Noble Family of 5

aaaaaaaaaaand I'm back....

2010-09-08T20:57:00.004-05:00

Oh. My. Goodness. How pathetic is my blogging? Wow....time to get back on track. Maybe with the 2 big kids in school I'll have a little spare time (ha!) Harper tends to keep me pretty busy now that she's WALKING!! This video is from when she first started taking steps.

Paycos and Kyler have started school! Paycos was really excited the first week and now that's gone...he's back to not liking it. He always says, "I wish we NEVER had to go to school and could stay home all day." I know he has a good time while he's there; he justs hates waking up in the morning and going to bed early. Kyler, on the other hand, LOVES it! She goes 3 days a week but would go everyday if she could. She's such the social butterfly and we get a play-by-play of her day every time. We get nothing out of Paycos...typical boy I guess.

Harper is changing daily! She is super duper smart and makes us laugh all day! She can say mama, dada, uh-oh, bubba, nana, bye bye, and hi. She can also wave, stick out her tongue, smell her toes, clap her hands and so many other funny things. She is such a joy to have!

This video is a more recent one that shows her walking pretty good!

2010-05-23T20:21:00.006-05:00

Harper is 8 months old! She has really grown a lot in this past month and is doing many new things:

-She took her first crawling "step"! It took her a while but she is finally getting the hang of it. She can get across the room now so I guess you could say she is oficially crawling - YIKES!

-She got her first tooth! It has been trying to come in for about a week now and FINALLY broke through the skin on Sunday (the 23rd). We can see the other one right beside it but it hasn't popped up yet.

-She can pull up on things! If she can reach it, she will pull up to a standing position. You have to be close by though because she will get distracted and face plant onto the floor!

-She has developed her own opinion! Things that used to not bug her before, now do! Like changing her diaper or buckling in her car seat. She also screams when the kids take something away from her!

-She LOVES her brother and sister! They can make her laugh and smile any time of the day! She adores them and they adore her. They are so sweet to her (especially Paycos; Kyler can be a little rough sometimes!) and they even have a special song they made up just for her. Everytime she gets upset, they start singing and she immediately stops!

-She eats EVERYTHING!! The girl is a piggie! She still loves the baby cereal and pureed baby food but is starting to prefer finger food. She basically eats anything that we can cut up into bite size pieces.

-She is starting to wave bye-bye! When we wave to her, she studies our hand for a minute and then tries it herself. It's so cute!

-She dances! When she hears music playing, or even a consistent sound, she bounces up and down!

-She is stringing syllables together! She says um ma ma da da ma ma ba ba da da...you get the picture! It's so sweet to hear her little voice making all these sounds!

-She is such a joy! From day one she has been a good eater and sleeper and it hasn't changed. She definitely fits the description of the third child: easy, laid back, happy and flexible!

We had some concrete poured and did this before it dried!

Justin arranged for the fire truck to come by after Kyler's t-ball practice and spray the kiddos!

I want to have a sign made that Kyler can wear when we go out in public that says "I dress myself!" She comes up with some wacky outfits!

Harper's favorite place to be (besides my hip!)

School is oficially out for summer! Yay!! In celebration of this, we put up our pool. I didn't want to waste one day of sun without having somewhere to enjoy it. I think it will last us one more year but next year we'll probably have to get a bigger one. It's the perfect size for Kyler but not quite deep enough for Paycos.

Filling it up

First day of 1st grade

Last day of 1st grade

We don't have much planned for this summer but I hope to stay busy to avoid constant fighting between Paycos and Kyler. We are going to Dallas in mid June for a check up appointment with Paycos' neurologist. We're praying she will lower his medication dose since he's been seizure free for almost a year (in August) but we'll see. I can't complain really because he is doing so well on this particular medicine but the only side effect he suffers from is over heating. It prevents him from sweating and he's at MAJOR risk for heat stroke which isn't much fun in the summer. His face will turn BEET red and the heat just drains him. We always carry a spray bottle with water in it to spray him down so we can kind of keep him cool. I'm hoping a medicine reduction could possibly help this but I don't know. But compared to the other side effects he's had from other meds, this isn't too bad!

On a side note, I've been making jewelry! After several people wanting to but some, I made a blog and posted some pictures so they could look at all the options!

Check it out at www.loo-libeads.blogspot.com

Mutton Bustin' and Easter

2010-04-11T18:22:00.010-05:00

I'm sure ya'll are just waiting in suspense to find out how Paycos did, right?!? He made the top 30 in the tryouts and qualified to ride in the Thurday night rodeo. He got 1st place that night and went on to ride Saturday night where he got 3rd place!!! We were really excited! He won a great big belt buckle and a gift card to Dollar Western Wear! It's such a fun experience and we were all a little bummed that this was his last year to ride. But what a way to go out!! We're so proud of our mutton bustin' champ!!!

Tryouts:

silly face!!!

Thursday night ride: This is HILARIOUS!!!!

Going out with her boots on!

#118

Saturday night:

Posing with the Rodeo queen and some guy...not sure who he is...

We had a jam packed Easter this year because of the rodeo falling on Easter weekend. Some of my family was in town and my grandmother brought crawfish from Louisiana. DELICIOUS! One of the kids favorite things to do before we boil them is to have crawfish races. You have to pick out a crawfish, put them in the middle of the circle, and try to get them to cross the line first. It's sort of a tradition I guess. We used to do it when I was little too!

I found mine! Wasn't very fast though...

Cheering them on

The Easter Bunny was good to everybody! The kids got LOTS of goodies and had fun dying and hunting eggs. Harper missed out on the hunt. She decided napping sounded better! (Notice Kyler's hair cut!! I took her in for a trim because I was so sick of trying to get out tangles, and she wanted to cut it short!

Time once again...

2010-03-24T22:40:00.001-05:00

As you may or may not know, I am the proud mother of the ABC Rodeo's 2009 Mutton Bustin GRAND CHAMPION! Last year, Paycos beat out 183 other kids to win the title! He tried out on a Tuesday, made it to the second round which was Friday night in the actual rodeo, then the final 10 competed in the Saturday night rodeo. It was AWESOME! It was such a confidence booster for him and I was choking back tears of overwhelming pride! Justin and I still get giddy when we talk about it. He held on for dear life and genuinely loved every second of it! Who would have thought that Paycos, of all kids, would ride?! We thought he would chicken out at the last minute, but heck no! That boy jumped right in there as fearless as could be! I'm re-living this moment and getting excited all over again because it's time for round 2. Tryouts for the 2010 rodeo are this Tuesday the 30th. He can't wait!!!! This will be his last year to ride because the age range is 4-7. If he makes it into the top 30, they will let us know what night he will compete again. Then, if he makes the top 10, he'll ride one more time on the final Saturday night rodeo. Sooooo keep your fingers crossed people!!!! Here's some pictures from last year.

TRYOUTS:

FRIDAY NIGHT:

SATURDAY NIGHT:

(WEARING THE SAME SHIRT FOR GOOD LUCK!!)

GET ON THAT SHEEP!!!

AND HE WINS A VEST AND BELT BUCKLE!!!

A LITTLE VIDEO FROM THE FRIDAY NIGHT RIDE:

I decided that this year I wasn't going to do the filming because on the other videos, all you can hear is me screaming and it almost makes you nauseas to watch because I was jumping up and down so much! It was just too exciting!!!

Wish us luck!!!!!!!!!

WARNING...picture overload

2010-03-22T09:07:00.009-05:00

We had our family pictures done a couple of weekends ago and the photographer (Kristin Bednarz) did a wonderful job! The kids were acting goofy, Justin was grumpy, and Harper was NOT cooperating so when we were done, I thought, there is NO WAY she got any decent shots! But she did! I was surprised. Anyway, here are some of my favorites:

5 months!

2010-03-04T15:46:00.006-06:00

Harper is 5 months! I can't believe how fast time is flying by. I think I say that with every post but it's so true! Everyday is something new. She has her own little personality and her likes and dislikes. She growls, laughs a lot, spits, says ba ba ba ba, and is sitting up! I always said when I was pregnant that she's our little over acheiver because she always measured big, and she seems to still be ahead, developmentally speaking. The other 2 did not sit up this early! Here's some videos I took of her a few days before she turned 5 months:

We have a new niece! Miss Piper Paige made her QUICK arrival into the world on February 23rd! She's precious with TONS of hair!! She is the first baby for Justin's brother Lee and his wife Katie.

Justin was being goofy!

Paycos and Kyler are both playing baseball this year and practice has begun! It looks like we'll stay pretty busy this season. Paycos' team has practice 3 times a week! I think that's ridiculous for 7 year olds so we'll probably only do 1 maaaayyybe 2 a week. Kyler is sooo excited and I think she'll be the little athlete of the family. She's pretty darn good!

Ready for practice

We also had some family pictures made this weekend so hopefully I'll be able to post some on here!!!

Big questions for a little girl

2010-03-04T13:37:00.002-06:00

Conversation with my 4 year old while driving in the car:

K: How do we get to heaven?
me: Umm...well...hmmm.....actually....um....we go to Heaven when God is ready for us!
K: But HOW do we get to Heaven?
me: Well...umm...the angels take us
K: How?
me: They fly down and pick us up
K: How?
me: I guess they carry us in their arms or maybe we ride on their backs?!
K: I'm scared
me: Why?
K: What if they drop me?
me: They won't
LONG PAUSE.............
K: (Teary voice) Will you miss me?
me: What?
K: Will you miss me when I'm in Heaven?
me: I'll be in Heaven with you!!
K: Oh!
LONG PAUSE.............
K: What about our house?
me: What about it?
K: Will someone live there when we go to Heaven?
me: Yes-we won't need it anymore. We'll have our own house in Heaven.
LONG PAUSE..............
K: I'm gonna be a Cheerleader when I grow up!!!!
me: That sounds GREAT!!!!!!

Phew!!! I was glad to be done with that conversation!! That girl can ask some hard questions!!! She always catches me off guard and I'm never really sure what to say!!!! She has had A LOT of questions lately about dying and Heaven although I'm not sure why. Just curious I guess! I wish I could have better answers for her!

Valentines Day

2010-02-15T14:49:00.011-06:00

Our Valentine Surprise!! Justin and I have been talking about getting a "friend" for Tuff but couldn't really decide what kind of dog to get. I wanted another yorkie but they are just so expensive. We really lucked out with Tuff-he was a reasonable price and turned out to be a good dog. Anyway, Justin had to work on Valentine's Day and he came home with a really sweet card. Then he said he forgot something in the truck and came in with this teeny tiny Maltese! The kids were sooo excited! We haven't really named him yet-Kyler likes "cutie" Paycos likes "Thunder" and Justin & I like "Trooper". We have called him several names but I think Trooper is going to stick!!

Kyler turned 4 on January 11th!!! She just thinks she is a big girl now! We had her party at Jumpin' Jungle and she loved playing with her friends and of course being the center of attention!

I thought this picture was so funny!

Paycos and Nana

Bi Bi made her princess castle cake

Happy Birthday Loo-Loo!!

Here's some other things that have been going on in the Noble house:

Harper and Tuff were arrested!

Campout in the Living Room

The Noble cousins

Kyler was teaching Harp how to play the Leapster!

Sword fighting with dad

The 3 stooges

The girlies

Enjoying some cereal AND her fingers

Spiderwoman

Spiderman

naked baby!

Catching up

2009-12-28T17:29:00.002-06:00

Ok, so I did 4 new updates but it posted them backwards! Scroll down and start from the bottom!

Just because

2009-12-28T09:26:00.008-06:00

And because I couldn't resist, I had to give these pictures of Harper their very own post!! I know it's a lot but I couldn't choose just 1 to put on here! I wanted to take a picture of her and ended up taking 57!! It was like a mini photo shoot!

The Polar Express

2009-12-28T08:30:00.008-06:00

My mom and I took the kids and my niece on the Polar Express! We ate cookies, drank hot chocolate, sang Christmas songs, and visited with Santa. They all had their matchin jammies on and looked so cute!

Doctors, Doctors, and more Doctors

2009-12-28T07:42:00.009-06:00

In November, Justin tore some cartlidge in his knee. He saw an orthopedic doctor and he told him to wait 2 weeks to see if it would heal on it's own. When he was still having pain, they decided to do surgery to fix it. He was home for about 8 weeks and was going crazy! He did not enjoy sitting in the same chair 24 hours a day but he is finally able to go back to work.

Paycos had an appointment in Dallas with his neurologist on December 18th. (That added to my Christmas stress!!) He had an EEG done and they said everything looked normal! She saw no activity, which is great, but we couldn't wean him off the medication since he had seizures in July. He has to be seizure free for 2 years, then they consider taking him off the meds to see if he has outgrown them. In June, a generic of his meds became available and his doctor said it should be fine for him to switch. Well, he fell in that tiny percentage of people that generics don't work for them and his seizures came back. Once we put him back on the name brand, he was fine! So now, we have to wait another 2 years and try again...*sigh*. We are thankful that he is doing so well though!

It was Harper's first trip and she did great! Poor thing spent most of the day in the carseat or stroller but she was just as happy as she could be! We went to Papadeaux the first night we got there and pigged out! We ordered frog legs and everyone loved them. I couldn't force myself to try them...it grossed me out! After his appointments, we went to a park to play for a while and then to the Dallas Aquarium. We have been several times before but the kids are still amazed by everything!

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency downtown which was a pretty nice hotel. When we pulled up, there were men in suits and women in gowns getting out of these really nice cars and we felt like the Clampetts on vacation! We piled out of the car wearing our sweats with our kids running around like heathens after being in the car all day! It was pretty funny!

(we pulled over so I could feed Harper and the kid's decided to pick some cotton! I'm sure the farmer would have been thrilled to see that!!)

Where to begin...

2009-12-26T16:54:00.012-06:00

Merry Christmas everyone!!! It has been a loooong time since the last update so I divided it up into several posts. We woke up on Christmas Eve morning to snow! The kids couldn't wait to get in it. I decided I could never live somewhere that had snow a lot. Getting them dressed (and undressed) to play in the snow was a 30 minute process! Not to mention the wet floor every time they came in...anyway, they built snowmen with dad and made many snow angels. (unfortunately, I accidently deleted the snowmen pictures off of my camera!)

On Christmas Eve, we spent the night at home and prepared for Santa! Paycos told Santa he wanted a Wii and a pet monkey for Christmas. We told him that Santa doesn't usually bring live animals to children but he was extremely happy with the Wii! Kyler's list changed daily and she was easy to please!

(cookies, milk and letters for Santa)

(Tuff's new rope from Santa)

I absolutley LOVE Christmas but this year, I'm glad it's over! For some reason, it seemed so stressful. I guess it's because we have a new baby. That, and the fact she won't take a bottle so I have had to take her EVERYWHERE I go!! Little stinker! We're working on that! But we had a wonderful Christmas spending time with our families and I'm looking forward to a new year!

2009-11-01T16:36:00.011-06:00

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.......

2009-10-11T16:40:00.005-05:00

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!

2009-09-28T05:32:00.002-05:00

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

2009-09-20T09:24:00.009-05:00

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!

2009-09-02T09:09:00.005-05:00

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

2009-08-16T16:28:00.004-05:00

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

2009-08-05T21:17:00.008-05:00

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!

Slow Down Summer!

2009-07-18T20:40:00.006-05:00

Well this summer is going by waaaaaaaay too fast! Where has the time gone? The boys made it home safely from their camping trip and it sounds like they had fun! On Friday they went up the mountain on horses for a few hours. Paycos got to ride his own horse and was thrilled. The rule is that children have to be seven or older to ride by themselves but they made an exception for the Mutton Bustin champ! They figured he could hold on pretty well!! Kyler and I had a relaxing week of no whining or screaming from someone irritating her! Now we are preparing for our girl trip to Galveston! (The only boys allowed are Paycos and my two cousins!) We leave on Monday and will be gone for a week! Can't wait! I realized that I have really done a horrible job at taking pictures this summer. I don't have much to show for all the things we have been doing! Here's a few:

This was Critter fest at the Science Spectrum. Kyler chickened out at the last minute and didn't ride!!

These were the Father's Day cakes that they decorated for Justin

The string broke on his mask so he decided to tape it on instead!!

Fourth of July!

Since we are going to be out of town on our anniversary, my sweet husband sent me some flowers early!!!

I will be taking lots of pictures at the beach so I will have more to post when we get back...

Yippee

2009-07-02T10:08:00.003-05:00

Well good news! I went on Tuesday to do the testing again for gestational diabetes. After 3 hours and 4 blood draws, the test came back normal!!! Thank goodness!!! I feel very relieved! I asked the nurse why the levels would have been elevated the first time and she said they prefer that you don't eat or drink anything sugary right before the test. I had eaten lunch and drank a Dr. Pepper right before I drank the Glucola drink. It would have been GREAT if they would have told me that ahead of time!!! My paper with the instructions said that I could eat normally before the test but not to eat or drink anything after drinking the Glucola. So, anyhoo, I am very thankful that the results were good.

Our summer seems to be flying by so quickly! I can't believe it's July already! We have been staying busy but with fun activities. Justin is going camping in Colorado so it will be just the kids and me for a few days! Then, we are going to meet him in Santa Fe and he's going to take Paycos back to the mountains with him so they can have some "guy camping" time! Paycos is excited!! I'm excited too about spending some "girl" time with Kyler! It will be fun for all!!

Prayers Please!

2009-06-29T15:07:00.003-05:00

I went to the Dr. last Thursday for the routine anemia and diabetes test. The nurse said that no news is good news so when I saw Dr. Burley's name on my caller ID this morning, I knew something was up. She informed me that I am anemic and need to start an iron supplement. Not a big deal. I've done this before. She also told me that my levels for the dibetes test came back high and needed to be tested further. What?! I have to drink that nasty drink again and have my blood tested every hour for 3 hours after drinking it. AND I'm supposed to fast before that!! As much fun as it sounds, I would rather pass, thank you very much! But I guess I have no choice, so please pray that this test will be "normal" and that I do not have gestational diabetes. And if I do have it, please pray that it can be controlled with diet and excercise. I know there are worse things that could happen in pregnancies so I am thankful that is has been uneventful this far. On the flip side, I just want a healthy baby, so it's hard not to worry! I am going in either Tuesday or Wednesday morning so hopefully we should know something soon!

2009-06-21T10:00:00.006-05:00

Just wanted to say Happy Father's Day to the best father in the world!! I couldn't have asked for a better dad for my kids!!!! Thank you for everything you do for us! We love you Justin!

2009-06-18T20:13:00.004-05:00

Our first week of swimming lessons ended today. They have one more week and then we are done for the summer! Paycos is doing awesome! He can swim, he justs panics in the deep end if he can't touch the bottom and resorts to doggie paddling. He is learning how to keep swimming while coming up for a breath and not having to depend on touching! He has really shown so much improvement in 4 days! Today was "parent watch day" (they encourage us to leave everyday so that the kids are not distracted) and OF COURSE I forgot my camera! Anyway, Paycos was doing great but I was mortified by the way Kyler acted! First of all, the water is very chilly and the lessons are at 10:15 am. Kyler pretty much shuts down when she's cold! (she gets it from me!) So she refused to do anything they were telling her to do. When the teacher got out of the water to go get her, she ran off screaming! I was a little embarassed at that point so I went over and told her that if she did not cooperate, she didn't her special treat after the lesson! With that on the line, I guess she decided she better do what she was supposed to and she started participating. But every few minutes, she would start to get whiney again. As soon as she would spot me in the crowd though, she instantly started smiling sweetly and following directions!! It was hilarious!! I wish I would have been videotaping it! So she did get the Lifesaver gummies in the end but I made sure she knew that if that happened again, there would be no special treat for her! Luckily all the girls that teach are super sweet and do their very best to keep her happy and having fun. As soon as she gets used to the water, she has a blast and is always ready to go back!

After lessons, we grabbed lunch and met my friend Mistie and her two kids at the library for a magic show! I thought it might be lame but it turned out to actually be good! The kids loved it and were very intrigued. At one point, he turned a hankerchief into some doves, then turned the doves into a poodle! Kyler was MESMERIZED by that! Then we met back at our house to swim and everyone had a good time. I think we started swimming around 2:00 and didn't get out until 5:30! By the end of the day, Kyler was going completely under water, holding her breath, moving her arms and kicking her feet! She was so proud!! She was actually swimming and getting somewhere!! Major improvement for the girl who would hardly put her face in the water! They were exhausted after a long and busy day, so it was dinner, bath, book and bed by 7:30!! Which gives mommy some lovely quiet time!!!! I LOVE SUMMER!!!

My little fishies after a fun day:

Baby Names

2009-06-14T15:34:00.002-05:00

We all made a trip to the hospital this morning to see baby Barret! He is so cute with big round cheeks! Totally squeezable!! It was the first time my kids had seen him and they were in awe! They really surprised me though!! Kyler was interested in looking for about 45 seconds. And after "petting" him, as she called it, she was done and moved on to other things! Paycos, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of him!! We were fighting over who got to hold him! He held him 3 different times and each time, he wouldn't give him back!! It was so sweet!! I hope he has the same reaction with our baby! I really thought the roles would be reversed!!! I thought we would be fighting Kyler off of Barret! Paycos is going to be a GREAT big brother with this baby. He could have cared less about Kyler when she was born, but this time I think he will be a HUGE helper. I think Kyler will come around. Maybe if it's the sister that she wants, she will be more involved! Who knows with that girl!!

We are having a hard time coming up with (and agreeing on) baby names. So I was wondering if anyone had any ideas! A great friend of mine did this when she was pregnant with her third and I'm stealing the idea! (thanks Kari!!!) If you have any suggestions on boy or girl names, we would LOVE to hear them. As much as I love traditional names, I'm thinking it has to be something different so that it goes well with Paycos! Kyler is more common but definitely not overused! If you plan on using the name for your own kids, let me know so I don't use it!! I have a few girl names that I love but Justin doesn't like them as much as I do! But I am really struggling with the boy names. And since I am thinking it's a boy, I would like to have several choices to throw out to Justin. He seems to turn a lot of them down!! (Like my #1 favorite- Brody...rejected!) One thing that we agree on is, if it's a girl, we would like the middle name to be Chaney. It's not set in stone, so if we find a first name we like, and it doesn't flow well with Chaney, we would be willing to improvise! That being said...any ideas?!?

Another busy week!

2009-06-13T15:12:00.002-05:00

Well, we are still enjoying summer! Staying busy, but having fun! The great part is that the kids are so tired by lunch time that we ALL get to have a nap!! I had an ultrasound on Tuesday and Justin had to work so I had to go by myself. It was unfortunate for two reasons: 1. He didn't get to see that cute baby squirming around in there and 2. It was REALLY hard for me to not secretly find out what the sex is!!! It was very tempting to just tell the nurse to take a look, but I have too much of a guilty conscience. Actually, she went by that "area" once and I thought I saw a boy thing. I was excited until that darn guilt kicked in and I felt awful even though it was truly an accident. Then, she went back by the "area" and it looked like a girl thing! So now I can honestly say that I really don't know! I thought I was pretty good at figuring out what everything is on ultrasounds, but apparently I'm not that good. I do feel relieved that I didn't see anything promising because it will be an awesome surprise on the birthday. (I am still thinking that it's a boy though! I have absolutely nothing to base that on but mother's intuition I guess!! I am in for a HUGE surprise if it's a girl because from day one I have been convinced it's a boy!) From here on out, I will schedule my appointments on the days Justin is off so I will not even be tempted to look! The baby is still measuring to be a week ahead and Paycos and Kyler were larger than average babies so Dr. Burley told me that she will induce me up to 10 days early. Yay!

On another baby note, Justin's brother Branum and his wife Cayce had their baby! His name is Barret Zane and he was 8 lbs 14 oz. He wasn't due until the 18th but when she went in for monitoring on Thursday, her blood pressure was high and they bumped up her c-section to 6 that night! He was a big boy but had to go to NICU for some breathing problems. Apparently he took a big breath right away which caused his lungs to collapse. The nurses said this sometimes happens with large cesarean babies. But he is back with mom and dad (and big sister Maryn) today and doing great! I got to see him in the nursery after he was born but I can't wait to hold him!!

I guess I should be doing something productive right now since everyone is quietly napping! We went to a birthday party this morning at 11. It was a swimming party and they were both worn out by the time we got home. We have another b-day party at 4:30 and then we head to the end of season party for Paycos' baseball team at 6. Busy busy busy!

Ahhhh....summer!

2009-06-05T20:42:00.005-05:00

Have I mentioned that I LOVE summer?! The best part is not having to wake up early and be somewhere by 8am! Although, my kids are still in school mode and waking up at 7. We are working on that one!! I have already learned this summer that I must have constant entertainment planned for Paycos and Kyler. If not, by 7:45 the fighting has begun!! I have not made ANY plans for all summer (except swimming lessons) and now I'm realizing that might have been a mistake! I had this wonderful vision of lounging in our pool all day, every day, and everyone getting along. Yea right! They want more! So we have been to the Science Spectrum, park, Dairy Queen with the outdoor playground, gone fishing, read books, played with friends, etc. etc. so that we are NEVER bored!! We have really enjoyed every second of it though. And by the end of the day, we are all exhausted! Luckily, there are also a lot of activities going on at the libraries and parks and most of them are free! So we will definitely be attending many of those.

Both of the kids spent the night with my mom last night and it was awesome!! They swam and played in the mud, I got to shop and get a pedicure, and Justin played golf!! Everyone wins when they stay with grandparents! Tomorrow is another busy day! Paycos has a baseball game at 8 in the morning (what the heck were they thinking when they made that schedule?!?) Hopefully, that will be followed by lunch and a NAP, then we head off to Marilyn and Zane's (Justin's parents) for a family reunion! They have a pool and a big water slide so we are looking forward to it!! So that is how we have spent our first week of summer and so far so good! And just for fun, here are some pictures of Kyler!!

Dallas trip

2009-05-31T13:41:00.006-05:00

On May 8th, we headed to Dallas for Paycos' neurology appointment. We have been seeing a neurologist there since July of 2006 when he was diagnosed. Last year during an MRI they found a cyst on his brain that they think is actually totally unrelated to his seizures and is in an area of the brain that is common to have random cysts. His doctor (Dr. Arnold, who is awesome) wasn't too concerned but just to be safe, she wanted him to have MRI's every 3 months. So every 3 months we went to Dallas for these appointments and they finally determined that the cyst wasn't growing or causing problems so he doesn't have to have another MRI for a year! YAY!! He was thrilled to know that this last trip was just a check-up. Dr. Arnold gave us wonderful news. In November, if he is still seizure free, it will have been 2 years since his last seizure!!!!!! They will do an EEG and if there is no activity, we will discuss taking him off the medication!!!!!!!!!! This was great news for us!! He has been on medicine since 2006 and unfortunatly it has changed him. We were able to take him off one of the meds which helped but he was still not himself. He needs big prayers that this goes away and STAYS away! I can't wait to see the difference in him once he comes off the medicine. So, we'll see!

While we were there, we decided to make a mini vacation of it and go to Six Flags. Paycos has been before but this was Kyler's first time. The kids loved every minute of it. Paycos rode every ride he was tall enough for like the Texas Giant, Judge Roy Scream and the Titan!!! I couldn't beleive it!! He was totally fearless. He has my weak stomach so I was very surprised he didn't get sick. He even rode the loopy ones that go up-side down! Kyler, on the other hand, stuck to the smaller rides which was perfectly fine with her! She was happy enough sitting in the wagon, eating ice cream, and watching the boys ride! We all had a really good time (even though I couldn't ride anything!) The weather was cool and it wasn't crowded at all. PERFECT DAY!!

RARE picture of me!! I don't allow people to take my picture while I'm preggo because I just seem to look AWFUL!! I think my face is the first place I gain weight! But this was a cute one of Paycos so I decided to put it up!

Justin was thrilled about riding this one...can you tell?

Memorial Weekend

2009-05-28T14:59:00.007-05:00

Last weekend we were blessed with great weather which made me want to set the little pool up. I am excited that we won't have to pack up everyday and pay to go to another pool. Not to mention this baby has made me explode in every direction and I really have no desire for ANYONE to see me in a swimsuit! So we decided to put up the pool on Monday. Of course Justin had to prepare the yard and he had the perfect helper!

So with that being done, the fun part began. Kyler entertained herself by playing in the sand that had spilled out of our sandbox (which was great because it kept her quiet and occupied!) and Paycos helped us spread it out and get it in place!

The kids were still in their PJ's. Big Z gave Paycos that shirt he is wearing and he thought it was pretty cool. He refused to take it off and Kyler, wanting to copy everything brother does, decided she would leave her jammies on too! Then they had to try it out as it was filling up!

Since the water was FREEZING, I told them they could only get their feet wet. That lasted about 7 and a half seconds before they were completely soaked head to toe! I don't know why I even wasted my breath! I knew it would happen!! They had a BLAST though and that's all that matters. We have a solar cover on it now, hoping that will warm it up quick because the kids can't wait to get in again! It is 30 inches deep which is the perfect depth for them. It's shallow enough that they can both touch but deep enough that Justin and I can get in too!! We really had a great weekend!

Here goes nothing!

2009-05-26T14:44:00.006-05:00

Soooo, I finally decided to start a blog!! I have been wanting to do one for years but wasn't really sure how to go about it. After following several others, I realized I could do this! Hopefully I can keep it updated and well informed of all we have been doing. Today we went to Paycos' award ceremony at school. I can't believe Kindergarten is almost over!! How in the world can I have a first grader?!? Time flies when you are having fun! He received an award for READING and was so proud! I was not surprised that he got that one since he's reading like a champ. I guess the levels go alphabetically. They start the year off on an "A" reading level and have to be a "C" level to get out of Kindergarten. Well, he is on a "J"!!!!!!! Wow! Super smart kid!

Kyler finished her last year of Children's Day Out! She will start 3 year old preschool in August! It was sad for me! It seems like this is the age that time really starts to go by fast. I think she will do so well in preschool though. She would start Kindergarten tomorrow if she were old enough!

Baby #3 is doing well!! I am 21 weeks and still feeling like I am in the first trimester! In my last pregnancies I really felt fantastic during months 4 thru 7 but I am definitely not yet! I am still tired all the time, have frequent headaches, random feelings of nausea...etc.etc. I really shouldn't complain! It could be worse! And I am thankful that everything is progressing as it should! My due date is October 5th but they say the baby is measuring to be a week ahead so I'm hoping for a September baby. I'm sure by that time I will be ready!

Here are some pictures of the Awards ceremony and some from Olympic Day at Paycos' school. The kids had a blast! Notice how Kyler jumped right in and joined like she was part of the school!