Boondocks

Brad's company had their summer family party at Boondocks this year. I didn't feel like it was the best place to take a 4 week old, so Bela and I stayed home while Brad and Johnny partied hard.

They ate a fun dinner

Got soaked on the bumper boats

Played some fun games

Raced around on the go-carts

And even braved the "scary guy" on a 3-d movie ride

These two had so much fun and even earned enough tickets to come home with a barrel of monkeys.

Stylish

This sweet girl makes me so happy. I love it when she mixes and matches her jammies, and especially when she adds a fireman hat to pretty much every ensemble.

Love Them

I love these two handsome guys

Check-Up

Our pediatrician wanted to see Asher before his 2 week appointment because of the few complications he'd had, just to make sure everything was still going great. We also scheduled Johnny's 3 year check-up, and Bela's 18 month check-up at the same time. (Yes I'm fully aware she will be 2 soon).

All 3 kids did great! I loved how Johnny set such a good example for Bela so she followed all of the doctor's directions and wasn't scared at all. She needed 3 immunizations, and they brought the needles in at the very end of the appointment. Poor girl did not know what hit her, she cried and cried. Johnny walked over to me and said very seriously, "Mom, I do not think I want what Bela is having." For her bravery, we swung by the McDonald's and got her a cone, and her brother was so sweet in helping to comfort her.

Coming Home

We came home from the hospital today!

Johnny and Bela are so happy their baby brother is home to stay. I'm glad to be home and together as a family again. Here's to the sleepless nights and that constant, "Please don't touch the baby!" that I know are coming. I can't wait!

Visitors

Asher and I had a lot of fun visitors while we were in the hospital. Melinda brought the kids by usually twice a day, and it was so fun seeing them with the baby.

Johnny is VERY excited about his baby brother

He and Bela are already so helpful taking care of him

Asher was very overwhelmed with the excitement that he even cracked one eye open

Thanks so much Aunt Melinda for taking such good care of all the kids. You're very brave.

The Baby Is Here!

Our new baby was born on July 17. We had decided to let the gender be a surprise, so when we were in the operating room, the nurses had Brad stand up when the baby was born so he could be the one to tell me if we were having a boy or a girl. He was so pleased to be able to tell me we had a baby boy, because that's what he had predicted. We're so excited that Johnny and Bela have a new baby brother.

Me in all of my pregnant glory before the epidural

Brad in his cool outfit before the surgery

Me trying to focus on the excitement of meeting the baby instead of the surgery

Brad thought it was funny I wanted to keep my glasses on during the surgery, but I told him I wanted to be able to actually see the baby once he arrived.

He's so precious!

Just like Johnny, Asher had to spend some time in the NICU as well. The nurses wheeled me in on the hospital bed to see the baby again before they took me down to our room. I had a more difficult recovery after the surgery with Johnny, so I didn't even get to see him in the NICU until quite a while after he was born, so it was really nice being able to see Asher again without even having to get out of bed.

We came back in the middle of the night once I could get out of bed and into a wheelchair. By this time, he was doing better but they still needed to monitor him before he could be sent down to the well-baby nursery.

Asher was able to be released from the NICU and sent down the next day so he could meet his big brother and sister. A new family photo with all 3 kids!! I can't even believe it.