Welcome Baby

Welcome to the World!

Introducing Oliver Donovan Wampler

weight: 7 lbs 14 oz

length: 21 in

time: 12:57 am October 19, 2014

And here's the birth story. I like to record all the details, every last bit. If you'd rather not know, by all means stop reading now. :]

This story really starts on Thursday. For the past couple weeks my blood pressure has been elevated. Nothing high enough to raise concerns but considering my history of extremely level blood pressure, I was worried. I'm normally at around 100/60. My slightly elevated was 118/68. Still, not high enough to require action. Then, at my 38 week appointment my blood pressure was 150/96. Whoa. I officially broke into the high blood pressure realm. That combined with my excessive swelling in my hands, feet, and ankles, my doctor starting thinking preeclampsia. My blood pressure was elevated at my 36 week appointment as well. It was 140/72 or something close to that. At that appointment, I also had an 8 pound weight gain. 8 pounds in 2 weeks. All these things combined made my doctor very worried. She immediately put me on bed rest, very strict 'do nothing but lay there' bed rest. And she told me to come back to the office the next day to check my blood pressure again. She said if it was just as high that we would talk induction as early as Sunday. Then the doctor came in and said we were going to do a 24 hour urine protein test. That's pretty much like prescribing torture! I had to collect urine for 24 hours, all urine that I passed, and put it in this container. Yay? Needless to say, that doctor's appointment did not do good things for me. I was extremely upset the whole night just thinking of all the terrible things that could happen to me and the baby. Things like placental abruption (where the placenta detaches and the baby suffocates), low oxygen intake for the baby, stroke for the baby, liver, kidney, and brain damage for both of us. So I didn't sleep well and could only think something terrible was bound to happen. There have been multiple times in this pregnancy that I have had a really really bad feeling that something bad was going to happen. And Brenda called me and told me she was coming for the weekend. This made me feel better. This was about the only thing that made me feel better, actually.

Friday I went in right after we dropped Ivan off at school. I had Michael drive me there, so I could try and relax some. Yea, like that actually happened. I get there and they check my blood pressure in a different room than usual and with a different blood pressure cuff. The reading they got was 118/62. Funny. That made me feel better and worse at the same time. Then my doctor came in and we talked for a bit and I told her I've been having some headaches and she said she wanted to check my blood pressure one more time just for fun. She saw that we'd used a different cuff than what was used the day before so she asked that we used all the same stuff just to be consistent. And my blood pressure was now 150/92. Interesting. Checked again, same thing. Checked again, still the same. So we spent some time talking and laughing. This was actually the most humorous doctor's appointment I've ever had, especially considering the circumstances. Then my doctor said she wanted to induce me that weekend. She called the hospital, since she was already booked with inductions for the weekend, to see when they could fit me in. She stripped my membranes to see if maybe I would start labor on my own first. Then I was told to go home and lay down. That felt counter productive to starting labor. So I scheduled some last minute maternity photos. I did manage to lay down most of the day. Then Brenda came over and we waited to hear when I was going to the hospital. My doctor called and said to call the hospital the next morning at 5:30 and they would have instructions for me.

Saturday I called at 5:30 and they said, well we're kinda full right now so call back at 9. I called back at 9 and again they said they were kinda full. So before they just hung up on me, I told them my symptoms and I think they realized I was a medical necessity not just someone who was tired of being pregnant. (Although that fit right in too.) After being on hold for 30 minutes, they told me they would call around noon and tell me to come in. At about 1 they called and told me I could come in as soon as I wanted. Bags were packed and in the car since the night before, the kids were napping, and Brenda was there to watch them. Michael and I jumped in the car ready for this to get started.

Theressa was the nurse that checked me in. She helped me a lot when they were putting in the IV. The next nurse to come in, the one who was there to help deliver, was Arleigh. She was the same nurse that helped deliver Charlotte!

We checked in around 1:30. They hooked up my IV, asked me 50 questions, and put all sorts of arm bands on me all at the same time. Getting an IV sucks, that was one of the worst parts of the entire experience. Not only did they put in the IV at the same time as a bunch of other crap going on, they drew a ton of blood too. Then there's the phlebotomist that was putting all the arm bands on me. They had this giant hot pink band that was not flexible at all that I had to wear the whole time. This band was to show that the hospital didn't have record of my blood type. What? I had delivered 2 babies at this same hospital within the past 3 years. I've been seeing the same doctor for the last 2 pregnancies. Why would they not have this information? I also carry a blood type card printed officially by the American Heart Association, but that's not reliable information. Anyway, it took this lady 5 minutes to get this dumb band on. She sucks. At least my nurse was amazing.

I finally got started on pitocin around 3:30 and they started me slow. My request was to start the drip and once my body took over, they would turn it off. I've heard some intense things about what pitocin does to your contractions and since I wanted to have a natural birth I thought that would be a safer bet than enduring pitocin contractions the whole labor. So they started me slow and increased the drip about every 30 minutes. My contractions started smoothly and were consistent, around 30 seconds long andabout 3 minutes apart. Then they would increase the drip and my contractions would be more intense for about 5 minutes then ease back into the same pattern as before. This happened for hours. My doctor got there and tried to break my water at about 5:30 to see if that would really get things going. After a few minutes of really digging deep to find the right spot (not fun), she decided I needed to labor a little more for her to be successful. Thankfully she had another patient she had induced at the same time that could keep her busy. I labored more and my pitocin kept getting increased and nothing was happening. My doctor came back to check me and try to break my water again around 10. She managed to find the spot more easily, but she wasn't able to fit the hook in to break my water. And that time was a much more painful experience than I ever anticipated. She left, I cried. I just felt like we were really forcing it. I was 2 weeks early and thought maybe I just shouldn't be there. Then I remembered why I was there. If I did have preeclampsia, it was imperative for me to get the baby out as soon as I could. My nurse, my sweet sensitive nurse came back and brought my doctor to me. They gave me a little pep talk, right after Notre Dame lost, which let's face it, that's really why I was crying. I hate Florida State so much right now. I walked a bunch of laps around the nurses station, stubbed my toes a billion times on my IV pole, and sat on my exercise ball while practicing my relaxation techniques and visualizing a rose blooming. This did just enough to open me up so my doctor could break my water. This also gave her time to deliver the baby of the other lady that was there. Now when I checked into the hospital, I was dilated to a 2, which I had been pretty much the whole pregnancy. By the time my doctor came back to break my water (for the third time) I was dilated to a 3 and a half. Some progress is better than none, right? This was with 8 hours of pitocin under my belt.

Just before midnight, my doctor came in to check me and break my water. Thankfully I was dilated just enough for her to actually get to my water. She broke it and it gushed. When I went in to the hospital with Ivan, the doctor broke my water and about 2 drops came out. When my water broke with Charlotte, it leaked for 5 hours. When she broke my water with Oliver, it gushed! Seriously, it felt like a waterfall down there. And every time I moved, more came out. I could not believe how much was in there. Sorry if that's gross, I warned you.

I seem to have good timing with when my babies are born. Ivan and Oliver both in the height of football season. Charlotte was born during March Madness basketball season. Watching football actually helped out an extreme amount. It helped to pass the time and take my mind off of my slow progress in the beginning.

Now here's where the fun starts. Remember when I said I was dilated at a 3.5? That's what I was when she broke my water. My contractions started to get really intense and I asked to be turned off the pitocin. Since I was on it for so long without any change, they wouldn't turn it off, they only turned it down. I lost all sense of my relaxation techniques. I tried really hard to listen to my body and move and sit in ways that felt good to me. That meant I told Michael "I need to get up" "I need to sit down" "I need to move" "I need to..." Since I was induced, and it was for a medical necessity, I had to be continually monitored. That meant the baby's heart rate monitor, the contraction monitor, and the blood pressure monitor needed to be hooked up the entire time. If I got up to use the bathroom I could unhook but I had to reconnect as soon as possible. Between that and being hooked up to the IV, I was pretty helpless. Michael really saved me there. I cannot believe how incredible he was. He helped me hook and unhook all impossible attachments. He massaged my feet, rubbed my head, fed me ice chips, put cold rags on my neck, and gave me hugs. He also brought me "the thing off the table" when I felt like I was gonna puke.

I labored very intensely over the next thirty minutes. I couldn't believe how intense it was. I managed to spend time on the toilet, it just felt natural at least for a few seconds. But that meant I didn't poop on the bed! Yay! I'm so proud of myself for this. Ah, it's the little things. After one of my many trips to the potty, I asked about an epidural. I wasn't in the right mindset for hypnobirthing to work (one of my many concerns of an induced labor). Something about saying that out loud instantly made me feel better and like I could handle the rest. I asked to be checked to see how things were going and I was already at a 6! Mind you, this is only 30 minutes after my water broke. So I got an IV pain med, Nubain, and that helped a little. Mostly it just made me super loopy. I still felt all of everything with the contractions but my mind was in a different place.

I said some crazy things, like when Michael was massaging my head "You're good with your hands." I said that in front of my doctor! Then there was "more cowbell" and when Michael asked me what color a zebra was I said "black and white, polka dot, afro." You know, cuz we just watched Madagascar 3. I even said "I'm a crazy person. I can't believe I don't remember this part." I was talking about all the contractions. Of course I didn't remember that part. When I was this far dilated with Ivan I got an epidural. When I was this far with Charlotte I was hypnobirthing. I'd never had an experience like this before.

Then my hands started cramping. That was the absolute strangest thing. Then the blood pressure cuff went haywire. It inflated, then inflated again, then infated again! All while I was wearing it. I was pretty sure my hand was just gonna pop right off. So ten minutes after I asked for the epidural, now 40 minutes after they broke my water, I started to feel like I needed to push. (Did I mention I didn't actually get the epidural? So proud of myself.) I tried hard as I could to concentrate and breathe through my contractions and it just wasn't working. I was getting more and more delirious with each surge. Did I mention the hand cramping thing? Seriously, so weird. They cramped and I couldn't move them. It really freaked me out because I thought it meant I was gonna have a seizure or something.

A part of me realized things were going too fast. I ended up sitting up to try and slow down my labor and let the baby push more and get things moved out of the way and open me up. This helped a little. Then I laid back and started pushing. I couldn't control myself. I pushed and pushed and his head was out. Then he got kinda stuck. I pushed as hard as I could and my doctor, in a very stern voice, said "Amanda, look at me, push as hard as you can." She coaxed me through a few more pushes, all while pulling on Oliver's head, and finally his shoulders were free at 12:57. And after he came out, there was a huge gush of water. My doctor said she'd never seen anything like it, to have that much fluid when they broke my water and even more after the baby came out. He was out and was blue, maybe even a little gray. He barely moved and didn't really try to breathe either. They gave him some forced air oxygen and he pinked right up. And he looked huge! They weighed him and everyone was surprised he was less than 8 pounds. His little nose and ear got bruised from being tugged out but other than that he was perfect. And he was born within an hour of them breaking my water.

I am so in love with this little guy! I also thoroughly enjoyed my shower, you know the one where you discover your feet again? My swelling has already decreased a considerable amount in my hands and feet. My ankles are still swollen up to my knees though. And my blood pressure dropped back to normal. It was between 118/76 and 106/62. Pretty fantastic! They ran liver and kidney function tests on me and everything came back normal.

I did tear a little. Just about 3 stitches worth and to me that's amazing. My biggest baby and the least amount of tearing.

Although this delivery did not go as I had planned, prepared, and dreamed, the end result was exactly what I wanted and needed. I'm not pregnant anymore and I have a beautiful baby to show for it! I was extremely nervous about having to be induced. I didn't want to have an IV or be attached to monitors. I wanted to labor at home as long as I could. I wanted him to come on his own time. But I'm glad he came early, with as big as he is he would have only gotten bigger the longer he stayed in there. And I'm very very grateful I was already at the hospital when my water broke or I might not have even made to the hospital in time. I'm extremely grateful there weren't any negative repurcussions of the preeclampsia.





Leftovers

Here's a bunch of randomness from October. I just want to be all caught up when the baby is born so I can blog right away!

This is Ivan on his real first day of school. The age requirements for preschool ask that kids be 3 years old by the first day of class. Ivan made the cutoff, just barely! He turned 3 the day before class started. 

Charlotte wanted to say cheese too. She wouldn't stop until I took her picture. She missed Ivan very much while he was at school. Ivan came home and said, "Charlotte, did you miss me? I missed you lots and lots. Did you have fun today? I had fun at gool (school) but I missed you."

Charlotte's latest fashion sense. Gold sandals, link toys as bracelets, and as many necklaces as she can find. She found that hat and kept pulling it down over her eyes and pretended like she was hiding. 

This is Ivan's third day at school and I think Charlotte is finally getting used to playing without him for a bit. It's nice to have some time with just her since it's never really happened before. She's such a fun little person and I can tell she appreciates extra time with mom focused on just her. 

She was so proud that she got all these on by herself. 

We spent some time as a family feeding the ducks. And the kids found a giant puddle in the parking lot. 

They even convinced Dad to join in and splash with them. He is the only one with waterproof shoes. 

Just eating an apple at the park. This is the first time she's accepted eating an apple that wasn't sliced. That's a big step for her! Maybe we're getting her out of this diva stage?

This is how we general conference. We went to the sand dunes since the kids have never been. We got to listen to conference in the car, then got out and played. Ivan said climbing the sand mountain was so fun. We took some sleds and went down some of the steeper slopes. Climbing up and down the sand was a bit of hard work and Charlotte was impressed, but Ivan did an awesome bear crawl to the top. When we were leaving, Charlotte finally took some interest in the sand and played with it in her hands.

We had popcorn for snack in the car when we were done. 

Ivan is 3!

2 and a half months old

3 months old

I cannot believe my little boy is 3 years old already! He is such a big kid, a great big brother, and the best helper ever. He is absolutely hilarious! Ivan is a very fun loving kid. He is also very sensitive and aware of those around him, their emotions, and their actions. He takes being a big brother seriously. Very seriously. He knows that it's his job to protect Charlotte and keep her safe. He is more than willing to stand up to anybody, even Mom and Dad, when he thinks Charlotte is being treated unfairly. He pouts, he whines, he snorts when he laughs, he talks all the time.

10 months old

1 year old

1 year and 3 months old

Ivan's favorite things:

puzzles

strawberries

riding horses

playing soccer

being naked

playing with Charlotte

swinging

being a dinosaur

hot dogs

The Saggy Baggy Elephant

The Hive

raisins

2 years and 4 months old

2 years old

2 years and 6 months old

2 years and 8 months old

I seriously love this kid. Any time I'm in the kitchen, he brings a chair over to me and asks "Do you need any help today?" He loves helping me with the dishes and making cookies. And he's actually helpful, too. He follows the rules, most of the time, and helps Charlotte follow them too. Any time the kids are alone together, he helps Charlotte with whatever she needs. Ivan is very giving and sweet. I am so grateful to have this little guy in my life. He has changed me completely. I can only hope that the more he grows the more he'll help me grow. I love his sweet smile, his kind heart, his absolute desire to be all that is good, and all the love he gives to everyone he sees. One of my most favorite things he does is call people his "friends." Any time we're at the park, the play place, the store, wherever, and Ivan finds someone that talks to him, looks at him, or is a kid he thinks they are his friend. Ivan is crazy and an acrobat and a monkey climber. He is all that joy means. I love you kiddo.

The birthday boy!

Charlotte was a little overwhelmed by all the people and noise. She wanted nothing more than to cuddle with her dad. 

For Ivan's birthday celebration on his birthday, we let him choose what he wanted to do. He wanted to go to the play place for lunch then to the DI. At the DI he got to pick one toy that he could buy with his birthday money. He thought this was so cool! At Arctic Circle, since it has the best play place, they have these little coin machines that give out dinosaurs. As soon as we got inside Ivan said, "I can get one of those dinosaurs because I have my birthday moneys. Ooooo!" Ivan also asked to go to the library. We had perfect timing and got there for the tail end of story time. Everyone here is out of school on harvest break so they did a special story time today with cupcakes! Ivan got to decorate a special crown, color a picture, and have his very own cupcake.

Preschool Orientation

Ivan had preschool orientation right after Michael got done with class. So we all went to the school together. Me and the kids got to play in the wildlife museum on campus.

"Ooo, look at all the little eggs!"

He asked me to take a picture of him with the pelican. 

Charlotte was kinda scared of all the big animal heads. 

Here they are sharing a snack. 

Ivan moved so he could see the other animals and Charlotte followed. 

I signed Ivan up for the preschool lab at BYU-I this semester. The way the class works is that BYU-I students set up all the coursework and teach the class themselves with a few faculty members overseeing the class. This means he gets into the class for pretty cheap and that there are 5 or 6 teachers in there working with the kids at all times. And they have basically access to any teaching materials they can think of. I was so excited when I found out he got in.

I got to meet his teachers at a home visit last week and so far I'm not impressed. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I feel like his teachers are so young! And not that being young means you're stupid, but these girls just didn't seem all there. Hmm.

We had orientation with all the teachers and all the kids in the class. It was a little crazy. We were all in the same room, the parents, the teachers, and the kids. And lots of people had lots of kids and they were all there too. Apparently I'm really not good at situations with small rooms and lots of people. Then came time for the teachers to actually tell us the rules for the class. The rest of the time we'd just been letting the kids play and get used to the classroom. So when they wanted to talk to the parents, all they had were these tiny kid chairs to sit in. Really? You know in advance that adults will be gathering in this room, why not be prepared? For instance, you could have all the kids go to the classroom and have the adults meet in a separate room with real chairs to sit in. Also, the things they talked about at the orientation were the same things they said to us at the home visit that all the teachers did with each kid. Not really sure why we did it twice.

But the kids had a great time! They have a class pet, a gecko. Ivan got to pet it and he thought it was the coolest. They also have a bunch of little potties in there and Ivan was pretty dang excited to use a potty that "fit him just right."

Charlotte liked the big stuffed animals. She was just checking out all the other kids playing. 

24 Hours

Stay at home moms have pretty big jobs. They clean, cook, chauffeur, teach, and spend all of their time, every single day, caring for others. I know in my life that there are days when I can't find time to shower because of all the other things that need to be done first. I keep hearing people say that being a mom is the hardest job you'll ever love. It's true, I absolutely love being at home with my cuties all day. Yet at times, being with them all day is the absolute hardest thing I've ever done. The littles are demanding, hungry, highly active, and attention seeking. They need to be fed at least 3 times a day, clothed, bathed, played with, and the list goes on. Then there's the real hard stuff. Lately dinner time is the worst. I work so hard to make a delicious meal and literally have to fight my kids to eat it. Some nights they barely touch their food and I don't have the energy to do anything else about it, so they go to bed hungry. This wouldn't be so bad, especially since it doesn't really affect our bedtime routine, but it makes them wake up earlier. A couple weeks ago it was bedtime. I'd get the kids ready, brush teeth, read stories, sing songs, then leave them to sleep. It wouldn't take more than a few minutes to hear laughing and playing. Once I found them on top of their 6 foot tall dresser. Another time Ivan had moved his bed into the middle of the room and the kids were jumping from one bed to the next. Charlotte is easily the instigator. She jumps right up out of bed and grabs books off the shelf and takes them to read with Ivan in his bed. This wouldn't be a problem if they left the light off. Charlotte can't reach it, so I know it's Ivan every time. Once Ivan turns on the light, kiss sleep goodbye. They've gotten a lot better, especially since Michael came home. Not only do stay at home moms, well, any moms, have all the daytime stuff to do, they also have the nights. Michael is working nights, so the nights he works I never sleep well. There's something about the possibility of my kids waking up that keeps me from getting the full night's deep sleep that I so need. And my kids have been having nightmares, making it so I'm up with them 2 or more times a night. Ugh. I needed a break.

Michael, being the awesome husband that he is, agreed to let me do a mothers retreat. Laura, my wonderful sister in law, first brought about the idea of a mothers retreat. It's where mom leaves for a night, gets some good rest and relief, and has time to prepare for returning to her family. 

Living space, window with a view of the temple, and to the right is a kitchen area with sink, microwave, fridge, cabinets, table and chairs. 

I wanted to stay at a hotel, the Marriott. I got to stay in the executive suite, holy freaking crap it was incredible! I got a bread bowl pasta from Dominoes, a haircut, and did some thrift shopping. It was so nice to go out by myself and not have a deadline of when to be home. After settling in to the hotel, I did some things I wanted to do. I let myself be my own person and not have to take care of anybody else. I took a bath in a giant bathtub, I watched NCIS, I blogged, and I had a mountain dew without anybody else trying to get it away from me. I ate my dinner without anyone touching me, without getting up and helping anybody else, without arguing with anyone to eat your dinner. I was a person again! Then, after feeling like I had fully served myself with food, entertainment, and shopping, I got to work. 

A view of my beautiful bed for the night. King size really is the best. There's also a sitting area on the left and the balcony is accessible. I'm pretty sure I used all of the pillows on the bed (9 of them) except for the round one in the middle. I didn't get a picture of it, but the bathroom was pretty incredible too. It's divided into 2 rooms, the toilet and sink room then the sink, bathtub, and shower room. 

I am having a baby soon. Yay! I am really really excited to have another baby. I'm honestly excited for labor and delivery. I'm excited for a newborn. I'm the most excited to not be pregnant anymore. What else is there to prepare for that I'm not already looking forward to? Oh yea, I've got 2 other kids at home! So I wanted to help them be as excited for a baby brother as I am. I made workbooks for Ivan and Charlotte. I found this incredible idea on Pinterest, of course, and tailored it to my kids. They will work on name recognition, matching, numbers, shapes, colors, and holding a pencil. I also made some busy bag activities to use as nursing time games. I got so much stuff done. It's incredible what time all to myself, totally uninterrupted can do to my productivity. 

Just maybe the best part of my retreat. Breadbowl pasta, mountain dew, and football. 

I actually started missing my kids! Laura says that an important part of a mothers retreat is teaching your kids that mom leaves and mom comes back. I think it helped Michael a lot too. It's been a long time since he was alone with the kids for that amount of time. Come to think of it, and I think that's the first time he's been with them for that long by himself! Crazy. I got a full night's rest, a delicious giant breakfast, a shower without tiny people peeking in on me, and I accomplished all that I wanted to. It was so incredible to feel like a person again. And after going back home, I'm going to help establish myself as a person with my family as well. All too often I get lost in the busy-ness that is motherhood and forget to put myself first. It's like with the oxygen masks on airplanes, you have to secure your mask first before helping others. I need to make sure I'm taken care of before I can fully mother my children in the way they need me most. All it took for me to find myself again was 24 hours all to myself. I will be doing this again. 

Ivan's Birthday Party

It's birthday time again, and that means a party! Woohoo! I have been so looking forward to this party. I invited a lot less people than I usually do and tried to keep it to just Ivan's friends. Michael's parents were able to make it up for the day as well as his grandparents that live in Provo, Utah. We had a Finding Nemo theme, since that's what Ivan asked for. He absolutely loved his cake!

We had a super fun craft to make. It was little fish aquariums! All the kids got to decorate their fish and stick them in the box. 

Ivan loved using all the stickers he wanted. And he used about 9 googly eyes on just one fish!

Ivan and Sterling, best buds, showing off their tanks. 

The snack buffet! We had Swedish fish in jello cups, rainbow fish cupcakes, goldfish, carrots, cheese cubes, deli spirals and a cupcake pull apart cake. 

This was the first time I had attempted a pull apart cake. I had a clear vision of what I wanted, and with Janet's help, my dream was realized! We found those cute little Nemo figurines the day before the party and made the cake look like an ocean. 

Fishy cupcakes! Ivan thought these were so fun. 

Yum! Ivan was a little scared when everyone was singing him Happy Birthday, but blowing out the candles cheered him right up. 

This is Ivan's big birthday present. He loves his train table! 

We got to barbecue with all the grandparents after the party. And it gave us a chance to play with one of Ivan's new toys. I've been wanting to expand Ivan's sports experiences and this T ball stuff was perfect. He's slowly getting the hang of it, we just have to be careful of where Charlotte is.  

He hit it!

After the party fun, bouncing on the balloons. Haha! This was very fun until dad popped a balloon. Charlotte did not approve. 

The party was so much fun! Almost all of Ivan's friends were able to make it and they all had a blast too. It was great to see all the parents as well. The food was delicious, even if my oven is stupid and baked the cupcakes weird. I got to try some new recipes, dunkaroo dip sure is a keeper, and we all had fun decorating. We had the party a week and a half before Ivan's actually birthday. That was a tough decision. He was born on General Conference weekend, so his birthday falls right around that time every year. Last year we had his party the same weekend as the women's conference, which is a week before general conference, and I was going to do the same thing again this year. I decided to go a week earlier than that so more people could attend and not feel rushed to leave. That's how we got the grandparents there. :] 

Happy Birthday Ivan!

Photo Dump

Because I'm not more creative, I have a lot on my plate right now, and I want to be all caught up on the blog before baby comes, I'm just going to give you a crap ton of pictures of the awesome things we've been doing this month. Here it goes.

After we visited Brenda and Gavin we had the chance to stop by and see Michael's parents. Janet was reading Ivan this story and he was very interested in what was going on. 

I love seeing Charlotte squished between them. 

We got a fish tank! Michael has been wanting one really bad and after our visit with his parents (who bought our old tank from us) he really really wanted another tank. So happy early birthday to you babe. Once we got it all set up with some fish in it, the kids moved their chairs right in front of it and ate their snack there. We often spend time watching the fish like we would watch TV. It's very amusing. 

A new game in the house, totally made up by the kids, is to walk on the cookie sheets. Ok, I know, those are jelly roll pans, whatever. I use them for cookies so they are cookie sheets. Anyway, Ivan and Charlotte will randomly get the cookies sheets out and set them just far enough apart to make walking on them interesting. 

Ivan and I had the chance to go on a mom and son date. He went with me to my doctor's appointment then we headed to Idaho Falls. We walked around the toy section at the store, had lunch, and did some other shopping. Ivan was a great helper and had a blast, most of the time. At the end of our trip to Target, Ivan was running around the aisle while I looked at something. He was staying near me and out of the way of anyone that came by so I didn't mind him running around. That was until he ran right into a shelf. You know how the metal shelves kinda jut out on the side? So Ivan was running straight down the aisle and hit a shelf with his eye. Ouch. That definitely ended out trip. 

I got to choose where we ate, but Ivan was ecstatic about getting to choose what he ate. And he wore that cowboy hat the whole time!

Charlotte modeling her new boots. I found these boots at a yard sale and got them for the new baby boy, but it's the exact size Charlotte is wearing now and she doesn't have any shoes that fit her. Turns out the boots look just as cute on a girl as they would a boy. Ivan loves that they match.

I totally love this outfit! I think it catches some of her sassy personality. 

A couple businesses in Rigby were doing this promotional thing and we got invited by a friend to go. Turns out it was awesome. They had a big bouncy house obstacle course, pony rides, free food and a bunch of raffle stuff. Ivan loved riding the pony. 

We had delicious hot dogs (seriously they were good). I love everything about this picture. He had to wear his tie. He picked out his own clothes. And he wanted bread for his hot dog. This is the only time that has ever happened. He wouldn't even touch his hot dog til he had the bread for it. And I didn't want to get up again, after chasing him and Charlotte all around by myself (Michael is sleeping) I was pretty tired. So he asked our friends at the table with us then finally decided to go to the table where the bread was and ask the lady there to give him one. Once she noticed he was there, Ivan got the bread he wanted. He ate that whole hot dog too.

This is a sick Ivan. He had a high fever for a couple days, didn't eat much, and wasn't playing at all. Poor kid. He also wasn't sleeping well. I tried to get him to sleep in the bed with me and he wouldn't have it. So we moved to the living room at like 5 am and watched a movie. He started the morning by laying on the couch with all his blankets and animals. I fell asleep at some point and this is what Michael came home to at 7. Being sick is so not fun. Thankfully, he was the only one that got sick and he didn't have a runny nose or vomiting. 

This is what Ivan looks like when he wakes up from nap. I decided to cut his hair that day. 

A trip to the store with dad. Charlotte was so happy!

This is how Michael gets Ivan to behave at Walmart. People all around us were laughing, and so was I!

Just picking dandelions in the yard. 

Charlotte told Ivan "please" and he gave her a flower, how cute!

They were trying so hard to blow off the little seeds.