Fun Day #2

Today we headed to Flying L Waterpark and had another fun and eventful day with friends!

Brody getting ready for his swim!
Just watching the waves go by...
Apparently waves are SUPER exciting!
YAY! I love to swim!
Bryce loves Flying L!

Day 1 of Fun

Here are some pics from the past couple days. I am posting a ton because they were all so cute! Wednesday we went to the Emerald Playplace...
The BIG Slide

Jumping Man

Brody was having so much fun!

Bryce and his Buddy Sam at the train table

Brody being sweet

climbing the mountain

meeting a girlfriend <3

getting fancy

Today the blog went over a little makeover. It was quite traumatic. I decided that I wanted a little upgrade since my reader population is growing and I have to say that it became a pretty big ordeal. At one point I thought I lost everything...yes everything. So I cried. Real tears. Seriously. Thankfully I just didn't know what I was doing and with a few random clicks the last 6 months of my life returned to my computer screen. I think you should be able to leave comments on here now as well. I have had them turned on this whole time, but keep hearing that you cant leave one. So somebody try it out and let me know. I may just keep this templete for the rest of my life because I do not think that I would ever like to feel that fear again. Who the H cries over a blog?

123 Prayer Street

Today Bryce asked if he could mail MaMaMe a letter in Heaven. He said that it was important and he needed to know her address. I thought about it and I have decided there is absolutely no reason that we can not send letters to Heaven. So starting tomorrow morning I will put a special "mailbox" in MaMa's room (we will forever call the bedroom with her furniture in it "her room") so that Bryce can put special things in there for her. He found a butterfly drawing her had made in Kelly's class last year and it just really melted my heart that he wanted to send that to her. I have said it before...but I am so grateful that she gave us something so beautiful to remember her by. We will never look at anything with a butterfly on it again without thinking of her. I am just so blessed that she not only left that with me, but with Bryce and Justin and many of our family and friends. I am going to keep all of this "mail" in a special place and when Bryce is older we will take it all out and talk about it...but for now...mailing things to Heaven sounds like a fabulous idea to me! Millions of people send letters to Santa (of course we do that too) and if the elves can get mail to Santa then by all means God can pass on a note to our MaMaMe! Praise our Lord for these special days!
We had a great weekend. We went to a baby shower on Saturday, Mark and Ashley came to visit Sunday and then went to our MOPS steering team BBQ! Ashley helped me put together my 15 pound (literally) baked potato casserole while Bryce played with his BFF Mark. Mark is one of the only people I know that will leave the room while watching Sports Center with Justin to play hulk punchers and watch Kung Fu Panda with Bryce. Ashley took some cute pictures and I will post those as soon as I get them from her.
We had so much fun with the baby name voting poll! I really loved both names so much and eventhough Braydon was the winner....we have decided to go with Baby Braxton Lee! Bryce finally agreed on it (he was rooting for Braydon) so it is a done deal. It still makes me laugh to think that Baby Brody is going to be a "big brother"!!! Thank you all for your prayers. We have scheduled our special ultrasound and ask that you continue to pray hard for a healthy Braxton!

Baby BOY #3

So today Baby #3 became Baby BOY #3! We are so ridiculously excited we don't even know what to do! I just had a gut feeling that I was going to be the mommy of 3 preciously perfect little BOYS! WOW our house is really going to be WILD....and awesomely FUN (and loud)! I visited my new Dr. today and I LOVED her. Absolutely loved loved loved her. She was exactly what I needed, she was very honest with me and very polite...she spoke to me like a friend (and a little like a mom) and it was just great. She said we could take a look and just see if the baby felt like showing its stuff...she said there was no guarantee because its still so early BUT sure enough my adorable little man had his legs WIDE open. Just like the other two it was super obvious to see what was going on in there :) We are not going to be doing ANY testing, genetic or otherwise, on this baby. I will see the specialist simply for an upgraded ultrasound look at him. We will check out his heart and other vitals and then we will stop at that. I am very pleased with that decision and I was even more thrilled at how wonderfully she presented it all to me. She did not make me feel like a weirdo that makes alien babies or like a high risk freak. Justin and I are just elated at the news of having 3 boys...its just going to be a blast! Justin is headed to the vasectomy store the day after delivery...just kidding...well actually I am not lol! Please take a moment to vote on our sweet baby's name. The poll is located on the top right hand corner of the blog. His middle name will be in honor of my mom, but we love the first names equally and would love to hear your opinions.

big boy brody todey

Now that Brody is completely an independent sitter (hooray!) we are making some changes around here! He has been sitting for awhile, but he would get lazy and cheat and slouch over and hold his upper body up with his arms. Now he can REACH FOR US (which is possibly one of the greatest feelings on earth) and hold a toy in each hand and laugh all at the same time. He is so proud of himself. He is now officially on the cup and ALL the bottles are in the TRASH!!! Okay well I kept ONE in case of some type of bottle emergency...but the rest are history! He is now eating lots of "real" food...eventhough the weirdo does not have any teeth yet. Our Dr. said those gums are stronger than teeth anyhow. He is eating things like tiny pieces of cooked carrots and mashed potatoes for dinner and little pieces of pancakes for breakfast! I am hoping after we finish what baby food is left in the cabinet we will be done with those little jars forever! Well until the next baby makes me start buying them anyways. I am just so proud of Brody's eating and mouth habits. We were told due to his high palet and possible tongue thrust (which praise God he does NOT have) and low tone he would have feeding problems for the first few years. Although we have some reflux issues still...all these other things are total non issues and we are just so blessed! It is unbelievable how God gave us such a perfect and amazing baby. He is ALWAYS happy and smiling....ALWAYS. He is spoiling us so bad and its possible that we have a very rude awakening when this next baby comes!

kid things

I am nearing my 16th week (hooray) and Baby #3 is now about the size of an Avocado! Yummy that makes me want to make guacamole :) I will visit the new Dr. next week and hopefully things will go a little more smoothly this time around. Prayers needed big time as I am really struggling with this whole deal. I was having the WORST time finding a dr. and STILL am not sure if I am making the right choice BUT I really really prayed about it and although the Dr. plays a huge role in all this...God is really the one in control and I need to stop worrying so much. He has guided me away from nasty doctors before, so He has my back!
Bryce and Brody are still enjoying summer! Bryce is really into Lightning McQueen right now. I am starting to wean Toder off the bottle and head to the glorious land of sippy cups! We got info today that the insurance will replace our stolen carseats...so that is great news! FYI - for those who have not heard...Justin's truck was stolen over the weekend. We had lots of personal items in the truck including a case of DVD's that Bryce watches in there, carseats, drycleaning and other things that will just not be able to be replaced overnight. It is such a violating feeling to have things stolen from you.

15 things

Things that I LOVE right now:
1. Sundays with my family
2. About 10pm when Justin and I crawl into bed
3. How Brody smiles with his whole body
4. Eating Out
5. America's Got Talent
6. Lunch with friends and a whole bunch of kids
7. Trashy reality tv
8. velveeta
9. How Bryce wakes me up with a mooch
10. Shamu
11. The information that Panera Bread has come to SA!
12. REAL friends
13. talking about nothing on the phone to those REAL friends
14. the kids bath time
15. clothes that FIT

Things that I DON'T Love right now:
1. People that steal
2. Liars...the kind that lie to me AND mostly the kind that lie to themselves!
3. Myspace
4. Real Estate
5. the news
6. Funerals on TV
7. Reflux
8. Doctors
9. the HEAT
10. fainting in the HEAT
11. Fake friends
12. being tired
13. grocery shopping
14. people that are able to help others and just dont
15. non-believers

Brody and Daddy swimming at our neighbor's 4th party!

Bryce got to feed the Dolphins!

SHAMU!

Bryce could not wait to show Shamu the toy that looked just like him!

gross

So is this not the most sick-ola thing you have ever seen in your lifetime? Well imagine it crawling along the baseboards of your house and lurking across your children's bedroom floor! I HATE IT! Scorpions are the meany-est, ugliest, gross little creatures EVER! Apparently there is just about ZERO you can do about them when you house is situated IN a hill and its 900 degrees outside. Great.

By the way precious baby #3 is the size of an apple now and I have fired my doctor and will be visiting a new one next week. Updates on that later.

too much fun

The past few days have been VERY exciting and FUN! My Dad has been here and that is always a treat. He was supposed to be here Friday night, but he flew in on some crazy airlines and got stranded all over America before he finally got here late Saturday. We had to celebrate the 4th without him...but we managed to have a great time. We had a yummy lunch and then went to a party at our neighbors house for swimming and bbq! I have some pics of Justin swimming with the boys on a different camera that I will upload later. Justin was off Saturday, but had to work Sunday so my Dad took us all to the Cascade Caverns. For whatever reason...Brody LOVED this. He seriously laughed the entire way through...and there was really nothing funny about it. Bryce liked it...but mostly because he was just for sure that Batman was in there somewhere. That evening we took our first trip to SEAWORLD! It was soooo amazing. Bryce had the time of his life and has declared Shamu his new best friend. My dad got all of us year passes so Justin and I will be able to take the kids whenever we want. Monday we woke up and went straight BACK to Seaworld...yup we did it again. And this time we did it ALL. We saw 4 shows, fed dolphins, played in the waterpark, ate dippin dots and covered the map! My dad got lots of pics on his camera so we will get those from him soon. Today we headed to Chuck E Cheese and now we are all getting a much deserved REST. I just dont think I can handle one more piece of fun....at all.


Justin and Bryce on 4th of July!

Bryce and T Rex

My Dad and the boys in the cave



Shamu Ride!

No Fun

There has been so much sad news in the media lately. First, I have sooo many memories of watching Ed McMahon on Star Search. That was like my favorite show...and I would always do little shows and make my parents give me "stars." And who didnt love watching him ring the doorbell of a 900 year old woman and hand her a humungo check! Farrah Fawcett was more of my mom's kind of gal...but it is just so sad to know that anyone had to endure the horrible struggle of cancer. She had the same type of cancer my mom did and watching her story made the pain that my mom was going through so very real. She had the money to fight the cancer off in the best ways, she had chemo and radiation and then special treatments in Germany and she STILL suffered tremendously. In the end the nasty cancer won. I pray for all families who have that horrible diease touch them in some way. Justin and I have been singing and dancing our little butts off to VHI, FUSE and MTV the last few days with the MJ videos playing constantly! An American Icon has passed away, and altough I may not agree with all of his worldy choices and I may have never sent my kids over to a playdate at his house, you gotta admit he is a LEGEND and his music changed so many lives! And lastly, BILLY MAYS! Bummer, because his obnoxious and way too loud voice could just sell me sand in a dessert. I loved that new show pitchmen and EVERYtime the OxiClean commercial came on (for whatever reason) Bryce would get so excited! I pray for no more sad news and I pray for each of these peoples families...especially their children. It is unbearable to lose a parent...it makes me sick to know there are so many others enduring the same amount of pain as I am.
In other news...we had a great weekend! It was two days of absolute relaxation! We did our best to stay out of the HEAT (as many of you know...I am a fainter)! Today we had some fun at Pottery Paint with some great friends...I can't wait to pick up Bryce's T-Rex when it is all ready! Brody has his 9 month check up tomorrow (we are finally getting around to it!) so lots of prayers while we visit the dr. tomorrow!

its thursday

I am 13 weeks pregnant now! Baby #3 (that is what we are calling it right now since we don't know the sex) is the size of a peach. Another website said it was also the size of a large shrimp...but I dont like shrimp. Anyways, I am feeling zillions times better! I am not feeling sick anymore, Praise God, although I am still a little tired in the afternoons and I already have to pee one hundred times a day. Please keep baby #3 in your thoughts and prayers. Pray that baby #3 stays in as long as he needs to develop well and grow strong. Pray for him to be healthy and just as perfect as my other two :)
Brody has made some MAJOR big time steps the past few days! He can now get into the sitting position ALL BY HIMSELF! From a lying down position he maneuvers his way up and then gets so excited for himself (because we have been practicing this!) that he flaps his arms up and down like a little birdie about to fly away! He is in 4 point (hands and knees) for very extended periods of time now and is getting so much stronger on his feet! He can also....drum roll please...HOLD HIS OWN BOTTLE!! Way to go Brody Todey!!!!! Bryce was our very independent child and he would not allow us to hold his bottle after about 4 months...so we have been anxious for Brody to master this! Bryce is BY FAR his biggest fan. He drug all of our VBS friends over today to watch "his baby" feed himself and sit up. It is so heartwarming to watch Bryce's excitement for "his baby's" accomplishments.
Working at Vacation Bible School has been so fun for our whole family. We do kinda drag out of here in the mornings...BUT all 3 of us have had a blast each day. The boys have been making Justin all kinds of goodies to hang in his office.
Tomorrow is a very, very special day!! My Mom's 60th BIRTHDAY! Birthdays have always been a VERY big deal in our family. My mom always gave me HUGE birthday parties with tons of friends and presents. She always made sure everyone felt special on their special day. She would hang banners and bring big fancy lunches to school or work for my friends. She has gone above and beyond every year of my life, for the time Justin was in her life and for all 3 of Bryce's parties she has bought extravagant presents and party favors....SO our family has decided that we will be celebrating my moms birthday tomorrow because birthdays were her favorite. I hope and pray that I am able to make birthday's in my family as special as my mom always managed to do.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! WE LOVE YOU!

Fathers Day

After an awesome message at Church we took the boys to Berges Fest at the Fairgrounds! Justin took Bryce on all the rides and me and Brody watched from a nice shady spot :) They had so much fun...it was Bryce's first time to go on rides alone! We all ate tons of junk food and made sure Justin felt super spoiled on his Fathers Day. Bryce had helped me make breakfast tacos for him that morning..he wanted to bring him breakfast in bed...BUT I just did not see Bryce bringing tacos into my bed as such a great idea...so we skipped that part. We are so blessed to have Justin as the Father of our family. He is such an amazing man, an incredible provider who spoils us endlessly, a devoted husband and basically SuperDad! The boys adore him...but for some reason Brody has this special bond with his Daddy and I have to say I am a little jealous :) Brody practically melts into a puddle when Justin walks in the room...I mean dont get me wrong he loves his mommy too...but its nothing like his adoration for Daddy! We had lunch today with Justin after Vacation Bible School and the whole time Brody just sat there cooing at Justin, smiling at him and saying ooohhhh dadadadada the whole time! Speaking of VBS...I am so blessed to be a part of the Kindergarten team at our Church! We had so much fun playing with the kiddos and making crafts. Bryce and Brody went to their own classes and they had a blast too. Brody is very spoiled at our church...nobody EVER puts him down. He gets loved on the whole time and we are just so proud to be a part of such a wonderful ministry.

I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.

Parade

I took the boys to the BergesFest Parade on Saturday and they both had so much fun! Brody watched from his stroller while Bryce ran around like a crazy man collecting candy, hi-fivin' clowns, chasing helicopters and making friends! We found a nice shady spot to sit so we didn't die of heat and it was just overall a fun time!

Brody's Calendar Pic

As many of you know...Brody was chosen to be a model for the 2010 Downs Syndrome Association Calendar. We are not sure where his placement in the calendar will be (although we think he deserves the cover)BUT here is the photo that the photographer submitted!





These pictures are a few others that we purchased from the photographer. They were not submitted for the calendar, but they are precious memories of Brody at 8 months!

more fun pics

After church today, we headed to the Flying L to have a swim day!
I meant to get more pics of the kids with Justin at the waterpark...but we were just having too much fun I didn't want to stop and grab the camera!

Waterbabies!

They boys LOVE the water! At our blessing before dinner, I thanked God for two such beautiful and healthy and precious boys and Bryce said "MOM do NOT forget to thank God for the swimming pool" Once again Bryce has his priorities in line when in prayer...

i love summer

We are all really enjoying the summer time! It is so nice to eat snow cones and Popsicles and play in the pool. I am really trying to enjoy it now because I know as I get bigger its going to get HOTTER and that is no fun at all :) I am very excited to not be 7 months pregnant at this time of year like I have been twice before. I am 11 weeks now...which I really hardly consider pregnant! I am starting to feel better in the mornings...I am able to eat a little better...and every single smell 17 miles away is not making me want to cut my nose off my face. I made it to the gym this morning and I think I will be able to get back into my regular work out routine in the next couple of weeks. My hair is already starting to get dry-ish, but thankfully my skin is under control...now we just have to keep my butt under control LOL. I am starting to get a little emotional these days, little bitty things hurt my feelings and I have been hurting for my mom. I have never done this without her and its super scary to not have her by my side. I lived with her when I was pregnant with Bryce and she lived with us when I was pregnant with Brody...it is just weird this time around. I am so blessed for everything she taught me. I am so glad that I was able to give her two grandchildren before she moved to Heaven...I am so glad that she was able to fluff my wedding dress before I walked down the aisle...hold my head up while I pushed out Bryce...throw me a graduation party...hang my pictures in my dorm at college...hand me tissues after my first heartbreak (then say i told you so HA)...and love me and my family so unconditionally everyday of our lives that our hearts are forever spoiled rotten! I have been able to go into her closet at my house lately and I LOVE to just open the doors and smell her. I can't believe that she smelled like old lady...I so did not think of her as an old lady. Lightening may strike my bedroom tonight for saying that...BUT for the record, its a LOVELY old lady smell that I just cant get enough of!
Please continue to pray that we have a healthy baby! We are SO ready for God's next gift for us. I know He will continue to use our family in great ways.
Brody is becoming the life of the party...socializing and cooing and flirting his way around town. He reaches out for people he wants and then bats his long beautiful eye lashes at them. He is for sure a ladies man. I have a road of trouble coming my way with him and Bryce...they are just two little precious fireballs! Bryce has been getting lots of mail from his Pop Pop (my dad) which is the excitement of the moment! Pop Pop sends really cool toys and pajamas and party supplies that mommy does not buy...so he is pretty popular in our house these days. Bryce thinks his Pop Pop is a Cowboy for his job and that he lives in the airport. We are always picking him up and dropping him off there...so naturally Bryce thinks that is his home. He talks to my dad on the phone almost everyday...and they strictly talk about man things. Deer food, fishing, kayaking, Lightning McQueen...you know...guy stuff. I love it.

a few pictures...

I have been a little lazy on the pics lately, but here are just a couple. The water pics are from about a month ago at Flying L Waterpark and the bath tub pic is also from about a month ago. I will take some NEW pics this week I promise :)