My girlie girl

Those that know Becca know that she is pretty much your typical tomboy but recently she has been showing more of her girlie side. She loves her babies an takes them and her purses just about everywhere we go. She has also been requesting that I style her hair every day, even accessorizing it with a bow or flower!

We recently went to a yard sale where she fell in love with a couple pairs of shoes. They saw how much she enjoyed shoes and broke out the princess dress up shoes. I let her choose one pair, which she picked the green high heeled Tiana princess shoes! She has worn them ever since, even insisting to wear them to go shopping. She says they are her "Mrs. Nicole FANCY shoes".... We have a friend here we've known for about a year that helps watch the kids from time to time and we go to church with, Becca apparently noticed that Nicole wears high heels and had been secretly wanting a pair for herself. ;-)

I love that she can be rolling in the mud, throwing a baseball one minute then playing babies with her purse and high heels the next!

Dylan's 5th Birthday!

Here is my sweet Dylan on the day he was born and just before his 5th birthday! My how time flies!

Here Dylan is on his big day. He began running a fever the night before so he woke up feeling under the weather and laid around all day. Finally after dinner he felt well enough to open one gift from the family. He was so excited to get Lego's but still not well enough to play with them. He and I put them together the following day while Ryan and Becca were at school.

The Friday following Dylan's birthday, with some help from friends, we pulled together a surprise birthday party for Dylan. He had been telling me he wanted a Star Wars Lego party for a while but I hadn't put much thought into it. A good friend of mine offered for us to use her house and her left over party supplies to put the party together. It worked out perfect...we told him we were going to the park and stopping by our friends to drop some stuff off. Instead he came into the house to find a fun banner and lots of decorations. The party food included all the Star Wars favorites including; JarJar Links (hot dogs), Chewbacca Cookies (teddy grahams), Yoda Soda (Sprite), Vadorade (Gatorade) and a few more!

I think he enjoyed his birthday to the fullest! He spent it with friends, riding bikes, eating food, playing games, and as the sun went down they played with glowing balloons and glowing straws (lightsabers). I still can't believe he is five years old and will be starting Kindergarten next fall but for now I'll just enjoy my sweet, loving, cuddling, caring, fun five year old boy!! 

My Mother's Day

Well with Jason's 6/3 work schedule he was not going to be off of work on Sunday for Mother's Day so instead we celebrated the Thursday before. Jason and I spent the day running errands and having a lunch date while the kids were at school. I also headed to Dylan and Becca's school a few minutes early for a Mommy and me tea!

Jason made a stew, rolls, and a strawberry pie I'd been wanting to try. Once the kids were home they gave me my cards and gifts which included a gift card to spend on myself, foot scrubs, and art creations. Dinner and dessert were delicious! The boys t-ball game was canceled because of the rain so we just enjoyed the evening all together at home.

Sunday, Mother's Day, was not so glamours with the kids and I going to church (where the boys sang a couple songs to me during a special little program), then hanging out at home together. The kids behavior was even a bit whacky but because we celebrated earlier in the week I was very grateful for my beautiful kids and husband.

I am very blessed to be the mom of these amazing four kids! I really can't imagine my life without them and I have them to thank for so many more things that have came into my life since being a mom, like MOMS Club!

Spending another Mother's Day far away from my mom, sister, sister-in-laws, mother-in-law and all of the other wonderful ladies in my family is difficult. I hope they all know how much I love and appreciate them! I can never repay them for all they have done but I can use all the things I've learned from them with my kids each day. I am blessed to have so many amazing women in my life! So to all the moms I know, thank you for all you do! I love you all!! Happy Mother's Day!!!!

I loooove my kids!

It's been forever since I posted on here but I downloaded the blogger app on my phone so hopefully that'll help me blog more often.

Anyhow, recently my kids have been testing my patients. I'm sure they are just eager for the summer but I'm eager for them to listen and behave. In an attempt to be more patient with them I've been spending lots of time just listening and watching them. I have found them saying and doing the sweetest things lately.

Sunday before church I overheard Ryan reading to Dylan, upon closer inspection I realized he was trying to teach Dylan how to read. He would sound out the word and have Dylan copy him then they would sound it faster until Dylan recognized the word. They were being so patient and understanding with each other! So sweet!

On Monday I was not getting around well because of some bad any bites I got over the weekend so I spent the day playing with Becca, Dylan and Kaedyn. Becca has really been into playing with her baby dolls. She covers them up, feeds them in the bumbo complete with Kaedyn's empty baby food containers, bibs, and spoons. She spends much of her time talking to her dolls. She would tell them what she was doing, sing songs, and reassure them that all was fine. She also does this with Kaedyn....when she is leaving the room she will say "It's okay baby I'll be right back.", upon returning she says "See I'm back.", and anytime she is away from him but in the same room she says "I'm right here baby, don't cry.". :-) Warms my heart to think of the great mom she will be one day in the very distant future.

Now I can't leave Kaedyn out and since he doesn't do much recognizable talking yet I thought I'd share some mile stones. Kaedyn has been babbling 'mama' for months but over the last month he began babbling 'dada', 'daddy', and 'yaya'. I love it because that means he wants/needs dad rather than me. Hehe! He has been consistently rolling since he was about 4 month old. That is how he follows his siblings around, up until this week when he started pushing himself onto all fours and crawling backwards. He hasn't figured out the forward motion yet but it won't be long. He is a little sponge that soaks up everything going on around him, he is learning so quickly and he is determined to keep up with his siblings.

I just love these kids! I love watching them interact with each other and I am looking forward to summer with them all!

It's A BOY!!!!

After what seemed to be longest nine months of my life, I gave birth to Kaedyn Lee on Thursday, September 22nd at 1:05am. I was induced at 5pm on the 21st so was in "active" labor for about 8 hours. I've had pre-term contractions from 26 weeks on, being monitored weekly with stress tests, spending a night in the hospital on two different occasions, plus had low amniotic fluid levels throughout my pregnancy. The night of the 20th I began having hard contractions that continued into the following day. I finally called the doctor and went in at 11am to find out that I was only 3cm but 85% effaced. I explained to the doctor that I had a feeling something wasn't right, I had thought my water had broke a week and a half prior or was leaking quite a bit. They finally listened to me, scraped my membranes and told me to go eat lunch before checking in at the hospital to be induced.

Kaedyn's labor was comparable to that with Ryan because I was given pitocin with both and my water was broke. However I had a lot more energy with Ryan because I hadn't had any pre-term labor only a few contractions leading up to his due date. Being that I was so worn out from chasing three kids and having endless true contractions for months I had little energy for this labor and delivery. I also stand by the fact that the pain of this labor was much more than any of my previous labors. All in all Kaedyn was safely delivered, I was able to deliver naturally without an epidural (which I desperately wanted this time) and he is healthy. He was stubborn through and through (from not wanting to turn from a breach position, to not wanting to completely engage his head, to waiting until his Yaya and Aunt Liana were in Midland to decide he was ready to be born) which leads me to wonder how/if at all this will display in his personality.

Once born he followed in his siblings footsteps by barely crying even once they suctioned him. Some other interesting characteristics/things about Kaedyn: He acted as if he'd been in the world for weeks when he was only minutes/hours old. He nursed right away and hasn't stopped since (or at least that is what is feels like to me, lol). He only cries when he is dirty or wants fed. He sleeps 4 to 5 hours at at time at night. He was circumcised at one week old because there was a huge miss-communication in the hospital. His siblings LOVE him so very much and hold him every chance they get! His face looks like Becca with Ryan's nose and ears. He has a ton of facial expressions just like Becca did/does. He is dark complected with brown eyes and brown hair just like Ryan had as a baby and still has (Becca was also dark complected and still is). He has the exact same toes as Dylan which are Jason's toes. His fingers look more like mine. He is perfect in every way!! =)

Here is a family picture of us all!

This announcement made with Smilebox

I'd like to send out a huge thanks to; my mom for flying in from NM for Kaedyn's birth and helping with the kids over the several days she was here!, My sister Liana for driving all this way from NM to help with the kids for an entire week!!, AND My local MOMS Club friends for five fabulous days of delicious meals plus help with our kids including keeping them overnight and transporting them to and from school AND for the diapers!!! It is so fabulous having so many wonderful people that care so deeply for our family that they'd give so much of themselves! We are truly blessed!