NEW BLOG ADDRESS!! Update NOW!

I have a new blog address! I wanted to change my blog up a bit and I couldn't get this one to work with me so I just got a new one and imported all of my posts on this one to the new one (are you impressed Michael? I did this without any help!). Plus I wanted a shorter address. So, the new one is thevanormans.blogspot.com I'm still in the process of setting it all up so be patient with me (I have still have a dial-up connection). See you over there!

Carson

Here is a post dedicated to our "little monster". Just before we left for Canada Carson learned how to ride his bike. It was quite an exciting moment for him. He was pretty terrified to ride it on the road for fear of scratching up his legs and arms. So, Dayv had the idea to have him ride on the grass. I took him in the back yard, got him balanced and gave him a big push. It only took him a couple of tries before he had it down and was ready for the road. I did the same thing on the road and he did great! The next step was learning to start on his own. He just kept practicing and within about 10 minutes, he was an expert! Yesterday, Carson got his tonsils out. He was having some sleep apnea because his tonsils were so large and the doctor also said one tonsil looked bigger than the other which also concerned him a bit. He was fine until they tried to give him some medicine to calm him down before they took him back for the surgery. But as soon as that kicked in, he was cool as a cucumber! The surgery took less than an hour and then they invited me to go back and see him. He was so out of it! His oxygen levels kept going down so they gave him some oxygen for a little while and then he threw up. He kept trying to get up and go, he was so anxious to get out of there! The nurses absolutely loved him! They kept telling me how cute he was. And just a little side note, The Utah Surgical Center is awesome! The whole staff was more than wonderful!

Here is Carson trying to smile after we got home from his surgery.
The little cow next to him is one he got from his discharge nurse. It's
little shirt says Utah Surgical Center.

Carson was pretty sleepy for the first part of the day and then I couldn't get him to calm down. I had to give him his pain meds not because he was in pain but so he would chill out! He kept getting upset because he couldn't eat what he wanted like chips or crackers. He ate about 10 or more Popsicles and even had dinner (BBQ pork sandwiches)!

Well, that unfortunately didn't last into the next day. He woke up very upset and both his stomach and his throat were hurting all day. He wouldn't eat anything, not even a Popsicle and I had to force him to drink. He is taking three different medications. The one he really hates is his pain meds because of the taste and I've discovered that it is that one that is also giving him his stomach ache. But if he doesn't take it then he is in excruciating pain! My poor little monster! It's so hard to see your kids in pain. You just wish you can take it all upon yourself. Hopefully he will start to feel more normal soon!

(Yea! I am all caught up! )

Lagoon!

Dayv's employer has a work party every year at Lagoon. This year he had to work so they gave him the free tickets to go on a different day which was last Saturday, July 11th. And not only did he get free admission tickets he got free meal tickets too! Pretty sweet deal. Normally I think Lagoon is a bit of a rip off but you can't beat free! We decided that Noah might be a bit young so we left him with my sister in law Toni and took her son Brigham (who is a couple years older than Carson) instead. The kids had so much fun. Because we had Landon, Dayv and I were not able to go on very many rides ourselves but it was just as fun to see our kids having fun (not to mention, Dayv gets sick on most amusment park rides). Here a some pics from the day:

They had a monkey show, which we never saw, but we caught this cute little guy (the monkey not the man) having his picture taken with people.


Lagoon a Beach was a big hit. They have a pretty cool little kid area.Landon actually slept most of the time but here he is during one of
his awake and happy moments. Isn't he cute?!

Oh Canada!

So, I'm a little behind in my blogging so I will start with our trip to Canada. We left on Thursday, June 25th and stopped at my parents house in Lewiston (close to Logan). We spent the night, dropped off our dog and left about 8 the next morning on Friday. The trip up was an absolute miracle. We had borrowed a portable DVD player with two screens from a friend and the three oldest kids either watched a movie or slept the whole way up. Landon also did a lot of sleeping and ate when he was suppose to. I couldn't believe it! Once we were in Canada we drove past a vistor's center that had a huge T-rex in front. We pointed it out to the kids and Carson was of course the most excited. He's comment was "I LOVE Canada!" and still talks about it. See, all you need is a T-rex and Carson will love you forever! We made it to the in law's in Raymond, Alberta around 7 o'clock that night. The next day, Saturday, Dayv and I went into Lethbridge without the kids and did a little shopping and of course eating at the Dynasty (a Chinese buffet restaurant that Dayv HAS to eat at). That night Michael, Christy and Family arrived. Sunday we all went to church. They sang 'Oh Canada' (which I missed b/c I was in the mother's room) and 'God Save the Queen' which was a little interesting. I actually spent a lot of time in the mother's room which I must say is the best mother's room I've ever been in. They even deliver the sacrament! Monday Michael, Christy, Dayv and I along with the babies all went back into Lethbridge for some more shopping and pick up of HUMONGO order of more Chinese food (are you picking up a pattern here?). I think we ended up eating that Chinese food for three days straight (Dayv even had it for Breakfast)! Tuesday we went on a field trip to the Raymond museum. Dayv and Michael found a relative in one of the books and there was even a piano that Michael took lessons on as a child (Now, there's a way to tell you're old!). We then took the kids to the park. Wednesday was Canada Day (Canada's independence day). They had a parade in the morning and then we went back to the house for a wiener roast and toasted marshmallows afterward. That evening there was a carnival "downtown" and everything was FREE! The kids had A LOT of fun at that. We then watched fireworks that night. Thurday we went to Writing-On-Stone which is a provincial park. They have rock formations called Hoodoos that the kids got to climb all over. We then had lunch and then headed over to the beach/river. This is Landon (on the left) and Christian. They both enjoyed a nice nap on the beach. Friday we took another field trip to the Pharmasave and let the kid's all pick out a candy bar (they were happy). Saturday we made our way back home, stopping at my parents once again for 4th of July fireworks. The only problem we had on the way back was Noah got constipated and therefore VERY uncomfortable but it was still not a bad trip home at all.

The needle is stuck!

On the scale that is.... I haven't lost anymore weight since Landon was probably about 2 weeks old (he is now 3 months!). So, here is my plan: LOSE MORE WEIGHT! Christy and I have decided to try out my friend, Victoria's suggestions (who has been doing more than FABULOUS in losing weight) and keep a food journal. You write down EVERYTHING that you eat. I was thinking this idea would affect my eating habits even more if there was someone else that read my food journal besides me. So, Christy is joining me! We are starting tomorrow. I also decided that I need some extra motivation. So, I told my husband that I need a reward for getting down to my pre pregnancy weight (which gives me about 13 lbs to lose). I think I'm actually going to go the extra mile and say 20 lbs. even. Any suggestions on a MAJOR motivator? I told him new clothes but he said I'd get those anyway because I'd have to. True enough and I'm all for new clothes AND something else! Along with the food journal (which is suppose to make me eat less), I'm going to exercise, drink more water and have a special day for treats (another friend's idea). I was going to add a weight loss ticker on my blog too and maybe that will also give me a little motivation knowing all of my readers (what is there, like 3 of you?) will also be seeing my progress. Which will also mean I need to get a scale (these things have been ban from my house for quite a long time). Wish me luck!!

Lonely Nights

My husband has been working the graveyard shift for the past 9 nights STRAIGHT! I have been going insane! Noah, who is very much a daddy's boy, has been absoulutly AWFUL to put to bed at night. He is out of bed every two minutes! One night I put him to bed at 7 and he was not asleep until almost 11 o'clock! Although the extra money is nice (we are using it to make up for the income he will lose when we go to Canada for a week) but I'll be glad when it is over. Although this job being over makes me kind of nervous. Dayv just got word that 15 - 30 guys got laid off this past week. We are working towards being self-sufficent if that were to ever happen but we are not even close to being there yet.

Landon had his two month appointment last wednesday. He weighed in at 17.2 lbs and was measuring at 26 inches long! And we thought Carson was big. He actually doesn't look as "fat" as Carson did as a baby. Maybe he's just "big boned".... lol . Everything looked good. We talked about his "squeaky" breathing and the doctor said there would be a very small chance that they would do anything about it because he is obviously growing just fine and is an all around very happy baby. He thinks the cartilige in his thoat is just "floppy" (as a baby's cartilige is) and as he gets older it will tighten up and there will be no more squeaking. So, I've pretty much decided not to have a scope down the nose test done unless things get worse.

Sebastian is still hiding out and comes over every night for food (as far as I know anyway). He might just end up being an outside cat. I might try a few more things to get him to come in the house after Dayv gets off the night shift but we'll see.

Progress on the new room has slowed down a lot since Dayv started working nights but it should pick up again soon. He has got all four walls sheetrocked and the door hung. So, it's actually a room now!

Carson finished his last day of Kindergarten last friday. He is so excited to start first grade. I'm sure our summer is just going to fly by, we have so much planned. First Carson starts swimming lessons on the 15th of June for two weeks. We go to Canada two days after swimming lesssons ends for a week. Carson gets his tonsils out the 14th of July. We are debating on putting him t-ball starting that week for four weeks. And Tahirah wants to try dance lessons again around the same time (we've tried it before and it did NOT go well). I'm also still debating on putting Tahirah in preschool. I think she really needs it. Not for the acedimic part of it but for the social part and just being away from mom for a couple of hours in a school like setting. The problem is paying for it. Preschool is so expensive!

Well, there's my update!

Sebastian Sighting!

My husband was up really late last night because he is going to start working the graveyard shift for two weeks. So, at around 3 o'clock in the am he woke me up and told me he saw Bastian! Keltin (one of our other cats) was going crazy so he looked outside to see what was going on and saw Bastian just as he was running into our neighbors yard. We looked and looked for him in their backyard, even tried enticing him with food but had no luck in getting him to come back out. Even though he is not back in the house it still makes me happy to know that he is still alive. I think he has probably stuck around here this whole time. I'm going to start sticking food outside our front door at night for him and maybe he'll decide it's ok to come back home.

Updates

Dayv and my brother in law Dan have now gotten three walls sheet rocked and the new wall framed. It's coming along really nicely. It will be really nice to have an extra room for when we have company staying in town.
Landon had his first test done today. His ENT (ear nose throat) doctor wanted to do a swallow test first. They take an x-ray while he drinks to see where it goes. The results showed that when that when he eats the food hesitates before going down his esophagus. Why? Who knows? Does it have anything to do with his breathing problem? Don't know that either. I am suppose to follow up with both his pediatrician and his ENT.

Carson also had a visit with the ENT and has an appointment to get his tonsils out July 14th. He's not too worried about it....for now! I am hoping this solves his sleeping problems.

Demolition Time!

Well, we have started our renovations. Today three other guys plus Dayv torn down all the paneling and sheet rock. They also torn out the carpet that was destroyed. They even did a fantastic job of cleaning it all up! I am so thankful for living in such a wonderful neighborhood with people who are always willing to lend a hand!

This is actually a picture of the demolition Dayv did last night:

This is a picture of the wire that was totally burned in the fire:

This is a picture of the bubble wrap that we think was the stuff that caught on fire in the first place. Now here's the question, why in the world would you put bubble wrap inside a wall? Anybody have the answer to that?Here is what was done today:

We have been thinking are very lucky we had a drop ceiling in our basement or we would of lost the house. That was only way we were able to see that the fire had spread.

Sebastian still has not shown up. I'm still praying that he will. Thank you for all your prayers!

Missing Sabastian...

Sabastian is one of my three cats. Following are yesterday's events that preceded his disappearance.

It was a very warm, sunny day. Dayv decided to get the swamp cooler going. He took the hose and sprayed it down. He then came back into the house and discovered the basement had flooded. He found the cause of the flood to be the pipe to the outside water had burst. He then, of course, tried to fix the problem. He went and bought new parts and attempted to sauder them together. This is when his loving wife came into the room and told him he was going to start the insulation on fire. About one minute later she hears: "Get the fire extinguisher!!!" He puts out the small fire. His wife then looks up at the ceiling and notices that it is glowing. The ceiling is now on fire. She then panics and starts screaming, "FIRE, GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!" and grabs her four sleeping children. The firemen come and make sure the fire is out while everybody stands outside. The wife is very worried now about the animals in the house. Dayv puts the dogs outside and tries to keep an eye on the open front door to make sure the three cats do not escape. After everything calms back down the cat search begins. Keltin is calmly sitting in the living room, Marlowe soon appears....Bastian....where's Bastian??? We look, and look and look. Alisha becomes very upset. Pets, to her, are just like family. The search has continued and Alisha is having a hard time with his disappearance but has been trying to keep busy cleaning up the huge mess so that she does not have to think about it.

Please pray for Bastian's safe return. It may sound silly to some of you but I really do miss him and worry that he is not well at this time. He recently had to have all his teeth removed because they had all rotted. I am trying to have faith that he will come back to us but it is very difficult for me.

On a more happy note, our insurance is giving us $2500 to pay for the damage. I would also like to thank everyone who was there for us at this great time of need.

Random Recent Events

It's been a while, as usual so here is the update on everything:

VROOOOOOOM

Somehow Dayv was able to talk me into letting him get a motorcycle, don't ask me how! I think it was because out of all the things he has been bugging me about, this was the cheapest. He has been riding everyday that the weather has cooperated and even looks for excuses to get out on it. He took Carson out around in our cul-de-sac, that is as far as I'll let him go and even that was making me a little nervous.

MORE ZZZZZZZZZ'S AND POUNDS

Landon is sleeping through the night! I couldn't believe considering how horrible he was for the first month of his life. Last night was the best with a total of 6 1/2 straight hours! YEA!! I recently weighed him at my parent's house and he is now up to 16 lbs! I think he has now surpassed Carson's phenomenal weight gain record when he was a baby. My Dad said maybe you have a lot of fat in your milk, whales do...thanks Dad!

MY NEW HOBBY

I have now picked up a new hobby, couponing! I have been into this whole grocery money saving thing with Deals to Meals which has helped A LOT in getting my food storage AND saving money on my weekly groceries. Then my SIL introduced me to Penny Pinchers and A Full Cup. I have never been much of a coupon fan until she kept telling me about all these things she was getting for pennies or even free. It works better if you get the Sunday newspaper but I went out last night with only coupons I printed online and got all of this:

4 wheat thins
4 Mayo
4 salad dressings
6 granola bars
4 bagelfuls
2 Special K
4 BBQ sauce
5 lbs apples

How much $$$?
A total of $16.87! I actually got paid to buy the BBQ sauce! Thanks Christy!

WHEELER FARM

I took the kids to Wheeler Farm last Thursday and they had a lot of fun. I didn't think Tahirah was go after our last trip to Wheeler Farm but as long as we stayed away from the "Bee Tree" she was ok. The cutest animal had to be the little donkeys that just loved to be pet and kept following the kids along the fence.

LOST

Last night I lost my debit card during my couponing trip. This is actually the SECOND time I have lost my card within the last two weeks. The first time I found it in my van AFTER I had canceled my cards. We got new cards and pin just a couple of days ago and I've lost it again! This time I just put a hold on my card to see if it turns up again. So frustrating!!

We have a WINNER!

Or rather two winners. Victoria and Christy got the "Who's Who" correct. The correct order is: Noah, Tahirah, Landon and Carson. Congratulations you two. Your prize is the satisfaction of knowing that you could tell my children apart better than their own father could!

Busy Month!

(FYI, referring to my last post....nobody has gotten them all right yet. Not even their own Dad!) Well, this has been quite the busy month for us. Landon is now one month old! Time has just flown. A week after he was born my mom stayed with us for a week. The day she left my sister in law Toni and her kids came up from Vegas for a week. The kids swapped houses nightly between ours and Michael and Christy's. We also kept their two dogs here. It was so much fun having Toni here. She, Christy and I were able to have lunch and Toni and I were also able to have a day of shopping. I can't wait until she moves to Draper! I was almost kid free for three days. I drove the kids up to my Grandma and Grandpa Denton's house to meet my mom. She took the older three kids to my grandma Campbell's house for the Easter weekend. They are still talking about all the fun they had especially being able to hold the new baby kittens. My Grandma even made up some Easter baskets for them. The day after the kids left Dayv's parents, Ron and Janelle, came into town and stayed at our house for another week. It was a lot of fun having them around. We didn't think they were going to make it because Janelle had gotten shingles in her eye and herpes down her throat! Her throat was all better by the time they came and her eye had much improved. We blessed Landon on Easter Sunday since Ron and Janelle were here. Janelle made his adorable blessing outfit.Easter afternoon all the cousins had a Easter egg hunt at Michael and Christy's and then we all ate a fabulous Easter dinner prepared by Christy.

To top off all this madness Dayv and I celebrated out 7th anniversary! I can't believe it's been 7 YEARS! It has gone by so fast. I guess time flies when your having fun! We met Thanksgiving weekend in 2001. One of my roommates from college set us up on a blind date. We played laser tag and saw the first Harry Potter movie in the theatre. When I said goodbye to him that night I honestly never thought I'd see him again. I was definitely interested in him but just didn't get the feeling that he felt the same way. I tried to go home but they closed the canyon because of the snow. I was going to just sleep in my car at the gas station but Dayv had called my roommate and told her to tell me to call him. I did and he convinced me to come back to his aunt's house (where he was living) and spend the night there. Apparently I was wrong and he asked me out again and we visited the art museum at the university. Then he asked me to go to Vegas with him to help one of his brother's get his copy shop ready to open up. I'm still not exactly sure why I said yes, it sounds rather crazy now. It felt like we had known each other forever so at the time it really didn't seem crazy to me. Everybody was teasing me saying I was going to come back from Vegas married but instead I just came back engaged, two weeks after we had met! We got married four months later in the Logan temple and moved to Salt Lake. Now, here we are seven years later with four kids, three cats, two dogs and move in love than ever!!

Who's Who?

We get told all the time that our children look so much alike and we don't disagree. In fact I have a hard time telling some of their newborn pictures apart. Here are pictures of our kids all within their first week. So, take a guess...who's who?

My Poor Cat!

Last week I noticed that one of my cat Sabastian's fangs was looking like it was going to fall out. I took him to the vet and before we even got there it had fallen out in his kennel. The vet looked at his teeth and told me all of his teeth were rotted. She asked if I was sure on his age (5 years) because it was really unusual for a cat that young to have such awful teeth. So, she suggested doing a feline Leukemia and AIDS test. They both came back negative and we scheduled a dental which was yesterday. He ended up having ALL of his teeth pulled out! I felt so sorry for him. I guess he won't have to eat soft food for the rest of his life however. They told me eventually his gums get hard and he can eat hard food again, weird! So, now I have to figure out a way to give him his medication daily which is NOT going to be easy!

P.S. For anyone that wanted to view all of Landon's newborn pics I set up a hyperlink in the post below.

Landon's Newborn Pictures

I would honestly have to say I have the best sister in law ever. I recently was telling her that I had really wanted to get professional newborn pictures of Landon but Dayv really didn't think it was a good idea as far as our finances go. Well, Christy decided that Landon had to have newborn pics and offered to take me and Landon and share a session with her and Christian (her little boy). Now I do have to mention that this is not the only reason she is the best sister in law ever. She and Michael (my brother in law) are always looking out for us and Christy has truly become the sister I never had (ahhhhh) without all the yucky annoying biological sister stuff. I LOVE YOU CHRISTY! Anyway, I am absolutely thrilled with how Landon's pictures turned out. Take a look for yourselves! Here is a small sampling of what was taken ( I have dino dial-up so I couldn't upload them all without it taking a year or two). P.S. Christy just sent me the link to view all of the pictures that were taken. To view just click here.

Introducing: LANDON GARY

Landon was born on Friday, March 20, 2009 at 8:32 pm. He weighed in at 9 lbs even and was 20 inches long. I was induced at 9 o'clock that morning. This is, I think, the only pregnancy picture of me just before I was induced.Landon still had not dropped so they could not break my water. I was dilated to a 4, and there I sat for 9 hours, with the pit as high as they are allowed to turn it up, until my midwife was able to break my water. Until then I was feeling the contractions but they were not uncomfortable at all. Pretty soon after he broke my water I started to feel a little uncomfortable. I quickly got EXTREMELY uncomfortable and Landon was born 2 1/2 hrs after Pete broke my water. This was quite the different labor for me. I hardly brought anything to do because all of my labors have been so fast. I think the major difference was they were not able to put me on pitocin AND break my water. Landon came out as healthy as can be and nursed very well immediately and has continued to be an excellent nurser. His cord was really long. I guess they could of been a bad thing but since it wasn't it was quite funny. Pete (my CNM) kept saying ok, here is the placenta, only to pull out more of the cord. I thought later we should of taken a picture. Maybe be in the Guiness Book of World Records for 'Longest Umbilical Cord'. Landon's brothers and sister have all been very thrilled with his arrival. They all fight over who gets to hold him. The first picture is Noah with Landon when the kids came to see me at the hospital and the next one is Tahirah trying to imitate Landon's lips. Carson has already been a huge help and keeps asking me what else he can do. Here is is at the hospital. I just wanted to thank everyone for their love and support! We appreciate it so much! Love you!!