Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! 2018 was a tough and trying year from start to finish. Lots of challenges and changes. Every aspect of my life was tried and tested. Thankful to those who helped my family and I get through it. There were things that only a few know about and a few everyone knew about. Even on the last couple days of the year it was tough. A big move, new jobs, school and pregnancy.

William finished his first trimester at Parker University. Passed all his classes. With help from phone calls and text messages to my brother and friends to help with homework. We have been greatly blessed and honestly don't know how we have survived the last 4 1/2 months. Between family and friends back home and the new friends we have met here, we have been sustained and upheld. He starts the new Trimester the 8th, the same time the kids go back. This time he will be taking Physics and Organic Chemistry.

Kids got out of school for winter break on the 21st of December and don't go back until January 8th. Their break is so much longer here. Spencer has to do his first science fair this year, its required for all 4th graders. With the new changes to the youth program in church, Ashleigh gets to start doing Achievement Days since she turns 8 this year. She gets to start with doing pinewood derby with her brother, she is excited that she is starting earlier. Spencer gets to be a deacon a year earlier than we have anticipated as well. lots of hard work for him this year to prepare him. Patrick is learning like crazy and still cute and animated as ever!

I am now 33 weeks pregnant. I had another ultrasound this last week at my appointment to check on my placenta because there was a concern of it possibly moving onto my cervix. Instead it has moved away and we are in the all clear. Baby girl already has her head sitting right on my cervix and she is  measuring at about 4 1/2lbs, at least that is the best estimate from the ultrasound. Last Friday night/Saturday morning she decided she was going to drop. Its hurts so bad. I can hardly get around. It feels as though she is right there, ready to go. I had an intense feeling of possible preterm labor, but the doctor isn't concerned. I opted to rest as much as I could to hopefully get her to calm down and wait. It still hurts to be up and about but not nearly as much. I'm really struggling to get things done around the house. Thankfully, William is understanding and helping me as much as he can. I still have my Christmas decorations up...

We had Christmas. Kids made it out like bandits. They pretty much got everything they wanted or needed. Even baby girl got some good stuff from family. I made William's mom's fudge for the first time by myself. It was a success! Everyone loves it! We still have some. I made my mom's orange rolls for Christmas morning, those are always yummy to eat. Its still weird to do it all ourselves for the holidays.

We are definitely looking forward to an awesome 2019 as we climb closer to our goals and watch our children reach their milestones as they continue to grow. From our family to all of yours, Happy New Year!

More Adventures!

Now lets see, what has happened in the last little bit? Not much but there are a few interesting things.

We finally had the maintenance come and fill the holes in the house right before thanksgiving. Boy was that a night. But, they didn't redo the weather stripping in the doors. Apparently that does not qualify as a hole or gap. Now I'm pretty sure we have to do it ourselves. The guy got most of the holes filled and was working on the last one by our  water heater. I was holding the flashlight while he was filling the hole. He was using a can of spray foam. He was using it and continuously filling the hole without letting the can have a break. Next thing I know there was flames.... William grabbed water, turned off the gas to it and helped him put it out while I got the kids out. They did get it out. I asked the guy if we should call 911 cause he was looking at his arm cautiously. He said no, he was ok. What about the house do I need to call for that? Then the guy just left. I ended up calling 911 to make sure the fire was out and we were safe to be here. They advised me to call the management company and have them come and fix it because we had no water heater and no idea what shape it was in. So I did. The person I called was surprised, apparently the guy never told his boss. So the guy called the contractor and told him, I was to expect him out first thing the next morning, granted this was two days before Thanksgiving. He was not here first thing but I shrugged it off, maybe there was a traffic issue since he was coming from a good distance. All said and done the water heater was turned back on with no issues and able to heat just fine. No problems since.

Then we had Thanksgiving. William did the turkey all by himself. We were able to use the roaster that I got for Christmas last year. It cooks fast! We had all the traditional dishes and ate like royalty. And we even had leftovers for a couple days afterward. I used some leftover turkey for a couple family size pot pies and William had lunch for school the following week. I even made William his favorite pie his mom would make from scratch. He loved it!

We had parent teacher conferences for the older kids. They are doing very well. There was some concern that they were not, but teachers reassured us that they were. Ashleigh is reading very well compared to what we were seeing at home. I think she plays a game with us and thinks she can get away with it. Spencer is adjusting to his new glasses. He rotates between three classrooms during the day for different subjects. He does need some work on writing and giving more details. Trying to work on this. He isn't too thrilled tho. Patrick is cute as ever and getting smarter by the day. We have been working on him practice writing his numbers and letters. Kids are doing great!

I am now 30 weeks pregnant as I write this. I have had a couple doctors visits. There was a concern about me having excessive Braxton hicks contractions. But no change to my cervix so all seems ok. They are still watching my placenta to make sure is doesn't cover my cervix, as it is close. Baby girl is gaining about a pound a month now. She is gonna be huge! Thriving and happy. She is pretty mellow like the others which could be a good thing once she is here. I was able to go over to Parker university and help out the sonography class and have an ultrasound. They were out on clinical but, they don't get many pregnancy ones. So the school tries to help them. I was able to see baby girl again! She has those chubby cheeks and cute little nose already! This made me more excited to meet her. To finally see a face of some sort. I have been slowly working on getting ready. I have been working on her blessing dress and getting close to being done. I made a cute canopy to hang above the crib and finally got that hung. I also started putting clothes in the girls closet. I need more hangers! I think I have finally accepted this pregnancy and excited to meet this sweet girl that is going to come to us. The kids are super excited as well! Ashleigh more so than the boys because she sees the changes in the room as I get stuff ready.

William is finishing up his first trimester of undergrad. Its been a struggle at times but I think he has come out very well. He is so excited to continue this road ahead. Next Trimester starts January 7th and he will be taking Physics and Organic Chem. He has also started to doing deliveries for Shipt, a company where you basically go shop for people and then deliver their orders to them. He has gotten a couple ward members, which is always fun.

We have set up for Christmas and the kids love it! This year I made a cardboard fireplace to put up and its not to bad. We finally have room for one. I have one of my lighted pine garlands on it and the stockings hung on it as well.

Everyone has been healthy for the most part. Had a a week or so of hacking and coughing a couple weeks ago but, nothing serious.

All in all I think things are finally settling and we can enjoy more of our time here. Ill have the rest of the year with William out of school and kids get out the 21st and until the 7th of January when William and the older two go back.

Just been Tough!

Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait for a new post. Things have been tough. I'll try to explain as much as I can.

We have been dealing with the owners not coming and doing maintenance on the house. Since we have moved, we have slowly had roaches move into the house. So gross! I want to burn the house down, but I can't and won't. We sent in a service request for them to take care of the roaches. They sent a pest guy to come. He came and said we have holes all over the house that need to be fixed and he was going to put a barrier around the outside, since the roaches we have been getting are outside type. So after that I had to do another request for the holes, Its been two weeks with no word. These owners have been difficult to get anything done. I have to keep bugging the poor management company since I don't have a number for them. It's all a new ballgame for us, but apparently just life in Texas. Ewwww!!

The kids school is a very nice school. Its a more in depth school compared to what we are used to so it has been a struggle to get used to it. As children are not wanting to do homework and reading as required. I also have not gotten all the info at the beginning like I should have, so it's harder to know everything I should know. It wasn't all laid out for me, but we did arrive shortly before classes began. We have parent teacher conferences coming up and I'll be asking all my questions then.

We have been trying to prepare for baby girl. Finally got our new crib and got it set up! Also trying to sew a few projects for her as well and my machine seized up. Thankful for my mother who is understanding and kind and sending me a new one. The few projects I have been working on are nursing covers, a boppy cover, a canopy to go over the crib, and I have chosen to challenge myself and try to sew a blessing dress. I am excited! I have never done this and its an opportunity for me to take as this will possibly be our last. We also wanted to have William's mother sew the blessing outfit for the next baby, but since she has passed this opportunity is unfortunately gone. We are pretty sure we have a first name picked out! We are still working on a middle or two middle names. We have not decided. I love being pregnant, but this time its just hard for me to get connected because of several reasons. Just trying to take it one day at a time.

This is the first time in several years we will be doing the holidays by ourselves. Its tough. We are used to having family close and celebrating with them. I'll be scouring Pinterest and family for recipes since I now have more mouths to feed and I would like to make our holiday dinners the best and most enjoyable for my family as I can.  Halloween was great! I made all the costumes. I posted the pictures on Facebook. I gotta say I'm proud of how they turned out. Spencer was Ash from Pokemon, Ashleigh was a kitty cat, and Patrick was a scary ghost. They were all happy with them as well.

William is still in Tri 1 of undergrad. But in the second sub term. Each Tri has two sub terms. The end of the Tri is Dec 11th I believe. Super early. He is taking A&P II at the campus, Chem II online and Trig online. He is starting to find his flow in each of his classes. Had to call my brother a few times to help with trig, such a blessing to have that resource. He has finally found a good lab group for Chem that he can actually meet up with and work together on.

It has been colder than usual lately apparently. Just feels like home. Last night it got down into the 30's and been in the 50's during the day.  So nice!

I am thankful for this journey to improve ourselves and do better for ourselves as well. We knew it was going to be hard but it will be worth it in the end. We will be greatly blessed in the end, I know this. I love my little family and everything that each of them bring to it. I am grateful for William and the decision we have made to go on this adventure.

Just some things.

I have been thinking about what i should post about next. Things have pretty much calmed down. We have found that Spencer needs glasses! The school does a yearly exam for new students and we also found on our way down that he was having a hard time seeing signs. So that is one of my next things, we do still need to find a pulmonologist for him as well.

I have been preparing for baby girl. I have found some things that I would like to sew for her. I also have a few ideas to make the girls room more fun! She is still unnamed, but we are bouncing a few names around, there are a couple we really like. Its been tough having to do things little by little this time. I just want to do it all at once. I find it very challenging and frustrating. I was approached by a sister in my ward about a shower, she wanted to see if I was planning one or knew if anyone was and would like to. Nothing was on the books as of yet. But she has offered. This will be nice since I had gotten rid of a lot of items for the move, we weren't sure what we were having at the time and didn't want to move it all. So I am grateful!

Pregnancy is going pretty well. I am now 20 1/2 weeks and already huge! The heat doesn't help much. I have been dealing with an angry shoulder tho. I can't do much before I aggravate it. I have been icing and putting Deep Blue essential oils trading off with Bio-freeze. I have been suggested another cream by the Chiro we have found here, we just need to find where to get it so I can use it. The school didn't have it in their store like other ones.

Kids have been doing well in school for the most part. Ashleigh is struggling with her reading but we are working with her teacher and trying to help her as best we can. We have gotten Spencer on his 504 and rolling forward. They both still enjoy it! Which is good! The school they are attending is a magnet school so its quite a bit more focused on life skills as well as academics, which we have found to our liking. The school has a garden that they get to work in and they have an auditorium, it has climbing walls in the gym for the full length of one side and half of the another. The kids were stoked they get to eat lunch in their actual lunch room for once. At their old school they had to eat lunch in their classrooms because the cafeteria was too small.

William is still taking his classes, Right now its A&P and Chem I. A&P is all review for the most part since this was what he learned and did previously. He also taught quite a bit of it as well. Chemistry is showing to be more tough but, he is doing his best and I have only seen one temper tantrum from him as of yet!

We miss the cool down fall brings in Spokane. Its still 85-90 degrees here, thankfully that's about the highest it gets. Makes it hard to get into the fall spirit. Doesn't feel like October, still fell like I'm in the summer. There are a lot of things different here. Did you know they use different cement/asphalt here? its more rock based. There are green trees everywhere! which I don't mind one bit. Pine trees are pretty but a pain to clean up after. A lot of the trees are acorn trees. We did find a tree the other day that drops a seed or fruit the size of an orange that is green, no idea what its called or what they are. All the parks have a ton of trees around them for shade, obviously! Everything is flat. When they get rain storms it doesn't really drizzle, it just dumps! All service vehicles, like schools and construction ones, have lights allover it not just emergency response vehicles. When there are emergency vehicles coming through people don't stop till last minute. They try to get through the intersection before them. We have seen a few close calls and once accident due to this.

Getting the ball rolling

Once we got here and got moved into the house we still had several things to do. First, we had to get the kids enrolled in school. The school district here starts on the 20th of August. That was a process, I had to take the kids to get one more shot that isn’t required in the state of Washington, the Hepatitis A, they got one shot then and get another in 6 months. Thankfully, they have clinics that do immunizations for cheap. Also I had to call a friend to grab their official state birth certificates (thank you Peperli!!!). I didn’t think about it as we were preparing, our old school accepted hospital copies. A friend sent us them because it would take 6 to 8 weeks and $60 per birth cert to get here. Thankfully the school let me sign a waiver so they could start school but have their birth certificates here within 30 days or they will be unenrolled from school. We also had another issue where Ashleigh was possibly having to go to another school because technically the first grade was full. They give a week grace period for those who were previously enrolled at the school and if they didn’t show or get enrolled by that Friday they were out. So after we got all that figured out they started the 23rd of August.

Next, we had to get our insurance figured out. Since I am pregnant and William is a student we qualified for Medicaid. Thankfully this process was pretty painless. The only real issues was shortly after we got here Spencer started to show signs of one of his typical flare ups or sickness. We still had not found a doctor and just got our insurance. I had to take him to the urgent care. I also learned that this was allergy season here. So we got him some meds and we were good to go. We are still trying to find a pediatric pulmonologist for him, apparently they are pretty limited for our insurance and everyone who I was referred to no longer or doesn’t take it. I plan on scheduling a well child for all the kids here soon with the doctor our insurance recommended and see if they can refer us to one.

Thirdly, we had to make sure William’s financial aid was already to go for school to start on the 5th. The financial aid advisor that is over him was very kind and she understood our long move and helped us get ahead for books and other items for his classes. William is taking 19 credits this trimester! That’s a lot. He is taking A&P I and II. Chem I and II and Trig. They have the tri set into two 7 week periods tho so it’s not all at once. So right now he takes A&P I and Chem I till middle to end of October then the rest of the classes after that till Dec. A&P seems to be all review with a little extra here and there. Chemistry is proving a bit more difficult but he is trying his best. He goes over to campus Mon, Wed, Friday mornings for A&P, and chem is all online.

The first couple weeks seemed to be pretty tough with the house not being move in ready and getting life started here. Our new ward here in Dallas is nice. The people have been nice and welcoming, the kids have already made friends and the choir is small, but talented. William has already found himself part of a mens quartet! The second counselor in the bishopric is a chiropractor and a Parker alum, he has encouraged us to utilize him as a resource for any questions or assistance we might need. William has already been assigned to the cub scouts. The bishopric said they won't give me anything too strenuous until the baby comes, we'll see how that pans out.

Texas!

For the majority of our marriage, Kaytie and William have been confined to at most a 2 bedroom living area. Sure we spent about 8 months living with Grandpa and Grandma Bouvier while William was in massage school, but our space was limited to a pair of bedrooms and a half bath. When looking for living quarters here in Dallas, we were determined to get out of the apartment scene. We still have to budget well, but it happened. We were able to secure a 3 bedroom home with great space and both a front and back yard! We had never had such freedom! The children had all been crammed into a bedroom slightly smaller than the ones they enjoy now. Ashleigh has her own room and the boys are loving their space without their sister and her girly stuff girling the joint up. The bedroom Kaytie and William share is a bit of a downgrade space-wise, but comfortable.

Please don't let me lead you to believe that we were over the moon in love with the place. Sure the size in comparison to our previous lodging seemed palatial, but there were just a few issues with them. The first thing we noticed was a startling lack of a refrigerator. Next we happened to glance in the bathroom and our collective hearts sank when we saw the bath tub. It was disgusting. Paint peeling, particles of wood, dirt, and who knows what else littered within. It was as if a contractor installed the ceiling after the tub was placed and neglected to clean after himself. A few of the floor boards in the living room are loose and the AC unit in Ashleigh's room makes a terrible din when in use. We couldn't help but be reluctantly grateful, because we had a roof over our heads and both William and Kaytie could see potential in the place.

Over the next few days we pestered the landlord, through the property company, about getting a fridge, and having the bath tub repaired. William was the only soul brave enough to chance the tub for a brief, but much needed shower, and discovered that there was a substantial enough clog in the drain that upon completion of the shower, he was standing in ankle-deep dross. About an hour later it was drained. We arrived on a Tuesday, the bathtub was refinished that Saturday... We bathed the children in a plastic tote. Thursday we were delivered a fridge! By no means a new one, and a tad on the large size we thought. The day after we plugged it in (you have to let the freon settle after it has spent any amount of time on it's back or side) anxious with anticipation to go grocery shopping. Alas that evening we discovered that the fridge didn't work properly. The freezer section didn't even get cold enough to qualify as a refrigerator! Of course we promptly notified the landlord, again through the property management company, but it would be another week before a functioning fridge would be delivered, and another week after before the broke fridge was taken out! Needless to say we were not impressed. As a result we actually got a substantial reduction in our rent that first month, at least they got one thing right.

Once the basics of the bathtub and refrigerator were resolved, it actually started to feel like home. A few cosmetic details for William to take care of and really make him feel like he was contributing in a masculine way to the household. We are pretty much unpacked with just a handful of boxes here and there, but we have gotten to the point that we know where everything is and are comfortable moving around in the dark. Some things are taking longer to get used to, like finding the odd cockroach in the kitchen after hours... Getting used to cooking on a gas stove... Water from the tap not actually getting cold... And the temperature bottoming out at 74 degrees overnight. It has been quite the adventure and we look forward to more adventures in the coming weeks, months, years.

Thanks for tagging along on our epic adventure!

Big News!

I interrupt our story to bring you some big news! Today I had my first appointment with my new OB/GYN here in Texas. The office is very nice and looks really good. They have everything in the office that you need. So you have the ultrasound tech there, the lab and your OB all in one office. I am not used to this. Usually I have to go around town and go do all my tests. Today we were happily surprised with an ultrasound. We knew it was a possibility since I am new to the office. While we were at the ultrasound we found out what we will be having next! Also found that my placenta is posterior, but low lying. Meaning my placenta is close to my cervix and if it stays it could cover the opening. Which may mean a C-section. The doctor isn't too concerned, but we are going to watch it and see which way it goes. After the ultrasound we met my new OB and, much like my old one, she was not concerned about me one bit. I tend to have easy, low-risk pregnancies.

After we were all done we went on a mission to figure out a way to share the news with Spencer and Ashleigh, who were at school at the time. Patrick found out when we did and he was excited! He was carrying the Ultrasound pictures everywhere! Such a proud big brother to be!

This is part of what we did for them:

Sorry its short we had to cut it down to upload it. We are going to find a way to get the whole video up.

We are excited to have another girl! We are now even, and everyone has someone to play with. Ashleigh is ecstatic! She can't wait to share her room. I am so excited to make it girly and fun!

I have been feeling well. Lots of pelvic and back issues but that's to be expected while I am pregnant, and usually goes away after a quick massage to the area. We have our next appointment in a month with another ultrasound!  Because I am only 17 weeks (turning 18 tomorrow) they prefer to do the big ultrasound around 20 weeks or further. So that will be fun to get another little peek.

Apparently the hospital is very nice and they just remodeled the maternity wing as well. We look forward to taking a tour in a couple months to acquaint ourselves with the location so that we aren't scrambling last minute to figure out where we need to be when it's time. The last baby came quick, so we won't have a lot of time when I go into labor for real.