On Saturday night, about midnight, Makayla woke me up by standing next to my bed saying, “Mommy, the big thing got me.” She didn’t sound very well and she was standing really funny so I tried my best to come out of my comatose sleepiness and I really tried to understand what she was saying. Then all of a sudden a huge wave of the horrid smell of vomit hit me and I immediately got out of bed and told her to go into the bathroom. Sure enough she was covered in vomit. So I went into her room to inspect the damage and there was bright green vomit all over her bed and her pillow. The smell was making me so sick. I filled the bathtub, put Makayla in it, went in and woke up Jarom and told him what had happened and asked if he would please take care of her sheets and put new ones on the bed because I couldn’t handle the smell. (I’m 7 months pregnant let me remind you, and the smell of vomit makes my stomach turn in an instant.) So Jarom takes care of the nastiness while I bathe Makayla. She pukes again in the bathtub. So we let out the water while she shivers uncontrollably and put new water in. Jarom comes in and says it’s all taken care of and asks if I need anything else. I say no so he goes back to bed. After about a 20 minute bath, Makayla starts falling asleep in the bathtub, but I still can’t convince her to get out. So I bribe her with a movie. Finally we get her hair dry, jammies on, and she’s laying on the couch watching Tinkerbell. Another 20 minutes later and 2 pukes later, she starts to fall asleep so I tell her it’s time to go to bed. I tuck her in, she immediately falls asleep, and I leave her with a waste basket next to her bed. I go into the laundry room to move her sheets from the washer to the dryer. It’s about 2:30 am. On the way out of the laundry room I hear Kaylee yell, in a very desperate panicked yell, ”Mommy aren’t you coming??” So I run the rest of the way into her bedroom, flip on the light, and Makayla is still sound asleep, but now Kaylee is covered in vomit. She has it all over her pillow and all over her bed as well as herself. Seriously? I wanted to die. I told her to stay there, I walk into our bedroom and say, “Honey are you ready for round 2?” He looks at me in confusion and very sleepily says, “What?” I reply, “Round 2. Kaylee just puked all over her bed now. Will you please take care of it while I give her a bath?”

It was the same thing all over again. We moved Kaylee’s mattress down from the top bunk to the floor so that she could puke into a large bowl. So on one side of the room is Makayla with her wastebasket and on the other side is Kaylee with her bowl. Awesome. I go back to bed, but don’t really sleep, I just listen. Since our rooms are adjacent to each other, our doors are practically touching and I can hear every little noise. 10 minutes after laying and listening I jump out of bed to the sound of throwing up. Both of them at the same time. Super Awesome. I can sit in the middle of their floor and rub both of their backs at the same time. So I sit there, rubbing their backs, telling them I love them, trying not to puke myself because of the wonderful aroma in their room. They finish puking, I wipe their mouths off, give them back rub loves, and go back to bed. To lay and listen. 20 minutes later, same thing. This continues until about 6 am. Finally the puking stops for the most part. Now we can finallly get some rest. And that’s what we did. All day yesterday we rested and rested some more. Thank goodness Kiera, Jarom and I never puked. And the girls seem to be back to life today. That wasn’t so bad, considering past kid/family puking experiences. But still, please no more.

Just yesterday I said Kiera was on black eye #4. And I didn’t know how she got any of them. Today, she has #5, and I can tell you how she got this one. It was first thing this morning. Kiera and I were up and about before anyone else. When Kiera heard Kaylee wake up she got super excited and started running over to her saying “Laylee! Laylee!” with her arms held out in front of her ready to give her a hug. Kaylee was in the bathroom waiting to give her a hug with her knees bent and her arms stretched out also. Kiera was just about there when she tripped over the bathroom rug and smashed her face right into Kaylee’s knee. Nice. I’m waiting for child services to call now. She has 2 “black eyes” on one eye. One above and one below. Poor little honey.

6 years. That’s how long I’ve been waiting to use this blanket. I bought it when I was pregnant with Kaylee before I knew if she was a boy or a girl. It’s been a looooong 6 years of waiting for him to come. This blanket was starting to be a sad spot in my heart every time I saw it hanging in my closet. 6 long years. And now he’s coming!

I feel like a first-time mom again. I am so unbelievably excited to meet this little man. I was excited to meet my girls, but it’s a little different this time, knowing that this is our son. A boy! We’re going to have a boy! I can’t wait to meet him, to see what he looks like, to watch him grow, to see him think that his Daddy is the coolest person walking on Earth, to see him tease his sisters, to see him be a boy. I can’t wait.

I started stressing a few weeks ago that he will be here in about 2 months and I don’t have a single item of boy clothing. Yikes! So I went into panic mode. I can’t go buy anything here in Baker because, well, because there is no place here in Baker that would give me what I need and want. So I turned to the glorious internet. Ohhh, how I’ve come to love internet shopping. I love receiving packages. The best package I’ve received yet arrived today. And holy guns. I am so excited to meet this little man!

Yep! That’s a start on his first wardrobe and could you get any cuter? I can’t wait to put those tiny little clothes on him. Man, I think I’m nuts for being so excited about a baby. Especially because I am not a fan of the newborn stage. They are so much work. And for as much as I like my sleep, I get a little ornery when the little ones mess with my sleep. You better watch out for mama bear because she will bite, maybe even eat her offspring. No but for real, I really struggle with the newborn stage, but here I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. Please help me remember this excitement when I haven’t slept for 2 months. Please. But for now, I love you little man and I can’t wait to meet you!

Kiera is 18 months already. Well, in 5 days she will be. I can’t believe it. She is such a sweet little girl. She has, by far, the most laid back temperament of the 3 girls. She weighs 23 pounds. I think that’s average, but since I never take our girls to the doctor I’m not sure. She has the biggest blue eyes with the longest eyelashes I’ve ever seen on a child. She loves life. She’s genuinely happy most of the time. She has quite the vocabulary already and she loves to learn by watching her sisters. One of my favorite things about her is that she always leads me into the kitchen by grabbing my finger and asks for a treat or a snack, then she always asks for one for both of her sisters. Then she’ll run off and give her sisters their snacks before she eats hers. She’s got such a pure heart. She does have a funny side to her. She loves to be a comedian. When we’re sitting at the table eating she will try so hard to get her sisters to laugh and if she succeeds, she’ll keep doing the same thing over and over again relishing the fact that she is making them laugh. She loves it! She has this deep throaty/grunty laugh that is the cutest thing I’ve ever heard come out of such a tiny little body. I love that a couple of times this past week, she has come  and grabbed my finger and taken me into her bedroom to stand in front of her crib, letting me know she’s ready for bed/nap. Amazing. I love it. She is also great at letting me change her diaper. I’ll tell her it’s time to change her diaper and she’ll run into her room and stand in front of her changing table waiting for me to pick her up. Or, if I bring the diaper and wipes to her, wherever she may be in the house, she’ll look at me and then lay down on the floor without me having to do anything. She’s the best! A few mornings ago she woke up earlier then usual and we could hear her saying, “Mom?…..Mom?………..Mooom?…………………….Da?…..Da?………………….Laylee?………..” 

This is who Kiera is today… We love her so much.

She put her snow hat on all by herself and then she came and asked me to put her snow pants on. Then she wore that outfit most of the morning on Sunday.

She loves to ride her pony.

Even though she is only 18 months old, she’s on her 4th black eye. Amazing. I couldn’t even tell you how she got any of them. I know, I know, that shows my awesome mom skillz.

Her newest discovery is Mrs. Potato Head. She loves it! And yesterday she insisted on wearing the glasses.

We love you sweet Kiera!

Jarom turned 33 on Sunday! Wow. I always try to make birthdays special and I feel like I miserably failed this year. Oh well. Many more years to come hopefully. Saturday was great fun though. We headed over to La Grande to play up on the mountain with snowmobiles and Jarom’s 4-wheeler that has snow tracks on it. It was a beautiful clear day and the sun was shining which made it seem even warmer. It was so nice to be outside in the sun. It was just our little family and Grampa Hibbert. Kaylee and Makayla had a blast sledding. Then we headed over to Grampa’s cabin and played some more and had some hot chocolate. Then I tied the sled behind the snowmobile and pulled the girls. They thought that was great! Kiera loved riding on the snowmobile and just hanging out with Grampa. Then when the sun started going down and the temperature started dropping around 3:30 we headed for home. It was a perfect day.

Then on Sunday in the morning the girls gave their daddy his presents that they picked all by themselves. Kaylee picked an outdoor outfitter t-shirt with the silhouette of a bear and man on it. Perfect. And Makayla picked a bag of red licorice. Perfect again. (He only got about 5 pieces and then I ate the rest, occasionally sharing with the girls.) Then we hung out all morning waiting for church to come at 1. After church Jarom’s parents came over and we had a nice visit with them and some birthday cake and ice cream. Then the girls got to give daddy one last present and they were so excited. Wrapped in princess paper and all!

And of course, they all 3 opened it for him.

And that was the end of a very uneventful day.

Happy birthday Daddy! We love you tons and tons and hope this next year is a fantastic one for you.

loves