April: the best month ever! (Warning: massive post)

It really is. It has been such a busy month for us and I just couldn't keep up.
The very first day was the birthday of two of the most awesome in-laws ever. I'm so glad I can call Amy and Destin family and I hope they both had awesome birthdays. I'm not good at picking out or making presents, so I had Destin and Janae come over on the 2nd so I could make Destin birthday dinner. Janae and Lysha made the egg rolls I said I would make and I made the fried rice. They turned out pretty good (I was nervous because I had never made them before, so thanks girls!) and then we had cup cakes.
You know you're getting old when your cup cake looks like this. :) I wish Amy could have been here so we could have celebrated with her as well, but I'm sure she knows we were thinking about her. :)
We had a nice weekend relaxing and watching conference. Kleyn did sit with us and watch a few talks, but just like any other little kid, he got a little tired, took some naps, and then was ready to play before it was all over. Thanks for watching with me Lysha.
I had a doctor appointment on the 7th and they said everything was going well. We scheduled the ultrasound for May 5th and then Danny can quit being stubborn about everyone saying it's a girl. I'll be sure to post it, but if it's a boy, Danny will want to call and brag first.
On the 10th, the boys and I had the opportunity to go to Pocatello and see my cousin McKenna's baptism. It was really neat for Kleyn to be able to see a baptism and to hang out with his cousin Landon. I always love being around our family. Steph and Matt showed up on their way back from Moab and Kleyn was happy to see them. Uncle Rich took us to see the house they are building. Kleyn and Landon had so much fun running around and now I'm thinking I should have had my camera with me. We stopped and said hi to Shells, play with her dogs, and check out her bathroom. It looks great and the boys had a great time shooting their toy rockets Grandpa Lynn got for them. Plotting on Aunt Shells. Shells got to use her awesome camera. Aren't these the cutest boys ever? Kaleb loved throwing/kicking the ball for the dogs. Mommy kisses. Grandpa Lynn bought the boys new suits for Easter Sunday. Don't they look sharp? Danny wanted to do their hair instead of letting me spike it like I usually do. Kleyn took this picture of us. Not bad, eh? We didn't get a good family picture because it was too bright and the boys decided they were done smiling. We decided to do fun Easter stuff after church so we wouldn't have the sugar high in primary. The choir sang two songs and the boys were very patient until after church. We had a little jelly bean hunt in the TV room. Mmmm...jelly beans. And the boys got their baskets. The walking eggs were the hit of the Easter baskets. Of course, we broke one that day. Kleyn was really upset that we couldn't go buy a new one because they would have the Easter stuff all put away at the store.
Happy Easter!!! Then we headed off to see Grandpa Lynn because he had a few things for the boys. Kleyn didn't quite fit in the little plastic wagons grandpa got them. He figured out that the little dog did fit, so he gave it a ride instead. Kaleb had a blast throwing his new ball at grandpa. The 15th was Dan's birthday and Kleyn had a dentist appointment. They told me that Kleyn has really bad grooves in his teeth and he will have problems with cavities whether or not I keep them super clean. That kind of bummed me out. He had two little cavities on two of the bottom back molars. They told me we could do the sedation dentistry or I could bring him in to the office because they weren't too bad. The only risk with the second option would be if they got too sensitive and then they would have to numb him up. I really didn't want them to have to give him shots and have him be scared of the dentist, so we opted for the sedation dentistry. They scheduled it for the 27th.
I had a dentist appointment and an eye appointment the next day and then I had to get Danny registered for school. The dentist couldn't take x-rays because of the baby, but said they didn't see anything to worry about. The eye doctor gave me a new prescription and a trial pair of toric lenses for my stigma. He said it would take them time to settle and then I would be able to wear them for a week to try them out. It took longer than I thought for them to settle and my peripheral vision was blurry for a few hours after the appointment. My neighbor thought I was crazy because I kept looking around while I was talking to her. I gave them the whole week, but never really got used to them.
Sandy and Tonya came down from Washington on Friday night to help Janae with her baby for the week and Andy and Amy came up from Utah to see Sandy and take senior pictures for Lysha. Josh and Jason also showed up on Friday night (which I guess Danny was supposed to tell me about but didn't), so we had a late dinner for 11 people. I, of course, made too much food, so we had left overs a lot that week. We had Janae and Destin over for dinner Saturday night and Jason and Josh came again as well. I had a six pound roast in the freezer that came in handy for that many people and it turned out great. I also got to try making my grandma's rolls. They were a total hit and were gone way too fast. I love having everyone here, but it also makes me wonder how women with big families do that every day. I felt like I lived in the kitchen for three days.
Andy got to try out his new camera and backdrop set up. It turned into a Kaleb photo shoot. We would have gotten Kleyn in there as well, but he fell asleep watching a movie with Aunt Tonya.
Andy and Amy headed home on Sunday. Janae went in to be induced on Monday. We waited around all day, but Collan decided he wanted to wait until his Uncle Danny could come see him, too. ;) We got to go see Janae and Collan at 9:00 Monday night. Collan Edward Sterling was born April 20th at 8:15 (I might have the time wrong), 8 lbs. 5 oz., and just so cute. Proud daddy Mary, Destin's mom Aunt Tonya Happy mom with mint cookies We're so glad to welcome him into our family. Kleyn and Kaleb were so excited to see their new cousin. I didn't get pictures of everyone holding him because most of us had colds. Before I left I asked Janae if she wanted anything and she told me she wanted mint cookies. I had a good laugh at that one. We stopped at Walmart on the way home and I made her some cookies the next morning. Sandy also got me all the stuff to make Janae and Collan a diaper cake. I think it turned out really cute and it matched his jungle themed room.I got to help Sandy clean their apartment and go shopping for a washer and dryer. That crazy sister-in-law of mine is using cloth diapers. :) I'm glad someone is brave enough to use them still. They looked so cute and soft and fluffy when I was putting them away for her, but I can't imagine they will always look and smell that good. ;) I know it was a little awkward for Destin when they got home and we were still cleaning, but thanks for letting us do it. It made me feel so good to be able to help out in some way to get ready for that little guy. Welcome home Collan. I got to make chicken cordon bleu for their dinner as well. Sorry again that we made you late for school Destin. :)
It's definitely springtime here in Idaho. We have 10 baby chicks, our hen is brooding and sitting on 12 eggs, we have a pregnant kitty, and our baby started kicking me this month. Our chicks came from Vi, the lady Danny works with. She wanted to get the boys chicks for Easter, so Danny came home one night with a box of them. I was thinking one chick for each of them, but there were 10 in the box. Thankfully, Sandy knows what she's doing and found the chick feeder and the water jars for the babies so they could stop stinking up my back porch. Thanks for all the help Sandy. The chicks are getting big and need to be taken out of the cage Danny has for them. I'm still nervous about the rooster, though. Kleyn now thinks his official name is the evil rooster. He's a little protective of our hen and doesn't like it when I'm in the coop. Danny thinks it's hillarious that I'm scared of him, but birds really freak me out. I'm definitely out of my comfort zone with all of this, but I think I handle it alright for a city girl. :)
Shells came up on the 23rd to take the boys and I out for birthday lunch. I also had some visiting teaching to get done, so by the time I made my way into town my poor sister was starving. :) Thanks for waiting for us girl. We love you. We were going to do a picnic, but Kleyn said it was too windy and we would get blown away. It was fun to spend the day with her and we got to see my dad as well.
In all of the running around with Sandy, we found the material I want to make curtains with for the front room and she bought the living room paint for my birthday. Thanks again and I'll get pictures up as soon as I have made progress on it. I also have to thank her for scraping wallpaper off my walls with her fingernails. I didn't feel so crazy scratching at the walls when I had someone standing next to me doing the same thing. (That's the big reason I hate wall paper...it made me feel like a crazy lady standing with my back to everyone just scratching at the walls. I felt like an orderly was going to come take me back to my padded cell so I wouldn't hurt myself.)
The Bairds left us with a full fridge of left-overs on Saturday. It was way too quiet after such an exciting week. Danny invited Steven and Cherish for dinner on Sunday and also scheduled our home teachers at 8. My mom showed up shortly before the home teachers (I forgot she was coming). We had a fun night and then I had to get ready to take Kleyn into the surgical center the next morning.
I had to get up at 5:30 Monday morning to get Kleyn in by 6:10 so they could fill his cavities. I was second guessing myself the whole time and wondering if it was the right way to go. For one thing it was so early and for another it seemed like an awful lot to go through to get two little cavities filled. After filling out all the paper work, they took us back to a little room and had me put Kleyn in a hospital gown. He did really well not knowing where he was. He was a little bit shy, but he answered all of their questions and did everything they asked him to. We watched Diego until they came in to take him. He thought the ride on the bed was pretty awesome and then I had to leave him at the doors. I got a little bit upset, but I feel like it's for a different reason than anyone else thinks. It's not that he's my baby or that I'd never done that before. The reason I get upset is because Kleyn has a temper and gets frustrated so easily. I could just see him freaking out because of the mask and because he was being taken away to a place that he didn't know with people that he didn't know and his mommy couldn't come. I'm sure there are some moms out there that understand that, but until you see one of his full blown tantrums, I'm not sure that anyone understands my anxiety. I should have gotten pictures of him in his cute green hospital gown, but I didn't even think about it until later. It only took about 10 minutes and then they had to let him wake up a little before they would bring him back to me. He looked like he was still asleep when they brought him back, but they said he had been opening his eyes and he just didn't want to look at anyone. They tried to get him to drink some apple juice so they could see how he would react and know if he needed medicine or anything. When Kleyn sat up he started screaming because he looked down and saw a tube sticking out of his arm and a bandage wrapped around it so he couldn't pull it out. Here comes the tantrum I was worried about. I'm so glad he saved it all for me and not the doctors. He kept screaming that he wanted to get in the car and he wanted his grandma and he wanted the thing out of his hand. Three different nurses came in and tried three different approaches to try and get him to drink something so they could take the IV out. He, of course would not listen and they finally just took it out because they didn't want him to disturb other people. It was still pretty early and the sign on the wall that said "please speak quietly" made me giggle. They took the IV out, but had to put a bandage on him to stop the bleeding. He, of course, wouldn't have any of that either. He screamed some more until I took the bandage off and then screamed again that he wanted to get in the car. A nurse walked me out to my car and told me to have a nice day. As soon as I put Kleyn in the car, he yelled at me and said he wanted out of the car and he wanted his grandma. I'm really not sure if it was worth it and if I'll do it again, but now I know how he handles it and I know that I need to explain to him what an IV is and what it does. The good thing about doing it there was that he doesn't have any trauma with the dentists office and will still be happy about going back there.
On the way home we stopped to see Danny for a minute and then Kleyn fell asleep again. They told me to watch him for the next 24 hours and said he would be tired and could get headaches, be nauseous, or get really dizzy. They also said treat it like he had the flu and just give him really light food and lots of liquid. He did fine with the liquids, but the only thing he wanted to eat was chex mix. I sat on the couch and started dozing in and out. Kleyn didn't seem to have any problems with the sedative because he was running around and playing while I was falling asleep. I slept until noon and my mom asked me who they gave the anesthesia to. My mom let me run to town before she left because I needed a few things. After she left, Kleyn started complaining that his tummy hurt, so he laid down and took a nap. Kaleb was already asleep, so that was nice to have a few minutes of quiet. I put in the Nanny Diaries and sorted through my 3,000 pictures that I need to get printed out and off of my computer. We had a little bit of a rough evening with Kleyn because he had a really bad headache. I gave him some medicine and when Danny got home, he took another nap. Kleyn woke up again at 9, so we put Kaleb to bed and stayed up too late watching a Bourne movie while Kleyn got his energy out.
Danny gave me my birthday presents last night because he wouldn't be around today. He has school until 9:30 tonight, so I'm a little bummed that I don't get to hang out with him. He got me two Dr. Laura books and he thinks he's so sneaky.
I am officially 25 today. I woke up and thought because I am not having people over and not making a big deal about it this year, I would just do whatever I wanted to do, so that's why you all get to read this super long, boring post. :) Happy Birthday to me. I'm going to get some things tidied up, but mostly I'm going to put in some chick flicks, print out pictures, work on projects I have been putting off, and just enjoying being home today. I might even make myself a cake. :)
It's a little bit gloomy today, but I love the rain. I woke up this morning and just smiled because I could hear it on the roof. My mom called me her little snowflake when I talked to her this morning because it snowed 25 years ago. I told her today I was her little raindrop. There are a lot of people I wish I could share this day with, but I'll have to be content spending it with my amazingly cute little boys. They make my world a beautiful and happy place.
For my birthday, my friend Shurell got me a picture and some decorative pebbles for my front room and my bathroom and she took me out to lunch. My mom bought me some ink so I could print of some more pictures and get caught up with my scrapbooking, and my dad is taking me to see Wicked next weekend. Thanks guys!!!