The upper east side

That is where this baby likes to kick. Seriously, he just likes to hang out there all the time and make it a little uncomfortable for me.



This pregnancy has been kind of interesting I think. Not only was I completely surprised by even being pregnant, here are a few other weird things that have come my way this time around...


*My blood pressure is always pretty low, but this whole pregnancy it has consistantly been about 90/45...weird I know. Well one time it was 103/50 and that was high for me!

*I have gained a total of 8 pounds. This is weird to me, and my doctor is not too happy with me, but what can you do?



*I have not had an appetite since I knew I was pregnant, which probably attributes to the first thing-probably:)!



*There has not been one day of this entire pregnancy that I have not thrown up..fun, I know.



*I am bigger than I was when I was pregnant with an 11 pound child, twins and my fourth baby. Which is weird in itself because I have only gained 8 pounds!



*I am measuring 3 weeks small, again weird because I am huge.



*There have been several days this pregnancy that I haven't even thought about being pregnant, which is weird because my other pregnancies my life was consumed by being pregnant.

*No carpal tunnel, no cavities and no eczema, but mad round ligament pains.

*I will have our fifth child in 2 and a half weeks and I have not even prepared one bit...I need to get a move on it.

*A good thing is being pregnant right when buying a house has it advantages because the nesting influence is awesome with decorating and getting the house to a "homey" stage.

*I have never more wanted another baby at this stage of the pregnancy! YIKES!

As you can see I have had my fair share of weird things this pregnancy. One thing I am hoping this nesting thing will help out is getting up to date on this blog. I still need to do our vacation and I am two weeks behind on my Monday makeovers but be sure to tune in to this Monday because I will be posting three rooms to make up for it. I will also be sure to post about Andy and my little get a way last weekend. So hopefully in the near future there will be a lot more blogging going on in this house!

ok, now what -revised

So I have been thinking a lot lately about what we will do on September 17th and that days that follow. Each time I have a baby it gets more and more tricky.

Since I have C sections Andy really has no option not going and staying with me. Plus I really like it that way. There are times when I cannot get up or get the baby and a nurse isn't there right when I need her that Andy really is needed. The problem is what do we do with our other "babies" while we are gone having another baby?

I have thought and thought about this all this week. Honestly it was only this week that I have really paid attention to it and only now because Tuesday night I spent the night at the hospital, but that is a whole other story. So this week I have been racking my brain trying to come up with some great scenario...but guess what? there isn't one.

My mom is taking off a week to help me out which sounds heavenly. So I am trying to figure out what would be best- her being here with the kids for 3-4 days while we are in the hospital or wait and get good "use" out of her when I return home with a new baby.

Here are my thoughts right now.

Have Andy's sister come Tuesday night since we need to be at the hospital at 5:30 Wednesday morning. My mom and Andy will be at the hospital all day on Wednesday. Then my mom would come home get the kids, relieving Michelle, and bring them up to see baby and mama. Then from there they would all go home and someone ??? would stay with them Thursday and Friday...who I don't know. The that weekend probably Friday night they would all go to someones house. Probably Bennett and Maddox would go to my parents and then J and C would go somewhere else. Andy and I would come home on Saturday and have till Sunday to kind of be with the baby ourselves and sleep. Then Monday hits the kids come home and my mom comes to save the day. Andy will be off that whole week too. Should my mom not come till the next week? Oh gosh, the dilemma...

I know this probably sounds confusing and you are all thanking your lucky stars this isn't your problem, but writing it all out somehow makes me feel a little bit better. Well for now at least.


In other news I got to spend the evening in the hospital Tuesday night. I was having some major cramping and contractions and called the doctor even though I really really didn't want to, and they told me to go into to L and D. Blah...yuck! I knew he wasn't coming, but still just to be positive we went. It was actually a night out for us and kind of fun to be honest. The poking and prodding were not, but fun none the less. It did kind of get me excited for whats in store for us in four short weeks. I love LOVE the hospital stay and I honestly think that is part of what gets me baby hungry so quick is how much I cherish those moments in the hospital. Not only is it so fun to be there being waited on and answering to no one, but those first moments with your newborn baby are just so amazing. But, anyway, I would like to not be back there till September 17th! I am praying he stays put till then, but he on the other hand seems to want out.

After writing about it all last night and sleeping on it I think I have come up with a good solution.
Tuesday night Michelle comes
Wednesday Michelle watches kids
Wednesday night my mom comes and picks up kids to see baby
Wednesday night MIL takes kids back and watches them at our house Thursday
Thursday MIL has kids at our home
Friday morning MIL has kids
Friday afternoon my mom has kids till we get home
Saturday my mom has kids
Sunday we get home and mom is here to help
Monday- Friday Andy is here while my mom works
weekend help
Monday-Friday my mom is here helping

I think this will work best. Let me tell you after one week after a C section you are not magically able to do anything. So I think while Andy is here my mom will work and then when Andy goes back to work, she can be here. I think just having her here and my MIL while we are in the hospital will be easier on me too and everyone else. Now I need to get Michelle, my mom, and my MIL on board and we will be set. I am happy to have a plan...now a little note to baby---baby stay put till the 17th especially now that I kind of know what is going on, PLEASE!

Life's a Beach

***I have decided to start on our vacation. I am going in order with pictures and just a little bit of journaling and at the end I will have a full account of our trip! All I can see is get ready to see massive amounts of pictures!!!! I will have to look into collages I suppose!

jadie lovin' it

cute boy

bennett enjoying the breeze

Being at the beach made me want to live right on the beach. It was so fun. The kids loved it. Our hotel was right on Daytona Beach so we would just walk right out our door and onto the sand. It was just so great. It was hot, but being on the water had a nice breeze that made it perfect. The kids loved it. Bennett loved it and was in the water the whole time. Jadeyn is our little fishy and she was in the water the whole time too. Cortland was pushed over by the first tide, so he was not too big of a fan of the water, but loved the sand. Maddox stayed far far away from the water. I enjoyed laying out and playing with the kids. I am not too big on being in water where other living things are other than humans, plus salt water is the worst. But I still love it. We enjoyed two full days on the water.

she could have stayed there forever
seriously could it get any sweeter...totally candid
where cortland like to be best
bennett was all about the beach
cute boy

beach baby
they kept these on all the time
i cannot stand how cute she is
group photo with cherise awe

At our hotel they had a pool right on the water too so we spent most the evenings in there. The kids just love the pool and were getting quite brave in the water. I do not generally burn, however, while laying out at the beach for two days I burnt my legs so bad. Just me calves. I have never seen a worse burn to be honest. I probably had about 100 blisters on each leg. Fun right. I could not bend my legs or walk very fast. It was bad, but I would rather it be my legs over my shoulders or something that clothes had to be over it. We sure had a great time at the beach. I would love to visit once a year!
why oh why can we not have palm trees in the midwest?

crazy girl...

my sweet little jadeyn cracks me up. most kids go crazy for candy, not jadie...she loves her fruits. i tell ya it is so hard to keep produce in this house. i buy at sam's and within two days 2 packs of bananas, 2 packs of grapes and most of my 24 apples, blueberry bundle and all the blackberries we get from grandpa don are gone. sam's must really appreciate my buisness. it is weird to think how much food we go through in a week now, i can only imagine what it will be like when they are teenagers! so here is jadeyn reaching over the candy and straight to the goods..am i lucky or what?

Monday Makeover!

Oh my gosh...today is Monday...how can that be already? Since I am not too prepared I will have to show a room that you probably have already seen, but I have added a few things. So here it is, the dining room in all her glory!

This was the first room that we painted back when we moved in. I was so hesitant to paint for some reason. I like the cleaness of the white walls, but once we paited this room I was sold. I love the color. It is amazing what a can of paint can do for a room. Love it.

I remember when we were in Dental school eating at our cheap table that was down to one chair because it was so cheap thinking someday I may even have a dining room table and now I do. It isn't something I thought we would jump on so fast, but at a furniture store after looking all last summer for a couch and seeing this piece I just fell in love with it. We made a deal with ourselves if we could save enough for it by the end of last summer we would get it and then at the end of the summer the pieces were on sale...double score! I just love it. I love the darkness of it. I love the style...I really have never seen a set I have loved more. The china in the hutch was my great grandmas. I have always loved it. I think of her everytime I walk by the hutch and I make sure to use it every once in a while. I remember being super excited when I was younger when we would eat on my moms, so I plan to put it to good use. I would have honestly picked this china out myself...love it.I have been on the hunt for window treatments in there forever and have never found something I love in there. A few weeks ago I bought three different ones I had been eyeing and hung them all up and this was what we picked out in the end. I am still not sure how I feel about them...what do you think?

I'm not ready...

I am not ready for Bennett to start school again. It makes me sad...I like him with me. Second grade no less. We went yesterday to look at the class list and he got the teacher I was really hoping for which makes us happy, but that still does not help the fact that I want him with me longer. This summer went to fast. The only thing that helps is knowing how excited he is to go back. I also had bigger plans for this summer. I still have three different places/activities that we haven't been able to do yet, so I guess we will try on the weekends to get these things done, since school starts in 2 days. So here is to a great school year.

Yesterday...

Yesterday nine years ago from the day, Andy and I were married. I cannot believe that is has been NINE years. Where has the time gone? Even when I think of all the things we have been through, it still does not seem possible that we have been married that long.



I remember as a little girl being so excited to be married someday and have children. I have to admit it is even better than in my dreams. It probably helps that my husband really honestly could not be better. It know it sounds a little corny, but I honestly wonder every single day how I got lucky enough to marry him. I still ask myself that question, and although I have not found the answer, I am not complaining.


It is weird to think that 9 years ago when we got married a lot was different. For starters we were 21 and 22. I look at kids these days and think they are just that, kids. It seems so young. He had not even taken one single credit hour in college, and now 8 years later he is a dentist. We had nothing to our names. Now we have a home, 2 cars, a yard and the most precious thing we have acquired, our children. He had more hair, I had less pounds, he was so skinny just coming home from Guatemala, I was a novice at dinners and laundry...those were the times. How we survived or even existed is unknown, but we did it and I look back at that time and the years to follow with a smile on my face. We have been so happy and so blessed throughout them.


Last night when he got home I had had one of those days. And on top of it I cut my thumb pretty bad. And when I see blood I normally just pass out and I was trying so hard to not do that, with four little ones at home. When he got home he had gotten me flowers and chocolate covered strawberries and a sweet card. We then waited for our babysitter and went out to a really great restaurant that we had never been to before. That is always fun and it was SO good. SO SO good. We came home to some visitors for the weekend which we are really excited about. So it was a wonderful day for sure.

I am sure glad I get this guy for eternity. I am grateful for that promise, this death to us part is for the birds, I want this guy and these kiddos FOREVER!!!!!!!

***this is not our best wedding photo and i wanted to use a different one, but scanning a picture tonight, does NOT sound fun. And funny story about this picture, well actually andy's hair. so when andy got home from his mission his hair was bleach bleach blonde and he wanted it a little darker so we (me) decided i know enough about hair i will color it for him. it turns jet black, i am talking i have never ever in my life seen darker hair, so we try attempt two and it turns a burnt orangie/strawberry color, even uglier. so our third and last attempt turned it reddish/weirdish color you have ever seen. i hated it, but i was afraid our fourth attempt would have made his hair full on fall out, so reddish/weirdish color you have ever seen is what made it's appearance on our wedding day. i remember someone coming up to us saying i didn't know the E's had any red heads in their family. luckily we decided to let it grow out which only took like 2 weeks and it was back to his old natural color...serisouly bleach blonde would have been SO much better, but oh well!

Monday Makeover's

I mentioned in my previous entry that I was going to start a Monday Makeover. Basically I will be showing a new room of our house that I have "redone" or really just "done". Hope you like!

I know this first one is not all that exciting, but I really love how this picture turned out. I blew it up at Sam's for all of six bucks. I took it while we were in Daytona Beach, very candid, and I love it! Then I bought a canvas and Hodge Podged it up. I just love it SO much. This is what you see when you walk down the stairs that come into our kitchen. It is so precious and it brings a smile to my face every time I walk by it.

I may add another makeover later tonight...we'll see...stay tuned!

next month, and other ramblings...

I am not sure if anyone else has done this, but normally when I hit this stage of pregnancy I think to myself I cannot believe I will have a baby NEXT month. It seems like it takes forever to get to that point and thinking a new little baby will be on it's way in a month is so exciting. Even when I had 10 month old twins and I was saying that with Maddox it was refreshing to think the pregnancy was almost done, and he was coming so soon.

This time, however, it is strange. I think I just got used to the idea that I am even pregnant and now to say next month is it, is a hard concept to grasp. But none the less he will be here. I am really getting excited to see him and cuddle him and tell him how happy I am to be his mom. I am also so excited to see if he favors any of our other children or if he will have a look all his own.

I am also getting to the point where for the whole pregnancy I have thought to myself, what, I am what? And now it is hitting me that a little tiny sweet baby is coming and I am in charge. That is still strange to me. I am fully responsible for his life and nurturing and so forth. I will not say life at our house is easy necessarily, but it was getting easier, and now I am pretty sure I will be back to square one. But at least the twins are getting much more independent and communicating so well. That will make life a lot easier I know. Whenever I get a little overwhelmed I picture myself holding that baby boy and that joy without a doubt overpowers any sort if inadequacy feelings I may be having now.


So our house is coming along. I now have the upstairs completely finished. I still need to hang a few things, but other than that, it is looking pretty good. On Monday I am going to have Monday Makeovers and post pictures of our house before and afters of different rooms. Hopefully that will be entertaining and suffice for all the people that have been so patiently asking for pictures. I really do not care to ever paint again in my life. Although remind me that in four weeks when our basement is done, and I want to paint again. Seriously remind me to NOT DO IT!


This summer has been so great. Andy's sister Nicole has been home for the summer from BYU. She has been an enormous help and Andy and I even get out together once a week. Which up until this summer in our entire 9 years of marriage has never happened. She normally comes over a few days of the week during the day to let me run errands or even just play with the kids. She even changes diapers when she sees a need and has never been asked. Then on the weekends she will watch the kids while Andy and I get out to either do things that we need to do or go to dinner. Last night we did both. We went to 5 different places I had needed to go and then to dinner. Every other week we try to take one of the kiddos with us for their special date night and they have loved that. We took Bennett a few weeks ago and you could just tell he felt so special even though we did not give in to his Chuck E Cheese request. And last night we took little Maddox. He was so good as always and it was so fun just having him with us. Everyone at the restaurant just loved him and they kept saying oh you are having number 2 so soon! I don't even correct people anymore, so it would have been funny to see all their faces if we were to say, actually he is number four! Anyway, we really love these date nights with our kids, although I have to say it makes me realize how much easier it would be if we only had one!

Well that is all I have going on it seems like. I do still need to do a post on our vacay. It was so much fun and I am having a hard time putting it all into words and choosing the best pictures. Jadeyn still talks about kissing Minnie Mouse and the Princesses and every single day Cortland wakes up he says, let's go see Mickey mom. So cute and I am so happy they had such a great memorable time.

Oh and Bennett starts SECOND GRADE in TEN days! How can this be?