Another Long Blog

Life has been crazy these last few months and it feels a little bit as if we have been running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Everyone is doing well though and its good to be busy so we really can't complain.
Eric has turned in some grad school applications and we are anxiously waiting to hear back from those. We are praying hard for a school in Mesa Arizona to work out. I love the idea of only being a drive away from family instead of a plane ride. Also I would gladly give up snow and cold winters for a couple years even if the alternative is extreme heat. Anyways he turned in his applications a little bit late so Ive been trying to prepare myself for the realization that we may not get to leave this fall for grad school, which isn't going over well in my head so Ive been praying very hard... please join in!!

Kids are doing great and growing up way too fast. We just put Oakley in a tumbling class which she absolutely LOVES! I remember doing tumbling when I was little and always wished I could have stayed in it. Eric and I can see her excelling in this to the point of high school and college if she continues to really like it. May sound dumb that we think about that now when she is only two and has just started the class but I have always thought this for her. She has the short petite body and has been "tumbling" around the house since she was a baby. She is full of energy and can just go go go. Just like all toddlers I guess you could say... but really, when we go on walks and let her walk... well run; she seriously will run the entire 3 or whatever miles of the walk. The girl is NUTS!
Oakley still continues to amaze us, keep us laughing,and also make us want to pull our hair out once in a while. Her spunky personality only continues to get spunkier, her attitude more dramatic, and her emotions well... Eric calls her hormonal.
She has officially reached the girly girly I'm a princess, I have to wear a princess dress every day, I love barbies and pink and jewelry and makeup and anything GIRL stage! She is really funny. Everything is "so beautiful," and she compliments everyone. "Grandma you look so cute," "Mommy, that is a beautiful necklace, I want to wear a beautiful necklace too," "Daddy (or Easton), you look so handsome," "look at my beautiful dress, or shirt, or pink bowl, or shoes, or panties, or doll, or socks.." you get the point :)
She has become very imaginative as well. She talks to her dolls like they are friends playing house. She pretends to go to store or school, makes dinner for us, and cleans the house. It is really fun to watch her learn and grown in these ways.

I don't know about other peoples kids or if it seemed like this to anyone else. But I swear as soon as a baby turns one they turn into a toddler. Every month they grow up and change so much, it really is crazy to me. Easton is 15 months old now and these last three months my baby has disappeared and I now have another crazy toddler running around. He is so cute and funny to me and its fun to watch his personality develop. He is talking so much! At least it seems that way. He is picking up and saying words all day long. He has gotten really good at communicating with us through signing and speech, and for the most part we know what he wants. His words are starting to connect and turn in to small two to three word sentences. He is smart and crazy just like his sister. He is running, climbing, making messes, and keeping us on our toes. Easton's new favorite hobby is to make Oakley as mad as possible. He will take her favorite doll or whatever she is playing with at the moment and run away as fast as he can laughing while she chases him screaming at the top of her lungs. He thinks it is so funny and she does not!
Oh these kids keep us very busy but we wouldn't change a thing. We love them so much and feel so blessed to be their parents.

We really can't get enough of our kids and I guess that is why we decided it was time to add another one to the craziness. We found out in November 2011 that we are expecting again in July. We are all ecstatic!! This was our first actually planned pregnancy. I know crazy right... considering Easton won't quite be two yet, and Oakley will be turning three that same month. Originally we were going to try for a September baby, well then it hit us that we usually have our babies close to a month early and that would be August which is when we are hoping to move for grad school. I honestly didn't want to pack up a house and move across the states either 8 months pregnant or find a new OB a week before we have the baby, or anything else that could possibly happen. So our options were either to wait another couple months, which I didn't want another middle of winter baby, or to wait longer than that, or to get pregnant that very month or the next. 3.5 weeks later we found out we were expecting. We may be crazy, and things will be even busier than they are now but I am honestly ok with that. Easton and his little BROTHER will be about 20 months apart, depending on when our little boy decides to come.
This pregnancy has been my hardest, most eventful, scary, and stressful. Ive had quite a bit of bleeding and at our first doc appointment at 8 weeks the doctor told me I had a higher chance of having a miscarriage. The next 4 weeks dragged on and on until we went back and got to hear his heart beat once again. That appointment was very relieving but the doc still acted a little bit unsure about things. 4 weeks later we went back and did an ultra sound because I had more bleeding and was really sick having kidney problems. The baby looked great and we got to find out he was a boy. 2 weeks later I started to have major pain and cramping in my uterus with painful contractions that would last 5 to 10 minutes long. My bleeding really picked up so we knew that we needed to get in. They sent us right over to the ER in Cedar (I see an OB specialist in St. George for my pregnancies), where they did blood work and an ultra sound. They told us that I had a partial placental abruption and I needed to be on strict bed rest. A week later I went back to the ER having preterm labor, they got the contractions to stop and sent me back home still on bed rest. Another week passed and I went back to my doc in St. George where we did another ultra sound and saw that my placenta was looking better and he let me off strict bed rest with strict instructions to be careful and that I still needed to take it easy. So here I am now going into my sixth month, and I finally can breathe a little bit feeling like things will be ok and this baby will make it. We waited to announce this pregnancy and were planning to wait a little bit longer until I was put on bed rest and it all spilled out. I am so thankful for all the love, help, and support we have received from family, friends and ward members. This would have been nearly impossible for me to handle if I didn't have such an amazing support system. My mom came down for a week so the kids could be home with me and she could do all the work while I stayed down. That was such a huge blessing to me and meant more to me than anything!!! I hated having to let my kids go every day and feeling like I couldn't even be their Mom. Though I was very thankful for my amazing sister in law Diane for keeping them happy, safe, fed, and loved for me while Eric was at work.

Though pregnancy can be rough and scary at times, I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to take part in God's greatest miracle. I am so thankful that Eric and i are able to bring children into the world and we cannot be happier to be having another baby at this time. We love having our kids close together and honestly wouldn't have it any other way. We want this, we know what we have gotten our selves into, and we are very excited for the adventure of having three.