No Kissing

Today out in the pool Brian gave me a kiss in front of the girls. Nothing big and slobbery. Of course we got the "ewww". Then Macy said "No kissing or you'll have another baby".

Now we know how our kids came to be. Good thing it doesn't work every time.

Catch up

There are so many things that I want to post about, but have run out of time. I wonder why. Here is a run down:

1. Braden had a clogged tear duct when he was born and one morning he woke up and it was magically gone. He is growing so fast. I had to take him to the doctors today and with clothes on he weighed 11 lbs 4 oz. I am going to have to pull out the next size clothes soon. He has been dropped one other time. No the bump on his forehead is not from a fall. Today it was confirmed that it is a hemanganoma (spelling?). Macy had one on her head but it looked different. It is rarely genetic. We might just be rare. We are probably going to have to get it checked out, but there are no major concerns at this time so we can wait until we are settled in Utah. He has a heart murmur just like his sisters that will have to be watched. Macy and Kelsey's are from completely different causes. We will have to see what his brings.
2. Macy celebrated her birthday last month (I will have to do an entry later).
3. We hit triple digits 2 weeks ago, I think. Let's just say it is hot, so we are trying to use the pool before we go. The girls have really been doing some swimming. They have been to 3 different friends to play in their pools. Today mom had to have some pool time. Braden even stuck his legs in up to his bum. I will really miss the pool, but not the work.
4. We listed our house not this last Monday but the Monday before. I was working tirelessly to keep it clean and show ready. Well it paid off because a week later it was under contract. Now my house is a disaster as I pack things up.
5. Macy's last day of pre-school was today. The kids did a restaurant for the parents. The kids were the waiters. Then they sang some songs. It was really cute.
6. On Mother's Day Brian took care of all the meals and clean up.

That is about all I can think of at this time.

Will I name him the same thing?

Okay, I took care of his diaper. When I finished Macy said the darnedest thing.

To Braden: "If you choke on something you will die. Then you will live again"

To Me: "Right mom? Will you name him the same thing?"

Accidents do happen...

... but hopefully they will be exceptionally rare and Macy will learn to listen to her mother.

There is this ongoing battle at our house. Macy thinks she can do more than her mom thinks she can do. She also thinks she knows a whole lot more than her mom knows. Braden has been caught in the middle of this battle and has received the harm. He has now fallen 2 times in 2 days.

Macy thinks he is her baby doll (he will have 2 mothers for the rest of his life) and thus she carries him and lays him down all over the house against her mother's wishes. Yesterday I was on the phone with Qwest and before I knew it she was in his room with him. Of course the rocking chair's footstool seemed like the perfect size and spot for him. That is until Kelsey pushed the rocking footstool and he fell off.

This morning I was out of the room and again he was swooped up. Next thing I heard was a small thud and a loud cry. I am still not entirely sure what really happened.

I have to go now. According to Macy, Kelsey has taken Braden's diaper off because it is full. She says to hurry because he is going to poop on the blanket. I am not sure who actually took the diaper off (another issue in our house) but Macy is the one grabbing diapers and wipes.

Wish Braden luck and pray that we have no more drops.

In the midst of all this...

Our family is moving back to Utah. Brian has accepted a position with his old company from there. It is a little more stable, especially since Centex and Pulte are merging.

Braden Update

This guy is great. He may be loved a little too much by his sisters, if that is possible. His cheeks might get worn out from all the kisses they give him. They never seem to stop. I get a little clausterphobic when I am feeding him his bottle and they kiss him over and over again. I wonder when the novelty will wear off. Besides kisses, Kelsey likes to come up to him and scream "hey baby". I hope he doesn't loose his hearing because of this. Hopefully this trick is coming to an end. Macy loves to hold him and she is a great helper. She is a little confident in her ability to hold him and move him around but I think she can do it.

The results are in and Brian and I think he is a spitting image of Macy. Brian about fell over when I showed him a picture of Macy at about 2 weeks old. He is a little bigger. I measured his feet to Macy's hospital footprints and he has her by at least a fourth an inch. He is quickly filling out in his face and thighs. The scale at his 2 week check up helped solidify our observations because he was 8 lbs. 11 oz.

He is a decent little sleeper. He doesn't have a set bedtime or even a relatively consistent bedtime, but he always gets up at about 1 AM and 4 AM. He eats and is back to sleep in about 30 minutes time. He generally wakes up for the day at 7 AM and is awake for a hour or two.

I think his right eye has a little bit of a clogged tear duct, but of course I forgot to mention this to the doctor. Next appointment I will mention this.

He only likes to poop in clean diapers. The following situation has occurred at least 3 times. I will change his diaper and before he is all dressed again I can smell something funny. I have to change his diaper again and in the midst of the second change he poops some more. I will wait a bit to make sure he is finished. I put on the second clean diaper. And then I will hear or smell something and he will have pooped again. I try not to think of the money he is wasting. He must think it is funny to do this stuff already.

He is a very gasy guy. The first couple of nights he spent in our room and he was always passing gas while he slept. Yesterday I showed him to a friend of mine when I picked up the girls from a friend's home. All the kids were cooing at him while he was in his car seat asleep. Out of no where he farts and all the kids start giggling. My friend had to ask if that was him. He is always burping too. I hope this is not a foreshadowing of things to come.

Family Fun

I bet you all thought that for these past two weeks I was trying to figure out how to be the mother of three adorable children. Well it wasn't exactly like that. In fact it was yesterday (Monday) that I had to face reality on my own. Instead during those two weeks our family was able to spend time with my family and Brian's family.

My mom flew down a couple of days before Braden was born. The girls had a great time playing with grandma. We did some shopping, cleaning, swimming (it was warm while grandma was here without the rest of the posse) and of course some spoiling. We had to make flower hair clips because grandma purchased one for each girl to match their Easter dresses. Well Macy lost hers before Easter came and she was devastated so it was off to craft stores to get the supplies. Now I have a drawer full of flower clips. You will see some of our work in several of the pictures. Before Braden was born I took my mom to a nail salon and we both got pedicures. It was her first one ever.

The Monday after Braden was born Brian took the day off. He was able to play with us and even did some swimming with the girls (it was like 93 that day).

When Braden was a week old the rest of my family came down to join my mom and do a little vacationing and a lot of bonding. It was my brother's spring break and of course he wanted to do some swimming but it cooled off just for them. We even had rain.

The first night they were here we went to the Easter Pageant. The next day we dyed Easter eggs. That same morning Brian and Jake played golf for $80 a person. That was with a discount. It is peak season right now for that sort of thing. In the summer you can get a steal on a round of golf. Can you guess why?


Then Macy and Kelsey talked them into swimming. It wasn't extremely warm that day. In fact it was only in the 70s and the wind was blowing. Only my sisters, Stefanie and Calee, and my brother, Jeff, braved the water.

Don't they look cold. Yes, they are using hippopotamus floats.

That night for dinner we made our way to Joe's BBQ. Mmmm... Delicious!

The next morning was the community Easter Egg Hunt and it was raining. I think my dad brings the colder weather when he comes.

Here is Macy and her best friend Elodie after the hunt. Does it look like we live in Arizona?

After the Easter Egg hunt, I took my sisters to see the great and spacious building, aka the Scottsdale Fashion Mall. It is under construction to add even more shops so it didn't seem as impressive. It was too crowded for my taste. Because of the weather everyone had the same idea as us.

After the mall it was off to a Diamondback game. Brian and I switched places. I stayed home with the baby and he went to play (he didn't go to the mall). The girls made out with the goods there. Kelsey came home with a new shirt and Macy had a new hat. I was told that Macy ate so much junk that she should have been sick. They said that she couldn't be filled up with pizza, hot dogs, nachos, kettle corn and whatever else. Glad she didn't get sick, of course that night she slept at grandma and grandpa's so I wouldn't have had to deal with it.

Saturday night was the last night for a sleepover at grandma and grandpa's place (they rented a house for this visit). And then Sunday brought Easter. The girls were real excited for their Easter baskets. The Easter bunny made a few mistakes. She got the coloring books mixed up and that has been a bit of a fiasco. She also didn't realize how small the baskets were. I didn't buy tons of stuff but the items I did purchase were just a little too large to allow room for the candy.

My parents brought down their dogs so the kids could love/torture them a bit.

Kelsey just can't get enough of these dogs. I hope she gets her fill of dogs with these ones because I don't foresee dogs in our future. I have plenty to keep me busy.

Early Monday morning my family made their way back home and then Brian's parents made their way down that same evening. I am glad they did because they gave Brian and I the chance to get the temple, which sorely needed.

While they were Macy got to do some birthday shopping with grandma. I was afraid she was going to buy out the entire Old Navy girls section. I lost miserably at hearts, again. I don't know why I agree to play. I guess I like to play. We played a some Sequence, which is more of my thing (I can win at this game).

PS I need to mention here that during these 2 weeks Brian and I played Ticket to Ride 3 times and I beat him 3 times in a row. Finally, victory!

Brian took Friday off so we spent a leisurely day eating at the Farmhouse Restaurant, playing in the fountain behind the eatery (Brian's parents got the really nice weather) and checking out their accommodations. Macy thought it was a playhouse and never wanted to leave. She washed clean cups over and over again.

Saturday I ran errands while the rest went to Freestone Park and rode the train and other amusement rides.

Then I caught up with them while they went swimming at the condo's heated pool. Of course I couldn't get in, so I just tried to get a little color and do some reading.

This picture was just too cute to pass up. It was taken on Sunday. This was the last day to play with grandma and grandpa for a couple of weeks.