pumpkins

Bailee didn't want anything to do with carving pumpkins this year, she can't stand to clean out the guts. McKinzie hasn't shown much interest in years...
As you can tell, Carson isn't involved either. So I guess the die hards are Karlee and Mason.

The other little girl is Grace, our neighbor. She has helped us carve the last couple of years.

Along with the three pumpkins that were carved, we have our own "little pumpkin".

This will be the one and only time he wears this. Once it's washed we won't be able to get it snapped. Good thing tomorrow is Halloween.

Already I'm finding the joy of grandbabies! and having McKinzie living at home. I sent McKinzie to go and take a nap so I could snuggle with this sweet little boy. (Thanks Bri for snapping a memory for me.)

Family

McKinzie's nurse, Mary, was great. She insisted on taking a picture of the coaching/delivery team for us.

McKinzie only held Adam for a few minutes before Jeff and Kim came in. I thought she did great letting them have some time with Adam. I think they stayed for about an hour.

Daddy

Grandma

Poppi

Nonnie

Uncle Mason

Uncle Carson

Aunt Bailee and Uncle Carson

Aunt Karlee and Uncle Mason

Delivery

What an amazing day Monday was. I had never wanted the experience of being in the delivery room with any of my daughters, yet there I was. Before I say anymore, I want you to notice what McKinzie's goal was for delivery on the photo. She reached her goal!!
We were in the hospital at 5:45AM, to be induced. Once she was admitted the baby had to be monitored for 30 minutes before an IV was started. They were about to start pitocin when I mentioned that McKinzie wanted to have her water broke and do some walking first. The nurse wasn't sure. McKinzie had talked to her Dr about it but nothing was in the order. So we waited until the Dr arrived at 8, we could of slept in. Once the Dr broke her water we couldn't start walking until the baby dropped more, so the cord couldn't get pinched. Finally, we were off walking the halls until 10, when she was checked and the baby monitored. Since the contractions were regular and she was making progress, she didn't need to have pitocin, yea!! (I haven't heard good things about pitocin.)

McKinzie ended up having stadol, which really helped her relax between contractions. There was one time that McKinzie strongly considered having the epidural. She decided to get checked to see what kind of progress she made. She found out that she was at an 8!! One more dose of stadol would help her make it through.

As she started pushing the Dr kept telling her stop pushing, or a small push. The cord was wrapped around Adam's neck. The Dr wasn't able to get it back over so the Dr clamped and cut the cord before he was even delivered. McKinzie only ended up pushing for about 30 minutes, not too bad. McKinzie did great. Because the pain was so hard at times she of course wanted to give up, but Brian was able to pull her back together and focus. Afterwards, McKinze even said to me that Dad is really good. He is a great coach! Now he has experience of 6 births. McKinzie said that he could be a doula! If only he could handle the thought of an episiotomy. (That always makes him light headed.)

On Tuesday, McKinzie's Dr told her that she would probably be able to go home around noon Wednesday. Adam was released to go home at 7AM. McKinzie didn't get released until 5:30PM! Such a long afternoon waiting for her Dr :0( , she ended up being in surgery all afternoon.

We finally got home and we missed Poppi, he had to go to Austin. We'll have to make sure he's going to be around the next time he wears this.

He's only two days old and he gets to eat before Mom. Life sure has changed around here.

Finally, it happened...

he peed standing up!! Carson is over 4 years old and finally decided to stand while he peed. It was his idea. I know this is an unusual post, but I'm very excited! It has always been a pain to partially undress him to go to the bathroom. We had to take one shoe off and that leg out of his pants. Such a pain, especially when using a public restroom. I never wanted his foot to touch the floor. EEW!!

He did it last night, I was still down at the hospital. This morning when he woke up the first thing he said was, "I went potty standing up!" It was soo cool. I asked him if he needed to go again and he was excited to go, standing up. In fact he told me, "it would be awesome if I could go poop standing up too." Such a silly boy!

Anne, he did it!! Wahoo!!

baby boy

Arrived at 5:22pm. 8lbs 7ozs, 19 inches long. Baby and mom are doing great! I'll post more later...I'm tired!

karlee dance

Friday Night

Friday night we went to the football game so we could watch Karlee do the dance with the dance team. Football games are very exciting. We didn't stay long after Karlee's performance though, all the kids were antsy to leave.

It was a chilly night. Everybody had a winter coat on. The temp was probably around 64, with a breeze. Yes, that's cold for a Texas football game.

This blanket that Bailee has wrapped around herself, she had just finished before the game. It turned out great, especially with it being only a single chain stitch. I thought she would give it as a gift to a special someone that is arriving in a few days. But since this is her first blanket, I don't blame her for using it for herself.

This is Karlee's friend Hayley...they are having a sleepover tonight.

Here she is...they did a great job! I'll post her dance next.

Brian bought skinny jeans!!

Now that I have your attention...no he didn't buy "skinny" jeans. But he did buy jeans that make him look skinny. Really!! For the last 9 months Brian has been exercising and watching what he ate. He has lost 80lbs already!! As he has lost the weight he has been able to find the next size in his closet. So not much cost for clothes. He finally decided that he needed a couple of things, so we ran to the department store before he changed is mind :0). I mentioned that maybe he should try on some jeans. He wasn't to thrilled with that idea, he does not like trying on clothes. WOW!! New jeans really make a difference on how skinny he looks. The kids have recently commented on how great he looks. I think he is finally feeling like all the work is paying off. I know he still wants to lose more, and I have more confidence in him than ever before that he can do this. Stay focused Brian. You look great!!!

update

McKinzie had her doctors appointment today. They monitored the baby for a bit and she also had a sonogram. The tech estimated that the baby weighs 9lbs 5oz. We asked how accurate that was and she said she has been off by half a pound. Ouch!! I hope that he is smaller and not bigger by half a pound. When Kinzie's dr came in, she was surprised by the size of the baby. She then asked me about my babies and confirmed that I had all my babies vaginally, including my 10lbs 9oz baby. I said yes, with a smile, and told her that I had expected McKinzie to have a big baby. Everyone keeps telling McKinzie that she is small...she is not small (sorry Kinz). I guess that's what you get coming from this family. I had big babies, my sisters have big babies, and my SIL's have big babies.

If nothing happens over the weekend, which probably won't, then she will go in on Monday and have a baby. Wahoo!! Finally a date to schedule life around. This past week has been killing me, like it's all about me...I know. But I've never gone over so I really don't know how she feels. I am now in unfamiliar waters with pitocin and a possible epidural. Both of us will be learning as we go.

Hang in there Kinz!! Just a few more days...then the real work begins. :o)

I need everyone out there to know that McKinzie really isn't as big as this picture makes her look. I choose a really bad angle. Sorry Kinz :o( I'll do better next time.

wish us luck

Mason went to the orthodontist again today. This was his third visit in three weeks. Now he is set and won't need to go back until after Thanksgiving. He has an expander. He has a strong under bite that needs to be corrected. He also has headgear that he needs to wear 10-12 hours a day. Yes, that means he puts it on after dinner. He was a pretty good sport about it tonight. I'm sure that will wear off soon...like tomorrow. He let me take a picture of him and didn't care if I put it on the blog. But I didn't feel comfortable about that yet. I want him to see the picture and make sure he's OK for everyone else to see. Mason is very stubborn at times and gets embarrassed easily. I've already warned, almost threatened, the rest of the family not to give him a hard time about the headgear. If he wears it everyday for the 10-12 hours he could be finished in 6-8 months. Or it could take up to 15 months. I really want the quickest and I'm sure Mason does too.

fall

During the summer Brian added this edge to our current flower bed. I never got around to putting flowers in it...so we finally added some color for the fall.

The bonus of living in a place with mild winters...flowers year round!

dance

Karlee decided to try something new this year. She has played volleyball and taken gymnastics. Enjoyed them both. This year she decided to try the dance clinic at the high school. She loved it!! She will preform the pregame show at the football game Friday night. She already told me she wants to do it again next year. Maybe she found her niche.

I already recorded the routine at the clinic. I'll wait and see if I can get a better recording Friday night before I share.

pumpkin patch

These first few pictures were in 2007. The first time just Carson and I went. I've always had fun going to the pumpkin patch, but it's different going with only one child. It's nice to be able to focus on one sometimes.

Today we went with some friends! Carson had fun with J and L. I had fun with my friends too :o).

The boys had lots of fun on the train and the pickup. They kept running back and forth between the two.

Lunch was an adventure. The bees kept wanting our food. J didn't like it at all. Carson was wishing we had brought our "slapper" from home. I think he thought they were more like flies. He wasn't too concerned that they were around. He didn't flinch or panic...until he got stung. It happened so fast, of course he cried. A lady noticed that he got stung and mentioned that she heard that putting a penny on the site is supposed to help. We had nothing else so we tried it. He cried for a little longer then he was ready to play, off to the bounce houses we went. On the way home he said he was all better. When I looked at it at home, I could hardly tell where he was stung. Maybe that penny worked, kind of cool!

We had lots of fun!! Thanks for going with us friends!

D day is today!

Nope not her delivery day...just her due date. :^(

fire ants

One of the annoyances of living in Texas, fire ants. We have had more rain than anyone can enjoy. When it rains and rains even the ants have to make changes. So this is what we get, their home above the ground. At least you know where to avoid when walking across the grass. I know many people that have allergic reactions to fire ant bites, such a bad reaction they carry epi-pens with them.

Although, when you look across the grass and can see half a dozen mounds it might make you feel like they are land mines just waiting until you get close enough to explode. At the same time there is this temptation to go and kick the mound and watch the ants scramble :o).

what a brain

In this school district there is a program called PACE, identified gifted students in grades K-5. Mason does very well in school. He has very good grades. When they wanted to test him for the PACE program last year I was a little surprised. Not that he's not smart enough, the student also needs to think "out of the box". I didn't think Mason did. In 2nd-5th grade it is a pull out class, once a week. He is not self motivated like Karlee was in this program so we do little steps all week in order get his assignment done. There isn't a grade for the class. But the students receive PACE bucks to buy from the store, possibly a better motivator.

Last week in class he learned about the brain and how it works, which he thought was soo cool that the brain stem is connected to the spine. His assignment was to make a model with 5 parts of the brain labeled. This is where Brian steps in. He is more creative...he thinks "out of the box" often.
They had lots of fun making this brain. Even Carson got involved.

Great job Mason!! What a great brain you have!! :0)