A Week at Mom & Dad's

So when the insurance adjuster came to assess the water damage to our house on the Tuesday after Mother's Day, she noticed that we were starting to get mold already. So we needed to get it dried up as quickly as possible. After discussing our options, we decided to have a restoration company come in and fix things professionally. Within an hour or so they were there to find out which walls were wet, pull back carpets, and cut holes in the ceiling. Then they used industrial fans and a dehumidifier to dry everything out. 

The fans would be very loud and would have to run all day. And the house temperature would be at least 85 degrees on the main floor (and who knows how hot upstairs in the bedrooms). They told us the drying process would take about 1 1/2 - 2 days. Needless to say, we wouldn't be able to stay in our house while this was going on, especially with the little ones. I was going to my parents' for the evening anyway, so I packed some things for me and the kids to just stay. And Ross packed a bag so he could stay at the Miller's. Being near by would allow him to go to work and check on the house. 

That evening I drove right to my nephew, Cameron's, preschool graduation program. He did a great job with all his dancing, singing, his solo in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" song, and his role as "Happy" the dwarf. I'm so glad we didn't miss it.

Leah was more than happy to be staying at her Grandpa's house. She had a ball playing with Makynlee and watching "Despicable Me" almost every day.

While we were there, my sister, Lyndsee, was 38-39 weeks pregnant. She was having a lot of pain, inconsistent contractions and was already starting to dialate. So in an attempt to induce labor, we took the girls to the zoo so Lyndsee could do plenty of walking. Right after we got there, we saw our oldest nephew, Carson, who was there for a school field trip. It was also his birthday. So it was extra special that we got to see him!

The zoo was great! The weather was pleasant and the animals were pretty active. One of the elephants was trumpeting loudly while we were watching them. I thought it was pretty cool. Leah thought it was too loud.

Two little monkeys watching the monkeys!

Two of the brown bears were chasing each other and wrestling all around their area...a lot like Leah and Makynlee do when they are together.

Corbin was so good and slept in the Snuggli all through the zoo. Kynee was so excited to see the crocodile. It was basking in the sun. It was sitting there so still that I asked Lyndsee if it was real or a statue.

All over the zoo they had Lego animal exhibits set up. They were really cool to see. I took pictures of a couple of my favorites. One of the snakes was made of about 4500 Lego blocks. I can only imagine how many blocks it took to make this life-sized polar bear.

So this is what Lyndsee did through almost all of the zoo. Kynee was in the seat of the stroller, Leah sat on top, and our bags were in the bottom. It was pretty heavy, especially when trying to push it up hill. We thought for sure that this would help her labor progress.

But alas, when we went to her doctor appointment after the zoo, she found out that her body had not progressed at all since her last appointment the week before. It was quite discouraging for her. So the doctor offered to set up an appointment for her to be induced that Monday.

In the meantime, the drying process in our house was taking longer than they thought it would. The carpet had dried OK, but there were areas in the ceiling and walls that were still damp. So they decided to leave the fans going through the weekend.

As nice as it was to be able to go to my parents' house to wait things out, it wasn't always easy to be there. They don't have a lot of extra room, so we had to camp out in the living room on an air mattress and pack n' play. We were often chasing the girls out so they wouldn't jump on the air mattress. And it seemed like when they weren't running amok, they were fighting over or about something. Plus for some reason, Leah was having accidents every day.  On top of that, my parents' had gotten sick and were trying to not get us sick. So my mom couldn't help with the kids as much. But regardless, Leah and I ended up catching colds that we both have lingering symptoms from still. After a couple days I was really missing my own bed, my own house, and especially my husband.

Ross did come up for part of the weekend. And we were able to go to Cameron's birthday party and then out for dinner with just our little family. Those things were nice. I love my family and my parents were very gracious to let us stay there so long. But needless to say, everyone was glad when the fans were gone and we could finally go home (everyone except Leah, that is...she would love to stay at Grandpa's forever).

One perk of staying so long was being able to see this little guy on our way home. Lyndsee finally had baby Taysom that Monday evening. So we stopped at the hospital before heading back home. Isn't he so cute!

Upon arriving back home we found that walls were still torn up, furniture was still out of place, and even though the carpet was back down there was no padding in some places. And (sigh) we're still waiting for the repairmen to come fix things and put our house back together. So the water damage saga continues...

Mother's Day

Our May has been rather eventful, so I have a lot of catching up to do on my posts. So I'm going to start with Mother's Day weekend. This was a great weekend for me. On Saturday morning I was treated to a yummy breakfast in bed from Ross and Leah. They made me bacon and french toast with strawberries and cream.

Afterwards, we went to see a baseball game at BYU, but ended up at the BYU vs Utah softball game. The weather was beautiful and Leah was so good to just sit and watch the game. It was fun to get out to a game together, it made me excited for baseball season. Saturday evening, we went with some friends out for some delicious pizza. On Sunday morning I enjoyed going to church. And later we went to my parents' house to have Sunday dinner with my mom. While we were there, my sister Melyssa gave me a great foot massage and pedicure. I had such a good weekend. I felt really appreciated for all I do as a mother and I also got to spend some time with my own wonderful mother. And I was able to reflect on the influence of other great women in my life.

But my great weekend came to a screeching halt when we got home from my parents' house that night. Upon walking in the house, we found water dripping from the ceiling and pooling on the dining room table and the carpet all around our hot water heater closet was soaked. We traced the source of the water to the upstairs toilet. The upstairs bathroom was covered in water and the carpet in our bedroom and some in the hallway was very wet. We shut off the water to the toilet and began cleaning up as best we could. Before going to sleep, we called the insurance company to get that process going. What happened next I'll save for another post.

2 Months Old

Our baby boy is 2 months old already! He is such a sweet little boy. I love him so much. He's still pretty much in the newborn stage. He mostly just sleeps during the day. But when he's awake, he's usually just really chilled (unless he's hungry, needs to burp, or needs his diaper changed). He smiles and coos when he can see us and we talk to him. I love his big toothless grin. It melts my heart every time.

Here's the stats from his 2 month check up:
Weight: 9 lbs 11.5 oz (3%)
Length: 21 inches (1%)
Head: 37 cm (3%)

Still just a little guy, but he's growing! We love him!!!

(Someone saw the camera come out and didn't want to be left out of the photo shoot.)

Corbin's Blessing

We had a great weekend celebrating Corbin's baby blessing. On Saturday evening we invited family to our church for a yummy Cafe Rio style dinner. I was a little nervous trying a few of the recipes for the first time. The sweet pork turned out great (except for the pieces of meat that burned while cooking in the oven). The lime rice turned out a little mushy, but tasted ok. And the tomatillo dressing was pretty good too. Some of the other yummy foods from the dinner included Norma's guacamole and the black and pinto beans the Miller family made. I also loved all the cookies people brought for dessert!

That evening I took a picture of Corbin with his baby boy cousins that were there. I wanted this picture because of how small Corbin is compared to these boys. Seth (far left) was born at the end of January, McCoy (in the light blue) was born at the end of December and Jackson (next to Corbin) was born about a week after Corbin. All three of these boys are tipping the scale at 12-15 pounds and little Corbin has only reached the 9 pound range. I guess we just grow them small at our house!

We had church bright and early at 9:00 Sunday morning. Ross has bishopric meetings that morning, and it was hard to get up early enough to get myself and both kids ready in time to get to the church early. There were two other baby blessings that day and I knew the chapel would be very crowded. We were fortunate to have a lot of family members come to support us that morning. This picture doesn't even show everyone that was there. Some of them had to leave before it was taken.

I love that Ross holds and honors the Priesthood. He did a great job with the blessing. He said his legs were shaking through the whole prayer, but those of us listening couldn't tell at all. I hope and pray that Corbin can grow up to be a worthy Priesthood holder like these great men that surrounded him that day.

And I'm so grateful that my grandparents could be there with us this weekend. Not many babies get to have their 94-year-old Great Grandpa stand in for their baby blessing.

I love this picture of Ross and Corbin. I like seeing this father and son together in their Sunday best.

I love my little family! I feel like Heavenly Father has blessed me more than I deserve.

The next day, I dressed Corbin up again in his blessing clothes so I could get some pictures of just him. Here are some of my favorites. (By the way, the beautiful blanket was made for Corbin by my mom.)

Baby fingers and toes are so precious!

Can't get enough of this little guy! I love him so much!

Corbin is such a blessing to our family already. It will be exciting to watch him grow up and see all the great things our Heavenly Father has in store for him. I hope he will be a great force for good in this world of turmoil. Corbin was born in the mist of so many other baby boys that I can't help but think that Heavenly Father is sending a surge of righteous soldiers to stand strong in the fight against evil in these latter days.