Everything is happening so fast!

Guess who is almost a month old? She is still super sweet and an easy going baby. How'd I get so lucky? Yesterday we had a small celebration for Kira because she turned 10!

She is having some friends over this weekend for a little party but last night we had Olive Garden for dinner and Dairy Queen for dessert (how will I ever shed this baby weight)?

She's here!

I could say that it was a long, tough labor and she arrived in this world on a cold winter's night but in all reality it was a scheduled C-section that took about 30 minutes. The recovery is the tough part. Kennedy Rose was 8lbs. 12oz. and 21 and 1/2 inches long. She was born at 7:31am on December 7th and we almost decided on Pearl as a middle name in honor of the day but at the last second decided on Rose instead. The other kids have been fantastic with her and Kash has not even expressed much jealousy yet.

Baby days ahead

     The time is quickly approaching when we will be welcoming the newest addition to our family. I am scheduled for a C-section on Tuesday and the whole family is getting very excited and anxious to meet her. Lee graduated in June and has been working a ton lately.
     Kurgan is in 8th grade and will be starting high school next fall! I can barely believe how fast he's grown up. He plays drums for his church class every other Sunday and is playing drums in a rock band for his school's choir concert coming up in February.
     Kira is in 4th grade and is the class President this year! We are very proud. She is showing a lot more interest in music lately and is thinking of taking some kind of music lesson though it changes between guitar, voice, piano and sometimes even acting lessons.
     Kash is a super happy boy (most of the time). He's into everything these days but we really like that he's starting to talk a lot more so we understand what he wants (most of the time). It's wonderful being able to spend some extra time with him while I'm on maternity leave. I feel like I miss out on a lot of what the kids are up to because of work but I'm certain that most working mothers feel that way.
     Thanksgiving was nice because we had some family in town for it. The Tierney's came from Texas to join us for a week. I haven't seen them in quite a long time and it was really nice to catch up. Everyone grows so much between visits! I hosted the Thanksgiving dinner at my house and it was almost a disaster. Thanks goodness for Ken and his fried turkey or we would have had to wait a few extra hours to eat my turkey that wasn't cooking like it was supposed to!

Lazy days ahead....please?

So I know that I have been unavailable lately but I have seriously been busting my butt. We have had some mandatory overtime for the past....oh, I don't know...3 weeks now? and it is taking it's toll on my time. I don't want to bore you with the details but it's almost fiscal year end (for those of you that are familiar with what that means to the accounting world). It's been very good for our bank account but I have missed a lot of time with my family. Lee is being super great about all of it and has stepped up to be SuperDad since I am not around to help out in the evenings or on weekends.

We have a lot of video to post of Kash who is now crawling, waving and even saying the occasional "bye", "mom", "dad" and I think maybe even "go".

I am getting pumped up because I will be taking a mini-vacation in September to visit my beautiful sister-in-law and my brother and their super-wonderful brand new daughter! She is not here yet but she should make her grand appearance within the next two weeks (hopefully).

Kurgan and Kira started their new schools in the Kyrene district and it seems like they really like them so far. Kurgan had his first orthodontist visit and the experience was fantastic! I thought that we would be nervous since it's a pretty big deal but the office was amazing and the staff was super friendly and it turns out that I even went to the same high school as the dentist and know two of his nephews! Funny stuff. Anyway, Kurgan will be getting his braces on September 2nd and will be wearing them for 2 years. He is excited to get them on because he knows that he will be that much closer to having beautiful, straight teeth and a wicked awesome smile. **jealous**

Kira has fallen in love with her school and the fact that the bathrooms are clean and her teacher is very nice. She likes riding the bus this year even though I secretly sneak out when I'm home to watch her walk to the bus stop from our walkway in front of our house. It's tough having kids grow up and become independent.

Here's to September 1st...which can't come soon enough.

Did someone leave the oven on?

Summer is here. It's official. The kids have their very last day of school tomorrow. It will be Kurgan's last day of elementary school!! (What the...?) We have some great videos that we will be posting soon and keep an eye out on your mail because you will be getting a letter from us soon and maybe even a picture or two.
I stopped by my parent's house after work today and guess who was up and sitting at the computer? Yes, my father. He sent my mom out for something and when she got back he had gotten up and shaved and prettied himself up a bit. He's doing very well so we're excited about that and trying to tell him he still needs to take it easy even if he feels good.
Last night I had the pleasure of accompanying a very awesome lady to a concert! Amanda let me join her at the Kings of Leon concert. We were afraid that it was going to be super hot outside but as luck has it, the sky clouded over and the wind picked up a little and it was super nice. The Walkmen opened and we both liked them. I thought they sounded Stokes-ish....well the singer did anyway. Good stuff. We sat in the grass on a small hill/incline for most of the show but then we decided to get down in the crowd up by the stage for the last few songs.
Thanks to Ken and Lee for watching the little one's so that the wild and crazy sisters could go out for a much-needed night on the town together.

Thank-o-city

I just wanted to say thanks to all who have been praying for my dad. The surgery went well and although the heart was in worse shape than they had originally thought, it's now fixed and it's almost as if he's had a heart transplant! I saw him a bit before they took him down to prep him for surgery this morning and he seemed very tired but not too nervous. I went back right after work and met Amanda at the hospital. I got to see him hooked up to a bunch of IV's and he had all kinds of tubes hooked to him but he looked good. He almost looked as if he was just in a very, very deep sleep and so Amanda and I held his hands and told him we were there. The nurse that is sitting with him is super nice and knowledgeable so it was very comforting that she's there watching over him for us. She answered all my questions and we left him there for the evening. He should be resting for a while now and they will definitely let us know if there are any issues. I'm excited to see him (awake) and to be able to talk with him.

So again, thanks to those of you that have been praying or sending good thoughts our way. I know that my entire family appreciates it!

Pa-Pa

Well, more news on the homefront. My dad is going to need surgery after all. They found an 80% blockage and will be doing a triple bypass tomorrow morning. I will be getting up super early to run by the hospital and see him before they prep him for surgery. After that I have to go and try to work for 8 hours because my vacation request was denied, though I'm pretty sure I'll be useless. I'm nervous but I'm trying to keep busy so I don't think about it.

Keep those prayers coming! Love to all...

Jill-bear

My father has been in the hospital since Thursday last week. He went in originally because he was very short of breath and the results of one of his tests that he took earlier that week had come back and the doctor wanted him to go straight to the ER. They got his oxygen levels back up to 95 while he was not wearing an oxygen mask and I finally got the chance to visit today since I am finally feeling better and I didn't have any children with me. The hospital is only allowing people over 18 years old to visit due to the outbreak of Swine flu.
So silly if you ask me. It's just a bad flu. We still treat it the same way so everyone should really stop freaking out. But I digress....
So I stopped by the hospital on my way home from work and visited with mom and dad for about an hour. Dad seemed to be in good spirits but he was a little upset that he is going to have to stay in the hospital for at the very least a few more days.
While I was there, one of the doctors came by and I was able to listen to what he had to say! Dad will be going for an angiogram tomorrow at noon to see if there is some kind of blockage. They may put in a stint depending on what they see and if they are able to get his heart rhythms back to normal that will be great. If not, they may think about putting a defibrilator in.
So that is the news of the day. Keep Gilbert in your prayers.

Where my peeps at?

I went to a Leonard Cohen concert with my friend Angela earlier this month! I was seriously like a giddy little school girl because I was so excited. That man is so amazing. He's super old and can still put on a 3 hour show making all the ladies swoon over his deep voice and lyrics. After the show, my friend and I went outside to an upstairs balcony and as I leaned over the side of the building looking down over the street I saw him get into an SUV with his entourage and speed away. What a lovely man.

Another wonderful thing happened this month...my mom's birthday! I was lucky enough to spend a lunch hour with her the other day and it's always so nice to talk to her. She has definitely become one of my best friends over the recent years. She is always there to listen to me complain or whatever. It would be so lovely if I could fund her retirement.

Tomorrow is April 28th and it's my big brother Matt's birthday. Yay! I hope he has a rad day and that that little daughter of his kicks him really good.

Even though things in the world are not great at the moment (swine flu, recession, job loss, etc.) I feel good and almost like things are looking up in my neck of the woods. Does anyone else feel like that? I know that times are tough but doesn't it seem like it's always something and that we always just manage to make it through anyway? I never thought that I would be where I am today after all the stupid stuff that I have done over the years but thanks to the support of my family, here I am! I have a decent job, a pretty sweet crib full of gaming systems and video games, and the best family a girl could ask for. Gosh, I didn't mean to get all sentimental but I really do feel very blessed.

May is right around the corner and it's going to be a busy month since we will be house hunting and the kids will be finishing up with school. The kids have been on a bike kick recently. I'm not sure exactly what started it but it's really awesome that they want to ride their bikes all around the neighborhood all the time! I will also be going to another concert (Kings of Leon) with Nurse Hack on the 19th and we are both excited about that. A sister's night out...without the kids and without our men! Watch out! I am taking the next day off in preparation for the shenanigans that I'm sure my sister will force me partake in.

Oh...and happy birthday to my friend Bronson! He is one of the people that I went to high school with, although I didn't actually know him in high school. There are actually a lot of people that I went to high school with and know now but didn't know them in high school. Darn these big cities and their overpopulated schools.

Pictures

I found out recently that my brother Matt and his lovely wife Elizabeth are expecting!!! I am thrilled and can't wait to see some belly pictures (hint, hint)!

This first picture is of Kash. It looks to me like he's saying, "no pictures...please." Then there is a picture of Kira in all her glory after getting her ears pierced. I had Kurgan take a bunch of pictures of Kash for me one day because I remembered that he is officially 6 months old! So there is also a pretty sweet picture of the two boys together. I'm trying to convince the Mr. to go to one of those cheesy photo places so we can get our picture taken as a family...so hopefully we'll have one to post soon.

Hello?

I have been a slacker, and for that I apologize. Since Kash has arrived things have been....well, hectic. Kash got pretty sick with croup a few weeks back and then he got Lee, Kira and me sick as well and so it's been a lot of visits to the hospital and doctors offices, etc. We are all somewhat healthy at the moment and I'm praying that we stay that way.

To catch you all up on what has been going on with us I should start with the previous post. Kurgan won the district bee (4th place) and got a pretty cool trophy. We went to the regional bee where I think roughly 35 spellers competed and Kurgan got 16th. The word he got out on was junta and I had no clue how to spell it. Kurgan spelled it with an "h". The super cool thing about that was that his teacher Mr. Short came to the bee to show his support. We were all pretty impressed by that.

Miss Kira got her ears pierced over a month ago and was a champ about the whole thing. She decided one day that she wanted her ears pierced after one of her best friends came to school toting some newly pierced ears. We went to Claire's and I could tell that she was nervous, but she sat in the chair and didn't even jump when they pierced the first ear. She is really, really excited to take out her studs on Friday and put in some other earrings!

Kash is now 6 months old (already?) and is eating rice cereal every morning and night. He can sit up by himself but he's a little shaky and falls over once in a while. Daycare fed him a half a jar of squash today which I'm not too happy about but such is life. I'm not sure if he liked it or not.

I had to take a Praxis test on March 14th for my teaching program so I can start with my education courses finally. I passed the math and reading portions but I'm still waiting on my essay to be scored so I can find out if I passed the writing section. After I took the test I helped out my wonderful brother-in-law, Ken with a grand plan to surprise my sister Amanda since it was her birthday. I invited them over to my house for a birthday dinner and then I packed up my family and headed over to her house. Once they left, we went in and let some friends into her house and then Ken acted like he forgot something so they turned around. We had all the lights out and yelled "surprise!" when she got there. The kids got a kick out of it and I think Amanda might have liked it a little...maybe. Unfortunately I had to run home to work on homework the rest of the night. Bleh.
I applied for a supervisor position at work and went through the interview process but did not receive a second interview. Apparently I am not management material yet but I think the interview was a good learning experience.

Lee is still plugging away at school and only has to finish up the quarter he is in, then one more quarter before he starts his rotations! That means the end is near. We are so excited. Especially me because it means that I get to quit working and stay at home with my fabulous kids!

I will get some current pictures up soon, I promise.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

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District Spelling Bee

It started out with 64 people. Only sixteen of them would survive. Would I be one of them?I thought. The district spelling bee did this to people. I was waiting for the spelling bee to start. Finally, I heard the announcer over the microphone. "The district spelling bee will now begin." I was number 62 Every round, there were less and less people. I never knew I would be one of the last fifteen people. Finally, there was a long pause between two rounds. It gave me just enough time to count how many people remained. One....ten...twelve....No way I thought. "There are fifteen spellers left," I thought as the announcer said it. I was going on to the regionals. But the spelling bee wasn't over yet. There were still five trophies to give out to the top five spellers. Occasionally, one or two people would get out. Then, we got into the advanced words. Everyone got out in that round except for two people,(neither of which were me). After they were done spelling off, all of the spellers that got out in the advanced round came back in. After a few rounds, it was finally down to five people, one of which was me. I spelled my word right. The person that spelled right after me spelled their word wrong. Four people. Finally, the last person to go up spelled their word wrong. I was one of the people who would get a trophy. I was so happy. 5th, 4th, or 3rd, 3rd being the biggest. The last three who were left standing were me, another boy, and a girl. The other boy spelled a word wrong. I would either get 3rd or 4th. The girl and I didn't spell a word wrong for a good 5 minutes. But, alas, I spelled bureaucracy wrong. I spelled it bureacracy.I finished in fourth place and got a nice 4th place trophy . After that we went to my favorite restaurant, Macayos!

Time flies

I have been a slacker and haven't posted anything for you all in such a long time! We had company and then everyone was sick and so much has been going on and now it's almost Christmas! Whew!

Well, where to begin? Thanksgiving was great and not so great at the same time. As always, it's nice to spend time off of work and with the family but I came down with a wicked stomach bug and gave it to Kira, and my parents! I would not have wished that on my worst enemy because I wanted to die but the good news is that I lost 10 pounds since I couldn't eat for two days. I have since gained back most of that weight but I am determined to lose it again.

Whittier elementary held it's annual spelling bee early this month and Kurgan broke the record and became the only one to win all three years that a student can participate at the elementary school level (4th, 5th and 6th grades). The winning word this time was genus. We are very proud of him and can't wait to see how he does at regionals in January.
Kurgan has been very busy with everything but also managed to earn himself a duet with another boy from his orchestra class. They both played The First Noel during the orchestra concert and I got it on video.

Kira is getting very excited about Christmas and her birthday but she just keeps asking me when we can go to the store so she can buy her brother a gift with her own money!?! What an awesome little girl. She continues to be my big helper with Kash and gets out of the car with me every morning to drop off Kash at daycare and open the door for me, carry the diaper bag, etc.

She has been working on writing a song and I've read a few of the lyrics and I think she might have the next big hit on her hands!

I just finished up my first class back after having Kash and I am so surprised that I actually passed it! I got really far behind in the first two weeks and played catch up the entire time and just barely scraped by with a D-. Thankfully that is enough to move on so I am now in an education class and so happy that I don't have any more math. Lee and I got to attend my company Christmas party this past weekend and it was a really neat event. The food was fantastic, the entertainment was...well, entertaining and the company was great because I sat with Lee! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of us together in our spiffy clothes and it really bums me out because I don't have any pictures of us together other than our wedding.

Lee has been having a pretty tough time in classes but he's continuing to work really hard studying so he can do better. It's tough since we don't sleep very well at night and then we have to get up and use our brains all day. Ugh. It makes me tired just thinking about it.

Kash is now 3 months old and he rolled over for me on the 6th of December but no one was around to see it and so they don't believe me. He hasn't rolled over since.

Ch...ch...ch...changes

We have decided to turn a new leaf in the Freedle household. Well, it's not really my doing...it's Lee's fault. He's got to start eating healthier and since we like to have our meals as a family all of us will be eating better! I'm kind of excited about it because I'm not a big fan of fast food joints (except In-N-Out...I'm kind of addicted) but I think I will definitely miss going out to restaurants. I like the idea of not having to cook or clean up after...I think I might have been a princess in another life. So beginning next week we are going to be eating more organic meats, fruits and veggies. Yum!

Geez, so much has happened in the past couple of weeks! My big sis Cynthia came to visit, Halloween, my birthday, I started back at work, and the Presidential election. My birthday was fantastic! My wonderful mother watched all of the kids so that we could go out to enjoy some fantastic sushi (thanks for the recommendation Jill!) with the Millers and the Meltons who we hadn't seen forever.

Kash started daycare on Monday and is already one of the favorites there. He's been really good about hanging out there for about 11 hours a day but I guess he can't really tell me if he's upset by it. He also got his 2 month shots today and it almost broke our hearts. It's so hard to watch your little ones get hurt even if you know the outcome is good for them.
Lee started back at school this week so soon we will be having study nights again! He also informed me that there are a little less than 600 days before he graduates so I have started a countdown to my retirement. It will be so nice to spend some time with my kids before they are all grown up!! Having the last 12 weeks off of work really opened my eyes to how much I miss while I'm at work. I love being able to be involved in their lives by going to the functions at their school and make sure they're doing their homework, etc.
We are also expecting another visitor this week. Nan is coming to visit us all the way from Maryland!! The kids are super excited to see her and hopefully we'll get to spend a lot of time together.

Happy Halloween

This week is brought to you by the letter K, number 7 and Kira! =)

Hi y'all. This Halloween I was a Graveyard Fairy and my brother Kurgan was an Evil Outlaw. We went trick-or-treating in our grandma's neighborhood. Our parents said we could only walk down the block and a teenager came with us. She said she was in charge of us and wanted us to go on a different block and we didn't listen to her but all the other kids did. Then they went to the next house and got scared by a guy that jumped out of a bush with a chainsaw! All the other kids ran in different directions. Rosio had lost all of the kids! One of them came crying home. Our parents were proud of us for not listening to Rosio. We had a LOT of candy. It was the best Halloween ever! The End

ooohs and aahhhs...

Kash is finally starting to smile and be a happy baby! He actually slept for 7 and 1/2 hours straight on the 21st! I woke up feeling so incredibly refreshed (after I ran to the crib to make sure he was okay).














All of the kids have their Halloween costumes ready and we just came up with the perfect family themed costume for next year. It should be pretty great...anyway, Kira is going to be a graveyard fairy this year, Kurgan is going to be an evil skeleton outlaw and Kash is Superman. I think Lee and I might be a cowboy and Indian...it's still up in the air about who will be what. =)
My birthday is next Saturday and then that Monday I return to work! Time flies, eh? I had all these great ideas of things that I wanted to get done while I was off of work but only a handful of those actually got done. I suppose I still have one more week though, don't I? We'll see how much of it actually gets done.
Kira has asked to write the next blog so stay tuned for her post coming soon!

Ock-toe-brrr

Last week was a busy week! Kurgan's 11th birthday was on the 9th and the kids both got out early from school on Wednesday and had both Thursday and Friday off. I took some cupcakes and KitKats to his school for his class to enjoy on Tuesday which was a feat because Kash just happened to be hungry and angry at that time. It was a juggle to get the goodies and him out of the car and make the trek across the parking lot to the office. Man, I had forgotten how heavy those infant carriers can be! Thank goodness that Lee is usually the one carrying Kash whenever we go anywhere.

We surprised Kurgan with our gift and it was pretty tricky of us if I do say so myself...

I had the kids with me because we were running around all day doing things that the birthday boy wanted to do and some errands that I had to get done too. We went to the mall to get Kurgan a replacement Ipod for the one that he accidentally ran through the washer and dryer. He used most of his birthday money to buy it but it was something that he has been talking about getting since it went through the wash several months ago. Lee got off of work and prepared Kurgan's room and then we came into the house and Lee started off by telling Kurgan how he didn't agree with me for allowing Kurgan to get another Ipod and that if he wanted to put music on it he would not be allowed to use our computers and would need to ask his grandma for the use of her computer. We sent the kids to their rooms so we could talk but I ran and grabbed the camera to take this picture of the birthday boy and his new computer! He was so surprised and it made us really happy.

Here is a picture of the kids the morning of picture day at school. I thought they both looked really great. I will mail out pictures to everyone once I get them back from the school. Lee is in the middle of his rotation right now and has a lot of projects that he has to work on. I don't envy him but I have my own homework to do, although mine is much easier! I don't know when it happened, it seems it was overnight but it cooled down and I think it's officially autumn! This is my favorite season and hopefully I will be able to travel up north at some point to see the leaves change.

Speaking of traveling, my best friend Leah is moving from California to Washington for a wonderful job opportunity. I'm very excited for her and I'm also thrilled because that means that I will have an excuse to go to Seattle and see her and the spa where she will be an associate director! Did I hear someone say free spa treatments?!

L-O-V-E

Yes, that's right love is in the air. I feel it. The weather is finally starting to cool off in the evenings which means I will soon be able to snuggle with my wonderful husband! I also found out this week that my dear friend Doran asked his long-time girlfriend to marry him and now they are officially engaged. Yay! Congrats to both of them.

The lovely couple in the picture here are the Cardinals and today is their 2 year anniversary. Don't they look spiffy? I love this picture of them...it's from their wedding day. That's right, they're riding a bicycle built for two. The Freedles wish them a very happy anniversary and hope that they are out celebrating two great years of marriage.

This past week was picture week and since I did not have to rush off to work that morning I was able to spend some time on Kira's hair and make sure that both of the kids looked presentable. We should be getting their pictures back within the next few weeks. Both of the kids are excited about getting their report cards next week. Isn't that great? I love that they are both so smart and that they really love school.

Kash is finally starting to sleep for longer periods and has kind of fallen into a regular sleep schedule. He usually sleeps from about 10:00pm-3:00am and then wakes up again at around 5:30. It's been really awesome because I feel pretty refreshed after getting that much sleep each night! I really hope I didn't just jinx myself...

Firsts

Kash's umbilical cord finally fell out so we were able to give him a bath for the first time! He was hungry and didn't like it very much but he liked when I took the washcloth and ran water over his belly. He's been having some tummy aches in the evenings and it's been tough trying to get him to go to sleep. Lee actually drove around with him the other night to get him to go to sleep and he slept for 6 hours straight! He's growing so fast and I think that his appearance has changed quite a bit over the past two and a half weeks.

Kurgan is getting excited for his birthday that is coming up but he's a little bummed that he can't have friends over to spend the night like he did last year. I guess we will just have to think of something extra fun for him to do. Kira has been having a lot of fun observing me with Kash. I think she's still a bit apprehensive about hurting him but she's been a big help getting me things that I need.

I've needed extra help over the past couple of days because (without going into too many details) my incision is not healing 100% so I am trying to take it easy. One of my best friends came into town from California and her and her mother came over to see Kash and we all went out for lunch. It's always great to get out of the house and visit with friends!