Baby is here

WARNING.........I am totally aloud to look like crap considering I am having a baby. So beware! Here is my belly the day I had Tayson. I felt alot bigger than I looked.
We went into the hospital at 6:00 a.m. in the morning and it was off to a rough start for me. They couldn't get the I.V. into my veins and after 3 tries they finally had to put warm packs on my arm to get the blood flowing again. I thought I looked pretty funny with these packs on my arm. Finally after the 4th try they got the I.V. in and things got rolling.
The girls came to visit me and they were pretty excited to meet baby brother. Unfortunately he wasn't ready to come and play. But they enjoyed being by mom.
At about 1:45 p.m. the nurse checked to see how far dialated I was and I was at a 5. Things were moving at a medium pace so Taylor decided to go get something to eat. At 2:20 p.m. the nurse was getting a little worried because the babies heart rate had been dropping and getting worse with every contraction. The chord was wrapped around his neck and they were worried it was getting to tight. So she checked again to see what progress had been made, and I happened to be at a 9 and the head was starting to come out. I was SHOCKED that I had made that much progress in a half hour. I was nervous too cause Taylor wasn't back from getting lunch yet. Luckily he got back in time and decided to take one last picture before Tayson arrived.

Here he is:

Tayson Levi North

8 lbs. 3 oz.

20 1/2 inches long

Grandma Reitano and Kamryn with Tayson. My mom came up to watch the girls for me while I was in the hospital and they came over as soon as they could to see the baby. She had all the girls in matching clothes and they looked so cute! She even got Brynlee's hair into pigtails and she looked soooo cute! For those of you who don't know who that little brunette is, it happens to be my little sister who is Kamryn's age.
Brynlee was sooooo excited to see baby brother! She couldn't get enough of him!
Kisses for the baby.

First bath. His mouth is always wide open and his bottom lip sinks in. It's so funny!
He has alot of dark hair. He should share some with Brynlee since she doesn't have any. I think that he has a birthmark on the back of his head too. That little round spot looks like a birthmark to me.
Look at that pouty lip. His bottom lip always sinks into his mouth. We can't quite figure out who he looks like.
And we finally get to go home! Yay! He looks so tiny in his carseat. Kamryn was 6 lbs. 9 oz. and Brynlee was 6 lbs. 11 oz. so I was SHOCKED to hear that Tayson was 8 lbs. 3 oz. I felt so big and uncomfortable this pregnancy, but I never would have guessed that he was that big. I am pretty happy that he is big and I hope that I finally get a chubby baby. My girls were so little and I have always wanted a chubby baby. Maybe I will get my wish this time. I feel really good and I am happy to be able to move and bend and feel normal again. But the best part of it all is being able to hold my new baby and to hold my girls again. I missed being able to pick my girls up and hold them, read stories, play on the ground etc... Both me and the baby are doing good and we will post some more pictures later.

Hungry Brynlee

I was blow drying my hair the other day and couldn't hear Brynlee running around the house so I went to go check on her and this is what I found. She climbed up onto Kamryn's chair and finished off the cereal that Kamryn didn't eat. Brynlee had already eaten all of her cereal and a banana and I guess didn't get enough cause she wanted some of Kamryn's too. Funny girl!

A few events

Brynlee has pretty much mastered climbing onto everything in our house, except for the changing table......until now. She has finally figured out how to climb onto the changing table and it is her new favorite place to be. I love this picture of her! She has really liked dressing up with Kamryn lately and the two of them twirl around the house and play. It is so cute!
Taylor LOVES Brynlee's smile! He is always saying how cute her smile is and that he loves how she smiles so big that her teeth show. I was playing with her the other day and made her laugh and smile way hard and so he took this picture of her. Kamryn has decided that she likes the potty! I tried training her awhile ago but got to sick with this pregnancy and couldn't keep up with her, and she has now decided that she wants to do it by herself. Taylor and I were downstairs for a minute and came upstairs and found that Kamryn had taken her diaper off, went potty, put her pants on inside out and backwards with no panties on. It was hilarious! She is in and out of the bathroom a hundred times during the day now. She is doing really well with it, I am just not ready to train her yet with this new little baby coming. It's hard to see, but if you look close you will see that the tag on her pants is in the front.

I found her in the bathroom undressing herself again to go potty!

She really must think that she is a big girl now, because she won't let Taylor or I go into the bathroom and help her. As soon as we come in she says "Go away, go watch your show"! It's pretty funny. She does really good, she puts her seat on the toilet, gets on the toilet and goes potty. But I have to go in and help wash her hands cause she is to short to reach the faucet (even with the stool). Other than that she is pretty much doing it by herself. Like I said, I just don't think I am ready to do all this with the new baby. I wish she would wait a couple months.

Things are looking up!

After a horrible week last week things are looking better! We got an email from the dean of the school saying that he is giving Taylor his scholarship back. He felt really bad about the situation and didn't think that it was fair and decided to give it back. We are soooooo happy and pleased with the way the dean has taken care of things! Now that we have Taylor's car back, his clubs and the scholarship all we need is his computer back. It would make for an even better week to get his computer back. We will make sure to update you all with what is going on.

Hallelujah!!!!!!

Ok........so this week has been the worst week for us!!!!! It started off with Taylor getting his grades and he got a 2.8 and kept his scholarship. YAY! Well the next day we got an email saying that the curve was set to high and that everybody's grades would be changing. We waited, and got grades again and his grade point average was a 2.76. He has to have a 2.75 to keep the scholarship and he BARELY made it. Well......the next day we get another email that says one of the teachers forgot to put in last semesters grades in and so everyone in this teacher's class, their grades will change again. Taylor just so happened to be in this one class and his grade point average went down to a 2.72. YOU'RE KIDDING! So we lose the scholarship and we are furious because if they can change grades on us that many times, who is to say that his grade point average right now is even correct. So we emailed the dean of the school and he is checking into the situation and he said that he will email us back with an answer. I am pissed because this teacher had a certain time and date that grades had to be put in and she didn't do it and it shouldn't be our fault for her mistake! I feel even worse for Taylor because he worked so hard and studied late, got sick, stressed, and gave it his all and sometimes it doesn't work in your favor. He couldn't have tried any harder! A 2.75 may sound easy but in Law School it is totally different.
Don't worry.......our week gets worse!!!! So on Tuesday I called Taylor and asked if he could meet me at wal-mart after class to help me with the girls while I got groceries. After we are all done he walks me to my car, loads the girls in and starts looking for his car. I take off and get back to our house and Taylor calls me and says that he can't find his car and to come pick him up. So I get back to wal-mart and we drive around the parking lot looking for his car. It's nowhere to be found so we call the cops and tell them that our car has been stolen. And of course the cop that comes to help us doesn't really even care and made it sound like it was no big deal. In Taylor's car he had his wallet, brand new golf clubs, sports gear, and his back pack with his school laptop in it (the laptop cost us 2,000 bucks). Needless to say we felt horrible about all the money we lost in the scholarship and all the money we lost with the car and his belongings. The next day we get a phone call from his school saying that someone had found his wallet. Some man was on a walk and happened to come across Taylor's wallet in the street and saw his student i.d. and called the school to tell them to have Taylor come pick it up. We pick up the wallet and head to wal-mart to get a few things and Taylor notices that the car that was next to his is still in the parking lot in the same spot. He kept saying to himself the day that his car got stolen, that he couldn't believe that they didn't take this car that was next to his because the windows were open. Things were kinda fishy and so we called the cops and come to find out, that car was stolen as well and they hopped from that car into Taylor's car. WEIRD! So anywho, Friday we get a phone call from the police saying that they had found our car and to go pick it up. GREAT NEWS, RIGHT? Well we go pick it up and the people who towed it charged us 260 bucks to pick it up. Aaaahhhhh! As we are going through his car we find that they had left his golf clubs and his sports gear in the car. We were pretty happy that his clubs were still there cause we thought for sure they were gonna be gone! Unfortunately they took cash out of Taylor's wallet, stole his c.d. player, sirius radio, and his back pack with the laptop and his book for this semester. But they were curtious enough to leave us a pack of smokes and a basket of fresh clean laundry folded up for us (ha ha ha). I guess they went on a joy ride in his car and decided to head to the laundromat and do some laundry. WEIRD! We are happy to have his car, wallet and golf clubs back (I know you are probably thinking....Golf clubs, who cares? Well they are brand new and they cost 500 bucks. Don't let your husbands start golfing...it's an expensive habit). There have been some minor things happen as well this week but these are the two major things that had us going crazy for awhile! I hope you all learned your lesson today, and to take EVERYTHING out of your cars and just because your car is locked doesn't mean it can't be stolen! We are grateful for what we have and grateful to have his car back and hope things start looking better from now on.

Thanks babe!

I got such a cute surprise from Taylor at the baby shower, he had written me a note and had Mauressa (the host of the shower) read it to me and all of the girls. I forgot to put it with the baby shower post and just came across it. Taylor is such a good writer and has made some really cute poems for me and his mom. He wrote me the CUTEST poem last year for our anniversary and I would love to share it with all of you but he would be so embarassed and so I will settle for this cute little note.

"Chelsey is a wonderful mother! The hair must be perfect, the clothes must match, the teeth must be brushed, and the tummies must be full, and that is usually all before dad can ask what he can do to help. Chelsey always thinks of the kids first even if it means she has to go without something. She is always the first one to get up at night and the first one to get up in the morning. Her energy is truly amazing especially since she is pregnant. Kamryn, Brynlee and I are so lucky to have someone that is so thoughtful and works so hard to keep us happy. We love chelsey and appreciate very much all she does for us"!

Baby Shower

My neighbor Mauressa was so sweet to think of me and throw me a baby shower (her husband is a law school student as well and they are in our ward). I felt really dumb and kept telling her not to worry about it, but she did it anyways and I am glad she did. It's always nice to have an excuse to get out and hang with the ladies. Most of the girls have gone home for the summer so we had just a few people show up and I actually was glad cause I always feel dumb at showers. I hate having all eyes on me! I am in the Primary Presidency and the presidency surprised me and showed up to the shower. They found out about the shower and asked Mauressa if they could come and support me. It was so sweet of them to come! I am so blessed to have such good influences around me and to have such amazing friends. I had a blast that night and it felt good to get out of the house. It doesn't matter if you are having your first child or your fifth child I think every mom deserves a shower and you can always use new stuff for the baby. Thanks Mauressa!

Top Left: Me, Mauressa, Heather, Kim.

Bottom Left: Megan, Ashley, Alicia, Erin.

The girls had so much fun playing in the presents. Kamryn kept saying "Look mom, it's baby brother's". I got some way cute stuff and I have to say that I like shopping for boys now. I used to think that girl stuff was way cuter but I have come across alot of cute boy stuff too. We are super excited for baby Tayson to be here (especially me), and can't wait for that special day. Kamryn loves to rub my belly and say hi to baby brother, she really is excited to have a baby around the house. Two more weeks! Woo hoo!!!!

Spokane River Falls

Last weekend we went to the River Falls to see the floods. The Governor of Washington declared a state of emergency because of all the flooding in Spokane and the River Falls were crazy huge. This winter was so crazy and all the snow is melting off of the mountains now and creating some major floods. People were kicked out of their houses, roads were closed, and the water levels in the Rivers are ridiculously high. The water was so beautiful and we couldn't believe how high the water was. Here are a few pictures of the water.

If you look really close you will notice that water comes up to the bridge and splashes people. We went across the bridge to get wet and the girls loved it. The next day they actually closed the bridge because the water had gotten so high.

Ice Cream Shoppe

About a week ago Taylor asked Kamryn what she wanted to do and she told him that she wanted to go to the Ice Cream Shoppe. We have no idea where that came from. Neither one of us has ever called it the Ice Cream Shoppe and we haven't really ever taken her there. We thought that it was so funny. We have just been giving her Ice cream sandwiches the last little while and she was happy with that, but I decided that since she wants to go so bad that we had better take her. I loved watching the two of them scarf down their ice cream with big smiles on their faces. It was so much fun to go with them and it totally made me feel so good to make my kids happy! Brynlee LOVED her ice cream cone and she ate it so FAST! She ate it so fast that the ice cream didn't even have time to melt and get all of her clothes. The only mess that she really had was on her face from trying to lick every last bit of the ice cream out.
I had to scoop off some of the ice cream and put it in a cup so that it wouldn't all fall off on the floor. Well...when Brynlee was finished with her ice cream cone she decided that she hadn't had enough and kept telling us "A bite, a bite". So Taylor fed her some of the ice cream out of the cup. She made us laugh cause she kept saying "A bite" and then she would open her mouth wide open. She finally grabbed the spoon from Taylor and fed herself, I guess he wasn't fast enough.

Dance Pictures

I just got Kamryn's dance pictures back and I have to say that I am not real impressed. It's partly because Kamryn didn't want to take pictures, but also I feel like I could have done this myself. I could have easily put up a sheet and taken some pictures and it wouldn't have cost me anything. Oh well! Next time I am just gonna take her into kiddie kandids and get them done. These were the only pictures that worked out of all the pictures that they took. And Kamryn has her eyes closed in almost every one of the pictures (she smiles so hard that she can't keep her eyes open). Two of the pictures are Kamryn's dance class and the other is her in her princess dance costume. Better luck next time I guess!

Random stuff

Our good friends Brian and Emily just moved back to Utah and we are so sad! Brynlee loved their little baby Drake. She couldn't get enough of him and was always wanting to hold him. Brian graduated from Law School a week ago and we are so happy for them, but are gonna miss their good company. They had a rough time getting home (well I should say that Brian had a rough time), but they made it. Good luck with everything and we hope to see you guys in August!
I give the girls a bath every night about a half hour before their bedtime, but it isn't enough for them. Every morning when I would get in the shower I would find two little girls trying to get in the shower with me. So for quite awhile they got cleaned twice a day. But now that Taylor is home I make him entertain the girls while I take a shower alone. So we are back to the regular schedule of taking one bath a day (for awhile anyways). I would leave the girls in the shower while I dried off and brushed my teeth etc... and they LOVED being in the shower without me. They both would lay down and just let the water hit them.
Kamryn found her Ariel swim diapers the other day and she has been asking to go swimming ever since. She wanted to go swimming so bad that she finally put the swim diaper on over her clothes. It kept her content for awhile, but then of course she got right back on track and kept asking to go swimming.
She has this new cheesy grin that makes me laugh!
So after many days of Kamryn asking to go swimming, Taylor and I decided to go to wal-mart and get a sprinkler hook up for the hose. It wasn't exactly swimming but she was happy with it.
Brynlee on the other hand wasn't a big fan of the sprinkler. I think it might be because she still isn't feeling well.
Her dad taught her how to jump over the sprinkler and she had a blast jumping over it.
For those of you who don't know Spokane very well....let me tell you how far behind it is with modern day technology. Everything in Spokane is old!!!!! Buildings, houses, stores, cars, and much more. It is so far behind that most houses don't have central A/C and you are lucky to get one of those wall units that blows out cold air (we happen to be one of the lucky ones). Most houses don't have a sprinkler system (that is why we bought a sprinkler for the hose so that we can water the grass). The lighting in the houses is terrible. They have lights in the bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens but for everywhere else you have to buy many lamps to light up your house. I could go on and on about how old and far behind Spokane is, but I will stop there! The newer houses have a few of the luxuries that we don't have, but I am gonna be honest...there aren't to many new houses here. But even for the new houses, you have to request those luxuries when your house is being built. Can't wait to get back to Utah! Needless to say, the weather is warming up and it is getting hot in the house and I miss all of the luxuries that I had in St. George. It is gonna be 86 and 89 this weekend and it is getting pretty toasty in our house!

Poor baby

Brynlee has been sick the last 5 days and she has not been herself. She just wines and cries and lays on the couch. She is really clingy and wants to be held all the time or she wants to just lay down. We took her to the Dr. and he said that she has 2 ear infections, pink eye, diarrhea, runny nose etc... Her fever was really high and she wouldn't eat or drink or do anything for 4 days straight. She lost about a pound and her little arms and legs look so skinny. The dr. gave her some antibiotics and she is feeling better and is starting to act somewhat normal and is eating better. Now that Taylor is done with finals and is home Brynlee has become daddy's girl. She won't leave him alone and has to be by him at all times. He can't walk away or leave without her crying. His back was hurting the other day and he asked if I would pop it and Brynlee didn't like that I was stealing her dad. She wasn't feeling good and wanted him to hold her but he couldn't so she just settled for laying on his back. She stayed there for quite awhile to.

Spring has sprung in Spokane

The weather is finally looking better. The last few weeks it has been rainy and in the 50's (60's if we were lucky). It wasn't the greatest weather for playing outside. But now that the days are sunnier the girls have been taking advantage of the great weather. They love to go outside and play in the grass.

This tree is in our neighbors backyard but it happens to fall in our backyard as well. It is such a pretty tree (but there are a lot of bee's that like to play in it). It reminds me of the song "Popcorn popping on the apricot tree". From a distance it really does look like popcoron on a tree.

The leaves have started to come out on the trees.

We have a few Tulips in our yard and they are so pretty. I think Tulips are my favorite flower now. I didn't see them much in St. George but in Spokane they are really popular and there are so many different colors. I love them!

We have been doing alot of yardwork lately now that it is warm. And just like the vaccuum, Brynlee LOVES the lawnmower. She will follow it around the yard until you let her push it. She loves big loud noises. The other day I was making milkshakes in the blender and she came over by me and just danced every time I turned it on.
What a big helper!

Goofy kids

The other day I left the girls closet open and Brynlee happened to find Kamryn's pull ups and was walking around the house with the pull up inbetween her legs trying to put it on. So I put it on her and then she wanted another one on her head. And of course she got sick of it and pulled it off.
Kamryn didn't want to be left out of all the fun and so she decided to do the same.