This picture melts me.

It's a......

Once upon a time I used to blog.  I enjoy blogging.  It's important to me.  And yet....it continues to get pushed aside.  I still have posts from last Christmas.  7 months ago.  I guess at some point I just have to cut my losses and start back in the present.  If I find some miraculous 3 hour window of time I hope I can go back and do a ginormous blog catch-up post.  But for now, I'll continue on.  And hopefully be consistent.  Because right now, this is the only record I have.  Heaven knows my memory isn't a reliable record.

We just got back from a weekend of camping.  I. love. camping.  And thankfully so does Mike.  And my girls love it as well.  Carter was a bit more apprehensive but he embraced the dirt.  Including eating it.  And thankfully he did better than I feared.  Last year we didn't go camping because Carter wasn't camping approved.  But he passed the test this year.  

I went in for my Ulstrasound a few weeks ago.  I went a week earlier than I was supposed to because I wasn't feeling the baby move and after the last appointment where they had trouble hearing the heartbeat, I was a little nervous.  Everything looked great.  Baby looked healthy, had all it's limbs, a functioning heart, and is currently in the wrong position--head up, feet down. 

And, we're having another BOY!!!  I honestly didn't care if it was a girl or boy, but I'm glad Carter will have a buddy.  Although I'm afraid this boy will be pretty crazy with Carter teaching him how to be a wild man.  Right now, we're just praying for an uneventful rest of the pregnancy, a smooth easy delivery (I laughed out loud when I typed that), a healthy baby, and, most importantly, a baby that doesn't scream every day all day for 5 months.  We're very blessed and we recognize that.  Due date is currently December 11th.  My girls were both induced a week early because I had high blood pressure, and I went into labor on my own 2 weeks before Carter's due date.  So I'm thinking he'll be born early December.  Guess I better get my Christmas shopping done early.

So 2 girls, 2 boys, great place to stop.  :)  Hopefully God agrees with us.

Carter and water

This kid is a complete crazy man in the water.  No fear.  And doesn't want to be held.  And being completely submerged underwater doesn't bother him.  Going to Lake Powell in a few weeks has me pretty terrified.

Baby check number 2

I went to the doctor today for my second appointment.  I had no idea how far along I was.  A sure sign this is baby number four and not number one.  I thought I was about 14 weeks but was too lazy to figure it out with a calendar.  Turns out I'm almost 16 weeks.  A pleasant surprise.
I took Carter with me.  Big mistake.  As soon as I sat down to get my blood pressure, he freaked.  He started his spazzy cry and was trying to pull the blood pressure cuff off my arm.  Surprisingly my blood pressure was perfect (127/80).  I thought for sure it would be high considering all that is going on.
We got into the room.  Carter continued to cry.  I apologized to the nurse.  She gave him a sucker.  Still cried.  I think he's a bit traumatized by the doctor's office considering all his visits as of late.
The nurse couldn't find a heartbeat.  She tried for about 5 minutes.  Then said "We'll just have the doctor find it.  Sorry to leave you hanging.  Are you okay?"  Um, well, you can't find my babies heartbeat so not really.  "Yea, I'm fine."
I told my sister a few weeks ago that something felt a little "off".  But I'm kind of a worrier so I didn't think much about it.
I waited for 10 minutes for the doctor to come in.  An eternally long time.  My doc tried to find the heartbeat.  Carter was still crying.  He put the speaker part right up to his ear so he could hear over the hysterics.  (Carter is no longer invited to appointments by the way).  He tried for 5ish minutes as well.  Nothing.
Unbelievable.  This isn't happening.  My heart starting racing.  He could hear my heart beat fine in the monitor. And mine was fast.  His face grew a little somber.  You could tell he was nervous.  So was I.
I had a quick chat with God in my head.  I don't want to say I used threats, but...... I made it very clear this wasn't something that was allowed.
Finally the doctor gave up and said let's go do a quick ultrasound.  I wonder what goes through a doctor's mind at the point.  I've never, ever had a problem finding the heartbeat.  Even when I'm very early in  my pregnancy.  It's never taken more than 30 seconds.
I lay down on the table, Carter next to me.  Crying.  Still.  He's got what we call a little bit of a temper.
I started to wonder if I should tell the doctor to wait so I could call Mike.  I needed someone there with me if bad news was about to come.  I decided not to.  I didn't want to freak him out.
The second the doctor put the wand (whatever you call that thing) on my stomach, I saw the baby kicking it's legs.  And out loud I said "You little shit, you scared the hell out of me."  The doctor laughed. He was probably relived too.  He measured the heart beat, did a quick look and said "Everything's fine.  Sorry for the scare."
I have a feeling this baby is a boy.  We find out in 3 weeks.
Oh.  And Carter was still crying.
Not my best baby appointment.  But at least it turned out okay.

My brother Burk

Many of you have heard by now (it's still crazy how fast word travels) that my brother Burk was hit by a car Wednesday night.  The car was probably going 35-40 miles when it hit him.  It was not the drivers fault though we're still unclear how everything happened.
Burk was life flighted to the hospital and is now in the shock trauma ICU.  He is heavily sedated with 2 broken legs, a broken arm, 3 skull fractures, and bleeding in his brain.  He's a mess.  A big mess.
Thank you to those who have sent text, e-mails, and called.  We appreciate your concern.
I started a blog to keep family and friends (and people who are morbidly curious) updated on his condition.
If you want to follow it, the blog is www.burkversusauto.blogspot.com
Perhaps the blog URL seems insensitive.  But when Burk wakes up, I think "Badass" (read the blog and that will make more sense) will find it amusing.
The boy is indestructable that's for sure.  He continues to cheat death.
I've taken a bunch of pictures with my phone (it still seems a little inappropriate to bust out my paparazzi camera) but for now won't be posting any.  They're mostly to send to my brothers who are away and to show Burk when he wakes up.  He'll need to remember this one.

Crazy times ahead for sure.  Life is a pretty big kick in the face right now.

What's goin' on.

--Carter is now on his second cast.  In exactly one week, he had destroyed the first cast enough that they had to take it off (which involved the cast saw--very traumatic) and put on a new one.  The good news is that this one is below his knee since he wasn't trying to pull the other one off.  The doctor made this one much thicker and we have to try and keep it covered with thick socks all the time.  He still doesn't care one bit about it and loves to bang it against the tile, walls, my face....

--I think I educated Mya a little young on how babies are born.  It just seemed easier to tell her the truth than to try and come up with something made up.  She is now obsessed with talking about her "baby hole".  And noted that Carter doesn't have one.  Hopefully those conversations stay in our own home.  Yeah right.

--Jaida had her last day of school today.  When she got in the car she said "finally I don't have to carry a stupid back pack around anymore."  Interesting that was the worst part of school.  I'm not sure who is more excited for school to be over.  I looooooove summer.  Lazy mornings.  Free schedules.  Time to party.

--I took all 3 kids shopping at Walmart today.  I'm pretty sure that's as close to hell as I've ever been.  I must figure out a better system.  Like, not shopping with 3 kids.  Funny thing is Carter's by far the easiest one.  He still usually chills in the cart.  And Jaida is easily the hardest.  The girl wants to buy e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g

--Mya no longer says she has to go to the bathroom.  Now it's "Mom, I gotta wiz."  It bugs me.  It just sounds so vulgar.  She thinks it's hilarious.

--Jaida is very particular about her outfits lately.  I can no longer buy clothes for her.  The ones I pick "aren't cute".  She's 6.  That started waaaaay earlier than I anticipated.  We have very different styles.  But I do my best to let her express herself as she wishes.  Although sometimes I give her an "absolutely not."  She doesn't usually argue when I say that.  Usually being the key word.

--My girls have been educated on drugs and alcohol at a young age.  Mainly because they over hear conversations we have about my brother.  But also because I talk to them freely about it.  It's NEVER too early to start teaching your kids about that stuff.  They're exposed to it younger and younger and you definitely don't want them to not know what to do.  Yesterday Mya was telling one of her friends about her Uncle Burk.  She announced he eats beer and drugs.  Then she says "Mom, how do you drug?  I don't know how to drug?"  Just struck me as funny.  How do you drug??

--Carter is slowly starting to say more words.  He communicates most by screaming.  But his most used phrases are "No no, don't touch" and "Get down"  He knows when to say them and says them often.  The kid climbs on everything.  And then falls off.  I'm constantly worried about more broken bones.  He's crazy.

--I'm ready to not feel like I'm going to puke all the time.  I hate feeling like I have the flu and knowing the only way to feel a little better is to eat.  It's so un-natural.  The baby/alien in my stomach is definitely kicking my butt this time.  Too bad I have 3 other kids so laying on the couch all day isn't an option.  Boo.

--I actually heard Mike say out loud that he would consider running another marathon.  That's all I needed.  You'll definitely be seeing round two of Mike and marathons sometime in the future.  Probably distant future.  :)

--The girls announced the other day that I'm a "bad hair doer".  Sorry girls, that's not a newsflash for me. The first thing I said when I found out I was pregnant with a girl (Jaida):  "Crap, I don't know how to do girl hair."  Seriously.  That's what I said.  Maybe I'll make more effort to learn.  Maybe.

--I'm only 13 weeks and I already have a belly.  It's gross, really.  I guess with four kids, your body just gives up trying to hide it and starts poking out as soon as it get the chance.  That, and when I'm pregnant I have NO regard for what and how much I eat.  I don't look at the scale when I go to the doctor.  I don't care.  I'm pregnant.  I'm getting fat anyway.  Might as well enjoy food for 9 months when I don't have to try and fit into any particular clothes.

--There is a serious neighborhood party going on in my front yard.  I just counted 19 kids (many under the age of 6).  Hope their parents are paying attention to them because I'm sure not.  ;)

Couch jumping.

As soon as Carter started walking, I told Mike "We'll have broken bones.  We'll have stitches.  Instacare watch out."  He's boy.  Allllll boy.  And very daring.  And really tough (at least physically).  He takes some pretty nasty spills and just says "Ohhhhh" and jumps back up.

I just didn't anticipate the broken bones would start quite so young.

The story.  No, he didn't spill paint in the garage.  :)

He was jumping.  From the Ottoman to the couch.  And on one jump, he hit the harder part of the couch instead of the cushion.  He cried a "man that really hurt" cry for about 30 seconds.  And then started jumping again.  The next day I noticed he would only walk on his toes.  That lasted for a day or two.  Then he just had a little limp.  Sometimes a barely noticeable limp.  A week later, the limp got a bit worse and a few times he buckled and fell to the ground.  But never cried about it.  Never complained.  Never slowed down.  

After a week I figured we should "just make sure it's not broken".  Because surely if it was broken, he would have cried harder.  Cried longer.  Limped more.  Not walked at all.

Went to the doctor.  She examined him.  He didn't cry, flinch, wince.  Nothing.  "Let's just x-ray it to be sure, but it doesn't seem to be broken."  

Since I'm pregnant, I couldn't stand by him during the x-ray.  He was NOT happy about that.  I watched him through the window.  He screamed at me.  At the technician.  At the entire clinic.  

And somehow, they did the first image wrong, so we got to do it twice.  Awesome.

Then we waited.  And waited.  And waited for the report to come back.  The x-ray guy (no idea what his official name is) seemed to struggle a little with computers (not sure how he got that job) so it took a while to get the report written up and back to my doctor.

In the meantime, Carter was running wild through the clinic.  Flirting with nurses.  Climbing chairs.  Running through different exam rooms.  Yes, running.

As he was running down the hall, my doctor came by and said "Oh, yep.  It's broken."  Wait, what?  Really??  How can that be?

"I never would have thought he broke that bone, but he sure did.  Come look".

Broken fibia.  The bone that doesn't bare much weight (if any weight--I'm not sure).  So he was still able to walk.  But still, he broke a bone.  He definitely should have cried harder.

So I let him run for a few more minutes and then we had to cast him.  He sat on my lap.  And once the nurse touched him, the screaming began.  He was hysterical.  Hysterical.  Various nurses frantically tried to distract him.  I just shook my head.  He wasn't hurt.  He was mad.  Because someone (other than his mom) was touching him.  And when he's mad, there is nothing you can do to distract.  So I just said "you better hurry"  :)

The first night home was a little rough.  He cried.  A lot.  Mainly because one of his sleeping positions is on his stomach with his legs tucked up under him.  But he can't bend that leg.  So he was mad.  And it was hard to roll around and move.

The next morning, he rolled on the floor, scooted on his bumb, slid on his stomach, and whined to be carried.  That lasted for about an hour.  Then he realized he can still walk.  Since then he's been completely fine.  Hasn't cried about the cast at all.  Doesn't try to pull it off.  Doesn't seem to even care.

And it hasn't slowed him down one bit.  He's just as crazy as ever.  Only it's even scarier to watch because he's slightly off balance.

He's also learned to use the cast as a weapon and has brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion when he catches me in the knee cap or shin.  He finds it quite funny.  I, however, do not.

He only has to wear it for 3 weeks.  Thankfully baby bones heal quickly.  

So the broken bone tally has officially begun.  I'm hoping it's a very short tally.  But something tells me it may be otherwise.

Cutest little cast I've ever seen.  When he runs, he looks like a little pirate with a fake leg.  I really want to dress him up in pirate garb.

This was the only iphone picture I could get.  He seriously was hysterical.