Carly Elizabeth is 3 years old!

In the midst of all the chaos of the holidays and having a new baby at our house another one of our little babies turned 3 on Christmas Day! It's hard to believe that Carly is already 3 years old.

She loves to play with Ella. She loves Play-Doh. She loves stories and singing karaoke ('the wheels on the bus go round and round'). She is even picking up some new tunes while listening to her siblings play Rock Band. She holds her own in our crazy house and knows what it takes to be heard.

She has recently taken to using whatever shirt she has on for a napkin. Stain sticks are our friends! She loves to have 'ponies' in her hair (see attached pic---can you say Coolio??). She loves to sit in her big girl desk and color (we hope on paper--that doesn't always happen either).

We have not broken the news to her yet that her 'Birthday Lights' will be coming down soon! :(

Happy Birthday, Carly Elizabeth! We love you!

Graysen --1 week old today!

Curious little sister wants to check out her new baby brother!

Right after Graysen William was born! He has great lungs!

Here is Graysen being weighed! (6 lbs 6 oz.) He was right in the middle (weight-wise) compared to his other siblings.

Proud daddy!

Do you like my hat? Our great nurse Jessica picked out this Christmas hat for Graysen!

Sleepy baby!

Graysen has arrived

Graysen William Sankey was born on December 23rd at 4:03pm. He weighed 6 lbs 6oz and was 18 1/4 inches long.

He is adorable (I may be just a little bit biased)! At this point, I even think he is still adorable when he is up all night! He was always very active in my tummy in the middle of the night and has held true to that schedule now that he is here.

I have lots of details to share, but not much free time these days! I need to upload some pics and get those on here as well. I will hopefully get them up this next week.

We hope that everyone had a blessed Christmas!

Off to feed the baby!

Birthdays and Baby Countdown Update

Brian celebrated his 39th birthday on Monday! :o)

He was on call last night (12/16) and stayed overnight at the hospital since we had gotten about 5 inches of snow here. It was good that he stayed because he only got to sleep for 3 hours in between admissions.

Had my 37 week appointment today. I am dilated to 2 and 50% effaced already. That was good news to me! All of these Braxton Hicks are getting something done! The little one was also in the correct position today so no need for an ultrasound or to have him 'moved' in my tummy.
Next appt is Christmas Eve! :o)

We are awaiting another big ice/snow storm here starting Thursday afternoon sometime. We will see how that turns out! Christmas Break starts Friday after school for the kids. It will be nice to slow down (and have a baby!).

Christmas...No I mean Birthday lights

I forgot to mention in my last post that little Carly is truly fascinated by this season of lights! She is convinced that all of our kind neighbors and businesses are putting lights up for her birthday! It is quite comical to drive around with her and watch her get VERY excited to see all of her 'Birfday lights!'

Here are some recent snow pics! Check out the one with the pregnant mom snow person! My kids are so clever!

Life Update...

We celebrated Thanksgiving on a couple of different days. On turkey day we went to our friends (Dave and Jacinda's) in Hudson, IA. It was a nice evening. The kids all played together and we got a little bit of adult conversation in (they have 5 kids too!).

On Saturday (Nov 29) my mom and Brian's family all came to our house. It was a busy day! It was great to see everyone and all of the cousins got to play together.

Brian has been busy delivering babies! He has really enjoyed this rotation. It has been more of a struggle for me though as he gets calls at all hours of the night (and day) and truly I want to be the one who gets a turn at this delivery thing! :o)

My last doctor appt was Dec 3rd. Things were fine. He is still doing full flips in my stomach and for the most part he lays across my stomach. That works for me right now because I am not getting kicked in the ribs and I can breathe! My next appt is Dec 17th (at 37 weeks) and I will get checked (for dilation) and they may have to do an ultrasound to see if he is getting into the correct position.

It amazes me how people will walk up to me and tell me that I am huge (do they NOT think that I am already aware of that!). I have gained 30 pounds with this little one which is very typical for me. I tend to gain the weight in the middle months and then not gain much at the end.

I have not hit the 'I cannot stand to be pregnant for one more minute' wall yet. Even with my back aches and large stomach I have been able to keep it all in perspective much easier than when I was pregnant with Carly.

We have not decided on a name yet. This seems to be driving some people crazy! Keep sending the name ideas. Maybe something will strike us as being 'the' name! :o)