Happy Birthday, Jack! (and a Hayley story)

One of the funniest things Hayley has said lately is, "Hey mom, for Christmas I want the Charmin video!" Yes, Charmin--as in the toilet paper. They have those cute little cartoon bears on the commercials. : )  She was very disappointed that they do not have a video. Then a couple days later when a Charmin commercial was on she said, "I sure do wish I had some Charmin. Next time you're at the store, will you get me some?"  So we may be saying goodbye to our "Quilted Northern" on our next toilet paper purchase.

 Jack is officially TWO years old! We had a fun family day on his actual birthday. We loaded up before breakfast, drove through a donut place and brought them to a bounce house place. We all 3 played in the bounce houses while Riley hung out in her stroller sound asleep. After a couple of hours we headed home for lunch and naps, got up and loaded up again--this time with dad--and went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner! We went for Hayley's birthday in August for the first time and they LOVED it. We didn't know it, but last Wednesday night, kids' meals were $1.99! They also had a guy going around making balloon animals, and a guy in a frog-suit costume walking around waving to the kids. The looks on their faces when the animals "come to life" is priceless. It was a GREAT day! Happy Birthday precious boy!! 

Happy New Year!

I went on a blogging fast the first week and a half of this year and it appears I am still fasting! I've actually been a faithful reader---just haven't taken the time to post. Things are going great over here with 3. Riley is such a good baby---until about 6pm-11pm.  I have always been skeptical of the "colicky" baby thing. God humbled me with my 3rd. I can count on one hand the number of nights she hasn't screamed and been fidgity since about her 3rd week of life. So for the past month (she's 7 weeks tomorrow!) every night we are bouncing, rocking, feeding, patting, bathing, ANYTHING trying to calm her down. It is so weird and SO exhausting. I know many of you have gone through the same thing with yours and can empathize. Hayley and Jack were both so calm and chilled out as newborns. So this is a whole new experience for me. Any ideas or suggestions to help calm the child down are MUCH appreciated and welcomed. Thankfully during the day she is an angel and very easy. She's still and angel at night---just a noisy one. : )  

I took all 3 to the mall by myself for the first time last week and it was so funny to watch

 people's mouths drop as they said, "You have 3!!"  I wanted to respond, "Great job! You can

 count!"  Hayley is turning into such a little lady and is so much fun to hang out with all day. She says and does the funniest things. One of my favorites lately is "Today is today, right mom?" To which I respond, "Yes--today is today." And she says, "Today is not tomorrow, right?"  And we go on for a little while and I'll throw out an occasional, "But tomorrow it will be today and today will be yesterday."  It totally shoots her wheels off---yours too, didn't it?? : )  She also likes to put Jack down for naps in her bed at the most random times. It's hysterical because Jack obeys her. Sometimes he just plays along for fun, but other times it hurts his feelings and he goes reluctantly into her room, lays down and sucks his thumb while crying his eyes out and STAYS in her bed until I come up and tell him he does not have to take a nap and he does not have to obey Hayley. It's sad, but it cracks me up to see him in there laying down by himself just crying. Poor buddy. I'm having a hard time believing he is turning 2 on Wednesday! Goodness---where does the time go??

 

Family picture

I got a new computer picture program for Christmas so I was going through old pictures and ran across this one from Thanksgiving 2006. My how things change in a year! I love this picture of all of us at the lake! I need it in a frame! 

Random question. . .

Hayley, Riley and I were driving home from a visit to the dr. yesterday and Hayley asked, "Hey mom, is a pickle a fruit?" I don't know when the last time was that she even saw a pickle. And why is she concerned about which family it belongs to? It made me laugh out loud. : ) I LOVE this age!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We certainly did. I have LOVED all of the Christmas cards and cute pictures of your families---we did not end up getting ours out like I had hoped this Christmas. Oh well---maybe next year we will not have a major event 3 weeks before and I'll be more on the ball!

Jack turns TWO next month!! WHAT???? How is my baby boy already turning 2?? Apparantly the more kids you have, the faster your days go. I feel like they went a lot faster when I had Jack, and then the past 3 weeks have really flown by. How I want to enjoy every crazy moment! We've definitely had some crazy moments, but overall it has been such a great transition over here. Looking forward to more days like today of just being at home and being mama.

The picture is of Riley and her cousin Ryder in their matching Christmas pj's! I think it's so cute how Ryder appears to be smiling and he's only 4 days old in this picture! He is so precious!!!

2 weeks. . .

We've been home with Riley for 2 weeks now and things are going SO well! She had a clogged tear duct yesterday but we massaged it out and it is looking MUCH better---poor baby! It was matted closed yesterday morning and pretty goopy and gross looking. We had our first outing just me and all 3 kids to McDonald's yesterday! It was a spur of the moment thing and I'm so glad we did b/c I got to run into a bunch of girlfriends and their sweet kids! It was fun seeing all of you!! What a treat! Everything went really smoothly---Jack and Hayley ate and played and when it was time to go, we left with no tantrums or anything! Riley just slept the whole time we were there. So far for me, going from 2 kids to 3 is MUCH easier than 1 to 2. I think a big part of it is that Jack is almost 2 instead of almost 18 months (like Hayley was when he was born). And he is such a laid back kid overall. And Hayley is such a good helper and she and Jack play together really well most of the time. I am trying to enjoy every minute---even the crazy ones! I'm so thankful for these precious gifts and have had many moments of being overwhelmed (in the good sense) that God gave them to me! And every night when Tra gets home and plays with Hayley and Jack, gives them baths, builds with blocks, plays in the pillows, then holds Riley and spends time with me---I'm overwhelmed even more.
Here are some pictures that crack me up:

Santa came to Tra's work last Friday night and all the families were invited up to have pictures taken. Jack isn't a Santa fan. : )


And the one of Hayley feeding her baby is the greatest! Right after the picture was taken she goes, "Okay sweet girl---time to switch sides!" Ha ha ha! Future La Leche leader???

Pictures. . .

Here are a few pictures of Riley! Things are going great! She is such a good little baby. . .
Before (7:00am)

Home with all 3 of my babies!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, our sweet Riley Kate was born at 3:51 pm on Tues. Dec. 4. She was 8 lbs. 12 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. We just got home this afternoon so I'm hoping tonight after big sister and big brother are down I can download pictures and I'll post a few. We could not be more thrilled about our new baby girl. She is a GOOD baby (so far!) and looks JUST LIKE HAYLEY!!! It is weird how similar they look. Thanks for the prayers, emails and calls! Stay tuned for pictures!

39 weeks. . .

Check out the last line of my baby ticker up there ". . . unless I'm feeling extra snuggly." My kids LOVE being in my tummy!! Even Hayley at 41 weeks had to be "forced" out with pitocin after making hardly ANY progress being in labor on my own for about 12-15 hours and a vaccuum at the end! : ) Today is officially my last day of being pregnant. Tomorrow (unless a minor miracle occurs today) I will wake up pregnant and go to sleep with my baby in my arms! (not that I will most likely sleep much tomorrow night---and I won't hold the baby when I am asleep---I know it's not safe) Tra and I got to go on one last date last night---Cheesecake Factory. YUM. We were going to see a movie but got too late of a start. We're both SO excited about tomorrow and finding out who this is! My mom will be here later today. My hair is cut, my toes are painted, my bags are packed, my lists are made---we are READY!! My Hayley is sick. She's running fever and stuffy. I was afraid this might happen b/c Jack was sick last week w/ similar stuff and I had a feeling she might end up catching it. So say a prayer that whatever it is will be short-lived and she'll be well enough to come see us in the hospital tomorrow or at least on Wednesday! Keeping it all in perspective---thank you God that all she has is a cold and it will GO AWAY!

Stay tuned for pictures!!!

Pregnancy Comments. . .

You expect them from strangers, but you KNOW it's time to either have the baby or stop drinking peppermint mochas when your 3 year old casually walks by, glances at you, keeps on walking and says, "That stomach is HUGE!" Her dad got a BIG kick out of that one. : ) So did I.

I was just glad we were at home and she made the comment to ME and not a random person at McDonalds or something. Love my Hayley!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving last week! Somehow I ended up with ONE picture of Jack patting Toto. Not sure how that ended up happening. We enjoyed the day at Tra's parents' house with EVERYBODY there and then some! Weird to think that next year there will be 7 cousins instead of 4! The kids all did great, despite 2 of them not feeling so hot. And Tra's aunt, uncle and 2 cousins came too---it's always so much fun being with them! We had lots of good food, great conversations, and good laughs! It is such a HUGE blessing to love my in-laws like they are my own family. It's a good thing I do too, b/c we've spent lots of holidays with them and I've missed a lot with my family due to chemotherapy and pregnancies. : ) My family is the greatest to never make me feel badly that I miss out on time with them. What a GIFT to have 2 WONDERFUL families that I completely adore!!! I pray that my kids end up with the same blessing one day.

Speaking of families---I can't BELIEVE we're just days away from adding our 5th family member! After seeing sweet Ansley Walton yesterday I am just giddy inside thinking about the moment I get to hold my little one for the first time! If I don't have him/her before, I'm going to be induced a week from TODAY!! We're all anxious and ready to see who this little one is! The names we've chosen are Riley Kate or Bennett Michael (we'll call him Ben). Riley means "courageous one" and Bennett means "one who is blessed." Looking SO forward to introducing my "blog friends" to our newest little addition soon!

Little Boys. . .

Over the past month, Jack has been initiated into "boyhood" with a shiner from being hit in the face with a golf club by his sister first, then last week falling into a table at school nose first. He is such a tough guy! Here are some pictures after the latest incident. : (

Friday (the day after)

Sunday

Why we need another GIRL!

Sweet Potato Pie. . .

Today was "Peggy Baldwin Eat More Pie" day in honor of my grandma who went to be with Jesus almost 2 years ago. My mom had the idea last year to do this on her birthday every year in memory of her, and November 7 is her birthday. My grandma made the BEST pies! She did it so effortlessly too. My pie-making experience this year was a comical one---I'm sure if she was watching she would have had lots of giggles. Like when I opened my oven and so much smoke came out that our entire kitchen/living area was foggy. : ) Obviously today I made a Sweet Potato Pie (my dad's favorite of hers and one of mine too!) and it turned out pretty tasty---at least my kids thought so! I sure miss my grandma. She was so special and dear to my heart and always will be. I can't wait to see her again and have her squeeze the crud out of me like she always did every time we saw her. This is kind of neat to me too---one of the last things she said to me before she died was, "You make sure to rock those babies!" Well, we ordered a rocking chair for the living room for the new baby and didn't expect it to come in until after he/she was born, but guess when it was delivered?? TODAY!! My grandma's birthday. It didn't really hit me until later how sweet it was that of ALL the days it could have been delivered to us, it just happened to be today. So I rocked my biggest baby in it tonight and read some books and thought about my grandma. It was a good day!

Aunt Shelma

I LOVE being an aunt!! My nephew Scout stays with us on Wednesday mornings and it is so much fun watching him play with his cousins and seeing them all enjoy other so much. And the other night at the Fall Festival he reached his arms out for me to hold him and it totally melted my heart. I was the first to have kids in both families, so I was mommy before I was Aunt Shelma. It is so much fun to be an aunt and not play the role of "disciplinarian" but to just love on and play w/ the babies (who aren't really babies anymore) and leave it to their parents to do the "hard work." I love my niece and nephew SO much and can't wait to see Ryder in a few more weeks and start loving on him too, and then baby Booth in April!

Who says having 3 kids is hard??? Just stick em' all in the shower! Hours of fun!!! Wagon rides are our FAVORITES!!! Radio Flyer needs to make some bigger wagons in a few more months! This 2 seater isn't going to cut it when we have cousin playdates! Are they REALLY big enough to sit at a big boy table and eat like big boys??? Where does the time go??

I bet you didn't know. . .

. . . Hayley and Jack LOVE Disco!! Click HERE to see their latest moves!

(Thanks, Courtney, for the inspiration!)

Baby of mine. . .

I went in for my final sonogram today, anxiously anticipating getting to sneak a peek at his/her little face or profile, but my sweet little one faced my spine the entire sonogram!! Kind of a bummer, but makes me that much more excited to see him/her in a few more weeks. The first thing the sonographer said was, "WHOA!! Look at all that HAIR!!" : ) I just laughed. I think that's the first thing she said at Hayley's AND Jack's 32 week sonograms too! The baby is also measuring around 5 pounds already! I know they can be a little off give or take a pound or so, but from my history (a 9 pounder and an 8 pounder) I'm sure they're close being right on! All measurements were closer to 34 weeks today and my dr. said provided my "cervix is ripe enough" he'll induce around 38 1/2 to 39 weeks! So there is a SLIM chance that I will end up with a November baby, but like I told my dr. today---my kids tend to be really comfy in there and don't come out any earlier than they absolutely have to. We shall see! It was an exciting day, even though I have NO idea what this baby is or what it looks like. (Besides being "chunky" and having a head full of hair.) : ) It's so hard to believe we're so close to the end---or should I say "beginning." : )

You know you need to cut back on Starbucks when. . .

. . . you overhear your 3 year old ordering a "vanilla latte--extra hot" at the "drive thru" (changing table in the laundry room). BUSTED!!!

Our Favorites. . .

***I just deleted half of my entry b/c I started getting paranoid about putting the actual locations of my favorite places on my blog. A psycho kid stalker would know right where to find us! So sorry for the randomness of this blog now--- : )

Today we went to one of our favorite parks to play. My kids LOVE it and so do I!

Afterwards, we went to one of our favorite McDonald's that is pretty close to where we live. But our VERY favorite McDonald's is actually kind of a long way from us. They have a thing that has stairs to climb up to get to the slide, so little people like Jack can climb up by themselves and get to the slide! At all the other ones, Hayley will pull him up to each step to help him get to the top---it's hilarious to watch. You can hear her the whole time grunting and saying, "Come on, Buddy! We're almost there!" Quite the workout for a 3 year old! : )

A fun treat today at McDonald's---one of Hayley's teachers at YCW this year is Ms. Sharla who happened to be my big sis in club at ACU!! She showed up right after us and we got to visit and catch up while our kids played. By the way---Mindy and Christine if you read this (which I'm sure you will) Hayley misses being in class with Jack!! I realized right after we started this year that if we wanted to start her in Kindergarten on time (even though she will be the very youngest in her class), that we needed to get her on track at YCW. And it made more sense for her to skip the 2's and go to the 3's than to skip next year. It was weird to realize, "Oh my goodness---she's supposed to start Kindergarten in 2 more years!!" She's doing great in her new class though and I know it was the right choice for her.

Anyone else have more favorites share?


My favorite little girl!My favorite little boy!

I can only say that for about 9 more weeks about one of them! I can't WAIT!!!!

Heavy Heart

My heart is so heavy for this family I don't even know, but I ran across on Kylie's blog. Please join me in lifting them up to our Father. I really can't begin to imagine the pain they are experiencing.

www.conorbootheandgirls.blogspot.com

Behind!

I'm so behind on blogging! Here are a few pictures to try and catch up. And this is random, but THREE of my friends went into labor today! Only one has actually had her baby so far---yay, Summer! But I thought that was wild that all 3 went into labor on the same day.

The "waterpark" in our backyard. (That's what Hayley called it.) We got it for her party and it was a HIT! Even one of her aunts got crazy and played in it. : )

I love this picture! Hayley and John have been friends since she was born! More friends!! Jack, Jillian and EmmaHayley and Jack getting ready for daddy to slide down the waterslide! This was after the party and after some much needed naps!First day of school!! I think this picture is hilarious. They are both loving school this year! Jack walks in, walks straight to his room and waits in front of the door until Ms. Heather opens it and he just walks right in w/o looking back! Ms. Heather was Hayley's teacher last year and all summer. We LOVE her!

He got this backpack for his 1st birthday---and it's perfect! : ) (He did wear shoes to school, by the way.) Aunt Tara, Uncle Dwight and Scout gave her this uniform for her b-day! Future Wildcat Cheerleader???
Or future artist??? This is her latest thing----PAINTING! We get out the paints multiple times each day. I bet she has painted at LEAST 30 things in the past week or so. It's so fun to see her discover things that she is truly interested in. I was watching her tonight and thinking, "She's actually getting pretty good at this!" Notice how much straighter her hair looks in this picture. It's called "Bed Head." The first thing she wants to do in the mornings---even before breakfast--is paint. Not sure where she gets that. The first thing I wake up thinking is, "MUST GET CEREAL." (While thinking, "I REALLY wish I could have a cinnamon roll this morning!") It's late and I'm hungry---can you tell?? : )