Cousin Dance Party

Dean and McKinley were napping (lets be honest I don't think McKinley would be dancing much anyway) but here are the bulk of the cousins getting down to... what is that, One Direction?



Wish we were there for the party!

FINE i'll blog about it... (a short novel)

This last week has been a little odd. With the first two pregnancies when "labor" started it finished... this one is SUCH A TEASE dragging things on and on.

It all started when... okay I'll spare you and wont go back to the beginning but lets say Sunday I went in to the hospital because I called about something I hadn't experienced yet as a pregnant lady (I won't share what exactly it would be TMI)... and they told me I needed to come in right away to be "checked". Now I am NOT a frequent flier. I DON'T enjoy false alarms NOR hanging out in hospitals when I don't ABSOLUTELY have to be there. ANYWAY they made me come in and so we went in.

Turns out (duh) everything thing was fine and I was given the chance to stay and "see how things would progress" because I was a dilated to "loose 2" 50% effaced or go home. I opted to go home because I didn't have a darn thing with me ready to have a baby. Really we went to church because we were all dressed up for church and I didn't find a sub and it was primary program day for my little 6 and 7 year olds I teach. PLUS it was May's first day in nursery, (she did fantastic with her Big Brother by her side by the way).

The rest of the day I had contractions galore, especially while sitting in those darn metal chairs.  Some were weak sauce, others super strong but nothing I felt was worthy of packing back up and heading to the hospital. I had them all the way until about 11 am the next day I barely slept that night. Really I just kept thinking, "Make it until Mom gets here then go in."

Well the contractions slowed and after about 24 hours they stopped. SORRY FOR THE FALSE ALARM MOM! Well she was coming on Tuesday anyway to get the kids and take them. On Sunday the L& D nurse was VERY confident if I wasn't back in a few hours I would have been back with in a day. LIAR!!! LIAR!!!!!

So here we are, it's Friday, still no baby... just sitting and waiting. My mom took off with the kids back to Medford on Wednesday morning and then stole them away to Utah with my Dad to go hang out with ALL the Bragg side cousins for the weekend. I am sure the kids are in heaven being spoiled by all their aunts, uncles and cousins (I mean ALL... Matt and I are the ONLY two missing from the group this weekend)

I'm ridiculously useless with out my two little ducklings following me around the house and there is only so many times I can straighten the comforter on my bed before I lose my mind. Bottom line is I miss those little crazy kids of mine.

GOOD NEWS is, I went in for a check up today, and now I am a "loose 3" what is it with Loose and tight dilations huh? Regardless, Dr. Chen is surprised I haven't had this little lady yet. I said that I just want to be induced and get it over with. Matt wanted the 4th since he only has a day and a half off of work but Dr. Chen is delivering at the other hospital that day so we moved it up to the 2nd. YESSSSSSS and end to this! Dr. Chen hinted at seeing me next Tuesday but really he thinks sooner. My mom will head back with the kids after the baby is born.

Interesting note, my poor husband always has crazy things happening RIGHT near the end of my pregnancies. With Ty he missed a huge test because my water broke that night. With Maylee he was flying out here to interview he made is back with a day to spare and was finishing up his last semester. With this one he has a huge, nasty, tedious, tricky Series 65 test to take and pass in order to make his promotion official. Originally he was supposed to take it today but they moved it to Monday morning... SO naturally my water is going to break Sunday morning and i'll deliver Sunday afternoon just in time for Matt to be totally sleep deprived and in the wrong frame of mind to go take a 2 and a half hour test.

It's all part of the plan I keep telling myself... All in all we're just praying everything works just right and all of us make it through healthy, happy and home safe as a family soon.

P.S. On the name front, I told Matt the ball is in his court... he said it's a game time decision so you (and I!) will just have to wait and see what this ladies Dad wants her name to be.  

The Crazies

My cousin calls her kids crazies... mine are definitely reaching that description.

This is what Dad does with the kids while Mom is a dud. Wait, it doesn't ever matter how Mom is doing Dad always does this stuff.


Eeesh give me a heart attack.

Baby Update:
My appointment this morning went so so... I am dilated to almost a 2 and my cervix is thinned about 30%. He also "loosened up" my cervix too. Meaning he kind of stripped my membrane a bit to keep things moving along. What a good guy eh? He must be able to tell I am SO done. That was the good part, the down side was my high blood pressure. Darn that blood pressure catching up with me. I had to get some "lab" work done, AKA blood drawn and he said he would call with any issues. That and I am to make SURE to take it easy for a week until the next appointment and we'll schedule a definite date then, that is if I haven't had her by then.  I laughed remembering my last post... remember all that stuff I need to get done? That's okay, I got a lot done yesterday and all ready started today which probably caused the blood pressure issue. My mom has outlawed me from having this baby until the 1st anyway. I'll keep my legs crossed but i'm not making any promises.

TMT: Family

It's just starting to hit me that in just over 2 weeks we'll be a family of FIVE. I am so anxious to not be pregnant anymore that I forget how much the dynamics of our house are going to change. Right now every day I get some good alone time with each child. Every morning Ty comes in to my room crawls in bed with me and wakes me up sweetly. We lie in bed and he talks about everything he wants to do that day and tells me funny stories while I attempt to drag myself out of bed.

Every afternoon at about 3, Maylee wakes up from her nap while Ty is usually asleep. This is when we get our alone time. Usually she just follows me around while I get stuff done then I sit down to read to her.

I am thinking both of these special alone times will be infringed upon by another very soon! I'm kind of sad about that.

I don't think I ever shared this picture. It was taken at Colton and Maddy's wedding last June.

What sweet little kiddies we have.

I also realized just recently that I am so anxious to have a baby that I have severely overlooked all the details of welcoming a new baby. I haven't washed any newborn clothes (i don't think this one will be in preemie clothes, she seems MUCH bigger than her sister was) I haven't washed her bedding for her bassinet, I haven't washed any burp cloths or blankets. I haven't pulled out any bottles, bought any newborn diapers or cleaned out her car seat and cover. What kind of Mother am I!

What's worse- to address something I am sure you all are thinking... we haven't even NAMED her yet! We thought we had one nailed down... but then we weren't sure. We go back and forth all the time and really don't even think about it much. Terrible right? She'll be "Thing #3" until we officially decide, which neither of us feel like it's urgent... yeah it kind of is... So in truth she really is child #3. With #1 I was ready for him months in advance, child #2 I still had most everything ready with just a few things to take care of... this one Nada, Ziltch, Nothing ready.

Needless to say I've got a lot to do in the next few weeks and no desire or energy to do it. I'll probably do it all with hours to spare. Classic Mickie style. My next appointment is Thursday so we'll see just how soon this child will be coming. I don't think I am progressed at all but I never really can tell.

Like Father like Son, like Brother like Sister

We've got a few little copy cats running around our house. Ty tries to do EVERYTHING that Matt does, EXACTLY how he does it and Maylee tries to do EVERYTHING that Ty does EXACTLY how he does it. 

Hence hat wearing has commenced again. Ty has always worn hats here and there, but just for fun, he didn't wear them out places. Now he likes to wear a hat whenever Matt throws one on to run to the store. He especially likes this red one with a T on it for Ty. May now makes sure that she has her hat on too when he does. Although hers doesn't stay on as long as Ty's does.

This morning Ty requested popcorn... eh? He is watching Mulan. It's 9 o'clock, sure why not! So I popped the kids up some popcorn for their morning movie still in their pajamas.

These are for you mom, Maylee is smiling and I didn't even ask her to smile. 

After all the popcorn was eaten Maylee promptly took her hat off and put the greasy bowl on her head. Butter is a good hair treatment right? Yeah, bath time before getting dressed today for sure. 

Treasures

Ty collects toilet paper rolls. He calls them his treasures. Really he likes to pretend he is a pirate and look through them like a telescope but he doesn't know the word telescope so he says treasures. 

The other day Ty had 2 treasures so Matt disappeared with them into the garage and came back inside with a pair of binoculars!!! (Duct tape and 2 toilet paper rolls) 

Ty LOVES them. Matt suggested a walk to go see everything he could find with his new binoculars. 

He took May too of course. 

Ty spotted birds, trees, flowers, you name it he saw it. He was excited to tell me all about it when he got home.  

P.S. Normally I would join them on their walks. Matt is such a gem taking the kids on walks or bike rides or whatever every day when he comes home. Truth is I can't really walk that well anymore due to the fact that my hips are going to crack in half at any given moment after the time of 5 or 6 p.m. (okay obviously not literally but it FEELS like they will which is a new thing pregnancy wise for me, I haven't ever had this kind of pain) Which is actually slowly getting earlier and earlier in the day so Matt makes sure the kids get some "exercise" as Ty calls it while the weather remains nice. Let's just say I am dreaming of a September baby instead of an October baby. 

TMT

I have a little picture of Matt and I in our bathroom. I write him little notes on the glass with a dry erase marker. I change it almost daily, just so when he is getting ready for work in the morning and leaves before anyone else is awake he can leave on a good note. 

I woke up this morning to a note back from him. It said  "I love you > everything else" 

Sniff sniff.... how does that guy know just what I need every day. FYI he IS NOT a love note kinda guy so it made it all that more special. He's seriously the best with how much he puts up with. I am not exactly the happiest person on the planet at the moment and he is STILL happy to see me when he comes home from work each day. 

In other not so sappy news... here are some funny pictures. 

We left to go disc golfing a few weekends ago, the drive was about 15 minutes. I guess the kids were tired because 5 minutes into the drive this is what we had in the back seat. 

 Zooming in on Ty, he literally fell asleep with a Go-Gurt hanging out of his mouth. HAHAHA 

 Kids are great for a laugh pretty much every day. 

Soccer!

Ty is taking soccer classes! He's not quite old enough for actual teams and games so we signed him up for indoor lessons so he gets down a little bit of the basics before next year when he'll probably play on a team. 

The classes run for 8 weeks and Ty is REALLY excited about them. 

They started off with some stretches and some drills like skipping, walking backwards, jogging then (of course) Ty's favorite RACING! He loves to run fast.

Afterwards they broke into age groups, 18-36 mo. and 2 1/2-3 1/2 year old's. Ty is the oldest in his class. There is a 3 and 4 year old class but parents aren't involved. Matt and I discussed it and since swim lessons weren't AWESOME for him we thought maybe some parent involvement is a good idea. The class is heavy on parental involvement in the beginning and by the end the goal is for no parents to be around. 

The next drill was red light, yellow light, green light dribbling and toe touches. Here is Ty during his red light. He was pretty good at listening. Oh and yeah, he insisted on using his own ball that is too big for him, next week I think we'll "forget" his ball. 

Yellow light slow dribbling.

May and I sat on the side line. May wanted to play and is actually old enough for the younger class (well almost) but I don't think she is quite ready, she would have had no idea what was going on. She likes to chase and kick the soccer balls though.

They played kick the cones... yeah you didn't have to tell Ty twice what that game was all about.

He was kickin' the crud out of those cones.

They did a few more drills and games then at the very end they had a parachute with balls. What kid (and adult alike) doesn't like THAT!

At the end of the first practice Ty got his FIRST indoor soccer shirt. Ty thought it was pretty much the coolest thing ever and didn't take it off the rest of the day.

After the lessons we hit up the mall because we realized while getting Ty dressed for soccer that he only has one pair of athletic shorts and he was in dire need of new tennis shoes! So we got him some new Adidas and it was buy one get one half off at Famous Footwear so we got him some boots for this fall/winter season too.  Then we hit up JC Penney and scored 2 pair of shorts for 3 dollars each. Nice deal!

Ty was REALLY excited about his soccer classes and we think it will be a really good outlet for him when new baby sis comes and the weather gets a little crummier into the fall. I probably won't make it every week so that is why this class was so well documented. Matt is happy to be the helper parent. Plus Ty is actually pretty coordinated so it will be fun to see him learn new things and get better at his soccer skills!

TMT: Sheer Luck? I don't think so PLUS Update

One of the worst parts about moving in my opinion is well first moving away from family, if you were in fact living near family before.

BUT a close second is trying to find new Doctors, Dentists, Mechanics, Plumbers etc etc. There are so many really good ones and an equal amount of really BAD ones. 

I went through the routine of trying to find good Doctors, I had some bad ones and switched until I found one's I liked. Mostly from recommendations from friends did I find these Doctors. About a year ago I randomly asked a friend about who her OB was. She told me someone, then said, "But a Dr. Chen ended up delivering my last baby and I really liked him." So by sheer luck I decided to try him out. I liked him, he is laid back but still concerned and available. It's good to work well with your OB because things can get a little tricky sometimes (in my case 2 for 2) when it comes to delivering my babies and keeping them alive afterwards. 

I didn't think much about how I selected my OB I was just glad I found him. When we moved into our new home our new Bishop came over for a little "get to know you" chat. Turns out, our Bishop is an OB/GYN Oncologist who works with almost ALL of the OB's in the area. He asked me who my OB was and when I said Dr. Chen he said "Oh good, I am glad, he is a really good OB/GYN. In fact, one of only two that I would trust my family to see." 

Then another pregnant friend of mine told me she uses him too and how much she liked him. I got to thinking about it, was it sheer luck that I found this guy? I don't think so, I really think I was guided. I haven't had the easiest pregnancies in the past and AMAZINGLY and MIRACULOUSLY, I haven't had a single abnormal problem this entire time, no kidney stones, weird infections, high blood pressure, extreme amounts of pain, or signs of pre-ecclampsia. Now that isn't due to the OB of course... that is just a HUGE blessing as I see it.   

I only have a month left, to the date... before this lady will be evicted or she'll come on her own. My fingers are crossed for a smooth 4 weeks but to be honest if things don't go so well I am so glad to know I chose to be in what friends and other Doctors tell me are the BEST hands.

UPDATE: Speaking of babies. My twin sister Suzanne and her Husband Preston had their FIRST baby today. I knew when I posted this earlier, but I wanted to give some time to the parents to make the big announcement. We texted quite a bit and from the sounds of it the Labor and Delivery went okay and both Mom and Baby are doing well. I got a little teary eyed while texting back and forth with her after it was all over because I wasn't there for her. I have been around for everyone of my older sisters children and I am sad I can't go right to the hospital to see my new Niece and give my Sis a big YOU DID IT hug and help her out when she gets home from the hospital. Sniff Sniff. Such is life... Anyway here is a picture my mom took and sent. Hopefully she will share some more soon.

McKinley Ryan Reading, 7 lbs 5 ounces 20 inches long with a teeny bit of red fuzzy hair. I can't WAIT to see her. Hopefully I can get out there soon after #3 makes her debut and we can get the (almost) twin cousins together. 

Labor Day

What to do on Labor Day? Hmmmm Well we think Labor Day is a holiday to rest from your labors... Matt works all year and shouldn't he have one day to just relax? He woke up intending to get in a KILLER morning work out, as you can see that hasn't happened quite yet.

Maylee doesn't think Dad needs a rest, she thinks he needs to play.

We bought a new bed last week. One of our friends is a mattress wholesaler and got us a screamin' deal on a king size bed. As you can see, Matt is in heaven. I think since we got the bed on Friday he has taken an extra long nap each day. We upgraded from a queen which seems like a HUGE difference. I roll around with all my pillows and don't even come close to touching Matt who is all sorts of sprawled out. We bought new bedding too, but that hasn't come quite yet in the mail from Costco.

Oh and I finally got around to doing something besides the side clip with Maylee's hair. I'll have to try to do a few more things with it. She holds still nicely while I do it and doesn't mess with it too much. If it comes out she brings the little rubber band to me to have me fix it for her again.

When May came downstairs this morning Ty said "MOM LOOK AT MAYLEE'S FUNNY HAIR! I LIKE IT!" He's an observant brother.

Oh and just because, here are the kids eating a little snack outside before church yesterday. They love to sit next to one another while eating their snacks. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever to hear them giggling outside together.

Have a lovely and relaxing Labor Day all!