Memories to Cherish

New blog address

2010-12-09T13:14:00.002-07:00

I wanted you to know that I now have a new blog address, so if you want updated blog information you will want to go to this new address. All my past posts are in the new blog as well. I will be updating to this new address.

http://8bashams.blogspot.com/

Canberra's 5th Birthday Party

2010-11-08T07:11:00.001-07:00

This is going to be a FAST catch up!

2010-10-18T14:52:00.003-07:00

I am going to do this in pictures since pictures say a million words in themselves. All in all, we are all doing great! Daniel will be done with school in November... we can't wait!! Kids are doing great in school... Canberra and Zander are going to a pre-school Tues/Thurs for only 2 1/2 hours and they LOVE IT! Twins are 9 months old.. Gavin is walking, Camia is standing and crawling but no walking yet. Canberra LOVES ballet and karate, she is turning 5 November 1st! Big girl. Zander is potty trained now at 3 1/2 years old ALL ON HIS OWN whew! Shane and Seth are doing great in karate. Shane will get his black belt in February. Me, I'm just working out when I can TURBO JAM. It makes working out fun. I've lost 12 lbs in the last 3 months. Not the best but I will take it! Well... enjoy the pics!

Been a while

2010-06-10T14:53:00.003-07:00

Quickly... Twins are almost 5 months! 4 month Gavin was 14.15 pounds and 24 1/2 inches tall. Gavin is rolling all over the place. As soon as you put him on his back he is rolled over. He is also sleeping through the night. 4 month Camia was 14.6 pounds and 24 1/2 inches tall and is rolling and talking and such a happy girl in the mornings. They both are eating baby food and LOVE it. They take short naps in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon. Then a short one in the late afternoon and sleep through the night a good 10+ hours! Whew! Shane LOVES to paint, Seth LOVES rocks, Canberra LOVES her babies and LOVES ballet, Zander LOVES to help me with the babies. He is also attempting to potty train but it's taking a while. Me, I'm living one day at a time. Enjoying sleeping through the night. Trying to get some kind of schedule with 6 kids during the summer. Here are some recent pictures. Enjoy.

Facebook friends... click on my blog to see the slideshow. Thanks! jannettebasham.blogspot.com

Makutu's, Camia & Gavin, Zander & Seth's Birthday

2010-04-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T09:00:00.003-07:00

I love these pictures!

Gavin & Camia 2 month pictures

2010-03-23T09:00:00.001-07:00

Family Pictures 2010

2010-02-27T09:50:00.004-07:00

Now these were interesting to get... 6 kids ages 8 and under. They were good sports.

Pictures

2010-02-17T10:18:00.005-07:00

Valentine's Day! Gavin and Camia's first Sunday at church.

6 kids...Oh! My! And they are all mine.

They were both crying and so I put them together in the bassinet and they stopped and fell asleep... for about 5 min.
Happy together and NOT being held... this is a rare picture.

This is the last time they will both be in the swing together...

My BIG helper!

Holding Gavin isn't enough... she wants BOTH of them! And yes, they slept there for almost an hour!

She's not the only one that likes to help out... Zander can be a big help too.

My Grandparents newest GREAT Grandchildren for 2009 and 2010... Macey, Avyn, Gavin, Camia...
...And Avery

The STORY

2010-02-10T11:17:00.003-07:00

Here I go… an attempt to give details before I FORGET!

Weeks 37 and 38 of pregnancy were not that bad really. I COULD have gone full term with minor discomfort. But I gladly took the 38 week inducing! It was hard to sleep and get comfortable, but that was it really.

January 17^th was the day to go in at 7:30am. I took my shower, got my bags… that have been ready since OCTOBER! Haha. Who would have thought I’d go to 38 weeks. Daniel dropped me off at the hospital and I said my I LOVE YOU’S to the kids. Daniel went back home to get the kids ready for church. My parents came and picked them up to take them to church while Daniel came to the hospital.

In the mean time they were prepping me for a C-Section IF NEEDED. I got my IV… which the nurse did an amazing job! She put it on the SIDE of my arm rather than on top. It was GREAT! At 12:00 I got the sono done to find out where the babies were. Camia was vertex (head down) and Gavin was transverse (sideways above her). Here is a picture although Camia was NOT breech. I just couldn’t find a picture with a transverse baby on top and a vertex baby under.

After they got the positioning of the babies they broke my water. I was 75% face. At 12:30 they gave my epidural, which didn’t work! NOT COOL. The anesthesiologist went into another delivery that ended up getting stuck in the OR. 2:45 I got the next epidural by a different doctor that was called in just to do mine. Yah… water broken at 12:00 and NO WORKING epidural!! All you moms out there KNOW how painful the contractions get once the water is broken! I was getting worried by now that NOTHING was going to work for my pain. The second epidural wasn’t working very quickly so they gave me another injection at 3:20. It wasn’t until 3:30pm that I didn’t have any pain at all! I was then 5cm along.

At 5:00 I was 7cm and 100% face. Once again… my epidural decided to STOP working. SO MUCH PAIN! So I got more meds. At 5:25 I was 8cm.

At 6:00pm I was 9.5cm and they got us all suited up for the OR. I talked to my doctor several times about the C-Section. I told her if I get the point where they may have to have an emergency C-Section to get Gavin out BECAUSE I can’t push hard enough or something on my end to let me know so I can really push with all I have so I don’t have to have a C-Section.

We left for the OR at 6:30. We got there and everyone was getting prepped and all the things ready. They had me do a little push and then 2 pushes later Camia Star Basham was born at 6:52pm at 6lbs 13oz 19” long. It felt so good when she came out. I just wanted to sleep! I heard her cry and just flat out balled my brains out! I LOVE the cry of a new baby!

Because Gavin was transverse he just fell right into place. Thank goodness. It took a lot longer to get him out because he had to go through the process of going through the birth canal. But I was pushing pushing pushing until really, I felt like I wasn’t pushing correctly anymore! I had NO strength. His heart rate kept falling with every push and then would go back up again… until the one push his heart rate went down really really far and I totally freaked out. My doctor looked at me and said… remember our conversation about “that push”… NOW is the time to push THAT PUSH! Freak out man! I pushed so hard I thought I was about to pass out! 7:11pm Gavin Knightly Basham was born at 5lbs 15oz 18” long. Oh man. I just melted into the bed. I was EXHAUSTED after the hours of no working epidural or pain medicines and then delivering 2 babies!

I didn’t get to see my babies until after I was stitched up and I was wheeled back to my room. I had a minor 1^st degree tear, couldn’t complain about that one! Camia has a few very minor issues. Because of her position for so long, her little head had formed more to one side than that other. Which also caused something called Right Torticollis. The tendons on her right side didn’t get to grow with her because her head was tilted in the womb. So we have to massage and stretch it for several months so it can stretch out. She will probably always have a little tilt to the right because of this. But it’s not as bad as it could be. Hopefully the shape of her head will form back in time. It’s not bad at all but it is noticeable. Other than that we have 2 healthy twins!

I will type more about how the first month has gone another day J

PICTURES

2010-01-31T17:32:00.001-07:00

Here are the pictures I have. I will post the story SOON!!

They are here!

2010-01-29T12:13:00.002-07:00

Sorry all my blogger followers! Yes I had the babies... NO c-section necessary :-) Camia came in 3 pushes and Gavin 20 min later. I will post a few pictures now and once I get a chance I will give the details. Right now Zander and the twins are napping and so I am going to take advantage and sleep myself! But SOON I promise you will get all the details of delivery. There is a lot of info to tell so check back in a day or so! For now, enjoy these pictures of our newest family members!

36 weeks ~ LAST sono pictures and UPDATES

2009-12-31T13:22:00.005-07:00

jannettebasham.blogspot.com

I would be in bed but since I have to wait for the dryer to be done I figured I'd be productive rather than get all comfortable in bed and want to cry when I hear the dryer buzz.

I had my last sono today and got some cute pictures of my squished babies. I think it's time they start sending that signal to my body that they need to come out! Poor things! Gavin had his foot up to his forehead and his butt or privates pressing against Camia's face the entire time.

Me: My left kidney is down to mild and my right is about the same at Moderate/Severe. I am only dilated to a ONE! Figures. But that is a good thing right now I suppose since Daniel will be gone from the 4th-9th of January. I now have a little more peace of mind that I'll make it through this next week just fine. My doctor scheduled me to be induced on January 17th. So that is the new due date I will be telling people when they ask. With any luck though, I'll go sooner. 17 days just sounds WAY too long right now. So much for having little babies! I'm going to have two solid 7 pounders! I haven't been sleeping well for 3 nights in a row. I feel fine though, no pain or anything. Just heavy and uncomfortable. So I roll from one side to the other every 30 min! At least Daniel will get some good sleep for a week!

Camia: 5lbs 11oz and her head is still down still like a good girl. She was yawning and opening her mouth a lot so it was cute to see her do that. Her face is really pressed up against the membranes AND Gavin's butt or privates. Poor girl. But she is active, healthy and catching up to Gavin on weight!

Gavin: 6lbs 3oz with his head up still. Don't think that is going to change in the future so we are going to try for vaginal birth with Camia first and then try to turn Gavin. There is a chance I may have to have a C-Section after Camia is born. But it's worth the try I suppose! Gavin had is foot up to his forehead and his head squished in to his belly. I feel so bad for them!

Here are the pictures I got today.

Gavin:

Look at those cheeks!
The best face shot we could get of Camia:

Camia with Gavin's butt pressed against her face, thank goodness there are membranes between them!

34 week Pictures

2009-12-22T14:23:00.001-07:00

All you facebook friends and family have seen these already but I forgot to post them to my blog and got some requests for pregnancy pictures. So here they are! These were taken on my Birthday, my sister Mariah bought me this shirt, and this is the only outfit I have that fits me, ha ha. So every time you see me I will most likely be wearing this!

Hospital

2009-12-22T08:50:00.003-07:00

It's amazing how things can change in just one minute! I was having a great 34 weeks, going to parties and actually making it through them!

Saturday however changed my good streak. It started out fabulous, I rested pretty much all morning and then went to see Canberra and Seth get their next belt advancement. Then we went to the Basham's Christmas party about 4;00 and I found a comfy seat and stayed there pretty much the entire time. When it was time to get up however, I had the stretching pain under my belly, something I had not had for several weeks. This threw me off a bit, I could hardly walk even! Went home and got right in bed. I had bad pain in my back and realized that I hadn't been to the bathroom since about 1:00pm that day! That was about 7 hours! I had plenty to drink all day so this was weird! I tried to go and just a little bit came out. With my back hurting so bad and NOT going away with laying down I called the on call Doctor and was told by the answering service that my doctor said to go into Triage. So to the hospital I go at about 9:30pm.

I got monitored and they put in a catheder (not cool) to see what would come out. Not much at all. Did a bladder scan to see how much was still in my bladder and there was still a lot in there. That was pretty much the end of that. They monitored the babies for a while and the babies were fine and active and they told be to go ahead and go home and to call if I got any pain. Never saw the doctor on call. Grrr. I was so tired! I got home at about 12:30 that night and was just exhausted.

At 4:00am Sunday morning I woke up to burning contractions. BAD ONES! Not the solid hard pain contractions, these were burning my belly top to bottom! They lasted about 4 hours. All the time I had the phone in front of me trying to NOT call because I didn't want to go back. I knew my doctor would be on call startigng at 7:00 that morning so I was really trying to wait until then to call if I needed to. Every 3-4 min I got one and it was miserable. They started to slow down about 7:00am and I went to get back in bed to see if I could sleep. I slept for 2 hours and got woken up with another burning contraction. So I called my Doctor. And of course she told me to come in.

I got to the hospital at about 11:00am. I only got 2 more contractions. One on the way there and one at the beginning of my being monitored again. My back however felt great! I had no back pain! Still wasn't going to the bathroom as I often as I should have been so they put in a long term catheder. Ok, so I'm done with the catheder thing really, that is just torture. Did another bladder scan, blah dee blah dee. My contractions stopped of course, babies were fine of course, no back pain of course. What is it about getting to the hospital and all your symptoms just go away so you look like a liar?!? Still, my doctor hooked me up with an IV to get some major fluids in me to monitor my urine out go and told me to stay over night and get some tests done in the morning. So off I go to my room, which I shared with someone. A LOUD someone. I just started to cry because I was so tired and I wanted to sleep so bad! It was about 4:00pm. So I had a ways to go before visiting hours were over, but she kept the TV on the entire night! They also wouldn't give me my sleeping medicine until 9:00pm! Needless to say I was awake until after 10:30pm WAITING for this sleeping pill to WORK! I was back and forth all night.

6:00am they came in and took out my catheder and my orders were to go to the bathroom 2 times and if there was enough "void" I could go home. 9:00am came and they woke me up to take me to my sono to get a growth on the babies and make sure they were ok. I went to the bathroom first and did a fabulous "void". It felt so good (not to gross you out on details) but it had been a while since it felt that great! Got to the sono and once again it was fast. But babies were just fine. I will post baby info at the end. After the sono (about 11:00am) they took me to get monitored again... uh just had a sono, the babies were fine... there was NO order for another NST... tried telling the nurse that and at about 12:30 it clicked and she said... "oh, I just can't find an order for this, I'll get you back to your room" DUH! I sat there in a wheel chair for almost 2 hours! Then I got back to my room and waited for the on call doctor to come for the next step. Which she didn't until after 5:00pm! I did get to sleep for about 2 hours! I didn't get home until around 8:00pm. All that just to pee 2 times. What ever.

I thought I'd sleep good last night BUT, with my WORKING bladder I was up every 2 hours on the dot going to the bathroom like a normal pregnant woman. Yippee! So yes, I am tired. Very tired. I have 11lbs of baby in my belly and now, even being in bed in uncomfortable. I really don't think I will make it to 38 weeks. I can't even imagine doing this that long. I am rolling from one side to another every hour it seems because my legs fall asleep. I don't sit longer than 30 min due to my back/kidneys and standing is about the same due to my feet swelling. So we shall see what the next 2 weeks brings! I have my next apt AND sono on December 31st.

I think that is enough on the negative... I try not to be negative I'm sorry. I'm really NOT complaining, just saying it as it is and how my weekend was. I really do LOVE feeling the babies inside moving around and knowing they are ok. I love wearing maternity clothes and seeing my BIG belly! I LOVE knowing that my body is making little babies... it's amazing to me, I just stare at my belly and think about that all the time. So to the fun stuff... the BABIES!

I am 35 weeks...

Gavin: measuring in at 35 weeks and 1 day ~ 5lbs 15oz ~ 14% bigger than Camia ~ Chubby cheaks and BIG belly. We saw that he had HAIR also. Not a lot but it was there. He is actually head UP now, the stinker and had his butt right in poor Camia's face. His face was hiding behind hands, arms, legs ect so we couldn't get a good picture but we did see glimpses of him and his chubbiness. He has plenty of fluid still and his stomache was full and heart was perfect.

Camia: measuring in at 34 weeks and 2 days ~ 5lbs 2oz ~ We could have gotten a better picture of her had Gavin's butt not been in the way but this is all the nurse got (she didn't try very hard to get a better picture). Camia's heart was perfect and tummy full also. Saw her hair again and got another very clear confirmation she is a girl. She also has plenty of fluid and is still a good girl with her head down!

Both babies were very active and healthy.

Here is Camia and Gavin's butt (round bump covering half of Camia's face lower Rt. corner)

Shane's 8th Birthday

2009-12-08T09:28:00.002-07:00

Shane said "It was the best Birthday ever!" We ate pizza, opened presents and then decorated gingerbread man, girl and baby sugar cookies. I made them from scratch and the butter cream frosting. Yumm! I must say they were SUPER yummy! We made Shane 2 really big ones and then there were the next size down girl and boy and then a little baby one. Each kid got to decorate about 3 of them. It turned out really nice. They had fun and really didn't make a mess. We had red hots, mini M&M's, pull and peal twizzlers, red green and white frosting, red and green sprinkes, Christmas color nerds etc. It was great. Those who attended were: Papa and Grandma Great, Papa and Grandma with the fishies, Grandma Basham, Aunt Tanna and Macey, Aunt Mariah and Savanna, Mason, Vanessa, Prudence and Piper, Ethan Ardis, Logan, Berlin, Michael Jones, Sydney, Canberra, Zander and Seth.

Roller Coaster!

2009-12-04T07:11:00.010-07:00

I am going to type so fast so I can get through all this as fast as possible so please, sorry for the misspelled words and incomplete sentences.

FIRST - UP and DOWN: Our van. I re-posted it on Craig List and within 2 days I got a few inquiries. The first one didn't work out but then the second was fabulous. They loved it right away and wanted to buy it the following day that they saw it... Cash. Great! That was easy enough. Until I went to get the title and found out my bank that we got the loan through was a Virtual Bank. The title wasn't in Tucson or even in Arizona! Nice. So I got the step by step LONG process of fees and phone calls and wiring to be able the get the title here the following day via overnight FedEx. The buyer was fine with that. Great, perfect. They paid in cash and the money was wired and posted to the account. Everything was great. Until the next day when the overnight package didn't arrive and the company said they have no tracking on it and has no idea where my title is. Not great. Not perfect. So I have to pay for another 3 day permit for the buyer and pray the title comes in today. Yes the company got an ear full from me and gave me my money back for the overnight fees. But that is just ridiculous! The poor buyer was waiting at the bank on her day off all day for the thing! I feel so bad for her!

SECOND - UP: We went to the dealer ship the night that the van was paid off in search of our new family vehicle. We were not in a hurry but had a 9 passenger Suburban in mind and went to really dissect the truck to make sure it will fit everyone comfortably. No rush. They showed us a beautiful silver blue metallic truck. LOVED the color right away. They told us to drive it that day for a few hours and come back. So we did. LOVED IT! Felt comfortable in it right away and it felt like it was part of our family already. The sales man Mike already quoted us a payment. I told him our payment max and he called back with... our payment max. How about that! No back and forth a million times! It was so easy and stress free! So we knew we could afford the truck from the beginning which made it easy for us to fall in love with it so quickly. We went back that night and in 1 1/2 hours the paperwork was done and financing set. The financial man always tries to get people to buy extra stuff and so I told him... if you can make our payments the SAME I'll get the extended warranty and GAP protection. A $3,000 upgrade. In about 5 min.... He did. So we have GAP and a 75,000 mile 6 year bumper to bumper warranty and our payments actually went down $1. On top of that.... we actually financed about $2,000 LESS than our initial 0% apr deal. How about them apples! We got the call the following night that our financing did go through with no worries. We have great credit scores so that helped out great. Daniel was around 735 and mine was a 764. I love having excellent credit! So we drove our new family truck home that night!

THIRD - UP and DOWN, UP and DOWN - The DOCTOR APT: The babies seemed to be healthy, active and growing just fine. Both heads are down! Tummies were full. The babies have plenty of fluid around them still. Pictures... not so great. A doctor came in to "observe" and so she couldn't play around as much and take the time to get a good shot like she wanted to. Just my luck! We did get some pictures that I will post but I am so not happy with them :-( Oh well, a few more weeks and I'll see them for real. I GUESS I can wait.

My doctor told me that if I show up pregnant to our January 11th apt that she will induce me on January 12th if I am so uncomfortable. But NOT before that. So really, feeling great right now is a blessing because if I was miserable she would NOT take the babies... I would be on bed rest! I feel so blessed to be feeling energetic with no pains! Another issue is if I don't have the babies in December we are pushing our luck on having them when Daniel is out of town at orientation in Chicago from January 4th-9th. We keep saying with our luck lately I will go into labor on the 4th right when he gets on the plane. I hope that's not the case but it's VERY possible it could happen!

Back to the sono... They checked my kidneys... Left kidney is worse... it's at Mild to Moderate and my Right kidney is very worse... it's at Moderate to Severe now. Can they hang in there 5 more weeks!!! My blast! There is nothing they can do about it either so it's just a matter of playing the waiting game to see what happens with them. All that's really in store for me is PAIN PAIN PAIN if it keeps getting worse. As far as I understand there is no risk to the babies. But I am going to ask my doctor a bit deeper on the subject to make sure I understand better. Right now I am feeling fabulous, I can get around with no more cervical pain or stretching pains. My only issue is first thing in the morning (every morning) I feel like I am in full labor just to go to the bathroom... Now I know why! It's my kidney problem, so I won't expect that to go away. I don't feel heavy or weighed down, I can do pretty much anything, but I still try to lay down when ever I can. I really really feel great. However, I start to get worn down about 3:00 and I can't sleep well at night unless Daniel rubs my hands or back or something for a few minutes. Then I can sleep good. That's it for me in a nut shell.

While they were checking on my kidneys they noticed that CAMIA has HAIR! How CUTE! I was on my right side away from the screen so I didn't get to see it but Daniel did! It wasn't a bunch by any means but it was there floating around! We got to see her moving her mouth like she was sucking on a pacifire or something. It was so cute! GAVIN still has his cute chubby cheeks although he was hiding his face with his hands the entire time! We got a few peeks.

Baby A - CAMIA: Measuring right on time at 32 weeks 3lbs 14 oz.
In comparison from 1 month ago: She was 2lbs 8 oz.

Baby B - GAVIN: Measuring the same at exactly 32 weeks and 4lbs.
1 month ago he was 2lbs 13oz.

Again, I gained my consistant 4 lbs. Glad my body likes to be consistant like my brain ;-)

So here are the pictures we got this time :-(

Camia was spooning Gavin and so her face was pressed right up against the membrane separating them. The first picture the nurse was pressing on her to get the picture so her nose and face are squished. The second picture she took she tried not to press so hard, but Camia moved so we didn't get a clear shape of her face. However, it is very clear she has my nose shape and perhaps my chin. But these 3D things pick up other things in around the baby that really, this only gives you a slight idea of what they look like.

This isn't the best shot of Gavin but you can see one little chubby cheek and his two hands covering his face. The nurse commented on how long his fingers were! At one point he even had his toes up to his forehead!

So there you go. Our roller coaster of a week. What a way to start December!

Thanksgiving weekend was our pet rat Mia's 1st birthday! We love her! She has been a wonderful pet and hope she stays with us more years to come!

28 week update

2009-11-02T19:39:00.003-07:00

Baby A ~ Camia ~ 2 lbs 8 oz right on 28 weeks. Head down and heart rate 133 bpm. Growing perfectly. Placenta still nice and thick for her. She is just a bit smaller than Gavin right now.

She was still looking down but she didn't have her hands covering her face this time so the nurse was able to get this front view. She got some other shots of her side profile but unfortunately I was in room #3 which meant.... OLD Computer. So no fun pictures this time :-( I go back for another growth on December 3rd and it's scheduled in room #1... NEW computer! :-)

Baby B ~ Gavin ~ 2 lbs 13 oz which put him at 29 weeks. He mainly has LONG LEGS the nurse said. His head was up and heart rate at 154. He's always been faster than Camia's. proves that old wives tale WRONG about the heart rates! He also is growing perfectly with his placenta nice and thick also. This picture shows a more front/side view of him. She said it showed his chubby cheeks!

Me ~ Bad and good news. Bad is that my right kidney is as big as it was 2 weeks ago. Good is that it hasn't gotten bigger! I have gained 22 lbs this pregnancy, which is on the lower side for twins, from the last visit my weight gain has been exactly the weight gain of the babies. So that's nice. I have all the rest of my apts scheduled for this year... crazy. Every two weeks. I took the glucose drink today but the nurse didn't come up to draw my blood in time so I have to take it again in 2 weeks. I was going to go to bed but I drank all this water at dinner and I figured I'd be up in an hour anyway so I decided to just stay up and get this posted for all those who care :-)

Quarters and Dimes

2009-11-02T09:39:00.006-07:00

Grandma Basham bought all the kids these enormous (to say the least) Halloween cupcakes. We saved them to eat on Halloween night since we do not participate in the normal Halloween activities. These cupcakes were like 3-4 in one with frosting like 3 inches high! I wanted to puke when I saw them but we just told the kids to eat what they could and that they didn't have to eat it all. Which they couldn't of course. ANYWAY what brought me to post this is because Sunday night when we were decorating sugar cookies they were talking about the big cupcakes Grandma brought them. Shane said while frosting a cookie, "I only ate a quarter of my cupcake." Seth in deep silent thought for about 15 seconds then said VERY seriously and with a sigh, "I only ate a dime of mine." I still can't stop laughing about it. Leave it to Seth. I love what that boy comes up with. A few other classic that come to mind from Seth are these:

Friday April 11, 2008 - "My butt is burping!" "look Mom.. Yogurt is lotion!" As he walks in covered in yogurt. "No Seth... it's not." "Yah, it's sticky."

Tuesday, October 21, 2008- While helping him blow his nose, I was checking to see if we got it all out. I said "oh look, we have some sticky boogers still in there" and Seth said in response "I can just get them out with my finger." Yes, yes you can Seth, but lets use the tissue instead. It was just funny because he said it so seriously like there was no problem with that and as if he did it all time!

Canberra the poor little girl woke up with a runny nose Sunday morning. So we just went to Sacrament meeting and came home to have Primary here. That's what we've been doing when we hear half the people coughing at church. Only this time it was because of poor Canberra. Thankfully it's only been a runny nose which I think is due to the 2 days of literally freezing weather we had then it turning back to the 80's. Dang weather. Fingers are crossed it stays as a cold My Doctor will be calling me back today. She is staying in her room and playing in there so, as she put it "she doesn't get the babies sick". She is so thoughtful!

In her new shirt from Grandma and Papa great... she loves the sparkles!

Painting her birdhouse she got from her Birthday.

Here are some random pictures from the last two weeks.

Canberra has started Karate. She is in Seth's class and Shane is a helper teacher in the class. She loves it and is so excited to be able to learn Karate! She gets her white belt as soon as we give the ok. She has to say "yes Mam and yes Sir". Which she has been doing better that the boys ;-)

Zander didn't want to be left out...

Shane and Seth's school pictures...

Canberra's 4th Birthday Party

2009-10-25T10:18:00.005-07:00

Canberra had been so excited for WEEKS about her party. She loved coloring her invitations and handing them out herself to her friends. Thank you Lis Bell for the adorable picture... once again!

The morning started off bad for me. I had a lot of pain in my lower abdomen when ever I walked so I got a slow start to getting things ready for Canberra's Birthday. But it all worked out perfectly in the end. Thank goodness. I made her cupcakes, Daniel and I stuffed over 50 balloons with candy and prizes, I made frosting and frosted her cupcakes, did some minor decorating when Daniel came home with the balloons and got myself ready. All VERY slowly!

We waited for all the guests to arrive and started to open presents first. Every gift was so thoughtful and Canberra loves every one! She used her new cleaning set to sweep up crumbs in the kitchen and used her vacuum. She came into the room where I was lying down and said... "I'm 4 now, I can help you clean." She played with just about everything she got that evening while the boys were at Karate Belt Testing. She put on all her dress ups, colored some pages, played with her magnet wooden dolls, HAD to put on some "lips", She put her PINK car in a safe "secret" place so the boys won't get it, the works. Today we will play the butterfly catch game when Zander wakes up from his nap.

We then played a game where the kids popped the balloons we filled to get their prizes. I only have one picture because I video taped it all. We had Canberra do the first one and as soon as her balloon popped the rest of the kids could pop. Canberra picked a balloon that just would not pop. It was funny and the kids loved it. So she went to another balloon and it popped right away and the LOUD fun began! Popping, screaming, running kids everywhere! A couple of kids got a bit nervous from the loud noise but in the end everyone shared a candy and prize with the girls that didn't get any. So everyone was happy.

After the game we sang Happy Birthday and had cupcakes and "mommies yummy dessert" which is really my Grandmothers recipe changed just a bit. It's my kids favorite! The cupcakes I made just so happened to turn out the exact number to spell out Happy 4th Birthday Canberra on them. I was so proud of myself. They were pretty darn good too!

All in all, it was a fun Birthday and Canberra had a blast. That night I asked her if she had fun and she said "I had a lot of fun, all my friends where here. I have a lot of friends." Such a sweet girl would have a lot of friends. We love you Canberra! To those who came: Aunt Tanna, Jordon and Macey, Aunt Mariah and Savanna, Grandma Basham, Grandma and Papa with the fishies, Grandma and Papa Great, Emily, Prudence, Piper and Martin, Sydney, Natalyn and your brothers Shane, Seth and Zander THANK YOU!! And to Wei, Mason and Vanessa... thank you for the Birthday wishes and sorry you couldn't make it! Sorry for the spelling errors, I am typing fast so I can get back into bed!

I really LOOOOOVE my kids!

2009-10-14T11:17:00.002-07:00

I WAS going to lay down all morning but my brain didn't let me. I ended up figuring out Shane's 8th Birthday invitations instead and looking up "buses" online for our next vehicle that we have to purchase in the next 2 months. Ended up with a Ford E350 in the burgundy red color. We have to go look at them first. It's NOT our dream car but it will be much more comfortable for the kids as they get older than the Expedition. It's also about $6,000 less expensive. The only down side is that there is only one side to get into the van. So we will have to see if that will work for the twins. We don't get the take in and out car seats... we just get the ones that convert from 5lbs to 40lbs. Save's us some $$$$.

What brought me to post was that since 8:00am this morning (it's now 11:30) Zander and Canberra have been in their own little world together. First, they brought all their baby dolls from Canberra's room into the playroom by baby stroller, lined them all up with blankets and bottles for their picnic. Then continued to get their food ready on plates etc. No crying, pulling hair, screaming, movies, yelling, NOTHING! They are SO CUTE! It's been a fantastic morning! Why couldn't my brain just LET ME SLEEP!?!

Camia Star Basham INFORMATION

2009-10-07T10:41:00.005-07:00

I thought I'd do some research on the name we picked out. It started with Kamea, which is Hawaiian. The meaning was wonderful! But the pronunciation was Kuh-may-uh. I didn't like that as much. I liked it with a kuh-ME-uh. (or Kaa-MEE-uh) however is easy for your mouth to say. So I did some playing around and came up with the spelling Camia. The pronunciation from my research is just how I wanted it to be.

We also like that we will have a Canberra and Camia for our girls.

I think that looks positively adorable and PERFECT for sisters!

On top of that, it's interesting because they have similar meanings. In one Turkish definition of Camia they state that Camia is "a society or group of people who have JOINED TOGETHER to pursue a common interest." Canberra is an Aboriginal word meaning "meeting place".

We chose Star as her middle name. I had a great friend in high school named Star. She is beautiful, outgoing, creative and always made friends with everyone! I've loved her name since I met her! I've always tried to get Star as a middle name for our girls, even Canberra Star but it wasn't what Daniel liked at the time so we put it aside. Now we know why. It was waiting to be Camia's middle name, and what perfect timing!

We chose Gavin's name a while back and his middle name is Knightly. I know it's not "night" in the "correct" form to go along with "star" but saying the names sound so cute together and I think it ties them as twins beautifully! So we have:

Gavin Knightly
Camia Star

Don't get me wrong, I am sad about Serene. I LOVE that name and I felt it fit my image of her perfectly. Everything about the name. But I also wanted Daniel to be happy with his daughters name. Serene will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart for a name. I think it's beautiful!

However, I am VERY happy with Camia Star. It feels right and I CAN picture our daughter with that name. I think it fits into our family and Daniel really really really likes it. In a percent form... Serene was 100%. Camia is 99.99%. That works for me! When I see her, I know that will change to the reverse. So here is what I found on our Camia!

Camia is a rare and endangered Philippine flower.

The flowers are very fragrant with a smell like Jasmine and Hyacinths.

Some information regarding Camia as a name:

Camia (Butterfly Lily) – Gay of heart and light of head

Most people would imagine a person with the name Camia to be: Tall and a flawlessly beautiful lady

In one word, you might describe Camia as a "beautiful" person.

Camia is Latin - Said to have been used in reference to young female ceremonial attendants in Ancient Rome.

NaMes! nAmeS! NamEs! nameS! NAMES!! BAHHH!

2009-10-02T13:53:00.002-07:00

With all our children we've been able to agree immediately on an name once one of us has said it. Once we KNEW that was that. There was no looking for other names. I said Shane Charles one afternoon and bang that was it, Seth came after seeing the name 2 times and on the third I KNEW! Seth Rankin was his name! Canberra took a few days when Daniel said it and Larae came as her middle name a few weeks later since we already liked it. Zander I KNEW no matter what that my next boy was going to be Zander, I had his name picked out when I was pregnant with Canberra, Quin came about 3 days before he was born from a movie I saw that day "Rein of Fire." Now my situation right now is that I LOVE this name Serene Adelaide BUT it is not the same for Daniel. I do not like that we don't feel the same BUT at the same time I feel deep down this is her name. Am I wrong? Is there some reason Daniel doesn't like it that I am completely missing? When I found the name Serene we were actually looking for a middle name for Kelia. It was late at night, we were both in bed talking about names... at least I was talking, Daniel may have been half asleep. I came to the conclution that a good middle name for Kelia should start with S. So I was sounding out the sssss sound and Serene just slipped from my lips. I've never used that word before, I knew what it meant of course but never use it in my vocabulary, thought that was strange it would be the first S word to come out. We liked that for a middle name for Kelia. The more I thought on it the MORE I didn't want to HIDE such a beautiful (I thought) name in a middle name! So I started thinking of middle names for Serene! We came to Adelaide. Which I love because it involves my mission to Australia. Daniel has a hard time with it because of the RENE part in SeRENE. He's ok with Serena but I think that's too long and it's too common for me. I just can't get around Serene. Why is that!??! It was the middle of the night when I found Gavin's name! Daniel liked it right away. We always like Knightly but I didn't want the ly as an ending in our boys first name. I've always like Gavin since my mission and we've always considered it with Gavin McAndrew, never thought to change the middle name... dah! Till that night I thought Gavin Knightly and whah lah! That was it! I got an immediate smile and that was that! I poked Daniel and asked what he thought and immediatly he agreed. Why couldn't that happen with Serene? Does Daniel need more time? I needed a few days when he suggested Canberra but my blast it's been months! Am I wrong to keep pushing it on him? Why do I feel so dang strong about Serene and he doesn't? It's just not fair. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to list out names we've considered for our children over the years.

Boys:
Knightly McGregor
Knightly Coleman
Zander Darius
Graham Carter
Cameron Rankin
Connor
Blake Anthony
Gavin McAndrew
Timothy
Tanner
Rankin
Tucker
Shane
Zander William Darius
Peyton
Nathan
Parker
Zander Maddox
Jaydon
Landon
Jake Allen
Brady

We came up with: Shane Charles, Seth Rankin and Zander Quin

Girls:
Athena
MaKenna Larae
Daesha (ha ha, in just jokes we were going to do Daesha and Knightly)
Anaya
Alaira
Kirralee
Carly
Canberra
Kelia Eden
Kelia Elise
Cieli
Serene Adelaide
Serena Elise
Alaira Serene

We came up with Canberra Larae and ............. .............???

I'm sure there are more but these are what came to mide right off. I just had to get this off my chest! Any comments or suggestions PLEASE tell me!

Thoughts and Feelings

2009-09-24T10:16:00.002-07:00

I love my life! I really do! I am very happy right now and very content. I have an amazingly wonderful husband that loves me inside and out. All my moods and all. And he loves me after knowing me longer pregnant than not since we first met!! He love me even when I get crazy ideas like painting my computer room/nursery PURPLE and goes out with me to buy the paint, knowing HE'S the one who is going to have to paint the room! I have 4 fantastic, well behaved, healthy, smart and happy children. With any luck 2 more just like them on the way. I love my tiny little house. I can clean it top to bottom spotless in 4 hours! It's perfect, we all fit in it. It keeps us safe and cool in the summer and warm in the winter, it's clean and organized and well, just perfect! We have all the necessities we need and plenty of the things we want as well. I have the best family, extended and all. I love my small circle of devoted friends. I love my husbands job! It was given to us by Heavenly Father I KNOW it! It has been a joy in Daniels life! He LOVES IT!! He comes home happy! He leaves for work happy! He works with wonderful people! Now who can say that about their job? I get to stay home with my children! I get to take them to school and pick them up and hear about their fun day. I get to experience all my children's firsts. I am the one who cleans their boo-boo's and wipes their tears when they get hurt, I'm the one who makes sure they are eating correctly. I get to see the funny and not so funny things they do through out the day. It's fabulous! I am so lucky! I wouldn't have it any other way! I am just SO HAPPY! Life is wonderful! Without the bad things that happen we would never know we were experiencing the good things. I acknowledge the good that is happening right now, with full knowledge the bad will come one day. But we just take it one day at a time. I can go on and on, but I'll stop. Today... is excellent!

Pregnancy: Despite having all my energy sucked out of me by 11:00am every day, I feel... like a pregnant woman with twins should. I can't walk without a limp due to strain on my stomach muscles (so I waddle). But at least I can walk! I don't get that hungry really. Hence the fact I've only gained 9lbs in 21 weeks! But I do eat and I eat healthy. I know the weight will be revealing itself here shortly :-) I LOVE feeling these babies move around. It's so cute! The KIDS love feeling the babies move around too! They are constantly giving my belly (the babies) kisses and hugs (or pushes). Sleeping is uncomfortable and it takes me a good hour or two to settle down (usually with the help of my husband massaging my hands or something) but at least I get sleep! I do get plenty of sleep once I am settled.

I guess that sums up what's been on my mind lately. I feel very peaceful with my life right now. It's a great feeling.

All the sono pictures from today's visit CONFIRMING we've got a GIRL and a BOY!

2009-09-10T16:52:00.006-07:00

Daniel: "Yee Haa!"

Today's visit went great. Both babies cooperated perfectly. Heart, brain, head, belly, spine etc. all came out perfect. They are BOTH healthy and active and growing as they should be! What a relief! They both had their heads facing down and Serene was spooning Gavin. She was right up close to him. I didn't realize they were that close together! If I were her I'd be behind him also, it's much safer there than getting kicked in the face like she was before! It does feel very normal for us to have twins. We call them twins when talk about them and it just comes out naturally. It's really nice.

Here is Miss Serene:

Here is Mr. Gavin: Another side view of Gavin... The front of Serene was hard to get to because she was facing the other side of the belly.
Here is Serene "spooning" Gavin:

Here is our sono CONFIRMING Gavin is a boy... not that we needed but thanks for showing us again Gavin :
Here is our sono CONFIRMING Serene is a GIRL... Your Daddy REALLY appreciates you being cooperative today :-) I already knew deep down inside you were a girl.

More details on the Dr. Visit today with more Sono Pictures

2009-08-31T16:06:00.007-07:00

I went in today because of pain in my lower abdomen. The exam turned out normal and everything looked great. She sent me in for a sono to check the length of the cervix and that was nice and long. Perfect. My wonderful doctor doing the sono checked to see if we were having boys or girls. We went to baby A first and didn't see anything right away. It was in a fetal position with legs crossed. So she went on to baby B. As soon as she got the light on that baby he flashed everything to us! There was no mistake he was a boy. We took some cute pictures of him and went on to try baby A again. Still stubborn and had not moved at all, through much pushing and wiggling, we were able to come to a conclusion that it was a girl. We saw the three lines and never saw anything hanging out. So I'd say we have a 100% boy and an 80% girl. We will find out a confirmation on the 10th when I go get the anatomy done. I have to say... this is what I've thought all along. I kept calling baby A a girl. I wasn't too sure of baby B but I had the feeling it was a boy. What a nice way to have my last baby. One of each. We have the names picked out already however, Daniel isn't 100% on the girls name. But I am. So if by some divine intervention, I get another named yelled at me, these will be their names.

So to introduce you...

Baby A (right side) ~ Miss. Serene Adelaide Basham

The fetal position with her hand over her head...

It's a girl! We think...

This is a picture of her mouth

And to introduce you:

Baby B (left side) ~ Mr. Gavin Knightly Basham

They were a ying yang position, so Serene gets kicked in the head by Gavin... Oh, and he's a boy.

For Aunt Tanna who loves baby feet: Here is a picture of Miss. Serene's foot.

Or NOT!

2009-08-14T17:49:00.002-07:00

Show got canceled. Found out 1 hour into our 6 hour drive. Turned around back home. Shane cried which broke my heart. Took him to IHOP for a smilyface pancake and explained in more detail. He responded "I'd rather he see a doctor than have his voice go away and not sing anymore." "We can still listen to him sing on the CD." Then we went to the Wildlife Museum and dropped him off at Aunt Callie's for a sleep over. Now we are home with Zander and about to put him to bed. Checked out other shows and Las Vegas is sold out. Utah is too far. And so the story goes. No DM concert for us. This may even be their last tour. So not happy right now. So not happy. Good night.

Depeche Mode San Diego Here We Come!

2009-08-14T08:48:00.004-07:00

Macey is our good luck charm wearing the Depeche Mode onesie I got her for Easter. Boy did I get the right size or what! Perfect fit to celebrate the concert! Love you Macey! Shane is SO EXCITED to go! He's a bit impatient like his Mommy! Off we go!

Can I scream now!?!?!?

2009-08-13T14:06:00.002-07:00

First thing first. Good news: We have an interest only loan (thank goodness) on our house. Low payments are great. Bad news: I just found out that the interest only loan we have on our second loan (the smaller one - another thank goodness) is going to expire in July of 2010... which means there is going to be a BIG change in our payment and that's NOT GOOD! Especially when we have a new car payment coming that is going to be 3 times larger than the one we have already! Good news: Our larger loan is on interest only and it expires in July of 2015! Whew! We have some time to get out of here! If those things are going to change anyway we may as well get into a different home. I'm glad I called and found out or we would have had a nice surprise come this July! But still. I feel like screaming and crying. Somehow things will work out... right?

TUSD get your act together!

2009-08-13T12:29:00.002-07:00

I have GOT TO VENT!

TUSD had a big layoff I guess because of funding I think. Well, 2 weeks ago they got the ok to hire back teachers! Ok... school starts MONDAY! Hello! Don't teachers need some kind of preparation to teach these kids!!?!! Well, as a parent that wants the best education for her kids and wants her kids treated CORRECTLY in the classroom I have some serious issues!

I just went to meet the kids teachers today. We never got a letter in the mail stating who there teacher was and I found out why! Because they didn't have any teachers! They had (1) 3rd grade teacher and (1) new teacher as of *** 2 weeks *** The one they had already, called on Tuesday and said "I'm sorry, I'm not going to take the job" SO! They asked a girl that just got out of college with a teaching degree, student taught a year or so all different grades, to be the teacher. My issues: she was going for a totally different field of work within teaching (yes she told me this) AND she is pregnant, due in March. Which means there is going to be a lot of subbing going on in poor Shane's class. Her only experience is student teaching. She has NO year "program" you know, since she just took the job on TUESDAY! Today is THURSDAY! Don't get me wrong, she was fabulous with Shane, she is so sweet and kind and excited to teach. But it wasn't what she was out to do for her career, she took it because it just became available! The other teacher hasn't taught in over 6 years! AND never taught 3rd grade before! Those were my options for Shane. Thank goodness he had taken 3rd grade already! If it weren't for that I'd be a real mess! I think his teacher will be fine but I am not one that settles for fine. I want Shane to get the best. I guess in this situation he'd be getting the best right?

1st grade! Oh my. There is one teacher that has been there forever and is settled and structured. BUT is a bit rough with the kids and has a reputation for being mean and scary! I met her, she seems ok to me, very strong and has a direction that she sticks to, which is great. I love that. But that's not the teacher Seth got. He got another new 2 week notice teacher. She seems great, Seth loved her BUT... she has never taught 1st grade before. She has on the other hand been teaching for several years at another TUSD school in central Tucson. I'm not too concerned with Seth either since he passed 1st grade top in his class. I think this teacher will be fine, it's just that everything is so rushed for them!

** by the way the only reason Shane and Seth have to take 3rd and 1st grade again is ONLY because TUSD doesn't care how smart your kids are or advanced. They only care about their birthday. SO because of their birthday, they have to be with the kids their own age. I'm ok with that to some degree and the kids are ok with that, they don't seem to mind at all. I think Seth will be bored in 1st grade with the learning part of it but with the social part he'll have a blast. Shane I think it will be just find for him to get a stronger foundation of math. That could never hurt.

So we are leaving things as they are. I think with my option for Wheeler teachers, Shane's is the best with what I've been given and Seth, we will leave because it's not as pressing for him as it is for Shane. Seth is way advanced in Math as it is and reads at 3rd grade level easy. There are no worries for him. 3rd grade is an important foundation for future Math and I just hope Shane gets a strong one with this new teacher.

I guess I feel a bit better. I just wish we had some other options BESIDES home school, I can't teach home school especially pregnant! We could drive them to a different school but then we're back to the driving issues. I just don't want to do that again. Gale Elementary would be my other option for TUSD but after talking to Daniel we decided to just leave things as are and figure out what we will do for next year. HOPEFULLY move to VAIL! Yah right. That is going to take a MAJOR MIRACLE! I do believe in miracles!

One last thing: We leave for the DEPECHE MODE concert tomorrow morning and we can't wait!

California Trip 2009

2009-08-01T10:06:00.009-07:00

Our last BIG family trip for a couple of years. We went to sacrament meeting then came home, ate and loaded the car then took off. We got to El Cajon in exactly 6 hours. The trip up wasn't so bad. We brought new hot wheel cars, pipe cleaners, books, movies etc. so the kids were busy the entire way up. I was comfortable for the most part. The beds at the hotel on the other hand were horrible to say the least. Oh well.

Monday morning about 8:30 we headed to our favorite beach, the south side of Torrey Pines. A family of dolphins were there when we arrived, that was a nice welcome. I lathered up the kids with sunblock and off they went to the water. ALL OF THEM! Even Canberra and Zander, who didn't want anything to do with the water last year. I didn't put any block on since I was going to park it under the umbrella the entire time. BAD IDEA I learned that night! I was seriously under the shade the entire time after I put the sun block on the kids. I got fried to say the least, and only in the places the kids DIDN'T touch with sun block. So I was all swirled with major painful sunburns on my legs. My chest, shoulders and face got fried as well. That day the kids got brave and went farther and farther into the water and let the waves push them back onto the shore. Zander was back and forth from the water to digging in the sand. Seth was back and forth from the water to catching sand crabs (from catching to stabbing with a stick). He would go up to the guys fishing and ask what kind of fish they were catching and one of them showed him a real squid. My niece Savanna and Shane pretty much stuck to the waves the entire day. We left the beach about 4:30 and went back to the hotel to eat and sleep. We bring our food and drinks so we didn't have to go out to eat every day. Big money saver.

Tuesday we headed off bright and early to the San Diego Zoo. We had to drop off a Depeche Mode ticket to the guy who bought it. They were staying about 2 miles away from the zoo. Worked out great. I have to say, we won't be going to that zoo anymore. Way too much money and it wasn't even that great. Same animals any other zoo has just spread out 50 times farther! RIP! Probably why I didn't take any pictures. Kids had fun though. There was a baby gorilla that was cute, it would bang it's chest and was right in the front. They liked the reptile ramada thing best. They saw all kinds of snakes and bugs and insects. I just sat while they looked around it to rest while I could! We ate out that night to get some real food (if McDonalds and Taco Bell is considered real food) My poor feet and legs were swollen crazy that night! And so painful from the burn. I didn't sleep at all!

Wednesday, beach day again. I did learn. I coated on the block and stayed under the umbrella the entire time again. We had some cousins come join us that day and that just made everything more fun for the boys. Joe, Margie, Sam, Marc and Ashley AND Charlie and Jodie with their kids Shane, Kayla and Tara. That was a nice surprise! We didn't know they were coming. I was starving that day and couldn't stop eating! They brought food for a great sandwich! What a life saver! The boys got even more brave that day and went farther into the water and had a blast! They were learning how to body surf. Seth found a fishing line with a hook and wanted so badly to go fishing. I had to tell him we'd go fishing really soon if he'd give me the rusted hook. He did, but now we have a fishing trip to plan! Canberra and Zander rolled in the sand and would run to the water and run back and roll in the sand again, they did that for about 30 min! It was a bit more windy that day so it made it kinda cool. But it was still a very nice and clear day. I didn't get any new burns thank goodness!

Thursday we headed off to the Wild Life Park. That was nice, we walked around the entire park. It was MUCH warmer than the zoo with less shade but they had the DINO LAND that showed 7 dinosaurs. They moved and growled and one spit water. The kids loved that. Although we had to pay an additional $25 to see the whopping 7 dinosaurs. Should have been half that! That was the highlight of that park, too bad it's only a 4 month exhibit! We did get to enjoy watching a mommy duck try to get her ducklings to the water. She had quite the journey. She got stuck in an area and people kept scaring her and the babies. So we took it upon ourselves to help her get to the water. We moved away leaves so she could see where to go and stopped people so she could cross the footpath. She made it. It was great, the kids loved it! Just like the zoo, we would NOT go back to the wild life park. Once in a life time thing. I'm hesitant to even go to sea world! I just want to go so see the shark tunnel. I think the kids would love that! But we won't get to go to Sea World probably until the twins are 2 years old. We'll see. We ate at IHOP for dinner that night, they had a thing going with every adult meal you'd get a childs free. We scored on that one! I love their Sweedish crepes!

We left in no hurry at 10:00am Friday morning and had another 6 hour trip. We got home to a CLEAN house and had little to put away. We ate and had all the kids in bed by 6:30, just in time for us to leave for Daniel's parents 50th wedding anniversary dinner. It was nice to have a tender medium/rare steak with mashed potatos and gravy and a salad! YUM! Especially after eating PB sandwiches, luna bars, oatmeal squares, fruit snacks etc... for 4 days! On the way home from dinner, every time I closed my eyes all I could see was my big soft fluffy BED! I slept like a rock last night. Daniel gave me a nice massage and as soon as he stopped I was seriously OUT COLD!

The babies did great the entire trip, I felt NO pains at all. I walked slow and sat every chance I could. Poor Daniel had it rough at times. Zander would want to be held and Canberra wanted in the stroller so he'd be holding Zander and pushing the stroller. But we weren't ever in a hurry so it wasn't too bad.

I asked the kids what their favorite part of our trip was:

Shane: playing at the beach and going to the zoos. The funnest thing was the dinosaurs and jumping in the waves and catching sand crabs.
Seth: seeing the dinosaurs and at the other zoo, um... petting the animals. I liked catching sand crabs and sea shells at the beach, the water was freezing.
Canberra: it was fun playing in the water. I like all the animals in this whole wide world. The flamingos and the ostriches and pigs and deers...
Zander: Uuum, play water... umm dinosaur, spit on my face and have fun.

Cherry Cheese Sweet Bread ~ the best ever!

2009-07-16T10:03:00.007-07:00

Makes 2 large loafs! (or you can cut the FILLING ONLY in half and make one loaf and the rest rolls! The dough makes delicious rolls!)

This is NOT a quick creation! Give yourself a morning/afternoon to do this. You are looking at APPROX 3-4 hours

Dough preparation time: 10-15 min mix time ~ 45 min to 1 hour rise time
Bread preparation time: 5 min filling mix time ~ 30 min loaf creation ~ 30 min loaf rise
Cook time: 20 min each loaf

What you will need:

2 TBSP Yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup scalded milk (heat to a little bubbly)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter/margarine (soft)
1 tsp salt
2 eggs (beaten)
4 1/2 - 5 cups flour (divide in half)

Filling: (cream together)
2 - 8 oz cream cheese
2/3 cup powdered sugar
2 cans cherry pie filling

*** (You can do this in a mixer OR I like to make my bread maker do the work on the "dough" setting)

Soften yeast in the 1/2 cup warm water. In a kitchen aide type of mixer (or your bread maker), mix scalded milk, sugar, salt, margarine, eggs, and 2 1/2 cups flour. Add yeast and mix until smooth. Add remaining flour to make a smooth dough (not sticky). Knead 5 min. (or let the bread maker finish the mix time). Place dough in a grease bowl (or leave in bread maker). Cover and let rise 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size. (bread maker about 45 min.) Punch down and let rise 10 min. ( if you are using the bread maker you don't need to do anything).

Divide dough in half; roll each into a rectangle (16x7) and place on a greased baking sheet. Place 1/2 the cheese/sugar mixture down the center and top with 1 can of cherry filling (spoon the filling on using MORE of the cherries than sauce). Cut 2 inch long cuts along each side 1 inch wide. Criss-cross strips over the top, let rise 30 min.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15/20 min. You can frost with a butter frosting and garnish with red and green cherries, nuts etc... or leave plain (that's what I do).

ENJOY warm or even cold! You will want to store leftovers in the refrigerator.

My mom makes it look better, I am still perfecting my criss-cross.

Seth... Oh, Seth... We love you!

2009-07-16T08:25:00.004-07:00

Last night while I was sitting on the floor waiting for the kids to get out of the bath, Seth came up to me and laid down on my lap so I could rub his back. (One of his most favorite things in the world, that and rubbing his head). So I started to glide my fingers up and down his back. Seth said, "It feels good... it feels like the lice in my hair are having a party." Cracked me UP! A bit later when everyone was going to the bathroom before going to bed I heard Seth yell out of the bathroom, "It would be so nice if there were little hands on the toilet lid to rub my back when ever I go to the bathroom." Boy does he have that right! That would be nice. Seth is constantly saying things like this at random. But I had to write this down last night and post it. What a silly guy! The things that go through his head! We don't have to wonder with him!

September 10th will be the date we HOPEFULLY find out if they are boys, girls or one of each.

New sono pictures

2009-07-15T15:01:00.002-07:00

Both babies are doing fantastic and are growing perfectly. Baby B is still as active as can be and baby A is still mellow and shy. It was scratching it's cheek and then fell asleep. Super cute to watch.

And NO I did not get a nurse that would check to see if they are a boy or girl even though they are old enough to tell. I was so sad. So we will have to wait until September 10th!

100 degrees and hailing with blue skies... twin update

2009-07-13T10:02:00.003-07:00

I needed to post these pictures of a day when it started hailing marble sized hail, but when I looked out the window I only saw distant clouds and blue skies! On top of that I checked the temperature and it was 100 degrees! I took a picture. It was pretty funny. Only in Tucson would that happen!

I have the house clean finally! Thanks to my mom who came over and tackled the disgusting kitchen, Daniel was on call Friday, Saturday and Sunday and did over 14 calls! To say the least, he wasn't home and the dishes just got stacked and stacked day after day. It was HORRIBLE! But I cleaned up the dinner and breakfast mess this morning and vacuumed really well and had the kids go from room to room and organize everything in it's place. So I can breathe now and not get irritated at all the little messes.

As for me and the twins, I think I am low on Iron. I am going to call today to see how my blood test came out. I am exhausted from about 10:30am on! I can't move! Other than that and a little nausea I am doing much better than 3 weeks ago. I still get bleeding and only on Sundays... don't know what that is about but it is only in the morning and doesn't happen with any pain. Nothing to worry about.

I would love to be comfortable in some way though. I can't eat anything without feeling yucky before, during or after. I can't sleep in any position without my hips hurting or some muscles in my stomach hurting or pulling wrong. I have to rest after putting on makeup, then rest after getting dressed, then rest after doing my hair. It's a long process to get ready! Most of my senses are doubled which isn't the best thing. I can pretty much smell Zander is poopie before he even does it! I hear EVERYTHING which doesn't help the sleep issue. Like little drips from the water off the roof outside or the kids snoring etc. My taste is doubled which doesn't help the nausea at all! My MOOD is crazy! My poor kids. Things that normally don't bother me I flip out about! I hope that doesn't last long! I'm not complaining really, just... expressing the differences in this pregnancy from my others.

On a positive! I am so happy to have these babies come to our family and think everything is going to work out just fine. (house, car, sanity etc) Canberra comes in at random saying "we're going to have a BIG family... with baby B and baby A" It's so cute. She will say that at least 2 times a day for no particular reason, just at random.

We are taking our last big family vacation for a while in a couple of weeks. I can't wait. I don't like long drives, I hope I can sleep most of the way. That will be the next post after this Wednesday. I should be getting some pictures of the babies at my next apt. So expect a post on the 15th of July, around the 3rd of August and then the DM concert around the 15th of August!

My pregnancy nausea lifesavers...

2009-07-06T11:53:00.003-07:00

Every two hours I had one of these things... every day... for a month and a half. In reality I still do, but these things got me through the ROUGH times. That Ovaltine saved my midnight starving moments, it was quick and did the job! Thought I'd share. I'll type more later... I'm going to rest now... because I can!

Update on the Twins and our pet Dumbo Agouti Rat Mia

2009-07-02T19:54:00.005-07:00

Baby A with a view looking down at her (I mean it's) belly and top of head, you can also see the yolk sac (looks like a balloon on a string) under it. Baby B upside down... ha ha, my favorite picture so far.

Baby A showing the very top of it's head with legs coming out in front.

Baby B upside down still holding on to it's umbilical cord.

So... today went ok. They could not find the bleeding by Baby A so that is great, but Baby B still had the same amount next to it. That made me sad. I'm not on "bed rest" anymore but I still need to take it easy as much as possible. Both babies are healthy and active! Baby B was holding onto the umbilical cord and swinging it around, it was funny. It was also head down. Baby A was kicking it's feet all over the place and she got a cute picture from the top looking down. You can see the top of it's head with it's long legs sticking out. With this viewing, the babies were closer together, almost touching. So either they moved closer the last 2 weeks or they were just so small the first time it only looked as though they were on opposite sides. All in all, they are both healthy and that's all that matters!

I am all mixed up emotions wise. I am terrified of what this pregnancy is going to do to my body... example: the pain, how it's going to feel with both of them moving around, how I'm going to sleep and so forth. I'm not looking forward to the LACK OF SLEEP I will be getting and that makes me want to cry thinking about it. Then I go to very excited that we will have twins in our family! Oh man.

Shane decided NOT to go to see the babies. I wanted to watch SNOOPY instead. We gave him plenty of chances to go, but no. He said in the car that he wished he had gone. Perhaps next time.

Here are some recent pictures of our Dumbo Agouti pet rat Mia too. She has been a joy to our family. A great little girl.

Favorites went overboard last night...

2009-06-28T09:04:00.002-07:00

Since I have to rest today and I won't get my exhausted feeling for another hour I thought I would update my blog. It's my way of keeping some type of journal.

Too say the least, Zander is a Daddies boy. He hardly has had anything to do with me for the past several months. But last night he went too far. Daniel needed to severely do his homework project and it was 8:30pm. Zander kept getting out of bed and wanting Daniel to hold him. So I let Daniel do his work and I sat in there on the floor with Zander in bed. He did NOT like that. Or should I say... he did NOT like ME! I tried to talk to him, sing songs to him, ask him fun questions that he usually can't help but answer... nothing. He just stared up and full on ignored me. I gave him kisses and he WIPED THEM OFF! I would softly touch his face or belly and he would push my hand away. Needless to say, with all my crazy hormones and things like this happening a lot lately, I cried. I sat there on the floor and cried as my 2 year old ignored me 100%. I composed myself and sat there quietly for a few more minutes. He just stared up, never looking at me or saying a word. I told him I was going to bed now and that I loved him... only to watch him roll over... turning his back to me. Yah. I lost it. That just broke my heart. I know it's a faze he must be going through but my gosh.

This morning he woke up and walked right past me. Great, I thought. Another bad day. But as I lay on the couch watching him eat his breakfast, he finished and came and sat with me. Boy did that make me feel better! He gave me big hugs and a kiss. Was he just over tired last night or something? It was horrible! It hurt so bad! He's still all over Daniel but at least I got a hug and kiss today! Whew!

As for this last week of bed rest... I felt like the movie Office Space with all the SAME things happening. But I sure needed the sleep! I am feeling much better physically. I still have 5 more days of bed rest then we go to get another Sonogram done to see what's going on. Shane wants to go with me this time so I am going to take him. He is very curious about baby things and doctor things. I wonder if he'll be a baby doctor or something when he grows up.

As for planning for these two babies coming to us, the only thing really that is going to be a major issue will be getting an 8 passenger vehicle. We are waiting to buy one around October/November. Will be fun! There are a lot of choices out there. Thank goodness my dad works for Ford! Other than the car, everything else I believe will just fit into place as it comes. I'm not worried about anything at all. I have such wonderful helpful friends and family if I ever needed help.

We are still planning to go on our week long trip to San Diego AND driving back there two weeks later for the Depeche Mode concert. Crazy. I'm excited though. Shane is too! He loves watching the the DVD of them live. I think he really likes when Martin sings. He really picks up on the details of their music... just like his Mommy :-)

I am very sad Jackson died. I think that's a shame. Sure he had his problems, but don't we all in some way or another? He sure was talented! I would have LOVED to see him in concert! I do have to say, there were a lot of songs I didn't care for, but boy the dozen or so that I do like are fabulous!

I love the spirit of Sundays. I love that I don't have to work around the house and that it's quiet and peaceful. I LOVE that I get to see Daniel so much and have him around. Thought I'd throw that in there. Well, I'm sure there is more I could type about but I am drawing a blank here. So I will post again probably next Sunday to fill in with the results of the sonogram.

Have a HAPPY 4th!

Protective

2009-06-18T18:24:00.002-07:00

I woke up at 11:30pm last night feeling starving for the first time in this pregnancy. I got up and ate a jello cup, cereal bar and made myself some grits! Went back to bed at 12:30 and slept soundly till 6:00! I woke up feeling great! Went to my Dr. Apt and went over changes and delivery options etc. Came home a slept/rested. It is official though, I am on bed rest for the next two weeks so the subchorionic hemorrhage can heal on both babies. So today I've been arranging help in every department. Food, kids etc. I'm so blessed to have so many wonderful people that are more than willing to help. I have been feeling very "protective" of these babies, more so today than yesterday once I accepted that the nurse was not kidding. I feel... protective. I can't think of any other word. They are so special and delicate and fragile right now! So innocent! I want so badly for them both to be healthy and grow like they should and kept safe!

Shane has been wonderful. He is so concerned about the babies! First thing out of his mouth when I came home was "are the babies ok" "did the bleeding stop". He was a bit disappointed when I said we won't know for another 2 weeks. Very concerned disappointment. He's been very helpful with Zander and getting me food and water. I think I am going to take him with me to my next sono apt. He has always been very interested in babies and where they come from and the different stages of growing etc. Which brings me to the point that I had to explain very vaguely how babies are made. I did get into some detail at some points so he could understand clearly and I think I did a good job, he seems satisfied in my answer, for now. He's a smart kid, it was obvious he knew I was not saying certain things and keeping it to the point. Zander is just my handfull right now. If he is awake I can not sleep. I can barely lay down and rest. He's being good, he's just busy. Seth knows and understands and has been a great little guy too with listening and doing what I ask him the first time, but he doesn't "Deep" think about it like Shane. Canberra likes to know how big the babies are every day! She uses her fingers to make sizes and I get out the book that shows the "actual size" of the babies. Zander will come up to me and instead of hitting my stomach with his head like he usually does, he lifts up my shirt... says some baby talk and kisses my tummy and puts my shirt down and runs off to play.

Daniel has 1 1/2 weeks left of his class and then we can SLEEP! He has been up to 11:00pm most nights, every night doing homework. It's been very hard on us both. He is very concered about "providing" for our family well. I keep reasurring him he is doing all he can the very best he can and that we will be just fine. I don't think that helps him feel any better though. Our biggest financial situation will be getting a suburban this year. But I think that will turn out just fine as well, somehow.

Our future TWINS ~ the explanations

2009-06-18T07:37:00.002-07:00

In the sono picture you can not see baby A because they are so far apart from each other. When she got view of one the other went away. But baby A is in there, I saw it. Over and over again, trust me ;-) If you look closely you can almost see it on the bottom left side there is a white shadow starting.. that would be the baby.

After asking the nurse over 20 times if she was kidding and it sunk in that she was NOT kidding, the initial cry laugh shock hit me for about 5 min. Daniel stared at the computer screen in shock and my sister Mariah (who works there) came in and cried happy tears with us. After I composed myself we did all the checks to make sure both babies were healthy. Which they were.

We have baby A heart beat at 174 and baby B at 182. Baby A is on my far lower right side and baby B is on my far left side just a tad bit higher up. They will stay there the entire pregnancy and baby A will most likely be born first. It also looks like Baby A was conceived first by a day or so. Which I've been reading and is 100% possible! Apparently I had 2 eggs drop at different times perhaps or at the same time but one got fertilized first and as it was traveling down the other got fertilized and traveled down. How about them apples?! My Fathers Mother is a twin so we knew this was coming with one of us 3 girls... just happened to be me! Factors in this are: I have had 4 other babies... the more babies one has the higher chances of having twins. Another factor: I am 31, after 30 the body produces a hormone that allows multiple eggs to be released. Another factor I believe on top of all that is that we were TRYING very much so to get pregnant. I looked up when I was ovulating http://www.ovulation-calendar.net/ and they show a time frame of about a week where you are most fertile and when you actually ovulate. We used that and started at the first day and went every other day after that. Not that we were trying for twins... that was not the plan. With all the wonderful support from friends and family, we have really calmed down and are excited! A friend told me that " heavenly father is just trying to get people here faster and you are the perfect mom to do this!". After that statement a peace just filled me and also a strength! Yes, that's right! If I couldn't do this it would not have happened! I have faith in that!

Now to the part of my underlying issues so far. Subchorionic hemorrhage is what I have on both babies. That is bleeding. The bleeding that is under baby A is very close to my cervix. If the blood keeps bleeding and gets worse and under the placenta it can detach the placenta and then my body will get rid of both babies :-( So I will be doing many follow ups and I can't lift anything/exercise/bend over without using my knees/rest/no more sex for the first trimester due to the fact the bleeding is right there.... I pretty much am on bed rest for the next 2-3 weeks to make sure it heals on it's own. HELP! I had this with Zander and it was worse BUT it was much higher with Zander, it did heal on it's own. Baby B has Anterior subchorionic hemorrhage and is very small. It's just baby A that is the major concern, it has a larger one and is very close to my cervix. I have to say having Daniel get sick at this particular time frame I believe saved our babies. Because I had been so nauseous at the beginning (now I know why it was so bad) and Daniel getting super sick and the kids being sick and keeping us up all night and exhausting us... we haven't been having sex (like you all want to know that) BUT it was a BLESSING! Had we, it's very likely we could have ruptured the placenta and we would have lost both babies! Sickness does have it's bonuses!

So there is the story...

Do you see what I see?

2009-06-17T14:34:00.003-07:00

When I can do something else than laugh or cry or laugh or cry I will fill in with details... Baby A is actually the one closest to the bottom... on my right. Baby B is on my left. Two different eggs. Uh. Yah. Ha Ha Ha. Be back when I can.

Gotta love Shpongle!

2009-06-17T09:15:00.006-07:00

Want to know what is so funny? Watch the Shpongle video. I wish I had the camera and recorded their reactions at the beginning. It was way better. Seth was almost in tears laughing so hard. I knew they would like the video but not that much! It was great!

Update!

2009-06-17T07:43:00.002-07:00

Yes it's about time! I am waiting for Daniel to have his break at school and thought it would be a perfect time to fill everyone in on the family!

Daniel: He has been taking a June summer class, statistics. I could honestly say that June could disappear from my memory and I would be just fine with that! I have had morning sickness all month so far on top of Daniel having to be at class by 7:30am and work till 6:00pm most nights and do homework till way past midnight most nights. It's been a rough month! He also just got over being sick with a fever and a bad cough he is still fighting. Geeze! Daniel still has classes to take in the fall and then he should be getting ready for his schooling in Chicago. So that will be nice. Then he is done... for as long as that lasts. He loves his Orthodics job deeply. He loves making things and helping people feel comfortable and get better. He LOVES being able to use his Spanish every day too! He loves his boss and the people he works with at his job and at the hospitals. I am so happy he is happy and has a secure job in the economy today.

Me: I am just over 7 weeks pregnant. We planned this baby happily. As far as we know it is our last one I will be having. We may adopt later. I found out May 16th that I was pregnant. Not bad timing for trying the first week in May! I was a bit impatient as you all know I am. I went through 3 negative tests 3 days in a row and the last one was a faint pink positive. Now I just need to get through the morning sickness so I can start really enjoying my last pregnancy. I love being pregnant. I have had great pregnancies in the past and I am excited to see what this one will bring... other than 6 dreams of my having TWINS! That is getting a bit rediculous. I go to my apt today for some sono work and we shall see. So if there is another post by the end of the day you can know immediatly what that post is going to say and start puking with me... ha ha.

Shane: Is starting to realize he has an opinion and voices it regularly. He did great in 3rd grade at Tag but we are moving the kids to TUSD (not happy about that) but it is closer and I think it will be better for the kids in the long run. The down side to that is they will only go by their age and so Shane and Seth will have to take 3rd and 1st grade over again. I had mixed feelings about it but came to the conclution that it will only give them a stronger foundation and they will enjoy class more and not stress. Not that they would anyway, Seth is very ready for 2nd grade but Shane I think it would be better for him to be with kids closer to his age. All in all, Shane has still skipped a grade and is still younger than the rest of his classmates but not by as much as he would have been moving on to 4th grade. It's hard to have smart kids. You want them to continue on with the best education possible even if that mean skipping grades but then they miss the social aspect of being friends with kids that are at the same level of maturity as they are despite smartness. So at least he'll be at the top of his class this coming year and hopefully have a blast. Karate is his favorite thing ever. He just loves it. And is great at it! They invited him to take a training course to assist in teaching the Little Dragons (the class age under him) and he took it and passes and is SO excited to start teaching! Who would have thought shy little Shane! But boy he is not shy when it comes to Karate! It has given him so much confidence he isn't even remotly scared to give his talk in Primary on Sunday! He loves to play Halo and watch movies with me. He is very good with Zander but can have some patience issues with Seth and Canberra. It's got to be hard being the oldest. He is very excited about getting baptized at the end of the year too! Shane can't wait to go to the Depeche Mode concert with us and knows all the songs on their new album already. It's going to be a blast! All in all though, he is very helpful around the house and has continued to be a great little guy.

Seth: Poor little guy has ear problems we are trying to fix via tubes but they are not working. At least they don't hurt him anymore, they still get infected and drain yucky stuff we have to clean out several times a day. He's a tough kid this one. We had to pull his infected tooth out without any pain medicine and he did great! 1st grade was easy for him. He passed with high honors and loved his teacher and classmates. Too bad he has to take it over again! At least it will be at a different school with different students. I'm sure he'll have a great time. Neither of the kids minded at all, they were very open to the change and willing to take their grades again. Seth is so loving and giving. He plays great with the younger kids. And really, he is very patient with Shane's domineering ways of playing. He usually jsut ignores him. That works for me! His temper has been very mellow and less often. In fact so far this year I think he's only gotten upset and did his pouty thing 2 times! When things are said with love to Seth he's more likely to do it willingly. His laugh is a crack up itself! We love hearing Seth laugh, it's so contageous! He is doing great in Karate as well, but just doesn't have the excitement for it as Shane does, but he likes it and gets excited when he receives his new belt color. Seth also loves crafts and coloring and has just found a new style of coloring that he is proud of... outlining the picture before you color it in. :-) We were going to take Seth to the DM concert as well but he found out he is going to have to stand the entire time and told us he didn't want to go. So we are trying to sell his ticket!

Canberra: (my hands are killing me... too many kids) Canberra is still a little doll. Sweet and sensitive and caring. She and Zander play very well together. She is still into more of the boys toys than her dolls and babies but now and then she'll have a girly mood. She loves going to Bonnie's house for school (just as the boys did). She loves to color and boy does she color! She likes to use every color in the box for just one picture. Her work is very colorful and actually very neat and in the lines! Canberra loves Mommy's Depeche Mode songs and has some that she will actually sing! Canberra is getting particular in her dresses and the clothes she wears, she has to look "beautiful". She also is into shoes. She has her favorites and some she won't even touch. She loves to have "eyes" on and "lips" and to have her nails painted. All while playing with GI Joes and cars! Oh well.

Zander: Oh Zander... gives the best hugs at times and gives the worst looks at other times. At this moment in time he is very much a daddy's boy. He loves his daddy. He is a handful at church, which we aren't used to with the other kids. It's just so hard for him to sit still and be quiet during church. Food or no food. He is a talker and LOVES to sing! He is a solid little big guy too. Always with a million bruises on his legs. Zander has been sleeping in his own bed now for a long time and has never had any issues with getting out of bed. He's been a great sleeper and still takes his naps. He loves "puppies" too, toys or real. Some of our favorites from Zander are: Asking him to do something and he says... "OH kay" in a way like "I guess so" with a sigh. It's adorable and we love it! Another is when we say "thank you" to him he will immediatly say "so much" in replace of "your welcome". Cracks us up every time.

I'm sure there is more but my fingers are KILLING me and I should get the house picked up. We are all very excited about our new baby coming. We have a few more plans for this year we are excited for also. We are going to the beach in July for 1 week! The Depeche Mode concert in August! Fun times ahead!

My Depeche Mode Baby shirt came!!!

2009-06-05T14:13:00.002-07:00

With all the help from the company on getting the correct size, I got my shirt today and tried it on and wha lah! It fit perfectly! I even stuffed a pillow under there and came to the conclusion I'll be able to wear it to about 7 months comfortably. Wonderful communication from the company, they worked with me on the size email after email and even added the "baby" for me! On top of that, this design was on a regular T-shirt and I asked if they could put it onto the maternity shirt and they did no problem! What a great company! Here is their site! Check them out and buy confidently!

www.stylehippo.com
email: stylehippo@verizon.net

Dave Gahan is better!

2009-06-04T11:15:00.005-07:00

I am so glad Dave is better and back on tour! What a scare! I just hope he takes it easy and keeps himself healthy so something else doesn't happen! We can't wait to see Depeche Mode in San Diego! The song line-ups are great! I can't wait!

05.28.2009

Depeche Mode are pleased to announce they will restart their interrupted Tour Of The Universe in Leipzig, Germany on June 8th. On May 12th, lead singer Dave Gahan suffered a severe bout of gastroenteritis, leading to his hospitalization and the cancellation of the Athens concert. While in hospital, further medical tests revealed a low-grade malignant tumour in Dave's bladder, which has since been successfully removed. At doctors' orders Dave Gahan must take a break until June 8th, to ensure that he makes a full recovery. The Leipzig show on June 8th will be the first concert following Dave's recovery.

Dave Gahan sincerely thanks his fans for their support, understanding and patience. Depeche Mode deeply regret any problems or inconveniences the cancellations and postponements may have caused.

Song's sung so far in concert:

Date: 05/06/2009
City: Luxembourg

Wrong
Hole To Feed
Walking In My Shoes
It's No Good
A Question Of Time
Precious
Fly On The Windscreen
Jezebel
A Question Of Lust
Come Back
Peace
In Your Room
I Feel You
In Sympathy
Enjoy The Silence
Never Let Me Down Again
Stripped
Master And Servant
Strangelove
Personal Jesus
Waiting For The Night

*************************************

Date: 05/10/2009
City: Tel Aviv (Israel)

In Chains
Wrong
Hole To Feed
Walking In My Shoes
It's No Good
A Question Of Time
Precious
Fly On The Windscreen
Jezebel
A Question Of Lust
Come Back
Peace
In Your Room
I Feel You
In Sympathy
Enjoy The Silence
Never Let Me Down Again
Happy Birthday Dave
Stripped
Master And Servant
Strangelove
Personal Jesus
Waiting For The Night

http://www.depeche-mode-world.de/tour-ne...

Oh and did I mention I got a maternity shirt that says Depeche Mode baby in rhinestones. Can't wait for it to get here!
I have much more to write about and update but I am so tired and nauseous it is going to have to wait.

TUCSON TWILIGHT FANS!!!

2009-05-21T20:42:00.002-07:00

Tickets for New Moon Midnight Madness November 20th 2009

Planned and arranged by Elisabeth Bell... THANK YOU LIS!

This is my friend Lis Bell that is arranging this, if you'd like to attend you can contact me and we can make arrangements for payment! I will also let you know the location as soon as it is reserved :-)

Lis: We are in the process of booking a movie auditorium for midnight November 2oth for the release of New Moon and are collecting monies to put towards the funds if you are interested in joining us for the Midnight Madness viewing.

There are two possible venues: Park Place Mall and Century 12 in Oro Valley, Tucson Arizona. Worst case scenario is that we will have to travel the distance to Oro Valley, but the theaters there are new and I’ve heard, gorgeous. As the cinemaplex is located in an upper class, retired adult community, this place could be a really winning candidate. At this point, the viewing could be at either venue. We will let you know more details as things unfurl.

Tickets cost $9.75. The money will be going into a fund specifically designed for the New Moon viewing. If you'd like a receipt, I can have one made for you. If you plan on attending, please get your admission cost to me as soon as possible so we will have the funds necessary when the time comes to reserve the theater.

Let the Madness begin.

Water slide and Roosevelt Lake

2009-05-17T16:57:00.002-07:00

Seth had a blast trying out his birthday present on a 100 degree day. All the kids were have so much fun. Even Canberra ran and slid down it! Zander had his "slips" rather than slides but had just as much fun.

Roosevelt lake was a memorable day for the kids I believe. We camped out Thursday night overlooking the water and had a fire but it was too late to roast an marshmallows. We got there at 4:30 right as the store to get the camping permit closed. So we had to drive back 10 miles to a store to get it. Then we found a camp site and set up our two room tent. It was perfect for all of us. We all were in bed by 10:00! Yuck. But I was up sneezing at 5:00am and the rest of the kids all got up around 6:30 so we ate breakfast and packed up our van with our boat goodies and headed down to the Marina. We got our boat by 8:00 and off we went! Not one of the kids were scared! They all just hopped right on the boat! Not what I expected but welcomed! We cruised around the lake as fast as our 24 foot boat would go and let each of the kids take their turn at the wheel. Seth and Shane were a pro drivers immediatly. Canberra and Zander thought it was the coolest thing ever. We drove around and then picked up Grandma Basham, she had a bag full of candy... Yum! Then we went to the other side of the lake and found a spot to eat lunch. There were cows and cool birds that the kids liked a lot. Then we found a spot to get into the water. Shane and Seth with life vests on and all were scared at first. But then the gathered up courage as they watched Canberra and Zander having so much fun in the water. Shane jumped in and Seth followed with an amazing jump! Just a second after Seth to our surprise off the boat went Canberra! It was hilarious! The water was great. I even went in for a dip. Couldn't help myself standing on the boat sweating up a storm. The weather was perfectly hot. No wind, no clouds just perfect. Then we camped again at the same spot... not the best idea for when we got back to our camp the ground was covered in very large black ants that would NOT die when you stepped on them! So we had to get a stick on fire and burn the dang things! We got the ants under control and started a fire and made hot dogs and made some smores. Then went inside our tent for bed. Before everyone was in Canberra and Zander were OUT cold! That made things nice. As they were sleeping, Daniel walked by with the flashlight outside and I could see all the bugs that collected between the net and outside cover of the door. We closed it and to our surprise we saw a not so friendly spider, NOT in our tent thank goodness or I would have never fallen asleep! We smoosed that and went for another look and sure enough... an even bigger spider of the same kind was there! Uhhh, it was BIG! We got rid of that one and shook out all the bugs and Daniel quickly got in the tent and with several thourough checks in ever crack and corner of the tent we went to sleep. It was a fun trip.

That night my impatience took hold and I took my pregnancy test 1 day early. It took several minutes to read but sure enough a pretty VERY light pink line showed up next to the dark one. Happily to say we are expecting our last baby which will come to us, if all goes well, end of January beginning of February.

Depeche Mode Lead singer Dave Gahan in hospital...

2009-05-13T07:48:00.006-07:00

Wishing Dave Gahan a SPEEDY recovery... We'll see you in San Diego!

Yes I was pregnant with Shane in this photo. 5 months.

Hummingbird ~ A Mother feeding her baby ~ What a perfect Mother's Day picture I think

2009-05-07T10:22:00.004-07:00

My mom was watering her flowers this morning and a mother hummingbird was chirping at her a lot and so my mom looked around and saw a baby hummingbird learning how to fly in her plants. So my mom quickly went and got her camera and got a picture of the baby. As she was taking the picture the mother went down and fed the baby! And my mom got this shot. I LOVE IT! The luck of it all! My mom and her hummingbirds! One day in her pond in the front of the house she found a baby hummingbird in the water and she got it out and it perched on her finger and everything. HOW CUTE! She got a picture of that too. But this one is beautiful! Happy Mother's Day MaMa hummingbird!

2009-05-04T08:21:00.003-07:00

Zander doing his little pouty face...

Daniel took some more photo's of my with my bangs showing more...

Zander's new hair cut...

Canberra wearing a DM shirt that's too small for me as a night gown... She is very proud of it.

NO, we did NOT make them sleep the same... Daniel went in to check on the boys and saw Zander like this and then went to check on Seth and saw Seth sleeping the exact same way, so he went and got the camera. Gotta love brothers. They are more alike than we though!

From MaMa to HOT MaMa

2009-04-25T20:32:00.004-07:00

My new hair style! Thank you Court! You did an amazing job! Now I feel more like a HOT MaMa rather than just a MaMa! You are the best!

I will never forget the look on Daniel's face when he walked into the room and saw me this evening. His eyes open as big as they could get with his smile as wide as it could get! His face was also turning a bit red with the rush of excitement! It was like our wedding day all over again! That made me feel good!

BIRTHDAY TIME! Seth turning 6 and Zander 2

2009-04-18T18:18:00.003-07:00

This was another very fun successful party. Thank you everyone! All the kids had a great time. We had Auntie Callie, Vanessa, Mason and Tyson. Auntie Tanna and Uncle Jordon with baby Macey. Grandma with the fishies and Grandma Basham. Jarom Tracy, Dallen and Natalyn Rogers, Wesley Mason, Scott Williams, Land Lambert, Greg Cooper and his boys Justice and London. Toward the end Jon, Daniel's brother came with his kids Maya, Yessenia, Nathan and Nathan. They brought Zander a dinosaur ball and Seth a hot wheels race track! Thank you again for making this a memorable party for Seth and Zander!

Happy Birthday ZANDER!!! Your TWO already!

2009-04-13T10:56:00.007-07:00

Easter April 2009

2009-04-13T10:52:00.002-07:00

Keep up the great music Depeche Mode!

2009-04-13T09:37:00.001-07:00

Depeche Mode stand the test of time

Apr 13 2009 By Polly Weeks

Depeche Mode have survived 30 turbulent years in the music industry – and mellowed with age. Polly Weeks reports.

Many people are nervous about turning 30, seeing it as the end of their youth; the time to grow up and get a sense of responsibility.

The members of Essex band Depeche Mode, who epitomised the New Wave scene of the early 1980s, were no different when their group hit 30 last year.

“There were periods in the middle of our career where all of us had individual problems and it was a bit dicey whether we’d carry on a bit,” admits keyboard player Andy Fletcher.

“We were sort of dreading this 30th anniversary thing because it makes you sound so ancient, but we feel quite proud of it now. The way the music is at the moment groups come and go within years.”

Next Monday Andy and his bandmates Dave Gahan and Martin Gore will release Depeche Mode’s 12th studio album, Sounds Of The Universe.

It’s a major milestone for a band with a chequered history. While groups as diverse as Pet Shop Boys and Fear Factory have cited Depeche Mode as a major source of inspiration, things haven’t been easy.

Andy is frank and open about some of the issues. Songwriter and founding member Vince Clarke left after their 1981 debut was released, then Dave turned to drugs and alcohol as the band grew in fame and reputation. Andy also had his demons.

“The major problems were on a big tour we did called Songs For Faith And Devotion,” he explains. “We were on tour all that time and I’d had a nervous breakdown at the beginning of that tour so it was pretty difficult for me, but then I feel we’re not so unusual.

“We’re all people and lots of people go through these problems in life at times. We’ve come through these problems and come out stronger. I sound like a therapist but I feel we have,” he says.

“Dave has now been clean from drink and drugs for 13 years and even Martin hasn’t been drinking now for three-and-a-half years and it’s a lot of the reason we tend to be getting on better.”

With the band now focusing on the music rather than all of the trappings that have previously gone with it, recording the new album was a breeze.

“Sounds Of The Universe is probably one of the easiest albums we’ve ever had to make,” Andy says.

“There are certain things about what we do which gets harder as we get older - like the travelling around. But the actual recording process was actually very easy and enjoyable. We have quietened down a bit and I think Martin had quite a decent time to write songs and we had loads of songs, whereas sometimes you’re struggling for them. So it was just really easy and smooth. Hopefully that comes thorough in the final album.”

Andy’s quick to add though that it hasn’t always been such a seamless process.

“I think there has to be electricity in a band. Although this album has gone well there have been other albums which haven’t gone so well.

“We’re lucky as a group, we come from the same town and generally have the same sense of humour so we’ve got that to start with.”

This new relaxed attitude doesn’t mean they’ve become bland and boring however. The album begins with a few industrial but danceable numbers, which make way for a darker sound.

“The first part of the album is meant to be a bit more up-tempo, and then I guess it gets a bit more moodier.”

The band will be taking the album out on the road, putting any bad memories firmly behind them.

They play Birmingham’s LG Arena on December 13.

“The only problem we’ve got at the moment is trying to get the set list right,” Andy says. “We’ve got about 220 songs, so it’s a nice problem, but it’s difficult leaving out people’s favourites.”

Fans can rest assured though - he promises Personal Jesus and Enjoy The Silence will be part of the line-up.

All things considered, it’s not a bad way to begin the road ahead to 40 years together.

Generation Family Pictures April 2009

2009-04-11T21:00:00.006-07:00

Our first picture taken professionally since Shane was 2 months old! It's been a while!

My parents ~
My Grandparents ~Our kids with their parents, Grandparents and Great Grandparents!

All the boys...
All the girls ~
Just the kids with their Grandparents and Great Grandparents ~

Daniels parents ~

A MUST HAVE FOR EVERY WOMAN!!!

2009-04-06T17:40:00.002-07:00

I am giving Easy Combs FREE advertising here! But oh my blast! I saw this and HAD to try it! It works great! It was SO easy to do! It's a tight hold too (which I like) my hair is NOT going anywhere AND it looks really really cool!There is a booklet inside that gives you a ton of different step by step EASY way to use it! Forget hair ties man! I am ALL for these things! They are $10.00 at Walgreens. I am going to stock up!

Zander in a big boy bed and baby Macey

2009-03-30T19:57:00.003-07:00

Well, please note Zander is NOT 2 yet! All our kids stayed in a crib at LEAST until after they were 2 years old. Zander made it a few more month with out climbing out of his bed with no tent on the top. About 1 week ago he started to climb out again. I can't complain that much because he would stay in bed to sleep but climb out in the mornings or when he was done with his nap. He still slept the same amount of time. I just got worried he'd hurt himself one of these days. So we took the crib side off and made it into a toddler bed on Saturday night. To our surprise, he stayed in bed that night. Did NOT get out one time! He did a binkie re-run with his "broken" "broken" "broken" every two seconds the first two nights but that was it. He was very grown up about the entire thing and is excited to be in a "big boy bed" now. Next step... potty training. Bring it on!

Macey is a doll! The kids were SO excited to see her! Canberra would get excited and say "Tanna! she went to the doctor!!! Macey is not in her tummy anymore!!!??!!!" Little Zander was fast asleep when they came over so he hasn't seen her yet. I get to watch her this Thursday! I am so excited! Canberra will be at Bonnie's for school and the boys gone at school and by the time Tanna gets here Zander will be asleep again! She will be ALL MINE! Here are some pictures of the kids first experience with their baby Macey.

Any second now.... This is for you Shane

2009-03-28T08:36:00.001-07:00

Shane loves the first song on the playlist right now. It's Depeche Modes Any Second Now. So in preparation for the DM concert I added it to my playlist for him. Also, there is a video of them performing WRONG! Go DM! We can't wait!

For those of you that are not on Facebook here is the update on our Depeche Mode concert that we are bringing Shane to in San Diego in August. From the looks of it we MAY be bringing Seth too, we will see.

This is where we are sitting! The black dots to the FRONT left! And YES! That is the stage right in FRONT OF US!!! Oh Yah BABY! We are only 5 rows up from the Orchestra section! I have the actual hard tickets in my hands! Section 103 Row E seats 17-20! Worth EVERY penny!

Ostrich Ranch at Picacho Peak

2009-03-14T12:56:00.002-07:00

These picture say it all. We all had a great time. We got there right when it opened and stayed for about 2 1/2 hours. It was perfect. The kids enjoyed the birds the best. Canberra was very hesitant at first but once she learned that the animals (other than the ostrich) wouldn't hurt her she was all for it! Zander didn't care for feeding the deer or donkey's but he liked the birds. That was something he could handle.

Macey Clare Walker joined our family early this morning

2009-03-10T08:27:00.005-07:00

I will post the details later this afternoon. Tanna had her baby around 3:30am today. She weighed 7lbs 2oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Zander has a new song he sings and we will try to get a video of it. He loves to sing I am a Child of God.

Welcome Macey!

Shane got his purple belt in karate

2009-03-02T15:26:00.002-07:00

my playlist

2009-02-26T13:24:00.001-07:00

Man, sorry about some rotten music! I had no idea there was another persons playlist on my blog! How that got there or for how long it has been there I have no idea either! Wierd! Back to some good music now...

2009-02-20T17:18:00.002-07:00

Just letting you know that there will be some exciting posts coming up this year. We have several things planned for the kids. Next month we are planning a trip to the Ostrich Ranch at Picacho Peak... I should have our hike photos developed here pretty quick too. April we have Seth and Zander's birthday and May we're looking a camping trip to Patagonia. July we are doing our Torrey Pines trip and going to see the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Life Park. And then of course in October our Pumpkin pickin', November Canberra's birthday and Christmas along with Shane's birthday in December. So keep checking back here and there! I'll find the time to take more pictures and post them with a bit more details in writting than I have been doing in the past. Sorry, most of my blogging is with pictures!

Our pet rat Mia

2009-02-17T09:30:00.005-07:00

Our little Mia isn't so little anymore... She's growing up fast and healthy! We all love her!

Dress ups... poor Zander

You HAVE to watch this video about Jason McElwain... it will make your day! Click the II button to pause my music on the right :-)

2009-02-13T09:31:00.003-07:00

Toothpaste

2009-02-05T16:37:00.002-07:00

I was about to flip when I turned around and saw Zander drawing all over our brand new natural wood chairs with GREEN PERMANENT MARKER! All over the chair... so quickly I popped online and opened the first site under "how to get out permanent marker" and found that toothpaste was the #1 answer. Ran to get the toothpaste and wha... Laaa! It worked! Thank you toothpaste... anyone else think that's kinda scary? What we brush our teeth with will get out permanent marker? Oh well. It worked! Keep that in the back of your mind for future use... Thought I'd share!

School Pictures

2009-01-28T09:33:00.003-07:00

Since we are at a Charter School and I suppose they try to save money when ever they can, they took the pictures themselves. I think they turned out just fine, granted we had no idea it was picture day! So the best way I can put this would be:

Shane's 2nd and 3rd grade picture
Seth's Kindergarten and 1st grade picture

my kids from sonogram-18 months

2009-01-19T09:26:00.003-07:00

I took some pictures of my pictures to do this so some are blurry. Sorry. But I thought this would be fun to compare pictures. I am going to make a best of slide show too, funny and favorites. I will also post a family slide show too. Now this is all if I have time :-) Most likely I will get tired of staring at this computer screen!

Zander's songs and Tanna's Baby Shower

2009-01-17T18:42:00.008-07:00

Before I post my sisters baby shower slide show I want to post Zander singing his new song. He started by singing "Zander Q" We'd sing his name to the Spiderman song ... spiderman, spiderman... the one that's in the movie. We'd sing "Zander Q, Zander Q who's the cutest little Zander Q" to the same tune. That was his first song. Then he would sing the Rainbow song, Twinkle twinkle, RumPumPum Pum, Jingle bells all the way, happy birthday and the Sunbeam song. Here is a video of Happy Birthday and Zander Q. You've heard the rest.

January 8, 2009

October 14, 2008

This is a video of the kids dancing to The Wiggles...

Zander's been the little cuddle bug with his brothers and sister lately too... Shane woke up early and Zander did too, so Daniel put Zander next to Shane and Zander fell back asleep. So cute!

This is how they watched Little Einsteins the other day...

As for Tanna's baby shower. That was SO fun for me to do for her. I had a blast. Mariah did the diaper cake. I made the Teddy Bear a girl with the ribbon from Tanna's invites, which I made. We had 2 "if you want to play" games. One was I made a music mix of songs that have the word baby in the title. There were 22 songs mixed from all years and styles of music. They had to guess what the song title and artist was. As a prize they got a copy of the CD mix. Tanna got one just because it was here baby shower. She won anyways with 33 points. We had 23 and 20 points for the runner ups. The other game was also Tanna's first gift. I had people write down a list of "Must haves" Tanna should have in her diaper bag. Then as I read off the list I pulled out each item from a basket and put it in her diaper bag. At the end I handed her the filled Diaper bag as her first present. We had two winners for this game as well. We had deliceous food. A cashew salad her Mother-in-law Susan made, bagels and cream cheese, a wonderful lime sherbert punch my Mother made and a rich chocolate yummy cake that Susan brought as well. I had Sees candys for prizes and thanks to Callie some Mary Kay products! We also did the sticker on the bottom of the plates for a prize. At the end as guests were leaving they got a "pink splash" plant wrapped in pink and green paper. It was so fun decorating for this party. We hung baby clothes that would be gifts to Tanna on green rope across the room and had baloons. I LOVE the green and pink colors, it looked so cute. Thank you everyone for making this such an enjoyable and special day for Tanna! Thank you for helping her be ready for Macey! Enjoy the slide show!

Here is a list of the songs for the baby shower CD game:

be my baby - the ronettes
baby I love your way - ub40
Can't get enough of your love, babe - berry white
ice ice baby - vanilla ice
don't you want me baby - human league
baby love - diana ross & supremes
here without you baby - nickleback
baby boy - beyounce
everybody's trying to be my baby - the beatles
baby don't forget my number - millie vanillie
baby you send me - pm dawn
babyface - u2
back in baby's arms - patsy cline & loretta lynn
american baby - dave mathews band
hey baby - no doubt
there goes my baby - the drifters
baby im yours - shai
ooo baby baby - smokey robinson
keep on rocking me baby - steve miller band
born to be my baby - bon jovi
I got you babe - sonny and cher
cry like a baby - the box tops

Shane's 7th Birthday Party

2009-01-06T12:20:00.002-07:00

I have to say, Shane was the entertainer at this party. What a goof he was! He had such a great time and loved to make everyone laugh. We had the kids color headbands while we were waiting for everyone to get there, we ate pizza, ate cake and mommies yummy ice-cream dessert, and opened presents. Then we played some games. They played pin the karate belt on the picture of Shane, Simon says and Flying Ninja! That was fun! Everyone seemed to have a nice time. Right now I am planning Tanna's Baby shower! It has been so fun to plan! I can't wait! What a busy 3 months! On top of all that, Zander decided he didn't want to stay in his crib anymore. He climbs out. So that means it's back to rocking him to a DEEP sleep in order for him to take naps and go to bed at night. I don't mind that really, I've missed it. I have one of those crib tents coming here in the next day or two. We'll see how good that works.

When viewing the slide show just place your arrow on the picture to read what I've written about that picture :-) You can also adjust the speed I think by the - and + buttons.

2009-01-06T12:15:00.001-07:00

Hey, why is no one sending me their email addresses???? I want to go private but I want to make sure those of you who like to view my blog CAN!!! So either post a comment with your email address or email me at jannettebashams@gmail.com so I can enter in your email address in so you can continue to view my blog!!! Please!!!

Zander singing Jingle Bells and The Rainbow song

2008-12-26T15:09:00.002-07:00

I think we have a singer on our hands. We hear Zander singing from the moment we put him down for a nap or bedtime and then we hear him singing as soon as he wakes up. Here is a video of him singing Jingle all the way and Rainbow. The other video we have of him down a bit is of him singing Twinkle little star. Enjoy!

2008-12-26T13:38:00.018-07:00

Before I start I have to tell you... IT'S SNOWING right now! Crazy!

Also... We decided on a name for our new pet rat. "Mia"

Christmas morning... Daniel and I got up at 5:00 and we had an idea how to wake the boys up. We would jingle some bells and bang on the wall with some scrapes (for the sled). Well that's what we did. Over and over and over again. No one got up. Daniel even dropped the bells once. (I will explain why that's funny in a minute). We did this off and on for about 20 minutes, running back into bed after each one. NOTHING! So we just gave up. I put some bells in the back playroom to tell the kids that Santa left them, just in case SOMEONE heard them. Shane kept saying he wanted the playroom clean so Santa could leave presents in there, so he cleaned it all by himself that night, Santa left presents :-). When they went in to open them they saw the bells Santa left and were ecstatic! It was great. Anyway, after our bell failure we just went in and woke up Canberra first. She just wanted to sleep so we left her and went into the boys room. As soon as I opened the door Shane popped his head up and said he heard Santa say Ho HO HO and he sounded like Daddy! It was great. He then continued to tell us that he heard Santa's bells and heard when Santa dropped them! We tried so hard not to laugh! All this time we thought they were sleeping through it! Seth did but NOT Shane. He told us he heard Santa's sleigh and it sounded like it was in Mommy and Daddy's room. We just told him Santa just went over our room so he wouldn't wake them up. A part of us wants to think Shane knew what was going on but was playing it up with us for fun. Who knows. But the bells in the playroom sure got them thinking. That is another story in it's self! When the kids walked into the main room we wanted the bells to ring as though Santa just left. We tried to pull the bells off the window seal with some thread but the thread come off. Nice. So I had to sneak into the room and knock the bells off and hide in the laundry room until they went back by the tree. It worked! They didn't even notice I was gone. They went back into the family room and looked puzzled when they saw that none of the presents had tags on them. Shane quickly noticed their names hanging on the tree with a ribbon tied to them. Each one had a specific ribbon color for their presents. Shane thought Santa was so smart for doing it that way! Each year they will get a different ribbon color to their name. It's so fun! That way when they are older and we can have presents under the tree no one will know which is theirs. I will have more pictures to post once I get them from my parents.

Here are the key chain names I had made at Zazzle with their ribbon color tied to them hanging under the tree...
We wrapped Mia's cage with all thier ribbon colors... Shane knew that she was for ALL of them.

It's tradition in Daniel's family growing up that the stockings were on the couch. They also always had a drink. So the kids got candy, 100% grape juice and a toothbrush with stickers and a cool ball.
Here we put 1 present for each of them in the playroom just what Shane was hoping for...

Canberra didn't want to wake up yet so we left her in bed while we got the boys...

Zander waking up...
Shane... who was wide awake waiting for us to wake up...

Seth actually woke up for us this time!

Here are Santa's bells that were left in the playroom...

I made sticker books for each of the kids so they have a place other than the car windows and walls when they get stickers at the doctors office and birthday parties.

Each of the kids got a paint with water coloring book...

Canberra got a box full of My Little Pony's that I have been collecting all year... I actually found one that I had as a kid... Bubbles!

Zander and his big present...

It's all about TRANSFORMERS!!! I had been collecting them all year... Each of the boys got 2 transformers.

Zander sharing his bow...

Canberra brushing her Annie dolls hair...

Touch and feel books... LOVE THEM!

I took videos of when they finally noticed the ribbons around Mia's cage. They didn't think anything was in there but then Mia stuck her little nose out of her box. The kids were so excited! Especially Zander! He got the biggest kick when Mia started to HOP around back and forth really quick. She sure put on a show for them!

You HAVE to give your rats LOTS of kisses...

We held Mia for a little while waiting for 7:00 to come around to head to my parents house. I put her back into her cage and as I was walking out the door noticed she was up at the top all cute. So I couldn't just leave her there. I took her with us and she stayed on my shoulder the entire time.

Christmas at my parents house...

Now... where do we start...

Savanna...
Canberra and Mariah
Tanna and baby Macy...
Shane got what he really wanted... A talking microscope. What's up with my eyebrow???

I swear I can't have a picture of me without my EYEBROW sticking up! I hate it!!!

Every year I get my parents and sisters a calendar of the kids throughout the year. Some of them are funny and some are just really good pictures that I've taken during the year. I don't post them on my blog so it's a surprise to everyone. I love to see the expressions on their faces when they look through.

Seth got the talking Telescope...

Canberra LOVES her baby doll. She got an adorable little baby stroller to put her in and pushes her all over the house!
Gotta LOVE the expression on Daniels face when he got his Costa Rica Lizano Salsa! Boy that stuff is GREAT! YUMMY! I also got Daniel a book in Spanish so he can keep up on his Spanish and a leather "MAN BAG" so he doesn't have to carry 20 pens, 2 phones, tape measures and his pocket knife in his front pockets anymore! He got me a pair of black high heal shoes I saw but didn't have the money to get them so I sadly put them back on the shelf. Yay!!! I can't wait to wear them on Sunday! They are so cute!

This was a project I have been working on for months for my parents. I went to a tile place downtown and picked out my flowers, one for each of my parents grandchildren and placed them in order of birth. Shane, Savanna, Seth, Canberra, Zander and baby MACEY CLARE WALKER. I had to pick out a rock that would fit all the flowers and then a few more for the future grandchildren. Then I put grout on it. I think it turned out great! It was so fun! My parents put it right by their front door in the entry way.

Back at the house... Zander holding Mia. He is so gently with her... it's really cute to watch him. He is that way with babies too, he just loves them and is so gentle with them. Mia is a good little girl. I held her on my shoulder the entire time we were opening presents at my moms house. She just snuggled up against my neck in my hair and slept there the entire time!

The kids surprise Christmas present...

2008-12-24T14:24:00.004-07:00

I was hoping for a baby Siamese Dumbo rat but the mommy died with her babies about 1 month ago. So I decided to call just to see if they got any others in. The lady said yes. So my loving and understanding husband came home for lunch so I could go to the shop before they closed to check out these 4 week old baby dumbo rats! They were not siamese though but maybe we'll breed her with a male Siamese Dumbo when she's older. There were 2 black males and a white female and then.... a beautiful brown female. I kinda had my heart set on a female this time since I always had males. The coloring on this female is an "original" rat color. It's called Agouti. She has a white tip on her tail and a white belly. She is precious! Now to come up with a name! That's always the hard part. The boys picked Mochs for our last blue rat we had. Maybe they'll come up with a good girl name. Soooo... welcome to our family little one!

2008-12-22T10:15:00.006-07:00

We had a busy Saturday. We have to take advantage of snow when it comes to Tucson... so we added a snow trip to our plans for Saturday. We went to Mt. Lemmon for about 3 hours. Then drove to Chandler and ate at In-and-Out Burger and stayed at Makutu's Island for about 3 hours then walked around the Temple and looked at the Christmas lights for about 45 min. We got home about 9:30 that night. Whew! What a fun and busy day! They kids had a great time in the snow. Zander loved sliding down even after his spill... Towards the end they were complaining their hands were too cold. Are we desert rats or what! It wasn't that cold up there. But we had fun sliding down the slopes and building our snowman that lasted just about to the first light off the mountain. Makutu's was fun as usual... what a great place to burn some energy. The Temple lights were beautiful as well. It was a very enjoyable Saturday. I'm going to post some videos now and then continue cleaning my house for Christmas!!!

More to come shortly!

No more binkie for Zander

2008-12-19T10:11:00.002-07:00

Well, I had planned all along that over Christmas break we'd take away the binkie. That way if he had crying spells at night the boys wouldn't have school the next day. At this point in time Zander and his binkie were very important for going to sleep. He had to have one in his mouth and just recently HAD to be holding one or TWO. Now this was only for sleep time. During the day he did not have one so it wasn't that bad. But that's when I decided enough is enough... especially when we had to do the house search for 3 binkies every night! I realized as I was getting him ready for his nap today that ~ it's Christmas break~ Sooo, I decided a different approach to taking away the binkie than I've done with Shane and Canberra. I just took those away one day. They were fine, no crying nothing. It was easy. Today, I cut the very tip off of them. When Zander aked for his binkie as I was holding him for his nap I took it out of my pocket and he put it right in his mouth and just as fast as he put it in, he took it out and said "broken" "Auh Oh, it is broken" I said. So I pulled the other one out and gave it to him, he didn't put it in his mouth, he just looked at it, wouldn't touch it like it was a snake or something, and said "broken too". I agreed with him and said, "garbage?" So he got off my lap and I handed him his two broken binkies (by the handle I may add... he didn't want anything to do with the wierd feeling tips anymore) and he walked those two binkies to the trash in the kitchen and dropped them in. No crying, nothing. So I held him for a few minutes on the rocking chair in his room and thought I'd sing him some songs. He just sat there on my lap holding his blanket against my chest. As I was singing he would randomly say "broken" and let me finish the song. He'd do that about 3 times each song. It was hilareous. You just knew he was thinking on that binkie! But he didn't cry at all. He just kept saying "broken" I tried so hard not to laugh! It almost made me cry I felt so sad for him that he was thinking on it that long quietly! I just had to hug him and kiss him. He took it like a man I'd say. Then I thought the whammy would come as I put him in his crib. I layed him down, covered him up and handed him his blanket and little boy baby doll. He just stared up at me and again... said "broken". "yes, binkies broken" I said again and kissed him goodnight. That was it. Done. No more binkie. Thank you scissors. And he got rid of them himself. I think that was a growing step for him. I am so proud of him. Haven't heard a peep out of him this entire time of typing... other than the random words... "broken" that I've only heard two times. Now... church tomorrow... that will be interesting. We did bring the binkie to church just to keep him quiet in sacrament meeting. So we may have to replace that with snacks.

Going Private

2008-12-17T10:29:00.005-07:00

Well, I'm following the crowd. I think it's a good idea to go private anyway. There are WAY too many creepy people out there. So please... send me your email address so I can add you. It's not that annoying, I thought it would be but if you are signed into the email address you send me and click on my blog I come right up. So it's not like you HAVE to log in to view my blog like I thought. Just email me at "jannettebashams@gmail.com" if you'd like to be added to view my blog. I will do this in about a month.

2008-12-16T18:58:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to post this for my own remembrance as well as it being cute... Zander LOVES the Little Drummer Boy song. He likes to sing along to the RumPaPaPum part. I am going to try to video it the next time I know the song comes on. He also likes another Christmas song that he sings to and does very well saying the words but I CAN'T remember it for the life of me right now! I will post it as soon as he sings it again or I remember.

2008-12-16T11:56:00.006-07:00

Sorry it's been so long... I have one more present to finish and one more to get and I'm done! I've been very busy planning for Christmas, Shane's birthday, planning for Tanna's baby shower, figuring out when to try for our last baby (due to Daniel's school obligations next Jan-Mar 2010), planning our Temple trip this month, Gaslight theater with the boys, ear apts for Seth (FYI Dr. Perry is a GREAT ENT here in Tucson) and feeding missionaries that I have taken all my free time to close my eyes and spend some one on one time with the kids! Camping pictures to Picacho Peak will be up as soon as I develop the pictures. My camera was sent in to be repaired and I had to use a disposable camera on our trip. But I do have pictures of Daniel's work Christmas party. Well of us anyway. We only got to dance 1 time. They just played a bunch of rap music that you can't exactly "rumba" to. But at least we got to dance once. It was fun. My cousin did a great job on my hair, thank you Evelyn! I had a great birthday. Daniel wrote me a song and sang it to me with his guitar the night after his work Christmas party. It was a very touching song and he sang and played it perfectly. I couldn't of asked for a better present from my husband. I had breakfast at my parents and my sisters came. My dad made his homemade biscuits and white gravy with sausage and cheese eggs. It was so yummy! I got a beautiful bracelet from Mariah and Tanna got me much needed scrapbooking ribbon. My Mom and Dad got me a gorgeous hummingbird feeder which I will take a picture of when I hang it up in the spring. My grandmother got me a necklace that actually went perfect with my dress for the party. Thank you Grandma! Thank you everyone for a memorable birthday. I am going to post some random pictures and then some of the Christmas party. Most likely you won't see another post until Christmas. So everyone... have a wonderful Christmas!

These are the stockings the kids made on card stock and my scraps of materials. All we needed was glue and boy did the kids like gooping that on the paper! It was fun. I think they turned out great.
My pile of laundry I get to fold and put away weekly. Not nice and I do not look forward to Mondays. At least they are all in a pile nicely so I don't have iron! I don't know why I took a picture of it. Maybe for memories when it's WORSE or gets better.

Our half decorated Christmas tree... thank you Zander.

Yes, he is putting his thumbs up his nose. Why? I have no idea, I just walked into the kitchen and he was doing that and just happened to have the camera on right there by the table to get a picture.

My dress...

Pictures in the car on the way to the party...

A picture of our rings...
Us at the party...
I never get pictures of Seth so I just took a random one of him. He only would let me if he were holding his stocking... the terd.

Canberra's hair last Sunday...
Canberra and Shane... Zander was sleeping...

2008-12-02T17:24:00.002-07:00

Christmas lights are up on the house... lights are on the jacaranda tree so it doesn't freeze since it's still young... and the best thing ever... The new faucet is on the kitchen sink! Wow does that make a difference! That old one was NASTY! Now all I have to do is clean my oven! Enjoy the Christmas videos of my kids and my niece Savanna!

2008-12-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

2008-12-02T08:42:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Shane lost his second tooth...

2008-11-23T18:26:00.002-07:00

Well, this is 3 Sunday's in a row that we have lost a tooth in this family! Shane lost is 2nd bottom tooth tonight. I did the good ole floss again. Boy that works like a charm! It's going to be very interesting how these two adult teeth come in, there is absolutely NO room for two teeth in the front. We better start saving up now for braces! I would have a picture of it but... I had to mail my camera in for repairs. GREAT!! NO CAMERA! I honestly feel like I've lost a kid or something... I HAVE to have my camera! I'm so spoiled! I don't even want to use a $5 disposable, I want my digital! The luxury of looking at your pictures and deleting the bad ones and being able to re-take them in the moment! What will I do??? I will have to borrow someones for our camping trip this weekend!

Today poor Daniel directed the choir in sacrament meeting, then gave a talk they originally asked me to do but I pawned it off on Daniel... I did write it though. But then he was asked to give the prayer in Sunday school and THEN had to teach Priesthood! He just now left to go Home Teaching! At least he'll sleep good tonight!

We went to the zoo Saturday morning. I feel so bad for those animals! The lion looked skinny and was just lying there roaring. You could see his spine and ribs he was so skinny! The monkeys were my highlight though. They are so funny. The tiger was roaring a lot and walking right in front of the rail so you could see him super close. It was great. The kids had a great time! Then the boys went to Karate movie night for 4 hours with their cousin Vanessa and Daniel and I went out to dinner while Callie watched the rest of the kids. We went to this spectacular restaurant called Luna Bella. WOW! That was some tasty food! We now have a new favorite place to eat Italian! Sorry Dolce Vita!

Tomorrow Shane will start class in 3rd grade for a few weeks to test it out. He is so excited and his teacher is excited to have him in class. Out of the spelling list for November and December for the class he knows 43 out of 50, and it's still November. So I think he'll be just fine for spelling, and he's already going for math so he'll only be better at that. I think he'll do just fine. But if not, in January he'll have a great new teacher teaching his 2nd grade class... Mr. Eric. Right now he will only have substitutes till then. Poor Shane. It's a miracle he's learned anything at all this year with 6 different teachers!

We got one...

2008-11-20T20:42:00.010-07:00

This isn't professional by any means nor is it intermediate but it's what we know so far and it's much better than the first video we did. We used our camera and the memory got full on the second video so it cut out all our good stuff :-( Go figure. Also, at the very beginning we were going to do this nice romantic part but the some youth came in so we had to cut it short... But here is our progress with only 5 lessons. Thank you Lindsay! We are having so much fun learning Rumba and are getting so much more comfortable. We need to work on so many things, like NOT stopping on the "slow" motion, and looking at each other when we do our fans. But at least we know what we are doing, we just need to "PERFECT" it!

A weekend alone...

2008-11-20T08:49:00.004-07:00

Before I get into our weekend plans... I have to say thank you to Lindsay for teaching Daniel and I the basics of Rumba. We are working on getting a "dress rehearsal" video of our progress so far. Daniel and I now feel very confident when we go on to the dance floor. This song "Besame Mucho" is one of our favorites to dance to. We also like the next song... and Casi Un Bolero.

Thanks to my older sister Tanna, Daniel and I get to go camping on the 28th at Picacho Peak. She is going to watch all my kids overnight so we can go. We are so excited to go and be ALONE for longer than a few hours! On top of that, we get to hike to the top that morning in the cool crisp air. It's been so long! Too long! Since I have had a good hike. I used to go to 7 falls at LEAST 2 times a month during and after high school. Daniel and I went to Peppersauce Cave when I was 4 months pregnant with Shane, but that's a cave not hiking. Although my legs hurt just as much afterward. Aside from that, we have gone camping as a family when Seth was a baby and that's been it! After that Daniel has been so busy with school and work and I've been pregnant! So we are, to say the least, EXCITED to go!

Also, we want to take the boys and possibly Canberra and Zander... we'll see about Zander, in the spring. Why oh why would we go in the spring when the rattle snakes, scorpions and spiders are coming out? I have no idea. But at least it will be warmer for them and they will get to see the flowers. With us going first we can also get an idea of the hiking route to take with the kids. We also want to take them to feed the deer, ostrich and birds at the Ostrich Farm there. Now I have to admit... that may be more for me than the kids.

Seth's special day....

2008-11-16T19:00:00.004-07:00

One week later...... Now don't think we are tooth puller aholics now. Seth's tooth was hanging there so we tried the floss thing again, we had to tie it in a knot because the floss kept slipping off his tooth. Now Seths tooth was a bit stubborn and he seemed to not have the pain tolerance as Shane so we put some orajel on his gums and yanked about 3 times and it popped out. It did help that Seth was fighting it a bit and pulled back at the same time as I pulled :-). He is very happy it's out and LOVES sliding his tongue in and out of the hole.

This is a picture of Shane's teeth. He got his other tooth coming in behind again. But I don't think we are going to be as lucky. That tooth does NOT move. That may have to be pulled. You can see how fast the other tooth came in! Now it just needs to move into place.

Zander and his Teddy Bear

2008-11-11T12:38:00.005-07:00

Every night before we go to bed, Daniel and I always check in on the kids one last time. Canberra, Shane, Seth.... Zander. We always get the surprises of butts in the air, twisted positions, blankets on the floor or toys under the pillow. This night we got a sweet moment. There Zander was, holding his little Teddy Bear, blanket stuffed under his head, little curl showing and sound asleep. I just HAD to take a picture of it. This brought back memories of Shane as a baby... when he was just several weeks old I heard him goo goo gaa gaaing to his little animals that were in his crib... Seth would always fall asleep with toys in his hands. Canberra would do this little side to side thing with the tip of her tongue behind her bottom lip. Now we have our sweet little Zander, snuggling with his Teddy Bear. We love you so much Zander! This picture was taken on November 9th...

Here is another picture I took when I went to get him out of bed one morning. It was so cute! As soon as I turned on the light and saw him sitting there holding his Teddy Bear and baby doll like that I ran around the corner where I keep my camera and quickly took the picture before he moved! It's so cute how he has his blanket all perfectly wrapped around his legs! This was taken on October 10th...

This was just taken on November 11th...

Shane's special day...

2008-11-09T11:16:00.003-07:00

About 1 week ago Shane was complaining about his tooth hurting. He has been grinding his teeth for years and so I was thinking it was because he got to his nerve and biting an apple would make that hurt. I went over and looked and he had his adult tooth growing up behind his tooth. This was his lower front right tooth. His baby tooth was only a little wiggly. So he's been working on it to get a bit more wiggly over the past 2 days. I told him that we should take him to Papa (my dad) to pull his tooth out. My dad was the master tooth puller. Shane was all for that. He got the phone but my dad had already left for his church meeting. So my mom told me to try some floss around the tooth just to get it more wiggly and ready to come out. So I gave that a try and wrapped some floss around the base of the tooth. I pulled here up and there and I pulled forward a few times and then the tooth popped a little forward! Shane had no clue! I lost the floss so I had to try and re-wrap the tooth, once I got the floss around the tooth again I pulled up several times lightly and then it just popped out. With Shane's tooth hanging from the floss, I hear Shane ask me if the floss came off again. I said no and slowly moved the hanging tooth in front of Shane to show him is first lost tooth. No pain, nothing. It was great. And to top that off, it wasn't that wiggly at all! Seth has a wiggly tooth. The exact same tooth even! It's more wiggly than Shane's was! But we HAD to get Shane's out ASAP due to the tooth in the back. Now it can move into it's proper place, somehow. There isn't very much room!Shane's baby teeth were so TINY! All in time! We shall see!

My Christmas scrap material stockings are DONE!!!

2008-11-07T19:19:00.003-07:00

Daniel's stocking

Mommy's stocking
Shane's stocking
Seth's stocking
Canberra's stocking
Zander's stocking
All hanging in a row...

Canberra's 3rd Birthday

2008-11-01T20:29:00.005-07:00

I have to say Canberra's birthday party was very enjoyable. So many friends and family came. It was so nice. Everything turned out perfectly. She was tired due to a busy day beforehand, we had another birthday party we went to right before hers. She was a little tired until some sugar got into her. I made Grandma's yummy dessert (mommy's yummy desert to my kids) a simple, fast, delicious dessert. Cool whip, frozen yogurt, sherbet, or ice cream and macaroon cookies all crushed up and mixed together and frozen. I used a mixed berry sherbet today and chopped up berries and added them into it. It was great. That was the ice cream part of the party. The cake was her favorite Little Einsteins cake that I made. I got the sheet topper online. That was interesting. They misspelled her name "Cranberra" and so we got another one sent... Well Zander got a hold of that one and destroyed all if it but the beginning of her name! Perfect! I broke off the letters that I needed and Wha Lah! You'd never know! She got so many cute "girly" presents and loved them all. Thank you everyone for making this a special day for Canberra! If there are any error I need to fix on the video let me know. Thanks.

Halloween Tradition

2008-11-01T20:25:00.002-07:00

This is our tradition for the past few years. Instead of trick-or-treating we carve pumpkins on Halloween. The kids have fun. Zander kept trying to eat the pumpkin and had no problems getting his hands mushy! Canberra on the other had didn't want to get her fingers dirty. It took her a long time to actually get in there and pick out the seeds. Seth started to carve his pumpkin but didn't have the patients for it yet. Shane carved his entire pumpkin all by himself. He did a great job! They all picked out the faces they wanted and I drew them on. It was a lot of fun.

Shane's Orange Belt

2008-10-26T10:47:00.009-07:00

Shane had his belt test ceremony on Saturday. He did a great job. He is so excited that he got his orange belt... We are so very proud of him. His favorite belt color we wants to get to is purple and then black of course.

His teacher Mr. Smith