Off to a rough start

We got off to a rough start after all of our help left...Gwyn ended up getting sick, so we had to take her to the dr and she had to get some steroids and two breathing treatments while we were there (for over 2 hrs). She was feeling pretty bad, but after two days (and getting to watch Dora during every breathing treatment every 3 hrs), she was feeling much better. Here she is at the drs office trying to hide from the nurse when she came back to the room to see if she had to get a third breathing treatment. She really thought she was hiding, it was pretty cute!

That same day I had gotten 3 1/2 hrs of sleep, not all at one time, but 2 hrs plus 1.5 hours, which is SO much worse than 3 1/2 hours of straight sleep...anyway, after we got home I got puked on 3 times, so my day was not going well for being on my own...luckily Brian was able to meet me at the dr with Gwyn and Annie. We were back at the dr again the next day to get Jacob the swine flu mist.

Here are a few pics of Annie from the last week, she is growing fast, getting some cheeks on her and is such a sweet baby! Brian says her breath smells like Lucky Charms (of course she hasn't puked on him yet!)
Brian used to carry Gwyn around in this sling every night when he got home from work...she started demanding it and would yell until he put her in it. Brian wonders if Gwyn told Annie about it, because she really likes it!
This is Annie in the stroller while the kids are playing outside...she's pretty good at playdates!

Enough already with the pictures Mommy!

One thing I love about having a new baby is how attached Jacob and Gwyn are getting to Brian...since I'm usually tied down to Annie at least every 3 hours, the kids really like their time with Brian.

Jacob got to help change the oil last weekend...

He is learning all about tools and knows the difference between alot of them. Gwyn likes to watch as long as she's got a snack or her juice!

Brian thought he was brilliant and came up with the idea to have the kids pick up all the acorns in the yard and put them in a bucket...it kept them busy outside for about 30 minutes and when they had finished scavenging the yard for every last one, Brian went over and shook the trees to make more fall to give them even more fun (in the meantime, Brian was able to organize the garage outside while I napped inside!). Here is Brian's 10 yr anniversary present from me, yes, I'm about 7 months early, but it was on sale!

Here are the kids playing with extra acorns.

Jacob is continuing to say some really funny things, he says he wants to be Batman when he grows up. We loves reading doctor and dentist books, and we were talking about eating healthy foods so you don't have to get shots in your mouth (for fillings), and he said he likes healthy food...he likes apples, and chicken, and oranges, and popsicles, and chick fil a chicken, and I thought yep, that is about what he eats!

Gwyn is also so funny, she is a little goofball who dances around and falls down and laughs all the time. She is also pretty smart, she fell and hurt her arm and we thought it might really be hurt because she held on to it for a little bit. We tested it by giving her a popscicle and seeing if she held it with her left hand (since she is left handed and it was the hand that was hurt), and of course it was fine after 5 minutes. Since then she's been faking an arm injury trying to get more popscicles, of course it always switches to the right hand or the left hand and back again...she might have pulled that over on us once, but not twice! Oh, and in the mornings while we are getting ready they each take a turn at picking a cartoon to watch, which they call kids shows, when it is Jacob's turn, Gwyn runs over to him and asks him to pick Dora, he says no, then she says Diego?, he says no, Backyards? (for Backyardigans), he says no, Super Why?, he says no...she hasn't caught on yet that he won't pick something she suggests.

What a week!

It has been a busy week for us, Rick and Sue were here all week and we got so much done at the house. We (and when I say we, I mean Rick, Brian and Sue) moved furniture from the formal dining to the breakfast area, the breakfast area to the garage, the office to the formal dining area, and now have the old office ready to go for Gwyn's room. It isn't finished yet, Brian has 4 more pieces of furniture to build and I've got some curtains and decorating to do, but within the next few weeks it should be ready for her to move in there and Annie can move into the nursery. Sue also set us up with over 20 meals in the freezer! Our house is also clean...for the next few days anyways, these kids can do some damage before you even turn around!

At her two week appointment, Annie weighed 7 lbs 8 oz, she had gained 1 lb in 10 days, so she's growing fast!

It was Jacob's turn to bring snack to school on Monday, and it was owl day, so Brian (being creative and all that) chose to make him some owl cupcakes...here they are:

Jacob is so proud of his lego castle/village/zoo...Brian is proud too to use all the pieces on one huge creation!

Jacob loves his baby sissy Annie:

I did try to take some good pics of Annie:

Gwyn can't get enough of lil' Annie:

Rick and Sue bought these Wiggle Racers for the kids and they loved them, it was cute watching them have fun on them.

We did take the kids to Jaocb's school fall fest, and Brian designed and made our family banner, he was pretty proud of himself for being so creative with our names, PBAGJ (Peanut, Phoebe; Butter, Brian; And, Annie; Grape, Gwyn; Jelly, Jacob.

Annie's first two weeks

Well, we've had a fun past couple of weeks. Annie will be 2 weeks old on Tuesday. She is so precious and sweet and completes our family of 5! We can't imagine life without her. She really is (so far) the easiest baby we've had, so I'm crossing my fingers that she stays that way!!



Jacob and Gwyn are still in love with her, Gwyn gets all giggly everytime she touches her and now constantly says that Annie likes her. Jacob is still really gentle with her and likes to hold her, help give her a bath, and hug her.



We braved a trip to the pumpkin patch (we were there less than 10 minutes), and got a few pictures of the kids before things went crazy and the rain started.

We went to our church's Fall Festival on Friday, we lasted just over an hour, but the kids had fun, they had a petting zoo, hay ride, and lots of games. Gwyn just wanted Brian to hold her until she saw that after Jacob played a game he got to get candy...then she wanted to do every game. She knows how things work!

We let Jacob and Gwyn trick or treat in our neighborhood, well, kind of...they went to one house across the street, who gave them each a few handfuls of candy, and then came back and trick or treated at our own house, and Nana gave them some candy. We figured that was enough for this year...I'm sure next year we will have to expand the trick or treating, Jacob even said he wanted to go knock on more doors.

It was SO nice having my mom here for almost 2 weeks, she left today, but reinforcements have arrived! Sue came in today, and Rick comes in tomorrow, so I've got another 9 days of being able to take a nap during the day and catch up on sleep, and having help with cooking, cleaning, laundry, and errands. We love our family!!

Baby Annie is here!

Annie Jaye is here! She was born Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 12:36 pm, weighing 7 lbs 4.5 oz and measuring 18 1/2 inches long. I had my drs appointment on Monday, and my amniotic fluid was REALLY low, so they said you are going to have this baby now. Luckily, everything worked out for me to be scheduled Tuesday morning, so my mom, Rick and Sue could fly down Monday night and be here for the birth. Everything went fairly smoothly, and she came out PERFECT!

The kids were not able to visit in the hospital due to swine flu precautions, so I wasn't able to see them until Thursday afternoon and they weren't able to really see Annie until Thursday afternoon, although they did get a peek through the nursery window at her when they brought her out on Tuesday. Jacob says he REALLY, REALLY loves her and is actually really gentle with her. Gwyn however wants to eat her alive, touch her, hold her, squeeze her, and poke everything she's got. So far, everything is going really well here at the house, although little Miss Annie has her days and nights mixed up, so both me and my mom don't end up starting to get any sleep until early in the morning, but after 4 nights, she finally went to bed about 1:30 am last night, which is progress over 4 am. She seems to come alive about 9 pm, so she is our little night owl!

She is eating really well, and already had her first check up on Friday morning, she weighed 6 lbs 8 oz, so I'm hoping she starts to put on some weight so that she's back up to birth weight at her 2 week appointment.

My mom is taking care of us for now, letting me sleep, giving Brian a break, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. She leaves a week from Sunday, when our reinforcements (Rick and Sue) come in for 10 days, so we are being blessed by then and taking full advantage of the help!

Jason is trying to improve my technology of the blog, so he's showed me how to embed videos from youtube, so I can upload longer than 30 second clips. This video is of Annie's birthday cake with the kids:

This video is of the kids holding Annie for the first time at home. They all have matching shirts, Jacob's says Big Brother, Gwyn's says Big Sister, and Annie's says Baby Sister. We had to bride Jacob to wear his, and of course we didn't get one picture where you could read them all:



This video is of Annie coming home from the hospital...really the first time the kids have gotten to touch her, so they can't really contain themselves:




This one is of us leaving the hospital, and really the first time the kids have seen Annie:

9 more days and counting!

No pictures this week, my little camera broke, and the one I ordered should be here on Tuesday, so let's hope she doesn't decide to come before then! We've had a good week.

Jacob is still full of funny things to say, he told me he really, really, really needed some bliss, he said it was a type of chocolate, so I rewinded the TV and sure enough there was a commercial for some new Hershey's bliss chocolate...he's never paid attention before, or at least I thought, to commercials, but I can already see what's coming when they start advertising for toys!

I had my drs appointment, everything is looking good, just counting down the days until the 27th. I took Jacob in for another speech evaluation and they said he was doing well, no need for any more speech therapy, which is a good thing since insurance quit paying for it.

Rick had some work here in Houston, so was able to stay with us for a night...of course I think he had to read about 20 books!

Jacob is starting to repeat in context everything that is said, he started calling me Phoebe and Brian, Brian, and we were driving the other day and I said "come on lady" to this lady that pulled out in front of me, and he yelled it in the same tone, it sounded bad coming out of his mouth, so I know it probably sounded bad coming out of my mouth, so I've got to watch what I say.

He has been helping Brian work on Gwyn's furniture, and he can be so sweet with Gwyn and teaches her all kinds of things...although while we were out there she picked up this piece of wood and made this shooting sound with her mouth and then said "shoot bad guys" so I know he's also teaching her some not so nice things. He did tell her how much fun school would be and that there is a playground and lots of toys and lots of friends. He also told me this week he wanted more hair on his legs and his cheeks like his Daddy. Oh, and we have this lizard that for some reason is on the window outside the bathtub every night during bath time. Jacob looked at me real serious and said that he LOVES lizards and wants that lizard to come inside. I told him I didn't love them so much and he just didn't understand why.

We went to MOPS this week too, they had a recipe swap so maybe once I feel like cooking I'll get to try some new things. I had a good day on Friday, Gwyn and I went to Chappel Hill with Jason for some lunch and to drive around, and then I got a pedicure, dinner, and a visit to a craft fair that evening...my last night out!

Brian is taking him to see Where the Wild Things Are this evening, and Gwyn and I get to go to the grocery store...she thinks it is just torture not getting to go with Bubba. She also climbed out of her crib again (which is now set on the lowest setting), so we'll probably have to sit her crib mattress on the floor inside her crib since we don't have her room ready yet. She's getting so big, talking so much, she's got a little attitude, she knows what she wants, and she just loves Jacob!

So much to say...

Well, once again we have had a busy week and weekend, and we're counting down the days until this new baby girl arrives...15 more days!

I had a girls night at the house on Friday, there were 8 moms here at the house so Brian and Jacob went over to Jason's to stay the night, Jacob was so excited about boys night and made sure to tell Gwyn three times until she fully understood that he got to go somewhere cool with Daddy and she didn't. She was crying when they left the house, but was in bed at 8 and slept through all of us talking.

We also did a couple of park days and a trip to the mall this week. The weather has been either perfect, wet and rainy, or so humid and hot that I'm pouring with sweat after 5 minutes. I'll be happy when the Fall weather gets here and stays here!

After my bible study on Tuesday, we met Brian at the park to feed the ducks, it was pretty fun. Jacob was yelling at the ducks saying, "hey ducks, come over here, we've got some food for you!" Then Gwyn would yell at them, but then she started eating the food instead of giving it to them.

Jacob's friend Josh came over last week, and he had a cowboy hat on, so of course Jacob had to go dig his cowboy hat out to have snack.

Jacob's preschool class went on a field trip to the animal clinic to see a dog doctor...Jacob thought it was the greatest. He loved watching the doctor do an exam on a dog, pet a bunny, look at x-rays of broken legs and swallowed metal objects, and look in the surgery room with all the dog doctor tools. He also liked that I got to go with him, we had so much fun. Brian stayed home to watch Gwyn, and when I pulled up I could hear her yelling from outside the house, she apparently gave him a hard time!

Before we left for the animal clinic, I got to be in his class for about 45 minutes. Jacob was the weather man that day, and went to the window to report that it was sunny and then moved a little magnet to the sunny position on the poster. He said he likes being the weather man. He was so funny because he's like a totally different person in school, he acts so manly, marching around, talking in a deep voice, it was hilarious.

Brad, Erika, and Maddy came over for dinner on Sunday night, the kids played so well together and it was great catching up. Erika made a candied apple pie for dessert, and it was delicious!!

Funny things Jacob said this week:

He was gone in the bathroom for a little bit, and I didn't think he was using the bathroom, so I asked him what he was doing in there and he told me he was just hanging out...apparently he was because there wasn't a big mess or toiletpaper everywhere!

He asked if the napkins were free at a little burger place we went to after church on Sunday.

He told Gwyn after she had her next birthday and then her next birthday she would be 3 and could go to tadpoles.

He told Brian he didn't want to give him knucks (tap knuckles like a high five) because he said so.

He told me at the mall that he was teaching Gwyn to play hop socks (hop scotch).

Busy, busy, busy

This week has been a busy week and weekend, we had a Mad Science birthday party which was fun, and Jacob got to make some slime and watch some cool experiments with dry ice. Brian worked on Gwyn's furniture for her room, I cleaned the house (this is a daily thing that you can never tell that I do!), Brian and I were able to go watch Jason play at a theater downtown, I took the kids to my bible study and to MOPS this week.

It was Clifford day at school, they made little dog ears and had to bring pictures of their pets or pictures of pets they would like to have. Jacob took pictures of some frogs and a lizard he (or I should say, Claudia) caught in Florida. I peeked me head in at the end of the class and Jacob was standing in the middle of the circle telling his class all about his frogs and lizards and how he caught them, it was pretty cute.

Brian takes Jacob to Tadpoles (a thing at church on Wednesday nights for Dads and 3-6 yr olds), this week he was in charge of craft, I tried to talk him into doing volcanos...which I tried out on Carter and Jacob, but he decided to do paper bag puppets which was a huge hit.

Here is a picture of Gwyn from the snake party last week that a friend of mine took.

We went to our Sunday school class picnic at a great park in Katy, the kids had so much fun and the weather was so nice...no pictures, sorry. We are getting ready for this baby, I am slowly making some progress on "nesting" and getting some cleaning done that needs to be done. I've started to pack a bag for the hospital...it is getting close now...22 more days!