Weeks 11-18: Wost Blogger Ever.

It's official. I am the worst blogger ever. I've neglected this blog for about 8 weeks now, sooo lets play catch up really fast, shall we??

So, what have I done in the past 8 weeks? Well...

I had some maternity/family pictures taken...

I had a baby...

I turned 26....

Took the girls to a parade...

Celebrated the 4th of July with LOTS of fireworks:

Took this cool HDR picture of the "Up" House

Dressed up like a cow shamelessly for some free Chick-Fil-A

[insert photo here - as soon as I remember to get it from Nates mom's camera.. remind me?]

Interviewed on Media Minds Online for my photography business

http://www.iwatchradio.com/shows/business/media-minds-online

And gave talks during sacrament meeting. (I don't have a picture of us talking, so here's a picture of Ally I took today instead. She is already 6 weeks old!)

In between all of this - I've been working hard at getting my photography business up and running again, and taking a lot of pictures for fun. This is all in between all of our emergency room trips and kidney stone fun for Nathan. Don't worry, he's fine now. FINALLY. (And I probably just totally jinxed myself)

What? You want to know more about my photography business?

www.jeanettarobertsphotography.com

And that, in a nutshell, has been my life over the past 8 weeks. I'll try to get better at this whole blogging thing again starting with week 19 ;)

Week 10: Who say's our lives are uneventful?

We have had a very very busy week, to say the least.

Last Saturday was my baby shower and we had a lot of fun putting it together and celebrating baby Allyson's upcoming arrival. The theme we are using for Ally is an Owl, so the cupcakes had cute owl cupcake toppers and SUPER cute owl brownie pops! I got a lot of really great things from some people who either barely knew me, or never met me at all - so I was extremely grateful!

Cupcake Toppers

Me and my sister in law, Teresa

My sisters and Mother in law (Megan, Mom, and Katalina) working on the fruit bowl

Maddie helping me open my presents

My new super cute diaper bag. I love pink and brown ;)

some of us during the party

The owl brownie pop. This picture really doesn't do it justice. They were so cute!

Me and my girls (all 3 of them)

36 week belly shot

The next day we celebrated mothers day, but unfortunately there are really no pictures because we were all so exhausted from the day before. We spent Mothers day at church and had a great time! My class made coupon books to give to their moms and then we were able to go to relief society to have some goodies and listen to the bishop and his counselors teach us about the importance of mothers. Then when we got home, the girls gave me the presents they made for me the day before. My mother in law took them to Home Depot and each of them made me a different kind of flower planter. They were so proud of what they made and I was even more proud that my girls made them just for me! I'm hoping maybe someday this week we can go outside and plant some flowers to add to them. All in all, a very good mothers day! I am truly blessed to be a mother to 3 BEAUTIFUL and amazing girls. I can't wait until I have Ally in my arms as well :)

The rest of the week was spent working on Katelyns birthday present, a pillowcase dress (my first EVER), and gathering baby items to get ready for Allysons arrival. Up until this week I hadn't bought a single thing for her since I knew I was having a shower. We also were unable to bring any of the baby stuff to Utah with us from St Louis, so I was really stressed about having everything I needed in time for her to come. So I found a freecycle list for Salt Lake City and put up an ad stating I needed all of the necessities. The response was amazing! I now have enough clothes to get us through the first year, 2 car seats (we're going to use one as a spare), a bassinet, and 3 bouncer seats! We're going to pass along anything I didn't need to someone else who is in need. Now I have nearly everything I need for her arrival! Talk about a blessing! There are really good people in the world, its just not always easy to find them. Or, they're hiding where you least expect it!

Today, we had a birthday party to celebrate Katelyn's 3rd birthday which will actually be on Monday. We were supposed to all go to the park so the kids could play and we could enjoy some fresh air but right when we were about to pack up to go, it started raining and thundering. Me and Katy were crushed! So we had our "picnic" indoors, and then miraculously, the weather cleared up just long enough for us to go to the park to open presents and have cake. So, all in all - the day turned out to be a big success! Katelyn LOVES toy story, so we had a toy story cake and she got lots presents that she is really excited about.

The birthday girl!

Opening some of her presents.

blowing out the candle (seriously how CUTE is that cake?)

after devouring the cake. Daddy now calls her "the joker"

Mommy and her birthday girl (ignore mommy's appearance)

Nathan is still battling his kidney stone (this is stone number 2) and so far its been 2 weeks and still hasn't passed on its own. We now have a surgery date scheduled for this upcoming Friday if he doesn't pass it before then. This has been a very hard and trying time for our family. Nathan has been unable to go to work while he's had this stone due to the pain and heavy narcotics he's been on, and if he doesn't go back next week - then he will lose his job. Fortunately his doctor said he should be ready to return by next Tuesday after recovering for surgery so hopefully all will be well. His boss is trying to keep corporate from making her let him go. We're asking for prayers that this stone will pass before Friday and so he can get back to work as soon as possible. We're also praying that baby Ally doesn't try to make her debut until Daddy is well again too. Can you imagine me going into labor with Than in surgery?

And that's it for this week :) While I love having good news to report instead of always having something bad going on - I am really hoping for an uneventful week. I welcome a week of rest and sanity before things start to get crazy and busy again!

Weeks 8 and 9: Having fun, Easter, and unbelievable blessings!

There's never a dull moment around here, that's for sure. For instance - some days we do things like:

Get free frosties from Wendy's,

Learn that Katelyn has an allergy to latex (took us 3 outbreaks to figure out what it was),

Or just spend an afternoon at the park (when the weather lets us).

Easter Weekend did not disappoint either. On Saturday, my sister in law Melissa and her three girls came over and the girls had their first Easter egg hunt of the year. Thanks again Easter Bunny (aka Aunt Melissa) for all the candy! We'll be on a sugar high 'til Christmas now ;)

Then, after church on Easter Sunday, The bunny visited AGAIN! (What?? MORE candy?! Oy.)

We had lots of family (and some friends) over to celebrate with an awesome dinner that consisted of both ham, london broil, all kinds of great side dishes, and I made my moms strawberry shortcake (by the way mom - everyone seemed to like it!)

After dinner, the girls went on an indoor Easter egg hunt with all of her cousins, only this year, the bunny left some super special eggs. Instead of candy, the eggs were filled with different items that taught the girls about Christ and the resurrection. I can happily say that Madison can officially tell me the REAL reason as to why we celebrate Easter. Katelyn is still young, but she'll catch on soon. I think this will be a new easter tradition!

The best part of the day was after the hunt was over. My mother in law sat on the floor with all of the kids, and let them pick an egg one by one. Then when they opened the egg, mom explained what the significance was of each piece inside (such as the crown of thorns, the white linens, nails, etc). When asked what they thought each piece represented, the girls had some hilarious answers! We were all cracking up. It was truly a great Easter Sunday!

The best part of our week came on the Monday after Easter. Nathan was supposed to start a new security job that day, but after a blessing from his dad and lots of time spent pondering and praying, he just couldn't shake the bad feeling he had about accepting the job. I personally thought he was crazy (and I think part of him did too) that he was seriously considering turning down a job after we have been so desperately searching for a year and a half. I told Nathan that I trusted him and knew he would do what was best for him and all of us and make the right decision. So that Monday, he did not go to work. I was so stressed with the "What are we going to do?" feeling that I was literally sick to my stomach over it. But low and behold - Nathan went down the street to the grocery store, and came home with a job! Not only another job - but a job better than the one we turned down! More pay, closer to home (literally walking distance), and more hours. What a blessing!! So I learned a very important lesson this week: when you receive a prompting from God, you do it. No matter how crazy and senseless it seems. He has a master plan for you and everything happens for a reason! One of these days I'll get pictures of Nate while he's working at his new job (since we seem to live at this grocery store.. haha).

And that's weeks 8 and 9 for ya. In case you haven't noticed, I'm getting bad about this weekly blogging thing. But, this weekend I should be back on track. A lot of things are going on this week, and for the rest of May so I'll have plenty to talk about.

Weeks 6 and 7: Kidney Stones, Pneumonia, and Collapsed Lungs - Oh my!

I wasn't able to sit at the computer long enough to blog last week, so this week I'll try to play catch up :) All was going pretty good here, just sitting around being lazy, or occasionally running an errand here or there. Nothing too exciting. Then the "fun" began....

It all started with Katelyn and a nasty cough/cold that didn't want to let up - finally one night it got so bad that we decided to take her in to Urgent Care. The verdict: Upper respiratory infection and double ear infection. This is at least ear infection number 4 for her now. Poor thing! I'm afraid she's going to end up needing tubes someday...

Katelyn modeling a doctors mask at Urgent Care. Her cough was terrible!

We thought everyone had finally gone through about all the sicknesses we possibly could at this point. I mean so far between the 4 of us we've had the flu, bronchitis, urinary tract infection, prostate infection, ear aches, and upper respiratory infections. That's enough for one family in a 6 week period, right? Apparently not...

Last Monday around 2 am, Nate started noticing blood in his urine (I know, gross right?), so he took himself to the ER because I had already taken my nightly sleep meds and was PASSED OUT. Around 7am he wakes me up to tell me I need to get up because I need to take him to his urologist. After a cat-scan the ER doctor found a 6mm kidney stone! (We were told an average kidney stone size is around 3mm so that gives you an idea of how major this was). The doctors were amazed that he wasn't passed out on the floor screaming in pain. So we spent the day hunting down the urologist and trying to get an appointment to have his surgery done to remove the stone. We finally got in, and scheduled the surgery for Wednesday morning. Little did we know we wouldn't make it that far.

Later that night his pain became unbearable and back to the ER we went. The ER doctor got in touch with Dr. Snyder (his urologist) and he came in immediately to do the procedure. The doctor said the stone was longer instead of round and extremely jagged. He was able to pull it out without blasting it, but Nate had so much blood that he was beginning to form blood clots so they put a stint in so that it would be easier to pass the clots while he recovered. Everything seemed to go well and I was with him in recovery again laughing with his nurse at his goofiness while he was doped up on major pain pills. All was finally going to be okay! Or so we thought....

Nathan in recovery after having an out patient procedure to remove his kidney stone.

So home we went with pain meds and hope that we would FINALLY be a healthy family again. Then the next day, Nate started having a really hard time breathing, fever, and a really high heart rate. Doctor recommendations: Go back to the ER! After waiting about 4 or 5 hours they could not get his oxygen and heart rate under control without the help of an oxygen tank, so they decided to admit him. The verdict this time? Post operative pneumonia with a partially collapsed lung! When it rains it pours, huh? So for the next 2 nights Nate stayed in the hospital doing breathing treatments and trying to rest. The nurses wanted him to get up and walk a lot but he was in a lot of pain from the stint that was still in. Unfortunately Nate doesn't seem to respond well to many medicines so they had to try a lot of different pain meds and antibiotics before they could finally find something he could keep down and not have a bad reaction to. He was finally released from the hospital on Thursday afternoon.

Nathan enjoying his steak dinner in the hospital. In recovery after surgery he kept saying he wanted steak. Probably not quite what he was wanting but he tried it anyway :)

Nathan doing one of his many breathing treatments to try to re-inflate his lung and get his oxygen under control.

The next day, Nathan began taking a new antibiotic that is a cousin to the Augmentin family, which he is allergic to. The doctors and the pharmacist convinced us that he should have no problem with this medication regardless of his allergy so we did what we were told and took the meds. Within 20 minutes Nathan was vomiting everything that came in and I was afraid we were going to end up back in the ER - Again! Luckily, we were able to get the vomiting under control at home and with rest and a few crackers, he seemed to be getting better.

Now, all is well again as he is recovering and his pain is almost gone from the surgery (stint is out too thankfully. Poor guy!) Regardless of all of this, we're still somehow in high spirits. Heavenly Father has a plan for everything - even when we just don't understand it! There was a reason all of this was supposed to happen. I hope I figure out why soon so I can feel better about it ;)

We had one or two uneventful days for the most part - just trying to recover from our crazy week. Then this morning we woke up late for church because the electricity went out, and when we looked at Katelyn we saw the rash. It started last night around 8pm but she wasn't bothered by it and it didn't look severe so we sent her to bed. This morning it had spread everywhere, including her face, and was much worse. So off to Urgent Care we went!! The doctor determined it was some kind of allergic reaction so she's now on a steroid and benadryl for the next 5 days. The steroid makes her NUTS! She's already a hilarious child - add a steroid to the mix, and I just don't even know what to do with her anymore.. ;)

Katy and her poor blotchy face from her rash. Luckily she never seemed bothered by it!

After everything that has gone on the past few weeks, I needed some positivity and good food, so me and my partner-in-crime (aka my sister in law Jennica) did what we do best - we made an interesting new snack to eat! (Thats our thing - we make weird and cute edible things for fun). This time it was cake balls! Maddie helped us dip some of them, but it was a really messy process. They turned out to be really good, but pretty rich. For my upcoming baby shower we're going to be making brownie balls shaped like owls :) I can't wait to do them!

Me and Jennica working on the cake balls

Maddie getting in on the cake ball action

Maddie enjoying the chocolate candy coating by the spoonful.

Now that we've seemed to get past all of this craziness, I hope that I can have some time to unwind and regain some sanity and much needed sleep. In the meantime, I am officially 32 weeks pregnant and our little Allyson Claire will be joining the madness soon! I now have a new OB doctor named Dr. Burgett and he is FABULOUS! I'll be getting another ultrasound done soon so we can check on Ally's growth, but I have no concerns in that area. She moves around like crazy and is definitely growing. I don't think I've ever been this big pregnant!

32 week belly shot.