Alex has had a kidney transplant and he is trying to eat new foods. He is managing to eat just a few crumbs and that is big progress. We are mostly tackling a big fear of eating and swallowing food. But we have made progress and Alex wants to try so that is a good thing. My family has been so blessed and I may not seem thankful but I am. He is so smart and happy in-spite of all he has to go through. He doesn't know any different. He is really a good kid.  All my kids are so good. I am so thankful. Our life is so very different than what I imagined it would be. But now I can look back and see just how strong I was through it all. I can also see how much we have grown as a family. Its times like this that puts things into perspective. You find out what is really important.

I realize I almost never post but what can I say. Some years are so busy and others are not. We balance life between homeschooling and hospital stays. Its a crazy life but  its mine.

Ya life happens

So obviously I hardly get on my blog. Maybe I should do it more but I don't. I do tell my self its ok because I am busy. That's a good excuse right?

Here is a run down of the last year-ish. Ok so we started out like everyone else struggling but doing fine. Then ya I got pregnant with a COMPLETE bed rest pregnancy. This same pregnancy got me a 3 month stay in the hospital which ended in me getting gutted like a fish. Just after having baby #4. They (the doctors) shipped my little man to another hospital (Phoenix Children's Hospital) where he lived for about 8 weeks or so. No I did not hold him before he was shipped. I didn't see him again for a little over a week. While I tried to recover from Major surgery. When I did get to see him; he didn't feel like my baby. It was a very weird experience.
I took a REALLY long time to recover. When I was mostly recovered; my baby came home finally.

But he didn't come home alone. He came with feeding pumps and monitors and LOTS of equipment. He has chronic kidney failure and he hates all calories and flavor based foods and drinks. So he only drinks water and everything else goes through a tube. Through many surgeries, and ya I lost count on what number we are on for that, he is still a semi happy baby. He doesn't sleep well all the time in fact its a pretty recent thing to sleep through the night and still maybe nap in the day time. His naps are usually very short maybe an hour but most of the time only 10-20 minutes. He requires a lot of care.

So since I had so much free time (NOT) I am able to take care of my baby. Mean while I have 2 others in therapy and ya with the baby that makes 3 out of 4 kids in therapy. Not to mention doctors appointments and I am homeschooling the older boys (the reason is a whole new topic that would take me another 2 hours to write) and I am also going to school. Can life get crazier? yes it can we are currently a one car family because the motorcycle has been broken for a month and a half. On the bright side we are done having kids. Four is our lucky number with 3 boys and one pampered princess. Our family is complete. God loves me but sometimes I wish I knew what he was thinking when he dumps out my life's pieces and forgets that I can't see the whole picture. But my faith keeps me going. I know through my Savior Jesus Christ I can do anything.

Those 4 pounds I lost before  . . . ya I totally got those back but no interest! But I will get those off again no worries

Well with school starting tomorrow it has been a crazy 2 weeks. So much to do so little time. Everyone was sick when we came back from our Idaho trip. (I was the only one NOT sick) Once everyone seemed to be doing better, I got sick (of course) and promptly lost my voice for several days (I wasn't to disappointed about that. So now that I am feeling a tiny bit better I have even more to do.

When it rains it pours. Justin's Motorcycle needs a new chain and apparently new sprockets (whatever those are). So we are down to one vehicle. Therefore I get the privilege of walking Devin to school in the Hot weather. One way the trip is about .7 miles. Not so bad but when you are pulling 3 kids in a wagon that must total 180 or so pounds and its like 119 outside, its a bit tougher. So it took me an hour to go there and back. Man I am still tired from the trip. So I am not looking forward to doing this twice a day, 5 days a week.

Well I also planned to host a pampered chef party and honestly I can't wait for it to be over. Don't get me wrong I am excited to host it but all these little things are starting to get to me. Things like  . . this has to be one of the worst financial months of this year. So I just want things to settle down a bit so maybe I can find my sanity. Have you seen it?

But on a cute note Kyelee loves to play dress up now and today she used a newspaper as a cape. So funny. I will try to upload the picture tonight.

Someday I am going to have a week at a spa and a huge shopping spree. That way I can look, feel and be beautiful. Someday . . . (sigh) Well back to reality and the mess it leaves!

OH ya we did buy the house. I love it. Its been fun to have our own house. The neighborhood is quiet. It may not stay that way with our new neighbors. Some people (a bunch of singles) bought the house next door and I don't think they will be so quiet. We shall see how it goes. I am praying for the best.

So I started using this site called Myfitnesspal.com and I Have to say it has helped me keep track of what i am eating and What I am doing for exercise. It has helped cause I have lost 4 lbs since I started  about 2 weeks ago. So its a good start

We are taking the next step in purchasing a house. WoooHOO! So if all goes well we will have a house by May! I am so excited. The boys like the house too.

I am walking about a mile several days a week. I don't know if it will help me lose weight but at least I can walk that far and my mood is better.

I am going to try the coupon thing again this year and this time I will be using my spouse to help me learn. It makes perfect sense to him but no to me. Plus I always over do it when I go shopping. Learning to be frugal is so hard when you are not used to it. I also pulled my ab muscle. That is so annoying. But I do know how to fix it. Rest. I was just a bit to exuberant in my efforts to loose weight and get thin.

My real New Years resolution is to right letters to my friends. Which I have mostly been successful at least I think so.

Oh and I have banned myself from daycare. It drives me bonkers and I slowly loose my mind. So I am just going to have my own kids and Home school them. Which has been fun.

That is not food by her eye. She cuts her self right there all the time. It always happens just before I need a cute picture of her. But she has the cutest smile ever.

This is Devin with a breakfast mustache. Also funny maybe you had to be there.

So Treygan fell asleep while eating and it looks like the peas are coming out of his mouth. I laughed really hard.

So maybe this new year I should post more and actually keep up this blog. Ya we shall see what happens.

So I took a job sort of. I am now watching a 3 1/2 year old girl. She is a good kid so far but its only been 3 days. We shall see how things go. She feels the need to constantly tell me what she is doing. It gets annoying after a few hours. She is an only child and you can tell she acts like an adult unless there is one around then she is a 3 year old. My boys have turned into little brats. They don't listen to anything and ignore things I tell them. I am trying to figure out what to do. I have tried time out ya that was a waste of time (my time). I took all their toys away for a week and once they got them back we were back at square one. I wish kids came with a hand book or something. I could really use one right about now. My sanity seems to be missing some days.


Plus I am trying to pack up so we can move in a month and a half. It just makes things hard.

On the up side of life Kyelee rolled over yesterday for the first and second time. She is only 5 1/2 weeks old. She did get colic but we are tying to help her feel better. (like she needed something on top of acid reflux (which she has pretty bad)). But she still has many moments where she is so cute and she will smile and coo. She really is a mellow baby. And she only gets up once at night (sometimes twice but that doesn't happen often). Its getting her back in bed that's hard.

So I guess I am a slacker since its been like a year since I updated my blog. My sister would be happy if I updated more often. Its been a trying year to say the least. I was on bed rest through most of my pregnancy. Only to end it with the beginnings of pre eclampsia. So fun- NOT!

Kyelee Marie was born on Feb 19. at 8lbs 2.9 oz 19 3/4 inches. She was only 4 weeks early. Can you imagine what she would have weighed if she had been full term? I don't really want to know. I guess I just make industrial size kids. And No I didn't have diabetes. Well Justin only used up most of his sick time and vacation while I was pregnant and after I had the baby. We did get some help from my ward and family. But it was hard. At the time I needed someone here at the house which is hard to find when 98% of women work. I'm sure the Relief Society and Compassionate Service person were happy to hear I don't need some one any more. It always seemed like its was extremely difficult to find someone. I know how hard it is to find a sitter. Justin and I never go on dates any more. I don't think we will have one again until after our kids are much older like in their teens or so. There are some sitters but they need a lot of notice or they won't watch them if they are sick or have runny noses. Which for my kids is to often. When we havethem well and we have time to go we can't afford to pay a sitter so we just look at each other and say what we would have done and go to bed. Pathetic I know.



But this last weekend Justin took the boys camping and they had so much fun. Devin keeps asking if he can go again. I tell him some day he can but not today.


Hopefully we can get some kind of routine down so I can find time to pack so we can move. Wish us luck.

This is the first time the boys held their new sister. The mask was because they both had a nasty cold and croopy cough. I was not going to have my new baby sick. They weren't very happy but I didn't care.

this was the first dress that Kyelee wore after she got home. I love this dress. She is so fun to dress up. She isn't as red now but when she was first born she looked the same color as hellboy. I wish I was joking.