Results of bed rest

The collection of toys in my room. Lizzy having a tea party with herself shirtless…she had gotten her shirt wet a little earlier with another tea party!

French toast David made me and the kids enjoying some dancing in my room one afternoon.

Since being on bed rest for 3 weeks, we have all made some adjustments.  Poor Lizzy definitely has had the hardest time with it, since she doesn’t understand why I am being so lazy all the time and not helping her like I usually do.  Each day she brings a few more toys into my room to play with. She even found some in storage and somehow got them out of a box and all the way into my room! She is a determined little girl! David and I were both struggling with the idea of me being on bed rest and him still needing to keep up with his job and all the time that is required of him for it and adding all of my duties that I can no longer do to his list. It is nearly impossible and things kept falling through the cracks. It was hard for him to not only work 9:00-5:00, but then to have to keep the house clean, the kids fed, the shopping, the laundry, the yard work, taking the kids to and from school and all the other little things that we are both used to me taking care of.  Something had to happen to make this work for 7 weeks. So David had amazing inspiration. He decided to ask his sister, Giselle, who lives about 15 minutes away from us, if she would be willing to come over and help with each day. She is able to come every weekday except Wednesday and it has been such a huge blessing.  Although David does a great job with housework, it was so hard to stay on top of all of it, so Giselle is sweet enough to help with laundry, taking the kids to school and some of the cleaning that gets overlooked.  She brings her son Lincoln with her and the 3 little cousins play pretty most of the day.  It is also nice, because Elizabeth will actually leave my side to go play with them! She was by my side in my bed for the first week and a half. It was sweet of her, but I was going crazy not having a break from her!!! We are paying her a little money for her time. It’s not much, but with all that she does we couldn’t let her do it for free, especially since it would be for so long! Such a blessing. 

Since her and Kevin only have one car, her and David came up with a system. Each night Giselle takes David’s car home and then, when she gets here in the morning David is able to take his car to work and leaves her the van to take the kids to and from school and wherever else she may need to go in the day.  We only have one key for my van and one Thursday we forgot to get the key from Giselle for the van and were without a car for the night. Our ward is sweet enough to bring us meals 3 times a week, but this night was one that we take care of ourselves. I had been craving a burger all day and was so excited, when David said he would go get a burger and fries for me for dinner. He was about to leave, when he noticed he didn’t have his keys. Giselle had accidently put them in her purse, while dealing with the 2 little ones and getting them out of the car and forgot to leave them here for us…I had been having a rough couple of days and was emotional and hungry and so when David told me he didn’t have a car, I just started balling. Let’s just say I’ve been way more emotional these past 3 weeks than I have for this entire pregnancy. I don’t like making other people do what I usually take care of and I don’t like not controlling anything! It is very hard to have to wait for others to do things for me. So I was starving on this Thursday night and emotional and went and took a nice bath to not be so uncomfortable and to help pass  the time. When I got out of the bath, David had a plate of french toast waiting for me. It was delicious. This was huge for him. David is not a cook at all and has never made a breakfast food in his life. I was shocked and so grateful. And it really was delicious.  He told me he had 2 bad pieces before a good one. The first one he didn’t put enough mix on the bread and the second he put way too much on the bread, but the third and on were perfect.  He really is a great husband. Giselle felt so bad the next day that she went out for lunch and bought me my burger and fries that I had been craving.  Everyone knows how much I love food and so not being in control of what I get to eat is terrible for me, especially when I’m pregnant!!

So I spend my days working on Pierce’s Christmas stocking, reading books, watching a lot of Netflix, blogging (obviously), naps, baths to ease the pain that comes with the last trimester of pregnancy, online shopping, talking to my sisters and lots of just staring off into lala land!! I’m not going to lie. Some days it is so nice to know I can’t do anything or go anywhere, but then there are the days when I am going stir crazy and just want to do things for myself and not have to wait for someone else to do it for me and I miss getting out of the house.

About half way done with his stocking.

David has taken the kids out a few times. His work had a work party at Boondocks one Friday night. He took all the kids after convincing him that Elizabeth out of all the kids needed to get out of this house. She ended up being the easiest one to watch that night.

 

Then the 3 older kids went to Trish’s for a sleepover and then the next day they went to Gabby’s birthday party at a trampoline place. Giselle took the kids to David’s work at about 4:00 that afternoon and I had no one in this house with me for about 2 hours. It was pure heaven! Then that night some friends of mine from West Jordan brought me some dinner and then we spent the next 5 hours laughing and catching up with each other. I am so lucky to have such great friends!

Last Monday I had it in my head that I only had 4 more weeks of bed rest and was so excited! Then I got out my calendar and realized I had 5 weeks not 4. That was a sad day.  I’ve done it 4 times before this and survived and I will survive these next 4 weeks. On the plus side it does make my kids unbelievably independent and self reliant! So maybe this is all for the better for someday in their futures.

2015 First Day of School

Parker-Preschool. Maggie-2nd Grade. David-4th Grade.

Another school year has come.  I am always looking forward to the new school year by the time August gets here.  The kids still look forward to it too, which is great! They were starting a new school this year and were all excited to meet some new friends.  This year was hard, since I was on bed rest, I had to hand over all control to David…He did a great job. He took the kids to pick out a back to school outfit and get all the things they needed for their first day of school. We were planning on going to their open house to meet their teachers and see their classrooms, but I went into labor that Monday afternoon and had to go to the hospital again. I felt horrible not letting them go to the open house.   Instead they went to Aunt Trish’s again. I was only at the hospital for a few hours. They were able to give me shots again to get the contractions to stop and then they sent me home with a prescription for some medicine to help me not go into preterm labor again. Fun times.  Parker had his first day at his new preschool on the same day. David took him in that day to meet his teacher and see his classroom. Parker was so thrilled to be able to go to school like the big kids! He rides the bus to and from school usually, but since it was the first day, Dad took him. I can’t believe he will be in kindergarten next year. That is ridiculous. They are growing too fast. Here’s to another school year and a new school! We are looking forward to it.

Summer 2015

The day after we got back from Arkansas there was a Herriman Parade just a couple of streets away from our house. The kids had a great time getting lots of candy and seeing some amazing floats!

This summer was spent with a lot of water. Our backyard has a perfect spot for a slip and slide for the kids and then we went to the Herriman Resevoir a couple times a week. It is perfect because of the sand for the kids to play with and we would spend at least 2 hours there each time.

We had a pre-Fourth of July get together with all our friends from West Jordan on Friday the 3rd. It was great to break in the house with good friends and definitely nice to have more space for the kids to fun around. So many good friends and always so many laughs!

David loves to read and I loved finding him fast asleep with a book in his hand.  For the 4th of July we had some family over (Giselle, Kevin, Lincoln, Trish, Gabby, and Mckenzie and Alexis) and David bought a few small fireworks for the kids. We never have to buy too many because all our neighbors put on such a great show!

David and Lizzy enjoying the fireworks and Little David after eating…that kid is the messiest eater you will ever meet!!

More beach time and Parker fast asleep on night with his flashlight and baby jaguar. So cute! And Elizabeth’s favorite activity of riding her scooter with her stethoscope! She has really mastered the scooter this summer. She started out riding with her knees all the way bent and barely moving, but now she is going super fast and no more completely bent knees.

Lizzy and Maggie enjoying some sister time in the front and our front yard parking zone for kids stuff! And of course a picture of Lizzy in one of her outfits she insisted on wearing…

We have some neighborhood deer that jump our back fence and eat anything and everything.  This is the baby deer that we have watched grow over the past few months. Poor thing had a broken front leg.   This was my first cheesecake that I have ever made and I must say, it was delicious! Elizabeth and Meme with scooter time.

I went through a lot of my office and did some decluttering. There were a ton of old check books and papers that we no longer needed. The kids were all so excited to help shred them all! Deedah and Elizabeth with Blue. Dad, Mom, Trish and I getting pedicures…more on that later.

Dad and Parker admiring the fountain in the backyard. Mom and Lizzy  reading “But No Elephants” my favorite book as a child.  The boys enjoying a nice summer day with their new picnic table.

Grandpa looking for things in Parker’s ears! We loved having the DeVaux’s visit us this summer. 

Parker’s favorite summer activity, riding things down the big hill in the backyard.  One night while the Torgersons were here they had a little water gun fight…only Parker thought the rules should be that only he could spray and not be sprayed! Lizzy getting some snuggles in with Papa.

We had majority of the Torgerson extended family in town for David’s cousin’s wedding and all the cousins had a great time together.  We had tables everywhere and people everywhere…I think there were at one time about 30 people in our house. It was insane and so much fun!!

The last picture has Eric and Parker riding down the hill together. Such cute cousins and the best of friends.

So glad to have such a great family for in-laws. Lizzy, Meme, Maggie, Papa and Parker waiting for the McKenzie and Alexis’s wedding to start. It was a beautiful wedding. Then the luncheon afterwards where Lizzy and Eric were trying to escape.

Lizzy really loved the green beans at the reception…but only the actual beans in each one! She went around to all of our plates collecting more to eat. Then that night at the reception it was at a beautiful house with an amazing backyard. There is Lizzy enjoying the freedom. David and I grabbed a picture together. He was a groomsman and I was fat and pregnant!

Little Dave was so excited about the wedding cake and he served himself a nice big piece! Parker’s favorite chore each day is to check the mail. He usually starts checking around 10:00 in the morning and a gets so excited, when it gets here around 2:00. Elizabeth and Maggie love trying on my high heels. 

Lizzy building a nice block  tower. There she is with her little bell necklace, backpack and harmonica. She has found a love for backpacks over the summer and finds it is great for carrying her juice, puppies, and whatever else she may need for the day.

Biscuit watching a kid’s show with dogs in it called “Mutt and Stuff” he gets so offended by the dogs on the t.v. and just stands there barking at them until they run off the screen and then he runs outside to try to find them. It is hilarious and our favorite thing to watch him do these days.

We had such an amazing summer! We started it out of course with our trip to Arkansas and then we did a lot of swimming, lots of popsicles, watermelon, bike riding, scooter riding, family and getting to know our new neighbors.  I spent the first couple of weeks fixing our front yard. It was horribly overgrown and not taken care of, when we moved in, so we have come a long way! If only I wasn’t pregnant and then I could have gotten the backyard under control, but there is always next summer for that huge job!! Or more realistically, once this baby is out of me I can see my self getting it more tamed in the nice fall months that Utah offers.  Because I was half way through my pregnancy by the time summer got here, we did not do many museums or anything that requires a lot of walking. Since all my past pregnancies have led to bed rest, I usually try to slow things down from the 5th month on. Luckily the kids had amazing grandparents come to visit to take them to all the fun things that I could not do this summer! What would I do without amazing parents and in-laws who take time to come visit us out here for the summer?! We had a pretty quiet summer until the end of July. Sherrie came out with some friends of hers the last week of July. So she stayed with us from Monday, July 27th until that Thursday. She then went to stay with Giselle, since my parents got into town on Friday the 31st.  My parents drove straight through from Arkansas and got here Friday afternoon. We were all so excited to have them here.  They were exhausted and we made them go to bed pretty early, since they hadn’t slept in 2 days! They were excited to see our new house and we love having so much space for them.  Then on Saturday my Dad really wanted to go and get pedicures with us…we thought he was joking when he told us. He was dead serious and we were more than happy have an excuse to go get pedicures.  The people kept asking Dad, if he was sure he didn’t want a colored nail polish for his toes. It was pretty entertaining.  We were sure to get a picture of us with Mom and Dad on both of their first pedicures. So sweet! Then on Sunday they went to sacrament with my ward and then headed to Pleasant Grove to go with Trish to hers. It’s always an experience to have Dad anywhere in public with you. Then we had dinner at Trish’s and they stayed with her that night. On Tuesday they took all the kids to the museum downtown and had a great time.  They headed out on Wednesday, since we had all the Torgersons coming out for the wedding and they would all be getting in that night.  That was one of the longer visits that we had with my parents. The kids absolutely loved having them here and had Deedah read lots of books and lots of playing. Parker thought that Grandpa DeVaux was pretty funny and was always laughing, when he would call Parker, Buckwheat. Lizzy especially loved having them here and would go force them to follow her around. She just couldn’t get enough of them and wouldn’t let me do anything for her. She wanted Deedah to, which did not hurt my feelings in the least!! It was nice to have a break!

The Torgersons got into town around midnight on Wednesday night. It was Genevieve, Eric, Dad and Grandpa Turnbull. Then Sherrie came back over from Giselle’s also. We had a full house and again are just grateful for our house and the space it offers for all of our out of town family.  The best part is that they are 2 floors away from my room and I can go get away from it all, when I need a break. I truly forget they are here, because I rarely go down to the basement…so much better than the old house, where we were all so on top of each other!! Anyways! So Thursday, we mostly just hung out at the house and let the kids run around playing. That afternoon Meme, Grandpa, Giselle, Genevieve and all the kids went to This is the Place. I of course stayed home. There was no way I could do all that walking.  Then on Friday we were going to go swimming, but there was a cold front that came through and it was so windy! So we played at the house again and the Russells, David’s Aunt and cousins, came over that afternoon and the kids just have the best time playing with them! They play like they see each other all the time. It is so fun.  That night I made some barbeque sandwiches and everyone came over for dinner and brought all the delicious sides. It was so great to get to visit with all of  them.  Oh and also, my sister Marji and her family were driving through Utah on their way home from Idaho to visit Jim’s family, so they stopped by for a little bit to let the cousins play and so Marji and Jim could see our new place. It was only for about an hour that they were here, but it was great to see them even for a short time.  That day David had been at the wedding rehearsal and then he went to a bachelor party for McKenzie at a gun range. His brother, P.J. had gone all out for it and they got to shoot all these huge guns and had a great time! David brought home one of the bullets he shot. It was HUGE!! It was about an inch thick and 3 inches long! Crazy! That night we stayed up late talking and laughing with everyone here minus the wedding party, since obviously they had other plans for the day before the big day! On Saturday we headed to the wedding at noon. It was at this really pretty garden area and was really well done. It was a very sweet wedding and the bride and groom just looked adorable and so in love. Then we went to a luncheon for them. We had a few hours between the luncheon and reception, so we all headed back to our place and relaxed in between.  David and I were exhausted, se we went and got a quick nap, while everyone else played games.  The reception that night was at a beautiful house in the backyard.  We had a fun time catching up with all the east coast Turnbull family that we hadn’t seen in years.  David especially enjoyed goofing off with his best childhood cousin, P.J. When those 2 get together, I think they are 15 years old again. They just laugh about all the stuff they put their families through!

The next day, Sunday, the Torgersons were heading out in the morning back to Arkansas. That night P.J. came over for dinner, since his flight didn’t leave until 11:00 that night. We also had a guy from David’s work over, Andy. David’s work does a little employee spotlight each month and David was the spotlight for the month, so he came over to record the kids and David. We also invited Giselle and Kevin over. On top of that our ward does a thing called Street of Treats. The ward assigns one street of the ward boundaries a night to make treats for the whole ward. Then the ward members will all come and walk around the neighborhood meeting the people and eating treats. It is such a fun thing. It was our streets turn to make the treats of course!! So I made about 100 mini cupcakes to share and then we put out candy and cookies that we had. It was a lot of fun. P.J. kept asking, if this place is real. He kept asking where all the video cameras were for the t.v. show and it felt like a show with all the kids running around the neighborhood and people just coming and talking all night. It is crazy, when I think about life in Utah and how different it really is from anywhere else. That night everyone headed out around 9:00 and I was exhausted!! After 2 weeks of constant visitors and being on my feet so much, I was somewhat glad to have a quiet house time to take it easy and rest.  It was just a week later that I went into preterm labor at 29 weeks along. I was just so grateful I made it that far and got to have fun with all the guests we had in town! We should have a calm house until January with Maggie’s baptism and all the guests that come with it!