The Sweetest Baby

Haylee is the absolutely sweetest baby. She loves to cuddle and snuggle into your chest. If I let her, she would sleep all night long with me in my bed. She is such a champ and eats every 4 hours basically since birth and gives me 6 to 8 hours stretches of sleep at night. She struggled with her naps at first because she wanted to sleep in my arms. But I finally gave in and let her sleep in her swing for naps only. Best decision ever.

 Ryan worked from home the first few days after Haylee was born. It was such a blessing to have an extra set of hands, even if it was only 2 days. Thankfully there was a weekend in there so it gave me time to get back on my feet. Even though he did make me go get my own prescription the night I came home from the hospital. I loved the look the pharmacist gave me when he realized the pain meds were for me. He will never know how much his kind words meant to me.

The kids just love her and so do Ryan and me. I tell Ryan that Haylee is my favorite. I say I am only kidding, but really I am not. She doesn't talk back, whine or yell, and loves me even if I am in a bad mood. Love this girl to pieces!

Haylee Lori is Here!

Haylee Lori was born on August 27th at 8:00 PM. She weighed 8lb 2 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. She was absolutely perfect with a head full of dark brown hair. The first thing out of my mouth was "Does she have red hair???"

 That morning I woke up, but didn't have the best sleep because I was having contractions all night long. They started to get stronger by 6 AM so I told Ryan he needed to work from home. He works an hr away now so that was the agreement, if my contractions are strong in the morning, he stays home. Problem was I had been having false labor for the past week. Yes, no fun for me, so I wasn't sure if this was the real thing. Well, by 9 AM my contractions were still going consistently so I decided to start getting ready and walk around my house. By 11 AM, I still wasn't sure if it was the real deal but was starting to get some strong ones. It was the weirdest contractions. Some were hard and every few were strong. So I decided to call my doctor at 11:30 and he told me to head to the hospital. Thankfully I stopped and got In and Out and hour before we headed to the hospital. Little did I know, this baby girl wanted to take her sweet jolly time. So I check in and I am at a 4 and they admit me. I was stupid and let some nurse student try and put my IV's in. The admitting nurse said my veins looked fine, but I know from past experience that some nurses have a hard time. Oh ya, the student nurse pricked me 3 times and her supervisor 2 time and I still didn't have my main IV in. Lovely! My L&D nurse told me to never let anyone but a professional put IV's in because I have the worst veins. Once I got all situated with my epideral, it was just wait and wait. We were trying to get baby girl to come before my nurse had to leave but no such luck. Usually, if I get just a little of petocin, I am ready to push within the hour. Not this time. So after a nurse change, Haylee finally made her appearance.

 Ryan stayed with me till midnight and then headed home to be with the kids. I had an awesome night nurse, who probably felt sorry for me being at the hospital by myself, who took care of every need I had. I ended up staying an extra day because I knew the 2nd night would be the hardest and I didn't want my other kids bothering me or Haylee bothering them.

 

The kids were so excited to come visit their baby sister. Kylee wanted to be her second mom and the boys just wanted to get into things. They were so happy when she finally was able to come home. I was ready to be home too.

Bryce's Surgery

 

Bryce was the lucky one to get ear tubes way back in August. I was so blessed that I didn't go into labor. The baby was thinking about coming and gave us all a scare the night before. But of course, it was my first dose of false labor. So Ryan took Bryce in for his surgery. They ended up taking out his adenoids too because they were really infected. We were hoping he would take out his tonsils too, just to be done with it, but the doctor wanted to wait till Bryce is 8 to even consider it. Taking out the adenoids has helped tremendously. Bryce hasn't had a sinus infection since!

1st Day of School

Wow, I can't believe summer is over and school has already begun. Drew is so excited to be in 1st grade this year. He has a great teacher that we are hoping helps him become an even better student this year. Reading is not his favorite thing right now.

Kylee started preschool a few days after the boys, and boy was she so excited. She has been waiting all summer for this day. She chose last year to go to a different preschool and goes 2 days a week for 2 hours. Her preschool is with a lady and her daughter in our stake. We are hoping to sign her up for some dance classes on one of her off days.

Bryce started preschool over at Playa in the GPS preschool program. We love the preschool teacher there, and so grateful he was able to go there. We can't wait for his speech to improve in leaps and bounds this year. He goes to school Monday thru Thursday for 2 1/2 hours a day. He looks forward to riding the bus everyday.

Bryce Turns 3!

On August 4th, Bryce turned 3. He doesn't quite understand what the meaning of a birthday, but he was quite excited to blow out candles and open presents. Bryce has made lots of improvements this year. His speech is coming a long and just starting to use more phrases, rather than singles words. He can count to 10 now with a stumble usually on 7, and he know most of his basic shapes. His colors are a hit and miss, but I am sure he will have those down by the end of the year. He graduated from his speech therapist and is now in the preschool program at our neighborhood school. He looks forward to riding the bus each day. Bryce still loves trains but getting more into trucks, motorcycles, and airplanes. Of course he is my early riser, 6 AM lately, but I make him sit on the couch and find something to play with while the rest of the house sleeps. I love listening to him sing or make noises for his trucks. Bryce has definitely been our most challenging child, but we are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

Stats:

33.6 lbs (70%)

39 1/4 in (88%)

July 2013

For the 4th of July, we went to the DeCampos house to celebrate. We had a BBQ and swam. Afterwards, we went and saw fireworks at our favorite spot in south Gilbert. Our kids just aren't into fireworks. We might not go again until they can sit and be quiet during the whole thing. It doesn't help that it is hot. The middle of July we said goodbye to the Hansen family. They went back to North Carolina. We had so much fun hanging out with them this summer.

We went to the cabin up in Forest Lakes the end of June. The kids had so much fun and had been begging us all month to go again so we went once more the end of July. The kids loved going on rides with Dad and drawing/writing in the notebooks I got them for entertainment. June was pretty hot but July was absolutely gorgeous. We are so lucky to have family that has a cabin that we can go and get away from the heat and hustle and bustle of life.

And then to end summer, the kids had their last class of Creepy Crawler. Their teacher had a guy come in with all kinds of reptiles. They loved seeing the snakes, lizards, and other reptiles. This is Bryce petting the huge snake that weighed 160 lbs and took the length of 2 big tables. We were so sad to end this class, but so happy to start school the next week!

June 2013

The summer started off with a bang with swim lessons. We decided to do classes through the City of Chandler because I was not impressed with Gilbert. I am so glad we did because both kids had awesome teachers and did great. We are hoping next year Drew can be swimming and Kylee getting close. I didn't take any pictures except for Bryce playing in the kiddie area during lessons. He had fun once he got over his fear of the play area.

 Just after swim lessons, Drew and Kylee started a class called Creepy Crawlers. They absolutely loved going each week and learning about different reptiles and bugs. It lasted all through summer and was a great break for them. Then the Hansen cousins came into town. We hung out with them and the other cousins a lot.

Ryan and I celebrated anniversary #11. We just went out to dinner and saw a movie. Nothing big. Ryan got me these beautiful flowers, and our gift to each other was a new driver side mirror for our van. It broke and I got mad at it one day and cracked it. :) So it needed to be replaced but man, those things are expensive. To justify spending the money, we said it was our anniversary gift.

We also saw Monster's University and Despicable Me 2. My kids got scared during Monsters. Drew had nightmares, but they all loved Despicable Me. Here we are getting ready to see Despicable Me 2.

May 2013

Well, April came and went. We didn't really do much except celebrate Easter. I always like to keep it low-key to help my kids remember the true meaning of Easter. So of course, no pictures. Then May came and hit us. May is always a crazy month. Thank goodness I was finally getting energy and actually doing more than just laying on the couch. Drew had a great kindergarten year and is so excited for 1st grade. Kylee loved going to her first year of preschool and can't wait to continue in August with different teacher.

 Last day of school party

 Drew and Mrs. Vincent

 Kylee went to lunch with me for my birthday. She loves to pose like this.

Kylee's preschool graduation.

It's A.....

GIRL!! As you can tell, Kylee was more than thrilled. Drew has happy too, because in his own words, "Kylee needs a sister because I already have a brother." I love my kids!

March

March was just one of those months we all tried to survive. I just didnt feel good at all and had no energy. I felt so bad for the kids and tried to be fun. We had a play date at the park and met up with some friends for lunch one day. We also we to lunch with the cousins. St. Patrick's Day ended up landing on a Sunday, and it just happened to be my turn to cook dinner. So to be fun, I wanted to make an awesome dessert. After searching the internet, I decided on rainbow cupcakes. They turned out great and can't wait to make them again. Next time I will add more food coloring to make the colors pop out more. The kids loved them, and that's all that matters.

Kylee's surprises

I love checking on the kids each night before going to bed. My favorite is always Kylee. It's always a surprise to see what she has done in the time we say good night till when she actually does fall asleep. The other night, she decided to pick up her room. Usually she just plays around. She knows to be so quiet, because if we hear her, she gets in trouble. This particular night she placed all of her dolls and stuffed animals around her or on her bed. Her favorite doll is tucked under her arm, and she is fast asleep. After long days of sassy attitude, my heart is full of love for my sweet little girl.

Snow - Arizona style!

Toward the end of February, we got a burst of cold air and and a huge storm rolled in. We thought it was hailing but looked almost like snow. It was just a bit too slushy to be real snow. The kids were so excited, and I am so glad I grabbed the camera. I tried to get them to go out and play in it, but it was cold and the thunder scared them off. When the storm blew over, Drew ran through it, but decided it was just too cold to play in in. Yes, we are from Arizona and proud of it!

Day 4 and 5 in Hawaii

So after having such a busy weekend, we decided to keep Monday more relaxed. We slept in, went to breakfast at a yummy restaurant near the base, and headed to the beach. We wanted to paddle board, but it was just not happening for me. I just didn't have the balance or the courage to stand up. So Ryan tried it solo and he fell into the freezing water twice. I knew we needed to try something else. It was just too windy and the water too cold to paddle board on this trip. Instead, we got a 2 seater kayak. It was hard work, but tons of fun. Right on the base near Kailua is a marina. The guy at the rental place told us to just kayak in the marina for a little bit to get the hang of things. Then, if we feel up to it, head out into the open ocean. So we took his advice and so glad we did. That wind was just not on our side that day. We kayaked around the marina and decided it was just too choppy to head out to the open water. We were bummed to only be out on the water for an hour, but now we can say we kayaked and paddle boarded in Hawaii, well sort of. We then drove to a really nice and quiet beach and walked up and down it. I decided to try and collect some shells for the kids, but we couldn't find any. All we found were various rocks. It was so relaxing and nice to have a non-interrupted chat with each other. That night we went into Honolulu for dinner and went to the International Marketplace. What an awesome little market.
Day 5 was our heading home day. We decided to get up a little early and drive around most of the entire island. We stopped at a bakery for breakfast/lunch and got our last picture of Hawaii on a little beach right by Waikiki. Our return flight was entertaining because my friend and her 3 girls ended up joining us on the flight. We had so much fun but so glad to get back home and see the kids. Ryan's parents came down from Utah to help out, and we were so grateful for their help. Next time we go to Hawaii, I want it to be a family vacation!

Day 3

Day 3 we got up and went to church with our friends, and then headed to the Botanical Gardens right by their house. I guess we are nerds and love botanical gardens. On our honeymoon, when we visited Catalina Islands, we went to the Botanical Gardens there and loved it. That was are favorite memory of Catalina. We got lucky and on Sundays they have group tours, so we decided to go on it. Our tour guide was so boring and got so distracted with lots of stuff, having nothing to do with the gardens, that the 1.5 hour tour ended up being 2.5 hours. That was even after we left early. We did learn lots of interested things. On our way back to the car, Ryan spotted this historical site, a charcoal kiln. It was pretty cool. We then hiked up to the look out before heading back to the base. It was a perfect Sunday in Hawaii!

Hawaii Day 2

Day 2 of Hawaii was probably my favorite day. We got up early and drove up to Laie and got breakfast and did the first morning session at the temple. It was absolutely beautiful and a wonderful experience. I think Hawaii temples are our favorite. We have been to the Kona temple previously, and the people are just the most humble and friendly people you will ever meet. We then got shaved ice where the Obama's go to when they visit Laie every year. Then, it was off to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We were there pretty much right when they opened all the way to the end of the night program. It was an amazing experience, and we learned so much. We went to our first Luau, and the food was so yummy. So glad we did it. The night program was a perfect ending. Ryan rubbed my feet the whole drive home back to our friend's house. I was exhausted but such a perfect day.

Flying out to Hawaii

 

Back in October, we decided to wait and try for baby #4 because of insurance issues. I was so bummed, so when Alligant offered $199 round trip tickets to Hawaii, I immediately jumped on it. Little did I know that our insurance would get figured out and baby #4 came into the picture. I was so sick in January and kept praying I could handle Hawaii. Well my prayers were answered and we flew out to Honolulu on Feb 8th and came back on the 12th. It was such a nice break and miraculously felt great those 5 days. We flew out bright and early and visited Pearl Harbor right when we got in. It was different than I thought it would be, but a great experience. We then headed to the other side of the island to stay with friends in Kailua. One of my good friend's husband is stationed there on the base. They were so nice to let us stay at their house while we were in Hawaii.