It's a......

.......we don't know, but will find out in the spring!

We decided to wait on this last one. We went to the ultrasound appointment and the baby was being difficult and didn't want to be seen. It took almost an hour just to get the pictures they needed to satisfy the doctor. They won't let me look at the screen during that time and they only invite the husband or significant other in at the end so that the technicians aren't distracted by questions. Alan had a moment where he almost caved in. I left it up to him, but he held strong.

So the things we found out from the ultrasound are that the baby is constantly moving and is swimming around, flip flopping, and just being happy. It's head was already down when they first looked, but like I said it wouldn't stay in one position long. I told them that I just hope it's getting all of the wiggles out now! But looking at my other kids, I don't think that is the case. It may have a shy streak in its fibers because it kept covering its face and kept its legs crossed almost the whole time. The baby is measuring at 20 weeks and 4 days which would put my due date at April 5, but knowing the doctors, it won't change my due date. It has ten fingers and ten toes (this has always been important to me). I saw no distress on the techs face which always makes me feel more comfortable. I have a doctor's appointment next week that will give me more information about whether everything is developing right.

Depending on whether the radiologist is happy with the pictures that the techs took, I may or may not have another ultrasound. They were really struggling to get some of their shots and they were the more important ones, like a particular view of the heart, and one of the head.

I wanted to thank everyone who reads the blog for all of your comments and stories. I had so much fun reading them and hearing what you had to say. I think the deciding factor for me to wait was Alan. He really wanted to wait and I thought it would be fun to give him that since we won't have another opportunity to do this again. If I have to have another ultrasound though.....I don't know if I can be strong enough to resist knowing. It bothers me though that there is someone in this world that knows what I am having, and it is not me!! Alan had to ask the tech as we were leaving if she knew. Of course she did. I wanted to say, "I think it's a boy am I on the right track?"

I am going to scan in the pictures and will post them soon!

Sweet Moments

Among all of our sickness and ups and downs of the last couple of weeks, a ray of sunshine has come through....Starting with Alan and ending with Hannah, all but Eden have felt the baby kick and/or roll. Those are sweet tender moments when I am able to share the movements of this little one with those who love this little person just as much as I do.
Eden, of course, is not patient enough to sit there and wait. She will probably feel it the first moment that she actually snuggles with me. I am not holding my breath for that moment, so most likely she will never feel it!

Warning to all....Stay away!!

I hate being sick! I hate it when my kids are sick! I hate it when my husband is sick! It's just no fun, and with our ever-expanding family, it just spreads from one person to the next.

At the beginning of October, Eden and I started with a cold. Then all the kids and I got the stomach flu (which Alan missed, because he was in Germany). Then we got another cold that ever so slowly went through the family. At the end of the month, Joseph brought home pink eye. Eden got it shortly after as well as a double ear infection. Just as she was feeling better, Peter began screaming one night because his ear hurt. Sure enough, a late night doctor visit confirmed he had a bad ear infection.

Just when we thought we were done, Hannah broke out with pink eye and Eden went into round 2. After Hannah was on the antibiotic drops for over 24 hours I sent her back to school looking red in the eyes but with huge improvement compared to what she looked like, only to have Joseph stay home with brand new sickness symptoms. He stayed home yesterday with a fever, headache, and an arm ache. He woke up doing better today (day 2) but then about 10:00 a.m. he came down with pink eye again!!!

What am I missing in my cleaning and sanitizing that sickness keeps going around?

After being to the doctors 3 times in the last week (not to mention the 4 times in the previous 2 weeks), and taking care of sick kids, and cleaning my house, and forcing hand sanitizer on everyone, and washing my hands 40 times a day, I have only two words to say:

I'm done......

Halloween Happening

Happy 1st!

How fast time passes! I can't believe that my "baby" is already one! Eden is so precious, lovable, and just fun! I have thoroughly enjoyed having her this last year. She definitely brightens my days, as well as everyone else's!

She loved unwrapping presents and was so careful about it. Here are some pics from the party! (click on "View All Images" below to see the pictures)

It's a tradition in our family to get your own birthday cake to destroy for birthday #1. Here are some video's to capture the moment!

Check out her head movements!

Talk about the sugar high!!

A day in the life of Eden Kathryn Boss:

• people person, she is just a charmer
• loves music and knows all the actions to all the little songs
• able to communicate, and almost always gets her point across
• stands in the middle of the room without support, but refuses to take any steps
• gets so excited when her siblings come home from school

• refuses to eat baby food or have people feed her, wants to do it all herself
• is not a snuggler in the least bit, she wants to be off running and exploring
• her absolute favorite time is bath time, she has never been unhappy in the bathtub!

• she is tough, and is able just to shake off life's bumps and bruises
• gets told "no" so rarely that she will just start crying if you do have to tell her no, it's pathetic
• she started giving real kisses and thinks they are so funny, when she is in the mood she will want at least 20 and will just laugh the whole time but will keep coming back for more.
• the worst possible thing that you can do to her is get her dressed, I haven't figured out why, but she hates it!!!
• she finds so much pride in the fact that she can now go up and down the stairs all by herself
• if she is tired, she is more than happy (to the point of pure excitement) to go to bed especially if she has "Sugar" her lamb, a bink, and her blanket

Eden is just a fun, loving, little cutie patootie that has all 5 of her family members wrapped around her chubby little fingers. She has brought so much love and happiness to our not so little family. Happy Birthday EDY!! We love you!

Decisions...Decisions

Alan has decided that he thinks it would be fun to wait to find out what the baby is. When we told our parents that we were expecting, my Mom told me to wait to find out. Alan's friend Uncle Sly a.k.a. Scott was trying to convince me yesterday to wait and how cool would that be. Our Relief Society President, Michelle Dean overheard us talking and said that I should definitely wait, and how cool it is to have them say, "It's a _________!!"

I just don't know if I can wait. I have never had a desire to wait. I don't really like surprises. I like to plan my life. But this is my last one. It would probably create a good story, one that would be different than any of the rest of the birth stories. (All of my kids love their birth stories) And he (she) with the most stories wins.

But the real question is, could I wait, knowing that I have the opportunity to know, to plan, to pick names, to anticipate, and to talk about it with my kids. I can't even believe that I am toying with the idea...that just proves that I have gone crazy and that this pregnancy is messing with my mind!! I did tell Alan that if we were to wait to find out that he would have to commit to two names, both a boy and a girl name. We really have only ever agreed on 5 names that were picked out when I was pregnant with Hannah. Only Eden's name was changed slightly from the original. It was going to be Eden Segovia, instead we named her Eden Kathryn. Although we were going to change it completely, but that is another story all together. We only have a boys name left which Alan is unsure about. With having to commit to 2 names, it might make him want to find out.

If you would like to vote and put in your two cents on what you think, we would love to hear your stories and opinions. We are scheduled to have our ultrasound the morning of November 20. Who knows, maybe the baby won't even cooperate. Wouldn't that be my luck if I decided to find out!

We're going to a Ball!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Hey Lynette, this is your next project!! I expect Bryn to be wearing it within a fortnight!

For all you sewers out there, or people who appreciate the time and effort it takes to make anything beautiful, Take a look! I can't believe that anyone would spend so much time, money or energy on a dress that they will only grow out of.

Foreign Diseases

This morning while we were getting ready for Church. I told the kids that Alan had gotten a disease while in Germany. Alan played along so nicely, it's wonderful when you can work together as a team. He told them that it was called "DOG JAW". I told them that he has a bump on the side of his cheek and asked them if they wanted to feel it. Of course they did.

When they were all feeling for the lump he very suddenly started barking like an attack dog and snapped his teeth. They all jumped about a mile. It was hilarious to watch! We all got a good laugh from it!

None to be found

To follow up with the drama in the Boss household....I never found the underwear and honestly I have no idea where it could have gone. Thank heavens for a washer and dryer in the house, as I was able to wash the two pairs that I found so that he had a clean pair to wear the next day while I was at Target buying more. This may end up being one of those unsolved mysteries that will continue through time to boggle my mind.

Being pushed over the EDGE

Since Alan left for Germany last Friday I have done at least 2 loads of laundry a day, in fact I think that one day I actually did 4. Even after a weeks worth of clothes we normally only do max of 5. I was trying to rid our house of sickness before it spread through everyone again by washing all of our bedding and towels and clothes and blankets and everything else I could find to wash. So with everything associated with fabric cleaned, I have a hard time believing what happened tonight.

I had Joseph jump into the shower tonight in preparation to get ready for bed. After the shower he came to me and said, "I don't have any underwear." I just rolled my eyes and asked "did you check your drawers." "YES!" Frustrated, I went and checked, no underwear. So I checked in the clean load that I hadn't folded yet. None. I went downstairs to make sure that I didn't miss a load. Nothing. I thought...this is nuts, how can he have no underwear? I have less than one load of dirty clothes which has one pair of Joseph's underwear that he just took off and that's it. Where have they all gone? I don't understand where all of his underwear have gone. I started saying that we had a underwear thief. Peter said, "Who would steal underwear?" Exactly my point!

This has never been an issue until this weekend. I started going through everyone's drawers and closets looking for the missing underwear getting more and more angry. My poor kids. I ended up putting Peter and a devastated Joseph to bed without any underwear on because they started being rowdy and quite frankly I couldn't handle them or anything else anymore. This has totally and completely pushed me over the edge. And why, I ask, would something so small push me so far? OK it wasn't that far to push but still it is something small and inconsequential. It has nothing to do with eternal life. It is underwear for crying out loud!!

After I had given up and was done feeding Eden a bottle I went to lay her down and to say goodnight to Hannah. I looked at her and said, I don't understand where they could have gone, what he has done with them? I have never in my life talked to Hannah about a problem that isn't hers. I am usually telling her not to worry about things that don't concern her. She looked at me as though I had truly lost it. I quickly came out of my stupor, told her 'never mind,' kissed her good night, and left the room. I have gone through everything I can think of that could possibly be housing these underwear. I did end up finding one more pair. But how in the world have we been surviving on 2 pairs of underwear for Joseph? We haven't!!! There must be more! I know there is. I don't do laundry that often. And I am going to get to the bottom of this. Hopefully, my foul mood will dissipate and I will look at this more like a challenge that I will conquer!!

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Eden and I went on a fun trip together to see my brother Travis and his family. It was fun hanging out with them and getting to see their three adorable children. My only goal was to win their hearts so that I could forever be their favorite Aunt. Sorry sisters and others aunts, but I think I have won!!

We planned my visit over the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta which was unlike anything I have ever experienced. It was amazing, in fact it was more than amazing, it was breathtaking, delightful, fun, fascinating, like nothing you have ever seen before. Words don't describe it and the pictures do it no justice. Wherever you turn you see balloons being blown up or laid out getting ready, or a whole pile of them in a row waiting to launch. You can't capture it all. I sure tried, just to give my family back home a little taste of it. Anywho I will spare you the 200 pictures that I took and give you just a glance at what was there. If you ever have the opportunity to go, I would highly recommend it, especially if you have a brother / son who is living there and you wouldn't have to worry about parking or a place to stay (hint, hint, this is especially true for the Drake Family!! For the rest of you, I am sure he would give you a good deal!)

I am glad that I went so that I could experience just a glimpse of Travis and Jamie's lives. I loved their home and their kids are adorable and so sweet. Their back yard is fabulous, because you never have to mow or water it and it will be forever green (it's AstroTurf!!). Plus Travis built a fountain. What a wonderful couple! What a fabulous family!!

As a bonus (the whip cream on my ice cream sundae) I got to see my dear, sweet, wonderfully fabulous, very missed friend, Karon. It was so fun to see her and her 3 adorable kids and to hear about their life in the desert of a state New Mexico!! It was as though we still live down the road from each other. She looked so good, and was the same spunky Karon with another kid in tow. Funny how that happens! It was hard to see her go, knowing that it would be a while before I saw her again. Thanks Karon for a fun day!

My baby is all grown up

Today Hannah turned 9. It is so hard to believe that my baby girl can be that old. It just seems like yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital, and here she is in 4th grade. What a sweet girl Hannah is.

She is:

• always willing to help her friends, teachers, and family.
• so fun to be around and loves to have little followers (thank goodness!) that she can boss around.
• always making up games and stories and always has something to say.
• adored by her brothers and they want to spend as much time as possible with her.
• an excellent reader.
• a ray of sunshine in our lives!
  

All Hannah wanted for her birthday was an American Girl doll. She chose the "look like me" doll with blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. And of course we had to have her ears pierced as well. She was so delighted and has be including her as one of the family. She named her Eliza.

Happy Birthday "B"! We love you and are so proud of you! May all your wishes come true this year!