We are alive, I promise!

And at some point I will blog about it. Just know this, we love you all! Oh, and everyone is growing, way fast!

Pictures!

I know that a few times I have promised pictures so here they all are! I have been really busy lately and haven't had the time to blog, but I am here now and that is what matters! So first the updates and then the pictures. Will is doing awesome, he is 4 months old now and growing like a weed! He hasn't rolled over yet, probably because he rarely get tummy time because Madalynn loves to attack when he is on the floor. He is in size three diapers, which just seem big to me, but he is there! He smiles and laughs and is a Momma's boy (I love this because the girls are really attached to Daddy, so now I have a little one who loves me more!) Madalynn is affectionately called monkey because she is one. She can climb anything and everything and it kind of drives me nuts. She is a terror in church and we are looking forward to nursery time starting in December! She is really cute though and talks up a storm. This week she came up to me and pointed to the apples and said "apple". This took me by surprise, I didn't know she could say that! She also loves to give loves, which means she loves to ram people with her head, preferably at your head. Sarah is doing great. She is loving preschool and Mrs. Monique. Her best friend is Jacey and these two play so well together that at least twice a week they are over at the other one's house. Creed is doing well and enjoying work, okay he likes it, but still wishes he could be home all day, but I don't know a dad out there who doesn't wish that could spend the whole day home with their family. I am doing great and hanging in there. With three little ones it is really hard to get stuff done, so when I do I get super excited! So here is a list of things I have accomplished: sewed skirts, and headbands for Chad's wedding (2 skirts and 6 headbands), sewed a nursing cover, sewed a big girl blanket for Sarah, and I sewed two more skirts for Sarah. I have scrapbooked (in one week mind you) 4 two page layouts and made 24 cards. Oh how I love to create things! Picture time! The first ones are of the girls at Chad's wedding (yes I made the shirts match too!) Above are some pictures of Will's blessing and of just him!

September Specatular

I know I posted a little while ago about doing a huge Close to My Heart party, well here are the details!

This month I am hosting a spectacular event. For every $100 in sales I am giving back $50 worth of FREE product. Here is how it works: submit a $100 order (whether you gang up with friends or just order it all yourself it works the same.) and you will receive the following: • Free Idea Book from me ($3.95 retail value) • Free September Stamp of the Month set ($22.95 retail value) • $20 Free Hostess Product Credit • 1/2-price item OR 'Triple Play' kit OR new embellishment That's FOUR goodies for just collecting a few orders to reach $100. WOW! But WAIT there is more! I am also offering FREE shipping on orders over$200! All orders participating will be submitted September 25th.(Meaning you need to have them to me by this date as well) I will email out the shipping details once I receive them.

Even if you don’t live by me you can still participate. So check out the Idea Book online and give me a call!

Oh so much fun!

Little Will is two months old and growing like a weed! He is putting on weight and starting to sleep longer at night. He is a smily little one and we really enjoy him! Madalynn is 14 months and a little bit of a terror, only because she is into EVERYTHING! Holy Moly is it pretty bad. Everyday Creed comes home and I say, "guess what she did while I was in the bathroom." To which I would say look back at a past post of why mothers can't go to the bathroom. Something always happens! She is talking a ton and LOVES shoes and food. She is also very loving and friendly and cute, so cute! Sarah is doing so well. She tells me that she has helper power, which is great and I sure do take advantage of that. She is growing up so fast and says really funny things. Yesterday she told me that her scrambled eggs were being bad because they wouldn't get on her fork so that she could eat them. It made me laugh! Creed is loving work, which is nice. He is also still working on our website and getting things in order. This weekend we will be going to a lecture by Avraham Gileadi and we are so excited! He has some awesome insights into Isaiah and we are loving being able to understand that hard to read part of the Bible. I am doing great and loving being a mother of three. I can say it wasn't too bad of an adjustment, but I never really adjusted to having two before we were pregnant with number three, so I don't have much info to add on that. I am teaching piano lessons and LOVING it! My girls love it too because they get to play with whoever comes over for a little bit and it breaks up there days a little. Once I take some pictures I will show you all what I have been doing in my craft room as of late. I made skirts for the girls for Chad's wedding, and headbands for all the girls on the Thompson side, plus flowers to go on the girls shirts and the headbands. It really has been fun to create something and challenge myself. I am still papercrafting and LOVING Close to My Heart. Since everything is separated by their 60 colors I can make things faster and they still look great! Plus they now offer online scrapbooking, which is nice to help get caught up a little. Though I still love playing with paper and stamping! Oh so much fun!

Close to My Heart

Hey everyone! I am just letting everyone know that in a few weeks I will be hosting a Close to My Heart Open House at my house. The new Idea Book comes out September 1st and it has a TON of fun things in it that I want to show everyone. Now if you are too far away don't worry! Just email me (sharesalarsen@gmail.com) and I can send you an invite which will allow you to order stuff online. PLUS since it will be an Idea Book Open House there will be tons of FREE goodies going around, and if you order online I will still send out FREE goodies. So this is just a heads up, keep an eye out for the official party information. It will be tons of fun!

Little Will

So 15 days ago I had our little boy, William Creed. He was 6 pounds 3 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long. He was born at 9:05 pm at home. The labor and birth were wonderful and I LOVED having him at home. It was really nice for Creed to be able to be there and hold him and love him. It was nice for me to have a comfy bed to sleep in and a shower pretty soon after giving birth. It was nice to have Sarah there to see Will soon after the birth. In fact when asked if she wanted to hold him or kiss him, Sarah said, "Um... no he is gooey." Though after we washed him a little she did give him a kiss on his head. It was nice to have Elizabeth there to watch Sarah and to help with the girls when we went to the hospital. Will seemed totally fine after he was born, but he didn't feel like breastfeeding. Then at 4:30 in the morning he started to have a hard time breathing unless he had some oxygen blowing in his face. By 5:30 my midwife said that it was time to take him to the hospital since he didn't seem to be breathing well without the oxygen. So we headed to Salmon Creek hospital. I cannot say how hard it was for me to take my little one into the NICU. Once we got there he kind of shut down a little, his breathing started to become really erratic and his heart rate dropped. So they hooked him up to a bubble CPAP machine. He was hooked up to this machine for two days and then he was under the special lights for jaundice. Then we got to take him home.

It was kind of weird at the hospital because we were known as the "home birth" people. In fact I had a few nurses who were not so nice about it. One even said to my midwife, "Oh, you are the one who allowed her to give birth at home." My midwife was really great about it and said, "I usually don't allow people to give birth at home at 35 weeks, but we thought that she was further along than she was." I had another nurse say that he was just glad that we got him to the hospital when we did and that they really wish that we had given birth at the hospital. I would give birth at home again in a heart beat for a few reasons. One, it allowed me to stay in Will's room the whole time that he was there. If I had given birth at the hospital I would have had to stay in my room until discharged and only allowed to visit. Two, having Will at home allowed Creed to hold him before he was stuck under all the monitors and machines and lights. In fact Creed held Will the night he was born and then three days later. Nothing in between. Same with Elizabeth. Three, it was still cheaper for me to have him at home. All in all it was the right thing for us and I LOVED it.

In other news I am going to post a few things to help my memory. Madalynn took her first step on May 11th and then was walking by the 15th. She is talking a ton and can't seem to walk into a room without saying, "HI!" Sarah has gained two pounds in two months, which is HUGE for her. This helps us know that she is celiac and that she is starting to get the nutrients that she needs. She is drawing stick figures now and loves to try and write different letters. She is actually getting really good at a few of them.

Here are some pictures!

Alright I'll BLOG!

So I have been a horrible blogger, I know, I am not quite sure where the time has gone. I do know what we have been busy with though, so I guess that is good! (Also proves the pregnancy brain has not taken over just yet, thank goodness!)

We spent Easter weekend in Utah and the girls and I spent the week before that in Boise with my mom. This was probably one of the last times that I could spend a week with my Mom with just the girls for a little while. And we had an awesome time (well okay Madalynn was once again teething and was a crank bucket until the last day.) We did a lot of shopping of course and it was nice because Kirsten was visiting the same week so I got a lot of opinions on what to buy and what should stay at the store. By the by Kirsten found an awesome maternity bathing suit at Target, just in case you need one! Sarah loved every moment of being with Grammi and Poppy!

So Easter weekend started out nice, we were reunited with Creed, though he didn't have enough bee pollen and was sort of a crouch (bee pollen keeps his depression and OCD controlled instead of prozac, I can talk about that later if someone wants.) Anyway, and on Saturday we had an awesome Easter party with Great Grandma Larsen and a bunch of the Larsen clan. It was a blast! Sarah was so good at only picking up the candy that she could eat, the taffy, which apparently was not a hit with everyone else, so we got a ton! We made special gluten free chocolate coconut cookies, which Sarah continues to talk about to this day. So cute! I love that she appreciates the extra work it takes to make stuff for her, makes me want to make stuff more often! Anyway, Saturday night we went down to visit with Dave and Kiersten (best friends in the world who I miss dearly!!!) Sarah of course had to start throwing up, I had a migraine and Madalynn was a teething wreck. Oh so fun when Kiersten had a migraine and the boys were at priesthood. Then on Sunday Sarah was still sick, I started feeling sick and Creed started feeling sick as well. By Monday we were in the doctor's office in Boise with Sarah who had an ear infection and the ear drum had burst. We got home on Tuesday and Creed went to the doctor and found out he had strep. I went in on Wednesday because I had strep and Madalynn went in on Thursday because she had so much ick coming out of her ear we knew she had an ear infection. Needless to say the beginning of April was a blast!

Once we were all feeling better we started the packing, which just doesn't go as well with kids unpacking the boxes and a big belly getting in the way of everything! I have decided that I will no longer move while pregnant. I just felt like a big fat loser who couldn't do anything and poor Creed had to do it all. I sure that him! Anyway, we got really busy with the packing and we painted the four bedrooms in the new place and then moved in all in a week. Oh, my were we busy, but it was good at the same time. We love the new place, it just feels more like home than the old one. There is enough room for us and some, which is wonderful with baby #3 on the way and the hope of having more children (though I am thinking that I need a little more of a gap between these next two!)

Madalynn is growing up fast. She loves to sing and dance, and is really quite fun to watch explore. She is trying her hardest to walk, but falls down after taking a step. I am hoping she completes this task before baby gets here, which could be any time between now and July. Anyway, Madalynn has a pretty big vocabulary, she says hi, peek-a-boo, Sarah, Mama (which isn't me, I am still Dada, go figure!), Daddy and duck. It seems like everyday she learns something new. Sarah is doing awesome and is growing up too fast! She had her first talk in Primary, she wants a bike for her birthday, and loves to play with Barbies. I am starting to feel just a tad bit old, though I know that I am still young. Creed is doing great at work and is really enjoying it more and more, which is always nice. I am now big, and to the point where doing much of anything is difficult. I can no longer reach my toes, bend over to pick up toys, or food on the ground, and my belly is getting in the way of me reaching too far into anything, such as the sinks, or the back of the stove and oven. If you have been pregnant before you know this stage. The one where you can't roll over without it taking 5 min. The stage where you start debating if shaving your legs is really worth the effort, and the stage where flip flops and slip on shoes become your best friends. I am there! Also the baby started having hiccups three weeks ago, this is good news for me because it tells me that I am further along than the ultrasound showed and hopefully I can start going off of my first due date and not the new one. I am crossing my fingers on that one! Anyway, next post will be a bunch of pictures, right now it is nap time and I need one!