Grandpa Don

Chris' grandpa died on Monday.  It was a very fast death but slow for some who watched.  He got sick out of no where right around Thanksgiving.  He spent all of Dec. Jan. and February in the Hospital.  We saw him probably twice a week.  Carter loved to go to the hospital, see the ambulances, helicopters and trains.  He came home and they did everything they could.  2 weeks ago they said "There is nothing more lets call hospice."  So they did.  It is hard to say good bye but it is a blessing on so many levels.  The hardest thing was when we pulled up to the house walked to the door to see him before the mortuary took him, Carter looked at Emmy and Grandma Kae and said " I want to go see Grandpa"  we told him "Later"

I cried like a baby and I am sure I will cry all day on friday but I feel in the end it is a good thing.  Grandpa Don you will be missed but we will see you again.

Seattle Washington

Chris works the night shift 4:45 PM to 3:30 AM every Tueday-Friday and always has a 3 day weekend off.  It is an awesome shift.  He has more time with Carter and I and he gets to do all those things that other daddy's miss...like going to the zoo or the aquarium.  It has been really nice because I feel like this 2 kid thing is pretty easy.  Well I know I am in for a shock.  Chris wants to be better and do more and that means leave SLC.  Why you ask...because NO ONE ever leaves SLC.  Everyone is willing to stay in the same position and make the same amount of money because they do not want to leave for one reason or another.  For Chris and I we are young our children are young this is the time to go and learn and grow and then come back.  It is easier to come back as a hire position then trying to wait for someone to leave or die.  SOunds dramatic but it is a fact.  Seattle has alot of growth for Chris as a career.  So if we go and suck it up for a few years we can be in a better position and make better money.  Seattle is also great because it is only 13 hrs away and a pretty nice place to visit if I say so my self.   We found out last week that Chris got the promotion and they are giving us 3 weeks, generous don't you think.  We are scared, we are sad, we are excited and we are nervous.  What will I do without my family and my friends and the people that I share my life with?  I guess I will continue to share it with them, just in a different way.  I will miss Gma Rass more than I can express.  She has been a dear friend to me and I am grateful for that.  I hate to think that a small whole is forming in her heart when she thinks about Carter leaving her.  She cries in an instant.  He will wake up every morning and look for Gma to share his cereal with.  He will ask when he will see his cousins and play on Papa and Gma Joyce's trampoline.  He will be wanting to go on an adventure with Grandpa and Grandma Kae.  He will name all his Uncle's and then his Aunts when you ask him what he wants to do the next day.  To say the least I am glad he is small enough that he will be sad for a moment and then 5 mins pass and we start all over again.

We leave on May 4th with my parents each riding with us.  Chris in the truck pulling his car and me in my car with the 2 kids.

More to come on this Adventure.

2 months

My baby girl is 2 months old and I can not believe how fast it has come and gone.  I would also like to say that Chris took the kids to the doc for her appointment while I was at the scrapbook expo with my sister.  

She is:

12 lbs 8 oz (90%)

23 1/2 in (85%)

Head (50%)

She is wearing 0-3 and 3-6.

She eats every 3 hours during the day and at night she sleeps about a 5 hour stretch on most nights.

She loves to be held and loves to kick.  She is still in our room.  It is past the time but I am not ready for her to be with Carter.  He wants her so bad in the room in her crib.  So the other night I put her in there and at 2 in the morning she was crying and he calls me and says "Kennedy cryin you comin to get her?"  Then her next feeding he didn't even move to her crying.  She lays in bed with him every night for story time and prayers.  I love that he likes her there.  She smiles a lot of the time but mostly it is to someone you can't see.  

We love her and are so glad she is here with us.  

4 YEARS

I JUST LOVE THIS MAN!!!!

How lucky am I that I get to be with this man for the rest of my life.  I have 2 beautiful children with him and on top of that He gets me.  Sometimes he just looks at me shakes his head and smiles.  I think about my wedding all the time.  It was one of the best days of my life and I will never forget it and it is the one day that I think I look awesome and I love my dress, any ways back to my husband.  I have to say I think he has the cutest butt, I do!   

ON our day we spent the day with the kids, and then that night with my parents.  Thanks for watching them for us.  All we did was have a wonderful dinner, get some ice cream and then went home and put kids to bed.  Every year we have always stayed a night away but not this year with a baby and a 3 am feeding.

I love him and can't wait for more years to come and go.

Baby it's cold out/ Cowboy Up

M

March 5th 2012

 Carter got a sun burn under his eyes, how we missed that I am not sure.

 My wonderful family, the Meyers and the Slaughter's

 The Slaughter's

 The Meyer's

We got great deals on groupon for Solider Hollow and it was the best money spent.  We went at the perfect time and everyone had fun.  Kennedy and I stayed at the bottom and watched them come down the hill.  My niece Paige didn't like going so she stayed with me.    Later that night we met at McDonald's for my other niece birthday Maddie.  She turned 2 and she is so cute.  She LOVES Kennedy.  She loves babies.  To bad Mel is not having anymore, she would be a great baby sitter.

March 7, 2012

Carter and I had a Mommy and Son date.  I took him to see Toy Story 3 on Ice.  Oh he loved loved loved it.  It was worth every single penny and just a few days before I found a fully loaded Disney Woody costume at a consignment sale for $15.  What a great deal.  We have been having our better days more than we have been.  I have to say this love/hate towards me started about 3 mos into my pregnancy when I started to tell him NO I couldn't do certain things.  I tried really hard to do other things with him but he became all boy over night and alot of those other things he was not interested in.  I Love him more than I could ever express.  I think about how much I love him and it always brings tears to my eyes.  I remember the first time I held him, pure joy and when I hug him now I still feel that pure joy, it amazes me that it continues to grow.

Check it out

So I am back to counting my calories and I need new recipes so I found this website that has recipes but also has a list of the top ten weight watcher recipes.
Www.itsuxtobefat.com

Happy eating!

6 weeks and random

 Proof he loves her!

 Okay so the arms are not so flattering but lets be honest I never really had that great of arms anyways.  I am down 30 out of the 45 I put on.  It took me a year with carter and some serious depression to do something about myself.  This time I started eating good right after she was born, except the soda, I can't let go yet.  I am really excited I am wearing jeans that button.  So excited.

The snow storm brought on good times for Chris and Carter.  He built him in the shade so he would stay longer.

Kennedy is:
Out of newborn and some  0-3, she has such  a long torso.
She does about a 5 hr stretch on most nights
She smiles, did her first few smiles at 5 weeks
Nursing is going better.  It takes us about 30 mns now
I can not have anything with a kick, oh she hated me a few different times last week.
she stays awake for about 6-7 hrs a day

She is so sweet, we just love her.

A Paperdoll Nursery

 The banner over the crib was mad eby my sister in laws. It has torn fabric with some of her newborn pictures hanging from it.  It was used for a meet and greet shower.

 This is one of my favorite quilts i have ever made.  I have been holding on to it for when I had a girl.

This changing table was given to me by my dear friend Karen Pew.  Carter used it and I am pretty sure all my ids will.

Carter's favorite thing and he loves to show it to you if you come over.

Right now she is in our room in the pack in play until she sleeps thru the night.

St George and A Hike

 This is what Kennedy and I did in st George, and swimming.

 This is what Chris and Carter did...went on walks and swimming.  I forget to take pictures when we go there because we just relax the whole time.  We watch movies, we play games we swim and we always go to the TJ Maxx down there.  It is one of the best.  We had a great time with Gma Rass, Bob and Kae

 Kae and Ricky

A few days before we went to St George, Chris went on a hike by his house in Alpine with his mom.  When it snows you hike up and then sled down.  

Valentine's Day

Chris and i always spend Valentine's Day at home with the Kids and Gma.  We always make a really nice meal, one of our favorites...BBQ pork chops, baked potato with ranch from Lonestar steak house.  Seriously the best.  Then we give a card and a small present.

 The Card we made for Chris and Gma.  These are Carter's hands.

 When you open them it says "THIS MUCH"

This is the necklace I got from Chris.  Every birth I get a birthstone necklace.  When Carter was suppose to be born in June (June 12th) Chris got me the june birth stone for mother's day.  Then 2 weeks later Carter came in May.  So now I have a necklace for June which will represent Chris's Birthday.  Then when my kids are older they will get these necklaces to wear or give to a special lady friend, if they choose.

Happy Birthday to My Sister Carrie.  Loved having her here for Kennedy's birth and we miss her everyday.

Carrie and Kennedy the day she came home from the hospital.  Love you Sis!

"Will you follow me...I will like the tail of a kite"

I was reading an article of a couple that have been married for 71 years and both are the age of 100 yrs old. Born a month a part and both lost there father on the same day.  Recently in there home the gentlemen looked to his wife and said "I think I am old and that I am going home soon. Will you follow me? " Like the tail of a kite" she replied.  My heart skipped for a minute and I thought of my Chris.  I would follow him anywhere.

The other parts of my heart belong to my children.  How lucky am I that I get to be there mother.

Here is Kennedy's blessing pictures and one more of the newborns that I just love.

3 weeks

If you can believe my little girl is 3 weeks already.  Where does the time go...sleep i guess or on some days I wish I wasted my time on sleep.  I love that I have such a chubby little girl who sleeps long because things would be harder if she ate like Carter did as a newborn.

At 2 weeks...
 weight- 9 lbs 5 oz 80%
height- 21 inches 75%
head- 37 cm 75%
Sleepers and one piece outfits- 0-3 mos
pants and shirts- newborn

She eats every 3 hours during the day and between midnight to 7 am she eats twice. She is the loudest eater, I mean loud. The longest she has slept thru the night was 5 hours and that was 2 days ago.  She smiles in her sleep and lets Carter hold her every time she eats.  The only time he wants to hold her is while I am feeding her.

She was blessed last week in the dress that myself and my sister Melanie were blessed in.  (Pictures to come of that).  It was a beautiful day filled with hope and love for her future and we had a great time with family that were with us.  I love Chris for his fatherly love he has for his children and for the gospel.  He chooses to make it apart of his life and with that choice he blesses our family and I am so grateful.  I love him more and more each day,  how could you not!!!

Carter is moving  a long just fine.  He is becoming quite the terror but still cute as ever.  He loves to tell you to stop doing something, whether it is what he wants or something that you are doing so you can pay attention to him.  He loves books and running and sports, sunday football he, chris and gma would all watch football together.  He has been talking in full sentences for about 6 mos now and knows how to spell his name, do the ABC's and count to 16 but he CAN NOT do his colors.  It makes me think he is color blind, or colors are just slow and hard for him.

He loves, LOVES LOVES Fire trucks, ambulances, police cars and helicopters.  He sees those flashing lights and that siren and he is screaming with joy.  Hopefully he is still in love with them by his birthday in May, I have something awesome planned.

I have pictures of the nursery and of Carter and Kennedy together but I hate getting them off my phone, it is so weird, I always have Chris do it.

This is the outfit that I came home in from the hospital that she came home to in.

I love this hat and her!

New Born Pics

Here are some pics my sister Kim took. She is fantastic. She also does cards as well. You can find her more about what she does here

Kennedy Elizabeth Rasmussen (picture over load)

 This is me waiting for my arms to warm up so they can give me an IV

This is where the nurse blew 3 of my veins because I was dehydrated so we had to wait for the anesthesiologist.

  

This is Chris all ready to go...

So we ended up doing a C-section and it couldn't have gone any better.  It was a fantastic experience, I went in rested and a little nervous.  I was afraid of mostly the surgery.  Carter spent the night with Chris' parents and they brought him to the hospital.  We went on a date, Chris took me to see Moneyball and then California Pizza Kitchen.  We both slept in and we were not rushed to get to the hospital.  

We got there about 10:30 am and were scheduled to go in noon but we were pumped for an emergency c-section.  Carter came and hung out before we went in.  He was a little hesitant but he got over pretty quickly.  They came and got us and off we went.  I have to say get a spinal block.  Even if you do a vaginal birth do a spinal block.  It is instant and it hurt way less than the epidural did.  Plus it doesn't last that long.  Then the other thing that they did was ask if I wanted a mirror so I could watch.  I wanted to say no but Chris said yes and if I didn't want to watch just shut my eyes.  So glad I had it. I was able to watch the entire thing and it allowed me to see what was happening when I was feeling pressure or tugging or pulling.  I stayed very relaxed. Chris took pictures.

Due to the cool and graphic nature be advised and no you can not see anything you shouldn't.  

 The forceps they used to pull apart and open to get in there to pull Kennedy out.

There is her head.

 Half of her coming out.

 Pulled all the way out

Getting cleaned out.

Now if Chris would have stayed with me you would have seen them pull out the placenta and then pull out my uterus.  The uterus was the coolest because they squeezed out all of the fluids and blood and took it way down to size.  Which means hardly any bleeding after.  The only part I didn't watch was them sewing me up and cutting me open.  I was so exhausted after she came out that I just laid there and closed my eyes.  

I was able to hold her from the OR to the room and then I passed her off to Carter. When we were rolled into the room Carter was crying.  He had fallen right before we got there and he was tired from not getting a nap. then he saw me and he was asking "why is mommy sad" because I looked a little pale and  I started to cry because I was just so happy. He loved holding her and he didn't want any help.  He kept telling Chris "Stop it Daddy"  Then Gma rass took him home and we went upstairs to recovery.

This time around I was getting up and moving so much faster than before.  I was sore by say two and then at the end of the day I am sore but I am bending and picking up carter and doing laundry.  It feels awesome and I have Chris here for 2 weeks so that is even nicer.  

 8lbs 14 oz

 21 1/4 inches

 The 3 of us while I am being stitched up.

Aunt Emmy made her this hat.

 Aunt Emmy and Uncle Randy

 As Chris would say "His 2 best girls sleeping"

 Carter did not like to sit with me in bed.  If I sat with him on the chair he was ok but he did not like the bed.

 Gma Morgan, Tabitha and Gma Kae

 John and Angie Mazza holding her.

 Mommy, daughter time.

 Our special dinner they did for both Chris and I 

 The best big brother.  Loves holding her.

 This little jacket and blanket was what I came home in, and now she gets too.

 Waiting to leave and can not wait.

 When we came home We had Kennedy give Carter a present.  A new woody doll.  When you ask him who gave it to him he will say 'Kennedy'  

Not the best picture but it is our family.

I am feeling blessed and loved.  I am so happy and content with what God has given me and I can not help but give thanks every second I have got.