Christmas was awesome, absolutely delightful and magical. I love the excitement and surprise that The Mr. had this year. The only thing that kid has wanted for months has been a Mack truck from Cars. I kept on trying to emphasize that it was Jesus' Birthday. Mack has seen everyone else have a Birthday but him, all of his cousins, mom and dad, and Bump and Mango. He has been desperately awaiting his, I told him it was after Jesus' Birthday. Then he insisted that I call him Jesus. Interesting. I finally came to the conclusion that he thought if his name was Jesus it would be his Birthday. I love that kid.

Big E way surprised me this year with a sewing machine. This earns him a lot of bonus points. In fact, this week we have been painting and redoing the Craft Room in which said sewing machine will be stored. I can't wait to have all of my stuff organized and in one spot. I am a lucky gal.

Growing up, I always wanted to open jammies on Christmas Eve, and vowed that I would do it with my family. I usually buy myself a nice warm pajama set, but this year I went for a nightgown. A full-on ankle/wrist nightgown. I love it. Big E despises it. Utterly hates it. When I told him I bought it and was so excited to wear it all the time, I am pretty sure he thought that I met "a nighty", like his type of nightgown with very little functional material (or material at all). Wow that was one disappointed hombre on Christmas Eve. Before you feel sorry for the man realize this: A) the nightgown is actually quite slimming. B) I do wear his type of nightgowns whenever the situation calls for it. I have children for crying out loud. I can trapeze around the house in that. C) He refuses to let me buy a Christmas sweater. I f I can't have a sweater, by crap, I will have a nightgown.

Speaking of Big E, we had an awful, horrible conversation today. He thinks we should trade in my beautiful Pilot for a mini van. What the holy flippin' crap? Seriously? I thought that we had agreed on this: I would never drive a van. I know there are those of you out there who drive one and love it. Good for you, I am sincerely happy for you. It's not for me. I clearly should have put this clause in the pre-nup along with my tummy tuck and breast lift after the last baby comes. I will keep you posted on this issue, as it is of the utmost importance. Seriously it is.

Cakes is nine months old, where has the time gone? She is darling, sweet and peaceful. Her nine month check is tomorrow and I am expecting to her that she probably is a little small. I am also going to ask about her freakish flexibility, not quite sure if she has hip joints.
 

Christmas pics coming soon!

Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving, and have so much to be thankful for! In an "out-of-body" moment, I suggested that it might be fun to host Thanksgiving for Big E's family at our house. Um... last time I checked, I had never even baked a turkey before. The days leading up to it were incredibly stressful. But had I not been a complete idiot, and if I would have known it would have turned out so lovely, I wouldn't have stressed half as much. I didn't poison anyone with raw turkey, the gravy wasn't jello and I figured out a great seating arrangement. It really was great. Eric's brother's family, Brad and Lisa and there four kids came, along with Big E's parents and sister Christie and Arturo.
The whole day was calm and so nice. Everyone brought great food, helped get ready and helped cleaned up. It was fun having our house full of laughter and voices. My father-in-law took some lovely pictures, here we go!

Pretty dang beautiful table if I don't say so myself!

This is our "Thankful Tree" one of my very favorite things that we did this season.

The Sister-in-Laws

Our children LOVE their Uncle Arturo, and I am pretty positive he loves them back.

Love this beautiful girl, loved her from the moment I met her!

Check out those awesome rosy cheeks (and the little bumps, I have tried every brand of lotion. Any recommendations?)

Someone got somebody else hooked on Angry Birds.

October Catch Up

 October in review:

Big E and I at the USU vs BYU game. Lots of fun, USU lost - sad days. But a six hour date night: AMAZING!

Big E and The Man. making cookies so we could BOO our neighbors. I love The Mr.'s apron.

Took both boys to the Fire Station.

This was the best picture I could get. Thanks Christy and Heather for the invite, The Man still talks about it.

These kiddos make my days great, I am one lucky Momma

Total random sidenote, but I have been trying to switch some of my makeup for cheaper brands. Big fan of Sephoras line. I have only tried the cream eyeliner and the eyeshadow, but I love both. Cheaper and more in the container.

Big E's Birthday extravaganza week starts today. Should be a fun week. I sure love that boy, and he is so good to me.

Thanksgiving decor is up, and when I am not so lazy, I might post some pics.

Happy November!

Happy Halloween

Happy Ween!
           Love, Big E, Me, The Mr. and Baby Cakes

Argh... Matey!

Tool Bench

So I always have every intention to blog every night, but wow, it obviously doesn't happen. So in my last post I mentioned my addiction to Pintrest, I love it. Well, my nephew Tj's birthday was coming up and I saw this great idea for a tool bench. It was actually really easy, cheap and turned out super cute. I bought the TV cart at the DI for five bucks, and most of the rest of the stuff I just had. Here is the before and after:

We went up to Silver Lake recently with Eric's Mom and Dad. I love that place, it is awesome for the kids and has great memories of dating Big E. We used to take a blanket to the dock at night to "star gaze". We liked to "star gaze" a lot.

I have been decking out the house in Halloween, it's awesome. Hopefully I will get some pics up soon. Big E has been super busy ripping out bushes and trees... the yard is finally starting to look somewhat decent. The Mr. is awesome, seriously I love that little boy. He is just so much fun, I think the two year old crap is starting to wear off. Cakes is as darling as ever! She recently got her first tooth. At her 6 month check she was 30th for height, 25th for weight and 50th for head. Wow I am sleepy... think I am off to go "star gazing" :)

- Um how hot and ripped is Big E? (see Flaming Gorge pics) Pretty hunky me thinks. - My time as of late, has been taken up by Pintrest. I am in love and addicted....more so than Facebook or blogging. - Thank heavens my gig as Primary Chorister is up, out of every calling I have ever had, it for sure was the hardest, with the most prep. - I found Mack last week with the power drill, drilling the wood on the deck. What the crap? The kid is two and a half. he is super smart, sometimes I worry too smart. But then I remember the poor kid still can't get his colors right. Everything still is green. - I went back to the dark side: Proactive. Yup, my off-again-on-again romance with it has begun. Bless my amazingly finicky skin. - I love fall and can't wait for Halloween. I am not sure when I decided to totally dig Halloween but I do. - Making new friends is hard, but I am getting better. That is all

The Gorge

Okay, so one of my all-time favorite places on earth is for sure Flaming Gorge. I love our annual trip, honestly it is magical. It is always a great time boating, gaming and laughing, and usually some form of hysterical nudity. My family rocks and they took such good care of the Mr. and Cakes. Big E and I have officially started our "boat fund", it's going to happen folks. Seriously if I were to get cremated, spread me over the Gorge! Thanks again fam, you were awesome and it was a fantastically fun trip! I love the picture of Mack falling asleep on the water weenie!

Suckers or Cigarettes?

So the Mr. is totally into sitting on the front porch and watching birds. Not sure where he developed this love of bird watching, but he loves it and therefore I do it. He even can name a couple of birds, but his favorite is the Macky-pie.
Anyway, so we are out on the front porch and our neighbor across the street was out smoking a cigarette. Mack stands up and yells, "Hey, how is your sucker today?" Gotta love the Mr. The neighbors here are so great, we are REALLY lucky!

Long Time, No Blog

Wow, it has been a really long time. TWO MONTHS, time is a flyin' by. Things at the Casa L have been great, we are almost completely furnished and decorated. Oh the excitement! The next big project is my pink and black Craft Room, I can't wait to get started. Next time the house is clean, I will try my darnest to remember to take some pics and post before and afters. (Yes, I did just type afters).
The Mr. is doing great and talking up a storm. He repeats everything we say, which has gotten us in trouble more than once. He loves nursery and playing with friends. He also prefers that we call him Macky. Not sure where he got that one.
Baby Cakes is now four months old! She is darling and thankfully feeling better and better everyday. She now weighs 13 lbs 11 oz. She jumped from the 5th percentile to the 60th, go Cakes!
Big E is as awesome as ever. He is totally addicted to Deadliest Warrior, and yeah it's pretty cool. He is also addicted to crossfit classes at work, and I must admit he is pretty ripped.
I am great, almost feeling adjusted to two chillens. I did have a horrifying night a couple of nights ago though. I sleep with an ear plug due to the lawn mower I share a bed with. Well when I turn over, I take it out of one ear, and put it in the other. I went to take it out of one, and only half of it came out! I flipped out and ran to grab my trusty Tweezermans and successfully managed to jam it in even further. I woke up Big E, laughing/sobbing hysterically. Right after he said he couldn't see it and he was pretty sure that it had reached my brain, he pulled it out. Bless that Big E, or as I now call him Dr. Larsen. Shark Week has dominated my life, I can't get enough of it. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why!

I was a mean Mom today, it was awful. Poor Mack, pretty sure it was one of my most mean-mommy-ornery days ever. The man is really a sweetheart and actually put up with me. He cried when I left for an appointment and I was shocked that he still liked me. That's how ornery I was today.
I have mentioned this before, but honestly with just Mack I felt like I was playing house. He was such an easy baby, and it was just he and I cruising the local Costco aisles. Don't get me wrong, Miss Kate is a really good baby too... but now there are TWO kids. Now breast feeding isn't relaxing and quiet, it is now an anxiety-ridden half and hour wondering what medium the Man is painting the walls with.
I do love it though, I am having fun and it still sometimes surprising that I have two kiddos and drive a SUV. I need to play more, I want to be a fun Momma (just like Momma J). I need to not be so worried about a clean house and just have fun with the Man.
Things are going well with the house, still doing work on it, but it is oh so much fun.
I think I have finally convinced Big E to dress up as Tom Selleck for Halloween! Awesomeness, go Magnum P.I..
Totally and completely random, but I am so glad I didn't marry the boy I thought I was in love with when I was 20!
Birthday week starts in a couple of week, go 24! 23 was sure a good year for me!

Randomitis

- Miss Kate is doing well, no more scares. She still is under house arrest with her monitor on her foot, but we haven't had anymore major de-sats!
- I am so tired, I don't think I have ever been so tired. The reality of a two year old and a newborn have hit. I am a wimp, I know. My left eye is on perma-twitch, it's a great combination with my slutty sultry right eye.
- Said tiredness is illustrated by the following story. Miss Kate's monitor wasn't working so I called Home Health for a new one. Dialed and waited for an answer. Apparently the woman on the other end of the line had been waiting for me all day to call, she said so. Then she said other things, and I was shocked that Home Health offered such services. Finally, I realized I had grossly misdialed. Then I realized that I needed to tell Papa Jones that I called a sex phone line and when it showed up on his bill, I would being paying for it. Papa Jones' face was awesome.
- Mama J is having BOTH knees replaced. Not sure how I feel about this, I sure love her.
- BFF M is the best. Did I mention she has taken days off of work to take care of me and my chillens? She makes me laugh, way too hard. Seriously, I have said it before and I will say it again: Everyone needs a BFF like M in their lives.
- So excited for the new house. Flooring and lights are going in this week! I can't wait to not share a bedroom with a kiddo. I think we had just barely gotten over our Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from sleeping with the Mr. and then Miss Kate arrived. Pretty sure you can find Big E rocking in the corner.
- I have always wanted to be on Broadway, just one show one night. What character would I be? Glinda? Nope. Elphaba? Nope. Princess Amneris from Aida.
- Easter needs to be over soon. I can't get enough Easter candy. Jelly beans, nerds jelly beans, really anything. Today I am making Peep monkey bread. I will let you know how it goes.
Both chillens are asleep, I think I will go join them!

Katelyn Update

Oh wow, I kinda feel like I have been playing pretend mom with Mack the last two years. Two kids is kind of a wake up call, but oh so great. I think we are finally coming out of the adjustment period, The Mr. is still getting the naughty out of his system. He has done really well though and loves Miss Kate.
Katelyn is finally doing better. After three days at Primary's, an EEG, EKG, CT scan and x-ray things are looking up. Ever since she was born all of the color would drain from her face and she would get a little blue around her mouth. Surprisingly, a lot of newborns get the blue tinge. But last week, she went completely blue and wasn't breathing enough so we headed up to the ER. Scary, awful and more awful. I now know why my mom would cry when I got hurt.
That first night she had seizure like behavior and stopped breathing. Hence the EEG. That came back normal and we met with a Neurologist on Friday and we are pretty confident that she is not having seizures. I am supposed to keep a journal of her days and the sweet Neurologist gave us her cell phone number in case she looked like she was having another one. But overall, we don't think seizures are causing her not to breath.
Her heart looked great on the X-ray and the EKG, it just goes hummingbird fast. Her average resting rate is 160-170. She is hooked up to a monitor at home and I think that might be improving a little though.
Hopefully, the breathing problem is severe acid reflux. She doesn't really spit up at all, so they think she might be spitting up, choking on it, and it is blocking her airway. We will see how the medication goes.
I really feel like she will be just fine though. Her oxygen levels have been really good and her heart rate seems to be okay most of the time. I am so grateful for good Dr.'s, a great hospital, an amazing husband, a willing family, and friends that took care of Mack.
Katelyn is surprisingly really happy and calm. I can tell she is in pain, but she doesn't cry all the time at all. She is so sweet and really has a calming influence about her. Now enjoy some pictures. Thanks again Melinda! (Before and after pics of the house are coming soon!)

Katelyn Kennedy Larsen

She is here, well she has been here for awhile now but I am just getting my blogging groove on. She is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. She was born March 15 and weighed in at a whopping 5 lbs 8 oz and I think that 2 oz of that is hair.
The delivery went really well, much less uneventful than the Man's. Eric got to take in the camera to the C-section and I am so tempted to post some appropriate surgery pics, but I don't want to gross anyone out. The only thing that was hard for me was the lights are reflective and I could see all of me. Not attractive, couldn't they cover me up a little sooner instead of waiting for every Dr, resident and student to come. Needless to say, my eyes were closed the whole time. I couldn't watch myself be sliced open. Katelyn did very well, it was so good to have time with her in the recovery room. I am so grateful for great Dr.'s and Nurses, I couldn't be happier about the delivery, except being exposed for so long.
The hospital stay was uneventful and Mack did so well when he met her. He loves her so much and loves to help and stroke her hair. Big E is quite the proud papa. There is something so special about the bond of a daddy and a daughter.
Unfortunately, being so small she didn't pass the car seat test. Bummer, she travels in a car bed instead. This means that until she can keep her oxygen levels up while slouched, she cannot be in a normal car seat, bouncy chair of swing. Our little Kate lives in a laundry basket or someones arms. Here are the promised pics, among them you will see: Big E scrubbing in for surgery, me looking stunning in the shower cap headed to surgery, Katelyn weighing in, Katelyn sporting the Aunt Jemima look after her hospital bath, The ride home with the car bed, me enjoying the post surgery morphine with the breast pump, Mack and Katelyn, and Big E and I with Katelyn.

Kids make me nervous

First things first, I know I don't post here very often (this is Eric) but I thought it couldn't be that hard to figure out. Well, after trying to find the "New Post" button I finally had to ask Annie - which was a bit humiliating in and of itself. Well it turns out the problem is I was trying to log in under her email, and then mine. Silly me. Turns out we have another email account just for the blog. Who knew?

The point of this entry was actually to address something that our son Mack did the other day. We were of course a little apprehensive as to how well he would handle having a new baby sister and all the changes that come with it. But the good news is that so far he's taking it like a champ. But in case there's any doubt as to how much our children watch us, I submit the following;

The other day I was washing some bottles and other stuff for the pump that Annie's using. Well, I turn and Mack has unzipped his pj's to his belly-button and is holding the proper piece of equipment against his chest and smiling up at me saying "Look!"

Tomorrow!

Okay, so I have been MIA for a little while. Sorry about that folks, life has been wonderfully hectic and busy. Those of you who didn't hear our joyous cries from the mountain tops, we finally bought a house. An awesome, amazing, wonderful house. Big E has been stripping (wallpaper that is), patching and removing walls and a lot of other totally testosterone loaded things (what a hunk). Hopefully, we will be moving in two weeks.
However exciting the house has been, we can't get over the excitement of little girl's arrival TOMORROW! I couldn't be more excited and more grateful to meet her. I am SO glad that she stayed in the oven this long, it wasn't expected that she would make it to 38 weeks! She as of now, has about six names that are possibles. Hopefully tomorrow we can narrow it down! I am more excited than nervous, except for the fact that when highly drugged I sat completely inappropriate things to my Dr.. Please, please, please let me have some form of a filter.
We go to the hospital at 8:00 a.m., and within a few hours she should be here! I think I stay until Saturday, so sadly no updates with darling pictures before then. Wish us luck. Here are a couple of pictures taken yesterday. 37 weeks and 5 days, here is to the belly shot. (I love how my butt shrinks whilst pregnant)