Christmas and Stuff

So, I'm gonna breeze through the bad things that have happened in the last couple weeks and then we'll move on to the fun stuff. My poor husband was hit by a semi while driving up to Idaho to buy my Christmas present (which I now know is a sweet elliptical machine).

As you can probably tell by the pictures, the truck was totalled. Thus, we move on and will be finding a new truck in the next couple weeks.

On to the awesomeness. ADAM GRADUATED!! So, my mom has all the pictures and I will post them soon. I am so proud of him I can't even tell you. He is still going to finish his second bachelors degree which will only require one class in the Spring and one in the Fall; however, he is also going to start a Masters degree that is all online through Arizona State University for a Masters of Engineering with an emphasis in Embedded Systems. More on that to come in the future, but he figured since his work will pay for some of it, why not continue? So, our life is not quite off the school track yet, but we know it is for the best.

Our Christmas was very different this year. We were unable to go to the Harward party because I was not feeling well and Camryn was definately not feeling well. I really wish we would all get better already. Then we went to Adam's parents' house on Christmas Eve not Christmas and to top it all off it was just Adam and me and my mom for Christmas Eve night. It was different, but good I think. Our kids go 4-wheelers (powerwheels, of course) from Santa and they are just loving them. I got my elliptical machine which I am totally stoked about and also a new digital camera. Adam got a surround sound system and new scriptures. So, overall it was a fabulous Christmas.

So to end this post, I must show you all my beautiful baby. She sings and coos literally all day long. It is honestly the cutest thing. So, here's my baby Cams.

Where has the time gone?

So, this is the thing...having 3 kids makes time go ridiculously fast!!! I look at my blog and cannot believe it has been so long since I've updated. For goodness sakes Camryn is 3 1/2 months old! So, here we go.

Adam: Adam has been working incredibly hard to finish up school. This semester he had 21 credit hours and was working 20 hours a week at L-3. His senior project left him working until the wee hours of the morning (2-3am) in an effort to finish and hopefully graduate. Since that was a success (video to come and maybe an explaination by Adam since all I can say is that it is a car that drives on its own to specific coordinates given to the computer), Adam now just has one more test until he completes his first of two degrees. Luckily he only has 2 classes to finish up the second, so we are really calling this the end of school! I think I'm more relieved he is done than when I finished. Adam was also offered a full time position as a Systems Engineer at L-3; I honestly cannot believe what a blessing this is. He starts full time next week and I'm looking forward to having what is hopefully to be a "normal" future.

Lindsay: Ha, why I even add this paragraph is beyond me. I'm really doing nothing but taking care of Baby, running Reese to school, dance, birthday parties, etc, taking Noah to preschool and trying to not let my house be a complete disaster somewhere in the middle of that. I'll tell you what, two kids was a piece of cake (for me at least), but Camryn has thrown me for quite a loop. It's not so much difficult, as busy.

Reese: Miss Reese is getting ready to start gymnastics. She has been begging me to sign her up for quite awhile and I just have not had the time (or brain to remember) to do it. She still is taking dance and enjoys it most of the time :) She's making lots of friends at school and is just as smart as always! I'm so impressed with her reading, writing, and math skills not to mention her fondness for arts and crafts. She's just my little girl and I can't believe how much she is growing.

Noah: Oh Noah, how I love this little guy. He can be a little terror sometimes (the terrible threes are no joke), but he is really one of the loviest, funniest little boys in the world. He always has to hug and kiss me goodbye, he loves to tell me how much he loves me, and I could sit and listen to him chatter on all day long. He, of course, is still very into boy things such as Spiderman, Star Wars, sports, and the Wii. The other day he came up to me and said, "Mom, you can call me Star Wars," and would not reply to any other name the rest of the night. The next day he wanted to be known as "Spiderman" and the next day for some reason he made me call him "Stripey." I have no idea what goes on in the boy's head, but I love it.

Camryn: Cammers (as I affectionately call her) is growing a lot. She is still only 10lbs, but she is a tall little girl. I'm having trouble fitting her into the clothes that Reese wore as a baby because even though Camryn is as skinny as little Reese was, Camryn is much taller. So I've had to buy clothes that I was hoping I didn't have to, but you can imagine how difficult this is for me ;) The poor girl is still pretty hairless, but dark brown hair with a slight red tinge is starting to grow in. She has been reaching for toys for the last couple weeks and she always wants to be sitting.

Overall, I think we are doing pretty well. I'm very excited for Christmas this year, even though Adam won't decorate till after graduation. 2 days to go and then we will be feeling the Christmas spirit in our home. We hope that you are all having a wonderful season and that you are happy and healthy.

Love,
The Barnetts

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4 Weeks!

I can't believe Camryn is going to be 4 weeks tomorrow!

School Beginnings

Well, finally all three students in our house, Adam, Reese, and Noah, have begun their school year. I can't say which of the three was hardest for me. Adam started 21 credits of school 4 days after I had Camryn, plus he's working 20 hrs a week so that was pretty difficult. I think I'm finally getting used to him being gone so much. The saddest part is that he doesn't get home until 9:30 or later on Monday and Wednesday so the kids don't see him for more then an hour on those days, because they are in bed before he gets home. However, I keep telling myself that this is his last semester and I will survive. Hopefully he will too :)

Reese started Kindergarten this year and I can't believe how big she is. When they did the state assessment she was able to read all the letters and tell Mrs. Moore their sounds as well as count to 100. She's such a little smartie. She's already meeting new friends and she is so excited to go everyday. The hardest part is that it is morning Kindergarten and Reese and I are not morning people. Hopefully it will get easier as the year goes on, but we've been on time everyday so far.

Noah started preschool today. I was pretty nervous about him going because in my eyes he's still my little baby. He has been so excited to go. He picked out his "Superboy" backpack (which is what he has labeled every super hero, in this particular case it is actually Spiderman); however, the backpack is honestly as big as him. He looks so adorable though. He was so happy when I went to pick him up from class. He got to be the "special helper" today and he was so proud. The house was so quiet while he was gone, it was very strange and poor Reese was bored without him, but I'm sure things will start to even out as Camryn becomes more active.

Ok, so I can't go without updating on my little Camryn. At her 2 week checkup she was 6 lbs 9 oz and 20 inches long which is quiet a change in length from when she was born. The doctor thinks she might has been stretching a little and it was measured a little long. She is happy and healthy and the doctor said she is as alert as a 2 month old. Unfortunately now she and I have a cold. The poor girl is sniffing and having a hard time sleeping. I'm hoping it will pass by quickly.

No Shortage of Love

Reese literally sits and stares at Camryn until she wakes up. Noah always needs to know where the baby is and as soon as she starts fussing, he makes sure to tell me that she's hungry.

Welcome to the World Baby Girl!

Camryn is now 3 days old and I thought before things got too crazy I would blog about her birth. I went into the hospital at 7 am to be induced because my blood pressure had been elevated for the past two weeks and Dr. Bierer didn't want me to go past 39 weeks. Since I was Group B Strep positive (which I wasn't for Reese and Noah, so I thought it was weird) I needed to have antibiotics for 4 hours before she could be born. So, they started my pitocin at 8:30 and I started having contractions right away. The doctor said he would be back at about 11:30 to break my water; however, he didn't make it back until 1:15. Because of my other two labors going very quickly after my water broke, I knew I needed to get my epidural right away. I wasn't in tremendous pain, but I knew what was coming, so at 1:30 I had my epidural. I quickly realized that I like to be in a lot more pain from my contractions before I have an epidural (I like something to distract me), because Ouch!, the epidural hurt this time! I was soon relaxed and Adam thought it would be a good time to get some lunch. At 1:45 the nurse checked me and I was a 4...at 2:15 she came back in and said I was a 6+....then she asked me, "Now when you say you go fast after your water breaks, what do you mean?" I said, "Well, my daughter was born 2 hours after and my son an hour and a half." She said, "Did you discuss this with Dr. Bierer?" (because he had left the hospital and gone back to his office) and I said, "Well, I tried to." The truth is, I tried to tell him that morning and he didn't seem too interested; he wrote it off saying something about how 3rd babies are tricky and sometimes they take their time and sometimes they are fast. Well, in any case, the nurse decided to page my doctor and tell him how fast I was progressing. Then she said, "We might want to get dad back up here." 20 mins later I
was fully dilated and she actually used the the phrase, "Umm, girl, you better just keep those legs closed!!" She quickly paged my doctor and started calling other nurses and getting things ready. Adam made it back up to the room and the nurse said to him, "Yeah, this is a girl who should not be far away from the hospital when her water breaks, because she would be having the baby in the car!" After waiting 25 mins for the doctor to get there, because that's so easy when your fully dilated and feeling pressure, Dr. Bierer finally made it! I pushed once and then went to push a second time when he said to stop. She was born at 3:12 pm after what we call one and a half pushes. I just burst into tears; she was so beautiful! She weighed 6 lbs 2 oz (for the record I guessed that!) and was 17.5 inches. I call her my little peanut; she is so tiny.

Shortly after she was born we were told that she was SGA or small for gestational age. So, we needed to have her blood sugar tested every six hours for the next day to make sure that she was getting enough nutrients. I also needed to make sure that she ate every 2-3 hours at the most. Her levels were great every time and we were cleared to go home on Saturday morning. We did have to take her to get bilirubin levels tested again this morning, because she was in the "moderate high" level for jaundice. We are hoping to hear that everything is fine tomorrow at her appointment with the pediatrician.

All-in-all, she is a wonderful baby. She does like to eat every 2-3 hours throughout the night, but she has been eating and going straight back to sleep (knock on wood). Reese and Noah just love her! They want to kiss her and hold her and just look at her all the time. We feel so grateful that everything went so smoothly and that we have our healthy, happy baby Camryn home with us. We are looking forward to the adventures of being a family of 5 that are sure to come!