The Browny Bunch: 2007

Friday, December 28, 2007

Merry Christmas! (belated)

Merry Christmas 2007! (A little late!)

Here is our tree after Santa paid us a visit. As you can see, there were plenty of gifts to go around. You can just barely see the bouncy horse in the lower corner, and the stockings are all on the couches.

Sarah first woke up at 4:45 am! I made her go back to bed, where I discovered Chloe was awake too. Aargh! We lasted until 5:45 am, when for some reason Kyle woke up. (Maybe he heard Aaron crying? Or sensed that everyone else was awake?) So we got a nice, early 6:00 am start to our day.

Here are the kids watching Sarah open her new Uno Spin game. Of course, Kyle is naked as usual. I don't know how he keeps himself warm, but he does! They all got lots of nice gifts. My favorite thing they got was new jammies. Sarah had completely grown out of her old ones, Chloe had taken to wearing mismatched sweats, comfy pants and shirts, and well, when Kyle does want to get dressed, he wants to wear jammies. We put Aaron in some Christmas jammies. He was the best present of all!

Ashley made Aaron a special Christmas hat since we brought him home on Christmas Eve. Isn't it cute?

Last but not least, here are some pictures of Aaron without a hat... Grandma wanted to see his hair! What a sweet baby he is.

Finally!! Aaron arrives!

Well, after much ado, Aaron finally made it here! He was born on Sunday, December 23, 2007 at 4:38 pm. He weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. and was 20" long. He is beautiful and healthy with a great set of lungs! We were so thrilled to to hear him come out screaming.

Our birth story... (don't worry I've left out all gory details!)

Our birth "plan" originally was to have me go to the hospital on the 27th (my due date) for an induction. Well, at my doctor visit the Thursday before, we discovered that what we thought was his head was, in fact, his bum. Yes, he was breech with his head stuck up under my ribs. (This explains how uncomfortable I was!) So the new plan was to try to get him turned (version) and then induce me as soon as possible to avoid going into labor with a breech baby. But of course, Friday was super busy at the hospital so they couldn't fit me in. We had to wait until Saturday.

We got there first thing in the morning for the version. I was really fearing the pain involved in this, but it turned out pretty well. Then it was on to the pitocin. Unfortunately, this did nothing but give me piddly contractions all day that kept my midly uncomfortable and hungry. (You can't eat when on pitocin and they'd had me come in fasting in case we had to do a c-section.) We finally gave up at 5:30 pm. They let me eat (hooray!) and walk around a bit. Then we tried some cervadil (sp?) for overnight. This was all it took for me to go into labor with Kyle so I was hopeful. Well, I woke up Sunday morning not in labor, so after breakfast and a shower it was time for more pitocin. The morning went pretty much the same as Saturday had, so Brad and I were getting pretty discouraged. My doctor came in to check me around noon and the results were that not much had changed. Aaargh!

However, getting checked seemed to be what we were waiting for because by 1:00 I was definitely in labor. They gave me this drug to help take the edge off. I was in a dreamy drug trip for about an hour and a half. It was weird, but it did make the contractions better. By 3:00 I was really ready for my epidural, but they didn't want to give me one unless I'd progressed. Well, I was to nearly 4 cm. Now, my history has been once I get to around a 5, labor is basically over and the baby is ready to be born. I told my nurse and she hurried in the anesthesiologist (sp?) (we'll just call him awesome drug guy) so that by 3:30 I was feeling oh so much better.

My new nurse checked me at 4:00 and said I was at 6 cm. (Hooray!) I was just starting to tell her about my fast labors when, POW!, my water broke. Then about 2 minutes later, the baby dropped and POW!, he was ready to come out. And big time! I don't know what happened to my epidural, but it was not working anymore. I had Brad push the "happy button" to give me more meds, but it did not kick in at all! So much for loving the awesome drug guy! Then of course, we had to wait for the doctor, which I didn't want to do, but the nurses were all for it. Anyways, not too much longer and little Aaron was here, healthy lungs and all! Hooray! Hooray!

A couple of hours later and the gang came to visit. The girls were so excited to see their new brother! Kyle was so excited to explore my hospital room! And here we are - a 6 family!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Laundry and more laundry

I've spent the last several days doing non-stop laundry thanks to putting it off until Saturday and 2 kids being sick - the kind of sick that goes all over the place. A lot of people in our ward started getting sick last Monday, but by Thursday none of us had it so I thought we were in the clear. Oh no... about 5 minutes after getting home from a Primary meeting Thursday night, Chloe tossed her spaghetti all over her bed. So she stayed home Friday and I did my best to keep the other kids away from her - hoping to limit the spread of germs.
Saturday was all about doing the normal laundry and getting the house clean. I went to bed Saturday night feeling anxious about not having packed to go to the hospital (due date is the 27th) so I got up and made a bunch of lists - just in case. I felt a lot better. So between that, the house being clean, the laundry all done, and Chloe feeling better, I felt like I could have this baby any time.
Well, it turns out to be a good thing I didn't go into labor because Kyle woke up crying early Sunday morning saying that he had done "yuckies in his big boy bed" (and on the floor). So it was more laundry for me. The upside to Kyle being sick is that all he wanted was for me to hold him in the recliner. Kyle is a loving boy almost all the time, but he's also 2 1/2 so the chances to just sit and hold him don't last very long. Plus, since church is now a pretty painful endeavor I was grateful to have the excuse to stay home and sit. He had another incident in his bed last night (but thankfully a small one) so today it has been more laundry. Then it's on to my sheets and towels which I've had to put off because of well, the laundry. I was trying to bemoan my situation to Brad at lunch time today and he jokingly replied that it was just fate getting me ready for the new baby. Ha ha. I'll take baby laundry over sick laundry any day! Aah, the joys of motherhood!

On to something a little more fun. Our neighbors, the Morgans, gave our family a gingerbread house kit and the kids had a total blast putting it together. Brad did the initial house construction, then the girls and I did most of the decorating (I was in charge of frosting application). Kyle was happy to make his gingerbread man and then proceeded to be happy consuming his gingerbread man.

This last picture is of Kyle wearing Brad's motorcycle helmet. We were cracking up! Mostly at his efforts to walk around with a head bigger than his body!

For some fun pictures of the kids from Thanksgiving, check out Ashley's blog...

http://www.seethesunshine.blogspot.com/

I'd post them, but I need to go and do... laundry.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Welcome December - or not!

Well, December started out so nicely - snow and all! The girls were so excited when it started snowing on Saturday. As soon as we had a couple of inches, they were out to play. They had a great time playing down at our neighbor's yard where they went sliding in a small gully behind their backyard. They were outside for about 2 hours. They came in cold and wet, but very happy.

Sunday morning it snowed some more, and in typical western Washington fashion, church was cancelled. I know those of you in Utah are laughing right now, but people here just don't know how to drive in the snow. Slushy roads are a MAJOR hazaard. I was relieved not to have to go and be in pain for 3 hours. Instead, once Brad got home from his meetings, I got to take a really nice nap. Hard to beat that!

Well, then the snow turned to rain and wind. Of course, lots of wind means power outages around here. Something to do with above ground powerlines and lots of tall trees growing in saturated soil... Anyway, luckily for us, the power went out just as dinner was finishing up in the oven, so we were still able to have a nice hot supper. Then it was entertain each other in the dark for 2 hours before bedtime. We sang songs, let the kids play with flashlights, and then with glow sticks. Brad called his family and had a nice long chat with Eric about motorcycles. We got the kids to bed and then at 8:45 the power came back on! Yay!

The next day was major wind and rain. Even though I was worried about the power going out, it didn't. The bad thing was that with all the rain, they had to close down the 2 roads that would get Brad home from the shipyard. They also had to shut down 1 of the 2 ferries. Needless to say, he had a bit of a wait, and then a crowded ferry ride to get from Bremerton to Port Orchard. Then he took the bus home since he'd had to leave his motorcycle at the shipyard. The rain total for Bremerton for 48 hours ended up being 12.9 inches. Yes, that was no typo. 12.9 INCHES!!! I don't know what we got here in Port Orchard, but I'm sure it was at least several inches since they got between 3 and 6 over in the Seattle area. Most of you have heard about how they even had to shut down a huge section of I-5 because it was flooded by about 10 feet of water. It is still shut down today. A lot of people around Western Washington were flooded out or had water damage, but we've been very lucky. Brad has yet to check out our crawl space where we have some decorations and other stuff stored, but so far everything stayed nice and dry for us. Even the garage. Count your blessings, right?

Well, that's all for now. We are keeping busy getting ready for Christmas and the arrival of baby Aaron. That will be my newest excuse for being a slow blogger!

Saturday, November 17, 2007

It's been a while!

It's been a while since I've blogged. Sorry. It's not too comfortable for me to sit on this chair so I've been making short email trips.

Anyway, most of you heard that Kyle fell out of bed on Wednesday night and broke his collarbone. His bed is only about 2 feet off the floor, so evidently he landed just exactly wrong. He was a sad, sad boy! He did not want to go to the doctor's on Thursday, but Brad and I were pretty sure he had broken it. This is a picture of him in his sling. He hates the sling. He totally freaked out at the doctor's when we put it on him. They said other than giving him Tylenol to help with the pain, the only thing we can really do is to limit how active he is and how much he uses his arm. Um, do they realize he is a 2 1/2 year old boy!!!!????

Well, this morning we figured out a better way to keep him from using his arm. We call it his "hug". Basically I just wrapped an ace bandage around his arm/body. We did it on Chloe first so he could see what I wanted to do. He wasn't happy with the idea, but I made him do it. (I'm mean like that!) He was totally fine with it about 5 minutes later and hasn't complained all day. He is actually been really good so far about minding us about no jumping, running, climbing etc., but I don't expect that to last for too long. I'll just count my blessings while it does! Oh, and he now has a guard rail on his bed. I really don't want him falling out again - especially while he is healing! I'm glad too that it's winter and so he isn't missing out on a lot of outside play time. I think that makes things easier. He has to go back in 3 weeks for a follow up x-ray to see how things are healing. We're really greatful that Brad's job allows him to be able to take time off to help with family since I can't do the x-ray thing right now!

Here are a couple of pictures from Halloween. This is the scary face pumpkin that Brad carved for Kyle. Kyle loved his pumpkin and said, "That's my scary face pumpkin!" every time we came in or out of the front door.

Kyle was also our newest fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas. He couldn't get enough of that movie!

Here are the kids

in their costumes. I'm sure you can figure out that Kyle was Pooh bear, Chloe was Cinderella, and Sarah was a witch. I made her costume out of my old choir dress (I knew it would be good for something someday!) and some fun orange fabric we found on clearance. She loved it! Oh, and thanks to our neighbor Mary for donating the witch hat! I think we had our least expensive Halloween ever! The kids made out like bandits with their candy so of course we had sugar highs around our house for a couple of days!

Well, I'm done for sitting in this chair. I'll try to be better about posting!

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Aaah, October!

Well, we've finally made it to October! The leaves are starting to turn and the spiders are starting to go away! Hurray, hurray! With the cooler nights we've been having I haven't noticed as many spiders lately - and that is always a good thing.

We decorated for Halloween on Monday for our Family Night. Kyle likes looking at the "scary face" pumpkin that Brad made back when he was a teenager. The kids also had fun putting up the window cling decorations. Those are the best things for kids! I've been trying to get some for all the holidays. They are so easy for them to put up and if they do get ruined, you're only out $1-$2!

Probably the highlight of Monday night though was that the kids got to try on their costumes. Chloe will be Cinderella this year, wearing Sarah's old costume. It fits her great and I think she'll really enjoy getting all glamed up. Sarah is going to be a witch. I am using my old choir dress and remaking it into a witch costume. Keep your fingers crossed for me and my sewing skills! Kyle WAS going to be a horse. We kept the horse costume that Chloe wore when she was 2 1/2, thinking it would be perfect for Kyle. Well, we couldn't get the hood on and get it zipped up. The boy is just too big! So luckily we tried on the Pooh bear costume and it fits great! (You may recall that Chloe was Pooh bear LAST year - yes, it just barely fit her, but that's how close in size those two are, even though there are 4 years between them!)

Pregnancy news... well, I just found out that I didn't pass my 1 hour glucose test. So now I have to go in fasting for the 3 hour test. Bummer! I had to do this with Kyle too, but passed the 3 hour one, so things will probably turn out the same. It's just such a pain to go in and sit around in the waiting room for 3 hours and have my blood drawn 4 times! So hopefully no gestational diabetes for me! I'll try to keep you posted. Otherwise, Aaron is doing well. He's super wiggly and that's always a reassuring thing.

This weekend we are planning on painting the boys' room. (I like saying that!) Once we're all painted and set up with the beds & curtains I'll take some pictures. Last week I found a quilt for Kyle on clearance for only $25!! That really made my day! The ones that I'd been looking at all went for over $100. Nothing beats a cute bargain!

Here is a video of Kyle pretending to be "Super You". He's fussing with the baby blanket because it is his cape. He won't let us tie it on - it has to be draped over his shoulders - and of course he has to do it himself. I hope this works....

Here is a picture of all the kids with their Super capes on. They were cracking us (and each other) up with all their antics.

Friday, September 07, 2007

First Day of School

Well, we finally made it to the first day of school! September 5th sure took a long time in coming, but when we finally got there, the girls were so excited. Sarah chose to wear her new favorite outfit. Chloe chose one of her favorite shirts from last year and wore it with some "new" pants that she inheirited from Sarah. The girls were so glad that they each got the teacher that they were hoping for. Sarah is in Mrs. Peterson's class - who is teaching her 38th year at EPO! Chloe got Mrs. White - who is also in our ward. She teaches the Sunbeams and is VERY popular with the little kids. Sarah is also going to be in the Quest program this year and she is looking forward to starting that. On Thursdays she'll go over to Hidden Creek El. and work on fun stuff over there. There is another girl in her class at EPO who is in Quest so she'll have a buddy to bus over with.

This is a pic of Chloe (1st grade), Sarah (3rd grade), and Britney (6th grade) on their way to the bus stop. Kyle was happy to see them off with hugs and kisses and kept saying,"Bye girls!" It was a very quiet day without them all around!

Happy school year to everyone!

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Last Sunday

Last Sunday Kyle decided that he wanted to wear a tie just like Daddy. So Brad took several minutes to get Kyle all suited up! Well, it didn't last very long and then he wanted it off, but we did get some cute pictures in the meantime! What a cute young man my two year old is!!

Later that evening we went to Sarah's friend, Lexi's baptism. She has been going to Activity Days with Sarah and has come to church a couple of times. She decided to learn more from the missionaries and then decided to be baptized.

Sarah was so excited to have such a good experience with being a member missionary. She and Lexi have really gotten to become good friends over this summer. They are together ALL the time!

This last picture is of Kyle crying at the beginning of the baptism. He really wanted to put on his Nemo diaper (swim diaper) and go into the font.

He did not understand why Lexi and Brad got to change their clothes and he couldn't. Luckily, before things really got started some more people came with their kids and then Kyle was distracted from not getting to go "swimming".

Sarah's hair

Sarah decided to cut her hair. I had gotten fed up with brushing it for her. She hates for me to do anything to it. She would run around outside all day and end up with the WORST tangles! It took forever to brush and made my arm ache. So one night in frustration I turned the job over to her. Well, after a week of that she decided that maybe shorter would be better. I'm sure it helped that her friend Brittney just got a cute short hair cut as well.

As you can see in the before picture, it was pretty long!

Here is the "after" picture. It is as short as I dared to go for a dramatic change. But we all love it. It is so much easier to take care of. Plus, it has a little bit of style so it doesn't just hang there like it did when it was long.

Tender!

Here is Kyle after a fall. He was running down our neighbor's driveway, caught his toe and well, did a face plant. His knees got the worst of it, but you can sort of see the lump on his forehead as well. He was so sad the whole rest of the day. He kept saying, "Teh-dur!" (Tender) He wouldn't walk after I patched him up, or even after he woke up from his nap. We finally got him outside and walking around a bit, but it took a lot of distractions. Every now and then he'd stop and realize he still had bandaids and would get upset all over again. Poor little guy! He was just pathetic. We did a lot of rocking in the chair that day!

Crazy hair

We thought we'd try curling the girls' hair one Saturday night. So after baths I twisted it up and we gave it a go. This pic is just after the girls were admiring themselves in the mirror. Sarah is pushing Chloe out of the way because she wants to be in front. I don't think she remembers very well that she is over a head taller than Chloe and that we can all equally admire her, even if she is in the back!

Here is one of just Chloe.

And one of just Sarah.

And here are the afters. I think Chloe's turned out better. Her hair is so light that it was just a fluffy poof ball of hair. Very poodle like. She couldn't stop giggling. Sarah's was still a bit damp in spots when we took it out so it didn't curl quite as evenly. Lots of fun though. They liked the reaction they got at church from their friends and leaders. Sarah put her hair up later that evening and then she had the poof ball effect as well.

Summer in Washington

Yep, this is what kids wear when they run through the sprinklers during the summer in Washington! Not really, but rainboots are definitely the quick to put on footwear of choice for kids around here. It may look silly with no shirt and a swimsuit, but all the little kids seem to approve! The girls have flip flops, but even they tend to just throw on the boots and go. Maybe they stay on better than sandals? I don't know. I don't remember ever even owning a pair of rainboots as a kid. But then, growing up in Idaho and Utah, I

probably never needed a pair either!

This next picture is of the girls in their hula outfits sent to them by Grandma Suzie. They were sooooo excited to put them on and start practicing. She sent a learn to hula video as well. Little Man (the cat) was really excited to play with their grass skirts. I think the girls liked their coconut bras the best. They are getting so silly about "girly" things.

Here is Sarah in her best hula pose.

And here is Chloe.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Good ol' Brent

I forgot to put this picture in the last blog. Kyle's favorite person (after Brad and I of course!) is Brent! He loves Brent and gets so excited when he sees him. The last time we saw Brent and Ash, Kyle saw Ash and then ignored her because he was pretty sure that this guy he approaching was Brent, and well, Brent is better! This picture is of them when we were camping. Kyle took it turn to rotate between all of our laps, but had the most fun with Brent.

Klaloch

Oh my goodness, where to start! I guess I'll try to do a bit of a summer recap. At the beginning of June we went camping with Brent and Ash at Klaloch - which is near the ocean. We forgot how cold it can get at night. This first pic is of Ash and I by the fire. We were freezing! Thank heavens for campfires! One of the best things about the campground was that the bathrooms were heated so at least we could warm up when we made our trips to the potty!BTW...the funny thing on Ash's head is her flashlight. We stayed 2 nights and had a great time. For the day that we were there we walked down to the beach - just a short trail and a climb over the driftwood trees. We flew kites, dug in the sand, found rocks and shells. The kids loved it.

Kyle thought the ocean sounded like a noisy race car. Ash got a short video of him saying "noisy race car!" It took us a while to figure out what he was talking about, but when we did it was so funny!

This picture is of Kyle and Brad. Typical, we're all freezing, but Brad still has his shorts on! He's my tough man that's for sure! I felt bad that we forgot to bring a hat for Kyle. His little ears were so cold that first night! Here's Sarah being a

cheese with Kyle and I. This next one is of Chloe eating her dessert. She mostly just ate the cool whip off the top, but well, I guess sugar is sugar, right?

She was so worn out by our second night that she climbed into my lap and fell asleep while we were sitting by the fire. We woke her up when we made s'mores, but after only one she was ready to go to bed. She went to sleep a couple of hours before the other kids and slept all night - and her air mattress broke so she mainly slept on the hard ground! In spite of that, she woke up bright and chipper! She's definitely our crazy Chloe!

Here is a crazy face picture of Sarah, who did not want to be outdone by her little sister!

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Happy belated b'day Kyle!

I just realized how LONG it's been since I've posted anything on our blog. Oops! That's what happens when you are both tired and busy I guess. I also realized I never put anything on here about Kyle's b'day. Happy b'day a month late buddy! Our little guy is 2 years old now. To give you an idea of how much he's changed in a year here are 2 pics, one from his b'day this year and one from last year. What a big kid he is!!

Time sure does fly! Kyle got several new cars to add to his Cars collection, including Mack. He loves them and gets pretty possessive of them. If the girls even so much as look at Mack he grabs it and says, "No, Sarah! My Mack!" Well, I did say he was 2, right? He also got a new bike for his b'day. It is a Harley. No, not a real Harley Davidson, but a tricycle version. Brad was thrilled that of all the bikes, Kyle wanted a motorcycle bike (aka "mykiker bike").

He really likes it, although he goes back and forth between riding this one and riding his old one. He also really likes to go down to Braydon's house and ride his bike. Fortunately Braydon doesn't mind and is good about sharing it with Kyle.

Well, that's all the catching up for now. Kyle is down here getting into things and I've got to get up and running for the day. And probably kick the girls off the TV as well!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Sarah's baptism

We had a great weekend back on May 5th. Sarah got baptized! She has been looking forward to this for years. We were able to have a lot of family come and share the day with us. My mom was there, as well as Brad's parents. Brandon, Christy and their 3 kids, Shelley, and Brent and Ashley. We had several friends from the ward come to support Sarah as well as a couple of friends from Silverdale. I can't believe she is 8 years old and baptized! Yes, I got a little weepy as I was helping her change into her baptismal clothing. I was just a bit overwhelmed by how much I love her and how much she is growing up!

Here's a picture of her afterwards. She was all smiles. It was a great service with 2 other girls from the stake getting to be baptized as well. We also had some good talks that weren't overly long.

Here's a picture of all the official family members that were there to support Sarah. (And yes, my eyes are closed!) We had a great visit with them all. We went to the Point Defiance Zoo, played on the swing set, went miniature golfing, ate lots of goodies, and had them all come to church with us. Chloe was excited to have Bradon be in her primary class. Hailey was excited because she got to go to Sunbeams with one the best Sunbeam teachers who gave her a Sunbeam survival kit.

This last image is of Sarah with Brent and Ash. They are our unofficial family members. They are so awesome! Whenever they are over in the evening and we put the kids to bed, Kyle is always asking for them in the morning as soon as he wakes up. He hasn't figured out overnight sleeping vs napping yet, and that Brent and Ash sleep at their own house. We're so glad that we live near them!!

Congratulations Sarah! I love you!!