Birthdays galore!

We have managed to work it (unintentionally) so that all our family birthdays land within 2 months of each other!!! We can get all the present opening over with and then have 10 months to build our excitement of opening presents again. Brylie has said many times, "tomorrow I will be four!" only to be disappointed when I say, "no, you still need to have a halloween, and thanksgiving and christmas when you are three". She has even tried to trick me by saying, "mom, when I turn four tomorrow, I will go pee pee and poo poo in the potty". I have seriously debated letting her "turn" four prematurely just for the chance she would go on the potty. Just another attempt at almost successful manipulation.

As seen here, I turned 31 to start off the celebrating of birthdays, that is, after the actual 'birth day' of Olivia on the 29th of December. We had a few friends over for delicious princess ice cream cake. Brad picked the cake up on the day of so there weren't many to choose from. Princesses fit me better than dinosaurs, I guess. I had a great birthday as usual and am delighted to turn 31!?!

Brylie could hardly wait for the 3rd of February to come so that she could actually be 3. We had talked about it for a very long couple of months and she had no problem abandoning the 2. We opened presents that morning and she enjoyed cards and phone calls from relatives throughout the day. We had another princess cake and opened remaining presents. She had an awesome day and as mentioned before, wants to turn four tomorrow.




Brody had to wait a whole 20 days and then got to celebrate twice because I was in the hospital with Olivia over his birthday. He opened a present or two and had a brownie with candles that night for dinner. He heard from family on the phone also and enjoyed many cards. We finally opened all of his presents and had his alligator cake Friday the 5th of March. Needless to say, he had a great birthday and loves being 2.


The last birthday was Brad's 29th. His was the 26th and I was still in the hospital with Olivia so we postponed the celebrating. We did open his presents around the same time we opened Brody's but today we are having his birthday dinner and cake. Pictures to come!

So now we have a whole 10 months to get excited about present opening and to discuss going pee pee and poo poo in the potty today without turning four first. So many fun things to anticipate!

Together at last!!

We came home today! So nice to be back!

News from the hospital...

For those who are unaware of the last week, our whole family got a cold and regardless of our efforts to keep Olivia from getting it, she did and we wound up in the hospital. We have been here since Sunday morning. Olivia sounded pretty good except for a cough that made her gag on her own secretions and she had a fever. Her fever persisted a few days and then went away but she started to sound bad again when she should have been sounding better. She then got another fever so the doctors began to look for a secondary infection. And they found out this morning she has pneumonia. So hopefully she will respond to the antibiotics quickly and the crap in her chest that is causing this cough and difficulty breathing (meaning her oxygen saturation hasn't been as high as it should be) will resolve and she can come home. We anticipate Sunday or Monday, however, you never know what will happen and I don't have much confidence in predictions as we have been disappointed with them so often in the past.

Here is Olivia in her mist tent. This is like a big localized humidifier. Very high tech!

You can't see in the picture but she is on oxygen and has an IV. It took 6 pokes and she has had 4 different IV's that eventually didn't work. She is so strong physically (she'll be my "sporty" daughter) and emotionally. It's nice to be able to calm her in these tough times! I guess the Lord knew we had been through this before and could handle it, or we just haven't learned the accompanying lesson. I know I learned this, all of our future children WILL be born after RSV season, so in the summertime!

A large THANK YOU to everyone who has helped out, expressed concern, given a meal, called us on the phone, visited the hospital, watched our kids or watched Olivia for us and more! You have no idea what an outpouring of blessings we have received and I have been able to see our prayers and your prayers on our behalf answered through all of you! It's been very humbling and testimony building. I can't express my gratitude enough! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

Can't stay out

of the hospital that is! I don't know what it is I'm doing or not doing but we just can't seem to keep my newborns out of the hospital with RSV! Olivia was admitted on Sunday with RSV and we don't know when she'll come home! Keep her in your prayer and we'll keep you updated!

Thanks to all those who have helped out so much! Especially Grammie for being able to visit and take care of Brylie and Brody. What would we do with them otherwise?

Their biggest advocate...

I have just become the biggest fan of this...I may not have any impressive credentials but I am a mother of 3 kids who have all braved RSV in the first few weeks of their lives and I can say that this nose sucker would have made things SO much better for all of them, maybe even kept the older two out of the hospital. I wish I could buy one for all of you! It's that awesome!

All Smiles

Blessing day

Today Brad blessed Olivia! She wore the same blessing dress Brylie wore and was very good during the blessing. Here is our family! And here is Olivia with her dad! We are so lucky to have this darling baby!

LIke mother, like daughter

Olivia weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces when she was born.
At 5 1/2 weeks old, she weighed 13 pounds.

Totally Hilarious!!

So I think Brad is hilarious but many of you don't see his humor as often as I do so I thought I'd share this little video. Brad grew this beard and kept it because it seemed to be easier and he and I liked it. But he decided to shave it and this was the fun we had when he did.

What we've been busy with...

Cassidy's Birthday!

Today is Cassidy's birthday! We love you Mom and hope you have a Wondermous Day! Time to party like it's 1989!

-Brad + Brylie + Goober + Peanut

Family of Five

Here are pictures of Brylie and Brody meeting their little sister Olivia as well as our first family of five photo!

Take THAT Uncle Sam!!!!

We will be taking THREE dependent child deductions on our income taxes for 2009!!! Thanks to Olivia Gunnell coming in at 3:12 PM on 12/29/09!



Olivia was 8 lbs, 12 ounces, and 21 inches long (at two weeks early no less!). She has slightly darker hair than her siblings and brown, BROWN eyes, but her face is a perfect blend of Brylie and Brody.

Mom is doing great, and just keeps saying, "This is such a RELIEF!!!!"

-Brad

Christmas Ornaments

Today we colored some ornaments we got from Grandma and Grandpa Allen. Every year we get an ornament with our name on the back and this year we got to color them. Here is the end result. Mom may have helped a little!

Merry Christmas!!

Pregnancy week 35....

I just thought I'd document what I look like at this stage in the game since I have never lived near my or Brad's parents during a pregnancy and I didn't take pictures like this with Brody. So here I am around 34 weeks. I think I'm HUGE! And it feels like the baby has barely any room in there to move, which she does often and I love it! Hopefully she makes her appearance no earlier than the 20th of this month as that would be too early for my liking but I'd appreciate it around the end of the month! Stay tuned!

What I've been working on...

Here is my latest project and I was so proud of it, I thought I'd share it. This is mostly for my mom who I would love to have done this at her house with her help but Oregon was too far to travel so this is the best I can do. Love you Mom! Also, a big thanks to Emily for letting me use her sewing machine after I broke mine in the process!

FHE Yahtzee

We played a few games after family home evening one night and now Brylie insists on FHE every night…she also loves to pick out a note from our song bag (I have a bunch of large wooden notes with a song written on each) and we have to do this before we read scriptures and go to bed every night. We are really good at the hokey-pokey! Anyway, this is a video of us playing yahtzee…more specifically, Brody. He is such a doll!!

King Noah in the house….

Tonight during family scripture “study,” Brad was going through the Book of Mormon picture book with the kids. We just open to a story and talk about the pictures and let the kids point and ask questions. At one point, Brad pointed to King Noah (the wicked king who kills Abinadi) and said “Look at King Noah….is he fat?” He is fat. He is obese.

Brylie looked at the picture, and said “yeah.” Then she said “Dad, he has a belly like you!” Brad has put on a bit of extra weight in law school eating so much good barbeque, but he is no King Noah….yet. While we tried to hold in the laughter and proceed with the scripture stories, Brylie began to stroke Brad’s beard, and we realized she had said “Dad, he has a BEARD like you.” Much better, but still a cautionary tale about eating too much Pop Walton's Barbeque.

Dark and Early

I hate Daylight Savings.

 

Whoever invented this stupid idea definitely didn’t have kids.

 

Good morning fellow mothers!