The fun times

Dorian woke up super sick this morning.  Major fever and snot.  Poor boy.  So, he got his iPad and Tylenol.  He loves technology.



Marsi and Dorian also like to use our big tub as a slide.  They can have fun in there for crazy amounts of time before I have to kick them out in order to lock the door so Dorian doesn't ultimately play in the toilet.

Technology woes and update

So, My smarty phone went to technology heaven 5 months before I could get a cheaper one.  I decided that we are just going to forego the smart phone for those 5 months.  This was after my laptop died and my iPad was taken over by the toddler.

We have been homeschooling so I knew that I would need a desktop computer.  So, with our car dying in Texas, we looked at our situation and decided that the desktop computer would be the first thing to tackle.

So, I have this computer!  YAY!  The only bad thing is that I no longer can post to instagram. Boo. I also got my fancy shmancy Nikon D3300 so I have been trying to consciously take pictures with the good camera...with no where to put them. I think that I might have to resurrect the blog.

Dorian is almost 2 years old!!!!  How did that happen?  He still nurses 1x a day right before his nap.  I haven't figured out how to stop that and have it work at the same time.  We always get a week routine down and then at church it flies out the window and he is nursing to sleep in the mother's lounge.  We will eventually figure it out.

Marsi turned 4 years old in October.  She is our beautiful spunky spitfire red head to a tee.  She is in the process of learning to read and she is soooooo excited about it!  She gets discouraged every once in a while if it seems too hard, but I am trying my hardest to teach her that life will be full of having to try a bit harder so we can grow.  She is SO eager to learn.  "Mom, can we play homeschool!" is a sentence that I hear every day.  

Life is good.  We have been in Colorado for a full 3 years today. It amazes me how much this is HOME!  I honestly do not consider myself to have a hometown.  We moved a lot, got bullied a lot, my parents moved to Missouri (YAY!!) so there is no reason to go to most of the places that I have ever lived in.  I truly hope that my children can call Colorado Springs HOME.  I wish I had that sometimes and it is hopefully something I can do for my children. 

Endrit is doing quite well at work.  He still works at Chromatic Technologies Inc. as a research chemist.  I love that he is able to be in the lab getting his hands dirty and innovating like he always wanted to in graduate school.   

Me, I am a homeschooling stay at home mother.  Pretty much my favorite place to be.  I also care for a child of a single dad each weekday.  It has added an interesting dynamic to the home, but, as I have had him for a few months now, he is a really good kid and it is good for us.

With the desktop, I am also able to do more of the design I like to do.  Currently I am working on my 2017 calendar in the format that I have finally found that I like.  It only took me 30 years. I will also be starting my digital scrapbooking once I get the refresher on my Photoshop skills.  I can't believe how much I have lost on how to use that program.  

We love our home that we moved into over a year ago now.  We like what we do.  The kids seem to be happy a majority of the day.  We have our share of troubles, but we are happy.

The hardest thing...

The hardest thing I have ever done in my life is to become a mother. Yes. Having children is hard! I didn't know it would take years of losses and 6 pregnancies to have my first child. That was hard. She needed surgeries. That was hard. 6 more pregnancies to get my second child. That was hard. Making decisions you thought you never would have to make is hard. Being in charge of those precious spirits entrusted to you by God is hard.

It also is worth it.

Dorian has never been a good sleeper. He also has been a major breastfeeding addict. When he hit 18 months all Hell broke loose with those 2 things. Waking up at all hours of the night wanting to breastfeed back to sleep. I told myself, "babyhood doesn't last b long. Just give him what he wants." Then behaviors got worse. My sleep got worse. My depression got much worse. I needed to make a decision. So, we are sleep training. And we are weaning. I can't sleep train if he falls asleep nursing so I needed to break him of that habit. It isn't as bad as I thought it would be. But it is still hard to know that we both are going through a difficult time.

Long time no write

Life has been crazy here lately.  We bought a house and moved (about 3 miles down the road). Dorian is now 17 months old (tomorrow!).  We have started homeschooling Marsi with preschool.  She is super excited to start reading.  She can sound out a few words which has been so much fun to see her learn.  She turns 4 years old in 2 months!  She is a crazy spitfire who has an amazing love of life. I am not sure how often I will update here.  But, I update all the time on Instagram.  If you don't mind an average of 3 pictures a day of my life, you can request to follow me.  geogeek1

Dorian

Well, he is almost 7 weeks old, so I probably should make a post about my littlest miracle, Dorian.

He was born March 27, 2014 at 9:08 pm. 8 lbs 5 oz and 20.5 inches long.

As for a Cliff's Notes version of the birth story, I went to my 38 week midwife appointment and Marsi had an epic meltdown when I put her in the car.  She screamed at me for a total of 2 hours that morning.  My blood pressure was through the roof.  They wanted me to go to L&D and I told them there was no way I could do that with Marsi screaming.  So, we agreed that Marsi would go to my friend's house that I had asked to take her during labor and hospital stay and I would go back tested and get my blood pressure tested again. In dropping Marsi off and crying on the drive back to the midwife, my blood pressure went up instead of down.  Since I was 38 weeks and he was measuring big, we decided on induction.  It was a week earlier than my scheduled induction.  I wasn't ready.  My house wasn't clean and ready for my parents to get here.  Stress.  Lots of stress.  I called Endrit and told him to come to the hospital.  I also called the missionaries to meet Endrit at the hospital to give me a blessing.  I was alone in the labor and delivery room for almost 2 hours.  I was hooked up to an IV at noon and Pitocin was started.  It was a very easy labor.  I was in very, very little pain until 30 minutes before he was born so I asked for the epidural way too late.  The last 30 minutes were crazy intense.  I thought I would die without the epidural.  They were nice and turned the Pitocin off so I could have normal intensity contractions to deal with.  Within 2 contractions, Dorian was born.  9 hours and 8 minutes from the start of the IV to birth.  It was a great experience.

We spent 2 nights in the hospital.  The second night was eventful with him needing re-suctioned, a chest x-ray and a little bit of oxygen.  All went well.  There were no issues after that one event and we were released later that day.

Since he came a week earlier than expected, in order for my parents to be there for Dorian's blessing, we got permission to have it at our home General Conference weekend.  It was a nice small thing.  I asked the missionaries that blessed me in the hospital to be here and the Bishop and one of his counselors came as well.  It was really special. I was able to make Dorian's whole outfit myself.  It was really big on him, but he was absolutely adorable.

So, we have gotten into our new routines and Dorian is a wonderful baby boy.  He has had some reflux issues, but doing really well so far.  He is already almost 13 pounds!  He wears 3 month or 3-6 month clothing for the most part. a few 0-3 still fit.  Marsi loves him.  He loves Marsi.  We are a very happy family of 4 now.

Surgeries

Any parent can tell you that having ANY surgeries on your child is a terrible experience.  Anything from a tear duct probing to open heart surgery, if your child has to go under and be cut in any way, it sucks.  You soon realize that any friend of yours who has to have their child have a surgery, you relive your fears along side of them.  I know little to nothing about undescended testicles, but a friends boy, just a few months old is having surgery.  I pray all goes well and he goes home tonight as expected.

Owning my body.

Luckily, I have never been one to wear a 2 piece swimsuit.  I am used to covering my belly.  Stretch marks have been a part of my life since puberty.  In all honesty, I feel the most beautiful when my belly is huge and pregnant.

This last Sunday, I got a few of the pregnancy comments.  I got 3 "You look like you are ready to pop!" and 1 "And you're sure there is only 1 in there?".  I was 30 weeks 4 days pregnant.  A lot of women would let that get to them.  Am I gaining too much weight?  Is my body ruined now?  Do I really look that big/fat?  Well, I am owning my body.  I like my body.  I am up 9 lbs this whole pregnancy.  I am healthy.  Dorian is healthy.  I will just get bigger until he makes his debut, and I am just fine with that.