ok, so I know I put up this pic of me pregnant before, but I have to say, I am amazed every day when I look at my little baby that not that long ago he was squished inside me, lol. Where did he fit??? The pregnant picture is of me just 2 short weeks before I delivered. And then he was here. We are having so much fun with little Zander. He is quite the loved little guy. Although I will say he has given the kids what I call "baby ADD" they want to hold him so they do, then they pick him up, hold him for less then a minute, then put him down or hand him off, and they keep doing this all evening long, poor Zander is going to get motion sick. But at least he knows he is loved.

 Jason loves to hang out with his baby brother, he reads to him, shows him how to color, and play games on dads iphone.

 Abby is pretty amazed with little Zander, she is finally feeling better so she can hang out with him :) she likes to give him kisses on top of his head! And read him lots of books.

 Hard to believe that there is only 12 short years between these two boys! Joey is quite protective of his Z.J. He loves to hold him, and has a very calming touch with him, which I am so grateful for.

 And Zach loves to comb his hair, this is the little "brush" -yes its a toothbrush that they gave us at the hospital, It must be zach's obsession with hair that makes him like to keep zanders so handsome, but I think zach has taken it upon himself to do just that!

And I know that this is not my best pic, I am just dying for the weather to get warmer so we can go outside and take some fun pics, but I really wanted to get all 6 of my kids in 1 picture, so here they are..... All of my little cuties in 1 picture. It took almost 3 weeks to do it, but I finally did it. hopefully I can do it again soon. Sure is a good lookin bunch of kids. We haven't been doing much of anything, just figuring out schedules, keep everyone happy and healthy, I am feeling pretty good, still fighting a daily migraine, but controling it somewhat, but I am able to funciton to the point that my house is somewhat clean, I actually cook once in a while, and I almost feel ready to start working out :) I am just needing it to start warming up. So ready for spring. I am still wrapping my head around my new life, I may be doing this for a while, and then again I may never figure it out, but thats ok too. I am ok with never figuring it out, as long as we are happy!!

happy valentines day!!!

 daddy and his little buddy! they love hanging out together! this little guy gets passed around so much, but when daddy gets a hold of him he tries hard to hang on to him!!!

 I got to get out of the house the other day and hang out at my mom and dads just to get a little breather. it was so nice just to not have to look at my messy house for a whole day :)  This little guy had to meed his great grandmas, and great aunt!!! they drove down to meet him that day, we had such a great and relaxing day. I so look forward to doing it again really soon. Here is Zander with aunt bonnie.

 And Bonnie's granddaughter kylie, she loved the little baby. Here she is giving him a little hug. (but she had to keep her eye on him)

 great grandma bowcutt, getting ger cuddles in. I can't remember exactly, but she said something about this being great grandkid # 36 or something like that..... wow that is amazing!!!!!!  And great grandma heaton, I think her great grandkid count is in the #40's what amazing women!!! I love them all so much!!! And I love seeing them hold my little munchkin.

 Here is the poster we made for brian for valentines day, to surprise him, He loved it, although the kids don't quite understand that they don't get to help eat it all, (I'm sure brian will share anyway) but so far he is keeping most of it to himself, and eating it very slowly!!

And this is what we made for jason and abbys class for valentines. they loved handing them  out and getting such a great reaction! It made them so proud!!! I didn't get a pic of alli's but she did a bottled water, with a valentine label, and a flavor pouch that she put her own label on that said "love juice" it was SO CUTE!!! we had a great valentines day, I even got flowers!!! I was so surprised!! between having the baby and valentines day, I got 3 bunches of flowers, I have never got so many flowers. I feel totally spoiled. what a lucky girl I am!
Today is also the day my little sweet baby boy turnes 2 weeks old, I take him in, so I will fill you in on all the details later :)

The story of Zander Jax

Well for those of you who do not want to want to know all the lovely details of the last week or so, feel free to not read on, but I use this blog as kind of a family journal, and so I am detailing the story of our little man's birth. Well not all the gory details, but the main points. I think I left off when I was a total psyco mom, and fired my ob! wow was I really that crazy, yep I was, and yep the best decision I ever made. the new dr.  sent me in for an amnio, which came back "mature" kinda funny that your baby is mature. So my wonderful new dr. called labor and delivery and got me the first available induction, which was for thursday february 2, and it was only tuesday afternoon, I had a day and a half to wait, but I could do this!!!! then I could work on getting rid of this blasted migraine! So I went on with my day, took a nap, got up made dinner, did my "mom"chores, and went to bed. The next day, I think nerves made my headache even worse, plus I had to go to parent teacher conference. But that turned out great! I have pretty awesome kids. Couldn't sleep at all that night, nervous, excited, ready!!!!! Got up, got the the kids ready for school, grandpa came up to see them off on time, and off we went..... we had a fun surprising little snowstorm. Showed up at the hospital, got signed in, and waited, and waited, it took about an hour and a half to get started. And of course my first question.... when can I get my epidural???? she said whenever, lol, I told her I would wait a few minuets. literally. after a few contractions, I figured, why wait. I went ahead and got it. Unfortunatally it didn't work. well, my legs were numb, but I could feel every contraction, and  I was stuck at a "6" from around 12:00 till 4:00ish. after a few hours I ended up with a massive migraine and another epidural. But around 4:30 (yes it was a long day) my dr decided to break my water, and get things moving. so brian decided to go to the car and get his phone charger and in that 2 min. window that he was gone, I changed, to complete, and ready to deliver!!!!!! I was like, Um I just don't have a husband yet....... hope he hurries..... well he did, and our little Zander was born at 4:38. And brian was there for it. barely. The feelings were so different with this baby. With all that has happened during the pregnancy I almost was in true denial until the moment of birth, and when I saw that little baby for the first time, it really hit me, It was truly amazing. God works in amazing ways, and he has something very wonderful in store for this little guy and our family! And I thank him every day for our miracles! And I thank all our family and friends for their love and friendship, AND FOOD! you are all wonderful. thank you so much. Our not so little family is very much complete now. (with plans to make this permanent in just a few short weeks ;) So thanks again for all your well wishes, and all your support!
And just a small side note, on how we came up with zander jax, he is our 6th child, we have 2 that start with a, 2 that start with j, and 1 that started with z, so we were trying to come up with a z name, then all of our kids have a "j"in either thier first or middle name, so we also needed a j name. so just for fun I said we should just call him "z j" well it stuck, the kids started calling him zj, then we came up with jax, which we all liked, and zander just came to us, and stuck!!! not much of a story, but its our story and we are stickin to it! 

a very happy february

Well, as you all know from my last several posts, the last few months, (well, years, but we won't go that far back) have been very difficult. I don't need to go into all the gory details of my life, but I will say february will have a very bright spot. Tomorrow is the day we get to meet our little baby!!! As I sit here on my last full day of being pregnant, EVER, (yes I am taking care of buisness after this one) I am trying to soak it all in. This pregnancy has been so difficult I haven't really been able to enjoy much of it. So as I sat here rubbing my big belly and getting kicked back, I realize I will miss that a lot. This little guy has been a mover and a shaker, and it has been fun to be the one to experience that. I also will miss my curly hair, I don't know how it happened but my very straight hair became naturally curly with this pregnancy. The other positive thing is, is that since I became pregnant, a lot of my allergies to food has gone away, I have been able to enjoy some fruit, and some foods with eggs in them, it has been wonderful! so thank you baby for helping me out a bit!  I have been so busy especially since we moved, then in the last month and a half with back labor pains, and migraines that won't go away,  that I haven't had a chance to really think about actually bringing home this baby. And the fact that there will be a baby, I did not just get fat!! sometimes it is a little overwhelming to consider the fact that tomorrow I will be holding my baby. I am so excited. I am really really looking forward to this. ( and a nice peaceful hospital stay while brian takes care of the other kids) with older kids I think in terms of school, and to think that I get the kids off to school tomorrow, then have a baby, come home the next day, but make sure I am home by 1;00 so we can pick the kids up from school, then welcome to life with 6 kids. It will be crazy from there. But I think I am ready. But ready or not here he comes!!! And for those of you who have been following my babys progress, at the amnio yesterday, then did the ultrasound, and think he is right around 6 lbs. we will see how close they are :) They figure that he hasn't grown past 34 weeks, (so yea he would have been a big baby if he kept growing) so its time. I will hopefully be able to post soon so you can all meet our little one!!! thanks for all our love and support.
(sorry if this is a little back and forth, I have a lot on my mind today)

being a little selfish.....

yep, I am still here, and still pregnant. Good and bad, good that little baby is still growing and healthy! that is always a good thing, bad part, mom is falling apart, which means yes my whole life has fallen apart. The house is trashed, laundry doesn't get done, there are only healthy meals when I suck it up and cook, other than that its top ramen. My kids have thrown away thier entire organized schedule even though I have it written out on the calandar. The kids are cranky cause dad forgets to look at clocks and seems to always let them stay up too late. So on one hand I am grateful my baby gets a chance to grow more, but on the other hand, I am more than ready. I have hit the end, I am done hearing, wow you are bigger than you have ever been, and is that thing ever going to come out, my poor kids get yelled at every time they ask me if I am going to have the baby today, my response: you will know when the baby comes out, now quit asking me!!! I know people mean well, but the things they say at the end of a pregnancy never come out right. My poor family is walking on eggshells around me, which for those of you who know me, know that I am usually quite mellow. So psyco mamma is on the loose, in fact, I got fed up with my ob over the last 2 weeks for a long list of reasons, and decided to find a new dr. this week, I go see him tomorrow. So lesson here: Never make a pregnant woman mad!! I don't know if it was the right decision or not, but I am happy with it, so I guess that is what counts at this poing.I am anxious to see this little one, and to show him off! I do want to thank everyone for their support, I know you all mean well, but I think for now, I will take my back labor, and my migraines and crawl in a dark quiet hole till this little man decides to make his appearance. (hopefully soon)

professional skaters....... I think not!

 So, the kids school had a family skate night, and since I haven't done much with the kids, because I haven't felt very good, I thought it would be fun to take them! so I loaded myself on headache meds and off we went! Zach and his friend got  blades, Joey and his friend got skates, Alli and abby got skates, and jason chose a scooter. Jason was a wild man, and loved every second of it. Zach did really well with his blades, and had a blast. My girls, not so much, abby spent more time on her behind than on her skates, and alli would only skate around on the carpet. but joey, wouldn't even skate big chicken! He took his skates off, and brian kept eyeing them for a while before he decided to go ahead and try skating, well he went around once,and did ok, then he was skating with alli, and got his skates tangled in hers and went down. We are still not sure if his wrist is broke or not, and he sure is sore today, but he had fun anyway :) Maybe if he hurts bad enough, he will go to the dr. but I doubt it.

 They had different kinds of races, Here is jason in the scooter race. he didn't win, but he sure was proud of himself! And he was fun to watch.

 Abby wanted to do the sock race, she sure was cute running in her little stockings! she didn't win either, but she had a lot of fun.

And I am not sure what happened with my pictures, but this one is of me at 36 weeks!!!! I am so almost done, and I have to say I can't wait, I have been in such a bad mood, and in so much pain, with back labor for the last4 weeks, and a migraine for the last almosts 2 weeks sure makes for a mean  momma. I had high hopes my  dr would agree to start me at 37 weeks and get me out of my misery, but he informed me that he wouldn't start me till I hit 39 weeks because the baby is measuring at only 33-34 weeks it will give him a chance to catch up a little. but the thought of going 3 more weeks was too overwhelming for me, I cried for 2 days, and I still breakdown a couple times a day, but I really want this baby to be healthy. I am so torn, I have been on so many meds for my migraines that I feel the baby will be better off out of my body, but it seems I am the only one that thinks that. As I tell everyone everyday, I am DONE!!! I promise after delivery I will have more positive blogs, but for now, just saying it as it is, I am just plainly in a bad mood!! And I have bad thoughts about my dr that I thought I liked, but likeI said, I am sure it will all change once I hold my little baby! I am going to get more steroid shots in my head to get rid of this migraine, so that when it comes time to deliver, I can acutally do it without my head exploding, so that is my little soap opera life, I will let you all know when baby carroll gets here and I am happy again!!!
I do have to mention that besides the couple of phone calls I get from downey a week, which always make my day, I was grateful for the fraziers who sent down some real, straight out of the ground idaho spuds for me! what a treat.

the things kids say..........

 Ok, I have to say, all my kids say adorable things, (mostly cause they take after me) but this kid takes it to a whole new level!! He is always cracking us up. Everyday for homework he has to read a book to someone, and have it signed, the other day we asked him who he wanted to read to, he looks at all of us sitting there, and starts eeny  meenie miny mo, well he stopped on me :) then he said Alli! I just ran out of meenies.  Another funny moment.... I can't even remember what happened but jason stopped and looked at everyone and said "I did not see that coming" And of course thanks to our cars wii game and lightning mcqueen, his new favorite word, "perfection"  he says things like, "this dinner is perfection" or " I look like perfection today" or " I was like perfection at school today" And of course when it comes to cooking, he has requested cinnamon toast for breakfast every morning, well this last weekend, brian got to make his toast. well it was a bit darker than mom makes it, he picked it up and looked and looked at it, then said, "your awesome dad, but mom is a better cook than you" then after he tried another piece of toast, dad finally made it to, you all know by now...."perfection" maybe you just have to be there, but I think its funny, and I think this adorable boy is perfection.

And as for this miracle picture, I have not been feeling very well lately, I have 5 weeks left of this pregnancy, and have been suffering with back labor pains, and migraines, my latest lasting the last 5 days, so I started dinner ( a lovely dinner of 2 different kinds of hamburger helper) and joey came up to see if I needed help, so even though it was mostly done, I asked him to stir while I got plates out. So this is proof that joey can help!!! He does it in his own style, but he helps!!
And in other baby news, I went to the dr. yesterday, got my steroid shot, and some meds for my migraine, (not helping yet, but I am hopeful) baby is still small, he should be just over 5 pounds now, and he is hovering around 4-4 1/2 lbs. or so they think, I am not sure how exactly they  can say that, but we will see. We are all anxious to meet this little no name man. hopefully a name will come to us the second we see his little face. lately  I have been calling him rocky cause he is beating me up! There is crazieness going on in me the last week or so. I am grateful for the good weather lately, I have not had to deal with much snow, or ice, so for that I am happy! after I have this baby, I can't wait to see the white stuff again!

organization yea!!!

ok so one of my major goals of 2012 is to become and stay organized, it has never been my strong point, but I have always wanted it to be. I found this calender, and I am going to follow it this year, I thought I would share it because I am so exicted to get organized!! And this makes it easy, so if you want to follow it too, great, if not, thats ok too, just wanted to share it!
http://go.tipjunkie.com/go/pr/7525/www.mysimplerlife.com/2012.htm

goodbye 2011!!!!

Ok!! so most of my friends and family know all about the  difficult year of 2011 for us. First of all, during the begining of the year, I was having a difficult time raising our adorable 5 kids all by myself, it just keeps getting harder, so brian and I had many discussions about how to get him home more, but at the same time, his work was keeping him longer and longer in north dakota then he got layed off. so he started looking for work, He finallly found a job in salt lake. So he basically moved in with his parents, which didn't fix our problem of me raising our kids alone, so we made the difficult decision to put our house up for sell. Brian was excited, I was aprehensive. Then we  found out about our surprise baby! We weren't quite sure if this was good or not, but of course all babies are blessings, It was just a shock. So I told brian I can't raise 6 kids alone, we needed to be together, so he started looking for a place for us in Ut. and found one at the end of july, However as my downey friends know, the fair was the first week in august! So packing didn't happen for me untill the week we had to move. So thanks to all my friends that helped us out!! It was crazy, I also almost misscarried that week, but things turned out ok there! So we left our home, and our wonderful friends and started our new adventure in utah. And what an adventure it has been. As I have said before, so I won't bore you with the detailes, the kids have done WONDERFUL!! They adjusted better than I ever imagined they would. Brian loves where we are, and then there is me, I am homesick. I miss my friends and home in downey. It is so hard for me to adjust knowing that this place is temporary. So we finished the the year and had hopes and dreams of a better 2012, so far, I am frustrated, our stove has been out for a week, and I ruined our microwave (long story there) so life has been interesting. but on the plus side, I went to my O.B. today, and my little baby boy has grown a little, I am now 34 weeks along, and he is measuring at about 31 weeks, he is little, but still trying to grow! so we are plugging along and getting anxious to see this little one! And of course once I have him, I can plan a trip back to downey to visit!!! So as for 2012, I have made a few goals, to be more positive, to get organized, and to be a better mom and wife. So wish me lots of luck on my goals, I need it!!!

highlights of christmas

 Brian was very determined this year to make a gingerbread house, so he did!! It took almost 2 weeks, but this is the final project, finished christmas eve. brian wouldn't let the kids eat it till the day after christmas. But I thought the kids (and brian) did great!

 Alli helping me make chocolate carmel popcorn, YUM!!! she is turning out to be quite the little helper. And she loves it, bonus. And the popcorn was delish.

 Last year, living in downey, on chirstmas eve, it was raining/snowing, and when the kids looked outside there was a bottle of sparkling apple juice on the railling, so the little kids were certain that it rained down their christmas drink. Well this year, it happened again, only it wasn't raining, we got a knock on the door, and this was sitting there!

 Here are all the kids toasting to christmas with their apple juice! so cute. Then they each got to open a christmas eve present....

 This year they got fuzzy socks, They look so cute in their fuzzies.

And just a small highlight of christmas morning, The kids were all so happy, and so fun. Hope everybody had a great christmas.

christmas party games, and oh baby, 32 weeks

 I totally forgot to put this pic in with my last post, so here is what I got for my 1 person baby shower!! pretty handsome stuff, I can't hardly wait to get some of these clothes on my baby! Thanks again mom and dad love ya tons!

 And yes here is the belly! And just so you all know, I do realize that I am not HUGE, but this is the biggest I have ever gotten with a pregnancy, so for me this is huge!! I'm feeling like I can't get bigger, but I am sure I will. I have started going to my dr. appts every week, and every week I get a non stress test, and an ultrasound just to make sure this little peanut is doing ok. so far so good, its just mama that is tired, with a backache, headaches, you know the usual. but also anxious to get through the holidays and meet this kid!

 ok, so my family won't appreciate that I posted these pics, but they are so cute, and funny. At our christmas party, we played games I have not seen before. this one was a team effort, each member of the team had to blow up 5 balloons, and stuff them in pantyhose, then get them on one of their heads to look like antlers. It was so funny, and I thought these guys  looked pretty good!

Another game I have not seen yet, they had the head of each family stand still while their kids and grandkids decorated them like trees! It was a blast to watch, that is my cute daddy on the right, All the kids decorated so cute,and had so much fun, lots of laughs that night..... can't hardly wait for christmas.

first lost tooth, christmas cooking, and my mini baby shower

 Jason has been patiently waiting to lose his first tooth, during kindergarten most of his friends started losing teeth, but not jason. (abby either) The first of the summer abby had to get 4 teeth pulled, so she lost a bunch at the same time, but still jason waited, finally.....here we are in december of first grade he finally lost his first tooth. He was eating a piece of toast, and couldn't bite it, I checked his teeth, and it was practically falling out. so one little yank, and he was eating toast again. He was pretty happy.

 And the tooth fairy came, that made him even happier :)

 ok so my darling hubby decided to make a homemade gingerbread house. Here are the kiddos rolling and cutting out, its not put together quite yet, but will be soon, and I will have to show you all how it turned out.

 And of course the clean up, these two little monkeys wanted to help clean up, so I put them on dishes duty. They loved it, they had so much fun, it was crazy, I made sure to tell them they could do dishes any time they wanted to!

 baking marathon, here are my cookie balls that I turned into meliting snowmen.

 The 3 older kids wrapping up the carmels, and eating a few.

 The table filled with all the things we made, ready to take to neighbors, ( we only know like 3 or 4 so we may have leftovers, lol)

 My darling mother threw me a surprise baby shower, well, a mini baby shower, everything was from her. I am so grateful for my mom and dad, they are the best parents ever! Me and the kids had so much fun opening things for our little baby, who only has 8 more weeks till he is due!

 Such cute clothes.

And of course coming to our family, I found this shirt quite fitting, it says 'wild child' He should fit right in. we are all getting excited to meet our little one.

First christmas party of the season :)

 The kids watching grandma barbara open her gift, we gave them a frosty the snowman book that the kids recorded themselves reading, while recording the book I have to say we have never laughed so hard in our lives!!! crazy fun. my kids are all such goofballs.

 mmmm, zach is so happy, he loves dingdongs! (and gift cards)

 joey looks pretty happy himself!

 and our cousin Sean opening his present, he is so cute! But he was a little shy around my wild monkeys, the motorcycles that him and jason both got helped get him up and playing though!

 Alli's cute shirt! she loves it, of course she is a girl, she loves clothes :)

 Abby got a new coat, which I have to say, is perfect timing, she was starting to outgrow her old one!

 Jason even though he has a funny look on his face, was so hyper,and so crazy, he had a blast, he cannot wait till the next christmas party. He is a total party animal.

 Tommy, Andrew, and Sean hanging out, watching all the crazieness. We had a blast at this christmas party! It really put us in the christmas mood.

 Andrew is always so generous with our family, and we love all he does for us!

daddy opening our present, looks like the girls are curious. Even though there is no snow, having christmas parties sure helps with the christmas mood.
I think everyone who reads my blog anyway, knows what an extremely hard year this has been, it has not gotten easier, but we are sure working on it. first finding out we are expecting a surprise baby, it took a while to get use to that idea, in fact I am not sure I am still use to it.But we only have 9 more weeks! then having to move back to utah, and leaving our beautiful home, and all of our friends, that was hard, but having brian home everynight has made such a difference in our lives, the kids have changed so much they are maturing and happy! Not that they are perfect, close, but they are awesome! Zach is changing so much 9th grade is a major leap for my little boy. Not only is he more social than I have ever seen him, he is doing better in school, and just plain happy.I am sure starting to get facial hair has helped him with his happiness and my stress.  Joey who has never really had a problem being  social, has taken it over the top. He is so happy, school we will not talk about, but I will say he is one happy kid! Alli is loving 6th grade, she has a great teacher, and is making some really great friends, she is so helpful to me, and can't wait for this baby to get here. Abby is doing so great in first grade, she loves school, and is doing great in it. We have discovered with abby that party of her sleeping problem (most of you know about it) is linked to sugar. we have taken most of the sugar out of  her diet, and she is finally sleeping!! she is so much happier. Jason is doing awesome. kindergarten was so hard for him, but he  is LOVING first grade, and his teacher is the best ever. I couldn't ask for a better teacher for jj. He is growing taller every day, he just may catch up with big brother joey! As for me and brian, we are doing pretty good, he loves it here, and is loving acutally being a daddy! I am still homesick for my downey, and I miss being surrounded by my friends, pregnancy  and settling in a new house is hard without any friends, but I still talk to most of them, and the computer is so helpful keeping me up to date on what is going on back home! Like I said before, we only have 9 weeks for this little one to get here, I now have to take it "easy" and I am trying, but with 5 kids already, taking it easy is a little hard. And I am hoping that with the holidays the time will fly by! I wanted to say thanks to all my family and friends who read my blog, and comment, love you all!! And merry chirstmas :)