Lunch Time

Brandt loves to pray.  So we told him that if he is going to pray he needs to pray loud so everyone can hear him.  So all of a sudden you were hear "Dear Jesus" really loud.  It's very cute!  He used to have meltdowns that someone would pray before him.  So this afternoon, I was on the phone and they came in the kitchen for lunch.  So I handed them their plates and they went and sat down at the table.  I was talking on the phone and I looked over at them at the table and they both had their hands folded and heads bowed, and Brandt was praying.  It was a very precious moment to watch my children sit and talk to Jesus together before they ate.  They amaze me every day.

Firsts

February 24th... we found Laekin looking up at us when we went in to get her from her nap.  She rolled over from stomach to back for the first time.

March 7th ...Laekin had her first food.  It was carrots from Papa's garden.  She loved them and acted like she had been eating solids from a spoon all her life.  Since then she has had green beans, peas, squash, sweet potatoes, apple sauce and banana's.  Surprisingly, she makes faces at the fruits and gobbles up the vegetables.

April 5th... Laekin got her first tooth.

Laekin also really likes to eat her toes when I am changing her diaper.  When I am holding her she will take her chubby little hand and turn my head so she can see my earrings...the girl likes bling.  She also likes to pull hair...ouch!!

A few of my favorite things right now

I love how the girl comes out in Lucy and the boy comes out in Brandt whenever they get a treat.  Lucy savors each bite and takes forever to eat it, and Brandt sees how fast he can shove the whole thing in his mouth.  He than says "look mama, I'm a piggy." It makes me laugh every time. 

I love that Laekin starts eating my face, which makes me giggle and then it makes her start giggling.  I love that Laekin bounces back and forth like she is dancing and sucks her bottom lip while making bubbles.  I love the big smiles that she gives me when I look at her, and the fact that she carefully watches me.  I love her funny face she makes at us by scrunching up her nose and breathing in and out of her nose really fast... so cute!!

I love to listen to Brandt and Lucy play make-believe.  I love that I can still instantly heal boo-boo's with a kiss.  Brandt will be upstairs and will hurt himself.  He will walk all the way downstairs to find me, have me kiss it and will instantly stop crying and then head upstairs to play again.

I love my children...thank you, Jesus how special you made each of them!

Car Wash

A few weeks ago I was laying in bed with Brandt before he fell asleep.  We were talking and singing, and I was telling him about Jesus.  I told him that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and came back to life on the 3rd day so that he could wash our sins away and take us to heaven with Him one day.  He said, "Mama what is sin"...so we talked about different things that are sin.  He laid there quietly for a while and then he sat up and looked at me and said "Mama, does Jesus wash our sins in the car wash?"  I giggled and kissed on him and said, no Brandt he doesn't wash our sins in the car wash.  It was so precious and cute!!  The funny thing is that he was very concerned because he doesn't like the car wash.  We will get in the van and he will ask if we are going to "take a car wash."  So I wonder what he was thinking when he asked if Jesus washes our sins in the car wash. 

Homeschooling

Lucy started kindergarten this year, and I am blessed to be her teacher. Our first day of school was supposed to be before Laekin was born, but because she surprised us and came early, our first day of school was put off until the day after Labor Day. I told Mike that I had the shortest maternity leave ever...1 week. 

 Homeschooling has been great.  We do school every day, but not necessarily at any set time.  Lucy has been great about being flexible because when you have a newborn and she needs to eat, well, it's time to take a break no matter where we are at.  Sometimes we don't even start until Brandt is napping in the afternoon, but he has been great about sitting with us and coloring or going up to his room and playing.  Thankfully, it only takes about 2 hours a day + her 30 minutes of reading, so we are done fairly quickly.  It's been amazing to see how her penmanship has improved these past 11 weeks.  She really is a great student.  A blessing to teach!

Baby Laekin

Here's your story Miss Laekin on your arrival to our family...

On Friday, August 26th, I started having contractions after I had put Lucy and Brandt to bed. They just kept coming and after a few hours they finally stopped. I was so upset because my parents weren't planning on coming down until the 29th because I wasn't due for another week yet so this was not how things were planned out. I was quite relieved when the contractions stopped because we had planned our last outing together as a family of 4 the next day. So on Saturday, we went and watched my 5 year old nephew play football, got some groceries and went home to have lunch before getting ready to go to the aquarium. We spent the day at the aquarium and I had to sit down a few times because of tightness in my belly, which is pretty normal. 

After seeing sea horses, sharks, jelly fish and other cool sea creatures, we went to Los Cabos for dinner.  We had a yummy dinner and they even gave us free dessert.  We then stopped to pick up a few things on the way home that I needed before Baby Sissy came, and when we got home the contractions started. It was about 6pm. I sat on the chair in the living room thinking this can't be happening again, and about 9pm I decided to just go to bed and hopefully they would go away while I was sleeping. Then at 11pm I woke up with a strong contraction. I got up and went into the living room where Mike was and said, "I don't think these contractions are going to go away. I think we are going to have this baby." He was quite surprised. I sat down on the couch and we started to time the contractions, and about 1am we decided we better call my sister, Heather, to see if she would be able to come over and watch the kids, and of course we couldn't get a hold of her. We then called my parents and woke them up in the middle of the night and told them that this little baby decided to come early (I've always been late) so since they live 13 hours away, they weren't going to make it to watch the kids but they could start praying.  Heather called back a little while later and came over about 2am. We continued to time the contractions, and finally we decided we better go to the hospital. I got my stuff together and we left for the hospital about 3am. I called my sister-in-law, Marilee, on the way to the hospital because she lived in Dallas and wanted to come up for the birth. The nurses checked me and I was 4cm, so they decided to check me in and get started. At about 5:30 they came in to give me my epidural, and for some reason they said that Mike had to leave the room while I was getting it. So I sat up and leaned over my big contracting belly while he prepared to give me the epidural, and all of a sudden I had this electric shock run through my body that caused me to jump. He began to ask me questions like can you feel your toes...are you light headed, etc. Apparently, he went to far in and punctured my spine. He re-did the epidural and got the needle in and had me lie down on my back. All of a sudden I felt like I couldn't breathe. They kept telling me that my heart rate was fine and the baby was fine. I kept asking for Mike and they told me that he couldn't come in...if my legs weren't numb I would have kicked him. Then I told him that I felt like I was going to pass out, and you know what he said "well, then just pass out." I thought he should have shown a little more concern...once again I wanted to kick him. Then all of a sudden I started throwing up. They wouldn't let me sit, so I had to puke in a little thing with my head turned to the side while the nurse held it...quite humbling! I found out that this was all part of a panic attack. It was awful... such an out of control feeling. They finally got me under control and Mike came back in. He was gone for over an hour and was wondering what was taking so long.  At about 7:30 we called Heather to have her take the kids over to my cousin's house because she had wanted to be with us for the baby's birth.  So Heather got to the hospital around 9:00.  They gave me stuff to speed up the contractions and the doctor, who wasn't Dr. Williamson because he wasn't on call and it was a Sunday, came and broke my water.  Finally, they had me start pushing and the epidural wasn't working as well as with Lucy and Brandt because I could feel it and it kind of grossed me out.  So it took me longer to push out this little girl than with the others mostly for that reason.  It was a girl and she was perfect with a full head of dark hair.  Oh my, she was so precious!!  Now for a name... we asked her, do you like Laekin and she started to cry, so I said "well, Brooklyn it is," But I was only teasing because Mike has talked about liking the name Laekin for as long as I've known him.  So her name is Laekin June.  June is because Mike's grandma and mom's middle name is June.  Laekin was born at 11:08am on August 28th and she weighed 7lbs, 10oz (our smallest baby) and was 20 1/2 inches long.  Aunt Marilee arrived about 1/2 hour after Laekin was born...I'll tease her forever that if she would have gotten up when we called at 3am she could have made it, but she chose to sleep.  Lucy and Brandt came up to the hospital and Lucy was smiling and so excited while Brandt was very hesitant.  He kept rubbing her head and after he held her he would come and snuggle with me.  We had all our Tulsa family and some friends come up the hospital to see us...it was great to share our joy with the ones we love most.  So now we are a family of 5.  We have 3 beautiful precious gifts from God who are all healthy.  What more could a Daddy and Mommy want!! 

My parents packed in a hurry and drove late into the night so they could meet Laekin Monday morning and stay with Lucy and Brandt while I was in the hospital...yes, they really are that wonderful!!  I ended up suffering from a spinal headache because of the bad epidural which led to other problems that I don't think I want to write down to remember.  All I know is that Laekin was born and she was perfect and we can't imagine life without her. 

Laekin June, I want you to know that you were worth every day of nausea and every pain that I had.  It was a joy to carry you for 9 months in my tummy and even a greater joy to hold you in my arms.  You are 12 weeks old now...you watch me walk away, you greet me with a big smile and you are comforted by my voice.  I love you with all my heart and I pray that you will grow up to love Jesus and walk in His Ways, and that you will bring much joy to everyone you meet.  You are absolutely beautiful and precious!! All my Love, Mommy!!

Baby Sissy

Brandt and Lucy are both very excited about Baby Sissy.  She is due in 16 days.  I'll just be standing up and Lucy will come up to me and rub my tummy and give it a kiss and say hi baby sissy.  Brandt rubs my tummy a lot when he is sitting on my lap and in a very high voice, he says over and over again "hi baby sissy, hi baby sissy."  The other morning I walked into his room to get him and the first thing he said was "mommy, baby sissy not come out of your tummy to play choo-choo's with me yet."  No, Brandt, not yet.  He'll also say things like "baby sissy isn't ready to come out of your tummy yet." 

We finished Brandt's big boy room, but he doesn't want to sleep in it yet.  He told me last night "baby sissy sleep in my big boy bed and I sleep in my bed."  Oh boy, what to do now.  I thought having it done and moving all his stuff in there would do it, but I guess not. 

Just a random cute thing... when Brandt doesn't know how to do something, he says "I can't know how."  He often uses can't in place of don't and it's so cute that I don't correct him, yet.