Born May 6th

Ok, so it has taken me more than a month to get on here and post pictures. I forgot how crazy life gets with a new baby (or most likely, I am extremely out of practice). We had a rough start with Clark with my Platelets threatening preclampsia, so the doctor decided to start me 3 weeks early at 37 weeks to avoid any health problems for me. Well, although we cleared the safe zone for delivery, it wasn't enough for Clark. First off, he ended up being breach, so I had to experience my first C-section. Apparently the placenta was in front preventing the baby from being able to get in position and made it a little tougher for the doctors to get him out. I should add here that Clark's name was undecided until he was born. I finally gave in to the name only after he tried entering this world laying parallel across my stomach like he was flying--yep, like SuPerMaN!! Call us crazy, but it's kind of fun. I can't wait for all the costumes he will be able to wear :0)
With under developed lungs, Clark was in the NICU for a week after being born. He was also loosing a lot of weight so they had to put a feeding tube in also, so holding out little bundle was pretty difficult and annoying. The hardest thing was not only leaving the hospital without my baby, but driving the 35 minutes back and forth to the hospital 2-3 times a day to try nursing him (some times unsuccessful), which meant no pain killer for me so I could drive myself. Mike had to use a lot of vacation time to help with picking kids up from school so I could stay longer at the hospital with Clark. It was very tiring, I would feel bad when I was too tired to want to see my baby, I felt like a horrible mom, but I really needed to make sure I was taking care of myself also (which was really hard to do when you want your baby home).
We did finally get to bring him home. He wasn't quite to his birth weight at his 2 week check up, so we stressed more because of that, but little Clark is now 5 weeks old and looks great and you wouldn't even know he had a rough start.
I cannot tell you how many times a DAY that each kid randomly says how cute Clark is, even when they aren't even looking at him. They are constantly asking to hold him, but no one is begging to change his diaper :0(, I better work on that. JJ is on his second cold since Clark was born, and it nearly kills him that I won't let him kiss Clark anywhere except his head--and he wants to kiss him MaNy times a day. I am a little sad, JJ is giving all MY hugs and kisses to Clark now, I have to remind him he hasn't given me any hugs or kisses lately.
I am so glad all the kids like their little brother and are adjusting to having to do things themselves or help each other since mom can't do everything anymore since I am busy with Clark. My next step is to figure out a dinner menu that includes easy meals my girls can learn to make. I haven't taught them very many different cooking options besides Mac and Cheese and Ramon Noodles, so if you have any great recipes and ideas, please send them my way.
Well Clark is calling me!

The Countdown has Begun

Obviously, the countdown didn't really just begin, but at least the light at the end of the tunnel is closer and closer to where I started to let myself get excited and start preparing. I guess it became more of a reality when the doctor set the date to be induced for May 19th (since I always have to be induced a week early to have a normal size baby). After losing my last baby, I have been very skeptical of things going wrong with this baby even though I didn't feel like anything was wrong, like last time.
I started off with low platelets with this pregnancy, just like the last, but the numbers were higher and have continued to go up. At least, until two weeks ago. When I went to the doctor on Thursday and my platelets went down, but the doctor said it was still high enough for an epidural. Until these past two weeks, I didn't know that was what the concern would be with having low platelets, the doctor never told me what it meant to be low. I turned to Google and found all sorts of things to stress me out, even though the doctor didn't seem to be concerned. So, with his only concern being whether I would have the epidural or not, I thought that might not be a big concern since I have had trouble with the epidurals working well or at all with my last two deliveries.
Not only were my platelets lower at my last visit, but my blood pressure was very high, so began the 24 hour urine test to see if I have toxemia. I returned the test and was told to go up to Labor and delivery after to have my blood pressure tested. This seemed easy enough. Unfortunately, I wasn't prepared to be stuck at the hospital waiting for the test results and having a non-stress test (NST) done. Again, this is also when I learned another new piece to why it's bad to have low platelets. The hospital staff informed me that I did not have toxemia, but I have preeclampsia. I think they are related, but I don't know how to explain it other than, I don't have high blood pressure problems, just low platelets, which still could threaten an early delivery if they continue to drop.
I now have to report to the hospital twice a week for the NST to make sure baby and mommy are doing fine. Their hope is to get me to my 37 week mark, which is May 4th before they are forced to induce. They are also guessing the baby might be breach, so with these two things, I am planning I might end up having a C-section (which sounds a little easier than the 10+ hour unmedicated delivery).
I have never had to wonder when my baby will arrive (I guess except my first child) since I have never been surprised by an early delivery or even gotten anywhere close to going into labor, so the unknown thing is something new to me this time (or maybe it's been too long to really remember). I know we all get impatient to have our little ones arrive early, which I am kind of hoping for, but at the same time, I worry about him being born too soon and having health problems, so for now I am trying to be patient, but also prepared for what ever happens.

Happy 12th Birthday

The day finally arrived! My girl turned 12!! She was so excited to hit this birthday especially since she now is old enough to go to Young Women's and hang out with her older friends again! This year she asked for a birthday party. I gave in since her last friend party was when she turned 8 years old (I am not a very fun mom). I tried to talk her into going to a fun place to play, but instead, she choose a party at home decorating cupcakes and singing Karaoke, mostly because she wanted to invite more than two friends to her party. Only three of the six that were invited were able to make it. Too bad we didn't have 3 extra seats, and we would have been able to go with mom's plan A, but I think the girls really had fun, especially Edi. She got her own set of frosting tips and a fun cupcake book full of ideas to keep us busy for quite a while.

Grandma Leone funeral

Freebie Friday at Roberts Crafts

Roberts Crafts: Too Much Fun!
blog.robertscrafts.com
If you love scrapbooking like me, you will love Roberts Craft store. Check what they are giving away today!!

Lasagna, Strawberries, & Cookies, OH MY!!

Check out these cute Valentine's cards that my kids handed out this year!! Before you think I am all creative, this was an idea from someone else's blog, but more importantly, my husband is the one who decided to actually do it. I just sat back and watched until it was time to add the suckers. I tried taking pictures with the suckers, but they were all blurry, so I picked the best, just to show you the final results. I thought it was cute when the kids all came home and said their friends loved their cards and were so happy they had the cutest Valentines. (I am not sure why the one picture is turned, but it does make things fit better, sorry about that)
I love the picture of Mike and I! After standing and waiting forever for my daughter to take the picture, we didn't check it to see the final result, so instead it looks like Mike is miserable being my Valentine :( But check out the flowers he sent me. It's the 100 blooms of love bouquet. So SwEeT!! I went all out since it was family night and instead of just having our candlelit Lasagna dinner, decided to throw in some chocolate covered strawberries (which I can't stop eating...good thing there is only 5 left this morning) and cookies. My plan was to deliver the cookies to a few neighbors and let the kids have fun leaving them anonymously, but I only had one size cookie cutter and it was huge, so we didn't have a bunch of extras we were willing to give away, LOL! We did choose one family and let my two youngest do the honors of leaving the surprise. I think they realy enjoyed it, I felt bad we couldn't do it to more neighbors. I guess I better go buy some smaller size cutters for next year!
I had so much fun spending time with all my Valentine's. That reminds me of my youngest asking me if he was my Valentine so he could have some strawberries. He was so happy when I said yes, even if it was for the food and not the fact of his mom being his Valentine.
I love you all everyday of the year, not only on Valentine's!!

ViVa LaS vEgAs (part 2)

So, the next day we started off by finding breakfast. We went with something small this time. The first place we could find (on the same side of the road we were driving) was Jack in the box. It was pretty good, but my DH ended up with a Coke instead of the Sprite he ordered, so he decided he had to drink it (darn). Well,he pretty much decided that they had the best tasting Coke he had tried in a long time (and he hasn't had Coke for over two years). This was one thing that happened in Vegas, that wasn't going to stay in Vegas :(
We made it to Ethel M's chocolate Factory! We walk down the hall just to get a sample of their free chocolate--so totally worth the visit, LOL! It's also the only thing left in Vegas that hasn't moved closer to home.
Due to our late breakfast, we had a late lunch/early dinner. My brother in law has family in Vegas and this person happened to be a chef at Margaritaville!! So, that's where we ate. We were planning to get a small snack so we could have dinner, but that did not happen. One thing I decided after eating her, is that even if you don't go to the famous Vegas Buffet's, they still feed you like it's a Buffet. The Nachos feed all of us, but the Chef (we were visiting) came out and told us he would throw a couple orders of wings in. I am not a wing fan, but probably because I have only tried the buffalo style. We got to order a Hawaiian flavor wing and a BBQ and even better, they were BONELESS!!! They still had a little spice to them, but they were pretty tasty. So, after these two appetizers, we were feeling pretty full and ready to go, BUT, we did make the mistake of ordering other food items like a sandwich, fajita (which we thankfully ordered one to share between me and my DH) and my BIL ordered something, but I can't remember. I think I stopped looking at was on the table because I was going to bust just looking around. Unfortunately, our hotel room did not come with an empty fridge to take leftovers back to enjoy later, so we had to eat it or leave it.
Well, we managed to drag ourselves out of there and back across the street to our hotel, so we could rest and freshen up for the BIG night!! I had to freshen up with a nap, here are some funny pictures my SIL had us pose for....wait, I didn't really pose for the nap one! but the second won was after the show---us being silly!



Here we come CHER!!!! Going to Vegas to see a show is pretty awesome. I always enjoy watching everyone else who is super excited and being silly. I didn't have to look far, since the lady I sat next to was pretty out of control. Unfortunately, I fogot my camera--what was I thinking? So, I only have sad pictures from my phone which are not worth posting, sorry guys :(
The concert started 20 minutes late (it might have been longer, I already forgot), So once the chanting stopped and the cheers began, the night was great!! And Cher really does have a lot of costume changes. In fact, she only sang in each outfit once!! So, we had a lot of entertainment in between wardrobe changes. But it was fun to see old pictures of her and even Sonny.
After the concert we headed over to the Flamingo to meet up with everyone else, but I am thinking now, I should have gone to the hotel to soak in the HUGE bath tub that no one got to enjoy--I really might have to go back to Caesars for their bed and tub!! We ended the evening with a piece of Cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory, of course (I was still stuffed, so I made DH share this with me too). He was even nice enough to let me get my favorite kind--White chocolate Raspberry!! YUM!!
Sunday we had to pack up and head home. We still had many places we hadn't made it to, so we headed out to M&M world, Coke world, and MGM. We actually debated on staying until evening then driving home through the night, but we did mange to drag ourselves away from the strip and headed to visit BIL's sister for lunch then headed on home :(
It was fun to get away and forgot about the stresses of home life and church callings, I think it is just what I needed in order to help me through the next few months, so thanks B98.7 for the fun get away!!

VivA las VegAs!!

So, not to brag, but I am an avid radio winner (more so back when I was single and worked at Rumble Tuff). It wasn't anything big, just $104 from KSOP every few months or so, and it was the ONLY radio station I had ever won on. Well, being at home and everything quiet, I started listening to the radio again. I don't listen to country anymore, so I never thought I would win anything again. Well, I started getting the bug to win again, so I started the many attempts a day. It did pay off in the summer when I won $100 from FM100.3. It was great, after all these years, I still had the touch and it was a different station, how cool is that!?!
Since it was the Christmas season, and I can only handle so much Christmas music, I was flipping stations to find some good music (by-the-way, my favorite station is My99.5, not FM100.3). Anyway, as I was listening to B98.7 on the way home one day, the DJ said call in and win. Not sure if I had to do anything to win, I started dialing and ended up being the correct caller. For being the correct caller, I won a gift bag of 5 CD's of Mannheim Steamrollers (only 1 CD is not Christmas) and their famous Cinnamon Hot Chocolate. SCORE!!!
But that was not all! He proceeded to tell me that for winning, my name would be entered into a drawing for a chance to win tickets to see Cher in Las Vegas. The best part was that there was only about 10 people in this drawing and the drawing would take place the next day)! I was pretty pumped, since the last time I won a radio drawing, I had won the day before also, so I was pretty sure my name would be picked and I was going to Vegas. Well, those positive thoughts worked!! I got the call, and the best part was that it wasn't just Cher tickets. My prize also included 2-nights at the Caesar Palace and $150 voucher to use towards food at the restaurants in the Caesar casino. Not a bad deal, huh?
Well, I picked up my prizes and booked our weekend getaway!! Jan 14-16th. We took my DH's sister and husband along with us, actually, they wouldn't let us go without them ;) but vacations are always funner with friends. Besides that, it's tradition to go to Vegas together....it's just been 9 years since our last visit together!
We are not the typical Vegas visitors. We used to go down to eat at all the restaurants we didn't have in Utah. Once Krispie Kreme, Cheesecake Factory, and In & Out Burger all moved closer to us, we couldn't think of a good excuse to visit Vegas anymore. Thank goodness for winning a trip to take us back.
Staying at the Caesars Palace was great! They had the most comfortable beds, even though we slept in queen size beds instead of a king. We had the hardest time waking up each morning--it probably didn't help that we stayed up late every night either, LOL! I don't know how much it is to stay there, but I would definitely consider staying there again just for the beds!!
We had to find food first, so we stayed at the Casino and decided to try the Beijing 9 restaurant. We first found their huge gold fish tanks and my DH quoted the commercial where a man walks into the restaurant and says, "I want this one"


We each ordered an item that we would share with each other. The noodles and rice we very good. The black peppered mushrooms were interesting, but I just don't understand why anyone would want to eat something covered with a cup of black pepper. I like pepper, but it was a little too much for me. I tried the pork ribs which again, we ok, but then again, not really. I was just grateful I had a piece of pork to wash down the pepper taste in my mouth. We were each satisfied, but there were no leftovers, so even though we were satisfied, we still would have liked more food and once we saw the $95 check, we were really wondering why we weren't more stuffed.
Caesar's Palace is a good central location for most of the places we liked to walk to. After dinner, we decided to walk to a few of our favorite street casino shows. I was quite disappointed in the Treasure Island show this year. I had heard rumor that it wasn't a family show anymore--and I totally agree. I couldn't wait for it to end so we could drag our husbands away from the singing Siren's, that was a waste of time and the aching feet to drag me there.
The Mirage was next



We can never go to Vegas without spending time at the Bellagio. If I could afford it (and we had the space), we would have the water show in our backyard. I could sit out there with my favorite chair and just enjoy. (I probably wouldn't ever leave my home again)

We ended the evening with dessert at Serendipity 3. I read about this place (another restaurant we could use our money at the casino) and they raved about their famous FRRRRROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE! This is a place you can go to and share everything you order since the portions were gigantic. I was wishing we ate dinner there instead, but I tried the frrrozen hot chocolate since I had to know why it was so famous. To tell you the truth, I didn't care for it. I felt like I was eating ice chunks in my ice cream. I was wishing I tried the Deep fried Oreos instead, but at least I was able to enjoy my husband's ice cream brownie sundae--that was yummy!
Well, that's day one! I guess I will have to post the rest of the story later!! Viva Las Vegas, Baby!!

Grandpa look-alike

I forgot to post the best picture of the pirate, that looked like my Grandpa

Yo Ho Yo HO! A pirates Life for me!!

My pirate turns 6

I know I am bad at keeping up with my blog. I always start the year off thinking I am going to do better, and some how life takes over. Once again, I am attempting my goal, I am starting with my sons birthday again, but I do hope to put my thoughts of our recent trip to Vegas on here along with some other adventures we have had. I have a list of what I would like to put here, so maybe it will keep me motivated to keep blogging, if not, feel free to email and tell me to get my butt in gear. We all need a little motivation by friends once in a while.
Any way, back to the Pirate birthday celebration. The original request from my son was to go to Chuck-E-Cheese, but since we are not fans of that place....I had to talk him out of it fast. It took some convincing since we went to Pirate Island last year, but I promised to invite cousins this year and even let him invite his two friends. You might be wondering why I was insisting on Pirate Island, huh? Well, he is a boy, but the real reason is that I bought a pirate stamp set about two years ago and I have been dying to use it. I Loved how cute the invites turned out!! I think my whole family enjoy his birthday this year. I just hope I my kids don't expect me to go all out crazy like this every time. UGGG, what did I do?