My crazy life!!!

Gabe wants to be big....

2010-04-26T21:23:00.001-07:00

Guess it is hard having older brothers who play sports. Every chance Gabe has to either have a lacrosse stick in his hand or a football he takes it.
This stick was a bit big...he has one that is smaller, but of course he loves Greg's.

Another shot with the stick...a little too big.

Gabe trying to play football....

Look at that smile. Gabe recently had tubes put in his ears and although it hasn't gone very well we are hoping he gets better soon. He really isn't talking yet which is fine with the other three always talking, but it would be nice if he would say momma or daddy. :) He is 14 months and all. :) The doctor said he should catch up with his speech in the next one to two months. He said it was like Gabe has been living under water so it was hard for him to hear sounds the correct way. It is amazing in just one week the sounds he is making. He says uh oh, but now he is trying to say, "pi pi" for his paci and baby which of course is him!!!! He says it more like ba beeee.....He still has no teeth. I am guessing that is next!!!!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-26T21:18:00.001-07:00

On February 21, 2010 Gabe took his first steps. It took almost a month for him to really get the hang of it, but now that he has watch out. He is for sure on the move and no stopping him!!!

My friend, Gina, got him these music toys for his birthday. He loves all the sounds they make!

Shake Shake Shake!

This is my cousin's dog, Dingo. Gabe was trying to give him kisses!

My cousin holding Gabe and dingo...I love the stare contest the two of them are having.

Me and my baby cousin, Dj with Gabe!!! We had a very low key Easter!! It was nice to just relax.

JT and flag football

2010-04-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

I think living in a house full of boys who all play sports makes it hard on the little ones to NOT give it a try. Last year we tried JT at t-ball and he was bored to tears. This year he wanted to play flag football. I wasn't too sure if he was ready, but after his first game I knew he would be a natural. :)

Jt getting ready to pull flags...

Even Gabe came out to cheer on his brother!

Look at that face. He is so determined.

All he wants is the flag!!!

Not this time. Of course he has pulled a few flags now and of course I have yet to get it on film. I will keep trying!!!

Park time fun!

2010-04-26T21:02:00.001-07:00

We decided to head to the park recently. It was really Gabe's first time playing at the park. It was a little windy and I am still not sure he knew what to make of it, but he seemed to have a good time!

He wasn't sure about the wood chips at all!! He kept shaking his hands off.

Brad came along to shoot hoops. His newest idea is to play basketball. We keep telling him football and lacrosse is enough, but sometimes its hard to stop him!

Gabe's first time down the slide. His face was cracking me up. He almost looks scared there.

Bradley was there to catch him. Still not 100% sure if that was fun or not.

Ok never mind that was fun!!!

Jt giving Gabe some love. He is such a proud big brother!

Jt going across the monkey bars. All I kept seeing was a visit to the ER with a broken arm, but so far so good.....

And he makes it all the way!! Go JT!!!!

Grandpa's happy birthday!

2010-04-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

We had Grandpa over for his birthday! Now that it is getting so nice outside all Gabe wants to do is play out back. For some reason when he is outside he makes the funniest faces.

Three generations of Heverling guys!!!!

Look at that lip!

JT even got in on the fun!!! My silly boys!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!! Nothing like strawberry shortcake with a candle!!!! :)

OUCH!!!

2010-03-07T10:42:00.000-08:00

I got a phone call this past week from JT's school saying I needed to pick him up early. He was throwing his lunch trash away and tripped over the teachers foot. When I got there JT was only upset because he didn't get to go out on the play ground. So I asked the teacher for a band-aid and out the door we went. He played for about 10 minutes and then off to the doctor we went. As you can see it was bleeding pretty bad. He bled thru two band-aids in about 1 hour.

Gabe chilling in his new stroller he got for his birthday. He received some cash and gift cards and we decided he sure didn't need any toys so a new stroller it is!

JT giving Gabe some love in the waiting room for the doctor!

A picture of his horrible cut. He hit the edge of the table. It was pretty deep. The doctor suggested I take him to the ER for stitches and I suggested we derma bond it. :) Thankfully the doctor went along with my suggestion as the idea of taking 3 kids to the ER was NOT looking very appealing. JT was so brave as he barely even cried about it.

And the final result. A picture of it with the glue. It is healing so well. The doctor did a GREAT job and as long as he didn't open the wound in 5 days we should be smooth sailing. The doctor did say if it did open we had to head straight to the ER for stitches. So far though so good. Only today left and we should be good! :)

February a SUPER busy month in our house!

2010-03-07T10:23:00.001-08:00

February brings many things to our house. It brings us Gabe's birthday on the 5th. It brings Matthew's birthday on the 11th, Bradley's birthday on the 12th, and Greggory's birthday on the 27th. Not too mention Valentine's Day and it's the shortest month of the year! :) I get a little behind in February. Thankfully it is now March and I can catch up with a couple of posts.

This picture was taken right before we left for our sweet friend, Quinn's, bat mitzvah party. Of course Gabe is in his pj's since he didn't get to go.

A picture of the older three boys before the party. It's rare they are ever all three dressed up! So handsome those boys.

Gabe showing everyone his new trick..."so big". He only likes to do it while in a highchair. I guess it's the only time he feels SO BIG!

Sweet brotherly love. I love how much JT adores his little brother and its so sweet to see Gabe's face light up everyday when we pick up JT from school!

Brad had an overnight party with some of his friends. I told him I wanted to take a few pictures...you can see how that went!

Yes, those are Brad's eyes in the background. He was being a goof!

Just playing a little XBOX.

Or how about some PS3 action?

Brad's awesome Baskin and Robbins cake! Yum!

Since it is also Matthew's birthday he gets a cake too. He prefers the key lime pie though.

Just a random cute shot of this man!

Greg also wanted to have an overnight birthday party. I took the boys to see "Tooth Fairy' and then we came home and made some smores.

Making our smores!

Another great job by Baskin and Robbins!! Happy 10th birthday buddy!

As you can see it's a crazy busy month. Too add more fun February is also junior high lacrosse. It was NEVER a dull moment. I am actually looking forward to only Greg playing a spring sport. It may be the last time we have this kind of a break. Especially with Brad entering high school in the fall!

Holy Cow Gabe is one!!!!

2010-02-17T19:15:00.000-08:00

On February 5th "this man" turned 1!!! The past year seems almost like a blur now. I am sure it is lack of sleep and chasing after the other 3, but wow we made it!!! We had his birthday party here at the house. It was a small party with mostly family and a few close friends.

Those were his delish cupcakes!!! We love our cake lady. They were super yummy!!

Gabe didn't know what to think with everyone singing him happy birthday!! He just kept looking at the flame...

He really didn't know what to do with the cupcake. Since he doesn't eat much food I think it really confused him.

Look at that face!!!!

All of the brothers together to celebrate Gabe's 1st birthday!!! So cute!

Cousin DJ even came by....

The one picture of Matthew and myself from the whole night!! I always forget to get in the pictures!

Jt making Gabe crack up. He adores his brothers and is always looking at them for laughs!

Our good friend Abby came to play. I was trying to get a picture of both of them smiling, but no luck. This was towards the end and they had enough of the fun!

His cousin Jack was there to play!!! Jack loved all of Gabe's new toys. His other cousin Dylan helped open them all.

One of Gabe's new toys here. He likes anything that will help him walk or that he can ride around the tile floor.

Gabe's new tool bench. He LOVES this toy. Grandpa and Grandma got him one since they have one at their house that he played with at Christmas time. He loved it then and loves it even more now.

We took him for his one year check up and his recent stats were:

weight: 22 lbs 1 oz which is the 35%

height: 31" which is the 84%

head: 45cm which is the 14%.

He has a tiny head. :)

We started him on whole milk but alternate with formula since he doesn't eat or drink much of anything else. He still has NO teeth. Doctor says he has seen this quite a bit. I think he is lying because I have never meant anyone who didn't have at least one tooth by their first birthday!! :) I think he was trying to make me feel better!! I check everyday and nothing. Not even a white gum...

Looking forward to this next year together. Walking, teeth, eating more, park time, and all of the other fun things you can do with a toddler!!! Happy 1st birthday GABERS!!! We love you!!!

The one with just Gabe......

2010-01-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

The other day Gabe woke up from his nap with his hair just like that. I decided it kinda looked like horns although some might say wings....

In a little over two weeks this man will be one! I have no idea how that has happened! :) Gabe still has NO teeth. That's right. NO teeth. He is crawling and getting into everything. His favorite things to do are take out Tupperware and pots and pans. He plays some with toys, but mostly Greg and JT. His new favorite thing to do is climb the stairs which is always a challenge because he still isn't that great coming down...can we say GATE! :)

I just love when you take out the camera how he poses!! I hope it's always this easy to take such GREAT pictures!!!

I love that you can see him smile thru his pi pi!!!

He still doesn't eat much "normal" food and he mostly just loves his bottles! He is not a very good sleeper still after being almost one!! I just keep hoping and praying on that he does start to sleep better soon!! He does take great naps which is very helpful! He loves to take long walks in his stroller. I mean long walks. I am pretty sure he would stay in the stroller for hours if you just kept walking! Gabe is for the most part pretty cheerful when out and about and pretty loud and silly around the house!!

I just really can't believe almost a year has gone by. Oh how fast they do!!!!!

A Very Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-26T04:28:00.000-08:00

What a year that 2009 has been! I am so looking forward to 2010 as it is quickly approaching!
I took the boys to see Santa. Of course Brad at 13 is pretty mortified I make him do this every year. I kindly explained that even when he is in college that is my ONE Christmas gift I will always want to receive. With Gabe and him being 13 years apart we will have MANY more times to see Santa. I do appreicate him being such a good sport however!

Christmas Eve we spent over at my in-laws house. Gabe hasn't been there in a while and he was in heaven. Oh the toys that Grandpa and Grandma have!!! This work bench by far was his favorite. It didn't make his Christmas list, but thankfully his first birthday is coming up shortly!!

He was eating a screw. I don't know why but it cracked us all up!!

Matthew and I on Christmas Eve!

Everything is funny to this kid. I have no idea why he is laughing, but with the red rosy cheeks he is just picture perfect!

Brad and I. Taking as many pictures as I can these days. I am realizing before I know it he will be all grown up and in college. I love that he is taller than me. I had heels on too. :)

Elizabeth spent Christmas Eve with us. Pretty sure it's been most of our Christmas Eve's in the past 10 years!!! At this point I think the wine was making our smiles so bright!!! :) I love you honey!!!

A half family picture!! I never knew how hard it was to take a picture with 6 people in it. Seriously. We have many pictures with 2 or 3 of the kids, but always seems impossible to get all 4 of them with us in one picture!

Grammie and Gabe just chilling before dinner!

Mommy and Gabe!!! Those cheeks!!

Here is Christmas morning BEFORE the kids were up! You can see it's still dark out. Gabe was up at 6:30 and JT didnt' get up until almost 8am!! I couldn't belive he slept in so late considering he was so excited for Christmas!!! We woke up the older boys when he came down.

So Gabe was NOT interested in Christmas at all. This is the one picture I got of him opening anything or even attempting to open anything. He got a lot of new cool toys and still only wanted to play in the cabinets with the dog treats and tupperware!!! He is too funny!

JT loves his new Karate Sponge Bob! There is just nothing better than watching Christmas thru a child's eyes.

Here is the after picture when all the presents were open! Looks like we had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! We sure hope everyone we know did too!!!

Christmas Day is not only a day to Celebrate the birth of Jesus, but it's also my mother in law's birthday!!!! So we always have cake too!! Happy Birthday Mom! Hope you enjoyed your day!!!

Now on to 2010....

Recap of Thanksgiving and November and such...

2009-12-10T14:52:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving we had it at our house. My mom flew to Chicago to be with my brother, niece and nephew so we had over the in-laws, my cousin and a friend. It was a very relaxing day as I didn't have to cook too much. I made my Mom's famous stuffing (not as good when she doesn't make it) and my awesome creamed corn...(Yum) Probably drank too much wine but isn't that what Thanksgiving is for?

This man and his crazy smile. His shirt says thankful for mommy!! I hope so!

This is Gabe cracking himself up. I don't even remember what was so funny, but oh boy it was!

Our delicious turkey courtesy of the in-laws. Yummy!!!

Here is a picture of almost all my favorite boys!! JT was with his dad. I love having my cousin, DJ, living in Phoenix!!

This is where Brad's team played the State Championship in Tucson, Arizona. It didn't matter if we won or loss because Tucson declined to travel to Orlando, Florida even if they won. However, yah we beat them!!!! Go Firebirds!!

Brad with the State Championship trophy. Now if only all the players got one of those!!

This picture truly makes me smile. My son is growing all up right before my eyes. What amazes me in this picture is 1. he is for sure taller than me now and 2. I think we kinda look alike. I don't know if I ever really saw it before. People would say to him or me that we did, but this picture I can really see it!! I can't believe in 2 months he will be 14. 14....

We also celebrated JT's birthday in November. This was him opening up a present. The expression on his face just cracks me up. Oh how he loves gift opening!!! Especially with friends!

Here is such a great picture. Since he got the DS for his birthday we just kept his party to family and his best friends. Brad is missing because of course he was at football practice!! Such handsome boys!!

JT blowing out the candle on his homemade cake! He loved it!! See who needs expensive store bought cakes anyway. :)

Gabe was getting in on the pizza eating action. He loves the crusts. I wish he ate more "normal" food, but I am guessing when you are 10 months and still have NO teeth eating "normal" food probably isn't on your list of things you are dying to do!!!

This picture was after the Firebirds won the Regional Game here in Scottsdale.

Here is Brad with the Regional trophy!!! Because of this win he got to go to Orlando, Florida for 8 nights. He is still there as I type this. Too bad for his team because they lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs to a team from Naperville, Illinois. (oddly enough I was born there and my aunt and brother live there) Final score was 32-24. (8 points is a touchdown if you kick not 7 like normal) So heartbreaking for his team and for him, but tomorrow they play their final game for 3rd. I am so proud of him!! Now we are ready for lacrosse season!!!!!!

Happy 5th Birthday my sweet boy!!!!

2009-11-16T15:13:00.000-08:00

Five years ago today JT made his entrance into this world. He didn't show up until almost 8pm! He was the latest of any of the boys. I was induced every time and the other three came around 2pm, but NOT JT. He was waiting until the perfect moment. The one where the doctor almost missed it!! :)

Greg was so proud. You two would snuggle on the couch whenever I would let you.

This is us soon after you were born. You looked so tiny to me. Probably because you were only 7lbs. 6 oz.

JT's first birthday was at Peter Piper Pizza. You had a scooby doo cake. In hindsight the blue frosting was NOT a good idea. You sure loved it though!

Your 2nd birthday was at the train park. We got to play on swing sets and ride the train. You even had a train for a cake. You have always loved your birthday!

Your 3rd birthday was at our park in our neighborhood. We had a bouncy house which you STILL talk about today. I laugh at how sweaty you are in this picture. It is November....love it!

Your 4th birthday was at Pump It Up. You had all the kids from your dad's neighborhood as well as your school. What a fun party! Anything with a bouncy house!!!

This year you asked for a Nintendo DS. I decided that when we start asking for presents that cost as much as parties....then we start having FAMILY parties!!! So tonight on your birthday your grandparents and your bestest friends will be here to have some pizza and cake and just enjoy something low key.

I can't believe that 5 years have passed. You have grown into such a little man. You are so smart and sweet. You push the limits whenever you can, but you have never met a stranger and are a natural born leader. Happy Birthday buddy. We all love you!!!!!!

9 months already!!!!

2009-11-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Gabe had his 9 month check up! I have no idea where the time has gone. His stats came in at:

Weight: 20 lbs and 9 oz (46%)
Length: 30 inches (93%)
Head circumference 44cm (15%)

The doctor said he looks great and should start eating normal food. That of course confused me because he still has NO teeth!!! All of the boys at this age already had teeth so to me it made sense for them to be eating food. His ears were all better so now I am just praying we make it thru the holiday's all well!!!!

This is how he sits all the time. He crawls everywhere and gets up and then back to crawling. The other boys didn't do this either! When I asked the doctor he said it was all good! :)

I just love this picture. Lately I have been bathing both of the younger boys together just for time and they were both so excited!! Check out JT's new haircut too. They are getting so big!! JT will be five on Monday!!!! Ahhhhh.......seriously where does the time go?? When we were younger it took forever from the start of school until the Christmas holiday. Now it seems to come so much faster!!!

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

We started off Halloween at about 1:30am. Gabe woke up and would NOT go back to bed. He fell asleep on me which he has not done since I think he was 5 days old! He just could not get comfortable. At about 3:30am I put numbing drops in both of his ears and gave him some Motrin and begged him to sleep!!! He did until 6:15am. Wow. So I waited til 8am to call the Dr. and they said bring him on in at 9:15am. So on Halloween this poor man had to have a shot in both of his legs of antibiotics because he NOW has a bulging ear drum. Poor Poor man!!!
I have never heard him scream quite like that. Thankfully by tonight's trick or treating he seemed to feel better!!! Well, maybe not better, but for sure happier!

The three amigos!!!

This was Gabe's costume. I decided since he has been thru so much lately that dressing up was really only for me. He wasn't asking to be Darth Vader so I decided this year he was off the hook. I am already planning next years costume! : )

Daddy and Gabers after we walked around trick or treating. He was so happy to be outside!!!

A rare picture of Greg and I. Its so hard to get anyone, but Gabe in front of the camera today. Brad had his 2nd round playoff game tonight at 7pm so he missed dressing up and trick or treating, but that's ok because they won and are moving on to the next round. JT was with his dad and I will post some pictures of him in his Boba Fett costume soon.

One sick little dude....

2009-10-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

This little guy has been sick for over two weeks. I guess I should be thankful that I kept him well for over 8 months with 3 big brothers who ALL attend school and bring home yummy germs just for us! :) However I was not prepared for how sad this little man would be. He was coughing and wheezing and coughing some more. He had to have a breathing treatment which did NOTHING, he had a chest x-ray which should inflammation and NOT infection and finally he was diagnosed with a double ear infection. Only problem with that is it has taken 2 antibiotics to KILL it! I think this one has done it as we have slept thru the night the past two nights and he seems to be more smiley....I sure hope so cause he sure has been sad.....

Pretty sure he is teething too, but still NO sign of teeth.

Daddy and him decided to be silly. It is so funny to me that at this age they get "being silly".

Love the one eyed dude. :) He went from not moving around too much to army crawl, to real crawl to I just want to stand up and walk around furniture people. I think he did this all in a matter of maybe two weeks. Sure is making the football games more interesting as he doesn't really care for me to hold him. ;)

I just convinced him to start eating baby food too. He hasn't wanted any of that either up until now. He just cracks me up. I am just so thankful he is on the mend......

And he's off.......

2009-10-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

On September 25th Gabe finally picked up his knees, rocked back and forth and slightly started to crawl...well this past weekend he was OFF!! No warning. I put him down on the floor and he was gone....in the dog bowl!!!!! So now the "true" fun begins!!!! We are trying to figure out a way to keep in on the family room only, but you know the open floor plans make that a bit harder to do!!!

This picture just cracks me up. He looks so serious.

This was Gabe crawling away. He was going for the blue toy you can barely see in the picture. It plays music and he figured that out that day too!!!!

As soon as he realized I was taking his picture he stopped crawling away and started to smile for the camera. So funny this kid!!!

He turned around and came over to me so I could take more pictures. Do you see the drool???? Holy cow and still NO teeth!!! His gums aren't even the least bit white!!!

There is with Roxie on his knees going to crawl away.....so big he is.

Daddy even got in on the action. Wow my two boys look just alike!!!! Let the good times begin!

The new additions to the playroom

2009-09-17T15:27:00.001-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend I decided I want to redecorate the playroom. I wanted the kids to have more room to play. JT has had the playroom to himself for the past 2 years, but soon enough little Gabe will be tearing it up in there with him! So trying to get it ready for that day, but not on that day so JT doesn't feel like he is taking over I decided to move the couch out. I also moved the TV around to give optimal playing room. I think this is much better.

You can see we have a TON of toys. It seems that a lot of the toys were Brads or Greg's and now have been handed down to JT and soon Gabe.

JT wanted to show you all cuddled up...:)

This is the new chair picture. Gabe and JT got new chairs from Pottery Barn Kids. We have to say thanks to the Grandma's. We love you!!!

Just missing Brad. It sure is hard to get everyone together anymore for a picture.

Gabe loves his new chair!! So big.....

JT showing off his new chair that has his favorite....a Stars Wars character!!!!

This man.................

2009-09-10T20:26:00.001-07:00

Pretty sure that Gabers has NO idea what his "real" name is. We call him This man....., gabers, mini sirloin gabers and the list goes on and on. His new trick is EVERY TIME he sees the camera now he poses. He just sits there and let's me take the shot all while smiling. Ugh I love this man!!!

Sometimes.....

2009-09-02T21:33:00.001-07:00

Sometimes when you are in a really bad mood you just need to see a smile and you realize all WILL be right in the world!! We have had so much going on since school started back with three schools, football, after school activities, homework, etc. that sometimes I feel like I am losing touch!! So sometimes you just need to see gummy smiles to make you REALLY smile!

Gabe is trying so hard to crawl. He wants to so much, but instead of putting his knees up he looks like he is trying to fly. Cracks me up every time!

JT got some new Lego's and wanted to make sure I showed everyone!! Talk about a kid who can crack you up. He talks and talks and talks. Now I know how my dad must have felt having me as a daughter. :) Right now he is really into Star Wars Lego for the Wii. Pretty sure if I didn't limit him on it he would play for 8-10 hours a day!!!

We had Grandpa and Grandma over for sauce (of course Grandma made it) and Greg got a new comfy Cardinals chair to play video games in. As you can see Grandma wanted to try it out and I think she liked it!!!

Gabe tried it to, but I am not too sure how he felt about it!!!

Gabe will be 7 months on Saturday. Wow....seriously where has the time gone?

First Day of School

2009-08-17T20:48:00.001-07:00

Ok so today was the first day of school. I was not ready for today at all. To be honest I could have used three or four more weeks of summer. I just really enjoyed having the boys home with me every day. I liked not having to be anywhere if we didn't want to be. I liked hanging out with friends and a trip to Disneyland. I liked having live in baby-sitters for little Gabers. But today the reality hit and off to school the boys went. I didn't even realize until I uploaded these photos that all the boys are matching!! I didn't do that on purpose! :)

Bradley came home and said he had a great day! He loved most of his teachers so that is a good thing. He was a bit disturbed that his Spanish 1-2 won't count as a credit in high school so he will still have to take 2 more years of Spanish. He was also upset to learn that this year his Aims test also has Science on it! He cracks me up. He is a straight A student but you wouldn't know that! ;) He did say all in all though it was a GREAT day.

Greg also had a great day. He really likes his teacher and ALL his friends are in his class. There are 35 kids this year in one class. I feel I will need to bring his teacher LOTS of Starbucks to help her manage!! I can barely deal with 4 kids everyday I have NO idea how I would do 35 and all 9 year olds!!! I did go in the classroom and met her and she seems super nice. She is right around my age with a 10 year old and 3 year old. I just pray Greg doesn't make her mad too quickly. Gotta watch that one! ;)

JT started his new school last week. He is attending a new school this fall and I really do like it. Only problem is I wish there were more students. Since it's a BRAND new school not many people have signed up. It's a great program and very nice, but he has only 6 kids in his class. Lot's one 1 on 1, but I need him to get ready for Kindergarten with 25 students. I am praying as the year goes by more and more people will find this school and sign up!!!

So here is to a new school year. I just pray we get thru it! :)

Where has the time gone?

2009-08-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

***Six Month check-up****

Weight: 18 lbs 4 oz 59%
Height: 27 1/4 inches 76%
HC: 42 1/2 cm 16%

This Wednesday Gabe will be 6 months old. One half of a year old. How did this happen? I am not wanting him to grow up. No matter how hard it is (and sometimes its hard with 4) I just want him to stay little. Too cuddle in my arms, to try and give me kisses, to give me his HUGE smile. I love this little man!!!

His eyes are now for sure brown. It's so funny because Brad is the only other one with brown eyes. Greg and JT have blue/green eyes. Plus the other three boys are blond and Gabe is so dark. He is a little Italian boy!

Grampy came over tonight for dinner and we told him that Gabe didn't really like eating food. Grampy said here give it to me...I will do it. We gave him some peaches and he ate the WHOLE thing!!! I guess Grampy will have to come over every day!! :)

Look at those yummy peaches. We have given him applesauce and bananas, but it appears that peaches are the BIG winners!!!

Yum!!!

After we ate our yummy peaches we took a bath. Tonight we moved our bath into the tub because our last one in the sink we made a HUGE mess!! We even switched sides of his tub because he can now sit up. Oh he is so big!!!!

Another bath shot. Gabe LOVES the bath. He loves all water. He has been loving the pool at night time too!

After our bath we fed him and cuddled on the bed with him while watching some TV. He was so chill!

My FAVORITE picture. Daddy and Gabers just chilling. Everyone is so relaxed!!! We go to the doctor later this month. Can't wait to see our weight and height. It is amazing to me how much he has grown. He is so very heavy now and he is trying to crawl. His little knees are red because he gets on his knees and rocks back and forth. Before long he will be off!!!

New happenings in our fifth month!!!

2009-07-19T21:16:00.001-07:00

There has been a lot going on in our house this summer!! Gabe just keeps getting bigger and bigger. (sigh) The other night while feeding him his banana's I had him in the Bumbo. Yeah that was short lived as he will NOT sit in it anymore. Every time you put him in there he tries to stand up!!!

Gabe sitting nicely in the Bumbo for like 1 minute!!!!

Now he is busy digging his heels on the table so he can get out!!!

Almost...his bottom no longer sitting at all. I decided that it was no longer safe and had daddy get out the big boy highchair.

Gabe was waiting for the new highchair. Since daddy was doing something he stopped to watch.

Our new high chair. He really didn't know what to think!!! You can see he looks a little confused! Ha!

All done and mommy took a big shot of Gabe!! He looks like such a big boy in this!!

A week ago my mom and I took the boys shopping for some clothes. Carter's was having a HUGE sale and I just LOVE their clothes and their prices!!!! The boys got matching outfits and when JT saw Gabe in his this morning he hurried up and got dressed!! It's so cute and JT is so proud!!!

JT insisted he take this picture. I was still in my pjs and not really up for a picture, but LOVE Gabe's face!! Love the serious look!

Gabe doing some exersaucer time. He loves this thing. Can play for up to 20 minutes which is such a life saver sometimes!!! Especially when I am trying to prepare meals for the others!

I swear it looks like he is trying to say "cheese" here!!! ;)

Tonight was Gabe's first swim! I am not sure why we have not taken him sooner, but oh my!! He LOVED it. He was in the pool for at least 30 minutes and didn't make one peep. Just smiled and smiled and smiled. It was so cute!!!

Greg took a swim too with Gabe. This is without goggles....his eyes match the water!! So beautiful!

Greg with goggles!!

He would NOT stop smiling. Love it!!!

Then he thought he would try and escape. No kidding. He was trying to get himself out of the crab...

Trying so hard to escape....

He thinks he can he thinks he can....

Daddy took him out so he could just swim. They did this for another 15 minutes. He had so much fun. I brought him in and got him all ready for bed. He fell asleep taking his night bottle. Can I say he NEVER does that. It was just too funny. Guess all the pool time REALLY made him tired. I am thinking we will have to do that more often!!!

Happy 5 month birthday!!!!

2009-07-05T22:11:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that 5 months have already gone by. Wow it has been fast!!! Gabe cracks me up all the time. He is so smiley and sweet and just an all around happy guy. Below is a picture of his first play date! His girlfriend, Emmery, who is just a few weeks older than him came over to play!!
They just kept staring at each other!!!

This was the July 4th cupcakes at the BBQ we attended! Thanks Jeannine for having us all over!

Here is Brad eating one of those cupcakes BEFORE dinner!!

The kids were outside playing in the pool. That was a good thing because it was 108!! Yikes that is HOT!

Greg apparently has taken up eating his nails...nice!

Gabe took a nap in the sling and I was putting my feet in the water trying to stay cool. He woke up and was ready to eat!

Picture of the boys (minus JT) at the BBQ!

Gabe being silly tonight. Yes his shirt is wet because he won't stop drooling. He is quite the drool monster!

Look at me SO big sitting all by myself!! He can sit now for a few seconds all alone! So BIG!!!

Roxie, Daddy and Gabers just being silly!!!

Mommy and Gabers...he looks scared... :)

Gabe in the jumperoo...he LOVES this thing!! So grateful to our neighbor who handed it down. Thanks Julie!! I can get thru getting ready in the morning because of this wonderful toy!! He jumps while I do my hair/makeup!!

So happy!!! Gabe isn't eating much solid food. He really prefers the bottle and as much as he can get!! I need to start getting better and feeding him more. He just usually eats a bite or two and isn't that interested. I am sure now he might be. He is over 17 lbs and just gaining like crazy.

Pacifier (pie-pie) or Thumb

2009-06-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

Ok I have always been a HUGE fan of the pie-pie. Brad had one til he was 3. My best friend in Atlanta, Shanna, and her son Austin guilted him into making his go away. She was watching him one day and they made him feel bad about having it and poof it was gone. Funny thing was like a year later she found where it was hidden!! :) We didn't have too much of a hard time with him after that so it was a good thing.

Greg had his pie-pie until he was 4!! I bought him a bunch of toys and told him if he would throw them all away I would give the toys to him. For a few weeks he said no thank you. Finally one day I had the flu and I was stuck in bed and ALL the toys were just sitting there. He said mommy I want those toys. I told him all the pie-pie's in the trash. And low and behold he threw EVERY single one of them away. Off to play with his toys he NEVER asked for it again.

Then I had JT. I tried to push the pie-pie on him, but he wanted NOTHING to do with it. He was a self soother. He didn't use his thumb either. He wanted no part with any of it. It kind of made me sad since sometimes you REALLY need something to plug them up! :)

Now on to Gabe. He has been taking his pie-pie no problem until about a week ago. When he found his thumb. Oh what a battle it has been. Everytime I see him with his thumb in his mouth I grab a pie-pie. As you can see from the below pictures he now sucks his thumb WHILE the pie-pie is in his mouth. I am going to win this battle....well I sure hope I do!!!!

Gabe chilling with his pie-pie....

Gabe says uh no guys I will suck my thumb and pie-pie....

Yah he won this time, but I am determined to WIN this!!!! :)

Yummy cereal???

2009-06-14T16:29:00.001-07:00

*******After this post is another new post so keep scrolling down**********

On June 1st, I decided to try and give Gabe some cereal. He seems to be eating many bottles a day now and I thought he would like something that would be more filling....As it turns out I don't think he was quite ready for such a big step. Hey, at least he thought it was funny!!!!

I haven't tried since. We went to Disney and I didn't want to bring everything with me. I will start trying again this week. It would be great if he started to add a little more to his diet!!!

A Fun trip to Disneyland!

2009-06-14T15:57:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a family vacation to Disneyland. We noticed while there that our economy was doing just fine!! The first night we got to California we met my childhood BFF at Downtown Disney. There was 1 1/2 hour waits at EVERY restaurant. Rainforest Cafe was 2 hours!!! We ended up eating at the ESPN zone which was good and had fun playing games while waiting!!

A picture with my boys and Julie's twins!

JT playing hockey. He thought he was so big!!

A picture of Julie and I!! We had not seen each other since January 2004 and it was SO great catching up with her, her husband and kids. We decided NEXT time there would be NO kids!!

This is right outside of Disneyland. This was our first day at the park. I had no idea how JT would react to everything. He did great. Only problem was we learned quickly he just wanted to ride roller coasters and sadly there are not many at Disney. He didn't like the slow rides...

Main street waiting for Matthew and Grammie to get some coffee!!!

Greg and I are raring to go ride rides...come on coffee people!!!

An awesome self portrait on the jungle cruise! The only picture of just the two of us on this trip!

This was us waiting in line for the Pirates of the Caribbean. The good thing was no lines more than 30 minutes. The bad thing was we never got to ride Space Mountain because it always had a 45 minute or more wait.

All JT wanted was a picture with Mickey. He didn't care about any other character. Well Mickey's line was closed so I talked him into a picture with Pluto. All of a sudden Mickey was heading out for a break and he jumped in our picture!!! The kids didn't even know until it was done. It got even better though because minutes later Mickey came back out and I was about to get a group shot!!!

JT with his new ears. Brad and Greg already had ears from previous trips. Only JT and Gabe got some ears. He was very proud of them!

Gabe and his new ears. That is the infant hat and as you can see quite big on his head. Not sure who it's supposed to fit??

Our great group shot with Mickey. That was it. JT NEVER asked to see another person. Sure made our trip much easier not trying to track down characters. We never even went to Toon Town or Fantasyland because JT wanted only roller coasters!!!

We were about to get on the Buzz Lightyear ride and JT started dancing he was getting so excited about playing the shooting game!!!

JT wanted to drive himself on the cars, but you have to be 52 inches. Brad said he would go with him. JT was so excited!!!

So big!!!

Here is the one "family" shot and JT didn't want to look and Gabe was like are you guys kidding?? This was day 2 and we were not as happy since we were a little tired!!!!

JT riding the Merry Go Round.

This series of pictures cracked me up. I was trying to get a shot with all 4 boys. I have yet to get one I really LOVE. As you can see Gabe is so confused by the toy snake that JT has.

I finally get the boys to look at me....Gabe says nope what is that yellow thing???

Here is me trying to get closer to get Gabe to turn my way....again UH NO mom!!!

JT with his snake!! He won it playing one of the fair games. I don't like those games, but Bradley took him to play while Matthew, Greg and I rode California Screaming. Lucky...that pretty much sums up our trip. We had a GREAT time. There was some fighting with Greg and JT, but other than that it was very successful. The drive there and back as well. I just love having all of us together!!!

Can we say drool.....

2009-06-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

Ok so holy cow I have NEVER seen so much drool in my life...at least not that I can remember!!! Gabe is spending most of his days drooling in his bed, on his clothes, all over me...it's hysterical! His gums are not even the least bit white. In other words pretty sure we are NOT getting any teeth! I really hope this doesn't go on too long cause WOW it's messy!! Plus he has started waking up one time a night again for the past two nights....he eats a 4 oz bottle and then crashes. Odd thing is he eats the bottle in less than 5 minutes. So I am not sure if we are on a growth spurt or what?? He does seem extra heavy to me these days!!!

Oh how I love that little face. Looks like he has something in his cheeks he is saving for later!! Still can't tell what color his eyes are or what they will be. They are not brown, but certainly not blue either. Maybe a hazel?? They are just so big and his lashes so long!!!

A Post Full of Pictures!

2009-05-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

On Mother's Day my mother-in-law came over to teach me how to make sauce. She is 100% Italian and makes YUMMY sauce. I like when she brings me sauce on Sunday's, but now that Brad asks for it more than that I decided it was time I learned how to make it myself. This is JT enjoying the YUMMY sauce....

It was too funny. He ate his whole dinner with the backpack on and the sunglasses. What a nut!

Yes, sometimes Gabe does cry. It's not often, but he even looks cute crying....

I was trying to get some random smiling pictures, but instead he gave me the serious look...

JT saw me taking pictures and wanted one of him too!! What is so funny is Gabe turned right around to stare at his big brother. :)

Gabe is now sitting on the couch. Of course he has the cushion to hold him up, but he does it with no other help!!

His GQ pose....

His giggly goo laugh

I started thinking we only had first bath pictures and decided we needed some new ones. We had to buy him a new bathtub. The first one we had he didn't like. I think he always felt like he was falling. Poor guy, but the new one he seems to really like!!!

JT just finished his baseball season. These pictures were taken at his last game. I thought in the end he did really well, but he is for sure not ready for sports!! :)

Gabe found his tongue the other day. Out of the blue he just started to act like a snake! Here are some funny pictures of him showing us what he had just learned!!!

Some other awesome new things from little Gabers...he is sleeping thru the night now. We put him down around 8pm and between 10-11 when we go to bed we feed him 4 oz. of food and he now sleeps until 6 or 630am. I am so grateful for the sleep!! I feel like I can do anything with that much rest! School is out for the kids on Wednesday. Brad has lacrosse all summer. Not sure what Greg or JT are going to do.

Some other exciting things are coming up as well. I will try and be better!!

Oh where or where has the time gone....

2009-05-02T21:07:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that I haven't posted in two weeks! Life is so busy right now with the four guys! With Bradley having football three times a week, Greggory doing Lacrosse thankfully only on Sundays and JT doing T-ball two days a week it seems like it is non-stop action! Thankfully Gabe takes it all in stride!

Tonight we were at one of Bradley's football games and it was a tied game and Bradley threw a 15-20 yard pass to his friend Christian who just happened to be in the in-zone and a touchdown occured. Game over and all of the parents were screaming and yelling like we just won the Super Bowl and Gabe slept in the sling the whole time. Didn't move once. He's just AWESOME!!!! We also went to a Bar Mitzvah today. These two pictures of Greg are from that. He had so much fun!!!

JT had his ice creams social at his preschool and this was the ONLY picture I could get. He ran around the playground so much I couldn't stop him. As you can see he is in a cage petting the animals so it was a bit easier!

JT wanted me to take his picture being a super hero!! He had his cape on and his HULK HANDS! Now if only he could snap his fingers and his playroom be cleaned up!!!

I finally got Gabe to give me the REAL smile. The first picture he was thinking about it, but by the second one....

YAY GABERS!!!!!

See Gabe smile...

2009-04-14T19:51:00.001-07:00

The first two picture attempts to get Gabe smiling is me trying to get him to smile. He smiled, but nothing like when his daddy talks to him....see below!!!!

mommy attempt

mommy attempt

daddy attempt

Come on Gabers....look at that smile for DADDY!!! :) It's ok really I just LOVE seeing his smile so big! :) Sweet sweet boy!!!

What a wonderful Easter!

2009-04-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

For Easter we went to Matt's brother's house. Not only did we have delicious food the kids also had a blast with their Easter Egg hunt, bouncy house and play set!!!

JT searching the yard for eggs. He found many and they were all filled with CANDY! Yah!

Here is Greg on top of the play set. He found an egg up there!!!

JT just chilling at the top of the slide!!!

Bradley and I after the egg hunt. I am also holding Gabe in the sling. He slept the entire time! What a good boy!

Matt and I enjoying the sunshine!!! It was a GORGEOUS Arizona day!

The kids playing the bouncy house. After I took this picture I read the weight limits on the back and told Bradley he had to exit. :) It couldn't hold more than 200 pounds and with just MY three kids in there we were over capacity!

JT had a blast playing on the play set. What a fun day. We all came home and took naps. Much needed naps I might add!!!

Easter Eggs and Bumbo chairs

2009-04-09T22:23:00.000-07:00

JT is VERY excited this year about Easter. He must remember from last year all of the candy he received. That boy LOVES him some candy!! Sometimes that is all he talks about. He likes all kind, but chocolate is NOT his favorite. Her prefers things like lollipops or starburst. He wanted to color eggs so I thought how hard can it be with a 9 year old and a 4 year old. Ha! Even now as I am writing this I am laughing to myself. JT was pitching a fit because he thought Greg got more eggs than him...had better colors than him, etc. Funny thing was the next morning on the way to school he kept saying how much fun he had!!! :)
Boys really trying to make their eggs nice. I bought the wrong pack of egg color. I thought I bought the normal boring one, but I bought this tie-dyed one and we couldn't follow the directions because it was too complicated so we were trying to make it work!!

Finished eggs. LOVE the bright colors!!!!

That same day I was giving Gabe some Bumbo time. I am trying to get him to sit up straighter. Every time you put him in there he leans....so cute and getting SO big!!!

He just wasn't sure what to think. I just like seeing him sitting up so big!! Hope everyone has a Happy Easter!!!!

Can you believe we are 2 months old???

2009-04-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

****UPDATE****Gabe had this two month check up and he is now 11 lbs and 12 oz. He is 22 1/2 inches long!! Go Gabers!!!

On Sunday, my cousin DJ asked to stop by and hang out with us for a bit! We LOVE it when DJ comes to visit. He is the fun 25 year old cousin, but almost seems more like an uncle to the kids. He used to live much closer to us, but moved by work when gas prices shot up and now we rarely ever see him. :( It's a 45 minute drive to just come and say hi. We DID feed him pizza and wings so the long trip was worth it! Here is a sweet picture of ALL the boys!!!

And another because what if the first one didn't take! :)

Here is Gabe in the Bumbo chair. I never bought a Bumbo chair for JT because I felt they were so expensive and all my kids were early to sit. They were ALL 4 months old. So in mind I couldn't see spending the money on one. Well, my wonderful sister-in-law had one and she is letting us borrow it. Yah for borrowing stuff!! This is our first attempt in him sitting in it. He is getting stronger and stronger sitting in there and hope to have new pictures soon! As you can see he isn't sure what to think...He is looking at Grandma in this picture! :)

Around 6 weeks we took Gabe to have his pictures done. Here are just a few of my favorites.

Oooh how we love him!! Sure wish he wasn't growing up so quickly!!! He is such a sweet little baby and the giggling has finally begun!! He giggles and smiles and it is so cute! I just have to get it on camera! Don't worry I will keep trying!

6 weeks of baby fun!!

2009-03-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

Just some pictures of little Gabers...here he is at about 6 weeks. He is almost outgrowing his 0-3 month clothes! He doesn't go back to the doctor until April, but I am guessing he now weighs over 10 pounds!! He is getting so big. He is so serious all the time. It makes me laugh. I rarely get smiles out of him, but when I do...oh his smile is SO big and I can't wait to get it on camera! He is still a good eater and sleeper and we just love having him around!!!

This picture cracks me up....JT looks so put upon since I wanted to take pictures and Gabe is just staring at him like hey big brother...:)

JT plays t-ball.....

2009-03-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

I sometimes have to wonder where in the world time went! I can't believe that JT is old enough to start playing sports!! Last Saturday he had his first t-ball game. He was so excited. The only thing I don't understand is why every kid has to bat every inning and it doesn't matter how many outs you get?? I guess it also goes without saying that everyone is a "winner". Yah, I don't agree with that either, but what can you do???

JT look so big!!

His first hit off the tee...

Making it to first!

Waiting to advance...

Taking it home!!!!

Sliding into home! He was SO excited and played so well. The kids are 4-6 and JT really seems to enjoy himself. There are a bunch of kids on the team from his dad's neighborhood so I am sure that is what makes it fun as well!!!

Now I just need him to stop growing up!!!

Holy cow has it been a month already?

2009-03-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

My how time flies when you are having fun!!! Gabe is already one month old! At his one month check up he weighed in at a high 9 lbs and 9 oz and was already 22 inches long. Considering he started this world at 7 lbs 6 oz and only 20 inches long I decided we must be doing something right! He is still such a sweet little guy. Sleeps a lot, eats a lot and stares at the wall a lot! :) Greggory is still the only one who wants to hold him and kiss him as much as possible.

His shirt says MY MOMMY ROCKS! Well duh! :)

This picture was taken before we left him with Grammie for the first time. I had a fundraiser at the preschool and so we had to leave him for a few hours. Grammie and Gabe had a blast and I must say it was nice for Matt and I to get out too.

Happy Birthday to Greggory and FINALLY a picture of ALL 4 boys!

2009-03-04T05:08:00.000-08:00

****I posted twice this morning so keep scrolling on down******

We finally celebrated our LAST February birthday. With Gabe being born on February 5th, Matthew on the 11th, Bradley on the 12th it was nice to make it to the 27th and celebrate with Greggory! It amazes me that he has turned 9. His personality is so like mine sometimes he seems much older and sometimes I think I might go crazy! He loves to play lacrosse and soccer. Loves the X-box and playing World of Warcraft. Most importantly he LOVES his new baby brother. Every chance he can get he wants to hold him and love on him. I can always count on him to get me a pacifier or a hug to me! He is a GREAT big brother and we are so lucky he is part of our lives!!

He wanted an ice cream cake and as you can see we forgot to take it out ahead of time. We had to microwave it just to cut it!!

Greggory getting his blue whale webkinz. He was so excited!

Finally I was able to get a picture of the 4 boys together. Even Gabe seems to be smiling in this one. I am hoping to get more soon. I haven't even sent out announcements yet! I tell you life with 4 sure is pretty crazy. Especially with Bradley playing NON-stop sports!

Gosh I sure love this men!!!! I am one lucky momma!!!

More baby pictures and fun at bath time!

2009-03-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

Gabriel is almost one month old. I know I can't believe tomorrow it will happen! Simply can't imagine my life without him in it! He is such a sweet baby. He loves to be snuggled, but mostly just likes to chill on his own. He is a GREAT eater and I can't wait to see how on Friday how much he weighs. Sad part though is that we have to do our first round of shots. :( Always makes me sad. I am pretty sure he is well over 9 pounds just based on how his clothes fit him now.

This picture was taken right before his first bath. This monkey outfit was the very first item of clothing I bought for him when I found out I was having a boy. Matt LOVES monkeys and it was just too cute to not pass up!

First bath. He LOVED it. Just sat there and "talked" the whole time. It was pretty funny. I wasn't sure what he was going to think, but he really seemed to enjoy it!

Just chilling in the bathtub!

Check out the curls. When I washed his hair I was surprised at how curly it is. I know I have curly hair and so does Greggory, but just seeing it made it more real. I really hope it stays curly. Something about curls on the boys! :)

Everyone else seems to be adjusting around here. Still seems like the other boys don't know too much he is here. I am happy to hear that because soon enough I am sure Gabriel will be making his mark on this family!!! :)

So in love.....

2009-02-25T14:35:00.000-08:00

There is nothing more beautiful than seeing a new daddy with his first baby....I love you guys and I am SO lucky!!!

Update on new baby life....

2009-02-19T01:26:00.001-08:00

So far so good....that is how life has been since little Gabriel made his GRAND entrance. :) He has been a sweet baby and the boys seem to be doing ok with him. Greggory's favorite thing to do is hold him as much as possible. As you can see from the below picture! JT still isn't sure what to think of him, but I am sure in time he will get it all figured out!

Grammie with Gabriel. We realized we had NO pictures of the two of them together. I swear it is SO hard to remember to take pictures of your 4th!!!!

I was trying to get a good picture of Gabriel and JT said you should take one with ME in it. I totally agree!!! :)

Greggory had a Moments with Mom at school and this was the older boys. Gabriel was home with daddy who was able to take off the whole week and spend it with us. Boy was I sure sad he had to return to work. Sure wish he could stay home FOREVER! Bradley is all dressed up because he made the All-Star football team at his middle school and on game days they have to dress up. Too bad he lost his clothes. Yah, shoes, slacks, belt, shirt and oh the tie Matt wore to our wedding. Oh joy!

Little Gabers taking a rest in the bouncy chair. He prefers to lay down while sleeping. Don't think he stayed like this for long.

Again as you can see Greggory and Gabers. Any chance he can get to hold him. It's so sweet. He is SUCH a GREAT big brother!

This was his Happy Valentine's outfit. I was so excited when I bought it and even MORE excited that it fit! I bought the super small one and I was afraid it would be too small and then too late to buy another one! I bought it back in January.

Bradley holding Gabriel. I realized I didn't have any pictures of him holding the baby either. He isn't as interested in the baby as I thought he would be. I am sure once he starts doing things he will get more excited!

Look at those GIANT hands. Maybe he will be the one who plays basketball. Of all the sports the other guys play None of them have any luck with basketball. Heck they can't even get their clothes in the hamper let alone a ball in a hoop!!!

And last, but certainly NOT least a picture of the two birthday cakes. That is right. One week after Gabriel was born Matthew turned 33 and Bradley 13!!! Ohmigosh! I have a baby and a teenager. How did this happen again? :)

For the most part everything is going pretty well over here. I like to think it's too early to really tell how it will all go, but Gabriel is a very sweet little guy. We are really enjoying having him around and I know I am REALLY enjoying not having to the be the ONLY one carrying him around! :)

Gabriel Andrew

2009-02-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

Gabriel Andrew was born on Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 2:53 in the afternoon! This is a picture of me before he was born!

Here is a picture of Gabriel right after he was born....What a big boy! 7 lbs 6 oz and 20 inches long!

Dr. Eckel, me and Gabriel just after he was born.

Look at his giant hands. It makes us laugh everytime he pulls them out of his blankets!

Daddy holding the little man....

So bright eyed. The doctor had checked him and he was just watching thinking hey what's up?

Gabriel just finished eating and was so sleepy after.

We were getting out of the hospital. Had to take some goodbye pictures!

Mommy and Gabriel...

Family photo leaving the hospital!!

The dogs are meeting Gabriel for the first time. Jag just wanted to lick him and Roxie would get near him and then just growl and run. It was pretty funny. She is doing much better now!

We are so excited to have him home with us. His brothers come home on Monday so there will be more pictures to post then. He is such a sweet baby and I honestly hope it continues!!!! Love to everyone!

Baby Shower

2009-01-26T19:34:00.001-08:00

On Sunday, my best friend Jeannine, threw me a wonderful baby shower!!! It was set for last Sunday except something crazy happened. The Arizona Cardinals were playing football here in Arizona and Jeannine had the pleasure of being there. Being as that was a once in a lifetime opportunity she HAD to attend. Thankfully I have VERY flexible friends so yesterday it was!!! Here is a picture of some of the yummy food...and some of the wonderful guests!!

Kristen and her sweet baby girl Leanne!

Me opening some presents!! A new monkey. Monkey's have become our theme!!!

Now these were some YUMMY cupcakes!! I even had one today....

My fun presents! This of course before they were opened!

So now I am just bummed because I didn't get a picture of ALL the guests and I didn't even get one of Jeannine and I together!!! It was such a beautiful day and I had so much fun. I really can't thank everyone enough for making it happen. So many people helped to make it a really special day for me and baby Quattro. Thank you thank you!!!!

On another note we should be finding out on Wednesday what day I will be induced next week. I am shooting for Thursday the 5th or Friday the 6th. I am getting so excited. Well, nervous, but excited!! I just want to see his sweet little face! :)

Random things we have been up too.....

2009-01-14T19:06:00.001-08:00

Since my last post we have been VERY busy around here. So busy it has been hard for me to do anything, but work and take care of the kids! :) Here is the recap:

On December 31, 2008 Bradley got to fly to San Antonio, TX to play in the All-American youth Army bowl. It was held on Sunday, January 4th and it was live on the Internet. The WEST (his team) won 21-14. He helped score two of the three touchdowns. Bradley plays Quarterback and was the starter for the WEST. It was very exciting and right now it is TOP on the list of the best thing EVER. (according to him anyway)

School went back on January 5th and we hit the ground running. Between football after school EVERY day for Bradley and lacrosse two nights a week I am trying to find the time to get stuff done. Up until a few weeks ago the baby had no bed and we had some work to do. The baby's room is improving now that we have the furniture, but I still need to wash the new duvet (its chocolate brown to match) and the sheets, etc. I also need a window treatment cause the white blinds are NOT cutting it and lastly some cool artwork on the walls. I am thinking something with monkeys...

Bradley had his first lacrosse game last Saturday and won! He is the goalie for his team. I had my 36 week check up today with the doctor. He says everything looks good. Baby is measuring right at 36 weeks and he is HEAD down. Whoohoo! We are shooting for Feb. 5th to be his deliver date. I can't schedule it until one week before. The hospital won't let us.

Just trying to fit everything in before this little guy is born. So much still to do and I do feel like I am running out of time!

Tried to tell JT tonight I was having a baby and he just wouldn't go along with it. He keeps saying I am fat from eating too much dinner. I asked him if he was sure it wasn't because there was a baby in there. He said nope there is no baby. I know he knows that is where babies come from because about two months ago he told me when he gets little again and gets back in there...ok WHAT?

Oh what a rude awakening it will be when this baby comes....

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-01T15:59:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a VERY Happy New Year!! Just a few pictures from all the fun! We even made some popcorn balls. I swear we have the same recipe as from when I was a kid, but they tasted so much better when I was younger!!!! The kids sure love them though!

Sarah and Elizabeth stirring the candy for the popcorn balls...took FOREVER!!!!

Opening all our presents!

This last one was just me begging the boys to take one more picture together. Next year there will be 4 boys in the picture and I wanted these to remember when there were just 3!!!!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. Here's hoping 2009 is a WONDERFUL year!!!!

25 Christmas Questions

2008-12-18T15:54:00.000-08:00

Susan over at Life in the Psych Ward asked for us all to join in the fun!! So here I go....

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Ok that is hard because this time of year it's Egg Nog, but the rest of the year I LOVE me some Hot Chocolate!

2.Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa puts our gifts by the fireplace where our stockings hang.

3. Colored lights on house/tree or white? White.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? If I knew where to find some, I'd hang some up and stand underneath it!

5.When do you put your decorations up? Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving, but this year I couldn't get motivated!!! (I have no idea why either)

6.What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? My mother in law's mashed potatoes and my mom's jello. Love that stuff!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? That is a tough one. I was just reminded of one by my dearest friend Kerri, but when I was a kid we had a tree stand that rotated around and played music. It was actually very cool. It finally broke after my dad died.

8. When did you learn the truth about Santa? truth??? In our house it is always if you don't believe you don't receive!!!!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? As a child we were always able to open one gift from a family member. I have allowed my kids to do the same thing. So any out of town packages one present is fair game!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? !With the boys. I un-package all the ornaments and they put them on the tree. I put the higher up ones on and Matt always puts the topper on the tree!

11. Snow. Love it or dread it? Love the look...loved as a child playing in it, but I live in Arizona now and can't even remember the last time I was in the snow!

12. Can you ice skate?Yes, and I love it!!! Grew up right down the street from an ice skating rink.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I received a "real" cabbage patch kid one year. In Georgia they have a hospital (Babyland General) where the babies are born from a cabbage and I received Gabriella. My mom still has her today.

14. What is the most important thing about the holidays to you? Being with my family and friends. It's a great time to slow down and appreciate.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? We always had a cake for Baby Jesus every year. Now that I am married we have birthday cake because it's actually my mother-in-law's birthday on Christmas day!!!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Taking the kids to see Santa. I don't care how old they ever get. It just makes me happy.

17. What tops your Christmas tree? A snowman star.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?I love the feeling of giving, especially to those who are in need. The best part is the look on the face of someone you bought the PERFECT gift for. However, I love to be surprised with a really great gift!!!

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Any song on Amy Grant's Christmas albums. I love every single one of them!!

20. Candy Canes. Yum or Yuck?YUMMY!!!!! Oddly enough I just bought some today to eat!

21. What do you want for Christmas? A video camera. I have actually wanted one for years, but I am thinking probably not this year either...:(

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas party? Not an annual one, but we do attend Christmas parties. It's fun to get together this time of year!

23. Do you dress up for Christmas Eve or wear PJ's? We wear jeans or anything festive. We have our big party on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is more for pj's.

24. Do you own a Santa hat? Yes!!!

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with? Family. Any and all that are around on that day!!!!

Trying to find the holiday spirit

2008-12-08T19:47:00.001-08:00

So since my last post I have been trying VERY hard to take it one day at a time. The stress was getting to be quite crazy. I just REALLY needed to finish everything on my list so I could just sit back and enjoy. Yesterday, I passed on attending Brad's end of the year football party. I just couldn't see how that was good use of time. I mean it's always great attending those parties, but I had so many things to do!!!

We took the time yesterday to hang the outside lights (thanks Mom and Dad for your help) and I took the time to clean the inside and then decorate!!! It sure felt good to get that all done. I ordered the Christmas cards (sadly they won't be here til next week sometime) and even got the Lacrosse "mom" stuff done. I woke up today feeling energized and wonderful.

Here are some pictures of the tree. We decorated the tree tonight. Obviously JT was WAY more excited about it than the older boys. They just wanted to hang the ornaments and JT was just happy posing for pictures!!! ;)

So in light of everything I think I have it under control as of now so please please please don't let anything stand in my way til the 25th!!!! :) I know what will happen will happen!! A girl can dream though can't she??

Just a bit overwhelmed!!!

2008-12-01T21:02:00.001-08:00

So lately I have been feeling VERY overwhelmed. I am not really sure why either. I don't feel my life has gotten any crazier or any busier, I think it's mostly because in my head I realize that in 9 weeks I will have to take care of one more person. I think it is truly messing with my head! Now don't get me wrong....baby #4 was totally planned and I couldn't be more excited about a new baby in our family, but somewhere in my head all I can think is WOW how am I going to do this??

You see because a typical day in my house includes the following:

Up first to shower. If I let hubby take a shower first he uses all the hot water.
Off to drink some coffee and read the paper. Start the muffins or cinnamon rolls if that is what we are having
Wake up boys to get ready for school
Feed them breakfast
Then we are off to do hair, brush teeth, make beds, etc.
Take kids to school
Come home and work
Straighten up house while making lunch for JT and me
Pick up child from school
Later pick up another child from school after some sport thing he does (i.e. track, football)
Rush dinner on the table
Either help with homework or take oldest to some other sport thing (i.e. football or lacrosse)
Give little one bath
Bedtime
Work some more to get ready for the next day
Watch TIVO stuff if I can stay awake

That's it. Everyday. Of course weekends there is laundry and cleaning. Every weekend I dust the whole house, clean bathrooms, vacuum, clean floors, etc. I can't stop from doing it. Tried to go every other week and couldn't handle it. Tried to hire someone to clean, but just kept cleaning anyone so figured that was silly.

This weekend I wanted to get my Christmas decorations up. Yah, that didn't happen. Every day we had something else going on and I just couldn't find the energy.

I am not trying for this post to come across like I am whining (ok maybe a little) but I just needed to vent. Thinking if I could get it out of my head and onto paper (or the Internet) then maybe I can just go back to getting motivated and moving forward!!

I already feel a little better. :) I just realize that things won't always be able to be perfect and in my head I think that's ok. Just wish I wasn't so OCD!!! I am working on it though. Or am I???

Happy 4th Birthday Jt!!!

2008-11-24T14:33:00.001-08:00

Happy 4th birthday buddy! I truly can't believe that 4 years have past. To think that 4 years ago you came into our lives....wow has it gone fast. I remember when I was younger and life seemed to move so slow (when was Christmas vacation, spring break, and last day of school) and now I just try and understand how time can move so fast....

Here is a picture of your brothers meeting you for the first time. Ooh they were so proud and still are. You are such a great little brother. For the most part you make us laugh.. A LOT! You are such a big boy. No one believes you just turned 4. You wear size 6 clothes!!! You already have a great sense of humor and you for sure roll with the punches. You have finally decided to start trying to learn your letters. For the longest time you have fought with me and then suddenly you wanted to know which letter was what. :) You have now decided after 4 years of calling my name in the morning that you are big enough to come out of your room, head to your playroom and watch TV until I join you. You give tons of kisses and hugs. Your favorite thing to do it play outside with your friends. You could do that for hours. You just started to notice babies which is a good thing since we are having one. We haven't told you yet though. You are smart enough to know something is going on, but we haven't sat you down yet. You might not stop asking me when your new brother will arrive. ;) I figure we still have some time (like 10 weeks). You are such a helper. If I am making a bed you want to do teamwork. If I am taking the dishes out of the dishwasher you want to hand them to me. We are still working on cleaning up your playroom, but that is mostly mommy's fault because EVERYTHING has a place and I need it to go there! :) You love to take baths and swim....you want to know why you can't swim now in the pool. I am so incredibly lucky to have you. I love you so very much!!!!

Here are some random pictures from the party. We had it at Pump It Up since all you EVER want to do is bounce!!!

The girl at the store made the wrong cake. It's a good thing I have gotten older and stress less because I picked up your cake 1 hour before the party. The girl who made it was mortified but I told her no worries and could I please have the Power Ranger items we had requested. :) So you not only had a Madagascar cake, but we added the Rangers to it as well!!!!! You loved it!

This was taken before you started opening all of your wonderful gifts. You received so many wonderful things and the day was a huge success!!! I am so happy that you had fun. I love you and Happy Birthday!

Sometimes life throws you a curveball

2008-11-12T19:24:00.000-08:00

Do you ever feel that life sometimes throws you a curveball?

Like you had something planned and then BAM it doesn't work out that way or ends up so much better. One of my favorite songs is by Garth Brooks. "Unanswered prayers". So many times we want for something to happen and it either never does or what happens is so much better!!!

The lyrics go like this:

Just the other night a hometown football game My wife and I ran into my old high school flame And as I introduced them the past came back to me And I couldn't help but think of the way things used to be She was the one that I'd wanted for all times And each night I'd spend prayin' that God would make her mine And if he'd only grant me this wish I wished back then I'd never ask for anything again CHORUS: Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs That just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers She wasn't quite the angel that I remembered in my dreams And I could tell that time had changed me In her eyes too it seemed We tried to talk about the old days There wasn't much we could recall I guess the Lord knows what he's doin' after all And as she walked away and I looked at my wife And then and there I thanked the good Lord For the gifts in my life CHORUS Some of God's greatest gifts are all too often unanswered... Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

I have felt that way so many times in my life. I try to live by the idea that EVERYTHING happens for a reason. Some of the times I still don't know why it happened, but then I remember something about it and think that's why. If I hadn't met my ex-husband I wouldn't have my two older boys. If I had not moved back to Arizona I wouldn't have the great friends I have today. If I had not met JT's dad I wouldn't have JT. And of course if I had not gone to the lake that one day I wouldn't have met my husband. The most important things in my life. My family!!!

As I am expecting #4 it makes me think back. To how I got here today. I feel very blessed. I have my family, a roof over my head, a car to drive, a job, and my health. There are so many people who aren't that lucky right now. I am also fully aware how fast any or all of that could change.

You see my former brother-in-law is in a hospital fighting for his life. A senseless car accident. A wonderful God living man. A young man who is only 38 years old. Who has a wife, two small children, a very large family who loves him. And it happened in a blink of an eye.

This is where it gets hard to believe everything happens for a reason. Because truly I couldn't think of one good reason for this to have happened. Please pray for him and for the family. I am AWARE of the power of prayer. I have watched it happen here and I know it works!!!!

So I am guessing if life throws you a curveball you should probably just try and swing the bat.

*****UPDATE******My brother-in-law is still in very critical condition however he is making progress and has been alert at times even writing small notes. Everyone is very encouraged, but he still has a long road ahead of him. Prayers are still needed. Thank you!!

What a week!!!

2008-11-08T21:33:00.001-08:00

My week started off last Saturday night....I was late getting to Bradley's football game because well it was his 2nd round playoff game and I get too nervous for him. He is the quarterback and I just hate watching him if I think the game will be at all tough for him. Sorry I am a sucker and want him to win every time!! So back to the story...I am late and my friend texts me and says, "you are gonna be so mad at your ex". I text back, "ok why". She texts back "you have to see to believe". So Matt and I show up at half time and there on the field is MY son with a Mohawk. I must admit I came slightly unglued. Ok REALLY unglued. His dad knew I would say no so they decided to not ask me. Then when I became angry he sorta laughed...UGH! (he kept it all week and started to hate it (haha) so his dad took him today and got it shaved off)

JT this week could only go to school on Thursday because he was having "bathroom issues" the other days. Have no idea, but for one week we had a relapse of what it was like to wear diapers. I even took him to the Dr. to find out he had a sinus infection and to be honest I was pretty shocked. I knew his cough was bad, but thought that was all and just a repeat of last year where he was sick from October-March. So now he is on antibiotics and hopefully on the road to recovery.

My mom had surgery on Friday. Thankfully she is one tough cookie and is now recovering at home after spending last night at the hospital. Greggory is staying with her so he can take care of her. Maybe he will be a doctor one day? Or maybe help save the world??? Oh heck I don't know!!!

I went to the dermatologist this week to have the moles checked out. There was one spot on my throat that had to be removed. Haven't heard back yet on the spot though. It was a patchy dry spot on my throat. Been there maybe a year or so. I really thought moles were the only problem. Guess I learned that you just need to make sure you get yourself checked regularly. Too many people are finding out they have melonoma and it scares me to death!!! Especially since I spent the majority of my youth in the sun baking!!!

The highlight of my week (thankfully there was one) was getting together with two of my highschool friends from Georgia. Well heck we knew each other long before highschool, but because of facebook I have found so many of my "old" friends and the best was finding out that one of my most favorite people actually lives 10 minutes from me here in Arizona!!! :) Another one of our friends was in town for a work convention so the three of us headed to dinner and oh what fun we had!!! Sometimes you just need to laugh and oh did we laugh!!! I will post a picture as soon as one of them sends it to me! :) I forgot my camera. Probably was the horrible bandaid I had on my throat that made me forget....

This coming week is going to be crazy. Kids crazy, work crazy, and if you can believe it...JT's 4th birthday crazy. Yikes where has the time gone?? Just boggles my mind how fast these kids grow up.

I still am working on a Halloween post and the big I am 4 post. Hope to get those completed soon!!

I did finally get the guest room "new baby's room" cleaned out so my father-in-law can paint it. It took all day today, but it's almost ready. Of course I didn't order the furniture until this week and it takes 10-12 weeks to get it!!! Oh well. At least when the baby comes home it has somewhere to sleep until the furniture arrives...

That's all for now!!!

What? He thinks this is ME

2008-10-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

The other day I picked up JT from pre-school. He was so excited to show me what he had made that day. He pulls out a Dixie cup with blue ribbon and exclaims, "Mommy, I made you!!!!" Ok WHAT?

As you can see though he is VERY proud of his work!!!!

So what did you do last night?

2008-10-18T21:31:00.001-07:00

So last night the hubby and I met some friends with the older two boys at the Arizona State Fair. Now mind you, I went the first year that I lived here in 2000 and it kind of scared me. I had vowed to NEVER go back! However, last year my hubby and his friends couldn't stop talking about these figure 8 races. It did sound intriguing so the older two boys and I decided we would take him up on the invite.

We had no idea how much fun we were gonna have! Oh but we did. Something about cheesy fair rides, more food on a stick than you know what to do with and figure 8 races. Wow! And the boys LOVED it. And I LOVED that the boys LOVED it. So last night we did it again. Here are some of the pictures we took....

GOOD TIMES AT THE FAIR!!

We paid extra so we could see the largest PIG....And yes those are his BALLS! :)

Then on to the smallest horse. I had to just stare at him because I swear I thought he was fake. He did move. I was shocked and so were the boys!

When you go the fair you have you eat fair food. (for the record I ate some french fries as I am just not that courageous yet)

The boys trying to NOT look at me while I take their picture!! Here we are riding some fun rides!

He was on his own on this one. Literally....

And when you go the fair you HAVE to see the animals they have. This is the chicken I wanted to take home. Come on admit it he has GREAT hair!!!!!

Last thing we saw were a whole ton of sheep. For some reason this one became the brunt of so many jokes...like hey can you see that??? :)

So another wonderful time at the fair. I just need someone to tell the thousands of people there that we are in a rescission. No seriously there were SO many people there it was hard to all stay and walk as a group. Then I see in the paper that this year their numbers are down. Really?? LIARS!!! Last year when we went we didn't pay $20 to park and there were not that many people. It's all crazy talk!!!

One sick boy...

2008-10-14T09:34:00.001-07:00

I am not going to lie to you when I tell you that I don't enjoy sick kids. Let's be honest though...how many of us do? I am grateful it's the oldest one who is sick because he is less work, but now I have to worry will everyone else get this strange bizarre unidentified illness? This is how it all started.

Saturday night started with his friend spending the night. This is not something I usually allow because it promotes staying up late and I am not a fan. The staying up late part is ok it's the next morning and the I'm so tired comments that make me crazy. So, Sunday comes and we are a little tired, but we have lacrosse practice so we somehow muster up the energy to go. Come home sleep rest of the day on the couch. Again I get it. He is almost 13 and didn't get much sleep so I don't bother him. Move ahead to dinner time. Suddenly remembers homework while moaning how cold and tired he is. Now I am losing my patience.

Monday morning we get up no problem. Get ready for school, I feel his head and he is cool as a cucumber. Perfect. That is until my cell phone rang at 1pm. "Hi, mom. I have a 101.5 fever and I have to come home. Can you come get me?" he says. Ugh! Sure I would love to come get your sick self and infest the others in this house...:)

So last night besides the time he tried to sneak out to run across the street to his friend's he pretty much laid around and did nothing. At about 8pm I took his temp and now it's 103!!! So I give him some Motrin and off to bed he goes. I was hoping he would wake up today and feel terrific so he could go back to school tomorrow, but well let's just say that dream was killed when he woke up and his temp was 102.5!! You know they say 24 hour fever free before they can come back to school!!!!

So at 1:30pm today think of me as I head to the doctor's with him. Why you ask? Well, every time this child has EVER had a fever....strep throat is ALWAYS the culprit. I figure if it's strep I should know about it now so I can get him on drugs and send him back to school on Thursday.

Did I mention the kids had off last Thursday/Friday for fall break!!! Ugh! Please pray for our family that none of the other children get sick OR the pregnant mommy!!!!!

Crazy day with friends

2008-10-11T21:30:00.000-07:00

The boys had off school the other day so my best friend and I decided we would take the boys to the new Children's Museum.

Playing with play dough. Which is always funny to me because I will not allow play dough in my house. I don't like the smell of it, it always gets hard because they never put it away properly and if any gets stuck in your carpet...forget about it! They sure do LOVE the play dough though. Hey, my kid does go to preschool and he can play with it there!!! :)

The little one resting from all the fun eating his goldfish. I asked if he was ready to go and he said no thanks!

He was pretending it was nap time. Right, like he takes naps anymore! HA!

The older ones goofing off!

He was making pizza. Ok, so it was pretend pizza, but pizza none the less! :)

What a wonderful day we had. All of the boys were behaved so great and it was just nice to relax and chat. I just don't get to do enough of that!!! The boys of course had a blast just being together. Just an all around GREAT day!

Sensitivity issues

2008-10-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this whole pregnancy thing has been going ok...I guess. Something has happened to me though this time around that is making me kind of scared and maybe slightly crazy??

You see no one has ever called me sensitive. I don't cry much if ever, I am usually pretty tough and one of my closest friends even called me the Grinch before. (She was only kidding...I think??) Something about my heart being two sizes too small?

It's not that I wouldn't give you the shirt off my back and I wouldn't bring you soup if you were sick. It's just I am a straight shooter. I call a spade a spade. Well, that was before this pregnancy....

Now I feel like a bumbling idiot on most days. I cried the other night watching Grey's Anatomy. Why you ask?? Because Christina was getting kissed by McMilitary and it came so out of the blue that I was happy for her?? What?? It's a TV show. Do you understand what I am talking about? I was happy for a character in a TV show. Ugh!

Another thing lately making me cry is my children. They are growing up way too fast. Pretty sure that is why I keep having them. Logically I understand they will ALL grow up, but something about having a baby around makes everyone just a bit younger. My husband wants to know when it will be "our" time and I keep thinking I don't think I ever want that time? I keep asking him to do what? To travel...neither one of us love that...so watch more TV...we own two TIVOS? What could we possibly do that we aren't doing now? I love the loudness, the craziness, the busyness of our lives. Yes, sometimes I love calm too, but that is usually because my job is making me crazy and I have run out of patience for the little ones!!

I can't decide if I like the new me or not. You know the senstive one who seems to FEEL everything. Part of me does. It's kind of freeing just letting it all out. Who knows what will happen in 4 1/2 months. Something tells me after sleepless nights I will STILL be crying. Only it will be different...

Hi, my name is Beth

2008-09-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

And I have a few addictions! They are the following: Blogging, twitter, and facebook. Now I will tell you why!!

I started reading other people's blogs when a friend of mine started hers about her journey with her preemie son. Jill over at Our Miracle Boy. Her son was born at 24 weeks and that is how I keep up with her and John's wonderful life! She soon had a very large blog role and I started to read many of the families.

Somehow I then found other people that I really fell in love with like Cheryl at
The Daily Blond and McMommy at
The McMommy Chronicles and of course there is Happy Hour Sue at Happy Meals & Happy Hours and well so many more I can't even mention them all. I started to comment on their blogs and then something happened. Yes, that's right....

Twitter happened.Suddenly at any given time I had real people to talk to about real things like...what people were wearing at the Emmy's or the VMA's or even silly things like this This guy even tells me you are no one if you don't twitter!

Suddenly, my husband was asking, "who keeps texting you"? I swear I think he thinks I have a boyfriend. He just doesn't understand the twitter. I even learned about sweet tea and vodka a.k.a. firefly vodka and as soon as I have this baby I am getting me some. My friend William at Back to Barnwell told me all about it!!!

Lastly, I have grown quite addicted to www.facebook.com because I have had the chance to connect with people from when I was a kid growing up back in Marietta, Georgia. People I went to elementary school, middle school and even high school with. And you know what....they all have children, they all look amazing and everyone just seems to be so happy!! How can you not become addicted to that??? Who doesn't love seeing their friends (old and new) happy.

I feel so much better now that I have admitted that I have a problem. Any thoughts on a cure?

I am going to write a book....

2008-09-18T20:16:00.000-07:00

I have decided that I am going to write a book. I am going to title it, It's not that hard. Because really people lately everything I seem to try and do is just THAT hard. Let me give you a few examples.

I am the maid in the house if you will. No one lifts a finger around here. My husband takes care of the outside of the house so we will give him that, but the inside it's my domain. It's not that my husband or kids don't want to help I just won't let them. Call it OCD call it whatever you want HOWEVER....

It's not that hard if you take something out of the fridge, empty it into a glass and throw it away. Please DO NOT leave just a little bit in there so you don't have to throw it away. It's not that hard.

It's not that hard to take something out of the medicine cabinet like toothpaste, use it and put it right back. It's just not that hard!

It's not that hard to look in your backpack afterschool, see you have homework, and do it. Not wait until the last minute and then stress me out. It's not that hard.

It's not that hard to get in your car and drive the speed limit at least. (I prefer 10 miles over, but whatever I'll take speed limit) It's not that hard.

It's not that hard to run into Target for a few things and NOT buy a stinkin toy. It' not that hard.

As you can see I can go on and on about this subject. I have been very overwhelmed lately with work and kids and trying to find a balance with my hubby. I feel like I am working every night until 10pm just as we are going to bed. The kids have me running everywhere with sports and school. My job..don't even get me started about my job. I know I should be thankful I am busy because there are plenty of people who are NOT busy who do what I do...but why all at once?? Where was everyone two months ago when I needed more work!!! And did I mention baby #4???? What am I going to do with him?? Oh well.

I have found in life most things find a way of just working themselves out and I know this too shall pass. Just say an extra prayer for me would ya...cause I'm going crazy over here!!! :)

On a side note I had my BIG ultrasound if you will and baby is still a boy. The tech just kept saying I am sure glad we did this two weeks ago becuase the entire time she was trying to do the ultrasound today I was having contractions. Yah, I am 19 weeks. Doctor said they were fine. OK!

To be or not to be......Traditional???

2008-09-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

So I am having a bit of a dilema. Let's call it baby naming. You see I already have three boys. Bradley, Greggory and JT (short for Johnathon Thomas). Nice traditional names. Bradley and Greggory have never been on the top 100 favorite name list, but still nice names. Of course Johnathon is, but since we don't call him that I never worried about that. I like the names that are traditional, but not on the top 100 list. Now for the problem...

We are having a fourth boy. What to name him has been a topic everywhere! Everyone wants to give me suggestions and I always feel bad when I say, "oh no, I don't like that one." Or "we are just planning to wait until birth to name our son." Because truthfully I have NO idea what I want to name him. I have been reading books, magazines, websites anything with names in it. I just keep thinking maybe the name will hit me like a ton of bricks! My husband wants him to have an edgy name. Something different. Then again my husband's name is Matthew. Great name, but also very popular! ;)

So now is the time I am going to open the floor to all of you. Any suggestions will do. Boy names. His middle name is Ethan. So keep that in mind when handing out names. My husband has always LOVED the name Ethan. That can't be his first name though because it's on the top 10 list!

Sorry, I am weird like that...

IT'S A ........

2008-09-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

BOY!!!!!!!

Can you believe it?? It's a BOY! That's right 4 boys!! Wow! I am so very excited!! Everything looked great today in the ultrasound. I have another one in two weeks because my doctor likes to do the "big" one around 19-20 weeks and since I will only be 17 weeks tomorrow the ultrasound tech couldn't get all the measurements she needed.

Don't even start asking about names though....when you have already used your favorite names on the first three this will be a bit harder. We had the girls name picked out if it were to be a girl, but the boys name...not so much. My doctor told me today that he thinks I kill all girl sperm. It gets near me and I kill it! :) I figured better before conception than after...kidding I'm only kidding! :)

I don't think the boys know what to think. My oldest wanted a girl. Something different he said. When I texted him earlier and told him it was a boy he replied back......NOOOOOOO! :) He said he is over it now. Middle son just said thats cool. I hope he's good. And of course the youngest one hasn't even been told yet. I am thinking maybe the day before I give birth. :) He does say I am getting fat from eating too much dinner, but I can live with that!! It's better than hearing him say...baby?? When baby? Can't handle it. Still too far to go!

Thanks for all the good wishes that everyone was sending my way!!

The Sweetest Thing

2008-08-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

As a mother of three boys there is plenty of fighting and whining around here. At any given time #1 son and #2 son like each other so that means that #3 son is out in the cold. It could be any combination of the three, but as the saying goes....three is a crowd! :) Well, the other night that all changed and even if it was for just one night it was worth it to see it!

Bradley had a football scrimmage on Friday night. He was trying to recover a bad snap (Quarterback talk) and instead of just falling on the ball he recovered it and tried to run. In the meantime three players from the other team tackled him and HARD! He couldn't get up. So there I am sitting in the stands thinking boy I sure prefer him playing goalie for lacrosse! :) So after all the coaches run over, kids take a knee, he is STILL not up. Finally, (I am sure it was only a few minutes, but felt so much longer than that) he gets up, but has his arms around two coaches and he is having a hard time walking. Oh great I think...sprained ankle, broken foot, or maybe even a broken leg....

His dad runs down to the field to check things out. All I see is Bradley wincing in pain and how uncomfortable he looks. After about 10 minutes and when things don't look any better, I grab a cold water and head down myself. He got hit in an area where of course there are no pads on his lower back. He was in a lot of pain and thankfully the game was almost over.

Now on for the sweetest thing part....we get Bradley in the car with the help of his dad and head home. We get home and realize Bradley can't get out of the car so it takes a while and all Greggory keeps saying, "is don't worry Bradley I will take care of you." Bradley decides he needs a shower, but can't get up the stairs so we decide he will take a shower downstairs. Greggory runs upstairs and gets all his stuff from the bathroom; towel, shampoo, and soap for his brother. Helps him get undressed and in the shower. Helps him get dressed after. Helps him to the couch where they will sleep just in case Bradley needs something Greggory can get it. When he wants food Greggory comes and gets me to fix them something. All night. Anything Bradley needed Greggory was there.

It melted my heart. What a GREAT little brother. What love to witness between the two of them. It's just not something I see everyday. Not even weekly. What a joy that I did.

I sure love those boys....all three of them!! On a side note JT was also very worried about his brother, but since he is only three and we HAD to get him in bed he couldn't be as helpful! :)

On another side note...Tuesday is the big day. The day where hopefully the ultrasound tech will be able to tell us what this wonderful baby #4 is....make sure you put your votes in.

Wanted to say thank you to the Blogger GODS

2008-08-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say a quick thanks to the Blogger Gods. Yes, that's right I am pretty sure they exist. Let me tell you why.

Yesterday I wrote a post about how I couldn't take the heat anymore. I was done. I needed to feel 90. So after I wrote that post....

it rained and rained, it thundered and lightening, it rained some more, it flooded my backyard and thundered some more...all night!!!!

So that meant that today it was super cloudy and no sun and wouldn't you know it...only 91 when I picked up the kids from school!! That was pure HEAVEN!!

I did notice later in the day around 5pm it was about 97, but I was cooking dinner then and seriously didn't care!

So thank you Blogger Gods for hearing me and giving this insanely crazy pregnant woman just one day to remember what 90 felt like!

Ugh! I am so HOT!

2008-08-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

Just a quick rant because I am driving my awesome hubby CRAZY with my complaining!! Thought maybe if I said it all here I could just stop! The reason for my complaints is that I am SOOOOO done being hot. Let me explain what I mean:

Tuesday: 98/81
Wednesday: 99/82
Thursday: 103/82
Friday: 103/82
Saturday: 99/81
Sunday: 97/79

Everyday with a 20-30% chance of rain...so did I mention those may be the temps, but now you have to add in humidity! That's right my friends even though I live in the desert I get humidity this time of year. It's like an added bonus. :)

I understand that I live in the desert; however when the kids go back to school I expect FALL!! I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and this time of year it would be starting to cool off. I just looked at what their temps are and right now it's 70 degrees!!!! Now granted they get more rain and different weather, but people PLEASE enough of the 100!!!!!

Did I also mention that I work from home and I am cheap. My friends love that about me. :) My husband and children not so much. So because I am cheap my downstairs air is set to 82 and the upstairs 80. So not only is it HOT outside it's pretty toasty inside too!!! After 9pm I drop the upstairs to 74. I can't sleep when it's hot in the house!

To be perfectly honest I don't even know where I am going with this except to say PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE someone send me some cooler temps. I will take 90. Yup, there I said it. 90 please!

I can't believe I am already here!

2008-08-20T09:21:00.001-07:00

I have a 12 year old son. Sometimes I feel too young for a 12 year old, but I guess when you have a baby at 21 you might feel that way sometimes! We have a pretty close relationship. He cracks me up daily with his witty comments. :) This year he started middle school in the 7th grade and oh boy does he love it! Get to hear about his friends and all the "HOT" girls that attend! He is playing football now and is worried about his weight because he only made the recent weigh-in by 5 ounces!! I keep telling him worrying about your weight is not a good place to be and he should just chill....yah easier said than done.

The biggest thing is that I don't have many super close friends who have 12 year olds. See all my friends waited until their late 20's to start the parenting thing so they have kids a bit younger than Greg at 8. So I am the first one to go thru many of these things. Such as do I allow him a myspace page? After a lot of thought I decided sure, but I have to have one too and be on his buddy list. Do I allow him to go to the movies himself? I fought it every step of the way because I know what I did at the movies when I his age, but finally gave in and said fine, but I am picking you up right after the movie is over. Just call me MY dad!!! :)

The recent happening that made me so very sad happened last night. His dad dropped him off from football and as I was talking to his dad in the doorway I see my neighbor walking around her house with a flashlight. I asked her what she was doing (mind you it was 9:30pm) and she said looking for scorpions. She had found a few in her garage and was freaking out. So as I looked down at my front door there was a giant scorpion right next to my ex's foot. I screamed and told him to kill it!!! And then it happened. My 12 year old looked at me with disgust and said, "STOP FREAKING OUT MOM. IT'S NOT LIKE IT WAS COMING IN HERE TO GET US". And there it was. I had embarrassed him. WOW!

It was like in a blink of an eye I just wasn't cool anymore. He was over it this morning, but truly I don't think I am yet!

What in the world is "THAT"????

2008-08-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you what "THAT" is. When the dog wasn't feeling well I was doing extra laundry since she made a few messes along the way. Well the laundry room just hasn't been the same since. I couldn't figure out why? Ran bleach thru the washer, ran it with nothing in it, and even kept the door open. It is a front loader....I was trying everything. My husband happened to look at it the other day and said it looked a little dirty and maybe I could just CLEAN it out. So today I was on the phone and since I can't EVER sit still I decided NOW was the time to do this.

I cleaned the door (dirty very dirty) and I started to pull back the rubber part of the washing machine and I noticed some brown so I pulled back even further and in the picture what you are seeing is a sock that had gotten lodged there (WHO IN THE WORLD KNOWS WHEN) and it was well brown too. That is how the washing machine works. The water filters thru the front and it had something blocking it. A SOCK!

I had to stop talking for a minute and tell my friend to hold on. I was sure I was going to be sick. The moment thankfully passed and then I had to get on a bigger mission because I had to remove the sock and REALLY clean the washing machine. Oh joy!!! The good news is now I have found the source of the smell. The bad news was I EVER had to see that!!

For the record I am an ultra clean freak as well. That washing machine is only a year old. I scrub the outside all the time because I don't like dust on it, but who EVER cleans the inside of their washing machine. Well, apparently me.

Wanted to give a SHOUT OUT!!!!

2008-08-10T20:15:00.001-07:00

Julie and Me!
Meet my friend Julie. Julie and I "met" when I was 9 years old. She was barely 2. We were next door neighbors and I started to baby-sit for her and for her little brother, Marc. Over the years we became more like family. I used to travel with her family and help out with the kids, if they were ever out of town I took care of their dog, and I was even in her wedding when she got married. When Julie was in college she took a job working for a hotel at the front desk. After she graduated she moved up to an event planner type position.

From time to time I would ask her to hook us up with a room where she lives. It is always nice to get away and it's only about 1 1/2 hours from our house. Well, my husband and I decided we needed a night away. It had been awhile since we did just the two of us. Now with baby #4 on the way we decided it was much needed!

So we drive down yesterday to check into the hotel. We get there at 2pm and check-in is at 3pm. They tell us the room isn't ready, but they are in there cleaning now. The hotel is sold out mind you and the lines to check in are VERY long. We walked around, but it was raining and I had a horrible headache so at about 2:45pm I get back into line. I ask the nice front desk guy if the room is ready yet. He calls to housekeeping and says no, not yet about 20 more minutes? I say, "well at 2pm they were in the room and you are telling me they still need 20 minutes"? The nice front desk smiles and says, "ma'am (oooh how I hate that) it is a very large room and takes some time to clean." I say, "ok, no problem just call us and we will find something else to do."

At 3pm they call us and say your room is ready. We look at the map and realize we have never stayed in the area that they have for us so we needed a bellman to take us to our room. We were afraid we would get lost! :) We tell the guy our room number and he says, "what a great room. Stars like Phil Mickelson and the lead singer from Scorpion have stayed in this room." Now Matt and I really like what's going on?? We get to our room and....

It had a foyer with a 1/2 bath, you walk into the living room/dining room with fireplace and a patio. Around the corner is a wet bar with full fridge, the bedroom has it's own door and patio; the bathroom oh my the bathroom. I am pretty sure we could have moved in there and honestly NEVER left. The bathroom had a walk-in closet, jacuzzi tub, huge walk in shower, raised sinks. It was like heaven.

After about 1 1/2 half of being in the room a very nice man came with ice cream, cookies and milk! It was from Julie! I had told her that this baby craved ice cream and she was so thoughtful and had them bring it to me!! We only left the room to grab dinner in the hotel. We even ordered room service this morning just so we didn't have to leave.

So, I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to Julie. A GIANT thank you!! We had a wonderful time just the two of us. Wish we could have seen you while we were there. I hope you had fun on your trip with your hubby!! I love you Julie!!!

Just one of my pet peeves!

2008-08-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

OK for those of you who know me, I mean really really know me, you know that when GOD made me he forgot to add the wonderful ingredient of patience. Just flat out missed me on that one. With that being said there is something that is REALLY bothering me lately. That my friend is the waiting room wait time...

I have been going to the doctor more now that I am pregnant. My wonderful ob/gyn likes to see me every 3 weeks instead of the typical 4 because of the issues I had after delivering the last one. I am not opposed to my doctor taking such good care of me, BUT I want to know why EVERYTIME I go to his office I am stuck waiting one hour just to see him. Today, I had an appointment at 8:40am and I didn't get called back until 9:35am. What? Let me get this straight. At 8:40am you are already THAT behind? How is that possible? Were you late getting to work wonderful doctor? :)

I would like to say that this just happens at my ob/gyn and therefore I really have no basis for this rant. However, I find this happening EVERYWHERE I have a scheduled appointment time. Be at the dentist at 10am. See the dentist at 10:20am. Take my kids to the peditrician for a 2pm appt. and we get called back at 2:30pm. I want to know why their time is SO much more important than MY time. If I didn't show up until 15, 30, 45 minutes later they would send me away and tell me I lost my appointment. I recently fired my son's orthodontist because EVERYTIME I went there for a 1 minute check it took over an hour and I finally said I'm done. No thanks....

Does this happen to anyone else or am I just being sooo unreasonable?

HELP:Sick doggie

2008-08-05T13:09:00.001-07:00

Meet Roxie....aka Roxiemo. She is our 1 1/2 year old Chihuahua. I gave her to my husband as a present. A birthday/Valentine's Day present over a year ago. At the time I thought I was making a REALLY wise choice. He used to have one, but well that is a LONG story, and really wanted another one. I already had a Maltese, Jag, and didn't see why we needed another dog, but to make my husband happy there she is....

The problem right now with Roxie is well she has loose stools. EVERYWHERE!!! She hasn't gotten into anything, hasn't eaten anything weird, just has an upset tummy. I have been sleeping in the guest room at night so as not be awakened by the whining puppy who needs to go out every 2 or so hours. My husband who has the patience of a saint is even running out of patience. I could take her to the vet, but she is acting just fine otherwise...any thoughts?? Comments?? Suggestions??? Anything would help!!! Thanks!!!

***UPDATE: After 5 days of being sick she woke up yesterday morning feeling all better. No more waking us up at night and no more loose stools!! This WILL be a wonderful weekend!!

One of my few addictions

2008-07-31T14:22:00.000-07:00

I just have to say that this show is one of my few addictions...I LOVE Tori Spelling!!! Ever since the days of 90210 I have loved this girl!! Next week is the season finale and I am so bummed to think it is all over!!! Sure hopes she hurry's up and feels better after giving birth so she can join the new cast of 90210!!!

Sad, huh?

Updates on Baby #4

2008-07-31T14:13:00.000-07:00

I went yesterday to have an ultrasound on baby #4. Everything looked great! It was so great seeing the baby for the first time! Somehow that is when it becomes real...when you can actually see the baby moving around. The tech gave me a ton of pictures since Matt couldn't be there. It is only his second week on the job and I figured the 18 week ultrasound would be more important for him to be there!! We are just so excited. Just trying to decide on names now for either boy/girl. I'm still hoping for another boy, but EVERYONE I know is praying the other way!! Figure I just can't keep having boys forever...need a girl to liven things up a bit! Oddly enough the older boys are requesting a sister as well!! It's only a matter of time and we will know!

More pictures from San Diego

2008-07-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken the first night we got to San Diego. Doesn't everyone look excited?

Having so much fun at Legoland!!!

Look I can drive...

Wonderful place where Matt and I got married!

Spiderman! Spiderman!

Scary faces...

The sealions and the boys! Cheese!

Love that face! That is his attempt at smiling!

Off to play in the ocean!

Maybe I will just watch...

Brothers UNITE! The boys had so much fun and were so well behaved! Yah!

Fun in the Sun

2008-07-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a quick impromtu trip to San Diego. Get out of the heat for a few days, see Legoland and head to the beach! It was the little one's first "real" trip! I had NO idea how truly excited he was going to be!!!

As you can see I am pretty sure he thought he died and went to heaven! While we were at Legoland the funniest thing happened. We were having lunch and he was done eating his so he was running around. He fell on his bottom. He comes running over to me as LOUD as he could and said, "mamma please kiss my butt"!! Everyone around us couldn't stop laughing!

I will post more pictures soon!! Just wanted to get this out there! :)

We have a heartbeat!!!

2008-07-16T21:08:00.001-07:00

OK so I have to admit...I was VERY nervous about hearing the baby's heartbeat. It's not that I am a first time Mom, but something about this pregnancy just seems so different. So calm. So quiet. Anytime things are EVER calm and quiet in my life something goes horribly wrong. So imagine my surprise today when the doctor, who at first couldn't find the heartbeat, found it and said whew your chances of miscarrying are now less than 3%! What a relief it was to hear!

I guess it's time for me to let people in our little secret...I have told a few people, but haven't even told my kids. Well, my oldest son knows now. After his dad, my ex-husband, walks into my house yesterday and says, "so how far along are you?" I asked, "why would you say that?" He said, "because of the baggy clothes and you are glowing!" Right in front of my 12 year old. I laughed and said thank you for telling him...I was waiting until tomorrow to tell him after we heard the heartbeat! MEN! All my son was worried about was where was the baby going to sleep! BOYS!

So we are off to the San Diego Beach in the morning. I have to get out of this heat in Phoenix. We are just going for a few days, but some are better than none! I will have tons of pictures to post when I get back!

Another lacrosse trip down...1 more to go!

2008-06-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

We have just returned from LA where I had the privilege of watching my oldest play lacrosse all weekend. I have to admit I watched a lot, but I also spent much of the time enjoying the high temps of 70 degrees and the other wonderful parents we got to hang with!! Remember my last trip where the boys were making me crazy?? I met one of their parents and wouldn't you know it...I LOVED them! Ha! Even got to tell them about our crazy adventures.

I have also been enjoying keeping "the secret". Some more people have been told or found out, but for the most part it is still on the down low. I kind of like knowing that I know something you may or may not know! :) Plus since I am still not 100% sure how excited the other three are going to be I figure the longer I keep it under wraps the closer it will be to time!

I still haven't figured out how I want to use this blog. Thinking mostly to update family/friends, but I also feel like I need a place to go to share my feelings. Some place to just vent or talk about what's going on. Right now since no one is really reading I am still trying to get it how I want it. Hopefully that will come to me soon!

When did I become this person??

2008-06-16T06:47:00.000-07:00

OK, so we went to Park City for Bradley's lacrosse tournament. It was beautiful and a great time had by all. However, there were some kids traveling without parents. For whatever reason some kids just came to play and some parents just couldn't be there. Right next door to us in our hotel room was a group of 4 boys with NO parents. Normally I would be fine with this...I mean come on I am a young hip mom. Sadly though it went something like this... Thursday night I was up half the night because my neighbors just couldn't sleep. I let this go. Boys just being boys. I am truly OK with this. That is until morning when I am so exhausted I can hardly stand up! Guess I am more used to the 8 hours of sleep I get every night. I decide I can take this and say nothing. Even after one of the boys pulled his pants down and mooned my son, while I was standing there!!!! He somehow didn't see the adult standing there??? Now we are gearing up for night number 2. We all went to a picnic for dinner and I was hoping these boys would be a little more tired. I mean come on they played lacrosse all day after not sleeping...surely they will be tired because GOD knows I was exhausted! Fast forward to 11:30pm when I look at my husband and say that's it...I am going in!!! So here I am in my pj's none the less and I come out of my room and yell at these boys....PLEASE SHUT UP! It is late and some people need REST! Ugh...I come back in the room and I would like to say that I felt better, but truly all I kept thinking was when did I become MY parents???? I am happy to say within 10 minutes those boys didn't make another peep! Of course the next day at the airport the boys were caught by me misbehaving once again and thankfully the "evil" eye worked that time!!!!!!

Why is it?

2008-06-09T09:06:00.001-07:00

Why is it when I was in my twenties I LOVED to travel, LOVED to fly, LOVED to see far away places and now that I am in my thirties I stress about EVERYTHING!?! I never had fear of flying before and suddenly I am set to fly to Park City, Utah on Thursday and all I can think about is ALL the things that can go wrong!!! I haven't flown since January 2006!! I know they say a plane is the safest way to travel, but why can't I get the images of 9/11 out of my head? I know I will be ok, but I think sometimes when you travel and you leave behind some of your children it makes you stress even more. You see we are heading to Park City for a lacrosse tournament for my oldest son. That means #2 and #3 son's are staying behind. So you let your imagination run away with you...all the things that could go wrong...did I tell the boys how much I love them? Do they know? I am pretty sure I am not the only person that feels this way...I just hope my feelings change in the next 72 hours!

Surprise!!

2008-06-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't known where to start on this blog. I have had it for quite some time now, but never knew how to actually START it. Never knew what I really wanted to say. I read so many other people's blog's and it has become a real outlet for me as a mom. I love my bloggy friends and am so thankful they are there. Most of the time even if it's just to reinforce some of the crazy mom feelings I get! I work full time from home and somehow manage three boys ages 12, 8, and 3 and all of their activities. Sometimes I want to throw the towel in and say enough, but the look of joy on their faces keeps me trucking along! Now it appears there will be baby number 4!!! :) I figure no one reads this blog so I am safe for now!!! At least until I confirm what I see! So there you have it. My first post to my blog and it's to annouce pregnancy! Yah!