Abby Starts Pre K (September 6)

This year Abby started Pre K at Pioneer Park Preschool. She will go Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9-11:30. She was very excited to start and thought it was pretty unfair that her brothers have been in school for 3 weeks now. She will have the same teachers as she had last year so this year wasn't a big adjustment.

Her and her owl backpack.

She was in a huge hurry to get into her classroom.

Running down the path.

Sitting on the buffalo chair.

2 of her 3 teachers. Diane and Sueann. We have now had children in their preschool the last 5 years. They seem like family.

Abby was excited to see that a couple of the same girls from last year were in her class again this year. However, Penny, Abby's best friend from last year isn't going this year.

Now what am I going to do with my 2 1/2 hours 3 days a week to myself???

I wasn't to sad to see her go to Pre K but my guess is that I will be teary when I have to send her off to Kindergarten.

10 Year Anniversary

This September we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe that we have been together that long. It makes me feel old! We started dating our junior year of high school and have been together since. We have went through a long distance relationship during college, being dirt poor when we got married during college, the journey of purchasing our first dog then car together and then our first house. The coming years brought the ups and downs of fertility treatments as we desperately tried to start a family, and then the birth Bryce and Caleb who forever changed our lives. We have supported each other through new jobs and the general ups and downs of life. Next came Abby who added a whole new dynamic to our family. We have now navigated daycare issues, medical problems, and our kids starting school. Together we have figured out a way through things. Our lives will continue to change as we get ready to welcome a 4th baby to our family and continue this crazy journey together. I couldn't have done any of this without him and am lucky to have someone who balances me out so well. Happy Anniversary Robb! I can't wait to see what life will throw at us next.

 

Us now

Homecoming our Junior Year of High School

Looking back at when we started dating and decided to get married at an early age, we wonder how our parents felt about our relationship. When we have asked them, they say that they weren't worried. As Robb and I think about our kids finding the person that they will spend the rest of their life with at the age of 17, it terrifies us. I guess you just know when its the person you are suppose to be with forever.

 

Our wedding day. September 6, 2003

Our wedding party

HOT HOT HOT (end of August)

Of course, now that school is in full swing and all the pools are closed we get our true Nebraska summer weather. 100+ degrees for an entire week. We needed to find some to find some water to play in to make things bearable. Luckily the spray ground was still open.

For once the freezing water was a welcome relief to the heat!

Dad is in Trouble!

The first time Abby and I went shopping after we found out we were having a girl, she went a little crazy. She wanted to know what size to look for and after I showed her that all bets were off. She had about 30 things in our cart. Everything that was pink, had an animal or was cute, Her baby needed!

After she had tried to put sippy cups in the cart and princess underwear along with all the sleepers and onesies and socks I told her we needed to pace ourselves since we have 6 months of shopping left.

 

Lancaster County Fair

We didn't get to make it to the Madison County Fair this year and I was missing the fact that I didn't get to go to a fair at all. Robb is not a fair going person but luckily he does have a sense of humor and was willing to go to the fair and help me wrangle all 3 kids. We went to the petting zoo and saw a few of the animals that were suffering through the heat.

 

The boys had to stand on the big combine. Green of course the only Real tractors (right Grandpa Jim). Grandpa Jim later told us that those combines new are about 600,000 dollars. Wow!

Abby thought it was a good idea until she got up that high and was then a little scared.

We watched the pig races. Abby picked the pink one of course and it was the one that won.

The alligator wrestler was the real reason we had went to the fair. The boys have been really into watching Animal Planet's swamp masters and alligator shows so we figured that this would be right up their alley. To make things even better it was a free show. The guy talked about where he got his alligators that he wrestled and he also gave everyone a little informational talk. Of course there was a little alligator wrestling too. The kids thought it was pretty cool.

The kids got the chance to pet a small alligator.

Before we left we decided to let the kids each pick one carnival ride to go on. Abby picked the carousel and was the only one still smiling when we left.

The boys picked a mini roller coaster that I thought was a good pick. Their faces during the ride said it all. Bryce looked a little sick and Caleb looked like he was going to cry. Poor guys! When they got off they were both sad that they used their one ticket on a ride that they hated. This made me think that we need at least another 1-2 years before we do Disney.

Gender Reveal

I wanted to do something fun to include the kids when we found out the gender of the baby but them going to the ultrasound at the specialists office was out of the question. The appointments always took a long time and then the Dr would talk to us at length about the findings. Instead of having them go with us I came up with the idea of doing gender reveal cupcakes. A lady that was in my moms group last year does cakes so I asked her to help us out. The plan was that Robb and I wouldn't find out at the ultrasound either, that way we could all find out as a family. The ultrasound tech was just going to write boy or girl on the picture and put it in an envelope. I was then going to just give her that to make our cupcakes.

Robb kinda ruined my master plan by watching the ultrasound screen when the doctor was reviewing the pictures and saw the picture that the tech had wrote the gender on. Oh well the kids and I were still going to all find out together and I assured Robb that I already knew that we were having a boy anyway.

 

Abby was super excited. She wore her Big Sis shirt for the occasion.

 

I was SO excited to get some cute pictures and I had this gender reveal all built up in my head that it was going to be fun for everyone. Well it didn't quite turn out how I wanted but I have a good story...I guess.

The first BITE......

Abby showing the color she found in her cupcake.

PINK!

 We are excited to announce that we are going to have a little GIRL!

Bryce and Caleb's face says it all.

An then the melt down. Bryce cried when he found out he was going to have another sister. Caleb eventually ran upstairs and yelled "Girls always get their way!"

The boys were too upset to finish their cupcakes and Abby was grinning ear to ear with pink cupcake all over her. She told her brothers that she would be happy to eat their cupcakes too.

I was completely surprised. I guess my guessing doesn't count for much since I am pretty much always wrong. It just made sense to me that this one would be a boy. I was sick with the boys but there was 2 of them. I was horribly sick with Abby so in my head I was about as sick as I should be for having 1 boy. Guess I was wrong. I was very excited about a girl! Girl clothes are super fun to buy and I have a special bond with my sister that I always wanted Abby to experience. We may have almost fought to the death during our teen years over clothes but now we are best friends.

 

Baby #4 (August 15)

I am getting bigger all the time and we still hadn't really made the big announcement yet. My pregnancies are usually complicated by me being incredible sick so this has been nice that I am not so sick and I haven't had to do IV fluids at home. I have still been sick and most mornings start with me throwing up but it passes pretty quick. Most of the cooking falls to Robb though since the sight of meat can put me in bed for the rest of the day.
Of course things can't be that easy for me this time and we got some news not long after we found out we were pregnant that threw us for a loop. My antibody titer (a screening they do on every pregnant woman) came back as positive for anti K or the Kell antigen. Even as a Nicu nurse I didn't really know what this meant. It is fairly rare and we don't see very many cases. When I researched online all the information was terrifying! (I know online research is the worst!) What it came down to was that my body could attack the baby and cause the baby to be severely anemic. We ended up having to see the Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist to find out what we needed to do to keep this baby healthy. We went to Dr Smith and I was really impressed with him. We walked out of the office knowing more about anti K than we would ever need to know. He gave us the best and worst situations and then we just had to wait. Best scenario: Robb tested negative for the anti K antigen and that means that I got it from the 2 blood transfusions that I received after the boys were born. (This never crossed my mind that I would be the 1-2% that would end up getting this from transfused blood but I guess someone has to be in that percent.) If I had gotten it from transfused blood they would watch my titer levels close but it would probably never be and issue. Worst scenario: Robb would test positive to also being a carrier of anti K and we would have to start doing weekly ultrasounds at 18 weeks that measured blood flow to the baby's brain. At this point they would be able to tell when the baby was too anemic and our options would be to do a blood transfusion in-utero(dangerous) or deliver a possibly very preterm to preterm baby (scary). Thankfully Robb tested negative for the Kell antibody like the doctor expected him too, so things were looking up. We did see the specialist a couple more times just to follow up and by 18 weeks he had discharged us from his care and I will just follow up with my regular OB doctor. I guess if I had to pick something good that came out of all of this stress it was getting a couple more ultrasounds. My regular OB is now considering this a very normal pregnancy so I get 2 ultrasounds like the rest of the world instead of one every time like I got with the boys and Abby. At our 14 week appointment we were able to find out the gender of our little one. I always love that ultrasound!!!

First Day of First Grade (August 13)

 

It is hard to believe that my little boys will be starting 1st grade this year. They weren't particularly ready to go back to school yet. They just enjoy their summers too much!

Bryce looking handsome and ready for the first grade.

 

Caleb looking good but a little nervous for his first day.

Where did my babies go!?

Bryce and  Caleb waiting for Mrs. Williams in the gym on the first day.

This year the first day went much smoother! No tears the first day at least!

The report after the end of the first day was: that it was okay but the first grade room doesn't have toys like kindergarten and they don't get free time. They were also appalled to find out that they would have homework everyday. They liked having their buddy Ethan in the class but Bryce was sad that Caleb got to sit by him and he didn't. They liked their teacher but missed having time to play outside. Poor boys. I feel bad that they have to go back to school so early in the fall. It is still beautiful out and I don't blame them for feeling like they are missing out.

Meet and Greet Night at School for Bryce and Caleb

Roper had their meet and greet night the night before school started. I wish that they would have done this earlier in the week because I feel like it just made the boys more nervous. Their teacher seemed really nice and they found where they would be sitting. We also got the giant pack of paper to fill out in duplicate. This is Bryce's spot.

Bryce looking a little ill at ease about going back to school.

Caleb was excited to see that he was sitting next to his friend Ethan.

Caleb looks pretty excited. He was happy to see that each person had a little container filled with all their school supplies.

BBQ with friends

The weekend before school started we had Jenny, Bob and their family over for a  BBQ. Our kids have gotten pretty close and it is always fun to hang out with them. To make things even more fun, Jenny and Bob are expecting their 3rd in December so I am sure our new babies will also grow up together. Jenny and I have been friends since preschool so it has been fun to reconnect as adults!

The kids didn't care about the yummy supper they were all excited for smores and a fire.

Abby and Ainsley eating smores.

Bryce (looking like quite the stud) cooking his marshmallows.

Caleb just chillin cooking his marshmallow.