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Sunday, December 27, 2009

Merry Christmas



Ho Ho Ho. We hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We sure had a special one, since it was Holden's first Christmas. It was also the first Christmas where Griffin "got it". He knew who Santa was (although he called him Tanta). I took Griffin to to see Santa on Christmas Eve, thinking that if nothing else I could get a photo of him with Tanta. To my suprise and delight Griffin not only recognized and greeted him he did not cry and was so excited. He hopped right up on him lap and stared and smiled. When Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas he patted his head and said "a hat". To Griffin a hat is a helmet. He loves to wear helmets and try to do all of the things that Steve does. He will go and get into the bindings on Steve snow board (so we got him his own) or the skate board or the paraglider. So i knew that Santa had not finnished Christmas shopping yet and he better make a stop and get Griffy a helmet. He must have done so, because on Christmas morning there was a "hat" waiting for Griffin with a bunch of other things he must have wanted!


This pic was from Christmas afternoon between jammie changes, but I love it and could not help snapping a shot of Holden's darling little face!



This year was Griffin's 3rd Christmas. On his first Christmas Eve Steve and I started our family tradition of Christmas Jammies. We all get new PJ's that we get to open on Christmas Eve. I tried like 10 times to get a picture of my babies in their Christmas Jammies and everytime I snapped, Griffin leaned in to kiss Holden. So I guess THAT is the way the picture is meant to be!





As most know, Steve got laid off in Feb of 2009. It was hard and it got harded when I got pregnant after 17 months of trying and then deciding to wait...(of course). Well, in October our prayers were answered and Steve got a call asking him to come back to the oil field to work for Shell drilling! While he was out of work he had gotten his EMT and that must have given him a leg up, since thousands of guys were laid off and 6 were called back! This blessing came at the right time, just a few weeks before the baby was born. He had to choose between being home for the birth of our son and being home for Christams & Thanksgiving. He chose to be here for Holden's birth. So needless to say, we celebrated the birth of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ, without Steve. I will admit that I cried on Christmas morning when we were not togther and few times throughout the day when Griffin got excited or either of the boys did something cute. Luckily I had stayed the night at my Mom's house on Christmas Eve, so at least I was surrounded by family Christmas morning, but it was not the same. So the solution is that when Steve gets home of New Years Eve, we are going to pretend it's Christmas Eve and do it all again. I gave each of the boys 2 of their gifts from us on Christmas so they will still have more presents to open and I am going to cook a prime rib dinner. That way we can still have some family memories and photo that include daddy!

I also want to take a minute and express my love for Christ and how greatful I am to God for sending a savior to ransom me. What an amazing blessing Faith is. I am astounded by how much love is in my life because of my relationship with Christ. I am so blessed to have my family, my beautiful-healthy children, a husband whom I love more every minute and can't seem to ever get enough of, and most of all to have a Heavenly Father who loves us all enough to send his son to be born on Christmas day to die for us.

Merry Christmas & a very Happy New Year!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Another beautiful son

HOLDEN SCOTT SKARDA
December 9th, 2009











Weight: 7 lbs 6.2 oz
Length: 20 inches
He is wonderful and so sweet. He looks more like Steve than Griffin did...I am amazed that that is even possible, but it is. He is a snugglie and content baby. I am just in love with him and trying to soak up every minute of this newborn phase.

Griffin is just soooo cute with him. He helps me change his diaper and get the binkie and push the swing and always has a kiss for his baby brother, whenever he cries. The other day Holden was crying and Griffin kissed his forehead and said (in the most gentile voice) "you're alright...you have mom". I am so in love with my boys and am delighting in every moment with them.

On the icky side, his birth was VERY rough. I did not think that it could get worse than 52 hours of labor 2.5 hours of pushing, followed by a c-section and loosing 1/3 of my blood...but IT WAS. I was not at all scared when I was told that I would have a sheduled c-section. In fact, I took great comfort in thinking it would be a piece of cake. I could not have been more wrong. I was given a spinal block to numb me during the surgery. I was also given a topical anesthetic on my skin. Well, the spinal did not take and my Dr. nor I found out until after the first cut. I felt the entire surgery. The Dr.s and anesthesiologist had no choice but to proceed to deliver the baby through the pain and my SCREAMING. They had already cut me, so it was too late to flip me over and try the spinal again, and they could not put me under all the way because of the risk to the baby. They worked very fast but that 4 minutes was the worst pain I have ever felt! My poor husband was in room. He was begging them to help me and trying to comfort me but he was as scared as I was. For the next 3 days, I could not walk or feel ANYTHING down my right leg. They had 2 specialists and a physical therapist come and no one knew what was going to happen or IF it would ever be normal again. As it turned out...what had happened was that the spinal some how traveled down a nerve and caused the numbness. It is fine now... but how scary!!!
All in all this recovery has been hard, made harder by the fact that my husband had to go back to the Oil Rig 3 days after for 2 weeks, (which really a huge blessing since only 6 people, out of thousand whom were laid off, where called back to work) but I am getting through it and all thou getting him here was so hard, I have never been happier and have the most delicious feeling of completeness.


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

We are having another BOY!

We had our ultrasound today and we saw that we are having another baby boy. He was sucking his thumb and flipping all around! We are so excited to meet baby HOLDEN on December 7th.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Baby Girl Names

Since I have been so sick this time around, I am thinking that the baby is a girl. We have never even really talked about girls names since we both felt like we would have all boys. We have boy names but only a few girl names. None of which we can completely agree on. I like Claire & Annie best and Steve is STUCK on Lucy...which I am not crazy about. He won't budge. All I think of is the bratty friend from Charlie Brown. We'll see IF the baby is a girl and IF I can convince my husband that my names are better. Any comments....suggestions???

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Easter 2009

This year we spent Easter with Grandma & Grandpa Drisko. We got up and went to Church and then to the Serrano Easter Egg Hunt. It was so cute to see all of the kids in their darling Easter Clothes.

I made a fruit tart for breakfast and it turned out pretty so I took a picture of it. I am such a nerd.






Serrano has a rule, that there are no easter baskets allowed and that each child only gets 12 eggs. So the cute Cammo basket the Easter bunny brought had to stay at home. Instead everyone had to use an empy Egg Carton.









It was a little bit chilly but over all it was a beautiful day. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jill and the 3 of us all went together. It was Griffin's first Easter egg hunt and at first he just loved looking at the eggs and at the other kids. But with some encouragment from mommy & daddy, he decided to dive in and once he did he had a blast.







That night I made dinner. We had Duck A'L Orange, wild rice, fresh rolls, Asparagus and spinach, pear and candied waknut salad. It was yummy and something different thanhaving the traditional ham...which we had the week before. ooops! It was my favorite Easter so far.

Friday, April 17, 2009

We're PREGNANT!

After 16 months of trying we are pregnant with number 2. We are so excited and feel very blessed. I am 8 weeks and due 11-27-09

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Back in CA











So, we are back in CA...for a few months. In the time that we are here, Steve is getting his EMT and we plan to go back home at the end of June. The oil rigs are supposed to start re-hiring in July and with an EMT he will be a bigger asset to the dangerous oil rig (for you Idol watchers, you now know what a rough neck is and that it's the 5th most dangerous job on earth). If the rigs do not start hiring again, he will enroll in the Fire Academy for the Fall semester. I am pleased with either of these options, but kind of hope that he decides to go the Firefighter rout. Either way, at least we have a plan. In the mean time, we are just enjoying our son and the warm weather. We really like the church here and have loved spending time with the Skarda/Drisko sides of the family. I joined a bunco team and that has been lots of fun. Here are some recent pics.

Monday, February 2, 2009

2009



So far 2009 has been a lot of fun. Below are some photos from this past month. A lot of them are from the Children's Discovery Museum in Salt Lake. We got a 1 year membership for Griffin and have been going there at least twice a week! He loves it!

















Friday, January 9, 2009

Church

As most of you already know, we began attending church regularly a few month ago. Griffin loves going to the nursery and playing with the other kids and barely even notices when Steve & I leave the room, since he is so busy entertaining the other children... He is already just like his dad.

Steve & I have really enjoyed going together and it has been such a wonderful expirience for us as a family. Steve & I are both going to baptized on the 19th of February and we wanted to shar this news with our friends and family. Griffin was blessed/baptized last year on Christmas eve, so he is one step ahead of us!

The best part for me is watching our faith grow individualy and as a couple and as family. I can already feel the impact that taking an active role in our relationship with God is having on us all and I could not be more happy about it!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

15 months and counting

So this month was the 15 month mark of Steve & I trying for #2. Once again I am NOT pregnant. We are trying again this month and I am praying that it happens. We would really appriciate prayers from our friends and family to help this happen for us, or to guide us to whomever can help us or to just help us to cope with the negative tests. They get harger to take every time!

Thanks everyone!!