I guess this is considered news...

Okay, so a few of you know my secret. I'm Pregnant!
I really wish I was one of those who could keep this a secret. Here are the things working against me: 1) Kevin can't keep a secret. 2)Mason can't keep a secret. 3) I get sick. 4) The biggest one of all is ME! I mean I am big!! I don't know how it is possible to poke out so far at 8 weeks! I have a visible baby bump! Just in case you were wondering this was an accident!!! A big accident! An accident that I'm thinking is really a gift. I'm getting more an more excited (and more and more sick) with each day. I don't care about gender and I'm just hoping for a healthy baby. I know Heavenly Father will give our family what is meant for us.

With all this being said this baby is FOR SURE the last and Kevin isn't even allowed to look at me after they are born!!

My due date is June 18, So Ashlyn won't even be 2 yet!! AHHH this is going to be an adventure!
Ready or not here comes baby #4!

Just a few things worth writing about

My kids are pretty dang awesome. I wonder if they know I think that. I am with out a doubt too hard on them. They make my life worth living, and I love them so much! Here are a few things about each child.

Ashlyn: Where do I begin with this girl. She is SO sweet! She is Tiny, 16 lbs at 13 months... and I mean 16 lbs even. We are working on fattening her up. :)
She is starting to speak up when she is "wronged" (when I say speak up I mean scream.
She loves chocolate just as much as any girl out there.
She is starting to say hi and wave, it melts my heart!
She is walking very well now, but WONT wear shoes. I would have bought her so many cute shoes if she would wear them! :( Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. LOL
Ashlyn is my living doll and nothing is more fun to me then making her clothes and bows, doing her hair and showing her off!

Xander: Is a little out of control right now. I know he needs more attention than I give him.
He kisses me anywhere he can reach.
He hugs and wants to cuddle all the time. I wish I didn't say "that's enough" so often.
He is so funny! He said a prayer today that went like this:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. I'd like to bare my testimony and we'd like to eat this food. Please help us get a treat. Name of Jesus Christ amen.

Xander entertains himself very nicely. He doesn't need friends over all the time like Mason does.
He is happy doing his own things. As much as I'm enjoying the summer I'm getting excited about Mason going to school so me and Xander can spend more time together.
Xander loves Ashlyn, but is a little rough with her and sometimes even mean.
On Kevin's birthday we went to the store and he told everyone we passed by that it was his dads birthday! So cute!
He was plaing with a snake today... YES I know GROSS! Just wait... this is sick!! He was jumping around on the trampoline with the snake like a crazy person and the snake threw up all these slugs! OH it was sick! He let it go in the yard, and if that snake knows what is best for him he will relocate!
Xander keeps things fun! Our family wouldn't be complete without him!

Mason: Tries his best to please us. He does things so we can praise him. When we do, he drinks it up! The problem is if we praise Xander he gets upset. He is a praise hog.
He is naturally smart and curious about EVERYTHING! It can get under my skin at times, but I have to remind myself that is the reason he is so smart.
Mason lives for friends, he always has! He needs school again because he needs daily interaction with kids his own age.
Mason helps me around the house. I love having a helper! He will do anything for the right bribe!
Mason likes to plan. He likes to know when he goes to bed what breakfast will be.
He likes to have a schedule and I DON'T.
He is a manipulator, he gets it from me! HA He will try to twist any situation to benefit himself. Something I've been known to do. :)
Mason is a very kind and thoughtful of others. He is polite and takes care of Ashlyn very well.
He wants me to have more kids. HAHAHA

I hope I can be the Mom these kids deserve. I hope they know how much I love them!

I Want....

It's safe to say I'm not a great blogger. I WANT to be though. The problem with me is I WANT to do and be so many things. I WANT to be a great cook and make amazing dinners every night my husband could brag about to his friends. I WANT to keep an immaculate house and have it decorated just like a magazine. I WANT to be the best Mom ever and take my kids to every event... read, play, relax, go on walks, to the park ( all while keeping them clean and stylin'.) I WANT to sew and craft all day and come up with cute things no one has ever thought of and I WANT it to be perfect! I WANT to be incredibly healthy and fit. I WANT to work out everyday and only put healthy things into my body. I WANT to restore old furniture and be so proud of the once ugly things I have made beautiful again. I WANT to learn how to type!! Yes that's right I don't know how! This post is being sent to you from 3 of my right hand fingers and 1 from my left. I WANT to be organized and have a spot for every teeny tiny thing I own. I WANT to be kind and serve my community, I WANT to be friendly to everyone. I WANT to be thrifty and save for my future. I WANT to Visit with family and friends often. I WANT to have a career and be successful. I WANT to be great at doing hair and work at a high end salon with an amazing clientele. I WANT to be a great wife and be there for my husband whenever he needs me. I WANT to be handy and know how to use all the power tools and be able to fix or make anything. I WANT to have a beautiful yard and garden. I want to be very spiritual and an example to others. I WANT to be a good neighbor.

I do try hard with some of these things, others I think about often and wish I was. I am such an all or nothing person and with blogging over the past year I've gone with nothing. There have been many times I have thought about blogging this or that, but then I talk myself out of it. I felt like I couldn't just start blogging again after all this time with out a recap (and it would have to be an amazing post to make up that much time). Well I'm going to start right here. I know everyone loves pictures, in the past I felt I couldn't put up a post without them. I've just told myself if I feel like writing about something I'm going to post it. I don't know if anyone out there cares, but I'm doing it for me anyway.

Right now I'm going to try to balance and juggle the best I can. I HOPE to become a great (accomplished) person someday. I know I will NEVER have it all together. Most of all though I WANT to find JOY in my journey!! I've been given so much and I AM grateful!

Our baby girl has arrived

Ashlyn Cherie Mortimer born June 25, 5lbs 13oz, 18 1/2 in long. I was 25 when she was born, She was 25 days early, born on th 25th and the 25th grandchild on Kevin's side. :P Here is the story. I'll start a while back since I haven't blogged for quite a while. When I was 30 weeks along I went to the doctor for frequent contractions. He did a test on me that detects a chemical produced during early labor that helps you thin and dilate. I tested positive. He also checked me and said I was pretty thin and dilated to a 1. Concerned enough I was put on bed rest. When I was 34 weeks everything had stayed about the same and the bed rest stopped the contractions so I was able to do a little more. Not much though because my sciatic nerve was killing me and her head was so low I could barely walk. The day I turned 36 weeks I started having contractions 5 minutes apart. I was really having to breathe through them and since I have a history of fast labors I decided to go in. I was dilated to a 3 80% effaced and -1 station but I stayed the same as they watched me for an hour so I went home. I was really grateful because I really wanted to make it to at least 37 weeks. At 36 weeks and 3 days I was having a lot of cramps during the night and about 6:00 in the morning I started having pretty strong contractions. Not wanting to have the baby yet I thought maybe a bath would help me relax. But they kept coming. I had to yell to wake Kevin up to help me out of the bath. Still not wanting to go in I got ready and tried to relax again. At 7:30 I was in so much pain I knew we had to go in. We dropped the Kids off at the neighbors and headed to the hospital. For some reason Part of my uterus would not stop contracting. It just kept getting tighter and tighter. It was becoming so painful I couldn't take it anymore. Kevin had to get me a wheel chair because I couldn't walk. And as he pushed me every bump he had to go over made me scream out in pain! I just couldn't hold it back, it was kind of embarrassing. :) The Doctor was worried about both me and the baby because both our heart rates were pretty high. He had me sign some consent forms for a c-section which scared me a little. After an hour of fluids and antibiotics( I hadn't tested for strep B yet) I was able to get my epidural and things got a lot better. I was so exhausted from the pain though I didn't know if I had the strength to push. Thankfully She was so small that I didn't have to push... Not even once! She just came out as I was trying to sit up! It was such a blur! She looked so tiny and didn't cry much I was so worried her lungs weren't developed, but she was totally fine and didn't spend any time in the NICU. We are so blessed to have her in our home and she has been such a good baby! 3rd time really is the charm! My calmest baby yet. She never cries! The boys are in love with her and get so excited when they get to hold her.

Kids Marshmallow Experiment

Marshmallow Test

So I recently heard about this test as a way to measure patience as well as instant gratification. They say that the kids who wait often have higher SAT scores and successful careers. I didn't have any marshmallows around so I used a whopper. I had kevin set the candy in front of Xander and Mason, explain the rules and then leave the room. I watched as Xander didn't touch his... he looked at it it often but just left it alone. Mason was a different story. He was touching, sniffing, licking, looking around and tormented by the waiting. Well at one point Mason went as far as putting the candy in his mouth. When Xander saw this he yelled at Mason "don't you want another one"? Mason felt ashamed he had been caught and started to cry because he was worried he would not get the second whopper. I told Xander I was proud of him for waiting so patiently which made Mason cry even more. Kevin came back and Mason was pleading his case immediately. He said, "you told me not to eat it and I didn't"! They both got another whopper. So what dos this test mean to me? First of all, Xander DOES understand instructions and will follow them if he feels the need. I thought he would be too young to grasp the cause and effect. I think Xander may be more compliant to rules and authority figures. I think Mason will tow the line a bit more. He may question rules and authority figures and try to manipulate situations to get what he wants. My boys are both very smart and I do believe that they will both be successful. It was just so funny to me how this played out! It gave me a little more insight on their personalities and how I'm going to have to parent them differently. Try it out and tell me what your kids do! :)

I don't see a difference!

Okay so I just think that all the myths about pregnancy are so funny and so not true!
*If you carry high it means girl... well Mason was SO high and Xander was low and this one is just somewhere in the middle.
* The heartbeat... low heart rate means boy high means girl. I thought for sure Mason would be a girl because his heart rate was never below 170. When I went in for this one it stayed around 130.
*Cravings... Sweets and fruit means girl and salt and meat mean boy. I have had basically the same cravings every time. I love Taco Bell when I'm pregnant, which is mostly salty. But mostly I just crave the things I like when not pregnant- just a little more :)
*Round face is supposed to mean girl- I guess I should have 3 girls!
*Bigger left boob means girl, bigger right boob means boy. WHAT??
*Cold feet means boy. My feet are ALWAYS cold
*Big nose means boy
*Neon pee means boy
*If you won't eat the heal of the bread it's a girl
*Morning sickness means girl.

I have always thought these myths were funny, but I couldn't help wonder if some of them were true. When I didn't want fruit all the time, my feet were still cold and the heart rate was low I thought for sure it had to be a boy. I see little differences from each pregnancy but not many. Girl or boy Pregnancy, for me at least is pretty much the same. I hope you enjoyed my little rant! What do you think about all the myths?

It's a...

Girl!!!
I am in shock! I was totally expecting and preparing in my mind for a boy. It took me all day to except it was true. I kept making the ultrasound tech check again, I was sure it was just hiding and would pop up any second! LOL I've really been wanting to get crafty and boy or girl I wanted to know so I could get started on the room and stuff. Having a girl is going to be crazy! I don't know where to start! I have two girl things: a blanket and a dress I bought yesterday.:) I'm just so ready to have a baby again! Sometimes the answer to our prayers is YES! The Boy ultrasound picture is Mason I just have to look at it to reassure myself this is a girl... there's nothing there!

What We've been up to

Kevin and I went on our 3rd cruise, 2nd Big Dog cruise! We are so blessed that Kevin works for such a great company! We had a blast!! We went to 5 different Islands and had a great time being together! We saw dolphins from our balcony and the most beautiful color of water I have ever seen! We soaked up a ton of sun and had a great time playing in the water, it was so warm too. We went on tours of the different Islands and learned about their different cultures. We had a great time on the ship with amazing food, great shows, room service, maids, friends... needless to say it was very hard to come back to cold weather and real life. I loved this trip and it was nice to spend some alone time and remember why we fell in love. Also a nice getaway before our lives are turned upside down with #3! We also had our 6 year anniversary a week after we got home. After such a great trip dinner and a movie was just fine for us!

We found a baby mouse in our house! Which means the mouse we caught must have had babies!!! I feel so unclean!! I HATE mice! Kevin found it under the oven making a home in our pots and pans... gag! He caught it alive and kept as a pet for a day! Sick!!! The boys thought it was cool. He had a little home with newspaper and a few peices of cereal. My Husband sometimes!