William Bradley Turns TWO!

Mr. Wills, Master William, Will the Pill, Willy-Boy...We love our William Bradley.

William's birthday fell right before our move to Rexburg, it was so nice to take a break and just enjoy that little boy of ours! 

I love that he just knew it was his special day and he was particularly happy and excited the whole day.

His smile just melts my heart. His favorite color is red (maybe because of his red blankteria?) His Mamaw Brassell got him an Elmo as an early birthday present that he would take eeeeevvveeeryyywheeerree with him. So, it seemed only natural to give him an Elmo cake! He was so excited and by the time we blew out candles there were quite a few finger pokes. It was a banana cake with cream cheese frosting, so yummy!

We went to the zoo and he must have grown since the last time because it seemed like for the first time he could actually see the animals.

He also got to go on a few motorcycle rides with his dad (he LOVES motorcycles.) 

We made sure to visit our friends, the Jensens so he could see Kayden (aka- fight, hug, chase, bite, hug, laugh, jump on the trampoline....we miss that sweet, forgiving boy!) The Jensens got him a Ninja Turtle shirt (that he literally wears every day) some cars, and they hooked me up with a hand-me-down race track that William plays with ALL the time.  

After visiting them, we played outside with the McFarlenes, and their dog, S'mores- whom Wills loves.  Leah made William a puzzle that she painted just for him, it was priceless.

Again, his favorite part of the birthday was the balloons!

Here's to two years to my crazy, stubborn, strong-willed, passionate, particular, high-pain-tolerant, growlly, would-rather-to-be-naked, sweet-loving, sand-playing, innovative, joking, awesome-play-wrestling, big splashing, defending, sweetest kiss giving little boy.

I love you Mr. William,

I love watching you learn and grow and "become" every day. I am excited for the world that you are in it.  You are our wild card child and every gray hair you have given me is totally worth it. I love when you rub my arm and smile and tell me you love me, I love how you are always so concerned about your siblings and I love how you can smell treats from two blocks down- you are my kind of kid! It cracks me up that no matter who it is, as soon as you hear their bath water running, you are stripped down in seconds- yet you hate taking baths on your own.  I admire your determination to do things your own way and once you set your mind to it, you make sure it happens! You are joy and an infinite part of our family.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Master Wills.

Floating Down the River

A few weeks ago, John took the older kids to float the Boise river while I stayed home with Matthew.  It was so much fun getting random text messages, it looked like they had a good time.  They were pirates and explorers and talked about it for days after.

When Mom's Away...River Play

Our favorite park in Boise is DeMeyer Park. It is about a half a mile walk/bike ride and we find ourselves there a few times a week. Well, when I take the kids their leisure is limited to the playground, the swings, and perhaps the ducks if I'm feeling adventurous (William typically falls in the pond...) 

When John takes the kids they tend to have a little more fun.  It is always fun to get pictures like the ones below from John when I am home with Matthew or out running errands. 

He makes life an adventure for those kids. 

When Caity Turned Six--No, SEVEN!

The funniest thing happened with Caity's birthday this year. As soon as she woke up and saw her birthday cake, she exclaimed, "Mom! I'm not six! I'm SEVEN!" Oh my goodness. I totally bought a "6" candle. What? It's like she aged a whole year in two seconds and it felt like someone punched me in the gut. She is growing way, way too fast. I love that girl.

She was up early and her and I went to Albertsons to pick out some donuts (and get a new candle) for breakfast. She was so happy and talkative, a few workers sang her "Happy Birthday" and one sang, "Happy Birthday to you, you're 102!" She thought that was a hoot and basically told everyone all day long. 

For class, she chose to bring go-gurts. I made her a special lunch with all sorts of Hello Kitty stuff (kitty shaped- sandwich, fruit snacks, drink) and everything was wrapped in wrapping paper, even the banana, haha.  It was the first time she wouldn't be home for lunch, and that was just weird and sad, and gosh- does she really have to grow up?

When she got home from school, we rode bikes then went to a friend's community pool, she is trying to learn out to swim.  It was a lot of fun! We went to McDonalds for her traditional happy meal and played on the toy.

When we got home, she felt particularly loved as all our neighbors just showed up for cake and ice-cream! We had the greatest friends and neighbors in Boise! 

Confession: I'm writing this post six months later, but Caity still talks about how fun it was to have all her friends show up, especially the McFarlenes, the Jensens and Devin. She is one lucky girl!

Adrianne and Maddi got Caity a HUGE craft jar, which is so her, and Rowan and Leah got Caity "Descendants" a Disney movie that Caity is currently obsessed with. I don't even remember what I got her...it must have been something special...like really, I can't remember! How embarressing. It was probably a pony or a coloring book or something like that, haha, how funny.

I love that Caity girl.

She is my creative, thoughtful, sincere, literature-loving, conciencous, giggly, striving, spiritually-intune, earnest, late-night talker and reader, best big sister, funny, crafty, helpful, loving little girl.

Happy SEVENTH Birthday Caity Elizabeth!! 

Skinny Dipper Hot Springs

A few days ago, we packed up our kiddos and headed to Skinny Dipper Hot Springs. John has been wanting to take our family for quite some time, and I figured with a name like that it had to be pretty family friendly am I right or have I seen too many naked little bums escape from the bath tub?  The person who told John about it assured us that most people wear swimsuits, for the record- which, if that is the case, why not call it Wear Your Swimsuit Hot Springs? That's what I want to know.  Anyway, John had driven past the hike entrance before and assured me it was only a slight incline...

Turned out, it was A LOT of incline... that John of mine is always optimistic with these sort of things.

Since Matthew was only two weeks old, I was  a little hesitant, but chants from the the people in the back motivated me to make the climb.

We may of had to stop a couple times. It was HOT!

The pictures make everything look dead and brown, but really- it was a breathtaking little hike.

Unfortunately, this was the only picture I got of Skinny Dipper Hot Springs. There were three pools with a waterfall connecting them.  The view from the actual pool was really spectacular, it was kind of like an infinity pool that looked out over mountains of trees.  Although you can control the heat, we didn't know how, luckily a man showed up who considered himself one of "The Guardians" of the hot springs and he told us how to do it. We were too impatient to sit in the heat and wait for the water to cool down, not to mention we were a little nervous to be swimming among one of Skinny Dipper's namesakes, The water was pretty hot and we were hot, so we just chalked it up as another ill fated adventure in our books and descended back down the mountain, still grateful for the experience we did have together.

On the way home we stopped by a little corner store for some huckleberry ice-cream, I love Idaho summers!

Our Newest Addition: Matthew Hinckley Brassell

I am so excited to introduce the newest Brassell at our house:

Matthew Hinckley Brassell

Born on July 12, 2015 at 10:20 AM

Weight: 9 pounds 15 ounces

Height: 23 3/4 inches

It has been a special two weeks as we have gotten to know him and after what felt like the longest pregnancy of my life, it took about a half a second of seeing that boy for me to think, "I would do it all again." It was love at first sight.

...and second sight...

and third sight...and every "sight" thereafter. 

Here is a picture of me on my due date (July 5) that I sent out to family:

LABOR

Look at me, defying gravity! That poor size XL maternity shirt was pulled to full stretch capacity. Was I uncomfortable? Let's just say the nurse didn't have to tell me Matthew's weight twice, he let me know on an hourly basis how crammed he was in there.

My doctor didn't think I would go into labor until the 15th at the earliest and so I tried to be patient and optimistic.  At the same time, every day I could feel my body getting closer and closer and some mornings I would wake up surprised I wasn't in labor! 

The night before Matthew was born, I walked around my neighborhood talking to a friend on the phone and was stopped by four neighbors who exclaimed, "No baby yet!?" No, not yet. John was fixing up his motorcycle and he finally got it running, (yay!) Our neighbor kept an eye on the kids while John took me for a little ride around the block, it was pretty exciting. Perhaps that is what got the ball rolling? I'm sure John is convinced of that!

We finally climbed in bed at midnight exhausted, and John said, "OK, as long as you don't have the baby tonight, I'm good." 

Sounded reasonable to me. Our current estimate was that the baby would come Sunday afternoon.

Well, twenty minutes later, my water broke!

"Oh no." I said. I heard John's breathing stop, but I think he figured if he just ignored me, it would mean that it didn't happen. Haha. 

Of course, this was the one night I was not prepared to go to the hospital, so I got up in a mad frenzy packing bags for the kids with contractions occurring every two minutes about 45 seconds long. 

John was pretty certain he didn't want to deliver the baby at home, so he made me put away my OCD and just get in the suburban so he could speed us to the hospital.  We met up with my Aunt who took the kids, and I was whisked away to the labor unit, only for my contractions to slow down. Of course. 

We were able to see our friend Whitney who is a nurse, which was fun! 

I walked around for about thirty minutes and contractions got stronger and closer together.  John kept making me laugh, which made the process even harder! But good memories.

Since my doctor was out of town, I was assigned the on call doctor, who assigned a resident to deliver my baby. This made me a little nervous because I was such a high risk pregnancy having had two c-sections in the past, and the resident had only graduated a month earlier, also he was really strange. There, I said it. He was out there, and I was hoping he wouldn't be the one delivering my baby.

I was measuring at a seven and it had only been a couple hours.  Luckily contractions basically stopped for a couple hours and I made it to the next shift, and was given Dr. West. Who is my hero, what an awesome doctor. 

Around 8:00am, it was time to get the show on the road and at that point I was ready to die, little did I know I had a ten pound baby to deliver. 

Was it the most painful thing I have ever experienced? Why yes, it was. 

With that said, I am beyond grateful for a skilled doctor who was able to get the chord unwrapped, face the baby the right way, and minimize tearing.  It could have been so much worse.  It took a solid two hours of pushing to get that little man out!  There was a lot of work with each contraction to ensure Matthew came out the safest way possible.  Right before his debut, I could feel how big he was and I thought, "Oh dear, there is now way." But made it he did, and I was darn proud of myself. I am so glad John was there, on account of he was my rock. Labor and delivery is definitely a team sport for us in that regard.

As soon as we saw him, John and I looked at eachother and said, "William!"  We could tell instantly he was ours- he had "the look." haha.  As time has passed I see more of Johnny, but either way, it sure is fun to see the other kids' characteristics in Matthew's face.

AFTER BIRTH

Oh, we were so happy!

Everything just went perfectly, and I was so grateful.

John didn't tell his family we were hospital bound, so when he sent a picture of us and the baby, they didn't believe it was real for three hours, they thought it was an old picture! I thought it was funny.

His head was too big for the hat, haha, he was a little gnome baby!

First bath

MEETING THE SIBLINGS

The kids were so excited to meet their new baby brother.  I have to admit, having them around throughout the pregnancy, sure made it all more exciting.

Johnny was the most impatient to hold his brother, but as soon as he held him- he was done and quickly lost interest. He spent most of the visit exploring nooks and crannies of the hospital room. He loves watching Matthew but for the most part, let's Caity do the holding.

As you can imagine the little mother in Caity enjoyed staying as close to the baby as she possibly could. She has been quite the helper since I have been home and loves helping out with her brother.

William was the one I was most nervous about, but it was love at first sight. "Bebe! Bebe!" William just kept rubbing Matthew's head and body and smiled so big. He really just loves that baby boy.

The four kids together.

This is the only picture I have of my mom holding Matthew. And it's blurry, go figure. It was so nice to have her here for a few days!

It was exciting taking Matthew home. The kids decorated the house with "Welcome Home" banners and it was a lot of fun. 

So grateful for this little bundle of heaven we get to call ours!