Thirty-something

You know you're getting older

when you hurt your shoulder

while trying to beat your

five-year-old at

Wii bowling

GO JAZZ!!

*Just so you know, the jersey, shorts, and shoes were actually John Stockton's. It's our retirement.

Birthday Festivities

The morning of Colby's birthday, I went downstairs to find Colby watching cartoons. I wished him a happy birthday and said, "Colby, you're five today!" To this he replied, "I know. I woke up this morning and went like this (as he flashed 5 fingers)". I kept giggling all day when I pictured him sitting up in bed and proudly holding up five fingers, as if he's been waiting to do that his whole life.

Happy Birthday Colby!

Colby is 5 today!!!

It is officially birthday alley in our household. Starting with my birthday in March, we have a birthday at least every 2 weeks until we end with Kara's in the middle of May- and that's just our little family of 5. That doesn't count my mom's birthday, Aunt Amy's birthday, Aunt Stef's birthday, Easter and mother's day all in between. It's crazy around here, and yes, we pretty much planned it that way, but it's kinda fun that we all have 5 spring birthday celebrations to look forward to every year.

*****

I can't believe it's been 5 years since we welcomed our first baby into our family. Our lives have never been the same and we continue to learn and grow every day because of our darling little Colby. Some words to describe him are:

stubborn

loving

analytical

goofy

responsible

intense

shy

engaging

happy

easy to please

Colby has drawn people to him since the day he was born. As a tiny newborn, he locked eyes and stared intensely, with everyone that held him. His first smile was when he was 3 days old and has smiled easily ever since. He is incredibly loving and relentlessly stubborn. He is always pushing the limits and has tried my patience more than I ever thought possible. He has the ability to connect to people and sense what they need at the time they need it. He has been a dream big brother to little Ty, always wanting to hold him, and being such a good helper. I can tell that those two will always have a special bond. He has really grown up in the last few months. We love Colby and can't imagine how dull our lives would be without him! Happy birthday Colbs!!

Love this!

Check out this youtube video by Jon Schmidt. It's awesome

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys

Our Newest Member...

Shortly following my pathetic and humble plea, our little guy finally decided to come on Friday, April 3, 2009. All on his own and ALMOST all natural. Even though he resembles a wrinkly old man, we decided to not go with Benjamin. Not that Benjamin necessarily means you look like a wrinkly old man- Cameron was just referring to Benjamin Button for those who didn't get the reference to the movie...

Introducing Ty

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A quick explanation of these photos that I was so thrilled that Cameron posted. In between contractions, Cameron got me laughing- I'm can't remember what about and my belly was just a-shakin' so it made me laugh harder until I was in a complete fit. It hurt too, which is why I look like I am in pain. Because I am. But I wasn't laughing for long...



7lb. 7 oz. Our littlest one yet!

First family photo. Another keeper!

The kids adore him. Especially Colby. He wants to hold him constantly. He calls him "buddy boy" and is frequently found rubbing his head.

Kara loves him too and hasn't shown signs of jealousy...yet. When she's done holding him, she's done and wants to get rid of him fast.

Check out those Richins' lips!

Here are few details of the big day. I had contractions all day long on Friday starting at about 5:00am. I thought they were fake ones again because they were so irregular. After walking around the mall for 4 hours (not because I wanted a new pair of jeans, but because we thought we'd kick those contractions into gear) we finally decided to go home. Still thinking it was false labor, the contractions started to get pretty darn intense till we finally decided to drop the kids off and head to the hospital. Good thing we did, because I had Ty 2 hours later. I was a 6 when I got to the hospital and thought since I was already that far, I could maybe go the rest of the way without the epidural.

Ha! I'd like to know what evil little voice was telling me that. By the time I decided I was dead wrong and could not finish the marathon, I had progressed significantly and the Anaesthesiologist was at home. He made it by the time I was an 8 or 9 or so and screaming for the rest of the hospital to hear. He gave me a spinal/epidural combo since the epidural would not kick in for 10 minutes. While he was sticking my back, my water broke and within seconds I was a 10 and ready to push. Still no numbness. Worse pain EVER imagined times 100. The Spinal kicked in and Ty was there a few minutes later and was delivered by the on-call doc. since my Dr. didn't make it in time. Never ever again will I even entertain the thought of going natural. And I really hope you don't either. Learn from my mistake. Just think of this as a public service announcement. Epidural good. Natural bad.

Anyhow. We are so glad that he is finally here and doing well. He is irresistibly cute and so sweet. The first week has been pretty brutal as expected, but the adjustment is getting better and better.

Well for all of you who read Shans lament yesterday she got her wish. After about 4 hours of walking around the mall we finally decided it was time to go to the hospital. I will let Shan fill you in on the details but here are some pics. We still don't have a name picked out (suprise suprise), but I'm kinda thinking Benjamin. From the pictures he kind of looks like a wrinkly old man to me.

All Natural

Sorry in advance for the ramblings you are about to endure if you choose to read on. But this pregnancy consumes my every thought and I'm in the mood to blog. And don't mess with me right now. Really, ask Cameron- it's just not a good idea.

To be or not to be...induced.

I'm totally against it. For me. Why? I'm kind of a thrill junkie and I guess I get thrills off of not knowing the baby's gender, not knowing when the baby will come and whether Cameron will be around when it happens. Will I go into labor while Cameron is in the cockpit on his way to Missouri and he'll have to apologize over the PA system to his passengers that their trip will be delayed a bit because he has to turn the plane around and go back to Salt Lake City because his wife is in labor which he totally can't do, therefore risking his very job and our well-being as we know it, just to come to his wife's rescue? And then when he's speeding home he gets pulled over by a cop and when the cops learns of the situation, he gets a police escort all the way to the hospital where he makes it just in the nick of time for the birth of his beautiful baby. And then SkyWest learns of his heroic act and gives him a raise for being such a family guy even though he lost the company thousands of dollars. I guess as a mom with not much of a life, I'll take any excitement where I can get it. I also tend to like things a little more natural. I want the baby to come when it's suppose to come. I want to see what my body will do without being induced. Will my water break on it's own? Will the labor be long or short? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good epidural because although I like surprises, I am pretty wimpy. Though I admit, there's a little part of me that wants to see if I can pull off a labor and delivery without the drugs. There's something about saying you had a baby natural. Right mom, Katrina, Julie, Crystal?

I don't enjoy taking medications in case I absolutely have to. I'm not quite sure why this is. Maybe it's because in college I took too many aspirin and ibuprofen (on accident) when I had some bad cramps and ended up in the hospital twice with a damaged esophagus and had to be on a liquid diet for a week. Sometimes I'm just down-right neurotic about it. I don't take my kids (or myself) to the doctor unless we are near death. I have only given Colby an antibiotic for an ear infection once out of 4 or 5 infections and Kara has never had an antibiotic for her ear infections. The rest of the infections have gone away on their own. Studies show that 80% do resolve on their own while the pain can be controlled with some Motrin so it seems like a no-brainer to me. Of course I'm not a nazi about it-Strep Throat is a different story. I wouldn't hesitate to give an antibiotic for that. There is definitely a happy medium in which I'm striving to move closer to. I learned a valuable lesson a few months ago when I came down with Shingles. That's right. Shingles. Apparently it's not just an elderly person's virus as Cameron thought. The absolute misery I experienced could have been lessened. I refused to go the doctor for nearly a week and because of it, it became full-blown Shingles that lasted for over a month. The duration could have been decreased significantly if I had just gone to the doctor and started the medication sooner. Stupid.

So back to being induced. Some of my original reasons for not being induced are quickly wearing off. The excitement of when the baby will come? I'm over it. I want the baby to come. Now. Please. No more fake contractions. No more feeling like maybe my water broke. No more feeling like something enormously huge (roughly 7-9 pounds) is coming out of me any second. No more stares from people at Walmart. Oh please, like you've never seen a big 'ol pregnant woman at Walmart in ugly sweats and a shirt that doesn't fit. No more crazy dreams about Queen Latifa telling me tonight is the night (after watching Secret Life of Bees). And will Cameron make it to the birth of his child? I'm even more over that. I sorta want him there. The whole dramatic scene to make it home suddenly doesn't seem so exciting anymore- just stressful. Do I still want the baby to come when it's suppose to and not because I told it when to come with Pitosin? Yes. Not that I'm against anyone else getting induced. It's a personal decision-I'm just a little psycho.

After all this rambling, I'm right where I started. I don't want to be induced. But I'm miserable, stressed and anxious as heck. So please baby. Please come soon. Please come before you are 10 pounds and before I actually tear the heads off of my husband and 2 helpless children. For the love... please come now. I'm a big whiny baby. Really big, whiny baby.