celebrate~

ok so i have known for a long time how talented garran is. i know some people hear artist and think "what is he going to do with that" or who knows what else. however i know he is going to do great things and i think he will be an even better professor. today however we got a wonderful surprise. there was an art show at the school garran attends and garran submitted an etching that he had done. we thought that the award ceremony was tonight, however we were wrong. it was last night. very sad about missing it because garran won an award!!!!

he received the Douglas Lindseth Art Award: (the award stated)

This award is given to a current art major who has consistently proven to be an extraordinary student, a person who is hardworking, capable and unusually committed to the serious study and practice of art.

it goes on to state how the award was started and the family that created it. it also came along with a cash prize, which we were both very surprised by!

hopefully this blog doesn't come off the wrong way, but i am so happy for garran. i know that he is super talented and when things like this happen, i just get so excited for him!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS GARRAN! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH =)

a little art & a check up~

so garran found a picture of his dads father and decided to do a linoleum block cut of it. the boys thought this was awesome. since it was garrans spring break he worked on it at home and the boys got to help ink the block. they were super excited and thought it was very cool. cullan even said, " this is grandpas dad". i dont have any pictures of the print, but it came out great. i am excited to get it printed and framed. i think garrans dad will really like it.

-great grandpa gillespie--the boys inking the block-

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briea had her two week checkup today, even though she is three weeks old. she is doing great. here are her stats:

weight: 9lbs 5 oz (75%)

height: 21.5 inches (75-90%)

the bug~

so as of thursday there has been a bug in our house. it started thursday with cullan and has slowly worked through our house. so far the only one not to get it has been briea. thank goodness! hope that today will be a good day. hope eveyone else is nice and healthy. happy saturday!

nice weather~

yesterday was the first day that we had actual nice weather. it was almost 70. can you believe it? 70 and before easter. so we decided to get the kids outside. we took the kids to a local park that has paths and things to go for walks. the kids had a great time running and playing along the way. i forget how fun it is to see your kids running around, having fun and just being outside. everything is an adventure!!cullan found his way through all these trees and climbed to the very top.then we had to stop off to get a stick out of his shoe.kael had a blast playing with all the sticks and leaves along the way. unfortunately kael was throwing leaves and the wind caught them and delivered them right in brieas lap. this is the look he got.(mom does this "look" look familiar?)

we then went down by the lake, which the boys loved. cullan had a blast throwing leaves in the water. he was so happy to be outside.kael was too. can you tell by that big ol kiss daddy is getting!

THEN IT WAS TIME TO GO!!

we were so grateful to have such a pretty day and to be able to spend some much needed time outside.

my girl~

a friend of mine started a photography business. she asked if she could shoot briea for some newborn pictures. i agreed and we met the other day. she posted three and is going to post more later. if you are interested in seeing these few you can check out her sight.

http://www.jenelleshamrellphotography.blogspot.com/

going green today~

HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY!

well today we are totally getting into the st. pattys day fun!!

we started the day off right - green for everyone.

kael started without us this morning. he got out of bed, found a marker, colored himself and came in our room to say "GOOD MORNING" & "HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY".

cullan kept it simple and wanted to wear his green army man underoos. i figure as long as he had some green we were good. he thought it was funny to get chased so that we could pinch him.

briea is in her "kiss me im irish" outfit that grandpa got her just for the day. it is hard not to give this girl some kisses, she is so sweet!

garran is sporting his green pants! he was the second one ready for the day-so you know that means we all got pinches before we could get ready =)

i decided that since garran wore the pants i would cover the shirt part! so here i am my shirt was in the mirror!

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so here is a question i would love an answer to-

does anyone know who sent me these?

they are so pretty, but came with a card that said "for mom and briea" with no name. i would love to say thank you because they are so pretty. so if anyone knows who sent them i would love to know!!!

naughty nude~

remember my ranting about kael not leaving his diaper on. if you look closely you can see why i was not so happy when i discovered him like this tonight. i tried to let you see and still stay modest. argg this little boy can be so frustrating sometimes!

worn out~

after a busy saturday and a busy sunday morning, this is what happened at our house.....

-cullan falls asleep in some new yoga position-

-kael falls asleep on the floor--this little princess fell asleep while daddy was holding her-

after a busy morning at church and introducing briea to everyone we all came home and crashed. garran started snapping pictures of everyone napping. i decided to just post the pictures of the kids. i was so tired i looked like i had been drugged or something LOL. not a cute picture. so here's to lazy sunday afternoon and cute kids that you just love to watch sleep!

busy weekend~

so this weekend was kind of busy for us. we had a lot of fun things going on. friday we spent the day with garran after he got done with work. we just were able to hang out and enjoy being together. saturday garran had to work in the morning but my parents came to visit for the day. they had not had a chance to meet briea yet due to the fact that my mom was in florida visiting her sister. so the boys and briea were excited to see them. it was a non stop day. the boys were on over drive because a-they were excited that people were here to play and have fun with them and b- it was grandma and grandpa. who doesn't love when they come into to town!the boys hanging out watching a fishing show with grandpa!

mom and briea- i dont know what the face is that briea is making but it is kind of funny lookin =)grandma mo-briea-"my lil ham" (kael loves to get in the pictures)

while my parents were here the mail man came. boy oh boy did the boys get excited. my aunt Monica sent a little surprise for everyone in the mail. of course the boys always get excited when Monica's boxes show up. they were yelling "ohhhh presents"!! she is so good about thinking of the kids and sending fun things she thinks they will enjoy.

they boys instantly wanted to wear the shirts that were in the box. cullans said naturally irresistible and keals said moms lil helper. very cute!! (thanks monica-they loved them) also there was a great cd in there. if any of you are ramones fans let me know. it was a hit with my kids and garran=) thanks for all the other goodies-it was fun to get a treat in the mail!

seriously~

i know that everyone jokes about pregnancy brain and what having kids does to your memory and ability to keep things straight sometimes. However I think baby number three has taken the cake for me. I am still wondering how I get out of the shower, brush my teeth, and get almost completely dressed before i realize my hair is still covered in shampoo. was it because i have had a lack of sleep? was it because i was rushing trying to get the kids ready and myself showered before my parents get her to visit (garrans at work)? i dont know but i am seriously wondering how that happens. i think that i need to put a mirror by the door to make sure before i leave the house i am ok to leave the house =)

ps. this is a question i am not really expecting a response to but just am going to throw out there because i am about to pull my hair out- WHY WILL KAEL NOT LEAVE HIS DIAPER ON??? every time he comes around the corner he is naked. it is so frustrating.

pictures with daddy~

i have been trying to get in as many pictures as i can of briea and the boys but i have not had much luck. just to much going on. anyways the other day i decided to enlist garrans help. he is much more cooperative than the boys=)

he is so cute with briea. he just loves her so much. i took a couple of pictures of them together.

this one is my favorite.

i have a few others but instead of posting them on both blogs you can just click HERE.

new little ones are so sweet. i love taking pictures when they are still so bendable and sweet. plus all that baby chub does not hurt either!

remember this~

remember when i blogged about those cute sleep sacks that i had found on another blog. well here it is. my friend jamie is great at knitting and was able to figure out the pattern. she dropped it off the other day and i was so excited. i love it. it is so cute. briea loves it too. it does a great job of keeping her nice and warm, especially on these nasty cold days we have been having. i think it is adorable and am excited to use it. thanks so much jamie for the work you did. it is awesome and i love it!!

here are just a few shots of briea in her sleep sack. i have a ton but i thought just a few would do the job=)

she is so sweet i can hardly stand it.

adjusting~

my boys have really surprised me. i thought we would be dealing with some serious issues with jealousy and things like that, but so far so good. they love little miss briea. they always want to help and give her kisses. they have been great with her. kael always calls her "his baby". i was really surprised that they have both come around. kael loved her instantly but cullan was another story. when they came to the hospital to meet her for the first time kael gave her kisses and looked at her. cullan walked over to my bed and looked at the tray by my bed. we said "cullan do you want to meet your baby sister?" he said "no, mom can i have some of your sprite?".

it is amazing to me how much bigger the boys look and seem to act. they do seem more wild than normal but still they just seem so much older now. funny how having a new baby can do that to you!

big brother kael

big brother cullan

her arrival~

well the morning that i was to be induced everything went pretty normally. we got up early and called the hospital to see if everything was still on to be induced. it was and so we dropped the boys off at a friends and headed to the hospital. i was feeling pretty confident with this being number three but anxious and nervous all at the same time. you never know what can happen and i always try to not think about the bad stuff on the way to the hospital just so i can stay calm.

(one of the few pics you will ever see of me in the hospital-the pics never are very flattering!)

anyways we got to the hospital and i was having contractions on my own every 3-4 minutes and i was at a 4, so they broke my water. i thought that everything was going great. i thought that this little girl would be here by lunch and that this delivery would be my easiest by far.

boy was i wrong. by the time i got to a six i requested my epidural. they doctor came in and did everything that he needed to. it was not my best experience and i thought right off the bat that something might not be right. it felt funny and kind of hurt going in. two things i had not experienced with he boys. so after my epidural was in the doctor decided to turn on the pitocin to try and make my contractions stronger and a little bit closer together.

here is where everything started going all crazy. they were slowly increasing my pitocin but as they would increase my pitocin my blood pressure would drop. the baby was always perfect. she was showing no signs of distress but i was!

so they turned the pitocin off and gave me 3-4 shots of ephidra (i know i butchered how you spell that) to bring everything back to normal. well once they got it in a normal range they turned the pitocin back up. the second time my blood pressure dropped they started to get concerned. at one point it was like 49/? .

by this point it was like 3:30-4:00. i was sad i was still in labor and worried about everything that was going on.

finally my doctor walked in and said that they were turning off my pitocin again to get everything regulated. she said that if they turned the pitocin up again and my blood pressure dropped again i would have to take my epidural out and just go it on my own.

at this point my epidural was pretty non existent anyways. i was feeling my contractions and could feel everything from about waste down. third time was a charm. because my epidural was not really in effect, when they turned it the pitocin up the third time my blood pressure stayed fine and things progressed rather quickly. I went from a 7 to a 10 in about 20-30 minutes. i was feeling a ton of pressure and yelled at garran to get some help NOW!!

the doctor and nurse came in rather quickly and told me i could push whenever i was ready. (funny side note. i had just had that ultrasound on monday saying she was 8lbs 8 oz-however when i started pushing my doctor said "oh meghan i think we have a bigger baby than we planed on." garran and i just looked at each other. in that moment that is not what you want to hear your doctor say)

so a few minutes later briea was here with us and we were glad that everything was done, everyone was healthy, and that all of my problems were gone!

thanks to everyone who came by to visit. it was great to have something to do while i was in the hospital.

if you want to see a few other pictures you can click HERE!

welcome-welcome~

baby girl-g is here!!

i am just going to post a few pictures right now. i will post all our news about the exciting day later. it did not go as planned but everyone is healthy and happy, so in the end it all was OK.

her she is~

briea-jossi maureen -march 4th @6:13pm.

9 lbs 3 1/2 ounces! (8lbs 80z, we thought that might be off!)

21 1/4 inches long

we are convinced that most of that 9lbs is in her cheeks =) she is very sweet and a pretty good baby so far. we will see how we all deal with going home. like i said i will post more info later. i thought i would just post a few pictures for family and friends.

daddys little girl - we all knew that would not take long!

flashback~

found these and just had to post them. what a cute chubbers!

cullan used to be so chunky.

getting ready~

trying to take care of my to do list:

• getting my ipod ready-i need music to get through this=)
• double checking my hospital bag!
• double checking baby bag-got to have the cute clothes!
• going to store to get some snacks for garran. b/c he will get to snack while i do all the work! LOL
• get camera ready. you know we will be taking some pictures of this sweet new one.
• get paperwork for hospital together.
• figure out sitters for the kiddos~

im sure there is more but im off to do the work. i keep saying a little prayer that we don't get bumped. but if we do oh well, its just another day!

good news~

ok people here it is. the good news and answers we have been waiting for.

so my appointment went pretty good today. they did an ultrasound today.

she is weighing in at 8 lbs 8oz. (ultrasounds can be off by a pound either way)

so keep that in mind!!

so i had dilated a little more, and am still having contractions-just not regularly or regularly long enough to land me a spot at the hospital. so we are on for wednesday morning. they wanted to due it thursday but thursday was booked so they bumped me to wednesday. my doctor said that if one of the women scheduled for thursday goes into labor on her own, then i will get bumped to thursday because that is technically her day. but if that happens she will call by tuesday night and let us know. so as of right now we are planning on meeting this little one on wednesday.

now we are just doing little things around the house to finish up and get things in order and figure out scheduling for the kiddos.

woo hoo for wednesday!

(or maybe thursday =)

ice cream sunday~

what fun would it be without a little ice cream on sunday?

single digits~

ok so if you look to the righ,t do you know what you can see?

my baby ticker that says that i am finally in the single digits starting today!!!

tomorrow we have a doctors appointment.

they are supposed to be checking her size and giving us a date to be induced.

the deal was that if i had not had her by this weekend we would set something up on monday at my appointment.

WOO HOO! THE END IS IN SIGHT.

the only thing better would be if i just went into labor or my water broke tonight.

keep your fingers crossed! hopefully we will be posting good news and cute pictures soon.