Capri Lynn

SHE'S HERE!!! 

Born September 27th at 9:53 at night.

7 lbs. 12 oz.
21 inches long
(She is a whole pound bigger, but the same length as our other 3 kids. I am convinced that pound is in her cheeks!!)

Monday morning I had my doctor's appointment and I was dilated at a 2 and about 40% effaced. So my doctor stripped my membranes. And with the last 2 kiddos, that put me into labor that same night. So I was very hopeful it would work again!! I just had all kinds of contractions and that night I was up about every 10-20 minutes with hard contractions. I didn't get much sleep that night. But I was scheduled for inducement Tuesday morning at 5:00. But the hospital called at 3:30 saying they were really full and that they would call me sometime soon to have me come in. I got a call about 8:00 and was told to come in within the next hour. So I got there at 9:00 and waited a little bit. A nurse came out and told me that between the time they called and when I got there, 5 women had come in. One was sent in by ambulance because there was an ambulance outside. So I got sent home. I was pretty bummed, but it was understandable. So I waited and waited. I had nothing to do since everything was clean and organized at home. I just sat on the couch twiddling my thumbs and having contraction pains. The nurse had told me I would only need to wait about 2 1/2 hours or so and they would call me. But 2:00 came and eventually the kids got home school. Before they left for school, we told the kids that I was going in to have the baby and hopefully they would be able to see her that night, but when they got home and I was still there, Elli looked at me, pointed to my belly and got mad at me for still having a big belly. She seriously got mad at me. But they finally called me back at 5:30. So Mark and I rushed there so the same thing wouldn't happen again and we got there about 6:00 night. When the nurse checked me, I was at a 4 and 70% effaced. So those contractions I was feeling weren't for nothing!! I got my epidural at 7:00. I made a big fuss about getting a good doctor to give me my epidural because the last 2 I had were HORRIBLE. And it worked... I got someone who was confident and knew what she was doing!! So I was pain-free through the whole labor & delivery!! Which was FABULOUS!! But about 7:30, my mom, sister Kara, Mark's mom and my niece Ashley came rolling in. We watched Biggest Loser and about 9:30 we told the nurses to come check me and sure enough, it was time. Capri came at 9:53.

Of course she had to give us a scare though. The cord was wrapped around her little neck tight and she was stuck for a while. My doctor tried to get it off her neck, but couldn't because it was so tight.  So she cut the cord and out she came. During that time, she wasn't getting any oxygen so when she came out, she wasn't crying. It took her a while and a lot of nurses to get her crying. But she did and she has been great since!!

I made Mark go home to sleep since the nurses would be coming in and waking us up. I wanted at least one of us to get some sleep.  So the next morning, he brought the kids in to see their new sister before school. They were sooooo excited. They each had to hold her.

Grandma Dianna was in town watching Greg and Holly's kids for the week and it was perfect timing since she was able to be there when Capri was born.

I love that she puts her hand by her cheek.

Showing off her dimples.

I wasn't sure how Caleb would react to having a new baby in the house. But he has been GREAT!! He loves that little girl and dotes on her. He says how cute she is and always wants to help feed her and hold her. He really is a big helper. 

We had to have a photo session with Elli since she wanted to take some pictures to show off Capri to her school class.

Then one morning, I had just got the kids off on the school bus and went to feed Capri and I found her like this. Braeden had put these glasses on her before he left. It just made me laugh.  

 I have the best kids and couldn't be any luckier to be their mom!!

First Dentist Appointment

All 3 kids had dental cleanings a week ago. This was Caleb's first time! He was so excited for this. He had no idea what he was gonna be doing, but I tried to get him super excited about it. And he did great!! He sat still the whole time and just thought he was so cool being in that chair. 

Showing off his clean teeth. How did I get so lucky to have such cute kids!! Maybe I'm just biased!!

Preschool

Can't believe it's actually here... but Caleb has started preschool. CRAZY!!! He absolutely LOVES it!! He won't let me walk him to the door. One day he didn't even want me to drive him there.... he wanted to walk there all by himself. Such a funny kid. Love that boy's smile!! He loves getting his picture taken!!

But we went through 3 different backpacks until we found the right one. He originally wanted a Buzz backpack. Well, I couldn't find one the first time we were at the store. So we got a Spongebob one. Then we walked by the backpack section at another store and he found a Mickey Mouse one that he loved. I actually was excited too because I didn't like the Spongebob one. So we bought that one and returned the other. Then at another, we found the coveted Buzz backpack. He HAD to have it, so we did another exchange.

I love this boy. He has his challenges, but he is such a fun kid! I love his personality and he LOVES his brother and sister! He says the cutest things to them. He is always asking me where they are during the day and thinking of them. If a girl toy commercial on, he says, "That's for Edgie!" (Love how he says her name!). And same with boy toy commercials. He gets excited when they get home. Every time Mark gets home from work, Caleb says, "You're here Dad.... you're home? Hide n seek???" And then Mark plays hide and seek with him. Caleb is doing great in Preschool. I wasn't sure if I was gonna put him in, but I'm glad I did. Why not start him now learning what he is ready to learn!! Such a smart little boy and I love his excitement for life! 

Duct Tape

Last school year, Braeden made himself a duct tape wallet. A couple of his friends actually bought some from him and Braeden made a few extra bucks doing that. But this year, Braeden made himself a duct tape lunch box. It's pretty cute though. He added another section on the bottom because I could never fit his whole lunch in it. Elli ended up making one for her too. I feel bad, but we have reverted back to our original lunch boxes because they were too small and the tape to keep it closed wasn't very sticky anymore.  But it was fun while it lasted!!

Legos

Legos are a big deal to our boys. Braeden gets the Lego magazine every month and sees the pictures of the creations that kids make and send a picture in to get published in the magazine. He begged and worked hard on some of his creations so we could take a picture of it and send it in and hopefully it will get published. 

And right now, Braeden is really into battleships and aircrafts carriers, etc... so he made some those and this is the picture we took and submitted to the Lego magazine. We'll see if it gets published. Hopefully it does so Braeden isn't too disappointed.

Then one morning before Braeden left for school, he told Caleb to finish his lego so we could take a picture of him with it. Of course Caleb got excited about it and told me to take a picture of him and his lego. I kid you not.... Caleb got in this pose all by himself. He totally looks up to his brother. So cute!! I don't know what this is. Caleb called it a "dacker" (I think) Not quite sure what he is thinking.

Dinner!

Braeden's birthday dinner was at Chili's. We met Mark there and I told Braeden we had to wait to open presents with daddy there.... so we opened them while we waited for our food. 

Braeden wanted a few simple things... basically anything that will keep him busy for a while.

Money Origami

This is what he wanted the MOST... Balloon Twisting. Now we have balloons and balloon animals all over our house.

And he lost his other origami book... so he got a new one and he was SOOOO excited about that!!

Caleb wanted his picture taken with his chocolate milk!!

When we got home, we had cake and ice cream!!  This is his "Oreo Cake" Pretty YUM!!

And thanks to his cousin Drake for getting him into the Magic Treehouse Book Series... I ordered some more of those books for his birthday, but they didn't get here in time for his bday. But he is constantly reading books now. Even Elli is into them now. They will walk to bus stop reading books. It's pretty funny! I love that my kids LOVE to read!! We are lucky because neither Mark or I are big readers!! 

But I think he had a great birthday!! Grandma Harper took him shopping and he got what he wanted!! My kids love that tradition that my mom has started!! 

Braeden's Bday Party

So my Braeden turned 9 this past week! Can't believe how big he is getting. (And how old he makes me feel) But he wanted to go to Rhodes Jr. High and do the Flow Rider for his birthday this year. We only invited his cousins his age so it was a small party. 

We got there and the guy said that we had to wait an hour to get on the flow rider for the next turn because the other time was full. So the boys swam for an hour and I could tell they were getting bored and anxious within a half hour. They were excited to go on the flow rider.

I didn't get many pictures, but here's Drake and Cade showing off their handstands.

FINALLY!! The boys waiting in line to have their 1st turn.

The boys were sweet and let the "birthday boy" go first.

Caden

Carson

Drake 

Trevor

Mark working it on the other side. 

Braeden was SOOOOO excited that he was able to stand up on the boogie board.

 Trevor and Carson were tall enough to go on the other side and ride the stand up flow board.  They did great!!

After a few tries, Trevor was able to let go of the rope and ride for a few minutes!

Instead of bringing a cake to the school, we went to Baskin Robbins and let the boys choose their own ice cream. It was pretty fun!!

And we had Emma with us that day. The girls had a lot fun together!!

It was a crazy, but FUN day!! It's always fun watching your kids do things that they enjoy... swimming and eating ice cream!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAEDEN!!  We love you soo much!!

Sleeping Babies

I went to wake up the kids for school one morning. I couldn't believe they were still sleeping. I hardly ever need to wake them up. But this is how I found Elli. She put this over her eyes and was totally out cold. It says "Do Not Disturb" on it. I couldn't stop laughing at her for doing this!!

Then one day, Caleb was being SUPER cranky. So I sent him to my room to have some quiet time and I let him read books on the ipad.  Well, about a half hour later, I found him totally asleep with a movie playing.  And what made me laugh was that he set the movie up himself and placed the ipad like this.  Funny little guy!! (And yes, it was about 1:00 in the afternoon and he still had his jammies on. That's how we roll in this house somedays)

First Day of School!!

So Braeden is now in 3rd Grade and Elli in 1st Grade...... CRAZY!!!!

The traditional 1st day of school picture!!

I didn't go to their school to take pictures because I was feeling lazy.  But at least got them getting on the bus!!

They have great teachers. Elli has Braeden's old 1st grade teacher... Miss Lambert. She is super fun! And Braeden has Miss Oblinger. Don't know anything about her, but he seems to really like her so far. 

Can't believe summer is over, but it is nice to have structure again!!