Tag from Emily

I wasn't going to do this but I know Emily knows I read her blog and I don't have anything interesting to say so...

This is about Ty. I will try to remember the answers for all the others but NO promises.

1. Were you married at the time? 3 years (July 2004), 4 years (January 2006), 5 years (October 2006), 7 years (August 2008)

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? I am always excited to know there is a new baby coming. I was pretty much shocked when we found out Bryce was on his way!

3. How old were you? 24, 26, 27, 28

4.How did you find out? EPT, baby.

5. Who did you tell first? Randall knew that I was pregnant before Josh (with Ty) but Josh knew first every other time.

6. Did you want to find out the sex? Yes

7. Due date? July 26th, February 26th, November 19, September 7

8. Did you deliver late or on time? 1 week early, 6 weeks early, 4 weeks early, 4 weeks early

9. Did you have morning sickness? YES, Yes, Not so much, YES

10. What did you crave? Corn

11. Who/what irritated you the most? Being uncomfortable

12. What was your first child's sex? a boy

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout pregnancy? 35, a ridiculous number that I will not share, 25, 20

14. Did you have any complications during pregnancy? Just morning sickness. That was debilitating for me.

15. Where did you give birth? Renaissance for Ty, Mercy for everyone else.

16. How many hours were you in labor? My longest labor was 8 hours with Ty.

17. Who drove you to the hospital? Josh

18. Who watched? It was me and Josh for Ty and Brett. My mom and Katie joined us Bryce. Katie, Mom, and Celice were there for Lainey.

19. Was it natural or c-section? Vaginal but medicated

20. Did you take medication to ease the pain? Yup

21. How much did your child weigh? 7 lbs, 13 ozs, 4 lbs, 4 ozs, 6 lbs, 4 ozs, 6 lbs

22. Did your child have any complications? No, Yes, Slight breathing problems requiring oxygen, No

23. What did you name her? Ty Allen, Brett Andrew, Bryce Anderson, Lainey Jean

24. How old are they today? 4 years, 6 months; deceased; 2 years, 3 months; 5 months

Questions for Ty

I found this on another blog and was interested in what Ty would say.

1. What was your favorite part of your birthday? The part where I get the toys.

2. Do you like stay up late or get up early? Stay up late!!

3. What is your favorite food? mac n' cheese

4. What is your favorite thing to do at school time? Play at with my friends

5. Do you have favorite book? yes. What is it? Magic School Bus

6. Can you read yet? I can only read my name words. Do you like to read? Yes but only to look at pictures

7. How high can you count? one, two, three, four ... 10. That's it.

8. What do you think you will be doing when you are seven years old? Cleaning my room up for good.

9. Do you have a favorite number? yes; 4

10. Who is your best friend? Umm...Carter

11. Would you like to have any more brothers or sisters? Yes. What kind? A brother or sister? All of them.

12. What kind of job do you want to have when you are twenty? Put toys up at the store and then I can get money for toys.

13. Is there one thing you cannot sleep without? my toys

14. If you could do anything you wanted to right now, what would it be? play a video game.

15.What is your favorite TV show? Star Wars: The Clone Wars

16. Your favorite sport? Soccer. "Did you see that coming?" he asked me.

17. Do have any jobs to do around the house? Yes. What are they? Clean up all of the rooms.

18. How are you the biggest help to our family? By cleaning up my room together with team work,

19. Have you found who you are marrying yet? Lainey. But she's not big enough yet.

20. Do you worry about anything? Noises.

Shhh...

Don't move. My boys are *gasp* playing together. Without fighting. Without pestering me. THis makes Lainey and I very happy!

Motherhood...the best of times and the worst of times

So, I have this friend who just had a baby. She is feeling all kinds of overwhelmed and just really wondering when all of the loving, mothering feelings kick in. My sister is also expecting baby girls (2!) in April. I think it is time to bare it all. What are the good and bad things about being a mom. It isn't all sunshine and roses but it isn't all poop bombs, either.

My big thing that no one told me (and, consequently, the one my friend, Jessica, is struggling with) is that you don't always feel instantly connected to the baby. I told her that I think the first six weeks is ridiculously hard because it is thankless. Not one smile for all of the work that you are doing. If the baby is a screamer (think Ty), then forget bonding because not throwing them out the window or selling them to the gypsies is your #1 goal. I think that once you get past that part and they start acknowledging your presence, it is much better.

Also, I didn't realize that everyone would be an expert on my kid BUT me. It seemed like no matter what I did (with baby 1, 3, or 4) I was doing it wrong. At least according to every random stranger in WalMart, Target or Lowes. I think new moms become queen of graciousness out of necessity.

All that being said, I also didn't realize that I would ever love someone with such depth of emotion. Even when I am hating being a mom (dragging a fit-throwing four year old and screaming 3 month old out of the mall while trying to convince my 2 year old that he is not, in fact, a dog and crawling around on all fours while barking is inappropriate), I love these 3 little kids more than life itself. It doesn't get to that point immediately but it does get there.

Now, add your good or bad things that you didn't know or realize were coming with motherhood.

Thanksgiving and Other Stuff

Less words, more pictures. Maybe that will become my signature style.

Christmas Wreaths with the girls: Mom, Celice, Melaina, and Katie





The Cousins: Can you feel the love? Reagan, Audrey, Ty, Bryce, and Lainey


My kids. Three kids looking three different places.


The girls (Audrey was mad at Reagan)


Tim's Family


Katie and Jason (She's showing already - twins!)


Randall and Celice


After Thanksgiving, we crashed.


Then it was off to Abilene for bowling, kittens and Christmas Parades! It has been a fun week!





Uncle Jason is a sore loser...

I should probably update.

Never, ever say that you can't believe that your baby hasn't had an ear infection yet. Never. Because they will get an ear infection about 20 minutes later. And you'll be out of state. That will result in an Urgent Care visit where the co-pay is $40 instead of $20. Then the nurse will ask if you dropped your baby and could that be the reason that she won't stop crying. When you tell her that dropping the baby would be an important piece of information that you probably wouldn't forget, she will then ask if she has older siblings that could hurt her. This will go on for a long time while they examine your baby for broken bones and they will eventually conclude that she does, in fact, have the ear infection that you told them you suspected in the first place. So, really, don't ever say that you can't believe that your baby hasn't had an ear infection yet.

Bryce is now saying that his ear hurts. Josh is out of town on business. I think that I am ready to take my week-long business trip where I hang out and go to dinner with my friends while my spouse stays at home with the kids with ear infections. Sign.Me.Up.

Why I might say bad things about children...

It took 7 hours to clean up the games that apparently took 10 minutes to dump ALL over floor.

NOTE: See how the books are still neatly on the shelf? I swear their room is usually fairly neat.

FOCA