West Coast Living

Newborn Pics

2012-02-10T14:08:00.000-08:00

Bringing Noah Home!

2012-02-07T22:08:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that Noah is already a week old. It has been a LONG week. He didn't sleep too great the first couple of nights but has been amazing since then. We have been having to set an alarm at night for every three hours to feed him because he keeps wanting to sleep through the night already. Our pediatrician like babies to eat every 2 to 3 hours for their first month. He is also eating really well. He started nursing 10 minutes after he was born which was crazy to me because I am so used to having to train my kids how to nurse. He went on lights on Friday night for his jaundice. He was at an 18 and needed to get down to a 13. We took him to the lab on Sunday, after he had been on the lights for 48 hours, and he had already dropped to a 13 which was excellent. Aidan also had jaundice. It is nice that they don't have to go to the hospital to receive treatment. They bring the machine to you. The only thing is that they have to stay on it 24/7 which makes nursing and diaper changing pretty difficult.

Today was my first day having all three of them on my own. Cliff had a week of paternity leave which was such a blessing. The day went pretty well. The only problem we have been having is that Ryla has been super jealous. Every time I pick up Noah she wants to be held. I am trying to give her as much attention as I can but I think it is just going to take some time. I also started back up with seeing my clients tonight. Luckily, I only had to take one week off from seeing them. This meant that Noah had his first bottle from Daddy. Cliff said he did great but that Ryla through a huge 45 minute fit. She still takes a bottle to get to bed at night so she got super jealous that Noah was using one of her bottles.

Tomorrow morning I am taking all three of them out for the first time by myself. Aidan and I both have haircuts at my friend Laura's house. We also have church tomorrow evening so all together a big day for us and Noah. Wish us luck!

I'm hoping to get a family pic soon. Since my kids were sick we didn't have them up at the hospital and haven't had the opportunity to have someone get a pic of all of us since then. Hopefully soon though.

Noah's Birth Story

2012-02-02T22:16:00.000-08:00

Noah's baby story can only be described as crazy. Literally 10 minutes after I finished typing the previous blog on Sunday evening the chaos started at our house. I heard Aidan whining in his bed and went to go check on him. He had vomited in his bed. Cliff and I quickly transferred him into the tub and stripped his bed and cleaned him off when Ryla started crying from her crib. I went to check on her to find her laying in her own throw up as well. We put Aidan on the couch and started some TV for him while we dealt with Ryla. Thankfully I was able to clean up Ryla and get her back down for bed pretty quickly. She thankfully slept through the rest of the evening. Aidan continued to get sick 2 or 3 times before we got him in his bed. I suggested to Cliff that he sleep in his bedroom. So we blew up the air mattress and put it in Aidan's room.

About 11 that same night I started feeling sick to my stomach. By one in the morning I had also started throwing up and the wonderful other form of the flu that you typically get. Aidan continued to wake up 2 to 3 times every hour getting sick. By the next morning Cliff and I had each gotten about 2 hours of sleep. Around 9 a.m. Cliff also began throwing up. We were beyond stressed by this point. Ryla seemed okay and Aidan wasn't throwing up for the time being but now Cliff and I felt absolutely HORRIBLE. We had our induction scheduled for the next morning and at this point had no idea if that was even going to be possible. We decided to call our sitters for the hospital to update them on what was going on. We thought that since Ryla was feeling better and hadn't gotten sick in the last 12 hours that they might take her a little early so we could get better a littler easier and also deal with Aidan. However, when we talked with Bethany she offered to take come get Ryla and Aidan as well. I told her that was a very nice offer but that this stomach bug seemed to be very contagious. She said that she didn't mind and that it was more important for us to get better quickly so that we weren't sick when we had the baby. I couldn't believe she was offering to do this. Cliff and I talked it through for a very long time and decided to let her being that I could go into labor at any time and they would have to go eventually and it would be easier if we could get some rest first and hopefully get over whatever it is that we had. It had also been several hours since Aidan had gotten sick so we agreed to it.

After we said our goodbyes to the kiddos Cliff and I literally slept for about 8 hours straight. We both still got sick a few times but mainly we were just really drained from the previous night and had no energy whatsoever. By 5 that evening I was still feeling really bad and called my doctor to let him know what was going on and to tell him that I thought it was best to cancel the induction. He told me that I should hold off canceling it until the next morning because with a stomach bug like this I could feel completely fine by the next morning. He also said that he could not get me into the hospital for another induction for several more days. Cliff and I felt at odds on what to do because in a few days the kids could be even more sick or we could get worse. We thought by keeping the induction at least we have some things planned out. So I decided to wait it out to see how I felt the next morning. Cliff and I prayed before we went to sleep that God would show us what to do tomorrow morning. Cliff was able to sleep all night. Unfortunately I only got 3 hours of sleep because I had slept so much that day.

By the next morning we woke up and found my doctor to be right. We both felt that the virus was pretty much gone except for that fact that we were both still a little tired and had the normal aches you get after having the flu. We decided to proceed. We called Bethany to let her know we were going ahead with the induction and to check on the kids. She said that Aidan had thrown up once but other than that everything was going great. This was a huge relief for Cliff and I.

At the hospital they gave me my IV within the first hour or so. Oddly enough, this was probably the worst part of my labor experience. I have never taken IV's well. I got really light headed and felt very sick to my stomach. Luckily I did not pass out like I did when I got it with Aidan. Next I got my epidural. This took a little longer than expected because they wanted me to get a couple of bags of fluids in me through the IV before since I was so dehydrated from being sick. The epidural was also not a pleasant experience. I don't know if it was because I had been sick or what but it made me very nauseous as well. I actually did pass out during this procedure but only for a couple of seconds.

About an hour later my doctor came to break my water. While trying to do so he stated that he felt Noah's hand which meant that he had it raised up by his head and that he couldn't break my water. This didn't make sense to me. He explained that the birth canal was too small for a head and arm to go through at the same time and if I got fully dilated when he was still in this position that he would have to do a c-section. So he started me on the pitocin in hopes that contractions would make him uncomfortable and he would move his hand away........It worked! A couple of hours later he checked me and was able to break my water.

So for the next few hours we just waited. My friend Amanda was there for the majority of the day which was really nice. We watched about 6 episodes of Friends and You, Me, and Dupree. Cliff and I said later that the labor process was probably the most relaxing time of the whole week!! There was about a 30 minute period when my epidural wore off on one side and I could feel the contractions. I tried not to complain much because these were the only contractions the whole time that I felt. I did feel weird to only have them on one side though. Around 3 I told my nurse that I was starting to feel some pressure and asked her to check me. I was dilated to a 9. We waited another 45 minutes and I was fully dilated and ready to push. They called my doctor down while they had me do a practice push. When the doctor got there we were ready to go. The pushing went about as fast as it did for Ryla. I believe it took about 4 good pushes and our little Noah arrived!!!!!!!

He was perfect!!!! One of the first things I noticed about him was that he had a very good set of lungs. LOL. As soon as the nurse saw him she commented on how big he was. This was funny to me. When he finally got weighed I couldn't believe that he was 8 pounds and 10 ounces. Aidan was only 7'9. I told Cliff that I had a feeling he was going to be our biggest but this I was not expecting. He was 21 inches long. Aidan and Ryla were both 19 and a half inches. Another thing we noticed right away was his dark hair and the fact that he actually had dark hair. All around a totally different baby then the other two. I found this very fitting considering the circumstances of his conception.

Noah did very well in the hospital. We found that he HATES to have his diaper changed and for the first day or so only wanted to sleep if he was being held. Of course this wasn't a problem for us since we couldn't get enough of the little guy!! That evening we each got a couple of hours of sleep again so I was running on about 5 hours for that 2 day period. The nest morning we called to check on Aidan and Ryla and found out that both kids were still pretty sick. We decided to get them into the doctor. Cliff left at 8 that morning. He called later to tell me that our pediatrician wanted to do x-rays on Aidan's belly because he was so swollen. The x-rays were in the same building as the maternity ward so he brought them up to see me. It was really sad. They were both so weak that he had to wheel them around in a wheel chair. He got back around 2 that afternoon. It was different being in the hospital without Cliff there. Just didn't seem right. We asked to get discharged early so we could go be with our kids. Ryla ended up sleeping another night with the sitter but we had Aidan stay with us at home because he was so sick. Noah and I stayed locked up in my bedroom for the next couple of days while Daddy took care of the other two. This was probably one of the most stressful weeks I have ever been through but we have definitely grown as a family because of it. I could not have done it without my amazing church family!!!!! It is Saturday night now......Noah is 4 days old and we still have a sick household but things are getting better.

I had Noah's 3 day check up yesterday and he was down to 8 pounds. He does, however, have jaundice. They delivered the billiblanket to our house last night. So that has not been fun but we are making it through. Aidan continues to throw up so we are hoping that goes away soon. Thankfully Noah is a great sleeper and we usually have to wake him up to do his feedings. It will be nice when we are all well and can be in the same room! God has blessed us by helping us get through this week. I know he will continue to bless us and feel so thankful for my wonderful surprise in Noah! He is such a wonderful addition to our already blessed family!!

39 Weeks and READY!

Watching Friends and waiting!

Proud Daddy!

Smooshed nose Noah

I FINALLY get to hold him!!!!

Amanda (on left) was there the whole day and for the delivery. Laura just missed it coming at 20 minutes after. She was sad!

Cute Toesies!

Semi-Family Pic!

With our amazing doctor!

Heading home. He didn't like going in the car seat but he was instantly silent when the car started!
Finally made it home!

Baby Update

2012-01-29T20:13:00.001-08:00

Wow. I forgot that I haven't been posting on here in the last week or so. A week and a half ago on Wednesday I woke up with some spotting so Cliff and I called our doc and he had us come in. He told me I was not in labor because I wasn't having contractions and that the spotting was due to moving from half a centimeter to 2 and half centimeter in less than 48 hours. He said this could mean I could have the baby that night or still a few weeks away. I have been taking my pain meds since that previous Monday and they have been helping me sleep. I only take them at night which is sometimes hard during the day but Cliff has been able to help out a lot.

At my 38 appointment he said I was still at 2 and a half centimeters and said he would like to move things along and stripped my membranes. He also said to come back on Friday so that he could do it again. I went back on Friday and still had not made any more process. He told me that the baby is very low and that I am almost fully effaced. He stripped my membranes again and said that he wanted to schedule an induction for Monday or Tuesday. I asked for Wednesday but he said they were full. So I go in on Tuesday morning at 7:30. Due to my hip....I will get my IV first and then an epidural right away. Doc says that he fears the hip pain will be too much for me to handle and I won't be able to push the baby out which could cause a C-section. So he would rather me have the epidural right away to avoid this. So basically that means I won't feel any contractions which is so crazy for me to think about. How easy!!!!!! I am having TONS of contractions which has not been fun and my hip is getting worse especially at night so I am happy for the induction.

On the down side, Ryla has been pretty sick. She has been vomiting and had diarrhea. She is on the mends which is good. We are taking the kids to friends of our tomorrow night so I am hoping that she will be 100 percent by then which looks like she will be. I will keep you posted. Prayers Appreciated!!

Ryla's Scrapbook

2012-01-21T20:32:00.000-08:00

I have definitely reached the nesting stage of this pregnancy. One thing I was really hoping to get done before Noah was born was Ryla's first year scrapbook. I was scared that some of the stories and memories of her birth and such might get mixed around with Noah's since they are so close together. I worked on it for several hours today and finished it all up with the exception of one journaling page. Pretty good considering she is only 14 months old. I decided not to make it so big as Aidans and I also did not put as many embellishments on it either. I noticed that when people looked at Aidan's they just really wanted to see the pictures. So that is what I tried to focus on this time. It made it much easier. 2 down.....One to go!!!!

Aidan sings the ABC's

2012-01-21T20:26:00.000-08:00

Aidan has been reciting his ABC's for several months now but I just now got it on camera. The was taken last weekend.

37 week appointment

2012-01-16T13:13:00.000-08:00

So not so wonderful news. About 4 weeks ago I did something to my back hip area. I went to the chiropractor and he said he fixed it but it didn't feel any different to me. So I went to my chiropractor Friday (he was out for surgery 4 weeks ago) and he told me that I knocked my pelvis out of place some how and since it went without treatment for so long that the muscle behind the bone has become extremely inflamed. He tried 5 different techniques to try and get it back into place but was unsuccessful due to my pregnancy. I just told him I would come back after the baby was born. However, this weekend it has started getting really bad to the point where I can barely walk sometimes or get up from a sitting position. It is the worst when I am on my back but luckily I never am. But, today at the doctors office they had me, as usual, lay on my back to check Noah's heartbeat. The pain was so bad that I burst into tears. I tried very hard to hold it together but the pain was just too unbearable. The doctor checked my cervix very quickly and had me sit up which brought on even more pain. He told me that my cervix had still not turned and that I was still only dilated a half a centimeter. He then said that he would induce me but that my body was not ready for it yet. This gives me mixed emotions because I really don't want to be induced. By what he said, however, if at my next weeks appointment if I am making progress it sounds like he may want to. He also told me that I need to consider having an epidural so that the hip doesn't cause problems during the labor. This is also something that I did not want to do. So not a great day really. He prescribed some pain meds which we went and got......I would love to take them during the day but they are supposed to make you groggy and that is really not what I need right now. So I can at least take them at night to help me sleep. Anyway......I don't even know what to hope for right now. Of course I hope that some of the lower back hip pain will go away but most of all just some peace trying to get through it all. Will keep you updated on next weeks appointment.

36 Week Check up

2012-01-12T10:28:00.000-08:00

I meant to post this a couple of days ago but have been a little lazy. Cliff and I went for my 36 week check up on Monday. Doctor said Noah is doing great with a strong heart beat. And, contrary to popular opinion of the older members of our congregation, he is measuring right at 36 weeks as well. I am half a centimeter dialated and progressing as I should. Doc said we shouldn't expect him anytime soon which is fine with us. I am really hoping to make it to the month of February. I have my next appointment on Monday but my doctor said I won't be having an exam for this appointment unless I am having lots of contractions. So there probably won't be much to report..

Ryla Walking

2012-01-12T10:16:00.000-08:00

Ryla took her first step right at 13 months (which was exactly when Aidan started walking as well). I wouldn't, however, say she has actually been "walking" until the last week or so. Last night I told Cliff that she took 24 steps in a row and I needed to get out the camera. Here are two short videos.....I couldn't decided which one to post so I just put up both. They are pretty much the same. Enjoy!

Aidan turns 3!

2012-01-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

My little guy turned three on New Year's Eve!! I can't believe Cliff and I have a three year old!! As Aidan turns three he has become a very helpful little boy. He loves to take care of baby Ryla, bake, pick up his toys, and help me vacuum. He is a super talkative little guy and is always asking questions and talking about what he has been doing. One of the routines he enjoys most is his Sunday and Wednesday Bible class times. Sure, the thing he loves most about these times is playing with his friends, but he has come to really enjoy offering to lead prayers at dinner and bed time. We love to hear him pray because it also lets us know what is on his mind and what he values at the old age of 3. He enjoys his Bible stories at bed time as well. Right now the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt is at the top of his list. He also really enjoys time with Luther, our super mellow black lab. The highlight of his week is any chance to be with his friends. He has, in so many ways, left behind toddlerhood and become a joyful little boy.

We celebrated his bday this year by renting out a room and pool time at the YMCA. He LOVED it!!!! He has only experienced splash pads during the summer so this was a new experience for him. It was also really nice to do in the middle of Winter.

My Birthday Boy!!

Waiting and greeting his guests!

Aidan and his friend Adria held hands for game time. It was SOOOO cute!

It's Swim Time!

These pics are from his actual bday!! Opening presents from family!

Playing Together!!!

2012-01-05T21:10:00.000-08:00

It is hard to watch your children get older....but one part of this process that I have really come to enjoy is watching Ryla and AIdan begin to start playing together. I love the playdates that I have almost every week but it is so nice now for Aidan to have a play buddy. Ryla is OBSESSED with her brother. She follows him around everywhere. If she gets up from her nap first, she will crawl over to his door and start pounding on it to wake him up. Aidan also loves Ryla to pieces. Every once and awhile he will get irritated with her for pulling his hair or taking his toys away, but for the most part her really enjoys her. He loves to wrestle with her. I get really nervous at this because he tends to be a little rough. But, Ryla loves it and has yet to get hurt. I still watch them very carefully and find myself saying a million times a day..."Be careful with her Aidan." Anyway, here are two videos of them playing.

35 Weeks!

2012-01-04T10:15:00.000-08:00

Well I feel like this is the biggest I have been with any of the pregnancies but once again I am measuring right where I am supposed to be and my weight gain is right on track. I do have to say it does seem like I am all baby!!! If it wasn't for my very distinct waddle......It is pretty hard to tell I am preggo from the back. Starting to get pretty uncomfortable. My back is pretty achey and my leg has started giving out on me like it did with Ryla. I asked my doctor about it last week and all he told me was it was due to it being my third pregnancy, my age, and that everything just isn't as tight as it used to be...LOL. And here I thought I was doing good having all three before the age of 30. Anyway....hopefully I will not have to be induced early due to the leg thing like I was with Ryla. I enjoyed being induced with Ryla but I was really hoping to experience going into labor naturally with Noah. My water broke with Aidan and they had to induce me to get contractions going. I was hoping this FINAL time around that I could do some labor at home before going to the hospital but we will see. I have my 36 week check up next Monday which is also when my doc will start my exams. Cliff is going to be able to go to this one which will be nice since he has only been able to make one with this pregnancy. So weird how everything is different with a third. He has been having to stay home with the kids for all the other exams. I will let you know how it goes.

Under the Weather

2012-01-04T10:12:00.001-08:00

We have been a little under the weather here at the Mullen house. It started with Ryla a couple of weeks ago and has slowly cycled through the whole family. It hasn't been too bad. Just lots of runny noses, congestion, and headaches but I'm glad that it is coming to an end.

Noah's Room

2011-12-29T13:56:00.001-08:00

Well I title this blogpost Noah's room because he doesn't have a nursery. Cliff and I thought ALOT about how we were going to do the room situation and after thinking of every possibility, finally came up with a solution. Our first thought was to move Aidan downstairs to our 4th bedroom. However, we decided against this because even though he will be the oldest of three kids, he is just still way to young. If there were a fire or some other emergency we didn't feel he would know what to do. We also just liked the idea of having all the kids on the same floor as us. We then thought about putting a second crib in either Aidan or Ryla's room but decided against this because we didn't want to mess with them waking each other up. So......I then decided that Noah could just stay in our room. This wasn't a huge deal considering that we have done this with the other two....but that was only for a few weeks. This is going to be an adjustment because it will probably be up to 6 months. Ryla is no where near ready to move out of a crib so we would like to wait til she is around 20 months to put her in a bigger bed. We moved Aidan at 18 months and he did great.

So now the plan is to purchase bunkbeds for Aidan's room in the next 4 months or so. When Ryla is big enough she will go in with Aidan on the bottom bunk and we will use her pretty pink nursery (poor Noah) for Noah until he is able to go in the bunkbeds with Aidan. This means that for about a year or so Ryla will be in a room with Aidan. We will keep all her stuff in her room, she will just sleep in Aidan's room. It's not exactly how I pictured it going but as I said we feel it is the best solution so we can have all our kiddos close to us.

It has been pretty nice, however, to not have to worry about doing ANOTHER nursery. I have done three now (with the move) in three years so I don't feel sad about it. It was hard, however, because I am going through my nesting stage and I didn't feel that I had too much to do which left me feeling unprepared. It is such a blessing that Aidan and Noah are born in the same season and that I thankfully had not gotten rid of Aidan's clothes yet. So he was totally set in that department. So when I was talking to some women at church about a shower I told them I didn't really think it was necessary but that we could benefit from some gift cards to get him a little bed for our room. The church gave us some of the giftcards a couple of weeks ago so that we could go ahead and purchase the bed for Noah.

The bed was another stressor several months ago. I looked into mini cribs but they were still pretty big to go in our room. Our room is already small as it is. The bedding for mini cribs is also very expensive and hard to find. We then looked into playpens. We have two playpens but I really wanted one that had a bottom that you could raise so that I wouldn't have to bend down so far so much. We had decided on that but then set up one of our playpens in our room and it still seemed pretty tight. So then I found a GRACO light pac n play. This is the same thing as we had found before but just a little bigger than a bassinet. We had used an actual bassinet for the other two but once they can roll over you can't use them anymore. With the mini pac n play it has three adjustments for newborn, infant, and then up to 20 pounds. I fell in love with it. I got it in last week and set it up and it looks like it is going to work out perfectly. I was especially happy to see how thick the pad was. I think he will be very comphy. I then cleaned out my dresser and was able to downsize to give him a couple of drawers just for him. I was able to get everything to fit with just having to put some of his church outfits in Ryla's closet. So now they can each have their own room and nap times should not be so much of an issue. (Still crazy to me that I will have three kids who will all take long naps!!!)

We also got a nice surprise on XMAS eve. A lady from our church called and said that she heard we were in need of another glider with our upcoming addition. Her kids are now older and she didn't need hers anymore. We went to pick it up and it is amazing. It is a really nice one from Babies R Us and you can't even tell it has been used. We set it up where our XMAS tree was and it fits perfectly. So we now still can keep Ryla's glider in her room and have a place to rock Noah in the middle of the night without having to go into her room. Such a blessing.

We are getting so close and it still does not seem real. I have my 36 week check up in a couple of weeks already. Ryla has just started sleeping through the night in the last month or so which has been great. Took her one month less than Aidan...LOL. She has taken several steps but don't know if I would say she is walking yet. Aidan is doing great and has been saying a lot less that he doesn't want baby Noah to come out which is good. All in all we are ready to become a family of five. Just a few more odds and ends to take care of!!

His two drawers.

The only complaint I found online about the pac n play was that people couldn't find a sheet small enough for it. I ended up buying a cover for a changing pad that worked out perfectly!
This is one of my favorite things....It fits threw the doors without having to take it down!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T14:03:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas at home this year! On Christmas Eve we watched some Christmas movies, made cookies for Santa, and went and looked at Christmas lights! Aidan was really excited about Santa coming. It was so cute to see him put out milk and cookies and open up the fire place. He was very concerned that Santa wouldn't fit. LOL.... We let them each open up one present on Christmas Eve which made him even more excited to open presents the next day. After we put the kiddos down, our friends Clint and Jennifer came over to watch a movie with us while Cliff and I wrapped presents. Aidan was up to 10:00 because he was so excited. He stayed in his bed and was quiet but when we went to check on him we found out that he was waiting up because he wanted to see Santa and was still scared that Santa wouldn't fit. It was pretty cute!

Cliff and I woke up early Christmas day and got lunch ready and got ready for church. When the kids got up we unwrapped presents. Aidan was very excited about his gifts and Ryla was not so excited about the gifts but LOVED the wrapping paper. We then ate our donuts and headed to church service. It was nice to see friends and to celebrate with people we love.

We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging, watching TV, and enjoying our family time. Altogether it was a very relaxing and fun filled weekend!

Putting Santa's milk and cookies out!

Opening up the fireplace for Santa!!

Feeding her dolly!!! So cute!!!

This was by far his favorite!!

Best shots we could do of them together.

Pics with Miss Ryla. (Aidan was Mr. Grumpy at this time)

Family pic at church!

The "Rice" Game

2011-12-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

Since the weather has turned and we have been stuck inside, I have had to get pretty creative with Aidan to keep him entertained. I found this idea on Pintrest and he LOVES it. He really enjoys baking so I wasn't surprised that this was something he thought was fun. I call it his Rice game. I got out a few mixing bowls and utensils and just for fun, let him put in a few drops of food coloring every now and then. If you ask him what he is making he says ice which is really cute. It really isn't too messy. I just get out my dust buster when he is done and go around the floor of the table. Then I put the rice in a plastic baggy so that he can play with it later.

Ugly Sweater XMAS Party 2011

2011-12-17T22:08:00.000-08:00

Cliff and I headed over to our friends the Thompsons this evening for our second annual Couple's Xmas party. This year they made it a ugly sweater xmas party which was fun. This party, once again, reminded me of how blessed we are to have such a wonderful group of friends here in Spokane. It is really hard being away from family, especially around the holidays, so having such a great church family is very nice. I didn't get as many pics as I wanted but was able to grab a few.

Riding Horses

2011-12-05T16:58:00.000-08:00

Filming

2011-12-03T12:53:00.000-08:00

I finished filming a couple of weeks ago and had a lot of fun. They hired me for 3 days but it ended up being 4 days which was really nice to see in my paycheck. They were long days and one day I filmed until 2 in the morning but all together a very enjoyable experience. One thing I didn't anticipate was how many items I would have to be hooked up to. Since we were shooting the scenes for nursing students everything had to look exactly right as far as monitors and such. So for every scene I was hooked up to a blood pressure cuff, heart monitor, contraction monitor, IV, and that thing that hooks on to the end of your finger (can't remember what it was for). The fun part of that was that I got to listen to little guy's heart beat for 4 days straight.

There was one scene where I was "coding" and having seizures the entire scene. I think I did well but the leader of the code team was having a lot of trouble getting his lines right which meant a lot of seizing for me. By the end of shooting that scene I had a major head ache. LOL. There is a picture of me below looking not so happy in between takes. I really enjoyed the crew. They were very nice and fun to work with. A lot of the other actresses would ask me what agency I worked with. I always replied with...."ugh Craigslist." I didn't even know Spokane had talent agencies. It's kind of funny to me. The producer asked if she could call on me again to work on another project and I said "Sure but I will not be pregnant...." LOL.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T10:56:00.000-08:00

We had a Wonderful Thanksgiving this year!!! We had some friends from church come over and enjoyed a very relaxing day. I made my first pie ever......I never bake. It turned out pretty good I think. And we had the most amazing turkey. I realized after uploading the pics that I didn't get very many of the kiddos. They spent most of the time playing downstairs and Ryla took a wonderful 3 hour nap from noon to 3. Since we ate at 1 this was wonderful. After lunch we grabbed dessert and watched Dan in Real Life and spent the rest of the evening playing board games. Cliff and I feel very blessed to have such a great church family.

28 Weeks

2011-11-18T19:56:00.000-08:00

I was 28 weeks on Tuesday which means I am now in my 3rd trimester. I never thought I would say a pregnancy was going fast but this one is going VERY fast. Our lives have just been so chaotic lately that time seems to be in fast forward. I am in no way prepared for this baby to come. I really need to get going on some stuff. If he comes when Aidan did (at 38 weeks) he will be here in just 9 weeks. AHHHHH!!!!

Overall this pregnancy has been very easy. I had the worst morning sickness with this one but since then everything has gone very well. I have an appointment on Monday and still need to take my sugar test thing. Everything has been looking great with him so far. Here are some pics.

Happy Birthday Ryla!!!

2011-11-16T12:07:00.001-08:00

My Little Ryla turns 1 today!!!! It's hard to believe since she is just still so little! We go in for her check up next week so I will be able to give some stats then. At one year she is wearing 9-12 months clothes, size 3 shoe, and a size 3 diaper. She is sleeping through the night about 75% of the time. If she wakes up, it is to have one bottle and has been going back to sleep pretty well after that. She is still not the biggest eater. She typically has some sort of grain in the morning, baby food at lunch, and and yogurt, fruit, or whatever we are eating for supper time. We switched her over to whole milk a couple of weeks ago and she is doing great with that. We will be switching her over to a sippy cup soon but will probably keep the bottle for night time feedings. She loves to clap and also thinks that when anyone else claps, they are doing it for her. She has the biggest smile you have ever seen. She has 4 teeth (2 on the bottom and 2 on top). Her hair is still a pretty red. It is getting much thicker but not any longer yet. She crawls like a speed demon and we think is getting pretty close to walking. She can say da da and ma ma and knows what they mean She also jumps up and down whenever daddy gets home.

If anyone were to ask me how to describe my little girl I would tell them that she is one of the most genuinely happy babies I have seen. There is not 10 minutes that goes by when I don't see her with that super grin of hers. Everyone often comments on her cheeks and I think a large part of that is because they are always pushed up high from smiling. She has been such a blessing to our little family and I couldn't imagine my life without her!!

Newborn

One Month!

2 Months!

3 Months!

4 Months!

5 Months!

6 Months!

7 Months!

8 Months

9 Months!

10 Months!

11 Months!

ONE YEAR!!!!!

Ryla's Birthday Party

2011-11-16T11:47:00.000-08:00

We had Ryla's birthday party at our house over the weekend. She and my good friend Amanda's daughter are 4 days apart so we had joint parties for them. We kept it really simple. Just some balloons and food. My friend Bari made some cupcakes that were so delicious and both girls dug right into them.....Ryla so much that I had to change her outfit before present time. Cliff has been working hard the last month on a play kitchen for her which turned out really cute. Her friends got her play accessories for the kitchen for presents. I will post a tutorial later on the kitchen. We still have some touch ups to do on it.

I think the girls had a great time! Here are some pics!!!

Cancun!!!

2011-11-13T20:23:00.000-08:00

So this week has been crazy and I have a lot to catch up on as far as blogging goes. To start my trip to Cancun was amazing. I have been so blessed to have some amazing friends and felt very fortunate to have these three girls in my life. We had a great time and it was so nice to get away. Gave us a good chance to miss our kiddos. We were there the 3rd-7th. The resort was really nice. I have never been on a tropical vacation so this was a real treat for me. Of course when we booked this flight I wasn't pregnant but decided to go anyway. It ended up being perfect timing....just a couple of weeks later and I wouldn't have been able to fly and any earlier and we would have run into some bad weather.

We spent our days sleeping in, eating, laying on the beach, swimming in the ocean, eating some more, and having great pillow talk in our room. My friend Amanda even dug me a preggo whole every day so that I could lay on my belly. We were sad to come home but so happy to have the experience. Here are some pics of the event!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T14:43:00.001-07:00

We had a great time with Halloween this year. Luckily I still haven't had to search/pay for a costume since we have had some fun hand me downs from the VanVoorhis family. Aidan got to choose from several in his closet and he has been talking about Spiderman for weeks. On Saturday night we went to our friends the Dupeys for their annual Halloween party. It was great as usual. Unfortunately me missed our church's Harvest party because Cliff was reeeeealy sick. But we did get to go trick or treating at our friends the Hentons last night on the Air Force Base. The streets are swarmed with families and no traffic which is so wonderful. It reminds me of one of those scenes from television in the super cutsie neighborhoods with everyone out participating. Anyway.....Aidan actually understood what was going on this year and had a blast! He wouldn't let Cliff or I go up to the houses with him. He wanted to do it all by himself :) Ryla was a trooper in her costume and enjoyed a nice stroller ride for the event.
At the Dupey Halloween party!
Halloween 2010

This year!!!

Trick or Treating around the Air Force Base

Looking over his mini treasure of candies....

Comparisons of my cuties in the same outfit around the same age. Ryla is 11 and a half months and Aidan was 10 months.

Picture Catch Up

2011-10-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of the last week or so.

Helping daddy work on Ryla's Birthday present.

Little guy hardly gets a quiet bath to himself anymore. Ryla is always there to play with the water as well.

Trying to get as much outside time as possible before winter hits!

Bedtime with our little guy is still one of Cliff and I'l favorite parts of the day!

Pregnant Actress Needed

2011-10-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

So on Tuesday night I was browsing craigslist and saw and add that was titled...."Pregnant Actress Needed." When I opened up the add it said...

A national company is producing a series of educational videos pertaining to Maternal Newborn Care. We are looking for someone who fits the role of a 23-27 week pregnant patient. Acting experience is preferred but not required. You must be available for at least three consecutive days of video shoots. Please email me if you are interested. Thank you.

I have been working REALLY hard at getting my private practice off the ground but as it is still not where I am wanting or needing it to be, I have been trying to find something that would give us some extra money for our next trip home and pre school tuition which is due, believe it or not, in a couple of months. Anyway when I read this I thought...."Why not, I will respond." The next morning (yesterday) I received a call from the production company asking if I would like to come in and audition for the part. Upon further conversation, she told me that they were making a video educational series for nursing students. She asked me if I would be available November 7th-11th. I was disappointed because I told her I would be out of town until the 7th but was available the other days. She that would not be a problem. She then told me that I would need to memorize a script that she was going to send me and come into Coeur d'Alene the following morning to read for the part. I was hesitant because if I got it, this would start the day after I returned from Mexico and there was some traveling involved. However, she then told me I would get paid $30 an hour and Cliff and I had heard enough. We were going to make it work if I were to get the role....... She sent me the script last night and it was very basic and not long at all. The only thing I was worried about was playing a character who had something wrong with her baby. Not something I really wanted to think about.

Cliff rearranged his schedule so that I could drive to Idaho this afternoon. I really didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if I was the only one auditioning or if there were several others or even what the audition was going to be like. When I got there I realized I had a time slot reserved just for me and the casting director. They put me on a green stage with a little set and a production assistant was there to read lines with me. She then asked me to do the scenes I had memorized. While I did this, she took notes and watched me through a screen from the back. After the two short scenes I had rehearsed she told me she had a curve ball for me. She gave me two scenes I had not seen before and told me that she wanted me to read them quickly and memorize them as fast as I could. They were a lot harder to memorize than the other two and more difficult to portray as well. One of them was basically me yelling at the "nurse" to tell me what was going on with my baby. When I was done, she asked me about my acting experience. I told her I had no film experience but had done several live theatre productions in high school and college. She then told me that she could tell and she thought I was a very good actress. I had not been that flattered in a very long time. She then offered me the part!!! I was pretty excited.

She then went on to describe what the three days would be like during shooting. She said I would be filming 15-20 scenes a day and that a lot of the script I would not get until that day because they production company was still working on it and that was why she needed to know if I could memorize quickly but still perform it well. I told her I thought that would be fine. She then said.....I hope you don't mind but we are actually going to be filming in Spokane. I told her this was great because that was where I was from. She then said it would be at an actual hospital....Holy Family. I started to laugh and told her this hospital was two blocks from my house and was actually where I was going to be delivering. She thought this was very funny. She told me that I would probably know all of the nurses by a first name basis by the time we were done.

So anyway. I shoot November 8th, 9th, and 10th. On Tuesday and Wednesday it will be from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Thursday it will be from 7 p.m to 2 a.m. That one will be a challenge. I'm excited. I think it will be fun and after doing the math....Cliff and I realized that the pay will cover the three plane tickets we need to buy for our trip home in early summer (Ryla and Noah will fly for free). I have been praying that God would open doors for me to provide for my family and this was certainly a fun door to be opened. I will let you know how it goes.....and if they let me I will take some pictures. Oh and Dad....no worries.....only my belly will be exposed for a couple of scenes.

Ryla 11 Months!

2011-10-17T14:24:00.001-07:00

I can hardly believe that my little girl will be turning 1 in just a little over a month!! We took her for her check up last week. She is 16 pounds 10 ounces which puts her in the 10th percentile. She is 28 inches long in the 40th percentile. She got the first of two flu shots which gave her a fever. But after 24 hours she was doing great. She had her two front tree poke through this week giving her a grand total of 4 teeth. Cliff and I never have any idea what to expect on her sleeping at night. The last three nights we have put her down around 7:30 and she will get up 2 to 3 times before 11 and then sleep 8 straight hours and get up at 7.

We have our family photos for our Christmas Card scheduled next week. This will also be her one year shots. Cliff and I started this weekend working on her bday present. I think it is going to turn out super cute! I also have her tutu all ready for her bday party with her friend Lilly. If I could only get her to keep hair doodles on her head.....Oh well.....Enjoy the pics!

23 Weeks

2011-10-11T09:49:00.001-07:00

Here are the pics I promised. I feel that I am getting the biggest with this pregnancy which I hear is normal, but still depressing none the less. Oh well.....what are you going to do. My weight has been on track so that is good. I forgot to mention in my last post that Noah is a very strong baby. I started feeling him a lot sooner than the other two and Cliff was also able to feel him a lot sooner. He kept me up last night from 3-5 because he wanted to practice his gymnastics. At least he is starting his skill early. :)

Green Bluff!

2011-10-10T10:41:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we traveled to Green Bluff to pick out pumpkins. We had a lot of fun. We did a hay ride which was so much fun, especially for Ryla!! She thought it was so fun to go over all the bumps. Aidan also got to have a pony ride which he loved. We let Aidan pick out his own pumpkin and he chose a pretty small one. When we got home I took him out to the porch to show him where to put his pumpkin but he didn't like this idea at all. He was scared that someone would take it. So he brought it inside and said he wanted to put it on the fireplace mantel where I had some fall decorations set up. Every once and awhile he will ask me to get it down so that he can hold it. I hope he likes pumpkin carving. We will see.... I tried very hard to get a cute pic of the kids together with the pumpkins but Aidan just was not having it.....I posted some for you to see anyway.

Baby Noah!

2011-10-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

I was looking back at the blog and realized I haven't blogged about our little boy to be in a really long time. I am 23 weeks tomorrow and VERY big......I will post a pic soon.....well.....maybe....LOL. Our doctor told us it was a boy at 16 weeks and our sonogram at 18 weeks confirmed this. It was really cute to bring the kids with us to the sonogram appointment. They were very well behaved for that hour. When Noah first was on the screen we said to Aidan.."Look it's baby Noah." He looked at the screen and said "Baby Noah is swimming! I hope there aren't any sharks there with him." So cute how a 2 year old thinks. When I was pregnant with Ryla, he didn't quite understand what was going on but he seems to now. When we ask him where baby Noah is he will come pat my belly. He also asks if he can see him sometimes and this just means he wants to see my belly. Of course Ryla does not know but I think the hard part with her is that when I look and interact with her, I still think of her as my baby.....because she is is. She is still so little it is hard to think that there is another baby growing inside of me when my little girl just learned to crawl.

The sonogram confirmed our due date of Feb. 7th. I think this is the first baby that Cliff and I are hoping is on time or a little late. We have a lot going on in the months of November and December so it would be nice to have January off. We also were a little stressed because we have our annual Youth Rally the first week of February. We were trying to figure out what to do as this is a very important event for our youth, church and for Cliff. The other months surrounding this time were already taken by other churches so we couldn't switch dates. Anyway, my parents were going to come at some point and I asked them if they could come the third week of February so that they could help me with the kiddos while Cliff worked the rally that week and they said that would work for them. So that is a huge relief for us!!!

Other than that I have another checkup in a couple of weeks and then I am off to Mexico for a girl's trip Nov. 3rd. Got it all cleared with the doc but still hoping that we don't have anything go wrong while I'm there. We have a doctor's appointment for Ryla tomorrow so I will let you know her stats!!

Potty Training!!

2011-10-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

We tried potty training back in May before I started nannying but it was extremely unsuccessful. I knew that I had to start again after we got back from our vacation but was sooooo not looking forward to it. Everyone has always told me to wait until he is ready. So I was hoping that he would finally be ready. With that being said, Aidan was READY for sure. He was potty trained in a day and a half!!!!!!! The first day was rough but by the beginning of the second day it started going great. We used cookies as a reward and had to stop that after the third day because he was getting so many cookies. Now he just gets a cookie for going number 2 in the pot which he successfully did for the first time last night! He is even having dry diapers over nap and overnight with his diaper but we are going to wait to transition him to to his undies for sleeping. We also were successful for the first time in public yesterday at church. We had a pull up on him but he stayed dry and went to the potty twice at church. So I think we are going to try undies for going out as well! Such a relief, I can only hope that my other two will be this easy.

Trip Home

2011-09-26T11:58:00.001-07:00

I just got back on Saturday from my two week trip home. Cliff stayed in Washington and I took the kids. They did great on the plane rides!!! We spent the first week in Oklahoma at my brother's house. Aidan had such a great time!!! He got to hang out all week and play with his cousins! It was so fun to watch. The second week was spent at my parents house where we got to go to the zoo and I got to see Aidan catch his first fish. The kiddos had a wonderful time with Nana and Papa and it was really hard to say goodbye. Thank goodness for skype! We get to see them again when they come out in February to see the baby!

Ryla 10 Months

2011-09-25T17:43:00.001-07:00

While on vacation Ryla turned 10 months old!!! Can't believe she is almost a year old already! She is crawling up a storm, can pull herself up with no problem, and can now walk around things while holding onto something. She is in size 3 diapers and is starting to wear 9-12 month clothes but they are still very big on her. She is saying ma ma and da da but probably not knowing what it means. Still waking up once a night usually for an hour (It is VERY EXHAUSTING). Hoping and praying that changes soon!

Playing catch up

2011-09-05T21:06:00.000-07:00

My blogging has definitely slowed lately. I finished nannying this week so I am back to fulltime stay at home mom which will be nice. Cliff's summer church project is over and so we have finely had time to just relax. We had several families over tonight for labor day and it was so good to catch up with everyone. This week should be pretty slow. We have our big sonogram to see baby Noah on Thursday! Me and the kids also leave to see my family on Saturday. I'm excited to go home but not looking forward to traveling by myself with both kiddos. Cliff is taking a 3 day mini vacation with some college buddies to Vegas while we are gone and I'm so excited that he will have some time to relax after a very busy summer. Here are some random pics of the last few weeks.
Aidan was really sick for about a week and a half. Cliff and I both got it to but thankfully Ryla did not. He spent almost everyday like this.....Cozy in mom and dad's room with his sippy cup and a movie. It was really hard on him. This was actually the first time he has been sick except for the swine flu. He had never even thrown up before this time. Poor little guy. But we are all better now!Thankful for the baby gate!!

Girls Party I had at my house!! We had a lot of fun. Thank you to all the daddy's who watched all the kiddos!!

This is how Cliff and I find Ryla every morning. She loves to stand up and yell for us until we come in to get here. She always has the biggest smile and starts to giggle when she sees us. She usually can get herself unswaddled (yes she still sleeps swaddled) but can't undo it all the way so it ends up being looped around her neck which is really funny. (and also can be scary).

Here's another one when she was able to get completely unswaddled. She is so cute!

We always strap her in at her changing table but now she just flips around and tries to get off. Can't take your eyes off of her for a second!

My Miche purse party......It was a lot of fun and a lot of people walked away with pretty purses!

Little guy is obsessed with his bike! He rides it everyday and can do it himself now to which is very fun for me and daddy....

Ryla is in LOVE with her daddy. Whenever he comes in a room she starts giggiling like crazy. As soon as he picks her up she instantly melts into his arms and refuses to be put down. It is so precious! Aidan did this to but now as much as Ryla. It was really hard for me with Aidan when he went through this stage because he would scream whenever I would try to hold him when dad was around ( he is obviously out of this stage now). But Ryla still loves to see me to. When I take her from dad she does just fine and smiles cheek to cheek.

I love watching these two together!! So far, since Ryla was born, Aidan has not shown any signs of jealousy with her. He loves to play with her and loves to be the big brother in charge of her if I am cooking or in the shower. He will sing to her, read her books, or simply follow her around wherever she goes. Ryla also adores Aidan. He seems to be able to make her giggle the most. It is really a joy to watch. Aidan is also becoming very protective. When we were at Jack and Holly's house this week (where I nannied) Jack accidently hit her with a nurf ball. Aidan proceeded to scold Jack for hurting her (even though she didn't even notice) and went over to her and rubbed her head where she was hit, hugged her, and gave her a kiss.

We haven't had a family photo in so long so I put the camera on timer the other day to grab a quick shot!

Ryla 9 Months

2011-08-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry these are over a week late. We have had a lot of sickness floating around over here so I have been really busy. Just a few days after I shot her 9 month photos Ryla started crawling up a storm so I made a video of that today to. Enjoy!

It's a.....

2011-08-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

Went to the doctor today for m 16 week check up. Found out that I don't have strep which is nice just a bad infection. Heart beat sounded great. At the end of the appointment my doc started talking to me about my 20 week ultrasound. I told him we would have to wait until 22 weeks because I would be on vacation. He said "Well then we better go find out the sex right now shouldn't we?" LOVE HIM!!!! I called Cliff on the phone. (We had the kiddos all packed up to go but decided to keep them home at the last second since they were both sick :( ) So he started looking around and we couldn't see anything because the baby was on its side. I then laughed and the baby turned over and spread it's legs. We both started laughing. Doc said "Do you see what I see?" I then heard Cliff in the phone...."IT'S A BOY IT"S a BOY....THAT IS SO AWESOME!!! Needless to say we are very excited!!!!!

Pinterest DIY #1

2011-08-16T11:07:00.001-07:00

After hours spent on Pinterst.....I finally had time in the last couple of days to make some projects that I had saved in my idea boards. I started with some simple ones. I am pretty happy with how the projects turned out. They bring some color into the rooms and they are also practical. My next project I think is going to take several weeks but hopefully will turn out.
The first DIY is 3 cake pans glued together by candle sticks. I found the cake pans and candle sticks at a thrift store for $9 and spray painted the candled sticks.
The second DIY is a plain white frame I found at Michaels. I scrapbooked a menu board and can write on the glass with a dry erase marker. I originally put magnets on the back for my fridge but later noticed my fridge has a curve to the door so that didn't work. Buy my second options is fine to.

e-mealz

2011-08-15T13:46:00.001-07:00

Cliff and I have decided to try out e-mealz. I put a facebook post several weeks ago to ask people what they did to save the some pennies in their home and this was brought up by my friend Vicki. We liked the idea but just now got around to trying it out. For those of you who are not familar, e-mealz is a program online that provides recipes and grocery lists for the weeks based on sale prices at your grocery store of choice. It cost 15 dollars every three months so just $1.25 a week. You get a meal plan that provides the name of the meal, the ingredients, and instructions on the first page and the grocery list (which is divided into categories for easy shopping) on the second page. We chose the plan that feeds 4-7 people so that we can have leftovers. The grocery list is seven suppers with side dishes for $75 to $80 dollars. I just got back from doing my grocery shopping for the week and the prices were accurate. Here is our meal plan for the week.

Meal 1: Just 'N Thyme Salmon, Baked Potato, Grilled Asparagus
Meal 2: White BBQ Chicken, Potato wedges, Corn on the Cob
Meal 3: Santa Fe Pizza, Glazed Honeydew
Meal 4: Savory Cheeseburger over rice, Vegetable Medley
Meal 5: Grilled Greek Chicken, Garlic Rice, Greek Salad
Meal 6: Fish Stick Po' Boys, Chips, Cantaloupe
Meal 7: Greek Pasta Salad, French Rolls

What I am excited most about this is that I don't have to plan out recipes for the week. Anything to give my family more time is a plus for us right now! I will let you know what I think of the recipes.

First pair of shoes!

2011-08-15T13:32:00.000-07:00

I found these shoes, or booties, on Pinterest the other day and had to get them for Ryla. I bought her an adorable pair of shoes several months ago but her little feel still don't fit into them even though they are a size one. I love these because she can't pull them off, even thought she has tried, and they stretch so she can wear them for a really long time. She still isn't crawling so they don't get dirty either. Too cute!!

15 Weeks

2011-08-15T13:22:00.001-07:00

I am 15 weeks tomorrow! I am feeling really good since my second trimester started last week. I'm not getting sick anymore accept for when I get a whif of something that upsets me. I would say that each pregnancy has proven to be a little harder. I have been more sick each time and have been more tired with each one. However, I will say that the tiredness may be from the fact that with each pregnancy my life has been a little more hectic than usual. Ryla is still waking up one to two times a night anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours each time. Cliff, of course, is extremely helpful and supportive and helps out so much during the nighttime.
I still have 6 months to go which I know will go by quickly but right now seems like so far away. I typically would want the pregnancies to go by fast but this one I am okay with it going slow. I look at my little Ryla and am not quite ready for her to be an older sister yet. I go in on the 22nd for my next appointment. We are supposed to find out the sex at 19 to 20 weeks but I will be visiting my parents at that time so I'm going to see if my doctor will let me find out at 18 weeks or else I have to wait until I am 22 weeks which would be so hard!! Cliff and I are set with our girl name but are having a TERRIBLE time deciding and agreeing on a boy name. We have decided to give up both of our choices for a boy name and start over from scratch. However, we also have decided to table the discussion until we find out the sex. I will let you know what my doc says next week.

Update

2011-08-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts and pics lately....Cliff has been gone all week and I have not had time to do anything. He gets back Saturday which I am very thankful for.....This 5 hour a night sleep thing has not been so great for a pregnant lady 5 days in a row.

Lazy Monday

2011-08-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

Cliff has Mondays off which I just love!!! We had a pretty lazy day hanging around the house. Ryla slept a lot today which explains why she doesn't sleep at night. Aidan wanted to play downstairs and listen to Glee songs. Oh how I love him for that. After nap time we went out to a new burger place in town, come home and did our two mile walk, baths, and finally ended the day with movie night. Kids will be in bed at 8 and Cliff and I plan to enjoy oreos and milk with some good old "Cosby show." Hope you enjoyed your Monday as well.
P.S. Tomorrow marks my second trimester and I will be posting my first belly pic........I still can't believe I'm pregnant.

Give you one guess what she is doing......Sorry I just had to remember this look!

First bath together!

I personally think hats work for her.

Monday nights are movie nights! Finding Nemo this evening!

Quick Trip Home

2011-07-30T14:56:00.001-07:00

I got a chance to go home for a few days kid free. My sister in law totally spoiled me and I had so much fun. I got to go to my brother's new church for the first time to hear him preach, sleep in, play with my nieces and nephews, and got to catch up with some child hood friends. A Great time! It sure was nice to come home and see my kiddos though!!

Ryla's first bath in the sink!

2011-07-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

Ryla 8 Months!

2011-07-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

River Front Park

2011-07-14T20:59:00.001-07:00

We took the kiddos to River Front Park on Monday. We had so much fun. We took Aidan on all the rides. That kid has no fear. He road the kid roller coaster, the ferris wheel, and the spider. I was impressed. Ryla did so good. She loved looking around at everyone. Cliff took Aidan back in the evening so he could feed the ducks and go to the IMAX theatre. We got a good video of him feeding them but I don't have it downloaded....it's funny though cause his pants fall down at the end of it. Anyway here are some pics.

Summer Improvement Program

2011-07-09T14:08:00.001-07:00

We had a concert at our church on Wednesday night that launched our Summer Community Improvement Program. This program includes 8 weeks of events designed to discover ways to make Spokane a better place to live and to show people that our church can help provide support for improvement for our neighborhood. This free concert showcased our friend, Caleb Hawley. It went great! I am so proud of Cliff for everything he has done to get this program started. We had several families from our neighborhood stop by which was awesome. Next week Cliff has planned a water event night.

Mowing the Lawn with Dad!

2011-06-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

7 months

2011-06-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

So I took these on her 7 month bday a couple of weeks ago but have just been lazy posting them. She is doing great!!! She is starting to sleep through the night and in her crib!!!!! She is eating solids but only fruits....can't seem to get her to like the veggies. She is in 6-9 month clothes and size 2 diapers. She is sitting up pretty well but can't do it for a terribly long time yet. No teeth yet.

Vacation!!!

2011-06-20T10:27:00.001-07:00

We headed to Montana yesterday for our summer vacation. Cliff's parents rented a house for the week. It was a four hour beautiful drive and the kiddos did great. Cliff's parents and sister had to drive 20 hours....so not as fun for them. We are loving it so far. Very relaxing. It is pretty cold right now but it is supposed to warm up which will be nice because there is a pool for the kids. We are going to a train depot today which I'm sure Aidan will love. Later this week we are heading to the lake and Glacier National Park. Lots of pics to come but for now I will just post pics of the house.

Main Living Area

Master Bed and Bath

Basement with a guest room and bath.

Cliff and I's room next to the kids.

Kiddos Room

Bonus Room area above the Garage

Playing Catch Up

2011-06-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

This week has been pretty hectic so instead of several short blog entries I will play catch up with a long one. First off....I don't think I mentioned that I started nannying again a couple of weeks ago. It is just Wednesday thru Friday. I didn't know how I or the kids would do going back (it's the same family), but we have been loving it. Aidan is playing so well with Jack and both kids have been sleeping well over there for nap time which was something I was worried about. I am there 8:30 to 3:30. Cliff changed his hours and now goes in at 8 instead of 9 so that he is home by 4 right when I get home which has been AMAZING! He takes the kids for an hour and I am able to cook supper and still have it ready by 5:30. This will go until the first week of summer. I still am seeing clients on Mondays, which is Cliff's day off, and have Tuesdays at home with just me and the kids.

Here are a couple of pics I took of the kiddos over at the VanVoorhis's house.

The weekend went well. We got a baby swing for Ryla and she has been loving it. We always just put her on a blanket in the backyard so it has bee fun to have a special spot for her. She loves it. One afternoon she she had me push her for 40 minutes. Lots of fun.

On Friday night, I had some of the girls from the youth group over for a sleepover. It was so much fun. We ordered pizza, I made sushi, we watched Ever After and had them take a spiritual assessment inventory that helped them learn more about what their spiritual gift is. Cliff made french toast, eggs, and bacon for us the next morning....YUM.

I also was able to make a lot more recipes this past weekend. Ryla has become obsessed with a mixed berries recipe. It has raspberries, blueberries, bananas, and her rice cereal in it. I was surprised to see a recipe for a 4-7 month old that has berries in it but she has had no allergies yet.

We gave Aidan a bath on Sunday and I gave him a window marker to play with in the tub.....Lesson learned.....Window markers are not the same as bath marker and they stain your white grout blue.

Yesterday I gave Cliff the first of his father's day presents. He had the day off so I packed the kiddos up and went to my friend Natalie's for the day. He had the whole day to himself to do whatever he wanted. Of course Cliff chose to be productive and clean and organize the garage, but if it is what he wanted to do with his time than that's great. We had fun at Lucas and Natalie's to. They live on base so we took a little walk to show Aidan the airplanes. He loved it!

Finally, a baby update. Everything has been a little crazy with this third baby. Since I was on birth control my body was not prepared to carry a baby due to the pill I was on. I have done 4 blood labs now and my doctor has seen that the baby is doing well but my progesterone levels are low. My doctor says that he needs to get these levels up or I am at risk of a miscarriage. So I am on progesterone pills since last Wednesday. I just got a call from him and he said that all my levels now look fine and he wants to see Cliff and I for our sonogram appointment tomorrow. This means we will finally have a due date and God willing a healthy baby. I will let you know how the sonogram goes tomorrow.
On another note....I have had the typical all day sickness that I usually have with pregnancies but it just seems harder now that I have two kids. The progesterone pills are also making me sick. The side affects are nausesness and drowsiness....LOL. I only have to be on it until I am 11 weeks along......So hopefully that will go by fast.

Potato and Cheese Dinner

2011-06-07T11:18:00.001-07:00

So Ryla has gone through most of the veggies now which means I was able to try out a recipe from my new cookbook.

I decided to go with the Potato and Cheese Dinner recipe. I think it turned out pretty good. I gave it to Ryla last night for dinner and she really enjoyed it. Here is the recipe.

1 tsp olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 Potato, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp milk
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp grated cheddar cheese

Heat the olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Fry the onion until soft about 5 minutes. Add the potato and heat gently for 1 minute.

Add the milk and water and stir and mix. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until the potatoes are soft, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese until melted.

Puree by pushing through a sieve or by using a blender. Add more water if a thinner consistency is preferred.

It made her about 7 servings.

Surprise!!

2011-06-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

When they say that birth control is 99.9% affective....That .01% should be taken very seriously. With that being said.....We are expecting Baby Mullen #3 early February!!!!!!!!!!

How we spent our Saturday..

2011-06-04T19:36:00.000-07:00

5:00 A.M. Wake up call from our darling daughter.
5:01 A.M. Crawled back into bed and fed Ryla
5:05 A.M. Tried to fall back asleep but Ryla's coos keep me up.
5:45 A.M. Put Desperate Housewives on in the living room
6:00 A.M. Aidan begins to sing from his bed (apparently his 7:00 wake up time is not happening today)
6:01 Wake up daddy.
7:00 ish Aidan pretends to be a Lion

8:45 Everyone showered and out the door for Starbucks and the Farmers Market
9:30 Arrive at the Farmers Market after getting lost twice.
9:37 Aidan picks out his fruits for the week. (cherries, blueberries, and raspberries)

10:15 Head home and put little girl down for her nap
10:30-12:00 Play outside on "My Park" and marvel at my Farmer's Market goods...

12:00- Nap time for Aidan
12:00- 2:00 Laundry for me...Yardwork for Daddy
1:30 Ryla up
2:00 Aidan wakes up screaming uncontrollably
2:01 Call Cliff for reinforcement
2:05 Realize that Aidan had a nightmare and believes there are "SCARIES" under his bed
2:13 Daddy says he is going in Aidan's room to kill the "scaries". Aidan screams because he doesn't want his Daddy to die.
2:15 Crying has finally stopped because Cliff has gotten his BB gun and killed the "scaries" under the bed.
2:20 Aidan help Dad mow the lawn and Ryla and I go on our 2 mile walk.
3:00 Aidan plays with his new sprinkler toy.

3:30 Daddy/Daughter time
5:00 Ryla takes second nap/dinner/Thomas the Train/Make Grocery List
6:30 Feed Ryla, Cliff takes Aidan to the store to get groceries.
7:00 Ryla down for the night.
7:40 Cliff and AIdan back with groceries.
8:00 Trying to get Aidan off of "His Park" so he can go to bed.
8:03 Aidan falls off swing

8:03 and 30 seconds Aidan is fine and playing with Luther

8:05 Check on baby girl

8:10 Aidan reading a Bible story and says his prayers for bed

8:45 P.M. Cliff makes us coffee drinks and we get a couple hours to ourselves before resting up for "Graduation Sunday" which Cliff has to preach for.

Table for 4

2011-05-26T18:45:00.001-07:00

We have been putting Ryla on solids the last week or so. It is so fun to have her sit at the table with us during supper time. She is not liking her cereal too much but is enjoying the introduction to veggies. It is so funny to me how little she looks in her high chair. You can basically just see her little head.....LOL

I have decided to make Ryla's baby food. My first attempt was carrots and as you can see from pics, she really liked them. I enjoyed making them and enjoyed the cost of making them even more. I bought a package of organic carrots for 88 cents. It made 6 of these containers which, right now, feeds her twice. So right now......that comes out to about 7 cents per meal. We LOVE that. I ordered a organic baby food cook book awhile back but am still waiting to use the recipes until we have worked her through the different veggies and fruits to make sure she is not allergic.

Prayer Request

2011-05-25T21:27:00.001-07:00

Please pray for our friends Stephen and Joy Colwell. Their first child, Maggie, died this afternoon. She was a little over 3 weeks old. They are currently in Austin, Texas and have a lot to deal with right now. Their faith through all of this has been amazing...a true inspiration to me.
http://mabeecolwell.weebly.com/blog.html

Brownies Anyone?

2011-05-25T17:05:00.001-07:00

6 Month Appointment

2011-05-24T13:01:00.001-07:00

We had Ryla's 6 month appointment this morning. She did great! She is weighing in at 13 pounds which puts her in the 10% and she is in the 50% for height.

Finished Kitchen!!

2011-05-23T20:30:00.001-07:00

Well it's all done!! We came in under budget and under the time our contractor told us.....So overall very happy!!! I am very pleased with how it turned out!

Blog Update

2011-05-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

Ryla's 6 month blog post was a draft for awhile and then got published this morning so you will have to scroll down a little bit to find it....

Hopefully one of the Last Kitchen Updates

2011-05-17T22:50:00.000-07:00

Our contractor said that he will mainly be doing half days this week and that the kitchen should be done on Friday!!!! Very excited. Probably the next photos I put up will be when it is all finished and I have some decor on the countertops.

Let's go Fly a Kite

2011-05-17T22:27:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday was beautiful in Spokane and Cliff and I finally had some time to take the kiddos to the park to fly Aidan's kite that he got in his Easter basket. He LOVED it!!! I was able to grab some pretty cute photos.

Ryla 6 Months!!!!!

2011-05-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe my little girl was 6 months old this week. It really does seem like it was just yesterday that I had her. I laugh when I remember how scared I was to have a baby girl. She has been such a joy to Cliff and I. The poor little thing has her moments, as do most babies, but overall she has been such a blessing. Our favorite thing about Ryla right now is just how happy she seems to be. She always wants to give smiles. She loves to be held and hates to not have attention on her at all times. When she wakes up from a nap or in the morning...we will go into her room and will be greeted by the biggest smile you have ever seen. It is too cute!!! Right now her big thing is chewing on her toes. She seems to be fascinated by them. We have started her on some oatmeal and carrots but she REALLY does not like either of them. We will keep working on that though. I was able to get another video of her precious laugh the other day....(please ignore the crazy house you see in the background as our kitchen is still in the works). Most of all...I feel so lucky to be the one chosen to be her mom. Here are some videos and pics of our cutie pie!

Countertops

2011-05-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

Countertops and sink are in! Backsplash is going up today!

Vertebral Subluxation

2011-05-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

My poor hubby is very uncomfortable right now. He started complaining that his neck hurt over the weekend when he loaded up the old cabinets to take them to the dump. By Sunday evening he couldn't even move his neck. We got him in to the chiropractor Monday morning. The doctor took one look at him and ordered some x-rays. The x-rays showed that his vertebrae have started to attach to his spinal chord in his neck, something called vertebral subluxation degeneration. One of his vertebrae was 2000% out of alignment and his spine was pretty crooked. The doc was shocked that he hadn't noticed something earlier. Cliff said that he has always had problems with back and neck pain but has been too stubborn to get it looked at. He asked him a lot of questions and told Cliff that it started around 10-12 years ago by some traumatic accident. The only thing Cliff can think of is a ski accident in high school. Unfortunately...it is in the very late stages. With that being said.....he has to go in three times a week for a minimum of 3 months and then they will do another round of x-rays to see where we are at. The doc said he probably won't start to feel better for another 3 weeks. He went to work today but had to come home after a few hours due to the pain. He is laid up in bed right now trying to still work using his lab top. Poor Guy!!!! Please keep him in your prayers and also pray that we can find the funds to pay for these adjustments as our insurance does not cover any of it.

Kitchen Update

2011-05-10T14:14:00.000-07:00

All the cabinets got finished today. Jim starts on the countertops tomorrow!!!!

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T15:05:00.001-07:00

My wonderful husband surprised me with a homemade card this morning. It was precious. He used my cricket machine and everything. He also took me out to Red Lobster after church and got me WICKED TICKETS!!! Very excited!!!! But most importantly I got to spend the day with my perfect little kiddos. It was wonderful!

Kitchen Remodel

2011-05-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

We started our kitchen remodel this past week. The new appliances got here and the new floor was put in a few weeks ago, but our contractor only started gutting the kitchen on Tuesday. Here are some pics. Hopefully only 2 more weeks without a kitchen!!!!!

Grace Under Construction....Ladies Day 2011

2011-05-02T10:13:00.001-07:00

I had the privilege of serving on the Ladies Day Committee this year. Our theme was Grace Under Construction. I believe the day went beautifully. Our speaker Sue Linton was amazing!!!! Our songleaders, help from the men in our congregation, and the beautifully decorated tables were outstanding. My friend Laura Warren and I hosted a table. Our theme was "Thank Heaven for Little Girls." I did a little plate for all of my best friends little girls. I think it turned out really cute. Here are some pics of the day. I included some pics of some of my favorite tables. It was a great day!!!

Easter 2011

2011-04-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

Easter was a lot of fun this year. Aidan loved hunting eggs but wanted to stop after finding each egg to eat his candy first. He got the hang of it eventually. He liked his basket a lot in the morning. He couldn't wait to bring his Bible to church and he loved Mr Potato Head, mainly because he is in Toy Story, and most of all the candy. We haven't had a chance to fly the kite yet but I'm pretty sure he will love that to. Ryla, of course, was unaware of the special day but she LOVED her new vibrating teether from Grandma. It has become her new favorite toy. We went to our preacher's house for Easter lunch and my friend Natalie and I put together an egg hunt for the kids. Here are pics from the day....

Aidan in Bible Class

2011-04-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

WARNING WARNING. If you are not a grandparent of Aidan you will find this video extremely long and boring!!!!! Aidan's Bible teacher let me sneak in last Sunday to make some videos of him in class. Cliff edited the video and this is what we got....

Bedroom......Check

2011-04-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

So we have been in our house for almost two years and in that time I have refused to decorate our bedroom. I looooove to decorate but was always so frustrated with our room that I never have. There are these corner windows which are pretty but make it hard to position the bed. The room is pretty small and don't even get me started on the closet!!! But I finally decided it was time to make it a little homier so that I could go and feel like I could relax at the end of the day. Took some pics. One of my favorite things is the curtains/valances that my mom made. I picked out the fabric while we were there last and she sent them to me a couple of weeks ago. She did awesome on them!!

Cliff and I then brainstormed for what should go above our bed. We had our head board up but it was block the window so we took it down. We then decided to choose 5 places that had significance to us. We choose our wedding chapel, where we met, our first kiss, our favorite spot in Abilene, and the hospital our kids were born at. I put them in black in white and I think it turned out cute.

Another fun thing I found was a white food serving platter which I made into a jewlery dish on my dresser. Anyway here it is...

Before

After

Ryla 5 Months

2011-04-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

My mommy is the best!!!!

2011-04-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

I saw some Easter baskets in Pottery Barn that looked very similar to these but I thought were very over priced. So...My very talented mom offered to make them for me and I could not be happier with them. She is very talented in my humble opinion. Thank you mom...I can't wait to stuff these full of goodies on Easter weekend for the kids!!!!!

Going Organic

2011-04-03T21:53:00.000-07:00

So I have been thinking about making the transition for our family to organic foods for quite awhile but have been hesitant. Mainly because of the cost. Being a single income family....we are on a pretty tight budget. But, with a lot of documentary watching and good conversations with my friends Natalie and Lucas....I feel it is time. Cliff and I have decided it is important enough to cut our budget in other areas. I went to a market here in town that is all organic and got a few things to see what the cost would be like. Not as horrible as I thought.

I used some of what I got to make Aidan's lunch today. I recently ordered a baby/toddler cookbook. I feel like Aidan eats 4 or 5 meals over and over for his lunches and I was really wanting him to eat better. Here is my attempt to try and cook something different and healthy for him. I steamed up some broccoli and made him a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. I smooshed the broccoli in with the peanut butter so that he would actually eat it...LOL Hopefully I can get some more ideas from my cookbook. I'm also excited to start making Ryla's baby food. Very Fun!!!!

Ride em Cowboy!!!

2011-04-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

Ummmm...Hello Aidan?????

2011-03-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

Remember those days when you have a baby who screams for five hours straight.....Then your husband comes home and very kindly tells you to go take a hot bath......You fill the tub, begin to soak.......then you see the door knob slowly turn, your two year old walk in, gets excited because he sees water, takes off his own clothes, his own diaper, then climbs into the bath with you. Of course this is followed with a panic attack with you trying hard to recall your Human Growth and Development class to remember if this is age appropriate or not.....Ya.....That's what I call relaxing.

Ryla laughing

2011-03-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of weeks Ryla has started laughing a lot. I LOVE to hear her laugh. It is so precious. Here is a little video we were able to get of it.

Progressive Dinner

2011-03-28T21:31:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend Cliff and I planned a progressive dinner for ourselves and 4 other couples. 3 of the couples are Church of Christ youth ministers and their wives in the area. Cliff works with these ministers on a monthly basis so it was really nice to get together with them outside of youth rallies and for me to meet and spend time with their wives. Our friends Johnny and Laura went to. Johnny does a lot of the song leading for the rallies so the other couples have had the chance to get to know him and his wife as well. It ended up being a lot of fun. Here are some pics of our night.

Trip Home Part 3

2011-03-21T19:28:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics of the second part of our trip home with my side of the family. Enjoy!!

Ryla 4 Months

2011-03-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

Trip Home Part 2

2011-03-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pics of our trip.....We spent the first 5 days in Springfield.....These pics are all from there where we stayed at Cliff's sisters house. Aidan had a GREAT time needless to say.

Daddy!!!!!!

2011-03-12T14:41:00.000-08:00

We cleaned out our hard drive and found a SUPER cute video of Aidan back in December. Enjoy!!!

Cracking the "Aidan" Code

2011-03-11T13:53:00.000-08:00

Our little guy's vocabulary seems to be booming lately. Everyday he is saying more and more words and it is so fun to hear. He is starting to speak in full sentences and more clearly. We can now have a conversation with him on the phone and discuss his day.....So much fun to be able to hear about what is on his mind. Of course there are still many words that are not as clear and there are also the "Aidan words" that he has made up for certain things. We have been able to crack the code for the most part.....
So here they are....

"GaGa pease" .......I'm hungry
"Izz".....................Pacifier
"BaBa"..................Sippy Cup
"To B On".............To Infinity and Beyone
"Dank U"..............Thank You
"Goo Goo"............Yogurt
"Dadan"...............Aidan
"K".......................Aunt Kelli
"Chaw Mill"..........Chocolate Milk
"Wyla"..................Ryla

Back to the Midwest

2011-03-07T14:25:00.000-08:00

So we recently took a trip back home to visit family. We had a great time, thanks to everyone for hosting us and driving us around a large portion of Missouri and Kansas. Here are some pictures from the adventure! I will post many more pics and updates about the trip later.....These are from the first 5 days.

3 Months Old...Who Saw That One Coming!

2011-02-17T12:10:00.001-08:00