Holiday Letter

Wow what an amazing year this has brought our family. So much has changed in what seems so little time. This year we thought we would write this letter to send with our Christmas cards so all of you can know what has happen to us.

In April we welcomed our latest addition to our growing family. Bradley Alexander Moore was born April 9 @ 12:35am. He was a big boy weighing in at 9lbs 1oz, and he was 21 ½ inches long. He did has some breathing issues when he was born do to part of his lungs not expanding all the way and was in the NICU for 5 days on antibiotics. We were so glad to be able to finally bring him home. He of course now is 8 months old and just brings us such joy every day. Just this past weekend he started crawling! He is now weighting in at almost 20lbs and 28 inches long. He says three words, “mama”, “dada”, and “hi”.

In May, Ivory finished 1^st grade top of her class. She is reading at almost a 7^th grade level and currently is reading the Harry Potter series. She is on book 3! There is nothing this girl can’t do after she puts her mind to it. She is now in the 2^nd grade and is just excelling.  Every Thursday she brings home the past week’s worth of school work and I swear it is just “A’s”.   At the end of this coming year she is going to be tested for a gifted program for next year. I think this will really benefit her so she doesn’t become bored in class.

Sara started kindergarten here this past August. She has been just doing wondering in it. She picks up on a lot of things very well. She just loves the fact that she is now in school. When we moved this year we had to switch her to home school just for the time being do to know bus to get her to school.  Next year she will be back into full time regular school.

Both of the girls are now doing Girl Scouts and have their first project they are going to be doing tomorrow. They have been making Christmas Cards to send to the troops overseas and our going to go caroling at the local nursing home. They are learning so much through Girl Scouts. Oh yeah we start selling Girl Scout cookies here next month. If you want to order some we will ship to you just let us know *hint hint*.

In July we welcomed a new brother in law into the family. Jennifer married Robert Harnden. The wedding was beautiful. All six that is right six kids looked amazing. Jennifer and Robert have such a beautiful family! Robert is also an awesome brother in law so welcome to the family! You are now suck with all of us crazy people!

In August we took a trip to Oroville, CA. Stopping in Reno to see family. It was great to be able to spend time with everyone. The kids had a blast and I know all of you that were there loved seeing the kids. Speaking of stopping in Reno I need to give a shout out to Uncle Rob and his wife Misty who welcomed there first little girl Truly into the world on November 27^th. She is Beautiful you too! If you want copies of the photos from the trip please let us know. We can send them to your local Walgreens to be picked up. We are not sure if the whole family will be going back to California here in 2010. AJ is planning to for her 10 year reunion we will keep you all posted. 

In September Dell in Twin Falls, ID announced that they would be closing their Twin Falls call center. This of course was bad news for us. Josh has been working at Dell since April 2005. We pretty much had a choice. Stay in Idaho and fight 500 other people for barely any jobs or apply and transfer to the Oklahoma center. Keep our job, keep our benefits, and keep our pay. Well we took the job in Oklahoma and moved out here to Moore, OK (right outside OKC) in October. Not only did they pay for the move they also gave Josh a raise. We are now in a cute 3bd 1ba house with our dogs Blackie (lab) and Romper (beagle). Our back yard is great size and all fenced!

We sure do miss all of our family. It has been such a hard few months and very stressful. Thank you to all of you that have helped and even just been there to listen to us vent during these past couple months. We hope that all of you have a great Christmas! It may be just us here at our house but you are all in our hearts. Plus maybe it is time for Josh, the kids, and I to make our own holiday traditions!

May you all have a great start to a New Year. I am not sure what 2010 has in hold for us but hopefully a little calmer than 2009! We love you all! Please keep in touch!

Happy Holidays!

Wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holiday from all of us to all of  you!

 

Bradley is now CRAWLING!

We are so excited that our little guy is now crawling. He is all over the place and having fun while doing it. It is just such a wonder to watch him. He still gets a bit frustrated at times but he is getting over it and just crawling away. I just love him so much! Can't believe he is 8 months!!

New Home

We have started to settle into our new life here in Oklahoma. Ivory is attending public school. Do to the schools being so full here they have to transfer her to a different school. She doesn't mind her school. She is still getting to know everything. As figured she is testing high for all subjects in a the class. Sara is being home schooled. I choose this because I don't see why I should send her to school for 2 hours. She is use to a 7 hour day and so far loves the at home deal. Both girls are in Girl Scouts and are loving it.
Josh is back and work. The building is so different. There is building A and B and they are 3 stories high! The building really is amazing! kids get to check it out Thursday when we go to the fall festival there.
As for me I am dealing. It is so hard being away from my whole family. I have no one here and it just sucks. Hopefully it will get better!

OKC here we come

It is official we are moving to Oklahoma City. This is such a big move for us but we are all a bit excited to see what the future holds. We shall be leaving Idaho here in the next couple weeks. We are looking to be in OKC by the 15th of October. We currently have a couple rental applications out so waiting patiently to see what house we get. I will keep all posted on anything else that comes up. Pray for us and wish us luck!!

:(

Well today we got notice that Dell is closing their Twin Falls site that Josh currently works at. Which mean he will be laid off sometime between the next 6wks- Jan 2010. We have the option to applying for a position and moving to Oklahoma if he gets it. Being that 500 people are being let off I am not sure how many are willing to move and fight for those positions. We are leaning that way because it would be better for us and the kids. Just pray that this is God's plan for us and everything will work out.

Bradley 5 months!

It is really amazing that my little guy is now 5 months old! He is such a joy in our life right now. He is really starting to get his own personality. He is currently trying to sit up on his own and scoot around the floor. Got to watch it sometimes he will also try to roll where he wants to go :) He loves playing with his toys and enjoys bath time. He even gets so excited when you pick him up he has a laugh scream he does.
Right now he is loving going for walks. Put him in the stroller and he knows what time it is :) .

 

He loves to spend time with his sisters and gets all excited when they get home from school. The girls help out so much with him. Like playing with him so I can get some house work done. 

5 months down years to go!

School has started back up!

Well this year both the girls are off to school. WOOT for me! Ivory is a big 2nd grader and Sara is in Kindergarten and she got into the FULL DAY class which is awesome! They started Aug 24th and are loving it. It has been interesting just being me and Bradley home during the day but I think we have finally gotten into a routine that works for us. Just think in 5 years they will all be in school!

Vacation Trip Pictures!

 

Just a few of the pictures from vacation. As you can tell we had a lot of fun!

Month of Aug

Here it is the beginning of September and I notice that I have not written anything for August and man has it been a busy month. We took our first vacation in a while and drove to California to visit with family and friends. Kids had a blast and even Bradley did well on the trip. To the left is a picture of Ali and the girls in the Big Cheese!

It was so nice to get to spend time with Josh's mom and sisters. As well as Grandpa Johnston and Mary Kay and all her kids. Of course we loved spending time with Moe and able to stay in her awesome new place!

Will add more pictures soon!
New

Dad's Truck

After seeing dad's truck him and his buddy are so lucky to have walked away.

Dad's buddy and him were on there way back from an auction in Boise. Dad just bought a 2008 ford clean title and perfect body just needed a new drive line. So they hooked it up to the trailer and was pulling it back to Twin Falls (about 2 hours). Dad drove there so his buddy was driving back. A tire blew on the trailer and dad's friend made the mistake of hitting the breaks which started the whole mess. The truck flipped 3 1/2 times and landed on the roof mean while the other truck they were pulling slammed in to the bed and the back of the cab. Dad climbed got out of the window (not sure how he is such a big man) and just had a few scrapes. His buddy was stuck between the steering wheel and roof. He was choking on his own blood so had when into super mode and busted out the steering wheel and dragged his buddy out of the truck. Paramedics say if he didn't do that his buddy wouldn't have made it. Suck though $65000 worth of trucks destroyed!
Dad's buddy's face looks like someone beat the crap out of him other than that he is fine. They so had angels watching over them!!

Just Love My Kids

I really couldn't ask for any better kids. I just love them to death. The girls are trying to be as helpful as they can with their little brother. Look at that picture they are all just so cute!! All 3 of these kids really make me the person that I am and I love it!

Wow 3 months!

It is so hard to believe that Bradley is already 3 months old and man he is such a cutie! Check out this picture!! He is such a happy baby. When he wakes up in the morning he is all smiles and giggles! He is also teething two top teeth. He has discovered his hands. He will sit there and suck on his hands for minutes at a time. The girls get such a kick at of him! And he gives them smiles all the time. He is also sleeping so much better at night and I am loving it!!!










Here is a pictures of all the kids together at the park. Aren't they cute!!

Favorite Motherhood Poems!!

Some of my favorite Motherhood poems!!

What is a Mother?

A Mother has so many things to do,
From washing, ironing, cleaning to tying a shoe.
She scrubs, she mends, she cooks and sews,
She bathes the children and washes their clothes.
When they forget to wash their faces clean,
And their clothes are the muddiest you've ever seen,
Who repairs the clothes and scrubs them like new?
Of course, that is what a Mother will do.

Who becomes the doctor or the nurse when they are ill,
Applying a bandage or giving them a pill?
Who becomes a teacher when a child has homework?
She must never her duty shirk.
Who becomes a detective to find a toy or a book?
For missing things she must look and look?
Who becomes a listner to every heartache,
To every accompolishment that a child makes?
Who scolds their children when they are naughty,
Or remind them of God when they are to haughty?
Who tends her family with love and patience, too?
Of course that is what a Mother will do.
- Unknown

A Mother's Love

There are times when only a Mother's love
Can understand our tears,
Can soothe our disappoints
And calm all of our fears.

There are times when only a Mother's love
Can share the joy we feel
When something we've dreamed about
Quite suddenly is real.

There are times when only a Mother's faith
Can help us on life's way
And inspire in us the confidence
We need from day to day.

For a Mother's heart and a Mother's faith
And a Mother's steadfast love
Were fashioned by the Angels
And sent from God above...

- Author Unknown.

You Were There

You were there when we took our first steps,
And went unsteadily across the floor.
You pushed and prodded: encouraged and guided,
Until our steps took us out the door...
You worry now "Are they ok?"
Is there more you could have done?
As we walk the paths of our unknown
You wonder"Where have my children gone?"
Where we are is where you have led us,
With your special love you showed us a way,
To believe in ourselves and the decisions we make.
Taking on the challenge of life day-to-day.
And where we go you can be sure,
In spirit you shall never be alone.
For where you are is what matters most to us,
Because to us that will always be home... - Author Unknown.


Baby's Smile

Today you smiled, Dear, in your sleep.
What were you dreaming of?
And why did tears spring to my eyes
In a sudden rush of love?

- Barbara Burrow

The Little Things

It is the little things that count
And give a mother pleasure -
The things her children bring to her
Which they so richly treasure...
The picture that is smudged a bit
With tiny fingerprints,
The colored rock, the lightning bugs,
The sticky peppermints;
The ragged, bright bouquet of flowers
A child brings, roots and all -
These things delight a mother's heart
Although they seem quite small.
A mother can see beauty
In the very smallest thing
For there's a little bit of heaven
In a small child's offering.

- Katherine Nelson Davis

Here is a few quotes and sayings about mothers that I also enjoy!!

"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers." -- Jewish proverb

"By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class." -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1907- )

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother." -- Lin Yutang

Motherhood!!

I swear there really is no better job than being a mom. I love it so much and love each and everyone of my kids. It makes me so happy to watch them grow into their own little individuals. I love cherishing these moments cause one day they will be grown up and on their own and not needing me for every little thing.

I think this explains it all

What is Right

I can hear the children
laughing in the other room.

My two girls and my boy.

They are happy voices and
I struggle not to think about
the mess they're making.

How technical this
homemaking can be, if I let it.

Cleaning, straightening, laundry, cooking.
Everything must be just so.

But the babies, my sweet babies.
Their big brown eyes, their Father's eyes,
Soft, chubby hands and sweet sloppy kisses.

If I must struggle to remember something,
let it be what is right.

(c) 1998 Shelly W. All Rights Reserved

HOT!!

Today was our first hot day. Hit 95 degrees which for May in Idaho is just CRAZY!! Poor Bradley was so uncomfortable from the heat and being we have no AC it really sucked. I couldn't even turn on the sprinkler for Sara to cool off cause we have set watering days. Only can turn on the water Wed, Fri, and Sunday :( BOOOO! dang city limits! Did give Bradley a cool down bath though he really enjoyed that! We got the fans going hopefully it will cool down the house so Bradley can have a good night!!
Check out this Video of Bradley Cooing. I really love it when he does this. It is really amazing on how fast they start to grow up. Here soon he will be talking up a storm and I will be wishing for these days back. Thank goodness we have sites like this to keep these memories alive and of course backup Cd's!!

Girls

It really is amazing how fast time flies! Ivory is now 7 and just finishing the first grade! She is readying at a 6th grade level and doing math at a 3rd grade level. She is way smart and knows it. So love to dance, sing, and drive her mama bananas.
Sara just got signed up for Kindergarten and did her pre testing. She did great! No issues at all. They were very impressed being that both of my girls never went to preschool. Here are some updated photos of them. Hopefully we will have all the kids pictured together soon!!

Bradley 1 month Photos!

Bradley had some 1 month photos done last week. He is such a cutie! We are still waiting for the CD that has a bunch more photos. Here in the next few weeks we are planning to get family photos done!

Bradley's Birth Story

What a journey that past almost 10 months have been. Bradley was born April 9, 2009 @ 12:35am. At this point I was 39wks and 4 days.
His birth story really starts on Tuesday April 7th. I worked all day which was good cause I was on my feet. I have been dealing with contractions off and on and was hoping they would get regular. That evening I was just in so much pain and could barley walk Josh and I decided we should go in and get check out just in case. When we get there doctor was there already so he decided to check me and go from there. I was still only a 4 so he said monitor me for an hour and see if there was any change. Hour later no change and the baby was still really high barley a stage -3. He said he could break my water but that was to much of a risk for both me and the baby with him that high. So we go home. I got no sleep that night with all the contractions.
Wednesday morning still contracting like crazy. Go to the doctors office to have my blood pressure check (last few weeks its been high) and it was high but not too high that the doctor felt it was okay for time being. Around 11am my contractions really start to get stronger and are about 5-7 mins apart. Josh set up the room so that the kids wouldn't bug me and I can try to get some rest. 3pm rolls along and now we are dealing with 3-4 min contractions. Some put me into tears some were okay. At around 6:00pm we decided to call the doctor to give him an update by this time they are 2-3 mins apart and my hips are starting to kill me. Doctor knows how much I hate being sent home so he said give it 30-60 mins if they get worse or stronger come in. Josh and I start to get everything situated between the dogs and the kids. We get to the hospital about 7:30. Nurse checks me I am about a 5cm and baby has now started to lower. They call doctor and he heads in. He gets there about 8pm checks me and decides baby is lower enough to not be at risk so he says lets get this really going and breaks my water. What a relief I am finally going to have my baby boy!!! At this point the girls are still in the hospital with us. Dad came and brought Beverly and she watched the girls out in the waiting room. At about 9pm my contractions were so hard I was having a hard time breathing and consintrating. I started to feel pressure. The nurse check me and from what she could tell I was an 8cm. I think woot its almost over. Ofcourse at this point I was in so much pain I was ready to be over. Doctor comes in and I am only a 8cm on the out but still only about a 6.5-7cm in but baby was pushing doing. At this point even though I wanted a natural birth like the girls I opted to try the IV meds that is suppose to take the edge off. Yeah no luck! So I ended up getting an Epideral. By 10:00 I was finally able to relax. I could still feel some of the contractions but I was able to breathe so much better. Around 10:30 dad heads off to take Beverly and the kids home so they could get some sleep. Now it is just Josh and I and all the nurses .
Around 11pm I started to feel pressure. I got checked and we were almost ready to start pushing just had a little bit more to go. Bad thing is they had to put me on Oxygen cause Bradley's vitals looked a little low. He was also still very high and it was going to take a lot of pushing to get him out. 11:30pm we are pushing, and pushing and pushing. OMG I swear this took for ever. Here it is midnight and we are still pushing! Finally 12:30 we start the finally pushes and try to turn him cause he decided he wanted to come down not facing the correct way which makes sense after all that pushing and pain. 12:35am on Thursday he is finally here! They put him up on my chest and I got to touch him before they took him to get weighted and measured. He was also doing a wheezing noise so they had a nicu nurse come in and check him out. Of course I have no idea what is going on cause I had some pretty bad tears that required a lot of time to take care off. Josh was able to get a few pictures of him screaming. That was the last time I would see Bradley for almost 5 hours .
I finally get to get into the Nicu u to see him and I wanted to cry. He was hooked up to all kinds of machines, had a tube in his mouth, IV in his hand, on Oxygen. I couldn't believe that after all this and him being full term he was having issues. They took the tube out of his mouth around 9am and I finally got to try and breastfeed him at 10am. By Thursday evening the doctors were letting me feed him every 3 hours. Friday morning around 11am, they had the IV out and he was off the oxygen. We also got to start demand feeding him. He was looking a lot better and if all went well we could bring him home Saturday.
Saturday morning I was discharged but could stay until midnight. I went in to feed Bradley around 8:30am and the doctor was there. He explained that though Bradley looks fine his blood work show that he is fighting an infection. They want to keep him 3 more days for IV antibiotics. As long as blood work was good Tuesday morning he would be able to go home. I was so upset all I really took from this is I have to go home without my baby. It was such a hard and long day Saturday I cried a lot. I leave the hospital around 6pm after Bradleys feeding and told them to call me for the next one. Went in feed him around 9pm and than went back home to sleep. Not that I really did sleep at all. Sunday same deal back and fourth to spend time with him and the kids. Here it is Monday and I am getting ready to go down there to spend an hour or so with him. Hopefully tomorrow we get the good news and can bring him home. I just can't wait to finally have him here. I know its better him there until he is a 100% than he can finally come home and his sisters can finally spend some time with him!!

***Bradley came home April 14th 2009. Since he has been home we have had no issues woot!***

39wk checkup

So this afternoon I had pretty much my 39wk check up. For about the
past two weeks I have been having contractions on and off which I am
told is normal though I never experienced with my other two pregnancies. Last Sunday we were in L/D and they thought for sure we were going to have the baby but after 14hours never got past a 3cm and sent me home with 3 mins apart contractions. I haven't been check since Sunday and I have had a lot more pressure and takes me forever to walk anywhere and I have been making it a point to at least walk for 3 hours a day. At my last appointment I was told baby be between 7-8pounds which sounds like good size to me.

Today I go in figuring I would most likely be check cause almost 39wks and I haven't been checked since Sunday. All he did was check my BP, measure my
belly, and hear the babies heart beat. Baby sounds great but now we are
talking about a 9lbs baby. I have had one 9lb baby that almost ended up
in a c-section and was a horrible labor experience cause she was so
big. So I was there a big 5 mins and got next Fridays appointment
scheduled. I am so afraid that the baby is going to be too big that I
have to have a c-section and I will literally freak out. Last week he
told me we would talk about ways to help labor along or even induction
since I have never gone into labor naturally and always seem to have to
get help at the end. But there was no talk about it at all. Not that I want to be induced I would love to go into labor on my own but right now I am starting to freak out on the whole size issue and being in so much pain. Like I said before never experienced this at all with either one of my other pregnancies.

Thanks for reading feel a bit better typing it all down.

38wks 3days

I feel like this pregnancy is really starting to take a toll on me. Not only to I seem really crabby lately I have a hard time not jumping at everyone. I have been having contractions for over a week with barley and progress. I am at the point that I can't even tell if its false labor or real labor. Doctor told me to not be discourage or stop coming to L/D because I get sent home. I hate being at the hospital more than I have to let alone go home when I am having contractions 3 mins apart. This is what happen to me on Sunday. Went in at 11am with contractions about 4-5 mins apart was at a 2cm than walked a bit and got to a 3cm than stayed that way from the rest of the time I was there no matter what we tried. So at midnight I go home still having these contractions with no progress, tired as hell, and hurting.
Now its Wednesday, and back in the same boat except this time I don't want to go in and get check out to be just sent home. I am tired, cranky, and not in the mood to deal with nurses. Plus Josh has already missed so much work I don't want him to miss anymore.
You think I be use to this with 2 other kids but never have I gone through this at all. I just went in and had them not 20 million trips or false alarms.
Grrrr..... when is enough, enough!

35w Checkup!

Well the weeks are starting to be counting down. Currently 35w so just 3-5weeks to go! For the most part this doctor visit was different than any of my others. Check the size of the belly and everything is measuring up perfectly. Baby's heartbeat is great and Sara loves the fact she gets to turn the device on and off for doctor Johnson. Only thing different this appointment is my blood pressure was up and a concern. I was under no stress or anything this morning and I was pushing 136/87. Doctor now has be checking my blood pressure every other day and if it gets over 140 on the top or 90 on the bottom I have to call him right away. This of course explains all my light headiness and dizziness. Granted I don't like the possibility that I could end up with Pre-eclampsia. Dr. Johnson already told me that if my blood pressure gets to high and we can't control it we might have to have Bradley early. Granted I am 35w so I am sure Bradley will be fine, I just was hoping to keep my good pregnancy without any major complications. I am now told to stay stress free (yeah right with a hubby and two kids) and relax a lot (yeah that isn't going to happen either).

Otherwise everything else is going fine. Kids are getting very excited about the new coming baby. Sara asks me almost every day is it time yet, I want to see my brother. Ivory has been a big helper with helping put away the baby clothes, and getting the bassinet ready. She is such a great big sister. Josh is even starting to get a bit excite and over protective. I cough wrong or grown for any reason he is asking what is wrong. You would think we haven't been through this before. Maybe cause he is finally getting his boy. Either way I love him being protective.

Well that is it for now keep you all posted!

Ivory 7!

Can't believe my little girl is now 7! She is growing up so fast. She also got to have the day off school and gets a 4 day weekend. We are going to have her birthday party tomorrow at the local bowling ally. I just hope she has a blast.
Josh and I got her something that most people say a 7 year old don't need but she isn't your normal 7 year old. She is in the first grade and reads at almost a 6th grade level right now. She also is in 3rd grade math. Her vocabulary is very advanced that most of the time her class mates do not understand her only the adults do. For her birthday which she will be getting tomorrow before her party is we got her, her own desk. Not only just her own desk but she will also be getting her own computer! She loves using my computer and her dad's for educational games and just practicing her typing. Now she will be able to work on her own system. Once we get it all set up I will post a new picture. Her case is hot pink, and we are getting her a pink keyboard and mouse to match. Her desk is white with a light wood top. I plan on painting pink/purple butterflies and dragonflies on the sides.
I just hope she has a great weekend. Also want to give a shout out to Ethan. He turns 2 today and is Ivory's Cousin.
Have a great day and weekend everyone!!

Puppy Training

Meet Romper our now 9 week old Beagle. We have now had him for a whole week and what a week it has been. I never knew having a puppy this young was so much work, granted it is suppose to be Josh's work but seems it hasn't been.
Romper is doing well on potty training and will do better as soon as we get a crate that is perfect for his size. We talked to a dog trainer that has trained dogs for shows, tv commercials, and just family pets and we are meeting with her on Monday. We want to start him in obedience class as well as teaching him simple commands. It seems the books just don't get enough information.
Romper is already showing a great personality and is full of energy. Though we got him lots of toys he loves to raid the girls room for new stuff to chew on. He also gets along great with Blackie our 2 year old black lab, and ZB our 6 month old cat.
On a side note pregnancy is going great. Only 8 wks to go woot! Hopefully we will have Romper all potty trained by than.