Christmas!!!

This is Christmas so far at our house! The gifts from the grandparents far out do anything we got them this year and you can tell my parents managed to get the one thing they really really wanted!!

Merry Christmas!!

I knew there was NO way Christmas cards were going to get mailed out this year with a new baby and my address book disappeared!! So were are going cyber this year!

Colby's photo shoot!

We had a little photo shoot with our awesome friends at Butler Photgraphy! Jen and Paul are so amazing at what they do! I had a hard time picking which ones to post so you get a bunch to look at but thats o.k. for 2 reasons-1. they are awesome pictures and 2. Colby is just so dang cute!

Abby's Winter Concert

Abby had her Winter Concert on monday. It was also Grandparents day and since both sets of Grandparents were out of town I went to both the morning and evening show. I got the video of her in the morning and didnt take the camera in the evening but shouls have because we were able to sit on the second row right in front of where she was!! But oh well right! It was alot of fun because we only had Dylan with us-we dropped Lacey and Colby off with some friends so we were actually able to watch and enjoy the whole thing! Abby got to play the tone bars so she had to dress-up-she was so excited!

Tree Decorating!

Well we finally got around to decorating the tree today! It has been up with lights on it but none of the fun stuff!! We have a small tree with plastic ornaments and it will stay that way for a few more years until little fingers can learn to not play with them! We also went to a fundraiser the Scouts were having where they were taking family pics courtesy of Butler Photography-some of my favorite people!

Its just the kids this year-a pic of the whole fam will have to wait till the summer when all the baby weight is gone!

Catch Up Time!

Well now that I have a few minutes to stop and breathe!-I thought I would write about what we have been up to! Some of these pics and stuff are way over due but here we go! First off -one day when Colby was still in the hospitol I took Lacey and Dylan with me to go see him. While I snuggled with Colby, Dylan and Lacey played with file folder games I made-Lacey also spent time rolling all over the floor and playing in the curtain!

Back at the Beginning of September my Aunt Becky passed away so off to Ohio the kids and I went. My cousin Meagan (my aunt was her mom) her boyfriend and my Grandpa flew out from California and my sister and her 2 girls were able to be there also. Everyone but my brother Keven were there but Keven was there in spirit! As sad as the circumstances of our gathering were my family has always been able to find something to keep things on the lighter side.

My Aunt was alot of fun and always very sweet. I am really glad she was able to spend time with my kids-they totally loved her and everytime the see a PT Cruiser the say "thats Aunt Becky's car mom!".

My Aunt's passing was the 3rd in my family in just a couple of months we decided -as probably only my family can do-to have some laughs amid all the tears and to just really enjoy spending time with each other. Since Keven couldn't be there and we knew he really wanted to we had a photo developed and taped it to a tiki torch and took him with us! We then sent him the pics so he could feel apart of things.

Here he is hula hooping with Abby.

Here he is with my sister and mom and the flowers we all bought for her.

Here he is eating some tomatoes from the garden.

Here he is at the Air Force Museum.

We were able to there with my Grandpa who worked on the development of the SR-71 and the U2 Spy Plane. It was really pretty fun to hear all his stories.

(this is the one and only prego-pic you will see of me!)

Amid all the things that needed to be done for my Aunt we had to come up with things to keep the kids busy. We bought a roll of coloring pages from Micheals-it was awesome! We just taped it to the table and then the kids could color whenever they wanted and then we spent alot of time outside!

I know this ended up being long but I am covering a lot of time!! I am so glad to have my camera cord back!! Anyway I am so grateful for my family and all the time we have been able to spend together-it is a very rare thing that we can be together! And I was very excited that my Grandpa was able to meet his great-grandkids-Lacey totally fell in love with him and was his little shadow!

Skinny Colby!

Well poor Colby is getting the short end of the nursing stick! He hasnt gained any weight and has lost weight since he has been home. It really isnt his fault-I have totally have skim-no cream here! So he pretty much uses everything he gets and has nothing to store. We have had to go in for weight checks 3 times and have another one on friday. We have been supplementing a couple feedings with formula in hopes that he will put on some weight. I started that on monday after we saw the doc. so hopefully it will work otherwise it might not be too good! But I am pretty sure he will be fine-he will just be on yucky formula instead of getting the good stuff! I am a little sad because I like nursing but if he cant get the fat he needs to gain some weight then there isnt much I can do about that- He needs to start packing it on! I do have some way cute pics but my cord to upload the pics off the camera onto the computer is at my mom's house so you have to wait a couple weeks for those!

"You are having a baby today!"

Well on Saturday Colby James decided it was time to meet the world and he did it on his own terms which has me slightly scared for what we are in store with with him! So here are all the gory details for those who want to know! And for those who don't want to you better stop reading!! So I had been measuring big the whole pregnancy-just like with Dylan and he was almost 10 lbs so I was slightly concerned when we found out we were having another boy-we hold the family record for the biggest baby and we did not want to raise that bar any higher! We had planed to be induced on Oct. 29th and the baby would share a birthday with Bryan-which he said he was fine with! So anyway that is what we were planning on but the baby had other ideas.

Saturday I woke up and usually the baby would be moving around but he wasn't doing anything. I tried all the things they say to do-lay on your side-eat-drink water-drink something cold, I was poking him, which usually you would get something back on-but nothing. Not a roll or a kick or anything. I was having really light contractions but they were really light and not consistent. So after a couple hours of trying to get some kind of response I call the doctors office to leave a message with the nurse and was then connected with one of our midwives who happened to be checking in at that moment and was told to come to the hospital and get checked out. So the kids get dropped off at the In-Laws and Bryan and I headed to the hospital. We got there and were monitored for a couple hours-they had me doing the same things I did at home to try to get some response and still nothing. His heartbeat was nice and strong there just wasn't any movement. Then we were sent down to have a ultrasound. We spent 30-45 mins down there where they rated him on a scale-he only scored 2 out of 8, he only got points for the amount of amniotic fluid. And still we couldn't get him to move-not a finger. They then tell us that the doctor will come talk to us when we get back upstairs-not the midwife-the doctor. We get back upstairs and the nurses are like well it looks like you are having a baby today-Bryan and I were like "o.k. what way are we having a baby?"! So by now I am totally freaked out because we don't really know whats going on. They went ahead and checked me and I was dialated to a 4. We were then moved to a Labor and Delivery room and started on some meds since I was group B pos. and the doctor came in. He was like "o.k. here is the deal-your having a baby today. We are going to go ahead and try to do this natural since things are moving along but we will have no tolerance for the baby-if he shows any sign of distress or their is a change in heart rate-anything and we are stopping and immediately doing a c-section." Those are always comforting words. We then had to sign all the paperwork and consent forms just incase and have bloodwork done just incase. I was checked again and was a 5+, the contractions still weren't very consistent but were a little stronger so they started pitocin to get things going. Pitocin was started at 3:05 and a little after that they broke my water and then at 4:50 Colby was born after 5 mins of pushing! 7lbs 8oz and 19 inches long. He was quiet at first but as they started cleaning him off he woke up and started screaming with his strong Stoker lungs all our children were blessed with! They took him to check him out and clean him up and he scored a 9.9 on the apgar scale, which is awesome! The bad thing was because he came so fast he didn't get the full dose of antibiotics for the group B-so they went ahead and had some lab work done to check him out. Those results came back fast and showed and infection level that was 6 times as high as a normal newborn. So they were like "o.k. here is the deal-he is going to the NICU as soon as they can get up here and will be put on 2 antibiotics, have some more lab work done, a chest x-ray and a Lumbar Puncture so we can make sure the spinal fluid is clear because we don't want a chance that he could get meningitis" oh yea! more comforting things. So off he went for a little 7-10 day vacation in the NICU. He was breathing really fast and grunting like he was having trouble-that is why they did the chest x-ray but thankfully that came back normal. So now we wait for all the cultures to come back in the next few days and watch the results of all the blood work they do to watch the infection and antibiotic levels. On Monday morning I was hanging out with Colby when the NICU doctor came doing rounds with 2 students. They were going over Colby's history and the students were asking and answering questions. They were asking why they even did an ultrasound and the doctor was trying to find the answer in his chart so I just answered. Then they were asking how long before he was born was my water broken so i gave then the edited version of the time line-so the the doctor mentioned that I was group b pos and they started talking about how much of the antibiotic the baby got and again I answered the questions. The doctor was like "wow! you are doing 75% of my work!" I think he was surprised at how much I knew and remembered! They they were asking why we even came in in the first place so I explained about waking up and him not moving and the doctor was like "See sometimes you don't know whats wrong, sometimes you just have a mother who said something just isn't right." He then said that is was amazing that I was so in tune with the baby and his normal habits that I knew right away that something was wrong and that if I had waited longer to come in that it would have been a very different story and he would even more sick then he is. So points to me for my mommy intuition! They don't know what kind of infection or where it is but they are pretty sure that he came early because he was sick and not sick because of the group b. Colby is doing awesome-you can tell he is feeling better because he is acting like a real baby! The first couple days he just slept and rarely opened his eyes and then he started being awake more and making normal baby noises and smiling and making faces. So fingers crossed everything thing keeps coming back good and he can come home soon! And that's the story-long I know but pretty interesting if i do say so myself! Sucks to not bring home a baby but he is where he needs to be and I would rather bring home a nice healthy baby rather then bring one home early and then have to take him back! Abby, Dylan and Lacey got to go see him in the hospital so they were excited about that and they know that Colby is at the hospital because he is sick and needs to get all of his medicine before he can come home and they are totally fine with that! oh and I should say that since he came early he obviously will not be sharing a birthday with Bryan but Colby does share a birthday with his Aunt Brigetta!

Happy Birthday Lacey!!

Well I guess I lied about not posting anything!!! But it's Lacey's birthday!!! Happy Birthday Lace!! It has been an awesome day for me, my mother-in-law came and got Abby, Dylan and Lacey (abby didn't have school) so they could hang out with her-so I was able to take a shower uninterrupted!!, got most of the house clean and Lacey's cupcakes made so that was very cool. The kids got to play with Nana and help make Opening Day cookies. Opening Day is when Jenny (Bryan's mom) gets to start listening to Christmas music. Yep you heard me right-she is alittle on the obsessed side of things when it comes to Christmas! She makes special Santa cookies and goes around delivering them and you have to sing a Christmas carol to get them!! So anyway she was excited for Lacey to be an Opening Day Baby and is determined to one day have a Christmas birthday party for her! But if you ask me it wont happen because Christmas stuff starts after Thanksgiving!!! She thinks she will convert me one of theses days! She is so funny!

So anyway Lacey will always celebrate Christmas and Halloween on her Birthday-poor thing! Here are some pics of Lacey-her birthday party is tomorrow so that will be fun-she is having a Tinker Bell party-----again-----for the 3rd year in a row. I am really hoping that we can talk her into something else next year!!

nothing new!

I know everyone looks at my blog everyday just waiting for a new post to see what is going on here! right?! dont you?! Well hopefully not everyday!! Anyway sorry I havnt put anything new and fun but honestly if I did do a normal post I would probably end up complaining and who really wants to read that?!! So you will just have to wait a couple more weeks till this baby comes! This pregnancy is totally kicking my butt! I havnt ever been this uncomfortable at the end of a pregnancy so between no sleep, horrindous heartburn, and super sore hips that hurt everytime I move---see there I go complaining!! So I am outa here and will post something when it can be fun, happy and silly!!

Dance Pics!

How beautiful are these?!!! A big HUGE thanks to our awesome friends Jen and Paul!!! Butler Photography is by new best friend!! We were finally able to do Abby's dance pictures and even got some of her in last years costume (the yellow one). Is it kind of sad that she still fit into it! I mean seriously it fit her perfectly still!!! She obviously on the petit side of things!! Anyway I am so excited how these turned out and cant wait to get some developed!!

Well.......

......at least it isn't food or condiments this time. And the markers are washable and not permanent. But man she was doing so good!!! We went and got her some "Lacey Lotion"-some baby lotion that I put in a small container. We also had a talk about not putting food on our arms, legs, and face and if you want to put some thing on then you can use Lacey's lotion! She was all excited and was putting it on and loving it! So I guess in her defence never in that talk did I say she couldn't use markers.

Back to School!

Well Abby made it through the summer! For her summer was just something that she had to deal with till school started. She has been dying for school to start pretty much since it ended in May.

We got her some new clothes and having them sit in the closet, not being able to wear them has been killing her! It was nice to be able to put the first day of school on our calender on the fridge because then she wasn't asking me every day when it was. Then to add to her torture/excitement last Thursday was Unpack Your Backpack Night. So we got to go find her classroom and put away all her supplies. At the end of the school year last year they already had the kids assigned to the next years classes so she was able to meet her teacher before summer. This year she had Mrs. Wall and Abby is one excited girl!! She had big smiles when I picked her up that day after school-she jumped in the car and said "I have Mrs. Wall!! I wanted her to be my teacher! She came into the gym one time when we were having gym class and she had on the coolest shirt Mom! And I said to myself "oh I hope she is my next teacher because she wears super pretty shirts!" ! How funny is she?!!

So anyway she has not stopped talking since we were there on Thursday. She has had her outfit all picked out and has been telling what she thinks she will say on Monday when she wakes up! She said "I think when I wake up on Monday and I remember that it is the first day of school then I will say "oh I'm so excited its the first day of school! School is starting school is starting!"!

She was all smiles when we took her to school and to her classroom. Then this afternoon she hops in the car and says "I had a GREAT day!"

War of the Walls

A war of the walls has begun in Stokerville- it seems to be 2 against 3. Bryan and Allison aka "The Rules and Cleanliness Enforcers" or RCE's against the 3 kids. Thier ultimate goal is to win obviously! They are fighting for the right to have clean walls. The opposing forces-Abby, Dylan and mostly Lacey aka "The In-House Graffiti Artists" or IHGA's for short are fighting against the No-Drawing-On-The-Walls rule. Now the leader of the IHGA's is not the oldest as you would expect. A funny change of influence happened when Lacey the youngest join the group. She became the undisputed leader. Armed with her imposing personality, strong lungs, loud voice and willingness to do harm to anyone around her, the older 2 members quickly cowered under her dominance. The 2 other members, Abby and Dylan knew the rules of Stokerville. Having been minor offenders once upon a time but quickly reformed after consequences were quickly enforced, they had led rule abiding lives from then on. All was calm on the walls until Lacey came of age and discovered what is usually the wonderful world of coloring. One day Lacey decided that the paper she had just wasnt big enough-she needed a big canvas for her masterpiece. She looked around and saw plenty of empty space on the wall. So quietly with a crafty smile on her face she drew on the wall. Abby and Dylan knowing the repercussions of alerting both sides of the rule breaking could not figure out from what side the would get the biggest punishment-from their leader they would be yelled at and possible chased down and beaten, from the RCE's they would have to clean it up, get a lecture and some solitary confinement. Weighing both sides they decided that it would be worse to upset their Leader. They then decided that if she could then they could and so began what they would call beautiful murals and what the RCE's call graffiti. The latest battle in the War of the Walls was waged just this morning. It has led to drastic measures being taken on the side of the RCE's and a massive regrouping of the IHGAs. The morning was quiet on all fronts till an Officer of the RCE realized it was a little too quiet and looked around to account for all the IHGAs. 2 were found and accounted for 1 was MIA. Dylan's name was called and he came to check in with his hands behind his back and an innocent smile on his face. Upon the following questioning it was discovered that he "wasn't doing anything in Lacey room" and was in possession of a contraband red crayon. An investigation was quickly launched. At the scene of the crime 3 things were discovered. First, Lacey was not involved, having gotten her graffiti urge out the day before with a black crayon on the yellow living room wall. Second, when asked Dylan readily confessed to drawing on the wall and third, Abby was also obviously involved in today's dirty work. Even though she wasn't around to question what was on the wall had her name written all over it. Literally-she wrote her name in red on the baseboard! Confessions were made and included answers to questions like "I don''t know", "just because" and "I know". Consequences were handed out including but not limited to cleaning up the mess they made and all of the contraband coloring instruments being thrown in the trashcan. Now while this latest attempt of the RCE to stop the colorful actions of the IHGAs is fresh and the full effect has not been felt, it will be soon enough. All coloring paraphernalia will be properly dealt with and stored till further notice. These changes might take a while to truly be felt by the members of the IHGAs-maybe days, maybe weeks. They will be under surveillance for any possible rebellions. (As an added note these actions might not have any effect on the offenders at all-all members of the IHGA are also members of the Kids-Against-Picking-Up-Toys aka KA-PUT's. The consequence handed out to them was all toys, books, everything taken way-they went over 6 months without asking for anything back).

I'm having a flashback!

This morning while I was putting away clothes Lacey decided to have a little unsupervised fun. In the kitchen. With the butter.

At least this time she knew when she got caught she was in trouble and that didnt make her happy at all!!

Is anyone else having a flashback to a couple years ago??!! Lacey and some crisco? I really dont know what her deal is with playing in food. Crisco, butter, soap, lotion, sour cream, ketchup, ranch dressing-you name it and it has been on her arms, legs, face, and hair or in a fun little picture on the kitchen table. She is diffinatly ALOT busier that Abby or Dylan was. I think it is because she is the 3rd kid. Does anyone else have the 3rd kids curse?!!! (and I mean curse in the most loving way possible!!!)