A Whirlwind Weekend

So, Courtland and I are back from a whirlwind quick trip to Portland this weekend to surprise my sister, Michelle, for the blessing of her new little baby girl, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Faun Conde, who is only a week old. We had an eventful weekend, actually. Before we left, Dick and Debbie came to town and we spent Thursday and Friday with them, which was a lot of fun. On Friday morning Courtland had his doctor’s appointment where we found that he had gained 10 ounces (Wow!) since Tuesday and now weighs 8 pounds 2 ounces, which is even more than we guessed he could have gained. That is very good news, so we are continuing with the high-calorie formula for now, but trying to gradually increase the breastfeeding again, so that hopefully we won’t have to give up on that entirely (which will all depend on if he continues to gain weight well after we increase the breastfeeding and decrease the bottle feedings, I suppose). I can see that his little cheeks are starting to fill in a bit now, and he is obviously feeling much better – he has been sleeping well most nights (his record so far is 8 ½ hours at a time), but the biggest news is that he doesn’t insist on being held in my arms all night long in order to sleep anymore. He has started to sleep in his baby swing at night, which is nice for me to be able to get some deeper sleep. So, we are pleased with the progress he is making. After the doctor’s appointment, we went down to Lehi and all spent the day together at Mel and Christian’s with Annette and Michael’s parents, and got to get some photos of the cousins together with Courtland. While we were there, I got a ticket to go to Portland (we had to wait until the last minute to make the reservations because we knew we wouldn’t be able to make the trip if Courtland hadn’t gained weight by his appointment Friday morning). Luckily we found an affordable flight and rental car, and I got all packed that night. We headed out the next morning and Michelle was very surprised to see us there when we arrived along with Grandma Faun. We had fun holding each others’ babies and spending time with Michelle’s husband, Jake, Grandma, and my parents. Michelle had a C-section a week ago Saturday, and she is still recovering from that. Mom worked on Lizzie’s amazing blessing dress up until the day before her blessing, and it turned out amazing – you’ll have to look closely at the pictures of her in her dress – the fabric down the whole front of the dress is actually individual strips of lace all sewn together and the stitching really turned out beautiful! On Sunday morning Michelle went to the ER because she was having a lot of pain from her C-section incision, and they think that she must have popped some of the internal stitches. Because of how Michelle was feeling, they decided to have Lizzie’s blessing at their apartment rather than at the church. Jake’s parents, two brothers, one of his sisters-in-law, and one of his nieces all got to attend the blessing along with our family. We took lots of pictures, including several of Lizzie with Courtland, and some of them both with Jake and Michelle’s other little niece, Jennie Conde, who is 2 months old. Later on that day I had to make a little trip back to our hotel room to change and shower because Courtland spit up all down my dress. It was really awful – I guess that’s one downside to the bottle feedings is that they seem to increase the spitting up. Oh well. We spent the rest of the day at their apartment and then after Michelle and Jake went to bed for the night Mom came with me and Grandma to our hotel room and Mom held Courtland all night. I fell asleep on the couch for a few hours, but we had to get up at 4am for our flight anyways, so we stayed up and talked and took pictures of Courtland until it was time to head to the airport. The flight home went well – Courtland, Grandma, and I all slept through the entire flight and got home this morning in time for Michael to go into work. And today has gone pretty well so far, with unpacking, doing laundry, making several phone calls, rescheduling the boys’ photo appointment that we had for this afternoon because the three little boys all have pretty bad colds they are still getting over, picking Kolby up from preschool, feeding the boys lunch, making up a batch of barley soup (haven’t tried this recipe before, so hopefully it will turn out well), getting a bunch of pictures saved on the computer, and feeding the baby, and writing this. Now the boys are getting ready to get up from their naps, so I’d better hurry and try to get this and some photos posted before they are all up.

Grandpa Dick and Grandma Debbie

with the Mealey cousins:

Michelle and I with our February babies:

Lizzie and Courtland:

Lizzie wearing one of the hairbows I made for her:

Nana was so excited that her broken arm is healing enough to be able to hold the baby:

Lizzie's beautiful blessing dress:

Jake, Lizzie, and Michelle:

And I hope that we got a better shot of the two of them on Dad's camera, because these are the best that I got before my camera battery ran out:

Staying up all night at the hotel with Nana:

Two Weeks Old

Well, we’ve had a busy, but good week this week. After Michael had his week off of work when Courtland was born, he had to make up the time he had off and was scheduled a very busy week this week – he was on call for 30-hour shifts overnight just about every other day this week. He told me that I should probably write the blog post this week, since if he were to write it he would just say that he was tired of working an 80 hour work week. Luckily, we have one more week of surgery before he gets to start his dermatopathology rotation next Monday, which we have heard will have a much better schedule.

So, Michael went back to work on Friday last week, and my parents and brothers were able to come here on Saturday night last weekend. It was not only nice to have my family here to spend time with them, but it was nice to have all the extra help they gave me with the new baby and the boys, especially since Michael was on call this week on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday. Luckily this upcoming week he only has to be on call one more time before this rotation is over.

This week we had a lot of fun. On Tuesday it was the intern ski day – one of the few nice perks we got since Michael has been working here. All of the interns in his program got the day off of work to go up to Snowbird for an all-expense paid day of nice food, relaxing, and our choice of skiing or a massage. Michael chose skiing (which I would have chosen too, had I not just had a baby), and my brothers were able to go up and ski with Michael too, which was really nice. I took Courtland with me, and Mom and Grandma were kind enough to watch the other boys for us. There was a lot of beautiful powder and the snow was coming down in big, soft flakes for most of the day. After a few hours it was time for the massage, and the other ladies there offered to hold Courtland for me while I went for that. It was very nice and relaxing, and I have to say that it was even better than the massage I got when we celebrated our anniversary last month, if only because now that I’m not pregnant anymore I was able to lay on my stomach and they could use a little more pressure. When I came back to the group’s room afterwards, I was surprised to see everyone back inside from skiing. The mountain had been shut down because of avalanche hazards, and an avalanche had shut down the road up to the resort too. There were little signs posted by the doors that it was illegal to go outside before they were no longer concerned about the avalanche dangers. Luckily for Michael and my brothers they got to go back out before too long, especially since they’d only had a chance to ski two runs up until that time. We had a nice relaxing day, and although Michael and the boys were worn out afterwards, they had a nice ski day with some really great runs.

Although we didn’t end up taking any pictures at the ski day, here is a cute shot of Eli wearing my ski helmet when we got out all the ski gear:

The rest of the week we just got to hang out with the family. My mom and I got some shopping in, and she was able to get a lot of work done on the blessing dress for my sister’s baby girl, Lizzie, who was due a couple of days ago and will be induced by the end of the week if she hasn’t come on her own yet by then. They are planning on blessing Lizzie next month, so Mom was working really hard to try to get the dress done, even with her broken arm. (We are thinking of blessing Courtland the second week in April, but will let you all know an exact date when we decide for sure). Oh, and yesterday we also went and looked at some really cute little headbands and hair bows for Lizzie, and Mom ended up getting one of the little headbands to use as a pattern to make more. They are cute because you can attach any bow or flower on a hair clip to the headband, and make it match any different outfit you want. I came home and pulled out some ribbon to try to make a couple of bows like the ones we had seen, since they were a little different than the kinds I had made before. I think they turned out pretty cute. So, I sent those and several more I had already made with Mom to give to Michelle when she has her baby.

This week we’ve also been just a little concerned about Courtland. On Thursday we went for his 2-week check-up, (when healthy babies are supposed to have gotten back up to their birth weight after loosing some weight after birth), and Courtland was exactly 1 pound under his birth weight at that time. The doctor had us recalibrate the scale and weigh him again, but it was the same the second time too. So, she ordered several labs to make sure that he didn’t have any metabolic problems, since he has been nursing well and hasn’t seemed to be sick at all, so she didn’t know why he would be loosing weight. She said that it was possible that his weight just dipped later than normal, for some unknown reason, and would come up soon, but she wanted to rule out any other problems. When I went to the lab downstairs that usually does the bloodwork when it is needed for the kids, they turned off the light in the room and put a little red light under his hands and elbows to shine through and show his veins, and said that he was too small and they couldn’t do the labs there. So, I went back up to the pediatrician and she sent us to Primary Children’s Hospital, where they would have more experience drawing blood for several different labs from a newborn. We got there, and a big redhead man with a high-pitched voice was the lab assistant to draw Courtland’s blood. First he tried one arm, then the other arm, then he called in another person who tried it on one of his hands, before they finally decided to make two little pricks right next to each other on his heal and fill the five little vials from there. After a lot of crying from Courtland (and apologizing from the lab worker that the baby had to go through all that), they got it done. We talked to the doctor that night, and she said that all the labs had come back normal, except that his biliruben level hadn’t gone down since the week before, but that’s not too concerning since it isn’t at a high enough level to be concerned about. So, the doctor said to come back on Monday and have his weight checked again. We went in today and he was up to 7 pounds 8 ounces (he had gained 2 ounces since Thursday), so even though that’s not a lot, it is good that he’s gaining and not loosing. Since his labs were normal and he is eating fine, and not acting sick, we are just going to go back in in another week to check him again, and let the doctor know if we notice anything abnormal in his behavior. So, things look like they are going well with that.

I didn’t really realize how thin Courtland looked, after loosing that weight, but comparing the photos of him this week to the ones that we took of him right after he was born, he sure looks like a different baby – his face is much thinner now than in those first photos. But he sure is adorable!

Another thing that has been really nice the last 4 days is that his sleeping at night has gotten a lot better. Before that, he was having a hard time most nights, often crying for 1 to 3 hours at a time in the night before calming down and sleeping in the early morning hours. I have never had a baby do that before, so it was getting a little wearing (even with all the help I’ve gotten from family to be able to rest during the daytime). But recently he has started to do much better. He has slept for about a 6-hour stretch at a time during the night these last four days. That makes a big difference. Three of these last four nights we have taken him in the shower, dressed him up in a fuzzy warm outfit, and fed him right before bed, which seems to help him calm down a lot before he goes to sleep.

So, also this week Kolby got to go to his piano lesson with his Uncle Aaron, who also plays the piano, which was fun for him. And he got to go on Friday afternoon to Justin Owens’ birthday party, which he was really excited about. And Kolby, Eli, and Camden all got to go to the store and pick out some cute fabrics to sew something with Nana (they wanted to try sewing when they saw her sewing the blessing dress). So, they each made a cute little pouch, kind of like a mini pillow case, that they can carry things in. They have been carrying around books and toys in their “pockets” since then. And yesterday morning my mom went with me to our ward enrichment activity, a demo class at a food storage store called Kitchen Kneads. We learned some interesting info about grains, got some good recipes, and Mom was nice enough to get me some different kinds of grains that they had for sale there, which should be nice to try out. And then on Saturday night we went and got new cell phones. So, for our family members and the few friends who call us on our cell phone, just so you know, my cell phone number is the same number, but it is now an AT&T phone and not a Verizon phone anymore. So, if you don’t have AT&T, please try to avoid calling my cell phone (except on nights and weekends). Michael’s new cell phone is Verizon, though, so you are welcome to use that number if you have a Verizon plan. (So, if you need either of our cell phone numbers, just e-mail and we’d be glad to give those to you). Oh, and I just finished a book today, called Three Cups of Tea – it’s about a man who builds schools in rural Pakistan towns. I thought it was a pretty good book, and would recomend it to others.

So, yesterday was Michael’s day off. My family left in the morning. Then we bathed the boys and they went with Michael to church. Michael said Eli had a fit and wouldn’t go to his primary class (which is unusual for him), and he ended up going with Michael to the adult class until Michael had to teach the lesson the last hour, so Eli went into his old nursery class. Luckily he said that he would go back to his primary class next week, so we’ll see how that goes. Hopefully there won't be any more problems.

I went with Grandma last night to a viewing for a girl in our ward who died this week, she had health problems due to her Down Syndrome. At our church there is a program called “visiting teaching,” where each woman in the ward has a few other women who she tries to make regular monthly trips to visit with them and share a gospel lesson. Melissa, the girl who passed away, was the daughter of one of the ladies who I visit teach. Actually, since Courtland was born just over two weeks ago, that is the second one of my visiting teaching sisters who has passed away. The other one was a lady who had recently become one of our visiting teaching sisters a couple months ago, but because of some health issues and other problems had rescheduled our two appointments from the last couple months, so we hadn’t even had a chance to meet her yet. She had Multiple Schlurosis, and I believe her death was related to that health condition too. I feel really bad that I’ve had so much going on with having the new baby that I haven’t been very helpful to the families of these sisters, although the women from church have helped them out with food, so I’m not sure what I really could have done.

Well, our week was busy but fun. I was really sad to see my family go, although we are toying with the idea of visiting them in a couple of months when Michael has a week off work, and taking the kids for a trip to Disney Land. So that would be fun – especially if Michelle and Jake are there then with their new baby. And we are also looking forward to the next time that we will get to see Michael’s family. We have made plans for a trip out to Rochester in March, and Debbie and Mindy have been kind enough to say they will come and help watch the boys for us while we go to find a house, which is so nice of them! I keep thinking that if I’ll just allow myself to stop stressing out about finding a house, that this Rochester trip might end up being kind of a fun little vacation – especially since it will just be Michael, Courtland, and I (since the airplanes only have so many extra oxygen masks for each row of seats, it has been quite some time since Michael and I have even been able to sit on the same row on an airplane together with all of our little kids, let alone actually be able to sit on two seats right next to each other – what a luxury!) But I have been looking this week at ratings (based on test scores) of school districts and specific elementary schools in Monroe County, NY, and have been surprised that some are rated much higher or much lower than I expected based off of the recommendations we have been getting for various school districts in the Rochester area. The districts in that county range from one in Pittsfield, NY that is rated 14th out of 694 districts in the state; down to the Rochester City district that is rated 672nd out of 694. That is a big difference. There is just so much more that we have to consider in finding a place to live now that our family has grown up a bit. I guess it will all work out in the end, though (it had better work out, since living in a card-board bow on the side of the road isn’t really an option with 5 kids).

Well, I’m trying to include some cute pictures of Courtland. Although I haven’t gotten any really adorable shots of him yet (I realized, as I looked through the pictures last night, that none of them really show just how cute he is, so I’m going to have to try to get some good ones one of these days, but these will have to do for now). Oh, and here are a couple pictures of the homemade Valentine’s cards that Kolby and Eli made for their preschool class. For anyone who happened to be wondering, this is what 42 Valentine’s look like. :)

Hope you all have a good week, and we’ll keep you updated with all that is going on with us, although I’m afraid it may not be too exciting for a little while – I have to admit that I’m a little overwhelmed with baby number 5 and all these little boys, even though with living with Grandma we have even more help now than ever before. So we may not venture out for a while, except for things that we really have to get done. Maybe after Michael starts his next rotation, though, and he is around to help a little more, I might become a little more brave. We’ll see.

Oh, and here is a cute clip that I just had to include of Kolby “playing” the piano (one of the digital piano’s demo songs), and the other three boys dancing around to the music, from last weekend. How cute!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Mother's Day!

This has been quite the week. Every evening we have had something scheduled, so it has been busy, but very fun too. Not to mention that May is a crazy month for birthdays and other celebrations in our extended family – Michael’s sister and her husband, Mel and Christian, had their anniversary last Saturday, my parents’ anniversary was Wednesday, my sister Michelle’s birthday was Thursday, my dad’s birthday was Friday, Mother’s Day is today, our brother-in-law Christian’s birthday is coming up on Tuesday, our nephew Jaden’s birthday is on the 24th, Memorial Day is the 26th, our brother-in-law Jake’s birthday is on the 28th, not to mention we are moving to Salt Lake on the 30th. Wow!

So, this week on Monday we had a fun Cinco de Mayo BBQ at Wirth Park with some good friends. We grilled and ate yummy Mexican food, played a bit of ultimate frisbee, let the kids have fun on the playground, and after everyone else headed home we took our boys and went on a short nature walk through the trees (the boys were excited when we saw deer on our walk).

On Tuesday we went over to the Nielsen’s house to play in their back yard in the morning. Then that night Michael helped give one of the OSCE tests to the 2nd year med students (he got paid $50 for each night he did it). After he got home, Grant Roper was kind enough to come over and study at our house while our kids and the Kearl’s kids slept and we went over to the Hymas’ place for a Wii party. It was a lot of fun to play – and to have the three couples together again one more time (since the Kearls are now in Utah for a wedding and we will be moving before Faith returns to Milwaukee).

On Wednesday we dropped the boys off at the Hedgecock’s house and went to the Senior Dinner Dance downtown at the Wisconsin Club. It was a nice dinner and we had a lot of fun talking and dancing with our friends from Michael’s class. It is weird to think that in a matter of weeks many of them will be scattered all across the country (one reason I am grateful for blogs – so we can all have a good way to keep in touch).

On Thursday Michael went and helped with the OSCE test again, and I took the boys with me to a 4th-year BBQ at the Nielsen’s house. It is always fun to get together and see everyone again, although it is always a bit more challenging for me to go places with the boys by myself, without Michael there. It was nice to come home afterwards, get the boys to bed, have Michael get home, and just sit down and do nothing really important for the rest of the night.

On Friday Michael dropped the Kearls off at the airport early in the morning, and then he told me that he was feeling a little sad all day since they left. At least we will have a chance to see them in Utah again after we move before they come back home. That evening we dropped the boys off with Jessica and John Gittens, and met the Hedgecocks at Habaneros for Peter’s birthday dinner. We mentioned to the waiter that it was Peter’s birthday, and he said they would surprise him with something. After a good meal, a group of waiters and waitresses came over and sang Peter Happy Birthday, and then they gave him a shot of tequila. We felt pretty bad – we expected ice cream! We were all a little relieved that the group of waiters didn’t stay at our table and cheer for Peter to drink the shot. The waiters did look at us curiously each time they passed our table for the rest of the evening, though, because the shot glass was still full. We snapped a couple pictures of Peter on our phone with his “first drink,” and then wrote a little note on the receipt saying that we appreciated the gift, but that we don’t drink. That was a pretty funny experience. Then we went back to our place and played a quick game before returning to retrieve our children from our babysitters. We stayed and talked a bit with the Gittens when we picked up the boys, and we have been wishing that we had gotten to know them better while we were here – they are so nice! Plus they had a little dog that Kolby and Eli absolutely loved (and Camden was quite afraid of). It was a little gray yorkie-poodle mix, and Michael has been talking about how cute it was since then. Kolby had started asking for a pet dog a couple weeks ago, and we saw another person throwing their dog a ball in the park yesterday and Kolby asked if he could have a dog to throw a ball to. I think we’ll probably have a dog or two eventually, but I was rather surprised that Kolby has started asking for one already – I didn’t expect that for another few years at least.

Yesterday morning we met Amy Rahm in Tosa Village where she took pictures of the boys. I really wanted some good shots of all the boys together (it is really hard to get them all looking at the camera at the same time, let alone smiling), and I think that she got some great shots. I asked her afterwards if this had been her most challenging shoot yet, and she said that it probably had – at least as far as getting all four boys to look at the camera at the same time. I am really excited to get the CD with the pictures in a couple weeks. I have always admired Amy’s pictures of her boys on her blog, and I was so excited when I found out that she was starting a photography business and that her prices were affordable. If you want to check out her photo site, it is: http://www.amyrahmphotography.blogspot.com/.

After the boys finished their lollipops (bribes for posing during the photo shoot), we dropped off Michael and the two younger boys at home because some people were coming to buy some things we had posted on craigslist, and the two older boys went with me to run some errands. Kolby got to pick out his new “big boy underwear” (boxers) because he had been dry with no accidents for a week. Kolby has been potty trained for a while now, but has been wetting the bed at night recently. The pediatrician told me not to give him any liquid for 4 hours before bedtime (except 2 ounces to drink with dinner) unless he was sick or we were outside and it was hot out. I feel kind of bad not giving him water when he wants it at night, but it worked. Not having anymore accidents is definitely worth it. So, after going to pick out his special new underwear, we went and sold a few games at a video game store – Michael was so excited when our friends gave him their old Xbox and games, and he played it for two days before the xbox started showing an error that we found out meant the hard drive was shot. Oh well. When we got home, someone had come by and bought my old computer from college, which was nice. We got all the boys fed and down for naps and then I actually took a nap – I don’t know how long it has been since I did that last. (Happy Mother’s Day to me!). Michael woke me up just in time to head over to the school for the MSSA closing social. It was fun to sit with the Hymases at the dinner and to have a chance to talk to some other friends there.

And this morning was really nice. The boys helped Daddy make me an omelet, and they brought me breakfast in bed. And they colored pictures and Kolby wrote “I love you Mommy” and Kolby and Eli both wrote their names on cards for me. What a nice Mother’s Day. After getting the boys fed, Michael has been reading our church lessons to me while I’ve been writing this morning. I guess we aught to start getting ready for church soon. Tonight should be fun too, because the Lythgoes are coming to dinner. Happy Mother’s Day to our moms and grandmothers too! We love you, and can’t wait to see you all soon at Michael’s graduation this week and as we move later on this month.

Pictures from Isaac's Blessing

I haven't posted any photos or videos yet since we arrived in San Diego, and now it is kind of overwhelming to catch up on all of them. I guess I'll just do a few at a time.


So, the first day that we arrived in San Diego, on January 5th, we had Isaac's baby blessing. Usually this is done in church, but we had it at my parent's home because there was only one day that all of my siblings would be in town and Michael had to leave for an interview early the next morning. My mom made Isaac's blessing outfit, and it turned out really adorable! My parents' bishop was kind enough to come help out with the blessing at the house. It was nice to have everyone there for it.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

We are finally in San Diego. We've been here a couple of days and had lots of fun. Besides my parents and brothers who live here in San Diego, we have also been able to visit with my sister Michelle and her husband Jake who returned to their home in Portland on Sunday, my sister Jennifer who just returned to school in Hawaii yesterday, and Grandma Faun who returned to her home in Salt Lake yesterday too. It was fun to have a little while while we were all here at the same time. Michael has been gone on interviews since early Sunday morning, and will continue to have interview trips through the end of next week, and then he will only have a couple more trips after that later on in the month.

I thought I'd take a few minutes now while the boys are down for their naps to post some photos from Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

The whole family playing in the snow on Christmas Eve:

Isaac's first time out in the snow:

Camden loved the snow until he eventually dropped his mittens and his hands got wet and cold. But Michael and I were surprised at how long he lasted before he got cold and had to go inside:

Kolby in the snow:

Eli with a snowball:

All of us with our snowman that Kolby and Eli named 'Frosty.'

Jennie's fiancé, Dalin, and his parents came over Christmas Eve with little gifts for everyone. Dalin's father came dressed as Santa just for our boys. Afterwards the boys watched from the window as they left and Kolby asked, "Santa has a car?"

Isaac and Daddy relaxing:

Daddy reading the Christmas pop-up books to the boys on the night of

Christmas Eve -- a Chidester family tradition:

The boys with their aunts getting ready to act out the

nativity story -- a Bradshaw family tradition:

Acting out the nativity -- Michael and I played Mary and Joseph and Isaac was baby Jesus. Kolby and Eli made very cute wise men and Camden was a shepherd:

Kolby left cookies and milk and a letter for Santa and carrots for his reindeer.

It's fun that Kolby is getting to be old enough to have fun with the idea of Santa Claus:

Michael and his sisters with the boys waiting to come upstairs to

open gifts on Christmas morning:

The boys opening their gifts from Santa on Christmas morning (at the Bradshaw's house, they open gifts from Santa in the living room when they get up in the morning, and then after eating breakfast they open gifts from the family members around the Christmas tree):

Eli, Stephanie, and Michael opening gifts. (This gift was a water filter

that we asked for for our 72-hour emergency kit):

Camden opening his gift from Kolby and Eli. (This year we decided to start having the kids pick out a little gift for each other -- we hadn't really done this in the past, but now they are old enough to get the idea and it was fun for them to choose gifts for each other at the dollar store):

Kolby showing us the Boggle Jr. game he got:

The whole family in front of the Christmas tree.

(Isaac finally woke up and joined us just before we finished opening gifts):

Camden playing with one of Isaac's gifts:

Smiles from Kolby:

Mommy and Isaac:

Merry Christmas, Eli: