Happy 10th Birthday Cortlynn Jade

Ten years ago at 11:38am my little girl Cortlynn was born. It seems like yesterday and I can't believe how fast time as flown by. Cortlynn is such a joy to her mom, dad, brother, and sister. She is very smart, talented, sweet, and loves everyone.

This year she wanted to invite a few friends over to celebrate her big day. On Saturday 5 of her friends came over for a 4 hour party. (almost 4 hours too long) ;-) I can't get over how uncontrollable little girls can be. I honestly think boys would be better: less drama, tears, boys don't gang up on each other....These girls weren't as bad as my sisters friends/parties were but it was a stressful and noisy evening. They played, ran around the house like maniacs, dressed up in heels and dresses, screamed, watched part of a movie, locked a girl out of the room, "popped Cortlynn's ears so hard she cried, stained the carpet which took me an hour to shampoo and it's still there, ran around some more, ate ice cream (by the way 9/10 yr old girls HATE strawberry ice cream and are very vocal about it) and ate cake. By 9:30pm Devin and I were both ready for the evening to end. Tristan had fun flirting with all the girls-he prefers blonde's by the way.

On Sunday we invited grandma and grandpa McIntire over for Cortlynn's favorite dinner: BBQ chicken, funeral potatoes, and homemade rolls. She opened more gifts, ate more cake, and had a good time.

I wanted to decorate her cake different but unfortunately the fondant recipe I used didn't work and trying to decorate a cake with a 8 wk old on your hip doesn't work. So-the cake isn't what we planned on. Oh well-she was happy with it.

I thought she would like the Justin Bieber CD but I'm not too sure based on her facial expression.

Kyra is getting so big and "spoiled": she doesn't like to be put down. She thinks she needs to be held all of the time.

Tristan has a new issue....called Geographic Tongue. This isn't a good photo of it but it sure scared his mom and dad. Come to find out it is harmless and just looks gross....it can come and go throughout life....

Happy Valentines Day

Yesterday was Valentines Day and we were able to have a nice quiet evening as a family. Devin and I went to a Valentines Lunch, ate too much, so my plans on making dinner were postponed. In its place-we had heart shaped grilled cheese sandwiches. Yum! The day before we made heart shaped sugar cookies and a red velvet cake. In the middle of baking my oven door handle came off and than the entire front door fell off. It was great! I still had the cake in the oven and had a difficult time getting it out. Thankfully Devin was able to fix it when he returned home from work.
Cortlynn's birthday is coming up and I want to make her cake. I've been wanting to try fondant and told Cortlynn her cake would have it on. I didn't want to mess it up or have it not even work the day of her party, so I decided to make a valentines cake. I thought about buying the fondant already made-but I made it myself. It actually turned out pretty good. Cortlynn was impressed and Tristan loved just eating the fondant off the cake. We'll have to see how her birthday cake turns out.
For Cortlynn's valentine box she had to take to school couldn't be a valentine theme-it had to be based on a book they have read in class. She chose a book about a little boy that couldn't see, or people couldn't see him (I'm not sure-a little confused) he would place a spoon on his nose, look at himself in a mirror, etc. So I helped her come up with a box that had a "mirror" on it, taped a spoon to it, drew a red cross on it to represent a hospital, and made a straw into a walking stick. We were pretty proud. When she brought it home last night from school I was looking at it and told Devin that the walking stick looked more like a cigarette. His response, "Well actually it looks more like the supplies for a drug addict." Holy crap he was right! It did look like supplies for a drug addict. Too funny. Good thing 9/10 year olds don't see things like us.

heart shaped sandwich

My cake

Valentine Box aka drug addict supply kit

my oven door

Kyra holding up her head and looking too cute.

A quick update

I can't believe how time flies by and writing on my blog is at the bottom of my list of things to do. I have a few minutes this morning and Kyra is asleep so I thought I'd write a quick update. Kyra is now 6 weeks old and is getting such a cute personality. She is struggling gaining weight but at her appointment last week she was almost 9lbs. Grow little Kyra. I need to continue to supplement formula once a day and she doesn't like it. Most of it will be spit up within minutes of finishing it. She will smile at you not just with her mouth but her eyes smile too. It is so cute. The last couple of days it almost sounds like she laughs. Cortlynn and Tristan can't get enough of her and she loves being around her older siblings.

Devin went back to work a little over a week ago and it has been tough adjusting to getting the kids up and where they need to be in the morning after getting no sleep. My little girl loves to be up and socialize. Now she has decided that she doesn't need to sleep during the day.

My parents were able to stop by on their way back to Montana and the kids loved being able to spend just a little more time with them. Thanks again mom for helping us out when the baby came!

Tristan loves taking pictures, sorry dad-I just had to post this.
Kyra loves to stare at people


Kyra in the tutu aunt Jen made. She was a hit at Cortlynn's ballet class.

The kids sledding-Tristan was scared @first but wants to go every day now.

This picture just cracks me up. She's so full of personality.

Tristan fell asleep on the couch and we had to get a picture of it.

Stuff

Keeping up with a blog is quite difficult when you have a little one needing all of your attention. ;-) This last week has been hectic. My mom had to cut her visit at our house a little short because my sister's baby decided he was so eager to join the family he came 4 weeks early. He was born Tuesday Jan 4 at 7:05pm. He has had a few struggles and is still in the NICU so Josh and Heather have had to stay in Idaho Falls and my mom is in Mackay helping with the two girls. I don't have a picture of him but he is such a cute little boy. They named him Clayton Bo and he looks like a little old man/farmer who fits the name. We pray he can leave the hospital; this week.

My little angel has had a struggle of her own. She is not gaining weight and it has been stressing me out. We have taken her back to the doctor 5 times since she has been born and until she is back to her birth weight we will be taking her in every other day. This past Saturday she had only gained 2 ounces since she was released from the hospital over 2 wks prior so I need to feed her formula as a supplement after nursing. This has actually been a little tough because you feel that you are the mom and you are here to give your children what they need to grow and when it's not working you feel as if you have failed. I've never had issues in the past and I'm not sure what the issue is this time. Kyra takes the formula with no problems at first but then will spit almost all of it out a half hour later and it has caused her tummy to hurt. She will sit up at night and cry and scream because of the bubbles and the gas she has and I just have to try to comfort her. Not a lot of sleep for me or for Kyra. BUT at the appointment today she had gained 2 ounces since Saturday so we're heading in the right direction.

Below are a few photos of the past week. Kyra is wearing a hat that was WAY TOO big for her head but she looked so cute. Devin took the kids to church yesterday and Tristan was so excited to wear his new suit. He LOVED his tie and thought he was such a grown up. The bottom picture shows Tristan holding Kyra and she has her tongue stinking out. He thought this was hilarious.

The first week...

A week has passed since little Kyra came into our family and it has been a busy week. Having Christmas be a day after bringing the baby home was a little crazy. Santa Clause came and the kids were so excited to wake up and open presents. Kyra is a total night owl and slept for maybe 3 hours so I guess she was excited for Christmas morning too. We opened presents and tried to rest throughout the day. My mom prepared a wonderful dinner for us that we could heat up and eat that evening. They spent a few days out in Arco over Christmas and we had a few days to get used to becoming a family of five.

We are slowly adjusting to having a baby and not getting any sleep. Kyra was always up in the night while in my tummy and I don't know why I thought it would be different when she was born. A few nights she woke up just to hang out with mom...this is great except for the fact it was 230 in the morning and it went on until after 5:30. Dan, Jen, Brayden. and Ashlyn stopped by to see the baby and the kids loved being able to play with their cousins. Tristan asks us every day when Brayden can come over and play. Thanks guys for the dinner and the cute outfit.

This post is a little choppy because it is difficult to type with a baby on your lap...but a few funny things I've heard this past week pertaining to the baby or birth of the baby....most of which came from my husband...

"Devin almost missed the birth of his daughter because he was asleep in the car for two hours" Devin's response: "You sent me out to get you chap stick"

Regarding my "little" episiotomy" "Well it was just a little cut, nothing to it. You didn't have a circumsision." (another Devin quote) My response was just having my jaw drop and say really??

After Devin held Kyra and let her suck on his thumb: " Wow-she has quite a strong suction-she really had my thumb." (ya think?? try having that "suction" on your sensitive chest parts)

On Monday Kyra had a doctors appointment and Tristan was quite upset; when I asked him why he said: "Mom, don't let them put the baby back in your tummy"

Kyra's first bath @home

Tristans Iron Man Toy from Christmas

Cortlynns cheesy smiles

Kyra sucking her thumb...too cute

Tristan loves holding his sister and has the same grin on his face

Welcome Kyra Crystal McIntire

I was scheduled to be induced this morning at 8:00am in Idaho Falls, but Mother Nature had other plans for me. I woke up at 2am with contractions and decided to paint my nails and take a shower just to wait and see what happens. 2 hours later and 7 minutes apart, I decided to wake Devin up and tell him that we should travel to the hospital. We packed the car and headed to Idaho Falls. We arrived around 6:00 checked in and was ready for what the morning had in store; or were we. ;-) Each time I'm in labor I like to see how long I can go without any pain medication. I don't know why---perhaps I'm stubborn or think that maybe I can handle it. Whatever the reason I always seem to regret the length of time I go without medication. Around 8:00 I was still around a 4 and I asked Devin to get my chapstick from the car and maybe go get himself some breakfast. By 9:00 the contractions were so strong that if I could have ran away with my elephant feet I would have. Whoooo--ouch! So I requested an epidural. Well- 15 minutes later they were prepping me for the epidural (which I had a bunch of swelling in my back thanks to all the water I was retaining) and Devin was no where in site. Usually I hang on to Devin while I'm getting the "shot" thru the contractions-this time I had to squeeze my poor nurse. During the process I knew I had waited too long.....I felt like the baby was coming. They laid me down and the pain was EXTREME and the pressure was even worse. To top it off...Devin could not be located. By 9:50--the baby was coming without the epidural taking effect, without the doctor being there, and without Devin. I honestly don't know what was worse. When the doctor came in-my water exploded---and I just had to push. I push a couple of times and here walks my husband. Hmmmmmm-----glad you could make it honey. ;-) So I pushed aprox 10 more times--and since I'm not a screamer I took out my pain management on my pillow with my teeth-and delivered my beautiful little girl Kyra Crystal McIntire at 10:02am. She is 20.5 inches long, 8lbs 4 oz, and is such a sweetheart. Once she was in my arms-the epidural final was "working"--perfect timing right?! She is great and has been such a good baby. I'm so glad Devin made it: come to find out he went to the car to get my chapstick, sat to look at the baby name book and fell asleep. WHAT??? He is sooooooo lucky he made it. Anyway-the kids were able to come visit with grandma and grandpa Swanson and Nicole and they were so excited. Both of them are so happy to have a little sister. Below are a few photos and I'm sure I will post more when I have a little bit more time and I'm not so tired.

She hated her first bath

Heads up....Ima venting

This week sure has been one for the "books". I don't know if it's the pregnancy, my hormones completely out of wack, the Holiday season, or what---but my patience does not exist. I hate almost everyone (family not included) and I would be happy to sit in my bed with the lights out and ignore everything. It doesn't help that I feel like I'm HUGE! My legs and feet have retained so much water that I seriously thought I was going to have to cut my pants off the other night. I have 1 pair of shoes for work and if I don't get them on my ginormous feet by 8:30am-they won't go on. After that--well, fuzzy pink socks are the only thing that fits. The other night we were going to go to the store and I couldn't wear any shoes-even my crocs from my feet surgeries couldn't get past my toes- I sat in my closet and cried. Cortlynn came in and suggested that I wear some of dads shoes. ;-( I know I am being a big baby-but.....I really don't care. I pray that the swelling goes away once the baby is here---can your feet get so big that the skin pops?? Just wondering because they have popped the backs of my work shoes.
With the constant leg and feet pain mixed in with fatigue, a cold, (a husband who is now sick), I am in no mood for the butt heads that come into my place of employment. The things I've been called this week is ridiculous. I don't understand how someone can treat another person so bad when they don't even know them. One guy kept shaking his finger in my face; I came about 3 seconds from either biting it (but he was gross) or grabbing it and breaking it. I really thought about it. That is sad. Years ago I loved working with the public now, not so much. Sure wish Devin would win the lottery so I could stay at home with the kids and find a hobby to keep me busy. Is all of this added stress really worth it in the end?? I don't think it is-I come home and end up taking it out on the people I love the most--Devin and the kids. The days of coming home from work with a smile on my face are long gone. I think if I came home with a smile on my face my family would ask me what I was on....I don't know--I need to quit venting and try to get some sleep.
I'm having contractions on and off almost nightly now-and they are quite strong. I'm dilated to a two so I don't think I will be going to my due date which is Dec. 30. I feel like it will be next week sometime. We can't wait to meet our new addition to the family---we just need to come up with a name.



The ONLY pregnant photo of me and it was taken tonight. The other one Cortlynn took of my swollen legs and feet----too bad I don't have a photo of an elephant or hippo to compare the legs too.....they may not look that big but holy crap-they are....