1 Month

I can't believe this guy has been in our family a whole month. We basically can't get enough of him. There is no shortage of love around here that's for sure. He'll be grateful when winter break is over too, cause there IS a shortage of sleep 'cause everybody wants to play with him... ALL.THE.TIME.

 We had to weigh/measure at home cause he won't go to the doctor for another month, but he is growing like a weed. He's gained a pound and a half since he came home and grown an inch and a half.

Here is another photo I took for Christmas, I didn't want to post till Grandma's opened their gifts!

He eats like clock work- every 3 hours, day and night. He's a great sleeper at night (except that every 3 hour thing- which I know will get better) so we're grateful for that!

He's very alert, and just seems to take everything in. He's not really smiling yet (at least voluntarily, anyways) so he just always seems so serious.

Sienna bought Jacob this bear for Christmas. They're about the same size!

These cheeks!They kill me, I can't even be mad at him for peeing on me and spitting up all over me right before this!

This is what he really thought about our photo shoots

This Girl

This sweet girl was not real sure about this coming baby. She would often say she didn't like the baby because he was hurting me or because I was to tired to play with her. But now that he's here and she can actually SEE him, she's in love, just like the rest of us!

She has started singing to Jacob when he's upset and he calms almost instantly. I told her she was "hired" to take care of him and she took that very seriously. She started telling everyone that "mommy hired me" and then she started negotiating her pay. Silly girl!

Funeral

Funerals mean FAMILY

 This picture made my heart swell. Logan..Tanner..David..Hannah. I asked Tanner about it and he said Logan was crying to they were comforting him. 

 Jon & Chase

 Logan, Tanner & David

 Sienna, Hannah, & Shelby

 Aubrie & Shelby

The service for GG was beautiful, It was a real celebration of her life. I don't know how much my younger kids understand, but Sienna really misses her, and said she'd like to go to heaven to visit her.

1 week

I know I've only been at it for one week now, but I'm really killin' it at this thing called 'LIFE'. I like to be awake during the day and sleep at night. I'm hungry every 3 hours on the dot, and I polish off a bottle in under 5 minutes. And I keep that food down, no spit up here. I really don't like having my diaper changed, but come on- who does, am I right? And these people I live with... the big ones love to hold me and love me, and the one called Mom can't stop kissing me. The little ones, they actually FIGHT over doing things for me - basically, I'm a rockstar people.

Our week

So much has happened over the last 8 months, and that is a post for another time. Right now I'd like to tell you about our week. Well, first let me back up 6 weeks. We were approached by my in-laws with a proposition. They wanted to down-size, work towards retirement, but we run our family business out of their house... so, we decided to buy their house and they will temporarily live in an RV on the property, while we work to build them an apartment/casita in the back yard. So we decided to list our house on Purdue Circle on October 15th, we figured it would take a few weeks/months to sell and we could get through having the baby (SURPRISE, haven't mentioned that here yet) and the holidays and move come the first of the year. However, we got an offer within 2 days, a full-price, very aggressive offer with a closing date of November 24th... 2 days before Thanksgiving and 10 days before this baby would make his daybeau. Well we accepted, of course, we'd be crazy not to, and the crazy began.

This move was extra complicated because we had to move my in-laws out, box up 90% of their stuff, and move them into the RV before we could move in, which really hasn't gone as smooth as it could have. We rented a moving truck on the morning of Saturday the 21st and filled it with their furniture to take to storage, then went to our house and filled it with our furniture to bring to the new house. It was exhausting, and I really could do so little to help being massively pregnant, and all.

Sunday the 22nd, we got up early to go to the old house and clean the carpets and give it a good once over cleaning. We left the kids at the new house because frankly they wouldn't be any help. We got home at about noon and were met at the door with panicked kids... GG (Scott's 93 year old Grandma) had fallen getting out of the car at church and had broken her hip and was at the hospital. She had to have surgery and was doing well, although she was on Morphine, was swearing like a sailor and had already propositioned a doctor.

Monday was spent trying to tunnel a path through the boxes in the garage to try and find any of our things. Because my in-laws were at the hospital and Scott was at work, I did way too much, but I was trying to get everything done.  At about 9pm, we got the kids in bed and I started having contractions. Nothing new, I'd been having them off and on for a month now, but suddenly they started to get a bit painful and when I timed them, they were only about 5 minutes apart. After about 30 minutes, I decided I better call the doctor. They told me to take some tylenol, drink 2-3 cups of water to really flush my system and lie down on my left side. It worked for about 30 minutes, which was a relief, but then they started to come back, with a vengeance this time. At about 11pm, we decided we'd better go to the hospital to get checked out, so we went and woke up Scott's mom out in the RV and asked her to come sleep with the kids in the house.

We checked into the hospital and they got me all hooked up in triage. They checked me and I was only dialated to a 1, which was a bummer, but then I started having killer contractions. Like I wanted to die contractions. My hat is off to any woman who does this naturally- I was begging for drugs in triage! After an hour of fluids, the nurse came in and said "Well folks, it looks like we're having a baby tonight, I can not send you home with those contractions" (PRAISE THE LORD).

 She had called my doctor who was going to be there in about 30 minutes. I was not prepared for this. We had a plan, and he was to be born on Dec 4th, we really needed to stick to the plan. Plus, I was not mentally prepared to have a C-section in just 30 minutes. I was so scared. They wheeled me into the delivery room, got me all squared away and then brought Scott in. Jacob Boyd Mortensen was born at 1:59am, he was 7lbs, 6oz and 19.5 inches long. I'm not going to lie, hearing him cry opened up a flood of emotions. I was laying there on the table, just bawling like a baby. It was kindof a rough surgery, there was A LOT of tugging and pressure. Of course it didn't hurt at all, but when you're draped with a sheet so you can't see any of it, you can only imagine what in the world was going on!

Of course, he was perfect... which I am so grateful for! They took me back to recovery, I kept dozing off, because I'd been awake for 21 hours at this point, and every time I did, my oxygen levels dropped which made the machine start beeping. Finally after probably 90 minutes someone got me an oxygen mask and I could sleep a little bit, thought they were poking, prodding and checking on me, so no real rest was had.

At about 4am, unbeknownst to us, Scott's grandma coded and was put on a respirator. By 5:30 she had still not woken up, so my in-laws had to go there, so they woke Chase up to let him know all that was happening so that he wouldn't freak out to find them home alone when they all woke up. Scott went and got the kids at about 10am and brought them to the hospital, to see their new baby brother! He took them home at about 1pm, and when he got back he told me that his Grandmother had died at about 1:30, her heart just stopped on it's own, so amidst all the happiness of a new baby was the sadness of losing 'GG.'

The hospital stay was exhausting honestly. I always get bad pains in my shoulders from the gas used during the surgery, and it seemed especially bad this go around. I basically slept sitting in a chair that first night (after being awake for basically a day and a half) and they came in so many times to check on me. I had to get up 4 times to turn the light off because the nurses kept forgetting to turn it off, and between the pain in my incision and the pain in my shoulders, that was no easy task. My sweet husband was there but after literally no sleep for 36 hours, he was knocked out! (I had at least dozed here and there thru out the day)

We finally got to go home on Thanksgiving day which was a nice surprise, I thought they'd keep us longer. So my mother-in-law prepared the best Thanksgiving dinner and we spent the day together, it was quiet but nice.

Friday found us relaxing and healing and catching up on sleep, and involved family coming into town and funeral planning. The family had to have GG's apartment at her assisted living center cleaned out asap and so started the 3rd move in less than a week. Of course, I couldn't help, but it was still stressful all around.

We're excited for things to slow down, so we can slip into a routine a start to just enjoy this beautiful new baby boy!

What God wants for moms

A friend posted this on Facebook and I was grateful. It was a much needed reminder that, as a mom, I do have important work to do! Read the article, it'll brighten your day!

ARTICLE: WHAT GOD WANTS FOR MOM WITH YOUNG CHILDREN

A Goal accomplished...almost

I started on the wood floors this week. It's spring break which means I don't have to play chauffeur all day, so I thought why not. The kids were pretty  helpful through the process, often times I just needed their body weight to hold something down. I'm pretty proud of myself. I did 90% of it by myself (and my back muscles KNOW it!) - Hubbie had the chance for over time this week and that doesn't come around very often, so he couldn't really help much.

 Good bye hideous white tile with nasty black grout!!

 This kid had a bit too much fun smashing tile. 

It's looking beautiful!!! This is my dining room, we still need to finish baseboards and the kitchen. I can't wait till it's done. It's gonna look amazing:)

Food for thought

I read an article on facebook about Celebrity Women and why they don't have children. Read it here. Their responses made me sad. Though a couple said things like "My life is amazing enough" several others said things like "Childhood was horrible, why would I do that to a child" or "I'm sure I'd screw them up" (granted I'm probably totally doing that to my kids) and another said that kids give her a headache (totally true there too).

The thing is, I just can't imagine life with out these little boogers.

I feel like they are why I am here. I was born to be their mother. I was born to teach them and raise them in love. Sure I threaten to strangle at least one of them on a daily basis. They know I do it out of love though!

Sister Julie B Beck said: "Who will prepare this righteous generation of sons and daughters? Latter-day Saint women will do this—women who know and love the Lord and bear testimony of Him, women who are strong and immovable and who do not give up during difficult and discouraging times. We are led by an inspired prophet of God who has called upon the women of the Church to “stand strong and immovable for that which is correct and proper under the plan of the Lord.”⁶ He has asked us to “begin in [our] own homes”⁷ to teach children the ways of truth. Latter-day Saint women should be the very best in the world at upholding, nurturing, and protecting families. I have every confidence that our women will do this and will come to be known as mothers who “knew” (Alma 56:48)."

FHE #11

With General Conference coming up, we went with a little "General Authority Trivia" for Family Home Evening.  I was pretty impressed with how much the three of them knew. Sienna only knew the First Presidency, but even that was impressive.

They had to match up the names to the pictures and then a fact about each. We all know that President Uchtdorf was a pilot, but did you also know that Elder Packer and Elder Hales were as well? I thought that was pretty neat!  I love getting the kids excited for General Conference!

My bucket list

Early on this semester, I had to come up with 50 things I'd like to do before I die. I seriously could think of like 4. So I put a plea out on facebook and had so much inspiration flowing in that I came up with my 50, and it was pretty fun. My sweet Tanner saw the list, and asked if he should start packing for Italy! I only wish. Here is my list, I should probably invest in some type of air-miles card if I'm ever to accompish any of this!! What is on your bucket list?

1. Visit Italy

2. Learn to play the violin

3. Start a blog people actually read

4. Get out of debt

5. Lose 25 lbs.

6. Visit Hawaii

7. Go skiing

8. Finish the list of renovation projects for my house

9. Visit New York City with my family

10. Build a table for my dining room

11. Grow a garden

12. Run a business I’m proud of

13. Have more children (foster, adopt, natural)

14. Visit the redwood forest

15. See the Eiffel tower in Paris

16. Write a book

17. Learn Italian

18. See the Pyramids of Egypt

19. See the castles in Germany

20. Visit Arches national park in Utah

21. See Mount Rushmore with my kids

22. Go to Harry Potter world in FL

23. Visit Washington D.C. with my kids

24. Visit Denmark

25. Go on an african safari

26. Learn to be a great photographer

27. Visit New Zealand

28. Learn website design

29. Travel somewhere by train

30. Ride in a hot air balloon

31. See the Golden Gate Bridge

32. Ride in a Helicopter

33. Visit Boston

34. Visit Pike’s place market in Seattle

35. Visit every temple in the US

36. Visit Alaska

37. Take my kids to Cedar Pointe

38. Go para-sailing

39. Go on a cruise

40. Hike the Grand Canyon

41. Become a campground host

42. Learn to fly fish

43. Take a cake decorating class

44. Volunteer at a hospital

45. Learn to play the Organ (better)

46. Become a professional organizer

47. Build a bed (frame) for myself

48. Raise an animal (other than dog)

49. Visit London

50. Visit Greece

Thought for the week

This week in my Family Foundations class we are studying how important it is to be a good parent. Of course, Hubbie & I both had amazing examples of how it should be done, so I hope we're on the right track!

I love this quote!  If we devote ourselves to our families, everything else will fall into place as it should. 

FHE #10

Today for family home evening, we planned our Epic Summer Road trip. It is going to be AWE.SOME!

I also found this really cool website called roadtrippers.com, it let's you plot your route and tells you all the fun things to do along the way. This is what my screen shot looks like:

 

Call me absolutely crazy, but we're going to cover 15 states in 18 days, see (almost) all the people we love, spend a fortune and have a blast!

This will help too:

Yup! A new van. I love it, I love it, I love it. It's so roomy, everyone has their own space, 

glory glory hallelujah! 

Goals- an update

This pretty much sums up all my goals... Basically, I suck.
But it's ok, because my goals are allowed to change. I've been so busy with homework that eating right and exercise have not been a real priority. I know that exercise will give me the energy I need, but so will Diet Coke, and it doesn't require a shower after, so I usually choose that option! (**Hanging my head in shame**)

I did make it to the temple last month! And I did take a birthday treat to one of the sisters I visit, other than that I've got nothing else to update.

We're counting down till the end of my semester and the end of seminary for Scott like kids excited to go to Disneyland.

Then we need to slow down. Our goal was less chaos and it's been worse than ever. Can't wait... Can't wait...

FHE #9

This week I've been studying about media use in my Religion class and so I thought we'd talk about it in FHE as well. We read an article from the friend magazine (found here). It's titled TV trouble and it talks about what to do if we find ourselves watching something we shouldn't, it was funny because right before FHE, Tanner wanted to watch a dinosaur movie and the only one he could find was SUPER bloody. After about 2 minutes of it, the kids all decided that they shouldn't be watching it and turned on something else. It was a perfect segway to be able to reward them for their good decision and talk about it more!  We also talked about how its hard to be the first person to stand up for yourself but often times when you do, others will follow.  We had ice cream cones for dessert. Yum:)

Sorry, no pictures, I just plum forgot.

We are powerful!

I was absolutely blown away by this quote from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. In fact the whole talk was amazing.  It's titled "Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments.

He says this:

"Of all the titles He has chosen for Himself,  Father is the one He declares, and creation is His watchword- especially human creation, creation in His image. His glory isn’t a mountain, as stunning as mountains are. It isn’t in the sea or sky or snow or sunrise, as beautiful as they all are. It isn’t in art or technology, be that a concerto or computer. No, His glory-and His grief- is in His children. We- you and I- are His prized possessions, and we are the earthly evidence, however inadequate of what He truly is. Human life is the greatest of God’s powers, the most mysterious and magnificent chemistry of it all, and you and I have been given it, but under the most serious and sacred of restrictions. You and I- who can make neither mountain nor moonlight, not one rain-drop or a single rose- have this greater gift in an absolutely unlimited way. And the only control placed on us is self-control- self-control born of respect for the divine sacramental power it is.  Surely God’s trust in us to respect this future- forming gift is an awesomely staggering one."

Have you ever thought of being a parent in that way before? It's amazing what powers we do have. Find the article and read it if you can. Amazing!

FHE #8

Tonight was Sienna's turn to help with FHE, we talked about Faith and Daniel and the Lion's Den. She helped with the artwork and helped present certain dramatic elements to the story. It was too cute!

Her favorite parts were when God told the Lion's to "Shut your mouths!"  and then when the king pulled back the stone to the den and said "Daniel, did your God rescue you?"

I'm always amazed at the Faith of Daniel. Here he is, being told he can't pray at risk to his life, so he opens his windows and continues to pray as normal. I think I'd at least pray in secret. But that's where my faith lacks in comparison to Daniels.  Something to think about, that's for sure!

The Law of the Fast: A personal responsibility to care for the poor and needy.

I taught a lesson on this General Conference Talk, and thought I'd share a snippit from the actual talk. It was a great lesson to prepare and I appreciated the comments. I learn so much from my fellow relief society sisters!

The biggest thing that I learned today is that when we fast, we feel hungry, and for just a short time, we know what it feels like to be in the shoes of the poor and the needy. It puts us in a place that we can connect with our Father in Heaven and ask for help, and then gives us the opportunity to then be blessed, by paying a fast offering and sharing with those who need help.

Food for thought

cap

Update

I am totally drowning. I just can't keep up and I'm looking forward to April and the end of the semester like my kids counting down till Christmas.

I've realized trying to meet my goals is adding an extra layer of stress that I wasn't expecting. I have so much homework and 8 basket of unfolded laundry, but I'm worrying about what Sewing Project I will complete for February, or getting good pictures of family home evening, all to meet my goal.

So to all my adoring fans (Mom & Dad), I'll keep updating (cause it's for a grade too) but I've got to cool it on the pressure I'm putting on myself.

To my kids: you're on your own. There are chicken nuggets in the freezer, Tanner can cook you Jiffy muffins, or Chase can cook you Ramen. That's the best you're going to get out of me for the next 6 weeks.

Projects are going to have to wait. vacuuming is not going to happen, neither is cleaning bathrooms. Dishes will happen on a minimal bases and laundry will get washed but not folded.

To anyone who tries to just "stop by"- I'm not letting you in. There I said it!  We can chat at the door. Just assume that a bomb went off in my living room and dropped barbies, puzzle pieces and infinity characters everywhere. It's not pretty.

Life will resume as we know it in April... Till then:)

Food for thought...

I thought I'd share with you this cool quote I found while studying this week. Elder Bruce R. McConkie said

"When we as Latter-Day Saints talk about marriage, we are talking about a holy, celestial order. We are talking about a system out of which can grow the greatest love, joy, peace, happiness and serenity known to humankind. We are talking about creating a family unit that has the potential of being everlasting and eternal, a family unit where a man and wife can go on in that relationship to all eternity, and where mother and daughter and father and son are bound by eternal ties that will never be severed. We are talking about creating a unit out of which exaltation and eternal life grow; and when we talk about eternal life, we are talking about the kind of life that God our Heavenly Father lives." 

Isn't that so great?!? I feel so privileged to have this knowledge, that I can spend eternity with my husband and that the bond between me and my parents, and me and my children can not be severed. Satan is working overtime to try and destroy the sanctity of marriage, and he is proving successful in so many ways. Elder Bednar said "Satan does not have a body, he cannot marry, and he will not have a family. And he persistently strives to confuse the divinely appointed purposes of gender, marriage, and family. Throughout the world, we see growing evidence of the effectiveness of Satan's efforts."  I suppose the only reason Satan would try to destroy something so hard is if it is vital to our exaltation as marriage is. Sorry Satan, I refuse to let you win on me!

FHE #6

This week we talked about prayer. Chase read us a story from the friend. We talked about how we can feel comfort through prayer.

 We played a game of Clue. Anyone that has played Clue with a 5 year old knows that it is basically impossible, but we still had fun. We ended the night with Root Beer Floats. yum:)

Goals- week #5

I made 10 goals for 2015 and I'm going to report on them here, to help hold myself accountable.

FAMILY:

1. Family Home Evening every week. 
* Read about those here if you missed them

Last week we went to Peter Piper Pizza for family home evening (and Sienna's birthday!)

2. Family Fun Day every month

*We went and saw Paddington for this months Family Fun Day! It was adorable. Hubbie said it stuck to the story. I remember the book Paddington, but I don't remember the story line, so I can not vouch for his truthfulness! It was too funny though, because Tanner just could not get over the fact that nobody was freaking out that a talking bear was walking around London.

3. Epic summer vacation

*More on that in a few months.

HOME:

4. New Floors

*Boom! Taxes done and e-filed, I anxiously checking my bank account for my refund. Although, Uncle Sam was not nearly as kind as I was hoping, he's paying for my floors, so for that I am grateful!

5. Finish "the list"

 *The security door is in! It's all we've accomplished, but I feel safer knowing it's there. Also this week, I managed to lose my car keys and house key, Hubbie is convinced I lost them outside somewhere because we have ran-sacked the house and they are no-where to be found. So it was extra incentive to put the door in! He did it himself, only because the Handy Man we tried to hire canceled on us twice. Turns out he's pretty handy himself!

PERSONAL:

6. Get healthy/loose weight

*Though my February goal is to lose 5 lbs, I took a week off. I still lost a pound in the process, but I just couldn't bring myself to get up early and exercise. Tomorrow starts a new round of 21 day fix!


7. Sew a new wardrobe item every month.

Check out January's project here. I'm scouring Pinterest for February's project.

January

SPIRITUAL:
8. Daily, meaningful prayer. 
*I've been so busy with work, kids, school and life that I feel like my constant prayers are the only things holding me together.

9.Do my visiting teaching each month.
*This cracked me up! I need to talk to my partner for this month.

10. Attend the temple at least once a month.
*I'm going this weekend, come hell or high-water:)

Well, there's my report for the week. I'll check in again next week.