Pretty Pretty Princess

For Hunter's 7th birthday party, Aunt Lisa came over and brought all of her "hair stuff". We had 7 girls over and they all got an up-do, makeup and painted nails. They wore their best princess dresses and looked glamorous! I don't have time right to upload all the pictures. My computer seems to be getting slower and slower!

It's funny, I thought I would have more time after the kids went to school, and so far, I feel like I have less! Parker and the house are keeping me very busy and the kids keep my afternoons exciting!

Our Baby Girl is 7!!

Hunter today, still blasting into the world with her amazing energy and spirit. That remote control was permanently attached to her hand, by the way. We had to have it surgically removed: by the cable guy who shuts off all the fun channels.

This is Hunter 7 years ago, what a tiny angel.

Proud Daddy: tired but happy.

This is my favorite picture of Lonnie. She looks so happy! It was the day before the 1st day of school. She was going into 10th grade. On that Saturday before, my mom had a baby shower for me. Lonnie hadn't gone school clothes shopping yet, so that night my mom gave me her credit card and Brent and I took Lonnie shopping at the mall. I remember feeling oddly energetic. I opted to take the stairs instead of the elevator. This, from a person who hadn't walked more than a few feet at a time in months. I was so sick and tired when I was pregnant with Hunter. After we finished shopping, we had a bite to eat at Wendy's. I had chicken nuggets and fries with a big coke. (I remember this because they unfortunately made a second appearance later in the evening.) I remember Lonnie saying "Maybe it will be tonight, while I'm spending the night!" I said I didn't think so, since I still had 5 days 'til my due date and everyone told me not to be surprised when I go past my due date. When we got home, Lonnie and I stayed up 'til after midnight putting away all the presents we had gotten. We also had a big box waiting for us with tons of hand-me-downs from Brent's sister (stuff for both a boy and a girl since we didn't know what we were having). It took a while to look at all these and separate them out. I was exhausted when we finally went to bed. I woke up at 3am because I had a stomach ache. I thought surely I wasn't in labor because everyone had warned me not to be surprised if I thought I was in labor when I really wasn't. So I got out my trusty "What to Expect when you're Expecting" book and turned to the section that tells you what to do to decide whether or not you might be in labor. You know, drink 2 glasses of water; walk around if you're resting, rest if you're being active; take a shower. By the time I was to "take a shower", I was pretty sure I was in labor. My shower woke up Brent and we decided we should count contractions. Oh dear, a minute and a half long and no time in between! This is not good. This is about when the pain kicked in with amazing strength. This woke up Lonnie, who was very excited/scared. Everyone had told Brent to be prepared for the 1st labor to be a long one, so he was in no hurry. He showered and shaved and took his sweet time, while Lonnie and I sat in the car. She sat silently in the back seat while I cursed his name. I was convinced that I was going to have the baby in the car. We finally made it to the hospital around 6am. The nurses didn't seem to believe me when I told them the baby was "coming out". They were convinced after they checked me. I barely made it into the bed before Hunter came blasting into the world! My mom got there right at the last minute, as well as my midwife. Poor Lonnie had to witness the whole thing because I didn't want her to sit in the waiting room by herself and no one got there in time to sit with her. I was afraid she would be traumatized for life. The above picture was taken later that day, so I think she was ok. I remember her fussing with my parents because she didn't want to go to school the next day, she wanted to stay with me and the baby.

Hunter had jaundice too, but not as bad as the boys. She just had to sit in the window in her diaper for a few days. Those first days were so traumatic! I never thought she would nurse without a fight! But she did. And she was so cute!

Carter's Corner

---When we went to the lake a few weeks ago, Carter had the go to the bathroom really bad. As we're walking hand in hand to the restroom, he says to me:

"So, I guess your butt is connected to your stomach."

me: "Why do you say that?"

C: "Because, first, my stomach was hurting really bad and then, I suddenly had to go poop!"

He's such a thinker.

---As you may or may not know, it has been EXTRAORDINARILY HOT here. Heat index as much as 115 last week. The kids still insist on going outside though. So there I was, sitting on a rock in the shade in my backyard watching the kids ride their bikes. I could feel sweat rolling down my back. I was growing concerned that my deoterant might not be strong enough to handle this so I carefully and inconspicuously sniffed my armpit just to see. Carter immediately says (from the other side of the yard): "What's that smell like mom, gasoline?"

1st Day of School!!

Hooray for the 1st day of school!! Hunter started 2nd grade Monday. Caleb and Carter started Pre-k together at the same school. They were SO EXCITED that they saw each other on the playground and got to play together. Carson moved up to the "older two's" class so he has a new teacher as well. When we dropped them all off and were walking out to the car, Parker kept looking in all the classrooms and saying "Where's me class, Mommy?". He wasn't too thrilled when he found out his "class" is at home with me. O well, he'll start 3 year old preschool three mornings per week after Labor Day. Hello? Did I just say I'm going to be all alone 3 times a week for 3 hours at a time? Aye! Is it wrong if I'm dancing a jig right now? It's not like I'll be bored--I have a list a mile long of things that have been neglected for ummmm--7 years now.

These pictures were taken after school on Monday--we were a little stretched for time before school trying to figure everything out! I think we got it, though.

Parker's Spider Man Birthday

Happy Birthday Dear Parker!

Spiderman Jammies from Uncle James and the boys.

Is it open yet?

Is it just me, or are these kids GORGEOUS?!

OK, maybe not this one!

They're even gorgeous with dirty faces!

Brent had the boys convinced that he could only bring them a "Dollhouse" jump for Parker's party on Saturday. The cool thing is, they didn't really care! Here they are, helping their dad "blow it up". They both say that when they grow up they want to "blow up jumpies" for a living. Aye.

But, Surprise!! It was Parker's favorite: Your Friendly Neighborhood Spidey. Yay!

Look who showed up at the party!! Spin your webs, Parkie!

The kids were ecstatic!

Spidey magic tricks

Spidey Games

Spidey Balloon Swords

Get Your Rubber Boots, Kids--We're Going to the Relicks

We spent a long weekend with Aunt Kerri (Brent's sister) and Uncle Doug at their mountain cabin in Virginia. It was a wonderful time. Brent wasn't able to come with us this time, unfortunately. The kids had a great time with their cousins. Blake, Sophia and Savannah are so fun, smart and creative. The Relicks are what I would call "outdoorsy", and we are what I would call, ummmmm--not. When I ask Hunter if she wants to go outside and play, she says, "Am I going to get sweaty?" I'm sure it's entertaining for them when the city slickers come to town and try their hand at tree climbing, critter finding, creek wading, etc. We did have fun though. We had a big bonfire and had s'mores. The girls spent a lot of time at the craft table. Hunter and Sophia did a puppet show for us. Savannah and her dog Bling did a dog show for us. The boys spent a lot of time following Blake around. We had a birthday party for Doug. We got to see Nana and Papa Joe. We had pizza at their house and everyone (except Parker and me) went to see a play: Peter Pan. They all loved it. Then we all had dinner together at a Mexican place. Oh, and I ate a lot of ice cream throughout the weekend. Thanks for all the great memories, guys! We love you!!


The McCaig/Relick Clan L to R: Hunter, Sophia, Blake, Parker, Savannah, Carter

Tree Climbing

Puppet show by Sophia and Hunter, "The Princess and the Pillow"

Carter and Spike

Explosive Devices

Parker and Camo

Riding the Little Gator

Doug's birthday. Hey, that's a lot of candles!

The Creek

Catching Worms

Bedtime Stories with Blake

My invitation to the Best Dog Show starring Savannah and her dog Bling Bling

Sophia and her dog Kimmie

Kimmie and Bling with their head pieces for the show.

Savannah and Bling Bling

The dogs like to chase each other around, barking and biting each other. Carter calls this "Daddy fighting".

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Our Baby is THREE!!

On August 2, 2004, our little Parker was born! I know it's kind of cliche to say it, but I truly can't believe how fast the last three years have gone! I was induced with Parker on August 2, due to "history of fast labor" (which is another post for someone else's birthday). We left Hunter (almost 4) and Carter (19 months) at home with someone in my family. (I can't exactly remember who, but I think it was some combination of my mom, Laura, Lisa and Lonnie, all at different times). I think it was late afternoon, or maybe early evening. Parker was born at 9:10pm (hence the fast labor). Everybody Loves Raymond was playing on t.v. Lonnie was with us. She witnessed the births of all three of our kids, for which I am very grateful now. At the time, I was kind of mad at her because I wanted it to be just Brent and me since it was the last one, but she wouldn't leave (she was stubborn as an mule). How sad is it that some of the details of this day are foggy to me? Poor Parkie. Someday he'll reference this blog post when he's complaining about me to his therapist. We were all so happy and proud though. And our lives wouldn't be complete without our little Parkie. What a precious blessing from God!

Proud Aunt. This picture both warms and breaks my heart. It's sad to me that he probaby won't remember her. She was so proud and happy the day he was born (just like she was on the days all the kids were born). She loved him very much and she called him "Parkie", like me. I'm so glad she was there that day. (Thank you God, for making her stubborn!)

First picture of all three. (Check out what a baby Carter was! And I thought he was the "Big Boy"!)

Proud Sissy

Proud Daddy

Parker had terrible jaundice and had to be under the bililights (at home) for about 5 days. What a nightmare that was. Trying to keep an almost 4 year old and a 19 month old away from the screaming baby strapped to the little table. Plus, I had to take him to the hospital every day to get tested to see if he could be done. That was the longest week! He was very orange for 8 weeks after that. I remember people very cautiously commenting to me that he still looked yellow--in case I hadn't noticed! But the doctor said it sometimes takes that long to be all gone. Hey, it was all worth it!

When Parkie was 10 days old, we had a big 4 year birthday party for Hunter. There were tons of kids running through the house and outside and mass chaos everywhere. And this is what Parker looked like for the whole afternoon--he slept through the whole thing! What an angel!

Parker today. He has since informed me that he didn't like it when "that thing" sat on his "holder"--but I think the grin says otherwise! This picture was taken last weekend at Kerri and Doug's mountain cabin in VA. We had a great time there and I have a bunch of fun pictures to go through and upload. I'll get on that, right after I finish planning Parker's last minute impromptu birthday party, which will be on Saturday!