This is happening

Yes, we are alive. Just a quick update, and soon to be a better blogger. We had a great summer. It went all to fast. I never enjoy back to school. I have never really been a schedule person anyway, so it isn't easy for any of us. Summer was full of trips to the zoo, Midway, parks, swimming, soccer, baseball, dancing, and much much more. This picture is of the kids first triathlon. Porter did the whole thing on his own, swim 50 meters, run .5 mile, and bike 1 mile. Then Kael, Reese and Cache were a team. Kael swam, reese biked, and Cache ran. It was so darn cute. I was so proud of them. Porter took 1st, and the team kids took 3rd. But the 2 teams in front of them were all older kids. The 5,4, and 2 year old were ranked with the 12 plus year olds. They were so cute and tough. I know this will surprise you all, but I got choked up watching them cross the finish line. Anyway, fun stuff!

So the latest update is we had our first pet, and garter snake porter caught at school, and he didn't eat all week, and his skin started coming off, and I am not sure what that means, except free the nasty thing. So after a few tears, he was released back where he was found with assurance of a better life. :)

We went to the broadway play Lion King, and had a fabulous time. The kids all loved it, and so did all of the adults of course. M and D Provide us with some wonderful opportunities!

We are looking forward to a warm vacation to Disney world mid october. M and D are taking all of us for a fab fam fun trip. (say that 3 times fast).

Well, look forward to me being around a little more. Trent got me my own mac, so now I can blog when I want to. Cheers!

A lost cause...

Tis the age. Porter lost his front two teeth, and is looking more and more piratey! He is growing up too quick.

Blessing Day

Brooklyn had a great blessing day. The day before we cleaned the house, shined our shoes, did the ironing, and got all ready for the big day. We even went shopping, and bought her beautiful dress, and blanket. Then we went to a great Steak house for yummy dinner, to celebrate. Then home to set up, and finish cleaning. We finally went to bed at about 2:30 a.m., and I couldn't tell you where time went. Then we had a wonderful day with family and yummy food and a great blessing for Brooklyn from her daddy. It was a really special day. She is such a sweetheart!

Skiing with grandma

This is Porter and Kaels 3rd year skiing. I can't believe we started them at 2 and 3. They have really loved it. Reese started this year, and she is a natural. Cache is so ready too, but he will have to wait till next year. We decided that being potty trained before learning to ski is a mandatory thing, oh, and talking. Neither of which Cache has much desire to attain as of yet. Also next year I won't be pregnant or nursing and should be more help in ski schoolin'. Trent and mom took the kids to Basin, they had a great time. The boys have talked about it for weeks now. Its quite a different resort compared to the nearby Beaver Mountain. Great times!!

At what age do you lose fashion control?

So I have decided that I have lost any sort of clothing control at about age 2.

This realization came as I began to look at recent pictures. Reese especially is, well,

lets just say fashionably artistic, with tips from her good friend Fancy Nancy.

Ready for a bike ride! How bout those athletic shoes!

Ready for a walk

oh well, one day she won't dress in tutu's and boas, so I guess I just let it be.

Time

It is amazing how quickly time passes. Brooklyn is much better these days. Here splint is already off, and she is almost completely healed. It is amazing how quickly their little bones repair themselves. I will get some pictures up soon, of her blessing, and some more of our February happenings.

Rough Weekend

On Friday, Reese tried to get Brooklyn off my bed, and we are not sure what exactly happened, but we suspect that she hit her leg on the cradle. I ran in and grabbed Brooklyn who was screaming in pain. So I went over her body and she was super tender with her left leg. To skip a lot of details, after spending the majority of the day at the hospital and my pediatricians office we headed down to Primary childrens, where we had more x-rays, along with many other tests to be sure that she didn't hurt anything else. the outcome was a broken femur. So sad. It broke my heart. I couldn't tell you the last time I cried that long, seriously all day, I couldn't pull myself together. A month old baby in such pain was horrible. We are grateful to family who could help out. Anyway, she is on the mend, and the ped orthopedic said that babies heal in miraculous time, and to expect a 2-3 week process. So we follow up next week, lets hope everything continues to go well. Also a side note for all of you with winter babies. Her Vitamin D level was really low, perhaps contributing to brittle bones. Vitamin D comes from sunlight, or supplement, it is the one thing that breast milk lacks. So we bought those enfamil poly vi soll vitamins, and hopefully they help.

Boys wrestling

I had to post a couple pix of the boys wrestling. They are determined to give lots of sports a shot before deciding on 1 or 2. So this fall was wrestling. It was great fun to watch. Both the kids as well as other kids parents, talk about intense. If the boys decide wrestling is still in the running next fall, Trent and I will have to up our game on super intensity parents, we're talkin' sit ups and push ups before matches, yelling at the kids to throw the other kid on the mat. We only learned to yell spin, get up, roll over, and hold him this year. It is a foreign world to us. But it's been a lot of fun to learn more about wrestling with the boys. Cheers to learning, growing and laughing together!

Random Pictures

A few random pix of us.

Halloween

Porters Fall Program

Bowling in Midway for New Years

American West Fall Festival

christmastime

I know I haven't posted in a while so a little catch up. We had a great Christmas a little low key with the new one and my c section recovery. It was fun to be with family as always, that is my favorite thing about holidays. The magic of Christmas is always a joy to see in your kids eyes. We are very blessed and grateful for year we just finished and look forward to a new year full of adventure.

Photo shoot

Little Brooklyn is already getting too big for our liking. At her 2 wk. appoiintment she had already gained 8 1/2 oz. Over birth weight. She is a sweetheart and loved every day by all. 'Loved', includes being smotheredwith kisses, hauled around the house by siblings not all that much bigger than her, and constantly being argued over who gets to hold her next. We sure love her!

Brooklyn is here

Brooklyn Mary Cragun

8 lb. 2 oz.

19 1/2 inches long

December 15th, 2009

8:11 am

Seriously, isn't she darling. We just love her. I only get to hold her basically when I am feeding her. The kids are constantly asking either 'where is the baby?' (cause I have hidden her so she can get a minute of sleep), or 'can I hold her?' She is definitely loved.

Everything went as planned with the delivery. She was a c-section, and everything went great. Cache was also a c-section and where I don't deliver at our local hospital, we decided the risk would be best managed as another c-section. We arrived at the hospital at 6:00 am, went through all the paperwork, yada, yada, and then got all my IV's in, and headed into the OR. We were lucky to have basically the same team in the OR that was there with Cache. Same assisting Physician, anesthesiologist, and nurses. The only different person was the babies nurse, and he was great too.

There are really 2 big differences between a 'regular' delivery and c-section. The first being the epidural hurts worse. You have no pain to camouflage the needle pain. But he did a great job and got me all ready. I like how the anesthesiologist stays with me. For a couple reasons, He can add all sorts of tricks to my IV to fix any ailment I may feel. Modern Medicine is amazing. Also because when Trent leaves with the baby, he is the main one I talk to, since the docs are busy putting me back together, not to mention the sheet between us. The second difference between the 2 deliveries is that there really isn't much pain, and it is a little anticlimactic. Pretty much you go in, get the epidural, and it is smooth sailing, joke telling, funny story sharing, holiday plans, etc... until the first cry. The 'Its a girl', was fun. I was so glad Reese got a sister. Then I saw her for a minute before they go to clean her up, and I just get to lay there for a while more. I was joking that that was my best weigh loss program ever.

Recovery has been great. Trent ran the house for the following few weeks. He was amazing, laundry done, rooms clean, vacuuming, dishes, it was great. The holidays were great too, we were a little more low key. Also, the arrival of the baby made me get 'things' done early, so that was nice too. I want to do that every year, but who knows if that will actually happen.

Anyway, so here we are, functioning, and healing, and getting back to life in the everyday. Brooklyn has been such a blessing and we all love her like crazy!