One Week Later...

Well, Brooklyn is one week old and doing great. We found out today that she is done with the bilirubin lights and hooray for that. We HATE those lights.

Here's Ty holding 'baby sister' as he calls her. He loves her and is such a big help. Jordo loves her too, but he's also trying to figure out what happened to his world.

We got the boys the game Perfection for Christmas. The actual concept is a bit advanced, but they love putting the shapes in there spots and then starting the timer to watch them fly. But they don't love the surprise. This is how they are whenever the buzzer goes off.

And for those of you that are A Christmas Story fans, Jordo almost 'shot his eye out'. He looked right into a toy that shoots a spinner and sure enough, it nailed him right in the eye.

Here are some attempts at getting a picture

And here is the best one we could get. It looks a lot better since it has stopped bleeding and the scab is off. We thought he had learned until a few days later he did the same thing and cut his lip. Crazy kid.

She's here!

Brooklyn Mae Shaw is here and doing great! I tried posting with pics and I think with Christmas, blogger is on overload and it won't work. So as soon as I can, I will post the follow up with pics. Thanks to all of you for you support!

We got the pics to download, so check out the previous post for some highlights!

A Christmas to Remember

Brooklyn Mae Shaw came at 2:59 Tuesday morning. She weighed 7 lb 6 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long and she was perfect in every way.

Here is a quick run down of the labor story:

Monday night, after a great day I might add, we headed to bed. I was sore from cleaning and walking, but nothing big. As I was trying to get comfortable, my water broke, completely shocking both Kev and I. I never expected that to be how labor would kick in for me. The contractions started, but not all that bad and not too close together, but after Kev's mom got there to stay with the boys, we headed to the hospital.

We got all checked in and I still wasn't doing too bad. They checked me and I was at a 7! That was a nice surprise. I stayed at a 7 for the next 3 hrs. Right after another check, she said in another hour if I hadn't done anything they would start me on pitocin. Ten minutes later they lost her on the monitor so they were just going to attatch it to her head, and found out I was at a 10 and she was ready to go. The doctor got there and I pushed once for her head and once for her body and she was here! It really was an easy labor, if I dare say :)

Kev has a philosophy that all babies are born at 3:00 in the morning and so far, the two of ours that came on their own, that has been pretty accurate.

When it came time to come home we decided I would stay until Christmas Eve morning so they could do the bilirubin test at the hospital instead of going to the lab. When I called Kev to make the plans and find out how the boys were, it wasn't good. Ty had thrown up during the night and Jordo had a terrible case of diarrhea. What a joke! Kev had been up all night with the sick boys and I was supposed to bring a new baby home. It couldn't have been worse timing, and on top of all that, it was Christmas Eve.

Here are just some pics of the first days:

We did it though. We kept Brooke in the other room and the boys watched lots of movies. It was a LONG day, but everyone was feeling better in the morning and we had a great Christmas.

And now to try to figure out life again. We couldn't be happier she's here, timing was a bit crazy, but we are thrilled.

The Polar Express

This year Grandma and Grandpa Shaw made a new tradition. They want to do something special with each grandchild each year. This year they chose to take the boys to The Polar Express. The boys couldn't have been more excited to ride a train, see Santa and have hot chocolate. Not to mention they got to wear the pajamas!

All day the boys were asking when Grandma and Grandpa were coming and could they get in their PJs. It was a long day for everyone :) and we only had to wait until 4:00.

We were told it went well and from the bouncing off the walls when they got home, I think it did. Ty ran out of the car ringing his bell from Santa and couldn't stop talking. Jordo just kept running. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for awesome memories!

Bad News

I know many of you have been anxiously awaiting our follow up post about the Face to Face Concert with Billy Joel and Elton John. Sadly we are still waiting to go. We found out the day before that Elton John was sick and unable to perform, so they postponed it until February 19th. We still get to go and we definitely will, but now I get to figure out baby issues, since we will have a month and half old little girl. Oh well, what can you do?

So if I am blogging again by that point after adjusting to three kids, I will be sure to let you know how amazing the concert was!

Moving, Birthday and too many leaves!

Things have been busy at our house! Ty and I both had birthdays and then we spent the weekend moving (that is the reason for the delay of posting). We are in a different apartment in our same complex, but a three bedroom now with some more room. We lost some great neighbors but hopefully they will come back and visit lots!

Here's our birthday wishes!

Ty has been wanting a bike since riding his friend Mason's. We got this one from a garage sale, painted it and put some 'cool' stickers on it. Kev added training wheels and we were going to lower the seat and handle bars to size. BUT- the seat post happened to be bent and was down as far as it could go. So poor little Ty couldn't even reach the pedals. We headed to the store to see about fixing it and came home with this....

Something a little more his size. The other bike will get stashed until he can ride it and by then, Jordo should be ready for this one. It was a good idea, but who could have known our troubles?

Happy Birthday Ty! I can't believe you are four, but we have loved every minute of you!

And for my birthday, Kev and I are going to the Face to Face tour with Billy Joel and Elton John! I am so excited. These are two of my favorite artists and I've heard the concert is awesome. There will be a follow up post.

We had lots of fun with the leaves this year. The two huge trees in our front yard produce way more than enough for a good jumping pile. Well, we had fun until it was raking and bagging time to beat the snow. What you can't see in the last picture are all the other huge piles. We raked and raked and raked some more and then when all was said and done Kev counted 27 bags! What a joke! Now if the rest of the leaves would just stay on the trees.

Happy Halloween

We love Halloween at our house! Well most of it and most of the time. The boys were so excited to be pirates and helped pick out everything for their costumes, but somewhere down the line, Jordo changed his mind. What can you do to convince a two-year old that a silly hat matters? You can't and so most the time, Ty was "Captain Pirate" and Jordo was just tagging along.

Our Halloween started Friday night at the annual family pumpkin carving party. The boys took that very seriously and were both there for every second of the job. Thanks to Kev who did it all and most the time had a small pirate on his lap.

After the pumpkins are carved, someone does a silly judging and gives out prizes. Ty's pumpkin won the scariest pirate and Jordo's for the happiest smile. Ty was thrilled. Even though everyone wins, he kept saying, "I won, I won, I can't believe I won!" He felt very privileged to have a prize for 'his' great efforts.

Kev and I even tried to have some Halloween spirit. My 'costume' has worked for three pregnancies now and should there be any more to come, I suspect it will continue. Kev always tries to be creative. Don't you think he did a great job this year?

We had so much fun this Halloween, even with a few tears, and hope everyone else did too. Kev ended up getting the boys to cooperate and they both willingly took this cute picture. Hooray for fall and the holidays! Now we are ready and excited for Thanksgiving.

This Is It

Last night Kev and I went and saw the Michael Jackson movie, 'This Is It'. Those of you that know Kev, know he is a huge M.J. fan and we wouldn't of missed this. It was really good. It was much better than I expected and I was really glad I went. We got our tickets for free, with vouchers, but I would have gladly paid good money for them.

I think because of the icon that Michael Jackson was and his immense talent, this should be something that everyone should see. Definitely a piece of history.

Our Pumpkin Patch Tradition

Every year we go to a pumpkin patch at the end of Kev's parent's street. The lawn is loaded with pumpkins of every size and the kids love searching for the perfect one.

This year the boys rode over in the wheel barrow. They were afraid it would tip, so only Daddy was allowed to drive.

Ty was busy climbing through all the pumpkins. He had to try to get from one side to the other without getting stuck, which did happen a couple times.

Grandma tried to get a picture of Jordo in the pumpkins too, but he never could hold still long enough.

Riding back was a bit more crowded, but as you can tell, the boys were thrilled to ride with their prize pumpkins.

We love fall and all the fun things that come with it! More posts to come of jumping in piles of leaves (Ty checks the window every morning to see if enough leaves have fallen), Halloween and the upcoming holidays!

Count Your Many Blessings

Over the last few weeks we have had a lot of exciting things happen in our family and we can tell that the Lord and His Spirit are definitely present.

About two weeks ago, Kev got ordained to a High Priest because he was made Second Counselor in our bishopric! That was quite the shock to us but even in the short time, we have felt an increase in the Spirit. He has always served faithfully and with complete dedication and is such an example to me and our boys. We are so blessed to have him as a husband and father. It will take some adjusting though. The biggest being, I will sit through Sacrament Meeting alone. Now it isn't so bad, but when the baby comes, it could get tricky. The first week Kev was up on the stand, Ty looked up and said, "Hey, what's Daddy doing up there?" And that was only the first week of many.

(Sorry, most recent pic of Kev!)

Earlier in the month, my brother Todd called and announced that he will be getting married to his long time and wonderful girlfriend, Nikki. December 11th is the big day and we couldn't be happier for these two. They are great people and are lucky to have found eachother. We all just hope that joining our family isn't too much of a shock for such a quiet girl.

And then yesterday, my brother Steve announced that he had his mission call. He didn't really tell anyone that he was turning in his papers so that was surprising, but also very welcomed. We went over to watch him open it and all our guesses were WAY off. He is headed, on January 21st to the....

ZIMBABWE, HARARE MISSION!

He goes to the South Africa MTC too. It is English speaking, but Africa alone will be quite the adventure. Congrats Stevo!

Cabin Fun

Before Kev's birthday, I just haven't had time to post, we went up to a cabin with some friends of ours and had a really great time.

Ty, Jordo, Grace and Jill all settling in for a movie before bed.

Walking around and looking at ducks, geese, swans and of course...

throwing rocks in the water.

Jordo and Jill got creative with the stickers.

(They weren't smiling when we had to take them off a while later)

Ty was always good to be a gentleman and help Grace whenever she was uneasy.

All the kids were ready to go for a ride in the paddle boat.

Here's our family out for a ride.

Here's Ty's fish that he caught. He was really excited to cast and hold the pole, but when the fish got reeled in he had to be held down to go anywhere near it. We asked if he wanted to hold it for the picture and he said, "I do not want to touch that."

We had a great time with the Browns and enjoying nature. This is the kind of 'camping' I can do.

Happy Birthday!

Today Kev turned 27! It's weird since I remember celebrating his 17th birthday with him. We have had a lot of great birthdays since then and today was a lot of fun. Well, Kev didn't get much of a break, but the boys and I sure loved having him home for the day.

We started the day with going out to breakfast and then after I got mad at him for cleaning the house, we headed up to Bridal Veil Falls. I tried to show them how fun it was and got my feet wet, and that water is freezing!

Here's Jordo. His face shows how cold it really is, but it didn't stop him. By the time we left he was much wetter than we were wanting.

Ty started out pretty hesitant, but here he is announcing his victory since he made it all the way to these rocks. He doesn't like to be uncomfortable, so the cold water took some getting used to.

Soaking my feet in freezing water isn't what I consider relaxing, but the boys loved it. This was a fun change of pace and a great break in our day. But everything is better when Dad is home from work with us.

Happy Birthday to my best friend and the absolute love of my life. Thanks for making everyday amazing and sacrificing so much for our little family. We love you!