Exactly what I needed!

This Saturday was exactly what I needed to lift my spirits and make it through this last week of bedrest. We were able as a family to venture to Thanksgiving Point to go to the Tulip Festival. How was this possible, you ask? VOILA....



Paul was so very thoughtful and arranged for us to rent a golf cart, and it was a blast!! The kids loved riding on it, and I didn't feel like I was cheating TOO badly, since I sat in the back with my feet up. We had such a wonderful afternoon.
For the first time in weeks I actually felt like a mommy, a part of the family. This is what I love to do, what I live for. Doing little things like this with my family always reminds me how blessed we are. I am so grateful for them, and for the little boy we will soon be blessed with. I feel like I am in such a good place right now, a week from today I will either have a beautiful new baby boy, or at least be off bedrest! I cannot wait to hold little Britton in my arms, meet the sweet little spirit that I feel like I already know, and go back to being the kind of mom I love to be, but hopefully much better!

Nesting...

Ahhh, nesting. I have come to find that if you are on bedrest, nesting is a very cruel thing. All day I sit alone at home, just looking around, thinking of all the things I would like to do with the house, and not being able to do a darn thing! Luckily we knew this fun adventure was probably coming so Paul helped me weeks ago to at least put Britton's room together. It has been really fun and different to do a little boy's room, I have to say I liked how it turned out. I also have to say how much I love Paul!! He wakes up early in the morning, gets the girls ready, takes them to whoever is watching them for the day, goes and works a 10-11 hour day, picks up the girls, stops to get something for dinner, plays with the girls, puts them to bed, and then does all the things around the house that have been driving me nuts all day! That is one husband that will be just as glad as the wife when baby comes! Anyway, without any further ado, Britton's room....

Happy Easter!

Easter was pretty simple at our house this year. I manged to throw together an easter basket for the girls, which they loved, but that was about it! I did remember to take pictures thank goodness, and I have to point out Skylar's hair. If you know me or Skylar you know her hair is NEVER done. Neither of us have the patience to do fancy hairstyles, but after my sister-in-law watched my girls last week I was inspired! Every time they came home they had the cutest little hairdo's, so I thought I would give it a go myself. Not too shabby, huh?

These are a few of my favorite things...

While I am on bedrest that is! :) First up...



My robot vacuum! I absolutely love this thing! It is so wonderful to have a freshly vacuumed home every day while I just lay on the couch :) Best Christmas present ever Dad, thank you, we love it!!




Ok, I know Harry Potter. I am a little late on this, but I have LOVED having an entire series that I haven't read, and now I am looking forward to the next movie. Pretty entertainin, and makes the time go by quickly. And last but certainly not least..



Ahhhh, crushed ice!! Seriously, all day I just refill my huge hospital mug with water and crushed ice. Yes, I know how bad it is for your teeth, but I crave chomping on that ice! Paul went and got me a bunch of good ice from Iceberg the other day, I know, I am such a dork. At least it wasn't a shake :)

32 weeks and still cooking...

I really can't believe I am still pregnant! But I am thrilled that I am :) When you start having contractions at 22 weeks, 32 weeks feels so far away, but here we are, taking it one day at a time and not taking anything for granted. When I started having trouble months ago I pleaded with my Heavenly Father to just make it to 28 weeks so my baby could have a chance. Today I feel so blessed that I have been given so much more than that, what a lucky girl I am!
I have to send a shout out to all my amazing friends that have made the last few weeks of "partial" bedrest so incredibly easy. The "Presidency" (you know who you are :) have made sure that we have dinner every other night, and man it has been good eatin' at our house! This is the 4th week they have done this, can you believe it? Then there was the fabulous shower my friends threw on Saturday- seriously, thank you guys so much. It meant so much to me that you would take the time to do that for me, and to everyone that came I had a blast!!
There have been so many others that have offered to watch my girls or have had them over, I tear up just thinking about all the amazing women out there that are so willing to sacrifice to bless the lives of others.
I think sometimes in life our trial just don't seem to make sense, so I always try to find what I can learn from the situation, to find some good from it. I have learned ALOT from this pregnancy, but the thing that stands out the most is how important serving others is. Some of the things that have meant the most to me have been little phone calls, or people saying they have had us in there prayers. I have also been so blown away by people that don't even know us that well, that have been willing to do so much for us. That is having the pure love of Christ, and that is how I want to be. I can't wait until I am back to normal (as normal as I will be with 3 crazy kids!:) so I can repay just a little bit of what I feel has been given to me these last few weeks. I know that in our lives we have the opportunity to be angels to those around us, and I want to thank my angels that have made this burden a little easier to bear!!

What a weekend!

Well, I thought it was sort of inevitable, but this is just crazy!! Friday I checked into the hospital with lots of contractions, found out I am dialated to a 1 and 40 percent effaced. At 29 weeks!! This is so much earlier than I have encountered problems before, I was not prepared. Luckily the medication they gave me slowed the contractions down a ton and I was able to come home with strict instructions to "rest". Why are they so vague?? I finally got it out of them that basically we are talking bedrest. It begins!!
Normally I would be freaking out, but for some reason I have felt so calm this time around. Maybe because I am getting used to this kind of drama, but I think its a lot more a gift of peace from my Heavenly Father. After we had Kendall I had a really amazing experience in the hospital with her. She had been there for about two weeks and I was really discouraged. She had begun to have episodes where she would quit breathing and turn blue. They would have to give her oxygen and get her going again, it was so terrifying!! Anyway I was really struggling, and I remember having a great internal battle. I could feel my Savior and the Holy Ghost trying to comfort me, but I wouldn't accept it. I kept pointing out "what ifs" and wanting to KNOW that she would be okay, wanted that specifically said in a blessing. Long story short I was very humbled one night as I sat in the nursery around midnight feeding her. A very sick new baby was brought in and he didn't make it through the night. I remember going out to my car and sobbing to my Heavenly Father, asking him for forgiveness for not trusting him, and knowing he knows me better than I know myself. I promised him the next time I would be stronger, and that I would trust in him whatever the outcome. I think this may be my chance to do just that!!
And also can I just say, I have the best friends and family in the whole world!! By today I already have people lined up to help with my kids all next week and meals for my family. I don't know what I would do without you, and I know you will be blessed for they sacrifices you are making for my little family. I can't wait until I can return the favor, I much prefer being the helper to the helpee :)

Happy Valentines Day!!

We started off our day with our traditional Valentines day Breakfast, heart shaped strawberry muffins, pink scrambled eggs, strawberries and pink juice.




Then all of the girls were thrilled when Daddy surprised us all with beautiful flowers. It really made Skylar feel so special, and made me love Paul even more!



These are the beautiful flowers Paul brought me, what a guy :)



One of our favorite traditions is the Valentines Man, and he comes to the house and rings the doorbell, leaving little treats and presents behind. He came 3 times this year and the girls LOVED IT!! They would scream and run to the door every time they heard the bell! Here is one of Skylar's presents, a tutu that I made. If you ever think of buying one...DON'T!! The are so easy to make, and that one cost me about $4.


We ended the night with dinner at Zupas with the Browns. We joked that this was Skylar and Carters first Valentines together: what a cute couple! Seriously, I had the best Valentines Day. We are so incredibly blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful friends and family members. I love my little family with all my heart, and I hope they felt that just a little bit this V-day!