The Graham Family

Well Checks.

2009-03-03T16:59:00.003-06:00

Lauren had her 4 month well check on February 23rd, but I waited to post about it until after Kaitlyn had hers. (Which was today!)

Lauren is doing great! She is 25 inches long (90%) and is 15.2 lbs. (90%) - she's a big girl! She had to get some shots but she did alright. I guess I can say she did as well as any baby does when they get a big needle in their leg.

Kaitlyn's appointment could have gone better. I asked Crystal to come with me because it's hard for me to get out with both girls, especially when it's during Lauren's feeding time. We went and had her weighed and measured and she is 37 1/4 inches long and is 31.8 lbs. and she was 50% for both. She's up to date in everything that she should be doing at 3 years, and they also found out that she's got a benign heart murmur. They said it wasn't anything to worry about so I'm very thankful for that.

Kaitlyn's so silly.

2009-02-24T19:12:00.002-06:00

Look how I found her outside today:

Kaitlyn's three!!!

2009-02-23T16:21:00.002-06:00

Yesterday we had Kaitlyn's birthday party at our house and were joined by 34 of our friends and family! It was crazy but we had so much fun! Kaitlyn was pooped by the time she needed to go to bed! But it was really so much fun and I'm so happy that so many people showed up! We had hamburgers and hot dogs, chips, drinks and lots of other stuff! We had 'Pin the shoe on Cinderella' and a pinata for the kids. (They mostly ran around the backyard or played on the swingset.

Because we have SO MANY pictures, I put them all on a slide. Just click the + sign to make it go faster, and if you hover over the picture it will tell you who is in the picture. (Not all, but most!)

February is flying by!

2009-02-16T14:50:00.003-06:00

Note: This blog background is dedicated to Kaitlyn's upcoming birthday!!!

February has been such a busy month for us! I've been running around since the beginning of the month trying to get Kaitlyn's birthday decorations and just planning it in general. We are going to have a Cinderella themed party at our house. We finally got the swingset from my parents set up this weekend and this coming Sunday we will be celebrating Kaitlyn's third birthday! Do not worry - I am fully prepared to take tons of pictures and post them all!

Lauren is just growing like a weed too! She's got a tooth coming in so she's been extremley fussy. I feel terrible for her! I wish there was a way to help it not hurt as bad as it does, but I know it'll pass. Last night she also started scooting her legs under her, all she needs to do is learn how to push up on her arms and pretty soon she's going to be crawling everywhere. I can't believe that she's going to be four months either. It's just crazy to me how fast the girls are growing. Brandon's so suprised when he sees something new that Lauren's doing. She's still such a happy baby, even with the teething. She's always smiling and cooing and just being her cute self.

Kaitlyn has started being a bit harder for me to control. Last week she drew with a pen all over our new couch cushion, she ripped our chair, and today she broke the screen door off of our backdoor. I've always heard of the Terrible Two's so this was pretty suprising. She's still having a hard time potty training, but she does remember to go #2, and now all we really have to work on is #1.

We recently celebrated my mom's birthday and were all suprised to find out that she and her long time beau Billy got married on the 8th! We are all so happy because Billy is really such a great person! He's been there for both of my girls births, and is there for us in general. I couldn't imagine it being anyone else!

Kaitlyn has made some new friends too. During the week Grannie aka Crystal will come over and take her to the park, and they met a little girl named Riley. We went to her third birthday on the 7th. It's pretty neat that they happened to meet because Riley and Kaitlyn are the same age, and they both have little sisters, Olivia and Lauren - who are also the same age! We also met a family at Walgreens one day. I had gone to pick up some photos and Kaitlyn met a little girl (who was with her dad in the parking lot) and they started running around and playing. When talking to the dad, I found out that they had just moved down from Oregon and they didn't really know anyone. I let him know that they were more than welcome to come to Kaitlyn's party (they didn't have to bring a gift!). I went inside and met his wife and let her know what I had spoke with her husband about. I'm usually too shy to approach people like that, but I'm happy I did.

Brandon and I were able to have some kid-free time this Valentine's day also. Crystal came and picked up Kaitlyn early that morning and took her to see Sesame Street Live. I was so proud of Kaitlyn because this is the first year that she stayed and watched the entire show! After they saw that, she and Grannie took a nap, and around 5PM we took Lauren to stay with them. Brandon and I went bowling with our friends Sandy and Jason, and afterwards we went out to dinner. It was a very nice day! Oh, and I forgot to mention that Brandon suprised me with the most beautiful pink roses!

Here are some pictures from this month. :)

A much needed update!!

2009-01-16T10:22:00.002-06:00

This is our super late Christmas update!! I know I've been slacking but it's been so busy here latley I just haven't had the time!

Christmas was great! We had so much fun spending time with our family, and it was great to see how excited Kaitlyn was to know that Santa was visiting and then her waking up Christmas morning and seeing the big present he brought her! She got so many toys too... I really have to rearrange her room and go through some of her old toys because everything is so crowded! Lauren had a good Christmas too. She got a lot of baby toys, and some baby sign language flash cards.

Christmas Eve was spent with my my mom, stepdad, stepsister, brother, and grandparents; and Christmas day we got up early and opened gifts and then the girls and I drove out to see my dad, stepmom, brother and sister. After spending the day with them, we drove back into town and had dinner with John and Crystal and opened the gifts from them and family.

Here are some pictures over the Christmas holiday:

Next week Lauren will be three months old! It really is going by so fast, because pretty soon she'll be four months and Kaitlyn will be THREE YEARS OLD! I'm already starting to plan Kaitlyn's birthday party. She's getting a late Christmas gift from my mom and stepdad - a swingset!! And if the weather is nice enough, I'll have a backyard birthday party. Kaitlyn also wants to have a red racecar birthday cake, because she is really into the disney movie Cars. I tried to talk her into a pink car but she said, "No mommy, Lightning McQueen is RED!!!"

Here are some pictures of our growing girls:

I'm slowly starting to get the hang of having two little ones at home all day, and I'm learning ways to keep them occupied so that I can clean! Lauren now sits in her bouncer chair so she can watch me, since she's become such a mommy's girl. Kaitlyn is usually occupied with her legos. We got her a small box for Christmas and she loves them! I was a bit worried she'd try to put them into her mouth but she doesn't - she'll sit there and make houses and other things and bring them over and show me. Santa brought her a giant walk-in kitchen so she plays with that a lot and makes me food to eat. And her Grannie and Grandpa got her an adorable pink powerwheel's jeep that she loves! Brandon got some pictures of her, but they weren't very good, so I'll be posting some pictures of her in that soon.

2 months!!

2008-12-23T19:59:00.002-06:00

Lauren is already 2 months old! It's sad... it seems like yesterday we were coming home from the hospital and I was FREAKING out!! It's been so different from when we had Kaitlyn, actually it's been a blessing! Lauren is such an easygoing baby. Yeah, you take away the bottle and she's screaming bloody murder, but that's just because she's my little chunker.

Today I took her into the doctor for her 2 month well-check appointment and she's doing great! She is 21 1/2 inches long, her head measured at 38 cm. and she weighs 12 lbs. 4 oz.!! She's average in everything but her weight, she's in the 90th percentile, which means she's bigger than 90%.

I can't believe tomorrow is already Christmas Eve! We will be going to my mom's house to spend time with them, and then Christmas morning we will open our gifts here and head off to my dad and stepmom's house. THEN we will be going to see John and Crystal. It's going to be very busy!

Six more days!!

2008-12-19T17:25:00.002-06:00

I'm so excited about Christmas coming! I've got tons of presents under our tree, and I'm still waiting on a few to be delivered or to have the free time to wrap without Kaitlyn seeing. Tuesday I went out with my stepdad and we got Kaitlyn this GIGANTIC kitchen!! She's going to be so excited! Because Brandon let her see all of her gifts on Thanksgiving, this is going to be her Santa gift. I really don't know if it's going to fit into her room though, cross your fingers!!

Today we went out and got the girls Christmas pictures done. If Brandon hadn't been at work I would have loved to take a family picture, but unfortunatley he was. Kaitlyn was okay, but sitting still and posing isn't something she was interested in. Lauren did great though, she was a little trooper! Here are some pictures from today:

With the pictures we also got 6 free photo greeting cards... so I'm figuring out who to send those out to. I've also got to send out the last of my Christmas cards AND still some of my thank you cards from gifts that were sent down to Lauren. So please don't think I've forgotten, it's been crazy here as usual.

Some pictures of our Christmas tree...

2008-12-06T20:20:00.002-06:00

We got our tree today, the first real one we've ever had! Once we get the house cleaned up I'll take pictures of the decorations that are up. We had to rearrange some for our tree. Brandon is also putting up our Christmas lights so once they're up I'll post pictures of that too!

Also I had to brag about my new car! My extremley generous in-laws got us a 1999 Chevrolet Venture. It's so nice! It fits all of us comfortably! This thing has 16 cup holders! I have no clue what anyone would do with that many cup holders but I can't help but brag, haha. Here it is...

Lots of pictures!!

2008-12-04T13:30:00.002-06:00

I know, I know! I've been slacking when it comes to posting updates and pictures.

Things have been pretty crazy now since Lauren is up more during the day. I sure do miss her sleeping all the time! (Just kidding!) She's getting so big and smiles all the time! She's also making more noises and holds herself up pretty good when propped. After a while she'll start to slump and kind of fold into a baby ball (as Brandon likes to call it) but she's still a pretty easy baby. She's starting to let you know when she's hungry or dirty or upset. It's funny because she'll cry and when you pick her up and pat her she'll make little whimper sounds like she's nagging you for not getting her quick enough.

Kaitlyn is still her usual self - full of questions and energy. The past few days she's been giving herself "tattoos" - which is her getting a pen and drawing all over herself. It's just lovely.

This weekend we are going to put up our Christmas lights and go and buy a real tree! I'm really excited! We've also got some decorations put up around the house but I'll post pictures after we get our tree, because a lot of the things we've got up now will just have to be moved for it.

Here are a ton of pictures of the girls. Kaitlyn's not been very cooperative when it comes to pictures, she closes her eyes all the time now and it makes for some pretty bad ones. I think this weekend I may go and have professional pictures made of the girls. I'm still debating on if I should do that or take my own pictures. We'll see!

These were from today. I finally caught Lauren smiling!!

Elf Yourself!

2008-12-03T15:59:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T13:22:00.001-06:00

We hope everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving!

I love the holidays!

2008-11-25T13:20:00.003-06:00

This year we're celebrating Thanksgiving with our little family. I went out Saturday with Lauren and bought a few Christmas gifts for Kaitlyn and then went and bought groceries. We've got a turkey, fixings for green bean casserole, corn casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, a "pumpkin pie", cranberry sauce... I'm excited! I have no clue how to even cook a turkey, haha, so I'm leaving that up to Brandon.

Yesterday I took both the girls to Target and Toys R Us and finished getting Kaitlyn's gifts. I'm proud of myself! It's not easy taking two kids and getting gifts while trying to hide them from one! We didn't really get much for Lauren, so far I've got a little rattle and some teethers. I'll probably get one more small thing for her, but she's so young she really isn't going to need much or even remember anything. Kaitlyn on the other hand, will have a decent Christmas. We were both hoping to get her some type of VTech learning system, but they're so expensive! I saw on a commercial last night that a store here is having a great sale and has them for only $20!! These things are normally $70 so if we find it we'll be getting that and then that's it! No more for her.

I'm really excited that we're in a house this year because we'll be able to put Christmas lights up and we're even going to go and buy a real tree! I'm thinking about buying some cranberries and stringing them with Kaitlyn. I also have been thinking about making applesauce decorations. (You mix the cinnamon and applesause and use cookie cutters to make characters and let them dry.) I'm just wanting Kaitlyn to have a good Christmas this year, which she will be, and have her more involved with everything since she's older.

Lauren's gotten so big! I can't believe she's already a month old! She smiles now too! She's got the cutest little smile. It started Saturday. I was talking to her and kept getting smiles. I was so excited! So no more gassy smiles. Now all I have to do is catch her in the act! Kaitlyn's doing much better with her. She's always kissing her and wanting to hug her. I even managed to get her to hold her today for a picture. Now all I need to work on her with is keeping her eyes open during pictures, lol.

The holiday's are coming!

2008-11-14T11:46:00.003-06:00

With Christmas coming up so soon I've had a lot on my mind. I've been browsing online things that we could look into getting for the girls. Lauren is only going to be two months so we're probably going to have one or two very small things under the tree for her, and because Kaitlyn is older we're really going to try to focus on her. So far I've found some really cool things for her. She's starting to tell me what she wants so it helps that I've got some help now. Most of the things we got for her last year she's just starting to get into. Brandon and I are looking at a learning game system for her, I think it's called a VTech Motion? It helps kids learn counting and their ABC's and other things and incorperates moving and jumping - so they're not just sitting in front of a tv screen working their fingers. I'm hoping that my stepdad will find more odd jobs around his body shop for me to do to earn some extra money too. I'd like to be able to get Brandon gifts with money I've earned instead of using "his" money. We'll see how that goes.

Lauren is getting so big! She's eating anywhere from 4 to 5 ounces of formula now, she's much more aware of her surroundings as well. Kaitlyn will zoom past her and Lauren will try to follow her as fast as she can. A week ago she rolled over from her belly to her back too. It's still pretty much the same schedule. She sleeps anywhere from 3 to 5 hours, she'll wake up to eat and get a diaper change, maybe stay up for an hour or so and then it's back to sleep! I'm so happy with how well she's doing too. With Kaitlyn it was so hard, especially for first time parents to have a newborn who screamed 24/7. I have thought that maybe the fact that we used powder formula could have been the problem. We only tried that once with Lauren and she was gassy and fussy, so we've stuck with the liquid kind. The only thing I don't like about that is that we're buying it more than we would with a can, but it really has helped.

Kaitlyn is also starting to show more interst in her little sister. She wants to hold her more, (not for that long though!) and wants to feed her. And when I've got Lauren laying on a blanket for back or tummy time, Kaitlyn lays next to her and plays with her. I know it's still hard on her because she's wanting me to play with her but I'm busy and Brandon's off at work all day. If we were able to I'd let her go to daycare for a day or two a week. Maybe after I find some sort of stay at home job we can manage that.

When we were at the hospital I had hoped that they still offered the birth announcements and first photo - but found out that they had taken that away. I was a little disappointed because the announcements were so cute with Kaitlyn and I had really wanted to do the same for Lauren! Well, I've been looking around at places to see the prices of announcements and finally found somewhere to get some made for Lauren! So we will have those sent out soon! (I apologize for how long it took!) I've mentioned to Brandon that I want to go have family pictures made of the four of us. We've never had a nice, professional picture of our family, and with the holiday's and now with Lauren here I would really like to finally do that.

Here are some recent pictures I've taken. I'm still trying to balance out everything so I'm able to post here. It's starting to get a little better, but I've still got my off days!

Two Week Check Up!

2008-11-04T18:30:00.002-06:00

Today Lauren had her check up. She's grown one inch since she was born, so she is now 21 inches long. Last Monday we took her for her five day check up and she weighed in at 7 lbs 14 oz, and today she was up to 8 lbs 6 oz - one ounce bigger from her birth weight! She's doing well - eating about 3 oz every three to four hours, and she usually sleeps well but today she's been up quite a bit. They did the heel prick test and she screamed and cried, it was terrible! But we don't go back until December 23rd!

A picture of our growing girl from tonight:

Kaitlyn is not cooperating with pictures... she's still mad at me. I think she's angry that I had Lauren. :(

A quick update.

2008-11-03T15:20:00.004-06:00

Things have been pretty busy here. If I'm not taking care of one kid, it's the other! Kaitlyn is still having a bit of a hard time adjusting to having a little sister. She's not listening and talks back, she also has been throwing things and hitting - mostly me. I think she's too smart to do that with her dad.

Lauren is still sleeping a lot, but she's starting to stay up a bit more. It's hard for me to sneak a nap in. If Lauren's asleep and I want to get one in I'm not able to because Kaitlyn is up, or I try and she tells me to wake up, haha.

For Halloween Kaitlyn had so much fun! She went as a fairy or Tinkerbell - which ever she decided to say. My mom dressed up as Captain Hook and went door to door with her. It was very cute. Brandon wasn't able to be there because he gets off of work so late, it would have been nice for all of us to have been together! There are more pictures that were taken of Tink and Captain Hook, I have to wait until they're emailed!

Brandon's doing so well with Lauren. He says this time he knows what to do so he's helping as much as he can. He even kicked me out of the house on Thursday! It's nice to have him be so hands on, I could have gotten much worse in a husband!

Week 1.

2008-10-29T16:36:00.003-05:00

Today Lauren is one week old! It's been pretty hard on me adjusting to having two kids. Kaitlyn's been acting out. I feel so bad for her, and sometimes feel like we've thrown Lauren at her out of nowhere. Lauren is slowly starting to get a schedule. I've got a bit of ppd but my doctor's prescribed me some medicine so hopefully I'll be back to normal in no time.
Here are a few pictures of the girls. It's been hard keeping up with the blog only having a few hours of sleep a night! Once I get a better schedule going I'll be better at updating this, I swear!!

And I thought it would be neat to post a picture of Kaitlyn from when she was first born. They've got a few similar features, but don't really look alike.

Lauren Alexi is here!!

2008-10-24T08:35:00.002-05:00

We had her Wednesday at 3:44 PM, she weighed 8lbs 5 oz and was 20 inches long - not as small as everyone was predicting!!

The date hast been set!

2008-10-20T14:25:00.003-05:00

I had my doctor's appointment today to see if I was progressing on my own and it's pretty much stayed the same. So we discussed being induced and I will be induced this Wednesday. I go to the hospital at 6am and they will start me on the IV and get the pitocin drip going. My doctor said he would arrive around 8am and break my water and we'll see how things progress.

A good thing is that Brandon got a call from the court and they said that he would not be needed for jury duty, that they had postponed it. He had called earlier today to inform them that I would be going to the hospital and they basically said they could care less - he would still have to go. So that makes me feel much better to know that he's going to be there for Lauren's birth! Today I'll be packing some stuff for the hospital, and getting the small things washed up for Lauren. I'll also need to pack Kaitlyn's bag since she will be staying with either my mom or grandmother while I'm in the hospital and for a few days afterwards. I'm really nervous on how she's going to take that, since she hasn't been away from us in a while.

I'm sure things will go well though, and I can't wait to come back and post pictures of our new baby girl!

Weekend fun!

2008-10-19T20:07:00.005-05:00

We had ourselves a crazy weekend! *Still no baby!

Friday Kaitlyn painted the pumpkins we picked up at the pumpkin patch - she did great again! It was so much fun, and the weather was so nice we sat out in our front yard for the longest time just relaxing. We were out there for so long people started walking by and they'd talk to Kaitlyn and even comment on how cute she was, like we need to be reminded! I also painted her fingernails pink because she begged and for the first time listened when I told her she needed to be very still. So she was happy to show those off.

Today John's parents came over and we met them for the first time (Kaitlyn and I anyways!) and it was really nice! They were so sweet and it was nice to meet some of Brandon's family since all I've really met were John and Crystal and his birth mom. We all visited for a bit and ate, and even got a few pictures in. Kaitlyn wasn't very cooperative. She's in a phase where when she doesn't want to do something she'll say, "I don't feel good." or "I'm tired." - yeah... I must have rubbed off on her! But here are the pictures I did get.

Tomorrow I've got my follow up appointment to discuss when we will induce. My doctor had said that he would probably do that on Wednesday or Thursday but I think I'm going to request that he induce Wednesday. The earlier the better! And I just realized that if they do it that day, Lauren's birthday will be October 22nd (Kaitlyn's is February 22nd) - so we won't really forget the day. I'll update after the appointment. I highly doubt I'll go into labor before then! Brandon's been selected for jury duty and goes in tomorrow!! - I'm so nervous because what if he can't be there when I go into labor? I'm going to talk to my doctor to see if there is a way that we can get a letter saying that I am ready to pop and he can get out of it. If not, I have no clue what we're going to do!

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

2008-10-16T21:47:00.002-05:00

Today Kaitlyn and I made a trip out to Nana and Papa's house to go visit the pumpkin patch! Last year was Kaitlyn's first time going and she had so much fun, I had to take her again. The weather was so nice, cool enough to wear long sleeves! Papa took us and we checked out all the pumpkins, Kaitlyn was so excited she wasn't very cooperative when it came time to taking pictures. She'd put on a big goofy smile, but I did manage to get a few pictures!

(This one cracks me up! It looks like she's plotting her escape!)

Papa ended up buying us a big pumpkin to carve, and picked out Kaitlyn a mini painting pumpkin so she can do some more art. And because she was such a cutie pie, the people running the stand let her take a white mini pumpkin for free!

After the pumpkin patch we met up Nana and some family friends at a Mexican restaraunt and had dinner. Everyone has been telling me that I need to eat Mexican food or spicy food to help get Lauren to come... so we pigged out on chips and salsa! She's moving around like crazy and I'm having some contractions but it's nothing more than normal so I'm not thinking about it too much, she'll come when she comes.

Last night's artwork.

2008-10-16T10:36:00.002-05:00

Kaitlyn wasn't cooperative when it came time to taking pictures with her art we made last night, so I had to take a picture of them.

Her super cute pumpkin:

And her crazy flower garden:

I'm 40 weeks today!

2008-10-15T14:16:00.002-05:00

Today is my due date - not that it means anything! It seems like both of my girls love it so much in me, they are refusing to come on their own! Kaitlyn was forced out nine days late and little Lauren will follow in her big sister's path at either seven or eight days.

Last night was a full moon - and I've heard that sometimes that'll cause people to go into labor. So I was hoping that it would have an effect on me, but no so luck! I did have quite a bit of lower back contractions every time Lauren would move. They'd come and go in clusters. I went to bed and woke up a few times because my back was starting to hurt. I woke up for good around 3:00 am and tossed and turned until I gave up and just stayed laying in bed. By the time Brandon woke up for work my back was hurting so bad, and I wasn't sure if my stomach tightening was from Lauren balling up or a contraction, so I called my doctor's office to see what I should do. (I didn't want to be one of those women who goes into L&D for every little thing and be turned away.) Apparently nothing was wrong. I'm still dialted about the same, my back is still hurting and I'm still having the contractions - but I guess it doesn't mean anything is happening.

There was a bit of a scare at the office though. When the nurse checked Lauren's heart rate it was really high. It was measuring around 180 per minute. They came back and checked it again and it had only gone down to 176. "J" went and called someone at the hospital to see what should be done - Dr. Price was there in surgery and wasn't picking up his phone - and they told her that she should try again in ten minutes and if her rate didn't go down I would need to go into the hospital because it meant that the baby was under distress. They waited ten minutes and tried again and thankfully it had gone down to the 140's. The only thing that's making me a bit nervous is that I have no clue what is going on at home - if her rate is staying steady or if it's up again. Kaitlyn isn't really cooperating, but thankfully she's taking a nap right now.

I would love to go into labor on my own, but I know it's better for her to stay in and "bake" as long as she can. With the umbilical cord only having two vessels it could have been much worse. Lauren's heart is fine, she's got both kidney's, and staying in a bit longer will just making it to where she's going to be a good size - since they said she'd be smaller than Kaitlyn. Can't wait to meet her!!

A Halloween sneak peak!

2008-10-14T10:25:00.001-05:00

Here is Kaitlyn posing in her costume -

Our little artist.

2008-10-13T20:16:00.002-05:00

Check out how she wears her socks. If they aren't on her hands she wears them like this. I have to hide them at badtime because she won't stop playing with them.

Yet another doctor's appointment!

2008-10-13T13:12:00.002-05:00

Today I had my checkup at the doctor. He checked everything and I am at about 2 cm dialated. I'm a bit bummed, I had hoped to be further along. I guess you can't rush these things! She's still more on my left side, her heartbeat was strong and I have lost four pounds! I'm pretty suprised since I've been so hungry latley!! I would have thought that I gained weight with how much I've been snacking! He did say there is a chance that I could go into labor on my own this week - but if I haven't gone on my own by my next appointment (next Monday) he will induce me next Wednesday or Thursday. I must me very comfortable or something, it seems that both girls want to just stay inside me as long as they can!

Yesterday Kaitlyn completed another work of art. She's so creative!

During her naps I work on getting some things cut out so she can do more pictures. I'm trying to get a lot made before Lauren gets here so she'll have something to do. Plus she gets so proud of what she does! When she put together her garden, she kept showing it to her dad and Grannie showing it off, it was very cute.

Also an update with Kaitlyn - she's not fully potty-trained, but she's doing a lot better! She's starting to tell us more when she needs to go, and she's not just going #1... which is very nice! (Now daddy can help out more!

Weekend update.

2008-10-11T21:00:00.002-05:00

Today we went out as a family and bought some craft items for Kaitlyn. Monday was our first day at home since I took my maternity leave, and I felt like we haven't really been doing much with her and felt pretty bad. So we went and bought some paints, construction paper, glue, foam stickers and hats and some other neat things. After her nap we made a visor with her name on it and put some hearts and flowers on it. Then last night we painted a pumpkin after dinner! She had a ton of fun with that, and she even drew a heart on it "punkin". Here are some pictures:

Modeling her new hat:

Pumpkin Painting:

**If you can tell - we bought some batteries and a charger for our camera! No more camera phone pictures! I'm so happy! We're also thinking about getting a camcorder. We've both wanted one for so long and it'll be nice to have one when Lauren gets here so we can keep up with both girls.

Monday is my 39 week 5 day check up. I'm hoping I will go in and my doctor will tell me that it's time, or will be soon! I'm so uncomfortable compared to when I was pregnant with Kaitlyn - Lauren seems to be tugging and stretching out as much as she can. I've been having some contractions too this weekend, but nothing steady. All I know is that I hope I go into labor before Brandon's grandparent's get into town. And tomorrow at my appointment I'm going to let my doctor know that it's starting to get really hard for me to do things. Walking, standing and even sitting is hard on me. I'm very sore. It seems like the only thing that helps is to lay back and keep my legs up. (And let me say that is not the easiest thing with a hyper two year old running around!

Our little songbird.

2008-10-10T17:10:00.002-05:00

She's singing "You are so Beautiful". Except when she should be saying "To me..." she says "To lee!!" She's such a doll!

Six days and counting...

2008-10-09T17:17:00.001-05:00

This pregnancy has just flown by! It seems like yesterday Brandon and I found out that we were expecting, and here it is, six days away from my due date - and it can't come quick enough! We've been rushing around trying to get everything ready for Lauren's arrival, her room is almost complete. Kaitlyn is even starting to get excited, and tells Lauren to come out of mommy's belly. She's also very affectionate to her baby sister - always coming up and hugging and kissing my belly. One can only hope she's still as excited one she's actually here. We do know it's going to be hard at first but with help from our family and friends, hopefully everything will work itself out.

Yesterday Kaitlyn and I went and picked up her Grannie and we went to Babies R Us for a few things that we needed, incase Lauren decides to make her debut a bit early. The last time I had been to BRU was with Brandon, and we had put Kaitlyn on the coin operated horse. She was fine with it off, but once we put in the money she freaked and jumped off! Well, Grannie must have been working her magic, because Kaitlyn asked to get on. We put her on, she was al smiles... and then, we put in the fifty cents... She did great! She laughed and had so much fun! She rode the whole time, and when the horse stopped she even asked to go again! I hope this is the start of something new!

Also - obviously - this is the first post on our blog! Yay! I got to thinking and figured this would be a neat way for family who don't live nearby to be updated. In making this it made me realize that we have got to take more family pictures!! I've got a ton of all of us but not many of us together, recent ones anyway. So we'll whip out the camera phone and get snapping away tonight, and hopefully Brandon will realize we've got to invest in some new batteries for our camera.