On the Move

February, 15th Ms. Charlotte Marie started crawling. She had been scooting and army crawling for a while. She enjoys getting into things.  She has yet to go too far. She is excited to find a newspaper or the TV console left open so she can then pull everything out of it. 

She also will pull herself up to whatever is close by; couches, chairs, play table. Some of her skills also include clapping, signing "more" and shaking her head "no."

Charlotte is 9 months and weighs 17lbs and might be the cutest baby on the planet. 

Christmas

Great Grand kids with Dock & Coleen 

Decorating cookies for Santa

New pajamas on Christmas Eve

Carter said his favorite gift is his ninja suit

Made by Grandma Dori

Dean wants his next play car to be a VW

New ipad for Grandma

Birthday Catch Up

Abby turned 8 this year.  We had her party at Skywalk. We had a blast. 

 

 

Carter's birthday

 

I was feeling like a really bad mom.  I was searching my pictures to try and remember what we did for Carter's birthday.  Then I remembered.  May 20, 2012 I was in the ER passing kidney stones.  Sorry Carter, I'll make up for it next year. 

 

Grant is 3!

So I have done a pretty good job of neglecting my blog. I have been so busy! So I am going to do my best to get somewhat up to date.

I had these pictures taken when Charlotte was two weeks old.  I love my beautiful girls.

 

 

My Miracle

Ten days after having Charlotte I woke up with some back pain.  It was uncomfortable but not too bad.  I took some Advil and got back in bed.  I woke up later and the pain was getting worse.  I continued to get worse through the morning. Finally it was too much and I went in to the emergency room. 

After a CT scan the doctor informed me that I was passing a fairly large kidney stone (4mm), my kidneys were swollen and I had a couple of small stones in my left kidney and a large (1/2 inch) stone in my right kidney.  He pulled the images up on the computer in my room and showed me.  I was in shock.  I am a champion water drinker and steer clear of soda so I thought this would not be something I would deal with. 

I was sent home with some hard core pain medication, a strainer and best wishes for passing the stone. 

I was told by the urologist that if the stone did not pass on its own I would have to have it surgically removed. 

The night I came home from the emergency room I had Dean and Maclynn give me a priesthood blessing.  I was blessed that I would recover and be able to get back to my normal self. 

Last week I had an x-ray and ultrasound to see what was going on with the stones.

My urologist called and told me that the stone had passed and the swelling in my kidneys was gone so everything looked resolved.  I was still worried about the other stones hanging around in my kidneys.  She said, "I am looking at your CT scan from the emergency room and I see the stones but the x-ray and ultrasound from last week shows two healthy stone-free kidneys."

I don't know what to say except that I am so grateful for that priesthood blessing. It may not be the parting of the Red Sea but I consider this my own miracle.  I feel so blessed that I will not have to have surgery, or deal with the pain more stones.

Charlotte's Blessing

Sunday, July 1st, we blessed Charlotte.  It was so nice to have our family there for this special time.

She has Arrived

So Monday night I went to bed having contractions and I was sure I was going into labor but nothing happened. 

So, Tuesday morning my sister Rachel came over and we walked and I had NO contraction.  So that afternoon I was sure nothing was going to happen but then they started. 

Around seven Dean and I went to the hospital.  My contractions were not that bad but I was afraid to wait too long and then not have time to get an epidural.  Luckily when they checked me I was dilated to a four and was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. 

It wasn't long before I was able to get my epidural and things were more comfortable.  Labor went on longer than I thought.  The epidrual wasn't working a great and I was feeling a lot of pressure.  Finally just after 2am they checked me and told me they would have me start pushing soon. 

I pushed for just under an hour and out came an 8lb, 20inch screaming baby girl with a ton of hair. 

Ms. Charlotte Marie Dockstader was born 4:08a.m. on May 9th. 

She was also not happy to be taken from her warm happy home.  She screamed for almost an hour but was much happier after a bath and getting swaddled. 

So far she is a good baby.  She has a very loud cry but luckily doesn't use it unless she is hungry.  She is good at nursing but will also take a bottle.  She will sleep through the kids screaming and Dean snoring.  So far it seems like she looks like my side of the family but we will see with time.  If you ask me she is pretty dang cute. 

The kids are good with her.  Abyy just loves her.  Carter wants to help change diapers and hold her.  Grant doesn't seem to notice she is around, which for now is a good thing. 

Welcome to the family Charlottle.  Love Mom, Dad, Abby, Carter and Grant.