Our Christmas Card!



 CHRISTMAS 2013

 

My cute little kiddos!

 

 

                    Hi family & friends,

So this Christmas season has come and is going by way too fast, Christmas cards did not make it to the top of my list and will not get checked off either.  I decided I could just do a blog post and let you see & read about our family if you choose.  Kind of lame, I know.  I'll try to be better next year!

 

This year has been another exciting one for our family.  The first half was miserable for me as I was growing a gigantic sized  baby, May 22nd could not come soon enough.  We welcomed Eli Jeremy Frey that day, weighing in at 11 lbs 8 oz!!!!  And 23 inches long!  He has been such a beautiful blessing to our family and I'm happy have a little boy to love on.  The girls and Daddy just adore him as well, so he is never without affection. 

 

We braved two trips this Summer, one to Utah for a family reunion in July.  We stayed with my Dad & step Mom at a timeshare for the week and got to spend time with both sides of family.  It was a great week.  Then in August we drove 18 hours to Carlsbad, CA for a week of camping at a State Beach.  Thankfully we had lots of helpers around! It was wonderful trip, even if I didn't get much time in the water because of Eli.  And he was a trooper the whole week! 

 

Of course we've had lots of visitors this year to come meet Eli, that kept our Summer busy as well.

 

Ava started Kindergarten this year!  She claims she's bored of school, but I know she enjoys her class and is doing well with learning to read and do math.  Our kitchen table is a non-stop mess due to all her coloring and crafting.  And she hasn't stopped growing!  At 6 years old she is the size of a 10 year old, crazy!

 

Mya is finally potty-trained and was able to start Preschool in October!  Since turning 3 she has turned from my darling little Princess, to my demanding Diva!  It's quite sad.  Though she can still be adorable and make us laugh. 

 

Eli is now sitting up and can roll from his stomach to his back, but not the other way.  He's just too big to move much, he's the size of a 12 month old at only 6 months. Two cute, but very sharp teeth have come in so far.  His adorable face makes me melt!

 

Jeremy is still at the IRS and got to spend a couple weeks doing Daddy daycare during the Government shutdown in October!  Thankfully he got re-paid though.  He was also able to take off 6 weeks to help out after Eli was born, I'm so spoiled!  He is still EQ President at Church, so he's pretty busy with that. 

 

As for me, still working for an awesome Dentist 3 days a week.  It's what keeps me sane, so I don't see myself leaving any day soon.  November 1st I started a health program to get back in shape and change my bad ways.  So far I've lost 26 lbs and am feeling great!  I've also inspired Jeremy to make better choices and exercise and he's lost some weight also.  I'm excited to reach my goals next year!

 

We hope all of you are doing well and have a wonderful Holiday! 

 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!!

 

Love,

Trish, Jeremy, Ava & Mya





Eli @ 2months

Man, why does it take me forever to blog!!!  I'm still in need of catching up. 

But Eli had his 2 month checkup today, so I wanted to get it blogged. 

Weight: 18 lbs. 8 oz. (99%)

Length:  27 inches (100%)

Head: 16.5 inches (98%)

=

BIG BOY!!!

 Eli is already in 6 months clothes, which I don't think are going to last long on him.

And he is being squeezed into a size 2 diaper.  Bummer because I have a huge box of size 2 that he'll probably never wear, guess I'll just give them away or try to exchange them.

 Eli is practically sleeping through the night and has been for a few weeks now.  He'll wake up anywhere between 4:30 to 6:30 am, eat, and crash for 3 to 4 more hours.  He rocks!!!

His morning nap is good, but he's spotty the rest of the day.  He loves to be held while sleeping or swaddled in bed.  He's still cranky in the afternoon/evening hours, but it's getting better, and he's in bed by 9:30/10pm.

 After waking from a nap, he is all smiles!  He loves to just lay on the floor and move his arms & legs.  Not a huge fan of tummy time yet!  And Ava is always trying to pick him up the minute I set him down to wiggle.  Drives him (and me) crazy! 

 He also discovered his hand the other day, he likes to shove it in his mouth to suck on. 

That's how I know he's hungry or could use his binky.

Eli is trying to figure out the muscles in his legs and practice standing (while I'm holding him of course).  This really seems to make him happy.  I think he's going to love the exersaucer when he's a little older. 

Eli still has a nice head of curly/wavy brown hair.  Daddy would like to shave it down, but there is no way he's touching it!  And it looks like we'll have another blue eyed child, which is strange since we both have green eyes.  We also just set up her Nursery and he has moved into it full-time now. 

We love our chunky monkey Eli!!!

(And now he is awake, just in time for me to finish!)



Eli Jeremy Frey

Wednesday, May 22nd @ 8:03 am

Eli Jeremy Frey

made his appearance into our family!

He almost broke the scale, weighing in at

11 lbs. 8 oz. and 23 inches long!

 Here we are, bright and early @ 5:30 am!  C-section scheduled to begin at 7:30.

Baby belly @ 39 weeks! 

 

 Our 1st family photo! 

He came out screaming and fighting.

 And just like a boy, he peed all over the warming bed after they unwrapped him. :)

 Surgery is over!  Time to go bond.

 Daddy is in love with his little boy, they are going to be best buds.

 But he is already a Mommy's boy too, like to be snuggled on the boob all the time! 

 Grandma & sisters were the 1st to meet him.

 Ava is the happiest Big Sister ever!  She wants to hold him non-stop.

 Waiting patiently for another chance to cuddle him.

Mya's 1st time holding and inspecting Eli.  She likes to comment on how cute he is, but didn't care to hold him much in the hospital.  She was more interested in playing on the computer every time she came to visit.

 

 

As for the C-section, they did much better at controlling my nausea this time.  I had spent most the day sick when I had Mya.  But with Eli, I threw up once towards the end of the surgery and that was it.  The anesthesiologist had trouble getting the spinal block in and had to re-try about 4 times.  That was a bit uncomfortable and sent a few electrical zings down my legs.  Otherwise the surgery went well.  She was really afraid I'd get a Spinal headache from all the pokes and unfortunately she was right.  Later that day I started to get a headache and it continued to get worse the next couple days.  The day I left, we decided to do a Blood patch.  They took blood from my arm and injected it into the spinal canal.  It seemed to work right away, but I still got a little headache that night. 

 

Eli is a super good eater!  He got my milk to come in pretty quick and he eats well at each feeding.  His favorite position to sleep in is right against my chest, where he spent a lot of time in the hospital.  He would be super fussy for Daddy, but lay him against me and he'd calm right down.  His bowels are working quite well too, we've already gone through a few outfits today! 

 

The girls are super excited to have us home again.  Ava is great about washing her hands and then constantly wanting to hold him.  Mya likes to check him out a lot too.  Mya is having a hard time with Mommy not being able to help her with everything, she keeps fighting Jeremy and Grandma.  I knew this change would be hardest on her, she loves her Mommy! 

 

It's been great having my Mom here to help with the girls this week and take care of us all!  We couldn't have done it without her!  I'm beyond grateful that Jeremy has a great job were he gets to take off 6 weeks of paternity time.  I know, I'm spoiled! 

And we are so grateful for this sweet little blessing in our lives, Eli is just perfect! :)

Ava @ 5 1/2 years

My beautiful Ava will be 5 1/2 years old on the 24th of this month, seems crazy!

Yes, she is the size of an 8 year old and wears size 7/8 clothes and size 13/1 shoes, it's nuts.  She always gets asked what grade she is in, ummm, still Preschool people.  But this Fall she enters Kindergarten.  A whole new world begins for us! 

 About Ava:
-Loves music, especially songs on the radio.  She is in LOVE with Justin Bieber (makes me gag!).  Thank Preschool girls for that one!  But she watches the Disney music videos that come on our Roku device and loves all the Pop music on there.  Loves "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons, which I like alot too.  She is like her Mommy, we love our music!
-Goes to Dance class, which does tumbling, ballet & tap once a week.  Though lately she says she wants to stop and go to Karate.  But she's so dang cute when she is in class and follows the teacher really well.  She has a recital in June, then we'll see if she still wants to do it in the Fall. 
-Goes to a Preschool/Dayschool the 3 days a week I work.  In the morning she doesn't want to go, but always comes home happy and talking about what she did with her friends.  Also reports to me how many time outs she recieved (had a bit of a listening problem this past Fall).
-Loves to jump on the trampoline and sing to the neighborhood!  :) 
-Loves boys!  We are in trouble!  A couple older boys at her dayschool are simply called "the cute boys" by her and her friends.  Or if we see a boy at a store or wherever, she'll let me know if he's cute.  She still has her heart set on marrying Justin Bieber, even if I tell her he's not good enough for her! 

-Not always the sweetest to her little sis, likes to push or kick her aside. But every time they get on the trampoline they are like best friends! She does have her sweet moments when she'll help Mya on the computer or help her get food when Mommy can't get her big pregnant self off the couch.
-She is so excited to meet her baby brother! She rubs my tummy and gives it hugs. She comes up with new names for him all the time, it was going to be Justin Bieber Harry Frey for quite awhile. Now she is coming up with more practical ones.
-Ava is a TV/remote hog! She would sit and watch Netflix all day long if I let her. I need to be better at restricting the amount of time she does watch though.
-She LOVES to color! She comes home with a stack of coloring pages everyday from Dayschool and is always coloring us pictures at home.
-We are still working on reading and doing Phonics with her occasionally. She loves to write notes to her cousin Kiera and friends.
-Daddy is trying to get her on her bike more, after a few bad falls last year (even with training wheels on), she hasn't wanted to ride it.  But in the past week they've been out for 3 good rides and she's loved it. 

Ava is a sweet girl, when she wants to be.  The attitude has gotten alot better in the last few months.  Don't get me wrong, she is still very Sassy!  But she is alot of fun and it's been exciting seeing her learn new things.  We do love our Ava very much!

My MYA @ 2 years & 7 1/2 months!

This post is all about MYA!  I don't do a good job of writing down all the fun things they say and do each day and by the time I get around to posting, it's months later and I can't remember anything!  So this is about Mya today, in the present!  

 Mya's favorite sayings: 
~now answers "oh yes" to something she wants (with lots of enthusiasm)
~"what the heck" (picked up from big sis)
~"that's amazing"
~"I wuz (love) that ____"  (said it to everything at Target today, especially in the toy isle)
~always says "thank you or bless you or you're welcome or please (and still will sign please while saying it)"  She has the BEST manners! 
~I've had a cough today and every time she hears me she asks "Mommy you okay?"  Or when her poops have made me throw up lately, she gets very concerned and asks that.   :) 
~Just started saying Ava right, except with a slight 'f' sound at the end.  She's always called her 'eye-ya'.  It was so cute! 
~says "no, I don't want to" quite alot
~On the way to daycare, always states "Ava go to preschool, Mya go to Betsy's"
~Shouts for a movie the second we get in "the blue car"
~Asks "what's this or what's that" alot more than Ava ever did!
~Says "I'm so cute" after getting her hair done.
~Calls our dog Jake "Jakey poo"
So much more, but those are some of the best I can think of!  This girl is a chatter box, she is such a fun little character.

 Mya's favorite songs:
1)  Wheels on the Bus
2)  Popcorn popping on the Apricot Tree
3)  Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
4)  Star shine bright (her title for it, I don't know the real name)
5)  Call me maybe ...especially the part "and all the boys, try to chase me, so here's my number, call me maybe". 
6)  I am a Child of God (used to make me sing it every night, but now it's more of Wheels on the bus)

 Other Mya facts:
~Loves to play with play dough, paint with water colors, color with markers, jump on the trampoline with big sis, play with barbies and babies, sing songs, play horsie with on her Daddy, play "ABC's" on the computer, go for walks with Daddy, take baths, and jump all over poor pregnant Mommy! 
~And she's starting to potty train!  Just last week she did her first #2 on the toilet, woohoo!  Daddy is going to work hard on potty training while off of work for paternity leave...he gets 6 weeks off! :) 

What more can I say, she is just such a delight!  The two's have not been bad to us or her, she has had very few tantrums, but she is opinionated and won't always do what we say (or eat much of anything).  But thankfully we rarely have to resort to time outs.  Ava and her tend to fight alot, but they also have their fun moments together.  I think we got pretty lucky with this little gal, we just love her to pieces!!!! :)

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving 2012

First off, my sis Melissa & hubby Andy came into town the Sunday before Thanksgiving, which was awesome!  Unfortunately I had to work the Monday & Tuesday, but they were nice enough to take care of my girls and have quality time with them.  We headed to the Coast on Wednesday to check into our Timeshare in Seaside.  The rest of the family stayed at my Aunt & Uncle's beach house.  It was a great weekend of eating, games, little cousins playing and socializing!

 I just slipped this pic in of Ava's new haircut, she decided she didn't need to grow it out like Rapunzel anymore since Halloween was over.  She looks super cute in her new a-line bob. 

(And it's so much easier to brush!)

 Ava snuggling with Great-Grandpa Clift!

 Andrew, Andy, Grams, & Jeremy- game time!

 The cute girls!  Jessica, Ava, Kiera & Mya.  I think they were watching 'Brave.'

 My beautiful sis Melissa!  I think she spent the whole weekend knitting hats, or is it crocheting???

They all turned out super cute!

 Uncle Andy bought a gingerbread house to build with the little ones, how nice of him!

And there is Ava wearing her new hat from Melissa, love it!

 My sister had the idea of us doing family pics down on the beach, too bad there wasn't much sun.

Love this one!  Ava covered her eyes, so Mya copied her, adorable!

 My 13 or 14 week bump (I think!).

Looking BIG already!!!

 Some of my family!  Shanda, Kael & Liam were sick and couldn't come, bummer. 

Also missing 2 of my brothers.

 Andrew, Melissa, Trish & Brian

4 of 6!

My stepdad Bill, Mom, Kiera, Ava & Mya

 

 

Love my Family!!!!



The story of Baby #3

After losing a baby in May 2012, we gave ourselves a few months off, which they suggest anyways.  We decided to start officially trying in August, when we had planned to in the first place.  I wanted to go to Hawaii and enjoy it.  I in no way thought we'd get pregnant on our 1st try, I mean you know our history.  7 years of no pregnancies, then IVF Ava, then surprise Mya.  And somehow I get pregnant twice in 2012, one when planned!  We were in shock, Jeremy didn't even want me to waste a test because he didn't believe it would happen right away, well it did! 

 

I called my doctor to see if she wanted me to start Progesterone, which can help you keep a pregnancy from miscarrying in some cases.  It took insurance a week or so to allow it, so I didn't get started very soon.  But my doctor wanted me in at 6 weeks for an early ultrasound, which I was grateful for.  Well I went to the appointment alone and as soon as I saw the picture my heart sank.  The tech lady didn't say a thing to me!!!  But I wasn't dumb, I knew I should have at least seen a bean shape with possibly a heart beating.  But instead it was just a dark circle with nothing in it, measuring 4 weeks, not 6 like it should.  I then saw my doctor and she tried to be optimistic, saying that maybe I ovulated late and so it implanted later.  I still thought it was over. 

 

She had me come back in a week for another look.  But this time we saw this tiny thing inside the sac, not quite viable, but the sac had grown to what a 5 week one would look like.  My doctor didn't give me much hope this time and I didn't think it was anything either. 

 

She had me come back 2 weeks later to see what was going on for sure.  To my utter amazement, this little bean popped up on the screen and we could see where it's heart was beating!!!!  It was hard to hold back tears.  My doctor was also truly amazed, she too had given up hope as well.  I called Jeremy on my way home and was crying so hard it was difficult to tell him that we were still having a baby. 

 The about picture is my little bean at 9 weeks, but measuring a week behind at 8 weeks.

 My doctor had me come back at about 12 weeks to check for certain markers that would show if the baby had Down's Syndrome or other issues.  All looks good!  I made Jeremy & the girls come to this appointment, the girls were more fascinated with the ultrasound wand than the picture of baby.

 And on January 11th we found out the best news....we are having a BOY!!!!

Yep, that's his private parts for display out there!

 This is how we announced it to Facebook!

And now we wait....9 more weeks till he gets to come into our family!

Hopefully by then we will have picked a name....

Halloween 2012

Jeremy took the girls to Downtown Gresham to go trick-or-treating at the shops while I was still at work.  Then I came home and took them through our neighborhood for about an hour, about as long as my pregnant hips would last!  Ava was too funny, if a house had too many scary decorations she wouldn't let us go near it!  The whole hour was her dictating which house she was willing to walk up to.  Mya was such a doll and would say "twick or tweat" at every house and then say thank you!

 My brother Mark had sent Mya this super cute monster costume, but when she saw that she had to wear part of it on her head, she said  "Mya no wear that!"  And screamed when I tried to put it on her.  So we dug out this Princess dress that Ava wore when she was 2.

My cute naked baby!

Just had to put this on here!