What? It's May? Seriously?

May 1st to be exact.  What the heck?  The past 6 months have gone by so quickly I can hardly believe Bryce is now 3 and a 1/2 and Aubrey is 8 months old.  Wow.

I put off blogging partly because I have been busy adapting to being a mommy of two (how do people have 3, 4, 5? yikes!) and partly because I wasn't sure where to start.  My mommy guilt has finally kicked into overdrive, realizing I have documented so little of Aubrey's first year.  So here I am.  Playing catch up.  Again.  This time we'll start with April and work our way back.  I think I'll just do a few posts with the highlights of each month.  If you don't want the details, feel free to scroll down to the pics :)

April kept us busy.  The highlights:  Mom's birthday surprise dinner at Joe's Crab Shack in Tempe.  While the food left much to be desired, the atmosphere made up for it.  The kids had a great time and we all loved watching the servers embarrass mom.  So much fun!  There was also the semi-annual neighborhood garage sale that we participated in, again.  I hate holding a garage sale, but we had a bunch of random things that were headed to Goodwill anyway.  I guess it was nice to get some cash out of it.  We had a couple of play dates with friends from MOMS Club- which might just be more for me than for the kiddos :)  I also hosted this month's Recipe Club for MOMS Club, which was a lot of fun.  Although, I was so incredibly bummed that my super yummy pumpkin muffins turned out not-so-yummy.  I'm not sure why, but everything I make for recipe club never turns out quite like it should.  Not like it normally does, anyway.  Our neighborhood Egg Hunt was a week before Easter this year and Brian had to miss it due to work.  Darn!  I took the kids on my own and enjoyed watching Bryce get into it more this year.  Unfortunately, I somehow missed getting a picture with the Easter bunny!  Lame!  We had our own egg hunt in the backyard on Easter morning, found our Easter baskets, and enjoyed brunch together as a family.  The afternoon/evening was spent with the whole family at my parent's house in Mesa.  My mom created a super fun egg hunt for all 9 of the kids and we enjoyed an amazing Easter dinner together.  Oh, and Brian took Bryce to a Giants vs. DBacks game.  I think it was his 3rd MLB game so far.  Arizona does have some perks :)

The only bummer of the month was Bryce experiencing his first real illness.  He made it to 3 and 1/2 without throwing up and I'm super thankful for that.  It was bound to happen sometime though and this year everyone has been getting sick so it was no surprise when he came down with it.  Normally he's still bouncing off the walls when he has a fever.  This time he actually laid around on the sofa, like a 'normal' sick kid.  I felt terrible for him!  Of course, Brian and I caught it too.  Luckily, Aubrey got through it with just a low grade fever.  Here's to hoping it stays out of our home for the rest of the year.

Oh, and Aubrey's first tooth finally poked through on Prince William and Catherine's wedding day :)

Well, that was April in a nutshell.  Here are photos of some of the fun:

Mom's Birthday Surprise:



My sick 'lil boy!


The baseball game:


Neighborhood Egg "Hunt" and other fun:


Easter:

Our Monkey Is Three

I can't believe three years have gone by since Monkey joined our family.  It's hard to remember what life was like without him.  Well, I actually remember being able to sleep in sometimes...


Bryce can be a handful.  In fact, there are days when he makes me seriously question my parenting abilities.  But, he's also such a joy.  His smile is absolutely contagious and so, so sweet.  

He has such a kind heart and is very empathetic.  He always shows such genuine concern when someone gets hurt, is sick, or just upset.  He also loves watching over his little sister and constantly checks in to make sure she is ok.

He's a goofball!  Brian and I are always laughing at the silly things he says and does- we often wonder where the heck he comes up with that stuff!  

Oh how we've enjoyed the first three years of his life.  I love seeing him learn and grow every day.  It's amazing to think just three short years ago I was cuddling him and smelling that new baby smell in a hospital in Portland...

We love you, Bryce!  Happy 3rd Birthday to our Monkey, our Little Man.

Yes, we're still alive...

Gosh, I'm so behind.  When I get this behind it's difficult to catch up because I don't know where to begin.  What have I missed?  Bryce and Daddy attended our neighborhood "Pirate Day" in September.  Grandma Jeanne visited at the end of September.  Bryce and Daddy attended our neighborhood camp out/fishing day.  Brian had a birthday.  Aunt Devina visited in early October.  We went to Schnepf Farms for the chili/pumpkin festival. Bryce started a new preschool.  Aubrey is busy growing and sleeping (thankfully!).  I'll add details and pictures later.  Oh, and I made really yummy pumpkin soup for dinner last night :)

Until then, I leave you with this gem:

Aubrey's Birth Story

Aubrey made her grand appearance one week early (to the day) on August 26th at 4:25am.  She weighed in at 7lbs, 1 oz and was 19 inches long. Such a difference from Bryce's tiny five and a half pounds!  

I think most everyone has heard the story but I wanted to get it down here as well since I don't journal.  This silly little blog is where all of our memories get recorded.  Basically, I'm saying this is going to be a LONG, detailed post.  My apologies ahead of time...

I woke up at 2:30am on Thursday morning for my second nightly visit to the bathroom.  The minute I got out of bed I noticed some light cramping- not unlike what I had been dealing with for the last 6 weeks.  So I shrugged it off, made my trip to the bathroom and crawled back into bed.  Then I felt the cramping again. And again.  Uh, oh. I realized the cramps were coming in a pattern, about every 5 minutes.  I thought that was pretty odd, since the cramping was totally bearable and just like the ones I had with Bryce nine hours before he decided to show up.  I began to wonder if I simply didn't drink enough water that day (which can cause cramping).  I headed down to the kitchen and chugged a glass of water, got back into bed and laid on my left side (cuz that's the side they tell you to lay on).  When the cramps still didn't go away I figured I ought to pack my hospital bag (yeah, I hadn't done that yet.  I sorta figured I'd have HOURS again like I had with Bryce).  At that point I decided I should call mom and wake up Brian.  It was about 3am.  I wanted to really make sure I was really in labor before I woke anyone up at that time of the morning...

Brian has a habit of freaking out when he gets woken up in the middle of the night.  So I decided to approach the topic delicately and said "Um, don't freak out, but I think I'm in labor."  He seemed a bit dazed, replied with an "OK" and rolled over.  I guess I didn't sound serious.  "Um, that means you need to get ready to take me to the hospital."  He jumped up, started to get his gear together and I decided to take a shower.  Yup.  A shower  (hey, I did that with Bryce, too.  Remember, I had HOURS).  While enjoying the hot water I noticed the contractions were getting stronger.  You know, the kind where you have to stop doing whatever you're doing to breathe.  It was about 3:15am and I couldn't believe how fast things were progressing-not at all like when I was laboring with Bryce.  I quickly realized I better get my butt in gear and stop dilly-dallying.  By 3:30am I was downstairs, on all fours, trying to not wake up Bryce with my moaning/groaning.  At 3:45am I asked Brian to call my mom and figure out where she was.  I was starting to worry that Brian would be delivering our baby on the living room floor...

Luckily, my mom was pretty close to our house.  Brian packed up the car and I waited by the front door.  In lots of pain.  Trying to be quiet.  When mom got there I barely said two words to her and rushed out to the car.  Sitting in the passenger seat was not comfortable.  At all.  It was the longest 4.4 mile drive of my life (and Brian's).  That was with Brian running 2 red lights and driving about 20 miles over the speed limit.  We actually passed a cop driving the opposite direction.  We both nervously watched our rear view mirrors to see if he was going to turn around and chase us down.  I don't know what we would have done if he had pulled us over...

During the drive, my contractions increased in frequency.  They were now coming about 2 minutes apart.  Crap.  When we got to the hospital I was in the middle of a contraction, so I sent Brian in ahead of me.  When I got out of the car I was met by, I dunno, the ER greeter?  Who so nicely asked if my water had broken.  When I said no, she said (in a sickeningly sweet voice), "Oh then you just need to RELAX.  You have LOTS of time if your water hasn't broken."  At that moment I wished I was Cyclops (from X-Men) so I could shoot my laser beam eyes at her.  I had to check in and was having contractions in the middle of spelling my name and giving them my address.  I honestly can't believe they didn't just rush me to Labor and Delivery, especially since I had pre-registered.  Isn't that why you do that???

Finally, they sent me upstairs.  In a wheelchair.  Yeah, like sitting in a wheelchair works when you're having contractions.  Bad contractions.  Like, I'm ready to push contractions.  Plus, the lady pushing me was taking her sweet time.  I wanted to yell, "let my super-fit, sub 6 minute-mile running husband run my upstairs lady.  I am not interested in taking a Sunday stroll.  I'M IN LABOR AND ON FIRE."  Did you know that it feels like you're on fire?  I had an epidural with Bryce so this was all new to me.   She rolled me right into OB triage and asked me if I wanted to go to the bathroom.  No, I want to push this baby out, though.  I'm pretty sure I was moaning/groaning/screaming loudly enough for the whole L&D wing to hear me.  Oh, the poor women in early labor getting an earful of what was about to come...The charge nurse rushed in and said "Get her into a room!"  Thank goodness somebody could tell I meant business.  This baby was on her way!

I crawled up on the bed and had a hard time cooperating with getting the fetal monitor around my belly.  I was too squirmy.  My contractions felt like the were coming nonstop and I told the nurse I felt like I wanted to push.  She took a quick look and said, "You're at a 9! And you're water just broke."  She then yelled down the hall to my midwife (who was laboring with another momma-thank goodness or she never would have made it to catch my baby!).  Ramona (midwife) came in and told me the baby would be here in less than 10 minutes.  She and the other nurses started to glove up and I heard "I can see her head Doreen!  It'll just be a couple of pushes and she'll be here!"  I'm pretty sure I said, "What??!!?!?!?!"  I couldn't believe it. Brian couldn't believe it.  We had just gotten to the hospital!  There was no time for any kind of drugs or even an IV for hydration.  And man. Oh man. Did I want drugs!  First push.  Head was out.  Push #2.  Out came the shoulders.  Third push.  She was out and in my arms.  

Wow.  Wow.  Wow!  I honestly couldn't believe how fast it happened.  I also couldn't believe how great I felt when it was over.  I gotta say, a natural birth hurts like you-know-what, but it is pretty darn amazing to be so lucid and feel so great when it's over.  Just before 9am Brian headed home to take Bryce to preschool and then have a nap.  After preschool, he brought Bryce to the hospital to meet his sister.  When he saw her for the first time, the look on his face was so sweet.  He seemed genuinely happy and I was so happy to give him a big hug and kiss (that was the first time I had been away from him overnight!).  Aubrey gave him a really cool fire engine that goes with his Thomas trains.  He was ecstatic!  I think that sealed the deal and he decided his new sister was pretty darn cool.

I had hoped we would get to go home Friday afternoon.  My bubble burst when Aubrey failed her bilirubin test.  Just like Bryce, she had to spend time under the blue lights in the nursery.  It seems like no big deal, but it really sucks.  They whisk her away and she can only come out to eat every three hours, for just 30 minutes at a time.  Only getting to love on your baby for 30 minutes at a time, so quickly after giving birth, really sucks.  Unfortunately, we had to stay at the hospital until Sunday.  Honestly, we should have stayed longer.  The visit to our pediatrician on Monday delivered the news that she would have to have light therapy at home since her levels had actually increased since being off the lights.  Urgh.  It was back to feeding every three hours and holding for only 30 minutes.  At least we were at home so I was more comfortable and could spend time with Bryce, too.  We had the "bili-blanket" for a whole week and although she's still a bit yellow, she's doing well.  

Wow.  That was the longest blog post ever...


At least I warned you...

Stinky Cows

My wonderful momma graciously offered to take Bryce off my hands yesterday.  She had him ALL day.  It was so nice to get some shopping done and then have an adult dinner with Brian sans the crazy Monkey.  It was my first "day off" in a really long time and it was much appreciated.  Love you, Mom!!!

We headed home from her place around 8:00, which is normally Bryce's bed time.  If you've been around him at this time you know he is a combination of crankiness and utter goofiness.  Silly things tend to just slip out of his mouth and we find ourselves wondering, "Where the heck does he come up with this stuff???"

So....There is a portion of the drive between our house and my mom's where we pass several dairy farms and it is super, super stinky.  Just imagine, cow poop cooking in 100+ degrees.  Ew.  Anyway, Bryce says "I don't like the stinky cows.  I don't want the cows to poop."  To which I reply, "Well, everyone has to poop, Bryce."  He's quiet for just a moment and then says, "I just need to wipe their bum-bums, mom."  I asked him to repeat himself thinking, did he really just say he's going to wipe their "bum-bums?"  Yup.  He did.  Goofball.