Hardest Thing Ever

Here are some things that have been going on lately, a lot of it being extremely hard. (This is a very long post, so if you don’t want to read it you can just look at the pics of my cute kids)  I started watching kids 2 weeks after having Gage. Hardest Thing Ever! People have told me it is 3 kids that is the hardest but I am not sure I believe them. Adding 4 children to my potty training 2 year old and a newborn, whom nursing was excruciatingly painful and I was cracked and bleeding, was no easy task. So then I was trying to nurse Gage, but that was not going well so then I was trying to pump, while having 5 children run around my house, needing drinks, snacks, entertainment and 2 of them help going potty. The nice thing was Gage is the sleepiest baby ever, but that contributed to him not gaining weight. I couldn’t get him to wake up long enough to eat sometimes.

This is what I found in my fridge one day

Cute Cheznie (funny thing is that she is usually claustrophobic and hates not being able to move)

 

  Then the best thing happened, our house finally went through! After our papers not really being put in when we were told they were, the government shutdown and finding out we needed to come up with $1800 at closing. (I can’t tell you who to go through to buy a house but I can tell you who we will never, ever use again) We thought we were never going to move. And when we were told it was going through the next week I still did not believe them. But it did and so we moved with a 3 week old. Hardest Thing Ever! I didn’t really help to much with the move, we called some people from our old and new wards, plus 2 of Adam’s brothers came (one of them from Moab, Thanks Braden). Then a bunch of the ladies from the Relief Society came and helped me clean, but every time I would get up to clean the baby would start crying.  Then the new house wasn’t really clean.  We went to our new house the day before we moved to clean and the old owners were still there trying to move out and she said she had been cleaning for 2 days. Well her description of clean and mine are 2 totally different things, and I am certainly not a clean freak by any means. The first 3 days after being here I thought I was dying because of the dust from the ceiling fans the guys had on the day they moved us in. So for the last 2 months we have been deep cleaning, unpacking boxes and fixing up the house. There is still a lot to do but at least it is clean and livable now.

 

One Month Old

 

  Soooo Many Boxes (we made the kids a fort, they demolished it the next day.)

 

  Thanksgiving was lots of fun, my sister had it at her house this year. Then the next day my father got remarried to a wonderful , fun lady named Marie. Who just happened to be my Brother-in-laws aunt.  We are thrilled for my Dad and so happy she is part of our family.

My Cute Boys - I love Gage in a suit

  In December Adam left me for 2 weeks on business. So the Christmas season was not that exciting for me this year. He did put up a Christmas tree the day before he left and then it took me 3 days to get it decorated between still trying to nurse my child and it not going well and watching other children. Hardest Thing Ever! I have a new respect for single mothers (and Stacy). But he came home right before Christmas and we had a wonderful Christmas at our house. Then went to Moab and had 2 more. Then on the way home Adam had to pick up a work truck and so I had to drive home in our truck with Gage screaming half the way and I came within about 2 feet of hitting an elk. That was not much fun for me.
Two Months Old

My bed is the best

Gage will sleep with just about anyone

Sleading!!!!

  Potty training has turned out to be an impossible feat with Cheznie. I started just introducing her to it a long time before she was ready so she could get use to the idea. But that is turning out to be the wrong thing because it is turning into a never ending process. I was thinking she was getting really good , she didn’t have accidents when she wasn’t wearing anything, and pretty good at keeping her diaper dry. But when we put panties on she would pee in them (except in nursery for some reason). Now we have reverted back to not really using the potty at all. I am not really sure what to do with her. Except believe her when she says she has to go pee even if you just sprayed the toilet with cleaner.  Hardest Thing Ever!

I Just Love His Smile - Can you tell? 

 

    Through all this Gage is not gaining any weight or very little (3 ounces in 3 weeks).  One day we called him vampire baby because he was somehow sucking just right that he was getting blood.  This was not just a little blood either, when I took him off me there was blood everywhere. Adam stopped listening to me when I would cry and say I was going to have to stop nursing because I said it so often.  Just as nursing was getting to be less painful and hard and it taking soooo long, the doctor decides that I need to put him on formula because “I am just not producing enough calories for him.”  Hardest Thing Ever! It was never a thought in my mind whether I would nurse or not. I was just doing it, it was better for the baby and a heck of a lot cheaper than formula (and I am learning easier than making sure you always have bottles and formula where ever you go). So when we went to formula he gained over a pound in a week.

Sister helps him by getting him everything!

Painting the snow

One of his favorite spots

I think she likes it more now than when she was a baby

 

 

  On Sunday  we had Gage’s baby blessing and again that was hard. Adam wanted to have the blessing here so we could show off our new house. So I did all I could to have the house in some semblance of order for company to come and set up a luncheon. I did not really have anywhere else to have the luncheon so we decided to do it in our very small home. But it went really smoothly, especially because of my dad bringing twice as many chairs as I asked and Nathan and Tonya setting them up and cooking the ham for us. Plus everyone one else who helped out.  It was a wonderful day and I want to thank everyone who was able for coming and playing with us. And we missed those that could not make it.

 

 

 These past 3 months have been extremely hard. But not all of it was bad and I have a wonderful family that was always there to help me out. Now I am just going to veg out for the next week (other than watching children). And next week I will start on getting stuff done again.

My husband just attracts children