Fall Means . . .

Soccer! EZ wanted to do soccer at the Y again and even though last year was a little painful to watch, we really want him to keep trying and keep learning so we signed him up. He is still one of the slower kids on the team and can be a bit of a space cadet, but there was definitely a big improvement from last year. He had two great coaches and it was kind of funny, because the head coach was French and fit the European stereotype of knowing a lot about soccer and his son was amazingly good. Towards the end of the season EZ really surprised me when he asked to play goalie. He had never shown any interest in it before. I have to say I was on pins and needles every time he got to play it. I was so worried the other team would score a bazillion points while he was in there. Amazingly enough no one ever scored while he was in goal! I think he liked it because he could play and dance around a bit while the ball was on the other side of the field and there was enough of a commotion when it came back to his end to get his attention. He also really liked the fact that the team was all boys this year. He is definitely getting into the girls are gross and boys are awesome phase. 

Fall also means I get to take a trip by myself! Well this year it meant a trip with only Conrad, but that is close enough. I was definitely in need of some time away. I love my kids, but 4 is a lot of work and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Well I still am, but the vacation definitely helped. I decided to visit my family in Pittsburgh and I used some of my down time to make this Steelers football hat and learned the Conrad hates hats. 

Since I failed miserably at getting pictures of my parents with Conrad when they came in August, I made sure  I took some this time. 

One of the bonuses of going now was that my sister Sarah was still staying with my parents and my sister Katie was able to fly up from El Paso as well, so we got to have a little new cousins reunion. Unfortunately, it didn't work for Meghan to come out with Timmy. I swear one day we will get all 4 boys together. 

We didn't do anything amazingly exciting while I was there, but that is exactly what I wanted. I really enjoyed the trip, but I did learn that 4 days is not quite enough time away to make me start missing my kids. HaHa. Maybe someday I can take a longer trip, but for now I am grateful for what I can get. 

October Part 2

The second half of October of course revolved all around Halloween. Netta, King, Conrad and I all made the annual trek to the Pumpkin Patch. I feel bad doing it while EZ is at school, but I don't want to deal with the crowds on the weekend and I need something to keep the other kiddos entertained while he is gone. Here is a group shot that my friend took of the kids in our group. I really thought I had taken some photos with my camera, but apparently not and really I can't blame myself since I was chasing 2 kids and carrying 1 in the baby bjorn. Thank goodness for friends. 

We also had multiple Halloween activities. The first was a Trunk or Treat at our church building. Conrad went as this absolutely adorable bat, thanks to my friend Sandy's costume. 

 Netta obviously was a Pirate. 

Here we have Sir EZ. 

And King as Buzz Lightyear, with his father the pimp. So classy. (in the September post I talked about Dell buying John and other managers costumes and this gem was one of them as well).

One last one of Conrad just because he is so dang cute.

Netta got the most bang for her buck since she also had a Halloween costume parade at school.  

A girl in her class came as a jellyfish, which has to be the coolest costume ever. 

On Halloween we went trick or treating in our neighborhood. We were really torn as to whether we should stay in our neighborhood or go somewhere else. I always complain about our neighborhood being lame and it was tempting to leave, but we decided that if we want it to get better we have to stay and support it. So we stayed in the neighborhood and it was good, but kind of lame. The kids got plenty of candy, but it took forever because maybe every 3rd house was actually handing out candy. I am glad we stayed though, because I felt bad for the other kids who were hiking all over and I didn't want our house to be another empty one and I wanted to support those people who did hand out candy. Here are the kids with their pumpkins. EZ and King both had costume changes. King is so obsessed with that Super Why costume that he is still wearing it out and about months later. 

John and I got to have a little fun at our friends' adult Halloween party. I was so excited to be out with only Conrad, but then I had a bit of an emotional break down as we were trying to get ready. It really isn't fun trying to come up with a costume when you are in the middle of trying to lose a bunch of baby weight. Especially since almost every Halloween costume out there is made for a hooker. Plus I was trying to shop for a costume with my kids in tow. Never a good idea. I actually almost bailed on the party and then I came up with this gem of a costume: the frazzled housewife. It was super easy to through together and it went with my mood perfectly. In the end the costume got a lot of laughs and I was glad I went and got some adult interaction.

October Part 1

So here it is the end of December and I am just posting about October. I am going to do my best to crank out posts about the last 3 months while I have John home to help entertain the kids over Christmas break. Life with 4 is great, but we are in basic survival mode right now and unfortunately that means anything that doesn't keep my kids alive, aka blogging, goes on the back burner. So the beginning of October our neighborhood had a block party. Now for the most part our HOA sucks and I really wish we didn't have one, but last year and this year they did host a sweet block party as part of National Night Out. We made the most of the food, the bounce house, the raffles and of course the face painting. The best part for me was when the IPod someone was using to play music started playing some song that said the F word every other word. It took a while for the person in charge to notice and turn it off. Luckily my kids didn't notice and their favorite part was of course the face painting. 

Fall in Austin means Austin City Limits and of course John got his 3 day pass last year the minute they went on sale. He was supposed to get me a 1 day pass, but he "missed that email" and then they sold out. Really it was ok, because the whether wasn't great and I would have had to take Conrad and I am not sure how much pot I want him exposed to just yet ;). John of course took EZ and Netta one day to Austin Kiddie Limits. They always have so much fun and it makes for some really cute pictures. 

They always have someone spray painting hair and Netta always wants it and EZ always wants nothing to do with it.  

They both however love getting the tattoos . . .

. . . and rocking out with the kids from Austin School of Rock.

I was a little bit sad I missed all this fun with the kids, and my hormones may have made me cry over it a little, but I am glad they had so much fun with their dad and maybe I will brave the crowds next year.  

September Happenings

So technically school started in August for EZ, but for the sake of finally getting this posted we are just going to lump it in with September. EZ started first grade and was totally ready to go back to school. On the first day John offered to walk with him to the classroom and EZ said no he didn't even want John to walk with him to the school entrance. Apparently kindergarten made him a pro. His enthusiasm died down a bit after he realized how much more work 1st grade is than kindergarten. He never once complained about going to school last year, but already there have been tears shed about not wanting to go to school, because they don't get to play with their friends enough. Hopefully, this will not be a year long thing, although I do feel bad for how much work they have to do. Thank you high stakes testing.

Netta was also super stoked to go back to school and her adjustment to pre-k has gone quite smoothly, since it's just a lot of hugs and playing with some learning thrown in. 

We have been loving having Conrad to play with and take care of. The kids want to be involved in everything he does including bath time. As soon as I start the bath for him they come running and insist on helping. It takes longer to give him a bath then if I did it on my won, but hey at least it is keeping the kids entertained. 

We have discovered some new favorite baby things this time around. First is this little cradle thing that attaches to the pack 'n play. Conrad loves being bundled up and sleeping in there. And I love that it is the exact same height as our bed. We already had a plain pack 'n play and I wasn't really interested in buying another, so lucky for us our friends Kim and John lent it to us. Second is the stuffed animal attached to his binky called a wubbanub. It helps hold the binky in his mouth and we love it. I totally attribute him being a champion sleeper to it. It is helps make it harder to lose, but of course I managed to drop it and leave it behind at a friend's house the first time we used it. Haha. 

Conrad is such a cutie and gets a lot of compliments on his lips and his eyes. So far it looks like his eyes are going to be blue and we are super excited about that. That way we will have two with blue eyes and two with brown. 

September was an extra crazy month for John at work. He had to work long hours, including the weekends, which made things a bit hectic for all of us, but we are just grateful for his job and how well it takes care of us. To break up the tension at work they had a little disco karaoke and all got costumes. Here he is with his friend Tom who actually moved here to fill John's old position when he switched jobs and it turns out he goes to church with us so they get to see a lot of each other. A guy who is single at work asked John if he was embarrassed  for ladies at work to see him dressed like that and he was like "Are you kidding. I am married and have 4 kids. Who am I trying to impress." Clearly no one ;) and that is why I love him. 

Bringing Home Baby

I have to admit I love being at the hospital. In fact part of the reason I look forward to giving birth is because I get to rest in the hospital and have other people take care of me instead of me taking care of the kiddos. So it's always a little bitter sweet when I have to leave. But the kids were super stoked to have me and the baby home. John was too, especially since work is crazy busy this time of year and even though he was taking time off he still had some work he had to do at home, which he was trying to do while taking care of the kids. Not an easy task. 

We had a day at home just as our little family, before help started arriving from out of town. Each of the kids loves Conrad, but in their own way. EZ likes to help with him and thinks he is so cute, but doesn't beg to hold him all the time or anything. He is happy just to get to look at him.

Netta on the other hand is obsessed with holding him. We have had to try a few different ways of holding him so she can support his head. I have to keep an eye on her, because she has already picked him up and carried him around the room when I wasn't watching. Luckily, she didn't drop him and she hasn't tried again since. Well that I know of. 

As I said before, King was not really interested in Conrad at the hospital or even for the first while after we brought him home, but eventually he warmed up to the baby and now he loves to force feed the baby his binky and anytime the baby cries King yells "Oh no the baby sad!" Here he is showing Conrad a thing or two about dragons. 

My dad came to town a day after we got home from the hospital and then my mom got in the next night. They were able to stay for about 6 days and it was awesome. They did such a good job keeping the other kids entertained and making sure we all got fed. EZ and Netta wake up ridiculously early and they would get up with them and do some morning yoga. I didn't get many pictures of my parents, not that I can blame myself since I wasn't fully functioning, but I did get a great shot of them and their yoga session with the kids. I love how Netta is hanging on my dad and even King wanted in on the action. 

I just had to include this picture of Conrad. He is so tiny and precious. We don't know if we are having anymore kids and that makes me want him to stay small forever. 

Of course bringing home baby means they get their first bath. Got to keep it modest. ;)

The day before my parents left town, my sister Katie came into town from El Paso with her son Noah who is about 8 months old. Also we had Sarah and Casey and their 6 month old Lincoln staying with us while they figure out job/housing/the future and so we were able to get a picture of the cousins together. We were just missing my sister Meghan's boy Timmy. I still can't believe 4 of us sisters had babies this year and they were all boys! I can't wait to see them grow up together. 

Sadly, all my help left at once. The same day that Katie flew home, Sarah and Casey took off on a road trip that will land them in Pittsburgh until they find a job. I was definitely a bit emotional. Not only was my help leaving, but the family who I have been so lucky to have in Austin was taking off, possibly to never return. Casey still has some potential jobs in Austin and Dallas and I am just praying they make it back here soon. 

Conrad Jeremiah Brown

Once the craziness of summer camps and swim lessons ended the first week of August, it was time to focus on getting ready for baby. I signed up for water aerobics, which I absolutely love doing while pregnant and especially at the end when my body can't handle any impact really. I would be exhausted the days that I did it, but it felt so good while I was in the pool that it was worth it. All of my babies have come early and from my doctors appointments it was looking like this one would follow suit. Just in case he didn't we had an induction set up for Tuesday Aug 21, which would have been 6 days early. My parents had limited time when they could get off of work and come to visit so I had to make sure I had the baby before they came. Well the whole week before the induction date I was feeling pretty sick and out of it. I kept getting hit by waves of nausea and dizziness. When I went to the doctor on Friday the 17th, my blood pressure was elevated for me and there was a trace amount of protein in my urine. My doctor wanted me to really watch over the weekend for other signs of preeclampsia. Well Sunday morning I felt horrible and I started seeing black spots and my doctor said that if that happened I needed to come in. Just to be sure I also went to grocery store to check my blood pressure and it had skyrocketed to 157 over 105. When my blood pressure got that high with Netta they induced me, so I called the on call doctor and she said it was time to come into the hospital to get checked out. 

So at about 12:15pm my friend Richelle came to watch the kids for us and we headed to the hospital. When we got there they had to do a bunch of tests to see if I actually had preeclampsia. In the end it turned out that I didn't, but the gestational hypertension was bad enough to warrant an induction. You never want to be sick, but I can't lie I was very ready and willing to be induced. At this point I was already 4 cm and 90% effaced, so the doctor decided to get things going by first just breaking my water. That was at 2:30pm. After 45 minutes my contractions hadn't really gotten started so they started me on the lowest dose of pitocin. Well after about 30 minutes of that, so around 3:45pm, the contractions were extremely strong and I requested my old pal the epidural. Luckily, there was pretty much no one else in labor and delivery so the anesthesiologist arrived very quickly. By 4:30pm the epidural was up and running and all I could think was how grateful I am to have the option of this kind of pain management. The nurse checked me again and I was 6cm, which was awesome to hear. She said she would come back in an hour to check on me again. Well 20 minutes later she was in the room and I told her that my butt bones were hurting. I thought it was just the affects of the epidural, but she decided to check me anyway to see if anything was going on. She had me turn onto my back and as soon as I did she said "I know why your butt hurts. It's because your baby is crowning!" I couldn't believe it. John was over in the corner doing his own thing and I said "Did you hear that?" and he hadn't so I told him the baby is coming and as soon as he walked over I could see the surprise on his face cause he could see what I meant. The nurse quickly told me to close my legs so she could call the doctor. The doctor took 5 minutes and almost missed the birth. Basically the contractions were pushing him out and even though I wasn't pushing there was no stopping him. You could see the surprise on the doctor's face as well when she walked in and she quickly ran over and told me just to give one gentle push and viola Conrad was born at 4:59pm just 2 1/2 hours after they broke my water. I teared up a little but mainly I was laughing because I just couldn't get over the shock of how quickly he had come. I am glad I had a great nurse who took my butt hurting comment seriously and didn't just write it off like I am sure some people would have. 

So here are some pics from the hospital stay. First me getting checked in to the triage room. Words cannot express how good it feels not to be pregnant anymore. Conrad was so low at the end that it was basically impossible to be comfortable ever. 

Me and my baby boy. I was grateful that I got to take a shower before going into the hospital and that my time on the pitocin was very short so I wasn't swollen like a balloon from the iv. 

We thought the babysitter would have to be at our house through dinner and then put the kids to bed, but things happened so quickly that John was able to bring dinner to the kids and then bring them to the hospital before bed time. Of course the kids were so excited to meet the baby and just as excited to get to play in the hospital room. There was some serious fighting over the remote. 

King really showed no interest in Conrad. In fact he didn't acknowledge the baby during my hospital stay at all. Instead he preferred to fight over the remote and play in the closet. 

Netta joined in on the closet action and John took what is one of my favorite pictures ever of the two of them. 

I wanted a picture of me and all the kids, but like I said, if the baby was involved King refused to cooperate so I could only get a picture with EZ and Netta. Of course as soon as I put down Conrad, King was all over me and wanted to sit directly on my stomach. 

Here he is Conrad Jeremiah Brown. He was 8 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches. Not my biggest baby, but still pretty good sized. The doctor was impressed that I popped out a baby this size so quickly. 

The next morning John came back with the kids again. I loved having them there, but unfortunately they could never really stay more than an hour because King would get too antsy. Netta was beyond excited to get to hold the baby. 

EZ loves him too and just keeps saying how cute he is. 

And of course here is my handsome hubby with Conrad. It took us quite a while to come up with the name. In fact we had 3 names in mind when we went to the hospital and it wasn't until the second day when the birth certificate lady kind of gave us a deadline that we were able to finally choose. 

I got asked so many times in the hospital whether or not we are going to have anymore kids. When people would ask me at the end of the pregnancy my initial reaction would be "no" because I was uncomfortable and cranky, but after such an easy delivery and while holding such a precious beautiful boy, I don't know for sure but I can't rule it out completely just yet. 

Keeping Busy in July

OK so John hacked into my account and posted that lovely picture of the crazy baby. We really did have the baby, but I have to crank this post out first to make sure it gets done and then the actually baby pics and details to follow. 

Once Ellie left and John and the kids got back from California, the month of July was pretty much spent running allover town for different summer camps and swim lessons. The first week back EZ had cooking camp. The YMCA has great summer camps and we told EZ he could pick anyone he wanted and cooking it was. He really loved it. They learned some recipes, but also learned about nutrition and table manners. The last day they kids made a special lunch for the parents. EZ was so excited and he kept telling me how the teacher made better food than me. Well that is not hard to do. Here he is showing off his special apron and his oh so beautiful place mat. 

I don't have any pictures of it but the next week was spent taking EZ to Spanish camp. His kindergarten teacher held a Spanish language arts camp at the home of one of the other students. EZ was really excited about it until he got there and he was the only boy. In the end he still had a good time, but he was a little disappointed that none of his favorite friends were there. We are really proud of how well EZ is doing in the program. His teacher was also offering sessions for the students the grade above them and she said that EZ is doing so well in his reading that he could attend with the older kids if he wanted. We ended up passing on it, because of the money and I was just sick of driving all over, but we were still excited to know he could hack it with the older kids. 

Of course we had to do swim lessons this year. EZ put up a bit of a fight saying he already knows how to swim, but yeah that's not true so swim lessons commenced. Unfortunately, things got off to a rocky start. EZ was placed in a level a little high for him, but I figured it was better they push him. Well, the first day he freaked out because they were in the big pool and the kids in his class were older and way bigger than him. So we spent 30 minutes on the side of the pool with me trying anything and everything to get him to change his mind and him screaming like a maniac and refusing to swim. Not my proudest moment as a parent. Finally, after the lessons were over the teacher informs me that there is an opening in the next level down and he could join that class. Uh that would have been nice to know 20 minutes earlier, but at least we worked something out and he was good to go for the rest of the time. He was so good in fact that his new teacher said that half way through he had already passed and was ready for the level that he chickened out of. Oh EZ. Anyway, here is Netta being a star fish.

And here is Netta looking like she is drowning. 

And now EZ doing back stroke looking like he is drowning.