Easter is Here!!

The boys were so excited Easter morning to wake up and see their Easter baskets! Kaiden has wanted a kiddie camera for months now and thankfully the Easter bunny got it for him! And since Jaxton wants everything his brother has, the Easter bunny got one for him too!

The boys were so excited that we just had to run to the zoo for an hour before church to test out the new cameras! Lol

And here is our sweet lil princess in her way cute Easter dress!!

She was such a lil angel she even slept through mommys young women's

Class!!

Gpa Mark Meets Emery

Well it took the man 5 weeks, but he finally got to meet his perfect little granddaughter! It was a short 24 hr trip but we always enjoy his visits! The boys especially!!! My favorite part of the trip was when we made a quick stop at Costco and Emery was fussin so we took her out and let Gpa hold her. He loved showing her off to anyone who asked about her which was practically everyone! Its fun how many people will stop you when they notice you have a teeny tiny newborn! =) He was one proud Gpa!!

Playing with Gpa!

My dad looks so tired! lol. These kids wore him OUT!

So ya know, it eventually led to him passin out on the couch with Emmy!

 

Thanks dad for coming to play with us!

Emery's Birth Announcement

I thought this turned out so cute and I put alot of work into it! Big thanks to my SIL Brooke and my friend Crustal for the beautiful pictures!!

Kansas City Here We Come!

Darren and I took a little Lovers Getaway to Kansas City! Its a 2 hour drive from Omaha and Darrens folks offered to watch the boys for us! It was a great getaway even t hough it was a short 24 hour trip it was well worth the wait!
Since we were only there for a day and all the malls {3} we looked up and drove to were outdoors... and it was way too cold for a newborn..... we ended up turning our Getaway into a trip all about FOOD! YUMM!

The cutest and sweetest and BEST lil traveler ever!!

 

So we stopped by a well known out door mall first. We walked around for a little bit before going to lunch at a Brazilian Steakhouse which was AMAZING! Its way expensive but I think everyone should experience this type of dining! First, you sit right down and they give you a plat for the saladbar. Then they give you a chip with one side red and the other green. When you are ready for your main course {MEAT} you flip the chip to green. There are tons of servers caring around 16 different prepared meats. They have Lamb, Chicken, Pork and Beef! They come to your table and offer what they are carrying around and you say yes or no. We ended up having to flip our chip to red often because they flood your table and you get food so fast! {They also give you delicous sides and have a really yummy Brazilian Soda!}

After lunch we walked down to a fun bakery and got..... cupcakes of course!!! Then we decided it was too cold and we should check into our hotel! We took a short nap and got settled into our room and then went to explore the Crown Center. Turns out, it closes at 6 pm! So we did very little shopping! This is when we drove to 2 other malls hoping they were indoor with no luck, so instead I looked up a nice, romantic restaurant for Darren and I to eat dinner!

I choose an Italian restaurant called Jasper's! It was soo yummy and they even have the manager walking around talking to customers and asking how the food was. {I like restaurants that do this!} With Emery we got LOTS of attention from the manager, and pretty much everywhere we went. I will say that they had an amazing dessert! I highly reccommend this place!

Since we couldnt take a newborn to a theater, we decided to rent a movie in our hotel room instead!! So we got Les Miserables the musical version! I will admit that watching a movie in bed all snuggled up with my hubby and a newborn was, in my mind, lots more fun than going to a real theater anyways!

Another great part about our vacay was sleeping in until 10 the next day!! yay! Then we watched a little tv and got ready and checked up by noon! I really wanted to try this highly reccommended restaurant called The Fig Tree that serves brunch all day and has a nice little bakery! It was delicious! Their french toast is out of this world!

 For the road, Darren got a nice BIG Peanut Butter Brownie {2 of  his favorite things} and I ordered a Cookie Dough Cupcake! {Thats right! with a nice dollop of cookie dough on the inside AND right on top!!}

On  our way home Darren let me stop at Ulta and get lots of makeup things I needed {and wanted!} What a trooper! Of course he got a little delicious cologne for himself too! lol

And that was our super fun trip to Kansas City!

Emery is 1 Month!!

Just a few cute pictures of Emery at 1 month old in the doctored onesie I made for her! She wasnt too happy getting woke up from a nap for pictures! lol

 

So content with her brothers!

I LOVE Kaiden's face in this one! lol

 

I got my friend Crystal into making headbands {its SUPER addicting!} and she started selling some, so she asked Emery to model a few! The following are Crystal's photos!

Emery is 2 Weeks!

Here is our beautiful girl at 2 weeks old!! She has slept REALLY well through the night since she was born, just like my other babies! She wakes less than 3 times a night for about 2 minutes to eat but since she sleeps in the bassinet Darren made right off of our bed, everything is super easy and I dont even wake fully to feed her back to sleep! lol.

She is the POOPIEST baby weve ever had! She poops every 30 minutes during the day! She pooped so much that the acid from her poo was making her bum red and bleed so we had to get her special bum cream which healed it up in a day! That stuff is magical! She is not fussy and hardly ever cries! Like all my newborns, she is a perfect angel! This is by FAR my very favorite baby stage and Im enjoying every minute of it!


I thought the transsision to 3 would be so hard, especially because Kaiden is a child that needs eyes on him 24/7 but its been the opposite! The boys lover her and WANT to help me all the time! This makes my job super easy! I think Kaiden loves the extra responsibility! I will put Kaiden on my bed with the Ipad and Emery and he will "watch" her while I get ready! SO great! He will even feed her bottles and stick her paci back in! Jaxton loves feeding her and thinks she has to have her binky and a bow in at all times!

 They both love playing with her, singing to her, holding her, cuddling her and overall making sure she is happy! I'm not super close with my siblings so having my kids grow up with a deep love and connection to each other is one of my biggest goals for them!!  I love being a mom and this is pure heaven!!

Like Mother Like Daughter!

Everyone has told me my baby girl looks so much like me! I didn't see it until I busted out my baby album and was speechless! She even has my black baby mullet! lol I can't even tell you how excited I am that I get a cute lil mini me!

IDENTICAL!

Daddy's Valentine

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

 

How CUTE is this lil girl!!! Her shirt says "Daddy's Valentine"!!! We just love her! She has stolen our hearts!

 

And my sweet friend offered to take some Valentine's pictures of my kiddos! They turned out great! And yes, both our boys have busted lips! lol

 

Bringing Baby Home!

Well after 30 hours at the hospital it was finally time to take our sweet baby girl home! The quiet in the hospital {and the room service} was so nice but I missed my boys so much! Plus my poor mother  had been watching them all by herself! lol.

Just look at her lifting her neck at 1 day old!! Just like Kaiden!

So we dressed her in the going home outfit I had picked out for months that claimed it was a preemie size but definitley fit more like a newborn and thus she was swimming in it! lol Oh well she can make anything cute!!

I love taking pictures of my babies in their carseats to see how they grow! At first they are soooo tiny!

At home she had a very excited Grammy Carrie waiting to meet her! Dena and Farrel had picked up the boys and took them to McDonalds to giver her a little break! So for about 30 minutes she got sweet lil Emery all to herself! lol

But BOY when her brothers got home, they were SOOOOOO excited! Seriously it was instant love for them! This lil girl has us ALL wrapped around her tiny fingers! And her brothers are very loving and protective of her. They now fight over who gets to hold her. {The only fighting they do that I actually enjoy!}

At 3 days old we took her to her first outing! {Chick fil A} The boys really needed to get outta the house and play! lol

 

The momma snugglin her beautiful babies!!

I LOVE being a mom! It's the best job EVER and we are so blessed that I am able to do it!

{{{Families are Forever}}}

Our 4th Valentine's!

Since we were expecting our beautiful little Emery any day, we decided to celebrate Valentine's early, on February 2nd!! Darren did an amazing job planning it all for me! The day before he scheduled for me to get my hair done which turned out so cute! Then, the morning of our Special Valentine's Day, he scheduled an appt for me to get a fabulous pedicure! My feet have never been happier and my toes were painted so cute! While I was away, Darren cleaned the whole house for me!! What a guy! We waited until the kids were in bed before we called our neighbors over and snuck out! We decided to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant we've been wanting try. And let me tell you, it was sooooooo good! We made sure to enjoy the time because after we have 3 kids, who knows when we'll be out by ourselves again!

When we got home, Darren put together a really fun candlelit chocolate fondue and smores date. It was so romantic!

 We used a candle to toast the marshmallows for the smores and for a fun twist we put fresh raspberries in between! I was super impressed with his planning skills! And just when I thought the date was over, he took me upstairs!

 Apparently he had scavenged for large branches earlier that day and made a quick 4 poster style bed frame out of them.

Then he twisted twinkle lights around them! It was so beautiful and completely blew me away! It was amazing! And to top it all off, he left a box of my very favorite, See's Chocolates on my pillow! Then we snuggled down and watched a movie in bed! It was the BEST date ever!!! And I loved my make shift 4 poster bed so much that I requested he leave it up for a week or so! I really couldn't believe how much thought, time, effort and love he put into planning our date. Darren is so good to me and he really knows how to make me fall in love with him over and over again! Thank you babe for such a wonderful night!! I love you sooooo MUCH!

Baby Emery Is HERE!

Last week I was diagnosed with my 2nd kidney infection during this pregnancy. My Dr suggested I get induced on friday Feb 8 and I was more than excited but slightly nervous. I always get worried about inductions as there is a higher chance of something going wrong. I was induced with Kaiden but I was 4 cm and beyond ready. My labor with him was 5 hours. This go around I was starting at 1 cm and I was terrified it would be painful or that I would never progress.

My mom flew into town the night before to watch the boys who were very excited to get their baby sister, FINALLY! Darren and I got up at 6 am to get ready and be at our hospital, 30 mins away. We barely slept we were so excited! I chose to deliver at Methodist Women's Hospital because it is only 4 years old and has excellent reviews, it also has the best NICU in the area if something were to go wrong. This is why I drove the 30 minutes for every appointment, and once we checked in at 8 am, I KNEW I had made the right decision!

HUGE delivery rooms with memory foam beds!

Flat screen tv with cable and a couch that folds into a bed for Darren!

Also, this amazing jacuzzi whirl pool tub! I seriously thought I might wake up and find Darren in here! lol!

Darren joked that the Marriot must have gotten into the Hospital business! lol! It truly was like staying in a hotel! To say it was nice was an understatement and the nurses were all beyond helpful and HAPPY to be there! I loved it!  We checked in at 8 am and at 9 am I was started on a low dose of Pitocin. I was told that every 30 minutes the Pitocin drip would increase. I had never been on Pitocin before and had only heard scary stories, so I was a little nervous. I'm a baby for pain! Well, I'm proud to say I had no problem with it! In fact had the nurses not told me, I never would have guessed I was on Pitocin. It felt just like natural labor! At 10 am, 1 hour later, a midwife came in to break my water. My nurse then suggested I walk the halls for 30 minutes to get things going. So away we went. After 30 minutes of walking my contractions were coming every 2 minutes. They weren't horribly painful yet, but I knew it was only a matter of time, so I requested the epidural. At 11 am my epidural was set and I was ready to settle in for a nap. Well like I said, they had AMAZING nurses at my hospital. My nurse stayed with me and never left my side after I got the epidural. I had told her I progress really fast especially after 7 cm and so she decided to stay and check me every 15 minutes. It was AWESOME! As soon as I was complete, which only took 40 minutes, she called my Dr, whose office is attached to the hospital, and he was over within 10 minutes. I pushed through 2 contractions and lil miss Emery was born at 12:58 pm!!! (YES that was only 4 HOURS!!!!!) She was born sleeping and didn't make a peep until the nurses roughed her up. lol. They like the babies to cry to get the gunk out of their throats. You think that I would be worried, but Jaxton didn't cry when he was first born so I knew everything was okay.

Getting weighed and measured!

My labor was so awesome this picture was literally taken after I gave birth and I didn't even touch up my hair or makeup! Best labor yet! lol (also Emery looks like a thug!)

Looking like Kaiden! We are pretty sure she is going to have Blue eyes too!

Emery weighed in at 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 20 inches long. She is now the biggest and tallest baby I've had! This is funny to me because I swear I had the smallest belly and I literally thought she would weigh 5 lbs! lol. Darren and I had a bet that if she was born with bonde hair her middle name would be Paige, my fave, and if she was born with brunette hair her middle name would be Lynn, Darren's fave.

Well we were shocked when she came out with black hair! So we used another name we loved that is a family name on my side, which is Belle! Yes its super rhymey with our last name, but we just love the way Emery Belle sounds!
Our hospital has a rule that they don't give babies baths until they are 4 hours old. It has something to do with them regulating their own body temp first. So she was still covered in blood and vernix and was only wrapped in a hospital swaddling blanket. She was NOT happy and was super fussy.

Im so glad she loves bows because I've made a TON!

Well as soon as she got her bath and we put her in an adorable gown and bow she was elated! She was so happy she ate and passed out for the night! She is such a diva and we love her so much for it!!!

Mommy and daughter! She feeds like a champ and eats LOTS! lol

She was an instant Daddy's Girl, which is the absolute sweetest thing ever! She already has her daddy wrapped tightly around her tiny little fingers!

Dena and Farrell came to visit us for a bit later that night and they fell in love with her just as we had! We are so excited to take her home tomorrow! Her brothers are so anxious to meet their beautiful baby sister! We can't wait to see her grow and get more beautiful with everyday!