I'll have to get back to you

I'm tired, cranky and this picture of Landree at her program tonight pretty much sums my day up

If I happen to find any extra energy, I'll let you know all the details. At least I have blackmail material when she's older

Mother's Day

I never know what to expect on Mother's Day. Life has certainly changed since I became a Mom. There is some irony to the fact that you spend less time with your own mom because you start getting honored yourself for Mother's Day about the time that you realize how much your own mom loves you and how much you really should thank her. Before then you know your mom loves you and you think you know how much she has done for you. Of course as every mom knows- you have no clue until you have your own baby. Reminds me of Peyton's recital song this year- "No one loves you better than your M-O-double M- Y. That may tick a few dads off but you moms know it's true.

My first Mother's Day was the day my sweet baby girl Peyton was christened and welcomed into God's Family along with Jayce Carter and I became his Godmother- Loved that. There are certain parts of mother's days since that I remember and cherish. I have this sweet video from two years ago
http://thecraftsblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/happy-mothers-day.html

Last year, I was still dealing with the disbelief that god was unexpectedly blessing us with a sweet baby. I had found out the week before and we had planned to keep it to ourselves for awhile. Then my morning sickness kicked in and Peyton thought I had swine flu so we decided to come clean. We called and told our Moms that we were expecting because is there really any day better than Mother's Day for that kind of news? While we all knew that we would have a sweet baby, I don't think we were expecting this sweet boy

Don't you just want to pick him up and snuggle him and yes he is as sweet and cuddly as he looks.

This morning I got waffles and bacon for breakfast, a homemade card and book from each girl- they know their mama, and they gave me Jewelry and a gift card to Sephora- SCORE!! We actually got up and got to 8 o'clock church. Got home where my sweet husband proceeded to fix all the meals and clean the kitchen and glory be I haven't changed one diaper today- yeah!!! Here are the three reasons I have been doted on by sweet husband today. Don't they look innocent like they never harass their mom.

And because I told my husband I would- here is a picture of me and my sweet babies. I put makeup on this morning but you would have no clue by this picture.

And this one has nothing to do with mother's day but I think Brian is trying to indoctrinate him early. He is becoming such a wiggle worm. He started off on that mat behind him and scooted and rolled himself all over the floor. It's been a great day. Sigh... back to reality tomorrow with Brian going out of town. Hopefully the kids and I will survive.

Don't faint

I know- two days in a row here. I have a Landree funny and pictures.

Girl talk coming ahead so warning to the few guys that might actually read this blog.

So I was sitting in my chair pumping when Landree came to visit. She has asked on more than one occasion if she can squeeze my boobies to help get the milk out so I never know what to expect.
Today she informed me, "You know if you keep pumping, your boobies are going to get small like ours."
Me: No Landree I didn't know that
Landree: My boobies are growing. When I drink water and milk it goes into my boobies to make them bigger.
Me: Landree how do you know that?
Landree: Just do. Pizza helps make my boobies bigger too. When I chew and chew they get bigger
Me: Nice to know Landree
Landree: Can I have a banana?
And I left it at that

This afternoon, Brock somehow managed to roll and squirm his way off his mat and into the middle of the floor. I was sitting here watching and still don't know how he did it.



Aren't these two cute- she would have a fit if she knew he had spit up on himself.


I then tried to get a picture of all three of them and thought I had done a pretty good job.

Then Daddy came home and stood behind me and you can tell Brock was thrilled to see him.

Be Careful

When you have two older sisters, you should be careful where you fall asleep.

Brock fell asleep yesterday afternoon while playing on his playmat. He originally was in the middle on his back but scooted around and flipped. Landree and Peyton decided he was sleepy and gave him his pacifier. Peyton then sang to him while Landree patted his back until he fell asleep (not spoiled much at all is he?). Landree then decided he was cold and put her pink Bitty Baby blanket on him and no one could convince her that one of his own would work just as well. So of course like any good mom, I took a picture so the girls could torture him with it when he is grown. Or he will use it as evidence about how we allowed him to be mistreated by his sisters and why we need to pay for his therapy.

We are surviving- I promise

So we are all 5 still alive and doing well for the most part.
Brian dislocated his knee while ice skating with Landree. He did not tear his ACL as first feared but did tear some muscle and bruised his femur. His recovery isn't quite as fast as he was expecting. He is doing the exercises the PT gave him so we're hoping that helps.

Peyton is just almost finished with first grade. We are so proud of how much she has grown and matured this year. She is getting ready for her dance recital in June and loves practicing.

Landree is well- Landree. She is the most loving child but sweet heavens she can wear a girl out. She is just a regular spit fire who loves living in Landree Land. It has to be a fabulous place that I hope to visit some day.

Brock is just a chunky monkey. He has gotten so big that I just about can't stand it. He looks like Landree but acts just like Peyton did as a baby. He is a great night sleeper but fights naps like nobody's business. We're talking 6-7 hours straight during the day with no nap. He talks and growls all the time.

And me- I finally feel like I'm coming out of survival mode around here. Being the mom of three has been a lot easier getting used to than I expected. Now I've only been doing it for four months so I'll get back with on whether I feel the same way in a few months. I spent most of yesterday at a Crop with the Haley and Heather. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed digital scrapbooking- haven't done it since August. I am somewhat cheating and using some of the quick put together pages instead of doing it all from scratch. Here are the few pages that I got finished last night.

Peyton had her 7th birthday party with two of her friends. We went to Alamo Cafe for dinner and then the Magik Theatre for "Pinkalicious."


I used to complain about not being able to get a good picture of two kids. Yah- well three is just worse. I got a few decent ones at Easter.


Then of course my true favorite ones- the outtakes


Then Brock- my sweet boy who likes to roll his eyes at me.

Testing Day

We had all of Brock's testing today. He had to start fasting at 5:30 this morning and his appointment wouldn't be until 9:30. So last night I set an alarm to get up at 2 and 5 to feed him so that maybe it would fill him up and he could make it through the appointment. Brian stayed home this morning and got both girls to school and then went into the office. Brock and I headed to the hospital. He started off really great so I started taking pictures with my phone.

He then needed his pacifier

He was then a little irate but walking and swaying got him under control.

They were supposed to do the abdominal ultrasound first so that he could eat before we did the other tests. A nurse then came to me to ask permission for him to have his head ultrasound first because they had a new machine that they were trying out. The reps from the company were there and even the head of Radiology would be there. They were hoping I would agree to let them scan Brock because head ultrasounds are the hardest and he was the only one scheduled for the day. She knew that it would be longer for him to eat but that the pictures would be a lot better. I of course said yes and even my untrained eye knew that the quality was really great. I didn't get a picture of it but he laid there in his overalls sucking his pacifier asleep the whole time. They then sent us to a regular machine for the abdominal ultrasound. Here is a dark picture of that. He did fabulous but did get a little agitated the last 5-10 minutes.

He finally got to eat around 10:30. At first I was aggravated that we were having to wait so long but then he was so full that he was willing to lay still for the chest x-ray and they didn't have to use the medieval torture device to keep him still and I just held his arms above his head. He did get a hospital gown for it.


We then loaded up and left the hospital, went and picked up Landree, and came home for a couple of hours. Brian made it home in time for Brock and I to leave again. We went back to the hospital for Brock's echo cardiogram and EKG. I got tickled when the tech started telling me this wouldn't hurt him and going into the details of what would happen. I told him that I was fine that my oldest daughter has had lots of these so I knew the drill. We did have to use some sugar water on his pacifier to keep him still during the echo. He then passed out after a little bit.

He then got his EKG. Of course it looks scarey but he did great. It probably didn't hurt that the tech was a grandmother and was ooohing and awwing over him so much that another grandmother came through. I thought I was going to have to take him away from them.

After all this, he passed out as soon as I got him back in his car seat.

I called the hematologist's office to see if I had to wait until his appointment on the first to get results or if they would call. She told me that I could call the beginning of next week to get them. The tech for the echo and the EKG tech both indicated that everything was normal. The morning techs didn't budge.

Now this is unrelated and ignore the background clutter- my bedroom seems to be a dumping ground these days. Brock and I were lying on my bed this evening when Brian got done working. He came in to talk to Brock and I snapped this picture because their matching forehead wrinkles were cracking me up. I might have to try to set up a nicer picture like this one but I doubt I'll ever get it quite right. Just wish I would have had my real camera with me instead of just my iphone.

Brock's Doctors Appointment

As some of you know, Brock has had some trouble gaining weight. That coupled with a large posterior soft spot, the doctor was concerned about his thyroid. Two weeks ago she had that tested along with a CBC run. The thyroid was normal and Brock is now gaining weight at a great rate. However his CBC came back with some hinky results. Our pediatrician discussed it with a pediatric hematologist who wanted us to come in. He wanted to see Brock's blood himself to double check the results. They got us worked in and our appointment was today.

The main concern the pediatrician had was his white blood cells and platelets. Well today his white blood cells and platelets were normal. However, his hemoglobins were still high. Brock has had circulation issues from day one which are not uncommon for newborns. However, it should be gone by now. While the doctor was examining Brock today he noticed that Brock's hand was purple and he has some circulation issues in all his extremities. So he has decided that Brock has polycythemia. Basically his blood is a little too thick. This would explain why we have been having to wake him to eat. He rechecked his hemoglobin level- it should be 10, his was 19 two weeks ago and was 17 today. It is headed in the right direction. If it would have been a 19 today then he would have drawn some blood out and then given him an IV of saline to help thin his blood so we were happy it was down.

So of course our next question was what is causing this? There could be 3 things. The first and what we hope is the problem is that before they cut the umbilical cord they try to push the blood back down the cord into the baby to help give them plenty of blood and the good stem cells. He may have gotten too much blood and is having to work through that. This of course would be the most benign reason and what we hope is happening. The other two reasons could be a lung or heart issue. He does consider him at risk for heart issues because of Peyton's arrhythmia.

Of course there is a battery of tests that could be run on Brock at this point. He does not want to wait and just see if it works out, the levels are high enough that he wants it checked out now. So the office is scheduling Brock for an ultrasound of his head, a chest x-ray, an abdominal ultrasound, an EKG, and echo-cardiogram. Of course Brian and I were shocked and a little overwhelmed that our baby boy who is 4 weeks old today is going to be getting all these tests. However, the doctor then tells us that these are the non-invasive tests and he wants to exhaust all those before we move on to the more invasive tests such as liver and kidney functions, skin biopsy nor does he want to expose him to the radiation for CT scans. Well then we felt a little better about the testing we were doing and made us like the doctor even more. The tests he will be getting will not hurt him, make him mad- yes but hurt no.

Brian and I were very happy with the Pediatric Hematologist and felt very confident in him almost immediately. He is concerned enough to recommend the testing but not so gung ho that he is doing a lot of invasive procedures on a 4 week old baby. The goal is to get the testing done in the next two weeks. We will see him again on February 1st. Of course Brian and I worried but we are not panicked because there is still a plausible benign reason that could be causing the polycythemia. We ask that you keep Brock in your prayers. I'll keep you posted on the status of his testing.

Brock's Christening & My Picture Dreams Fade

Today we had Brock's Christening at Church. Brock cried just enough to have the devil driven out of him (old wive's tale) and then slept for the rest of the service. We were blessed to have most of our family with us for the baptism. Of course like with most family events, the goal at the end was to get a few good pictures. I had the girls in matching dresses, Brock in our family Christening gown, and 3 freshly washed beautiful faces. It should have been the perfect setup right- of course you have already figured out the answer is Wrong! The kids were all tired, everyone was hungry, and Brock had had enough. So sit back and enjoy the best of my pictures from the day.

















So we made it through and got everyone loaded up and headed to the restaurant. Of course they lost our reservations and we had to wait. We were all a little tense and on edge but once we got food and drinks we were okay- well the Craft side was not real impressed with the Cowboys game (the Thompson side was Thrilled with last nights game). We had a great meal and were sad to watch the Crafts leave and I'll be sad to see my crew leave tomorrow.

I know there were 6 cameras out at one point today so if anyone else has better pictures from today, just send them my way.

Let's try this again

Okay so over 4 months is a long time- but we've been busy. I was you know growing lungs, fingernails and parts for this precious boy.

Brock James was born on December 21st at 10:49AM. He was 9lbs 6 ozs and 20 3/4 inches long (however the next week he stretched out to 22 1/4 inches long- hey I'm short and he was squished). He is so sweet and we adore him. Peyton could hold him all day long and Landree wants to be involved for all diaper changes. Weeding through all the pictures from Christmas is overload for me today so I'm posting ones since. Besides the Grandparents were here through Christmas and I know they are anxious to see pictures of the last few weeks.

Here is his first bath

Including the paparazzi. Aunt Cathy bought cameras for Christmas and the girls love them. We'll be lucky if poor Brock can see from all the flashes. Ignore all the junk on the countertops.


He loves his swing. All three of our children have spent plenty of time in this swing.


He loved looking at the lights on the Christmas tree. However, I could only handle looking at the Christmas stuff for so long so Brian got it all put up.

We got the family all ready to watch LSU in the Capitol One bowl. LSU disappointed but we got a few cute pictures.


He cracks me up in this picture because he is rolling his eyes like he has had enough of all the picture taking.
And this is what happens when Mommy and Brock are up too long at night, the Tigers are losing, and Landree decides I need to use her Snuggie.


Brian decided he needed to start Brock early and watched the National Championship Game. Even with the Texas Quarterback excitement, Brock wasn't too interested.