Life lately

Life has been a little crazy lately. A couple of weeks ago, I started experience some major anxiety and I had a panic attack (I've now had one panic attack per baby and I'm thinking my anxiety/panic attacks are postpartum/situational). I'm feeling a lot less anxious now but these last couple of weeks were a little crazy. Literally. I felt crazy and it was the worst.

Last weekend, Spencer headed to Utah for the three day weekend to visit his mom (who is suffering from ALS) since he doesn't have a lot of time to take off. I was feeling less anxious by then but a little nervous for him to leave me alone with the kids (which isn't normal for me) and my parents were so great and sent a bunch of activities for the boys to do while he was gone. They loved making "shrinky dinks," playing Candy Land, and building Kinnects :)


Jack wrote this letter all by himself to Spencer while he was gone. I am shocked at how much he has learned at Kindergarten already! (I'm so glad I have this blog so I can post this and then throw away these papers with no guilt :)
"To: Dad From: Jack"

"Dad I love you. Jack"

Spencer's dad had been anxious to get out of the house so Spencer went fishing with his dad and brother early Saturday morning. I think Spencer's such a cute fisherman and I love his new glasses :)

On Sunday morning, Spencer's mom had a heart rate of 175 and her oxygen was at 85 percent. She had flu like symptoms and was not doing well at all. They ended up calling 911 and she was ambulanced to the hospital. She had pneumonia, sepsis and a partially collapsed lung. Sunday was a scary day for her and for a while we all thought we were going to lose her that day. Today she is a little more stable, but still at the hospital. We are not sure how much time she has left but we are grateful for every day that she's still here. She says she prays every night that God will help her decide when to let go. She is such a wonderful example of faith and courage! It is so hard to watch her suffer so much. We are so grateful for the miraculous timing of Spencer's trip and that he was able to be with her and his family that day.

The same day all of this was happening with Spencer's mom, I started feeling debilitating anxiety again. I called my mom in a panic and miraculously she found an affordable Allegiant flight and was in Arizona 5 hours later to help me. We experienced a lot of pain and heartache last weekend but also a lot of peace knowing that the Lord is in the details of our lives. Our mothers are angels!
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Oh Monday, my mom took us to Freestone Park to ride the train and the other rides, and on Tuesday we went to Legoland Discovery Center. I had been wanting to try Legoland Discovery for a while now (the toddler time price is very affordable!) but I needed another adult to help me since Kate can't go on the two rides. I'm so glad my mom got to come with us :)




Legoland Discovery - it was empty on the weekday!







On Tuesday night, my mom watched the kids while Spencer and I went out on a date! We went to Temari Sushi and it was my favorite sushi ever! Their J.A. Roll was my favorite roll (Jalapeno Apple, who knew?!)

My mom took my kids to the Mesa Temple visitor center while we were gone. She's the best :)

The next day was my birthday, and I got to go to breakfast with my mom before dropping her off at the airport. I was so sad to send her back to Utah but I joke that my nervous breakdown really paid off - I got my mom for my birthday ;)

We went to Joe's BBQ for my birthday dinner, came home for cupcakes from the Great Gadsby Bakery, and then Spencer put the kids to bed while I went birthday shopping. It was a great day!
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Other stuff (mainly another huge photo dump of pictures of Kate ;)
We took Kate to her four month appointment and here are her stats:

Shots are no fun :(

She loves Spencer!


Funny/cute sleeping positions

They are going to love these spooning pictures and pictures in the bath together when they are older ;)


We had fun at Krazy Air the other day! I can't believe that my kids are now friends with my childhood friend's kids now. It's fun to have second generation Wirthlin/Jenson friends!


Fun fact - my hair is longer than it has ever been in my life by a long shot! It took me 28 years to finally develop the self discipline to not cut it! haha

Speaking of hair, we got this hairband as a gift for Kate and I just don't understand why anyone would do this to their baby??? hahaha

Jack told me to put this picture of him on my blog! haha

My parents gave this to Kate as a very early Christmas present and she loves it!

She is almost always smiling and it seems like this last week a switch flipped and she has turned into a wiggly, squirming, army crawling, grabby, sucking-on-everything baby. My infant is gone!




And here's a picture of Jack and David so they don't look back and feel bad about all of these pictures of Kate ;)

What's Up Wednesday

Today, I’m linking up with Shay, Shaefer and Mel for What’s Up Wednesday!

What we're eating this week: 

Quitting meal planning was the best thing that ever happened to me :) I think I've said this for the last year of "What's Up Wednesday" posts but Spencer tries to be dairy free and grain free so there aren't a lot of options as far as meals go except super simple and I love it. I also love that Spencer enjoys cooking so he comes home from work and he usually is the one who makes us all dinner. (And then I clean it all up.) I hate cooking and Spencer hates dishes so this system works great for us :) You all need to get yourself a Spencer ;)

Spencer made his mom's rib recipe on Sunday and they were soooo yummy! 

 

 David as been on a cherry kick lately!

What I'm reminiscing about:
Newborn Kate - I can't believe she's four months old already!

Her trick of the month is sitting up and sleeping with her bum in the air :)


 
What I'm loving: 
Arizona sunsets!



And Spencer! I don't gush about him much on my blog because I hate being cheesy but I just really really love him!  This weekend I was out of commission with a work training and other stuff and he made taking care of our kids look easy. He made the kids a huge breakfast, took them swimming, went grocery shopping, kept Kate alive all day with bottles, made cookies, and made a fort all before dinner time. (He really is Debbie Hall's child and would make a better "homemaker" than me! haha) So Spencer - if you ever read this, I LOVE YOU!!! (Who I am kidding, you will never read this ;)
 


What we've been up to:
Nothing too exciting - I'm enjoying being back into a school routine and I'm loving my six hours a week where I'm Jack and David free :)
David loves preschool and I love that his teacher posts weekly updates on FB so I can see what he's up to. It's hard to understand what goes on at school from a three-year-old's perspective! haha



I loved everyone's eclipse posts last week. Jack loved learning about the eclipse at school and I loved this picture my mom texted me of she and my grandparents! haha
 
What I'm dreading:
Kate pooping! It's going to be bad because the poor girl hasn't pooped in NINE days (which I hear is okay for breastfed babies) but she's got a tummy ache and is sooo fussy! We are going in for her 4 month check up today so hopefully the Dr. can help. #glamorousmomlife
 
What I'm working on:
Still working on fixing my blog after photobucket held my pictures ransom. (I used them for a 3rd party host for a couple of years). I'm fixing it (which is going to take literally hundreds of hours) and then planning on printing out a hard copy of my blog as soon as it's fixed because I don't want to lose all of these years of documentation again! I ordered a book of all of my blog posts from 2011-2012 using Into Real Pages (I felt like it was kind of risky because there weren't a lot of reviews) so I'm hoping it turns out as good as it looks on their website! 

What I'm excited about:
My new exercise routine! After giving running in Arizona a solid two-month chance, I realized that it was sucking all of the fun out of exercise for me. I hate the heat and how flat and boring running is here (I was spoiled with such beautiful trails in Utah, Alabama, and Iowa) so I switched things up last month and I'm so much happier! I run twice a week, bike once a week, swim once a week, and go to yoga once or twice a week and it has been so much more enjoyable! I think I'm going to work towards a triathlon this spring and bail on my half marathon I was planning on racing this November.
What I'm watching:

I finished Friends last month and so Grey's Anatomy is my new nursing/running on the treadmill/folding clothes show :)
What I'm reading:
Still nothing since I had Kate #readingfail
What I've been listening to:
Haters gonna hate but we are loving Taylor's new single! And it's free with Amazon Prime Music!

 
What I'm wearing: 
This question is always hard for me because I do not update my wardrobe monthly :) Still the same old summer clothes :)
What I'm doing this weekend: 
One of my best friends is visiting from out of state so we're planning a girl's night!
What I'm looking forward to next month:
My birthday!

4 months, preschool, dinosaur poop, and pink turtles

Kate is 4 months today! We love our sweet little girl. She is the easiest and happiest baby!

 
 
 
 
David started school this week! I'm not sure who was more excited for him to start school, him or me! haha He loves it and was so ready to start!


His preschool is close to the house I grew up in and when we were early one day (not sure how! haha) I drove them by my old house :)

 They also started a little basketball skills class at the rec center.
 
This Friday, Jack had show and tell at school and was soooooo excited. He had been counting down the days for over a week and going back and forth on what to bring. He decided on fossilized dinosaur poop that he got from his friend from a birthday last year! hahaha I couldn't talk him out of it. #boymom

We went to see Guardians of the Galaxy at the dollar theater and Jack and David LOVED it. I'm not sure how an Alien superhero movie with a racoon and a root as characters got so popular. Actually I do. #chrispratt

Speaking of weird movie plots, I saw this movie description on Netflix and thought it would be perfect for the game "Balderdash!" haha
 
David has had this pink turtle since he was one. My mom bought it for him when we went to an aquarium and we could not for the life of us convince him to get a different colored turtle. He slept with the turtle for over a year and it has resurfaced when Kate was born. His turtle's name is "Sparkles" and he takes care of Sparkles like I take care of Kate. It goes with him on outings and sleeps with him most nights and I love this sweet little quirk about my hardcore superhero-loving boy :)

He's also been enjoying playing "family" with his neighbor friend while the big brothers are at school :)

One moment he's loving on Sparkles and playing "family" and the next moment he looks like this! haha

Jack and David have requested these peanut butter cookies every night this week, and Spencer has made them every night! haha They are gluten free and dairy free (if you don't add chocolate chips) but don't let that description scare you away! They are my favorite peanut butter cookies by far!




:)