Lucy Update

Lucy came home from the hospital on Sunday, December 21st. She was readmitted on Monday, December 22nd in the afternoon for jaundice. She was under the bililights to get her bilirubin levels down to a safe level. Her body responded very well and she was released on Tuesday, December 23rd in the afternoon. We had to return to get more blood taken on Christmas Eve, December 24th to make sure that she did not go back up. Well, she did go back up so the doctor asked that I supplement formula to speed the process and return to get more blood taken on Friday, December 26th. On Friday her bilirubin level continued to go up but only a little. We headed back Monday, December 29th and it rose again. So yesterday, Tuesday December 20th, we went to get blood taken for several tests this time. Then we headed over to the doctors office. Lucy was weighed and is past her birth weight at 7lbs 14oz. The doctor was happy about that. Her bilirubin levels were down and all of the other tests came back normal. Her liver and thyroid are functioning and she has a normal level of red and white blood cells. The doctor said since her liver is functioning and her bilirubin levels have dropped again she is hopeful all is going to be well. We do not have to go back to the doctor until her one month check up. :-) We are grateful to be past all of this and hope that she continues to stay strong and healthy. Now maybe we can stay home and enjoy a few restful days.

Around the House

For Christmas Emma received some baking things from Nana and Grandpa. She has been begging me to make cookies since Christmas day. With all of the craziness we have not had a chance. She had treat for Family Home Evening last night and what do you think she wanted, to make cookies of course. So I finally made time and we had a lot of fun. She is definitely going to be a little chef as she grows. Maybe I should teach her how to make dinner too.

As you can imagine things have been crazy around here with a new baby plus we have been running her back and forth to the lab and doctor to get her blood taken for jaundice, I will fill you in on that in the next day or two hopefully. Anyways, Seth wanted to hold Lucy yesterday afternoon. I put her in his lap and sat next to him on the couch. The next thing I know I am waking up next to two sleeping children. I was able to get myself up and take this great picture. All of the kids want to hold her all the time. I am glad that the newness has not worn off yet and that they truly love their little sister.

Christmas

Brothers don't shake hands, Brothers gotta hug!!

Christmas Eve

SISTERS

We had a good Christmas at the Brown household. I think the best present we received was a baby sister. Jacob really likes his "Air Hog (remote, flying helicopter), Emma loves her Ariel vanity and Seth was happy with everything, especially his walking dinosaur. And the big winner of a gift was the Wii from grandma and papa. The kids love it, so do mommy and daddy. It was nice to have grandma and papa here with us on Christmas morning to open gifts. It was a very relaxing day also. About 3 in the afternoon I realized that we were all still in our PJ's. I think it is a great day when we can stay in PJ's all day.

Lucy Elizabeth

First Bath with Daddy's Help

Mommy & Lucy

Sisters (Emma wants to hold her ALL the time. She cried when they left the hospital yesterday. She cried when Sean came to get me and she stayed home because she wanted to see Lucy. She gets upset if someone else is holding her and she is not getting ANOTHER turn. I love that Emma loves her so much.)

Big Brother Jacob

Lucy Elizabeth Brown

(where her name came from; Lucy is just a name that Sean and I like

Elizabeth is my grandma Butler's middle name and my middle name.)

Born 12/19/2008

@3:12pm

7 lbs 13 oz; 19 inches long

Well, we went into the hospital on Friday morning. I was being induced so we had to be there at 7:30am. They started my IV with fluids about 8am and the the patocin (sp?) at about 9am. The doctor checked me and said she would be back around lunch time. She returned around 12:30pm and broke my water and the rest in history. My labor starting coming much faster so I got an epidural (modern medicine is great). They had to call the doctor in at 3pm because I was ready. Once the doctor arrived and two pushes later, Lucy joined our family here on earth. We are very grateful for her and glad she is part of our family. She is jaundice, just like all of her siblings have been, so we are headed to get blood taken tomorrow and will probably have to do so for about a week. We will keep you posted on her progress with that.

No Baby Yet!!

Well, we still do not have a baby. I am very anxious this time. I do not remember being so ready to have the baby with any of my other children. I am having some strange baby dreams though. A few days ago I had a dream that someone (actually my brother-in-law and sister-in-law) took our baby and it was a boy. We ended up getting the baby back but it was strange none the less. Last night I had a dream that I went to the hospital about 4 times and they kept sending me home. The best part was when I was in the delivery room there were 5 other people in my room, not doctors and nurses but other patients. Can you imagine delivering a baby having other people in there too, no thank you. The last time I went back I begged the doctor to please not send me home this time that I would do everything and anything to have the baby. I still never had the baby in my dream though. I know that she will be here eventually, hopefully sooner than later.

Mommy & Daddy's Birthday

Mommy and her banana split. (I know the hair is lovely but I walked on the treadmill to try to get this baby to come.)

Daddy blowing out the birthday candles.

The past couple days we have been celebrating birthday's in our house. Sean's is on the 11th and mine is on the 15th. For my birthday I had breakfast at IHOP, without my kids, with some friends. It was nice. I was able to take a nap in the middle of the day. For dinner, Sean and Emma made me lasagna. I did not have to cook or clean which is probably the best gift of all. We had banana splits for dessert. We had cake for Sean's birthday a few days before and I would much rather have ice cream than cake anyday. I have learned as I have gotten older that birthdays are not about material things but rather spending who you are spending them with. I was able to spend my birthday with the people I love the most in my life.

Happy Birthday Sean!!

Today we celebrated Sean's birthday. Jacob and I made him breakfast. We had eggs, hash browns and bacon. For lunch Emma, Seth and I took him to IHOP. Then we had the missionaries over for dinner. We are having steak and potatoes and cake tomorrow night. Wow, apparently Sean's birthday revolves around food. But doesn't the saying go, "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach", I think we have that down. I am grateful for Sean everyday and the wonderful husband and dad that he is. We are very blessed to have him in our lives and part of our family.

Emma and Seth are both feeling better today but are not 100% yet.

I have a doctor's appointment in the morning and hope that things are moving along. I will keep everyone posted.

Sick of sick kids!!

Well, Jacob had bronchitis over Thanksgiving. Luckily he did not miss any school since he was already out for the holiday. He was on two breathing treatments and an antibiotic. He is better now but I have two other sick kids. Seth has been coughing for a few days (I am hoping it is not bronchitis) and had a runny nose. I have been up with him a lot at night the past two nights because of the cough. And today Emma has been running a fever and complaining that her head and legs hurt. I am sure that she is achy. Is this the storm before the calm?!?

I will do my best to post something at least every couple days so that you all know if I am still hanging in there or if we have a new addition. I am feeling pretty good other than being tired, part of which is being up most of the night with sick children. My feet are starting to swell a little also. I have been having a few contractions every night but not the real thing yet. You have to love being pregnant and what is does to your body. I just have to remember the prize at the end.

Christmas is Coming!!

Our Christmas Tree this year!!

Sean likes the picture with the overhead lights off because you can see the lights on the tree better.

Friday after Jacob got home from school he and Sean went to pick out our tree. I think it is a nice one. While they were gone Emma, Seth and I got out all of the decorations for the tree and the house. After we were finally able to get the tree to stand up straight we started the decorating. It is always fun to watch how excited the kids get when we pull out the ornaments. They generally do a good job of spreading the ornaments around evenly. It was Seth's turn this year to put the star on top. By the time we were finished with the tree it was late. We decorated the rest of the house on Saturday afternoon.

We had a busy weekend. Saturday morning the kids had a breakfast at church. Santa was there too. Jacob and Emma both sat on Santa'a lap. Emma asked for some Polly Pockets and Jacob asked for a billion dollars. Santa told him he could give it to him in Monopoly money or write a check. Seth did not want anything to do with Santa. All he kept saying was, "I do not want a candy cane." He would not even stand in the line with Sean, Jacob and Emma. Saturday evening we had an adult only dinner at the church. It was fun and the dinner was nice, especially because I did not have to make it.

Sunday we had church as usual. In the evening they had a program called "Christmas in the Shenandoah". Our primary kids were asked to sing. We were not going to go because the church it was held at was about 30 minutes from us and it started at 6:30. But Jacob really wanted to go so that he could sing. I am glad that we went. It was very nice and the kids sounded great.

We are back to Monday and our regular routine for now. I had anther doctor's appointment Friday and everything is going well. I am going every week now. I am having more and more contractions so I am hoping that we do not have to wait much longer.

Giveaway

I have a very talented friend, Amy, who is doing a giveaway on her blog. To view her blog go to www.mommyandbeyond.blogspot.com

She is giving away some jewelry, burp clothes, a small bag and pillows. So if you are interested in winning go to her blog and post a comment.

Wedding Pictures

The happy couple coming out of the temple.

Father/Daughter Dance

Heidi & Christian

I am glad that we were able to be with family and friends to celebrate Heidi and Christian and the start of their life together. We are very excited for them.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. What was going to be a small gathering at our house turned out to be 21 people. It was a lot of fun and nice to not have to travel anywhere. Being in the car too long right now is not fun. We supplied the turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and rolls, everyone else brought a side dish to share. I guess I should back up to Wednesday. Jacob had been coughing and it was getting worse Tuesday and Wednesday so Wednesday morning I took him to the doctor. He has bronchitis. What a great way to spend Thanksgiving. His medicine actually started working quickly and he was able to sleep through the night on Wednesday night. He is still on medication but doing much better.

Sean's brother, Adam, and his family came in town from Michigan. It was great to see them. They stayed here Wednesday night then went to Fredericksburg to stay with Sean's parents. Nana and grandpa took our kids with them, so we were without kids from Thanksgiving night until Saturday afternoon. We finished our Christmas shopping on Friday morning. My goal was to finish early in case Lucy decides to make her appearance early. Friday evening we went to see Twilight, we thought it was pretty good. And went out to dinner to see everyone before the big wedding on Saturday.

Saturday morning we went to the temple to be with my little sister Heidi as she was married to Christian (Congratulations!!). We then headed to Woodbridge to get our kids back and go to the reception. I will post pictures later today or tomorrow. It was fun to watch the little girls that were at the wedding follow Heidi around in her "beautiful dress". They could not get enough of her with her dress and flowers. As my sister said' "this is where little girls big wedding dreams begin". My niece Corrine made the comment that, "Heidi was the most important person there because she was the bride".

It was a very busy weekend but also a lot of fun. It is nice to be back into our regular groove too.

Weather

Today we had about 30 minutes of hail. They were not big but the kids were very excited to see it. It was coming down pretty hard, we could hear it in the house. When it was finished we went outside to look and it looked like there was a little bit of snow on our house. And there were a couple of piles of it on the deck. Emma and Seth both got spoons and were eating it off the deck. There was even a little bit left when Jacob got home from school so he was able to enjoy it also. Of course they all think it is going to snow now. It was fun to see them so excited about the hail.

Another Baby Update.

We are getting close. I only have about 4 1/2 weeks left until my due date. I am done being pregnant but not sure I am ready for a newborn and sleepless nights. I had a doctor's appointment today and everything is still going well. I am still measuring big. I am hoping that means I will go early other people tell me I am just going to have a big baby. The baby does not like to be bothered. Every time the doctor's try to get her heartbeat she moves. If I feel her more on one side I push a little on her and she kicks right back. The kids enjoy feeling her move too. Seth talks to her all the time. And Jacob can not go to bed without hugging my tummy and telling her goodnight.

The Birthday Party

We had a small party for Emma on Friday evening. We invited four of her friends and their families over for dinner, fun and of course cake and ice cream. A friend of ours from church has a moon bounce she let us borrow. It was dark in the backyard but we gave each kid a glow stick and they were all having a lot of fun. Our kids were very tired after everyone left but they had fun at the birthday party.

Eating a Birthday dinner of pigs in a blanket (hot dogs) and "The Good Macers" (my kids refer to macaroni & cheese as "macers" and the good macers is the deluxe kind without the powered cheese but the velveeta type cheese), per Emma's request. We also had chicken and rice soup for the adults.

Blowing out the birthday candles. (Jacob had to help a little) Funny that when she wants to yell and scream she has the lungs but when she needs to blow out candles she has a hard time. I am not sure what happened with the color of this picture it is a little distorted.

Opening the gifts. She received a lot of littlest pet shops which she was very happy about and several barbies. What more could a four year old ask for.

Happy 4th Birthday Emma!!

Emma's Blessing Day.

It is hard to believe that my baby girl is turning 4 today. I know everyone says this but it seems like just yesterday she was a baby. She is ALL girl and sometimes that is hard for me because I am not a girly girl (I wish Aunt Laura was still close). She loves to wear dresses and gets very excited every Sunday when she gets to wear her church dresses. She likes to have her nails painted, in fact she was very upset last night when daddy cut her nails and some of the nail polish came off so I promised her we would paint them again today. She likes to play dress up and get into any of her princess dresses with tiara, jewelry and shoes. She also loves to be a mommy to all of her dolls. She is a little confused because we are having a party for her Friday so she is telling her brothers that today is not her real birthday. I am grateful that she is a part of our family and I love her very much.

Family Photos

The Brown Girls

(not sure what is up with both of our hair, the wind must have been blowing)

The Brown Boys

The Brown Kids

Today before church we had a little extra time and everybody was ready. I am sure it was because we had an extra hour. The kids are usually up at 7:30 but of course today they were up at 6:30. Anyways, we decided since it was so nice that we would take a few pictures. The kids always enjoy cheesing it up for the camera. I think they turned out pretty good.

Beautiful Weekend

Yesterday the weather was so nice that we decided we should was our cars. They kids really enjoyed washing the cars. And as you can imagine by the end there was more playing than washing. Everyone was soaked by the time we were finished. They really enjoyed spraying the car to get the soap off because the car was not the only thing that got sprayed.

Happy Birthday Adam!!

Yesterday was our son Adam's birthday. Adam was only here on the earth for a very short time. He was born on October 26th, 2001 and returned to Heaven on November 9, 2001. He was born prematurely. He only weighed 1 lb 15.9 oz when he was born. He did very well for the first week of his life but then he developed a blood infection. His body was too small and became too weak to fight it. For the last 8 hours of his time on earth Sean and I were able to hold (for the first time), talk to and sing to him. That night is one of the most special and hardest nights I have ever experienced in my life. Sean and I are grateful everyday for the two weeks we had him here with us on earth. I am thankful for the blessing of eternal families and know that we will be with Adam again someday.

Weekend Update

Friday night we went to a Fall Festival at Jacob's school. The kids were able to play a bunch of games and got candy and other goodies. They also had a cake walk. We had all three kids do it at one time, which increased our odds of winning so that we did not have to spend all night at the cake walk. Jacob won on the first try. Our plan was succesful. The kids had a lot of fun and that was our first chance to get candy.

Saturday night our ward had a chili cook off, fall festival, trunk or treat. Our chili did not win any awards. I told Sean that was his fault because he was one of the judges!! Oh well. Again, the kids were able to play games and win candy and prizes. Then we went outside to trunk or treat. One entire side and the back parking lot of the church were full. The kids came home with a lot of candy which made them very happy. I have a new view on the candy, let them eat it until they get sick or it is gone then I do not have to deal with "Can I have a piece of candy?" nearly as long if they just eat it and get it over with. Do not tell my dentist!!


As soon as we got home from the trunk or treat Seth dumped out his bag to see what he got. It was really quite funny. This is the first year he has realized what was going on. Emma was right behind him to dump and check out the loot. We put all the candy together so that there is no arguing. So far it has worked great for our kids.

Kids say the funniest things

My children are constantly asking me "Is it snack time yet?", this is because they used to tell me every 5 minutes that they were hungry so I set certain times in the day as snack time so they would not ask all day. Sometimes, like today with Emma, 5 minutes after we had all eaten lunch and she had a whole sandwich, grapes and apples, she asked, "Is it snack time?". Well this afternoon Seth came up with a new one. He said to me "Mommy my tummy says I want a cheese stick!". It was so cute I had to give him one, even though it was not snack time.

Another Fun Fall Family Night

For Family Night on Monday we carved our "family" pumpkin, as the kids call it. Sean and I think it is funny because the boys will not put their hands inside the pumpkin to get the "guts" out, they will only use a spoon. They all agreed very quickly what the pumpkin should look like which made the actual carving part go much quicker. Once again this year we put all of the guts in some dirt on the side of the house. We will see if we get as lucky next year as we did this year with the pumpkins.

After we carved our pumpkin we roasted marshmallows and had s'mores for a treat. We have a small fire pit on our deck. The kids love making s'mores. Jacob asked us if we were going to camp out because usually when we put a fire in the pit we do camp but not Monday. It was a school night and it is getting too cold at night for mommy and children to be outside.

Getting the "guts" out of the pumpkin.
The Jack O' Lantern
Sean and Jacob roasting the perfect marshmallow.
Emma trying not to catch hers on fire because that is gross. She does not understand how Sean can eat a burnt marshmallow.

Nesting

I think I was officially nesting today. We got the crib all ready for baby Lucy. We are having her sleep in the spare room until she is sleeping good at night then we will move her in with Emma. We also pulled out the infant car seat along with the 0-3 and 3-6 month girl clothes. I had Sean up in the attic putting away clothes that we will not need for a while. We have a closet in the basement that has all the baby gear. We pulled out the infant tub and bouncy seat also. The kids were very excited to see all the baby stuff out. It felt good to get some of that done. Hopefully I will have a few more of those days before she arrives.

Last night we went over to a friends house for a little Halloween party. We had a lot of fun. Our kids were sad when we had to leave. It seems like we are busier this fall then we have been in years past. We have a fall festival at Jacob's school and our church trunk or treat next weekend so we will be busy with fall activities next week also.

Baby Update

I had a regular doctor's appointment today. All is going well with the baby. She is active and has a strong heartbeat. I am still in the negative as far as weight since I lost so much at the beginning but I have finally started gaining weight. The doctor's are a little concerned but I am not worried at all. With Seth I only gained 5 pounds my entire pregnancy. She even talked about inducing possibly, for no reason other reason than we would not have to be in the hospital on Christmas. I do not want to be induced but I also do not want to be in the hospital on Christmas. We have a little while to figure all that out.

Congratulations Uncle Hyrum!!

Friday afternoon we headed down to Buena Vista, VA to my dad and step-mom's house. We had tons of fun while we were down there, as usual. Saturday afternoon we went to "Mountain Days" in town, it was like a fall festival. The kids really had fun there. Then Saturday evening, the reason for our trip, was my little brother Hyrum's Eagle Scout court of honor. He and one of his friends he has been in scouts with since they were 8 both received their Eagle award. They actually did their project together. They made a volleyball court and picnic table. It was a late night, we did not get home until 1am Sunday morning.

Yesterday, in celebration of Columbus Day :-), we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. We were going to head into DC for the day but my wonderful husband let me sleep in and by the time we were all ready for our day it was too late to go to DC and be back at a good time to get kids in bed and time for Sean to relax/nap before he headed to work.

It was a busy weekend but fun to be with family.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

My kids love painting pumpkins, so I bought a bag of tiny pumpkins for them to paint. They had a lot of fun doing it. We also put "sprinkles" as Seth called it on them (glitter).

Yesterday Emma's preschool group went to the pumpkin patch for a field trip. We went to pumpkin school, which Emma is still talking about. Rode on a hay ride, picked a pumpkin and went through a corn maize. They really enjoyed it. We are going to have a lot of pumpkins by the time October is over. We are to the pumpkin patch as a family next week and Jacob is going on a field trip to the pumpkin patch with his school in a week.

Spooky House

For our activity for Family Home Evening last night we decorated a "spooky house". We have done this in years past and it is always a lot of fun. As you can tell from there mouths, especially Jacobs, the black frosting can be a bit of a mess. The best thing about this kit was the house was fully assembled, all we had to do was decorate!! We are gearing up for Halloween at our house.

I LOVE STICKERS!!

Or should I say, my kids love stickers. I bought some great foam Halloween stickers the other day at Wal-Mart. I also had some fun stickers hidden away for a rainy day. Well, today was that day. I needed to get some preschool stuff done for tomorrw and lay down on the couch for a quick nap. I got out some paper and stickers and let them have at it. They were entertained for almost 2 hours!! I think that was well worth my small investment of stickers.

Family Update

I was starting to think that no one ever read our family blog and have not felt like posting anything lately, as you can tell. But come to find out apparently more people read it then I thought because I have had several people ask me why I have not posted anything in almost two weeks. So here is an update....

Jacob is doing great in school. Friday they had an awards assembly and he won the "Character Counts Award" for his class. The characteristic for this month is fairness. It was funny because Friday morning when we were getting ready to take him to school we were all getting dressed, fixing hair, putting shoes on, which we normally do none of when we take him to school. He was very surprised when he walked into the assembly and saw us sitting there.

Emma is enjoying preschool. About two weeks ago we went to a farm on a field trip. It was a lot of fun. We are back at our house this week and we will be going to the pumpkin patch on Thursday for a field trip. We are talking about pumpkins this week.

Seth, as usual, is just happy to be. He has had a "yucky nose", as he says, for several days which is never any fun but we are getting through.

The baby and I are doing well. I had a doctor's appointment last week and all is well. I had to take my glucose test last week also which I always love. It actually made me a little queazy this time so it made me a little worried but all is okay. We are officially in our 3rd trimester and looking forward to the end and having our new baby sister to hold and love.

Sean is Sean, what do I say. He is still working the night shift, 9:30pm - 7:30am Sunday - Wednesday nights. He will probably go back to swing shift, 12:30pm - 10:30pm Wednesday - Saturday night but we are not 100% sure yet.

We had a great weekend watching general conference from home. My dad & Cathie came to watch with us today, along with Wesley and Rebekah. My kids always love when their young aunts and uncles come to "play".

Riding a Bike

Jacob has not wanted to ride his bike for about a month because one of the training wheels broke and he was afraid. We have been trying to get him to learn to ride it without training wheels but he was not interested. Finally, last week he agreed to try. So, we took off the other training wheel and started. He has learned rather quickly. He loves that he can now start on his own and turn around. Mom and Dad are glad that he can make turns now also so that we do not have to so that we do not have to go to the end of the street every time he gets stuck. He has found some new found freedom when we are out front now and he loves it.

Starving Children

I have only been going grocery shopping once a month for a while now. I do not like the chore of grocery shopping so I try to do it as little as possible. As you can see from the picture my children get VERY excited on shopping day, in fact to the untrained eye or ear one may think that my children are starving. They want to eat everything and anything that I bring home. In fact today Seth took two eggs out of the carton (I think he wanted to drink them like Rocky) and opened another box and took things out of it. Actually, they do a good job helping me get things put away which can take a little while.

Mommy Weekend

This weekend I went scrap booking with my sister Gretchen and two friends, Jen, who is the funniest person I know, and Amy. It was so much fun. I left my house at 9am on Friday and did not return until Saturday night at 11pm (after the kids were all fast asleep). I was able to finish Seth's baby album, which was my goal since he is 2 and we have another one on the way, and start a family album. I scrap booked Friday until 11:30pm and was back up at 7am Saturday morning to start again. I even won a door prize which is always a bonus. I am ready for another weekend away since my kids are all crazy today and want to be sure I know what I was missing while I was gone.

First Day of Preschool

Emma started Preschool yesterday. We are doing a co-op preschool with 3 other moms from chruch. We do it Tuesday and Thursday mornings. It is at our house this week. She did great and had a lot of fun.

I think that kindergarten is catching up with Jacob. I had to wake him up this morning, which is very unusual for him. From a VERY early age he has always been the first one up but not today. I felt bad waking him up but he survived and was very excited to go to school. He is also coming home grumpy in the afternoon which is what he does when he is tired. Hopefully his body will adjust soon because I do not do well with grumpy kids.

Seth is just happy to be Seth. He is always so happy and helpful. Every once in a while he will ask where Jacob is and he ALWAYS wants to come when we take Jacob to school and pick him up. I think he misses Jacob more than Emma. We will see how he does next week when Emma is gone two mornings at someone else's house for preschool.

Another Sonogram

I had another sonogram yesterday because I was measuring big at my last doctor's appointment. Everything looks good and she is measuring at 24 weeks, which is where I am in the pregnancy. So, there are NO twins and NO gigantic baby. I guess when you are having your 5th baby your body knows what to do at just gets big sooner to make room for baby.

Jacob is feeling better and went back to school today. We had back to school night last night. He was a great tour guide. He was very excited to show us all around his school and introduce us to his teachers. It is amazing how quickly they grow up.

Tired/Sick Kindergartner

Yesterday Jacob came home from school and seemed to be a little tired. He has not been tired at all after a full day of kindergarten yet, although everyone told us he would be exhausted. So, as you can see from the picture, he feel asleep on the couch. When we woke him up for dinner he was burning up and had a 102 fever. He ate a little dinner, took a bath and went to bed. He slept all through the night, which is a good thing but still had a low grade fever this morning. So, he missed his first day of school already. He wanted to go but also wanted to stay home because he "felt funny". We kept him home and he already seems to be feeling better. I am sure that he will be back at school tomorrow. We have back to school night tonight and are excited for him to give us a tour of his school.

Baby Update

I had a regular doctor's appointment today. I am 23 weeks and I am measuring 27 weeks. They scheduled me to have another sonogram just to make sure that everything is okay. The doctor said that she just thinks there is a big baby in there but she wanted to be sure. I have not had unusually large baby's to date, Jacob was my largest at 8 lbs 13 oz. Emma and Seth were both in the 7 lb range. I guess we will wait and see but I sure hope this one is not too big. Emma came with me to the doctor's today. She wanted to hear the baby's heartbeat again. It is exciting when you have older siblings old enough to understand what is going on somewhat.

First Day of Kindergarten

Jacob is at school today. He was so excited when he woke up this morning. He kept asking me how much longer until we leave? I did pretty well this morning. I only cried a little bit when he got around the corner of the school and I could not see him anymore. I am anxious to pick him up this afternoon and see how his day went. I did not sleep well at all last night because every time I would lay down all I could think about was Jacob being at school today, so I would get up do some things then try again. It is hard for me to believe that he is old enough to start kindergarten. I have been doing pretty well throughout the day. I did get a little teary eyed again when Emma, Seth and I were getting ready for lunch and Seth said "Jacob is going to eat lunch at school today?", that made me miss Jacob.

Another Busy Weekend

This weekend was busy again, but wonderful. Saturday we headed to Fredericksburg to spend some time with Sean's family. I was also able to go to a baby shower of a friend on Saturday afternoon. Saturday evening Sean and I went out to dinner and a movie with Sean's brother Adam and his wife Angie. It was great to spend some time with them since they will be moving this week. We are really going to miss them but plan to visit them in Michigan. Then on Sunday we went to church in the morning, had birthday linner (lunch/dinner) for our niece Ashleigh and cake (an ice cream cake, my favorite) and then Sunday evening she was baptized. I love going to baptisms and am glad that we could be there for her special day. It was a quick but wonderful weekend.

When we got home last night there were two messages from my dad so I knew something was up because my dad never calls two times in the same weekend unless he needs to tell us something. So we called last night when we got home and were given the news that my little sister Heidi is engaged!! We have meet Christian, her fiancee, several times and really like him. Most importantly my kids love him and are excited to have him as an Uncle. There is no date set yet but I will be sure to keep everyone posted.

On a sadder (is that a word?) note Jacob starts school tomorrow. I am really going to miss him. I am sure that he will do great and have a wonderful time but as the mom I am a nervous wreck. I will let you know how the next few days go in our house.

Backyard Campout

Last night we had a camp out in our backyard. We roasted marshmallows and made some s'mores. The kids really enjoyed that. Seth is not afraid of the fire which was a little scary. Then we got the tent set up and headed to bed. I had not intended to sleep in the tent since my bed is less then 100 ft away, but Emma informed me that "I promised" I would sleep in the tent with them. I am fairly certain that I did not promise anything since I did not intend to sleep on the hard ground, in my backyard when I could walk to my house and bed, but I stayed outside and slept okay. The kids did great. They all fell asleep quickly and slept through the night. We had planned on having a backyard camp out for a while but wanted to make sure to get it done soon since we had a terrible experience last time we went camping (see earlier post). Last night was a success and kids already want to do it again.

Busy Weekend

We went to Buena Vista this weekend to visit Grandma & Grandpa. We have been trying to get down there all summer but between their schedules and ours it has been difficult. We had tons of fun there. They have a pool at their new house which was a big hit with the kids. The pool even has a slide. Jacob was brave and went down it 3 times. Mommy even went down it a couple of times. The kids love to play the "scary" game with their uncles Hyrum and Wesley and aunt Rebekah. I think Aunt Heidi even played a game or two. We are grateful that we have grandparents that live close enough to drive to.

Pumpkins

Our very own pumpkins.
I had a friend from church tell me last year that every year they throw their pumpkin guts off their deck and they grow pumpkins for the next year. We decided to try it out. When we carved our pumpkins last October we took the guts out back and threw them in some dirt on the side of our house. As you can see, we have pumpkins. These are the first two and there are about 3 or 4 more growing. The kids want me to make pumpkin pie out of them. So I am going to try, we will see how it turns out.

Camping Trip

Our ward had a camp out on Friday night. We went to Greenbriar State Park in MD, it is about 40 minutes from our house. We were all excited to go. Once we put our tent up we went swimming for a little while. Then we came back and roasted hot dogs for dinner. It was fun to be with members of our ward. There was a cub scout pack meeting after dinner. Then of course, as with any good camp out, there were smores. The pack meeting started late so Emma, Seth and I went back to the tent about 9:30pm, before everything was finished. While I was in the tent Jacob won a contest where they had the kids put there hands in ice and see who could keep it in the longest. Jacob was beaming that he beat the older boys. He won glow in the dark glasses. Well, that was about the end of the fun. It started to rain about 3:00am, which is not anything bad but then about half an hour later the lighting and thunder started. I do not enjoy thunderstorms when I am in my house, much less in a tent in the woods. Unfortunately, Jacob had inherited that from me. There was talk of driving home but we stayed and were able to make until morning. Seth slept through the entire thing. Emma woke up but was able to go right back to sleep, with her hands over her ears. Jacob, Sean and I did not get much sleep. We all survived and had a good time must of the evening.

It's a .......

We had our sonogram today, everything looks good with the baby. We had asked Jacob and Emma the other day if they wanted us to find out what we were having, of course they wanted to know. Emma has been telling everyone for months that we are having a girl and that we are going to name her "sparkles". I am not sure where she came up with this name but we thought it was funny. We have never found out what we were having before but we decided to go against tradition in our family and find out. Emma was right, it is a GIRL, but we are not naming her "sparkles". Emma is VERY excited to have a sister join our family. She has been concerned for months that she is the only one that does not share a room. She thinks it is quite unfair that she has her own room, I will be sure to remind her of that when she is 13 and wants her own room.

Tony Stewart

We are Nascar fans at our house. I know REDNECK. Jacob enjoys watching the races, okay, so do I. Tuesday afternoon our local Home Depot had one of Tony Stewart's cars in the parking lot. Even though we are not fans of him we could not pass up a chance to see a race car.

Kings Dominion

I am not sure who was more excited to see the Backyardigans, Seth or Mommy.
Is he old enough to drive already?
Emma had a hard time getting the hang of driving but she still had fun.
We love Scooby Doo at our house.

Monday we went to Kings Dominion. It was fun as always. The kids did great. We stayed until almost 9pm. Jacob even rode a few rides that he did not like before and enjoyed them this time. Emma cried the entire time she was on the Scrambler and informed us when she got off that she is "NOT" ever riding that again. Seth enjoyed the Scooby Doo mansion because he got to "shoot the bad guys". Sean rode the new roller coaster the Dominator. The kids love watching him ride all the big coasters. Mommy just got to watch this year since you can not ride anything when you are pregnant. I had fun watching though.