We are home from Lubbock. The lack of posts is due to my computer crashing while I was gone. Jason nhas it up and going, but we are still working onh retrieving files. JOY! We nhave a laptop as well, but I don't like posting on it. I will be back to posting soon!

Aunt Shawnee and Cason

Since I was not allowed to travel during my pregnancy I had not seen my nephew, Cason, since Christmas. He is just the most gorgeous child. I can't wait until we go to the coast next month and I can love on him for a whole week.

All the kids

We took all the grandkids (my 3 and my nephew Cason) to get their pictures taken. This was a quick shot that we took while the photographer wasn't looking. Aren't they adorable?

Papa and Chase

My Dad finally got to meet his fourth grandchild, Chase.

Lubbock

I got lots of hugs from my boys when I got here.

to Lubbock

The boys continue their fun trip in Lubbock. The baby in the picture is my nephew, Cason. Chase and I will be joining in on the fun tomorrow. We will be driving to Lubbock....pray that Chase does well on his first road trip (5 1/2 hours, plus nursing stops). I can't wait to get my hands on my two big boys again. I have missed them so much. I also can't wait to get my hands on that nephew of mine....is he not a doll?

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Today I get to thank the two greatest dads I know...

My Dad is the best, most kind hearted, hilarious, caring person I know. Even in the times that I have disappointed him and let him down he has still been there to help me put the pieces back together. He is the best Daddy in the world.

My husband....well, I have no words for how lucky I am to have him as a partner to raise our three boys with. He didn't have to be a father to Austin and Brodie and yet he chose to be. Now, with Chase is growing into the Daddy role in a whole new way. All four of us (Austin, Brodie, Chase, and me) are insanely grateful for the blessing that is Jason.

Miss Shayden

Chase and I took a short road trip today. We went to Justin to visit Chase's new girlfriend. Meet Miss Shayden. Isn't she beautiful? She is 5 days old and a petite little thing (6lbs 8oz at birth). As you can see my big boy dwarfs her. Shana (Mommy) is doing good, healing after her C-section.

Chase and I will be taking a real roadtrip next week. We will be going to Lubbock to visit and to pick up my big boys. OH HOW I MISS THEM! I am excited because my dad has not gotten to see Chase yet. Saturday is also my baby shower in Lubbock....WOOHOO!

I must go now, Chase has started to "fight" Daddy and I think it may be time for some nursing then hopefully he will nod off.

one month old

Chase is one month old today! He is now smiling at us (not just when he has gas) and trying to "talk" back to us. He has gotten so big so fast! Hope everyone enjoys their day!

Missing the boys

Chase is 4 weeks old today!!!!

I am really starting to miss Austin and Brodie. Don't get me wrong, I have been missing them since they left, it is just getting to an intense state now. Our house is much too quiet. I need some Austin and Brodie lovin'. Jason and I have enjoyed having some time with Chase to get settled in. And I know the boys are LOVING seeing their grandparents and all the rest of the family. That being said, their Mommy misses them terribly. The cats are even starting to miss them. We have had their bedroom door closed since they left. Today Cloe (devil cat) was clawing that their door and trying to look under it. I opened the door for her and BOTH cats bolted in there. They have since been sleeping on the bottom bunk of the bunkbeds. The dogs have been little attention hounds since the boys left. The boys are the ones that play with them outside most of the time.

Jason and I did some shopping today. Chase is a good shopper. He sleeps in his carseat in the stroller most of them time. He wakes up to eat and then is content to have Daddy tote him around. I pumped some milk today to start trying to get Chase to take a bottle on occasion. This is mostly so that when we go to the coast on vacation I am not totally attached to him and my mom can keep him some. I went to the store and Jason was left with Chase and a bottle. Little did we know that Chase does not care if it is Mom or the bottle as long as it is breastmilk. He gulped down all 6 oz in no time flat. Good to know! Now Mom can on occasion get some alone time. I still don't want him to have the bottle very often, but it is nice to have the option. Once I got back home from the store he wanted a little extra nursing time...he needed to make sure Mom was really back.

I have to say CONGRATS to Brad and Shana. Their new baby girl, Shayden Starr, was born yesterday morning. She was tiny little thing...weighing 6 lbs 8 oz. Big brother, Bishop, I know is so proud of his new sister. I will come see you soon Shana!!! Can't wait to meet Chase's new girlfriend :-) Love you guys!

Fussy

Do not let this adorable face fool you. Behind this face is so much gas you could launch a hot air balloon. For some reason Chase is a gassy dude. During the day it isn't too bad. I can usually burp most of it out of him (he gets rid of the rest via the southern route). Evenings are a different story. Every evening for a few hours Chase and I "fight". He is fussy and gassy and nothing seems to work. Then like magic, he conks out suddenly. It isn't too bad, but I never dealt with this with my older two so I am not real good at figuring out what to do for him yet. That being said, he is such a good baby otherwise. Once we are done "fighting" every night he sleeps really well, waking only to eat. I have been around some babies that cry a lot and are just hard to deal with...Chase is not one of them. After doing some reading we have pretty much come to the conclusion that it is just immature digestive system issues. Poor guy...I would be fussy if I were that gassy too.

Boys in Lubbock

As you can see the boys are having a blast in Lubbock at Grandma and PaPa's. They sent me an email yesterday. Mom had them record a message for Jason and I. So sweet. Now I can just play their voices all the time. Chase really lit up when he heard them (he is only 3 weeks old, but he recongnizes a few voices). Jason and I really miss them. It is much too quiet around here!! (even with the rest of the zoo still here)

Driving in Dallas

I got this from an email....it is so true and made me laugh!!

DRIVING IN DALLAS
First you must learn to pronounce the city name. It is DAL-US, not DAL-ISS.

Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere. Dallas has its own version of traffic rules. . ..."Hold on and pray".

1. There is no such thing as a dangerous high-speed chase in Dallas. We all drive like that. All directions start with, "Get on Beltline". . . which has no beginning and no end.

2. The morning rush hour is from 6 to 10. The evening rush hour is from 3 to 7. Friday's rush hour starts Thursday morning.

3. If you actually stop at a yellow light, you will be rear ended, cussed out and possibly shot.

4. When you are the first one on the starting line, count to five when the light turns green before going to avoid crashing into all the drivers running the red light in cross-traffic.

5. Construction on Central Expressway is a way of life and a permanent form of entertainment. We had sooo much fun with that,! we have added George Bush Freeway and the High Five to the mix.

6. All unexplained sights are explained by the phrase, "Oh, we're in Fort Worth."

7. If someone actually has their turn signal on, it is probably a factory defect.

8. Car horns are actually "Road Rage" indicators.

9. All old ladies with blue hair in Mercedes have the right of way. PERIOD.

10. Inwood Road, Plano Road, NW Highway, East Grand, Garland Road, Marsh Lane, Josey Lane, 15th Street, Preston Road. . . all mysteriously change names as you cross intersections (these are only a FEW examples). The perfect example is what is MOSTLY known as Plano Road.On the South end it is known as Lake Highlands Drive, cross Northwest Highway and it becomes Plano Road, go about 8 miles and it is briefly Greenville Ave, Ave. K, and Highway 5. It ends in Sherman, TX.

11. If asking directions in Irving or SE Dallas, you must have knowledge of Spanish. If in central Richardson or! on Harry Hines, Mandarin Chinese will be your best bet. If you stop to ask directions on Gaston or Live Oak, you better be armed.

12. A trip across town (east to west) will take a minimum of four hours, although many north/south freeways have unposted minimum speeds of 75.

13. The minimum acceptable speed on the Dallas North Toll Road is 85.Anything less is considered downright sissy.

14. It is possible to be driving WEST in the NORTH-bound lane of EAST NORTHWEST Highway. Don't let this confuse you.

15. The North Dallas Toll Way is our daily version of NASCAR. It also ends in Sherman.

16. LBJ Freeway is called "The Death Trap" for two reasons: "death" and "trap".

17. If it's 100 degrees, Thanksgiving must be next weekend. if it's 10 degrees and sleeting/snowing, the Fort Worth Stock Show is going on. If it's rained 6 inches in the last hour, and it is Spring, the Byron Nelson Golf Classic is in the second round. If it is Fall, the Texas State Fair is going on.

18. If you go to the Fair, pay the $5.00 to park INSIDE Fair Park. Parking elsewhere could cost up to $2500 for damages, towing fees, parking tickets, etc. if some guy with a flag tries to get you to park in his 'yard', run over him.

19. All amusement parks, stadiums, arenas, race tracks, airports, etc., are conveniently located as far away from EVERYTHING as possible so as to allow for ample parking on grassy areas.

With these simple rules in mind, you are now ready to drive in Dallas.

Please try and keep up.

Big Boy

Chase and I have been keeping ourselves busy the last few days. I am already starting to miss Austin and Brodie. They may be brats, but they are mine. Anyway, Chase went in for his first checkup yesterday. MOST babies (especially breastfed ones) spend the first week of life losing about 10% of their body weight. Then by the end of the second week of life they are generally back to around their birth weight. The on going joke in my family is that I should sell my breastmilk on eBay. Why? Because I can fatten up a baby like no other. All three of my boys have so far followed this trend. Chase was 7 lbs 13 oz at birth. Yesterday at 19 days old he weighed 9 lbs 14 oz. Yup, two pound gain. The doctor was amazed. Given that he knows my oldest boys he knows that they end up skinny kids. Austin was nicknamed Buddha when he was a baby because he got chunky fast. Everything went fine with the checkup. Chase is obviously healthy and eating well. Dr. Bindra said he looked great!

My aunt treated me to a pedicure yesterday. HEAVEN! Pregnancy was not kind to my feet this go round. So it was nice to get them back to looking human. Next up is waxing the brows and doing the nails. Will be nice to feel put together again!!!

We are going to Jason's cousin's house for a BBQ tomorrow. They have yet to see the baby. We are of course all sad that Austin and Brodie will miss seeing everyone. Then Sunday we are taking Chase to church for the first time. He sleeps so much during the morning hours we figured we could at least go to class and show him off.

Sorry I have been so sparse in the posts. Chase is quite the demanding fellow of Mom's time! Not that I mind one bit. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

Boys gone

Austin and Brodie left this afternoon to go to Lubbock for a month. I was so proud of myself...I waited until they pulled away with Jason's parents before I started crying. I am going to miss those loud mouths. They will have so much fun while in Lubbock, but Mommy is not used to being without them at all.

Bowling

Thought I would post some pictures of our outing. Kree and I took the boys out bowling today. They had such a good time.

We have a busy weekend coming up. Jason's brother is graduating from medical school in Houston. We are not going to be able to actually go to the graduation...Chase is just too little to make that trip yet. Jason's parents are coming back to Dallas after the graduation and staying through the weekend. Jason's brother and his wife are also going to come up and meet the new baby and spend some time. They are moving to Minnesota this summer so it will be a while before we get to see them again. It should be a great, yet busy weekend.

Then next week, Jason's dad is taking the boys back to Lubbock with him. They are going to be staying in Lubbock for 4 weeks. They have lots of grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles that want to see them. They are excited, but are already starting to mention missing home. It will be a good trip for them. I have to admit, it will be nice to get some time to rest up. However, I am going to miss them horribly. This will be the longest I have ever been away from them...EVER! The boys and I are going to make picture books for them to take with them to Lubbock. They want to take pictures of Jason, the baby, me and the animals so that they will have them when they start to feel homesick. To tell you the truth, they have so much planned while they are there, it will feel like a blink of an eye to them.

Well, I am off to wrangle my brood. Hope everyone is having a fantastic week!!!

Bday pic

The boys giving Jason Birthday hugs. We were bummed cause Jason's candles got blown out by the ceiling fan before he got a chance to. Chase was sleeping or else he would be in the picture too.

Jason B-day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL HUBBY!!! I love you!

Birth Pics

Here are a few pictures from the day of the birth. The one of the three boys is from today.

Chase Birth Story

Ok, I just fed Chase and the other two are eating a snack. I am going to attempt to write Chase's birth story now. Let's see how far I get.

I went to the Labor and Delivery floor on Friday, May 12 for a Non-stress test, since I was past due. While there two things happened. Chase started showing a heart arrhythmia and my blood pressure spiked. It looked like they might keep me, but both things cleared themselves up. They think his heart arrhythmia was just him going through a transition period. So after a few hours, I got sent home. I was bummed. All Friday night and into Saturday morning I became convinced that I was not having this kid until my mom left. I was having maybe one or two Braxton Hicks every few hours and they were weak. Saturday morning Jason, my mom, the boys and I all went out and did a little shopping. When we got home, around 11:15 am, my mom started making pizza with the boys. I was standing in the kitchen talking to my mom when I felt a warm gush. It wasn't like a soak the floor gush. It felt like I was peeing, but I couldn't stop. I ran to the bathroom and tried to figure out what in the world it was. I knew it could be my water breaking, but I also knew that it could have been just too much pressure on my bladder. So I put on a new pantyliner and went back to the kitchen to tell my mom what happened. As I was telling my mom and Jason, it happened again. My mom and I got to laughing so hard that it happened more. Finally after soaking through many pads I decided this was too much fluid to be urine. We called the on call doctor who had me go to the hospital. I still was not having any contractions.

There is a quick in the room pH test that they do in the hospital to determine if your water has broken. Mine came back negative. I was bummed. However, they had another more accurate test that they wanted to run, because they like me knew that this was too much to be urine. It took an hour or so and the test came back positive. Now we at least knew I was not going home. Jason's parents hit the road for the 6 hour drive from Lubbock. My doctor wanted to wait a few hours before starting any pitocin or other medications in hopes that my body would go into full blown labor on its own. I had a few contractions over those few hours, but nothing "good". Finally, we started pitocin. That stuff had barely hit my IV and I was contracting every 2 mins HARD and long. I was in major pain. They gave me a shot and very soon after I was asking for epidural. AT 6:30 we were told I was dilated 5 cms. I slept from the time they gave me my epidural until the time I started pushing. It was a LOVELY epidural. Around 8:00 pm it was time to start pushing. At 8:18 pm, Chase Don was born. My mom got to cut the cord (Jason did not want to...he is not big on cutting fleshy stuff on humans). It was so awesome. They immediately laid him on my chest and let him stay there until he found his way to my breast and we latched on and he nursed. It was so amazing. I know this is my third, but it does not make it any less amazing. This was by FAR my easiest delivery. Many of you know the horror of my oldest son's birth and my second son's was not all that easy.

Jason's parents made it to the hospital very soon after the birth and were able to hold Chase right after Jason gave him his first bath. It was a blessing that everyone got to be there to witness his early minutes of life (except my Daddy...sorry Daddy...wish you were there).

Well, I will continue this later...Chase is calling for a diaper change.