15 Weeks And All Is Well

Our little Sito Jaxa/Worf is doing quite well!!  Still bouncing around (which is so cute to see) and seems quite healthy and happy!  In another 4 weeks, it'll be gender-reveal time!!  Until we choose something else, we're using some AWESOME Star Trek names to refer to him/her as something other than "it" or "the baby" or "him/her."  Once we know a gender, it'll be either Sito Jaxa or Worf.  I think it'd be awesome to go around saying "Worf is really active today, he keeps poking me in the ribs!"  Worf is one of my most favorite Star Trek characters EVER!  Speaking of gender, what gender do you think this baby is?  Take the poll over on the right!!  And, of course, here are some awesome pictures for you!

Perfect little spine!

The black dot is the baby's bladder, so don't get any ideas of gender from this picture.

Cute little alien baby!!

More Summer Fun

In June, we bought an elliptical.  We had been after one for a while (a couple years actually) but finally got around to getting one.  I'm not posting a picture of that, though.  Who cares?  It's a typical elliptical.  What was fun was that I made Ben keep the box inside, hoping the kids would find joy in it.  It took about two days, but they finally did!!  They wanted a space ship, so Ben cut three windows in it and the kids had an absolute blast for a good three days!

Mitchell wearing Mr. Potato Head glasses upside down

Kiersten trying to make her way to the window through all the sleeping bags and pillows

Keith, raring to go!

Mitchell: Ahhhhh!  It's shaking!

Kiersten - started with her mouth on it.  Then a lip.  Then her lip scrunched up to her nose.  Finally she laid down!

Next up is the 4th of July!  I love Independence Day!  It's not just another holiday off work or day to spend with family or friends, but it's the celebration of the birth of this great nation!  Even with the crappy political climate that we're in, we're still somehow hanging on as the best country in the world.  As jacked up as our healthcare system is, and it definitely needs help, foreign doctors and upper class people still come HERE for treatment and care.  Even though we've got a crappy socialist president, he's still someone that the people elected (and will be able to replace) and he doesn't go around stoning or hanging us for speaking out against him.  Although our freedoms are being further limited, we still enjoy more than the average country does.  We are getting farther and farther away from perfection as we attempt to model ourselves after other countries, but right now, we're still better than anywhere else, we are still great.  I just hope we can reverse some damage and get back to the Constitution that made the 4th of July a day to celebrate!  Enough with politics, here's some cute kids!

Kiersten

Mitchell

Keith under the flag in our yard

Kiersten

Little Personalities

More Personalities

Wall-worthy photo

Cutie Patooties

Mitchel's got his tongue out, but it's hard to get all 3 kids looking nicely at the same time.

Freaked Me OUT!

Okay, so I already told you about how I had a prenatal appointment at 11 weeks and then, just afterward, slipped in some soda which bruised one knee pretty badly and sprained the MCL in my other knee.  Being pregnant, that can sure worry a girl.  But, here's a little more...  At 12 weeks, I had the feeling all day long that "my baby is dead."  It felt like fact.  I just couldn't shake it.  Then, at 13w1d (that's when Taylor died), we were out camping.  That day also happened to be the 23rd.  Taylor was born on January 23rd.  So it was the 5 month anniversary of delivering my dead baby.  Can I just say, being the mother of a dead baby is HARD WORK.

Have you heard of a "rainbow baby" ever?  It refers to a baby born after a loss, the rainbow after the storm.  A rainbow pregnancy is HARD WORK!  I'm constantly finding reasons to freak out.  It's not easy at all.  I may have had some experiences with Taylor that should have alerted me to a problem (not being able to envision that birth, or that child being missing in my visions of this coming birth), but overall, I had no idea that anything had been wrong.  Now, I try to read into EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE red flag.  Every feeling.  Every lack of feeling.  It's ridiculous!  I try hard to say to myself, "today I am pregnant and I love my baby."  But it's hard when you don't know if the baby you are pregnant with happens to be dead or alive day to day.  And let me just remind you, walking around feeling like your baby's tomb is NOT a comforting feeling.

Alright, so what am I getting at?

I freaked myself out enough that I finally gave into my midwife's invitation to come in and take a quick peek to make sure everything was okay.  So, I packed up the kids, had lunch with Ben, bought the boys some new shoes, and saw my midwife.  She was so pleasant and kind, I interrupted her lunch, but she was perfectly friendly about it.  She said she wanted me to have a nice, calm, relaxing weekend with some reassurance.  My next appointment is in a week, but after two weeks of freaking out, I just didn't want to wait another week.

So what happened?

She has a low intensity ultrasound machine in her office, so she turned it on, gelled up my tummy, and went to work.  This baby... is INCREDIBLY ACTIVE!!  Oh my gosh, s/he was flipping, turning, kicking, swimming, and doing all kinds of acrobatics!  Call me crazy, but I was still afraid that s/he was just being pushed around by amniotic fluids and my tummy moving as I spoke.  She turned on the doppler and it took a little bit, but she found a happy and healthy heartbeat that was in the 170's!!  Oh, that was the most beautiful sound!  I can't even tell you how much I wanted to cry with joy and reassurance!  I felt silly going in only a week before my next appointment, and felt terrible for interrupting her lunch, but it was worth it to hear that heart beating away!  I am now officially further along in this pregnancy than I was with Taylor.  Well, my baby has lived longer than Taylor did.  She was born at 14w1d, so I guess Sunday I'll officially be further along.  Not really sure how to count all that.  But who cares when I know that RIGHT NOW, my baby is happy, healthy, and actively alive?!  Nausea is letting up a bit.  I'm sleeping well right now.  I'm not as exhausted every day as I have been.  Things are going well.

So CHEERS!  (with sparkling cider of course)  Here's to babies, and heartbeats, and joy!!

I know it's hard to tell, but that's a head at the bottom and legs at the top.

Summer - The first update

I was reading another blog the other day, and she said that she had been feeling like they hadn't been very active this summer, until she went through pictures and realized they'd done more than she thought.  I COMPLETELY UNDERSTOOD!!  Here I am going through our pictures and I realized, wow!  We actually HAVE done some stuff this summer!  So, let's start at Memorial Day.  That week, of course no school on Monday but then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were the last days of school.  But c'mon, summer "actually" begins with Memorial Day, right?!

Mitchell loved the swings at the park in Heber (where we go each year).  Any time he was missing, he could typically be found on the swings.

This was Kiersten's first time in a swing.  Cute little thing.

Ben fed her Cool Whip.  She LOVED it!

May 28, 2012 - The Harvey Family

Had to show one with Mitchell's attitude.  He's so funny!

 Next, let's go on to Keith's KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION!!

Keith really was among the smallest in the class.  There was only one kid noticeably smaller.  

 Up next:  The Pony Express Days Parade, followed by swimming at the pool at Aunt Kathryn's condo.

We went swimming again another day, but no pictures from that one.  However, that was also the same day as I got my first ultrasound done!  One healthy little baby in there!  ALSO that day, between the prenatal and swimming, I was at the mall with all 3 kids without a stroller or sling, was carrying Kiersten and 4 bags plus holding hands with Mitchell and trying to keep track of Keith.  I was headed to the Food Court to rearrange everything when I slipped in some soda on the floor, one leg went sliding ahead while the other stayed in place.  The knee of the planted leg slammed into the ground and bruised quite a bit.  The other knee, I sprained my MCL and am supposed to be wearing a brace for a good 6 weeks.  I keep forgetting to put it on though, and the next day I always pay for it.  OUCH!  Anyway, here is my happy ultrasound picture:

While the mountain "in our backyard" burned for several days, we went camping!!  The wind happened to blow the fire back over the top of the mountain and onto the other side, so our home did not end up in danger.  Just in case, we packed up a few suitcases of things (extra clothes, social security cards, birth certificates, scriptures, disks of pictures, etc) and took pictures of our furniture and other pricey items for insurance purposes, packed them into Ben's car, and then parked it a safe distance away... just in case the wind switched directions and put our home in danger while we were gone.  All turned out well though, and about 4 days after it started and over 5,000 burned acres later, the 390 fire fighters contained the fire.  But, we were up at Trial Lake the whole time, 30 minutes away from cell phone reception.  It was such a great trip!  Here are some pics:

Keith's CARS sleeping bag and Mitchell's SPIDERMAN sleeping bag.  They LOVE sleeping in them!

Don't see ME on here much!  In fact, you rarely EVER see an actual picture of me. 
But did you notice my awesome FORKS sweatshirt that I got in FORKS, WA earlier this year?

Ben had the hardest time with making a fire instead of a lot of smoke.  The kids all loved their chairs (which just happen to match their sleeping bag colors).

Ben gave Mitchell a gooey marshmallow.  This is what happened to it.  Eventually, he brought his hands to me telling me to eat the marshmallow.  Silly boy.  So I took a bite and he said "thanks" each time.  It was SO FUNNY!

Day 2 lunch - also Kiersten's nap time.  I gave her a slice of bread, she tore it in two (one for each hand of course) and she was passed out within 3 minutes!

Mitchell, Kiersten, and Keith with his big stick that he carried around everywhere.

Isn't she just so stinkin' cute being so tiny in her little chair?!  The chair made her so happy!

See?!  HAPPY GIRL!  Ignore the hair.  It was all greased up from sunscreen and bug spray. 

Well, that's it for now!  Next up, I'm sure, will be the 4th of July, another prenatal, and the 24th of July (a Utah holiday).  We are hoping for another camping trip, too!  Not sure what else the summer will bring us, but I'm so happy to be out doing things with the kids!

Happy Mother's Day!

Today, I thought I'd take the opportunity to make my SIXTH announcement.  Pregnancy announcement, that is!  Yes, I am 7 weeks 2 days pregnant, and pregnant for the 6th time!

Yes, that's right.  This is my SIXTH pregnancy.  This is the SIXTH time I've had the privilege to announce that I am growing a tiny little human right now.  (I'm so crafty, I make people.)  I'll gladly accept any and all prayers that this baby grows happy and healthy and joins our family here on Earth where s/he will grow to a ripe old age, still happy and healthy.  I'm nervous, but I don't have the same fears with this pregnancy as I did the last one.

I'm not "over" losing Taylor.  I don't think I'll ever be "over" it.  However, the opportunity to be pregnant again is amazing, glorious, and I am so very thankful for it!  I want to shout it out to the world that I am pregnant again!  I want to celebrate every minute of this pregnancy, much as I have felt with my other FIVE pregnancies.

Last time around, I could never envision the birth.  I could see the NEXT birth (as in, this pregnancy), and would even try to create an image of Taylor there with us, but it was a forced illusion.  This time, I am guessing we're having a boy and I can SEE this birth happening.  But, that doesn't mean I'm fear-free.  Every twinge has me nervous.  My first appointment isn't until 10 weeks (June 1st) and it breaks my heart to remember how Taylor's heart was beating so strongly at that stage, as I had that initial early ultrasound done.  So seeing it this time around isn't going to lessen any fears I have.  I'm nervous, almost like I shouldn't be but can't quite kick it anyway.

I should be due sometime around December 28th, though give it +/- a week!

Only 32 weeks 5 days-ISH to go!!

21 April 2012

OR Trip - Friday

Friday, we started by going to Astoria to see the GOONIE house!  We ended up going on the Trolly and they pointed it out.  However, it was such a busy day and we wanted to get back "home" to pack, so we didn't go UP TO the house.  It really does have a zipline in the backyard, and the lady who lives there... she was a Goonie fan and came to see Astoria because of The Goonies.  She got there, saw that the house was for sale, BOUGHT IT, went home to sell her house, and then moved in to her new place.  She thinks it is so cool that she invites people to come check it out!  Isn't that awesome?!  Now... if you're young and haven't seen it, GO WATCH IT NOW!!!

Aren't Josh & Kiersten totally adorable?!  Yes, of course the girls posed them. 
Okay, okay, and then Alicia and I thought it was adorable enough
that we joined in, trying to pose them just right.  But they're so darn CUTE!

Kiersten with Lillian, her new BFF.

Keith got to ring the trolly bell.

Have I mentioned that Kiersten was like a shiny new toy for the 4 teenage girls?
That's okay, they were the newest novelties for my kids to play with too.
And they were all so cute together.  All of them.  Age 15 months to 17 years!!
See how sweet they were with Kiersten?
ADORABLE!

Mitchell, Kiersten, and Keith - LOVING the beach!

Kiersten was super cuddly because it was very COLD

After we took the kids to touch the water the first time,
Mitchell ran back to the stroller and covered himself in
blankets, refusing to get out again.

Keith LOVED the water and wanted to be more daring
than I would allow him to be.  It was hard to manage taking
him to the water while cuddling Kiersten and also
making sure Mitchell was taken care of back in the stroller,
far away from the water line.  They warned us of the tides sweeping kids
into the ocean, so I was a bit nervous to let him go alone or with the other kids.

Alicia's little Josh did much better than Kiersten.
He ran all over the place and really enjoyed the beach!