in came the second

tried to get a good picture of the

TWO bottom teeth now in the mouth of my five month old.

But all he wanted to do was chew on my fingers.

That ain't going to happen now.

Ouch.

not back to school

So...

I've made the decision not to teach again this year.

Luckily I have stellar Jake

so I don't have to work,

but I am seriously going to miss it.

All of it--

Timpanogos High School,

the faculty,

and especially my students.

I am not completely ditching out on the whole teaching thing, though.

I'm actually going to be a sign language substitute teacher for this area.

(Lone Peak super senior whaaaa??)

And,

I am working as a sign language interpreter twice a week at night.

to also keep up my skills.

This I can juggle

and want to do.

So here's to a calmer school season,

but also a goodbye to my students

(but not for long...cause I may be your annoying substitute teacher!)

my twins

M's hair is finally growing back in.

And you know what?

It's got a little red in there.

(the same color as Jake's beard)

I call them my twins.

a modest summer

Check out the blog Clothed Much

and my guest post about A Modest Summer.

(back when I had blonde hair...)

I love Elaine and her tips on how to love and re-use the pieces of clothing you have

when you are on a modest budget and when you wear only modest clothes.

That's kinda my life so her posts are gems!

Click here for the link again.

Thanks Elaine!

Jake, Bryton, and Myer vacations

Myer's first vacation: St. George

Filmed by me

music by Matt and Kim "Cameras"

Myer laughs in Park City

Filmed by me

Music by Kris Farrows "I'm Yours" Accoustic Guitar in the Style of Jason Maraz

a letter

Myer-

You are a very active 5 month old! Say goodbye to just sitting on laps.  You like to stand, then sit, then stand again, then lay back, then turn around, then move to the ground, lay down, arch your back, sit back up, then stand, then sit, then stand again and repeat repeat.  I get the best work out too since you are a whopping 17 pounds! But my arms aren't that strong, I can't carry you in the car seat anymore.  I struggle from the car to the front door.  Your dad sometimes steals the car and I have to do push-ups just to be able to lift you into the jeep.

We had to buy you a jumper (already) because you no longer like the bumbo since you can't reach the ground, or the swing since you like to climb out of it, or the bouncer since you arch your back every time you're in it.  Getting the picture of how active you are yet?  My favorite thing ever, and I even stand by your door to watch, is when you go down for your naps you whip your monkey from side to side until it falls in the perfect place above your head. Ha!  Makes my day. But you are so strong.  You are rolling and starting to move while on your tummy.  And you can sit on your own if I sit behind with you between my legs. (Yes!)

Every one comments on how happy and smiley you are.  You don't have that "stranger danger" scare yet, and you smile at anyone.  When it's been a good nap, you wake up with your "song".  (we call it your song because it's not a squeal, but a one-note song that you hold out for a good few seconds and keep going until we come get you.)  You also do it in the car.  Precious.

You already have your first tooth!  And I think a second one is on it's way.  Sometimes I think you are 6 months... So like a good mom I bought all these teething toys.  Shouldn't have spent the money because you only like to gnaw on my fingers.  That new tooth hurts by the way.

So my darling active little boy, I wonder what next month will bring.  More teeth?  A walker? Stair gates? Driver's license? Seriously.

Love, Mom

come say hello!

Hop on over to Blogging is For Lovers

and check out my Guest Post on our favorite Polaroids.

(don't be shy, making new friends is fun!)

Click here for the link again.

enjoy!

my big kid night out

Last night I went out with my sisters to watch Justin Giles's Soul Escape.

So amazing to watch good dance again.

Scratch that, incredible dance.

And it was even better to watch it with my family.

Sierra (left) danced in the pre-show,

and Jessie (right) was able to come up from Vegas

and support SE as she danced with them last summer in their Dallas show.

And you want to know the best part?

Jake stayed home with M,

cleaned the bathrooms,

fixed our shower head,

and picked up the toy strewn house.

It was good to go out.

family tradition

We get together to celebrate good'ol Alpine Days.

We watch the parade,

visit the booths,

eat the food,

see old friends,

and end the day with fireworks.

It's my favorite tradition of the summer.

Already looking forward to next year.

birth video

filmed by Jake

music by Brendan James "The Lucky Ones"

do we do anything else?

more swimming!

Uncle Cooper

Aunt Jessie with Navy

Mimi with a wet Myer

the whole family.

(well except for Mike and Maddix. The tramp seemed to be more entertaining.)

Apparently we love the water!

I'm sure we will be swimming again.

In fact, count on it.

goodbye blonde

hello brunette!

our weekend

A couple things happened this weekend:

1- the New Mexico family (aka my sister and her family) are here to visit!

2- my brother-in-law turned 30 so we threw him a surprise party while he is here

(Maddix and Myer seeing each other for the first time in months.

Love this picture.)

3- Myer now arches his back when he is tired of something.

Those *somethings* have been diaper changes, sitting on people's laps, getting dressed, the swing, the car seat, etc. etc.

Really?  We've already started that?

This kid just needs to crawl, move, or something.

What a busy body.

p.s. Thank you all for your comments about Myer's birth.  I was so nervous to post it but goodness gracious, there are some sweet people out there.  Be watching for the video!

every time the big black lens comes out...

it takes a little bit of warming up to...

almost there...

getting closer...

there it is!

My favorite thing.

How could you not smile?

I think that's why my cheeks hurt by the end of each day....

birth story

You've been warned.  This is a birth story.  I've decided to share this since I want to show Myer's birth video and this would explain my "sleepy" state.  Also, there have been some pretty funny rumors floating around so let's set the record straight.  Ready?

It all started on the Monday before my due date.  There was a lot of blood so we rushed to the hospital.  They started hooking me up to machines, monitoring baby's heartbeat, the regular stuff to figure out what was going on.  They checked my blood pressure, which I wasn't worried about since the whole pregnancy it was fine.  But this time it was sky high.  Kinda surprising.  The diagnosis was that the placenta was starting to tear away, in other words Placenta Abruption.  The on-call doctor expressed that this is serious and that I needed to be induced right away.  She explained the risks of Placenta Abruption and started throwing around words like low birth weight, brain damage, fetal death, etc. etc.  Imagining a pregnant woman hearing these things?  Yes not pretty.  Poor poor Jake trying to deal with me.

Another risk of Placenta Abruption is that I could seizure, stroke, or worse, during labor.  Joy.  More good news.  So to prevent those episodes from happening they put me on this medicine call Magnesium.  It makes you dizzy, nauseous, clammy, and swollen.  Exactly how you want to feel pushing a baby out right?  And they told me if I didn't push him out in time, I would have a c-section.  More pressure to preform while being dizzy and nauseous....So I was started on Pitocin, and the lovely Mag, around 8:00 pm.

After breaking my water 3 times (I had 3 layers of amniotic fluid...) the ball started rolling.  I was in labor for 16 hours and pushed for 3.  It took so long because I would sleep during each set of pushes.  Yes sleep.  But only little 2-3 second catnaps.  I couldn't keep my eyes open, and during those naps I would seriously have mini dreams.  I woke up one time and told Jake, "I want that jacket." and then was ready to push again.  Imagine Jake's surprise.  Finally Myer came at 11:59 AM.  Healthy.  Phew.  

I was so out of it by this time I don't remember who was in the room; who was here to see the birth of my son.  I only remember hearing Myer coo in someone's arms (Later I was told it was my Dad).  Oh, and I also remember throwing up.  In front of everyone.  Like 3 times.  

My nurse then started prepping me to transfer me to the Mother Baby Floor.  I remember she made a comment saying that I was lopsided on one side, but didn't do anything about. Little did I know that this would spell trouble for me.  How should I know?  She took out my epidural out and whisked me to the elevator.  I threw up in that moving elevator twice.   

Once in my room the new nurse told me that I would feel my uterus contracting to get back to normal.  I should have asked what "contraction" she was talking about: labor like contractions, which really feel like those lovely time-of-the-month-cramps, or true business contracting?  So in my sleepy slumber I would feel this hard core awful "contraction".  I would wake up screaming in pain and then whimper off to sleep again about ever 30 minutes.  Jake was the only one in the room with me and we both thought this was normal.  I was warned right?  

My mom came in to see how I was doing and noticed instantly something was wrong.  I was ghostly white and my lips blended in with my face.  I kept cringing in pain when I all wanted to do was sleep.  She got the nurse and basically demanded she see me right away.  Good thing for moms.  The nurse came in thinking that I was just a first-time nervous mom, but nope, she saw it too.  She started poking around on my tummy and noticed the I was lopsided on one side.  Sound familiar?  Apparently from my placenta tearing away I was bleeding internally.  (Hence the sleepiness. I was loosing blood.) Blood was pooling inside me creating massive blood clots which had to come out.  And those awful contractions were not because my uterus was coming back together, oh no, it was my body trying to get rid of the blood  Now understand, it's been a few hours, the epidural is wearing off, and I've had an episiotomy...I have to push out blood clots.

This is the pain that I vividly remember. This is when I stopped being a trooper.  I was a really good girl during those hours of labor.  I tried very hard not to yell, cry, or scream.  But it all ended here.  Every time they pushed down on my stomach to push out the clots, I screamed.  I wouldn't let go of Jake's hand.  In fact I was white-knuckling his poor little fingers.  Finally after basically laying in her whole body weight, the nurse pushed out a clot the size of Myer.  Everybody in the room gasped.  Jake wouldn't let me look at it.  (This blood clot became known around the hospital as the "un-loved baby".)  But there were more to get out.  I was such a baby, I kept repeating over and over to Jake, "make them stop, make them stop."  Again, poor poor Jake.  After a few more blood clots, my stomach felt normal.  No more pushing. No more pain. 

After a few hours, however, I still wasn't healing the way I should have been.  I had a few different doctors take a look at me and they decided to give me a quart of blood.  Long story short, I ended up getting 3 quarts of blood. You should have seen my arms: I looked like a heroin addict with all my IV's, Mag, Blood Transfusions, and spots where they tested my blood.... It was a long road to recovery for me, and I was happy to get home and rest.  And rest I did.  I have awesome family, friends, and neighbors that really went above and beyond for our little family.  (Thank you!)

This was definitely not the way I've seen babies born on tv, or stories that I've heard from friends.  In fact I came home from the hospital feeling guilty that I couldn't remember Myer's birth, or that I didn't have this grandiose spiritual experience.  I guess this is why I am so excited to have this video.  So bear with me!  I am also grateful for modern medicine, hospitals, doctors, nurses, etc. who saved my life.  (My OB later told me that this was how pioneer women died from labor.  Gotta love that awful Magnesium.)  And more importantly I am grateful that Myer came healthy and strong.  That's all that really matters right?  God does hear our prayers even if we are in and out of consciousness.

myer's friends

Actually, these are Myer's cousins.

But I think M looked to them as friends because for a good hour

these kiddos stayed on the blanket and showed Myer each toy and how to play with it.

It was pretty exciting.

Can you tell???

Love you Morse cousins!