Month: February 2012

    Other Stuff besides just new baby…

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    Rose is finally feeling better!

    Rose and Cali playing before we get Rose out of bed in the morning 🙂

    Packer getting some baby time.

    trying to take a picture of Raymond, got 4 of my babies instead.

    Packer being cute.

    Benji and Packer being silly.

    Rose loved digging in the garden yesterday.

    the other day Ray was crying and when I came downstairs I found this... Cali had picked him up and put him to sleep!

    It is finally snowing in Utah – I’m hoping we get a lot of good snow in the next few days and then we can get ready for spring. I’ve actually missed the snow but now that it is March I don’t have much desire to have the snow come and stay. I spent all day yesterday waiting to hear if my sister had her baby – it is their first so it was super exciting – Cedar LeeAnn Lewis finally came that evening! I have AMAZING family and friends – I have had a great 2+ weeks because everyone has been super helpful. I have 3 sister in laws that keep taking my kids so that I can relax and my mother in law has been over several times! It is awesome. I haven’t had to be crazy, tired, stressed out mom because everyone is helping me so much – so to those commentors that said I made this sound easy it’s because I have lots of help from people who have been there before and know what my needs are. Rose is better but now Raymond is fighting a cold. He has a little runny nose and is stuffy and he’s just so little so every little thing makes me worry. I finally cleaned out my refrigerator – gross. Now I’m itching to watch some basketball – good thing its tournament time and March madness will be here soon. I asked my Dr if I could start playing soccer at 4 weeks instead of 6 but he didn’t go for that 🙁 This has turned into complete rambling so I’ll be done. Good night.

    tracie and cedar

    Categories: General

    2 weeks old

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    Last Night was Raymonds 2 week mark…

    2 weeks

    He weighed in at the Dr.s office at 8lbs 9oz and was 21.5 inches long.

    getting big

    He finally lost his gross cord so he can be a clean baby now.

    his tummy seems huge here

    He had his first spit ups – actually they would be in the throw ups category as it was LOTS of milk.

    Ray often has his hands in his face like in this picture.

    We cut his fingernails for the first time.

    Rose is in bed and the boys are at school - Mom, Ray and Cali hanging out.

    And he spent most of the day sleeping after giving so much blood at the Dr.’s office.

    sleepy boy

    Categories: Raymond

    Thursday February 23, 2012

    2 Comments

    1:30 to 3:30am Raymond is wide awake wanting to interact with mom 🙂

    this was not at 3am but it might as well have been 🙂

    5am Benji comes and finds us crashed out on the couch to tell us that Packer just threw up! Ben cleans up nastiness and puts the boys back to bed.

    7:35am – Benji is still asleep and needs to be to school before 8 – fast mode out the door…

    8am – get Rose out of bed and she is covered in throw up! stinky… So that was our morning/start to a new day… since then things have slowed down. Rose is sick so we are trying to keep her away from baby. Packer seems fine.

    My sick little girl!

    She's actually really sweet when she is sick...

    Packer in chill mode this morning.

    Cali has been doing puzzles to keep herself busy - she likes me to time her on my watch. Her best is 30 seconds.

    Raymond is a day time sleeper. He wakes up a little bit here and there and eats but most of the day he lets me put him down and get things done. Night time is ok – not good or bad yet, hopefully he’ll switch to a great night time sleeper sooner than later. In the mean time I am getting a lot done during the day and enjoying our snuggle time in the evening.

    amazing how you love them so much from the first second

    I had soo many offers for help with the kids today. I love having family and friends and people that are aware of your needs. Ben decided to come home early and take the kids to Trafalga – they were SOO excited. Rose, Ray and I are home resting. Dinner will be brought to us soon (love that :)) and we will hunker down for another evening. Ben has scouts and there is a BYU game later…

    the kids at Trafalga - RIGHT NOW - thank you cell phone technology - I feel like I am there with them!

    Categories: General

    Life with Raymond

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    Grandma giving Raymond his first at home sponge bath.

    Love having a baby bundle in the corner of the couch.

    Raymond's other mommy 🙂

    we spent most of the first week taking turns holding Ray

    On Saturday we finally got our garage cleaned out so we can park our cars inside again!! and we ended up with some good fort building supplies after cleaning!

    Monday was a holiday so we played with my mom and siblings - here are all of the kids in the party bus going to get kong cones!

    Madre learning to drive the party bus!

    plenty of time for gaming - Citadels, Small World, Nertz and Settlers

    do Ben and I look wasted in that last pic? It's cause Raymond HAS been pulling some all nighters.

    The ladies giving Raymond another bath...

    where's the baby? We had to keep reminding each other not to sit on the baby cause "that is a real baby on the couch"

    Cute baby but that HAT is TOO small Grandma!

    Grandma Nettesheim entertaining all of my boys earlier this week 🙂

    can you tell who has been smothering the baby?

    I love being mom!

    Categories: Raymond

    kids meet Ray

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    Raymond is so cute. We just sit and look at him all day while he sleeps, and then i hold him all night so that he will sleep… why do they always have day and night backwards? Good thing they are so cute and snuggly and good thing Grandma’s come and help so that we have time to sit and look at new baby while they do all of the work. 🙂

    chillin at the hospital

    precious

    Tuesday Ray and I played at the hospital and welcomed visitors. LaNell came and Tara and Brinlee. We waited all afternoon for Ben and the kids to come. I was super excited for them to meet Ray and they were all excited too. We all called him CLYDE way too many times so it is his official nickname 🙂 Raymond is Ben’s Maternal Grandfather and Thomas is my Dad’s name. I think it fits him perfectly. I loved watching the kids meet their new brother:

    Cali begged to hold him first!

    yes it was valentines day 🙂

    the oldest and the youngest, Benji wants to know if his eyes will be blue cause he doesn't want to be the only Blue Eyed Boy.

    Rose went right for the face so we are both trying to hold her arms back.

    Tuesday evening Ben took the kids home and Kelsey, Joel and Sean came to visit. My mom drove all day and got to the hospital around 7pm to meet the little guy! Michelle and Udine’s family stopped by later in the evening and that was our day.

    Look at all those kids! I think we ARE ready for this 🙂

    On Wednesday morning my Dr was in early to clear Ray and I for going home. We both have been really healthy. Ben came and spent the morning at the hospital and enjoyed some cafeteria food with me. I actually do enjoy the food there. They have a full menu and let you choose whatever you want to eat – yum. Anyway, we left the hospital around 2:30. Came home at 3pm and spent the evening with family. New baby time is great because you get to see all of your family. Grandma and Grandpa Nettesheim came right over and Matt’s family. Brady, Sean, Joel and Kelsey came over. Carol and Larry came. And Amelia. On Thursday Grandma and Grandpa Johnson and Aunt Di stopped by, Pete’s family and Ryan’s family. On Friday Shannon and Brad came down from Idaho… So… Little Ray has met most of his Utah relations 🙂

    i love this picture of Ben and the kids - I'm sure the hospital loved having us there all evening 🙂

    My mom is here taking care of us until Monday the 20th… I wrote this all last week – now Monday has come and gone. Time for a new post.

    Categories: General, Raymond

    Raymond Thomas Nettesheim

    8 Comments

    SUNDAY NIGHT PUSH - 5 of my siblings thinking they could make the baby come! Kind of worked - 12 hours later...

    You should have heard the whoopin and hollerin going on over here on Monday afternoon right after lunch! I don’t know if anyone has ever been happier to have wet pants in their life 🙂 Ben came home for lunch and went back for a 2:00 meeting. Michelle came over right about then because I did not want to try and entertain my kids on minimal monday. I confirmed that my water had broken – which is actually sometimes hard to know but this one I was 99% sure. I called Ben who was probably the 2nd happiest person to hear that I had wet pants and so at 2:02 he promptly excused himself from the 2:00 meeting. I called my Dr. to see if I needed to wait for some contractions to kick in or make sure it was my water breaking and he said just go to the hospital cause we are having this kid either way (I love my Dr.). Michelle headed home with 4 extra kids 🙂 I packed my hospital bag, did my nails, put on makeup and took a hot bath – — (not really but that’s what my mom did when her water broke with me so I thought about doing the same :)) Ben and I checked in at UVRMC just after 3pm and they got me a room and a nurse and had me all hooked up and checked in at 4pm. I told them that I need an antibiotic because I had tested positive on the Group B test but it took them until 4:25 to confirm that with my Dr and get the IV started.

    ready to have this baby! Contractions starting to kick in.

    So a 4:25 IV meant we wanted to wait until 8:25 to have the baby so that he wouldn’t have to do all of the Group B testing. About this time I had felt enough labor in my back to remind me that I really do need an epidural and the nurse convinced me that I did not need to wait for excrutiating pain before getting the epidural. So I got it. I was at a 3 when the nurse checked me and at 5:30 when the Dr came I was at a 5. I have had short labors in the past so we were thinking baby could come anytime and we probably wouldn’t be able to wait the 4 hours. Labor was all on its own this time, no Pitocin. At 7:30 they prepared the room for new baby and everyone was ready except the baby… He was head down but face up and everything was just right that he was staying in – could we wait until 8:25? I was a little nauseous at this point and I had the Shivers/Shakes but the epidural was doing its job so we waited. Right at the 4 hour mark we were all ready for baby. This time we prepped the delivery room again, I pushed for 2 contractions and he was born at 8:30!!

    Raymond Thomas

    skin to skin is the latest trend

    they want baby to try nursing in that first hour if possible

    nurses and Dr said his umbilical cord was huge - enough to grow 5 babies - ok

    cleft chin, bigger nose and he has hair!

    We love baby Ray! Official birthday is February 13th at 8:30pm. He weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces. Measured 20 inches. He is 100% healthy. And I am having my best baby recovery yet. That’s his birth story, next post will be about this first week.

    Categories: Raymond

    Meet The White Mallow!

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    We did it. We bought a new van… new to us, not new. We can not fit 5 car seats in our current mini van – we have officially outgrown the mini and needed something bigger. We thought about the really BIG vans – 12-15 passenger. We enjoyed test driving the luxurious SUV’s but we came home with “The White Mallow”. A 2004 Chevy Astro!!!

    Our New Van!

    Here's the old ride... anybody need a 2001 Grand Caravan with 177000 miles??

    the kids at our favorite car place - Safety and Emissions then to the DMV

    OK – I love basketball BUT I have never felt like my stomach was truly as big and round as one. Right now it is. Today is/was my due date and I am ready for this baby to come. This week was the laziest week ever. I was beyond tired and uncomfortable and just begging him to be born. Today I have tried everything on the get the baby to come list and just finished the night at 10pm with some of the spiciest food ever. I can’t tell you yet if that has started labor (my fingers are crossed that it will) but it has got this baby kicking and pushing like never before – OUCH.

    Do you see the basketball?? hopefully this is the last big prego picture of me for a while!

    A few more pictures:

    Packer giving Clyde and I hugs on one of our lazy days this week.

    Rose LOVES her blanket right now.

    Cali is still our crazy one. Love her.

    my date, last night we went to Thai food with LaNell and Dan Brown

    another cute toddler picture

    Categories: General

    BENJI

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    monsters on the white board

    Benji spent one evening drawing these creatures and then telling me about each one. We took pictures with the board in all 4 directions so you could really see the guys he drew. I will spare us all and just post the one that Benji looks the handsomest in. He is growing up fast!

    Categories: Benji

    Toddler

    2 Comments

    Rose is just the cutest thing ever when she walks. She is a true toddler and has a funny little side step. Mix that with super short legs and the big girl grin on her face and it is just awesome. She loves to be on the go and has improved her toddling 10 fold in the last week.

    toddling around in her snow pants 🙂

    Trying to play in the crunchy old snow pile on our north facing lawn

    We went to Trafalga for my brothers birthday party!  They did 3 rounds of laser tag. Cali and Packer even did it. They went in with Ben or their uncles, aunts, and cousins and had a blast. Prego’s and baby’s aren’t allowed to play so Rose and I tried to entertain ourselves for an hour or two… and Rose Toddled around the arcade area for a long time just dancing and being BIG.

    Trafalga Fun - Brinlee sat out with us after the first round.

    I ended up with the 4 youngest kids during the last round of laser tag. They all wanted to mini golf so we headed upstairs… They LOVE IT. Rose walked the entire course with her ball and club in hand.

    MINI GOLF

    I’m feeling sentimental as the new baby is due any time now. I know that Rose is still a baby herself and we are going to have our hands full. She is a really good girl. She can be loud and crazy but if I get her down for naps when she needs them then all is right in the world. She still takes a morning and afternoon nap. She can go without one or the other but she does best with both. If we get her naps in then she plays happily during her free time. She loves to do whatever the other kids are doing. She likes dolls and the kitchen and bikes and LOVES BALLS (maybe she will be my athlete!) She really does a good job of playing and then when she gets tired she goes right to bed. Rose is my best snuggler. She will always lay on my shoulder or belly and keep coming back for more. She has become attached to her blanket in the last month or 2 and asks to bring it out of bed with her. She likes her milk but is not an addict like Benji and Cali were. Her vocab is just Mom, uh oh, dog and Ball. BUT the girl understands EVERYTHING you tell her. One of my favorites is when I ask if she is stinky and needs a diaper change and she will throw herself on the ground in change me position. Rose LOVES to brush her teeth. This might be her favorite thing ever and if she sees anyone in the bathroom then she must go in, climb up the step and brush her teeth – Cute, yes. Time consuming, yes. And she now demands toothpaste cause she knows the other kids get it. Speaking of Teeth – Rose just cut a tooth on Saturday – She has her top 4 and just got her 4th on the bottom to even things out. She also has 4 molars now. And she loves to eat.

    everyones favorite lunch recently - anything cut up that can be stabbed with a toothpick

    Benji and Rose have just discovered that it is fun to play with each other. Rose will go tackle him and then Benji will carry her or spin her or just wrestle and they both love it. It’s fun to see the big brother in action and it’s fun to see him realize that the little ones really like him and want to be with him.

    Packer doesn’t play with her as much but he has started giving her lots of kisses and hugs and when I resort to putting a show on so dinner can get made those 2 love to chill on the couch together.

    Cali and Rose – Cali is the little mom – she will do anything that is “taking care of Rose”. Get diapers, blankets… whatever. Cali has to be the one to give her her bottle in the morning and she has really gotten good at letting Rose have her way. The best is in the mornings. The girls have been sharing a room since the new year and they do great. They go to bed together at night and then in the mornings Rose squawks until she wakes Cali up and then Cali just plays with her in the crib until I come to get them (sometimes an hour later). Neither of them have realized that they can just open the door and come out 🙂

    Trying to get a cute picture before church but Rose would not look.

    11am to 2pm is not a good church time for a 2 nap toddler

    the next Sunday I tried again in their matching dresses...

    Sunday Mornings are not her thing!

    Rose is the only one that doesn’t realize that our lives are about to change with new baby. The other kids all get it and are Excited. I’m hoping for a smooth transition and lots of time to just snuggle all 5 of my babies!

    Categories: Rose