Adults Only: Part #2- Cruise

Our cruise to the Bahamas was wonderful! We went to CoCo Cay, the cruise line's private island, and to Nassau. We spend the cruise relaxing and doing an excursion at each port. On CoCo Cay we snorkled and say rays and huge schools of fish that surrounded you as you swam. On Nassau we went to the Atlantis resort and swam with dolphins. Our dolphin's name was Misty. (More pics to come...) We took a nap each day, read, and just hung out.

Kaleb LOVED our Jr. Suite with the balcony. He would go on the balcony late at night/early in the mornnig and just listen to the waves. It was very peaceful.
Leaving Port Canaveral.

CoCo Cay-where we went snorkling. Beautiful, isn't it?

Ugh! Kaleb likes to take "getting ready" pictures.

Gorgeous.

Our ship.

Love.

Another getting ready picture. This time for formal night on the ship.

On our way to dinner.

We can't wait to do it again. We might have to figure out other arrangements for the children, seeing as how my parents were sleep-deprived by the time we returned, but it was definitely the best vacation ever!

Adults Only Vacation: Part 1

Thanks to my children's wonderful grandpa and grandma, Kaleb and I were able to go on our first vacation alone since we went on a cruise when Nevester was 5 months old. We planned a trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter followed by a cruise to the Bahamas.

Kaleb and I are big Harry Potter fans so we have always half-jokingly/half-seriously said that we wanted to take a trip to see the Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios-Orlando, so when we got to seriously talking about a cruise we decided to just put them together. We flew to Orlando, did a day at Universal Studios and then left for our cruise the next day.

Although HPW was not as "magical" as anything Disney, or as detailed and elaborate as the books, we had a great time. Just the two of us enjoying our time together without worrying about packing all the kid-essentials or planning according to nap schedules.

We slept in, wandered the park (we did everything Harry in a few hours), and went back to our room for naps and dinner and a movie in our room... So relaxing. I haven't gotten that much sleep in almost 5 years! :-)

Here we are at the entrance to HPW.

Olivander's wand shop and wand demonstration.

One of the rides, The Dueling Dragons, let you walk through the tent set up for the Tri-Wizard competitors.

The Weasely's car. :-) I just wanted to climb in!

The Monster Book of Monsters.

Buckbeak the Hippogriff

Hagrid's Hut-unfortunately, only for looks... I would've loved to go in.

Sorting Hat

Butterbear-two different kinds. A regular soda-ish and a blended one. I liked the blended version better, but Kaleb and I both agreed that the pumpkin juice was the best.

Entering HPW. Walk through Hogsmeade to get to Hogwarts. :-)

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Walking into the Dr. Seuss area. I think the kids would LOVE that since they are so familiar with all the Dr. Seuss books. We thought about getting a Thing 4 shirt for whenever Gibbs Baby #4 comes along (if it comes along) but thought we might end up jinxing ourselves so we just browsed. :-)

My fun and sexy husband.

Man, this is making me want to go back on vacation. Anybody want to take three kids for a week???

Happy Father's Day

Today we celebrated Kaleb and the fact that he is the most wonderful, loving, hardworking and selfless Daddy. He had to work on Father's Day this year but I woke the girls up at 5:20 AM while he was in the shower and we had waffles with blueberries and strawberries and coffee all ready for him to enjoy with us when he came out. He was very surprised and enjoyed spending his first minutes with us. (Sorry Micah, you'll get to partake next year...I was not about to wake the one-year-old!).

Father and Son. Such pride.

Daddy and Taylor Jean.

He can't wait to grab her out of my arms! Here with Tay again.

Daddy and Nevaeh.

Sorry for the very "fresh baby" picture but this has to be one of my favorite pictures of Kaleb. Just look at the excitment on his face at the birth of his firstborn! And honestly, even though we might not have captured it with a picture, he was just as ecstatic with Taylor and Micah. And he is STILL that way with them.

I can't imagine a better Daddy. He paints nails, does hair, tries to coordinate outfits, goofs around, plays hard with them from the moment he gets home from work (whether it has been an 8 hour day or a 28 hour day...literally). I am blessed to have him for a husband and our children are blessed to have him for a father. Today we make it a point to tell and show him how much we appreciate and love and admire him, but really....he deserves it every day.

Back to the Present

Here are some things about each one of the kids right now...

Nevaeh: smart as a whip, which can be a good thing and a not-so-good thing. She is already working on her reasoning, arguing and debating. Fun fun fun. She has a tender heart and loves babies and kitties. She is beginning to read and I am amazed every day at how much she can sound out. Sometimes I will pause as we read and she will pick up where I left off! She has a new friend next door who she absolutely adores. She wants to dress like Breanna, wear her hair like Breanna and play with Breanna. She loves her sister and brother to death. She dotes on Micah constantly, trying to be the little mommy, and I think she gets offended when he actually does want Mommy.

Taylor: my challenging little girl is growing up and the tantrums are less frequent and less explosive. She sings constantly, has the sweetest voice (multiple people have said she sounds like she has a British accent....ummm??). She loves to play outside and try to keep up with her big sis. She loves dress-up and pretend. She is my affectionate little one, which surprised me. She willingly gives me as many hugs and kisses and cuddles as I ask for. She says, "I love you so much" without any prompting. Taylor is goofy and wild and crazy and I love it.

Micah: my son is a total boy. He is less vocal than the girls were at this age, but boy is he active! He loves to put the ball on the T-ball stand and hit it off with a bat. He loves to throw....everything. He likes slides and swings and running and tumbling and dancing. He has a big goofy grin. He is ticklish and giggly. He loves his snugglies and binkies. He is very patient with his sisters, but runs away when he has had enough. He just started throwing temper tantrums than are actually quite humorous. He throws himself on the ground and rolls around sobbing until someone picks him up, he gets his way, or her forgets what the fit was about in the first place.

We are busy, busy, busy but having fun. This month we have gone to a park with a water area and THE BEST snowcones EVER, San Francisco for a Giants game (they won!), the park near our house, Woodward Park to take Moka to the dog park and to feed the ducks, and other fun outings. Nevaeh had her first birthday party of the summer, Taylor had a special Grandma day, and Micah had a guys day with Grandpa. We are looking forward to Nevaeh's dance recital next weekend, swim lessons in July, and a family trip to Lake Tahoe in August! Full schedule but treasuring these days with my little people.

I live for little moments like that...

Pictures cannot even begin to do justice to these sweet moments with our babies. Nevaeh cuddling up to her brother as close as she can get. All three lounging on Daddy and Mommy's bed. Taylor not sure whether she wants to put Micah's binkie into his mouth...or hers.

First Bath at Home

I guess these few blogs will kind of revolve around the highlights of Micah's firsts. The girls are probably feeling a little left out at this point, but I'm sure they'll get their fair share of screen space. :-)

Bath time with Mommy!

Getting ready to wash off the goo from all the tape that held the IV's and monitors in place, and from all the bandaids from blood draw attempts.

Micah will all his women: Auntie Ally, Nevaeh, Grandma, Taylor, and Mommy

Valley Children's Hospital

We were able to make it to our third child before we had to visit Children's Hospital, and leave it to the boy to break us in to the emergency room.
Micah came home latching on like normal but he progressively got worse and worse at eating. It was a huge ordeal and I was having to struggle to get him to eat and not just suck and then fall right to sleep. I had an inkling that something wasn't right because I had nursed the girls and it was not at all like I was experiencing with Micah. Also, he was up screaming all night, horrible screams that I still remember to this day, and neither of us could get him to calm down. Again, I felt like something was just off about his crying like that. Then, the next day we noticed blood in his diaper and that was the last straw. We packed him up and headed to the hospital.
I'm not sure what I was expecting, exactly. Maybe a lactation specialist and an antibiotic... Instead we got a three day stay with included a spinal tap, multiple pokes with needles, blood draws, and a few abdominal ultrasounds. All of his spinal fluid tests came back negative but they noticed something "abnormal" about one of his veins attached to his liver. To make a long story short and because I do not feel like reliving it, they determined through further ultrasounds that his vein was fine and all his tests came back negative. He was dehydrated when we arrived from not eating and his bilirubin levels were high so they hooked him up to an IV, put him under the lights and gave him meds just in case (and to protect him from anything he may have come into contact with at the hospital).
This was one of the more terrifying experiences of my life. I prayed a lot and I prayed hard. Now I can joke that Micah just wanted the sympathy so that he would be babied and spoiled.

Daddy and our tough little dude.

Micah all hooked up and wrapped up, chillin' with Daddy.

Our poor guy looked so pitiful and helpless.

Micah's room while we were there.

More of The Boy

Here are some pictures from in the hospital and one of Kaleb and Micah when we first got home with our little blue bundle.

I'm a sucker for little baby faces like this. So silly and adorable.

My sister Jennifer was in Texas getting calls and texts about Micah's birth. She was one of the first to get a picture of him and that did it. She got online and booked a flight to come visit and hold her nephew. I was so surprised and the girls got some quality Auntie Nenny time while Mommy and Daddy were at the hospital.

My three babies.

We are BAAACK!

I've pretty much been absent from our family blog since our third child entered the picture. In reading back over past blog posts I am kind of sad about that, wondering what I have neglected to post and might not remember now. So I made a point of getting back at it, finally. My first post back HAS to be about our son Micah. He was born March 26th and has been a joy.

Newborn all bundled up after his first "bath."

Footprints


Measured

Proud Daddy and Mommy.

Mommy holding her sweet son.

Meeting your sisters. Taylor was less than pleased at this new intruder and just tolerated him for awhile.

Nevaeh was overjoyed and the doting big sister from Day 1. She was so excited to have a new teeny-tiny baby to hold and snuggle.

Sweet Boy.

Even writing about this day from more than a year later I can't help but say a prayer of thanksgiving for son. Micah-dude, you are such a blessing to our family. We love you so much and are having so much fun in the world of boy. We treasure every moment with you as you discover this world that God has made and we pray that you grow to be a Godly young man. If you are anything like your daddy you will be a wonderful Husband and Father.