Mother's Day

Yup it's that time of the year again. The time when all mothers get treated like a queen. Yup and I'm one of them. The kids have been sneaking around this place like crazy the past 2 days, I think Jeremy and the kids are planning something. The kids have let a few things slip, I know that part of it is a craft.

Sunday I'm spending the day with my family. There is going to be a lunch at my grandmother's house. This will be Olivia's debut, because most of the people who are going to be there, haven't seen her yet. Yup I have a cute outfit picked out (for both me and her, tee-hee).

The kids have been good lately, and I'm looking forward to the summer. It has been hot this week and the humidity has been really bad. Today is better though, today feels like San Diego weather. When I walked the kids to the bus stop this morning I felt so at peace. I always do when the weather is really nice. This may explain why I liked San Diego so much.

Olivia is eating really well, and she has been trying to turn over. She can almost do it. She is getting so big, and growing more and more beautiful. Zachary reading is greatly improving, I'm amazed at the things he can sound out. Darien has been doing a lot better with his bossy behavior, and has stepped back into the brother position and not the parent one most of the time. Nathaniel is going thought a not to fun phase though. I haven't let him ride in a shopping cart since before I got pregnant with Olivia, and that was fine, but now all of the sudden, he wants to ride again. He knows he can't, there is no way, Olivia is the small one now. So I don't know, I just hope he cuts it out and soon.

I have made a new friend. We started talking about a month ago, at the bus stop in the afternoon, her name is Trudy. Her kids go to a different school, but they get dropped off around the same time as my kids. She has 2 boys ages 7 and 5 (I think), and their names are Hayden and Reuben (I hope I spelled those right). She is really nice, I like her. Her husband is in the Army National Guard, and is going to deploy soon (sad). I hope this summer our kids can have fun playing together.

Jeremy has two weeks of leave coming up (actually his last day of work is today), we both can't wait. We plan on taking day trips for our vacation. We want to go to Kings Dominion, The Maryland Science Center, Baltimore Aquarium, and Six flags. I can't wait! It's been so long since I've been to Kings Dominion, and I'm excited. Yes I'm excited about the other things too, but I'm most excited about Kings Dominion.

Okay I think I updated you on everything so far. Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful Mother's day!

Checking - in

Okay, so it has been a little while since I've written an actual post, so I'll fill you in on what has been happening in the life of Randi. 2 weeks and 2 days ago, My Mom, Dad, Mommom, Niece, Nephew, and Little Sister all came over. The boys had a blast playing with their cousins, and I loved visiting with Mom, Dad, Mommom, and Shelby. We had Tatter tot casserole for lunch, and I'm glad they liked it. It's a recipe from the Duggers (http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html). The kids play so nicely together, and I was very proud of them, and I need to give a big shout out to Trey and McKenzie (My niece and Nephew), for being so good, because there were no fights, and no yelling. Wow, I know!

A week and 6 days ago my friend Sarah came over for a visit. I love her she is great, she has 3 kids, and she is a really sweet and uplifting person. We have lived in a lot of the same places at the same times, but didn't meet until San Diego. She now lives in VA, and only 1 1/2 hours away. Her visit was great, and the kids had a lot of fun playing, or at least it sounded that way (they made a lot of noise together). She brought a lot of JaneAnn's old clothes for Olivia, and I sent her with outfits Olivia had already grown out of, so she could give them to our friend Holly, who just had a baby. Yup that's what I call the Mommy exchange. We had Tomato soup and Grilled cheese for lunch, that was very yummy. I'm so glad she came, and I can't wait to see her again. Love ya Sarah.

Easter weekend was great! It started on Friday, because Jeremy and the kids had the day off. We went to the mall, Jeremy and the boys went to see Alice in Wonderland, and Olivia and I went shopping. Yup the fun of having a girl is starting already, because I now have someone to shop with. I got Olivia an Easter dress, and the boys Easter outfits. I was going to get myself a dress, but I didn't find one that I liked, so I decided to just stick with that dress I wore to Jeremy last homecoming.

The next day we got up early and drove down to Ocean City. My only wish is that it was warmer. We still had a good time though. We play some games at the arcade, walked the board walk, and got some yummy lunch. Unfortunately Zachary throw up during lunch. Poor little guy. We didn't know he wasn't feeling well, but after him getting sick everywhere I felt his head, and he did have a fever. We went home shortly after that, but on the way home we stopped by this old book store in Trappe. It's called Unicorn Books, and Jeremy found me an old copy of The World Of Pooh (I love Pooh). Jeremy loved the store, and he can't wait to go back and "hunt."

The next morning (Easter), Zachary was feeling better, and we went to church, and of course because it was Easter it was packed. Gotta love those people who only go to church on Easter. Jeremy's parents and Aunt Christen came over after church, and we had lunch, or maybe it was dinner beings it was around 3, by the time they got here. They live 2 hours away, and they left right after church so they really couldn't have been here any earlier. The boys had a ton of fun playing with Poppop and Aunt Chrisen, they were sword fighting, and there was a lot of laughing.

Monday Nathaniel was sick with the same thing Zachary had on Saturday. Poor buddy, that was not fun.

Tuesday the boys went back to school (spring break was over) and I took Olivia to the doctor, she now weighs 11lbs, and she is doing great. Her muscle tone is great, and she is doing everything a 2 month-old should be doing. That always good to hear. Soon she'll be able to beat up her big brothers, but lets hope she doesn't. She is now sleeping through the night, and she has also been trying to turn over. She hasn't done it yet, but shes close.

Wednesday, I was sick with the thing.... It was awful, now I know how Zach and Nathan felt. It was really bad body aches, a fever, and nausea. I took it easy, and fixed the kids hot dogs for dinner, and Jeremy popped in a frozen pizza when he got home. He had to work long hours last week, and didn't get home until late.

I am now 100% better, so no need to worry. I had an easy weekend, and tomorrow is Nathaniel's birthday!! He'll be 4.... Wow! I can't believe it. Our plans are to let him open his presents tomorrow morning, then after we drop the boys off, we are going out to get a balloon, and then Nathaniel and I are going to bake a cake. It should be fun.

All moved in!

Yay, we are finally in our new house! We have been here for a week, and we love it. The packing and moving, and the unpacking was not fun at all, but it is finally over. I'm so happy! Last week was a very busy week for me, and I'm so glad it's over. I had the unpacking, the last inspection on our old house in fort meade, register the kids in their new school, and getting that cable set up. The cable guy didn't show up the first time, so I have to reschedule. So far I really like the community we are in, but I haven't really met anyone yet. The boys are now going to a new school, and riding the school bus. Zachary really likes the bus, and he was so excited, because he had never done that before. This week should be an easy week for me, I don't have too much on my plate like I did last week. The only out of the ordinary thing this week is Olivia has an appointment Thursday, and I have some cleaning to do. Yup already, gotta love the kids.

On the bright side though having 4 kids isn't as hard as I thought it would be. Sure I'm busy, but it's busy in a good way, and I am really enjoying it. Olivia fits right in with our crazy little family, and she is a joy just like her brothers. She is now only waking up once a night, around 2am, and that's after going to bed at 9pm. She wakes up for the day at 6am, which is when I need to get up anyways. My mornings are busy, but I'm more of a morning person anyways. So that all for now. Thanks for reading!

Snowmageddon 2010

Yup I'm one of those people who was victim to the crazy double snow storm that hit the east coast. We knew we were in for a lot of snow, but not that much. I was already tried of the snow, and really missing San Diego weather, and it had to snow more? So it started on Friday (the 5th), and lasted into Saturday night (30in if snow in all). The really bad news was that our electricity when out Saturday morning at 4am. So all of Saturday was spent on the couch warped up in a blanket trying to keep the baby warm (I was really worried about her getting cold). The temp was about 63 (in the house) by the end of the day (not to bad, but still cold). We woke up Sunday to the electric still out, and by this time the house was 51, and our car was still buried. I was so worried about the kids and the baby getting to cold. Then Jeremy suggested turning on the burners on the stove (we have a gas stove), my thoughts were "that's not going to help that much, but it's better than nothing." So I put blankets on the kitchen floor, got all of the kids to play in the kitchen, and turned the burners on. After an hour, the kitchen was nice and warm, and it was starting to warm the rest of the house to (WOW). Poor Jeremy spent the day outside trying to dig us out. Crazy! So by the end of the day the temp was back up to 70 in the house. We ending up sleeping downstairs and waking up to the electric coming back on at 2am. Yup 46hr without power, and we missed the superbowl because of it. Waking up with power on Monday was great, but than we heard there was another snow storm, that was going to hit on Tuesday. Again!! Really!! My first thought was "I hope we don't lose power again." Tuesday brought another 2 feet of snow, but the good news was our power didn't go out this time. So now I hope to never see snow again. Wish me luck with that...



This is what Jeremy found after shoveling snow! Silly boy!

The birth of my daughter

There was a time in my life that I thought this day would never come. After having 3 wonderful sons, the chances of having a daughter seemed slim, but she is here. On Feb. 1st at 3:51, weighing 8lbs 1oz and 20in long. Yay! It was an induction, and I was scheduled for 7:30 am. I got to the hospital right on time, which is unusual for me, because I like to be early. It was Jeremy's fault though, he wanted to stop at McDonalds and Starbucks on the way. He was the only one to get food and coffee to, I didn't want to eat to much, because I didn't want to get sick. So I get there at 7:30, and they start my IV at 8, and the Pitocin at 9, I predicted that it would happen that way, hospital all move like that, as slow as possible. My mom and little sister got there at 10, and I got my Epidural and my water broken at 12, and I was ready to push at 3:40, (my nurse predicted I'd be ready to push at 3:30, and she predicted this when she was placing my IV, so she's good) So yeah only took 11 mins, and she was here. It was such a quick birth, for being an induction, and not a lot of crazy things happened, so it was a great birth. Jeremy of course cut the cord and when he did, he got blood squirted in his face (first time that has ever happened) Olivia 1 point, Daddy 0. She is a really sweet baby. She likes to eat and snuggle. I am currently nursing and doing formula. Nursing for most of the day, and using formula at night (so I can get more sleep, I like my sleep). It has been great, and I'm so glad she is here. I'm looking forward to dressing her up, and doing her hair (when she gets a little more of it). So far Nathaniel pays the most attention to her, the other boys barley even notice her. Nathaniel is really sweet, he wants to feed her, and hug her, and he loves taking dirty diapers to the trash. Silly boy!