Bellas 7th birthday!

I say it every year but it's true every year "I can't believe Bella is Seven!" 

I love celebrating my kids and I really try to make sure they feel special on their birthday. I think it's just a great opportunity to remind them how grateful and blessed you are to have them in your life. For my Bella though she was my first born and so I call her birthday my mommaversary too:) such a special day! 

This year we FINALLY had a decent backyard so we decided to take full advantage of it. We invited a few friends from her old school and a few from her new school and of course all of our family! Bella actually said recently "I'm so happy my best friends are my family." 

 Bellas cousin and her bestirs from her old school in Middleton. I'm so happy they were able to make it! Bella was so excited.

My niece Olivia was hilarious and the best photobomber!

Bella really had a blast and all the kids did too. Two things that make me happy 1. Bella feeling super special and 2. A house full of kids! 

It was a great party!

On her actual birthday we started the day by singing to her first thing in the morning and going downstairs for breakfast and presents! By the way waiting until her birthday to give her presents is sooo hard for me but I made it! But first a joke gift curtosy of Doug. Beans, Mom's flip flops and a toy that was already hers. Her reaction was hilarious! 

And then her real gifts! She was super excited and I was excited that her favorite  gift was the decendants book I found on a whim a few weeks ago and knew she'd love! We had a whole day planned for her and she took it everywhere! Mom win!

Little thing to make my girlie feel loved was this idea that stole from my sister. 

We went to lunch and got our nails done with my mom after because that was her gift to Bella which Bella LOVED! Then our free Dutch of course. You can kind of see her minion nails. 

We ended our evening with dinner at her choice last year she asked me to make her dinner and this year she chose Costa visa and a movie. We had such a fun family day and I was happy when Bella said it was her best birthday ever! Love my baby Bella! 

Happy birthday baby Cooper!

     My body was made to deliver babies. Carrying a baby for months is tough but labor I can do. As long as I have an epidural. We scheduled my induction date for April 1st. Our check in time was 7 am and my mom was awesome enough to come to my house at 6am to watch the girls. When we got to the hospital and checked in there was about 10 other couples in the waiting room and I jokingly told Doug "these are the ladies were racing today!" Who would have thought Cooper would have taken that so seriously. 

     My doctor came at 8:30 to break my water and shortly after she left my nurses started my first dose of pitocin. My nurse asked me shortly after I arrived if I wanted  an epidural and I said yes! As soon as I could get it I wanted it. Doug again teased and said "if she could get a pre-epidural she would get it." But I kindly reminded her when they started my pitocin that I still wanted it as soon as possible. She told me they were waiting for me to have a good pattern with my contractions since I was having some but they didn't really hurt or I couldn't even feel them. 

     The next two hours went by pretty quick. I seriously mentioned my epidural at least 3 more times. I even reminded my nurse about the paper work I needed to sign to consent to have it. I just didn't want to feel any unnecessary pain because I'm a wimp and I was starting to feel contractions. Still not bad. Mostly felt like cramping. My nurse checked me again at 11:19 I was 100% effaced and at a 6. I came in at a 4 and 50% effaced so I was happy to progress. I thought "oh I'll probably start pushing in about an hour or two." But my contraction right after suddenly hurt. And the next one was worse and then the one after that REALLY hurt. I thought "man I'm a wimp! I barely start having contractions and I can't even handle them." 

      This is a good time to mention I had two nurses. One was new (Christy) so she was working with a more experienced nurse (Tami) just to make sure she was doing everything right but Christy was mostly with me and helping me. But at this time Tami came in and said "So she needs her epidural now." And I pointed to her and said "YES!" She had been watching my contractions and the baby on the monitor outside and could tell I was progressing quickly (I'm guessing that's what she did anyway.) they checked me again (it's 11:27) and I was at a 10. And then Brian the epidural guy came in, he's my favorite by the way because my contractions were crazy strong now. My epidural kicked in. I was so relieved. I told Brian I might name my son after him and he laughed. I was halfway serious at that time. Then they called my doctor and we were waiting on her and I told Doug "I'm suppose to be doing this all day! I didn't get to watch Netflix or have my epidural nap!" I panicked a little. There was too much excitement in just 30 min. 

      My doctor came in and they had me start pushing. The nurse said something about the baby "dipping" Before and said it was a little normal. But I suddenly remembered after my first set of pushes. The doctor asked the nurse to get the vacuum just in case. She reassured me that she wanted it "just in case I needed help." She was very calm and the nurses were pretty calm too but I could tell they were trying to keep me calm. I felt like there was something wrong and I NEEDED to get him out. So I pushed like I've never pushed before. And then my third correction I pushed super hard again and that's when my doctor said "okay he had the cord wrapped around his neck and I just unwrapped." I pushed again and she said "and i got the second loop." I was calm but I was freaking out on the inside. I pushed one more time and he was out!

     They laid him on my chest and he was  so purple and he wasn't moving at all. He was just limp. I panicked again and the nurse was wiping him trying to get him to move and I asked "is he okay!?!" I was rocking him with my hand trying to get him to cry or move or anything and then he finally did. So scary! 

      After everything was great with him. I really think I was in a little bit of shock for a while after. I couldn't even believe he was here and I was holding him. But I'm happy that our sweet boy was here and a nice 7lbs 15 ounces, 21.25 inches long on April 1, 2016 at 11:53am! 

Fathers Day 2015

     I think we had the best Father's Day ever this year. I really really wanted to make sure Doug had a super fun and relaxing weekend and I'm super happy that my wish came true. 

     Doug started his weekend by taking his dad on a date er I mean not a date just a dinner and a movie. I may or may not have teased him a little by calling it a date :) 

     They had so much fun together and I was super happy that Doug was able to spend some good quality time with his dad. Doug seriously loves his dad. He looks up to him so much, always calls him for advice and absolutely loves spending time with him. I love mark because Doug is always so brave and tough for our family but sometimes I can tell he needs someone to be brave for him. I wish I could be brave for him but he being the man he is wont let me because he always wants to protect me. When he's feeling like that I always count on mark to come help him. The times are rare but every time Doug has needed extra strength and a blessing I've been able to call mark and even though he's always busy he will drop everything and come. For that I will always be so grateful and full of love for that man. 

     So Sunday right after church we met up with my parents and the joyners for some swimming and fishing. It was super fun!

     The kids were able to play and run around. They all loved it! 

     The guys were able to relax, fish and enjoy their day! How cute is this sight though? Charlie fishing with Doug and her grandpoo. 

     My dad seriously has both by girls wrapped around his finger. He's such a softy with them and they absolutely LOVE being with him. I feel like my dad is one of my weaknesses. We are so much alike and we love eachother so much. My girls love him too and the thought of anything ever happening to him or ever living without him absolutely breaks my heart. I find myself sometimes just so worried for him and I'll call him to make sure he's okay. He always is but days like today it makes me remember how grateful I am to have him. I love you dad. 

     Honestly I was so happy that Doug was able to have a fun relaxing weekend. The guy deserves 100 more relaxing weekends since he works so hard for our little family. 

     Doug enjoying his gift from me. An awesome camp chair. Seriously I want one now. 

     Father's Day always makes me a little teary eyes. I always just think of how we started and I cannot believe how incredibly lucky we are to have Doug in our lives. From the beginning he was thrown into fatherhood and always thrived. 

     I remember when these two met for the first time. They were truly ment for one another. Bella loved him instantly. 

     

     I need to tell him more often what a great job he's doing. He makes such wonderful memories with our girls. He loves them so much. He loves bringing Bella flowers especially on Valentine's Day and it always makes her feel so special. These two have been working in the garage a lot together too and Bella has been loving being able to help her hard working dad. He's always so proud of her too! 

     This little munchkin has brought out a whole different part of fatherhood that Doug missed out on with Bella. A newborn baby. I don't think anyone has ever been able to make him so tired but so happy at the same time. 

     Even at 1:30 in the morning like in this picture. Wide eyed and bushy tailed. 

     Charlie loves her dad so much. Dada is her second favorite word. Bubba being her first. Mom is wayyy down the line. 

     Your doing an amazing job with our two girls love! We're lucky to have you and I'm sooo lucky that you are the father to my babies. Couldn't have asked for a better man!

Our Summer So Far

     Our summer so far has been super busy but super fun! Almost all of our weekends are already planned for us and I'll admit sometimes I want roll my eyes and think I just want a calm weekend but honestly I'm so happy our weekends are filled with our family and friends. 

     On this particular day Bella decided to dress herself and she said she was a missionary! How cute is she? And how could I ask her to change when she said she was a missionary? 

     My girlies and I. These girls are so fun! 

     The day before Bellas 6th birthday. It was our last time hugging her as a 5 year old. I love this little lady and I honestly can't believe she's 6. 

     After Bellas birthday party Doug and I were incredibly tired but Doug's dad side of the family was having a get together and most of them hadn't even met Charlie yet so we obviously had to go. Doug and I really didn't want to go after her party but we knew we'd regret it if we didn't and I'll tell you what I'm so glad we went and I knew we would be too. Dougs family is so fun! I loved being around everyone again. 

     It's summer time and I've been really trying to make sure we're not just sitting around watching tv all day so we added some much needed structure. Bella has "homework time" after lunch every day and I'm loving the quiet time. It truly has made the day go by smoother. 

     Speaking of smooth Blanca and I did the sawtooth relay together this year. A team of 6 running 61 miles. It was so fun and so hard. Blanca killed it! 

     The view was killer. Honestly I wish that I had this view every time I ran. 

     I feel like I did great during the first 5 miles. I enjoyed the view. My legs and hips didn't hurt. I really felt great! My second leg 4 hours later was 4.7 miles and I thought I'd do okay. It wasn't too far but I did terrible! Right before I ran I felt so hungry but I was afraid to eat so close to my run. I started and My lungs were on fire. I felt sooo dehydrated and just tired. I had never felt like that during a run before. I truly couldn't wish to be done and I was so glad when I was. I was grateful my team was super nice about it and told me I did great because I finished. Plus Lori gave me her Gatorade which is pretty much like donating blood during a race like that right?

     It really was such a fun experience. My team was so nice and supportive! I feel lucky that I had them especially my sister for my first sawtooth relay.

 

     My hard work has been paying off because this little lady has been noticing and been begging me to run with me so I finally took her. She ran 1 1/2 miles with me and did great! 

     Charlie has also been loving her babies. I was never really into baby dolls and neither was Bella but Charlie had loved them forever! I love watching her play with them it's so cute! 

     She has even been almost sweet to her sister. Bella can now randomly touch her without Charlie freaking out. The other night I let Bella watch one episode of her favorite show before bed and Charlie went and sat on her lap. I couldn't believe my eyes! 

     The best place to go if you have a toddler (ahh I can't believe I said toddler😩) is jabbers. Charlie was in heaven! She kept looking at me like "can I really touch everything?" 

     This is only a fraction of our summer and it truly has been so fun! I hope the rest of our summer can be just as fun!

Isaiah's Graduation and The Pool!

     This handsome graduated from kindergarten and he was as cute as can be! Everytind he herd us cheer for him you could see how proud of himself he was. Good job Isaiah! 

  

     We went to ihop after to help celebrate his special day and I snapped this sweet moment. 

     Blanca invited us over to swim in their new pool and Bella couldn't get in soon enough! This girl is a fish. Then we put Charlie in since it's not very deep. We were watching her smile and walk (she loves water too) and then she slipped and went under. I hurried and bend over the side to pull her out and I slipped inside the pool and held her above the water for Blanca to grab. She wasn't under long at all and she was totally fine but she did not want to get back in for a while. After we all calmed down Blanca and I couldn't stop laughing because I was completely drenched in my jeans and blouse. But hey it was hot outside so at least it felt good:)

     Charlie didn't want anything to do with the pool for a while even with me holding her but slowly she found her way back to it and wanting to get back in. 

     I knew I couldn't let her leave the pool with a bad experience so I'm so happy she went back in and had fun! 

     It was such a fun day with the cousins! Even if I unexpectedly went swimming in my clothes:)