What we've been up to...

If you look real hard you'll see a missing tooth on Lillers. Another post on that grand event very soon.
Having too much fun dying eggs
The Easter Bunny brought yummy stuff...
Lily wanted to read to Harrison. She demanded he sit on her lap.

New pictures!!

5 weeks old. My kids don't listen to me...they keep on growing even though I constantly ask them to stop.



A daddy to 3 cuties...plus one gigantic stuffed bear that has taken over favorite stuffed animal status for now.

First giggles

Henry has been smiling (real smiles!) since he was 4 weeks old. He starting cooing a few days later. He's a genius I tell ya. :)

It's hard to capture the smiles because they seem to immediately disappear once the camera is on. But I did capture what I consider a giggle. At 5 weeks old. Baby genius, I swear.

Bean song

Ever since I was pregnant we've told the kids that babies like to be sung to. We meant lullabies and not the bean song.

Family pictures

Me and my boys...



First official momma photo shoot...



My beautiful babies...

Happy Belated Saint Patrick's Day

All of my kids have now worn Great Grandma's St. Patrick's Day bib.

No green beer in this house BUT green milk, OF COURSE!!!

Baby Henry

Can't type much, I'm using one hand right now. Breastfeeding multi tasker I am. Baby Henry is doing great. He's such a good baby. He's extremely cuddly and it's hard to take your eyes off him because he's a gorgeous little baby. When he's awake his eyes are so beautiful. His siblings continue to dote over him. He fits into our lives perfectly.




This one was taken today...Happy 2 weeks old!!

It's a...

BOY!!!!

Henry Gale was born today, February 22, 2011. He entered the world at 12:05PM, weighing 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20 inches long. He made the entire pregnancy a good one for me and also made the delivery a wonderful experience as well.

My mom brought Lily and Harrison to the hospital after school. Once they came in the hospital room and we told them the baby was a boy Harrison proudly exclaimed that he always wanted a boy. He kept repeating that over and over with a big grin on his face. Lily fell in love the minute she set eyes on him. She also had a huge smile on her face and after checking him out she started taking lots of photographs of Henry.

Today is our due date!

I thought it was fitting to blog on our due date. I don't have any announcement to make since the baby ISN'T making his/her appearance today. I did get pretty excited last night that this kid might actually fall into the ~2% of babies born on their due dates. My mom arrived yesterday so Randy and I took advantage of a date night and saw a movie. Throughout the movie I had stronger braxton hicks contractions than I'm used to (and I've been having them for months). This made me excited but they ended up fizzling out in the middle of the night. And nothing happening since. So we wait...

I am very excited to meet this little one. To find out if this baby is a boy or girl. To start our life as a family of 5. To see Lily nurture her new brother or sister. To see Harrison react if he really does get the brother he's convinced he's getting. To see Randy hold his newborn again. I remember the huge smile, I mean huge smile, on his face when he held Lily for the first time. Thankfully I have a picture of it because I always want to treasure it.

I'm very excited for our near future to unfold. But for now, I'm still very grateful for everything I have right this minute. I have 2 precious kids that I just tucked into bed and a little baby cuddled inside me. I'm sitting across from my husband, whom I love with all my heart. We're all inside a warm house while it's chilly and rainy outside.

I'm very thankful.

Baby #3

Sneak peek at baby!

The Nutcracker, Year 2

This is the 2nd year Lily and I have attended The Nutcracker Ballet at the Englert Theater. Last year my mom and niece, Kelsey, joined us. This year, Harrison joined us. Too bad the sword fight between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King didn't last the entire 2 hours otherwise he would of had fun. Randy was out of town so Harrison had to come along. :)

It's becoming a fun tradition for Lily and I. I painted her nails to match her new dress from her grandma Kim. Harrison and I also dressed up. She was all smiles throughout the entire ballet. We'll definitely be going again next year.

The Princess Pose

Lily likes to throw out the princess pose for pictures. And makes her dadddy pose like a princess too.

26 weeks!!

This is definetely my 3rd pregnancy because this is the first prego picture I have taken...at 26 weeks. I reassure you lack in photos won't occur once this bambino/bambina enters our lives. Maybe not the millions I took of Lily but plenty, I'm sure.

I'm very, very, very thankful and lucky to have great pregnancies. With Harrison's pregnancy my worst complaint was due to sciatica which really wasn't that big of a deal. This time around my biggest complaint is heartburn, which again isn't much to complain about. It's not easy caring for 2 other kids being pregnant but I knew what I was getting into. I really don't have any crazy cravings either. If someone mentions Thai food I know to order it within a few days or else it will be the only food on my mind. But Thai food is delicious, pregnant or not.

So here is the belly in all it's glory 3 weeks ago...

Goodbye tonsils!

Harrison suffered through 4 strep throat infections in a very short time frame. His main symptoms were grumpiness and difficulty sleeping. After a hard night, we'd look at his throat and shake our heads. His tonsils would get huge and red. Finally, after 4 rounds of this he had his tonsils and adenoids removed. We definitely played up the surgery with talk of all the ice cream he would eat but I think we did that to make ourselves feel better. The first day he did eat 7 popsicles but it wasn't an easy recovery. Now, 2.5 weeks later he is 100% back to normal. And by normal I mean crazy, blue haired rocker...

Coping with the booster seat

How does one cope with their child growing up? The pants that are too short, the shoes that squish the toes...these kinds of examples are difficult to accept but my new issue with growing up is the booster seat. How do moms and dads accept THIS change? To go from a 5 point harness (SUPER SAFE!) to a regular old seat belt????? It made me feel better to see the proud smile on Lily's face today when I picked her up from preschool and she rode in her big girl booster chair (with a NORMAL SEAT BELT) for the first time. She was SOOOOOOOO excited. But I still drove extremely slow because I'd look at her, my little girl, my first born, and she was wearing a NORMAL SEAT BELT. I would keep her in the 5 point harness until she was 65 pounds if I could BUT the stork visit in February means I need to readjust the car situation and make things a little easier. I figure if Lily can buckle herself that will be very helpful. Even though tonight as I was searching for the NORMAL SEAT BUCKLE I was totally squishing my belly trying to find it. But we'll get there.

A mom's letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

My 3 year old son would like a fire gun to shoot the naughty poo-poo.

Good luck with that.

At least my 5 year old daughter has a simple request...a bicycle.

Thanks,
From a mom who doesn't know what a fire gun is.

To Harrison's future wife...

I'm sorry.

If Harrison continues his night and nap waking routine, than I am very sorry. This boy is a grouch. He makes Oscar (the grouch) look happy.

Proof: This morning when he came into our room around 5AM. Apparently upon climbing up into our bed there is a immediate shift in ownership. This boy thinks it's HIS bed. He grouched at me because I moved. He grouched at me because I breathed on him. He grouched at me because my blankets weren't on his feet. Oh wait, they were on his feet and that is completely inappropriate.

Harrison Grouch McGouch.

If we can make it through until 6:30 AM (when we allow him to get up) THE MOOD disappears with a little chocolate milk and a tv show. Until he wakes up from nap...

One of my favs

I'm not sure I can communicate how much I love this but I'm going to try. I LOVE FEELING THE BABY KICKS, MOVEMENTS AND PUNCHES. I LOVE IT. I LOVE IT. I LOVE IT. I feel like it's my little secret that sometimes I share with others but sometimes I'm selfish and keep them all to myself. These little kicks help keep my attention during work meetings, especially during a recent all day training. Apparently my little one likes all day training or maybe she/he decided to rebel and party all day, whatever the reason I loved it.

If others are around, usually Randy and the kids, I'll share and put their hand over my tummy where the kicks/punches are happening. Lily was able to feel the baby kick the other day. I don't think she quite understood what it would feel like but she's more than happy to keep on trying to feel more.

For the past 2 days, the baby has increased the intensity of their kicks and punches. Now it's fairly significant and hard not to stop and notice. I can see them through my shirt (which is completely alien like but I still love it).

Since I'm fairly busy during the day the majority of the kicks will happen at night as I lay down in bed. I don't mind postponing sleep for a little bit while I relish in this fantastic and completely amazing thing happening inside my body. I love it.

Last night

after the kids were tucked in bed and sleeping soundly I started thinking about how fast they grow up. I'm an emotional mess lately so this really hit me hard. I had a good cry and started to climb into my bed alone (Randy is away with buddies on a fishing trip)but decided to crawl into Harrison's bed (he sleeps in a full bed next to Lily's twin bed in her room). As I was clearing the large amount of stuffed animals, extra blankets, books and pillows I woke him up. I asked if I could sleep next to him and he smiled the sweetest smile and nodded his head yes (in a very sleepy manner). Before I laid my head on the pillow he had his arm wrapped over my neck and cuddled right in.

It wasn't the most restful night of sleep but it was a filled with a warm little body that would snuggle up to me every once in a while. Plus, when Lily woke up she was quite happy I slept in their room.

It's this kind of memory I want to hold onto forever. I don't expect to retain it in my memory but in 15-20 years I will be happy I wrote about it.

Random pics from summer and fall 2010

Water balloons and umbrellas. First is a weapon, second is a defensive shield.


Lily's first day of preschool (again). This is her 2nd year at a Montessori Preschool (ages 3-6). Same teacher, same class but now she's the big girl around campus.


Big sister is dropping Harrison off at his daycare. His recent photo ops have been pure goofiness. Lily picked out her outfit all by herself, right down to the Princess Aerial necklace and mismatched princess earrings.


The leaf pile. Lily was DETERMINED to make a leaf pile like last year. The problem was, or so thought by myself and Randy, there wasn't enough leaves YET. This shows the drive in a 4 year old...she worked so hard to gather leaves from all over the yard and she did it. She made herself a big ole leaf pile and thoroughly enjoyed jumping in it. Her brother enjoyed her hard work AND enjoyed playing in the leaf pile as well. (can't find that stinkin' pic of Harrison but it's really cute!)


Lily joined soccer this fall. Harrison joined too but only lasted 15 minutes into the first practice. It didn't help he's under the age limit (I was "assistant coach" so he could play with Lily's team) and it really didn't help there was a park 100 steps away. With a firetruck climbing structure. Lily gave it a try but it wasn't quite her cup of tea. Ballet on the other hand...is. But I just love the pink soccer socks over the cute little shin guards. Call me a sucker.


My cousin Mikey got married in October. Here are some shots from the wedding reception. We had ourselves a mighty fine time.





I had to include this one since I made Lily's dress. I'd feel guilty NOT mentioning I had a decent amount of help from a sewing class so there it is. In addition to my cutie patooties my sweetie pie niece, Kelsey, has joined the goofy clan.


Randy and I never attended the homecoming parade in all the years we attended college here BUT with kids it's mandatory. And fun.