For Those Who Doubted...

For all of you who wondered if I would survive the 10 hour car trip alone with my 2 girls... I DID! We actually made it here in about 9 1/2 hours which is a surprisingly good time considering I was alone with two kids. They were both very well behaved. I didn't even have to get the DVD player out for Marlee til we were like 6 hours in...pretty impressive! We had to make 4 potty stops, one nursing stop, and 3 GAS STOPS. I am so proud of how well we all did. I ate like my whole weeks allotment of calories to keep myself awake but it was worth it! My co-pilots were:
*Jr. Mints
*Oreos
*Gold Fish
*Fizzix Yogurt-(Thanks a lot dad- we're hooked)
*Diet Pepsi
*Dried Fruit
and
*Capri Sun
oh...and a couple of
*Chocolate cupcakes...
I know, totally disgusting, right?! But remember, I AM a nursing mom!! Like it matters...
Anyway, we made it safe and sound, and are looking forward to a great week!

Immunization....or a tranquilizer?

Ok, so Makenna went to bed at 7:45 last night....I woke her up this morning at 8:00 a.m. to eat because I was in PAIN. She fell right back asleep and is still sleeping...it is almost 10:00 a.m... should I be worried?

Well-Check

I know I already posted this picture, but for those of you who didn't pay attention to it,

or just need a reminder of how angelic she is....

For anyone interested Makenna had her "6 Month" well check today. Yes, I am well aware she will be 8 months next week but after we got back from having no insurance over the summer, this was the soonest they could get her in. Anyway, here are the stats:

Height= 26 1/4 in = 50%
Head = 69%
Weight= drum roll please.......... 18 lbs 8.5 oz = 95%
Ha ha, I had to laugh. Marlee was always in the 95% for weight too, until she was 18 months.
All the nurses loved Kenna's thighs and assured me maybe the shots wouldn't hurt so bad.....yea right. Poor thing cried herself to sleep and has been an angel ever since. She is such a sweetie.
We are heading back to Denver on Friday for my nephew Hunters baptism so if you don't hear from me for a week or so, that's why! I am making the car trip alone with the girls, so wish me luck!

Our Weekend

Brenda,Jenny,Nichole,Me,Jessica and Paris

We have been hanging out with our neighbors (and friends, Jess) just about every night. I really enjoy their company and we all get along really well. On Saturday a bunch of us went to the "Beach" in Yankton. The kids had a BLAST. We swam a bit, ate, made sand castles, and went to Charlie's Pizza for dinner, it was way good. It was a long, but very fun day!
Marlee in her "big girl seat" Jacob,Karla,Annie,Elena,Olivia and Marlee
Marlee and I

Kenna, taking a rest

Marlee, Nichole and Elena
( I think Marlee thinks she is the missing Quad to those triplets!)

Brenda...yeah, she is 8 months pregnant....doesn't look like it!
Mars Bars feeling brave

One of the new neighbors, sweet Emma

Goofy Marlee

And sweet Kenna

Yesterday it was nice to go to church. We actually had a couple of new families I hadn't heard about. A pleasant surprise in our little branch. I had to take a couple of pictures of Kenna because she was wearing a dress that I wore as a baby. I am gonna try to find the picture of me when I go home next week, but as for now, here is Kenna....I hope you like them mom!

(She was starving, so I couldn't get the binky away...)

I am SO in love with this one!

And this is just one of Mar I liked, It is way over-exposed, but a little better in black and white.

Getting Settled

Peyton, Tevin, Elena, Carla (or Olivia...sorry I can't tell!),Marlee, the last triplet and Anastasia

Let me just start by saying how good it is to be home! This last week has been so nice. Back to our own home with our own stuff, back to old friends, and some kind of "normal". We are still not totally unpacked or settled but we are getting there. It has been fun to catch up with our friends this week and for Marlee to get back out and play with the friends she has missed all summer. On Sunday evening we went to meet our new neighbors (they moved into your house Rachel!). When we got outside all the neighbors were out visiting so we joined them. Marlee decided she wanted her Snow White dress on and before I knew it ALL the girls wanted to be princesses and we had our very own little Vermillion Princess Parade if you will. It was pretty funny all the girls in their costumes. Here are a few of the pictures I got....sorry neighbors if I butcher any spellings! Tevin had a stuffed kitty that looked real and they were all enthralled with it...
Cinderella and Snow White Smoochin'...I snuck it from the end of the building
Yesterday was hot and humid and we are not allowed to have "pools" at our complex...
But no one said anything about buckets! Thanks for the invite Nicole!
Here are all the girls "swimming" yesterday.
You gotta do what you gotta do...
Oh, and I almost forgot my good news!

1. Makenna slept from 9 p.m. til 9 a.m. last night. FIRST time sleeping through the night!!!! YAY!

2. I had a (small) glass of Milk last night with my chocolate chip cookie! First time in almost 7 months I have had milk to drink.....Happiness is....

It was AWESOME...now to see if Kenna reacts....

Home Sweet Home

Well, although we have been home since Sunday, we just now got our Internet connected. It has been a crazy week. We made it home Sunday night at about 11:00 p.m. and it was one of the longest car trips EVER due to my throwing up the whole way. What a nightmare....any of you who know me, know what a joy I am on road trips anyway... but we made it. It was SO nice to walk in the door to OUR home (well, you know what I mean). Marlee was ecstatic. You would have thought i just dropped her at the gates of Disney Land. She just ran in and yelled "Oh mom, my TOYS!". She wanted to play with or at least touch EVERYTHING she had missed. It was hilarious. I was still sick all day Monday and Tuesday so I finally went o the Doc yesterday, she gave me some good news! #1: I am more than 5 lbs down from my PRE-PREGO weight and #2: I am NOT pregnant!!!!!!!!! They really scared me when they told me that's kinda what they thought it was....yikes.

We are not even CLOSE to un-packed and I am still trying to regain some strength considering today is the first day I have eaten 3 meals since Friday, and I don't think it helped that Makenna is still solely nursing, so anything I could keep down went directly to her, but I am feeling much better none the less.

Anyway, for anyone wondering, we are alive and well and made it back safely. I am sure I will have pics of the kids and their old buddies up in no time. Thanks mom and dad for letting us cramp your style for almost 3 whole months. You guys helped us out WAY more than we could have expected and we miss you already. You are LIFE SAVERS!

You Are My Sunshine....

This week has been a really crappy week for several reasons, but I can't help but smile and feel happy when I see these. There is just something about a chubby naked baby that you can't resist.

Thanks Nena, I love them and I can't wait to see the other 140 of them = ). Miss you guys!

She must have been hungry, because she was sucking on her lips like nobodies business...

Back to Life......Back to Reality

The last 2 weeks have been very eventful, both good and bad. I was in Moses Lake with the girls, busy busy as usual there. Collin was working, both kids sick and barfing, car stolen and now a change in plans...I am headed back to Vermillion SUNDAY! I was planning on staying through the 1st week of September, but after this last week have decided I need to be with my hubby. He starts school in a couple weeks and has to go back so the girls and I will be joining him. I am actually kind of excited to get back to our little home. Moses Lake was a blast, seeing old friends and the whole Earl clan, I always have such a blast with them, but at the same time it is good to be back to normal life. Here are some pictures of the happenings there...Liz,Myca,Alysha and I just hanging outMarlee, Vienna and Hendrix in their "Princess Skirts"Princess Marlee and the cows.....I love this shotKissin' Cousins

Kenna and her first Popsicle Marlee and Grandma....this is when she first started feeling sick, poor baby
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST.......This is what my car looked like when we got it back, the pictures don't do it justice. The back drivers side door is pretty torn up at the bottom and I had to replace both front tires...could be worse, but I still wanna punch the moron that stole it.
Got a call from the Sheriff's office today, still waiting on the finger prints to come back from the crime lab...
I am sure they won't catch him...

Who Needs Sleep?

Last night was officially the longest night of my life. Marlee and Makenna have been acting a little sick the last couple days. Last night I attempted to put Marlee down about 9:00, when she started throwing up. She and the baby were both up every hour the rest of the night. At 3:30 Marlee woke up and threw up again and at 4:00 a.m.  Corbin came into our room and woke me for a phone call. It was Collin and the Sheriff of Centennial. Nice. He put the Sheriff on the phone and he went on to ask me if I was safe and still in Washington because my car had been stolen. What?  Someone had gotten into our other car, found my keys that Collin had since I am out of town and stolen the Taurus. He proceeded to almost hit a Cop and then run it into a curb and run....... What a moron. As far as I know, they still have not caught him. Bummer. They recovered my car and will assess the damage today. What a CRAZY night. I think I MAYBE got 2 hours of sleep.....can't wait for the rest of my day.

***To see the best part of my day click here. Thanks again Nena...I love them. More to come...

7 Months

I am still in Washington, but I had to get on and make a quick post. My baby is SEVEN months old today. I can hardly believe it. I have NO idea how much she weighs because we haven't been to the Doctor in CO. She is still not eating baby food, but loves teething crackers and table food. Still doesn't take a bottle either, oh well. She is sitting on her own and rolls like a champ but lucky for me no crawling yet. She babbles like crazy and is still very sweet and smiley. She is still struggling with sleeping through the night, mostly (I think) because of our traveling and lack of schedule. Anyway....I have some great pictures from our trip that I will post when I get back to Co, until then...