Updates!!!

So much has been happening in our lives lately. It's kind of crazy. Life tends to have serious ebbs and flows, huh? It will be mind-numbingly boring for an extended period of time and then, all of a sudden all hell breaks loose. I won't get into everything that has been going on, but I will give you a brief overview.

Wednesday night my sister-in-law had her baby boy. She labored all day and finally had him at 9:42 at night. She allowed me to be in there with her. I NEVER thought that I would want to be that close to a birth that I wasn't directly involved in. But I have to tell you it was one of the most special things I think I have ever been through. One sister-in-law held one leg, I held the other, and her mom was at her head. I have been close with Larry's family for a while, but after the last few weeks I officially feel like a Roat. It's nice. I always wanted a big family with lots of nieces and nephews...and I have it!
Brayden is a cute little baby, and I'm not just saying that! He is going to be SO spoiled by his grandma and grandpa. This is a very special baby to them and you can totally tell how in love they are already. It's kind of like when my mom first saw Natalie and there was immediatley no doubt that she adored that little girl with every bit of her heart. That is what I saw with Lesley's parents when Brayden was born. Special for sure.

Thursday was Larry's birthday. I felt so bad because he worked all day and we really didn't do anything to celebrate at all. Natalie picked out the sweetest card for him(that made me tear up...I'm such a woman) from her and Vanessa and I got him a card also. We tried and tried to figure out something to get him, but all Nat could come up with was a "baseball guy". I'm not sure if she meant a real, breathing human baseball player or a figurine. But he doesn't like baseball anyway so we decided that maybe we could get him a baseball guy some other time. We ended up going the easy route and getting him a gift certificate for Best Buy.

Today was the girls doctor appointments. It was Natalie's 4-year checkup and Vanessa's 9-month. They checked out well and are healthy. Natalie is still holding steady in the 50th percentile for her age in both height and weight. My teeny-tiny Vanessa is around the 10th percentile for her age. She weighs a whopping 16 pounds!! She is just a petite little girl. Natalie had to get shots and she hated it, of course. There were some tears for sure. Vanessa didn't have to get shots, but still screamed like a crazy woman. Damn that doctor for having to measure her head! It sounded like she was being tortured and she kept looking at me like, "do something woman! Can't you SEE what he is doing to me!" But all in all the apointment went well and my girls look great.

There are other things that I could blabber on about, but I think I'm going to go snuggle with Natalie and watch some Backyardigans. I'm not sure who likes those dancing, singing, imagineing animated animals...me or my 4-year-old!!