Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we spent it at Jeremy's parents. It was just them and us but we still had alot of fun. Jeremy and I were looking so forward to a vacation and some fun. We had alot of good food. I did a couple of new recipes. I'll put them on my other blog. Beth and I went shopping on Black Friday. We got up at 3:30 to go to Target!!! When we got there there was still a line but it was walking into the store. Kara said she was going there and waited in line for an hour. I didn't think I would see her there were so many people but I actually did see her! We went to Target, Kmart and Walmart. I got so many good things! I pretty much got all of Christmas that day. I love Black Friday! Here are some pictures.

Sariah and Emily helped me make a banana cream pie.


Here are a couple of the girls playing outside in the snow. I was so happy this year Emily actually liked playing in the snow! Last year she didn't like it. Probably cuz the snow was taller than she was!




My cute baby boy! Brittany sent me a bunch of clothes and one of them said My Aunt Loves Me so I took a picture to show her.


Sariah and Emily go to there Grandma Baird's on Sariah's early out Mondays. She had some cute projects for them to do. Sariah made an indian outfit for Thanksgiving. I thought she did a very good job and it's so cute!

First Bath at Home

We all helped give TJ his first bath at home. The girls had fun helping. It was kind of funny cuz I was feeling possessive. They wanted to do everything and I felt like he's my baby, I want to do it!! Of course I didn't say anything and let them help. He is not a fan of taking baths! He cries the whole time! One time it was so funny because I was giving him a bath and I was carrying him to the tub. He started to pee so I aimed him towards the part of the kitchen that doesn't have anything. Great thing about a boy eh you can aim it where you want it to go! lol But at the same time he pooped on the floor! Amazingly I didn't get anything on me but Sariah was grossed out and didn't want to help clean it up.

Home From the Hospital

We got to take TJ home on November 8. We were hoping to take him home the day before but were not able to. It made me angry because I didn't think they had a good reason to keep him another night. The nurse didn't think so either. I think it just got late and they didn't want to do it. The dumb thing though is the next morning it took like 20 minutes and I got to take him home. I love love love having this baby home! It is so much nicer to hold him and feed him when I want. It feels so nice staying home and not having to leave two times a day. It was very exhausting. Every time I look at him I feel so much love and I'm so happy to have him. Through this trial I did learn some lessons. I always wondered how people could learn from their trials and lo and behold I did! I learned to have alot more patience. I'm now alot more patient with my other children. I also have learned not to take your kids for granted and to love every part with them. It's not like I didn't love them before but I'm finding more joy in them every day.



My beautiful children and I! I love this picture! Well maybe not so much me but my children!



I would lay him on the floor and he would just fall asleep there. It was cute.


His sisters love him so much and are great helpers. I think he is also the most kissed boy ever! The girls and I are constantly giving him kisses!

Halloween

I'm behind but I still want to do all the posts so here I go!!

This is my mom holding TJ. My mom supported me so much throughout this whole pregnancy and after the birth. She did so much for me watching the girls and taking Sariah to school everyday. She helped me clean the house while I was on bed rest and went with me to my appointments. After he was born she would take Emily for me so I could get some rest. She just kept saying I need all the rest I can get before he comes home. When I had to go to the hospital to feed him past 9 pm she would come with me. She is also helping me now since we are not taking TJ out anywhere. I had such a hard emotional and physical time while TJ was in the NICU for a month. I do not know how in the world my mom did it with two kids for 3 to 4 months. There is no way that I am able to thank her for all her help and support. I love her so much!


The girls are counting and sorting all of their halloween candy. They didn't get a whole lot this year. We went to my parents to trick or treat and it downpoured rain so we just went down the street to the corner and back up the otherside. We all looked like drowned rats! As soon as we came home it had stopped raining so we went to a few more houses in our neighborhood and got a little more candy.


Sariah bought a witch costume with the money she earned from selling pumpkins. Emily was a cute little clown.


Even TJ had some Halloween fun! The nurses got to dress up on Friday and this was his nurse Leslie. It made me happy to have him involved in halloween a little bit. She was a really good nurse and I enjoyed when she was on shift.


That Friday night I also got to give him a bath for the first time. They wrap them up in a blanket to help them feel more secure. He slept through the whole thing! Now he screams through his baths!! He looked so warm and comfortable I wanted to do that!


My mom has a halloween party every year and we carve our pumpkins. Here are ours! Jeremy did his as the name of a computer game X3.


We had a donut eating contest. Mom and Dad were doing the same donut! It was funny!


Last year I didn't get to go to Sariah's costume parade because I was working. I got to go this year and was glad because they only do it until first grade. I'm such a cry baby though! Every program she has a cry and get all emotional.


Here is all the family carving pumpkins.


Here is Emily with her pumpkin. She's so cute!

Canning Applesauce

Every year since I was a little girl my mom has canned peaches, pears, applesauce and grape juice. I love when she starts canning and hope one day that I will be as good as her. The girls helped her make applesauce. Emily was cute and was very serious about her job.

Update on TJ

I think about a week ago they moved TJ. He got a nice room to himself with a window with a very nice view. While he was in there his billirubin went down. So I got to dress him in some of the new clothes I got at the baby shower. I also got to wrap him up in his blanket. No more naked boy!!

A couple of days later though they moved him again. He was moved into the NICU overflow on the pediatrics floor. It is very ghetto. There are two other babies in there and it is very crowded. After he was moved his billrubin spiked so he was naked boy again.

Tonight was a very good night! I nursed him and he drank 31 milliliters. He has to get to 62. We were just hoping he would get to 20 and tonight he flew by it! I also got to give him a bath. It was so much fun! It's been so long since I've washed and clothed a baby!

So he is doing fine. He gets to go home once he learns how to eat. Unfortunately it is a painfully slow process. Everyone keeps telling me once he learns he'll take off. I've been told that so many times I just want to scream!!

Grandma Shoemaker holding him for the first time. Emily the proud big sister.


Very cute outfits that his Aunt Kara and Uncle Nate gave him.


Cute blanket that his Aunt Amber made him.

Introducing......

Terry James "TJ" Shoemaker!!!! He was born on October 12 at 3:09 am. He weighed 6 lbs 8 oz. This is my first baby that I went into labor naturally. It was interesting. I started having some contractions Monday morning. They continued throughout the day sporadically. I had been told that Braxton Hicks contractions get worse with each kid. Also you had to have four in an hour for it to mean anything. At eight that evening they were occuring frequently but I thought nothing of it and they tapered off for awhile. Jeremy thinks that I just wasn't feeling them cuz I was distracted reading a book. At 11 I could tell they were less than five mintues apart and they were getting progressively worse. So I called my mom to come stay with the girls and we thought we would be sent back home.

We got to the hospital and I was dialated to a five! I dialated rather quickly and got an epidural at a 6. With the girls I always got the epidural at a 3. They funny thing is I was breathing how they told me to and it did actually help!! Of course I was still in pain and wanted the drugs but it helped until I got them. From the time we got in the hospital and all checked out it was about one am. So the labor at the hospital only lasted about 2 hours. That was really nice!! It was also the easiest labor all over out of the three kids.

After he was born they rushed him into the other room so neither Jeremy nor I were able to hold him and still haven't been able to. He was about 5 weeks early so he is in the NICU. He is on a ventilator and has a couple iv's. Tonight they are going to put a picc line in. He is so adorable and a good looking baby. I can't hold him until he can breathe on his own. I hope it is soon! They said he is a very active baby and gets mad at being poked and prodded so they have to sedate him often.

The girls were able to visit him for a little while today. I think Sariah was worried but like being able to see him. Emily was really cute. She would touch his foot. She was looking at the other babies and she would say this my baby brother. Then on the way back to the room she kept saying her brother like she was a proud older sister.

So sorry this is such a long post and if I added a little too much info!

So Precious!!!

I usually put the girls to bed at 8 and they play. If they are still playing by 9 I tell them it's time to be quiet and go to sleep. Last night at 9 I told them to go to sleep. About fifteen minutes later I thought wow they are quiet they must have gone to sleep. Jeremy looked in the room down the hall and said Emily wasn't in her bed. I went in their room to see where she was sleeping. She actually fell asleep in Sariah's bed! She's acted a couple of times like she was going to sleep with her but never has. The one time I had them sleep together at their grandma's it didn't go well. Emily moves around alot and kicks. I wondered what time in the morning one of them would come and get me. Emily didn't go to her bed until 5 am. That wasn't bad! I kept going in to look at them cuz it was so cute. At one point the cat was sleeping inbetween them. I went to get my camera but Sariah had gotten up and moved him. Notice how Sariah sleeps. Jeremy and I find it so funny! She sleeps straight as a board!!

Bountiful Harvest

I planted a garden this year excited to grow some stuff. Everything was green and looked good but that's it. It didn't grow any bigger or get flowers. I learned something new. You need to use manure. Apparently after three years of planting you have sucked out all of the nutrients in the soil and need to replenish. That is good to know now! Once I was put into the hospital on July 24 and then put of bed rest that was the end of the garden. Jeremy said him and his dad just cut everything down. I went out this past Saturday and low and behold. The picture below is of a cherry tomato plant I planted. Somehow it survived.



So this is what the plant produced. I actually got two cherry tomatoes out of my garden!! Sariah ate one and I ate the other one. It was actually really good and I was really sad that it didn't grow bigger and more.

Pumpkins 4 Sale

Grandma Shoemaker had planted a ton of pumpkins and about 45 grew. She let Sariah have some to try and sale. I'm sad because I forgot to take a picture of her selling them all. I did take a picture of all the pumpkins though. On Friday afternoon Sariah made a sign on a posterboard. It looked very nice. She said big ones for $2 little ones for $1. We had a little disagreement on how much they should be. She either wanted to sell them for $5 or .05 cents. We set it up at about 4 o'clock. About an hour later Sariah got tired of it and said nobody was buying any. I told her that she had to have patience and that it would take awhile for people to start buying. We had about 11 pumpkins. Two teenagers came by and bought two big ones for $2 each. Our next door neighbor lady came by and bought two small ones for $1 each. A little boy across the street bought three pumpkins for only about .30 cents. It kind of bothered me but Jeremy said who cares. It was kind of nice cuz we could see him carving the pumpkins across the street. We also sold four pumpkins for $1 each to my friend Diane. So she made $10.30 selling pumpkins!! Afterwards I had Sariah fill out a tithing slip so she payed tithing on what she made. I thought it was cute she also learned a lesson. After she started selling some she said to me "You were right mom. I just needed to be patient!".

First Day of School

My baby went off to first grade today! It's weird she's going to be gone all day now! I was so sad that I was not able to go with her on her first day. Her Grandma Baird came and took her to school. She was up at a quarter to six and ready an hour before school started. She was antsy and wanted to go. Maybe I should have made her an early bird. Or whatever the saying is. She's a later gator. She made her own lunch last night and Emily made a lunch also. She told Jeremy she made a lunch for school. Jeremy asked me why I made him the bad guy to tell her she's not going to school. The girls play all the time together now so I wonder how Emily will be all day without Sariah. So far she has been such a good little girl! She plays by herself very good. She's just been playing with barbie's and little people in her room. She is a lot better at playing by herself than Sariah has ever been so that's nice. It's a little more quiet that's for sure!

Happy Birthday!!

We celebrated Sariah's 6th birthday a couple of days before. We just had a small party instead of a friends party with me being on bed rest. Her Aunt Amber was very kind to make her a butterfly cake that was very yummy! Jeremy went out and got her birthday present. She is such a hard child to find a gift for! Usually she opens a gift and goes oh nice and sets it aside. She isn't very expressive. This gift was actually a hit!! I was so happy she loved it so much. We bought her rollerblades. Of course Jeremy didn't wrap the gift so he brought it in from the car. She took the lid off and just sat their looking with her jaw dropped! It was so awesome!! She loved them!! She said that she was suprised that there really were rollerblades in the box!! LOL It made me happy because I was so worried about her birthday with me being on bed rest.

Nephew's Blessing

My brother Brendon and his family came to Utah to visit family before moving to Columbia. The had their third little baby boy the first of June. Jenni's sister also had a baby and they blessed both of them at their parents house. We went up for the blessing. It was very nice. I held the baby and just loved him and can't wait for my little guy to come!!