Fall Fun

We've been very busy lately.  I feel like we never have a free weekend!  A couple weekends ago we went up to visit Justin's parents at their mountain house they bought a little bit ago.  It is a fixer upper so they go up every so often to work on it and the boys will help out as well.  But it's nice to have a small get away and also some babysitting!  Justin and I went to Haunted Tweetsie while we were there and it was def a waste of money.  The haunted portion was very lame, and the rides were not enough to make up for the money spent.  We also went to another haunted house at an old abandoned school while we were up there for $5 and it was much scarier than Haunted Tweetsie!  During the day we took the kids to a corn maze and they had some bouncy houses and games for kids so that was fun.  Here are a few pics of our trip to the mountains:

 

Last weekend we also went to Carowinds.  We purchased 2014 season passes for the family so they let you go for free one day this year.  They kids had fun.  Brayden couldn't ride very much since he is not 36" but he still enjoyed it.

 

This past weekend the Disney Store was hosting a Halloween celebration to come dressed as your favorite Disney princess or character.  I just happened to have two Disney costumes laying around so we decided to go.  Here are my little Snow White and Tigger!

 





Kaitlyn's 4th Birthday!

This year Kaitlyn's 4th birthday fell on a Saturday.  Other than her first birthday party with family, she has never had another party so I felt guilty and decided to through her one.  Overall it went pretty well.  We didn't have much money so we chose a location at a park near our house and then just had a cake and light snacks and a piñata for the kids.  She loved it which is what really matters.  She had a pretty good turn out as far as children too so that was good.  Even for something so low key it was still a lot of work, so I definitely don't think I will be throwing yearly birthday parties.  Maybe just every few years for each kid.  Here are a few pictures from the party:

The Set Up

Swinging at the Piñata  

 Brayden taking a turn

 After all the kids had a few turns, the piñata was still not showing any signs of breaking so reinforcements had to be called in!

 The aftermath

 Blowing out the candles

 My Mom made her some cute playhouses out of felt for her birthday

 

Also just a few updates on life with Kaitlyn at age 4:  She is loving her preschool that she goes to.  The teachers have told me that she is doing really well and very advanced for her age.  Although she is pretty much the oldest in her class, so I imagine she will probably be advanced for a few years until that starts leveling off.  She knows all her letters and sounds they make and has started reading some of the Bob Books.  She still has a hard time putting different sounds together though.  Kaitlyn and Brayden are currently still sharing a room and it is working out fine.  Eventually she will move in with Allie.  She is a very sweet and considerate kid.  Her favorite games are Chasing games.  Where someone pretends to be a wolf and chases her.  She also loves Bear Hunts and anything where people play with her.  She HATES to play by herself.  She is still afraid of pretty much all Disney movies and her favorite shows are probably My Little Ponies, Horseland, and Diego.  She has a very large vocabulary and likes to try and use new words she hears, but she is still very hard to understand.  We even debated if she needs speech therapy, but I'm going to give it another year.  She doesn't have a probably talking, just pronouncing and enunciating different sounds.  I can understand most everything she says but a lot of adults cannot.  So we shall see!  Hopefully she will get better with age!

Allie's 4 months!

Allie is now 4 months old!  She had her well visit a couple days ago and got her 4 month vaccines.  I hate them, but pretty much just go along with them b/c I also don't want her to contract a disease and potentially die!  But they really do make me nervous and I hate the side effects from them on a baby so small.  She got a really bad fever from this round and was really fussy.  I really wish I could delay them, but my practice I go to is so strict!  Anyway here are her stats for the 4 month visit:

Weight: 14 lbs 2 oz. 50 %
Height: 24"; 30%
Head Circumference: 40.5 cm; 25-50%

Overall she is doing great.  She is a wonderful addition to our family!  She started sleeping through the night at about 8 weeks, but lately wakes up multiple times a night when her paci falls out!  Grr.  She goes right back to sleep as soon as you put it in, but it is pretty annoying.  I guess it could be worse though!  She is a very happy baby.  Probably the happiest of any of my kids so far.  She smiles and laughs all the time.  But she can also go from happy to screaming her head off in a split second!  She is a pretty good mix between Kaitlyn and Brayden.  Kaitlyn was by far the worst, and Brayden was my content laid back baby.  We don't usually start solid foods until about 6 months so she is currently drinking pumped breastmilk every 3 hours during the day.  We offer her 6 ounces but she doesn't usually drink all of it.  Things she enjoys: napping in her swing with her blanket up around her face, sitting in her bumbo as long as I am near her, and being carried around front facing. 

Allie 1 & 2 month Stats

Hard to believe Allie is already 2 months old!  This time around has not been too bad.  Overall she can be a fairly demanding baby, but I think I am just more laid back about it this time around.  I guess that happens the more kids you have!  You learn not to stress out about the little things that don't really matter.  Allie is much more similar to Kaitlyn's personality as a baby than Brayden.  Brayden was the happiest, most laid back baby there was!  He pretty much only cried if he was really hungry.  Allie (like Kaitlyn) cries a lot!  Mostly b/c she is a pretty gassy baby.  We have started making homemade gripe water that we put in all of her bottles.  At first we bought some, but at $10 a bottle that was outrageous!  We have to remake the gripe water every 3 days, but it is worth the savings!  Plus you can really tell a difference that it makes in Allie,  The homemade gripe water makes more than 3 days worth, but it starts to lose its effectiveness around then and you can definitely tell when it is wearing out!  She also usually wants to be held.  Brayden was content wherever, but Allie always wants to be in your arms.  Which would be a lot easier to do if I didn't have to take care of two others! haha!

One bonus though, just like Kaitlyn is that she is already sleeping through the night!  Kaitlyn started around 6 weeks and Allie was right at 8 weeks.  Brayden was not until about 4 months.  So that has helped!  I am so grateful to have her in our life.  Both Brayden and Kaitlyn have adjusted very smoothly to having her around and there really has not been any jealousy which has been great!  Even though there are plenty of days I want to scream, I really love how close in age they all are.  I think it will be great as they get older and all will somewhat enjoy the same things and playing together.  Here are Allie's 1 and 2 month stats:

 

 Allie 1 month:

Length: 20 1/2 inches (25 %)

Weight: 8 lb 10 oz (30%)

Head Circumference: 36 cm (10-25%)

Allie 2 months:

Length: 21 3/4" (25%)

Weight: 10 lb 11 oz (25-50%)

Head Circumference: 38 cm (25-50%)



Allie's Newborn Shoot

We had Allie's newborn pictures taken when she was about 2 weeks old by a good friend from church.  She has a wonderful photography business where 100% of the proceeds go directly to different charities around the world.  And best of all she does a wonderful job!

Allie Brooke Wood's Birth Story

Allie's labor and pregnancy was probably my least enjoyable of the 3.  I was basically in labor for 3 days before I finally delivered.  My pregnancy was not bad, but just very tiring.  But I think that is in part due to having to take care of two small kids and not getting much resting time.  On Thursday morning ( 5/16/13) around 5:00 AM I woke up to contractions.  They were coming regularly about every 5-10 minutes for about 3 hours and then they just stopped.  That had never happened with either of my other pregnancies so I was confused.  The contractions start up off and on all day and continue that way for 3 days!  It was soooo annoying.  They were still painful contractions and came regularly for hours at a time and then would just stop.  I was getting so frustrated and also tired b/c they would mostly happen during the night and I was getting no sleep. Saturday (5/18/13) was mine and Justin's 6th anniversary.  One that day arrived I was actually hoping NOT to go into labor b/c I didn't want to have a baby on my anniversary!  But that evening around 4PM my contractions start up strong.  They start coming every 3-5 minutes regularly and are much more painful than the previous few days.  I go ahead and call the dr. office to let them know to expect me at the hospital and we head out around 6PM.  On the car ride over to the hospital they stop again!  I was furious at this point.  We had rearranged our schedule to have my mom watch the kids for the past 3 days b/c we kept thinking I was going into labor and it never happened.  I go into the hospital and tell them what happened, but also that I don't really want to pay to check myself in if this is just another false alarm.  They say it is up to me so I decide to wait until they come back.  I walk the hospital a few times but they are still not strong again.  We decide to just go back home.  Then around 10:30 or 11PM they start up strong, fast and very painful.  But me being the super cheap person that I am wants to wait to check in until after midnight!  I really don't want to pay for a full hospital day's stay when I would only have been there for about 30 minutes!  So we get everything together and head back to the hospital.  We get there about 11:40pm and just wait in the car until after Midnight while I am in pain in the car! haha!  Once I get checked in I am already at 6cm and the contractions are getting unbearable quickly.  I ask to get my water bag started ASAP.  They try and get my IV in and it goes horribly.  They have to poke me 3x before they are successful.  It was so painful.  My water bag seems to drip so slowly I can't stand it.  I start freaking out like a crazy person saying that my bag is never going to finish.  They check me again and I am already at 8cm.  I am progressing at this point at about 1 cm every 30 minutes!  It was so painful.  The nurses cheat for me and go ahead and call for my epidural.  I finally am painfree and they check me again and it is time to push!  I start pushing at 2:09AM and Allie is born at 2:13 AM on Sunday 5/19/13!  So the entire labor process was extremely fast!  Only about 2 hours! Allie was born 6 lb 5.5 oz. 

Allie came out and didn't cry at first.  I started to get nervous b/c her umbilical cord was wrapped all around her body and she was so quiet.  I kept asking if she was ok and they finally tell me she is fine.  Justin clips the cord and they place her on me for a moment but then say they need to take her away.  He body temperature was dropping and they had to get her warmed up.  They decide the best way is actually skin to skin so they place her on me for a while.  I am getting to zombie state by this point and want nothing more than sleep.  All the nurses, etc do not leave my room until after 5:00AM.  I get maybe 2 hours sleep total and after not sleeping well the past few days I am very tired.  That morning they tell me I can actually leave on Monday if I would like since Allie was born so close to Midnight that she will have met the 24 hour stay requirement.  I decide I definitely want to leave early.  The entire hospital stay was so horrible.  They interrupt you all the time and you never get any peace!  So that was it! Since we left the hospital a day early we had to go to a pediatrician check up the very next day.  Allie had went down to only 5 lb 12oz.  She is definitely not a good eater.  She has a very weak suck.  In the beginning I even had to syringe feed her to get her started sucking on a bottle.  I had a couple lactation appointments to try breastfeeding but her suck was just too weak.  She just wouldn't work for it.  So I am back to pumping exclusively.  But that is fine.  More updates to come.  I just wanted to get her birth story posted!

Heading out to the hospital

 

 

 

Brayden's 18 month stats

Last month Brayden had his 18 month check-up.  Overall he has been progressing pretty slowly, but I have definitely noticed an improvement in his communication skills.  He has finally started saying a few words here and there, but no sentences.  His only words he does on his own are Mama and Dada.  He also says a few animal sounds if you ask what the animal says.  He will also repeat a few different words if you ask him to, but doesn't speak them on his own.  He has been teething terribly.  All 4 of his canines started coming in the last month or so and he has been sooooo grumpy!  Some of Brayden's favorite things to do is read books and go to the playground and swing.  His 18 month stats are:

Length: 32" (25-50%)
Weight: 23 lb 8 oz (10-25%)
Head: 48 1/2" cm (50-75%)

Another update that we did was move Kaitlyn into Brayden's room.  So far it hasn't been too bad.  I imagine it being much worse if Brayden was able to get out of his crib.  Kaitlyn tries to come out of the room and that causes problems, but if we make her stay in they have adjusted pretty well and go to sleep after about 30 min or so.  Once Allie is sleeping through the night well and on a good solid schedule we will move Kaitlyn back into her room with Allie.