Nixon's Hernia Surgery

Poor little Nixon had to go in for hernia surgery back in November and we were very blessed that everything turned out good. His surgery was scheduled for 10:50am but we had to arrive at 8:45am and he wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything since the night before. I was thinking ya right, he is going to be starving. Jeremy gave him a blessing before we left for the hospital and we were thankful that he wasn't asking for something to eat every 5 minutes like he does at home. He did really well and we tried to keep him occupied with games or movies on our phone, but 10:50 came and went and they were really behind and at about 11:50 he began to get very upset, he was hungry and bored and well so was I. We finally made it into surgery at 12:40 and he was beyond ready to go, they had me take him into the surgery room, thank goodness, because he would have lost it if they would have taken him from me. I walked into a very shiny and clean room with bright lights and surgeons and nurses waiting, it was kind of scary, I really didn't want to leave him. I set him on the bed while they put him to sleep, Nixon was holding my arms for dear life and I couldn't help but tear up as his eyes rolled back and he fell asleep. Then the surgeon said, we'll take good care of him and asked me to leave. It was really hard, I mean trusting someone to take good care of your baby and hope that all goes well and you will see him awake shortly. I don't know how I was expecting to feel, but I was upset and praying that he would be okay. Soon enough the Doctor came out and said everything had gone very well, the surgery usually takes an hour so and he was out talking with us in less than a 1/2hr.. he said he had never had a hernia surgery go so perfectly, usually it takes a while to find the canal to close off, but it was right there when he made the incision, we were really blessed and very happy!
Then we got to see our Nixon and boy was he NOT happy, he was very scared and was crying uncontrollably for a while, he hated having the IV in his arm. Let's just say it was a very long day, we didn't leave the hospital until 4:00pm and then we stayed overnight in Calgary again. But seriously Nixon was back to himself in no time, only hours after his surgery he was jumping from bed to bed and we had to keep telling him not to be so wild because he could tear his stitches.
But that's Nixon for ya, he was a champ!

right before heading into surgery, 
and seriously whats with the pants? I just kept on thinking of the little kids in the jewish camps, even though they wore blue stripes, it made me sad :(

Homeowners..

We are now the proud owners of a home. Yes, a home. My grandma's house that we have been renting for the last 1.5 years to be exact.

The old, but cozy 3 bedroom bungalow style house, with lovely pink carpets, floral wallpaper border, white lace curtains, accordian style laundry door, country style light fixtures, and handicap handles in the bathrooms, actually surprisingly we use these quite often, especially when I was hugely prego trying to get out of the tub, haha and much more, aren't you jealous?? - you should be!
The house that is right across from the school, and right behind the church (I know I mention this often but it seriously has to be said again and possibly again if needed.)
The house that has the best little cul-de-sac filled with little boys, riding bikes, playing b-ball and street hockey.
The house that lives just down the street from Nana and Papa and cousins.
And yes the house that needs a lot of love..and really the house that will be our home, the house that we will fix up and live in for 3 years or so or maybe longer you never know. 

When we first started ripping the wallpaper off I thought what have I gotten myself into...especially after just having a baby, it was taking forever.. maybe we should have just bought a NEW house, but as much as I want a brand new house, (really BAD) its just not the right time for us. this feels right.

We have already ripped all the wallpaper off in the two living rooms and in the kitchen, my boys have been great helpers too. And of course my mom has been there to help A LOT, its bad enough taking off wallpaper, but with three little kids it takes a lot more time. Jeremy took out the old over-grown horse-shoe pits out back and my Dad and brother Chad already drywalled two of the walls that needed it, so now I am trying to decide on paint colours, flooring and carpet. If I could only make a decision, this week for sure. I want the walls painted and the floors done before christmas.. so I better decide. It will be slow work in progress since we can't afford to do it all at once, but soon it will start to come together.

and hopefully, just hopefully I will get my dishwasher after all.  :)
a kinda of half picture of the house.

Were ALL about CASH!

Cash is over 2 months now, not quite 10 weeks and I can't believe how fast he is changing. He is growing so much, most of his 0-3 month clothes are snug now and it makes me sad. His last doctor appt he was in the 95% for both height and weight, just like my other boys, we sure now how to grow them! He is also smiling SO much all the time and sleeping pretty good at night, usually I am up once. He is such a good baby, I seriously LOVE having a baby in the house again, someone to cuddle and hold and another little person to love unconditionally. I forgot how amazingly good it felt and how I am defiantly not done having kids, if anything having another baby has made me realize how fast time flies and how much they grow. It's weird most people have their third baby and think man this is so busy and kinda crazy, and even though I feel that way, I think Heavenly Father has planted a strong feeling in me that I will have two more kids, I always knew I would have four, but it just feels right to want two more.. I know, I know, I just had a baby slow down, we will see though, maybe after the forth I will rethink this.. haha.
Here are some pics over the last few months of Cash, I can't believe how much he's changed.

Cash at 10 days old

Cash at 2 weeks

almost 1 month

Cash 1 month old

Cash at 5 weeks

Cash at 5 weeks

Cash at 6 weeks

Cash at 7 weeks

Bathtime, Almost 2 months

Oh and a cute story I wanted to remember, my niece Addie (4yr) was asking her older sister Emily (9yr) what Aunt Rachelle and Uncle Jeremy's new baby was called... Emily thought for a moment and than said"Change". Her dad laughed and said "No, his name is Cash". "Oh, Emily said I knew it had something to do with money". haha I thought that was really cute.

It was also Cash's baby blessing a few weeks ago. He was about 7 weeks old. Jeremy gave such an amazing blessing, and we had all the Coopers and Hansens at the church for a little gathering. We are just so truly blessed to have most of our family live so close and were able to come. 

I had a few pics taken with Cash outside the church, since I had no pictures with him and his momma.

And this was his birth announcement..

We love you sweet Cash, your sweet smiling face makes us oh so happy!

Halloween!!

Well its that time of year again and we love halloween at our place. We try to make occasions like halloween special and we love decorating and getting our yard ready for fall and halloween and we love to dress up too! Elias wanted to be a Ninja yet again for the second year in a row but this time so did Nixon so they got matching ninja costumes and if you can't tell by the pictures they were really excited. I told Jeremy he should dress up too and so he found a cheap sweet costume to go with the boys and it was a hit, the boys especially Elias was so excited!! I can just see the pictures of my 3 ninjas in a wedding slideshow..haha. They had so much fun posing for all the pictures and had a blast trick or treating, and they got loads of treats. My little Cash didn't dress up, just a cute halloween shirt from his Aunt Ashley and he got to hang out with mom while I handed out candy to at least 100 kids. We also did the traditional carving pumpkins and Jeremy took the boys out to help him rake all the leaves and they had a lot of fun jumping in the huge pile.

My sweet Cash, I can't believe he is 2 months old. and we might need to retire his little toque..boo.

My 3 ninjas, I love Elias' poses, he is so into it, haha!

My boys, Elias almost 5yrs and Nixon 2.5yrs.

Look at all that candy, and whats with all the chips?? seriously is that the new trend.

having fun in the leaves...

Updates Elias & Nixon

I've been so behind on everything lately, I guess that's what happens when you have your 3rd baby and so here is an update for my big boys. Elias started Kindergarten, and so far its been great! Elias has been such a BIG help to me, truly he is such a sweet boy and for the most part plays nicely with Nixon and helps mom with Cash. He does like to tease Nixon a lot as well, but I need to constantly remind myself that yes he is only 4, even though he tells everyone that he is 5 and has for the past couple months. Since he is one of the youngest in his class, (doesn't turn 5 until November) and most of the kids are 5 he thinks he is as well. He sure looks like he is 5 or 6 even. But as much as he wants to be older, and as much as I love having him go to Kindergarten 2 full days a week, it was hard letting him go, unlike him I am not in a hurry for him to be older. Kindergarten so far has been great for him and for me. He loves school and mostly just loves hanging out with his little friends, he barely wants to come home after a long day at school and is always asking to play with a friend. He loves learning as well, even though he doesn't have much to say about it, he enjoys it. It works out good for me too, since I don't get much sleep around here, its nice to be able to have a nap or run to Lethbridge with only 2 kids. What else is new with Elias, well he started skating again this year, he is getting much better and he can now skate across the rink, but he's still a little slow. He also started "Small Ball" here in Barnwell and loves it. what little boy doesn't like basketball? He loves playing with his legos, action figures, army stuff, castles and can play for hours by himself. He doesn't like Nixon in his room when he is playing and always has the door shut. Nixon can get very upset, but despite that they do play good together, the wrestling can sometimes get out of hand too, but for the most part there good little buddies.

1st Day of Kindergarten

off to school..(this is taken from my front yard, the perks of living across from the school). 

Terry Fox Run, he was pretty excited about running in another so-called race.

Elias and his buddy Benson, matching shirts are cool.

Such a good big brother with Cash.

Nixon is our little clumsy guy.. he is always getting hurt, whether its from being too brave and jumping off of something or from just falling down. Seriously he trips and falls into things all the time, he constantly has bruises. He's already burned his hand and foot and gotten stitches on his chin from slipping at the pool. So last week we were at Costco and I had him buckled in the seat, but then I had to move him because I had no room for groceries because the carseat was taking up the whole cart, plus really once you get more than one kid it gets hard grocery shopping and someone has to sit in the cart. anyways, so I moved him to the inside of the cart and he is usually really good at sitting down, but just went he stood up I jerked the cart to get something I saw at the last minute and out he went right on top of his head on the concrete floor, the noise from his head hitting the ground was so loud, I thought when I went to pick him up he would be gushing blood or unconscious. I was really scared, and his head instantly had a HUGE goose egg and his eye was swollen. There were lots of people that stopped to ask for help and one guy went to get the first aid person. I was feeling soooooo guilty, just then Jeremy came back from the bathroom with Elias and was wondering what was with all the commotion .. the first aid guy checked him out and told us to take him to emergency, so we took him but there was a 3 or 4 hour wait, so we left and monitored him. I was worried he was going to be retarded or something, but an hour after being home he was jumping off the couches and running around. I am really mad I didn't get a picture of him, the few days after he fell he looked horrible. A HUGE goose egg and swollen bruise on his head and a really black and swollen eye. I guess I was feeling so bad about it that I didn't want a picture, but then a lot of people were telling me how their kids have fallen out of shopping carts and then I wasn't feeling quite as bad, really is it that common, this was a first for me. 

Hopefully he will start to slow down, but with Jeremy as his father who knows, at least he hasn't knocked out his teeth like his Dad did twice before he was five.

Here are just a few pics of him in the last year, burned his foot and hand on separate occasions.

Besides all that Nixon is growing like a weed, he is not so little anymore, its funny how little you think they look until you have a new baby. He is becoming such a big boy and soon we will jump on the potty training wagon. He loves his baby Cash a lot and tries to snuggle him and loves giving him his soother. He climbs out of his crib and comes and wakes us up bright and early every morning. He's really into the colour pink, its his new thing - cups, plates whatever. He loves going on little errands trips with Daddy, that ones of his favourite things. He especially loves playing hockey and throwing anything, it seems like someone is always getting hit by something from Nixon and he LOVES jumping off anything and wrestling with Elias. They are constantly jumping and rolling, and giggling, and punching and kicking and having a grand old time until someone get hurts..thats my life with Boys! Watch out Cash :)

Nixon and Daddy just before heading to church, love this.

Cash's photoshoot

So I decided I better post some newborn photos of my precious Cash. I posted some on facebook a while back so they might be old news to some. Cash was only a week old here, and so small. My boys did so good, trying to get a picture with the three of them was a challenge but they were such big boys and Very patient with me, I was doing it all by myself so that was a challenge too, trying to get them all to sit and take the pictures.. anyhow I am so happy how many turned out good. I edited these ones with in the first week after taking them and then lost motivation to do the rest, maybe soon, if I ever find the time.  Anyways things are good around here, I love having a baby around again, I forgot how much I missed that.. soon to come- Updates on Elias, Nixon and our growing little Cash.

Color or BW, love them both. 

My beautiful blue-eyed boys, Elias and Nixon look so old now sitting next to Cash.