Baby Corban

I need to find my camera and start taking pictures again. Then you can see how cute my new nephew, Corban, is. He was born March 15th at 3:00 in the morning. Luckily, he was nice to me and I was only in labor for about 5 hours, and had to push for only 10 minutes. He was 8lbs. 9oz. Everything went well and his parents couldn't be happier.

I have been overwhelmed with all the love and support I have received over the last couple of weeks. My family and I have gotten gifts, meals, phone calls, letters, etc. It is an awesome feeling to know that we are so loved.

Everyone has been asking how I am doing emotionally. I am doing fine. I expected it to be hard, but it hasn't been worse than I expected. I tried hard to not bond the being growing in my belly, but I don't know if that is possible. I'm going to miss having him with me all the time, but I know he will be well taken care of, and I'm not worried about him. His parents are going to make sure that he knows that I am his favorite aunt and that good enough for me.

I'm sure that in a week or so when my hormones return to normal I will be fine and not cry everyday. Although, most of tears that are shed are tears of love, not sadness.

Some of Ben's family wanted to do something nice for us, so they are sending us on a trip to San Diego. We decided to go on my birthday, so in a few weeks. I will make sure to take some pictures so I can post them. we are very excited and grateful. It has been a while since we have been on a vacation outside Utah.

Updates

I don't think anyone ever reads this blog, but I don't want to clean and if I am posting something I feel productive. I have some news: I am going to have a baby! The thing is, it's not mine. I am carrying this baby for my brother-in-law David (Ben's brother) and his wife, Katrina. They have been wanting children for the last 12 years, but are unable to have them. I am a good pregnant woman, so I said "I'll carry a baby for you", and they agreed. I am 15 weeks along and they are very excited. It's a good experience and I'm sure it will end up being one of the most rewarding things I ever do.

On a different note, our family is doing great. Mary just started 2nd grade, and is loving it. Sara is in kindergarten and is a great student. Baby Ben isn't much of a baby anymore, he is 18 months old and loves playing with the daycare kids all day long. Ben is still framing and the daycare is full and busy.

Summer came and went way too fast, other than a couple trips to Bear Lake and a camping trip with my family we didn't get away much. The girls played with their friends and Ben and I worked all summer. In a few more years I think we can afford a real vacation, something I am looking forward to.

Sorry I have no pictures this time, but I promise my kids are all super cute! Maybe I'll post again in 6 months or so.

NORWEX

Anyone need Norwex products? Call me, I am now a consultant. I never saw myself as a sales lady, but the opportunity presented itself and I took it. Norwex is an innovative way to clean your home. It's a way to improve your quality of life by reducing chemicals in your home, thus reducing chemicals in the environment. As an added bonus, it saves you time and money. I have been using Norwex products for the last 3 years and love them. I wanted to order more, but couldn't find anyone in the area that sold them. So, I decided to sign up as a consultant to get what I wanted at a discounted price. I received my starter pack for free and after reading through the information, I realized that I could easily make $600-$700 a month selling the product part-time. So, considering that Ben's job is very unstable lately, I figured I'd give it a try so when Ben is out of work we can still afford to pay the house payment. Check out my website at wendysnorwexonline.com and let me know what you think!

2010 Top 5

I have been terrible at posting lately, but I thought that I should at least list the top 10 things that highlighted our year. Then, I realized that our lives are so boring that I am lucky to find 5. Here goes (dotted with some random pictures of the kids):

NUMBER 5. "911, What is your emergency?" Our family has never had the need to call 911 until we had our baby boy. There have been 3 calls in the last 3 months. The first two don't really count, Baby Ben just has a knack for dialing 911 when he plays with our cell phones. So, we get calls back making sure everything is okay, but nothing too exciting. The third time was for real.

I was on my way home from a child-care training course one night when I got a text from my next-door neighbor that said, "Is everything OK at your house?"
I immediately called her to find out what was wrong with my house. She told me that there was ambulance and fire truck parked out front and emergency personnel going in. I told her that I wasn't there, but that Ben was home with the kids.

I then called Ben to find out that Baby Ben had been choking on something and couldn't breathe. Luckily, by the time 911 got there, he had swallowed whatever he had been choking on and everything was fine.

I hope this isn't a preview of raising a boy, I don't think I can handle too many 911 situations.

NUMBER 4. For over a year now, I have had my sister help me do daycare. I figured that I should increase my child-care licence to be able to have more children in my program to make more money since there are two caregivers. I did all the paperwork and had the inspections, but my home is only big enough to increase my license by one. So, I can now have 9 children instead of 8. Not really a big deal, but it does qualify me to get $1,000 in grant money in 2011 instead of the $600 I got in 2010.

NUMBER 3. Mary is now in first grade. She stays at school 6 hours a day. It seems weird to me that my baby girl is old enough to not need her mom all day long. She is a good student and I know she is fine, but I worry about her during the day. Sara is starting kindergarten next school year and then I'll have another kid worry about when they're not with me.

NUMBER 2. Considering the current condition of the nation's economy and all the financial turmoil going on, #2 is more about what didn't happen instead of what did. Due to some bad investment decisions and financial choices we made, I am glad our house didn't fall into foreclosure. Money had been tighter in 2010 than ever before in our family, but we still have a place to live. 2011 will be better, I can just feel it!

NUMBER 1. Of course, the #1, most exciting thing that happened in 2010 was the birth of our son. He is such a joy to have around and always has a smile for everyone. Not only was he born this year, but has also learned to sit-up, roll over, crawl, pull himself up and walk around furniture, eat solid food and get whatever he wants with one of his cheesy grins. We love his so much!

4 months old

We are loving having a baby in the house, and Ben is a really good baby. The girls love taking care of him. They can both change his diaper all by themselves and they like to do it.

It seems easier having a baby in the house this time around. When Mary was 4 months old, I was pregnant with Sara. When Sara was 4 months old, I was chasing around Mary who was 17 months old. I feel like I have more one-on-one quality time with Ben than I had with the girls.

I forgot how awesome it is to watch a baby grow and learn. It almost makes me want to have another one (almost, but not quite).

9 Weeks Old

Kindergarten Graduation

Mary graduated from kindergarten yesterday. Her class did a graduation and slide show in the classroom and then all the kindergarten classes did a progam in the gym. She is very excited to be moving on to first grade.

HE'S FINALLY HERE!!!

Here are some pictures of Ben. He is so cute.
The girls have been so excited to have their baby brother here. The first thing Mary wanted to do was change his diaper. I don't have any pictures of Sara holding him yet, but I'm sure I'll get some soon.
So far, he has been a pretty good baby. He is alert and wants to look at everything.

This is a picture of him a just a few hours after he was born. His hair looks really light in this picture, but it is actually dark.

The hospital experience was not bad at all. I would prefer to have babies at home, but it was way better than I expected. Here's the story of baby Ben's birth:

I had an appointment with my midwife on Thursday at 10:00am. She put me on some fetal monitoring device because I was 8 day past my due date. She just wanted to make sure everything was okay. She didn't like the results because baby Ben's heart rate wasn't going up as much as it should be. She consulted with a doctor and he suggested that I either be induced or that I do more monitoring and a ultrasound.

I didn't want to pay for more monitoring or an ultrasound, so we decided to just go ahead and have the baby. She sent me over to the hospital. I got there at about noon and they told me that they didn't have any room for me and told me to go home and wait for their call in a "few" hours. I waited and waited, finally at about 5:30 pm the midwife called and said that they still didn't have room and I needed to wait a "couple" more hours. I waited some more, then at 9:00 pm they called and said they would have room for me at 10:00 pm.

We got there at 10:00 pm, and got all settled in. I didn't want any kind of medication, so the midwife broke my water at 11:30 to see if that would be enough to start labor. It was enough and by 1:00 am I was in full blown labor.

I was doing awesome for a few hours and then by about 5:00 am I was so tired that I decided to have an epidural. They told me it would be 20 minutes until the guy could come to give me one. I said okay, but by the time he got there, I was ready to push. I pushed for 6 minutes and Ben was born at 5:47 am. He was my smallest baby at 8 lbs. 8 oz. and 18 in. long.

Everything went great. I didn't need stitches, which surprised me because I needed them with both the girls. I was happy that I didn't end up having any medication before or during the birth. I did let them put me on Pitocin after he was born because they said it would help with the bleeding and I have a history of heavy bleeding after birth.

I was hoping to spend the least amount of time possible at the hospital. My goal was to be there less than 12 hours. We ended up staying a total of 14 hours, so I almost met my goal.

The nurses were very nice and understanding and didn't make a fuss about me doing things different than most people. I requested to not have baby Ben get any of the shots that they give most babies, and they didn't make a big deal out of it. They told me that usually people stay for 24 hours after the baby is born, but when I told them I wanted to get the heck out of there, they did all they could to make it happen.

All in all, everything worked out the best it could. So far, I feel great. This has been the easiest recovery out of all my deliveries, but it is only the second day. Hopefully, it continues that way!

I don't have any pictures to post, but I have a few minutes to update my blog. Ben is out and both girls are asleep and I don't want to clean the house.

Ben has gone back to framing, his boss kept bugging him to come back and offered him a raise that he couldn't resist. My sister, Stacie, has come to work with me. I now have enough kids in the daycare that I need help, especially since I now have to transport kids to and from school.

Mary is doing great in school. She got her first "report card" a few days ago and got the highest marks that she could (4 on a scale of 1-4) on almost everything. Her teacher wrote in the comment section "Mary is such a good girl, I'm so glad she is in my class". I'm proud of my little girl.

Sara is getting so big, I don't know why, but age 4 seems so much older than age 3. She is often the oldest kid in the daycare, which hasn't ever happened before this school year. She is a good helper and is so excited to be a big sister.

Baby Benjamin is getting big. So am I. I forgot how big I get when I get pregnant. With both other pregnancies, starting about 7 months along, strangers start making comments about how I look like I'm about to pop. When I would inform them that I still had 2 months left, they would then ask if I was having twins. This hasn't yet this time around, but I would be very surprised if it doesn't.

I also forgot how awesome it is to be pregnant. Feeling the baby move is one experience that I am very grateful for. Other than the couple weeks of severe chest pain, this pregnancy has been easy. I didn't have very much morning sickness, I have some of my energy back, and I have been sleeping good. I don't know how long it will last, but so far, so good!

WE ARE GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER....

Benjamin in our house 'cause we're having a baby boy and naming him Benjamin. We are so excited!!

I'm feeling better

I am feeling all better now. The doctor said it is most likely my gallbladder, but since I don't have insurance, they don't want to do x-rays or tests because it would be to expensive. He said if I just watch what I eat, I should be fine, so that is what I will do.

I think I just got a bad case of "woe is me, life is hard" syndrome and just needed to give myself a big dose of "stop crying baby, life is awesome". I have so much to be thankful for, I just forget sometimes, and it makes me sick.

Life really is awesome and I have everything a girl could ever want!

Pain, Pain, GO AWAY

I am not one to complain, and I am very fortunate to almost never have anything to complain about, but I have been in constant pain for over a week now and I have reached my point of silence.

Last Thursday I had to worst headache ever, by Friday I realized that it was caused by a sinus infection, because my face hurt as well. By Saturday I couldn't take it anymore and went to inta-care for some antibiotics. (I was hoping to handle on my own because I have no insurance and didn't want to pay for a doctor visit, but I couldn't stand the pain.)

Then Saturday night my chest starting hurting extremely bad. I have had chest pain off and on for the last few months, but nothing I couldn't handle, and I could always sleep it off. Saturday was so bad that it was making me vomit. Sunday was no better, so Monday I went to the doctor. (Luckily I found a doctor who gives big discounts to self-pay patients.) He said that it might be acid-reflux brought on by the pregnancy, or that my chest wall had become inflamed and irritated from my cold. He gave me some meds and told me to call back if it didn't improve, because it might be my gallbladder.

It's now Friday, and I am still in pain, so I made an appointment to go back to the doctor Monday morning. I do feel a bit better. I think it may have been a combination of acid-reflux and gallbladder, but I don't know. Luckily, I know it's not my heart or my lungs, so it's not life threatening. Hopefully, I can fix it soon. I am getting really tired of being in pain!

More Updates

Things have settled down a bit around here. Ben is no longer framing and is home full time. I was able to buy a van with very little frustration and stress. We bought a 1996 Ford Aerostar. It is old, but is in very good condition and has less miles on it than our car had. I waited for Ben to come home to sell the car. We were able to sell it on KSL, and it only took a few days. We sold it for what we paid for the van, so that worked out nice.

Mary had a birthday is now 5 years old. She started kindergarten and is a very good student. On the first day of school, I asked her what she had learned and she responded, "school is boring, and boys don't know how to listen." She is very smart.


Sara also had a birthday and is now a 4 year old. She misses the cut-off date to start kindergarten by one day for next year, so she still has two years before school. Maybe next year we can afford to send her to pre-school . She needs something because she can do all of Mary's homework with no problems now, she will be reading novels two years from now!

We are still working on getting some kind of medical insurance for my pregnancy, but I have been to my first appointment with my midwife and have heard the heartbeat of the baby. That is always an exciting experience. Next time I go back I will get the ultrasound. I didn't find out with the girls what I was having, but I plan on it this time. I think it is a boy, but I thought both of the girls were going to be boys, so it's probably a girl.

Big Changes

I have no pictures, but there has been a whole big bunch of stuff going on in our household lately. I was going to wait to post all these happenings, but I have a few free minutes now and might not again for a few months, so here goes.

First, Ben has quit his job as a framer. Next week will be his last week. It is bittersweet for him. He has been framing for almost half of his life and enjoys it some of the time (mostly when the weather's nice) and I think he will miss it more than he thinks. But, with the economy the way it is, his job has been unstable the last little while. It has been stressful for him. The company he works for has been great to him and finds him as much work as they can, but lately it hasn't been enough. So, we have decided to work together in the child care business. I will be expanding my business to include transportation to and from school. Ben will be my driver and helper during the day. Which brings us to our next big change:

We will be purchasing a minivan! I am not too excited to own a minivan, but I guess it is necessary. Ben is out of town, so I get to be the lucky one to go car shopping by myself. Then I will be extra lucky and get to sell our car, which in the last two weeks has been making funny noises. I took it in to get looked at and found out that the transmission is going out and will take thousands to get fixed. Yeah! So we won't sell it for as much as we hoped, but hopefully enough to get a decent minivan.

Finally, to add to all this excitement, God decided it was a great time to send us another little angel! We will be having a baby in March. I have been stressing out because I don't have any medical insurance and have to have this baby in the hospital. So, on top of trying to find a minivan to buy, sell my car, and work on getting my daycare up to code to transport kids, I also have to figure out how to pay for a pregnancy and birth. Because, all this has too be done before school starts in 3 1/2 weeks, and Ben is out of town, I have been extra stressed!

At least, I get to go on a trip to Chicago with my some of my favorite friends this week-end. Hopefully, it will help me relax and forget my troubles for a day or two. I'll post again when things settle down in a month or so.

Vacation Bible Camp

The girls were able to attend a vacation bible camp this year. Some church group from Florida travels around and puts these on for kids. They happened to do it at the park that is right out of my back gate, two hours a day for four days.

Mary and Sara had a great time, they had a few cousins and a couple of friends from the neighborhood there with them. Everyday they sang songs and did crafts and played games and had a snack. The people who did it, put it all together for free, which was awesome! I was able to keep an eye on them the whole time, or I probably wouldn't have let them go hang out with strangers for a couple of hours.

With the daycare, the girls don't have a lot of social opportunities outside the home, or without their mother, so I think this was a great way for them to work on some of their social skills (and if they take after me and Ben in that regard, they need all the help they can get).

I took some pictures of them from my back porch. You can't see them in the pictures very well, but Mary is wearing a red shirt and Sara is wearing a pink shirt, and they both have blue skirts.

And this is at the end of the week. They ended up with a sword, shield and crown. Aren't they so cute?

Updates

I have been such a slacker when it comes to blogging lately. I have been busy with the daycare, which is good, but leaves me with little free time.

Also, if I leave the girls unattended for too long, this is what happens:

My goal is to post three blogs in the next three days. That should get me up to date on what has been happening in the Watt household, so stayed tuned. (Don't get too excited, not much has been happening.)

Biggest Loser Results

And the winner is............not me. But I did lose 1 lb., 3% of my body fat, and an inch around my waist. The winner lost 25 lbs. and 10% body fat, so I wasn't even close, but I had fun and picked up some healthy habits along the way.

Biggest Loser Half-Way

I have been doing this thing for 4 weeks and have lost a total of 3 lbs. I'm thinking that I won't win. But I am ok with that because I have made some healthy changes in my life that I can stick with long after this contest is over. I have started an aerobics class. It is every Tuesday and Thursday 9:30pm and Saturday at 8:00am. So far I love it and will continue to go as long as they are offering it and Ben is in town.

I have also read that if you lose weigh too fast, then it is more likely to come back. And my weight is coming off nice and slow. That means that it will never come back (I hope), especially if I keep improving my diet and excercise routine.

I will keep trying to win, and I don't know how all my competitors are doing, so I guess I still have a chance. I'll find out in 4 more weeks.

Biggest Loser Week 2

Week 2 I've done awesome, I have had at least 80 ounces of water everyday this week. I have taken my vitamins and I have worked out at least 30 minutes every day, and although I'm not following a specific diet I have cut down on my sugar intake and have eaten more vegetables than I usually do. Yet, somehow I have managed to gain 3 lbs. since last week! That's not the result I'm looking for, but it might be possible that it is all muscle gain, and that I have loss 2 lbs. of fat gained 5 lbs. of muscle. Actually, I don't know if that is possible, but I'm not going to research and find out. I would rather just assume that it is.

Hopefully, the results next week will be more promising.

Biggest Loser Week 1

One week down, seven more to go. I did pretty well this week. I worked out 5 days and I lost 1 1/2 lbs! I don't know how that compares to my opponents, but I feel like I accomplished something. At the initial weigh-in last week I weighed 158.6 lbs, today I weighed in at 157.0 lbs. My goal is to end the competition 15 lbs lighter than when I began, so hopefully at the final weigh-in the scale will read 143 lbs. That won't be all that I need to lose, but I think it is a reasonable goal.

This first week I didn't change my eating habits, I just added aerobic activity. I was hoping that it would be enough, I really love food, but it looks like I might have to go on a diet of some sort if I want to win this thing. This next week I'll just cut my carbs and continue with the exercise and see if that makes a difference. Does anyone know of a good diet that is easy to stick with and lets me eat a lot of tasty food? I have yet to find one that works for me. Either it helps me lose weight, but is so strict that it is impossible to stick with, or I only get to eat disgusting food, thus, impossible to stick with.

Although, I have to say that I am pretty proud of myself today. I took the girls to three different Easter egg hunts, which resulted in way too much candy, and I didn't even have one piece! It wasn't even that difficult to resist, but it did take some conscious effort to not eat something that was so easily accessible. Maybe that is all it takes, is more observance of what I eat, and how much of it I shove in my mouth.

I will post next week with my progress. I'm hoping for a 2 lb. loss for next week.