NFL & PJ's

Last night we went to watch Monday Night Football! Our Wedding Anniversary was November 18th, we have been married 4 years and it feels like 40! I can't decide whether that's a good or a bad thing ;) We didn't get to celebrate on the actual day because Lakyn was really sick with RSV and Trey had a double ear infection and bronchitis. So, we spent our Anniversary taking care of sick babies. It was pretty cute when we woke up that morning from a LONG night of being up and down, and we both looked at each other and said, "I didn't get you anything!" ha! I think we were both really relieved! So... we decided to break down and get some Texans tickets. We have been wanting to go to a game for a long time so we got 4 tickets to Monday Night Football. We invited our friends Kurt & Kristin to come with us and I'm so glad we did, we had a blast!

It was Battle Red night so I wore a red sweater to represent :) We sat on the club level, so fun!

The Texans lost in overtime which was such a bummer, but we had a good time anyways. I'm glad that we finally got to celebrate our anniversary and that we had some great friends to join us! We will for sure be going to more NFL games, it's safe to say that we are hooked!

Today was Polar Express Day at Mother's Day Out so all the kids wore their PJ's and took their favorite stuffed animal. I let Trey pick which "buddy" he wanted to take and he picked this bear. It's the one that the hospital gave us when Maeson was born. We told our nurse about Harleigh and Trey and showed her pictures of them and later that day she came in with two bears and said they were remembrance bears donated by a local church for kids who lose a sibling. He was too young to understand what happend or where the bear came from, so I think it's so neat how much he loves this bear :) Trey was so excited to wear his Christmas pajamas. I put this Santa Hat on him and he ran around yelling, "Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Christmas!" I love this little boy so much!

3 Months Old

Lakyn,

You are THREE MONTHS OLD!

Here's What you are up to at 3 months!

*Not sure on your exact weight & meaurements. We will find out at your 4 month appointment.

*You are wearing a size 3-6 month clothes and some 6-9 months. BIG GIRL! :)

*You wear a size 1-2 diaper.

*You drink Similac Sensitive Soy and use Avent bottles.

*You only want your paci when you are really sleepy! You spit it out as soon as you fall asleep and you never wake up wanting it.

*You sleep all night most nights and you always wake up right after Daddy gets up for work, about 4:30am! You like to see him before he leaves, ha!

*You sleep in your pack n play in the room with Me & Daddy, you have barely laid eyes on your crib!

*You just started "playing" you reached out for your toy yesterday, it was so sweet!

*You love to be in your bouncy seat and swing, but you aren't quite ready for the Bumbo chair, your head bounces around and it makes Daddy nervous.

*You love to lay in the middle of the living room on a blanket and just talk and talk. Guess you are going to be a little show stopper like your Big Sister!

*You are happy at home or out and about. You are just such a sweet baby!

Bubba's Special Day

Yesterday my Mom took the girls to go spend some time with their cousins and spend the night with her. Trey and I hung out and ran errands and I did payroll. Then, we headed to the Deer Lease to meet up with Daddy. Trey was missing his sisters! He asked me where Lakyn was twice. And then he said, "Where is Harleigh? I want her!" It was so sweet! The deer lease is only about 30 minutes from our house which is so nice. My little man passed out in the car on the way there.

We got to the woods just in time for the evening hunt and Trey was so excited! We were in the stand until dark and never saw a deer, but it was fun just being with my boys. Here is another pic of our adorable little Hunter!

We went back to camp and grilled steaks, baked potatoes, and asparagus. It was so good! Trey was the only kid there and he had everyone's undivided attention the entire night. I don't think he missed his sisters for long. We hung out in the camp house and played dominos until the wee hours. Nothing like a little 42 at the deer lease! We had a great time with Bubba on his special day, but I'm anxious to get my girls back! :)

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a very eventful Thanksgiving this year! Harleigh got out of school at 1:10 the Tuesday before Turkey Day, so we picked her up and headed straight to Carthage. Josh's Grannie moved there last year and his cousins live there too, so we stayed with them and all went to Grannie's for Thanksgiving. His cousin has a little boy is 4 1/2 and he gets along so good with Harleigh and Trey. We had so much fun staying with them, I wish I had taken some pictures. I have noticed that the more kids I have, the less pictures I take. ha!

Lakyn was so good! Here is her Nan, Josh's Mom, holding her. She had the cutest little turkey dress on and afterwards she wore a onesie that said, "I'm Stuffed!" Too cute!
Yes, she is that fat! And I love it!!! lol! The day after Thanksgiving we went to Lubbock with some of Josh's other cousins, Downey and Melissa. It was a LONG trip but so worth it! They are so good about coming to see us anytime they can and I'm glad we finally made a trip up there to visit.

We had a great time laughing, talking, and catching up. Josh and the other guys were at the Ranch on Friday and Saturday. So on Saturday, I drug Melissa and Mackenzie around all day looking for the girls' Christmas dresses at every Boutique in Lubbock, and we finally found them at Dillards :) They were both so sweet and understanding about the kids and they helped me so much! We ended up at Chick fil A and the kids had a blast! They traded in their toy for an ice cream, I had no idea you could do that. They were so excited! The next day the guys came home and we went bowling at Main Event. We had a ton of fun and we will definitely be taking the kids bowling again very soon.
Monday morning Josh, the kids, and I headed toward Amarillo to see the Palo Duro Canyon. It was sooooo neat! Trey was too afraid to sit on the edge so I only got a picture of Harleigh. She loves this Eskimo jacket and refuses to take the hood off.

Here they are in front of the museum. This creepy cowboy had a motion sensor and when you got close, he would give you a little intro about the museum. They were afraid at first, and then they kept trying to talk to him. It was so funny!

So, we survived our first one week vacation as a family of five. We had so much fun, but I sure am glad to be at home and not living out suitcases. I think we will stay put for a little while :)

2 Months

Lakyn, you are TWO MONTHS OLD!

Here are some of your newborn pictures, you were only NINE DAYS OLD! You have changed so much in just 8 short weeks. I love Shelia, our new photographer, and can't wait for Christmas pictures!

Here is your 2 month snapshot. (Taken with my iPhone) It was the first time you have worn Baby Legs and I think they are so cute on you, we have to have some in every color! :)
Here is what you are up to at 2 months:

*You weigh 12 lbs. 2 oz and you are 24 inches long! You are over the 100th percentile in height and you are in the 95th percentile in weight. Dr. Taylor said you are the size of a FOUR MONTH OLD! You are a chunky little monkey!

*You wear size 3-6 month clothes which is really exciting because all of your adorable outfits are starting to fit! You look like a little baby doll every time we leave the house!

*You wear size 1 diapers, Pampers Swaddlers. You had a weird reaction to Huggies, so we will just stick with Pampers!

*You are fully weined now and you are doing great with the change! You use Avent bottles and Similac Sensitive Soy Formula. You drink 4 ounces every 3-4 hours.

*You have been randomly sleeping through the night, which is awesome for Mommy!

*You are staying awake for longer periods of time and cooing and smiling often.

*You always recognize Mommy's voice and this morning when you heard your Daddy, you stopped drinking your bottle and scanned the room trying to find him, it was so sweet!

*Harleigh and Trey are head over heels for you and they want to hold you and talk to you all day long! Trey loves to get right in your face and he calls you, "Sweet Lakyn" and "Little Tiny". Harleigh loves to feed you and read to you!

You are our little hope baby and we are enjoying you so much!!!

Halloween 2010

We had a really good time celebrating Halloween this year. My Mom and I took the kids to a Pumpkin Patch the weekend before Halloween. I was so excited to get pictures of the kids in the pumpkins and I just knew they would be adorable and perfect pictures! Boy, was I wrong! It was hot, the sun was in their eyes, and they were grouchy. There were also a lot of kids there, so they really just wanted to play. It was a total bust! This is the best picture I got of them. It's definitely hit or miss when you are trying to get a good picture of 3 kiddos!

Lakyn was such a little angel. They had all kinds of fun stuff for the kids, coloring, games, a moonwalk, firetruck, train, etc. She just layed back in her stroller looking like a little Halloween Princess and never made a peep. She is such a good baby!
On Halloween night, Josh and I took the kids trick-or-treating. We were supposed to go with a bunch of friends but there was a change of plans. It really worked out for the best because we had a great time going as a family. We went to a neighborhood close to home about 30 minutes before dark and we went from house to house until it got dark. Lakyn was dressed as a skeleton for her 1st Halloween! I barely got any pictures of her. I was pretty busy keeping up with
Our Little Fisherman...
And his Big Sister the Garden Fairy :)

Wordless Wednesday

Fancy Nancy

A couple of weeks ago I went to Harleigh's school for Fancy Nancy & Dapper Dan Day. Fancy Nancy is a character in children's books who loves to dress fancy and use big fancy words. It's a neat way for the kids to have fun and learn that there are other ways to say things. I picked out Harleigh's clothes at the last minute right before I woke her up for school. If we are at home, you will never find her without a dress, tutu or some kind of funky outfit on, so you can imagine how excited she was about Fancy Nancy Day at school. When I got her dressed she said, "Mommy, how did you know the perfect thing for me to wear? Just how did you know?" Well, sweet girl... I'm the Mommy! I know everything!

This is "Fancy Harleigh" with her teacher, Mrs. Cameron. She loves Kindergarten. She is always really sweet in the mornings and is very excited when I pick her up. She loves to tell me all about her day and to do her homework. Yes, my kid loves to do homework. I was not expecting that, but I'm glad that she has such a hunger for knowledge! :)

Me and three other Mom's brought the fixings for Ice Cream Parfaits, just like in the book. The kids got to put their own toppings on and we read a Fancy Nancy book. They also sang us a song. Here is Our Little Kindergartener in action. Enjoy! :)

Lakyn's Birth Story

I finally have a few extra minutes and figured I would blog about the day that our Precious Lakyn was born... I was scheduled to be induced on Wednesday September 8th. Dr. R told me to call Labor and Delivery that morning at 5 am and the nurses would tell me what time to be there.
I think I probably slept two hours total Tuesday night. I was very excited! :) I was up at 4 and in the shower. I called L&D a little before 5 (I couldn't wait!) The nurse told me to be there at 7:30. So, I called our Mom's and woke Josh up.
We arrived to the hospital at 7:15 and met our nurse. Her name was Sandy and she was sooooo awesome, we just loved her! She started the pitocin around 9 and I had to wait until the bag finished to get the epidural. My Mom came and her, Josh and I just hung out... waiting patiently!
Until the real fun began... the hard contractions. Thank goodness I only had them for about 45 minutes and the 1st bag of pitocin was done so they called the anesthesiologist and I got an epidural. BTW... God bless the person who made that drug! It's awesome! LOL!

Josh's mom got there not long after that and we started "The Great Name Debate"

We wanted to name her Lakyn Hope since she was our "Hope Baby" since losing Maeson. But then she would be the only one of our kids without a family name. So we ruled it out and decided she would be our "Hope Baby" whether it was in her name or not. The next choice was Mae, Josh's Grannie's middle name. We decided against it because we already named Maeson after her. So the name we chose is DeAnn, it's my middle name and a variation of my Dad and both of my brother's middle name which is Dean. I love her name and love that she is named after her Momma's side of the family! :)


Once I got the epidural it was smooth sailing! The nurse would come in and change out my IV bags, check me, and chit chat every few hours. We all just had fun hanging out and waiting for Lakyn. My step-dad and my brother Coby came too. It was nice not having a huge crowd and being able to really enjoy the experience.
Finally at about 3:30, Sandy checked me and said I was a 9. I immediatly started feeling the urge to push. I told her to call Dr. R immediatly. He told her he was busy and to see if I could wait. Yep, that's right I was asked to WAIT! Sandy came back and saw for herself that there was no waiting, so she called him and said, "You need to get here, NOW!" LOL
Dr. R got to the room and suited up, and 5 minutes later Lakyn DeAnn made her Grand Entrace.

She was born on September 8th, 2010 at 4:13pm. She weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce and was 21 1/4 inches long.


She has lots of dark hair and really long eyelashes! She has her Daddy's hairline and eyes, and her Mommy's olive complection and lips.

We were so proud to finally have our healthy baby girl in our arms!

Harleigh loves her baby sister so much and wants to hold her every day.

Trey loves to give her soft kisses and is always checking on her and talking to her!

We are enjoying our Precious girl so much. I feel so blessed to have such beautiful healthy children and a husband who loves us so much and takes such good care of us. Time is flying by and I am very busy with the these three small kids, but I'm making a point to soak it up and enjoy every moment. God is good!

Wordless Wednesday

Big Boy!

Today was Trey's first day of Mother's Day Out. He should have started last week, but with the baby coming, I decided to keep him home until we got all settled. He has been going to the same MDO for two years, but I kept the kids home all summer so I was worried about how he would act. I thought he may be sad about me leaving him. Boy was I wrong!

He was so excited and wanted to talk all morning about the fun things they were going to do. He said he would color me a pretty picture and he would be nice to all of his friends!

He is in the 2-3 class this year, which is the "Potty training" class. He will wear pullups and be taking bathroom breaks throughout the day. He is doing really well with potty training these days. He will almost always go #1 in the potty, but NEVER #2. Hopefully MDO will help with that, cause talk about a mess! :)

When we got to the church everyone wanted to see Lakyn and kept asking Trey about his sister. Everytime he would say, "She's at school, or Harleigh's at big school." He doesn't get it yet that Lakyn is his sister too! LOL! My big boy walked right into his class and gave me a big kiss and was talking Ms. Sue's ear off when I left. I'm so proud of him!

Introducing...

Lakyn DeAnn

Mother/ Daughter Day!

I spent Saturday with five of my favorite people! My Mom, Aunts, and cousins! My Mom has two sisters, and all three sisters have one daughter. We grew up pretty close, but now, Morgan lives in California because her husband is in the Navy. She was here for the summer, so we planned a Mother/ Daughter Day at Old Town Spring! The weather was perfect, and so was the company! We shopped, ate, shopped and ate some more! ha! We had such an awesome time and I wish we could do this more often.


All of us together... My Mom, Aunt Bridget, Aunt Cheryl, Me, Ashley, & Morgan. Notice a resemblance?

My Mom and her gorgeous sisters! Look just like their Momma! :)

My Mom and I

Morgan & Cheryl, I just LOVE this picture, they are so beautiful inside and out!

Aunt Bridget and Leigh are two of the funnest, prettiest women I know!

We had so much fun and got a lot of cute boutique stuff! The only thing that could have made the day any better is if Our Mimi had been there. But she was in our hearts and we talked and laughed about her the entire day! Love you girls, and can't wait for our next get- together!

Daddy's Home!

Josh just got home from Monticello, Utah. This was his second year to go on a mule deer/elk hunt. I was a little upset that he was leaving for 12 days so close to my due date, but we got through it. Thank God I didn't have this baby while he was gone. He would have NEVER heard the end of it! lol! The day before he left we spent the day together as a family. We went to Bass Pro Shops in Pearland and it was so neat! I have been to Bass Pro plenty of times but I'm always impressed! Then we went to the Downtown Aquarium.


Our sweet babies pretending like they like each other! j/k They have been getting along really well lately!

Josh and Harleigh posing in the aquarium. Somehow we managed to skip the carnival. I love our kids being little because they don't notice stuff like that most of the time. Instead, we bought tickets and walked through to see all of the fish and reptiles before we ate. It was really nice since it was in the air conditioning! :)

And yes, they had a Bengal Tiger. It was really neat, but sad! He seemed so lonely and the area they have him in is so unnatural. It was all concrete and there was nothing wild about it. I felt sorry for the poor guy, but he sure is beautiful!

Here we all are waiting for our table at The Aquarium. We were so sad that Daddy was leaving and we are so happy he is home now!

What would a nice family dinner out be without a fun dessert? This is The Shark Attack, and it was soooo good! :)

9 Months

I am in my ninth month of pregnancy and it's so hard to believe! I feel so good in comparison to the last month of my other pregnancies. I remember being so tired and having all kinds of aches and pains in the last few weeks with Harleigh and especially Trey. I had a really hard time with my back and was just miserable! But I am so thankful that isn't the case this time around. Don't get me wrong, I have my days! But most of the time I'm pretty energetic and feeling good. My mom stayed with us this past week and we got so much done! I am completely ready for this baby and can't believe we will be meeting her in a matter of days!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 37 weeks 4 days
Total Weight Gain: +23 lbs
Maternity Clothes: I am wearing all maternity clothes and I just got two dresses from Target that I will be living in for the next week!
Gender: It's A Girl!
Movement: The last few weeks I have been noticing that her movements have become less and less. So last week my OB did a stress test and said she is doing great! :) I guess she doesn't have as much room to roam as before!
Food Cravings: Sonic Ice! I could eat it all day everyday!
What I Miss: Can't think of anything at the moment :)
Sleep: Sleep is not so good, but I'm toughing it out!
What I'm Looking Forward To: The day that we bring our new baby home.
Big Sister & Big Brother: Harleigh & Trey are both really excited and I think they are as ready as they can be for the changes that this new baby will bring!

Little Miss Kindergarten

Today is the day. The day we have all been talking about for so long! Our 1st baby started Kindergarten. It is a very surreal feeling that will probably take all week to sink in. But I'm excited for her!

She started off the morning with a phone call from her cousin, Kenzi. Today was her first day of 1st grade, so she knows all about the big K! She was telling Harleigh what to expect and Harleigh didn't know what to think, ha!

Here she is posing in her 1st day outfit. I tried to keep it pretty simple, and sweet. I told myself and everyone else I was going to put the big bows away when she went to school, but I just can't help it. And she doesn't care so she will wear them until she does! ha! I wanted her to carry her matching lunch box, but of course she wanted the Minnie Mouse one. Pick your battles, right?

Trey wanted to take some pictures with us too! He was very sad today. He misses Harleigh and keeps saying, "Mommy, Harleigh is at school. But what's her doing? I miss her!" This is going to be a long week, but hopefully he will adjust!

Mimi came to see Harleigh off to her 1st day and it really helped me out having her here. She was able to help me with Trey so I could concentrate on Harleigh.

Her teacher gave each child's parent a heart sticker to give to their son/daughter. She said she had a book to go along with it that explains that when Mommy & Daddy aren't with you, they are always thinking about you and missing you. She said it really helps them with the seperation and adjustment of going to school. I thought this was soooo adorable! I gave Harleigh her heart this morning while I fixed her hair and told her all about how it was our special heart. Then she said, "Mommy, when you get sad today, and you miss me, you can look at some pictures of me, okay?" Sweet girl, melts my heart! :)

She was very brave this morning until it was time for me to leave and then she lost it. I calmed her down pretty quickly and she asked if I would get her special heart out of her back pack because she already missed me. sigh! This was harder than I thought, I can't wait to pick up my baby from her 1st day of school!