Reese

My three sweet kids!

Beautiful baby Reese!
She made it! Little Reese was warmly welcomed into our family June 3, 2011. It was a rough ride to get her here, but she was worth it! Kassi and Tyler couldn't possibly love her more and they are great helpers for me. In fact, everyone always says #3 is so hard, but I have found it to be my easiest transition yet. Kassi was hard just because she was my first and adjusting to working full time and only ever thinking about me to being home full time and NOT thinking about what I wanted all the time was a little rough. Tyler was a hard transition because Kassi was only 18 months and Ricky was working out of town all week every week. Spending all that time alone with very little adult inderaction and two very small needy babies was very very hard on me. Reese has been a very good baby, eating and sleeping well, and being very conent in between. Kassi is very attentive and sure loves her liitle sister. Tyler loves to hold her and kiss her and tell me how cute she is. I love to sit and just hold her while she sleeps or talks to me, so I'm way behind in cleaning my house...but that can all wait. Reese is already 2 months old and it just goes by too fast!
Ok so here is the story: Reese was born on Friday, June 3rd. After weeks of contractions , I was dilated to 3 cm and 80% effaced, but not progressing very much or very fast. My doc was afraid she was getting too big. (Little did he know that I had like 5 lbs of water in there!) So after careful consideration, we decided to be induced. Pitocin started at 1:00. Since I was having such good contractions, and being my third, I was ready for a quick labor and a baby by dinner! My water broke on it's own around 4, and everyone was getting ready for progress- I got my epidural and got excited. Well...nothing happened that was good. I had SO much water that Reese had a really hard time adjusting to the sudden drought. Her heart rate started dropping pretty low after every contraction. Since it wasn't WITH the contractions, but after them, it was not good. So the nurse turned off the pitocin. I was back to square one- lots of regular contractions, but no progression. When my water broke I noticed it was slightly off color, not the usual clear water. Shortly after, I found out why. I started bleeding a lot. I thought that must mean that I was ready to push...but no. I was only at 5 cm. So all the blood was coming from my placenta separating too early. Between the blood, and Reese's heart rate, and NOT progressing but not being able to turn on the pitocin either, I was stuck. My doctor got me ready for a c-section and then we waited just a little longer. At the last min (we are now at like 8:00 at night...a few hours past my anticipated baby time. I was supposed to have a baby in my arms and a good steak dinner in my belly!) I started dilating...even with my weak contractions. Reese still took her sweet time, but was finally delivered at 11:07 pm. Since it was so late, no steak dinner for me. :( She was a very healthy 8.0 lbs and 20.5 inches long. She had a head FULL of hair (which none has fallen out!) and was just beautiful! I was instantly in love with my sweet baby. I love her so much and I'm so glad she is safely part of our family!

Oh baby!

I know I said I would post before and after pictures of our house. I lied. I will sometime but not tonight.
Baby #3 is expected to arrive in a little over 10 weeks. I just thought I'd write some of my thoughts about this new addition to our family.
First off... it has taken a little more work to get her here than our other two. After getting pregnant very easily with both Kassi and Tyler, and having really pretty great pregnancies, I really thought I had control over the whole having kids thing. We had a surprise pregnancy while Ty was still little, and it ended in an early miscarriage. At the time, I was pretty relieved! I really wasn't ready for three kids under 3 years. December 2009 we found out we were expecting again, and we were thrilled! We hadn't really planned it, but were very happy for the surprise. Late January I miscarried again. That was a pretty sad day. Since it was so hard on me, we waited a month and then decided to try again. Soon after I got a positive test I went to the doctor. He did an ultrasound to make sure baby was in the right place and that everything looked good-considering my recent pregnancy past. I went in two weeks later and was hoping to hear a heartbeat. The look on my doctor's face was unforgettable. I knew something wasn't right and asked if the sound was turned on cause I certainly didn't hear anything. He told me that there wasn't as much form as there should be-and there was no heartbeat. I was crushed. He quickly went on that maybe I hadn't calculated right and wasn't as far along as I thought I was, etc. I knew I was right. The baby just wasn't forming or growing at all. I miscarried within the week-at school none the less.
The following weeks were hard. I tried to tell everyone and myself that things were fine and that when the time was right we would be able to have another baby. Deep down I though I started preparing myself for the fact that we may not ever have another baby. I wanted to wait a while to try again. I took baby stuff to my parent's house in Colorado so I didn't have to look at it. I thought about selling or giving away ALL my baby stuff. (Thankfully I didn't go that far.) After about 5 months, I couldn't stand it any longer and decided to try again. 4 weeks later= positive test! Of course, it wasn't the getting pregnant that I'd had a hard time with, it was the staying pregnant. It had kind of become a sick game. I asked Ricky how long he thought this one would last. I didn't really want to go to the doctor and spend lots of money if I was just going to miscarry again-I could do that on my own.
At 6 1/2 weeks I made my 8 week appointment. I was just hoping to still be pregnant by then. When I went to the doctor I really almost cried when we could hear a solid heartbeat. The doctor did ultrasounds for my first few visits since I was considered high risk. Baby looked great and we were ecstatic!
I won't go into all the challenges I have faced this time around. I just want to say that I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be a mother and to be having another baby. We are so excited to have this little angel bless our home. We are truly grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord in our lives.

A Time For Changes!

I am such a terrible blogger! Last time I posted our future was up in there air. It was up there for WAY too long, but I feel like we've finally landed and things are starting to calm down. Here's what's up:
We got an offer on our house the first week of August. After almost two weeks of going back and forth, it was officially under contract. There were minor problems that kept coming up, but it FINALLY closed on October 7th. Even after the papers were signed, we had one last issue with the appraisal, but everything went through! We stayed for about 3 weeks with family and moved to Logan the first week of October. It was actually the day of the Homecoming football game, and we moved in across the street from the stadium, so it was a little crazy!
We have been in Logan now for a little over 3 weeks and we are starting to feel a little more "at home" in our apartment. The kids have been GREAT and we are so excited to start finding all of the fun things to do in our new city. We have a great ward, and friends already which is such a blessing!
School is...going. Because of the craziness I only took 2 online classes which are both very easy and very NOT demanding of my time. Ricky however is going full time with a loaded schedule. It's been kinda rough on him with all the transitioning. I think being close to campus and with a shuttle to the Brigham City campus, the next few semesters will be better. Crossing my fingers anyway!
My next post will be before and after pictures of our house...and then our new home!

Summer 2010!

It's been forever since I've posted about the happenings in our family. Ricky and I are still going to school full time at Utah State. We are currently attending the Brigham City Campus, and will be here for 2 more years. After that we will have 2 years in Logan. There was a while there where Ricky had planned on majoring in Construction Management. While he never felt 100% confidant that this was the best option for him, it was the best fit that he could find. USU doesn't have that major, so we started looking for other options. We both applied and were accepted into BYU-Idaho in Rexburg. We were excited for this big change. They had both of our majors, and it would be nice to live close to campus. We finished remodeling projects in our house and put it up for sale. At the very end of the semester (May), Ricky changed his major to Civil Engineering. This changed everything! USU is nationally ranked for their engineering program, and BYU-I doesn't even offer the program. So, needless to say, plans changed again! Our home is still for sale, as we would like to move closer to campus, but the urgency to sell has been removed. We are very excited for what's in store...we just have no idea what that is!
I apply to the nursing program in January and if I get in I will start next fall. This will be demanding, but I think it will be a great blessing to our family once I am done! I have two more semesters of pre-requisite classes until then. In May I should be able to graduate with my Associates Degree! Of course if I get into the nursing program, it's only the beginning. Pray for me that I will get in!
Ricky is in classes right now, and I took the summer off...the kids and I have had a blast! We play in the kiddie pool, read books, make obstacle courses in our house, and just have fun! They are great kids. Every day they are continuing to learn and grow, and they just amaze me! I have a great life. I love my family and spending every minute I can with them!

Tis the Season!

Tis the season for finals, family, Christmas, Lights on Temple square, and graduation! That's what our December was filled with anyway. Ricky and I survived our first really stressul finals week (we did very well too!), and the ward Christmas party that I was in charge of for the second year in a row. After that, Christmas began! My older brother, Jeremy graduated from BYU-Idaho and was selected to speak in his convocation. What an honor! He had an amazing speech, and we were all very proud of his efforts and hard work. Because my entire family was together, we had our Christmas party a week early before my parents had to head back to Colorado.
Christmas was wonderful. I love Christmas! I love the lights, the magic, the love, and celebrating the birth of our Savior. Kassi is 3 1/2 and Tyler is 2, so they are just the perfect ages. We had many very successful family home evenings teaching them about the birth of Jesus Christ, and the true meaning of Christmas. They also enjoyed going for drives to look at Christmas lights, talking about Santa, and The Polar Express...all 500 times we watched it in December! The magic was very much alive in our home, and we had an amazing Christmas! The day after Christmas we rode the Front Runner to Temple Square to look at the lights with my older sister Amy and her family. It was a very fun family trip, and the kids were troopers! The train was lots of fun, and as pretty as the lights were, the kids didn't last very long in the 12 degree temperatures. It was a fun trip though!
Here are some pictures from our December festivities! (I added them in the wrong order, so if you want to go in order, you really should start at the bottom! :)



The beautiful Salt Lake Temple and Lights on Temple Square! What a perfect reminder of what Christmas is all about!

Kassi and Tyler waiting for the Trax. Freezing.

Ricky and Tyler on the Trax. The kids thought Trax was just as cool as the Front Runner

Me and Kassi girl on the Trax

Ricky and Tyler with my nephew Andrew.

Kassi with her cousin Landon inside the visitor's center at Temple Square. They were all smiles at this point because we hadn't gone out to look at the lights in the 12 degree weather yet. :D

Ricky and Kassi on the FrontRunner! The kids thought it was way cool. I'm not going to lie though, I think Ricky and I were just as impressed! It was a very fun family trip!

Me and Tyler on the FrontRunner!

The kids and I waiting in the freezing cold for the FrontRunner to come. The train came JUST before Ricky took the picture...hence the reason why the kids are not looking at daddy.

New pj's on Christmas Eve!!

These are all of my siblings and their spouses (if they have them!)

All of the cousins on the Allred side. We had a great family Christmas party a week before Christmas, and it was fun to all be together!

My brother Jeremy the day he graduated from BYU-Idaho! Congrats bro!

Our HUGE snowman! I think it's pretty funny...I made Ricky go out and make it with the kids, but I got to be the one in the picture! :)

So much to be Thankful for!

From Thanksgiving 2008 to 2009 has been filled with ups and downs. I have so much to be thankful for, and I love the Thanksgiving holiday! This Thanksgiving was the first time in four years that my ENTIRE family was able to get together. Let me tell you how much has changed since then...
a sister in law...welcome Courtney to our crazy family!
and FOUR grandkids!...Kassi, Tyler, Trevor, and baby Weston!
Last time we were together there was no kiddie table. We got together at my sister Amy's house, and it was a great day! A little Macy's Parade action, the nephews wrestling uncle Jeremy, a little attitude from Kassi, FAMILY...and plenty of food! Hope eveyone had as wonderful of a Thanksgiving! :)

Trip to PA

Going back to my high school roots. I moved from PA when I was almost done with my jr year of high school. I moved during the 2002 Olympics, and have only returned once, in 2003...yep, 6 years ago! My best friend, Anna Margaret got engaged this year and I decided it was time to head back to good ol' Lewistown for her special day. I had a blast! Unfortunately, my camera batteries died, so I didn't get many pictures of me with my friends, but here are a few of my trip.
This trip meant a lot to me. I think living in Utah is great, but I am surrounded by good people and goodness. Don't get me wrong, that is a great thing! I think lately I have just been wrapped up in the overwhelming stresses of life and forgetting all that I have. I was a little nervous to head back, afraid that I wouldn't fit in anymore. I am not the only one married, but I was the only one there with kids...two! To my great surprise, I fit right back in, and felt very welcome and loved.
Talking to people and talking about Ricky, Kassi and Tyler also made me realize how beautiful my life really is, and how much I am blessed. Too bad others had to point it out to me, but I'm so glad they did! I am so grateful Ricky supported me going, and that my mom was able to come and help out with the kids so I could have that break to go back. It really was a trip I will cherish forever!