Belly Button

I wanted to give you a health update on little Brenna. She now weighs 12 pounds and about 7 ounces. She is growing like a weed and her smile (when she graces you with it) would stop traffic. She is a true joy! She is still quite cranky in the evenings though and we are still fighting with gas and stomach issues. It is getting a little better as she gets older but it does mean at least one or two sleepless nights a week for Mom and Dad. She is also starting to sleep for longer periods of time without being held which is huge. I think taking her to school when she was first born got her into the habit of having to be held all the time.

Last night I made my first trip to the ER for her. I have noticed over the past two weeks that her belly button (it was an innie) was slowly becoming an outie. Which was odd. Yesterday it was very swollen and completely poked out of her stomach. It just didn't look right. So after talking to the nurse at the base hospital I took her to the ER. She was diagnosed with an umbilical hernia. It sounds worse than it is. It is painless. We just have to keep an eye on it and have a list of symptoms to look for if it does get more serious. The ER doctor said it should close on its own by the time she is 3 years old. In rare cases surgery is necessary but the ER doctor didn't think hers was that serious. She has her two month appointment on the 11th so I will keep you all up to date on what her pediatrician says.

So now our beautiful little girl has quite the "outie" belly button (you can see it stick out through her clothes). She is still adorable and it doesn't seem to be bothering her at all.

Dance Recital 2008

I can hardly believe Chloe has been in dance for four years. She started dance when she was 2 and a half years old and now she is six. She started taking ballet and tap and a little bit of tumbling as a preschooler and fell in love with dance. She is still taking ballet and tap and has now added jazz and a tumbling class. Chloe looks forward to dance class each week and has a large group of friends through her dance school. Dance isn't always easy for her but she gives it her best at every class. Her dance teacher has commented on how much Chloe has grown and matured over the past four years. I saw the evidence of the growth at this year's dance recital.

Chloe did a ballet dance to some of the music from the movie The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She also did a jazz and tumbling routine to "You Can't Stop the Beat" from the movie Hairspray. She did a tap routine to the song "I Just Can't Wait to be King". She was also in the finale doing a jazz dance. Chloe had so much fun and can't wait to start her summer dance lessons in a few weeks!





Every budding ballerina deserves lots of flowers...

Summer!!!!!

School is finally OVER!! Yeah! I was hoping once the play was over things would slow down but no the last week of school was just as hectic as usual. But that is okay. We have plans for different activities over the next few weeks but they won't be a big deal since there is no school to add to the chaos.

Here are some more Brenna pictures I have taken recently. Check my other recent posts from this past week to see more pictures.



As I am sure Matt would say, "Typical woman, she has to take over the whole bed!"

Kindergarten Graduate

Our little girl is growing up fast! This has been a long year for Chloe but one full of wonderful changes and growth. Making the decision to homeschool her was easy but actually doing it was a bit more challenging. After going through different curriculum, some tears, frustration and victories, Chloe is excelling in school. She has enjoyed her classes at school especially second semester. She loves math and is picking it up very quickly. Her letters, after struggling all year to memorize them, are finally getting easier for her. Now she is discovering the fun of putting letters together to create words. It is so much fun to watch her learn and see how excited she gets over each new discovery.

Today we had our end-of-the-year picnic and the Kindergarten Graduation. Chloe wasn't sure what all the fuss was about (it was the first sunny day we've had in what feels like forever and all she wanted to do was run around and play) but she went along with it. She had a cap and gown and was given a diploma. It was a very cute ceremony. It is hard to believe that she is going into first grade next year.

1 Month Old Already

Can you believe little Brenna is a month old already? Sometimes it feels like it went by so fast and other times (when I am VERY tired) it feels like she should be older. She is such a sweet, joyful addition to our family. She is an incredibly good baby. She has been so patient being dragged here and there as we try to wrap up the school year and all that entails. She is growing and steadily gaining weight. She is holding her head up very well and can follow objects with her eyes. She is just now starting to reach out and touch the toys on her car seat. She is still practicing how to smile and is so much fun to watch her smile begin to bloom. We are enjoying her every minute we can!! Here are some recent pictures of our little "princess".





I couldn't resist taking a picture of her adorable little feet! They are so tiny.

Over The Rainbow!!

Yippee! Hooray! Hallelujah! And any other word to exclaim my excitement.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is FINALLY OVER!! Once again I have my life back, well as much as possible with three kids. This is our last week of school and than we are done for the summer!! Yeah! Maybe now I can catch up on my sleep and finally have some quiet time to relax a bit. I also won't be running all over town taking Chloe everywhere she needs to go either.

The play was a HUGE success. All of my students (ranging all the way from Kindergarten to high school) did a fabulous job. I cannot believe how well everything came together (thanks to the help of some very wonderful parents, including mine). I never know what will happen when I combine two classes and we rehearse once on the actual stage the night before our performance. This was Chloe's first play ever where she actually had parts. She was a Munchkin, Dancing Flower and a Flying Monkey. She did wonderful and was so excited. I will try to get a hold of some pictures (I was way too busy to take any and Matt was trying to keep up with Aidan) and post them. Brenna did great through all of the chaos as well. She slept through most of it and even when she was awake she was quiet and just took it all in. Thank goodness for the baby sling.

We did have one incident Saturday evening during our second performance. We were right in the middle of intermission. I was right in the middle of changing Brenna (she had blown through her clothes and was just in a diaper) when the fire alarm went off. At first I thought it was the music we were playing at intermission (I was in a room off of the stage and could barely hear the alarm) but than I realized what it was. So I quickly grabbed my almost naked baby, her pajamas, her diaper bag and a blanket, ran on stage to make sure everyone was gone, cleared the green room and ran outside with all of the evacuating students and parents. I stopped by the car to grab my extra blanket. It wasn't even 50 degrees outside plus we had a very cold wind blowing. Poor Brenna was crying she was so cold. So a few parents stood around me, held up Brenna so I could get her dressed. Than we bundled her up in blankets and coats the best we could. What an adventure that was! She was crying so hard she exhausted herself and fell asleep. It was quite an entertaining sight seeing all the kids in their costumes standing outside huddled together trying to stay warm.

As it turns out a construction crew at the high school cut through the water main which set off the alarm. We were back inside ten minutes later and five minutes after that the show continued. In all the plays I have been in, that was definitely a first! All in all it was a great experience and as crazy as it sounds I cannot wait to do it again. Although I think I will wait a few months first. :-)

Memorial Day Weekend

What a busy week! We are all still adjusting to life with a new baby in the house. Matt and I are also adjusting to being outnumbered!! All the kids are doing great. Brenna is growing like a weed and eating like crazy. She is more alert than ever and loves to look at our faces. She is working on smiling and gives tentative, half-smiles now and again. She does smile and giggle while she is sleeping which is adorable. Chloe is growing way too fast and can have an attitude to match. She has been testing boundaries big time lately (she was doing this even before Brenna's birth). So please pray with us that we can all make it through the latest phase without too much drama! Aidan is a giant walking band-aid. The boy plays hard, what can I say. His poor knees are bruised and cut up, his hands aren't much better. His forehead is generally sporting a new bruise also. But I will give him credit, he cries for a moment than keeps on going.

We had a great weekend. Nice and relaxing which we all needed. Saturday was gorgeous despite the weather man's predictions of rain. It was sunny and warm. So warm in fact that we broke out the brand-new sprinkler for the kids. They had so much fun playing in it. Our backyard now looks like a child's paradise with the playhouse and play set. We also have a plastic playhouse and toddler size plastic play set that we've had since Chloe was little in the yard. So there is lots of stuff for them to play on.





Sunday we went to church and than went to Nana and Poppa's house for a barbecue and movies on the big screen. Poppa took Chloe home with him right after church. The rest of us attempted to nap a bit in the afternoon (unfortunately our new neighbors are anything but considerate about the amount of noise they make) so we cut nap time short and headed out to Nana and Poppa's house. Aidan was thrilled to be outside and was all over the place. Chloe was riding her bike and picking on dad. Both of them got to dig in the garden and get completely filthy before the end of the day. After a delicious barbecue dinner we headed inside and watched movies. It was a late night for all of us but so much fun!!

Almost 2-Week Check-Up

I know I haven't posted any new pictures. We've been too tired!! I will try this weekend. I wanted to let you all know what the doctor said this morning at Brenna's (almost) 2-week check-up before I got busy with lesson plans for tomorrow. She is now 9lbs 8oz so we have conquered the birth weight. She is eating like crazy so there was no doubt in my mind that she had put on weight. She was only 21 3/8" long (somehow her height got screwed up right after birth). She is still long and skinny. She is long enough for 3/6 month clothes but they just fall off of her because she is so skinny. So dresses have been the clothing of choice lately. The doctor said that she looked healthy and beautiful so all is well. Now if Mom and Dad can manage to get more than 4 hours of sleep at night....

Sleeping Beauties

I don't know what it is about our kids but they are crazy sleepers. Chloe will start out the night with stuffed animals, pillows and blankets piled on her bed. By the time she wakes up in the morning it is all on the floor. Forget taking a nap with her, she has to have the ENTIRE bed to herself. Aidan sleeps like a twister in his crib. He will start out with his head facing one direction and turn completely around by morning and face the opposite direction. If you sleep with him you will end up either being kicked in the side or the face or have his head planted into a kidney. Here are the kids "camping out" in the family room on Wednesday.




Brenna seems to have inherited the crazy Webster kids sleeping habits. Here are some shots of her interesting sleep poses. Either way she is still absolutely adorable. I love the little sounds she makes while she is sleeping and her hilarious facial expressions while she is dreaming.

3 Days old & Still Gorgeous

Well, Brenna has been home for a day and a half and it has been an adventure to say the least. We were released early in the morning on Mother's Day (a great Mother's Day gift for Mommy, who was going stir crazy in the hospital) with a clean bill of health. Since we were all up and dressed early we decided to go ahead and go to church. Much to our surprise, someone told our Pastor's wife that there was a baby who was 2 days old at the service. So we got to stand up and introduce our little girl to her church family. Going to church was nice because it helped break up the day a bit for the other two kids.

Chloe and Aidan are adjusting to life with the baby albeit it is a rocky adjustment at times. Chloe has been a bit mouthy and has had a bit of an attitude, which is how she reacted to Aidan's birth so it was expected. Chloe is still excited about Brenna and is trying to be helpful. Aidan has been a handful but not anymore than usual. Although Sunday afternoon he decided he was NOT going to take a nap. So he stripped of his pants and diapers and peed in his crib instead. AHHHGG!! He is doing well with Brenna although we have to watch him very carefully to make sure that he is gentle with her.

I am slowly recovering. I have been pretty stiff and sore the past two days. Chasing Aidan does not help at all. I was doing good this morning until he threw a fit and had to be picked up and carried to the car. Not easy to do with the infant carrier and a rather heavy 22 month old! I have been catching naps when I can and trying to rest as much as possible. The kids have been good about leaving Brenna and I alone for the most part but it does mean that Matt is kept busy keeping up with them. He is just as tired as I am.

Brenna is doing well. She is still sleeping quite a bit and it is quite an undertaking to get her to wake up and eat. She is eating very well and makes sure she is completely full before she goes to sleep. She also has a bit of a temper if she doesn't get held when she wants and how she wants. She despises having her diaper changed and getting dressed is not pleasant either. But when she is fully awake and her beautiful eyes are open taking in her new world she is so adorable. She loves to look around and to have you talk to her. She actually gets mad if you are holding her and not saying anything. She has been such a wonderful addition to our family.