Ramblings

I finally got the time, desire, and REMEMBERED to write a little post. Im sure this will end up being a mish mosh post about a lot of different stuff, but here goes.....

First of all our cruise went fantastic! If you ever have the opportunity to go on a cruise, I highly recommend it! Such an awesome way to vacation! I wont go into details as that should be a post of its own, but I will say if I ever get around to that post the pictures will be quite limited as my phone went for a swim in the ocean and didn't survive. I lost nearly the entire vacation worth of pics. I was devastated and actually still recovering from the trauma!

Baby is doing GREAT! I had my most recent appt with my midwife today. Im only measuring 1 week ahead, which is a step up from last month when I was measuring 4 weeks ahead! Buuuuuuut I have gained more this pregnancy at the 25 week mark than I have with any of the others the ENTIRE pregnancy! So things might get a little crazy up in here the next 14 or so weeks. After the new year I plan to start getting my birth supplies ready for the big day. There are is a list of things I am responsible for collecting as well as the birth kit which will be sent directly to the house containing more of the "medical" stuff. As each day passes I cant believe the day is coming, I get more and more excited as the time passes.

Bethany did it again..............

 

 



 those, along with the new pictures on the right side of the blog, are from the most recent photo shoot with my amazing personal photographer (chuckle chuckle)!

 

School - we are still trucking along with 1st grade for Kaylee. She is set to be finished before the baby arrives, and she is working ever so diligently, because I have told her if she is not finished; when I need "help" with the baby she will be busy doing her schoolwork instead of rocking the baby, or changing diapers, or whatever else baby related that she is DYING to do! She has become quite the little reader, still does not have a love of reading like I was hoping, but I guess I can't blame her, she gets that from me I suppose.

Ainslee has been begging to do more school work. I cant decide if it is because she truly wants/needs more stimulation in that area, or if she is trying to get out of the chores she is required to do during school time. little does she know once she does start school the chores do NOT stop. But right now the plan is to purchase her Kindergarten curriculum (using the same one as Kaylee) after the new year and just taking it slow.

Brynlee amazes me daily at the tasks she can complete. She can do more than I remember the big girls doing at her age, guess that's what happens when you have 2 big sisters to watch. She loves to do whatever the big girls are doing and does not want any modifications made for her, or "baby" things substituted. She wont stand for the crayons because the big girls use markers or colored pencils, she wants whatever they have.  She is such a good listener (most of the time), but man is she a feisty little booger. And such a socialite. She doesn't know a stranger, loves any man, and wouldn't mind going to them or even kissing them (NO I don't have her kiss random strangers, Im referring to men shes never met but I know).

 

with Christmas just around the corner that means that Brynlee just celebrated her 2nd birthday! We did it small again, just the family out to an awesome "best in Memphis" Mexican restaurant. I still cant believe she is 2!

 

Speaking of Brynlee she is totally gluten free now (I told you this post would be random). I began having problems with her last Spring. mostly diaper issues, but also irritability, sleep issues, potty issues, and those are just the things I remember. Ive tried to block those few months out of my memory, because after I got things fixed with her I realize just how bad it had gotten. I decided to put her on GF diet even though her blood test came back negative (ive since learned the type I had done is next to pointless). And it has made a world of a difference! She began using the potty again, she quickly fixed bed time issues, and her irritability/clinginess stopped. She became much more independent and over all just happier! She began eating, she was down to only eating dinner 2-3 times a week. Sometimes skipping lunch and dinner in the same day.  She has put on weight, before going GF she didn't gain any weight for 9 months. I has been so amazing to see the transformation. Now she is completely potty trained, well except nap and bedtime, and even wears panties when we leave the house. I am so proud of that baby, she puts a smile on my face all day long!

 

I know its way early, but the plans are in the making for our BIG Disney trip next fall. Ive been trying to nail down most of the itinerary before having to make our dinner reservations right before the baby is born. I really hope that everything works out as planned. Much of our trip is dependent on Disney offering the free dining like they have historically. So lets all pray that happens, because if all the stars align we will have an EPIC trip next year. All SIX of us, and my mom is joining for the fun, and help with the babies!

 

And well since Ive talked about everyone else in the family I guess Marcus deserves an update too. He still works for FedEx......shocker!  Still at night.........big shocker! He started running a few months ago, but that has taken a back seat with it being peak season and all.  I look forward to the day when we can work out together, I really miss the crossfit training. That's about all that's new in his world.  If any of you would like to see him in action tune in to 20/20 this Friday (I think).

 

If I don't get around to posting again before Christmas I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Spend your time with those you love and cherish most, you will never get these moments back! I need to work on telling the ones I love how I feel more often. Maybe that will be my new year's resolution!

 

It's been awhile! I am still here........

Hello my faithful blog buddies!

I'm not sure many of you have hung around waiting on my next post, in fact I'm pretty sure I've lost all 6 of my readers. Which is totally understandable since it has been nearly 14 months since my last post. I'm not even going to begin to try and fill you in on everything that has gone on since I was last on here. I will fill you in on the new stuff going forward. And when I say "fill YOU in" I really mean "write this stuff down so I don't forget". If I'm friends with you on FB you know pretty much most of what has been going on with us, buuuuut......keep reading there are some surprises for you guys too!


1st we are about to go on our FIRST CRUISE!
Marcus and I have been talking about it since, well since attempting to plan our honeymoon 10 years ago, which never happened. We finally bit the bullet and booked one! All 5 of us and my mom are going on a 7 night Exotic Western Caribbean cruise next month. Our excitement level is through the roof. I told the girls I might just start packing us now.


Ok so if can you imagine how excited we are about that there is something EVEN MORE EXCITING coming up.......




Any guesses????
























































We will be welcoming baby #4 sometime late March or early April!

 

                                 the head is on the left, you can see all 4 arm and leg buds! So amazing!






And what is even MORE exciting than THAT???
We are planning a home birth! This is something I have dreamed about for years now! I am so thankful to have the full support of my husband and midwife to help me on my journey. I am perfectly confident in my body to be able to do the most natural thing mothers have been doing since the beginning of time! And I am looking forward to a peaceful experience in the comfort of our own home with no drugs, little or no intervention, and just letting my body (and baby) dictate how the story plays out! I've never been so excited about the unknown!




To answer some of the most common questions Ive gotten so far......

Where will the kids be?

Well that all depends on Mother Nature. If it happens in the middle of the night they just might miss it. But hopefully it won't. I want my kids to play as much of a part in the birth of their new sibling as they want. We will be learning lots about birth prior to the big day. And I know Kaylee will be my MW's right hand helper. My MW has already told me she will let Kaylee do as much or as little as she wants to do. Kaylee is going to be so excited when she finds out what role she will get to play.

What if something goes wrong?

This has never been a concern of mine. However, it was Marcus' biggest concern. Like I said, I am fully confident in my body, but IF something were to go wrong I trust that my MW would detect all the warning signs and take action before it was too late.

WHERE will you have the baby......the bath tub?

This one just makes me laugh! I am planning a water birth, but not in my bath tub. I will be getting a birthing tub. Whether or not I have the baby in the water is a different question. We will all just have to wait and see.

Who all will be there?

1st and foremost my husband and children. I would also love for my most favorite photographer ever to come capture everything, especially since she missed my last one. And then hopefully someone to help with the littles, not sure who that will be yet. I have definitely had people offer, which is kinda strange and cool at the same time.

(Not related to home birth)

Are you going to find out the gender of this baby?

Yes we will......when he/she is born!

 

I know there have been more questions I have already answered, but my mommy brain has kicked into full gear so remembering them just isn't in the cards. If you have any questions feel free to ask I will be happy to answer if I can.

Oh I remember one......
Do you know anyone who has done this? I have 2 "friends of a friend" who have. And I have a friend who attempted with her 1st and unfortunately ended up being transferred. Besides that I don't know ANYone!

I also want to say that over the past 14 months I have not only neglected MY blog I have not read a single blog post of yours! So I have no idea what is going on with all my blog buddies. Hope you all are well and have had a great past 14 months.

Oh i almost forgot!  How am I feeling and how far along am I?
I am 9 1/2 weeks and I feel better than any of my other pregnancies. My nausea has been very lite. Most days with none. I don't have food or smell aversions. My biggest complaint is the exhaustion. Which is totally understandable given I have 3 kids ALL DAY LONG and homeschool! But I wouldn't change it. I don't want to send them to school just so I can rest. I love that they get to share this experience with me. I love that Ainslee asks me EVERYday how the baby is feeling and how I am feeling. And Kaylee asks how big the baby is and if I can feel "her" kicking. (Kaylee is dead set on this being another girl!) and I love when I ask Brynlee to point to my baby that she immediately points to my belly button. And we never taught her that! Some people say I feel different because this is a boy. Which is a legitimate guess. But I truly attribute it to our change in life style. Mostly in the way we eat. I love that I am getting to teach the girls about REAL food, healthy food, and traditional cooking. They are catching on and building a solid foundation for a lifetime of healthy living. And that makes me more happy than the way I feel temporarily when pregnant! So feeling good is just a bonus! So I said me feeling better is "mostly" from the way we eat, I think it is also because my body is just plain ol' used to being pregnant. I mean I've been pregnant for about 29 out of the last 89 months! THAT'S CRAZY!!! Ok so there it is, all the updates. I'm not sure when I will be posting again. It just might take me awhile to get back into the swing of things.

Brynlee Growning - 7 months

How did you get to be 7 months?

This is the excitement you have when you see your sisters.

They were attempting to "help" me get you to not climb off the chair and get you to smile.

You are the HAPPIEST baby!

Your favorite thing to do right now is blowing raspberries/spitting. You love to eat, however I am wondering if you are still having trouble with your tummy. So I have decided to try cutting back on your solid food intake (Im definitely NOT worried about you starving to death!). And considering you can down an ENTIRE avocado at a single meal, I think there is plenty of room to "cut back".  You are still a horrible sleeper, well I probably shouldnt say horrible I should say "not as good as your sisters." Your 3-4 wake up calls EVERY night are getting super duper old, and I am ready to get a solid stretch of sleep.  You have just recently developed a ridiculous attachment to me. If I am in the room you MUST be on my hip (or in one of your various carriers attached to me). Today you really started moving across the floor, Im not quite sure I am ready to call it "crawling" but you are definitely scooting your fat self all around.  You are still nursing like a champ, and have not had as many bottles as I would like (which is my fault), Im hoping your daddy will start putting you to bed with a bottle soon on weekend nights. Despite your biggest sisters' BEST (and unending) attempts to shove in your face get you to drink water from your own cup you still refuse. You love your car seat WAY more than your sisters at this age, and you even sleep in it, which is a whole new world for me. You are a very content baby, most of the time, and you have a lot of patience most of the time which I feel like is a requirement of the 3rd born. You are 19+ lbs, Im not quite sure your exact weight, but I know you have plenty of meat on those bones, which makes momma VERY happy! You still love men, you will smile and "talk" to any guy that will listen to you. You kick your feet when you are happy and excited. You are DYING to get your hands on the iPad. You are trying desperately to suck your thumb (just like your sisters), which does not make your momma happy, and you think the paci is a toy. You have lost most of the hair on the back of your head leaving a semi-bald spot, and the hair by your ears and in front are growing longer and longer. Despite being dressed in pink (and other girl colors) you still get mistaken for a boy. You have brought a ridiculous amount happiness and joy and love and giggles to our lives and we love you more than you will EVER know!

Kaylee getting Brynlee dressed

This is a funny video. I missed the funniest parts while I was trying to get the camera rolling. Everytime Kaylee would try to put her clothes on Brynlee would try and roll away!

Kaylee even picked out her outfit

I HAVE A KINDERGARTENER!!!

Kaylee has been begging me for weeks now to start her Kindergarten curriculum that has been sitting in a box in the school room for a couple of months now. Finally I gave in and decided I would let her start it because she was so determined to do so. That is the beauty of homeschool, if she wants to start school in June......so be it. If we want to take the month of September off.......we can! The first day went well and after the 2nd day I noticed that she had already completed ONE TENTH of her entire curriculum for Kindergarten. Now after less than a week she is ONE FIFTH of her way through!  If we continue on this pace (mind you I am not forcing her to do any of this, she comes to me throughout the day asking to do more schoolwork) she can finish Kindergarten and start 1st grade by this fall! Now dont get your feathers ruffled (the person I am referring to, you know who you are), Im not saying thats what I am going to do. im not exactly sure what I am going to do about this situation yet.

I knew when the curriculum arrived it was going to be easy for her. I even tossed around the idea of finding another curriculum. But a great friend and homeschooling expert advised me to stick with it even if it was too easy. I am glad I did! I think I will continue to use this curriculum throughout our homeschool experience. I love it and it is apparent that she loves it too. I love the fact that it is gentle and encouraging, I love how it is repetative and she knows what to expect. And I dont want to bounce around from curriculum to curriculum each year. I want to stick with what we start with (unless we hate it, but obviously we dont) and that way she is where she needs to be to move on to the next level. My fear is that she might be behind when/if we out her in school. Hopefully that will never be the case!

Kaylee has also been asking me to start the 1st grade math curriculum I purchased. The girl LOVES her math! YAY for that! So I am getting the teachers manual for that curriculum and we will be starting it soon, per her request.
Also, Kaylee has asked on numerous occasions about electricity. She says, and i quote, "mommy can you teach me about electricity in Kindergarten. I want to know all about it!" How can I NOT teach her about electricity when she is dying to learn about it! So I have ordered a science kit pertaining to electricity. She also seems super into blood and guts and that sort of thing so I bought her a science kit and a few books pertaining to that topic as well.



Now I have to decide what the heck Im going to do when she finishes Kindergarten this summer! Any ideas/suggestions???

Horse camp picture

I just found this picture they took of the campers during Kaylee's horse camp.

 It was too sweet not to share!

She is at the bottom left of the circle. She is covering her fave with her eyes and wearing a purple shirt.

(Great) Grandma's Furniture

This post has been a LOOOONG time in the making!

 

After my grandmother passed away earlier this year my dad asked me if i wanted her vanity. I screamed YES before he could even finish his sentence. I was so thrilled to be able to get to have a little something that was special to her. Come to find out is was more special than I could have ever imagined! Turns out her chest of drawers and vanity were a matching set so I was going to get BOTH of them!!! When we got the furniture back here I made the decision to have someone restore the pieces. My dad found a guy who has a business out of his house and thats who we chose, and I am so glad we did. He did such an amazing job! Here are the pictures that were taken before any work was done.

Originally we were going to have the pieces stripped and restained. But after thinking about it, I decided I wanted them to look as natural as possible. So I asked the man doing the work for us if we could see them after they were stripped to make up our mind. Here they are after stripping

I chose to just have them clear coated and to let the natural mahogany shine. I am so thankful I did because they turned out magnificent!  The man told me that when he took the backing of the mirror off to remove the glass he found a date. Turns out these were made in July 1937. My grandparents were married JULY 1937 and these were most likely a wedding gift or purchased by them after their marriage. When I learned this my knees almost buckled (and Im getting goose bumps right now just typing about it) How lucky am I to be able to have pieces of furniture that were obviously super special in the life of the woman I admire most! And this marks the 2nd set of furniture I own from my grandparents. I've had my maternal grandmothers' bedroom suite for like 15 years now, and it too holds a special place in my heart!
Here are the pieces as soon as we got them into Kaylee's room. We werent allowed to put the hardware back on for 5 days so that the sealer stuff could harden and set properly.

Here is the chest of drawers completely finished with the hardware.

And the vanity

I am still so happy everytime I think about the fact that I am lucky enough to own both sets of grandparents' furniture. And they are both remarkably beautiful sets!

Funny things kids say....

Kaylee:
When I dropped her off for her first day of horse camp I hadnt told her about the camp prior to that day. I didnt want there to be any problems with Ainslee feeling left out or Kaylee having trouble sleeping beforehand from being excited. Anyways so we were walking up and Kaylee kept asking questions about what was going to happen and what they were going to be doing. As I was saying good bye to her she says "Mommy I might get to touch a horse today!" Little did she know then that she would be riding one. And to think that she was SOOOO excited about the thought of even touching one!

Ainslee:
we were driving one day and she asks "Mommy where are we going?" I said we have to find somewhere I can park so I can nurse Brynlee. She then noticed the car in front of us was making the same turns as us and appeared to be going the same place as we were. Then she asked "Mommy is that car going to find somewhere to nurse their baby too?"

Kaylee:
One night we were out to eat dinner and we ordered fries. As Kaylee bit into her giant steak fry she looked inside of it. She leaned over to me and whispered "Mommy there are potatoes inside these fries!" and I said "YES Kaylee that is what fries are made out of." She immediately leaned over to Ainslee and said "Ainslee we are eating potatoes!"



There have been MANY more things they have said lately but I failed to remember them or write them down, so they are lost and gone forever, unless they ever say them again

Brynlee's Medical Update

Brynlee has been experiencing some medical "issues" for quite some time now. She has had blood in her stool since she was about 2 months old. It isnt an every day thing, and it started out just little eraser size chunks (sorry for the graphic description). This was about the time I started putting her on the potty.  While I never noticed it in her diaper I recall seeing it many many times when she went on the potty, but i didnt keep track of how often it was. I didnt bring this to anyones attention, even Marcus' until she was about 3 1/2 months old. At that point I still wasnt quite sure if it was blood or not.  I continued to monitor it and then one day it was WAY more than usual, and it really alarmed me. I decided to bring her in to the doctor. The diagnosis was an anal fissure. I was never quite pleased with that diagnosis. And the next time it happened I examined the poo more.....gross I know! But i came to the conclusion that the blood was not with her poo it was IN her poo!  There is a big difference! I decided that I needed to bring in a sample for the doctors to see. So I waited.......until one day we were at the allergy doctor getting our shots. Brynlee was acting super strange and i decided to put her on the potty, which by the way I think is SUPER disgusting to put her on public pottys at this age, but she wanted to go and wouldnt go in her diaper! I noticed that there were a few BIG chunks when she went so I acted quick. My mom had the big girls out in the waiting room. I called her and asked her to come in the bathroom. I told her i needed to get the poo and blood out of the potty to bring to the pediatrician. She said she would rather be on "poo fishing duty" than keep the girls for me. So I gladly went and collected some supplies and she began fishing. We brought the sample to the doctor where it was confirmed blood. They sent me home with a proper collection kit and asked that I get a "clean" sample for testing. And also suggested that I remove dairy from my diet because she was fitting all the signs of having issues digesting dairy through my breastmilk.  So for the next 3 days I had to put her on the little potty so that I could catch everything, and I was officially gluten AND dairy free!

Finally Brynlee gave us 2 samples in one day and I saved them both. Since she gave them to us on a Saturday of a holiday weekend I had to keep that in my frig until Tuesday! double gross! I brought it to the doctor and also had an appointment to see the doctor. But this time her doctor was out of the office so we saw a different doc. She assured me that the blood was NOT coming from the fissure and that she wanted to run more tests. They attempted to draw blood from her but were unable to find her vein so I was sent to another location to have the blood drawn. About a week later we recieved the results back and her blood was negative for ALL allergies and her poo tests came back completely normal. The only thing that was slightly alarming was her hematocrit level. But since it was still within the "normal" limits (the very lowest number in the normal range) they said it was ok. I still continued to monitor the poo and they told me I could start eating dairy again. Then they referred us to a pediatric gastroenterologist. When I called for an appointment the earliest they could get me in was 7 weeks. I was NOT pleased with that, so I called my pediatrician and they were able to expedite the process and get me in the very next Monday! Amazing how those things work out! We saw that doctor and got a better diagnosis of Allergic Colitis. At first I wasnt too keen on this diagnosis. But the more I thought about it I think I wasnt happy with the way it was presented to us. Here's what went down: we were brought to our room where the nurse asked lots of questions about her symptoms and dates and things of that nature. She feverishly wrote down everything in Bryn's chart and left the room. About 10 minutes later the doctor walks in carrying a piece of paper and begins to talk to us. Within the first 3 minutes he says "I think she has allergic colitis" and hands me the paper he brought in. I felt like he made the diagnosis without even looking at her or talking to me personally. But whatever, maybe this is so common and so trivial that it didnt require more of his time. To me this was a big deal! My infant daughter has had blood in her stool for 4 months! I took the info he gave us and went home to digest everything. He also told us this is something she will outgrow and that it doesnt mean that she will have allergies in the future. He assured me that she has a mild case and that I dont need to do anything to alter my diet/lifestyle as of yet. He said if the symptoms worsen then we will begin exploring options then.  And you know what......she hasnt had A SINGLE DROP of blood in her stool since! How crazy is that? So now she is medically cleared to start solids and we have been full force ahead trying and experimenting with all different kinds of food. Turns out she is much like her sisters in that she is NOT a fan of typical pureed baby food. She much prefers regular table food.  I am hoping that we have all blood issues behind us now! And I just want to know why kids start so early scaring the S**T out of thir parents?

Brynlee Growing - 6 months

Here are the lovely pictures I took of Brynlee on her 6 month birthday (a day late)

arent they just fantastic? NOT

ANd then I asked my super-D-duper friend to snap a few and this is what hers turned out looking like!

Dont get too excited people Im NOT putting headbands on my baby! I just let Bethany do it for pictures because it makes her happy! It just so happens that this one turned out AMAZING!!!

 I cant wait to get the rest of the pictures back from her......there are so many more cute ones!