It's the Simple Things

Yet one more reason that I love my children---- TAX REFUND BABY!

Waverly's 1st Birthday Party

We kept things pretty low key for when it came time for cake and presents. My parents came over to help blow out THE candle on the cake.

Court gave me a hard time for making our baby girl's cake all brown. "What, were they all out of grey?" he joked. Maybe not the most effeminate, but ALL chocolate frosting was sure to pay off in the obligatory 'cake frosting in the hair, nose, eyes and ears photo.'

For some reason, Waverly did not want to be any where near that cake once the candle was lit. It IS her party and she CAN cry if she wants to!

We started the cake process very sweetly and in moderation.

But, soon her gluttonous rage took over.


As soon as she finished we gave her the best gift of all---a shower. As soon as Court turned on the water she went a running for it.

Aaaaah, Happiness!

Wavee Jo is 1

Amazing how time flies. We love our little baby girl and can't believe we have had her a year already! Three children was a big adjustment, but with both Delainee and Laetner at school everyday, I really have been able to enjoy just Waverly and given her the attention she deserves.
What makes Wavee special... She is sooo good natured. She loves to be held. She loves her pink woobies. She never makes a peep when going on jogs or grocery trips with mommy. Rarely cries, but does whine if daddy is anywhere near her. She has some amazing big blue eyes. She has daddy wrapped around her finger. She loves, loves, loves, showers and baths. Loves to sneak outside--but is scared to walk on the grass. Loves the trampoline--even if she almost dies getting onto it. Loves to play in the cupboard under the sink. Is the best napper! Squawks CONSTANTLY. Loves to hide the remotes from daddy. Loves to practice piano with Delainee. Has very ticklish thighs. Is very wary of strangers--always afraid she is gonna get babysat. Puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. Drools like a bassett hound---she must be getting all her teeth at once. Loves to wrestle with Laetner. Walks around like she owns the place. But mostly she is special becuz she is OURS! A lot can change in a year. We love you Waverly!

Waverly's Pregnancy and Birth

NO I DID NOT JUST HAVE THIS BABY. I obviously have only been blogging since August of 2008. It makes me sad to think I have missed out on blogging about huge events in each of my children's lives, but I figured as I hit each of their birthdays this year I would pay them tribute by telling their birth story. While I am a horrible journaler, I did at least write down each of my children's 'journey' here. This was all taken from that....
It has been 4 years since Laetner was born. I specifically wanted (and needed)a gap before we had anymore kids. I have a feeling that Wavee was a birthday present to Court :) but in June 2007 we got pregnant. Unfortunately for me, June is a crazy month. I was working both workshops at MCC, and trying to fit in summer swimming lessons for the kids, not to mention a hugely stressful family situation with my sister due to her daughter watching our children during the 'Alaskan Cruise.' Needless to say I was extremely stressed and exhausted at the beginning of this pregnancy and because of that, 'things' started happening.

Very early on I had some insane vaginal bleeding that I thought was a miscarriage, but I hadn't actually seen a doctor yet and I couldn't get anybody to get me in immediately. Luckily my brother-in-law Jaron helped pull some strings to help reassure me that I wasn't miscarrying. When I finally make it to PPA (Phoenix Perinatal Associates) we discovered a pocket of blood that needed to be reabsorbed by the placenta. In July I was in charge of both a book club and a bunko at my house. (I am a very stressed host) The very last weekend in July we had a Fuller Family Reunion where we spent the weekend in the sun. I truly believe it was because of all these different factors, but starting the first week of August my Lupus began to flare.

It had been a LONG time since I had had a 'true' flare-up, but I definitely recognized the pain in my chest. I knew there wasn't a whole lot any doctor could do---in the past it had been two weeks of hell, followed by a slow recovery. I just wanted to verify that this was indeed a flare, so I went to my lupus doctor to get my blood work done. My lupus doc wasn't convinced an appearances alone and told me if the pain got any worse that I should go to the ER in case it was a blood clot. This was on a Wednesday. On Sunday morning things were not good. On top of the chest pain, I also had pain radiating down my neck and upper arm on my right side. Soooo, Court and I took a trip to the ER. After thoroughly checking for a blood clot, the Dr. officially diagnosed me with 'pleurisy'---what they call my lupus when it flares in my lungs. At least I was right about my lupus flaring. I then figured I would have to deal with another week or so of some MAJOR pain, and then it would slowly go away like before. BOY HOWDY was I wrong. According to my lupus doc, the hormones of pregnancy can prolong flare-ups. The pain was not stopping. So for almost the complete 1st and 2nd trimesters, I was popping all sorts of drugs just to get through the day.
About this same time our ward was reorganized a week before the scheduled Primary Program that I was to be in charge of (I was the chorister). With the reorganization we lost our complete Primary Presidency and I had already been out sick for almost 2 months dealing with my lupus, so I requested that we just not worry about the program. Well the new president did not like me, my ideas, or my way of doing things, and informed me that I was sadly mistaken if I thought I was in charge of the primary program. Needless to say, I spent the rest of that day in tears, and wouldn't you know it, my lupus started flaring AGAIN!----clearly I do NOT deal well with stress! I went in that Saturday to the Bishopric and requested an immediate release. This was a week before Thanksgiving. From the moment they announced from the pulpit that I had been released, I immediately felt a huge weight
lift off me. But, it was a miserable time in my life health wise from August 1 til the end of November. Pain like you wouldn't believe, and I was literally a zombie or a vampire or SOMETHING because I COULD NOT SLEEP. (Considering how much I love all the Twilight books I like to think I was a vampire!)
Finally for December and January my pregnancy seemed to clam down, but at the end of January something new popped up. My placenta was 'crapping out on me' and I was losing amniotic fluid. On two different occasions (Feb 1 and Feb 8) I was sent straight from my Dr. office to the hospital to check myself in and be prepared to stay until the baby came. Both times I was sent home after the hospital would run their tests and get drastically different amounts of fluid than my dr office was getting. I think I managed to will the fluid back because I had mapped out my Let's Play Music semester, and I was NOT having this baby before the 21st of February!:) I still want to KILL Dr. Val for sending me to the hospital and false alarming and stressing me out (TWICE). I am surprised that my lupus did not start flaring again thanks to her. But it all worked out how I had planned it. I finished teaching my last LPM class on Thursday at 5:30, and on Friday morning we were checking in for a scheduled c-section.

We did not have to check into the hospital until 8:00 a.m., so we dropped Delainee and Laetner off @ Shelby's house on Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. She watched Laetner for the day and went ahead and sent Delainee to school for the day. We checked in @ 8:00 and did all the pre-op things that needed to be done. At 10:00 a.m. we went into the delivery room and began the scariest part---the EPIDURAL. Dr. Martin Mills is who performed the c-section. It took them 30 minutes to cut thru all the layers of cartilage that had built up form the other two births, but @10:30 a.m. on Friday February 22nd they pulled Waverly out of my tummy! Courtney even managed to get video footage this time. Wavee came out screaming and POOPING! They officially got a weight of 6 lbs. 15 oz, but then she proceeded to poop, and poop, and then she pooped AGAIN! I wished they would have weighed her again to get a more accurate weight. I got to see her and give her a kiss, but then she and Courtney left the room with the nursed while they began to close me up. That seemed to take much longer as well, but officially everything went O.K. We made it to our 'corner penthouse suite' about 2:00 p.m. and Courtney immediately started sending out e-mails.
My recovery on this c-section was amazing compared to the other two. I physically was in better shape during this pregnancy, but I was up and moving around much to the surprise of everyone. I was working hard to try and nurse every three hours, and I felt like we were doing good. Waverly's weight had dropped more than they wanted (I think it was because of all the pooping) but she was down to 6 lbs and on Sunday night I had a nurse who was such jerk about wanting to give Wavee a bottle of formula. She made me feel like I was some horrible mommy for wanting to nurse, and when the new nurse came in @ 7:00 Monday morning, I was an emotional wreck. I was completely sobbing and begged that I could just go home! She was really nice and sat and talked with me and made me feel much better about everything. But I lucked out and they DID let me come home Monday---we checked out about noon. The only condition was that I needed to supplement with formula after nursing, and then go in for weight checks. Three days later she gained 2 oz. and the following week we were back @ 6 lbs. 10 oz. She is doing great.
Waverly is such a good baby. She even gives me a stretch of 4-6 hours of sleep in the night. Nursing was a little tough in the beginning, but we both seem to be getting the hang of it. At 3 weeks old we took her on her first trip to the Fischbeck's Cabin. She did amazing. I think she cried like once the WHOLE 4 days we were there. Otherwise she pretty much sleeps, sleeps, sleeps! With a few eats, eats, eats in there! :) Delainee and Laetner love their new baby sister. Laetner is especially possessive about it being HIS baby Waverly and no one else can have her. He always wants to see her eyes---which consists of his eye balls needing to touch her eyeballs! Delainee is almost 6 and is a very big helper---always bringing me things left and right and always willing to hold Wavee or pop a binkie in her mouth. Waverly Jo Fischbeck is a very pretty little baby. She has very big blue eyes, with golden blond hair. SO golden that I wounder if she will actually turn brown. She is 19 1/2 inches long (pretty long for her weight---which is why she looks so skinny. We definitely have decided that we will go ahead and keep her!

first moments

first daddy time

first snip

first family shot

first kiss

Thank You Uncle Kevin and Aunt Jill

Today my sister-in law Jill absolutely made my day. She called about 10:00 to see if my kiddies would be interested in taking their puppies Gunnar and Diesel to the dog park. Ummm...let me think----OF COURSE. She picked them up at 11:30, played with them at the park for a few hours and even took them out for ice cream afterwards. The kids had so much fun, even if they were a little scared of the big dogs!

As usual our Laetner is off in a world of his own!

Tugging at my Heart Strings

Love is in the air. Our little hands are spent from all the valentine signing we have been doing this week. We made our own Valentines and taped lollipops to them. The best part was that the kids wrote their own names on the back of them. So cute to see little Laetner's handwriting spelling out Love, Laetner. He isn't even 5 yet, but he really does a good job with his letters. Well, he was soooo excited to give Valentines to Miss Donna and Miss Diane---his bus drivers. The bus pulled up and he hoofed it as fast as his feet could get him there, with a Valentine in each hand. As I stood at the door and watched, my sad little eyes began to water as I saw how proud he was as he handed them his work of art, and gave them both a big hug. He looked so sweet. For Delainee's Valentines (as well as Laetner's for his classmates)we just send them in a bag to school and things just get passed out to their 'mailboxes'. Hopefully they are thanking each other and things like that, but I kinda doubt that is going on at school--it's all about the candy, right???? It made my Valentines Day/Weekend to be able to watch Laetner go through the process of giving and thanking. He really can be a very sensitive, mature little boy when he puts his mind to it! Now if only I can get him to be so sensitive when he is playing with his action figures!

I Spy With My Little Eye

On Mondays, Delainee has gymnastics. We car pool with a little girl in our ward named Ashley. Her mom takes the girls, and I pick up and bring home. Delainee and Ashley always keep themselves busy with some little game like rock, paper, scissors, or something along those lines. Today it was I Spy. I was watching them in the rear view mirror, and they were doing a good job spying things both inside and outside of the car, when I hear Delainee say, "I spy something beautiful." Little Ashley aboslutely 'filled my bucket' when I heard hear say matter of factly, "Your mom." "No," Delainee said, "It is something beautiful that I kiss." To which Ashley responds, "Your moms lips." Again Delainee shakes her head and says, "It is something beautiful that I kiss, and it is little." Ashley immediately exclaimed, "Your baby sister!"
Even though it ended up not being about me, it was still so sweet!

Waverly is so Gross

My little nunch of an 11 month old is walking EVERYWHERE. She thinks she owns the place. And those little legs can move stinkin' fast. Well last night Laetner comes running down the hall from my Let's Play Music classroom, telling me that someone put ABC's in the toilet. I was working on my blurb book at the time, so I didn't really hear what he said until Courtney repeated it. I gave Court a dirty look and asked why he didn't fish the ABC's out of the toilet and my OCD husband shot me with a look that looked like he might faint. So I headed down the hall to see what they were talking about. In my LPM classroom there is a little tiny powder room with a toilet, a sink, and very little else. Sure enough inside the toilet were my ABC's for LPM---thank goodness they were still inside their ziploc bag----gotta love that zipper seal! There was also a candy wrapper and a mallet. I fished everything out of the bowl, and then told my little baby NO in my most stern voice, which of course set her off into the cutest little tears. I closed all the doors and told everyone to keep them that way.
Well Laetner just came in with another update: Someone put the shot in the toilet! (the toy syringe from our fisher price medical kit). I remember that Delainee used to hide things in the bath tub when she was a baby, but this is just too gross! Boo, Waverly, boo! I'm off to get my surgical gloves---or else Court will probably never let me touch him again. :)

Thank Goodness for the Red Dot Boutique

If you know about Let's Play Music then this post will definitely make more sense to you, but I thought it was funny. I love the way that Let's Play Music teaches the dotted quarter followed by an 8th note rhythm. Such a hard thing to explain to kids normally, but LPM makes it soooo easy. This week was the week when we pulled out our bullseye and arrow feather to learn what our new Indian Rhythm looked like.

Me: So what do we shoot with our arrows and pull our bows at?
Class: (blank stares)
Student: Ummmm, a deer?
Me:(I quickly change the subject as I am holding up my little target) Anyone know what this is called?
Class: (blank stares)
Me: It is called a target.
Student: Oh yeah, it looks just like that store, except it isn't red!
Me: Exactly!---Anyone know what the center of the target is called?
Class: (blank stares)
Me: It is called a bullseye
Class: (blank stares)

One out of two ain't bad. Now if only I can get Target to change their name to Target with a Bullseye in the Middle.

Kickin' my Boot-ie Camp

I am sure I have made reference to my personal trainer---errr, meany sister-in-law, that MAKES me run with her. Thank goodness she does or my perfect state of 125 would NEVER happen! :) Well I have been feeling pretty good about myself lately. I have worked back up to 4 miles without stopping (10k I am on my way) and we even fit in some weight training and core strengthening two days a week--ala Biggest Loser style. I am thinking I have this amazing endurance and can hold my own, right?
Well we got this e-mail from a girl in our ward offering a 1 month boot camp. It is a smokin' deal as we only pay for one of us and our 'friend' is free. Two days a week for a month--each session is an hour long--for $70! Last night was our first night, and I figured I could definitely hold my own. We walked up to find four other ladies in the class--one of which was 65. Well we start the 'circuit' and to my embarassment and horror, I was absolutely the slowest one. Don't get me wrong I got through the circuit 4 times when she said we should get through 2-3 times, but I was way behind everyone else. I just couldn't seem to make my leggies do all the things they should. Shattered---there went my self-esteem! Shelby (my meany sister-in-law) tried to pump me up by saying that the other girls were cheating---which clearly I think they were---but it was still hard to swallow. I wasn't sure what to expect of this Boot Camp, but at least I will definitely be pushed which can only end in results that make my cute Buckle jeans look even cuter, right?
I am sure I look no different than I did last night, but man I feel tight today!

Here I am pulling a weight up the hill--while shamelessly giving bootcampchicks.com a plug

Sadly, I can't remember the exact pain I was encountering at this point.

Probably one of the gazillion squats I have to do each week!

What do you know! There is my meany sister in law right there in the front!!!!