Where were you when the world stopped turning?

I remember where I was. I had worked the swing shift the night before at the emergency room. I woke up to the phone ringing. Ben called and told me to go turn on the TV. I did as he said and sat on the couch in my pajamas in total shock. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I think I sat on the couch glued to the TV for several days trying to comprehend what had happened and crying as I saw all of the people who were affected by this horrible terrorist attack. I also felt a renewed sense of patriotism and love for my country and fellow men. I said many prayers on behalf of our country and all of the people who live here. What a sad day in our history, but what a reminder for us of caring and compassion and how people all over the country pulled together to put the pieces back together. Addy asked me why the flags were out this morning and I explained to her what happened on 9/11. It was nice to walk to the school and see the flags waving and being reminded of what our flag and country stand for. I hope and pray that our country will progress and continue to be free. Our current government leaders have given me more reasons to pray for our country than ever before. So on this Patriot's day, I would like to say that I am a true patriot, I love and will always defend our country.

A funny from Sydnee

Today Sydnee came upstairs all dressed up carrying a wand and told me she was a fairy. Her's our conversation:
Syd:What would you like for your wish mommy?
Me: I wish for a clean house.
Syd:My wand can't do that(with a disgusted look on her face)
Me:What can it do?
Syd:It can make you a princess or make your house a castle.

Hmmm, if I turn the house into a castle will it be clean? Or if I'm turned into a princess, does that excuse me from cleaning? What to choose? If only it were a real magic wand.

Blessing Day

Maren trying to eat her sleeve



Ben blessed Maren this last Sunday. He did a great job, especially since he wasn't feeling well. It was such a nice day, and Maren looked so pretty in white. I insisted on taking pictures since I don't have any of my other girls in the dress. We had a crazy photographer so our family photos aren't too great, but I love the pictures of Maren and all of the Yancey girls.

A little funny thing from our photo shoot. Addy tried to start a game of chase with her cousin Eve. Eve put her hands on her hips and said "I am not going to even try to run in these heels, look at them they're too high." I laughed out loud. Eve is 8 going on 17.

Bad Habit

One of my darling children has a ver bad, very gross habit. I'll give you 3 guesses as to what it is. Okay, so it's kind of blurry, maybe this zoomed in version will help.



Did you figure it out? Yes, it's a boogie. My darling has the habit of picking her nose and wiping it on the walls of her bedroom. This has happened many times. I end up making her scrub it off and then I give the use a tissue, not the wall speech. This time was so gross, I added one more thing, a box of tissues. Problem solved, habit broken. What a wonderful thing a $2 box of tissues is.

Firsts...

Addy started first grade a few weeks ago. She loves school and her teacher Mrs. Weight. She likes being a big kid and staying at school the whole day. The highlights of her day are recess and eating lunch at school. Today was a big day for her, I gave her money to eat school lunch. She usually takes a sack lunch, so today was a big deal. I am feeling a little overwhelmed since Maren has been nursing non-stop so I finally caved in and let her walk home from school with her friends. Most days, this works out. There were a few day where I was getting really worried because it was late and she wasn't home. I found out they were taking their sweet time wandering home, stopping to rest in the shade, using the port-a-potties at the park and then finally making it home. Things are better now that we've chatted about coming straight home. Addy loves to give her friends that she walks with a popsicle to eat on the way home, yesterday there were at least 6 kids on my porch begging for popsicles. Addy is doing great with her reading, she is reading "Ramona the Pest" right now. That was one of my favorite books as a kid. She enjoys doing her homework which I hope will continue in the years to come.



Sydnee had her first day of Pre-school on Tuesday. She was up and dressed by 7:30a.m. and asked me if it was time to go about every five minutes. She was so happy to go and to wear her new "school clothes" she had her clothes picked out weeks ago. When she got home from school, she talked non-stop until bed time. She is so eager to learn. We have home school every day where works on her letters and numbers and lots of work books from the Target dollar bins. I am so thrilled that she is enjoying school. It's good for her to get out of the house and away from mom for a while.

Catching Up

Oh, my dear sweet blog how I've missed you. For some reason I have been quite busy lately and haven't had time to keep up with anything. Please refer to the cow picture I posted earlier. Anyway, life is going good. Maren is actually taking a nap right now which is allowing me to do something. I almost don't dare write the word nap for fear she will wake up. Maren is a sweet baby, but she has the Williams sensitive gastro-intestinal system and reflux. I am starting her on formula since the nursing thing just isn't working. Hopefully naps will become a daily habit, if not, I will be sprouting many more gray hairs and the bags under my eyes will surpass the carry on bag size and have to be checked.

3 Weeks Old

We've made it 3 weeks now, here are some pictures of our newest little Yancey. Isn't she cute?

Maren has Sideshow Bob feet. Look how long and skinny they are, and her toes are long enough to be monkey toes.

My Child, The Genius

I love to brag about my children and how smart they are, but this last week has me re-thinking things. I have this block sitting on a book shelf in my living room. Addy was dusting for me yesterday and as she dusted the block she said "look, it says simple-iffy." I guess I won't be boasting about how advanced she is in reading anymore.

We've been trying to teach Sydnee letter sounds. Addy learned by using the leap frog magnetic letters. I pulled them out to help Sydnee and this is what the door to our garage looks like.

Can you spot the word that I found spelled on the door? Look real close, it's on the bottom.

Yes, that's right, my oh so smart child spelled the word poop. Nothing like a potty word to show off your spelling abilities.

This is how I'm feeling these days....

More Funny Tidbits

Dinner conversation started by Sydnee (from out of nowhere) "You know what would be a silly way to die? Getting shot in the eye"

Addy is sleeping downstairs until Sydnee is well enough to move in with her. She came out the other night crying and shaking saying she heard a noise. Ben asked her what it sounded like and she responded with " it sounds like a chicken." We had a hard time keeping it together and not laughing out loud. Ben checked her room for any signs of chickens and when the coast was clear she decided to sleep on the floor next to Sydnee. No chickens there.

A Funny Little Tid Bit

Sydnee said that the baby was fussy, Addy quickly corrected her and said "no, Sydnee, the baby is pussy, p-p-p-pussy." I'm not sure where that came from, but it was funny.

Pioneer Pretties

While I was in labor, my parents took Addy and Sydnee to the stake primary activity. They had a pioneer parade around the stake center. Grandma Williams made the girls pioneer skirts and bonnets. They looked so cute. I wish I could have gone, but thank goodness for Grandma and Grandpa. Addy used all of her energy before the parade pulling everyone in the wagon. By the time the parade started she was too tired and so our neighbor pulled them in the wagon. Aren't they the cutest little pioneers. They have been wearing their skirts non-stop. Addy even wore her skirt to the hospital to visit.

Introducing.......

A special get well gift from Grandma Williams

We love our new sister

The after picture

The before picture

Maren in her NICU gown

Maren Jane Yancey finally made her appearance on July 24th at 7:54p.m. She weighed 7lbs. 5 oz. and was 18.5 inches long. We are absolutely thrilled to have her here. If you are interested in the whole story of her birth, keep reading, warning, it's really long. If not, just look at her cute pictures.
After 8 days on bed rest, I went in for my routine pre-natal check up. My blood pressure was too high and my protein levels were too high as well. I was told to go right over to labor and delivery to be induced. I called Ben in the elevator and told him it was time. I arrived at the hospital around 2p.m. (Thursday). They were so busy I had to wait about 30 minutes for a room, then I had to wait 2 hours before a nurse came in. Because I wasn't dilated or effaced, they gave me medicine internally to start the process. Because labor and delivery was so busy, I was pretty much ignored. I wasn't assigned a nurse until the next morning, so I saw every nurse on shift when they had a spare minute. At around 4a.m. I was dilated to a 3 and about 50% effaced. The doctor on call broke my water to try and speed things along. At 5:30 I was started on pitocin and magnesium sulfate which is a totally evil drug, it made me feel horrible. My contractions became more painful, but further apart. Come to find out, the magnesium sulfate is a smooth muscle relaxer used to keep me from having a seizure or stroke due to my high blood pressure. It relaxed my uterus too much and slowed down my contractions. I finally asked for an epidural and after a few hours and not much relief, I had to have another one placed. By this point, I had reached my breaking point and all I could do was cry. Around 7:30 p.m. Friday My doctor checked me again and I was only dilated to a 4 and my contractions had slowed to 5 minutes apart. My doctor said it was time to get this over with. A few minutes later there were lots of nurses in my room and I was pumped full of drugs in my epidural. A few minutes after that, I was in the operating room having a c-section. At 7:54p.m. Maren finally arrived. I got really sick while I was being put back together that I only saw my baby for a few seconds. I never want to have a c-section again. I finally got to hold Maren for a few minutes and then Ben took her to the nursery so that we could both get some rest. Ben went home to bed and a few hours later while trying to get some feeling back in my legs and not scratching myself to death, my nurse came in to tell me that Maren was having a hard time breathing. She told me they were giving her some oxygen to help. At 4a.m. the pediatrician on call showed up in my room and I knew he didn't have good news. He said that Maren was on a c-pap machine to help her breathe. They had drawn blood and done a chest x-ray. He said she probably had an infection, possibly pneumonia. She was now in the NICU hooked up to all kinds of tubes and monitors. The doctor came back later and said that they had put a tube down into her lungs and gave her surfactin to help inflate her lungs. I was able to go and see her a few times to check on her. The nurses tried to take her off the c-pap machine, but an hour later they had to put her back on. Sunday morning the c-pap came off and she was just on a nasal canula. By Sunday night she was doing well enough that she no longer needed oxygen and I was finally able to feed her. Maren did great that night, I was able to go and feed her throughout the night. Maren's blood cultures came back normal, no infection and we were going to take her home Monday. Monday morning I went in to feed her, when I got to the nursery there were three nurses working on her. She had choked and aspirated and was now holding her breath. They suctioned her out real good and took another chest x-ray. The x-ray was clear, but she bought herself another day in the NICU. It was really scary to see all of this. After she calmed down, I fed her and she behaved the rest of the day. I went home Monday and went back to the hospital every three hours to feed Maren. It was a long night, but I was glad to be able to check on my little one. Tuesday morning we were back at the hospital with Sydnee to have her tonsils taken out. After getting Sydnee into surgery, I went upstairs to feed Maren. She was doing great and was ready to go home. After Sydnee had recovered at the hospital long enough, we took her upstairs in a wheelchair and picked up Maren. We were all able to go home together. It's been a very crazy, hectic week full of ups and downs, but we finally have our little one here. Thank you every one for your concern and prayers on our behalf. I couldn't have made it through without Heavenly Father's help. A huge thank you to all of our family too. They have been so helpful over the last few weeks. We are now on the path to recovery. Sydnee is doing great, it's hard to keep her down and resting. Maren is doing great as well. She actually slept for a few hours at a time last night. We also saw the pediatrician yesterday. Her bilirubin is going down and her weight is going up. She has a clean bill of health. I'm just happy this is all over and we're all on the mend.

Guess Where We Are?

The lovely view from our room♦

I went in for my standard Dr. visit this afternoon. My blood pressure was really high (177/98) everything else was looking pretty bad too. I was told to go over to Labor and Delivery to be induced. Wow! I have to admit that's what I wanted, but all of a sudden I felt a little overwhelmed. I have nothing ready for a baby. I think my mom and sister have taken care of things at home for me by now. Here it is a little after 10 and things are kind of boring. They haven't started the pitocin yet, they're trying to get me to dilate first. So here I sit typing trying to keep myself occupied. I've got IV tubes and monitors stuck to me and I look oh, so cute in my lovely gown. I'll write more when there is actually something to write.

The Pre-op Hop

Last night we took Sydnee to the pr-op hop at American Fork Hospital. She got to learn all about having her tonsils out and what kinds of things to expect. She was given a doll, her hospital buddy, which has a gown on and she got to color a face on it and put band-aids on it. She and Addy got to try everything, like smelling the gas masks and listening to their hearts with a stethoscope. She was a little nervous, but she had fun. She scored all sorts of stuff, like a hairnet, a mask and gloves. We then took a tour of the surgical area. I think her favorite part was getting a cookie and a bunch of Barbie stickers before we left. I think this helped a lot. When we got home, she put on her hat and mask and gloves and used a plastic fork to take her dolls tonsils out. It was super cute. I'm not sure how she'll do Tuesday, but I think she'll be just fine.

One Good Thing....

Before Bed Rest

After Bed Rest

One good thing about this bed rest stuff is that my feet are a lot smaller. This will be my silver lining around the gray cloud. Just a side note, Ben painted my toe nails for me. Isn't he sweet?

Prison Sentence

The two most dreaded words that a pregnant woman can hear are bed rest. Wednesday I went to my doctors office for a routine blood pressure check. Well, there was nothing routine about it. My blood pressure was high so I ended up winning a trip to the hospital for more monitoring. I was just a little stressed. I was in charge of the combined mutual activity that night and still didn't have everything squared away. I also had way too much to do, I didn't have time for all of this. While at labor and delivery, my anxiety and my blood pressure went through the roof. My blood pressure was so high, I was setting off alarms. I had my blood drawn and was monitored for close to two hours. The nurse came in and told me I could go home, and that my baby was fine. Then I was sentenced to bed rest. I looked at her with a blank stare and said what? She said I was now on bed rest and only supposed to get up to go to the bathroom. I think my jaw hit the floor. Did I mention I don't have time for this? I had to do the lovely 24 hour urine collection and go back to L&D the next day for more monitoring. I have the official diagnosis of PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension) The baby is doing just fine, she doesn't like to have her heart rate checked, she squirms all over the place. I'm on day 3 of my prison sentence, which stinks. I'm trying to keep positive about all of this and I do have to say that my feet and ankles are much smaller, but this still stinks!!! Yesterday, Addy brought me breakfast in bed. She had poured me a bowl of cereal and a glass of milk, by herself, and brought it to me. I was ready to cry. I'm the mom, I'm the one who should be getting her breakfast. My sister has been a great help. She has been coming over and getting the kids their lunch and making me be good. Ben is a great help too. He keeps reassuring me that this will all work out and that he doesn't mind taking care of me. I guess we'll see if he still says that in a few weeks. It's a good thing I only have a few weeks left. Wish me luck that I won't lose my mind!

An Oasis in the Desert

Last Thursday I was feeling like a bad mom. With the heat I feel like I have no energy and so I keep the kids inside and just absorb the air conditioning. Around 2 o'clock Thursday afternoon, I figured I should get them out of the house. We first went to a fabric store in Highland. While I was trying to find this store, I spotted a really cool water fountain. After the fabric store, I became the cool, spontaneous, fun mom to my kids for a few hours. I wandered back to where I spotted the fountain and the girls were so excited when they saw it. Addy informed me that she didn't have her swimming suit or a towel. My response was so, get your clothes wet. Come on we're being spontaneous here. We found ourselves at what I found out later is the Highland Town Center park. It's right in front of the Highland city hall. It was awesome! They have a big splash pad and a really shallow river with rocks that shoot water out. The girls had a ball! I enjoyed standing in the water as well, it felt good on my huge swollen feet. I'm glad that I had to wander to find the fabric store or else we may have never found this little oasis. If anyone is interested in going, let me know, my girls and I could live there the rest of the summer.

Barefoot and Pregnant

Ewwwwwwwww!!!

Look how huge!!!

I'm not complaining here, I just have lots of people ask how I'm doing, so here's the report. I totally understand the phrase "barefoot and pregnant." As I hit the last month of pregnancy, I can hardly even get my flip-flops on due to swollen feet. I'm due one month from today, Yahoo!!! I'm getting really uncomfortable due to the size of my belly (it was big to begin with), I have heartburn that goes up into my ears, I get up at least 5 times a night to go to the bathroom, and to top it all off, the iron supplements are killing the GI system. I was told last week at the doctor that my blood pressure is going up and with the swelling and all, I probably have preeclampsia. I could have told them that. I had it with Addy, I can tell I have it again. The good news, I'm already dilated to a 1, which is pretty good for me. I never dilated with my other girls until the week they were born. The head is down and I have contractions all the time. If I walk around too much, I contract. Going to Walmart is quite an adventure. I think that when the time is closer that I better just avoid that evil place. Besides the general discomfort, things are good. I just need to finish moving bedrooms around and get all of the baby stuff ready. I'm hoping that the baby either comes the last week in July or right on my due date. I just have too much to do that first week in August!