Cortney's Crew

Yesterday was my doctor's appointment. We have Kaiser, so usually you don't get to pick which doctor/nurse you get to see. But I really liked the doctor I saw yesterday, and since I'm high risk, I now get to pick who I see every time ! (Usually you have to alternate each appointment between a nurse and a doctor, but I get to see a doctor every time now). The appointment went really well. We talked about my past history with bleeding and pregnancies and I got to have another ultrasound! The doctor was so cute, usually when a doctor does an ultrasound it's really fast - get the measurements - get done. But she spent a long time just watching the baby and taking pictures for us. She kept saying "I love doing this" and "look how cute"! The baby was moving everywhere!! Super active! Which made me feel better, just seeing the baby moving so much means (to me anyway) a healthy baby! She also took a long time looking at the placenta. So far it ...

So, I'll start out with the good news - the nausea seems to be nearing it's end!! I only feel sick first thing in the morning, when brushing my teeth (although I'm now able to brush without puking most of the time), and if I wait too long in between eating. And even then it's only just a little bit of nausea, not horrible like before. And now the bad news - Friday I started bleeding. I had a little bit of spotting after cleaning the girls rooms on Tuesday, but on Friday it went from a little spotting to a little bleeding. It's not a lot, and it's really old blood, but it looks like I'm in for another great pregnancy of being on bed-rest (and possibly in the hospital for extended periods again). I didn't go into the doctor, one - I have an appointment this next week, and two - there's nothing they can do and this I know from experience. If I had been cramping or bleeding more, I would have probably gone in, but even then where I'm only 12 w...

So this year we celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. Dean had to work during the day on both Christmas and Christmas Eve so this seemed to be the best solution. There was no way I was gonna be able to wait all of Christmas day to let the girls open their presents. So my mom came over early Wednesday to help get dinner in the oven and play with the girls. Dad was on his way to California so unfortunately he wasn't here this year. I think this is the first year he has missed Christmas with the girls. Aric came over after work and then once Dean was home we had our Christmas dinner. Yummy ham!!!!! And we make ham gravy for the mashed potatoes. It is the best!!!! Mom found some ham bouillon one year that we use with the drippings and it's perfect! Then after dinner the girls got to open their Christmas Eve presents (which is always pajamas). This year they had enough pajamas in their current sizes, so I went up a size and they were huge on them! Then Grammy took them upstairs to...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags - Wrapping paper - I bought a huge roll at Sams Club 3 years ago for $7 and still have about half of it, kinda getting tired of the snowmen...but hey it was quite the bargain! 2. Real tree or Artificial - I'd love a real tree, but we have an artificial. I don't have the money to buy all the stuff for a real tree, let alone the tree itself, so I make do with what I have. 3. When do you put up the tree - Usually day after Thanksgiving, this year the Monday after Thanksgiving since Dean worked and wanted to do it too. 4. When do you take the tree down - sometime during the week after Christmas. 5. Do you like eggnog - Yes, but not as much as Riley. We bought a jug of it and Riley drank ALL of it within two days (I had no idea she was drinking it). 6. Favorite gift received as a child - Toss up between the best barbie in the whole world that my sister destroyed (yeah never forgiving you for that one) or my twin cabbage patch dolls. 7. Hardest person t...

I had a fun time last night. We had a Christmas dinner get together with a couple of moms (and their families) from my ward. We have been having a play group on Wednesdays and wanted to do something together for Christmas. It was 4 families and somehow we ended up with enough food for an army! It was awesome! We did white elephant gifts and the best was a silk nightgown that James got! He even put it on! Poor Alexandra was so sick yesterday though. She woke up throwing up and preceded to continue all day long. So Dean stayed home with her and Riley and I went to the party. Riley is such a good kid, she was the oldest of all the kids there (by a minimum of 3 years) and so I know sometimes it gets boring for her. But the little kids love her. She'd come upstairs to sit with me and then one of the kids would come looking for her to get her to go back downstairs to play with them. On the way to the party last night, Riley tells me that when she grows up she wants to be a ...

Well, I have decided that I cannot do without my daily dose of sanity. With the morning sickness I was having trouble swallowing pills, so I just stopped taking my Prozac. (For those of you who don't know, I have trouble swallowing Advil on a good day - me and medicine just don't mix) When we went in for my first appointment, we had talked about me taking the Prozac during the pregnancy. The doctor told me that it was up to me and we talked about some of the risks. Mainly there are very low risks of birth defects if taken in the first trimester, and then after the baby is born there is a risk of withdrawal side effects. I really am not too concerned about the side effects - I figure if I breast-feed, then the baby will still be getting a bit of the meds, so no withdrawal (the doctor laughed when I said that and said she hadn't thought about that) plus I'm almost done with the first trimester!! She also said that Prozac is one of the safer anti-depressant meds (or ...

Saturday was Alexandra's Joy School Christmas Party. They preformed a nativity and then sang songs. They were so cute. My camera ran out of batteries, so I was only able to record the nativity. It's kinda quiet too, but very cute for 3 and 4 year olds. Alexandra was a wise man and an innkeeper. I loved Avery (our angel) she was so cute. Mom did take lots of pictures too, so hopefully she posts them on her blog so you can see them. That morning I knew I needed new batteries, but I swear I have pregnancy amnesia.... They also gave the kids Super Service awards. All the mom's who taught this month wrote down all the nice things the kids had done for each other and then each kid got to go up and have their list read and receive an award. I'm so glad that we've been able to do this for Alexandra this year. She has really grown and it's been nice for her to have her own "school friends". She was very upset on Thursday though when she found out it ...

So we finally got some decent snowfall yesterday. Alexandra has been waiting very impatiently for the day that it would snow enough to make snowmen and snow angels. Unfortunately the day started out horribly. Aric called at 6:00 am (yeah I'm not even up yet), so when I finally get up at 6:30 and talk to him, apparently his car stopped working on the way to work. Luckily he was near his school when it happened so he managed to push it a couple of blocks to his school parking lot. (In the snow and in less than 20 degree weather too) So he needs me to drive downtown to pick him up. So I get me and the girls ready and drop Riley off at school and then spend the next 3 hours driving in the car.... People just don't know how to drive the first big snowfall we get. It took me almost 1 1/2 hours just to get to Aric. Then I had to drive Alexandra to Joy School (which we were late for) and then take Aric home, and then finally get to go home myself. Yeah, not a fun morning. I...

On Monday night for Family Home Evening we got out the Christmas decorations. Usually we try to do this the day after Thanksgiving, but as Dean had to work that day, we had to change our plans. Usually I'm kinda picky about the tree, but as I was not feeling the best, I just let the girls have at it. Unfortunately after they were done my sense of "the tree should not have all the pink ornaments in one spot" kicked in and I made Dean fix some of it. The girls didn't mind, it just meant they got to move ornaments again. Alexandra's one demand was that she got to put the angel on the top of the tree. Our poor little Christmas tree has been through 8 Christmas'. We got it the year we got married and were in a little apartment, and since then we haven't had the money at Christmas to get a new one. But it was kinda nice this year, because the girls could reach the whole tree to hang ornaments on. After we got done, Alexandra started asking where her presents wer...

warning - super long post, but now you'll know why I haven't posted anything in a while. So I'm starting this post on November 7th, but I won't be posting it until later as we're waiting till I'm further along to let everyone know. I just really wanted to be able to write down what I'm feeling and all of my experiences. So I'm just gonna keep adding to this post and then eventually post it, so it's probably going to get to be very long!! Nov. 7th So earlier this year when they had to take my IUD out before it ruptured the uterine wall, Dean and I were talking about what we should do since we now didn't have any birth control. Now anyone who has known me the last few years knows that after Alexandra was born I was done . Her pregnancy was HORRIBLE, as was Riley's. With both girls I have had placental abruptions and had been put on bed rest. Riley's started at 23 weeks when I woke up and thought my water had broken only to find out I was bl...

Last night our Relief Society had their Enrichment night. It was great. I really enjoy our ward and the sisters in it. I've been able to make such good friends there. It was fun just to be able to have an evening of fun and be able to sit and talk. We had a big dinner and then we listened to a Christmas story. Then we broke into 3 groups and chose a "model" in our groups to make into a snowman using tissue paper, white garbage bags, balloons, and construction paper. Our group won for having the best snowman. We were quite creative....I even ran outside to find some branches for the arms. Poor Heidi, she looked so uncomfortable. We even used eyeliner to make her eyes "coal". Then we had a cupcake decorating section and an origami Christmas ornaments section (which I taught). We used scrapbook paper for the ornaments and just made origami balls. It was fun and I think I'm going to do it with my girls this year to decorate the tree. As long as...

Yesterday I paid $2.06 for gas for the Tahoe!!! It made my day! Usually when I fill up the Tahoe it makes me cringe. Now we hardly ever drive it, but the days Dean has the car for work I have to drive it. It has been costing me about $75-80 to fill the tank. Yesterday I only needed to fill it halfway and it only cost me $22. That's about $40 for a whole tank!!! Amazing!! I was in a good mood for quite a while and it was just because of the cost of gas! Sometimes little things just make your day a whole lot better. I'm very proud of our country today. I know that there a quite a few people (including my husband) who are upset with the outcome of the Presidential race. But to think that this is the first black president in our history, it's just amazing. We've come so far in this country that we were able to look beyond color and vote on issues that were important to us. I've had quite a few discussions with Dean this political season. And I must say that...

Monday night for Family Home Evening we did our traditional Monday before Halloween carving of pumpkins. Which this time meant Mommy did all the work while the girls cheered her on. The girls wanted nothing to do with the yuckiness, but both wanted cat faces on their pumpkins. For the 3rd pumpkin I decided it could be a Pirate Jack-o-lantern. I didn't feel like doing another kitten, which is what I'm sure they would have asked for if I had let them decide. Yesterday was Alexandra's Halloween party at Joy School. They had a great time. They got to carve a pumpkin as a class and they learned Halloween songs. Then all the Moms came for the party and they sang for us. I did record it, but Alexandra refused to sing, so I'm not posting it for all to see her "not sing". They had a "house" for each kid and then they all got to take turns trick-or-treating each other. It was so cute to hear them saying trick-or-treat and thank you. Here is Alexandra handing o...

Saturday night was apparently the night for getting in trouble for my girls. First I hear Riley and Alexandra talking in the other room about the gum in Alexandra's hair. So I yell for Alexandra to come in so I can see what kind of mess is in her hair. She had mushed the gum in really good, but luckily I didn't have to cut too much of her hair to get it out. But then she got mad at me because she wanted the gum back. Yeah not gonna happen. Then about bath time I notice that Riley has a hole in her pants. Now this hole is very definitely something that was done on purpose with scissors. So I ask Riley what happened with her pants. She proceeds to lie to me and say "I don't know" twice. Now this is the first time Riley has ever lied. Not only can I tell this was a purposely cut hole, she's horrible at lying. When I tell her to tell me the truth she says she cut her pants with some scissors. So then I ask her when she cut them. Again "I don'...

I just wanted to praise my friend Meredith. She makes purses and I bought a few the other day and they are wonderful!!! I used one today at the zoo and it held so much of my stuff, plus I was able to just keep stuffing papers and bags of popcorn and all the other hand outs from the booths. I also had snacks and water bottles in it too!! Plus I put my camera in one of the side pockets and it was so easy to get it out when I wanted to take pictures. These are the two I bought! I love the red and black one it has ribbon laced up the sides. So I'm promoting her website where she sells them. It is http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6063726 Meredith you rock!!

Yesterday night was our Ward's Trunk-or-Treat party. For those of you who don't know what that is, the members of our ward get together in our church parking lot and the kids go from car to car trick or treating. Usually you sit in the back of your car and hand out the candy (although I've never had a "car" there, so it might suck to sit in a trunk, but the back of Grammy's van worked great. It makes it a safe environment for the kids to trick-or-treat. You know everyone and it's all in one spot. We also had a potluck dinner and activities before the trick-or-treating started. Here's my cute Ariel and my Cat Witch holding their Halloween Webkins. One of the activities was eating a donut off a string with no hands. Of course you can see that Alexandra cheated. They also had face painting and fishing for prizes and musical chairs. One of the lady's in our ward handed out caramel and candy apples for her treats. They were so yummy!!! Again, since you...

I love school breaks!! Right now it's their fall break and we have a 5 day weekend. Riley had yesterday off and today and Monday as well! They love it even more than me because they know they can con Grammy into letting them come and have sleepovers. I just love it because I don't have to wake up to an alarm (not that I'm able to sleep in anymore). Grammy picked up Riley after school on Wednesday so that she could have a sleepover by herself. She's been trying to let the girls have individual sleepovers lately so they don't have to "share" Grammy. So I took Alexandra with Meredith and her kids to the museum because it was free day!!! I love free days, although I had hoped since it was a school day that the museum wouldn't be that packed - and I was horribly wrong. The best part of the day was going through the new dinosaur exhibit. Meredith's boys were so fun to watch, especially Jordan. He's so little (not quite 2) but he would get so excited ...

Last week was a good week. Monday was my first Troop meeting as Brownie Leader. We took a field trip to the pumpkin patch. I forgot my camera, so I wasn't able to get pictures. It was a great time though. We went through one of the cornfield mazes with the girls. Thank goodness I can sort of read a map, we'd have been so lost! The troop is 11 girls, which is kinda big, but they are great girls and I'm looking forward to having fun with them this year. The pumpkin patch we went to was great. You go out to the fields and pick any pumpkin you want and the prices were great. Because we had so many pumpkins it ended up being only $5 for each pumpkin. The only rule I had was the girls had to be able to carry whatever pumpkin they picked because there was no way I could carry them. One of the girls said "Yeah because you're not an octopus!" Which made me laugh. Then on Tuesday I got to go with Alexandra and her Joy School class to another pumpkin patch for their fiel...

I loved Conference this weekend. It just felt like a breath of fresh air, compared to all the worldly woes and problems that have been happening lately. I loved that a lot of the talks were about hope and not being afraid or in despair. Those were the talks that really stood out to me anyway. I loved Elder Wirthlin's talk the most. He looked so much better then he has in a long time. And I loved that he told funny stories!! I loved the one about the blind date the best. For those of you who didn't get to see conference or just want to see this talk again, here ya go! The girls did really good with listening to most of the conference sessions. It helped that they got to play conference bingo. My mom and I made cards a couple of years ago that are better then the ones we had when we were little. I loved conference bingo! I'd play for all 4 sessions and get tons of treats to last me for a while. We always played with snacks, M&M's, skittles, almonds, Wheat thins and su...

Today was Riley's field day at school. I know most school's have them at the end of the year, but a few years ago they decided to switch because of weather issues. It was a good time and Alexandra got to participate in everything (although she is not a good loser, so we had quite a few tantrums). By the end of the day Riley was so tired, she even skipped one of her races. She claimed her feet were just too tired to do it. Alexandra latched onto Riley's friend Alison and wanted to be on her team every time or just run with her. Alison was great with her and didn't mind, but Riley did. She told me at one point "She's acting like Alison is her sister, what if she forgets that I'm her sister?" Poor thing. I think Alexandra was just excited that someone besides Riley was actually paying attention to her. These are pictures of the beginning flag ceremony. These are pictures of the 50 yard dash. (I think it was yards??) Parachute! Frisbee Throwing ...