Boy Paradise

Is having a dad who owns a tractor. And when dad brings that tractor home and digs large holes in the yard, he lets you watch. 

And after he's done digging the holes, he lets you help him spray the dirt with a hose. 
And when dad's not looking, you take a little bath in the mud. 


And you use it to cover your body like camo, just to feel it squish between your toes. 
And you help your dad with important jobs, like sweeping the walk. 


Yep, pretty sure that this is exactly what boy paradise looks like. 

Three weeks old already

To sum it all up...

This is what things look like at my house right now, but I have 300+ photos from the last two weeks to sort through and post... SOON I hope. In short, baby Brecken is here (as of 3:31 a.m. on May 5th), he's beautiful and precious and everyone is doing great. Stay tuned. 

Two of my Favorite Things

Say Hello to my Little Friend: the Kindle!

Yes, I am a technology geek. I love the fact that this little device is the future of reading and holds up to 1500 books at one time, has wireless connectivity so I can browse for and download books from anywhere, and also looks like something from Star Trek. Jarrod really spoiled me for my birthday this year-- its almost embarrasing. Almost.

My other obsession? A mason jar of ice water with a big slice of lemon. I cannot get enough of it, I dream about it. Yes, definitely a pregnancy craving (one I also had with Rowan). The fun part is after drinking all the water, you are left with lemon-flavored ice that is just the perfect consistency for munching. Mmmmmmm. I've been buying lemons by the Costco-bag-full. And it's low in calories ;)

39 weeks, four days

Countin' down the hours with this little bun in the oven. Heading into the hospital tonight to start the inducing process. I'm only three days early, but that is like WEEKS for me because usually I am overdue by a week or two. They decided to go ahead and get this show on the road because of some random freak episodes where my blood pressure was high and my vision got screwy. Everything is really fine, but I'm relieved to be getting on with it. I'm tired and uncomfortable, and I'm excited to meet this new little person who was created and ordained by God to be a part of our family. He doesn't have a name yet, but I figure sometime in the next 24 hours we'll figure all that out, hehe. 

It's been a busy week, trying to get my house cleaned and groceries stockpiled and about 20 loads of laundry done. My mother-in-law came over five days in a row and stayed all day and just helped me. No one has ever done that before and I was pretty humbled. Partly because it's hard to accept help when it's offered, and partly because she did it with so much joy and love. I actually did all my errands ALONE this week, which is practically unheard of. I think she helped take a huge amount of stress off and that's why I've been feeling better this week. No more twitchy eyes or lack of peripheral vision or seeing spots. Thanks, Mom :)

A couple weeks ago I was feeling pretty depressed and overwhelmed, and when I went to MOPS I got a big reminder of how NOT alone I really am. My friends had pooled their money to get me a big gift certificate to Target for last minute baby stuff, and Cassiopia made me this rockin' diaper cake. I wasn't expecting anything so I was pretty dumbfounded. Tons of socks and little baby goodies tucked in with those very valuable diapers too. Thanks, Cassie! 

Rowan was also impressed with the diaper cake and of course assumed everything in it was for him. He was very excited about the tiny baby puffers. 
Whenever we try and tell him something is for the new baby, he points at his chest and says very sincerely "Me, Baby" That should make things interesting. 

So that's the plan for now-- I have a date with an epidural :)

Why Rowan should never be left unattended

While I was checking my email, he "cleaned" my toilet and then decided to potty train himself. 

Yep, the backside of those sweats were soaked and he was pretty darn proud of himself. He put up quite the fuss when I tried to forcibly remove him from the potty. I'm sure at this point I'm supposed to say "Yay, he's ready to potty train" but in my head I was thinking "Noooo, I don't have time for this, I'd rather change a diaper."

This picture just makes me laugh. Hard. It was less than a year ago that Greyson was struggling to open the slider door, and now we have another little boy who has a problem with this. He wanted to come in, but I was just standing there taking his picture. He doesn't look disgusted with me or anything does he?

Name This Photo:

"Travelocity, eat your heart out. You got nothin' on my lawn gnome."

Huh, Weird

So, this was life around here on April 1st, one week ago:

Snow in the backyard.

And this was yesterday: 


Crazy Idaho weather. Rowan has morphed over the winter from "the baby" who has to stay inside with Mama, to one of the "big boys" who can wander the backyard freely and manage to get down the slide without too much trouble. I took a video of what his version of "going down the slide" looks like and I'm going to try and figure out how to get it on here. Super funny stuff. 

And that's me, 36 weeks huge... er, I mean pregnant. I forgot how that last month is a paradox of desperately wanting to get it over with and being terrified of actually having to take on the responsibility for another human being. I'm looking forward to meeting this little boy. He's relatively quiet during the day and then twitches and rolls and has, what feels like, seizures all night long. Apparently neither one of us is sleeping very well at night. 
Yesterday Greyson asked me if I was having three babies. I was like, "No, why?" and he pointed at each of my boobs and then my belly and said "Well, it looks like you are." Ummm... thanks. 

Haydn would like the baby to be named Alex or Bolton. Alex because he thinks that's an A+ name, and Bolton because he really liked the movie Bolt and thought it would be cool to name his little brother after it. I didn't tell him there is a male singer with long blond permed hair that would prevent me from EVER naming my child Bolton. 

Greyson would really like the baby to be named "Little Rose" because "he's going to be cute like a little flower." I asked him how he would feel if I had named HIM Little Rose, and he just shrugged and said "Okay, then, name him Greyson Two" 

Rowan couldn't care less what we name him, he just thinks I've gotten fat. He likes to sit on my lap and use my stomach as a backrest, although when the baby kicks him he looks over his shoulder at me suspiciously as though I am sneaking pokes at his back. Occasionally he lifts up my shirt and pats my tummy and kisses it as if to say "I really like the beach ball look, Mom"