Half way through October

And the parties have only begun!

Last week was Meghan's wedding! Meghan has been my best friend for years and years- really she might as well just be considered my sister!



And on Saturday she got married and I was lucky enough to get to stand up with her!


Everything about the day went perfect, the weather was sunny, the chairs were full of family and friends, and she looked amazing!!


The next day (October 14th) Abigail turned two! I cannot believe that it has been two years! In some ways it feels it has been much much longer, as it seems she has always been a part of our family. But in others it feels like it cannot possibly have been two years already, the time just flew by!


At the age if two she is now talking pretty well! I can understand most of that she says, and her vocabulary seems to grow every day. She is still a huge daddy's girl! She loves him so much and anyone can see that he loves her just as much in return! She is the goofiest little girl I have ever met, and I wouldn't change that for the world :)

For her birthday we actually celebrated cousin Hayden's birthday since their daddy's work opposite shifts and Taylor was home but Brad was not (Abigail's party will be in a few days). Hayden wanted a costume party, which was a blast!



Isaac chose to be captain America, while Abigail wanted to be superman!



Miss Moriah was the cutest little monkey I've ever seen :)



Isaac really enjoyed the piñata...but Abigail was scared of it and hid from it! She wasn't even tempted enough by the candy to venture out! Poor tough little girl sure does scare easily!



Even the party favor bags provided some good laughs for mommy :)

Miss Moriah is just short of 7 months now! And she decided that it was ok to let nanny in on her big secret- she actually WILL take a baba! Ha, well know that I know that....



Stubborn girl sure had mommy fooled! Wasn't till I was busy with wedding stuff that we had to put her resolve to the test! And if course she LOVES the baba now! Thank goodness, this means mommy can leave her with daddy now and again!



However, do not be fooled, she still had a system for working mommy over! She is only happy when being held! Thank goodness for my wrap. Stubborn silly baby girl!


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1 am shinanigans

It's 1am and I'm out of (good) shows to watch on Hulu. Moriah,however, does not seem to realize that means its past bedtime! My late night baby is hopping around in the jumperoo like its twelve in the afternoon! I would show you a picture, but she wouldn't hold still long enough to get one that isn't blurry! Actually it's pretty neat because just a couple days ago she didn't realize that she could jump in the jumperoo!



I cannot believe how big she is getting. Brad had her standing on the counter against the walk the other night. It was crazy because she really does not she much interest in standing and u had no idea that she even could! But look at her go!

Isaac and Abigail have been asleep since 10. They now share a room and sleep in bunk beds.


They seem to really love it! I'm so glad we had our children close together- though it makes for some insane days at times, it is worth it when I see the love they all have for one another!

Alright, Moriah is fussing now so maybe that means its bed time!! This mommy sure hopes so :)

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With Fall Comes Fun

I love this time of year! Fall is amazing, and this year the weather has been incredibly nice. Now I would love to say we have been taking full advantage....but that would make me a liar! However, I did get some amazing shots of the kids on the swing set the other day!




Isaac is getting so big, and independent! But he is not so big he doesn't want mommy to push him on the swings :)




With as uncoordinated as our poor Abigail is I was more then a little surprised that she was able to swing without falling out! Poor girl, she must fall down a dozen times a day at the least! Thank goodness she is tough as nails!




Miss Moriah enjoyed her swing too! It was her first time, and she really didn't seem to notice that anything special was going on. But hey she wasn't afraid and crying so I'm calling it a win!
The extended nice weather this fall has been an incredible blessing for Brad, as he is still hard and work trying to get the foundation done on the house. Currently the digging is done! Now the house is essentially up on stilts waiting for a foundation to be poured!




Apparently I need to take some updated pictures tomorrow! This one is of Brad running the machine digging out around the edges- all of that is done now.
Fall also brings with it Halloween! And for kids in love with all things super hero, Halloween is pretty fantastic! Isaac is very excited about his costume!




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Time for a "clean"start

It's been WAY too long since I last posted. And the farther behind I get the harder it is to get going...
So it's time for a "clean" start. Why the use of quotations around clean you ask? Well because nothing is ever clean around here :).
So with that in mind....



Moriah is now six months old and I decided that tonight was a good night to let her try rice cereal for the first time!
Now in true Baird child form...



She is as big of a ham as her sister and as silly as her daddy! What a little ball of personality she is becoming!



I would say the first attempt was a success, although she didn't eat much! She didn't gag either, so THAT has to be a good sign right?!

Big Changes Come in Small Packages!

Well it is official- the girls have the upper hand in the household!

On  March 18th, 2012 at 7:54pm Moriah Ava Baird joined our little family of four, making us a family of five!

She is a very sweet little girl!  She weighed in at 6 pounds 15 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long, making her my smallest little baby by far!


 

My labor was kind of crazy this time around because my water actually broke while I was laying in bed around 5:30 am!  I have never had that happen before, and to be honest I had never really considered that it might!  I always thought that having your water break meant that you would start having contractions and that baby would be there soon after...well maybe for someone that is how it works but not for me!  I waited around at home, thinking that it was silly to go in because I wasnt having contractions, and sooner or later they would start right?!  Yeah, nope!  I gave up at noon and we packed up the kids and headed up to the hospital.  They started me on medication to induce labor around 1.  At that time I was dilated to a 4, which is where I stayed all day long!  I did get an epidural to numb me up good, and was successful in having a (relativity) pain free birth for the first time!  I was also lucky because, while my it was a Sunday and my doctor was not the on  call doctor, he was in town and willing to come in for me!  He called at 6 (so he could know what to do for his dinner plans of course!) to see where I was at and I was still at 4 cm dilated.  However, at 7:35 when they checked me I was ready to go!  All we had to do was wait for the doctor!  Once my doctor was there they had me start pushing and I was able to push her out in one contraction!  Man, having smaller babies makes pushing easier!

I was also lucky because I was the only patient in the maternity ward that night.  Which meant that I got all sorts of special treatment!  I also had the best nursing staff ever, especially the first 24 hours!  In fact they were so Awesome that my night nurse made me a chocolate milkshake!  (no I did not ask for it, she offered) It was very yummy!!!

I remember with Abigail that by the end of my two day hospital stay I was so bored and ready to come home.  But I didnt feel that way this time at all!  It seemed to go fast.  But I was missing my other kids, and my bed!  When it came time to take her home we loaded her up in the same car seat that we used for the other two kids. When we put her in the car seat to bring her home I could not believe how tiny it made her seem!  I really dont remember my other two looking that small in the seat!

You would think that fact that we are all home now would make it seem real that we have three kids- nope!  It still has not sunk in!  In fact the other day my brother Taylor called out, "Austie, Abigail has Moriah's bottle!" And the first thought in my head was, "Who the heck is Moriah, and why do we have her bottle?!"  Sigh. I think I will blame lack of sleep for that one!  And to be fair, Moriah doesn't use bottles, so no wonder it threw me off!

Isaac and Abigail seem to be doing pretty well with her.  I was worried that Abigail would hate her, but so far she just likes to pet her and watch her.


 And Isaac likes to give her love and toys so she will be happy!


 It is fun watching them interact with her!  We will see how things go as they realize that she is here to stay!

I have been slacking!

Sorry about not posting recently- I guess I have been slacking! And the truth is I don't have many pictures To go INTO a blog post!  I have been bad :(

So what have we been up to lately?  Well, this winter has been pretty killer on our family for sickness!  So we have been spending lots of time at home just resting and recouping!

Other than that I have been growing our baby girl, who is due in about 3 weeks!

 Coming up fast!  And while I have pretty easy pregnancies, I am ready to be done and have some energy back!
















But having three little ones makes me...well a little scared!  While I am sure that it will be fine and we will adapt quickly, it will be a big change!












Brad has been working on the road in California all of this year, so the poor guy has quite the drive home.  But we have been enjoying his 7 days off at a time as usual!  While home he has been working on the kitchen still and has made lots of progress- the sheet rock is now up!




















 Isaac really enjoyed helping with that process, and his art work will forever be enshrined in the house :)






Brad has also been making headway putting the main bath back together!  I am very excited about his because having two bathrooms again would be wonderful!
















Isaac is getting so big.  I cant believe what a grown up little man we have on our hands!  His new favorite movies to add to the mix are "The Goonies" and "Home Alone"- which is a nice change from all cartoons!  He is also now so talented that he can put the DVDs into the player by himself and get the movies started using the remotes- saves mommy from having to do it!  I am just so proud of all the things he is learning to do.  He is talking so well these days, and is a little parrot, so we really have to be careful what we say!  






Dinner time is still a struggle with him, as he would rather cry than eat what is on his plate-  but we are slowly getting better at it.
He LOVES pizza now, so as long as I can convince him that what is on his plate is pizza we are good to go!  
























He has also been learning to go potty like a big boy!  It was something that we struggled with for a few months- but I think that we are on the winning side now.  He now tells us when he has to go, and will take himself so long as he has no pants on.

The pants are still a problem as he has a tough time getting them off- so most days mommy doesnt have him wearing any.  Yep he runs around with a bare bum all day- but it seems be to working! And Isaac seems like like running around with hardly anything on. When he does he calls himself a "super 'eroe" and runs around with this little arm out "flying" everywhere!  Its just too cute :)

Since he usually is not wearing pant, it seems to be encouraging his imagination!  This is how he came out of his room the other day!  Yep, my little red neck son !

 Abigail is also getting really big!  She is now almost 17 mos old, and is cute as a button- if I do say so myself :)  Her hair is getting longer and longer, and now I need to do it if she is going to be able to see that day, as it hangs in her eyes.  




It is long enough that I can put it all up in a pony tail- though it doesnt last long if I do!

And of course she really dislikes having her hair done...so a lot of days she looks like a raga muffin!  She is also finally starting to use more words.  I knew that she had learned them, but she would not use them!  Now she says thank you- although she still will not ask for the item that she wants, at least she is all sweet and polite after you give it to her!  One step at a time right?  She also says ball, but not just ball, she says "theres the ball", show off!  She has also recently learned how to walk while holding my hand, something that I am very thankful for with the new baby coming soon.  She is still just as much as a daddy's girl as always, but I am ok with that.  In reality, it is probably good since it means she will not be so upset by me holding new baby sister.  It is fun to watch Abigail follow Isaac around, she loves her brother very much and wants to be just like him.

 She tries very hard to be as tough as him, and do all the same things he does all of the time!


















I just feel so blessed to have such a great family, and to be able to watch my children grow and change day by day. I really am one lucky mommy!


















In other big news we had a new member enter into the family in January.  Barrett Ellis Gregory was born (Taylor and Brandis third) on Jan. 20th- he was a big boy!  9 pounds 2 ounce, and oh so cute!








He is getting very big now, and it is nice to have another little boy around!






























Also my brother Jesse has had two very big things happen this recently!  He joined the Marines in January, and will be leaving for boot camp sometime in May.  He hopes to be in the special forces when all is said and done, and we are all very proud of his choice!  And as if that was not enough excitement he got engaged this week to his long time girlfriend Kayla!  So they have lots of changes coming up soon- all exciting though!






Seems like nothing stays the same for long these days, and I am sure it will not be too much longer before I am posting about our newest addition!

Home with the kids

I have known I wanted to be a mommy for as long as I can remember. However, I cannot remember a time in my adult life that I thought I would want to exclusively be a mother. Always in my head I was a mom and...well something!


But as my days go by and I spend more and more time with my kids I have realized how much I was missing out on! There is way enough going on in this household each day for me to find fulfillment in!

However, when putting together my last post I realized that I have been slacking on taking pictures of all the wonderful moments we have! So I have been trying to do a little better!



Isaac likes to play, "I'm a dinosaur, rawer!", so when I had an opportunity to have a hat made just for him, this is what he got! (rockin' Mellon Candy- she is on Facebook, but local here to LaGrande, you should all check her out!). He loves his hats, and insists on putting one on when we leave the house!



I actually can't believe how big Abigail is getting these days! She had a dr appointment a few weeks ago and she is still in the 97th percentile for height! However all the running she does had slimmed her down quite a bit, she used to be in the 80th for weight, but now she weighs in at 22lb and comes in at the 20th percentile.



Isaac had been asking me for cake for days, so I gave in and while sister was sleeping we made us some yummy cupcakes! As you cab see, making cake is WAY too much fun! Gee, wonder why he wanted to do it so bad?


The kid was totally covered in chocolate! Needless to say, we enjoyed our cake making to the fullest :)

This was one of our finished products!



Layered brownie and strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting- they turned out pretty dang good I think!

Around these parts we usually have snow. Not always a lot of snow, but something! This year has been very odd, and we got our first winter snow storm the other day!



Isaac was really excited because it is rare that we get snow at our house, usually it only snows sideways and it blows right on by! But what was even better was that there was no wind the next day either- which meant we could go out and play for a bit! And that made for one happy boy!




Abigail, who is not really a sit still and cuddle girl, was feeling particularly sweet last week and spent lots of time curled up with me!



Bras is, of course, still working on our kitchen. Someday it will be done- but right now I am just excited that I have counter tops, bottom cupboards, and a sink!



Most recently he has been doing a bunch of wiring and sheetrocking. Abigail loves to help him!


And found the holes that he had cut most entertaining!





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