2015 Year in Review

January:
 - We took the boys out to the River for a weekend, but ended up coming home early due to some less than desirable behavior.
 - We figured out that removing dairy from Travis's diet fixed his tummy troubles, and we deemed him lactose-intolerant.

February:
 - Jake gave Bo a haircut, but thankfully did not give his brother one too.

March:
 - Travis turned 3 years old!
 - We found out that we would be having another baby in the fall.
 - Blake was an assistant coach for Jake's baseball team.

April:
 - We picked strawberries at Sweetberry Farms
 - We had friends from out of town stay with us during the crazy hail storm.
 - We saw the amazing bluebonnet fields at Muleshoe Bend Park.
 - We told the boys and our families about the baby on the way.
 - We discovered Travis is very allergic to Oak pollen

May:
 - Jake graduated preschool
 - Lots of baseball
 - Lots of soccer
 - Lots of rain

June:
 - The boys took swimming lessons and became very proficient swimmers.
 - The next door neigbhor's house was struck by lightning and Jake saw the smoke and helped me make sure that they got out of the house.
 - We found out that baby number three would be another boy!!
 - We picked peaches at Sweetberry Farms
 - Still more rain

July:
 - It quit raining and all the grass died

August:
 - We took our first ever family trip (just the 4 1/2 of us) to Galveston for a long weekend.
 - Jake started Kindergarten
 - Jake started Soccer which Blake did not coach

September:
  - Travis started in the 3 year old class at preschool
 - Mama celebrated both boys being in school with a pedicure!!
 - Blake and Sarah celebrated 8 years of marriage (which finally put us married longer than we dated)
 - Lots of soccer

October:
 - Jake turned 6 years old!
 - We finally started working on putting together the nursery (poor 3rd child)
 - Mama and Mimi sat and passed out candy while Dad and Pops took the Pirates trick-or-treating

November:
 - Jake lost his first tooth
 - Dylan was born

December:
 - We somehow managed to decorate for Christmas.
 - Dylan lost too much weight and we got him evaluated for a tongue tie and got it clipped.

And that is the grand recap of what I mostly missed blogging about this year!  Happy New Years to all!!

Dylan has arrived

What can I say, between having a new baby and the holidays - things have been constantly busy around our house.

Dylan Cooper Hagler came into the world on November 16, 2015 at 8:14 am, weighing in at an impressive 9 lb. 13 oz. (just 1 oz. shy of matching his Daddy's birth weight - his Daddy who was 2 weeks late, as opposed to Dylan's 4 days early - geeze we grow them big!!), and measuring 21" in length.

It was a pretty typical C-Section birth.  We had him at the new hospital which is close to the new house - so it was an overall different experience, while still being pretty much the same as the last time in the routine procedure department.  I loved my Dr. - the anesthesiologist was a rock-star and kept me happier than I have been with an anesthesiologist EVER - my nurses were wonderful, there wasn't one single one which we weren't happy with (wish I could say that for the other births).  So yeah, great experience for Mama and Daddy.

Poor little guy though, being so big, he couldn't maintain his blood sugar levels very well, and so they would come in and prick his little heels every time that we would feed him in order to make sure that he had a level over "50".  Frequently he wasn't, and so we had to express milk and feed it to him through a dropper.  For about 2 weeks after we left, his little heels looked like over used pi-cushions.  Luckily at almost 4 weeks old, they have now healed up completely.

Both the older boys are absolutely enamored with Dylan.  Jake wants constantly to help out and hold the baby - and at this point is even carrying him around and getting him in and out of the swing.  Travis of course wants to do all of this too, but is limited to holding Dylan while sitting on a chair or on the sofa since he is not quite as, shall we say gentle and cautious with his baby brother.  Jake says Travis can carry Dylan around when he is 6 like he is... I told them that when Travis is 6, Dylan will just run away and not allow anyone to carry him.  I am not sure that they believe me that he will become big enough to run away from them.

   

Like last year, we hosted Thanksgiving at our house again this year.  Which meant that Mama didn't have very  much that I had to do at 10 days postpartum, because everyone brought all the food to us again!!  Speaking of bringing food to us, our amazing neighbors set up a Care-Calendar for us and have brought food to us 3 days a week since we came home.  It has been tremendously helpful, and it also gave good excuses to see people and introduce them to the baby.

At 2 weeks old, Dylan was down to 8 lb. 10oz. at his Dr. appointment, but our pediatrician said that it is nothing to worry about, that big babies lose more weight and take longer to return to their birth weight.  He still feels pretty light to me, but we will see where he weighs in at his next appointment on the 16th (one month, oh my goodness where has the time gone?). Dylan is sleeping pretty well, as long as he is being held... which has made things interesting.  During the day he is perfectly happy to sleep in the swing and allow me to get some things done around the house (like writing this post right now), but at night, he just will not let me put him in the swing or the bassinet unfortunately.  We are trying to reintroduce swaddling (which he abhorred for a while), and hoping that will help with the sleeping alone.  It is such a change from my other 2 babies who LOVED being swaddled, and once they were asleep would transfer to the bassinet.  Dylan = non-transferable. 

  

Giant cheeks at birth vs. at 3 weeks old much smaller cheeks

At this point, I am healed up enough to go up the stairs (yay!!), and do most of the normal daily things that I do - grocery store, target, cooking, cleaning, picking kids up from school... I would say that my life routine aside from nursing all the time, is almost back to normal - except for being able to go to the gym of course, pretty sure that will be a while longer.

Well, baby is waking up and will want to eat in about 5 seconds... so I must go!

T Minus 10 Days

  Well, it is officially 10 days (or less, but yeah right with my history) until we get to meet our new little guy.  I must say that this time I was way more laid back about getting everything ready, and did not have things completely done several months in advance like I did before we had Jake, or even a month in advance like I did before we had Travis.  Maybe it is a 3rd time around thing, maybe it was setting up a new nursery in a different house, maybe it was a lack of planning on some part, but in theory we will have the final pieces to our nursery by the 12th... so 4 days in advance of the baby - and that is assuming that things come in on time and not late.  And maybe I'll even finish painting by then?  (not likely)

  Realistically though, it isn't really a big deal if the nursery is all set up, if the furniture pieces arrive, or if the paint is dry (or even done) because I will not be able to go up the stairs to utilize any of the items which are up there.  So currently all of this baby's clothes are folded nicely in the pack-n-play in our room which will  pull double duty as a dresser and a changing table - definitely through Thanksgiving, likely through Christmas.  He has a bassinet which will be beside our bed, which is holding all the diapers and wipes on a convenient lower shelf.  So really who needs a nursery at all at the beginning.  This little guy will be sleeping within an arm's reach of me for the foreseeable future anyway (just like his brothers before him did).

  So how are we all doing?

  Well, I am sore, but not as bad as I was with either of the last two, and it has really only been in the last few weeks that I am starting to get the back aches, and leg pains.  My feet seem to only swell when the weather is yucky, warm and humid - so at least it isn't all the time - maybe pressure change related.  And with us finally maybe getting to keep cooler temperatures, maybe, just maybe my swelling is done.  (cross your fingers, toes, and anything else you can)  Also, I am ready - I think - for this baby to be here so that the reasons I am waking up at night are much cuter than they currently are.

  Blake is done with work related travel for the time being.  I think that he is ready for this to happen, but then again it rocks his world just as much, if not more than mine since he will go to be primary caregiver to the older children for a while while Mama recovers.  He'll take over getting them up and dressed in the morning, packing lunches, showers, teeth brushing, story time and bedtime at night, as well as school drop offs and pick ups for a little while.  Hopefully Mama won't be out of commission for too long and we all get a new routine established quickly.

  Jake seems to be excited about being a big brother again.  He of course wants to help out with everything, and wants to be allowed to carry the baby and comfort him (such a sweet big brother).  We'll clearly have to work on how to properly hold the baby, but I think that he will be able to do it - he is much older than he was when we got Travis, and he does a lot to help me out already so I am sure that he will want to do these new things as well.  And, as much as he loves school, he is really looking forward to getting  a week off for Thanksgiving so that he will have more time to spend with the baby.

(Blake holding Jake holding a very new Travis - wonder if we can repeat this with 4 of them??)

  Travis - oh Travis - he thinks that he is excited and ready for all of this, but I am pretty sure that his little world is going to be rocked more than anyone else's.  He is convinced that he will be allowed to feed the baby things like applesauce and peanut butter (his favorites) upon us being released from the hospital.  He doesn't seem to believe me that it will take a while before the baby will be ready for those particular foods.  He also thinks he'll get to carry the baby around, play planes with him, and push him on a swing.  All things he'll probably eventually do, but I don't know that he is thinking long term, I think he thinks all these things can be done immediately.  So we'll just have to wait and see how he actually reacts to having this new tiny screaming person in his life (have I told you how noise sensitive Travis is??  Yeah, should be interesting).

  The baby seems to be happy staying right where he is.  No real surprise there, neither of his brothers were in much of a rush to leave Mama's tummy either.  Jake, by the miracle of a scheduled induction, did manage to come on his due date - Travis however, due to not being allowed to induce again after having a C-Section with Jake, managed to wait us out 9 days past his due date and end up as a C-Section as well.  So for this new little bug we are cheating the game slightly, and have a C-Section scheduled for him 4 days before he is technically due to arrive!  Ha - can't be late little dude, not that it will keep you small since as of 3 days ago you were already measuring 2 weeks larger than you ought to be.

  And that is the current state of things in the Hagler household.  Plugging along for the next 10 days until we get to meet our newest (and final) baby boy.

November is upon us

Well, we have entered the month in which we will have this final baby!!!  I did still do my meal planning for the month (accounting for the current date which we anticipate having the baby), but a lot of the month is a cop-out due to the fact that I am totally not cooking for a couple weeks after this little one makes his appearance.  So, here is the menu plan for the month of November.

Now I know that there are a few things on here that are direct copies of last month... Travis got sick though, and I missed a grocery store trip and about 3 days of planned food because of it.  So instead we are doing those planned meals this month, because they still sound yummy!!

And since we are about to have this new little one, just for fun, here is a look at each of our boys when they were still in my tummy, at about 29 weeks along each.  (Blake thinks he looks like Travis, I kind of think he looks like a happy medium between the two, but we shall see - not having their faces oriented the same in the pictures doesn't help much).

Choosing Our Words Wisely

So today I am 34 weeks pregnant with baby #3 - and believe me, I know that I look 34 weeks (if not more) pregnant.  Part of it is my small frame which allows baby no where to go but out, another part of it is that this is baby #3, the last part is I'm 34 weeks along and it is definitely noticeable when I am wearing yoga pants and a fitted t-shirt that I am pregnant.  

Some words of advice when you unexpectedly come upon a very pregnant lady - probably the best thing to say ranges along the lines of: "you look great", "congratulations", or a simple "have a nice day".

What you probably ought not to actually say out-loud (even if you were thinking it) is: "Wow", followed by a 2 -3 second pause, and then "Are you okay?"  (asked in a totally serious, or at least serious sounding, concerned tone)

I followed the somewhat strange to me question with "yes I am doing great thank you", and politely walked away (she was walking the other direction from me anyway, and I don't know her, so it felt like that was all that needed saying).  I kind of hope she walked away kicking herself for the awkwardness of that particular exchange, because seriously.

Granted I have now been analyzing this exchange for the better part of the last hour.  If I could go back, and we weren't just passing each other going into/out of Panera,  I might have said: "I am doing great thank you, I just finished an hour long yoga class at the gym, (which is why my hair looks a bit out of place) at which I was able to complete all the moves except the ones you have to lay on your belly for (because yeah, that would piss this kid off something awesome), and I rocked it with my balance poses much to the amazement of the others taking the class." (or at least I like to think it amazes people that I can still balance with a 27# bowling ball strapped to my belly).

I know she was looking at the door when I was walking up from the parking lot (because I saw her doing it, so I guess I saw her long before she saw me), and I also guess I took her by surprise.  I was coming from yoga class, so I had on no makeup, my hair was in a messy bun, and I had on typical yoga clothes (granted fitted pregnancy t-shirt as opposed to a cute strappy shirt which shows off my awesome abs, because let's face it, those are long gone now).  I know that I put my hand on the railing as I was coming up to the door, but I don't think that I made any noise about it - much less gasped loudly or groaned.  Pretty sure also that I was not stooped over, or even waddling really (I can normally feel when I am walking like I am hugely pregnant).  I'm just not sure that I displayed anything warranting her concern for me, a total stranger.

So here is my zero makeup, messy bun, just finished yoga picture:

Yes, hair and makeup would help the look a ton - but I just don't think that I look that bad here.  Maybe I am wrong - and if I am, oh well.

Anyway, there is your awkward exchange for the day - have a great weekend, I know I will!!

October Menu Planning

Since September's menu planning post was such a smashing success, I am doing it again for October.  Please forgive me for being a few days into October already - we were out of town this past weekend, and I am just now getting back into the swing of daily life.  Something about flying when 33 weeks pregnant seems to make your feet swell up like very sad and ugly balloons, and that makes you not desire to do much of anything at all.  On the bright side, I am on the mend and actually maintained distinguishable ankles all day long today, despite getting things actually done - so hopefully my elephant feet will not return!!

Maybe I will be more on top of things come November.  And one day in the far distant future, maybe I will even post the next month's menus before the month begins (gasp).

This month, I am even going to include links to recipes so that those who actually want to, can try to duplicate the food.  These are the recipes which I found online and saved to my Pinterest Boards, and have actually previously made and found successful!!

Sweet & Sour Crispy Chicken

http://www.life-in-the-lofthouse.com/2010/09/baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken-with-fried.html (and the friend rice recipe in here is good too!!)

Chicken & Cream Cheese Taquitos

http://mommyimhungry.blogspot.com/2011/03/chicken-bacon-and-cream-cheese-mini.html (yeah I don't miniaturize these)

Oven Fried Parmesan Chicken

http://www.recipe.com/oven-fried-parmesan-chicken/  (I lied, I haven't tried this one, but it looks good)

Spicy Chicken Romano Pasta

Well craptastic - I would give you this recipe, but my Pinterest link disappeared it, and it doesn't seem to work from the main page of that blog either any more.  So I guess I will have to just do my best at attempting to make it (Its only been like 2 years...).  I know there was Bowtie Pasta, Mushrooms, Sausage, Chicken, Artichokes, and a Spicy Cheesy Cream Sauce.  That's about all I have to go on though, so we'll see how it turns out...

And if you're lucky, maybe I'll eventually write out recipes for some of the others.  (Recommend not holding your breath for this).

September - by request

Most people are aware by now of how overly prepared and organized I like to be.  This extends into all aspects of my life - and one of the larger areas of concern is dinner plans in our house.  This all started many years ago, yes I have all the back calendars, no I have not gone all the way back to check them all, so I am not sure how many years exactly we are talking about - but it has been longer than we have lived in this house... and started before we got pregnant with Travis.  Anyway, the premise behind all the planning originally was to stop the back and forth every night about what we should eat for dinner, which normally ended in picking something up because no one could make up their mind about it, or in eating the same 3 things all the time.  Also we wanted to make sure that the food which was purchased actually got eaten instead of thrown away.  It is amazing what we used to buy at the grocery store and then never get around to using.

Anyway - since moving to this house I have hosted several neighborhood happy hours, and while here, the ladies have noticed my planning tendencies, and a few of them have asked that I share my menu plans for assistance in them trying to plan their own family meals.  So, that is what I am doing today.  This is the month of September:

I assume everyone can read it - if not, I suppose I could type it out if asked nicely (and bribed with ice cream)

Now, we do not always strictly stick to what is written out on each day - and you can see that there are many days which have a protein but no veggies listed (mostly because I didn't want to keep repeating exactly the same things we have been eating veggie wise, but I had no ideas at the time, so hopefully I'll come up with something later).  Some days I know that we intend to see family, so I block it in, but I am not necessarily sure which day it will be - hence this weekend when I think we are doing Mom and Dad's on Sunday (not Saturday which I originally put) and not sure if Saturday or Monday will be when we see Blake's parents.  However, either way, we plan to spend part of the weekend at each location, so I tried to plan.

Anyway with doing this, it allows me to easily make my grocery list at the beginning of the week and then try to only hit up the store on Mondays to get us through the week and either Thursdays or Fridays to round out the weekend.  Having a set plan makes it easier to only buy what is needed food-wise that week, which cuts down greatly on food wasted because it looked good at the time but then got forgotten about in the back of the refrigerator.  It may not be for everyone, but it sure helps us with variety and knowing what is coming up.

So, if I am staying on top of things, I will try to remember to post October's meals at the end of September or beginning of October.