Halloween!

This Halloween was super fun!
William ran the haunted half kids loop.  I was so surprised that he finished it and ran the WHOLE way.  It is .5 miles and when I had him train for it he would run .2 miles and then act like he was going to die.  But he ran the whole way and right before the finish line he got a burst of speed and booked it to the end.  Then... best of all!  A victory dance!  SOOOO cute!
Trick or treating was so fun... Kenney adored it!  I don't know what he was thinking but you could tell he was so proud of his candy bucket he was carrying around and all the treats he was collecting from people's houses.
This year we went as the avengers.
I was Black Widow
Thomas= Hulk
William= Hulk Buster
Kenney= Captain America
We went trick or treating in my parents neighborhood with Mom and Dad who dressed up as a witch and warlock.  Karissa was a cat (she was so cute!) and Janessa and Zach and Benji were a princess a prince and a pumpkin.  Everyone looked amazing!  It was such a fun evening!  We finished it off by watching Jurassic World which Thomas was SO excited to see.
Happy Halloween

Fun!!!

Well, today was actually a GOOD day!  I had so much fun and I actually relished in being a mother.  This kind of took me by surprise because for the last 2 months I've been getting 4ish hours of sleep and so I've been extremely irritable and I've just been hating life... seriously.  Thomas even got a little frustrated with me one day and said, "All you can do is complain!"  ... Oh... sorry... but I'm miserable!
But, today was a refreshing and wonderful day.  Usually, my favorite days are ones where I accomplish a lot... but today wasn't one of those.  Today was one of those days that I relished in spending time with my cuties and appreciated their sweet little personalities.  We had fun wrestling, swimming, reading books, and laughing.  I had a realization on Sunday as I was wrestling with my baby during sacrament meeting.  I realized, 'Hey!  This is the time of life that I have always fantasized and day dreamed about!  It's here!'  So instead of getting flustered because Kenney was being so wiggly or William wasn't sitting reverently... I took a deep breath and sat back and just let myself feel grateful and happy.  It was amazing!  I think that is the change of heart that made this day amazing! (plus Thomas let me sleep in and then go for a run which helped my feel AMAZING... and I kept my kids well fed today... and I showered them with love and attention... all recipes for amazingness)

You're a wonderful Mama

William has been so cute lately. On Saturday, he woke up at 5:30... I was a little upset by this, but I couldn't stay mad too long. He climed in bed with me and started telling me how much he loves me and how beautiful I am.
Then today He kept telling me and Kenney how much he loves us. Then he really caught me surprise when he put together a sentence I've never heard him say before. He said, "you are a wonderful Mama!" I melted. He makes me feel so good! No wonder he's my oldest, he is sent here to encourage me as I struggle through the most difficult challenge I've ever faced... being a mom!
I'm so grateful for my William, however, I am a little wary of his compliment today because it was given right after I had offered him some chocolate. :) I guess to him receiving chocolate is very wonderful... therefore making me a wonderful Mama.

You're my best friend, Mommy

I love it when William tells me that!

November

This month started out with a bang!  I got a nasty case of mastitis.  It was one of the most miserable experiences of my life!  I'm finally recovering and starting to get life under control... starting.
Something so cute happened today and I thought, wow I better blog about that tonight!!!  Now I can't even remember what it was.  The only things I can thing of are when we were walking out to the car and William said, "Can I have uppie?  You don't have a baby in your tummy anymore..."  Oh... I remember what it was.  Hilarious, but you might've had to be there in order for it to be funny.  We went out to the mailbox this morning.  I told William to put his shoes on because it was cold and he said, 'no mom, I'm brave..."  Okay whatever... So we got half way there and he started panicking because his feet were so cold.  So he wanted uppie... I said, "Go run over there to where the sun is shining on the ground."  So he runs over there as fast as he can.  Then he stops and his eyes get big and he screams and come racing over to me.  I finally picked him up, which was difficult because I was holding Kenney.  When I passed by the spot where the sun was shining I saw why he screamed... there was frost.  Poor William... oh so brave.
Well, I have really enjoyed watching my two boys develop a relationship.  William is so cute when he entertains Kenney.  Kenney always stops to listen and watch and he's even laughed at William.  It's super nice when Kenney is fussing and William comes to talk to him to try to calm him down... because it always works!  I think they must have had a special connection before coming to earth.

My Sweet Little Guy

So John Kenney was born August 26, 2014 at 5:36 p.m. weighing 6 lbs 1 oz.  He just came out so relaxed and stayed that way for a while.  When he finally did cry the NICU crew that was there cleaned him and declared that he was perfectly healthy.  The NICU people were there because Kenney was supposed to be 'small for gestational age' and early.  Even though he was early he was technically still 'full term'.  He was also a whole pound bigger than what they thought he was going to be.  So he was fine.  Later, my Mom and Dad and Auntie Em and William came in.  They brought a delicious chocolate cake and we celebrated Kenney's birthday.
William was in love with him from the first moment he saw him.  He is always trying to share his Teddy and his cars with baby Kenney.  He shares his cars by lining them on top of Kenney's tummy.  It's pretty cute.  Kenney gets a lot of kisses on top of his head, and I'm pretty surprised by how gentle William is... naturally.  It's been nice not to have to keep hounding him about being 'soft'.  What a good big brother.
The latest on Kenney is his smiles!  I've gotten one or two this week.  It is so fun!  What a sweetheart!

September Pictures

Welcome October

October came in nice and chilly!  It's been beautiful.  I still haven't gotten out my fall clothes though.  I need to do that ASAP because it's cold and I need warm clothes.  And... William is starting to wear shoes!  Awesome.  My child doesn't look homeless anymore.
Well, this last week end was a wonderful one.  We did John Kenney's baby blessing.  We did it at my parents ward because Karissa gave her homecoming.  The blessing was beautiful and we had so much family there!  It was so sweet to see them all.  We are so luck to have such wonderful family!
Well, to finish the birth story.  The midwife rushed in and was going to help me because the doctor wasn't there yet.  Five minutes later the doctor rushed in and took one look at the baby's heart monitor and said, "how long has the heart rate been down?"  "About a minute"  He looked at me, "Sorry, I'm going to have to cute you, we need to get the baby out.  I don't have time to numb you."  "Okay," honestly I didn't care by that point.  He clipped me, I didn't really feel it there was too much pressure down there already.  I just heard it (it sounds super weird).  Then one big push later he was out!!!!

First Day of Autumn

First Day of Autumn.  We made pumpkin bars and put up fall decorations.  Hooray for Autumn!
To continue the story:
Finally I called Thomas, "where are you?!"  He had gone to best buy to look at laptops!  What!  He finally made it back to the hospital about 4:15.  We spent the next hour with me squeezing Thomas' hand every time I had a contraction and begging him to come up with things to tell me that would distract me. By 5:15 I thought I was going to die!  Thinking that I had another hour or two to endure I called in the nurse.  "I want an epidural, hurry!"  She checked me and I was dilated to an 8.  She said, "Well, I'll call him but I doubt that he'd be able to get it in before you have the baby... I 'll go call the anesthesiologist and the doctor while I'm at it.  I bet your pretty close."  She went and called them and about 5 minutes later walked in and said, "I called them they are on their way."  I nodded then all of the sudden I felt like I was being split in two down below.  "AAHHH!!  He's coming out!!!" I yelled!  The nurse frantically called in the whole staff.  We had the on call midwife, the NICU staff (because Kenney was supposedly a Small For Gestational Age baby), and my nurse all rush in.  Everything happened so fast, they got everything ready while I was groaning or yelling (I have no idea what sound I was making... the next day my throat hurt though) and pushing as hard as I could.  The nurse said to me, "Don't push!  The doctor isn't here yet!"  I looked at her in a panic, "I HAVE to push!  I can't not push!"  "Okay, okay, just push then," she said.

Too tired to be alive!

This morning when I woke up the first thought that came to my mind was, "I'm too tired to be alive!"  Ha ha... Both kids woke up at the exact same time and I seriously considered letting them just cry for another 15 minutes while I took a snooze.  Wow, I was tired.  My problem is I have a really hard time falling back asleep after the baby wakes up to eat.  So if he wakes up every 2 hours, it takes 20 minutes ish to feed him and then another hour for me to fall back asleep.  So I think between feedings I get about 1/2 hour to sleep totaling about 4 hours each night.  Last night, Kenney decided to be awake from 3-5.  Luckily, Thomas was willing to be up with him that whole time!  Then Thomas took off to go work out at the gym.  I don't even know how he is still on his feet right now.
Well, to finish the story from yesterday.  So after arranging everything to go to the hospital, including packing my bags, making sure William could stay with my parents, and of course a nice shower and getting all spiced up (I figured it was the last time I would feel human again for a while... let's be honest the first 3 months of a baby's life the mom feels like a zombie), we headed.  They started me on pitocin at 2:00 p.m.  Thomas took off to go get me a book and to gather other last minute things we hadn't thought of.  By 4 p.m. the contractions were getting very uncomfortable and Thomas still hadn't returned...
Okay, hopefully this story will finish up tomorrow!

5 minute post

I was reading over my sister Emily's shoulder while she was reading her writing class textbook.  The author of this particular article was telling about his experience as a writer and how every day he would just write for 5 minutes. He wouldn't stop to think about what to write or about correct grammar, he would just write.  He eventually had a lot of stories from his personal life and a lot of insights he had recorded, just by writing for 5 minutes.  I think I'll try to do that as well. 5  miinutes daily.  Then I'll at least capture a little bit of my life and my family's life.  Okay... it's already been 3 minutes.
So, we had a baby almost a month ago on August 26.  I was 371/2 weeks along and the doctor measured my belly which hadn't grown in 2 weeks.  He sent me in for an ultrasound.  Everything looked good minus the baby measured really small at 5 lbs and when they did a stress test he had a small deceleration during a contraction.  The specialist and my doctor decided that the best thing to do was to send me in to have the baby that day.  I was shocked! And immediately started bawling... with tears streaming down my cheeks, I couldn't even call my husband, all I could think of to do at that moment was to drive straight to my parents house...
Okay... 5 minutes is up.  More to follow... if I do more than 5 minutes I'll get burn out. Plus I need to burp the baby.

summer fun!

Highlights:
Trip to California for Grandpa Cornwall's Funeral.  It was a very special experience.  We will miss you Grandpa!  Thank you for your wonderful example and legacy you left us.

4th of July!  Always a blast! We watched the parade, ate at Brick Oven, swam, and did fireworks... so great.

Williams Birthday.  Everyone was there!  It was great!  He went swimming with the Alvords who drove into town for the occasion (what a spoiled kid, eh?) while Mom, Dad, and I redid his room.  He gets to use Papa's old headboard that he got for his 5 year old birthday.  How special.  The room is decorated and ready to receive baby Kenney as well.

Boating:  Of course Daddy loved it...  William however did really enjoy swimming in the lake with Thomas.  Funny quote of the day.  William watched Thomas wake board for the first time.  The first time Thomas fell down we drove the boat over to him and William yelled, "You OK Dada!"

Seek the Lord Early

Today William was playing rambunctiously with his Auntie Em.  They were zooming cars all over the family room when, all of the sudden he stopped, folded his arms and said, 'Heavenly Father, thank thee for my car, AMEN!'  It was so cute and random at the time, that I got a good laugh, but at the same time I was very humbled at his example.  How many times do I stop to thank the Lord for something that I'm really enjoying or how awesome my life is?  Plus, I haven't really even taught William to do that.  To just stop and thank Heavenly Father, I mean.  He is a spiritual giant that's for sure.

It reminded me of the scripture found in Proverbs 8:17 about seeking the Lord early.  A lot of times we wait until prayers at night or until we are in distress to truly seek the Lord.  William showed me how to seek the Lord early by remembering to thank Him during the good times.

This Girl Is On Fire

Funny story! So during quiet time today I was cleaning the house and singing This Girl Is On Fire.  Soon I heard William giggling from his bedroom.  So I peak my head in and he smiles at me and giggles some more. Then I left and kept cleaning and singing.  Soon I hear the giggles again.  So I said, "Are you laughing at me?!"  Then he giggled and said, "YES!"  Apparently my singing is funny.

Trying to relax and enjoy summer

Quote of the day:
Hello princess mommy!
I guess my husband is teaching him well..he'll know how to sweet talk his wife someday.
So, somehow things are still busy and I feel like I can barely keep up as I also try to recover. This week's project is getting the house under control. My home seems to reflect how I feel emotionally and physically. If I'm stressed or not feeling healthy the house blows up into a big mess faster than you can say messy house.
While trying to catch up we are also trying to have FUN! But somehow that's been exhausting and stressing me out too. Finally I zoned out and watched tv for two hours yesterday by myself to help me relax. Either I didn't do it for long enough or I need to find another relaxing activity!
Fun memorable activities: watching the usa soccer game at wingers, boating, playing with friends, swimming... oh yeah!




First time boating this year and Thomas totally rocked it


Papa's boat

Bean museum and shopping

We went to the bean museum with a group of friends. It was so fun to be out and about with other moms and kids! William really enjoyed himself.



At the park making friends



Shopping with Mama Sue. Bored as can be I'm sure but he was a little Angel.



Quote of the day.
Auntie Em: "Billy, do you like girls. "
William: "Girls are pretty."
Already a ladies man, yikes!

Water fun with friends

We actually went and played with friends. It was awesome! It did my heart good to see him playing so well with others.