First day!

It's official!! Cohen has started school, 

and is now a Kindergartener! 

He has been waiting for this day for a VERY long time!

 

Giving loves to everyone!! He had a HUGE smile on his face all morning!

My little boy. He's grown so much this summer. In so many ways. I'm so proud of him. So proud that he loves learning, and trying new things. I'm so excited with this next year brings for him.

In his classroom at his desk

Saying goodbye to his little sis

His teacher, Mrs. Marlia, helping him "check in"

Cohen really wanted to ride the bus. From day one he said he wanted to. Well he got a little day cared the first day. But by day 2 - he was a pro! I can NOT believe he is a bus rider! He's so brave!

Waiting for the bus! Notice Molly in her slippers :)

getting on - completely fearless...

getting off at the end of the day!

Good luck, my sweet Cohen on your school year!!! I love you!

One month down...

Last week Crosby turned one month. Pretty crazy. It's weird that it seems like yesterday I delivered him (maybe because the event is still so vivid in my mind), but at the same time it feels like this sweet little baby has been apart of our family much much longer. Either way we love this bundle of cuteness far too much for him to handle! Literally. 

At his check up he weighed in at a 12 lbs 2 oz. (99%) and 22 3/8 inches long (86%).

We are enjoying his smiling face and his cute little coo's! Cohen and Molly are having way too much fun with him! And they are great little helpers. As of a few nights ago- Crosby has been sleeping VERY well! I don't want to jinx it, so that's all I will say about that. :) 

Oh I just love him! And I've loved this past month of getting to know this little person!

Boys will be boys

The other day I went to my room to put laundry away, while Cohen was in there doing quiet time. When I walked in the door, Cohen was jumping on my bed shooting 'laser beams' with a 'gun' in his hands. When I got closer, I realized what his 'gun' was. My attachment to my breast pump! I started laughing, and told him he couldn't play with it. He got really mad and said that it was his gun for shooting lasers!

Definitely want to remember this one for his teenage years! :) Love that kid!

The Birth Story

Well here we go. The story of how Crosby came into this world! (I am warning you... if you think I'm a sweet, nice, kind, innocent lady, then I would stop reading right now. I'm not kidding. You have been warned...)

When my due date came, June 23rd, My midwife scheduled me to be induced Monday, July 1st. - EIGHT days after my due date. She said, "there's NO way you'll go that long.. but just in case, we have it scheduled!" Well yippee....

Monday, July 1st...  Jeff and I showed up at the hospital at 7 AM. I had two nurses - one was being trained. Everything was taking a lot longer than usual, probably because of the training. At 8:30, they began the pitocin, and then we waited. At about 10:30, no contractions yet, and I still hadn't been checked yet, so I had no idea where I was dilated to. (A week prior I was at almost 4 cm.) Jeff and I were watching videos of Jimmy Fallon, when my sister Allison showed up to hang out with us. She got there at 10:45. At 11, I started feeling contractions. They came on FAST. At 11:15, I was calling for my midwife, telling her I NEEDED an epidural. That's when Allison decided it was time for her to wait in the waiting room. :) My midwife, Kate, came in and I immediately started ordering her to get me an epidural! She asked if I wanted to be checked first. She knew I wanted to attempt a natural birth, so she asked if I wanted to be checked in case that would change my mind on the epidural. I cut her off and told her that she was NOT allowed to check me, because I knew I was at 10cm, and I knew she wouldn't let me get an epidural if I was at a 10! I was seriously screaming. I'm not kidding. I was in so much pain, I kept shouting, "people are IDIOTS who don't get epidurals!!!" And "I"m such an idiot for not wanting an epidural from the beginning!!" You could tell Jeff was getting kind of uncomfortable, because i was being full on mean to people! The nurses told me they were going to give me some drug through my IV that would take the edge off. Every five seconds I kept asking if it had been done yet, cause it wasn't helping. I asked them what it would feel like, and Kate said "it will feel like you've had a few glasses of wine." and I got mad at her and said, "I've never DRANK wine!" So she said, "Well, now you will." (It never worked) Oh and at one point while I was throwing about on the bed, screaming, I looked up after the contraction and Kate, Jeff, and the 2 nurses were just staring at me. So in a very mean tone I said, "QUIT STARING AT ME!"  At 11:30 the anesthesiologist came in. Before he could even open his mouth, I asked him how long it would take for it to work. Kate and the guy both told me that there's a very high chance of the baby coming before it even kicks in. I just kept shaking my head, and demanding them to do it! I was a serious crazy person. I was leaning on Jeff while he was doing the epidural. There were times when I was grabbing Jeff's shirt, or hitting his back to get through the pain. At about 11:45 I very rudely asked, "Why hasn't it kicked in yet?!" Kate said it would take at last 10 minutes to take affect, and it had only been 9 minutes. at about 11:50, Kate checked me. And without a doubt she said, I have clearly been at a 10 the whole time.  At 11:55 I started screaming that I needed to push. So Kate very calmly said, "So push then!" (I really liked her) :)    Pushing wasn't fun. The nurse kept telling me I was doing great, so I "shh'd" her cause she was annoying the crap out of me. Everyone was just so quiet, and I was NOT. Finally at 12:12 a beautiful baby boy comes flying onto my chest. And the past was the past. I had this amazing miracle laying on me. I was so unbelievably grateful. For so many reasons!! I looked up at Kate and told her I was sorry for yelling at her. She just laughed.

Just so you know, my epidural didn't kick in until after Crosby was born. ;)

Crosby Nicholas Long

9 lbs 5oz 21 in 

I love him.

Mother of 3

Well Crosby is 10 days old, and today was my first day ALL BY MYSELF with all three of my precious babies. Between my mom, my sister, and my friends, the kids have been passed around the past week to help me adjust with 6 hands to care for, with my TWO. :) 

We ventured out to Target... Successful- yet longer than it should have taken-trip. First time I've gone somewhere since having Crosby. Pretty proud of myself that I even managed to put make-up on! 

The house is a complete disaster... Really. But the kids are happily playing, they've all been fed... So I would say today was successful! 

However- it's 6pm, and I'm ready for bed. :/

From the mouth of my babes (fathers day cont.)

These are questionnaires I did with the kids for Jeff for Father's Day. It was so much fun asking them the questions! Every answer is straight from there little mouths, and I did not alter anything! I love these so much! 

           

             

Father's Day 2013

This year we did Father's day a little different. We celebrated a week earlier. Since I knew we'd be spending father's day at Allison's graduation, I wanted to do something special. And knowing that the week before Father's day we wouldn't be spending much time as a family with all the chaos going on for Taylor's wedding.... I decided to surprise Jeff with a day trip to the beach! So Saturday night, the kids revealed the surprise! I cleared Jeff of any church meetings, and I got a sub for my Sunday School class. Sunday morning we took off for Lincoln City!

I did little questionnaires with the kids, and they gave them to Jeff before we left.

The weather was GORGEOUS!! Not a cloud in the sky. However, being the Oregon Coast, it was INSANELY windy, thus making it pretty cold. It was pretty dang annoying, since sand would fly into our eyes at any given second. Making lunch was almost near impossible. It was pretty miserable. The kids didn't seem to mind too much though. Cohen still ran through the water!

 At around 3pm, Jeff remembered Devils Lake. DUH! So we packed up and took off about 1/2 mile from where we were at the beach, to the Lake. There was a NIGHT AND DAY difference in the weather! Still gorgeous sky, but NO WIND!! it was awesome!! So the kids actually got to get in their swimsuits and prance around in the water! Oh man, it was great!! We had so much fun!

It was an absolutely perfect day. I enjoyed every little bit of it with my cute little family of four. It was so special spending that time with Cohen & Molly.

I am so thankful for Jeff, and what an amazing Dad he is to our precious kids. He has also gone above and beyond these last few months with me getting so large and unable to do much! My kids are so lucky!!!

I'm ready, why can't he?!

So I am totally ready for this baby to come. But I guess this little guy has a different agenda. I have 2 days left til my due date. My midwife keeps telling me he's already big and going to be at least 9 pounds... So he's physically ready to come out! :) If this is his way of testing my patience... That's not nice. 

Things I'm excited for:

- first and foremost... To not have heartburn. Never ever again. (Well until the next baby, if.)

- to sleep on my stomach

- walk up stairs without having to pass out.

- be able to bend over to pick something up. 

- have my skinny ankles back.

- to go running!!

- to not be so hot & sweaty alllllll the time.

- and I suppose I'm excited to snuggle my new babe! ;)

Great weather, great friends

(I just figured out how to post from my phone! So we'll see how this works!)

With great weather, comes great fun! And I'm so thankful we have such wonderful friends, for not just me ;) but for my kids! We have been having a blast park hopping the last few weeks... And it's not even Summer!! 

It has been so fun having my kids be at an age where they can go on anything, and be so independent! I love their little adventurous minds. 

Time flies... literally.

There is a lot that will be happening in the next couple weeks. And it's going to fly by. Just like this pregnancy. This pregnancy has by far, gone by the quickest. But it has also been the most challenging. I'm sitting at 37 1/2 weeks pregnant. And it's so hard to believe that within 2 1/2 weeks, we'll add another little babe to this crew of ours. I really can't believe it. REALLY. I feel completely ready as far as clothes, diapers, burp rags, crib, binks, all the fun little baby things.... (I'm almost done with his blanket)..... but it's still so hard to believe I"m going to be responsible for another human being. And I still ask myself daily, "Am I really equipped to be responsible for these children?!" Apparently I am. :)

Monday - Luke & Jenny (and children) will be getting to town from Albuquerque (YAAAAY!!!)
Tuesday - waxing family's faces
Wednesday - Sydney's Temple endowment, with family dinner.
Thursday - nothing :)
Friday - Sealing day! In charge of bride's make-up and flowers at the dinner that night.
Saturday - Graduation dinner for Allison
Sunday - Father's Day & Allison's graduation from PSU
Monday-Sunday - the baby will be making an appearance!

Gah... I'm tired just typing that all out.....

The things that really get me through the day are Cohen and Molly. They are just so excited and happy about everything. They are so excited to see their cousins, they literally can't stand it, they talk about it every hour of every day. And they are so cute about the baby coming. They snuggle and kiss the baby belly, they help name it... Cohen's name he likes is Arthur, and Molly's is Stinky head. Man, how do we choose?! They helped me pick out the baby's new binks at the store, they help me hang the baby clothes... they are going to be such cute older siblings!! I can't wait to see them with the babe.

Now that Jeff has hooked up our AC units in our house, I am ready for this next week to come. :) Man, it's hot out.

The *new* Long Crew blog

So yes, it's been quite awhile since I've posted. When you get far behind, it's really hard to catch back up. So I've decided to take a different approach with this blog. Keep it updated (as much as I can), with less pressure for me. Which means... sadly, less pictures. I am such a visual person. So I LOVE tons and tons of pictures on blogs. But I think that's where I kept getting behind. So from now on, this will be a place where I can dump off my thoughts on to, update those who care, And a place for our family journal. With Facebook and Instagram, I feel like I share all of our pictures on there anyways...So anyhoo.... That's where I'm going with this now. And I'm excited to start fresh with my thoughts on my cute little family. :)

Molly the ballerina

I was changing Molly out of her church dress into some play clothes when she ran to her closet and grabbed her tutu! She's never really worn it (I'll explain in a minute) and I didn't think it would even fit anymore... But sure enough, it does! Molly LOVES Angelina Ballerina. L.O.V.E.S. So she spent the next ten minutes dancing around like Angelina before she had to go down for a nap.

Gah! I lover her too much....

The story of this tutu.... When her Aunt Tracey was visiting us in Utah, when Molly was 2 months old, we came across it and Tracey bought it for her! Tracey insisted that we had to try it on her even though it was 6-12months. So that's what this picture is. Then when Molly was big enough to wear it - it was January and a little too cold to be prancing around in it... And she wasn't really into it anyway. But now, she is! :) Good thing it still fits!

Dairy, dairy quite contrary...

Well the time has come. We have come to the conclusion that Molly is allergic to dairy and eggs. This has been a VERY long journey - so glad it's over - and now we can go on with our lives... DAIRY FREE.

This all started when Molly was about 3 months old. I remember noticing that behind her ears were really dry, and red. We were living in Utah at the time so I just figured she had dry skin. I just made sure that we washed really well behind her ears, and lotion-ed them up well. She also had a pretty bad problem pooping. She would usually always cry or scream when she had to poop. Again, just thought it was nothing.... she's a baby, she would grow out of it, right?

We moved to Oregon when she was 4 months old. Her pooping situation grew to EVERY. TIME. she needed to poop. She SCREAMED. She turned red - it was AWFUL! Someone had to hold her while she finished her business, and it sometimes would take 15 minutes!

I remember this one day so vividly- she was about 11 months old - I was in the kitchen fixing lunch and Molly was playing on the floor next to me. I looked over and she had a death grip on the fire place and her face was starting to turn red. I ran over to her and held her so tight to me. I was trying to console her. She screamed and cried and she held her body stick straight for over 20 minutes *this is where it gets pretty graphic* .... I ran downstairs with her to the changing table, pulled off her diaper, pushed her knees up to her chest, and THEN she was able to relieve herself. It was AWFUL going through just that 20 + minutes. I thought "THIS IS NOT NORMAL!!!!" I called my sister-in-law, Jenny (who I always call for all my medical needs!) and told her what was going on. She advised me to call the pediatrician. I called and made the appointment.

Enter Doctor who I am no longer fond of.

He told me that she was just constipated and it was no big deal. He told me to start giving her Mirolax. Every day. I thought, "ok, whatever, this will pass, she won't need to be on this for long..." I then brought up her rash behind her ears that she still had since she was a baby. He said she has eczema. And told me to put hydrocortisone on the rash three times a day til pretty much - always.

Okay whatever.

I wasn't happy with that meeting... But I didn't really have any other answers...

I did the cream -didn't work. I used the mirolax - did work. However, she couldn't NOT take it. Which I didn't like.

MONTHS later, I started noticing she had really red arm pits. Kinda rashy. At that time I couldn't remember how long I had even noticed them. So I just really made sure we cleansed her really well, and used lotion after every batch.

At every well visit check up, I brought up all these issues. And every time the doc told me the SAME thing... eczema and constipation. "Keep using the hydrocortisone cream EVERY day."

FINALLY- When Molly was almost 2 - I started noticing that her diapers would smell really bad. Not poopy - PEE. You know when you can tell a baby pooped, by how bad the smell was? Well I could tell every time Molly would pee, just by the smell. WEIRD. At first, all I could think of is maybe we weren't washing well enough down there. or maybe we weren't changing her diapers as frequently. AND she had a really bad diaper rash that would NOT go away. This went on for at LEAST 3 months. Probably longer.... So then I was thinking maybe she was allergic to the diaper wipes, or the lotion. SOOOO- I made all natural baby wipes And all natural lotion! Yes... I went THAT far! (sidenote- I absolutely LOVE the wipes, and will no longer be buying wipes. Actually, I love the lotion too. Never buying store stuff again) Well those things didn't help clear up anything, so obviously that wasn't it.

I took her back to the pediatrician. He ran tests for bladder infection and urinary tract infection. Both tests came back negative. So what was his suggestion for how to help my sweet little girl?!

NOTHING. He said absolutely nothing. I brought up EVERY LITTLE THING that she has a problem with: the rash behind her ears, the rash under her armpits, the constipation, the smelly urine, AND the diaper rash!! Come ON!!!!!!!!!! He just told me to keep using the rash cream and the Miralax. I brought up my thoughts on a possible food allergy and he said there was "no way she has a food allergy" because if she did "she would have hives or her tongue would swell....". But if I wanted a recommendation for an allergist, he would give me one. I pretty much said,

"GOOD DAY, SIR"

Next stop: my Auntie Carolyn. She graduated as a naturopathic doctor last year. She definitely knows everything! :) I talked to her last month and she recommended taking Molly off of dairy, wheat and eggs for three weeks. THREE WEEKS. yikes. So we did. I won't get into that... just know that it was VERY hard! But we did it! (YAAY) After the three weeks we were to introduce her to dairy for one day. After three days from that - ALL OF HER SYMPTOMS CAME BACK. I was shocked - and very relieved. Relieved that we had an answer to her issues! Then we added gluten. After three days - nothing happened. (Woo hoo!!) Then we added eggs. After three days- sure enough rashes under her armpits surfaced, and her diaper rash came back.

So there you have it. That is our last month's journey to Molly's health!

No more dairy and eggs for this girl! (which is a blessing!)

So in conclusion: I am very proud of us for sticking with this strict 'test' with Molly. I'm so thankful for everyone who supported us. It truly helped us stay motivated! I am SOOOO proud of Molly for being so receptive to all of this. She ate some pretty weird stuff this past month - and she was a champ! :)

I love her so freaking much. And I'm so thankful we found the reason for all of this so she will feel better.

P.S. I will no longer be going to her pediatrician. I am shocked of the lack of support and advisement we received. :(

because I love you...

You might remember this video I posted on Facebook a few weeks back...

Well this has been a common phrase around our house since then.

So common, in fact, look what a cute little someone has started doing???

My new smile....

I have been so unhappy with the way my front (nasty, white-trash) tooth looks. In fact, whenever I have a picture of me with my smile, I HAVE to edit the color before posting, or sending, or printing... And it actually drives me nuts when other people take pictures of me, because I know I won't be able to edit that stupid tooth!! Sad, I know.

EVERYONE always would tell me, "Oh, I haven't ever noticed it before!" And what I have to say to that is: YEAH RIGHT.

So, I finally did something about it.

Here is the beautiful BEFORE picture right before I went to the dentist....

The AFTER!!

TA-DA!!!!! My award winning new smile! And I *LOVE* it! Woo Hooooo!

So here's what happened... When I was 17, I had a root canal on that tooth. The dentist wasn't able to finish it in that appointment, so he put a temp filling in until he could finish it. Well he never did. A few months later, it was turning black. I then went to Dr. Packham, and he fixed it up. He bleached it from the inside out, and finished the filling and sent me on my way. Over the years it had faded again. So a friend of mine works at Dr. Gregson's, and referred me to him. He cleaned out my nasty tooth, and bleached it from the inside out, three times (over the course of a week and a half). Then he closed up the tooth, added some sort of bonding to the bottom of it so it matched the other front tooth, then polished the front two teeth and got rid of the jagged bottom! (Yeah, I know... I'm so technical with my verbiage!) If you want to know the actual terms and things that were used, check out that link above. They posted pictures of the process of my tooth, with what was actually done. :)

All in all, I am so thrilled with the outcome! Dr. Gregson did an AMAZING job. And was so awesome through the whole process. Made me feel so comfortable, and explained everything so well to me as we went. Oh, and I can't forget his team too! Just great!

Sometimes I catch myself looking in the mirror at my teeth... :)

My birthday princess

molly, mollykins, baby moo moo, missy moo, princess toodles, whatever you want to call her, she's my baby girl that turned 2 today! I can't believe it's been two years. It honestly seems like I just had her! Seriously... I don't know if it's because my labor was so amazingly easy with her, or what, but I remember that day, REALLY, like it was two days ago!

My Mollykins is truly hilarious. She does the silliest things, and replies with the funniest words, or sounds. She is constantly making us laugh! Maybe it's because she is just so full of life.

She is so sweet, and you can tell she's very caring. She is very quick to share with Cohen, or give kisses or hugs, or even snuggles!

Is it common for a 2 year old to carry a tune?? She loves singing! And she can sing along and actually stay on tune! It is sooo cute. The best is when we're driving and there's no music on... She'll start singing, and jeff and I can understand what songs she's singing!

I love watching her and trying to figure out what's going on in her head. She's very smart, and knows a lot of the alphabet, and can point letters out.

I just love that sassy little girl!! And I'm so blessed to be her mommy. Truly.

This morning, Jeff had a meeting so it was just Cohen and me until Molly woke up. Before she did, I helped Cohen wrap his present to Molly. He was being so cute putting stickers on it, and coloring it. All his idea! :)

When she finally woke up, Cohen and I ran in to sing happy birthday! We brought her downstairs to the plethora of balloons! She was so happy! We then ate pink waffles, and Molly's had sprinkles on them.

Cohen just couldn't wait for the party later that night, for molly to open his present! So she got to open it before church. Cohen gave her a Rapunzel barbie doll.

Her new doll, and doll bed

Her awesome tent from Auntie Allie, and Uncle Nick

she loves her uncle Nick! No, really! :)

The sleeping birthday princess.... She's holding her Rapunzel doll, and she's snuggled up to the blanket I made her. Oh, and new jammies! :) Ahhhhh... I love her!

My favorite moment was when she was opening the blanket. I am very proud of that blanket, and for some reason, thought she would be excited to get a new blankie! She ripped the paper just half off, and she dropped it, said very calmly, "no..." and walked over to her toys! Ha ha!! It was sooo funny!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET ANGEL!!!!