and she was in great health.

I really enjoyed my hospital birth and my doctor and nurses were amazing and very understanding and respectful of what I wanted and didn't want. We didn't stay long and with the doctor's ok we left that night at midnight to our comfy home.

About to pop? no...about to scream!

2009-06-04T04:29:00.002-06:00

If I am asked one more time "if I'm going to POP" I will have to just start to scream! And that goes for "oh you poor thing", "that baby isn't here yet?" "your running out of room arn't ya", "you know what causes that dontcha(hate that one the most)", or one of the worst things....when people just laugh in pity...???

Technically I am not DUE until the 21st of June. They keep moving things around but I really haven't informed anyone about changes with my due date so why is it for the last 3 weeks I have had to put up with these questions? I know I am huge and I may look super done but that's the last thing I want to hear from people. First of all I HAVE a mirror and the simple fact that I haven't been able to fit into regular maternity clothes for the last month lets me know that I AM HUGE! So please save your "oh so clever" remarks to yourself...lol

I'm actually not that annoyed I just wish there was a like a group home for fat pregnant people :) somewhere you went when you got "to fat for public viewing" somewhere where other fat mother's who just want to be left alone could go. I refuse to go to the store, church, and always can find an excuse to stay in the car when we go anywhere.

Here's some belly pics we took a couple of days ago, I almost skipped over them this time around but I figured because I was having a girl she might enjoy them when she starts having kids of her own. And no I didn't somehow grow hair over night, it's just a fun little clip on thing...ebie and I like to clip it on here and there for fun. I will probably never have hair that long because I CAN NOT stand having long hair so it's fun to get to clip something in and then take it out when I'm tired of it.

click..take a pic

2009-05-16T09:59:00.006-06:00

Kids being kids

2009-05-13T10:21:00.004-06:00

growing a potty...

2009-04-30T16:13:00.002-06:00

Taitum (my 4 year old) ask me today when Ebie was going to grow a potty? Me not really knowing what he was asking(he asks alot of questions daily..that really have no purpose and no way of answering)I just sayed "i dunno son" and went on with what I was doing. He looked very puzzled and then sayed "but mom if she doesn't have a potty how will she go camping?". Now at this point I am really trying to understand what he is asking. So I made him start over, "what did you ask me?" he repeated that he wants to know when Ebie will grow a potty? Then is hit me, since we dont really use a particular name for "girl and boy" parts the most used would be "potty". I really never thought about having to explain what makes girls and boys different, after all sharing one bathroom often leaves kids running in and out while eben and I are showering and even using the bathroom. But I guess we skipped that part. I quickly gave Taitum a run down on why girls and boys were different and tried to explain that Ebie will never grow a "potty". lol

Something worth living for

2009-04-30T00:39:00.001-06:00

Bloggity mash up

2009-04-24T10:11:00.005-06:00

With a new zest for procrastination I have fallen behind on my blogging. I still haven't even blogged about Ebie's 2nd Birthday which was the 18th of February. (but you wont see that post anytime soon because all of her birthday pictures are downloaded to our other very very slow computer.

EASTER 2009
What a nice Easter was had! It has been one of the best in our history with kids. Very layed back very organized and very very fun! The kids made bank on fun Easter stuff. That was probably the best part...eating candy and playing with new crayons, little toys and bubbles. Life just doesn't get much better :) And the Easter eggs hunt was a hoot to watch! Ebie was shocked and so excited when she would find an egg or a treat. And Taitum was to busy making sure his brother and his parents saw every single thing he found. And the older boys were in total race mode trying to gather up all there goodies as fast as they could.

JOSH'S SPECIAL DAY
Now that the kids are older I decided they needed to have a day to themselves with just there mom and dad. So Josh was first this year, he had a fun little party at the pod with all his friends...and that was a site to see...a bunch on 1st graders trying to skate (most for the first time) they crashed over and over and into each other and I knew that there was no way the party would end without some major damage done to 1 or more of those kids. But low and behold somehow they all crashed and burned and no broken bones or tears shed. They all had alot of fun and most importantly Josh was totally thrilled. After the clean up we went home to check out his loot (because if you have ever been to any kind of little kid party you know there is a mad dash to open all the presents and try to guard them all from your friends..lol) all the kids spoiled Josh, he got some really fun things to play with. Then it was time for a small family party.
Two days later Josh and me headed up north brite and early to go to some yard sales (which were totally not worth anything) because Josh had money burning a hole in his pocket and it was killing him. After not finding much of anything we went to Kid to Kid to get some new clothes for him. He went crazy! If you know Josh you know that he is content with the little things in life, give him something green or a polar bear and he is done. So after finding a few shirts he liked and a pair of shoes he began to find things for his brother's and sisters...luckly everything he was picking out was actually very cute stuff so I told him to get whatever he wanted. Then it was off to my sister-in-laws baby shower. After that I was pretty much done and in alot of pain but not wanting to ruin Josh's day we headed off to Build a bear. For some reason they didn't have a polar bear...ugh so Josh proclaimed he would just get a light colored bear and pretend like it was a dirty polar bear :) He had a blast making his bear which he named "buildy"...so clever ;) Then came the hard part..picking out the clothes. They are really quite pricey and I told Josh he had to look through all the clothes and then pick 1 outfit and after that he could get another outfit with his own money. After dressing his new bear he picked out a Jazz outfit and an igloo for his bear to live in. He asked me to help him count his money and after paying for the Jazz uniform and the igloo he would only have a dollar left he quickly grabbed everything out of my hands and sayed "I'm not paying for that! what a rip off!" lol We left with Buildy and one outfit..all payed for by MOM :) We then got his pictures taken and then Josh just had to look around the mall (to which I agreed but really just wanted to cry). Then off to Target where we hit the mother load! The dollar section just threw Josh for a complete loop! So much to buy and so little money :) He kept grabbing stuff and then recounting everything to make sure he wasn't going over his budget. I heard "don't over spend" "don't over spend" quite a few times and alot of "oh COOL!" "WOWZA". After he had finally decided what he wanted for sure we started to leave and then he saw it....the garden section! He screamed in delight! "I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A GARDENER!" he quickly went to town picking seeds, little planters, gloves, etc. My favorite purchases were the little garden gnome in which he exclaimed "A GARDEN GNOME! I HAVE TO HAVE A GARDEN GNOME!" and a book called "gardening for dummies". He was in heaven, and so was I. He had to look around the store but the whole time he just kept jumping up and down telling me how excited he was to have a garden and that now when someone asks him what his does..he can tell them he is a gardener..lol
Our day together was so much fun and I really got to know Josh better and really got to enjoy his personality. He is such a special kid I am SO lucky to have him :)He kept saying how that was the best day of his life.

BABY NEWS
I recently went to a doctors appointment in which he officially decided my due date was off. Which makes more sense to me according to the time line in which I have felt the baby move, the way I feel at curtain points of my pregnancy,etc. He told me the end of May (which we had first figured on) and then I added 2 weeks (cause I always seem to go over about that much) and so we are thinking around the second week of June. I am super excited and also a little scared to think of the lack of time I have to get my house in order. I do not want to be having to worry about my house when I have a new baby to hold and cherish. I'm kinda riding the fence on whether I will deliver at the hospital or at home. I want to deliver at home for sure, but with our new insurance it's actually cheaper to have a baby at the hospital and since I have had such horrible complications this time around it makes me nervous to have anything go wrong at home not because I don't think my midwife can't handle anything that comes along but more so about what kind of flack I will get from people saying "see you shouldn't have your baby at home". So I guess it's just a waiting game. Something I will have to keep praying about and see how I feel when the time comes.

NEED ADVICE

2009-04-05T10:11:00.002-06:00

Okey I am a huge fan of doing laundry (I know I'm weird...but does it help that I really hate putting my clothes away?) I use alot of different products when I am washing(spray and wash, oxy clean, borax, bleach, color safe bleach, etc.) and I cant let a piece of clothing go through the wash without having every stain taken care of.
BUT! I need advice on my bed sheets and also my whites. I use the recommended amount of bleach in the wash cycle with my whites but they never look "white" and I just bought some new white sheets thinking they would be so easy to take care of(after all hotels have white sheets all the time)but for some reason they are looking all yucky looking and every stain shows up even if I use spray and wash and use bleach.

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? Please someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

doin what I like to do

2009-04-04T14:52:00.002-06:00

After my little "brush with death" I have really thought about whats important to me and what I really need to work on. Being a mom is the #1 right now. I haven't even picked up my camera since I went to the hospital. I just wanted everything to stay simple (if that makes sense?) But I have gotten a few calls about doing wedding photography. I have decided maybe weddings are a little much for me but I have decided to do engagement and bridal pics (that way if I mess up they still have time to go have other pictures taken) I wasn't sure I even wanted to do any kinda of photography anymore, so I decided to just do pictures for free...why should someone have to pay me to do what I like to do?

Today I awoke to more snow(of course) which made me nervous because I was supposed to be taking engagement photo's for Christa and Tyler. I hoped that the snow would stop...but no luck. We decided to just go ahead and take some pictures. I had so much fun! I did go a little blank when it came to doing poses but it turned out good. I was so happy that they were both so understanding and so willing to enjoy our photo session. here's a little sampler.

getting back to normal (well as normal as I will ever be)

2009-03-21T14:49:00.002-06:00

I think I am finally back to normal. I had a rough week after my little "dying thing". I cant really explain how I felt, I didn't have any thoughts...I was just in the moment and everything felt so off. I always have a million thoughts running through my head and there usually jumbled together with a song I had heard. But I had nothing. I felt very sad and lonely and scared. If any of you have ever seen Final destination where these people somehow cheat death but spend the rest of the movie trying to run to away from death...only to end up all dying in someway or another in the end.....that's kinda what I was expecting. I felt like I made it this far but whats going to get me now. Which with a blood clot still in my lungs and numerous other health issues over my head it didn't seem to unreasonable to think I could die at any moment. All I knew is that I wasn't ready to die and I was very scared to leave my little family.

But I think I'm going to make it :) I'm not 100% yet on feeling all that good but at least I feel like I can actually make it.

Oh how I love my life. Things get hard sometimes but I'm thankful for the hard times...they make the good times so much greater.

I would also like to thank my friends for leaving uplifting messages for me. It's always good to hear that your loved....actually its the best feeling in the world. Thanks

Here but not really?

2009-03-07T16:51:00.002-07:00

Well I have like 3 other blogs saved ready to be posted I was just waiting to find the time to down load some pics off of my camera. But I'm skipping all of that and writing a blog about an experience I had yesterday. I'm really not sure where to go from here or how to move on. I know heavenly father is the key part in getting through this and moving on but I cant seem to get past the situation to even pay for guidance.

Many many people have had things happen in there life's (car accidents, surgeries, health problems etc.) that were life threatening or scary. I have had a few. Yesterday changed my views on what it means to feel like your dying.

I woke up and got ready just like everyday, I had a dentist appointment at 9 and other than seeing my mom on her day off it was to be a pretty uneventful day. The day before I got a call from the hospital saying that I tested positive for mono. I guess it's the thing to get around fillmore these days. I also got tested for a lung infection, and some other things, because I was feeling very short of breath and not very good. So anyways after not doing so good at the dentist and feeling quite alot of pain I just wanted to go to my moms and watch a movie or something. Which I did, also my granny came by and we visited for a bit, around 5ish I was thinking about what to have for dinner and thinking that my day had gone by so quickly when my phone rang...it was Doctor telling me that not only had I tested positive for most of the things I had been tested on that because of the mono my spleen and liver were swollen and actually caused a blood clot to go into my lungs. OKEY?...??? so where do we go from there (blood clots of any sort sound bad but in your lungs sounds even worse) he asked if I could possibly be taken up to Utah Valley and have a cat scan done on my lungs to see how bad things were. I sayed yes and he sayed he would get back to me. Then his nurse called back and very calmly and very exactly sayed "crystal can you leave RIGHT now?" and then gave me the run down on what I needed to do (paperwork). She then sayed "your leaving RIGHT now RIGHT??" which made a little nervous. Luckily my mom was home and took me up north. Everything was fine and check in was easy. I began the cat scan with an IV and also some dye stuff which they would run through my veins at certain inter volts to see things better. I was told that eveytime the dye is released I was feel very hot and have bad taste in my mouth.

Tests started and the first dye went through and the thing was wooshing around me, I was feeling a little sick to my tummy but wanted to stay still so they could get a good reading. Then the next shot went through...everything was fine just very hot and then I needed to itch my nose SO bad...the machine stopped and I was so happy I could itch my nose again. I began to itch my nose and blood was all over the nurse came in and ask if I was itchy, I sayed yes and began to sneeze she ran out and yelled for help....then everything was not fine. I could no longer breath my tongue was swollen and the my chest was on fire....I couldn't speak anymore and everything got slow and then black. I remember hearing people all over talking to me and someone calling the ER downstairs with a women (me ) who was 26 weeks and not responsive. I then awoke to a pain on my chest where a nurse was rubbing they had given me something to stop the reaction and I was slowly coming down from it. I still couldn't breath well and my tongue and chest were on fire. after awhile I was feeling quite bad but ould breath but couldn't stop coughing and shaking. I was fine....

but Im NOT fine now. I was gone...and had they not had what they needed I might have stayed gone. I never saw a white light...my life didn't flash before my eyes....but it hit me that this was it...and what a shame....I had so much to see and do. Once again I'm safe and I'm here to do the things I need to, but I cant stop feeling so weird. Everything is not clicking with me and maybe I just need some time to get my head straight. They say your life can change in a blink of an eye...and I never doubted that....it just seems like such a stupid saying right now...I just feel like saying "no you don't understand!" coming home I just kept thinking of my mom listening to the radio and having to drive all the way home knowing that her daughter died, or when Eben called to tell me goodnight...what if he couldn't call me, what if that text I just got went to my phone that I wasn't there to use anymore. How do you tell someone's family that someone they cared about just died.

I know I should just be grateful and happy I'm here. And maybe it wasn't that big of a deal and I especially know that people have had to go through worse things. But I just cant stop thinking about it.....

I wanna be a "super shopper" when I grow up

2009-02-20T17:58:00.002-07:00

So I think we have all heard of those people who find coupons and then use them to save large amounts of money....well I wanna be one of those people!

Is anyone out there a "super shopper" or know of someone who is that can give me some tips on finding good deals and stretching there money?

Baby news

2009-02-12T00:14:00.004-07:00

All our tests are back and baby Leatham is happy, healthy and is a GIRL!

I found out on the 28th of January which is Eben's birthday. The doc had told me before that it looked more like a girl than a boy, so when he took another look this time he gave me a big thumbs up and sayed "start buyin Pink". I was so happy. I would have been happy either way because I have both boys and a girl now. But the thought of little Ebie having a sister close to her age made me smile. Them sharing a room, staying up late talking, playing barbie's, and of course me getting to dress them alike put a smile on my face that I had a hard time not showing to everyone.

So the plan was since it was Eben's b-day and he didn't know I went to the doc, I would somehow come up with a way to tell him in a fun way. I went the flower shop and got 30 balloons (it was his 30th b-day) and all of them were black (we tease each other all the time about being old...so it was kinda like an over-the-hill joke) and the 30th would be PINK and say "it's a girl" or "baby girl". I was very happy with how it all turned out and how well that Pink balloon stuck out from the rest. I took them to the store (where he works) while he was on lunch break and displayed them for all to see at the front register. All the ladies from the store went crazy and gave me hugs and they all had to stay and see Eben's reaction. I went home and got Eben and took him back to work. He saw the balloons and smiled. I waited for a bit in the car wondering if I should go in or waite for him to come back out...he didn't he just went back to doing what he needed to do. I left and about 15minutes later he called and sayed "are you serious?" I guess he had seen the pink balloon and figured it was just something from Ebie...lol He finally got it and he was super excited. The rest of the day couldn't have been any better.

Oh the fun the we have

2009-01-19T17:55:00.001-07:00

Ebie has for sure hit the terrible 2's. Her attitude is fine but she is getting into EVERYTHING! Nothing is out of her reach and if it takes a chair and her stepping stool she will get what she wants. This month has been the worst though. It started with her writing on herself with marker's...almost everyday because at that point the marker's were within her reach (they along with all other writing tools are now put safely away) Then she found the permanent marker and wrote on everything from my light colored kitchen cupboards, to every wall she could get to and everything in between. Then the worst came when she started to get into our hall cupboards(which have all our bathroom needs in them) and use a full thing of night cream to "wash her hair". I COULD not get it out of her HAIR! The shampoo wouldn't even lather....I had to comb the bulk of it our and try to rub in the rest. She had greasy hair for 2 days. Then just when the marker marks on her body had faded and the night cream was finally out of her hair she used a full bottle of liquid foundation to "wash her hair" with and also wash my hallway floor with and if that didn't look pretty enough she applied pretty mascara all over her face and body. The very next morning she found some body butter to "wash her hair" with. Ugh

BUT the best is when Ebie locked herself in our van while it was still running and then couldn't open the door....long story short we didn't have a spare key, my cell phone was in the van with Ebie, and I didnt want to leave her alone to go ask the neighbor's to use there phone....so I broke the window.

body butter

liquid foundation and mascara

night cream

New baby news..

2009-01-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

So I had my blood work done and also an "official" ultrasound done to see when exactly I was due.

Eben and I had somewhat decided before I went to the doc's that I was due around the end of June or first part of July. When I went for my first check up the doc sayed the baby was due May 27th because of the size of the baby ect. The "official" ultrasound is now saying I am due June 21st. Closer to when we had first thought. I don't mind not being as far along because I feel like there i so much to get done so this actually gives me almost another month to prepare and get my more completed (we are in the middle of a remodel)

In other news I did have an abnormal blood screening for down syndrome. More tests will be done and it should be all figured out by the end of the month. This does not scare me one bit. I do get a little scared over my family's and extended families reaction to the news. I don't see a need to bring it up at this time. I do ask for your prayer's that the baby will be healthy and happy.

Still no word on what we are having so I guess we will have to waite another month for that.

It's not so bad after all

2009-01-04T18:36:00.001-07:00

I'm sure it's a mixture of hormones/being sick/overworked/and having my kids sick that has made me feel picked on...but that was how I really felt(WAS being the key word).
I made dinner which I guess didn't agree with Miss Ebie and she began to throw up..everywhere. I thought "this is it...I have to leave I have to get away" then a small and adorable little voice sayed "eww disgusting" I looked to see my little girl all covered and I felt for her. I smiled and chuckled and repeated what she sayed which made her smile and repeat it again looking down at her soiled shirt. I washed her off and then made a warm lavender bath with bubbles. She splashed and played with the bubbles and she didn't cry ( the best part of it all). I got her out put on her soft lotion, combed what hair she does have and put some eucalyptus all over her back, chest, feet, and head. She was in heaven and truth be known so was I. I decided the dinner mess could Wait and I called the boys in for a equally refreshing bath. They were so happy and calm. I gave each one of them the rub down with lotion and eucalyptus oil. And when it was all sayed and done I had 4 bathed, happy kids snug in there robes and pj's all sitting by the heater and just...being content. It was then that I knew my life was not so bad. That I needed to make myself happy and comfort myself in the wonderful surroundings of my home and family.

Being a mom isn't the most glamours job but it sure the most rewarding. I am thankful for all of my blessing and more thankful for the chances to see how lucky I really am to be a wife and mother.

Mercy...

2009-01-04T16:00:00.000-07:00

I cant take it anymore. Yep I sayed it. I can no longer "do everything".

I have been SO icky sick and more often than not I can't even seem to peel myself of of my bed long enough to get anything done around the house. Laundry piles up, dishes over flow and take up my counter's and toys and books have found every spare spot in my house.

In a desperate attempt to ask for help I broke down and asked my 4 hour husband (I get 4 hours of eben before he falls asleep) if he could possibly help me. He of course sayed yes and we began to plan out ways he could help around the house. Right off the bat he sayes he can now do ALL of the laundry....I laughed and sayed lets start small (he has never done a load of laundry since we have been married...9 years) I asked if he could do the dishes everyday, I also sayed it would help alot if he put his laundry in the laundry hamper (he has a thing with taking off his socks wherever and then hiding them so I wont get mad and tell him to put them in the laundry) I sayed it would also help if you threw your garbage in the actual trash and not shove candy wrapper's and other goodies under the bed, in the couch, and of course the classic...the cupboards??? He agreed to this all and feeling like I had asked him to save the world he sayed "is that enough" this kinda made me mad and I sayed well you could help with dinner. 2 nights a week I thought it he could either pick something up or make something. He agreed and that night he got to work doing the dishes and putting his dirty laundry in the hamper. It was all down hill from there. He did do the dishes...whenever he got around to them or when I asked him to do them. He slowly began leaving his laundry wherever again and he never did attempt to throw his garbage away....and no meals were made or planned. 2 weeks later and 3 dish loads behind ...defeated and annoyed I took back my dishes and assumed my position as "maid".

I'm completely fine doing any kind of house work and I actually enjoy making things look nice. But at this point I can only do so much. Today as my wee ones are all in the middle of being sick with a nasty cold, Ebie, with tear covered eyes put her little arms out and sayed "hold you"? I just cried and picked her up. Where was someone to pick me up and "hold me" and make everything better. Who knew growing up would mean you would no longer have comfort and help when you needed it.

Playing photographer

2009-01-02T13:10:00.001-07:00

Trinity and Angie

Liza and Kords Sampler

Christmas was wonderful

2009-01-02T12:16:00.000-07:00

Leatham Christmas party

Christmas morning

Christmas Eve

-Christmas Eve-
We had everyone on my moms side(Andersons)except for my cousin Mandy. We had fun eating and joking around and of course watching the kids open there presents was a hoot! We let the kids open one gift (picked by me) which happened to be a new set of pj's and a robe for each of the kids. They went crazy and loved how soft everything was. We finished putting the boys gifts from gramma Val together and we watched movies. Santa was up pretty late making sure everything was just right for the next morning.
-Christmas day-
The kids woke up around 9ish (it was a good idea to let them stay up late the night before) and they ran for the presents. They each received 2 gifts from mom and dad (1 clothes, and 2 there big gifts)Everything the kids got had lots of pieces which is really nice because they don't get bored. We put together everything and then we had to go over the Leathams for some yummy dinner. Then back home for some more family time....what a nice change compared to the last years of running from place to place.
-Leatham Christmas party-
Everyone showed up to this awesome party! it was at the church so there was plenty of room. We ate and talked and then it was time for the Nativity story....it was WAY too CUTE! All the kids did so good and no one was grumpy. Then it was time for our gift exchange. The theme was "something you either made or something you already had" everyone did so well and made such cute things.

Getting ahead of myself

2008-12-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

Okey so today I called the doctors office to make another appointment to see how baby leatham is doing. The receptionist mentioned I would be 18 weeks when I come in for the check-up and that they might be able to see the sex of the baby. WHAT? WOW?!!! when did this happen? I'm not that far along am I? Don't get me wrong I don't mind that I'm further along than I was thinking (every pregnant women's dream). But my life is just running away from me. Ive spent all this time being sick and miserable and not enjoying my life.

I'm stuck in the middle on whether or not to find out what we are having. We started off thinking that for sure we wouldn't find out...we have both boys and a girl so really why not wait and be super surprised? Well TEMPTATION snuck in :) All the sudden both me and Eben are thinking maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal to just find out. So here is what we have come up with: we will have the doc check and then write down what the sex of the baby is on a piece of paper. We will then make the decision of whether or not we will be "finding out" or not. I almost think I will be less tempted to look at the paper knowing that it's right at my finger tips..."do I really want to ruin the surprise" kind of deal. We will see I guess. If we just have know then we will wait to look at the paper on Eben's Birthday (January 28th).

As good as it's gonna get

2008-12-19T01:50:00.001-07:00

Our family pictures were going to be great this year....everyone was going to be smiling and looking good.

Well that just didn't work. Between me not feeling very good at all, Eben working until it's dark every night, and having to much to do. We just couldn't get around to getting a family picture so one day after church we just went for it and sadly my camera wasn't being to good, it was getting dark, and worst of all the kids were freezing. We took 3 shot and we happily said "that's good enough" and we ran to our warm van. I hate my hair and have since had it cut and shaped better, and my happy little Ebie isn't even smiling. But this is as good as it gets and these are our 2008 family pictures. Next year we will have a new little person in our picture :)

I think the second one is my favorite but I don't know if I should use regular color, black and white, or sepia. So please give your input.

Im not alone

2008-12-19T01:32:00.000-07:00

It seems like the more blogs I read and more and more people I talk to feel the same way I do...RUSHED!!!

I am not ready for the holidays to be over. I have alot to get done but most of all I have really really understood the wonder of Jesus' birth. I know how special it is to have a baby and what a wonderful thing it is to fall in love with a special little soul immediately. So it is far beyond my comprehension to think of how special it must have been for Mary to give birth to a super special soul who would someday do the most important thing in world...and the hardship she must have felt knowing that someday he would die for our sins. That moment in time must have felt like..well heaven. It makes me very proud of her and her strength and I know how special her and Joseph must have been for Heavenly Father to choose them to raise his son.

I have always loved Christmas. I love the snow (which we actually have alot of...yippy) the lights, the wonderful feeling you have around the holidays. It's all just a wonderful thing and I'm NOT ready for it all to be done.

I love Love Love the Christmas Holiday and feel so blessed and happy this year.

Sisterly love

2008-12-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

I always wanted a sister, which I do but she is 10 years younger than me and is somehow living on a different planet called "planet teenager". I love her to pieces and have become more close to her over the last few years but realistically I feel more like a mom to her than a sister. I am blessed with wonderful sister-in-laws who I can easily talk to and hang out with. There is one of my sister-in-laws that fits in the "favorite" category though. That's my sister-in-law Signe. Her and I do all the things that I always wanted to do with my sister when I grew up. I love to get together with her, we visit, the kids run a muck and we always find something to make (we sew alot). I feel like I can tell her anything and I think she feels the same way.

I am also very inspired by the way she just gets things done...she's not really afraid of anything.

Tonight we cut out little cowboy chaps for our boys for Christmas, we laughed and had a great time and as I left I felt very grateful...and realized how much Signe means to me and how much she reminds me of a "sister" it made me more aware of how much it means to have her in my life and in my family.

This picture is from a few years ago on my birthday. Marie, Sarah, me, and Signe

Dazed and Confused

2008-12-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

I don't know where my head is at these days? I have been SO excited for Christmas time to come around and now that it's here it's just flying by. I'm still hard at work making homemade gifts for my kids and family. I did get most of my real shopping done and I am finally on the last stretch of decorating my house.

That might sound like I'm on the right path but I wanted all of that stuff done before December so I could just sit back and enjoy the month of December. Doing crafts with the kids, teaching them everyday the meaning of Christmas and all those other fun things we like to do for Christmas.

I don't know everything just seems to be going way to fast and before you know it Christmas will be done and gone...and I'm NOT ready for that.

I do have to say I am very grateful for our snowfall yesterday. I love snow in December...and only in December I hate it any other month...but Christmas time needs snow.

I hope to get some new pictures up and I REALLLY hope I get my family pictures done soon.

Joseph B. Wirthlin passes away

2008-12-02T14:12:00.000-07:00

He passed away peacefully in his own bed and that to me is the best thing in the world...everyone should be so lucky.

I have great respect for Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, I looked forward to his talks because he reminded me of a wise old turtle. His talks were simple and to the point. He will be missed but I am very happy for him.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=4956387

Very Thankful...

2008-11-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

This Thanksgiving I cant even explain just how grateful I truely am. I couldn't even ask for more than I have.

About 4 or 5 weeks ago we found out we were having a new baby and we could not be more excited about it. We are getting to have quite a big family and even with the 4 kids people actually looked at us as circus freaks anytime we were out of Utah, so when we found out that number 5 was on it's way we were a little scared of people's reactions. But we were pleasantly suprised when people found joy in our new baby. I usually have a miscarriage before I can carry full term and I was a little scared to tell anyone that we were exspectng but I really had a peaceful feeling about everything and I was too excited not to tell everyone I could so we went for it and sent out a mass picture message to family and friends telling them we were going to have another baby.

Well 3 weeks ago I began to cramp alot and bleed. I knew what was happening but I couldn't bare tell anyone but Eben. I wanted my baby so bad and I wasn't going to let it be all gone just like that. After a week of misery and pain the bleeding stopped. I still had morning sickness and I "felt pregnant" but in the back of my mind I knew it probly wasn't possible. I made an appointment with the doctor to see if he could do an ultrasound but they couldn't get me in until the 28th....a very long ways away. As the weeks past I still had morning sickness and still didn't really want to talk to anyone about it. Today is the 28th and I did have an ultrasound.....And my perfect baby was there clear as day...kicking, and moving. I just cried. I could have watched it all day long. Taitum was there also because he had to have a check up so he got to see his new brother or sister and he even showed the doctor where the legs and arms were. My placenta is in the wrong place at this point and it was causing all the cramping and bleeding. What a relief! He actually bumped my due date from the end of June to the end of May. I have 6 weeks until I can see the sex of the baby.

Jacks in my fridge!

2008-11-22T21:10:00.001-07:00

These are the things that make my day worth it. I dont know who put Jack in the fridge but there he was this afternoon when I went to make lunch for the kids.

Something old and something new

2008-11-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Eben and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary. Wow?!? Who knew we would make it this long..lol In the beginning I for sure had little faith in our relateionship, but oh how the tables have turned.

10 reason's I love being married to Eben
1. He always makes sure I have some kind of special treat each day
2. I can make him to all my phone calling (I hate talking on the phone)
3. He is a wonderfully amazing and understanding dad to our kids.
4. He knows how to fix everything.
5. He will watch my "stupid" shows with me even though he is hating every minute.
6. He pretends like he cares even if he doesn't :)
7. He excepts my flaws and tries to make me except them too.
8. Sometimes he suprises me and will sweep, or do the dishes.
9. He is the most handsome thing I have ever seen.
10. His laugh is so silly that it will make me laugh even if Im really mad.

In the beginning we went all out for our anniversary but for the last 2 years we have been in some foreign lands (Idaho and Alaska...how much more foreign can you get) with no babysitter's. So we had to find the simple joy in renting a movie and watching it with the kids. This year we are not in a foreign land but quite comfortable and very excited about renting a movie with the kids and having a nice quiet evening at home.

Our Anniversary landed on Sunday so we took a long quiet drive in the mountains looking for deer and enjoying the sounds of the kids singing churh songs (ebie included) we then broke the rules and went out to eat. Then we came home to show the kids mommy and daddy's gift to each other. A flat screen big ol' TV. Im not a huge fan and we dont have the money for it but eben's boss gave us a slammin deal and we have a charge account :) Plus Im shacking up with the manager...that has to count for something right ;)

The kids went crazy! What an exciting event at the Leatham home. We have went with out a TV for a long time now so the kids had fun looking through the channels and deciding what they were going to watch. After that we put in our new movie "Indianna Jones" that simply blew the kids minds. So all in all we had the best time.

Halloween pictures...finally

2008-11-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

It's taken me awhile but I finally got the Halloween pictures off of my camera.

We had SO much fun this Halloween! It was such nice weather! We just strolled around the neighborhood and then we went to the ward party...which is always interesting. We weren't really planning on going this year but the kids really wanted to go.
Ebie was Rainbow Brite this year....please say you all know who Rainbow Brite is? Cause there were SO many people who didn't??!? The ones who did know who she was went crazy over Ebie's costume which was nice...that was the plan :) I made up the costume the night before and did the finishing touches Halloween day. It didn't turn out as well as I wanted it to...but I was happy that it actually worked out I had no pattern to go on and I got stumped alot.
Taitum was a monkey(monkey George actually)
Joshua was a vampire and looked really cute his costume was SO much easier than Ebie's.
Kamryn was sadly Darth Vader, he had wanted to be Indiana Jones but we never got up north to get him an outfit...poor guy

Workin Hard for the Money

2008-11-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

So somehow I payed all my bills and I still have money for food shopping! This new job of Eben's is working out really well. When Eben started doing Cable Contracting he was making alot of money and we knew if we didn't put all our money towards bills that we would have nothing to show for it. So we spent all our money getting out of debt. We did good and are pretty well debt free(besides our house) which has been a HUGE blessing. During the summer we really wanted to stay in Fillmore and not travel around so much, so Eben took a very small paying job (like $8 an hour) and that hardly payed our house payment so we got a little behind on bills and made new ones with Josh going into the hospital for 2 days, the kids with there teeth, and doing a little fixing up around the house. So we have bills again but I payed our payments and still have money for food!....which is huge. I am so grateful for Eben's new job. He isn't home very much but I know it's all worth it to have him in the same state as us. Plus we are able to go to work with him so it's not bad.

In other news I have plans to have a "second loved Christmas" this year. The requirements on a "second loved Christmas" are that any gift you give or receive needs to be something someone has made, something they love and are now passing along to someone else who will love it also, or just a story of when they were little(some things they enjoyed, a funny story, anything they want someone to know about them)

Im pretty excited and I hope everyone who plans on getting us gifts this year will decide to do this and also pass along the idea to friends and family members. Everyone has far to many "things" and I wanna get away from the stress of spending so much money every Christmas. Everyone is having a rough year and Christmas is a time for celebration not stress and greed.

Feeling very Christmas-E

2008-11-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

I seemed to have skiped over Thanksgiving this year. Although I am very grateful for alot things this year I have skipped over Thanksgiving in my mind.

Im ready for the snow, the shopping and of course the wonderful christmas music (my favorite thing during the holidays). I have started on my handmade Christmas gifts and even started to de-tangle our poor Christmas lights that were so rudely gathered in a pile and thrown in a box. Right now I'm listening to a Christmas CD eben got free from his order to seagul book for the store....I love free things :)

In other news I finally have a free day with my kids! Im SO excited! Most weekends we are running around or someone asks them to play. This weekend they are completly free to be with me. Suprisingly Joshy has chose to play "school"??? oh well

Trying something new

2008-11-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

Even though I'm a long time blogger on myspace I felt like I needed a "more grown up" blog. So here I am on blogspot thinking I'm not sure if I like this place and thinking....I'm much to old to be learning new things :)

But what the hay why not give it a try!