Oliverson Family

Thought I would just post a few new pictures. We've spent the past month slowly passing this sick bug around to each other. I suppose it would've been to fortunate to have everyone sick at once. I think we're all finally healthy again though. At the moment I'm in the middle of waging a losing battle against the ants in the kitchen and thinking about  sleep training Chantel. I need to reread a few things before I start though. Any helpful advice on sleep training? Or how to keep your 3 year old in bed anytime after 5 AM? Maybe it's Logan in need of sleep training these days. The last few weeks he has decided that anytime after 5 is fair game to get out of bed and start the day with a bang. Glad you have such a zest for life Logan but would it be too much to ask for all that energy and joy to start after 7?

    Using the sick excuse to catch some zzz's                           All smiles in the bumbo. Thanks Es.

Logan letting Chantel pinch his face                                       Rockin the apron

                       Sisterly love                                              How did she grow so fast?

Okay I've conceded. I've finally come to the realization that I'm absolutely losing my mind! Is this what happens when you have kids? They deplete all your brain cells? This third child has taken the short supply I had left. There's a quote that used to hang at my mom's house that read,"Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most." My sentiments exactly. In only a weeks span I had thought of some pretty stupid things I 'd done.  This week I did a load of  laundry without soap. I found a freshly washed disposable diaper in the dryer. I stepped away from the stove to grab Chantel and burned caramel popcorn. While reciting to myself the  things I needed to grab before walking out the door I put deodorant on the outside of my black shirt. With car seat in one hand and keys in the other I rushed to the front door repeatedly clicking my  keyless remote. After a few frustrating tries I finally realized why the front door was not opening. :) Once in the house I had 10 minutes to grab a few things and head out to pick up Maddy. In those 10 minutes I lost my keys. One of Logan's bedtime pull ups somehow made it through the washer (actually twice).....And yes I'm starting to realize I have laundry issues. I think I've burned more dinners in the last few months then in the last few years. To top it off the other day might have been one of the dumbest things I've ever done. After pressing the ignite button on the BBQ a second time I decided to stick my face over the grill to see why it hadn't started . Uh luckily I only singed off my eyelashes....At the moment my keys have been lost for 2 weeks and search and rescue is about to throw in the towel. I am desperately hoping that there's some miracle cure to stop this process.  I'm going to have Alzheimer's in my 30's. Or maybe once the kids are grown and out of the house you get those brain cells back and that's how you become wise. Or at least seem wise to the rest of us. Yes, I think I'm going to hold out hope for that one and we'll see how it goes in about 18 years.

Little man in a suit on his first day of Primary                    Getting in as many fingers as possible

                Dad and Maddy say cheese                               My favorite color! Thanks Lauren!

                 Oh the many fun hours with tape!                                        Our little chunk

You mean 2008 is over? Guess I should put up pictures of the last month so I can eventually move on to the New year. :) December was super busy this year. It seems like there was something going on almost everyday. There were Christmas parties, school parties, Christmas programs, get together's, decorating the tree, making gingerbread houses, lots of shopping, baking and lots and lots of excuses to get together with family.We even decided to start 2 new traditions. The parade of lights at the harbor and ding dong ditching goodies. We went to the parade of lights with my parents where all the boats in the harbor are decorated in lights and then they have fireworks after. Very fun. Before Christmas the kids and I were baking some treats to deliver to a few families and I thought maybe it'd  be fun for them to leave the goodies, ring the bell and run. I am laughing just thinking of it. The kids loved it. Maddy wanted to be SO fast. It was hilarious. She loved the thrill so much that we let her do it again the next night. Christmas Eve and Christmas night were spent in the joyful company of family. Christmas morning was spent at our house with the kids. Can't think of anything better than the look on little children's faces on Christmas morning. Happiness & pure excitement. Wish they woke up like that every morning. :)

After all the excitement of the month, lots of great memories made with family and friends, and way too many late nights,  we decided to get away for a few days. We went to St. George for a few days where my parents have a house for some R & R. The kids even got to play in the snow. (And yes those are pretty redneck toboggan's) After going to 8 different stores with no luck Dean bought plastic containers. Thanks again honey for the pep talk about how this was building character as I watch the other kids with real sleds go by. Haha.Yes it was pretty funny. Although we had a great time I think one of my favorite moments was on the way home. I had taken Chantel out of the car for 10 minutes to feed her and then put her back. She didn't really want to go back in her car seat yet. She was crying and I heard Madelyn talking to her and calming her down. A few minutes later the backseat was quiet (which obviously prompted me wonder if they were all still breathing) When I turned around I saw that Madelyn and Chantel were asleep. As I went to cover up Chantel I could see that the girls were still holding hands. Definitely one of life's tender moments. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and are a little more on top of getting into the New Year than I am. :)

                                 Only pictures with Santa this year. Sorry kids!

           Gingerbread houses. Yummm!            After Maddy's Kindergarten Christmas program

             Pretty cute reindeer                                                Parade of Lights

  watching the boats was pretty exhausting                                   Cousins

           Logan's Christmas party                      Chantel and her cousin Mackenzie

                  Christmas Eve                                      Frosted cookies anyone?

                Christmas morning                             Teaching her little sis to color

                                     A day in the snow with our sweet sleds :)

                                            Not so much a fan of the cold :)                

                     Bubble Bath                                                   Loving sisters

Tis the season. Ah. Sometimes I wish we could just do November and December all year round. I love this season. A time to remember all our blessings and give thanks for all that we have. People are (usually) joyful, happy, and nice. A time to shop, eat good food, do service for others, and most importantly remember the reason for the season. Yes, I love this season. Although I probably couldn't do it all yearlong because I would miss spring, summer and a little more summer.This Thanksgiving as I looked around at our family, and the chaos of all the little kids running around, I couldn't help but be grateful for all my blessings. I am sure each of us could fill volumes with the things we are grateful for. Our families, our friends, our faith, the gift of life and freedom, and all the experiences we have had along our journey here. I am very grateful to know so many good people who have had a positive influence on my life even when they have not known it. I am grateful for the little everyday things as well. Like super hot showers, Sunday walks with the family, children's laughter, a good song, and a good DP :)

I had been thinking a lot about the gratitude I have for my family with our new little addition, but had an experience this past week that has made me all the more grateful for each on of them. Last week I lost Logan. Not to be over dramatic but probably the worst 5 minutes of my life. My family was at the mall having all 9 grand kids picture taken. Yes we are CRAZY! From 18 years to 2 months. After the pictures were taken I was talking to my sister Tammy and my sister-in -law Stefanie about who was going to take the kids for ice cream and who was going home. Maddy, Logan and their cousin Kaleigh were all playing pretty close to us. All of a sudden I didn't see Logan anymore. Maddy said something about he is gone. (We were at the JC penny's in the mall) I walk around the corner and figure he must be right there. He isn't. I start to call for him. Nothing. We walk a little further to the elevator and the bathrooms. I start to feel that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that I can't even begin to describe. Somewhat like the feeling when Logan hit his head only times 10. I check the bathrooms and Maddy says something about Logan maybe going on the elevator. We start calling for him and asking anyone in the area if they have seen him. Tammy stays with the kids and Stefanie heads through the store to look for him. I take the longest elevator ride up to the 2nd floor and ask a worker if she has seen a little boy. She gets on her walkie talkie and a minute or so later I hear Tammy yelling they had found him.  Once I got off the elevator I gave him a huge hug and started crying.I was pretty shaken up. When I told him he'd really scared me he responded in a very sad voice, "I was looking for the transformer cars." I didn't know weather I wanted to hug and kiss him forever,to ring his neck or both. He was not frightened or looking for me, just sad he couldn't find those cars.I am so grateful that Tammy and Stef were there. Thank you a million. The only thing that made the whole frightening experience a little easier was not being there alone. Having your help and support. I love you guys. It was a pretty emotional night. Maddy asked me several times why my eyes were watering. And just as my sister knew I would, I broke down crying on the way home and then again when I got home and told Dean the story about how I must be the worst mother ever. As unfortunate as the experience was I have a new gratitude for my family and my little ones. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving,is  giving their loved ones a few extra hugs and kisses and is enjoying this wonderful season of thanks.

          One of Dad's favorite past times                                Such hams                                    

Thanksgiving feast at Maddy's school                        Maddy and her BFF cousin Kaleigh

              Thanks for the adorable outfit Karli! Too cute. 

                Bug (or snail) hunting

Just thought I'd post a few pictures of the kids for Halloween. Tinkerbell, the race car driver, and the pumpkin. It was a very good Halloween. Really a great week. Last weekend we were able to have some of our favorite people come and stay the weekend with us. We love seeing Chris and Karli. The time is always too short but it was great fun hanging out with them and getting to know their adorable little Kai.  Logan is still talking about how cute she is. Later in the week we took the kids to the pumpkin patch and on Friday Logan and Maddy had Halloween parades and parties at school. We went trick or treating down linden(a street leading to the beach here) with all the little shops handing out candy. It's really cute. After we had our fill of candy we had dinner with friends and came home to crash. Logan was on such a sugar high he didn't fall asleep until almost 10pm. Unfortunately, I now have either less hands or less memory so I didn't get too many pictures of the kids. I have been kicking myself for not taking more pictures over the last few months. Oh well, maybe I'll do better with the upcoming holidays.Now I just need to throw away the Halloween candy so I don't continue to eat it all.(Although the kids are really helping me out with that.) Yesterday Dean and I decided to attempt a rare nap. When we awoke the kids had eaten almost all of Logan's Halloween candy. His very helpful big sister climbed up and got his bucket out of the cupboard.  They were hand over fisting the candy. I think they ate enough candy to last them until next Halloween. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Chantel's first Halloween                                        Two looking terrified and one mad after corn maze?

                                            The biggest pumpkins they could find

                We love you guys!                                     Maddy's Kindergarten class

    And you thought in never rained in Cali                                   Our little Pumpkin

                                               Calling it a day(with candy still in Logan's mouth)       

                                              A beautiful halloween sunset

Wow! Our sweet baby girl is already 7 weeks old. I continue to be amazed at how much babies change and grow in just a matter of weeks.It's been very fun seeing Chantel become more alert and getting to know her little personality. Here are a few things she has been enjoying lately.She LOVES to be snuggled and to be swaddled tight like a little burrito. She loves the sound of running water, bath time, lots of sleeping, and lots of eating. :) She loves the attention from her big brother and sister......... or perhaps she's contemplating how she ended up in the circus. :)It has been such a blessing to have this one here. I love her tiny hands and feet and that she has her dad's long fingers and toes. I love that when she nurses she rests her little hand on my chest and looks up at me with those sweet and innocent eyes. I love that as soon as she hears her dad's voice she gets a huge smile on her face and her little eyes start to sparkle.I love the way she stretches and how peaceful she looks when she's asleep.I love watching Logan and Maddy talk to her, sing to her and hold her hand when she cries.Yes, I think we've all fallen in love  with our little Chantel. Since her arrival I have felt such an overwhelming gratitude for my family . I can't help but wake up and be grateful for my blessings. I think about how blessed I am to be with a husband I love and children who bring me such joy. I can't think of a better way to begin the day then with this precious little one snuggled up next to me. I have been laughing a lot lately when I think of the extreme change from the past 9 months of fat, sassy, and not quite the best attitude. Although the chubbiness has stayed I now seem to awake in the middle of a musical wearing rose colored glasses. :) I guess going through a few of life's unpleasant moments makes you so much more grateful for the blessings you have at the end.

Here are a few pictures of the kids. Maddy schools had there yearly jog-a-thon as their school fundraiser. It was adorable to see all these little kids running laps around the field. (They ran more than a mile, haha, I think that's more than I could do right now)And of course Logan had to join in for a few laps too.

This was something I forgot to post a while back. In the spirit of keeping this as a journal (or a sad attempt at one) I thought I should take a quick moment to sum up my thoughts on the last 9 months. As anyone who knows me already knows, pregnancy is not really my thing. As much as I would've loved to be radiant and adorably round that's just not the hand I was dealt. So I thought I would mention the highlight and the low lights for me to remember. First we have the low lights. :) Umm.... it probably started with the first month of disbelief. We knew we wanted more children but had planned on waiting one more year. Then there was the morning..errr all day sickness. Many times I tried to talk myself out of vomiting or feeling sick. Another lovely  was always knowing your proximity from a bathroom, toilet or bucket. Gagging while coughing and brushing my teeth. I seemed to catch every germ that came through the door and had a permanent 9 month cold. Exhausted. I remember trying to bribe Maddy and Logan to attempt a nap or just to lie down and rest. Insomnia. It was extremely tough to get up each morning after only a couple hours of sleep a night. Pregnancy is 9 months that I just don't quite feel like myself. Probably my hormones going crazy, the sickness, and no sleep has something to do with it. Also a low point was my mortifying doctors appointment where I gained 11 pounds in 2 weeks. I wanted to hide when the doctor (in disbelief) is double checking the numbers with the nurse thinking she must have wrote it wrong. Then she turns to me and asks what happened. I had no idea what to say except that I guess my vacation was a pretty good one. I do however think that this was the easiest pregnancy so far. And I think a huge reason for that was my family. Even though it was tough, there definitely were some highlights that I will remember fondly. Like when we told  the kids we were having a baby. Maddy was so excited she was beaming. She told all the family, and everyone at church and school that her mom was having a baby.  Logan liked talking about all the toys he was going to share with our baby. I remember one night he took out some of his very favorite toys and cars and set each on my bed telling me that he was going to share these things with the baby and how much she was going to like them. Of course another perk of pregnancy was to be able to eating anything I wanted without guilt since the baby needed it. :) The ultrasound of Chantel was another special moment. To see our little baby and to have the kids see her and be excited about having a sister was priceless. I loved when Maddy told the doctor," A sister, that's just what I wanted." Logan cried when we left  because he wanted to bring his sister home right now. :) Seeing how excited the kids were throughout the pregnancy really helped.  All things considered I think what I really loved and will miss about the experience is probably just 3 simple things.Feeling the baby move. Sharing all those little moments just her and I and knowing that she was always with me. The second would be seeing the kids so excited about their little sister.They loved to talk to the baby through the hole(my belly button.) They thought it was hilarious to give zerberts  on my belly to the baby as well. Their laughter was contagious. The last thing I loved and will miss is going to sleep every night knowing that no matter what happened that day I had done something that was truly important beyond measure. I'd been entrusted to be carrying a precious little miracle.

This is just a few highlights from the last few weeks. Two weeks ago was Chantel's Baby blessing. It was a very special day. I felt so blessed to be surrounded by such a supportive and loving family. Thanks to all our family that made the day so memorable. Last week Logan had his first day of preschool.... well sort of. Logan had spent a few days at a differnt preschool, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't the right school for him. The experience was a good reminder to me that as mothers we are blessed with mother's intuition. That you need to follow your gut feeling. Fortunately he is really liking his new school and I feel very comfortable with him there. His teacher is great and he loves telling Maddy about the tarantula in the school library. I think he sees how much his sister loves school and it has made him that much more excited to be big enough to go to school. Maddy celebrated her 5th birthday(yes a few weeks late) with a birthday party on the only day it has rained in the last year. :) The party ended up very fun and all worked itself out but I couldn't believe it only rained on that Saturday. Maddy has also been loving school and her teacher very much. At the end of September her school had their very first  assembly. Madelyn received the scholar of the month award for her Kindergarten class. It was so incredibly cute. Dean and I were beaming. We were so proud of her. Afterwards her principal came over to congratulate her. She said she could see that Madelyn was very proud of herself and her hard work.The smile on her little face is priceless when she knows she has really accomplished something. As for Dean, he has been pretty busy with work, family, his calling, and now he has joined a volleyball team. Hopefully we'll make it to see a few of his games even though they start a little late. Me? I am starting to see a slight piece of how this whole 3 kids and very busy is starting to come together. Yes, very busy but very fulfilling. Are we all sleep deprived? Absolutely, but I can't complain, I am just thrilled to have our little one here. She is such a sweetie. I think there is just something about newborns that help you to remember the things that are really important in life. So tiny and precious. With no words at all I have already seen her bring this family closer together. The kids adore her. Maddy says,"She is just so cute I can hardly stand it". Logan is very gentle with her. 100 times a day he will say I think she needs a kiss. Then I will hold her down to his height and he will give her a gentle kiss on the head. It's precious to see the love and the bonds of siblings. In short, after nine months of highs and lows, LIFE IS VERY VERY GOOD!

Playing peek a boo with Chantel                        Any similarities?

  Gotta love cousins                                   Logan and Ry ticking each other with cattails

Logan's first day at new preschool                    Loves her bath time

Snuggles with mom                                         All for me?

Our little Scholar of the month                          Kisses from her big bro

All the kids waiting for the candy                        Madelyn's Princess party

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Chantel Shay Oliverson

   Video: Chantel Shay Oliverson

Wow 3 weeks already.Okay well I said I would get on here and post more details of our little one but it has taken me a lot longer than I thought.  It has been an amazing (and a little crazy) last 3 weeks so I will try my best to give a quick synopsis of what has gone down.

Chantel's arrival.... Tuesday September 2nd we arrived at the hospital as planned for my induction after dropping Maddy off at school. By 9:30 the pictocin was flowing and I was super ready to have this baby. The first 4 hours were very serene and relaxing. I was having contractions but none were painful so all was well. At 1:30 my doctor broke my water and by 2:00 I was starting to feel some real contractions. By 3:15 we were into intense pain. The nurse gave me a shot of something (already forgot the name, but basically worked as a muscle relaxant. )It didn't take the pain away but it helped your whole body to feel completely relaxed. I remember saying something to Dean about why would women do this with no drugs at all :) Lol I had the first 2 kids with no drugs but this time I was not feeling like trying to be supermom. Maybe if there's another I'll go for the really good stuff.:)The nurse walked out for a moment and Dean said when she came back I was out cold. I fell asleep for about 3 contractions and was snoring. In the next 15 minutes I went from a 7 to a 10. At 3:35 the doctor arrived and Chantel was born at 3:45. She came into this world already with her own little personality and spirit. Although my doctor tried several times to convince Chantel otherwise, she decide to be born with her back arm out first. She was a persistent little one. She has shown us many times that she was indeed very ready to be here with our family now. She was born very alert, hands and feet were red, and one healthy set of lungs. Even a first for our doctor and our nurse who gave Chantel 2 perfect 10's for her apgar test . Yes, she and I were both ready for her to be here. The first moment I got to hold her was priceless. She was wailing and yet I felt as though it was the most precious sound. I had waited a long nine months to hear that sound. We love you Chantel!

      Chantel enjoying her swing, first bath, and napping. :) Maddy loving Chantel's little toes and comparing the feet the girls have both gotten from dad.

Friday...So how would you like to spend your 2nd day home from the hospital? How about by making a trip back to the hospital to take a tour of the ER? Yeah, it wasn't exactly how I was dreaming of spending my first full day at home. On Friday evening Logan was climbing up the couch, fell backwards and hit his head on the corner of the desk. Instant fear as I see blood gushing from Logan's head. My mom and I started to control the bleeding while Dean raced home. He was here in only a minute or two. We hopped in the car and after seeing that our urgent care was closed raced up to the ER in Santa Barbara. It was a pretty scary feeling holding Logan on my lap in the front seat feeling his little body so heavy and still. His little eyes were fluttering as I tried to keep him awake. We reached the ER to find ourselves assessed and then waiting with a lot of other people already there. Oh and through all this I forgot to mention I was BAREFOOT!  So incredibly gross. I feel queasy just thinking about standing on that emergency room floor with the lady next to me dry heaving over her barf basket. Truly nothing like a mother's love right? Anyhow the wait was going to be forever so we took Logan to an urgent care close that had no wait. (After we left I can understand why there was no wait) The doctor  who greeted  us was extremely nice but unfortunately not so competent. I knew it was a bad sign when the doctor was asking the 3 year old if he wanted staples or stitches? It was kind of downhill from there. Her showing him the equipment, then starting with 1 staple, he didn't like that so she went for the stiches,didn't care for that, and then back to the staples. The doctor told Logan to tell her to stop if it hurt (he's 3, of course he is going to tell you to stop, It DOES hurt )So after a very long time we were finally done. He had 6 staples and a lot of stickers to take home. I actually felt really bad for the doctor. Afterwards she told us that Logan was the first child she had worked with. By the time we got home several hours later I had blood streaked across the front of my shirt, was completely emotionally drained and was dying to get in the shower and scrub my feet off.

Logan's first trip to the ER

Aside from our frequent trips to the hospital,the last 3 weeks have been pretty busy. :) The 3rd time around you have to be up on your feet pretty fast. I think this has really been Heavenly Father's gift to me though. I had a rough pregnancy but the recovery has been fantastic. Maybe just 2 days I was sore, otherwise I have felt really good.  The first week and a half it was hugely helpful to have my mom here. She's fun to have around and is amazing to be able to fit in all the cleaning, cooking, laundry, shopping, organizing, and playing with the kids. Even if you are only 45 minutes away I miss having you here mom! You are incredible. Thanks for everything. I just need you to come back and show me how you got all that laundry done. :)  We have also been getting into the Kindergarten routine(I must say I love it, it's pretty adorable to have a kindergartner) Logan started preschool, which entailed paperwork, several meetings, and registration. Then we pulled him from that preschool (just had to go with our gut  feeling) and then do the work to find another preschool after that. I have had my own doctor's appointments, Chantel has been to 3 doctors appointments, Logan had his 6 staples out, (crying while I held him down) Maddy turned 5,  planning a birthday party and a baby blessing, getting ready for the primary program, both kids getting sick, Chantel and I both have Thrush and the list could most defiantly continue. We have also had our first successful outing as a family of 5 and I have conquered my fear of taking all 3 kids to the doctor by myself.(anywhere but the grocery store or the doctor's office please) Although we have had a lot going on in the last 3 weeks the best part  has been getting to know our  sweet little baby. Here's a little bit of life lately...

   Logan's first day of preschool                                Still best buds                                            Maddy turn's 5

    Grandma and Logan                                    First family outing                                   Playing Peek-a-boo with Chantel