Heaton Reunion 2012

Heaton Reunion 2012

Every year the Heaton's get together in Alton for a family reunion. This year our family was in charge of the dinner Friday night. Uncle Kevin put together a yummy dinner of dutch oven potato's & chicken, salads, rolls and a few sheet cakes. We were told to plan for about 150 people this year. 

 Uncle Dustin brought his horses to share. Daddy got off work in time to help give rides, here's Emily.

 One thing about Heaton reunion's is that there is plenty of good, yummy food to go around.

Brayden ate his brownie first!

 All of the kids look forward to seeing and playing with there cousins alll weekend long. Why should it stop at bed time? Here's Emily and Emma sleeping together at our house.

 Our reunion theme this year was education. There were several different stations split up into "classes" on saturday. This is the Art class, the kids painted pencils and then attached  feather's to the erasers. The girls made Fancy Nancy pencils and the boys made the feather's look like an arrow pencil. I guess I didn't get a pict. of the final products. This was the "favorite" class for the kids. Painting + Kids = TOO MUCH FUN!

 The Home Ec Class was learning how to make homemade cheese and yogurt. Taught by our very own Aunt Harmony and Aunt Heather.

 English class was writing letter's to missionaries who don't get a lot of letter's from home. Uncle Ron and his wife our currenly serving as the Mission President in Argentina. They will pass these letter's around.

 In the Horticulture class the kids planted poppie seeds. These were Grandma Heaton's favorite flower. 

 P.E was playing dodgeball, each family against a different family. This is the "Karl", our family.

 There were also some extra curicular activities held outside. A dance class for the girls

 and basketball for the daddies.

 The younger kids had fun just playing outside. Here's Uncle Kevin and Brayden having a sword fight wirh sticks.

Heaton family reunion's are always so much fun and we hate to see it end when everyone has to go home.

Till next year... 

Emily's big break.

Two thursday's ago everyone was out front taking advantage of our warm non windy afternoon weather we were having. Miss Emily was riding her newly fixed bike up and down the street. Her back tire has had a slow leak since we gave it to her for her birthday last year. This mom finally remembered to pick up a new tube just a few days before so that dad could fix her tire once and for all. No more blowing it up just to have it flat a few hours later!

She was riding her bike in front of the house when she tipped it too much during a turn and crashed and burned. Kory and I were standing not 10 feet from her and saw her tip over. She of course started crying and complaining that she couldn't walk. Being she hadn't even tried to stand up we kept telling her to get up and brush it off. After several minutes of her not even trying I went over to try to console her and check her leg out. There appeared to be nothing wrong with her leg. No scrapes, No scratch, No blood, No nothing!! Kory and I kept telling her to toughen up and to brush it off.  She would NOT get up and started crawling into the house. Kory came over, picked her up and carried her in. It was when he sat her on the couch we discovered a huge goose egg on the front of her leg. It wasn't there when she was outside. I didn't know you could get a goose egg other than your head!

Having just sent the hospital a check to start off our 3-month payment plan for Baby Kylie I didn't want to rush Emily to the Doctor for no reason. Kory called a friend/co-worker, and on the side EMT, to check out her leg. When Eric first saw her his opinion was to take her in for an x-ray. However, when he started touching and pushing on her leg he decided that more than likely she had just sprained her leg and the bike hit her shin bone hard enough to cause the goose egg. Emily could wiggle her toes and move her ankle so chances are it wasn't broken. Her ankle and foot started to swell up and so we immediatley started icing it.  Three days later on Sunday we had a brother-in-law, Jim who is also an EMT come take a look at it. The goose egg was gone but her foot and toes were still swollen. He could get Emily to wiggle her toes and ankle so he too thought she had probably just sprained it. However, we couldn't get her to stand on it or apply any pressure to her foot without her crying out. I also felt like she wasn't sleeping very well at night and was then of course AWNERY during the next day. At the same time Emily was saying that she thought her leg was getting better every day and hurt less and did NOT want to go to the doctors. Yet she crawled and scooted all over the place not using her "bad" leg. I felt confused and wasn't sure what to do. Miss Kylie had her 2-week doctors appt. that upcoming Tuesday and so I decided I would take Emily in too just as a precaution. I love Dr. Worwood. He didn't even touch Emily's leg. Once he heard that she had had a goose egg on her leg he sent us over for an x-ray. Just a few minutes later we were back at the doctor's, and he was pulling up her digital x-ray. As soon as I saw the picture I could tell she had a nice break! I felt so bad now knowing that my 5-year-old had gone 6 days with a broken leg!

Emily with some help chose hot pink for her cast color. This cast goes up to her thigh, it can NOT get wet and isn't weight bearing. Doctor would prefer her not to use crutches as kids will usually try using their leg before they should. So for the next 4-6 weeks it's like having a crawling toddler again. She scoots around on her bum all over the place. She's still pretty independent. She can get up and down the stairs herself, goes to the bathroom by herslef and can still dress her self. At her next appt. another x-ray will be taken. If her leg is healing a new cast will be put on. This time it will only go up to her knee, be weight bearing so she can walk on it and be water proof. This cast will be on for an additional 2-4 weeks. If it takes the full 10 weeks she'll be having her cast removed during the 1st week of school. I'm hoping and praying her leg will heal quickly so we can enjoy some of our summer cast free. I'm a bit irritated with the whole situation. Kory has finally been put on the day schedule and the kids and I had plans for this summer. I wanted to be able to take them to Zion's and Bryce Canyon by myself this summer. Emily has been begging me for swim lessons too. With her not being able to walk at the moment this leaves me with 3 in strollers if we went hiking. I can't do that by myself and even with the big kids help I don't think we'd have much fun! Swim lessons are definelty out of the question too.  I went to Wal Mart on our way home from Grandma's by myself with everyone and it wasn't easy. I had to put Kylie in the basket part in her car seat and then Brayden in the front. I then had to put Emily in the basket of a second cart and had Hunter push it for me while I was pushing the other cart. Just crazy! We'll have to find some different activities for our summer this year.

Madelyn's Photo Shoot

Somebody at our house has a birthday coming up very soon. She's counting down and informed everyone this morning her birthday is one week from today. Did you know that's just 7 days from now? She makes me laugh. This beautiful girl of mine is turning 8!

While in Hurricane last week I took her to the temple to take some pictures of her in her Baptism dress.

This is Madelyn's favorite.

 She's my little photogenic child. Always wanting to pose!

 She's a cute little girl.

 I love her to pieces.

I'm so glad she belongs to us!

Now I get to work on making her Baptism invitation's.

Newborn Photo Shoot

I miss my best friend, April. She lived right across the street from us in Prescott Valley. One of her many talents was taking awesome photos in her front room and turning them into professional pictures. She was so good at this. I had the intentions of visiting her sometime after Kylie was born to have her take some pictures for me. However, her family recently started a new adventure by moving to Minnesota. As much as I'd like to visit her, she's just too far away at the moment. These past few days I've tried to do my own photo shoot with what little knowledge I picked up from her. I wish I paid more attention now!  I bought Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 from Costco many years ago. I tried using it way back then and got frustrated knowing April was across the street and could do what was taking me hours in just a few minutes. Directions did not come with this program. I've decided it isn't very user friendly to someone who is just starting in photo editing. I keep looking up some of my questions on YouTube trying to get answers. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It's been quite frustrating and I'm about ready to just email April some pictures to work her magic on then.  Here are just a few pictures I've been playing with tonight...

I like this picture, but the tulle was a bit scratchy and has left her little tummy splotchy. I'd like to fix this but so far haven't been able to figure it out. One day, hopefully!

 This one's Madelyn's favorite. I just wish I caught more of her face.

 I love the spit bubble below.

 By the time we were done we both felt like this. She is not crying just yawning very largely!

I love it.

I've got about 70 more photos to go through. I used a few different background cloths and props. I also have a few picture ideas to take outside but am waiting on better weather. It's finally warm around here, like over 70 degrees but the dang wind won't go away. I don't mind a little breeze but what we've got is just crazy. Our wind gusts are usually around 15-20 mph which is too much for me anyways but twice this week we have had gusts of wind around 55mph (been happening at least once a week for a while now). My very full trash can keeps getting blown over, branches in our trees are breaking off and my stroller took a joy ride down the street all by itself. I just can't take my baby girl out in weather like that! I thought it was funny today when Kory came home for lunch and started complaining about the wind AGAIN. His comment was something like this "We are not living Alton for long if this dang wind continues on like it has been so far this year." Amen. I couldn't agree with him more! I just feel bad he's the one working out in it.

One week old...

It's hard to believe that Miss Kylie is one week old today. I'll admit I have a hard time saying this as she wasn't born until 11:30pm a week ago. I don't want to have to say she's a week old till tomorrow. Sounds silly I know!

This morning with a little extra help I gave Kylie her 1st official bath in the kitchen sink. We must have had the water at the perfect temp. as Kylie just laid there for several minutes in peace.  

 It wasn't until I started lifting her out of the water to soap her down that we heard her displeasure. 

Once we got her out of sink and into a towel she settled right down with the help of her binky.

 To finish off our monthly picture collage of this pregnancy we had to have a final one with baby girl. I know Kylie is little. At her Dr's appt. yesterday she weighed 6'14. But holding her and loving on her it's amazing to think that she fit inside my body. I can't believe she was inside me just a week ago today. Knowing my body wasn't doing a dang thing in preparation of her birth I kept telling myself that she'd be born on June 7th when I turned down the June 4th induction date. 

Here she is after her bath. Nice and clean with fresh fuzzy hair.

I think we've got a binky baby again. Haven't had one of those since Hunter.  

She is just so stink'n cute. I just want to eat her up!

Day 6

Today Kylie had her newborn check up with her Doctor in Hurricane. My 3 older kids were able to attend a 4-H Pirates themed camp for the day leaving me with just the 2 younger ones as Kory was supposed to start the day shift today, but in the end didn't.

While being in Hurricane we stopped by to see Aunt Sheri and GG, GGpa to show off our newest addition. My sister, Sheri, has a sweet baby girl Brionney who is 3 1/2 months old. I haven't seen Brionney in a few weeks but being 3 1/2 months old she's supposed to be tiny still. Oh, my heck! Look at the difference when we laid them side to side. Brionney is huge and Kylie is so tiny. I love how Kylie still has the "folded" look. It saddens me to know that Kylie will too soon be "huge" too when compared to another newborn. I wish she could stay this little longer.

 Here's Kylie and her GG, the one that she is named after. During the 30 minutes we were visiting I can't tell you how many times GG asked who Kylie was and who she belonged to. After telling her again that she was my new baby she asked if I had enrolled her in school yet and how that was going. It brings tears to my eyes seeing what Alzheimer's has done to my grandma. It makes me sad to know that GG will never remember who Kylie is. That Kylie will probably not have much of a relationship with her GG like my other kids do.

My grandpa has a hard time taking grandma places especially far from home. I went ahead and let him know of our blessing of Kylie and baptism date for Madelyn coming up. I wanted him to know that of course they were invited but I understood if he decided not to come too. We're not terribly far away but for Grandma it would be a very, very long day probably making it twice as long for Grandpa. When I first told him about it, he said he'd just have to see but since then he's called me twice. He's confirmed the date so he could put it on his calendar and then called again wanting to know what time sacrament started. He says they're coming. I hope they can make it but again will understand if something prevents them from coming.  

Day 5

Last night not wanting a repeat of Miss Kylie being wide awake and wanting attention from 12-3am we kept her awake from 8-10pm which was so hard!!! I was hoping this would mess with her little schedule enough so that I could get sleep. No such luck! Little stinker was awake from 12-3 again. I'd nurse her, she'd fall asleep for no more than 5 minutes and than be fussy again. I swear she's spoiled already as I had to hold her almost the entire time or she'd be cranky. I do have to wonder if she may have had a belly ache. She was very wiggly the entire time and she didn't have any messy diapers all night and was quite gassy. For being so little I was suprised how stinky she could get. When she'd burp they smelled quite sour too. This is the part that's frusturating to me. Trying to figure out what I eat that causes her little up set stomach's, IF that's what it was. With Emily it was anything chocolate which being I don't have much of a sweet tooth it didn't bother me terribly. With Brayden it was all dairy products; milk, ice cream, cheese, etc. This was much harder. I'm hoping we don't have a repeat with Kylie but I did have a bowl of ice cream last night which makes me wonder????

Kory took all the kids to church this morning 9-12. As soon as he left I hit my pillow again and didn't wake up till 11:30 when Kylie woke me up. All I can say is I felt much better after that nap! The kids were so excited to get home and hold their sister again.

I just love Brayden's smile.

 Miss Emily loves her little sister and can't wait for to be able to play "baby dolls" with her.

 My legs have been bothering me a lot these past few days and I don't know why. From my knee down sporadically, I will feel a lot of tightness during the day. When I try to rub my legs, they are so hard and sore. They must be full of fluid. It can last up to a few hours and then all of a sudden, I realize it's gone. My legs aren't hurting anymore, and the tightness is gone. I was feeling a little cabin fever this afternoon and wanted to get out of the house. Although it makes no sense to me as today was my 1st day not having to go anywhere since coming home with Kylie. Anyways trying to get Kylie in as much sun as possible for the jaundice we waited till about 7pm when the dang wind had finally died down and went on a family walk. We stripped Kylie down to just a diaper. At first Kory was going to take everyone on a walk including baby and leave me home by myself but at the last minute I decided to go along to. I was a bit worried it would make my legs worse as I could feel them getting hard again. I think this was the best thing I did today! My legs hurt for just a few minutes and then I could literally feel the hardness leaving. My feet have been swollen for weeks now and by the time we got home even their swollenness was gone. I don't know how or why but my legs feel so much better now. I hope it's gone for good. I'm hoping I walked off all the extra water retention I must have had.

Day 4

Today was a much better day.

Kory has been home or at least around the entire day and took care of the 4 older kids while I took care of Kylie. I didn't get out of bed until after 9 this morning it felt so good!  Kylie was up from 12am-3am this morning and I know I needed the extra rest. Kory took care of the meals all day and kept the kids close by. While my family planted the greenhouse this morning, I was left home alone to do whatever it was I wanted in a very quiet house. Loved it! The best part of this morning was being able to take my 1st shower after getting home and knowing I wouldn't be bothered. It was great!

 I had to take Miss Kylie back to Panguitch for another bilirubin check this afternoon. Her results were still a little high, but the Doctor decided to wait until Monday before making any other decisions. Her results are always on the borderline and he's hoping that when she's seen Monday morning for her newborn checkup her little body will have gotten rid of all those extra red blood cells on her own and won't need the lights. Hip hip hooray. I'm so glad I don't have to go back to Panguitch tomorrow. Panguitch has the closest lab and it's only 45 minutes one away but I'm tired of all the driving. I feel like the past 3 day's that's all we've done is drive, drive, drive. I'm looking forward to tomorrow knowing I don't have to go anywhere.

She is so precious. Babies grow up so fast and I love the different stages, but newborns are one of my favorites. I love the snuggling on my chest, holding their tiny little bodies and watching them breathe while they sleep. I want to savor these moments I have with her. I know before to long we'll be enjoying the next stage of Miss Kylie and this one will be gone.

Day 3

I keep telling myself that this little bundle of joy is worth all the pain and agony that today has brought on. I do believe that Post Partum has caught up to me. It happens with all new mommies, but I was hoping it would hold off another day or two when Kory would be around. We got home from the hospital yesterday just in time for Kory to leave for work. My kids, all of them, did absolutely awesome but it was still tiring on me to be home by myself with 5 kids. Even though Hunter and Madelyn were great to help out there are just some things that mom/dad has to do for the little ones. Being dad wasn't around it was left up to me regardless of just having a baby. 

Today, our first day home Kory wasn't supposed to go to work until 4 this afternoon and then would get off at 2 in the morning. I was looking forward to him being home most of the day to help me. He got a 6 am phone call this morning from his future day shift boss asking if he would come in earlier today. He wanted Kory to run the D-90 to make sure he could do it before being assigned to that machine hopefully sometime next week as his new job for the mine. Kory said he could but that it would have to be mid-morning as he wasn't willing to leave me alone quite yet. THANKYOU, THANKYOU, THANKYOU! Even though he went in early he still doesn't get off until 2 in the morning which means we'll probably have a tired daddy on our hands tomorrow.

Kylie's blood was tested before leaving the hospital yesterday for jaundice and it was a little high meaning I had to take her to a lab today for another heel poke. The closest lab is in Panguitch, 45 minutes away. The test needed to be done around noon. We were able to get one of Kory's sisters to take the big kids. Then Kory and I left at the same time, him to the mine and me to the lab. Knowing I was going to be driving later today I wasn't able to take the Lortab this morning for these ridiculous cramps. Oh my gosh how they hurt. They make me cry every time.

The tears have made their presence today. I cried all the way to Panguitch, I cried while my baby cried when her heel was poked, and I cried all the way home because her blood results are still too high, and I get to take her back for another heel poke tomorrow at noon. Chances are I will be sent home with belly lights for her to sleep on throughout the weekend. I'll have to take her back Sunday and then again on Monday for more heel pokes. 

Kory's sister kept my big kids after getting home from Panguitch so that I could take a much-needed nap. I cried on the way home because I was so thankful for this rare opportunity. Kylie and I slept for almost 2 hours.  I have forgotten how much a body can hurt after giving birth. My lower legs and feet are swollen. It hurst to walk. My calves are tight with fluid, and I can't curl my toes. Most of the afternoon I've propped my feet up on some pillows. I think the swelling is finally starting to go down. My cramps are out of this world. I don't think the Motrin is doing much good but I'm not willing to stop taking them either just in case. I constantly have a heating bag over my body. It helps some. My milk decided to come in this afternoon too. I have forgotten how painful this can be too. I feel like I can't put my hands to my sides as they apply to much pressure to the sides of my breasts. I keep waking up Kylie trying to get her to nurse almost hourly to help relieve some of the pressure. Plus the more she eats the more she'll poop and hopefully will help make the jaundice go away quicker. I feel so tight, heavy and full. What I would love to do is go to the milking barn and hook myself up to the milker. LOL It would hurt like crap but when your already hurting does it matter that much? After just a few seconds I'm sure I'd have the relief, I'm seeking.

I've always been told that it's somewhere between day 3-5 that is the absolute worse for a new mommy. I'm hoping today has been the worst of it. Kory already told the mine that he wasn't working tomorrow, Saturday. I hope he'll be home all day tomorrow and then I'll have him around all day Sunday. I don't think I've ever been so excited to have him home with me before. I decided that even though my kids have been on their best behavior I want some help, I need some help. I just want someone else to answer all the questions or to remember to have Brayden go potty. To have an adult around to do the little things like when Emily knocked over her glass of milk tonight. My kids never spill anymore but of course karma would have a spill tonight. She cleaned it up and did a pretty good job but let's remember she's only 5. I can still see a few milk smears on the floor. I'm just to tired and sore to deal with it tonight, and by tomorrow I'll have black smears on my floor. It didn't help that I knocked my plate off the table tonight too, so I now have powder sugar all over the place. Oh well!!  Dinner was supposed to be brought in tonight, and it wasn't. At 7:30 I pulled on my big girl panties and made french toast for dinner.  It's a favorite of my kids but it made me miss the hospital even more. I have never had such good food while in a hospital. I was given a menu that looked like it came out of a restaurant. I had choices like steak & mashed potatoes or a baked potato. There was roast beef, lasagna, etc. I had grilled shrimp one day for lunch over pasta. I ate so much good food, it was amazing. 

Tonight, I miss the hospital. I'm in tears AGAIN just thinking about it. I miss the nurses who bring me ice water or as much apple juice I desire. I miss the hospital bed that with just a push of a button I can make myself sit up or lay down without having to scoot around on my sore behind. I miss the food that is brought to me. I didn't have to make it and I sure as heck didn't have to clean anything up afterwards. I miss all the meds that are just automatically brought to me because they keep track of the timing and how often I can take what.   I miss the constant interruptions of nurses just "checking" on me asking me what I want or need. Can I go back??

Tonight, I just have to keep telling myself that Kylie is worth all the pain, tears and turmoil that today has brought on. Tomorrow will be a better day because it can't get much worse than today!  My kids are in bed hopefully sleeping and now Miss Kylie and I are hitting the sack. I hope we both sleep well.

Kylie Bobbette Heaton

Meet our newest addition.....

Kylie Bobbette Heaton

Born May 29, 2012 @ 23:23 (11:23pm)

7lbs. 6 oz. and 19 inches long

 Here's our birth story:  On Tuesday morning after getting Hunter and Madelyn off to school the rest of our family spent several hours in our garden. We moved the water hoses, picked weeds and planted a few herbs. I was hoping that working in the garden for the umpteenth time would bring on some contractions but no such luck. We came home, Kory worked on his laptop, and I set up the playpen in our room for the future arrival of Kylie. Kory eventually left for work about 2:15, my big kids came home from school at 3:30 and by 4 we were next door to help Aunt Natoshia pack up her car as she was moving to Nebraska the following morning. I really didn't do anything but take a few canning jars and plastic containers downstairs into her storage room. I then sat at the kitchen island chit chatting with everyone else that was there to help. Aunt Heather had a banquet to attend later that night with her husband and her big girls. I volunteered to watch her little girls ages 9, 6 until she got home so that they wouldn't have to spend the evening by themselves at home. 

She dropped the girls off about 6 and I started warming up left over for dinner to feed everyone. When my plate was warm, I sat down on our computer chair to eat. Immediately I felt a gush. I just sat there thinking no way was that my water breaking. I must have lost complete control of my bladder. However, there is no way I could have peed that much that quickly and be as wet as I was and have a puddle in the chair. I went hobbling into the bathroom still unsure of what had just happened. I rinsed off and put on some clean clothes. I kept standing and squatting trying to see if I could get more gushing. Nothing was happening. Not even a trickle.  I was feeling a bit embarrassed and glad my kids weren't around to see me "pee" my pants. I started walking back out to the kitchen to eat my dinner when I had a huge gush. I was soaked! With every movement of me walking back to my room more and more fluid was leaking. Minutes ago, I couldn't get anything to come out and now I couldn't get it to stop. 

I called Kory to inform him. He said he'd be home right away. I started calling around to sisters-in-laws to see who could take care of my nieces, but no one was home. In the end I called Natoshia, who was moving the next morning, and asked her if she'd take the girls I was tending. 

While waiting for Kory to get home I ran around getting everything we would need in Cedar out in the car. Kory was covered in black coal dust and so took a quick shower. When he was ready, we quickly loaded the kids up with the intentions of meeting my parents at the hospital who would take them until it was time for us to go back home. Of course, the van was on empty, so we had to make a quick stop to fill it up. Lucky for us instead of having the 2-hour drive ahead of us to the hospital Cedar Mountain had just announced that they would have the road open every weekend and during the week from 7pm-7am. Yay!

About 8:30pm we pulled into the hospital parking lot. I was having contractions about every 8 minutes, but they didn't really hurt. They seemed to be more like Braxton Hicks. The worse part about them was that every stink'n contraction real or not that came I had the pleasure of feeling another "gush" come out of me. I seriously had no idea what it was like to have your water break. I assumed it was a onetime occurrence but for me it most definitely was not. When I got out of the van, I had another "gush". The kids teased me that I had peed my pants. By the time I had walked into labor and delivery I felt like I had jumped into the pool waist deep. My pants stuck to me, and my socks were soaked. With every step my feet were sloshing in the water that was in my shoes.  Disgusting!!!  It was by far the most bizarre feeling I have ever had!   

When the nurse checked me, I was shocked to hear I was only at a 3 and still pretty thick. All my other babies were born within the hour of my water being broken. I was really worried I was going to have this baby on Cedar Mountain. The nurse thought we'd probably have a baby in the wee early hours the next morning.

An I.V was placed about 9pm and I was started on just a little pit to see if we could get some contractions started. By 10pm I was at a 5 and the Anesthesiologist was called for an epidural.  At 10:30 I had just received my epidural and could feel it starting to take effect. When checked, the baby's head could be felt, and I was at a 6. At 11 o'clock my doctor came in to check on us. I was now at a 7-8 and was told that baby was quickly descending and that we'd probably have a baby by midnight. This was my 5th epidural, and I have never had any issues with them in the past. This time however I had a hot spot which means I was numb where I was supposed to be except for a particular area on my right side. Oh my HECK!!!! Even though the majority of me was numb I could not believe the pain I was feeling in this one spot. I have no idea how women give birth naturally. There is no way I would ever even try to do it naturally having felt the pain I felt this go round. Kudo's to those women who can do it. I am most definitely not one of them. Not much later I was starting to push and miss Kylie was born at 23:23 or 11:23pm. We were only at the hospital for about 3 hours before she was born. To be only at a 3 when we got there and really not having any contractions at all.... This birth went fast!! 

We had a few visitors come see us the following morning. Here's Aunt Hanna taking a turn with her newest niece.

 Lovely picture of Kory and I!

  

 Wednesday night Kylie was tested for jaundice and her scores were a bit too high. She had the privilege of spending the night on lights. She had to wear a face mask to protect her eyes from the lights. She absolutely HATED the mask!!!

 This morning to our delight we were released from the hospital. We met up with my mom to get our big kids back and headed home with our newest addition. It's so good to be home. Kory had to leave for work almost immediately this afternoon when we got home leaving me by myself with all 5 kids. I was a bit worried wondering if I would survive by myself on my own tonight, but everyone has done really well. The big kids have done great taking turns holding Kylie and just being helpful. There hasn't been any whining, or fighting, they've done what they were asked the 1st time and have just been very helpful to me. I really, really appreciate their help this afternoon.  

 Emily was pretty proud of herself when she discovered that while she was singing to Kylie she had fallen asleep. She let me know that if I wanted I could wake her up in the middle of the night for her to sing Kylie back to sleep. So helpful!

 I was on the other couch talking with the girls and Brayden when I heard Hunter mumbling something to Kylie. It took me a minute, but I was able to tune out what the girls were saying and focus on the mumbling. He was telling her in a hushed tone how pretty she was and that he loved her already! I then asked him out loud what he was saying? He wouldn't tell me and acted embarrassed that I may have heard what he was saying. I just let it go but I'm pretty sure of what I heard him saying. He's been a bit bummed to have another sister. He was really hoping that the ultrasound was wrong and he'd get another brother. I'm glad he'll admit even if it's only to the baby that he loves her already. Despite his teasing and not knowing when to quit egging his siblings on he has MANY moments of being a good big brother.  

Here's our beautiful little girl!

Kylie Bobbette Heaton

The kids picked Kylie's 1st name several months ago. I think it's pretty cute and everyone's agreed, even Daddy, to stick with it. When it came to a middle name, I have been unsure, and Kory's been of no help of course. We have given all of our kids a "family name". For some it's their 1st name and for the other's it's their middle name. Some of the "family names" are from the Heaton side while others are from the Christensen side. All of them have a family member that they were named after. I wanted to continue this with Kylie.

My parents live across the driveway from my grandparents. My kids call my grandparents GG (great grandma) and GG pa (great grandpa). Being we lived in Hurricane for a year before moving to Alton I felt like each of my kids developed a relationship with their GG and GGpa. Even Brayden only being 2 loved to go on walks with GG and get a never-ending supply of jellybeans from his GG pa. Unfortunately, GG is suffering from Alzheimer's. On her good days she knows who my children are. But more often than not she does not remember their names or who they are or that she is their great grandma. Alzheimer's is such a horrible disease. It saddens me to know that at this moment in time for the most part she does not remember my kids. Hunter, Madelyn and Emily are old enough that I think they will always remember GG. They have memories of living across the driveway from her. They will be able to share stories about her with their own kids one day. Brayden, I think is too young and won't be able remember the short time he had with her but at least he was able to spend some good times with her regardless. She could get him to laugh, they talked to each other and he was always quick to give both GG and GGpa hugs and kisses. Almost every sacrament meeting Brayden would walk over and sit on GG's lap. It breaks my heart to know that Kylie will never have this experience with her GG. Kylie will know who she is because we will teach her, but she'll never have the experiences that my other children had by living so close and before the Alzheimer's really took control of her life. I don't think GG will ever "know" Kylie like she was able to "know" my other kids. GG will probably always have to ask who that little girl is, what her name is and how she belongs to the family. After much thought we've decided to name Kylie after her GG, Bobbette Grow. Whether GG knows it or not Kylie and her will always have something in common, something that they share, a bond. So that is why we've named our new little girl

Kylie Bobbette Heaton. We love our GG and GG pa!

37 weeks

This morning, I had my 37-week appt. I wasn't surprised to hear I was only a 2+ and still pretty thick. It's progress but not much! My doctor said she'd induce me if I wanted on June 4th. That's Kory's birthday so probably not. June 4th I would be 38 weeks and 4 days! 

My mom asked me today after my appointment if I was disappointed with this news? I'm really not. I'm not uncomfortable, I don't have the feeling "get this baby out", I can breathe, I can eat, she's not hurting me. I'm doing just fine. My only complaint is the frequent need to pee, and my shirts are getting too short to cover up the ugly prego paneling in my pants! Honestly, I feel like if I went to 40 weeks or beyond it wouldn't bug me at the moment. I'm feeling pretty good compared to how I was feeling a few weeks ago.    

36 Weeks

                                                          I am 36 weeks as of today.
                                                                        Yippee!!!

 I had a doctor's appt. earlier this week and the 1st thing she said was "Congratulation's, you've made it farther than your 1st. born." Hunter was born at 34 weeks and 2 days. We were very blessed with his early arrival in that he was healthy and didn't have a NICU stay or any lung development issues.  Even though pregnancy is not always the easiest and there are days that I want this all to be over with I'm glad we haven't had a baby born that early since. I'm so glad we've made it to 36 weeks. One more week and baby will be considered full term! 

My doctor did not check me this week in fear of "stirring" something up and causing me to go into labor. My next appt. is next Thursday at which point I will have hit my 37th week mark and I will be checked. I always like to hear how much effacement or dilatation has taken place. It's good to know that the annoying contraction's that I'm having is doing something even though it doesn't mean I'm going to go into labor the next day.    

I'd love baby to be born next weekend, Memorial Weekend. Kory wouldn't have to miss any days of work, his paycheck wouldn't be short and the road going over Cedar Mountain. will be open (only for that weekend). This means instead of having a 2 hour drive to the hospital we'd only have a 1 hour drive. But we'll see what baby decides to do. 



A couple weeks ago I got my hair cut. I've been meaning to blog about it but never got a picture taken to show it off until tonight. It's not the best picture of me with the puffy, tired eyes, no make-up but it shows my hair cut the best. It's short! Much shorter (like 7-8 inches) than it was a month ago. I haven't had my hair this short since I was in high school. I usually get my haircut before having a baby, but I've never gone this short before. I wanted something different and a little easier to maintain this go round. 

Angry Birds Party

Several years ago, Kory and I decided that our kids didn't need a big elaborate birthday party each year. Birthday parties are fun, but they are time consuming, can be expensive and frankly are a lot of work.  That being said, both Kory and I grew up having birthday parties and we wanted our kids to have this experience too. We decided that when the kids turned 5, 8, 12 and 16 we would have a birthday party with friends.  

Last year while living in Hurricane Hunter turned 8. This was his year to have his big friend birthday party. At that time he wanted a knight/castle theme. Unfortunatley Hunter had some friends that weren't behaving the way they should and Hunter was following in there footsteps. It got so bad that I even went and talked to his "best friends" mom about some of the things that were taking place. The mom already knew about most of them. She had even told her son that she was expecting some of his friends' parents to come to her because of his behavior and what he was "teaching/telling" his friends. After several weeks and trying different consequences, nothing seemed to be working. We felt like we were nearing the end of our rope and didn't know what else to do. After much thought we informed Hunter that any more of this inappropriate behavior and he would lose his birthday party. I HATE this part of parenting. Unfortunately, Hunter didn't believe us and purposely did something he had been told not to and then lied about it.  We had to follow through with the consequence. It was absolutely HORRIBLE. He cried, he was mad and devastated. I cried that night too because I was so sorry he had chosen to test us.

A few months ago, Hunter asked if he could "earn" a birthday party this year, even though he wasn't supposed to have one when he turned "9". Kory and I both felt that since he was willing to "earn" it and wasn't expecting it we'd go ahead and give him one. Hunter came up with his own ideas of how to earn this birthday party. He cleaned out the van and did an amazing job vacuuming it. He washed all the windows and vacuumed the blinds in the whole house. The basement is a dark and cold storage room. He took flashlights down, vacuumed the spiderwebs, wiped down the shelves, and organized all the canned goods. It looked so good! He definitely earned his birthday party.  

 Hunter decided he wanted an Angry Birds Birthday.   

Here is one of the 12 invitations that he and I made one day after school just using cardstock and googly eyes. On the back we had printed out all the party info. I loved the way it turned out.

  

 
One of the games the boys got to do was a wrist rocket game. I searched for quite some time for some cheap sling shots/wrist rockets. I was a bit amazed to see wrist rockets going for $5-10 a piece. I couldn't spend that much and then I saw on eBay 20 wrist rockets for $40. This was a bit more than I had wanted to pay, and I didn't need 20 of them however $2 piece sounded much better than $5-10. So, I bought them, and this became our thankyou gift to each of the boys. When the boys realized they got to take them home I won "the best mom of the year" award. During the party I heard over and over how I was the coolest mom, or the best mom cause their mom. I'm glad I found a party favor that the boys will LOVE!

 Here is our game. Uncle Jason was able to get me the canvas for free and then I spent a day painting on it to match our theme.

 The boys used their wrist rockets to shoot giant marshmallows through the holes. Some of these boys had quite the aim.

 We borrowed some foam noodle swords, and the boys had a sword fight!

 The biggest part of the party was supposed to be a "live" angry bird's game. Kory and I made up a sling shot area using our swing set,

 We then piled a ton of boxes in the front lawn to build with. Unfortunately, we had 30-mile hour wind during the party. We had an incredibly hard time keeping the boxes on top of each other to give the boys a chance to knock the tower over using the sling shot. The wind was just too strong! But they still had fun trying. 

 We also did a scavenger hunt. We ended up having a total of 13 boys including Hunter at the party. I split them up into 2 teams and sent them off with their 1st clue. After their 1st clue, I had the 2 teams going in different directions. I had 9 different clues around town. The clues would then lead them to the fire station, the school bus garage, post office, milking barn, church, etc. Their goal was to find the golden eggs that the green pigs had supposedly hidden. With easter being just a few weeks ago I took some of our eggs and spray painted them gold. The last clue lead everyone back to the house where the eggs were waiting to be found in our tire swing in our front yard.

 We had plenty of color full food to enjoy. I had a fruit tray with banana's, strawberries, apples and grapes. Then the fun part was gum balls, mini jaw breakers, mike n' ikes and a bowl of gummy worms with green juice to help wash it all down.

 I really, really wish the dang wind would have stopped. I considered moving his party indoors but there was no way my house could handle 13 wild boys! So, we stayed outside. I don't think the kids minded as much as I did. It was pain in the neck having plates and cups flying all over the yard. I put 2 rocks in the bottom of the garbage can and it still got blown over and I had to run around and pick up the blowing garbage.

Near the end of the party Hunter opened his presents.

 Afterwards I brought out his requested cupcakes instead of cake this year! I was impressed with the way my birds turned out. They were fun to make!

Every single boy whined and complained when their moms came to get them after the party. It made me feel good that even though some of the games were harder to do with the dang wind that they all had such a wonderful time and didn't want to go home. Hunter has told me many times that it was the best birthday party ever. All that hard work was worth it!

I had to share this picture when I saw it. Brayden being the typical little brother, running around with a stick in his hand yelling, "Expelliarmus" to all the boys. The boys were great with the 3-year-old trying to tag along and play with them.