A Construction Birthday Party!

On March 7th we had a "Construction Birthday Party" for the boys. We were celebrating Krue's 5th and Kiefer's 3rd birthdays. It was such a fun party! We tried to set a "summer mood" by grilling hot dogs and hamburgers & making a summer salad. The boys had so much fun opening presents... and the weather was so nice that we were able to go outside and try out some of their fun toys! Everyone enjoyed being outside and goofing around. Krue and Kiefer loved it when everyone sang "happy birthday" to them and then blowing out their candles. We invited some of their Auburn friends over (Lauren & Graham Blythe, Ian & Anna Heath, Livia and Reece Lindblom, and, of course, Ella and Parker Nagel) for cake and ice cream and games. It was a big day... but one to remember! Enjoy the pictures ~ slide show style.

(There are two slide shows. You can click on each picture to get a closer view. It may take a little time for the pictures to download.)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook Make a Smilebox scrapbook

A First Glimpse of Nagel Baby #3...

No, we aren't having twins : ) There are just two pictures of the baby's profile on one sheet.

The ultrasound went great today! Everything looks really good... baby's heart, structures, head... perfect! The ultrasound showed that the baby is using my entire uterus as he/she grows (Yay!) and the placenta has implanted on the top of my uterus. All of this is good! The baby was folded in half during the ultrasound... head, feet, and hands were right by each other at the top of my uterus and then butt was down. Since I am only 25 weeks, the baby has plenty of time to move and rotate into a better position. It was pretty cute to see him/her in this position, though.

Lee, Krue, and Kiefer accompanied me to my ultrasound. They thought it was pretty cool! Lee was trying hard to see if he could sneak a peek to find out the sex of the baby... he didn't see a thing (the ultrasound tech was very good at keeping this from us) . Kiefer thought the gel was the coolest thing about the ultrasound (he had a hard time picking out the features of the baby on the monitor) and Krue had a ball pointing out the baby's face and heart every time they would pop up. It was fun having all of them there.

Mother's thoughts on the ultrasound: I immediately thought boy (although I think all ultrasounds like this make the baby look like a boy) and the baby definitely has Krue's profile and nose.

What do you think?

6 Months!

4 Months and 5 Months

6 Months

I am definitely getting bigger and bigger! The baby is moving all the time and the movements are getting stronger every day. I feel the movements all over, not just on one side like I did with Krue and Kiefer. That is such a relief for me! I have been feeling really good... oh, I have the aches and pains that go along with pregnancy... but I can't complain. It hasn't been bad at all. We leave for Florida this Saturday, so this is what I am going to be looking like in a swim suit. How lovely! I am looking forward to the sunshine and family time.

Lee, the boys, and I are going in tomorrow for an ultrasound! I'll try and post some pictures on the blog if we get any good ones. Please pray that my body is cooperating and the baby is healthy and growing happily.

Bradley Reunion ~ Year #1

Last night I hosted a "Bradley Reunion" at my house for all of the couples that went through my Bradley classes last year. They brought their babies and we shared birth stories, helpful hints, and enjoyed mingling and eating appetizers. It was fun!

I tell you what... It was such a cool feeling for me to look around the room and see all of those beautiful babies and couples and know that I made some type of a difference in their lives. That is all I want to do with these classes.... educate and make a positive difference in people's lives. These classes have also helped some of the mom's connect, become friends, and gain new resources. They have helped dad's feel comfortable with pregnancy, labor, delivery, and beyond. My favorite part was going to the hospital after each birth and sharing in the excitement of the new arrival. I feel blessed to have been a part of these things!

It was also a strange feeling to look around the room and to know that I am the only pregnant one now and everyone else is not! Ha... what a change :)

Here are some pictures of each of my couples and their Bradley Babies. I hope to remain in touch and with all of them because I got pretty close with them throughout our 12-week courses. These pictures are in order of their births...

Tim, Joanna, and Dalton Liberty

Joe, Sarah, and Tyler Gearhart



No Picture


Glenn, LeeAnn, and Joy Williams
(Moved to Florida so they could not make the reunion)


Jon, Julie, and Riley Isbell

Jason, Erica, and Josiah Bell

Amy, Rich, and Adalyn Vail

Scott, Sarah, McKenzie, and Morghan Archer

Cheers! To last year's amazing Bradley Births... and to this year's group of Bradley Births. What a fun job!

Krue is 5 Years Old!

Birthday presents from Mom, Dad, & Kiefer
A race track from "Cars"!

The car Krue chose for not sucking his thumb. (See Below)

A really cool new Big Wheel that "I can spin out on!"

It is so hard to believe that our first born is already 5 years old! People tell me all the time... enjoy every moment because it will go so fast. This couldn't be more true. I mean, we only have 13 more years with him and then he will be off to college! Now that is weird.

Krue has been getting geared up for Kindergarten. He talks about riding the yellow school bus with Lauren and playing on the playground all the time! He will be going to JR Watson Elementary this fall.

We look forward to this year with Krue because it will be filled with lots of activities and excitement. Krue will continue to do taekwondo throughout the year... along with t-ball in the summer, football in the fall, and basketball in the winter. He is really excited about being in these sports! I think Lee is going to try and coach a couple of them. Kiefer would love to try these sports with his brother, but must wait until he is five :(

For the past couple of months, Krue has been telling us that he is going to stop sucking his thumb when he turns five. Lee and I ran with this goal he set for himself. My mom gave us the brilliant idea of buying a bunch of matchbox cars, putting them in a place that he could not reach them, and then telling him that if he didn't suck his thumb for an entire day then he could choose one car from the bag. Well, this sounded like it was right up Krue's alley. He is sooo into the movie "Cars" right now so I bought him about 12 of the little cars from the movie. I showed him all of the cars and then put them on top of the fridge. We stuck a band aid on his thumb to help remind him not to suck on it. This worked beautifully! He has gone an entire week now without sucking his thumb (even at night)! He looks forward to picking out a new car everyday and is so proud of himself for keeping his thumb out of his mouth. Yay! This is such a relief for Lee and I because he has already done some damage to his upper front teeth. We wanted to get him to kick this habit before he got his permanent teeth... and it looks like he did.

Here are some fun facts about Krue at the age of 5:

Personality

Krue is quite the character at this age. He is starting to test his boundaries, emotions, and humor (good and bad). His teachers describe him as, "A goofball... but very smart." They get a kick out of him at school. Krue can talk a person's ear off and ask so many questions at one time. He is very interested in how things work and what life is all about. Krue treats his Mommy like a queen (he tells me he loves me and that I am pretty about 20 times a day - no joke!) and he loves to hang out with his Daddy because, "Daddy knows how to do everything".

Likes

-Race cars and anything that goes fast!

-Playing Mario Baseball on the Wii

-Riding his two-wheeled bike

-Cuddling on the couch

-Warm weather & the lake

-His best bud, and little brother, Kiefer

-Broccoli & Asparagus, Green Apples & Pineapple, Cheeseburgers (with the bun) and Grilled Cheese

-His glasses because "they help me see better"

-Taking baths & sitting in the front

-Getting money for doing chores

-Watching movies in the car

-Trying to fix things by himself

-The idea of flying like a bird

-A clean & orderly room

-Exercise & playing sports outside

-His "girlfriend" Gabby, his "best friend" Madeline, and Lauren "she will always be my friend".

Dislikes

-Scary movies & bad guys

-Being cold

-Being told not to do something... "Mom, that makes me angry"

-Tornados & Bombs

-The thought of getting lost from him parents

-The thought of dying

-Dressing himself & making his bed

-Getting dirty

Talents

-Eye-hand coordination & balance

-Spacial concepts & math skills

-Reading & sounding out words

-Imitating people and characters

-Finessing a sport's technique

-Green belt in taekwondo

-Mastering the Wii

-Routines & remembering

-Responsible for personal items

Birthday Dinner & Fun!

My sister-in-law, Amy, and I share a birthday. This is so much fun because we get to celebrate every year together. For our birthdays this year we decided to eat at "Paula's" in Ft. Wayne. We had a fabulous dinner with great company... Heath, Amy, Dan, Abby, Nick Delagarza, Tyler and Missy Romine, Lee and I.

Amy found a birthday card for me that reads, "Tomorrow we can eat broccoli. Today is for ice cream!" That is how we felt that night. We ordered sinful desserts all to ourselves. It was great!

Amy with her chocolate-peanut butter pie. Yum!

Me, with my turtle pie. Yum Yum!

After dinner we went to a quaint little Irish Pub called "Deer Park". In all traditional Irish Pubs they have something called a "snug"... this is a private booth separated from the rest of the pub. Amy and I thought this was so cute... and it is what sparked the idea for the remainder of the pictures.

Enjoy the fun!

The Snug

One birthday girl sitting all alone. Away from her friends, where did they go?

Just when she started feeling blue - along came another friend, and that made...

Two!

Two birthday girls sitting all alone. Away from their other friends, where did they go?

When they started to think, "where could they be?" - along came a friend, and that made...

Three!

Three sister-in-laws sitting all alone. Away from their other friends, where did they go?

At that moment they heard a knock at the door - along came another friend, and that made...

Four!

Four crazy Nagels sitting all alone. Away from their other friends, where did they go?

Just when they thought no one else would arrive - along came another friend, and that made...

Five!

Five fabulous friends sitting all alone. Away from their other friends, where did they go?

They started to think, "who could we add to this mix?" - along came another friend, and that made...

Six!

Six silly friends sitting all alone. Away from their other friends, where did they go?

The fun they were having started to feel like heaven - along came another friend, and that made...

Seven!

Seven smiling friends sitting all alone. Away from their other friends, where did they go?

They started to think they could no longer wait - along came another friend, and that made...

Eight!
Eight elated friends sitting all alone. Away from their other friends, where did they go?

Amy shouted, "Hurry! Your going to break my spine!" - along came another friend, and that made...

Nine!

Nine piled-up friends sitting all alone. Away from their other friends, where did they go?

All of them thinking, "How much more room can we lend?" - along came another friend, and that made...

Ten!

Ten tangled friends sitting all alone. Away from their other friend, where did he go?

Amy shouted out, "Let's kick out seven!" - along came their last friend, and that made...

Eleven!

Eleven extraordinary friends, together again at the pub.

Having so much birthday fun... now they know why it's called a "snug".

(Hee hee... maybe I've read too many children's stories lately... but wasn't that entertaining?)