Coloring Ester Eggs

Easter

I was pretty worried that Samantha was going to be left out of all the Easter festivities because I was still supposed to be taking it easy and not up to much, but she had a blast and Ben was wonderful to take her to egg hunts and such.

Here are the two kids (whoa that's weird to say) on Easter Sunday after church.

Samantha at an Easter egg hunt-not ours. Long story, Benj took her to Provo city one and they were a few minutes late and it was over, so they crashed Benj's brother Adam's in-law's egg hunt. :) ~Thanks Frisby family for letting them come.

She got a blue ring pop and was amazed that her tongue was blue and kept looking in the mirror and trying to wipe it off.

It ended up being a great holiday.

Asher Benjamin Corey

The birth went well. Once they made the incision on my belly the baby was out in less than 3 minutes! Ben got to come in the OR with me and then followed the baby around getting vitals and to the nursery. We stayed in the hospital for 3 days and as I weened off morphine and am continuing to wean off lortab I feel like I am starting the healing process over each time. The pain is bad, but I can already get around pretty good which is much better than I can say about my delivery with Mantha one week out.

We did finally name this little one, his name is: Asher Benjamin Corey. The name Asher is Ben's Grandpa's name, we had to fight some of his siblings for it, that's why it took so long. :) Ben is excited because his initials are ABC. He had a bit of jaundice that went away a few days after birth and he lost more weight than they wanted him to, but after some time and a few weight checks he is doing well weight-wise too.

I got mastitis this week and just started some antibiotics for that today, hopefully I will start to feel better by tomorrow. Asher got circumcized today.....it was rough. My Mom came with me and stayed in the room with him (I opted not to watch), and Benj took Mantha to a special Daddy-daughter lunch. I feel so sorry for Asher when I change his diaper because he cries pretty hard. I just keep hoping this is the worst thing he has to go through in is infantcy, and reminding myself that Mantha forgot everything that she went through and 'this to shall pass'.

Mantha is doing great with baby Asher and gets really worried when he cries and says 'Daddy, baby Asher crying, go help Mommy'. And she is obsessed with his carseat and always puts her baby in it and wants us to put Asher in it and 'go in car'. Benj is giving her lots of extra attention and we have had lots of help here giving her lots of love.

Thanks everyone who has come to visit, called, emailed, sent things, brought meals, ect! We feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

Baby brother!

Gymnastics meet

I took Mantha to the Utah gymnastics meet last weekend with my Sister and her kids. Mantha LOVED riding trax to and from the meet! We may try and venture out again this week to the BYU/Utah meet here in Provo with Daddy.

First Kite

We took Samantha out to fly her first kite this weekend and she LOVED it! She picked the kite out herself and was so exicited all day. We packed a picnic with subs and it was a beautiful day. Benj would let Mantha hold it, she would let go, kite would go flying over the nearby fence, Dad would chase it down and untangle it, cycle would repeat. :)

Affected

I have noticed a change in people over the last year or so with the suffering economy. I have even started making different choices than I would have otherwise. I find myself being more satisfied with what I have instead of wanting the new or upgraded version (IE our home, fix it up a bit instead of upgrading, and Benj driving his '85 Spirit around instead of taking loans out for a nicer car).

It has been so difficult to see loved ones loose jobs, houses, take pay cuts, or stay with a job they don't enjoy or a lower paying one because they fear they can't get another one. This has made me so much more grateful of Benj's job and the things we have. Our generation has grown up spoiled and we're used to getting what we want, when we want it-even if it is on credit. We have this idea that we deserve some things and that's where we get into trouble financially. Like, we buy big houses in our 20's when our parents generation would scrimp and save to get a modest home in their 40's, and we think we should retire when we're 30.

I can start to see how living through a depression would really affect the rest of your life, like it did our grandparents. I used to look at their habits like reusing ziploc bags as silly, now I have respect for how very hard it must have been for them.

I hope we don't have to go through what they did, but also hope we learn from this time. I am still pretty wasteful and make lots of bad purchasing choices, but I'm trying to be more aware of wants vs. needs. Benj and I have had way more talks on saving money and budgeting and food storage is becoming a reality instead of somehting we 'should do'. I don't by any means think I am an expert on this stuff, it's just been on my mind a lot lately.

What do you think about all this?

Sorry for the long, serious post.....I know, not like me. :)

New Carpet

We just got new carpet in our house!! It felt like we moved and now are putting everything back. It feels like a new home though and I love it! It'll be nice to bring baby brother home to.

Old carpet

New carpet

Mantha loved watching 'the guys' and would ask 'where guys go?' every time they went outside it was pretty cute.
Thanks Sjon (our neighbor) for doing all the installing.

Starting young

What comes after nails? Make-up! She's old enough right?

'Tute Nails'

Chelsea gave me a wonderful pedicure the other day and Mantha wanted her nails done too! She is still reminding me that her nails are 'soo tute' and that 'Chesie did it, Mom'.

Baby brother's quilt

I am working on a quilt for the baby, here's a sneak peek. I want to do the room in dark brown and blue, so my sister Elisa helped me pick fabric and a pattern. Here is the progress so far. I am not good at this kind of stuff becuase I like to hurry and get things done and am not very perfect or patient. :) We'll se how it turns out. Thanks Lis for all your help!

Cute Mommy

Mantha loves her baby and carries it where ever she goes. Getting good practice in before baby brother comes :).

Nesting

I just realized that Ben's little sister will be returning from her mission to stay with us a week before the baby is due and I'm not ready. So, my nesting phase has officially begun! This week we (when I say we, I mean my two fabulous nieces Jessica and Brooke) painted the baby's room. And then Ben's brother Adam and family came down and we cleaned out Karilynne's closet (I was using it for storage) and put up a shelf in the garage to hold stuff. It was actually a big task because there was another smaller wooden shelf there that we had to clean off and rip out, then put this one together, then move everything. The boys worked hard all day yesterday and Kristen (Adam's wife) helped me organize the house and fed us while the kids played. Thanks so much everyone! I feel much better now getting these big projects done.

Snow

Samantha loves the snow! Last year she could barely walk in it, so this year is definitely has been better for playing. At the beginning of the winter she called all snow 'noman' it was really cute. Benj is good to go out and play with her in it after work most days that it snows. She helps him shovel the driveway with a tiny plastic shovel (which mostly slows him down, but he lets her have her fun). Just recently she figured out she can still swing in the snow and wants to do that for a long time. She is oblivious to how cold she gets (mostly cause she is always sticking her face in the snow and eating it), and NEVER wants to come inside. I love her personality and how excited she gets about everything! Now that 'baby brother' (that's what we call him) is coming, I always imagine her teaching him about things and showing him how to play and stuff, can't wait! She is going to love having a playmate and be the best big sister!

Christmas 2008

We had a busy, fun, yummy holiday season!
-Went swimming and rock climbing at the new Bountiful rec center
-Did baptisms for the deadin the Bountiful temple
-Made cute t-shirts and gingerbread houses
-Slept in Farmington at Grandma's house Christmas eve
-I made some cute aprons for some friends
-Ben got me a surprise new TV
-and had lots of family parties and ate lots of wonderful food

Merry Christmas!

This is what we have been up to in 2008!

Spinal Cord Prob?

So our genetic testing results came back earlier this week, and all looks good with the things I was worried about relating to Samantha's problems. Yeah!

But.....I was informed that my AFP (alpha fetal protein) was positive which is a red flag that this baby could have a spinal cord abnormality called 'open NDT' (neural-tube defect) which means a hole in the spinal cord. This is not the most accurate test and 80% of the time it is a false positive, so it is only a 20% chance that this is even an issue. (Still, scary though.)

I went in to my OB yesterday and she scheduled me for another high-risk ultrasound (this morning) at Utah Vally where they will check the baby again but more specifically for spinal cord problems/holes. Unfortunately you cannot see this in an ultrasound every time, so even if it is there, we will not know for sure until he is born.

We can do another sure-fire test to see if he has it or not called an amniocentesis where they stick a needle in my belly and remove and test some of the babies fluid, but this is very risky (could cause miscarriage or labor) so they really don't recommend it.

If he does have this problem he will be paralyzed or have limited mobility from the point of the hole down. This is a very scary thing to hear and learn about, but hopefully we will go with the odds on this one and he will be fine.

Remembering back to the days of Samantha where we had no idea there was a problem with her until we almost lost her and were completely blindsided by it all. Comparing that to this where we have a chance of having another child with a serious problem and know about it ahead of time. I don't know that I like the knowing, worrying and wondering. I would almost rather assume that this one is perfect until we know otherwise. ??? Modern technology is wonderful most of the time, but at times can cause more worry than needed. :)

Like I said, this is only a 20% chance that the test was accurate, so all involved are very hopeful, but I am preparing and learning what I can about this as best I can just in case.

Awww

Santa

So, she still doesn't like Santa.

My little helper

Samantha emptied my spice cabinet yesterday and put everything on the counter. Then did NOT want me to put them back away. :) Love the cheesy grin.