Owens Hospital Adventure

The day the we moved was busy and stressful, so I did not think it was incredibly odd that Owen was especially whinny that day. But that night we noticed he had a fever. We were not overly concerned about it, kids get sick; Owen's fevers typically last two or three days, then he is back to his regular little self. I stated home from church with him on Sunday. Monday, I went to my moms house to make candy, and poor Owen just sat on the couch moaning the entire day. By Tuesday, I was starting to get concerned, his fever had not broken, he was acting lethargic, I could tell he was getting close to dehydrated, and his tongue broke out with a weird rash; so we took him to the doctor.

I really like our doctor, I think he is a very competent doc, so it made me really nervous that while he was examining Owen he just kept muttering, "Wow, this is one sick kid." After a minute he turned to me and explained that he could see no obvious sign of infection, and with how lethargic and dehydrated he was he thought it was a good chance it could be meningitis. He told me to take him to the hospital immediately because this could easily be a matter of life or death. Of course, I am internally freaking out, but trying to stay calm so Owen does not get scared. The doctor then tells me that I should not accompany Owen to the hospital, because he does not want Maxwell to be exposed to anything. So Tom cancelled the rest of his patients for the afternoon, and off they went to the E.R.

Luckily, my mother-in-law was at my house helping me unpack boxes, so I was able to leave the baby with her, and go visit my little sick guy. He was so cute, when I walked into his room in the E.R. he was so happy to see me. It was the sweetest "Hi Mama!" I had ever heard. The staff was great with him, and they gave him a little wooden car, which he thought was awesome.

After 5 hours of IV and countless tests he had not improved and they had no idea what was going on, so they decided to have him stay over night, and transferred him to the Pediatric floor. I went home to Tal and Max, and Tom stayed with Owen.

The next day, Owen was so sick (they were masking up every time they came in the room), and they had no clue what was wrong, so they decided to play House (the TV show) on him. Because they did not know what it was they started to treat and test for everything: Mersa, pneumonia, mono...seriously everything (they were checking for anything that was not meningitis, trying to avoid having to do a spinal tap). They finally narrowed it down to a disease called Kawasaki Disease, which attacks the heart, and did an ECG. That came back clean, so once again, we were back to square one. They did get a positive test for both mono and pneumonia, but with how sick he was they thought that he had something else, and decided to keep him one more night.

This morning they decided that he just has mono and pneumonia, and the let him come home! Oh, I am so relieved to have him home, and Tal was super excited to see his brother again. The poor guy is still feeling a but under the weather, but at least he is not being poked and tested anymore. And more importantly, HE IS HOME!!!

We are in!

Well, it has been a long week, but we are finally in our house. There was a minute that we thought it might not actually happen, but we made it.

A word of advice: when buying a house, avoid purchasing one that is owned by a relocation company, it can change the whole home buying process from it's typical headache to a complete nightmare (which is just about what happened to us).

Through out this entire process the relocation company continually would come up with completely crazy requests for "required information." I mean, these were so asinine that even our realtor and mortgage agent thought they were a bit crazy. But the doozy of all their craziness came this past week, after we had signed the closing papers. We signed Monday, they papers were then sent to the relocation company, somewhere back east. They were supposed to sign on Tuesday, and we were to receive our keys by 4pm Wednesday. Yep, that did not happen. For some reason, they decided that they needed yet more paperwork and documentation from the listing agent (yes, the realtor they had been working with to sell the house). They did not decide this until Wednesday afternoon. Grrr! For some reason they refused to allow the closing to settle until they received this documentation from their own team. On paper, we were to take possession Wednesday (i.e. Start paying mortgage and utilities), but then they told use they might not close until Monday.

Ok, initial total freak out.... We could not wait to move until Monday, we had to be out of our aparent by Saturday; plus we are hosting Tom's family Christmas party on The 23rd, and I need time to settle in first. Not to mention that we had arranged for the carpet to be replaced on this past Thursday, while the house was empty. Yep, I was in a complete freak out!

Lucky for us, we have an awesome realtor (Vern Fielding) and a great mortgage agent (Whitney ) who totally went to bat for us, and pushed the relo company and county to get the settlement and recording done by Thursday afternoon! Awesome! Now all we had to do was reschedule the carpet. Sadly, because we could not keep the appointment to the carpet changed Thursday morning, they told us they would not have an open time until next Tuesday. This time I did not freak out, I just start to bawl, bawl like a big baby. I was not thrilled about having to move into a house 3 days befor carpet is changed, that sounds like a logistical headache. Sometimes being emotional can work to your advantage, because they took compassion on the big bawling lady, and decided to change the carpet in just the bedrooms on Thursday night; they are coming back next week to do the stairs and hall.

So, finally we were able to move! We owe a big thanks to my family and Tom's partents, and our new nieghbors for all their help. Thanks everyone! We will forever appriciate you!

First Smiles

I was holding Maxwell, while I was working on my phone, and all of the sudden I saw the cutest thing ever... Max is grinning at me! Yeah for iPhones; I changed to the camera super quick, and caught his first real smiles.

New House! New Baby!

Wow, we have had a crazy past few months.
About a year ago, Tom's boss offered him a partnership. Of course we were super excited, and thought this was a dream come true. So we started the process of securing a business loan, which easier said than done. We have talked to countless banks, but had no success with any of them. Back in September, We started to think that maybe we should consider buying a house; then we could build up a bit of collateral, and perhaps the banks will give Tom a business loan in a couple of years.

We looked at 50 or more houses until we found the ONE. It was weird, when I walked into this house I felt like I was coming home, which was a feeling I had not had at any other house. Tom says he felt the same way. We knew that this house was supposed to be our home.
We put an offer on the house on October 16, went under contract on October 26, had a baby on November 3. After the longest 2 months of our lives, we finally closed TODAY! Sadly we won't get keys until Wednesday, because a relocation company owns currently owns the house, and their is a bunch of red tape when dealing with such a company (honestly, I would not recommend buying a house from a relocation company).
But we are so excited to finally have a little place of our own!!!

5 Weeks Old

I can't believe that little Maxwell is already 5 weeks old. He has already grown so much. I am completely in love with my little Max (or Mac, as Talmage calls him). I've gotta say, he is one cute kid.






Here a a couple of pictures of all my boys:

Silly Tal:
Cute Owen.

I Love my boys! Pictures courtesy of my good friend, Danette Holley.

2012 Guide to Groceries under $250 a Month

Tom and I have been doing Dave Ramsey's Total Money Make Over since last March. It has been really great for us. Thus far, we have payed off a significant amount of money. We are on track to be completely out of consumer debt by the end of 2012, and we hope to have Tom's student loans paid off within the next 8 years (that is 10 year from his graduation).

Even though we are on a great track, it can seem a bit daunting to know know that we are giong to be stuck on Baby Step 2 of the T.M.O. for the next 8 years (most people only have to do the Baby Step 2 for 1 or 2 years before they are out of debt). So I am always looking for money saving ideas, that will allow us to put more money towards our debt, and cut down the life of the loans.
I found this ebook with tips on how and where to cut out grocery expenses. Here is the link to the website:

Maxwell Allan Fullmer - The newest addition

Well, he came. I was convinced that he was going to come on 11/11/11, because my due date was the 9th, and both Owen and Talmage came a couple of days late. I was sure that this time would be the same. I was so set on 11/11/11, that we put an eleven in each of his names Maxwe11 A11an Fu11mer. Awesome, right?

Well, this little man decided to do things on his own schedule. Last Wednesday, I kept telling Tom that I thought we weren't going to make it to the 11th, because I could tell that certain body parts were opening up. I was not having contraction, but I could feel stretching and pulling. That night, I had this feeling that I should probably pack some clothes for my boys to stay at Grandma's for a couple of days. I figured that I still had a while, but I laid some shirts and pants out for them, and went to bed. I randomly woke up at 6:00 am, I laid there wondering what was gong on. First I thought that I had to go to the bathroom, then I remembered I had just gone. Then I thought, that maybe I just had not fallen back asleep from visiting the toilet. Then, I realized that this could have been a contraction. So I laid in bed debating if I was having contractions, or just imagining a full bladder. I woke Tom up at 6:15, after I had had 4 of these mysterious sensations, and told him that I was going to take a bath. But I did not quite make it to the tub before I had another contractions, and I said, "Never mind, I am going to Salt Lake." The next ten minutes as crazy, with me calling my midwife while running around the house trying to pack bags for the boys, baby, and me, and Tom trying to get everything, and everyone out to the car.

After a pit stop at Burger King, for breakfast, we set out for our 1.5 hour trek to Murray. Surprisingly, it was not bad at all, even though my contractions were coming every 2 minutes. Finally, we made it to the birthing center, where my mom met us to take Tal and Owen to her house.

I would HIGHLY recommend birthing at a birthing center to any one. It was honestly the best birthing experience I have had yet. Don't get me wrong, I had good experiences with my midwives in the hospitals in Portland, but delivering with Rebecca was by far the best. It was just her, Tom, and me. It was quiet, intimate, and calm. For some reason, when laboring at the hospital I have always felt this feeling of an "emergency" just because I am in the hospital. It has always been a bit unsettling. This time, I never had that feeling. Rebecca was great at keeping me calm and relaxed, and Tom entertained (this was the first birth he did not get bored at).

As we got to the birth center, Tom as curious to know were I was at, so Rebecca checked, and I was at a 6, with a bulging bag of water. She said that labor with and intact bag is usually a lot easier, but pushing is a bit harder. So I decided to not break the water until we got closer to pushing. She was right. This was a super mellow labor. It was not until I was ready to push that it got really hard. I remember asked if she could break my water, and she said that we could but I would have to move from the tub to the bed, and at that point, I was not going to go anywhere. So instead, I told them that I was too tired, and I was ready to quit. Obviously, that did not happen.

Pushing was hard, but it went fast. I only pushed for 19 minutes (19 long hard minutes, that felt like 2 hours). I started out pushing on my hands and knees, which was OK, but I felt like in needed to move to a different position, so I rolled over to a squat (another benefit of water birth, it is super easy to move and change position). I felt the baby move down really far, and then I felt like I needed to move again, so a rolled over to my side, then I had one really good push, and felt this huge bulge come out of me. Yep, it was the top half of the bag, and his head. The bag broke as it came out, and since the head was out, I refused to stop pushing. I just kept going till he was out. The coolest part about it was that as his head came out, I turned over, and was able to catch the rest of the baby. AWESOME!!! Yep, yet another benefit of water birth... easy to move, and easy to catch your baby.

So then he was here 1:31 pm (or 13:31) on 11/3/11. Lots of 1's and 3's. So even though he was supposed to be born on 11/11/11, he was born on Eleven-Three instead, so we figured is was still appropriate for him to have three elevens in his name. He was 8lbs 7 oz, 20.5 inches, in case you were wondering.


Ok, I know this is not the most flattering picture of me, but this is the bed at the birthing center. I think every woman should get to labor is comfy bed like this.

I love water birth; my midwife calls water birth the "Epidural" of natural birth. This is the tub that Maxwell was born in. It is a soft tub, which means the the floor and walls are made out of silicone, and it sits on a bed of sand. It was so comfortable. One day, when I am rich, I am going to have one of this in my house.

Here is a picture of Maxwell and me, just moments after he was born (we are still in the water).

Maxwell and me again, only all dried off this time.

This is Max meeting his brothers for the first time.

Again, not a great picture of me, but this is the first family picture; at least everyone else looks good.

Here is Maxwell with my midwife, Rebecca. She is awesome. If you ever know someone who might want to deliver with her, here is a link to her website:
http://www.greatexpectationsbc.com/