walk the plank

6weeks(well...almost 7weeks)

2011-12-06T22:33:00.004-06:00

1 month photo shoot!

I wanted to wait until we had Isa's 1mth appt before I blogged again. :)
Oh little Miss Bunny girl, you melt my heart every day! Over the last 2 weeks she's really started to smile more and today I got the CUTEST smile out of her that I caught on camera!

She's still not sleeping great but she's only 6weeks so I'm not expecting much yet. She also still sleeps quite a bit during the day. She does NOT like to wait to eat and lets you know(she's got good lungs. LOL)

She LOOVES her "baby"

She is still quite the squeaky girl due to her LM and today after reading some on a group on Facebook for babies with LM apparently they don't ever get rid of it. It just gets better, so all this "She'll outgrow it by a year" stuff most likey is not true. :(

She has her big ABR test next Wednesday and a weight check next Monday. At her 1mth appt she was (she was 5weeks) 7lbs 5oz (4th %tile), 20.91 inches(30th %tile). Dr. Park said she will most likely just be a Petite Princess and tiny she is. She's still wearing newborn diapers and newborn clothes. All of her "holiday wear" is 0-3 so she swims in it. LOL! She has a whole tub of 0-3mth cuteness waiting on her! :)

Her first Thanksgiving!! and she's wearing the bow I made to match her outfit!

Our 2011 Christmas picture

Happy Girl!

Her big brothers are still just smitten with her and the other day Elijah was talking to her and then started singing to her(and of course she was smiling at him) and then she started to fuss a little and he responded with: "It's ok sweetheart" (insert mommy puddle here)
They always get so excited when she smiles at them and it makes me so happy to see how much they love her. Even Aaron is warming up little by little, he'll get there eventually.

We are just SO in love with this baby girl, I've even noticed Lance interacting more with her than with the others. He loved them but isn't goo goo over babies like I am but I think b/c he knows she's our last he's enjoying it more. I love to just sit and hold her and talk to her. She coos back now and just has the sweetest smile ever. I feel SO SO blessed and feel our family is complete.

Isabelle Sophia is HERE!!!!!

2011-10-30T22:48:00.008-05:00

Oh my this has been a ride I tell you. We've been waiting months to meet this sweet surprise Bunny and boy what a day it was! We checked into Labor & Delivery at 7am on Oct. 21st, 2011 and we ended up waiting about 30-ish min in the waiting room to be taken back(way to piss off a very pg woman btw...) and finally got to the Pre-op/recovery room to get ready only to find out that there was a miscommunication between my OB and the surgeon who was going to be repairing my hernia. So we had to wait until MUCH later like 11am something before I was taken back.

They got me to the OR and began to give me my Epi which took awhile but I was praised for being such a good girl for not moving around.(Go me!) and then they laid me down and waited for everything to become numb. Finally the time had come for them to start, the made the first cut and then when they got to the area where Isa was the discovered there was an unreal amount of scar tissue from my section with Aaron. and had to do a little bit of "clean up" before they could even get to Isa. Finally it's her turn and they realized that the placenta was NOT out of the way like all the u/s's showed but they would actually have to cut through it to get her out. and of course if you know anything about this subject you'd know that you're gonna bleed like crazy once they start cutting through that sucker. So of course they cut and got her out quickly and began damage control on me with the bleeding. I bled a LOT....lost a LOT of blood, not good. then they began the rest of the clean up to where the surgeon could do my hernia repair, and then after that finished the clean up of scar tissue trying to make sure they had not damaged or ripped my bladder or any other organs(b/c they had a very hard time telling which organ was what from all the scar tissue that was attached.) and every time they'd remove the stuff it would seep and bleed. I was open on the table for 3 HOURS. My last csection from start to finish including having the hernia repaired and a little scar tissue clean up was 23min. So this 3hr crap was unreal. I was numb from the Epi but b/c they were messing with my organs so much I felt pain from inside and it was awful. I was crying off and on and the nurse was trying to distract me with Isa(she was kept in there with us the whole time) and I remember I kept begging them to be done b/c it hurt so bad. The 3 OB's they had working on my also told me twice while I was open on the table that it was so bad that it would be very dangerous for me to ever get pregnant again...good thing Lance and I were done having kids huh!! PHEW!!! I really wish they would have knocked me out for the clean up part...I think it would have been less traumatic for me. They FINALLY finished and got me ready to leave and handed me Miss Isa and we headed for recovery where I stayed from 2:30pm-9:30pm.
Her stats were:
Born at: 12:36pm
Weight: 6lbs 4oz
Height 19 1/2 inches
Apgars: 9/9
and she was PERFECT! Just beautiful and sweet. and we were instantly in love with her. I've watched my husband meet our children 3 other times and I've never seen him fall in love so quickly with one of our kids..not to say that he didn't love the others from first sight b/c he did...but he even said that he was taken aback by her. (swoon!)
The rest of the hospital stay went similar to the csection..things just kept popping up.
First Lance was holding Isa and noticed these holes on her neck...which we then showed the nurse in the room...which lead to 3 Peds. coming in to look at her which then lead to them ordering a u/s of her kidney's which then lead to an ENT coming in to scope her throat which then was supposed to lead to us leaving the hospital and just as we were packing to leave b/c the ENT had given his blessing one of the Ped's came back in to tell us they were concerned about her airway and wanted to keep her over night in Mott's Childrens to watch her O2 levels when she'd cry b/c she started doing this weird breathing thing. So Miss Isa and I spent one night in Mott's. She did very well but we also discovered while we were there that even though my milk had finally come in it was not coming out like it was supposed to..so she was only getting a tiny bit and by day 2 of her life she had already dropped 9% of her body weight. So we started supplementing with formula.
Now...all the tests they had run for these holes in her neck, and also the ear pits on her ears showed that her kidney's were smaller than normal. the things on her neck are called Branchial Cleft cysts and her eyes also have been very gooey and runny...all of this together is leading them to believe that she was born with a condition called BOR syndrome. There is no actual genetic test to give us a real answer but all of the things together lead to this. So they believe this is what we are dealing with. So far the only real things we can see she might deal with in the future are possible hearing loss down the road and even possible kidney failure but these are just things we'll have to watch for as she grows...to make sure her kidney's are growing with her. If they don't that could become a real problem later. Also these Branchial Cleft cysts on her neck drain fluid and we have to watch them to make sure they do not get infected b/c if they do she'll have to have surgery to remove them.
She is just PERFECT to me though. regardless of any of that mess above. We love our sweet little Bunny girl SO much! She is on formula full time how b/c of my milk won't come out all the way and she's finally happy girl(was not when she was full time BFing and wasn't even peeing) and is just as sweet as can be. Sleeps a lot and only cries when she is hungry or getting her diaper changed. She also has this throat condition called: Laryngomalacia which makes her very squeaky. She has her ENT appt on Nov. 7th and they'll be rescoping her b/c they did not get a good look at her vocal cords last time..and also doing a Barium swallow on her to check how bad her reflux is...even though she never really cries from it. She does spit up quite a bit and makes a lot of refluxy noises. We'll see the Genetics doc in the spring as well as have her hearing retested to make sure her ears are still functioning.
The boys just absolutely LOVE her. Isaiah just fawns over her and loves to hold her, Elijah loves to hold her too and helps me when I change her diaper and loves to kiss her. Aaron is just now starting to warm up to her and has asked to hold her a few times over the last few days by saying, "I hold it?" LOL! He also likes to help feed her, her bottles and throws diapers away for me. :) Such good helpers I have!! :) I am just so very happy with my sweet precious Bunny girl...God has blessed our family SO much with her!
Now for some pics!

This is the night before!

waiting..waiting..waiting....

waiting for them to get to her

didn't know he took this one until I looked at the pics...so sweet!

YAY!!!

she was COVERED in vernix still.

doing a little skin to skin while mommy gets worked on

Proud Daddy...he really was smiling...LOL!

Our first family photo!

sweet Bunny!

tiny feet!

Waiting to see her big brothers!

Proud Big Brother Isaiah!

Proud Big Brother Elijah!

Proud Big Brother Aaron!

Refusing to sleep at Mott's!

Look at our little "glow toe"

She looks so tiny in that huge hospital crib!

Ready to go home and waiting on daddy to come get us!

Mommy and her sweet Bunny

Daddy is ready too!

Getting some Mommy snuggles in!

Trying out her crib while mommy washes bottles

Stay tuned for more updates on Miss Isa and her Big Brothers!

Aaron is TWO!!!!!!

2011-09-26T21:47:00.008-05:00

I had planned on doing this post on his actual birthday, but there was just not enough time. (go figure)
Aaron James...you sweet precious peanut! I can't believe you are TWO!!!! I sit here pregnant with your sister and am blown away that you could be this old...it's like I just had you!
How did we go from this:

To this in two short years:

He is such a funny little guy too. He'll see something funny or hear something funny and say,"That's funny?!" or "I funny?" and then just crack up. He also likes to say, "I run" or "I jump" and then he'll do what ever he's saying. He's also becoming quite a good little helper and loves to put the shoes away when we get home. His vocab has just exploded over the last 2mths. He can say SO many things now...only a few things it's hard to understand like for a few weeks he was saying something that sounded like: Tubtouse and I had NO clue what he was talking about until I finally realized he was saying Clubhouse..ask in Mickey Mouse clubhouse. LOL! (duh mom!)

We got rid of the paci or "sassy" about a week after Lance and I got back from our FL trip and it took him about a week before he really forgot about it and only every once in awhile he'd bring it up but we'd always say,"Sassy all gone...Aaron is a big boy YAY!!" and clap and cheer and then he'd do it too and forget all about it again.

He loves to dance and has been trying to sing the ABC's and a few other songs which is just beyond cute. He really is quite the ham(and I thought Elijah was...lol!) He also has started requesting to walk when we go to pick up the boys. (which I let him do if the weather is nice) and he holds my hand the whole way up to the school and the whole way back. Thinks he's pretty big stuff.

He recently has fallen in LOVE with Elmo out of the blue. None of the other boys ever really got into him but for some reason Aaron is just smitten with him, so I decided to make that his party theme. He was pretty excited about the whole thing and we went and bought an Elmo balloon and cupcake stuff, a cupcake stand and streamers. After he went to bed the night before I stayed up and decorated for him. We were not doing an actual party b/c I just didn't have the energy to put into it but I think he had fun. We just hung around the house that day and I cleaned and he got to play with his brothers b/c they did not have school due to the Fall Festival(sweet!) and that evening Lance got back into town just in time to have cupcakes with us and open his gifts. Which were all based around Elmo. At first he did not want to open the gifts b/c he wanted to play with the big boys(Isaiah had a friend over) but my friend and I finally got him to notice the gifts and he went tearing into them begging us to open each thing so he could play with it. LOL! He LOVED the Elmo slippers and the little figurines, and was begging to watch his new Elmo movie. Such a sweet birthday boy and he had such a great day. :)

Waiting for his Birthday Breakfast donuts!

Nom nom!

His Elmo cupcakes...he was SO excited!

My handsome boys!!!

He was beyond enthralled with us singing Happy Birthday to him!

LOVED the candles but wouldn't blow them out...lol

Yay Presents!!!

This pic would have been perfect had a head not been in the way...LOL!

CHEESE!

My peanut in his Elmo jammies and slippers he got from us! He LOVED them. :)

Tonight we also moved him into his toddler bed for good. It's been sitting in his room for almost 2 weeks and I guess I was just afraid to do it...but since we are getting so close to Isa being here that I just decided to bite it and convert the crib for Isa so that we could not go back. He did pretty well and it only took him 30min to fall asleep. I sat next to him the whole time until he was out but ignored him the last 15min of being in the room and that is when he finally gave in and went to sleep. Praying he stays asleep all night(he still wakes up a few times) but did put a baby gate on the door so at least if he does wake up and get up he can't leave his room. (EEK!!)
and it sure was freaking AWESOME to set that crib up for baby girl. This is my first time ever to get to decorate for a girl and OMGosh...dream come true for me. All I have left to do in their room is decorate the walls...we are still waiting on one thing to show up which will be here on Wed. and I need to finish the letters for their names, and then we are all done! I'll post pics once the room is finished. :)

It's been a long time....again..anyone surprised? HAHA!

2011-09-06T15:47:00.013-05:00

So here it is September and I've not blogged since March..but in my defense...the morning sickness was unreal bad until like June.

SO..that being said, We had a pretty crazy spring full of T-Ball games and really really crappy weather.

At the end of May we found out that our Bunny was a GIRL!!!!! (insert SHOCK here) Our Sweet Isabelle Sophia will be arriving on Oct. 21st by repeat C-section!

GIRL PARTS!!!!!

Someone is looking a little like her big brother Aaron!

Elijah my sweet Butterbeanie turned FOUR on June 25th!!! He had a Chirpy party which took a little thinking on my part since that theme is not a normal one...LOL!!

School finally ended in June and we headed for MO to visit our family for 2 weeks. We had a GREAT time seeing everyone that was there and was sad when it was time to come back home but it was nice to be back home in our own beds. :) The rest of the summer was spent pretty much inside b/c it was just too hot to be outside. We went to the lake a few times which was just amazing and the boys enjoyed going which was also their first time ever to go! :) I also turned the big 3-0 at the end of July!!

Me and Isaiah on our way to his Kindergarten slide show night!

Isaiah and his "bestest friend ever" Keegan H.

Isaiah and his Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Theisen. (she rocked!)

Waiting for some of mommy's birthday cake!

Hard at work!

My sweet little cake decorators!!

LOVE MY BOYS!!!!

Trying to get a pic of me and all my boys but Elijah wasn't having it. LOL!

In August Grandma Dana and Tapooh came out to MI to watch the boys for a week while Lance and I went to Orlando, FL for a work trip. It was the National Truck Driver Championships and the week was just awesome besides a little rain...it was a nice break not having to worry about the small people or nap times etc. :) We also go to go to Disney World which ended up getting rained out but oh well...it was a free trip. LOL!
the view of the pool from our room on the 18th floor!
At dinner the first night..there were 30 people total in our group!

At Disney World!! (stupid rain!)

Petting a Sting Ray...very slimy! eeew!

Me and Ash at Seaworld(and B was not in the pic)

Hootin' it up with Minnie and Mickey!

I love this pic!! (We were at Epcot for a Con Way dinner)

All dressed up at the Banquet!

I actually felt pretty and not like a huge whale for once. LOL!

Isaiah started FIRST GRADE today also!!!! and Elijah was supposed to start Preschool today but ended up running a fever yesterday and this am so he had to miss his first day. :( But I'm sure he'll be able to go tomorrow! :)

My handsome little 1st Grader!!!!!

All ready to go!

Poor Butterbeanie missed his first day of school b/c he was sick. :(

Goof balls!

Cute little Peanut!

Don't ask because I don't know...we'll just blame it on Lance. LOL!!

My handsome little Butterbeanie that just MELTS my heart!

My pregnancy has been going pretty good...all my appts have been some what short and sweet and she's sounded good at all of my appts so far. And as far as I know she's measuring right on like she should be. I had an u/s about a week ago to recheck the placenta location and they gave me an estimate weight on her at 32weeks: 3lbs 13oz give or take. :) Our C-section is set for Oct. 21st but I am still hoping and praying that I'll go into labor on the 19th right after mom gets here so she can share a birthday with daddy. :)
I've been working on getting the room ready to add her in since she and Aaron will be sharing a room. She will be sleeping in our room for the first few mths though just like I did with the others. :) I am LOVING all the pink things that are coming into the house too! Her bassinet showed up today too and I got that all set up in my room and it fits perfect in the spot that I needed it to go in. :) YAY!!!!! We are so excited about our sweet Bunny girl and can't WAIT to hold her! :) I'll try to be better about updating this blog and I'm hoping in a few weeks I'll have some pics of the nursery to share AND...Aaron is turning TWO soon!!!! (waaaaahhhh!!!!!)

Dang....it's been awhile....

2011-03-15T21:44:00.004-05:00

SO much has gone on since the last time I blogged..obviously. LOL
Christmas was great this year....it was so nice to just be in our home and decorate and enjoy the holiday. The boys loved their gifts and for the first time ever we "did" Santa. Elijah was dead set on the fact that he thought he was real and I felt SO bad so we did it..and had fun. :)
Grandma Dana and Tapooh came out the day after Christmas and spent a few days here...and the boys had SO much fun(as did we!!) Such a great holiday and we were sad to see them go.

We've also had a pretty rough winter...the kids have been sick off and on since the week before Thanksgiving and here we are in the middle of March STILL fighting crap.
A few weeks before Isaiah's 6th birthday we found out that we are PREGNANT! Can you say SHOCK??!! I was in shock for days...weeks...was not ready for that news. LOL! More on "Bunny" in a few...and on to my precious Mysaiah!

I had such a hard time with this birthday...SIX. He looks so old now...he doesn't look like that little boy anymore. It is almost surreal, and oh he is such a good boy. He LOVES school and has lots of friends and is doing so well with all the learning going on. His teacher told me the other day that he does well with picking up math which I was SO relieved about because I am terrible at math. He's starting to read now a few sight words and we are given a book every week to practice his reading. :) His best friends name is Keegan H(he calls him that including the H b/c there is another Keegan in the room. lol) They are the bestest buddies ever and today the sweetest thing ever...Isaiah has missed a few days of school b/c he's been sick(last friday and this whole week so far) and his mom let him pick a card out for Isaiah and our next door neighbor brought it to us.
He loves playing with cars and Batman and spider man and all those boy things...lol
He loves to wrestle with daddy and playing with his little brothers and when it is nice out...he loves to play outside.
For his birthday this year he wanted to have a party at Build-A-Bear so we invited a few of his bestest friends and oh they had a blast! It was busy but oh so cute! Isaiah made a Star Wars bear and named it Skywalker(lol) and Elijah picked out a Green shamrock bear and named it "Yellow" (his fav. color...lol)

(Poor sweet birthday boy ended up with a fever when we got home too) :(
All in all minus the fever he had a great birthday and got lots of nice things. :)

and these sickies...I am SO tired of them. We can't get rid of them...the boys keep catching things and then giving them to me and passing them around again...sigh. and on top of it all I have had really bad morning (but all day and night for me) sickness with this new Bunny.
So we are READY for spring. It can't come soon enough!!
I'll post again soon with more on our new little surprise Bunny! :)

And we're Walking......

2010-12-14T23:05:00.003-06:00

Aaron's Photo Shoot!

2010-10-05T19:43:00.005-05:00

I just got the proofs of Aaron's 1yr pics from the awesome Photographer that we used. I do NOT know how I'm going to choose!!! There are too many good ones. LOL!!
So here we go...let me know which ones are your favs!! :)
I get one free 8x10 so I need to pick the best pic for that first and then I'll be able to choose the rest. :) Any of these can be switched to b&w too...HELP!!! :)
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Pass the Shrimp!

2010-09-29T11:29:00.006-05:00

and I'm not talking about the kind you eat with that yummy seafood sauce. LOL!
Oh Peanut...my Peanut why won't you grow??
I wanted to wait until his 12mth appt before doing this post so I'd have his stats. :)
Mr Aaron James is now ONE!!! I still can't believe it...and the fact that he's so little still doesn't help any. LOL!

So just a few facts about our sweet boy:

*He can now say: Mama(his FIRST WORD!!), Dada and as of Monday: Hi. Pretty cute. Other than that he does the normal babbling/screaming/bursting my ear drums stuff.

*He took his first steps at his Birthday Party right after opening his gifts. he was pretty proud of himself and kept sitting down to clap his hands. :)

*Still not sleeping through the night but I can get him back to sleep pretty quickly by putting his paci in his mouth and giving him his lovey blanket. (and he still co-sleeps with us occasionally)

*He loves to hang upside down. If he's crying or upset he'll stop and laugh if you hang him upside down.

*He's still in size 3 diapers with plenty of room to spare. Wears size 9mth clothes, jammies and some 6-12mth stuff but it swallows him. and his tiny feet are a whopping size 1. LOL!

*He's got 8 teeth as of right now and I'm pretty sure he's getting ready to cut his 1yr molars with the way he's been chewing on things...LOL!

*He's still on bottles and formula and will be until at least his 15mth appt(I'll explain more here in a bit) and has finally mastered eating baby food and small things that dissolve easily but if it requires chewing it's a no go. He can also do a sippy of Coconut milk or water but he doesn't drink enough of it for me to be ok with stopping bottles. His Ped said today that as far as eating goes that he's behind so he's more at a 8-9mth old level on foods and to just keep working with him.

*This boy LOVES TO DANCE! turn any type of music on and he'll start grooving to it. (I really need to get a video of it...)

*He's started "hugging" us now. He'd sorta did it before but would just lay his head on us...now he actually hugs us and pats me on the arm or back. He's also started doing this to his lovey blanket and his assortment of soft friends(mainly his giraffes and Elijah's Guinea Pig) He'll put them up to his ear and then sway himself and sorta hum and then he pats them. (ummm..can you say MELT MY HEART?)

*He still loves to point at things and people and he learned how to sign,"More" a few weeks ago. I'm working on Please and thank you with him right now.

*He still loves his baby swing and swinging at the park, and is a very fast crawler and LOVES to get into everything.

*He's got a bad temper sometimes and will do this ear drum shattering scream over and over and then either throw, hit or bite. (sigh) I think part of it is b/c he can't talk quite yet so he gets frustrated. Hopefully more words will come soon.

*He's a very sweet boy when he wants to be and just melts my heart over and over each day. He's a Mama's boy but loves his daddy bunches too. He adores his big brothers also and gets so excited when we pick up Isaiah from school.

*He's still in his infant car seat, we could have switched him already to a reg bigger boy seat but he still fits into it so there really is no reason to move him yet. I think perhaps for Christmas if he finally grows a bit we'll do that as his Christmas gift.

*He loves to Patty cake and can do the roll them up roll them up part. Yeah...this kid is SUPER cute. He also likes to it with my hands. :)

*He loves all animals and gets very excited when he sees them.

*He's started making this beyond PRECIOUS puppy type noise throughout the day. I can't describe it...I'll have to catch him on video..but it's so cute when it does it that thinking about it almost makes me cry. SO sweet!
(can you tell I sorta like him? LOL)

Now onto his 12mth appt.
Today he weighed in at almost 17lbs(0%tile)(the nurse put 17lbs but it wasn't quite that b/c the scale kept changing every time he'd move and he'd just moved when she hit the stop button..so my guess is more like 16lbs 10oz) and 27.95inches(4th%tile) He has continued to drop those numbers through out the months. At 4mths he was in the 4th for weight and 42nd for height...6mths 3rd for weight and 30th for height.......9mths 2nd for weight and 9th for height(do you see where this is going?)
and now at 1yr old has totally dropped off the chart for weight. and has dropped for the height as well.
Now...we're not "concerned" per say....but we are at the same time.
Most "tiny" kids it's no big deal b/c they have their own growth curve they follow(which is what Isaiah did) and it's totally normal. BUT...the problem arises when they stop following their curve. Which is what Aaron is now doing and has been doing over the last few mths. His curve has stopped curving.
I have until his 15mth appt (at the end of Dec) to get him to gain some weight or we'll have to run tests. :( I don't want to have to put him through all of that. so Please pray that he'll gain a little so we can avoid it.
Dr. Park said that since we already know he's got issues with Dairy that there could possibly be some sort of absorption issues which could be causing this lack of gaining. If that really ends up being the case then I want tests run so we can fix him and get back to normal life. He said he looks healthy though and does most of the stuff that a normal 1yr old should do. (He's always been a tad slow on all milestones)

So...there you have it. Our Peanut.
To my sweet boy,
I can't even begin to describe the love I have for you. You are the most PRECIOUS child and I am so glad that God sent you to us. Thank you so much for letting me be your mommy!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY PEANUT!!!!

2010-09-23T21:50:00.002-05:00

This is going to be short but I'll update more later..
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR SWEET PEANUT!!!!
I can't believe it's been a year since you joined our family! We love you SO much and are SOO very proud of you sweet boy!!!!

First day of Kindergarten!!!! 2010

2010-09-07T11:07:00.003-05:00

Today is the day!!!
We got all of his stuff ready last night. His backpack was packed up and all of his supplies were in a bag. Lunch was packed.
I woke him up this am and he jumped out of bed all ready to start his day!

He was SOOOOOO excited to go! We got there and had to park about 2 1/2 blocks away b/c of the construction going on right now so we walked to school.
Got him all settled in to his room and found his seat. He was so brave and told me that he loved me and he gave me hugs and kisses and noseies(our special thing) and then I left with just a few tears from mommy.

I am SO proud of him and how well he did! I can't wait for school to get out so I can pick him up and hear about his first day!!

11 MONTHS!!!!!

2010-08-23T21:35:00.005-05:00

I'm just not ready!! NOT READY!!!
Today Aaron James, my SWEET little peanut turned 11mths old!
How did we get here? How is this possible?

He is turning into such a FUNNY little guy, he LOVES to be chased around(crawling) and just giggles and giggles and falls over from laughing so hard.

His "Vampire" teeth are short lived as one of the top middle has finally cut through a few weeks ago. It was cute while it lasted I guess.
He's starting to finally get the hang of eating baby food(still having issues with chewing "real" food so we're taking that one slow)

He's very good at cruising and has stood on his own for a few moments here and there but nothing "big time" yet.

Still not sleeping through the night but I was finally able to cut out the night time bottles so hopefully he'll get the hang of sleeping since he doesn't need the bottle anymore.

We aren't talking yet, just making lots of screaming, babbling noises still but I'm hoping that "Mama" will come out soon!

He just adores his big brothers and his daddy, gets SO excited when he sees them and tries to wave.

He also loves all animals, gets very excited when he see's cats and dogs(and other animals).
He is starting to act shy around strangers now which is pretty cute and gives sweet little hugs and kisses if you ask(more hugs than kisses)
and is just a sweet little boy all around. This kid has stolen my heart time and time again. We are SO very blessed to have him in our lives...and in a short month that sweet precious peanut will be turning ONE! I am just not ready for that. He's still so little that it makes it hard to believe that he'll be one.
I came across Isaiah's 1st year pics today and was blown away by the likeness of them. He is really taking after his biggest brother right now.

Just some cuteness for you!

2010-08-08T00:34:00.006-05:00

We've been up to not much over the last few weeks...
Isaiah busted his head open last sunday and it required a trip to the ER and two stitches, Elijah is in the process of potty training and is slowly getting better about telling me(he's been Poo trained for a while now but we're still working on the potty part).
Aaron has been working on well..being Aaron. :) He's such a funny little guy, he is SO close to walking too. He just stood for a moment by himself yesterday and while we were at the mall play area on Friday I held his hands and he walked pretty well and thought it was pretty cool that he was slightly mobile. :)
On Friday we went to my doc. appt with my Plastic Surgeon and got the all clear to resume normal activities. (YAY!!) and then we went and met Daddy at his office for lunch. The boys had a great time eating there with him and then he walked us around to see the building and meet a few of his co-workers. :) That afternoon we took Isaiah to the Ped to have his stitches removed. He was a brave boy and did a great job holding still. I requested that he not make this a yearly summer activity. HAHA!!
and here are a few pics of Aaron(none of the bigger boys b/c they've been anti-camera lately)

Lunch with Daddy!!

10mths and the rest of our Vaca!

2010-07-27T08:19:00.012-05:00

I forgot to do Aaron's 10mth post...so we'll do that real quick and then the rest of our Vaca pics!

HAPPY 10mths Aaron James!!!
This little guy is a HOOT!!! He is such a fast crawler, can pull up on anything you put in front of him. and it's been quite a challenge keeping him "trapped" in the living room area.

He is still occasionally sleeping through the night and has FINALLY started taking more than 6oz. I have gotten him to take 8oz four different times now!!! maybe he'll grow a bit now(I'm hoping in height first...he's pretty short for his age. LOL!!!)

I love it when he points...SO cute!!!

He still loves his paci and giraffe lovey and we can't forget Perry the Platypus. He's also started dancing when he hears music playing and he's taken to crawling around the house and making these funny dinosaur growly noises.

Aaron riding in style in the Beco! I bought this off a friend a few mths ago and Aaron is just now big enough to fit in it without having to stuff the bottom with blankets. He liked it for a bit then was pretty annoyed that he couldn't move around as much as he wanted to. So I'm not so sure how long this will work for us. LOL!

This is his first "real" bath in the big tub without any baby tub or what not. He loved it but kept trying to stand in the tub...eek!! (and I just noticed that I need to get a cover for the spout. LOL)

He's doing a bit better with solids too...he LOVES Cheerios, Banana Puffs and saltine crackers and just the other day ate almost a whole jar of baby food!!! it took awhile but he did it. :)
Such a sweet boy!!! I can't believe he's almost 1! sniffle!!!

and the rest of our vacation!!
Thursday, July 8th:
We headed out early that morning to Nana & Papa's house(the bigger boys were already there b/c they spent the night) so we could do Aaron's 9mth photos, Elijah's 3yr photos, and then a family shot(plus a few of Isaiah) which turned out pretty good if I say so myself!
Mom had a picnic planned for the whole family(but it got rained out) so we ended up just staying at her house and eating. There were lots of fun people there and Isaiah and Elijah got a chance to hold their new baby girl cousin Charlotte! (Isaiah was pretty smitten with her and still asks me on a weekly basis for a baby sister of his own)

And Aaron got to meet Cousin Dusty for the first time and was pretty taken by her, Elijah was buddies with her too...it was pretty cute!

Getting some iPhone tips from Cousin Dusty...lol

We also took advantage of the fact that a bunch of us were together to take a group photo of all the girls (plus Aaron)
From Left to right...Aaron, Me, Dusty, Granny, Summer, Mom
We were just sitting there on the front porch and started talking about mom's hair first..then we got the idea to dye mom's hair(Both Dusty and Summer are Cosmetologist's..and Dusty works at a very ritzy hair salon in Austin, TX)

Dusty gave me awesome highlights!

and dyed Granny's hair a pretty blonde color! Hot Granny...lol

Summer dyed Mom's hair and got rid of the grey..lookin good!!

WOOWOO!!!! Granny!!!!

Aaron meeting Aunt Tara for the first time!

Dusty and her little buddy

Friday morning we got around and took the boys to say goodbye to Nana at her work! She showed us around and the boys got to meet the office staff. (we were leaving the next day and this was her only chance to give hugs and kisses before we left town) We also stopped at their house and said goodbye to Papa.
Friday evening we left the boys with Gma Dana and Tapooh and Lance and I headed to Tyler and Cassies again for Lance's early 30th birthday Surprise party(which has been planned for a few mths now...hee hee!!!) He was surprised and we all had a great time!!! (Lance's real birthday is Oct. 19th but we won't be around to celebrate with friends..so Tyler and I thought it would be fun to do for him...Thanks again Tyler and Cassie for helping pull this off!!!)

Tyler stirring up the cheese dip!

Lance making his "dumb face" goober!

his favorite..Cigars and a new pocket knife! (and his very first and last scratchers tickets)

Poor Hersey....she did NOT like the balloons so Tyler got the idea to tie one to her...yeah...sorta mean but it was FUNNY!! I've never seen a dog run so fast. HAHAHA!!!!

Tyler performing surgery...Lance had a splinter in his hand.

I love this pic of us!

Enjoying some ice pops!

This was Sat. morning...Lance had already left with the bigger boys to go to Licking to visit the Great's and I was getting ready to head to my Gma Scroggins graveside service, so Peanut stayed with Gma Dana. After that I headed to the hospital to spend some time with Debra b/c she had had a bad asthma attack the night before and instead of getting to go to lunch with me we hung out there instead and I kept her company for a bit.
When I got back Aaron kept Gma entertained while I packed up the van and then we headed out to meet Lance in Rolla(Byron went with Lance and Dana rode back with him) and then we hit the road to go back to MI.

I love this one...you can see his "fangs" hee hee!

I don't have anymore pics from the trip but it was a great time and we were SO glad to be back home in our own beds! Aaron was super excited when I took him back into his room and sat him in his crib.

More of our Vacation!

2010-07-19T22:14:00.009-05:00

Here is some more of our Vacation to Springfield!!
Let's see...I left off on July 4th.
So we'll go to July 5th
TOY STORY 3 DAY!!!
The boys and all the adults(Dana, Me, Debra, Mom and Summer) were SO excited to go see this! and I had been warned by several of my mommy friends that they cried, so I was prepared to shed a tear or two..but DANG! I think I fought off the tears about every 10min or so. haha!! I do have to say though I didn't like the fact that certain parts of the movie sorta went a tad more dark than I would have preferred for my young children...but they didn't seem to mind and Elijah even fell asleep(this was his first time going to the movies) the last 20 or so minutes of it.
All in all CUTE movie and we can't wait for it to come out on DVD so we can buy it!! :)
I only took one picture while we were there and the boys were being silly Oh well!

Afterward the boys and Grandma Dana and I headed to Chick-fil-A to eat a late lunch(and Lance met us there with Aaron) My mom had planned on coming too but was called away due to my Stepdad's mom passing away. (RIP Grandma Scroggins!)
So we (Grandma Dana & I) took the boys swimming!! They had a GREAT time!! and we found out that Aaron loves...LOVES swimming! The kid would cry everytime we took him out of the water. :) and of course I was a good girl and did not submerge my upper self.

Tuesday we hung around Dana and Byron's house until the Great's showed up! (Lura had a doc. appt that afternoon) So we got to play with them and then we all went to lunch and the afternoon included a nap for the boys and I ran a few errands. :) It was a nice calm day.

That evening we went to dinner with Lance's friend Tyler and his wife Cassie! We had a great time hanging out!!

Wednesday:
I think this day was one of my most favorite days of all of them. We went to Branson to meet up with my friend AJ and her family. We went to Splash Country Inn and we all had a great time! That place was perfect for the boys and even for Aaron! After that we went to lunch at DQ and then said our goodbyes! Lance and I took the boys to the outlet malls after that to pick up a few things and then headed back to Springfield and then we dropped the two oldest boys at Nana & Papa's to spend the night. and I can't remember what we did after that...LOL!

Adam and Isaiah

The "Andrea's"
A few fun facts about us...
We are both named Andrea and have the middle initial of J
both of our nicknames given by family is: AJ
and the most recent one is that we are both mom's of 3 boys!
How random is that!! We think we were separated at birth some how. HAHA!

Me and Baby Ty!

There is more but I'll save those for another day!

July 3rd & 4th

2010-07-12T21:41:00.010-05:00

We'll start our Vacation posts about July 3 & 4th! We had just gotten there on the 2nd...but we didn't do much that day since we'd been traveling most of the day. So...On to July 3rd! We went to Nana & Papa's house to visit and were finally going to get to meet Little Miss Charlotte!! and SWEET she was. Oh my goodness. I was in BABY HEAVEN holding her. LOL!! She is almost 2mths old but still so very tiny. and the boys really liked their new baby girl cousin too.

At Nana's house...Aaron, Nana, Isaiah, Elijah, and Logan!

Mmmm....biter biscuts!!

Aaron & Aunt Summer

Me and my precious Niece Charlotte!!

Aaron & Aunt Debra!

He LOVES his new baby cousin!!

Sweet Kisses!!
SOOO SWEET!!!!

Playing in the back yard!

PRECIOUS PRINCESS!!!

Now on to the 4th of July!!

Since we were in town we were able to go to my Aunt and Uncle's house for the 4th and it was SO fun!!! We got to see cousins that we'd not seen in a few years! We brought a pool for the boys to play in and they had a blast playing! The boys also got to do sparklers for the first time this year and they thought that was pretty cool. It was a fun day/evening and the boys crashed when we got back to Byron & Dana's house!

Nana & Aaron

Me and my sweet little peanut!

Yankee Doodle Boy!!

Elijah & Papa watching the fireworks!

Sparkler fun...and some how in the craziness of the day I did not get a pic with Isaiah. :(

Healthy boys!

2010-07-01T00:39:00.002-05:00

I took Elijah and Aaron to the Ped yesterday for their "3 year & 9mth Well child/baby" checks!
First off...I just love...LOVE our Ped. LOVE HIM! He is too funny, he interacts well with the boys and is playful with them...I know that they are in good hands with Dr. Park.
On to the appts...
We started off with Elijah and he weighed in at 29lbs (29th %tile) and was 36.42 inches tall(25th %tile) So he's a tad on the short side...no surprise there...just look at his daddy. HEE HEE!!!
and he did the once over on him and he said everything looked great! and he thought he was a pretty funny guy and was pretty impressed with his verbal skills. He got one shot and was done...and only a few tears.

Next was Aaron...he was weighed and I was a tad surprised to learn that he was only 16lbs 5oz(2nd %tile)....I really thought he would have been a bit more but I guess he pretty tiny still for his age...the thing that surprised me the most was his lack of height gain. He was only 26.97 inches tall. Which means he's only grown an inch since his 6mth appt. (went from the 30th%tile to the 9th for height) His Ped was not really "concerned" per say about his "smallness" but requested that we attempt to chub him up...mainly by by adding a scoop of the powder formula(which usually makes him scream...) to his Ready to Feed formula to make it a bit more calorie heavy. So we started that yesterday and so far so good. *crossing fingers*
He did his once over on him and gave us a clean bill of health and a thumbs up! He also got one shot and only cried for a moment.
So all in all a great trip to the Ped!
We are headed back to Missouri later today for our Summer Vacation so check back soon for a TON of pictures!!!!! :)

9 Months & 3 Years!!!

2010-06-28T23:25:00.002-05:00

This is going to be a double blog about the two youngest!

(and just a warning...all the pics are blurry b/c I wrote the blog on something else...thought it worked great at first...but the pics were tiny so I had to resize everything...didn't turn out so great..lol)

First of all…06-23-10 Aaron turned 9mths!!!! Such a funny little guy too…Oh the things this boy can do! He can pull himself to a standing position and has gotten VERY good at it. He’s learned how to point at people and things and oh my it has to be the CUTEST thing EVER!!! Every time I see him do it it makes me giggle.

We are still working on getting this boy to eat solids…and still have not done too well. But he goes to the Ped this Wednesday and we’ll be able to talk to him about it then. With learning how to pull to a stand comes “Cruising” and he JUST attempted this today for the first time.

I had totally forgotten about that toy and boy he LOVED it!!!(and so did the big boys too…lol)

Still no new teeth(just the same 5) but he’s been drooling a LOT over the last few days so I think perhaps another might be trying to find it’s way up, we’ll see I guess. Another fun thing is with the “trying to cruise around..etc” I figured he might need a pair of shoes since he’ll be wanting to do more “big boy” things soon…but his feet are just so darn tiny still!!! I have several pair of Robeez from the boys but they are all too big…even the smallest size they sell(0-6) is too big on him. So off to Stride rite we went…(Elijah needed a pair of sandals too)and we got him the CUTEST pair of brown sandals Size 1. The lady even told us that we might have a hard time finding him shoes when he’s a tad bigger because he’s got narrow feet. and if you know my boys you’ll understand why I gave that woman a weird look. NARROW feet? Seriously??? Isaiah had wide feet as a baby…Elijah had EXTRA WIDE feet as a baby and still does infact. LOL!!!

I’d post more but I still have to talk about my sweet Butters so I’ll just give you a few pics of Peanut and call it day. :)

See the pointing? CUTENESS!!!

Not a very happy boy…lol

and on to the big THREE YEAR OLD!!!!

06-25-10

This boy was SOOOOOOOOO excited to turn three. He asked every day if it was his party and if he got to eat cake. Silly guy!!!

We started out the day with our usual Birthday donuts!

and then we met up with Mrs Laurie and her boys for a picnic at the park! They surprised Elijah with a gift and he LOVED it…a Woody and Buzz Soccer ball(her boys play soccer!) :) They had a blast!!

We just had a small party and invited our next door neighbors that we’ve become pretty close to. They’re great!!! Mandie and her daughters Bailey(who is almost 7) and Lily who just turned 2 in Jan. (Lily’s daddy was also there too)

Grandma Dana was also here visiting and helping me out while I recovered from my Breast Reduction surgery!! It was AWESOME having her here for Elijah's birthday. :)

First we had burgers then went to the cake and icecream and then onto presents…and to finish the evening off the kids enjoyed some Slip-n-slide fun in Mandie’s yard(since we have no grass yet)

This is the oh so CUTE shirt that Elijah got for his birthday from his Aunt Debra and Uncle Ryan to wear especially for his party since his theme was Backyardigans!!!

Mandie and her girls Bailey and Lily

It was such a great day…I still can’t believe that he’s 3!!!!

I have a TON more pics to share but that will have to wait for later. and sorry there was such a delay…but we were having computer issues that resulted in me getting a new laptop. But now things are working great so be watching for more blog posts soon!!!

8 Months old!!

2010-05-25T22:50:00.003-05:00

My sweet little Peanut turned EIGHT MONTHS this past Sunday!!! I can't believe it! (well..I can but it's hard to swallow as I feel as if I JUST had him yesterday)
So here we go...Aaron James at 8mths:
~He now has TWO teeth!! both the bottom middle teeth and the second of the two just popped in today!

Can you see them??!!

~He can now "crawl", no...more like a scoot/roll/army crawl type of movement...pretty funny to watch as he'll half scoot then roll in an attempt to go forward again...rinse and repeat.
(I have a video I'll try to upload later)
~I'm not sure on his weight but he's still pretty tiny. I think he is growing in height though....he seems to be sitting a bit taller in the highchair now. But if I were to guess on the weight I'd say somewhere between 15-16lbs. He has a bunch of 9mth clothes that he "can" wear but most of them are just huge on him and they swallow him. And those clothes start at 16.5lbs

~He is still in size 2-3 diapers but I think we'll be moving up to the size 3's in another month or so.

~He's still not a big fan of solids...although I was sorta able to get him to eat a few bites that he actually swallowed but most of it ended up either on me or his bib. HA! Oh well...If Dr. Park is still concerned then he can come to my house and try to feed him! :)

~He is such a snuggle bug...like always!

~He still loves his Giraffe's(sophie, his stuffed one and his giraffe lovey) and he's really getting into his Jump-a-roo now...and just goes crazy in it. (video to come soon)

~He still enjoys performing his "Happy Screams" as we call them...there really are no words for these screams...and if you're lucky enough to experience one...I apologize in advance for the temporary hearing loss you might experience...as he is VERY VERY loud.

~He thinks his big brothers are the funniest things on the whole planet. If Isaiah starts jumping up and down in front of him the sweetest belly laughs erupt from that little peanut. His big brothers sure adore him too.

~He has a "Buddy" that is not in our actual family...and we love her. It is Isaiah's Preschool teacher, Mrs. Laurie.
She has watched the boys a few times for me and watched the boys this past Monday evening so Lance and I could go out and celebrate our 7th wedding Anniversary and his face just lights up when she's around. It's pretty cute and I feel SO blessed to have Mrs Laurie as a friend. She is someone that I know I can trust to keep the boys safe and happy if I really need to go do something without them.

~He's finally sitting up. He can do it but since learning how to scoot it doesn't last long as he'll lean over to get onto his tummy so he can escape. (let the fun begin!)

~Still hasn't said "mama" yet..but I hope it's coming soon. He can say Dada but I'm still not convinced that he's actually talking about or to Lance(even though he thinks he is..lol) But he understands his own name and our names(Mama and Dada)

Dear Peanut...
I love you sweet boy. You just melt my heart and I am the LUCKIEST mama in the whole universe to have you as my baby boy! I thank the Lord every day for you, and pray for you every day. I can't wait to see what the next 4mths bring us!! Happy 8mths sweet boy!!!
Love,
Mama

Ho-Hum...Middle of the week fun!

2010-05-04T23:45:00.005-05:00

Well..usually I'd bore you all with LOTS of pictures of my amazingly adorable children...but alas...my laptop hates me right now and will not accept my digital card. SO a post with pictures only of a hole...or what we're affectionately calling "our swimming pool" My next door neighbor and I keep joking that we're going to let her daughter Lily go swimming in it..as Lily loves to run "nakie" and we thought she might have fun...hee hee!
That's right...
I'm going to make you look at a hole in my yard (giggles)
Sigh..this is what it's come to. LOL!!!!
So yeah..about the hole in our yard
Not really sure HOW it happened...but it did. I'm pretty sure it has everything to do with the fact that there are no gutters on our house, which means there is NO where but down, off the roof, onto the dirt/mud for it to go. Then it runs and floods and runs down washing away all of our yard with it. Then there was this:

The sad part about this hole is that it's now even deeper(I'm talking at least 4 inches deeper) than when these pictures were taken...I was finally able to get a hold of the builders and they're sending an excavator out "sometime" They had no idea when he'd be coming...but he'll be coming to fix this massive mess so we can proceed with putting grass seed down. The Gutters are also supposed to be installed this week(or at least I HOPE b/c it's supposed to rain a LOT starting Friday)

Ok..so I sorta lied..I came across these pics that Lance took with his camera that we were able to upload and then was even surprised to find a few from Aaron's birth on there!!!!!
So These are from Isaiah's first Tball game!!

And here is one from Aaron's birth that I've NEVER seen!!! :) Oh my tiny peanut!
There are more but blogger is being a pain in the you know what...so I'll have to stop here.
Hmmm...doesn't that last pic just make your ovaries hurt? LOL! It makes mine hurt...HAHAHA! (don't tell Lance I said that. hee hee!)

7mths!!!!

2010-04-28T22:25:00.005-05:00

I still can't believe he's now 7mths old(on the 23rd...we're just a few days late on here..lol). The first 3 months were such a blur because of all that was going on at the time...and I found myself wishing the time away so we could be together again in our own house, I'm now regretting it.
A few facts about Aaron at 7mths

1. He's still not sleeping through the night(can you say Isaiah? haha)

2. He's still not a big eater(bottle wise) I thought for sure by now he'd be up to 8oz a bottle. Nope...he eats between 3-7oz. Lately it's been more like 3-4oz a bottle, but I think he's got some sort of tummy bug.

3. NO TEETH...and to compare...Isaiah got his first around 6mths, Elijah around 8mths. So he's right there in the middle and I think I can feel some bumps on his gums but nothings broken through yet. He's been drooling a LOT though and has been very cranky the last few days.

4. He's still not very steady at sitting up by himself. He can do it for a few(like 2) minutes but then topples over.

5. He can roll pretty good and that is how he gets places.

6. He's been trying to get up on his knees and rock over the last two weeks(NOOOO...I'm not ready for that stage!!!)

7. He's still not taking/wanting solids. He infact gags and shoves his tongue out when I try to put it in his mouth. I've tried EVERYTHING to get this boy to eat them...and it's just a no-go. He doesn't like regular foods either, he gags on them and then gets really upset if I try to put a bite in his mouth. Sigh...this is a lost cause!

8. He's a very verbal child and LOVES to squeal and scream and "talk" and lately he's been showing his little personality and having little temper tantrums and squaks at me when he's annoyed.

9. His favorite things are his: Sophie giraffe, his two giraffe print lovey blankies and his giraffe lovey(its got a giraffe head and then a blankie for the body), He's a paci boy and the only one's he takes are the Gum Drop paci's, and this Leap frog toy that Elijah got for his 1st birthday from Auntie Debra and Uncle Ryan...it spins in the middle and sings the alphabet and does animal sounds...I think Aaron would sit there and play with that thing for hours if I'd let him. LOL!

10. He's still a tiny peanut. Is in size 2-3 diapers, and is still wearing size 3-6mth clothing(although the onesies in that size seem to be getting a tad short on him) at his 6mth appt he was 14lbs and some oz that I can't remember...and he doesn't feel too much heavier than he was at that time...so I'm guessing perhaps 15lbs now? (both of the other boys were that weight at like 4mths old. haha!)

11. He's really starting to take after Elijah now. He started out looking like Isaiah (and mommy!!) and now goes back and forth between the two boys(I guess it was nice while it lasted with looking like me...sigh....yet more proof I'm WAY out numbered!)

12. He's a very lovey boy, a Mama's boy and loves to be held and snuggled and can even occasionally give hugs and loves to give kisses(well...really more like licks. lol...just ask Isaiah)

13. He adores his daddy too. Sometimes he gets really upset if Lance just walks by him and does not pick him up (usually out of my lap...lol)

There is more I'm sure and I could go on and on..but I'll spare you. :)
We love you SO much sweet tiny Peanut!! What a lucky mama I am to have such a special boy!

I can't believe we've gone from this:

To this in 7 short months!:
(and don't worry my car seat friends...yes we were in the van but we were parked and Lance and the boys were inside a store) :)

Some of this...and some of that!

2010-04-20T22:06:00.007-05:00

I'm waaaay behind again...but I always take a TON of photos that I want to share....haha!
Lets see....We had my very good friend Tori and her sweet little boy Drew come visit for a few days, a few weeks ago. I'd not seen Tori since Elijah was about 6mths old b/c she had moved her and her kids to KY to get married! And I'd not met her sweet little Drewbie yet..so we had a GREAT time visiting and once the kids went to bed...our usual..Phase 10(which I beat her..haha!) and a few other games with some Margaritas!! We had a great time and were very sad to see them go..but they're planning on coming back I think sometime in June with Eryn and Lauren too! :)

Tori was making funny noises and Aaron was trying to copy..lol

Aaron and Tori!

Aaron trying out his new sippy cup from Kristin

Drewbie!!(he just turned 1 in Jan)

Playing at Urban Toddler

Drew the Fireman!!

Mommy and Peanut!

Trying to sit on his own

Playing!!

And here he is trying a Biter Biscuit for the first time...and he LOVED it. and had the same reaction as Elijah when he was a baby...when he'd drop it...he'd act as if the world was ending and start screaming bloody murder. (so funny that my mom and I actually video tapped Elijah and kept taking it from him to see his reaction when we'd give it back..it was pretty funny)

Little mister skinny..the only thing chubby on this kid are his cheeks. haha!

Showing off some of his new clothes for the summer time!

and as you can see...he's got a LOT of growing to do to fit into these...haha!

His swimwear!

We met up with my friend Erin and her son Max(who is the same age as Isaiah)

Trying out the swing for the first time!! and of course he was WAY too little to fit in there so I had to prop him up with a blanket..haha!

Erin pushing Max and Elijah

Isaiah practicing Tball with daddy

Isaiah the T-Ball boy!!

And another trip to the Park... :)

There are a ton more but I'm going to save those for Aaron's 7mth post!
We also had a few busy weeks and took Elijah to the Ped. last week b/c he is still complaining that his tummy "hurties" and we were at a loss as to what to do about it...so he ordered an u/s of his tummy and it found nothing(which the other one before his surgery didn't either) and the next step since that didn't show anything is a visit to a Ped GI(which will take place May 11th) Hopefully they'll have more of an idea as to what is going on(if anything)

Isaiah is really enjoying T-Ball and Lance said that he's doing pretty well. He was even able to hit a ball that his coach pitched to him the other day!! (looks like Isaiah has inherited the Baseball gene from Tapooh) :) His first game is supposed to be this weekend(but as of right now it's supposed to rain) and then the rest of the games will fall on Tues/Thurs evenings at 5pm...which means most likely Lance will not be able to come to most of them since he will still be at work when these take place. :( I don't understand why they have to have them so early...it seems a LOT of parents will end up missing these games b/c of the early time. I guess I'd better get my video camera all charged up. :)

and Aaron...I'll go into detail on him in a few days on his 7mth post. :)

Happy Easter!!

2010-04-09T22:47:00.010-05:00

Here we go again...I'm behind. Big surprise huh. :)
I have SOO many pictures to share that I'm going to just put up the Easter stuff for now(no really...LOTS of pictures)
So here ya go...These are from Isaiah's "Field Day/Easter Egg Hunt" at school...

Aaron chillin in the stroller

Doing the Egg on the spoon game

Elijah watching his big brother...

He was supposed to be hopping like a bunny...lol

Isaiah and his Easter Egg Hunt Loot

Being silly

Just woke up from a nap

Enjoying a freezy pop!

This is from the Easter Egg hunt we went on with Isaiah's Preschool teacher Mrs Laurie and her two boys(one of them is pushing Isaiah on the swing)

These are all I have for the Egg hunt as my camera died right after I took this picture. LOL!
Note to self...Charge camera battery!

Here we are the night before Easter getting ready to dye our Easter Eggs!!

The Easter Bunny Loot....to which Isaiah came running in our room and said,"Mommy....did you see what the Easter Bunny brought me?..oh wait..or did you do it mommy?" LOL! We don't really "do" the Easter Bunny in our house but it's fun so we just pretend..but he knows better. :) After all the reason for this season is not about large bunnies breaking into our house to drop off baskets of toys. :) (Thank Goodness)

My three Easter Bunnies.

Peanut and his new Soft Friends...since he can't have candy...lol

On our way to Church!

After we got back from Church, lunch, trip to Lowes...Isaiah finally got to try out his bike that he got for his 5th Birthday! (please excuse the crap in the background...we're still trying to organize things in the garage.
He was SO excited to finally ride it!

Me and Peanut!

Trying out his new puzzle

Butterbeanie and his new bunny!

So there you have it..we had a pretty good Easter despite not having family around. I did get a video of Isaiah riding his bike too but my camera I guess messed up while I was filming it so I'll have to see if I can fix the video before I post that.
More pics of other stuff to come soon!
Happy Easter!

Happy 6mths Peanut!!

2010-03-29T20:44:00.004-05:00

I know this is a few days late, but I wanted to wait until he had his 6mth check...
HAPPY 6mths to Aaron James!!!! I can't believe he's a half a year old already...doesn't seem possible.

All about Aaron:
His stats from his well-baby check today were...
Weight: 14lbs 4oz. (holding steady at the 3rd %tile)
Height: 25.98(went up to the 30th %tile!!)

His Ped. said he was small but is very healthy and is following his own little curve so he was happy.
He can now roll both ways and has gotten quite good at it too. If I put him on his play mat give him maybe a minute and he's figured out how to roll off of it and starts to roll across the room(RUH ROH!)

He's not sleeping through the night yet but I'm not going to complain too much about that because he's just growing up on me too fast... :)

We've tried solids a few times but he's really not that big of a fan...but his Ped would really like him to start on them..so we'll be working over the next few weeks to get him "liking" them. He does how ever enjoy the taste of Mangos. I got him a mesh feeder to put in his Easter basket this year so he'll be able to chomp on some frozen mango as of this Sunday(very good for a teething baby) and speaking of teething...no teeth yet. But I'm not surprised, Isaiah got his first around 6mths and Elijah got his first around 8mths.

He's become such a happy little boy over the last month or so too...his reflux has seemed to have calmed down quite a bit and he still does spit up a lot...but doesn't scream like he used to, so it looks like we're doing good in that area.

He really loves his big brothers and cracks up anytime they come around and has really taken a liking to his daddy over the last few weeks...but he's still a mama's boy when it comes down to it...and oh I love my little Peanut SO much...such a snuggler. He knows how to give hugs and kisses and it totally melts my mommy heart. He's got such a sweet smile and LOVES to flirt with girls..LOL!!

Kindergarten Round Up!

2010-03-21T00:18:00.003-05:00

We went to Kindergarten Round Up on Saturday. I can't believe my first baby is OLD enough to even be considered for such things...Holy Cow! We walked in and he grabbed my hand...and we met our Principle. She was very nice and introduced herself to Isaiah and gave us the instructions on what to do. Next we moved onto the "treat" table..they had a little bag for each kiddo signing up that had a few fun things in it including a neat plastic Fireman hat from the local Fire dept. (my dad would have LOVED that!) then Lance took the boys to a table to wait while I turned in his paperwork and signed him up for the hearing/vision screening in June.
We then were able to go see the classrooms...I didn't know this but there are THREE Kindergarten classes! This town is pretty little..I was shocked when I learned that...
So there we go walking down the hallway to see his possible classrooms..that's when the tears hit. Seriously...I had to fight back the tears walking down that hallway. Seeing the lockers(which he'll get a locker!) and all the art work and projects in the hallways on display. He kept pointing everything out and all I could think about was that my baby is growing up WAY too fast....even now typing all of this out it's making me tear up!
We met all three teachers, and all three were just wonderful. We'll find out sometime in Aug. what teacher and what classroom he'll get. The classrooms were a nice size and had a great set-up. He really enjoyed seeing everything and two of the classes even had class pets!! (he's hoping to get the second teacher (Mrs Basinger) which he said was his favorite teacher out of the three. (plus she was the one with the fish AND a Hamster!)
When we were done we got to go back to the gym and play a few games they had set up. Then we left..he was pretty excited about the whole thing.
We also learned that they eat lunch in their classrooms for the most of the year...toward the end of his kindergarten year they'll start to take them to the lunch room(which is also the gym) to get them used to it. They do it slowly so they don't get overwhelmed with all the bigger kids that are in there. He's already asked me if he'll get to stay all day and eat lunch there. They also have a "rest" time where they lay on beach towels and have some quiet time and listen to soft music and sometimes the teacher will read a story or something else calm.

All in all it was a neat experience and in just a few short months....he'll be a KINDERGARTNER!!!! *tear*
(sorry for the lack of pictures!!)

Just a bunch of random things...

2010-03-14T22:39:00.007-05:00

LOL...
We've sorta been busy here...
Playing...
Trying solids for the first time!

He was not a big fan of the rice cereal...

Just looking cute...
Almost sitting up...he was able to do this for about a milisecond..and then did a face dive into the carpet..so I'm not going to count it as him "sitting up" yet. haha!

These are from last weekend when Lance's friends came in from Springfield to visit for the weekend! They had a great time and Lance, Tyler and Rob went out Friday evening and then stayed over night in Detroit Sat. evening. I was so happy that they got to come visit, I think they had a great time...and I know the boys had a blast too. :)
Lance has known Tyler since he was a baby(possibly even from the Womb days..not sure on that one though) and he met Rob in college.
Anyway...here are the pics from our fun weekend!

(notice the super capes? haha!!!)

Aaron and Tyler

Butterbean hanging out with Rob and Tyler

the boys playing with Rob in the kitchen

Rob, Tyler, & Lance before they headed out for their trip to Detroit

These are from the birthday party that I took Isaiah to last weekend...it was a bowling party for two of the boys in his preschool class and the first time he's ever bowled!! he had a great time and bowled a 70(with bumpers up)
Since the guys went out for the evening I decided to take the boys to "My Urban Toddler" to play for a bit...they had a blast...but you can tell that Isaiah was NOT wanting me to take his picture. LOL

Aaron hanging out in the pouch sling

This was sometime this last week...Peanut loves to be nakie
He also really likes his toes..can you tell? :)

5 MONTHS OLD!!!

2010-02-23T16:05:00.002-06:00

My sweet Peanut is 5mths old today!!!! I can't believe it!
He had his Ped GI appt today so I know his stats!
Weight: 12lbs 10oz(3rd %tile...was in the 4th %tile last month)
Height: 24.68in(last time he was measured he was 24.76in...so I'm pretty sure there was a mess up in one of the two measures b/c I doubt he shrunk. haha!)
He's a silly little baby too...
He can roll from his tummy to his back...and ALMOST from his back to his tummy....he tries pretty hard. hee hee
he can sit up for like a Milisecond so we're not quite there yet to make it an official milestone.
He LOVES his big brothers and watches their every move and Mommy and Daddy too.
He likes to give me kisses but I've yet to get it on video b/c the moment we start taping he stops and just stares at the camera. lol
He also loves to "talk" or Scream very loudly for the fun of it. (guess he really likes his voice..hee hee)
He's not sleeping through the night yet but we are getting closer I think...he sleeps in our room still in a neat little thingy that is reclined and since getting this thing he's sleeping longer stretches at night(Woohoo!!!) I don't mind him being in my room though...I like having him close.
He loves to snuggle with me and loves to be worn in the pouch slings(as you'll see below in a pic) and loves to play games with me...if you tip him over to the side a few times and then stop...he'll lean himself over so you'll do it again. Cutie!
His favorite toy is his Sophie Giraffe and he still loves his Giraffe lovey blanket and his Paci...if he's upset just pop that thing in his mouth and put the lovey next to his face...3..2..1..ASLEEP. It's magic.
He's my sweet little Peanut buddy. I lurve him lots.
Now are you ready for some cuteness?

Right after a bath

All happily swaddled in his Woombie swaddle in his new sleeping quarters...

BIRTHDAY FUN!!!

2010-02-20T20:25:00.012-06:00

This is a two part post...first part is his actual birthday and the second is his "party" :)

PART 1:
We woke up...or I guess I should say THEY woke me up. haha!! I made Birthday Blueberry muffins for the Birthday boy. and we would have lit the candle too but I realized that I did not have any matches or a lighter(b/c it could not be sent in the truck). So we just sang Happy Birthday with out the candle. :)

He was pretty excited the whole day and something that made me laugh was every time Aaron or Elijah would be excited or talk or coo in Aaron's case, Isaiah would tell me it was because they were excited it was his Birthday. HAHA! Goob!
He really wanted to open a few of his gifts that morning so we called daddy to get permission to open them without him there to which he said Go for it...so Isaiah did. haha!

He opened the gift from Grandma Georgia, Uncle Riley, Uncle Robert, Aunt Erin, Uncle John, and his cousins Kylyn and Kennedy...

He opened the card from Grandma Dana and Tapooh and got some bday money!!!

Next was from his brothers...

Batmobile!

Then a gift from Mommy & Daddy...

Playdough!

New Leapster game!!

He was a pretty happy Birthday boy at that point!
We did some playdough before lunch:

(I know I'm a bit bias but isn't he one of the most beautiful children ever?)

We had to stay at the house until the painter guy showed up to re-do the trim in the kitchen...then of course Lunch and a nap(b/c if we don't get a nap we've got some GROUCHY boys)
After we all got dressed and ready I took the boys to a place called "The Urban Toddler" which is a baby boutique...but also has a play place in it! (coolest place EVER) and there was only one other kid there so we pretty much had a run of the place. (Plus mama can shop while the kidlets play)We stayed there until it closed

Calling Fire Chief Isaiah!!
Butters riding on a Bumble bee

Aaron playing on the giraffe mat(this place is awesome!!!)

and then headed to Chuck-E-Cheese to meet daddy for Isaiah's Birthday dinner. They had a thing there that you could buy a small cake and then have the mouse bring it out and they sing to him! So that is what we did and he thought it was pretty cool (Elijah on the other hand was NOT a big fan of the big mouse.....lol)
They had a great time playing games with Daddy while Aaron and I hung out at the table(so I didn't have to lug all of our stuff around from game to game and hold the baby too)

Poor Lance...he always makes dorky faces when I take his pic...lol

Peek-a-boo!

When we got home we decided to go ahead and so Isaiah his bike(even though after I put it together I found that the box was missing the pedals...grrr) and he liked it and we promised that Sat. evening we'd take him to TRU and get pedals for it.
(ignore all the crap in the background...that is our unfinished basement and the "catch all" for stuff/boxes and other crap we've not gone through yet...lol)

Mommy and the Big 5yr old Birthday Boy!!!
(sniffle sniffle)
My sweet boys!!
Mommy and Butterbeanie

Mommy and Peanut!

All in all..he had a GREAT day, lots of fun and some fun gifts to boot!

PART 2:
Birthday Party day!!!
We had one very excited boy...that asked NON stop when his friend Max was coming over. :)
I picked up the cake and a few balloons for the Birthday boy! I was a tad disappointed about his cake...it was very cute...BUT the lady made the bats and stars too big and too heavy so when I put them on the cake it ripped right through it...and then after I cut a few pieces out of it, the whole thing pretty much fell apart. :( Oh well. at least I got a few good pics of it! He loved his cake and that it had the Batman The Brave & the Bold colors.

His friend Max arrived and the party began!
First presents....
From Nana and Papa...

From Max...(Batman the Brave & the bold toys!!!!)

and from Mommy, daddy, and his brothers...

Then it was cake time...and of course none of these pics turned out b/c it was so bright outside from the reflection of the snow...I guess that is what I get for being slow about getting curtains up on that door.

Then the boys got to play for awhile! They played with his new toys and then with the playdough set that he had gotten to open the previous day...and of course had a great time playing!!

Aaron chillin' with Erin!

Even though none of our family was able to be here I think he had a pretty good Birthday!!
:)

The Big FIVE!!!!

2010-02-18T23:09:00.006-06:00

(FYI....for some reason the date on this post is the 18th...but Isaiah was born on the 19th...)
Five years ago today we welcomed our first sweet child, Isaiah into the world at 5:30am after 24hrs of horrible labor and a Csection. But it was ALL worth it! 7lbs 8oz and 21inches long! and beautiful dark brown hair!

I still remember laying on that bed and hearing the doctor yell,"It's a boy"(which we already knew) and hearing his sweet cry. I was so tired from the long labor and soo tired from the meds they gave me but SO happy to finally have that sweet baby in my arms. I remember being so scared that one of my family members were going to ask to hold him..I did NOT want to hand him over to anyone...I had gone through such a long labor. I wanted him all to myself. LOL!!

I remember the nurse trying to help me nurse him and she was trying to burp him and his back was to me...and me saying,"He looks like a boy from behind even!"(which the nurse thought I was crazy. LOL)
He was such a beautiful newborn. We got so many compliments on how pretty he was.

He still makes this face. LOL!

Isaiah at Five...this kid amazes me every hour of every day. He's very good at trying to change my mind about things. "But Mommy...what if we.....(fill in the blank) instead of doing(fill in the blank)."
He's the most loving child I've ever met. So compassionate, caring, sweet, funny, happy. There are so many more words to describe this child...so many that I can't even name them all.
He can now write his name and knows all of his alphabet, and can count to 20(and even a few more than that if he really tries)
This boy has melted my heart from the day I met him and is still melting my heart on a daily basis. He's a superhero that loves Batman and wrestling with daddy, playing with his brother Elijah...and helping me with his new baby brother. He sure loves that baby brother too...talks to him, sings to him, playing with him...even giving him silly nicknames. LOL!
He LOVES preschool and requests on a daily basis to stay the whole day...because, "Mom...all my other friends stay the whole day" (Mom? when did I become Mom...what happened to Mommy..or Mama? sniffle)
I could go on and on about this child that is so dear to my heart...but I've gotta go put together a bike now(because daddy forgot)
So....to my sweet "Mysaiah"
HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY MY SWEET BOY!!!! We love you SOOOOOOOO much and I feel SO privileged to be your mommy! You are the most AMAZING little boy!!!!!

FOUR MONTHS OLD!!!

2010-01-24T18:17:00.008-06:00

I forgot to do this yesterday..but my sweet little Peanut is now 4mths old!!!!!! (on the 23rd)
I can't believe it's been 4mths since he joined our family...it's gone way too fast!
so here are some pics and some "things" about Aaron at 4mths!
He will be going for his Well-baby check up on the 27th and I'm excited to see what his stats are since he's still so tiny.
Aaron is still in size 1 diapers and is wearing 0-3mth clothing, he's outgrown the 0-3mth cotton sleepers in length so I've moved him up to the 3-6mth ones in those but the terrycloth(like the pic above) still fit fine...so he's still in the smaller size in those. He swims in all the other 3-6mth clothes though..so I'm just going to keep him in the smaller stuff for now until he has a growth spurt. LOL! He's such a tiny peanut!!
He can now roll over from front to back(just started that a few days ago) so tummy time is a waste of our time now b/c he rolls over right away...LOL!
He "talks" all the time, squeals, screams...and is a pretty happy little boy when he's not crying from his reflux. He is a total Mama's boy too...which is sweet..but sometimes pretty tiring when my arms are tired from holding him all day. (he will only play by himself for a few moments until he realizes he's not being held and gets very upset...he's a needy baby)
He has been laughing for awhile and just yesterday I was holding him and Lance was talking to him and just cracking him up...it was so sweet to hear him cracking up at Daddy.

(this is Aaron today!)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We have been trying to figure out his whole eating issues right now too...we've tried 4 different formulas(I'm still nursing him night) and so far the only stuff that does not make him scream and writhe in pain is the Similac Alimentum, which is a Hypoallergenic formula. (it's also VERY VERY expensive..eek!)
His Ped. back in Springfield had us try Previcid for his reflux and it worked for a little bit sorta...but we're now back to it not really doing much and after some research I've found that it really isn't that effective in babies and causes insomnia and tummy issues in them also(which is something that he's experiencing) So we've decided to stop that(he only had a few more of the solutabs left anyway) and ask his new Ped. on Wed. to try something else b/c his pain is not controlled. Sometimes he just cries and cries and he still makes those "refluxy" noises, arches his back, still VERY congested sounding/almost wheezy sounding, etc....so hopefully we'll find something that will work to make him feel better.
I feel so bad when he cries b/c there really isn't anything that I can do for him but hold him...so I do wear him(for those that don't know what that means...Baby wearing...aka..Baby slings/pouches) quite a bit...or as much as my back will allow(still is pretty messed up and b/c I had gotten preggo with Aaron I never go to find out what was wrong with it) and he's pretty happy when I wear him. Which I really don't mind doing b/c it seems to make him feel better and if he's happy then I am.
The boys are still in love with their baby brother....and he is pretty infatuated with them too. It's pretty sweet to see them all together interacting.
He's such a funny little guy and his sweet smile just melts my heart into a big ole' mommy puddle
He has a few favorite toys now...first his Sophie Giraffe, Elijah had one when he was a baby and he loved it...so I thought I'd get Aaron one too and he just gnaws the crap out of it. hee hee!
He also has his giraffe blanket lovey that he sleeps with and that we take everywhere. Along with his paci when he's tired all I have to do is swaddle him in his Woombie Swaddle blanket(which I highly recommend to anyone that is going to have or has a new baby that loves being swaddled)
I am such a LUCKY mama to have such a sweet little Peanut and I thank God EVERY day for that sweet surprise blessing. God really knew what he was doing when he gave us Aaron.

FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL!!!

2010-01-20T23:13:00.005-06:00

Wanted to share with you about Isaiah's First day of Preschool!!!
He started on Tuesday(the 19th) and he was so excited!!
We got there right around 9am and took him to his class, his teacher Mrs. Lori asked him if he wanted to hang his backpack and coat up and he followed her over there and hung his stuff up. Then she asked him if he wanted to go play...he said, "Yeah!" and ran off to play with the other kids that were already there. No tears(from either of us..lol)!! I was SO stinking proud of him! (I was expecting a bad drop off) So the boys and I stayed in there for a few more min...then I took the two younger boys with me to run our errands. When we went to pick him up he was in a great mood and the report from Mrs. Kayla(the director) was he had a great day!!
When we got in the car I asked him what he did the first day and his response was,"I don't remember" (silly boy!) but he did inform me that he was very dissapointed that he did not get to stay for lunch (if you stay past noon it's more of a daycare set up for the working parents) So his teacher told me that if he wanted to sometime that he could stay a day for lunch(so we picked up a spiderman lunch bag for those occasions)
All in all..it was a great first day...and even a second day. He loves preschool...even though he can hardly ever remember what he did that day. (goober!)
I do have to mention though that the Wednesday drop-off went fine for Isaiah but not so much for Elijah...he was VERY upset that brother was not coming with us and that he could not stay with him at school. In fact he started screaming so loud that all the boys and girls in the gym stopped what they were doing to stare at the screaming Butterbeanie and then I had to drag him(DRAG HIM!!!) out of the building with him screaming the whole time.
I'm hoping that tomorrow's drop off is not so bad for Elijah. LOL!!
Now for some pics...here is from his first day!
(I ended up not taking as many as I would have liked to...just got to busy with the screaming Peanut)

and some random cute pics of the boys:

Aaron and his Sophie Giraffe...this is his FAV toy

My sweet little Butterbeanie!

Aaron LOVING his Jump-a-roo!

Swaddled in our Woombie blanket(this thing rocks...you must get one if you have a "swaddle baby" they can't escape!!)

Sporting our Dino Jammies(AJ...if you're reading this..you MUST get some of these for new baby boy!!!)