New Year, Comin' up

For those of you who heard Jade's "Birthday comin' up" way back when she was 2, the title of the post will make sense :)

I have so much catch up to do, it makes my head hurt.

Or maybe its the lack of sleep.

I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy new year, and I "promise" to try and catch up soon(ish).  In the mean time if you want to see pictures of things like my mom's visit or Loch's baby blessing, visit my facebook page here.

Oh! And Lochlan smiled today for the first time (while being awake).  It happened just as Calder was giving him a hug, which was so so cute.

2 Weeks & 2 Days/The story

Our Lochlan is just over 2 weeks old today.  Our calendar today says "Baby Due ♥".  We lucked out.

We also realized that we now actually have 2 sets of twins.  They just happen to be 5 years apart.

Loch

Jade

Loch

 Jade

Loch

Jade

And now...the story

Nov. 24

10am Made the 20 minute trip into town for some Christmas decorations

4pm Made a 2nd trip into town because I forgot something

6pm Finished decorating

8:30pm Mom (Ondrea) is back from VA and comes to our house for about a half hour

9:45pm Water breaks...call mom to come back, call neighbor to come so we can leave sooner

11pm Arrive in Rexburg

Nov. 25

12:45 am Lochlan Bradley is born finally after a grueling 3 hour labor  

 The Family

 Happily Ever After

{Early} bundle of joy ♥

 

Lochlan Bradley McKee

Born November 25 2012 @ 12:45am

6lbs 

19 in

I'll save the story for later today.  Or next week.  Or something.

For more pics visit my facebook page

Thoughts after Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving, but at the end of the day mostly I found myself just very overwhelmed with the thought of going into labor and having a 4th child.  Will there be a snow storm? Will it be the middle of the night? Will I even make it there? And then of course how in the world will this work once I get home.

Just now I was so tired that I actually sad down on the couch (I spend a surprising amount of time on my feet).  Somehow it took me several minutes to realize that I was being sandwiched by Everest and Calder.  I don't know how long they'd been there but they were just sitting quietly with their heads against my arms.  Wow.

And this is what I decided.  The fact that I will have 4 kids 5 and under doesn't mean that I have it harder than anyone else.  Its just that my "trials" are more obvious, which is why people ALWAYS ask me "How in the world do you do this?" or "This wasn't planned was it??" or "How do you stay SANE!".  I have the same moments as everyone else where I think I can't do this any longer or life is never going to get easier.  But then I have moments like this one, where I think if I'm going to have to go through something very difficult, at least they really love me.  It could definitely be worse.  I'm sorry for those of you who are going through difficult things with seemingly no rewards (for now).  I just hope that when my life calms down a little I'll be aware of what people around me are going through so I can help!

 Our very small and casual Thanksgiving dinner (that still didn't seem so small once it came time to clean up).

Watching Brave together ♥

And we're back

 To test this "new author" theory I am going to do a Thankful post.  I knew I couldn't trust myself to do a post every single day of the month with what I'm thankful for, but this I can handle.  I've got plenty.

I'm thankful for...

•Denisse for her suggestion to add a new author to my blog to avoid paying for more storage space :)

•Huckleberry Hollow Crafts and my friends Amber and Wendy for helping me decorate my whole house for every single holiday and season.

 •Guardian angels (like I said before) for keeping my children alive.  Calder threw a very large, hard toy at Everest's head yesterday.

 •Calder being so needy and cuddly lately

 •Aaron taking on the basement project and getting it finished for winter!  He got an early Christmas present as a reward.  Another reason I am thankful for the basement (so he has somewhere else to go to play this).

Also...

•The fact that our house sold, for our listing price, and that we don't have to move out in the winter
•We are having an actual "fall looking" day in celebration of Thanksgiving.  Its not snowing.
•My due date is in less than 3 weeks!
•I'm able to have children...I love my children
•I have a wonderfully caring and attentive family (husband, parents, sister, family-in-law, children, grandparents)
•My family is forever
•My church is true

And lastly (for now)...

I get to eat a really great meal tomorrow prepared mostly by Aaron (because, like I said, he is wonderful).  And his turkey is the best turkey I've ever tasted.  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!

Important question

I have reached my photo upload limit several times on blogger.  In the past I have gone into Picassa web albums, where it says all my blogger photos are stored (I really don't understand this) and just delete ones that I don't care about to free up some space.  But is there an easier way? Are most of you paying for extra storage space? And that's the other thing, I decided to just go ahead and purchase extra space but it told me I have to scan in all my personal documents like a photo ID and credit card to be able to buy anything.  This is ridiculous to me.  So whats the best solution? Just starting a new blog under a different account??

I hate change...

News

Most of you already know that we finally got an offer on our home!  It was on the market for 6 months, our realtor told me that our house showed better than the majority of the homes she showed (not necessarily showed more, but had better feedback), but somehow the people who are buying our home have never been to see it in person, only in pictures.  They're pretty brave, but I think they'll be happy with their choice, our house is awesome :)

So they offered $9k less than our asking price, but we countered BACK to our asking price since our basement has been finished since we listed it, and we included in our counter offer that we needed to be able to stay in the house until spring.  And they accepted!  Pretty perfect.  So we'll get to enjoy the carpet that we just had put in the basement at least for a few months.  And now if you come to stay with us you won't have to walk on concrete.

In other news...

Jade likes to draw pictures on my phone and save them.  Most impressive about this picture is the fact that I didn't tell her the order of a rainbow's colors!

 I went through my boxes of Calder and Everest's clothes and this is how many clothes I have from 0-6 months alone, so in case you were considering buying us clothes for the new baby I'm pretty sure he doesn't need them.

 I'm so happy that Aaron's landscaping season is winding down.  I know he'll be bored out of his mind staying home all day but we definitely love having him here.  And he's still coaching so he won't be THAT bored.

 I know they say TV rots your brain but seriously there isn't much that makes me happier than seeing this sight.

 And to prove that I let my kids watch too much TV, Calder saw the hand prints in the construction dust on our screen, and his response was "A clue! A clue!".  Who knows what that's from? Then Everest and Jade heard him and came running and they all said it.

 This is really blurry but I still love it.

 We were leaving for what may be one of our last dates for a while. And I guess I should have cropped Aaron's hand out of the picture :) oops

 This is my 35 week belly.

Now only 4 weeks (or hopefully less) to go.

And even though the last of the Twilight movies is coming out in 3 days, I'm already looking forward to this one...

FRESH BEAT BAND LIVE!

Well I didn't sell my tickets, and I'm so glad I didn't because not only was it the 2nd most fun concert I've ever been to (2nd only to N'sync) but I didn't go into labor!

 We stayed in a hotel directly across from Abravanel Hall in SLC where the show was.  Here's a view from our floor.

 I asked Jade who her favorite was and she is pointing to Marina

 VIP passes!

 I didn't take THAT many pictures during the show because I was too busy taking video (which apparently I wasn't supposed to do and was told so about halfway through, oops)

 "The after-party".  There were crafts and snacks and other activities.  Like this...

 Including THE fresh beats.  Marina is holding the picture that Jade colored for her.

 And of course I had to jump in too.  I'm a pretty cool mom.  Right??

 The view outside the theater.

 Oh, and Everest and Calder were there too :)

I'm so grateful for Aaron for making the trip with me and watching the boys.  And for my mom, dad, and stepmom for going in on the tickets with us!  Jade will never forget this experience.  Ok I probably won't either :) 

Also on our trip itinerary: Staying at Jace's new house so the boys could practice their stairs and play with cousins, and visiting Grandma Johnson and Grandma Salisbury.  More pics to come when I get a hold of Aaron's phone.