This kid is going to be cool...

At least I hope he is...or he's going to have a hard time in school.

Short update

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Just a couple things.

Analise is doing fine. She's not letting us sleep, of course, but otherwise she is doing well. She's getting used to all the noise around here. Grandma and Grandpa C. are coming out tomorrow, so we'll get some pictures up of them with her.

Cade said something the other day I thought was funny: "Dad. When your stomach makes the sound ggrrrrowwwlllll it means you are hungry. And when your mouth makes the sound ggrrrrowwwllll it means you are thirsty. Yup."

Kelson tells us several times a day that he loves Analise. Maybe he feels guilty for trying to send her back after the first day. He's talking up a storm.

Shena is slowly feeling better. She's spent the last couple of days cleaning the house before her mom gets here. Can't have her mom thinking she doesn't keep a clean house. Even just a few days after she's had a baby.

The Slack Jaw Picture

Panthers Game Photos

Trying to keep you up to date on how Analise is changing. Pictures taken Sunday during the Panthers game. In the one where I'm not looking at the camera, I was reacting to a fumble by DeShaun Foster just as Shena took it. Just so you know (because I know you are concerned), he fumbled, it bounced off the ground and back into his arms as he was being tackled. Very lucky.

By Popular Request - More of Analise

We've enjoyed having Analise here at home. She's slowly getting used to all the noise and commotion. We've had great support from friends bringing dinner and stopping in for visits. We appreciate all that they do for us. The boys are adjusting ok. Kelson said "Take Analise back to the hospital for a minute." At least he said "for a minute." I guess that means he likes her the rest of the time. Every now and then the boys will come up and ask to hold her.

Analise

Pics...

Analise's Entry

Some stats:
Sleep last night (dad): 4.5 hours
Arrival: 5:20 am
Delivery: 2:24 pm
Water broken: 8:00 am
Pitocin: 11:00 am
Labor time: 3 hours 24 minutes
Pushing time: 5.5 minutes
Sex: Female
Weight: 8 lbs. 13.8 oz. (Cade was 7 lbs. 14 oz, Kelson 7 lbs. 11 oz.)
Length: 20.5 inches
Head: 13.75 inches
Chest: 14 inches
Name: Analise Arellano

Got to the hospital at about 5:20. Checked in and into the delivery room by 6:00. Shena let me go out to the Biscuitville on Battleground, just south of Krispy Kreme to get me a bacon egg and cheese sandwich while the nurses (Jim Landon’s daughter, Michelle Butler, was one who helped) were getting her hooked up, taking her vitals, etc. We would have stopped on the way in, but nothing was open yet. I was in the room while Michelle was poking Shena for her IV. Michelle was bragging up about how good she was, then couldn’t get the needle into Shena’s right arm, so she had to switch to the other arm. Luckily she had given Shena some numbing stuff so she wasn’t in any pain while she was digging for a vein. I went inside Biscuitville and took my time eating. I got back to the hospital at about 6:40 or so. We waited around until about 7:50 for Dr. Lowe to come in and break Shena’s water. He did and said if she hadn’t started having good, regular contractions by 10:30, they would start the pitocin. He also said that she could have her epidural just as soon as she felt like she wanted it. He said not to worry about it slowing down the process…recent studies have been saying that there isn’t much to worry about along those lines. The time frame is about the same either way. I talked to mom for a few minutes at about 8:40 or so. She got excited when she saw the caller ID. First thing I told her was “Nothing has happened, I’m just checking in.” She was disappointed. She said Cade was talkative on the way to school. As they drove past Moses Cone he said “Grandma, look, it’s a hospital. But that’s not the hospital mommmy is at. She’s at a different one.” And when they drove past my office he said “Daddy isn’t at work today. He’s with mommy at the hospital to have the baby.” She said Kelson was just playing and hanging out. Probably oblivious to everything that is going on. They brought in a tray of breakfast for me. I’m glad I went to Biscuitville. The eggs were runny and bland, the biscuit was hard. I did eat the mandarin oranges that were included, though. It then became a waiting game. I spent some time surfing on the internet, chatted via IM with Heather Triplett and Teresa Slack (Shena chatted with her for a few minutes, too) and an hour or so listening to music. At about 10:30, Shena had had about 45 minutes worth of contractions every 6 minutes or so, but still not anything happening that meant the baby was coming. We decided to order the epidural and then start the pitocin. The epidural got done about 11:00, and Shena was having a bunch of small contractions every minute, but that was about it. So the nurse was a little hesitant to start the pitocin right away. She finally got it started a little after eleven. Shena kind of dozed in and out until about 12:30 when she started breathing a little heavier. I got up to give her ice chips (my first real contribution for the day) and she started saying that the contractions were really starting to hurt and why wasn’t the epidural working? We tried pushing the “magic button” that gives her a quick dose of it, but it wasn’t working. The contractions didn’t look real bad on the monitor, but she was in a lot of pain. The nurse checked her and she was dilated to a four. Another nurse came in with a fresh supply of epidural drugs, because the others had run out, but it still didn’t seem to be having much effect. After another ½ hour of pain, Dr. Lowe happened to show up (apparently the nurse called to tell him that Shena was in pain and that she had progressed to a four. He checked her again and this time she was too a seven. He said to call the anesthesiologist, and have him give her a different kind of drug. He showed up about 15 minutes later, gave her something else that he said would help, but Shena was still really suffering after about 15 or 20 minutes (the anesthesiologist said it should only take about 10 for it to kick in). At this point, Shena starts saying “I feel like I need to push.” So the nurse checks her again, and says that she is the same as when Dr. Lowe had checked her. Now, every contraction Shena keeps saying the same thing “I need to push.” Both the nurse and I talked her out of it about 10 times over the next ½ hour, just trying to get her to breath. Finally, at about 1:05, Shena looks at me and says “the baby is coming. I can’t not push. Please get Dr. Lowe here!” The nurse was like “Ok, just a minute, let me go and get the meds for the baby, then I will check you again.” She disappears for about 5 minutes. The whole time Shena is having major pain and keeps telling me “I need to push.” I’m not delivering the baby by myself, so I keep telling her “no you don’t. You just think you need to. Keep breathing.” The nurse finally gets back and kind of moseys around getting out the “meds” that she had gone out for. She finally checks Shena about 1:15 or so, and say’s “you are a nine. I will call Dr. Lowe now. If I can just find his number. Let’s see {pulls out little notebook from her pocket}…hmmm…I don’t think I have his number here. Just let me go up to the front desk to get it.” Shena turns and looks at me with the look of murder (I guess that’s what it was…she wasn’t very happy). The nurse has a moment of brilliance and decides it might be quicker to CALL the nurses desk and ask them for Dr. Lowe’s number. She finally gets it, calls Dr. Lowe and says “your patient is at a 9 and says that she feels like she wants to push and she can’t stop it.” About two minutes later Dr. Lowe walks in, while Shena is having a contraction. She is saying “I need to push.” I am saying, “No, don’t push, breath.” Dr. Lowe chimes in from the doorway, “go ahead and push.” Shena’s face turns red as she starts pushing. She only got one little one in when the contraction subsided, which gave Dr. Lowe time to get on his protective gear. The next contraction, for some reason, was 2 minutes later. Kind of strange because they had been coming so fast. But it gave us all time to gather ourselves and get ready. The next contraction came, Shena pushed for ten seconds, breathed, pushed for ten seconds, breathed, then Dr. Lowe said, “Ok, hang on one sec, let me use the bulb on her to get some of the gunk out of her mouth.” Next contraction he told her to “push ½ way,” and out came the baby at 2:24 pm. So her labor was relatively short, from 11:00 to 2:24, but it was extremely painful for the last hour because for some reason the epidural didn’t work the way it did the last two times. The baby came out like they all do, blue and disgusting. She rated an “8” initially (she didn’t cry much in the beginning, just a couple little ones) and then a “9” on the second evaluation (which I think they take like 10 minutes later, or something like that). She looked good…for an alien. We got to hold her after the initial tests and shots (which took about 20 minutes) for the first 45 minutes or so until they finally came and took her to the nursery, and Shena to her room. We got over to her recovery room at about 4:30. I then called mom and met her and the boys at Target so that they could by Analise her first birthday presents. They picked out their own gifts (with a little help from Dad. Kelson wanted to buy her this stuffed horse that was bigger than Cade). Cade bought her a little baby doll, Kelson got her a little white stuffed puppy. Mom stopped at Steak ‘n Shake and bought us all hamburgers, fries and chocolate milkshakes for dinner (I hadn’t eaten, really, since Biscuitville) and we brought it back to the hospital to eat dinner with mom. Just as we were finishing eating, they brought Analise back from the nursery where she had been weighed, measured, bathed, and warmed up in a warming cart they have. The boys were excited to see her. Cade wanted to hold her immediately, and Kelson did as soon as Cade did, but only for about 30 seconds, then he was done with her. The boys were excited to see that Analise had brought a present for them, too. Kind of a goodwill gesture. She got Cade a 100 piece Spiderman puzzle, and she got Kelson a 24 piece Chicken Little puzzle. They were grinning ear to ear when we told them that she had brought those for them. The boys stayed for about an hour and a half or so, and then mom took them home and put them in their pj’s, while I got Shena situated for the night. I then came home, put the boys to bed, and put together this little piece and downloaded pictures to send out to everybody we thought would want one.

months in review

Work & Play OK! OK! So we've been REALLY bad about keeping up with this lately. I'll try to keep this extremely brief but let you in as much as possible. Not much went on in November. Nola and Chemo went to Utah/California for Thanksgiving; which left us to fend for ourselves over the holiday. We are adults, we managed just fine. In a way it was a blessing that a bunch of family wasn't in town over the holiday. All of us got sick. Cade, Kelson, and I were sick with sinus infections, pink eye, colds, and vomiting. The boys were so congested that everytime they would get mucus drainage they would throw up. Not fun for me. I handled it pretty well the first few days just because I was so congested and couldn't smell anything. Cheeto left to get tissues one afternoon and returned later informing me that the house smelled awful, like vomit and such. I couldn't tell until about 2 days later. It made an interesting 4 days. Cheeto wasn't real entertained. Cade talked me into decorating for Christmas 2 days after Thanksgiving. I felt awful but couldn't tell my 5 year old no. We picked up my recently scratched van up a couple days later. We picked it up at night and didn't notice what an awful drop Crown Paint and Body did. They left the inside looking awful. Also, the only way you could open the front passenger door was from the inside. I was so upset. I use to have a brand new car with a 12" white scratch, now I had a car that looked trashed on the inside, a door that is broken that wasn't broken in the first place and an incomplete paint job. We picked it up Friday night and had to wait until Monday to take it back to the shop. Luckly our prayers were answered, Crown was more than willing to fix their mistakes.
To fill you in on some more recent news. Christmas was good. Of course, we were all spoiled and grateful for everything everyone did for us. Adam and Melissa came in a week early. We had a couple of snow days right after their arrival. It was nice for Cade to not have to school for those days. I think he would have had a really hard time being the only kid that had to leave all day. We went to Tanglewood for FHE one night. I struggled sitting in a car for such a long period of time, but the boys loved it! So that makes it all worth it. Christmas morning was lots of fun. Kelson got mad that Santa ate the cookies he left out for him. That was pretty funny. I was grateful that the boys were so pleased with all of their presents. Santa brought them some battery-operated Polar Express trains. They opened those first, anything after that wasn't too exciting I guess. It was funny because they would open a couple of presents

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)

Arellano Update

Christensen Update

Work & Play I knew I would be bad a keeping up with this. I had to go back to my Franklin to catch you all up on the events. Cheeto stole me for 3 days last weekend. He had a trip to Charlotte planned for our anniversary. We took advantage of it this year. Next year with the baby and all, we don't think we'll get to do anything overnight and such. We left Thursday morning. He had massage appointments lined up and a day spa in Charlotte. He got me a prenatal massage and he just had a deep tissue massage. I was really excited but turned out the lady that did mine wasn't all that great. She made me, well- I guess she didn't hold a gun to my head, but she did have lie on my back for the last 30 minutes or so. I was enjoying it up until then, but as soon as I was on my back I had trouble breathing, back started hurting, and then the heartburn set in. After the massages we went to check in at the hotel and then got some lunch/dinner at CrackerBarrel. We wanted to go to a movie but all that was playing close to us was either rated R or nothing we felt like seeing. We ended up watching Chicken Little. We knew that Grandma nad Grandpa were taking the boys to see it, so we figured if we saw at least we would know what the boys were talking about when the tell us about it. It was pretty good. I think it will be one we will add to the home collection. Friday we went to an IMAX at the Discovery Place downtown Charlotte. We were impressed with the downtown area, very nice and clean. The theatre was dome shaped and somewhat distorted the film. Cheeto and I were both sick when it was over. We spent the afternoon shopping at Concord Mills. Cheeto told me we could whatever I wanted. I took advantage of the outlets and got some Christmas shopping done. It was nice. That night I knew we had tickets to Cirque de Soleil's Varekai. Plummers were going to meet us down there. Cheeto kept telling me were having dinner alone. I thought he was kinda rude not to invite them to eat with us. Well, he was trying to surprise me. They were waiting for us at the restaraunt when we got there. They couldn't find a babysitter so they got a hotel room for their kids for a couple of hours. They just brought toys and food and such for them. It made it so they were only gone a couple of hours instead 6 hours paying for a babysitter. They didn't even stay overnight. We had lots of fun. Saturday Cheeto and I just went looking for cribs. We ended up finding one in Greensboro. That set me off to this weeks events. I worked almost everyday on the baby's room. I think I'm pretty much finished. If not, whatever else I want to do it doesn't have to be done before she gets here. I'm very pleased with the result. I seriously spent Tuesday-Friday sewing most of the day. It's a good thing I enjoy it so much. Cheeto has just been working and studying, studying and working. Between preparing for the test he has to take in December and Elders Quorum stuff he stays very busy. I'm amazing on how well he budgets his time between it all. He still finds time to spend evenings with us once in awhile. Last night there was a ward father-son camp out. It was going to get down to about 25-27 degrees so they decided because of the lil' boys they didn't want to go. Grandpa wasn't wild about the cold either. We ended up ordering pizza and watching Kicking and Screaming with Grandma and Grandpa. It was a fun family night.
OH, I almost forgot. I went to Walmart after picking Cade up from school on Wednesday. We got out of the car and stood in front of "Millie" to wait for this cadillac to pull into the spot next to us, and SHE HIT my new van. I just stood there in shock as she backed up scratching it again. It is just a dent and scratch, but still my van is only 3 months old. I called Cheeto to find out what I should do. As soon as I heard his voice and I opened my mouth to say, "Honey, this lady just hit my car." I just started to cry. I was so sad. The lady was 83 years old and living in an assisted living home just out for an afternoon with her friend. When she found out that my van was new she asked me if I was used to driving such a big vehicle. I laughed at her. She said it was my fault because I parked retarded. I was off a bit, but if I had been straight in she would have hit me way before she did. She wants to leave insurance companies out of it and just pay for it with a check. The estimate we received was not quite $700. She and her friend kept telling me that it couldn't be more than just a touch up paint job- no more than $200- $300. It's the passenger sliding door. The door is dented and they said they would have to paint the entire door. We'll see what happens.
Cade's News Cade played his last soccer game for the fall season. He did much better during this game than he had the past few games. He is one that likes to look along the sidelines to make sure mom and dad are still watching him. He didn't like it when Kelson would be playing with his soccer ball with grandpa and dad. I think he thought it looked like more fun to play with them than playing in a real game. Marcos surprised Cade and flew home from New York for the "big" game. Cade was very pleased. Kelson wasn't sure of Marcos when he first showed up at the game but by that evening we couldn't keep either one of them away from their Tio. It was sweet. Cade has always had a special bond with his Tio Marcos. I was glad he made such an effort to make it to his game. Cade is getting more and more content at school. Cheeto doesn't even have to walk him inside to drop him off in the morning. Cheeto said he finally convinced him that he was a big boy and could get dropped at the car rider drop-off door. I'm proud of my lil' boy. He's really not so little anymore. It really is true what our parents say, "Enjoy them while they are small because it really isn't long before you blink and they are married and out of the house having kids of their own." I don't want to think about Cade married and having kids, but 5 years have really gone by too fast. Cade is reading more and more. I think he loves it. He's quite the show off sometimes. He's reading more in spanish at school as well. His teacher tells me he is doing so well and is such a good kid. Kelson still misses him some. Cade was home this past Thursday and Friday with "the runs." Poor Kid! I think he was doing better on Friday but I just couldn't send him and think if he were to have an accident at school how humilating that would be for him. We also noticed he had some sores on his right leg. I took him to the doctor and found it was some sort of staph infection. We have no idea where he would have gotten it, but that is what he is being treated for. He only had 3 sores but Dr. Ross said it could easily spread if left untreated. Cade was funny at the doctor's office. He was so nervous because the last two visits weren't very nice visits for him. I kept telling him that Dr. Ross would simply just look at his leg and that would be it. I dont' think he really believed me. When we were done and Dr. Ross left the room, Cade turned around and said, "THAT'S IT? I'M DONE?" He was quite amazed!

Kelson Adventures Kelson has been just putting up with his mother lately. I think the hours spent sewing and cleaning have finally affected the poor child. He has gotten so clingy lately. He even went and fell asleep on my side of the bed the other night. He has been such a good kid this week though. He has had NO accidents this week as far as potty training goes. Thursday he was yelling from the bathroom, "Mommy, Cade, come and see! Hurry! Come and See!" So of course, Cade and I go running to see what's the matter. Nothing bad, actually more like amazing. He had made "yuckies" in the toilet. I didn't even know he was going to the bathroom. I was so proud. That night we celebrated by getting Krispy Kreme with Grandpa and Grandma. He also was successful this morning. I can't tell you how happy I was not to have to clean poopy underwear. One thing that we pray won't be too serious with Kelson is that we noticed that his feet were turning in. We asked Dr. Ross about it and said we shouldn't wait too long to get him into an orthopedic doctor to get it checked out.

Arellano Update They are packing up to leave again. This time to Utah/California. They are headed there for Thanksgiving. We have to share with the other siblings. They leave Monday and are gone for a couple of weeks. We are having dinner with the Plummers this year. It's all good.

Christensen Update Mom and Dad have spent the last week with Uncle Dale and Aunt Nancy golfing and such in southern Utah and Nevada. Sounds like they had lots of fun. They went to Cirque de Soleil's "O" in Las Vegas. Mom said it was awesome.

Week in review

Work & Play WOW!!! So I don't write much anymore. My christmas craft making has begun and I have been sewing, knitting, painting, and card making up a storm. I can't say what in case your on my list of receiving crafty gifts. :) It's been fun but a lot of work. Monday the boys, grandma and I went to pick out pumpkins to carve for FHE. I thought Cade might struggle with the cleaning of the pumpkin, but to all of our surprise- it was Kelson. He was gagging like crazy. He didn't like the smell of it or something. We were carving it in the garage and we had to make Kelson sit with Cheeto inside. We had lots of fun. Cade picked to do the Spider and web. Not really surprised. He is so into Spiderman right now. The movie is too scary for him. But all he has asked for for Christmas is Spiderman stuff.
Friday night we had a trunk-n- treat at church. Our bishop wanted to combine with Guilford ward. We were NOT excited about this one. There were so many people there, not much food, and not enough seating for everyone. It took 1 hour and 20 minutes just to get people seated with food. The Trunk-n-Treat was fun with so many cars, but the rest of it wasn't worth our time. I think next year we might opt to just trunk-n- treat and eat pizza by our car or something, if they decided to make this an annual thing. The Spanish Branch one was fun though. I think Chemo had fun dressing up and getting into the Halloween spirit. Funny thing that happened there was someone asked Chemo how do you say "Ladybug" in spanish. His little girl was dressed up like a ladybug. Chemo was struggle for the word. Cade walks up and says, "It's Mariquita." Chemo said, "Yeah, that's it!" Funny!!!!! Cade finds the words quicker than g'pa these days. I love seeing what Cade has learned.

Cade News Cade had an ok week. I was thinking I would go with him on his first "real" field trip. They were going to "Mr. B's Pumpkin Patch." It's towards Burlington, NC in a town called Graham, NC. I drove all of the other room mom's in his class, plus the other teacher's parents, who were from Columbia and didn't speak more than one word of English. Interesting! Well, I thought all along it was Friday morning. I found out Monday night that it was Tuesday morning. I made a mad dash to call mom and ask if she could watch Kelson. Thankfully, she came to my rescue... as usual! We had fun. They got to go through a bubble maze, pick them a pumpkin, pet some farm animals, and take a hay ride. Cade was such a good boy until he saw that I was driving "Millie" (our van). After that he started to cry and didn't want to ride the bus home. He wanted to go home with me. I felt bad, but school rules!
This week was also his book fair at school. Each class got to go in and make a list of the books they would like. I was so proud of Cade. The list he brought home had only one book on it. I saw other kids with multiple sheets of paper with their lists. Showed me that he knows that he knows better than to ask for everything. Made me one proud mom! Mom and I went Monday to get the books and were told we couldn't purchase them until Wednesday. Neither one of us were thrilled, but we put our name on them and put the aside. Well, Cheeto went to buy them Wednesday when he ate lunch with Cade. That way Kelson wouldn't see all of the books either. Well, guess what? They couldn't find the books we set aside. We had to try to remember which books we wanted. Got kinda crazy! I know Cheeto wasn't thrilled about having to find them either. But being the good father, husband, and son that he is; he did with a good attitude.

Kelson Adventures Kelson has had an interesting week. The potty training has seriously digressed. He wet his pants a couple of times last Saturday. Sunday he wet them during nursery. He hasn't once made "yuckies" in the toilet, always in a diaper or in his pants. GROSS!!! By Friday he was doing better again. Thursday we went to Costco. He fell asleep on the way home and while I was unloading the car I told him to run to the bathroom. I don't think he was quite awake- but he stood on our porch and wet his pants. He was running off the steps, in his shoes, and everything. I was so mad. I think we got somewhat back on track this weekend. But it has definately been a rough wee for the both of us!

Arellano Update Yesterday was Sunday of course. We always to go to mom and dad's for dinner. Unless they are out of town of course. Well, the oven never turned on and we had to wait until almost 3pm to eat dinner. We were all starving, except for the boys. We fed them Mac n'cheese. We didn't think they could wait. Mom made guiso's and of course there was separate one made by dad himself, HOT of course! We were all sitting around the table. Cheeto was watching the end of the Panthers game and mom and I were just chit chatting, when Dad shot up out of his chair and headed for the watertank. He just started drinking and drinking. I think dad finally made one TOO HOT for himself. I know it wasn't funny that he was suffering, but the rest of us had to chuckle. I don't think he even finished all of his dinner. He was hurting pretty bad.

Christensen Update Mom and Dad finally got there tickets to come in February for baby and such. I found them tickets for $149 each. I was so excited they didn't have to pay so much to come and visit. We can't wait to see them! Also, mom said she had been having lots of problems with her car and decided after 250,000 miles and over 12 years of driving it, it was time to reinvest in a new one. They bought one Friday. She loves it, sad to see her other one go, be excited about the new one. It's always fun to get a new car. Don't know why, but it is! They spent most of their week in Park City, UT. There for golf business of something. Don't remember exactly what it was for. They had fun. They have all been sick and it's been lingering for weeks. Sucks to be sick this time of year when there is so much to get done.

Recent Pictures

Cade sittin with a bunch of girls. The girls like Cade. I don't know if it's because he's nice or his stunning good looks! :) He was such a good boy. I was glad I was able to arrange to spend the day with him. We had lots of fun!

Cade helping his classmates stuff a scarecrow. He had lots of fun doing this!

Cade's field trip to the pumpkin patch. He's in the back row- up against the wall.

The boys with Grandpa at the Summit Ward Trunk-N-Treat. Kelson finally warmed up to the idea of G'pa in a costume!

Kelson pretending to drive like Grandma. Cute picture! This is one of his favorite ways to pass time. Note: how close he pushes the seat up.

This is what cheeto did while we were trunk-n- treatin! Doesn't look really entertained does he?

This is the back of the Explorer after dad and los ninos decorated it.

Grandpa really got into halloween this year. He surprised us at the Summit Ward Trunk-n-Treat on friday night. Kelson was pretty concerned that it was really his Grandpa. By the time we went to the Spanish Branch party.... he was back to loving he Grandpa. Dad decorated Mom's explorer with cobwebs, tinsil and pumpkins. Nola said she could see something flying off the back of her car on the way to church sunday morning. She got there.... it was more cobwebs. She said she had to laugh out loud to herself.

Our Final Creation! Not too shabby!

pumpkin carving at the arellano house! kelson was gagging the whole time. I expected that from cade but not from kelson! we made a spiderweb... the boys loved it!

Cade's First Field Trip - they went to the Fire Safety Puppet Show here in Greensboro. He loved riding the bus. He was mad that I picked him up that day.

One of Shena's Many Recent "Girl" Nights

This was at Leesa's baby shower/dinner at Lucky 32. All three of us are expecting .

Leesa is 9 months, Shena is 7 months, and Teresa is 4 1/2 months.

sickness and parties

Work & Play We have had an interesting couple of days. Friday Cheeto had a Elders Quorum social and Ed Plummer's home. They grilled hamburgers and such. Just a guys night out. Even guys need those once in awhile. Cheeto said he felt good about the turn out and they seemed to have a good time. I stayed home and had a "party" with my boys. We had dinner, made halloween sugar cookies, rented "Are We There Yet?" to watch. I was surprised that Kelson sat on the couch with Cade and I for the entire movie. Saturday was both busy and lazy. In the morning we had a baptism at 9am. We had a fun time trying to convince the boys we weren't going to church per say, but we were going to the church. Cade knew who Tanner was ( he was the boy getting baptized) so he was more excited once he figured that out. They were pretty good. Kelson didn't want to see him get in the water and such but once he saw it happen then he thought that Tanner was just taking a bath. Kelson proceeded to fuzz about wanting to take a bath at the church baptismal font. Cheeto had to take him out for the remainder of the baptism. Even at church on Sunday when we walked past the font- doors closed of course, he kept asking to take a bath. Funny kid!
We went to Costco afterwards to get the weekly supplies. Once we got home we just chilled. Cheeto had some work to do in the office and the boys and I stayed home and napped and such. I had a girl's night with my friends at Lucky 32. Leesa went in yesterday for an induction labor. We were celebrating her last night as a pregnant woman. We had lots of fun and good laughs. I have such good friends. Leesa likes to be surprised- so making her gift was a challenge. Much easier when you know the sex of the child. We all found good ideas around it though.
Sunday was church as usual. We invited the Witbeck's over for dinner. It was fun to get to know the people my brother grew so fond of on his mission. Cade and Kelson had fun playing with their little boy, Hayden. Cheeto watched the Panther's game later and then we watched "Coach Carter" together after the boys went to bed. Cheeto had to go out at 10pm to run an Elders Quorum president duty. He did it very willingly. I'm so proud with the positive, head-strong attitude that he approached this calling with. I know he doesn't "enjoy" all of it, but he really seems to be doing a great job.
ps. WE HAVE GRASS!!!! It's only been a week and there is bunch of grass filling in out there. We planned that one perfectly. It has rained a bit everyday since they planted it. I'm so excited. I'm getting a backyard for our boys!!!!

Cade's News Cade was going to have his first field trip Saturday but was canceled due to rain. I had already arranged for Nippy to watch Kelson, so instead of canceling my sitter for the entire day, Nippy still watched Kelson so I could go help in Cade's classroom. His assistant teacher had to return to Peru for a family issue. Sra. Castro has been in dire need of help. I truly enjoyed helping. My favorite part of the experience was to see Cade's face light up when I walked in the door. He said, "Hey, that's my mom!" Made me feel so proud. I told Cheeto I better enjoy it because a few years from now he'll be embarrassed to admit he even has a mother. ;) Cade came home thursday with a minor cough- it persisted through the weekend and finally took him to the doctor this morning. He woke up saying he was too sick to go to school. I said to Cheeto, "Let's take them to the doctor." Cade immediately started feeling better. :) The perfect kid response to going to the doctor. His last doctor visit was for his kindergarten shots, so I can understand why he wasn't eager to go. I explained that all the doctor would do was listen to his heart and lungs and look in his ears, nose, and mouth. I asked him if he enjoyed coughing all day. He said, "NO!" So after that he was more willing to go. Cheeto went with us just in case we decided to send Cade to school afterwards and in case I needed some reinforcement! Cade was such a big boy. I thought it would've be Cade that we would have to fight with, but it was actually Kelson that needed the comfort. They both were very good boys! Found out that his airways would just tight and needed some help opening up to allow the mucus stuff to pass. He just has to take an antihistamine/decongestant with some cough syrup!

Kelson's Adventures Kelson talked Nippy into a "Happy Meal" from McDonalds. So I picked him at the McDonald's on Battleground and West Ridge. Nippy and I both were curious to see Kelson's reaction to being left with her. He was fine, more than fine actually. He went with her and Tia to run some errands. She said he fell asleep for a bit and woke up hungry. Of course the kid is going to like her if she buys him McDonalds. Nippy ain't stupid! :) Sunday night Kelson woke up at 2am with a raspy cough and labored breathing. I have never heard a child breath like that. It kinda gave Cheeto and I both a scare. We made it through that night. I was sure that a humitifier and some cough syrup would make him through this cough. We were up with him again all night last night. I tried to allow Cheeto more sleep because he had to go to work. Cheeto doesn't sleep well when the rest of us are healthy and happily sleeping without nightmares and such. He still didn't sleep well, but at least he got a little bit. We had the boys at the doctor by 9am. Kelson is on 3 or 4 medications. Some over-the-counter and some prescription. He didn't weigh enough to take all over-the-counter. It's been a struggle today to keep those two boys calm and not running around the house. Cade understood a bit more than Kelson did. He would be weasing and cough but still wanting to run around playing baseball and football. Silly kid!

Arellano Update We have only talked to them a couple of times. Seem to be having a wonderful time. Said they were grateful for taking umbrellas and jackets. Wet and cold! Well, Nola said chilly, but that's Nola. ;)

Christensen Update Mom, dad, and Ryan made it back from Canada. Still working on golf course stuff and prepping for the winter months. Ryan said that it has turned real cold. I wish it would do that here. I need a season change. My maternity clothes are mostly winter clothes. Kyle is working laying hard wood through their hall and living room. Finding ways to always improve their home. They always find ways to stay super busy!

Backyard Pics

Cade and Kelson's safe spot from grandpa. They didn't want to go inside, but thought they would be safest on top of the playset. It took some convincing to get them down!

This is Kelson plugging his ears. He kept yelling, " Grandpa noisy!"

This is Chemo not quite in control of the tiller. The instructions said to change the wheels to "free-wheel" instead of "wheel control." I knew something was wrong because the picture and the way the operators manual said that you could control it with ease of one hand. Dad didn't quite look like that! :)

What our nicely, somewhat finished, backyard looks like now. Now, if we could just keep the birds away from it!

Work & Play Hey, to all! Again not much exciting to report. Chemo and the two men he got to help us with our yard finished on Monday. It looks so much better than it did. We are so grateful we had someone to help us. I believe Cheeto is more happy about that than even I am. I have found a new craft to add to my christmas project list. Of course, I can't give details. Just in case you are one that might be receiving one. I spent all morning yesterday buying the materials and figuring out how to make one and then mass produce many more. I must say.... I think I'll have to make one for myself. Susie came over on Tuesday. I taught her how to knit during the afternoon session of conference on Sunday. She picked it up very quickly. She came over Monday and said that she messed it up and would like some more help. So Tuesday she brought "Monster In-law" so we could knit and watch a movie. I hope I got her on the right path again. Wednesday I took Nola and Chemo to the airport in the morning. Nola was getting pretty exciting to get out of Greensboro. (read Arellano Update) Then Kelson and I went to Wal-mart to some shopping. After lunch we went to pick up Cade. I have made it a habit/routine now that if Kelson falls asleep on the way to the school, I'll just get in the car rider pick up line and wait for Cade. But if Kelson is still awake and it's hot outside, I usually park and go inside to get Cade. Going inside is ALWAYS faster in the long run. Not as convenient, but we get home almost 15 minutes sooner. Anywho.... they have changed the line-up procedure at his school. They have put in new modular class rooms across the parking lot so the lot is now closed during school hours because kids are constantly walking back and forth. Yesterday, I was the first one in line. I waited for about 10 minutes before these 2 or 3 ladies drove up, moved the cones blocking off the parking lot and pulled up first inside the parking lot. I could tell the 5 cars behind me weren't too impressed either. I was on my cell phone talking to Melissa, so I somewhat kept my cool. Then it wasn't two seconds later that these two punk kids riding their bikes rode down the middle of the road knocking over all of the dividing cones. Made a huge mess, so now cars couldn't even get through the road without dodging cones. There are some real jerks in the world today. I'm sure you all knew that though! When we got home, Nippy came over to get some help finishing up invititions for Cecilia's bridal shower. Cheeto and I later watched "Lost." Man, what and addiciting show. I hate the way they leave us hangin'every week. I know that is their intention.... but still! AAARRGGGGHHH! It was late before we both got to sleep.

Cade's News Cade has been doing fabulous this week. Not once have we fought about getting up and ready for school. He didn't even fight me when I made him eat school lunch for two days. He got mad about not being able to check out new library books because he wouldn't sit and study the ones he already had checked out. However, after only one day.... that changed! He is even starting to read them some with Cheeto. So exciting to see one of my children begin the reading stage. He has his first field trip tomorrow. I REALLY want to go with him. They are going to Bur-mill to the wildlife center/preserve. The only problem is that it's from 9am- 2pm. I'm not sure Kelson will last that long, and since Grandma and Grandpa are out of town, I don't really have someone to watch him. We shall see. Cheeto is eating lunch with Cade today and was going to talk to Sra. Castro about it.

Kelson Adventures Kelson was watching TV with me on my bed the other night. We were both trying to fall asleep. Well, Cheeto came in and found Kelson upset with what was on. I watching Dateline NBC about that airline that crashed in Peru awhile back. When we were on our way to the airport yesterday, well.... let's just say... Kelson freaked out on us. He DID NOT want grandpa and grandma to get on that airplane. He kept saying, "No, airplane fall down." He cried until we got to wal-mart. I couldn't believe it.

Arellano Update Nola and Chemo.... wow to make it short... kept getting bumped flights yesterday. They were suppose to take off from Greensboro at 11am i think. They called when I was in line picking up cade that they were finally taking off. That was around 2:30pm. What an airport to get stuck in. There is NOTHING at PTI. They got to Manchester safe and I'm sure board their tour bus about now this morning. Chemo is probably having a hard time containing Nola's excitement! :)

Christensen Update Mom and Dad are still in Canada. I have been emailing mom, well, I thought I was. She hasn't mentioned or answered any of the questions I have sent her. They are having a good time. Busy traveling and not much time for calling of us kids. I'm sure I'll get the down low of it all sometime next week.

This is Kelson's latest napping position. I was working on the computer and he was whining so I of course wasn't going to answer him. All of a sudden he was quiet, I looked and this is how I found him. ASLEEP!!!! CRAZY KID!

Finally a chance to blog!

Work & Play Wow! has it been a while or what? Cheeto has been working like crazy. I think he is really starting to enjoy the profession he chose. If he's not, he does a good job a faking it. He seems to be more relaxed at home and in much better moods most of the time. I'm not saying that he doesn't stress about his job, but I think this is the first time in our married life that when he doesn't dread leaving for work. What a blessing that is! He does a fabulous job at what he does and even a better job at taking care of all of us. I'm so proud of him and his self-motivation. What a guy! He has been in Des Moine, IA for the past 3 days. He left Tuesday morning and we went to pick him up last night. I don't think he was too thrilled about having a business trip to Des Moine. But after all was said and done.... I think he quite enjoyed it. My dad served part of his mission there years ago and has always said how much he enjoyed that city. I think part of it was that Des Moine doesn't sound very glamorous. The boys really were glad to see him last night. They had a hard time expressing that when it was time for bed. That was my fault though, I let them sleep with me while he was gone. They didn't like having to go back to their own beds, even after I gave them the "heads up" that they would have to go back to their beds after daddy got home. Oh well... how much do you think a 5 and 2 year old really cared? .... not much!!!!!
I told Cheeto that I was going to paint while he was gone. I think he really thought I was going to do the baby's room. I wanted to surprise him and do our room instead. Nola had bought me a duvet cover from Eddie Bauer for Christmas... and that set me off to repaint our bedroom. I still can't have the cover and such until Christmas but I don't think I'd be in the mood at 9 months pregnant to paint much! ;) We had always discussed that we would have to get a new crib for this baby because Kelson chewed the sides of the crib we had. Yep... he ate everything at that age too.... including wood! Well, I took the undamaged ends of the crib and screwed them together and made us a head board for our bed. I don't want to brag.... but it looks pretty nice for something we thought would be trash! With a lot of help from Chemo... we got that room torn apart and put back together within 24 hours. I think Cheeto was surprised and please last night when he saw it.

Cade's News Cade has been doing well at school. He actually doesn't fight us at all anymore when he has to get ready for school. We had a potluck dinner at his school last night and that was hard to get him to go along with. He didn't want to back to school until morning. In fact, he was playing outside with g'pa and Kelson right before we left. I called for them to come in that it was time to go. I thought he was going to the bathroom. I said, "Let's go!" I looked down the hall.... and there was Cade naked with the bath water running. He was ready to take a bath! I was already a late. Like I really needed to struggle with him to get dressed again. The lil' stinker! He loves bringing home new books to read. The Accelerated Reading program requires them to be tested on the books the check out from the library. I thought we had to read them and send them back the next day for testing. I finally looked at his scores. He was average... which surprised me because he was understanding them great with me. Then I found out that sometimes it would be a week to 10 days before he was tested on one book. No wonder why he wasn't doing better on the tests.... he had probably forgotten about them.

Kelson Adventures WOW!!!! Kelson!!!!!! has he had me going this week. If it wasn't one thing... it was another! I could write all day about the stuff he has done. But one in particular... yesterday I cleaned all morning to have the house nice when Cheeto got home. He loves coming home to a clean house. Well, I just got out of the shower and I heard a thud in the kitchen followed by crying. I ran out there to find my kitchen pretty much standing in water. The counters were covered with water and waterfalls were flowing off into puddles on the floor. And then there was Kelson... lying naked on the rug crying. He had plugged the sink and had begun to fill it with water. I asked him what he thought he was doing, "taking a bath" was his answer. He had found a picture of him when he was only a couple of days old getting a bath in the sink. He wanted to do that again. My kids and baths yesterday. I found Kelson again at 4:30pm naked and in the bathtub taking a bath. No water on yet... but still. My kids must like to be clean.

Arellano Update Dad has finished his wall garden thing in the back of his yard. He has lined up some guys from the branch to help us get started in the process of planting grass in our backyard. These guys were in dire need of work and we would rather pay them knowing they NEED the money than some lawn care business. Nola has been helping Cheeto with the Elder's Quorum enchilada dinner tonight. So she has been working on that for the past two days.

Christensen Update Another year of potato harvest is behind them. Today when I talked to mom all of them were in Provo spending time with Erin and her family. They guys were headed golfing this morning. Even Kyle and his family are down there. Ryan has mission something or other tonight in Salt Lake. They will head home tomorrow and turn around Monday for Canada. Can't remember what mom said they were going to do in Canada. Sounds like they are having lots of fun without Alyssa and me. Oh well... such is life.

Work & Play I've come to the conclusion that writing on this everyday is an impossibility. I wish I had the time but I suppose you'll just get an ear full on the days I can write. I have started teaching piano for the fall semester. I started last week I have 3 students that only wish to take them every other week. So this is officially my first "full" week of piano teaching. I don't really agree with the every other week option, but money is money. And at least the kids are still interested enough to do it that often. I teach Monday and Tuesday from 3:30 to 5:00ish. Last year I taught them all on Thursdays. It made for a really long afternoon. I do like this better already. Last night was enrichment meeting. I think you all know I'm the commitee chair person. I don't know what the official name of the calling is. I just know I'm in charge of getting it planned and pulled off every second tuesday of each month. Last night was September service. We assemble hygiene kits for bishop's store house. We also have a goal to make 200 bunnies before christmas to donate to Moses Cone Pediatrics. We counted what we had either completed or in progress last night and we are up to 100. Not bad! I was so pleased! It took us awhile to get in a rhythm last night, but soon we got on beat and had quite the assembly line going. I almost felt like I was running a sweat shop.
Cade's News Cade has been surprising us with how much spanish he knows. He doesn't speak much at home to us anyway. However, when he's playing he talks to himself and sings in spanish. It's quite impressive. He has to read a book every night in English and pass a test on that book the next day. This is the only English that he will get for school work until he is in the second grade. We are suppose to help him sound out the words and teach him the sight words. Well, because I was at enrichment, Cheeto was reading to him. The word "yuck" was in the book. Cade stopped Cheeto and spelled the word in spanish then continue to say the word in English. Cheeto was impressed. Monday, Cheeto said Cade cried when he dropped him off, but the last two days he has been just fine. Maybe he gets the Monday blues, too. He has been a happier kid this week.

Kelson's Adventures Monday was a rough day with the potty training. He drank so much apple juice in the morning that he was having to pee/"make water" every 20 minutes or so. He was wetting pants like it was our first day trying to make it to the toilet. I didn't want to clean up a poopy mess after that much apple juice so we opted for a diaper. I was glad. I think Nola was glad he had one on while she was watching them during piano. Today he hasn't had any accidents. He is still doing well. He has been quite the lil' companion during the day. It was weird going to Wal-mart yesterday morning with only one child to hang onto. Cheeto has been eating lunches at work to save on gas. Kelson and I have been eating sandwiches everyday. I found out that Kelson loves lunch meats, so far at least turkey and ham. He eats like Bob in the movie "What about Bob?" If you haven't seen it, watch it and then you'll find it funny.

Arellano Update Dad has completed building brick wall dividers between all the trees and the grass now. His yard is look awesome. I asked him when he was going to start on ours. He just laughed and looked the other way. I think he knew I wasn't serious. I hope he knew I wasn't serious. Our yard is looking pretty sad. Cheeto and I haven't had a Saturday to spare to get working on it. We better get on it soon or we are going to miss our prime grass planting opportunity.

Christensen Update They are going to be starting potatoes soon. I think school lets out next thursday for harvest release time. However, mom told me dad said his are ready now and might be done by then. That's not going to make very many kids happy. They won't have jobs for the week. Mom has been busy canning pears and peaches. Each time she calls or I call it seems like she's always cleaning up the canning mess. MAN, what I wouldn't give to have just one bottle to myself. I would have a hard time sharing with mi familia. That's sad isn't it? But they don't get better then Cherie's peaches/pears.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11pm - 6:35pm

TODAY:
Breakfast: Frosted Mini Wheats

Lunch: potatoes, carrots and roast beef - leftovers from last night- someone has to eat them! ;) no offense cheeto!

Dinner: Taco soup and cheese bread- 2nd time I've cooked this week. I'm on a roll! :)

Work or play?

I put this one on just for Sissy! She would be the one to want to see it! :)
Kelson reminded me of my brother Ryan. He had one of these cars and drove it around for hours. That's just what Kelson did. It's a good thing the only kid he had to fight for it was Cade. This was at Coit Slack's bday party.

Cade is the one kicking the ball. Look at that form! His coach let him kick and throw the ball a lot. Perhaps that was because Cade was just running behind the rest of the team up and down the field. He hasn't learned the concept of taking it away yet. He likes to share! ;)
This was just 4 of the 6 team members warming up before the game. Such cute lil' guys. So innocent at this age.

Work & Play Feels like we have been running around for days. I'm exhausted tonight. Don't know if it's just from the busy weekend or from being pregnant. We started yesterday off with Cade 1st soccer game. I've finally become a soccer mom. Kinda a weird feeling. Am I really getting a son that old? Yep! I must be. Well, Cade didn't want to play at first. He saw we brought the soccer chairs and decided he would rather just sit and watch the game. Of course, Cheeto nor I would let that fly. He was one of the first three to start the game. He soon started to enjoy it. It was a perfect morning for soccer, warm with a cool breeze. If only they could all be at 9am. After the game, we went to Kohls. We had heard they had Spiderman pj's on sale. Coit Slack, one of our friends son, was having a "super hero" party and said it was optional to dress up. DeDe had lent us some of Hank's pj's and costumes, but neither was big enough to fit Cade. He was able to get the costume on, but it cut him pretty short in the body part, they were also about 3 or 4 inches from reaching his ankles. He wanted to wear it so badly, but I could not let him be seen in public like that. One day this week he had it on and he wanted to go get the mail. I wouldn't even let him walk to the mailbox, it looked that bad. I'm serious! Awful. Kohl's had a set of 2 pj's for the almost the same price as the set that he wanted. Do you think I could talk him out of the others. I kept telling him, "Cade, you get TWO with this set and with that one you only get ONE!" It didn't matter, he wanted the one that looked like a Spiderman suit rather that the one's that just a picture of spiderman on it. Well, we decided that's what he'd have to wear for Halloween as well. Cheeto found him some deals on some new work clothes. I thought it was funny to have Cheeto so excited about shopping for his clothes. He hates shopping period, even for him. I had to enjoy the moment. It was fun. He knew exactly what he wanted and we almost couldn't find that. We were successful. He was happy. I think? Afterward, we went home, showered (not all at the same time, by the way), ate some lunch, and chilled. I got ready to go to Raleigh with mom for Miss Jenny's wedding. We had fun. Her wedding was simple as far as the decorating, but you could tell it was still a costly one. The church was incredible. The room we ate in had two huge screens showing a video of the pictures. You got to eat and watch the movie from where ever you sat. Kinda fun. We got home in good time and found grandpa and the boys drawing with sidewalk chalk in the driveway. Of course I had to play too. Cheeto and the boys ran to cook or dinner and shakes. Boring night, but we just ate, gave baths and went to bed. Today was church as usual.

Cade's News Cade had his first soccer practice on Friday. He was so excited. His team name is the "Earthquakes." The coach that was suppose to have coached his team flaked and caused Cade's team to be one practice behind the rest of the league. It somewhat showed at his game Saturday morning. The other team was killing us with goals. It took the Earthquakes until the 4th quarter to finally score. Our boys just had a hard time figuring out to get in front of the ball and block the goal. Cade still had fun. He has learned more this season in one practice than he did the whole season at the YMCA league. His coach really worked some drills with them and got them understanding the game. I hope it continues to go well.

Kelson Adventures Kelson has just been Kelson. He hasn't had an accident since a minor one on Friday. Oh wait, he did have a pretty good poopy one for Cheeto yesterday after I had left for Raleigh. He pooped right before I left and I thought to myself..... "Awesome... this should make it easier for Cheeto while I'm gone." Nope, I called before we walked into the wedding and Cheeto didn't sound very happy. Sure enough, Kelson pooped for him. Kelson didn't like just having to watch Cade's soccer game. He kept wanting to run out there and play with them. He also kept trying to take Cade his soccer ball and bottle of water. Very cute. After a couple of times, Cade would turn and run sideways down the field waving and yelling, "Hi, Kelson! Watch me!" Very funny.

Arellano Update Nada

Christensen Update Haven't talked to mom in a few days. It has still been crazy with the new lil' one. Erin and Sky were up for a few days. I didn't hear if Alyssa and Jeff went.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 9:30pm - 6:25am

TODAY:
Breakfast: bowl of frosted flakes and glass of Apple juice

Lunch: Toquitos, rice and beans

Dinner: Cheese Nachos with the boys - not so healthy for sure!