karate

tonight it was my turn to take the boys to their karate class. garran and I switch off so that we can each get some time with the boys and so we can each watch their progress. i decided to take my little camera so that I could get some video of the boys doing there karate. they really enjoy it. they are the youngest in the class, or i guess i should say in the youngest age group. the class spans from age 4-7. i am hoping they will want to do it again in the future. there are things i really like about them taking this class. 

for one, the man that teaches is a police officer, so he asks that the children say "yes sir" when they respond to him. i like that. growing up in the south, i have not problem with my children saying yes sir and yes ma'am. it does not go over so well in the Midwest, so we don't really push it, but i still like it. 

the other thing that i really like is that he teaches the kids things that have to do with karate but that would also help them if a stranger ever tried to take them. the second video is a good example. they are teaching the kids to put their hands in the "crane" position and to hit the dummy in the eyes and yell "NO NO NO" and then run to the back of the line or to run away! the other thing they did tonight was held the kids wrist and showed them how to hit the persons hand in away that would really hurt and to yell "get away from me!". my boys were told they did not hit hard enough, but i think they were a little confused. we have taught them to not hit, especially an adult. so when their instructor said hit me (or his hands) the boys kept looking over at me like ..... "uh, what do i do ?" finally cullan gave into temptation and really whacked the guys hand. i gave him a thumbs up so that he would know that he was not in trouble. i think he felt better after that ;0)

the card

today when we got home from running some errands, kael had a birthday card from Aunt Britt and Uncle Dennis. It was so cute. He has already memorized the little song it sings and he will not let Cullan or Briea hold it. i figure it is his birthday card, so he should not have to share all the time, right?? Anyways, this video does not show him kissing the card or saying how sweet it was of them to send it. he did want to make a video of him saying thank you to them for sending it to him.

sassy

ok, so this might be kind of mean, but i think it is so funny. if you follow our blog, you know the boys are just enamored with the little girl next door.... Joanna! However, she is so sassy. I am always surprised that the boys want to play with her so much. She is not mean to them, but she definitely knows what she wants them to do and voices her opinion on the matter. today i was sitting at the computer while they were playing on the back patio. I could not help my self. Joanna wanted to trace Kael with chalk, however Kael would not lay just right. So i shot this little video. It just cracks me up. Kael is a little bit more stubborn and will not give in as readily as Cullan, but he still tries to make her happy. Garran likes to tease me and say they are already hanging out with girls like their mom. He likes to say that I know how I want things to be done!! We always get a good laugh. ;0)

old projects

ok. so this chair was my moms when she was little. then it was passed down to me. now, when B gets older it will be hers. however it needed a little work. so garran has decided it will be a little extra thing he will work on. he took it into the studio and ran it through the sand blaster to take off any extra stuff and this is what it looked like.

 then he did the first coat of paint. however there were some drips and small imperfections and so he sanded parts of the chair down again and is going to do another layer of paint.

after this we have plans to do some painting on it and adding of all of our initials. i am excited to see it when it is all done. i will post pictures later of the finished project. right now it is still waiting on the second coat of paint!

memories

this is a flash back for me. she feel asleep like this yesterday. it reminded me of when she was just a little one and used to sleep like this all the time.

little ninja

the other day we were trying on different Halloween costumes. this one was to small for the boys but it worked out just fine for Briea. she wore it most of the day. she was so cute walking around in her little ninja costume!!

the library

today we took the kids to the library. we really needed to get out of the house. the kids have been really patient with me being sick and having to just hang out at the house. so today we tried to have some fun. our library has a huge toy collection as well as book selection for kids. the kids always get so excited when they get to play with all the toys. it is a nice place to take them for a change of pace.

 Cullan playing with the Woody doll.

 Cullan taking a very important call.

 Daddy reading a story.

 They have a huge baby doll collection which makes Briea super happy! she took all the dolls out and was carrying them around, squealing all the way.

of course puzzles are a must too!! 

i was so happy that the kids got to get out today and have some fun!

the boat

the other day it rained...a lot..so the kids got creative. they brought down this toy box from upstairs and said they were going to sail away in their boat. i was impressed that all three squeezed in there. i did not get a picture of it, however i thought this one was pretty cute. my three wild sailors!!

September 21st

today marks a big day for me. it starts a big count down, that actually starts to make things seem very real. since we know we are having this babe on October 21st, we have hit the one month mark!!! I can not believe it. this pregnancy has been especially long with all of different things we have gone through. especially this last little bout with the flu. i have to say, i am still not 100% so I am ready to kind of get this last month over with. anyways, i am excited that we are so close and that we will soon get to see what this little one will be!!

our family

cullan asked garran to draw a picture of our family tonight. he handed him a clipboard with a piece of paper and a crayon. this is what garran did in a few minutes. i just thought it was cute and wanted to remember it!!

Briea's Popcorn

lately "popcorn popping" is briea's favorite tune. so i finally got some video of her and garran singing it today. they are so cute together.
i love how B turns around and prompts garran to sing along! she is all business.

birthday wishes

I know this picture is old, but it was one of the only ones I could find.

I know we are a day late, but with everything going on, I just did not get it up here yesterday. We hope that Garrans mom had a great birthday! 

Happy Birthday Grandma G!!

hospital

well right now I am blogging from the hospital instead of napping like i probably should be doing. i have watched about all the movies and tv i can, and am still bored. it is amazing how sometimes i wish that i could have just a few minutes alone and then when i do...well i miss my family so much. all i can think about is getting back to be with them. so here is what happened. friday night around 8:00pm I started feeling not so hot. by 9 i was throwing up, and proceeded to do so for the rest of the night. when i say I was up all night getting sick, I literally mean I did not go to sleep. I was just up all night, getting sick. by 6 i could not do it anymore and i had garran call my ob. they wanted me to come in right away. so i did. when i got there i was so weak and dehydrated that they sent me straight to the hospital. i started out on the ob floor in a triage room and by dinner time was in an isolation room in the icu. you know the flu is not something they want spreading around the hospital. so here i sit in a very quiet icu room hoping that i will be able to go home today. today is actually the first day that i have re motley felt better, so that is a good sign. after about 12 bags of iv fluids i am starting to get re hydrated and everything is just fine with the baby. this little one is as active as ever. so for now i will probably try and rest some more until the doctor comes in to check on me. I am not good at waiting...so I am trying to be patient. plus it is hard to hear the kids ask when i am coming home on the phone. they can be so sweet sometimes.

i forgot

garrans parents had come to visit a few weekends ago and we had taken the kids to the park. after that weekend things seemed to get crazy busy here and for some reason i completely forgot about posting these pictures. so i thought i would add them, since i found them tonight while going through my photos on our computer. 

 briea had fallen asleep while driving. this was when she woke up and realized we were at the park. she was so excited.

 i love love love this picture of Kael. He can be so stinking cute sometimes.

 Cullan really wanted to play and did not want his picture taken. this was the best i could get.

 here is B and grandma G on the slide. B is fearless of course. she loved the slides and went down multiple times.

 i love this picture too. i love how blond her hair looks in the sun. she had stopped herself with those crocs and just happen to sit there long enough for me to snap a picture of her.

grandpa G was on swing duty for a while. he pushed Cullan, Kael and Briea for a long while. B almost fell back asleep in the chair swing. she really liked just sitting and swinging. it was a wonderful day and the weather was perfect!

ok...here is one more

34 1/2 weeks - 6lbs

well today i went for yet another ultrasound. this time it was local and the beginning of my weekly ultrasounds. anyways, the good news that came from this one is that there is no cleft palate!! woo hoo! they said as far as they could tell everything looked good. one other cool thing that i got to see was the baby practicing breathing. i had never got to see that before. we only have 5 more weeks! it is starting to fly by as i am starting to stock up on diapers and wash baby clothes and all that fun stuff.

results

well we got the results from her blood panel. they made us a little nervous because they said that they wanted  to have us come in. they said they did not want to tell us over the phone. of course when you hear that, the worst rolls through your head. the test they did scanned for all sorts of things. so it was a nervous few hours. anyways, i went in and spoke with our pediatrician. she informed me that the reason she wanted us to come in was due to the severity of the results.

briea's blood scan came back mostly normal for almost all the allergens. however due to the amount of insects and things like that, they were not able to pin point exactly what she was allergic to. however through the screening they could tell that she does have a severe allergy. there is something (which could just be mosquito's or multiple types of insects) which is causing her to have such horrible reactions. our pediatrician said that the reactions are probably going to get more severe over time. when she explained the results, she said that when they are looking at this allergy test, they like to see peoples numbers between 90-100. Briea's came back in the 690's. Ya its severe!! so now we have a whole new battle ahead of us of trying to figure out what it is she is allergic to and trying to keep her away from it. hmm. i wonder how stylish mosquito net clothing will be?? I have a feeling this is going to be a real challenge for me. i feel so bad for my sweet little girl.

now we have to make sure that we constantly have our epi pen on us at all times, as well as benedryl and hydrocortozone cream. we have to be prepared at all times, and when she heads to school, we will have to make sure they are prepared as well. 

it would be nice if we knew for sure what it was that she was allergic to, but for now we know mosquito's and the rest is just a guessing game. i am dreading her first bee sting. i really hope she does not have an allergy to that.

kael

for all the naughtiness that goes on in this house, how could i not love this kid. look at that smile. it is a melt your heart kind of smile.

moment

even though this was not her happiest moment today, i had to post this picture because i love her messy ponytail. i know that is silly, but she looks like such a big girl with it. she is getting so big. ;0(

this girl

this girl loves marshmallows! 

i have to hide them or she will climb on the counter to get to them.

trooper

well today we went to go get B's blood panel done so that we will know exactly what she is allergic too. i did not want to go in with her. i hate seeing her get poked so garran was free and nice enough to take her in. i waited in the car with the boys, kael especially, who had decided to throw up in the van on the way there! so we waited. garran brought her out and she had teary eyes, but she was all smiles. they had given her a ring and a baby doll. garran said it went pretty quickly and that she was super excited when she saw the toys and that she got to pick some! her she is while we were waiting in the parking lot to leave. she is such a trooper. i am really hoping these tests can give us some exact answers, so that we will know exactly what it is that causes all these problems. we are thinking there is something besides mosquito's causing the problems. so time will tell. hopefully no more than a week!

cuteness in the morning!

that is it...just some cuteness in the morning.

on the way home

on the way home from church today we saw off in the distance all of these kites flying. so we decided to do some investigating and drive by. our town has an annual kite festival. so garran and i thought it would be fun to snap a few pictures real quick on our way home. I wish it would have been at a different time. I am sure the kids would have loved to get out and run and see all the kites. However they liked what they saw from the car. 

this was what we could see from the road.

these were so cool. the kids really liked the octopus and penguin.

so we got a close up of them.

it was a beautiful day. nice and windy.

Kael was most excited about NEMO.

Cullans favorite was the penguin.

I liked all of them. Garran really thought the salamander was cool!

early morning guests

in the morning here, nice and early, we usually have some guests that like to waddle across our backyard. they also come out around sunset as well. they kids get so excited and love to feed them bread, while standing on our back patio. 

please excuse the PJ's, this was an early morning visit.

Cullan feeding the ducks

Kael checking things out. He had literally just woke up.

Briea trying very hard to convince the ducks she is one of them.

 she is so cute to watch. she does everything she can to try and catch a duck. those little fellas just won't give in.

lil dragons

tonight was the first night of the boys new karate class. it is called "lil dragons". i was a little nervous at first. i did not know what to expect and i did not know if it would just send the boys into a wild spin of energy at night after it was over. i have to admit, i envisioned everything in our house karate chopped in half!

here they are warming up

they are practicing their ABC punches

lining up to do some animal drills.

here they are doing the crane!

cullan

then each person had to come up, say their name, bow to the bag, and do five punches. the boys loved this. they thought it was so much fun.

kael

i think this was a great idea. i don't know why i doubted garran. he was right as normal. the boys can hardly wait till next class. i think this is going to be a lot of fun for them.

yet another one...

today i went to have yet another ultrasound. they are becoming a VERY regular thing. for most people that would be great fun, however i have to drive an hour just to get to the place, so you can see how it gets a little old. especially when you have super stubborn baby like mine. this baby absolutely will NOT cooperate with any of the techs or doctors that try to sneak a peak. we still have no idea about the cleft palate thing because the baby refuses to let us see its face! i have no idea where this child gets its stubbornness from (if you could see me, you would know i was motioning towards garran and he would probably be motioning towards me!) I guess we will just have to wait like people have done for years and years!! right now our little bundle of joy is weighing in at 5lbs 1 ounce. Not huge but about a pound ahead of schedule. we will see what happens. hopefully the next 6 weeks go by quickly. i am starting to feel tired all the time and i am so ready to meet this little cutie that i can hardly wait!

Cullan

oh the things this child says...

cullan speaking about a little girl in our neighborhood... "she is the meanest little girl in the whole world! i am pretty sure she was made from aliens."

we had some friends suprise us with a visit. when they got here cullan says to the mom of the group. "HI!!!...wait did you bring your kids??"

as we are walking into subway..."Mom, I am pretty sure there is something delicious in here!"

18 months

today we had to go to get B's 18 month check up taken care of. we are a month late, but it all worked out great. once again, i just have to say that we Love Love LOVE our pediatrician. i can not say enough nice things about her and her partner. they are both so great with the kids and i really enjoy taking the kids there.

So we did all the usual checking and usual shots ;0(. Briea was a trooper. she only cried for a minute and then proceeded to fall asleep in the car. While we were there we did discuss her allergy issues which made me happy. Our pediatrician is going to do a panel on her to see exactly what she is allergic to and how severe it is. She also wrote us a prescription for an epi pen. She said she would feel better if we had one with us. Often times the more they are exposed to something they are allergic too, the worse the reaction gets. So i feel better having it to.

all in all it was a good appointment! her are her stats for our records.

weight: 32.8 lbs

height: 31 1/2 inches 50%

head: 48 1/2 90-95%

sweetness: 100%

but that is obvious!!
ps. kael informed me at the doctors office that garran was going to be mad at me for letting the nurse give Briea shots! (so cute that he is so protective)

the big day

down the aisle with dad....

 and back up again a married woman!!

we are sad that we missed the big day but at least we get to see some pictures of the happy event!!

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Danilson!!

sara

tomorrow is my sister's wedding. i am hoping it goes well. we will not be able to be there due to some issues with the baby. i am sad that we will miss her big day. i am hoping it goes well and that they have a great day together with family and friends. we will be thinking of them and wishing them the best!

happy moments

i know it might seem silly but i love moments like this. everyone is happy, and together!

(it also doesn't hurt that they are calm ;0)