Trunk-or-Treat

AH~FALL! I love fall for two reasons. Colder weather and Halloween. Fall leads to Winter which is my favorite season and I love to see Gracelyn go bonkers over candy. She is not a deprived child that never gets candy but we do TRY to limit it somewhat. This time of year (along with Easter being a close 2nd) brings out a candy monster in my daughter! It is really hilarious to watch her plead her case for CANDY! Sunday night we had Trunk-or-Treat at church and we decorated our trunk which was so fun. Mom and I started thinking around 4:30 what we could do and after a few stops at the dollar store, Walgreens, and mom's goat pin we came up with the following set-up. It was fun to pass out candy and see so many cute kiddos!

Gracelyn was Cinderella and our friend Lainee was a scarecrow! I don't think she could scare anybody with that smile! :)
Randall was a cat and Gracie thought that was just the coolest thing because she could recognize his voice! Cannon thought he was cute and patted his face over and over again. Hopefully this will lead to great Santa pictures since he didn't seem scared of a giant cat! Tomorrow is the big day for dressing up for school. I will post more Halloween pictures then.

On another note please say a prayer for my brother-in-law Jerry Hamilton. He is off to Iraq today and will be leaving a new baby and wife behind. It is a hard day for them both for so many reasons and I hate to see them go through this for the next 15 months. How can they form a bond when they aren't together? Kassie has some wonderful ideas to bridge that gap and I pray that it will be successful.

Pumpkin Pickin'

What a day! After church we promised Gracie that we would go to the pumpkin patch and pick out our pumpkins. They are literally all over town and we had to find a new one this year because our usual spot was not there this year. Boy we hit the jack pot! Not so much with the pumpkins but with the cool wagon that you got to pull the pumpkins around in! Gracie couldn't understand why we didn't fill the thing up.
1. Pumpkins are expensive! YIKES!
2. We don't need a bazillion pumpkins sitting on our porch waiting to freeze~defrost~freeze~defrost~mold~freeze~defrost~smell~rot~etc... We have experienced this before if you can't tell.

Our pretty little punkin!

"The Wagon"
Our beautiful Cinderella pumpkin.

My cutie patootie family! :)

And on the third day...

Here she is!! Bella Renae Hamilton was born today at 1:03 pm by c-section. She weighs 7 lbs. 7 oz and is 20 inches long. According to Papa and Nana-B she is just perfect. We are so thrilled that she is here and that Kassie and Bella are doing great.



Dear God,
Thank you for blessing our family with this miracle of yours. We are so honored that you trust us with your child. We promise to love her and cherish who she is and what she will be become. We also promise to help Jerry and Kassie in teaching her your word and your ways. Praise you God for your wonderful ways, we love you dearly. Amen

Day #2

We are finishing day #2 on baby watch. As of 10:15 tonight Kassie has not had the baby. She was started on patocin(SP?) yesterday and made LITTLE progress and then had a migrane because of it so they took her off of the drip and gave her nubane today for the headache and then started it back up again. So that is where we stand as far as baby news. She is making no progress but the baby is not stressed so they don't want to do a c-section just yet. We are anxiously waiting for Bella to arrive. I hope that 3 is the lucky number and that on the third day of labor she gets some results!

Keep her in your prayers!
Keri

YUMMY!!!

***Butterfinger***
They call you sticky fingers for a reason!
What Kind of Candy Are You?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofcandyareyouquiz/

Also we are on baby watch for my sis-in-law. She was induced this morning and at 1:30 I got updated that she was progressing very slowly and that they could be a while. I can't wait for Bella to get here!!! YEAH!!!

Name Schmame!

http://www.babynames.com/Names/rename.php
Look at this website and see if you could live with the name that they give you! Mine could be Karsen Branxton Melban.

What does your name mean? Has someone ever asked you that? I really ponder the meaning and all aspects of naming my children and it is really hard for me to do actually. If you have known me then you know that Gracelyn's name was changed in the hospital because I just didn't like it after she was born. Cannon's name was pretty much set but I didn't want to officially say so because what if I pulled the same stunt as before. I talked about his name being Cannon David and told people we were 90% sure but I just wouldn't commit to it. With baby number three I am still under the same understanding with my family and friends. Some people assume that because we know it is a boy we also know his name. WE DON'T. We have some great possibilities and know that the middle name will probably be Baker (my maiden name) but other than that we aren't sure. I love it when people name their babies before hand and know without a doubt that Kayzlee, Bella, Maggie, Marlee, Jack, Justin etc. will actually be the right name. I am just not that confident in myself. So until then I am scouring every name website and looking through every name book I can get my hands on to find the perfect name for this baby. I sure don't want him to think that in 30 years he would love to change his name and find a new one.

I can't imagine Gracelyn Mae being anything other than that! But if I wouldn't have changed my mind she would have been Kennedy Elizabeth forever.

Baby Boom!

It is hard to believe that out of my family alone we have or will be contributing 5 more people to the US population within 6 months. I will go in order so as not to confuse everyone!

1. Kayzlee Jalane Jeffers was born October 5th to Shyla. She is Cameron's cousin on his mom's side. Kayzlee is just BEAUTIFUL!!!

2. Bella Renae Hamilton will be here on the 24th (next Tuesday). Her parents are Kassie and Jerry~Cameron's sister. I pray for the delivery to be quick and uneventful besides getting to see that cutie finally. Jerry got some great news! He gets to stay home until the next troop leaves which I believe is 2-3 weeks after Bella is born so more time with his new baby girl before he is gone to Iraq for 15 months. I finally finished Bella's blanket. This is the 2nd version!

3. ME!! I am due on the 26th of February. I have had both my kids early (4 weeks) so I hope to make it to February at least. Watch this one prove us all wrong and be a week over due. I'm more than half way done WAAAHOOO!!!

4. Cameron's cousin Shelby and his wife Alicia (on his dad's side) will have baby boy #2 in March. I think the first week or some time in there. We are just about 2 weeks apart. Cannon and Sawyer are 1 month apart so they will be going through the same things we are about having babies so close and all the wonderful things that brings with it. OIE!!!

5. My cousin Courtney (on my mom's side) will be having her first baby in April. She does not know what it is yet but should soon if they want to find out. Her husband Rodney is in the military and is currently overseas but will be home before the baby gets here! PRAISE GOD!

So there you have it! The run down on baby news for our clan. Some of these babies were wonderful surprises and some of them have been prayed over for many years in the making but one thing that is true about all of them is that they are from God and we have a huge task given to us.

Dear God, please watch over these blessings you have given our family. They are all precious and wonderfully made by you. Thank you for allowing us to care for them and help us guide them in your ways. We love you Lord and accept this task you have given us with love and great pride. We know that we are not able to care for them by ourselves and that our entire family is needed for support and encouragement. I pray for the health of these babies and also the mothers. May the remainder of the pregnancies be uneventful and full of joy waiting for these babies to arrive. Watch over Kayzlee and help her parents as they learn about their new baby daughter. We love you Lord and are thankful of your blessings for us. Praise you! Amen

The SHIRT!

There is a special tradition in the Melban family that I am so proud to be a part of. About 54 years ago Grandmother Mae made Charlie a shirt. (Charlie is Cameron's dad.) He wore it for his 1 year old pictures. Then when Charlie's brother Sid came along he wore it on his birthday and then Jerry followed when he was one. Then along came Cameron. So you get the point. All the grandsons wore this shirt in their 1st birthday picture so when we had Gracelyn (first great-grandchild) I thought why not? It was super cute with her bows! Also I thought we better do this in case we only ever have girls! Well~we got Cannon's picture made today in "the shirt". It is so fun to do this and have another child added to the collage at Nese's house. Can't wait for baby #3 to be able to wear it as well. Cannon looked so handsome and the lady at the photo place is going to enter the 2nd picture in a contest because of him being just adorable and the meaning behind the shirt. So all in all what a great day to spread the tradition of our family and to be able to show off Cannon at the same time. Oh by the way~ Cannon got a haircut last week. Doesn't he look older? Less baby like and more toddler.




On another note~Cannon took 4-5 steps on Sunday afternoon when I got home and he continues to take a few more steps each day. Although he is taking steps I would not consider him a walker by any means. My hip is where he would rather be any day!

It's a BOY!!!

Here is a picture of the sweet boy! :) It is a face shot with his fingers under his chin.
Two precious feet! 10 toes.
Boy parts!! The dark circle is his bladder.
Here is his arm and fingers on his left hand and you can see his right hand to the left. He is looking at the camera.

It was so wonderful to see our baby boy. We were a little surprised because EVERYONE has thought girl but we are just thrilled!! It just makes it all the more real. Now on to name conversations and figuring out how to rearrange Cannon's nursery to accommodate another crib!

Jack's birthday party pictures

Amy and Macy carving pumpkins!
What is up with that fro dude?
What exactly am I suppose to do?

Cannon was a clown and he kept his wig on the entire night!! I don't know if he felt humiliated or what but he didn't move for a while when we got there either!
Here is the birthday boy! He technically won't be one until the 18th. He was the cutest lion I had ever seen.
Here is Macy the cowgirl. She is much more of a country girl that my little city girl! Macy loves animals and getting dirty. She even has a goat back in Boise City named Daffodil.
What is on my head?
Carving pumpkins was so much fun.

Baby brother or sister!

I am not the most patient person around. I thought I could handle not finding out the sex of the baby but now that it is time I can't wait until Friday morning at 8:30. We have our big sonogram appointment to determine the sex but most importantly see this baby and check everything out. Of course a healthy baby is the absolute most important thing we are praying for but then you thorough in finding out the gender and it is icing on the cake! I go back and forth on what I think it is. I just am more excited about not calling it~it! Cameron thinks we are having a girl and so does Grace. But she was wrong with Cannon. I think personal preference clouds her judgment. I don't have a feeling either way. I just want to know. I had my regular ob appointment today and it was just a belly check. I had the kids with me the last two times but today it was just me. After waiting 30 minutes in the room reading my magazine the dr. came in. She was so sorry to be running late and I told her since I didn't have the kids I loved having time to myself even if it was on an exam table reading a magazine! :) She is just great and I am so glad that I switched doctors for this baby. My previous doctor was awesome but just too busy. I didn't see him but 2 times in my entire pregnancy with Cannon. I saw the nurse practitioner the whole time. So it was easy to decide that maybe we should move on.

I will post on Friday when I get back from my appointment. So pray for uncrossed legs!

Let me know what you think it is!!

Random blog!

Whew, I am so glad it is Monday. How often have you heard people say that? I had a jammed packed weekend and it was nice to wake up this morning with absolutely no agenda!! Friday morning I left with 36 women from my church and headed to Oklahoma City for the Women of Faith conference. It was AMAZING! I am so glad that I made the commitment to go. The ladies at church talk about it all year and I knew it would be good but honestly they couldn't have really prepared me for the spiritual awakening that would take place! It was a wonderful combination of praise and speakers. Max Lucado spoke on Friday night about finding our passion. Passion? Passion? Hmmm...... Totally understand what he was saying and am still contemplating how that incorporates into my life. We also got to hear Avalon sing and that was just awesome. There were so many great speakers that I just was in total awe of their stories. God really used them to speak to me.

Not only was the conference great I got to spend time with my mom. It was great. Next year my sister is going no matter what. Marlee and Maggie are only 6 months old she got away with it this year and we knew that she wouldn't want to leave them but next year is a whole other story. She might be wondering why we only stay one night by that time. :) But I do hope that we get my sister to go with us and also my mother-in-law and sis-in-law. They all need to go and I need them with me. What a great bonding experience!

I got to share a room with three great women as well. Michele and Melody are just awesome women and I could listen to them for hours. I was exhausted after the long day of travel and conference on Friday but found the energy to stay up and just talk. What a great way to end the day!

Sunday was packed as well. We got home around 10:30 the night before so it was a short night of sleep. After church we had a shower for a sweet, grateful girl. She is having a baby girl in a few weeks. It was a great way to get to know her better and show her how much Plum Creek Fellowship cherishes her and her baby. We had a great time. We tried to guess the name of her daughter. We know the initials will be B~P. There were really cute combinations that people came up with.

After the shower I had to come home and get both kids ready for a birthday~costume party. Our friend's little boy Jack had his first birthday party! I will post some pictures soon. But I had a little clown and Cinderella to get ready. It was fun getting Gracelyn ready this year. She got to wear makeup and thought she was so big! Cannon had a clown wig on and wore it the whole night. I was amazed he would keep it on. He sure was cute. The birthday boy was the cutest lion you have ever seen!

Then~off to parenting class. Cameron went and caught the whole class and it was really good he said! I am so glad he is making the commitment to do this together. What a huge blessing that is!

Cannon is STILL not walking! Not one bit. He does try to stand up a little but it is just not important to him right now at all. Why should it when your mom is building a little shelf for your leg to rest comfortably on? He just props his leg on top of my belly like it belongs there or something.

Such a good mommy!

I don't know what it is inside me that makes me feel so good about getting my kid's pictures made. Professionally. I guess it is the hour long ordeal that I went through. Cannon crawled away from EVERY single shot and Gracelyn scrunched up her nose on almost all of her smiles but it was worth it. I accomplished something big on my mommy things to do list. Check one for me!:)

Here they are~precious as always.

TA~DA

Here is Miss Gracie's new haircut. After she attempted to give herself a haircut we had to actually take her to fix it. It is pretty cute and took me many days to get used to it. As long as we can still put bows in it I am perfectly fine. Although this is a cute style we are already making plans for it to grow out. It was priceless in the operator's chair when she was getting it cut. My mom had to take her because Cannon was asleep and I knew that Gracelyn wouldn't do it for me anyways. Mom said that she didn't say a single word the whole way there and back. Not even to the stylist.
On another note~After slaving away at Bella's blanket for days I decided to go ahead and wash it so it would be fresh and clean waiting for her when she arrived. Well... I am no perfectionist and it shows. The blanket fell apart in the wash. I have NEVER had that happen before. I think there were several factors that played into it type of fabric, me not being patient, seam allowance, and tension on sewing machine. I will fix it but there is no way I can get it to look the same so this week will be working on getting it finished before she arrives.

On October 5th-6th I get to travel to Oklahoma City for the Women of Faith conference. I am so excited!! I haven't gotten to go before but I know it will be wonderful. My mom will be going with me along with about 38 other women from our church. It will be a great time getting to know some new people but also renew myself. I need it so bad. School is hectic although it is starting to slow down a little. I let too many things that are tiny get to me. But I need to really focus and get my spiritual life back on track because the only reason those tiny things are getting to me is because I don't have other more productive things to focus on.

I want to publicly thank my husband for letting me be gone 2 weekends in a row. ( I will be going on a scrapbooking retreat the following weekend.) I am so blessed that he didn't even blink when I told him I wanted to do these two things. He is just that awesome!! Thanks Sweetie. :)