Family Stories - Zachary

I've decided since I can't think of anything worthy right now to really write, I'll start re-capping baby stories for my kiddies to look at when they're older.  So my first-born's first!


About 5 months after Jeff and I got married, we found out that we were expecting, again!  Wait, rewind....  so 3 1/2 months after we got married, Jeff and I found out we were expecting.  Only a week or so later however, I miscarried.  I had been spotting most of the weekend, but was hoping that everything was fine, then Monday morning, went in to work, and had to leave shortly thereafter to go to the hospital because I was miscarrying.  It was sad, but the natural process of God's will.  Imagine our surprise when only 4 weeks later we found out we were pregnant again (which was a little unanticipated after so recent a miscarriage).  We saw Zac for the first time as a little peanut on the screen in April, with a tiny flicker of gray where his heart was beating away.  After all the tumultuous events of the past couple months, we were amazed and awed that there was a tiny little person growing inside me.  
The pregnancy went pretty smoothly through the summer and into the fall.  I never felt very sick, but constantly craved fruit smoothies and anything potato (must have been the Idaho girl in me coming out!).  
During the summer we found out that we were expecting a baby boy, which floored me just a little (even though Daddy gave it the two-thumbs up signal when he found out).  Just let me explain a little, my family had a little tradition of having all girls first.  My maternal grandma - 2 girls, my mother - a girl first, my sister - a girl first, my 3 maternal cousins - yep, all girls first!  So even though I knew it was not dependent on anything that I contributed, and more dependent on my husband, I was still a little shocked to find out that a baby boy was coming our way first.  Because of my silly assumption, we hadn't really been considering any boy names, I had no favorites, and had no inklings of what this little boy should be called.  We actually assembled a list of names that we thought were ok, and had family and friends vote on which name they liked best.  
One night, I had one of my crazy pregnancy dreams, and what I remember of it was this:  I was leaning over the bed of my pregnant husband, who was just delivering a girl baby, and he named it Amber.  Then I look over and another woman (who I don't remember recongnizing) had a baby and her name was Amber.  As my subconscious realized that this was just too weird, so I began to wake up, and as I did the name Zachary popped into my head.  I woke up, asked Jeff what he thought, to which he sleepily mumbled that it sounded great, then I quickly went back to sleep.  Luckily I woke up and remembered all of it, and Zachary became our favorite name.
A couple weeks before my due date my ankles began to swell, to the point that I actually had 'cankles'!  I remember laying down on my bed with my feet up on the wall to try and get the fluid to flow back into my body (it didn't work!).  
November 10, 2006 came, Jeff's 23rd birthday, and my last day at work.  I went to my prenatal appointment that afternoon, where they saw my swelling, and then took my blood pressure.  It was elevated, and from there I was sent to the hospital for a non-stress test.  I sat in the triage area for a few hours while they monitored both my blood pressure and the baby's heartbeat.  Zac was NOT happy to have the monitor on my belly and was having a grand time kicking it every chance he got!  They sent me home after a while instructing me to stay in bed the rest of the weekend and see my Dr. on Monday.  The weekend passed, and I went back to my doctor on that Monday, the 13th.  Sure enough my blood pressure was still high, and I was told to go immediately to the hospital, that I would be enduced right away.
Jeff was out of town to Phoenix for the day, so I quickly went home, packed a hospital bag, and drove myself to the hospital.  I got checked in, and then was joined by my mother-in-law, and a couple sisters-in-law.  After that, the doctor on call came in and started to talk to me.  Because my Zacky-boy weighed in at 9lbs on ultrasound 2 weeks prior (plus or minus a lb!), the doctor explained to me that enducing me could be dangerous both to myself and to the baby.  She encouraged me to have a c-section without trying to enduce me first because I had such a big boy in there!  After a few tears (I had planned to try to go all-natural aka no drugs), I accepted what the doctor had said and agreed to the c-section.  Shortly thereafter, Jeff arrived at the hospital, and we began all the prep work to go into surgery.
Without getting into all the gruesome details, at 8:30PM that night Zachary Charles Pitkin was born weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs 1 oz and 21.5 inches long.  A big beautiful baby boy!  He was taken to the nursery for observation after he was born and got a quick kiss from mom and dad, and he was finally brought back to me a little after midnight that night.  He had continued to this day to be a strong healthy little man, and we love him so much, and are so glad he's our first-born son!

All the things I'd love to have time to do!

Many people think I do a lot of things, and are amazed that I can get accomplished what I get done.  However, most of my time is spent wishing I could get that much and more done.   I've sometimes sat and thought that if I had the time I would spend time on so many more things.  So here's a few!
1.  I would love to have time to scrapbook more!  I go in spurts, every 9 months or a year or so I will get out all of my scrapbooking supplies and do a couple pages.  And  yes, I've seen the digital scrapbooking, and while it does look easier, I really enjoy the creativity and fun of cutting things out, layering things, using all sorts of fun stickers, etc.  Its just time!  If I had a dedicated space where I could leave my projects out without the worry of little fingers messing with them I think I could spend more time on it, but as it is, its on my wish list.
2.  Photography.  I got a nice camera a few years back, and I would love to be able to spend more time taking pictures, especially of my family.  It seems the more children I have, the less pictures I take of them!  But I would like to get better at it.
3.  Baking/cake decorating.  I would love to take a class and be able to make better cakes for my kiddies.  I think it would be fun, and I would have fun with my kids doing it.
4.  Cleaning & Organizing.  Its a little sad, I know, but I really would love to be able to get all the organizing and cleaning done.  I love reorganizing areas to make them more functional and better looking.  I love the feeling when I can walk through my house and have everything in order, know where everything is, and still have room to spare.  This for sure is kind of a pipe dream when you have 3 kids 5 & under, but nevertheless....
5.  Reading.  I LOVE to read, especially scifi/fantasy books.  If I could get paid to read all day, that would be freaking awesome!  Sadly though, my reading days are few and far between, usually its around Christmas time when I get some new books and I have a week or so to read them.  
6.  Family history.  I would love to spend hours researching my family.  Its not just about names and trying to find more people, its more trying to find out about my family.  What were my ancestors like?  Am I like them?  Did I inherit my little quirks from someone?  I know the information is out there, but I just need more time to research it.
So those are half a dozen of the things I can think of off the top of my head.  I suppose I should be content with all the things I do get done in a day, working, interacting with my children, handling the finances, going back to school, etc., but I wish I could do that much more.  I don't know if I'll have more time as the kiddies get older, but maybe just maybe I can chip away at these things as I find extra time here and there.  

New Year.... New Sight?

I'm going to the eye doctor tomorrow for my normal check-up, but this year, I'm going to see about getting Lasik.  Honestly, the idea of something cutting a flap in my eye and doing something to the inside of my eye to correct my vision freaks me out a bit.  Actually it freaks me out a lot.  
Then I think about the possible benefits... I could wake up in the morning and not trip over everything on the floor with my blindness; I wouldn't have to worry about glasses or contacts whether day-to-day or traveling or whatever; I wouldn't have that feeling after you fall asleep with your contacts in your eyes and having them glued to your eyeballs and having to peel them off when you figure out they're still in there!  
So tomorrow I will talk to the doctor to see if its a good idea for me or not, and we'll go from there.
Change, change, change.... there's never a time when something isn't changing, but that's what makes life interesting!

Ahhhh.... Saturday.

You would think after saying up way past their bedtime last night after going to a hockey game, that the kiddies would sleep in, heck, that everyone would sleep in.  Alas, my darling husband forgot to turn the alarm off, so at 6AM we got jolted awake by that annoying buzzer.  Once he turned it off, not 5 minutes later, his radio went off for a call for his volunteer fire dept.  So off he ran for that having to open & close the garage (which is right underneath the kids' rooms) when he left and when he came back.  Not 10 minutes after daddy came back, Zac was already in Grandpa's room waking him up, Emmie was crawling up in my bed, and Karlee was crying from her crib because Emmie left her.  So prior to 7:30 (after they went to bed around 10PM) everyone was up, rowdy, and hyper (which they always are when we have guests).  Now they've all gone off to get breakfast, and as much as I really should go get ready myself for the day, I'm sitting here on my bed thinking I could use another couple hours of sleep.  Will I give in and pull the covers over my head?  (sigh).. no.  I will get up and start the day!  

I fondly remember those days when I could sleep in till 12PM, nobody to wake me up or tell me I needed to get going, I could literally sleep all day if I wanted.  But oh well, its more fun and rewarding to have children, and being busy keeps you young!

Wishing all my friends out there a great Saturday morning!

I love my babies!

Sometimes its hard to leave my family every day and go to work.  My Karlee blows me kisses and waves bubye, Emmie gives me hugs and kisses, Zac varies from hugging my legs and begging me not to go to giving me hugs and kisses and a 'Bye Mommy!'  When I come home, the two older kids run to me screaming 'Mommy's home, mommy's home!' which always makes me happy, and Karlee crawling towards me.  I pick up Karlee, and with a big smile on her face, she lays her head on my shoulder and pats my arms with her little baby hands.  Ahhhh, I love being a mommy!  
I love the times when I wake up and I have one or more children cuddled up next to me.  Emmie sometimes sneaks in our room in the middle of the night because something in her room is scarey, and she'll crawl up in between us, put her arms around my neck and fall fast asleep.
Children are definitely a blessing, a gift from a loving Heavenly Father.  Its sobering at times, the responsibility both Jeff and I have as parents, to raise these little people to be quality adults.  It definitely gives me an inkling of what unconditional love is.  The love you have for your parents, your friends, and even your spouse is very different for the instant love you feel when  you hold your child in your arms for the first time.  I can remember thinking after Zac was born that there's no way I could love something so much as I loved him.  Then Emmie came, and the feeling doubled.  Then Karlee came, and it multiplied yet again.  Its so hard to describe how much I love my children, and the love they show me in return makes all the craziness worth it.  The messes, the screaming, the throw-up, the sicknesses, the little emergencies, it is ALL worth it when at the end of the day I kiss my babies goodnight and get to see their peaceful faces in slumber.


I know this is pretty sappy, but hey, I can be sappy every once in awhile!

Back to School I go

I got accepted to Colorado State University to pursue my Masters of Science in Management! It's a little crazy that after almost 10 years after getting my BS I'm going back to school.  With all the irons I have in the fire, it seems a little crazy that I'm going to be able to spend the time to go back to school, but I feel confident that I can do it!  I enjoy the challenge that doing a lot of things embodies, and I believe that getting this degree will help me to better provide for my family.

So in addition to blogging, I'll be doing a whole lot more writing soon!  Hopefully my family will adjust to the time I'll be committing to this, and hopefully I'll get through it as quickly as possible.  Here we go!

A Little Intro
Where to begin?  I'm Amber, I'm a chemist/lab supervisor, mommy of 3, and wife to Jeff.  Many labels for the many facets of my life.  I'm starting a blog because its my way of saying 'hey!" to all those out there who may or may not be interested.  Mostly, this will be my way of trying to write down some of my thoughts and feelings, as well as a place where I can put pictures and stories of my life and the life of my little family.
So, let's see...  my family consists of Jeff, my handsome hubby who is currently being an awesome SAHD :).  The next man of the house, is my big boy Zac, who is now a big 5 years old!  Then there's EmmaLee, my cutie little Emmie-girl, my precocious 4 year old.  Lastly, (for now at least) is my Karlee, my little miracle-baby, who's now a toddler at 12 months.  Then we have Lexi, our middle-aged, puppy-looking black lab, who for by most accounts is actually my fourth child, and gets into as much mischief as any of the rest of them!
My life is crazy sometimes, I always have a list a mile long of things that I want to get done, and never seem to quite get what I want done.  I guess this has gotten progressively worse as I have more children, and I'm not sure it will ever get better, but its fun to be hopeful that someday I can sit back and say I've gotten as much as I wanted to get accomplished actually accomplished!
I work for a technology center of a mining company, something that I never imagined I would do when I was in college.  Its a job I enjoy, with many challenges, and opportunities for me to expand my knowledge on a variety of subjects.  
My life philosophy probably has to be based on the premise of doing a little more, being a little better than you were the day before.  I want to be the best person I can be for my children, for my husband, for my extended family, for myself, and for my Heavenly Father.  


So whether or not anyone reads this and finds it interesting, maybe someday my children or future descendants will be interested in the goings-on of this little family.
Until next time!