Baby x 6

I can finally do this post because there are no more baby secrets.
As you all know, Bryan & I are expecting baby #3 January 10, 2012. It was a very unexpected surprise, little did we know that there were going to be 5 other surprises to follow shortly after.
I'll start with surprise 2 & 3 (ours being surprise #1). The weekend of June 3 a bunch of my girl friends were headed up to a cottage for the weekend for some much needed 'mommy' time. Very bummed I had to decline the invitation because my secret was not yet out and it was too early to spill the beans I thought. Good friends of ours were getting married on the 4th anyway so it was a good excuse not to be able to go. To my surprise, later on the night of the 3rd I got a call from one of my friends who was up there. She knew my secret because, like me, her 2nd & 3rd children are close together so when I found out I needed her to 'talk me off the ledge' sort-to-speak. When I answer the phone I hear, "You are never going to believe this. Guess what?!" Then she went on to tell me a quick story about how the owner of the cottage spilled the beans a little bit about some of the girls being pregnant. Well, all the girls who had already arrived at the cottage all looked at each other and determined that non of them were the mothers-to-be. Only two were missing. So when the remaining two showed up those already there decided they wanted to surprise them instead of the other way around. Well, they did...sort of...Not knowing which of the two was 'the one' they just shouted, "you're pregnant!" when they arrived. Little did everyone know that BOTH of them were expecting. And their due dates January 9 & January 20. Wow, three babies within two weeks. Crazy right? Oh, it gets better... :)
Surprise #4 - When I am about 10 weeks along and about a week and a half before Father's day...they day Bryan & I wanted to tell our families...I decided I needed to tell my sister. So after a Wednesday morning barn day when everyone else had left and it was just Heather & I, I said, "um, I need to tell you something before I tell everyone else...Bryan & I are having another baby." With a look of shock she stood there for a minute with her only response being, "me too!"
Her estimated due date February 4.
Wow, wow and more wow. I went from thinking I am going to pregnant by myself...which doesn't happen much in this group to being one of 4. All due with a month of each other. So fun.
But then...Surprise #5 came...heheh...this is a really good one.
We had an extended family get together the very last weekend in June and my cousin's house in Zeeland. After we left Bryan said we needed to stop by Mark & Heather's because she had our pack n' play. Which was true so I thought nothing unusual was going on. When we got there Mark was outside & Heather came right out, went to her car, grabbed an ultrasound picture and handed it to me. I still didn't think anything of it because a good friend of hers is an ultrasound tech and I knew she was going in because she really wanted to see heartbeat. Upon further examination of the picture I see tiny numbers next to little blobs...let's be honest that is what they look like early on...that say 1 & 2. Holy Moly!!! "WHAT?! TWINS?!" Then I laughed...sorry, I laughed because I was so happy it was her & not me. Actual due date February 14, term being January 31 (term with twins is at 38 weeks)
So, now we have 5 babies within 1 month.
And it does not stop there folks.
Surprise #6 - A few weeks ago, my mom & I are at Russ' having lunch when I get a phone call. It was hard to hear because the service kept cutting in & out but finally I could hear long enough to hold a conversation. It was the same friend I had called to 'talk me off the ledge'. The only thing she said was, "I was wondering if you might be able to talk me off the ledge this time." My month dropped. Are you kidding me? I was thrilled for her of course but could not believe that 5 of us girls were expecting 6 babies all within two months of each other. Her due date being March 2.
We are all very excited and can't wait to meet all these new babies come the beginning of the year. With these new babies, between 7 of us 'Wednesday night' girls, we will be at a grand total of 21 kids in 6.5 years!
Don't drink the water! :)

Random Cuteness

1st Movie Theater Experience

Bryan & I had so much fun today taking Payton to see her very first movie in the theater! "Cars 2"

It was great and she was SO good. I was a little worried because she is only 2, well almost 3, but still. That and we went to the 3 o'clock showing so she skipped her nap for the day. She was interested in the movie through the whole thing, sat in her own seat for most of the movie only crawled up into my lap for the last little while (I didn't mind at all though). We did bring her blanky and bop which helped a lot...along with the popcorn & pop. :)

14 Weeks - Baby #3

This is based on my original due date of January 10. I am going by that until or if it is officially changed by my doctor.

2 months 'til 1 year

I know I just did a 9 month post on the little man but I thought I would 'catch up' to the correct date with this one.
So Little Buddy, not much has changed since your nine month post seeing as I did that about two weeks ago. Sorry Bud. These are the few things that have changed...
Cloths: Diaper size changed to 4's. Not out of necessity but because the 3's were all gone and I had a box of 4's. I didn't think it would be worth buying another box of 3's so I just moved you up.
Sleeping: You are sleeping longer in the morning. Your 8th tooth finally came in which I think is a big reason for the extra sleep. So now you are waking up between 7 & 7:30. It's not a huge difference but it kind of is. I still give you a bottle in bed and you sleep until about 8 or 8:30.
Eating: You are getting 2 or 3 eight oz bottles a day. Which is down from the 3 or 4 you were getting. I am trying to get rid of the bottle before nap.
That is about all that has changed in the last two weeks. We love you so much honey bunny. Our prayer is you continue to grow healthy and strong and grow in Jesus.
I love you!Our little photo session went a lot better today then last time. :)

4th of July 2011

Our holiday started with the Graafschap Fire Departments annual pancake breakfast. Payton & I left Charley and Daddy at home because Charley was in need of a morning nap. Payton loves pancakes so she was in heaven. Plus Ava, Aunt Heather, Uncle Mark & Amma were there as frosting on the cake. She was able to see and sit in the fire trucks, got a fireman's hat, and a coloring book...that is a good breakfast.

We then made our way to Graafschap church to the car show where we met up with Daddy & Charley as well as a bunch of other people. Which is actually a whole lot more then a car show but that is it's official title so we will go with that. There are animals, games, carriage rides, barrel train rides, food, quite the ordeal and a two year old's dream.

The rest of the day was a day at the beach. Bryan, the kids and I took my dad's dingy out to the South pier for a nice afternoon. It was the first time we took the kids out in the dingy but they both really loved it. Charley feel asleep on the way back in and Payton was very close to doing so as well.

After great naps, we picked up some yummy Parkway and again headed for the marina to meet the Garvelink's for a picnic. After dinner I brought Charley to my parent's house so he could go to bed then headed back to watch the fireworks with Payton. We started this little tradition last year and now have to keep it going. They started a lot later then I expected due to the fact the sun sets in the west so it stays lighter longer. But it was ok she did great and Adi was there which helped with the boredom issue.

Not the smartest thing ever.

This post is for my brother who blackmailed me with this picture. Said if I didn't put it on my blog he wouldn't come rescue me from the side of the road. Here you go Jerk! :)
Yes, I ran out of gas.