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

Currently driving me crazy

The thing that is (at this moment) driving me nuts is the commercial that claims that the View is a news show with tough interrogating questions. Puh-lease. I love watching Joy and Elisabeth go at it as much as the next person (though I do wish that the Conservative viewpoint was a little more intelligently represented), but there is no hard-hitting anything going on there.

I mean all they did when Barack was on was talk about sexy he is and they asked McCain if they should be worried about instituting slavery again. Yes, that is what you should be worried about. Grrr...

The second most irritating thing in my life is my beautiful daughter who got shots today and WILL.NOT.STOP.SCREAMING. I feel really bad for her but the Dr says it is a normal reaction and I am losing my mind. She needs to stop. For reals.

My Bryce is Two!

Today my baby is two. He woke up, toddled into my room and (after a brief segment of the birthday song) said, "No Happy Birthday." That sums up Bryce. He also, though, sang (to the tune of the Wiggles "Yummy, Yummy"), "Mommy, Mommy, Brycie wub you." That also sums up Bryce.

He is the most loving baby that I have ever seen. He loves to rub your face when he is sleeping and he snuggles right in. He is quick to say that he loves you and he always wants hugs. He also is boy through and through. He is the first to wrestle and rough-house. He loves bugs and rocks and puppies (Poor Baxter almost lost his life this week due to the Bryce love). I am constantly apologizing for his temperament because he is quick to anger. I will say that he was two before his time.

I love my Bryce. He is my miracle baby that I couldn't have known if not for tragedy. He helped me through a crazy time in my life without even knowing it. He is sunshine and compassion and sympathy and just a mess!!! Happy Birthday Bryce!!

For Melaina and Katie

Here is Lainey after church yesterday. The dress is from Melaina and the cardigan is from Katie.




In more funny news, I begin training to run a half marathon today. HaHaHaHa!

Oh my goodness!

A month has passed so quickly!! We are loving having Lainey as a part of our family. She fits in really nicely and the boys LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her.

Ty started soccer this month and it is entertaining to say the least. I would love to say that he always looks like this:


but he generally looks like this (Yes, this is a member of the other team) :


Bryce is doing well adjusting to Lainey. He still is a little off of his sleep schedule so this is a common face:


He does love soccer, though, so we have a few happier times:


And, last but not least, some pictures of LJ:

Who needs a doctor?

Well.... it is hard to believe, but we have a baby girl!

And we did it without a doctor!

Serious contractions started around 2:00 this morning, so I woke Josh up and we packed the bags (and cleaned the house a bit more). After waking all the family up with phone calls, we headed to drop Ty and Bryce off at Tim and Melaina's place (thanks guys!) and headed to the hospital. We basically got right in, because it was a slow night with very few people. They had the epidural stuff waiting in the room for us after we were admitted, and I wasn't feeling too much pain after 5:30 or so.

The nurses kept calling my doctor, but he wasn't available, so we knew we would get the on call doctor instead. They called her several times, and told us that she would make it because she lives across the street. The nurses tried to slow things down so that she would make it, but after a couple of minutes (without me pushing), it was clear that Lainey was coming without the doctor. So the nurses basically caught her, and she was here just like that! Funny that my folks from Texas can make it, but the doc across the street can't...

A couple of notes: The boys didn't go back to sleep, so they have been up with Tim and Melaina since 3:00. We are in the same room that Preston and Sara used at the hospital. She looks like Bryce, but has a full head of dark hair. Ty already asked where her tee-tee was. Lainey Jean is 6 pounds even, and 17.5 inches long!

We're having a baby...

That's all!! More info as we have it!

OK, I have to share...

While it is no FAIL Blog (which is oh so funny), this cake website is really great for laughs.

My personal favorite? The edible baby. Because, really, there is nothing wrong with baby for dessert. Or this one. Read the story. It made me laugh.

Progress

Well, I haven't been a very good pregnancy blogger this time around. I think it is because I have "been there, done that" so often that it isn't really new or exciting. Until now. I had a Dr appt this morning (35 weeks, 4 days) and had to get a GBS test. While they were occupied, they decided to check for any progress. Ready? 3 cm and 25-30% effaced. YAY! The Dr said that it was a little early to have so much progress and that the baby could come at any time. First he said that he wouldn't stop labor and then he said he might half-heartedly try to stop it. To me that just means I will labor at home for a while so they can't stop it.

Anyway, that is all that I know. Life is boring around here lately. The boys are good and I will put a picture up so you can have something to look at. Hopefully the next time I write there will be a Lainey picture to put up!

A baby shower X 2

So, I had a girl's night out last night that we were terming a pre-baby party. We all went to the Melting Pot for lots of chocolate, friends, and NO KIDS!! It was so much fun. There were a lot of people there (I think 14 or so) and we just ate and ate. I was also given presents! We have a no-shower policy for 3rd babies so I was pretty excited to get showered with bows, clothes, shoes, a picture book, a car seat cover, lovies and more clothes! I think that everyone knew that I was really not prepared for a little girl!

*I might add pictures if my camera ever cooperates*

I am sad, though, because Melaina had planned a surprise shower for me (She knew about the no-shower policy) for this weekend. When she heard about the church shower she had to cancel because I have a limited number of friends and they brought gifts to the Melting Pot. I'm sad that she had to cancel but am so touched that she thought about me to do this. Isn't that so nice? I just can't believe that she was so thoughtful! I love my family and am really blessed to have so many that love me and Lainey and want to take care of us!

Work in Progress

So, I haven't put anything up here in a while. I am going to blame it on being super busy trying to get all of the things that I don't have to get done finished before Lainey makes her grand entrance.

The first task was to get the boys moved into one room. It is a little tight but, hopefully, Bryce will grow out of the crib eventually. Ty wanted a Pokemon room and Bryce loves "Chu" so that is what we did. I free-handed all of the pictures and the letters on the wall!! I actually felt really crafty. I feel like it needs more but this will do for now.




The next job was Lainey's room. We bought bedding to match the pre-existing paint color. I painted the letters and we were off. This room is NOT done, but it is close. I am only putting up one picture to give you a brief idea of what it looks like.






Finally, I painted my kitchen cabinets blue. They are also not done but they are looking really good - but that is a story (and pictures) for another day.

And so it begins...

Yesterday, Ty ran in and handed me his red blanket (his FAVORITE) and told me that it was time to wash it. I asked him why and he informed me that he had an accident and so it needed to be washed. Now, I start laying in to him about how he knows better and accidents are unacceptable. I am telling him haw disappointed I am that he didn't use the potty. Since he still had his undies on, I checked to see if he was sitting in nastiness. Nope -dry as a bone. I asked him if he changed his undies. Nope. I was so confused. I said, "Ty, did you take off your undies and pee on your blanket?" He nodded. I saw red. I was so mad at him. I walked over to him to spank his bottom because he knows better and he breaks out in to a huge grin and tells me, "It was just a joke, mom. I didn't go pee pee yet." A quick check of the blanket revealed no wetness. What a goober.

Can you believe that kid? He is funny and smart and devious. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. He kills me!

What could inspire me to post?

I know, I know, I need to sit down and write about ALOT of things that have happened in the last long while. Did my cute children inspire this blog? No. They are cute and I am downloading pictures from the camera to blog about but that was not my inspiration.

My inspiration was my Dr's appointment today. I am 24 1/2 weeks pregnant. I went to the Dr last month (20 wks) and he basically said, "Hey, Fatty McFatterson, stop eating. You gained 6 pounds last month and 7 pounds this month. This is not okay and your cottage thighs are begging you to STOP!" Okay, he may have said it more nicely than that but that was the gist. I didn't fight and argue even though 13 pounds in 20 weeks didn't seem awful to me.

What did I do? I started eating salads - covered in Ranch dressing. That might not have been my healthiest choice but it is better than a fried chicken sandwich or a double cheeseburger. I obviously was right because I LOST 2 pounds this month!! Yay! Of course they weren't jumping up and down like I was. Oh well.