my 3 liitle hearts

I am the mother of these three amazing children. I am so thankful to be their mother.

So far today has consisted of...

*Breakfast: Eggs and toast

*Home-made cards from the kids

*a sweet thoughtful gift

*my 2 older children both went up during our

sacrement meeting at church to sing a mothers day song,

I watched from the foyer with the baby in tow who was hungry

Being their mother is hard work, tiring but I wouldn't have my life any other way.

Guess Who's 2 Months Old

I didn't approve of this development. I'm content for him to remain an infant for the next twenty years. He is smiling a lot now. He's better an holding up his head, but only for short moments. He really loves to see his Ma'ma, especially if he's been away from her any more then a few minutes. He gets a little bit nervous around the big kids, but they are 90% gentile with him, they just need close supervision. All in all, they are a nice pack of youngsters and a lot of fun to be with. The baby is lucky to have such a great big brother and big sister to play with.

Sleep

I don't know what it is about them, but I just love seeing my children sleep. They are so peaceful. Especially the little daytime cat naps. Maybe it is envy, because Renee and I aren't getting as many Z's as we used to. Maybe it is the chance for a few stolen moments of quite time. Certainly it is nice with these kids, because they often wake up very happy, and the rest of the day always goes better after a short nap. Little moments that remind me of what I'm supposed to miss about child rearing.

April 4-April 20 Utah Trip Part 2

While the kids and I were in Utah we had some fun...

We went to the Living Planet Aquarium
J loved touching the stringrays
and
K loved watching the pengiuns dive into the water

We went to Discovery gateway with some of our cousins

Showed the kids where mommy and daddy got married

Took the kids to BYU to have lunch and go to the bookstore

April 4-April 20-Utah Trip Part 1

We made it, We survived...

The kids and I took a long plane ride to Utah, which included one layover.
The older two kids each had a backback filled to the brim with fun things to play with and treats to enjoy!
They loved looking out the window and playing with their sticker books.
For our youngest, just a month old he slept or ate though most of the flights.
For the most part, our travel days on the airplane were uneventful.

All of our family members were exicted to see us.

Especially to meet and hold the baby, he seemed to love being held by everyone.

The main purpose for this trip was to spend time with my Dad, especially for him to met his youngest grandson and namesake. Oh, and of course to make some fun memories and help out where we could.

You see, February 8th, when I 36 weeks pregnant, my Dad went to work like normal but about halfway though his day the left side of his body went numb. He went to the hospital and after a CT Scan and an MRI - Dad was diagnosed with an aggressive golf ball sized glioblastoma brain tumor on the right side of his brain. It was in the area that controls the left side of his body. He had surgery a few days later and a follow up MRI showed they were able to remove about 90% of the tumor.

Dad was later moved to a rehab center to work on his left hand, while at rehab he suffered a blood clot that went into his lungs they transported him back to the hospital where he underwent a small procedure to implant a greenfield filter to help prevent any future clots from traveling to his lungs.

To say the least it was a little nerve racking not being able to travel due to my pregnancy. I so wanted to be there with my Dad; the first chance I got, I purchased tickets for me and the kids and we headed to Utah. (Tom only has so many days off a year, he is saving up for a time when we can take Dad on a real vacation.) While were were there Dad was undergoing radiation and Chemo. He hasn't been to sick during this time of radiation but he started to lose some of his hair while were there. He would have days where he was very tired and days when his legs wouldn't work as well but often he would have good days where he was able to walk around without his cane. He would sit on the floor and play with the kids and on really good days we would go out and have some fun in the sunshine and enjoy the fresh air.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. The kids had a lot of fun playing with cousins and we got to visit some neat places in Utah. But I'll write more about that later.

Part 2 to come...