RAIN RAIN GO AWAY! DON'T RAIN ON MY BIRTHDAY!

My kids birthdays...
10/29 Gavin turned 4
11/17 Luke turned 1
11/28 Hannah turned 6

Three birthdays in one month is a little intense. I didn't want to have 3 birthday parties every other week, so I opted to have a triple the fun triple birthday party. I reserved a bounce house and rented some tables and chairs. Marilyn and Marlon even planned on bringing their horse down. I watched the weather forecast denying the inevitable... it rained on the day of the party. The forecast said, "steady, soaking, showers"

Uncle Marlon and Aunt Marilyn brought their horse. He was the star of the show.
Kevin lighted all the candles with his butane torch...Hannah's cake...
Gavin's cake...
Luke's cake...

(Someone, who will remain nameless, started eating Luke's cake before we had a chance to sing to him. It's missing the whole back side.)

Luke loved his toy from Grandma Brown.
Gavin, Little Murphy, and Ally destroying Gavin's cake.
Grayson and Jayde made it to the party.
I think everyone had a good time. It was a crazy and intense party but, at least it's all over and I don't have to think about another birthday party for a whole year!

6 Months

Luke is 6 months!

OC Marathon 5K

Last Sunday Luke and I ran a 5K for the OC Marathon. I can't say I've been training for this event. I've ran a few times, but I've been pretty lazy/busy/sleep deprived/exhausted, etc...
I went to support my friend Cyndi. Cyndi has been working out with me for over a year, I am so proud of the improvements she has made in her life.
Luke woke up at the end of the race.
Her whole family ran together!
Next year maybe I'll try the half marathon, WITHOUT pushing a kid!

Ohio

I just spent a wonderful 10 days with Kevin's parents. Since Kevin was in New York training, I went and visited my in-laws all by myself with 3 kids. I got a lot of "you're crazy" looks, but it was actually really good. Hannah and Gavin are old enough to walk and carry their own mini suitcases stocked with all the fun toys and snacks they needed for the flight. Luke slept for about half the flight and the kids quietly colored and watched the new movies I got them.
When we arrived, Joyce was there to greet us and get the suitcase (I only packed one!). Allison let me borrow her extra car seats so I didn't need to bring any. Thank you Allison!

Thursday: We went to the Farm Park with Allison, Sam and Elise. I love that place! We went there about two years ago in the summer, but when you go in the spring you get to see all the baby animals. There was a baby goat that was born at 9am that day! It's so amazing to see all the animals up close. Unfortunately, my camera battery died, so no pictures. That night Allison went to the hospital to have her baby.

Friday: Allison had her baby! It was a girl, Claire Marie was born around lunch time. I was at home watching all 5 kids. It was a bit intense, but we went for a bike ride down the street and had a good time together.

Saturday: We brought the sun with us to Ohio because the weather was amazing. We (Steve, Joyce, all the kids and me) went to an Easter Egg hunt. We met the Easter Bunny... kind of freaky if you ask me!
It was ridiculously crazy.

All the kids had a good time though.
Joyce took me to JoAnns. Not just your normal JoAnns, but the headquarters!!! Hudson, OH is about 20 minutes away. I know, I'm lame, but I had to take a picture.
That night we dyed eggs. Here are Sam and Gavin getting ready.
Sunday (EASTER): The Easter Bunny came and left the kids notes!
It couldn't have been more perfect of a day. The kids were hunting for their eggs in all the daffodils.

A little competitive guy

Mamo J and her girls (except Claire)
Luke and Papa T really bonded, Luke was so content with him.
Luke has really grown up. He's 4 1/2 months now and really interested in food. He is rolling over and doing so well sitting up. He had his first "baby cup" (that's what Gavin calls them) at Mamo J's house.
Hannah enjoyed one of her favorite activities with her Mamo J... cooking. Hannah is quite the little chef.Luke is eating everything. I loved his face when he found Hannah's box of crayons.
The kids ate a lot of popsicles, but hey, that's what you do at Grandma's house... eat candy, cookies, ice cream, and popsicles!
My last night in Ohio I went to the Cavalier's game with Steve. I had a great time with him. It was a Daddy-Daughter-in-law date. Luke was so good at the game. He loved it! He got a bit fussy during the second quarter, but after a quick snack he was ready to finish the game. He lasted the whole game!*Luke has a clogged tear duct, it's starting to clear up. Hopefully, it will open on its own and he won't need to have it punctured.

Steven and Joyce went to South Africa in February and brought home a rhino from Build a Bear for Gavin. He finally got to stuff it. He loves his rhino.
We had some time to kill before our flight home so Papa T splurged for the Mini Bungee. The kids loved it!Hannah was crazy with the back flips!



More happy Luke with his Papa T!
We had a great flight home. Luke slept for the first half and the lady next to me was just dying to hold him, so she held him for a good hour, they were singing and talking to each other and he was giggling. The flight attendants all wanted to hold him and took him on walks. It was awesome. Gavin got tired, got his blanket and rhino, and went to sleep for the last hour and a half.
Hannah and I watched the Princess and the Frog together. I had so much help getting off the plane too. It was really easy traveling with 3 kids alone.

I had a wonderful visit with the best in-laws anyone could ask for. I was able to relax and actually enjoy my kids because I wasn't worrying about all the things I had to do. I am so grateful for Steve and Joyce.

Luke's Blessing

Luke was blessed today. It was a wonderful event and so many family members were able to make it. It was a great day to reflect on all the wonderful blessing in our lives. Having this little baby is wonderful.*I can't believe how many kids I have!

Four Generations! Grandma Brown, Joyce, Kevin, and Luke
Marilyn is like another Grandma to Hannah, Gavin, and now Luke.

Grandpa Brown holding Luke... they share the same middle name!
I'm so grateful for my in-laws who helped so much! They are the BEST!

Our family friends came, the kids love playing with each other. I thought this was too cute to not blog it.

2 Weeks

Luke is 2 weeks old. His umbilical cord fell off yesterday, he's already growing up so fast! He's a pretty good little baby. He sleeps with me and for the most part I get decent sleep. He wakes up to eat and the next time I wake up it’s time to eat again.

It’s hard to get him down for a nap sometimes, but when he does finally fall asleep and stay asleep, he’s a good sleeper.

Hannah and Gavin are big helpers, especially Hannah. Gavin does a little baby talk and has thrown some tantrums that are out of character for him, but other than that there hasn't been much regression from the two of them. I'm looking forward to getting Luke on a schedule.

Luke J Jones

Luke is one week old today so I think it's time I finally sit down and record his story. Everything went exactly how I wanted it to. I made it through Kevin's business trip when I was 38 weeks pregnant, and then finally until Kevin's mom flew in. I had a scheduled inductions, which I love because it's predictable and under my control. I had been having inconsistent contractions for a couple of days, but on Monday they started to get more consistent and stronger. As we drove to the hospital that night, my contractions started to intensify.
I had the most wonderful nurse, I was her only patient!

(I hate all those monitors, they get so itchy!)

One of my favorite parts about Cedars is the view from the labor and delivery rooms, so beautiful!I was all hooked up by 11:00pm and got my epidural around 12:30am and about 10 minutes later, rolled over and my water broke! I fell asleep, when my nurse came in at 2:15am she checked me and I was already 10cm! She told me I was going to start pushing soon. I wasn't ready, I wanted to sleep some more. My doctor walked in at 2:30, I pushed 6 times and Luke was out at 2:44am! Easiest delivery ever!Since my delivery was so fast, he didn't get squeezed enough so he had a lot of fluid in his lungs and tummy still. He was really grunty.

Luke weighed in at 9lbs. 5oz. A BIG boy! He was 20 inches long.

It always amazes me when I hold my new baby. It is amazing that their body was inside mine, how on Earth did they fit?It feels so good to see Kevin hold our new baby. I have a picture just like this one of him holding Hannah and one of Gavin. I can't believe I have 3 kids! Our family feels complete now.
I'm trying to soak up every moment with Luke, he is changing so fast. My recovery has been very easy thanks to an easy delivery and probably all that exercising I did.

Now, on to the name... Luke was one of our favorite names when we were picking Gavin's name, we had a little conflict with the spelling though. J is Grandpa Brown's (Kevin's Grandpa) middle name. It was supposed to be "Jay" but the person who filled out his birth certificate spelled it "J." So in honor of Grandpa Brown, we chose "J" as Luke's middle name. When we told Grandpa Brown he teared up.

Settling In

Together for the first time.

Luke is here

This time it's for real. We got into the hospital on Monday night at 10:30 PM and by 2:30 AM we were pushing. 2 contractions later, or 6 pushes, out he came. 9lbs 5oz, 20" tall.

Courtney is doing well and recovering quickly. More to come at a later time.