Myra is 4 months old!!!



A almost smile!



Really!  I can't believe it!  Where have the 4 months gone???  Time has just flown by!!!  We celebrated by going to the Denver museum of Nature and Science... OK we went to the museum because it was free, it just happened to be on Myra's 4 month mark.  Since baby's change and grow soooooo fast I thought I would continue with doing a list of Myra's accomplishments...



Daddy and Myra
at the Denver museum



 *Still wiggles a lot!  Turns onto side all the time, but still does not explore going all the way over (still doesn't get a lot of time to wiggle on the ground...)

*Sleeps good... mostly...  just not at MY bed time

*Loves to eat! But from bottles... about done with the whole nursing thing :(

*Smiles even more than last month.    Still not for the camera :(  But will smile when talked too.

*Laughs now... Not for me as much as for other people, and not for camera

*LOVES her tongue... and still licks EVERYTHING with it!!!  It is always out of her mouth!

*Has become a "Free Pee-er"!... Pees (almost) ever time the diaper is removed... You'd think it was just a coincidence, except for the smug little smile on her face... She thinks it's funny!

Caught Myra's smile!
Love her!!!

*Still long and thin... not sure numbers yet, but everyone still thinks she is a baby doll (I have been asked... really you think a grown woman with five other kids is just going to carry around a baby doll for fun???).  Even while at the museum when Myra was in the stroller covered up with a blanket, people thought the stroller was empty!

*Her hair still looks red (and there is still not lots)!

*Eyes are still blue!

*Still most loved Baby EVER!!!

Josh is Amazing!



Josh before the race!



I love my husband!  Have I said that lately??? Well I do!  And I am proud of him too!  Josh ran a 5k today with his sister.  I am so proud of them both!  I have never ran much at all (I even got out of it in high school for "medical reasons") let alone a 5k.  And I think it is awesome that they ran this today.  Josh has been running a lot lately to train for today.  We have gone out as a family and walked/ran/rode bike/rode in stroller a couple of times in our neighborhood as part of his training.  The street near us is a circle and we have figured out that it is almost a mile around.  I walk the loop once while pushing the stroller and carrying Myra in the snuggly and sometimes pushing Savannah's trike (up the hills).  Josh runs the loop twice while I walk and I am trying hard to make it home at the same time as he does for the second loop.  The three big kids ride their bikes and try to keep up with Josh. It has been a lot of fun, and I have even ran a little (on the down hills when I don't have to push Savannah).  It has been a lot of fun.  And I look forward to running at a future date.



Josh and Jaimee
before the race!



But back to Josh...  He ran the 5k today and came in with the time of 28:45.  He was disappointed that he didn't come in under 27 minutes.  But I think he did great. and he came in before the SWAT team :)  What amazes me even more though is that we got home from the 5k and Josh didn't sit down and take the rest of the day off (like most likely would need to do), but he showered and headed into work!!!  And not for some little half day/few hours...  He didn't leave work until after 7pm!  Amazing!!!



All most finished!





I love that Josh runs!  I love that the kids like to run because of him.  They love to go with him when he goes out running.  They usually ride their bikes, but I know that there will be a time when they start running with Josh in hopes of beating him.  Ben wrote this up today after we got home from the 5k...



Ben's goals

In case you can't read it, it say... "to do when in teen's"

                                               *"beat dad's recored of 28:45 on the 5k"

                                               *"Get to marothon"

I am so proud!!!



Fall BREAK!!!

Josh Jr. was a big help
and carried Myra a lot

This is the first week of fall break for my kids... literally...  It has been such a fun week, I can't wait for next week! 

The kids school district gets out for two weeks each fall, for I'm not sure what.  I actually like it, because it is a great time to travel as not many other schools are out.  So things are a lot less busy.  But sadly this year we are not going to go on any trips.  But we thought that we could do some fun things around Colorado Springs and up in Denver.



This week started and things didn't go according to plan...  I was up A LOT Sunday night into Monday morning...  I went back to bed as everyone was getting up.  My sweet Josh decided I need a good nap and herded the kids out of our room so I could sleep.  Now I knew I was tired, but I didn't think I would really be able to go back to sleep.  But I did, and the next thing I knew it had been four hours...  And Josh had taken all the kids to McDonald's for lunch.  I went and joined them late.  Josh then took four of the kids with him to Basketball, while I went shopping...



Savannah and her friend



Josh surprised me Monday night with a date!  It was nice to go out to dinner together and then do a little shopping...

Monday night Catalina started to come down with something... And has been running a fever off and on since then... four days later!  She has also thrown up, not eaten much and had the runs!  Fun, fun for fall break...

Tuesday I thought we would take it easy since we had done SO much on Monday (OK really didn't, but I missed out on sleep Monday night because of a sick little Cat)...  And the kids got VERY bored...  And started to fight...  My three oldest spent a little of the afternoon (an hour or two) in time out on their beds because of fighting...

Rhino at the Denver Zoo



I think that they had all just barely gotten out of time out when Savannah got hurt...  Now I'm not a mean mom (most of the time), but Savannah doesn't do well with pain...  So when she cried about her arm being "broke" I didn't rush to fix her up.  I made her come find me...  And I did look at her arm, but my X-Ray vision wasn't working too well...



Brooklyn and Ben
with the Brown's boys



Little know fact about me...  I hate to go to the Doctor!  Especially if there is nothing wrong!  So I debated for a couple of hours about Savannah...  Her arm was only a little bit swollen...  And there was NO bruises... And she did not want to go to the doctor...  And Josh wasn't home and there was NO way I wanted to take 6 kids to the ER...

Josh got home about bed time... At that point Savannah was saying that her arm/wrist didn't really hurt and she still didn't want to go to the doctor...  And I started to feel blah... So we decided to let her sleep on it and we'd go in the morning if we needed to...



Cat was sweet to smile
even though
she didn't feel good



Morning comes and Savannah tells Josh that her arm doesn't hurt... And then Josh Leaves and goes to work, and Savannah begins to cry because her arm really does hurt...  We were suppose to leave at 8:30 to go up to Denver on Wednesday...  Cat is still sick and didn't sleep all that great (and neither did I) and Savannah's arm hurts.  I cancel the trip to Denver... And make appointment for the Doctors...



Long story short (I know way too late) Savannah decides her arm doesn't hurt anymore and I decide That Cat can just hang out in the stroller while not feeling good, and I head up to the Zoo in Denver with my friend any ways.  We cancel Savannah's appointment with the thought that I would just keep an eye on her and she how she does...



Savannah and her PINK cast



Savannah did great, and she used her arm some... But she would complain if you grabbed that arm and even cried when it got bumped...

So Thursday morning (after my 4th night of not much sleep)  I made another appointment to take Savannah to the doctor (and Cat).  Cat just has a viral bug going around and should be better soon, but the doctor wanted to send Savannah off for x-rays...



And sure enough Savannah has broken her arm!!!  Today we went and got a BRIGHT PINK cast put on her little arm.  She should only have to wear it for two weeks, and it doesn't seem to bother her, except for the itching...  Good thing the summers over and we weren't going to Thermopolas this fall break!

All smiles!

Joshua Robert Case Junior!!!



Josh Jr.  September 2010



Josh Jr. is 11 today!  These last 11 years have gone by WAY to fast!!!  I thought I would follow suit and Blog about Josh Jr. today.  To start with Josh Jr. was the only one of our kids whose name was set BEFORE we went to the hospital (I did a blog back in January about the naming of all our kids ).  What wasn't set was what he would be called, but I am getting ahead of myself... Let;s start at the beginning... OK not "the beginning" because no one wants to go back that far :)



Josh Jr. around 9 months old



We found out we were pregnant with Josh Jr. on February 2nd.  I blogged about it back on February 2nd, so I will save you that story (if you want to read it you will have to go find it, because I still haven't figured out how to add a link... Ok I haven't tried either).  I had hated being on birth control because it made me sick... a lot.  And I figured if I was going to be sick anyways I might as well have a reason.  Little did I know HOW sick I would get.  I only lost my standared 20 lbs.  But back then I was smaller than I am now, and so 20 lbs. was A LOT.  I ended up having to go to the ER and get IV's to be rehydrate.  I was also placed on bed rest for two weeks to help my body get over the dehydration.  I was working at this time for a Chiropractor.  I worked three days a week from 8am until 6pm (most nights... sometimes it would be 6:30 or 7).  The day after we found out we were pregnant I went in to work and the nice sectary (I think her name was Katherine) asked if we could use a washer and dryer.  We said yes, and that is the washer we are using to this day (I think it is probably older than Josh and I, but it keeps cleaning the clothes).



Summer 2000



I found out shortly into the pregnancy that I had ecoili poisoning.  Not sure even now where I got it from, but I know it didn't help me not be sick.  I also had many UTI's.  And after the 5th one I ended up in the hospital for a night to get IV antibiotics.  I then spent the rest of the pregnancy on antibiotics.

My due date was September 28th, 1999 (I did not have a baby on that date until 2005...).  My OBGYN was Sally Doyle, and I did not like her.  But I was new to having a baby, and wasn't sure of what to expect, but she was not so great.  I only stayed because of the nurse practitioner that worked in her office.  Sandy was GREAT (so great that we switched to the doctor that she was working for when I was pregnant with Ben). 




Spring 2001



Josh and I were able to go to Hawaii on the 30th of April for our one year anniversary.  We went for a week, and it was a fabulous week.  It was the only week during the WHOLE pregnancy that I didn't get sick.  I never once threw up in Hawaii.  It wasn't until the plane was landing back in Colorado Springs...  We had so much fun in Hawaii.  I tried to convince Josh that would we should move there...  It didn't work :(



The rest of the pregnancy was uneventful.  I had stopped working right before we went to Hawaii.  So I spent the next few months getting ready to be a Mom.  Josh and his Dad made a cradle for Josh Jr. to sleep in.  It is beautiful!!!  And all of our children have spent the first few months of their life sleeping in it.  We decided to stay in our little one room apartment after Josh Jr. was born and save up for a house.  The dining room became the "nursery".  Our theme was "Winnie the Pooh".



Fall 2007



September 28th came and went and there was no baby.  October 5th, Josh and I went over to the Case's to play games with everyone... I mean everyone!  Both sides of the family.  It was fun, but there was still no promise of a baby coming...



I woke up early on the 6th... Real early!  I woke at 3:30am with pains and got excited... I sat and read different books and waited...  Hoping that the contractions would get faster, and stronger, and more regular.  And they did.  They got to where they were 5minutes apart regularly and pretty strong (or so I thought).  I waited for about a half an hour like that to make sure before I woke up Josh...  And just as I was going to wake up Josh they started to slow down... And slow down...  Josh got up and left to be at work by 7am.  And I laid down to sleep.



Josh Jr.'s Baptisum



I don't know if the contractions stopped or if I was just too tired to notice them, but I went to sleep, and slept!  I woke up at 10:30 am and was happy to see that I was still having contractions.  I had a Dr.s appointment that afternoon and wasn't sure if I should go to the Dr.s or just go to the hospital.  I showered and called Josh, and called my Mom.  Right before noon I called the Dr.s office.  They said I should probably just go to the hospital, because I would probably end up there.  So I called my mom to come and get me.  I also told Josh to meet me at the hospital.  Josh stopped to get his mom on the way (her car was in the shop).  I think that Josh was hoping to be too slow in getting to the hospital and miss everything...  Little did he know.

My mom and I got to the hospital around 1:30.  We checked in at the ER and they took me up stairs to L & D.  The ER teck that took me up asked if this was my first child...  I said yes...  He said good luck we'll see you back here in a few days :(  I hoped not...  I was already eight days late!



Spring 2008



The rest of the afternoon was long and boring...  Josh got to the hospital in plenty of time...  And so did EVERYONE else!  This was the first grand baby in the Case side, and the first grand baby born in Colorado on the Lockard side.  So everyone came out to wait!  I feel bad now.  They defiantly should have picked one of the other deliveries...  They would have had a much shorter wait.  Around 6:30 the doctor on call showed up to see how things were going.  He broke my water and discovered that there was meconium staining, which meant that they would need to suction the baby real good when he was born.  Somewhere around 7 - 7:30 Josh kicked all the waiting fans out of the room.  Only our moms stayed to help.  I didn't have an epidural (the Dr. I talked with about it wasn't sure how well it would work because of my back surgery... not that I had really wanted one anyways), but I did have some meds through my IV to help ease the pain. I must have hyperventilated some, because my jaw started to lock up.  So I asked for a bag to breath in to help relax my jaw (it worked).





Disneyland March 2008



Joshua Robert Case Junior came in to our life at 8:50pm.  He was a little green from the meconium, but a beautiful little boy.  He was 8 lbs 2 oz, and 20 1/4 inches long.  He had a little light colored hair and dark blue eyes (and they are still blue).  And we were ecstatic!  Everyone came in to see the addition to the family.

Later that night they had to take Joshua (that is what we called him at that point) away to clean him up and make sure everything was in order.  They told us they would need him for about an hour and then we could get him back.  About and hour and a half later I was getting nervous about him not being back.  I called the nurse and asked "How do I go about getting THAT baby back"  Not my baby...  THAT baby!  Josh also shaved off his goatee that he had been growing since May (I am really sorry I don't have any picture I can show of this...  I need to get a scanner so I could show you, but it was LONG...  Long enough for me to braid!).





Splash Mountian



The next day Joshua's nurse gave us a heart attack.  She came in to explain that something had gone wrong when Joshua was born...  And they would need to do paper work and fix somethings...  Now mind you this was our first baby...  At this point Josh and I are trying real hard to not freak out...  What happened was that when they weighed Joshua the scale had not converted the weight from kilograms to pounds right.  Joshua was really only 6 lbs. 15 oz, at birth.  Josh and I ask the nurse what this means and she tells us... Well we have to redo his foot print and redo some paper work...  REALLY!!!  Paper work???  Do think maybe you could phrase things different so you don't scare the crap out of us next time!!!



swimming



We took Joshua home from the hospital on Friday October 8th.  I worried the whole time that I didn't have him in the car seat right and that he wouldn't be able to breath.  Josh joked "Did his head fall off???"  And that became his joke for me when he thought I was worring too much!

I could go on and on about Joshua and those first few days with my new baby, but then this would be WAY too long, and I would never finish.  So I will just have to save those stories for another time.   Happy Birthday Joshua Robert Case Junior!  We love you!

Picture Preview

My sister recently took picture of my three youngest kids... Here is a preview of what is coming!



Myra - 3 months old



New meals

I blogged earlier that I had planned out new meals for two months.  It is now the end of the first month...  And I actually made 12 out of the 20 meals I had planned (now all of the meals weren't new, but at least half of them were).  None of them have been bad, but I can tell that some of them are not the kids favorite :)  But I will say, it has been a lot more fun cooking dinner.  The anticipation of trying something new has made cooking fun for me!


Some of the new things we tried...


*Fried Chicken - Pretty good, but I burned my finger
*Chicken Quesidillas - Brooklyn LOVES them... the ithers not as much
*Loaded Mashed Patato Cassarole - Really good but needs more...
*Chicken Parmesan Risotto - Everybody loves
*Coney Island Sandwiches - A lot better than I thought they be... messy


Hopefilly we will try even more yummy dishes this next month!