Welcome Jonas!

I can't believe that Jonas is already 5 weeks old. The time flies by so much faster after they're out. He was born Febuary 14 at 12:17 in the morning. We were hoping for the 13th, but he wanted to be a Valentine Baby. I was induced for the first time. It went well, however next time I think I will start before 5pm. It was a really long night. He weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and was 19 and 3\4 inches long. We were lucky and only had to stay one night in the hospital. The only bad thing was that Laurie and Jack were throwing up when we came home, luckily Jonas didn't get sick. It was a long night the first night home--Jonas wanted to be held the whole night--and Jeff was cleaning up throw-up all night. My mom and dad came to visit when Jonas was 6 days old. My mom stayed 10 days and Jonas was a perfect little boy. Then she left and everything went south. Jonas ended up being really fussy started at about 3 weeks. He basically cried all day so finally after a couple days I took him to the doctor. He has acid reflux and was put on Zantax. He started feeling better when he came down with RSV. We had a few scary nights and he was put in the hospital because he had low oxygen levels, but he quickly turned around and we were able to go home after one night. My mom also flew back out to help us. I know I wouldn't have got through that tough time without her. She watched Jonas so me and Jeff could get some sleep. It was my fourth night without any sleep so I was sooooo grateful. Now, my mom has gone home and Jonas is fully recovered. I have even ventured outside with all four since the whether has been so nice. We also had Jeremy's birthday party on Saturday. Jer is such a fun three year old. I had so much help from friends and family. Thanks to all!!!
Love
DRea

Only 33 more Days!

We are so excited to be having another little boy on Feb 13 (or sooner!) We haven't picked out a name yet, but we will keep you posted. Laurie just started gymnastics a few weeks ago and she is having a lot of fun, they really work her hard though. We also got a piano and she should start lessons next week. She is doing great in school and enjoys it. She lost one of her front teeth just before Christmas and has a really fun smile. Jack just started Joy School a few weeks ago. He loves going and I love the ladies I do it with. We just have three little almost 5 year boys and they have a ball. Jack will be 5 in less than a month. He is a very sweet little boy and he is trying hard to finish all his reading lessons so we can shoot off a rocket! Jeremy is enjoying his last few weeks as the baby of the family. He is still very sweet and cuddly. He is finally potty trained however I hope it doesn't go backward when the baby comes. Jeff is enjoying his work and his time he gets to spend with the kids. He and I recently went to a Blues Hockey Game and we really had a good time. We also have had fun stealing Laurie's Christmas presents of Mario Brothers and Dance game and playing them with each other at night. I feeling really good and am excited that I won't have to be pregnant too much longer. It was so fun to visit family for Thanksgiving. We are so lucky to have so many great cousins on both sides of our family. (I will post pictures later because I left my camera in Utah and my mother hasn't mailed it yet!!!!) DRea

November 2011

It's actually Halloween. Jeff took the kids out trick-or-treating and I thought it would be fun to post a few updated pictures, but he took the camera--so I'm writing instead. It had been a little while since I last wrote. We moved into a rental house and we love it. It is across the street from the elementary school and has a back yard with a fence. It is nice to have some space and not be worried about being too loud. Laurie started kindergarten this fall and is doing really well. She loves going to school. I'm glad she only goes in the afternoon so we still have all morning to play. She's a big helper to her brothers. Jack is growing like a weed. He loves bugs, snakes, and riding his bike. He also loves to ask lots of questions about how things work. Jeremy is at the most fun stage ever. I love two year olds. They say the funniest things like "mom you're my favorite." We are in the process of potty training and when he has an accident he will say "mom it's just water." How did he learn how to deceive at such an young age? Jeff is working for a private practice office as well as a hospital. We love to have him home on a regular schedule!! We expecting a boy in Febuary--it will be four for us. I'm feeling really well but I had to give up running a long time ago. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving in Utah this year. My sister Jessie is getting married and it will be so fun to have all our family together.

April 2010

Well we have had a couple of birthday since our last post. Jack turned 4 in February, he had a train cake. He is working on reading lessons and riding his bike without training wheels. He also working on not throwing any fits. Jeremy turned 2 in March. He is talking non-stop, but we are still working on understanding what he says. He is also working on potty-training, it's a work in progress. He likes to do everything that Laurie and Jack do. Jeff turned 32 this month. We had a fun party--we went playing disc golf with a few friends and me and Jeff got to go to a professional Hockey Game it was really fun. Laurie is doing great. She is excited to play soccer. She is bigger and faster than everyone on her team including the boys. She scored four goals her first game. She is so excited for Kindergarten wherever that may be. Our last adventure we took Laurie and Jack biking on the trails and when we finished there was a huge pond. Jeff decided to let the kids be kids and jump in and catch frogs. They had so much fun and caught so many frogs. We got some great video. I'm running a 10K this weekend. We are looking forward to a vacation back to Utah at the end of May.

Christmas 2010

This year we are spending Christmas is St. Louis. Jeff just doesn't get a lot of time off so we decided to stick around here. We are eating with friends and neighbors on Christmas Eve and Christmas so not to worry. We will miss our families though. Laurie and Jack don't have any preschool for a few weeks--we will have to come up with some creative things to do! I went to a play to see Laurie this past week. She was the "Speaking Angel", she said "Don't be Afraid" It was really sweet. I also noticed she was the tallest in her class, including all the boys. Jack has grown a lot too. Jeff is giving him reading lessons and he is doing really well. The only trouble he gives me is eating dinner. He eats 3 or 4 bowls of cereal in the morning, then a little bit for lunch, and almost nothing for dinner. Jeremy is talking a lot now, it is so fun to hear him. He still mostly only says the first syllable, but he is learning new words every day. He has also been sick a lot still, poor guy. We are going on two weeks with a runny nose--with a couple of days of puking in between. He loves Laurie and she takes such good care of him. Most days Laurie's chore is to play with Jeremy so I can get work done. Both of them love it. The other night me and Jeff got a babysitter so we could go out to a Jazz club to listen to one of my friends play, and right before we went in Jeff got paged to the ER! Of all the nights--he does have to be on ER call one week a month so we knew it could happen, but of all the times. Anyway we went to the hospital and Jeff asked his patient if I could watch, they said yes so I got to watch him fix a broken tooth. He did a very good job, it was fun to see him in action. He was very patient and explains things very well. He stays calm and tries to make everyone laugh. I think he chose the right profession. It ended up being not too bad of a date night. The kids are excited for Christmas and there isn't much new happening around here. However Jeff's parents are leaving Dec 27 for New Zealand for a Church Mission. Shalee, my sister, had her 3rd baby a couple weeks ago his name is Emmitt. And my younger sister Katie, is having her first baby in May. We are very excited for all of them!!!

October

We enjoyed a whole month of perfect weather here in St. Louis. With the exception of one or two semi-rainy days it was 75 during the day and 55 at night. What fun weather. My parents and grandparents and aunt and uncle came to visit us. We were able to go up to Nauvoo and enjoy some of the church history sites. I got to go see Jessie (my sister) run in a collegiate race in Terre Haute, Indiana. We also got to visit the zoo, the last time my mom went to the zoo was over 15 years ago. We had so much fun and it was good to visit and the kids got plent of spoil-time. Jeremy is almost 20 months old, how time flies by. He is started to talk a lot, but I still don't understand what he is saying for the most part. He did get trick-or-treat down pretty good. He has been sick a lot lately. The lastest was strep-throat and boy was he sick. Luckily no one else got it! He is started to be independent and I can tell the terrible-twos are approaching, Jack is turned into such a big boy. He gets himself dressed and makes his bed and loves to do jobs for me. He likes preschool. He loves music, gym, and recess the most. He was become quite the artist. He loves to color and cut pictures. (I can get him to do just about anything if I tell him he can color a picture when he's done.) Since he was little he has never been afraid of bugs. He will pick up just about anything, and I love that he will kill all the spiders in my house for me. He just goes and gets a tissue and picks it up and throws it down the toilet. The other day there was a small spider and I asked him to kill it, but he said, "no, mom--my teacher said spiders are good and they kill other bugs so we can't kill it." I definately need to have a talk with his teacher--now who is going to kill the spiders. Laurie loves loves preschool. I can use it as leverage all the time. She loves the friends she has there and her teachers. She loves to dress up and put on plays. She loves to watch movies and play card games. She is a great big sister to Jack and Jeremy. For Halloween Laurie was a witch, Jack and Jeremy were dragons. (picture to come soon) Jeff and I dressed up for the ward party I borrowed scrubs and was a doctor with fake blood all over one of Jeff's lab coats and Jeff was the patient. He borrowed a hospital gone and wore shorts so from the front it looked pretty funny. Jeff entered the Chili contest and didn't win, but he did have the best chili. It was very very yummy. He started his anthesia rotation and has to get up at 5:00 every morning--(poor Jeff) I don't mind too much because then he gets to come home by 5:00, but he does fall asleep at 9:30 at night. I want to enter a Turkey Trot here in St. Louis, but they only have a 5K and I haven't trained for speed for a long time. I joined a gym near my house and I have really enjoyed going there. I go there 3-4 times a week, but as the weather gets worse I will probably go more. They have some fun classes and I have trained myself to run on the treadmill. I can only do 6 miles, but I hope to add a few more slowly. See yall later
DREA