Baby Gwen

                                                  
                                                           Berkley going to Soccer

Current

Gwen Will be 2 months next week!!  I actually went into labor with her, with Berkley I was induces a week late with no progress what so ever.  Gwen was born June 13th 6:41pm I was having contractiosn all day that day and just thought they were the fake ones.  Luckily my sister was heading back home and dropped by because I was just not feeling good oh and my mucus plug came out, sorry this is TMI.    I told Neal he needed to come home from work right away, made it to the hospital by 4pm had Gwen at 6:41pm

**We had her home for barley a day and we had to rush her to the childrens hospital Fathers Day morning at 2am.  She had a VERY high fever, not wanting to nurse, harte rate was going so fast I could feel it.  and her eyes were rooling back!... this is making me cry reliving what happened.  We made it in time the ER got her stabalized admited her to the NICU.  We were in there for almost one week.  They did so may test, it wasn't bacterial, it wasn't fungal, it wasn't menigitis,... they thought it was just a virus.  Thankfully all of our family lives here so they were taking care of Berk for us while we went to and from the hospital.  It was a VERY tough time,I wanted to be with her every minute but I needed rest to spend time with Neal and Berkley. Fortunatley my mom and neals mom took shifts at night so Gwen wouldn't be alone and she would get the care that was needed.

I dedicated a song to her in the hospital.. "You are my Sunshine," I pleaded to heavonly father to  not take her away from me and our family.  I am so greatful to have this BEAUTIFUL  spirit in our lives!! :)

Us

Doing GREAT!!  We went to Sea World last month wich was AWESOME Before Gwen  was due.  Now it's the waiting game, I am 1cm dialted but that is really nothing.  I am just glad to have that much progress because  when I was induced and admited with Berkley I wasn't even dialated.   We are just excited for the new adventures of having another child will bring.  I would say this time I am not as scared but just excited to meet her!! :)

Update

Trying to get the house orgaized by installing a medicine cabnit in Berk's bathroom along with ours. Along with getting organized we bought a "room orgaizer" that has cubby holes for baskets to store the many toys that we have, but have it look like a livingroom at the same time. There is still much progress to be made! :) I'll take a picture when it is up.

Next week I will be 30wks, very exciting!! I found out that I was anemic, no wonder whay I was feeling cruddy and looked pail all the time. Now i'm on an iron pill and man has it truly helped me out words can not describe!! :)

I am still working 3 nights a week at albertsons as a cashier, and plan on working till the lat 2 weeks of my pregnancy. It feels like I hardley see my love, a date night is much needed.

It's a...

We are having another Girl!! Neal was wishing for a boy but to me it didn't matter. :) I am TRULY set on one name and I have Berkley saying it but I am trying to convince Neal a little more. I was thinking I could name her her first name and Neal could name the miidle name; or we can come up with two names and name her at the hospital.

*We are VERY greatful we still have her clothes, and the baby gear :)

Quick update on our family..... Neal is working long hours since tax season has started back up. He will start studying for his last 3 exams once his 55+hours a week tapers down. Berkley got a toddler bed for christmas and is now not taking her nap during the day. :( I guess she is preparing me for a newborn. I am doing good and growing :(. I am watching my nephew and still working part time. Our little Girl is Due June 14th!! :)

# 2

We're Pregnant!!

So Baby # 2 is due in late May the beginning of June!! From what I know of I am 7 weeks and the earliest we could get in to see the doctor is the Oct 20th!!

Things are going good heart burn here and there along with leg cramps. But really nothing to complain about, I will make sure and post the ultrasound!!!

Albertsons Yahtzee

Ok, so Albertsons previous game was monopoly and I won nothing!! I am proud to say with the Yahtzee game I won quite a few things, I so want to tell you guys what we won!!!

What we won:

-Nabisco Cracker's

- (2) bags of cheese

-Baby Food (we sometimes use baby food to soak sick turtles, so it works!!)

-Cream Cheese

-Yogurt

-Oreos

-(2) Emerald Breakfast's on the Go (The s'omores kind is the best!)

- And a few dollars

Grand Canyon State Tortoises !!

I meant to say Grand Canyon State Tortoises

Here is the link www.grandcanyonstatetortoises.blogspot.com and www.grandcanyonstatetortoises.com

Gand Canyon State Tortoises

Check it out!!

So this is our new blog for our business, www.grandcanyonstatetortoises.blogspot.com .

We also have a web page www.grandcanyonstatetortoises.com . The web page was just created today so we will be doing a la lot of work on it. We are very excited in in our long time coming of saying that breeding tortoises would be a business, VERY EXCITING!!

Update

Happy Birthday Stacia Flake, thats my sister!!!

Life has been busy as usual. Neal takes 2nd of 4 exams in October, pretty cool. Work is going good, just trying to pay off student loans. After I have been working my regular night cashier shift i have been helping out with grocery. I hope to keep my regular hours as a cashier and help out later at night with grocery, I hope it will work out. I am a huge fan of Dave Ramsey, author of "The Total Money Makeover." I have always been strict with my money growing up ( working with my dad and mom saving money) and reading his book has fired me up!!! I love being disciplined in this sense because we are making AWESOME decisions now to live like no one else in the future!! Yes I would consider myself a budget Nazi, but oh well its for our own good. : )

My Girl is turning two next month!!!!! It is soo cool life fly's by so fast! I already have her party planned out all I can say is confetti!!!!I love you my beautiful girl!!!

I know he lives

I haven't born my testimony for a very long time it and trying to keep an almost 2yr old occupied(quiet) during sacrament is difficult as I want to try and go up to the pulpit for many months now.

I know that my savior lives. I know he blesses our lives, as we try to figure out our eternal path. I know that if we are on the straight and narrow path we will come across blessings when we need them. I know that blessings of family prayer helps us build a closer relationship with our heavenly father. I know we all have struggles but if we live by faith and with faith our worries and fears will be but a faint shadow down a a dirt road. I love my family and friends, I love their determination, and kindness, I only hope I can be as good as them in the many years coming. I love my husband who is such a great example to me. He is such a hard worker, a wonderful father, and caring individual; I love him with all my heart!

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen

Out

Pointing to the horse at Red Robin

She likes to pretend like she is invisible when I tell her I 'm going to change her diaper.

We don't getting many pictures together, well cause I'm usually taking all of them.

We usually eat out on Fridays but today we ate out on Monday for FHE!! We went to Red Robin, and man was it good Berk was dancing in the high chair and we were having a fun time!!

Besides working and taking care of berkley I knit and sew here and there. I'm making Berkley a hot pink rug, it's taking so long she might get for her Christmas present.

We are Alive

Life becomes even more busy when you are working part time. Neal is getting ready to take one of his 4 CPA exams, his dad said each test is like taking the BAR exam as I wish my love the best of luck. We have a garden with mixed greens and herbs but our zucchini is growing like crazy; we have been making breads and muffins with it, oh ya!! We've started making a compose (left over fruits veggies and grass clippings) pile for our garden which will eventually turn into soil and be used for our winter garden.

Berkley is adorable she constantly keeps us on our toes. Gosh, her vocabulary is amazing!! Ever since like 19 months she has been picking up on words that we say, like for the first time she heard me say wrapper and then she said it without any hesitation. Now it we could only have her listen to us in church to sit down and stay still that would be a miracle. We have now had our church time (1pm-4pm) for two years and you'd thing we would be use to it, nope. Berk will only nap in her bed and if she is really sleepy she will fall asleep in your arms, but man it is tough when she doesn't get a nap from 1:30pm-4:00pm.

I have been thinking for a while to get my haircut short, I just need a new and cute change that I can manage. As all moms know we always put ourselves last, because we feel like other things come first. But life is just a balance we do our best and that's what we can do. I just need to remind myself that it is ok to do something for myself, like have berk watch a movie while I try to put my face on (make up) or pick out an an outfit that looks ok and matches. But no matter what life is good, no it's GREAT!!!

Happy Father's Day my love, you are such an amazing husband and father!!!!!

Berkley the T.V. Star !!

Berkley's swimming instructor (Holly Nelson) Ask me if Berkley would like to be on T.V. while doing her swim lesson, and I said "Yes !!!"

So tomorrow(Thursday) we are going at 11:30 AZ time to her swim lessons as Channel FOX 10 will tape it. I don't know it it will be live, or if it will air later in the day, but I thought I would let everyone know.

** Next week is her last week of swim lessons too!! **

Green Jello with Carrots: giveaway 3: Green Jello packet o' Fun

Green Jello with Carrots: giveaway 3: Green Jello packet o' Fun: "We can't host a giveaway extravaganza without giving away something from our own shop . (that's like a law in some rulebook somewhere.) So..."

Just to let everyone know I love "Green Jello with Carrots Easter bags they are super cute and creative

Update

Life has been busy!!! Berkley is taking swimming lessons through the program called ISR (Infant swimming resource) She is doing AWESOME!!!! Every day she is she is showing improvement in grabbing for the bar (the side if the pool to get out) swimming to her instructors, and floating on her back!!! This is her second week in and the instructors said she is doing REALLY good, and that we have a swimmer on our hands!! I can't wait to see her compete some day in high school and college if that is what she wants to do.

She is also a little reader!!!She LOVES books and learning!! We have her on a program called "Your baby can read" it amazing how much she knows!! These past few days she has been reading many of her flash cards to us (bow, turtle,ball, hat,cats, eyes,hi,sitting, horse, hands, and moon). She knows all of her colors, and mostly all of her ABC's, she recognizes a lot of her shapes and we are working on numbers 1-5.

I works two nights out of the week and Saturdays(any time). It has been tough for me with leaving, as she is with Neal. But I know that by me working part- time is helping us out in the long run (by paying off student loans and saving some). The nights that I don't put her down makes me a little sad but when the following day comes I want to spend every moment with her by teaching her and letting her know how much I love her. It is amazing how much your love grows for your children even when you are away for a short time.

We moved at the end of March to Mesa, and we are so happy to have a place of our own. It is a 3bdrm/2ba with a huge backyard. What is really exciting is that we planted a garden!! We have tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, red and green onions, carrots, kale, lettuce, basil, cilantro and potatoes growing!!!

Finally

Sorry for not being up to date on things, I realized my password expired and then remembering to re-set it was difficult. I will post tonight all the things that have happened !!! :)

Great Things Happening !!

1. We paid off our Car!!!!!!
2. My class ended today!!
3. We decided on which rental property we wanted today.
4. Today I was Hired as a cashier at Albertsons ( working weekday nights, and saturdays)

It is amazing how things work out, compred to a few years ago when things were rockey!! I am VERY greatful for all that is happening right now, we really needed this!! :)

Berkley is cute as every and is babling so much!!!!!!!!!! Her new word is "I want..." , and her new thing that she likes is her hands being ticlked; it puts her in a trans!! :)

Things

So silly

A new seat for Berkley!!


Loves PB & J !!!

Likes to hang out with a friend from church, Paige

LOVES BLUES CLUES !!

She can't get enough of it!

My class ends in two weeks, and I am very excited!! I can't wait to be doing other things that I wanted to do while I was in school. For the most part it is just wanting to keep the house more clean and organized. Have a regular "school time" teaching Berkley new things, going to the library more frequently, and being more apart of our tortoise business ( Getting it publicised).
Here and there I would like to work some nights earning some extra money, or selling jewelery, but that will come when the timing is right.

Berkley

It amazes me at all the hard work parents put in to raising a child along with everything else! Over the past couple of days it has been quit amazing to look at Berkley and see all that she has learned!


New things she has been saying:
"I sit" - As she is showing us that she is sitting down.
Pear
Ga= Quack, and sometimes it means duck. She says it more clearly and with excitement!

We ask her questions like:

where is your hair, where is your foot, where are your fingers and she points to them!!

She loves to climb..... anything ,which makes me nervous! But she has figured out how to pull herself up onto the lazy boy rocking chair. She gets super excited when she does climb on it !!

Showing signs of wanting to "Potty Training":
1. She grabs her diaper when it is full.
2.when she is going pee pee or poo poo, she tells me poo poo poo poo
3. I ask her if she wants a diaper change and she goes and gets her diaper out of the drawer. I ask her to lay down so I can change her, and she does.
3. When I need to go the bathroom I tell her and I will be right back , she walks with me right to the bathroom and then doesn' t bang on the door like she use to do.
4. She is interested in what the potty is , as she looks at it.

Trip

We went to Tuscon for a tortoise business trip! We purchased may giant leopard tortoises ( they get big compared to the regular leopard tortoises we owen and breed) Neal is VERY excited to have made this purchase, I can truly say he is an expert with breeding tortoises because he puts so much time, care and effort in raising them, I am so proud in all that he does.

Berk did awesome traveling!! We were not sure how she would do, as I guess we had much anxiety as she was a little one and TRULY did not like to travel. I had bag full of books, her favorite toys, coloring books ,we were prepared!! She is a wonderful little girl, every day she brings much joy and warmth to my heart! She is so smart too! She knows how to twist caps on and off, basically she's into more things. She lets me know when she goes to the bathroom by getting her diaper out of the drawer , putting it on the floor and jabbering to me that she went to the bathroom. When we change her she touches her diaper (titer, as she says it) and says poo poo, but really she meant pee pee. If she hears a fart noise or farts herself she says poo poo, that makes me laugh and smile all the time because it' so cute and funny. She listens really well as I ask her to go wait by her highchair as I'm getting her food ready, or if she needs to get down, but we have our moments. She LOVES to play the hiding game!! In the tub, or on the couch she loves to hide, it's so darn cute.

Saturday I have my midterm, wish me luck!!