Random stuff

What is up with the weather?? Yesterday and for the 3 days prior to Friday it was 70 degrees. I even broke out the flip flops on Thursday because it was so pretty. Wish I had a nice pedicure to go with them but oh well... Anyways~today we woke up and it was snowing. Can you believe it? Not one single snowflake stuck but it was snowing. Then the wind struck up and blew our neighbor's roof into our back yard. This past week has made me ready for spring big time.



Mason had his 2 week well child check last Friday. We was up to 8 lbs. 2 oz. YEAH... He is doing so well and growing so much. His chubby cheeks are super cute. He did get a runny nose this week and sneezed like crazy but he is okay. It was hard to see his nose run and know that there wasn't anything we could give him. He is getting better and we aren't having to suck his nose out as much. I go back to work a week from Tuesday. I just work 2 days a week so it is no big deal but I am struggling with taking Mason up there. There is just so much sickness around and it freaks me out. I know he will be just fine. Especially since he is nursing and I will get to go down to see him several times a day to check on him. It will be nice to get back around adults more though.



Cannon had his 18 month well child check on Wednesday and he is 29 1/2 lbs and 34 inches tall. A biggin' for sure. He is getting more independent which is heaven right now and finally he is allowing me to hold him more and love on him. Cannon was a little slow to catch onto sign language but he is getting it down now. He signs "more" for everything and it is super cute when he signs "all done" He is also getting more verbal as well. It is just amazing to have 2 different kids. Gracie talked at the average time and was able to repeat so much but Cannon is more of an observer. He actually usually has his thumb in his mouth so that inhibits his speech some I'm sure. When he turns two we will start working on the thumb sucking. But until then he sure is cute with his thumb in his mouth.



I said I would take pictures of Cameron's Valentine's gift and post about it but our digital camera went ca-put this week. We hope to get one ASAP because of Mason and not wanting too many days to go by without pictures of him. But I will just go ahead and write about the gift.



When Cameron and I started dating about 10 years ago he had a super cool Mustang. It was an older model that he put a lot of time and energy into. It was fast and black. My car knowledge was very minimal at the time. He basically loved that car and he should have. It was something to be proud of. When he wanted to propose to me he didn't have much money so he sold his car to help pay for the ring. I knew right away the significance of this action and never took the sacrifice for granted. Over the course of our dating/marriage he has had a few other mustangs but none of them were just GREAT so he sold them off after a few years of having them and not really loving them. (car enthusiasts will understand this) But none the less he has always wanted a mustang that he didn't have to mess with and was already really cool. Well right before the first of the year he found one. He had been researching on the internet for MONTHS and it was really hard to get exactly what he wanted but he found one. He had planned to fly to Florida and pick it up. That deal fell through 2 days before he was to fly down there and it was a total God thing because I wound up in the hospital the day he was to leave.



Heartbroken and deflated he thought that maybe he wasn't suppose to have it at all. But he found another one immediately in better condition and with fewer miles. Sooooooo for Cameron's birthday~Valentine's Day~Father's Day~he went to Albuquerque and brought back a BEAUTIFUL 1995 Mustang hardtop convertible. It is black with tan leather interior. There were only 499 of these cars made ever. It has 50,000 miles on it and the guy Cam bought it from got a little teary eyed when he drove away with it. It is gorgeous and in excellent condition. This is the ultimate mustang in Cameron's eyes. Now there are lots of specs that I could bore everyone with but won't because if you don't have a clue about cars it is really boring. I can quote you word for word every detail of this car if you really care to know about it. Cameron put the sell on me pretty hard to get it. In fact now I know where Gracie gets her negotiating skills from.

This is the only picture I have of it. It snowed right after we got it and it was freezing outside so I stuck my head out and snapped this quick shot. One day soon we will get the car out and do it's glorified photo shoot for Cameron.

I hope you all have a blessed week!

1-2-3-Check

Today was my first outing with all 3 kids by myself. I had to make a plan and hope that I had thought of everything that would make this go smooth.

1. feed Mason as close to time to pick up kids as possible-check
2. park by the closest entrance to Cannon's classroom-check
3. leave Mason in nursery (sleeping) with Shannon and Carri so that I can get Cannon and Gracie-check
4. go back and get Mason-check
5. get Cannon on the right track for going up the stairs and out the door-check
6. tell Gracie to watch Cannon come down the stairs outside while I put Mason in the car-check
7. run back to steps and get Cannon-check
8. help Gracie in car-check
9. count children in car 1-2-3-check
10. drive to gymnastics and let Gracie change in car when we park-check
11. Wait until Amy gets there so she can have her eyes on Cannon as well when we cross the parking lot-check
12. get Gracie into class and wait an hour while feeding Cannon his weight in goldfish/animal crackers-check
13. check on Mason (Oh yeah that baby in the car seat sleeping under the blanket is mine)-check
14. hold Cannon's hand, tell Gracie to watch for cars, juggle heavy car seat-check
15. load all kids into car-check
16. count children in car 1-2-3-check
17, drive home to feed Mason all the while him not knowing he even left the house-check
18 breath a sigh of relief that I didn't lose a child on my first day out without a chaperon-check

A picture is worth...

Here are some cute pictures of the kids. I finally got one of all three kids. Cannon made his get-a-way pretty quick after I grabbed the camera.
We had a Valentine's Banquet/Youth fundraiser on Wednesday night. It was fun to get out of the house after being inside all day. It snowed a couple of inches and was bitterly cold but a good time all the same. I got some flowers and earrings that were Mason's birthstone. Cam is so good to me. His gift has and will be for a while his new ---. I haven't posted about it but as soon as I get some pictures of it I will tell all. It has been so fun for him and I am thrilled that after waiting for many years he has gotten exactly what he has wanted. The story behind it is pretty neat. Mason had a very sweet outfit to wear to the banquet. The bottom said I love Daddy and the front said I love mommy! :) He didn't get to show it off because he slept the entire time.

Gracelyn had a Valentine Tea at school on Tuesday and I got to go with her. It was a fun time of just me and her chatting and not being interrupted by a baby or Cannon. I wanted it to be really special for her. She looked super cute. Here she is with her GOOD friend Nathan. His mother (Teresa) is my co-teacher at school. Teresa and Randall are also our pastors at church. What wonderful people they are! We have been friends since ACU and after many years apart God put us back into each other's lives. What a blessing she is.






Gracelyn gets her dance moves from her daddy! :)

Cannon is 18 months old today~It is his half birthday. He is a special little guy that amazes me each day. He is my first son. My middle child. My cuddly boy. My thumb sucker. My little man. My boy that reminds me daily of my husband. How could you not love that?? In this picture Cannon is 2 weeks old.

Today is also Tyler's birthday. He is 10 years old today. Boy do I feel old!!!! He is extremely smart and unique in so many ways. But on the other hand he is a typical little boy who is growing up and discovering new things. I'm just so glad that he thinks I'm still pretty cool. I love that he calls me Sissa. I was suppose to be Aunt Sis but Sissa is what he chose and it stuck!
He also has eye lashes that a girl would kill for.
Much love to all!!
Keri

Baby steps

I know it has been over a week since my last post. Since all that a baby does is sleep, eat, poop then why have I been so busy? Well if you figure exhaustion in there then that should account for something. Then throw in my other 2 children and my time is completely taken up!

We have enjoyed getting into a new routine with having Mason around. He is one sweet baby. He is so good too which at this point is HEAVEN!

A lot has actually happened this last week but one story sticks out above the rest. You can draw your own opinion about the rest of the week from the following.

Thursday after Cameron dropped the kids off at school he headed down to Ft. Worth to take his irrigation test. He had to cancel the previous time because of me being in the hospital. My mom took off on Friday so that she could take care of Cannon and Gracelyn since I still wasn't suppose to lift Cannon from the crib or highchair just yet. So I was only going to have the kids in my care by myself for around 3 hours on Thursday afternoon. I decided reinforcements were needed still and went to my friend's house so that she could get her holding in with Mason and the kids could play. While there Cannon found a peanut. I tried to get him to eat it and didn't think much about it until he came back around the corner with is finger up his nose. That little toot stuck it up his nose!!!! I grabbed him and didn't panic too much because I could see it pretty clearly. After many attempts to get it out I decided that the minor emergency room was the only way to go. After getting there and meeting mom in the parking lot I went in and filled out the paperwork. Almost in tears the whole time. The receptionist was so sweet and let me sit in the car to wait because of the sickness in the lobby. While in the car Cannon was eating cheerios and started getting choked up a bit and I looked back and saw something sticking out of his nose. I jumped out of the car and ran back there and grabbed the nut. WAHOO!!! I ran in the building and told the lady it came out. She was so excited and all I could think of was that this could only happen to me while my husband is out of town, having a 6 day old baby AND in the 3 hour window of having the kids in my care for the first time ever! UGH...

But we recovered and made it just fine, Cameron came home, and we are back to normal. Cannon is getting better about leaving Mason alone in the swing and actually gave him a kiss goodnight before bed yesterday.

We are taking baby steps with this whole process of 3 kids. It is so much fun to get in the car and look back and see 3 kids. 3!!! And they all belong to us. Crazy!

Now I have not attempted to get out with all three just yet. Like I said we are taking baby steps. I might try taking them all to the mailbox first and see if I lose one along the way.
God Bless,
Keri

Sleep? What's that??

I was tired when I had Gracie for sure. I had no idea that your body could go on such little amounts of sleep. When Cannon came along I got even less sleep because I had a 3 year-old running around. But now that we have Mason I am even more amazed that sleep is really a thing of the past! :) He is a sweetie and I love seeing him during the night when it is just him and me by ourselves. BUT... I have to get some sleep. The kids go to school on Tuesday and Thursday and it is so fun for them. I have never looked more forward to it in my life. While on bed rest it was torture for them to be gone because I was so lonely during the day without them. If I was up doing something I'm sure I would be glad for the few hours to myself. But since we now have a new little boy in the house I am looking forward to tomorrow so much. I can't wait to get the kids off to school and then crawl back into bed.

Cannon still hasn't taken a picture with Mason because he acts like there is nothing there. It is too funny for the moment. I'm not sure when it will kick it but for now it is just fine with me. He crawls in my lap and sits with his thumb in his mouth and doesn't even act like he sees Mason in my other arm.

Gracie on the other hand loves to hold him all the time. She is such the helper! :)

The results are in!

This was a close race!! My friend Jaime won the gift card. She had the closest time to birth which gave her the fewest points. It was fun looking at all the results and trying to figure out who would be closest.

Thank you all for sharing in our joy. What a blessing each of you are.
Much love to all!!
Keri

We've been busy!

Mason Baker Melban is here!! He weighed in at 7 lbs. 15 1/4 oz. He was born February 2nd at 3:50 am.

We went to the hospital around 9:00 on Thursday night and things went fairly quickly after that. It was a VERY easy delivery and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect scenario to play out. We were able to come home this afternoon around 1:30 so over all I would say this is the easiest, fastest delivery yet. Mason is just perfect and is nursing like a champ.

Cannon could care less about his new brother which is very good for right now and then of course Gracie is thrilled he is finally here. I can't wait to post more pictures with the kids and Mason. He looks just like Cannon did when he was born. Hence why I have called poor Mason~Cannon the entire time he has been here. It is like going in reverse and holding Cannon all over again. We are so very proud of our newest addition and of course I will be posting TONS more pictures soon!!