Toothless

Birthday Girl!

I went to finally do my Christmas post and realized I had never posed about Braylee's 5th birthday! I still can't believe she is 5 years old. Time really does fly when you are having fun. This year Brecca had a sleepover for her 7th birthday so Bray had to have one for birthday too. We let her choose 3 friends (plus Brecca) and had them over for pizza, a movie, and a sleepover! I was really prepared to make a middle of the night phone call to a parent and a middle of the night trip home but everyone survived the night perfectly! No problems at all. They brought the girls over about 5:30, we ate pizza, and headed to the movies a little before 7. We saw The Princess and The Frog on opening night so I was a little nervous about it being a little crowded. Lucky for us (and probably everyone else!), we were the only ones there. It was really nice that the kids could be a little wiggly in their seats and not bother anyone! At one point, they even stood up and were dancing a little bit in the aisle and it was prefectly fine. We were really proud of them. They did a great job for five year olds in a movie theatre! We headed home after the movie, let them play for a little while, and then got their beds all set up on the living room floor. They were all asleep by 10:30 and slept until the next morning. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, let them play a little more, and then it was time for parents to pick them up! We considered it a huge success! :)

Later that same day, we had our families over for a family birthday party! She got her Nintendo DS that she had been wanting (plus a few games to go with it)! We didn't do dinner or anything but we did have cake and ice cream and enjoyed visiting with everyone. Although we get to see everyone frequently, it isn't very often we all get together in the same place so it is nice to see everyone at once. I think Miss Braylee had a fun day but I think for sure our beds were all calling our names pretty early that night! Happy Birthday Bray Bray! I still can't believe you are 5 years old!

Braylee with her Tinkerbell cake!

Honestly, who doesn't like to eat cake and ice cream on the kitchen floor next to the trash can?

Another Catch Up

I can't believe there is only 16 days until Christmas. Time sure does fly when you're having fun! It has been an interesting couple of weeks around here. Thanksgiving was fun and Black Friday was interesting, as always. We went to my mom's for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately Poppy was sick and Uncle David and Maya didn't make it down so it was just Nate, myself, and the kids, Tj, Chelse, and Tylee, Lance and Erin, Nanny, and my mom. Hopefully next year we will have a couple of new additions around the table to be thankful for (hint Erin and Chelse)! We had a great day of eating way too much, watching football and cheering on our fantasy players, and just hanging out visiting! I love lazy days enjoying good company (and great food)! We left my mom's about 4:00 and headed to Lawrence to spend the night with Nate's aunt and uncle. Nanny took the girls home with her and Brax came with us. We got there about 6:30 and stayed up until after midnight visiting! That made our 3:00a.m. wake-up call seem extra early! We had a fun day though and found lots of bargains so it made it all worthwhile.

The week after that I started having some symptoms of another Urinary Tract Infection. I put off going to the doctor hoping it was nothing and finally couldn't stand it anymore. I called the clinic on a Friday and my doctor was out of town. They said to come in for a UA and they would send the results to the doctor on call. Five o'clock came and went and since I hadn't heard anything, I assumed everything was fine. Later that evening I started feeling a lot of pressure and became pretty uncomfortable so I called my cousin who is an ER nurse. She thought I needed to go have it checked out so we headed to the ER. The ER sent me to OB since I was over 20 weeks along. They hooked my up to monitors to check the heartrate and to see if I was contracting. The did another UA and also some other uncomfortable tests that I won't go into but if you have ever had a baby, you can probably imagine what they were! About 3 hours later, the doctor came in and said I had a really bad Urinary Tract Infection!!! Very frustrating since I had been at the clinic about 12 hours previous for that exact thing. The OB doctor on call happened to be the doctor who had been on-call at the clinic as well and said my results were filed incorrectly under my out-of-town doctor and so the results had never been seen. Although it was a bit annoying, we were glad that was all it was. A shot of Rosefen (which burnt like crazy!) and a prescription to fill on Saturday, and we were on our way!

The next evening I still wasn't feeling the greatest. My dad called and wanted us to come over and eat some fish. Nate and Brax went and the girls stayed home with me. We made some cookies and cupcakes. As I was mixing the cupcake batter, Brecca says to me, " Hey Mom, when you are done with that, can me and Braylee lick the bladder clean." I even asked, "The what?" "The bladder," she said.

Our Christmas shopping is pretty much complete. I ordered a few things this week and once get those and get them wrapped, we will be completely finished. We aren't buying as much this year because of the layoff but I feel like we have picked out some pretty thoughtful gifts! This weekend is Braylee's 5th birthday! I can't believe she is going to be 5. She is having a couple of girls over on Friday night to spend the night and is so excited! Look for a birthday post coming soon!

Sono pics

I have been meaning to post these for a week and haven't taken the time to do it yet. They are not the greatest but I thought they were cute! We are going to have a 4D Ultrasound in Wichita the last part of December so hopefully we can get some good shots then! We have had that done with all 3 of our kids and have always had pretty good luck. This time we are taking the whole family! I think the kids will enjoy seeing their new baby brother/sister and so will Mom and Dad! :)

The baby had it's legs crossed. She said we still could have found out the gender if we wanted to. It's legs were only crossed briefly during the scan. Nate turned his head anytime she moved near the area and at one point she even turned the screen away from both of us so we wouldn't accidentally see anything. The first picture is an overhead view of it's crossed legs. I think the picture is pretty neat. You can see it's little knees and everything.

The second picture is of the head, arms, and legs. It is a pretty clear shot of all three. It was pretty amazing really. We could see it opening it's mouth and closing it and moving it's arms up around it's face. I can feel lots of movement but haven't made it to the point yet where it is uncomfortable. Hopefully I still have a few good weeks left!

Catch Up

This is going to be a long post with a lot of random information but I have a lot of catching up to do! I really need to get in the habit of posting more often. I get behind and then I don't know where to start so I just end up putting it off even longer!

I know most people who read this already know about the Ash Grove layoff. It was quite a suprise initially but we have had a couple of months to prepare for it so that did help some! Nate is officially laid-off as of yesterday. It is not a nice feeling to be pregnant with your 4th child and have an unemployed husband! Luckily the layoff is supposed to be temporary (we'll see about that!) and our insurance is still good so it isn't all bad. I have to say it is going to be nice having Nate home through the holidays although I am sure our checking account will take a serious hit!

We had a sonogram today (21 weeks) and everything looked great with the baby. We were strong and still didn't find out what we were having (Sorry Tave!). It weighed about 15 ounces and was right on track for it's gestation. The heartbeat was 147 so pretty much in the middle of the boy/girl range. I will say the girl's heartbeats were always in the 160's-170's and Brax's was always right around 140 - sometimes a little lower. I honestly don't have a clue what it is! One day I will lean toward boy and the next day I will be thinking girl, so at this point, I honestly don't have a clue! We are thankful for a healthy baby either way and are counting our blessings every day!

Brax seems certain he is getting a brother! He will not accept the possibility that it could be a girl. If you ask him what it is, his first reaction is, "It's a boy." No uncertainty there at all! We even ask him sometimes, " What if it comes out and it's a girl?" and he won't even entertain the thought! He always replies, "It's not, " very matter of factly and moves on with it. He won't even consider it! I asked him that question the other day and he informed me that if it's a girl, Nanny said she would take it. I explained to him that it is coming home with us either way - even if it is a girl! He got to go to the doctor with us last week and heard the heartbeat for the first time. He looked at Nate in amazement and said, "Is that the baby?" It was very sweet! That night he was telling Dave and Julia that he heard the heartbeat and they asked him what it sounded like. " A boy," he says. Not exactly what they were going for! :)

Brecca has started basketball again this year. She is much improved from last year! I think she has shot about 6 baskets (hasn't made one yet but is still trying!) and plays defense like crazy! She even has a couple steals! I am so impressed with her improvement and while I do have to say that she is far from the best player on the team, she has improved 100% from last year! I asked her yesterday what her favorite part of basketball was and she looked at me like I was an idiot. Finally, she said, " Duh, winning."

This evening Brecca had a hard time in the bathtub. She did something Nate had specifically asked her not to do and had to get out of the tub and go up to bed early. Of course she threw a big fit and cried and screamed for about 30 minutes before she finally gave it up. Braylee was sitting on my lap and leaned over and said, "Mom, when Brecca gets 9, do you think she is going to have a better attitude?"

I have been subbing as much as possible to hopefully make up for the lost income and also maybe get a little money saved before the new baby comes! I have been worn out but I will try to post more frequently! I know.... You'll believe it when you see it, right???? :)

Pumpkin Patch

We continued the tradition of a camping trip/pumpkin patch weekend with Nanny and Poppy last weekend (minus two special people - Chelse and Tylee). It was a pretty chilly weekend but that didn't stop us. We headed over to the lake Friday afternoon. Nate and Poppy got the camper set up and then Nanny and I headed to town to get some groceries for the weekend. We made it back and cooked some hotdogs over the fire. I should say Nate and Poppy cooked some hotdogs over the fire - it was too cold out for the rest of us. Nate had to work on Saturday so the two of us came home that night and then I got up and went back over Saturday morning.

The kids were ready to get out of the camper for the day so everybody got around and we headed to the pumpkin patch. The have a big stock tank filled with corn (known by our family as the "corn pool," not sure of the technical name) but I have to say, it is the definite highlight. They also have some farm animals, a little kiddie area with the corn pool, a little caterpillar train, a hayrack ride, a corn maze, and of course, the pumpkin patch. The kids and I went on the hayrack ride, Braylee and Brax rode the little caterpillar train, played in the kiddie area for a long time, and picked out some pumpkins. It was a fun day but it was only about 50 degrees outside so we cut the visit a little shorter than we normally would have. Rather than just heading back to the camper, we decided to go to Pittsburg and get something to eat at one of my favorite places - Freddys! It was delicious!!!

We got back to the camper and did lots of puzzles, played Uno and Yahtzee multiple times, and colored more than anybody has ever colored in one weekend!!! It was a little crowded with 4 kids and 3 adults in a camper so the kids got a little restless at times. For the most part, they were wonderful! It would have been great had the weather been a little warmer for us but it was a great weekend regardless. I love that the kids have such a special relationship with not only their grandparents, but also their great grandparents!

Speaking of such great grandparents, my 78 year old grandpa (Sorry Poppy for disclosing your age!) would not let me sleep on the floor. He thought that since I was 16 weeks pregnant, sleeping on the floor would be uncomfortable for me and gave me the bed. Guess who slept on the floor instead???? You guessed it.... Poppy! Can you believe that!!! Not only did he sleep on the floor, he slept on the floor with Brax! :) I tried to protest but he was having no part of it. Thanks Poppy, it was greatly appreciated although completely not necessary! :)

Birthday Girl!

My little girl turned 7 years old at the end of September! 7 years old!!! I was ok with 6 but 7 just seems so old! I remember thinking last year how 6 wasn't old but that 7 seemed so grown up and dreading the day she turned 7. Well, the time has come!

She was so excited and had started a countdown in about July. She was having a sleepover for the first time. She only got to choose 4 friends so it was a small sleepover but she loved every minute of it. I have to admit that I kinda enjoyed it mysefl even. She was even a nice big sister and let Braylee stay too!

They had lots of fun and didn't stay up too late. We made shirts and then she opened her presents. She got a bracelet kit so that kept them entertained for quite awhile. We did cake and ice cream and then settled down to watch a movie. They were all asleep by 11:30 and didn't get up until about 8:00 the next morning. No one had to go home in the middle of the night so I considered it a big success! She had a blast though and can't wait until her next birthday sleepover!

We celebrated with family on the evening of her actual birthday. She got the Nintendo DS she had been wanting (along with some accessories) plus some other really neat stuff too. We had cake and ice cream. It is always fun to have all of your family together in one place so we enjoyed the company!

Once again, I can't believe my little girl is 7 years old! I just can't get over it. She is growing up, that's for sure. Happy Birthday sweet, sweet girl! We love you!