The Ferguson Family

Good Grief it's been a while!

2011-08-01T18:11:00.000-07:00

Ok I'm so embarrassed that my last post was like A YEAR ago!!!!! Sorry folks, we've been a tad busy....

Here's the update:

Daniel:

still working at the hospital here in the ICU and really liking it. He works several shifts a month as "Charge Nurse" where he's the nurse in charge. It gives him good experience but keeps a slower pace than the big hospitals, which has it's pros and cons, but for the most part I think he really likes it here.

At church he stays busy working with the Boy Scouts as Scout Master and as 2nd counselor to the Young Men's President.

Since he's been out of school the last year and has all sorts of "free time" on his hands he has enjoyed hunting, fishing, and playing basketball with the guys. It's fun to see him have something he enjoys (and friends to do it with so I don't have to!)

Me:

I stay very very busy these days! We are expecting baby number 4 (surprise!) in November! We recently found out that he is indeed another he. We are excited and the kids are excited too! Nate keeps saying, "i'm going to have anudder brudder!" So cute!

I enjoy going to the YMCA to walk (ever so slowly some days) on the treadmill ALL BY MYSELF and take showers ALL BY MYSELF! For me the membership is worth every penny!

I was recently called as Relief Society President at church (basically I over see the women's organization as we provide relief to those who need it.) I LOVE this calling! It's very challenging but sooooo rewarding! Heavenly Fathers pours out His love every day! Every time I go to help someone I walk away feeling like they helped me more than I helped them!

The kids and I have gotten in to going to the library and I finally have kids that listen to stories! :) It's no long just pointing at shapes and colors! And I LOVE reading to them! It's very fun for me!

Nate:

Just turned 4 in May. He is a handful but he sure loves his brother and sister! He is so kind and gentle to Sarah and helps her stay out of danger and tonight I found him reading books to her on the recliner! Soooooo cute!

He is learning to write his name and enjoys listening to stories. He still loves his movies, which unfortunately is ok with me right now. He is discovering his imagination too. Always coming up with something new.

He can also say his first 3 Articles of Faith by memory and got to say #3 in primary on Sunday all by himself!

Knowlton: (almost 3)

Is finally talking!! Actually he talks so well now! It's still hard to understand what he's saying sometimes but he's so much better! He has a hard time with his "K" and "G" sounds so for now we have "tute little titty tats" (cute little kitty cats) and he loves "tup tates" (cup cakes) and my favorite the other day he came to me and said, "Mom, Dad is sleeping be tuiiiieeettttt shhhhh (quiet)" I love to hear him talk!

He is such a HUGE helper!!! and not the bad kind! He loves to be right with you if there's ever a project and if you tell him what to do he'll do it.

He is kind and loving but sadly has a fast temper....he must be 2!

Sarah Mae: (18 months)

she is all grown up since my last post! She runs with her brothers and stays pretty much in all the action. She loves to wear her dresses and loves to choose her hair bows (even if she likes to take them out!) and squeals when mommy paints her toe nails! She is such a girly girl! (Like she had a choice coming from me!) But she's probably the prissiest tom boy you'll ever see! She loves to be rough and tough with her brothers and always finds new ways to have scrapes and bruises.

Sarah is mostly happy but you definitely know when she's not! She's a girl, what can I say?! She really loves books and animals right now! She loves every kind of animal!! Daniel's brother and his wife have a standard poodle and they brought her last time they came to visit. Sarah laughed, squealed, and down right giggled every time she saw that dog!

I hope to be able to blog some more but I make no promises so until then just follow me on Facebook!

Oh how I needed this

2010-08-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

Motherhood:-An-Eternal-Partnership

Click on this link to watch an amazing clip about motherhood.

Recently I've been struggling with the joys of motherhood. I'm not going to deny it, having three kids ages 3 and under is HARD! It's better now that the kids have space to run and Daddy is home more but it's still very mentally, physically, and emotionally draining! I try very hard to be a good mom and most of the time it's good. But when it's hard, it's HARD. I've struggled with great anxiety since Sarah was born. It had started getting better but now with Daniel working nights again it's becoming worse. Unfortunately it's only at night, when it's quiet and I'm alone, that it gets bad. I've started doing things my doctor suggested, fixing my eating habits, relaxing, exercising, and taking St. John's wart (an herb to help with depression, moodiness, ect.). I'm hoping all of this will help but what helped me most of all tonight as I'm sitting here debating if I dare go to bed or not, was this clip on Motherhood. The greatest thing I can ever know is that I am not alone! I have the Lord by my side to help me. I know He is there! I could not do this with out Him. This is his desire for me, to be a wife and mother. He would not ask me to something without helping me through it.

My new Business Endeavor/Hobby

2010-07-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

I've created my own unique line of hair bows! Check it out! www.bowsthatgrow.blogspot.com

These bows are unique because they all snap together so you can mix and match and make it as big or little as you'd like. They also snap to an adjustable headband (my other creation), a clippie, or a barrette so you can use them on infants or toddlers or big girls!

Sarah is my main model right now since I moved away from all of the other little girls I knew.

Check out my website soon because I'm having a drawing for some FReE stuff!!! :)

It's been a while!!!

2010-06-25T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well, Daniel is watching an action movie and so I'm BORED! I thought it was high time I updated this thing so here goes....

Daniel graduated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited for him! I'm not sure when I last posted and I'm too lazy to look but just so everyone knows Daniel is working as a nurse in Bolivar, MO in the ICU. He got to start a week after he graduated and he loves it! He loves the people he's working with,

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it but we did it! We bought a 2000 sqft house! It has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths(Daniel and I have our own bathroom!!), a garage, two living area, AND a fenced in backyard!!! I'm sooooo happy here. Our duplex was wonderful for us and we loved living there...for the most part. The duplex was in a really creepy part of town and I just hated Springfield all together. LOVED living by family but hated the scenery. Our house is double the size of our duplex so it's HUGE to us! For the first few days we'd walk around just because we could. Nate would talk about our new house with "lots of rooms." He was always amazed when we'd come to see it. We're still unpacking and getting things organized but for the most part we're settling in pretty well. We've met our neighbors and really really like them. They're so nice and friendly. Our neighborhood is soooooo quiet. For the first week or so we'd lay in bed with all the windows open just listening to the quiet. In our other place we had a train loading station right behind our house and the homeless shelter and the hospital two blocks away. We got very used to people yelling at each other, sirens, and trains sounding like they were crashing. Another great thing about my house is that we have windows!!!! Not a creepy amount, just normal but it seems like a ton. In our duplex I had a small kitchen window that let me look out into the world. The other windows were in the bedrooms and faced the parking lot. Our only window in the living room was facing a brick wall :S So I'm sooooo happy to be able to look outside whenever I want to. I think we will be very happy here.

We have a DOG! Me? Have a dog? The kids are THRILLED to have a dog, and oddly enough so am I! I LOVE this dog. I wish I had a picture of her but I"ll have to put one up later. It was my brother and sister in laws. We dog sat for a weekend and she was sooooo good with the kids and just a joy to have around. She blended in perfectly with our family. Well, as it turns out my in laws have a small house and an unfenced backyard so this dog was getting to be too big for their house so they asked it we could keep her. YAY!! I love her. She comes and snuggles me on the couch. :)

The kids are doing great! Nate is potty trained!!!!!!!!!! And Knowly is on his way. He wants to do everything that Nate does. He goes a lot but not consistently enough yet. Sarah is a joy! She sleeps so well and is so perfect and happy. I love them all soooooo much. Being a mom has definitely been a trial for a while but now it's becoming a blessing again. I'm loving life right now. :)

And my final announcement...(no I'm NOT pregnant) I've started my own business! I have created my very own line of hair bows! But mine are different that everyone else's because mine are interchangeable and snap together. I call them "Bows that Grow." You can where one or a bunch and mix and match with every outfit! I LOVE them. Such a fun thing right now. Check out my website www.bowsthatgrow.blogspot.com I also have an etsy shop. It's an online store that allows you to sell handmade items. Check it out here

Life is great for us. Hope all is well for you too.

Shhhh

2010-05-01T05:35:00.000-07:00

I know I'm safe to post this on here because Daniel never reads our blog....

As most of you know Daniel is graduating nursing school in two weeks!!!!! He has worked so hard and I'm so proud of him. Some of you have asked what to get him as a graduation present and here's what I've noticed he'd like....

1. gift cards to Barnes and Noble for nursing books to keep on hand

2. Painting supplies for our new house (we have nothing so a paintbrush or painters tape would be nice.)

3. Any kind of simple tools ie; saw, level, putty knife, ect...(we have hammers and screwdrivers)

4. Anything for fishing, hunting, or camping. He just got a bow and arrow set but he doesn't have any targets.

Anyways, just a few suggestions. Now......I want to do something great for him because he has worked soooo hard for our family.....any suggestions??? I thought about a party but all his nursing buddies are drinkers so a family friendly party probably isn't on their high priority list to attend. Any thoughts?

Tagged!

2010-04-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by my cousin Bethany and now I'm finally getting around to filling this out....

4 Shows I watch:

We don't have any channels on our TV so I only have what's on Netflix and the ones I own on DVD

1. Reba (I have all 6 seasons except for number 4)

2. Charles in Charge (season 1, it's the best! I watch it on Netflix all the time!)

3. Full House (I'm such a dork but I love LOVE love this show! And Nate loves it with me :))

4. Gilmore Girls (I really only like the 3rd season because it's pretty much the cleanest but I think I'm over them...)

wow, those really are the only 4 shows I watch!

4 Things I'm Passionate About:

1. My amazing husband! He is my other half and he really makes me want to be a better person. Believe it or not we still write each other love notes! :) I love him!

2. Being a mother. I know it doesn't always show it by some of my posts but I love being a mother!! I am always looking for ways to be a better homemaker/mother/wife. I love making things for my family! :)

3.Cutting and Styling hair, I don't feel as passionate for coloring but I love hair and makeup.

4. I LOVE having people over. I've come to terms that my house is not always the cleanest and that my kids are sometimes loud and obnoxious but I love LOVE love having people in my home. I'm really not the best hostess but it makes me feel so great to "entertain!"

4 Phrases I say a lot:

1. Do you want to go to your room?

2. Do you need to sit in your buckle? Yes....I'm a MOTHER! :)

3. I love you

4. That's so sad! What are you going to do about it?

4 Things I've learned from the Past:

1. NEVER say NEVER!!!!!!!! It will bite you in the butt! But I must say that every time it does it turns out to be the best thing ever! (so this move is going to be AWESOME!)

2. Plan your life but be very flexible about your plan 'cause most likely it won't work out.

3. Choose your battles, and make sure it's really worth the sweat.

4. Don't judge others because it too will bite you in the butt!

4 Places I would like to visit:

1. Utah, I miss my family there!

2. Croatia, but only because Daniel wants to go and it would make him sooooo happy! :)

3. Samoa, my grandparents are temple president and matron there and I would love to spend the whole day in the temple with them!

4. Holland....the pictures are so beautiful!

4 Things I'm looking forward to:

1. Daniel's graduation!!!!!!!

2. Closing on our new house!!!!

3. Moving into and fixing up our new house!

4. bed...

4 Things I love about Winter:

1. All of our family traditions!!!!!!

2. The smells

3. Baking

4. Cuddling under a TON of blankets with my sweetie!

4 Things on my Wish List:

1. peace of mind

2. to be able to teach my children good things by example

3. new pants that fit!!! :(

4. I really REALLY wish I could keep my house clean for more than 2 hours! :)

4 People I Tag:

1. Natalie

2. Heather

3. Jenny

4. Amber

Wow, sometimes that's all that can be said.

2010-04-22T06:04:00.000-07:00

Oh boy oh boy! I haven't written anything about this because I've been waiting for it to "end" when I know what's really going on. So here's the scoop...

Back in December no wait I'll go back further....Back in June of last year we went to TN for a visit and LOVED it. We loved the trees, the beauty, and especially my family. We decided after that trip to shoot for a job in TN when Daniel was done with school. We had many possibilities when it came to our future. There is an Anesthesia school in Nashville and that's what Daniel wants to go on to do so it was perfect! Plus I loved the idea of being close to my grandparents. I lived with them for a year before Daniel and I got married, unfortunately we were engaged and my brain was in a different world so I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked to with them. So it was going to be perfect!

Then I got pregnant. We were planning to get pregnant so it wasn't a surprise or anything but this pregnancy was super hard, dont know if I mentioned that once or twice ;). But the older my kids got and the more trouble they got in the more I really wanted my mommy. Oh how I would have loved to just say, "Mom (or Dad) I need some sleep please take them for the day!" But Oklahoma wasn't even an option because they don't have an anesthesia program. Well, one day my Dad called and told us that they were opening up an anesthesia program there! I was so excited! We prayed about it and felt like that was the direction we should go now. Daniel turned in applications everywhere back in the winter when hospitals were looking to interview new grads for the following spring. We even applied to TN just to keep it in the mix just in case. All we knew was that we wanted OUT of Springfield. We hate springfield! (no offense) We love the family but hate the city in general.

So, Daniel interviewed at the hospital in OK City and they really really liked him. They told him they would hold a position for him after graduation so we relaxed and kind of coasted for a little while. Well, that was in December and then March came with a big surprise! Due to budget cuts and having to give positions to those who were on scholarship from the hospital there was no longer a position for Daniel. What a shock!! We felt so good about going there!! We were so so SO confused so we spent a lot of time on our knees trying to figure things out.

While we were still thinking about moving to OK City Daniel's brother Sam decided he was going to go with us and live with us. Well, he's still decided that it's right for him to go there and go to school so maybe he's needed there and wouldn't have thought about it otherwise....who knows!

As soon as we found out Daniel no longer had a job in OK City he started the application process again. He applied EVERYWHERE! Even Springfield....blah! interestingly enough we never heard much from TN and nothing seemed to work so we figured that was out. All doors were pretty much closed in OK City so we decided to consider Springfield. It's amazing to see what happens when he allow yourself to open your heart and humble yourself. When we did that it seemed to all fall into place! Daniel applied to the hospitals here in town but unfortunately it was too late for the one he currently works at. The other one was still hiring but we and all the other 5 million people applying there had to wait for interviews. it wasn't looking promising. Then one day on a whim Daniel said, "I'm going to call the hospital in Bolivar and see what their ICU has to offer" 10 minutes later he had a job interview set up! Hooray!!! We were thrilled for him to actually be able to talk to SOMEONE!!

*Side note. When we very first moved to Springfield area we moved to Bolivar which is about 30 minutes outside of Springfield. It's a nice small town but very very country! Pretty much middle of no where kind of place. I said, " I will NEVER move to Bolivar!"

When Daniel came home from his interview in Bolivar he seemed very excited! He loved the unit and the people he had met. There were so many good things to be said about it. The person he interviewed with seemed to really really like him but she said she needed to interview a couple more people and should have an answer for him by the end of next week.

Meanwhile, he had another interview at St. John's (the other hospital in town). He said it went really well and he liked the facility but I noticed he wasn't nearly as excited about it. So we just waited. As we waited we pretended that he got both jobs and tried to decided between the two. Which one would we rather have? It took me a while to come to my self and say it out loud but I felt so good about Bolivar it was almost scary.

Well, yesterday (a day earlier than expected) we got the news! A job offer in Bolivar!!!!! So now we're looking for a house!!! CRAZY!!!!!! We'd love to buy but only if we find the right one....so we'll see. Moving to Bolivar we'll most likely be able to get some land that Daniel's been praying for since forever! He wants like 10 acres and I want like 0.5 acres.....so we'll see. I think there's still more humbling coming our way.

Moral of the story is NEVER SAY NEVER!!!! It will bite you in the butt! It ALWAYS does for me.:) Actually now I'm starting to say, "I NEVER want to have a million dollars!" lol j/k

But really, in all of this crazy up and downs I wouldn't trade it. We learned so much and had to depend on the Lord more seriously and we became closer as a couple. So it's been good.

Beautiful Day with Beautiful Memories

2010-04-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

We had a very rare and beautiful occasion yesterday! As I believe I've mentioned before, while I was pregnant for Sarah two of my sister in laws were prego too! It was great to be pregnant with them and live so close to them! We all needed each other so much! :) Well, Amber's baby was born in December, Crystal's in January, and mine in February. Totally CRAZY!! Well in our church we give our babies a name and a blessing a few weeks or months after they're born. Having our babies so close together it just happened to work out that we all blessed them on the same Sunday. All three babies in one day! We had family everywhere and it was wonderful!! After church we all got together for a lunch in our courtyard. The Ferguson family was all together for the first time in a while and probably the last time in a while. So here we are...

Sarah Mae Ferguson what a beautiful little girl!

My parents aka Shumaw and Shupaw, were able to come for the blessing! It was so great to have them here. My boys love them so much!

Look how big my family is getting!!! I can't believe we have 3 kids! And super great ones at that! Oh how much I love them all!

Don't be deceived by the picture....this is not Lacey, it's Ivy wearing Lacey's shirt....I don't know why. It was so great to have her here too! She took great care of the boys! Thanks Ivy! :)

For Journaling Sake...

2010-04-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

Well, now that Sarah is 5 weeks old tomorrow I think it's time I wrote down her birth story! I tried to hand write it in my journal but it keeps getting interrupted so I'll do it here since I can type faster than I can write...

After a long and hard pregnancy the day finally came! After Nate was born at 9lbs. 5oz. with a broken shoulder bone it makes doctors nervous to let my babies get too big. So at about 37 weeks they do an ultrasound to see out big the baby is and if we need to induce. Well at 37 weeks I went in for my ultrasound and they found that I had an over abundance of amniotic fluid which is part of the reason I was so miserable! Plus at 3 weeks early the baby was measuring 6lbs 14 oz! And if she really were to grow a pound a week like the do in the end she would be HUGE!!! The doctor gave to go ahead to induce the next week. I was beyond thrilled!! I left the office happier than I'd been in months! The end was in sight and I would soon be normal again!! I couldn't wait! Oh yeah and of course I couldn't wait to see our baby girl but sadly after being in so much pain I was just excited about not being pregnant anymore!

So for the next week I got everything ready. Daniel would make fun of me because there were lists everywhere!! I made lists for everyone that would be staying with the boys and labeled everything. I organized the toys and washed all the laundry. It was a busy week. Among all of this "nesting" I went into false labor almost every night. That was nothing new since I'd been having regular contractions for about 2 months or so (a side effect from having too much fluid) but when they started getting really close together and more painful I got worried. I'd never gone into labor by myself and Daniel was usually at work and it just scared me. Luckily after a couple of hours the contractions would stop. I'd usually say, "i'm going to bed and if I can't sleep through them I'll go to the hospital." So every night I'd get nervous and call someone to distract me and see if they'd stop, sometimes it would work but most of the time it didn't. Oh yeah, one more item of GReAT news from the doctor was that at 3 week early I was dilated to a 1!! I'd never started dilating on my own before either so this was GReAT progress! I was thrilled. With Nate it took me 12 hours of being on medicine to induce labor to even get to a 3! With Knowly it moved a little faster but only with medication.

We were scheduled for induction on Friday Feb. 26 and my Dad had all ready planned to be at our house the Wednesday before on a business trip. He was planning on staying through Friday but when he found out the baby was coming that weekend he extended his stay until Sunday! My mom would drive out on Thursday night so they could both be here Friday with the boys while we were in the hospital. Dad would drive back Sunday and Mom would stay for another week or so. It was all working out so perfectly! I was loving seeing Heavenly Father's plan unfold for this little angel to bless out lives!

On Friday morning we went to the hospital at 7am. My nurses were so wonderful! They made the experience so nice. I know there are so many people out there who are all about doing it "all natural." and I say, GOOD FOR YOU!!! I've known since I was 12 that I was going to be getting an epidural no doubt about it! I was more afraid of the pain than anything but then a lady at church when I was about to deliver Nate told me something that made me think of it totally different. She said that having a baby was such a spiritual experience and you can't really enjoy it if you're in pain or trying so hard to focus on something else. I thought that was brilliant advice! So I've had three WONDERFUL epidurals and no problems! I told my nurse that I wanted to get it as soon as possible after they started to pitocin and they did! It was great! I started having a few really hard contractions and I was sooooo glad when the anesthesiologist showed up. He was very good and it worked very fast, thank goodness!

I was reading someone else's natural birthing story recently and don't get me wrong they did a wonderful job with the delivery and had a very great experience but she talked about how she just had to concentrate and some times she lost her consentration and it was hard to get it back. She spent most of the time talking herself into being ok. As I was reading it all I could think was Good for you! but that's WAY too much work! I'm all about give me the goods and let me sit back and relax. After being miserable for 9 months I had been looking forward to the epidural for a long long time!

So, after I got the epidural I took a nice nap....I think I even woke myself up snoring a couple of times. Daniel's mom and brother came to say hi. Nancy had to go to work but Sam stayed until the baby was born. It was nice to have him there to keep Daniel company. They chatted and I just slept. It was nice. Something about their voices was soothing and way less obnoxious than having the TV on.

Dr. Duff came in to break my water between noon and 1pm and said I was doing well. I think by this point I was like a 6 or 7. Daniel and Sam had stepped out so doctor could break my water. After everything was cleaned up the doctor left and then both of my nurses left the room so I was all alone. I started feeling very dizzy even though I wasn't moving. I felt very light headed and didn't know what to do. I looked for my call button but it had gotten stuck on the floor and between the epidural and me not feeling right I couldn't reach it. I started to get very nervous! I thought for sure I was going to pass out. I knew they could see my monitors out in the nurses station but I was still nervous. I said a small prayer and then the baby moved off the monitor so they couldn't read her heartbeat so a nurse came in to adjust the monitor. What a blessing! I'm sure nothing bad would have happened but the nurse came back at just the right time. I told her how I was feeling and she had me turn and gave me lots more fluids. I felt better for a bit but it happened again so they gave me MORE fluids and I started to feel normal again. At that point they checked me and said I was a definite 8. Shortly after that I said you really might want to check again and sure enough I was ready to push!!

Pushing was amazing! I couldn't feel my legs very well so it was hard to use them but I managed ok. I think I pushed like 3 times and then I felt the baby move into position and it was amazing! I started bawling and pushed harder and she was out. With the boys I was able to reach down and pull them up onto my chest after the shoulders were out. I told the doctor I wanted to do this again and she agreed but unfortunately my IV was twisted around somewhere and my arm wouldn't reach far enough. but I still got to hold her and love her and enjoy that beautiful amazing moment! What a miracle! She was perfect! It's amazing to see how much love can grow in that little tiny moment. They took her and suctioned her and checked her vitals and everything was great. They had her on a cart close enough so I could touch her. She had reached up her hand and held onto my finger as the cleaned her up and Dr. Duff finished helping me. It was such a tender moment. She cried for a minute but was perfectly content while they took care of her. She just had the sweetest spirit about her. It was amazing.

After the nurse weighed her they announced that she weighed 8lbs. 15oz 21.5 inches long!!! WOW!!! Good big girl! No broken bones, 10 fingers, 10 toes, perfect! Oh yeah, and I remember thinking that she look JUST like Knowlton when I very first pulled her up on my chest. They let me nurse her for a good 20 minutes and she latched on right away. We had a great connection and everything worked right. It's nice how much better my body has been able to handle each delivery. With Nate I had a TON of stitches and nursing didn't come as easily, it was fine after someone showed me how to do it right. With Knowly I had a few stitches and nursing came very naturally, with Sarah, NO STITCHES! and everything with nursing was GREAT! Hooray!

Well, they took Sarah to the nursery and got me ready to move into my recovery room where I'd stay for the rest of the time I was in the hospital. We got everything settled on my end and were just waiting for the nurse to bring Sarah back to us. After being in my new room for 2 hours I asked the nurse what was going on and she said she'd find out. She told me that they had to keep Sarah in the nursery for a little while because her blood sugar was one point too low so they gave her formula and would test again in an hour. They FINALLY let me have her back 5 hours after she was born! But I was told not to nurse her because they were waiting on a sugar test to see if she was OK....I as FURIOUS! I couldn't nurse my baby for like 8 hours after the initial nursing right after she was born! Not only did they give her formula, I wasn't able to nurse so my body wasn't cuing the milk to come in. I had to ask for a pump which kind of helped but I was still really mad. Daniel and I finally got to love on her for a little while and I finally did get the OK to nurse. Had they let me nurse the first time it probably would have made her sugar go up just fine but they didn't so I made sure to tell them that I didn't appreciate that. She slept great the first night and was so content still. I loved her peaceful spirit! The next day the 2 bottles formula they gave her made her tummy so gassy (I could hear it loudly) and she was so upset. she pretty much cried unless she was nursing for the rest of the stay in the hospital. It was so not fun!

On Sunday morning, the day we were to leave, the nurse's aid came in at the beginning of shift change to introduce himself. That's right HIMselft! Lol! It wasn't a big deal but I thought it was funny. He came in and gave me an embarrassed look and said, "I don't normally work on this floor but they needed extra help here today so they sent me here." I said it was fine and I didn't mind. Luckily all I really needed him for was to get me ice water when I needed it, no big deal. Well, he was such a nice guy! He came back to check on me every hour and would get me anything I needed. A few hours later Daniel came up to take me home. I could hear him walking down the hall and this is the conversation I heard, "Hey Casey! I didn't know you worked this floor." "I don't I normally work on the peds floor, oh wait! That's your wife isn't it? I've been taking care of your wife all morning!" They came in together and Daniel told me that they were in nursing school together! haha!! Small world! Now I'm REALLY glad I didn't need his help with anything embarrassing! lol

So we took Sarah home, she cried the whole way, and took her into the house and it was like as soon as she heard the boys she was happy! She LOVED sleeping in the bouncy chair in the middle of all the action. It was so cute. She must have just missed her brothers. For someone who sure had a hard time in the hospital she sure is mellow and sweet here at home! She hardly ever cries and just sits and watches. I love it! I love her! :)

SO there you go, if there's anyone still reading this WOW! You made it! Thanks :)

Random Pics to Catch up

2010-03-29T17:12:00.001-07:00

Okay, as I was reviewing this post I realized I got it out of order so start from the bottom and work your way up if you can! :) There's a lot of cute pics of the kids so enjoy! :)

I love this picture! I always find Nate like this. He is such a good protector of Sarah Mae! If I lay her in the middle of the bed or on the floor or something for a minute I find him cuddled next to her. I love it!! I catch him talking to her sometimes too. He's so sweet. I know they are going to be such good friends!

Knowly is my little helper...most of the time a GOOD helper. For some reason he's fascinated with her eyes so I have to watch out. He loves to hold her! He always asks to hold her. I love it.

Sarah Mae 1 month and 2 days.

We took her to church for the first time on Sunday! I was very pleased! Daniel set out the kids clothes before he left for his meetings and I got them cleaned, dressed, hair combed, AND out the door WAYYYY before it was time to go! :) We even did it with no major melt downs, from me or the kids! :)

Such Sweetness!

I guess i need to write this so I don't forget but I'm afraid to because I might jinx it or something. Sarah Mae is such a good baby. I thought the boys were perfect angels and she is too! I was sooooo worried that she would be colic and a "demon child" after the rough pregnancy I had with her but so far it's been smooth sailing well a few waves but nothing major! She is so content most of the time and loves to look around. When we were in the hospital she HATED it!!! I think she had some major gas from the formula they gave her (don't get me started on that story) and I was terrified to take her home because all she did was cry! :( But as soon as we got home and she saw the boys and had her old noise back she was perfect! She cries when she needs to but never for very long.

When she was not even two weeks old I was laying in my bed with her in the morning and I'm not joking she totally full out LAUGHED!! It wasn't a giggle it was a BELLY LAUGH!! It was great! I wished I had someone else there to witness it. Well, the next night Daniel and I were sitting on the couch with her, not really doing anything just sitting and she did it AGAIN!! It was perfect and sooooo cute. she hasn't don't it since but I hope I never forget that! I believe she will be a very happy child. Her eyes seem to always be smiling. :)

This is her official ONE MONTH picture! Too bad she looks totally freaked! Oh well....Can you believe she's all ready one month?? I can't!! I knew time started to fly once you had kids I didn't know it got faster every kid you had!!

Nate and Daniel started planting seeds this week! It's so fun! IT's becoming their traditions! :)

This I LOVE!! I really wanted a Cherry Limeade from Sonic the other day but I knew that if I were drinking it the boys would want it too but I don't give them soda so that was out of the question....(they're hyper enough on their own lol) So I got a brilliant idea!! I got two cups of ice water and it did the trick! They were pleased and so was I. :)

This is so sad...Here is Sarah, 3 weeks old...first bath EVER! lol I'd wiped her down a few times but that was it...and the only reason she got a bath that night was because she barfed ALL over my shirt as you can see in the pic.

I love this picture so much! Nancy is my Mother in law. She is such a sweet woman! I love her very much. I feel so bad because since we live so close to her and Wes I hardly ever get my camera out unless it's a special occasion so I have hardly any pictures of them with the kids and tons of my parents with the kids because when them come into town it's like I have to documetn the "vacation" or something? :) But that's going to change, I'm going to start taking more out of the house pictures so Fergis' watch out the camera is coming! :)

Sarah at 3 weeks :) She's so pretty!

My Joy in Motherhood

2010-03-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

After I posted the previous post I thought about it a lot and thought how true it is sometimes but also how much it leaves out. My Grandmother sweetly reminded me of the good things of being a parent. Here are a few things the previous post left out...

1) There is nothing quite like a sleeping child on your chest. Something about their peace is incredible! Now make that your own child and it's a million times better.

2) Little baby open mouth kisses...I love when my kids learn to give kisses! Even if they're covered in snot or food or just drooling they are still so sweet.

3) I love watching their faces when they learn something new! Knowly has learned how to match shapes and colors this week. He is fascinated and it makes me tear up because he's just so stinkin cute when he does it!

4) The love that is shared when you share responsibility. My kids love to do what I do so instead of getting frustrated and sending them away I love to give them a rag and let them help me clean walls or stand on a chair and help with the dishes. Nate is getting to the stage where he loves to help me cook. It's a blast! He gets so excited! Knowly loves to clean up. He'll get things off the floor and put them away (surprisingly where they go most of the time) and come back with his arms in the air and say, "SCORE!" I love it!!

5) I actually love grocery shopping with the kids! Well, most of the time. But I love to show them new things and get them excited about what we're buying. When we got to one particular walmart they love to go see the fish! So it's a fun time to go look at them.

6) When Nate was about a year old we taught him all sorts of "tricks," We called him our puppy because he would follow all sorts of commands. :) We're doing the same with Knowly and it's just so fun to see them learn how to make animal noises, say big words, or make funny faces. :)

7) I love LOVE love it when I tuck Nate in bed and give him a kiss and start to walk away and he says, "more kisses!"

8) In the mornings Knowly has his own routine that he wakes up and stands at his door until someone lets him out, usually that someone is Nate. He toddles into our room with sleepy eyes and crazy hair with his puppy in one arm and his drink in the other. He's so cute!! he climbs into our bed and snuggles for a little while. I love snuggles!

9) Hearing the kids laugh together, even when they're doing something naughty, is priceless. Sometimes I walk into a mess and I just can't help laugh because they are obviously having a great time in whatever they're doing and totally oblivious to the fact that it's not a good idea. ie: baby powder sprinkled EVERYWHERE! :)

10) Hearing them say "I love you." When Daniel and I were first married I would always say, and I still believe it, that "I love you" just doesn't quite say it all. I don't think there are words that quite describe my feelings for my sweet husband and wonderful children. At least I didn't until I hear Nate say "I wub you." That says it all!

Being a mother is no doubt hard but I wouldn't trade it for all the money in the world. For me it completes me!! My children are my joys and I love to do things FOR them. I've had to adjust my attitude for early morning breakfasts or piles of clothes but I'm grateful for them and most of the time happy when I do them. I love when Sarah wakes up and just lets me hold her. I love when the boys come and crawl into my bed in the middle of the night, we'll snuggle for a bit and then I get claustrophobic and I have Daniel put them in their beds. I love when they hold my hand and show me something new! I guess I just love LOVE love being a mom!

I've realized that I mostly voice the hard times and rarely comment on the good so now I'm going to do the opposite because they good really come a lot more often then that bad. :) Go give your kids a squeeze and tell them you love them!

I couldn't say it any better...

2010-03-22T18:03:00.000-07:00

I found this on someone else's blog and I love it. I've heard it before but it's still so good! :) Enjoy!

Thinking of Having Kids?
Do this 15 step program first!

Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already
are parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5.Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breast-feeding;
sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.

Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all
the answers.

Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighingapproximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly.
2. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
3. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to
sleep.
4. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until
1AM.
5. Set the alarm for 3AM.
6. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and
watch an infomercial.
7. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
8. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
9. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
10. Get up. Make breakfast.

Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years.

Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2.Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all
summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons.

How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.

1. Buy a live octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang
out.

Time allowed for this - 5 minutes each morning.

Lesson 6
1. Take an egg carton.
Using a pair of scissors and a jar of paint, turn it into an alligator.
2. Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper.
Using only Scotch tape and a piece of aluminum foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle.
3. Last, take a milk carton, a ping-pong ball, and an empty packet of
Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower.

Lesson 7
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van.
And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining.
Family cars don't look like that.

1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.
Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies.
Mash them into the back seat.
4. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
5. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 8
1. Get ready to go out.
2. Sit on the floor of your bathroom reading picture books for half an hour.
3. Go out the front door.
4. Come in again. Go out.
5. Come back in.
6. Go out again.
7. Walk down the front path.
8. Walk back up it.
9. Walk down it again.
10. Walk very slowly down the sidewalk for five minutes.
11.Stop, inspect minutely, and ask at least 6 questions about every
cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect
along the way.
12. Retrace your steps.
13. Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbors
come out and stare at you.
14. Give up and go back into the house.

You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.

Lesson 9
Repeat everything you have learned at least (if not more than) five times.

Lesson 10
Go to the local grocery store.

Take with you the closest thing you can find to a preschool child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice).

If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one
goat.

Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.

Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 11
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4.Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the
swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 12
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street, Barney, Disney, the
Teletubbies, and Pokemon.

Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years.
I know, you're thinking Whats 'Noggin'? Exactly the point.

Lesson 13
Find or make a compost pile.

Dig down about halfway and stick your nose in it. Do this 3-5 times a day for at least two years.

Lesson 14
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly.

(Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required).

Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years.

You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 15
Start talking to an adult of your choice.

Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 14 above.

You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

One Week Old

2010-03-05T17:25:00.000-08:00

Sarah Mae is one week old today! She is such a sweet joy to have in our family! I love her so much! The boys think she's great! She LOVES her brothers. She wants to be right in the middle of everything! She sleeps better when there's noise from her brothers. They could come in a scream and laugh and it doesn't even phase her! I love it! She's so beautiful, my mom and I have had a great time taking picture of her! My sister in law Amber came over this morning and took these pictures...enjoy! :)

We Have a Baby Girl!!

2010-02-27T21:08:00.000-08:00

Well folks, the day we've been waiting for arrived!! Sarah Mae Ferguson was born yesterday (26th) at 2:18pm. She weighs a whopping 8pounds 15ounces and is 21.5 inches long. She's beautiful! She looks like her own little person but you can definitely tell she's the sister of both of the boys. I think she has Nate's eyes and Knowly's mouth which also means she's half Daniel and half me! :)

waiting waiting waiting....

Great News on the Baby Front! :)

2010-02-19T17:16:00.001-08:00

No, there's no baby yet but we do have great news!!! Yesterday I went to the ob/gyn and they did an ultrasound to see how big little Sarah is getting. (Nate was 9lbs 5oz. and had a broken collar bone so they don't want my babies to get that big again. Knowly was induced 2.5 weeks early and was 8lbs. 6oz.) The ultrasound said she is 7lbs. 15oz and I still have 3 weeks to go!!! They also found that I have a crazy amount of extra amniotic fluid which is why I have been sooooo uncomfortable and HUGE and have been having hard "real" contractions that become consistent at times for the last month or so. My body thinks i'm about a month ahead of schedule. It's not a problem for the baby but it is a reason to induce labor early. soooooo....

They want to induce me next Friday (26th) at 7am!!!!! When she said that I just about leaped up and down! I was sooooooooooo excited!!!!! That puts me at 38 weeks so they won't have to do an amnio to check lung development! I had that with Knowly and it was creepy and uncomfortable! (they stick a needle in your stomach and draw out amniotic fluid to run tests on it.)

I cannot wait to have this baby!!! It was so funny, in the ultrasound picture she has a really pouty face and it's like she's saying, "I don't have anymore room in here, I want out!" and I'm on the outside with the same face saying, "I'm so over this, get this baby out of me!" lol.

Anyways, the doctor also said some words I have never heard until I was started on pitocin, "you're definitely dilated to a one." I was so thrilled that I wasn't totally closed shut this time! :) It took me over night on meds and several hours after breaking my water with Nate to get to a 3!

One more thing the doctor told me was that due to all of the extra fluid that I have if my water breaks there's going to be a super flood! YIKES!! I never want to leave the house now! I know it's not as likely as people think it is for you water to break but still it makes me scared...

So anyways, I could have a baby any day now but no longer than a week! yay!! We'll keep you posted!

36 + 6 days prego with Baby Sarah Mae

again Sarah Mae

37 weeks prego with Knowlton

40 weeks +2 days prego with Nathan

Valentines Day 2010

2010-02-17T18:10:00.000-08:00

I love LOVE love holidays! I love making crafts with the boys for the different celebrations. It's definitely something that makes me happy.

My sweet husband makes chocolate covered strawberries for me every year on Valentines Day. I love them! They not only taste good but they look beautiful! What a good man I have! :)

I love Valentines Day, not because it's a romantic day but because it's so much fun to make lots of pink heart shaped stuff! :) Here are some things we did this year.

I love making pink heart shaped pancakes. It's been a tradition in my family for years, the pink part anyways. When Daniel and I got married I started making them heart shaped. It's so fun! The boys loved them this year too!

This is my favorite tradition that I've started!! Nate and I started these last year but he didn't remember so we did it again this year. They boys had so much fun I think we'll do it every year. We call it our "Heart Family." A few days after we made them the eyes fell off of the pink one (how ironic to make "mommy" blind!) and every time we sit at the table the boys point to it and say, "what happened to the pink one's eyes?" It's so funny. We have the same conversation at every meal! lol silly boys!

How Cute

2010-01-30T06:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon I came out of the bedroom from taking a nap and found Nate asleep on the couch like this! Daniel said he had just fallen asleep like that! He wasn't facing the TV so it made me wonder how he got comfy like this but he did! :)

Birthdays and Stitches....

2010-01-23T17:50:00.000-08:00

Birthdays and Stitches seem to run together in my family! One year on my mom's birthday my brother Tyler slipped in the tub and cut his forehead open and needed stitches. That evening my sister Emma was running around and tripped and bit a good portion of her tongue almost off! It was pretty gross and even though they don't normally do stitches on a tongue she NEEDED them! :) Anyways, last week was Daniel's birthday and the night before we had to take Knowly to the ER for a knock to the forehead. He was climbing on a chair and fell and hit his head on the computer hutch. It was very sad but he was very good about it. It wasn't a very bad cut, had we had any skin glue we would have used that but we didn't so we took him in. I need to take a picture of it now that the stitches are gone. I've been putting Melaleuca oil a.k.a. teetree oil on it and it looks GREAT!

In other news, for Daniel's b-day we went to Chili's for dinner. It was so nice to go out! Chili's had this guy they let come in and make balloon animals for people at their tables for tips. He came to our table and we asked him to make a palm tree and he put a monkey in it. It was awesome! :)

It was also really fun, for Daniel's b-day I bought him a trifle dish, which he's been wanting for a while, and made a trifle for him. It turned out really pretty! :)

Also, my sister in law Crystal had her baby on Monday! Yay for her! Sad for me....She is beautiful! I love seeing my new niece and nephew (Amber's baby) but it makes me so sad!! Since they've now had their babies it's going to be a LONG 7ish weeks!!!! We did/do everything together but with the cold weather they are keeping the babies inside (very wise!) and now I'm lonely! Oh well, soon enough I suppose.

The good thing about Crystal having her baby is that since her parents are school teachers and can't just stop working, and our wonderful mother in law also has to work and Amber is at home with her baby and I'm well, not able to help as much as I'd like to, my mom decided to come and help her! She loves Crystal and it's kind of a "thank you" for helping me after all my surgeries and stuff last year. So I have my mom and sister, Ivy, staying with me right now. Mom is mostly at Crystal's but comes here at night and plays with the boys in the morning. Ivy is such a helper! she's always there to see if I need anything. This help couldn't have come at a better time!!!!!! So I'm grateful for that. Here is a sweet sweet picture of Ivy and the boys watching a youtube video. I love it!

Feeling Much Better

2010-01-19T09:24:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for your prayers and notes! I feel much better today. I tend to have random days of anxiety when I'm pregnant...(rolls eyes) I should have realized it was probably just one of those days. But the thing I learned yesterday is this:
I've been trying so hard to make sure I eat enough protein and balanced meals so that I have enough energy to make it through the day. Most nights I crawl into bed and thank the Lord I made it through another day and I listen to my scriptures on my mp3 player. I will admit sometimes I doze off and sometimes I listen very carefully. But yesterday I remembered this poster that my grandparents had in their house when I was growing up. I made an impact on me then and a greater impact on me yesterday! I have been focusing so much on my physical needs and not as much on my spiritual needs.
So I got down on my knees and poured my heart out to my loving Father in Heaven and pleaded for strength to make it through. I cannot express what a great peace I felt. I know he heard my prayers and I felt his loving comfort. We had a rough night, sleeping wise, last night but I started my day with prayer and have been listening to uplifting talks on my mp3 player today and I feel tons better!! The scripture, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" is so true. (Philipeans 4:13)
Get your daily dose today folks. Have a great day! :)

Ok, I'm freaking out now!

2010-01-18T04:47:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning at 5am and couldn't go back to sleep. As I'm laying there I hear Knowly playing in his bed. For the last several months he's been such a great sleeper!!!! He goes to bed between 7:oo and 7:30pm and will sleep until about 7am! It's been wonderful. Very rarely do we hear from him in the night. It used to be so easy to get him to sleep too! I would just lay him on his pillow, turn on his music, give him his drink and puppy, and he'd go right to sleep. Well, not anymore! He's decided that it's fun to get out of his bed and play. So now we have to figure out an new system for him....so as I'm laying in bed at 5 am this morning I'm thinking of how I can change things and help him sleep and then it hit me! It was as if someone SMACKED me so hard and said, "YOU'RE HAVING ANOTHER BABY IN JUST A FEW WEEKS! BETTER FIGURE IT OUT SOON!" So then there was more to worry about. I'm so glad my mom will be able to come and help after I have baby Sarah but that's only going to be for like a week or so. Daniel is still Young Men's president at church so he's gone Wednesday nights to church and has a bunch of meetings on Sundays, plus he works Monday, Friday, and Saturday nights, plus he has school!
I'm not really nervous about having another baby in general. It will be fine. I know that. But it's the nights that scare me to death! I've always been scared of the dark/night time, then I had kids and for some reason being awake in the wee hours of the morning with a wide awake child kinda freaked me out. I was awake the other night with both the boys from 3am - 6am and it just fills me with anxiety, I don't know why! Something about it being dark outside...I'm so weird and such a baby!
Anyways, we've been on a really great routine lately and everything was going smoothly. I have learned so much since I had Nate so I was feeling a little more prepared this time but now there's a kink! What do I do? Currently Nate and Knowly sleep in different rooms but they go to sleep at the same time....How early is too early for bunk beds? How do I get them to learn to share a room? How do I help them go to sleep without fighting with eachother or me?
The only things that keep running through my head are, "I WANT THIS BABY OUT OF ME! THERE'S NO MORE ROOM FOR HER IN MY BELLY AND SHE STILL HAS 8 WEEKS TO GROW!!!" and "WHAT WERE WE THINKING!? I CAN'T HAVE ANOTHER BABY! SHE'S GONNA HAVE TO STAY INSIDE ME FOREVER BECAUSE I'M NOT READY FOR THIS."
I need help, I'm going to go crazy! :( I'm full of anxiety and fear and any advice would be welcome!

I have a NEW blog!!

2010-01-09T20:12:00.000-08:00

I've created a new blog for myself. Don't worry I'm still keeping this one for our family goings-on but check out my new blog, it's fun for me anyways. www.thingsthatsavemysanity.blogspot.com I think the address says it all... :)

A bunch of pictures and two posts in one

2010-01-04T20:18:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! I hope you holidays were great! We are recovering and life is getting back to normal. I have a TON of picture that I want to get on here but they are taking sooooo long so here are some important ones :) Enjoy...

Post #1:

30ish weeks prego! Baby Sarah is doing great but it's been a rough pregnancy so I'll be glad when it's over.

My sweet boys! Grandma Welch sent these outfits for Christmas. Aren't they just the cutest things ever!? I love these pics of them. Thanks Grandma!!

POST #2:

I've been bit by the organization bug. I LOVE to organize things! I always have. My parents used to give me the "special chores" because they knew I'd organize the book shelves or whatever right. Anyways, call me obsessive, call me anal, whatever I LOVE to color coordinate things, have matching things, and have a place for everything! Oh yeah and I love lists. I have lists everywhere!! In my purse, in my many many notebooks, on my fridge, on my cupboards, on the wall....they're everywhere. :)

I don't have a lot of space in our duplex and with Daniel in school we don't have a ton of money to spend on the fancy organizing things so I have to be creative. Here are just a few of the things I've come up with.

Disclaimer: I said I LOVE to organize. I would just like to clarify that "organize" does not necessarily mean "clean". I try very hard but I also have two little boys that make messes faster than I can clean so keep that in mind. :)

Kitchen:

We put up these spice racks today. They're supposed to be the things you put inside your cupboards or in a pantry or whatever but we don't have that option so we did it this way. It comes in a pack of 3, 3 different sizes, for like $7. They're not the most beautiful things in the world but when you love to cook and season food as we do you gotta do what you gotta do! We freed up a WHOLE cupboard by doing this so tomorrow I get to organize that!! :)

Here is one of the best Christmas presents I've ever gotten!! My dad made this peg board for me a couple of years ago and I have LOVED it so much!!! I might be hard to see what all is on it, but I've put on some baskets that I found 3/$1 at walmart and put little seasonings, extracts, and random small things in them. I love that I can hang everything from my utensil drawer on here! The drawer space is only so big in a duplex, 4 drawers to be exact...not much so this is super great!

Laundry Room:

Here are the two side walls in the laundry room. I have an over the door shoe hanger nailed to the wall in almost every room. They make so much sense to me! I put EVERYTHING in them! I call them my "junk drawers". When space is an issue, as it is for us, this is so great! That way I have all my junk and I know where it is and I can see it clearly...this one is exploding a little but it works.

Another great idea from my dad! He came last year to help after one of my surgeries and wanted to do something nice for us so he put up shelves all the way around the top of our laundry room. It's hard to see since our laundry room is in the hall but you get the general idea. I love that everything has a place and take a look at my cleaners! They pretty much all match (thank you melaleuca)!! That makes my brain happy :)

Eating Area:

Two things that I love in this room are these! My GIANT dry-erase board and my mail sorter. The dry-erase board is just a big white board from Lowe's for like $10. It doesn't wipe off quite as good as a real one but a little rubbing alcohol once in a while and we're in good shape. I keep this mainly for daily tasks and my Menu. I LOVE my menu. Thanks Mom for teaching me this! I plan out my meals once a week and shop accordingly and I know before 5:00pm what's for dinner!

My Mail Sorter came to me in a dream! I love my shoe holder organizers but they just aren't the right size sometimes so I made my own version and it works great. I have a spot for everything such as: Car Ins., bank statements, medical bills, student loan info, ect... I clean it out every couple months, as you can see that time is soon coming!

Okay, I LOVE LOVE LOVE these!!!! I had a great time making them too! We were filling 5 gallon buckets with oatmeal for our food storage and we had all these empty canisters and I though, "surely there's something I can do with these." They seal just tight enough to keep things fresh. I have everything from flour, sugar, oatmeal, crackers, to drink mixes, chocolate chips, and more. They keep it out of my tiny little pantry and I can see what i have. I just covered the canisters with scrapbook paper covered with contact paper. so easy!

Random:

Here is my gate! I LOVE my gate. Why do I have a gate you ask? Because with a gate my children stay out of the kitchen!! I was ready to just take a piece of plywood and stick it in front of the walk way but Daniel had a better idea. He made the whole thing for me!! It turned out so good and it works really well. Isn't he the best? It also collapses so that when we need to move it it can fold and go away.

Here is the stuffed animal net I made. It was so easy and so cheap too! I took a flat twin sheet ($3 at walmart) and cut it in half, sewed a hem on the edge I cut, bunched the corners and sewed it really tight, and nailed it right into the wall. It's worked great for a long time!

Oh How I Love Christmas!

2009-12-25T17:15:00.000-08:00

(I don't know why but it's not letting me upload pics, so I'll try again tomorrow)
I love Christmas Soooo much!! I can't wait for it every year! We start getting Christmas hungry in like August and start listening to some Christmas music and I like to watch Home Alone 1&2 in July. But I love the lights, the smell of food, and just the feeling in the air of kindness and love. I can't wait until we have a house so I can go all out decorating it and really making it look good but we do our best in our little duplex.

Some Family Traditions:

Every year for the last 10 years or so my family has done a snack/junk food movie day on Christmas Eve. We make all of our favorite foods from the year and watch our favorite movies from the year. For some reason we always end up watching one of the Father of the Bride movies...i don't really know how that's a Christmas movie but in our house it is. :) So Daniel and I have decided to keep that tradition going and since our family is small and there are pretty much only two of us that can really eat all of the yummy foods and since we LOVE to cook and entertain we invited Daniel's family over to share with us. We watched Joy to the World, Borrowed Hearts, and The Christmas Shoes (All GREAT Christmas movies) and we had soooooooooo much food. Daniel's brother, Sam, rented "17 Again" and we watched that. It was pretty good. We had SOOOOOOOO much food!!! We can't wait for next year when we (hopefully) have a house and we can really have a TON of people over and have a great time. (I love having people over. It gets a little crowded in our place right now but it's still so great!) Anyways, here's what we ate: a HUGE fruit pizza, sausage balls, meatballs, pigs in a blanket, 7-layer dip, chips and salsa, an amazing cheese platter from Sam's club, cake balls, peanut butter fudge, chocolate pretzels, veggie tray with homemade chipotle ranch dip, and chips and homemade french onion dip. I'm sure there was more that I forgot to mention but that's most of it. It was so much fun! I love cooking good foods. It was so much to have everyone here and share it with us!

Something else we have chosen to continue from my family is something that has been going on for 20 years. When I was little my family didn't have much money and we were supposed to have the missionaries from our church over for dinner on Christmas Eve. My dad really wanted to make it special for them but with very little money that was going to be hard so he came up with a great idea that stuck for years to come. We had pancakes by candlelight. It was so much fun! So every year we have a candlelit pancake dinner with ALL the toppings and different syrups. This year we had sausage links and bacon and a fruit plate. It was so delicious! It was so much fun to have it in my home.

When Daniel went to pick up the missionaries (oh yeah that's part of the tradition, we try to get them to come every year) I stood back and looked at my house. It really made me feel like a grown up! I was very pleased with the whole day. Our house was decorated nicely, it was clean, the christmas lights added the perfect touch, and the food was fantastic. I turned on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and soaked in the Christmas feeling. It was perfect!

Daniel and I have started some of our own traditions that I really really love.
1) Daniel makes super yummy cinnamon rolls every year for breakfast. mmmmm they're so tasty!
2) On Christmas morning Santa brings the stockings, the basics you know, a tooth brush, some snacks, and maybe a fun toy or something small. But we give each other gifts that actually mean something. Things that we put thought into and bought/made specific for the person. We also open the gifts from our extended family. We focus on the birth of our Savior and on His love for us. It really helps us focus on the reason for the season. This year Daniel got me some books on Christ and a digital picture frame to display my digital scrapbook pages on! I gave him a wallet with new pics of our family (since his old one got dropped in the lake on the last boy scout canoe trip.) and I got him a fuzzy bathrobe because he has really wanted one for a while. :) The boys got some learning games, new PJ's, snow boots (which were perfect since we actually woke up to snow!). It was such a great day for us!
On New Years Eve we have a special day and that's when the toys come! We try not to go crazy but it's a really fun day so stay tuned for next week when pics of that come.
3) Someone has to be sick!!! It seems like EVERY holiday someone is sick. Knowly has taken that role for the last several holidays. Two years ago Nate was teething on Christmas and he threw up on me while we were opening presents. Last year Knowly had breathing issues and Daniel still had the flu. This year on Thanksgiving Knowly had the hardest time breathing again, so much that I was scared, but after a few breathing treatments he was fine. Just too much stimulation I think. Then today everything looked great! The kids were happy so we headed off to Daniel's parents house for Christmas with them. We opened presents and had breakfast and everything was great. I had just sat down to eat a cinnamon roll and Nate asked for a bite so I gave him one. He acted like he didn't like it so I told him he could spit it back on my plate. Then next thing I knew I was COVERED in puke! Nothing got on him or the couch where I was sitting but it sure got me all over! It even got into my shoe! Oh it was so gross! But after that he was wound up again and back to his normal self. I don't know what happened but it never even phased him. Oh well...what can you do?

Anyways, that was our Christmas. I hope yours was as wonderful as our. May we all remember the true meaning for the season and find ways to come closer to our Savior Jesus Christ all year long. Love to all! Good night.

Quick picture

2009-12-09T08:50:00.001-08:00

I posted another post earlier so Please scroll down and read that one too.

Unfortunately this is one of the very very few pictures I have of this pregnancy. These are my two best friends ever(besides Daniel) and they just so happen to be my sister in laws AND we just so happen to live SUPER close to each other. We do EVERYTHING together it seems. I love them! They have been my life savers while living here in MO. We've called each other on occasion and said things like, "Will you come save my children!" or "I just need to talk to a big person", or "I'm sorry I'm very hormonal I just need to cry for a minute." It's the best! Amber(pink) is due in January, Crystal (gray)is due in February, and I'm due in March!! Crazy time! :)

A Moment to Brag

2009-12-09T07:25:00.001-08:00

Can I just brag on my sweet husband for a minute? I am so impressed with him! He is finishing up the semester in nursing school and only has one more left!!!!! :) In the time he's been going to school we have gotten married, will have had 3 kids, moved 4 times, worked at least part time the whole way through, and he's been serving as Young Men's President at church for over a year. He's had a lot on his plate! But even through all of this he will graduate next semester with a GPA of 3.9 for the nursing part and a 3.8ish overall! I can't believe it! He's so amazing! Just thought I'd let everyone know how blessed I am to have him! :)

Turning my Terrible Two Year Old into Not so Terrible...

2009-12-04T18:50:00.000-08:00

If someone has the fairy wand that turns the terrible two year old into a perfect angel I would like to borrow it PLEASE!!!

Nah, my sweet little Nate isn't that bad. He's just extremely curious. We had a round two of the baby powder episode and almost a 3rd but I caught that one just in time. (no I'm not stupid! They were all different bottles, each one is now safely in the dump. I swear they just poop out these things because we don't even USE baby powder!! I still don't know where they found 3 bottles of it!) I turn my back for just seconds and he's into something. I get a phone call, that doesn't even last very long, and that's a cue for him to do EVERYTHING he's not supposed to do.

But I found a solution!! (No it's not melaleuca....they don't make ADD medication lol) I've been experimenting with different things in the last little while, along with pleading for help from my Heavenly Father to guide me as to how to help Nate. So here's what I've done:

I made a list of several different things:

Things to do at the table
Things to do as a "helper"
Things to do by himself for quiet time
Learning activities
Playtime Activities

I can up with quite a few things for each category like, coloring, sewing cards, file folder games, making necklaces, reading, washing dishes with mom, sweeping the floor, ect.... I've found that when he's into trouble he's bored so I give him something to do from the list and it helps him focus and he's not in trouble! It took some time but I've made a lot of reusable activities that he can do. I'll be working on a blog to post some of these things so others can benefit from them too.

Another thing I've learned is that he thrives on praise! He loves to do a good job so when he does something good I make sure to tell him and make it really special. For example the other day he grabbed the broom and swept the kitchen well, you know, "swept" the kitchen but he was really trying to do good so I surprised him with a fruit snack and he was thrilled because he wasn't expecting it at all! Something else that has helped is that if we start the day out right our day is SOOOO much better!! After breakfast I try to give him "table time" where he sits at the table and colors, or makes fruit loop necklaces, or something with his hands that's creative. I'm not exactly sure why but it helps him so much to listen and focus a little longer during the day. Then I watch for cues as to when he needs something to do. I try not to "entertain" him all day, I want him to be creative and play by himself, but he does need a little guidance as to what is good and what keeps him out of trouble.

The last thing that works AMAZINGLY well is that I turned off the TV. The days where he watches little to no movies are super successful and less whining days. Unfortunately I'm pregnant and need him to watch some movies so I can put my feet up for a little bit but we do it sparingly and for reward. TV, no matter what's on it-good or bad, creates a weird attitude from kids. I don't get it but I don't like it!

Anyways, those are the ideas that have blessed my life I hope they can help someone else too. We're still learning everyday but that's what being a parent is all about right?

CHECK THIS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-19T19:58:00.000-08:00

Ok I have to rave for a minute!!!! As I've mentioned before, Daniel and I have become major lovers of Melaleuca. We are continuing to try different products and this story is AMAZING!! Look at this picture....

GROSS!!!!! I have tried for almost 2 years to get rid of those stains!! I've done everything, comet, scrubbing bubbles, limeaway, and I even soaked it in bleach over night and it didn't do a thing!!! So I ordered some Tub-and-Tile(a cleaner specifically for bathrooms) and some Sol-U-Mel (a stain remover/deoderizer/everyday cleaner) from melaleuca and look what it did!

I couldn't believe it!!!!!!! It was AMAZING!!! I love to go into my bathroom now and just look at it because it makes me so happy! (I'm such a dork)

Plus Daniel had this baseball hat that he loved that used to be a beautiful white....well after a few years of wear and tear it's turned a lovely yellow brown color and looks disgusting!! Well one day I took it and said, "it can't get any worse, I'm going to experiment!" So I got out the Mela Bright (a safe and natural bleach alternative/color brightener) and soaked it in about 1/2 a TBSP mixed with about a gallon of water for a few hours. Then I sprayed it with the Pre-Spot laundry spot treatment and rubbed it in and stuck it in the dishwasher. I didn't have time for it to run the full cycle so it ran a good 20-30 minutes and I shut off the dishwasher and just let it air dry. It took a while to dry but when it came out it was BEAUTIFUL!!!! I wouldn't call it sparkling white but it's pretty close! I was very shocked!! Ahhhhhhh I love when products do what they claim to do!! :)

So anyways, just thought I'd share :) Have a great day everyone!

A Good Week

2009-11-04T02:47:00.000-08:00

Okay so since my last post I'm doing much better! No crying since Saturday! :) On Sunday I forgot to take my prenatal vitamins and then forgot again on Monday and when I realized it Monday night I realized that I hadn't been quite as emotional the last two days. So I didn't take them again on Tuesday morning and all day Tuesday was pretty good! I had switched vitamins a couple of weeks ago and they made me throw up seconds after I had taken them which was strange because I've only thrown up twice this pregnancy so it was due to morning sickness. But the vitamins were supposed to be so good for me so I kept trying to take them different ways but now I'm pretty convinced that those just weren't made for my body. Last night I took my regular ones and I seem fine! MUCH BETTER!! Last week was sooooooo hard for me!

Here are some crazy stories about my kids from last week:

Nathan:

(Grandma Welch, Mom and Dad, you'll get a kick out of this one!)

Friday night we were ready to walk out the door for our church trunk-or-treat and I went into the back bedroom to get Nate and his cousin Zadia and put their coats on. Well, I walked in and found two children playing in "the snow" they had found! Nate found a trial size bottle of baby powder that fell out of a box when I was cleaning earlier and was sprinkling it all over the floor, and on their heads, and EVERYTHING! It made me laugh because I'd heard a story of how my older sister and I had done the same thing only in our velvet Christmas dresses! I couldn't do anything but laugh! I called my mom to tell her the funny story. I was very impressed at how I handled it, I laughed and calmly got the vacuum. Laughing really does help situations not be so horrible!

Saturday I invited my sister-in-law's family over to make sugar cookies cut into pumpkin shapes. I was really excited and Nate was being a very good helper! We were having a really good day so far, no tears yet, and then all of a sudden Crystal and I look at each other and say, do you smell something? It's like Christmas or something....I kept smelling and as soon as I realized what it was I realized Nate was missing! I ran from the kitchen back to his bedroom and sure enough, there he was. He dumped a WHOLE bottle of Thieves essential oil blend on his mattress. You might be saying, "oh it's just a smell, it'll go away in a day or so." NO! This is the purest form of essential oil you can find! It's a blend of cinnamon, cloves, eucalyptus, rosemary, and something else I can't remember at the moment. it is STRONG!!!! I did NOT handle that one very well. It was a brand new $40 bottle! (it's good for getting rid of and avoiding colds and flus and it was working well for us!) I was so mad! I didn't beat him (hooray for me!) or anything but I dragged him to his high chair, buckled him in, and put him in Knowly's room with the door closed staring at the wall. My brother-in-law looked at me in a state of shock and said, "I've never seen you mad before!" I figured Nate had had enough punishment when he tasted it on his hands and then got it kind of in his eye. It is POTENT stuff! Luckily it was nice out so we opened all the windows and let it air out. I cleaned that mattress as best as I could but the smell is still there, no stain anymore, just a smell!! I guess the smell could have been worse, it just smells like Christmas and probably will until next Christmas! Nathan stayed by my side for the rest of the day and he got to help me scrub some walls and scrub his mattress. He points to the bottle now and says, "No drops! Spicy, big trouble!"

One more thing for Nate is he's had this problem picking his nose and he's gotten scabs on it so he picks the scabs and they bleed so for the past week or so he looks like he's been in a fight! It's sad but it's finally looking better!

Knowlton:

I'm pleased to say that Knowly has learned to stand up for himself!! He was playing with the kids the other day and one of them took his toy and he didn't like that so he pushed them down!! I went over and told him "no push" but inside I was laughing and shouting for joy!! It's about time! He gets picked on, sat on, squeezed on, and never gets the toy he chooses without mommy's help so I'm excited he can show what he wants now! But here's to teaching him self control....bah!

He also has been sleeping in a big boy bed!!!!! He does so well in it too!! We took down the crib so he doesn't even have that option anymore. He pretty much sleeps 10-12 hours/night without waking up! It's amazing! We're still working on getting Nate to sleep through the night. Unfortunately the other night Knowly moved too far down on the bed where there was no rail and he fell off the bed. :( I heard him and went and put him back into bed and he did just fine, he went right back to sleep. Daniel got him in the morning and he had a HUGE rug burn around his eye. So now between him and Nate it looks like they got into a pretty good fight! It's sad but kinda funny.

Knowly has also started copying Nate's "happy face". I can't even describe it, it's just cute! I love it.

So that's what's been going on here. I'll post pics later

Oh the ups and downs of having a girl

2009-10-31T06:33:00.000-07:00

Okay all you mothers who have done this multiple times....is it just because I'm having a girl or is it the fact that I have more children...why can't i stop CRYING!!!! Grrrrrr I'm not a crying person! I cried maybe every other month when I was prego with the boys and that was a TON for me. Well, this week my face is pretty much constantly leaking! I'm happy, I'm sad, I'm angry, I'm excited, all of which include tears....I HATE this! Now my eyes are not only puffy from allergies (that I only get when I'm pregnant) but they're also puffy from crying and rubbing them. Good grief! I hope this is not a sign of things to come with this little girl, a very emotional little girl would be very different from my boys! One other thing that's weird with this little girl as opposed to my boys is that when she kicks it ALWAYS freaks me out!! It doesn't feel like a normal kick from the inside. It feels like someone is jabbing their finger into my stomach and it usually happens at night so I get all freaked out that someone is touching me! It's totally crazy!!! Oh boy...

Now that I've whined and complained enough here are the cute fun things about being prego now: Both of the boys know she's there, they come and put their head on my tummy and listen. Last night Nate told her the story of the three bears. I loved it!! He was very animated! When we're shopping Knowly sits in the front of the cart and always pats my stomach like a drum or a beach ball. It's awesome. I don't know if I wrote this when it happened but I'll write it again just in case. A few months ago I told Nate that we were having a baby and I asked him what the baby's name was and he looked at me dead serious and said, "Baby Mae." So Nate called it, he knows his little sister is coming! Luckily he was right about that and wrong when he said "two babies!" Yikes!

When Daniel and I found out it was a girl I know he was excited but super nervous because he has 3 brothers. He doesn't know little girls. Well, we went to a children's consignment store after the ultrasound to look for some white church shirts for Nate and all I heard from Daniel the whole time was, "oh look at this pretty dress! Oh look at these cute shoes. Oh how cute." I think he's gonna be just fine as a daddy to a little girl. I want a little angel but I think she's going to be daddy's little princess!

Oh yeah and more about Daniel! He is very busy doing clinical work for nursing school. On Thursday this week he had his clinical rotation on the Labor and Delivery floor of the hospital. He got to scrub in for a c-section and watch two other births. He said he really loved it. All three babies born that night were little girls and he kept saying how cute they were. Last week he got to be on the Pediatrics floor and in the NICU and he got to hold a crying baby and feed one. He was very excited because he actually knew what he was doing! :) He's so cute. He's going to be such a good nurse whatever floor he decides to work on!

WE:RE HAVING A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-26T15:36:00.000-07:00

Ok so I didn't think I'd be this excited for a girl. I mean I thought it would be nice to have a girl but I"m really terrified of it but today when they told me she was a she I was SOOOOO excited!!!! I can't wait to make girlish things!!!! Daniel's excited too. Unless we change our minds her name will be Sarah Mae Ferguson. I love that name!! :) Sarah after my aunt, Mae after me(sort of, I like Mae better than Meagan).

Well, gotta run....we're potty training Nate and I have a streaking boy running through the house.

Scenarios I've had and the new solutions I've found/ My new excitement!

2009-10-16T20:31:00.001-07:00

Scenario #1:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE fabric softener!!!! My dad bought me a downy ball and I absolutely LOVE it!!!! Unfortunately Nate and I are both allergic to fabric softeners, soap, and anything else with harsh smelly chemicals. Our skin is so dry and sensitive to these things, Nate more so than me. So we switched to the "organic, no-smell, boring stuff" and I hate it!!! It stinks! Literally. I miss the way my clothes used to smell so fresh! :( And I stopped using soap and shampoo on Nate unless he really needs it! His poor tummy was just so pitiful!

Scenario #2:

Nathan LOVES to drink from spray bottles! We have spray bottle wars and both he and Knowly like me to shoot water in their mouths from a distance. They think it's the BEST thing ever!!! Well, one day I found Nate trying to grab the Windex and was about to spray it in his mouth. AHHHHHHH! I freaked out and went on a mad hunt to see if I had any other cleaning supplies in children's reach without me knowing it. (all cleaning supplies are now safely stored way way high!)

Scenario #3:

This is my cleaning cabinet

plus more!

I have a cleaner for the toilets, one for the mirrors, one for the sink, one for the tub, one for the kitchen, one for the floors, one for the carpets, ones that I've tried and they didn't work so I tried more and the list goes on....I HATE it!!! I want ONE cleaner for everything! Is that even possible?

Scenario #4:

I LOVE to shop at Aldi!!! They have the best deals on food! I have eaten almost everything they have to offer and it all tastes just like, if not better than, the food you pay twice the amount for at other grocery stores. What's the problem you ask? Well, I HATE the way their produce is so waxy!! It's gross that my cucumber slides out of my hands when I try to wash it and I'm so over buying products that don't really work so I refuse to pay $5 for a bottle of veggie wash that I don't even know if it will work.

Scenario #5:

Mosquitoes. Need I say more??? Nate was COVERED in bug bites all summer long. He looked like he had welts all over his poor little body but he loved to play outside so there wasn't a whole lot I could do for him.

The good news???? I HAVE FOUND SOLUTIONS FOR ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS!!!!!!!!!!

one word: Melaleuca

So this lady in our ward has started selling Melaleuca and she and I are pretty good friends. She said she needed help learning how to present the product. Well, I'd heard of it because my parents used it when I was little. I thought it was some big money making scheme to steal all my money like QuickStar or Amway that tried to suck us in a couple years ago, so I told her I didn't have any money to buy the product but I would love to help her with her presentation so she could improve her new money making endeavor. So we set a date and a time, I left all of my credit cards, check book, and cash at home so I wouldn't be tempted to even buy anything. An hour later they had solved all of these previously named problems!

Solution for #1:

MelaPower Laundry Detergent

It comes in two different sizes and two scents, 64 loads and 192 loads, and fresh scent or unscented. This detergent is so gentle on skin that it will not irritate dry or sensitive skin. And it smells FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness I love it! One sniff of that and I was totally sold!!! They have a 100% money back guarantee so what can it hurt? I decided to give it a whirl. When I heard I could get the 192 loads and that it would be a little cheaper I went, "oh great it's cheaper but I don't have ROOM for 192 loads worth of laundry soap!" So I went for the 64 loads. I forgot that it was 6x's concentrated and all i have to use is ONE TABLESPOON of detergent! My bottle is TINY! So next time I'll get the bigger bottle.

Solutions for #'s 2, 3, 4, and 5:

Tough and Tender

That's it! One product does it all!! Now they do have multiple products that can do other things but for the most part this product can do it all and do it well!!!! That's right it can do my tub, toilet, sink, mirrors (without streaking), stove, counters, floors, CARS, walls, I can even CLEAN MY FRUITS AND VEGETABLES with it!!!! And I've been told that I can spray it on my children (lightly) and it's a natural bug repellent because of the melaleuca oil aka teetree oil. (I'll have to try it out next summer but I'll let you know how it works!) It doesn't have any harmful chemicals so I don't have to worry if my kids to spray it in their mouths, it wouldn't taste good but at least it wouldn't kill them! There's no bleach so I don't have to worry about my clothes coming in contact with it like I do when I use 409. Plus it's totally safe to use while I'm pregnant! It's amazing stuff!!

Okay so I was so excited about these products that I was regretting leaving my purse at home. Luckily I took Daniel with me who had his wallet! :) My plan didn't work but I had really good intentions not to buy anything! We smelled everything and loved everything so much that now we're selling Melaleuca!! I don't know if we'll really make it into a business but it was the same cost to get the "preferred customer" price and the specials as it was to sign up to become a sales person. Plus it's a lot easier to sell something you LOVE rather than something that you hope people might maybe possibly like. So if you're interested let me know!! You too can down size your cleaning cabinet!

*This really wasn't intended to become a sales pitch, I just wanted to share my 2 solutions to my 5 problems! :)

Go to Melaleuca.com for more info.

I've been thinking...

2009-10-10T19:18:00.001-07:00

Yikes! That's a scary thought! Crazy things start to happen when I start to think too hard! :)

I've been thinking a lot on a couple of different things that I'd just like to share with people.

1. Sometimes I think this blog should be "watch MEAGANgrow" in stead of "watch nathan grow" because I tend to use it for my ramblings occasionally. The older I get and the more kids I have and the harder life is the more I find myself relying on the Lord for help. I know that is probably how it supposed to work but I'm grateful that I'm having these opportunities to bring me to my knees. There are days where it's just so hard! and I don't know how to make it better and then out of the blue a thought will come to my mind that I have the power to change this situation. I can either make it harder by being stressed out, grumpy, or depressed, or I can choose to make the situation better by smiling (as HARD as it might be), and getting over it and looking for the positive. A lot of times we can't change the things that are happening to make us have a bad day but we sure can choose how we react to them! So how do we attempt to change our attitudes? Here's what has helped me: (I'm also doing this so I can remember what I've learned!)

1. Make the decision ahead of time! Don't wait until you're in the situation and struggling so hard to breath let alone smile. Think back to elementary school in your D.A.R.E. program where they taught you to practice saying no to drugs before you get offered them. Now think of a few times where you lose your cool or get overwhelmed easily and often. What triggers those situations? Now figure out how you want to react and practice it over and over in your head. It does help when the real situation comes!

2. For me we had/have to change the atmosphere in our home. My really good days last longer when I play uplifting or instrumental music in the background starting the moment I wake up. Then at breakfast we have family scriptures so we can actually read them with Daddy since he's not usually home later. It really starts the day off right.

3. I've put up all sorts of signs around my home. I saw someone else do this and I LOVED it and it really does help me A LOT! I just wrote simple notes on construction paper in big letters things like, "Is what you're doing right now inviting the Spirit of the Lord to be with you or is it chasing it away?" "Who did you serve today?" "Watch what you say, the angels are listening," and my favorite one, "Love is Spoken Here." I see these everywhere and they are such helpful reminders for me. The first one is by the TV :). The second one reminds me that serving isn't serving unless you have the right attitude, otherwise your just doing. As mothers of young children it's easy to forget that we are serving them in everything we do! The one about the angels helps control the gossip, and the last one helps me have kind words.

I'm definitely not perfect and I'm still working with these things but they really have helped me so much! I hope they might help someone else.

2. The other thing I've been thinking about lately is the Dugger family. I have completely fallen in love with this family!! They are the ones with the 18 and counting kids! I saw a blurb on the yesterday with news on their new grand baby and couldn't stop reading about them. We don't watch TV so I had no idea they had a TV show about them! I watched a few episodes on TLC.com. It was so inspiring! Their house is AMAZING! and they built it mostly themselves and it's totally payed off! They have such strong faith in Jesus Christ and they are just such good people!

As I'm watching this my first thought was, "wow! That would be so awesome to have 18 kids! What a blessing from the Lord!" Then my second thought immediately following was "girl are you nuts?! You have issues with 2!" But as I continued reading about them I learned that the mom is a real person too! She has good days and bad days but she also shared how centering her life around Christ makes it so much better, and how having so many kids keeps her on her knees a lot. But she makes it through and I'd say she's doing a great job!

Now I'm not saying I'm planning on having 18 kids but I am saying that watching her rely on the Lord has touched me and taught me to trust the Lord and let him lift you up and teach you how to go on no matter how many kids you have! :)

It helps me so much to know that other people have struggles just like I do and I gain strength from reading about how they make it through. I think we need to share more about how we're handling the situations given to us instead of just whining and getting through it. Anyways, my two cents for the day! :)

catching up on pictures

2009-09-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

Last week in Oklahoma we celebrated mine and Knowly's b-days with my family. It was fun. They had a cake made for us and boy was it good! :)

This was Knowly's b-day party here in MO. He loved his cake! Daniel made a modified version of banana cake with cream cheese frosting. It was fabulous! Knowly went around to everyone's plate and mooched. It was really funny!

This is my first preggy picture with this baby. I'm 16 weeks now.

This next picture is my favorite.

This was HILARIOUS!!!!!! My brother sent this to Daniel. The gift was wrapped and on the front it said "Here is something to help you fit in a little better with the Welch men." It took him a few minutes to figure out what it was since the packaging was in Japan (Tyler is on a mission in Japan right now) It was FAKE CHEST HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was sooooo funny! We laughed for a long time over it.....Thanks Tyler! :)

Here are some picture of our "new car!" I found it at a garage sale for $4!!! I was THRILLED!! The boys love it so much! :)

Kids are growing like weeds and I'm finally updating!

2009-09-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, this video was taken about a month ago...blogger hasn't let me upload it the last 3 times I've tried.

Well they're growing so fast!!!! Everyone told me they would but I didn't realize HOW fast!

Nathan amazes me everyday at how smart he is! He loves to talk and throw balls. His new phrase is "Oh sure!" it's so funny! He has such an incredible sports ability for a 2 year old!! He can shoot his basketball at the Little Tykes b-ball hoop we got him for outside and MAKE IT! I'm so impressed. He can almost ride his little tricycle from Grandma Welch by himself and he LOVES to play soccer. I can't wait until next year when he can be on a team of some sort to use all of his energy for something good! He knows about 10 shapes and all of his colors and can count to 20 all by himself! I'm amazed! He loves to sing primary songs and he actually can carry a tune.

Knowly is walking all over and understands sooooo many words! He handed Daniel something yesterday and Daniel told him to take it to Mommy and Knowly turned around found me and gave it to me. I asked him to go wake up Nate one day and he ran/crawled REALLY FAST to Nate's room and said his favorite word, "hut" it's what he says for everything. He can say uh-oh and hut that's it! Another big step for him is that HE's WEENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOORAY!!!!!!!!!! For the next 6 months or so I'm not going to be a cow!! I'll be fat but at least I won't be milking too! It was really easy. I just couldn't take it anymore. I never slept and I was always so tired so finally the doctor said he was old enough and 15 days before his 1st b-day is not going to make any difference so I cut him off cold turkey and he's done great. He went from waking up every hour and nursing to sleeping 11 hours STRAIGHT!!!!!!! we don't hear from him unless he's wet through his diaper around 6am but he'll usually go back to sleep until 7:30 or so! Oh I'm so thrilled! We have been very blessed with this whole situation.

Daniel's in school and I'm pregnant and a mother of two toddlers, who has time for anything else? My eyes are doing well. I go in next week for a check up and will probably have to have another laser treatment done to my left eye (the one that only had the cataract removed) to open up the sack again but it's painless. I'm seeing fine but I'll see great again after they do that!

The Lord blesses us beyond measure everyday! I know it's because of His help that I make it through the day most days.

The pictures of the boys were taken by some friends at church who have a photography business, I'm waiting to get the CD with all of them but these are a couple that they posted on Facebook for me. The family pic was taken by my sister in law Amber.

Good Grief! Can't anyone keep a secret anymore?

2009-08-01T15:13:00.001-07:00

Ok ok so I just posted another post about our summer but I felt this one needed it's own so scroll down and read it.

So before there are any more rumors going around you can hear it from me. I wasn't going to announce this for a long time but some how people keep finding out and I've only told my immediate family. We're PREGNANT again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) We're so excited!!!! I found out the week Daniel was at scout camp because I was either dying or pregnant. I was so sick. But we're due March 12. I know it's pretty early to announce it but like I say no one can keep a secret!!! People keep coming up to me and announcing it to me! lol It's a little scary but we've felt for a while that there was another baby waiting impatiently to join our family. We could use all your prayers. It's been pretty rough, I'm counting down the days until my second trimester when my energy comes back. I'm ALWAYS tired and sick. I hate this! But oh well, this too shall pass.
Love you all! Have a great day.

Our busy summer

2009-08-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

(Okay I really tried to put pics up from the summer but I waited for 20 minutes and they still didn't load so I'll try again another day.)

Yay!!! we have internet again!!!! Actually I loved not having it this summer. I realized I didn't have to check my email 40 times a day and there actually are other things to do besides be on the computer browsing "stuff" that I can't remember 10 minutes after I looked at it.
We have had a very busy summer! We started off in May going to OK City the visit my family and start our summer off by going to the temple. It was a very short trip but as always it was fun.
In June we went to Tennessee for my great grandma's 90th birthday party. We had a great time visiting family and seeing old friends. We loved driving around beautiful Tennessee!! I just couldn't get over how great it was. It's very different from Springfield.
A few weeks later Daniel went to scout camp for a whole week! Leaving me with both kids! Luckily he talked his brother into going with him to be an extra leader so his wife, Crystal (one of my two best friends) and her little girl Zadia came to live with me for a week. We were so pitiful! We missed our men after they'd been gone only a couple hours. My boys took turns not sleeping and I just happened to be so sick the week Daniel left and I ran off of about 3 hours of sleep a night. But luckily the week went by fast enough.
For the 4th of July I took the boys to Daniel's aunts house to have a family BBQ. We left before the fireworks because Daniel was a work and I hate chasing kids around fire alone.
A few weeks later we went to Kansas City to visit Daniel's brother James and his wife Terra. We had a great time with them. We were able to go to a church history site Adam-ondi-Ahman and it was beautiful!!! I loved it so much! We also went to a baseball game and Nate had the BEST time!! He LOVES sports and he was cheering for the team and having a great time. I loved watching him enjoy it. James and Terra don't have any kids yet so their apartment isn't quite baby proof but the boys were relatively good. I am so grateful that they are so good for the most part. We were there for several days and when we got home the boys were so glad to see their toys again. Nate kept running in circles in our living room as if he was so glad to have space to run again!
Knowly has started walking!!!!! He can take a few steps at a time. It's so much fun to see him grow. He can wave, blow kisses, and tell me he wants down by using his hands.
We ended our summer of trips by going to OK City and spending 3 days in the temple. It was such a blessing! It's so wonderful to feel the peace and comfort the spirit brings and gain the strength and power God gives us for attending the temple. We loved seeing my family again and they loved seeing the boys. It's so cute to see my sisters love on my boys.
Aside from going every where this summer we have received so many other blessings. We started out the summer wondering how we were going to make ends meet because Daniel wasn't going to be able to get very many hours at work. We prayed very hard, payed our tithing, and left it in the Lord's hands. He GREATLY blessed us. We planned on Daniel trying to get 3o hours a week. It looked difficult because he was only scheduled for 25ish a week. Every week that we haven't been out of town he has been able to pick up shifts and he got at least 4o hours a week! SOmetimes he even got over time! A couple weeks he got over 5o hours!!! It was AMAZING!!! It's been hard since Daniel is working several nights a week and my boys don't like to sleep well on the nights he's gone, but we're still good.
It also turned out that not going to Utah ended up be a very big blessing. Of course there was the thing with my teeth that kept us from going in the first place but then we found out that student loans won't be coming in until 2 weeks after Daniel starts school and he'll be going back to his 20 hour work weeks and we'll need the little bit of left over money for rent to tide us over until loans come in. So there is a plan in everything.
We've had a wonderful summer! It's been busy and crazy but for the most part good. The boys are healthy and happy. Knowly got 4 teeth over the summer!! He's so cute and so big. Nate is learning how to play "go-fish" and matching stuff. He's so smart.

Good news and Bad news

2009-06-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

Well, first for the good news! Knowly is standing by himself!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He even took his first step today and then did it again later!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited for him. He's 9 months old now! wow!
I'll post more and a movie when I have a little more time.

Bad News:
I had to have my wisdom teeth out this week. Wait it gets worse.....We had it all planned out to pay for the surgery (that I HAD to have done ASAP because they were KILLING ME!) intrest free for 12 months on a medical credit card. Well, the day of surgery I was told that the card would not cover the full amount and they needed $900 before they would do the surgery. So that chunk had to come out of our pocket. Luckily we had enough to cover it but.....that was our Utah trip money! It's gone now! So, we will not be going out to Utah in August! :( They interesting thing about it all was that two weeks ago Daniel talked about our trip plans and neither of us felt good about going! We felt like we needed the money for other things (I'm racking up the medical bills this year.) and had almost decided not to go anyways, but this confirmed it. We were really looking forward to it and I was so excited for my cousins to meet my family and for me to meet my cousins new families! But oh well.... Well, I gotta run ice my jaw but I just needed to let people know. :(
BTW: I'm doing fine. I hurt a little but nothing like having a baby or my other surgeries this year. I'll be completely fine in a couple days.

The Tater Man's Birthday!!!!!!!!!

2009-05-14T14:54:00.000-07:00

Nate is SOOOOO into Veggie Tales right now. If you've never heard of it go to www.bigidea.com and watch some of it it's really cute. They take bible stories and use vegetables to act them out. It's great! So he got a bunch of coloring books, movies, and posters from family.

I made a Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato cake and they were sooooo awesome!

But Bob fell on the floor so we just at Larry.

Since money is kinda tight I got creative and made him these pillow/stuffed animal things! They turned out AWESOME!!! And they only cost me $3 for both of them!

I also made him Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato t-shirts (Larry's his favorite so he chose to wear him today.)

Turn your head and watch Nate dance. He was so excited about the Veggie Tales CD I got him!

Holy Cow it's been so long!!!!!

2009-05-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: Now I know why I don't post often...it took me three days to write this.

Oh my goodness!! i can't believe it's been this long since I posted last. My computer went psycho so we bought a new one because Daniel has the laptop at school all the time. I thought the new one had a wireless card thingy in it for the internet but it didn't and right after we bought it Nate broke the internet thingy we were using so now it doesn't have internet and Daniel still has the laptop. Sooooo UPDATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hold that thought, I just looked over and Nate has spilled raisins all over my living room floor...be right back.

ok I'm back. Of course he decided to spill the raisins tonight when we opened a new box yesterday and not last week when we had like five left in the box. Oh well such is life with a two year old.

Ok so I'm going to try and make this as non-boring as possible. here are the up dates:

Daniel: IS DONE WITH SCHOOL FOR THE SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!! He has two more semesters left and he'll be an RN. He finished this semester with a 4.0!! I'm so proud of him! HE's so great!!! He has a test to take on Thursday but other than that he's done with school until august! yay!!!!

Me: my eyes are healing quite well. The redness and incision line is finally going away in my right eye (the problem eye) and I have new glasses!!!! THey are bifocals and they work great. I'm very pleased. I am staying very busy being a mom. but I LOVE being a mom. Sure there are tough times but the good time definitely out number them. I have two very active boys and people keep asking me what I'm going to do when I have three or more ( NO I'M NOT PREGNANT!) and I love to answer them, "I will love them and chase them around just like I do now." I think I really do want a ton of kids! THey don't drive me too nuts yet. It's awesome!!!!

Daniel and I are celebrating 3 years of being married today! As an anniversary present I took him fishing last night, since he had to work today. We found a lake that's only 15 minutes away and it was beautiful and very peaceful. We didn't catch anything but it was fun. I have a feeling we'll be going back often this summer. This morning he surprised me with a bottle of my favorite perfume and a journal for us to write love letters to each other. It was so great! I love that idea. He's so great. I love being married to my best friend. We know each other so well and he still treats me like a queen. He still puts his arms around me when I'm cooking dinner, he still helps me fold the laundry, and he still can't wait to come home from where ever he is just to see me!! He tells me that all the time! I love him so much! He's amazing.

(Ok so I wrote the above yesterday and now I'll finish my post)

Nathan is growing so fast! He can say almost any word you ask him to and he's starting to put words together! I love it! he's in this hitting phase and I hate it. Mainly he hits me and his cousin Lily. I don't get it. He can count to 4 all by himself he skips 5 and says, "six, seban, eight, TEN" He loves to cook but I realized he only likes it because I give him the beater from the mixer! lol :) Here are a couple pics of him. Stay tunned for b-day pics!!

Feeding Knowly

I may have all ready posted this but Daniel's brother Sam came home and Nate just LOVES him. He talks about him all the time. Well, now he's our at college in Idaho but he talks to him on the phone.

Aren't they so cute!!?!

Knowly: Wow where do I start? Just this week alone he's hit a super growth spurt! He's 7 months old, weighs about 23 pounds, and has 1 tooth and one is about to break through any minute!!!!! Here's what he can do now: roll over, sit without help, get from sitting to his belly, CRAWL!, PULL HIMSELF TO STANDING!!, and say "bu bu bu". I can't believe he's crawling and pulling himself up! He's so funny though, he'll get up and then start screaming because he doesn't know what to do next! lol he's funny.

Media Fast

2009-03-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

*I posted earlier so go down and read it I just felt like this needed it's own post.

At the beginning of the month we decided to go on a "media fast". We had heard of someone else doing it and we thought it would be a great way to prepare for General Conference that comes the first weekend in April. We are only watching movies, listening to music, and reading books that bring us closer to Christ. I've really enjoyed listening to past talks from conference, reading more, and learning more about my Savior.
We were able to purchase a whole bunch of books and movies from deseretbook.com and ldscatalog.org. it's been Awesome!!! Some that I would really recommend are: 21 Days Closer to Christ, Spriritually Anchored in Unsettled Times, and Hearing the Voice of the Lord. They are amazing so far! Our goal in doing this is to get more out of the words spoken in General Conference. I've always enjoyed listening to our living prophet and Apostles of the Lord but this time I hope to get a lot more out of it for my personal life.
We've even found things to help Nathan and knowlton do this with us. Nathan has enjoyed the Veggietales movies we got from the library. We got a gospel art book from ldscatalog.org which has a picture to go with every scripture story! It's got 165 pictures in it!!! I love it! We found some pictures to cut out and make quiet books to do at church and at home.
It was a little weird at first trying to remember not to turn on the radio but I got used to it and now I love it! I feel like I can feel the Spirit more and there's more peace in our home. Oh yeah!! And one more really super cool thing we got from Deseretbook.com was the Clearplay DVD player!!!! It hasn't come yet but it's on it's way! It is a DVD player that has filters for TONS of movies you can down load from the internet. They have edited all the bad words, sexual content, nudity, and violence!! I'm so excited! No more worrying about what we're watching.

Something about socks...

2009-03-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted for a long time and I'm really sorry but our computers are sooooooo messed up! I hate getting on them! Our PC that we bought last August was refurbished and a total joke! I had to reformat it last week and lost all of Nate's movies that I'd taken with our camera! I had his first steps, first b-day, this past Christmas with my family and Knowly! It was so sad! I cried for a couple days but I've accepted it now. Our laptop has been giving us fits too but I think it just needs to be cleaned up a bit and turned off for a while. But we've decided to sell our PC and get a Dell!!! We found a great deal today so after I post here I'm going to buy it! :)

I thought this was a fun title for this post. I was watching Knowly last night and he was sucking on his sock! It was completely soaked! I had to give him a breathing treatment (yes he's weezing again) and he wanted to suck on the sock again while I held the breathing mask to his little face. It was pretty funny! But hey, at least it keeps him happy!

So here's an update on what's going on around here:

Daniel: still in school and doing really well but Spring Break is NEXT WEEK!!! yay!!!! We're going to visit my family in OK and go to the temple! I miss going to the Temple! There is such a peaceful feeling there and I haven't been for too long! My dad and I think the rest of the fam but especially my dad is excited for us to come!! I think he misses his boys! :) They miss their "Peepaw" too. (Nate can't say Shupaw like my dad wants to be called so he calls him "Peepaw")
Daniel is trying to lose weight so he can get into the Air Force. We've eaten so many salads this week it's crazy but it's been so good! He's doing great! I'm so proud of him! I love him so much!

Me: my eyes are doing great! I got cleared for a month with no doctors!!!! That's amazing! i barely know what to do with my self! I'm almost done with my drops and I go back to the doctor on April 3rd. I really hope to get new glasses because I can see a WHOLE lot better but I hope they can use the glasses to correct it to 20/20.

Aside from my eyes I've stayed busy! I'm learning how to sew better! I took a sewing class from a lady at chruch and she taught me some amazing things so I went home and I made a skirt I just have to put the drawstring in but it's pretty cute.

Nathan is talking a lot more! He knows why he's in trouble most of the time too! The other day we went to the mall and played in the play place. I told him when we got there that he was not allowed to go out with out mommy. I said, "no running away." About ten minutes later I found him running straight for the exit of the play place so I followed him closely but didn't let him know i was there. He stopped at the exit and looked for a couple minutes and then turned around and decided to play again! I was there and was so happy!! I said, "Nate! What a good choice you made!!!!" I was soooo happy!!!! He's growing up!

Knowlton is HUGE!!!!! We took him to the doctor for a check up and he weighs 21.5 pounds!!!! He's only 5 almost 6 months old! But he practically skipped the 6-9 months clothes. Today and yesterday I've had to put him in 12 month clothes. He is laughing all the time!!! he wakes up from naps and is so happy most of the time. He just plays quietly on the floor while I do stuff. I can't believe how good he is! But then it also scares me that he watches his brother ALL the time and I know as soon as he can crawl they are going to be in Soooooo much trouble! Or maybe I'm the one in trouble! :)

Anyways, we're happy and for the most part healthy. We stay very busy but it's a good busy.

We're getting a van!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-23T11:53:00.000-08:00

Am I really old enough to do this? We found a van on craigslist Saturday night, went to see it this morning and are signing the papers for it tomorrow morning! I can't believe this! It was such a great thing we couldn't pass it up! So now we're selling our 2006 Nissan Sentra...anyone interested?
I'm so excited to be a soccer mom! lol Now we'll be the taxi service I'm sure but I'm ok with that, that's why we're getting it! Right now with 2 carseats there's no room for even a skinny person to ride with us. Anyways so that's the news. I'll post pics tomorrow of our real van tomorrow, this is just an idea of what we're getting! It's a 2004 Chrysler Town and Country.

tired but good

2009-02-18T19:07:00.000-08:00

I'm done with my surgeries!! i feel much better than last time but still sore and tired everything went weell. I'll post more tomorrow after i see the doctor

One Last Surgery!

2009-02-17T13:20:00.000-08:00

Okay!! We're here it's finally happening!! I went to the eye doctor yesterday and all things are a go! We scheduled my final surgery to remove the silicone oil that has been holding my retina in place as it heals. I'm scheduled to go to the hospital tomorrow morning at 7am! I'm excited to have it all done but nervous of course. I'm nervous for my boys! Knowly is a lot bigger than last time! I hope he doesn't drive my mom nuts! I'm so grateful for my mom to be able to come down and help me! And I'm grateful for the rest of my family for allowing her to come help me! Please be good while she's gone ;) Anyways I'll have Daniel post if I can't how it went and everything but please keep us in your prayers. Thanks and love you all!! :)

Fergi Updates From January

2009-01-30T12:21:00.000-08:00

I've done a horrible job at posting this month so here's what's happened. I think I put all the pics in backwards but oh well you get the point.

Nate and Daddy off to play in the snow/ice.

Daddy teaching Nate how to make snow angels.

We had a big storm come through and Nate LOVED to eat the snow and make snow angels.

Knowly is getting sooooo big!! He rolled over twice last night! He's so fun to make laugh. I love this stage!
'

Daniel and I finally had a date night!!! Where did we go? Chuck-E-Cheeses of course :) We had a GREAT time being kids again. (PS Dad here's a pic of my new glasses finally)

Nate and Lily Best Friends :)

The sun finally came out to play so all the kids got out to play. Where we live it's kinda like our own community. It's two duplex units that face each other and it's all fenced in. Next door is our friend Cameron who is 2 and across the sidewalk is our cousin Lily who is 4 mo younger than Nate. They have a blast together.

Nate Got his first box from Aunt Crystal and Uncle Gus! We cut windows and doors in it and he has a great time!

Nate and Mommy made our first fort and had a GREAT time! :)

Uncle Sam returned from his 2 year mission to AZ.

Daniel turn 25!! :) Happy Birthday Sweet Heart! :)

Knowly's home from the hospital

2009-01-11T18:04:00.000-08:00

We had a very crazy week this week. We woke up Monday morning with two sick boys and a sick daddy. It was some head cold that was going around and somehow I managed not to get it! But for the first couple of days the boys were just tired and stuffed up but then Knowly started wheezing again and just looked sickly. The week before we started trying to ween him off of his nebulizer breathing treatments and he was doing great but with him catching this bug we upped it back up. We were doing everything we knew how to do, Vicks, humidifier, saline in the nose, and sleep, but it just wasn't working. Thursday morning he sounded horrible and he woke me up at 4:30am by barfing all over me! It was totally different that spit up because it shot out about 3 feet. He did that 4 times and I called the doctor. I was worried about him getting dehydrated. The doctor was able to squeeze us in within a couple hours and she told us he wasn't horrible but it would be safest to put him in the hospital. They were able to monitor his breathing and make sure he was getting enough oxygen. Luckily he started to eat and keep it down so they didn't have to start an IV. They sucked all the mucus out through his nose and that helped a TON! He started breathing better but they had to keep doing it. His oxygen levels kept dropping while he was sleeping so they had to keep giving him oxygen and as long as they did that he couldn't go home. He had to be off oxygen for 24 hours before they'd let us out. Saturday morning he looked horrible! I was nervous and was sure we'd be in the hospital until Wednesday. By Saturday night he was much better! He was happy and his lungs sounded better. He stayed off the oxygen all night and the doctor came in this morning and said we could go home! He looked much better. We will continue the treatments at home until the wheezing goes away and keep him home and away from sick people! Sorry folks, love you! hate your germs.
So anyways 4 days and 3 nights in the hospital was soooooo boring and we're both glad to be home!!! Daniel did a great job talking care of Nate at home . It was a great bonding time for them so I'm grateful for that.

Side Note:

Friday I snuck away from the hospital and went to my eye doctors appointment. Last time I was there they said that my vision in my left eye proabably wouldn't change from where it was then (20/60 with glasses on). This time they checked my vision and it was the coolest thing! I kept reading the lines and they kept getting smaller and smaller! I was able to read the 20/25 line great and most of the 20/20 line with my glasses!!!!!!!!! I was soooooo excited! I haven't seen that since 3rd grade and even then I'm not sure it was that good! I sitll have the oil holding my retina in place in my right eye so it's very blurry out of my right eye and it's still a little awkward seeing with one good eye and one bad eye but next month that will all change!! I'm living a whole new life!! I can drive now!!!!!!!!!!!!! yay!!!!!!!! And I can wear makeup again!!!!!! I feel pretty again! Yay! and I love to look at things. As I said when I was 4 and got my first pari of glasses, "I'm so amazed I can see." I'm so amazed at what i didn't know I couldn't see!

Movie Time!

2009-01-06T11:15:00.000-08:00

Ok it finally worked!! Here is a movie of Knowly laughing! It's so cute! Oh yeah and three are a bunch of posts I posted today so keep scrolling down after you watch this. :)

fun pictures

2009-01-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted a whole lot of pictures so here they come....

One time a couple months ago Nathan was sick and I gave him some medicine and he literally fell asleep with a bite of the apple in his mouth. It was so so funny!

Random Knowly

Poor Nate has been sick and yesterday he woke up from his nap and sat on Daniel's lap and kept falling back to sleep. He kept changing position too. It was really funny to watch but sad because he obviously didn't feel good.

Poor Knowly looks so silly but at least he's warm

One morning Nathan came into our room and woke us up and this is what we found...how he got it off the kitchen counter worries me a little...now we do counter checks before bed to make sure there aren't any knives out.

Nate has had many haircuts but here are the first pictures we've gotten of one.

We had to teach Nate to smell the tree and not touch it. It was really funny to watch him go up and smell it all the time.

Family Newsletter...sorry if you get this a million times

2009-01-05T20:21:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

We are going electronic this year trying to make it easier and I'm still late! Life is too crazy and I apologize for not making it to the post office.

2008 has been quite a year for us! We have seen many miracles and blessings in our family this year. As with every year we’ve had our ups and downs but this year seems to have been the most rollercoaster like. We are still in Springfield, MO but in March we moved into a duplex to give us a little more space. We really love it. We are within a stones throw to two of Daniel’s siblings and their families. It is so great to be by family and to have cousins for our boys to play with.

We started off the year with news that our family would be growing some more. Ephraim Knowlton (we call him Knowlton or Knowly) was born September 26, 2008. He is such a sweet addition to our family! The poor little boy has been sick since he was born it seems like. He has been to the doctor many times for RSV, a respiratory virus very common in infants. He seems to finally be getting better so we’ll keep our fingers crossed. Other than a crazy cough he’s a very happy baby. His smile is so sweet and he’s starting to make the cute baby noises. Knowly loves the bath tub and is a very good sleeper and we’re very grateful for that!

Nathan (19 months) has had a very productive year! All of his major milestones have happened this year. He learned to crawl, walk, and talk this year! He’s very good at doing his animal sounds, he knows almost all of them. If you ask him what a football says he’ll put his arms up in the air and yell, “TOUCH DOWN!” and he’ll do a little happy dance. He can almost count to 10 and knows some of his colors and most of his shapes. He is a very smart little boy. He loves to help his little brother by giving him his binky or giving him kisses. He is so fun to watch grow! He is our little buddy.

Daniel stays very busy right now. He is in the nursing program at Missouri State University and will finish in May of 2010. This semester has been really hard but he made it through with 2 A’s and 2 B’s so he’s doing well. He is also the President of the Young Men’s group (ages 12-18) at church. He really enjoys working with the boys and teaching them how to do things that are beneficial to their future. They go on campouts, learn about careers, work on physical fitness and other things. As if he isn’t busy enough, Daniel works about two blocks from our house at Cox North Hospital as an ER tech. He loves working there. He is learning so much and loves all of the action. He is very good at balancing everything and making time for his family. He’s a great dad for our boys and a wonderful husband.

I (Meagan) have had a year of growing and learning. I got my cosmetology license in January and worked a few hours a week as a make-up artist at Merle Norman Cosmetics for my mother-in-law. I love being a mom! My boys are so sweet. I love teaching Nathan new tricks. Two weeks after Knowlton was born I woke up and couldn’t see out of my right eye. When I got in to see the eye specialist he told me that my retina had detached. They went in and surgically put it back together. It was a 3+ hour surgery but they were able to do it with great success. As some of you may know I’ve struggled with eye problems my whole life and have always known this would be a possibility one day and now it’s happened. A few weeks after the surgery for my right eye I had cataract surgery on my left eye. After two months of being blind they did a final laser treatment to my left eye and I am finally seeing great, probably better than I ever have. I have one more surgery in February for my right eye to remove the silicone oil that has been holding the retina in place while it heals and then I should be seeing GREAT! I can't wait! Modern technology is quite amazing! The Lord has blessed us greatly. I’ve seen His hand in my life so much these last few months.

Life Is so good for us and we hope it’s the same for each of you. We wish you all the best for this Christmas season and as we start the New Year. May the Lord bless you all.

Much love,

The Fergusons

Daniel, Meagan, Nathan, and Knowlton

Nathan's new toy phone! Maybe he won't use mine now!

Knowly's Christmas Moose "Bruce the Moose"

YAY!!!!!! HOORAY!!!!!! YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-16T20:10:00.000-08:00

This has been an AWESOME day! I went to both eye doctors today (remember I have one for each eye how special!) for a check up to make sure that my inflammation had gone back down and it had so the doctor for my left eye said, "ok, let's do the laser and make you see better!" So he kinda played what felt like a video game with my eye and said that tomorrow or the next day I should see great results. Then he took me over to the waiting room for the other doctor for the other eye and he said the same thing, "let's try to see if the laser will do anything." So back to the laser and more video games and the same instructions. I got home from the doctors and a couple hours later I noticed that the dilation was going away and I was able to see way better! Everything was clearer and sharper and the colors were so much brighter! So I put my glasses on that two weeks ago didn't do a thing and TADAA!!!! I can see!!! I don't feel like I really need the glasses for normal vision but they are bifocals so they definitely help with the reading. I am doing something right now that I haven't been able to do for a very very long time. Not only am I reading the computer but I'm sitting back in my chair and I can read just fine!!! I haven't been able to do that for years! I am so thrilled!!! I keep looking at things just because they look so much clearer! I think tomorrow will be a very busy day, if I can wait that long!!! I have so many things I've wanted to organize and clean and do!!!!
They will still go in in February to remove the oil from my right eye that's been holding the retina in place but in the mean time I can see! Everything is still a little bendy and wiggly looking through my right eye (try looking through a bottle of baby oil, that's what I see). But I'm thrilled with the progress!! My left eye is about as good as it's gonna get!
Thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes! Heavenly Father has sure been good to me!

P.S.

2008-12-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention in my last post an update on my eyes. My vision has come to a halt as far as improving goes. They've been trying to ween me off of my eye drops and last week when I went back to the doctor we found that my pressure was stable again but the inflammation had gone up so they have to keep an eye on that. They said it's normal considering everything else that's going on in my eyes and we shouldn't worry but because the inflammation is high they can't do the laser treatment yet. I was supposed to have had it done this week but now I go in next week and they will reassess the situation and then schedule a time to do it. After the laser is done the doctor has high hopes that I should be driving very soon after which means I should be seeing really well!!! The doctor gave me a prescription for some glasses and I got a pair but they really don't do any thing. It's been pretty difficult to stay positive lately. I'm trying as hard as I can but I hate all of this waiting game! But it too shall pass! As my dad says, "It never says, 'and it came to stay' in the scriptures!" So we'll just wait some more.

Thanks for all the concern and interest in my situation! Leann thanks for the sympathy with the no makeup! I think I can count on my fingers the number of times I've gone a whole day without makeup, well, before now. It's been over two months!!!! It doesn't look like I'll be wearing it until February :( I couldn't see to put it on well right now if I tried anyways ;)

We're feeling better

2008-12-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

It's been two weeks of sick babies. Everyone at my house has been sick except me, thank goodness. Daniel was really sick for about a week and a half. It was so sad. Nate has had a cough since July it seems like. Every time he'd get better he'd catch the sniffles again. But he seems to be doing a little better. Knowly has had a cough since he was born but they weren't worried about it but now it went from RSV and developed into bronchialitis. The doctor gave us a nebulizer and some medicine to do breathing treatments at home and I think it's finally starting to work. He's able to make more productive coughs.

We're getting ready for Christmas! We have a few decorations up and have made some as a family but we're still waiting for the tree. We decided to do a real one this year but then with everyone being sick we haven't been able to get one yet. I love Christmas time though! All the baking, all the singing, and all of the decorations! I love it all! We've decided to stay in Springfield this Christmas. I will miss my family but I'm excited to start our own family traditions.

Daniel is almost done with this semester! Yay!! We'll get to see him a lot over this break! He will still only be working 2 days a week since there are not any shifts to pick up. I'm so excited! He is looking forward to being done with this semester too. He's heard that if you can make it this far the rest is a lot easier.

Well, the baby calls. I hope all of you are doing well. Love you all! :)

ABLE TO READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-19T12:50:00.000-08:00

Ok so I can finally read a little bit!!! I can only read our laptop screen though. I don't know what's different about our big computer but I just can't focus on it for some reason. I can't read too much because then my eye hurts really badly, I guess from learning to use the muscles again. Here are some long awaited pictures! They are so cute! :) Enjoy

While I'm waiting for the pictures to load I'll update a little. I'm doing well, still trying to stay positive but it's getting really hard. I still can't see as well as I'd like to and I get frustrated easily. But my boys are growing and so sweet! Nathan loves being a big brother. Any time Knowlton cries he runs to see what's wrong. He loves to give him kisses too! I catch him doing it all the time it's so cute. His big thing is to steal his binkie though. It drives me CRAZY!!!!! But I suppose it's cute. Knowlton is so big! He's 8 weeks old on Friday!! I can't believe it. He's such a great baby! Heavenly Father sure knew what I needed right now. He sleeps really well at night and takes pretty consistant naps during the day. I love it! He's smiling now and can roll over from his stomach to his back. He loves to play on his tummy. he's over all just so cute just like his brother!

The Boys first Tubby Together

Nate's silly faces :)

Ok so this post has been written over the course of about a week. I don't get to use the laptop very often because Daniel has it at school most of the time and something about having two kids there's not much computer time. ;)

I went to the doctor on Friday for a check up and they removed my stitches in my eye!!!!!!!! YAY!!! I had two that had popped out and were driving me beyond crazy for two weeks!! It was miserable. They also gave me a drop to help with the muscle pain I've been having and it has helped a ton! My pressure in myleft eye (the one that only had the cataract removed) so they put me on yet another eye drop. The good news is I'm only using 5 different drops right now. I've been on a total of 9 drops and I feel like I go to the pharmacy twice a week now. It's crazy. But the eyes are doing good. They gave ma prescription for eye glasses and I got them filled just to get the frames because my insurance is changing on Sunday so to do it now I paid $7 where next week I'd have to pay the full price. Unfortunately they didn't help much because my eyes are still changing every day. I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks and they'll do a lazer treatment of somesort and clean up some more stuff in my eyes and then I should be able to see better. He told me that he's hopefull that I can be driving again very soon after that happens!!!!! Yay!!! I haven't driven since around April! I can't wait. I also asked when I would be able to wear makeup again. I almost cried when he told me that I might get to wear it by Christmas. It was a very big might! I miss wearing my makeup! I want to feel pretty again! Talk about feeling yucky after having a baby!! I can't work out at all to lose my baby fat and I can't wear makeup to feel prettier and all I want to do is eat! LOL Oh boy I can't wait for all of this to be over.

Anyways, the boys are good and we are happy. Love you all! :)

My mom came to help me for 2 weeks and my dad traded her places for 10 days! I was GREAT to have them here. My pics of my mom are on the other comp but here are some of my dad. They helped me so much!

We have witnessed miracles

2008-11-11T13:57:00.000-08:00

My heart is so full today! I had my second surgery yesterday. They removed the cataract from my left eye and everything went very well. I was very nervous to go in because I knew I'd be awake. They gave me some drugs to make me calm but I was wide awake. It was a lot better to come out of surgery and be ready to go home though. Last time I was so sick and groggy for about 8 hours afterwards. The nurse came in and said that as soon as I could eat, drink, and empty my bladder I could go home. As she was telling me this I was trying to see if I could see anything out of my patch on my left eye. As I was looking through the holes I realized that I could read the nurses name tag! I was shocked and started to cry a little. I've never been able to read further that my nose without my glasses! I practically inhaled my food and drink and was so ready to go home! I felt great. I could hardly tell that they had done anything to my left eye pain wise.I was really looking forward to getting my patch off and being able to see what I could see!

Today I continue to see the miracles. I got my patch off this morning at the doctors office and they checked my vision. I am seeing 20/70 without any sort of glasses. When I went in a month ago I was seeing 20/400 so you can imagine the huge change I've witnessed! I still can't see clearly and I'm having to change the way I look at things a little but I can see so much mor clearly without my cataracts!!! Colors are sharper and brighter and I no longer feel like I'm looking through a dryer sheet. It's absolutely amazing!

I feel so blessed to live in the day and age that I do. I may not have had someone come up to me and touch my head and say, "be healed" and I could see right away but I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father has allowed His healing powers to work through modern technology. I'm grateful to Him everyday for having a plan for me and seeing the whole picture and preparing a way for great things to happen and for my testimony to grow.

Let me share a few of my miracles with you. (I apologize if it's a little scattered but I'm wrting it to print and put in my journal as well as post on the blog.)

My life has been very busy the last 6 weeks! Knowlton is 6 weeks old now, I had to be induced early, which I really didn't want, I had a detached retina when Knowlton was 3 weeks old, and now cataract surgery. People have told me how sorry they are that all of this has happened so close together, but I wouldn't change one bit of it.

It all really began last December when Daniel and I felt very strongly that we needed to have another baby. It would be hard and money would be tight but we knew we needed to do this. I decided right away that this time I wanted to let him come when he was ready and not be induced like I was with Nathan. I'd talked to several people who gave me some tips on how I could make this possible. But at 26 weeks the doctor told me that the baby was getting too big and wated to induce me early. Oddly enough I felt very calm about that and felt like it was the right thing to do. So we went ahead with it. Knowlton was born 2 1/2 weeks early. When he was born he had a knot in his cord. I hate to think of what would have happened had we waited at all. I realize that the knot could have come due to labor and such but I'm grateful anyways to have been induced. Had we waited a couple more weeks I would have had a two day old with a detatched retina. It would have been a lot harder!

Now I know some of you are thinking, "why did the whole eye thing have to happen now?" I've wondered many times and I get such a peaceful feeling when I realize the Lord's hand in it. Due to insurance reasons if it had happened next month we would have been in a great financial binde. I am grateful that it happened when it did. I'm grateful that I wasn't going permanently blind or that I had a brain tumor like I thought in the beginning. I'm grateful that there are doctors and amazing technology to fix these problems. Also my mom had all ready planned to come out for cataract surgery and the retina reatachment happened in the same week sso she was still able to come and help. My dad was scheduled to come out to work a job fair here in MO and was going to stay the whole week and it jus toso happened to be the same week as my Left eye surgery! Do you see how everything was so perfectly planned?! I'm just amazed to look back at all of this!

I'm sitting at the computer right now wearing my dad's reading glasses and am able to kind of read the screen. It's still a little blurry but so much b etter that what it was! Im so excited to see what I'll be able to see tomorrow and really what I'll be able to see in a month when my left eye is healed and then in January when my right eye is healed.

In all of this it would have been very easy to get frustrated and just give up and lay i n bed and be depressed. I could've just let it get to me but I didn't. Through my Savior Jesus Christ I was given strength to deal with my challenges and still be happy and optamistic. I knew and still know that I can be healed through Him, even if not completely physically, He can take the rest and make my spirit whole.

In our chruch the sisters are asked to be "visiting teachers" going in pairs to visit assinged sisters making sure their needs are met and that everyone has a friend. When I moved to Missouri I was given two very dear women to come visit me. One of these sisters is blind. I have been able to watch her and see how she deals with being blind. She has only been this way for about 4 years I think. One day about 8 months ago when I decided I couldn't safely drive anymore I had a very emotionally draining day. I was feeling like I had had my independence taken away from me and I was a little scared to not see clearly anymore. The next day this wonderful woman called me and asked if I would mind giving her a perm. I said I would and I met with her the next day. I went to her house and was amazed at what she was able to do. She cooked, cleaned, watched kids, and was happy even though she couldn't see. I found it very interesting. I feel very blessed to have known her because it has helped me through this last month of not being able to see. I am very blessed that my condition was fixed and I will eventually be able to see better that i ever have been before! I'm grateful for her attitude and her example. I know the Lord puts people in our path to help us along in our trials.

This last General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter=day Saints Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, an Apostle of of our Lord, gave a great talk that helped me through this time too. It's titled "Come What May and Love It." Life is hard but we take it one step at a time and whatever comes love it and just do it. It will all work out.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! I'm very blessed to have such wonderful people to help me out. Thank you to all of my family who helped, my sister in laws for watching my kids and driving me to the doctors and babysitting my, my mom and dad for living with my for a few weeks, to my sisters at home for sacrificing and living with a single parent situation for a little while so that I could have some help, to Daniel's parents who let Nate sleep at their house and brought us food and were there to help when ever they could. I thank you all! I ask for your continued thoughts and prayers as I continue to heal but I ask you to join with me in prayers of gratitude. I continue everyday to witness this miracle which I will never forget. My life is completely changed forever.

I am living proof that God still preforms miracles today.

Roly Poly Knowly!

2008-10-30T17:07:00.001-07:00

I'll have to get my mom to help me post a picture but we weighed Knowlton on Monday and found out that he's 13 pounds!!!!!!! He's gained 5 whole pounds since we left the hospital! He's so stinking cute!! He's getting to have the fat chin and roly body that Nate had. It's so fun. I keep thinking that any minute he'll just break out into a HUGE smile. I can't wait for that.

I went to the doctor for my post op check up and the doctor said that everything looks good and is healing great!! He wanted to wait a little bit to do the cataract in my left eye just because but I asked him to reconsider since I really can't see right now. I am beginning to understand why people who develop a disability later in life sometimes become mean and bitter. It's been very hard for me to not be able to see and have to rely on other people to do little things for me. I try to be in dependant but I get frustrated when I can't see what Nathan is putting in his mouth or when I look in the fridge and have no idea what's in there. I'm pretty good at using my other senses to remember where I put things or what things look like so I can find them again without having to ask people but I still can't read very well so all of my doctors appointments (which seem like a ton) I have to ask , "now where am I signing?" LOL Plus right now I look like I have a severe case of pink eye. Everyone looks at me and say"sew what happened?" But above all of this I have to remember that I am the lucky one that gets to have this problem fixed! I will see again! It will be just over a week and I'll be seeing great! I'm so grateful for the help i've had too. My mom and Ivy have been wonderful! They have taken such good care of Nate. My sister inlaws have been really great since like April (that's how long it's been since I've driven a car!) to drive me to my doctors appointments and take care of me. I have been very blessed and all of this has taught me how much I really use my eyes. How much I miss looking at things in detail, and how much I want to read!! I've never been a big reader but now all of a sudden I have this great desire to read and learn. And oddly enough I can't wait for 2 weeks until i can CLEAN MY HOUSE!!!!! Who would've ever thought that I would miss that!! Mom has been very helpful to do my laundry and clean my kitchen but I have so many things that I never knew that I liked to do. lol.
Oh yeah! When I was at the doctor he said that after this is all said and doen we probably won't even worry with glasses. All i'll need is a pair of contacts with a very mild prescription. That will be so crazy for me!!! I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm excited to see faces again, excited to see how sweet my new baby is without being up in his face! I'm just so excited!! I don't know if anyone will truly understand how great a blessing this is. everyday when I wake up I take my patch off and am just amazed at how much more I can see everyday. It is a lot like looking through oil, because I am, but it's also so much clearer that when I had the cataract. It's really weird. Anyways, I"m going to get off my rambling box. My love to all! Remember to take a good long look at the things and people you love because tomorrow you might not be able to see them. I won't ever take that for grated again.

One down and two to go

2008-10-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

the surgery went really well on Wednesday! The doctor was very pleased. He had to use the silicone oil which will have to be surgically removed but he had originally said it would stay in for 6 months to a year but he now says he'll be able to take it out in 3 months!! I can all ready tell that my vision is better in that eye but it's like looking through a bottle of baby oil. I'm feeling better a little every day. Wednesday night I was really messed up from the ansthesia! I did not feel good all night! But once that wore off I was OK. My eye looks really gross so I pretty much wear my patch or the big dark sunglasses so I don't scare people. I still can't see much. I'm still depending on my left eye because I have to waer my regular glasses and the right eye perscription is totally wrong, that's a good sign, but it's very difficult and it gives me headaches. I believe the worst is over though. I am just waiting to heal and I should still beable to have myleft eye worked on on the 10th of November. and it should be a simple rocedure in january to remove the oil and so by Feruary I should be seeing GREAT
On a different note:
Knowlton is 4 eeks oldtoday I can't belive how fas it's gone by. This past month has been such a blur! No pun intended. but he's big and chunky! He's going by Roly Knowly now a days! :) He's very cute. Nathan s growing fast as well. He is learning all sorts of new words everyday It's great.
My mom has een here this week an will be here for a while. I love having her here. My boys just lover her and she is helping me so much. I can relax and focus on healing

I am So Over This

2008-10-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a week and a half of trying to find my way around things and figuring out how to blindly do things. I'm sick of listening to movies. Ya know when you're sick you can play onlince, read a book, or something, but not this time. All I can do is listen to movies and music. I'm just sick of sitting around! I miss checking my email and reading my friends blogs. I feel so out of the loop! oh well, this too shall pass. I had my pre-op appointment yesterday so we're all set for tomorrow. It's finally hitting me but I'm trying not to be scared. IT will be fine. I'm just grateful that they can fix this! It was kinda funny, they gave me all sorts of booklets on what's wrong with my eyes, what a cruel joke! :) It did help Daniel to more fully understand what's going on. I'm so grateful for him and his choice to be in the medical field. It helps him to understand me and I can ask him questions and feel like he knows what's "wrong"with me. he has also been so good to me! He cleaned the whole house last night! He tries so hard to help out all he can. He's such an amazing man! I'm grateful that he can balance school, work, new babgy, and my condition so well. What a great guy! I love him.
Ok well I hope this makes sense and that I don't have too many run on words. I know the buttons to click by heart to make a new post but I can't re-read what I'm typing to check for errors so good luck reading it! :)

Eye Updates

2008-10-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

Part of the reason for my stressful week and my last post was becauseI woke up on Satrurday morning and could hardly see out of myright eye. I thought maybe it was becuase I was tired but it never got any better. I couldn't get in to see my eye specialist until yesterday so all week I pretty much knew what was wrong but I was hoping I was wrong. I thought it was possibly three things, I'm going blind, I have a brain tumor, or I have retina detachment. So I was having a hard time going to sleep in fear of I might not be able to see at all when I woke up. I was stressed about my eyes, stressed about a new baby and hormonal.
I went to eye specialist yesterday and he told me that I have retina detachment. It's fixable but because of my pars planitis (If you're confused read a few posts earlier about my eye problems) it's going to be fvery complicated. It will be about a 3 hour surgery on Wednesday and my vision will come back slowly.
In the meantime, I have a really bad cataract in my left eye which has always been my "bad eye" and was scheduled to have it taken care of on Thursday but now we're having to switch eyes and do my right eye first. Unfortunately I will be blind for about a month I guess.
The good news:
I can type without loking at my hands or the screen! Thanks to my computer teacher in 7th grade (I never understood why it was important to do this)
Bad News" It takes me a while to read the screen and I have to sit very close to the screen. So I won't be blogging as much but I'll keep it updated with my progress.
Good News:
I will be able to see!!! I'm not going blind! It's been a very interesting week trying to do my same things and not being able to see. If this tells you anything I can't wear my makeup because I can't see to put it on! ANyone who knows me knows I don't go out in public very often with out my make up.
Good News: My mom is all ready planning to be here next week! She is so great to come and help. I know my sisters that have to stay at home probably think I'm just lazy and can't help my self but I hope they will let mom come and take care of them and their babies one day.
Alos I have a lot of help here. I'm learning how to ask for it though. It's not very easy for my to say please help me. I like to think I can do everything all by myself.
Anyways, that's what's going on. Babies are crying gotta run.

Going a Little Crazy!

2008-10-13T11:58:00.001-07:00

Ok what's the deal here? My little Knowlton is a great sleeper...he's a newborn and sleeps all the time. He wakes up to eat at night which is normal and I can handle it for the most part. But for the past 2 nights he wakes up to play so we're working on his new sleep schedule. On the other hand my 18 month old sweet little boy has done a 180 with his sleeping! He was doing so well! We were lying down with him to put him to sleep and it was only taking about 15 minutes or so and now....it's taking hours!!!!! For the past 4 days it's been a nightmare! It is taking almost 2 hours for him to go to sleep at night!!! Then he wakes up in the middle of the night to play! So not only am I awake with Knowlton for feedings, I have Nate waking me up when I'm supposed to be sleeping! AHHHHH Today I'm about to lose it! I can't get Nate to take a nap! And now with no nap it's going to be a rough night again. I'm so tired! I haven't slept more than 5 hours a night an hour at a time for 3 nights and I'm soooooooo stressed and grumpy! Why is it that mom's are asked to do everything they do and even when they have no sleep or they're sick or whatever, they have to press on and not only that but be nice to everyone? I've had so many people offer to come over and help, thank you everyone, but I don't know what they can do. Amber took Nate the other afternoon so I could take a nap but Knowlton decided to wake up and eat the whole time Nate was gone so that didn't work. Daniel is very good to help when he can but he's very busy right now. He does get up with Nate in the middle of the night when he's home but Nate usually waits to wake up until I'm alone.
I know some of you are thinking, "don't worry this will pass," or "one day you're going to miss this" and I know all of these things. I know everything will work out fine, with or without a nap, with or without a child who sleeps through the night, and even with or without a clean house. I just have to get this out of my system and cry today and then maybe tomorrow will be better. I think I'm just finally having my hormonal melt down that I expected 2 weeks ago and never allowed myself to have.
Anyways, I need to be grateful for a minute! I haven't had my "grateful day" for a couple weeks now.
I'm grateful for....
1. "Big Bird's ABC's" DVD. It will keep Nate occupied for a while and he's really learning his ABC's! It's really cute
2. General Conference! I've really enjoyed going online to lds.org and downloading the talks from last weekend and listening to them again! What a spiritual weekend I had last weekend! I love listening to the words of our dear prophet of God.
3. Personal Revelation. I know that God hears my prayers and can help me with any situation I bring to Him. He has helped me so much and continues to help me everyday.
4. My Mom! I'm so glad my mom was able to stay here with me last week! She did so much to help me and I'm really looking forward to her coming back next week! If nothing else maybe I'll sleep then.
5. Bouncy Chairs. Knowlton loves to sleep and just hang out in his chair and when he's not in it Nathan loves to sit in it and watch movies!! It's so cute.

My advice for today is that we all try to be grateful for the little things in life and not let the little things get to us. I'm going to take my own advice (I feel better all ready) and go happily clean my kitchen and enjoy Nate making a mess on my floor! Wish me luck! :)

Free Handbags!

2008-10-09T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hey ladies! Check this out! Register for free and win a handbag! They're giving away 24 in 24 hours 1/hour. They're really pretty! http://www.handbagplanet.com/

2 Week Check Up

2008-10-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

So we went to the doctor today for Knowlton's two week check up and found out that he's very healthy! He has gained almost two pounds since we came home from the hospital! He know weighs 9lbs. 10oz.!!! I can't believe it! I guess he's getting enough to eat!

Life has been really good around here! My mom left yesterday morning. It was sooooo nice to have her here! She was so great to play with Nate all the time, do my dishes, clean my house, and help me get some stuff organized. I loved watching her play with Nathan. He sure loves her! Nathan had a hard time sleeping in the middle of the night a few times and Mom would go into his room with her palm pilot and show him pictures of Shupa (my dad) and other family memebers and he absolutely loved it!! When he would see the palm pilot laying around the house he would take it to her and say, "pupaw!" He wanted to see the pictures all the time.

I'm adjusting to not having my mom here. So far it's been OK but it's only been a day. Daniel is working till 3am today so we'll see how my night goes partly by myself. I was very grateful that my mother in law was able to come over tonight and help with dishes and help put Nate to bed.

Nathan has done really well adjusting to the new baby. You can tell he loves Knowlton but he stays out of his face for the most part. He likes to take him his binkey (or take it and hide it).

My sister in law Amber took some great pictures of Knowlton at a week old and here's what I put together for him.

SURGERY DATE!

We have a surgery date for my cataracts! I will have my left eye done on October 23 and my right eye done on November 10!! I'm so excited to see what it's like to see clearly! My mom will be back again for the first surgery and stay for a week and then my dad will come for the next one and stay for a week! He's very excited about that! He was so jealous that my mom got to come and stay! :)

Eat Sleep Poop

2008-10-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

That's all this little boy does! :) He hardly ever cries. He fusses a little when he's hungry or poopy but other than that he's very mellow...I hope it lasts!!! Here are some pics of little Knowlton.

Going Home from the hospital.

His eyes are so beautiful!

Hanging with the Shumaw (grandma)

Awww. So cute!

He's so good at sleeping!

The Story

2008-09-28T06:11:00.001-07:00

Well, here it is. Past few days have been crazy but very fast and fun. Sorry if this post gets long...

We'll start with Monday. Monday morning my dad calls from OK City and says, "we've rented a van to come and see you on Friday. Will that be ok?" Grandma and Grandpa Hanks had come to OK City and wanted to make a side trip out here to see my little family since I couldn't travel to them. I was so excited to see everyone! That afternoon I went to the doctor and had an ultra sound to see how big the baby was. (they've been keeping a close eye on him since Nathan was so big and had a little trouble being born. They didn't want it to happen again so if he was too big they'd induce me early.) The ultra sound read 8pounds 11oz! He was still 3 weeks early too! The doctor ordered an amniocentesis to check the development of the baby's lungs and if they were good she wanted me to come in Thursday night and get started on some meds and be ready to have the baby on Friday. Friday! How perfect! Then I remembered, wait! I have a baby shower Thursday night! The doctor said to just come after it was done. So we had a fun little goodbye party. Then again I remembered wait! I told the missionaries from church to come over on Thursday for dinner! Oh well, no biggy on that one. We like having them over and it doesn't stress me out so we kept that appointment too.
So we spent all week making the final preparations. The amino came back with great results so we were scheduled to definitely have the baby on Friday unless he decided to come before. At first I was really disappointed and every time I had a contraction I thought, Oh maybe I'll go into labor all by myself! Nope, no such luck. The more I thought about it the happier I was and saw how perfectly planned it was. So I spent time setting stuff up, making him a little blankie, washing the rest of our laundry, and making a sling to carry him around in. It was fun.
Thursday finally came and it was such a great day! I got a great nap with Nate, played with him for a while, enjoyed eating with the missionaries, and headed off to the baby shower. I was so blessed to have so many great friends come and wish me luck on this adventure. My sweet sister in laws (and Tina who might as well be my sister in law) put it together for me and it was just so wonderful. We laughed and ate food and opened presents and then it was time for me to pack up and go.
Daniel's mom was going to take Nate to her house so he could have a sleepover! I knew he's be in good hands and would have a great time but I was so emotional because I've never spent a night away from him before and this was worse because Daniel wouldn't be with him either! I was worried that he'd wake up in the night and get scared or something. So I cried as I watched them drive away. It about broke my heart. But I was grateful to know that he would be with his grandmommy and pappy whom he loves very much.
We got to the hospital and got hooked up to machines and they gave me the medicine to help my cervix ripen (or thin) and gave me some sleep medicine and we went to sleep. I was grateful to have Daniel by my side all night. He's so wonderful!
The next morning the started me on pitocin to help make the labor start. At about 9:00am they came in to break my water. The doctor (who I really have loved!) said to go ahead and call the anesthesiologist and get my epidural before I'm in too much pain. She said it would be a little while but the contractions would start to kick in hard now. I don't think she left the room before I got hit with a really hard contraction and then they just kept coming. At this point I had dilated to a 4 (You have to get to 10 to push). This was a lot fast already that it was with Nate! I was so happy. The guy came in to do the epidural and I felt fabulous after that!! I couldn't feel a thing. It was wonderful not to have any pain OR discomfort! I fell asleep really fast for a couple hours.
When I woke up the nurse was having me roll over and try to switch positions because they were having trouble reading the baby's heart rate. The more I moved the more I noticed that I was feeling a lot of pressure which was weird because I had the epidural and i shouldn't be feeling anything until I was ready to push. I thought maybe they just needed to up the dosage of the meds. So I told them about the pressure and we didn't think much of it. But it just kept getting stronger! So still trying to position me better they said, "ya know lets just check you and see where your at....Oh wow! You're a 1o and ready to push!" After that it all went CRAZY! All of a sudden we were ready for the baby to be there. I almost had to start pushing before the doctor got there but she arrived just in time. 7 minutes later I was holding beautiful baby boy. It was so fabulous!! Birth is such an amazing experience and this one was better than I ever could have imagined. I felt great after he was out. I wasn't overly tired and I was completely at peace. It was completely different from last time.
When I was holding the baby before Daniel had cut the cord I noticed that there was a knot in the cord. It scared me a little bit. I started wondering what would've happened had we not induced when we did. I was so grateful to the Lord for letting everything work out perfectly! I couldn't have planned it better myself.
Meanwhile, my parents and grandparents got here about an hour after Knowlton was born. it was so wonderful to see them again. I love every time I get to see my grandma and grandpa! They are such wonderful people. I look at them as examples in so many ways. I love you Grandma and Grandpa Hanks. Thanks for coming and making our special day even more special. I'm glad they got to see Nathan again too.
Everything is going so well. We are getting ready to go home today and I can't wait! I'm grateful for the time to rest but I'm ready to put on my own clothes and be back in my own home. Knowlton seems to be very healthy. He lost 7oz here in the hospital (which is very normal) but he is eating so well! His color is good, he's a little yellow but nothing to worry about, it should be normal in a day or so.
My mom is staying with us for the week so we will be well taken care of. Nathan has loved having her there! They got to watch the helicopter at the hospital yesterday. He loved that! My dad is very jealous that he can't stay but I told him to come when I have one of my eye surgeries in a few weeks and help out then. :)
I'm grateful for all the rest of the family that lives close and can help us enjoy this wonderful time!
Thanks everyone for your well wishes and comments! We love you all! Keep checking back for pictures! I have a feeling there will be quite a few! :)

He's Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-09-26T14:37:00.001-07:00

We're so happy to announce that Ephraim KNOWLTON Ferguson was born at 1:30pm He weighs 8 pounds 7 ounces and he's 21.25 inches long! He very cute. He has a good amount of auburn hair. We love his cute little chubby cheeks. Here are some pics from our day of events. It's been a great day. I'm doing well. I feel really great! The labor was not long at all and I only had to push for about 8 minutes. He is absolutely perfect. Nate will be here soon and we'll get to indroduce them! I'm so excited.

Should be sleeping...

2008-09-24T22:05:00.001-07:00

So I should be sleeping right now but I'm too nervous/excited/uncomfortable/anxious....I'm going in to the hospital tomorrow morning at 8am to have my amniocentesis. We'll get the results a couple hours later and I'm pretty sure I'll be admitted to the hospital around 8pm tomorrow night. I think I'm ready for this but then again I'm so nervous! I've been so busy for the last 9 months that I haven't had time to be nervous and now it's hitting me. I've been busy today. I made a "pea-pod" carrier to put the new baby in and carry him around. It's really cute. I had so much fun making it that I bought more fabric to do another one. I also bought some fabric to make a little blanket for him! It's sooooo cute! It's got puppies on it. I love it. My sewing machine was working so well all day and didn't give me any fits until I was almost done with the blanket. I have like one more foot of the edge to do and I'm done but my bobbin keeps bunching on the bottom so it looks stupid! I finally gave up and now I'm going to attempt to hand stitch the rest....If all else fails I'll unpick it later and sew it when I know how to fix the problem.
I found out some great news! Daniel told me that the hospital has free wireless internet so I'll be able to post when we have the baby and put up some pictures! :) That makes me excited.
Well, off to finish a couple projects to wear myself out and maybe get some sleep. I'll keep everyone posted.

Good News, Bad News

2008-09-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

Okay so not the best picture but you get the point.

Well, we had our weekly appointment yesterday! We got an ultrasound to see how big the baby is. He is estimated at weighing 8 lbs. 11 oz.!!!!! Good grief little man! He's still got 3 weeks to cook. Anyways, the doctor wants me to come in on Thursday and do a lung development test. If the baby's lungs are developed enough she'll start me on some medication Thursday night and we should have a baby by Friday afternoon.

Good News: We are most likely going to have a baby THIS WEEK!!!! I'm not going to be pregnant anymore!!!! (for a little while anyways) And the best part is my parents called me yesterday morning (before we found all this craziness out) to say that they rented a car to come down FRIDAY with my grandparents from Utah! My grandparents are coming out to visit the family before they go to Samoa next month to serve as the temple president and matron of the Samoan temple for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I've been so excited to see them so this is great!!! Now they can see their 2nd great grandchild! :) Can't wait for you to come Grandma and Grandpa Hanks!

Bad News: I have to be induced! Yuck....I still have images of 19 hours of being stuck in the hospital bed because I had an epidural, which was fabulous, but I couldn't feel my feet so I couldn't walk around with Nathan. We also won't get the magical moment of "oh boy! I think it's time!" And as excited as I am to see my grandparents I'll be so out of it in the hospital that it won't be as fun....unless I have my epidural! Then I should be fine! :) I love modern medicine

Good News: Daniel doesn't have any classes on Fridays so he can be there all day with no worries! And this also means that Knowlton should only be around 9 pounds instead of the 11 pounds it looks like he'd be if he were born on the due date. I'll take that! :) Also the fun part is that my sister-in-laws are throwing me a baby shower on Thursday night and I will leave for the hospital just as soon as we're done. Haha I think that's pretty funny!

Anyways, we're excited and nervous. It will be interesting to see life with two kids! I hope this baby is as cute and fun as Nate and that they get along really well. (Oh yeah in the ultrasound the nurse said she could tell that he was going to have really chubby cheeks! Yay!! I love the chubby cheeks!)

I...

2008-09-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

I am... sitting on the couch typing on the computer with a fan blowing on me and still sweating! I must still be pregnant.

I'd like to think... that I'm super organized but in reality I'm not.

I've become...a much nicer, more patient person than I used to be.
I think... too much!
I know... that I am so blessed to be where I am right now!
I want... to have a very healthy baby and a very easy labor/delivery.
I have...... the best husband in the world! I'm so grateful for him and all he does for me!
I like... making lists! It's become sort of my passion! It's so weird!
I hate... being alone at night. It's scary for some reason!
I miss... being able to see my feet! :(
I fear... I'm not good enough
I feel... HUGE!
I hear... "Gilmore Girls" playing in the background.
I smell.... my favorite scent! Sunkissed Citrus from Scentsy
I wonder... if I'll be able to handle two kids!
I regret.... being a rotten teenager! I'm sorry to everyone who knew from about 15-18
I love... my family!
I always... wish for more energy
I am not... a good liar!
I believe... in my Savior Jesus Christ
I don't always... wake up in a good mood.
I win... the prize of biggest procrastinator when it comes to doing the dishes!
I lose... hopefully 36 pounds in a couple weeks!
I never...get to sleep through the night anymore!
I listen...to movies....very rarely do I actually sit down and watch one.
I am scared of... THE DARK!! I'm such a baby!
I read... my scriptures and other peoples blogs....that's about all I have time for right now.
I...invite anyone else who wants to play along to produce an "I" post! I love reading them!

(PS. I posted another post before this so scroll down to read it.)

You know you're a mother when....

2008-09-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

Just some things I've noticed the past week or so....Mom's will appreciate these and if you're not a mother yet, just wait your time will come hahaha.

1. You wake up in the morning with a song from Sesame Street stuck in your head and the only other song you can think of is the theme from The Wiggles! (If you don't know who The Wiggles are you must not have kids!)

2. When you get together with "the girls" you find yourselves talking about your childrens eating habits, what is in their diapers, what you found in their mouth, and other crazy things your kids do. For some reason it's just more fascinating than clothes, cute guys, and nail polish used to be. :)

3. You find yourself drinking from a sippy cup just to get your 15 month old to drink his milk.

4. You hide in the other room (just out of sight of the child, but still close enough to know what he's doing) just to eat a bowl of ice cream so he won't ask you for a bite because 1) it will ruin his dinner, 2) it will keep him up all night, and 3) it's YOURS!! and you don't want to share!!

5. THIS IS MY FAVORITE: You often find your child with a runny nose and you without a kleenex....how do you solve this problem? Wipe his nose with your fingers and wipe it on his pants...they need to be washed anyways right? (Just FYI this is not just me! I've seen SEVERAL moms do this and I think it's hilarious!)

I've been looking at how much my life has changed since I've become a mother. I have had to laugh at myself several times this week because these things are just so funny but so normal to me now! I love being a mom! As gross as it is sometimes it's the best thing in the world!

2008-09-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

I love this picture! My dad took it while he was here last week. Daniel and Nate were playing a game and Dad caught him right as he was laughing. It was great! :)

OB Update

2008-09-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

Ok so I'm to the point that I go to the doctor every Monday until I have the baby. Well, today I went in and again she says, "you've grown again!!" She kinda measured with her hands and said, this feels like 7 pounds right now. I lost two pounds but the baby got bigger....I didn't tell her that the reason I lost 2 pounds was because I didn't eat a whole pan of rice crispy treats by myself this week! :s (I only did that once and I definitly paid for it! and the worst part was, they weren't even very good!) More good news though, she said I'm still dilated to a one but now I'm 50% efaced!!! I'm progressing all on my own! And even if they do have to induce me then at least it should be easier for my body to react to the medication!

We went to Red Lobster tonight to celebrate my father-in-laws b-day. It was really really good! We all got the all you can eat shrimp which was weird for me because I don't really like shrimp so I basically had all you can eat shrimp pasta alfredo! It was fabulous!

Anyways, I'm off to bed. I'm very tired and my eyes aren't focusing anymore tonight.

Grateful Sunday

2008-09-14T05:43:00.000-07:00

This week has been a week of many answered prayers!! I'm so amazed at the power and love of God to make sure all of our little needs are met. He truly knows our needs and our wants! So here we go:
I'm grateful for:

1. Baby Clothes. I've been stressing about what we're going to do about baby clothes for Knowlton. I have a TON of baby clothes and I thought we'd be OK until I got them out and started going through them. I have a TON of summer baby clothes. I have about a million onsies but not many long sleeves and almost no pants. I want to go ahead and buy some but I have no idea what size to buy! Nate was only in 0-3 months for about a month or maybe less. I'm anxious to see how big (or small) this baby really is! So I prayed to Heavenly Father telling Him my dilemma and how I just really didn't have money to go out and buy him a whole new wardrobe. The next day my neighbor shows up out of the blue and has this huge garbage bag FULL of baby boy clothes from 0-9 months. I couldn't believe it. We still have to buy a few good warm outfits but at least this baby will be clothed! :) It was absolutely amazing.

2. Education. As most of you know I went to cosmetology school in Nashville, TN and currently have my cosmetology license here in MO. My plan was to get that and then work at a salon and let it pay my way through college. Well I met Daniel about a year into my program, got married, and got pregnant just about the time I was ready to graduate. Sometimes I think I would love to go back to school but right now I love being a mommy so I'll wait. We found out that we have to pay a few hundred $ for baby Knowlton's circumcision after he's born. The doctor wants all the money upfront. I am OK with that since we've had some other major blessings come to help with the rest of the costs of having a baby. So again I got on my knees and asked how in the world we were going to come up with $400 on such a tight budget for this semester. Well, all of a sudden the past two weeks have been flooded with phone calls and emails asking if I can do peoples hair, nails, eyebrows, and more! I was shocked to see how many I've done in the past 2 weeks. Since I don't have my business license and don't officially have a shop in my home I'm legally not allowed to charge. I do a lot of trading with people for other services but these weeks I've gotten a lot of "donations/tips." So I've been able to put my talents/education to great use and make some extra money to pay for this! We're about half way there in just two weeks!!

3. My Dad. Well, both of my parents but my dad got to come down and visit for a couple of days this week. It was so fun to see him again. He hasn't seen our new place yet so it was fun to show off how we've decorated and what kind of things we do! I loved having him here and can't wait for my mom to be able to come when the baby is born.

4. Air Conditioning. This week has been sooooo much cooler outside and I've really appreciated that! We've had all our windows open all week but with the hurricane storms coming in it's been sooooooo humid and muggy outside! The past two days I just sat inside sweating (mostly from being pregnant). I just couldn't bring myself to turning the AC back on since it was really cool outside, we just couldn't get a good enough airflow through the house. So last night I finally said forget it and turned it back on.l Awwwwww sooooooooo much better!!! I got to sleep really comfortably last night and most of the night I got to even use my blankets! :)

5. Prayer. If there is one thing that i have a strong testimony of it would have to be prayer. Ever since I was a little girl I've known that we can receive answers to prayer. I see it happen on a day to day basis. I'm so grateful that no matter who we are or where we are in our lives we have a Father in Heaven who listens to us. Even the simplest prayers are answered. It may not be the way we want it or when we want it but you watch it will always be answered! I know that and I'm so grateful for it!

Have a great day everyone! Let's all try to be a little more grateful in our lives. It makes a difference in ourselves and it contagious!

Terrific Updates!!!

2008-09-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

I am soooooo excited!! This may not seem like a huge deal to everyone out there but it's HUGE for me! I went to the doctor yesterday and she checked me to see if my body has started to progress at all and she said words that I thought I would never love to hear so much! She said, "well, you're definitely dilated to at least a one." I never heard those words with Nate. It took me FOREVER to start dilating with him so this was fabulous news. That means my body knows what it's supposed to do this time...I hope. She said the baby right now feels about 5 or 6 pounds and if it came today he'd be just fine. (not that I want him to come today...for his sake. He needs to cook a little longer.) We still have a little less than 5 weeks until the official due date and they gain about a pound a week in the last month so it's a good thing she wants to induce early! I'm still having a TON of braxton hicks contractions (they're like practice contractions.) so that hopefully means I could go early all on my own. We're just playing the waiting game now.

Thankful Friday

2008-09-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

Okay here's what I've been thinking about this week:

1. DVD players. Our DVD player broke a couple weeks ago and trying to watch movies on the computer just isn't very good, especially since I can't see well! My sister in law Amber let us borrow theirs that they're not using. Hooray!! :)

2. Modern Medical Technology. I'm so grateful for the technology that we have so the doctors can find the safest way to deliver my babies. I'll find out soon how big little Knowlton really. Who would've thought that an ultra sound could tell you just how much the baby weighs! Plus I've been reading about what goes on during cataract surgery and it's AMAZING!! I'm so grateful that I can have my eyes fixed! It'll be very interesting.

3. Canning and preserving food. I'm grateful for the knowledge of being able to preserve food for times of need or just for enjoyment. I'm also grateful to be done canning! :) Does that count as two? I've had a great time learning to can this week and it was fairly easy, just time consuming.

4. Being a mostly stay at home mom. I work a few hours a week at my mother in laws Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio but other than that I get to stay at home with Nate! Financially it's tight but this is something that Daniel and I feel so strongly about, me staying home and teaching our children. I love being able to read stories with Nate or teach him new animal sounds! I also have found a new love of planning. I love to plan our menus for the week, make shopping lists to help us stay within our budget, make our budget (we're still learning to stick to it.), and set out a (flexible) routine for our days. It's so much easier to live life when I know what I'm supposed to be doing!

5. My Faith. I'm so grateful to have been taught by my parents about my Savior Jesus Christ but more importantly I'm grateful that I know for myself that He is real and true. I'm grateful everyday for Him and His teachings. I know He's there and that He loves me and wants the best for me. I'm definitely still human and make several mistakes but I'm trying to live more like Him.

Big Canning Week

2008-09-02T20:02:00.001-07:00

First of all I'd like to thank a few people. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Hanks for letting me eat your bottled peaches as a child so I would know and remember how FANTASTIC they are!!! I have some good memories of eating them and I even remember helping cut them a couple times....I don't remember the actual canning process but I remember my hands hurting from cutting and peeling.
Thank you Brother and Sister Richason from Smyrna, TN. They were the ones who taught us how to can. We spent a couple days with them and we made apple pie in a jar and apple sauce. It was fabulous! We planned to can peaches with them but then we moved. They told us they would only teach us how if we promised to teach someone else how to do it so that it doesn't become a lost art. I'm happy to say that my sister in laws and I got the book and together we figured it out! :)
Yesterday I got an email from a lady at church telling me where to buy some good peaches for a great price. Crystal, my sister in law, and I went today planning to buy half a bushel to can and bought a full bushel. We canned several jars and made some pie filling with the first bushel. We're taking a break tonight but we'll can and/or freeze more tomorrow. I think we've decided to go get one more bushel and just make a ton! :) We're splitting it three ways so more is better.
We left out some of the pie filling tonight and made THE BEST peach cobbler I have ever had. Everyone was practically licking their bowls after it was gone.
It's a lot of work to can. You peel and cut and it's really messy and slimy and hard but the best feeling is when you follow the last step of taking them out of the boiling water bath and you wait to see if they're going to seal. One at a time you hear this "ping" and you know that the lid has sealed. I'm pleased to announce that ALL of our jars sealed tonight!!!! Hooray! Although it wouldn't have been so bad if one or two hadn't....then we could've eaten them but oh well.
Nate enjoyed coming over an asking for little tastes. It was cute. He sure loves his fruits and veggies! :)

Poor little nose...

2008-09-02T18:53:00.000-07:00

Poor Nate had another accident with the nose! Yesterday we had a family cookout at Daniel's aunts house and Nate was standing on the chair and tipped it backwards. He bonked his nose good on the back bar of the chair. We don't think it's broken and even if it was there's not much they can do to fix it it just has to heal on it's own. Right now it's just really bruised and swollen. He just looks so sad. It's a lot more blue in real life. But he's breathing through it normally and everything else is working just fine so I'm not too worried about it. It just looks really bad!

Great News....I think :)

2008-08-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the doctor for my regular checkup, you know the one where you wait 30 minutes to see the doctor and when she comes in she says, "yup you're still pregnant we'll see you in two weeks." Since my last visit two weeks ago I really thought the baby has grown so much but I just kept telling myself that it's hot and I'm tired and I'm just pregnant. Last time the doctor told me that I looked good and that the baby would probably only be about 7 or 8 pounds. Well, this time she walks in and her first words are, "wow!" I'm thinking, gee thanks! I must look HUGE! She felt my stomach and kinda measured the baby with her hands and says, "well, he grew! I think it's going to be another big one!" (just a reminder, Nathan was 9 pounds 5 ounces and his shoulders were so broad that he had a fractured collar bone when he was born so the doctor is really concerned about that happening again.) I go back in a week and a half and she will see if I've started progressing at all and then the next week she'll do an ultrasound to see how big the baby really is. She said I could plan on being induce 1 week if not 2 weeks early. That means I only have like 4 weeks left!!! AHHHHHH I'm not sure if i should be excited or nervous?! I mean that's kinda the news I was hoping for, that it's almost over, but now that she said it it's really scary. I really don't want to be induced again but I'd rather be induced than have a c-section....infact I really CAN"T have a c-section this time! Too much going on. On the other hand I really don't want to be induced because I want that feeling of, oh boy I think it's time to go to the hospital! We didn't get that last time. So anyways, that's the update.

Grateful Wednesday

2008-08-27T20:25:00.001-07:00

Ok so one of my friends does this and I think it's a great idea! (Thanks Chelsea!) I'm not promising that it will be every Wednesday but I'm hoping to make it weekly! :) 5 things I'm grateful for:

1. My sweet husband! He's Mr. Wonderful! I was too pregnant and tired tonight to cook dinner and I almost said forget it lets just go out to eat, but we're trying to live on a tight budget and I decided not to say anything. Daniel got up and just started making what I had planned for dinner! It was amazing! I love him so much! He's putting Nathan to bed as we speak...he's such a good dad!

2. Answers to Prayers! Daniel had an interview last night for a new position with the hospital he's at. It would be a transfer to the hospital closer to our house but still with the same company. He found out tonight that HE GOT THE JOB!!!! I'm so excited!! That means he can walk to work, not work all night just until like midnight or so, and he can pick up extra short shifts when he needs to!! I'm thrilled!! Now I don't have to worry about being alone at night with two babies! :)

3. My tiny baby kicking. Even though it's kinda painful now that the baby is so big I'm grateful that he kicks and moves ALL the time because that means I know he's there and well!

4. Third Trimesters! This sounds weird but I truly am grateful for them! If it weren't for third trimesters I would never want the baby to come out! I LOVE the second trimester when everything is fabulous, I look cute pregnant and not huge pregnant, and I have sooooo much energy! I would love to stay in my second trimester forever! I think if the baby were to come then you would be upset because the pain from the delivery was totally uncalled for and you were doing just fine! But then you have third trimesters when you're just huge, you can't sleep, you can't move very well, and you might as well get the crane out to lift you when you have to roll over at night. You're always tired, and to make it worse it's summer time so it's insanely HOT! But thanks to all of these things you will do almost anything to get the baby out of you! It doesn't quite matter how much pain you go through (thank goodness for drugs too!) and through it all you have the most amazing miracle ever! So that's why I'm grateful for third trimesters!

5. Nathan. Anyone who has ever known him would know that just by looking at him it makes everything better! He's so cute and I love that he's so smart and can make all of his little animal sounds. He's a big helper too. He's very good at picking up things off the floor and handing them to me so I don't have to bend over.

I'm grateful for many things but those are my highlights for today.

A little bit of Background info and updates

2008-08-26T17:55:00.000-07:00

This could get really long....sorry
Some of you know this some of you don't but my secret is out after this. (it's not really a secret just not something I share openly all the time.) When I was 9 I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After many tests, along with many prayers and family fasts and priesthood blessings, they decided it wasn't a tumor after all. (I'm convinced it was a tumor Heavenly Father changed it into something else.) They found a problem with my eyes and they caught it just in time to treat it before it got really bad and made me go blind. The condition is called Pars Planitis. Google it if you really want to know what it is because I'm not sure I could explain it correctly. Anyways, I saw the doctor very frequently all growing up for it and they finally got it into a stable condition and I haven't had a problem with it in about 5 years or more! The only down side was that to treat it they either had to put me on oral steroids or injections into the eye. I was on the steroids for a while but I had a choice to make. I could either stay on them and possibly not have children because of the side effects or have to injections straight into my eye and be able to have children but develop cataracts earlier then most people. I chose the injections. Plus the steroids made me gain weight and what pre-teen wants that?
I developed cataracts about 6 years ago but they were never very bad. They have been getting worse over the past 3 years or so but after I had Nathan it seemed to go downhill really fast. We've tried to put off cataract surgery for as long as possible but it's really time to do it now. I haven't been able to drive at night for about a year now and I made myself stop driving period about 3 months ago. It's been really hard but we've saved so much money in gas! :)
Anyways, after Knowlton is born I will be having cataract surgery as soon as possible. The doctor said to call him when he is born and we'll schedule one eye for 4 weeks after and the other 2 weeks after that.
I was really nervous about the restrictions after the surgery but the doctor told me last week that I will be able to pick up my newborn and take care of him but I probably shouldn't pick up Nate for about a month after. That's going to be soooo hard! But we'll make it through. He's really good at walking now and I think he'll be fine. I just have to remember to have some good snuggle time with him. My mom and sister have volunteered to come out and help me so that will be wonderful!
The good news with all of this is that the doctors CAN fix it! It's a very common procedure now. And they might even be able to improve my vision!! Right now without my glasses I'm very blind, but even with my glasses on I'm legally blind in my left eye so any improvement would be much appreciated! :)
Anyways, that's the scoop. it's a little scary to think about but everything will be just fine! :) Just thought I'd share and let you know what's going on.

Preggy Pics

2008-08-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

Daniel took these pictures this morning. Just thought I'd share. They make me laugh. Oh yeah this was the funniest thing! Last night Nathan was playing and he came up to me and pointed to my belly and said, "Ball"! It was hilarious! He's so cute. Only 7 weeks (or less) until my "ball" is gone! :)

Ok Uncle Sam this one's for you! :)

2008-08-17T19:10:00.001-07:00

Daniel's brother Sam is serving a 2 year mission for our church in Arizona. He will be back sometime next January or February. We miss him lots but we know he's doing so much good there and is a GREAT missionary! A couple of weeks ago he sent me an email asking me to post some pics of his mom and dad with Nathan. I felt really bad because I realized that I see them ALL the time and we're with the Ferguson clan a lot but I rarely take pictures and post them on here so here ya go! :) We had a family dinner tonight but everyone was tired and the kids were cranky and sick and Nathan is teething AGAIN! So they're not the happiest pics but they work. Enjoy :)
PS Uncle Sam: Nathan sees your picture at church on the wall and we say "Hi Uncle Sam" every Sunday! :) We love you! Keep up the good work.

Pappy and Grandmommy (They live about 6 miles away)

Amber, Lily, and Brandon Donaldson (Daniel's adopted sister they live across the sidewalk from us)

Tina Jackson (Brandon's Mom. She lives with Amber and Brandon)

Nate and Lily playing on the floor

Crystal, Andrew, and Zadia (They live less than a block away.)

Fun baby moments...

2008-08-16T20:18:00.001-07:00

Tonight Nathan and I were over at Amber and Brandon's (sis and bro in law) just hanging out and the missionaries from our church popped by to say hi. While they were there it was the craziest thing! Baby Knowlton would not stop moving! He kept rolling around and everyone watched my stomach and got to see him move. Nate was more of a kicker than a roller, this one rolls ALL the time! It's pretty funny. I remember with Nathan in April before he was born (born in May) we went to General Conference. (General Conference is a big conference where we hear from the leaders of our church. It's broadcast from Salt Lake City, UT and the best part is we get to listen to a living prophet speak to us! It's a two day event and if you have satalite TV you can watch it at home or if you're like us you can go to the church and watch it there. It happens twice a year, April and October. For more info go to www.lds.org) The minute the conference started Nathan started squirming around. He didn't stop for two whole days! I'm pretty sure it was because he was so excited about the Spirit that was felt there and that he knew these people were of God. He was telling me to listen to them because what they say is true! :) The minute the closing prayer was said he stopped moving and must've gone to sleep. It was the funnest thing to see, one of my favorite pregnant moments with him.

Updates

2008-08-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

For the past 5 days I have been dealing with an ear ache. I thought it was just allergies at first but then it wouldn't get better or go away. I thought it might be swimmers ear but I haven't been swimming. I've been holding out going to the doctor because I all ready had an appointment scheduled for today. Every day I would wake up and hope it was gone but no such luck. The pain is only there when I want to go to bed and it's a horrible sharp pain that I've never experienced before. I don't remember ever having earaches as a child. Every night I was waking up in pain and having to sleep on the couch and trying to figure out what to do for it. So I've had four or five hours of sleep a night for 4 nights in a row. I really can't hear very well and that really bothers me. Every time I talk I can hear my self in my head really loud so I feel like I'm yelling all the time but people keep asking me to repeat myself so either I'm too quiet or I'm not making any sense...:s Daniel had to work his normal shifts on Friday and Saturday nights and I'm usually a little nervous without him there but this time I was more nervous because I couldn't hear and I was afraid I wouldn't hear Nate or that someone would break in and I wouldn't hear. By Sunday I was a mess. I'm usually an emotional wreck on Sundays anyways but this time I was sick too. I'm so grateful to live so close to Daniel's family and for their willingness to help me and show their love. I had a few wonderful calls today to check up on me. It was very nice to know people were watching out for me and keeping me in their prayers. Thank you everyone!
I did go to the doctor today and she wrote me some prescriptions for my ears. I hope they start to work fast! :)
Another reason for the emotional roller coaster Sunday was because Daniel left for a camp out this morning for 3 days with the boy scouts from church. I hadn't seen him very much Thursday, Friday, or Saturday and I knew I wasn't going to see him Monday thru Wednesday either, and then it starts all over Thursday. I'm not upset that he's camping, infact, I'm very grateful for what he's doing! I know he's teaching these 12 year old boys good things and I know he's a great example to them. I just miss him that's all. The good news is that Daniel's brother went on the camp out too so his wife is staying with me!! :) That makes me very happy. She and I are really close and we get along great so I'm grateful for her being here!
Baby Updates:
I am now 31 weeks pregnant! Only 9ish weeks left! The doctor says the baby is measuring a little small, not worrisome small just smaller than a 10 lb baby. Nate was born at 9 lbs. 5 oz. and he has a broken collar bone when he came out because he has his daddy's shoulders. There was no damage, thank goodness, but it worries my doctor for this one. She wants to do an ultra sound at 36 weeks or so to see how big he's getting and if it looks like he'll be big they induce me a couple weeks early. I was induced with Nate 3 days after his due date and I NEVER want to be induced again so we're hoping for a smaller baby. I would settle for an 8 pounder. I've gained 23 pounds so far. That's pretty good! With Nate I gained 40 pounds in 5 months! I didn't gain an ouce the first 4 because I was throwing up all the time.
Well, I'm off to bed. I'm praying my medicine will work and I will be able to hear tomorrow!! :)

Olga and Nunu...

2008-08-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

We really enjoyed our time with our rabbit Bobo. Nathan LOVED to play with him and pet him. He was a very good first pet. He was doing really well until he ate through 2 laptop cords, a lamp, a candle warmer cord, and a couple base boards. After he started chewing things we couldn't let him out of the cage anymore. It was really sad. It was like taking an outside dog and making him be and inside dog. He looked so pitiful in his cage all the time. So we had decided to find him a new home. A family from our church is getting ready to move and they needed a place for their parakeets (2) to live, since they probably wouldn't make the long drive in the car. They decided they would love to have a rabbit so we made the trade. It was good to know someone will take care of Bobo. This family has several other pets and the kids love to play with animals. We made the trade a couple of days ago and I heard yesterday that he is getting pleanty of love! :)
The parakeets are pretty and they sing pretty songs. Daniel wants to teach them to talk. Nathan likes to look at them and stand by their cage. He calls them "Birbir." We have a mom and a daughter. They look very similar but the mom has a little less yellow and we decided to call her, Olga. The daughter has a lot of yellow on the head, her name is, Nunu.
Story behind the names:
we took a road trip to Kansas City a few months ago and being bored in the car we decided to make a list of pet names, one for every letter in the alphabet. Daniel found the list the other day and those were the only girl names on there. :) So that's how we came up with the names.

Digital Scrapbook

2008-08-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

I have really gotten into the whole digital scrapbooking thing the past couple years, thank you Heather Smith you created a monster! :) I just had my 3 book printed! I work on the pictures that I have and then wait for winkflash.com to have a sale and then I frantically get them in order and send it in and have it printed in a hard bound book. The sale is for unlimited pages up to 100 pages for $20. Normally the cost is $20 for 20 pages and $1 for every page after that, so it gets pricey. But my first book was a family album and it was 77 pages. My second was our wedding book and it was something like 68 pages. This last book was Nate's whole first year. It's sooooo cute and it was so fun to put together. It came out to be 99 pages long!!!! I was soooo excited. It looks GREAT! I can't wait to start my next book. Probably another family album. I do want to get a family cookbook together though. I think that would be cool. Have pictures and recipes of the food we love and have learned to cook.
Anyways, here are a few pages that i really liked. Just a sample of my work. You can click on the side bar and see more pages if you want. Also if you click on the image it'll come up bigger.

Not much help! :)

2008-07-31T20:32:00.000-07:00

Looking at the tally for the poll tonight you guys weren't very much help! It's tied 10-10! Thanks for voting though! I did however get a lot of emails with some very helpful information that helped us make our decision. We have decided, as long as he doesn't come out looking like a different name, he will be named Ephraim Knowlton Ferguson. I love the fact that it's a family name and spelling, and he most likely won't have other friends with the same name. He will have so many stories to read with his name in it!
Here is an email my Grandpa Hanks sent me the other day with some great stuff I had no idea about! (Thanks Grandpa I hope you don't mind me sharing this.) Ephraim Knowlton Hanks is my mom's dad's grandfather. (right? someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

"Hi Meagan and Daniel,

'I think the name should be spelled Knowlton. Any other spelling would not give the significance to the name. Knowlton was a well-known name during Revolutionary War times. You probably know this already, but Martha Knowlton was Grandfather Ephraim Hanks' wife. Her grandfather, Daniel Knowlton fought in the Revolution. While not as famous as his brother Thomas, he not only ought in the Revolution, but was a prisoner of war and suffered great hardships.

"His brother Thomas Knowlton was killed in the Battle of Harlem Heights on Manhattan Island. Several histories of the Revolutionary War give his name, and George Washington said of Thomas, "He would be an honor in any country." There is a monument to Thomas on the state capitol grounds at Hartford, Connecticut, with the inscription: In memory of Col. Thomas Knowlton of Ashford, Conn., who s a boy served in several campaigns in the French and Indian Wars, shared in the siege and capture of Havana in 1762, was in immediate command of Connecticut troops at the Battle of Bunker Hill, was with the commands closely attached to the person of Washington and was killed at the Battle of Harlem Heights September 16, 1776, at the age of thirty-six."

So anyways, I thought that was really cool and that I'd share it with you guys.

We need some help/suggestions

2008-07-28T07:19:00.001-07:00

Ok here's the situation....
Ever since we found out that we are having a boy we've been coming up with names. A couple of weeks ago the name Knowlton came to my mind and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Well Ephraim Knowlton Hanks is my great great grandpa. Knowlton was his mother's maiden name. I've been reading some stories about his life, thank you everyone who put those together. He was a strong member of the church who listened and obeyed the prophet. He played a part in saving the Martin Handcart company in 1856. So anyways I love the name Ephraim Knowlton but I think we'd call him Knowlton.
Here's the dilemma....
I love the name Knowlton but if we spell it with a "K" is that going to be confusing? How do you teach a 5 year old that is learning the ABC's that his name his name starts with the "N" sound but actually starts with a "K". Plus no one would ever spell his name right on the first try! (I've lived with that my whole life and it's not too bad but it does get annoying.) Would it be wrong to change the spelling of the name of a family member? I'm going to post a poll on the side of my blog so feel free to comment or vote on the poll. Just remember that to do so you have to actually be looking at my website. So if you are reading this in an email because you have subscribed to my blog you'll need to go to www.watchnathangrow.blogspot.com

Two Nights in a Row!!!!

2008-07-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

Ok so here's my super great big news!!!! For two nights in a row Nathan has slept 11 straight hours without waking up. I woke up several times wondering when he was going to wake up and he never did! I'm soooooo thrilled! It's taken a long time to get to this point and I hope it lasts. The best part though is that when he woke up he was sitting on his bed laughing and calling for his ball! It was so cute.

Highly Over Rated

2008-07-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

I got off to a rocky start this week. Mondays are especially hard for me because I've been with Nathan with not much of a break and hardly any time to myself for 4 days straight. Daniel goes to school Friday then works all night, sleeps all day Saturday and gets up just a couple hours before he has to go back to work for another all nighter. Sundays are hard because Daniel has to sleep as much as possible in 3 hours before church and then we are both battling Nate for 3 hours at church. We usually end up doing something with family on Sunday after which I love doing, but then the day is over and I haven't been able to rest! Who said Sunday was a day of rest? We're working on that concept. So... by Monday morning I'm exhausted. I woke up with a headache and was doing ok until the little boy we babysit came over and woke up Nate from his 5 minute nap and then they were both crying and sooooo grumpy. I was tired and sooooo grumpy and i just felt like a real "Mean Ole Mom". By the time I went to bed I was so hormonal and still had my headache and would've given anything for a day off. I wanted to not be pregnant for one day and have my energy back! I could pick up right where i left off if I just could just have some "me" time with nothing to clean and no one to feed but myself, and no belly to keep me from bending over or making it so I can't breathe. Even if it was just for a couple hours that's what I wanted. I knew it wasn't possible for a couple more days because Daniel had a big test and a project due this week, so I just told myself to get over it. The next morning was so much better. I just needed a good nights sleep. (Oh yeah that was the other problem, I don't sleep well on the weekends because I'm a little nervous when Daniel's at work all night. but I'm better than I used to be! I no longer need the TV on all night long.)
Tuesday and Wednesday were so much better. I was happier and not so emotional. Wednesday I had to go to work in the afternoon. I was only there for 4 hours so it wasn't bad at all. As I was sitting there waiting for people to come in my only thoughts were, I miss Nate! I want to go home and play with him! So I guess "days off" are highly over rated. Even if I had a day off I wouldn't know what to do and I would still miss my little boy terribly! I think that's a good thing. Have a good day everyone! Go hug your baby! tell them they're so cute and so sweet even if they are grumpy, it makes a big difference. :)

New Word

2008-07-22T15:41:00.001-07:00

We went to Walmart today because what else is there to do when you're bored, right? We decided to get some little crocs shoes for Nate because his other ones are too small and he keeps trying to steal the neighbor boy's shoes. They're so cute and little! I tried one on him and put it in the back of the cart. As we were walking around he kept saying something and I couldn't quite figure out what he was saying then I realized he was saying, "sooos" or shoes. It was so cute! He kept saying it until I handed them to him and then he wanted to put them on. He is just so stinkin smart! ;)

2008-07-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

These are some great pictures that some friends from church took. They are trying to start their own photography business so if you need a photographer go to www.jdesignstudios.com

Why am I so TIRED?

2008-07-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

for the past month I've had so much energy! I've cleaned my house really well and kept on top of the laundry and have been able to get so much done! This week I just have not been able to find any energy. I'm so tired even after I get a good nights sleep. So I was trying to figure out what is wrong with me, what am I doing different? Then it hit me! Duh, I'm in my third trimester now. I remember when I was pregnant with Nate, I could have lived forever in my second trimester! I loved being pregnant! Now I still love being pregnant but it's definitely getting harder. I'm too big to bend over to pick up after Nate. Luckily he is good at handing me the toys and books to put away so I don't have to bend down. I am feeling the baby move ALL the time but he hasn't gotten stuck in my ribs yet, thank goodness! It's really hot outside so I hardly ever want to go out but Nathan LOVES to be outside. He will come up to me now and bring me my shoes and say, "gogo?" If I put on my shoes then he runs for the door. It's really sad when it's noon and super super sunny and hot outside and I just can't take him out. I do however take him out around 8:30am and 7:00pm when it's not so hot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Nate's New Achievements~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nate has learned several new things this week! He has learned that if he goes outside without shoes on the porch will burn his feet really fast. (that was a sad one) He also learned that monkeys say ahhooohheeeheeeh. He walks around the house all day saying ahhooohahhhoooh. I showed him this morning what an elephant says by making a trunk with my arm and raising it while making an elephant sound. Tonight I was reading him a book and couldn't figure out what he was doing. Then I realized he had caught on and was doing an elephant! That was so fast! He can also say, "sssssssssss" for snake. He learned a sign (that I made up) for swim and now all he wants to do is swim.
Of all of these things I think my favorite has been, "please". He says it all the time now. I don't have to encourage him hardly at all anymore. Last night we went out for milkshakes on the way home from something but I knew Nate was about to fall asleep so I didn't want him to have any. As soon as he saw my drink he started saying, "Peez, Peez Peez". It nearly broke my heart to say no. He was just too cute and pitiful at the same time. But eventually he gave up and went to sleep.
Nate also learned that he does not like it when Mommy helps another baby and doesn't pay attention to him. We watched our niece, Zadia, tonight and Nate was so jealous. Zadia is 7 weeks old and she was getting hungry so she was crying and Nathan would watch her and then start fake crying. It was sad. It made me very nervous for what will be happening in a few months. She cried for a little while and I couldn't help her. I just wasn't her mom. Daniel came over and asked if he could take her. He took her and held her close and talked to her and gave her her binkey and she was totally fine. It was so sweet!! I was very impressed. He said it took him 6 months to learned how to successfully calm Nate down but now he's a pro! :) I love him! He's so sweet.
Anyways, I'm done now. Thanks for reading! :) Have a good night

Little Luxuries

2008-07-12T06:35:00.000-07:00

Thursday night we came home from shopping and were surprised to find that it was cooler outside than in our apartment. I checked the AC box and it said it was 79* in the house but the AC was set to make it 76*. I tried to turn it down to see if it would kick on but nothing happened! So I called my landlord (who is wonderful by the way) and left a message for him to come check it out ASAP. Meanwhile, we bought 2 gallons of fresh blueberries from a friend and decided it would be fun to freeze some and dehydrate the rest for food storage. Good idea, bad idea! We had to do it that night because we knew that otherwise it wouldn't get done but we had the stove going and the dehydrator going and I think we even had the dishwasher on. The kitchen was so hot!! Our apartment is a decent size but still small enough that the heat traveled quickly so the whole place was really hot. PLUS I'm pregnant which makes it a whole lot worse! If you've never been pregnant, it could be 25* in the house and you'd still be sweating.
The next morning a couple of friends from church came over to practice a song we're doing in church on sunday and they brought their kids and the accumulation of bodies was making it even more hot. The sun continued to shine through our windows and the temperature kept rising. By the time my friends left I was dripping sweat. I felt so gross! So I went to my wonderful sisterinlaws place across the sidewalk to cool off. As soon as I got over there my landlord came and said he was fixing it and we should be cooled down within the hour! What a relief!
One day we'll probably have to go without AC but as for right now I'm grateful every second that we have it. The good news is that it happened yesterday when it was one of the cooler day instead of next week when it'll be up to 100*!

A Post for Me.

2008-07-11T05:37:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here all alone in my bed and it's 7:38am. This almost NEVER happens. Daniel is at his first clinical for nursing school and the Tater is still asleep! :) As I'm sitting here I'm thinking of how wonderful life is and how blessed we are. Two years ago when Daniel and I got married I never in my wildest dreams would've thought I'd be where I am today. I thought we'd just be finishing school in TN and just now be starting to think about starting a family. If that were the case it would be very lonely. We'd have more money that we do right now! haha but I wouldn't trade all the money in the world for where we are today.
I love living across the sidewalk and less than a block from two of my best friends. It takes me a while to really get close to people and make "great" friends but my sister-in-laws and I clicked so quickly and I really feel like we are sisters. I love them!
We've seen the hand of our Heavenly Father in so many things this past month. He has tested our faith a few times but it's made us so much stronger, Daniel and I as a couple and each of us separately. We've looked hard for answers and they've been given to us. I'm so grateful for that.
I'm grateful to be a mommy and be able to stay home with Nathan. He is such a joy! He always has been. I love being able to watch him grow up and discover new things. He is just so funny to watch.
I'm grateful to my parents who taught me that it's the simple things in life are the most important. I'm grateful that they taught me how to take care and run a house but most of all I'm grateful for their example and showing me how to pray and be close to my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ.
I'm grateful for ALL of my family. My family in OK city and my family here in MO and my extended family that covers the rest of the globe. I love you all!
And last but certainly not least, I'm grateful for my husband who works so hard to go to school and work so that I can stay home with Nathan. I'm grateful for his example to me. I love when I walk into the living room to see where he is and there he is on the couch reading his scriptures. I love to watch him tend to his garden. He started so many plants from a seed, mostly seeds from fruits after he's eaten it, and they've become his babies. It's very sweet. I love to watch him read Nathan bed time stories or feed him dinner. He's so good with him. I'm grateful for everyday when he comes to me and says, "thanks for all you do around the house" or "thanks for doing the dishes". I love that he still holds me when we watch movies. He's such a good man and definitely my better half. I love his so much.
Life is so wonderful. I hope everyone will take a minute to be grateful today. Look at the small things, they are the best! :)

Please! :)

2008-07-10T07:34:00.000-07:00

Daniel and I both work with the youth at our church and last night we had "Birthday Party" at someones house for anyone that has a birthday. We had really great cake and ice cream. Nathan saw what we were eating and came up to see if he could get a bite. I've been working with him to get him to do his sign language along with talking. It's working really well! I made him say "please" and he did it so I gave him a bite. That happened a couple more times and finally he just kept saying please! He knew he had to say it before he got a bite so he did it without me telling him! it was really cute. It's not quite please it's more like "eeze? :)"

We have taught him several other signs which have been soooooo helpful! He knows how to sign for more, all done, please, drink, ball, and book. He will usually add a vocal of some sort with these signs too. I've learned that it's very important to teach them the real words that go with the signs so that they do learn to talk on time this just gives them a better chance of letting you know what they want earlier than their mouth can function. If anyone is interested in teaching it to your kids we just bought the movie, "First Signs" from Baby Einstein. It's awesome! We started just casually doing it around 3 months and he caught on around 6 months.

Yesterday I went to the mall to get some more maternity clothes (my pants don't fit anymore :'( ) and across from the maternity store was a book store where i was going to meet my brother and sister in law. That was a bad mistake!! I walked in and there was a HUGE clearance on kids board books. I've been saying for a few weeks now that I need to get Nate some more books because he LOVES to read but I'm so sick of the ones we have. I had decided that every time we went to walmart I'd get a cheep one for him but that's still around $6 or $7 a piece. Yesterday I got 12 books for $19! Board books too! Those are not always cheep! For some reason I realized he had mostly animal books and I really wanted him to have some shape and color books or atleast something a to learn about different things. Well, I got him bible stories, colors, shapes, dinosaurs, first foods, and a book with flip ups that he LOVES. I was so excited. Currently he's sitting in the living room reading his books to himself. He's going to be a genius!

One more thing that I think is really funny. Daniel has taught him to roar like a dinosaur. We say, "Nate what does a dinosaur say?" and he puts his hands up by his face and says, "Rooooooar". It's so cute.

So I was wondering yesterday who actually reads my blog. Leave me a comment sometime if you read this. It's comforting to know I'm not just sending this out to no one. I know my parents and LeAnn and Natalie read it. Who else is out there? :)

I love this!

2008-07-05T19:03:00.001-07:00

I love to watch Nathan read. He will just crawl into his chair or up on his bed and read his books. He'll stay there for a while and just sit quietly and read. I love it.

New Curtains!

2008-07-03T21:34:00.000-07:00

So I saved $70 on my utility bill this month by hanging all my clothes up to dry, running fans with the AC at 76, and not running the dishwasher as much. I was so excited!! So I got to buy new curtains. Our living room has looked really boring but it's a work in progress at the moment. We got these fabulous couches for a GREAT deal after our tax return came but that's all we had in the Living room. It was sad looking. But now it looks great! And when we get our family pictures to put on the walls it will be fantastic! :)

Home sweet home. This is the front of our duplex. We live in the one on the Right with the pink chair in front. I didn't realize it was there when I took the picture.

This is mine and Daniel's bedroom. The first pic is from staning at the door.

and this is our living room. I love it!! The pictures aren't as good as the real thing but you get the idea.

I'll try to get more of the house tomorrow. we decorated the kids room too!

Family Pictures

2008-06-27T11:40:00.001-07:00

We finally got some good family pictures done! Here are some of our favorites

Book of Mormon Stories

2008-06-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

This is so cute! Nathan has learned the actions to Book of Mormon Stories. (for any of you who don't know that song it's a song the children sing at church.) Here are the pictures from him singing. I can't get the video to load for some reason.

HOW COULD I FORGET?!?!?!?

2008-06-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

Ok I know I've posted a lot lately so scroll down and see the rest. Here is some fun news for this week! Nate is walking!!!!! He took a few steps this week and then last night I had the camera on and I said, " Nate go get it," and he took off and walked across the living room! For some reason that I can't figure out it won't let me upload my video to my blog so I'm sorry you can't see it. I'm trying to figure youtube out but it's been a little crazy around here.

P.S. his nose is doing sooooo much better!!! Now maybe we can get a family picture!! :)

Houston We Have a Problem!

2008-06-21T20:01:00.001-07:00

So I walk into the kitchen one day to find this..... Need I say more?

However, a couple days after that I noticed that it was quiet...too quiet. Those of you with children know that quiet when it's not nap time is not necessarily a good thing. But to my sweet surprise this is what I found and what I've found quite often since then.

One day I couldn't find Nathan for a few minutes and when I finally found him he was in his room behind the rocking chair by the bookshelf reading! He LOVES to read!!!!