Monkey Girl

Cami has so many friends that have let her borrow clothes and this outfit is one of my absolute FAVORITES. (Thanks Abby!) Cami's Grani made her a sock monkey when she was born and I just had to snap a few pics of her in her sock monkey outfit with her sock monkey!!

Spring Break

Tony took the day off on Wednesday and we headed to the Tyler Zoo. The boys had a blast and I wish I had gotton more pictures of them, but I was too busy trying to keep up with everyone!!

Group shot at the end of the day..Ethan did not want his picture taken.

Ethan, Chase, Cami, Gabriel and Blake.

Flamingos!!

Chasey picking some fish food.

Cami slept most of the trip (shocker) but did wake up for a bit.

Thank goodness Nana met us there to help keep up with everyone. We mistakingly thought that since Tyler's spring break was last week their zoo would not be as crowded...HA! There were people everywhere. The weather was PERFECT. All in all it was a fun day.

March pictures...........

Again, not sure why these are so scrambled...but oh well.

Cami (8 weeks) laughing at Ethan.
Ethan and Cami, having a chat. Ethan is so attentive to his little sister. He gets so excited when she acknowledges him.

Ok Aunt Amy...here is a pic of Chase's cauliflower ear. Do you see it? It is the same size as the other one, it just looks different.


Chasey playing basketball while mom cleaned out the attic....got rid of all those baby boy clothes!!
Sweet Cami girl with her purple face.

Cami did not do well on the thickened feeds that they had us start after her first swallow study in February. I pumped for 2 weeks (what a BEATING) and then got thrush, which turned into mastitis. So, I started nursing again. When I went to the doctor, they put Gentian Violet on me to clear up the thrush (it didn't work) and when Cami ate she got a little on her face!! We finally got the mastitis and thrush under control. Then went back for her repeat swallow study, she is still aspirating...not quite as bad as before but bad enough to still need thicker feeds. As of today, she is still nursing. We are sort of taking it one day at a time. She had 2 ounces of formula at two consecutive feedings after the first study and it upset her tummy really bad, so at this point we feel like formula would do more harm than good. She is much happier when she gets to nurse, she spits up less, and sleeps better. Pumping is really not a feasible option since I have 4 kids to keep up with so for now, she will continue nursing. She goes to the pedi tomorrow for her 2 month checkup, so I am sure I will get yelled at.

February update...

Wow, I can't believe that I have gotton so behind...actually I can. The past 8 weeks have been non stop. Cami is such a good baby, we have just had a lot going on!! I thought I'd clean out the camera to jog my memory, of course Blogger has scrambled them so I hope it isn't too out of sequence.

Tutu (my grandmother) meeting Cami (6 weeks) for the first time.

Cami (4 weeks) has her eyes open!! Blake insisted I take a picture since she sleeps so much.

Grani came and spent a week with us and Chase LOVED it! He is such a Grani's boy (just like his mommy.) Tony and I went out to dinner with some friends and Gran stayed with the boys. When we came home, these two were curled up in the rocker. Chasey took full advantage of having an extra lap for the week!!

Ruthless Toothless!!

Seriously do not know how the kid can eat anything!!

Catching Up

I don't think I ever posted any Christmas pics, so here you go. These first two were taken on Christmas Eve. Tony has a migrane, Blake is in sensory overload, Chase didn't get a good nap, and Ethan does not want anyone looking at him (shocking, I know) and then there is mom- tired and VERY pregnant.
After church, the boys and I took Tony home and put him to bed and then we went to go eat and look at Christmas lights. They got to open one present each (always Christmas jammies) and go to sleep with all the Christmas lights still on. This is one of my favorite pics of my boys, and one of the last ones before little sister joined us.

Can you say REDNECK!! Chase and Blake love duck season...almost as much as Daddy!1

Yes, Blake is "playing" with the ducks as Tony is cleaning them. This day, he became verry attatched to "Flutter." He kept petting it and saying "It's OK Flutter..." Well not really, but OK. Flutter is now sitting in our freezer! Poor confused child.

What a difference a week makes!!

Well here is the abbrieviated version....Cami had been having some trouble feeding. Her suck-swallow-breathe pattern was really not organized at all and she was gulping and choking while nursing. It had just started when she had her 2 week check up and the pedi said that she could have the same trouble that Chase had, but left it up to me to decide whether or not to do the swallow study. So after watching my baby struggle to breathe when she ate, we had the study done. I wanted so badly to be wrong about this..... She is aspirating. We are having to thicken her milk and feed her from a bottle, not something we are accostumed to around here. She was doing so well with her routine when she was nursing. I don't think we heard her fuss at all. Well, that has all changed. She is pretty well pissed off at me for holding out on her. So sad to watch her face when I feed her from the bottle. She is taking 4 ounces at every feeding (only takes Miss Piggy about 10 minutes) but still has the need to suck and dosen't really prefer the pacifier. I am trying to pump to keep up with her demand, but since pumping dosen't come easy for me I don't know how long that will last. We have had to give her 2 bottles that were half formula and she spit up afterwards, not good since she aspirates that as well. We will repeat the study again in 4 weeks and HOPEFULLY she will be able to resume nursing.

The rest of the story....

*********WARNING: REALLY LONG POST***********

I can't believe that our little girl is going to be 3 weeks old tomorrow. Here is the rest of the story.......I went to the doctor on Monday the 19th for a check-up. My doctor was out of town, of course, so I saw one of his partners assured me that Dr. Harris would be back well before my due date. Then he checked me....i could see the concern on his face. "How long does it take you to get to the hospital?" he asked me. I told him that once I got everyone loaded up, about 35-40 minutes. Chase was with me at the appointment so he assumed that by everybody I meant me and Chase. No, I told him, he has 2 older brothers. Hmmm he said, do you usually stay home with them by yourself. Ummm, that would be a "Yes." And does your husband work close to home. That would be a "No." He then told me that I was almost at 4 cm and 80% effaced and having some strong contractions. His concern was that if my water broke at home my 6 year old might be delivering his baby brother/sister. Tony had made plans to work at home on Tuesday, so Dr. Ehmer told me to call him Wednesday morning and let him know how I was feeling. (I was still a few days away from 38 weeks.) So Wednesday morning I called him and he told me to come to the hospital. I had already taken Ethan to a friend's house the night before and had another friend coming to pick Blake up that morning, but Chase had croup...so Daddy stayed home with him while I drove myself to the hospital. Tony's mom came up to stay with Chase since he was sick and Tony came up to the hospital later that morning. I got my epidural around 11:30 and then Dr. Ehmer broke my water around 1:30 and at 2:33 we had a baby. When she was born, the cord fell between her legs and Tony said "It looks like another b...." then he starts laughing "IT"S A GIRL!!" I didn't really process what he had just told me. "What? It's a what? How did that happen? What do you mean it's a girl?" I had pretty much convinced myself that it was going to be another boy, so to say we were shocked would be an understatement. We had worked so hard on boy names and I brought boy clothes to the hospital. It is all we had known. She was 8 pounds 13 ounces and 19.75 inches long. so she had the chubbiest cheeks, a triple chin and rolls everywhere. She was the best baby from day one. Tony had to go home that night to be with Chase and mom stayed at the hospital with me and Camryn. With all of the boys it seemed like we were up all night at least for the first week. Miss Cami saw the opportunity to be better than her brothers and she took it!! She has been the easiest baby by far. She eats and then goes back to sleep. Rarely fusses or cries. We thought that because she was 2 weeks and a day early that that had something to do with it, but her due date was last Thursday and she is still sleeping a lot. She is starting to have more awake time, but not a lot.
She loves to be swaddled!! The girl can sleep for hours, yes even at night. She usually eats around 11:30 and wakes up around 4:30 or 5:00 and eats and then goes right back to sleep.
Ethan LOVES his little sister. He wanted very badly to have a little sister and enjoys her more and more every day. He will lay beside her and talk to her anytime she has her eyes open. So sweet.

Blake enjoys showing her off. He wants her all dolled up with a bow on her head and a matching blanket (he can't match his clothes mind you, but wants her to match!) He does tell her that he didn't care if she was a brother or a sister, he would love her the same.

Chase...oh Chase. Chasey has been an emotional wreck since Cami came home. He loves her, loves talking to her, kissing her head, bringing me her paci, covering her up, burping her, holding her......but I think that he is just following big brothers lead. He will be happy one minute and then has a complete meltdown the next. We are all waking on eggshells around him. We are thinking that it has something to do with him being so sick when we went to the hospital. Either way, we are ready for him to get over it!!

Cami had her first pedi appointment on Monday the 26th to check her weight and billirubin. Her bili levels were good, but her weight was 7 pounds 14 ounces, so they told me to bring her back in 2 days. Well, we had an ice storm come through so they rescheduled her for the next Wednesday which would have been her 2 week checkup. Then on Friday, they called and said that they had made a mistake and that the doctor wanted her seen TODAY. I didn't want to take 3 healthy boys into a doctor's office, so I told them I would see what I could do. Tony was at the office, his mom was tied up and again I did not want to go and take the chance on the boys picking something up while we were there. This is where it gets exciting.....I am on the phone with the doctor's office explaining the dilema to them when Blake starts throwing up. Poor kid emptied his gut a few times, got in the shower and then started making his usual demands...crackers, Sprite, some books, a blanket, etc...... The doctor's office calls back and said that it is imperative that they see Cami because she had lost so much weight. So I call mom, she drops everything and makes a run up here to sit with the boys so I can take Cami to the doctor. Blake is now over whatever it was that had his tummy upset and is prancing through the house when Nana arrives. He wolfs down a bowl of chicken noodle soup and about a dozen crackers and goes outside to jump on the trampoline (yeah, I'd say he is over it.) We had some warrany work that was scheduled for that day, so the workers show up as we are trying to feed the 4 kids and get off to the pedi. I leave the house and as I enter the freeway, NOTHING!! 4000 RPM's and only 30 mph!! So I exit, thinking maybe it slipped out of gear, pull in to McD's put it in park, then back in drive and it seems fine. So I take off and as I get on the feeder road, same thing. I turn around and head home barely making it to the driveway. I call Tony at work, give him the news that the transmission is gone in the burb and then move Cami and all her gear over to mom's Jeep so I can get to her appointment...which we have now missed and end up having to wait until the office reopened after lunch. We get there and the nurse weighs her....9 pounds 2 ounces!! WOWSERS! What a relief! That was pretty much the only thing that went right that day, everything else was crazy.

And it's time to feed again...............

Newborn Pictures

I did not do newborn pictures with the boys, but since she is our last Daddy said "If this is something you think you might want to do, then do it now!!" So Miss Cami had her first photo shoot yesterday. Of course she stayed awake for almost 3 hours!! She was 11 days old, which is a little old for newborn pics, but we had to reschedule since we were iced over on Wednesday. I am glad that I went ahead and did them. I absolutely love the one of all 4 kiddos....

To view the sneak peak, you can go to Jill's blog and check them out.

She's here!!

That's right folks, I said SHE!! We have had a very busy and exciting week around here and will get this blog updated as soon as things slow down just a bit, just wanted to let everyone know that they boys now have a baby sister. Camryn Melia was born Wednesday, January 21 at 2:33pm weighing in at 8 pounds 13 ounces and 19.75 inches long. All of the boys LOVE her. Blake wants to keep her in pink and put a bow on her head (guess he figures if she is a girly girl she will leave his stuff alone). Ethan is fine with her wearing pink but says "a bow is too much girly for Cami" (he is looking for another playmate). Chase wants everyone to know that this is HIS baby sister and will tell visitors to "put her back". So far she has been a really good eater and sleeper and dosen't cry much at all. I will try to get some pics up soon....

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

OK, so it has been a really, really, REALLY long time since I posted. The holidays were so exciting for the boys this year, but very busy and exhausting for mom (and dad.) I am going to try to do a better job of keeping everyone updated, so please be patient. My camera is on the fritz since before Thanksgiving. I did actually get to snap a few pictures a week or so ago and I will post those soon.

We now have all of the Christmas decorations taken down and put away (well, daddy still has to take down all of the lights off the house) and most of the mess is picked up. Everyone is healthy (pretty amazing since our weather has been a roller coaster of 80s, 20s and everywhere in between.)

I had my doctor's appointment today and have already dialated to a 3!! Really wasn't expecting that news since I am only 36 weeks. Tony stayed here with the big boys and Chase went with me (since he is oblivious to what was going on) so we made a big trip to Babies R Us. It is so funny how prepared I was with Blake and even with Ethan but not with this one. I think that since Chase was a boy and I still had everything from the other two and had already had 2 baby showers I was sort of accidentally prepared. Not with Jim Susie. I got rid of just about everything when we moved (you know, since we were through having kids) So today I put it in high gear once it hit me that I could be having a baby really soon and have absolutely nothing for a newborn. Chasey and I picked up some newborn diapers, pacifiers, burp rags, socks, 2 outfits for each gender, and a really soft blanket that will go either way. I did have the car seat pulled out (only because I had to move it to get to all of my Christmas decorations out) but still hadn't washed the cover or any of that good stuff. I spent the entire afternoon doing laundry so that I can pack a bag not only for me and baby but for 3 big brothers who will be shipped in 3 different directions when the big day arrives.

He went to bed at what time?

6:30!! We have had some trouble with Blake lately, and have not been able to find any way to get through to him. He dosen't mind being sent to his room, he dosen't care if you take away toys, privaleges, friends, outings...none of it matters to him one bit. He dosen't even mind getting spanked. So, we have now reincorporated the "accelerated bedime program." Here is how it works. For every time we call his name and he ignores us, his bedtime is pushed back 5 minutes. If he is willfully disobedient (does something that he has just been told not to do) it backs up 20-30 minutes. This is something Tony and I started several months ago and it worked like a charm. We hadn't used it in a while and I had forgotton about it until a friend mentioned it to me. So, we started it on Thursday and by 3:00 in the afternoon his bedtime was already moved back to 6:40 (from 9:00 mind you.) He popped off a few more times and it ended up at 6:30. Here is how the night went....
Mom: Hey Blake it is about 5:45 so if you want anything else to eat today you might want to go downstairs and get it because you will need to get in the shower soon.
Blake: What are you going to fix mom (as he is heading downstairs)
Mom: Nothing, we are going to eat when Dad gets home
Blake: That's OK, I will make a PBJ, I love PBJ you know, they are my FAVORITE
Mom: Great, I am glad you like them.
Blake: Know what else I love, 6:30 bedtime. It is my favorite too!
Mom: Super, this is going to be your night because you get your favorite dinner and your favorite bedtime!!
Blake: YEAH!!
He makes himself a PBJ and then heads upstairs to get in the shower. Time is 6:05
He gets undressed and in the shower .....time is now 6:15
At 6:23 I remind him that he has 7 minutes to get out and brush his teeth so he needs to get rinsed off. At this point he has taken the body wash and covered the walls with bubbles. He dosen't make it out of the shower until 6:29. Afraid to not be in bed by 6:30 he runs in his room and jumps on the bed (dripping wet.) I send him back into the bathroom to dry off, get dressed and brush his teeth. At 6:31 his bedtime automatically gets bumped up by 30 minutes and then each additional minute he is late to bed pushes it back by 5 minutes the next night. So by the time he was through clowning around, his bedtime was set for 8:05 the following night. At 7:15 Tony got home and our neighbor came over to "babysit" Blake while we all went to Chili's for dinner. I could hear him up walking around so I went upstairs. He told me that he didn't really like 6:30 bedtime anymore and he wanted to go play.
Mom: That's too bad because today you chose to move your bedtime all the way to 6:30. Maybe tomorrow you will make some different choices.
Blake: Where are you going?
Mom: We are going to Chilis, but don't worry Alexa is downstairs. (He has a fear of being left alone)
Blake: Can I go play with her?
Mom: Not this time, maybe next time. (He loves Alexa)

We left him with specific instructions to not get out of bed unless he had to go potty. He was asleep when we got home just over an hour later. Yesterday and today have gone much much better so we are hoping that Thursday night make an impression on him.

Fall Festival

Here are the pictures from the Fall Family Festival that our church has every year. For some strange reason Blogger uploaded them in reverse order, sorry. The first picture is of Ethan, Chase and one of Ethan's classmates on a little NASCAR ride. Chase was so excited to get on, but look at his face once the ride started!!

Here are Ethan and Blake earlier in the evening on a ride. I actually rode this last year with Ethan, he was obviously way too small last year but they let him on and he loved it.

Not sure what ride this is, but that is Blake's foot!!

Chase and Ethan dressed up for Pumpkin Patch Day at school.

Spider-Chase.

Daddy's little hunter

Daddy went duck hunting this morning and got five ducks. He got home with them around 8:30 to start cleaning them. Blake wouldn't even get out of bed to come see them, Ethan looked at them, and touched one very carefully with one finger and then wiped his hand on his pants and went back inside. Chasey on the other hand was VERY excited. He started stomping his feet, clapping his hands, and yelling "YEA, BOOM BOOM SPLASH!!" Tony held a duck for him to feel it and he grabbed it and started running around the front yard carrying the duck by the neck!!! Tony has said all along that he thinks that Chase will be the one getting up to go hunting with him. If today is any indication, I'd say he's right. To make matters worse, I showed him the pictures of himself holding the duck and he said, "I eat it!!" I think I have lost control of the little guy.

As a side note, once Blake did get up he went out to watch Tony clean the ducks. "Mom, you won't believe what Dad is doing to those ducks out there!!" Tony and Blake are headed out to 317 this evening to sit in the stands and see what they can see. There are a lot of hogs out there, so Blake may get an education on cleaning a hog.

It's been a CRAZY two weeks around here!!

I don't even know where to start!! Life has been a little crazy around here lately, so I figured that even though I have NO idea where my camera is to get you some new pics, I'd better at least get this all down.

We are very sad to say that we are now down to only 2 dogs. Biggirl died on October 22. Of course Tony was out of town, so I had to get a little help getting her loaded up in the back of the Suburban to go to the vet. She was the smallest of the 3, but 80 pounds is still a lot!! She was our adoptee from the Lufkin Humane Society (my sister adopted her 8 or 9 years ago.) We think she was 13 or 14 years old, so she lived much longer than most dogs of her breed and size. Blake and Tony burried her back behind his office, Blake picked the spot. We had considered taking her to 317 but since you don't really get to plan these things in advance, we weren't able to get her out there. Blake picked a spot "between the shady trees because she LOVED shady trees." Tony said that the first spot he picked was by a creek and it had been used as a concrete washout. So, he directed Blake to a new area and told him he could pick a spot. The ground is very sandy so Tony expected to have an easy time digging the hole (you know, since he was using the backhoe.) Tony said that about 6 inches down he hit bedrock!! The ground was so hard that it took him almost an hour to dig a hole for her...with a backhoe!! Blake was insistent on the spot and Tony said he wasn't going to argue with him. We are now really glad that we didn't take her to 317. He had a pretty tough week or so and has had a lot of questions about death and we don't want him to be constantly reminded every time we go to 317. Ethan on the other hand is very matter of fact about the who situation and tells just about everyone that he had a dog but now she is " Day-ud" He has such a Texas drawl sometimes, you can't help but laugh at him. The first few days Ethan would say, "Biggirl's at the doctor" and Blake would set him straight, "No she's not, she's dead. She is in heaven with her new body and she is so happy now."

Last week was full of preparations for our big race weekend. Tony and I are absolutely worn out. The boys absolutely love the races. Stay tuned for the NASCAR post.

Yesterday was Chase's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASE RYAN!!! Since things have been so crazy lately, we just went to McDonalds with a cake and had some friends meet us there. It wasn't anything fancy, but he was happy with it. It was definitely the easiest "party" we have ever had for one of the kids. No clean up, no big expensive party and there wasn't any major planning involved. He got a few presents that we just brought home for him to open after nap. I guess the more birthdays we have around here, the more obvious it becomes that the kids don't care if they have a big huge expensive party or not. They have a good time no matter what or where the party is. I forgot my camera, but should be able to get a few pics from others to post later.

Also be looking for a Halloween post, most likely to be combined with the NASCAR post since we were at the track Friday night for trick-or treating.

I think this is the messiest my house has ever been. Everywhere I turn there is more mess. It is so bad I don't even know where to begin. I am drowning in laundry, season changes are such a beating. Then when you add all of the laundry that comes from a weekend in the 5th wheel (bedding, towels, etc) and maternity clothes for the cooler weather (OK, it isn't exactly cool, but hopefully it will be soon) and the extra laundry generated by a 2 year old with diarrhea (that was SO much fun at the track this weekend) I don't think it is possible to ever get caught up on luandry. I have also had several people return baby items that I had loaned out and not needed back (or so I thought.) I actually have a pretty good collection of baby items right now. Of course I don't have any idea where to put all of this stuff until we are ready to use it, but at least I have it.

Hopefully I will locate the camera and get those pics on later this week.

And finally, the pictures

The crazy camera has released the pictures, but it scrambled them. So, I have tried to sort through them and find the current ones. First is an attempt to get all of the kids at the birthday party. As you can tell, that didn't really happen. And yes, this is the best one.

Levi, Chase, Ethan (charging the camera), Lexi, Gabriel, Blake and Brooke (who had just broken her arm and we didn't know it was actually broken!! Poor baby girl!!)

Our attempt at getting a picture of Chase holding Trinity. As you can tell, he has just let go of her and is making yet another one of his many faces.
Blake and Ethan in their Spiderman costumes.
Chasey in Blake's mask. He wants to be Spiderman just like his brothers. Anyone have a 2T Spiderman costume he can borrow? I can't find one anywhere.
OK, now this just cracks me up. First, Tony is playing Blake's Leapster. Blake is wearing Tony's hat and his headphones and is watching Tony. I am sitting at the computer (taking the picture) and Chase walks in and tells me " No Mommy, MY Daddy!" Apparently he dosen't want me in the same room with his Daddy. NICE!!
Ethan driving the Kubota. Notice, that Papa is holding onto the handle and not the kid.
Blake and Papa on the Kubota (not sure what they are looking at, but it isn't what's in front of them.) These two are just plain dangerous when they get together.
Adult game night=kid movie night.
Levi, Ethan, Kindle, Blake and Chase.
Anyone want to guess who was the first one to sleep...or the last.

Got this one today....nothing special, except that they are all sitting quietly. Chase is actually messing with a screwdriver and some batteries, but he was being quiet nonetheless.
My friend, Michelle, holding Chase. Somewhere I have a picture of her with Blake when he was about the same age in the same position.
"I am so glad my big brother can open the freezer and get me an ice cream sandwich." I left Chase eating lunch while I dried my hair (he slept through lunch...see picture above) when I came back a few minutes later this is what I found.
Chase decided to groom Zoe with the grill sponge, she dosen't seem to mind too much.
Last night Chase was having one of his MY DADDY monents and when Tony sat down to eat dinner, little Chasey got his feelings hurt and pouted off into the living room. It hadn't been 3 minutes and Blake came and told us Chase was already asleep. We looked at each other thinking, he can't be asleep. He was. Crashed out, fast asleep with Sunday Night Football blaring in his face.

Wish I had my camera out for this one, but I didn't. While I was cleaning the kitchen this morning, the boys were all playing. I could see Blake on the other side of the couch, but couldn't tell what exactly he was doing. He had asked me for 4 AA batteries, but we only had 2. I went on with my cleaning and when I was finished I found him sitting in the living room floor with one of Chase's ride on toys completely disassembled. Wheels, handle, seat, lights, everything laying in the floor. I calmly asked him what he was doing. He told me that the thing wasn't working, so he was fixing it. Great, I told him, but can you please but it all back together before your brothers start carrying off the screws and miscellanious parts. I assured him that new batteries would likely do the trick. About 10 minutes later he heads to the backyard, tells me he has it all put back together and hands me a lid (just like Dad when he has leftover parts) with 6 or 7 screws in it. What are these I asked him? They are just spare parts we don't need anymore!! And he is off to play in the backyard......and Chase is cruising the living room on his newly repaired rocket (that still dosen't have working lights or sound....or all of the screws it had earlier in the day.)