What Month Is It??

Yes, I am fully aware that it is the end of January, and Halloween is long gone. I started feeling guilty about how much I have neglected to post anything on my blog since our trip to Texas this summer, so I am hoping to slowly get pictures up here of the months that I have missed. I know it is so much easier to post as things happen, but I just can't seem to get myself to do it!!
Here are some pictures of the kids on halloween. We had a double halloween this year because we had our ward trunk or treat on friday night, then Halloween was on Monday and the kids trick or treated around our neighborhood. As you can see from the pictures Ryder was our traditional first year baby costume (ever since Jacob was a baby) of the pea in a pod. Jacob dressed up as Jack Sparrow, Kera was a witch, and Michael was a skeleton. Dave and I as usual did not dress up. :) At our ward trunk or treat they had a play on dancing with a stars called "Dancing With the Ghouls" and each auxiliary had to do a dance. As the primary president, I had our primary kids come up and free dance to the Monster Mash. Unlike some other auxiliaries, I did not have to perform a dance on stage. Our bishopric danced to The Men in Black, and some of the women from our Relief Society did an old lady jazzercise dance that they found on youtube. That was pretty funny. One of them even stuffed her bra and backside with fruit and she was shaking all over the place.
Halloween was great this year. Michael, our candy lover, wishes he could trick or treat every day!

The Pea Pod

Our primary free dance


Kera the posing witch

Our whole family


The unsure skeleton

Jack Sparrow

The funny part of this picture to me is that it was warm enough this October for Michael to have his shirt off outside! I wore a t-shirt while taking the kids trick or treating. :)

Ryder enjoying his dinner that I tried to feed him in between trick or treaters

Trip to Texas

We took a trip to Texas in June to visit Dave's family. The kids actually drove back there first with their aunts Jennifer and Carrie. They were nice enough to take Jacob, Kera and Michael back with them so they could visit with Grandma and Grandpa Goar. With Dave's dad's poor health they were unable to make the trip to Utah, so we brought the kids to them. That meant that Dave and I got to spend two weeks alone with Ryder, who was just two months old at the time. It was nice to have a little bit of a break, especially with Ryder being so fussy with his colic and reflux. I got to catch up some on my sleep and it was really helpful. Then Dave and I drove up with Ryder and met them in Texas. We got to spend a week with Dave's family. The kids were able to go swimming almost everyday while they were there, and I was amazed with their progress when we took them swimming. ( Jacob conquered his fear of the deep water this summer and even jumped off of the high dive at our ward swimming party.)

We were in Texas for Father's Day, so I took pictures of the kids holding up letters to spell #1 DAD and I framed it for Dave for his father's day gift. Here are the pictures from it. Also while we were there Dave's mom had easter stuff for the kids, they dyed easter eggs, had a money easter egg hunt, also had some confetti eggs. She even had little cakes for each of their birthdays since she doesn't get to spend these holidays with them. We love our Texas grandma!

Jacob's 9th Birthday ( a little late)

Jacob decided to have a basketball themed birthday party this year and invited about 9 friends over to his birthday party. They played basketball games and I attempted a basketball cake for him. While we were waiting the boys spent time on the trampoline. It turned into a huge WWF type wrestling match and I was a little worried that someone was gonna get hurt or the trampoline would suffer. But everyone remained intact and the boys had a great time. Happy belated 9th birthday Jacob!

Five Month Recap/September 11th

Oh my poor neglected blog. It's been so long I almost forgot how to post stuff. :) A friend of mine posted on her blog when she had her 3rd baby that "baby #3 tanked her blog". So for me, baby #4 tanked my blog. I have to take some responsibility and not blame it all on Ryder. I've been lazy. It seems like once you get far behind you're left wondering where to even begin.

So I will begin here. Today, September 11th, 2011. I will pause for a moment to remember that momentous occasion 10 yrs ago when our country came under attack. I remember that day clearly. Dave and I were married without any children, although we had just found out we were pregnant with our first child, which made the whole day even more scary for me. I was soon going to be a mother and I was wondering about the state of our country after being attacked by terrorists. I was staying at my parents house in California while Dave was in Texas at a training for his job with Merck. I was relieved to hear his voice on the phone since we were unable to be together. I also remember the speech that Pres. George W. Bush gave that day. I thought it was a great speech. I believe Pres. Bush was sincere when he said that America needed to defend our country and our freedom and that an attack like this would not be repeated. He said we needed to band together to fight the evils of the al queda and those that were trying to destroy America. I believe that as a country we did come together after that day in love and support for our country, for those who lost their lives, and for the freedoms that we enjoy. We need to always remember what a blessing it is to live in a country like ours and to take pride in it. I feel blessed to be an American. I know there are people out there who love to destroy our country and try to tear it down and change it from what it was divinely created to be. Okay, I will step off my soapbox now and post some pictures. As that is what blogs are all about anyway, right? I have so many pictures to post that I will do it in installments so as not to overdo it.

We'll start with Kera's kindergarten graduation. The first is a video of one of the songs they sang at the graduation. Then there is the class throwing off their caps, Kera and her teacher Mrs. Robbins, and Kera with one of her friends from class.

Little Ryder has arrived

Yes, our newest baby boy, Ryder Lee Goar was born on friday, April 22nd 2011. At my dr. appt. on Thursday, the day before my due date, I decided that since he hadn't come on his own yet, that I would go in the next day to be induced. I said on my last post that I didn't want to go past my due date, and since Ryder was 8 1/2 lbs. at birth, it's a good thing we did. So off we went to the hospital to be induced. We got there early in the morning, about 7:30, and they started me in the pitocen. Then about an hour later the dr. came in and broke my water, which combined with the pitocen, sped up the contractions and things started to progress. I started to get pretty intense contractions and I had a lot of back labor. When the dr and the nurse checked me, they both agreed that the baby may be posterior, which means that means that the baby was positioned with his face turned up instead of down. That also makes for a harder labor because it isn't so easy to come out of the birth canal facing this way, believe me! I decided to get the epidural, I was hoping to possibly go natural this time just to see if I could, but no way with this guy being posterior because I was having so much back pain that I could barely breathe. I got the epidural, and it was very strong at first and they had to get it regulated because like with Michael, when the epidural was too strong I would have trouble breathing and didn't like the feeling of having my chest numb because it is harder to breathe. And I also don't like not being able to feel my legs. So eventually it evened out and I was comfortable. We also had a little scare when his heart rate dropped to almost 30, and the nurse got a little bit panicked. She brought in another nurse so I could move around and see if it would help get his heart rate back up. She also checked to see if she could feel the cord in the way. She didn't feel it, but the dr. came in and checked too be sure. They decrease pitocen to slow the contractions, and his heart rate went back to normal.

We waited longer than we expected to get to a 10, but around 5:30 p.m. I was fully dilated and could start to push. And push I did. Because of he was still facing up, he wasn't coming out of the birth canal very quickly. I really had to work to get him out. The dr. also had to use the vacuum to help him out at one point. He eventually worked his way out and turned the right way as he came out. Yeah, he was born at 5:42 p.m. weighing 8.8 lbs. and was 22 1/2 inches long. He also had a bit of a conehead because he was stuck in the birth canal for such a long time and because of the vacuum. So really he was 2 inches shorter, closer to 21 inches, but still very big.

A very eventful day, but so worth it once he was in my arms. I couldn't love this little guy more. He's been a good natured baby so far. A great eater, still trying to get used to the sleepless nights. He wakes up about every 2 hours right now to eat. I am trying to get him to be awake more during the day, but as you know with a newborn, not so easy to do.

We love having Ryder in our home. He is a great blessing and a wonderful addition to our family.

Home from the hospital and all together on Easter

The proud big brother Michael; he adores his little brother

Grandma Adams with her newest grandchild

Our new family of six

The kids walking in to see Ryder for the first time


Close up of Ryder right after they cleaned him off


The proud daddy

That's right, 8.83 lbs!

Mom holding her newest baby, Ryder Lee Goar

...And still no baby

Yes if you'll notice the pregnancy ticker it says I have two days left until my due date. Well last thursday when I went to the doc, we talked about how I was at a 2 and pretty softened, about 70%, so the dr. said I could be induced the next day. It was either that or wait until the next friday (which would be my due date). So because I was anxious and worried that the baby would be too big if I waited another week (he was already measuring big at my 36 ultrasound), I decided to make the appt at the hospital for the next day.
Well after leaving the office I called Dave and started thinking about what was about to happen. I was having a baby the next day! Yikes! I started to think about what I was doing. I was having second thoughts about inducing labor. I went home and really thought and prayed about my decision, and I really started to feel peaceful about cancelling the induction and letting this baby come on his own when he was ready.
So here I am, still waiting. I guess he just wants to wait until his actual due date. I tried a lot of things that would help start contractions, exercised a lot, cleaned my house thoroughly, sex, and even something that I hadn't heard of, tried eggplant for lunch today. Nope, none of those has done the trick, yet. I guess the day's not technically over. But I have another doctor appt in the morning, and if I can get induced on friday, then that will be the plan. I've given it an extra week. So I feel good that I've given him the opportunity to come on his own if he was ready. But I will NOT go past his due date. I refuse.

So I will see what happens in the morning and try to keep all of you bloggers out there who may still be reading my blog, probably not too many of you left, posted.

Wish me luck!!

Southern Cali Trip Part 1:

Legoland

Kera and dad on the water ride with no lineMichael riding on the train

Kera really wanted to get her face painted, so instead of picking out a lego or a toy, she decided that would be her treat

Dad and Jacob on the Aquazone

Michael hugging one of his favorite characters, Bob the Builder

We spent the first part of our California vacation in San Diego at a Wyndam hotel. The day after we got there it rained, so we hung out in the hotel and the kids swam and we played games and relaxed. Then on Thursday we headed to the beach at Coronado Island and then to Anaheim where we spent the next three days. Friday, New Years Eve, we went to Legoland. It was awesome to see all of the lego displays. The kids really enjoyed it, especially Jacob. There were some amazing replicas of historical monements, like New York and Washington D.C. and some from other countries. We even watched the ball drop in "Miniland" at 6 pm where they had a big New Years party going. Michael liked most of the rides there, and we even went on a water ride. We wondered why the line was so short, but it was because nobody wanted to get wet. It was a cooler day (in the high 50's) which is warm for us Utahn's. The kids also liked seeing the Bob the Builder lego guy, and Michael wanted to give him a hug. I'm glad we went to Legoland, and best of all, our friends had free passes so we paid $0 for a day of fun. Thanks guys!