A Day Out With Thomas!

Kaden has been obsessed with trains for about a year now. He got two train sets for Christmas and one of them was Thomas themed. Thus the craze began. Just so you know, Thomas themed stuff is hecka expensive. I was thinking Kaden would be pretty disappointed when he didn't get most of the Thomas stuff he would want. After that, some friends of ours got Kaden a Thomas the Train DVD....which led to a coworker of Shane's saying, "My kids grew out of all their Thomas stuff a long time ago. I can bring all of it for your son if you want."

Um, yes please! :)

The next day, Shane came home with 3 BIG bags of Thomas stuff....more DVD's, even more train tracks & trains (you should see the massively huge train area we have), an umbrella, a sleeping bag...you get the picture. We unzipped the sleeping bag all the way so that Kaden could use it as a blanket. He took it everywhere with him. :)

A couple of weeks ago, some friends of ours gave us brand new Thomas bedding (a full, huge, nice set) that they only used for a couple of nights when their grandson was in town. Yeah. It is in perfect condition and apparently their grandson is no longer interested in Thomas, so it's ours. Free! I love free stuff! Kaden LOVES his "Thomas bed" and can't wait to take naps and go to bed in it. :) Or just sit in it and play and say, "Hi" to every engine on it. haha :)

Anyway, a couple of months ago I saw an advertisement on one of the DVD's we got from Shane's coworker for a "Day Out With Thomas." It was 2 AM and I was up with Lexi. I was bored and very tired. As a joke, I researched the Day Out With Thomas online, knowing that it would never come to Utah.

It does! To the Heber Valley Railroad. Well, I looked up tickets to the normal Heber Valley Railroad when Kaden first got hooked on trains and they were $35 a piece! AND we would have to pay for Kaden! LAME! So I thought the Thomas tickets would be at least $45-$50 each, but thought I would look it up so Shane and I could joke about how people are stupid to pay such overpriced prices to spoil their children. So I checked it out...

$14 a ticket people!!! To make all Kaden's dreams come true...

When Shane finally woke up at 7:00, I told him what I'd found out. Even cheap old Shane couldn't resist $14. :) And Lexi is free, which is great.

After months of waiting (on my part-we didn't tell Kaden because he doesn't understand the word "later"), our day out with Thomas finally came! It was yesterday and HOLY. CRAPOLA. did we have fun. :)

Just so you know, between Shane and I, there were about 200 pictures taken, plus some videos. I promise not to post all 200. :D

The first thing we did when we got there was ride Thomas. You can't tell from the pictures, but really, Kaden was super excited!

As the train was pulling out...

Lexi really did have fun, she was just mad we wouldn't let her run up and down the aisle.

A conductor guy walked around and gave these to all the kids. It says that Kaden is a certified Jr. Engineer and can help Thomas anytime he wants to. :) Again, can't tell from his face, but Kaden LOVED it and carried it everywhere.

During the ride. Kaden was mesmerized.

Lexi was having so much fun.

She would have jumped out the window if Shane had let her. My little daredevil.

She finally got a turn wearing Kaden's coveted conductor's hat. :)

Kaden was loving life. :)

The train was decorated and had little laminated posters of the other engines on the Island of Sodor. Kaden loves them all and was pointing them all out to us.

Like Henry, who was the one by us. There was also Thomas music playing (from the DVD's) and it was hilarious that all the parents knew the words as well as the kids. ;)

I just love this picture. :) Isn't she adorable?!
Another train. Apparently Shane was more interested in getting a picture of the train than seeing me and the kids. :)

Taking Kaden through the mini maze (that wasn't even really a maze, more like a haystack pathway where you could just let your kids run around).

I left to go to the bathroom for 2 minutes, came back and saw Shane taking Lexi's picture on top of the hay bales. I love that he just totally ignored ALL of the "Do NOT climb on the hay bales" signs.

Posing with a conductor. My kids have issues with standing next to strangers.

Lexi checking out the trains. :)

The kids got temporary tattoos and Kaden chose Harold the Helicopter. He goes back and forth between which train/helicopter he likes best and yesterday it was Harold. :)

Lexi got Thomas.

"Hmmmm. What's this?"

"Let's see if it tastes as good as it looks!"

Trying to get a picture with Sir Topham Hat. All the other kids would walk right up to him and give him a hug or high five....not mine! Kaden was scared TO. DEATH. of the guy and Lexi saw his reaction so she freaked out, too. Nice. The photographer they had was laughing so hard. :)

Fun family pic! :D

Kaden would NOT look at the camera. He was waaaay too excited about having Thomas RIGHT. THERE. :)

Until Thomas had to leave and blew his really loud whistle. Scared the CRAP out of Kaden. hahaha I was laughing so hard.

Kaden telling us that Thomas is leaving.

We went on little motor car rides (teeny tiny trains that barely fit one family).

Kaden loved going on a "train" again. :)

After a long, windy day, saying goodbye to Thomas.

Back home, Kaden showing off his new Thomas backpack. :) The brown pile of what looks like poo in the bottom left corner is actually the remnants of a balloon animal monkey with a banana. :) Lexi got a butterfly that she quickly popped with her teeth when we got home. Wonderful.
There was mini-golf, but we didn't play since our kids couldn't care less about that. There were different tents set up with a huge play area with tons of Thomas stuff and sidewalk chalk, a TV with Thomas DVD's playing, a live band and food, a gift shop (hello new backpack), and of course the different photo op places that were set up. It was SO much fun and all that Kaden could talk about the rest of the night and most of today. He loves looking at the pictures and telling everyone who calls us (beware!) all about his day yesterday. :) Our friends (that we went to the demo derby with) came over last night for ice cream sundaes after we got back and asked Kaden which is better: crashing cars or Thomas? Everyone waited in suspense while he thought about it. After a minute, he looked up at us and said, "CRASH THOMAS!!!" LOL What a perfect answer from my brilliant little boy. :D

Busy weekend!

I can tell summer is approaching. Not because of the weather, since it's been SNOWING, but because we are getting CRAZY busy on the weekends. This past Friday, we went to the Olive Garden with Shane's family to celebrate Shane's 27th birthday and his mom's birthday (I'm not allowed to say her age, but I do know it). ;) Saturday morning every single member of my family that lives in Utah came to my house for a surprise 50th birthday party for my mom, Denise, and her twin sister, Debbie. About four months ago, I arranged it with Debbie for her to come into town (I had to tell her that early so she could get work off....of all 3 million jobs she has) and surprise my mom. She got in on Thursday and then the sort-of-surprise party was Saturday. The twins knew there would be a party (we were planning it since last year), but they thought it was just my siblings and I, so they tried to turn it around on us and spray-dyed their hair gray and wore old lady clothes. But the joke was on them! My mom was SHOCKED when she walked in my house and saw everyone in our family there! Her face was so red. :D

This was just after they had walked in. My sister got the best pictures since I was stuck in the kitchen and running around like a pregnant chicken with it's head cut off.

I told my mom and Debbie to go look at a picture on the wall under their "over the hill" sign....

I think they liked it. :) I called my grandpa and got some old pictures of the twins. This is what they saw in the frame on the wall:

The top left picture is when they were 6 months old, then the one on the top right is when they were 16ish with their dad, and the bottom one is from Thursday when Debbie surprised my mom by coming for a visit. My sister used her awesome photoshop powers and combined them all onto one page. They both got an 8x10 framed copy of it and LOVED it. :) (If you are wondering, Debbie is the one always on the left in every picture. I made my little brother make sure Debbie was on the left for the current picture so that it would all coordinate.)

People brought gag gifts. :)

This is my cousin, Lance. I think he will become a permanent fixture in our house for as long as we have the massage chair. :) His birthday is in August, so I told his mom to get him a massage chair. haha

And this is my cutie patootie niece, Taliyah. :)

After the party, I passed out for an hour (it's amazing how much energy a pregnant woman DOESN'T have). Then we went to the Golden Spike Arena with some friends for a Demolition Derby. I was super scared that Kaden and Lexi would freak out because a) it's so loud and b) the cars crash. It was absolutely freezing, but not raining. Yay!
Kaden was confused at first. Not scared by the loud cars, though, just confused why everyone was cheering at car crashes.

This was at the end of the first heat. They were all the newbies, so it got more exciting aggressive as the evening went on.

Kaden LOVED it. I mean LOVED it!! Even though it kept getting colder and colder (the wind wasn't helping), Kaden didn't want to leave. I kept asking him, "Do you want to go home?" His response? "No home! More cars crash please?"

Lexi being cuddled and fed kettle corn. :)

Our friends said that they have never seen a truck round before, but there were two when we went. Kaden loved watching the "MONSTER trucks!" hahaha These guys were stuck together like this foreva.

Staying warm....well, trying to anyway. Lexi was enthralled by it all, too. She would sleep in between heats, then pry her little eyes open so she wouldn't miss the crashing. :) That's my girl.

Loving every minute. :) Lexi eventually crashed right before the big finale. I thought Kaden would be out on the drive home (it was about 10:30 by this point), but nope! The entire way home he was talking about the cars and trucks crash, crash, CRASHING! He woke up the next morning and first thing he did was go to the door and say, "Socks, shoes, see cars crash?" I love that he is old enough to really enjoy things now. :)

After church (and nap time) on Sunday, we went to my mom's house for dinner and cake/ice cream for all of the May birthday's in our family (6...just on my side...there are another 5 on Shane's side...holy moly people! What is it with May?!). Anyway, it was fun and we got to see my aunt again before she leaves on Tuesday (today). Lexi crawled under my mom's glass coffee table and couldn't figure out for the life of her why she couldn't stand up under there and get out. While everyone else was laughing and taking pictures, my mom got her out. :) Such a good grandma.


P.S. When Kaden saw the current picture of my mom and Debbie together, I asked him which one is grandma. He looked for a second, then looked at me and gasped, "TWO grandmas!!" LOL Debbie was called "grandma" more than once this last weekend and she loved it every time. :)

Because I'm weird like that

First of all, I want to thank everyone for your wonderful and supportive comments to my last post. I go through and reread them whenever I start freaking out and it helps me a lot. So thanks. :D

Since the weather is finally turning nice (for the next day anyway), Shane has a huge, long summer to-do list that he has been compiling since the fall. This involves daily weekly trips to Home Depot. And I thought we were all done with fixing stuff up.....silly me. Anyway, during one of our recent trips, Shane told me we needed to grab a new toilet seat. YAY!! When we first moved in, Shane insisted on getting one of those granny seats (with the extra cushion). I hated it. Holes popped easily in it and then you could hear the air slowly leaking every. single. time. you sat down. Not so much of an issue for Shane, but for a woman, I was DONE with it. Shane finally listened to me and realized I wasn't so happy with the granny seat. I was thrilled when he told me we were buying another one. It's the little things, y'know? ;)

SO, we're in the toilet lid aisle and Shane zero's in on what he wants: plain Jane, ordinary toilet seat for $6. I was totally fine with this. We kept looking at the other ones just to make sure we had the right shape and size and that's when I saw it. Some GENIUS (I'd bet $100 it was a woman....or a man with 8 kids) finally invented a BUILT IN kid seat to the regular seat!!! No more moving the kiddy seat on and off, you just lift it up and down and it connects to the lid with a magnet. GENIUS! I showed it to Shane, who thought it was "cool." Such a man. Then I saw the price tag: $30. Um, yeah. Shane wanted a $6 seat so I didn't even try to sell him on the amazing seat from heaven. A couple of minutes later (Shane analyzes everything and every purchase), Shane grabbed the $30 toilet seat!! I stopped him before he got the box to the cart. I told him it is $30 (just in case he missed the huge price tag). He told me that he figures it's worth it since Kaden uses the kiddy seat and Lexi will be needing to be potty trained before we move out of this house. I was so happy/surprised! When we got home, I made him wait to put it on until I could get some pictures of it, 'cause I didn't want to take pictures after it was on my toilet (ew). So, 'cause I'm weird, look at our beautiful new seat:

I know some of you non-parents may not understand my excitement, but if you've ever potty trained a toddler, you understand. :) I wish they had these at church, too....and restaurants....and malls. :D

A baby story

Ever since I announced this pregnancy (and people started believing me...) the first question out of every single person's mouth is, "How did this happen??" (Most everyone knows I had this surgery done since I bragged about it so much.) Without even having to discuss it, Shane and I both started giving the "when a man and woman have certain feelings for each other..." speech (this is why I love that man). People were quick to silence our birds and the bees speech, but still wanted to know HOW?! So now I will tell you what happened when we found out back in February.

February 2nd-ish: I realized I was late. I'm never late. Like down to the minute on time. I didn't start freaking out yet because I was confident in the surgery I had and figured I was just extra stressed from recently having another baby with my 15 month old son still a baby in my eyes. So I put it out of my mind...or at least, in the back. :)

February 8th: realize I'm REALLY late. I know I need to take a test. The doctor who did the surgery (not my usual midwife I have seen for my last two pregnancies) had warned me that there is a slight risk of an ectopic pregnancy IF I did get pregnant. She said that if that ever happened I would need to come in right away and get tested for that so that I wouldn't be in danger if it was an ectopic pregnancy. I knew I needed to take a test soon before anything bad could happen to me.

February 9th at about 6:00 am: Took the test. It was positive (obviously). Shane wasn't surprised. He said, "Well, you ARE glowing."
I smacked him. (semi-gently)
I was kind of surprised. I knew something wasn't right, but I was hoping for something besides a pregnancy. I waited until my doctor's office opened, then called and spoke with a nurse. The conversation went like this:
Me: Um, I had a positive pregnancy test this morning.
Nurse (happy): Ok, well what was the first day of your last period?
Me: I have no idea whatsoever.
Nurse (confused): You didn't keep track?
Me: Well, no, I didn't think I needed to. See, I had Essure done almost a year ago.
Nurse (very serious now): How soon can you come in?

Yup-they made a special appointment for me. That scared me knowing just how serious this must be. I got the kids dressed and took them to my sister's house (who was more than willing to babysit when I explained the situation...haha). An hour after I called I was at the office. My midwife, Kathy, came in the room and looked about as shocked as I felt. I told her it's okay if it's ectopic and I was expecting that. She explained that those are very serious and I would need surgery a.s.a.p. to remove the tube. I told her I would rather lose a tube than gain another baby (harsh, but true). She understood. I love that woman. She said that we would do an ultrasound and when we don't see anything in my uterus, then we will be pretty sure it's ectopic. I prepared myself mentally to hear all the details of surgery. That's when I heard Kathy say, "Um. Loretta? I see something here."

Crap.

We both looked at the ultrasound machine. She saw a sac. Not the yolk sac, though, which is what feeds the baby for the first little while. She said that sometimes the whatever sac makes it to the uterus, but the egg is stuck in the tubes-still requiring surgery. This was my ray of hope. She zoomed in as far as possible and said that she thought she saw a little somethin' somethin' in the sac (meaning she saw the yolk sac), but that I really wasn't far enough along to see the yolk sac anyway, even in a normal pregnancy. Great. A big, fat maybe. Then she said that she was leaving for Maui on Saturday and would be gone for 8 days. She was freaking out, though. She didn't want to leave me not knowing (especially if I needed surgery...I would need it sooner than she would get back). So, she had me go get my blood taken. They were going to measure my HCG levels. I would need to go back on Thursday (48 hours later) to get my blood taken again to see if the levels had risen or stayed the same (or fallen). She said if they doubled, most likely that meant a healthy, growing baby. If not, then I would need to see another doctor while she was away to schedule the tube removal surgery. She told me that she would make absolutely sure to call me herself before she left for Maui with the results.

That was the longest 48 hours of my entire life. I went back on Thursday and they took my blood again. I explained my situation to the nurse/whatever-they-are-called who stuck the needle in my arm. Upon hearing the word "Essure," she told me that the test results would be in first thing tomorrow morning and to call the minute they opened at 8:00 (or 9:00? I can't remember).

Another excruciatingly long 24 hours. I think I knew, somewhere deep inside (probably right around my middle) that this was a healthy baby. I was in serious denial. I actually started feeling nauseous the day after my appointment, but I was sure it was a mind thing.

Well, Friday morning finally came. I called the lab. The lady (different from the day before) told me the number that my HCG level was at. It meant nothing to me since I didn't know where I had started. I asked her if that meant that my levels had doubled. She laughed and said, "Oh, honey, they tripled!" Then gave me the starting number. She told me "congratulations" all happy and then hung up.

The word "shock" doesn't even cover it.

Kathy (midwife) called me later in the day to see if I had gotten a call yet from the lab about my levels. I told her I knew the levels had gone up....a lot. She asked me over and over if I was okay and that it's okay to cry. Again, I seriously love that woman. She said that she wanted to see my the minute she got back from paradise. She told me what time her flight got in on Monday morning (the 22nd) and said that she would head straight from the airport to the clinic and she wanted me to meet her there to do another ultrasound.

The next week I felt sick every. single. day. I didn't know if morning sickness had set in early or if it was all in my head. I was pretty sure it was the latter, though. Monday finally came. I went in and again the first thing Kathy asked was if I was okay. And she didn't just mean physically. She's my favorite. She did the ultrasound. There it was. A baby. I was 7 weeks along at this point, and we couldn't see a heartbeat yet. She had me come in again the next week to check for one. I went in again and we saw a very strong heartbeat on a little gummy bear in my tummy. Kathy said that somehow Shane's super swimmers got through the barrier (she very seriously compared it to a goldfish getting through a cement wall). Shane is more than proud of himself now. haha So combine my power eggs with his super swimmers and you can't stop the babies from coming-no matter what.
Even to this day, at every appointment Kathy asks me how I am doing emotionally with all of this. She understands my shock.

I have to admit I have cried. A lot. I am way more emotional this pregnancy than both of my other ones. Maybe because it was so unexpected.

I cried for a lot of reasons. I cried out of self-pity. I cried because I thought our family was complete. I couldn't imagine it with another child. I literally got nauseous every time I walked by the fridge and saw the ultrasound picture. I cried from feeling overwhelmed. I know Heavenly Father won't give us what we can't handle, but I let Him know I thought He was overestimating me. I cried a lot for feeling guilty for not wanting another baby. I felt like the world's worst mother. I didn't (and don't) think I can handle two kids, let alone 3 kids 3 and under.

Everyone asked me and Shane if we were excited. Sadly, not at first. The shock took me a long time to overcome and come to terms with having another baby. Everything that I had said goodbye to: nursing, late night feedings, no sleep at all.... came back to me full force. I tried to remember the good things about having a baby. But every time I pictured a cute little baby face, I saw it crying or spitting up.

I felt horribly guilty about being insanely fertile. I know SO. MANY. women who would give anything to have this problem rather than the opposite. I feel horrible, but there's not much I can do about it. Doesn't change the fact that I feel unworthy.

Anyway, somewhere in the last 3 months that I have known about my pregnancy, something changed. And not just my figure. :) I have prayed endlessly for peace and guidance to have the strength to handle this (as well as my two toddlers at home). Shane started getting excited before me. He was adorable. From the minute I "popped" he was asking how long until he could feel the baby kick. He's such an amazing dad. I don't know when it changed, but I am excited now. (Not over the top like with Kaden, but not in denial now.) I am still insanely nervous and feeling less than capable, but babies are good things. Even when you don't expect them.

Kathy calls this a miracle baby. I have to agree. I have no doubt that this baby was meant for our family. If we can ever figure out what gender it is, I will be able to really get excited one way or the other. :)

If you read this all the way through, you're my favorite.

"It" wants to stay an "it"

I had my appointment yesterday. My midwife looked for over 30 minutes to try and see what gender our baby is. We poked......we prodded....we did everything humanly possible to see some little boy/girl parts.

Nada.

Guess just how frustrated I was. GRRR!!

Kathy (my midwife) said that if she HAD to choose today from the few bad looks we did get, she would say girl. BUT there was more than once when she changed her mind and was saying, "Nope, boy!" So, basically, we still have no flippin' idea. June 1st is the next appointment. Although at this point I'm thinking maybe we weren't meant to know what this one is until it pops out. Stinker.

Shane says it's a girl since it's being difficult.
He could be right.

Kaden was spread eagle and all sorts of proud to show off his man business as early as possibly. Lexi was harder to tell since she hid, too (although nowhere near like this kid!). So, jury's still out for another month. What do you think? Are you with the midwife and leaning towards girl now? Or still sticking with boy?

Dentist's visit

I'll be honest. After 3 years of not going to the dentist, I was sure that I would have 5 cavities and 1 root canal. At my appointment this morning they said that I have 2 cavities.

Can you believe it?! Seriously!

That's it!! They are on my bottom left molars under my sealants. Apparently it's normal for sealants to come out over the years, but mine just loosened and the cavities got under them somehow. My family is all cursed with really deep crevasses (is that the right terminology Kelly?) on our molars so my mom insisted we all get sealants really young. Anyway, yeah. I am super excited that flossing really does pay off! :) I get them filled next week, so that should be loads of fun (rolling eyes).

P.S. Tomorrow I find out what I'm having!!!