Christmas

Well, we had a fun Christmas! Artie had 3 weeks off work since the baby was born and he had to go back the day after Christmas, so that was a little crazy for me alone with the 3 kids, but I'm starting to get use to it now! I haven't tried to load them all up and go anywhere yet though... yikes! Christmas was so much fun. It's so fun now that the girls are bigger. They loved it... and they got way too many presents! :) Alley got a bike and Ashlyn got a trike from Santa. They ride them everyday. The one thing Alley wanted was a "real Camera" that takes "real pictures." So she was excited that Santa also brought her that. Ashlyn didn't care what Santa brought... and he brought her lot's of fun toys. We had fun with Family Christmas Parties and lot's of goodies this holiday. It's been a little overwhelming with the new baby and all... but we are now looking forward to the new year and getting into our new routine of life!

Merry Christmas!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Growing up too fast....

The girls are just so funny! I love my kids so much. I love the funny things they say and it's sad that I may not remember it all someday. So, I need to write it all down before I forget.

Everytime we get ready to go somewhere Ashlyn says, "let's rock and roll guys." Its so cute! Every night before bed she loves to be tickled. She lays on the couch and demands to be tickled, she get's so mad if I don't start tickling her and when I start, I better not stop... she gets mad and says, "mom, tickle me." My girls make me laugh everyday with the funny things they say and do. I love it! Tonight the movie "Big" was on T.V. I haven't seen that forever, so we started watching it. Alley was watching it for a few minutes with us and she started asking a bunch of questions about everything like she always does lately. She was asking why he made the wish to be big and then why he was sad that he wanted to be a kid again. And while I was tucking Alley into bed tonight she said, "I wish I could see a shooting star, I wish Santa Clause would hurry and come, I wish I could be big." Then she said, "I wish for a lot of things." Then she said, "growing up is taking too long." :) She is too funny and growing up so fast! I wanna remember these sweet girls and all the little thoughts that they have. Soon they are gonna be all grown up.

Here are a few pictures of some things we did this week. We had lot's of fun making our annual Gingerbread houses. Of course like an hour after we made them the girls starting climbing on the table to sneek the candy off of them. :) And we went over to Grandma Laubs and made homemade suckers. We had fun and Alley got to take the ones she made to her Preschool class the next day. She loved that, and she even took pictures to show her class that she helped to make them.

The Girls

The Girls are so funny! They love to sing songs. Lately Alleys favorite is "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer." She sings it about 20 times a day and every time the baby starts crying she'll start singing it. It's cute, but we are starting to get a little sick of it :) So, check out the video of Alleys version of "Rudolph." Ashlyn loves to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and she also loves to sing to the baby. But, I could not get her to sing it for me here..... check it out! (p.s- you might want to hit pause on my music, so you can hear the video's.)

Our little guy is so tough!

Well, I think we are finally about done with all the Doctor appointments. Our little guy is so tough. He has had to be under the UV lights as much as possible because of the Jaundice and we've had his blood drawn 3 different times to keep checking to see if it has gone down and finally it has. Yay!! It was a pain to try and keep those eye protectors on him, but he started to get use to it and as long as we put them on when he was a sleep he did okay! And we went to the Pediatric Eurologist this week in Las Vegas and he looked at the film from Ammon's ultrasound after he was born and The VCUG (cathider test) to check for reflux of the urine and he said we can stop the antibiotics because he only has a grade 1 of the reflux and it should eventually go away by itself.... yay! Things are looking good. Our little Ammon is so strong! He has to have another ultrasound on his kidneys at 6 months and then at 1 year old. But, I think everything will be fine. We also got the Circumcision done this week... I'm glad that's over :) The Pediatric Eurologist also said being circumcized will also help for a lesser chance of urinary tract infection, which he will have to be checked for every time he has any kind of fever or is sick in any way because of his kidneys. So, hopefully now we can get in the Christmas mood... I haven't even thought of how close Christmas is because we've been running around to the doctor and trying to get use to a new baby. But, now I think we'll start baking some Christmas goodies and getting in the Christmas spirit! :) And wow... I'm so glad Artie took 3 weeks off, he's such a big help, I'd probably be going crazy right now with the 3 kids if he left me already. Hopefully I'll survive when he goes back!

I'm so tired of going to the Doctor!

Hi, so... today we had like 3 different Doctor appointments. The Baby had to get his blood drawn for the Bilirubin thing to check for Jaundice... and he does have a little bit. I was thinking he looked a little yellow, and yep, he does. So, poor thing has to go back and get more blood drawn on Monday and hopefully the Jaundice will be gone. Now... I had said before that the kidneys are fine and they are pretty good, but I guess the radioligist did see a bit of reflux, where the right kidney is holding on to too much fluid. He had told us right after the test was done that everything looked great. But, I guess they did find a little something, so today the pediatrician informed us of that and we have to keep him on some antibiotics because of that. Then, we have to go down to Vegas sometime in the next couple weeks and take the ultrasound film and other tests on the baby down with us so the eurologist can tell us what we need to do now! Poor baby has to have so many darn Doctors look at him! I'm so sick of Doctors and I'm sure he his too! Then we had a consultation about the circumcision today! Gosh! The doctor was like, "it's not a necessary thing and it could cause infection... it's basically like getting a tatoo... there's no reason for it. It's just a social thing. So, think about it and make another appointment if you want to come back! " So, if anybody has input about that let me know! :) So, that's my spill for today.... you'll be hearing more soon, I'm sure!

Our Baby Boy is Here!

We have our baby boy! Ammon Lane Shaner was born on Monday, December 3, 2007 at 2:12 pm. He weighed 8 lbs 4 oz. and was 21 inches long. We love him so much! And we are happy to say that his kidneys are functioning properly, which was one of our worries. But, after all the tests he had to go through so far, everything looks great! His kidneys will continue to be checked periodically and I think he'll be just fine. We are so happy to finally have him here. Mommy and Daddy would love to have some sleep. :) But, we still are happy! And sisters are loving him so much! Enjoy our pictures, I'm sure there will be many more soon!

I'm ready to Pop! :)

So, I'm about ready to POP! Seriously... I'm being induced Monday morning at 5:30 am. So, I'm excited. I can't believe we are gonna have 3 kids. I hope we can handle it, because we can't back out now. :) Hopefully everything goes smoothly. I'm a little nervous, I've never been induced before, I've usually just gone on my own... so we'll see! I can't wait to see what he looks like, what he weighs... if he has any hair.. I just can't wait to finally meet our little guy in person. So, keep an eye out for the update coming soon!

Other than our exciting week ahead, we had a great weekend! I had a fun baby shower with a few friends and family. Thanks to those that came and thanks for the gifts. It was so nice! We had rain all day Friday, which was nice! Ashlyn kept asking and asking to go out in the rain... so we let her go out and have some fun! Today we took the girls to the "Bee Movie" and afterwards they got to see Santa Clause! So, here are a few pictures for now and next time we'll have our new little boy! YAY! Wish me luck!