Girl trip

So seeing as how I have a little experince in taking care of more than one child ( 4 kiddos 4 and under), Varsity and I headed out to arizona to help my sister Brie with her new little addition and her 17 month old. We had a BLAST! I was in Az from tuesday through monday. And it was such a fun visit. Getting to meet my nephew Statton for the first time, playing with Grady who I haven't seen in almost a year. Doing some shopping, EATING at place that we don't have here in chicago or kenosha,

Jerrae my youngest sister and nephew Statton picked us up at the airport Tuesday morning. We headed over to see mom/grandma who works near the airport. And then it was off the Jerrae's to hang out. Of couse we had to stop at the In-N-Out on the way. ( I crave these burgers all the time it's awful being pregnant and not being able to satisfly a craving). After seeing Rae's house and playing with statton for a while we headed of to the mall to do some shopping. Later that evening we met up with my mom and then her and I went to BrieAnna's house in Buckeye. Then the next six days were filled with running around and having fun.
First trip to In-N-Out


The girls at IHOP for breakfast


Dinner at Jerrae's and Chris after our photo shoot


Girl cousins Varsity and BrenLeigh


Varsity's first In-N-Out


BrieAnna and Grady

Aunt Mamie and Varsity at lunch


In-N-Out trip #4 right before I went to the Airport


Varsity's first trip. she did great didn't cry at all. what a good traveler.



We had my moms van with 4 kids (2 x 1yr olds, 2 newborns) and 4 adults. Boy we had FUN, passing around pacifers, bottles, blankets, toys, breast shields, breast pumps, wallets, purses, diapers, wipes and whatever else was needed between all of us.

This video is my sister making fun of me. It from a denture commercial, where these big elderly ladies are singing about no more nasty paste for their dentures. She is making fun of me because even though I have had dental insurance the entire time i've been married, I haven't been to the dentist since i've been married (that's six years). Not to worry we've found a very nice dentist here so I am making my appointment. As well as the kiddos.

Niece #1

BrenLeigh Rose McKinney was born August 23rd. Coming almost 3 1/2 weeks early she's a little peanut weighing only 5lbs. 80z. BrieAnna I hear did awesome. There were a few complications that made it nessesary for them to go ahead and let her labor progress. Thankfully we were able to get a message through the Red Cross to her husband Joey who is serving in Iraq. Once the message was sent the Military made it possible for him to come home for ten days. How Awesome he gets to come home and see his brand new baby girl and he will even be here for brie's birthday.

Her First White Dress

Varsity was blessed on September 7th. It was a great blessing, Josh always does a wonderful job. My favorite part was when he blessed her to to able to tolerate her brothers. And boy will she need it. After church we had a get together at our house. Thankyou to everyone that participated in baby "V's" big day.

Grandma Comes to Town

My mom from Arizona came to visit, and I think she is probably in need of another vacation after being here. While she was here we were on the go all the time. doing different things the boys wanted to do with grandma, the shopping, the eating, more things with the boys, more shopping, more out to dinner, movies. Yikes we had Fun! Having her here was so nice and SOOO much fun, and she was a HUGE help seriouly I think she changed everyone of Varsitys diapers ( - the midnight changes) while she was here. Now that she has gone I am wondering how was I doing it during the day bymyself with the four of them. Well monday I'll be at the crazyness again. (I wish I could have my mom as a live in nanny.)

The night before she got here Jase sat with Josh and started telling him all the things he wanted to do with his Grandma. Josh had the idea to write an actual list that he and grandma could do. I hope I don't all the things (mom has the list now)..
1. show grandma sister----- yep showed her sister

2. cook mommy dinner---- yep cooked a yummy salmon, mashed potato and corn dinner
3. meet my friends---- yep she met a few of them
4. take a nap w/ grandma--- did really give grandma time to take a nap. but slept with her at night
5. say good morning---- every morning went in and say good morning and cuddled w/ grandma
6. say good night----every night said good night to grandma
7. read a bed story---- grandma told Jase the story of Goldie locks and the three bears
8. go to the water park (hurricane harbor @ six Flags)---- oh yeah that one was an adventure. Let's just say that even with parental supervision Jase and Kage ended up in Lost Parents at different times.

9. go to the roller coaster--- went to the roller coasters but the lines were very long. But a few rides on the carousel were Great!!!




10. go to the swamp--- Yep. but it's not really a swamp it's a park that has a really pretty spring that runs around it. and he thinks it's a swamp and that an alligator lives in it. that's were we get the next item.
11. see the alligator-- Sadly the alligator was sleeping (like it is every time we go to this park) but grandma and the boys found this little meadow up a hill just past the bridge and had jun playing WEEEEE and then running around like Phoebe (off of friends).
12. make cookies-- Oh yeah yummy peanut butter w/ reese pieces. There was only about a half hour or so before needing to go to the airport but that was still on the list. so break apart cookie dough still did the trick.



13. go to baseball practice--- one better than that. Grandma got to go to Jase's last t-ball game of the season and got to see him get is medal.









14. Hug and Kisses--- How could you not? of Course this one was definently checked off the list.



15. make breakfast w/ grandma---My kids are WIERD the breakfast they asked grandma to make was maccaroni and cheese. The day before I had told them no so when my mom told me to go back to bed you know grandma could say no to three adorable boys asking for mac and Cheese.
16. go to the Movies with Grandma--- did it. Grandma and jase went and saw Wall-E
( and then mom and i went and saw the late late showing of Mamma Mia, I Loved it and had a fun time listening to mom sing the songs along with the movie.)
Thankyou so Much for coming mom. We all had a Great time and can't wait to have you come and play again. Aunt BB, cousin grady, cousin BrenLeigh, Aunt Rae, cousin Statton we would love for you to come a play too.

Varsity LaLeath Jones

the STORY.... sorry if it kind of long

Thursday Josh took the day off work because he was having a breathing machine dropped off so he took the day off because of the window that they were suppose to be coming. I had a horrible sore throat so it was great having him home to help with the boys. He basically let me just lay around and sleep. About 3pm I started having some mild contractions and didn't expect any kind of pattern. About 7pm I realized I was still having these contraction, I got a little excited because the next day I had a Dr. Appointment first thing in the morning this appointment was to see if I was dilated at all. If I was then my Dr. was going to let me try for a VBAC instead of having to have a C-section and he was going to schedule an induction for the following Wednesday. Well.... about 9pm the contractions started getting further down and more intense. I decided I should maybe put a bag together just in case anything happened during the night. Then decided to take a shower also to prepare in case. Before I hopped in Jase found me hunched over my bed (in the middle of a contraction) he asked "mom are you doing exercises?" I told him no and to go get daddy. "why" he asked. I told him to go get daddy because sister is ready to come and play. He got very excited and ran downstairs to Josh. I heard him talking to Josh and josh was in no hurry to come upstairs. Then he told him about the sister coming to play. When he got upstairs I gave him a quick run down of what I was doing. I hadn't told him I was contracting earlier. I asked him to time them while I was in the shower. He got concerned and asked why I hadn't told him earlier, because they were coming every 2 min. He told me I didn't have a choice we were going to the hospital. He quickly called our friends Brian and Tanya to see if the boys could spend the night over there while we went to the hospital, he got a few bags for the boys together and about 30min later we were off. (10pm) When we entered the ER they asked if I was in labor I replied with my contractions are coming every 2min. "oh yeah we need to get you upstairs" was they comment back. I had called the labor and delivery floor before leaving the house so they already had my paper work at the Er's front desk . Next thing I knew I was in a wheel chair being quickly taken upstairs. Once we got there they checked me and started that whole process. I was at 2-3 centimeters so I was staying. They asked if I was doing a c-section or a VBAC. I told them what my doctor and I had already discussed. But once they informed the doctor that was on call our plans, the decision was quickly turned around. The doctor on call did not do VBAC. (Because there is a chance that during delivery you could have your scar rupture and if you had a epidural you might not feel it cause you to possibly die as well as you baby.) If i was still set on a VBAC then I would have to sign a paper going against medical advice and and understood that I and the baby could loose our lives. Josh and I discussed it and it wasn't worth the risk so a c-section it was. About 10min later the doctor came in and checked me again and then asked me about the plans that my doctor and I had already previously discussed. Well in the short time that I had been there I was already now 5-6. The doctor said that since I progressing at a good pace she would let me go ahead and try vaginally as long as I continued to progress every hr. YEAH!!! I was super excited and the worry about the the scar rupturing was put to ease a little seeing as how there is a less than 1% chance of that happening ( it is still a risk that some doctors aren't comfortable with). (11pm) Then next move was to a permanent room down the hall. And oh how nice it was to see the anesthesiologist about 5min later. The only thing I could have done without was all of his explaining of what he was going to do, while I am going through some oh so lovely painful contractions. After the 20 min it took for that to take full effect. They came back in to break my water, and 15min later (12am) they came in to see if I progressed any more. Much to every ones surprise I was ready!!! little girl would be here soon. After about 5 series of pushing with the nurses they had me hold up and quickly found the doctor. two pushes later Varsity was here (12:28 am).

It was such a great experience. Quick moving but not to the point where everything was rushed and chaotic. There was no after birth pain which made it so fun to just watch josh taking pictures of his little girl and watching her as she just contently let the nurses and doctors do all of her assessing.

Don't mind the black and white pictures. Josh didn't realize the camerawas set on Black and white. He was just and excited daddy.

Varsity's onsie I made for her

The boys' shirts (front) I made

the boys' shirts (back).

On Joshs' shirt it had "supervisor " under the Security.

Little Update

Just a quick update on our upcoming arrival...
At my checkup last week the doctor had a few concerns, one with the amount of weight I had lost inbetween my last visit (5+ pounds) and that I wasn't measuring as big as he would normaly like to see being this far along. (Yea I thought less for me to try and lose after delivery). He reassured me that 99% of the time the measuring is small because the baby has already started to drop. Just to be on the safe side he is having me go for an ultra sound on Tuesday to check her size and to make sure everything is ok. Next Monday I go for another check up and if by some chance (crossing my fingers) any dialating has happened then he is going to induce most likely the next day. Otherwise if there is no activity going on we will go forward with the schedualed c-section on the 17th. Not exactly what I want to do, not looking forward to recovering from a surgery with a newborn and 3 very active boys. But whatever happends I'm excited to meet our little girl and can't believe it is finally almost here.

New house and A Mother of the Year Nomination

Well i guess it's time for a very long over due update.....

We signed the papers on our Brand New house the beginning of the month (June). And I love it!!!! with just about 3500 sq ft, it's a four bedroom, 2 1/2bath, Living room, Family room, morning room/dinning room, basement and a big backyard. Josh, myself and my dad have been busy moving from our rental to the new place. Our first thought was hey we have a whole month to slowly move from the townhouse over to the house... after about a week of slowly moving things we got the bug to just get it done and over with. So now with 2 weeks left in our lease we are completely moved out and the other place is ready to be turned back over. And since then the spending and begun with me. You always figure oh we'll get a few nice things for the new place and then it's like the book if you give a mouse a cookie... if you get one thing then you have to get the other to go with it, and then you might as well through this in to, we'll just see how much trouble I can get in to :) minor unpacking is still being done so pictures will be up soon when some of the clutter is gone.


Mother of the Year
some of you might have known when Kage was a baby his feet were really turned in. At every checkup I would mention it as well as with his developmental specialist (for being premature) and everyone said not to worry wait until he starts walking it'll correct it's self. Before we moved out here last year was still convinced that something was wrong so his pediatrician sent me to the orthopedic surgeon where I was told again wait until he really starts walking and his feet will straighten on their own. FINE i get it I'll wait! Well now that he has been walking for quite some time now I asked our friend who is a podiatrist what he thought? and right off he said he should be seen by the orthopedic surgeon. Long story semi short... We went in and Yep he in-toes, meaning it's a problem that needs to be fixed. And they could have done the little shoes that look like sandals on the wrong feet, but that is something they generally start before they are 1yrs old. WHAT!!! so instead we are doing serial cast. Meaning every two weeks we go to Milwaukee and they put a new set of casts, repositioning his feet to turn out a little more each time. Right now we are on the second set and Tuesday we go in for round 3. So pretty much all summer Kage will be in a cast on both legs, so much for swimming. But it's something that needed treatment.

Now for the second part....
On Wednesday I was at work when I received a call with them saying it's your dad and it sounds like something is wrong. (I'm thinking the boys locked him out of the house, or maybe someone is sick.) My dad says I'm really sorry I think Jase broke his wrist, It's really swollen already,we were at the park and he lost his grip on the monkey bars, I'm really sorry. The whole time in the back round I can hear Jase screaming and my dad is pretty paniced himself. So i tell work I've gotta go and off to get Jase I went.
I called the pediatrican and they said to come in. The doctor said it might be nurses elbow generally that happens to kids when they are hanging from something. Well when he asked Jase if we could lift up his arm and all Jase did was stare at him with this "are you stupid" face, the doctor pulled his sleeves back and said " so this is what a normal wrist looks like and this once obviously has something wrong with it. His wrist has huge and made an "S" shape. The doctor would even touch it. He said we were probably looking at anesthesia to have it corrected. He called down to the ER and then had Jase transported down there. Were they did X-rays and found that both bones in his right wrist had broke and then went backwards laying on top at an angle. So we waited a few min while they called up to Pre-op and then transported us up there. Mean while I had called Josh to let him know what was going on, and then he left work to try and make it before they took Jase back into surgery. Poor little guy was in so much pain and was so exhausted but they couldn't give him anything because of the anesthesia that they were going to be giving him. Josh made it time to spend a few min. with Jase before they took him back. The procedure to about 30min. After that we spent a few more hours there in the pediatric part making sure he was ok and coming out of it without any problems. Now Jase is in a soft splinted cast until we go back on Tuesday to make sure the bones haven't re shifted and the swelling will be down then they will decided to keep it splinted like it is or put it in a hard cast. Either way we are looking at 5-6 weeks.

Thus this is how I received my nomination for Mother of the Year, 2 of my 3 boys are in casts. I am surprised I made it this long without one of my very active little boys breaking something. And just last week when Jase went with me to get Kages cast changed he said "mom I want a cast like Kager" well he did it.
Please excuse the blury picture trying to get them to sit still and look at the camera is not an easy one. Especially after church when everyone is hungry. Since this picture was taken Jase now has a hard cast that is actually really pretty it's a dark green. When kage had his casting appoinment later that same day Jase requested that he have green casts like him.