Me time.

I am definitely one of those mom's who needs me time. Usually its in the evenings after we put the kids to bed, so usually after 8. Last night little Miss Vienne decided she did not want to sleep and that she needed to stay up with mom and watch The Bachelor. No matter what we did, she would wake herself up and decide she wasn't tired. At 11 she finally decided she could fall asleep. I was stressed, flustered and exhausted. My morning started off terribly. I woke up still feeling stressed and tired. Both kids were snotty and coughing. I've been trying to go to the gym everyday at 10am. Work pays the membership and the gym provides childcare. I love the ladies that work their and my kids love playing with different toys for an hour. It also gives me another chance to get rejuvenated. After about 20 minutes of cleaning their faces, I realize I can't take them to child care with snotty noses. I was mad. So this post is a thank you to my mom. Thank you for coming over even though your morning was not going so well either so that I could leave my kids home, go to my pilates class, and come home relaxed, happy, and a much better mom.

A new day

We're moving....into the Pit Stop! (Now Havoline Express Lube). Its empty right now that Justin is working in Alaska. It'll be tight but we're going to use the money we'll be saving on rent and utilities to finally pay off my student loans and the medical bills that have crept up this past year from my foot and Vienne. The insurance company ca
n still take up to another year before they pay for them and I'm sick of the monthly payments. It'll be close quarters, but at least less space to clean right? We're just really lucky that my parents have the apartment. My kids are still small enough that they really don't care where we live.

So here's a recent photo of my little monsters.

The stats are in

Vienne weighs 17 lbs 6 oz and is 26.5" long. Both are just about at the 95th percentile. Christian weighed that at 9 months. She is growing up way too fast but really is the cutest thing ever. I was given permission to start her on fruits and veggies once she starts getting interested in eating. Apparently new research is showing that exposure to solids should begin a little earlier, lessening the likelihood of type 2 diabetes and food allergies. I already give her a little oatmeal in a bottle once a day to help keep her more regular and satisfied. Here she is standing in her excersaucer.












She loves to blow her spit around.


















Here's a cute one from bath time to show off her lovely curves.

















Christian loves to lay by her when she's on the floor. Here he's laughing because she's "tickling" him. He laid on her hand and she was just trying to get it back.










And now my handsome boy. He pulled a little girl's hair today at the gym. She screamed at him so he pulled her hair, making her scream some more. We'll be working on gentle touches a bit more this week. I love seeing his language progress. His ability to understand and take direction has improved so much this week. He did not want to leave a car he'd been playing with at the gym today. I explained to him he can play with it every time we come, but that it has to stay. I let him know we were leaving to go home and eat some food. He put the car in the box and left without another fuss.






And one of him and me. He wanted to take one together.

Update on goals. They're going well. I've been to the gym twice now. I'm going to try to get there every day this week. Having two babies so close is tough on the body. Add a broken foot to the mess and what do you get? A body in desperate need of muscle tone, lifting, and shrinking. All you moms know exactly what I'm talking about. Well I better to get to bed so I have energy to bring it tomorrow.

Conference!

I love conference Sundays. DJ worked last night so I set the DVR to record the sessions. My kids slept in till 9 which was a great way to start the day. Us three watched the first session together. Christian surprisingly played very quietly. He thought it was very interesting when I sang along to "We Thank Thee Oh God For the Prophet." I loved the general YW's presidents talk about raising daughters. After the first session was over the kids and I went for a good walk and then both the kids went down for naps. I waited to watch the second session till DJ got up. We both really liked the talk about missionary work and of course President Monson was so uplifting both sessions.

Something exciting for me was I cooked up some purple potatoes I got at the Farmer's market. They are so beautiful and taste almost like any other potato. I liked that they seemed to stay together rather then mush up like a russet or yukon will. I see them used all the time on Iron Chef and Chopped. I was so curious about them and happy I was able to find some here in Moses Lake!

Some kid updates. Christian has become a very obedient little boy. I'll admit that I was really worried about his ability to obey before and after Vienne was born. It seemed that he really did not want to listen when I told him no, so I stopped. I made a conscious effort to not use the word no with him for about a week. I saw on the Doctors that children will listen more quickly if you instruct them what to do, rather then what not to do. Duh, of course they would. It took a few weeks before I saw any progress. Like all lessons, it took a lot of practice and follow through to break the bad habits we both had and learn the better habits. Now to keep up with it!

Vienne amazes me at how observant she is and how much control she is gaining over her movements. Yesterday we were in Spokane for a wedding. I took my niece Isabelle with me so she could watch mine and my sister Stacey's kids. After the wedding we went to the mall where we also picked up some food. I had Vienne forward facing in the baby bjorn. She almost knocked a bowl off of the tray I was carrying because she was trying to grab it. She'll see Christian or I touch something and try to get it herself. She just wants to be able to move. Tomorrow we find out how big she has gotten over the past 2 months. Until then...

Oops

I locked Vienne in the car last night, not on purpose.

She did not wake up well from her afternoon nap. Nothing was making her happy so I figured she needed a car ride. I always latch her in the car first because Christian is behind the driver's seat so its just easier to do him second. I decided to drop the keys and my phone on the passenger seat after putting her in the back. While I dropped the keys I hit the lock button. The car beeped twice so I thought I hit the unlock button and didn't worry about it. Apparently I hit the lock button twice. I shut her door and the car beeped again, meaning it was locked. Well I wasn't too concerned because we keep a spare key in the kitchen, or do we? As I'm searching for the key I remember I grabbed the spare key a week ago to drive with it because I was too lazy to find my keys. I then put the spare key in the glove box after using it that one time a week ago, don't ask me why. I start to panic when I realize my baby is crying and locked in the car. I grabbed Christian and ran over to our neighbors the Johnston's. I asked to use their phone to call DJ and see if he had an idea. He got permission to come home and Owen Johnston came over to help right away. Emily Johnston kept Christian. It took about 1/2 hour and several failed attempts before we heard the blessed car alarm go off because Owen finally got the cafe curtain rod DJ flattened and shoved in the car between the door and the frame to hit the door unlock button of the passenger door. She was so happy to be out of her carseat that we had all smiles until it was time to nurse to sleep. I held her for a while after, we both needed it.

Ironically today, she's been a relatively easy baby and didn't freak out when it was time to get in the car to go to the park. Thankfully babies have short memories and forgive quickly. For your enjoyment I've put up two cute pictures of both. Christian has claimed Vienne's swing as his own. Which is fine because she never really liked it. Vienne is sitting her her bumpo chair playing with a toy. She is quite fascinating with that one.

The last 3 and 1/2 months.

I'm going to try to summarize the last few months. They've kind of been a blur, but things are starting to settle and I realize I haven't documented anything. Christian is the cutest big brother. He constantly wants to give his sister kisses, hugs, and he likes to suck on her feet. He tries to hold her and its so cute. Luckily he is good at playing on his own, because Vienne had to deal with colic. The poor girl just could not settle from about 2 weeks to 10 weeks. We spent our days on the exercise ball, bouncing away. Here she is posed in her blessing dress. She's a strong little girl. She is in the 100th percentile for height and weight, her head is close behind. She can roll over from front to back and back to front and has done so for a week now. She desperately wants to sit up on her own, thankfully her bumpo chair helps. She loves to coo, giggle, make eye contact, and play with her toys.

Christian is growing up so fast. He is picking up new words quickly now. The ones we can understand are car, all done, please, hi, moo, vroom, Jesus, momma, and dad. He sings along to his nursery rhyme book and folds his arms for prayer. He loves to go to nursery. Sister Tolley and Sister Rouche are his leaders. His favorite toys are anything with wheels and anything kitchen related.

We blessed Vienne on July 3rd and all our family and friends came over for it. I crocheted the top. I chose an orange color because the Charma de Vienne rose is an orange hue, so I've decided its her color. The lace is leftover from my wedding dress.

We spent most of the summer at home where Vienne was most comfortable, but we were able to spend 4th of July in Spokane to watch the fireworks, make a few trips to the aquatic center, and frequent the farmer's market. We even moved into the end unit of the 4 plex we live in. My goal for fall is to start going to the gym again, get to know the new people in our ward, and be more social.

Vienne Rose ~ May 23, 2011

Vienne has come! Here's her story:

Sunday, May 15, I made DJ come home from work early (he was working nights) because I was certain I was in labor. Right before my ob appointment that morning my contractions stopped.

Tuesday, May 17, I had an acupuncture appointment. The goal was to help the body prime for labor, shortening the length and intensity of labor.

Sunday, May 22, went on an hour and a half walk with DJ and Christian.

Monday, May 23, woke up to mild contractions. Didn't think anything of it because they were at least 10 minutes apart. Went for another long walk before my ob appointment that morning. Contractions began to hurt a bit, but were still pretty far apart.

11 am ob appointment. Found out I was dilated to 4cm. Water broke while my midwife, Sherri Russell was checking baby's position. I was definitely in labor!

We went in to the hospital around 2pm. Mom needed to take care of a few things before she could watch Christian and I wanted to wait till I started to get the good, strong labor contractions. I was at a 6 when we arrived and very excited at how quickly I was progressing. Two hours later I was still at a 6. I didn't want to get up and walk because my foot was swollen and hurt (the stupid "screwed" up one, haha). It also hurt too bad to be in bed. With my first labor I stalled for 8 hours after getting to the hospital, needing pitocin to kick start labor again. This time I decided to use a light epidural because I had to stay in bed. Well it worked. I got the epi around 5 and was ready to push by 6:30. Apparently Vienne was very ready to be born because it only took a small push to bring her head forward. My midwife made me stop pushing because she was not ready to deliver her yet. So we waited till the next contractions and she just slid out right at 6:40 according to the monitor. She was completely covered in vernix, but was still very cute. I was very surprised to find out she was 8 lbs, 3 oz and 20 inches long for being 1 to 2 weeks early. Christian was only 6 lbs 14 oz born the day before his due date.

My Mom and Kim went home to get Christian and bring him up to see Vienne that evening. He loved her. His whole face light up when DJ brought her over to him.

La Vie En Rose

Did any of you see the movie La Vie En Rose? It was a small independent film in French with English subtitles. It was about a French singer named Edith Piaf who was really popular in the 50's I believe. It starred Marion Cotillard. The title means Life in Rose. I had the chance to watch it when I worked at the theatre in Pullman. Because the population there is concentrated with Professors, we actually had an audience for small, artsy films. The movie was kind of depressing, but the music was fantastic.

Here are two versions of the song by the same title.

Edith Piaf singing the song in full French.

Louis Armstrong's cover, which is really good.

The poster is pretty cool as well. I kept a poster. The title of the movie is why we're naming our little girl Vienne Rose. Coincidentally, she'll also be named after her Great Grandma, DJ's mom's mom (Rose), who we both think is pretty cool. She'll be joining us sometime in late May or early June. I'm excited to have a girl in Spring. I was born in the Spring and I just think its a good time for girls. This little girl has gone through a lot with me, so I feel a bond with her already. I honestly didn't start feeling that with Christian until I was close to being ready to pop.

Now back to Christian. DJ's work had a Christmas party for everyone's kids at the bowling alley about a week before Christmas. It was on a Sunday, but we decided to go so Christian could see Santa and get his present. We weren't going to be able to bowl anyways so there was no temptation there. (My foot was still in the boot and Christian is just too little still). They had a photographer there taking pictures of the kids. Christian's expression is so him. He was in complete awe of the situation. No tears, he didn't even come close. He just had to study everything that was going on.


DJ and I at the REC Christmas party just for adults. We just got these which is why I'm finally posting them. We are very excited for Valentine's day. DJ's birthday is February 15th, so its a two day party for us. DJ just so happens to have the next two days off as well. He's my perfect match, I honestly could not ask for better. I have never met a more patient, considerate, thoughtful, or fun person. And then he became a Dad a blew me away again. I'm about to brag, but he is one of those Dad's who could be a great single parent if he had to. He just knows what to do, often times more then me. I had a really high bar set for the guy I was going to marry and he cleared it easily. Happy Valentines Day and happy Birthday to my love.

Quirks

Christian has the funniest quirks. He has to watch every single car insurance commercial on TV. His favorites are Progressive and State Farm. He loves to watch Tosh.O, he knows when to laugh. He loves to kick the ball his cousin Ashton gave him for his birthday. He walks most of the day now, when he does crawl its to get somewhere really fast. He puts his heads down and takes off. He leaps after the bread during sacrament meeting. He is a show off. The family sitting behind us during church this last Sunday did not pay attention at all to the meeting because Christian was showing them all his tricks. He will sit down and spend time with a toy. He's starting to figure out what the buttons do, and shows purpose with his play instead of just randomly pushing buttons. He loves to hide in little places, like Mom's lazy susan. Right now he's had a runny nose, so he's been a bit more cuddly. He likes to sit on my lap facing me and nestle his face in. Because he wasn't interested in me right after my surgery, I'm enjoying our re bonding time, and I think he is too. His Dad is still his favorite person. Last night Christian got cold and woke up around 3:30 so I brought him into bed. He was fine cuddling with me until he noticed his Dad. He then had to cuddle with him. DJ left for work at 6 and was able to sneak out. Around 6:30 Christian woke up, realized his Dad was gone, and burst into tears. He was inconsolable for about 5 minutes. I know DJ really enjoys the bond he has with his little boy. A couple days ago we were downstairs with him, and my parents were upstairs. Christian heard them so he went to the bottom of the stairs to wait for them to come down. DJ looked over and said, "He is ridiculously cute." I know everyone feels the same way about their 1 years olds but I really do think I have the best little boy.

Christmas pictures -Thanks Stace!

Christian took his first multi-child bath on Christmas. Evalie and Jayda were very nice to let Christian join them. They were good about letting him splash them and he got his fair share of splashes. It was a huge success.








Christian LOVES to be near other kids. He would get so excited when Charlie would come play with his new toys. Here they are checking out the laptop DJ and I got him. Its a little old for him, but he needed a toy with buttons that made noise. Plus he loves to open and shut things, so he loves it.












Christian's Grandma and Grandpa Berezay also got him a little laptop, but its a little different. It has a lot of shapes, and sings a lot of songs. His favorite is the drum button.










Grandma and Grandpa Redford got Christian a little book that reads to him. He loves opening it up and hearing the songs and sounds. That's me helping him, our only picture together.


















Kim and Trent had our family for Christmas. They got Christian a cute little Tonka truck. He's still figuring out how to push it around without tripping. I think this summer he'll got nuts when I let him play in the dirt with it.

Welcome 2011

First a quick catch up of December. Christian had his first Birthday on Dec. 19th. All 3 chargers to all 3 of our cameras somehow got buried underneath all of our stuff in storage so my friend Natalie brought over her camera so we could get pictures. She's been gone for the holidays so hopefully I'll get those soon. Also waiting for Christmas pictures from my sister Stacey. Christian got everything he could have wished for had he known he was getting presents. He opened them like a pro and has been having a lot of fun exploring his new blocks, babies, trucks, boxes, and shapes.

DJ's promotion and pay raise started in December, which has been awesome. It is so relieving to pay all your bills and have money left over to save. We call 2010 our poor year, because it was the first year we lived off one paycheck. But we learned a lot of very good lessons about budgeting, sacrificing, and patience. DJ was so sick of working so much and not being able to do what we want with it that he decided we deserved a great Christmas. He worked a lot of overtime to buy himself a new Xbox, to buy me new maternity clothes (I had the same budget, but find it almost impossible to spend that much on clothes), and give the gifts we really wanted to. I needed new clothes, but when you're used to not spending money, that was a hard one. Thankfully, Motherhood Maternity was having a restaurant gift card reward so we earned almost as much in gift cards as I spent so I didn't feel guilty when we left.

We had an ultrasound on the 21st. We we're able to find out what we're having because the little baby was not cooperating. We also decided to move the due date back a week. Since I know when conception occurred (I know everything about September due to the accident) the new date makes more sense. We have another ultrasound on the 25th to get a better look and hopefully to find out this time.

I had my final appointment with the Podiatrist on the 28th. I didn't know this would be my last appointment with him when I went in. I had another round of Xrays. Well my foot looked solid. The bones were completely healed, the screws were tight, and my joint was stable. He manipulated my foot, let me know I didn't need physical therapy because it was doing so well, which was more good news. He said once I got a new pair of shoes, I could stop using the walking boot. I have to wear Podiatrist approved shoes from now on, and all the time. He said maybe up to an hour barefoot a day would be ok, but to really limit it. But at least I'm walking normally now and I even drove to the store, the first time in 3 1/2 months. The shoes I got are cute, extremely comfortable, and not a bad price, just about $80 bucks more then I ever would have spent before. So we'll slowly build back up my shoe collection. BTW, anyone who wears a size 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 and needs some shoes call me up. I have to get rid of all of my old shoes.

DJ and my parents are very happy to have me back at full speed and doing everything I used to. Now we just have to find a place and move again. Ug.

First word?

Christian loves to play in drawers. He was rummaging through Grandma's Tupperware drawer. He licks everything then puts it back. FYI we don't rewash so if you're grossed out by Christian spit don't eat leftovers at Grandma's right now.

DJ walks in and says, "Christian, are you playing in the drawer?"

"Yes!"

To make sure we heard him right DJ asks again, "Christian, are you playing in the drawer?"

"Yeayea."

It was probably a coincidence but we both swear he said it clear as a bell. He also waves now, its pretty cute.

What a kid

So I wanted to document Christian's personality. He is very vocal. He does not hide his mood. All day the house is full of happy gabbering, giggling, grunts of frustrations, yells of frustration, and when he's really had enough or got hurt (physically or emotionally) he cries. He is never silent. His favorite person right now is his Dad. He cries when Dad leaves for work at night and when Dad works days, he rushes to the door to meet him. His next favorite people are those working in the kitchen. If you are by the oven or the fridge, he wants to see what your getting, and if you're sharing it with him. Because I'm sitting a lot, he just comes to me for his bottle when he's ready to go to sleep.

He really is a dream. He loves to be the center of attention and he LOVES other kids. During sacrament meeting he makes all the little kids around him giggle. He wants everyone to be his friend. His little cousin Charlie gets a lot of hugs and kisses. Christian can hardly sit still when Charlie is around. He wants to be right by him.

His emotional development has been very noticeable lately. He recognizes when he is being ignored and when another little child doesn't want to play with him. It breaks his heart. He breaks down in tears. He has learned to play some games. His favorites are, "Let's shake our heads together", "I'm going to get you", and just recently he'll try to hide when he gets caught playing with something he's not supposed to.

He's on the verge of walking. He spends all day exploring, mostly through the kitchen drawers. I just hope I can help him keep this personality because he really is a pleasant little person to be around.

Just pictures

Christian and Charlie spent a lot of time together in their high chairs last week.

The three kids staring intently at the camera. Christian and Charlie liked to race for the bottle. Christian, more experienced with bottles, won a lot. We were impressed at how quick Charlie's scoot became by the end of their time together.

My only picture from my high school reunion. I am expecting you guys to share.

As Cherie would say, "I just want to eat those luscious cheeks!"

Crawling along

Did you know that you get callouses on your knees from crawling? My knees are looking pretty rough. Yes I have crutches, but getting up and down the stairs is much easier if you just crawl. Today is hopefully the halfway point of not being able to walk. If my foot is healing as well as I think it is, I will get out of the cast and into a walking boot in 4 weeks. Thank goodness! The surgery brought on the nausea, but I am not nearly as sick as I was last time. I feel very confident that once the first trimester is over I won't have anymore nausea. I'm 11 weeks today so that may be very soon.

For those of you who thought you had the best Mom, I'm sorry to tell you its not true. Mine has blown all away. Most 60 year old women are preparing for retirement, have a lot of independence, are done as caregivers, and are looking forward to trips with their spouse and short visits from children and grandchildren. My mom will never have that. She has a child at home who more often then not acts like a little child, even though she's 34. Now for four weeks she's also been the main caregiver to Christian and my food gopher. Michele and Christian are demanding enough. But to add a pregnant Melissa to the mix and I swear she has spent the last 4 weeks in the kitchen.

She did get a short break this past weekend. My Grandma has been in and out of the hospital in Canada over the past month and my parents decided they needed to go up and help her get settled in a nursing home before the weather made it impossible to travel. So Stacey came over and spent a week taking care of her two kids, Christian, and I. It actually went really well. Christian was so excited to have friends to play with that he ended up being the dream child. He took long naps and slept at least 12 hours at night. I have some very cute pictures of the kids but the camera is not within reach, so I'll post them in a bit. Until then, enjoy.

Yea, I know its been awhile

Ok so I know its been months since I posted last. I am completely behind, but promise to catch up over the next few weeks. Tonight's post will be a quick summary of some things I need to say.

First of all, I've caught up on all your blogs. Your lives sound exciting, some of you have some very interesting events coming up, all of your kids are adorable and look a lot bigger since last time I peeked, and I'm very glad I know what's up.

My excuse for being a blogging bum is not very good, but reasonable. For the past few months we've been living at the "Reisner House." Its a house my parents flipped, but just decided to rent out. It has been great living there, but since it was temporary we decided to not have the internet hooked up. So blogging meant going to my parents. Being at my parents is fine, but I like to blog at night when Christian is sleeping, not when he's begging me for attention and getting into all of Mom's files. So basically my laziness won out.

Ahh, but why'd we move in with my parents when everyone knows we could move into the apartment above the Pit Stop?

On September 14th, my friend Natalie, her little boy, and her boyfriend were in Moses Lake. He had applied at REC Silicon and was interviewing with them that day. They were following me around town. The plan was to show them some potential apartment complexes, where Subway was, and then I was going to go clean the Pit Stop. As we were driving my Incas, a car failed to yeild the left turn and turned right into me! I had enough time to react, slam on my brakes (I mean slam on my brakes, my ABS was going nuts) and I got a few honks out before the collision. I was totally bummed but this was not my first accident. My car was not smoking so I backed up, parked on the side of the road, and got out to check on Christian and asses the damage. As I was standing by Christian checking to make sure he didn't have any injuries my right foot really began to ache. My friend Natalie came over. I asked her to get Christian out because I needed to get all my paperwork and sit down. My foot was hurting pretty badly and swelling up by the time the police got there. They took our statements, called an ambulance (I told them not to, that we could drive up to the hospital afterwards to get xrays). I guess by law they have to, but they agreed that I was fine otherwise and that getting a ride to the hospital was fine. So after about an hour of calling family, getting help, and giving statements I was headed to the hospital. Thank you Trent for taking care of my car and giving me a quick blessing to ease my worry.

I was sure my foot was broken. It really hurt and did not look good. We got xrays and the doctor told me I had a foot sprain, that I'd probably be walking on it in a week, but to follow up with a Podiatrist just in case he missed something on the xray. I was a little shocked but hopeful that I'd only be on crutches for a couple days. He was right, I put my foot in a walking boot my parents had from when Michele broke her ankle. With that boot I could walk on my heel without any pain and I was starting to feel better.

DJ was concerned that Christian hadn't been checked out so a few days after the accident we went in to see our family doctor for a quick check up. Christian was fine, he did have two Chiropractic appointments for some minor issues but that was it. My doctor said to try putting weight on my bare foot everyday. He said if I couldn't do that within a week, he wanted to retake xrays. He said that sometimes breaks do not show up right away because swelling can hide them.

The next week we had Christian 6 month shots 3 months late so my doctor decided to redo xrays while we were there. He looked at them, said he still didn't see a break, and that my sprain must have been a good one. He said to keep trying to weight bear. Well, a few hours later, I got a call from the doctor's office. The radiologist saw something that didn't look right, but wasn't completely sure what it was. They scheduled a cat scan for the next week and told me to not take my foot out of the walking boot and to not try to weight bear.

I was like, really, its just a foot people, what is wrong. The day of the accident I had set an app with the Podiatrist but he was booked for 15 days. The cat scan was schedule for 2 days before my app with him.

To complicate matters I'm about to tell you all something that normally I would wait to disclose for several more weeks. The week of the second xray I missed my period. That weekend I found out I was pregnant the whole time! What the! I had had 6 feet xrays, one full back xray, one neck xray, and one pelvic xray and this poor baby has been exposed to them all and now they're telling me I need a cat scan. We're calling this our Fallout baby, for those of you who know the video game. So I go into the cat scan and let the guy know I just found out I'm pregnant and I'm not sure I want to do this. He agreed and called my doctor. My doctor agreed and ran over to talk to the Podiatrist himself. Apparently what is wrong with foot was obvious to him.

I have what is called a LisFranc dislocation and fracture. He saw it in the xray from the hospital. What happened is at impact, my foot absorbed the entire pressure of the accident. The pressure was so great, that the LisFranc ligament that holds the big toe and second toe together at the midfoot tore off one of the bones, dislocating the joint. This also forms the arch of your foot.

I did a lot of reseach on this injury. It is 98% misdiagnosed by ER doctors as a foot sprain. 96% of family doctors miss it. Most injuries I read about went months misdiagnosed. These people have chronic foot problems, have had multiple surgeries, and are in a lot of chronic pain. I am extremely blessed to have had it properly diagnosed so quickly.

Tomorrow at 10am I go in for surgery to repair the torn ligament and reset the dislocated joint. Best case senario is that for 8 weeks post op, I won't be able to do much but sit in a chair or in my wheelchair with my foot elevated. So now you know why we've moved in with my parents. When DJ is at work, I need someone else to help with Christian. There is no way I could do this on my own. The past few weeks have been difficult enough, but at least i could crawl around.

I am so grateful to have family that is so willing to help when needed, without complaining. And I am so grateful that the accident was not my fault and that all of these medical bills will be paid for in full.

Settling in

Christian and I are getting adjusted to life in Moses Lake. DJ is still in Spokane finishing up work. He will not be over till Saturday night. This past week has made me very grateful that I am not a single mother. I so look forward to DJ coming home each night. Each day while we're apart I have to find something else to look forward to. (Tonight it's Glee and Parenthood at my parent's.) The house is slowly coming together. Another reason I'm glad I'm not a single mother. I'd rather play with Christian then work on the house, so I'm working on balancing that as well. One of my favorite things about the Reisner house is that is has a lawn. I love taking care of a lawn. I'm pretty proud, the grass is already thicker. This brings us to some of the cutest pictures of Christian yet. I wanted to do some watering last night. It was also a very nice evening so I thought Christian might like some outside time. I was right. He has the cutest dimples.

I can't get over how quickly he is growing up. I'm including this next picture as a comparison to the Bath Time post.

And a picture of eating. Because he was cutting a tooth, we decided he could start cereal. He had his first cereal in a bowl on May 16th, 3 days shy of 5 months. He loves it. His second bottom tooth has broken through just a little. For the past couple of days he has biten me when I didn't let down fast enough for his liking. Wow that hurts. I'm giving him a few more days to figure out that that's not OK, or he's getting weaned. I don't want to experience that with larger teeth.

I also wanted to document that he's started to sleep in his crib all night. He's been getting up about 3 times a night to nurse. I'm sure his sleep with extend as he learns better how to soothe himself. I was taught the 5 minute rule from a bunch of people from my Spokane ward. You put baby down when they're drowsy to go to sleep. After 5 minutes you go in to soothe them, and then you leave. Then you wait 10 minutes before you go in the next time. Each time you add 5 minutes. The first night Christian got to 15 minutes and then he fell asleep when I went in to soothe him. He was also crying like Christian in Moulin Rouge when Satine dies. It is the most heart wrenching cry. Last night, however, he simply wimpered and fell asleep on his own during the 10 minute wait. He then slept for 4 hours! I am so grateful to be in a bigger home where he has his own room and is able to start learning to sleep on his own. This will be so much better for him and for me. Like my mom always says, growing is painful.

Drool

Christian drools a lot. He also spits up a lot. On Sunday he gained a desire to chew on things and spread his drool and spit up everywhere. His hard work paid off. He cut his first tooth today. His bottom right tooth. The left one feels like it'll come any day. Oh man, he better be a good boy and not practice any of that biting on me ;)

Unbelievable

So when DJ and I got married, we pretty much decided to always live in Spokane. We really like it here. We have 4 full seasons, are close to the mountains, lakes, good camping, and because we live in North Spokane, we're about equal distances between both families. We love our ward, and have become really close with just about everyone. And since I was YW's president and DJ teaches primary, we've also had some pretty cool experiences helping reach out to some families. We also have this house of a project that seems to be never ending. We have a lot of reasons to stay in Spokane.

Its amazing how much control money takes. It decides what kind of clothes you wear, the car you drive, the places you eat, what trips you take. It is never a bad thing to have more money. Well DJ changed jobs last August to find something that brought him home every night. This was a good job, but not a great job, and definitely not a long term job. It pays the bills, but there is no room for advancement, no pay increases, and his schedule is very unpredictable. Well in February, Brittany just had to tell me how much Dee loves his job at REC. I was pretty blown away by what she told me, but she showed me proof. I then thought, HA! This is a ploy to get us to Moses Lake. Aint gonna happen.

I told DJ what she told me, he too was blown away. We thought about it, so the day Christian was blessed Brittany brought an application to REC that DJ filled out and she took it back with her. It was submitted the next Monday. Last week DJ interviewed with them and today he was offered a position there.

So guess what...we are moving to Moses Lake on Saturday! Crazy, I know. Who would have thought? Who wants to help!?

Rolling along

Today Christian rolled over for the first time by himself. I put him down to play with his floor mat. I then started to go through his clothes weeding out those he's grown out of. I look over to see him on his side, almost over, just his arm keeping him from going over. He's trying to grab one of the toys. I go over, totally excited, to cheer him on. He started to lose interest in the toy. I was bummed because he does that, and then just gives up. So I tried enticing him with a new toy. It worked for a little bit then he lost interest in that as well. But lo and behold, he caught a glimpse of his binky and that sealed the deal. He plopped over to grab it. Of course it didn't last long, he hates tummy time. So after a minute on his tummy he was pretty upset. I positioned his arm and leg and he rolled to his back. It won't be long before he's all over the floor. I'm just grateful we're probably moving soon so he can have some more space.

He had his 4 month check up last week. He is now 16 lbs (60%) and 27 inches (90%!) He is still a tall, lean boy.

Here is a picture of him and his two cousins that were born within months of him on the Berezay side. Lucky kid will have lots of cousins to grow up with! Isabella was born last October and Ashton was born about a month ago. Christian and Ashton are the first grandsons with the Berezay last name, so that's pretty cool.




We were also lucky to go to Jordan's baby shower. Here is Tiffany's boy Bridger with Christian. They had some fun checking each other out.










There was some arm sucking...












Until both realized they were not sucking on their own arms.