What we've been up to these days

Well, aside from my bouts of weird problems we have been doing a few things these days. (FYI I am now dealing with some sort of nasty cough one of these days I will catch a break from having health issues, I am betting I picked it up in the ER since that place has lots of gifts that keep on giving).

The twins and ashton

This summer is going to be a long one. My kids are bored, I'm sick, ashton hasn't been sleeping too well, and I have run out of threats and bribes for my kids. I really need to get on the ball and have some sort of structure for the day but we have had a rough go of it the last week or so. Anyway, mostly we have just been swimming, swimming and swimming some more. My sister and I did take all the kids minus the twins (can you imagine the looks we would have gotten with 8 kids three of which are newborns) to the free movies the other day. It started off pretty good, then Chloe needed to make like 4 or 5 trips to the potty(she is potty training), Mackenzie made 3, landon and tanner made 1, and I am pretty sure we spilled an entire bucket of popcorn on the floor. The movie was only like an hour long so we didn't sit very much. The kids had fun though I think. My sister blessed her babies at home last Sat. so we did have a BBQ over there after the blessing which was fun. Jared has been busy at work although it seems like he has had to take lots of time off to help me, and while I have been sick he has been doing the late night and middle of the night feedings for ashton so he has scored some major points! The kids are patiently awaiting the arrival of Jared's parents. They are coming out for the 4th of July and for ashton's blessing. They can't wait and neither can I, a little extra help in keeping them entertained will be cause for great celebration. So here are a few pics of the last little bit. I am hoping to get some photos of ashton done if I can ever get around to it before he is able to sit on his own. Other good news is that Carrie Underwood is coming to bakersfield in Nov. and we are all going to go and very excited about that. Tickets go on Sale Sat. for those interested. We hope everyone else's summer is going by faster than ours!

Playing at Lindsay's house eventually we found clothes all over the yard

babysitting monroe grandma's dog

mackenzie finally wore herself out

The bookcase jared built for the boys

I just can't get enough.......

Of the hospital apparently. On Thurs. I woke up felt fine for the most part but about mid morning I started to feel kind of blah. Not really sick but just crampy and crummy. I chalked it up to just having ashton 2 weeks prior and thought let's get the kids out of the house and go swimming. So we went and by the time we left my mom's the cramping pain was so bad I could barely walk. I got home and the only thing I wanted to do was sit in a hot bath and try to relax. So that is what I did. While I was trying to feel better, mackenzie was dumping and entire can of formula on my living room floor. Ethan, who was really concerned about how he could help me feel better (note to self anytime I want my children to listen to me I should cry and tell them I don't feel good, and they all of a sudden start listening) got out the vacuum and vacuumed up all the formula and then went around trying to pick things up. Things got worse so I called my mom at work and she said I'll be right over. She got here, got me out of the tub and dressed and started driving like a mad woman to the hospital. You would have thought I was about to deliver a baby in the car. She drops me off at the ER and says she will take the kids and just have Jared come to the hospital. Well a few hours later I finally get seen by the doctor, he orders blood work and some x-rays, and gives me some morphine. Usually it knocks me out but it just took the edge off the pain. They get back the results and think there might be something more there and order a CAT scan to make sure there are no obstructions or other problems. I have now been in the ER for more than 6 hours and they are telling me to drink this nasty stuff for the cat scan. It tasted like NyQuil and there was like 16 oz of it. I chug it only to realize an hour later I have drink another one. Could someone please have some mercy and make that stuff taste better. I get the CAT scan and wait some more for the results. Come to find out that my body was not getting rid of all the extra fluid that you retain when you are pregnant. It was all just sitting around my abdomen and pelvis pushing on all my organs and making me very very uncomfortable. So what could I do about it? Oh nothing I just have to let my body do the work and take some pain meds. Can I say one more time how glad I am that I am not going to be pregnant again in this lifetime. So after taking some diuretic and pain meds I was starting to feel better. But wait I couldn't leave the hospital without getting something. What I got was a UTI from them having to use a catheter for a urine sample. So this weekend was spent recovering from our 12 hour trip to the ER which resulted in us getting home at 3 am, just in time to feed ashton get about 2 hours of sleep then get up with kids and for jared to get ready for work. Luckily jared called in an Rx for me so I didn't have to make another Dr visit, and my mom came over and picked up my house a little and then took me back to her house so she could help with kids and let me get some rest. I do have lots of pictures and lots of updates on kids and what they have been doing but I just had to get the complaining out of my system. My next post will be much much better!

Glorious Sleep

Today Jared took the kids to church and I am staying home with Ashton. Although I did contemplate going to church since I am starting to go a little stir crazy being in the house and church allows me to sit, visit with some people, and still have my other children out of my hair for about 2 hours. I did think however if I showed up I would never hear the end of how crazy I was for being there, so here I am at home peacefully blogging. We are almost a week into having Ashton home. The first few days were total hell. I thought that he was nursing so good and that everything was going fine, who was I kidding. That has never happened to me before so what made me think it would happen now. For two days Ashton did not poop. We went to the Dr. for his first visit and the Dr. said he has lost a lot of weight and he should have pooped. Go home give it the rest of today and bring him in tomorrow for a weight check. So we go in the next day he has lost 2 more ounces and still hasn't popped. Of course I am thinking the worst, something is wrong with him, his insides aren't working right all the crazy stuff. I told the Dr. he is so fussy and just screaming all the time and doesn't sleep well, then he said in his expert opinion, he is probably hungry. What?!! That couldn't be it, are you kidding me. I have three other kids that have survived I am pretty sure I would be able to figure something that simple out. No, oh no it could not just be that simple. Then I thought of a friend Laurie, who had a baby a few months ago. I remember her saying on her blog that her baby was just fussy and she couldn't get anything done and she just wasn't sure what was wrong. Then she figured it out. He was hungry. So I went home started pumping like the Dr. said to get an idea of how much he was taking in from nursing. I wasn't even getting an ounce. So I fed him that then gave him some formula. We now have a completely different kid. He slept the whole day. Woke up to eat, went back to sleep and by the end of the day he finally pooped. A ton I might add.

So he has been so good the last few days since I have been giving him formula after nursing. Last night I fed him at 10 he slept till 3:30, then I fed him again and he went right back to sleep and slept till 7 am. I honestly feel like I got a full nights sleep. So now I have to decided if I am going to continue to try and nurse and supplement or just put him completely on the bottle. My milk still hasn't come in so at this point stopping wouldn't be so so painful. I always hate making this decision. I know it is good for him and it is free but I am pretty sure my sanity and time are just as good for him. As for my other kids, they are in a sad state. Mackenzie has been dressing her self for the last few days. Landon has done nothing but suck his fingers with his ever so loved pillow covering his head, and Ethan just wants to be hovering over Ashton at all times. It can only get better from here right?

I just wanted to tell everyone who has been helping us with meals and kids thank you thank you. The other day my visiting teacher came and got all three of my kids and took them from 11 am to 4:30 pm. Honestly if that can't qualify her as a saint nothing will.