Tuesday Twelve

1.  5 more days until Christmas....wowza!

2.  Nolan is 6 weeks old today....wowza!

3.  I have almost all of the gifts wrapped and ready to go :)  Santa doesn't wrap gifts so that's easy.

4.  Santa is bringing each kiddo 3 gifts...he's a nice dude.

5.  There is another random dog at our house fortunately the dogs don't seem to have seen her or we would be listening to ridiculous carrying on.

6.  Laundry got out of control this past week...I am working on getting it all caught up.  By the time I get it caught up...it will be out of control again.  Never ending.

7.  We made "gingerbread houses" yesterday.  With hot glue and graham crackers instead of the ridiculous kits that make my blood boil.  Thank you to THIS BLOG for the idea.  Genius.

8.  Nolan is fussing in his swing...typing fast...

9.  I am getting a cold...bleh.

10.  faster....

11.  It's a dreary day outside today...warm but dreary.

12.  My mom and stepdad are coming to visit tomorrow for Christmas....can't wait :)

In case you missed it.

The cutest 2 week old around...

This is in color and on our Christmas card this year....yes he is really that alert and wide eyed.   He also at 5 weeks apparently thinks he should sit and stand because he does both shockingly well for 5 weeks...supported of course, duh.

Power wheeled boy

I finally broke down and spent the insane amount of money it costs to replace the batteries in a power wheel...We have had power wheeled vehicles since Jakeb was barely old enough to drive one.  Actually since before as we had one given to us...he has sadly (to him) out grown them so they have been sitting untouched in the back yard.  It occurred to me recently that Gavin isn't getting to enjoy them like they did so a new battery it is.  It came yesterday (thank you Amazon) and it was sitting waiting for him when he got off the bus today.  He was in heaven and oh so cute.
All 50 of my Christmas cards are sitting here addressed and ready to be sealed (bleh), stamped, and dropped in the mail.  Glad that's off my list...er almost.  I need to order another small set to send to my others on the list.  Remember these over priced cards take place of every card I SHOULD be sending out all year.
Way back in 2008 I put myself to work taking a picture of each boy from their birthday to their next birthday every single day.  My goal over the next few months is to FINALLY get those pictures back organized (darn crashing computer) and slap them on shutterfly and into a book.  I put some of Zachary's into a folder earlier today and OMG was he a cute chubby cheeked 4 year old boy.  Talk about squishy kissable cheeks he fo sho had them.  And also I think Nolan REALLY looks like Gavin.
I made a list of stuff to do with the boys over Christmas break...hopefully I will follow thru with those things better than I did with the "list of summer fun" because that totally didn't happen.
They have 1 more full day of school and then they are done for the year.  Holy Moly it's almost 2.0.1.2.  Eeks.

Tuesday Twelve

1.  These are the easiest posts for me to sit down a whip out...

2.  Nolan is smiling like crazy these days and I cannot stand how cute he is.  And also he's making little baby noises ooh and ahh and a few "ggooo's"  He's a genius 5 week old.  He really seems older than 5 weeks...I find myself having to remind myself "He's only tiny still..."

3.  I ordered nearly all of our Christmas gifts from Amazon...our Postal Carrier will LOVE us.   Though he shouldn't complain...total job security.

4.  I am doing the mad dash to cram Nolan into the few remaining Newborn outfits he hasn't worn...he has on quite the combo today.  It's cool he's doing the trendy no matching thing.

5.  Gavin is asking Santa for shoes....last year Zachary requested Sheets for his bed.  They are all about necessities.  That and Gavin loves him some new shoes.  (side note to mention they totally have these items already.)

6.  I need to order more Christmas cards...50 isn't enough.  Though this year we are doing a Announcement/Card so we are sending more than normal.  PLUS we have TN friends and now GA friends so it seems the list grew this year.  That and I love sending Christmas cards...I forget birthdays and thank you notes but I am all about some Christmas cards.  Not kidding I started sending out my OWN Christmas cards when I was still in high school...Love them.

7.  Zachary is writer of the month for 2nd grade.  He rocked it with his Santa Letter.  In which he asked for a Pack N' Play for ME and a month off of work for Robert.  I am thinking I might be getting jipped.  For the record we have a pack n' play...I don't fit in it.  As reward for "Writer of the Month" he got to leave school yesterday and go eat Mexican food with the Principal and the other winners.  Jealous? yes.  I love me some Mexican food.

8.  Speaking of Mexican food....lately I cannot eat enough taco's.  Seriously I could eat Moes, Chipotle, and even Taco Bell for dinner every day...with Chick-Fila for lunch.  Yum.

9.  And also hot drinks...coffee, hot chocalate....all day.  I don't but I want to.  And BTW guess who has given up Dr. Pepper?  Mmmhhmm Me.   Not intentionally really I just don't want it.  Works.

10.  Also I may or not only need to loose 13-15 more lbs until pre baby....+15 to get to where I would really like to be.  So technically about 30lbs.  Can do.

11.  Jakeb is going to be 10 in roughly 3 months.  Wow.  That's both scary and awesome at the same time.

12.  Robert has started playing soccer on a team...I also think that's awesome and I may be a little jealous I don't have the abilities to do that.  As in I don't know how to play soccer well enough.

Hello Friends.

It's getting cold'ish here finally...which helps with the whole "feeling of Christmas" that we should all be rolling around in.  We have our tree up...we have had our tree up actually and it looks fab.  Or at least pretty decent.  I don't do the fancy pants tree of my dreams...because I have a hard time paying mucho bucko's for Christmas decorations when I know darn good and well they will be over half off after Christmas.  Except that after Christmas I don't do much shopping because...well because it's after Christmas and I'm broke.  That and all the good stuff is gone because I don't rush out at 6am on the 26th.  I am a shopper but I am not hardcore.  We aren't all about Black Friday and all that jazz...I am all about some good deals online while in my Pj's sipping my coffee.  Yes thank you very much.  In fact I probably do the online shopping thing a wee bit too much...probably most definitely.
Da baby boy turned 1 month yesterday and wowzers pretty soon he's going to be like off to college and all that.  But for now we are enjoying all of his squishy cheeked goodness...because at 10lbs 2oz and 21 1/4 in long he is chunking up just like his brothers did.  And by the way I knew he wasn't 18.5 inches like the hospital folks said...because no way he's grown almost 3 inches in a month.
I am feeling pretty good and chipper these days...apparently new baby is good for me.   And Gavin because he is like a new kid and we are enjoying that too...I mean old kid was ok but new kid with happiness and less fits is really nice..REALLY nice.  New me is really nice too...grumpy me blah.  Or rather new me= old me so it's all good.

Twelve on Tuesday.

1. These are my favorite posts...I don't really have to come up with clear thoughts (do I really ever anyway?) nor complete sentences...

2. Nolan is snoozing IN.HIS.CRIB. We will see how long it lasts...going on about 10 minutes now.

 3. Jakeb has a Christmas performance thingy at school this evening.

 4. I bought BLUE JEANS this weekend. You have no idea how nice it feels to be in pants without elastic--I know you would think I would prefer the stretchy waist but there is something about real button jeans that makes me feel more like a grown up.

 5. And By the way...I am not 6 sizes bigger like I thought I would be...just 2. I can totally deal with that.

 6. Annd...I hear Nolan making racket up there...

 7. The FedEx truck just passed I do believe he should be swinging by to drop off our Christmas Cards...they are Da' Bomb diggity...I opted for Christmas Card/Birth Announcement this year and they are so damn cute cannot wait to get them in my hands.

 8. My energy level has gone from Zero to 100 in the past few weeks...I imagine days upon days at home have done that but I am making dinner again and keeping the house somewhat clean. I am glad to be getting back to "normal"

 9. I am excited about some of the Christmas Gifts we are giving this year...they are "homemade" and kinda special so I am hoping folks appreciate it.

 10. And no it's not just pictures of the boys...

 11. I have been thinking about the fact that I have 4 boys lately...it really isn't quite a big of deal as folks make it out to be. I mean THEY are a big deal and it IS a big deal but not in the way everyone seems to think.

 12. I painted my toes Christmassy this morning...partially because my 4 boys will think it's cute. It totally is.

Mean hands.

We are almost 1 month into this new baby thing and are settling right in...he is growing and totally starting to smile especially in the mornings. He is a grunter and growler and loves to stretch in his sleep and freak us all out by making his face turn bright red. Jakeb will announce "he's doing the red face thing again!" and we all stop to make sure he's ok. His poor little out of control hands keep latching onto his hair and pulling. Today they didn't want to let go and he was not a happy baby. We are fast approaching Christmas break and the big boys will be home for 2 weeks. I am mentally thinking of activities to do to help keep them occupied and not arguing. The 2 biggest of the wild ones are rather um animated as of late and need some more structure time I am thinking.

Halloween in December...

I know I know I said I was going to post these on Wednesday but lets just pretend when I said "tomorrow" I really meant like my NEXT post would be all about some Halloween...mmmmk?
So for Halloween this year we laid kinda low no parties or big treks around town trick or treating....we just hit up a neighborhood that we knew was slam packed for trick or treating and did a loop which was plenty and the boys actually were asking to go home.  So simple Halloween=success.  We came home and they gave candy to the few kids that came to our door and I think this is the first year that we actually finished off most of the candy instead of most of it hitting the trash can.  I am sure my pregnancy had nothing to do with that.   Jakeb and Zachary were dressed up as ninja's and Gavin was a Knight.   They were cute cute cute.

Gavin LOVED the pumpkin guts...HAHAHA

Twelve on Tuesday

1. I haven't done this in quite a while.

 2. Today it's cold and rainy and somewhat dreary...but no biggie we are just hanging out

 3. I am still in my pj's.

 4. Nolan is snoozing away strapped to my chest in the Moby Wrap.

 5. It's surprising how cozy he feels in the Moby...it's comfy and cozy for both of us. I imagine in a few months when he has packed on the pounds I may feel a bit differently.

 6. We put our tree up this past weekend..it looks lovely.

 7. I never posted pictures of the boys from Halloween. I will do that tomorrow. We had a fun time.

 8. I now have daytime television shows memorized...never thought that would happen. Oops.

 9. Gavin has been a fantastic kiddo lately. Being a big brother apparently agrees with him.

 10. The boys have 2 1/2 weeks until they start their Christmas break....

 11. We have 3 1/2 weeks to get Christmas gifts handled...still not worrying..

 12. I really can't think of anything else...I mean I can but it wouldn't just be ONE thing it would turn into paragraphs of chatter....

Shock and Awe

Still pretty much rolling around in disbelief that we have another little baby in the house...another person of us to care for and love. He is currently snoozing away in his swing--which is where he sleeps if he is not in our arms, which is probably creating a bad habit of sorts but whatever he won't be sleeping in his swing when he's 5 so for now it's what's happening. Jakeb and Zachary are down the street playing at a friends house and Gavin is in the living room with the little girl from next door smacking around a balloon. Tomorrow Nolan will be 3 weeks and very soon he will be one whole month old and holy cow really? I am feeling much better these days than I was when I was doing all that whining and I am grateful for that. I am anxious to get the ball rolling on Christmas shopping and am feeling more comfy to take Nolan out in brief spurts here and there so we may venture out once or twice this week. So far his only trips out in public have been to the dr. Actually we did hit up a movie this past week with the boys--he slept thru it all in the Moby perfectly content. Hmm I guess we also did go to Zachary's football banquet where he also camped out in the Moby...so he's been out but on a limited basis. I tortured myself and tried on a pair of prebaby jeans...that was uh not cool. I should have known better though--because while I have lost over half of what I gained I haven't lost THAT much. Duh. Even if the jeans that I was wearing ARE my jeans I wore right after all 3 big boys were born, ho hum. At his last little Dr. visit he was up to 8lbs 1oz....so he's trucking along like he should! We had multiple appts for him recently--something I didn't mention previously because I was probably too scared to type it out. At his 3 day visit he was down to 6lbs 12oz so the dr. (who rocks) had us come back in for a weight check the following Monday. His weight was fantastic and he had gained 9oz in the 3 day span, but I had noticed a little tiny "bump" on his abdomen, in his diaper area but on his stomach that really just looked like a baby acne spot but it was a little inflamed looking. So I knew I wanted to ask the Dr about it...but Monday morning it looked worse and no longer just looked like a baby acne spot. The dr. said yep looks like staph...gasp...he popped and cultured it. While it was still pretty tiny it was a concern, we were told to treat it with antibacterial soap wash 2x a day and neosporin 4x a day. Meanwhile the culture came back showing "light growth of MRSA". So yeah I was a bit panicky about it...staph infections in newborns can get bad but it seems we managed to get it at the right time and all is just fine with him. Dr. said it likely came from the hospital thru his umbilical cord stump OR his circumcision. It never got nasty looking and really cleared up just as quickly as it came. Now just dealing with a slight diaper rash and some itty bitty skin irritation from the antibacterial soap. I have spent more time worrying over it than is probably necessary but it scared me and I am glad it's all clearing up like it should. Can't believe we are fast approaching December already and that Thanksgiving has already come and gone. We had a nice Thanksgiving here at home with just us and my mom....we whipped up some food and waited much too long for our turkey to be done but overall had a great dinner and a very relaxing day.

Wordless'ish Wednesday.

I mentioned that I needed Christmas Card pictures done and in an attempt at simplifying my tasks...ie not putting them off until the last minute and causing myself to panic about the timing and OMG IT HAS TO GET DONE RIGHT NOW!!! I jumped at the warm weather and extra hands from my mom being here to get some pictures of ALL four boys done. Because holding a baby and a camera and trying to get 3 little boys situated to hold said baby alone would have been enough to send me over the edge...so as to avoid that scenario...yesterday was the day. And um the result? Well I have cute kids who cooperated very well and I can slap a giant check mark on the to-do list. Awesome. So these aren't the ones that will be on the card--but hello cuteness.... And here's what most of the pictures I took of all 4 of them looked like...Jakeb and Gavin with their eyes closed or just not looking. Gavin has a great smile but a hard time actually LOOKING at something other than the ground!

Day 12.

Our sweet little one is 12 days old today and I am really wishing we could just back up a few days...shortly I will be wishing for years. He is doing wonderful and we are of course totally enthralled with every little grunt and squeak he makes. He tosses smiles our way with frequency and while they are obviously not intentional at this point--you know since he's asleep and all--it's awesome none the less. The big boys are on their Thanksgiving break for the week and my mom is on her way down to stay with us and entertain us for the week. Our Turkey day will be very low key this year and we are all looking forward to the simplicity of it. The 6 of us +my mom and we will whip up some food for us to enjoy and celebrate all we are thankful for with a lot less stress than in the past. Nolan will rock his Turkey day shirt and we will bust out the fancy plates just for us. Nolan so far is sleeping relatively well...waking every 2 1/2-3 1/2 hours which I am pretty sure means I am getting more sleep than before he was born. I am getting my energy back and holy moly I have ankles again! I didn't realize how incredibly swollen my legs and feet were until I am seeing them NOT swollen. Yeah, scary. I have of course taken umpteen million pictures but not many that are actually on the computer just yet. This next week my goal is to embrace our warm weather and drag my 4 little boys outside to attempt a Christmas card photo or 10. I get pretty perfectionist ridiculous about my Christmas Cards each year (um hello, photographer in me) so we have to rock them--the new baby will help--that and the fact that the big bros are so darn cute. I may or may not have picked out Christmas cards over a month ago...but have yet to actually purchase any Christmas gifts, go figure. Speaking of Christmas...eek. I am not really sweating it at this point. I could probably knock it all out in 4 days--if you know money grew on trees and my energy was indispensable. Ok ok ok....pictures...I promise I have better ones but they will have to wait...Though this one is pretty dang cute... And this one was from just a few minutes ago...I was trying to catch him smiling in his sleep...I missed!

Six.

And now we are six. Officially making us even numbered Nolan Taylor arrived last Tuesday November 8 at 2:55 am. I made my 38 week visit last Monday to discover my blood pressure still doing the steady climb it had done over the last week or 2. Coupled with the headaches (all be it Mild) and insane swelling the doctor recommended inducing. Me being the ever non patient...uh patient..jumped at the chance and walked straight from my 9am appointment to the hospital to get the baby ball rolling. I was hooked up to monitors and by 12pm pitocin was started. At that point I was 2-3 cm and fulling expecting to see a baby by about 9pm that evening at the latest. However at 9 o'clock that evening I was still sitting at roughly 3-4 cm. My water had been broken around 5 and me being the scared wheenie that I am got my epidural shortly after and tried to relax for the night. At 11 I was still 3-4 and getting panicky that the C-section word was going to start flying because of my lack of progress. Finally after relaxing and dozing for an hour we started seeing progress and by 1am we hit 4-5cm and by 2:30 we were 10 and by 2:55 my dark haired itty bitty boy was born. Easy peasy. He weighed in at 7lbs 6.9oz and a wee 18.5 inches long. He has a head full of dark brown hair and eyes just as dark. A bitty button nose and so much cuteness about him we can't get enough of him. We are certainly in baby love at this house and are all quite smitten with this tiny little cutie. I am feeling well so far and Nolan is nursing like a champ and sleeping like a newborn should perhaps a little better, waking only 2 times a night. Getting back into the groove of newborn baby-ness is a little challenging and our house is in a bit of disarray but we are catching on...and big brothers are being ever so patient with us and Nolan. Jakeb, Zachary, and Gavin are being wonderful big brothers and are very proud of their little brother. We are all settling in slowly but surely.

Siiiike

One would think that by the time you are on your 4th experience with child birth you would have it figured out and there wouldn't be any of the "is this it?" moments of first time moms. Yeah, you would think. But dang if we didn't mosey on over to L&D last night at 10 only to be sent home with instructions not to come back until you know...it's the real deal. Problem is I don't know what that is exactly. With kiddo numero uno we did the get sent home thing only to return a day later with tears in our eyes and veins ready for pitocin to help things along. Boy 2? Well I was straight up induced with him from the get go...so no clue there. And number 3 well I did go into labor with him but almost got sent home that time too. Lucky for me I am a wimp and had already gotten my epidural and they let me stay and again started the pitocin. In fact I got my epidural so quickly with all of them I never apparently experienced real contractions. So yeah....Rachel doesn't really know what real labor feels like. So last night when I had contractions for many hours that were between 2-5 min apart and moderately painful we hit up our local L&D. However, I left the hospital after roughly 30 min, time for them to check me discover I am at 2 cm and not in real labor. I also left ready to cry or throw a temper tantrum. I didn't do either. So here we sit today ho hum. Another day it is then.

November

I say it every month...every.single.month.  But really...already it's another month?  We are fast approaching Thanksgiving and then Christmas and then oh my goodness it's the end of the year...again!?  I am just now getting used to it being 2011 and now it's over.  First let me just say Christmas already??!?  Wow.  I see the leaves changing outside and feel the temperatures dropping but I haven't given a lot of thought really to the season.  I was thinking that the other day that "wow, it's fall"  Not that there is a lot of thought needed in that but just "oh wow, it really is fall".  I have been so obsessed preoccupied with everything baby and then just keeping up with everything that it just happened.
I love fall and love the changing cooler weather and all that comes with it...Thanksgiving and Christmas and just then it's February and I am over it all but in the beginning I (don't well all?) love it and welcome it.  And now it's November which is the month this little surprise boy will arrive and pretty much every part of me is doing a giant exhale and saying "we made it".  Not that I didn't think we would but my goodness it felt as if we wouldn't but at the very same time I can't believe it's November.  So funny how that works.
There are a few small things I keep thinking I need to do before he makes his grand debut but really we are ready and waiting and are really getting ready to be a family of six.  With each birth it seems bittersweet...welcoming a new little one and at the same time welcoming a new little one and changing the family dynamic and the family in general.  All very much for the better but still a change and that sometimes makes one stop and think "Oh Wow. This is going to be different and wonderful and just an adjustment in more and different ways than I first thought"  So I am trying to make an effort to enjoy the last little bit of our family of 5 because very soon we will be 6 and what we have known for the past 5+ years will be ever so different...all be it wonderful!  But really the nerves and trepidation I have felt in the past before a baby is born isn't there...the boys are older and we are all very ready to meet this spikey haired baby (did I mention in the last u/s his hair was very spikey?)  I think we are old pros at this point.
This past week we wrapped up Jakeb's 3rd soccer season and his team went undefeated which is so super exciting and also Jakeb is loving soccer which is also exciting for this non athletic boy.  He isn't the best on the team but the fact that he keeps trying and keeps wanting to play is fantastic.   He is such an awesome kid...in so many ways.  He's my sidekick and has been so helpful and patient with me and my whining and just overall need for their help.  He and Zachary both have, I am so proud of them and who they are becoming.  Sure, sure they have their moments...hours...and days of "OMG you are driving me nuts" but keeping it all in perspective certainly helps.  They are fantastic little boys and not because of anything special we do or have done...they are just awesome dudes.
It also seems that my blogging has tapered off a bit...sorry about that.  Though I imagine it seems understandable.  Soon enough a new face will be here!