School Boy

Oi! I have to start somewhere, so I will start and hopefully some of my ramblings will make sense.
So many big moments have been happening around here.

2 weeks ago our biggest boy started kindergarden. I can't believe it. Hudson was so super excited. He has been counting down the days for so long. I think we were all a bit nervous. Hudson was up early, and got all dressed, packed his snack and had his back pack on before 8 am. He was adorable. He kept asking me how long until we could go.
Shane came home for lunch and we walked him over. He looked so adorable with his backpack on. We met his teacher Mrs. Nikolaou and she seemed so sweet and great. Cooper sure missed his brother. Hudson was pretty excited when we picked him up. Hudson's teacher was able to recognize his high activity level right away, which was hard, but good. I love my boy so much and am so thankful he has a good teacher. I hope she will love him and help him( and me):)

We are sure proud of our big boy. We will miss having him all to ourselves, but are so excited for all of the experiences he is going to have. We LOVE you big guy!!!

Fletcher's Blessing

 I so wish that I could sit down everyday and blog about all of the fun things we are doing and hilarious things my kids do, but it seems to just never happen. I am hoping to do an epic catch up post one of these days, but for now I will blog my sweet baby's blessing.

Fletch was blessed in church about 2 weeks ago. So many people came for his special day, we felt so supported and loved.
Grandma Jan, Grandpa Pete, Papa and Gram, Auntie Rudi, Auntie Jodie, Cody, Cass and Camille, Auntie Leanne, Griff, Kenn and Porter, Aunt Cherie and Uncle Clint, their kids, Jeff and Jessica and their kids, and Joel and Amy and their family all attended.
Our little guy sure is loved.
Shane blessed our baby, but both Grandpa's, Uncle Clint, and Jeff, Cody, Vance Siakuluk, and Jason Harvey assisted in the circle.
As Fletcher's blessing was given I remember feeling that this sweet baby had a hard job ahead of him, as Shane spoke of all of the troubles in the world.  Fletcher was blessed to be a choice person among these challenges.
He was blessed to grow in strength and body, mind and spirit.

Fletchy in his sweet blessing outfit

He was blessed to live a Christ-like life and have an appreciation for this life and the blessings of the gospel.
He was told he would be an example to his brothers and that they would look to him for advice. He was also told he would be blessed with a love for the scriptures and that he would find guidance and strength in them. He was told he would have the ability to follow his righteous leaders and have a testimony of the gospel. Shane did a great job pronouncing the blessing and Fletchy was calm and adorable.

Before Church-Note: First (and prob last) time we ever made it to 9:00 church on time:)

Afterwards we had a wonderful lunch and all of the family came. The day was PERFECT. It was relaxing and calm, with perfect weather and a slight breeze. Everyone stayed long and just had great visits. The kids LOVED having all of their cousins there!!! It was one of those once in a million type days where everything just works out perfectly.

We Love our Fletcher, and are just so thankful for the miracle that he is:)

Grandpa Pete and Coopy

2 beauties, inside and out

Grandma Jan enjoying snuggles

Hudson and his sweet cousins Camille, Kennedy and Hannah- Good Grief I love Hudson

My Mom  and all of my sisters

Joel, Jacob, Shane and Jarom enjoying some lunch

My Gorgeous Baby

Baby Fletcher had his baby photo shoot this past week. I am so so in love with his pictures. They are perfect. I love this boy so much.

Talia did such a great job capturing my sweetheart. These pictures are treasures to us. Thank you so much for taking the time to fit us in!!!!

Here is Fletchy's Birth announcement

Baby Fletcher

Eek, I KNOW I need to do this now, or it simply will not get done(like most everything in my life right now)

My gorgeous, wonderful little sweetheart baby was born May 16, 2014. I am beyond smitten.  I will do my best to recap his traumatizing entry into the world.

FLETCHER JENSEN HEATH

First let me start by my usual complaining. The last month of pregnancy was so so so so horrible. We had a couple major scares, with my amniotic fluid levels and some findings on an ultrasound regarding the baby's heart. I endured about a million extra examinations and was constantly in fear.
My back, pelvis and hip pain was out of control. I did not sleep, and my heartburn made  it almost impossible to eat anything but ice water. I was a true joy to be around.

May 16th I was 39 weeks pregnant. I had decided to just plan on the little guy being late. Nothing special happened during the day, but while I was snuggling Hudson in his bed(top bunk). I felt my water break. It was such a weird, but kind of cool feeling. I ripped into the bathroom and drained and then told Shane, who was snuggling Cooper. That happened at 7:40. Shane called our sister in law Cherie to come and watch the boys, while I packed a bag, and made our bed, and we tidied up a bit. My contractions started pretty quickly, and there was pretty much no lead in to them. They came and were at a 10. I knew then things were going to move quickly.

Fletch has the best hair and 2 adorable little dimples. He is such a cutie!!

Thankfully, Cherie was able to come really quickly. Shane and I drove like maniacs to the hospital. By this point, I was pretty sure that I would not be able to get an epidural, because the contractions were so fast, maybe 1.5 minutes apart, and they lasted a minute, so there was only a very short break between them and they were so strong.

We made it to the hospital and I checked in at Emerg at 8:30. I waited for the porter and tried not to make a scene in Emerg,  as the contractions were so painful. I started to tear up on the ride upstairs as I knew I was on my own and that there was not going to be enough time for an epidural. Once upstairs we waited a minute or two for the nurse, who quickly checked me and had me change in the bathroom. As I was changing I knew I needed to push. I was scared.

The unit was super busy, so there was only a couple rooms that were rarely used at the far end of the unit. Both Shane and I were nervous as we thought we were going to have the baby in Piper's delivery room(which is also at the end of the hall, where you don't have to hear all of the other babies crying). They didn't even have a wheelchair to push me in, so the nurse grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hall, while Shane pushed my back.

In the room the nurse managed putting the monitor on me, and I literally started pushing.  NO EPIDURAL:( I can honestly say there has been nothing ever in my life so painful as this experience. I had NO control over my body. My body just took over and did it's thing. I was scream grunting so loud, but again, I could not control it. I remember thinking, I am so embarrassed because a young nurse kept telling me to stop screaming. At the point of the baby's head coming out they asked me to stop pushing to unwrap the cord from the baby's neck, which again, I had no control over. My legs were shaking, and I am pretty sure I was asking God to let me die. Finally he was all out, and they placed him on my stomach. It was only 8:38. I had only been at the hospital for 18 minutes!!!! A delivery this quick is very rare, and is called a precipitous labour.
My first impressions were, whoa, that baby is GREY, like really really grey. He did not cry or move and he felt limp on  me. I knew he was not okay, and I just wanted him off me so they could help him get air. Shane was cutting his cord.

They took him over to the side and started working on him, then I heard them decide to call a code pink(which is like a baby code blue). The nurse was so funny, as she explained to me that many people would come running in the room frantically but that everything was okay. My nurse was a total gem. She was about 68. I totally made her work!

By this point the doctor came in and they helped me deliver the placenta and did some"repair work". Holy Moly, that was also very very uncomfortable! The med student or resident, took forever.

Shane and the baby were taken away, as well as my nurse, and I basically hung out in my L&D room by myself and worried. I just kept thinking about the looks on Shane's face while they were working on our baby. He looked seriously frightened.

I got to shower, and get cleaned up, then I finally got to go to the nicu to see Shane and my boy. Shane was doing kangaroo care with Fletcher, and then he told me what actually happened.
The doctor figured that the umbilical cord was clamped between my pelvis and the baby and limited the oxygen to the baby. Fletcher's Apgar scores were 3 immediately, then 5, after 5 minutes, then 8. All which are very low. His oxygen stats were 9%, and the SP02 in his cord were 15%. The neonatologist told Shane if he had been born even 2 minutes later, he would have been born dead and needed a full resuscitation.
When Shane told me that, I knew exactly why he needed to come so quickly and immediately knew how lucky we were, and that Heavenly Father was really watching over us.

They then told me that Fletch was
8 pounds 9 oz. and he was almost 21 inches long. HUGE!!!!
I must admit, I was feeling pretty proud/sorry for myself-haha.

snuggles with Dad

First bath at 3 days old(not to mention at 1 am)

The Doctors decided to keep Fletcher in the NICU for the next 4 days. He had quite a few drops in his Oxygen and they were worried about tremors/seizures and jaundice. I was discharged on the second day, so I had to sleep on a bench on Fletcher's room. It was a bit crazy. Poor Shane was at home taking care of the boys. We really did not know too much of what was going on, and we were truly just hoping our sweet little guy was going to be okay. When they discharged us we found out that Shane was correct with his internet diagnosis and that Fletcher had TTN(Transient Tachypnea of Newborn). This TTN was likely caused due to the fast delivery, but had nothing to do with the compressed cord. Thankfully there are no lasting effects and our sweetheart is doing really well right now.

I still can't believe that I had a precipitous labor, compressed cord and the baby had TTN. And that folks is why I am an advocate of having your baby at the HOSPITAL!!! I am truly overwhelmed with gratitude that everything is okay. So many things could have changed the outcome.

Tuesday May 20th we brought our baby home. He did struggle with jaundice for the first 3 days, making him so so sleepy, but now he is eating better and hopefully in the next little bit we can get on some sort of a schedule.

All ready to go home in his homecoming outfit.

Hudson and Cooper are absolutely over the moon with their baby brother. They are obsessed. Cooper will walk around and say in his raspy voice, baby is awesome. Hudson on the other hand just helps himself to holding his baby whenever he wants. He just loves him SO MUCH!
On Wednesday when the nurse came over, Shane and I were talking to her, and Fletcher was upstairs sleeping on our bed. All of the sudden Hudson comes walking down the stairs holding the baby. I almost died(of being scared and of embarrassment). Hudson announced that he was trying to help as we said we would go get the baby but then didn't. It was nuts.

Obsessed with the rubber gloves at the hospital haha.

checking out baby

Brother Loves

Hudson with his black eye and fat lip holding his baby.

Sharing spiderbear with Fletch!

Bed time stories with baby bro!

Now that our baby has been with us for a week, we are so completely and fully in LOVE with him. I love having him around and I am so glad that I am not pregnant anymore:)

We LOVE YOU Fletch! You are a gift from God to our family and you complete us!

Etsy, Nesting and Easter

So I will attempt to do a quick general update on our "happenings" over the past month and a half.

So my etsy shop hit critical mass. Shane and I have been so so so busy keeping it a float. It has been a blessing and a curse. I wish there was a better way to regulate how much I sell. In one month we had over 400+ sales. That is a lot of sewing for one tired Mama. I have my shop essentially on vacay mode right now just trying to catch up and get ready for the baby.

There were still 62 orders left pending when these went out. CRAZY!

With the little guy coming, we have had to do a bunch of nesting to get ready. We moved Cooper into Hudson's room(with unbelievable success). Cooper had still been sleeping in his crib, but thankfully since the bunk bed we got is quite high off the ground and we have a bed rail up, Cooper stays in his big boy bed. I really was not sure how it would all pan out, but it has been better than I expected.  I will share a photo of the boys room when it is all done- it is the one room we did not manage to get painted)

We got some new furniture for the nursery, and I have fabric to make some bedding, so hopefully I will be able to get it done before he comes.Shane has been super busy with all of my honey do list items, and has been building furniture like a mad man. I was going to do a full redo of the room, but I just don't have it in me. I found an amazing tutorial on Pinterest to make some minky soft crib sheets for the crib mattress, and they turned out AMAZING. I always wanted to make them for Cooper, but didn't get them done. I LOVE soft fabric for babies, so I am glad the little guy will have a soft crib (sorry Cooper).

On to our room. I did a really crappy paint job a couple years ago, and decided I needed a wardrobe for my clothes. It really really was not working. I have hated the layout and furniture in my room for so long, but thankfully we have now fixed it. We are planning on moving, but we feel like we need to wait until the massive renos are done at our condo and sell it before we move. I decided if we are staying here for another year, we all need more storage, and better beds. That included us this time-yay. I got rid of the over sized under functioning wardrobe, and got two dressers, that give me way more space and storage. We got rid of our Cal King bed, which I did not even know was such a crappy bed until we got our new king bed. The layout of our room works so much better now. Shane fixed our headboard and lowered it so we can see out the window in our room in it's new location, and Jodie and Serena came and painted the whole room for me doing a complete and great job. It is so so so so much better. I am just waiting on a couple last details and it will be complete.

We have been working our little butts off to get everything done before the baby comes. I hope we can finish!!

Hudson and Cooper have been seriously amazing the past little while. They are hilarious. They have really become close and listening to them talk together is so fun. As the weather has been better they have loved playing outside together. Cooper insists on calling Hudson Huds which totally cracks me up. They are just the best. We really are ready for spring, park visits, walks, bike rides, and the baby to be here.

 While the boys were gone to Jodie's we had general conference. It was such a different experience not having kids around to distract us. The messages were amazing. Again, I am just so so thankful that we have continuing revelation and that we are able to have our prophet and apostles speak to us regarding today's issues. I am sure it will be many years before we get to listen to all of conference without kids:)

 This last Sunday was Easter Sunday. We had a very low key weekend. It was great. On Sunday we were blessed to have an apostle, Elder Christofferson come and speak to us. It was really special. The talks at the conference were great. At then end, he invited all of the children to come and shake his hand. Hudson was pretty excited and told him to say hi to President Monson.

This past week our family also had some really exciting news. Cody(my oldest nephew) got his mission call. He is just the best kid ever, and I am so so proud of him. He will be serving in the Santa Rosa California Mission, but does not leave until September 17th. I am so excited for him, as I LOVED my experience as a missionary, and I know he will benefit from it as well. I just love him:) We all got to listen on the phone as Cody read his call. I think it made an impact on Hudson, and I am so glad he has such a great role model in his life.

Pregnancy Update

DISCLAIMER:If you like being pregnant or are sensitive about pregnancy, don't bother reading this.

33 weeks

I am 36 weeks and miserable! For real. The way I feel right now is the reason I HATE being pregnant. I have major insomnia, heartburn, and the pressure in my pelvic area makes me look like I have 2 broken hips when I walk, my hands are swollen and ache, I am itchy ect ect. I have learned that Pregnancy is not equal among women, and for me it just plain stinks. Good thing I only have a month left.

A few weeks ago I started leaking amnoiotic fluid which has resulted in me having A LOT of Doctors appts. I go for a non stress test at the hospital every week as well as an ultrasound every other week, and now I see my Doctor every week as well. It has just been so busy!

My outie! No more room!!

I have been so blessed to have angel sisters who have literally saved my bacon!
Leanne came to Edmonton and brought the boys to Slave Lake for a few days, then Cassidy came to Edmonton with the boys and helped me out. When Jodie came to pick up Cassidy she brought the boys up to Grande Praire with her. A few days later she came back, and stayed for a few days and literaly painted my whole house. UNREAL. (more about that later:)

So far, I still have enough fluid, and everything is okay with the little guy. He is so so so active, and kicks non stop. I had an ultrasound this week, which was super cute. I got a 3D picture of him and the tech even got a crazy video of him peeing. The US techs told me that the baby already weighs 6'11. I almost died. She said there is still lots of room for him to grow(I wanted to faint).

Mr. Chunky

I as usual am huge and having a hard time moving around. I feel so bad for my kids, they are so neglected. They still try to climb all over me, and just don't understand how dang sore I am. My back is always sore. On a typical day I take 3 baths. I bought a snoogle pillow to help me get more comfortable in my bed, and it has helped a bit, but really, I still don't ever fall asleep.

35 weeks(a rare smile)

Well that is enough whining. Hopefully next time I am "updating on the baby" he is on my arms instead of pressing on my pelvis:)

Birthday Quiz

 I have been meaning to include Hudson's five year old birthday quiz for a while, but literally things have been insane around here!!!

Q: What are your favorite things?
A:Spiderbear, My nook(tablet)

Q:What is your favorite color?
A:Black and Red

Q:What is your favorite TV show?
A:Johnny Test, Phineas and Ferb

Q:Who is your Best Friend?
A: Valentina, Parker and Landon and Cooper

Q:What do you like to do?
A:Play battleship, ride my bike, paint, play with my umbrella, go for walks

Q:What is your favorite thing to eat?
A:Candy

Q:What is something that you are good at?
A:Riding my bike, playing soccer,being a brother

Q:What do you want to be when you grow up?
A:An inventor(he is watching cloudy with a chance of meatballs as I quiz him), Spiderman

Q:What is your favorite song?
A:Owl City, Ellie Goulding (thanks Shane)

These are somewhat forced answers, but our Hudson is just such a fun/great kid. He has really improved with his listening and patience with his little brother. He is so excited for his next brother to arrive. He often comes and kisses my belly an tells the baby he loves him. Huds has a wonderful memory and unbelievable comprehension with words. I love this special 5 year old boy of mine!!!