Viva England!

Baby toes make me smile!

2011-12-09T08:18:00.001-08:00

Cambree & Ashy's toes!

Cambree's cute lil toes!

Ashy's lil toes!

I love love love having girls! I love when Cambree wants her toes painted! I love when Ashley holding still so I can paint hers too! Normally I hate toes but from the moment Cambree was born I fell in love with her toes. I remember asking my mom when she thought I would stop being obsessed with how cute Cambree's toes were and she said around 3. Well Cambree is almost 3 and I still love her toes! I love my girly girls!!

Love hate but mostly dislike!

2011-12-09T07:35:00.001-08:00

A LOT of things have been annoying me lately. Life with 3 kids under 3 is completely overwhelming and stressful. Not to mention they outnumber me 3-1. I've decided to write down a list of things that I hate, dislike, and love as a why to vent and get out some frustration...

Things I hate:
*Piles and piles AND piles of diapers! (And me being the only person to pick them up!)

Things I dislike:
*Having 3 kids in diapers

Things I love:
*My 3 kids

Things I hate:
*Commercials!

Things I dislike:
*Cambree's obsession with watching My Little Pony's and CRYING when commercials come on, and whining until I fast forward through the commercials. (Thanks to Grandma D showing her you can fast forward through commercials to start her crying when commercials come on!

Things I hate:
*Waking up in the morning

Things I dislike:
Going in the twins room in the morning and changing two poopy diapers to start off my day every day

Things I love:
My twins!

Holiday fun fun fun!

2011-12-02T17:54:00.001-08:00

We have been busy the last few months!! We went to f*l*o*r*i*d*a for Thanksgiving to spend the holiday's with Keri's family. While we were there Dana treated to the most amazing day at Disney world!!!! I can't tell who was more excited to be there.. Cambree or me... probably me!

Us in front of the castle!

Cambree with her ears!! She wore them all day!

Which way to the castle? This way daddy.. this way...

One happy girl on daddy's shoulders!

Cam loved the dancing!

Disney world was all decked out for Christmas! It was gorgeous!!

Ashley was to die for in those ears!!!

I couldn't help but take another pic!!!!

Buddy was NOT happy to be in his mouse ears! Boo!

Keri's mom Dana with the kids!

We also made time to hit up the zoo. Cambree and Keri fed the birds... I was in the background screaming lol. Cambree was SO brave!!

Buddy and daddy moment!

We were lucky enough to be around for one of Andrew's basketball games! This is Keri with his dad. Good looks run in the family ;)

The man, the legend... one of my favorite people Andrew!! He plays point guard naturally!

I never had a chance to put up pictures from Halloween... so why not throw them up now. Cambree was a lil bee. She LOVED this outfit. She wore it for days before halloween! It was even cuter when she would go around saying Buuuuuzzzzzz...

It was pooooooouring rain but Cambree was anxious to get going! She was the cutest trick or treater!

Ashley and Austin guarded the door (aka tried to eat all the candy!)

We have had an amazing last few months! We had the best time in Florida! It was so nice to spend time with family!! Dana and Bob did SO much for us, we can't thank them enough!! Next up: Christmas!!!!!

Kelly & Drew!!!!

2011-11-20T06:36:00.001-08:00

Uncle Drew & Aunt Kelly came to visit!!! They live in Kentucky so we don't get to see them very often! Cambree wasn't cooperating for the group shot! (What else is new...)

Don't they look like naturals holding the twins? Ashley is like welcome to our family...

Buddy soaking up the attention!

The Kelly's!! Kelly holding Austin Kelly!!! I LOVE this picture!!

Busy lil bee...

2011-11-19T18:25:00.001-08:00

The past few days have been insanely busy! It started off with having a guy who grew up just up the street from us over for dinner. It turns out he is stationed at Fort Bragg with us. (Small world) We had a great time having him over! It was nice to discuss things and people from the old neighborhood! After he left I hopped in my car and drove to my sister's house in Kernersville. We had a FABULOUS time! I got there late Thursday night and we pretty much headed to bed that night. Woke up on Friday and went to Breaking Dawn! (Yay!) Naturally we had to buy the official Twilight plastic cups to drink out of while watching. The movie was pretty good but that was just the start to our day. Our day included shopping, picking Troy up from the airport, and heading back out to Winsten-Salem to meet our friend Dan for dinner. After dinner we went to a double feature of Immortals. (Now I just have to say I didn't want to see the movie to begin with... then watched the trailer and thought it would be okay) Well I think we were all disappointed with the movie even thought it included some nice eye candy ;) We had a lot of fun with Dan however. Who knew ;) Shan and I got home.. hopped in bed to watch a movie with Troy and of course both of us fell asleep. Sorry Troy!

I woke up today, hopped back in my car and raced home because my sister in law Kelly and her husband Drew were coming over for a visit!! We rarely get to see Kelly and Drew so we were SUPER excited to see them again!! Unfortunately Cambree was in a hideous mood! We simply must get her into some counseling for her chocolate addiction ;) We went to lunch and came home and just talked. We had a great time being with them!! They are both big Duke fans so hopefully we will get to see more of them since Duke plays about an hour away from us! I LOVE living so close to family!!

Tomorrow we will jump in the car once more and head to f*l*o*r*i*d*a for the week! All of Keri's family lives in Florida so we are going to spend Thanksgiving there!! In a quick 9 hours we will be there! I'm ready for some fun in the sun which naturally translate into pawning the kids off on Grandma Dana ;) (Jk!) What a crazy couple of days!!!

Quick note!

2011-11-12T20:32:00.001-08:00

I haven't had time since getting back to America to blog so I thought I would leave a quick note to say we are alive and loving our new life in North Carolina! We live in the cutest four bedroom/ 3 bathroom house. It is a major upgrade from our first house in England which was a two bedroom/1 bath! The best part is we live 2 hours from my sister (which is actually 1 1/2 hours with me behind the wheel.) We have already made numerous trips back and forth already. Let me just say it is fabulous living so close to family after 3 years of living across the ocean from everyone we love! I will post pictures of everything soon! Just wanted to say we couldn't be happier with our new assignment and new life!! Next up for us is a road trip to Florida for Thanksgiving to see Keri's family!! YAY!

3 kids! 3 swing!

2011-08-29T18:24:00.001-07:00

Cambree's first time in a swing at 5 months!

Ashley's first time in the swing at 6 months!

Buddy's first time in the swing at 6 months!

*I thought it would be cute to post pictures of the kids all at around the same age in the same swing at the TLF park!!

England Part 2 (Cambree's early years!)

2011-08-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

Cambree's first time on the Underground going into London!!

In London!!

Cambree with Allison! (My partner in crime until she left me!)

Cambree at our favorite castle (Framlingham)

Cambree trick or treating with the Callahans!!!

Cambree with her bestest friends!!! WE MISS THEM SO MUCH!!

Memories of England Part 1 (The Early Years lol)

2011-08-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

Our very first trip into London!!! We are on the Underground!

5 months pregnant with Cambree Kae!!!

My favorite picture!! Beware of thieves LOL!!

Our 1 year anniversary! Seeing Mama Mia!

6 months pregnant with Cambree Kae!!

3 days!!!!

2011-08-29T13:44:00.000-07:00

Three days! THREE DAYS!!!!!

So today we visited our house on Feltwell for the last time & said goodbye to my awesome neighbor Alyssa! I will miss her and her gorgeous girls and of course lil Logan! We were both pregnant when I moved into that house... she was about a week or so ahead of me and I had my twins about 2 weeks ahead of her! After Feltwell I strapped the twins in and took a final tour of Lakenheath. I went past our first house on Windsor Circle that we lived in for 2 years. I seriously started getting really sad. Then as I was walking back to our lodge I remembered something. Something hilarious but at the time was so not funny. So there we were... arriving in England for the first time 3 years ago.. we hop on this bus and have to sit there all stinky and tired after a 12 hour flight. I'm pregnant and grumpy and wanting to be anywhere but in England and definately anywhere other than an old bus. (Not to mention I was concerned about whether there was a bathroom on the bus or not because let's face it pregnant ladies don't go long without having to go!!!!! So I was put out about that too LOL) So the bus motors along and when I say motors I mean the bus driver was crazy. He was really hauling and didn't seem to mind he was breaking branches off of trees and he pasted by them at mock speeds. So we finally (and I do mean finally) get to RAF Lakenheath and he pulls through the gate and the bus starts making weird sounds and stops. He starts it up.. it goes a few feet and stops. He gets out .. acts like he is doing something and tries to start her up again. After a few times of this... the bus moves an inch and finally dies. Yes my friends the bus we were on DIES! Then all of us are ushered off the bus to fend for ourselves. Hello.. I'm pregnant, tired, and now have 2 big suitcases to lug around ... not to mention we have no idea where billeting is to check in! It was truly the definition of hideous. Everyone kinda scatters in different directions and Keri and I pick a direction and start walking. This is how we were introduced to England lol. Aw, memories! I'm going to miss this crazy place! THREE MORE DAYS!!!

4 days!

2011-08-28T13:05:00.001-07:00

Four days! FOUR DAYS!!!! I cannot believe it has finally arrived! Only four days til we leave England and head back to America!!!!!! I still remember the day Keri called to tell me we got orders to England. It was April 2nd 2008. We had only been married about 5 months and I thought he was pulling a late April Fools joke! The joke it turns out was on me!! I was devastated to hear the news! But here I am... three years later and let me tell you it has gone by in a blink!!!! I dreaded coming here and now I have to admit I'm sad to leave! I came to England pregnant with my first child and leave with three kids. Now tell me that isn't a feat lol! We weren't able to travel and visit a lot of countries while we were here but I'm taking home the best souvenirs, my three adorable and amazing kids! I don't know of many people that can say they gave birth to twins in England!! (I don't know many people who would want to!) I've had a pretty awesome time here. I have met some AMAZING people and will come away with life long friends. Through my time in England I have learned that you can do anything. Nothing is impossible especially if you have an amazing family standing behind you. I've made some mistakes and learned some great lessons. I might even go as far as to say I will miss England... a little bit. Keri and I celebrated our first anniversary here. All my kids were babies here. It has been one amazing ride! I will be happy to be back in the land of driving on the right side of the road again! ;)

My lil Ashley Bug!!

2011-08-10T07:39:00.000-07:00

I have to take a moment to brag about my lil Ashley bug! She is hands down the brightest kids we've had!!!! Cambree was soooooo lazy! We tried and tried and tried to get her to crawl but that girl was a little stinker. Would you believe the first time she crawled was on her FIRST birthday?! (About a week later she was walking!) Buddy seems to be following in the footsteps of his big sister. He is content just to "chill." He is perfectly happy laying on the bed watching tv with Cambree! (True but sad story!) Now my Ashley bug on the other hand.... she has got some spunk and determination.

By five months my Ashley was up on her knees and by five and half months she was rocking back and forth on her knees! Could it be? Will I actually witness one of my kids crawling before one? She is six months now and still doesn't actually crawl but she definitely gets around. And while she is getting around she is a BULLY! When she sets her eyes on something she wants... she goes and gets it. For example: Just yesterday Cambree had a bag of chocolate cheerios she was eating on the bed. Ashley rocked and scooted her way over there and literally took the bag out of Cambree's hands!!!!! Needless to say Cambree went ballistic! ( I secretly laughed!) Looks like someone is going to give Cambree a run for her money for queen of the household! Not more than 5 minutes later (After trying to put a cheerio in her mouth) she scooted over and grabbed some lego's Cambree was playing with. (Another melt down which included shouting of "MINE!" She is a bully to Buddy too. Ashley has never taken a pacifier. It is quite frustrating but Buddy's pacifier is his best friend. He always has it. Well I think it is a game to Ashley because she is constantly plucking that pacifier out of his mouth which makes him cry. I put the pacifier back in, move her away, and ..... she maneuvers over takes it out of his mouth again! (Stinker!) She also will take toys that Buddy is playing with right from his hands!! My little 14 pound girl is ruling the roost I tell you! She is the bully in a pink onesie!

Besides being mobile she also can sit up on her own which is something Buddy can't do quite yet. I think the problem Cambree and Buddy both have/had is that they have the worlds largest heads! I mean trying to get a shirt on either of them is a struggle because their head is so big. Now lil sister on the other hand has a tinsy head. I think it must be easier to scoot around and sit up if you don't have a big watermelon on your shoulders.

I look forward to seeing what the next few months bring for Ashley! She is definitely a mover and a shaker! She is definitely going to leave Buddy in her cute pink dust!

The Twins are S-I-X- months old!!

2011-07-31T07:01:00.001-07:00

Today the Twins are exactly 6 months old!! I cannot believe how fast time flies! I was looking at pictures of Cambree at 6 months old and thought I would post her 6 month old celebration along with the twins. This was Cambree's cake! And the start of celebrating the 6 month old milestone!

Look at my lil Cambree! I am thinking Austin & her are the REAL twins! They both have huuuge heads!

Cambree and mommy!! Cannot believe how fast time went by especially considering Cambree is now 2 1/2!

The twins 6 month old cake! (Note: there isn't much variety at the commissary! lol)

They wasted NO time digging in! Ashley was the more aggressive one! She loooves her cake!

Happy 6 months old twinsy!! Mommy loooooves you!

Mommy and Austin!

I hope the next 6 months slow down because the first 6 months flew by! I love my twins and cannot imagine my life without them! They make our family complete! Now if we could just get Cambree to like them!!!

Twins my foot....

2011-07-08T12:37:00.001-07:00

Ahh the twins... my pride and joy! My reason for living! My reason for crying! LOL! I thought I would jot down a few things I've noticed about the twins before I forget. It is funny to have two babies the same age because it is interesting to see how differently they develop. Here are a few of the differences in my adorable twins...

Ashley has been rolling over onto her stomach since she was probably 4 months old. Maybe even before then. She is CRAZY about rolling over. And she drives me crazy with her constant rolling! If she is laying down she will be on her tummy in about 2 seconds flat. She absolutely refuses to sleep on her back. At first I was worried about letting her sleep on her stomach but there was no fighting it. I would flip her over.. and she would flip back onto her tummy before I could even turn away...Buddy on the other hand makes me laugh. He has a little budda belly which I think has prevented him from rolling over as fast. In fact it has just been the past few weeks where he could even make it onto his belly and then once he is on his belly he is instantly crying. He hates being on his stomach!! It is kinda funny though because when he does make it onto his stomach his feet are in the air! They don't touch the floor due to his budda belly. Poor buddy!!

Ashley is SO much more independent than Austin. For example I can put her in the pack n play to sleep at night and she will fall asleep by herself. Buddy on the other hand HATES being in the pack n play by himself. (Mama's boy what?!) If I put him in there to fall asleep and he is by himself he will cry. He gets so put out. He actually has this fake cough he does when he is put out or wants attention which is kinda cute the first few times he did it but super annoying now lol. It is only once Ashley joins him he will actually fall asleep! (And the fake coughing stops! Hallelujah!)

Ashley is high energy already! She is already like go go go! She is seriously days away from crawling. She keeps trying! We keep joking that I will put her down one day and I'll come back and she will have crawled away. Besides trying to crawl she is super active. She is always kicking her legs and moving her arms. Forget trying to feed her a bottle. Her arms are all over the place and her head is like looking left to right.. left to right... as if she would miss something! When I put her in the play saucer I swear she almost hyperventilates! Breath Ashley breath! Buddy on the other hand is more laid back. He is more vocal than active. He will jabber jabber jabber but doesn't really move around much and forget about crawling. He will probably be like big sister Cambree and not crawl til for-ever!!! His motto must be why crawl when you can be carried! On the plus side he is super easy to feed a bottle to and sometimes I can actually prop the bottle up and it will stay because he is pretty still.

The one thing Buddy does beat Ashley at is eating LOL! Surprise surprise he is a boy! That boy can pack away the milk and now he can pack away the solids! I started him on actual solids (like the baby applesauce and banana's) a week ago. He eats like a champ. He even opens his mouth up when I put the spoon close to it! I think this boy has a future in hot dog eating contests! Ashley on the other hand is such a girl! She takes forever to drink a bottle and usually ends up drinking about 2 ounces less than Buddy. She refused to eat the solids at first but is slowly and I do mean slowly coming around. I think she wants to maintain her girlish figure even at 5 months old lol.

Well those are a few of the differences I can think of right now! Gotta love the craziness that comes with having twins! My days are never boring and that is fo sho!

My addictions!!!!

2011-06-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing I know about myself it is this.... when I find something I like... I do it over and over and over AND over again. Food, movies, drinks... whatever it may be... once I latch onto something good it pretty much becomes my newest addiction. When I was home in Utah we decided to all hop on my moms bed and rent a movie. We stumbled across this movie called Country Strong and really by chance decided to watch it. For whatever reason that movie spoke to my soul!!! I instantly became obsessed with that movie. My fabulous sister downloaded all the songs from the movie and I immediately began listening to them over and over and over AND over. Don't believe me, ask my sister! My favorite thing from the movie is obviously Garrett and his a-m-a-z-i-n-g good looks er... I mean voice! I listen to the songs he sings from that movie pretty much every night when I'm going to bed! Check out his "Timing is Everything" song... it is truly inspired I tell you!!
My next current addiction is chocolate covered strawberries. My first encounter with chocolate covered strawberries came about a year ago. I had a friend who brought them into my life and ever since them I have been sold on them. Currently I make them like no joke three times a week! I would totally be a lot thinner right now if a) I didn't make them so much and b) I didn't feel the obligation to eat them all in one sitting! What?! It's an addiction! Suuurely you can understand! They are best when slightly chilled from the fridge... ohhhh don't get me started I want some NOW!
Another addiction has plauged me for a long time.... that is Shabby Chic sheets! I know I know ... I said SHEETS! When I was single and rich I bought sheets alllll the time. I know, who does that right? I was the sheet queen I tell you! I came across Shabby Chic like 10 years ago and we instantly became best friends. Now that I'm married and poor with three kids I can't afford to buy them as much but I currently have Shabby Chic sheets on both Cambree's bed and my bed at the moment. If you are in the market for new sheets check-cha-check-check-check check them out!
One of my last addictions/obsessions is that of autobiographies. Nerd alert I KNOW! My sisters are both into the (sometimes saucy) romance novels.... but me my friends.... I love me a good autobiography. My past favorite reads were Andre Aggassi (a REAL page turner... I cannot say enough about that book) and George W. Bush (who knew he was SO funny!) I started reading Larry H. Miller's book but somehow it ended up getting lost at my parents house. Literally we could not find it. One minute I'm reading it on the couch (or it could have been in Shaun's room) and the next I am turning over couch cushions with no luck and no book... I'm currently reading Chris Herren's book. It might seem like an odd choice but Chris Herren played at Fresno State the same time I was attending Utah State (so like an eternity ago right) and Freson always played against Utah State so I actually remember watching him play. Not to mention any sports book is a good book to me so that helps too.

So I guess if I were to put them all together a perfect night would be watching Country Strong... and then going to bed on my Shabby Chic sheets with a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and my Chris Herren book..... all of which I intend to do tonight because a) I'm nerdy like that and b) Keri works nights so what else do I have to do? Watch British tv? I think not......

Anxiously waiting...

2011-05-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

We thought we had the next four years of our lives set but then we got word that we aren't going to Washington D.C. after all! In order for Keri to work for the White House he had to have two separate types of security clearances. (A Top Secret Clearance and a Presidential Clearance) It takes a certain amount of time to do each clearance and from the time Keri accepted the assignment til the time we are suppose to be there... there isn't enough time to complete the security clearances and apparently you can't arrive there without having both in place) Confusing I know and completely retarded. Basically they shouldn't have given us that assignment knowing we wouldn't have enough time to completely the steps necessary to have in place to accept it. Sooo now we are waiting to hear where we are actually going!!!! I'm a nervous wreck!! I wasn't exactly thrilled to hear about the D.C. job but after a few months I was (getting) excited and now we are back to square one!! I feel like I've paid my dues living in England so I HOPE we get a good assignment next!! On the top of our "wish list" is Colorado, Nevada, Washington, Ohio, and Virgina. I would be good with any of those but the only luck Keri and I have is BAD luck so we will probably end up in Alabama or something hot and humid! (Noooooothing against Alabama because I could definitely become an Auburn fan but I'd rather live in a dry climate!) Overall though I will just be happy to be leaving this tiny miserable island I'm calling England lol!! We are suppose to hear any time now so cross your fingers for us!! Pray we don't get sent to somewhere like North Dakota either!!!!! None of us have winter coats ;)

Sorry doesn't even cover it!

2011-05-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

Just when you are cruising along life thinking everything is great you get thrown a curve ball. In this case it was a curve ball that I should have let pass me by but I didn't. The thing about life is you can get so caught up in something that you don't stop to think about the consequences or people that could get hurt in the process. I hurt a person who I once called a friend and if I could talk to that person again I would say from the bottom of my heart how incredibly sorry I am!

Just hanging around the hospital pictures

2011-03-12T02:14:00.000-08:00

This was one of my first moments with Baby Austin. I didn't really get to see him after he was born and he was whisked away for quite a while before I finally got to meet him!!

Baby Ashley... her hair was quite the color when she came out. Bright yellowish red!

Austin had a few problems so he had to be taken three times a day for antibiotics. He had an IV line in his arm the whole hospital stay. Poor guy!

They definitely slept better in one bassinet together!

Mommy and baby!

Cam peeking in on her brother!

My awesome friend Robyn came to the hospital every day!! I don't know what I would do without her!!!!

Vicky holding Ashley. Vicky watched Cambree for three days while I was in the hospital. She is THE most amazing person I've ever met. I feel lucky to know her!

Dr. Snow checked on us quite a bit... he loved holding the babies!

Lisa came to visit us!! I love her!

Miranda hurt her foot so Robyn had to wheel her in to see me!

Miranda was reminiscing about the days when her own twins were born!

Tessie is a great friend and also my doctor's wife! She made the cutest burp rags!!!

Comfy cozy twins!

Snuggling!

I just love my twins!!!!

Tale of the Twin's birth!

2011-02-28T02:52:00.000-08:00

First let me start by saying pictures are to follow but I wanted to write down the story of the twin's birth before I forget some of the details.

When I found out I was pregnant with twins almost everyone told me that twins come early. I heard and read all sorts of stories about twins arriving anywhere from 32 weeks to 36. Since Cambree arrived at 36 weeks herself I was certain I wasn't going to make it the full 38 with my weeks. Imagine my surprise (and discomfort) when I was only 2 days away from my scheduled c section date of February 2nd. At this point I was 37 weeks and 5 days along. I could NOT believe that I was going to be 38 weeks pregnant with twins. I mean who does that anymore? I don't know that many people who went 38 weeks with twins and of course as much as you want your twins to stay in as long as possible so they are healthy, at 37 weeks you just want them out. I was all but begging the doctor to take them at 37 weeks but he insisted I wait the whole 38. Keri measured my waist and I was sitting at 57 inches round! To make a long story short I was miserable and it was a struggle to get through EVERY day.

So January 31st came and I was starting to get nervous for the arrival of my twins. Keri had taken the cars out to get cleaned and I was itching to get to the BX to pick up a few things I needed for the hospital. He got home and I headed to the BX alone. From the second I got into car to head out I knew it was a bad idea and I probably shouldn't go but I proceeded anyway. I could literally barely fit behind the wheel. I started having the WORST back pain and it was a struggle to even walk through the BX. We are talking serious pain and again I had the thought I should not be out doing this. Luckily I got my stuff and made it back to the car and home. I spent the rest of the day in bed in the worst pain.

We had just gotten Cambree to bed when I went into the bathroom and it all started going downhill. I started bleeding a little bit (muscus plug stuff) but grew a little concerned when it didn't stop. I called my sister who told me I should probably go into the hospital. I thought she was over reacting and called my mom. She was concerned too and the bleeding kept up so I ended up calling my doctor's wife (we are all in the same ward together) who called her husband who told me to call Labor and Delivery. I called L&D and explained I was bleeding more like just a little bit and they told me I should just come get cbecked out and to bring an over night bag just in case. I hopped in the shower to clean up and got dressed. Keri called Vickie Wilkins who was going to be watching Cambree for us while we were in the hospital. (Vickie is one of the BEST people I've ever ever met. She also happens to be the Bishop's wife) My overnight bag had been packed for weeks but when the babies never came I slowly started using the stuff I had packd in it so it was a rush to get it repacked. It didn't take long for Vickie and the Bishop to get to my house (they live close by). I was up in the bathroom and blood was getting pretty much everywhere. Vickie came up the stairs to help me and I kept asking her if she thought the bleeding was normal. Lucky for me she stayed calm but helped me get down the stairs and into the car. She called my doctor once we actually got in the car to tell him we were on our way. (Nice things about having the doctors in our ward!)

Ugh the roads in England are so tiny and so bumpy and the drive from Feltwell to Lakenheath was brutal. Every bump was painful. We arrived at the Lakenheath hospital and Keri pulled right up to where the Ambulances arrive at the ER. He helped me out of the car and I was just gushing blood in the parking lot. I just stood there while Keri ran to get a wheelchair. The wheelchair came and up to L&D we went.. mind you there was a trail of blood the whole way up. For some reason I felt dumb about bleeding everywhere and kept saying sorry! We got up into L&D and they got me into a gown and a room. Again I asked the nurses if this bleeding was normal. How could it be normal? It didn't stop. They assured me it was fine and started my I.V. Lucky for me my regular doctor was actually on call that night so he came in and talked to me. I felt reassured when I saw him. He is a pretty great guy (and his wife is really awesome.) He told me we were just waiting for everyone to assemble and we would probably be starting in like 25 minutes. The anesthesiologist came in (mind you he looked way young and cute) and told me instead of an epidural like I had with Cambree's c section I was going to be having a spinal block. I was less than thrilled because that meant I would be totally awake during the c section and that made me nervous. Anyway I got wheeled back to the operating room and the fun began.

Luckily I had THE BEST nurses with me that night. I was SO scared and they were great. Keri wasn't allowed in the room while I got my spinal block so I was nervous. My nurses (who had monitors on me monitoring the twins while I was getting my spinal block) let me hold their hands and one of them kept whispering comforting things to me. I cannot tell you how much I appreciated her. The spinal block was less fun .. took forever to do.. and was painful. During the process I kept gushing out blood. At one point I warned the nurses... you are about to get wet. The blood would gush out and get all over. The block got done... Keri came in.. and we got underway. It didn't take too long before Ashley came out. She arrived at 10:51pm. I was so excited when I heard her cry. Austin came next exactly one minute later at 10:52pm. The thing about him is that he didn't cry when he came out and I started to get nervous. Infact once Austin came out I didn't get to even seen him until after I was done and back in my room.

Well later I found out I had placenta abruption which is why I was bleeding so much. I also found out later that Vickie was worried about all my bleeding but kept calm for me. My doctor said he didn't realize what was going on until he walked in when I was getting my spinal block and he saw all the blood that was gushing out. He also said there was a blood clot in my uterus and the worst was that poor Austin had injested a lot of blood in the placenta. When he came out they had to suction out a lot of blood from his lungs. He also had another problem. I guess when babies are born their first instinct is to pull their hands in towards them. Austin put his hands out which was an indication of a problem. The whole time I was in the hospital he had to go three times a day to get antibotic's. Luckily everything turned out okay and everyone ended up being fine but it could have been a scary situation. I'm glad my sister was in tune enough to tell me from the second I started bleeding that I needed to go in.

Well it's been a month now and the twins are doing pretty great!! It is quite the struggle but definitely worth it! I can't imagine not having both of them. It has definitely been a crazy ride from the time I found out I was having twins until now!!!

My baby is T-W-O!

2011-01-18T01:20:00.000-08:00

People thought we were crazy when we celebrated Cambree's 6th month old birthday!! We can't help it... we are crazy about our lil Cam's!! As you can see she is ready to dig in!!

Her first cake!!

Luckily we were able to be home with family for her 1st birthday! It was quite the party!!

Her awesome strawberry shortcake!!

We were back in England to celebrate her 2nd birthday! As you can see she wasn't impressed!

I was kinda nervous because we had to order a cake from the commissary on base, but it didn't turn out too bad! It tasted del-icious!!!

We love our little Cambree!! You came into this world a month early and took us all by surprise and you still surprise us daily!! We love you Cambree Kae!!

Pretty please!

2011-01-09T03:07:00.000-08:00

Dear Twins,

Please come out! Pretty please? Mommy can't do this for much longer! I can't sleep. Eating makes me sick. I can barely move. No really I can b-a-r-e-l-y move. I'm always breathless. My back hurts. My hips hurt. Please come out soon! I promise to start up your allowance early!

Love, Mommy

So close yet sooo far away!

2010-12-21T06:36:00.000-08:00

That is a picture of twins at 32 weeks. I feel excited and amazed to be 32 weeks. When I think back to first being pregnant it seems like 32 weeks have flown by but boy do I feel like a bloated elephant!!! I have got the baby bump the size of a small island. Being pregnant with twins takes everything out of you. It is a struggle daily to feel like I'm getting enough oxygen in. I jokingly told my doctor I needed an oxygen tank. While the reality is my oxygen levels are just fine it literally feels like I'm one of those bigger linemen that just ran 90 yards for a TD... Then I got some stressful news that put the cherry on top. I found out I have gestational diabetes. I got tested at the very beginning of my pregnancy and it was negative but now I have it. In my research I found out that it is common to get it when carrying multiples and even more common when carrying fraternal twins. This new development really shook things up. Now I have to test my blood sugar four times a day with my special diabetes kit and the best part... I have to be conscience of everything last thing I put in my mouth. For example eating a simple bowl of cheerios with skim milk (which I've eaten like every morning since forever) spikes my blood sugar. It's not the cheerios.. its the milk. Milk is apparently the devil when it comes to diabetes. I can't even look at white bread without my blood sugar spiking up and don't even think about something as simple as graham crackers. One single sheet of graham cracker totally spiked my blood sugar. Oh graham crackers how I miss you. You and I were best friends!! Turns out breaking up IS hard to do :( The good news is once I have the twins my diabetes will immediately go away but I think this experience will forever change the way I look at food. In the meantime I'm trying to deck the halls without a single ounce of chocolate... which Keri by the way is eating for the both us of. Thanks Keri! ;)

Onto the babies... things have been going really well with the twins. They are both finally "head down" and they kick basically all day. This is so different than with Cambree who never kicked. We would put rap music on my belly with Cambree and nothing. These twins are definitely making up for that. Day and night they are making their presence known!!

Now that I am 32 weeks I have to go twice a week to the doctors to have the twins monitored for about an hour each time. I have my growth ultrasound on the 28th and my next doctor appointment on Jan 2nd. It is definitely a busy time around here! At least I have Christmas to try and distract me! As much as I feel horrible and complain I definitely feel blessed to be having twins. We are in for a big adventure!!

Let is snow, let it snow, let is snoooooow!!

2010-11-27T05:31:00.000-08:00

It was a christmas miracle!!! Keri had been telling me for about a week now that we were expected to get some snow. Now I've been in this country a while and have never seen more than a flake or two of snow so of course I was doubtful..... but..... we actually got snow!!! Cams kept peeking out at it!!

Big flakes of snow!!!!!!! Sooo excited!

Keri HAD to take Cams out in the snow for a minute!! Cambree kept putting her hand out to catch the snow flakes!!

View from inside... I was sooooooooooooooooooo excited!!

Our winter wonderland! I know its not much but I'll take what I can get! One thing I definitely miss about Utah is all the delicious snow! It doesn't feel like the Holiday's without it! This will definitely have to do until I get to visit Utah again!!

These twins are getting a spank'in!!

2010-10-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

Since it's my blog what better place to whine than here right?! Since I'm certain you agree I'll proceed!

Reasons why Twin Pregnancy is kicking my butt vs my pregnancy with Cambree:

*At 23 weeks I can barely walk! We are wayyy past a waddle... I'm talking I barely move.. I'm thinking one foot in front of the other and ten minutes later it happens..

*Cracked ribs anyone? I literally have so much pain on my ribs that it feels cracked or broken. I'm not even 6 months yet which means I have to deal with this pain for quite a few more months! BOO!

*Heartburn city! Holy smokes I thought I knew what heartburn was but this... this is ridiculous. I drink water and I swear I get heartburn. Forget laying down at night. The acids slowly creep up my throat all night long.

*There is absolutely NO comfortable position. I know this is common with pregnancy but at 23 weeks I toss and turn all night where as with Cambree it was at least 30-32 weeks before I was completely uncomfortable at night

*Do I even have to mention the size of my baby bump? People have asked me when I was due THINKING it was any day now.... um nope I say... not til February!! I'm as big now as I was 8 months preggers with Cambree

*Hungry much? My stomach is growling all the time. I eat and my stomach growls... I eat again and ...wait... what was that? my stomach growling. I am always hungry!!

*You should not be getting WINDED walking up a set of stairs at 23 weeks but I've been winded walking up stairs since about 20 weeks. I'm talking heavy breathing by the top and having to lay down on the bed. That never happened with Cambree

*The devilish iron pills. On top of my prenatal vitamins I have to take extra folic acid and iron pills. As if taking extra iron wasn't a pain (on my stomach) enough... if I forget to take a dose or two... I am sooooooo exhausted. Literally I'll lay on the couch all day.

*At 8 months with Cambree I wandered all over London at Christmas time. Now I can barely make it down the street without pains. A trip to the commissary makes me feel completely spent.

*Tandem kicking!!!! Holy cow its like a symphony in my stomach all day long! Kick... two seconds later... kick from the left... one nano second later... kick from the right.. are we having a soccer match in my stomach?

Okay I guess that is enough whining for now. In conclusion: Calgone TAKE ME AWAY!!!!!

Round here...

2010-10-14T07:12:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd post a few pictures from the past few months... This is how most days start off... Cambree hogging MY lazy boy! Upon waking up she immediate brings in shoes for me to put on her followed by a shoe change about a half hour later into rain boots!

Cambree in her little wings! How precious is she when she is asleep?

Cambree loves to be outside pushing her baby stroller around.. of course she has to be in her rain boots...

This is one of my favorite pictures.... when my sister was here we went to Warwich Castle... naturally we all had to use the bathroom! Well inside the bathrooms they have seats for babies to sit in while the mom's use the bathroom. (That is Kelly's knee you see) Cambree was telling a compelling story in the bathroom...

We went to Nottingham a few months ago... this is Cambree poising as Robin Hood!

Classic Cambree!

I'll update the blog more soon! I'm finally 22 weeks and have a doctors appointment tomorrow followed by a ultrasound on the 27th!!! Things are definately crazy around here being pregnant with twins and chasing after a 21 month old!!

Luck, Kelly, and glorious Feltwell..

2010-09-22T04:24:00.001-07:00

I thought I should update my blog as to the recent events going on! I'm officially 19 weeks pregnant who looks at least 30 weeks pregnant ;) My sister Kelly was here for two weeks! We had the best time! I don't think I've laughed that hard in a looong time. The day before she left me I was plotting a way to go home with her as I knew I would be terribly depressed when she left. My sister Kelly and I have always been super close. Most of my best memories include her but some of my saddest too.... she was the person I followed around constantly, she was the person who taught me how to tie my shoe... not so much out of kindness but more so she wouldn't have to constantly have to stop and tie it for me lol. One of my saddest memories was my first year at Girls Camp. Kelly was a 4th year which meant she would be on the 4th year hike and not at Camp with me. Back in those days I was TERRIBLY SHY. Painfully shy almost. A girl like me needed her big sis. We had survived Girls Scout Camp in Korea together for petes sake. So I was at camp having fun when I saw from the distance my sister walking down the path earlier than the rest of the 4th years. I was sooooo happy to see her. I can still picture her walking down the dusty path. I couldn't believe my good luck until she told me the worst news ever... she was SICK AND LEAVING EARLY! It was quite possibly one of the hardest things ever for a 12 year old girl. Being left alone without her sister.... in the wilderness. I survived naturally and I knew I would survive her leaving me again in England but it was a HORRIBLE few days after she left me.

Then all the bad luck happened. We tried to get a King bed from the furniture store in Feltwell and they said it would take 6-8 weeks to arrive.... then we tried to buy this lazy boy.. and lets be honest its the lazy boy of my DREAMS .... to which they tell us its out of stock and can't be ordered. We ended up buying the model on the floor and asked how much much to deliver it to our house literally a few blocks away.... would you believe she had the nerve to say $100!!!!!! It was just one thing after another like that.... then I stopped to realize I had some good luck... and it is our house in Feltwell.

Oh Feltwell... GLORIOUS Feltwell. It's a place I never wanted to live but now feel incredibly lucky to live there. Our new house is three bedrooms and a whole of space! I call it living in the lap of Military Luxury! This house has actually SCREENS (its rare to find a house in England with screens) and to top it off.... we are spoiled with actual water pressure. Our last house on Lakenheath was horrible. You would literally catch a cold being in the shower because the pressure was so horrible. The best part of the house is the backyard..... you walk outside and its this huge lawn bigger than a football field of just grass. Cambree could run forever back there. She has already made a few friends too. She was running hand in hand with a lil girl 2 houses down. I am sooooo grateful for this house. I think my luck is turning!!!!

Eating for three!!

2010-08-23T02:43:00.000-07:00

You know the first thing a pregnant lady says when she sits down to a big meal is... "well I'm eating for two"... Well ladies try eating for three! I never thought I'd say this in a million years but eating for three is WORK! They say someone pregnant with twins (or more) need to eat something... a sandwich...a snack... every two hours. Now before I was pregnant I would have thought that would be my biggest dream come true! This girl loves her some food! (Mostly Olive Garden lol) But now when I have to eat all the time.... its really not that fun. I mean how many peanut butter sandwiches can you have in a day? I don't even like peanut butter that much! Not to mention there aren't any fun places to eat here in England. I'm sure eating wouldn't be quite a chore if I had my Training Table around! :) The worst part is at night... I'll literally have eaten dinner like an hour ago and my stomach will be growling..... growling like I'm on Survivor and haven't eaten in days! It's hard to find things that sound good to eat all the time. This being said there are a few things I cannot get enough of!

Cravings at 14 weeks:
*Spaghetti -- I've eaten it for breakfast quite a few times!
*Ketchup -- Forget diamonds... Ketchup is this girls best friend!
*Nerds -- It's the tangiest tiniest candy of my dreams! I love it!
*Sour patch kids--The sour the better!
*Apple Juice-- Cambree and I could live on Apple Juice alone!

Addenbrookes take two...

2010-08-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

So when we first got to England in 2008 I was almost 5 months pregnant with Cambree. The Lakenheath Hospital on Base referred me to Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge for an ultrasound to take a look at the babies heart chambers. It was my first real taste of what it would be like to be British. You have to pay to park at the hospital for appointments. The nurses wear very old fashion looking uniforms... the whole place kinda makes you think you've entered 1946 or something. Anyway it felt totally weird but cool to be wandering the halls of Addenbrookes hospital today with Cambree on our way to get an ultrasound of our twins. Almost like we had come full circle again!

I waited patiently in the waiting room surrounded by British pregnant women. It's funny how a simply accent can make you feel so out of place. Let's be honest England might as well be Germany or Sweden because half the time you have no idea what they are saying to you. The accents are pretty thick and most of the time I end up saying "what?" at least three times before I understand.

Anyway they called us back to the very same room we were in 2 years ago when I was pregnant with Cambree. The doctor started the ultrasound and suddenly I was watching my amazing twins on the big screen. One was even waving to me. Seriously.... either that or just moving his hand around lol! The doctor said I was measuring at 13 weeks and 2 days instead of the 12 weeks I thought I was at! I was pretty excited about that! My new due date is February 16th which is crazy because Cambree's original due date was February 12th which is two days before Valentines Day.... and the twins are due 2 days after Valentines Day.

So the doctor said everything looked good so I was pretty relieved. It is super exciting to see my babies moving around and kicking... now if we could only find out the sex of the babies we will be set! Well that's my report from Cambridge, UK! :)

Double the pregnancy

2010-08-01T10:58:00.001-07:00

From the beginning I had been telling everyone that this pregnancy felt different. The first few weeks I was exhausted. I would be up for maybe an hour and needed a nap. Multiple naps. I was drained of all energy. Then of course I was starting to sport a baby bump... at like 9 weeks. Keeping in mind I didn't really get a baby bump til 3-4 months with Cambree. I had heard that you show earlier with your second, but this was ridiculous! Then came the doctor's appointment.

In the military your first doctors appointment isn't until you are 10 weeks. I was so excited when my appointment rolled around because I would get my first ultrasound. (In the military you only get 2 ultrasounds period. So each one is super exciting!) The day came and I was nervous. I had butterfly's. Keri kept asking me why I was so nervous. So we get into the room and the doctor comes in and we discuss a few things. I told her about my horrible night sweats. Two days previous to my appointment I had the worst night sweats I'd ever had. I woke up at 2am completely soaking wet and had to chance nightgowns and again at 6am I was so drenched with sweat and freezing cold that I hopped right into the shower. The doctor told me that night sweats were more common with twins to which I laughed and said... Well I had them with Cambree. Little did I know that was a foreshadowing of what was to come....

During the whole appointment Cambree was being a monster. Crying, yelling, screaming... she was definately put out. I think she knew what was coming as well. Keri was trying his best to keep Cambree occupied when the doctor first started the ultrasound. I turned to look at the screen and got the shock of my life. I saw TWO babies! The doctor said to me... Do you know what this means? I was in complete shock and thought surely she had pulled up a trick screen to scare me... so I said.. what does that mean? I needed her to tell me that I was actually seeing two babies things. The next thing she said changed my life... probably forever. She says to me... You are having TWINS! I still couldn't believe it. By that time Keri had Cambree and was looking at the screen in completely disbelief. Then we both looked at each other and started smiling. It was completely unbelievable. Never in a million years would I ever think I'd be having twins. Never in a million years did I think I would be capable of having twins!!!!

Well i've had a few days since the ultrasound to process it and I still just can't believe it. Twins. Me. Having Twins!! I am so nervous and scared and happy at the same time. Can I really do this? Am I strong enough to do this? At night I just lay in bed with the thoughts playing over and over in my head... I'm having twins. I'm really having twins!! How am I going to be able to handle twins! We live in a two bedroom house. We drive a sedan. My whole life is going to change. I am going to make the jump from one kid to three kids! And I thought my life with just Cambree was a handful!!! Well this is just the beginning of my adventure.. I'm almost three months and let's hope the next three go smooth!! Hey everyone, I'M HAVING TWINS!!!

Tale of a toddler obsessed with pushing things..

2010-07-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

Cambree has all sorts of obsessions. Most of them center around pushing things. She goes crazy if she can't push her stroller... you know instead of actually sitting in it. If we are out and she see's some random persons stroller... she will run up to it and try to push it!! Yeah .. awkward! We were walking around Audley House in Cambridge and this poor old lady was stopped and she had a walker... Keri and I both froze as Cambree made her way over to it!!! The horror that would have been... but for some reason she stopped and walked away!! *Shew*

She is also obsessed with pushing shopping carts... once again she won't sit in the cart like normal.. she will insist on pushing it with you. I cannot begin to tell you how frustrating it is when you go into a store for something little and try to hurry and Cambree is crying because she wants to get a cart to push.

Another obsession is laundry baskets. Yes you heard it here first folks. My daughter has an obsession with pushing laundry baskets around. We have to hide the laundry baskets to prevent a Cambree melt down. She will literally push the laundry basket all over the house. Which brings me to my picture... I dared to take a laundry basket out of hiding and pile up all our dirty clothes and take it to the washing machine. I had no sooner emptied the basket and left the laundry room when I heard a familiar noise.... Cambree had snuck into the laundry after me and was pushing the basket out into the living room. She would stop as she pushed and grab her Cabbage Patch Kid doll and put it in the basket... then she grabbed her Care Bear... and finally she plopped in it to watch tv. Who does that?! Yes... I think my daughter might just be crazy ;)

Baby delight!

2010-06-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

Cambree is 17 months going on 13 and Keri and I decided that being in the military... Cambree needed a sibling close in her age that can be her best friend and play mate. Well it didn't take long to find out that I was expecting.... We were actually on our way to Birmingham when I told Keri I thought I was pregnant. I had been exhausted. When I say exhausted I mean I literally had zero energy. I was taking naps during the day which I never do and man was I hungry. I had other things happening that I had happen when I was pregnant with Cambree so I knew before I even missed my period or took a test that I was pregnant.

We got home from Birmingham and I picked up a test and there is was.... pregnant! I was relieved (because it explained my exhaustion and appetite!) and sooo happy! With Cambree we were caught off guard and were completely surprised when I found out I was pregnant. To be honest I cried for at least a week because I didn't feel ready and had other major things going on in my life.. but this time.... I was overjoyed!!

I was overjoyed and then I started getting my morning sickness and it came back ALL to familiar how hard pregnancy and how sick you get. Even when I feel miserable I am so incredibly happy and excited for the new addition to our little family! Now Cambree doesn't have to be alone and all the moving around we will be doing in the military Cambree will always have a friend by her side. I couldn't have made it growing up in the military myself without my sisters and brother. I'm excited for the start of our new journey!!

This..that...and the other

2010-05-01T20:43:00.000-07:00

Sadly my time in Utah is coming to a close. I left England November 28th and I'll finally be back May 20th. When we left Cambree was 10 months old and not crawling or walking... by the time we get back she'll be 16 months who practically runs everywhere. The sad part about returning to England is my dear friend Allison and her family moved to Florida while I was gone. I will definitely miss her, Drew, and Rossssss. We had the best times together and I'm definitely gonna be sad without her. My favorite memory of her is walking down Cambridge and seeing a Pub called the Snug.... her with her double wide stroller and asking... do you think we will fit in there? I'm like... well.... it's called the Snug so probably not... we ventured in anyway ... me with cambree in her stroller and her with ross and drew in the double wide and by some miracle we fit. Drew was 4 weeks old when I first met him, now he has grown so much! He's a lil guy now...

Well a lot has happened since we left. I got a call about something tragic that happened to one of our friends in England. Without going into it, it left me very devastated and crying for days. Life is truly precious and we need to make sure we let our family know how much we love them daily. We also had another incident happened that left us realizing not everyone who says they are your friend truly are. I also found out that a few people who were friends before ended up being amazing friends while we were gone and made sure stuff we needed taken care of were done. It's rare to find true friends. I have so many true friends in Utah and it will be so sad to say goodbye to them once again. I have had the best time at lunches with Jerrilynn and Kristi. I've had the best times with Steph going tanning, getting our rock stars and slurpees, our 3 times at the gym together and just hanging out at each others houses. I had the best times with Aubs and her kids. I love all of you guys.

It will probably be quite a while until I'm able to come back to Utah for a visit! Among the stuff I'm going to miss will be:

*My family and Sissy!
*My best friends!
*Target, Layton Hills Mall, The Training Table, Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, Wendy's, Paradise Tanning in Kaysville, Layton Nails, Phazes Hair Salon, Kohls...
*My orthopedic surgery who will be seeing me for future knee surgeries
*My podiatrist who has given me weekly injections in my feet for neuroma's
*Texting everyone. In England I'll have a british phone and won't be able to text.
*Being able to watch the upcoming BYU football season on tv

I'm going to miss everyone! Utah will always be home for Cambree and I and I can't wait til I'm able to visit again!

Busy little bee....

2010-04-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

Cambree and I had just come back from a fabulous lunch with my good friends Jerrilynn and Kristi.... Cambree had charmed their with her irristable smile.. she has the kinda smile that lights up the room. She gets this gleam in her eye and I swear no one can resist smiling back... so we walk into the house and straight out to the backyard. Cambree had walked possibly five steps out into the grass when she started absolutely screaming and she was down on her two palms... my first thought was that she had been stung by a bee...

So I carried her inside the house and thats when I saw that nasty little bee... it was waltzing around on her shirt. Naturally I start yelling at my mom to swat it off because lets face it, I'm terrified of bee's... so my mom swats it off and i stomp the crap out of that little guy. Cambree was still crying, and my mom was like freaking out as we stripped her down to see if she had been stung. That was when we saw three little welts on her legs! She had gotten stung THREE times!! I felt so awful!! And I was amazed that she could have been stung multiple times in such a short time!

Well we made a baking soda paste to put on her and gave her a tinsy bit of benadryl and she did just fine luckily. I was so sad though... of all the luck.. we are outside 5 seconds and she gets stung! Seriously I hate hate hate bees, hornets, wasps, yellow jackets! UGH!!!!

The mother of ALL evil....

2010-03-24T23:17:00.000-07:00

First I thought the mother of all evil were bee's.... seriously I did. They frightened me the MOST in the world. More than sharks and lions and zebra's. What? Zebra's have that innocent quality about them that just screams Danger! Beware! I'm evil underneath these stripes! Well after living in England where you get at LEAST 100 bee's flying in your non-existent-screen windows (yeah... British houses don't come with any screens in any of their windows because they swear they don't have fly's in England... um yeah and I'm Miss America....my crown is upstairs) I've learned that bee's aren't really the enemy. In fact they are pretty easy to kill although the buzzing sound still makes my heart leap as it buzzes the tower aka my ear.

Anyway.... I found the real mother of all evil and it wasn't even an animal.. it was a thing. A thing called a Cortizone Shot!!!!!! I had my first cortizone shot after I had surgery on my thumb. That needle was sooooo long I was convinced it would poke through the whole thumb and come out the other end. It hurt like a mother ... well lets just say it hurt. Bad. My next encounter was for my feet.. you know plantar fasciatis and neuroma's in both feet are a titch painful (I know.... could I whine anymore?) The doctor gave me shots in both feet in the same visit of cortizone.Let's just pause there... If you haven't had a cortizone shot, well count your lucky stars because you are truly lucky my friend... They are truly the worst pain ever thought up by man (well besides braces ... I mean really.... putting wire on teeth and tightening it up every few weeks.. going home so sore you can't even eat a marshmallow) ANYWAY its the type of pain that starts off slowly... they insert the longest needle known to man and at first you think, man this is easy...why was i so scared and then... the real pain sets in as they push fluid through the needle into a tiny joint area on your body and I swear the pain gets worse and worse until you feel like you absolutely can't take it anymore and you're about to abort the mission and it feels like an eternity has passed and just before you are sure to pass out in pain the doctor gets done. Luckily that time I had Kelly to hold my hand and lets just say I'm surprised I didn't break her hand right off.

Well today I got my last cortizone shot (I know... do I do this for a hobby you might start to ask yourself) in my left knee. Ahh the dreaded knee's. Just take them out and replace them already. I've already had 8 knee surgeries... but anyway so I'm laying there and the doctor whom shall remain nameless (DR MURRAY, best knee doctor ever) shoots me with some lydocaine first and then starts the shot. The worst shot ever. And after its over I think.... I've survived another one and sorta pat myself on the back. Take Two.... I get home.... hours pass, I'm texting, I'm getting Cambree to sleep, I'm watching Real Housewives of New York and thats when it hits me, the worst part wasn't the shot but the pain that comes long after the shot. I look down to see a swelled up knee (which i'm like.. is that a watermelon or my knee... hmm) and the pain is just intense. It's like was the shot to hurt or help lol. Not to mention I guess I don't plan on sleeping til Friday since I'm not a bit tired and its way after midnight. I'm a mom of an active 14 month old. I'm usually snoring by 9pm.

My friends....in short (yeah I know... too late) ..... if you hear a buzzing in your ear... don't sweat it.... if you see a sharks fin circling in the ocean.... make sure you have absolutely no blood anywhere near you and stay still..... if you run into that runaway zebra don't flinch.....but if you are faced with that long cortizone needle... run my friends don't walk.... because it is truly the mother of ALL evil!!!!!

Much tooo much!

2010-02-28T23:12:00.000-08:00

I remember thinking when I first found out I was pregnant and started feeling sick all the time and just horrible in general that I didn't know if I was going to make it. I honestly didn't see how I was going to be able to handle nine months of this torture. And torture it was. I got handed all the terrible and miserable things pregnant ladies can get handed to include this incredibly itchy rash that covered my whole body and lasted my entire pregnancy. This was the type of rash I'd go to bed with a fork under my pillow because a sharp fork seemed like the only thing strong enough to scrape my skin with to stop the intense itching.

Then I remember having Cambree a month early. Being prepped for my c-section and not having my husband there to hold my hand because not only was he not in Utah, he wasn't even in the same country. He was TDY to Germany. I thought for sure I wasn't going to make it.

Next came the long nights of Cambree being a new born and not sleeping and Keri leaving us because he had to go back to England and me surviving on maybe three hours of sleep total and for SURE I thought to myself, I am NOT going to make this. It's amazing what happens to a person when they are constantly and consistantly deprived of sleep. You can't function. The smallest of things set you off. It's not a fun place to be especially without your husband.

Last comes where I'm at now. Keri is gone to Cyprus and I've been in Utah with Cambree since the beginning of November and the thought that keeps coming to me is I'm not going to make this. Although family helps it is almost a helpless feeling knowing you are solely in charge of a thirteen month old. You have to feed her, bath her, chase her up the stairs for the millionth time, keep her happy, try and get her to bed on a regular schedule all while knowing she is going to keep you up most of the night because she is teething and knowing how early she is going to wake you. Heaven forbid she sleeps past seven am. Day after day I think to myself I'm not going to make this. My energy is zapped. I cannot go up those stairs one more time to drag her back down. If she pushes that power button off on the tv one more time I'm going to lose it. Then incredibly something happens. She says her first word. She gives you that cute smile. A smile that shows off her six gorgeous white teeth. She falls asleep with her head on your shoulder while holding your hand and you think to yourself... maybe I can make it a little while longer.

My lil diva turns one!!!

2010-02-05T11:41:00.000-08:00

My lil baby girl was born a month early on Jan 13th, 2009! 5 lbs 12 oz!!

Grandma was soooo excited to hold her! She was such a tinsy lil bundle of joy!

She immediately became bff's with Miss Piggy! We stole her from KK quite a lot!!

Cambree loooooves music!

Cambree's first Easter!!

Daddy with Cambree!

Look at her lil stick legs!!! AND she had red hair... to start out with... quickly lost it though :(

Hiiiii world!

We were attempted to take a picture for her passport to get her to England..that was her poise!

Daddy had to leave us just a few months after Cambree was born to go back to England!!

Cam ponders the meaning of life...and why mommy always puts her in silly hats!

Mommy and daughter... and who has time to put on make up anyways?!

Cambree makes friends easily! She loves Miss Sheep!

Cambree joined a lil playgroup in England.. of course she had to dress for sucess on the playground!

Cambree HATED the English Channel!! I thought it was going to be magical...I was wrong!!

Cambree is quite the world traveler already! This is her at Picadilly Circus in England!! She's always at the heart of the action!!

Cambree playing in some leaves outside our house on Lakenheath!

Our lil ballerina!!!

Her first halloween! She didn't like carving pumpkins turns out!

The cuuuutest bee e-v-e-r!

Cambree's best friends in England... Drew and Rosssssssss! We joined them for Thanksgiving!

Christmas!!!!

Cambree turns ONE!!!!!! Spoiled as usual!!

Cambree looooooves cake!

Our lil Diva!!!!!

Lately....

2009-12-23T20:58:00.000-08:00

Since a lot has happened since I last blogged I thought I would just point out the highlights:

*Keri left for Cyprus on November 21st. He has to be there for six loooong months and has already missed our 2nd year anniversary and thanksgiving and he will be missing Cambree's first christmas and birthday.. which is doubly sad when you think about how he wasn't there for her birth and a few months of her newborn stage!

*My awesome dad traveled all the way to England to help out while Keri was gone and was able to stay about ten days. Needless to say the jet lag he experienced was difficult but he managed it like a champ. The highlight of his trip was us driving 2 hours to Warwich castle and getting lost like a million times on the way home. Not to mention entering a 4 lane roundabout and having to go around 3 times because we were in the wrong lane to exit the first time and the second two times we simply lost track and missed the exit! I think we were both carsick from having to circle around so many times! After all of that fun we had to take a four hour BUS ride to the airport and be on a plane for 13 hours out of which Cambree cried at least 4 hours of!!

*My knee started hurting and stayed swollen for about a month so when I got back to Utah I had to see my Orthopedic Surgeon who told me I needed surgery again to fix my knee. Keeping in mind this will be my 8th surgery and my last two surgeries were only 9 months ago on my knees. My knee is horrid and my surgery is scheduled for January 7th.

*My whole family decided to go to my sisters house in North Carolina for Christmas so on December 21st Shaun, Cambree, and I boarded a plane for Greensboro... we've been here a few days and Cambree absolutely LOVES spending time with her cousins!!!

Well that about sums about the past few months..... Cambree and I are definately missing Keri but are happy that the rest of my family is all together for the holidays!!! Merry Christmas everyone!!! :)

When it rains.... it pours!!!!

2009-10-26T06:14:00.000-07:00

It's never just one thing... its usually one thing followed by another and another and so on and on..... and that seems to be just how life is.

Sooo about a month ago I was at the gym.... that infectious Mylie Cyrus song came on.. you know the one.... Party in the USA... so I pick the pace a titch on the treadmill... and that is when it happened.... a little "pop".... and then it was like my knee was grinding with every move I made. The day I woke up and it was swollen to the size of a small Island... and very painful. Great I thought. Mind you I've had seven surgeries combined on my knees so knee pain has always been a friend of mine. Not a best friend, more like a second cousin twice removed...

So I go to the doctor who makes me wait 2 tortuous weeks because he thinks its a torn meniscus but wants to make sure... so I wait the two weeks....come back in and he evalutates me and thinks indeed it is a torn meniscus. Mind you he tells me he is going to be deploying in December so basically he will be out of the office in November.... not to mention the Surgeon is out until after Christmas..... greeat! So he does want me to have an MRI so he puts in a request for one..... so I go to radiology they tell me to wait 24 hours and call back to get a date for my MRI.... basically they tell me on the phone 24 hours later that my torn meniscus MRI isn't really all that important and when I press her on the issue she tells me the earliest they could get me in is on Dec 1st.... mind you my husband deploys in a few weeks and I'll be back in the states by December 1st. It just seems like there is no real help here. Since when did a torn meniscus get treated as casually as a paper cut? A torn meniscus involves real pain and a hard time walking, let alone carrying a 9 month old baby around.

Well as if I wasn't upset enough.... we went to dinner of Friday at the Galaxy Club on Mildenhall Base.... we put her in a high chair of theirs (which we normally don't do) and during the course of our dinner we notice once she is biting on the wooden bar that goes across the high chair. Super. Well the next day she breaks out into what we originally thought was a little baby acne but got worse and worse. It was all these sores around her mouth that looked painful. Not to mention she was refusing her solids..... she wouldn't even open her mouth for her favorite foods!

So we were back into the doctor today and the doctor told us she has Herpangina. Basically it is Foot and Mouth disease minus the foot. She only has the sores around her mouth and more than likely inside her mouth. Herpangina is highly contagious so Keri and I have a high chance of catching it. Suuuper!

Like I said.... when it rains it pours.... it's not a good time around the Christensen household!!!

A reason to be mad at my husband for ....

2009-09-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

We all know men and woman and NOT created equal. This idea has been around for centuries... usually its in reference to men being physically better than women, or smarter than women.... well that's not what I'm talking about folks... I'm talking about our weight!!!!!!!

So Keri has been working the night shift lately which means he comes home anywhere from 9pm to 2am. His first question when walking in the door is usually... do you want some ice cream? By ice cream he means going down to the gas station that's still open and getting a pint of Ben & Jerry's. Now I know how my body works... if I stare at a Ben & Jerry's container too long I gain weight. My husband could have 2 pints of Ben & Jerry's and probably a few lbs!! So lately I have been trying to eat better lately and just when I think I have made it through the day without pigging out my husband will come home with that dreaded question and of course ....of course I want ice cream. So the first time he suggested it I was like... what the heck.... bring on the ice cream. But the next night when he suggested it I knew I had to refrain. Here is where I'm getting to the point that we are not created equal.... Keri could truly eat ice cream every night and not gain weight.... if I matched him pint for pint I would be at least 300 lbs.

How is this fair I ask you? One other quick story..... so last night I've had a lien cuisine for dinner.... you know those frozen dinners that are TOO lien cause after eating one I'm still hungry...so I have some fruit and some water and call it good. I've tried to cut back on soda, which lets face it is my best friend.... and so there I was on the couch waiting for Keri to come home and feeling victorious about my eating for the day..... of course the second he comes home he suggest popcorn and before you know it, I'm shoveling greasy, buttery, salty popcorn in my mouth and washing it down with a diet pepsi lol.

How are any wives suppose to stay trim with husbands who can eat virtually anything they want and not gain weight? Keri's best friends are Baskin Robbins and the double stack at Burger King. Life just isn't fair and men and women are differently not created equal!!!!!

Big screams and small acts of kindess!

2009-08-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

So there I was... inside the house on a tuesday morning with a crying baby. She ate, she napped, she screamed!!! Patience I thought to myself... just have patience... meanwhile I'm frantically trying to think of anything to help sooth her... and the only thing I found is that she wanted me to hold her... so after about 15 minutes I thought to myself I can't do this all day so I put her down.... and thus the screaming started up again. So I put on my flip flops, strapped baby into the stroller and we were off...

The base we live on is relatively small so you can walk just about anywhere in about 10 minutes. Lucky for me the BX is like a 3 mile walk. As we walked she calmed down and I thought about what a genius mom I was. So we got into the BX and I was just about to get my shop on when.....*waaaaah waaaaaah* the crying started up again. You've got to be kidding me. Crying in the house is one thing, but the fit she was throwing in the store with everyone looking was quite another. I started to sweat.... I sweat when I get all panicked.....so I'm trying to calm her down while spying a cute shirt out of the corner of my eye when my small miracle came over named Vickie Wilkins...

Vickie Wilkins is just about the nicest, sweetest, most caring, sincerely awesomest person I've ever met. She is a mother of nine and has amazing patience. I've never seen her raise her voice or get flustered at all. She is, in my mind, the very model of what a mother should be. She happened to be shopping with her kids and must have heard Cambree's cries. Vickie came right over and took Cambree out of her stroller and the second Cambree hit her arms she started smiling and all the tears were gone. It was magic I tell you. Vickie kept saying she would take Cambree while I finished shopping and I kept saying... no... but eventually said yes. Ahhh Vickie took Cambree for probably 20 minutes and I was able to collect myself, and shop around in silence.

Now I know this story must seem like not a big deal... but to anyone who is the mother of a screaming child, this was god sent. A small act of kindness from Vickie really helped calm me down and have a little time to myself. Turns out Cambree was a complete saint the whole time they had her. It was a nice break for the both of us. Sincerely nice people are rare to find these days and it makes me want to be a nicer person myself. Maybe one day when I'm shopping and I come across a screaming child of someone I know I can return the small act of kindess.

A week of being brave...

2009-08-15T11:48:00.001-07:00

As if conquering Cambridge wasn't enough.... next came Friday night. My friend Miranda and her husband wanted us to join them for a night out! She had mentioned going to see GI Joe and having dinner... at a Thai restaurant. Oh goodie I thought.... Thai food. I might just be the worlds pickiest eater (well next to my siblings lol) .. I mean I'm the type to get a hamburger ketchup only... I don't ever go out of my way to try something daring ... and I'll usually pick the most plain and boring thing on the menu. So for me to agree to Thai food.... well lets just say I wasn't exactly thrilled but decided I could branch out and try something new. I know I know... how big of me! Besides I could wash just about anything down with a diet coke right??

So Miranda and her husband were running late and we missed the movie and head straight into Mildenhall Village for dinner. We rolled up on the Thai restaurant and I took a deep breath and walked through the glass doors. Then I heard the most beautiful words ever...... they were all booked up and we couldn't eat there! Hurray!! I was saved!! Bring on the normal food.... or not..... darn that Miranda... her and Geoff had other ideas..... the other idea was....... INDIAN FOOD!

Indian food?!?! And I thought Thai sounded bad.... Thai sounded like heaven on earth compared to Indian food. That movie Along Came Polly came to my mind when they said Indian food. You know the part where Ben Stiller is sweating uncontrollable and then had to head to the bathroom. I mean.... I have an irritable bowel to start with.... is adding Indian food into that equation really a good idea? But... I didn't want to be a party pooper.... so I agreed....

We walked into the restaurant called Ghandi by the way..... and took a deep breath in. *Sniff sniff*..... what is that smell...... *another sniff*.... surely this can't be a good sign if the smell of this place makes me want to vomit. It's like walking into a nail salon where the smell is just like horribly awful but the longer you are there the less you notice it. Well that happened.... we sat and the longer we sat the less I noticed the smell... was that a good sign or a bad sign?

We were given the menu and I'm frantically looking for something I could stomach. The menu might as well been in French..... I mean I had no idea what the heck Curry was..... is that sad? When he came to take our orders.... I simply pointed at something that had chicken in it and hoped for the best. I told Miranda and Geoff I could probably go on Fear Factor after this experience....

Well turns out... the food wasn't that bad. Infact I didn't hate it. It wasn't even scary. That movie Along Came Polly exaggerates I think lol. I mean it probably wouldn't be a place I would ever suggest eating at.... but if I was starving and that was the only option I had......I guess I would go there. So there you go... the girl who doesn't try new things often tried one of the most craziest restaurants and lived. Maybe I'll order something different with my hamburger next time..... spice it up a little...... than again... probably not!!

Cambridge or bust....

2009-08-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

Since I moved to England its just been easier to let Keri do all the driving when we go out. Infact at first I refused to drive at all. Then I realized I was only hurting myself by being too scared of driving in England. Slowly but surely I started driving short distances. First it was to Mildenhall, then it was to Feltwell (on what is certain to be the bumpiest road known to mankind.) The more I drove around, the more I found I liked it and felt comfortable. Then I did the bravest thing of all, I decided to go into Cambridge by myself..... *cue the scary music*

So I strapped Cambree in tight, took a sip of my diet coke and stepped on the gas. England has what is called a National Speed Limit here and it is 60 miles per hour. Now on those wide roads in America 60 miles per hour seems nothing special... infact why go 60 when you can go 80... but on these tinsy british roads barely big enough for one car, let alone two... 60 miles an hour feels like certain death. So as I was saying I took a sip, took a deep breath and stepped on the gas. The worst part of the trip is the 5 point roundabout. Let me try to set the scene. It is a huge roundabout that has 5 different exits and entrances.... so cars are going around and around and you have to sit there and determine when you should enter without getting plowed over. As you are entering the roundabout so are other people... its like a never ending circle of madness. In these cases it is best just to go and think later. My heart beats fast everytime I get to the 5 point roundabout and I always cross my fingers that I will make it out alive. On this day.... the heavens were with me and I made it just fine.

When I made it onto the motor way is when I turned up the music.. a titch.. and started to relax. I felt confident even. Then it came time to exit and head into Cambridge. Mind you this is about a 30 minute drive to get to Cambridge from my house, if something were to go wrong, I'd be waiting a while for Keri to come help me lol. Of course I push that thought out of my mind because it just makes my heart race again. Next comes two more sets of roundabouts and of course the tinsy roads of Cambridge. Cambridge is unique in that most of the people are on bikes not in cars. So if the cars weren't bad enough, you have to watch out for annoying bicyclists. Well I maneuvered through the roundabouts and before I knew it I was actually at my destination. A series of shops along a few blocks. I parked in the car (again in the worlds tinsiest parking stalls... seriously my parking in regular sized stalls isn't stellar ...) and got out of the car!!

I had done it... conquered the mean streets of England and actually drove to Cambridge by myself. I know this sounds silly... but truly driving my british car around can be quite scary. I learned one thing out of this experience, that I can't let fear hold me back any longer. Next stop: Norwich!!

Mysterious Stonehenge...

2009-07-31T14:59:00.001-07:00

Keri, Cambree, and I took a trip to Stonehenge a few months ago...

It was pretty crazy to see the stones and hear the tale....

Keri and Cambree.. it was veeery rainy.... added to the mystery of the rocks...

Cambree was all bundled up..

The sheep were my favorite part of Stonehenge...seriously!

Keri got in on the sheep action...

Shot from afar...

Two birds were catching a ride with the sheep!! What lazy birds!!

Sheep at Stonehenge!

2009-07-31T14:38:00.000-07:00

Cambree loooving food already! (1 month ago)

2009-07-31T14:16:00.000-07:00

Piano Genius...

2009-07-31T13:43:00.000-07:00

My baby girl is six months old!!

2009-07-14T01:37:00.000-07:00

When you are pregnant you think the baby will never come. Then you have her and you think you'll be stuck in that baby crying all night instead of sleeping stage forever..... and before you know it, you blink and your baby is almost crawling!!! Yesterday Cambree was officially six months old and I can hardly believe it! Wasn't it just yesterday she was this 5 pound baby that was so fragile? Wasn't I just bringing her home from the hospital and scared and nervous? Where did the time go?

Well Keri and I decided we definately had to celebrate Cambree's six month mark!! Keri brought home a cake and we got a few presents!! Doesn't everybody do this?? We lit six candles and helped her blow them out. Then we let baby do what she wanted with the cake... and turns out what she wanted was to dig right in which naturally we thought was the cutest thing ever!!

In the six months of being Cambree's mom I've experienced more joy than I ever thought possible. Cambree is quite the character... I think she gets that from me. Among the millions of fabulous things she does here are my favorites:

*She has to be touching nose to nose in order for her to go to sleep. This is a must!
*Her hands are her favorite toys. She could spend hours staring at her hands.
*She licks absolutely everything. The couch, the bed, the sheets, her clothes as we are taking them off and putting them on
*When she laughs she sticks out her tongue. When she does just about anything she sticks out her tongue
*She scratches everything with her hands. My eyes, my nose, my arm, the pillow, my sandwich..
*She loves tv! She'll watch just about anything to include Dog Whisperer
*She always has her legs in the air.. she use to sleep with them straight up in the air every night

I could go on and on like most mothers do... but I'll stop there! Happy six month baby girl!! I love you!!

Turns out England really isn't THAT bad...

2009-07-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

I know it's taken me forever to blog right? So much has happened and I meant to blog but then I got so far behind that it seemed hopeless to catch up. I do the same thing with my journals. Next thing you know I'm like a year behind... okay but back to the subject... England.

So I'm dividing my England experience into two categories. The first one is "Before I went home and had Cambree"... and "After I came back".... Before I went home and had Cambree life here was miserable! I was pregnant, it was winter which means the sun set at like 3:30pm. No I'm not even kidding. It's a total joke. To save time let's just say I hated England. Buuuuut since I've been back ...not pregnant.... and with a seriously cute baby girl.... I've decided... England is actually pretty cool and I'm kinda lucky to be living here!!

Since being back I've gotten back into the swing of things. I've eaten at my favorite restaurant Belle Italia a few times, I've reconnected with old friends, and actually made some really awesome new friends. I'm even involved in a play group for Cambree. Yay! Then there was our trip to Bath. Totally awesome. We stayed at RAF Fairford which lets be honest is practically a ghost town. Its this tinsy air force base that shuts down at 6pm sharp! Infact the hot spot on the base was the bowling alley and only because it stayed open later than 6pm ... oh and the hot dogs were good. So we set out for Stonehenge first. All of this is made very tricky when you factor in a baby plus a little rain but we actually had a good time. I have to admit though I was more fascinated with the sheep that were next to Stonehenge, than the actual rocks. LOL! I kept taking pictures of them and trying to think of how I could take one home with me. To be surrounded by Sissy's great aunts and uncles was pretty great. But yeah it was cool to actually see Stonehenge... along with about 50 Asians. Seriously I found it crazy that no matter where you are visiting there is always a handful of Asians right there with you. I was curious who was at Disneyland if they were all here with me. (I hope I'm not coming off as making fun of Asians... just stating facts that they are everywhere!)

ANYWAY, then there was Bath. (And lets hope I'm not boring you by this point.) We had the baby (check) rain (check) umbrellas....um..... yeah umbrellas would have been nice. So Keri put Cambree in the baby carrier and we were off... with our hoods up. Bath was spectacular. And I AM talking about all the SHOPPING!!! I was in heaven... however per usual the only thing I ended up buying was something for Cambree... but a cute something.... the cutest Baby Gap jeans ever!!!! Okay so onto the actual Roman Baths..... let me just say the Romans had the right idea!!! I could have totally fit in back in the day! It was pretty awesome to tour the Roman Baths (again with my Asian companions.) My only regret was that I didn't somehow stage an accident that involved me falling into one of the Baths.. they looked so inviting... except for the whole unsanitary part... Of course I have quite a few pictures that I'll try to post soon but for now you'll just have the picture the awesomeness.... Of course after a long day of walking, shopping, getting wet, and the Roman Baths... we were hungry and we knew just the place to hit the spot...... I'm talking about Pizza Hut of course! Now we'd heard that Pizza Hut isn't like an American Pizza Hut and after eating there I know why....its much better... however that isn't usually the opinion people have. I quite enjoyed it though.

Well now we are going to try and cram a few more things in until November when Keri deploys for six months and I head back to the States.... and this time I am actually sad to leave England for a while. It has grown on me soo much. I love how pretty it is, I love how much there is to go see, I love trying to covert dollars to pounds... wait I don't love that... but really England is a place everyone must visit at least once.......Oh yeah and I still dream about snagging me one of those Stonehenge sheep!!

IBM Grand Slam Widget

2009-07-01T13:44:00.001-07:00

We looove Summertime!

2009-06-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

Splish Splash....

2009-06-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

First day of June....

2009-06-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Since we've been gone...

2009-05-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

This was the start of our very first day back in England! I forgot about all the cute stuff I had waiting for us at home like this hooded towel!!!

This was something my mom had bought us before I left for England the first time. We were all sad because we stayed longer in Utah than originally planned and we knew she would out grow it and not be able to use it. I strapped her in anyway but she's a bit too tall for it :(

This was Cambree getting ready to go outside and face the freezing England weather! Bundle up Cambree!!

Cambree LOVES to watch tv, so we put her in the boppy and let her watch!

She looked so cute from behind lol!

Look at her little legs crossed in the air! (Don't mind her bald spot lol!)

Ahhh asleep in her crib for the first time! She looks SO small in there and soooo precious!

Cambree at play!!!

2009-05-16T14:42:00.000-07:00

Leash visits!!!

2009-05-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

My best friend from the 8th grade on was in town and she came over for a visit!! This is her oldest daughter holding Cambree. I was asking her where she got her red hair from and she said (and I quote) "you!"

It's crazy how Cambree totally fits into the Milne family! She looks like one of the girls...

Could they all look any cuter? This family are professional picture takers! It must come from living in Cali and being stalked by paparazzi ;)

Cambree and Leash!!

Baby Will!!! This is Leash's newest edition and he is simply to die for! He is soo cute! Mark is going to make him into the next Tiger Tiger Woods y'all!

Mark was a total pro at handling Cambree!!

Is it just me or do they look like a cute couple?? I smell romance!

I asked Leash if Will likes older women... Will was born exactly three months after Cambree to the day! Lucky 13th!!

Okay seriously, we did NOT poise them this way! It's true love... Turns out Will DOES like older woman!! *woot woot*

Or not... seconds later they were both crying...

Oopsy Will is still crying, maybe he doesn't like the in-laws already?

My little Leash is a high roller.... I thought it was P. Diddy when they pulled up in that Escalade!! Imagine what the neighbors thought ;)

Inside joke...

Seriously... an escalade? I couldn't stop taking pictures lol! I'm so glad Leash could visit!!!!

My baby eats applesauce!!

2009-05-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

Note to Mommy: I do NOT like Applesauce!!

My baby is growing up!!!

2009-04-30T19:37:00.000-07:00

Summer Summer Summertime....

2009-04-27T22:22:00.001-07:00

We love summer time weather.. it was a gorgeous day outside without a cloud in the sky and Cambree and I decided to enjoy it...
She took a nice snooze with her favorite new hat!

She looooves the soaking up the rays!

I wish everyday could be like this..

Feathers for three...

2009-04-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

For my 30th birthday (yeah.. I know.. 30!) I bought this cuuute feather headband... it screamed Party! Fun! Not in the least 30!
So what better than to try my hip headband out on my baby girl

And Sissy.. of course! I think my headbands a hit with everyone!

"Rare"... was all he said!

2009-04-22T12:52:00.001-07:00

So anyone who knows anything about me knows one simple fact... I have horrible knees! I started having knee pains when I was very very young. I remember telling my mom how much they hurt and I was like six years old. Of course there was this incident... I was six and we were out on the ski slopes. About all I remember is that I was flying down the slope and it ended up in a horrible crash at the bottom. I hurt both knees pretty bad and had to be carried around everywhere!! Needless to say I hated skiing every since but that is another story for a different time that includes dad tying a rope from me to him next time we tried skiing.

So yeah I've always had knee problems. Well then my brother started having knee issues and my mom finally took him to an orthopedic surgeon Doctor Pepper Murray. Little did we know then that Pepper would play a big factor in our lives. Well ended up Shaun has some plicka in his knee that needed to be removed and not soon after that I ended up seeing the good doctor myself and soon enough I was being scheduled for the first of many surgeries.

Well of course he found plicka in my knee as well. Plicka is a band of tissue we are all born with. In most people it sloughs off and goes away as you grow. In some people it doesn't and the band grows tighter and tighter around the joint and it causes pain and restricts movement. Well he found and removed plicka in my knee as well as arthritis. Yeah arthritis already! I was only probably 20 at the time. Well over the next ten years I've had seven knee surgeries. I had plicka grown back twice, I had a knee cap that wasn't tracking and was off 40 degrees.. A few surgeries ago he informed my that the cartilage in my knee was deteriorating and by the time I was 40 I was looking at a knee replacement in both knees. That was devastating to hear and I remembe crying in the recovery room.

So yesterday I went in for surgery number seven and when I woke up in recovery the first thing I asked my mom was the same question I always asked her first.... what did he find. I died when she told me. Of course he scaped away the arthritis, cleaned up the cartilage but he found that for a THIRD TIME the plicka had grown BACK!!!!! I said three times? I asked her what Dr. Murray had said about it and all Dr. Murray said (mind you he is a man of few words) is "rare!" That about sums up my family and the crazy things that happen to us... rare!

Well not long after as they are putting oxygen on me because I'm not breathing well.. Dr. Murray's PA came in to talk to me. He told me about the plicka growing back a third time and told me... He said about 5 people a year come in with plicka that has grown back a second time.... I was the FIRST PERSON he has ever seen where the plicka has grown back a third time!!! Yeah I shouldn't have been surprised!!!! I'm pretty sure it isn't normal to have seven knee surgeries and be told in your twenties that you are looking at a knee replacement in a few years!

Anyway so now I am upstairs doing the same drill. Ice on my knee.. knee elevated... and trying not to focus on the pain! Thank heavens for Shauns lap top!! Well after one c-section, and two knee surgeries.. I'm ready to head back to England in less than a month and join my husband!!!

Hannah Montana!!

2009-04-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

Okay okay okay.... so I've never been an actual fan of that Hannah Montana show... I mean don't get me wrong, when there is nothing on, I'll totally sit down and watch an episode or three... and yeah I might have watched a marathon before on a boring day but yeah its not like I tune in faithfully! So there I was ... watching tv when a preview came on for her movie and I just knew it was a must see!! So tonight KK, Shaun, and I went.... and as I suspected.. I LOVED IT! It was seriously so goooood! I mean is it safe for someone over twelve to admit they liked the show?

Anyway thats not the real story of the night.. oh yes my friends that came later. So after the killer movie I was like... we have GOT to go pick up the soundtrack! Seriously, again... I never really thought Mylie Cyrus was like that great of a singer but her new song "The Climb" gave me goosebumps when she sang it in the movie... or maybe it was because she was brave enough to finally take off her blonde wig and just be Mylie.....okay I'm getting off track (and you'll have had to see the movie to understand why i said that!).... so yeah we hit up Target and I ran.... actually ran to the cds. Mind you my knee is NOT healed up well enough for me to be running yet so after the run I was hobbling a bit....

So I get to the place it is suppose to be and...and ...... they were all gone! Seriously sold out! So I was like.... onto Wal-Mart! I know.... who shops at Wal-Mart right? (Jk) So we hop back in the car and we cruise to Wal-Mart. I get out of the car and decide running is out, and casually walk in... but it was a fast paced walk. So we get back to the cds and......... gone! They were ALL gone! I'm like what the heck.... so we check like all over and seriously nothing and I'm starting to get really sad...... until.......I see Kelly reach for something and my eyes get big and I see the best thing these eyes have seen in a while........THE LAST HANNAH MONTANA --THE MOVIE CD!!! You cannot imagine my joy! I started hyperventalating my sister said and I was going on and on about how I couldn't believe she got the last cd, and how great it was, and how if she let me have it they could both burn it to their iPods and I'm just going on and on... and I clutch the cd stand to help support my hyperventalating... and thats when I noticed..........this hot boy standing RIGHT behind me listening to EVERY WORD I was saying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Omgosh I was sooo embarrased. No wonder my sister quickly handed me the cd without a fight (i mean she wanted it too people)..... no wonder my brother quietly walked away like he didn't know...... as i was going on and on and on and ON.... this guy was standing there listening to me and was probably wondering if I was a special needs kid or something!

So I'm like why didn't you guys tell me he was right there?! Meanwhile my sister is laughing SO hard that she um.... has an "accident".... oopsy don't tell her I told you that. So I'm dying, KK's laughing, and Shaun is no where to be found! So Kelly tells me she notices this guy walking down the isle as I'm going on and he actually stops and listens and Kelly is just so embarrassed cause she is holding the cd and he can see its Hannah Montana and we are clearly NOT twelve....and I'm one step away from needing to blow into a paper bag to calm down.....man I was totally dying later!!!!!!! But it was well worth it... KK snagged me the very last cd in the store and I must say it was well worth it!!

-----The end------

Cambree and Tabby....

2009-04-10T20:19:00.001-07:00

Hi guys... this is my best friend Tabby.... my Nana Barbara gave it to me... we love her..
I love to snuggle with Tabby at night...

Tabby and I like to stretch out... comfy cozy....

Two bunnies... one bed!!

Mama made us snuggle with the huuuuge cadbury easter egg daddy sent us.. since we already brushed she wouldn't let us have any :( Parents!

Just as I was getting ready for bed Princess Piggy came to play..

Then my Aunt KK made me go for a ride... I was really scared!! Next time Aunt KK should have to ride it!

Cambree looooves Spring...

2009-04-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

Ahh spring time has come ....
Time to take a nap in the sweet sweet sunshine

A little indoor napping with the easter bunny rabbit!

Soooooo big!

Enough pictures mom, I wanna snooze....

Whispering secrets to her best friend.... don't listen in mom!

Sissy joins in...

All of Cambree's favorite friends together for a play date outside..

I love my rabbit....

Happy Easter everyone!!! xoxox

And this surgery makes number 6....

2009-04-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

So there I was ... driving with my mom to the Mountain Orthopedic Surgical Center for surgery number six on my knees. I've always had problems with my knees. Every since I was like six I remember complaining about knee pain and not being able to walk up the stairs. My first surgery was probably over ten years ago. He removed what is called plicka from my right knee. Then he had to go in and remove plicka from my left knee. Next surgery was a bi-lateral release on my knees. He ended up doing both knees at once for this. The reason for the this surgery was because my knee cap wasn't tracking right. When I bend my knee, my knee cap wasn't closing to 40 degree's. This was probably the most painful surgery. I ended up staying in the hospital overnight, going to therapy and having it take a long time to heal. Of course my arthritis was bad in my knee's too so he was constantly scrapping that away. Well then around my fourth knee surgery he discovered the cartilage in my knee was deteriorating. He likened it to tread on a tire that just comes off. He said based on how much cartilage was already gone, that I was looking at knee replacements on both knee's by 40. This was crushing news to me. Here I was in my twenties being told I had not one but two knee replacements to look forward to.

Back to the present day... it was freezing outside on the drive to the surgical center and I was starting to freak out. You would think since I just had a c-section two months ago I wouldn't be so scared ... I mean if I can handle my stomach being cut wide open I could handle this surgery that I've done five previous times and yet I was still nervous.

So we get there and I check in and the nurses got a good chuckle about the last time I was there for surgery and found out I was pregnant. Everyones fingers were crossed this time when they ran my urine test. YAY, it came back negative and things were good to proceed. The bad news was Dr. Murray had a shoulder surgery ahead of me still so we had about an hour and a half wait.... great... not this again.. me being starved to death waiting around for surgery.

Well since I had a long wait ahead of me they were nice enough to let me pick out a movie to watch. This was something new they offered and it was greatly appreciated. I picked Saints and Soldiers and had a nice time watching it mostly because it kept my mind off of what was about to come. What I didn't like was that I could hear the kid a few curtains down watching Transformers lol. It was humerous to watch people walking by in the short gowns though.... I mean the surgical gowns looked like mini skirts on some of those men. lol!

Well around 2:30pm it was go time!!!! Okay my problem with surgeries is this.... I'm afraid once they knock me out that I will wake up halfway into the surgery and feel everything. . Fluke things happen all the time. Haven't you ever seen that movie Awake? The same thing happened to him... Well last time I was having surgery I told the anathesialogist this as he was wheeling me back and he said ... he wouldn't worry about that so much as not waking up at all.... .greeeeat words of encouragement lol.

The worst part is getting wheeled in and looking up at the bright spotlight they put you under... that just gets my anxiety going. I hate waiting to fall asleep and hoping I stay asleep. Well he put the oxygen on me, told me good night, and I hoped for the best lol. Is it just me or is it the weirdest feeling to wake up in recovery almost as if the whole surgery didn't happen. Well I woke up in pain and when they started pushing the pain med it led to heartburn. Yeah, me and my hideous heartburn. They even had me drink some stuff to prevent heartburn before surgery and I still got it.

Well I waited for my mom to come back in recovery to tell me everything Dr. Murray said. Well she said he really felt bad and told her my knee was going awfully fast. (As in the cartilage) This made me cry. I just can't believe my knees have to be this bad at my age. Then Dr. Murray came in and told me the same thing and that I had many more surgeries to come. Including my left knee that I need to get done asap.

Now the thing I really hate about this whole thing, is that unless you have actually gone through knee pain... you really have no idea the extent of the pain you live with day to day. It is truly horrible not to be able to walk up stairs without clutching onto the railing to help pull you up. It only takes about 1o minutes sitting in the backseat of a car before the horrible pain sets in. It just really limits a lot of stuff you can do without pain.

Anyway its Day 2, and I have my knee propped up on the bed watching Lifetime lol. Good times with not so good knees lol!

Such a blessing...

2009-03-26T21:22:00.001-07:00

I forgot to post pictures from Cambree's baby blessing!! She was blessed March 1, 2009 in my old home ward!! I was so excited and happy she was able to be blessing in the ward I basically grew up in. Cambree looked like a little princess in her dress!!

After the blessing everyone came over for some treats!
I had these three cakes made especially for this occassion from the lady who made my wedding cake! There was actually a story to these three cakes. The day before the blessing I went in to pick them up and the lady FORGOT to make two of the three cakes!! I mean I can see forgetting to do one of the cakes.. but two of them?!?!

My bestest friend Aubs and Mike with lil Paige. I just love Paige... she is a total doll! Plus she totally loves Cambree. She calls her "Chambree Kae"... they also share the same middle name of Kae!

Paige Kae! She loves poising for pictures as you can tell.. she is a future prom queen!

Payton! He is a character for sure. He told Aubrey and Mike they were staying for exactly one hour!! lol... I'm guessing he didn't realize how long an hour was...

My awesome and adorable cousin Mandy with her husband Jake.... they haven't been married that long. I need to lend them Cambree for a few hours so they can what having a kid is really like lol!

My other bestest friend Jerrilynn and cute lil Peyton. She calls herself Peyton Manning... I think her mom has something to do with that though...

Jerrilynn and Cambree...Cambree was "over" all the picture taking...

This picture is classic of Jusin! Look how sweet he is with Cambree!!!

Cambree was like... not one more picture... Aubs was practicing since she was due any minute to have her third baby!

I'm pretty sure Mike wasn't thrilled I made him poise with Cambree... lol

This group was nothing but trouble!!!! It's the Flanders clan plus a future Flander...

This is "Big K"... with "Little K".... they are quite the twosome.. Big K likes to whisper secrets to Little K.... I suspect they are plotting against me!!

Cambree is safe in the arms of grandma.....

Well that was Cambree's blessing day. It was such an awesome day and I'm so glad I got to share it with all of my favorite people!!

It's all about the knee's....

2009-03-16T22:11:00.001-07:00

Well I don't know how many of you recall the famous story of how I found out I was pregnant. So there I was back in May of 2007 .. in my fashionable surgical gown waiting in the bed to be taken back to have surgery on my knee.... I was sitting there nervously thinking about what was about to happen. Mind you I have had 5 previous surgeries on my knees so really there wasn't much I should have been scared about .. and quite frankly I think its about time we can start calling them bum knees because they aren't your average knees... Anyway so there I was... waiting... when I received the shock of my life.. the nurse came in with the results of my routine urine sample and informed me that I was PREGNANT and not going to be able to have the much needed surgery. I was in shock and complete disbelief and naturally I thought the nurse had made a huuuuge mistake and I was silently calling her mean names in my head.

Well to make a long story short, she was right... I was a few weeks along...and now after 8 months of being pregnant (my baby came 3 1/2 weeks early) i had my darling baby and was more than ready to get this knee finally fixed!!

So I went to see Dr. Murray today and I got set up for surgery on March 31st. Now you might remember I was due to fly back to England on March 30th... but now I will have to extend a few weeks. After my surgery I can't fly back for about two weeks due to possible blood clots since it is such a long flight back. So you see the life of Erin Lindbloom Christensen is never normal. At least this time when I am backing anxiously waiting to be taken back for surgery I can rest assured that I won't be pregnant!!!!

Lazy Sunday Afternoons...

2009-03-08T18:43:00.000-07:00

So I came in to check on Cambree who was suppose to be snoozing and found her reading a book!!

After she finished the book we decided to take a nap together..

I was sound asleep when I realized something was different, I looked up and Cambree had stolen my iPod and was listening to Britney Spears!!

She invited her best friend Miss Pig to join her in the Boppy...

Soon she got tired again and next thing I know she has dosed off.....

I don't know about you, but we love Sundays around here!!

I thought it was a good idea...

2009-02-28T16:54:00.000-08:00

I was SO excited to buy this for Cambree... I thought for suuuure she'd enjoy countless hours of fun playing with everything attached to the pastel poles... so I drove home, put her on the cute lil mat and waited for her fun to begin.... as you can see the second I put her under there... she cried! So much for my good idea :(

A new fan is born....

2009-02-28T16:52:00.000-08:00

Cambree insisted on being an Aggie fan... what can I say.. she has great taste!

Precious pink hats..

2009-02-19T21:04:00.001-08:00

Cambree loves oversized pink hats...
Now what goes good with an oversized pink hat??

My new best friend Miss Lamb

We like to snuggle

Happy Valentines to me...

2009-02-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

So there I am.. sound asleep after a looong night looking after Cambree... when I wake up to find mom and dad staring at me... holding flowers and telling me I had a special delivery from England!!!!

Not only was there flowers but this box of chocolates... that was more than enough to get me out of bed

The funniest thing happened about an hour later... these flowers arrived. Well the weird part was Keri didn't order two sets of flowers.. so either I have a secret admirer, or someone accidently duplicated the order! Isn't my husband the best? I love waking up to flowers!!

Cambree turns ... one month!

2009-02-14T22:05:00.001-08:00

Happy One Month Cambree...
Open those peeps and blow out that candle..

SISSY! That's Cambree's... paw paws off!

My baby girl

2009-02-14T21:56:00.001-08:00

That's my baby girl sleeping on the job.. isn't that winnie the pooh hat classic?!

Cambree poising in one of my favorite outfits... hold on she says.. what could make this picture even better...

Ahhh adding Sissy to the picture makes it soo much better

After a hard day of modeling.. its back to bed...

KK found this defence hat we bought for the Sugar Bowl and thought it would look great on Cambree.... turns out she was way right...

Life with Cambree...

2009-02-01T14:42:00.001-08:00

Cambree and Daddy just chilling out. Cambree looks extra tinsy compared to Daddy!

This is Cambree's favorite past time... Zzzzzz....

Isn't she adorable?! You can see she free'd one of her hands by taking the mitten off... we're constantly putting the mittens on her hands and she is constantly taking them back off..

Grandpa and Cambree time...they are in deep conversation about life

That is Cambree's famous poise... she likes to Vogue in her sleep... (strike a poise.. vogue, vogue, vogue, vogue..)

Keri loves both of her girls... we told Cambree that this was her sister Sissy! Sissy is VERY protective of Cambree..

Cambree is looking good in yellow... you'll notice her eyes are finally open!

Sissy was on babysitting duty but found the football game on tv more interesting...

Grandpa was changing Cambree's diaper and she was none too happy

Beat it grandpa... I'm trying to sleep...

Okay he got things all clear on the western front!

Ahh sleeping beauty... she loves to have her hands close to her face.

Keri and his girls again.. actually I got up to let Sissy outside and she jumped on the couch and stole my seat!! Seriously.... bad Sissy!

We were taking Cambree to her doctors appointment and had just put her in the car seat... I was dying when she put her hand up.. I can't tell if she was telling us to stop in the name of love or doing the spock-star trek- hand thing...

Ahh feeding time is always a happy time...

Comfy cozy with grandma..

All bundled up for a trip outside...

Grandma pays us a visit!!

2009-02-01T14:36:00.000-08:00

Keri's mother flew from Florida to come visit her first grandchild!! While she was here we got quite the snow storm! Naturally Keri and Sis had to go play in it...Grandma Dana, Keri, and Cambree! Three cute generations!!

Dana made that baby blanket Cambree is laying on... Cambree has a talented grandma...

We were sad when Grandma had to leave but hopefully we can visit her soon in sunny warm Florida!

All of Cambree's loyal fans ...

2009-02-01T14:24:00.000-08:00

Aunt Aubs was excited to come over and hold Cambree. Aubs and I have been best friends for years and years...

This is Cooper. Cambree's Godfather! Cooper was my boyfriend until Keri swept me off my feet ;)

Kimball came over too..

This is Loraine, the baby soother. We just love the Thatcher family! They are more like extended family to us!

Cartblooms in the house! Kayleen and Stephie came over to hold Cambree!!

Uncle Justin! He is one of the most awesome people you'll ever meet!

Stephie again ;)

Uncle Cory even came over for a visit. This is my moms brother!

Cambree sure loves all of her fans! Thanks to everyone who came and visited us!! (Jerrilynn visited us with her family but somehow we didn't end up getting pictures of it! :(

The day that never ended!

2009-02-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

As everyone already knows I went in for a routine doctor visit on January 12th and got admitted to have my baby. All these pictures were taken by Kelly since I didn't have a camera on me..

They wasted no time hooking me up and making me very uncomfortable and yes I was thinking of my chocolate donut in this picture..oh yeah and that I had to use th bathroom but I was hooked up to a million things... bed pan anyone?

This monitored the babies heartrate and my blood pressure. It was way awesome to be able to listen to the babies heart...

Don't I looked a bit out of it as Shaun rubs my baby bump? I wasn't even on drugs at this point

Ahh this is inside the operating room as they prepped me for my c-section! Seriously I was terrified!

I know that is not my best look... not to mention it was hotter than heck in that operating room especially once they put that oxygen mask on my face...

Kelly was allowed to go back with Cambree once she came out! I'm glad someone was with my lil baby as I only got to see her for a brief second before they started cleaning her up..

Cambree was brought into my room about 2 hours after I had her. She looked SO PRECIOUS!

Ahh Cambree and mother were finally reunited!! I couldn't believe I was A MOTHER!! Okay I know.. another scary looking picture but I had been starved and in pain for two days so I think I'm looking good ;)

This picture was taken seconds after Keri arrived at the hospital. He had come on a plane from Germany to Utah and from the airport right to the hospital. I started crying when I saw him, it was so nice to have him there!

How adorable is this picture? Daddy and daughter...

Grandma was anxious to hold Cambree!

Grandpa was next!! Look how tinsy she is!

A sleeping Cambree.. my little bundle of joy!

Then the most gorgeous girl was born...

2009-01-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

*Note: Picture will be in the next post*

So it started out a very ordinary day. Well ordinary in the fact that I hadn't slept the night before because I was miserable. I was 36 weeks pregnant and the baby kept me up most of the night moving around, pushing my insides, not to mention the night sweats I get. So the morning of January 12th I had to wake up early for my regular 36 week OB appointment. Around 10:30am we left the house and I really hadn't had anything to eat. Mom stopped at McDonalds for a drink and I got just a hamburger, ketchup only. (Trust me this eating thing plays a big part later in the story so bare with me..) Well I decided it might not be good to eat the whole hamburger so I eat possibly three bites and throw it away. This decision would come back later to haunt me.
So we get to Doctor Heartmans office and we had a few issues to bring up with him. I had been having HIGH blood pressure which isn't typical for me. I usually have low low blood pressure but since I'd gotten to Utah it had been like 160/90.. so very high. I had horrible swelling, and I had this persistant headache. Not so much a migrane, more of a light headed feeling with pain. So around 11am we get called back to see the doctor. He asks how things are going and I tell him about everything thinking that he wouldn't think much of it. Well come to find out, there was 2+ protein in my urine (which is a sign of preclamsia) add that to my high blood pressure that day in the office and all the other stuff and my doctor informed me I indeed had preclamsia!!
Oh those words are HORRID to hear!! I started breathing heavy and was NOT prepared for what he had to say next. He told me that I would indeed be admitted to the hospital and would possibly be having my baby today. He sent me off to the high risk pregnancy doctor next door who hooked me up to an ultrasound. It didn't take long for him to conclude that I did have preclamsia and the BABY HAD TO COME OUT!!
Okay I was freaking out. Okay freaking out doesn't even cover how I felt. Here I am in Utah ... and as luck would have it, my husband was TDY in GERMANY at the moment. (TDY is temporary duty for the miltary) All along we had joked about how the baby might come before him, and now that was going to be a reality. I certainly didn't want to have the baby, our FIRST baby without my husband. Well my next problem was getting ahold of him. Shannon, being the awesome people finder she is (she tracked me down at a payphone in yellowstone once while i was camping there) set off to get ahold of Keri. Finally just moments before they sent me off to my room Shannon got ahold of him and I had to inform him that they were inducing me and I was going to be having the baby!
Naturally I was crying and he was in shock. So I get all hooked up and this at 2pm now. So naturally I was hungry and ready for lunch. Licking my lips infact. That is when they dropped the worst news ever... I wasn't going to be allowed to eat until the baby comes incase of a c-section. WHAT?! I had had THREE measley bites of a hamburger at 10am and I wasn't going to be allowed to eat again until after the baby? Suuurely they were kidding! Ohh but they weren't.
Well the nurse gave me this little pill that was suppose to soften my cervic and checked me and I was dialated to a 1. The doctor came in and said that with a first time pregnancy it could take anywhere from 16-24 hours... I was like... um could I have a tinsy donut at least.. for some reason I was craving a chocolate on chocolate donut. I mean my husband is in germany and I was having a baby suuurely I could have a tinsy donut.
Well this started the longest night of my entire life. Mom and Kelly were so nice as to stay the night with me. A decision I think they regretted later. All night they had to hear about me whining about food. A donut I said... sneak me a bloody donut! I even offered to pay Kelly under the table. Well all night I had to constantly use the bathroom and Kelly had the pleasure of helping me. She had to unhook me from all the machines and help me into the bathroom. This happened at least once an hour and I don't recall her complaining once about it. Mom was like.... are you serious? You have to use the bathroom again.. and I'm like.... look at all the fluids they have me on. Trust me it was no picnic to hobble to the bathroom.
Well around 10pm they gave me another pill to soften my cervic. Mind you I had already started contractions and they were pretty regular. It wasn't overly painful but it was painful. It was cool to be able to watch the machine and see the contraction coming! So that night was just long and did I mention I was huuuuungry? Mind you they were like you can have ice chips and these tinsy suckers. Ohhh gee thanks I thought. You shouldn't have! ;)
Okay so around 6am with NO sleep... the doctor came in! He checked and I was only dialated to a 2!! After all that time I was only a 2?! Well I thought that news was bad until he asked for the HOOK! Yes the hook! It was then he broke my water! Oh good times when that happens! Then he informed me I had about 13 more hours of this until the baby came AT LEAST. Did you hear me? 13 MORE hours?! It was then he said the fateful words of c-section. Based on how long I had been there, and how much longer I had to go he suggested a c-section.
So an hour later I was on the table as scared as I have been in my whole life. Kelly was taking the place of Keri who wasn't there. She looked a little scared but excited at the same time. Oh and meanwhile my dad had been working overtime and Keri was able to fly from Germany to Utah but wouldn't be there until 6pm that night. So at least my husband was coming. But if there was ever a time I needed my husband to be there by my side, it was there as I lay on the table waiting for a c-section. Kelly was a good second though. I can't imagine another person I would want by my side.
So they put in the epidural and then I just felt like a beached whale as I couldn't move my legs and I felt so heavy! They hooked me up to oxygen and binded my hands and then I laid there feeling soooo incredibly scared. They were doing something and I asked Kelly what they were doing and she said nothing yet. Little did I know she was LYING to me and they had already cut me open. Thank heavens she did that because I would have been freaking out if I had known they were slicing into me. Really the c-section didn't take long and moments later I heard the most wonderful thing in the world.. my baby girl crying!! We did it.... she was actually here! She was officially born at 7:51am on January 13th. She weighed 5 pounds 12 oz and was 18 inches long.
Around 6:36pm as I lay in incredible pain my husband walked into the hospital room and I cryed just seeing him actually there. It was wonderful to see him. He held the baby and was so excited and that was seriously one of the best things I've ever seen!
Well I was in the hospital from Monday until Friday afternoon. Friday afternoon I got to take my precious baby home and trust me she is the most precious thing I've ever seen! After all the pain I went through, the rash from heck I had for months and months, the panic attacks, the night sweats, it was ALL worth it to have a heathly little baby!! Oh I love her so much. Who knew you could love someone you just met so much. So that is the story of Cambree Kae Christensen coming into this world!!

The spectacular tree that WASN'T!!!

2008-12-23T05:35:00.001-08:00

Every year, the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree is decorated in traditional Norwegian style, with five hundred individual white lights.The tree itself, a Norwegian spruce, is chosen with great care from the forests around Oslo, it is chosen for Trafalgar Square several years in advance. Well when I heard all of those fabulous details I simply KNEW this was a tree I must see for myself!! So Keri and I ventured onto the Underground and into London!! Mind the gap everyone!!
We stepped out of the Underground at Westminster and the first thing we saw was Big Ben welcoming us!! Anticipation was high as I knew we were moments away from seeing something historic. I mean this tree tradition dates back SIXTY YEARS!!

AHHH how easy we found it!!!! Wait that's not the tree? Nuts....

Well since we have to go searching (and we had no idea where to find the tree) we might as well take a few pictures....

How many pictures can you have in front of Big Ben.... I say you can never have enough..

We started the search out soooo happy.... don't worry that changes in a minute..

Are you SURE that isn't the tree??

Okay seriously how do you get to Trafalgar Square?? We had no idea.. if only Keri would have turned around to check the sign out behind him that pointed the way.... nahhh too easy! Don't let his smile fool you, behind the camera I was definately frowning!!

So we were lost and then we happened upon this sign... ummm should we abort??

Ahh I see a spectacular water fountain.... could we be there??

WE FOUND IT!!! Okay as much tradition is behind that tree... I would have seriously thought they would have found a tree you couldn't SEE THROUGH!! Look towards the bottom... the branches are completely gone..... and we had missed the carolers :(
We were a bit disappointed in the tree but we made up for our disappointment when we spied the Lion statue.... get up there Keri...

One... Two....Three... jump Keri... put down the coke bottle and jump!!

This might go down as my all time favorite picture!! Keri is about 6'5 and he was struggling to get up onto this lion. Mind you I was laughing so hard I knew I was minutes away from an accident not to mention the people around WATCHING!!! You can do it Keri...

VICTORY!!!

Now I'm comfortable...do I really have to try to get down? I'll just rest a minute with my lion..

Okay so we were tired and we walked across the street to hop onto the underground when what do we find??? It locked up!!!!

Let us in! Let us in!!

And just when I thought things couldn't get worse... the toilets were closed!!

What an adventure for sure! I think we can safely say we've seen the tree and we never have to go back.. unless I want to have a good laugh watching Keri try to get onto that Lion!!

33 weeks and counting....

2008-12-21T09:57:00.000-08:00

I thought my first trimester was miserable! You know being tired all the time.. the morning sickness... just the overall not feeling good... Then came the second trimester and I was back to feeling good...then entered the frustrating third trimester...

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Reasons why the third trimester is kicking me in the butt!!

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* Sleeping is a joke! If you happen to find a comfortable sleeping position it will only take a matter of moments for the little one inside to make it miserable. The kicking, the shifting of positions. Not to mention the tossing, the endless turning.... and then after all that you realize you can't fall asleep even though you are the most tired you've ever felt in your life.

*The ENDLESS bathroom trips!!! In our house we only have one bathroom and it is unfortunately upstairs.. since we spend most of the time downstairs in the family room you can only imagine how many trips i make up and down those hideous stairs! And just when you get back downstairs and find a comfortable sitting position.... its time to go again! It's an endless cycle..

*The never ending appetite!!! I'm not even kidding, I could eat all day. This is the most hungry I've been all pregnancy! For example just today I made some spaghetti and before I knew it, I had eaten all the spaghetti and hadn't left my husband any!! Well as happy as I was eating all that spaghetti it only took a few minutes for my enjoyment to turn into horror as the spaghetti battled with the baby in my stomach for room!! Oh the discomfort!!

*There is nothing that makes you feel worse about yourself than going up a set of stairs and being winded. Maybe it is just me, but it seems like the tiniest of things leave me gasping for air. My husband and I were walking around Ipswitch and he says to me.... why are you out of breath? I dunno... maybe its the enormous baby inside me making my every step so tiring!!

*Not being able to get off the couch without assistance! I swear the baby has doubled in size overnight because I struggle and I do mean struggle to get off the couch and onto my feet. It could take a good five minutes of inching every so slightly to get me off the couch if I'm by myself. And if I've just settled onto the couch and the phone rings.. forget about it.... there is no way I'm gonna make it up in time!! Not to mention when you've just sat down and the doorbell rings!!!

*The swelling!! Nothing makes you feel more attractive than looking down at your hands and seeing your fingers have swelled into fat sausage fingers. That goes double for your toes.

Well luckily I only have 7 more weeks to go!! I can do it!! Someday I'll hopefully look back and laugh about me eating all the food in the house and being stuck on the couch because I can't get up without assistance! Ahh the joys of the third trimester!!

Christmas in my flat....

2008-12-06T15:46:00.001-08:00

Okay I'm not going to lie.... I started putting up christmas decorations the night of Halloween... my husband was on trick or treat duty... and I was on decoration duty...
It started out with just a few decorations here or there of course... nothing too much after all it was halloween night... and we had scary movies to watch still...
Of course I had to show you how cute it looked all lit up, by the way those stockings on the shelf belong to my sister Kelly. I guilted her into giving me them the day I left for England... oopsy!
Okay so like a few days into November my husband was at the computer and I snuck past him with the tree branches... he had no choice but to assemble the tree for me once I put on my pouty face!!

This is what it looked like after about an hour... of course I had to cover the arch with some greenery as well....
And this is what our living room looks like now!! Merry Christmas to me!! I love christmas trees! I know I know you might think I'm crazy for doing all of this soooo early, but you try living in England away from friends and family :( It makes you do crazy things :)

Things I love to hate about England....

2008-12-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

After living here a whole three months I've found quite a few things I love to hate about England. Here is my list:

*Driving on roads barely big enough for one car, let alone two... while keeping up with the national speed limit of 60mph on VERY bumpy roads!

*Forgetting if I yield from the left or right while going through a roundabout and then just being too scared to venture in until it is clear. I compare it to jumping rope... once the rope gets going you have to just go for it and jump right in... no hesitating or you will mess up everything!

*Eating at a food court in the mall and having to pay extra for KETCHUP! 10 Pence

*Sight seeing in London and having to decide whether to spend 20 pence to use a port a potty in the middle of the city and not being able to wash your hands, or paying 50 pence at a better bathroom that actually has soap. Yes, we pay for restrooms over here!

*Asking a British person where the bathroom is and having them look at you strange as if you are speaking french.... asking for the restroom they look at you like you're speaking German, but asking where the "toilets" are and they completely understand...

*Paying a tax just to turn on your tv and watch it.... (yes there is a tv tax people)

*Walking towards your British car and pausing trying to remember which side the passenger gets in on .... and still getting it wrong

*Living a house with half 220 v and half 110 v.... and having your 110 v fizzle on and off because of a crappy transformer.... so basically you are sitting in the dark in the living room while the kitchen is still cooking dinner and your tv still works... but using a flashlight to find your way to the bathroom.

*17.5% SALES TAX....enough said

*Parking spaces too small to fit average sized cars

*Contractors who think storing water tanks in the ceiling in order to create water pressure is a fabulous idea. Meanwhile you are getting hypothermia in the shower while waiting for the water to drizzle out!

*MULTI LANE ROUNDABOUTS!!

*Malls that consist of styles from the 80's (bright blue shoes with big bows on them), food courts that consist of Burger King. Period. And everything else costing too much to afford.

*Burger King being EVERYWHERE but nothing else but an occassional McDonalds.

*Speed cameras instead of cops who patrol constantly. You don't get pulled over, you get a ticket in the mail that you usually don't see coming..

Those are just a few tidbits I've learned while living here! Gotta love England!

Mama Mai... here I go again....

2008-11-22T06:44:00.000-08:00

For our ONE YEAR anniversary Keri got us tickets to see Mama Mai in London! Mind you he downloaded the music from the movie and made us listen to it everynight for like 2 weeks! He can sure belt out a mean Dancing Queen!!!

It was a freeeeeeezing night in London! Keri braved the weather without a coat, but doesn't he look handsome all dressed up? This is him outside the the Prince of Wales Theater!

Okay so Keri doesn't know how to work the flash on the camera! Every picture he took had me in the dark! Just picture that I probably looked cute ;)

Ummmm funny how I could work the flash on the camera on my first try! ;)

On our first trip to London I spied this quaint restaurant and we decided to eat there for our anniversary dinner... every table has a real lit candle on it... made me kinda nervous ;)

Keri is trying to think of his favorite memory of the past year being married to lil ole me! Plus I thought it was funny to take this picture due to the waiter's behind being right next to Keri! Oh my gosh.. remember when we missed 3 flights on our honeymoon and our luggage got lost? And that guy in Jamacia tricked us into buying those two HIDEOUS idols and wanting to charge us $60 after he already carved our names into them?!

He can't believe what a glorious one year it has been! I can't either! Who would have thought one year after being married I'd be 7 months pregnant and living in ENGLAND!! I'm scared to think what our lives will be like by our second anniversary!!!

Our delightful trip to Cambridge

2008-11-15T06:40:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was Friday and I awoke feeling exceptionally giddy. I had my 28th week appointment with the OB the day before and the baby was doing excellent. I had been struggling with a sinus infection and migranes and the doctor finally gave me an antibotic.. so for the first time in a while, I woke up on the right side of the bed!! Oh there was loud singing on my part in the house, I even did a few little dance steps... and basically if I had done all of that in my parents house they would have been yelling at for me to calm down and to not be so loud.... but I was in England and not home so I proceeded to belt out the national anthem....

Well we had decided to spend the day in Cambridge which is about 30 minutes give or take the traffic, and how many times Keri had to circle around the roundabout to find the right exit. You know you can go round and round and round until you figure out which exit you need. And in our short time in England we've done a few circles! So we stopped for some gas and I ran in to get some pounds out of the ATM. So I get back in the car and I jokingly look at Keri and say that I'm going to keep the pounds safe and I proceeded to put them in my bra.

So we head to Cambridge and we stop by ASDA which is really just a british version of Wal-mart. We find a few things and then head to a few other stores. Well at the end of the row of stores was Babies R Us! Yay I love Babies R Us! I would love it even more if everything wasn't sold in expensive pounds.. but still my eyes sparkle everytime I go into that store. So we find a few cute things in the store and we head to check out. Well since they can tell I'm clearly pregnant the lady has me fill out this membership card to start collecting points whenever we buy stuff. So I'm filling out the paperwork and the lady is ringing us up. She tells us how much it is and I'm waiting for Keri to pay as I'm trying to remember what our physical address is. So I remember thinking why is he just standing there and then the lady said a bit too snottily, who is paying? So I look at Keri and he goes lets just pay with the cash. So I agree and I'm still waiting for him to pay and I keep trying to think of our address. (It's not a typical US address mind you hence the blank I was having) So Keri says AGAIN ... lets pay in cash....

Well this time it registered.... and I realized that I had never taken the cash out of my bra!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh I was mortified! Here we had this snotty lady waiting for us to pay and I had to reach into my bra to pull out the pounds!! Seriously I could have died of embarrassement!!!! She was probably thinking... stupid Americans!

Anyway the rest of the day went better. We hit the mall in Cambridge, went and saw the James Bond movie.... our first movie off base!!! Then we ate at the best Italian place called Bella Italia! Mind you as we sat down they had a real candle burning on the table and I almost caught my hair on fire! Oopsy!

Anyway it was a good day... just a word of caution to all your pregnant ladies with a forgetful memory like mine.... keep your money in your purses as to avoid embarrassing encounters with snotty cashiers!

London Calling

2008-11-01T07:14:00.001-07:00

Keri and I decided to head out to our few first trip to London a few weeks ago... this sign was our first indication it was going to be a great trip!!

The happy couple on our way to London ... we're on the underground...

Our first view of London after getting off the underground... busy busy bees...

Keri standing on the famous London Bridge..

How come every time I come around those London -London bridge wanna fall down... (Fergie)

This was the ONLY bathroom we could find.... and I simply had to use it!!

Twenty pence to use THIS???

Note to self: Bring soap next time

Keri GET UP.... we have lots to get done.. and I'M HUNGRY...

Now where do I find the millenium bridge...

The millenium bridge..

We make London look good.. even pregnant!

We took an awesome water tour to Westminster! It could not have been colder however! Why did we wear flip flops!!!

You won't catch me on that ferriswheel!

Can anyone else picture peter pan flying past this to get to Never Never Land?

Keri standing infront of Parliment..

No I disagree, BYU has a much better offense than Utah... (That was the ACTUAL conversation I overheard them having)

I think this is still part of Parliment! Its gorgeous!

Charge!! For Virginia... uh England ;) Right outside of Parliment..

The not whatsoever confusing street signs... Keri is trying to point the way to Waterloo...

Taking time out to call a few mates..

Keri lost in England and a jolly man with a nice camera ;)

Where can I find me a hat like that? I must send one home to daddy...

Open the gates and seize the day (reference from my old favorite show Newsies!!)

My home away from home... BUCKINGHAM PALACE!! Soooo gorgeous!

THE QUEEN IS HOME!!! Why hasn't she invited me in for some tea?!

Welcome to my favorite part of London! Picadilly Circus.. First item of business for Keri... eat at McDonalds!! I sure hope they have some fry sauce!! Oh and a bathroom!!

Shaun and I have grown up singing songs from this play! I have to see this while I'm here!!

The Lion King!!

There is so much to do at Picadilly Circus! Every street is lined with shops and naturally I made Keri let me look in ALL OF THEM!!

The big bad Underground!

Our long London Adventure had come to an end!! My feet could literally not take another step but it was a fun filled day for sure! VIVA LONDON!

Our house.. our glorious house!!

2008-10-15T06:37:00.001-07:00

Today is moving day!! We had to meet with a lady from housing at ten to get the keys to our first house ;) Well it was about 9:30am and I was struggling to straighten my hair (my hair does not like this weather!) when Keri came in with some news!! Some glorious news!! He had gotten a call and OUR SECOND SHIPMENT HAD ARRIVED!!! In our second shipment is our bed, our couches, our tvs ..our EVERYTHING!! Not only that, they were going to deliver everything to our house tomorrow!! SUCH LUCK! I was seriously so excited that I called my mom right away to tell her. Mind you it was 2am her time, but I was too excited I couldn't help myself! Naturally she understood! I think....

So Keri and I got to the house at 10am and went through everything with the lady and she left and... the house is OURS!!! Our house is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath. It is two stories too. It has quite a lot of space. More than I inititally thought it would. It comes with washers and dryers and a fridge and microwave. Ahh we are living high on the hog after living in that lodge for a month with just a microwave!!

Keri's first order of business was to get the british phone up and working. We have vonage that has a kaysville phone number assigned to it so we can call home but we got a british phone number set up too. Our phone is already up and working so that is a relief! Well Keri had to go back to work and I was left sitting on one of my suitcases feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of starting all over again in England. It is exciting to be able to start all over but overwhelming that you have to put your house all together again! We are so blessed that all of our stuff arrived so fast though. I had visions of the boat sinking that our furniture was on! Can you even imagine?!

Well this whole process makes me appreciate my own mom who spent 20 years as an Army wife. She already had baby Shannon when she started her military life in Germany. I've heard her tell the stories countless times but you can't appreciate them until you are sitting in that empty house yourself looking at the bare walls feeling a little lost and completely in over your head! Thank goodness I have an awesome husband who is there to take charge and take over when I am too exhausted to carry on.

The British doctor...

2008-10-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

Before I left for the states I had a 3D ultrasound done at MacKay Dee Hospital. Well I had it done about 4 weeks earlier than normal because I was leaving for England. Well when I had my first OB check up here in the UK the doctor said a few key things were missing from the ultrasound (namely the heart and the 4 chambers) so she referred me off base to a British Hospital to get another one done!! YAY!

Well the hospital was on the south side of Cambridge which was about a 40 minute drive. We pulled up and were overwhelmed at the size of this hospital! It was HUGE! So we briskly walk in (we were running a bit late) and ask where to go. Now lets stop here to talk about the hospital itself. Some parts of the hospital are old and some parts are new. Well the new parts were like walking into a mall. There was a clothing store, a bath and body works type of store, a HAIR SALON, a supermarket, a burger king.. I mean it had it all! I was half tempted to do a little christmas shopping whilst I was there ;) Now... the older parts... they were downright spooky!! I mean I bet those cooridoors are haunted at night by ghosts! I don't want to be around that place around halloween that is for sure!

Well after walking the 5K (it took FOREVER to get to the maternity ward) we arrived. I said to Keri.. they do realize we are pregnant right? I mean where are the wheelchairs! I almost needed to be hooked up to some oxygen! AIR! Anyway we check in and about 5 minutes later a nurse dressed in a civil war era type of outfit comes to get us. We go into the room and meet the nicest doctor ever!!

So he has me lay down and starts the ultrasound and the baby is not cooperating. The baby is laying facedown and the doctor can't see the heart chamber which what he needed to focus on. So he has me get up, and says do you mind jumping up and down a few times. So naturally I jumped a few times. He continues to look for the heart chamber and he says to me... do you mind going and drinking a coke and walking around for a minute? So I go out and guzzle a fully leaded coke and come back.... he takes another look and says "oh dear"..... my baby seriously was being lazy and taking a snooze!!! Well after about 40 minutes he finally is able to get the looks at the heart that he needed. It was actually quite amazing to see the 4 chambers of the heart! The baby looked big too. Her face was full and her tummy was pretty darn round.

The doctor said everything looked perfect. He said that due to everything he saw and stuff that I was at low risk for pre-clampsia and high blood pressure and he didn't seen any indications of down syndrom!! YAY! It was a smashing sucess til I got halfway home and that coke hit my bladder and I needed to go ;)

The Amazing Race..

2008-10-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

Well my routine in England has gotten quite predictable. I get up later than I should. Watch tv. Check my emails. Go shopping at the commisary for food. Keri comes home. AND REPEAT. Well sometimes I like to mix it up. I have met some VERY awesome lds girls. In particular I've met two red heads who I really like. In the states I didn't have any red headed friends and yet The UK seems to be crawling with them I tell you! I'm hoping we can trick people into thinking we are Irish sisters! I do think it will work ;) Well anyway one of the patterns I've repeated every day is I get up and precisely at noon I turn on..... THE AMAZING RACE!!

Okay I've never seen this show in my life. I never really even knew what it was about ...and now my friends I'm an addict. I watch that show religiously and it helps that they show is every day at noon. Now granted it is a few seasons behind and my sister already knew who won, it was still something new for me!! Well tragically today the show came to its finale and let me admit there were actual tears in my eyes as my favorite couple ("the hippies") sprinted to the million dollars. Some of the tears were of happiness for my new friends who just won a million and half were because the one thing that brightened my day every day was over :( Now I might actually have to get up and do different activites. It was a comfort to know that at noon everyday I could count on seeing my new favorite show on with my new best friends ;) This might sound very corny to everyone but even something as dumb as The Amazing Race coming on everyday at noon was very comforting.

In other news I am scheduled for my next ultrasound on the 14th!!!! I get to go out into Cambridge which is about 20 minutes away to an actual British hospital to have this done! How new and exciting is this? Then on the 15th we are FINALLY moving into our house!!! YAY!! Things are finally starting to come together! Well that is about all I have to report today :)