Christmas Recap

I took a short break from the computer over Christmas and I'm so glad I did.  We have had a wonderful week together!  We had the best Christmas and have loved spending time with our families.  Mr Logan is growing and changing everyday.  He is just a dream!  I didn't think it was possible to get an easier baby than my other two, but he is just the sweetest little guy. 

 There is something so incredible about having a baby that eats.  He latches on to nurse with very little effort and always tops his feeds off with a bottle.  Then he burps, poops and drifts back off to sleep.

 On Christmas Eve, we kept our tradition of eating a Prime Rib dinner at The Keg.  We followed up our early dinner with Christmas Eve jammies, a movie, and an early bedtime.

 The kids left Santa some cookies and milk.  I'm not gonna lie, I was also very thrilled when our Elf said goodbye for the year. :)  Before he departed, he left the kids some reindeer food, which they sprinkled on the front porch before heading to bed.

 Santa came and didn't disappoint.  We kept things simple this year, as I try to do each year.  Owen asked for Legos and a couple Wii U games.

 Kam really wanted Copic Markers for all her art and she got lots of clothes/accessories.

 Logan got a few things from Santa, but he was less than impressed. 

 We had a great morning together with our family of five.  I felt overwhelming gratitude for everything we have.  I loved watching Kam and Owen open gifts while snuggling Logan.  C helped Owen assemble his new Legos and we reminisced of past years.  It was wonderful!!

 We had two family Christmas parties starting with C's family.  I can't believe how fast these cousins are growing up! 

 Here is our family of five... I'm looking a bit sleep deprived, but so happy!

 After our family party and gift exchanges, we headed out to my parent's house.  Owen loves Gigi's trampoline and is getting pretty good at catching air while jumping!

I am so sad that I didn't take a single photo at our family Christmas party.  The little girls and Owen tore through their gifts and had a great time.  I know Uncle Rog had his camera out and snapping photos so I will have to get some of those and post them later. 

Auntie Janesa (C's little Sis) flew in from SF to surprise us all.  The girl cousins got together a lot this week, had makeup lessons, played games, had sleepovers and enjoyed time with their Auntie Booj. 

It was a whirlwind of a Holiday season and we are ready to ring in the New Year!  I can't wait to see what's in store for our little family for 2015!  I never did get Holiday cards out this year, but I had good reason.  So from our family to yours.. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!!! 

Logan Picture Overload - Home

It only took one night in the hospital to convince me that I was ready to go home!  Logan has been such a dream and we are totally in love with him!

After just 30 hours post Csection, I convinced my OB I was ready to head home. Dr S. (our fave cardio) reviewed Logan's echo and everything looked great!  He failed his pulse ox test several times, but we passed just an hour before we were discharged to come home.

Owen had a rough night without me on Wednesday.  That was my main motivation for escaping the hospital so quickly.  I was sore.  Csections are no joke.  But thanks to my Hubs and Kam, we survived our first few days at home.  All the snuggles from my little boys and Kam really do help the pain go away and I forget that I just had surgery.. then I overdo it.  Dishes.  Laundry.  It's hard to not just do my routine, but the soreness afterwards is not worth it.

Here are some pics from home.  Logan sleeps a ton, he nurses/bottle feeds like a champ, and then poops a million times a day.  I'm pretty sure I have only heard him cry once in five days and that was when I didn't get his bottle made fast enough... he is really chill.  None of us can get enough snuggle time in!  Kam can't get enough of Logan and is always snagging him from me to go get in some sister time. She has been so sweet and makes sure to spread her love to Owen as well and make him feel just as important.  

I need to get some pics of Kam with Logan.  Anytime she has him, I take the opportunity to shower or get something done around the house.  Daddy is home for another week and we are enjoying our time together as a party of five.  Thank you to everyone who has brought us meals... we love you!!

Monday is my first day to actually get dressed, out of my PJs and take Owen for labs.  I'm not looking forward to that, at all.

Introducing...

LOGAN CARSON SIMMONS!!

7lbs 12oz -- 19.5" -- 9:36am

Our healthy, sweet boy with a head full of hair!  We are all so in love with this sweet bubas. He is so chill, not a single wimper (even after shots and a preventative echo)!  He is eating like a champ and has his siblings wrapped around his finger.  We are all so in love!!

Momma is feeling fantastic too!! :)

Holiday Fun

Tis the season for decorating, traditions, holiday parties, shopping, baking and sickies.  We have been busy enjoying our favorite time of year.  We got our tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving and it's probably Owen's favorite part of the season.  Each morning our Elf does something "HIlarIOUS" and Owen quickly places him on a different branch on the tree to watch over us for the day.

Last week I had an appointment at the salon to get my hair colored and cut.  I figured I would just splurge and get both kids cut while I was at it.  It was a small fortune, but they were thrilled.  Owen loved the guy that cut his hair and kept making eyebrows at himself and smiling while getting his hair cut.  He knows he looks good!  Kam got a little bit of color put in her hair but it's too natural so we have to go back and do something a little more drastic.  While I was getting colored and cut, these two were so well behaved and I always love watching them hang out together.  Their relationship is so sweet.

We had a super busy weekend.  Kam had her Holiday orchestra concert at the High School.  There were three shows in two days and all were almost sold out.  There are over 300 students in her school's four orchestras and they sounded amazing as always.

Kam, Connor and Ms. Bennett (one of the teachers)... sorry the pic is blurry.  I need to start carrying my actual camera around and not just taking photos on my phone.  Kam thinks her Orchestra uniform looks like a waitress from Olive Garden. :)  Thanks to Gpa and Gma Boulden, Gigi Monster, my sista and Nana for coming out to enjoy the holiday concert!  These kids work so hard and they had the crowd in awe.

Owen has missed a few days of school and will continue to miss this entire week.  What started as a head cold has moved into a cough.  We are tackling it with steroids and lots of rest!  There is no getting out of school work, so we try to do a few crafts between the math and writing.

Friday Night we went with Daddy to his company holiday party at the Phoenix ZooLights.  Sparky (ASU Mascot) was there to entertain the kids and Owen loves him!  It was fun to mingle with coworkers and the food was great this year.

Owen was less than thrilled with the lights.  "Blue lights, red lights, green lights... can we just go home?  It's cold and I'm tired."  He did enjoy the giftshop that you are forced to walk through as you exit the zoo.  He found some Zoo animal rubber duckies to bring home.  It was a fun night.  Kam missed out because she was at one of her concerts.

Baby will be here on Wednesday morning so I have been spending every extra minute I have getting ready!  Today we are finishing up our Christmas shopping and I have been running around like a crazy lady getting things done.  I am so thankful that I feel fantastic and have tons of energy right now!  Last night we decided to tackle all the teacher gifts and made many batches of cookies!  Owen and I dropped off his teacher gifts at school today and told his classmates Merry Christmas!  Kam was so excited to write little Thank You notes to all her teachers and took all 8 teachers a yummy treat.  This week is finals week for Kam and I know she'll do great!  She has A's in all her classes, but finals play a big part in her grades.  She is a perfectionist, so getting a B is a HUGE deal for her and totally unacceptable, even if all of her academic classes are Honors and weighted grades.

I'm off to finish up my shopping and get my wrapping done.  The house will get cleaned tomorrow and bags will be packed for the hospital.  Owen's meds need drawn up, his tube feeds prepared and I may even sneak in a mani/pedi!  Prayers welcome for a safe delivery on Wednesday and a healthy baby boy!  Check in Wednesday to meet our newest family member! :)

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Christmas Time Chaos

Life is just as crazy as ever, I am looking forward to things slowing down soon.  Last week, strep throat made it's way through out family.. starting with Kam.  Poor girl was miserable for the first of the week!  She kicked it quick and was back to school by Thursday.  C went to the doc on Thursday and had the same diagnosis, allowing him a four day weekend to recover.  I ran to urgent care Saturday with the same symptoms, with a negative culture, I was fine by late afternoon.

This mister has avoided all of the yuckies so far.  He has been congested for about a month now, but being in first grade it's bound to happen.  He hasn't wanted to go to school lately and has been a master negotiator.  Last week he REALLY didn't want to be there and convinced his aide to take him shopping in Santa's Gift Shop at school.  When I arrived to find a $45 bill, I used my own negotiation skills and we walked out with $3 in gifts.  This boy!  Today was another tricky day, I went to OT with him at school and we ended up leaving early with all his homework for today.  He loves school, but I think he's struggling with separation anxiety knowing another little man is about to enter his mama's arms.

Owen had transplant/cardiology clinic at PCH last week.  We haven't seen our local transplant team since March and so we had a little catching up to do.  His NP that we have grown to trust is gone.  His local cardio was totally checked out and didn't even examine him.  I met the other transplant NP so she at least knows who this boy is in case of an emergent situation.  They hired a new transplant director to come in and take over, but we won't meet him until next year some time.  It just makes me super grateful that I have such great communication and relationships with our team at Stanford, even though they are 800 miles away!  We will be back the first of Feb for biopsy and transplant clinic in Palo Alto.

I have some exciting news... baby will be here in NINE days!!!  I am officially 38 weeks along (on Wed) and baby is growing right on schedule.  After several appointments with cervical checks, we are pretty convinced he is going to do what my other two babies have done and refuse to exit the womb.  Both Kam and Owen were overdue and had to be induced.  Like they wouldn't drop and I was sealed shut with both of them.  Kam cooperated after a very long labor and 3 hours of pushing!  Owen refused to even drop and his heart was showing signs of distress with just the cervidil, we didn't even make it to Pitocin with him.  He ended up being a somewhat emergent csection.  I was determined to have a VBAC this time around, but baby boy is not budging.  He is so high up, I'm not even close to dropping.  We continue to watch him and check for signs that he may just decide to let us know that he may come on his own in the next three weeks.. but nothing yet.  We tentatively scheduled a csection for December 17th.  The only way we'll cancel is if he shows us that he is dropping or that my body is doing something in preparation for labor.  I have had lots of contractions, some that take my breath away, but they aren't doing a darn thing. :)

SO here we are.  I had my final OB appointment today and told my doc "see you in the OR!"  Anyone else have a schedule csection or know what to expect?  With Owen they let me give him a smooch and swiftly took him off to the NICU before transporting him to the local Children's Hospital.  I have no idea what happens with a healthy baby post csection.  We have an appointment tour the hospital tomorrow evening.  I'm getting excited to meet this little boy, but it still feels so unreal!

In between all of this chaos.. I have been busy nesting.  I'm trying to get all my holiday shopping done, wrapped and under the tree!  I want to be able to rest up and heal post op with baby.  I have a little boy and big girl that will need my time and attention as well and I can't wait to have a couple weeks at home with my hubs.  Stay tuned... I'm sure I'll have another post pre baby!

 I'm giving away a $100 Visa Gift Card here... just leave me a comment!! :)

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful this year!!  We woke up and I started throwing rolls in the oven and my kitchen smelled heavenly.  Then we made our way to my parent's house by noon.  The food was so yummy and the company was better.  It was a perfect 86 degrees outside and the kids jumped on the tramp most of the afternoon.  Owen ate a nibble of turkey drumstick and said "There is NO good food today."  He was the only one that shared those sentiments.

Here is my Mom and Nana... Nana had a good day and I think she actually knew a little of what was going on.  She has Alzheimers and is forgetting her words and how to eat.  She always recognizes me and my hair, even though she has no idea that I'm her granddaughter.

Kam ... such a ham!

The kids played for hours outside.  I can't wait to add another little man to this group of girlies!

After Turkey feasting, we headed to Cs Brother's house to sit by the fire.  We ate cinnamon rolls, hot cocoa and cookies... and I forgot to take a single picture.  All of the kids' other cousins were there and it was a lot of fun!  It was a day full of family, fun and a great day to give thanks!

On Saturday we celebrated Bridgi's 2nd birthday.. and of course.. no photos. I'm failing at documenting photos lately. Perhaps I"m saving all my photography skills until baby comes (SOON).
Today is the 1st of December.. DECEMBER!!!  It's also Daddy's Birthday... Happy Birthday!!!!  The day has been craptastic so far.. .Kam had a confirmed strep culture and we started her on a Zpak.  My dad was in a car accident, he is very sore, but home from the hospital now.  There is always tomorrow for a fresh start!

Oh.. and look who is back!!!!  EMPEROR MORIARTY!!!  Happy December!!!

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