Halloween 2007

All three boys have been sick since my last update (Colin had a sinus infection, Carter had strep, now Clayton has an ear infection/upper respiratory infection.) Also, we have had visits by Nana and PawPaw and YaYa. Plus, Aunt Bertie got married to Uncle Nick and the boys were ring bearers (Andy ended up being a ring bearer bearer and walked down the aisle with the fellas.) They were so precious in their tuxes! Clayton will be four months on Tuesday!! Halloween was so much fun. On Friday and Saturday we hit the pumpkin patch. On Sunday we went to a Fall Festival at First Baptist Aledo where we jumped in bounce houses, roped a steer, played games and, of course, ate a lot of candy! Then on Wednesday night we went trick-or-treating hayride style with our Life Group at New River Fellowship. After initially deciding to be Swiper the Fox (Colin) and a ninja turtle (Cart) we ended up with good ol' Batman and Superman. And the boys wear Batman and Superman every day! Clayton dressed up as a spider! Anyway, we had a fun time the past week and if we could just get well we would be in good shape. I have only caught the boys shoveling candy in as fast as they could one time, so that is good. Today they were using sticks to harrass an enormous grasshopper, and it jumped on Carter's arm and he flipped out, saying, "It hurt me! It hurt me!" They are hilarious!

Smiley Boy!

Hello! I realize I have not posted in a while, but things are super busy around here! I still think the transition from one baby to two babies was more difficult, but it is certainly more busy now. The fellas are doing well: Colin is learning to write his numbers, Carter is his usual sweet self, Clayton is smiling and "talking" all the time, and the big guy just got over being sick. I wish I had more time to write, but Clayton is calling.... Love you!

Back To School

Hello! Here are a few recent pictures of the boys. I love this one of Carter: "I sense trouble." The one of Colin smiling really big is hilarious because I told him to get some Doritos out of the pantry since he ate his sandwich and he piled his plate as high as he could! We are finally getting over a string of really bad colds/bronchitis and I am so glad to have the boys well again (Colin still has a bit of a cough). We started school unofficially last week and officially this week (the students had class). Colin likes his new teacher Ms. Hayes and Carter is running the show with his class. Carter is really funny these days, but he has been a STINKER lately--terrible twos was nothing with Colin compared to this business Carter is pulling. Clayton is doing well with SuSu in his personal nursery at school. He has no problem taking a bottle. He's getting very strong and has started smiling! I tried to catch one on the camera, but no luck yet. Andy's job with Countrywide is good for now and he is doing really well as far as production, so we feel like his job is secure. I, of course, love my classes at Calvary. We went to a football game on Friday night and the boys LOVED it! They ran around with all the other kids while Andy and I watched the game and visited with friends. We love you all!

Clayton Six Weeks

Hi everyone! We head back to school on Monday, so it will probably be a while before I post again. I bet you didn't know super heroes wear heels, did ya? Carter has bronchitis but he's getting better thanks to his medicine. Tomorrow is my six week check up and I am looking forward to being cleared for exercise. Can you tell which baby picture is Colin, not Clayton??

Colin's Fourth Birthday

Colin had his FOURTH birthday on July 25, which was a Wednesday, and his Batman birthday PARTY on Saturday, July 28 at Jump Party. We had a great time. YaYa was here last week with us and we did all sorts of fun things! Nana and Papa are here with us now and they are seeing the movie Underdog as I write! The boys have loved being spoiled by their grandparents, but next week real life kicks in and I will be on my own with the three boys while Andy is at work. Yikes!! Actually, I am looking forward to a little quality time with them before we head back to school on August 20 for in-service.

Clayton is four weeks old today and he's doing great. At his two week check-up he weighed 8 lbs., 2 oz. and he had grown 1 and 3/4 inches! He had his first shot and he did fine. Colin had his four year check-up and he had to have SIX shots--poor guy! He was kind of excited at first, but then he cried really hard when the nurse started injecting the shots and when I picked him up off the table when she finished he said, "What happened?" It was awful and I'm glad it's over. Colin is in the 75-90th percentile for his height and weight. He's been eating like crazy lately and sleeping a lot, too, so I think he's going through a growth spurt. Carter is our talker and he is hilarious! He talks almost constantly and he's very funny. He doesn't have much interest in Clayton although Colin is constantly kissing the baby and asking to hold him.

Andy is doing great--above is a picture of Colin holding in his new net a frog Andy helped him catch. (The frog died shortly thereafter.)

I'm sure I have missed a ton of info, but I am holding Clayton and trying to get about five different things done all at once...I am pretty sure this is how my life will be for a while!!

Our First Week as a Family of FIVE!

One week ago today we were heading for the hospital! Our first week has been really nice. Clayton goes down for the night by 10 or 11 and he wakes up between 3 and 4 to eat, then he goes back down. We really have to work to keep him awake during the day some days, but overall he has been pretty easy. At Clayton's doctor appointment on Monday he was down to 6 pounds, 14 ounces, but he has been eating about every 2 1/ 2 hours so I am sure he's gaining it back.

We had our first family outing yesterday when we loaded up and went to the park. Colin and Carter loved the tire swing and Clayton slept the entire time.

Andy has been doing a great job entertaining the boys--they are totally interested in Super Heroes (all different types--Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Fantastic Four) and Transformers (in the picture above the fellas are watching an old Transformers cartoon).

I am so happy to have Clayton here and I feel like I am back to my old self!

4 Days Old

We're doing great! Clayton is such a good baby--he only cries when he needs something, and he is a good eater! We are still working on sleeping during the night and playing during the day, but we're getting there. Colin loves to kiss on his baby brother and Carter likes his toys. I am feeling good--Andy pretty much handles the older boys which makes my job easy.

Clayton

His name is officially Clayton Douglas Hedges! Colin likes Baby Clayton a lot but he's concerned about what happened to Baby Casey. Clayton and I are doing great--we just got home. I'll update again soon with more pictures, I just wanted everyone to know his name!

The Baby Has Arrived!

The new Hedges baby arrived this morning @ 2:10 am and weighed 7 lbs 7 oz. Mommy and baby are doing fine but maybe a little confused as a name has not been finalized as of yet. Here are some early pictures but there will be more to come.

July Fourth

Ok, here is a picture of me!! I am surprised by the high demand for a picture of the belly! As you can see, even my maternity clothes I have outgrown and I am SOOOO ready for baby boy to arrive. I went to the doctor today and I am still at one centimeter, so no baby action yet.

The boys have had a good week. Today Colin had gymnastics and I got to see him walk the balance beam and jump on the trampoline on one foot! It looks like fireworks will be cancelled for tomorrow (the fourth of July) as a result of scattered thunderstorms. It has rained every day for several weeks and there is not a sunny day in the forecast! The boys get a bit stir crazy, but we try to sneak outside to play every chance we get.

Funny story...the other day I growled at the boys for jumping on the furniture, then within five minutes Colin came up to me and put his flashlight right into my eyes, so I threatened him with a spanking and here's what he said: "Mommy, you're just like the Grinch!"

Late June

We've had another busy week! I have dilated about one centimeter and have thinned out a bit, but no real labor yet. My due date isn't until July 15, so I still have a couple weeks to go.

The boys are doing great, but they have a TON of energy since it has poured rain on us all week long--and there is no sunshine in sight! We got about an hour in at the park on Monday, but that has really been all we've played outside. Tuesday we went into town for my doctor appointment and Colin and Carter went to school for the morning. Yesterday we went to Jumping Party for a couple hours, and then today our big trip is...get ready...the grocery store! Tomorrow is storytime at Barnes & Noble. We have watched a lot of movies, played a lot of superheroes and trains, and read a lot of books this week.

I have a funny story...around the house I call Andy "Baby" and the other day Carter picked up on this and said to Andy, "Play trains, Baby!" Now every once in a while he'll call him "Baby."

Happy birthday to Nana!!

Early June 2007

June 9, 2007

What a busy week! (By the way, I am trying blogger.com after Stephanie recommended it to me so that I can load more pics easily. So far it has been much easier than geocities.com. Thanks, Steph!)
This week Colin had his first swim lessons ever! He went with two of his friends from church and he loved it! The lessons were for thirty minutes every day this week. He learned to jump off the diving board and swim to the edge of the pool w/minimal help and no floaties.
On Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment (34+ weeks and the baby is very healthy). I really haven't mentioned baby boy #3 much, but he moves constantly and loves to get "raspberries" from his older brothers. We are throwing around all sorts of "C" names ranging from Casey to Connor to Colton to Cade... The middle name will probably be Matthew; but we, of course, are not even completely decided on that! Also on Tuesday, Colin had his first gymnastics class with his friends from school.
On Wednesday we went to a place called Jump Party which is basically a huge warehouse with tons of moon bounces, slides, etc. and Wednesday was open jump for preschoolers, so we went and LOVED it! We're going to have Colin's fourth birthday party there at the end of July. He has decided on a Batman party (he is all about those super heroes right now!)
Thursday was a laid-back day and then on Friday we went to storytime at Barnes & Noble where Colin picked out a bat/lizard/spider/snake book (he got a Spiderman book last time!) and Carter picked out a tractor book (complete with tractor wheels!) and a Thomas the Tank Engine book.
The picture of the boys on the floor giggling is right after they got to put on their new jammies--Spiderman for Colin and Thomas the Tank Engine for Carter. As for me and Andy, we have been considering a new fence for our back yard and basically doing a lot of yard work, which we enjoy.