Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving 2012 was a whirlwind of a day. We spent the first half of Thanksgiving at Misty & Eric's house. Mike and Misty threw down some delicious food. Mike made his famous stuffing (which I refuse to eat bc of the turkey wings) and carrots, and I made a salad. Misty made everything else which was a TON of stuff. I personally dislike Thanksgiving food, but when I walked in and saw that Misty had made cheesy potatoes I did a happy dance! Guests at the fabulous lunch was Misty's Aunt Vivian, Eric's mom Kim, our friends Kara & Matt and their adorable kiddos. It was perfect bc Clara and Cat play so well together and just have a ball. 



We tortured daddy with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!!! He LOVES parades, LOL....yeah right! 

I'm officially 25 weeks pregnant (6 months)  and look about 9 months.



He's just too cute for words. 

Clara & Catherine at the "kids" table. 
Matt literally stood and ate his food while holding cutie pie Zach! 

My delicious plate of food, notice no taters, no gravy, no stuffing, no turkey lol! But Misty made this "pink stuff" as Eric calls it and it was bomb!!!
Tickle party with Papa!!!

Later that evening we gathered up enough energy to head to my parents after our food coma. I'm super bummed I didn't get more pictures. We ate some more once we got there of course. My mom had a TON of desserts but I was about to explode. Our usual family was there along with my Aunt LouAnn and Uncle Kurt and my Aunt Devi and her new boyfriend Phillip. The kids always have a blast playing together, and it was kinda nice bc they played a majority of the night in the playroom. Aedan and Clara have a ball. Clara's of course the little bossy one. It reminds me of Bud and I when we were little. 

Later that evening Aunt Crissy gave Clara and Aedan a bath. Poor Crissy wasn't feeling good especially preggos with twins. I can't imagine how exhausting that would be. Carrying one is exhausting enough!
My grandma has been making the kids Yo Gabba Gabba beannies. They LOVE them. We leave them at my mom's that way they can wear them up there when they visit. Some how Nicole gets the BEST pictures with my kids! I don't know how she bribes them. 
Auntie Cole and her Boo
He tilts his head and says cheese anytime we bust out a camera. I love my little Ham! 

And of course I LOVE the surprise photos I always get from Cole in my phone. Kitty says MEOW!!!


Monday, November 19, 2012

Latest Enjoyments...

 Okay so I'm a complete and total yuppie for reality television. The stupider the better for me. To me it's an escape from financial worries and other stresses in our lives. It takes me away to la la land, and frankly I'm a nosey body. I like to be in peoples business and see how people live their sometimes crazy, fun, rich or pathetic lives. My husband however, HATES it. He hates the shows I watch and is constantly complaining about it. However, this little gem called Duck Dynasty came along. It's the perfect blend for the two of us. I have never laughed so hard in all my life. Yes there are moments when I shut my eyes bc of some of the gross stuff (like gutting fish, eating frogs, dunk hunting) but they are hysterical. Uncle SI is my favorite. The man is a secret genius I swear. Multi-million dollar rednecks = good freaking times. From what I understand most of them have college degrees, and were actually REALLY good looking before they became cavemen. 




Starbucks Peppermint Mocha's. They never went away, I could always order them when I wanted but now there are pretty pictures at the drive-thru of them for the Holidays. They are my favorite. The only problem is that I can guzzle a venti in about 30 seconds. And that is WAY too much caffeine for my baby boy Hudson. And they are $4.75 a piece. So I need to simmer down on that!  

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I recently discovered Bento on one of the blogs I love to follow http://www.craftinessisnotoptional.com/ The Adventures of Rory & Jess. She has 2 little girls and another baby on the way, and makes the cutest little lunches for them. It's a Japanese thing and they do a lot with sushi and rice. I of course just want to get Clara excited about eating different foods in cute little containers. It's supposed to cut down on waste, bc everything is reused. So far I haven't used anything I purchased bc she doesn't have preschool till next week. For now I've been cutting out her pb sandwiches with a heart cookie cutter and she LOVES it. Plus she hates the crust and that is the easiest way to de-crust a sandwich. 



My mom bought me Magic Mike on blueray for Christmas early. And then Channing was picked  Sexiest Man Alive. Heck YES!! He is unbelievably gorgeous and can dance like I've never seen. I can't wait for Mike to watch it with me and learn the choreography bc my man has moves too. You should see him dance Gangnam style, haha!  



And lastly... my wonderful, obstetrician Dr. Lewis decided to go and retire right before my last baby was born, lol. He was my doctor for 18 years and was amazing to me. He deserves a happy, fulfilled retirement. I met my new doctor, Dr. Hoang. He's completely different from Dr. Lewis. It's a big change for me. He's up to date on all the modern things, is very anti-medicine, and has a very different approach to performing  c-sections. I had such a great c-section last time and want it to be exactly the same, and when I asked if he would use staples on me, he about fell over dead from shock. He's never even done staples before. He uses a special ring device to do the c-section and my uterus will never leave my body so the recovery is very quick and supposedly significantly less pain. Which is hard to believe considering how great I felt last time. I barely remember any pain. Also because of his cultural background he believes in waiting 30 days after you give birth for permanent birth control. I wanted to have my tubes tied during my c-section and he had a lot to say about that. He wanted me to research "Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome". Apparently when they cut your fallopian tubes it cuts the blood supply off to the ovaries, and can cause some serious hormonal issues after. So he recommended a non-surgical procedure called "Essure" and wanted me to research it. However there is getting ready to be a class action lawsuit regarding this procedure that I discovered doing research. So that terrified the crap out of me too. He was also hesitant for Mike to get a vasectomy bc of some possible side effects with that as well. So he will do whatever we want to do, he just wants us to do our research and make the right decision for our family. I now have NO clue what our decision is upon our research lol.  

I had to share with him the story of Clara's birth and the reconstruction I had to have. He then told me that he had a lady come in the day before with the same thing that happened to me only her life was ruined "forever". She had a permanent colostomy bag, and no longer had a rectum. I literally cried when he was telling me, bc I just can't believe there are other woman out there that had to go through that. And to know she is living "my worst case scenario" is just beyond heartbreaking. When I tried researching other people that had that happen I found very little. It's so taboo and people are afraid to get help. So to hear someone was in his office the day before me, in Bakersfield, that experienced such a trauma, was overwhelming to me. I wish I could meet her, as weird as that sounds. It makes me realize how lucky I was, and that I finally found an amazing doctor that saved my quality of life. That surgery was the worst, most painful thing I've ever gone through so far in my life, but I'd do it a BAZILLION times over bc I got my most amazing Clarabear out of it. 

So I'm looking forward to being a patient of Dr. Hoang's and I'm trying to welcome the change bc I'm scared that I won't have it as good as my last c-section. But he said he was going to challenge me that it will be the best c-section I've ever had, which seem unbelievable to me. Challenge accepted of course lol! 





Thursday, November 1, 2012

Halloween 2012

 This was the first year I took Clara & Jack trick or treating! She's been watching different shows about Halloween and getting super excited about it. Michael of course had to work, so my mom and I took the kids to Misty's and we trick or treated on Misty's cul-de-sac. Misty took Jack and I took Clara and it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. 

I usually make their costumes but this year Clara was throwing a fit about being "Daddy's Work" for Halloween. I can't make an UPS uniform so I just ordered it online. I really wanted her to be Dorothy and I was going to make Jack a scarecrow but it just didn't happen. I thought about making Jack a package but there was no way he was going to wear a cardboard box haha! So he was an ADORABLE Superman! 

Grandma Terry came over before we took off to Misty's. She helped me get the kids ready and we took them outside and got some cute pictures. Jack loves the kids show Oobi, and there is a superhero episode that he loves. And Oobi wears a cape and says "Shoop Save Day" so Jack kept saying "shoop" and putting his arm in the air. It was really cute. 

 We went by Eric's work at GNC real quick to say hi. He gave the kids some rubber snakes that they kept chewing on. It was so cute bc as soon as Jack seen Eric, he took off running towards him. 
 Aunt Fishy loaded up their buckets full of candy. 


 My handsome little Clark Kent. 

 My mini Michael! She's so cute in her costume!



 This picture cracked me up. She was getting sleepy before we left and was laying back playing with her belly button. 

 "SHOOP" 




Even brother was getting into the knocking action. He tried to hug everyone that gave him candy. Misty had to restrain him from the strangers lol.  


 Flying Superman!!

 Then we headed out to my friend Chrissy's house. Her husband and her go ALL out for Halloween. He made special electronic programmed singing skeletons and pumpkins. It was so incredible but it scared Clara half to death. She kept telling me the rest of the night "Mommy I don't wike Cwissy's house". haha! 






 We stopped by to see Jack and Sharon at the stables before we headed out. 



 The first house we knocked on, Clara rang her doorbell about 5 times and I had to explain to her that you only ring it once. Turns out her doorbell wasn't working anyway lol! 







We got home around 9 bc we went to eat at Chili's after we finished trick or treating. The kids and I were exhausted after and we went straight to bed when we got home, after a good teeth brushing of course. It was  really fun and there were some really cute little kids dressed up. One little boy was dressed as a dinosaur roared at Clara and scared the crap out of her. It was pretty funny. There was only one group of rowdy teenagers that came running through, that practically ran over the little kids. I was super irritated. I guess it's a mama bear thing bc I wanted to hurt those stupid teens. And of course as I was turning the street into the neighborhood, I saw two older kids dressed as KKK clan members. I was stunned, and I apparently stopped the car to stare. I was horrified, but it is Oildale, so I'm not completely shocked. I think every year is just going to get more and more fun as time goes on! Clara was really into this year and was so sweet! She would stare at every piece of candy after they put it in her bucket. It was hysterical! Now I get to reap the benefits of all the yummy candy haha!!