Park Play Date

Today was the Bernal Ward weekly play date.  This week we met at Cahalan Park.  This is such a great park but causes mommy to have quite the workout.  I find that Payton and Lincoln always seem to be on exact opposite sides of the park.  My eyes are constantly roaming from Payton to Lincoln.  Very tiring.  Ha! Ha!

Today Payton decided to try climbing trees with her friends…in a skirt she insisted on wearing.  She never did seem to make it very far off the ground but she certainly had a great time trying.

Lincoln decided he was going to master some of the equipment in the older kid’s area.  He was climbing the ladder type parts that start off horizontal and then curve up to vertical.  He was making me very nervous because he would try it over and over again, if I turned my head for even one minute I would find him half way up the ladder.  He was so proud of himself and kept saying, “I did it.  I did it.”  Then a few minutes later you would hear, “Help please.”   Ha! Ha!  He is so cute.

A Trial of My Patience

Shopping for birthday presents with the kids.  Gave Payton and Lincoln each one of those little squeeze fruit pouches.  I have never had a problem with either of them eating them until today.  Handed one to Lincoln and he held just right that the fruit puree shot up and out like a volcano all over him, his clothes, his bubba, the shopping cart…me.  I am shocked and start cleaning it up.  Get it all cleaned up.  Hand the pouch back to him showing him how to hold it and up and out the fruit puree goes again.  Sigh.

Happy Hollow

Jen and I headed over to Happy Hollow today. 

There were lots of fun parts to the day like Payton going on the Jumping Frog for the first time.  She liked it when watching it from the ground but not so much while riding on it.  Ha!  Ha!  This picture was actually taken before it dropped the first time.

Then there was Lincoln who all of a sudden has extreme separation anxiety and cried the whole time he was on the car ride.    He has the best sad face.  Ha!  Ha!

But I really loved watching Payton on the playground.  She walks up to random kids, asks their name, and starts playing with them.  It makes me remember not that long ago when I was so worried about her being so shy.  That is totally not the case anymore.  She met a girl named Claire and they played together for a good 45 minutes running around, climbing, jumping off of equipment, etc.  I am surprised they didn’t hug when we left.

The other thing that I thought was super funny was when Payton, Caeden, and Lincoln were in the little cave looking at the Meerkats.  Payton turned around to come out and said, “Mom, can we go look for another cave of wonders?”  So cute! 

Game Night

Last night we had my sister and her kiddos, my friend Jessie and her family, and another friend who is also Dave’s coworker, Jeffery, over for dinner and games. 

We decided to see if putting a movie in for the kids would keep them entertained while we played a game of Settlers.  I guess it kind of worked except the kids seemed to either be more interested in the game than the movie, more interested in a toy that someone else was playing with, wanting dessert, or peeing on the floor.  J  It was comical.  I think that none of us were all at the table at any given time during the game or at least it seemed that way. 

Despite all the distractions we still had a great time.

Birthday Party

We had another Birthday Party!  Yay!  Today is Payton and Lincoln’s friend Alisha’s birthday party.  For her party they had everyone come in their swim suits and had a little wading pool, a slip and slide, and other sprinkler water toys.  They both had a great time!

Payton is so funny.  She found enjoyment scrubbing the sidewalk down with a scrub brush.  Yup, instead of running through the water or playing in the pool she would bring little bits of water to the sidewalk, dump it out, and scrub away.  While I thought she was pretending to be Cinderella she informed me that she was pretending to be Rapunzel and was actually painting the sidewalk.  Ha! Ha!  Whatever, it was cute.

Lincoln had fun eating watermelon and a lot of it.  He ate three huge wedges.  I have always given him little chunks and here he was eating it right of the wedge.  I had to take a picture because at one point he had set the watermelon on the table, grabbed the edge of the table with his hands, and dug in only using his mouth.  Again, whatever, it was cute.  Ha!  Ha! 

Catastrophe

Over our vacation I have been typing all my blog posts in a word document to post later because we did not have the internet for me to do it there.  I went to pull up the pictures from Dinseyland to add them to my post and discovered that the external hard drive I store them to had crashed.  Not only that but I have lost all the pictures for 2011.

I want to cry.  I want to yell (I did).  I want to hit something (I pounded the table repeatedly while I yelled).  I am so upset with myself for not being better at backing up my stuff.  Arghh.

Right now we are trying all avenues to access those pictures.  Please!  Please!  Please!  Something work.

Birthday Party

Payton loves birthday parties.  She seems to love everything about them.  She loves wearing her “party dress” to them.  She loves going shopping for presents for her friends.  She loves playing with her friends and eating cake and ice cream.  I guess she is my social butterfly.

Today we went to her friend Willow’s birthday party.  I think all the kids had a blast.  It was a Unicorn/Rainbow theme.  Imagine a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds running around with horns on their heads.  Adorable. 

Tonight was Crafty Ladies Night in Gilroy.  My friend Jessie Kilger and I went.  Let’s face it, I didn’t do anything crafty but I sure had fun visiting.  I know I do not live THAT far from Gilroy but I miss living closer to those girls I love them.

Park Play Date

So I miss read the play date email and showed up to the park about 30 minutes early.  Oh well, Payton made some new friends and we all had a good time playing until everyone showed up.

Why is it that kids don’t seem to be bothered by the heat and want to play in full sun the entire time?  They could be playing on the play structure that is in the shade but no, they choose the structure that is totally in the sun.  Ha!  Ha!  I will never understand.

After the park play date, Payton had a little play date with one of her friends, Ava.  This is new for me; dropping my child off at someone else’s house to play for a little while.  Sad that Payton doesn’t even want me to walk her to the door and guilty that I get to go home, put Lincoln down for a nap, and get things done.  Ha! Ha! 

Follow Up Appointment

I love my OB/GYN.  Dr. Pollard is the best!  I trust her, I never find myself second guessing what she has told me.  She answers all my questions, helps me to be comfortable with whatever is coming, explains the benefits and risks of all options, and makes me laugh.  Sometimes I will be giggling when she walks in the room because I have heard her laughing in the hall before coming in.  She has a very contagious laugh.

I would say the only down side is waiting in the lobby or the exam room for her.  Sometimes the wait can be excessive, but I don’t mind because she never rushes me through an appointment and I know that she is giving each and every patient the same attention. 

Today I had the follow up appointment from my D & C.  I guess everything is healing as it should and I have been cleared to resume all normal activities.  Yay! 

The good news is that Dave and I can start trying to get pregnant again after 2 to 3 cycles.  Dr. Pollard just said to make sure I am emotionally ready.  How does one know when they are ready?  I think whether I wait 2 to 3 cycles or a whole year I am still going to be nervous getting pregnant and be worried about whether or not I am going to miscarry again. 

Sometimes I wonder if getting pregnant again will help me continue in the healing process sort of like the D & C did.  I wonder if the miscarried baby’s due date will be as painful if I am pregnant with another baby.  Hmmm.

Our House is Painted

It is about time!  Our house looks so much better than it did before.  We are so happy!

If you are looking for a good painter, we know the guy.  Phil Bailey did a great job for us and really wanted to make sure that we were happy with the job he did. 

Take a look at our finished product.

Pedicures

It seems a tradition to get pedicures while in San Clemente.  I love how my feet look after a pedicure.  So why do I only do it once or twice a year?  Hmmm 

Those little ladies are excellent at trying to up sell you to the next package.  Every time we go in wanting the $18 package and every time we end up leaving paying more than that.  Ha! Ha!  This time the lady was trying to get me to let her do my finger nails as well.  It would have been nice to have them shaped and all but I have had bad experiences with the ladies doing my finger nails.  One time the lady told me that my friend had beautiful nails and I had…well…crooked nails.  I have been scarred for life.  J

None the less Payton left with cute pink fingers and toes and I left with cute purple toes.

Payton Made a Friend

Today was a relaxation day.  We were all tired after our Disneyland adventure. 

We headed down to the beach to soak up sun and play.  As we were finishing setting up a little girl (Daisy) and her dad walked up and asked if we wanted to play with them.  I guess the family was on a vacation very similar to us and Daisy was dying to play with someone her age.  When she saw Payton walk up she asked her dad if they could come over and play.

So we spent the next few hours building a sand castle and collecting rocks to put on the sides of it.  During the few hours we got to meet Daisy’s mom, aunt, and grandpa as they all took turns coming over to watch Daisy.  The family was so nice and Payton and Daisy were so cute.  Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures of Daisy but we did get pictures of Linc, Payton, and I working on the castle.

After Daisy and her family left to go have dinner, Payton and I buried each other a little and made ourselves mermaids.

We all had a great time.  Only one scary part, I turned my head for one minute and Lincoln shot past me to go stand by Papa (who was standing in the water).  Lincoln got knocked on his butt and almost swept right out with the wave.  I am so glad Michelle saw him and that Ralph heard her yell and was so close to him.  Geez!  I keep seeing the scene when I close my eyes.  Scary!

***If we are able to recover any photos or videos we will post them later.***

Aunite Kaye and Uncle Bill

Today we got to see Auntie Kaye and Uncle Bill.  I love going to visit them and hearing about what they have been up to as well as sharing what we have been up to.  Their place is always so peaceful too.

They invited us over for swimming and dinner.  Payton has all of a sudden become a lot more confident in the water.  I think these floaties we just got called Puddle Jumpers have made the difference.  She was all over the pool.  Lincoln is too small for them yet but he had fun swimming around with his daddy.  :o) 

Aunt Kaye and Uncle Bill have a little dog named Christina and Lincoln just loved her to pieces.  He was tossing a ball to her, playing with her through a glass door, and trying to nuzzle up to her.  It was so cute and Christina was so patient. 

Auntie Kaye spoiled all the little ones with little dishes of ice cream before and after dinner.  Ha! Ha!  Payton loved it!

***If we can recover any photos or videos we will ost them later.***

Disneyland

This had to be the BEST trip to Disneyland that we have ever had!

We had heard about a website that you could go to that would plan your day at Disneyland.  You plug in the rides you want to go on and it tells you where to be and when.  If you stay on the schedule you will have minimal wait times at any of the rides.  I think the longest we waited was about 10 minutes but usually it was 5 minutes or less. 

We were there as the gates opened and were off to our first ride.  Some rides were more of a hit with the kids than others.  Payton and Lincoln both loved the Merry Go Round, Tea Cups, Small World, and Monsters Inc. on the other hand they didn’t care much for Pirates of the Caribbean or the Haunted Mansion. 

I think luck was on our side because as we were walking from Small World to Splash Mountain, I happened to spot Rapunzel’s Tower.  There were some workers there and I asked if this is where the kids got to meet Rapunzel and sure enough it was.  She was due to “arrive” in a half an hour.  Michelle volunteered to stand in line while we went on a ride and then brought the kids back.  I think Michelle stood in line for 45 minutes but Payton only had to wait 15 minutes.  I am so glad we saw that because we thought she was going to be somewhere else.  Payton was so excited to meet her, when she walked up to Rapunzel I almost started crying.  I was so excited for her.

The other thing we did was splurge on a lunch in Ariel’s Grotto.  During lunch you meet Ariel, Cinderella, Mulan, Belle, and Aurora.  The food was so good and Payton got to meet a bunch of her favorite princesses without having to wait in line.  All the princesses were so nice.  Each one of them spent a little time talking with Payton, signed her autograph book, and took pictures with her.  It was so cute to see her huge smile.  I tried to get Lincoln to jump in and take pictures too but he would run from them as soon as I put him down.  Ha!  Ha!

After lunch we headed over and “met” Lightning McQueen and Mater.  Lincoln was so funny, he ran up yelling in his husky voice “Queen” and “Maner”.  So cute!

Also ran into Mr. Incredible.  Payton and Lincoln were not too sure about him and both started to cry.  Ah well, we will stick to the princesses.

In a last ditch effort to meet as many princesses as we could we headed over to the Princess Fair.  Supposedly there are always at least three princesses there that you can meet between 10 in the morning and 8 at night.  You just didn’t know who until you've waited in line.  We were lucky and Payton got to meet two more princesses Tiana and Jasmine.  Belle was there too and actually recognized Payton from the luncheon.  The only princess we didn’t get to meet and talk to was Snow White.  But we did get to see her at a little activity they had where the kids could learn to dance with the princesses.

I think everybody had a good time.  We were at the park from 8 in the morning and left at around 9 at night.  The kids were champs until the very end.

Everything was as you picture a perfect trip to Disneyland being.

Day at the Beach

We decided last night, that no matter what, we were going to spend the day at the beach.  Thank goodness the weather was nice today.

Payton and Lincoln have no real interest in going anywhere near the water so we spent the majority of the day digging in the sand, finding rocks and other treasures, and talking about making sand castles.  Dave did manage to get Payton into the water up to her knees, which lasted about one minute.  Evidently Lincoln does not like the feel of the sand between his toes, anytime he wanted to move to a different location he would take one or two steps then beg someone to carry him.  We just love the beach, can’t you tell.  Ha! Ha!

Now Ash and Steven are quite a different story.  They started off the day catching a bunch of sand crabs for the kiddos to look at, went body boarding and had to get pulled in by a lifeguard (dang current), and finished up the day tanning on the beach.

About four o’clock we headed back to the condo and made a short pit stop at the pool.  I am so glad we got those puddle jumpers for the kids.  Linc is still a little too small for his but Ethan sure enjoyed it.  Payton and Ethan paddled all over the pool for at least an hour. 

Bathed the kids at the outdoor shower by the pool and they thought that was the coolest thing ever.

Early night, for tomorrow we go to Disneyland!  Yay!

***If we can recover any photos or videos we will add them later.***

San Clemente

It was cold today.  I never saw the sun; it was overcast the whole day.  Not at all what we expected, we expected to be hanging out on the beach all day.  Despite the cold, grey day we still had fun.  The kids and I played some games that we brought (A Dora Matching Game, Disney Princess Bingo, Dominoes), read books (spent a lot of time on a Look and Find book), and took a walk down to the swing set on the beach.

I had so much fun doing the Look and Find book with Payton.  She is pretty good at finding the items on the page.  However, on the tougher items she will give up after a couple of minutes.  I decided to show her what I do to find the items on the page.  I took my finger and went back and forth across the page from bottom to top until I found the item.  So I would move my finger and have her tell me when she found the item.  She was doing really well spotting the harder items but before long she decided she wanted to be the one to point her finger and I was suppose to tell her when I spotted the item.  Well, she does not move her finger back and forth from top to bottom, she randomly swirls her finger around the page in circles.  Also, she doesn’t move her finger slowly; she moves it quickly so by the time I say, “stop” she has gone way past the item.  Well, I started only saying the first part of the word when she would go over the item as if saying, “Ah, forget it”.  She cracked up every time I said anything.  We did this for a good 15 to 20 minutes.  I love hearing her laugh, it was great!

We went to IHOP for dinner.  It turns out kids eat free Monday through Friday from 4 to 10.  Sweet!  Lincoln was hilarious.  I got him the kids pancakes.  He had a pancake in each had and was just shoving them into his mouth.  It looked as though he hadn’t eaten for a week, so funny and so cute.  I got a little video of him.

***If we can recover any pictures or videos I will add them later.***

Driving to San Clemente

Driving with kiddos can definitely be a nightmare.  I am so glad that was not the case.  The kids were good the whole trip and we really didn’t hit any traffic along the way.  What are the chances we will have the same experience on the way home?  :o)

Pajama Party

Everyone has told me that I need to take it easy and not over do it, so when Lincoln and Payton started throwing tantrums about getting dressed I decided that that was a battle I did not want to fight today.  I told them that we just wouldn’t go anywhere and we would spend the day doing what people do at Pajama Parties.  Ha!  Ha!  What do people do at Pajama Parties anyway?

We built a fort.  The mother of all forts.  It took up the whole family room.  It had three kid entrances and one mommy one.  :o)  It included a Little Tikes Climb/Slide thing, a kid play tent, two tunnels, two big blankets, TV trays, and some hand weights to hold things together. 

Payton and Lincoln spent a while climbing in, out, and through it, then we read a couple of books in it, and finally finished with eating lunch in it.  Over all I think it was a success.

Payton has been fighting taking naps.  Grrrrrr.  Today was no different.  I had put Payton and Lincoln down for their naps and was getting ready to sit and relax when I hear the pitter patter of little feet.  I found Payton running down the hallway.  She had changed her clothes…She was wearing all pink and a pair of my socks that has the lotion in them.  When she saw me she said, “Mommy, how cute am I?”  Ha! Ha!  "Very."

***If we can recover any photos or videos I will add them later.***

Broken Tooth

Over the past couple of months I have had a tooth that has been bothering me on and off.  It all started when I couldn’t get floss down between two teeth.  I wouldn’t say that my tooth “hurts”; however, I can feel my tooth when I eat, brush my teeth, etc and that is annoying.  Arghh.

My mother-in-law went to the dentist after putting it off for several months and found out that because she waited so long to go in she is now going to lose her tooth.  I scheduled my appointment the same day she told me that.

Turns out I broke my tooth and a piece of the tooth had shifted so that I couldn’t floss between those two teeth and then the broken piece was pushing down into my gum when I would eat, brush my teeth, etc. 

I had to get all numbed up so they could fix the tooth.  I hate that numb feeling; although, I do prefer it to feeling the dentist drill away at my tooth.  J  I am so glad I didn’t wait any longer to go to the dentist.

Lincoln Counts...Kind Of

Dave discovered that our little Lincoln could count.  I guess he was trying to get Payton to eat her dinner and told her that she needed to eat three more bites.  So Payton counted out her bites, "one, two, three..." and Lincoln continued with, "four".  Dave decided to see how far he would go and he went all the way to ten (with a little help).

Here is the video of Lincoln counting.

Pregnant

Boy these past couple of months have certainly been an adventure for our family.  It all started in the beginning of June when I found out I was pregnant with baby number 3.  Yay!

All the excitement was immediately followed by the most horrible nausea I have ever experienced in my entire life.  June and July were me pretty much in a nausea fog.  Wherever I was I always had mapped out where the closest bathroom or garbage can was just in case.

I was prescribed Zofran for the nausea.  The nurse at the doctor's office called it "gold" and said it worked great.  After a couple of weeks of taking it and still being nauseated 24/7 I decided I was going to stop taking it.  I figured it wasn't helping anyway so why take it.  Boy was that a mistake.  The day I didn't take it I was not only nauseated but couldn't get up from a horizontal position and when I did I was hoovering over sinks or garbage cans until I could lay down again.  I decided to keep taking the Zofran.

Working out.  Ha!  Ha! What's that?  Eating healthy.  Ha!  Ha!  Not happening.  This baby wants nothing to do with anything good for me or it.  That is OK I gave up and decided to let future Kimberly worry about it.

Friday July 29th

I have an appointment with my doctor to do a Nuchal Translucency Test.  When I arrive to the appointment the office staff says "Oops, we scheduled you two days too early.  You are 11 weeks, 1 day and you need to be at least 11 weeks, 3 days.  Can we reschedule you for next week?"  I think I handled myself well but inside I was so frustrated.  I had a baby sitter and everything.  Arghhh!

Tuesday, August 2nd

I am back for the Nuchal Translucency Test.  I have learned there is a narrow window of time that they can do this test and in the back of my head I am laughing, thinking they are probably going to tell me I waited too long to do this test. 

Doctor Pollard comes in, we chat for a little while about the pregnancy thus far and then she transitions with the normal, "Well, let's take a look at baby."  Unfortunately, she is unable to get a good look at the baby with the abdominal ultrasound.  Saying my uterus is tipped back or something and that she is going to have to do the "other" kind of ultrasound.

As she starts the "other" ultrasound she has a concerned look on her face but doesn't really say anything.  However, the first thing I notice is that I don't see a heartbeat and as she continues with the ultrasound I try to remember back to my other pregnancies.  Do you always see the heartbeat?  We see the baby's head, arms, legs...  That is when she says that she is concerned that she is not seeing a heartbeat.  As she continues to look she says "by this time you will see the baby moving around and your baby just isn't moving".  After a few minutes she apologizes, says she wasn't expecting this, and then tells me that the fetus has died.  She said it looks like it just happened over the last couple of days.  Probably over the weekend.

I sit there in shock.  What the heck just happened?  There were no signs that anything was wrong.  No cramping.  No bleeding.  Nothing.

So many thoughts are going through my head.  I can't stop crying.  I feel very awkward about my pregnancy symptoms.  How can I be feeling this way if my baby has died?  I tell Dave that I just want this to be over.  I feel like I am not going to be able to start getting past this until the baby is out of me.  It seems like everything about me is a reminder that I am pregnant.

Wednesday, August 3rd

Dave and I go in to do another ultrasound to verify that there is no heartbeat.  It is confirmed.  D & C is scheduled.

I don't want to be by myself.  Every time I am by myself I start crying.  I need distraction.  My dad comes over to help Dave to give me a blessing.  We go out to dinner with Michelle.  I stay up watching movies until 2 or so in the morning.  Can't sleep.

Thursday, August 4th

We get up and head over to the hospital for the D & C.  Surprisingly, I am not too nervous about the procedure.  My thoughts are more on after the procedure.  Dave tries to keep things light while we are in Outpatient Surgery waiting for our turn in the OR.  He keeps picking up things that are hanging around the room saying things like, "If you need suction.." or "Trust me.  I know what I am doing, I once stayed at a Holiday Inn."  Can you laugh and cry at the same time?

They wheel me up to the OR waiting area.  Dave and I meet the Anesthesiologist and my nurse, Tristan.  They get me all prepped.  Dave goes back down to the waiting room and they wheel me into the OR.  I remember going from the gurney to the OR table and then .....  I wish I could be totally out like that again.  No dreams.  No thinking.  No sadness.  No nothing.



The feeling you have when you are pregnant.  That full feeling, when you can feel that you are carrying a baby.  It is gone.  I think this is one of the hardest, saddest, most depressing parts of this whole experience and at the same time is the one thing that needed to happen to start healing.

Physically I feel OK.   I assume I am experiencing the usual discomforts that are expected.   Emotionally I am a wreck.

I know healing in all respects is just going to take time. 

I am so grateful to have Payton and Lincoln.   I am so glad I can hold them.   Every time Payton sees me start to cry she just runs over and gives me a big hug and kiss.   Lincoln will run up with a concerned look and say, "OK? OK?"

They definitely make healing a little easier.

Payton Writes Her Name

OK. OK.  I wrote her name on a post it and she copied it but she did it all by herself.  :o)

Payton Earns her Rapunzel Tower

Payton has been talking about her friends' Rapunzel Tower for months.  Every time we go to play at their house Payton comes home talking about it. 

Since she has not lost interest in getting it over the past couple of months, Dave and I decided to have her "earn" it.  She has been very whiney lately and Dave told her that if she could go a whole week without whining that we would get her the Rapunzel Tower.  We added "No Whining" to her Responsibility Chart to keep track of how she was doing.

It took her three weeks to earn it but she did it!  She is very excited and loves it.  So does Lincoln...He parks his cars in the top of the tower.  Ha! Ha!

Damian's Birthday Party

Our friend Damian turned 4!  Yay!

Some highlights from the birthday party.

My sister Jen brought little cakes so that each of the kids could decorate their own.  All the little cakes were so cute.  It brought back memories to went Jen and I were little, we used to do that for our birthdays.  Talk about a sugar rush.  Ha!  Ha!

Payton's Cake

Lincoln's Cake

Lincoln was so cute.  He really made sure each little piece of candy stuck really well to the cake by shoving it through the frosting and into the actual cake.  Loved it.

Coyo always has a pinata for the boy's birthdays.  This one was particularly cool.  It was shaped like a star, had a dinosaur coming out of one side and a bunch of balls on the other side.  The thing was definitely built to last, it took forever to break open, but when it did it was full of fun candy and toys for all the kids.

We all had a great time!  Thanks for inviting us.