End of the Year 2011

This year flew by very quickly; it hardly seems like it should be December already!  January through early March were spent in anticipation of the newest member of our family.  In March, we were joined on the 13th by Jonah Robert, a delightful addition to the family.  April and May were spent adjusting to being a family of seven.  In June, we were able to bless our  new baby and baptize our oldest in the same weekend.  We were grateful for all the friends and family that were able to attend both of those events.  Westley and Corey spent some time after that on a road trip to California and a day in Legoland.  The summer was spent lounging at the pool and doing as many outdoor, fun things as possible, since the winter had been so long and cold.  We were also able to attend my baby brother Austin's wedding in Arizona in August and see all our Fowles side plus other extended family who came for the event.  The fall came on too quickly, given our short summer and long previous winter, but we've had some warm days that held on into November.  School started up for the older boys and we've kept busy with various things.

Corey was promoted to a store manager at the end of August and started working at his new store, the West Jordan store in Jordan Landing, at the beginning of September.  We were very thrilled for this advancement, which as been a long time in coming.  With it has come some very fun perks, such as Corey and Jenna flying to California the first weekend of December to attend the In-N-Out Company Christmas party and stay in the Disneyland Hotel.  He is working hard to meet his goals and make the store how he wants it.  We're hoping that the business will start to steadily increase from here on out.

Jenna spends all her time with homemaking.  This year she increased her skills in sewing and made all the Fowles granddaughters matching T-shirt dresses.   With the pregnancy and new baby, she hasn't been able to get back into playing the violin like she wants.  However, she has begun teaching the older boys piano lessons and continues to do home preschool with Travis and Eliza.  Other than that, it's life as usual--endless piles of laundry, tears to wipe away, homework to help with, wild boys to manage, and all things that come with managing a household.

Westley turned eight this year.  In our church, eight is the age when a child can choose to be baptized and Westley chose to do just that.  He was baptized in June and it was a wonderful event.  He has also tried his hand at basketball and flag football this year, as well as taking art classes at the local community center.  He started third grade and still enjoys school.  Thankfully, he has also finally started enjoying to read.

Caleb turned seven this October.  He started first grade in the fall.  He also tried out basketball and flag football.  He enjoys playing outside with his siblings and friends and loves school.  He is also reading very well and loves to spend time with a book.  He got the same teacher that Westley had for first grade and has loved that.

Travis turned five in September.  He won't be starting kindergarten until next fall, so this year we are doing preschool together.  He is already reading and doing basic math (adding and subtracting).  He tried tumbling at the beginning of the year and is a natural and I'd like to try and find a good boys gymnastics program to put him in .  He is a very active five-year-old and spends a lot of time teasing his little sister and smothering his new baby brother.

Eliza turned four at the beginning of December.  She tried out tumbling at the first of the year but couldn't continue when the baby came because things got too busy.  In the fall, she started dance classes.  She loves the classes and has loved performing on stage.  She is still all girl--loves her baby dolls, dressing up, dancing and being pretty.  She and I were able to attend the Princess Festival in the early summer and she just loved  meeting all her favorite princesses.  She likes to sit with us during preschool and is already learning her letters and numbers.

Jonah is our newest little addition, though I can hardly call him little.  At just nine months he is already well over 20 pounds and just a bubbly ball of cute chubbiness.  He is always smiling and happy and loves to interact and play with his older siblings.  He'll cry if they leave the room he's in and follow them around everywhere on his hands and knees.  He is already pulling himself up to standing too (which means he can already climb the stairs!).  He is a very busy baby and a bundle of energy.  Good thing I have four little helpes to help me with him!

We are very grateful for all our blessings this Christmas season and hope that we can all find joy in celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Discovery Gateway Children's Museum

Over the kids' break from school, after Christmas, we used some coupons to visit the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum.  The kids really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun.

Eliza on the life-sized horse statue

Jonah playing in the baby/toddler area

the kids checking out the real helicopter they had on the roof

After spending the morning at the museum, we headed over to the mall food court to eat lunch and allowed each kid to pick which food they wanted for lunch.  We had food from Hot Dog on a Stick, Subway, Panda Express, McDonald's, and some Japanese place I can't remember the name of.  We don't usually do that, but it was kind of fun to do.  In the picture, the kids are waiting for Corey and I to finish eating so we can go back to the museum.

We rode the train from South Jordan all the way into down town Salt Lake City.  That was fun for the kids too.  

I will say this.  I wasn't as impressed with the Children's Museum as I thought I'd be.  It was an indoor playland, basically, with some areas for exploration in science and careers, but it was kind of overpriced for what it was.  I know West Valley has a similar set-up at one of their recreation centers that is much, much cheaper.  Also, I kind of wished it was like Makutu's Island in Chandler, AZ, where you get a matching wristband with your group  members and the number of people in your group and the whole area is enclosed and nobody can leave without them checking your wristbands to make sure that you are leaving with the right person.  Gives the kids so much more freedom for exploration and lessens the worry on the parents to keep a sharp eye out for the kids in such a big area where the kids all have different interests.  Keeping track of four roaming kids while holding a baby, even with Corey's help, was not an easy task.

Our Christmas 2011

We had a pretty good Christmas this year.  Corey was able to be off on Christmas Eve, something that has been  hit and miss for the last 9 years because of his job.  This year, as the store manager, he was able to make the schedule so he could be off on Christmas Eve.  I really enjoy that because to me, the big part of the tradition happens on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve, we do a special family home evening where we read the Christmas story out of Luke 2 and either act it out or do a flannel board of it.  This year, Corey's aunt had sent us some cardstock cut-outs that had magnets on them so we used those to tell the Christmas story.  Then we all open an ornament.  The ornament on Christmas Eve tradition came from my side of the family.  They have kept up that tradition, so now, Corey and I get a joint ornament from my parents and all the kids get ornaments too.  However, I like to give ornaments on Christmas Eve also, so the kids each get TWO ornaments on Christmas Eve.  Corey's mom usually gives them an ornament for Christmas too, but she sends a package of various things and they are all wrapped together, so the kids will also open one on Christmas morning.  It has  made for a very uniquely decorated tree.  After the present-opening, we have hot chocolate and sometimes another treat.  Then it's off to bed for the kids!




On Christmas morning, they get up and then we wait for everyone to wake up.  We all go downstairs together.  The room with the tree is covered up with a sheet, so the kids can't see into it.  The stockings were laid out on the couch already for them.  I made  homemade goodies for the stockings this year--fudge, gingerbread men, and some other cookies.  They also get a little box of cereal in the stocking which they have for an early breakfast.

After stockings, we go into the room with the tree and open presents.  We hand out the gifts to each kid gets to open a present at the same time, but each kid only opens one present at a time.  It's more organized that way. 

The kids all got new church clothes.  Eliza got a new church dress and each of the boys got a new white shirt and tie.  Jonah got some new church clothes too, but they are too big so I don't know how often he'll be wearing them until he grows into them!  Church clothes for little boy babies were especially hard to find this year, so he ended up with a white polo shirt and some black corduroy pants is all.  I just bought the wrong size, thinking he was much bigger than he is!
 

Nana (Corey's mom) also sent pajamas this year.  We get new pajamas from her every 3-4 years, which is fun.  This was perfect timing, as just in recent months, the kids have outgrown or put holes in the last set of p.j.'s Nana made.

Jenna's Birthday

My birthday was on the 21st.  Corey took the day off.  He got me breakfast from Kneader's.  I have really wanted to try their French toast, but I was less impressed with it than I'd hoped to be.  I like Corey's homemade French toast better.  But the breakfast sandwiches were tasty!  We had a regular lunch.  I was able to do some last-minute Christmas shopping and had a little bit of a rest in the afternoon while Corey took Travis with him to shop and I stayed home with Jonah who was napping and Eliza. 

We also went over to the school for a little Christmas performance by Westley's class--poetry and a reader's theater. They also sang a few Christmas songs and then Westley had them all sing "Happy Birthday" to me.

That night, we had a dinner of chicken fajitas that Corey made, which was yummy.  He had also bought a "cookie cake" from Mrs. Fields cookies at the mall, so we had that for our dinner dessert.  He had also hired a baby-sitter to come watch the kids while we went to the temple.  The only drawback to the whole day was Mother Nature's not-so-funny joke of sending snow.  I got a Kindle for my gift AND some chocolate covered strawberries.

Gingerbread Houses

We bought two of the pre-made gingerbread house kits from the store and did this as an activity together in teams of three. It was fun to decorate the houses but not so fun eating them (Corey and I didn't and the kids didn't really want to very badly). I'd like to find some molds or something for homemade gingerbread houses so I can make gingerbread for the houses and then everything will taste yummy. Of course, the current recipe I use for gingerbread men is very soft and rises a lot while cooking so it might be hard to use for houses. Maybe I need to find one that is firmer.

Caleb, Travis and Mom were on one team

More decorating (and candy eating!)

Jonah watches

Dad, Westley and Eliza were the other team

Jonah is cute

Corey's birthday

Corey turned 33 on the 9th of December.  He was off work, but we still had a busy regular day.  The kids had school and we did our usual shopping and stuff.  The ward party was that night.  It coincided with Eliza's dress rehearsal for her dance recital, so we went to the party, the kids saw Santa, then I left with Eliza and came back just in time to eat dinner, which was ham and funeral potatoes.  It was kind of funny because that's what Corey requested for his birthday dinner originally.  He eventually changed his mind to deli sandwiches, which we had the next night, some of us anyway.  It was Eliza's dance recital and a busy night, so not all of us ended up eating.

Corey got a couple shirts and some cologne for his birthday.  It was kind of a lousy birthday.  With the molar pregnancy, then the holiday season, I haven't been on top of everything lately.  Next year will be better!  We do appreciate everything he does for us!

Visiting Santa Claus

The second weekend of December we had our ward Christmas party . We had a visit from Santa at the ward party and all the kids sat on his lap, except Jonah.  We could have had Jonah do it, but he was already super cranky and we didn't think he'd like it.  So far, Westley still believes even.

Southern CA Trip

Now that Corey is a store manager, we get some perks. We got to go to the company Christmas party in Southern California this year, which was the first weekend of December. The party itself was at the Disneyland Hotel and that's where we got to stay.

First, we found a sitter for our four older kids, a young couple from the ward with no children yet. We took Jonah with us as a lap baby on the flight. We left early Saturday morning with Jonah and went to the airport. Our flight was at 9:45 am to Phoenix where we had a two hour layover. We met up with my parents at the Phoenix airport and had lunch with them. Then we flew on to Ontario CA. We requested to fly into Ontario rather than an airport closer to Disneyland because we were going to be driving up to Apple Valley to drop Jonah off with Corey's mom.

So we got the rental car at the Ontario airport and drove up to Apple Valley to leave Jonah with Corey's mom. Corey's sister did my hair for the party and then we took off down to Anaheim. We arrived at the hotel right at 6:30, when the party was starting. We checked in and went up to our room where we quickly got dressed for the party and then went down to the ballroom where the party was taking place.

It was a lot of fun. They had all sorts of food there--a huge buffet. The theme was "Christmas in New York" and they had sections of food representing different parts of New York City. For example, they had "Central Park" where they had it set up like a winter scene and dessert tables. They had "Coney Island" where they had hot dogs and popcorn and candy apples and all sorts of carnival type games. "Midtown" was where they had the fancy food. It was really fancy.

The biggest drawback to the whole evening was that something I ate caused an allergic reaction. As far as I knew I didn't have any food allergies. Once, when I was a senior in high school, I may have had a reaction to some strawberries, but I've eaten lots of strawberries since then and always been fine. The night of the party, my throat started feeling sore and then in the middle of the night, when I got up, it felt really hard to swallow so I looked at it with a flashlight in the mirror and found that it was seriously swollen and I had a rash all over my trunk. I don't know what I ate at that buffet that caused such a reaction. Perhaps it was the clams in the clam chowder. I really don't know. There were strawberries there, but I have even eaten strawberries since and been fine. So it's a perplexing question.

Anyway, we left the hotel bright and early and drove up to Apple Valley to go to church with Corey's mom and Jonah. We only went to Sacrament Meeting and then back to his mom's house. We had a dinner with two of his sisters and an aunt who came up to see us. It was nice to see family. Then we drove back to Ontario airport and got on a plane to Las Vegas, where we had a two hour layover and then back to Salt Lake City around 1 am Monday morning.

I did not enjoy flying at all. I especially did not enjoy flying with a 9-month-old. But the trip was fun and the party was fun. We have another trip in January and another one in February. For the next two, I think we'll leave Jonah at home. It was fun for his grandparents to all see him, though.

The lobby of the hotel--We stayed in the Frontier building of the Disneyland Hotel

Jonah asleep on one of the flights.

In front of the model of the Statue of Liberty at the "Christmas in New York" party

Cutest Baby Ever (Aside from my other four, that is!)

Yep, I am biased, but I'm allowed to be since I'm his mom, but Jonah is the most adorable baby ever. 

Four Years Old

Eliza turned four the first week of December.  She is getting to be such a big girl.  For her birthday, she got an American Girl Bitty Baby Doll and was very excited about that. 

Eliza wanted a Team Umizoomi cake for her birthday.  If you don't know what that is, it's a show on Nick, Jr.  that she and Travis like to watch that's about math.  The cake was very straightforward and easy and she loved it.

Eliza Dances

Eliza started taking dance classes at the very end of August.  Last weekend, she had her first dance recital.  The weekend before that, her dance school danced at the Festival of Trees.

Waiting to perform at the Festival of Trees

We're Off to See the Wizard!

For Halloween this year, we were the Wizard of Oz. In the spring, we read the Wizard of Oz and the kids decided then that they wanted to be the Wizard of Oz. Westley was the Scarecrow, Caleb was the Tin Man, Travis was the Lion and Eliza was, of course, Dorothy.

Jonah and I also dressed up. Jonah was a winged monkey and I was the wicked witch. Unfortunately, I was so sick with the pregnancy that it was really tough for me to get to the ward Halloween party, much less dress up, so I only painted my face instead of my face, ears, neck and hands like I had planned to do.

Westley, Eliza, Caleb, Travis

Westley marching in the school Halloween parade, joined by Travis

Caleb marching in the school Halloween parade.  He was upset about something on his costume and did not want to talk to us or march with Travis alongside either

Jonah as the winged monkey

Jonah and I at the ward Halloween party

I found a lion costume, a plain monkey costume, and a Dorothy costume (complete with sparkling ruby shoes) at Kid-to-Kid's Halloween sale. 

Scarecrow

Westley wore sweats and a long-sleeve orange shirt of his.  We added raffia to the sleeves (taped on the inside with duct tape).  He also wore the brown Jedi tunic that I had made for his 6th birthday party, only this time I sewed up the sides to make it a shirt.  We also taped raffia to the openings in that.  I bought a piece of muslin for the head and he wore Corey's old cowboy hat.  He wore his snow boots and some gardening gloves and we painted his face.

Tin Man

We made a barrel chest part out of a piece of poster board spray painted silver.  We added a neck part by cutting the top of an old shirt and duct taping it to the top of the poster board and spray painting it silver as well.  We spray painted a funnel and tied some elastic to it.  We covered his snow boots with aluminum foil and aluminum tape and he wore gray sweat pants and gray gloves and we painted his face gray.

Winged Monkey

I added the wings by making a vest with wings attached that he wore over his monkey costume.  I got some red and blue felt and made a vest and a little cap.  Then I made wings out of black felt, black feathers and a large black chenille stem that I found at a craft store.  I sewed the wings onto the vest and sewed the little cap onto the head part of the monkey costume. 

Corey doesn't dress up for Halloween, but the kids all pretended that he was the Wizard of Ox.  It was a fun idea, but I am so sick of the Wizard of Oz for now!

Catching Up

I didn't post on here at all in November.  I had found out at the end of September that I was expecting again.  Then I spent a lot of October being very sick with nausea, 24-7.  I did manage to put up a few posts.  However, on November 2nd, I went in for my first ob/gyn appointment at eight weeks.  Everything looked good except the doctor couldn't hear a heartbeat.  She thought that maybe it was too early, but scheduled me for an ultrasound the following week to confirm the pregnancy.  I was a little alarmed because at eight weeks there was a definite heartbeat for all my other kids. 

So we waited the week and I went in to the ultrasound the following Wednesday.  At the ultrasound, the tech got all quiet and then called the doctor in.  She took a look and told me that I needed some bloodwork done and that I was possibly having a miscarriage.  So I went in that day for bloodwork to check my hcg levels.  I went in again on Friday for the same test to see if my numbers were rising, falling, or staying the same.  They were staying the same, but they were really high.  I had started spotting, but I wasn't too terribly concerned because I had spotted in four out of my five previous pregnancies.  I went in again the following Monday for another blood test.  The numbers were consistently high, so they schedule me for another ultrasound.

On November 16th, I went in for a second ultrasound that the doctor did herself.  A couple days before that, I was flipping through my book, "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and had looked up information on miscarriage.  The page I looked at cross-referenced me to something called a molar pregnancy, in which there is an abnormal number of chromosomes that causes the placenta to form as a cystlike bundle of abnormal cells rather than a normal placenta.  If there is fetal tissue, it cannot thrive.  Sometimes there is no fetal tissue.  I read over that section and noticed that one of the symptoms was extreme nausea and brown spotting, both which I had.  But I thought, No way.  It's so rare, that wouldn't happen to me.  And I dismissed it.

Anyhow, as the doctor looked at the screen, I looked too and saw that there was not a fetus in there, something I can now recognize pretty well at 8 or 9 weeks after having had five kids.  I could see something was definitely not right.  There was something in there, but it was not a growing, thriving baby.  My mind went immediately to the molar pregnancy.  The doctor then called us back to a room for a consultation and sure enough, that's what I had.  She scheduled me for a d & c the following day.

So on November 17th, I went in for my d & c.  The labwork came back showing that what I had was a partial molar pregnancy, which meant there was some normal fetal tissue in there.  I learned that a partial molar pregnancy is better because there is less recovery time and less chance of a recurrence.

But now I am recovering.  It will take a while.  I have to go in every week for blood tests until my hcg levels are at 0.  Last week, they were around 12,000 still, but that was down from 400,000 right before the surgery.  I've read it can take a few weeks up to a few months even for the numbers to go back down.   Once my numbers are back down to normal, I have to go in once a month for bloodwork and ultrasounds for six months.  At that point, if everything has stayed normal and looks good, I will be given the go-ahead to try for another baby.

I have lost a pregnancy.  It's hard to bear emotionally.  Yet, I already have five kids, for which I'm extremely grateful.  But we do want one more.  I am okay talking about it and I promise I probably won't get teary-eyed.  But I will be straightforward.  I don't want people telling me that it's not a big deal, that we can probably have another child, etc., etc.  I know they are just trying to be reassuring and thoughtful, but it doesn't make it easier.  Because I'm nearing 35, my risk for a repeat molar pregnancy is higher than it would have been ten years ago.  So spare me the "I knew someone who had a molar pregnancy and went on to have three more kids" because they probably weren't almost 34 when they had their molar pregnancy.  Also, because of my age, the chance of having the molar pregnancy turn cancerous (sometimes the cells can spread and cause a cancer that is highly treatable), which also increases the risk of a repeat molar pregnancy.  And please, don't tell me that five kids is enough and ask why I would even want six. 

I am hopeful that everything will work out.  I am hopeful that sometime soon I will get the good news that my levels are back to normal and we can start the six month waiting period.  I had another blood test yesterday and am just waiting to hear back on the results.  I have a follow-up appointment in two weeks to check everything and make sure things are going back to normal.  I am hopeful that despite my age, this will all work out and we will be able to have another baby.  It wasn't how I wanted things to work out--at this point, I'd be about 14 weeks along and feeling better and soon finding out if it's a boy or a girl.  I think I will have moments in the next five months where I will feel very sad that this all happened.  But I do remain hopeful that we can still have one more baby.

Pregnancy loss is a difficult thing because you grieve and that's normal, but there is very little support for something that didn't completely exist in the first place.  I hope that my friends and family can be understanding of this and not try to minimize my loss.  Now, I will move on and blog about all the happenings in November that I skipped over because I was dealing with all this stuff!