Quick Pregnancy Update

22 days left! June 12th at 4pm this baby is being evicted. Can you tell that I'm excited? This pregnancy has gone so quickly (for the most part) until the past month. The last 4 weeks and looking into the next 3 seem like FOREVER. The pregnancy itself isn't all that bad, it's more the steroids that have accompanied me since 24 weeks that I could do without. I have an ultrasound tomorrow (34 weeks) to make sure that the baby is still healthy and all is looking good for delivery. Yay! I'm anticipating that everything is going to be perfect, so let's hope that's the case. I have every single negative side effect of prednisone, except for the massive bloating and weight gain. As of this morning I've gained 21 pounds. I feel very blessed in this regard, but the acne, mood swings, sensitive teeth, hormonal craziness, appetite, gestational diabetes, nose bleeds, etc etc etc are making me soooo anxious for this little one to get here! Baby Boy #4 is still unnamed. Sean and I can't agree. We have completely different tastes this time, so it's going to be interesting what we finally settle on :) This child is STRONG. I'm anxious to find out tomorrow how big he is. I have never experienced this much activity in my belly so constantly throughout a pregnancy. And it isn't just little movements. I'm convinced he's going to kick through my skin multiple times a day. He makes me jump and squirm and he is constantly catching me off guard with his soccer moves. I keep having dreams that at my ultrasound tomorrow the doctor is going to say "He's already 8 pounds. Let's just take him now!" With which I would say "Heck Yes!". Not really. But yeah. I'm very done. I'm so grateful that I have a deadline and that it's 3 weeks before when it would normally be. I'm grateful that he's a boy because other than buying diapers, I don't have to stress about getting anything else ready. I know exacty when I need to have my hospital bag packed by. I know where my children will be and can plan in advance what's going on! 

The boys made a paper chain last night because they can't wait to meet their little brother. They all love on him throughout the day and are so excited to be able to kiss him and hold him directly. And they are constantly trying to help us name him. Unfortunately Little Luigi, Larry, George, and Mario just don't make the list...

Asher's 21 Questions

Apparently I didn't ask Asher these questions on his birthday, and he's feeling left out. So why not do them now! Better (7 months) late than never, right?

1. What is your favorite color? every color
2. What is your favorite toy? My Captain America costume and also my batman car
3. What is your favorite fruit? watermelon and mangoes and pears
4. What is your favorite TV show? Jake and the Neverland Pirates
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Mac a woni and cheese
6. What is your favorite outfit? My dinosaur shirt
7. What is your favorite game? Sorry!
8. What is your favorite snack? Goldfish
9. What is your favorite animal? Horses, because they're fun to ride. and Cows because they make milk
10. What is your favorite song? Zulu King
11. What is your favorite book? My clicker books (the leapfrog tag junior books)
12. Who is your best friend? Baron
13. What is your favorite cereal? Chocolate cheerios
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Riding the skateboard while standing up and going down a hill.
15. What is your favorite drink? Chocolate Milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween because you get to stay up so late and knock on peoples doors with their light on and get some candy.
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My teddy bear.
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Aebelskiver
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Cake. So we can do cake and then cake.
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? a cowboy that takes care of horses and takes care of every animal that's in the desert.
21. What is your favorite thing to do inside? taking the cushions off and playing with them. 

We love you Asher Briggs!

Brayden's Birthday Weekend

Brayden,

You had quite the birthday weekend! We didn't do a party or anything, but we sure did have fun! For yours  and Everett's birthdays we got a free bowling game and $10 for each of you to the arcade at the bowling alley. This Saturday we went as a family and cashed them in! You boys had a blast and you keep asking when we get to go again. 

Sunday before church we made your cake, then after church you got to decorate it. This was a tradition I had growing up (that we got to make and decorate our own cake) and I loved it. Licking the bowl was the best part! You had a blast doing this and I think it's a tradition we'll adopt into our family :) 

We went out to Grandma and Grandpa Janeway's for dinner. Grandma and Grandpa Janeway, Aaron, Tyler, Uncle Ryan, Uncle Josh, and Cynthia were all there to celebrate with you. Your cousins got you and Everett these awesome super hero costumes. You guys wouldn't take them off. It was adorable. 

After dinner we had cake and s'mores around the campfire. Does it get better than that?

Grandma and Grandpa got you a scooter for your birthday. You LOVE it! You ask to ride it all.of.the.time. And yes, we let you ride it on your birthday without your helmet since we didn't have it with us.

I think your brothers enjoy it as much as you do!

So today is your real birthday. You woke up soo excited! While Dad was making waffles for breakfast, you got to open your presents. I *love* how expressive you are!

Lego Ninjago!

You've been playing with these for the past 2 hours and there is no sign of you stopping. You are in little boy heaven. It was the only thing you asked for and I'm so glad we got it for you. You are really good at looking at the pictures to figure out how to put it together, and only needed a little bit of help.

You get to pick what we eat for dinner tonight. You're choice? Gorilla Munch cold cereal and chocolate milk. This pregnant Mama doesn't have to cook? Done! Good thing we did cake on Sunday so we don't have to completely overdose on sugar today :)

Brayden, I am still in denial that you are SIX! You are growing into such a caring, considerate, compassionate, loving young man. You are smart and funny and love to play. You love to read and you like to follow the rules...generally :) You are reading at the benchmark level for end of first grade, and I don't know if I mentioned this on my blog yet or not but you got accepted into the Arco Iris full Spanish immersion charter school for 1st grade. You are sooo excited to go and learn more Spanish, and you are really looking forward to going to a new school! 

As per tradition from last year, I asked you 21 questions. Here are your answers! (The words in the parenthesis are mine.)

1. What is your favorite color? Black. Then dark blue and dark red. Cuz those are awesome.
2. What is your favorite toy? Lego Ninjago
3. What is your favorite fruit? Mango
4. What is your favorite TV show? Jake and the Neverland Piarates
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Macaroni and Cheese
6. What is your favorite outfit? My batman shirt
7. What is your favorite game? Super Smash Brothers
8. What is your favorite snack? Pirate's Booty
9. What is your favorite animal? Tiger, Lion and Horse. But let's say horse because I like riding it. It's fun.
10. What is your favorite song? The Happy Birthday song
11. What is your favorite book? Aladdin
12. Who is your best friend? Jackson
13. What is your favorite cereal? Gorilla Munch
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Riding my scooter
15. What is your favorite drink? Chocolate Milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? My Birthday!
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My baby blankie
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cold Cereal
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Gorilla Munch and chocolate milk
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? a cowboy and a surfer
21. What is your favorite thing to do inside? Watch a show or play xbox.

Your father and I love you so much Brayden! We are so proud of who you are becoming and you are such a great big brother. You bring us so much joy and laughter and we hope the next 6 years don't fly as fast as the past 6 have. 

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Everett!

Everett, you turned 2 today! You woke up with a mild fever but you soon snapped out of it. I think it was just teething related. The whole family woke up at the same time and we sang Happy Birthday to you upstairs. With so many family birthday's between March and May, we have sung "Happy Birthday" about 10 times in the past 10 weeks. You definitely know what it means, and that when it's your turn, you get spoiled! The second I told you it was your birthday, you lit up and said "Happy Birthday you ME!" We came down the stairs as a family and the first thing you saw was your new balance bike waiting just for you. You jumped out of my arms and ran to it and couldn't wait to get on! (I didn't get any pictures of that part. Sorry!) You rode it in the living room for a little bit but you definitely weren't feeling well and were soon asking to be cuddled again.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful until the evening. You requested pancakes for dinner, then we ate cupcakes. We'll do big cake and ice cream on Saturday with the extended Janeway family.

You were so dainty with your cupcake. You really didn't dig in like I thought you would! You took a few bites and then you were done. But you definitely had fun playing with the crumbs and throwing them all over the floor :)

Brayden had a T-ball game tonight, and at the game you kept asking that John (Jackson and Baron's Dad, and the T-ball coach) throw the ball to you. The second he was on the outside of the fence you ran up to him with your bat and ball in arms and just stared up at him waiting for him to pay attention to you. There was nothing more you wanted at that moment than to have "Coach John" to throw the ball with you. John didn't disappoint!

Brayden wanted to help teach you how to bat. And Asher didn't want to be left out of the fun either! I love this picture of the three of you :)

John kept throwing to you until you hit one. We usually play with nerf balls, but it didn't take very many tries before you hit this real baseball with your little foam bat.

As soon as you hit it, you took off for first base! Well, you grabbed the ball first and hung on to your bat, but you had the basic idea down. I don't know where you get your athletic abilitiy because it doesn't come from Dad or me, BUT, you definitely have some skills and even more so, you have a PASSION for sports. You Will go all day long with a ball in your hand, and will ask anyone who will listen to throw you a ball while you bat, or just play catch. I would go as far as saying you are "obsessed" with sports!

About you at TWO:

• Other than the sports obsession? :)
• You love being outside. Skateboard. Balance bike. Chickens. Garden. Whatever will get you outside, you'll do it.
• You still let me hold you cradled like a baby in my arms and sing to you while I put you down for a nap for bedtime. It's my absolute favorite part of my day. Even if you are wide awake, the second I start singing to you you just relax and look up at me and sometimes sing a long. {My little piece of heaven on earth.}
• You love talking on the phone to anyone who will listen to you.
• You love jumping off of the couch into a big pile of pillows, and you have no fear when it comes to the stunts you pull mid-flight!
• You are very independent...as long as Mom or Dad are in the room. We can't leave the room without you following us.
• You speak full sentences and can very clearly get your point across almost all of the time. You say sentences like "Hey Mom, guess what? I didn't like that, k?" or "Um...I'll think about it." and "Mom, go over there so I can throw you a ball!". When you are playing catch with someone you say things like "Nice try" or "good catch!" and "Go Team!" 
• You like to hit people when you don't get your way or when people (mostly Asher) get in your space. You are pretty good about saying sorry and seemingly meaning it, even though it doesn't mean you won't do it again seconds later if you are being bugged. 
• Your favorite foods are fruit. Hands down. Bananas, strawberries, mango, avocado, apples, oranges. You could live off of fruit and never complain about it. You don't love sweets as much as your brothers. I can give you a small bowl of ice cream and you'll eat a few bites then be done. 
• You sleep through the night, and generally sleep 7pm until 6-7 am without waking. You do only take one nap, and it's usually 1-2 hours, but sometimes you'll take a 3 hour nap, which is nice :) You always wake up with a smile on your face and say "I had a good nap!"
• You are excited for your baby brother to get here, but I think you're only excited because your older brothers are excited. I'm pretty confident that it will be a hard adjustment to you. You are definitely Mama's little sidekick right now and that will all be changing in a short 5 weeks. I hope you love your brother as much as you think you will!
• You don't watch Signing Time nearly as much as you did, but you still choose to sign throughout the day as you talk. I love that it's such a natural part of your language. 
• You have the most incredible expressions with your face. Your eyes, mouth, smile all say so much.
• You can make anyone laugh and still have such a magnetic personality. 
• Your hair is getting lighter and the freckles are getting darker on your nose. I adore them!
• You are a pretty tough kid. If you fall and skin your knees all I have to say is "Whoa! That was a cool super-hero move!" and you light up like a champ and are so proud.
• You are easily calmed. If you get angry because someone took a toy from you, it doesn't take much for you to relax and find something else to play with. You forgive easily and I love that about you!
• You aren't showing any interest in potty training. For awhile I was hoping you'd be potty trained brefore the baby got here. We did try for a few days but you just weren't interested. Oh well. We'll get there someday! 
• You can climb up to the top bunk in your room all by yourself. You've been able to do this for a couple weeks and it's insane. You don't use the ladder, you use the end of the bed and it doesn't take you very long at all! You have gotten down by yourself before but that's a little more scary, so you usually ask for help down, which I'm grateful for :)

That's all I can think about right now. I know this is cliche but I can't imagine our little family without you in it. You bring so much light and joy and laughter and fun. Your brothers adore you, and you adore them in return. You love playing with them and being one of the "big" boys. Your love of life is unsurpassed by anyone I know and although I wish you could stay this age forever, I can't wait to see who you become, because you are definitely a special spirit! But really...could you please stay this age and level of adorability forever? I'd appreciate it :)

I Love you Everett!

Mom

April in a Nutshell

I haven't been good at blogging lately, but I didn't want that to be an excuse to not get at least some of our recent life documented. I finally got pictures off of my camera and I want to post them so they don't get forgotten. 

April was a fun month, full of beautiful weather, preschool, T-ball, outings to the zoo and nature walks. We spend as much time as possible with our pseudo-family, the Grahams since we can't seem to function fully without them :) We'll be sad when they move away from us!

V is for Volcano

Cooper Mountain Nature Park

I honestly don't know what these boys would do without each other!

T-ball Season! Brayden was the first catcher at the first game and you could tell the helmet had been in the dirt. He was covered...but he loved it!

Beautiful Moski!

Heather's Sister-in-Law Carly, and her family came to the area for a couple days and we got to spend all day with them at the Zoo, Voodoo Donuts, and IKEA. Fun was had by all!

As I mentioned earlier, the weather has been BEAUTIFUL this Spring. We have spent so much time outside, and we couldn't be happier. The boys are all getting really good with their bikes and skateboards. They could be on those things for hours.

We took Tyler and Aaron for a day while Heidi is in the hospital with Jordan. (I'm realizing I should probably update on him at some point!) We took the boys on a walk at Tualatin Hills Nature Park. They all were in heaven. These boys definitely love the outdoors. Which is how it should be :)

Someone was ready for a nap...

We spent 4 hours on a Sunday afternoon in the backyard. Playing, running around, lounging, shelling and eating peanuts, feeding the chickens, etc. I love love love that we have the backyard space that we do have. We are so fortunate! Everett kept coming to cuddle with me on the blanket. He kept giving me kisses, loving on the baby, and laying next to me pretending to sleep. Then Brayden wanted to join in. He has the cheeeesiest smile ever. I love it. 

Brayden wanted to draw me the world. I love that one of the continents is heart-shaped!

Beautiful Miss Mo again

At the T-ball fields there are 2 fences really close to each other. Asher thought it was the most fun adventure ever to climb in between the fences. Haha. He loved it. Look at those eyes!