Easter Pictures

So our friend Mele Larson who dabbles in photography decided to do some mini sessions about a month ago before I had Camryn and Melis had the grand idea to do some Easter pictures with the kids.  She thought it would be so cute to get pictures taken with real chicks.  So she found a guy on craigslist that had some chicks. The problem was that we didn't want to keep the chicks. Believe me, I would love some chickens that give me some fresh organic eggs like Erin gets...but we don't have a coup and I am not willing to have free roaming chickens pooping all over my yard.  So Melis told him that she would pay him just to "borrow" them for a couple hours.  And he was like..."okay???"  So we got in our Easter best and went and picked up the chicks!  Mikey and Jaycee loved the chicks....they would actually hold them.  As you can see from the pictures, Anna hated them.  Tanner didn't want to touch them...and Jake wanted to hold them and was so excited!  But when he got the chick he was kinda nervous and he was squeezing it so hard so it wouldn't fall out of his hand...that he squeezed the poop right out of it onto his pants!  He got so mad that he threw it like 10 feet!  It was classic!  So that was the end of the chicks for Jake.  We ended up getting some pretty cute pictures though!  Happy Easter!!

Introducing Camryn Melissa Cardon

This little lady decided to come to us on March 23rd, 2012!  It was honestly the easiest, smoothest, delivery I have ever had...and I thought Luke was easy!  My midwife Janice had scheduled me to go check into the hospital on Wed., the 21st to try and see if a couple rounds of gel would put me into labor on my own.  Thats what I did with Luke and I wasn't opposed to that type of induction.  I won't do pitocin if I don't have to, and Doug won't let me either.   I don't like how it makes me feel and it didn't work too well when I had to do it with Jake.  So Doug and I went to the hospital that morning and they couldn't fit me.  So basically we watch a riveting episode of Price Is Right, they checked me and told me I was dilated to a 3, and they sent me home.  I wasn't very effaced...so they told me if they had room they would call me. But I wasn't getting my hopes up.  And they didn't call.:)  But that was okay because at that point I was hoping that she just came on her own. Nothing happened Wednesday, but Thursday, early evening I was starting to have really random contractions that I could tell were harder than my braxton hicks I had been having...although nothing that I thought was going to put me into labor.  I went to bed and at 2:00 on the dot I woke up to a really big contraction.  I got up and went to the bathroom and started to time them.  They got to be about 5 to 6 minutes apart...so I woke up Doug and told him we didn't need to leave yet, but I'm pretty sure I was in labor.  I timed them for an hour without waking anyone up and then thought that we should probably head so that I could get my doses of antibiotics in.  So I went to wake up my mom and Melis to tell them we were going to head to the hospital.  Melis started to panic because when I went into labor on my own with Mikey I cut it really close since I labored mostly at home, and she didn't want that to happen again.  So she started telling me I needed to leave right away.  By the time we got checked into the hospital it was about 3:45.  They checked me in triage and I was a 5 and 60% effaced...but they admitted me. Thank goodness, my midwife, Janice was on call and my same nurse that has delivered my last three babies, Courtney was there too.  She is amazing to say the least.  

I got my IV and my antibiotics going and my contractions started to slow down to like every 7 minutes...but I was still dilating.  Weird.  But that is what happened.  Janice decided we would do my epidural and get me comfortable...even though I was handling hard contractions every 7 minutes just fine...and then she would break my water to see if that would get my contractions going a little more.  So I got the epidural and boy did it work.  If that hospital burnt down I was going nowhere fast!  Janice broke my water and my contractions were still far apart...yet, still dilating. By this time It was like 7 in the morning and Courtneys shift ended at 7am.  But being the sweet sweet nurse that she is wanted to stay to deliver my baby!  She could only do overtime until 11am...so that is the time frame we were working with.  I promise you the Lord and Luke had their hand in every part of this delivery and welcoming this sweet little princess into our lives.  And Courtney was for sure part of that blessing!  Janice was also supposed to not be on call, but stayed on just for me!  I really couldn't believe that I was being so blessed and surrounded by people that were so caring and loving!  

They decided to start me on some pit just to get my contractions closer so that I was able to push her out!  About 2 hours or so of upping the dosage on the pit and they finally got to 2 min apart.  At 10:30am Courtney decided to check me and I was complete!  Her face was priceless because she was totally working on with a time schedule in mind and I was sooooo relieved that Camryn was finally ready to come out and that Courtney was going to be able to be there!  I had called My mom and Melis to see if they wanted to come be there for your grand entrance and they got there at about 10.  Courtney called Janice and when she got there it was time to push!  I seriously pushed for a minute and a half...maybe...and there she was! At 10:47am!  I couldn't believe that it happened before Courtney had to leave!  Doug's face was priceless!  And so was my Mom's and Melissa's for that matter!  She just came so smooth and so fast and there was no complications!  I honestly never even felt like I was in labor because it was so painless and surreal!  She was perfect!  She came out crying and then she nursed right away for at least a good hour!  She was 8'4'' and 20 1/2 inches long with big chubby cheeks!  Her eyelashes are really blonde and her hair is the lightest of any of my babies which makes me believe that she will be a blondie.  

Auntie Missa checking her out!  

She loved her binky from day one!  Which I am grateful for because Luke wouldn't take a binky at all!  I tried every single kind!  But she loves them!  I have since gotten the gumdrop ones that look like soothes, but are half the size so they don't take up their entire face!

She is sure going to be loved by all the boys/men in her life!  They can't get enough of little Miss Camryn!  They were smitten...especially her daddy!

 She has some angel kisses for sure!  As well as some broken blood vessels on her forehead that healed up pretty quick!  She also has a beauty mark right at her hairline!  At first the nurses tried to wipe it off and then we realized it wasn't going anywhere! It is her little trademark!

 You could see the Gilbert Temple being worked on right outside my window...I had a great view!

 Tanner wants to help do everything with Camryn!  He wants to constantly hold her and make sure that she is happy!  He is going to be a great big brother!

 Mikey LOVES his baby sister!  He isn't concerned about holding her all the time, but when he does...it is his time and no one else's!  He is pretty gentle, and wants to kiss and hug her all the time!  

 Jakey loves to sing to his baby sister and make up songs for her!  He is so sweet and is always saying "shhh...it's okay, your brother is here....Jakey is here!"  He said..."Woah Mom!  She has chubby cheeks!  That should be her nickname!  Chubby Cheeks!!"

 Camryn already has this Daddy wrapped around her little finger!  It's only a matter of time before he is giving her whatever she wants!  Right now, it i only milk...and if I wasn't here...he would be giving her as much formula as she could drink!  Good Daddy!

Round Two...

About a week or so after Tanner lost his first tooth, his second bottom tooth was hanging by a thread!  Right before bed Doug said..."Tanner...go get the floss!  We are getting that other tooth out!"  So he went and grabbed it and sure enough it was out in one quick yank!  It didn't even bleed that much!  But we lost the tooth for a couple minutes because it flew out and blended into the tile.  We found it when Jake said,"I think I stepped on it!"  Sure enough...there it was!  Thanks Jake for using your feet!  So under the pillow it went! And round two of the tooth fairy was in full effect!  

Funny story though...after Spring Break he went back to school and brought home the tooth binder!  This is where the Kindergartners can share their stories with the class and write them in the binder.  I started going through the stories and reading them to Tanner.  As I was reading a lot of the stories told how they received $1 from the tooth fairy.  Tanner looked up and said "They got a $1!!! I only got a quarter!" (Which I will have you know is what he said he should get for teeth...so I only gave him what  he was expecting!:)  Mom and I were laughing so hard because he felt completely jipped from the tooth  fairy!  I told Doug what happened and he said "Gotta keep em humble!"  So maybe he will get $1 for his molars:)

The First of Many Lost Teeth!

I don't know who was more excited tonight?!? Tanner because he lost his first tooth? Or Doug because he got to yank it out! It was pretty hilarious though either way!
Tanner has been dying to lose his first tooth for a long time now and when he realized his bottom middle two were loose a couple of weeks ago he has been wiggling ever since!
I don't know how Doug convinced him to let him pull it out with a string...because when I first brought up the idea to him a little while ago he was like "No way mom!!"! But tonight Doug told him to go get a string and he was on board! He couldn't believe that tonight was the night it was going to come out.... He was talking a million miles a minute! Everything from "This is the best way to earn free money!! You don't even have to work for it!" The kid thinks of everything!
His tooth was so loose that once Doug got the string on he pulled once and out it came! The look on Tanners face was priceless! He was so proud of himself for being so brave. It was cute.
We found a little container to put his tooth in and under his pillow it went! He can't wait for a visit from the tooth fairy! He told me tonight that sometimes she leaves fairy dust... I better get workin'!

Oh and one more thing... Papa told Tanner that he still had all of Dougs baby teeth which confused Tanner for a second and it was funny to watch Papa get himself out of that one. But before bed Tanner said, "The tooth fairy could probably never find Dads teeth so that's why Papa had to keep them all!" and I said "Thats probably right... We better make sure it's in a good place so she can find it!"

Mikey's First Dentist Appt.

Mikey had his first dentist appointment along with Tanner and Jake this morning.  He was very excited and kept talking about how he was going to be brave and a good boy.  And he was right!  He got right up there on the chair and let the hygenist do whatever she needed to!  No cavities for him either!  We left with Jake and Mikey part of the cavity free club!  Tanner on the other hand had a little one that we need to get taken care of.  He is growing up so fast and will do anything to keep up with his brothers!

 We headed to Chick Fil A for lunch that afternoon or maybe it was later that week...I don't really remember.  Chick Fil A is definitely our most frequent stops for a quick lunch!  Jake and Mikey are so sweet and always want to get a balloon for Luke before we leave.  They send them right up to the sky so that Lukey has one too.  Love them for that.

And here is my mother who finally downsized from a 12 passenger van that she has been hauling kids around in for years.... to a little mini cooper!  She has wanted one of these for a long time!  And I am glad she finally got one!  She calls it her baby and I know she was going to name it...although I haven't heard what she came up with!  Can't wait to see her whipping around town in that little blue bullet!:)

Wilder Twins

One of my best friends, Jenny,  had twins about 4 or 5 weeks ago and I really wanted to be able to go see them and help her out a little bit.  The month of November was filling up really fast, but somehow we managed to make it work and I got to fly into Idaho Falls and hang out with her for a couple of days.  They live in Rigby and I haven't been back up to Idaho since Doug and I graduated!  Doug travels up there all the time and is always telling me how much Rexburg and even Idaho Falls have grown, but its been 7 years!!  Luckily Allegiant started to fly there and it is sooo convenient and pretty cheap too!   

I was also lucky because I got to see Rebekah!!  She was still in Rexburg for Fall semester.  So one day Jenny and I went and met up with at her apartment and we went to lunch.  Then we went to see parts of BYU-I!  It is sooo different, but awesome!  It was fun to take a trip down memory lane even if a lot of the town has changed.  The twins....Emmy and Lucy are darling of course and soooo tiny!  I don't know how much of a help I was, but it was definitely nice to hold those sweet  babies and make some trips to Target and run other errands around Idaho Falls with Jenny.  I wished we lived closer to them and maybe someday we will, but for now random trips to see each other will have to do:)l!!

Rebekah was heading to Provo to spend Thanksgiving with Jonathan and Melinda, and my flight home was out of Salt Lake so it worked out perfectly and I just drove down to Provo with Rebekah! We made a stop at Tai Pan(I wish we had that store in AZ so bad) and then headed to JB's house.  It was fun to see Libby and little/big Holden!!  They are so cute and of course Melinda had whipped up some homemade pizza for dinner...I think I ate like 5 pieces.:)  Then it was off to the airport so that I was home in time for Thanksgiving the next day!!  It was a short trip, but totally worth it.  Thanks to Melis for filling in for me and doing my daily run arounds!!  I'm pretty sure she was exhausted by the end of the four days! At least Doug was there for bedtime and after work for a little relief.   Don't know what I would do without her!

Giving a Garden a Go...

 When we bought our house I was excited because we already had a garden box that was built back by our basketball court.  What I didn't know is that Doug was thinking about ripping that garden box out and expanding his basketball court.  Of course he wanted to move the garden to another area in the yard, but who knows when that was going to happen.  So for a while I thought that planting anything in the garden was pointless if he was just going to tear it down.  But when he decided that we needed a garden and that he was going to postpone his court expansion plans:)....I went to work.  The previous owners had never planted in the box though so I was kinda starting from ground zero.  I definitely didn't know how hard the dirt was that was in the box and holy cow was it hard!!!  I was trying to till it really good so that I could put a good layer of fresh soil on top and I thought it would be a quick fix, but boy was I wrong!  This dirt was tough!  There were these massive boulders of mixed concrete and hard hard soil that I thought were just rocks...thats how hard they were.  I really had to put my back into it to get it ready for the plants.  It was a definite work out!!  I was so sore from tilling that dirt!  But I knew I had to get those plants in before it cooled down too much!  So once I got it to a good place, and poured and mixed the soil with the dirt, we were ready to plant!  I have some amazing gardeners in my life that I kept calling and asking for advice.  Doug's mom has an amazing garden and the boys love to pick from it and help water it whenever we go to Denver in the summer...she has a green thumb for sure.  As well as my sister Erin who has done her fair share of gardening here in AZ!  So she was also a go to person.   But I am NO green thumb!

Melissa, Jaycee, and the boys helped a bunch and when all was said and done we had planted carrots, green onions, lots of broccoli, strawberries, asparagus, and romaine lettuce.  I'm crossing my fingers and praying for something to grow!  If I get one or two carrots I will feel like I have accomplished something!

It's a....

 ...GIRL!!!  

I know what you are thinking!  A girl???  Because I was almost positive that this little baby was another boy.  I haven't felt different with this pregnancy and maybe deep down I was hoping that it was going to be a boy.  Not because I don't want a girl....I will/would LOVE a girl!  Besides getting over the fact that I may never have one after having four boys, I think deep down I was hoping and trying to relive my pregnancy with Luke, and that if this baby was a boy that it was going to be Luke again.  I know this sounds weird and crazy, but somethings just make you want to go back in time.  No baby will be able to replace my Luke, but we are very very very excited for this little girl to come to our family.  She is going to be my sweet tender mercy because in all reality I don't know if I could emotionally have another boy right now and pull out all my boy stuff again and I honestly believe that the Lord knew that.  

Doug is so excited for a girl too....I mean honestly, he should be right?  He has four boys!:)  She is going to have him wrapped around her finger the second she arrives, I just know it.  And she is bound to be slightly spoiled....just slightly:).  It's pretty inevitable...she is the first girl and the only one!  I will try to keep my shopping hobby to a minimum. (yeah right:))

We made the technician check multiple times to make sure nothing was hiding and she was wide open and willing to show us that she wasn't a boy.  Although, the pic kinda looks like it, I came home and compared her picture to Lukes ultrasound picture showing that he was a boy and they are COMPLETELY different.  I mean....she's got nothing there and he had a lot there, so I felt better.:)  I'm glad she wasn't being shy though because that would have given me second thoughts too.

Tanner knew we were having the ultrasound today and he wanted to go really bad.  He went to Luke's ultrasound in Denver when we found out and he completely remembers that, so he didn't want to miss out.  But since he had school I promised him that I wouldn't tell the other boys until he got home.  By the time he got home from school though he had forgotten about the whole thing.  I had gone to Wal-mart and tried to find anything and everything pink I could find.  There wasn't a ton, but I found enough pink candy and junk to make it fun for the boys and J.  Melis and I made Doug and Kyle take the boys and J on a bike ride while we set it all up and then when they walked in we told them that we were having a "Pink Party' and if they knew why!?  They immediately knew it was a girl and they were all so excited and giddy!:)  It's funny how they always have told me that they wanted a boy but with this pregnancy for some reason they have all wanted a girl!  So I am grateful for them that we got one!:)  No disappointment there!

Bring on the PINK!!!