October

It was here and just kind of flew by! Work was faint, My hours are not there, so I get to be home more. Which I love, but I miss the extra money. The kids are growing so fast. Football and Soccer are over for the year, THANK GOD! It seemed like we were at the ball field every day since April. Dylan had a football tournament yesterday. It was so cold, like 40 degrees and rain. We were soaked. Hayden and Braeleigh were not handling the cold at all so Nick took them home. Poor Dylan was crying after his first game, he was too cold and wanted to quit, but he toughed it out. He got a touchdown in his 3rd game. He did such a good job! The family all came up and we went to dinner afterwards.
We are getting geared up for Halloween. I can't wait to see the kids actually IN there costumes. Dylan is being Heat Blaster from Ben 10, Hayden is being a monster, and Braeleigh a butterfly. I will be sure to post pics then!

October?

Is it even possible? It's really October? Fall is in full swing here in Michigan. The leaves are changing and falling, allergies are here, and it's cold! We had to break down and turn our heat on last week, We couldn't have cold babies. We have survived the first month of school. Dylan seems to be quite the little chatterbox. I wouldn't know where he gets that from though :) He is doing great on all of his work though, so that's good. He finally just lost his first tooth. After watching all of his friends losing them the past 2 years, he was begging to lose his own. Even told me he wasn't going to brush his teeth so they would fall out. After hours of working at it, I got it out.

The tooth fairy was nice to him, he got $10. Now he's insisting I take him to Toys R Us. The little busy bee is also still playing Soccer and Football. He plays Soccer Monday nights, he has to miss it on Wednesdays because of football. He's is such a good soccer player. His coach even asked us if we can try to make it on Wednesday's because they never win on days he isn't there. It's nice to hear such positive things about your children. In football, hes so little the kids plow him over. Nick says hes finally toughening(Is this even a word?) up and fighting back. Almost all the kids are 7 and 8, so hes a younger one on the team, but he is loving it. They are wearing all pads, it makes him look so dark big :(

Our little princess is growing right up too. She had her 4 month well baby visit last week. She's up to 15lbs now and 27 inches long. Just like with the boys, they had to measure her a few times because she is so long. Sadly, I am sure all 3 will pass me up in height in no time. We had some concerns with her having acid reflux, wel now she spits up a lot, so I asked. Instead of just assuming she has it and medicating her, her pediatrician would like to know for sure. So she is getting an upper G.I done and an ultrasound on her belly. Hopefully everything will go ok and we can make her feel better. She's also teething hard core. My boys were never cranky when teething, except Dylan always got ear infections when he got a tooth so we had to deal with that instead. But she just screams and nothing consoles her :( She also started rolling both ways now. Shes been rolling back to belly for so long she now can go belly to back as well, so keeping her in 1 spot for long is nearing impossible. I do not know what I will do with 2 mobile babies.
So any how, Happy October to us! We have a busy month ahead, so I should have more to write about soon.

Hayden is well...19 months old!

So today Hayden turns 19 months old. It amazes me how fast time flies. He is growing so much each day. Last month I forgot to update his 18 month stats. He was 25lbs....My chunky baby is now a thin toddler! And he was 34.5 inches tall! He must get the height from daddy. He's right on track with what he should be doing. He's slowly talking more and more. But still a lot of jibberish. Awesome news is....at home he's almost all the way potty trained! I don't have the guts to train him outside the house yet because he doesn't tell us when he has to go, he just strips and goes. And night time hes still real wet, so in time. Though he did nap in underwear the other day and woke up dry! Now with Dylan in school, I think I will have more time to work with Hayden like I did when D was little. There minds are such sponges at this age, I need to take advantage. They are so fun to watch grow. Last night in the tub, I bathed Hayden alone, and he was playing basketball. It was fun to watch his mind work, like how to get the ball out of the hoop, it took a few minutes but he figured it out. Then he stacked his stacking cups the right way. So cute!
Dylan is now in the 1st grade. First 2 days went well, hes enjoying himself. He also started football tonight and loves it. He's grown up so much. He's an awesome big brother and helps me out whenever I need him. Makes me sad hes getting so big...

Michigan's Adventure

A few months ago, we decided we had wanted to do something fun with the kids this summer. We had never been to Michigan's Adventure but love theme parks, so we thought it would be fun! We talked to Mandy and Ellis to see if they wanted to join us and they did. So we picked the date, August 8th to go. Unfortunatly for Mandy and Ellis, Ellis had to have his Shoulder reconstruction surgery the week before so they were out. I wanted the kids to still be able to go and have a great time so we offered to take them with us. It wasn't easy convincing them to let us take the kids but they did.
We left early Saturday morning of the 8th. My mom came up and stayed with Braeleigh so we didn't have to drag her around the park. Any way, it was pouring and supposed to rain the whole day. We toughed it out any way, got there around 11:30am and the rain stopped so we headed into the park. Started out on the kiddie rides so Hayden could ride, and went on a few big ones in between. Then it got hot, so we decided to go back to the van and eat lunch and change into our suits. We then headed to the water park. Everyone had a blast. We went down water slides, took Hayden in the pools, he loved it. We stayed there until the water park closed at 7 then went and got dinner. Then we headed back to the rides. The kids all had a blast, as did Nick and I. We had so much fun we already said we have to go back next year. Except next year we plan to get more people to go.

Background

This is the story all about how we got started.

It was April 20, 2000, after talking online and on the phone for a few weeks, Nick and I decided to meet up. He was driving all the way from E.R. to my house in L.O. I saw him driving up and down my road, so I sent Will out to flag him down, hahahaha Funny that Will doesn't remember it. So any way, we met, He decided he couldn't resist me, and the rest is history. LOL
Two and a half years into our relationship I found out I was pregnant with Dylan. It was 1 of the scariest most exciting things to happen to me. There was no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't raise the baby. On January 2, 2003, we found out we were having a baby boy. Nick was so excited, I don't think anyone could have wiped the smile off his face. On May 24, 2003, after 5 short hours of very hard labor, Dylan Nicholas entered the world at 4:45pm. He weighed in at 7lbs 8oz and 19 inches long. He was perfect.
Nick finally proposed to me on Christmas Eve Night/Christmas morning in our apartment living room. He wanted it to be a surprise, but me being the snoop I am, figured it all out. He couldn't wait until morning, so once we had gotten home from visiting my family, we were getting Dylan ready for bed and waiting for Santa to come, and he got down on his knee. Of course, I said Yes! We got married on June 30, 2007. It was a perfect day. I couldn't have asked for anything better. Let's rewind a few weeks...Nick and I had talked about having another baby. With Dylan being 4, it was time. We had no idea it would only take us 1 day of trying for it to happen. But it did. Our baby who was supposed to be a wedding night/honeymoon baby, came a few weeks earlier. I took a test about a week before our wedding, and I was pregnant!
On October 2, 2007 we found out we were having yet another boy! I was ok with that, because I knew we would have more children any way. On February 8, 2008, I slipped on the ice and fell belly first. Baby was still moving around so I thought all was ok. Then the next day, I felt like my blood pressure was high. I called my doctor that evening and she said I needed to go to L&D right away to be monitored. We got to the hospital at about 10pm on the 9th, after a few hours of monitoring, Baby and I were fine. They said since I was already there, I could be induced if I wanted. I said yes! Induction started around 2am on the 10th. Labor kicked in around 6am. At 11:43am on February 10, 2008, Hayden Ray entered the world. He was 7lbs 10oz and 20 inches long. Another perfect baby boy!
Hayden was only 7 months old when I found out I was pregnant yet again. This time I was in shock and disbelief. I have an infant, no way could I be pregnant! On December 29, 2008, we found out we were having a baby Girl! I had wanted a girl so bad and couldn't believe I was finally getting one. But she was letting me know early that having a girl was no fun! On January 22, 2009, after suffering 8 gall bladder attacks since Christmas day, I made Nick take me to the ER. Yup, I was having Gall Bladder attacks, Surgery couldn't wait, so they drugged me up for 4 days until my body could handle surgery and took it out. Baby girl was such a trooper and made it through ok! Went home after being in the hospital for 6 days. Then about 6 weeks later, my body decided to make me faint while working. After that I took myself off work. Our baby girl, who we thought would come early after so many complications, was hanging on for dear life. With Dylan's birthday fast approaching, and a huge party planned. I asked to be induced. They agreed to do so on May 18, 2009. I had a chit chat with baby girl and told her she could NOT come on May 18th. That is the birthday of Nick's grandpa, Shayne, Katie, and Seth. When they finally got me in and got the Cytotek entered, it was about 8-9pm. Having such fast labors before, I was nervous, but as midnight approached, I was hopefull that she listened to me. Hours seems to be going by and I was slowly progressing. I told them that she was hanging on for dear life. 4:30am I was still stuck at 4CM, so they were going to discuss starting Pitocin and come back. Well baby girl must not have liked that, because at 5AM I told Mandy I had to push. She ran and got the nurse. Braeleigh Paige entered the world at 5:08am on May 19, 2009. She was 8lbs and 21 inches long. She was absolutely perfect.
Life with 3 has been anything but easy. But we are taking it 1 day at a time and living life the best we can. We are very thankful to have 3 healthy and beautiful children. They keep us very busy. This is why I will be here to write out our life...In a nutshell!