Recent happenings.....

Its been a busy month and a half for us. We've been sick with whatever bug has been going around. We've had a few trips to the ped for the kids because of the junk. One trip to the ER for Jacen, which turned out to be nothing which we are very thankful for. Kayleigh had an ear infection and was on antibiotics for almost 2 weeks. Thankfully she is all clear now and feeling much better. 

Our niece and nephew (twins) were born May 3rd. They are adorable and growing ever so quickly!! We are so blessed that they are here and Mommy and Daddy and big brother Ethan couldn't be happier! Congratulations guys!

We recently found a church and have been going since Easter. We are truly thankful for our new church family. I feel at home here. We love having a place to go and share the word of God, and watch the kids grow and learn about the Lord.

We took the kids to the beach a few weeks back. Kayleigh's first trip to the beach!! She loved it!! She wasn't a fan of the sand though. :) Jacen as always loved it. Hes an outside boy, our adventurer. 

Jacen recently got new glasses. They look just like his old ones except they are blue instead of brown. He picked them out on his own. Hes had a new thing with wearing sunglasses when we are outside, which is good for him and totally cute! :)

Kayleigh's birthday is coming up.....too fast for me. So the planning has begun. I have no idea what to get her, she is a very quite girl.

Baby Jay's birthday memorial was May 15th and we celebrated like we do every year. You can read all about that on his blog.....as soon as I get it posted. :)


Until next time.

Trip to Disney and Jacen's 3rd Birthday.

 First getting to Disney. Jacen doesn't look excited but he was.

 Had to take a pic with the Minnie bush. Lol.

Kayleigh's ready for this day....to be over. :)

 His favorite ride in all of Disney World...

 Disney

 Castle

 Inside the castle

 Pulling on the sword....didn't come out.

 It's a small world....after all. It's a small world after all...:) you know that song is stuck in your head now.

 Pooh's house.

 Jacen loved it.

 Meeting Chip and Dale was not his favorite. He was scared of them at first. lol

 Castle

 This was about mid day...he was already getting tired.

 We found Goofy. Who was getting frisked by some old ladies in front of us....Not cool old fogies not cool.

 His favorite part of the day. Meeting Mickey and Minnie!!!

 He kept bouncing between the two giving them hugs and kisses! Too cute.

 Family

 See big hugs Minnie.

 Cinderella and Kayleigh

 Belle and Kayleigh...her favorite. :)

 Princess Aurora.

 Still his favorite ride...

 People were talking about how cute this monkey was sitting up like this in her stroller. lol

 Jacen driving the cars at Autotopia.....interesting. :)

And we ended the day with the parade. (I had a great spot for pics for the entire parade. Right up front.) Tink!

This is where we took Jacen for his 3rd birthday. He was super excited and had a blast. We cant wait to take them again!

Here's what Jacen has been up to. He is 37in tall and 31lbs. He is now in 3T and wears size 7 1/2 in shoes. His favorite things are Cars. Anything to do with Cars. Playing on his iPad. Ignoring his little sister. Harassing  Shelby. He loves to paint, color and anything to do with learning. He is just starting to learn how to use scissors...its very funny to watch. He loves being outside. Loves to swing. Loves to play with his bud Christopher (who was born the same day he was ) Still loves giving mommy and daddy hugs and kisses. He is just the sweetest boy. We are so blessed to have him in our lives. We couldn't be more proud of him.

Kayleigh's arrival.

I felt so strange. I don't look it in this picture but I felt horrible. I felt like I was going to throw up and I felt so sleepy. Really I just wanted this part of it to be over.

Even though this is my third child, I hadn't had the privilege to hear one of them cry. That was until Kayleigh arrived. When I heard that beautiful song, I lost it. I cried. Dr. H peeked over the curtain and said, "I remember the first child, and I will never forget. You deserve this more than anyone I know."

Kayleigh Makenna. 6lbs 6oz. 19in long.

Big brother Jacen seeing his baby sister. When they brought him to the nursery he kept banging on the window and yelling at his daddy to tickle her feet!

First time I held her.

Kayleigh was born at 1:15pm weighing in at 6lbs. 6oz and 19in long. She has a head full of hair and the most beautiful face.


Six months later and we could not be more proud of her. She is such a joy to be around. She sleeps so well, eats well. I still can't believe she is here. I never expected to be able to have children after Jay, but God never fails. He knows the plans He has for us.

Potty training...

About 3 weeks ago, I decided it was time to potty train Jacen. I have been trying off and on since he was 18 months, and each time either he wasn't ready or I wasn't ready. (Hard to determine which is true. :)) But this time I decided we are getting it done one way or another.

So I picked up a few things that I thought might help the process. In this list of things are stickers, hot wheels (for poopy) and m&m's. I had to try and prepare myself for this because I am an impatient person and I knew this was going to be something that was going to take every ounce of patience I could muster. Needless to say it has been a very challenging time. But we are almost there!

Monday marks week 4 and he is now going pee in the potty every time on his own. We are still working on doing #2 there. The past two days have been amazing. Thursday he went on his own every time, today he had two #2 accidents but he realized it and ran to the potty and said "I sorry mommy, I forgot" -- I know melt your heart, right? Of course I never get upset with him. I calmly tell him that it's ok, we have accidents sometimes and next time we will make it to the potty faster.

Even when he doesn't do anything in the potty I still cheer him on and praise him for the effort. He soaks it up. When he does his business I give him a sticker to put on his chart and a packet of m&m's if he pee'd. If he did #2 he gets a hot wheel. (Yea, we have spent about $10 on hot wheels, but ya know what. If he is potty trained completely by his 3rd birthday, its worth it!)

So this is my potty training technique. I know every child is different. What works for one child may not work for another. My best advice is to praise praise praise them. We have a little dance that we do, and he loves it. Patience is also key, you have to be ready to sit there for sometimes half an hour or longer, especially at the beginning. Now sometimes I don't even have to go in there until he calls me letting me know he needs help. (which is good sometimes, because I have Kayleigh who is 6 months old to take care of too.) So it can get a little tricky at times but it always seems to work out just right. I would also take things for him to do while he sits there otherwise he gets bored. We bring his iPad and books.

Good luck!

Giveaway....

Ashley over at The Sullengers is doing a giveaway. You should stop by and check it out.

Meet the family....

I have combined all of the blogs except Baby Jay's blog to this new space. This will be the family blog. As long as I can keep it updated. :)

So if you haven't met me yet here is a little about me and my family.

 Here is me and my husband of 7 years in August. We met in 2001 at Kmart where I worked for his dad. Have been together ever since. He is my rock and he keeps me grounded through almost anything. I wouldn't be here today without him.

 This is our 5 year old black lab, Shelby. She joined our family July 4, 2007. She wondered up to our front porch after her owners kind of abandoned her. We took her to our local shelter the next day and I cried the whole way home. There was something about her. I felt she was supposed to be in our family. We called the shelter the next day and they told us we had to wait 1 week in case her owners came back to claim her they could. If they hadn't by then, then we could come back and adopt her. Of course we waited and we came back to pick her up that Saturday. I never will forget the moment they brought her through the doors to us, she took off running when she saw me across the room, yanking her leash out of the volunteer's hands. She tackled me knocking me to the ground and licking me excitedly. If you have read the book "Marley and Me" she was exactly like Marley as a puppy. Crazy as ever. This dog dug holes in the walls of our home! This is how nuts she was! But we would not trade her for anything. She is our first child. 

 This is Jay, he is our first son. He was born May 15, 2008. Stillborn. The night my life ended. I woke up to contractions. We sped to the hospital, not expecting anything to be wrong. After being monitored for an hour or so they were going to send me home because I was at 1-2cm dilated and not progressing enough to stay. I mentioned that I didn't remember feeling him move much that day so they did further monitoring to find that an ultrasound was needed. Some how I knew in my heart he was already gone. Ultrasound confirmed my worst nightmare. I was 37 weeks pregnant. We decided to go ahead and let the contractions run their course and he was born that evening at 8:20pm. Beautiful in every way weighing 5lbs 15oz 20in long. There are so many things I wish I would have thought to do when he was born. That haunts me to this day. I never imagined that I would ever have to leave the hospital without any of my babies in my arms. He is my angel, my light and my first love. I miss him dearly and can't wait to see him again one day.

 This is our second son Jacen. He is our rainbow, our sunshine and our little adventurer. He can put a smile on your face in a second. When he was born was another day I will re-live over and over again in my head. It was one of the most scariest days of my life. We had decided to induce at 38 weeks due to our previous pregnancy loss. We went in everything was going smoothly. Pictocin was started around 5pm and around 11am the next morning something was going wrong. I began vomiting and his heart rate began to drop. In a matter of seconds there was a horde of nurses around me, trying everything to get his heart rate to stabilize. Nothing was working. I remember one of the nurses calling my doctors office, I remember hearing her say "I DO NOT CARE IF HE IS WITH A PATIENT, GET HIM HERE NOW! SHE NEEDS EMERGENCY C-SECTION NOW!!!" My doctors are so awesome I have to tell you. This man beat the anesthesiology (who was on the floor above me) to the OR. He had me put under and Jacen out of me in less than a few minutes. When he was born they told me he was already blue. His apgars were a 2 (i believe). They put him on oxygen and he immediately began to get his color back and he began breathing on his own and has been perfect since. The first time he almost made my heart stop. I wouldn't still be breathing without him.

This is our little ladybug Kayleigh. She is our princess. She makes your heart melt with her beautiful smile and her contagious laugh. She is simply amazing. Her birth could not have been more perfect. I never imagined after our first 2 children that I would ever get to hear any of my children cry at birth. She changed all of that. I had to have a c-section with her due to the emergency c-section with Jacen. I asked if I could be awake during hers, at first they weren't sure if I would be able to for some reason I don't remember. They asked why and I had to re-live the boys' birth and they agreed that this was an experience I needed to witness. I am grateful they agreed. It was such a surreal moment, we had my 2 doctors, my nurses and another doctor( who was going to fix my belly button after I was stitched up from the c-section), 2 interns the Ped and the nurse from the nursery in the OR and they were all talking and listening to music and just so relaxed I felt I was having an out of body experience. When they pulled her from my body she immediately began to cry, the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. I began to cry. One of my doctors (the one who delivered Jay) peeked over the curtain and said "Misty, I remember Jay and that is a night I will never forget. Let it out baby. That is the most beautiful sound and you deserve to hear it more than anyone I know." A perfect birth. I felt complete but still broken at the same time.

So there you have it. My family and a little bit of our story. We aren't perfect but we love deeply, laugh and cry together. I never thought it possible to feel happy again but I can't imagine life without any of my children.

28 months, surgery and stitches....

It's been quite the busy house since Kayleigh was born. 

We knew before she was born that we would have to make the decision to have the eye muscle surgery done for Jacen. What I wish we would have done before she arrived, because its proven to be quite challenging to keep up with a 2 year old who has had surgery and a 1 month old. 

Just days before his eye surgery he split his ear lobe open. Not quite sure how it happened. I was in the laundry room and he had been helping me, he came out into the living room, which I can see from the laundry room but I had my back turned. All of a sudden I hear this loud crash and him screaming bloody murder. I came running. I picked him up and started rubbing his head, thinking he just bumped his head like he frequently does. Nothing was calming him down. So I pulled him back to see if I could find what was wrong. First I saw blood all over my sleeve then I saw his ear. I was panicking a little. I ran him to the kitchen to find something to cover it with, because at this point he was touching it and pulling on it. I knew I would have to take him to the ER 45 minutes away so I called Jay to tell him what was going on. 

We get to the ER they take us back to the pediatric ER and we wait. When they finally come in to stitch him up they tell us we are going to have to swaddle him to keep his arms down. I say yea probably for the best. These are moments I wish I could forget. He screamed like I have never heard him scream before. Broke my heart to see him this way. They told us he would be screaming because he was bound and because people were holding him down, not because he could feel any pain. I think he felt some pain at the beginning even after they deadened his ear. I hope that he didn't but the way he was reacting said different.

As soon as he started screaming, Kayleigh started crying. Jacen kept screaming, "Kayleigh crying!" "I want to go see Shelby!" "Mommy coming!" (I was standing right next to him and talking to him) Made me cry. When they were all done, he was sniffling and looked at me and said "I think they all done" Made us all laugh! He is such a sweetheart and a trooper.

The back of his ear lobe was completely black the few days following the incident but the front only had one little bruise on it.

Its been so long since I started this post and I can't even keep up anymore. 

These days have been pretty busy. Jacen is saying more and more. There is so much I cant even remember it all. In September Jacen had his eye surgery, it went well. But we go back on Jan. 31st to see if he is going to need another surgery. I hope he doesn't it was horrible to go through that and I don't want for any of us to go through it again. 

April is coming up pretty quick. I have no idea on party ideas yet. I can't believe he is going to be 3!!!! Time is going by too fast. Makes me sad. But he is such a sweet boy I am happy to see his beautiful personality shine through.

1+1+1=1: Behind the Scenes ~ Where do I Begin?

1+1+1=1: Behind the Scenes ~ Where do I Begin?: I get this question a lot, the one from a mom trying to do the best for her tot, but feeling a tad bit overwhelmed when she stumbles u...

3 months....

I know I am behind, but I want to get it down.

Kayleigh you are growing so fast. We cant believe its already been 3 months! Heres what you've been doing.

You now wear 0-3 month clothes
size 1 diapers
you eat 6oz about every 5 hours. (Some times you eat more)
You are holding your head up pretty well by yourself but some times you lean. (we've been doing more tummy time.)
You sleep from about 7:30 to 6 (sometimes longer sometimes shorter)
You love to suck on your fist.
You weigh 12lbs. 22in long.
You are still a very happy little girl.
You dont like your swing so much (not anything like Jacen did! :))
Something new you just recently have started doing that just tickles me pink....laughing! The all out belly laugh that only a baby can do and it just melts my heart.

You are such a beautiful little girl and we are so in love with you. Everyday is a new adventure and it is beautiful. We love you so much Tinker Bell!

Kayleigh at 1 & 2 months old....

I have been horrible at posting these things, but I want to make sure get it down so later we can look back.
This is Kayleigh at 1 month old.
Wears newborn clothes.
eats 4-5oz. every 4-5 hours
She can already lift her head sometimes without wobbling.
wears newborn diapers
so easy going
Doesnt like to be in dirty diapers for very long. (meaning as soon as she does a dirty....shes ready to be cleaned.)
when mommy, daddy and Jacen speak to her she turns her head to find us.
loves to watch her big brothers
normally eats an extra oz during the day to make up for sleeping most of the night.
bedtime is at 8 she wakes up at 11 then sleeps till 6
Is a very good sleeper.


Kayleigh is 2 months old today!

She eats about 6 oz every 5 hours.
She still sleeps very well.
Still in newborn clothes
About to graduate from newborn diapers to size 1.
Is now sleeping all night in her crib
Has been sleeping from 9pm to 7am for the past week now.
Can now hold her head up.
Stays up for about 2 hours during the day to play with big brother.

Jacen and Kayleigh went to meet their new cousin Bailey for the first time last weekend. She is adorable. Congrats to uncle Steven for that beautiful addition.

Stationery card

Love Package Pink Birth Announcement

Create photo birth announcements by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Maternity photos.....

These are photos I did myself.