WOW! Harper is almost 6 weeks! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by! She is really growing right before our eyes. She has chipmunk cheeks that are so sweet to kiss and is starting to smile and "goo" when we talk to her! She is sleeping 6 to 7 hours at night so we can't complain! I think she might be our easiest baby so far! Happy happy baby! (Except when I eat grapes! Advice: grapes + breastfeeding = fussy baby!!!) She follows Paycos and Kyler around with her eyes and loves when they talk to her. It is so sweet to watch her interact with them! Paycos is still doing great with her and so is Kyler, but she tends to be a little spastic! Kyler has also been acting out quite a bit and doing silly things that she wouldn't normally do, like, sticking play-do up her nose, stomping a cookie on the floor with her boot, throwing the little strings off of a banana on the living room floor, etc. Each day is something new!! I know this is a phase that she has to adjust to and that she's looking for attention, but she is driving me up the wall!! Lots of deep breaths!!! Paycos has now been seizure free for 2 months and is doing fantastic! He was having some "following directions" issues at home and school, then all of a sudden, he started listening better. I'm not really sure what happened, but he is really coming out of his shell. He used to be pretty quiet and shy. Now he's fighting Kyler to get some words in! (We all know how much she likes to talk!!) We are loving it and hoping that maybe we can lower his medication. We go to his neurologist in Dallas in December for an EEG and a check-up so we'll see!

We went to my mom's house to decorate pumpkins the weekend before Halloween. This was the first year that the kids actually carved their pumpkins. Usually, they just paint and decorate them with stickers, so they really enjoyed using the "big kid" knifes! Kyler had just come from a princess birthday party for one of her friends, so she was all dressed up!

Harper's umbilical cord FINALLY fell off so she had her first real bath in the baby bathtub. I had the best helper!! Doesn't that look like fun?!?!

We went to a fall festival at Kyler's school on Wednesday, a party at Paycos' karate place on Friday, and went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood on Saturday! We had the cutest Fairy, Wolverine and Mouse in the world! It was pretty chilly on Halloween night so Marilyn came over and stayed with Harper while we went trick-or-treating.

Here's just some random pictures:


Silly Face!!

Way to go dad...

It's a.......

It's a GIRL!!!! Miss Harper Chaney made her debut on September 28th at 1:05 PM. She weighed in at 9 lbs 1 oz and was 22 inches long! Big girl!!! Needless to say I was SSSHHHOOOOCCCKKKEEEDDDD when they said "girl"! I just KNEW she was a boy!!!!! The labor and delivery went relatively smooth (except for the long hour that I was in intense labor and STILL waiting for the epidural...but I try not to think about that!) The whole day was fantastic and it was the best feeling in the world when they announced what she was! Paycos and Kyler have been great little helpers and they adore their baby sister! So far she has been so sweet. She is sleeping for 5-6 hours at night and eating like a champ!

Going home!! Kyler is excited that she can reach her!!

Sweet little smile!

Where's Harper?!?

Paycos' 7th birthday was on Oct. 4th!! Justin took the kids to Chucky Cheese for lunch and when they came home, we had a little family celebration with cake and gifts. His party is going to be at the end of Oct. but we wanted to do something special on his actual birthday. We had a good time and he loved the Power Wing scooter and the BB gun that he got! Poor guy-he kind of had to share the spotlight with Harper but it didn't seem to bother him at all. He is such a sweet kid!

Hope you had a great birthday little man!!!

Finally!

IT"S BABY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it's finally here! I think I have been pregnant for years! We have to be at the hospital at 6:30 so I'm just waiting...and waiting...I'll be updating soon!

Random

Wow! I haven't posted in a while so this one is full of "randoms"

Kyler has officially started preschool! She loves it so far and has had a really fun time. Her teachers are very sweet and have been wonderful! She came home saying that she has two boyfriends and Justin did NOT like that!! He tells her to say that she has two friends that are boys instead of "boyfriends"! I think it's hilarious that it bothers him so much! OF COURSE, it's ok with him when Paycos talks about his "girlfriends" at school! (poor Kyler...her future boyfriends don't stand a chance!!!)




Posing with Brantley

With Kyler in school, it has been nice to have some time to myself on Tues. and Thurs. Although that will be changing soon since the baby will be here in 8 days!!!!!!! I CANNOT WAIT!!!!! Monday, the 28th is still the inducement date if nothing happens before then. At my doctors appointment last Monday she said I was dilated to "almost a 1" so at least that's some progress...we'll see what this baby has planned! AND we FINALLY decided on names so I feel like a HUGE weight has been lifted off my shoulders!

Last weekend we went to the Apple Butter Festival at the Apple Orchards in Idalou. It was fun but there weren't any apples to pick! Apparently they had a freeze last year when the apples were first starting to grow and it killed them all. The kids were bummed, but we still had a good time.

They are wearing Tech shirts but holding up

the Longhorns sign!

Dancing to the music!

Searching for apples....

Pretending to pick apples!

Some friends of ours moved into a new house that had a huge shed in the backyard. They didn't want it and told Justin that if he moved it, we could have it. I was annoyed because it was HIDEOUS! (notice the "chewed up" bottom and chipped paint everywhere...not to mention the lovely terra cotta color...) He kept telling me that it would look better once he replaced some of the wood and painted it. I had major doubts but with the help of my in-laws, it looks awesome!!! Zane helped with the construction and Marilyn helped with the paint! Justin is very proud of it and now we have some storage! So......Before:

And After:

And last but not least, Paycos lost a tooth on Saturday! It was his third one to lose but the first one on the top! His two front teeth have been loose for a while and after playing too rough with dad, one of them was knocked REALLY loose!! So all it took was one little pull and it was out! He was so brave! (He doesn't like pulling them...he pretty much wants to wait until they are hanging by a thread!) He wrote the Tooth Fairy a note and asked her to come get it Monday night so he could take it to school to show his teacher and friends. The Tooth Fairy agreed!

First Grade!

Paycos made it through his first week of first grade and did great! He has a wonderful teacher who honestly cares about each of the kids in the class. She is so sweet! I know they will have a good year. Paycos is like me; NOT a morning person!! He hates getting up early! Getting back into routine has been a hard adjustment. He is in bed, asleep, every night at 7 o'clock and he STILL has a hard time waking up! Yep, just like me! After a few weeks, it will get better and we can have a life again in the evenings! Kyler starts pre-school on the 8th and she is pumped!

We have 3 and a half more weeks before the inducement!!! I really hope that I just go into labor on my own...like TODAY would be great! I have been pretty darn miserable!! I'm trying to make the best of it though because this will be the last time I will ever be pregnant. It's kind of sad to think about! But I can't wait to meet this baby! Oh yea, my precious husband decided the other day that he's doesn't really like the names that we have picked out anymore...sure, I'll just come up with other ones...I have nothing else to think about...and we have SOOO much time left...seriously, what is wrong with him?!?! I guess we'll figure it out....

Paycos wanted to be a shark so we made a fin out of styrofoam and a belt!

Goofing around in the camper!

***Another reason I'm ready to have the baby is because Kyler tells me daily, "You're big and fat!" Thanks sweet girl....

Counting Down

The countdown has begun!! Or I guess I should say countdown's'. It is 1 week until Paycos starts 1st grade, 3 weeks until Kyler starts Pre-school, 4 weeks until my birthday, 6 weeks until the baby is born, and 7 weeks until Paycos' birthday! Wow! A lot is happening in just 7 short weeks. I really thought I would be sad with summer coming to an end, but I'm surprising myself by being excited! I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine and having a little peace and quiet for a short time before #3 makes his/her arrival. I still have so much to do as far as getting ready for baby, so hopefully I can get some things accomplished in these next few weeks. I am already feeling more relaxed as my pregnancy days come to an end. Definitely not physically but mentally. When I was pregnant with P and K, I had their nurseries completely ready and everything was 100% done before my 3rd trimester even began. We have done NOTHING in the nursery yet!! Mainly due to the fact that we don't know what we're having. I do have bedding and paint colors picked out, so as soon as we know what it is, we can get busy! The baby won't be in it's room for several months anyway. I am a very big planner so once again, I'm surprising myself by being calm about this. Maybe the panic attack will hit soon, but as of right now, I'm feeling A-OK!

Kyler is soooo ready for big girl pre-school! She has picked out a new back pack and lunchbox, and she is officially ready! Paycos, on the other hand, decided he likes staying home and playing all day and he would MUCH rather do that than go to school! I'm sure he will adjust! Goodbye summer!!!

Home Sweet Home

After a loooong drive, we made it home from the beach! It was hot and sandy, but we had so much fun! Paycos was way too brave and kept trying to venture out far in the water. The rule was that he could go knee deep but he pushed his limits. He had a boogie board and couldn't resist the bigger waves that were in the deeper water! I was kind of worried about how Kyler would be once we got on the beach. She tends to be pretty girly and I wasn't sure she would enjoy being sandy and wet. But she proved me wrong! She couldn't get enough! They collected shells, found hermit crabs, buried each other, fed the seagulls, had mud fights with the cousins, built sand castles and pretty much wore themselves out. We also found frogs, a HUGE sea turtle that had washed up on shore and four baby hammer head sharks!

Funny story:

The whole week we were there, I promised the kids that we could get some hermit crabs to bring home. On our way out, we stopped at several souvenir shops and every one of them were sold out! So after we got back to Lubbock, Justin and I took them to Petsmart to get some. Paycos picked one up to look at it and we noticed it had MUCH larger pinchers than the ones that live in the water have. I told Justin to put his finger in front of it to see if it would pinch, and Paycos said, "I will!" And before I could say no, the crab had latched on!! We shook, and pulled and thumped the crab but it would NOT let go! After about 45 seconds or so, Justin thumped it hard enough and it fell back in the cage. It actually broke the skin on his finger and made it bleed! Paycos and Kyler both quickly decided that they didn't want a hermit crab anymore! They were so disappointed so we had to get them SOMETHING! After convincing Justin that we didn't need a hamster, gerbil, guinea pig, bird, rabbit or new puppy, we all settled on another turtle, so our turtle (whose name is Turtley...so original!) would have a friend!

Baby News:

We had our last ultrasound on Tuesday. We got some great 3-D pictures of that precious baby face! He/she already has chubby cheeks and pouty lips! They said the baby is measuring 2 weeks bigger and weighs 5Lbs!!! She said most 31 week babies weigh around 3 lbs!! My little over-achiever!!! I tried to explain to this baby that this was NOT the thing to over-achieve at!! I don't think he/she is listening! I feel like I'm getting bigger by the second! My doctor is inducing me a week early but maybe I can convince her to bump it up a few days! IF I make it that long!