Long time, no post. . .

or anything else for that matter. It has been a very long couple of months. As you might have noticed from the widget over there on the sidebar we're expecting baby #4 in early December. I'm 17 weeks along now (I just started feeling the baby move last week - yay!!!) and finally feeling up to sitting upright and getting on the computer. Most of you know how I am when I'm pregnant. It is not a pretty thing. I knew what it would be like though so this wasn't a surprise. We knew we had one more baby waiting for us - it just took a while for me to get up the nerve to do this one last time.

I didn't even feel sick when we first found out so I kind of didn't believe that I was really pregnant! It hit about a week after we found out and just got steadily worse. I called up my Dr. and asked for my good ol' Zofran the second I started feeling sick because I knew what was coming. He knew too and was happy to oblige. I was on the pill form of Zofran for about a month but our stupid insurance company started refusing to cover it. They would cover enough for me to take about one pill a day but I needed to take it every 6 hours. So my Dr. prescribed a Zofran pump for me, which strangely enough the insurance WILL pay for. At the rate of $400/day! Yes, that makes complete sense! *eye roll* That's an insurance company for you. Idiots.

So I've been on a Zofran pump for about two months or so now and it has been helping. It's NOT fun, but I'm grateful that it has been helping. I can really tell a difference between having it in my system nonstop than when I was taking the pills. I could feel the pills wearing off about an hour before I could take another one and I didn't dose in the middle of the night which probably would have helped a little with the torturous mornings. Now I get it all day long and all night long without waking up. I can even get a "demand dose" which is a big dose of the medicine over a short period of time if I'm feeling really awful, which is something I couldn't do when I was just taking the pills. It definitely has its downsides though. I have to poke myself with a needle in my outer thigh(s) everyday to get the medicine into my body, and the Zofran's pH is such that it is really hard on the tissues. After about 24 hours the tissue eventually stops absorbing the medicine and it just starts to pool under the skin. It forms a very hard, red and painful welt about the size of a half dollar. I also get to carry around the pump (in its extremely attractive and highly desirable little black carrying case) with a long tube that's attached to my leg that gets caught on EVERYTHING. I was able to do the "pokes" myself at first but I can't do it anymore. It hurts more now that I'm recycling spots on my legs and I start shaking too much to put it in without causing myself more pain. I'm such a wimp! So my dear husband has been doing it for me, but I think he secretly enjoys it. :) It's like pulling off a band-aid - it's better to just do it quickly and get it over with.

The past week or so I have been feeling better (thank heavens!) and hopefully it will stay this way. Mind you, I still feel horribly nauseous and tired, especially in the morning, but at least I'm able to eat some normal food now and it doesn't have to be every 1 1/2 hours on the dot. That was seriously exhausting especially when NOTHING sounds good to eat. I still can't drink soda *sigh* (and I try a little bit everyday just to see if I can yet!) and lots of things still sound horrible to eat but I can eat ice cream again so that's definitely something good! A life without ice cream is just NOT worth living. :)

I cannot begin to thank all the people who have helped us out for the past three months. My sweet visiting teachers brought us dinner once a week for quite a while and the RS took care of another meal once a week, which was a great relief to me. Even if I couldn't eat it or my kids wouldn't eat it at least I knew that Josh was getting something more than PB&J or Mac&Cheese. My visiting teachers came and took the kids to the park a couple of times too before it got too hot to be outside. Several of the sisters in our ward have had the kids over to play, and I am so grateful for that. Cash has especially loved playing at his friend Sam's house or with his other best buddy, Nathan. Nathan's mom has been REALLY sweet about taking all my kids and hers to different places just to let them get out of the house. My sweet sister-in-law, Jessie, came to visit for a while and was awesome about taking the kids for a little while or watching them when I needed to go to the Dr. or whatever. I don't think my kids would have seen their cousins as much if she hadn't been so willing. I'm really sad that I didn't get to hang out with her as much as I would have liked though. :( We are very blessed to live so close to both of our families that are always willing to help. I'm so thankful for all of them! I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of people but I'm still very grateful for all you!

My sweet, sweet husband has been my caretaker and comforter and Mr. Mom. I don't even want to think about what life would be like without him. He's done the dishes, done all the grocery shopping, vacuumed a few times, even cooked up a few dinners and taken all three kids to multiple places all by himself many, many times. He filled in for me in primary many times, did all the baths and all the bedtimes by himself - all on top of going to work everyday. He is my SuperMan and I'm pretty sure I don't deserve him. Maddie has also been a HUGE help. She went to play at a friend's house for a little while one day and I thought my world was coming to an end! She helps Cash get dressed and keeps him occupied by playing with him or with finding him a TV show to watch or helping him play on the computer. She also makes lunch for all the kids almost every day and is very thoughtful in asking if there is anything she can do for me. I know there is a reason I had her first. Ryley's very sweet and is always giving me a hug and kiss and telling me, "I hope you feel better soon, Mom." He even took out the trash without being asked the other day! Cash is mostly my entertainment, although he is helpful to Maddie with getting lunch ready. He likes to get everyone their string cheese and CapriSuns. He'll come downstairs after his nap and cuddle with me for a little while and tell me some outrageous story. He is definitely my sunshine right now and can always make me smile. All the kids have been REALLY good, considering. The play SO well together, especially in the mornings. It's gotten so hot here that they really won't go outside at all and who could blame them? They do love to play with the guinea pigs now and it's nice to hear them laughing hysterically from some dance they're making the pigs do rather than hear them yelling at each other, which really doesn't happen that often. And I know that is a HUGE blessing!

I haven't taken many pictures but I did take a few at Maddie's last singing group performance. They did a bunch of Broadway songs and I must say that it has been my favorite of all the shows they have done. It was really cute. Here's a video from one of Maddie's solos.

Maddie Singing Group 06_10 from Jeni Hopewell on Vimeo.

I have more pictures from DisneyWorld still and don't know if those will ever get posted plus more pictures and videos from Maddie's singing group. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess.

Well kudos to you if you've made it to this point in this post! I did NOT intend to write a novel, but that seems to be what's happened. Sorry!