Happy Birthday Jayde!!

Happy Birthday Jayde. I can't believe you are 8 years old already. It doesn't seem that long ago that you were a little baby! Your dad and I are so blessed. We have enjoyed watching you grow and learn and turning into the girl you are today. We love you Jayde and we are so proud and glad to have you as a daughter! I love this picture of Jayde with her brothers and sister, she looks like she is just having so much fun! :)

Happy Birthday Doug!

Happy Birthday to my husband!!

November seems to be a crazy month for us. Not only is it Doug's birthday today, tomorrow it is Jayde's! Then there is our anniversary and Thanksgiving...which happen to fall on the same day this year. I always feel like I'm go go going, but especially at the end of the year!

So anyways, Happy Birthday Doug! The kids and I are looking forward to sharing your special day with you!

Busy...

What is number 6 going to be like? I'm hoping she'll be a easy laid back baby, but knowing my luck I'm sure she'll be keeping me pretty busy just like her brother's and sisters. Last week Doug and I took the little guys (Jaxon and CJ) to my doctor's appointment. I think it helped them feel more involved in the whole process. They got to listen to the baby's heartbeat. My OB is great, he got down to their level and was playing with them and he asked Jaxon what he thought the heartbeat monitor was and when Jaxon said he thought it was a phone he played right along with him. So Jaxon got to "talk" to the baby through the heartbeat monitor. It was pretty cute, especially when my OB pretended to be the baby and talk back to Jaxon. Anyways, though Jaxon and CJ thought they were pretty darn special that they got to talk to the baby. We have finally picked out a name for our little girl, one that we both agree on. Cassandra Diana...though the kids all call her baby Cassie for short.

So anyways, baby Cassie is looking good. I went to see the specialist on Tuesday and so far the Antibody E doesn't seem to be affecting the baby in any way. We really like our specialist. It cracks me up that as soon as we get any questions or concerns out of the way Doug and him get into all sorts of interesting discussions (most that have nothing to do with our reason for being there). We have definitely lucked out in the doctor area here.

Anyways...since the kids didn't have any school today due to it being Veteran's Day, I figured it would be a good time to try and get our Christmas card pictures done. I recruited my mom to give me a helping hand (along with my step-nephew) and we headed to the park. Why is it that the oldest child is the most difficult one to get a decent picture of? We had to work really hard to get Doogie to give us a "real" smile and not one of those fakey cheesey ones. My step-nephew actually really came in handy for that since he started doing goofy things behind me to get the kids to laugh. The picture you see is one of my many attempts, I don't think it turned out too badly (and I still haven't gone through them all.)

Playing Catch Up Again

Halloween has come and gone and we are already into November. Time does fly and November is a busy month for us. We have Doug and Jayde's birthday, Thanksgiving and our anniversary (which happens to land on the same day this year). I also need to get my rear in gear and get Christmas presents made and shopped for.

Keeping my fingers crossed as well that November brings good health to our family. The kids all finally seem to be over (except with a little bit of a cough leftover) from the crud they had a week or so ago. CJ had tested positive for the flu and they put him on tamiflu (which worked wonders for him). He was definitely one sick little guy, with the high fevers and cough. Thankfully though he didn't have any seizures with his fever which I'm hoping means he has outgrown that stage in his life. Jaxon was also on the tamiflu since he was starting to have the same symptoms as CJ, though we didn't have to get him tested.

We were able to get everyone half way healthy (barely) in time for Halloween. The kids had a blast trick or treating this year. CJ had talked about his bucket, getting candy and saying trick or treat weeks in advanced, he was so excited when he actually got to do it! After every house Jaxon would turn and look at me and ask if we were still going to trick or treat! After going around our block the two little guys were worn out from the walking so Doug took them home while I stayed out with the three oldest, we were also trick or treating with some friends of Jayde's and they all had so much fun together. I think I was just as worn out as the kids when we finally headed home with their buckets full. So now we have way to much candy in our house and I'm having a hard time resisting it! Darn candy is going to make me huge!

Speaking of getting huge, the baby is doing good. I go in later today for my appointment with my regular OB and then go back in to the see the specialist next week. The kids are starting to get more excited about the baby, now that my stomach is getting more noticeable. The girls especially are always coming over and patting my stomach and saying "hi" to their baby sister.

So anyways, nothing super exciting to report. Just trying to keep everyone healthy and keep up with all the kids!

Behind again...

I know I haven't been keeping up very well lately on the blog, sorry about that. This pregnancy has definitely been a lot tougher on me than the other ones...wonder if it's because I'm getting older?! I had trouble with nausea early on (well into the third month) with this one, I don't remember feeling that bad with any of the others. I definitely don't have all the energy I used to, I tire out way faster than usual. Usually by the time we get all the kids down to bed at night I'm ready to go to bed myself and during the day I'm going back and forth dropping and picking kids up from school. So to sit down and find a time to write down everything that has been going on takes some doing! Alright, enough of my whining!

Things (obviously) have been busy as usual. So lets see if I can hit the bigger points and get everyone caught up. Jayde had surgery a couple weeks ago to get her other tube out of her ear (her other one pretty much came out on it's own, the doctor was able to pull it the rest of the way out in the office at one of her appointments). It was a quick and easy procedure and she was in and out in no time. Her tummy didn't really appreciate the meds that much (they had to put her under) so she was feeling kind of sick for the first half of the day before she started feeling like her old ornery self again.

Doogie, Jayde and Ryann are having fun playing soccer. They end the season on Halloween. Doogie scored a goal in their last game! He was pretty excited about it and it kept a smile on his face for the rest of the game. Next Saturday we will have 5 games (which means we will pretty much be at the soccer fields all day). Both Ryann and Jayde have double headers and Doogie just has one game to play in. I'm hoping the weather will be nice for it!

Jaxon and CJ are enjoying preschool. CJ has absolutely no problem going to class and me leaving (though it probably helps that Grandma has been helping out in his class most days!) Jaxon loves going to school too, though I guess he hasn't been liking going to music class (which is strange since he really likes music). Hopefully that will pass and he'll start to enjoy it again. I get many people asking me if Jaxon and CJ are twins...probably because they are pretty close to the same size (CJ's a big boy!) They pretty much wear the same size, which is kind of nice that they can share clothes!

Baby girl is doing good. I go in tomorrow for another check-up with the specialist. When we were in the car one day after I picked up the kids from school we were talking about the baby in my tummy, when Jaxon all of a sudden turned and looked at me and yelled "Mommy, stop eating babies!!" I have to say I got a pretty good laugh at that! We were all laughing and giggling in the car. So now every once in a while one of the kids will tell me "no more eating babies!"

Anyways, the kids are getting excited for Halloween. CJ talks about getting candy in his bucket and saying "trick or treat". It's pretty darn cute when he says it, I have a feeling he will get plenty of candy! I will be sure to take lots of pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes.

Well, can't think of anything else super exciting that has been happening...if I do I'll make sure to update the blog. I know I need to get some more pictures up as well. So I will try to do that soon.

Two Year Pics

I finally got around to snapping some more pictures of CJ for his two year photo shoot this afternoon. It wasn't easy...he is very easily distracted by everything! Guess that's what I get with having a very busy and curious two year old boy!

CJ's first day of school and soccer pics

Sorry for the delay everyone. Still recovering from being sick all last week. I'm finally starting to feel better but I wear out really fast and don't have alot of energy. I hate feeling this way so hopefully I'll be back to normal soon! The pictures are from CJ's first day of school a couple weeks ago and the soccer pictures are from last weekend, I didn't make it to this weekend's games was still feeling pretty weak. Ryann didn't have a game that week. Oh and I forgot to mention that Doogie scored a goal in the games last weekend, I wish I had gotten a picture of it. He was so excited.

They all did pretty well at their games this week according to Doug. I don't think any of them won this time, but they all just improve so much from game to game and atleast we aren't just getting blown out of the water anymore!