All about our home in Pingree

I have not been writing as often as I should, which brings a problem… I'm far behind on my blog. No one probably knows what's going on with my life. We purchased a house at the end of July, the last day of July. We kept it from EVERYONE!  Mostly because I kept getting the feeling that it would fall through, and I didn't want to be disappointed and keep sharing and sharing in the disappointment.  We have a small budget so that equals a small home or a home that need major work.  We looked for a year for a home in and around Blackfoot, everything within our budget we either couldn't get a loan for or was falling down.  Kade wanted some land, but that was pretty much nonexistent for our price range.  When our home came on the market we looked at it and made an immediate offer.

Some stuff about our home.
It was listed as a 2Bed 2Bath home with an office, when we looked at it and realized there were in fact 3Bed 2Bath with an office we figured it would be big enough. It is 1682sqft so we may not have any room for more kids and  Kade didn't get the garage he wanted but we hope to build one someday in the distant future.  It was stick built in 97 so it sin't very old and has some nice custom things about it and central AC.  The one and only previous owner was in a wheel chair and so all the doors are nice and wide, there are 3 outside doors, the toilets are super high, the closets have nice shelves and the tub and shower are a little different designed.

The house was in rough shape (foreclosure).  Cats and dogs had been left inside.  There was even feces on the walls (YUCK). We knew it would be a lot of work, but it's always more work than you anticipate. Especially since I mostly had the kids and so when they were with me it was impossible to get much done.  Trecia and Jake helped a ton, painting, pulling out floor, painting, putting in floor, painting, and cleaning! you guys rock thanks!  Plus my mom and Annie watch my kids from time to time, thanks for that, awesome people.

These are the pictures from the realty website.

front room/living room

The kitchen while standing in the dinning room

Kitchen standing by the laundry room/ backdoor.  You can see the dinning room as well.

master bedroom, and master bath.  

master bathroom, there is another mirror/sink on the other side of the tub.

The office

one of the bedrooms.

There isn't a picture of the 2nd bedroom, and I didn't take one. As soon as we closed Kade went and ripped out all the carpet before I had a chance, haha.

bathroom

back of the house. 

It took us a full month to redo flooring, paint, and make it so we could stand to live in it.  We didn't get the bathrooms or the laundry room floors done.  they are just subfloor. but we can use them and eventually will finish them.

I never want to move and I don't plan on it EVER again!

The house is on a 5.3 acres and is up on a hill.   The outside is surrounded in sagebrush so establishing a yard will be a big to-do. There are also 2 single-wide trailers on the property...which are torn to shreds and the kids love to explore in them *yikes*  we are hoping to burn them or something in the spring,

The moving is slow and painful.  Someday we will finally be unpacked......someday. But we officially are living here.

2 Exciting Things

First, I registered for a fun run this week! I have been wanting to run races this year but my dang knee keeps hurting. Hopefully it will heal! Anyway, it is on Independence Day weekend. 

Second, and more exciting, we made an offer on a home this past week. Scary....and we hope it doesn't fall through. If not, in OVER a month we will own a home closer to Kade's job!!!  

See the pending?!? Pretty COOL!

Meet Logan

Or whatever we decide to name him. We may change his name, after all that is Lex's middle name. Not long ago we had Cora but she wasn't a city dog and we didn't want her getting run over. She would lay in the road, whenever she got a chance, by jumping our tall fence?!? We adopted her out to a nice family a few months ago.  (I am still super sad that she is gone, she brings a lot of running memories to mind.)

 For about four months we haven't had a dog, that is the longest since we have been married. But I know my husband so I wasn't surprised (when a neighbor needed to move and couldn't take Logan) that Kade gladly volunteered to adopt him. 

He is so scared of the adults, but is so sweet to the kids. I am excited for him to get comfortable. He is a mutt so we are not 100% but his old owners claim him to be Chihuahua and a Schnauzer.

He is 3 and we really like him so far. 

Double Trouble

First off I'm a little embarrassed writing this, mostly because I compare 

myself WAY too much to other people. YES, I took a long time before even attempting to potty train. 

Last year before Drake turned 3, he was pretty much potty trained. I never could get him to go #2 in the potty!  For three weeks he only had one accident a day, always #2.

 I tried everything I could think of. Asked advice, but it never clicked. I figured he just wasn't quite ready for it. 

Then January came and I was traveling to school, my kids were going to a sitters, so back in diapers he went. 

And for me changing diapers isn't too bad,there are worse things.

School ended and I was sick, tired, and pregnant. In T - 3 months I would have a new baby, I was terrified of regression. So I put off potty training again, I was glad because we ended up moving AND having a baby. 

On a side note both big kids slept in our bed quite a bit the first month of moving. I don't know if it was the baby, moving, or both. They had so many night terrors, I never thought it would end. We had to have a toddler bed in our room for Addy for two months because she wanted to sleep in our bed and that was the solution. So she slept in her bed in our room and it was a relief. Slowly she went back to her room! 

On thanksgiving we were with my family, my sister Anne Marie, made my kids a deal. She told them she would let them pick a toy from toys R us if they got potty trained. They wanted to start immediately.

The next day with them being very motivated we started. I was very reluctant, I have a two-month-old and I don't really have time to be watching them go potty all day. My goal was to start potty training when Lex needed me less. But they were ready, so I wasn't going to say no.

To my surprise Drake didn't have an accident for the first two days. But on the third day he had to go number two....and I was back to the same problem as last year

Basically, I had them only in underwear or unders as the kids call them, sometimes a shirt too. I timed potty trips, gave mini peanut butter cups when they went potty. 

Addyson had never trained at all. After staying on the potty most of the morning she finally peed and finally understood what muscles to control. She had a few accidents but she would stop the flow and run to the bathroom. So no major clean up. She was completely trained in a week. She was such a breeze. She knows when she needs to go. One problem is when she doesn't have a potty seat she gets scared, so we bring it with us for now. 

Week two, Addy was doing wonderful, Drake always managed to sneak away and have an accident every other day. I again was asking everyone's advice. I always kept him in my sights. No luck. The day after his birthday I was helping Addy go and they tend to have similar schedules. So I called his name...no answer. I ran around till I found him hiding behind the couch. He was working on it but I got him in time. I made him sit until he went potty. Just like I thought, once he relized he wasn't doing something naughty it clicked. A week and no accidents. Whoop! Whoop!

I'm writting this because I finally feel like we are in the clear. And I'm pretty darn excited. Drake has peed the bed twice total and both times he fell asleep and we put him to bed, so he didn't have a chance to go before bed.

Even though I was grumpy at first, I'm excited now. I  feel like I'm always forgetting something because I only change Lex and it's plain weird. I'm sure they will get their Toys R Us trip any day now.  For some reason aunt bribery is the most effective kind ;)

Personally this milestone is one of the hardest. All you parents that have done it are simply rock stars! It was nice to get two done at once. I did the same work with double the results :) 

When Addy went #2 we let her pick out a new pack of unders. She wanted hello kitty!  Drake got Cars underwear!

This is how they dress most of the time, no pants! No pants, are the best kind of pants,  in my opinion. 

The other day Drake found the flap on the front of his underwear and it thought it was cool to let it all hang out! HAHA :D

Playing Catch Up (Our CraZy August of 14)

I am so behind on this blog and I am sure things are not going to calm down anytime soon.  That means that I will just have to post what I can, when I can.

So much has happened and it all happened at the same time.  Kade was offered a new job in Blackfoot that started the 11th of August, just 15 days before my due date.  After much pondering and prayer we decided this would be the best decision for our family's future.  There was only two weeks before the new job started so...we looked around for a place to live and couldn't find anything very affordable. We were very sad at our findings.  If you recall we own a home in Idaho Falls, close to the temple, that has had renters in it for over two years.

After more prayer, and tears from the prego lady, we felt a push to move back into our home.  We had to give a month notice and so that put us not being able to move in until the first part of September.  This was so close to my due date, so more tears and stress from me.  We felt so much guidance for this move, but it was still hard to accept, even if it was what we needed to do.

We had to figure out what to do next, because we had nowhere to live for 3ish weeks.  I didn't want to live with family because I know how stressful and hard that can be.  I really didn't want to step on toes and be in everyone's hair.  We were in everyone's hair anyway, even if I didn't want it that way.

Kade's parents were so kind and let us borrow their very nice RV, which we parked in my sisters yard for those three weeks.  ~Now the last weeks of pregnancy are super long, this made things even longer and more stretched out. ~  Between my sisters house and my parents we survived.  We had our own place but we had family to make times better.  My kids had a blast being so close to my family for so long, but man I know it wore everyone else out. 

On Saturday, August 23rd, three days before my due date, Kade had a day off so we headed up to box up the trailer house.  Word traveled fast through the ward and before 4 o'clock that day we were ready to move out. I was in shock with how much love and support we received. We have never been able to get a house packed that fast. 

Only problem, we still didn't have a place to move, the renters did end up moving out faster then originally planned and on the 29th (3 days past due date) we were given the green light to move in. 

There were some problems, they had pets, and the house reeked!  They had the carpets cleaned 2x's and it still stunk soooo bad.  We pulled up the carpets and white washed the floors and all the walls in the effected areas.  They had painted the kitchen and I hate the new color, so it still needs work, but we left that for later.  The house is mostly white now with new smelling carpet, it made a huge difference. We were sad we had to do so much work, it caused us to push back our move in date, plus carpet isn't' cheap! :(

My due date came and went, almost a whole week.

I ended up going into labor the last day in August, Lex wanted to make sure that the month of August was as long and drawn out as possible ;)
I ended up giving birth to him on the day that I originally told everyone I was due.  I always go over and I hate when people text and call asking if I have had a baby yet.  So, I just went a week past my due date and told everyone that date...I am a better guesser then the ultrasound.  :D Lex is a lucky boy, he shares his Birthday with Paul and Annie's Anniversary.  It really fits because they were so kind to let us crash for so long at their house, it is a tribute to their awesomeness.

We were still living in the RV when I went into labor.  After Lex was born we stayed at my parents house so they could help me with kids.  Carpet was installed the 5th of September.  On the 6th of September everything was loaded, moved, and put into our home, lots of boxes! On Tuesday the 9th we went up and spent our first night.  Finally, a place of our own!

Basically, there is no progress with the unpacking.  There is so much to unpack and put away, but I'm just sitting here holding my baby and soaking in his baby smell.  I love baby snuggles.  

Labor Day Birthday (LONG POST)

Just a warning, I leave nothing out of this post, so if you find birth stories gross, STOP NOW! ;)

On Sunday the 31st of August, we were chilling. I was 5 days past my due date! I decided to shower and try to take a nap because I had been having false labor on and off for a week, always during the night time when I should be sleeping, and always so disappointing when the contractions stopped.   With my hair wet I layed on the couch watching phineas and ferb with the kids. I felt a little trickle of water, my eyes widened and I yelled, Kade! He watched me in awe as I ran to the bathroom, water slowly coming through my pants. I went to the bathroom sat on the toilet and there was a large gush. My water had broken! Kade ran around gathering things for the kids overnight bag and our hospital bag. I was in no hurry. No contractions had started and I figured we had a little time until I felt pain.

My thoughts at this point, I have an hour or two before my labor starts, once it does, I will go fast and have my sweet baby here before the day is through. After all this was my third and my first two were fast and never more then 5 hours of labor.  My hopes and thoughts couldn't have been more wrong.

Me on the drive to the hospital.

Around 2 we arrived at the hospital. I was gsb positive and they started me on antibiotics pretty quickly. After answering a ton if questions They checked me for the first time around 4. I was at a 2 with 50% effaced. I hadn't had any regular contractions and the ones I had I didn't feel much. I knew again it would be a while because I hadn't' started labor.   

After two rounds of antibiotics they let me start walking around hoping it would bring labor. The rule was 5 hrs after my water broke if I didn't progress I would have to have intervention. They let me go longer then that. They checked me at eight and I was at a 3.5 with 75% effaced. So they let me keep trying to bring labor on myself because I had shown signs of progressing. At this point I could feel baby contractions they were far apart and not consistent at all. 

At this point I was discouraged that everything was taking so long. I haven't ever had a problem progressing. Plus I was 5 days past due. I figured my body and baby would be ready. 

At around 11 I was checked again. Was barely a four and still 75% effaced??? I want progressing. Did I mention all this time was spent walking circles around the hospital?  I think we wore the carpet down....

3 am and I was at the same place. Just at a four...contractions were getting stronger but they were still far apart and not consistent. They gave me the news that it was time to start pitocin.  Kade and I talked about it and figured we might as well not fight it, after all, I was tired of being pregnant and tired of walking, they started me on the lowest dose. I talked with the nurse and asked what the odds would be of having a natural birth with no epidural while being on pitocin?  She told me in her many years of experience she had never seen anyone do it.   That was disheartening, but labor was already not what I expected it to be, so I thought maybe I could do it still....another hr went by with no progress. So they bumped up the pitocin. And in another hour I was bumped up one more time. Then the contractions started. 

They were terrible. They were the strongest ones I have ever felt. I never had that strong of contractions unless I was in transition and ready to push. I was checked again I was at a 5 and still 75% effaced. It was around 6am. I was so discourage that I only was to a 5 so I asked for some iv medication. Which helped me for about a half hour. It started to wear off quickly and I started to be negative about how I couldn't make it through. They checked me again and I was still the same. I was crying more like sobbing at the fact that my body wasn't reacting how I wanted it to. I felt like I couldn't keep going it had already been 17 hours. The midwife explained that at 18 hours after membrane rupture that they would be worried about infection, especially since I had the gsb. So I had an hour before we started talking more drastic interventions, things like c section. Looking back I really think they were trying to scare me, but my normal midwife was out of town for the holiday, and she wasn't very happy about how everything was handled.  

They believed baby was face up and unable to turn and that was why I want progressing. Worried and being in so much pain I gave in. I asked for an epidural. I cried during the whole thing. I felt like I had chosen comfort over what was best for baby. TOTALLY CRAZY HORMONES! But I still wonder if I would have waited just a little longer if he would have come just as fast. I had the anesthesiologist come in  around 6:45. While sitting up and having it placed I stared feeling super nauseous and that is always a sign that I am hitting transition, but nothing was the same for this labor so I figured it was a reaction to the pitocin.  The anesthesiologist was super quick and awesome, I felt like a hundred bucks after it was placed.  I was numb they told me to try and sleep, they figured it would be a while.  They left me alone.  Kade immediately fell asleep BUT I couldn't sleep at all.  I was having strange pressure. I couldn't be ready to push already?  I was at a 5 a few minutes ago?  I waited almost a half hour before I got the nerve and called the nurse back in. After all I couldn't possibly be ready to push..one look and they grabbed gloves and the on-call midwife.   I had them grab a mirror as well, with Drake I was able to watch in the mirror, and it was super cool, so I wanted the chance again.  As soon as everyone was in place I started to push I believe it was close to 7:20. At 7:27am Mr. Lex Logan Bingham was born! 

They held him up and Kade yelled enthusiastically that it was a boy. It was the coolest thing, finding out at birth. I was sure he was a girl and couldn't believe it.   I was overjoyed to have another boy.  

The nurse joked that it took so long for Lex to come because we kept calling him a girl.  It took days for it to sink in that it was a boy and not a girl.  I had only washed girl cloths in preparation for the birth and the boy clothes were still in storage, that is how positive I was that he was a girl.  

I fed him right away and he latched like a champ. Baby's cord was attached to the side of my uterus and I guess when that happens the cord is weaker. Once the placenta finally was delivered there was a large hole where the cord was tearing off from the placenta.  Because of the hole the midwife almost pulled out the cord without all of the placenta. Which could have caused major infection and problems. 

What a large boy! 9pounds 6ounces, 21.5 inches long,  I didn't need stitches wahoo! Recovery was so slow and I never remembered being so sore. But I didn't remember labor being that horrible, I felt as though I was being ripped in half, like I was going to die.  My cramping after was terrible, as bad as some of my contractions.  But we made it! 

They told me that often when baby is face up during delivery an epidural can relax your uterus enough to let them turn. They thought he was face up and that is why I didn't progress.  Or maybe I was closer then I thought to delivery and I just needed another half hour??? Who knows!

I had to stay at the hospital for 2 days, he was a big boy and they wanted to monitor his blood sugar to make sure he wasn't diabetic.  Also I was GSB positive with my membrane being ruptured for a long time, all of those reasons made for a long hospital stay.  Lucky for baby I had 3 rounds of antibiotics for GBS to help keep him safe.

I visited with my midwife when she got back from vacation, I really wished she would have been in town!  That was the biggest letdown, not having her help me through labor.  I absolutely think the world of her and the other midwife was okay, but not the support I needed.  She told me if she would have been in town and notified she would have told me to stay at home until 24 hours or until my labor started on its own.  She wouldn't have made me come in and spend time in the hospital, and then I would't have had pitocin and other interventions until I needed them.  So for the next labor I will know better :)

We are so blessed to have Lex and even though labor didn't go as planned he is here, he is healthy, and we love him.

Now does anyone know when the pain from the epidural insertion goes away?  

Eating our Birthday Dinner, it was some yummy steak!

Baby holding dads hand!

BABY MEETS WORLD!

My wonderful Grandparents, G&G Kunz

Lex's Grandparents 

I LOVE this picture, dad and son

mom and son

Sister kisses

they were so excited and in aww

just the three of us

YAY, we are a family of 5, I am so full of love and joy!