Online Christmas card

So I have never sent out Christmas cards, so I figured I would just write an update on here.
Benjamin-
He turned 3 in Sept. And everywhere I take him everyone always thinks he is 5. I took him to the Wic the other day and he weighs 43 pounds, which is a pound down from the last time he was there a few months ago. I know he shouldn't be losing weight, but he is a big boy. He is also 39 1/2 in. tall. He is so smart, as anyone who has ever talked to him knows. My mom says that he talks like he is a 1st grader (she is a teacher). He does talk A LOT. He says the funniest stuff that I never know where he picks these things up. He has a new word every week that he likes to use with everything. This week it has been "Fabulous" everything is fabulous. Last week the word was "Marvelous". But he is a sweet boy also, he loves hugs and kisses. He is also very social for someone his age. He says hi to everyone we see when we go out and he loves to play with other kids and make new friends. He is like the complete opposite of me. I am very shy and it is hard for me to make new friends. He likes trains and cars. He is a total boy! He loves his family, especially David and Grandma and Grandpa (or as he calls them Gwamma and Dumpa)He loves to sing! It is the cutest thing watching him sing! He has been singing the Christmas songs, and he will just randomly start singing along in the car with whatever song is playing. My favorite that he sings is "love you like a love song" by Selena Gomez, it is so cute! But he lights up our life like we never knew our life could be without him!

David-
He is now 8 months old! Can't believe how fast he has grown. He is just a shadow of the tiny preemie baby that was in the Nicu! He has chunked up and he is also very smart! He is now officially crawling, he has been for a few weeks now. He has gotten his 2 baby teeth on his bottom gum in the front, that are so cute! He is already starting to try and walk, ugh, not ready for that yet! But he also says a few baby talk words "baba", "dada", "mama" and he has tried to say Ben a few times! He loves to smile and laugh, he has the sweetest laugh! He is also very social. He is a pretty bad sleeper though. He will only sleep part of the night in his swing, then he wakes up to eat and then spends the rest of the night in our bed. Just like Ben, (Who still is a bad sleeper also, he comes into our bed almost every night.) He is now eating more solid foods. His favorites are sweet potatoes and squash. He does not like green beans or peas. We love him to death, and life with Ben could only have gotten better with this addition of our sweet spirit David!

Jason-
He is working 2 jobs. He works 8:15-4:45 mon. thru fri. at Accelerated Payment. Then he works from 5:30-11:30 tues, thur, fri, and sat. at Convergys. He is a trooper! He doesn't like working 2 jobs, but he does it so that he can provide for us in this time that we are deeply struggling! Hopefully with him working these 2 jobs though we can get some money saved up. I would still like to buy a house someday. But other than that, he just works and sleeps basically. He probably won't be going to school until I finish school. so ya, not much to tell about Jason :)

Me-
I just finished my CNA class through the MATC. I am just waiting now to take the state test at the end of Jan. Hopefully I pass so at least I can feel like I am accomplishing something! So next semester I will be taking Anatomy and Chemistry. Insane, I know, but I really want to get done with school! And I just found out that they don't hire LPN's at the hospital anymore, so i am really frustrated about that, cause I was planning on working at the hospital when I got done with school. So now I have no idea what I'm gonna do! I really really want to be done! So hopefully I can just pass my classes next semester!

Merry Christmas to all! Love ya!

When it rains it pours.....

It is so true, everything seems to go along fine and then when one thing happens, everything else seems to happen at the same time!

First: Jason lost his job in March, on unemployment for 6 months, til finally he got a job, after searching forever for one! Now he is working 2 jobs, so that worked out ok.

Second: Our cavalier has always run just fine, we bought it used, its a 04. Then one day it just starts having a hard time starting. Then it just stops working all together. Luckily, my bad is a mechanic so he was able to come over and try and find out what was wrong with it. We first thought it was the battery, so we replaced it and it would start, but then the next day when we went to go drive it, it wouldn't start again. So then my dad checked it again, and said it was the fuel pump, so he replaced that too. Then it worked! So we drove it for a day, then the next day it was dead again! So we finally took it in to have it looked at and they hooked it up to a computer to see what was not working and said it was the spark plugs. So they fixed that and now it is working! For now....

Third: Still poor, from Jason not working for so long, used up all our money, so now we start out at the bottom again, trying desperately to save as much as we can, still wanting to get a house someday!

Fourth: Holds on both mine and Jason's school records which was preventing us from registering for classes next semester. Got mine taken care of and signed up for Anatomy and Chemistry next semester (yeah me!) Jason has no time whatsoever to go in and meet with a counselor, which is the only way they will take a hold off, so he will probably not be taking any classes next semester, which just puts him further behind to finishing school. Hopefully, if all goes as planned, I will be done with school next April!

Fifth: David is teething, Literally getting no sleep at night!

Sixth: Family issues, not gonna say anything more on that.

Out of all of this that has happened, I still do have a lot to be thankful and grateful for! I have wonderful parents, who are always there to help meet our needs whenever we are in need! I am grateful for my dad, that he is always willing and able to fix our car problems! I am grateful for my mom, who is always wanting to help out with the kids when we need a babysitter!
I am very thankful for all of our family, and the relationships that I have with all my brothers and sisters!
I am very, truly grateful for my husband! Even though I know I do not praise him enough and show how much I appreciate all of the hard work that he does and how much I think that he is a wonderful dad! I need to get better and telling him those things!
And of course, I could never live my life without my 2 babies! Every time I look at them, it takes strength, and me telling myself to hold it together to not just cry, just cry out of the happiness that I feel when I look at them and know that they are mine forever! To know that I created these little people and my heart just fills with love! I am trying really hard not to cry while writing this, man I am such a mush! But I really could not live without them, it is hard for me to think that if anything were to ever happen to either of them how I would go on living, so I try not to think about it. But anyways...I just love my boys!
so, now, we are just working on trying to stay sane and for me, trying to finish school so that we can have a better life and get into a house! That is the ultimate goal, cause we can't have any more kids til we get more space! :)

Halloween 2011

What a fun Halloween this year! Ben was actually able to understand it this year and he had a blast! He was dressed as woody this year and David was a cute pumpkin!
We had parties all weekend and then went up to my dad's work and they had a little trick or treating that we did there! It was really fun!

Family Pictures

So, not to brag or anything, but I think that we have a pretty good looking family! :) Especially my boys, could any two boys be cuter?! I mean I know that I am a little prejudice ;)
My friend Ellie is a really great photographer! She did these pictures, and I think that they turned out Amazing! It was the first time that we have ever gotten family pictures done with the Oliver's ever since Jason was a little kid, so I decided that it was time for some updated ones.
Enjoy!

Us :)


Joseph and Aubrey


Daniel, Andrea, Novalee, Natalee, Nayalee, and Noralee


Chad and Amanda


Dad, Mom and Julie


The Siblings


The Whole Family


The Kids


The Ladies

The Men

Moab 2011

Had soo much fun in Moab!! The drive down there was kind of dicey! I drove my own car and if anyone knows how David is in the car, (he freaks out the whole time!) So I was nervous about that, but he did great! He only cried for just a few minutes there and then slept most of the time. It was pretty much raining and snowing the whole drive up there. But then we got to camp and set up the trailer. We got there on Thursday. Then we just hung out that day. Then on Friday me and my dad and Ben and Leigha went on a fourwheeling ride up to Determination towers and Tusher Tunnel. It was a really fun ride! The tunnel was really cool! Ben loved it! My mom just stayed in the trailer with David that day.
Then on Saturday my mom was suppose to go riding and I was going to stay in the trailer with David. But when we woke up in the morning it was pouring rain! So we decided that it was time after all the years that we have been to Moab to finally drive through Arches national park. So we got all loaded up in the truck and left. By the time we left it had stopped raining and was just cloudy. So we got to see a bunch of arches ad pretty sites! It was really great, and again David did amazing the whole time on the drive, (except in the end when we were driving back, but he just cried for a few minutes.)
So then on Sunday we got all packed up and headed for home, and that day was a nice cloudless day, until we got to provo, where is was cloudy again and cold!
But we had such a great time, I really love spending time with my family and building fun memories with my children just like my parents did for us when we were kids!

What's new pussycat?

hehe, like that? I was just watching the three amigos the other day that's what the title is about! :)
Anywho,
to update, Ben and David are doing wonderfully! Could any 2 boys be cuter than they?
Ben just loves David so much, he has never once shown any anger towards him or hurt him or anything, always just gives him hugs and kisses whenever he can!
Ben will be turning 3 in a few weeks, wow, how time goes so fast, can't believe it! Can't believe that he will be going to school in 2 years, holy smokes!
But he is just so energetic! He is a chunker too, but we are hoping that when he gets older too that we will enroll him in sports so that he will mold into a more healthier physique! :) But for now he is a 3 year old and does all the things a 3 year old is expected to do, plus probably like 10 things more on top of that. He is potty trained (Yeah!) He runs and talks non stop, he yells and jumps, he plays and yells, he whines and yells, and he colors the walls and yell. But we love him soo much! He brings so much life and entertainment to our family!
David, David, David, he is our little bug! He is a really happy baby and he loves to talk to people! He will talk for hours, his little baby talk! He has now laughed and he laughs all the time when you do something that he feels is funny! :) He is a really good sleeper at night usually going about 7-8 hours. He loves to be held, of course, and he definitely not spoiled! ;)
I am going to have such a hard time going to school in the fall. I am taking math 1050 as well as my CNA course to get into the LPN program at the MATC. It will be a lot of work, but I am determined to do it and get finished with my schooling by the end of next year.
Jason now has a job, it sucks but it is better than nothing. He works at Convergys doing the USPS project. He likes it though so far and they do have a few perks for him. He gets free health insurance and he can work as much overtime as he wants to, which for us right now he will have to. But he is doing good. He is taking a history class in the fall and is just inching away at school until I get done so that I can work and then he can go to school full time! He is really looking forward to that ;)
So we are doing well. Getting there inch by inch.

Ben's Cure to no diapers, Potty training!

SOOOOOOOOO....Potty training has gone so amazing!
I know I know, he is a little bit older, he will be 3 in Sept. and I know that everyone always says that boys always train later, usually around 3 or 4. Sheesh, I did not want him to be 4 when he got trained, that just seems so old to me!

Anyways,

So far things have gone really well! We started him on the potty on Thursday and he has just taken off, I'm serious!

The first day: We say him on the toilet and I thought that he was going to be really resistant to it, cause every time we have tried to train him in the past he has just freaked out every time we put him on the potty. But this time he didn't, he didn't go but he didn't freak out. So we just kept asking him if he needed to go and then the first time he actually went me and Jason were in there with him and we got all excited and gave him high fives and he got a treat! I have this jar full of candy that I have sitting on our dryer, which is right in front of the potty. So he got to pick a candy out of there. Then he had 3 accidents the rest of the day, one while we were out.

The second day: We put a diaper on Ben at night when he went to bed, of course, knew he wouldn't be able to hold it in at night. But when he woke in the morning, the diaper was not very wet. So then the whole day he was able to tell us when he needed to go peepee, and we would go to the potty and sit down (hint, with boys, if you train them to sit down first, which we are doing, have them either hold their little weewee down or sit forward or the pee will go everywhere. Learned this when Ben starting going pee and I was sitting right in front of him and it got all over my pants!)
He only had 2 accidents.

Today, third day: NO ACCIDENTS!!! He has told us every time he needs to go to the bathroom and has gone every time he sits down! We tell him how proud we are of him and he gets a little treat!

No poopy so far, hoping that he will soon. That's a funny thing to hope for, but I know as soon as he can do that then he will really be accomplished! I have a little toy car sitting on top of the dryer that he can see so he knows that he can get that car as soon as he goes poopy in the potty!

Big boy! I have been wanting to get him trained since he was 18 months old, knew that it wasn't going to happen so I have been trying here and there until I could tell that he was really ready to go by himself! Can't push this kid to do anything unless he is really ready and wants to do it himself, I guess that can be a good thing when it comes to certain things, sucks when you are wanting to get them potty trained!

What more could I ask for?

I love my sweet little family! I just have to brag a little! I mean, come on, wouldn't you? hehe. I have 2 amazing boys who I love to death! Even though one poops on me and the other tells me to go and sit in time-out! haha...I just love them though!
David is getting better at sleeping at night, so that is a huge help!
Ben is just Ben, what else can I say, he is a 2 year old, but he can be really sweet too!
Love my family!

David and Ben, My two sons, wow!

First I just want to give an update of everything. Well, Jason had lost his job at Mozy in March, which was right before I had the baby, but it all worked out ok. But now he got a new job just the other day at ancestry.com. It is a little lower paying, but it is a new place that he has never worked before, and they give commission and over time, so it will work out just fine.
Jason and I are going to school over the summer. I am enrolled in psychology and math 1050 and Jason is taking psychology. Both my classes are online, and I am nervous about my math class, but at least it is the last math class I have to take. Jason and I are also going to school in the fall, and the good news is that I will have my Associate degree by the end of the fall semester. A small accomplishment, but for me it feels great! Then I will be onto the MATC to complete the LPN program that they offer. I am super excited to get that done so that I can send Jason to school to finish his degree, which he has no idea what that is yet!
And the boys, my boys, are just great! Ben is sooo ridiculously smart! I just can't get over all the things that he says, that he learns. The other day he told me that an arachnid is a bug with 8 legs and that galoshes are boots that you wear in the rain, both things that he learned from sesame street, gotta love that! He loves to go camping and fishing with his dad and grandpa! What can I say, he is all boy, he loves to play outside any chance he gets and to not listen to his mommy and daddy :) And David just is growin away! He has out grown the preemie clothes and is now into the newborn sizes and the 0-3 month sizes, some of which are kinda big. But he now smiles and "talks" all the time! He still is not that great of a sleeper, he usually will not sleep unless someone is holding him, as soon as you put him down he wakes up and cries, so we will have to work on getting him to sleep by himself,the unique chance of him sleeping without being held but its tough having to make them cry themselves to sleep :(
All I can say is that I love my little boys, wouldn't have it any other way! I just hope that I get a girl eventually, but I would be ok with just boys too!

Complete family!

Well, David finally came home on Monday! We are so excited to finally have him home! Ben just loves him to death and at every chance tries to give him hugs and kisses! He is doing a lot better with David being home than I thought he would. He really loves having him home! So for now our family is complete, until we decide to have another baby, which trust me won't be for another 3 or 4 years, especially after this experience! But I love my boys! I would love to have a girl someday, but for now I love having my 2 boys, well 3 if you include Jason. :)
I took David to the doctor today for his 2 week check and he said that he is doing really well. He now weighs 5 lbs. 12 oz. which means he has gained 5 oz since monday! He is a really good sleeper, he wakes up about every 2 to 3 hours at night to eat, other than that he just sleeps. He does have his wakeful periods throughout the day though which we just cherish!
Love my family to death, couldn't ask for anything more!

David Henry Oliver-New addition to the Wee Oliver family!

Ok, so to get everyone updated and talk about everything that has happened. So I went in to the doctor on Thursday of last week for an ultrasound. For a few weeks before it had shown that the baby was growing small. So on that Thursday, the doctor said I was still measuring small and that the baby wasn't growing properly, so he decided that it was safer to deliver the baby a few weeks early then take the chance that he might not make it living inside the womb. So I went in to the hospital on Friday the 15th for a scheduled C-section at noon. So I was in the hospital at ten getting all prepped for the surgery, which involves getting an IV, taking some meds, monitoring the babys heartrate. So when it was noon they took me back to the surgery room and gave me the epidural. They lay you down and put a curtain up in front of you when they do a C-section. They also gave me air, which made me feel more claustrophobic. So then the 2 doctors start the surgery. From start to finish it took about an hour, it was a little longer this time then it was with Ben cause they have to cut through scar tissue. So then they announced that it was time to deliver the baby, thats when I started to cry. Then I knew the second that they had pulled him out cause he cried very well. I was bawling at this point cause the one thing that I was worried about the most was how developed his lungs were going to be. But from his first cry I knew that he was going to be ok. So they got him all cleaned up and then brought him over to me for a few seconds before they took him to the nursery. They got me all sewn back up and then took me to the recovery room where my mom and Jason's parents were waiting. Jason was with the baby. So then Jason came in and said that I wouldn't be able to see the baby yet cause he was having a little trouble breathing. I was pretty out of it cause I was really tired and all the meds were making me tired. So then after about an hour they took me to the postpartum room. Then I got the update that they had to keep David in the special care nursery for a while and that I wouldn't be able to see him. I was pretty upset, I wanted to see and hold my baby.
So after a few hours they decided that they needed to take him to the Nicu. At this point he was put on air and they had put an IV on him to help him stay nourished. I was really upset that I wouldn't be able to see him until I was able to stand up and walk around, which for me took a day. But as soon as I was up and able to move at least a little bit, I made it down to the Nicu and was able to see my son for the first time, other than that few seconds in the delivery room. It was such a sad sight though to see him hooked up to all these machines and they also put a pic line in his head, which is a small IV that they use to put fats and vitamins in for him. I couldn't hold him, I could only look at him. It wasn't until the day after that that I got to hold him for the first time. That was the best thing!
So I was in the hospital for 4 days, I got out on Tuesday. This was a sad day, to have to leave the hospital without my baby :( Still sitting here thinking about it is making me cry. But, the good news now is that he keeps getting healthier everyday! I go to the hospital everyday and 10 am, 4pm, and 10 pm to feed him. Today the update is that he now has the pic line out of his head, he is completely off the air and he is gaining weight! He still is tiny, he was born weighing 5 lbs. 6 oz. He lost a few ounces and now he weighs 5lbs 4 oz. But he was at 5 lbs. 3 oz. so he has gained an oz. But he is getting to be more alert at each feeding that I go in to feed him. so now the goals for him to be able to come home is for him to be eating each feeding from me, except at night they will feed him from a bottle. But he has to be able to eat at least 3/4 from me of the amount the he has to eat. Right now he is suppose to be getting 33 ML of milk, and he usually gets between 10 and 20 from me at each feeding, so he is getting so close to be able to come home!
It has been the worst experience for me so far, I never would want anyone to go through this, it sucks not being able to have your baby home with you! But it makes me happy that he just keeps improving and getting healthier! I love him so much! I can't wait til the day that I get to bring him home to his mommy, daddy and big brother Ben!

little baby

So to get everyone updated, even though I don't even think anyone reads my blog, oh well, it kind of feels like keeping a journal anyways. :)
So I went to the doctor last week and they said that I was measuring a few centimeters small. So the doctor was a little concerned and so he sent me in to have an ultrasound and is showed that David was measuring small, he was in the 10th percentile, which the doctor said that is the danger zone for babies for how far along I am. So I started freaking out of course and he said the we will have to keep him monitored and we might have to deliver him early.
So I went and met with the high risk doctor and they did another ultrasound. This one showed more detail and that David was really healthy inspite of him being small and that everything else looked good. So the doctor said the same thing, to just keep him monitored every week.
So I went and saw my regular doctor on April 4th, and I had a non stress test done. That is where they hook me up to the baby heart monitor and the contraction monitor just to monitor the baby's heart rate for like 45 minutes. That test ended up being good, so for now baby David gets to stay in for at least another week.
I have another non stress test on Monday, and then another ultrasound on the 14th. If he hasn't gained any weight in that ultrasound then they will probably deliver him!
I am really nervous, at the last ultrasound he was weighing 4 pounds 8 oz. I am scared to have a little small baby! I hope that he has gained some weight at his next check up! The funny thing too is that I am bigger this time then I was when I was pregnant with Ben and he was 8 pounds 10 oz. The doctor said that he was an extra big baby, so he was like the exception. hahah so funny! But whatever happens I just hope that the baby will be healthy when he gets here!

30 week mark!

Well, it has happened, I made it to the 30 weeks! I am getting so excited and nervous knowing that it is only a few short weeks away until David will be here with our little family! I did have one contraction last week, which made the fact that the due date is approaching even more real.
I can't believe that I am going to have 2 kids! AAHH! And 2 boys none the less. :) It is going to be quite an adventure! But one that I am really looking forward too! I love my family more than anything in the world and know that I am going to love this little boy just the same!

Oliver wedding

What a great, wonderful day it was Saturday! I love weddings and it is even more wonderful when it is your own family member who gets married! Joseph and Aubrey got married on Saturday and it was so beautiful! It is always great when you can see 2 people who love each other so much get to have the opportunity to get sealed in the temple to be together forever! I know that they are truly meant for each other, you can just see it when you see them together, one of those couples that you look at and say, "Yeah, these 2 are just one of those perfect couples!"
I am so grateful that me and Jason were able to attend the sealing, what a wonderful experience, to be able to be there and witness your brother getting sealed to his spouse! The room was definitely full of happiness and everlasting joy!
Congrats to Joe and Aubrey! We all love you so much and can't wait to see the life that you guys will build for yourselves!

Decorating in small apartments

So when you live in an apartment there is always the challenge of how to make it feel like a home when you can't do much with it. You are not allowed to paint, you are not allowed to put nails in the walls, and you are not allowed to make any marks on the wall of any kind. Well this makes it difficult to really do much, but there are ways to decorate when you think about it.
I wanted to make Ben's room into a toy story theme. So I saw these removable stickers at the store one day and bought them. They are super cute and glow in the dark. Well, Ben's room is a room/storage room. I have to store all the baby things in there that he has grown out of like the swing and car seat and jumper. He still hasn't climbed out of his crib yet so he still sleeps in it. But I got all the stickers up and it needed a little something more. So I found these wood block letters and decided that I needed a project to keep me busy anyways. So I painted them and they went on the wall. Now all I need to complete his room in get toy story bedding, which I will probably just do when he gets a regular bed. For now his crib is still decorated in winnie the pooh.
We have a bassinet that we are going to use for the baby. So we moved that into our room and I bought some letters for his name too and decorated them. I thought they turned out so cute! So now all we need is for baby David to get here and it will all be complete! But now that I have finished I need a new project!

It's all good!

So I am now 24 weeks along. i feel the baby move so much! That is the greatest feeling to me, even when he is moving so much that I think he is just going to kick right through me, its good to know that he is doing well in there. Some days it feels like he is doing somersaults in there, and other days he is more quiet.
I did have to go to the hospital on New years Eve because I was having some pain. it turned out that I had a small kidney stone. They just told me that I had to drink lots of water to flush it out. I haven't had any more pain since then so I hope that means that it went away.
Ben is such a sweet boy, but man he can have his days. He can be such a booger sometimes! He loves to give hugs and kisses, which I love! But then he will also hit sometimes and yell and scream. Fun times! I have been trying to potty train him and it is not going well. He is just so stubborn. I just hope he gets it before I have this baby! Even though he can be a brat sometimes, I still love him to death!

Jason started school and he is taking 2 online classes. He is taking math 990 and a computer science class. Math is a struggle for him cause it has been years since he has taken it, but I always help him with his homework so it goes by faster. The computer science class for him is way easy, he is just a computer genius! so he still has a lot of generals to take, it will be a while before he graduates, but at least he is working towards it.
So life is good! Lovin life!