Larry's new Job

Larry started his residency on the 1st, and it seems like he really enjoys it. I have also reaped the benefits of the new job as I was able to go get my teeth Zoomed last week. Oh, the perks of being married to a dentist. Larry is also now a proud part time employee at American Dental. Sad for the family because it means we won't see him much on Saturdays, but I guess it will help towards getting the bills paid. Here is the office... and right next door is Alligator Ink. It's a good thing President Hinckley laid down the law on getting tattoos or we could have had a problem!

Funny Story

Okay, when everyone was out here for the baptism/blessing, we were having this conversation about people we know (adults our age) who have either admitted to wetting the bed, as an adult, or told on their spouse for doing so. We all agreed that first, it's really mean to tell people that you spouse has done so. And second, why would you ever tell anyone you had done it anyway?? So, my comment was that if I ever wet the bed I would have to figure out some way of covering the fact because if Larry found out I would never hear the end of it... it would be a great source for teasing. Nothing against Larry, I'm sure he would get it from me too if the tables were turned. Either way, we all decided that a good option would be to go get one of our kids, put them in our bed, pour something on them and blame it on the child. Good thinking right? Well, that leads in to why this is kind of funny. Our little Rhyan has suddenly decided she does not need a diaper. She is constantly taking it off, and when she needs to go to the bathroom she takes the diaper off but more often than not she doesn't make it to a toilet before she goes. So, last night about 3am I hear Mayson in her room yelling, "Mom, Rhyan's awake." I was feeding Asher in my room so I tried to ignore it in hopes that Rhyan would just go back to sleep. Then it changed to "Mom, Rhyan's on my bed." After about five times of this being yelled I woke up Larry & told him to go check & see what was going on. As Larry is getting out of our room it suddenly changed to a frantic "Mom, Rhyan went potty on my bed! Mom, she's going on my bed!!" Oh, the sad state Mayson was in at her sister having peed in the middle of her bed. I was trying not to laugh in the other room, and really, at three in the morning nothing should be funny. Needless to say, Rhyan had to get a new diaper on and go back to her bed, Mayson had to have her bed stripped, & I now have the perfect cover in case there is a time in the near future that I have to use Rhyan as a scapegoat!

Larry's Birthday

We just celebrated Larry's birthday. It started out with his having to take Rhyan to the doctor for the dislocated elbow Kaleb gave her as he drug her up the stairs by her arm. In the medical world they call it a nurse maids elbow, and after the doctor popped it back into place she was much happier. He showed Larry how so if there is a next time we can just do it ourselves. After that we went to Larry's softball game, came home and grilled up some steaks for dinner, opened presents and ate pumpkin pie. Larry loves pumpkin pie, and since no one ever seems to eat the cake when we bake it, this was a better option. It will have no problem getting eaten, seeing as how Larry thinks it is the perfect food to eat for breakfast! As you can see, he had his hands full & the kids were more than willing to assist him in opening his presents.

One Month Old

Well, Asher was a month old on the 7th. He went in for his one month check-up on Wednesday and he weighed 10 lbs. 5 oz. The doctor was impressed that he had gained 3 pounds over the last three weeks. The fact that when he ate last is of no consideration when it comes to when he wants to eat again may have something to do with it! Either way, he's doing really well & that he holds his head up awesome for being a month old.

A Recap of The Last 2 Months

As you can see, we had a very busy weekend last weekend. Not only did we have Kaleb's baptism on Saturday, but on Sunday we had Asher's blessing. It was really an interesting weekend in the sense that we had our first baptism and our last baby blessing in the same weekend. It was a happy time, but also had a sad aspect to it as well. My oldest is growing up... he's definitely not my baby any more and somehow I can't seem to figure out where the time went. Somehow I now find myself with four kids, and doing my last baby blessing. Baby's have such a sweet spirit about them, and I think baby blessings are such a special event. It is sad to think that we won't be doing it again. I can't even begin to say how grateful I am, and how blessed I truly am to have the family that I have. Sometimes things get a little stressful, but overall we are unbelievably blessed.
Things over the last few months have been crazy at our house, but it has been good crazy. We've had Larry graduate from dental school, we had a perfect new baby come into our family, we've had our best friends move away (this is not the good part of the crazy), we have had lots of family out visiting with us, Larry started his residency, we had our first baptism and our last baby blessing, and now Larry will be starting part time with American Dental. I can't imagine that things won't calm down from here, but it seems like every time I think that something new comes up to make life hectic. Either way, life is good & we're very happy. We wish we could see everyone more often, but I am sure it is only a matter of time & that too will be a possibility. I can' tell you how happy that would make our children, who are now going to be going through some serious grandparent withdrawals!

Asher's Blessing

We had Asher's blessing on Sunday, and it was wonderful. We had a luncheon at our house afterwards, and though it was the smallest one we have had, it turned out great the food was awesome! Asher had the cutest little white tuxedo with a bow tie and tails. He was darling! And in case you are wondering on the guys who were in the circle, it 's Larry obviously, my dad & Larry's dad, our friend Joel and our bishopric. The guy in the bishopric who had the awesome sideburns is Playing Parley P. Pratt in the "This is Kirtland" play this month... he usually isn't quite so adventurous with his facial hair! It was a really nice blessing and the day went great! Here are lots of pictures of everyone.

Kaleb's Baptism

On Saturday Kaleb got baptized. It is amazing for me to think that I really have a child old enough to be baptized, but I do. It was a wonderful day and everything went great. Kaleb wore his new suit that Grandma Ursi had bought him for his baptism, and he was so excited about it. He looked very handsome!! Opa spoke on baptism and Grandma Ursi spoke on the Holy Ghost. We had a beautiful musical number by our neighbor Joel, and the primary kids did the Articles of Faith. You could definitely feel the spirit there, and I really think the kids could feel it too. Our bishop had said it was okay for us to take a picture of Kaleb in the font after the baptism had been performed, so here is the one and only picture of a perfect Kaleb. We confirmed Kaleb on Saturday as well, and afterwards, the ward had brought a card and cake they got for Kaleb so everyone stayed to have cake. The kids thought that part was great. Kaleb received his very own set of scriptures and was very proud of them. Afterwards we went to the Olive Garden for a yummy lunch and everyone left stuffed. It really was a great day, and Larry & I are so proud of Kaleb and the wonderful young man he is growing into!

Fourth of July

We had Oma & Opa and Grandma Ursi & Grandpa Bill here with us for the fourth of July this year. We spent the day at the zoo and everyone had a lot of fun. I think my favorite part may have been the stop at Ben & Jerry's, but as you can see the kids really enjoyed the animals. After the zoo we came home and had a barbecue. We all stuffed ourselves with all the good things you eat on the FOurth, and then went outside to shoot off some fireworks. When I say fireworks, I use the term loosely. Here in Ohio, fireworks consist of smoke, and a little more smoke, and if you're lucky, you might have a sparkler thrown in somewhere. Either way, the kids thought it was great, and they love sparklers. Larry got to use his torch to start things on fire, so I'm pretty sure he had fun too!

Rearranging the House

We have been rearranging our house to accommodate the fact that we now have another child. The two boys are sharing the orange room, and the girls are in the purple room. We moved the bunk beds into the girls room in an attempt to get Rhyan used to her new bed before we moved Asher to the crib so she wouldn't feel like the baby had stolen her bed. As you can see she was very excited that she now gets to sleep on the bunk beds!

Asher is 3 weeks old

Here are some pictures of Asher at 3 weeks... can you believe how fast he's growing. For those of you who haven't actually seen him, he has these huge hands with really long fingers, and big feet with monkey toes. I don't think the pictures do them justice. We figure its kind of like a puppy... you get the ones with the great big paws because they're suppose to be bigger when they grow up. Well... maybe this means Asher is going to be tall?

3 Weeks Old

Well, Asher is 3 weeks old already. It is amazing how fast it goes. It's a little sad to think this is the last little tiny baby we are going to have, and that soon he won't be a little tiny baby anymore. I remember with Kaleb thinking it was going to be forever before he sat up or crawled or anything. Now he's eight & we're on baby number four. I never would have thought it would pass so quickly. I'm trying really hard to enjoy every minute of the kids being little, because I'm realizing more & more that it's not going to last very long. (Just in case you were wondering... the hospital sent Asher home with a couple of pacifiers, and since he has already discovered his thumb, we let him suck on them every once in a while. Either way, Rhyan thinks it's funny to pop them in her mouth and run around with it. So, that's why you can see her in the background with one in her mouth. She doesn't really get the point, because she doesn't suck on it. She just sticks it in and starts laughing.)

Rhyan Pictures

This is the first time Rhyan had her hair up in pigtails. She was quite impressed that her hair was in two pony tails instead of just one.

















As you can see, Rhyan loves to lick the beater. She sits there very patiently the whole time to make sure she gets it, then it's a no holding back, get off every last bit a batter process!
















We were a little worried about Rhyan & the new baby, because she's quite possessive of mom & dad. She has been awesome though. She loves o give him hugs & kisses, she wants to hold him & help get his clothes, and she says he's her baby. One of the neighbors came over to see him & while she was holding him, Rhyan glared at her and said "baby, mine!" I think she was a little concerned Kesha was going to take her baby away.

Swim Time!

Our summer once again revolves around swim lessons. We are there Monday through Thursday and the kids are having fun. Kaleb is becoming quite the swimmer, and has advanced to level five. He is pretty proud of himself! Mayson will be starting level two, and she definitely needs more practice, but she is getting better too. According to her teacher, she has no fear and needs to listen better. And I'm paying them to tell me that!? Rhyan loves it, because during lessons she gets to play in the wading pool and LOVES it! she is going to be a little fish I think.

Kaleb's Getting Ready!

Kaleb had his interview with the Bishop on Sunday, and it's official... he's getting baptized on the 5th. He is really excited, and I can't believe I have an eight year old! Where did the time go?

Urs Visits Cleveland... again

Urs came out again to help when we had the baby. He came a little sooner than we were thinking he would, so he beat her by a couple of days. It turned out okay though because the Campbells were staying with us when we had him, so they stayed with the kids for us, & Urs got here the day I came home from the hospital. It was a real blessing that she was here with us. It was great to have someone here for the other kids when we were spending time back at the hospital after Asher went back. She was a lot of help & I know the kids are really going to miss having grandma around.

Milkaholics Anonymous

Hi, my name is Asher. I'm two weeks old, and I'm a milkaholic. I eat and I eat, but I just can't seem to get enough. It's not even that I'm really hungry, it's just this compulsion I have to eat. If there's not any milk to be found, I just start sucking on anything I can get in my mouth...

Father's Day

Well, it's Father's Day today and the kids decided that he needed to have a smiley face pancake for breakfast. So here is Larry's smiley face pancake. I know for Larry it's a good father's day if for no other reason than Asher is home & doing good, and the other kids think they're daddy is the greatest thing around!

Asher Goes to the NICU

Well, Asher had his first doctors appointment on Wednesday, and as you can see, he was yellow. We knew when we left the hospital that his bili level was high (the stuff that causes jaundice) but they said as long as he was eating and pooping he would be fine. Either way, it was at a 11.4 when we brought him home onMonday, and when they called us Wednesday afternoon with his blood test results it was at a 21. We were told to take him to the ER at Rainbow Babies and have him admitted. Now, I wasn't happy about this obviously, but I was doing pretty good until we got there, got up tothe NICU and they got all the stuff hooked up to him. I took one look at him with all the wires and everything else they had going on and lost it. I know that it was something that for the most part they could fix, but when you look at your tiny newborn babyhooked up to all their stuff it is really hard. So, when it was time to put the IV in the nurse offered me to go & get a drink & I figured that was a great idea. Every four hours they would draw blood and run his levels again and thankfully, it was coming down. I never realized jaundice was such a big thing, I just knew it made them yellow. But apparently it can cause brain damage if the levels get too high. Anything over 20 is hospital time, and if they hit 25 that's when they start to talking about blood transfusions to get the blood with the biliruben in it out and the clean blood to replace it. Luckily 21 was our highest level. So, here are the pictures of Asher under the UV lights getting his first suntan, and of course we had to include the picture where he was mooning us! The lights help to process the biliruben through the skin so that his body can pass it without his liver having to process is. They had him in thebed with the lights for not quite 24 hours, and when his level was about 14.9 they moved him to another room to watch him and to continue taking blood to make sure it was still going down. It went up to 15.2 and then down to 13.7 and that is when they decided he could come home. They sent us with a bili blanket that you wrap around him and it has the UV lights in it, and the home health care nurse came over to check his blood yesterday. We were at a 13.1 yesterday and he goes back in tomorrow to our pediatrician to get checked again. Hopefully he will still be dropping. He is a little yellow, but he definitely looks a ton better than he did. Apparently part of the reason he got it so bad is because our blood types conflict, and his little body is killing off the blood cells from me. The dead blood cells are where the biliruben comes from, and because his little liver can't keep up with it yet to process it all out, he had way too much in his system. Now I can't guarantee that this explanation is 100% accurate, but it is how I understand it from how the doctor explained it to us. I'm am so glad he is home with us. I think we have taken for granted with the other kids how lucky we were that everything went great and there were never any issues. I have a much greater appreciation for the parents who have to leave their babies at the hospital due to the many reasons they have to be there. It's a hard thing to do. We are counting our blessings that he is home with us and things are going good, and praying they continue to stay that way.