GNO

getting ready to leave for our GNO

(i'm not super stoked about this picture of me. i think i look really tired. probably because i am. but let's face it...the night was all about aiden.)

cutie pie

aiden doing some coloring before we started our games

the "in house" brewed root beer and famous pizza

(unfortunately i didn't get a picture of the pizookie...which is a chocolate chip cookie baked in a deep dish, personal pizza pan served hot with vanilla ice cream piled on top. YUMMY.)

last night aiden and i had our GNO. i was really looking forward to spending some un-interrupted time with my big girl. i vowed to talk about anything and everything that she wanted to talk about. and if you know our precocious aiden, you know that i was mainly listening. which was fine. everyone needs to be listened to once in a while. she chose to go to BJ's...a favorite among the locals. at least our locals. (i love that i sound like we live in a beach town in hawaii with that whole "locals" line.) anyhow, we chatted and colored and played games and shared a pizza and pizookie and chatted some more. we basically did whatever she wanted and it was so much fun. i really want to do this with each of the boys as well. it's tricky to make happen...but oh so important! i loved our GNO ("girl's night out" for all you more "advanced" folks who didn't know what that meant).

a note-worthy conversation of the evening included when i was signing the check at the restaurant and aiden said she needed to go poopie. i asked her if she could wait until we got home and she said that she could. when she was getting out of the car in our driveway, she exclaimed, "oh mom...i didn't go poopie in my panties!" i said, "no you didn't!" then she turned around and tried to look at her bottom and said to herself, "good job butt!!!!"

some of my favorites.

the 4 darlins

the biggest brother and the littlest sister

chase and annslee (the 2 peas in a pod. he loves that she looks most like him.)

aiden and annslee: "sissys"

the latest of the sugar plum

i love these. i actually got ready. chad was taking me out for my birthday. and look how sweet annslee james is.

what i normally look like...no make up and hair doing who knows what :/

(colton was the photographer here. this one is for you, ashley. :))

poor aiden has been strugglin. she is no longer the baby or the only girl. she is having to share "her boy's" affections and stays right at my feet all day. she loves her sister, but is unsure of where she fits now. temporary, i know...but a big transition for the big sister. a couple of days ago, while she was supposed to be playing with the boys and some friends, i found her outside...meditating...literally.

*i need to get some good pictures of chad. he is one of my favorites too. although not a big fan of the camera. now that he's finally well...we will have to corner him.

what birthday?

i told my mom that i would just skip my birthday this year. however, i still want the presents. it was yesterday and i think it un-necessary to discuss my age. yuck. we sort of celebrated by chad and i taking chase and aiden to target. my mom is out of town and my dad offered to bring an ice cream cake down and watch annslee for us to go get the rug from target that my parents got me. i also wanted to pick up a few clothing items that would work now and hopefully later too. we decided that leaving all 4 kids with my dad was not very nice, so we divided and conquered. i thought the easiest combination for him would be colton and annslee. so, chase and aiden "got" to go with us. i don't know what made me think that a good birthday activity would be to try on jeans, but let me just say...it is not. bad decision. i did end up with 2 button down sweater vests and 2 white t-shirts to go with them. and...when the clothing for the body is just not working out...move on to the shoe/hat/purse department to make yourself feel better. i got 2 pairs of shoes for my skinny again feet and a hat for the winter. thankfully, chad agreed to the shoes/hat purchase due to fear of another "post jeans try on" performance. the rug for the living room also worked out swimmingly. i think i should stay away from any clothing from the waist down that does not involve stretchy...very stretchy material. and, any full length mirrors for a while. i'll just stick to admiring my feet in their new shoes for now.

tonight, chad took the boys to the star wars concert in houston. it consists of a symphony playing the music from star wars to large screens showing scenes from all of the movies. and also a display of a lot of the costumes that were worn in the filming of the movies. chase was most excited about seeing chewbacca. i'm glad they got to go...and i'm more glad chad remembered to take the gel in his pocket. i'm at home with the girls, where we will be enjoying some quiet girl time. although aiden did just ask, "when are my boys gonna get home. i want em really bad." i guess watching annslee eat and poop and sleep is not as fun for her as we made it sound when she watched them leave for their boy fun tonight. poor big sister who is experiencing not being the baby and only girl anymore. i think she is feeling a little left out.

at a glance...

this past week, at a glance. (it should be self explanatory why i have not had a chance to blog and post the cutest ever pictures of our 4 loves.)

sunday night: mom comes to stay with us to help in the mornings getting the kids off to school and in the evenings getting dinner and the kids in bed.
monday morning: took annslee to the doctor for a jaundice check.
monday afternoon: took annslee to the hospital lab for blood draw to test billi levels per dr.'s request
monday night: started annslee on the billi blanket at home for jaundice
tuesday morning: took annslee back to hospital lab for re-check
tuesday afternoon: dr. called and told me to keep her on the billi blanket except for when she eats.
wednesday morning: hospital again for re-check
wednesday afternoon: dr. called and said to keep her on it through thursday evening and then take her off for the night and re-check on friday morning.
wednesday afternoon (post nurse call): i have a postpartum, lack of sleep induced, irratioinal, emotional breakdown and mom and ms. ann come to my rescue.
thursday afternoon: chase comes home from school with cough and fever
thursday evening: per dr.'s orders, i leave with annslee to stay at my parent's until chase is 24 hrs fever free
friday morning: chad takes chase to dr. and i take annslee to hospital for billi check (this is what i call the picket fence defensive play)
friday afternoon: say chase does not have the flu, but another bad respiratory virus and annslee's billiruben levels are coming down and she can stay off the billiblanket.
friday afternoon: colton comes home from school with 102 fever and aiden has the sniffles
friday night: i go to store and get supplies/food/medicines for chad and drop them off. notice chad making himself hot tea and make a mental note that that was not a good sign
saturday: chad begins coughing and feeling bad. colton running 103.
saturday night: stuff (furniture) that we inherited from grandparent's house moved into our house at 11 pm.
sunday: chase better, chad and colton still sick, aiden on the fence. i start having pain in lower abdomen where i can't even stand up straight. wonder what is wrong...but in complete denial that it could be anything serious. realize possible uterine infection and promise to call dr/ in the morning.
monday: chase and colton and aiden home from school to ensure 24 hours fever free and chad says he's feeling better. i line up a house cleaner to come tuesday morning to clean/sterilize the huse and annslee and i plan to come home tuesday afternoon. call my dr. and they say it is probably due to lifting her carseat around every day last week and strained. wait and see approach.
monday night at 9:45: chad calls and he, colton and aiden running fever. i call house cleaner and cancel and tell her i will call to re-schedule. praying that uterus will feel better tomorrow and that kids and chad will start feeling better.
tuesday: chase back at school; colton at home but feeling way better; chad feels like total crap; aiden still mild and basically fever free. deep breaths and praying for His protection and that our family can be all together soon. annslee misses her brothers and sister. i miss my husband and other 3 loves.

WELCOME SWEET LOVE

annslee james clarkson

weighing 6 pounds 1 oz.

and 17 1/2 inches long

sweet love

i'm not just resting. i'm dilating.

so, my regular doctor's appointments are on thursdays, and that is also when i change weeks. however, yesterday i had to go in for a nurse visit to get the B12 shot due to being anemic...(which just gives my mom and dad the ability to give me a big "i told you so" on my need to consume red meat...which i haven't done in 16 years.) because of us almost going into the hospital this past saturday night (woke up in the the middle of a hard contraction at 1:19 am and then they were every 5 minutes until around 4:45) they decided to "check" out the situation. i was somewhat in shock when she said, "ummm...you're dilated to 3 and 60% and the baby's head is right here coming through the cervix...you won't have to push at all. i'm not even sure you'll make the appointment on thursday."

excuse me???? did you say 3? did you say it's going to happen so fast that the next time i start contracting, we need to "get there"? did you say something about sitting on towels? did you say that by this time next week, we would have a baby?

i don't feel so bad about resting now. it's called preparation.

jedi training

birthday party down. now it's time to have a baby.