Merry CHRISTmas

This has been a wonderful day, minus one small thing that shall remain nameless :) This is probably the first year in a long time that I can remember celebrating the true meaning of Christmas. I am so grateful for a loving Father that sent his son here to this earth to die for me so that one day I can spend eternity with him.

We woke up early this morning and the boys came out to see all the presents under the tree. They must have been really good this year or Santa got them mixed up with some other little boys. There was lot's of presents but half were from BG since she was visiting with us. They were both very excited and wanted to look at everything.

B got up early with us and made some coffee and we ate breakfast and then started getting ready for church. I really liked Christmas falling on a Sunday this year. I can't think of a better way to start Christmas day than worshiping Christ and spending time with my church family. Joel called the kids up on stage by age groups and had them open presents. He used the presents to tell the story of Jesus being born. The boys were a little restless but they did pretty good.

After Church we came home and called Grandmother and Granddaddy to come over since we were going to start opening presents. I think we started around 10 am and the boys were still opening at 12:30. They had way to many presents and really lost interest in unwrapping stuff. We did better about buying this year but with both Grandmothers here they got a lot of stuff. I definitely want to put a limit on presents next year. It's hard to teach them what Christmas is really about when they are being flooded with presents.

Carson got lots of action figures (spider man, Thor, Bat man, etc). He got a Captain America shield and mask, clothes, Hummer truck and an Etch a sketch. Camron got some Cars (Lightning McQueen and Mater), lots of touch and feel books, clothes and a few little transformers. They both got a couple of wii games and pinball machines.

The rest of the day we just played with toys and relaxed. Grandmother Delores stopped by and so did Lisa, Jacob and Dusty. Later that evening, Curtis, Laura and Mycah came over to exchange gifts. I love living so close to my family.

Relief

I just deactivated my Facebook account and felt an instant relief. I've been wanting to do it for a while but I kept talking myself out of it. It is such a time sucker for me and I need to get my priorities right again. I've been trying to have some quiet devotional time in the morning and always find myself checking facebook instead. I do not want something so unimportant to have that much control over me. I also have to thank my friend Natalie for inspiring me to finally do it.

Chicken news: We discovered Chloe is the one laying eggs. She has been laying one a day and we ate some for breakfast this morning and they were delicious. I hope the other girls start soon.

Brandon's mom is here visiting with us for 2 weeks. It's going to be a busy 2 weeks. We have my mom's family Christmas on Saturday. Wednesday was Camron's 2nd birthday. We had cake for breakfast and we are having his birthday party on Sunday. On Monday we are taking the boys to the Bass Pro Shop to see Santa. On Tuesday we have Brandon's work Christmas party. Then I think we have a few free days until Christmas weekend. I love this time of year.

New Years Resolution

I usually don't do the whole "New Year's Resolution" thing because I know I will fail. This year I have several things that I hope to accomplish so I'm just going to list them and maybe that will become my resolution at some point.
1. Daily devotional time - I am really trying to be better about this now. It doesn't take much time and my day is so much better when I can have a few quiet moments with God. I plan to use my "Through the Bible in One year." I've had that bible for several years and still haven't made it more than a few months.
2. Way less computer time - This is probably my worst struggle. I spend way to much time on the computer. My goal is to check email in the morning and then not get online or check email again until the boys go to bed. I need to be more present during the day instead of stuck behind a computer screen.
3. Read more - I have several books that I want to read but usually can't find the time because of #2. I would also like to go back through some of my SS studies and use those for some of my devotionals.
4. Exercise/Running- I really want to make sure I do this 3/4 times a week. My plan is to do the couch to 5k treadmill version since it's freezing outside and either add in some weights or do the 30 day shred video. I'm 3 weeks pp right now and plan on waiting a few more weeks until I am feeling a little better and start.
5. Cooking- I really don't like to cook. I'm working on a master list of things we like for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. I've started making weekly menu plans but am thinking of doing monthly plans. I'm trying to incorporate a lot of crock pot meals into the planning to help me out.

I'm sure I'll add to the list as I think of them but that's it for now.

Fun times

I've been so anxious because our chickens are now 21 weeks old and I read that they usually start laying eggs around week 20. Three days ago I went out to the chicken coop to feed and check water and close them up for the night. I was looking around and just counting the girls and looking at them up on their roost when I looked over and saw it. Yep, our first egg :) I was so excited! There was nothing the next day but yesterday morning I found the second egg. This morning there was another one. I still have no idea who is laying but I find myself running out there every hour or so to check.
They have also discovered how to hop the fence and get in the goat barn and then the pasture. Can you imagine how funny it is seeing me, carrying a newborn baby, with 2 other little boys following along trying to chase those chickens back in the yard. These are fun times.

Speaking of my sweet little boys, they are so much fun. It's getting close to Christmas and Carson is so excited. I keep having to remind him the true meaning of Christmas and we've been reading a lot in the bible and learning more about Jesus. We have an Elf that came to visit and he's been very bad at night while we sleep. He likes to play Carson's DS game and eat cheerios. He turned our milk green one night. He wrote Carson's name on his mirror and wrote "Ha Ha" in shaving cream on Daddy's mirror.

We are going back to church tomorrow and I'm a little nervous on how I will manage with all 3 by myself. I'm sure it will be fine but Calen has been a little fussy at times so hopefully it will be okay.

Christmas Tree

We decided on a fake tree this year. We went on our first outing as a family of 5 to Lowe's and bought a 9 foot tree. I really love having a real tree but I am pretty sure it would not last very long with Camron around. He is such a SPUNKY little boy. He has the best personality and he is so very cute. He could take the place of about 5 boys :) We have the tree up and we put lights on today so hopefully I'll finish decorating tomorrow.

We went out for a drive today to pick up our maternity/family/newborn pictures from Natalie. We decided to take the boys to Chick fil A to eat and play. It was a good trip but I don't think I could handle taking all three out on my own for a while.

Calen's birth

Charles was born on Monday, November 14, 2011 at 8:21 am. I had been feeling crampy for a couple of days and had a few random contractions but nothing major. My due date from the OB was November 13th and my midwife had my due date as the 14th. I woke up around 4:15 am with a contraction and just laid in bed for a few minutes because I thought I was dreaming until I had another one. I got up and started timing them at 4:30 am. They were really consistent at 2-3 minutes apart. This is exactly how it was when I went into labor with Camron.

Around 5 am Camron woke up and I had to get Brandon to go get in the bed with him because I couldn't. At 5:30 am I asked B to get up with me and we decided to call my midwife, Donna to give her a heads up. At that point I was handling the contractions well. I was talking through them and thinking I had a little while. She wanted to see them getting a little stronger and lasting a little longer so the plan was to call her back in an hour. By 6 am they were pretty strong and I was having to hold rice packs on my stomach and really concentrate. I decided to call her back at 6:20 and she said she was heading out and told me to call Layla, her assistant. I called Layla and she said she would be on her way.

I remember telling B that I thought he needed to get the pool set up now. He said that it was already blown up and it wouldn't take that long to fill. I emphasized again that I thought we needed to get things set up now so B got the boys ready and took them over to my Aunt Lisa's house. My Dad was having a block done for his back and they were at the hospital. It's only 3 houses over so B came back and quickly started setting up the birth pool and getting all of our supplies laid out for the midwives. As soon as the pool was filled I got in. I'm not sure the times exactly but I was feeling lot's of pressure and got out of the pool to go use the bathroom a few times. I knew things were going fast because my body just started bearing down and I couldn't control it. I got back in the tub and continued to push with my contractions but they were so close that I wasn't getting much rest and relief in between.

Layla showed up at 7:45 and she listened to the baby with a contraction and then checked me. I was complete with a bulging bag. She started setting up her supplies. I pushed a few more times and my water broke. I remember her saying there was some meconium but I couldn't tell. Donna arrived at 8:05 and Calen was born at 8:21. We waited for about 20-30 minutes for the cord to stop pulsing and to deliver the placenta. They kept commenting on how great the cord and placenta were :) Brandon and I joked about it being all those twix bars I had been consuming.

After I delivered the placenta, I got out of the pool and took a quick shower then got into bed. The midwives assessed me and again I had no tearing or anything. They started their assessment on Calen. He weighed 10#3oz and was 20.5 in long. His head was 14.5 and his chest was 14 inches. He latched on right away and is now a great nurser.

My mom and my grandmother brought the boys over around lunchtime. Carson and Camron crawled up in the bed with us and kissed on their baby brother. It's really amazing how easy the transition from 2 to 3 has been so far. The boys are doing great with their brother and we are all settling into a good routine.