Tyler

Our little Tyler Dee Jackson arrived on Easter at 9:30 PM.

At 7 lbs 5 oz, and 20 1/2 inches, he's our smallest baby by one ounce (next to Grant).

He's also the calmest baby we've ever had.  And he's so incredibly sweet and snuggly, I just can't get enough of him!  He's pretty much a dream boat!  :)

 With sciatic pain and just overall feeling miserable, I was scheduled to be induced last Saturday morning at 3 AM.  But when we called the night before, the hospital didn't have room for us.  So we waited and called, and called, and waited.  We were beginning to think it wasn't meant to be.  I stayed home from church on Sunday morning and took a good nap.  Then after lunch we got the call!  Yay!

Here we are waiting for the nurse to come get me.

 Everything went pretty quick and easy.

I had a couple scary moments of almost passing out because the epidural amount was too high.  I didn't like that very much, but we got it figured out and then I was good.

I pushed for 15 minutes and then little Tyler was here.  He was a little sideways coming down so it was tricky, but I was determined to have him by 9:30 and that's what happened.  I don't know how women can push for hours.  Seriously!  I was exhausted with 15 minutes!  Wow!

 My parents came to see the little guy and bring us some delicious Easter turkey dinner.  That food saved our lives!  We were so hungry and it was sooooo good!

 Keith's parents came for a visit the next evening.

 And our kids came for a visit through the window.  They all got yucky coughs and runny noses the week before so we decided it was best for them to keep their distance from Tyler.  Luckily my room was located in a great spot for a window visit.  They were soooo excited when Keith held little Tyler up to the window.  Then he went out there and I chatted with them on his speaker phone.  The hospital had given us little wristbands for the kids so we put those on them.  They felt pretty special.  Grant wore his wristband for three days!

 Tyler was such a sleepy little guy for the first two days.  That's all he wanted to do.

 I had a hard time sleeping and was so tired, so one morning I dozed off and woke up later to find this sweet note.  I think it's one of the most romantic things ever!  

 So I wrote a note back to him and sent it in a text.

 Getting ready to go home.

 Practicing a little karate.  ;)

 Welcome home brother!  Grant was the most excited to have a new little brother.

His teacher at school lent him a cute book about being a big brother.

And then his whole class signed a cute card and sent it home with him.

We sure do love that teacher!

 Camille was so excited to have the baby come home.  She kept saying "baby, shhhhh!"

 Look at this hot man drying my hair for me.

Nothing better than taking a nice long shower after getting home from the hospital!

And he got me that gorgeous orchid on the side of the picture.

 Thinking while he snoozes.

 Our roses popped for Easter while we were away.

 We spend a lot of time snuggling and napping together.

 One last shot of this guy when he's actually awake.

His temperament is just what I needed right now, and we are loving having him here!

Spring Break 2016

These boys started spring break off with building a car wash.  They actually saw Curious George build one first, but then they came up with all of their own stuff and their own design.

 Camille watered our garden, flowers, and grass, and trees, and pretty much everything she could get to.  :)

 Spring flowers are the best!

 We brought out the kiddie pool and the kids took a chilly swim.  Good thing the sun was hot that day!

We also went swimming one day at our clubhouse pool.  That water was perfect and it felt so nice to get some of this weight off of my back!

 Camille went down the slide over and over and over again.  Every time she'd splash down into the water she'd have a surprised look on her face, only to get back up and do it again.

The boys got to have a campout in the backyard.  This time Keith stayed out there with them and we let them sleep "all the way until morning."  Usually we bring them in after they fall asleep.  The boys stayed warm, but Keith was pretty chilly.  I was perfectly cozy in my warm bed inside!  :)

We'd moved the boys into a new room a while back, but had kept their clothes in their old room because their new room doesn't have a closet.  That wasn't working so well.  So Keith and I went to IKEA on a date one night and designed some wardrobe closet things for them.  Unfortunately, the doors didn't come with hinges, so we're still waiting to put those on, but we have a good start for now.  The boys love them, and so do I!  It's great to have all of their stuff in their room!

 I painted Camille's nails one day.  She's pretty good at holding still, especially when I distract her with a movie.  :)

 We added Easter touches around the house and the kids went to have Easter pictures taken by my photographer friend.  For some reason I'm not able to get my phone picture from that, but I'll post one soon.  They were so cute!  They even had real live bunnies in the picture with them!

Luckily, Keith was able to take half the week off from work so he could be here to help with our list of things to do before the baby comes, and to get these kids out having fun.  And they did have fun!  Some other things we did included: donuts, half price shakes at Sonic, homemade ice-cream, BBQ, eating out, bike rides, playing at the park, and watching late night movies.

  They were super bummed to have to go back to school on Monday, but having this Friday off of school for Easter made it a little easier.

Baseball Boys

These two recently started T-ball and coach pitch.

Grant is excited to be reunited with his fun team that's been together for a few years now.  It's been so fun to watch them all get better and better every season.

Brett is beyond thrilled to finally be playing himself, instead of just sitting on the sidelines!

I wish I had a video from when I took him shopping for his "baseball stuff."  It was like a dream come true for him.  I think this is going to be a great thing!  :)

Aren't they handsome in their uniforms? 

 Keith is head coach for Brett's team and stepped down to assistant coach for Grant's team.

That way he still gets to have a hand in coaching both teams.   I love that he makes the time to do this!

Such handsome baseball boys!

February

February sure flew by this year!  Here's a little bit of what happened at our house.

I picked out these Protea flowers at Costco.  The flower lady there said that they are a tropical flower that will last a long time.  They lasted nearly the whole month and were so fun to look at in our dining room.

Isn't that flower just so cool?  How could I pass these up?!

We got our gardens planted.

Some cute kids helped us with the garden.  This one below especially loved helping.

Grant played in some more soccer games.

Keith's parents came over one night and were able to read Camille her bedtime story.

It's amazing what this girls hair does at night!!!!  :)

I love when this boy is happy and smiling.  He's a pretty sensitive little guy and is quick to break down and cry at the littlest things, so it's good to see him having a fun time without big tears on his cheeks.  He really does have the biggest tears I've ever seen.  But he also has one of the best smiles ever!

This girl is just so happy to be alive and goes full speed ahead at everything she does.

The weather has been so perfect here!  The boys gathered up some rocks and went to work painting them outside one day.

Our peach tree started to get blossoms.  We'll see if we get any peaches this year or if the birds will get to them first like last year.

Camille has many faces.  This one is pretty normal.

This one cracks us up, and she knows it!

This is her super happy face.

And here's her thinking face.

Brett moved up to Grant's old bike and rides around super fast!

I was watching the boys zooming around on their bikes one day.  They were going so fast and nearly crashing into each other because they were so busy learning the gears and showing off on their new bikes.  My wonderful neighbor, who has already raised her kids and is on to grandkids, was outside too.  She must have sensed my worry as I watched a near collision with these two boys. With a big smile and a little laugh she looked over and said "They will survive."  Yep, these aren't the first boys to go zooming around on this street.  I think about how many times I fell and got hurt as a kid.  I survived too.  Sometimes I just need a reminder.   :)

We had Grant's birthday celebrations, of course.

Keith and Camille snuggled up on our bed for a goodnight story...

and then he woke up early and headed to Germany with his parents.

Keith was there for a conference for work.  His parent's were there for fun.  And they did have a great time!

I'll have to have Keith put together a post of the highlights of their trip.

The highlight for me was when he came home after 9 days!!!!  I had a lot of help with the kids from some sweet friends and neighbors and some family.  That week pretty much wiped me out though and now I'm just plain exhausted and my back hurts!  Just over 3 weeks and our new little guy should be arriving! I so look forward to meeting him, and also to start feeling like myself again!