Annalee is 5!

Annalee had her 5th birthday party over the weekend...a swimming Ariel party. It was the perfect day for swimming...nice and hot, as has been the trend here lately...I don't think the highs have been below 95 in several weeks, and we've had lots of 100+ days. She had so much fun playing with her friends, and loved the Ariel cake that I made for her...especially the part about getting to keep the figurines for toys.
Today is her official birthday, and at 6:43 p.m. we sang happy birthday to her. I can't believe how fast 5 years have gone by!

Baby update...
Dawson is growing and changing daily it seems, and we're all falling in love with him. Lee and I are starting to accept the reality that he is not Brady (a.k.a. the perfect baby), and we're already seeing glimpses of a very strong-willed child. Dawson has already asserted to us that he hates sleeping on his back, changing clothes, and baths. Only the first in this list is avoidable...so he's a tummy sleeper. Life with 4 is surprisingly not much different than 3, and really the only hard part is the whole newborn thing...a much more rigid schedule and middle-of-the-night feedings., which I know will calm down soon. My mom has made several trips here to hang out and help for a day so I can get caught up on housework and squeeze in an extra nap. That has been an amazing help...THANKS, MOM!!
It's so cute to see the girls interact with him...Addie is much more interested in him than she was in Brady, simply because she's older now; and they both love to hold him. Brady likes to hold him too, and is very sweet and gentle with him.

Dawson Travis

Last picture of me pregnant!

In yet another life lesson about things not going as planned, I write this entry on the day Dawson was supposed to be born. He decided to come a few days early...

Tuesday morning at 1 a.m. I awoke to painful contractions. I tried all the tricks to stop them, but at 2:30 they were stronger and more frequent; so I woke Lee up and we headed to the hospital. After IV fluids and a shot of terbutaline to try to stop the labor, it became clear that May 18 was God's ordained day for Dawson's debut. And here he is...

Funny story: when the doctor pulled Dawson out, he peed on him & the assisting surgeon. Then he peed on his pediatrician 3 times while he was getting circumcised. I'm thinking this kid has an aversion to doctors or something!

meeting big brother

No you aren't seeing things...yes he does have dark brown hair with frosted tips!
We got discharged the day before his scheduled arrival.
I always forget how tiny they look in their carseat!

Everything is going great, and we're so happy to be home with our newest addition. Can't wait for everyone to meet him!

tears in the vitamin aisle

37 weeks

At 37 weeks pregnant, I think it's expected that a woman can be an emotional basket case a lot of the time. This has been the case in this pregnancy more than the others. Lee and I have pretty much decided that this will be our last baby, and that thought alone is very difficult for me to grasp. I LOVE being pregnant. I LOVE having babies. (Except for the part where they have to be surgically removed from my abdomen.) I love bonding with them from the moment I get a positive pregnancy test, through the first time I feel them kick, hear their heartbeat, feel them have the hiccups (all 4 have been major hiccupers), hear their first cry, and then...at long last...get to look eye-to-eye at the little person God has created and chosen to give me. I love the fact that I can unconditionally love this person instantly...something I've never experienced with anyone else.

So being that I'm at the end of my final pregnancy, I'm trying so hard to notice and capture every moment I have left. Not that I didn't with the others, but just knowing that a lot of the experiences are "lasts" makes it more special, yet often more difficult. This leads me to the title of this entry. I was just doing some grocery shopping this morning, and as I grabbed a bottle of prenatal vitamins, it hit me...this is the last bottle I'll ever buy. May sound silly, but it brought on a wave of sadness so strong that there I was, crying in the vitamin aisle. I've been taking these since October of 2002. And knowing it's my last bottle is just another sign that I'm at the end of an HUGE chapter in my life. I experience several of these signs daily and cry over most of them. I think a lot of why I get this way is because of how difficult and painful it was for us to begin this chapter in the first place; I thought I would never get to have a baby. And now here we are, just 11 days away from having our last...

Okay I'm sorry for the Debbie Downer post. I'll try to lighten things up a bit. As emotionally draining as my day can sometimes be, I am also LOVING all the fun our family is having. The kids are so much fun and play so well together. I'm really looking forward to this summer with them. Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks.

picking the kids up from Mimi Day

sleeping kid pictures...

Notice Annalee sleeps with her eyes half-open, kinda creepy.
Addie is usually in some strange position.
Brady always has puppy near by!
Megan and I with our diaper shower hostesses
Annalee LOVES to chase butterflies...and finally caught one!
giving Camper a bath
chillin' with Dad

Finally finished!!!!!

As of about 7 minutes ago, our bathroom is DONE!! We got home from our celebratory dinner with the McCurdys, bathed the kids in it for the first time, then hung the mirror...so glad it's done after 8 long weeks! Here are some before shots in case you've forgotten...followed by the final product.

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE.............

perhaps my favorite feature
extra storage over the toilet
first bath!

Becky & Keith's wedding!

So this past Saturday I got to attend yet another Dunn wedding...and boy was it awesome! It was a perfect day, and Becky was so beautiful...just beaming all day. She was the most relaxed bride I've ever seen...all she cared about was that at the end of it all she got to marry Keith. So sweet. The girls were flower girls, and did a great job. They also cracked themselves up...lots of laughter coming down the aisle.

The girl who photographed Wally & Micah's wedding also did this one, and did an amazing job...I'll let her blog do the talking! Please click here to see the beautiful moments she captured that day.

a boy and his dog

As you saw in a previous post, Brady LOVES to hand-feed Camper. Well he has now taken it to a whole new level...

I was very surprised at how calm I was when I walked in and saw his face in the dog food bowl. I just watched, and when I saw that his intentions were not to actually EAT the food but just that he was being creative in his food gathering technique, I was okay long enough to get a few laughs & capture the video. Then I thoroughly washed his mouth and hands and haven't let him do this since.

Quick bathroom update...

All the walls and ceiling are painted, the floor is tiled, trim/baseboards are on, and we have a potty. The girls were so excited to help me paint...especially the part about being naked so as not to ruin any clothes. Lee & Alan hope to have the shower area tiled this week, and then really the only big thing left is to put in the vanity/countertop/sinks.

Baby name and our trip to Florida

I promised that when we decided on a name we'd let everyone know...so here it is: Dawson Travis. So, there you go!

About our trip...everything was perfect and amazing, except for the weather. Ironically, the majority of the reason I wanted to go to Orlando was because the average temp there this time of year is in the 70's...so when we showed up and it was freezing at night and never got above 60 until the day we left, I was pretty disappointed. In fact, on Saturday, the day we spent at Epcot, it was 40 and raining all day. I was wearing all 5 shirts I had brought and my rain jacket. Although and because the weather was miserable, we had the park to ourselves....a huge perk. And really my disappointment lasted all of 5 minutes and I was immediately so thankful that I was getting to do my favorite thing (going on a vacation with just Lee) at one of my favorite places (Disney). The first night, we drove to Tampa to see a traveling Broadway production of Wicked...my 2nd time and Lee's first. It was even better this time for me because I noticed more, and because Lee really enjoyed it!

The next day was day 1 of 2 at Disney World.

In front of Spaceship Earth...aka the Epcot ball

posing with Daisy

view of France in the World Showcase, and of the brief period we thought the clouds were breaking...no such luck; it was raining again 20 minutes later.

These character topiaries were everywhere...the details were amazing! Only at Disney!

Sunday we went to the Animal Kingdom, which is sort of like a really big zoo that also has rides and all the characters. It was also a lot of fun, and I was not at all disappointed that I didn't get to do certain things due to my delicate condition. I was happy to watch Lee do the rides. And who knows, maybe we'll get to go again someday and I can do them too. And next time we'll take the kids!

Standing in front of the 200-ft Tree of Life

After it closed at 5, we didn't want to be finished exploring...and we were getting hungry. So we went to Downtown Disney, which is not exactly a Disney park, in that it's mostly restaurants and shops and you don't have to pay to park or have a ticket to get in. We found a really cool (and delicious!) seafood restaurant that was a ship docked on a small lake...and I ate my first whole lobster....to die for! Then we headed to Ghiradelli's for dessert...my mouth waters right now as I think about that brownie sundae!

We have walls.....and snow! And a trip to Florida!

Lee and Alan have been working so hard on the bathroom...and now we have walls up and are ready to tile!! Hopefully it won't be long before we will have a 2nd toilet again!

We have another delay on the progress coming up though...and as frustrating as it is that it means our project will take even longer because of it, I'm even MORE excited to get away with Lee this weekend! We're taking an early anniversary trip to Florida! We're flying to Orlando on Friday, and when we get there we're driving straight to Tampa to see the traveling Broadway performance of Wicked...it will be my 2nd time to see it, and I can't wait to see it again and for Lee to see it. Then Saturday and Sunday we'll be back in Orlando for Disney World! I know, 2 days is not nearly long enough...I've been there. However, being 6-1/2 months pregnant, I think that's all I can handle. We're hoping to take the kids there soon, so this is also a sort of "scouting" trip...we're going to their new park called "Animal Kingdom" and also Epcot. We know they love the Magic Kingdom, and maybe we can make time for Universal Studios next time. Then we're flying home on Monday. The kids are so excited that they get to stay with cousin Joe while we're gone!!

In other news, it snowed pretty good here yesterday...and it was the GOOD snow, you know, sticky! So we got our gear on and built the biggest snowman we had the energy for (when I say we, I mean me). I know it's a little lopsided and the head is too big, but I'm pretty proud of my first snowman I've built as a mom! The kids had fun helping and playing in the snow.

Then we went inside, stripped off the wet clothes, and the girls warmed up in front of the fire.