April!

 A nice, peaceful and relaxing afternoon at grandma and grandpa's house. 

 If you look closely, she has dropped her gum on the ground and then has put it back in her mouth.  Because, you know.  You can't lose your gum in the midst of a tantrum.

 she has her happy moments.

 oh man.  this chick can be so sweet.

 She does this and then says,

"Feel my muscles, mom!"

My delicious baby growing two teeth!!!  I could eat her.

Ivy's first surgery

 Finally!

We have been anxiously waiting for our insurance to give us the green light to have Ivy's procedure done.  Let's not get me started on insurance. 

Anyway, she stayed on antibiotics for a month leading up to it, and let's just say Ivy did NOT appreciate the medicine.  A little bottle cost us almost $200 and she basically barfed it up immediately after taking it.  Every time.  Little devil.  She had to be fasting for the surgery so her last bottle was at 7 on Tuesday night and we woke her up at 6 Wednesday morning to head to the hospital.   She was the happiest little baby for being so hungry.  They took us back at 8:30 and explained everything in detail, dressed her and then whisked her away.  I was very calm despite my nerves leading up to it.  I knew she would be fine and felt very at ease about everything. They told us it would take under an hour to do it all, so when the two hour mark hit we were both a little anxious to hear something.  Her surgeon finally came out and showed us some pictures of her insides.  He explained that things were much worse than he thought.  They punctured the hole of her second tube but rather than releasing the fluid and allowing the urine to drain through the bladder instead of going to her kidney, the tube collapsed and sealed again.  Or something like that.  So basically he said she would need at least one more surgery, where he would remove the inner bladder and tube.  He said her kidney looked pretty infected and swollen and wasn't sure if it would be salvageable or not.  We are waiting two more weeks and then will take her in for a second kidney ultrasound along with another VCGU where they will be able to tell if things have healed any or not.  I really hope her kidney heals up so she can keep it.  I know she will be fine with only one, but I'd rather not have to do a much more invasive procedure and have her be down a kidney so young.  She hardly knows what's going on though.  She is so happy and wonderful and we are thoroughly obsessed with her!

 

On the second picture from the left, the right tube and kidney is what her normal one looks like.  The left shows her swollen tube, kidney and bladder.  The far right one shows just how huge that sucker is!

March

Good weather= lots of park days

 FHE shenanigans

Note to self:

Next time we attempt a museum, take another adult with you.  This was a bit of a joke trying to keep Emery under control.

 Potty training FAIL.

And anytime daddy leaves, she goes ballistic. 

It makes for some real good times.

 the reason I keep up my blog and order yearly books for our family right here.

My girls SCOUR these all the time.

 We took the kids to the Mesa Riverview park a few Saturdays ago.  They were a bit shy about everything and it was horribly crowded.  Next time we will have to go on a weeknight.  After the park we went to Bass Pro Shop to wander around.

 And this sweet little Miss continues to be the worlds happiest, most laid-back baby ever!  

We love her and her fuzzy head so much. 

Sidewalk paint

 Totally worth the $3 at WalMart for the several hours of painting fun for these chicks. 

Sunday Funday

 The new building right by our house just opened up so our new church schedule is from 9-12.  

It ROCKS.  

After church, lunch, naps for Em and Ivy and quiet play time for Sage and Charly, we spent a few hours playing games together outside.  It was so nice and relaxing!  And when I say "relaxing", we all know that it's not really relaxing with four kids involved so much as running around like a crazy person.  But you get the idea.  We ate dinner at a reasonable hour instead of waiting for Clint to get home, got to make cookies together after dinner and even play a bit more before bed time.  It was so nice and some much needed family time together.  I keep trying to convince Clint to be home by 5:30 every day, but so far he has missed every damn day this year.  Maybe we can shoot for 2015! 

 Em and her "Anna" doll.  Sometimes "Tiana", sometimes "Anna".  But she NEVER leaves her side. 

 So much drama with this crew!!!  

But oh man, it's so fun.  

I wouldn't trade it for anything.

 These girls ADORE their daddy.  They have their ups-and-downs where they either won't let him touch them and scream if he looks their way, or they are all over him and follow him everywhere. 

SEVEN months

 Seven months!  So hard for me to wrap my head around that.  So far, little Ivy is my "slowest" baby.  Considering she is our last, I'm super happy about that.  She still gags on all forms of baby food and/or table foods.  She can roll from back to stomach but not stomach to back.  She gets stuck and just flails around screaming until we flip her back again.  She is not sitting up.  She has no teeth.  She is still in size 3 month clothes.  She is super super happy all the time and I just love her.  She seriously grins ear to ear at anyone who looks her way.  Her hair has started to grow and looks so funny.  It's looks like we buzz cut it, and is super fuzzy.  Somehow we have all started to call her fuzz.  We are all so smitten with her!

park day

 Nick is engaged!

Getting married in May to this gem, Brittany.

 

 We met at a park in my folks neighborhood with some of our relatives a few weeks ago.  Ate and played and tried to catch up with each other. 

If you look closely, you'll see both of my brothers doing weird things.  And then there's Brit.  Flippin me off.  So she's either 

A) super cool and will fit right in with our family, 

or

B) hates my guts already.

Let's hope it's not the latter.

 These cousins sure are lucky to have this grandpa.