up close

look at my poor B. i hate that she reacts so badly to bug bites. I think she is beautiful no matter what, but I hate to see her poor face with all those bites and know they are painful and that they itch. bug repellent seems useless. it is so frustrating!!

rough and tumble!

Kael and Briea are my two wrestle monsters. they are always tackling each other and growling pretending to be dinosaurs. it is very funny. so on an average day this is what i see.

 the beginnings of a stand off...

 the attack is on....

 i just posted this because it is cute.

 this is common..the head to head  hold. who will give first?

 in the end they still love each other...and that is all that is important..right?

look at that love! could i ask for more. even after all the rough housing and fighting they still want to be close to each other !

(i love Briea's grip on Cullan's neck)

sayings

I used to have these down at the bottom of my blog. However when I went to turn my blog into a book, they were not included for some reason. So i am just going to start adding them in as random posts so that they will make it in the book. 

• so today at Walmart, we were pretty close to being done shopping. My hips were really starting to hurt, just due to pregnancy, so I was walking a little differently. However, my wonderful son Kael, practically yells at me, "Mom, why are you shaking your booty when you walk?" Ya that got a few looks!!
• I was watching a show where a lady had Quads. My son Kael said, "Mom, 4 babies would make you crazy!!" Oh the wisdom of a three year old ;0)
• Cullan (after watching napolean dynamite) "mom, do i have any sweet skills?"
• Tonight Cullan walked up to me and said "Mom, you are the most beautiful mom in the world" I resoponded, "Thanks Cullan". He then said without missing a beat.." Your Welcome....Can I get some juice?
• A few days ago, Cullan was laying on the bed next to Garran. I was sitting on the edge and Cullan says very seriously, "Mom, Dad, We need to talk." We both looked at each other, kind of giggled at how serious he was and continued. Then he just said that he wanted a certain Thomas the tank Engine toy!
• For some reason Kael calls my friend Krista "Modar" like mother but with a very hard d and an r on the end. Why he calls her this, I have no clue. But it cracks me up.
• I love the fact that Kael refers to every girl (child that is) as girl. He will say "Hey Girl". My favorite is his little friend Carley because he refers to her as "MY Girl"!!
• Yesterday Cullan said to me, "Mom why does God love you?". I said, "Maybe because I am so cool!". Then he smiles at me and says "Oh yeah BABY!!"
• The other night Kael had one of those candy necklaces. He was pulling it to the point of breaking. I was just about to tell him not to do that, when it snapped and candy flew all over the sofa and floor. I was just about to let out an exhausted sigh and explain how i wish he would not do things like that, when he looked at me and with big eyes simply said "YIKES!!" I just started laughing.
• Cullan wanted to put on a new pair of underware and I asked him why. His response "because this one has crispy and beef in it" Yeah that is so gross!
• Today i was driving home from church with Cullan. I asked him what he learned about in Primary. He said Jesus. Then we started talking about Jesus. I said "do you know one of the reasons mommy loves Jesus?" Cullan said why. I said "because he made it possible for us to be together forever, aren't you glad you can be with your family forever?" cullan responds..."Well I would like to be wtih Thomas (the train) forever!". Guess I know where I stack up!
• I was driving Kael to mom school the other day. He wanted me to turn right which was the way were were going anyway. When I did he said.."Good Job Mom! You are so Smart!"
• Garran is changing Briea's diaper- Kael walks over, looks down. "No Neenie, It's a Girl!!"
• Kael- "it's my birf-day. i get my chocolate, my sprinkles, my candles!! YEAH!!"
• When Cullan thinks that I am upset he says, "mom i will sing you a happy song. her is mom's happy song! Twinkle Twinkle little star!" So cute.
• Kael calls taking a bath - waterfall and a shower - rain. Random but so cute!

fhe book

 so recently i have been trying very hard to work on cutting down the clutter. i have all these great things, but they are just shoved here and there. it drives me nuts. anyways today i made some small progress. i used to go to fhe swap all the time when i lived in Waterloo. so i have all these fun lessons and games. however i had them shoved in folders like this.

they were just shoved on a book shelf and they were getting all bent up and honestly forgotten about sometimes. when it is work to just dig them out, sometimes i just do something different!

so today i got motivated. i had an idea. i decided to take all of these lessons out of the folders and put them in clear sleeves and put those in a binder. WONDERFUL!! so much easier to flip through, pick a lesson and just pull it out. I LOVE IT!! plus it looks nicer on my bookshelf, which is always important! ;0)

 

grumps

they were practicing their grumpy faces.

heart breaker

yep, he thinks he is pretty cool!

pickles

this little miss LOVES pickles!!

simple things

sometimes its the simple things that make us smile. garran brought this to me after chopping up a pepper. it did make me smile!!

baby update!

well i had another dr.'s appointment today. the baby's heartbeat sounded good. it was in the 150's. my doctor wants me to keep a close eye on fetal movements. especially with the whole GD thing. so I am going to start charting it, or at least keeping a close eye on it. I am sure there are charts online I could download or something. anyways, i also am going to have to start driving about an hour away every few weeks to have ultrasounds and some monitoring done each week. my doctor is very concerned about the babies size since my 3 previous babies were all 9 + pounds without gestational diabetes. so even being monitored she is thinking this babe might be a chunky monkey. They also want to do some checking into the whole cleft palate thing. So my first round of test should be in two or three weeks and then it will be on a more regular basis from then till delivery. I am just ready to have this baby and know that everyone is happy and healthy!!

climbing trees!

the boys have become pretty good at climbing trees. this tree is probably about 30 feet. Do you see those two little dots in the tree. The highest one up is Kael in the Red, next is Cullan in the blue. The little girl next to the tree is Joanna. (the beloved) Both boys claim she is their girlfriend and squeal with delight when they see her outside and run to go play with her.

I am always surprised at how fearless they are. I guess it surprises me because I have real issues with heights so apparently they did not get that from me!

Kael got up a little to high and requested Daddy's help. Although Garran said that he did not really help him down. He said he just climbed about half way and told him he could do it!

What a good daddy!!

my new hero!

ok so that might be an exageration or maybe not. my sis  in law introducded me to this website and it is AMAZING!! I am so excited to start some of her projects. you should check it out and let me know what you think!!

www.preparednotscared.blogspot.com

the look

briea has developed some sass! she does this look where she tilts her head down and glares at you from under her bangs. this is not the best example, however whenever she sees my camera, if she is doing "the look" she instantly stops and says "cheesers". even though this isn't the best example, it is so dang cute.

10 weeks!

that is all that is left. since we are having a c-section we know for sure the date. (unless something would happen to move it up) so as for now, the countdown is on!!! woo hoo. 10 weeks! in a way i can not believe it and in another it has gone so fast. i have to admit that with everything going on with this pregnancy, I am a little anxious to get to the end of it. plus you get to see a sweet new baby!!

so today it starts...10 weeks and counting!

Yum Cake!

don't these pictures just show how we all feel about chocolate cake! 

YUM!

my little dare devils!

It has been a long summer with not a lot to do. But the boys always find something. This little sidewalk is on a bit of a hill. So the boys park the little firetruck at the top and pick their feet up and down they go. I sit at the window and watch them flip over the top when it hits the grass. I always hold my breath a bit, but they just laugh!! They think its hilarious. I don't know if i was meant to be the mother of boys. The are to RISKY for me. I was not much of a daredevil as a kid. But the boys like to live on the edge sometimes.

leaning tower of cans

Kael decided to stack some of the cans that we had on the table that needed to be put away. He was so proud of himself. He was so excited at how high they had gotten and that they were leaning. So i took a picture!

jealousy

isn't it funny what kids get upset about sometimes. lately we have had to give out a lot of meds at our house. we have been giving B benedryl and steroids to get her swelling under control and cullan benedryl. he has the same thing as B, but in a much milder form.

Anyways, one night i was giving the kids their meds before going to bed and Kael got so upset. he kept saying that he needed benedryl. i explained that he should be thankful that he did not need it. That he should be happy that he is not all swollen. However when it seems like everyone else is getting something i guess you want it too. So finally he came up to me and said "Mom, i really need some benedryl so that my nose will shrink!!" well he did not win the argument but he was pretty sure that his nose was swollen. kids can be so funny sometimes.

the intimidator!

Ok so I wanted to document this shirt. i think it is hilarious. Garran found this shirt at a garage sale one day when he came with me. he thought it was so funny that for .50 why not. every time that he wears it, he gets some kind of comment. i told him that it is because he looks so intimidating. ;0)

Intimidating right?!?!

well if your not convinced. this is what the back of the shirt says!

some of the looks he gets cracks me up. today we had to go to wal mart to get diapers and this Hispanic lady stopped us and asked garran why he could not be arrested!

it was very funny. for the most part he is honest, but every once in a while he comes up with something funny to say.

answers!!

well after feeling like I might be going insane. we finally talked to our AMAZING pediatrician today. i don't just think she is amazing because she agreed with me, but because I felt like she actually took the time to listen to me and to really look at Briea. I was so relieved when we left her office. I just felt like we were on the right path and finally had a plan of attack. So final diagnosis for  the hives and crazy swelling.....SKEETER SYNDROME!

wondering what it is..so did i, here is the explanation.

More severe reactions -- rather than the typical itchy red bump experienced by most people as a result of a mosquito bite -- occur less commonly. These may result in blistering rashes, bruises, or large areas of swelling at the bite sites. People who experience extremely large areas of swelling after a mosquito bite (such as swelling of most of an arm or leg, for example) have been dubbed as having "Skeeter Syndrome."

In rare situations, some people may experience anaphylaxis after being bitten by mosquitoes. Other people may have experienced whole body urticaria and angioedema (hives and swelling), or worsening of asthma symptoms after being bitten. Typically, these symptoms occur within minutes after a mosquito bite, compared to Skeeter Syndrome, which may take hours to days to occur.

So now we know. We have to watch her carefully and re-evaluate if she might need an epi pen down the road. But for now we have a plan of attack. 

On a side note, can I just say that I am somewhat grateful that we are heading towards the end of summer. Having a child with a severe allergy to mosquito bites is not fun when it feels like you live in the capital of mosquito-ville!!

sara's shower

So this weekend we traveled to Des Moines to celebrate with my sister and her fiance. They were having their wedding shower. We were glad we were able to be there for it since there is a good chance we will not be able to attend the wedding. Just to close to baby # 4. Anyways, here are some pics from the party.

 they are big Iowa state fans. hence the red and yellow cake.

 Jeremy's aunt Terri was the host. She has a fun game for them to play. They lined up a bunch of guys and Sara had to feel their calf muscles and try to guess which one was Jeremy!

 She did a pretty good job. She guessed right. I thought it was a pretty hard game.

 then it was Jeremy's turn.

 Jeremy's brothers  helped him in the room.

 Jeremy did pretty well. He narrowed it down to number 2 or 6. Sara was 2 and he picked 6. I don't blame him. I don't know that I could pick Garran out. ;0)

 Like I said, they are huge Iowa State fans, so that was the theme of some of their gifts.

 Jeremy and his nieces!

The Happy Couple!

September 4th will be here before we know it. We hope that day goes wonderfully. We are sad that we might not be there, but I am sure it will be a great day for them!