Neglection...

WOW! Seriously...it's almost been a year since I last updated my blog. Not that I care if other people are looking at this or not, but I need to do this for myself and for my family to have some way to remember things we've done down the road. So...my goal is to be a little better about keeping this blog up to date. It's definitely not my top priority when I have a few free minutes from my 3 rambunctious kids. But here goes nothing...

This past year we have had lots happen with our family. Obviously, Elsie was born about a year ago. She is the cutest, sweetest, cuddliest and happiest little girl ever! Seriously, love her! I can't believe she is almost 1! She just started crawling a few weeks ago. Definitely a little later than the boys. They both started crawling at 8 months. They were walking at 1...pretty sure she's not even close! But that's ok. She can stay my baby for a while. She didn't take a bottle until she was 9 months old and I had to force her to take it (which means I had to starve her for 3 days till she finally decided to take it). Jordan and I took a nice, fun trip to New York City for 5 days, and as much as I love that little girl, I didn't want to take her with us. No offense to her, but the trip just wouldn't have been the same if she was there. I'll try to do a post about that trip, but we'll see...

Wyatt just turned 5 last week! I can't believe it has been 5 years since that little guy was born! It has flown by and I love him like crazy!! He's such a sweetheart and really does care about other people. He can be a handful, but he can also be the most kindhearted, and sweet boy! He's so good looking too! :) He just barely misses the cut off for kindergarten this year, which we're sad about but he will be ok. He loves learning and loves to play with people. He's definitely social!

Chamberlain...well what do I say about Chamberlain. That boy is a handful! I love him like crazy but he is always doing something crazy, getting into things he's not supposed to, or just being a goofball. He LOVES basketball!! Seriously, I don't know any other 3 year old that is even close to as good as he is and that likes it as much as he does. No joke! Really he loves anything that involves a ball, but basketball is at the top. He loves having a dad that is in the basketball industry!  He can be a sweetheart too though. He is so cute and I just love him! For whatever reason he didn't talk until we got him into the early intervention program just after Elsie was born. I can't believe how much that program helped him! He seriously talks like crazy now! He only said about 3 words before and now speaks with the rest of us. He still needs help with his articulation so he is in an articulation class to help him with the pronunciation of words, but he is making huge strides!

Jordan spent the last basketball season as an assistant coach with the Iowa Energy in the NBA D-League. He really enjoyed it! His buddy was the head coach and is the one that offered him the job. He knew he wouldn't get an opportunity like this again to go straight into a paid coaching job in the D League (or any professional league). So he took it! His friend got fired half way through the season, so for a while we thought we might be heading home, but they ended up keeping the rest of the staff so we stuck it out until the end of the season.He loved coaching and is sure this is what he wants to do for life! Plus we love the lifestyle it gives us. We have so much family time when he is home!! But, obviously he travels a ton too! We are still waiting to find out what we will be doing this next season, but hopefully we'll find out soon.

We had 3 weddings in Jordan's family this last year. His brother that's just under him is Trevor and he got married in December to Alicia. They live in Nebraska close to Jordan's sister Meagan and her husband Shane and their 2 little girls. Meagan is pregnant with their 3rd girl and is due in January. Then in March, his sister Nicole got married to Greg. They live up in Boise so it's nice that they are close enough that we still get to see them some. Nicole is also pregnant and is due in March (about a year to the date of the 1 year anniversary). They don't know what they are having yet. Just 2 months ago in August, Jordan's little brother Griffin got married too. He married Lauren and they live up in Idaho too, close to Nicole and Greg. They are pregnant and just found out today they are having a little boy! Lauren is due in February. So...3 new grandbabies in that family this next year. How exciting!

There's not much new with me. I'm still just staying at home with the 3 little ones. They are fun but it's sure tiring too as I'm sure all you other stay at home moms know. As the weather starts turning a little bit colder, I'm realizing how much I hate the cold! I'm really hoping we go somewhere that isn't cold. I actually really liked being in Des Moines. It was a great city, but it was WAY too cold and I'm glad we aren't going back for that reason!!

In July we had some family pictures taken by my super talented cousin, Sara (with my whole family. She did a great job! I love the pictures! Those are the only pictures I'm going to put up with this post, but lets all pray (at least I will) that I can keep this blog updated a little better!

Elsie Marie Brady

ELSIE MARIE BRADY

October 19, 2012

6 lb 3 oz 18 in

2:21 pm



Well a LOT has happened in the past week. One of the most important events, though, is that our sweet little Elsie was born! She is just to tiney and precious and we love her like crazy! I had planned to do this birth natural and unmedicated. I had to be induced, which I am SUPER anti-induction, unless completely necessary, but I think mine can constitute as that. So I didn't go into labor on my own, but I delivered her completely natural and unmedicated. To make a long story short, Jordan got a job as an assistant coach in the NBA D-League (the same league he has been playing in the last 4 years) with the Iowa Energy. He got the call on Wednesday evening saying he got it, but that he has to be there Monday (the 22nd) and can't come back. So....if I wanted Jordan there for her birth, I needed to get induced. I went to see my midwife on Thursday and we told her all of this and she said that the hospital won't take any inductions before 39 weeks unless there is a medical reason (I was only 38 weeks that day). So, we tried to come up with a reason and she did an ultrasound and they like your fluids to be above 5 and mine was a 5.5 or something like that. So she said we could say I have low fluid and needed to be induced. We decided on Friday and it was set. My midwife couldn't be at the hospital until after 12 so they started me on pitocin and just kept me on the very lowest dose. When I got to the hospital I was dialated to a 4, so I was already progressing on my own. Because I have very quick labors my midwife didn't want them to break my water until she got there so that there wouldn't be a chance of her missing the birth. As soon as my midwife got there at 12:45, she checked me and I was at a 7, almost an 8. She broke my water during the exam and things went quickly from there. Contractions started picking up from there and by 2:10 I was ready to push. 3 contractions later and she was out at 2:21 pm.

In comparison to Wyatt's birth, I was definitely more prepared for a natural childbirth. The last 4 years I have been saying that I'm pretty sure Wyatt's birth was pretty natural, even though I got an epidural, but I wasn't sure. I didn't know if the way things happened with my epidural was the norm in Europe or not, but I wanted to do one on my own to compare. After having had Elsie natural, I would be totally confident in saying that Wyatt's birth was all natural too! With Elsie, the labor and contractions were not bad until about my last 5 contractions before I started to push. Those were extremely painful, but I could definitely tell that she was almost here and it would be done soon. When it was time to push, all my memories from Wyatt's birth came back, and again, pushing was definitely the most painful part. Fortunately she was 2 weeks early so she was nice and small. Even though I was more prepared, and it was still painful, I am so happy and proud of myself for being able to do it all unmedicated. It was definitely a really neat experience and I felt so much different after having her than I did with an epidural after Chamberlain. Plus she was so awake for such a long time. So, obviously I wanted to have Jordan with me to help me throughout my labor and I'm so glad we were able to have him there.

We named her Elsie Marie Brady. We have kept middle names family names for our kids. We were having a really hard time agreeing on a first name for her so we were talking about middle names. We were thinking of our grandmother's names and the one I liked best was Elsie, which is Jordan's grandma's name. So I asked him about it and he said he liked it. Then about a day or 2 later, he decided that was going to be her first name. I liked it a lot but wasn't totally set on it untill she was born. Her middle name is Marie, which is my middle name. Anyway, enough talking and on to the pictures of my little sweet pea...

Last picture before going to the hospital

Using the birth ball

Here she is!

 

6 lbs 3 oz...so small but I'm glad :) She was 18 in too



Holding her for the first time after getting cleaned off



She is so precious! And so awake!



Mommy, Daddy and Elsie



Jordan getting ready to give her the first bath

She doesn't mind it yet...

She actually did pretty good. There were times she screamed but overall she was pretty calm

The boys had spent the night and day over at Jordan's aunt and uncle's house. So that evening he went and picked them up and brought them back to the hospital so they could meet their new baby sister! They were so excited and have just been loving on her ever since! They got up to the hospital at about 8 that night so I'm glad they were in their jammies.

Chamberlain loves her and seriously kisses her every time he sees her, multiple time!

Wyatt sure loves her too! I think she looks most like Wyatt, but at the same time she looks different then my boys.

Our first family picture as a family of 5! WOW!

She is so precious!

I love the bow on her little hat!

He loves her! He was so sad he had to leave to quickly.

All ready to go home

Sweet little Elsie today

Bikes and Babies

This post is LONG overdue!! I tried to update my blog like 3 weeks ago, but for some reason couldn't get to my dashboard. Anyway....

About 2 or 3 weeks ago we took Wyatt's training wheels off his bike. We were skeptical and thought we would probably have to put them back on, but he just took off!!! He has done great and can now ride like a big boy without training wheels. This is a video from the day we took the training wheels off. He thinks he's pretty cool, but so do we. He's such a big boy now! He had a birthday last week and turned 4! I can't believe it! I will post some pictures from his party later though.

On another note, I am now 36 weeks today. This picture is courtesy of Wyatt, so excuse the partly cut off head. We are so excited to be having a little girl! It's about time to change things up in our house. :) Wyatt and Chamberlain are excited and everytime Chamberlain sees my tummy he pats it and says "Baby", then gives it a kiss. He LOVES anyone smaller than him and treats them like a little baby. Funny kid. Wyatt is just going to be great because he's so loving and kind natured in general. He loves babies too though. 4 more weeks to go....hopefully less :)

Lake Powell

A few weeks ago we got invited by our friends, the Sadler's, to go to Lake Powell with them to spend the weekend on their houseboat. We had lots and lots of fun! Jordan and I have both been to Lake Powell, but never together. The kids had lots of fun too! Wyatt was born to be in the water. That kid LOVES swimming and anything water! Chamberlain...we are still trying to figure out where he came from. Just kidding. He was not so fond of the water, even though it was warm. He would go in a floating boat thing, but that was about it. He's just gonna take some more warming up to water I guess. But he loves baths...weird. Anyway, thanks for the fun trip!

Wyatt LOVED knee boarding, with Jordan's help!

HOTTIE! :)

This is the raft thing Chamberlain liked. Wyatt liked it too.

This kid was in the water 95% of the time he was awake. He was pooped at the end of each day!

Chamberlain snoozing

Jordan's awesome lifejacket that was a little too small :)

Look at that smile! He loved it!

Chamberlain...not so much.

Wyatt and his friend Saylor. They were buddies all weekend.

Thirsty boy

I love him and am so lucky he's mine!

The cliff Jordan jumped off with Jess and Brandon (Jordan's on the right). It was way higher than it looks I swear!

Family snapshot

Deb and Jess Sadler with their cute twins, Asher and Audra.

The only thing I did. It was fun for me and I was careful.

He fell asleep on the boat while we were out one day.

Our awesome flagger!

Jordan always impresses me with his water skills when we get out on a boat. He was quite daring sometimes.