3 kids?? now we are out-numbered....

Before the baby arrived:

We decided that if the baby wasn't going to be born, then we were going to have some fun without it, so we went hiking up in the Sandia Mountains. It was such a nice day. We packed a lunch and set out to enjoy the afternoon. Being the adventurous Dad that I am, I decided to take the kids on a short hike while the pregnant mom and her mom sat safely in the van. After about 15 minutes of hiking, Spencer and I realized that the rain was getting stronger and wasn't going to stop. We decided to bolt for the van, which was 15 minutes the other way. We ran from dry spot to spot for rest and relief from the rain. We finally emerged from the forest and made a mad dash for the van. We had a fun but wet ride home.

(If you click to enlarge the pic, you can see how drenched we are.....)

"The hiking gang."

The picnic was fun and it was nice to smell the fresh, clean air.

We also had some fun in the backyard with the slip-n-slide. I decided that someone had to show the kids how to have fun. Needless to say, I was a slip-n-slide superstar. Forward, backward, rolling sideways, baseball sliding style: I am a master of all styles.

Spencer is following in his stud dad's ways. go Spencer!

I think all the water created a sink-hole in the lawn, who cares though. We were living the superstar dream.

Dad/Son:

29 years old/ 1 day old

We really appreciate Craig & Marilyn (michelle's parents) for their help with the kids. It was nice to not have to worry about the kids while we were bringing another into the world. Thanks!

The kids missed their mom while she was at the hospital. They practically smothered her when we went to visit their new brother. Spencer asked me on the way to the hospital, "Dad, what are you going to do with 3 kids?" I wasn't quite sure how to answer. :)

As parents we will now be playing zone defense, instead of man to man.

We brought Michelle home on Tuesday, she and baby are both doing great. Parker has his 1st Dr. appointment tomorrow. This pic is when he was just a few minutes old. It shows a bit of his dark brown hair. He such a good baby, if only he would learn that night is for sleeping. Good luck to us. :)

He has arrived!!!

Parker Craig Christensen made his entrance into the world last night (7/27/08) at 8:15 pm. He is 7 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches. He has a small amount of brown hair (the other kids were pretty much bald). He has been hungry since he arrived, so I guess that means our food budget will be going up. Michelle and baby are both doing very well. We are so excited to have him in our lives now, and we'll see how the other kids adjust. I'll post more pics when I can.

Whoa!

Yikes! Didn't mean for this to be the first picture that you get to see when looking at the blog - sorry. Well, once again, not a flattering picture- that's what happens when you ask a 5 year old to take your picture while he's watching cartoons. Thanks Spence. But you get the jist of the big buddha belly. 38 weeks down - forever to go. I KNEW once I'd get off of bed rest that I would still end up going til my due date, it's just my luck... but we'll see. Maybe someone will have mercy on me and I'll end up getting this thing out of me soon. We can only hope.

Spencer has been doing swim lessons for the past two weeks. He loves it. I'm glad Jodie was here with me for the first week (still on bed rest), so that it wasn't too stressful for me :)

Spencer at swimming lessons

Today was the last day and therefore the party. Kyle got to come and partake of the excitement - don't they look excited? Carly's not feeling well today. Sad little girl.

This is at the party today. Spencer had fun running all over the place and playing in the fun pool stuff.

Ah, swim lessons are done for another year. Happy day. I usually don't mind at all, taking him everyday for two weeks, but as you all know, the last month hasn't been the easiest for me either. So, for now, I am glad it's over. I'm sure I'll be all raring to go when next year comes though... right?

Fourth of July Fun

We had a low-key fourth. ABQ doesn't have parades or anything during the day, so we stayed at home. Kyle took the kids to the zoo during the afternoon and then that night we had our fun.


Spencer is a pyro just like dad. He loved helping light the fireworks.

And Carly loves to eat just like mom. We made homemade ice cream and she devoured it.

Kyle next to the flag we bought to hang on our house. That was our contribution to being patriotic.

After doing our own little fireworks show and eating ice cream, we laid out on our back lawn and watched the fireworks show from all of our neighbors. It was absolutely amazing how many illegal fireworks were everywhere... it was sure a good show! And we didn't have to spend any of OUR money to enjoy it!

Just our Spencer.
Check out what's left of his black eye.

A mish-mash of stuff

I am in the primary presidency in our ward and for our latest activity, we went to the ABQ temple for a tour (of the grounds). It turned out really nice and we had a lot of the kids come. (This is less than half of our primary, but more than usual for a normal activity.) Anyway, luckily we had some great parents volunteer for rides and to be chaperones! It was a success!

This is our fabulous sleeper! Except, of course, if it's her actual bed time... not so fabulous then.

The kids at lunch at the park. We go almost everyday and they LOVE it! It's nice for me because I don't have to make lunch, and I get to chat with some good friends while our kids play.

This is just a cute picture of Carly that a friend took with her nice camera at an Elders Quorum Social at the park. I stole it from her blog and posted it on ours :) (Thanks Michelle)

And this is not the most flattering picture of me, but it does my belly justice I guess... I'm now at 35 weeks and have been on bed rest now for 3 days... I've been having pretty good contractions (not just the braxton-hicks ones) and went into the doctor; they put me on a monitor for like 25-30 minutes and I had like 6-7 nice contractions... so I am now on bedrest. It's actually helped with the contractions so I guess the doctor knows what he's talking about... Okay, bedrest is not exactly easy with two little kids and a husband that works, and it isn't really a mini-vacation either. It actually rather stinks. I feel horrible that I can't help out at all. But luckily Kyle has been a HUGE help already and my mom is coming on Sunday to help out for a while and then we'll see what happens from there. Atleast it's only for a few weeks and not like one of my good friends who was on bedrest for the longest time! (Liz you are amazing!) So, we'll see how the next few weeks go.

One last trip...

We just got back this week from another trip to Utah. We went for my sister's wedding and nieces blessing. It's always fun to be with family and it was definitely worth it, but we are sure glad to be back and not have to travel anywhere in the near future!

While in SLC we went to Temple Square for a little bit- our kids have never really been (besides when we lived there and we moved when Spencer was 9 months). Spencer loved the Christus.

And what would a trip to Utah be without fishing with Grandpa?

An ugly albino rainbow trout...

At the wedding reception... there should be playgrounds at EVERY reception!

Spencer's holding our cute niece- Sydnee. For some reason, we didn't take any pictures of the blessing day and most of the wedding day. We are lame! So you have to deal with the pictures we DID take... sorry.

Carly with major bed-head.

Curlers (first time)

The happy couple at the luncheon.

Carly at the luncheon. (check out those ringlets)

Carly and Grandpa going into the Temple.

Okay, so why didn't we take more pictures of cute Sydnee in her blessing dress and the happy couple on their big day? Don' t ask me, it's still a mystery. Luckily everyone else's blogs have far superior pictures, so check them out instead of ours! I think driving over 60 hours in 6 weeks time did us in. Just as a side note: if you want to see us in the next year, you will have to drive to ABQ... we're staying put. :)

Catching up

Just catching up on the last few weeks. So, before our S.A trip, Kyle took Spencer camping on the Father/Sons campout. Spencer LOVED it! He had so much fun- I think Kyle did as well. They were sure dirty and stinky when they came home, so that must mean they had fun.

Spencer "graduated" from Joy School too. It's nice to have it over. Not like it's incredibly difficult, but it's nice just not to have to worry about my lesson and prepare it. We are really enjoying this summer and being busy doing other things~!

And these pictures are in honor of today. Carly must be going through a stage... she has been so hard to deal with the last couple days. I think it's a lack of sleep... which means that it's our fault for not making her sleep more. This weekend will probably only prove to make things harder for her... oh well. Then there is the transitioning of a new baby in her future, boy, that should be fun. Any ideas on helping her through that?

She's a really good girl most of the time, but these last few days have just about done me in.

And as far as an update- the last two days have been busy with me dragging the family to different doctors appointments. (Thus the reason for no naps for Carly the last couple days.)

Anyway, yesterday I went to the perinatologist (baby doctor specialist). We got another ultrasound, they checked EVERYTHING, and the baby seems to be doing fine. (He's 4 lbs 2 oz now). Then the doctor came in and did a thorough exam on me... mostly heart stuff. He asked a bunch of questions, etc. So the next time I have heart palpitations, he wants me to count my pulse and if it's really high to call them. He also wanted me to get an EKG.

So, we all drove down to the hospital, checked in and I got my EKG. So now we are just waiting on the results.

Today I had a normal OB visit with my normal doctor. They did their thing and I am now starting the every two weeks visits... I hate this part where it seems like that's all we do is go to doctors appointments, but it does mean it's getting closer to the end. So you take the bad with the good.

Still no baby names... we just can't agree on anything. Hopefully we'll come up with something soon because I'd hate to name him "Number 3".

Just an update

So, just a quick update on our life.

1- We found out right before our S.A trip that Spencer got into a great school for kindergarten. We applied for it over a year ago and we've been on the waiting list since... well, he's in and we are really excited. It's called the Family School, so it's half school/half homeschooling. It has the highest test scores in all of ABQ, which really doesn't matter that much to me, but they must be doing something right. It's quite a ways away from us, so I will be driving him about a half hour to and from school (depending on traffic) each way, but hopefully it will be worth it. (And hopefully we win the lottery or something to pay for the gas :) ) Also, we got to interview the teachers and pick our top three teachers we would like and we got the number one teacher we wanted so we are excited about that. He starts Aug 18 ( a week later than the regular schools here). Crazy! We are all growing up.

2. Everyone keeps asking me how my pregnancy is going, so I will tell you all now. I hate being pregnant! (Here comes me complaining, so if you don't want to hear it, just skip this.) Okay, so this pregnancy has been kind of rough. Besides the usual stuff that we moms sacrifice to bring children into this world (like that's not enough), I have been having major hip and back pain, my hips and tailbone frequently pop out of socket, and I have pinched nerves. I had this with my other kids, but it gets worse with each one. Its gotten so bad that I almost cry when I first get up from sitting or laying. It's been miserable and I am now doing physical therapy (but Kyle thinks I am non-compliant). It's hard to remember to do it at home twice a day....
Also, I have been having heart palpitations. It's normal to have a few during pregnancy, but mine happen on a daily basis and make me feel dizzy sometimes. So I am going to see a perinatologist on Tuesday to make sure everything is okay. One good thing about this is that they will do another ultrasound, so I can see this little guy again.
Okay, other than that, it's going fine :) But you guys asked, so I'm telling.

I think that's really all we have as far as updates go... so there you have it.

Deep in the Heart of TEXAS!

We just got back from our big trip to San Antonio, Texas. We have spent the last 9 days there and we are glad to be back, but we sure did have a fun time! Warning: lots of pictures ahead!






Of course one of the main highlights was going to Sea World. We actually spent two days there. The kids loved it! We were there from open to close both days. Phew, we were exhausted afterwards, but it was worth it!
We got to feed the dolphins some smelly fish.

This is a big ride called "Journey to Atlantis". Spencer went on it with Dad twice, even though he said it was too scarey... If you look closely at this picture, Kyle and Spencer are on the front row on the left. (Kyle's wearing a white shirt)

And this is right after the plunge... notice Spencer looks like he's going to cry, no worries, he cried at the top :)

And this is me and Spencer catching a splash from the same ride... you can't see Spencer very good, he's right in front of me.

Everyone at the Shamu Show - Believe.
Shamu

Spencer got to go up front and stand against the glass while Shamu swam by and splashed them... of course the stupid trainer guy stood right in front of Spencer so this is all the picture I got. (Okay, I'm sure he's not stupid, but how frustrating!)

Kyle and Spencer on the Rio Loco raft ride. They went on it three times right in a row. We hit all of the rides when there was hardly anyone there. Then it seemed to get busy right after we left! How cool is that!

After the ride... wet as usual at Sea World.

We went to the water park part of Sea World on Memorial Day. It was way fun! Spencer's favorite was the wave pool. This is us eating lunch. (Yes, I am brave for posting this on the blog... but hey, I'm pregnant, fat, and proud! :) )

Spencer at the water park.

Carly got all "played out". It was nice because she napped, I sat down and rested my pregnant self and the boys rode on the waterslides that we couldn't go on anyway.

Carly at the toddler-land water park.

Us before the pirate 4-d show. It was awesome. Spencer only cried once- when the bees came out and "stung" the back of our seats. (He's deathly afraid of bees)

Kyle rode on many a rollercoaster alone. This one is called the "Steel Eel". He said they were really fun. We'll just take his word on that.

Waiting for the Sea Lion Show to start.

Carly waiting for the boys to ride the Log ride. Her face is not sunburned, she was just red because it was so blooming hot and humid!

After the log ride.

We went to the Ripleys Believe it or Not museum and the wax museum too. Spencer loved this dinosaur.

Stupid is as stupid does... (that's from Forest Gump right?)

Spencer and I joined the Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry...

And yes, we were guests on Oprah. The title of today's show was "Amazing Moms and How they do it!"

Kyle with John

We just pushed the number of the seven dwarfs up to nine.

We ate at some really cool places while we were in S.A. This one is called the Rainforest Cafe. They have cool moving animals everywhere. The kids loved it. (We also ran into some friends from ABQ here. We knew they were in S.A. at the same time, but still, small world to run into them at all in this huge city!)

Us at the restaurant.

We stayed at a really nice, fun hotel right off of the riverwalk. All the kids cared about was that there was a pool. We went swimming EVERY day!

More swimming....

Us on the riverwalk.

We took a boat ride on the Riverwalk. It was really fun and neat to see the whole thing. It's so pretty! Lots of green everywhere. And fun restaurants and shops and stuff.

Us on the boat.

The riverwalk again.

Us in front of our hotel

The ALAMO
Me fanning off in the line to get into the Alamo. Of course we went on Sunday of Memorial weekend... crazy! And SO HOT! We went back on Thursday and it was so much better!

"Never forget the Alamo!" (Famous words from the people fighting during the battle.) It was actually pretty cool to go in and see.

The back side of the Alamo.

Us with a cannon from the battle.

So, we had a really fun time and are glad that we could go~ Kyle actually did get a bunch of P.A. conferences in too (that's kind of the reason we went:) ) Anyway, we hope to be able to go back some day... San Antonio is a great place to visit, except go in April when it's not so hot and humid :) Of course, they were having July/August weather in May, but that's just because we were visiting... Promise if we weren't there, they would have had cooler weather :)

We'll up date on the rest of our life later. Bye