Some New Baby Photos

I haven't had much time lately to do much more then feed the baby! But I did manage to snap a few photos today that I thought I'd share.

Gabriel is a week old today! Wow!

Everything is going fine, although I still am trying to figure out how to get back into a routine. It will be easier when his feeding schedule is a bit better.

Baby Billy is starting to have some issues. *sigh* He's throwing monster fits, hitting, throwing things, etc. Aaaack! I'm trying to figure out how to pay enough attention to him and the new baby. We'll get there. :)

Okay - here are the photos...I'm going to attempt to take a nap!

Welcome baby Gabriel!

He's here! He's here!

I have my entire birth story on my other blog, for those who want to read all of the details. You can find that here.

Gabriel Guy was born on January 22nd at 5:03 am after 2.5 hrs of labor! My fastest yet! He was 9 lbs 2 oz and 20" long.

His brothers are totally in love with him and fight over who gets to hold him next.
(Brayden's poster that he and Nana made for us. He was very proud of it!)

Gabriel is doing wonderfully and I'm feeling great too. Really everything about his birth and afterwards has been perfect. We have truly been blessed! He's just a perfect little angel. :) (Hence his name... haha)

Now for the pictures....


Going home...

Brayden just LOVES holding him
Eyes open, but grainy picture uggh

Could be baby time any time!

Right now we're just waiting on whenever God decides it's time! My due date is somewhere in the last week of January, which is next week.

I had my 38 week Dr. appointment yesterday and..for those that know what it means...I'm 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced which basically means that the baby could come at any time, or it could still be another week or two! haha

However, I have nightly contractions - that always go away - but my Dr. did say that when they come back again, I can go to the hospital and they'll keep me and keep my contractions going. Yahoo!!

So we're setting up all the arrangements and preparing to have a baby any time my contractions start up again.

Hopefully TODAY!! *crossing fingers*

Wish us luck!

My "date" with Owen and newest belly shot...

Today was Owen's and my mommy/son date. I'm getting used to this every Saturday being spoiled and pampered thing! haha

Owen picked out the movie Tales of Despereaux and for lunch/dinner we ate at Red Robin. Daddy also helped him pick out my favorite candy (Ferrero Rocher...the little chocolate hazelnut balls yumm) to give to me.

He had such a fun time at the movie and kept asking me if I was having a good "date". haha
He got a little goofy at Red Robin, and at that point I was getting tired and SO ready to go home so we took most of our food with us.
Unfortunately, the dog got a hold of Owen's left overs as soon as we got home. aaaack And then Owen's balloon from Red Robin popped. :(

Overall he had a great time though and it was fun!! Next weekend is Alex's turn, but I'm being optimistic in hoping we'll have a baby by then so we're planning for daddy to take Alex next weekend.

Okay so here is my 38 week belly shot. Uggh I feel so HUGE lately. I feel like this must sort of feel how it is carrying twins. I don't have a lap, its hard to drive, to pick up anything, to sit, to lay down...to do anything. I'm exhausted just walking from one room to the next, not to mention trying to keep up the house. I just feel...monsterous! haha
I wonder how big this kid is going to be?....

Terrible Two's...Uggh!

Okay so he's not two yet...but almost!

Wow baby Billy is on a ROLL lately!

He climbs anything and everything and keeps me on my toes.

For a quick example....today he
*hit his brother about 10 times
*he spilled the rest of the dog food into the dog's water dish
*he climbed into the new baby-to-be's bassinet about 5 times and when I moved it, he took the wicker baskets from underneath of it to squeeze himself into and sit in those
*he dumped out his little cup of dry cereal I gave him to snack on, all over the floor
*he climbed onto the piano about 15 times trying to watch my digital picture frame I have on top of it
*he bit holes in the bag of hamburger buns and took little baby bites out of two of the buns...
*he ripped off his diaper and ran naked through the house, managing to pee a little here and there on the way
*he threw half of his toys down stairs
*he tried to climb up onto the kitchen counter to "help me" cook lunch about a dozen times, although I quickly got him back down as soon as he'd get back up
*he squished a handful of Ritz crackers all over the floor

And for the grand finale.....
*he snuck the strawberry syrup off of the counter and ran through the house squirting it everywhere. Yeah that was fun to clean up.

Oh and that was all just before noon!!!!

Wow I forgot how tiring raising a toddler is. Phew

~Bethany

Brayden's and my "date"!

So in an effort to start spending more one on one time with each of the boys, we decided to start doing these "date" days out with each of the boys, one at a time.
Eventually it's going to have to be a daddy/son "date" soon when the baby comes, but for now Mommy gets to take them out and be spoiled! One of the many perks of having all boys!

Saturday was the first day we've done this, and it was Brayden's turn first - mostly because we used it as an incentive for being good in school that week and he really seems to be acting out the most and needing some positive attention.

It was very cute, Brayden picked out what we were going to do - eat at the "Wok About Girl" (actually the "Wok About Grill, but he calls it the Wok About Girl haha), which is his favorite restaurant. Then he wanted to see a movie, and he picked the new Adam Sandler (kids) movie, "Bedtime Stories". After the movie, he wanted to take me out to ice cream.

He dressed all up in his best clothes and daddy gave him the money to put in his wallet so that he could pay for everything.

First we went out to eat, and I showed him how to treat a lady by opening doors for me. haha He loved feeling like a big boy and getting his own food (this kind of restaurant you make your bowl of veggies, noodles, etc and then take it to the cooks at the woks to cook up for you).
After dinner he took the receipt up to the cash register and paid all by himself. :)

Next we went to the movie, and he also paid for the movie. (however he was barely tall enough to reach the counter! It was cute watching him say "one adult and one child for Bedtime Stories" when his eye level was barely above the tall ticket counter!)
The arcade games in the lobby of the theater did sidetrack him a little so I ordered and paid for our movie snacks. haha

The movie was good, a cute story line and nothing inappropriate. (something I worry about with Adam Sandler movies! haha)

Then afterwards we went to Baskin Robbins and had some ice cream. He was telling me all about the girl he likes and I was giving him tips on how to be nice to girls and complement them...because right now he is mean to girls he likes. A boy thing I guess. haha Then he was talking all seriousness about how his friend Andrew is half-vampire.
It was a great conversation. Very enlightening. haha

Finally at the end, I took him to the video game store to spend his allowance and get a new gameboy game.

Now the other boys just can't wait to go out on their mommy/son (or daddy/son) dates!

It was lots of fun!

Can't decide...baby name: revisisted

So as much as I still love Kaenan, and I've been picturing him in my head as Kaenan...it's not totally up to me. Billy has a say too. (sheesh!) haha
He does like Kaenan, and he picked the spelling. But it's not a name he would have picked or decided on if it was up to him. I think the more he thinks about it, the more he doesn't like it as well. :(

That said, Billy came up to me yesterday and exclaimed to me that he had found the PERFECT name. He LOVES it and it would be perfect. I had thought we already had a perfect name but I listened to his suggestion....and it was Gabriel.

Now I was torn. Because it wasn't a horrible name, and I do like it. And it was on my short list of boy names. Also, Billy had never come to me with a name he LOVED. Never once, through all of our boys. I had picked out Brayden and Owen's name myself and Billy just went along with it. He finally had his say with Billy Jr's name, so that's why he says the name is up to me this time.
However I want us both to love the name.

So now what? I'm stuck. I still love Kaenan, but there are a lot of issues tied with it - like the spelling issue, which I think we've overcome...and it's not very common so most people may not know how to pronounce it and he would really stand out from his brothers who have pretty common names. Gabriel would fit better with the other boys' names.

What to do....what to do??? Picking out another person's name for them is SO hard! haha