Our Family

Our Family
December 2013

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Time for Camping!

Our family is off for our first official camping trip in our new camper! We're very excited, but no one more than Aiden.  When I told him we were going to go a day early, he responded with, "Are you kidding me?! No, really, are you kidding me?!"  Lol! He can't wait!! Let's hope we're this excited when we're there with the heat (nope, I don't love the heat!), dirt (ugh!), and bugs (ewe!)!!  This could be interesting!!

I'm sure there will be lots of great memories made and will tell you all about them when we get back next week! 

Hope everyone has a Happy 4th of July!!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Chelsey Has Arrived!

If you read my blog yesterday, you know that I got the text from Christy saying Chelsey was being delivered (yesterday).  I had talked to her on Saturday and she told me that she was still scheduled for her c-section on July 12th so I knew there had to be a reason that within 2 days things had moved up.  It was her blood pressure, it was pretty high so it was time for Chelsey to come out and meet all of us.

They told her it could be a few hours before it would happen because they already had a full schedule for the day.  I live an hour away from the hospital so I waited for my husband to get home, picked up my grandmother, and off we went because when it depends on her blood pressure we knew that "a few hours" could change to "right now" if it went up any higher!

When we got there we went up to see her and she seemed very relaxed and calm.  She was on Magnesium (since her bp was up to prevent seizures) so I think that helped to relax her.  She told us that she was given the time frame of 2:00-4:00pm.  And she almost made it at 4:00, but then an emergency came in and she was bumped. In fact once she finally made it to the operating room around 6:15 pm or so, she was told that she had been bumped 4 times. 

Chelsey Lyn (I hope I'm spelling that right! It could be Lynn. Sorry Christy!) was born at 6:47pm (I believe, if that's not right, it's close) and is just perfect at 6 lbs 4 oz and 20 inches long.  She has a head full of dark hair!

Christy did amazingly well and is glad she's finally here and will be super excited that right about now she's finally able to eat something after not eating since yesterday early morning! I bet that was the best meal she's tasted in a long time! :-)

It always amazes me just how tiny newborns are.  Her little head...sigh...pure sweetness!  I can't wait to get back up there and get my hands on her again.  And for all those around me at the time, I apologize in advance for keeping her all to myself!

Here's a couple pictures of Chelsey with her big brother, Jace.  He is in love. Christy said he asked her if they could keep her. :-) Let's hope he always thinks that!! He did let me hold her for a minute after I took these and then ask me if her could please have her back. 
Jace & Chelsey
Jace & Chelsey








Chelsey & I

Her dark hair
She's a thumb sucker already
Eating her fingers
I think she's shy! She kept her hands in her face the whole time!
Sweet baby girl
Gigi meeting Chelsey
Getting a little fussy
Everybody meeting Chelsey
 Happy Birthday Chelsey!! Welcome to the world!!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Baby Time!

Today's the day!! I'm going be an aunt again!!! I just got the text from Christy, my sister, that they're delivering her little girl today. I'm so excited to meet her!!!  Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly!! And you know me...of course they'll be pictures to come!!! Eeeeekk!!
 

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Kids Pictures

I LOVE pictures! If you could see all the pictures in my house, you would know how true this statement is! 

My husband and I took the kids and got their individual pictures and a few family pictures done back when Emma was 3 months old.  She's now almost 14 months old and we haven't been back since. 

The problem...the stress of the perfect outfit! Ahhhhh! I know it shouldn't be that big of a deal but for some reason I make it one.  Just thinking about what is she going to wear or what's Aiden going to wear is enough to stress me out and make me say, "Forget it! I'll worry about it later!"  Is this the only thing that stresses me about picture time, no.  I always worry about how the kids are going to behave.  Aiden is in his "I don't have to listen to you" phase so I'm worried about him behaving or misbehaving in public, pretty much.  And Emma doesn't get away from us often so I'm worried that all her pictures will end up being horrible because there's a stranger in the room and she can't be right next to us. (Which often results in a screaming fit) Also keeping them entertained after the session so we can go through all the pictures and pick out the ones we need to have and, of course, I think I need them ALL!!  Now you can see why we haven't been back in 11 months!

I could probably solve all this stress (but the outfits) if we had a private session with a professional photographer and go to a location, but that's just not realistic for us (as much as I would LOVE that!).  I just need to suck it up and get it done!  So maybe after our vacation, on a day Patrick is home, we'll see how it goes!

And I've thought about it for so long that I might even have an outfit picked out for each of the kids!  Aiden is probably going to go with a Polo shirt and khaki shorts he got for his birthday (at least for his 4 year old picture).  Here's the shirt:

For Emma, I'm thinking either her Easter dress (if it still fits) or a yellow dress she got for her birthday.  It's a little fancier than every day wear so it could be perfect for pictures. 
Easter Dress:


Or the yellow dress:

New problem, if we get their picture done together, it doesn't match so I'll need to see if he has a yellow shirt to match her or if she can wear something to match him.  Or maybe they could both change and do her in one of these outfits (probably the 2nd one) and do a blue or white polo shirt for him.



I know it shouldn't be that be of a deal but I stress over these things! I'll let you know how it goes!!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Your 3 Words/ Lightning McQueen's Back!

Lightning McQueen's Back!!

 Today's the day, the new Cars 2 movie is out and we are so excited! Aiden was obsessed with the first Cars or "Grusty" movie as he calls it for some time.  Why Grusty?  When Mom was baby sitting him for us, they would watch Cars or play with his Cars toys. Lightning McQueen has Rust-eze written across his hood, Mom didn't know and thought that was his name so that's what they would call him and it stuck for Aiden. To this day he calls him "Grusty", unless you ask what his real name is, then it's Lightning McQueen.  It's funny to see people's faces when he tells them about Grusty because they have no clue who that is or what he's talking about!

Patrick told him maybe a year or two ago that Cars 2 was being made and when it was, they would go see it. No fair! I wanna go to! Why should the boys get to have all the fun?!  Recently he has become obsessed with it again, having to watch it at least once a day on most days.  I think it's because he knew it was close to coming out in theaters again.  This is the first movie that Aiden will be going to see in the theater (praying that he can sit quietly the whole time!)!  I'm not sure when we'll be going because we'll need someone to keep Emma for a couple hours since I know she doesn't care about the movie! 

Can't wait!  Ka-chow!!

 
 
Got this idea from a wonderful blog that I've been following for some time (jennifromtheblog.com).  And I can't believe it only took me maybe 20 minutes to figure out how to attach this button to my blog.  Hope I can remember what I did for next time! :-)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Holy Tantrum!

For those of you who know Aiden, you know that he is very head strong (just like his Mama).  He has been testing the limits big time lately and it's driving us crazy!! Talking back, doing something just because we told him not too, just overall not listening. Now, I knew about the terrible 2's before I had children, then when we had Aiden and he turned 3 we were told that really 2's weren't that bad, that the 3's were...WHAT?!?! Well people, he's 4 now so wasn't this supposed to turn off like a light switch and he's now an angel?? No? That's just not fair!!

I think because I stay home with him, he knows that he's not gonna get away with too much because Mama don't play that! :-) But Patrick, poor Patrick, that boy just does not want to listen to him. He ended up in time out the other day for probably not listening and he just thinks it's a game. I had to get up and go upstairs with Emma so she would stay out of the way.  Awhile back I bought a book written by the Supernanny because I think this woman is fabulous! I mean come on, who doesn't want this woman to come to their house and whip their kids into shape??  So I got my trusty book out to read just what exactly to do with his whole time out thing so it'll work.  I passed it on to Patrick to read as well. 
The basic points are:
  • give 1 warning (oops sometimes I do more than that)
  • take them to time-out if they do it again and explain why they are there even if they are yelling or crying say what you need to say and walk away (got it!)
  • time out should be 1 minute per year of age...so Aiden's got 4 minutes 
  • When their time is up, go over and get down on their level and re-explain why they were there and have them apologize
  • Hugs and Kisses
The big issue we run into is that Aiden thinks Patrick is playing a game with him.  He does NOT stay put.  He gets up and runs away over and over and over again laughing while he's doing it.  Supernanny says to get them and take them right back to time out but do NOT talk to them, they are just trying to get your attention and a reaction from you.

Last night Aiden got put in time out because he didn't listen to Patrick after he gave him a warning to get out of Emma's crib.  So to Aiden the game was on.  He got up and ran, and got up and ran laughing and giggling over and over.  At one point when Patrick was trying to get him to take him back to time out, I heard Aiden telling him, come this way (around the table) not that way.  What?!?!? This child has lost his mind!  I am SO proud of Patrick! He kept his cool and just got him and put him back I would swear at least 100 times.  I mean this did take about 50 minutes!! Yes, you heard that right, 50 minutes this went on!! I was ready to lose my mind 5 minutes in, but Patrick didn't!  You could tell when it was finally sinking into Aiden's brain that this wasn't a game because the laughter and smiles turned into anger and tears, but you know what, it worked! He stayed there for his 4 minutes!! Hallelujah!!

Now according to Ms. Supernanny the whole testing it thing should decrease as he's learning you mean business...I sure do hope she's right!!! 

Monday, June 20, 2011

Relay for Life

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my family and I walked in the Relay for Life Friday night.  Cancer often times makes you feel helpless, like you can't do anything, but through this you realize that you can help out.  In case you aren't familiar with Relay, your team raises money which is then donated and used for cancer research, prevention programs, detection/treatment programs, and more.  If you're curious to see just where your money goes, click here.

This year the theme was Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  Each team was supposed to pick a color that represents a cancer and decorate their campsite in that color.  We chose teal, which stands for ovarian cancer since that's what Mom had. 

Here is a picture of the shirts we had made. You can't really tell here but the writing is teal:
Front view
Back of the shirt
And our lovely campsite:
I love sparkle!!
Our team was ready to do this!!
Resting up before the walk started
Listening to the Opening Ceremony
Opening Ceremony
Emma thought this cement area was her stage
They had a balloon rainbow to go with the theme and Emma thought it was fabulous!! She had a good time dancing under it and trying to catch it as it blew in the wind.
Dancing baby


Busting a move
Hahaha, she's a silly girl
 I kept an eye on the weather all week and all week it said 50% chance of storms. Not. Good.  Who the heck wants to walk around a track in a thunderstorm?! I'm sure there's a few crazies out there that wouldn't mind, but me, I don't want the lightning shooting me as Aiden would say! Thankfully the weather was beautiful and the rain held off until we had just gotten in the car to leave. I think we had a lot of angels looking out for all of us that night!
It was a beautiful night for a long walk!

Emma was such a good girl.  We decided to keep her with us, since she is still very attached.  She had a lot of fun walking the track, playing in the chairs, watching the giant bubbles being blown, and dancing...lots of dancing.  I was worried how she would do at bedtime and though she wasn't happy at first, she went to bed and slept the entire night, even being next to a bunch of loud mouthed lovely ladies.

Big girl





Em trying to get on the cooler, which was her stage for dancing

Aiden spent the night at Aunt Kelly's because we knew that he would not be a good sleeper like Emma (Boy do I wish he could take some tips from her on that!!).  She brought him and their kids over for a visit before it got too late and they had a lot of fun too! 
Hanging out at our campsite

Peek-a-boo!

Me and my little man
Hunter and Aiden
 In case you aren't sure how this goes, you don't have to walk the entire night by yourself, even though my back and hips felt like I did!  You just have to have at least one person from your team out on the track at all times.  That way some people could sleep while others are walking.  I wish I could do that but I think I'm too nosy for that! I wasn't able to sleep at all, so you can imagine how tired I was the next day! I chose to snack instead of sleep. :-)  I figure, hey with all this walking I'm doing, I need to eat to keep the energy up! That's a good reason, right? No?

Patrick & I on one of our breaks
He thinks he's funny and I didn't even see him do that until I looked back through pictures.
Me and my favorite girls, Aimee & Kelly
 The most touching moment of the walk for me is the lighting of the Luminaria.  These are bags that people purchase and they have "In Memory of" or "In Honor of" whoever you want to put on there.  They line these bags up around the track and when it gets dark they have everyone stop walking and have a little ceremony to light them.  It always brings tears to my eyes when it comes to this point because this allows you to sit and think about those we love and have lost or those still fighting the fight.  I always think to myself, "I wish Mom could see this, she would really love it," but you know what, I think she can see it.  I think she's there with us every step of the way.
For Patrick's Mom
For my Stepdad
For my mom
Another one for Mom
We moved their bags together because that's the way it should be.
 

Now, lit up
Part of the track
Mom & Kevin's
And again
I just like this one.
What relay is all about.
 I wish I had gotten better pictures of those, but nothing shows it better than to see it in person.  If you've never participated in a Relay for Life, you should try and look for one, even if it's just to go see this part, it is amazing.

I am so proud of my family/team. Together we raised just about $2000.00 for this cause.  Wow! What an awesome feeling to know that we're doing it, we're standing up to cancer!!