Happy Birthday to you!

I can't believe my sweet, little Wyatt turned two years old a few days ago.  I have had so much fun with him these past two years.  He was such an easy going baby.  He has always been such a happy boy.  A few months ago he hit his terrible twos and became very opinionated and feisty. He also started talking all the time.  He basically went from saying nothing to saying everything.  I love hearing his sweet little voice.  I love watching his personality come out.  He is such a funny kid.  He loves to laugh and make other people laugh.  He loves to play games.  He is constantly in our game closet picking different games to play.  He loves to play outside and he loves swimming and playing in water.  He loves to play with Caitlyn and Jonah.  He likes to watch t.v.  His favorite show is Super Why, which is helping him learn his letters.  He is a picky eater, but he will usually try at least one bite of things.  He loves attention and will show off for anyone who gives it to him.  He is such a fun little boy!

Wyatt's birthday was one week after we had Hallee.  I have had a slower recovery than I was hoping for so I was excited when I woke up feeling pretty good on his birthday.  I have had a ton of swelling.  I get really swollen during pregnancy, but I have been a lot more swollen since I had Hallee.  My legs and ankles and especially my feet are so swollen.  I also have pockets of swelling and a lot of water retention in my stomach around my incision.  It has been painful, but it is finally starting to go down.  Anyway, I love my kids birthdays so I was really excited that I felt better and was able to enjoy the day with Wyatt.  We filled the front room with these cute mouse balloons for him to find when he woke up.  He loved them.

We already gave him his big present at the party we had earlier for him so we just had a few little presents for him that morning.  We gave him this chair and he loved sitting in it to open his presents. 

He loved opening all of the presents. It was much different than last year when he didn't want to open any of his presents. 

We decided setting the little pool and water table up in the backyard would be a fun way to spend the day.  Wyatt loved it.  He jumped in the pool fully clothed while Keith was filling up the pool.  We spent the morning watching the kids go down the slide into the pool.  I'm surprised that Wyatt doesn't mind the cold water.  He went right in with no complaints.  He is also a good sport about the kids splashing him in the face all the time.

He had the cutest face every time he came down the slide.  I love to sit back and watch the kids having fun.

We had lunch outside and then Wyatt went down for a nap.  After nap Caitlyn and Jonah were playing outside with friends so Keith and I just played with Wyatt inside for a while.  Later we went back outside so Wyatt could swim more.  We ate pizza outside and had cake and ice cream. Wyatt is a pro at smiling and saying cheese for the camera.

Wyatt loved blowing out candles.  He wanted to do it over and over. 

He was pretty excited about his cake! Every time we said happy birthday he would say, "to you."  It was so cute.

He also gets pretty excited about ice cream.  He was jumping up and down and saying, "ice cream, oh yeah!"  It was a great day.  It was so fun to spend the day focusing on Wyatt.  He is such a special boy and we are so happy he is in our family!

Caitlyn and Jonah

Caitlyn and Jonah were excited for Wyatt's birthday.  Especially Cailtyn she picked out some presents for him from her room.  One of them was this book that she was excited to read to him. 

They had fun playing in the pool all day.  They were sliding and jumping and having a great time.

Caitlyn kept trying to swim in the pool. She misses our big pool this year.

I love this picture of Jonah because I never capture his real smile anymore.  He is such a handsome boy.

During Wyatt's nap they invited their friends over to swim.  They are so sad that they are moving soon.  We are all sad.  Having friends right across the street is priceless. I'm not very good at scheduling play dates, so it is great when they just see their friends outside and run out and play with them. 

They all had a great time swimming and building houses and whatever else they always do.  We will all miss them. 

And then there were four!

I can't believe that I am the mother of four children now.  It is amazing how different they all are and how much you can love each one of them.  I know four is going to be a tough adjustment for us.  Three wasn't too bad because there was a four year gap and Caitlyn and Jonah did great at playing together after Wyatt was born.  Now I have two older kids with schedules who need lots of entertainment and stimulation and a two-year-old who likes to find trouble and thinks the world revolves around him.  I know adding a newborn to the equation will be tricky, but hopefully we will all adjust quickly.  On Saturday my parents brought the kids home and oh my goodness was it a crazy day.  Jonah was literally bouncing off the walls and jumping right next to Hallee, which made me a nervous wreck. Caitlyn was attached to my side, which is tough for me because I have personal space issues. Wyatt spent the whole day whining and crying.  I was wondering why I rushed home from the hospital.  It was a crazy day, but it seems to be slowly getting better.

Wyatt loves to say hi to the baby and give her kisses.  He runs in the room whenever he hears her cry.  He says, "hello Hallee."  It is so cute.  The rest of the time he just goes on with life like she isn't here. He still seems content to think the world revolves around him. It will be a big adjustment for him when Keith goes back to work.

Caitlyn loves everything about Hallee.  She loves to pick out her clothes and she asks to hold her all day.  She won't leave my side when I am feeding or changing her, she says she just wants to look at Hallee.  She is excited to have a sister and she is a big help to me. 

Jonah is a sweet older brother.  He keeps saying, "I just can't believe she is finally here." He also tells me how cute she is all the time.  He likes to hold her, but doesn't ask near as much as Caitlyn.  He is so busy jumping and bouncing around that he doesn't have time to hold still long enough to hold her.

Hallee is a very content baby so far.  She only cries when she is hungry or getting changed.  She is sleeping pretty well and usually goes right back to sleep after her nightly feedings.  I'm so grateful for her calm demeanor.

She has by far the most hair of any of our babies.  I could almost put it in a ponytail in the back.

I love this picture.  She is so strong.  She can hold up her head well.  I love her adorable face.  She is so sweet. 

A Piece of Heaven

Hallee McKenna Loosli joined our family on July 19, 2012 at 1:15 PM. She was 8lbs 8ozs and 20 1/2 inches long.  It is so hard to describe how amazing it is to see your baby for the first time.  I am immediately overcome with an unconditional love for each of my children when I lay eyes on them.  Hallee was no different, I was immediately smitten. 

Keith experiences the same thing and can't wait until the nurses hand the baby over to him.  He came right over to show me how beautiful Hallee was while the doctors were stitching me up.  I was scheduled for a 12:00 PM C-section, which worked out well because we were able to drop the kids off at my mom's in the morning before heading up to the hospital.  The doctor was behind, but we ending up going in for surgery a little less than an hour late. 

I opted for no morphine again, which means I'm very awake and alert during the procedure.  It is great, but a little nerve racking.  Luckily my anesthesiologist was much better this time and that helped me stay calm.  He adjusted the drape so that I could see Hallee coming out in the mirror to the side of me.  I thought she was breech for the last few months and I was right.  The first thing I saw was her cute little legs when the doctor pulled her out.  It is so amazing to see your child actually coming out of your body.  She looks so small until I remember that she was just inside of me.  I couldn't hold back the tears, I was so grateful she was finally here.

I love this picture.  I loved that I could get Hallee to calm down when no one else could.  I was so excited to get to the recovery room so I could hold her. We had a little bit of time alone with her before my mom brought the kids up to see her.  Caitlyn and Jonah were so excited to see her.

I can't believe I have four kids now. 

They all loved looking at her and wanted to take turns holding her. 

 

Even Wyatt wanted to hold her.  He would say, "please baby, wash hands." Then he would get some hand sanitizer and hold out his arms.  He liked it for a minute and then he was more interested in going for a walk.  He wanted Keith to take him for walks in the hall over and over. 

Caitlyn is in love with Hallee.  She begs to hold her all the time and seems to be attached to my hip. She wants to be with me and Hallee all the time.

 Jonah went on and on telling my dad how cute Hallee was.  He liked holding her, but was happy to play on the Ipad as well.

It was fun to have the kids there, but a little stressful as well.  After my mom left Keith's parents came to meet Hallee.  Later the kids came back so grandpa could meet Hallee.  My sisters also came and so did Keith's sister.  It was fun to show her off to everyone.  Keith and I love the time that we get with the baby in the hospital.  Keith stays the whole time and we just enjoy our alone time with our new baby.  My mom was so great to keep the kids and all of my family was offering and willing to take them as well.  I appreciate that so much. I love to know that my kids are taken care of and having fun while I focus on the baby.

Hallee was making a grunting noise the whole first day.  Caitlyn did the same thing.  It could be a sign that they are having trouble breathing, but the nurses said Hallee was fine.  The first night we didn't get hardly any sleep.  I hate hospitals for that reason.  Someone was always coming in our room.  Friday the nurse put a do not disturb sign on our room and we all took a good nap.  Friday night Hallee screamed for over an hour.  We finally took her to the nursery to see if they could figure out if there was something wrong with her.  They said she spit up for hours.  I had nothing to feed her yet so we had given her some formula.  The nurse thought the formula had upset her stomach.  Luckily the next day I had enough to feed her and she has been doing so much better since then.

I loved the one on one time we had with Hallee in the hospital, but I am always ready to go home.  Saturday morning we waited for our doctors to release us and then we were on our way home.  She looked so cute dressed and ready to come home.

I love this little girl so much.  I'm so grateful she made it safely to our family.  It was a long, hard pregnancy, but worth every ache and pain.  It is funny how you can't picture having another child before they are here and then once they are here you can't imagine life without them.  She fits right in and we are so grateful to have her home with us.

No, Wyatt Baby!

We sure love Wyatt, he can always make us laugh.  He seems to understand that a new baby is coming.  I'm not sure how much he understands, but he likes to talk about the baby and he is very interested in babies right now.  Most of the time he will talk about her and be fine, but sometimes he insists that he is the baby.  The other day we pulled out the bassinet and he jumped in it and yelled, "No, Wyatt baby!"  We all laughed so he put on quite a show for us.

Next, he had to jump in the car seat and tell us he was the baby.  Now he goes into the baby's room and points at everything and says baby over and over.  It will be interesting to see what he thinks in a couple of days when we have her. 

He is so darn cute! He has been much happier lately.  We had a few weeks where he seemed to be cranky all the time.  We have our happy little boy back and it is great.  He has such a fun personality and he loves to make us laugh.  The other day he walked up to me and told me a knock knock joke.  He said, "knock knock, who's there?"  Later he said, "Wyatt who?"  What a funny kid. 

I can't believe he will be two next week.  I took him to Toys R Us yesterday so he could get all the free stuff they give out for birthdays.  He was most excited about his balloon.  I love that smile.  It has been a great two years!

Swimming

On Saturday Matt and Lori were still here so we all decided to go swimming.  We went to a pool that we hadn't been to before and the kids loved it.

Caitlyn and Jonah had a great time with Cody and Elena.

Wyatt wasn't so sure about the pool at first.  He seemed happier eating his crackers.

After a while he got in and enjoyed the water.  He loved playing with Keith in the water.  He definitely prefers Keith to me.  He is happy with me when Keith is gone, but if he is here he asks for him when I try to help him.  It will be interesting to see how he acts with a new baby around.  He is definitely in his terrible twos.

The kids had fun on the water slide for a while and then they saw their older cousins on the diving boards and decided they wanted to try.  I was nervous about them doing it, but luckily Keith is always the level headed one that tells me to let the kids try things.  Jonah got right up jumped off and had no problem swimming over to the side.

Caitlyn did great too.  I'm still amazed at what great swimmers they are.  Last year they both just picked it from spending time in our pool and then going to my brother's house with their pool. 

Jonah saw the other boys go on the high dive and immediately wanted to try it.  He has no fear.  

Caitlyn was a little nervous about the high dive, but really wanted to try it.  She was so nervous walking across the board before jumping, but she did it and she did great!  She even did it again so I could get a better picture.  She has been so great at pushing herself and trying new things.  She was so proud of herself.

Caitlyn had a great time playing with Keith in the pool.  I was happy to be in the water on another hot day!  We had to say goodbye to Matt and Lori that night.  We have had a lot of fun and will miss everyone.  Now we are on count down to baby.  I went to the doctor this morning and I had to see a nurse because my doctor was delivering a baby.  She went on and on about how big my baby was going to be because of how big I am measuring.  I guess we will find out next week. I can't wait to hold her. 

Classic and Leatherby's

On Thursday we went to Classic Fun Center.  We were planning on playing inside for a while and then going out to the water slides, but that happened to be the one and only day it rained in the past month. We just stayed insde instead. Caitlyn had fun riding her scooter.

Wyatt had fun riding his motorcycle around the rink.  He had fun playing the games too.  He loves to play any game with a ball.  Skee ball is his favorite.  Keith took Wyatt home after a couple of hours for a nap. He sure needs his sleep lately.

Jonah loves to ride his scooter around and try and do jumps and tricks.

Jonah loved playing in the jungle. 

He also loved bouncing in the bounce houses.  We were there for almost six hours.  Jonah was sweating like crazy and slept great that night!

Caitlyn was not a fan of the jungle, but she had a great time bouncing.  They love having fun with all of their cousins.

Later that night we headed to Leatherby's for ice cream.  We are quite a crowd with 30 people.

Wyatt was excited with his ice cream.  He liked using the spoon and then decided it was easier to stick his finger in it and just lick it off.

We had a fun time and were sad to say goodbye to Gary and Julie that night.  It was nice to be able to have some time to visit with them.  I love having the whole family together, but it is nice to get one on one time with everyone too.