The Ultimate Gift

*Warning, I am crying my eyes out right now, move forward with caution*

So it all began a few months ago with a knock at our door and a card.  Inside was something neither Matt nor I was accustomed to.  I sweet note from a neighbor and a pile of gift cards.  After many seconds of shock, Matt and I looked at each other and asked "Why?"  We tucked those cards away and thought and planned two things.  One, how to say thank you for the generous gift, and two how to use the generous gift in a way that would benefit our family the most without squandering it on unnecessaries.  The gift idea was sweet.  A date night for Matt and I complete with dinner, movie passes, and a lot of shopping.  Free babysitting was included.  Well at the time, Jersey was going through this really rough separation anxiety phase and wouldn't go to anyone, and I mean anyone.  A date night without her was definitely out, but we had come up with a more feasible plan and used the gift cards for Christmas. 

The next one came on a night when the family was all sitting on our bed watching a Redbox movie together.  Late at night a call to check our porch.  On the porch was a basket of fruit.  The look on my kids eyes that night was priceless.  When your main food items come from a 50 gallon bucket- fresh fruit is hard to come by.  It was like Christmas.  Each piece was savored and shared. (Think of the story of the Christmas orange.)

Next came after Thanksgiving, a box of fruit.  This one every bit as special as the first.  My kids were in heaven.  I was left still wondering why, and Matt was left spending more time on his knees.  This has been especially hard on him.  Trying and trying to provide for your family and coming up short, working long hours and never seeing the fruits of those labors... until now, no pun intended.

Last night was a knock at the door with an adorable 2 year old standing there.  She handed us an envelope and said "Merry Christmas" in this really sweet voice with a smile that would melt snow.  We didn't know who the girl was and assumed that there was a Christmas card inside.  It wasn't until after she was gone that we opened the envelope and saw something unbelievable.  A stack of bills and no note.  No way to say thank you for the gift.  No way to explain what this has meant to me and my family.  No way to express our gratitude at the timing of such a gift.  Our kids were there for this moment and although they probably didn't process the amount, their comment was maybe we could go buy some cereal now.  

I love my family.  I love Matt and his unfailing commitment to keep our family together.  I love how supportive he is in me.  I love when he hugs me.  Good days and bad, and everywhere in between.  I love that some of our kids will eat straight up oatmeal every morning without complaint and the ones who hate oatmeal will eat soup and beans for dinner without complaint.  I love that they get so excited over apples and oranges and they think of buying cereal instead of toys.  I love that they will endure teasing at school about worn out clothes and coats and reduced lunches and instead find friends who are in similar situations.  I love that they were the most excited I have seen them at Dollar Tree buying each other gifts.  I love that the pressure of the holidays are gone.  And the only thing left to worry about is how to say sorry to Matt for airing our dirty laundry to the cyber world.  I love that there are people out there who love us and are concerned for our well-being.  I wish I could say thank you in person to each individual who has ever helped us.  Many of you have been our emotional strength.  I am especially grateful for a Heavenly Father who hears and answers prayers, who knows our needs and for a Savior who came and lived as we do, has been in our shoes, and has paid the price for my Ultimate Gift.

Still here

So I didn't fall off the deep end.  I have just been enjoying the actual art of living life instead of blogging about it.  And now that orientation at work is over, I am hoping to be back to blogging about all the chaos at our house, if I can find the time.  So much has happened over the last six months, but really (aside from our adorable kids) it's not that great so it's kind of nice to just skip it all and start fresh.  

So today I had a great day with my kids.  I am still waiting for Matt to get home from working odds and end jobs.  I worked last night and taught preschool this morning, I watched a movie with Creed, Annie, and Jersey that I had to rewind 5 times because I kept dozing off during it and really wanted to know how it ends so we can return it to the Redbox.  I then worked on homework with the kids and did some major catch- up with Sage and helped Autumn finish a report due tomorrow.  Then we went to tumbling where Sage actually tried her very hardest the whole time.  She has had some minor set backs with her confidence that has carried over to her tumbling, but after today I know that she will get back to where she was and move forward from there.  I love her bubbly personality and I have deeply missed it these last 6 weeks.  After tumbling we went to the church for Relief Society were the kids played in the nursery and I enjoyed a yummy dinner where I ate twice as much food as I should have to make up for the lack of eating over the last 36 hours.  (I never eat well at work and we didn't have much in the house anyway.)  Jersey even went to the nursery so I could enjoy the Christmas program.  The kids all got candy after and got to bed by 8:30pm, which is really good for me.  Matt is better at getting them to bed on time.  So after doing a bit of nothing, I decided that this would be as good as any place to start updating.  

On Sunday night, the Schaugaards had an adult family home evening.  This is something we did a few years ago and I really enjoyed it.  It was a great opportunity to gather as an eternal family and discuss how we can improve spiritually.  Part of the draw is seeing Matt's dad in a patriarch roll.  His spirituality amazes me every time I am lucky enough to be a part of it.  He has a greater understanding of the gospel and reminds me of Lehi in the Book of Mormon.  I would like to think of myself as one of the righteous ones married to Nephi or Sam, but in all reality, I have so much to learn before I can truly understand things at his level.  I find myself in the city of Jerusalem still unaware of the truth.  As part of our "assignment" for FHE I need to explore where I am at and find a way to move up to the "gauntlet" part of the journey.  I know that none of this makes sense, but writing about it seemed the best way for me.  

So back to the family......Jersey is sad right now because I can no longer hold her and type at the same time.  She is starting to walk and babble and play independently.  It's so nice.  But right now she needs me so I say goodbye to go snuggle with my babe.

aaaggghhhhh!!!!

Almost two months....where does the time go. I promised myself I would take a few minutes and update this blog....and even that has been a struggle all weekend. Jersey is asleep on my lap, so we will see how long this lasts.

I need to download pictures, but something is wrong with the networking for our four computers in our home. Really, who needs four computers? Two laptops and two desktops and not a single one working properly.

But I can update on our life. Matt is as busy as ever. Working while watching kids, baking bread, making cookies, doing yard work, putting in the garden, helping the neighbors with their yard, and checking off my extremely long "honey-do" list. I don't know how he does it.

I have been working as many extras for Primary Children's as I can. I wanted to change my hours from part-time to full-time. But unfortunately there wasn't a full-time position for me. When the unit I work on started slowing down, I started looking for another job. IMC's NICU was hiring and I took a chance. I was offered the position and it is a NICU residency position where they train you. I am so excited for the challenge and so far I love it. The books they have given me for Level 1 training would break your back carrying them. I want to still try to work occasionally up at Primary's when they are busy to keep my skills up, but it is nice to be slightly closer to home and I have been working a lot during the week on a day shift. This had been good for my internal clock. I was getting a little "crazy" with all of the night shifts. There is something rewarding about caring for the really little 24 weekers. And the parents of these miracles are the nicest people you will meet. I love my job!! When I am home, I have been trying to get our kids through their last month of school. Time is busy!!! State testing for weeks, final projects, programs and dance festivals, and weird schedules, plus tumbling and dance performances are coming up so there have been pictures and competitions. Plus I was released from my fabulous calling as a R.S. teacher and put in the Sunday School with the 16-18 year-olds. They are scary!! Okay only from the stand point of ...1. They can tell if you adequately prepared a lesson. 2. They are so cool and well, I have been out of the loop for 10-15 years now. I feel old. 3. We have really good youth and I feel the pressure to teach them what they need to know. 4. I have to teach each week as I am the only teacher. But now I am "forced" to study the gospel every day to prepare. It's amazing how Heavenly Father works.

Autumn is so great! She is doing so well in school. She participated in the school Spanish Immersion Dance Festival. She looked great. More to come on that. She is also taking voice lessons from a lady in our ward and loves it. Next year she is signed up for the school's choir. She has to stay after class and it becomes part of the curriculum so she can't miss days, but it should be fun to sing with other kids her age. She also has her dance recital coming up. She is in a hip hop class with a stinking cool outfit. Autumn has been really interested in driving lately. She like to sit in the driver's seat and pretend. She also asks a lot of questions about turns and speed. What is she thinking!

Sage also participated in the Spanish Dance Festival. She was adorable in her flowy skirt. We have pictures so those are coming. Sage did awesome in her tumbling Spring Thing Competition. She had to practice 4 tumbling passes and then show them to the judges. She placed 2nd in her level. We didn't take any pictures though, bummer. The first pass was 2 front walk-overs, 2 one handed cartwheels, 2 back-walkovers. The 2nd pass was 6 backhand springs. This one she scored really high on. The third was Hand-stand, roll, Jessie, then power round-off 2 backhand springs. The fourth was 2 hurdle side aerials. She looked so good and she is so much smaller and younger than the others in her class. She will move up to class B after next week and she is working on her back tucks.

Jack had a birthday so I will put pictures of that and also he had the opportunity to go to Kemmerer, Wyoming and do some branding and cowboy-ing on a ranch. He loves that kind of stuff. We went on a hike while up at our cabin and Jack was collecting sticks all along the way. He had so many that he could barely keep up. And each stick was something important to him.

Creed also had a birthday. The boys wanted Bakugans and BenTen stuff. I don't even know what the heck that stuff is. But it was at the store. Their cousin Austin is into the Bakugans and they really like him, so that is probably why it is such a big deal. Creed finished up preschool. He had such a great teacher this year who loved Creed for Creed. He passed with flying colors on his report card. He is so blasted smart when it comes to academics. I gave the boys some books for their birthday so they would actually get something other than toys, Creed had already read most of the books and they are at least first grade level. We just got back from our family cabin for the weekend and his favorite game to play up there was Boggle. He liked making words with the letters. And I can't think of anything terrible that he has destroyed.....Oh, wait. I forgot. When we were at his cousin's farwell, Creed went into the dad's office, (Mark), and ate all of his Cadbury mini eggs and threw darts at the walls. There were over a hundred brownies and other treats upstairs....I just don't get it.

Annie is adorable. She has been such a cutey lately. Loving on Jersey, smiling for Matt, playing with the neighbors. Annie has a real knack for remembering people. The other day she went across the street to the empty neighbors house and knocked on the door to play with Mindy. Mindy is our neighbor who moved to Arizona over spring break. We were lucky enough to help them move. Arizona was so warm and glorious. Our family drove down with the neighbors, pulling the jet skis. The kids swapped places and had a blast. I perfected feeding Jersey while in my seat belt and Jersey in her car seat, so we made great time. This is not something that just anyone can manage. It takes years and years of stretching and practice. :)
Then Annie walked around the cabin this last weekend wondering where grandpa was. She thought the cabin was grandpa's house. Probably because that is when she sees my dad the most.

Jersey is getting big. Tall would be a better word. She had her 4 month check up awhile ago and weighed 15 and something pounds. We didn't get an accurate measurement because she was trying to eat the scale. She is 97% for height. And sure enough, most of the clothes that fit are 12 months or bigger. Jersey has become a thumb sucker. We tried with the Binky, but now it is the thumb and she is a much happier person because she can calm herself. Out of six kids, three were or are thumb suckers. What great odds. Well at least we know a good dentist. Jersey is rolling all over the place and one night I went to a friends house for a Girls Night and Jersey sat in a bouncy seat and loved it. We have a bouncy car, but it isn't nearly as cool and she only kind of likes it. On my days off, I try to walk to the school to pick up Jack and take the kids to get out of the house. Jersey loves the stroller or the snuggly carrier. She will usually fall asleep pretty fast. It even works when I am trying to squeeze in a workout on the elliptical or bike. I strap her on and start riding and her little head bobs herself to sleep. Life is quite as long as she is being held. If not, she can really project her voice, or scream. Whatever you want to call it.

Many things have happened over the last couple of months for our families and friends too. My friend Mindy that I mentioned previously had her sweet baby boy Titus. This boy was almost 6 years in the making. We are so excited for her and her family. He will be a very lucky baby. Also some sadness. My cousin was pregnant with her fourth baby, Evan, and he passed on from this life. He was a special boy that already was dealing with more than his little body could handle. My nephew on Matt's side was baptized last year and will leave for his mission on Wednesday. His conversion story is one of the most inspirational things I have heard. He will make such a great missionary, just from the spirit that he radiates. My parents finally were able to take that dream vacation to Alaska. I am so excited for them and I know they are having a blast. They are the most incredible people and such an example of working hard and following the counsel of the church leaders. Some people are going through difficult times right now and are unsure what the future will bring. This would include us, I suppose, but I feel very calm and at peace with the direction that our life is going. I am just so very lucky to be married to Matt. We truly do compliment each other. Life is certainly manageable and even down right spectacular at times!

Twins...or not....

My youngest sister had a baby just a couple of weeks before Jersey came. It was her first and our last. Fun!!! Summer has cute little girl features and well......it's hard to look cute with three chins, but somehow Jersey pulls it off! Jersey has some chub rolls that are require daily assessments to avoid "friction breakdown". Love it. Summer is sporting her blessing dress that her sweet mommy made. It's adorable.

This is what chub looks like when your workin' it.

TAGGED by Steph

6 things that make me Happy!!

1. My hubby, and kids of course. I have the best husband ever who spoils me every day. And kids who are so sweet and tell me they like my hair and give me foot massages when I am stressed out. They also like to cuddle and take naps with me.

2. Naps make me happy.

3. The gospel, including temples and my calling in our ward. Who doesn't like going to the temple....and I love teaching the Relief Society sisters so much. I have an incredible ward and everyone makes comments and participates. I always feel so uplifted and happy when we have had a great lesson and felt the spirit.

4. Parties. Big planned ones and spontaneous small ones. I am always up for a party. Love the atmosphere and energy at a party.

5. Romance. Good books, cheesy movies full of lovey, dovey characters. Heck, I'll take a sweet, romantic commercial.

6. Accomplishments. This could be something from work, school, something my kids or husband have done. Even the dishes and laundry fit into here. A clean house, a really good meal, a project that worked out, a really steamy shower, a good workout.



I tag the GNO girls and anyone from work. Love you guys!!

Autumn's Knowledge Bowl Competition

Autumn has been staying after school one day a week all year to participate in a knowledge bowl competition for her school. This year's theme was "The Arts." We encouraged her to participate because she has a love for the arts and because she is scared stiff in front of people. Especially if she has to say or do something by herself and not in a group. It was not always fun to study and her team didn't win, but I was so proud of her when she answered a bonus question all by herself and got it right earning her team 15 points. That was enough for me. She is such a smart girl and the information they learned was the same stuff I should have learned in my college art appreciation courses. What a great experience for her.

More Creed Fun

And it just doesn't end. The other day, Matt was sitting on our bed working away on his laptop and he looks up to see Creed performing a tightrope act across our second story half wall. Down below is a lovely 15 foot drop to a tiled floor. Creed walked all the way to the end turned around and was heading back to the safe side when Matt "calmly" said, "Creed... get.....down....now." Later that day Creed impressed us with his artistic ability. This kid can do anything. Absolutely no inhibitions.

Bye, Bye to the Locks

Creed's gorgeous long locks are gone for a time. One day I had had enough. His locks were getting in his eyes, he was getting bugged at having to brush and style them, and then he would mess them up right after. So I took the new clippers and chopped them off. I know, I have been getting all kinds of hate mail and protest marches are on-going. The "Edward-like" locks will grow back. They will grow back.

Poor Jack

Feb. 25th started out just like any other day. Kids got up, got dressed for school, came down for breakfast, grabbed their backpacks, and then.....Whoa. Holy Cow!! "Jack, what is up with your cheek?" Jack says, "I don't know, but it hurts." A quick call to the dentist and a few hours later Jack's tooth had a pulpotomy done and antibiotics started. He missed two days of school, not because he felt yucky or was hurting still, but because he looked like this. All better now and his tooth looks great. Really, really funny.

"I Like Big Cheeks and I Cannot Lie"

Jersey can be so animated. And she has a dimple on the right side if you look closely.

Jersey's first bath.....at six weeks old

We are LAZY when it comes to bathing little ones. Jersey spits up a bit so she is "wiped down" every day at least once. But when she really needs a bath, mean mommy lays her on a towel and lathers her up and "showers" her off under the running sink water. She cries and hates it of course but total time=2 minutes. Autumn had been bugging us to give Jersey a bath so she could help. So...we drag out the tub. Fill it with water. Check the temperature. Strip Jersey down. Lay her in the tub. Calm her down. Lather her up. Scrub. Scrub. Scrub. Take pictures. Dry off Jersey. Clean and dry off tub. Put tub back under bed where it is stored. Total time=45 minutes. It's a good thing for cameras to capture those "rare" moments.

Jack-ie??

This was dress-up day with Jack, again. This time it was a little less "manly" and a little more "Tina Turner". The funny thing is Matt is sitting next to me right now and this is the first time he has seen this. His comment was, "Great.....what a fairy."

Daddy Daughter Night--Survivor Style

Autumn and Matt had a great night out at our ward's activity day Survivor Challenge. They won the "Quick Thinking" award. Autumn always loves spending any alone time with her daddy.

I love my girl!!

I promise, she can smile. We just haven't caught it on camera yet. But I still love her.

Blessing Day

Jersey was blessed on February 1st. Matt picked out her dress and I did her hair. Just Kidding! It was such a great day. Matt's sister Kelli had a baby a few weeks before Jersey came so we did a marathon day and had both blessings. It gave us a lot of time to socialize and eat of course. Matt's mom Patty was so willing to have the luncheon at her house which not only is big so everyone fits, but that made it so Kelli and I didn't have to stress getting everything ready at either of our houses. I am so grateful for family. They are golden!

These are the babies with the babysitters. I didn't have to hold Jersey all day except while feeding her obviously. It was a nice little break. Sara with her little brother Mckay and Bronson with Jersey.

You can't tell that Bronson is great with kids at all in this picture..... just precious. Look at those cheeks on Jersey, it's all that eating.

I love that McKay has hair. I didn't get a picture of him in his blessing outfit but it was adorable. It was knitted and had knee-high socks. And he did get his hair done. Sara is so beautiful. She is one of those nieces that had just blown me away, she has grown up to such a great person.

Potty Training Success!!

We made it. Creed slept through the night, in underwear, and woke up dry. He can go 3+ hours between potty trips and hasn't had an accident in awhile. (Minus the time he flooded the bathroom on Monday and got sent to his room. He knows how to play the system.... accident=freedom.) Annie still stays dry every night and can put her underwear back on independently. I am calling it a success and we only have one more to go in about two years. Yeah.

Update.....after 1 week

Potty training has been going on for one week now. Here is the results:
Annie wears a diaper every night and is dry every morning. She can hold it for a few hours. After the first couple of days of reminding her, she now tells us when she needs to go--including #2. She has not had any accidents in at least 4 days.

Creed tried underwear at night for three nights and couldn't stay dry through any of them. He is sleeping on a crib mattress on the floor of our room so that when I am awake feeding the baby, I can take him to the bathroom. Even if he is dry during the night, he is wet by morning. Also during the day he uses the bathroom about every 30 minutes. This has been a little bit of a problem during preschool and church, but thank goodness he has really understanding teachers. He has had a few accidents...usually all from not asking for help when he needs it. So we use a pull-up at night and make sure he is getting his "earned" chocolate candy to keep it positive.

We have been out of the house and didn't need any "change of clothes". For me that is the real success. Things are not perfect yet, but definitely better. In fact all three kids pooped today at the same time and I only had to change 2 diapers. (Both Jersey's of course.) They are getting it and I am thrilled!!!

The Before

So it's no secret that Creed has struggled with the potty training. He is now 3 1/2 and "refuses" to use the potty. He won't poop in it at all. In fact Annie poops in it more than him. Now that Annie is two, we thought maybe we would try a long shot and potty train them both. We have tried everything you can find on google for Creed so I wasn't sure what would work so I made it easy and used what we had. Halloween candy bars from the freezer for #2 and Otterpops from last summer for #1. Creed only had one accident all day and it was at 9 o'clock at night. He even stayed dry during a long nap. Annie on the other hand went through 6 pairs of underwear today. The first pair was the best.....Annie ran in to go potty and forgot to pull down her underwear. She started yelling "mommy" because the pee was squirting out all over her legs. Most accidents were on the kitchen or bathroom floor and I only had to clean a spot on the carpet once. Pretty good for the first day and much better than Creed's first try. That was three days of 10-12 pairs a day and a lot of "deep cleaning". Yuck!!! Two weeks and hopefully it will all be over. Then only one more!!!!!

My Crazy Girl

Annie turned two!! We kept it low key by taking the kids to McDonald's for happy meals and to play in the play area. I know...you are thinking "lame", but we never take our kids to McDonald's and it costs us a fortune. The kids loved it, but we learned that even kids like apple dippers better than fries, not all hamburgers are like Wendy's Jr. bacon cheeseburgers, and if you leave chocolate milk on the table unattended...the boy from the other table is going to swipe it. After all that fun we came back home to open presents and eat dessert. Autumn was in charge of the camera because Matt was trying to finish up a work thing and I was feeding a baby.

So during all that, Annie decided that she wasn't waiting any longer and helped herself to a cupcake.

Then we finally got to blow out her candle. She did great!
(And just so you know...her hair was done twice that day. Annie likes the "mess it up right after mom does it" approach.)

The First Two Weeks

My favorite picture of Jersey so far. But each moment of the first two weeks were not this great.

There was a lot of this......from both of us. Just kidding!! The first few nights were a little backwards, Matt got the flu and a cold and slept in a different room for almost a week. He didn't even hold her for two days. That was hard on him. Me and Jersey had lots of time to bond. Maybe a tad too much.

Just to prove that she still needs something in her mouth at all times.

Ahhh, sweat music to my ears. Quiet, quiet, quiet. Oh, I love this girl so much. :)

For the update: Once Jersey figured out days and nights, it was smooth sailing. She will sleep for 4-5 hours at a time most nights. Last night, after crying inconsolably for 2 hours, she slept for 6 hours straight. How can a parent complain really? She has been so fabulous and is growing so fast already. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 9 oz. at her two week appointment, and she has grown 2 inches. That's what I call cream milk. And no problems to report.

And the poop begins

So we got home from the hospital and decided to have a lounge day. It was much needed. I had been awake all day Friday, all night Friday night, all day Saturday, all but two hours Saturday night, all day Sunday, and most of Sunday night. Jersey likes to eat and doesn't seem to be satisfied without my milk in. So we slept and did nothing all day. Jersey finally pooped tonight and it was a doozy. All over the place. Matt got the opportunity to clean up while I laughed and took pictures. The little squirt has dropped from 7 lbs. 5 oz. to 6 lbs. 12 oz. She looks so skinny. We also opened her Christmas presents that she didn't get to enjoy in time. These are her matching jammies. She is so much fun!!!

What goes through a kid's mind

So Jack was upstairs playing in his room today. He came down and wanted to go to a friend's house but was wearing this lovely outfit with a coat. Obviously we said no, but upon investigating more, it turns out that he had a purpose to his extreme choice. He was dressed up as Ammon. Sometimes I am just amazed at what he thinks about. Incredible.

Jersey Mae is Here!!!

Hey everyone!! She finally came! So Friday night, Matt got Texas Roadhouse HOT buffalo wings for me as take out and we went to his parent's house to watch the amazing Utah game. The buffalo wings have a history as they are what put me in labor to have Annie. (Apparently they have to be Texas Roadhouse and not some other kind.) After the game we came home and we were watching a movie on TV when I jumped up suddenly and ran to the bathroom. My water broke. That has never happened before. When I was sure that was what had happened, we took the kids back to Matt's parents house and headed to the hospital.

I would not have rushed off right away, I was waiting for the contractions to start, but Jersey wasn't moving around at all so I was a little concerned. We got to the hospital and got the monitors on and she was having some cord compression. I had to lay on my side and have oxygen on. This didn't last too long because the buffalo wings kicked in and the contractions were coming quick and right on top of each other. It turns out that she was also posterior. Frankly, this is a crappy way to deliver a baby. Instead of a nice 9.5 cm head, it becomes an 11 0r 12 cm head. And there is a lot of back pain with a posterior baby. I was expecting the easy labor I had with Annie and I was not mentally prepared for the work it took to get Jersey out. My midwife was incredible. She knew just what to say to get me to relax and knew all the great pressure points. It was hard work, but I was able to deliver naturally again. Jersey came out sunny side up and with the cord around her neck twice. She was fine and I was so thrilled to be done that I think I will have no problems accepting this as our last kid.

She is a fabulous eater and sucks on everything; thumbs, pacifiers, me...she only cries when something is not in her mouth...and she can cry loud. The kids love her and Annie says, "My baby." We were able to spend a great weekend with family and friends and be home Sunday night in time for the Monday chaos with school, etc.