Thanksgiving

It is Sunday afternoon and I sat down to right this blog without much inspiration. Then I started looking at old blogs and realized how many blogs had pictures of family in them. So I think I am most grateful for family and the fact that we get to see each other so often. Kevin and I just had the conversation last night about how busy we have been. In retrospect, maybe being busy isn't so bad when you get to spend so much time with family. Second I am thankful for the fact that I am almost grumpy about having to spend a Sunday without my husband. He is working today and that doesn't happen very often on Sun afternoon so it makes me realize how thankful I am for the time we do have together. So here are the highlights from thanksgiving. And yes, they include lots of family time together.


We delayed our thanksgiving celebration one day to take in all of the festivities of the ATM vs UT game. It was my 1st time to see the corps march in and pretty impressive I must say.













Then we headed on to the tailgates. Kenzie enjoyed that the most.




The tailgating is where the fun stopped for our family. But we survived and will be back next year.

Then on Friday we celebrated with a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch. This is the boys entertaining themselves before lunch. Who knew that a glass door was so funny.


Uncle Father Jim got to join us for our thanksgiving festivities. What a treat!!

We continued with DJ's birthday celebration. He really enjoyed the cake.

Now it is on to getting ready for Christmas. We will do Christmas with the Ellis's already next weekend so it is here quick. Here we are decorating our Christmas tree. Klayton was a huge help and as usual Kenzie just slept.

Kenzie at 2 months

I think I will devote this blog to our ever-growing little girl. The 1st 2 months have flown by (like that is some major news flash) and we are starting to settle back in. I went back to work this week although I am definitely going slow and not quite working full time. It makes it much easier to go back to work knowing that Kenzie is at home with Grandma. It is also a huge plus not to get everyone ready and out the door in the morning. That is definitely a task so a huge kuddos to everyone who does that on a regular basis. Kenzie is doing really great and is a pretty calm baby for the most part. She cries when she is hungry or sleepy but I do believe they are supposed to do that. Here is a list of her latest statistics and I have to say I am quite pleased and a proud little mommy.

• she now weighs 11lbs 5 oz (no more newborn clothes that is for sure)
• she is settling into a schedule with 2 long naps and lots of cat naps - (until she got a sore bottom and cried for like a whole day)
• she slept through the night 3 nights in a row
• she is smiling like crazy
• she is tracking toys with her eyes
• She can lift her shoulders up when she is lying on her tummy

And of course what everyone wants to see; the pictures.

Rumor on the street is that she is starting to look like Klayton so here she is and then a similar picture of Klayton. What do you think?

OK so here are the rest of the Halloween highlights. Kevin dressed up again to go trick or treating and again I say very scary.
Mel and Deuce were just too festive


My pirate posing by the pumpkins.

Then on Saturday Kevin threw me a wonderful 30th b-day party with lots of family, food, and dominoes. What could be better.

Here is Klayton coloring with Grandpa

I only managed one picture of Klayton playing with Anneliese but he had fun playing with all of the kiddos. Thanks to everyone for a wonderful party.

Halloween and Birthday

Our Halloween celebrations started at the club. Kevin's golf course does a kids night and Halloween celebration every year. This year they convinced Kevin do put together a hay ride and of course that meant a story to go with the hay ride. He was definitely the hit of the evening but a little scary to Klayton and me.

Klayton got to be pretty good at the throwing games after the initial shock of all the costsumes.

Then as most of you know I had quite the surprise for my 30th b-day. My sisters both flew in and took me shopping for the day. Jennifer and Tammy thanks for joining us as well. I am pretty sure my wonderful husband had to do some major planning to make all of this work but it was quite fun. I also got a new camera and am still learning so don't have the best pictures from that day but hopefully somebody will share.

On to Halloween day and more fun. Laura and Tyler came to go trick or treating and since Mel was still in town DJ got to take part in a few of the festivities as well.

OK I give up. I can't figure my camera out and y'all should at least see a few pictures of my cute little pirate so I will post without completing. More to come...

Ellis Visit and Pumpkin Patch

Football season means we get to see the Ellis's even more. They drove in on Friday for the UT game and the boys had plenty of time to play together. Our 1st stop was breakfast where we quickly learned that 3 year olds should not sit next to each other if you are expecting any decent behavior from either of them.

However, after some tricycle time they both calmed down. They played so hard on the tricycles that both of them had bleeding toes and neither one of them said one word about it. Boys will be boys!!!They also spent some time being very sweet to Kenzie. But most fun of the weekend was the new dump truck and front loader that Grandpa and Grandma brought. I think the boys played for a full hour outside with little to no adult interaction. That is a miracle.The project for the weekend was the front porch swing so after it was all done the boys enjoyed climbing on the ladder and Kenzie enjoyed a bottle from Daddy.

During this whole moving process Grandma Chance has stayed with us to help out. This Thursday however, I had the kids by myself and decided to venture out for a pumpkin adventure. Klayton just wanted to run and as usual Kenzie slept through the whole thing. We did manage to take home a few pumpkins and burn off some energy. Now I can officially say fall is here and I love it.

The big move

We have moved with a 4 week old. I think we are crazy. I remember Mom telling the story about nursing Melinda when she was only 2 weeks old while sitting on the floor because they had moved and the furniture wasn't in yet. Believe me I did plenty of nursing on the floor and in closets so I was out of the way of movers or workers this past week. All things considered the move has gone great. Of course it really helps having Kevin's mom around to help with the kiddos or with dinner or whatever. Aunt Marla also chipped in a few days and now we are officially moved and everything except decorations is unpacked. Yeah!! Here are a couple of snaps of the kitchen and living room (obviously before we moved in).

We are really enjoying all the extra space in the new house and of course Kevin is thrilled with his new 15 minute commute and we like having him home much earlier.

Klayton has survived the move with only a few mishaps that may be due in part to being a 3 year old. He tells us daily that he loves his new room or his new house or whatever he decides it is for that day. He is doing good as big brother as well. He likes to help Kenzie lift her head by talking to her while she is lying on her stomach. He also enjoys feeding her (he thinks giving her a pacifier is his way of feeding her.)

Kenzie is now officially one month old. She is growing really fast and even getting some fat rolls on her little legs. We celebrated with Tammy for her birthday and Kenzie got to wear her 1st head band. This girl thing is going to be great fun.

Klayton is Three

Friday was Klayton's birthday and we tried to make it a special day for him. Based on the fact that he stayed up almost 2 hours past him bed time and was still crying that he wanted to play with his new toys I'd say it was a success. Friday morning we had pancakes (his favorite) and went to day care and sent some cupcakes that Klayton had helped make. Then we made spaghetti for supper (again his favorite) and opened presents with Aunt Marla. Unfortunately my camera wasn't working so no pictures.


But 2 weeks ago we had his birthday party while his cousin Austin was in town. This was only a few days after Kenzie was born but luckily I have a wonderful husband and a great sister who did most of the work the day of. It was kind of a quiet birthday party due to the fact that some of our friends were out of town and the hurricane kept away a few cousins. Anneliese was able to join us so 3 kids for a 3 year old birthday party. Sounds perfect to me. Here are the highlights.

all geared up and ready to work

hammering nails

measuring the skyscraper

painting the skyscraper

Backhoe birthday cakes (Austin pointed out that it was missing stabilizer legs so we had to have a last minute addition)

enjoying birthday cake

the truck book from the Noskas

(that is Klayton's new grin)

It was a great party and the kiddos had a blast.

Kenzie DeAnn Chance

She's here and we are all smiles. So far she is sleeping great, eating good, and big brother is a great helper. For those who want to see pictures feel free to scroll down now. This is where the story begins to get lengthy.

I will back up and start on Tues., Sept 9. I went for my normal MD appointment and she said, "I think it is time to jump ship." I have been dealing with dropping platelets for about a month and steroids had kept them at bay for a while. I was a little suprised by this statement and even questioned her saying are you sure everything will go OK. Her statement was "your cervix is an old pro. I think you will do great." I was a little scared but scheduled induction for the following evening. The next morning they called with my platelet count and it was 91 (go time was 100 because below 80 no epidural and that was too scary). Luckily everything was already scheduled so I just finished my work for the day, picked Carrie up from the airport, enjoyed a nice dinner and headed to the hospital. It was an uneventful night with a few contractions but we slept OK. Contractions got a little stronger around 5 and then they told me my platelet count had dropped to 80 and they were unsure about the epidural. They started the pytosin (sp? med for induction) around 7:30 and Wow! Then contractions got strong and in a hurry. Luckily before they got too bad my MD arrived and said the anesthesiologist had agreed to the epidural but I should wait until 4 cm. After an hour I was ready to throw in the towel and they said I could have my epidural. That's right I said one hour of hard labor and I had enough (luckily I was already 7 cm at the end of that). So to all of you women with no epidural, WOW!!!! I was much happier after. Actually 2 hours after having the epidural the nurse checked and say hold on, I'm getting your doctor, don't do anything. Two pushes later Kenzie arrived. I was much more relaxed with this one and the whole process was amazing. I tried to remember everything because I barely remember anything from Klayton. Carrie was able to be by my side for most of it and of course Kevin was wonderful and very excited. So here are the pics.

Kevin holding Kenzie

Kenzie all sprawled out and sleeping

our new family. We are so happy!!

Grandma with baby and Klayton

1st kiss from big brother

in pink and a bow already

coming home.

We tried to come early blaming the hurricane evacuees and I was feeling great but the MD basically said no way.

Uncle Richard entertaining all of the boys (Klayton, Nathan, and Austin)

Klayton and Austin checking on Kenzie

Grandpa and Grandma meeting Kenzie.

Here is my whole family napping. Yes Klayton is pretending but Kenzie and Kevin definitely are out. This baby thing is hard work.

This is Klayton being mommy's helper and "watching Kenzie"

Just chilling!

1st bath. Klayton wanted to wash her feet.

all cozy after bath.

We are all adjusting and enjoying the time with our new addition. Kevin was able to take off from work all week (minus several phone calls). Kenzie is sleeping remarkable. I am almost scared to talk about it because I know it will change but we got 8 hours of sleep last night with only one 30 minute interruption. I'm sure we are in for a change shortly but right now we are just really grateful. Klayton is a great helper and will always get me diapers and wipes and take the dirty diapers out. Every time Kenzie cries he walks up and says, "I know what to do. Shhhh" and puts his finger to his mouth. She seems to like it.

I also have a few pictures of the boy's birthday party we had this weekend but I will save that for another post. Until then I will just enjoy holding my new baby and smiling at my 3 year old and thanking God that we are so blessed.