Officially Old

So... realized today while reading my OCC Compass that my COLLEGE class reunion is this February. Granted it's only a 5 year reunion, but STILL. Can it actually have been that long since I was in college? High school reunion should be this next year (10 year) too, but being class president I am in charge, and I've been told that no one cares - wait until 15 or 20 years. So we aren't having one.

Anyway... Christmas travel starts for us this week. Thursday or Friday to be exact. We will be on the road almost constantly. Crazyness. I hope Brayden doesn't get too tired of the carseat and drive us nuts. We've started letting him open one present everyday - mainly because they are toys and we're giving him a chance to get used to each one instead of overhelming him. He got his roll-a-rounds dino today. Tomorrow is either his Little Peoples' Farm or his Duplo blocks. Haven't really decided yet.

I've got so much housework to do... We just got back from a weekend out of town and so everything got dropped by the front door. I'm tired though and so I'm planning on vegging in front of the tv for the evening... Brayden went to bed without a fight... Hope he stays asleep. John & I are going to break out the chips and salsa and watch the nice extended episode of House that was on tonight.

Anyway... John's in here now and ready to watch the show, so I'm out.

Ultrasound Results

The "Best Week Ever" is winding down... We're back from the ultrasound and we're having a . . . little BOY! We are 110% sure that there is no mistake. John saw his glory all the way across the room. His name will most likely be Tyler James (Ty for short). He was measuring a little small for my original due date, so the tech moved the date to April 1st (April Fool's Day - HAHA!!). Everything looked good - we even saw one hand and all five of his fingers - then he gave us a thumbs up! :) Too cute. His face was toward my spine, so we weren't able to get any good pictures... And he was a wiggle wart the whole time! He looks like he's gonna be nice and chubby like Brayden. John is over the moon about having another boy. He is really excited about what it all means in 15 years! We've got built in work hands around the camp!! We already looked at bunk beds at wal-mart! Oh the fun we're gonna have!

Brayden got to be in the room during the last part of the U/S and he seemed pretty enthralled with the whole thing - then he started waving at the screen and saying "bye-bye." Too funny!!!! He's gonna be a fun big brother, I'm sure.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Well, it's been the best week ever! So far - and it's gonna get better!! :) I'm now older. Not sure about wiser, but I'm for sure wider. But that comes with being 20 weeks pregnant.

We just got back from my parents'. Lots of fun to be had there!! We went down on Monday and John & I got to have a baby-less night. We went to see "The Prestige." Amazing. Great movie. It really was a very well written movie. I need to see it again just to catch all the little things I missed!!! Tuesday I did a lot of office work while everyone else (Mom, Dad, John & Herman) kept Brayden occupied. Then we all got dressed up and hit the town for some candy. Okay, so "hitting the town" in good old Fletcher is really going to about 3 houses, but... you get the idea. Then we went to the church's Harvest Fest and had a lot of fun watching the tug-o-war, egg toss, chili cookoff, pumpkin carving, etc... Brayden was a hit in his "Monkey Suit." I'll post pics when I get them from John. Today I got to sleep in a little because Brayden stayed with Mom during the night. When I woke up, I found colored post-its ALL OVER the house with little birthday messages - courtesy of Erin! It was so funny!! We went out for lunch to Applebee's with Mom, Dad and Erin. The food was good; service stunk. But we got a $5 off coupon because we complained!! teehee! We loaded up, came back home - but only after stopping by Wal-Mart to blow some birthday money on very unnecessary things. But I have a new VERY fluffy pillow to show for it!! Then tonight I got to talk for a while with Eskai - which I haven't done in a while. I'm so excited about getting to go see her in January!

Friday we find out if "Whatever" is a boy or a girl. I can't remember if I blogged that last time or not. I'm super dooper excited about the ultrasound.
And for anyone who is still reading this rambling... It must be said that this week wouldn't have been near as wonderful if John hadn't been so great to me all week - he's basically treated me like a princess!! I have the best husband around!!!! I've not had to clean, he's taken care of Brayden to let me get stuff done and he let me dictate what all we've done with our free time. He even finished eating my cake for me last night just so it wouldn't go to waste! What a thoughtful man!!

But seriously - if you know me, you know how much I love birthdays and how I think they are the best "holiday" in the year. This week has been a wonderful "week of birthday" for me. I really had a great one!! Only one more to go until the BIG one. YIKES.

Get a load of this!

So Brayden is now 9 months old. Can you believe it?!?!? We sure can't. He's taken his first steps already - 4 in a row, actually, and eats every single thing in sight. He can eat a full meal on his own and then see us eating and he wants to join in. It's amazing he doesn't weigh 100 lbs. He is majorly in love with his daddy. Anytime John is in the room, Brayden wants to be with him. I guess he's more fun. He's pretty rough, though. He likes to slap/hit and ram people with his head. He also likes to attack us with kisses (he drowns us in slobber).

I've been to the doctor twice for the new baby and everything is looking great. We have the "big" ultrasound scheduled for next Friday - part of the "best week ever" (halloween is Tuesday, my bday is Wednesday - thus making all week "the week of birthday" anyway, U/S is Friday - how much better could it get? I mean, throw in Christmas or a trip to Silver Dollar City or something, maybe, but STILL. It's pretty close). We'll know then what the actual due date will be and hopefully (if "Baby Whatever" cooperates) if it's a boy or girl. We'd be 100% happy with either - a girl would make us the American family and I really want a girl sooner or later, but we have everything for a boy and it'd be easier to make them share a room and such.

Brayden is going to be a monkey for Halloween... Gramma Laura made him his outfit. He looks so cute, really!!

I guess that's all for now.

I'll update next week and give my ramblings on being another year older.

30 Months of Marriage

Today was our 2.5 year anniversary! It's weird how time can seem like it's gone by so fast, but it can also feel like it's been forever. It honestly feels like I've never NOT been married to John. Great feeling!! I wish everyone in the world had a marriage as great as ours! We watched "The Notebook" tonight - of course I cried - but it was as great as always. Love that can make miracles. Brayden's been teething (his top teeth are ALL coming in), and he's been cranky and very, VERY clingy lately, so he was up "watching" the movie with us. He ended up falling asleep on John... So combine seeing a beautiful baby boy sleeping on the man you love while watching the sappiest movie in the whole wide world and toss in a couple of pregnancy horomones - talk about waterworks. I swear I'm the happiest person alive.

Happy anniversary, John - Here's to more years than we can count!!

...anyone wanna guess the latest?

Besides the fact that my little boy is crawling, pulling up, standing on his own at random times (and then falling flat on his cushioned booty), eating everything in sight and STILL not sleeping through the night... We're having another baby!! Yes, you read that right - no need to adjust your monitor. Brayden will be welcoming a new little sibling (I think girl) into the world in late March.

Just thought you'd like to know! That is all. =)

I'm an "Aunt"!

Mike & Esaki had their little baby today!!! Sarai Addison was born today at about 1:20 pm eastern. She weighs in at 6 lbs 5 oz is 19" long and scored an 8/9 on her APGARS. She arrived by c-section, but all is well. Brayden can't wait to meet his future wife!!

Brayden is 6 months old

We weighed him on our scale, but we go to the pediatrician tuesday, so we'll get an accurate measurement. But from our readings, he's 17.5 lbs (50th percentile) and 28" (90th) long. I can't remember what his head was, but it was in the 50th percent according to some website that tells you where your measurements are.

He's learned to scoot! He can easily get up on all fours, but he hasn't figured out how to move on hand then the other... Instead, he "worms" around the floor. He doesn't sit up very well on his own, though... He will topple over after about a minute. He likes to be on the move. He rolls over easily - both ways. But again, he'd rather scoot than roll...He's been eating cereal for a month now and jarred food for about 2 weeks. He LOVES eating from a spoon - we can't get it to him fast enough. He easily downs one small jar of baby food and can almost finish on of the bigger stage 2 jars. His favorite food is banana, though. And... um... he had a piece of wedding cake Saturday night. (and of course he loves it). He also loves to drink out of glasses - if you're close to him with a cup, he thinks he needs a drink (and of course drowns himself in it). And for those of you wondering, yes, he HAS tried Dr. Pepper (and Bar-B-Q and cucumbers, and icecream, and ranch, and..and..and... Camp season was too kind to him).He's really enjoyed the summer... He likes being around people - he'll reach out to anyone around him (even complete strangers). He recognizes familiar faces like G-Mas' AND G-Pas' and Erin & Alan. He LOVES to smile and giggle. Raspberries started the other day, too! He's found out how to splash in the bathtub and knows what the word "bath" means - he gets all excited when we say "Is it Brayden's BATHTIME?"

Six months ago, I was induced into labor and since then, it's all gone so quickly. I can't believe that we've come so far in so little time. Brayden has this uncanny knack to get me to smile even when I'm frustrated out of my mind because he's hit the "I wanna be held ALL THE TIME" stage. He does this thing with his eyebrows - kinda flashes them at you. You can't help but laugh at him. He's an amazing little boy, and I'm convinced he's uber smart, too. But, you know, he is MY son. hehe! I'm already looking forward to Christmas and his first birthday party (which by the way, it's gonna be a huge shindig, and all you gotta do to come is just let me know you want an invite). I have these divine plans to have him walking by Halloween so that I can take him Trick-Or-Treating. Not like we CAN'T go if he's not walking, but it'd be more fun, I think. Plus, what better birthday present can a Mom ask for? Anyway... I have stuff to do... (aka dishes). I'd best be off.

Memories...of the way we were...

Well, camp season is over... And I've been having strange dreams lately about friends from my past and such. It's been making me reflect a little and relive the "glory days" in my head. I wonder about where people are now... What they are doing... Who they turned out to be. You know, the general things. Then I begin to wonder if they ever wonder about me. It's often times very strange to think that there were some people 5, 10 or 15 years ago that were so very close to me that, now, I have no earthly idea where they are in life. 50y own fault. Guilty as charged. But... yeah.

I'm glad to have found some of my "old" friends on here and been able to reconnect (somewhat). It's been fun to share old memories and such. So... I thought I might put a few of my fondest friend memories down here - and if you have some fond memories of us you'd like to share, feel free... I'm in the reminiscing mode right now...

Laura & Jarod - remember the time we played Phase 10 at your apartment and listened to "Singin' in the Rain" soundtrack? I had never watched that movie all the way through, but now it's one of my favorites. I even have a little dog that's all dressed up in a raincoat and stuff that sings that...

Phil - remember that one van trip that we had back from Missouri somewhere when we talked about dating and marriage and what all we wanted for our lives? I think that was one of my most treasured conversations ever. You were such a great friend during those Life Force days.

Derek - oh...where to begin with you?? hehe! Remember those couple of semesters where all we did was talk during class instead of paying attention? I'll bet Chaney still hates us.

Justin & Lauren - remember when we were really little and we used to play Thundercats at Justin's house? I was always Chetara (or however you spell it) and I was convinced that I could run so fast, you couldn't see me.

Lauren, I remember all your birthday parties - you always got a jar of pickles from someone, and we all loved your birthday because we got to swim in your pool.

Sid - all the trips to SDC for Skip Day... I still have a 'hankerin' to go every year around April now...

Julie & Angie - "Did you ever suck it? Wait, I mean your thumb!"

Julie, Angie, Roxanne, Will, Amy, etc, etc - Spades at camp. Let me tell ya, they just don't do fun stuff like that anymore. We need to have a reunion.

Janna - so many funny memories with you, too! Like the time you went to the Fletcher Free Fair with me and you and Erin wanted to know if you could ride the cows.

Dandi - you, me and Glen doing the feeding of the 5,000. I still have to pull that annoying voice out every so often because it's just so much fun to do!

Shannon - sneaking out of your house to go visit the boys in Cyril. I can't believe we never got caught!

Justin M - security checks at Talequah! and bowling... and late night cards... hehe!

John C - two words - academic team! we had so much fun with that!

Nathan S - You remember the time you farted in the CIY minivan on the way to Cinci and it literally turned the air green????? Well, it was either you or Andy, I can't remember!!

John (my darling hubby) - remember the first time we talked on the phone and it lasted for HOURS! I still remember a lot of that conversation.

There are so many more memories that I have, and a lot of them are just too personal and close to my heart to share with the blogging world. Many of you have been there for me during really hard times, but also for really great times. We've been through childhood, teendom, college, pregnancy or camp - or maybe all of them!!

I just wanted all of you to know how special I consider you and how blessed I am to count many of you as close friends, even if we aren't as close as we once were.

And now... I'm off to message a few of you with special memories that I want to share with you. Have a nice night!!!!

One Fat Baby & A Bunch of Campers

Brayden is now 5 months old. He's a chunk (and you're thinking, "yeah, I've seen the pictures). He now weighs almost 20 lbs and is 27.5 inches long. He's in the 92nd percentile for weight and 90th for length. I always thought I'd have a little bitty skinny baby. But Brayden is making me little bitty skinny mommy (with big muscles)! He's a wonderful baby, though. He laughs now - it's so cute. He's learned how to give hugs and kisses - well, they are really just big open mouth slobbers, but it's "kisses" to him. He's almost sitting up and is starting to scootch. He can get up on his knees and he can push up on his arms, just not at the same time. We think he'll be crawling soon.

Camp has been keeping us very, very busy. We've maxed out one week and came REALLY close to maxing out this week. It's wonderful!!! The extra work doesn't really feel like work when you know that it's all for such a great cause. We had our first graders here this past weekend and it was so exciting to see them singing worship songs and learning about reflecting Jesus. They managed to give more money to missions than they spent on candy & pop in the canteen - which I think is an amazing testament to what kind of great kids they are. John & I are really looking forward to watching these kids grow up here at camp and seeing what kind of kids they are when they are in junior high and high school. We've already met so many great kids, so much potential!!! It's such a blessing to be involved in changing kids' lives!

PS - As much as I love my job, I hate mosquitos. Just thought you should know.

Planes, Trains and Autos - and Mommy's Day

Well, camp is about a week away (all together now - AHHHHHHHH!!!!) and so John and I have been trying to squeeze all the fun out of the last few weeks of "freedom" that we have. Last week we flew out to Denver for the wedding of an old roommate of mine. I have to honestly say - BEST wedding I've ever been to (including my own!). They had an outdoor wedding at this gorgeous place in Golden, CO; the preacher was amazing; the reception was a ton of fun; the bride looked absolutely stunning; the weather was perfect... I could go on forever!! Brayden went with us, so it was his first plane ride (and John's too for that matter). Both of them had a great time on the plane. Brayden barely fussed at all. It was also Brayden's first wedding - he got a picture with Shawna and also gave her $$ for the dollar dance. I wish we could have stayed longer and spent more time with everyone, but it's kinda hard when you have a baby who gets fussy when it's bedtime... The day we flew back to Oklahoma was Mother's Day. I was a little depressed about having to "miss" my first Mother's Day at church... But it was worth it to get to see an old friend get hitched. PLUS, while we were in the airport, people would just randomly tell me "Happy Mother's Day." It was realy neat.

THEN... this past weekend, my parents, my brother and John, Brayden and I all took off to the old stomping grounds and headed to Silver Dollar City. I was kinda nervous that Brayden wouldn't be able to handle such a long car ride (it was about 6 hours), but he did GREAT. He's just a fabulous little traveler. And he had a wonderful time at SDC. He got to play in the water a little and had his first experience with a swimming pool at our hotel. My mom's got the pics - when she gets them developed, I'll post some. He looked so cute in his little swimming suit!!!!

A few developmental milestones have been occurring... Brayden has started reaching out to grab things like toys or people's hands. This has really just happened in the last two weeks... He could bat at things earlier, but he's finally figured out how to grab on with both hands. While we were in Branson, my dad was playing with him and Brayden reached up for him! He's also on the verge of rolling over from back to front... He'll make it about halfway and then give up and flop back onto his back. I've managed to get him to sit up on his own a couple of times, but only for a few seconds... but he's getting there.

It seems like every morning when I wake up and look at him, he's gotten a bit older during the night. He's turning into a little kid instead of a newborn baby. It's totally amazing and awesome to watch it happen. I can't describe how it feels to watch a child grow up before your very eyes. But I can say now with full confidence, he'll always be my little baby boy.

Eazy Cheesy Lemon Squeezy

4 words that do not describe my life right now. hehe!! Really, though... Camp starts this week - Thursday to be exact. I think everything is okay and ready (sorta). We still have a few things to do and get before then. We've had retreats since Friday morning, so it's been a little busy around here, but nothing bad (unless you count the 911 call for a lady who was here who had kidney failure, the breakers blowing, and me doing a lot more than normal because of John's toe...).

ANYWAY...

Nothing much going on, really. John & I watched "Chicken Little" last night. That was a cute movie. I felt really bad for Chicken Little the whole first half of the movie. I couldn't help it, either, I kept thinking about that one kid from American Idol during the whole movie. !!! Then today we were watching "The Greatest Game Ever Played." We haven't finished it yet, though. But that's where the title of my blog came from. A kid in the movie said it and John & I thought it was pretty funny.

Speaking of funny movie quotes, a really good college friend of mine just got a myspace page (HEY LAURA!)... You may think, "Now why in the world would funny movie quotes make her think of that?" WELL - she's married to a crazy guy (who was also a good college friend - HEY JAROD!) who got me hooked on these few lines from "Sandlot" - and they qualify as "funny movie quotes." So... Yeah. Oh, you want to hear them, huh? Well, it's the scene where the Sandlot kids are playing ball and the preppie kids show up and start heckling them and they start bantering with each other...things go for a few seconds until Ham says, "You play ball like a GIRL!"
Then, the best two lines of the movie:
"Our place. Tomorrow. Be there, buffalo butt breath."
"Count on it pee drinking crap face."

Thanks for ingraining those words into my head forever Jarod, you pee drinking crap face. And...sigh... I guess now that I have a kid, I gotta start being careful what I call people. So, Jarod, I guess you're just a drinking face. (Oh, that made me laugh out loud... Guess that means I'm tired and need to go to bed.)

Laterz.

If God Had a Myspace

So first it must be said that I'm getting kinda tired of the bulletins of "you better repost this - you never know when God may be testing you." In the old days, I'd get those emails all the time... A lot of times, it would be a really good email with a great message, but then at the end there was that stupid line - "if you believe in God, you will send this to 10 friends within the next 30 minutes or you'll burn in hell" (okay, so that's not REALLY what it said, but it was along the same idea lines).

ANYWAY...

I saw this bulletin from a friend of mine a few minutes ago about "If God had a myspace..." and it asked if God had a myspace, would he be number one in your top eight? And I stopped to think about that. (Of course I didn't repost the bulletin because... well, refer to the above.) Then I got into a convo with John about it. And he said, "Like God would have a myspace." But I think He would. I think He would enjoy having friends added to his list and posting bulletins with Words of Life. It'd be like the sermon on the mount, but it'd be the sermon in the blog. hehe. I hope I'm not being sacreligious. Back to the thought, though, of would God be number one? How many times do we (I) actually put God first in the everyday dulldroms (I know that's a word, but I have no idea if I spelled it right)? I mean, it may seem easy to say, "Yeah, sure He would be #1!!" But is he first on our list of everything else? Like our "to do" list? Or is he taken into account when we're thinking about the top eight movies we'd like to see. Or maybe the top eight things I'd do with a million dollars. Or the top eight goals for my life.

Just some random thoughts late at night. I hope they all made sense.
And... If you agree, you better respond to this blog or something bad will happen to you. (I just had to throw that in.)

Mice

So....why is it that mice on TV/movies are always so cute and cuddly and talk in adoreable little voices, but in real life they are these nasty, furry, germ infested, RODENTS that make my toes curl?

We have a mouse. And where there's a mouse, there are MICE.

Disgusting creatures. Freaks of nature. Those beady little eyes, sharp little teeth, razor-like claws (or are they talons?), and naked ugly tails.... *shiver*

Say a prayer for me, because until this thing is caught, I won't be able to walk freely about my house. I won't be able to put Brayden on the floor... I won't be able to walk around barefoot... I won't be able to open the pantry door with my eyes open.

I hate the things.

Gilmore Girls & Sleeping Babies

I have a few minutes here because my little guy is sleeping... And I'm watching Gimore Girls reruns on ABC Family, but it's a commercial. It's the episode of Rory's birthday and Lorelai sneaks into her room at night and tells her the story of how she was born. I have to say (especially after going through labor) that this episode has one of my favorite lines of the G.G. series (I say ONE of my favorites because my all time favorite is the one where Logan and his friends break into Rory's college class and do this major dramatic scene in front of the whole class and then later, Rory has Richard go to Logan and put on this whole thing where he's basically saying that he's happy that Logan wants to marry Rory and scares the stink out of him... but I digress...). Lorelai is sitting beside Rory in bed and describes labor as "Something akin to doing the splits over a crate of dynamite." Uh-huh. Sure the heck is. Even WITH an epidural. And this makes me think... I really should steal all the DVDs from Erin (she has all the box sets) and watch them all and do top 10 (or maybe top 25 cause there are so many) lines from the G.G. series.

And I have to say, if you've read all this and have never watched Gilmore Girls and are now sitting there wondering what the big deal is, RUN - don't walk - to your nearest Hastings or Blockbuster (or any other similar store) and rent you some Gimore. You will laugh, you will be amazed, you may even thank me. I swear it's one of the best TV shows on - I even got John addicted to it.

So... yeah... that's all for now.

Our Day in the E.R.

So I woke up this morning to John saying, "I need you to get up." Why? Because he had hurt himself and needed to go to the hospital. He was coming up to the house from down at the dining hall (he was on the scooter) and the wheel slipped in the wet grass and threw him from the bike. He hurt his rotator cuff. So I've been playing servant all day - not that it bothers me at all, though. It's been kind of interesting to see John being "forced" to stay still on the couch all day. That's SO not like him. But he's okay - just in a lot of pain (but the drugs help). He's antsy - tired of watching TV... So I brought him his laptop and he messed around on that for awhile (doing what else but looking at four wheelers and motorcycles....). So that's been my day. Pray for us, because with John hurt, it will be fun trying to make sure that we have everything ready to go for camp in a few weeks (not to mention that we have to fly to Denver Thursday for a friend's wedding and then next week we are going to Branson with my family, and then the NEXT week we have a retreat scheduled, so we really only have 3 half weeks...).

If you happen to live around here and you have some free time, feel free to come help us out!!! We can find SOMETHING for you to do!!

Coulda Woulda

I'm bored, so I made up a list of a whole bunch of coulda wouldas... I didn't get this from any one of those surveys, I made all these up myself, so now you know how my brain thinks and what it thinks of.

If I could.... I would....

If I could write the next season of One Tree Hill (which by the way, there better be one), I would make Lucas break up with Brooke and get with Peyton. She's way better.
If I could go anywhere in the US, I would want to go to Boston. I think that'd be cool. But maybe Disney World...
If I could have one material thing that I don't have, I would want a really awesome plasma TV.
If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, I think I would pick pizza.
If I could have one superpower, I'd want to be able to read minds, but I could turn it off and on.
If I could pick one season for it to be year round, I would pick fall.
If I had to change the channel right now, I'd probably put it on Sirius Standards (that's the crooners station, and I love it!).
If I could pick any movie for there to be a sequel to, I think I'd pick The Princess Bride (cause, hey, the sequel is written, it'd just have to be filmed! But alas, Andre the Giant is dead).
If I could go to bed right now, I wouldn't. hehe
If I could, I would fix the search deely on myspace so that you could find people easier. Right now, the only REAL way to find people (unless they went to your school or you know what school they went to) is to search through other peoples' friends lists.
If I could pick one canceled TV show to come back for another season, it'd be the WB's "Jack and Bobby." That show was AWESOME.

I have way too many random thoughts. I think.

You know why? Cause I don't have any friends.

MYSPACE BLOG

So... John & I were just talking and I was commenting on how I wish people would blog more often on here. I mean, I get on here all the time and just LOOK at people I know/knew. COME ON PEOPLE! Spill your guts. Share your thoughts. Give me something to do other than wonder why the heck I come to myspace so much.

But John said he doesn't blog because no one reads his blogs. And then he said, "You know why? 'Cause I don't have friends." So I just want to put it out there. I'll read your blog. I'll be your friend. I'll care what you have to say - I don't care if it's what you ate for breakfast - at least I'll feel like... I dunno... I guess I'll just feel like I'm more justified for visiting your profile. And I won't have that sense of let down when I realize that I know nothing more about you than I did when I first clicked your name.

So... Yeah. That's all I have to say about that.

And another nice little bunny trail I'm chasing tonight - Don't you just love it when you check out a friend's friend list and find an old friend? But isn't it really weird when you get to that friend's page and find out that they've changed a TON since you knew them? Happened to me a couple of times tonight.

AND - I have to talk about the kid a little since I'm an obsessive mom - Brayden laughed today. His first actual real giggle - I mean, he's cooed and gurgled and stuff, but he actually LAUGHED today. Had to jot that down for posterity.
Have a nice day.

In honor of the baby brother

Happy Birthday to my baby brother. 19 years old today! I can't believe it's been so long. But it's been a really fun 19 years. Even if I was only around for 10 of them... In honor of the baby brother, let me share some fun memories.

Dress Up
Alan, the poor boy, was subjected to having two older sisters who took advantage of the fact that they were the only ones he had to play with. Alan would be so anxious to play with us that he would play anything that we wanted if he could just be included. It got to the point where he would come to us and say, "Hey, I'll let you guys dress me up if you want to!" And we would. Pink dress, red hat, and a nice big pink boa. We have the pictures to prove it. And I may just have to upload them in honor of this day...

Doctor
Alan had a funny little brain. When he was little, he used to tell us stories about his "past lives." For example, he'd start out conversation like this: "Well, in my other life, I was an Indian Chief and..." or "In my other life, I was in college and..." The funniest part of it all was that this little 5 year old could support his whole statement with things that made you think he was actually those things. But the funniest was when he was 7 and I had a friend over who had a sore foot (for those interested, it was Lauren). Anyway, Alan comes in with a screwdriver and says, "Let me help you. In my other life I was a doctor, and I know what I'm doing. I just need to take this right here (the screwdriver) and do THIS." And he proceeded to "operate" on Lauren's foot. I don't think it worked, but it sure was cute.

The Donuts
When you grow up in a family of 6, you learn very quickly to fend for yourself. It got so bad that when Mom would get home from the grocery store, we would all rush her with permanent markers to "claim" the food we wanted. And if your name was on something, you got to be the one to eat it. Of course, this didn't last long because it led to WAAAAAY too many fights. And of course, Alan never got anything because he was too small to understand what was going on. Or so we thought. One day, Dad bought a dozen powdered donuts and brought them home. I don't remember if he bought them WITH Alan or FOR Alan, but either way, Alan wanted them all. But Dad told him he had to share. The poor kid didn't like this idea, so when Dad left the room, Alan opened the box and took one bite out of every donut - he figured no one would want "used" food. The best part of the story is that we have a picture of this, too. You should see the poor kid's face. It's covered with powdered sugar and you can see the little bites taken out of each donut. Alan's sitting there holding the box with a little smirk that says, "Okay guys, is this CUTE or am I in TROUBLE? Cause you have the camera, but I'm pretty sure that you aren't too happy with what I did..." I'll have to post this pic, too....

Anyway - Happy Birthday Baby Bro! We love you!!

some may be repeated...

I typed this up for my baby board the other day and thought I'd go ahead and blog it, too even though some of it may be repeat information. I like to have this cyberlog of my baby... So... With no further ado, here's the new edition of "All About Baby B"

He weighs somewhere around 15 lbs (we have to do the you stand on the scale, see what you weigh and then hold baby and take the difference thing), and is 25" long. He's in the 71st/72nd percentile on those. He's a CHUNK - as you can see from any pictures. He's already been mistaken for a 5 month old. Go figure.He's been sleeping through the night for about 2-3 weeks now... But he's still sleeping with us because, well, he's spoiled rotten. I've even tried getting him to take naps in his crib, but he will only sleep for 15-20 minutes there, but if I put him on our bed, he'll sleep for 1 hour - 1.5 hours... He's started having a "lovey" - he likes one of his blankets and will fall asleep "cuddling" with it. It's too cute (and TOTALLY unsafe!). He giggles, coos and loves to "stand" up. He's almost sat up on his own a few times, but his head is still really heavy, so he topples over. If we sit him up at in incline, he tries to sit himself up - he'll acutally pull the upper half of his body up off the pillow! We've started putting him in his Johnny Jump-Up and he's almost getting the hang of it - he LOVES it because he can stand up in it - and we love it because we don't have to sit there and hold him!!!!He responds the MOST to us when we say "I love you" and has even tried to mimic us a few times!! He will also "sing" with us when we sing to him. He really likes the ABCs. He'll sometimes "sing" as many as half of the letters with us. It's adoreable!

Bath time is a fun time - he likes to be a nekkie baby! He cries after bathtime when I try to put his diaper on him. But Daddy usually comes in and distracts him and before he knows it, he's fully dressed. Then it's story time - Brayden LOVES looking at books - it doesn't matter what they are. After story time, he gets a song (or 3) sung to him and then it's off to bed.

He is still spoiled at least weekly by Grandma & Grandpa... Grandma Laura can't go more than a week without thinking that she'll go crazy if she doesn't see her little Brayden. But that's good for us because it usually means (at minimum) a babysitter and a free meal!! I don't feel bad about that, either because Alan still basically lives at home, and Erin's grocery store is my parents' house. So we'll take the handouts, too, thank you very much.If you can't tell, I talking about my baby!!!!! I'm sure there's a lot more to say, but he's fussing from his crib right now, and I'm going to go check on him so Daddy can relax.

Brayden Alan's Birth Story

**WARNING: NOT SUITABLE FOR EVERYONE. GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF BIRTH ARE INCLUDED**

Since I have a few minutes (he's sleeping!!), I'll give you guys the goods...Tuesday morning (1.17) bright and early, DH & I got up, got ready and headed off to the hospital. We were a little on the anxious side, so we were running a little ahead of schedule... I told DH that we could stop at McDonald's and get a little something to eat - the nurse at the hospital told me I could have a light breakfast since I wasn't planning on getting an epidural... So we stopped and had something to eat and sat there just amazed that we'd be having a baby that day. It was a good time.We got to the hospital at 6:15 am and got all checked in... The nurse took us to our BEAUTIFUL hotel like room and layed out my gown for me and told us that our nurse for the day wouldn't be in until 6:30... Go ahead, get dressed and get all comfortable. SOOOOOO... Yeah... We TRIED to get the gown on me. It was one of those that has snaps ALL over it and you have to figure out what goes where and stuff. I was having a hard time (I'm kind of retarded early in the morning), so DH was going to help me. Let me just say, we KNEW we didn't do it right, but it was the best we could figure out. The nurse came in, I said, 90% sure we did this wrong, and she said, "I'm 90% sure that you're right!" So she fixed my gown and started all my monitors and IVs and stuff. B was moving all over the place, so we had a fun time all morning trying to keep him on the monitor. I had pitocin and ampicilin (sp?) for my GBS in my IV. I was already having a few contractions, but they weren't very effective ones - I was still only 1-2 cm. My family got there about 8:45; DH's got there about 9:00ish. Everyone was excited to see us and I was still able to talk a little at this point, so we kind of chatted a little. My OB got there at 10 and broke my water and we upped my pitocin drip to all out... She also put an internal monitor on Brayden while she was breaking my water. The actual breakage wasn't that bad, but then I had to pee, and when I stood up - HOLY LEAKAGE BATMAN! I flooded the place. It was kinda funny. I was glad that I was alone at this point (DH was getting coffee with his mom)! So I got to waddle around with a towel between my legs for the rest of the time. I had no idea that you KEPT leaking the entire time after your water breaks. It was very odd. At this point, I was thinning out, but still only about a 2 - but Brayden's head was coming down. My contractions started getting a lot harder, but the monitor wasn't really picking them up, so we put in an internal monitor for that, too. I was about a 3 at this point, totally thinned and B's head was still decending. Everything was looking good - I was breathing through my contractions and had my MP3 player going to keep me distracted, but they were starting to get tougher and a LOT closer together. DH did a great job of rubbing my back, but all of the sudden, my hips and legs were KILLING me and I could NOT relax through the contractions anymore. The nurse checked me and I was only a 4. At this point, I was close to tears from the pain, so I asked for the epi. DH & my mom both double checked and made sure that I was serious, but I just couldn't take any more. I was shaking from the pain and could not relax myself to breathe through contractions - they were too intense and too close together. But everyone said I was doing great - I wasn't screaming or anything, just in a TON of pain. So the anesthesiologist came in and made me sit up (which was a chore in itself, but I actually felt a little better after sitting up and rocking myself through a few contractions). The epi hurt like a... well... I don't know, but it really hurt. Especially having to sit there all still through a contraction that was off the charts (literally). Once that was in, though, I was actually able to talk through my next few contractions and was in pain, but not enough to really bother me (he set me at a low dose). About 20 minutes later, I could tell that my contractions were different, and was starting to have to breathe through them again, but nothing where I actually had to stop talking and stuff, just a little more intense. Then, 30 minutes after that, I could really feel them - when the nurse checked me I was at 8 cms!! She told me that I'd probably start to feel presure and the urge to push soon... 10 minutes later - UM YEAH! I felt like I was having to literally hold him in. She checked me again and I was at 9.5 - she let me have some practice pushes with the next contraction and then called my OB! Then she left the room and was gone for what felt like forever!!!!!! I was really feeling the contractions and was ready to push. I couldn't hold him in much longer... It was really hard!! She finally came back in, I got to push through two contractions and then my OB was there and I pushed through one more. His head was about half way out, but all of the sudden, I didn't really have the urge to push anymore (I felt like the contractions had stopped). My OB told me that I had to push without the contractions because he needed to come out. Let me tell you, that was one of the hardest parts of it all!!! I can't even tell you how hard it is to push without any contractions! I had to push 3 times and his head came out and then another three - the nurse had to actually push my fundus to help him because his shoulders got stuck. DH told me later that she made me push without the contractions because Brayden's heartbeat had actually dropped to 80. I'm sure glad they didn't tell me that at the time!!! All I remember as he came out was how clean he was - I expected him to be a lot more messy. And I remember looking for his "parts" to make sure it was a boy. DH cut the cord and they laid him on me - he was there for a good minute before he gave his first cries. Then they took him away to do all the "stuff" they have to do - he got a 9/9 on his APGAR. I remember DH being over there with him at the warmer and just talking to Brayden and being a good daddy already. They weighed and measured him - 7 lbs 7 oz, 19". He was born at 3:38 pm. I got to feed him about 30 minutes later - after everyone came in and passed him around. He took to the breast IMMEDIATELY! He is a very good feeder. We ended up leaving the hospital 24 hours after he was born, so our first night at home was last night - and I found out he's a comfort sucker. He wanted to be on my breast ALL NIGHT LONG. So much so that by morning, I was crying because my nipples hurt so bad. I swore I wasn't going to give him a paci, but my nipples just couldn't take any more, so this morning we gave him one. It's helped me out a ton. BUT - (and I attribute this to him sucking on me all night long) my milk is already in, and it's helped the sucking a lot. He is actually able to feed now instead of just sucking on me, and it makes him actually stop sucking a lot sooner. And I LOVE Lanisoh. Good stuff. He's amazingly beautiful. He never looked like a "newborn" - he came out looking a week old (except for his cone head). I am still surprised at how big he was especially because according to my ovulation date at conception, my due date should have been 2 weeks from when he was born. He's perfect in every way! Except he had a little heart murmur when he was born. It was still there a little when we left the hospital yesterday, so we have to get it checked out tomorrow when we go back for our first check up. The pedi didn't seem to think it was anything to worry about - said a lot of babies have a murmur at first and it goes away on its own within a few days, but I'm still just a little worried. It all still doesn't seem real. I can't believe he's ours and we get to keep him! He is the most amazing and beautiful thing I've ever seen. I could just stare at him for hours on end - and he's very, very well behaved so far. He only cries when we take his clothes off to bathe or change him (I guess he doesn't like being naked) or when he has gas, which he's had really bad today (he's a stinky little thing!) but mylicon drops take care of that.