March 2018

March was truly madness for me,

on many levels.

The first?

My baby brother got MARRIED.

First of all,

big shout out to my Aunt Aethea and Uncle Jeff.

They let me and the kids, 

PLUS my parents,

PLUS Kyle and Heather and their kids,

stay at their house while we were in town for the wedding.

Jeff went and stayed with his parents

so that he would be able to get 

some actual sleep because some people 

have jobs and stuff!

I am really grateful to him for being willing

to be kicked out of his home for us,

and to Aethea for feeding us

and putting up with our all around craziness.

I had a BLAST.

It was really fun to see baby

Emma again so soon:

And to get a chance to play with Charlotte:

Aethea busted out her old Barbie set.

Ellory couldn't have been happier.

That is, until the end of the trip when Aethea

told her that she could 

TAKE IT HOME WITH HER.

The joy on her face was 

the best.

Pop-Pop is the most comfy

of all of us to sleep on:

Dain and Heidi sent me

this Snapchat,

 so I snagged a screen shot of it:

This is where Kale's fascination

and love for Emma began:

It was adorable and a little heartbreaking.

I'd recently had a conversation

with him about how my body wasn't working correctly,

and even though we want to,

we probably wouldn't be able

to have any more babies.

He was really sad when I told him,

but when we were at Aethea's house

he told me he was really glad

that we would at least

be able to have baby cousins.

And just like that, 

he grew up just a little:

Isn't that bow-tie just the best?

Heidi's mom made them

for all the little nephews.

And for all the little nieces.....

That's right!

Poofy. Pink. Tu-tus.

It was so cute.

Charlotte didn't want to me to take 

her picture that morning,

so that's why she isn't in the mix.

But look at all these adroables:

It was REALLY windy

and a little cold,

so Ellory was done after about

17 seconds.

And all she wanted was her Pop-Pop:

After taking pictures outside the Temple,

we went to the church

for the luncheon.

My cousin, Kristen,

let the kids watch a show on her phone:

Aethea and Kristen:

We always have such a great time together.

Here was the dessert table:

These brownies were 

delectable:

My dad said a few words

while we all stared at the yummy 

Cafe Rio behind him,

mouths watering.

Charlotte really like Aethea,

and I can't blame her

After cleaning up the luncheon,

we headed back to Aethea's house

to await the reception.

Card games ensued,

and Kyle fed his baby like this:

Aunt Vauna and Uncle Jeff

hung around too!

We love them so much.

The reception was beautiful,

and they got a really great turn out.

And they had their special

drinks (dirty Dr. Peppers)

handy:

At one point,

Ellory stole the bride's bouquet:

I swear I made her give it back.

Mom's BFF's from college swung by,

and they were, like, SO happy to see each other!

Dain danced with Mom:

And Ellory got grumpy and tired.

Shocker:

And then it was over.

I'm really grateful I was able to go

and participate and spend time with family.

The only sad part was that

Tyler couldn't come with us.

Heidi is great and I am happy

to add another sister to our family!

And now,

for the long ride home:

Kale and Ellory are truly the best

kid travellers.

I have yet to hear of anyone

who's kids do better.

Thank goodness for portable DVD players.

Haha!

I missed Tyler so much,

I listened to some country music:

Ya. I know.

It was serious.

So remember how when we drove out

to Utah my mom was super sick?

Well when we drove back home to Iowa,

I started feeling awful.

I figured it was because I hadn't slept

very many hours because

we were up late every night,

and also because I had been eating all the 

junk food in sight.

By the time we got home,

I felt truly awful.

Tyler put me in a bath

and then sent me to bed.

I woke up feeling 

the same.

For days I could not shake it.

It was the worst I had felt in a really long time.

And Tyler had to leave 

on a trip with the Track Team!

So I asked mom if she could please 

come and stay with me,

because I wasn't getting any better,

and I was finding it difficult 

to even get up

to get the kids their meals.

And she came without hesitation.

 

And this was the day,

that changed everything.

I knew mom was on her way over.

And I was talking to Tyler on the phone

and I said,

"You know, this feels just like my morning sickness, except 

that I'm not throwing up. Maybe it's a good thing

I can't have any more kids, maybe I can't handle 

being pregnant and taking care of 2 kids."

And then it just kept bugging me and bugging me

that it felt exactly the same as morning sickness.

So, I decided to take a test,

just to put it out of my mind.

But then,

it was positive!

I couldn't believe my eyes.

For months I had been doing various

tests and ALL of them had come

back negative.

This shouldn't be possible.

It was a miracle!

I called Tyler,

and the first thing I said was,

"So, I'm pregnant."

He was a bit speechless.

He was in the middle of crossing

the street, surrounded by people.

Not exactly the best time to chat.

So he asked me if he could call me back.

I called my doctor's office to make an 

appointment,

went in,

and their test was positive too.

There was no doubt about it!

So when mom got here, I told her the knews,

that I wasn't going to be getting 

better any time soon.

That's actually how I worded it to Tyler as well,

They both told me that that was the worst

way I could have worded it.

I see that now.

Sorry!

My brain wasn't working

at it's best.

Mom was thrilled for me.

And she cancelled plans she had so 

she could stay with me a few extra days.

I can't express how grateful I am

for my parents

at this time.

They both came over multiple

times when Tyler was traveling,

which was almost every week,

and just took care of everything.

Took Kale to school,

fed the kids,

played with the kids,

scratched my back,

rubbed my head,

washed the dishes,

did the laundry,

just everything.

You really never stop being 

a mom or a dad!

One day the neighbor boys

asked Kale to come out

and play basketball.

I sat by the window and watched:

Ellory getting in her meditation time:

Kale's springbreak was super boring:

But one day,

I got up enough nerve to take them

to the library for a bit:

Taking them places was hard,

because this time around,

I got really really really dizzy and carsick

every time I got in the car.

But then Nana came and rescued them

from their boredom.

She took them to Mcdonald's

and then back to her house for a few days:

One day the weather wasn't 

too terrible,

so Ellory and I sat out in it for a bit.

The fresh air was really nice:

And some days,

I just let her watch Word World

in her underwear:

One day Kale told me

he thought there was something

in his ear.

I asked him what he thought it was,

but he said he didn't know.

I looked, but didn't see anything.

A little while later,

he came to me and showed me what

had just fallen out of his ear:

Then I got the full story.

He'd found it at school and

was worried that if he put it in his pocket

it would fall out.

So the next logical option?

Put it in your ear!

Oh Kale.

One day Ellory had her two friends,

Neve and Thea,

over for a playdate:

And later that day I acted 

like a real veteran mom

and had a car load of kids to take home from school:

On this wonderful night,

I introduced the kids to the movie,

The Princess Bride.

They loved it, duh.

My mom gave me some old

home videos to watch,

and one of them was when Aunt Aethea came 

to visit us in Indiana.

Look at us!

Babies.

Kale was pumped that his tongue turned blue:

Nana came to stay again,

and she brought the kids

new pajamas.

This may be the greatest picture I've 

taken of them, to date:

 

A friend of mine and I decided

we wanted to do a small

Easter Egg hunt with the kids.

It was chilly but not too terrible,

and the park we met at wasn't too far away.

I think it was the perfect amount of eggs,

and the big kids did a great job

of leaving plenty for the little kids.

Ellory was a little tired one day:

The Easter Bunny came!

And that was March!

My whole world changed,

and I am forever grateful.

I tried my best not complain about how awful

I felt,

but I didn't always succeed.

I'd also like to note here that

when Tyler was home,

he took care of everything.

Anything the kids needed,

all the housework,

all the church stuff,

taking Kale to school,

just everything.

And he was under a lot of pressure at work .

I'm sure the last thing he wanted

to do when he got home

was dishes and stuff.

But he did.

Without me ever ever ever having to ask him to.

I know that I am really lucky to have a husband 

like that.

I may have felt the worst I've ever felt physically,

but I've never been so grateful

and felt so blessed and loved

by just about everyone around me.