A day in the life of a mom

My friend Jess had this on her page, and I just had to add it to mine. It's just too good to not share.

Just some pictures

I finally got around to taking some pictures of Chase on Monday, so here they are.

He's now 18 days old, and probably weighs close to 9 lbs. Things are going really well, and we're back to life as usual. Sometimes I wish things would stop just long enough for me to catch my breath, and take it all in, but that would make life way to easy :)

The boys love Chase to death and are always begging to hold him. If I put him down for a second they think they can go get right in his face. Dylan is the worst about not giving the kid any personal space. I guess he thinks if he's not right in his face he can't hear him! Gavin is a really good big brother, and loves to help calm him down if he starts to cry, and he does a really great job at it. Dylan also loves to "help" and will follow me around bringing me anything and everything I leave behind in a room, for example a blanket, paci, diaper, etc...

Here is a pic I took this evening of all 3 boys. I'm planning on doing some with the black background, but it took me a while to get them together for this one, so we'll have to wait and see.

(And I added the "bad" pictures too, just because I thought they were funny)

"Everyone look at the camera!! Gavin Smile... no give me a real smile!"

"123... smile... Oh Dylan! Look at the camera!! Gavin... SMILE and look at me... come on boys!!"

"Finally!!"

Introducing Chase Parker

He was born Friday at 2:28 am
He weighed 7 lbs 14 oz and was 20-1/4 inches long.

Labor and delivery went well and only lasted about 5-1/2 hours. Chase had a bit of trouble breathing and had to have oxygen and his mouth and nose had to be deep suctioned out. My midwife thinks he may have swallowed a bit of fluid on his way out and that's what caused the breathing problems. He did start getting better that morning, and he was nursing really well, so she wasn't too worried after she got him to pink up and his sucking reflex going.
We went back to see her on Saturday, and she checked him over really well, and he's perfectly fine now. He is a bit Jaundiced from being 2 weeks early, but it's nothing a couple of sun baths a day, for a week or so won't fix.
He loves to eat, and he loves to sleep during the day, but not at night quite yet. However Saturday night was a lot better than Friday night. We'll have to work on getting his day's and night straightened out, but if that's the least I have to worry about with him than I am happy. :)

Gavin and Dylan love him, and want to hold him all the time. They are great helpers, and love to run and get me things for him. They didn't want to go to bed on Friday night, because they wanted to stay up and hold him. I had to convince them that he was still going to be here in the morning! I'm just glad that they are taking to him so well, and not fighting for my attention... yet that is. I have a feeling Dylan isn't going to like him being here so much after daddy goes back to work, and he doesn't have one of us paying attention to him all day. We shall see, I sure hope that won't be the case.

I am doing well, my uterus prolapsed, but nothing extremely serious. I do have to take it really easy, and I'm not allowed to vacuum, or mop for a month, and I cannot pick up Gavin and Dylan for at least 6 weeks. I have to lay on my stomach 3-6 times a day for at least 30 minutes and do kegle exercises for the next six weeks or longer to strengthen the muscles and keep my uterus where it's supposed to be. So basically I can't do a whole lot, and will probably go crazy over the next month and a half!

Here are a few pics of the boys with the new baby, and a link to some pictures my mom took on Friday.

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid18105448&pathID=1858113

Suprise, suprise, suprise!

My parents got us a new computer!!!!!!!!

Although it was a huge suprise to get it this soon, I knew that they were probably planning on getting us one for Christmas because my mom was quizzing me on "if" we were to get a computer would we want a desktop, or a laptop. She's too funny, not very sneaky though :)

But I am finally back in business, and now have no excuses (well, that is until the baby comes.... which should be by the weekend!!) for not updating my stuff, and replying to every one's emails.

So you have my parents to thank for getting me up and going again!

THANKS MOM AND DAD, YOU'RE THE BEST!!!!!

Finally it's updated!

I'm so sorry that it's been forever since I last updated my blog. My computer is still out of commission, so I'm still using my mom's. It's not as easy to get over here and update things as often as I would like to, but it's going to be this way for a while.

I am going to try and be better at doing a few shorter updates here and there, that way I don't have to sit here for 2 hours trying to get everything done! And then my mom and dad don't have to entertain my boys all night :)

I have a prenatal appointment on Tuesday and if I am dilated to at least a 2 my midwife can strip my membranes, and hopefully we'll have a new baby a few days after that. I will hopefully be able to get back on after that appointment and let y'all know what the news is.

Some Pictures I've taken

My sister wanted me to take some pictures of Addison so she came over last week, and these are a few of the pictures that I took that turned out. We are going to have to try again on the pictures of all three girls. They just weren't in the mood to have their pictures taken :)

After we got done with their pictures, and they headed home I took some of the boys and my big 'ol belly.

Gavin's First Day of School

Gavin started preschool in September, and he loves it! I wasn't sure how he would react to being left in a room full of kids, and with a teacher he didn't know. But he eased all my fears when as we were walking up to the door of the school he asked "Mom? You and Dylan are leaving aren't you?"! He had absolutely no problem at all.

The only problem we encountered on that day was getting Dylan to leave the classroom! Leaving his brother wasn't the problem, it was leaving all the really cool toys behind. Once we got over that hurdle, the day went really well.

Dylan loves being home with just mommy for a couple hours, and well, I have to admit, it's kinda nice just being able to spend some time with Dylan and see him play so nicely by himself, and not have to break up a fight every two minutes.

Here are some of the pictures from his first day.

Gavin and Isabelle (our neighbor) who was also going to school for the first time.

Gavin and his teacher Mrs. Daigle

I'm an Aunt (again)!!

Addison Grace was born September 10th, and weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs, 11 oz. And she was 2 weeks early! My sister's baby's are usually about 6.5 to 7 pounds, so this was quite a different birth for her.

She was a real trooper through the entire labor and birth. She had her at home, and things went pretty well. There was a time where she stalled out, and wasn't progressing, but thanks to a very experienced midwife, and her well trained brain she got things moving along again, and once she did Addy was here in just a few minutes. To which Anita was very thankful for :)

32 Weeks!

32 weeks and continuing to "blossom" as most of the older women who comment on my looks put it when the see me. Which is really sweet, but you know they're really thinking "Holy moley, she looks like she's going to explode!"

So far so good though, I'm starting to have some crampiness (not a word.. I know) when I'm active, but I've been told that's a good thing, and it's my body trying to get things moving (yay!!).

My prenatal appointments have been going really great, and I am now taking borage oil to help soften up my cervix. I have gained a total of 23 pounds, but I feel like I've gained about 50.

We are all getting really excited as the 16th of October closes in and we will (hopefully) be able to see this little guy soon after that date :)

Crash

That's the lovely sound my computer made this week! It's been heading this way for about 2 weeks, but was still use able, thanks to my technologically wise mother, but now we're pretty sure it's going to take more money to try and fix it than it would take to get a new one. However, money is tight so that probably won't be happening for quite some time. In the meantime I'll be able to use my mom's computer (which is where I'm typing from now), and keep things pretty up-to-date. So that's the wonderful news around here, at least I'll get more house cleaning done since I won't be on my mommy's discussion boards all day!

If you need to know you're not alone...

Check out this ladies blog! I found it after an E-Bay auction of hers was posted on one of the mommy sites I belong to, and it was waaaay to true, yet quite funny, and so nice to know most of us mom's (except the perfeect ones that is) all go through the same things.

http://mom2my6pack.blogspot.com/

Here is her e-bay auction as well. It's long, but take the time to read it... you'll enjoy it!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675&ru=http%25

The new theme song for my life

28 weeks!

28 weeks and I feel huge!! I think this little guy has gone through a major growth spurt, because I feel about ready to pop!

So far things are going a lot better than they were a few weeks ago. I've been taking 3 iron pills a day instead of just one, and that made a huge difference! I have a lot more energy now, and I'm not feeling light-headed any more.

For those of you who are asking I think we have decided on a name. But Chris is still dragging his feet on letting me know if he likes it for sure or not. But for now his name is Caiden Parker. The boys are also already calling him Caiden, so I think Chris' mind is made up whether he likes the name or not!

Oh, and yes. I do dress my children! And then 10 minutes later I see them and find myself asking, "where are your clothes?"!!

I guess I shouldn't be complaining, it cuts down on the laundry. :)

Bunk Beds

We finally did it. We broke down, splurged (is it a splurge if you actually need it?! Anyhow..) and finally got the boys some bunk beds.

We checked out Big Lots because my dad said that they had some on sale for 200.00. They did, but being the indecisive shopper I am, decided I wanted to look a few other places before making a final decision. So we drove to a discount store called Crazy Jay's. I liked the selection that they had there a lot better, and it seemed like it was a better deal to get the frame and mattresses there than it would have been to get them at Big Lots. So we ended up buying them a set of wooden bunk beds. I like the way the wood ones look much better than the metal ones. Plus in the future they can be split into two twin beds, and don't have to be stacked like the metal ones do. So that I'm sure will come in handy one of these days!

The boys were super excited. We had to drive home so Chris and Gavin could get the truck and pick up the boxes at the store. (Duh! I don't know why we didn't drive the truck to the store... like we thought we could fit it all in our Saturn!) While they were doing that Dylan and I stayed home and took down Gavin's toddler bed and cleared the room out a bit.

It's a very crowded room now, and we still have to fit a dresser in there somewhere! We will be able to fit one in there, it just doesn't look like it from the angle I took the pictures at. I guess all I have to say is thank goodness we're having another boy, because they're going to be sharing the space for quite some time!

The first night with the beds was interesting. Gavin did really well, but Dylan wanted to sleep with Gavin on the top. There was no way I was going to let that happen, because I know how both of them sleep and one of them would have ended up getting kicked over the side for sure! So I layed with Dylan for a while in his bed, and he did okay. Of course he is used to being in a crib thathe couldn't fall out of, so about 3 am I heard a thud, and he started crying. Poor guy fell right off. But he was tired enough that I put him back in, and rubed his head a little and he fell right back to sleep. Thank goodness that was the only mishap of the night.

Nap time on Sunday was a whole different story though! Chris let me take a nap, and he said he'd watch out for the boys durring nap time. I guess they decided that it would be more fun to jump off the top bunk (with the fan going I might add!) than it would be to take naps. That however didn't go over so well with daddy, and they finally settled down and took maybe a 30 minute nap. Which isn't long, but hey! Chris was watching them... I still got to sleep :D

So here's the pics of the new space for the boys. Not completely organized yet, but close enough.

Oh Baby!!

I had my 6 month Pre-Natal visit on Thursday, and it seems like this baby hit a big growth spurt! I was measuring 28 weeks, and I was actually only 25 weeks. So another big baby for me... whoo hooo!

I also lost a pound, so I've only gained 16 pounds so far. Which is I guess pretty decent for being 25 weeks.

Kathy said that as big as this little guy is already, we should start trying to get labor going about October 15th. So that's a big jump from November 6th. Chris asked her why we couldn't let my go until my body is ready, and wait until the due date. She said that if we did that she's pretty sure I wold have to have a c-section. With my bone structure I'd only be able to birth at max a 10 to 10-1/2 pound baby. Anything over that is when things get complicated, and the baby is more likely to get stuck.

So I think I'd rather go early than have all that stuff happen!!

However if I am to get things going that early, Kathy said it was going to take a lot of work. Tons of walking, and squatting, and sex. Yes sex, and a lot of it. Like twice a day! Boy you should have seen the look on Chris' face when she said that (guys! *roll eyes*).

She is going to do a glucose test on me next month. I had one done with Dylan and it was negative. But she wants to do one this time just to cover the bases. Good new is though that for lunch that afternoon I get to eat McDonald's!! I get to have fries, pop, the whole meal!! I can't wait for that. I usually can't stand McDonald's, but when I'm pregnant I constantly crave it. That and any other fast food place. I don't' know if it's the grease, or fat and calories or what. But my cravings go crazy. At least I don't allow them to consume me or I'd have gained waaaay more than 16 pounds!

So that's the news for now. Big baby = earlier due date.

24 Weeks

24 weeks and I'm sick and tired of these stinking hormones! I swear I cried the whole day yesterday and nothing really happened. I just wanted to spend the whole day locked away, and not deal with anything. Of course that can't happen when you have two other children, so I got up and we just hung out in our pj's all morning. After lunch we got dressed, colored and picked up a little. Then when the boys took their nap I went to bed too!

Nothing got done around the house that I wanted. I didn't clean the bathrooms, I didn't dust or vacuum. I felt so bad that nothing got accomplished, and guess what? I cried!! Ugh, I cry when I'm happy, I cry when I'm sad, I cry for no reason at all! I'm so tired of it... and if I'm tired of it, I'm pretty darn sure that Chris has had enough.

Other than being an emotional roller coaster everything else has been going great. I've probably gained too much weight, because I feel huge! But that'll be confirmed when I go to my pre-natal appointment on Thursday.

The baby moves all the time, and loves to play in my ribs. Gavin said that he wanted to put his hand on my tummy the other day, so he did and the baby moved. He jerked his hand away and looked at me with a surprised look. I said "did you feel that?" he said "yeah" I said "that was your brother moving!" He was so excited that he got to feel him move, it was so cute!

I think (key word think) that Chris and I have decided on a first name for the baby. However when I tell anyone the name Chris looks at me like "why are you telling them we've decided on that", so it's subject to change. But for now we're calling him Caiden. And since we haven't decided 100% on Caiden a middle name is yet to come. But the options if we go with Caiden are Parker or Isaac. I personally like how Caiden Parker sounds, but we'll just have to wait and see!

I'll be back with an update on Thursday after my appointment, so check back!

McConnel Air Show

We finally were able to make it to an air show! My family used to go almost every year, but I don't think I've been since right before Chris and I got married. So we decided that it would be a fun way to spend a Saturday, and hopefully the boys would enjoy seeing all the planes.

Besides the fact that security was high, and we weren't really sure what we could bring, (how big of a bag to put stuff in, stroller or wagon, chairs... etc..) it was stinking hot, and I forgot to bring the sunscreen with us to re-apply, we had fun! We didn't know how far we were going to have to park either, and we thought we might have to take a bus to get us to the gates, so we only ended up bringing the umbrella stroller instead of the wagon. However, next year... we're definitely bringing the wagon!! We didn't have to park that far away, so we just walked to the gates. Poor little Gavin was a trooper though, he tried so hard to not whine about walking, and he got to ride when Dylan wanted to walk, not to mention the countless piggy-back rides he got from daddy and our friend Andy throughout the day.

We ended up getting there when the gates opened about 10:30 and left about 4:15. So it was a long hot day. I brought some water, but they were also handing out free bottles, so we made sure to drink a lot. My dad treated us to some frozen lemonade after a while, which helped beat the heat. We spent a little time under the wing of a plane to eat that, and then we went to find a good spot to watch the Blue Angels fly.

Man, they are amazing! Very, very skilled and talented people maneuvering those planes. What a show! That by far is my favorite part of the air show.

Here's a slide show of the pictures from Saturday.

He's getting so big!

Yesterday was a bittersweet day. I went to register Gavin in preschool! He's going to be going to the Lutheran Preschool not to far from our house. He's very excited about it too! We went in and met the principal, and he seems to be a very nice man. He got a box of Vegi Tale toys out for the boys to play with while I filled out the paperwork. Then when all that was finished we got to check out his room. I think that's when he got the most excited. We'll have a Meet and greet just for the parents coming up in a few weeks, and then there will be a day for the kids to come by and meet the teacher to hopefully take away any hesitation on the kids' part.

I think it will be really great for him. He's already been telling me all the stuff he wants to learn.

My little boy is growing up!

Pictures from the Fourth

It was a crazy week, and I didn't get a ton of pictures from the fourth. But I made sure I got enough for at least one scrapbook page!

Wednesday morning we went to the parade and got lots of candy!

After the parade we went to mom and dad's to eat lunch. Because we were having people over to our house later that night, we weren't going to be able to spend that evening with them.

I got this picture while driving to mom's house.... don't worry, I was stopped at a stop light :)

Here's one I got of Gavin while we were waiting for mom to get back from the parade.

After lunch we headed back home to set up for all the people we were having over. I don't know how many people we actually invited, but it was pretty much whoever we saw within a few weeks of the fourth we told them about it! We ended up having probably about 25-30 people plus their kids. I'll bet there were over 15 kids over here, including mine. It was crazy, but it was really fun, and no one got hurt! We cooked out hamburgers, hot dogs, and brauts. There was a ton of food that people brought, and we supplied, so I'm pretty sure no one went hungry.

About 8:30-ish it started to rain, and then poured for about an hour to an hour and a half. It let up just a little bit so Chris and some teens from our church got to set off the big fireworks. It was a pretty good show if I do say so myself... of course I might be a little biased in my opinion. There were a few parts that made me worry a bit, because the tubes were a little wet, and didn't shoot the fireworks up as high as they should have gone, but thankfully no one was hurt, and we didn't burn anything down!

Chris ended up burning 3 of his fingers because he was trying to light two fuses at once, and one lit, and he didn't want to stop trying to light the other one... so it was his own fault :) But that was the only injury the whole night, not to shabby.

Everyone ended up leaving about 11:00 except the teens that were here, they ended up staying all night playing their video games on the big screen. I went to bed about 1, and Chris didn't come to bed until 3 or so. Needless to say we slept in (well, as much as you can with little ones)the next morning. Then it was out to pick up all the debris from the fireworks... it was everywhere! I thought for sure it was going to take an eternity to clean it all up. Thankfully those boys were still here, because we put them to work! It wasn't the big stuff that made the mess, but the little black cats, and kid stuff that had been set off since 5:30 the night before! We picked up the big stuff, then Chris got the leaf blower, and blew what he could into the middle of the street, and we set it on fire. Then all we had to do was sweep up the ashes when they cooled.

Here's the clean up pictures. We put the little guys to work too! However, they didn't last to long!

After cleaning up we went swimming and then took some much needed naps. The boys slept until 6:00 and would've slept longer, but we woke them up. Then we went to eat at Aunt Melinda and Franks house. It was a really great couple of days.

A little pampering for mommy :)

I went on Wednesday to get my hair cut! I love it, but Chris isn't so sure about it being so short. I thought I had told him I was getting it cut again, but either I didn't, or he forgot that I told him. Who knows. I probably forgot to tell him, I've been forgetting a lot of things lately.... I think it's called pregnancy brain! (or at least that's what I'm blaming this one on!!)

Any whoo.... Here are the pics of my new do :)

Gavin's Pages

What I've been doing in my "spare" time...

I finally started scrapbooking again for the last few months. I had quit after I had Dylan because there was just no time. But now that the boys are older, can some what entertain themselves, and they still take decent naps, I decided there was no better time to try and get caught up.

HA HA... Caught up... now that's funny! I have Dyan's 0-1 year book to do, and I haven't done anything for Gavin since I finished his 0-1 year book. That's a lot of catching up to do!

Any way, I said all that to say, here's some of the pages that I've gotten done in the last few months. Not in any particular order :)

Dylan's Pages:

I'll post some of Gavin's that I've done tomorrow. Right now it's Bed time!! Good night ya'll :)