January

This month has been fun, we've had snow, which means the kids and I get to go out and shovel the driveway, which they LOVE. David has been out of town a couple times so it's been the kids and I a lot this month, and we've all survived!!!

Brooklyn- she's getting so big, and is VERY into ballet right now, she changes her clothes about 10-15 times a day, there are times when she will wear an outfit for less than a minute and change it again. Love her energy and how many funny things she says. I really need to be better about recording these things! Brooklyn started Sunbeams this year and she loves to sing "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam". She also loves to sing the theme "I am a child of God". Her other favorite is "I'm trying to be like Jesus". She's LOVES to sing.

Braden- Our little birthday boy had a great birthday month, he's starting to talk a lot, probably David and I are the only ones who can understand him because we're constantly around him. Brooklyn can get him to say just about anything though, she even says it slowly and pronounces each syllable for him to repeat. He's a lot of fun, and a lot of energy. He still LOVES to dance, and is so cute when he dances, it's pretty hilarious.

Emily- Emily is getting big (she's still tiny), she rolled over once but I'm pretty sure it was a total fluke. She LOVES to sit up, and fights like crazy to pull herself up into a sitting position, I'm pretty sure this girl is going to have great abs. She is a happy girl most of the time and completely loves her brother and sister. She laughs and smiles anytime they talk to her, she thinks it is the greatest thing. She LOVES her daddy and really lights up around him. She's my little sweetheart and her and I are good buddies.

Baby Emily- The story

It started with Monday August 13, I had been having contractions every 30 seconds or so..so I went in the the L&D department, I was given a shot of medicine to stop the contractions which only worked for a couple hours. The contractions weren't intense they were just there and annoying. We went on through the rest of the week and I just wasn't feeling great, on Friday (August 10) I e-mailed David and asked him to come home early from work. He came home and I said I think maybe I just need a nap, so I tried to lay down and just didn't feel well. I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep and I could feel that I was starting to get a fever. I finally decided I better go get checked out, I was also feeling a lot of pain/pressure in my abdomen. 

I got to the L&D department at about 2 or 3 and they monitored me and baby for a few hours, and noticed that her heart rate was staying really high above 200 bpm. That caused them concern but they thought maybe I was just dehydrated so they gave me an iv with fluid and said that should help her and I feel better. It didn't....at that point they thought I had an infection called Corio. They determined it would be best for baby to get out of the stressful environment and come meet us. So phone calls were made and they admitted me to the hospital to HAVE A BABY...oh man that was a very surreal moment. I was 35 weeks early so they thought it might be a long process since I wasn't ready for labor yet. They started my induction that night and had to give me multiple bags of antibiotics and fluids through IV. It was a painful night...and I didn't get much rest, they did try and give me medicine to try and sleep it didn't work well either. The next morning around 10:30 the doctor came in and broke my water since I had progressed a LITTLE. After that the contractions were TERRIBLE!!! With this infection my abdominal area was already tender, then contractions on top of that were super painful. At around 5 I finally decided to get the epidural...after that life was pretty good. About 3 minutes before I had Emily I told the doctor she's RIGHT THERE...he told me to pant and keep her in he was in another delivery....he came in got dressed JUST in time to catch my baby girl she was born at 8:22 pm on August 11th. 

After Emily was born she had to go to the NICU for a little while because her oxygen levels were a little bit low and she needed to get stabilized a little better before we could bring her in a room with us. I was taken to my room and then Emily was able to come right behind me!! I think total she was in the NICU for maybe an hour. She did great after that....for a while. At her 2 day check up Emily had some Jaundice and her weight had gone down...so I had to take her in the following day for check ups..her weight had gone up slightly and her jaundice had also gone up, but wasn't concerning yet. 

Friday night I got a phone call while in labor..and it was our renters telling us that a pipe had burst in our home in Ontario and there was damage...OH GREAT...so we decided we wanted to go check out the damage and see what all needed to be done. So Thursday after I took Emily to her appointment (and they said go ahead and go, she looked better) we left town. They had drawn blood to test for Jaundice again and I waited and waited and didn't hear anything so I assumed it must have been ok since I didn't hear anything, but I called just to check in. At 6:00 I got a hold of a nurse and she said that Emily's level was at 17.5 which is high, and she needed to get on Bili-lights. I explained to her we were out of town and would have to locate one where we were at. She found one in Ontario and we got there and met the guy and got set up with the lights, and we were told to follow up with the pediatrician in Ontario. 

The next day we went to the pediatrician and Emily's weight was down to 4 lbs 15 oz....a LOT lower than her birth weight so we had figure out why she wasn't gaining. I decided to try and get the same bottles that Brooklyn liked and it worked!! She has been eating good ever since and slowly but surely gaining weight. Also, her bili- levels were going down she had to be on the lights for 4 days but things are looking better.  

We are home now and adjusting...things are finally slowing down and we haven't had to visit the doctor in a day or two ;) 

My little helpers, and FUN

Right before I had Emily I was able to can some corn for the year, I knew it would be something Brooklyn would enjoy, so we waited until Braden was asleep and we started SHUCKING. She had a great time..and LOVED when we found a Caterpillar in one of the ears of corn. I love my little helper!

Knowing it wouldn't be easy when the baby came we tried to make the most of our time and enjoy a little bit of summer by taking the kids to their favorite place...THE PARK (called Brooklyn's playground) We love to watch them interact and have a TON of fun, they really are great kids.

Dancers!!!

Nana- These videos are for you to see your dancing boy and girl. This is what they were doing during the parade! I don't know what's up with Brookie's tongue though!!!

This year for the Fourth of July we were able to take the kids to a parade, Brooklyn was BEYOND excited...so we headed out about 30 minutes early to "get a good seat". Little did we know that this parade is a BIG deal in this town and there were people lined up for BLOCKS, and BLOCKS. So we hiked down by some houses were the crowd was thin and set up our chairs. AS SOON as we sat down Brooklyn said "I gotta go potty....I gotta go #2" OH NO!!! It's the fourth of July, we're down away from any businesses, but we remembered that at the park a few blocks away they had a few things going on and thought maybe there was a porta potty. David headed down with Brookie, he waited in a line of about 10 people with 1 porta potty for all these thousands of people  and two people from her turn the lady comes out and said "there's no more paper"...OH NO!!! David makes the couple blocks trek back to where we're set up and asks if Brooklyn can hold it because there are literally no more options. She waited the WHOLE parade, it lasted over an hour, it was a good parade and the kids LOVED it.!

Braden loved the motorcycles, and there was a point when he started dancing in the street with the music, it was cute! We will be attending parades more frequently with these two kids I'm sure. Here's a few pictures of our adventure.

P.s. I'm about 32 weeks pregnant, and CANNOT believe how fast it's going, crazy to think that I could have a new little baby as early as next month! AHH where has time gone.

This is for you "mynana", and because it's been a while

Sorry it's sideways, and the quality isn't the greatest, but this boy LOVES to dance. He is always dancing whenever he hears any music playing. Dancing/singing toys are a HUGE hit around our house lately. We LOVE to turn off the tv, turn on music and DANCE...or chase balloons around whatever works best :) Also, he is almost NEVER without his blanket, he LOVES that thing so much. Papa- notice the MUSIC in the second video, JUST for you!!!!

These kids sure are fun to have around. I love them so much, they're starting to get along better and they play pretty well together most of the time. They are both at such fun ages right now. It's fun to watch them learn/grow. I can't wait until we add our next little girl to this crazy mix. So excited!!!!

A little catch up

Brooklyn has been practicing her writing, and loves to write everything, and color, and paint. SO, I found on pintrest a website that you can write anything and they can trace it. She did this all by herself with NO help. I was really surprised, she's doing so well. 

The kids have been really getting along lately. Also, they fight like crazy. Those special moments when they start playing and getting along...ah, perfection. Love my babies, Brooklyn loves to hold Braden's had and lead him around, she calls him the prince, and says she's taking him to the dance. LOVE

One day it was nice enough to be outside, we thought we'd take advantage of the opportunity and take the kids to a local park we'd hear a lot about. The park is called Brooklyn's Playground, Brooklyn swears it's "her" playground, it is a GREAT park. The kids both had a really great time, and they have things for kids of all ages. We really enjoyed it and can't wait for another warm day to go enjoy it some more! 

David has been wanting to make the kids a play kitchen for quite some time now, and one day he got the wild hair to get it done. He worked on it for a about two days and got it completely done! The kids LOVE it...that's putting it mildly! They haven't stopped playing with it. We are really glad that we got it done for them. The only problem is that it causes LOTS of fights, Brooklyn want's Braden to KEEP OUT of her kitchen stuff.