Nanny

McPhee Tooth

Is GONE

When Isaac got home from school Wednesday, I checked on his tooth to see if his big one was coming in behind his hanging Nanny McPhee tooth… and sure enough, there it was, peeking through. 

So before bed, we were going to get it out.

Talk about snaggle-tooth!  Looks like my Halloween Billy Bob teeth. 

Cracks me up. 

I kept telling him I’d help pull it out and he kept saying, “I can do it.  I want to do it.” 

And there was one tug that scared him.  It was barely hanging on after that one. 

Once he calmed down again, he tried one last pull and out it came and the hysteria began all over again. 

My brave, tough boy did it again!  He’s pulled out 3 out of the 4, all by himself. 

“Hey Mommy, take a picture of my tooth under my pillow!” 

Tooth fairy visited and left a dollar bill and lots of glitter all over his pillow, bed, and his hair and face.  His friends at school all day was saying, “Hey Isaac, you have glitter all over you.”  He said, “I know… the tooth fairy did it, see my teeth?”

This morning, Jaidyn said, “Isaac, you look like Maxie, from Goofy.”

Did You Get A

Haircut? 

…Yes,I Got

Them All

Cut.

(BEFORE)

(AFTER)

This boy can ROCK any hairdo!!!

Which do you like better, long or short?

Happy

Birthday, My

Beautiful

Baby Kallie

I’m so glad you’re mine.  I love your likes and dislikes, they make me laugh.  I love that you have your own cute personality that is so fun to be around.  I love your cute smile.  I love the funny faces you make when you’re being silly for pictures.  I love that you are an amazing big sister.  I love the way you say things, like “tink” instead of “think.”  I love everything about you, little one.  I love YOU.

Kallie was born on January 28, 2005 at 1:09pm.   She was 7lbs. 7oz. and 19” long.  I was being induced after much convincing from me to my dr.  that my prior two babies both were born with Meconium Aspiration and this one would probably also.  We said, “all our babies are born with poo-poo breath.”

It turned out that she did have a little Meconium, but they were able to get it all out of her, quickly. 

6:05am-Got a call from the hospital

7:15am- Mike, my mom, and I arrived at the   hospital, ready to go. 

8am- They started my IV and then Pitocin

I was feeling contractions 5 min. later.

8:30- Contractions started hurting and were 2 to 3 min. apart.

9am- they broke my water… sure enough, there was Meconium

(and they all said it would be very unlikely to have 2 children with Meconium and here I was having my 3rd with Meconium)

9:18am- requested an epidural

9:35am- finished the epidural

9:38am- Was feeling better, already, and tears and loud uncontrollable sobs were over with.  (I was REALLY scared for the epidural, since my first two experiences weren’t that great.)  I was surprised by how well everything had gone so far.

9:45am- couldn’t exhale and was only able to inhale, lips were turning blue and Mike and I were panicking.  Mike yelled for the nurse and immediately 5 Drs. were at my side. 

They turned me humiliatingly onto my hands and knees, gown falling open in the back. 

(even though I knew this could be the end, all I could think of was how exposed I was in front of so many people.)

Baby’s heart rate was dropping dangerously low and mine was also.  They were trying to turn me into different positions to help the baby.  Miraculously, my breathing became better, my lips and face regained color, and my gown was closed.

To this day, I still never got an explanation to it all.  The drs. never told me what they “knew” or “didn’t know”,  just that things were fine and baby was ok again.  I called to speak to the anesthesiologist after coming home from the hospital and he was so vague about the situation and then after much probing and frustration on my side of the conversation, he guessed it had been a slight case of an amniotic fluid embolism, that I recovered quickly from.  I think the man just gave me way too big a dose of epidural and that was that.

12pm- had one of my best friends, Nikki, come for the delivery

In my defense:  I was BIG, but this picture was REALLY, just a bad shot of me.  Please believe me! 

My kids would call this the “chunker-butter face.”

1pm- dilated to a 10

1:09pm- our baby Kallie was born

And this is dear Kallie at 2 months old.  My blondie baby with blue eyes.

 

Where Does

The Time Go?

My baby, Kallie, had a hard time going to sleep last night. 

I was talking with my parents on the phone and I heard a noise on the steps and found Kallie sitting there wide awake.  It was 45 minutes past the time she went to bed. 

So I scolded her and very sternly said, “Get back in bed!” and off she went a scurrying back to bed (giggling). 

5 minutes later,  I hung up the phone, went upstairs to check on her.  She had just about dozed off. 

I laid next to her and whispered in her ear, “Tonight’s your last night being 4, baby.” and I couldn’t help but get choked up. 

A little smile spread across her sleepy face. 

My baby is turning 5. 

She’s The BIG

5 Now!

Kallie was snoring when I went to wake Jaidyn and Isaac up for school.  The kids really really really wanted me to wake Kallie.

  We went downstairs and the kids asked if they could have Saturday cereal, since it was Kallie’s birthday. 

So before picking out the sugary cereal, we woke the sleepy birthday girl.  She was excited to see her balloons tied to the end of her bed and then was already asking about opening a present.  We ate cereal first and then went into the living room for the opening of present #1.  She was VERY confused when we told her the gift she’s opening is NOT on the table.  She looked around to find something hidden under a blanket, which she guessed right away, what it was. 

There’s no foolin’ this smarty.

She went to unveil the dollhouse, but was being silly and went under it herself and as she was walking away to pull the blanket off…. DOWN WENT THE HOUSE!

It was like slow motion, where Mike and I were saying, “Nooooooooo!”, but there was nothing we could do to stop it from crashing down.

Lucky, nothing was damaged.  Kallie was a little embarrassed, but recovered quickly.

Jaidyn and Isaac played with Kallie awhile before heading off for school. 

Then Kallie wanted to let go of one balloon.  She did not want to wait until everyone came home.

Kallie wanted brownies instead of cake for this birthday. 

“I don’t really like cake, Mommy.” 

So to please everyone, I’m doing brownies AND a vanilla chocolate chip cake, which is a HUGE hit in our family.  I think this recipe came from Mike’s mom, but we all love it including all the cousins coming over tonight.

Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cake

1 yellow or white cake mix

1 small pkg. Jello Instant Vanilla Pudding

3/4 c. water

1/2 c. oil

2 eggs

1 c. sour cream

1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Combine cake mix and dry pudding mix.  Add water, oil, and eggs.  Blend for approx. 2 min.  Add sour cream, blend.  Mix in 1 c. chocolate chips.  Pour mix into 9x13 glass dish (greased).  Sprinkle remaining 1/2 c. chocolate chips on top.  Bake @ 350 degrees for approx. 35 min.  Check with toothpick.

Grandma and Grandpa are taking Kallie out for her birthday lunch date with them.  She wants to go to IHOP and have breakfast for lunch, and then they’ll be taking her out shopping for birthday gifts. 

She’s been dying to go all morning.  “How much longer????”  And when I answer her, it doesn’t help much, ‘cause she no concept of time, whatsoever.  “How long is that, Mommy?  Is that a long time?”

And this is Kallie’s wish list

Wish list consists of: 

Princess and the Frog Tiana Doll

“Warm pjs that fit me”

Dollhouse stuff

Strawberry Shortcake DVD

Another One

Of Kallie’s

Thoughts

(Isaac and Kallie were helping me make German pancakes)

“Jesus made chickens and eggs for puffy pancakes, right mommy?  (pauses for a bit) That makes sense, right?”

Isaac:  (shocked and angry) “NO!  (a little calmer) …Kallie, Jesus didn’t make puffy pancakes.”

Kallie:  (totally bugged) “How do YOU know, ISAAC???   (thought about things for a sec)…Oh… oh yeah, Jesus made our bodies. (giggle, giggle)

How Nana and

Papa Met

My parents have now been married 33 years, TODAY. 

My dad had served a 2 year mission in Chile, South America and when he was done, came home and needed to figure out what he was going to do after. 

When he returned, he would pray every night in his backyard, staring at a star, praying for his future wife, that he would find someone that would love him as much he loved her.  He would also pray every night of whether he should attend BYU (Brigham Young University) or to go back to Chile for a little vacation with some money he had saved up.  But he was still undecided.  So he mailed off his application to BYU, and later got a letter from both BYU and a school called Trinity College in Texas, saying that only half his papers arrived in each place.  How could that have happened?  He had taken that as his answer that he was to take his money and vacation in Chile.  So off he went.  :)

He went for a month and wanted to sight-see the North part of Chile, since he had already served in the South.  But he needed transportation.  All the buses there were on strike so there was no bus transportation anywhere!  So he never ended up making it to the North part like he had planned.  He needed a place to stay.  He stayed with the missionaries for awhile in my Mom’s ward.  He went to church and talked with the Bishop and met Pancho (my mom’s brother), who offered to let him stay at their place when the Bishop explained the situation of my Dad having served a mission not too long before and needed a place to stay.  Pancho continued to call him Elder McCullen.

When he arrived, they were holding Family Home Evening at my Mom’s home. 

And just so you have a background of my Mom’s family… there are 7 girls and 3 boys.  Pancho was the oldest of the boys.  My Mom fits right in the middle of the bunch, being #5. 

When my Dad walked in and saw my Mom, it was love at first sight.  He saw my Mom and was frozen in his tracks and just staring at her and couldn’t look away.  But my Mom was standing there with her sisters.  She thought he was staring at her older sister Blanca and Blanca thought so too, but her sister Flor knew better.  She pulled my Mom into the backroom and said, “Did you see him staring at you?”

My mom:  “No.. he’s staring at Blanca!”

My Dad, later asked my mom on a date.

And to make a long story short, my Dad had to leave back to the U.S. and his vacation time was going to be over in a week.  My mom looked at him and said, “Don’t go.”

Dad:  “Why?”

My mom:  (bravely) “Because I love you.”

And that was that.  My Mom and Dad were married before he left for home and it was a short time later my mom was able to get her citizenship papers and join him in the States. 

My Dad was 21 and my Mom was 17.  She was the first of 10 kids in her family to get married and spoke no English at all when arriving here.  Their date together was my Mom’s very first date ever and she had her first kiss with him.  They had only dated for a week!

I am so thankful for my parents and their example of working through anything and being happily married for 33 years. 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD. 

I LOVE YOU BOTH SOOOO MUCH.