Super freaking long post of the universe

Ok so I completely suck at keeping this thing updated. I can't decide whether it's because I haven't had the time to post anything or if I have just been a lazy butt. Probably a little of both. Either way, I apologize. And to show you just how sorry I am, I am going to post my entire summer and a bunch of pictures and then you will be so overwhelmed with all of the Richins-ness that we will all need another 3 month break to recover. But just for doing so, there is a really tasty pie recipe in the next post. :) Ready?

Let's start out with Declan. He ended up being in the NICU for 2 1/2 weeks. Tyler and I ended up staying at my Grams house in Ammon so that we could go up to the hospital for all of his feedings since the nurses really don't have time to sit and make sure that the babies drink their full feedings, and if they don't drink their full feedings then they don't go home. Long sentence, I know. So finally we got him home and about a week and a half later he started projectile vomiting. My younger sister Kelso had had something called Pyloric Stenosis when she was an infant which is a condition where the exiting valve in the stomach clamps up so food can't pass through so instead it is projectiled back out. It is most common in first born males, but since Kelso was a 5th born female and our family is kind of prone to the uncommon, I was worried about it. So I took him into the doc and they confirmed that that was what was going on. Luckily since I knew what to look for we caught it early (they say that babies are usually half-dead from dehydration by the time it's caught) and they checked us back into the hospital to have his surgery the next morning. Let me tell you, it sucked sending my tiny little guy in to have surgery, just not knowing how it would all come out. But everything went well and now he has a little scar on his tummy to match his aunts.

We ended up being in the hospital about 3 days and then the day after we got home, Tyler had to leave for his AT for the Guard for 3 weeks. Sooooo stressful. So what did I do while he was gone? I completely redid my living room and bedroom. Unfortunately I don't have before pics but believe me, it is a great improvement. These first ones are the living room:

This Hutch used to be a cream color and was ceiling height. I took the top off of it, painted it green, replaced the hardware, and bought the baskets at Porter's for 50% off for Carson's toys to go in. I love love love it!


There were actually 4 shelves here but Carson decided to climb on the couch and then hang off of one of them and pulled it out of the wall. I haven't had time to fix it yet, or like I said before, the lazy thing. And, yes, I do realize that there aren't actually any family pictures in my family picture frame, but my printer is broken so I use that as an excuse. Just another thing on my to-do list :)



And my bedroom. I am so in love with this room. It is so relaxing! I got the idea for the window shades from my friend Amber's blog here (she does interior design and is completely amazing at it :D) and I have them in my living room as well.




This little table is my pride and joy. It's an old sewing table that was passed down to me from my Grams. I painted it turquoise and replaced the hardware and it makes me happy every time I see it. The windows actually look a lot better when the sun isn't shining through them. They aren't actualy striped, they are a solid cream color with turquoise, green, and brown flowers. They match the center pillow on my bed.

We had lots and lots of trips to the zoo. Carson loves animals. His favorite things there were Alex (the lion), Marty (the zebras), and the penguins.  He also loves the thing that you put your pennies in and they spin around the funnel in a circle until they drop through the hole in the center (you know what I'm talking about?).

My sisters helped out a ton while Tyler was gone. Kelso even let me do her makeup to help cheer me up one night. If you are easily offended, I apologize, but it was just done in good fun and we meant no harm in our actions...

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Tyler rode on a mechanical bull...

And we did a ton more stuff too I'm sure. So an update on Carson...

He'll be 2 in December and he is just getting so old! He is really helpful. He feeds the dog every morning, picks up his toys on his own, and is really good about throwing diapers away for me.  He is learning really well too. He can say most of the alphabet, he can count to 11 on his own (though he doesn't like to say 1 most of the time) and he knows all of his colors and likes to tell you the color of everything that he has. He really likes the potholder gloves and I have gone to wake him up in the morning and found him with the potholder on his hands. So cute. Here is him closing his eyes. It's so funny!

Tyler caught him doing this in nursery while they were sitting around a table and couldn't figure out why he was so mad. Turns out they were teaching them how to say their prayers. Haha. His favorite movies are Shrek the Third, Madagascar, The Incredibles, and Kung Fu Panda. He is wild and crazy and keeps me busy from the minute he wakes up until he crashes at night. I love this kid so much!!

Just a couple of recent pics of the boys...

So Tyler transferred back to BYU-I and is now going into secondary education as a Math teacher. He works so hard doing that and working at Blacker's. I'm so proud of him, I know that I don't have nearly the self-dicipline that he has but he is doing really well. He is gone back to Boise right now for a couple of days and they just found out that their projected deployment date is Sept. 11 of next year. He is supposed to join the ROTC in January and if he does that he wont actually get deployed, but I don't know and it stresses me out...

As for myself, I have just been playing super busy mom. I am proud to say that my house has not gotten completely out of control since the baby was born. It has gotten a little out of control, but not completely. I am planning on running a half-marathon in June, but had to hold off my training for a bit cuz I stepped in a stupid hole and hurt my knees. Good times :). Um... oh yeah, I cut my hair yesterday.

Before...

And after...

I love it. I looks healthier and makes me super happy. Anyway I think that pretty much covers it so I will try to update this more often so that none of you will ever have to go through another one of these again (again I'm sorry about that :-/ ) Until next time!